Новости за 26.04.2023

The co-founder of a fundraising group linked to Steve Bannon that promised to help Donald Trump construct a wall along the southern U.S. border has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison. Brian Kolfage was sentenced Wednesday for defrauding donors to the We Build the Wall effort. He previously pleaded guilty. A co-defendant, financier Andrew Badolato, was also sentenced to three years for aiding the effort. Former Trump adviser Bannon was also charged but received a pardon hours before Trump left office. Читать дальше...

Authorities are still hunting for four inmates, including one suspected of killing a man and stealing his pickup truck, who escaped from a Mississippi jail that has been under federal scrutiny. Leake County Sheriff Randy Atkinson told WJTV-TV that the suspect in the killing, 22-year-old Dylan Arrington, is believed to be dead after he barricaded himself inside a burning home near Conway, Mississippi, Wednesday morning. The sheriff also says a deputy was shot but did not provide more information on the deputy’s condition. Читать дальше...

The Dutch government has unveiled a new package to slash carbon emissions by promoting clean energy, sustainable homes and industry and the use of electric cars among other a raft of measures to combat climate change. Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten said Wednesday the package would cost a total of 28 billion euros in coming years and lead to a reduction of 55%-60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 benchmark levels. He is pitching the package as a win-win scenario for the... Читать дальше...

A writer suing Donald Trump has taken the stand to tell jurors that the future president raped her after she accompanied him into a deluxe department store fitting room in 1996. E. Jean Carroll began testifying Wednesday in the trial of her federal lawsuit. Trump denies Carroll’s allegations. He has said he wasn’t at the store with Carroll and doesn’t even know her. Carroll has said that after a chance encounter at Bergdorf Goodman, the two bantered about trying on lingerie and went into a dressing room. Читать дальше...

An Associated Press reporter recalls the first time he took a ride in a car without sitting in the driver's seat. It happened one night last September when a Chevy Bolt named Peaches picked up the reporter outside a San Francisco bar. The half-hour ride was going fine until he neared his destination and the car started going in a different direction. He eventually made it out. The experience provided a snapshot of the artificial intelligence technology that is advancing toward a goal of improving... Читать дальше...

Montana Republican leaders will vote on censuring or expelling a transgender state lawmaker who has been silenced on the state House floor for comments against a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for children. A protest against Zephyr being silenced disrupted the House floor session on Monday and she stood defiantly on the floor with her microphone raised. On Tuesday night, Democratic, Rep. Zooey Zephyr tweeted a letter she received from House leaders informing her of the plan to consider disciplinary action against against her. Читать дальше...

British regulators have blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report Wednesday that “the only effective remedy” to the significant loss of competition that the deal would result in “is to prohibit the Merger." The all-cash deal was set to be the biggest in the history of the tech industry. But it faces stiff opposition from rival... Читать дальше...

The Supreme Court will decide the case of a woman who lost her one-bedroom condo in Minneapolis over $2,300 in unpaid taxes, plus interest and penalties. Hennepin County sold Geraldine Tyler's apartment for $40,000 and kept every penny. Lawyers for the now 94-year-old Tyler say the county violated constitutional protections against having property taken without “just compensation” and excessive fines. A legal foundation representing Tyler says Minnesota is among a dozen states and the District of... Читать дальше...

Sri Lanka’s president has asked its parliament to approve a four-year International Monetary Fund program to reduce the country's debt by $17 billion though restructuring. Lawmakers began a three-day debate Wednesday on President Ranil Wickremesinghe's proposal to accept the IMF program. If approved, it would dictate how Sri Lanka’s crisis-stricken economy will be managed in the coming few years. A majority of lawmakers are expected to accept the IMF's four-year bailout program. Under the plan, the IMF will provide nearly $3 billion in stages. Читать дальше...

Amid bans on teaching controversial topics related to race, Black families have embraced schools that affirm their African American heritage. Bans have been enacted in at least 16 U.S. states since 2021. Some parents in Georgia have found solace in Kilombo Academic & Cultural Institute, a private K-8 school in an Atlanta suburb. The school has 53 students, up a third since the start of the pandemic. Initially, more parents chose the school because it returned to in-person learning earlier than nearby public schools. Читать дальше...

Democratic lawmakers in Oregon are advancing a bill that would expand insurance coverage for gender-affirming care to include things like facial hair removal and Adam’s apple reduction surgery. The procedures are currently considered cosmetic by insurers but seen as critical to the mental health of transitioning women. The wide-ranging bill is part of a wave of legislation in Democratic-controlled states intended to carve out safe havens for transgender people amid a conservative movement seeking to ban or limit gender-affirming care.

American and Filipino forces have fired a barrage of high-precision rockets, airstrikes and artillery in their largest war drills in Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea that would likely antagonize China. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday watched the American show of firepower from a tower in northwestern Zambales province. It’s the latest indication of his strong backing of his country’s treaty alliance with the U.S. His order for the Philippine military to shift its... Читать дальше...

China has warned against continued U.S.-Taiwan cooperation, responding to reports that the U.S. military is sending officers to help train Taiwan’s counterparts and that a delegation of defense contractors would visiting the self-ruled island next week. The spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that China resolutely opposes any form of official or military contact between the U.S. and what it considers its territory. Taiwanese media reported this month that the U.S. had sent 200 military personnel... Читать дальше...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has held trade talks with South Korean officials in Seoul, on the second leg of his four-nation trip, as the possible rival to Donald Trump seeks to build his diplomatic profile ahead of a widely anticipated presidential campaign launch. Leading a trade mission from Florida, DeSantis on Wednesday met with South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and expressed hopes to create more jobs by facilitating South Korean investment in his state, according to Han’s office. Han, Seoul’s No. Читать дальше...

A South Carolina grand jury has charged convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh with two counts of tax evasion after prosecutors reviewed his final years of tax returns before he headed behind bars. The former attorney is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after being convicted in March of the shooting deaths of his wife and younger son in 2021. The new indictments cover Murdaugh's 2020 and 2021 tax returns. He was indicted last year for evading taxes in 2011 to 2019. Over those 11 years... Читать дальше...

In the heart of California, some rural communities are facing the prospect of being marooned or flooded out by rising water. More than a dozen atmospheric rivers dumped epic rain and snowfall on California. Now that massive snowpack is melting and filling waterways. Neighbors in the Island District of Kings County have reactivated a crisis network to help each other prepare. The nearby city of Corcoran is adding to the top of a levee to try to keep water out. A portion of Yosemite National Park will close temporarily due to flood concerns. Читать дальше...

TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are facing rising pressure from European authorities as London and Brussels advanced new rules Tuesday to curb the power of digital companies. They’re among those on a list of the 19 biggest online platforms and search engines that the European Union’s executive arm said Tuesday must meet extra obligations for cleaning up illegal content and disinformation and keeping users safe online. It's part of the 27-nation bloc’s landmark digital rules taking effect later this year. Читать дальше...

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado has signed legislation forcing manufacturers to provide the necessary manuals, tools, parts and software to farmers so they can fix their own machines. Lawmakers in at least 10 other states have introduced similar legislation, including in Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and Vermont. Polis signed the legislation into law Tuesday after an outcry from farmers that manufacturers forced them to wait precious days for a servicer to arrive when one... Читать дальше...

There are stark differences in how President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy want to shore up the government’s finances. The Democratic president primarily wants higher taxes on the wealthy to lower deficits; the GOP congressional leader favors sharp spending cuts. Staring down a fast-approaching deadline to raise the debt limit, they need to find some kind of common ground as they publicly jostle over the federal government’s $31.4 trillion in debt. It’s unclear how they can reconcile... Читать дальше...

Tucker Carlson wasn't the first Fox New host to be fired at the peak of his powers. So were Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly before him. And those cases offer lessons. Fox recovered from those exits with barely a dent in its ratings, while those who left the network's dominant platform didn't reach the same career heights again. Fox's two most popular programs were the replacements for Beck and O'Reilly. Some experts say Carlson may be harder to replace because he's the person at the network who seemed... Читать дальше...