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Warren Buffett’s firm ups stakes in Japanese trading houses as Nikkei hot streak continues

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett is upping his bet on Japan, announcing this week that Berkshire Hathaway will increase its ownership stake in five major Japanese trading houses. The first Berkshire Hathaway investment in Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corp., a 5% stake, was disclosed in 2020 and earlier this year Buffett said that the stake had been increased to 7.4%. Ownership in the companies, Berkshire said this week, has reached 8.5% excluding shares of treasury stock. The trading houses are some of Japan’s oldest and biggest companies and hold investments in a variety of industries. Their conglomerate business models are somewhat similar to Buffett’s own company which owns dozens of companies including BNSF railroad, several major utilities and Geico insurance while also investing more than $300 billion in stocks.Buffett’s timing is notable. In 2021, after Berkshire Hathaway had taken a stake in the five trading...

For first time, US task force recommends screening adults for anxiety disorders

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

(CNN) — Adults ages 19 to 64 in the United States should be screened for anxiety disorders, according to a new recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force released Tuesday.The final recommendation, published in the medical journal JAMA, marks the first time the USPSTF has made a final recommendation on screening for anxiety disorders in adults, including those who are pregnant and postpartum. The task force found “insufficient evidence” to screen for anxiety in older adults.The USPSTF, a group of independent medical experts whose recommendations help guide doctors’ decisions and influence insurance plans, also continues to recommend that all adults be screened for major depressive disorder, including those who are pregnant or postpartum and older adults.The recommendation is consistent with the task force’s 2016 recommendation on depression screenings.While rates of clinical depression had been rising steadily in the United States, they jumped significantly during...

Luis Arraez goes 5 for 5 and lifts average to .400 as the Marlins rout the Blue Jays 11-0

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Luis Arraez went 5 for 5 again to raise his batting average to .400, and Jorge Soler homered as the streaking Miami Marlins routed the Toronto Blue Jays 11-0 on Monday night.Jon Berti had three hits and Jesús Sánchez doubled twice for the Marlins, who won their fifth straight game and finished with 19 hits — their most since getting 21 on June 1 last year in the opener of a doubleheader at Colorado. Miami improved to a season-best 11 games over .500 at 42-31.“This is fun because we’re winning and everybody gets hits,” Arraez said. “I’m excited for this team. When we get to the clubhouse, we are a family.”It was the second time in his past three games that Arraez went 5 for 5, following an 0-for-15 slide that dropped his average to .378. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he became the fourth major leaguer since 1900 to have three five-hit games in a calendar month, joining three Hall of Famers: George Sisler (August 1921), Ty Cobb (July 1922) and Dave Winfield (June ...

North Miami Beach PD search for missing 6-year-old boy

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

The North Miami Beach Police Department is asking for the public’s help to locate a 6-year-old boy. The child was last seen at South Glades Drive and Northeast 16 Avenue. Police are attempting to locate him to get him back home safely.Anyone with information is urged to contact police.

Titanic submarine: France sends rescue team

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

PARIS — France is deploying a rescue team to help find the Titanic tourist submarine reported missing in the Atlantic Ocean off North America, according to local media reports. The French Research Institute for Sea Exploitation (Ifremer in French) — which is under the authority of the Sea and Research ministries — has diverted its vessel Atalante equipped with a deep-sea robot to the area where the submarine disappeared, Junior Minister for the Sea Hervé Berville said. Paris will communicate with the NATO coordination center and is already in contact with American authorities, Berville added. The American exploration submarine — dubbed Titan — was on an expedition to see the Titanic’s shipwreck when it went missing Sunday with five people on board. The submarine’s operator OceanGate Expeditions and the authorities refused to identify the passengers but French media reported that French oceanographer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet is among the...

Vestager goes for top job at European Investment Bank

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s digital and competition chief, said she is running to head the European Investment Bank.“I am pleased that the Danish government have put forward my name to be vetted as possible candidate for the position as president for the European Investment Bank,” she said in a statement. “I confirm my availability for the assessment, awaiting the bank’s process and next steps,” she said.If selected, Vestager would be the first woman to run the European Union’s bank which finances programs inside the bloc and abroad. It is a post with plenty of opportunity for building an international profile, working on hot topics from climate to conflicts and — since a large part of the job is handing out cheap financing — photo ops. Werner Hoyer, the bank’s current president, will step down at the end of this year after serving two terms. If Vestager were to take the post, she would be leaving the Commission well before...

MBTA police look to identify persons of interest after unprovoked assault on Green Line

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

The MBTA Transit Police Department is asking for the public’s help as they investigate an unprovoked assault that happened on the Green Line.The department said on Twitter that they were looking to identify two persons of interest after an unprovoked attack on Thursday, June 15, left a male victim with a laceration to his face.Authorities said the assault happened between the Green Line’s Park and Boylston stations around 7:30 p.m.As they continue to investigate, Transit police shared images of two “people of interest” on Tuesday. Anyone with any information on the individuals seen in the photos or the incident are asked to contact Transit PD at 617-222-1050.https://twitter.com/MBTATransitPD/status/1671149700701990913

Billionaire explorer and a prominent Pakistani father and son duo are on board the missing sub

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

(CNN) — A billionaire father and son duo, a wealthy explorer and a diver with decades of experience exploring the Titanic are among the five people on board the submersible that has disappeared en route to view the world’s most famous shipwreck.Authorities said the small vessel – roughly the size of a minivan – was carrying five people when its mothership lost contact with it on Sunday morning, about 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent to explore the Titanic wreckage.While the names of those on board have not been released by the authorities, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood, and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet have been confirmed to be on board the craft.The fifth person on board has been identified only as the vessel’s pilot.Harding, who has an impressive list of extreme expeditions under his belt, is based in the United Arab Emirates and is a trained jet pilot. He is the chairman of...

John Goodman shows off major weight loss

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

(CNN) — John Goodman is looking decidedly more svelte these days.“The Righteous Gemstones” star, who turns 71 on Tuesday, appeared at the 62nd Monte-Carlo TV festival Sunday in top form.Goodman reportedly started working on his health back in 2007, when he stopped drinking.He told People magazine in 2010 that he had lost 100 pounds after cutting out the booze, hiring health coach Mackie Shilstone, giving up sugar and working out six days a week.“It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your ass and figure out what you’re going to eat next … I wanted to live life better,” Goodman said at the time.Six years later, he told critic Peter Travers, “I just stopped eating all the time.”“I’d have a handful of food and it’d go to my mouth. I was just eating all the time. I was just eating alcoholically. In the old days, I would take three months out, lose 60 or 70 pounds, and then reward myself with a 6-pack of Bud or whatever and just go back to my old habits,” Goodman...

New Hampshire Republican state senator charged with assaulting an employee at his restaurant

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:36 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A Republican state senator in New Hampshire has been charged with assault after an employee at a restaurant he owns said he slapped and spit on him during an argument.Sen. Keith Murphy, of Manchester, turned himself in Monday and was charged with two counts of simple assault and one count of criminal threatening. The employee told police in April that the argument happened at Murphy’s Taproom. According to a Manchester police news release, surveillance video also shows Murphy picking up a chair “in an aggressive manner.”Murphy, who was released on personal recognizance bail, said Tuesday he is innocent of the charges and looks forward to his day in court.“When the facts are known it will be clear that the police have charged the victim in this case,” he said in an email. “I will be defending my name, reputation, and business through the legal process.”Murphy opened the Manchester restaurant in 2007 and another in Bedford in 2017. He is serving his first...