All posts tagged: Breaking News: Politics

Trading platform Webull’s China ties are national security risk: Congress

Trading platform Webull’s China ties are national security risk: Congress

Published by Sam Flores

Digital investment platform Webull, which counts 28 million global users, is quietly “tied in structural ways” to China’s government, representing a national security threat to U.S. finance, according to a bipartisan congressional panel’s findings shared exclusively with CNBC. The bipartisan House Select Committee on China in its new report being released Wednesday found “a profound gap” between Webull’s public marketing as “an American company” and actual control of the St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm. “Webull’s ownership architecture, technical workforce, technology infrastructure, cross-border data routing, corporate financing, and compliance frameworks are tied in structural ways to the People’s Republic of China,” the committee found. The panel asserted that national security concerns around the company have “escalated” since October 2025, when Webull began carrying customer cash directly, according to a regulatory filing the panel cited. The committee alleges that creates a “structural exposure of billions of dollars in American capital.” Read more CNBC politics and policy coverage The committee said the company’s corporate structure means the firm’s “software development, data pipelines, and core engineering operations” are dependent on …

ICE raids hit spending and jobs in U.S. cities, studies show

ICE raids hit spending and jobs in U.S. cities, studies show

Published by Sam Flores

Protestors march during a “Nationwide Shutdown” demonstration against ICE enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen | Getty Images MINNEAPOLIS — Operation Metro Surge has been over for months. The same can’t be said for the crisis facing Daniel Hernandez’s Colonial Market grocery stores. After Hernandez’s parking lot became a well-known hangout spot for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, the lines that Hernandez grew accustomed to seeing each morning at his stores disappeared. The rebound in traffic Hernandez hoped to see after the end of the surge never materialized. “We’re barely — literally barely — surviving,” Hernandez told CNBC in an interview inside one of his stores, where Spanish-language music played through speakers and piñatas dangled from the ceiling. “The damage has been done.” Daniel Hernandez inside Colonial Market, his Minneapolis grocery store. Alex Harring | CNBC This summer, Hernandez shuttered Colonial Market’s location on Lake Street, the heart of Minneapolis’ Hispanic business community. Hernandez had spent savings and borrowed money against his house to open the store two years prior. He …

Singapore’s Temasek warns of the ‘biggest risk’ facing markets

Singapore’s Temasek warns of the ‘biggest risk’ facing markets

Published by Sam Flores

SINGAPORE — An unwinding of the artificial intelligence trade poses the biggest risk to markets, according to Singapore’s state-owned investment giant Temasek. “We don’t see that as imminent, but will you have bumps in 2027? Yeah, possibly yes,” Rohit Sipahimalani, Temasek’s chief investment officer, said at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore. AI has been one of the key forces keeping U.S. stocks near record highs even as Treasury yields have surged, Sipahimalani said, pointing to the earnings strength of major companies tied to the technology. The S&P 500 has remained around record territory despite the rise in borrowing costs, supported by “AI and the earnings momentum around the key players,” he said. But the strength at the index level masks weakness beneath the surface. Sipahimalani noted that roughly half the stocks in the Russell 3000 were at least 20% below their June highs, highlighting the degree to which the market’s resilience has depended on a small group of winners. A reversal in the AI trade could be triggered by several factors, he said, …

Trump set to talk to Russia’s Putin ‘very soon’ about plague-related death in Siberia

Trump set to talk to Russia’s Putin ‘very soon’ about plague-related death in Siberia

Published by Sam Flores

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. Trump said he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a suspected plague case, amid growing global health concerns over the incident. Photographer: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday stateside that he was set to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the death of a laboratory worker from a suspected case of plague in Siberia. Trump said the call was scheduled for “very soon” when asked by a reporter about the timing at a White House press gaggle. Asked separately what U.S. intelligence agencies were saying about the incident, Trump said, “So far, we are in very deep discussions. We’ll be able to report about it probably tomorrow.” Trump’s, who has said in the past that Putin is someone he can work with despite tensions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, …

Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Hormuz

Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Hormuz

Published by Sam Flores

SINGAPORE — U.S. President Donald Trump isn’t “completely wrong” in suggesting that the disruption to energy flows via the Strait of Hormuz is Asia’s problem, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said. Asian economies are among the biggest customers of energy shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea, making any prolonged disruption particularly consequential for the region. Trump has said that Asian economies should shoulder more of the burden of keeping the waterway open rather than relying predominantly on U.S. protection. “We don’t use the strait. We don’t need it. Europe needs it. Korea, Japan, China, [and] a lot of other people,” he said earlier this year. Balakrishnan, however, cautioned against viewing the issue simply through the lens of who buys the oil, stressing the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation through international waterways. He made the remarks to CNBC on Wednesday at Milken Institute’s Asia Summit in Singapore. For Singapore, that principle is “non-negotiable,” Balakrishnan said, citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the …

Alito plans to stay on Supreme Court, even if Democrats regain Senate

Alito plans to stay on Supreme Court, even if Democrats regain Senate

Published by Sam Flores

Samuel Alito Jr., associate justice of the US Supreme Court, prior to an interview at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito plans to remain on the court through at least next summer, even if Democrats regain majority control in the Senate from Republicans in November’s midterm election, he said in a new report. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Alito, 76, has ruled out retiring during the brief lame-duck session of Congress after the election, when Republicans would still hold their Senate majority through early January even if they lose control for the next Congress. If Democrats are the majority in the next Congress, they may block any Supreme Court nominee of President Donald Trump, a Republican. “I intend to stick around through this term,” Alito told Bloomberg, referring to the court’s current term, which began Monday and which will end in late June or early July. Read more CNBC politics and policy coverage “I made that decision …

Lithuania backs push to lift ban on nuclear arms

Lithuania backs push to lift ban on nuclear arms

Published by Sam Flores

Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuania’s president, during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Kremlin on Tuesday warned a preliminary decision by Lithuanian lawmakers to lift a constitutional ban on hosting nuclear weapons and the potential deployment of a NATO military base in the country will mark “another significant escalation” of regional tensions. The comments come shortly after Lithuania’s parliament voted in favor of advancing a constitutional change on deploying nuclear weapons on its territory. It is the first of two ballots required for the change, with the latter scheduled for Jan. 12 next year. The country, which is a member of both the European Union and NATO and shares a border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea, has been looking to remove the constitutional ban to strengthen its resilience amid growing security concerns. Lithuania has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s more than 4½-year conflict with Kyiv, providing extensive military equipment and financial support. President …

Yemen forces reclaim Red Sea port city of Mokha from Houthis

Yemen forces reclaim Red Sea port city of Mokha from Houthis

Published by Sam Flores

Yemeni security forces escort buses carrying released Houthi-aligned detainees as they arrive in Sana’a on September 12, 2026. Mohammed Hamoud | Getty Images News | Getty Images Yemen government forces said they’ve reclaimed the strategic port city of Mokha from the Iran-backed Houthis, seeking to loosen the militant group’s grip on a critically important Red Sea oil route. In a lightning advance, the Saudi Arabia-backed government said Monday that its forces had taken control of Mokha “following fierce battles against Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist militia” and had captured a number of key locations on the coast around Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Yemen government forces said they had also launched a “strategic offensive” on the country’s capital of Sanaa, which the Houthis have held since 2014. CNBC could not independently verify the claims. The Houthis have reportedly denied that Mokha had fallen. Situated about 75 kilometers (46 miles) north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Mokha is historically known as the region’s chief coffee-exporting center, and the source of the term mocha. Along with other key sites, the port …

Trump tells South Korea to join Alaska LNG deal or pay more

Trump tells South Korea to join Alaska LNG deal or pay more

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 30: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he is joined by (L-R) Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, U.S. Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan (R-AK), U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright during an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House on September 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. The joint announcement unveiled a major $54 billion South Korean investment that includes the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump said he “didn’t jump the gun” in announcing South Korea’s participation in a $50 billion Alaska LNG project, warning Seoul could pay “double” if it does not sign on soon. His remarks come amid a discrepancy between Washington and Seoul over South Korea’s planned energy and infrastructure investments in the U.S., with Trump announcing projects that Seoul has said are not yet finalized. “If they don’t want to do it, that’s OK with …

Results trickle in as Brazil awaits results of presidential election

Results trickle in as Brazil awaits results of presidential election

Published by Sam Flores

Flags and towels bearing the images of Brazil’s President and presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing senator and presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro are displayed for sale on a street in Brasilia on Sept. 30, 2026. Evaristo Sa | AFP | Getty Images Senator Flavio Bolsonaro held a narrowing lead in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday, after more than half the votes were counted, with pollster Datafolha projecting that the election would proceed to a second vote. Flavio, the 45-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro who hopes to return his father’s right-wing movement to power, was leading leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, who is seeking a fourth term, following a campaign dominated by corruption scandals, economic anxiety and accusations of US meddling. With nearly 85% of votes reported, Flavio led Lula with 48.47% of the votes to the president’s 43.49%. A candidate must pass 50% in order to win outright in the first round. Private surveys in the run up to the election had forecast …