TheChek News Flow

-The almost one-year old federal moratorium on evictions has allowed tenants facing difficult financial conditions from the coronavirus pandemic to stay in their homes. But, now the moratorium is scheduled to expire at midnight on Saturday forcing many into an uncertain future as homeless shelters have been preparing for an influx, adding extra beds.

-“Home prices are rising at a double-digit pace this year. The typical house in and around the city he calls home sold for $306,031 in June of this year, Zillow estimates, up from $261,710 a year earlier.”

-As the Taliban sweep across much of Afghanistan, at least 30,000 Afghans are leaving each week. Many more have been displaced within the country’s borders as the Taliban press on in their military campaign, which has already captured more than half the country’s 400-odd districts.

-“The body of Danish Siddiqui, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Reuters photojournalist who was killed in Afghanistan this month, was badly mutilated while in the custody of the Taliban, officials said this week.”

-South Africa has seen an increase of succulent plant poaching, “driven by surging demand from collectors and enthusiasts around the world, but especially in China and Korea, experts said. South Africa is home to around a third of all succulent species, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

-After initial instincts to blame former President Donald Trump for the January 6 Capitol Riot, Many Republicans are trying to absolve him, having “concocted a version of events in which those accused of rioting were patriotic political prisoners and Speaker Nancy Pelosi was to blame for the violence.”

-Israeli officials have blamed the drone attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman, killing two people, on Iran.

-Dan Ivascyn, chief investment officer at Pimco, a leading US bond manager warns that “inflationary pressure from housing rental costs that could push interest rates higher and overturn a sense of complacency among investors.”

-Robinhood’s “stock market debut was meant to start a new chapter for the broker. Instead, with shares falling 8.4 per cent from the $32bn market capitalisation set by the company just hours earlier, it represented one of the worst ever starts for an IPO of its size.”-

-Elvira Nabiullina, Russia’s Central Bank governor, told the Financial Times in an interview that “sharp rises in food prices had ‘de-anchored’ ordinary Russians’ inflation expectations, she said, with polling showing consumers predicting an increase of more than double the central bank’s projected annual figure.”

-“China-based companies will have to disclose more about their structure and contacts with the Chinese government before listing in the US.”

-Covid-19-related problems in the US economy are hampering large-scale, sophisticated manufacturers such as automakers and family-run businesses like summer camps alike.

-“The US Department of Justice has told the Treasury department it must hand over Donald Trump’s tax returns to Congress, the latest twist in the long-running stand-off over the former president’s financial records.”

-After a disagreement over an asset sale, the 45-year-old Jay Hambro is set to leave GFG, which is under investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

-“In a hastily arranged call on Wednesday evening, Chinese regulators told a dozen or so executives from global investors, heavy-hitting banks and Chinese financial groups not to fret about the shock overhaul of the country’s $100bn private tutoring industry.”

- Walmart “is requiring workers in high risk areas to mask up — and will force all managers to get vaccinated by early October.”

-Victoria’s Secret parent L-Brands has settled, to the tune of $21 M, “a pair of investor lawsuits over sex harassment allegations as it gears up to be spun off into an independent, publicly traded company.”

-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a proponent of the ‘defund the police’ movement, “has paid thousands for personal security to a former Blackwater contractor, a review of Federal Election Commission records shows.”