Новости за 29.08.2023

SARATOGA SPRINGS — When the race is gathering in the paddock, there are two gentlemen there whose job “is, hopefully, to do nothing.” The speaker is Mike Vinas, the official New York Racing Association farrier at all three NYRA tracks. At Saratoga, he is joined by the veteran Joe Campbell.

A rare blue supermoon could play a role in an unfolding disaster as Hurricane Idalia takes aim at Florida's west coast. That’s because a supermoon that can increase normal tides is expected Wednesday night. That's just as Idalia is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane. A supermoon is the closest full moon to Earth. That makes it appear larger and provides a spectacular backdrop in photos around the world. Experts say it's expected to make tidal flooding worse not only in Florida, but in states such as Georgia and South Carolina.

The Biden Administration weakened protections for wetlands on Tuesday. Federal officials were forced to make the change after the Supreme Court's decision in May that sharply limited the federal government's power to regulate wetlands. The justices' Sackett decision in May boosted property rights over concerns about clean water. The EPA said that because of the Supreme Court's decision, the federal government no longer has the power to regulate wetlands that don't have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.

The second ranking House Republican says he has been diagnosed with blood cancer. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana said Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. The 57-year-old Scalise says he'll continue to serve in the House as he undergoes treatment. He vowed to tackle the treatment with "strength and energy" and described the cancer as “very treatable.” Scalise was among those wounded in 2017 when an attacker fired on lawmakers on a Virginia baseball field. He endured long hospitalizations from being shot in the hip. Читать дальше...

Amazon employees have been pushing back against the company’s return to office policy for months — and it seems the ecommerce giant’s CEO has had enough. During a pre-recorded internal Q&A session earlier this month, Andy Jassy told corporate employees it is past the time to commit to the policy, which requires employees to be in the office three days a week. He then signaled that those who can't might be risking their jobs at Amazon. His comments were first reported by Business Insider, and later shared by Amazon.

A 127-year-old water main under New York’s Times Square gave way, flooding midtown streets and the busy Times Square subway station. New York City's commissioner of environmental protection says the 20-inch water main gave way under 40th Street and Seventh Avenue at 3 a.m. It took crews about an hour to find the source of the leak and shut the water off. The excavation to find the leak left a hole at 40th Street and Seventh Avenue. Subway service was suspended through much of Manhattan on the 1, 2 and 3 lines.

Chemical and consumer product manufacturer 3M has agreed to pay $6 billion to settle numerous lawsuits from U.S. service members who say they experienced hearing loss or other serious injuries from using earplugs made by the company. Over recent years, hundreds of thousands of veterans and current service members have reportedly sued 3M and Aearo Technologies, a company that 3M acquired in 2008, over their Combat Arms Earplug products. The service members alleged that a defective design allowed the... Читать дальше...

The year is 2023, but it might as well be 1997. One of the great viral hits of the moment is DJ Crazy Times and Ms. Biljana Electronica’s “Planet of the Bass,” a parody song pulled straight from the absurdity of Eurodance music. Think Aqua's “Barbie Girl.” At the time of writing, it has surpassed over 250 million combined views across all social platforms. But how? DJ Crazy Times is actually comedian Kyle Gordon. He says that “Eurodance generally might be in the zeitgeist” thanks to “Barbie.” Musicologist... Читать дальше...

Nearly a quarter of millennials are caregivers for an adult, according to a 2020 AARP survey. And a 2020 survey from insurance marketplace GoHealth found that 1 in 3 millennials are supporting their parents financially, and more than a quarter help manage their parents’ health care. This means that in addition to caring for young children, many millennials are also managing the needs of parents, grandparents or other loved ones. That can take a toll: Eighty-two percent of millennials worry about... Читать дальше...

With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump. The conservative organizations are recruiting thousands of Americans to travel to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to Trump's own. The Project 2025 effort is being led by the Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials with a nearly 1,000-page how-to book. Читать дальше...

The top Chinese official in charge of economic relations with Washington has told Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo he's ready to “make new positive efforts” to improve cooperation following an agreement to reduce trade tension. The agreement on Monday is the most substantial result to date out of a string of visits by American officials to Beijing over the last three months to revive relations that are at their lowest level in decades. Vice Premier He Lifeng said he was ready to “make new positive... Читать дальше...

The United States has signed a new agreement with Palau, which gives Coast Guard ships the authorization to unilaterally enforce maritime regulations in the tiny Pacific island nation’s exclusive economic zone. The agreement announced Tuesday comes as both the U.S. and China are seeking to expand their influence in the Pacific, and follows pleas from Palau’s president for Washington’s help to deter Beijing’s “unwanted activities” in its coastal waters. In the agreement, concluded a week ago, U.S. Читать дальше...

President Joe Biden is hosting Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves at the White House, following an agreement between their nations on possible legal pathways for migrants. The leaders are expected Tuesday to discuss how their nations can work together to strengthen economic ties through new jobs, advance democracy and promote orderly migration. The Central American nation has emerged as an immigration hotspot, as migrants increasingly travel through the dangerous Darien Gap from Colombia into Central America and north into Costa Rica. Читать дальше...

A neurosurgeon investigating a woman’s mystery symptoms in an Australian hospital has plucked a3-inch wriggling worm from the patient’s brain. Hari Priya Bandi was performing a biopsy through a hole in the 64-year-old patient’s skull at Canberra Hospital last year when she pulled the parasite out with forceps. Bandi told Tuesday’s The Canberra Times newspaper the find made her fell "a bit sick.” It was the larva of an Australian native roundworm not previously known to be a human parasite named Ophidascaris robertsi. Читать дальше...

The British government says a cyberattack was not the cause of a breakdown at the nationwide air traffic control system that saw hundreds of flights delayed and canceled. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the problem was caused by a “technical fault” at flight control operator National Air Traffic Services. The company said the outage had hit its ability to process flight plans automatically. That meant the plans had to be input manually, a much slower process. The problem hit on a late-summer... Читать дальше...

London’s traffic cameras are under attack. Police say hundreds of license-plate reading cameras have been damaged, disconnected or stolen by opponents of an anti-pollution charge on older vehicles that comes into force across the metropolis on Tuesday. The vandalism is evidence that emotions are running high over the city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone. London’s mayor says the plan will cut air pollution that is linked to about 4,000 deaths a year in the British capital. Critics say it’s a cash grab that... Читать дальше...

Police are searching for both the weapon and the motive in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that left one faculty member dead and prompted an hours-long lockdown. No other injuries were reported after the Monday afternoon shooting. Officials said the assailant in Monday afternoon’s shooting at a science building in the heart of the flagship university’s campus was taken into custody about an hour and a half after the gunfire was first reported. Neither the suspect nor the victim were immediately identified... Читать дальше...

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday as markets shift their attention from the U.S. Federal Reserve to earnings and economic reports.

Dozens of tribal citizens and employees have benefitted in recent years from tribal climate camps that serve as a refuge for Native Americans on the front lines of climate change. Tribes suffer some of the most severe impacts of climate change in the U.S. but often have the fewest resources to respond. This makes the intensive camps an important training ground and community-building space. A recent camp in northwestern Washington state attracted participants from as far away as Alaska and Minnesota. Читать дальше...

Florida residents are evacuating from homes in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast as forecasters predict that Tropical Storm Idalia will hit the state as a major hurricane by Wednesday. Idalia would be the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season and a big blow to the state, which is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ian almost a year ago. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, evacuation notices were issued in 21 counties and the state has mobilized 1,100 National Guard members. Читать дальше...

A founder of Backpage.com will face his second trial on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money in what authorities say was a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the classified site. Jury selection for Michael Lacey and four former Backpage employees is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Their first trial ended in a mistrial when a judge concluded prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge. Backpage’s operators said they... Читать дальше...

President Joe Biden’s administration is set to announce the first prescription drugs being targeted by the U.S. government for price negotiations as part of an effort to lower Medicare costs. The announcement is a significant step under the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed by Biden last year. The law requires the federal government for the first time to start negotiating directly with companies about the prices they charge for some of Medicare’s most expensive drugs. The process has drawn... Читать дальше...

All 28 vehicle assembly lines at Toyota’s 14 auto plants in Japan have shut down over a problem in its computer system that deals with incoming auto parts. The Japanese automaker said it doesn’t believe the problem was caused by a cyberattack, but the cause was still under investigation. It’s unclear when the lines will be back up. Toyota declined to say what models being produced might be affected.

The president of the historically Black institution in Jacksonville, Florida, says a campus security officer tipped off by observant students likely stopped the killer who fatally shot three people at a nearby Dollar General Store from carrying out his racist attack at Edward Waters University. Students reported seeing a young, white man, pull into a campus library parking lot and began putting on tactical gear Saturday, Edward Waters University President Zachary Faison Jr. said Monday. They immediately... Читать дальше...

Farmers Insurance says it will lay off 11% of its workforce — about 2,400 employees — as part of a corporate restructuring aimed at increasing its efficiency and long-term profitability. The California-based insurer said Monday the job cuts will impact all lines of its business. In recent months, Farmers and other insurers, including Allstate and State Farm, have pulled back on property insurance in states like Florida and California. Farmer's layoff announcement follows mass job cuts seen at a handful of companies in the past year ... Читать дальше...