Monday, March 17
Yellen Urges Israel to Restore Economic Ties to West Bank
Economy

Yellen Urges Israel to Restore Economic Ties to West Bank

Associated media - Associated media Since Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Israeli government has been withholding tax revenues that it collects on behalf of Palestinians. Traditionally, that money has been distributed back to the Palestinian Authority, which used it to fund its operating budget. Israel has previously frozen and then released that tax revenue during periods of conflict with the Palestinians. The White House national security communications adviser, John Kirby, said last month that President Biden had discussed with Mr. Netanyahu the need to ensure that the tax revenues were available to pay salaries for Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. Ms. Yellen said on Tuesday that she was encouraged that revenue was starting to make its way to the West Bank...
Eye Ointments at CVS and Walmart Pulled Because of Infection Risk
Economy

Eye Ointments at CVS and Walmart Pulled Because of Infection Risk

Related media - Related media “The products are being recalled due to lack of sterility assurance at the facility noted during an inspection conducted by the Food and Drug Administration,” the announcement said. It added that, as of Feb. 16, the company had not received any reports of adverse reactions related to these products. The products are intended to be sterile, the administrator said, because drugs applied to the eyes bypass some of the body’s natural defense systems. Other eye products have been recalled in recent months. In October, the F.D.A. advised consumers to stop using more than two dozen over-the-counter eyedrop products sold at stores including Target, CVS and Walmart after inspectors found unsanitary conditions at a manufacturing plant. Bacterial tests came back po...
Unopened Case of More Than 10,000 Hockey Cards Sells for .7 Million
Sports

Unopened Case of More Than 10,000 Hockey Cards Sells for $3.7 Million

Related media - Related media The box went to an anonymous buyer in Canada, Mr. Simonds said, breaking the record for the most money spent on unopened sports cards and the most anyone has spent on a hockey collectible. Baseball Card Exchange, an authenticator that specializes in unopened vintage sports cards, confirmed that 16 wax boxes were inside the case. Each box contains 48 packs of cards, with 14 cards per pack, for a total of more than 10,000 cards. The set contains 396 different player cards, which means that if the assortment were perfectly random, it would contain 27 Gretzky cards, according to the auction house’s listing. If the case does contains a couple dozen of the prized Gretzky cards, they might not be in good condition, Mr. Simonds warned. The cards could be slightl...
Starbucks and Union Agree to Work Out Framework for Contract Talks
Economy

Starbucks and Union Agree to Work Out Framework for Contract Talks

Connected media - Associated media Workers who have helped lead the organizing said the development had surprised them. “It still feels pretty surreal right now,” said Michelle Eisen, a longtime barista at a Starbucks in Buffalo that was the first company-owned store to unionize during the current campaign. “There has not been a single call I’ve been on today where either I wasn’t crying or everyone else wasn’t crying.” If a framework is agreed to and quickly leads to contracts, experts said, it could be a major development in labor relations in corporate America, where companies like Amazon and Apple have resisted union organizing to varying degrees. “If Starbucks genuinely intends to respect workers’ right to organize, stop its intimidation and harassment of pro-union workers, and ...
Everybody’s Ejected After a Senators-Panthers Fight
Sports

Everybody’s Ejected After a Senators-Panthers Fight

Linked media - Associated media Geraldine Tkachuk, the players’ grandmother, was spotted in the stands looking less than impressed. As remarkable as the 10-man ejection may have been, it barely seemed to faze the participants. “I mean, I don’t think it’s bad to play with emotion,” Brady Tkachuk told The Associated Press. “I think when this group plays with emotion, we’re a tough team to beat, and I think we rely on our emotion and it shows that we care, shows that we care about what we’re doing here and about the guy next to us.” Two more players got misconduct penalties later in the third period, bringing the total penalty minutes in the game to 167. Still, this being hockey, that wasn’t close to a record. In 2004, a series of brawls late in a game between the Senators and the Phila...
Alabama IVF Ruling: What to Know About the Costs of Moving Embryos
Economy

Alabama IVF Ruling: What to Know About the Costs of Moving Embryos

Related media - Connected media “There’s a lot that goes into moving these safely and properly,” said Angeline Beltsos, chief executive physician at Kindbody, which has 35 clinics across the country and provides fertility benefit coverage for employers, including Walmart. Will my health insurance cover the cost to move my embryos if I can no longer get I.V.F. in my home state? Maybe. Some coverage could be broad enough to pay for the transport of embryos. “It is likely that employees working for large employers have some kind of coverage,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, the chief executive officer of Purchaser Business Group on Health, which represents large employers that provide benefits for their workers. Would fertility coverage pick up my treatment elsewhere? Maybe, and it’s more like...
Rafael Nadal is ready to play again. In America. On hard courts. Should he?
Sports

Rafael Nadal is ready to play again. In America. On hard courts. Should he?

Linked media - Related media For more than a month, the smoke signals out of Rafael Nadal’s camp have kept the tennis world on its toes, sparking predictions of everything from a triumphant spring on the red clay of Paris to him never playing another competitive match following yet another hip injury in Australia in January. The only thing that seemed clear was that the 22-time Grand Slam champion was prioritizing the clay court season in Europe this spring. Nadal said as much in January when he returned following a year-long layoff because of hip surgery. Sure, he was happy to be back and competing in Australia, where he won the year’s first Grand Slam as recently as 2022, but he was singularly focused on being in top form — or, at least, as close as he can get to it at this point —...
How Phoenix Fans Watch Their Teams May Change How You Watch Yours
Sports

How Phoenix Fans Watch Their Teams May Change How You Watch Yours

Associated media - Connected media The Phoenix-area franchises are part of a growing wave of teams doing the same. The San Diego Padres, like the Diamondbacks, ended their agreement with Diamond Sports, the largest regional sports network provider. Major League Baseball used its broadcasting and streaming capabilities to keep the teams on the air and guaranteed they would get 80 percent of the revenue they received in their Diamond Sports deals. Diamond Sports, which must make at least $400 million in annual debt payments, is in talks with its creditors, some of whom want to reshape the company’s business while others want to be bought out. Diamond Sports is also in talks with the N.B.A. and other leagues about reducing their rights fees. A company spokesperson declined to comment on...
Apple Kills Its Electric Car Project
Economy

Apple Kills Its Electric Car Project

Connected media - Connected media Though Apple had not unveiled its car to consumers, the product had for many years been one of Silicon Valley’s worst-kept secrets because it was being tested on public roads. The cancellation is a rare move by Apple, which typically doesn’t shelve such public and high-profile projects. The company has struggled in recent years to find new avenues for growth as its all-important iPhone has saturated the market and people are upgrading their phones less frequently than they used to. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has publicly hinted that Apple was interested in entering the car space. The company had also been testing hundreds of vehicles equipped with autonomous driving technology in public for many years. The car, internally code-named Titan and...
The NATO Welcoming Sweden Is Larger, More Determined
News

The NATO Welcoming Sweden Is Larger, More Determined

Linked media - Connected media Still, with Hungary finally voting for Sweden’s accession to NATO, at last the pieces are falling into place for a sharply enhanced NATO deterrent in the Baltic and North Seas, with greater protection for the frontline states of Finland, Norway and the Baltic nations, which border Russia. Once Hungary hands in a letter certifying parliamentary approval to the U.S. State Department, Sweden will become the 32nd member of NATO, and all the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, with the exception of Russia, will be part of the alliance. “Sweden brings predictability, removing any uncertainty about how we would act in a crisis or a war,” Mr. Dalsjo said. Given Sweden’s geography, including Gotland, the island that helps controls the entrance to the Baltic Se...