Новости за 31.07.2023

Lawyers for impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have sought to have most of the charges against him dismissed. Paxton's attorneys argued in filings Monday that the charges rely on alleged acts of corruption from before he was reelected to a third term in 2022, and that they believe state law bars the removal of an official for conduct that occurred before their most recent election. They accused the GOP-dominated House of Representatives of seeking to oust Paxton, who is a Republican, because... Читать дальше...

A brightly flashing “X” sign has been removed from the San Francisco headquarters of the company formerly known as Twitter just days after it was installed. The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection said Monday it received 24 complaints about the unpermitted structure over the weekend, including concerns about its structural safety and illumination. The Elon Musk-owned company, which has been rebranded as X, had removed the Twitter sign and iconic blue bird logo from the building last week. Читать дальше...

Senior U.S. officials say President Joe Biden has decided to keep the U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the Trump administration to move it to Alabama. The decision ends months of politically fueled debate. The officials say Biden was convinced by the head of Space Command, Gen. James Dickinson, who argued that moving his headquarters now would jeopardize military readiness. His view, however, was in contrast to Air Force leadership, which studied the... Читать дальше...

Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is taking aim at China with a 10-point economic plan he's calling a “Declaration of Economic Independence.” The Florida governor unveiled his plan Monday at a warehouse in New Hampshire. He promised to boost the economy and fight for the middle class, in part by wresting control from China. His plan calls for ending China's preferential trade status, banning imports of goods made from stolen intellectual property and preventing companies from sharing critical technologies with China. Читать дальше...

If it seems like lottery jackpots topping $1 billion are more common nowadays, it's because they are. The latest is a $1.05 billion Mega Millions prize up for grabs Tuesday night. Since 2021, five prizes have topped $1 billion, not counting the latest game. The increased frequency is due to higher interest rates and worsened odds for winning a jackpot. The advertised lottery jackpot is for winners choosing payment through an annuity over 30 years. Higher interest rates mean a lump sum will grow larger when paid through an annuity over decades. Читать дальше...

A nonprofit organization that researches links between social media, hate and extremism has been threatened with a lawsuit by X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. An attorney for the platform recently wrote to the Center for Countering Digital Hate accusing the group of trying to hurt the site's advertising. The center has published numerous research reports documenting an increase in hate speech on the platform since it was purchased last year by Elon Musk. The center says Musk is trying to silence his critics... Читать дальше...

At about its halfway point, the record-breaking hot and extreme summer of 2023 is both unprecedented and unsurprising. Killer heat. Deadly floods. Smoke from wildfires that chokes. Scientists say they've been talking about this for a long time but the really hot seawater worries them. And there’s no relief in sight. Forecasters predict a hotter than normal August and September. Records are being demolished. People are dying. Scientists say it's mostly climate change with a bit of El Nino. After a... Читать дальше...

As Democratic presidential primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenges President Joe Biden, the stories he tells on the campaign trail about himself, his life’s work and what he stands for are often the opposite of what his record shows. Kennedy rose to prominence during the coronavirus pandemic because of his strident opposition to vaccines, but he insists he’s not anti-vaccine. Kennedy has associated with influential people on the far right — including Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn — to raise his profile. Читать дальше...

President Joe Biden will travel to Arizona, New Mexico and Utah next week and is expected to talk about his administration’s efforts to combat climate change as the region endures a brutally hot summer with soaring temperatures. Biden is expected to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act and the push toward more clean energy manufacturing. The act is America’s most significant response to climate change and aims to spur clean energy buildout on a scale that will bend the arc of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Читать дальше...

West African nations have given Niger’s coup leaders one week to reinstate the country’s democratically elected president and have threatened to use if the demands aren't met. The announcement came at the end of an emergency meeting of West African countries on Sunday in Nigeria. The regional bloc known as ECOWAS convened there to respond to last week’s military takeover of Niger President Mohamed Bazoum. Economic sanctions could have a deep impact on Nigeriens who live in the third-poorest country in the world. Читать дальше...

Europe's economy is growing again — but not by much. Growth came in at 0.3% in the April-to-June quarter, following zero expansion in the three months immediately before. Stronger performance in Spain and France helped. But Germany, the largest of the 20 economies that use the euro, is holding things back with zero growth. High inflation is still sapping consumer spending power despite rebounding travel. Another factor is the series of interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank, which are making it harder to borrow to spend or invest. Читать дальше...

The biomedical industry is adopting new standards to protect a primordial sea animal that is a linchpin of the production of vital medicines. But conservationists worry the approach doesn’t go far enough in protecting horseshoe crabs that are a food for a declining bird species. Drug and medical device makers depend on the valuable blue blood of the crabs to test for potentially dangerous impurities. The animals are drained of some of their blood and returned to the environment, yet some inevitably die. Читать дальше...

Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn't explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there's increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. The country’s first lady recently expressed her support for a ban and two lawmakers submitted bills to eliminate the dog meat trade. Prospects for passage of the bills are unclear, but farmers say they’re already suffering... Читать дальше...

Parts of the U.S. are continuing to sizzle as July creeps toward setting a record for the hottest month ever recorded. Phoenix led the way Sunday, hitting its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43.3 Celsius. The National Weather Service says the temperature climbed to a high of 111 Fahrenheit before the day was through. Some slight relief may be on the way as seasonal thunderstorms could drop temperatures in Phoenix on Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile in California, a massive... Читать дальше...

Shares are mostly higher in Asia after Wall Street got back to climbing following more encouraging profit reports and the latest signal that inflation is loosening its chokehold on the economy. Sentiment has been boosted by revived hopes for more stimulus from Beijing for the sluggish Chinese economy. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1%, closing out its ninth winning week in the last 11. The Dow added 0.5% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.9% as Big Tech stocks led the market. Stocks have been rallying on... Читать дальше...

A Georgia prosecutor is expected to seek a grand jury indictment in the coming weeks in her investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began investigating more than two years ago, shortly after a recording was released of a January 2021 phone call Trump made to Georgia’s secretary of state. Willis has strongly hinted that any indictment would come between July 31 and August 18.

A survey shows Chinese factory activity contracted in July as export orders shrank. That adds to pressure on the ruling Communist Party to reverse an economic slowdown. A purchasing managers’ index issued by the national statistics agency and an industry group rose to 49.3 from June’s 49 on a 100-point scale but was below the 50-point level that shows activity contracting. Demand for Chinese exports weakened after U.S. and European interest rates were raised to cool record-breaking inflation. At home... Читать дальше...

An employee of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is expected to make his first court appearance on charges accusing him of scheming with the former president to hide security footage from investigators probing Trump’s hoarding of classified documents. Carlos De Oliveira is due in Miami federal court on Monday after being added last week to the indictment with Trump and the former president’s valet, Walt Nauta. The federal case alleges a plot to hide top-secret records at Trump’s Florida estate and thwart government efforts to retrieve them. Читать дальше...

Work has begun on the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. Crews have mostly dismantled the first of four dams along the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. The other three dams are expected to come down by the end of next year. Once the dams are gone, crews will work to replant billions of seeds from native plants. Native American tribes spent years gathering seeds by hand and officials say the goal is to give native plants an advantage over invasive species such as starthistle. Читать дальше...

Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison without parole when she is expected to be sentenced Monday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival. The case has included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and that she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse. Vallow Daybell was found guilty in May of killing her two youngest children, ages 7 and 16, as well as conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, who was previously married to Vallow Daybell's fifth husband. Читать дальше...

This week’s new entertainment releases include fresh tracks from Quavo, the arrival on Disney+ of James Gunn’s cornball finale “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and hip-hop marks its 50th anniversary with the documentary “Mixtape.” Sigourney Weaver and Alycia Debnam-Carey co-star in “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hunt” for Prime Video in a story is based on a novel of the same name by Holly Ringland. There's also the timely Dungeons & Dragons video game Baldur’s Gate 3 and the critically acclaimed... Читать дальше...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government is promising to drag the economy out of a crisis of confidence aggravated by tensions with Washington, wilting exports, job losses and anxiety among foreign companies about an expanded anti-spying law. Its most striking pledge is renewed support for private businesses that generate most jobs and wealth. Over the past decade, they've felt under attack as the ruling Communist Party built up state-owned industries, tightened control over business and pressured... Читать дальше...