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Online prices plunge by the most in three years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

New York (CNN) — Online shoppers were greeted by rapidly falling prices in August, marking another positive sign in the fight against inflation.E-commerce prices tumbled by 3.2% year over year in August, Adobe Analytics said on Tuesday. That’s the biggest annual drop in 40 months, or just over three years.The data provides further evidence that inflation is cooling across the US economy, moving back towards normal levels following aggressive interest rate hikes from the central bank.The Adobe report comes a day before the release of the Consumer Price Index, the government’s more closely watched consumer inflation report for August.For years, online shopping was the land of falling prices. That changed shortly after the pandemic began, scrambling supply chains and setting off the worst burst of inflation in four decades. Even online prices started to rise rapidly.But now, Adobe says annual online prices have been dropping for a full year.On a monthly basis, prices increased by 0.4% ...

Bad habits of night owls may lead to type 2 diabetes, study says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

(CNN) — If you’re groggy in the morning but perky in the evening, you may be a night owl — a sleep pattern or chronotype that makes you more inclined to want to stay up late and sleep in.If so, you could be at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes as well as a number of unhealthy lifestyle habits, a new study found.“When we looked at the relationship between chronotype and diabetes we found night owls had a 72% increased risk of developing diabetes over the eight years of our study,” said lead author Sina Kianersi, a postdoctoral research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.Researchers also found strong connections between a “late-to-bed-and-rise” sleep style and some unhealthy behaviors — all known contributors to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.“Night owls overall were more likely to have a poor diet, to be less physically active, to use alcohol in higher quantities, to have an unhealthy BMI (body mass index), to smoke and to sl...

Turmeric might help treat your indigestion, study shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

(CNN) — A good treatment option for indigestion may already be in your spice rack, according to a new study.The study, published Monday in the medical journal BMJ, compared how more than 150 people with dyspepsia, or indigestion, responded to either the drug omeprazole, turmeric — which contains the compound curcumin — or a combination of the two.Omeprazole is a common medication used to treat certain heart and esophagus problems by reducing acid in the stomach, according to the Mayo Clinic.At days 28 and 56 of treatment, the people in the study were evaluated for their symptoms — which can include stomach pain, bloating, nausea or an early feeling of fullness – using the Severity of Dyspepsia Assessment, a questionnaire that rates the severity of indigestion.Researchers found no significant differences in the symptoms of the groups taking the drug, turmeric or the combination of the two, according to the study.“In addition to anti-inflammatory and antioxidant pu...

Von der Leyen vows EU strategy to combat drug trafficking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

The European Commission is planning a strategy to combat drug trafficking with a focus on Europe’s ports.While President Ursula von der Leyen made no mention of either ports or drugs in her State of the Union address Wednesday, her letter of intent to the European Parliament and Council of the EU promised an “action plan on anti-drug trafficking,” trailing a “European Ports Alliance” as a part of that effort.The plans are among a limited number of new initiatives in response to “emerging challenges,” which von der Leyen wrote will be “detailed and complemented in our work programme for 2024.”The pledge comes amid increased worries about drug trafficking and drug-related crime in the bloc. In Belgium, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne warned earlier this year that violence had reached the “phase of narco-terrorism,” while Brussels is grappling with a crack epidemic. Last week, Belgium’s new drugs czar Ine Van Wymersch told POLITICO that a European stra...

EU risks trade war with China over electric vehicles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

BRUSSELS — This is how it starts.In the midst of an invasion by Chinese electric cars, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched an anti-subsidy investigation Wednesday against Chinese imports. It’s a step that risks snowballing into a trade war that could make a tussle over solar panels with Beijing a decade ago look like a tea party.“Global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars. And their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies,” von der Leyen said in her annual State of the Union address. “This is distorting our market.”The stakes couldn’t be higher: China’s massive investments have established it as the dominant maker of the battery technology that powers clean cars. Global sales of electric vehicles are forecast to grow by nearly a third in 2023 alone to nearly more than 14 million units — worth $560 billion — and without fair competition the EU sees its industry losing out.First reported ex...

Flood Watch Up, Hurricane Lee Update

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

Another day, another flood watch is up across the area as we expect more scattered showers and storms to push through late this morning, into this afternoon. As the showers and storms rumble through, the potential for locally heavy rain is there, and where the storms line up and continue over the same areas, a quick couple inches of rain is likely, with a few localized totals pushing 3-4″. With that in mind, in addition to swollen streams and saturated grounds, it’ll be easy for additional stream/street flooding to get going, thus the flood watch. Highs today max out in the mid 70s. A few of the afternoon storms could contain strong wind gusts too. Tomorrow and Friday will be much more comfortable with highs in the 70s and a return to lower humidity. Our attention then turns to Hurricane Lee. Lee’s closest pass to us come Saturday morning/midday. As Lee’s max sustained wind lower, the wind field in Lee actually expands. That means a large wind field, capable ...

International crews in Morocco to recover bodies days after deadly 6.8 quake earthquake struck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

IMI N’TALA, Morocco (AP) — The stench of death wafted through the village of Imi N’Tala high up in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains four days after a deadly earthquake struck, slicing off a chunk of mountain, killing residents and razing the hamlet to the ground.Bulldozers, rescue crews and Moroccan first responders work around the clock trying to dig through the wreckage to unearth the eight to ten corpses still underneath.“The mountain was split in half and started falling. Houses were fully destroyed,” Ait Ougadir Al Houcine said as rescuers worked on recovering bodies, including his sister’s. “Some people lost all their cattle. We have nothing but the clothes we’re wearing. Everything is gone.”The scene in Imi N’Tala, which mainly houses herders and famers and where 96 residents perished in Friday’s earthquake, mirrors that of dozens of places situated along the treacherous mountain roads south of Marrakech: Men in donated djellabas neatly arrange ru...

A fishing vessel in Greenland will try to free a cruise ship that ran aground with 206 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A fishing vessel owned by Greenland’s government will attempt to use a high tide to pull free a Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship carrying 206 people that ran aground in the world’s northernmost national park, authorities said.Capt. Flemming Madsen of the Danish Joint Arctic Command told The Associated Press that the passengers and crew on the ship stranded in northwestern Greenland were doing fine and ”all I can say is that they got a lifetime experience.”The scientific fishing vessel was scheduled to arrive later Wednesday and would attempt when the conditions were right to pull the 104.4-meter- (343-foot) long and 18-meter- (60-foot) wide MV Ocean Explorer free. The cruise ship ran aground Monday in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park, which is known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast.The Alpefjord sits in a remote corner of Greenland, some 240 kilometers (149 miles) away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoor...

Japanese boy-band production company sets up panel to compensate sexual assault victims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese boys-band production company at the center of an unfolding sexual abuse scandal, Johnny & Associates, chose three former judges Wednesday to head its effort to compensate hundreds of victims.The Tokyo-based agency also said it will not take its usual cut from its performers’ earnings for the next year “in an effort to win back public trust,” and all the money for shows and other appearances will go to the individuals. The actions come after Johnny’s, as the company is known, acknowledged last week that Johnny Kitagawa, its late founder and former chief, had sexually assaulted at least several hundred teens and children over half a century.A special online site will be set up for people who worked under Johnny’s so they can be financially compensated, the company said in a statement. Privacy will be protected, and the monetary amount will be worked out in direct talks with each person, it said. Kitagawa died in 2019 and was never charged.Julie Keiko Fuji...

Simanic returns to Serbia with World Cup silver medal winners hoping to play basketball again

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:07 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Borisa Simanic, the Serbian player who needed a kidney removed during the Basketball World Cup, has been discharged from a Philippines hospital and was able to join his team for its silver-medal celebration in Belgrade.Simanic told Radio Belgrade that he must rest for three months, and then the process of determining whether he can play basketball again will begin. Doctors who treated Simanic in Manila believe it is possible that the 25-year-old forward can resume his career.Simanic was injured during an opening-round game against South Sudan on Aug. 30. He was elbowed in his side as a South Sudan player attempted to get around him for a shot near the basket. Simanic needed emergency surgery that night to stop internal bleeding and fix other issues, and then doctors performed a second surgery to remove the kidney on Sept. 3 after determining how badly the organ was damaged.Serbia kept Simanic’s jersey draped over a chair throughout the rest of the tourn...