Author: Press Room

Australia’s largest bank has announced bumper quarterly cash profits, but its boss warns global uncertainty could soon slow the Australian economy.In a statement to the ASX, Commonwealth Bank revealed its cash profits rose 6 per cent to $2.6bn in the March quarter, on the back of strong lending to Australian businesses.The bank said business loans surged 9.1 per cent or $3.7bn within those three months, outpacing its home-lending volumes which grew 4.1 per cent.Importantly for shareholders, CBA said its net interest margin – a key measure of profitability – held stable in the quarter, excluding non-recurring earnings, although it did…

Omar Marques | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesEToro, a stock brokerage platform that’s been ramping up in crypto, has priced its IPO at $52 a share, as the company prepares to test the market’s appetite for new offerings.The Israel-based company raised nearly $310 million, selling nearly 6 million shares in a deal that values the business at about $4.2 billion. The company had planned to sell shares at $46 to $50 each. Another almost 6 million shares are being sold by existing investors.IPOs looked poised for a rebound when President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January after…

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has slashed another $450m in grants from Harvard University, amid an ongoing feud over anti-Semitism, presidential control and the limits of academic freedom. On Tuesday, a joint task force assembled under Trump accused Harvard, the country’s oldest university, of perpetrating a “long-standing policy and practice of discriminating on the basis of race”. “Harvard’s campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination. This is not leadership; it is cowardice. And it’s not academic freedom; it’s institutional disenfranchisement,” the task force said in a statement.…

A forthcoming book that promises explosive new details on former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s mental and physical decline while in the White House has revived the subject of how his aides and top Democrats handled his decision to run for re-election.The book, “Original Sin,” by Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios, chronicles how Mr. Biden’s advisers stomped out discussion of his age-related limitations, including internal concerns of aides, external worries of Democratic allies and scrutiny by journalists. Mr. Biden had long been gaffe-prone, but as he forgot familiar names and faces and showed his physical frailty,…

President Trump has long railed against drug traffickers. He has said they should be given the death penalty “for their heinous acts.” On the first day of his second term, he signed an executive order listing cartels as “terrorist organizations.”But many public health and addiction experts fear that his budget proposals and other actions effectively punish people who use drugs and struggle with addiction.The Trump administration has vowed to reduce overdose deaths, one of the country’s deadliest public health crises, by emphasizing law enforcement, border patrols and tariffs against China and Mexico to keep out fentanyl and other dangerous drugs.…

Her testimony at times contained graphic descriptions of sex acts she said she did not consent to. Lying on the floor, “in a position I could not easily get out of,” she said an escort urinated on her at Mr. Combs’s direction, until, choking, she put up her hands. “Eventually Sean saw me, and told him to stop,” she said.She said she stayed to keep Mr. Combs happy.Ms. Ventura, whose relationship with Mr. Combs’s was intermittent over a period of more than a decade, described falling in love with Mr. Combs and participating in the freak-offs because she wanted to…

A federal grand jury indicted a Wisconsin circuit court judge on Tuesday, who was arrested last month for allegedly shielding an illegal immigrant from federal agents.Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding on April 25, after evidence became known that she had shielded an illegal immigrant from federal agents, according to a criminal complaint. She was also charged with concealing an individual to prevent discovery and arrest.Dugan was indicted by a federal grand jury after listening to testimony regarding charges that she allegedly tried to help an illegal alien escape arrest in…

An 89-year-old Winnipeg golfer is proving that age is no reason to slow down. Hank Plouffe, who will be turning 90 in July, hits up Bel Acres Golf & Country Club, just north of Winnipeg, five days a week, from Monday to Friday.“It’s the enjoyment of the friendship of the people that you play with,” Plouffe said. “It’s a game; there’s fun to it.”And it was friendship that drew Plouffe, who averages about 70 games a season, to the game of golf 57 years ago.“I had a very good friend who was a very good golfer, and he passed away…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! George Clooney was allegedly left “shaken to his core” after an uncomfortable face-to-face with former President Biden during a star-studded fundraiser in 2024. In an excerpt from the upcoming book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson detail the “terrifying” moment in which the former President of the United States failed to recognize the Oscar Award-winning actor after years of knowing each other. “It was like watching someone who was not alive,” one insider claimed in the excerpt, which was published…

Microsoft on Tuesday said it’s cutting 3% of its workforce across the board.The layoffs are expected to impact all levels and geographies, but will focus on reducing management levels, the company said in a statement. Notices went out on Tuesday. The tech giant didn’t disclose the total amount of lost jobs but it will amount to about 6,000 workers, according to The Associated Press.Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on streamlining “by reducing layers with fewer managers.” She also noted the compay’s headcount in March was 2% higher than a…