Author: Scarlett Williamson

Disney on Tuesday released a study showing its economic impact in Florida at $40.3 billion as it battles Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees over their takeover of the district that governs the entertainment company’s massive resort in central Florida. Disney accounted for 263,000 jobs in Florida, more than three times the actual workforce at Walt Disney World, according to the study conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by Disney, covering fiscal year 2022. Besides direct employment and spending, the study attributed the company’s multibillion-dollar impact to indirect influences, such as supply chain and employees’ spending. The jobs include…

Tech workers at the New York Times (NYT.N) plan to strike for half a day on Monday, accusing the publisher of attempting to unilaterally force them back to the office. The stoppage of work will start at 1 p.m. ET and the nearly 700 workers will hold demonstrations on Zoom and outside the company’s headquarters in Manhattan, where some will wear Halloween costumes, said the Times Tech Guild (TTG). The New York Times issued its return-to-office policy before the tech guild was recognized early last year, when workers voted 404-88 to join the NewsGuild of New York, making TTG the largest tech union in…

London, Delhi, Mumbai (28/10 – 10) England’s title defense in the 2023 Cricket World Cup is practically over, after their fourth defeat in five group-stage matches. Jos Buttler and Co. are coming to the tournament in India as the defending champions, having won their first title in history with the 2019 edition. The 2023 Cricket World Cup turns out to be a disaster for Matthew Mott’s team. From day one onwards, England’s show in the tournament has been painfully dismal, losing by 9 wickets at the hand of New Zealand in the 5 October opening match. They seemed to have…

Frankfurt, Brussels (6/10 – 27) While Tajik authorities have not been able to lay their hands on their activist opponents living in Europe, they are able to turn the screws on their families and relatives, back in the old country. The recent case of arrest of family members took place shortly after President Emomali Rahmon’s visit to Germany, to attend a summit of Central Asian leaders, at the end of last month. Throughout Rahmon’s visit, he was trailed by demonstrators holding up placards bearing pictures of political prisoners and calling him a dictator. When Rahmon headed to the Bundestag on…

Some of them were high school state champions, some standout college wrestlers, and some went on to coach or referee. Their accomplishments and commitments to the sport will be highlighted Sept. 22 when they are inducted into the New Jersey Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. The banquet will start at 1 p.m. at The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village. Among the six honorees are locals Bill Voliva from Piscataway, Joe Dougherty from Old Bridge, Walter Grote from Scotch Plains and Mike Suk from Somerville. Bill Voliva A 1971 graduate of Piscataway High School, he went 52-7-2 overall,…

Former U.S. president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to allegations that he illegally tried to upend his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia. He also waived his scheduled arraignment in the case that had been set for next week. That means Trump, one of 19 defendants in the racketeering and election interference case, won’t have to show up before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee for an initial court appearance in Atlanta in the coming days. No trial date has been set in the case, but it is likely to be months from now. Several…

Longstanding Panda’s hockey coach, Howie Draper, is leaving the University of Alberta varsity program after 26 years for a shot as head coach of the Professional Women’s Hockey League team in New York. During his 26 years as the Panda’s bench boss, the program has captured a record 14 Canada West titles and eight national championships, success that makes his decision to leave all the more difficult. “It’s really tough to leave the program that I cut my teeth on, and all the people that I got to know and the current players,” Draper said. But the opportunity was “literally…

Lai’s visit to the U.S. helps burnish his credentials in the lead-up to Taiwan’s January presidential election. Taiwan’s vice president Lai Ching-te defied pressure from Beijing to make a transit stop in New York City on Saturday en route to a state visit to Paraguay. Lai, the leading presidential candidate in Taiwan’s upcoming election, is using the Big Apple layover to meet with members of the Taiwanese American community. On Saturday, China began conducting a three-day military exercise in the East China Sea a few hundred miles from Taiwan — a typical show of force from Beijing to express its…

The State House will reopen to employees and the public Thursday, two days after a fire forced the evacuation of the state capitol and raised concerns about carbon monoxide levels inside, the building’s superintendent announced Wednesday afternoon. “The power has been restored to the building and it has been determined that it is safe to reopen the building tomorrow,” Superintendent Tammy Kraus said in an update around 4:15 p.m. She added, “Air scrubbers will continue to operate throughout the evening and potentially tomorrow to absorb residual odors.” High-voltage wires that feed into a transformer in the State House’s sub-basement caught…

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the former Liberal government’s ‘gross betrayal’ following the release of the damning robodebt royal commission report. The fallout from the royal commission into the robodebt scheme continues to grow, with police confirming they have received a report of crime from the commission. On Monday, embattled former senior bureaucrat Kathryn Campbell resigned from the Department of Defence, in a move welcomed by the main public sector union as “the first of many steps toward achieving full accountability” in the wake of robodebt. An AFP spokesperson also confirmed on Monday it had received the report…