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Struggling with buy now, pay later? You’re not alone

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

Heidi Rivera | Bankrate.com (TNS)Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has quickly become one of America’s favorite ways to pay, especially among young consumers. BNPL’s premise is simple: you get to split a big purchase into four equal interest-free installments, which are usually due every two weeks.BNPL products are often marketed as a lower-risk alternative to credit cards — and they can be. But the illusion of inexpensive payments can make it easy to get carried away, resulting in loan stacking and financial risk. Luckily, there are some ways to fix it.What is loan stacking?Loan stacking is when you’re juggling multiple loans (or credit products) with the same characteristics and payment terms, simultaneously. According to a recent report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), loan stacking is one of the most common risks among BNPL users.Unlike other credit products, which require a hard credit pull, BNPL platforms typically approve users based on a soft credit check. That me...

From the Archives: ‘A Jewish state has been proclaimed’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

The war in Israel is steeped in history. So you need to start at the beginning.David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Then-U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized this new nation on the same day. Here is the front page from the Herald:FROM THE ARCHIVES: BOSTON_HERALD_May_15_1948_p1Truman wrote, and we quoted: “In 42 fateful words, Mr. Truman proclaimed: ‘This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new state of Israel.”It was a solemn moment coming so soon after the horrors of the Holocaust were still being revealed. It’s a story that we must keep reporting!Including Grand Rabbi Y.A. Korff, chaplain for the City of Boston, who delivered Wednesday’s prayer at the star...

Sidney Powell pleads guilty over efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia and agrees to cooperate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

By KATE BRUMBACK (Associated Press)ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors.Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties.As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also recorded a statement for prosecutors and agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials.Powell was initially charged with racketeering and six other counts as part of a wide-ranging scheme to keep t...

Canada taking ‘necessary time’ to probe hospital blast in Gaza, says Trudeau

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is working with allies to determine “exactly what happened” in the blast at a hospital in Gaza earlier this week that has become a flashpoint in the Israel-Hamas war. Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa today that Canada is taking the “necessary time” to probe a blast that the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says left hundreds dead. Hamas is blaming the Israeli military for the blast, but Israel has denied any involvement, saying it has images that it says show a Palestinian militant group misfired on the hospital. Pressure began to mount on Trudeau to clarify which side he thinks is responsible after United States President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the region Wednesday that it appeared the hospital blast was perpetrated “by the other team, not you.”Trudeau had said when news of the blast first emerged that what happened was “...

While visiting wartime Israel, New York governor learns of her father’s sudden death back home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The New York governor’s father died overnight while she was visiting wartime Israel, with the governor slipping a note grieving her loss into Jerusalem’s Western Wall holy site on Thursday. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul learned of her 87-year-old father John Courtney’s sudden death from a brain hemorrhage in Florida as she embarked on the second day of a trip to show support for Israel during its war with Hamas. At the Western Wall, Hochul appeared to wipe away a tear before placing a handwritten note with prayers for Israel and for her father into a crack in the limestone wall. “As the state with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, New York and Israel share a bond that will never be broken,” Hochul posted on X, formally Twitter.The governor’s sojourn comes as the Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for a bloody cross-border massacre by Hamas militants in southern Israel almost two weeks ago.Gaza’s Health Mini...

14 cows killed, others survive truck rollover crash in Connecticut

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A tractor-trailer carrying 44 dairy cows crashed on a Connecticut highway exit ramp early Thursday, killing eight of the animals immediately while another six had to be euthanized because of their injuries, state police and agriculture officials said.Police and firefighters responded to the wreck on an exit off Interstate 84 westbound in Newtown at about 3:30 a.m. and found the truck tipped over on the driver’s side. The driver was not seriously injured, firefighters said.Authorities summoned a state veterinarian, who decided six other cows needed to be put down. State troopers euthanized the animals at the scene, police said.The remaining 30 cows were doing well after having been loaded onto another truck and taken to a veterinarian for evaluation, the state Department of Agriculture said.It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crash. State police were investigating.The truck was transporting the cows from Maine to Ohio, state agriculture offic...

No gun, no car, no living witnesses against man charged in Tupac Shakur killing, defense lawyer says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A lawyer speaking for the former street gang leader charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 said Thursday he sees “obvious defenses” in the murder case in Las Vegas.“There’s no gun, there’s no car and there’s no witnesses from 27 years ago,” attorney Ross Goodman told reporters after the briefest of court hearings, at which he told a Nevada judge he was close to being hired to represent Duane “Keffe D” Davis.Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones gave Davis and Goodman two weeks to reach agreement, saying she wants to “get this case moving.” She reset Davis’ arraignment for Nov. 2.Goodman told reporters that although he doesn’t yet represent Davis, he expects Davis will plead not guilty and seek release from jail pending trial. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not respond to messages about Goodman’s comments.Davis, 60, is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas without bail. He is originally from Compton, Ca...

Carbon capture key to net-zero electricity, but federal timelines too tight: Report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

CALGARY — Carbon capture and storage is key to greening Canada’s electricity grid, but meeting the proposed time frame laid out by the federal government will be extremely difficult based on the current state of the technology, a new report says.Ottawa has proposed clean electricity regulations aimed at getting Canada’s electricity grid to net-zero by 2035.This will likely require large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage technology at natural gas and coal-fired power plants in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia, due to a lack of availability of hydroelectric power in those provinces.In a new report, the Regina-based International CCUS Knowledge Centre says in order to be compliant with the federal regulations, natural gas-fired power plants would need to achieve a nearly 95 per cent CO2 capture rate.But the organization points out that no carbon capture facility in the world is currently achieving that level of performance.The only large-scale carbon captu...

Journalists in Gaza wrestle with issues of survival in addition to getting stories out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A limited number of journalists in Gaza are trying to report on the war with Israel while facing the same problems as the besieged Palestinian population there — wondering where to live, where to get food and water, and how to stay safe.The aftermath of Tuesday’s explosion that killed hundreds at a Gaza City hospital is the latest example of how that reality hinders the world’s ability to get a full picture of what is happening to the Palestinian population In Gaza.Outside journalists have been unable to enter Gaza since the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7. The sole entry point for journalists, Israel’s Erez crossing, was attacked in the rampage and remains closed. A handful of news organizations had maintained a regular presence with bureaus there, including The Associated Press, the BBC, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Al-Jazeera, with a network of stringers helping others.Israel’s order to Palestinians to evacuate the northern part of Ga...

Teen reaches $1.9 million settlement after officer shot him in gun battle with bank robbery suspect

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:58 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A teenager who was shot and wounded during a 2019 shootout between suburban Chicago police and a bank robbery suspect inside a music school has reached a $1.9 million settlement with the city of Des Plaines.Rylan Wilder signed off this week on the settlement, nearly four years after a bullet fired by Des Plaines Officer James Armstrong tore a hole through his left arm, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.Armstrong was chasing an armed man who had shot another officer after a bank robbery in Des Plaines when the suspect ran into Upbeat Music & Arts on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Armstrong followed him inside, shooting and killing him. In the process, he also accidentally shot Wilder, who was 15 and working as an intern at the school.The bullet that hit the crook of Wilder’s left elbow destroyed an artery, shredded a nerve and obliterated bone, threatening his guitar-playing dreams.Wilder’s parents sued in Cook County circuit court, alleging that the officer...