Новости за 14.12.2023

A pair of rare Nike sneakers donated to a homeless shelter in Portland, Oregon, are up for auction and are expected to raise as much as $20,000. Why? They were custom-made for filmmaker Spike Lee. The Oregonian reports that the gold Air Jordan 3s were dropped in the donation chute at the Portland Rescue Mission this spring. A man in its long-term shelter program found them while sorting through donations and told the staff. The gold sneakers were among a few pairs designed in 2019 for the filmmaker. Читать дальше...

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is in dialogue with the United States on the issue of bringing home jailed Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich. Putin spoke about Whelan and Gershkovich during his year-end press conference on Thursday. He said the Kremlin hopes to “find a solution,” even though “it’s not easy.” Whelan is a corporate security executive from Michigan who has been jailed in Russia since his December 2018 arrest on espionage-related charges that both he and the U.S. Читать дальше...

Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, a celebrated winemaker who helped establish Napa Valley as one of the world’s premier wine-making regions, has died. He was 100. Grgich died Wednesday, according to his Rutherford, California-based winery, Grgich Hills Estate. Grgich was born in Croatia. He made his way to California in 1958 and worked in several wineries there before joining Chateau Montelena in 1972. Four years later, his chardonnay was judged the best in a blind tasting in Paris, shocking the wine world. Читать дальше...

Six jerseys worn by soccer superstar Lionel Messi during Argentina’s winning run at last year’s World Cup have sold for $7.8 million. The auction house Sotheby's says Thursday's final price for the shirts is the highest price for an item of sports memorabilia this year, Sotheby’s said. Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw in the World Cup final in Qatar. The victory represented a crowning moment for one of the sport’s greatest-ever players. The shirts were on display at... Читать дальше...

The painful economic steps that Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, announced this week sound draconian: Slashing the currency’s value in half. Reducing aid to provincial governments. Suspending public works. Cutting subsidies for gas and electricity. Raising some taxes. Yet the South American country’s economy is such a basket case — and has been for so long — that many analysts believe that only such radical measures offer a realistic opportunity to rescue the economy. The critical question... Читать дальше...

Courts in several states are hearing challenges to abortion bans this week. The highest-profile one came when the Texas Supreme Court ruled against a woman's request for immediate permission to end a pregnancy fraught with complications and health risks. An Idaho court is also considering whether to allow to move forward a case over how exceptions to its abortion ban apply. A judge is weighing whether a trial is needed on a Wyoming challenge. The New Mexico Supreme Court is considering whether local governments can ban abortion. Читать дальше...

A Minnesota man acquitted of killing three people in a 2022 shooting could be heading to prison anyway after being found guilty of kidnapping and shooting a man in St. Paul. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that jurors on Tuesday convicted Antonio Wright after about four hours of deliberation. Wright, of Minneapolis, faces sentencing Jan. 29. The shooting and kidnapping happened Sept. 2, 2022 — two days before five people were shot in St. Paul. Three of those victims died. Wright was charged in both crimes. Читать дальше...

New gene therapies promise a cure for sickle cell disease but experts say they are out of reach in places that need them the most. Vast inequities cut much of the world off from gene therapy in general, a whole new class of treatments that aims to eradicate inherited diseases by changing DNA. Such therapies are among the most expensive in the world. They also can be extremely complex to give patients, requiring specialized equipment and long hospital stays. Many parts of the developing world simply don’t have the resources. Читать дальше...

The climate negotiations that just finished in Dubai hit upon the essence of compromise, finding common language that everyone accepted, at times grudgingly. But for an agreement so steeped in compromise, what experts thought of it was as polarizing as can be. More than half of the 23 experts asked by The Associated Press say it was one of the most significant climate talks ever. Yet a smaller but still large chunk dismiss it as awful. Even some of those praising it as most impressive also noted gaping problems they felt they had to highlight.

Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying. Retail sales rose 0.3%, in November from October, when sales were down a revised 0.2% according to the Commerce Department. Economists were expecting a 0.2% drop for November. Excluding car and gas sales, sales were up 0.6%. At restaurants, business was up 1.6%., while sales at furniture stores rose 0.9%. Online sales rose 1%. Electronic and appliance sales... Читать дальше...

A Navy officer jailed in Japan over a deadly car crash that killed two Japanese citizens has been transferred into U.S. custody and is being returned to the United States. That's according to a statement Thursday from the family of Lt. Ridge Alkonis. Alkonis had been serving a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the negligent driving deaths of a woman and her son-in-law in 2021. Alkonis’ family in Dana Point, California, has said he lost consciousness in the car after suffering acute mountain sickness... Читать дальше...

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell last week as the labor market continues to thrive amid high interest rates and still-elevated inflation.

A missile fired from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen missed a container ship traveling through the crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait. A U.S. defense official told The Associated Press about the assault Thursday, the latest attack threatening shipping in the crucial maritime chokepoint. The attack saw the missile splash harmlessly in the water near the Maersk Gibraltar, a Hong Kong-flagged container ship that had been traveling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The official spoke on condition... Читать дальше...

ROMA (AP) — El papa Francisco pidió el jueves un tratado internacional para garantizar que la inteligencia artificial se desarrolla y se usa de forma ética, y apuntó que los riesgos de una tecnología que carece que los valores humanos de compasión, misericordia, moralidad y perdón son demasiado grandes.

Pope Francis is calling for an international treaty to ensure artificial intelligence is developed and used ethically. He says a treaty is needed because the risks of technology lacking human values of compassion, mercy and forgiveness are too great. Francis added his voice to increasing calls for binding, global regulation of AI in his annual message for the World Day of Peace, which the Catholic Church celebrates each Jan. 1. The Vatican released the text of the message on Thursday. It was released... Читать дальше...

Shares are mostly higher in Europe and Asia after a powerful rally across Wall Street sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high as the Federal Reserve indicated that interest rate cuts are likely next year. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell as the yen gained sharply against the U.S. dollar, since a weaker dollar undercuts the value of overseas profits for Japanese manufacturers. On Wednesday, the Dow jumped 512 points, or 1.4%, to top 37,000. The S&P 500 rose 1.4% to within reach of its own record. Читать дальше...

The Bank of England is set to join its peers in the U.S. and Europe in keeping borrowing rates unchanged despite mounting worries over the state of the British economy. The central bank on Thursday is expected to keep its main interest rate at a 15-year high of 5.25%, where it has stood since August at the end of nearly two years of hikes. While the interest rate increases have helped in the battle against inflation, the squeeze on consumer spending, primarily through higher mortgage rates, has weighed on British economic growth.

The inflation plaguing European shoppers has fallen faster than expected. The economy is in the dumps. And that has people talking about interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank, perhaps as soon as the first few months of next year. No rate move is expected at the bank’s policy meeting Thursday, and analysts say ECB President Christine Lagarde is unlikely to confirm any plans to cut. Like the ECB, the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks are running into market expectations that they... Читать дальше...

A federal judge is set to consider a request by Colorado’s cattle industry to block the impending reintroduction of gray wolves to the state under a voter-approved ballot initiative. U.S. District Judge Regina M. Rodriguez has scheduled a Thursday hearing in Denver to hear arguments in the case. State wildlife officials plan to capture up to 10 wolves from Oregon and begin releasing them in Colorado by Dec. 31. The animals would be among the first gray wolves in Colorado in decades. Livestock groups... Читать дальше...

Rep. James Comer, who is leading the House Republicans' impeachment investigation of Joe Biden, has focused on the Biden family’s use of “shell companies.” Comer says the president’s family has used such companies to obscure their earnings from “shady” business deals. But Comer has a shell company of his own, too, which he uses to hold land co-owned with a longtime campaign donor. The arrangement enables Comer to avoid revealing his ownership stake in the land on his mandatory financial disclosure. Читать дальше...

Argentines are facing uncertainty and concerns after President Javier Milei’s government announced economic shock measures aimed at tackling the country severe crisis. The measures include a sharp devaluation of the peso by 50%, cuts to subsidies and the closure of some government ministries. Milei has warned people that these steps will cause some pain, but he insists they are needed to curb triple-digit inflation and have sustainable economic growth in the future. But anxiety is evident among people... Читать дальше...

Relatively few Americans are excited about a potential rematch of the 2020 election between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But more Republicans would be happy to have Trump as their nominee than Democrats would be with Biden. That's according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Randy Johnson, a Republican from Monett, Missouri, says “I find it sad for our country that that's our best choices.” That apathy from voters comes even as both Biden and Trump... Читать дальше...

A judge is set to decide whether to strike down, affirm or hold a trial over Wyoming's abortion bans. That includes the state's first-in-the-nation explicit ban on abortion pills. A hearing in a lawsuit challenging the laws is set for Thursday afternoon before Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens. Any decision on the bans is likely to be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Both sides have asked Owens to issue a ruling without holding a bench trial that's set for April 15. The bans are on hold under previous orders. Читать дальше...

Mickey Mouse is about to belong to you and me. The earliest version of Disney's most famous character, and arguably the most iconic character in American pop culture, will become public domain on Jan. 1, 2024. That's because the copyright on his first screen appearance, the 1928 short “Steamboat Willie,” is expiring. Many experts thought the day would never come. Congress in the past has extended the copyright period to assure it didn't happen. Minnie Mouse, who also appears in “Steamboat Willie,” also becomes public domain... Читать дальше...

A Texas woman who cut off her ankle monitor and fled the country while awaiting trial last year has been found guilty of murder in the fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Seattle woman. She was sentenced to life in prison. A jury in Dallas convicted Lisa Dykes of murder and tampering with evidence Wednesday in the 2020 killing of Marisela Botello-Valadez. The verdict followed a seven-day trial. According to KDFW-TV, the 60-year-old defendant showed no emotion as a judge read the verdict in court. A lawyer... Читать дальше...