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A CVS store manager was killed on the job by a man suspected of shoplifting, police say — the latest example of a US retail theft epidemic that is becoming increasingly deadly.

Michael Jacobs, 49 — an operations manager at CVS Pharmacy in Mesa, Ariz., where he had worked for the past 20-plus years — was shot and killed allegedly by Jared Sevey in the evening hours of Sept. 7, according to KKTV 11 News.

Sevey, 39, was reportedly inside the Arizona CVS location earlier that day, arguing with Jacobs about shoplifting, KKTV reported. After the conflict, Sevey went home to get a gun.

Sevey admitted to police that he shot Jacobs because he was “tired of being bullied,” and “this was the last straw,” according to the news outlet.

The Post has sought comment from CVS, which has already resorted to installing built-in locks on freezer doors and putting padlocks around necessities like deodorant and toothbrushes at its locations in major US cities.

Jacobs left behind two children and his wife of 23 years, Stacy. Jacobs’ family has started a GoFundMe page, saying that “CVS has not even reached out to us to discuss medical expenses along with funeral expenses.” The GoFundMe has already collected over 200 donations totaling $15,402.

It’s the latest incident in a lethal trend. In April, a 26-year-old Home Depot employee was fatally shot after confronting a woman attempting to steal from the home improvement retailer’s Pleasanton store, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to KKTV.

Just days earlier, a pregnant shoplifter at a Walgreens in Nashville was shot by a staffer following a confrontation over stolen merchandise that resulted in an exchange of Mace and bullets. The wounded mother-to-be was rushed to the hospital, where doctors performed an emergency C-section, saving the baby and 24-year-old mother’s life.

The Walgreens worker was later charged by the Davidson County District Attorneys Office with aggravated assault, but a grand jury declined to indict him earlier this week. The new mother, meanwhile, was indicted for theft and assault.  

Representatives for Home Depot and Walgreens didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Stories of seemingly consequence-free shoplifting are everywhere: There’s an epidemic of drugstore thefts in New York, and a landmark grocery store in Baltimore shut its doors after nearly 25 years after a community desperate for fresh food resorted to simply stealing it.

Experts have blamed the surge on lax policies — including the passage of Prop 47 in California, which reduced theft from a potential felony to a misdemeanor — as well as calls to defund the police in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, which resulted in a mass exodus of cops nationwide.

In New York City, dubbed a “shoplifter’s paradise” by some fed-up local politicians, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has faced blowback over his not requesting bail for some repeat shoplifting suspects. Bragg also has refused to bust thieves unless they pilfer items exceeding $1,000 in value, which is when theft becomes a felony.

A furor erupted in July after CVS worker Scotty Enoe, 46, fatally knifed Charles Brito after the 50-year-old serial thief punched him. Can Alvin Bragg maybe help with that?” fumed City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island). “He just chooses not to prosecute and we end up with vigilante justice.”

With no nationwide policy on how to deal with shoplifting, many employers have encouraged staffers to do nothing at all in an effort to keep them out of harm’s way.

Lululemon became notorious for its hands-off policy after the athletic gear company axed two employees who called the police while three masked men robbed a Georgia outpost.

The company cited its zero-tolerance policy for intervening in a robbery as a reason for firing the workers, whom Lululemon refers to as “educators.”

A Walmart in Atlanta, meanwhile, will be installing a police workspace inside the store when it opens in May. The grocery store and pharmacy previously closed after it was set on fire by suspected arsonists.

The shoplifting epidemic cost retailers nearly $100 billion in 2021, and the number of shoplifting complaints surged to more than 63,000 last year — a 45% jump over the roughly 45,000 reported in 2021 and a nearly 275% jump compared to the mid-2000s, police statistics show.

Now, Bragg in New York is reportedly working to snuff out shoplifting by going after repeat offenders. Part of his plan includes focused deterrence, meaning pre-trial detention will be requested for accused thieves who have prior felony convictions, multiple open cases and a history of skipping out on court dates.

New York also has implemented an initiative dubbed the Merchants Business Improvement Program, which allows business owners to get restraining orders against suspects who repeatedly come into their stores and steal or harass workers, officials said last month.

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Politics

Two scandals and two allies gone in two weeks – serious questions remain about Starmer’s political judgement

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Two scandals and two allies gone in two weeks - serious questions remain about Starmer's political judgement

Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson, the paedophile and the peer.

It was a friendship that endured even beyond Epstein’s convictions and one on Thursday that ended Lord Mandelson’s political career.

Politics Live: Starmer accused of ‘blatant disregard for national security considerations’

When emails emerged of exchanges between the two men showing Lord Mandelson remaining supportive of Epstein even after he was convicted for the sex trafficking of underage girls, it was clear he had to go.

Lord Mandelson tried to cling on. The PM summarily relieved him of his duties.

There had initially been an appetite to keep him, in order to avoid embarrassing Donald Trump, who himself is being asked questions about his association with Epstein – and hates it.

But when these emails emerged, it was clear to No 10 that the scandal would blow up the state visit and Mandelson had to go.

More on Peter Mandelson

But what was also true was that even attempting to keep him in these circumstances could blow up Sir Keir Starmer.

The parliamentary party – and particularly many of the women MPs – were absolutely furious that Mandelson had backed a convicted paedophile against women and girls who had, to quote one victim, been passed to men by Epstein like fruit trays.

The spectre of a powerful man like Mandelson trying to protect him and even the thought of the PM trying to row in behind was absolutely unconscionable.

As Harriet Harman said on our Electoral Dysfunction podcast before he was sacked: “These young women talked about the ruination of their lives by this man abusing his wealth and his power.

“And the idea that Peter Mandelson sided with Epstein in that situation – and this is always the question – whose side are you on?

“You’ve got to be on the side of the vulnerable and not against the person who commits criminal offences, abusing their power.”

Harman also said she thought the prime minister would have been in “anguish” over having to defend Mandelson in the Commons.

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Harriet Harman, Ruth Davidson, and Beth Rigby react to the news

He looked almost as green as the green benches on Wednesday as he insisted he had full confidence in his ambassador, despite warnings from Mandelson himself that more embarrassing material was about to emerge.

When that material did emerge, I understand that the PM spent the evening in Downing Street going through the material and then summoned his new Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who has been a tireless champion in the fight to end violence against women and girls, for a meeting in which they decided to sack Mandelson.

Read more:
No 10 appointed Mandelson despite concerns
Analysis – why wasn’t Mandelson fired yesterday?

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Sky’s US Correspondent Mark Stone provides analysis on the impact this may have on UK-US relations, as the President’s state visit to the UK approaches

That the US ambassador didn’t go of his own accord has angered many MPs and probably the PM, who has a record of prosecuting child sex offenders and made halving violence against women and girls a priority for this government.

Now Mandelson has gone. But, with the end of that comes new questions.

Questions about Keir Starmer’s political judgement.

This is not the first time Lord Mandelson has resigned in disgrace.

He stepped down as trade secretary over a loan from a colleague he failed to register under Tony Blair, and then quit again as Northern Ireland secretary over a cash for passports scandal.

And now the question is, in light of the Epstein connection, why did Starmer let him back in?

There is talk around Westminster that his key advisers had backed the move and Starmer had some reservations.

As well he might, because in the end, the scandal of it all stops at the PM’s door.

There are questions as to whether No 10 ignored concerns raised by the appointment and Badenoch is asking for full transparency.

My colleague, Sam Coates, was told by two sources that the security services did flag concerns as part of the process.

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No 10 went ahead with the appointment anyway, Sky News understands

It is not known whether all of the detail was shared with the prime minister personally.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said No 10 “was not involved in the security vetting process”.

Badenoch said the latest revelations “point yet again to the terrible judgement of Keir Starmer”.

She added that it is “imperative that all documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment are released immediately”.

Then there is a bigger picture.

Two weeks into a supposed reset, two scandals and two key figures gone from government.

This was a PM who promised to do politics differently and clean up after the scandal-ridden Tory years.

Peter Mandelson’s return to government and ousting in this manner casts a long shadow over the PM and that promise, and raises serious questions about the PM’s political judgement.

It also casts a shadow over the upcoming state visit.

It was only on Wednesday that No 10 was thinking about trying to keep Mandelson to try to avoid putting the spotlight back onto President Trump.

With the White House, Royal Family and the UK government all tarnished by association with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, this was an issue they all wanted to avoid and now it is top of the agenda.

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World

Prince Harry makes surprise visit to Ukraine

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Prince Harry makes surprise visit to Ukraine

Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a spokesperson for the royal has said.

Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the city at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.

The Duke of Sussex travelled to the capital to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.

Pic: Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP
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Pic: Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will also be travelling to Kyiv on Friday in what will be her first foreign trip since being appointed to the job last week.

Her visit coincides with the UK launching a new package of Russia-related sanctions targeting ships carrying Russian oil as well as companies and individuals supplying electronics, chemicals and explosives used to make Russian weapons.

It comes as Russia and Belarus began a major joint military exercise on on NATO’s doorstep on Friday, just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.

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Drones shot down in Poland

The Zapad-2025 exercise – a show of force by Russia and its close ally – will involve drills in both countries and in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.

More on Prince Harry

Meanwhile on the frontline, Russian defence systems intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight,
including nine over the Moscow region, the ministry said on Friday.

The duke told the Guardian while on an overnight train to Kyiv: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.

“We can continue to humanise the people involved in this war and what they are going through.

“We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”

Read more from Sky News:
Brazil’s ex-president jailed for 27 years
Migrant hotel critics meet asylum seekers

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Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, previously travelled to Ukraine in April, when he visited war victims as part of his work with wounded veterans.

The prince visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.

Earlier this week, Harry said the King is “great” after he reunited with him at Clarence House for a private tea.

It was their first meeting in 19 months and lasted just 54 minutes.

The last time the father and son saw each other was in February 2024 when the prince flew to the UK after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis.

Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have lived in California since they quit roles as senior working royals in March 2020.

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Technology

SK Hynix continues monster $80 billion rally as its readies next-gen chips for Nvidia

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SK Hynix continues monster  billion rally as its readies next-gen chips for Nvidia

A man walks past a logo of SK Hynix at the lobby of the company’s Bundang office in Seongnam on January 29, 2021.

Jung Yeon-Je | AFP | Getty Images

South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix said Friday that it was ready to mass produce its next-generation high-bandwidth memory chips, staying ahead of rivals and sending the company’s stock soaring. 

HBM is a type of memory that is used in chipsets for artificial-intelligence computing, including in chips from global AI giant Nvidia — a major client of SK Hynix. 

SK Hynix said earlier this year that it had shipped samples of its HBM4 chips to customers, as it sought to beat competitors including Samsung Electronics and Micron Technologies.

According to its announcement Friday, the company has finished its internal validation and quality assurance process for HBM4 and is ready to manufacture those at scale.

“Completion of HBM4 development will be a new milestone for the industry,” said Joohwan Cho, head of HBM development at SK Hynix.

HBM4 is the sixth generation of HBM technology — a type of Dynamic Random Access Memory, or DRAM. DRAM can be found in personal computers, workstations and servers and is used to store data and program code.

SK Hynix’s latest HBM4 product has doubled bandwidth and increased power efficiency by 40% compared to the previous generation, according to the company.  

Notably, HBM4 is expected to be the main AI memory chip needed for Nvidia’s next-generation Rubin architecture — a more powerful AI chip for global data centers — said Dan Nystedt, vice-president at TriOrient, an Asia-based private investment firm with a focus on semiconductors.

“SK Hynix is a key supplier for Nvidia, and the announcement shows it remains far ahead of rivals,” he said.

Samsung Electronics and Micron have struggled to catch up to SK Hynix in HBM, as it builds on its segment leadership and benefits from being Nvidia’s main HBM supplier. 

However, the companies have made some progress. Micron has also shipped samples of its HBM4 products to customers, while Samsung has reportedly been working to get its HBM4 chips certified by Nvidia. 

“Despite the shifting competitive landscape, we anticipate SK Hynix will maintain a commanding position, potentially securing around 50% of the HBM market share by 2026,” said MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint Research, covering memory solutions.

SK Hynix shares rose more than 7% Friday to hit their highest since 2000, following its chip announcement, bringing year-to-date gains to nearly 90%. Shares of Samsung Electronics and Micron have risen over 40% and nearly 80% in 2025, respectively.

SK Hynix posted record operating profit and revenue for its June-quarter, thanks to strong HBM demand, which accounted for 77% of its overall revenues. The company’s market capitalization has increased by more than $80 billion since the start of the year, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.

The firm expects to double HBM sales for the full year compared to 2024, and for demand from AI to continue to grow into 2026.

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