year | Common News Update

Apr92021 by adminNo Comments

Biden seeks extra $400 a year in Pell grants for college and to expand aid to Dreamers

Finance

Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden asked Congress for a $ 400 annual increase in maximum Pell grants for college students as part of a budget proposal issued Friday.The president also called to broaden eligibility to undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers.Pell grants are available to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need. Unlike loans, they generally don't have to be repaid.More from Personal Finance:New college grad job outlook looks promising for Class of 2021Biden tax plan may lead to more Roth retirement accountsMore colleges move to make vaccines mandatory for studentsIf adopted by Congress, Biden's budget would yield the largest one-time annual increase to the federal grants since 2009, according to the proposal, signed by Shal...

Apr92021 by adminNo Comments

Ocean noise: Study to measure the oceans’ ‘year of quiet’

Science

AlamyOcean scientists around the world are studying the "unique moment" of quiet created by the pandemic. The researchers have called their vast listening experiment: The year of the quiet ocean. "Lockdown slowed global shipping on a scale that would otherwise be impossible," explained Prof Peter Tyack from the University of St Andrews. The scientists plan to listen to the ocean soundscape before, during and after lockdown. They have identified 200 ocean hydrophones - underwater microphones that are already in place around the global ocean. "So the idea is to use those to measure the changes in noise and how they affect marine life - like calling whales or fish choruses," Prof Tyack said. "Just like people and cities may have noticed that, with much less traffic noise and human activity, ...

Apr82021 by adminNo Comments

US suicides dropped last year, defying pandemic expectations

Health

The number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic — the largest annual decline in at least four decadesBy MIKE STOBBE AP Medical WriterApril 8, 2021, 10:06 PM• 3 min readNEW YORK -- The number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic — the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data.Death certificates are still coming in and the count could rise. But officials expect a substantial decline will endure, despite worries that COVID-19 could lead to more suicides.It is hard to say exactly why suicide deaths dropped so much, but one factor may be a phenomenon seen in the early stages of wars and national disasters, some experts suggested.“There's a heroism phase in every disaster period,...

Mar312021 by adminNo Comments

Bet365 boss earns £469m in a single year

Business

PAThe boss of the gambling firm Bet365 has been awarded one of the biggest pay packets in UK corporate history.The highest paid director of Bet365 Group - believed to be founder and majority shareholder Denise Coates CBE - earned a salary of £421m in the year ending 29 March.She also earned £48m in dividends, taking her total pay to £469m. The company said the arrangements were "appropriate and fair", despite sales falling at the firm last year.But campaign group the High Pay Centre said it was "appallingly inefficient for single individuals to hoard wealth in this way".Ms Coates, who founded the Bet365 website 20 years ago in Stoke-on-Trent, has been the UK's highest paid boss for several years. How Bet365's Denise Coates hit her own jackpotShe is also one of Britain's wealthiest women an...

Mar302021 by adminNo Comments

Nomura had a ‘stellar financial year’ before it warned of potential $2 billion losses, analyst says

Finance

In this articleVIACPDISCA9888-HK700-HK8604.T-JPCSG.N-CHThe warning by Japanese investment bank Nomura that it could incur billions of dollars in losses at a U.S. subsidiary was "pretty unfortunate," an analyst said on Tuesday.Nomura on Monday flagged a potential $ 2 billion loss resulting from transactions with a client stateside. The bank's shares in Japan plunged following that announcement, declining more than 16% on Monday. Those losses extended into Tuesday, with shares declining 0.66% on the day."It's pretty unfortunate for Nomura," Pramod Shenoi, head of Asia-Pacific financials research at research firm CreditSights, told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia."Shenoi said "$ 2 billion dollars ... is a lot of money and what that does is pretty much wipe out any kind of earnings for the second ...