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Liz Weston: Investing for retirement — Why you might want to reconsider that 403(b)

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

Like many other educators, high school science teacher Robert Curtiss of Dearborn, Michigan, thought he was doing the right thing by investing in his school district’s 403(b) retirement plan. Then federal regulators charged the company handling Curtiss’ investments with fraud.In July 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. had misled investors — mostly public school employees — about what their investments cost. Equitable often issued quarterly statements showing $0 in fees, when in reality the expenses were much higher, according to the SEC. Equitable agreed to pay a $50 million civil penalty to harmed investors.After hearing about the fine, Curtiss learned that his retirement investments were costing him two to three times what a typical 401(k) investor would pay. Getting his money out would cost even more: the investments, known as variable annuities, had surrender charges of 5% to 6%.“I felt so frustrated,” Curtiss says. “If I wou...

UN officials and activists ramp up the urgency as “difficult” climate talks enter final days

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Visibly tired and frustrated top United Nations officials urged climate talks to push harder for an end to fossil fuels. Time seems to be running out both in the talks in Dubai and for action that could keep warming at or below the internationally agreed-upon threshold.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to the summit on Monday and said it was “time to go into overdrive, to negotiate in good faith, and rise to the challenge.” He said negotiators at the COP28 summit in particular must focus on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and climate justice.He said the global stocktake — the part of talks that assesses where the world is at with its climate goals and how it can reach them — should “phase out all fossil fuels” in order to reach the goal of limiting the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times. That phase-out was, he said, ”a central aspect” for the ...

Tornados mortales desplazan a cientos de habitantes de Tennessee que ahora enfrentan un largo camino hacia la recuperación

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

(CNN) — Cientos de habitantes de Tennessee están desplazados o enfrentan cortes prolongados de energía después de que una serie de poderosos tornados y tormentas azotaran el estado durante el fin de semana, destruyendo cientos de hogares y matando al menos a seis personas, entre ellas una madre y su hijo pequeño.La destrucción causada por las tormentas en Tennessee, donde al menos dos tornados tocaron tierra este sábado, ha llevado a los funcionarios en algunas de las áreas más afectadas a declarar estados locales de emergencia, abrir refugios para familias desplazadas y anunciar el cierre de varias escuelas el lunes.Más de 34.000 personas se quedaron sin electricidad en el estado este lunes por la mañana. En Nashville, una empresa de servicios públicos local estima que podría llevar días restaurar el suministro eléctrico a algunas personas, mientras que a los residentes de Clarksville se les ha dicho que podría llevar semanas.Partes de Hendersonville y el suburbio de Nashvill...

Plan to keep your pets safe this holiday season

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

(CNN) — For a dog or cat, the holidays are full of bright, shiny fun. Tinsel dangles from a tall invader in the living room, outfitted with branches just made for climbing. Twinkling lights bounce off fragile ornaments, which often look just like balls made for a dog’s mouth. One crunch, however, and shards might cause injury.“Think about it — to your cat and dog that tree is an invitation to a party. It’s filled with dangling ornaments that look an awful lot like the balls we give them to play with,” said Holly Sizemore, chief mission officer for Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit, no-kill sanctuary for homeless animals that provides adoption, education, and spay and neuter services.Don’t forget ribbon — yards of color cascading over gift boxes, which to cats are ready-made forts offering plenty of hiding places. Without watchful human eyes, furry friends can get into trouble, especially if they are already known troublemakers such as Reniji, a 15-year-old Maine coon mix with...

Hungary’s rule of law disputes with Brussels explained

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

BRUSSELS — Hungary and its combative leader Viktor Orbán have long been a thorn in the EU’s side, and this week promises to be a big one for that relationship.On Thursday and Friday, EU leaders meet to discuss a number of issues — Ukrainian membership of the EU, the bloc’s long-term budget, migration — on which Hungary has the potential to cause major disruption.But before that, the European Commission is set to allow Hungary to access billions in EU funds that have been frozen by Brussels over concerns about judicial independence. That decision could come as early as Tuesday.But how much money is at stake? And what does it mean for the health of the EU? Here’s POLITICO’s guide.What’s at stake? An awful lot of money.In December 2022, the Commission decided to freeze about €22 billion of EU cohesion funds intended for Hungary. Cohesion funds are meant to help poorer EU member countries invest in their economies. They are in large part paid as reimbur...

Dutch PM Rutte presses for EU to reach €5B Ukraine arms deal

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

BERLIN — EU leaders should back Ukraine with significant military financing this week to avoid a “double block” to support for Kyiv on both sides of the Atlantic, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned Monday.“With the problems in the United States, where the fresh money is blocked, it’s quite crucial that we don’t have a double block against Ukraine,” Rutte said at the Hertie School in Berlin.The U.S. Congress is deadlocked over fresh funding for Ukraine, while the EU is yet to come to a deal over the future of the European Peace Facility (EPF), a pot of cash used to partially reimburse states for arms deliveries to Kyiv.EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to hash out a proposal for a €5 billion cash addition to the EPF rather than the four-year €20 billion fund pitched earlier this year.But with Germany in a budget crisis and Hungary threatening a veto, the outcome of this week’s talks are still unclear. “We need to agree on the m...

Reports of antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias continue to surge across the US, new data shows

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

(CNN) — As the war between Israel and Hamas enters its third month, reports of hate crimes and bias incidents targeting Jews, Muslims and Arabs continue to surge across the United States.New data from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reveal a dramatic spike in reported incidents of both antisemitism and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias.The ADL said it recorded 2,031 antisemitic incidents in the two months after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, including reports of physical assault, vandalism and “anti-Israel rallies that included classically antisemitic, anti-Zionist and/or terror-supportive rhetoric.”The organization said it received reports of 465 antisemitic incidents during the same two-month period in 2022.The new data, released Monday, reflects a more than 330% increase in reported incidents of antisemitism from the 2022 timeframe, the ADL said.“This is historic but can be directly linked back to the...

Bill Belichick gives detailed assessment of Patriots QB Bailey Zappe’s recent play

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wouldn’t name a starting quarterback ahead of Sunday’s contest with the Chiefs.Belichick said Monday morning on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” that he’s “not announcing who’s doing what.”Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots-Steelers film review: Did Bailey Zappe prove something in Pittsburgh? New England Patriots | Patriots mailbag: What’s Bailey Zappe’s future with organization? New England Patriots | Patriots lose veteran LB again to Dolphins New England Patriots | Source: Patriots lose offensive coach with 4 games left New England Patriots | Patriots release hybrid RB/WR to make room for ex-Eagles linebacker Still, Belichick seems fairly pleased with Zappe’s performance over the last two weeks, when the second-year pro has started two gam...

Matt Eberflus finally has a signature win after 30 games. Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Chicago Bears’ Week 14 victory.

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

Impactful decisions that will shape the future of the Chicago Bears will be based on the entire body of work this season, but a future with Matt Eberflus still patrolling the sideline would have been harder to imagine with a loss Sunday.10 thoughts on a decisive 28-13 victory over the Detroit Lions, the NFC North front-runner, that improved the Bears to 5-8 and opened the imagination for the future.1. I try hard to avoid weekly referendums on decisions that are off in the distance.Yes, it’s great fodder for talk shows and social media, but Bears general manager Ryan Poles — and the powerful folks in his tight circle at Halas Hall — won’t make a decision due in January based on a four-game slide to begin the season, a bad loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in late October or a meltdown in Detroit in November.Similarly, they won’t cement a call on Eberflus’ future based on the franchise’s first two-game winning streak since the final weeks of th...

Column: White Sox stasis continues while Cubs move on from another failed pursuit of Shohei Ohtani

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

The Chicago White Sox acquired veteran catcher Max Stassi shortly after the news of Shohei Ohtani’s record $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers was released.Suffice to say there were no Stassi-related celebrations on the South Side posted on Instagram.The domino effect of the Ohtani signing means free agency should pick up. The Cubs will now turn to their lesser-priced targets, but whether the Sox plan to fully participate remains to be seen.The acquisition of a 32-year-old, defensive-minded catcher who hasn’t played since 2022 provides the Sox with a veteran to handle what should be a very young pitching staff, albeit at the expense of providing any offense.But the unintentional timing of the move, coming on the heels of the Dodgers’ gargantuan expenditure, only magnified the apparent direction (or misdirection) of the Sox. The offseason stasis adds to the litany of Sox lowlights, from the unsolved gunshots at Guaranteed Rate Field to the end of the ...