Donate

Good morning everyone and welcome to this edition of Bazaar Express.

Top Story

US banking regulators under the Trump Administration have approved Capital One ‘s $35B acquisition of competing credit card company Discover.   The approval is the last of major hurdles required for the deal to go through. The deal makes Capital One  America ‘s largest credit-card issuer by total loan volume of more than $250B accounting for some 22% of the total U.S credit card market.

It is expected to close next month. While the deal faced inital scrutiny,  it also comes with a number of stipulations.  First, Capital One must address ongoing enforcement issues at Discover.   Second, Discover was fined $100m for overcharging merchants certain fees between 2007 and 2023. Meanwhile, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp also asked Discover to pay $1.2B in restitution and a $150M civil penalty.   And lastly, the deal gives Capital One access to Discover ‘s credit card payment network.

Trending

Deadly US airstrike on Yemeni oil port kills more than 70 people

Deadly news in Yemen this weekend. According to reports, a U.S led airstrike on a Houthi-controlled oil terminal in Yemen in a stinging escalation aimed at directly interfering with a key source of fuel and revenue for the  group. The attacks are the deadlies yet since the Trump Admin first ramped up efforts against the group back in March.

National Archives releases 10,000 RFK assassination files.

Troves of records related to the shocking 1968 assassination of Robert F Kennedy some 10,000 have now been released. The release coincides with an order by Donald Trump requiring the disclosure of documents related both to the assassination of John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy, and the late civil rights icon  Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

In Washington DC

Donald Trump ‘s efforts to quash the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau along with DOGE have been temporarily blocked.  According to a ruling by a federal judge, the administration has been blocked from laying off about 90% of the agency’s staff.

Astronomy & Space

Fascinating discovery in Space this weekend.     Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory ‘s Very Large Telescopee have discovered a new exoplanet.  The exoplanet named 2M1510 (AB) b is found to orbit a rare pair of brown dwarfs.

Donald Trump v Harvard University

A new day a series of new reports on the ongoing feud between Harvard University and Donald Trump.  According to The Wrap,  the Trump Administration is now attempting to downplay who sent the infamous demand letter to Harvard and why.

The Wrap notes that the letter which was signed by top Trump officials and on official letterhead is now the subject of frantic claims to downplay its significance.

Infamous in its own right, the letter reportedly contained a series of illegal demands basically ensuring that the University capitulated to Trump. Among them — installing right-wing faculty; banning student protests, discontinuing diversity efforts,  and lastly spying on international students.  Harvard on their part continues to reject the demands.

What’s on TV tonight?

Tonight we are watching The Diamond Heist on Netflix.

The latest in Gaza