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Hasbro cuts 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, prompted by the ongoing malaise in the toy business

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO (AP Retail Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Toy maker Hasbro said Monday it is cutting about 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, as the malaise in the toy business extends through another holiday shopping season.The nearly century-old Rhode Island-based company behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony toys disclosed the layoffs in a memo to employees published in a regulatory filing. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. The company said that the reductions are on top of 800 job cuts that have been taken so far in 2023 as part of moves announced last year to save up to $300 million annually by 2025. As of year-end 2022, the company said it had 6,490 employees.Like many toy companies, Hasbro is struggling with a slowdown in sales after a surge during pandemic lockdowns when parents were splurging on toys to keep their children busy. Last holiday season, many toy companies had to slash prices to get rid of merchandise due to weak demand. And the ...

Diehl sets sites on state Senate, with $31.35 in bank

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

After a pair of unsuccessful statewide campaigns, veteran Republican candidate Geoff Diehl of Whitman might now be eyeing a second pass at joining the Massachusetts Senate.Diehl filed paperwork Monday updating the office sought on his campaign account from governor, for which he challenged last year, to the Senate’s Second Plymouth and Norfolk District.With the change, Diehl will start his potential campaign with $31.35 in the bank, according to the last monthly report filed with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.The potential campaign could be a rematch. While serving as a state representative, Diehl lost to current Democrat Michael Brady of Brockton in a 2015 special election for the Second Plymouth and Bristol Senate District.Brady continues to represent the district, which is now the Second Plymouth and Norfolk District following the latest decennial redistricting. He cruised to reelection in 2022 over Republican challenger Jim Gordon with nearly 64 percent of t...

Google's Year in Search: What San Diegans searched for the most this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diegans searched "pickleball courts near me" more than any other place in the U.S. did this year. Did you search for what everyone else did? Here's how you can find out. Did you search for Hurricane Hilary on Google this year? Dillon Danis vs Logan Paul? How about Pilates near me? If you did, then you are part of the millions of San Diego County residents who also did. San Diego among SoCal cities ranked ‘Best Places to Live in the U.S.’ by Money California-based tech giant Google released its "Year in Search" roundup of this year's top searches globally, nationally and locally. The Israel-Hamas war dominated the trending news for the year globally, along with other worldwide events. Top searches this year included the Titanic submarine, turkey earthquake, and Hurricane Hilary, which came through San Diego County as Tropical Storm Hilary in August -- the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. Hilary was downgraded from a hurricane ...

Tensions between Congo and Rwanda heighten the risk of military confrontation, UN envoy says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Tensions between Congo and Rwanda have escalated, heightening the risk of a military confrontation that could draw in Burundi, the top U.N. official in Congo warned the Security Council on Monday.Special representative Bintou Keita’s warning came shortly before the ambassadors from Congo and Rwanda traded accusations in the council, and nine days ahead of Congo’s Dec. 20 presidential election, in which President Felix Tshisekedi is seeking a second term against two dozen candidates.As voting nears, Congo’s government is also doubling down on a push to have regional and international peacekeeping forces withdraw, including the U.N.’s more than 17,700-member force. A regional force of officers from East African countries began leaving eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, last week.Tshisekedi has long accused Rwanda and its president, Paul Kagame, of providing military support to M23 rebels, the latest iteration of Congolese Tutsi fighters to seize towns in p...

Boeing promotes insider to chief operating officer, putting her in the discussion about the next CEO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Boeing has promoted the head of its services business to chief operating officer, putting the female executive in discussion as a potential heir apparent to CEO David Calhoun in a male-dominated industry.Boeing said Monday that Stephanie Pope’s elevation to the job, which includes the title of executive vice president, takes effect Jan. 1.Pope has spent nearly 30 years at Boeing, holding down key financial jobs in the company’s defense, commercial airplanes and services divisions. She became CEO of the services unit last year.Some industry observers were quick to tap Pope, 51, as a contender to become the aerospace company’s next CEO. Richard Aboulafia, managing director of aerospace consultant AeroDynamic Advisory, named Pope and Chief Financial Officer Brian West as potential successors to Calhoun.Calhoun, 66, has held the top job since January 2020, when he replaced Dennis Muilenburg, who was fired during the fallout from two fatal crashes involv...

George Santos is in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos is in negotiations to resolve his federal criminal fraud case, prosecutors said in a court filing Monday.“The parties are presently engaged in plea negotiations with the goal of resolving this matter without the need for a trial,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace’s office wrote in the filing.Santos is scheduled to appear in court on Long Island for a hearing in the case Tuesday. He acknowledged in an interview that aired Sunday that he hadn’t ruled out pleading guilty.“The trial is not until September and a plea is not off the table. So there’s obviously conversations taking place, especially after what happened in Congress, and we’ll see,” he said in the interview with CBS 2, referring to his expulsion from Congress earlier this month.Asked if he is afraid of going to jail, Santos responded: “I think everybody should be afraid of going to jail, it’s not a pretty place and uh, I definitely want to work very hard to avoid th...

The AP All-America team is loaded with 5th- and 6th-year players, including LSU’s Heisman-winning QB

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels from LSU was one of seven players in either their fifth or sixth season of college football selected to The Associated Press All-America team announced Monday.Daniels, a fifth-year quarterback, won the Heisman and AP player of the year honors last week after accounting for 50 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards of offense this season.He was joined in the backfield by Missouri’s Cody Schrader, a sixth-year running back and former Division II player who leads the nation at 124.9 rushing yards per game.The other sixth-year player of the AP first team was North Carolina State linebacker Payton Wilson, who won the Chuck Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year. Kansas State guard Cooper Beebe, edge rushers Laiatu Latu from UCLA and Jalen Green from James Madison, and Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat were the other fifth-year players to make the first team.College players who were in school during the 2020 pandemic season ...

What food banks need from you

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

The Daily Bread Food Bank’s annual report says 1-in-10 Torontonians now rely on their food banks – double the number from 2022.With more than 2.5 million food bank visits in 2023, Daily Bread has seen a 154 per cent increase in new clients.CEO Neil Hetherington calls the increase “absolutely absurd.”“Every single month, if you fill the Rogers Centre seven times, that’s how many people are having to make use of the food bank … we are serving a meal once every 10 seconds, somewhere around the city,” he says.“This is going to be the most difficult holiday season in a generation.”For those looking to donate, Hetherington says Daily Bread’s clients are as diverse as the city itself. Along with staples like pasta, beans and rice, he says people should feel free to donate culturally specific items as well.“We’re hopeful that people will donate food that they would love to see on their own tables,” he says.“...

China’s president will visit Vietnam weeks after it strengthened ties with the US and Japan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Vietnam on Tuesday seeking to further deepen ties with its neighbor that is deepening diplomatic relations with Western-aligned countries.In his first visit since 2017, Xi will meet with Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said.“This reflects Beijing’s concerns about Hanoi’s advances with the West,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow with the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “Concerns that Vietnam may join an anti-China alliance and gang up against China.”Xi’s visit marks 15 years of China being a “comprehensive strategic partner” of Vietnam, the highest official designation for a diplomatic relationship.Vietnam has an increasingly important strategic role in security and economy in southeast Asia.Ideologically, Vietnam is closer to Beijing. It is run by a Communist Party with strong ties to Chin...

Charges filed against 2 men allegedly caught stealing from Oak Brook Macy's

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:49 GMT

OAK BROOK, Ill. — Charges have been filed against two men accused in two separate retail thefts at a department store in Oak Brook, according to DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin.In a press release sent out on Monday afternoon, Berlin announced the charges against the two men, both migrants from Venezuela, for their alleged roles in two separate retail thefts at a Macy’s at 1 Oakbrook Center. Missing Carpentersville teen’s car pulled from pond in Vernon Hills Berlin said both men involved are facing one felony count of retail theft.According to Berlin, the first man, 30-year-old Jainer Efrain Guttierrez Quintero, was allegedly caught attempting to steal a backpack and two coats, worth about $459, just before 4:30 on Sunday afternoon.In an unrelated incident, another man, 28-year-old Martinez Artigas, was allegedly caught attempting to steal eight items from the store, worth about $1,173, only 30 minutes later. Berlin said Artigas is also facing an additional charge of m...