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Stocks drift, yields drop on latest sign of slowing economy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

By YURI KAGEYAMA and MATT OTT (AP Business Writers)Stocks are drifting on Wall Street and Treasury yields are falling following the latest signal that the U.S. job market is slowing. The S&P 500 is down 0.1% at the open and the Nasdaq composite is off 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is slightly higher. Data from payroll processor ADP came in much weaker than forecast, adding to disappointing numbers out Tuesday on job openings. FedEx is up more than 3.5% after it said it’ll undertake a $4 billion cost-cutting plan. Johnson & Johnson is rising on news that it’s earmarking nearly $9 billion to cover allegations that its baby powder containing talc caused cancer.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story appears below. Wall Street futures are mostly unchanged leading up to a series of economic reports and employment data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies in its lengthening fight against inflation.Futures for th...

Passive and aggressive? All part of Heat’s Jimmy Butler channeling his inner Dwyane Wade

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

This was before Jimmy Butler started trolling. This was as Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was finishing off his pregame interview Tuesday and the subject turned to whether Butler should take a more aggressive bent considering his remarkable seasonlong efficiency.Understand, this also was before Butler did not attempt a single shot in the first quarter Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons, not even an attempt that drew a foul. This also was before Butler attempted only a single shot in the second period, a missed layup with 1:41 left before halftime in what would turn into a scramble of a victory.But even then, Spoelstra wasn’t biting.“We’re both abundantly on the same page about his assertiveness and aggressiveness, and the whole team is, as well,” Spoelstra said. “We don’t want him to defer at all. He’s ridiculously efficient and he’s been getting more efficient every single year. I think he has just a better feel for how we wan...

4 states that will pay off your student loans for moving there

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

Paying off student loans can be a difficult journey, sometimes taking 20 years or more. While there are federal programs that will forgive your student loans after a certain number of payments, these can be hard to qualify for. Plus, borrowers with private student loans are not eligible for these programs.Thankfully, there are other ways to find student loan forgiveness, including programs that pay off your loans if you move to a certain state.States that will pay off student loans for moving thereWhether it’s to attract a younger population or stimulate the local economy, states have varying reasons for offering student loan forgiveness to new residents.Before packing your bags, read the eligibility requirements to see if the program fits you. Sometimes you could get a significant portion of your debt forgiven.If you are interested in moving but none of the states listed below interest you, see if there are state and city-sponsored student loan repayment assistance programs in an a...

Tuesday’s high school scores and highlights

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

TUESDAY’S ROUNDUPBASEBALLSeth Sullivan and Josh Doney drove in two runs and had two hits each as St. Mary’s (Lynn) (1-0) rolled to a 13-1 Catholic Central League win over Matignon. … Logan Borowicz cranked a three-run homer in a six-run fifth inning as Bishop Stang (1-0) bested Cardinal Spellman, 9-1.Ben Zscau gave up one unearned run in five innings of work, and Wes Hawley plated the eventual winning run in the sixth inning to lift Silver Lake in a 2-1 victory over Hingham in Patriot League play.Dylan DiFilippio hit a three-run triple as Lynn Tech (1-0) coasted to a 13-2 victory over KIPP in Commonwealth Athletic Conference action.In South Coast Conference action, Tyler Kropis fired six innings of shutout ball, surrendering just four hits while striking out eight as Seekonk blanked Case, 8-0.John Sellon pitched all five innings for Abington (1-0), striking out seven while also driving in four runs at the plate as the Green Wave cruised to a 12-0 shutout of South Shore League rival ...

Love him? Hate him? For Donald Trump, attention is attention

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

In the currency of today’s attention economy, Donald Trump is the world’s richest man. His media-engulfed arraignment in New York was an out-of-court Exhibit A. In returning to the no-business-like-show-business metropolis that propelled him to tabloid-fodder fame so many years ago, the former president also returned to the very stage where he thrives the most. As he did so, even in an atypically sedate manner, he demonstrated the peculiar way he encounters the world — as luminary and aggrieved party rolled into one.Love him? Hate him? Don’t care? Doesn’t matter. Just like during his presidency, he commands notice. Still. Thousands of New York City police officers, the U.S. Secret Service and swarms of journalists deployed across lower Manhattan can all attest to that.It was a procedural court appearance, the low rung of drama in a criminal case, but it was a full-on spectacle. And calling it that, assessing it in that way, does not diminish it — not in today’s world, where spectacl...

Italian ex-leader Berlusconi hospitalized in ICU, but alert

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

ROME (AP) — Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized Wednesday in intensive care because of a problem related to a previous infection, but was alert and speaking, Italy’s foreign minister said.The 86-year-old three-time premier was in the ICU at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, the clinic where he routinely receives care, said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who is also a leader of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. Speaking from Brussels, Tajani said Berlusconi was admitted because of an “unresolved problem” related to a previous infection.Berlusconi has had a series of health problems in recent years, most significantly recovering from COVID-19 in 2020. He told reporters after being discharged from a 10-day hospital stay then that disease had been “insidious” and was the most dangerous challenge he had ever faced. He has had a pacemaker for years, underwent heart surgery to replace an aortic valve in 2016 and has overcome prostate cancer. In January...

Violence at Jerusalem holy site raises fears of escalation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early Wednesday, firing stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled stones and firecrackers in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes.The fighting, which comes as Muslims mark the holiday month of Ramadan and Jews prepare to begin the Passover festival, raised fears of a wider conflagration. By early morning, the Jerusalem compound, which is typically packed with worshippers during Ramadan, had quieted down. The mosque sits in a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, and conflicting claims over it have spilled into violence before, including a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and stands in a spot known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism.P...

Voters give women 1 win, 1 loss in UEFA soccer election

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — With the historic chance to vote for female candidates against male opposition for the first time in international soccer politics, UEFA member federations elected one of two women Wednesday.Debbie Hewitt of England was voted in as the FIFA vice president for the four British soccer nations. She beat the incumbent from Northern Ireland, David Martin, 39-16 in a vote of all the UEFA member countries.Hewitt’s landmark win came less than an hour after the same voters re-elected UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin by acclaim and rejected the candidacy of Lise Klaveness to join the UEFA executive committee.Klaveness received only 18 votes, the second-lowest total of 11 candidates in contention for seven seats.It was a public setback for one of only a handful of female presidents among the 211 national soccer federations worldwide, and one who was outspoken on human rights issues and World Cup host Qatar in the past year.“I know we have done everything we could. No o...

Party switch gives GOP veto-proof control in North Carolina

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Democrat in the North Carolina state House switched to the Republican Party on Wednesday, giving the GOP veto-proof control in both chambers of the legislature and handing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper a setback in trying to block hardline conservative policies in his final two years in office. The party switch announced by Rep. Tricia Cotham, of Mecklenburg County, means Republicans now hold the 72 seats required in the 120-seat House to hold a veto-proof majority. Republicans had already held 30 of the 50 seats in the Senate needed to override vetoes if party members are present and voting, but until Wednesday, they were one seat shy of a similar advantage in the House following the November elections.Recently improving margins for Republicans in the General Assembly, capped off by Cotham’s switch, have emboldened the North Carolina party to try again on topics such as gun rights, immigration and voting. Republicans also are interested in further restrict...

Turkey closes airspace to flights using north Iraqi airport

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:14 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey closed its airspace to flights to and from an airport in Kurdish-administered northern Iraq, a top Turkish official announced Wednesday, citing an alleged increase in Kurdish militant activity threatening flight safety.Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic said the Turkish airspace has been closed to flights taking off and landing at Suleimaniyah International Airport, in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, since Tuesday.The closure was in response to an alleged increase in the activities of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Suleimaniyah as well as its “infiltration” into the airport, Bilgic said in a written statement.The decision comes weeks after two helicopters crashed in northern Iraq, killing Kurdish militants on board. The incident fueled claims that the PKK was in possession of helicopters which infuriated Turkish authorities.The main U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force in northeastern Syria later said it lost nine fight...