Breaking
US Finance Insider
Author

admin

Browsing
Politics

State Dept says G20 boycott tied to South Africa’s ‘government-sponsored discrimination’ against Afrikaners

The Trump administration on Friday intensified its dispute with South Africa, saying no U.S. government official will attend the G20 Summit in Johannesburg in protest of what it describes as state-backed discrimination against White Afrikaners.

‘The lives and property of Afrikaners have been endangered by politicians who incite race-based violence against them, threaten to confiscate their farms without compensation, and prop up a corrupt race-based scoring system that discriminates against Afrikaners in employment,’ State Department Deputy Principal spokesperson Tommy Piggott told Fox News Digital.

‘South Africa must immediately end all government-sponsored discrimination against Afrikaners and condemn those who seek to ignite racial violence against them.’

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that it’s a ‘total disgrace’ the G20, scheduled for Nov. 22 to Nov. 23, will be held in South Africa.

‘Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated,’ the president said. ‘No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida!’

Afrikaners have faced increasing hostility from some politicians who have called for violence against them and the threat of land confiscation.

South Africa’s Expropriation Act of 2024 allows the government to take land for public use, including in some cases without compensation — a policy the government says is aimed at addressing racial inequities in ownership, but one that critics warn could unfairly affect White Afrikaner farmers.

Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House in May, pressing him on ‘White genocide’ in the country. Ramaphosa vehemently denied the claims. 

‘There is just no genocide in South Africa,’ he said. ‘We cannot equate what is alleged to be genocide to what we went through in the struggle because people were killed because of the oppression that was taking place in our country. So you cannot equate that.’

Trump played a video in the Oval Office of white crosses along a highway that he said depicted burial sites of White farmers.

‘Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?’ Ramaphosa asked. ‘I’d like to know where that is because this I’ve never seen.’

A senior State Department official told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration set a refugee cap for fiscal year 2026 of 7,500, with a majority of the spots reserved for Afrikaners fleeing what it describes as government-sponsored race-based discrimination in South Africa.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
Politics

Supreme Court blocks lower court order forcing Trump administration to fully fund SNAP program

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary block on Friday on a lower court’s order requiring the Trump administration to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program amid the government shutdown. 

The decision came shortly after a federal appeals court on Friday denied a Trump administration request to temporarily block the lower court ruling.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jack McConnell rejected the administration’s effort to only partially fund the benefits program for some 42 million low-income Americans for November as the shutdown drags on, giving the government 24 hours to comply. 

‘People have gone without for too long,’  McConnell said in court.

After the appeals court ruling, the Trump administration filed the emergency appeal to SCOTUS late Friday. 

‘Given the imminent, irreparable harms posed by these orders, which require the government to transfer an estimated $4 billion by tonight, the Solicitor General respectfully requests an immediate administrative stay of the orders pending the resolution of this application by no later than 9:30pm this evening,’ an administration spokesperson told Fox News. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James responded to the Supreme Court decision Friday, calling it a ‘tragedy.’ 

‘This decision is a tragedy for the millions of Americans who rely on SNAP to feed their families. It is disgraceful that the Trump administration chose to fight this in court instead of fulfilling its responsibility to the American people,’ she said in a statement. 

The Supreme Court ruling came after the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday said it is working to comply with a judge’s order to fully fund the program for November. 

In a letter sent to all regional directors of the SNAP program on Friday, Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary for USDA’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, said, ‘FNS is working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances in compliance with the November 6, 2025, order from the District Court of Rhode Island.’

He added, ‘Later today, FNS will complete the processes necessary to make funds available to support your subsequent transmittal of full issuance files to your EBT processor.’

Penn said the department would keep regional directors ‘as up to date as possible on any future developments and appreciate your continued partnership to serve program beneficiaries across the country. State agencies with questions should contact their FNS Regional Office representative.’

He scolded the Trump administration for failing to comply with the order he issued last week, which required the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund the SNAP benefits programs before its funds were slated to lapse on Nov. 1, marking the first time in the program’s 60-year history that its payments were halted. 

The judge also said Trump officials failed to address a known funding distribution problem that could cause SNAP payments to be delayed for weeks or months in some states. He ordered the USDA to tap other contingency funds as needed.

‘It’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here,’ McConnell said Thursday. 

Trump administration officials said in a court filing earlier this week that they would pay just 65% of the roughly $9 billion owed to fund the SNAP program for November, prompting the judge to update his order and give the administration just 24 hours to comply.

‘The evidence shows that people will go hungry, food pantries will be overburdened, and needless suffering will occur,’ McConnell said. ‘That’s what irreparable harm here means.’

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
Investing

Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Quarterback Resources Scores with 160 Percent Gain

Statistics Canada released October’s job numbers on Friday (November 7). The data showed a surprise expansion of the Canadian labor market with the addition of 67,000 new jobs during the month, as well as a 0.2 percent drop in the unemployment rate to 6.9 percent.

This marks the second consecutive monthly increase, following 60,000 new workers entering the market in September. The gains over the two-month period also offset the cumulative 106,000 losses that were recorded in July and August.

The biggest gains came in the wholesale and retail trade sector, which added 40,700 new jobs; followed by transportation and warehousing, which added 29,500; and information, culture and recreation, which added 25,200.

The report comes just days after the federal Liberal Party tabled its first budget since winning the election in April. The budget estimates an initial deficit of C$78 billion in 2025-26, which would slowly decline to C$57 billion in 2030.

The budget places greater focus on nation-building, strengthening climate competitiveness, streamlining government activities and reducing annual operational costs by C$13 billion by 2029, while maintaining critical social supports.

Highlighting the budget is a promise for a C$51 billion investment over 10 years for local infrastructure projects and a C$81.8 billion over five years for defence spending C$72 billion of which will be new money.

On the mining side of the equation, the Mining Association of Canada said on Tuesday (November 4) that it applauds the budget for several measures aimed at the Canadian mining sector.

Among them, C$2 billion over five years will be directed to Natural Resources Canada to create the Critical Minerals Sovereign fund, which will be used to invest in critical mineral projects and companies.

The budget will also move the existing Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund into the new First and Last Mile Fund, which will focus investment into near-term projects to get them to production sooner, and provide tax measures so companies can write off capital investments more quickly.

The Mining Association also highlighted the proposed expansion of the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit to include an additional 12 minerals, including bismuth, cesium, manganese, tin and tungsten.

Additionally, the budget indicated that its focus on investing in clean technologies and carbon capture to reduce emissions would eventually render oil and gas emission caps unnecessary.

For more on what’s moving markets this week, check out our top market news round-up.

Markets and commodities react

Canadian equity markets were down this week.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) lost just 0.15 percent over the week to close Friday at 29,912.19.

Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) had a much more challenging week, falliing 7.63 percent to 885.31. The CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) also had a bad week, plunging 7.35 percent to close out the week at 163.51.

The gold price ended the week flat, closing at US$4,000.20 per ounce by 4:00 p.m. EST Friday. The silver price fell slightly, dropping 0.66 percent to US$48.35.

Meanwhile, in base metals, the copper price shed 2.72 percent to US$5.01 per pound.

The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodities Index (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) fell 0.2 percent to end Friday at 553.62.

Top Canadian mining stocks this week

How did mining stocks perform against this backdrop?

Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.

Stocks data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market caps greater than C$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.

1. Quarterback Resources (CSE:QB)

Weekly gain: 160 percent
Market cap: C$11.36 million
Share price: C$1.3

Quarterback Resources is an exploration company focused on exploring the Twin gold property in Northwest British Columbia, Canada.

The project is located in the Omineca Mining District near Fort St. James, and consists of 16 mineral claims covering 11,110 hectares. The site has a history of mineral exploration dating back to the 1970s, including 109 drill holes.

Quarterback holds an option to acquire a 100 percent stake in the property through an earn-in agreement in exchange for C$800,000 in cash payments and C$4.74 million in exploration expenditures over a six-year period.

According to a technical report released in November 2024, the company relogged three of the historic holes from the Takla-Rainbow zone, with one hole returning a grade of 2.26 parts per million (ppm) gold, 2.15 ppm silver and 0.19 percent copper over 22.52 meters.

Shares in Quarterback were up significantly this week. Its most recent news came on Wednesday (November 5) when it filed its monthly progress report on the Canadian Securities Exchange website. The company noted that it was proceeding with a Phase 1 exploration program, which is planned to include LIDAR and induced polarization surveys.

2. Mont Royal Resources (TSXV:MRZL)

Weekly gain: 62.5 percent
Market cap: C$47.55 million
Share price: C$0.26

Mont Royal Resources is an Australia-based exploration company focused on a trio of projects in Québec, Canada. The company began trading on the TSXV on November 5 following a merger with Canada-based Commerce Resources.

The merger combined Commerce’s Ashram rare earth and flourspar project and Eldor niobium projects, with Mont Royal’s existing Northern Lights gold-copper-lithium project, all of which are located in Quebec.

In the October 22 news release announcing the completion of the merger, it stated its core focus would be on the Ashram rare earth and flourspar project and that the deal provided a compelling opportunity to establish a new source of rare earths in North America.

Ashram, located near Nunavik, Quebec, has received more than AU$50 million in investment for exploration activities, development studies and resource definition.

According to the project page, a mineral resource estimate from April 2024 produced an indicated resource grading 1.89 percent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 6.6 percent fluorspar from 73.2 million metric tons of ore.

Although the company did not release project news this week, two of its projects contain minerals that were added to the CMETC as part of the fall budget.

3. Royalties Inc. (CSE:RI)

​Weekly gain: 38.46 percent
Market cap: C$11.36 million
Share price: C$0.09

Royalties is focused on building cash flow through the acquisition of mineral and music royalty assets.

The company has a 100 percent interest in the Bilbao silver property in Zacatecas, Mexico, which hosts silver, zinc and lead deposits. As silver prices improve, the company is seeking to monetize the property.

In June, the company reported that its subsidiary, Minera Portree, won its lawsuit against Capstone Copper (TSX:CS,OTC Pink:CSCCF), asserting its ownership of a 2 percent net smelter return royalty on five mineral concessions at the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas.

The protracted legal dispute began after Capstone re-assigned the royalty to itself through a 2019 contract without informing or paying Minera Portree.

Under the terms of the judgment, the 2 percent NSR will revert back to Minera Portree along with royalties for the exploitation of concessions between 2002 and 2019. The amounts for those royalties will be set at the execution phase. Capstone Gold is also ordered to pay royalties from the Portree 1 concession from August 2019 to present.

​While Capstone appealed the decision, Royalties announced on Thursday (November 6) that an appellate court had upheld the original June decision, deeming the appellant’s arguments inoperative and inadmissible.​

4. Africa Energy (TSXV:AFE)

​Weekly gain: 31.82 percent
Market cap: C$64.69 million
Share price: C$0.145

Africa Energy is a South Africa-focused oil and gas exploration and development company.

Its flagship asset is Block 11B/12B located approximately 175 kilometers off the south coast of South Africa. The block covers an area of 18,734 square kilometers and depths between 200 meters and 1,800 meters.

It holds a 4.9 percent interest in the asset through its investment in Main Street 1549, a 49/51 joint venture with Arostyle Investments. The three other partners in the asset announced plans to withdraw from the Block 11B/12B joint venture in July 2024, and announced a definitive agreement for the new ownership structure of the Block 11B/12B asset in May of this year.

The restructuring would result in Africa Energy holding a 75 percent stake in the block, with Arostyle Investments holding the remaining 25 percent. This is contingent on the asset being granted the production rights, which requires approval of its environmental and social impact assessment.

Shares in Africa Energy were up this week. Its most recent news came on October 9, when it provided an operational update from Block 11B/12B. The company announced that it had been granted an extension to submit its environmental and social impact assessment until May 4, 2026.

5. Highland Critical Minerals (CSE:HLND)

Weekly gain: 26.87 percent
Market cap: C$79.73 million
Share price: C$4.25

Highland Critical Minerals is an exploration company focused on advancing its flagship Church lithium property in Ontario, Canada.

The project, located near Thunder Bay, Ontario, is situated within the Quetico region. A preliminary exploration program at the property conducted in August 2023 discovered five pegmatites hosting quartz, feldspar and muscovite and returned high lithium grades up to 3 percent lithium dioxide.

In addition to Church, Highland has been working to acquire other critical mineral properties, with the most recent announced on Friday. In the news release, the company said it had entered into a binding letter of intent to acquire mining claims covering 3,138.874 hectares in the Yathkyed Lake Greenstone Belt in Nunavut, Canada, expanding Highland’s critical mineral portfolio.

FAQs for Canadian mining stocks

What is the difference between the TSX and TSXV?

The TSX, or Toronto Stock Exchange, is used by senior companies with larger market caps, and the TSXV, or TSX Venture Exchange, is used by smaller-cap companies. Companies listed on the TSXV can graduate to the senior exchange.

How many mining companies are listed on the TSX and TSXV?

As of May 2025, there were 1,565 companies listed on the TSXV, 910 of which were mining companies. Comparatively, the TSX was home to 1,899 companies, with 181 of those being mining companies.

Together, the TSX and TSXV host around 40 percent of the world’s public mining companies.

How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?

There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.

The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.

These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.

How do you trade on the TSXV?

Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange’s trading hours.

Article by Dean Belder; FAQs by Lauren Kelly.

Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Keep Reading
Investing

Lobo Tiggre: Copper is My Highest-Confidence 2026 Trade, Uranium is Runner-Up

Lobo Tiggre, CEO of IndependentSpeculator.com, shares why copper is his highest-confidence trade for 2026, as well as when he will consider buying.

‘I now have probably more cash to put into play than I’ve ever had sitting on the sidelines waiting for this copper buying opportunity,’ he said.

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Keep Reading
Investing

Tech Weekly: Tech Stocks Feel the Heat Amid Valuation Fears

Plus, we break down next week’s market catalysts to watch to help you prepare for the week ahead.

In this article:

    This week’s tech market round-up

    The tech space was marked by heightened volatility this week, with sharp swings driven by concerns over inflated artificial intelligence (AI) valuations and mixed economic data.

    Global markets gained early in the week, driven by optimism over a US-China trade truce, along with a US$38 billion AI cloud deal between OpenAI and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).

    However, gains were tempered following comments from the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong, where Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO David Solomon warned of a likely 10 to 20 percent pullback in equities within the next 12 to 24 months. Other panelists at the event offered similar projections.

    Futures tracking the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) weakened ahead of the release of Canada’s federal budget, which promises C$925.6 million for sovereign compute capacity, quantum tech funding and support for open banking and stablecoins. The government aims to attract C$500 billion in private sector investment over five years.

    US tech stocks sold off again on Wednesday (November 5) amid uncertainty over the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling and short positions by Michael Burry on NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR).

    A stronger-than-expected ADP report helped stabilize the tech sector midday, but October jobs data weighed on markets again Thursday (November 6), cooling risk appetite, especially for AI momentum stocks.

    Wall Street’s main indexes extended losses to a second session on Friday (November 7) and posted weekly declines as the Volatility Index (INDEXCBOE:VIX) hit its highest level in a fortnight, just one week after the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) and Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) notched their longest winning streak in four and seven years, respectively.

    Traders were pricing in a 70.2 percent chance of a 25 basis point interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve in December at the time of this writing, down from 90 percent last week.

    3 tech stocks moving markets this week

    1. Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR)

    Palantir reported a strong Q3 earnings beat with a year-on-year revenue increase of 63 percent to US$1.18 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of US$1.09 billion.

    Earnings per share were also above forecasts, coming in at US$0.21 compared to expectations of US$0.17.

    The company’s total contract value rose to US$2.76 billion, a record high, driven by a 121 percent rise in US commercial revenue and a 52 percent increase in US government revenue.

    The company also raised its full-year 2025 revenue guidance to around US$4.4 billion, driven by continued strong AI demand and government contracts. On the earnings call, management expressed confidence in continued growth fueled by AI, emphasizing strategic partnerships with companies like NVIDIA, while acknowledging challenges in the European market and operational scaling.

    However, Palantir’s share price dropped about 3 percent in after-hours trading. Analysts attributed the market reaction to concerns over the prolonged US government shutdown potentially impacting contracts, alongside a large bearish bet revealed by Michael Burry’s fund.

    The company’s stock is down 14 percent for the week.

    2. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

    Shares of Amazon rallied on Monday morning after announcing a US$38 billion multi-year partnership with OpenAI to run its advanced AI workloads on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure, providing access to hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs and specialized AWS chips.

    The deal significantly strengthens AWS’s position in the AI cloud market. Investors had a marked reaction to the news, driving Amazon’s shares price to a record high of US$US$254.

    However, gains were partially erased during the broader tech sector pullback. Its stock ultimately closed the week down 4.28 percent.

    3. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

    Shares of NVIDIA have been dragged down this week due to valuation concerns and fears related to US export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China.

    During a 60 Minutes interview with Norah O’Donnell on Sunday (November 2) evening that covered a range of topics, President Trump stated NVIDIA’s most advanced AI chips would be reserved exclusively for US companies. The market reacted by sending shares of NVIDIA (up or down?) on Monday morning.

    Also on Monday, Microsoft provided an update on its US$15.2 billion planned investment in the UAE, which will include increasing its AI computing power in the UAE by four times to reach the equivalent of 60,400 NVIDIA A100 GPUs in compute power in the country.

    NVIDIA shares, also boosted by Loop Capital raising its price target by US$100, rose by over four percent from Friday’s closing price in early trading.

    However, a large bearish position against NVIDIA was disclosed from Burry’s fund on Wednesday, adding to downward pressure already on its shares amidst a tech stock sell-off.

    During a Thursday press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “was not interested in selling (the Blackwell chip) to China at this time”.

    Meanwhile, during the Financial Times’ Future of AI Summit, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said the West is being held back by “cynicism” and reportedly told the outlet, “China is going to win the AI race.”

    Huang has previously warned that US restrictions could backfire by accelerating China’s domestic chip development, arguing the US should stay engaged with Chinese developers to maintain leadership. The company’s shares are down 9.53 percent for the week.

    NVIDIA, Palantir and Amazon performance, November 3 to 7, 2025.

    Chart via Google Finance.

    Top tech news of the week

          Tech ETF performance

          Tech exchange-traded funds (ETFs) track baskets of major tech stocks, meaning their performance helps investors gauge the overall performance of different sectors.

          This week, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) declined by 4.81 percent, while the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) saw a weekly loss of 5.2 percent.

          The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) decreased by 5.41 percent.

          Tech news to watch next week

          Next week, investors will hear earnings results from Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), due to report its Q1FY26 earnings on November 12. The company is expected to deliver a year-on-year increase in earnings on higher revenues. Semiconductor equipment supplier, Applied Materials, is also set to report its Q4 earnings on November 13.

          AMD will have its Financial Analyst Day on Tuesday (November 11), providing further strategic updates and outlook.

          Analysts and investors will also be watching for any sign of an end to the 38-day government shutdown after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) unveiled a plan to attach a one year extension to the expiring Obamacare subsidies and to create a bipartisan committee that could negotiate further on how to deal with the subsidies after the government reopened. Majority leader John Thune reportedly told CBS News that the Democratic proposal is a ‘nonstarter’.

          Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

          This post appeared first on investingnews.com

          Keep Reading
          Investing

          Surface Metals Inc. Grants Options and Provides Update on Financial Marketing

          Surface Metals Inc. (CSE: SUR,OTC:SURMF) (OTCQB: SURMF) (the ‘Company’, or ‘Surface Metals’) has granted 250,000 options priced at $0.255 to a consultant, and directors and officers have voluntarily surrendered 499,999 options issued on April 14, 2022 at $3.84 (post consolidation).

          As per the press release announced on October 29th, 2025, IDR Marketing Inc. ‘IDR’, has been retained for a six month period commencing October 29th to provide public relations strategies, brand awareness, financial and digital marketing services to the Company. IDR is a California Corporation with its registered office located at 100 Oceangate, 12th Floor, Long Beach, CA, USA, 90802. Its principal and president is Linda Josey, an arm’s-length party. Contact details: linda@idrmarketing.com (562) 343-7483.

          IDR Marketing Inc. is an independent ad agency providing full-scale integrated marketing and advertising services. Clients trust IDR for brand strategy and awareness, digital marketing, social media and advertising, newswire distribution, article marketing,

          About Surface Metals Inc.

          Surface Metals Inc. (CSE: SUR,OTC:SURMF) (OTCQB: SURMF) is a North American mineral exploration company focused on advancing a diversified portfolio of gold and lithium projects in Nevada, USA, and Manitoba, Canada. The Company’s Cimarron Gold Project is located in Nye County, Nevada, in a historically productive gold district. Surface’s Clayton Valley Lithium Brine Project hosts an inferred resource of approximately 302,900 tonnes LCE adjacent to Albemarle’s Silver Peak Mine. Surface Metals is also advancing lithium projects in Fish Lake Valley, Nevada, and through a joint venture with Snow Lake Energy in southeastern Manitoba.

          On behalf of the Board of Directors

          Steve Hanson
          Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director
          Telephone: (604) 564-9045
          info@surfacemetals.com

          Neither the CSE nor its regulations service providers accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release contains certain statements which may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (‘forward-looking statements’). Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

          To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/273738

          News Provided by Newsfile via QuoteMedia

          This post appeared first on investingnews.com

          Keep Reading
          Investing

          Rich Checkan: Silver to Outpace Gold in 2026, Use This Dip to Buy

          Rich Checkan, president and COO of Asset Strategies International, shares his thoughts on the recent pullback in gold and silver prices, emphasizing that both still have room to run.

          In his view, silver is set to outpace gold in 2026.

          Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

          This post appeared first on investingnews.com

          Keep Reading
          Politics

          Mike Johnson shoots down Obamacare vote guarantee after Thune floats compromise in Senate

          House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday sharply diverged from the direction that Senate negotiations were headed in to end the government shutdown.

          Johnson told reporters Thursday that he would not commit to holding a vote on extending COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of this year without congressional action.

          Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had been floating a vote on such an extension in exchange for Democrats voting to end the shutdown — which is now in its 37th day. He has said he could not guarantee an outcome on the vote or that the House would take it up, however.

          ‘Leader Thune has bent over backwards. He’s offered them a vote. You know what they told him in response? ‘No, we need you to guarantee the outcome of that vote.’ Well, that’s ridiculous,’ Johnson said when asked about holding such a vote by a guaranteed date in the House if the deal succeeds in breaking the logjam.

          When pressed again on a vote, he said, ‘No, because we did our job, and I’m not part of the negotiation.’

          ‘The House did its job on Sept. 19. I’m not promising anybody anything. I’m going to let this process play out,’ Johnson said.

          His comments appeared to anger Senate Democrats who were negotiating an off-ramp to the shutdown.

          ‘Mike Johnson is only going to do what one person tells him, and that one person is Donald Trump, who has declared himself basically the speaker of the House,’ Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., told reporters in response. ‘So we need to be the adults in the room.’

          The issue of enhanced Obamacare subsidies has been a matter of debate within the GOP, with some Republicans in more moderate districts calling for at least a year-long extension to give lawmakers time to create a new healthcare deal in its place.

          But House conservatives are rejecting any such extension out of hand. Fox News Digital first reported that leaders of the 189-member Republican Study Committee issued an official position earlier Thursday demanding the credits not be extended.

          It’s been a key ask for Democrats, however, that such an extension be paired with any federal funding bill before they agree to help end the shutdown.

          Senate Democrats are huddling on Thursday afternoon to discuss what they could and could not accept out of a deal to end the government shutdown.

          There are a dozen in the caucus who have been meeting to find a way out of the shutdown, but following Democrats’ Tuesday night election sweep, many in their caucus feel emboldened that their shutdown strategy is working and don’t want to let up yet.

          Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he believed Tuesday’s election was ‘having an impact’ on the caucus.

          ‘It would be very strange for the American people to weigh in, in support of Democrats, standing up and fighting for them, and then within days, for us to surrender without having achieved any of the things that we’ve been fighting for,’ Sen. Chris Murphy said.

          The majority of the caucus demands a guarantee on a deal rather than the promise of a process, given that a proposal to extend the expiring subsidies from Democrats without major reforms to the program would likely fail in the Republican-controlled chamber.

          But Thune has remained adamant that he can’t promise anything more than a vote and can’t predict an outcome.

          ‘I made this very clear to them, I can’t guarantee them an outcome,’ Thune said. ‘I can guarantee them a process, and they can litigate the issue, get the vote on the floor, and presumably they have some way of getting a vote in the House at some point, but I can’t speak for the House.’

          This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

          Keep Reading
          Politics

          Optimism fades as Senate Democrats dig in, hold out over Obamacare demands

          Any optimism either side of the aisle had that the government shutdown could end this week appeared to fade on Capitol Hill, as Senate Democrats appear ready to hold out longer for a deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies.

          Senate Democrats left another long closed-door caucus lunch on Thursday, signaling a unified front as the shutdown entered its 37th day amid Republican demands to make a deal to reopen the government.

          Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus are still riding high after a successful Election Day Tuesday that saw Democratic candidates pummel their Republican opponents. While there are bipartisan talks among centrist Senate Democrats and Republicans on a way out, the majority of the caucus appeared ready to hold the line.

          ‘We had a very good, productive meeting,’ Schumer said as he exited the lunch.

          Others espoused messages of unity among the ranks and bristled that they were holding out from reopening the government.

          ‘It’s not about holding out,’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said. ‘We fight for access to healthcare for millions of people across this country. Affordability is a giant issue for American families. They told us that at the polls on Tuesday, but they tell us that every day of their lives.’

          Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to put the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) on the floor again Friday to test Democrats’ resolve. It’s expected they’ll block the bill once again.

          Thune and Republicans have remained firm in their position that the Obamacare issue would be considered after the government reopens, and he has offered Senate Democrats a vote on the matter, which is also expected to fail.

          But Senate Democrats demand that President Donald Trump get involved and negotiate a deal on the expiring subsidies. Democrats also brushed aside comments from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who earlier in the day said he would not promise a vote in the House on the expiring subsidies.

          ‘I can tell you that Mike Johnson is only going to do what one person tells him, and that one person is Donald Trump, who has declared himself basically the Speaker of the House,’ Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said.

          Still, Senate Republicans hope that Senate Democrats will accept the offer, along with the plan to pair the CR with a trio of spending bills to jump-start the government funding process.

          ‘I think the clear path forward here with regard to the [Obamacare] issue, open up the government, and we head down to the White House and sit down with the president and talk about it,’ Thune said. ‘But I just, right now there is hostage taking, as you all know. The consequences are getting more pronounced.’

          There is also the question of whether the Senate stays in over the weekend ahead of a scheduled recess for Veterans Day next week.

          Senate Democrats want to remain, but Republicans aren’t keen to stick around unless there are signs of real progress toward reopening the government.

          ‘I do expect to be here this weekend,’ Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said.

          This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

          Keep Reading
          Politics

          Supreme Court hands Trump victory on transgender passport policy change

          The Supreme Court cleared the way for the State Department to require people to state their biological sex on new or renewed passports, a victory for the Trump administration as it aims to tighten policies involving transgender people.

          The high court found in a 6-3 order temporarily greenlighting the policy that a lower court in Massachusetts had erred in blocking it. 

          ‘Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,’ the majority wrote in the unsigned order.

          The three liberal justices dissented. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee, blasted her Republican-appointed colleagues in a lengthy dissent for what she said had become a ‘routine’ of siding with the Trump administration on the emergency docket.

          The majority ‘fails to spill any ink considering the plaintiffs, opting instead to intervene in the Government’s favor without equitable justification, and in a manner that permits harm to be inflicted on the most vulnerable party,’ Jackson wrote, adding that transgender people have been permitted to state their preferred gender on passports for more than three decades.

          The class action lawsuit, brought by a dozen self-described transgender, nonbinary or intersex people on behalf of themselves and others in their situation, will continue to proceed through the lower courts.

          The plaintiffs had argued in court papers that passports should ‘reflect the sex [people] live as and express, rather than the sex they were assigned at birth.’

          Solicitor General John Sauer wrote on behalf of President Donald Trump that passports effectively communicate information to foreign governments and private citizens cannot force the president to communicate in a way that defies his foreign policy preferences and ‘scientific reality.’

          The policy, which reversed the Biden administration’s allowance of an ‘X’ gender option on passports, was implemented as part of a string of executive orders Trump issued when he took office aimed at requiring transgender people to identify as their biological sex in certain situations, including in gender-exclusive sports and in the military.

          Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated that the high court had handed the Department of Justice roughly two-dozen wins this year on the emergency docket, sometimes referred to as a shadow or interim docket, where cases are fast-tracked so that the Supreme Court can potentially offer temporary resolutions until the merits of the cases are examined.

          ‘Today’s stay allows the government to require citizens to list their biological sex on their passport,’ Bondi said on social media. ‘In other words: there are two sexes, and our attorneys will continue fighting for that simple truth.’

          This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

          Keep Reading