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Malaysia will cut subsidies and tax luxury goods as it unveils a 2024 budget narrowing the deficit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia will progressively cut subsidies and launch new taxes including for luxury goods next year as part of economic reforms and to tighten its finances, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday.Anwar, who took power last November, announced the measures while tabling 2024 federal budget in Parliament. He said the 393.8 billion ringgit ($83.3 billion) budget is aimed at fixing economic imbalances and helping people to cope with rising cost of living amid a global economic slowdown. Anwar, who is also finance minister, said economic growth is likely to slip to 4% this year but could reach nearly 5% in 2024.He said Malaysia’s annual subsidies for fuel, food and other items were among the highest in the world but its taxes among the lowest. This year, for instance, he said government subsidies and social assistance surged to 81 billion ringgit ($17 billion) as global commodity prices rose. For 2024, the government allocated 52.8 billion ringgit ...

‘Barbenheimer’ was a boon to movie theaters and a headache for many workers. So they’re unionizing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For movie theater owners around the country, the same-day release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” this summer meant record box office sales and a gratifying sign that the public still craved entertainment on the big screen. But for some employees at the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan, “Barbenheimer” was the breaking point.“That really pushed us to the edge,” says Maggie Quick, a guest attendant. “It was just the constant understaffing and the emotional exhaustion.”“People were waiting longer than usual for their food and that makes them short-tempered and impatient,” recalls Tyler Trautman, a shift leader. “We’re the ones facing customers. It takes a toll, a mental toll, to be yelled at by guests because their drink has been taking an hour.”Quick and Trautman were among dozens at the Manhattan theater who decided it was time to form a union. Alamo employees worked with United Auto Workers Local 2179 and this week voted to unionize, with nearly two-thir...

Elf Bar finds an easy way around US vape import ban: a name change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four months after U.S. regulators tried to block imports of Elf Bar, the top-selling Chinese disposable e-cigarette remains widely available thanks to a simple but effective tactic: a name change.Stores in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York and other cities remain fully stocked with the brightly colored vapes, sold in fruity flavors like strawberry melon and claiming to contain 5,000 “puffs” per device.The Food and Drug Administration considers the products illegal. In May, it directed customs officials to seize incoming shipments of Elf Bar and EBDesign, two of the company’s U.S. brand names.The newer vaping devices bear a different name, EBCreate, and list different Chinese manufacturers than those targeted by the FDA.The makeover underscores the FDA’s inability to stanch the flow of unauthorized e-cigarettes into the U.S., mainly through large shipping hubs like Los Angeles and Houston.“E-cigarette manufacturers have proven themselves to not operate i...

An employee at Israeli Embassy in China is stabbed. A foreign suspect has been detained.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A 50-year-old Israeli man who works at the Israeli Embassy in Beijing was stabbed on Friday in front of a supermarket, Chinese police and the Israeli government said.Beijing police said they had arrested a suspect, a 53-year-old foreign man. They said the victim is a family member of an Israeli diplomat. No motive was given for the attack.“The employee was transferred to hospital and he is in a stable condition,” an Israeli government statement said, without giving additional details.The incident came after Israel criticized China’s statement following the unprecedented and deadly incursion by the militant group Hamas into southern Israel last Saturday. The attack sparked an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The stabbing occurred as Muslims across the world took to the streets in large protests after Friday prayers over Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Gaza.Just before the announcement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry...

Microsoft closes deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard after antitrust fights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

NEW YORK — Microsoft has completed its acquisition of video game-maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, closing one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history that could have repercussions across the video game industry.The notice that the deal has gone through came seven hours after Microsoft got final approval from Britain’s competition watchdog, which reversed its earlier decision to block the $69 billion gaming deal, removing the last obstacle for the transaction.Taking over the studios behind blockbuster games like Call of Duty, Diablo and Overwatch will be a boost for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console, which ranks third in sales behind PlayStation and Nintendo. The software giant also has bigger ambitions to fold Activision titles into its multi-game subscription service that works something like a Netflix for video games.The nearly 22 months it took to close the deal reflected concerns from rivals and government regulators that Microsoft could use its growing collec...

Israeli evacuation call in Gaza hikes Egypt’s fears of a mass exodus of refugees into its territory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Israel’s call Friday for half of the Gaza Strip’s population to evacuate south is hiking Egypt’s fears of a massive influx of refugees across the heavily fortified border into its territory.Since Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel sparked a massive retaliation in Gaza, Egypt’s leadership has frantically tried to negotiate the entry of humanitarian aid through its crossing into the Palestinian territory — partially in hopes of averting an exodus into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Officials say its efforts have received no response from Israel.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to visit Cairo over the weekend and Egyptian officials are expected to discuss the entry of aid with him.Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip, stopping all entry of food, water, medicine and fuel to its 2.3 million people, while bombardment has leveled swaths of its cities. That has left Egypt’s Rafah crossing as the sole access. But repeated Israeli airstrikes at the Palestinian side of the cr...

Ruling expected in trial of DCFS workers in connection to death of 5-year-old AJ Freund

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

CHICAGO -- A McHenry County judge is expected to make a ruling on two former DCFS workers accused of ignoring signs of child abuse. They have both pleaded not guilty.Carlos Acosta and Andrew Polovin worked on 5-year-old AJ Freund's case who was killed by his parents in 2019.They are accused of ignoring red flags and failing to remove 5-year-old AJ Freund from his Crystal Lake home despite signs of abuse and multiple police reports indicating the likelihood of abuse. Testimony also was heard from emergency room doctors who treated the boy. Freund was murdered in 2019 by his parents and his bod was found in a shallow grave after his parents claimed he was missing. Chicago to open new migrant shelters weekly His parents, Joanne Cunningham and Andrew Freund, were both convicted of numerous charges in connection to his murder and are serving at least 30 years in prison. The defense has tried to poke holes in the police reports for a lack of consistency and defense attorneys have said ...

Dean's Reviews: 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour' movie

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

CHICAGO — It's a show that's done so well across the country that it's now become a movie. Like everything else involving Taylor Swift, many are doing what they can to catch a glimpse of "The Eras Tour" on the big screen. A concert film named after the performers immensely popular 2023 series of shows is now being shown in AMC Theatres across the countries, including a Chicago premiere on Thursday. Naturally, Dean Richards took some time to review this latest offering from Smith on his weekly review segment on Friday's WGN Morning News. He also shared some of the thoughts of those who watched the film during a showing in Chicago. You can see what he thinks of "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" movie from the October 13 show in the video above.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

How to take photos of the eclipse without damaging your phone, camera

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Photographers, both professional and amateur alike, are excited about capturing the moment the solar eclipse becomes a ring of fire, obscuring the sun. But photography experts say just pointing your smartphone camera at the eclipse could cause catastrophic damage if you don't have proper equipment."How do I protect my camera sensor being totally destroyed by this thing?" is the No. 1 question Adam Gallardo, manager at B&C Camera in Las Vegas, said photographers are asking him as they visit the store this week."Digital cameras, DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, even your phone [...] all have sensors," Gallardo said. "It's really not a good idea to point them directly to the sun, especially during this solar eclipse without the proper equipment." MAP: Where, when and how to get the best view of the 2023 annular eclipse A solar filter, Gallardo said, is essential to photograph a solar eclipse. Viewing an eclipse through a camera lens, telescope or binoculars with...

Man charged with stealing 'Wizard of Oz' slippers from Minnesota museum expected to plead guilty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:13 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man charged with the museum heist of a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the “The Wizard of Oz” was expected to change his plea to guilty in court Friday, pulling back the curtain on a whodunnit mystery dating back 18 years.Terry Jon Martin, 76, was indicted in May on one count of theft of a major artwork. The shoes from the film were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the actress' hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and recovered in 2018 by the FBI.No one was arrested in the case until Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, was charged earlier this year. Martin’s attorney, Dane DeKrey, said his client, who is in poor health, has been cooperative with authorities.“I think Terry is facing his own mortality and I think when people are reaching that point in their life, they cut through the pleasantries and talk turkey,” DeKrey said in an interview ahead of Friday's scheduled hearing.The one-page indictment gave no details of the path that le...