Новости за 02.05.2024

Billie Jean King’s $5,000 check sure went a long way for women’s sports. King used the money from a sportswoman of the year award to launch the Women’s Sports Foundation 50 years ago in 1974. Since then, the foundation has invested more than $100 million to help girls and women gain opportunities and equity in sports. On Thursday, Kind attended a celebration at the Empire State Building. The iconic landmark will be lit in the foundation colors of blue, red, pink and yellow. The WSF will hold its annual awards dinner Oct. Читать дальше...

The European Union has announced an aid package for Lebanon of 1 billion euros — about $1.06 billion — that will mostly go to strengthening border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the small, crisis-wracked country across the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus and Italy. The deal follows other recent deals by the EU to provide funds to Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania to fortify their borders. It comes against a backdrop of increasing hostility toward Syrian refugees in Lebanon and... Читать дальше...

The number of people arrested in connection with protests on college campuses against the Israel-Hamas war has now topped 2,000. The Associated Press has tallied arrests at 35 schools since the protests began at Columbia University on April 18. Some of the campus protests popping up over the last two weeks have led to agreements with administrators to consider the protesters demands. At Fordham, Northwestern, Minnesota and Brown, students will be able to make their case to university leaders about divesting from Israel. Читать дальше...

A haunting new video released in the early morning hours is the latest effort by the Army to lure soldiers to some of its more secretive units. Hints of its origin are tucked into the frames as they flash by touting the power of words, ideas and “invisible hands.” Army Special Operations Command hopes that those drawn to the video may be interested in joining as one of its psychological warfare soldiers. The release of the Ghost in the Machine 2 video comes two years after the first one which generated a firestorm of online chatter.

The judge overseeing a pivotal antitrust trial focused on whether Google is stifling competition and innovation has repeatedly indicated he believes it would be difficult for a formidable rival search engine to emerge. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta went back and forth Thursday with Google’s lead litigator, John Schmidtlein, during the first day of the trial’s closing arguments, questioning whether another company could amass the money and data needed to develop a search engine that could eventually compete against Google. Читать дальше...

Peloton is cutting about 400 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring effort and its CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down after two years. 

President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain the four countries’ economic circumstances and contrasted them with the U.S. on immigration. The remarks from the U.S. president were made at a campaign fundraiser Wednesday evening at the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. At the event, where the audience was largely Asian-American, Biden said the... Читать дальше...

President Joe Biden has expanded two culturally significant California landscapes: the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California and Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California. The move follows calls from tribal nations, Indigenous community leaders and others for the permanent protection of nearly 120,000 acres of important cultural and environmental land. The U.S. National Park Service notes that the action is allowed under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Читать дальше...

A bipartisan group of senators wants restrictions on the use of facial recognition technology by the Transportation Security Administration. The lawmakers say they're concerned about travelers’ privacy and civil liberties. In a letter Thursday, 14 lawmakers are calling on Senate leaders to use the upcoming reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration to limit use of the technology so Congress can put in place some oversight. TSA has been rolling out the technology at select airports in a pilot project. Читать дальше...

Researchers say an orangutan appeared to treat a wound with medicine from a tropical plant. It's the latest example of how some animals attempt to soothe their own ills with remedies found in the wild. In 2022, scientists in Indonesia observed an adult male orangutan pluck and chew up leaves of a medicinal plant used by people throughout Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation. He used his fingers to apply the plant juices to an injury on the right cheek, then pressed the chewed plant to cover the open wound like a makeshift bandage. Читать дальше...

The rate of businesses in the U.S. using AI is still relatively small but growing rapidly. A new paper by U.S. Census Bureau researchers says overall use of AI by businesses in the U.S. rose from 3.7% last fall to 5.4% in February. Leading the way were firms in information technology and professional services, and in locations like Colorado and the District of Columbia. The researchers say there have been few reports of workers being laid off because of AI. Instead, firms are expanding to train staff and purchase related services. Читать дальше...

Arrest warrants must be served to alleged criminals if society is going to function. But there is no guarantee of safety for police officers knocking on their doors. The grim risks came into stark relief Monday when four law enforcement officers were killed while serving an arrest warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina. The tragedy underscores the limits of the best-trained police officers and the unpredictability of the people being served. Thor Eells is executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association. Читать дальше...

A convicted sex offender is asking the Norwegian Supreme Court to declare social media access is a human right. The case before the court Thursday involves a man who molested a minor and used the Snapchat messaging app to connect with young boys. The unnamed offender was sentenced last year to 13 months in prison and banned from using Snapchat for two years. His lawyers argue that depriving him of his account is unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights. The case turns on how vital social media has become for freedom of expression... Читать дальше...

World markets are wobbling after U.S. stocks swung to a mixed finish with the Federal Reserve delaying cuts to interest rates. U.S. futures surged and oil prices were higher. The Japanese yen rose in early Asia hours, but then fell and erased the previous gains. Markets in Australia and Hong Kong rose, while Japan's index was little changed. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% Wednesday after seeing a big afternoon rally evaporate. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.3%.... Читать дальше...

Cyprus has given Chevron another six months to come up with a revised plan to develop a sizeable natural gas deposit off the island nation’s southern coastline after an earlier plan was deemed lacking in a specific timetable. An official with knowledge of the matter says Chevron’s development proposal from March for the Aphrodite deposit estimated to hold 4.2 trillion cubic feet of gas “wasn’t considered targeted and was without specific timetables.” Cyprus' Energy Minister George Papanastasiou had... Читать дальше...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company will invest $2.2 billion over the next four years in new cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Malaysia. It marks Microsoft’s single largest investment in the country, as the tech giant seeks to bolster support for AI development in the region and worldwide. Nadella this week also announced a $1.7 billion investment in cloud and AI services in Indonesia and said Microsoft will build its first regional data center in Thailand. Last month,... Читать дальше...

Tensions are growing on the UCLA campus as law enforcement officers order a large group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators to disperse. The heavy police presence comes as administrators and campus police are facing intense criticism for failing to act quickly to stop an overnight attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus by counter-demonstrators. Supporters of the encampment including other students and alumni are largely staying put on the campus steps as they listen to speakers and engage in chants. Читать дальше...

Hawaii lawmakers appropriated funds for more firefighting equipment and a state fire marshal after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century ripped through the historic Maui town of Lahaina and exposed shortcomings in the state’s readiness for such flames. The House and Senate passed the measures on Wednesday during their first legislative session since the Aug. 8 wildfire killed 101 people. The bills now go to Gov. Josh Green for his consideration. Climate change has been boosting drought... Читать дальше...

Donald Trump faces the prospect of additional sanctions in his hush money trial as he returns to court for another contempt hearing followed by testimony from a lawyer who represented two women who have said they had sexual encounters with the former president. Prosecutors are seeking $1,000 fines for each of four comments by Trump that they say violated a judge’s gag order barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case. Such a penalty would be on top of a $9,000 fine that Judge Juan M. Читать дальше...

African climate-tech startups are increasingly raising money from private sources, but while those funds for climate solutions are growing, a huge gap remains in meeting the actual financial needs for climate action in Africa. Africa requires an estimated $277 billion annually to implement its climate goals. Experts say to unlock more financing, African countries need to address risks such as currency instability that reduce investor appetite, while investors need to expand their scope of interest... Читать дальше...

The Federal Reserve emphasized that inflation has remained stubbornly high and said it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has “greater confidence” that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target. The Fed kept its key rate at a two-decade high of roughly 5.3%. Several hotter-than-expected reports have recently undercut the Fed’s belief that inflation was steadily easing. The combination of high rates and persistent inflation has also emerged as a potential threat to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid. Читать дальше...

After weeks of nonstop coverage of destruction and death across the Gaza Strip, media across the wider Middle East has latched onto the demonstrations roiling American university campuses over the Israel-Hamas war. For some, the protests and what they describe as a heavy-handed police crackdown on them represent the double standards of life in the United States — which routinely calls on nations to respect dissent and free speech. However, across the swath of the Mideast, demonstrations of any kind remain illegal as many countries face warfare... Читать дальше...

Voting rights advocates say they will go to the Supreme Court in hopes of preserving a new majority Black congressional district in Louisiana for the fall elections. Wednesday's declaration was the latest step in a complicated legal fight that could determine the fate of political careers and the balance of power in the next Congress. A divided panel of federal judges on Tuesday rejected a map approved in January by an unusual alliance of Republicans, who dominate the Legislature, and Democrats who want a second mostly Black ... Читать дальше...

Consumer groups are pushing Congress to uphold automatic refunds for airline passengers whose flights are canceled or delayed for several hours. That would put lawmakers in line with the Biden administration. The Senate on Wednesday began considering a massive bill authorizing Federal Aviation Administration programs for the next five years. The bill has bipartisan support, but consumer advocates are upset at some provisions. One of them would require airline passengers to request a refund instead... Читать дальше...

Federal regulators say Union Pacific managers undermined their efforts to assess safety at the railroad by coaching employees on how to respond and suggesting they might be disciplined. The Federal Railroad Administration's Karl Alexy said in a letter to the railroad's executives that the problems were so widespread that he had to put the safety assessment on hold. The agency is assessing all of major railroads in the wake of several high-profile derailments. A Union Pacific spokeswoman said the... Читать дальше...