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British Columbia business owner Joe Chaput will spend $5,500 a month on security guards during the holiday season and plans on upgrading his store’s video camera system for around $5,000 more. He’s not selling luxury brands or expensive jewels. Chaput sells cheese, and at Christmas, cheese is a hot commodity. He is the co-owner of specialty cheese store les amis du Fromage, with two locations in Vancouver. While cheeselifting is rare in their Kitsilano store, the outlet in East Vancouver is hit in waves, with nothing happening for a month, then three of four people trying to steal their inventory within a week. “Sometimes, you miss it. Sometimes, you catch it. The way shoplifters behave ... they tend to gravitate toward expensive things,” said Chaput. Expensive cheese is on shoplifters’ Christmas list, he said. “They tend to do the classic examples of staying away from customer service and trying to go to a different part of the store so they can be left alone to steal.” Chaput isn’t alone. Police say food-related crimes on are the rise in Canada and as prices climb for items such as cheese and butter, they become lucrative on the black market for organized crime groups, not to mention theft for local resale. Sylvain Charlebois, the director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-food Analytics Lab, said a black market tends to emerge as soon as food prices surge. “Organized crime will steal anything (if) they know they can sell it and so, they probably would have known who their clients are before even stealing anything at all, and that’s how a black market is organized,” said Charlebois. He said he believes there are two categories of people shoplifting — those who do so out of desperation because they can’t afford the food, or organized criminals, profiting from sales on the black market. Mounties in North Vancouver made cheesy headlines when they ran into a man with a cart of stolen cheese in the middle of the night in September. The cheese, valued at $12,800, was from a nearby Whole Foods Store. While the cheese was recovered, it had to be disposed of because it hadn’t been refrigerated. Const. Mansoor Sahak, with the North Vancouver RCMP, said officers believe cheese is targeted because it’s “profitable to resell.” “If they are drug addicts, they will commit further crimes with that or feed their drug habits. It’s a vicious cycle,” said Sahak. Sahak said meat is also a top target for grocery thieves, with store losses sometimes in the thousands. “So, we’re not surprised that this happened,” said Sahak. Police in Ontario have been chasing down slippery shoplifters going after butter. Scott Tracey, a spokesman with Guelph Police Service, said there have been eight or nine butter thefts over the last year, including one theft last December worth $1,000. In October, two men walked into a local grocer and filled their carts with cases of butter valued at $936, and four days later a Guelph grocer lost four cases valued at $958. Tracey said he has looked at online marketplaces and found listings by people selling 20 or 30 pounds of butter at a time. “Clearly, somebody didn’t accidentally buy 30 extra pounds of butter. So, they must have come from somewhere,” said Tracey, “I think at this point it appears to be the black market is where it’s headed.” He said the thefts seem to be organized, with two or three people working together in each case. Police in Brantford, Ont., are also investigating the theft of about $1,200 worth of butter from a store on Nov. 4. Charlebois said retailers could invest in prevention technologies like electronic tags, but putting them on butter or cheese is rare. He said up until recently grocery store theft has been a “taboo subject for many years.” Stores didn’t wanted to talk about thefts because they didn’t want to alarm people but now they feel they need to build awareness about what is “becoming a huge problem,” said Charlebois. Chaput, the cheese store owner, said he had been running the East Vancouver store for 15 years while managing the store in Kitsilano for 30 years, and he loves his customers. “It’s really one of the best parts of our businesses, seeing familiar faces and making new customers. It’s why we come to work, really. Partly it’s the cheese, and partly it’s the people,” said Chaput. He said his strategy to combat would-be thieves is to give them extra customer service to make it harder for them to steal. He admits, however, that the shoplifting causes him stress. “It’s challenging. You’re busy trying to run your business day to day and take care of customers and take care of employees. Having to deal with criminals, just kind of scratches away. It can be a bit exhausting,” said Chaput.
goalkeeper is "alert" and conscious after being taken off the field on a stretcher during the team's at on Thursday, manager Julen Lopetegui said. The game was delayed for around eight minutes as Fabianski received treatment on the field at St Mary's Stadium. The 39-year-old Polish goalkeeper was hurt in a collision from a corner and was replaced by in the 36th minute. Southampton 'keeper had run the length of the field to check on Fabianski amid worrying scenes. Fabianski was then greeted by applause as he was taken off with an oxygen mask on, but did not need to go to the hospital. "He had one big knock around the head, around the neck and he was not very sure about his actions. Fortunately the news is he is talking, he is alert, he is conscious," Lopetegui said. "I talk with him. The doctors say that he feels better and well. I am positive with him. He showed he more or less recovered his sense. I am not afraid. We feared but now he is better and it is a positive feeling because we were very worried." West Ham, which also saw defender go off in the first half, scored through in the 59th.
Stock market today: Dow hits record as Trump's pick for Treasury stokes optimismAffiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate tax products to write unbiased product reviews. If you file electronically, you can typically expect to get your federal tax refund within three weeks. If you file a paper return, processing will take at least four weeks after your return is received. There's a portal on the IRS site where you can check the status of your refund. If the Internal Revenue Service owes you a tax refund, you're probably eager to get it in your hands as soon as possible. Typically the quickest — and safest — way to get a refund is electronically filing your return and opting for direct deposit . Still, there may be factors outside of your control that can delay processing. Here's what you need to know about tracking your refund. How to track your tax refund The IRS has a tool where filers can check the status of their refund. You can find it here , or you can search "Where's My Tax Refund?" You can check the tool after 48 hours of filing electronically and receiving notification of acceptance or four weeks after you've mailed a return. The information is updated daily. To get your refund status, you'll need to provide your: Social Security number Filing status Exact refund amount These are all found on the tax return you filed for the year. Note: If you pay state income taxes , you may be getting a separate refund. State tax refunds are processed independently from federal tax refunds and you will need to check your state's tax department website to find the status. Common reasons for refund delays If your return requires additional review, it may take longer than normal to receive your refund. Some circumstances that may delay your refund include: Missing information Errors A return affected by identity theft A return that includes Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation , which could take as long as 14 weeks to process Claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit (refunds cannot be paid out until late February) Filing with an Individual Taxpayer ID Number (ITIN) How long does it usually take? About 90% of refunds are processed within 21 days of e-filing, according to the IRS. Paper returns are processed much more slowly (typically four weeks or more). If you electronically file and provide bank account information to the IRS for direct deposit, you'll likely see your refund sooner. Next steps if your refund is delayed Once your tax return has been accepted, it goes into a queue for processing. "The best way to think about the IRS is a giant database, and processing your return is simply a series of checks of your data against the data it knows about you already," Robert Farrington, founder of The College Investor , explains. "During this time it looks at all the information you submitted — such as your W-2 income, child tax credits, and more — and looks at its records to see if the data matches. If everything looks good (or within a range of what it expects), your return is sent to be approved and then either payment or refund will be processed." If it's been more than the estimated three-week turnaround time for a return you e-filed and four weeks for a paper filing, and you don't see your refund status on the IRS tracker, you may contact the automated refund hotline at 800-829-1954. If you're waiting on a refund from an amended return , you can call 866-464-2050. FAQs on tracking your tax refund If your refund is delayed, be sure to check your mail daily for any IRS correspondence. If there is an error on your return, this is how the IRS will get in touch to correct it or request additional information. Otherwise, you can contact the automated refund hotline at 800-829-1954. You can check your refund status within 48 hours of electronically filing your return using the IRS's refund status tracker . If your return requires additional review it may be because it's missing information or contains errors. Check your mail for a letter from the IRS. The average time for paying out a refund is less than 21 days from "acceptance" of an electronically filed return. If you select direct deposit, you can receive your refund as soon as your bank clears the payment. Mailed refunds can take days or weeks to reach you, and may be vulnerable to theft. Real estate/mortgages Taxes Retirement planning Small business finances Banking Budgeting
President-elect Donald Trump was welcomed back to the world stage on Saturday, sitting down with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron with a dramatic backdrop: the reopening of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. With Trump set to return to the White House in January, the three leaders met at the Elysee Palace in Paris with diplomacy on the war in Ukraine in flux. Officials close to Macron and Zelenskyy said the meeting was positive, without providing details. “The world is going a little crazy right now and we’ll be talking about that,” Trump told reporters as he arrived for an initial two-way meeting with Macron. Macron had sought to engineer the talks to initiate a discussion on how to end the war in Ukraine, an official in his office said. Later, the French president hosted guests, including heads of state and global business leaders, at the cathedral that was painstakingly restored after a catastrophic 2019 fire. For Macron, the day’s events offered a brief fillip as he seeks a new prime minister after his government collapsed this week in a show of force by far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Almost three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy and his allies are anxiously watching Trump for signs of how he plans approach the conflict. U.S. weapons and financial aid have been a vital crutch for Kyiv, but Trump had promised he would engineer a swift end to the war on the campaign trail. That’s fueled concerns in Kyiv and other European capitals that the next U.S. administration might roll back support for Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy to compromise. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have been on the back foot for most of the year and Russian gains have been accelerating in recent weeks. The incoming U.S. president faces a daunting range of geopolitical challenges, including war in the Middle East and long-running tensions with China. Shortly before arriving at the presidential palace, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform about the conflict in Syria, where rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad have made rapid advances. A withdrawal of its troops that are helping support Assad might be “the best thing that can happen” to Russia, he said. The U.S., he added, “should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight.” The visit to Paris is Trump’s first trip abroad to meet with world leaders since he won back the White House in November and is a coup for Macron, who’s seen his political program decimated by the domestic opposition who forced out his prime minister with a no-confidence vote on Wednesday. Macron worked hard to engage Trump through his first term, despite Trump’s occasional barbs, inviting the U.S. leader to the Bastille Day ceremony in 2017 and taking him to dinner at the Eiffel Tower. Trump called Macron weak after the “Yellow Vest” protests broke out in 2018 and attacked him for cozying up to China. On Saturday, Macron deployed all his experience of dealing with Trump, welcoming him with a red-carpet ceremony at the Elysee and making him effectively the guest of honor at the cathedral. Trump was seated in the front row next to Macron and the two men were seen chatting during the service. Regardless of Macron’s domestic struggles, the meeting was testament to the unique soft power of France and the president’s ability to wield it. As Trump and Zelenskiy were speaking, an exclusive list of guests were arriving at the cathedral, which has been rebuilt at a cost of 700 million euros ($740 million). Bernard Arnault, Europe’s richest man, was among the early arrivals. Kering SA Chief Executive Officer Francois-Henri Pinault came with his wife, the actor Salma Hayek. Both men were major donors to the reconstruction effort. Billionaire John Elkann, who chairs automaker Stellantis SA, was also in attendance as was FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni chuckled as she posed for the cameras with Macron and his wife Brigitte. Zelenskyy embraced Macron as he arrived and appeared to say “thank you” to the French leader. The Ukrainian was given an ovation by the guests as he entered the nave. Trump was among the last of the grandees to be greeted by Macron outside the cathedral, though Elon Musk, a close ally of the president-elect, arrived shortly afterward, scurrying across the square in the rain. First lady Jill Biden followed soon before the ceremony started. After the ceremony at the cathedral, a select group of guests will attend a dinner back at Macron’s presidential palace. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Jaland Lowe, Pitt charge past LSU in second half to move to 6-0None
NoneHydrocodone IR by Elysium Therapeutics for Opium (Opioid) Addiction: Likelihood of ApprovalLisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Every gift company that has heard of me — many I've never heard of — is suggesting a list of gifts for my family and friends. Unburdened by any of the emails I've opened, I thought what if we at “Trivially Speaking” created a possible recommended “TS Gift Suggestions.”Benguet Corp. has secured the go-ahead from stakeholders to increase its authorized capital stock as the listed company gears up to expand its foothold outside the mining industry. In a stock exchange disclosure, Benguet said it secured the green light for an increase to P3.18 billion from P784.8 million, during the firm’s annual meeting of stockholders conducted via livestreaming. Benguet will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the application for a higher authorized capital stock. READ: Benguet Corp pushes expansion, diversification “The purpose of the capital increase is for the company to conduct a stock rights offer (SRO), stock option grants, and declare stock dividends in the future,” it said. A company such as Benguet carries out an SRO to provide existing shareholders an opportunity to purchase more shares at a discount. Proceeds from this transaction are used to settle debts or bankroll projects in the pipeline. In a stock option grant, an entity offers employees, consultants or executives the right to purchase a certain number of its shares at a predetermined price, subject to certain conditions. This developed as Benguet signified its intention to increase its activities not only in the mining sector but also in other industries such as renewable energy after settling its decades-long debt. Benguet disclosed it is focusing on its gold prospects as prices of the yellow metal soar. The company initiated the exploration of its gold concession area in Zamboanga Sibugay and is on the lookout for other copper-gold prospects. It is also studying a new technology for higher recovery of its gold tailing project in Itogon. Likewise, the firm continues to implement its drilling program at the Pantingan gold prospect in Bataan. It approved a budget of P50 million to support Phase Two of the drilling and exploration plan. Last October, Benguet secured the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ approval to extend its mineral production sharing agreement for another 25 years, which it expects will lead to the declaration for mining project feasibility. Benguet has an operating agreement with Balanga Bataan Minerals Corp. signed in March 1996. It covers 1,410 hectares situated in the towns of Bagac, Mariveles and Limay in Bataan. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . The mining firm unveiled its plans to expand its portfolio to include construction, real estate, water, agribusiness and renewables as it became debt-free with the settlement of all its outstanding debts in October. —Jordeene B. Lagare
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British Columbia business owner Joe Chaput will spend $5,500 a month on security guards during the holiday season and plans on upgrading his store’s video camera system for around $5,000 more. He’s not selling luxury brands or expensive jewels. Chaput sells cheese, and at Christmas, cheese is a hot commodity. He is the co-owner of specialty cheese store les amis du Fromage, with two locations in Vancouver. While cheeselifting is rare in their Kitsilano store, the outlet in East Vancouver is hit in waves, with nothing happening for a month, then three of four people trying to steal their inventory within a week. “Sometimes, you miss it. Sometimes, you catch it. The way shoplifters behave ... they tend to gravitate toward expensive things,” said Chaput. Expensive cheese is on shoplifters’ Christmas list, he said. “They tend to do the classic examples of staying away from customer service and trying to go to a different part of the store so they can be left alone to steal.” Chaput isn’t alone. Police say food-related crimes on are the rise in Canada and as prices climb for items such as cheese and butter, they become lucrative on the black market for organized crime groups, not to mention theft for local resale. Sylvain Charlebois, the director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-food Analytics Lab, said a black market tends to emerge as soon as food prices surge. “Organized crime will steal anything (if) they know they can sell it and so, they probably would have known who their clients are before even stealing anything at all, and that’s how a black market is organized,” said Charlebois. He said he believes there are two categories of people shoplifting — those who do so out of desperation because they can’t afford the food, or organized criminals, profiting from sales on the black market. Mounties in North Vancouver made cheesy headlines when they ran into a man with a cart of stolen cheese in the middle of the night in September. The cheese, valued at $12,800, was from a nearby Whole Foods Store. While the cheese was recovered, it had to be disposed of because it hadn’t been refrigerated. Const. Mansoor Sahak, with the North Vancouver RCMP, said officers believe cheese is targeted because it’s “profitable to resell.” “If they are drug addicts, they will commit further crimes with that or feed their drug habits. It’s a vicious cycle,” said Sahak. Sahak said meat is also a top target for grocery thieves, with store losses sometimes in the thousands. “So, we’re not surprised that this happened,” said Sahak. Police in Ontario have been chasing down slippery shoplifters going after butter. Scott Tracey, a spokesman with Guelph Police Service, said there have been eight or nine butter thefts over the last year, including one theft last December worth $1,000. In October, two men walked into a local grocer and filled their carts with cases of butter valued at $936, and four days later a Guelph grocer lost four cases valued at $958. Tracey said he has looked at online marketplaces and found listings by people selling 20 or 30 pounds of butter at a time. “Clearly, somebody didn’t accidentally buy 30 extra pounds of butter. So, they must have come from somewhere,” said Tracey, “I think at this point it appears to be the black market is where it’s headed.” He said the thefts seem to be organized, with two or three people working together in each case. Police in Brantford, Ont., are also investigating the theft of about $1,200 worth of butter from a store on Nov. 4. Charlebois said retailers could invest in prevention technologies like electronic tags, but putting them on butter or cheese is rare. He said up until recently grocery store theft has been a “taboo subject for many years.” Stores didn’t wanted to talk about thefts because they didn’t want to alarm people but now they feel they need to build awareness about what is “becoming a huge problem,” said Charlebois. Chaput, the cheese store owner, said he had been running the East Vancouver store for 15 years while managing the store in Kitsilano for 30 years, and he loves his customers. “It’s really one of the best parts of our businesses, seeing familiar faces and making new customers. It’s why we come to work, really. Partly it’s the cheese, and partly it’s the people,” said Chaput. He said his strategy to combat would-be thieves is to give them extra customer service to make it harder for them to steal. He admits, however, that the shoplifting causes him stress. “It’s challenging. You’re busy trying to run your business day to day and take care of customers and take care of employees. Having to deal with criminals, just kind of scratches away. It can be a bit exhausting,” said Chaput.
goalkeeper is "alert" and conscious after being taken off the field on a stretcher during the team's at on Thursday, manager Julen Lopetegui said. The game was delayed for around eight minutes as Fabianski received treatment on the field at St Mary's Stadium. The 39-year-old Polish goalkeeper was hurt in a collision from a corner and was replaced by in the 36th minute. Southampton 'keeper had run the length of the field to check on Fabianski amid worrying scenes. Fabianski was then greeted by applause as he was taken off with an oxygen mask on, but did not need to go to the hospital. "He had one big knock around the head, around the neck and he was not very sure about his actions. Fortunately the news is he is talking, he is alert, he is conscious," Lopetegui said. "I talk with him. The doctors say that he feels better and well. I am positive with him. He showed he more or less recovered his sense. I am not afraid. We feared but now he is better and it is a positive feeling because we were very worried." West Ham, which also saw defender go off in the first half, scored through in the 59th.
Stock market today: Dow hits record as Trump's pick for Treasury stokes optimismAffiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate tax products to write unbiased product reviews. If you file electronically, you can typically expect to get your federal tax refund within three weeks. If you file a paper return, processing will take at least four weeks after your return is received. There's a portal on the IRS site where you can check the status of your refund. If the Internal Revenue Service owes you a tax refund, you're probably eager to get it in your hands as soon as possible. Typically the quickest — and safest — way to get a refund is electronically filing your return and opting for direct deposit . Still, there may be factors outside of your control that can delay processing. Here's what you need to know about tracking your refund. How to track your tax refund The IRS has a tool where filers can check the status of their refund. You can find it here , or you can search "Where's My Tax Refund?" You can check the tool after 48 hours of filing electronically and receiving notification of acceptance or four weeks after you've mailed a return. The information is updated daily. To get your refund status, you'll need to provide your: Social Security number Filing status Exact refund amount These are all found on the tax return you filed for the year. Note: If you pay state income taxes , you may be getting a separate refund. State tax refunds are processed independently from federal tax refunds and you will need to check your state's tax department website to find the status. Common reasons for refund delays If your return requires additional review, it may take longer than normal to receive your refund. Some circumstances that may delay your refund include: Missing information Errors A return affected by identity theft A return that includes Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation , which could take as long as 14 weeks to process Claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit (refunds cannot be paid out until late February) Filing with an Individual Taxpayer ID Number (ITIN) How long does it usually take? About 90% of refunds are processed within 21 days of e-filing, according to the IRS. Paper returns are processed much more slowly (typically four weeks or more). If you electronically file and provide bank account information to the IRS for direct deposit, you'll likely see your refund sooner. Next steps if your refund is delayed Once your tax return has been accepted, it goes into a queue for processing. "The best way to think about the IRS is a giant database, and processing your return is simply a series of checks of your data against the data it knows about you already," Robert Farrington, founder of The College Investor , explains. "During this time it looks at all the information you submitted — such as your W-2 income, child tax credits, and more — and looks at its records to see if the data matches. If everything looks good (or within a range of what it expects), your return is sent to be approved and then either payment or refund will be processed." If it's been more than the estimated three-week turnaround time for a return you e-filed and four weeks for a paper filing, and you don't see your refund status on the IRS tracker, you may contact the automated refund hotline at 800-829-1954. If you're waiting on a refund from an amended return , you can call 866-464-2050. FAQs on tracking your tax refund If your refund is delayed, be sure to check your mail daily for any IRS correspondence. If there is an error on your return, this is how the IRS will get in touch to correct it or request additional information. Otherwise, you can contact the automated refund hotline at 800-829-1954. You can check your refund status within 48 hours of electronically filing your return using the IRS's refund status tracker . If your return requires additional review it may be because it's missing information or contains errors. Check your mail for a letter from the IRS. The average time for paying out a refund is less than 21 days from "acceptance" of an electronically filed return. If you select direct deposit, you can receive your refund as soon as your bank clears the payment. Mailed refunds can take days or weeks to reach you, and may be vulnerable to theft. Real estate/mortgages Taxes Retirement planning Small business finances Banking Budgeting
President-elect Donald Trump was welcomed back to the world stage on Saturday, sitting down with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron with a dramatic backdrop: the reopening of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. With Trump set to return to the White House in January, the three leaders met at the Elysee Palace in Paris with diplomacy on the war in Ukraine in flux. Officials close to Macron and Zelenskyy said the meeting was positive, without providing details. “The world is going a little crazy right now and we’ll be talking about that,” Trump told reporters as he arrived for an initial two-way meeting with Macron. Macron had sought to engineer the talks to initiate a discussion on how to end the war in Ukraine, an official in his office said. Later, the French president hosted guests, including heads of state and global business leaders, at the cathedral that was painstakingly restored after a catastrophic 2019 fire. For Macron, the day’s events offered a brief fillip as he seeks a new prime minister after his government collapsed this week in a show of force by far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Almost three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy and his allies are anxiously watching Trump for signs of how he plans approach the conflict. U.S. weapons and financial aid have been a vital crutch for Kyiv, but Trump had promised he would engineer a swift end to the war on the campaign trail. That’s fueled concerns in Kyiv and other European capitals that the next U.S. administration might roll back support for Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy to compromise. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have been on the back foot for most of the year and Russian gains have been accelerating in recent weeks. The incoming U.S. president faces a daunting range of geopolitical challenges, including war in the Middle East and long-running tensions with China. Shortly before arriving at the presidential palace, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform about the conflict in Syria, where rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad have made rapid advances. A withdrawal of its troops that are helping support Assad might be “the best thing that can happen” to Russia, he said. The U.S., he added, “should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight.” The visit to Paris is Trump’s first trip abroad to meet with world leaders since he won back the White House in November and is a coup for Macron, who’s seen his political program decimated by the domestic opposition who forced out his prime minister with a no-confidence vote on Wednesday. Macron worked hard to engage Trump through his first term, despite Trump’s occasional barbs, inviting the U.S. leader to the Bastille Day ceremony in 2017 and taking him to dinner at the Eiffel Tower. Trump called Macron weak after the “Yellow Vest” protests broke out in 2018 and attacked him for cozying up to China. On Saturday, Macron deployed all his experience of dealing with Trump, welcoming him with a red-carpet ceremony at the Elysee and making him effectively the guest of honor at the cathedral. Trump was seated in the front row next to Macron and the two men were seen chatting during the service. Regardless of Macron’s domestic struggles, the meeting was testament to the unique soft power of France and the president’s ability to wield it. As Trump and Zelenskiy were speaking, an exclusive list of guests were arriving at the cathedral, which has been rebuilt at a cost of 700 million euros ($740 million). Bernard Arnault, Europe’s richest man, was among the early arrivals. Kering SA Chief Executive Officer Francois-Henri Pinault came with his wife, the actor Salma Hayek. Both men were major donors to the reconstruction effort. Billionaire John Elkann, who chairs automaker Stellantis SA, was also in attendance as was FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni chuckled as she posed for the cameras with Macron and his wife Brigitte. Zelenskyy embraced Macron as he arrived and appeared to say “thank you” to the French leader. The Ukrainian was given an ovation by the guests as he entered the nave. Trump was among the last of the grandees to be greeted by Macron outside the cathedral, though Elon Musk, a close ally of the president-elect, arrived shortly afterward, scurrying across the square in the rain. First lady Jill Biden followed soon before the ceremony started. After the ceremony at the cathedral, a select group of guests will attend a dinner back at Macron’s presidential palace. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Jaland Lowe, Pitt charge past LSU in second half to move to 6-0None
NoneHydrocodone IR by Elysium Therapeutics for Opium (Opioid) Addiction: Likelihood of ApprovalLisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Every gift company that has heard of me — many I've never heard of — is suggesting a list of gifts for my family and friends. Unburdened by any of the emails I've opened, I thought what if we at “Trivially Speaking” created a possible recommended “TS Gift Suggestions.”Benguet Corp. has secured the go-ahead from stakeholders to increase its authorized capital stock as the listed company gears up to expand its foothold outside the mining industry. In a stock exchange disclosure, Benguet said it secured the green light for an increase to P3.18 billion from P784.8 million, during the firm’s annual meeting of stockholders conducted via livestreaming. Benguet will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the application for a higher authorized capital stock. READ: Benguet Corp pushes expansion, diversification “The purpose of the capital increase is for the company to conduct a stock rights offer (SRO), stock option grants, and declare stock dividends in the future,” it said. A company such as Benguet carries out an SRO to provide existing shareholders an opportunity to purchase more shares at a discount. Proceeds from this transaction are used to settle debts or bankroll projects in the pipeline. In a stock option grant, an entity offers employees, consultants or executives the right to purchase a certain number of its shares at a predetermined price, subject to certain conditions. This developed as Benguet signified its intention to increase its activities not only in the mining sector but also in other industries such as renewable energy after settling its decades-long debt. Benguet disclosed it is focusing on its gold prospects as prices of the yellow metal soar. The company initiated the exploration of its gold concession area in Zamboanga Sibugay and is on the lookout for other copper-gold prospects. It is also studying a new technology for higher recovery of its gold tailing project in Itogon. Likewise, the firm continues to implement its drilling program at the Pantingan gold prospect in Bataan. It approved a budget of P50 million to support Phase Two of the drilling and exploration plan. Last October, Benguet secured the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ approval to extend its mineral production sharing agreement for another 25 years, which it expects will lead to the declaration for mining project feasibility. Benguet has an operating agreement with Balanga Bataan Minerals Corp. signed in March 1996. It covers 1,410 hectares situated in the towns of Bagac, Mariveles and Limay in Bataan. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . The mining firm unveiled its plans to expand its portfolio to include construction, real estate, water, agribusiness and renewables as it became debt-free with the settlement of all its outstanding debts in October. —Jordeene B. Lagare
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