Author: Press Room

Large swathes of the US took time out of their day to view Monday’s solar eclipse, which brought out awestruck crowds from Texas to Maine.And apparently, a good amount of people feared they might have damaged their eyesight in the process.Google searches for “eyes hurt” spiked around the time of the eclipse, suggesting that viewers of the eclipse were worried their discomfort might mean something more serious.Searches peaked at 3:12 p.m. ET — about 45 mins after the path of the eclipse crossed into Texas from Mexico — and had largely returned to normal levels by 5 p.m on Monday.Most…

Things have gone mostly according to plan since I last covered the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (NASDAQ:TUR) (see TUR: Deck Cleared, Turkish Equities Headed Higher Post-Election), the largest and most liquid Turkish large-cap tracker fund listed in the US. To recap, following a period of unorthodox policies pre-election, we’ve seen a significant post-election focus on macro stabilization, led by finance minister Mehmet Simsek. As for the monetary side, the current administration, despite some reshuffling at the head of the central bank, has overseen a faster-than-expected pace of interest rate hikes, underlining its commitment to a much lower inflation target (25%…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.G7 finance ministers have backed the idea of issuing a loan to Ukraine, secured by profits on frozen Russian assets, in an effort to secure financing for Kyiv beyond 2024.Ministers’ discussions were based on a US proposal that circulated ahead of the gathering in Stresa, Italy, to issue a loan of about $50bn to be repaid with profits from around €190bn Russian central bank assets. The Russian assets are stuck in Belgian central securities depository Euroclear.On Saturday, ministers said they were…

President Joe Biden touted the expansion of NATO, his actions in the Middle East and progress in lowering military sexual assaults in a commencement address to the West Point graduating class Saturday. While Biden stayed away from mentioning former President Donald Trump or making an appeal to voters ahead of the November election, he drew a sharp contrast with his Republican rival by underscoring values Democrats have suggested are at risk, such as democracy and the NATO alliance. “Nothing is guaranteed about our democracy in America,” he said. “Every generation has an obligation to defend it, to protect it, to preserve it,…

It’s Mental Health Awareness Month. There is a nationwide effort to remove the long standing stigma of mental health issues. Historically, it has been very difficult for anyone to persuade a family member to get mental health help when family sees the signs. If you have an elder in your family with these issues, it is likely that you’ll meet resistance when you want that person to consider getting help. Common Problems Here at AgingParents.com, we’re in the business of offering advice to families with age-related issues. It is not at all uncommon for us to hear from an adult…

Mortgage rates are back down below 7% this week. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.94%, Freddie Mac reported. Rates for 30-year mortgages averaged 7.02% last week. Fixed rates for 15-year mortgages also declined, averaging 6.24%. This is down just slightly from last week when 15-year mortgage rates averaged 6.28%. Falling rates and an increasing housing inventory are bright spots in the housing market plagued by unaffordability the last few years.”Spring homebuyers received an unexpected windfall this week, as mortgage rates fell below the seven percent threshold for the first time in over a month,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief…

College tuition can sometimes cost $10,000 more than budgeted, but despite the unexpected expense, many students are making ends meet, a recent survey said. About 66% percent of college students said college costs were more than they expected and 26% said that these costs rang in at about $10,000, according to a College Ave survey of college students at four-year universities conducted by Barnes and Noble College Insights. The cost of higher education remains a significant expense for families who often underestimate the price as costs have skyrocketed over the last 40 years, even after adjusting for inflation, according to figures reported by the Education…

Kristina Knighten and her husband, Paul Cordier, were living in the United Arab Emirates and working as TEFL-certified teachers when they decided they were serious about buying their first home in America.Knighten, 38, was raised in the Chicago suburbs, and Cordier, 45, was raised in London but loved the idea of living just outside the Windy City after having visited with Knighten over the course of their relationship and two-year marriage.”We knew we didn’t necessarily want to move back straight away but more as a long-term investment and we could maybe retire there,” Knighten tells CNBC Make It.The couple lived…

Cereal is still a breakfast staple for many Americans. The quick and easy meal was among America’s top 10 breakfast foods in 2019, according to a survey conducted by OnePoll in collaboration with Dave’s Killer Bread.Nutritionists highly recommend starting your morning with foods that will keep you energized throughout the day like protein shakes and whole grain oats, experts told CNBC Make It last January. And cereal doesn’t fit that category.”I never recommend cereal to my patients to have for breakfast, simply because it’s processed. I don’t recommend anything that’s processed,” said Dr. Nancy Rahnama, an internist and clinical nutritionist.But cereal…

Elon Musk says artificial intelligence will take all our jobs and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Probably none of us will have a job,” Musk said about AI at a tech conference on Thursday. While speaking remotely via webcam at VivaTech 2024 in Paris, Musk described a future where jobs would be “optional.” “If you want to do a job that’s kinda like a hobby, you can do a job,” Musk said. “But otherwise, AI and the robots will provide any goods and services that you want.” For this scenario to work, he said, there would need to be…