US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the US may run out of cash by June 1 unless the debt ceiling is raised. In 1960, exasperated by the government’s propensity to borrow, the US Congress imposed a debt ceiling. Since then, the debt ceiling has been raised or revised 78 times – or more than once a year. The imposition of a debt ceiling gives the US Congress strong leverage over the policies pursued by the executive branch. It will probably require volumes to analyze all the factors that converged to create this social media carnival.

NEW YORK CITY: Regulators have barely written the epitaph for First Republic Bank, but investors on Wall Street have already moved onto speculating which bank might be the next to fail. Bank stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, led downward by smaller banks with heavy exposure to uninsured deposits and commercial banks such as Western Alliance Bank, PacWest Bancorp, Comerica and Zions Bank. Shares of Western Alliance dropped 15 percent and PacWest fell 28 percent, with trading of both stocks halted briefly due to high volatility. The second day of bank stock declines comes after regulators closed First Republic Bank on Monday and sold the vast majority of its operations to JPMorgan Chase in a fire sale. It was the second-largest bank failure in US history and the third bank failure in six weeks, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Here is a who’s who in Charles and Camilla’s “modern family”. The ex-husbandAndrew Parker Bowles, 83, was a page at the coronation of Charles’s mother Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Parker Bowles is a widower after the death of his second wife. Tom Parker Bowles: Camilla and her first husband’s son, 48, is Charles’s godson and speaks highly of the monarch. Freddy Parker Bowles, 13, is Camilla’s grandson and will be one of her pages, alongside Laura Lopes’s 12-year-old twin boys Gus and Louis.

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — Days after dive yacht M/Y Dream Keeper sank in the waters of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park on April 30, search and rescue teams have yet to find its four missing passengers, the Coast Guard said Monday, May 1. He told reporters that the boat sank some 4 nautical miles northeast of the reefs’ north atoll. The dive yacht, which departed from San Remegio, Cebu on April 27, arrived on Tubbataha Reefs around 10 p.m. on Saturday. Labay further explained that considering the depth of the waters where the yacht sank, it was not possible to conduct a dive search. GERALDFORD TICKE INQRELATED STORIES28 rescued, 4 missing as boat sinks in Tubbataha ReefTwo Edca sites used during rescue efforts to find divers in Tubbataha …Dive yacht sinks near Tubbataha; 28 rescued, 4 still missinglzbYour subscription could not be saved.

4 MRT-3 passengers injured after emergency brakes usedPhoto of workers enjoying a free ride at the MRT-3 during Labor Day, May 1, 2023MANILA, Philippines — Passengers of the Manila Metro Rail Transit System Line 3 (MRT-3) were hurt Wednesday morning after the train system activated one of its safety features. "Four passengers who sustained minor injuries are also already being provided with first aid by Lifeline emergency medical technicians (EMTs)." "Assistant Secretary for Railways and MRT-3 Officer-in-Charge Jorjette B. Aquino, on behalf of MRT-3, wishes to extend her utmost apology to all affected passengers, for the inconvenience brought about by the incident," added the MRT-3 system. "Stations and security personnel have been instructed to provide all assistance to the passengers on-board the train when its emergency brake was activated." The MRT-3 system offered it's "libreng sakay" program for workers last Monday, Labor Day, with the line servicing 23,527 people that day.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Arvind Krishna said that his company would enact a pause in hiring in those roles, and potentially reduce the payroll by 7,800 jobs over several years. "I could easily see 30 percent of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period." "We're being very selective when filling jobs that don't directly touch our clients or technology," the IBM spokesman added. On Monday, Geoffrey Hinton, sometimes considered the godfather of AI, announced that he was leaving Google's industry-leading AI research team and criticized Microsoft for moving too quickly in making ChatGPT-style technology available. Hinton said that competition between tech giants was pushing companies to release new AI technologies at dangerous speeds, threatening jobs and posing a danger to society.

Two workers were trapped mid-air at the Golden Centre in Central on Wednesday after a gondola they were in got stuck on the 10th floor with its controller malfunctioning following a power failure. The workers were stuck on the exterior of the building on Des Voeux Road Central at around 11am when the gondola malfunctioned, leaving the two stranded in mid-air. It was said that the controller of the gondola was unresponsive following a power failure, with the workers unable to get themselves back to safety. The duo was later rescued and brought to safety through an aerial ladder mounted on a fire truck. This is the second gondola incident within a month in the Central district, with two workers trapped in cleaning gondola at Standard Chartered Bank Building on April 20.

Nearly 20 blue chip firms have so far submitted applications to use the yuan trading counter which is expected to be launched by the end of June, according to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388). However, southbound trading will still need to be conducted through the existing process of exchanging RMB to HKD. He said the counter will be a "game changer" for southbound trading. Currently, investors trading Hong Kong stocks via the Stock Connect exchange yuan for the local currency, with the exchange rate not confirmed until the following day. Aguzin noted that once the yuan counter for southbound transactions is introduced, it is expected that "vast majority" of transactions will be denominated in yuan.

Chris Newsome FIBA PHOTO(UPDATE) MERALCO veteran Chris Newsome said last year's failure to secure the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games men's basketball is enough motivation for Gilas Pilipinas to make an all-out effort in reclaiming the region's basketball throne that the country has held for decades. "It's something we can't take for granted because every team has been leveling up their skills and their players," he said. "Competition has definitely been rising in Southeast Asia and we definitely can't take it for granted. "We've got a good mixture of veterans and young guns here," said the 32-year-old former PBA Rookie of the Year. Newsome will be making his SEA Games men's basketball debut since first seeing action in the SEA Games 3x3 tournament, which he helped win the gold in the 2019 edition held in Manila.

The Philippine response to bulk demand for foreign workers was to create a new office to manage foreign labor migration. A macro-economic consequence of this new development was the strong shift of the country’s income profile in relation to domestic productivity. Nearly 10 percent of incomes earned by Filipino factors contributes to world output (because they worked abroad), not to domestic output. This is why I view the OFW phenomenon as a perverse form of creating employment abroad. Those countries that have succeeded in developing a home based domestic employment program have done better than us.

K-pop boy group Tomorrow X Together (TXT) is set to return to the Philippines for a solo concert in August. As part of its world tour dubbed "Act: Sweet Mirage," TXT will delight Filipino "MOA" fans at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan on August 13. Kpop boy group 'TXT' INSTAGRAM PHOTO/TXT_BIGHITOFFICIALLocal concert promoter Live Nation PH shared on Twitter, "Filo MOA, Get ready for Tomorrow X Together World Tour in Bulacan! The group made its debut in 2019 with the EP "The Dream Chapter: Star," which topped Billboard's World Album list. The group was named best new male artist at the MAMA Awards the same year.

The four-year-old reptile is a Siamese crocodile, which is an endangered species originated from Southeast Asia. Siamese crocodiles are protected species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Wild Siamese crocodiles are rare and usually found in breeding environments. "We believe we are able to provide suitable care to the Siamese crocodile," Chuk said, adding that the park has been breeding a similar-sized crocodile. "We will consider keeping the crocodile if Siamese crocodiles become a part of education and conservation projects," Chuk added.

El Niño Alert: PAGASA says phenomenon of hot, dry weather now more likelyA farmer checks the dry soil on his farm in this 2019 file photo. MANILA, Philippines — The state weather bureau issued Tuesday an El Niño Alert, indicating a high chance the weather phenomenon associated with dry spells and drought will develop within the next two months. In a statement, PAGASA said the probability of El Niño developing during the June to August season has increased to 80%. PAGASA said that El Niño increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall conditions, which could result in dry spells and droughts in some areas of the Philippines. PAGASA earlier urged the public to conserve water as El Niño can deplete water supplies.

One post in April warned of an alleged plot by Muslims to “multiply their population to take control of India”. A forecast issued the same year from the Pew Research Center said that India’s Muslim community would grow to 311 million by 2050. But despite their growing share of the national population, Muslims would remain a small minority in a country of 1.7 billion people by mid-century, according to the US-based think tank’s projections. One Facebook post sarcastically greeted news that India’s population had overtaken China’s by thanking Muslims “for producing 5-10 children” each. Quraishi, has written extensively on the spread of disinformation about the country’s Muslim birthrate.

HSBC (0005) is projected to have more than doubled its pre-tax profit in the first quarter of this year from 12 months ago. The bank is also expected to announce the resumption of a quarterly dividend of between 8 to 10 US cents (62.4 to 78 HK cents) today. HSBC said last month that the planned disposal could be delayed or fail as interest rate hikes increase the buyer's capital requirements. Net interest income is forecast to rise to around US$9 billion while the net interest margin is expected to reach 1.66 percent by investment banks. A US$2 billion share repurchase may be carried out this year, said Goldman Sachs, who maintained a buy rating for HSBC with a target price of HK$75.