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CVS is laying off 5,000 workers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

New York (CNN) — CVS is laying off about 5,000 employees in a cost-cutting effort, the pharmacy chain confirmed Tuesday.Reductions will occur in “non-customer facing positions,” primarily affecting its corporate staff, according to a statement given to CNN. CVS said it is “evolving to adapt to new consumer health needs and expectations” and that it “must take difficult steps to reduce expenses.”“We do not expect there to be any impact to our customer-facing colleagues in our stores, pharmacies, clinics, or customer services centers,” said the Rhode Island-based company.The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said the changes are part of CVS’ effort to focus on health services. In recent years, the chain has added more primary care offerings and expanded its “HealthHub” store layout.“Throughout our company’s history, we’ve continuously adapted to market dynamics to lead the industry. The difficult decision we are making will set the company up for long-term ...

GM recalls nearly 900 vehicles with Takata air bag inflators, blames manufacturing problem

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling nearly 900 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada with Takata air bag inflators that could explode and hurl shrapnel in a crash.The recall covers certain Chevrolet Camaro, Sonic and Volt vehicles as well as the Buick Verano, all from the 2013 model year. Some 2013 Chevrolet Trax versions in Canada also are included. The company says in documents posted Tuesday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the driver’s front air bag inflator can explode in a crash due to a manufacturing defect. The inflators are among a group made by Takata that is under investigation by the agency but has not previously been recalled. Takata used volatile ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate air bags in a crash. But the chemical can deteriorate over time and explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and spewing shrapnel. At least 26 people have been killed in the U.S. by the inflators since May of 2009, ...

Republican Rep. Tiffany won’t run for US Senate in Wisconsin, leaving open field

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Wisconsin, said Tuesday that he won’t run for U.S. Senate in 2024 against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, leaving an open GOP field with no declared candidates in the swing state a year before the primary.Tiffany said he will run for reelection representing northern Wisconsin rather than take on Baldwin, who is seeking a third term after an 11-percentage point win in 2018. His decision not to enter the race comes just under two months after fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher also declined to run.Tiffany, who has been in Congress since winning a special election in May 2020, announced his decision in a statement to the Northwoods River News.“While Tammy Baldwin is vulnerable due to her record as a rubber stamp for President Biden, I can make the greatest impact continuing to serve the great people of Wisconsin in the House of Representatives,” the newspaper quoted Tiffany as saying.Tiffany did not immediately r...

Movie review: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back, and maybe better than ever

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

There are some good gags and clever innovations in the animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” but there is one brilliant idea: casting Ice Cube as the voice of the movie’s mutant insect supervillain Super Fly.It might have once been hard to foresee the value of having the emcee who rapped of “dropping bombs on your moms” as the MVP of a PG-rated kids movie. But we’re now up to the seventh “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film, not counting all the series and videogames. That’s a lot of movies for a bit of IP that’s clung more firmly to lunch boxes than it has to pop culture. For the turtles, it was getting to be time to either, as Ice Cube would say, “chickity-check yo’ self” or try something new.“Mutant Mayhem,” which opens in theaters Wednesday, can’t entirely get over the feeling of trodding over well-covered turtle ground. But if we must go once more into the ooze, the film by director Jeff Rowe (co-director of “The Mitche...

Barbie’s Japanese distributor apologizes for its parent company’s reaction to Barbenheimer memes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese distributor of the Warner Bros. movie “Barbie” has apologized for its U.S. parent company’s reaction to social media posts about the “Barbenheimer” blitz that combined images of Barbie and an atomic bomb mushroom cloud. The memes triggered criticisms in Japan for what many described as minimizing nuclear attacks. The movie about the world-famous doll and Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer, a biography of Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the weapon, were both released on July 21 in the United States, sparking the Barbenheimer craze for watching both and prompting memes combining the two.Some of the images, which were not created by Warner Bros., showed Margot Robbie, who played Barbie, sitting on the shoulders of Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, with an orange inferno of an atomic blast in the background. The official Barbie account said in response to the combined Barbenheimer meme: “It’s going to be a summer to remember.”In Japan, the only c...

Barbie, Oppenheimer deliver record month for Cineplex theatres

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

TORONTO — Cineplex Inc. says it saw its highest July box office of all time as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” sent droves to theatres last month.The Toronto-based cinema chain says the record month surpassed $86 million in net box office revenues.July also delivered the company its second highest month on record, trailing December 2015, when “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” was released.Cineplex attributed much of the month’s lift to “Barbie,” whichgenerated the highest July attendance at its theatres, followed by “Oppenheimer” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.”Altogether the company says 6.8 million moviegoers visited its theatres last month and Cineplex also scored its second highest monthly premium box office revenue of all time.The Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-starring “Barbie” debuted on July 21, the same day as Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”...

Architect accused in Gilgo Beach serial killings is due back in court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — Rex Heuermann, the architect accused of murdering at least three women and leaving their bodies along a remote stretch of coastline near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, is due back in court for the first time since his arraignment.Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared over five months in 2010. Prosecutors also say he’s also suspected in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.All of the women were sex workers whose remains were discovered near to each other on a barrier island off Long Island’s southern coast.Investigators spent nearly two weeks combing through Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, across a bay from where the remains were found.The search included digging up the yard, dismantling a porch and a greenhouse and removing many contents of the house for testing. Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, told the New York Post that it left the ...

Avion rewards program expands to customers who don’t bank with RBC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

TORONTO — The Avion rewards program is opening up to people who aren’t clients of Royal Bank of Canada.The Toronto-based bank says Canadians will now be allowed into the free rewards program regardless of where they bank or shop.Avion offers members deals at more than 2,400 online retailers and lets shoppers earn points they can redeem for merchandise and gift cards.The membership level open to customers without RBC products is called Avion Select.Avion Select has most of the program’s core benefits but doesn’t offer cash back or savings on in-store purchases and does not allow users to use points on bills payments and investments.Avion’s expansion comes as companies are beefing up their loyalty programs. Cineplex Inc., Scotiabank and Empire Company Ltd. revamped the Scene program last year and BMO Financial Group announced a deal in June to buy Air Miles in Canada.This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 1, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:RY, TSX:BNS, T...

Stock market today: Wall Street edges back from its big rally for the year so far

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

TOKYO — Most stocks are edging back from their big surge following a mixed set of earnings reports from U.S. companies. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% Tuesday, coming off its fifth straight winning month. The Dow was up 60 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq was 0.7% lower. Norwegian Cruise Line tumbled despite reporting stronger profit for the spring than expected. Expectations have been high for it and rivals after its stock soared earlier this year. Worries have been rising about expectations broadly building too high for the market, which saw the S&P 500 surge 19.5% this year through July to a 16-month high.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed slightly lower early Tuesday as market optimism set off by recent rallies was balanced by lingering worries about inflation. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials ticked down 0.2% before the bell, while futures for the S&P 500 retreated 0.3%.Several reports in the coming week could poke ho...

Man Booker Prize long list features 4 Irish writers, 4 debut novelists

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:24 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Author Sebastian Barry, who has received four previous nominations for the Man Booker Prize and twice been short-listed for it, was one of four Irish writers to make the long list Tuesday for the prestigious award.Barry is up this year for his novel “Old God’s Time,” about a retired police detective who gets dragged back into a cold case investigation of a murdered priest suspected of sexually abusing children.Twelve other writers, including four debut novelists and two prior Man Booker nominees, are up for the 50,000 pound ($64,000) prize. The authors are from seven different countries on four continents. “All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways,” said Esi Edugyan, chair of the judges. “Their range is vast, both in subject and form: they shocked us, made us laugh, filled us with anguish, but above all they stayed with us.”The award recognizes the best in long fiction published in the...