Two teens were killed and four people injured in Peru on Sunday during protests demanding the country hold general elections following the ouster of former President Pedro Castillo, police and local authorities said.

President Dina Boluarte was sworn in last week after Castillo was sacked by Congress and arrested for attempting to dissolve the legislature in an effort to prevent an impeachment vote against him.

Demonstrators, many of them Castillo supporters, have for days demanded that Peru hold elections rather than allow Boluarte to stay in power until Castillo’s term ends in 2026. Some protesters also call for Congress to be shuttered.

The head of Peru’s ombudsman’s office, Eliana Revollar, told local radio station RPP that a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old died during clashes with police in the city of Andahuaylas, in the Andean region of Apurimac, “possibly as a result of gunshot wounds.”

Baltazar Lantaron, governor of the Apurimac region, told local television station Canal N that “four injuries are reported, treated at the health center, three of them (with wounds) to the scalp, with multiple injuries”.

The Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation, which manages the country’s airports, reported the closure of the Andahuaylas airport following attacks and acts of vandalism since last Saturday.

Protesters had set fire to the transmitter room, which is crucial for providing navigation services, it added.

The ombudsman’s office on Saturday said two police officers were held for hours by protesters in Andahuaylas, but were later released. Clashes on Saturday left 16 civilians and four policemen injured, it said.

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Ukraine’s top security officials have ordered punitive measures against seven senior clerics, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, part of a crackdown on a branch of the Orthodox Church with longstanding ties to Moscow.

The clerics are among Orthodox leaders known to have been sympathetic to Russia’s portrayal of its 10-month-old invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin says it is protecting Russian-speakers and has annexed four regions it says are historically Russian lands.

“We are doing everything to ensure that no strings are available to be pulled by the aggressor state that could make Ukrainian society suffer,” Zelenskiy said in announcing the measure in his nightly video address.

Under an order issued by Ukraine’s Security Council, all seven have had their assets seized and are subject to a ban on a range of economic and legal activities as well as a de facto travel ban.

A majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and competition has been fierce between the branch of the church historically linked to Moscow and an independent church proclaimed after independence from Soviet rule in 1991.

The Moscow-linked church severed ties with the Russian Orthodox Church after the February invasion, but many Ukrainians remain deeply suspicious of its motives. The Russian church wholeheartedly backs the invasion.

The Security Council last month ordered an investigation into the activities of the church and legislation is under consideration to limit its activities.

Ukraine’s SBU security service has been staging a series of raids of property owned by the Moscow-linked church and last week accused a senior cleric of engaging in anti-Ukrainian activity by supporting Russian policies in social media posts.

A spokesperson for the Russian-linked church said last week it had always acted within the framework of Ukrainian law and that there were no legal grounds to put pressure on its followers.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev described the authorities in Kyiv as “satanists” and “enemies of Christ and the Orthodox faith”.

“Gut Punch.” “CNN begins layoffs hitting at “heart and soul” of this organization.” “CNN cuts jobs as cost-cutting pressure mounts.” “Is CNN in crisis?” These are some of the headlines of reports on CNN — A network in mortal danger of being no more.

This is not the way things should have gone. Yes, CNN made lots of mistakes. Can we even begin to count all of them? But most hoped they could dig their way out of the hole they found themselves in. The bottom line is we need quality news networks. Alas, I fear CNN is not one of them.

They could have been. When Chris Licht took over, there were a number of ways he could have taken things. But he seems to have chosen — nothing. That is the problem. CNN has not “changed” for the better. The network has become irrelevant.

Being irrelevant in the media world is perhaps the worst fate imaginable. The ratings have been dipping lower and lower. Astonishingly recently, the audience of CNN dipped below 500,000. It’s reached catastrophic proportions. Why, then does the network not try to change things?

The prime time slot left open by the firing of Chris Cuomo is still wide open. CNN has yet to find a permanent replacement. And it should not be that difficult. There are millions of journalists in the world. Surely CNN could take a chance on someone.

Don Lemon was removed from primetime in what I feel was one of the most absurd moves of the day and put in a morning slot. CNN did come up with a new morning show which very few are watching. And of course, there is the cancellation of live HLN news.

All this together spells doom for the network. Have they given up? And if so, why? I do not know the answers to many of these questions. What I do know is it’s painful to watch the network in its seemingly last gasp. I had hopes that CNN could mitigate the damage all the scandals and firings had done to the network. At this point, though, it really does feel like things are getting worse, not better.

The post What does CNN think it’s doing? appeared first on Palmer Report.

Ukraine attacks barracks in Russian-occupied city of Melitopol; emergency crews work to ease power shortages across Ukraine after Russian attacks

• See all our Ukraine war coverage

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There will be a substantial reduction in U.S. inflation in 2023, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ in an interview released on Sunday.

“I believe by the end of next year you will see much lower inflation if there’s not– an unanticipated shock,” she said.

Asked about the likelihood of recession, she said:

“There’s a risk of a recession. But– it certainly isn’t, in my view, something that is necessary to bring inflation down.”

Asian shares dipped on Monday while the dollar drifted higher at the start of a hectic week, as markets awaited a flurry of rate decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and others.

The U.S. consumer inflation report on Tuesday will set the tone for markets for the week. Economists expect core inflation to ease to 6.1% in November from a year ago, compared with a rise of 6.3% the previous month.

However, risk could be on the upside, after data on Friday showed producer prices increased at a faster-than-expected pace, fuelling concerns the CPI report may indicate inflation is sticky and interest rates may have to stay higher for longer.

Wall Street dropped, Treasury yields advanced and while the dollar pared earlier losses.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) eased 0.1% on Monday, after tumbling 2.6% last week – the biggest fall since late September.

Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) dipped 0.5%, while South Korea (.KS11) dropped 0.7%. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.2%, while Nasdaq futures fell 0.3%, as caution mostly reigned.

“This week, markets could go anywhere… A hotter CPI – say 6.4% (and above) and a hawkish set of dots from the Fed and statement from Powell could see funds call it a day for 2022 – risk bleeds into 2023 and funds buy back USD shorts,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

“It would be a big surprise if we didn’t see the Fed step down to a 50bp hike… We also want to understand if Jay Powell opens the door to a slowdown to a 25bp hiking pace from February – again, while in line with market pricing, this could be taken that we’re closer to the end of the hiking cycle and is a modest USD negative.”

Fed policymakers are widely expected to raise rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday at their last meeting of the year, to a range of 4.25% to 4.50%, which would mark a slower pace of rate increases.

Futures also show the terminal rate peaking at 4.961% next May, and then declining to 4.488% by December 2023, as markets priced in some cuts from the Fed as the U.S. economy slows.

In addition to the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also set to announce interest rate hikes, as policymakers continue to put the brakes on growth to curb inflation.

In the currency markets, the U.S. dollar drifted 0.1% higher against a basket of currencies to 105.01, although it is not too far away from the five-month trough of 104.1 a week ago.

Sterling fell 0.2% to $1.2242, while the Aussie slipped 0.19% to $0.6783.

Treasury yields held largely steady on Monday after rallying from the lowest levels in three months during the previous session.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes held at 3.5875%, compared with its U.S. close of 3.5670%. The two-year yield touched 4.3610%, up slightly from its U.S. close of 4.330%.

The yield curve remains inverted at around -77bps, pointing towards a possible U.S. recession in the near future.

In the oil market, prices rose by more than 1% after falling to the lowest level this year on global recession fears.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures surged 1.4% to $72.03 per barrel, while Brent crude settled at $77.15 a barrel, also 1.4% higher.

Spot gold was slightly lower, trading at $1,796.04 per ounce.

Donald Trump decided to formally announce his 2024 run almost immediately after the 2022 midterms – largely in the hope that he could clear the Republican field and/or escape potential criminal prosecution. As for the latter part, the former guy is facing a whole host of investigations with a special prosecutor appointed by the Justice Department, in addition to the trouble his organization is in.

When it comes to the former part, Trump isn’t really dampening the field as the media keeps fawning over Ron DeSantis as the next authoritarian strongman to be appointed by the party and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is also eying a presidential bid. While Trump had near unanimous support from Republicans just a year ago, some polls show him placing even after Liz Cheney. A number of other lower profile Republicans have come out of the woodwork teasing presidential bids that will prevent Trump from gaining another foothold.

Even the media isn’t particularly interested in covering his campaign as it becomes clearer that there’s no campaign manager behind it and not really much of a staff, as former members of his administration have their own political ambitions or have gone on to become pundits.

All his announcement has done is largely just keep people waiting – for pundits to see if he actually has any political future left and for Republicans to see when he manages to finish himself off and they can make the rounds without the same degree of media scrutiny. While we have to still be on the lookout for the next terrible candidate from the GOP, the former guy has already sabotaged himself with another major disadvantage – as merely being a candidate isn’t enough to save him from criminal charges.

The post Donald Trump’s 2024 “campaign” is falling apart already appeared first on Palmer Report.

(NewsNation) — Everyone has been posting their Lensa AI pics — and the posts of people depicting themselves as artificial avatars are going viral.

It’s become a social media phenomenon in recent weeks. The Artificial Intelligence art app has promoted millions of downloads but has also conjured up a wave of controversy.

Celebrities have been showing off their AI art in droves. Everyone from Chance the Rapper to NBA star LeBron James and DJ Steve Aoki posted pictures of their Magic Avatars. Millions of others have too.

The souped-up selfies stem from the photo-editing app Lensa AI. It uses uploaded pictures to produce rendered artistic images and charges users to have it done.

Some people are warning that voluntarily uploading personal pictures could pose a safety risk and privacy threat to personal data.

Jim Anderson, AI expert and Beacon CEO, spoke about some of the potential dangers of supplying photos to unfamiliar apps.

“Think about it, you’re taking a picture of yourself, and it’s changing and evolving using some AI that’s been trained on an unknown set of database. What about racial inequity issues? What about the sexualization of women? You know, there’s a variety of things like that, that, you know, when you start to try to understand, okay, how has this AI been trained? And is it been trained responsibly enough? I don’t think we truly know. But I think we’re going to see some examples where like, that’s just not good. And they need to find a way to combat those things,” Anderson said.

Many prominent voices, including actress Megan Fox, have slammed Lensa and its parent company for allegedly sexualizing their avatars. Fox complained that most of them were practically nude.

“Were everyone’s avatars equally as sexual? Like, why are most of mine naked,” Fox posted on Instagram.

Anderson says with everything from the Lensa app to Chat GPT to self-driving cares like Tesla, AI is here to stay.

“Not only will it be common, it will be pervasive, you won’t even be able to avoid it. I mean, it’s just so useful and so remarkable in so many ways. And like you said, it’s incorporated in your car and your watch, and, you know, it’ll be incorporated all kinds of places, and it will actually become increasingly harder to opt out of that, if that’s what you want to do. Because it’s like many technology innovations, if it’s useful, and if it saves people money, or, you know, gives them some benefit, it’s just going to become everywhere,” Anderson said.

As for Lensa’s policy, the company said they automatically delete personal data within 24 hours after being processed. Still, many are skeptical.

Anderson said the best thing users can do is judge how reputable the app or company is before sharing information. He said it’s unrealistic to ask people to read an app’s terms of service, and some can be intentionally tough to decipher. He says people should stick with companies they trust, especially as AI like Lensa becomes more common.

(NewsNation) — Lawmakers are working to tie up loose ends in the final weeks of the year before a new Congress begins, and a couple of really big things are happening this week.

Let’s start with the fact that the government is going to run out of money in five days unless Congress can come to some deal to craft a big budget bill together. Either they work out a deal or pass what’s known as a continuing resolution, which is a temporary deal that locks in government spending at its current levels.

Often lawmakers will pass a temporary continuing resolution to buy themselves more time to negotiate a larger deal that fully funds the government.

The clock is ticking.

Also, a high-profile hearing is coming up on Tuesday. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to testify before a House committee.

Bankman-Fried, the now notorious CEO of the crypto giant FTX, will have to answer questions from the House Financial Services Committee about how his firm went belly up.

A string of questionable decisions in investing his customers’ cash cost his investors billions of dollars collectively. Many investors and regulators say Bankman-Fried should face prosecution and potentially jail time.

Finally, the Jan. 6 Committee is preparing to wrap up its work soon. Chairman Benny Thompson says their final report will be finished on Dec. 21.

The committee met on Sunday behind closed doors to discuss whether they’ll make criminal referrals. This means whether they will suggest to the Department of Justice to file criminal charges against anyone based on the evidence the committee discovered.

Top of mind for many is whether they’ll recommend charges for former President Donald Trump.

Making criminal referrals would be a symbolic move, signaling Congress believes a crime was committed, committee member Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger said on Sunday

On top of all that, the Senate will soon have to take up the NDAA, that’s the nearly $860 billion defense bill that authorizes spending for all branches of the military and will provide new funding to Ukraine and Taiwan as well.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and with the leaders of Turkey and France on Sunday, an increase in diplomatic activity around the war started by Russia that is dragging into a 10th month.

“We are constantly working with partners,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, adding that he expects some “important results” next week from a series of international events that will tackle the situation in Ukraine.

While Zelenskiy has held numerous talks with Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan since Russian forces invaded in late February, the accumulation of discussions in just one day is not a regular event.

Zelenskiy said he had thanked Biden for “unprecedented defence and financial” help the United States has provided for Ukraine and talked with the U.S. president about an effective anti-aircraft defence systems to protect the population.

Earlier, Zelenskiy said that he held “a very meaningful” conversation with Macron on “defence, energy, economy, diplomacy” that lasted more than an hour and “very specific” talks with Erdogan on assuring Ukraine’s grain exports.

Turkey, which acted as a mediator in peace talks in the early months of the war, also worked alongside the United Nations in a grain deal, which opened up Ukrainian ports for exports in July after a six-month de facto Russian blockade.

Erdogan’s office said the Turkish leader had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, in which he had called for a quick end to the conflict.

Putin said last week that Moscow’s near-total loss of trust in the West would make an eventual settlement over Ukraine much harder to reach and warned of a protracted war.

Macron has championed diplomacy in the conflict but his mixed messages that it was up to Kyiv to decide when to negotiate with Moscow, but also that security guarantees were needed for Russia, have unnerved some Western allies, Kyiv and the Baltic countries.

There are no peace talks and no end in sight to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” and Ukraine and its allies an unprovoked act of aggression.

Moscow shows no signs of being ready to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and pre-war borders, saying the four regions it claims to have annexed from Ukraine in September are part of Russia “forever.” The government in Kyiv has ruled out conceding any land to Russia in return for peace.

On the ground in Ukraine, the entire eastern front line has been continuously shelled with heavy fighting taking place. Moscow is also targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with waves of missile and drone strikes, at times cutting off electricity for millions of civilians in winter, when mean temperatures can be several degrees below zero Celsius.