Latest news with #KevinDietsch
UPI
32 minutes ago
- Business
- UPI
Starbucks Korea bans customers from bringing desktops, printers
Starbucks Korea posted signs in all of its South Korean branches informing customers of a new policy banning patrons from setting up desktop computers and printers inside the cafes. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Signs have been posted at Starbucks locations in South Korea informing customers that they will no longer be allowed to set up desktop computers, printers and multi-outlet power strips at the company's cafes. Starbucks Korea posted the notices at all of its branches in the country, and they also state customers will not be allowed to set up large partitions or leave their belongings unattended at tables for long periods of time. The policy targets a group of customers known colloquially as "cagongjok," a term combining the Korean words for "cafe" and "study." It refers to customers who spend several hours studying or doing office work in the businesses. They are also sometimes referred to as "cafe squatters." The move comes after numerous complaints from other customers about people taking up too much space with their office equipment. Several photos showing customers with elaborate setups inside cafes have gone viral online. Starbucks Korea said laptops are still allowed inside the cafes and people are still welcome to work or study inside the businesses provided they do not take up an excessive amount of space.
UPI
3 hours ago
- Business
- UPI
AOL to shut down dial-up internet in September
AOL announced it plans to shutter its dial-up Internet services and products on Sept. 30. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo Aug. 11 (UPI) -- AOL announced it plans to end dial-up Internet service after 40 years in operation by the end of September. The company said in a press release that its dial-up service and associated products will be shuttered on Sept. 30. "AOL routinely evaluates its products and servies and has decided to discontinue dial-up Internet," the company said. "The AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, which are optimized for older operating systems and dial-up connections, will be discontinued." Although the dial-up mode of connection, which at a top of 56 kilobits per second, is far less optimal when compared to modern connections that are measured in megabits and gigabits, was still able to provide an online option where broadband wasn't available or for low-income families. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that in 2023, around 163,400 Americans still completely counted on dial-up service alone as an internet connection. The termination of the service does not affect any of the other benefits offered to AOL customers.
UPI
2 days ago
- Business
- UPI
Reports: Trump considers stock IPO for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
1 of 2 | President Trump said he is seriously considering an IPO for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as ending the federal conservancy they have been under since the 2008 Great Recession. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo Aug. 9 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump reportedly wants the U.S. government to sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock in a quest to move the mortgage finance companies from full federal control. The initial public offering, which would be possible the largest in history, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by CNN and The New York Times. The outlets reported that the plans have not been finalized for Fannie Mae, which is short for Federal National Mortgage Association, and was created in 1938 as part of President Frank Roosevelt's New Deal. Freddie Mac, which stands for Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., began in 1970 to further expand the secondary mortgage market. An IPO of up to 15% of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could raise $30 billion, according to the media outlets. The New York Times reported that Trump met with executives from the nation's largest banks -- Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America and Jane Fraser of Citigroup. He asked them to come up with a way to sell shares on the stock market. The companies represent a big portion of the $12 trillion mortgage market. Wall Street investors also met with Treasury officials, the New York Times reported. Trump has wanted to privatize the companies since his first term in the White House. "I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public. .... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right," he posted on Truth Social on May 22. Federal Housing Finance Agency, which currently controls the two companies, has been headed since March by Bill Pulte, the grandson of the founder of PulteGroup, a residential and home construction company. He, too, has favored selling stock in the companies, but has said they should remain under the federal conservatorship. With interest rates relatively high, CNN reported that some analysts fear the privatization would hurt the mortgage market. This could make it even more expensive to borrow money to buy a new home with high sale prices. In 2024, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, estimated privatization would boost the average mortgage by an extra $1,800 to $2,800 each year. Before the 2008 Great Recession, the companies were private and only backed by the U.S. Treasury, but were placed under what was planned as a temporary government conservatorship. The market crash was caused as relaxed lending standards fueled banks giving subprime loans to people with poor credit who should not have qualified, and required a $187 billion government bailout to prevent lenders from filing for bankruptcy and a potential crash of the economy. Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them for investors in a way to keep mortgages more affordable, in addition to guaranteeing bond investors that they will help out if too many borrowers default. The role has kept mortgage rates relatively low and stabilized the 30-year fixed mortgage, the national rate for which currently stands at around 6.58%. Jaret Seiberg, a financial services and housing policy analyst at TD Cowen Financial, told CNN in May that the spinoff might not happen until late 2026 or early 2027. The Treasury Department holds about 80% of the common stock and also has senior preferred shares. Investors Bill Ackman and John Paulson, who endorsed Trump for president, bought shares several years ago with the hope the government would sell stock, according to the Journal and the Times.
UPI
29-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
U.S. honors 72nd armistice of America's 'forgotten' Korean War
1 of 4 | Statues at the Korean War Memorial are seen a day before Veterans Day on November 10, 2017, in Washington, D.C. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo July 28 (UPI) -- The White House said Monday the United States will "steadfastly" safeguard its interests on the Korean Peninsula with "safety, stability, prosperity and peace" as the endgame. That message was delivered the day in which the nation honors the truce that ended America's involvement in the Korean War more than seven decades ago. It was a day that also served as a catalyst of the current divergent north and south Korean national ideologies. "We pay tribute to every American hero who ventured to unfamiliar lands to face some of the most gruesome combat in the history of our country," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement. The armistice agreement signing ended the bloody three-year conflict in northeast Asia in which 36,574 U.S. military service members, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, died out of nearly 2 million who fought in the bid to repel the advancement of communism in the region. "We spent 15 minutes or so honoring all those men and women who fought and died in Korea," Master of Ceremonies Bob Fugit said Monday in Wichita as locals gathered at Veterans Memorial Park for events to commemorate what some say is America's "Forgotten War." "That's been a war that everybody wants to forget, even more than Vietnam," Fugit told KAKE in Kansas. Though most might want to forget, there still have been some efforts to remember. In July 2022, the nation's capital saw the Korean War Veterans Memorial unveil its new addition along with a total renovation to coincide with that year's Armistice Day festivities in Washington. A DOD web portal for the Korean conflict lists volumes of stories in a live-running historic archive of events related to the conflict. "Today, we pause to remember the courage and sacrifice of the heroes who served during the Korean War," the department posted Sunday morning on X, adding that the "legacy of their resilience lives on." In June 1950, then-President Harry S. Truman said that those responsible for "unprovoked aggression" against South Korea during the so-called "forgotten" war "must realize how seriously the government of the United States views such threats to the peace of the world." In a UPI article on July 27, 1953, the day it was penned seven months after war hero general and eventual GOP icon Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed the presidency, it read in part: "The armistice documents ending the bitter, stalemated efforts of the Communists to seize all Korea by force were signed at 10:01 a.m. today in the truce village of Panmunjom." On Monday, the 33rd president's oldest grandson said he believes Korea is collectively labeled by historians as the "Forgotten War" primarily because of public sentiment at the time. "I think that has to do with fact that, although Americans were firmly behind my grandfather when he moved quickly to aid a beleaguered South Korea," Clifton Truman Daniel told UPI via email, "they quickly tired of a conflict that was perceived as being not our fight." Daniel, the son of acclaimed author Margaret Truman Daniel, is honorary chair at the Harry S. Truman Library Institute, a partner of the 33rd president's library and museum in Independence, Mo. It was "a war on top of a war, if you will," Daniel, 68, said of the times. "And it came with objectives that were new, in terms of warfare," he said, adding that it was "hard to define" at that point. Outside efforts have lingered on with hopes to one day reunite the two Koreas even as the north rejects any such idea. Meanwhile, officials pointed to Trump's visit in June 2019 as the first sitting U.S. president to walk next to communist North Korea's demilitarized zone. On Monday, the president said that in observing the day "we renew our resolve that forces of freedom will always prevail over tyranny and oppression." In its statement, the White House reiterated that South Korean and U.S forces remained "united" in an "ironclad" military alliance as the region circles around aggression by North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-Un, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We honor the patriots who fought and died in Korea so that freedom might endure both on our land and beyond our shores," the president continued, vowing to "rebuild" the U.S. military, support veterans "and stand strong against forces of tyranny." In North Korea, its "Victory Day" is celebrated with great fanfare, and it is not uncommon to see large-scale military parade processions in the north's capital city Pyongyang, much like Trump's in June that rolled through the streets of Washington, D.C. But Trump said that, above all, "we proudly remember every American hero who shed their blood to defend our home, our heritage and our glorious way of life." "Their valiant legacy will never be forgotten," he said.
UPI
28-07-2025
- Business
- UPI
EU accuses Temu of failing to prevent sale of unsafe products
The Commission announced that Temu is breaking the EU's Digital Services Act by failing to prevent sales of unsafe products on Monday. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo July 28 (UPI) -- The European Commission on Monday charged Temu with breaking the EU's Digital Services Act by failing to prevent the sale of usnafe products that violate its standards. In an analysis, the European Commission found that shopping on Temu carries a high risk of finding unsafe products, such as small toys and small electronics, in the EU. "We shop online because we trust that products sold in our Single Market are safe and comply with our rules. In our preliminary view, Temu is far from assessing risks for its users at the standards required by the Digital Services Act. Consumers' safety online is not negotiable in the EU - our laws, including the Digital Services Act, are the foundation for a better protection online and a safer and fairer digital Single Market for all Europeans," Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen said. In the ongoing investigation against Temu, the European Commission has concerns for probes on addictive design, recommender systems, and transparency obligations. Due to the findings, Temu has been given a few weeks to provide a response, but the EU's executive didn't give an exact date. Companies can be fined up to 6% of their annual total worldwide turnover.
