Kentucky boy uses mom's phone to order 70,000 lollipops — costing $4,000: "He wanted to have a carnival"
Holly LaFavers says she tried stopping 8-year-old Liam's Amazon order for about 70,000 Dum-Dum suckers before the treats arrived but it was too late.
Amazon had already delivered 22 cases to her home.
"He told me that he wanted to have a carnival, and he was ordering the Dum-Dums as prizes for his carnival," LaFavers said. "Again, he was being friendly, he was being kind to his friends."
LaFavers posted multiple photos on social media, showing bozes of the sweets stacked up in front of her house.
This image provided by Holly LaFavers shows boxes of Dum-Dum lollipops outside of Holly LaFavers's home Monday, May 5, 2025, in Lexington, Ky.
Holly LaFavers / AP
The surprise got worse after a quick check of her bank account. She owed about $4,000 for the order.
"When I saw what the number was, I just about fainted," LaFavers said.
Luckily, she said Amazon is fully refunding the $4,000, and her bank is also waiving fees, CBS affiliate WKYT reports.
"I was able to laugh about it a little earlier today, so I can finally laugh about it," LaFevers told the station.
Then she found out that eight more cases from the order were unaccounted for, she said. After a trip to the post office, those cases were returned to sender, she said.
Her efforts to get a refund took a bit more time but she got her money back.
"After a long day of working with the bank and talking to a few news stations Amazon called and they are refunding my money," she said in a social media post.
LaFavers says she is donating all the lollipops, WKYT reported.
She also said she was changing some settings on her phone to make sure there's never another surprise delivery at home.
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The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
US and China to talk in Stockholm on trade with eye on Trump-Xi summit later this year
WASHINGTON (AP) — When top U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Stockholm, they are almost certain to agree to at least leaving tariffs at the current levels while working toward a meeting between their presidents later this year for a more lasting trade deal between the world's two largest economies, analysts say. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are set to hold talks for the third time this year — this round in the Swedish capital, nearly four months after President Donald Trump upset global trade with his sweeping tariff proposal, including an import tax that shot up to 145% on Chinese goods. 'We have the confines of a deal with China,' Trump said Friday before leaving for Scotland. Bessent told MSNBC on Wednesday that the two countries after talks in Geneva and London have reached a 'status quo,' with the U.S. taxing imported goods from China at 30% and China responding with a 10% tariff, on top of tariffs prior to the start of Trump's second term. 'Now we can move on to discussing other matters in terms of bringing the economic relationship into balance,' Bessent said. He was referring to the U.S. running a $295.5 billion trade deficit last year. The U.S. seeks an agreement that would enable it to export more to China and shift the Chinese economy more toward domestic consumer spending. The Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing hopes 'there will be more consensus and cooperation and less misperception' coming out of the talks. With an eye on a possible leaders' summit, Stockholm could provide some answers as to the timeline and viability of that particular goal ahead of a possible meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 'The meeting will be important in starting to set the stage for a fall meeting between Trump and Xi,' said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. 'Beijing will likely insist on detailed preparations before they agree to a leaders' meeting.' In Stockholm, the two sides are likely to focus on commercial announcements to be made at a leaders' summit as well as agreements to address 'major irritants,' such as China's industrial overcapacity and its lack of control over chemicals used to make fentanyl, also to be announced when Xi and Trump should meet, Cutler said. Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said Stockholm could be the first real opportunity for the two governments to address structural reform issues including market access in China for U.S. companies. What businesses will be seeking coming out of Stockholm would largely be 'the atmosphere' — how the two sides characterize the discussions. They will also look for clues about a possible leaders' summit because any real deal will hinge on the two presidents meeting each other, he said. Fentanyl-related tariffs are likely a focus for China In Stockholm, Beijing will likely demand the removal of the 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump imposed earlier this year, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center. This round of the U.S.-China trade dispute began with fentanyl, when Trump in February imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, citing that China failed to curb the outflow of the chemicals used to make the drug. The following month, Trump added another 10% tax for the same reason. Beijing retaliated with extra duties on some U.S. goods, including coal, liquefied natural gas, and farm products such as beef, chicken, pork and soy. In Geneva, both sides climbed down from three-digit tariffs rolled out following Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April, but the U.S. kept the 20% 'fentanyl' tariffs, in addition to the 10% baseline rate — to which China responded by keeping the same 10% rate on U.S. products. These across-the-board duties were unchanged when the two sides met in London a month later to negotiate over non-tariff measures such as export controls on critical products. The Chinese government has long protested that American politicians blame China for the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. but argued the root problem lies with the U.S. itself. Washington says Beijing is not doing enough to regulate precursor chemicals that flow out of China into the hands of drug dealers. In July, China placed two fentanyl ingredients under enhanced control, a move seen as in response to U.S. pressure and signaling goodwill. Gabriel Wildau, managing director at the consultancy Teneo, said he doesn't expect any tariff to go away in Stockholm but that tariff relief could be part of a final trade deal. 'It's possible that Trump would cancel the 20% tariff that he has explicitly linked with fentanyl, but I would expect the final tariff level on China to be at least as high as the 15-20% rate contained in the recent deals with Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam,' Wildau said. US wants China to dump less, buy less oil from Russia and Iran China's industrial overcapacity is as much a headache for the United States as it is for the European Union. Even Beijing has acknowledged the problem but suggested it might be difficult to address. America's trade imbalance with China has decreased from a peak of $418 billion in 2018, according to the Census Bureau. But China has found new markets for its goods and as the world's dominant manufacturer ran a global trade surplus approaching $1 trillion last year — somewhat larger than the size of the U.S. overall trade deficit in 2024. And China's emergence as a manufacturer of electric vehicles and other emerging technologies has suddenly made it more of a financial and geopolitical threat for those same industries based in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea. 'Some enterprises, especially manufacturing enterprises, feel more deeply that China's manufacturing capabilities are too strong, and Chinese people are too hardworking. Factories run 24 hours a day,' Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday when hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing. 'Some people think this will cause some new problems in the balance of supply and demand in world production.' 'We see this problem too,' Li said. Bessent also said the Stockholm talks could address Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil. However, Wildau of Teneo said China could demand some U.S. security concessions in exchange, such as a reduced U.S. military presence in East Asia and scaled-back diplomatic support for Taiwan and the Philippines. This would likely face political pushback in Washington. The Stockholm talks will be 'geared towards building a trade agreement based around Chinese purchase commitments and pledges of investment in the U.S. in exchange for partial relief from U.S. tariffs and export controls,' Wildau said. He doubts there will be a grand deal. Instead, he predicts 'a more limited agreement based around fentanyl.' 'That,' he said, 'is probably the preferred outcome for China hawks in the Trump administration, who worry that an overeager Trump might offer too much to Xi.'
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
US and China to talk in Stockholm on trade with eye on Trump-Xi summit later this year
WASHINGTON (AP) — When top U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Stockholm, they are almost certain to agree to at least leaving tariffs at the current levels while working toward a meeting between their presidents later this year for a more lasting trade deal between the world's two largest economies, analysts say. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are set to hold talks for the third time this year — this round in the Swedish capital, nearly four months after President Donald Trump upset global trade with his sweeping tariff proposal, including an import tax that shot up to 145% on Chinese goods. 'We have the confines of a deal with China,' Trump said Friday before leaving for Scotland. Bessent told MSNBC on Wednesday that the two countries after talks in Geneva and London have reached a 'status quo,' with the U.S. taxing imported goods from China at 30% and China responding with a 10% tariff, on top of tariffs prior to the start of Trump's second term. 'Now we can move on to discussing other matters in terms of bringing the economic relationship into balance,' Bessent said. He was referring to the U.S. running a $295.5 billion trade deficit last year. The U.S. seeks an agreement that would enable it to export more to China and shift the Chinese economy more toward domestic consumer spending. The Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing hopes 'there will be more consensus and cooperation and less misperception' coming out of the talks. With an eye on a possible leaders' summit, Stockholm could provide some answers as to the timeline and viability of that particular goal ahead of a possible meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 'The meeting will be important in starting to set the stage for a fall meeting between Trump and Xi,' said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. 'Beijing will likely insist on detailed preparations before they agree to a leaders' meeting.' In Stockholm, the two sides are likely to focus on commercial announcements to be made at a leaders' summit as well as agreements to address 'major irritants,' such as China's industrial overcapacity and its lack of control over chemicals used to make fentanyl, also to be announced when Xi and Trump should meet, Cutler said. Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said Stockholm could be the first real opportunity for the two governments to address structural reform issues including market access in China for U.S. companies. What businesses will be seeking coming out of Stockholm would largely be 'the atmosphere' — how the two sides characterize the discussions. They will also look for clues about a possible leaders' summit because any real deal will hinge on the two presidents meeting each other, he said. Fentanyl-related tariffs are likely a focus for China In Stockholm, Beijing will likely demand the removal of the 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump imposed earlier this year, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center. This round of the U.S.-China trade dispute began with fentanyl, when Trump in February imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, citing that China failed to curb the outflow of the chemicals used to make the drug. The following month, Trump added another 10% tax for the same reason. Beijing retaliated with extra duties on some U.S. goods, including coal, liquefied natural gas, and farm products such as beef, chicken, pork and soy. In Geneva, both sides climbed down from three-digit tariffs rolled out following Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April, but the U.S. kept the 20% 'fentanyl' tariffs, in addition to the 10% baseline rate — to which China responded by keeping the same 10% rate on U.S. products. These across-the-board duties were unchanged when the two sides met in London a month later to negotiate over non-tariff measures such as export controls on critical products. The Chinese government has long protested that American politicians blame China for the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. but argued the root problem lies with the U.S. itself. Washington says Beijing is not doing enough to regulate precursor chemicals that flow out of China into the hands of drug dealers. In July, China placed two fentanyl ingredients under enhanced control, a move seen as in response to U.S. pressure and signaling goodwill. Gabriel Wildau, managing director at the consultancy Teneo, said he doesn't expect any tariff to go away in Stockholm but that tariff relief could be part of a final trade deal. 'It's possible that Trump would cancel the 20% tariff that he has explicitly linked with fentanyl, but I would expect the final tariff level on China to be at least as high as the 15-20% rate contained in the recent deals with Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam,' Wildau said. US wants China to dump less, buy less oil from Russia and Iran China's industrial overcapacity is as much a headache for the United States as it is for the European Union. Even Beijing has acknowledged the problem but suggested it might be difficult to address. America's trade imbalance with China has decreased from a peak of $418 billion in 2018, according to the Census Bureau. But China has found new markets for its goods and as the world's dominant manufacturer ran a global trade surplus approaching $1 trillion last year — somewhat larger than the size of the U.S. overall trade deficit in 2024. And China's emergence as a manufacturer of electric vehicles and other emerging technologies has suddenly made it more of a financial and geopolitical threat for those same industries based in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea. 'Some enterprises, especially manufacturing enterprises, feel more deeply that China's manufacturing capabilities are too strong, and Chinese people are too hardworking. Factories run 24 hours a day,' Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday when hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing. 'Some people think this will cause some new problems in the balance of supply and demand in world production.' 'We see this problem too,' Li said. Bessent also said the Stockholm talks could address Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil. However, Wildau of Teneo said China could demand some U.S. security concessions in exchange, such as a reduced U.S. military presence in East Asia and scaled-back diplomatic support for Taiwan and the Philippines. This would likely face political pushback in Washington. The Stockholm talks will be 'geared towards building a trade agreement based around Chinese purchase commitments and pledges of investment in the U.S. in exchange for partial relief from U.S. tariffs and export controls,' Wildau said. He doubts there will be a grand deal. Instead, he predicts 'a more limited agreement based around fentanyl.' 'That,' he said, 'is probably the preferred outcome for China hawks in the Trump administration, who worry that an overeager Trump might offer too much to Xi.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Stablecoins Are on the Rise. 3 Reasons Investors Should Pay Attention to This Popular Cryptocurrency.
Key Points New crypto legislation in Congress has paved the way for rapid expansion of the stablecoin industry. In addition to financial services firms, companies in industries ranging from retail to tech could launch new stablecoins. Stablecoins have the potential to disrupt existing industries and change the way investors value companies. 10 stocks we like better than Circle Internet Group › Passage of landmark new crypto legislation (the Genius Act) has led to a surge of positive sentiment about stablecoins. Some investors now think they have the potential to disrupt entire industries. Although some of this hype and buzz may be overblown, investors still need to pay attention. Here are three key ways that stablecoins could influence your investment strategy. 1. Impact on the business models of top companies Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged 1:1 to a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar, have the potential to affect the business models of companies that have nothing to do with crypto or blockchain. Take retail, for example. A handful of top retailers -- including Amazon and Walmart -- are now exploring stablecoins as a way of cutting down on credit card processing fees. At some point in the not-so-distant future, you might be paying for your online purchases with stablecoins, rather than credit cards. Or what about the financial services industry? Visa is a prime candidate for disruption, so it is already taking steps to prepare for the stablecoin era. And Western Union is also preparing for the day when customers use stablecoins rather than dollars to send cross-border remittances. So get ready to hear a lot about stablecoins on analyst calls and at investor conferences. After asking questions about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), investors and analysts might start to ask about the impact of stablecoins. At the very least, investors need to understand how stablecoins might change or disrupt existing business models. 2. New stablecoin launches Also, get ready for a deluge of new stablecoin launches from some unlikely names. And it won't just be banks or financial institutions issuing them. Under the Genius Act, even nonbanks will be able to issue them. And that could really open the floodgates. Right now, Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) and USDC (CRYPTO: USDC), the stablecoin issued by Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL), account for a whopping 90% of the $250 billion stablecoin industry. According to the latest Motley Fool stablecoin research, Tether and Circle are smaller than the biggest national banks, but larger than typical midsized brokerages. So, they're definitely, a force to be reckoned with. Right now, I'm partial to USDC, because it's the unofficial stablecoin of Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN), which has a partnership agreement with Circle. I also am confident that it will never lose its peg to the U.S. dollar. I wouldn't have as much confidence in smaller stablecoins without such a proven track record or as many key partners. It's easy to see how this industry will become a lot more fragmented very soon, making it potentially even more confusing for the average investor. In June, Fortune reported that Apple, Airbnb, X, and Alphabet were exploring stablecoin launches. So, if you're an Apple fan, you might want to own an Apple stablecoin. The same is true if you're an Elon Musk fan -- wouldn't you want to own a cool new X stablecoin? 3. Ethereum Finally, there's the matter of which blockchain will emerge as the dominant platform for stablecoins. Presumably, investors will flock to blockchains that are seeing the most success with stablecoins. That's because stablecoins are key building blocks for everything that happens in blockchain finance. So the most popular blockchains for stablecoins should also get the highest valuations. Currently, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is getting a lot of buzz because it accounts for 49% of the stablecoin market. According to investment strategist Tom Lee of Fundstrat, stablecoins are going to create a "ChatGPT moment" for Ethereum, with the potential to really light a fire under its price. With that in mind, it's easy to see why high-profile investors such as Peter Thiel are now starting to increase their exposure to Ethereum as a way of investing in stablecoins. But Ethereum hardly has a monopoly on stablecoins. All Layer-1 blockchains, if they can support smart contracts, should also be able to support stablecoins. And that creates the opportunity for relatively unknown names to really pop. According to CoinGecko, Tron (CRYPTO: TRX) has a 34.1% share of the stablecoin market. By way of comparison, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) only has a measly 2.2% share. If you think that stablecoins are the future, then Solana (with a $100 billion valuation), might be way overvalued compared to Tron, which has a $30 billion valuation. What's the best way to play the stablecoin trend? It's obvious that there are a number of different ways to play the stablecoin trend. The easiest way is to invest in the issuers of stablecoins, such as Circle. That gives you maximum exposure to any potential upside. You could also invest in blockchains such as Ethereum that are dominant in stablecoins, with the expectation that their values are going to soar. By the end of 2025, investing in stablecoins could get very interesting. What if a popular company like Amazon, Apple, or Alphabet decides to launch a stablecoin? It might fundamentally alter the way investors view these companies. That's why, even if you've never paid attention to stablecoins before, you should now. Very soon, they're going to become impossible to ignore. Should you invest $1,000 in Circle Internet Group right now? Before you buy stock in Circle Internet Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Circle Internet Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,774!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,942!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,040% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Dominic Basulto has positions in Amazon, Circle Internet Group, Ethereum, Solana, and USDC. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Airbnb, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Ethereum, Solana, Visa, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Stablecoins Are on the Rise. 3 Reasons Investors Should Pay Attention to This Popular Cryptocurrency. was originally published by The Motley Fool
