Aurelia Butler

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    Trump Plans Jan. 6 Pardons and Deportations as First Acts in Office

    President-elect Donald J. Trump said in a new interview that he will use the opening hours of his presidency to pardon people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault, begin deportations of undocumented immigrants and increase oil production.He also said during the interview, which Time magazine published on Thursday, that he might supporting getting rid of some childhood vaccines if data shows links to autism. He declined to answer a question about whether he had talked with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia since the November election but said Ukraine should not have been allowed to fire U.S.-made missiles into Russia.Speaking of pardons in Jan. 6 cases, he said: “We’re going to do it very quickly, and it’s going to start in the first hour that I get into office.” He said the pardons would go to “nonviolent” people who were at the Capitol, which was overrun by Trump supporters after he lost the 2020 election. “A vast majority should not be in jail, and they’ve suffered gravely,” he said.The president-elect’s comments came during a wide-ranging interview conducted on Nov. 25 as part of the magazine’s choice of Mr. Trump to be its person of the year. In the interview, which the magazine said lasted more than an hour, the president-elect bragged that he had run a “flawless” campaign and that Democrats were out of touch with Americans.He also said he planed a “virtual closure of Department of Education in Washington,” though he did not explain what that meant. And he said that he might reverse President Biden’s expansion of Title IX protections, which includes prohibitions against harassment of transgender students.Americans “don’t want to see, you know, men playing in women’s sports. They don’t,” Mr. Trump said. “They don’t want to see all of this transgender, which is, it’s just taken over.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Donald Trump Is Time’s Person of the Year

    President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has both derided Time magazine and pined for its approval, was named the publication’s person of the year on Thursday.Mr. Trump also received the title in 2016, after his first presidential election victory, and now joins a group of 16 people who have been chosen more than once. The club includes the last three two-term presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. (Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only person to have been given the title three times.)Sam Jacobs, Time’s editor in chief, wrote in the magazine that the choice was not a difficult one: “On the cusp of his second presidency, all of us — from his most fanatical supporters to his most fervent critics — are living in the Age of Trump.”Mr. Trump, who rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, has had a tempestuous relationship with Time. After being named person of the year in 2016, he described the magazine as a “very important” publication and said it had granted him a “tremendous honor.”But Mr. Trump, who had won a polarizing presidential race in which he lost the popular vote, bristled at Time’s cover, which described him as “president of the divided states of America.”“I didn’t divide,” he objected in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today” show, adding: “We’re going to put it back together. And we’re going to have a country that’s very well healed.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    European Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates as the Economy Weakens

    The bank has been lowering rates since June as inflation slowed, but other risks are growing, including the threat of higher tariffs promised by President-elect Donald J. Trump.The European Central Bank lowered interest rates on Thursday, the fourth cut this year amid growing concerns that the region’s economic outlook is darkening.Policymakers reduced the bank’s deposit rate by a quarter point, to 3 percent, in a move widely expected by investors. The bank, which sets rates for the 20 countries that use the euro, has been lowering rates since June as inflation slowed toward its target of 2 percent. In November, inflation averaged 2.3 percent across the region, slightly higher than in previous months as energy prices rose.“The disinflation process is well on track,” Christine Lagarde, the president of the central bank, said on Thursday at a news conference in Frankfurt. The bank forecast inflation to average 2.1 percent next year.Despite substantial progress on reining in inflation in recent years, other risks are accumulating. Europe faces the prospect of higher tariffs on its goods exported to the United States imposed during the second term of President-elect Donald J. Trump, and political turmoil in Germany and France, the bloc’s two largest economies, is adding to the uncertainty. Much of the past year has been spent warning that Europe needs to take drastic action to improve its competitiveness, but it is not clear where the leadership will come from to make the necessary changes. That increases the pressure on the central bank to support the economy with lower interest rates.As inflation has slowed in Europe and the United States, central bankers have eased their monetary policy stances. But in recent months, there are growing distinctions between the banks over how fast and how much they need to lower rates.Earlier on Thursday, the Swiss National Bank cut rates by a larger-than-expected half-point as its currency, considered a haven during times of geopolitical stress, has strengthened. Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates after inflation data published on Wednesday added to confidence of slowing price growth. And the Bank of England is expected to hold rates next week, continuing its gradual approach to easing amid concerns the recent government budget will add to price pressures.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    BuzzFeed Strikes Deal to Sell ‘Hot Ones’ Company for $82.5 Million

    The sale, to a group that includes the show’s host, Sean Evans, and Soros Fund Management, will allow BuzzFeed to pay down tens of millions of dollars in debt.BuzzFeed on Thursday said it had reached a deal to sell the company behind the popular interview show “Hot Ones” for $82.5 million, easing a cash crunch that has loomed over the media company for months.The buyer is a consortium of investors led by an affiliate of Soros Fund Management that also includes Sean Evans, the affable host of “Hot Ones,” and Chris Schonberger, the founder of First We Feast, the show’s parent company. Mythical Entertainment, the media company created by the YouTube stars Rhett and Link, is also an investor.The deal will allow BuzzFeed to pay down tens of millions of dollars in debt that was scheduled to come due this month. The company is reducing its debt load of nearly $124 million by $88.8 million, using proceeds from the sale and funding from its operations, leaving the company with more cash than debt on its books.The deal is also a new chapter for the company behind “Hot Ones,” a show in which Mr. Evans stoically interviews celebrities while they eat progressively hotter chicken wings. Scarlett Johansson, Megan Thee Stallion, Sydney Sweeney, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have all appeared as guests. Campaign officials for Vice President Kamala Harris wanted her to go on the show, but First We Feast demurred, saying that “Hot Ones” didn’t want to delve into politics, an adviser to Ms. Harris, Stephanie Cutter, said during an interview last month.The sale unwinds the vestiges of a deal, struck three years ago, to acquire Complex, a rival company that owned First We Feast and is known for its coverage of pop culture. The deal helped BuzzFeed go public, but the company’s stock has since fallen, as investors grew increasingly bearish on digital media.BuzzFeed has since pared back its investment in expensive original content, telling investors that it is focusing on using technology such as artificial intelligence to create and deliver content to users. The company shuttered its news division in 2023, and this year, it sold Complex for $108.6 million, though it held onto First We Feast.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    China Pledges More Stimulus to Shore Up Flagging Economy

    At a meeting to set the party’s economic policy agenda, China’s leadership said it would borrow more and cut interest rates in a bid to bolster growth.China’s top leaders on Thursday pledged more stimulus measures to shore up the country’s economy, building on steps they have taken in recent months to bolster growth.At an annual gathering of the Chinese Communist Party and the cabinet, led by the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, officials agreed that the government should allow a bigger budget deficit, borrow more and cut interest rates, the state television broadcaster said on Thursday.The statements suggest a willingness by Beijing to take more aggressive steps to increase spending, part of a shift that began in September to turn around years of weak consumer demand, lackluster growth and declining prices.China “will need to maintain economic growth and maintain overall stability of employment and prices next year,” the state broadcaster said at the conclusion of the two-day Central Economic Work Conference, which sets the economic agenda for the upcoming year.The Chinese government typically uses the conference to signal priorities that could translate into policy action in the next year, and to agree on budget details that will be announced at the spring legislative session.Earlier this week, the ruling Politburo gave a rare public acknowledgment that Beijing needed to take a stronger approach on the economy, when it indicated it would be more willing to lower interest rates. It was the first time that China’s leaders had eased their stance on monetary policy since the aftermath of the global financial crisis 14 years ago.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Remembering David Bonderman, a Private Equity Pioneer

    A former lawyer, he cofounded the giant investment firm TPG and became known for complex deals that remade corporate America. He died on Wednesday at 82.David Bonderman, a founder of TPG, in 2018. “He built and led an impressive firm,” David Solomon of Goldman Sachs said of Bonderman.Stephen B. Morton/Associated PressRemembering BondoDavid Bonderman, a corporate lawyer who co-founded the giant investment firm TPG and helped transform private equity into a multitrillion-dollar industry that reshaped Wall Street, died on Wednesday morning. He was 82.Bonderman — Bondo to his friends — became a private equity pioneer, leading big and complex takeovers that saw corporate titans go public, and whose success helped persuade publicly traded companies to adopt his industry’s tactics, DealBook’s Michael de la Merced writes.Bonderman’s entry into private equity was by happenstance. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he taught law and then worked as a civil rights lawyer for the Justice Department. He went on to join the Washington law firm Arnold & Porter. Among his achievements there was persuading the Supreme Court to overturn an insider-trading conviction of Raymond Dirks, a securities analyst turned whistle-blower.In the mid-1980s, Bonderman was approached by Robert Bass, the Texas oil magnate, about helping run his family office. Bonderman said that he had never invested professionally before, but Bass told him that he hadn’t either.Bonderman and a colleague in the family office, Jim Coulter, founded what became TPG in 1993. By then, the two had made their names by buying Continental out of bankruptcy and turning around the embattled airline. (Emblematic of their approach: They FedExed undesirable food from the plane to Continental’s C.E.O., telling him it needed improving.)They joined a small group of financiers who turned leveraged buyouts from a cottage industry into a Wall Street behemoth, borrowing money to buy, restructure and flip big businesses.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    She Invested in Her Future and Her Family. Which Property Would Work for Both?

    Tabitha Jones can’t sit still. A compliance director for a financial firm, she has also coached volleyball, led wellness retreats, hosted pop-up luxury picnics and made a real estate career in the Bronx and lower Westchester County, N.Y.Ms. Jones, 38, didn’t intend to become a part-time real estate agent, but when she bought her first property in Westchester County a decade ago — a home for herself, her mother and her younger brother — everyone was so impressed with her diligence on the deal that they urged her to consider being the agent next time.[Did you recently buy a home? We want to hear from you. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com]Always professionally curious, she took on an administrative role at a brokerage in White Plains, N.Y., on weekends. Since getting her license in 2016 and joining Keller Williams as an agent, she has worked mostly with first-time buyers, friends and acquaintances. Now an experienced investor and agent, she enjoys teaching others.“She just wants to elevate,” said her brother, Christian Jones, 30.Ms. Jones recently started a real estate investing club with a group of like-minded friends, all 35-to-40-year-old Afro-Latina women from the Bronx looking to invest in their home borough, which she believes is “the next big thing.”“There are going to be investors coming in, and they’re going to start taking over the neighborhoods,” she said. “Why can’t we be those investors?”Her goal is to own five properties. To reach it, she said, “you need to be willing to sacrifice.” She’s grateful to have a job in the finance industry (and her side gigs), and she doesn’t spend money on clothes, shoes or gadgets. Her phone is a hand-me-down, and she wouldn’t replace her car until “the wheels literally fell off.”Last year, Ms. Jones wanted to purchase her third property, ideally in the Bronx or nearby, which her brother could potentially occupy. He’d been living in a rental in the borough, finding himself after their father’s death, unsure of his next move. For the longer term, she sought a solid investment property that would be easy to rent out and could be a flexible asset, so she looked at everything from condos to multifamily homes to small mixed-use buildings.“I’m always looking,” Ms. Jones said. “I’m always in that head space.”Among her options:Find out what happened next by answering these two questions: More

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    Russian Troops Advance to Within 3 Miles of Key Ukrainian Transit Hub

    Russia is pushing toward Pokrovsk, a strategic city for Ukraine’s army with important rail and road connections, in a rapid capturing of ground in the Donetsk region.Ukraine’s top general said on Thursday that his troops were facing “extremely fierce” fighting as Russian forces close in on the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk, and that “unconventional decisions” would have to be made to bolster Ukrainian defenses.Although the commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, did not specify what kind of measures might be taken, his alarming statement underscored the deteriorating situation around Pokrovsk, a key rail and road hub for Ukraine’s army.In an effort to flank Pokrovsk, Russian troops have pushed south of the city in recent days and are now less than three miles from its outskirts, according to battlefield maps based on satellite images and publicly available footage of the fighting. They are also steadily advancing through villages and settlements several dozen miles to the south, threatening to seize the last two Ukrainian strongholds in the southern part of the Donetsk region.Moscow is advancing in Donetsk at its fastest pace since 2022, capturing hundreds of square miles each month as it leverages its overwhelming manpower advantage by breaking through Ukrainian positions weakened by troop shortages.Analysts say the Kremlin is racing to secure as many territorial gains as possible before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office next month and starts to push for peace talks with terms that are likely to be shaped by each side’s status on the battlefield.Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, said that from September to November, Russia had seized more than 600 square miles of Ukrainian territory, roughly twice the size of New York City, almost all of it in the Donetsk region.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More