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New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
How Karen Read could still be on the hook for dead cop boyfriend John O'Keefe's death: ‘Not out of the woods'
Karen Read may have been cleared on criminal murder charges Wednesday — but she isn't legally off the hook yet as still faces a civil wrongful death case brought by the family of her deceased cop boyfriend, John O'Keefe. The 2024 lawsuit against Read, 45, has been on hold pending the outcome of her criminal case. 4 Karen Read isn't legally out of the woods despite her murder acquittal. She still faces a civil lawsuit by deceased cop John O'Keefe's family. AP But after she was acquitted in the Boston police officer's death Wednesday — and was sentenced to a year probation for drunk driving, the only charge she was found guilty of — the civil case is presumably free to go forward. The Aug. 26 case was brought by O'Keefe's parents, brother and niece nearly two months after the first trial against Read ended in mistrial. 4 Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe died on Jan. 29, 2022, and his family filed a wrongful death suit against Karen Read last year. Courtesy of David Yannetti The family claimed Read, of Mansfield, Mass., intentionally hit O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV while she was drunk and then left him to die in a snowstorm. The relatives also blamed two bars — C.F. McCarthy's and Waterfall Bar & Grille — for allegedly over-serving Read when she and O'Keefe, 46, went out bar hopping in the hours before his death on Jan. 29, 2022. Read — a financial analyst — allegedly had nine drinks the night of Jan. 28 before she drove O'Keefe from the Waterfall Bar to his retired cop buddy's afterparty in Canton, Mass., the suit claimed. Read inflicted emotional distress on the family members who were forced to endure the investigation into O'Keefe's death, the suit said. And Read traumatized O'Keefe's then-14-year-old niece — for whom he was the caretaker when he died — when Read woke the teen up at 4:30 a.m., ranting about what might have happened to her boyfriend, the suit claimed. 4 John O'Keefe's family claims Read was drunk when she hit him with her car and left him to die in a snowstorm. David McGlynn Then Read left the niece at home alone when she went in search of O'Keefe, the filing said. The suit is seeking at least $50,000 in damages. Legal expert Randolph Rice, who has been following the Read case, noted that the burden of proof to find Read liable in O'Keefe's death is much lower than a criminal proceeding. 'In the civil case, there's a preponderance of the evidence which is a much lower standard,' than the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases, the Maryland-based lawyer explained. Proving claims in a civil case is 'much easier for a plaintiff,' Rice said. 'She's not out of the woods civilly.' 4 The family is suing Read for at least $50,000 in damages for allegedly inflicting emotional distress on them. AP Rice said now that the criminal case is behind her, she doesn't have a legal reason to not sit in for a deposition. 'Her lawyers will certainly try to keep things out during a deposition but depositions are wide open,' he said. 'If it's even remotely relevant to the cause of action the plaintiff's attorneys get to ask it and she's got to answer it.' Read has maintained all along that she was framed in a sweeping law enforcement cover-up and that O'Keefe was actually killed when he got in a fight with his buddies at the afterparty. Read's defense arguments have won her a cult-like following of supporters of her innocence who have donated over $1 million to her legal defense, and who showed up in droves outside court throughout both trials. When the verdict was read out in court Wednesday — and broadcast on a livestream — roars from crowds of excited Read fans outside could be heard penetrating the courtroom walls. Lawyers for C.F. McCarthy's declined to comment. The attorneys for all the other parties didn't immediately return requests for comment Thursday.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is McCormick Stock Underperforming the Dow?
Hunt Valley, Maryland-based McCormick & Company, Incorporated (MKC) is a global leader in flavor, producing and distributing spices, seasonings, and condiments. With a market cap of $19.6 billion, it operates in over 150 countries through its Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments. Categorized as a "large-cap stock," McCormick's valuation highlights its dominance in the flavor industry. Its innovative products and global reach underscore its position as a leader in the food sector. Is Palantir Stock Poised to Surge Amidst the Israel-Iran Conflict? 'It Has No Utility': Warren Buffett Doesn't Care How High Gold Goes, He Isn't a Buyer CoreWeave Stock Is Too 'Expensive' According to Analysts. Should You Sell CRWV Now? Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. McCormick touched its 52-week high of $86.24 on Mar. 10 and is currently trading 15.1% below that peak. Meanwhile, MKC stock has dropped nearly 10% over the past three months, notably underperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average's ($DOWI) 1.4% uptick during the same time frame. McCormick's performance has remained lackluster over the longer term as well. MKC stock has dropped 4% on a YTD basis and gained 6.7% over the past year, underperforming Dow's marginal 88 bps dip in 2025 and 8.6% gains over the past 52 weeks. To confirm the downturn, MKC stock has traded consistently below its 200-day moving average and mostly below its 50-day moving average since early April. McCormick's stock prices observed a marginal dip after the release of its Q1 results on Mar. 25. The company experienced a 2% growth in volumes, but it was mostly offset by currency headwinds, leading to its net sales growing by a modest 17 bps year-over-year to $1.6 billion, which missed the consensus estimates by 38 bps. Meanwhile, its adjusted EPS for the quarter decreased 4.8% year-over-year to $0.60, falling short of Street expectations by 6.3%. On a positive note, for the full fiscal 2025, the company expects to observe a low-single-digit growth in volumes and a gradual improvement in demand from China. While McCormick has marginally underperformed its peer Hormel Foods Corporation's (HRL) 3.9% drop on a YTD basis, it has significantly outpaced HRL's marginal 69 bps dip over the past 52 weeks. Among the 14 analysts covering the MKC stock, the consensus rating is a 'Moderate Buy.' Its mean price target of $84.87 suggests a 15.9% upside potential from current price levels. On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC's UK Exchange newsletter: A quantum quandary for the UK government
Her climbdown on denying millions of pensioners the winter fuel allowance was not the only U-turn announced by Rachel Reeves, the U.K.'s chancellor of the Exchequer, this month. Less significant in political terms, but of far greater importance to the U.K.'s long-term growth potential, was an announcement on June 10 that the government would commit £750 million ($1 billion) worth of funding for a new exascale supercomputer, capable of conducting a quintillion (one billion billion) operations per second, at Edinburgh University. The news reversed a previous decision, made days after the Labour government was elected in July last year, to pull some £800 million worth of funding for the project announced by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's administration in 2023. Edinburgh had already spent an estimated £30 million on supporting infrastructure and the decision dismayed the U.K.'s scientific community which warned that, at a time when the U.S. has two exascale computers, China has two and both Japan and France are building their own, it would leave Britain lagging its peers. The timing of the U-turn was no coincidence. Just two days later, to mark the start of London Tech Week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer shared a platform with Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and CEO, where both talked eagerly about the power of artificial intelligence to transform lives. During the session, though, Huang had a stark warning for the U.K. "The U.K. has one of the richest AI communities anywhere on the planet. The deepest thinkers, the best universities in Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College, amazing startups like DeepMind, Wayve, Synthesia, an incredible research community," he said. "It's just missing one thing. This is the largest AI ecosystem in the world without its own infrastructure." Cynics will say that Huang's message — chipmaker urges more investment in infrastructure that requires chips — does not look that different from a stockbroker urging clients to buy stocks. It is inconceivable, though, that the government would not have been made aware of it in advance. And restoring funding for the Edinburgh supercomputer suggests the message landed with Starmer and Reeves. Yet the U.K. tech sector faces other challenges. One is that the U.K.'s AI startups are way behind their American and Chinese peers in the sums they are raising from venture capitalists. That, potentially, is as much of a weakness, longer term, as a shortage of sovereign AI computing infrastructure. However, a broader worry is that the U.K. may be losing momentum in quantum computing, the revolutionary way of processing information faster than classical computing. Just up the A40 trunk road, on the same day Starmer was on stage with Huang, the quantum hardware startup Oxford Ionics, a spin-off from the University of Oxford, agreed to a $1.1 billion takeover by Maryland-based IonQ. The sale has revived concerns, first mooted when the AI start-up DeepMind was bought by Google in 2014, that the U.K. is nothing more than a tech "incubator," where businesses are born before being scaled up elsewhere. As Tina Stowell, former chair of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee, put it: "I am genuinely sorry about its loss to the U.K. as a British business, even if, under new ownership, it continues to operate here." "What we have seen this week is another example of a worrying trend," she added. There are fears that other companies in the space may follow suit. "This [takeover] is a reflection of the top-notch quality of U.K. quantum R&D, built on decades of public funding, but also an example that will be watched closely by other quantum companies seeking capital and opportunities that can be hard to find in the U.K.," Ashley Montanaro, co-founder and CEO of the quantum software company Phasecraft, wrote in an article for the British tech industry publication UKTN. "There's already more public funding available for quantum companies in the U.S. than in the U.K., more fellowships, more state and federal grants and contracts, and more support for scale-up and deployment." "Even with President [Donald] Trump's recent pushback against universities, private capital ultimately follows public money, and several of our peers have joined us in opening labs overseas to access such support, knowledge and capital," he added. Highlighting delays to the implementation of the U.K.'s National Quantum Strategy, announced two years ago, he noted there would be no new government funding for quantum computing projects until autumn at the earliest — while at the same time, the U.S was in the process of doubling federal quantum funding and other countries, among them Canada and Finland, had stepped up investment in the field. Montanaro went on: "Once the talent, capital and momentum go elsewhere, they rarely return." The U.K. government's newly rediscovered passion for supercomputers that will help power the AI revolution is heartwarming. But AI is only one part of the U.K.'s tech ecosystem and the worry must be that, in fields like quantum computing, it is in real danger of falling behind. Meanwhile, although Starmer and his ministers now appear to see AI as an unalloyed force for good, others may disagree. This week, in a rare interview, Alison Kirkby, BT's chief executive, told the Financial Times the company's plans to cut more than 40,000 jobs and strip out £3 billion worth of costs by the end of the decade "did not reflect the full potential of AI". She told the paper: "Depending on what we learn from AI … there may be an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the decade." Most of the jobs expected to go under existing plans were those of engineers specifically hired to build BT's fiber network whose roles became redundant once the project was complete. The chances are that, in this instance, Kirkby was referring to BT's call centers, which employ thousands of people in locations including Plymouth, Greenock and North Tyneside, as well as the company's HR functions. Starmer and his colleagues may need to persuade the public — and their party's traditional backers in the trade unions especially — that AI is a force for good rather than just cost-cutting.U.S. President Trump meets with UK Prime Minister Starmer at G7 summit President Donald Trump speaks and U.K. Prime Minister Starmer makes further progress on the U.K.-U.S. trade deal at the Group of Seven summit. Watch CNBC's full interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang discusses Europe's role in the AI race, the robotics and AV industries, and how U.S.-China relations could impact the future of technology with CNBC's Arjun Kharpal at the VivaTech conference in Paris. Former UK ambassador to Iran says Israel has triggered a regional - and possibly global - conflict Richard Dalton, former U.K. Ambassador to Iran, discusses Israel's strikes on the country and analyzes the potential ramifications across the Middle East.'Because I like them': The UK has a magic formula that won over Trump. Not only was the U.K. first to sign a trade deal with the president, but it also appears to have won him over on a more instinctive and emotional level. The UK insisted unpopular tax rises were a one-off but hikes now look inevitable.U.K. Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged last year that the government would not conduct another tax raid. She may not have another option. As G7 leaders meet, allies ask: Is Trump with us or against us? The problem for the Group of Seven comes from within, with President Trump's array of trade tariffs and a potential global trade war looming as very live threats for allies.U.K. stocks slipped by 0.2% over the last week, taking the FTSE 100 down to 8,834 points by end of play Tuesday. It did, however, hit a record high last Thursday before losing steam. In case you missed it, the U.S. and Britain signed an agreement on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Monday, lowering some tariffs on British exports to the United States while the two nations eye a trade deal. There were also some rumors last week that UAE oil giant ADNOC had joined the fray of firms said to be circling some of BP's highly prized assets, as takeover speculation for the embattled energy major kicks into overdrive.
Newsweek
7 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Ladies, Avoid These Engagement Rings—Sincerely, a Jewelry Designer
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Maryland-based jewelry designer Michelle Keller, 32, has been sharing a look behind the sparkles with her tips on what to avoid when picking out a dream engagement ring. With a background in science and structural engineering, Keller says durability often takes a backseat to aesthetics—leading to rings that warp, break, or lose stones over time. "I am a designer at heart and love all things floral, but I take a structural engineering approach in all our rings," Keller told Newsweek. She said that many people are going wrong with their engagement-ring choices, opting for style over durability and leading to a ring that won't last forever. "It's never about what designs are 'coolest or prettiest'—those things are personal. My videos focus on physics and engineering, breaking down why certain styles don't hold up," Keller said. Wedding site The Knot says that the average engagement ring in 2024 cost $5,200, down slightly from $5,500 in 2023, but still a significant expense. In a series of videos on Instagram, Keller shared the top things to avoid in an engagement ring to ensure money is invested well. Pictures of Michelle Keller sharing her expertise on engagement rings to avoid. Pictures of Michelle Keller sharing her expertise on engagement rings to avoid. @thebijoulab/Instagram - Ring Designs to Avoid Bands that aren't a full circle—"it may look cool, but this is structurally not sound," Keller said. Shared prong accent stone bands—"the band itself is really thin, and there's only one prong between each two stones and so it's not going to be very secure," Keller said. Pavé on prongs—"prongs are one of the most structurally important components of your ring. Setting stones into your prong significantly weakens the structure," Keller said. It isn't just style to look out for either; she also shed light on the reality of some of the most-common stone choices that could be a mistake. Ring Gemstones To Avoid Pearls—"these are primarily made out of calcium carbonate … That's about the hardness of a fingernail. They're porous, and so they can absorb moisture and oils, which will damage them," Keller said. Moss agate—"they're considered a brittle gemstone and they have natural fractures, both of which make them susceptible to breakage," Keller said. Opals—"[they] can easily be scratched by metal. Glass or even dust … Opals have a high water content, making them really sensitive to different humidity conditions. They're not durable enough to be worn on the hand daily for years," Keller said. Choosing a Ring That Lasts When it comes to picking the perfect ring with longevity, Keller had some important recommendations. Firstly, she said there should be a minimum of six prongs, or a gallery rail for four-prong settings. When it comes to band size, there are some golden rules, too: "The band is the foundation of your ring and the ideal band width is 2 mm; if your ring size is over 7 or your stone is 2.5 carats-plus, go a little wider," Keller said. "Make sure to think about your lifestyle and how you use your hands on a day-to-day basis." When it comes to stones, Keller said that 2 carats are the perfect place to start. "When in doubt, 2 carats looks good on virtually everyone," she said. "But if you choose a stone 2.5 carats or larger, I'd recommend a 2.2 mm or 2.4 mm band for adequate support and to keep the ring from spinning as much—larger stones make the ring top-heavy." For gemstone choice, it is all about hardness and durability. "Anything too soft will scratch over time and become cloudy. Diamonds, moissanite, sapphire, rubies, and alexandrite are all great options that come in a multitude of cuts and colors," Keller said. She added that her advice comes from both her job and personal experience. "My personal engagement ring from another jewelry company was designed without proper structure and has broken and warped over and over again. It's really heartbreaking. "Engagement rings are expensive and incredibly important sentimental pieces that commemorate one of life's most-important milestones. I create these videos to help people choose rings that they can cherish for a lifetime," Keller said.
The Star
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
As global tumult grows, UK Plc's stability, bargains appeal to dealmakers
MORE than US$10bil in bids for British companies announced on Monday, this year's busiest day according to Dealogic data, shows how low valuations and the market's relative stability were attracting rivals and funds after a volatility-induced pause. Companies may also be using the opportunity to enter the United Kingdom market before potential further weakening of the dollar or strengthening of the pound made future transactions more expensive, analysts said. Takeover offers Among those to announce takeover offers for UK firms on Monday were US chipmaker Qualcomm, private equity firm Advent, and France's L'Oreal. While US President Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs and the resulting volatility hampered dealmaking for weeks, some companies are now finding the right conditions to agree on transactions. Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Maryland-based IonQ, which on Monday announced a US$1.08bil acquisition of British quantum computing firm Oxford Ionics, said that in addition to Britain's talent pool, the geopolitical backdrop made the deal more compelling as governments want more 'sovereign quantum networks,' he said. 'People want things on-premise and they want things to be local,' de Masi told Reuters. So far this year, there have already been 30 bids for UK companies valued at more than £100mil (US$135mil), compared with 26 over the same period of last year and 45 for the whole of 2024, according to Peel Hunt. Compelling deals The total value of £24bil of deals announced to date compared with £36bil in the year-ago period, which was skewed by a few large deals, such as International Paper's US$7.1bil bid for D.S Smith. Years of outflows from UK equities that depressed valuations for British companies compared with their competitors listed on other European or US exchanges, have played a role in making them more attractive as acquisition targets. For example, the discount between the FTSE 100 and the US S&P 500 benchmarks peaked at about 49.5% in January and is about 41% now. 'Management teams have been happier to accept bids because sometimes that is an easier way to crystallise the valuations and as equity markets have been so challenging for so long,' said Amanda Yeaman, the co-manager of the abrdn UK Smaller Companies Fund and the abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust plc. Moreover, bidders are being drawn to a relatively stable UK economic and political backdrop. 'We now have an improving economic environment in the United Kingdom, and the regulatory position is much more predictable,' said Charles Hall, head of research at Peel Hunt. Less risky 'Buying a UK company at the moment is likely to be less risky than, say, buying a US business.' The trade deals that Britain has pursued also show the country is 'open for business,' Yeaman said. And with no general election due soon, Britain promises political stability. 'Our markets really like stability and for the next four years, that is something that we have, which is less predictable in other geographies,' she said. Analysts also say the pound's strength does not seem to act as a deterrent. 'Particularly global investors, US investors are thinking, let's grab as much as we can before things get more expensive and currency tailwinds are still there,' said Magesh Kumar, equity strategist at Barclays. This year's largest bids so far were all announced this week, with Advent offering £3.7bil for scientific instruments maker Spectris and Qualcomm's £1.8bil bid for Alphawave, and some advisers expect many more to come. Erik O'Connor, partner at Clifford Chance, said that while economic uncertainties could weigh on the merger and acquisition market, factors such as more predictable outlook for interest rates and UK companies' improved balance sheets should encourage dealmaking. 'There's a sense that key fundamentals are in the right place to transact,' O'Connor said, pointing to technology and real estate, the busiest sectors so far this year according to Dealogic, as those less susceptible to recent market volatility. 'I would not be surprised if we continue at a similar pace,' he said. — Reuters Amy-Jo Crowley, Yadarisa Shabong and Purvi Agarwal write for Reuters. The views expressed here are the writers' own.
