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Asian stocks mixed as anxiety over banks starts to fade

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

By JOE McDONALD (AP Business Writer)BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday as anxiety about the global financial system began to fade following three high-profile bank failures.Shanghai followed Wall Street lower. Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices gained.Fears that the global banking system might be cracking under the strain of rapid interest rate hikes temporarily pushed aside unease about slowing economic growth. Some calm has returned after regulators announced measures to shore up the system.“Clearly, investors have not completely lost their anxiety,” said Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ING in a report.The Shanghai Composite Index lost less than 0.1% to 3,243.19 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.4% to 27,625.99. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 2.2% to 20,225.65.The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.2% to 2,430.74 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 advanced 0.2% to 7,046.80.New Zealand declined while Southeast Asian markets rose.On Wall Street...

Perfect matzah balls stand out on Passover table

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

Passover is a Jewish celebration and one of the religion’s most sacred and widely observed holidays. Passover commemorates the Biblical story of the Israelites’ escape from 400 years of slavery in Egypt.In 2023, Passover takes place April 5-15. Pesach, as Passover is known in Hebrew, includes all kinds of ceremonial foods. The Passover seder plate showcases specific items that relate to both the suffering and emancipation of the Jewish people. Throughout Passover, the faithful abstain from any leavened bread products. According to Exodus 12:8: “They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat.” Jews also are to remove all leaven (hametz) from their homes and eat unleavened bread for an additional seven days.Apart from being commanded by God, it is believed unleavened bread became traditional Passover food because the Jewish people departed Egypt in haste without time to let bread rise. Furthermore...

Editorial: We’re not out of the woods in preventing food crisis

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

Remember last year’s infant formula shortage? Supply chain issues coincided with a large scale product recall, which led to empty shelves and parents desperate seeking alternative suppliers to feed their babies. They turned to food banks, friends, friends of friends, the internet – whoever might have spare formula.Those dark days could easily return, said a former FDA official.“The nation remains one outbreak, one tornado, flood or cyberattack away from finding itself in a similar place to that of February 17, 2022,” said Frank Yiannas, who served as the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response for four years before resigning in January.As The Hill reported, Yiannas testified before the House Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services to discuss the causes of the infant formula shortage and how to prevent it from repeating.He said he did not believe the infant formula industry has changed much in the year since the recall on products was issue...

Raise a glass to bounty from N.E. distilleries

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

New England is at the center of the craft distillery revolution. A decade ago, homegrown vodkas and whiskeys were a rare find. Now you can make your favorite classic cocktails by shopping locally. So let’s do that.I took a deep dive into a dozen standout spirits from around New England to make batches of no-frills classics (and added a couple frills when called for). Combine these bottles of booze with your favorite recipes – unless noted, I mixed up these cocktails using standard recipes.GlenPharmer Bog CosmopolitanGlenPharmer’s cleverly titled cranberry vodka, Bog, may spur a new Cosmo craze. The drink most often associated with “Sex in the City” may actually have Cape Cod roots – popular myth links the tasty, tart creation to Provincetown and the Cape Codder cocktail. GlenPharmer only enhances the Mass. connection by using cranberries from Decas Farm in Carver to make Bog. Use the flavored vodka in place of citron vodka and cranberry juice in your favorite Cosmo recipe for a drin...

Grandma’s Apple Pie a delicious slice of Americana

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

The phrase “as American as apple pie” may lead one to believe that this classic dessert originated somewhere in the Americas. But this beloved dessert actually traces its origins to Europe. In fact, apples aren’t even native to North America, according to experts. Apple pie is categorized alongside baseball and Coca-Cola¨ as truly American, but even though it was brought over to the colonies with settlers, it wasn’t until the 20th century that the treat was established as a symbol of national pride. By then, this apple-filled pastry had cemented itself in popular cuisine, and has since been replicated and reimagined in more ways than one might imagine.Most families have an apple pie recipe that they love. This recipe for “Grandma’s Apple Pie,” courtesy of the Vancouver-based food recipe blog, Spend with Pennies, by Holly Nilsson is one to add to your culinary repertoire.TAG GOES HEREGrandma’s Apple PieINGREDIENTSDouble Crust Pie Pastry...

Dear Abby: He’s intimidated by lovers from her past

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m a 50-year-old man who has been divorced twice. The last one was two years and eight months ago. Last year, I met a wonderful woman, and we have been dating and building a beautiful relationship together. A month ago, I proposed to her, and she accepted.Everything is going great, but I’m intimidated by all the men she has been with prior to us. She had a lot of toxic relationships and was sexually active with a lot of different men. When we have sex, she tells me I’m not assertive enough and she wants me to be more aggressive. It makes me feel like she isn’t happy with me sexually and she will sooner or later look outside our relationship.Am I right to feel this way? I don’t want to be in a relationship that will end because of our sex life. What should I do? — Feeling Inadequate in UtahDear Feeling Inadequate: Good sex has everything to do with open communication between the partners. Your lady friend’s past isn’t a prob...

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy: Any Russian victory could be perilous

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

ON A TRAIN FROM SUMY TO KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday that unless his nation wins a drawn-out battle in a key eastern city, Russia could begin building international support for a deal that could require Ukraine to make unacceptable compromises. He also invited the leader of China, long aligned with Russia, to visit.If Bakhmut fell to Russian forces, their president, Vladimir Putin, would “sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran,” Zelenskyy said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.“If he will feel some blood — smell that we are weak — he will push, push, push,” Zelenskyy said in English, which he used for virtually all of the interview. The Ukrainian leader spoke to the AP aboard a train shuttling him across Ukraine, to cities near some of the fiercest fighting and others where his country’s forces have successfully repelled Russia’s invasion. The AP is the first news organization to travel ...

Takeaways from AP’s interview with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

ON BOARD A TRAIN FROM SUMY TO KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A team of journalists from The Associated Press spent two days traveling by train with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he visited the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, which still faces regular shelling from Russian forces, and northern towns in the Sumy region that were liberated shortly after the war began a year ago.The AP is the first news organization to travel extensively with Zelenskyy since the war began. Here are some takeaways from an interview with Zelenskyy as he returned to Kyiv late Tuesday.WESTERN WEAPONSThroughout much of the war, Ukraine’s military has been bolstered by billions of dollars of ammunition and weaponry from Western nations. Zelenskyy welcomed the help but said some of the promised weapons had not yet been delivered.“We have great decisions about Patriots, but we don’t have them for real,” he said, referring to the U.S.-made air defense system.Ukrainian soldiers have received training ...

Alabama police officer killed, another wounded

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama police officer was killed, and another critically wounded, after being shot Tuesday evening by a man who was captured after barricading himself inside an apartment, Huntsville Police Department officials said. Deputy Police Chief Michael Johnson told news outlets that a woman called 911 Tuesday afternoon and reported that she had been shot. Officers arriving at the scene found the shooting victim, whose injuries are not life-threatening. The suspect fired at the two officers, hitting them both, and barricaded himself inside an apartment. The officers were transported to a hospital where one died from his injuries and the other underwent emergency surgery and is in critical condition, city officials said in a news release. The suspect was apprehended a little more than an hour later and transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the city said. “This is a devastating loss for our department, the Huntsville community and the stat...

Poll: Cut federal spending – but not big-ticket programs

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:26:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the federal budget standoff, the majority of U.S. adults are asking lawmakers to pull off the impossible: Cut the overall size of government, but also devote more money to the most popular and expensive programs.Six in 10 U.S. adults say the government spends too much money. But majorities also favor more funding for infrastructure, health care and Social Security — the kind of commitments that would make efforts to shrink the government unworkable and politically risky ahead of the 2024 elections.These findings from a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show just how messy the financial tug-of-war between President Joe Biden and House Republicans could be. At stake is the full faith and credit of the federal government, which could default on its obligations unless there is a deal this summer to raise or suspend the limit on the government’s borrowing authority.Biden this month proposed a budget that would trim deficit...