Author

admin

Browsing

Below is the EB Weekly Market Report that I sent out earlier to our EarningsBeats.com members. This will give you an idea of the depth of our weekly report, which is a very small piece of our regular service offerings. We called both the stock market top in February and stock market bottom in April, and encouraged EB members to lower risk at the time of the former and increase risk at the time of the latter.

There is no better time to experience our service for yourself as we’re currently running a FLASH SALE that offers a 20% discount on annual memberships. The timing to join couldn’t be better as I’ll be providing my Q3 outlook to all EB annual members at 5:30pm ET today. A recording will be provided for those who cannot attend the session live. So if you sign up later today or tomorrow or the next day, we’ll make sure you get a time-stamped copy of the recording.

In the meantime, enjoy this complimentary copy of this week’s report….

ChartLists/Spreadsheets Updated

The following ChartLists/Spreadsheets were updated over the weekend:

  • Strong Earnings (SECL)
  • Strong Future Earnings (SFECL)
  • Strong AD (SADCL)
  • Raised Guidance (RGCL)
  • Bullish Trifecta (BTCL)
  • Short Squeeze (SSCL)
  • Leading Stocks (LSCL)
  • Manipulation Spreadsheet*

*We continued to add more stocks to our Manipulation Spreadsheet and you’ll see that a few have tabs, but do not have data yet. Those 3 are still “under construction”. I also added a “Summary” tab where I’ve begun to sort the individual stocks in order based on a proprietary relative AD ranking system. Don’t ask me what it means yet, because it’s still very much a work in progress as well. I’m looking at the intraday relative performance of individual stocks vs. the benchmark S&P 500. So positive percentages represent better intraday AD performance than the S&P 500, while negative percentages represent the opposite. One thing I’ll be watching is to see if stronger relative AD lines precede relative strength in stocks on a forward-looking basis. It certainly did in the case of both Netflix (NFLX) and Microsoft (MSFT) from several weeks ago when I pointed out what appeared to me to be significant accumulation in March/April when the stock market bottomed. Both NFLX and MSFT have soared since that time. I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress of my research over the next many weeks and months.

Weekly Market Recap

Major Indices

Sectors

Top 10 Industries Last Week

Bottom 10 Industries Last Week

Top 10 Stocks – S&P 500/NASDAQ 100

Bottom 10 Stocks – S&P 500/NASDAQ 100

Big Picture

If you’re a long-term investor, stepping back and looking at the stock market using this 100-year chart enables you to avoid pulling unnecessary sell triggers, because of the media, permabears, negative nellie’s, and all the “news” out there. The above chart never once flashed anything remotely signaling a sell signal and now, here we are, back at all-time highs. Simply put, it filters out all the noise that we hear on a day-to-day basis and keeps our wits about us.

Sustainability Ratios

Here’s the latest look at our key intraday ratios as we follow where the money is traveling on an INTRADAY basis (ignoring gaps):

QQQ:SPY

Absolute price action on both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 has now seen all-time high breakouts, which alone is quite bullish. We want to see aggressive vs. defensive (or growth vs. value) ratios moving higher to indicate sustainability of any S&P 500 advance. In my view, we’re seeing that. But the intraday QQQ:SPY ratio continues to hesitate. A breakout in this intraday relative ratio would most definitely add to the current bullish market environment.

IWM:QQQ

I’m seeing signs of an impending rate cut by the Fed. However, if I’m being completely honest, one signal that we should see is outperformance in small caps and a rising IWM:QQQ ratio. That hasn’t happened – at least not yet. If a rate cut starts to become clearer, I would absolutely expect to see much more relative strength in small caps. Keep an eye out for that.

XLY:XLP

I pay very close attention to the XLY:XLP ratio and, more specifically, this INTRADAY XLY:XLP ratio. This chart helped me feel confident in calling a market top back in January/February. If you recall, that’s when we said it was waaaaay too risky to be long the U.S. stock market. By the time we had bottomed in April, the blue-shaded area highlighted the fact that the XLY vs. XLP ratio had already begun to SOAR! That’s why, on Friday, April 11th, I said I was ALL IN on the long side again.

These signals are golden and, when used in conjunction with all of our other signals, can provide us extremely helpful clues about stock market direction. If these ratios begin to turn lower in a big way, then yes we’ll need to grow more cautious. However, right now, they couldn’t be any more bullish. Expect higher prices ahead.

Sentiment

5-day SMA ($CPCE)

Sentiment indicators are contrarian indicators. When they show extreme bullishness, we need to be a bit cautious and when they show extreme pessimism, it could be time to become much more aggressive. Major market bottoms are carved out when pessimism is at its absolute highest level.

The S&P 500 had struggled a bit once 5-day SMA readings of the CPCE fell to the .55 area, a sign of market complacency and a possible short-term top. We saw a bit of a pullback in June, which many times is all we get during a secular bull market advance. My sustainability ratios are supporting a higher move by stocks and I know from history that overbought conditions can remain overbought. I also know that sentiment does a much better job of calling bottoms than it does calling tops. That’s why I will not overreact every time this 5-day moving average of the CPCE falls back below .55. During Q4 2024, we saw plenty of 5-day SMA readings below .55 and, while the S&P 500 was choppy, bullishness prevailed throughout. So just please always keep in mind that these 5-day SMA readings are our “speed boat” sentiment indicator that changes quite frequently. When it lines up with other bearish or topping signals, we should take note. But reacting to every subtle move in this chart is a big mistake, in my opinion.

253-day SMA ($CPCE)

This longer-term 253-day SMA of the CPCE is our “ocean-liner” signal, unlike our speedboat indicator. This one usually provides us a very solid long-term signal as the overall market environment moves from one of pessimism to complacency and vice versa. Look at the above chart. When the 253-day SMA is moving lower like it is now, it accompanies our most bullish S&P 500 moves. It makes perfect common sense as well. Once this 253-day SMA moves to extremely high levels and begins to roll over, the bears have already sold. We typically have nowhere to go on our major indices, except higher once sentiment becomes so bearish. The opposite holds true when the 253-day SMA reaches extreme complacency and starts to turn higher. We saw that to start 2022, which, at the time, I stated was my biggest concern as we started 2022. If you recall, I said to look for a 20-25% cyclical bear market over a 3-6 month period on the first Saturday in January 2022. The above chart was my biggest reason for calling for such a big selloff ahead of the decline.

These charts matter.

Long-Term Trade Setup

Since beginning this Weekly Market Report in September 2023, I’ve discussed the long-term trade candidates below that I really like. Generally, these stocks have excellent long-term track records, and many pay nice dividends that mostly grow every year. Only in specific cases (exceptions) would I consider a long-term entry into a stock that has a poor or limited long-term track record and/or pays no dividends. Below is a quick recap of how these stocks looked one week ago:

  • JPM – challenging all-time high
  • BA – substantial improvement, would like to see 185-190 support hold
  • FFIV – very bullish action above its 20-month SMA
  • MA – very steady and bullish long-term performer
  • GS – trending higher above 20-month EMA
  • FDX – trying to clear falling 20-week EMA
  • AAPL – monthly RSI at 50, which has been an excellent time to buy AAPL over the past two decades
  • CHRW – 85-90 is solid longer-term support
  • JBHT – would like to see 120-125 support hold
  • STX – long-term breakout in play, excellent trade
  • HSY – breaking above 175 would be intermediate-term bullish
  • DIS – now testing key price resistance in 120-125 range
  • MSCI – monthly RSI hanging near 50, solid entry
  • SBUX – moved back above 50-week EMA, short-term bullish
  • KRE – long-term uptrend remains in play
  • ED – has been a solid income-producer and investment since the financial crisis low in 2009
  • AJG – few stocks have been steadier to the upside over the past decade
  • NSC – continues to sideways consolidate in very bullish fashion
  • RHI – trending down with potential sight set on 30
  • ADM – looks to be reversing higher off long-term price support near 43
  • BG – 65-70 price support held, now looking to clear 50-week SMA to the upside
  • CVS – excellent support at 45 or just below, just failed on bounce at 50-month SMA at 72
  • IPG – monthly RSI now at 37 and also testing 4-year price support near 22.50
  • HRL – long-term price support at 25 and stock now showing positive divergence on monthly chart – bullish
  • DE – one of the better 2025 momentum stocks on this list

Keep in mind that our Weekly Market Reports favor those who are more interested in the long-term market picture. Therefore, the list of stocks above are stocks that we believe are safer (but nothing is ever 100% safe) to own with the long-term in mind. Nearly everything else we do at EarningsBeats.com favors short-term momentum trading, so I wanted to explain what we’re doing with this list and why it’s different.

Also, please keep in mind that I’m not a Registered Investment Advisor (and neither is EarningsBeats.com nor any of its employees) and am only providing (mostly) what I believe to be solid dividend-paying stocks for the long term. Companies periodically go through adjustments, new competition, restructuring, management changes, etc. that can have detrimental long-term impacts. Neither the stock price nor the dividend is ever guaranteed. I simply point out interesting stock candidates for longer-term investors. Do your due diligence and please consult with your financial advisor before making any purchases or sales of securities.

Looking Ahead

Upcoming Earnings

Very few companies will report quarterly results until mid-April. The following list of companies is NOT a list of all companies scheduled to report quarterly earnings, however, just key reports, so please be sure to check for earnings dates of any companies that you own. Any company in BOLD represents a stock in one of our portfolios and the amount in parenthesis represents the market capitalization of each company listed:

  • Monday: None
  • Tuesday: STZ ($29 billion)
  • Wednesday: None
  • Thursday: None
  • Friday: None

Key Economic Reports

  • Monday: June Chicago PMI
  • Tuesday: June PMI manufacturing, June ISM manufacturing, May construction spending, May JOLTS
  • Wednesday: June ADP employment report
  • Thursday: Initial jobless claims, June nonfarm payrolls, unemployment rate & average hourly earnings, May factory orders, June ISM services
  • Friday: None – stock market closed in observance of Independence Day

Historical Data

I’m a true stock market historian. I am absolutely PASSIONATE about studying stock market history to provide us more clues about likely stock market direction and potential sectors/industries/stocks to trade. While I don’t use history as a primary indicator, I’m always very aware of it as a secondary indicator. I love it when history lines up with my technical signals, providing me with much more confidence to make particular trades.

Below you’ll find the next two weeks of historical data and tendencies across the three key indices that I follow most closely:

S&P 500 (since 1950)

  • Jun 30: +34.34%
  • Jul 1: +72.77%
  • Jul 2: +16.76%
  • Jul 3: +77.19%
  • Jul 4: +0.00% (market closed – holiday)
  • Jul 5: +39.40%
  • Jul 6: +22.32%
  • Jul 7: +17.62%
  • Jul 8: -16.29%
  • Jul 9: +76.54%
  • Jul 10: -16.59%
  • Jul 11: +13.23%
  • Jul 12: +36.89%
  • Jul 13: -5.67%

NASDAQ (since 1971)

  • Jun 30: +73.30%
  • Jul 1: +63.18%
  • Jul 2: -47.43%
  • Jul 3: +46.02%
  • Jul 4: +0.00% (market closed – holiday)
  • Jul 5: +7.04%
  • Jul 6: -10.79%
  • Jul 7: +60.19%
  • Jul 8: -10.10%
  • Jul 9: +86.44%
  • Jul 10: -27.94%
  • Jul 11: +11.18%
  • Jul 12: +128.28%
  • Jul 13: +61.52%

Russell 2000 (since 1987)

  • Jun 30: +99.14%
  • Jul 1: +30.53%
  • Jul 2: -113.05%
  • Jul 3: +44.57%
  • Jul 4: +0.00% (market closed – holiday)
  • Jul 5: -4.89%
  • Jul 6: -76.61%
  • Jul 7: +43.95%
  • Jul 8: +37.24%
  • Jul 9: +31.88%
  • Jul 10: -17.39%
  • Jul 11: +29.75%
  • Jul 12: +89.15%
  • Jul 13: +63.13%

The S&P 500 data dates back to 1950, while the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 information date back to 1971 and 1987, respectively.

Final Thoughts

All-time highs are always a time for me to say “I told you so” to the bears, since I’ve been a firm believer that we remain in a secular bull market advance – one in which we should EXPECT to see higher prices and all-time highs. This latest rally is being fully supported by risk-on areas of the market, which will almost certainly lead for more and more all-time highs down the road.

Here are several things I’m watching this week:

  • Jobs. The ADP employment report will be out on Wednesday and the more-closely-watched nonfarm payrolls will be released on Thursday this week since the stock market is closed on Friday. ANY sign of weakness in these reports will begin to put mounting pressure on the Fed to cut rates in late July at their next meeting.
  • Technical Price Action. Any time we’re setting new all-time highs, I start off with a bullish mindset. I only turn bearish if I’m inundated with warning signals. Currently, I see few of those.
  • History. We can now turn our attention to upcoming earnings season and, historically, that’s a bullish thing. Pre-earnings season runs to the upside are common and, if you scroll up and check out historical returns for days over the next couple weeks, you’ll see that July normally performs well – especially the first half of the month.
  • 10-Year Treasury Yield ($TNX). The 10-year treasury yield has been in decline for 3 straight weeks, falling from 4.52% on June 9th to 4.24% just a few minutes ago. The money rotating into bonds is a very strong signal that inflation is NOT a problem. It’s also a signal that the Fed “should be” considering a rate cut at its next meeting.
  • Breakouts. We’ve seen big breakouts in key areas like semiconductors ($DJUSSC), software ($DJUSSW), and investment services ($DJUSSB), but there will be plenty more. Travel & tourism ($DJUSTT) joined the party on Thursday. Banks ($DJUSBK) are on the verge of a breakout. The way I look at it? The more the merrier!

Happy trading!

Tom

Norway’s national lottery has apologized after thousands of players were mistakenly told that they had won large sums in the Eurojackpot draw due to a coding error.

Norsk Tipping receives the prize amounts from Germany in euros, then coverts them to Norwegian kroner. However, it was during the conversion that an error occurred and winnings were multiplied by 100, rather than divided by 100, the company said in a statement Friday.

Norsk Tipping sent messages and push notifications to customers that showed the wrong, inflated winnings, before later issuing a correction.

“Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect prize amount,” it said.

The company blamed the issue on a “manual coding error.”

“No customers have been paid the wrong prize,” it added.

In a separate statement on Saturday, Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen also apologized for the error.

“I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us,” said Sagstuen in the statement.

“I have received many messages from people who had managed to make plans for holidays, buying an apartment or renovating before they realized that the amount was wrong,” she said.

“To them I can only say: Sorry! But I understand that it is a small consolation,” added Sagstuen, who later stepped down and was replaced by acting CEO Vegar Strand.

The company then sent out another apology message signed by Strand.

“On Friday evening, thousands of Norwegians were mistakenly told that they had won a large prize in Eurojackpot. This was an error that affected many and which we take very seriously,” it read.

“We deeply regret what has happened, and on behalf of us at Norsk Tipping I would like to apologize to everyone who was affected by this,” said Strand, who added that the company was “working intensively” to make sure that something similar doesn’t happen again.

As no one correctly matched all of the numbers in Friday’s draw, the Eurojackpot has now reached 377 million Norwegian kroner ($37.3 million), with the next draw scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

A 92-year-old British man has been convicted of murder and rape on Monday, a verdict that brought an end to a cold case that remained unsolved for 58 years.

Ryland Headley was found guilty by the Bristol Crown Court in England of the rape and murder of Louisa Dunne, who was 75 years old when Headley killed her.

Dunne was found dead in her home in Easton, in the suburbs of Bristol, in June 1967. The police determined at the time that she had been raped and died of strangulation and asphyxiation.

The local constabulary launched a major investigation: they took palmprints from 19,000 men, collected 1,300 statements and made more than 8,000 house-to-house calls, the Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement on Monday.

Yet none of it led anywhere, and the case went cold.

It wasn’t until the police began reviewing the case in 2023 that investigators were able to get a full DNA profile of Dunne’s killer from the skirt she was wearing when she died – using technology that was not available at the time of the crime.

That DNA profile was then matched with samples taken from Headley following his arrest for two rapes in 1977, leading to his arrest in November 2024.

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice,” Crown Prosecuting Solicitor Charlotte Ream said in a statement by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Headley denied committing the offences, according to the CPS.

20 boxes of evidence reviewed

A partial handprint found at the scene was also re-examined as part of the case review, the CPS said. The print of a part of a palm, between the wrist and the base of the little finger, was discovered on a window at the back of Dunne’s house and was matched to Headley’s hand by four experts.

“Headley never featured in (the) original investigation as he lived outside the area where the house-to-house enquiries were carried out,” senior investigating officer with the Avon and Somerset police, Detective Inspector Dave Marchant, said in a statement.

Marchant said the “extensive and meticulous work” that was done by the officers in the initial investigation paved the way for the police to solve the crime. He said that as part of the re-investigation, 20 boxes of original material were reviewed by the police.

The CPS said that all but one witness in the case have died over the nearly six decades since the crime was committed, but that old statements were read in court as part of the trial.

Headley will be sentenced on Tuesday. Ream said he “faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.”

The CPS said that Headley’s other offenses were also considered during the trial. While earlier convictions are not automatically admissible in courts in England, the CPS said that the similarities between the Dunne murder and rape and Headley’s two previous convictions for rape were “too great to ignore.”

The CPS said Headley was convicted after pleading guilty of breaking into the homes of two elderly women in Ipswich and raping them. One of the women was in her seventies and the other in her eighties. Their accounts of the attacks to the police at the time were read out to the court.

He was initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was reduced following an appeal to a seven-year jail term.

Ream said the verdict on Monday was a “demonstration of the commitment of the CPS, and our partners in the police, to relentlessly pursue justice for the victims of crime, no matter how many years – or decades – have passed.”

But advocacy groups say rape convictions remain low in the UK and the justice process is incredibly slow.

The Office for National Statistics says 71,227 rapes were recorded by police in 2024. According to Rape Crisis, a UK charity, just 2.7% of these cases resulted in charges being brought by the end of 2024.

Official government data shows that it currently takes on average 344 days for the police to charge the suspected offender, 30 days for the CPS to authorise the charge, and 336 days for the court to complete the case.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

The US State Department has revoked the visas of members of Bob Vylan, a British rap punk group who led crowds to chant “death” against the Israeli military at a UK music festival this weekend.

“The (State Department) has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants. Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a post on X Monday.

The group was slated to go on a US tour beginning in late October, according to a post on Instagram.

The US State Department has instituted an aggressive visa restriction and revocation policy for alleged support of terrorism and anti-Semitism.

The ban comes after rapper Bobby Vylan took to Glastonbury Festival’s third-biggest West Holts Stage on Saturday, shouting “Free, free Palestine,” before leading crowds to chants against the Israeli military. Video showed the rapper shouting into the mic, “Alright, but have you heard this one though? Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).”

The artist also performed in front of a screen that displayed a message which read: “United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict,’” referring to the UK’s public broadcaster that showed the festival live.

In a Sunday Instagram post captioned “I said what I said,” Bobby Vylan said he had received “messages of both support and hatred” following the performance.

“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” the post read. “As we grow older and our fire possibly starts to dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.”

Bob Vylan’s chants at the festival have also prompted outcry among top British officials, and British police are reviewing video footage of their set. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that “there is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech.”

The Israeli Embassy in the UK said it was “deeply disturbed” by what it called “inflammatory and hateful” rhetoric at the festival.

On Monday, the BBC admitted that “with hindsight” Vylan’s performance should have been pulled from air during the performance, saying that the corporation “respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence.”

“The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves,” it added.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

More than 40 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a cafe near the port in Gaza City, according to the head of the territory’s largest hospital.

Dr. Mohammad Abu Silmiya, the director of Al-Shifa hospital, said in an update on Monday night that at least 41 people had been killed and 75 injured in the strike.

The Al-Baqa cafe was a well-known spot for students, journalists and remote workers, as it offered internet and a place to work by the Mediterranean coast.

He also said the hospital was short of ICU beds and anesthetics to treat the casualties. The death toll increased Monday night after some people died from their injuries.

“We are treating the injured on the hospital floor as no rooms and hospital beds are available,” the hospital director added.

Among those killed was a freelance journalist, Ismail Abu Hatab, according to other journalists at the scene.

The Hamas-controlled Government Media Office said his death brought to 228 the number of journalists killed by Israeli military action in Gaza since October 2023.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

The British Royal Household released its financial statement on Monday, revealing that the annual lump sum from the government remained at £86.3 million ($118.50 million).

The sum, called the Sovereign Grant, pays for the upkeep of royal palaces and the royals’ official duties and is funded by British taxpayer money. In return, the monarch hands over all profits from the Crown Estate — which includes vast swathes of central London property, the Ascot Racecourse and the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland — to the government, in an arrangement dating back to 1760.

The Sovereign Grant functions like an expense account for the monarch and their representatives, covering the costs of their public duties, including travel, staff, and upkeep of historic properties. Notably, it excludes funding for security, which also incurs a high cost given the royals’ numerous public engagements and events.

Royal family members undertook more than “1,900 public engagements in the UK and overseas, while more than 93,000 guests attended 828 events at Official Royal Palaces,” the annual Sovereign Grant Report said.

The total grant of £86.3 million ($118.50 million), which by law remains the same as the three previous financial years, is comprised of a £51.8 million ($71.1 million), core grant and £34.5 million ($47.4 million) to fund the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace, a top tourist attraction in central London, is undergoing a major modernization project that will see upgrades to electric cabling, pipework, elevators and accessible bathrooms.

The royal family will decommission the royal train “following a thorough review into its use and value for money,” according to the accounts report. The monarchy has been using its own rail travel since Queen Victoria first boarded a specially built carriage from Slough, England, to London Paddington Station in 1842.

The report also said the Royal Household will increase its use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and continue the electrification of its fleet of vehicles.

Last year, the Royal Household announced it aimed to transition to an “almost fully electric” fleet of vehicles, without providing a target date. Britain’s PA Media reported that the King’s two Bentleys would be modified to run on biofuel.

The royal family’s three main sources of income are the Sovereign Grant, the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall estates and their personal property and investments.

The level of funding for the British royal family has long fueled criticism, with one anti-monarchy group calling for the Sovereign Grant to be abolished and for the British public to keep all the profits of the Crown Estate.

“The grant system is mad. Funding goes up not because of any need for extra money, but because the grant is linked to government profits from land managed by the Crown Estate,” Graham Smith, a campaigner for the group Republic, said in a statement earlier this year. “The palace has recycled the excuse of needing the money for refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, an excuse used to double the grant ten years ago.”

“It’s time that half a billion pounds was put to good use, that there was proper accounting for the cost of the monarchy and for that cost to be slashed to just a few million pounds,” Smith added.

The Keeper of the Privy Purse, James Chalmers, said in a statement on Monday as the report was released: “Soft power is hard to measure but its value is, I believe, now firmly understood at home and abroad, as the core themes of the new reign have come into even sharper focus, and the Royal Family have continued in their service to the nation, Realms and Commonwealth.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Prosecutors in northern Mexico’s Sinaloa state are investigating the discovery of 20 male bodies with gunshot wounds – including five that were decapitated – on a bridge over a federal highway.

Sinaloa Secretary General Feliciano Castro Meléndez called the case a “regrettable situation” and said it was “part of the violence and insecurity that Sinaloa is experiencing.”

Since 2024, Culiacán has been the epicenter of armed clashes between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel.

Two of the most prominent factions are La Mayiza, which is loyal to the cartel’s alleged co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, and Los Chapitos, which is loyal to the sons of former drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

‘Los Chapitos’

The violence in Sinaloa escalated after Zambada and one of El Chapo’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, were arrested last year by US authorities in El Paso, Texas.

Former Mexican Secretary of Security Rosa Icela Rodriguez said Guzmán López had reached an agreement with one of his brothers, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is in US custody, “So that they would go to the United States to surrender.”

Ovidio had been extradited to the US in September 2023 to face drug trafficking charges over his alleged role in the Sinaloa cartel. Days after his extradition, he pleaded not guilty to the charges in a US court.

Later that month, several members of his family entered the US as part of an apparent “negotiation or plea deal opportunity provided by the (US) Department of Justice itself,” Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said.

Two other sons of El Chapo, Ivan Archivaldo and Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, are still at large. The US has accused them of leading large-scale drug trafficking operations for the cartel and has issued $10 million bounties for information leading to each of their arrests.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Turkish police arrested at least four cartoonists on Monday accused of drawing and distributing a cartoon that authorities and protesters say is a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed and Moses.

The cartoon, published in a political satire magazine, shows what appears to be a Muslim and a Jewish man, both with wings and halos, shaking hands and greeting each other as bombs fall below.

The cartoon went viral on social media four days after it was published. Hundreds of people took to Istanbul’s main tourist street, chanting “Allah is Great” and calling for sharia law in protest. Turkish authorities quickly condemned the magazine.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya called the cartoon a provocation and said those “who dare to do this will be held accountable before the law.” Yerlikaya said the cartoon was not protected by freedom of expression or freedom of speech.

Fahrettin Altun, the head communications for the Turkish Presidency, called it a “vile attack on our beliefs and values.”

The country’s Justice Ministry announced an investigation had been launched into the incident under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code for the crime of “publicly insulting religious values.”

LeMan, the weekly political satire magazine known for irreverent comics similar to French Charlie Hebdo, released a statement saying their cartoon was not depicting the Islamic prophet.

“This cartoon is not a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). In the work, the name Mohammed is fictionalized as belonging to a Muslim person killed in Israel’s bombardments. There are more than 200 million people named Mohammed in the Islamic world. The work does not refer to the Prophet Mohammed in any way,” the magazine said.

“By highlighting a murdered Muslim, the aim was to highlight the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people, with no intention whatsoever of belittling religious values. We reject the stigma imposed on us, as there is no depiction of our Prophet,” LeMan said.

“To interpret the cartoon in such a way requires extreme malice,” the magazine added, but also offered an apology to any readers who may have been offended.

As protesters took to the streets, the Interior Ministry released videos of cartoonists being detained in their homes, barefoot and handcuffed by police with captions such as “You will not escape from our security forces or from justice.”

Protesters were seen kicking the doors of the magazine offices in central Istanbul. In one video a demonstrator shouts, “For our Prophet, we would give our lives and take lives; no one can insult our Prophet.”

The crowd also performed a nighttime prayer. Within hours, Istanbul’s governor Davut Gul announced that all four people who were wanted for the cartoon were in police custody.

Gul did not say if any demonstrators were detained but said in a statement, “It has been determined that some individuals mingling among the protesters have engaged in provocative actions. It is of great importance that the protesting groups disperse to prevent harm to our citizens and to maintain public order.”

Some groups have called for further protests against the magazine on Tuesday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Thailand’s embattled prime minister was suspended from duty Tuesday and could face dismissal pending an ethics probe over a leaked phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 38, has only held the premiership for 10 months after replacing her predecessor, who was removed from office. Her suspension brings fresh uncertainty to the Southeast Asian kingdom, which has been roiled by years of political turbulence and leadership shake-ups.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court accepted a petition brought by a group of 36 senators who accused Paetongtarn of violating the constitution for breaching ethical standards in the leaked call, which was confirmed as authentic by both sides.

The court voted to suspend Paetongtarn from her prime ministerial duties until it reaches a verdict in the ethics case. Paetongtarn will remain in the Cabinet as culture minister following a reshuffle.

Paetongtarn has faced increasing calls to resign, with anti-government protesters taking to the streets of the capital Bangkok on Saturday, after the leaked call with Cambodia’s Hun Sen over an escalating border dispute sparked widespread anger in the country.

The scandal prompted the Bhumjaithai party, a major partner of the prime minister’s government, to withdraw from the coalition last week, dealing a major blow to her Pheu Thai party’s ability to hold power. Paetongtarn is also contending with plummeting approvals ratings and faces a no-confidence vote in parliament.

In the leaked call, which took place on June 15, Paetongtarn could be heard calling former Cambodian strongman Hun Sen “uncle” and appeared to criticize her own army’s actions after border clashes led to the death of a Cambodian soldier last month.

The Thai prime minister could be heard telling Hun Sen that she was under domestic pressure and urged him not to listen to the “opposite side,” in which she referred to an outspoken Thai army commander in Thailand’s northeast.

She also added that if Hun Sen “wants anything, he can just tell me, and I will take care of it.”

Her comments in the leaked audio struck a nerve in Thailand, and opponents accused her of compromising the country’s national interests.

Following the ruling, Paetongtarn said she accepts the court’s decision and that her intention “was truly to act for the good of the country.”

“I want to make it clear that my intentions were more than 100% sincere — I acted for the country, to protect our sovereignty, to safeguard the lives of our soldiers, and to preserve peace in our nation,” she said in a press conference Tuesday.

“I also want to apologize to all my fellow Thais who may feel uneasy or upset about this matter,” she added.

Thailand and Cambodia have had a complicated relationship of both cooperation and rivalry in recent decades. The two countries share a 508-mile (817-kilometer) land border – largely mapped by the French while they occupied Cambodia – that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.

In the wake of the scandal, Paetongtarn tried to downplay her remarks to Hun Sen, saying at a press conference she was trying to diffuse tensions between the two neighbors and the “private” call “shouldn’t have been made public.”

The prime minister said she was using a “negotiation tactic” and her comments were “not a statement of allegiance.”

Paetongtarn became prime minister last year after the Constitutional Court ruled that her predecessor Srettha Thavisin had breached ethics rules and voted to dismiss him as prime minister.

The same court also dissolved the country’s popular progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in the 2023 election, and banned its leaders from politics for 10 years.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

It’s a bittersweet day for Windows users.

Microsoft is scrapping its iconic “blue screen of death,” known for appearing during unexpected restarts on Windows computers. The company revealed a new black iteration in a blog post on Thursday, saying that it is “streamlining the unexpected restart experience.”

The new black unexpected restart screen is slated to launch this summer on Windows 11 24H2 devices, the company said. Microsoft touted the updates as an “easier” and “faster” way to recover from restarts.

The software giant’s blue screen of death dates back to the early 1990s, according to longtime Microsoft developer Raymond Chen.

Travelers walk past screens after a major disruption in Microsoft’s cloud services caused widespread flight cancellations and delays at T3 IGI Airport in New Delhi, India, on July 19.Vipin Kumar / Hindustan Times via Getty Images file

Microsoft also said it plans to update the user interface to match the Windows 11 design and cut downtime during restarts to two seconds for the majority of users.

“This change is part of a larger continued effort to reduce disruption in the event of an unexpected restart,” Microsoft wrote.

The iconic blue screen was seemingly everywhere in July 2024 after a faulty update from CrowdStrike crashed computer systems around the world.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS