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How to Negotiate With Debt Collectors 05/30/2024 08:00pm • More than a quarter of Americans have a debt in collections, according to the Urban Institute. If you're one of them, you may experience an unpleasant barrage of letters and calls from a debt collector. While it can be tempting to decline the calls or toss the letters in the recycle bin, that can wo IRS makes free tax return program permanent and is asking all states to join in 2025 05/30/2024 07:39pm • WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS said Thursday it will make permanent the free electronic tax return filing system that it experimented with this year and is asking all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help taxpayers file their returns through the program in 2025. The IRS tried the Direct File Oil executives imprisoned five years in Venezuela sue former employer Citgo for $400 million 05/30/2024 07:18pm • MIAMI (AP) — Two Citgo oil executives detained for nearly five years in Venezuela have sued their former employer for more than $400 million, alleging it conspired to lure them to the South American country under a false pretext and then abandoned them as they endured horrendous prison conditions Maradona's heirs lose court battle to block auction of World Cup Golden Ball trophy 05/30/2024 05:14pm • A French court has ruled the auction of a trophy awarded to the late Diego Maradona after the 1986 World Cup can go ahead as planned despite opposition from his heirs. Maradona’s heirs tried to stop the auction of the Golden Ball trophy he received for being the best player of the 1986 World Cup b Kenyan president Ruto defends cost of private jet for US trip while calling for prudent spending 05/30/2024 02:40pm • NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan President William Ruto said Thursday the cost of hiring a private jet for his state visit to the U.S. last week was $76,000 as opposed to the $1.2 million reported by Kenyan media outlets. Ruto said some friends offered him a cheaper jet after he made inquiries and off Takeaways from The Associated Press' reporting on seafarers who are abandoned by shipowners in ports 05/30/2024 07:07am • The United Nations over the last decade has logged an increasing number of crew members abandoned by shipowners around the world, leaving sailors aboard months and sometimes years without pay. More than 2,000 seafarers on some 150 ships were abandoned last year. And the problem shows no signs of aba Stuck at sea for years, a sailor's plight highlights a surge in shipowner abandonment 05/30/2024 07:04am • Abdul Nasser Saleh says he rarely got a good night’s sleep during the near-decade he spent working without pay on a cargo ship abandoned by its owner at ports along the Red Sea. By night, he tossed and turned in his bunk on the aging Al-Maha, he said, thinking of the unpaid wages he feared he’d Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Street's retreat 05/29/2024 11:15pm • Shares retreated Thursday in Asia after U.S. stocks fell under the weight of higher yields in the bond market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average giving up more than 400 points. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 benchmark shed 1.5% to 37,980.55 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong declined 0.6% to 18,362.23. The Surprise: Millennials Have the Lowest Mortgage Rates of Any Generation 05/29/2024 08:00pm • What do you call a millennial with a low mortgage rate? Trapped. Starter homes quickly turned into forever homes in 2024 as millions of millennials found themselves locked into Goldilocks mortgage rates -- but with Baby Bear homes. A May 2024 Freddie Mac report showed that millennials are the genera How to Recover After a Loss in the Stock Market 05/29/2024 08:00pm • The market can be a rollercoaster, and while the S&P 500 is up 10.4% year to date as of May 29, not every sector or individual stock reflects this upward trend. For example, the S&P 500 real estate sector is down 8.5% this year, affected by high interest rates, a sustained downturn in commer CFPB Announces New Protections for Buy Now, Pay Later 05/29/2024 08:00pm • The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an interpretive rule on May 22 that extends consumer protections to borrowers using buy now, pay later loans. This short-term financing allows borrowers to pay for products and services in online installments, such as four biweekly payments. BNPL loans 'Are you with me?' Biden and Harris launch Black voter outreach and warn of a second Trump term 05/29/2024 06:02pm • PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden renewed his election-year pitch to Black voters on Wednesday, lashing out at Donald Trump’s “MAGA lies” and saying the winner of this year's White House race will make crucial decisions, including on nominees for the Supreme Court, that could affect th A fifth grader's fundraiser cleared his school of meal debt. It named an award for him 05/29/2024 03:11pm • As the school year drew to a close, Daken Kramer worried about children who owed money for meals at his school. So the enterprising fifth grader decided to do something about it. Daken, 11, posted a video last month challenging friends, family, and even strangers and businesses to pay off the meal d Key Republican calls for 'generational' increase in defense spending to counter US adversaries 05/29/2024 02:07pm • WASHINGTON (AP) — The top-ranking Republican on a Senate committee that oversees the military is calling for a “generational investment” in America's defense, saying aggressive and significant spending increases are necessary to deter coordinated threats from U.S. adversaries such as Russia, I Inflation pressures lingering from pandemic are keeping Fed rate cuts on pause 05/29/2024 01:18pm • WASHINGTON (AP) — Hopes for interest rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve are steadily fading, with a stream of recent remarks by Fed officials underscoring their intention to keep borrowing costs high as long as needed to curb persistently elevated inflation. A key reason for the delay in