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☆ Earth-sized alien planet gripped by widespread volcanism
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In our solar system, Earth and Venus are volcanically active, as are some of Jupiter's moons. Planets beyond our solar system are called exoplanets. Here, water from the nightside glacier can melt and possibly form liquid surface water. In addition, there is likely volcanism all around the planet, even under the ice on the nightside and possibly under the water near the terminator," Benneke said. The planet is located in the Milky Way about 86 light-years away from our solar system in the direction of the constellation Crater.

The law exempts existing owners, giving them a deadline of Jan. 1, 2024, to register their assault weapons with state police. The case is one of several contesting the state's ban in both federal and state courts. The Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, has expanded gun rights in key rulings since 2008. In a landmark decision last June striking down New York state gun limits, the Supreme Court recognized the right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. In asking the Supreme Court to halt the ban, the challengers said AR-15s and similar rifles are in common use in the United States and there is no historical analogue to such a ban.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - Tim Parlatore, an attorney who has represented Donald Trump in a pair of U.S. Justice Department investigations led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, said on Wednesday he has left the Republican former president's legal team. Parlatore organized searches of Trump properties for any remaining classified documents after FBI agents found thousands of government records during a search last August at the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Parlatore in December testified before a federal grand jury in Washington on the search efforts he organized. Parlatore last month was among Trump's lawyers who called for the U.S. intelligence community, not the Justice Department, to investigate the retention of the documents. According to U.S. media reports, fellow Trump attorney Evan Corcoran has recused himself from the classified documents investigation.

[1/2] Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in the New York City truck attack is seen in this handout photo released November 1, 2017. Saipov used a Home Depot rental truck to mow down people on a path along the Hudson River on Manhattan's West Side, according to prosecutors. He had hoped to the attack would help him gain membership in Islamic State, or ISIS, they said. Most of the people scheduled to speak at the hearing are traveling from Argentina and Belgium. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Will DunhamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ US House Democrat to force vote to expel embattled Republican George Santos
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Garcia, who represents a House district in California, used a parliamentary maneuver to force a vote within two days on the motion. "George Santos is a fraud and a liar, and he needs to be expelled by the House," Garcia said in a statement. "Republicans now have a chance to demonstrate to Americans that an admitted criminal should not serve in the House of Representatives." Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he would not support Santos's re-election bid. Nine House Republicans have called on Santos to resign, including six from New York.

Companies Johnson & Johnson FollowNEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) has set aside $400 million to resolve U.S. state consumer protection actions as part of its broader $8.9 billion effort to settle claims that its Baby Powder and other talc products cause cancer. LTL's bankruptcy plan would pay $400 million into a separate trust for claims filed by state attorneys general alleging that J&J violated state unfair business practices and consumer protection laws by misleading consumers about the safety of its talc products. Several states had begun consumer protection actions against J&J before LTL's first bankruptcy filing stopped those investigations from moving forward in 2021. New Mexico and Mississippi said in their motion to dismiss that LTL's renewed bankruptcy violates state law enforcement powers by attempting unilaterally to cap the company's liability for state consumer protection actions. From there, the proposed settlement applies discounts depending on the type and severity of cancer, the individual's age, history of talc use and other factors.

The opulent hotel with a soaring clock tower, located on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, opened shortly before Trump was elected in 2016. The hotel became a gathering spot for Trump supporters, lobbyists and foreign dignitaries, who Democrats and watchdog groups complained could patronize the hotel in order to curry favor with Trump when he was in office. Lawsuits accused Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution's anti-corruption provisions by maintaining ownership of his businesses including the Washington hotel while in office. The justices ordered those cases dismissed because they became moot with Trump leaving office in 2021 after his election loss to Biden, a Democrat. Some of the lawmakers who sued are no longer part of the committee while some others are no longer in Congress.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a bid by South Carolina officials to revive a Republican-crafted voting map that a lower court said had unconstitutionally "exiled" 30,000 Black voters from a closely contested congressional district. In this case, the Republican legislators were accused of racial gerrymandering to reduce the influence of black voters. South Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature adopted a new voting map last year following the 2020 U.S. census. The Republican map resulted in a 1st congressional district with a larger percentage of white, Republican-leaning voters. The judges – all three appointed by Democratic presidents – ruled that no elections can take place in the 1st district until it has been redrawn, prompting the South Carolina Republican officials to appeal to the Supreme Court.

☆ U.S. Supreme Court allows death row inmate's lawsuit after failed execution
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Andrew Chung | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A majority of the justices in November cleared the way for the execution of Smith, sentenced to death for his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire plot. The method in Alabama posed an "intolerable risk of torture, cruelty or substantial pain," Smith's lawsuit stated. A judge dismissed Smith's lawsuit, but on Nov. 17, the day of his scheduled execution, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. The 11th Circuit also in a separate decision stayed his execution, but after the state appealed to the Supreme Court, the justices allowed it to proceed. Smith's case is not a challenge to the death penalty itself.

☆ SpaceX hires former NASA human spaceflight chief for Starship role
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX has tapped NASA's former human spaceflight boss Kathy Lueders to help oversee development of the company's moon and Mars rocket called Starship, a person familiar with the hire said on Monday. Lueders, the second former NASA human spaceflight chief to retire and move to SpaceX in recent years, represents another key hire for the company as it races to develop and use Starship for landing NASA astronauts on the moon within the next decade. As the head of NASA's human spaceflight wing, Lueders oversaw development of SpaceX's Crew Dragon, the company's flagship cargo and astronaut taxi that has become the agency's primary ride to and from the International Space Station. A major agency reorganization later in 2021 moved Lueders away from overseeing the moon program and placed her as NASA's space operations chief, a post with oversight on ISS activities. At SpaceX, Lueders will join her former NASA boss Bill Gerstenmaier, who in 2020 retired from the agency as its human spaceflight chief to join SpaceX for a similar Starship role.

Critics have said such awards encourage frivolous lawsuits and excessive fees going to class action attorneys who may seek to benefit their own interests instead. The Supreme Court in 2019 sidestepped resolving a challenge to cy pres awards in a case involving Google. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting in that case, called cy pres settlements "unfair and unreasonable." Monsanto has called the group, which advocates against what it considers abusive class action procedures, a "serial objector to class-action settlements." The group said in court papers that further steps could have taken to distribute the settlement award to class members.

☆ Anti-inflation fight may spur recession, investment opportunities -BlackRock
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Central bank efforts to tame inflation could spark a recession and market selloff that later this year or in 2024 leads to investment opportunities, the BlackRock Investment Institute (BII) said on Monday. Increased market volatility is likely ahead over talks in Washington to raise the U.S. government's $31.4 trillion borrowing cap. But the old playbook of buying the dip does not apply now, the institute said. Any selloff may cause risk assets to better price in the economic damage the institute expect from interest rate hikes. "We're ready to shift our views on a six- to 12-month horizon to take advantage of opportunities that may appear," it said.

☆ Human genome reboot better reflects global population
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The new genome rundown may help clarify the contribution of genetic variation to health and disease, improve genetic testing, and guide drug discovery. "A pangenome is not just one reference genome, but a whole collection of diverse genomes. Researchers in 2003 unveiled what was billed as the complete sequence of the human genome, though about 8% of it had not been fully deciphered. That reference genome was a mosaic drawn from about 20 people, including 70% from one individual of mixed European and African ancestry. The first complete human genome, based on a single European individual, was published last year after scientists filled in the gaps.

☆ E. Jean Carroll elated at verdict that Trump sexually abused her
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The verdict in Manhattan federal court represented a fresh legal setback for Trump as he seeks to regain the presidency in 2024. Yesterday was probably the happiest day of my life," Carroll told ABC's "Good Morning America." "He said terrible things about me," Carroll said, referring to Trump, "dragged me through the mud, ground my face in the dirt." Carroll described holding hands with her lawyer as the verdict was read. "He gave them more process than even anyone else ever gets," Kaplan said on "Good Morning America."

Companies Coinbase Global Inc FollowNEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters) - Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase Global Inc (COIN.O) product manager, was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison in what U.S. prosecutors have called the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska sentenced Ishan Wahi, 32, in Manhattan federal court after the defendant pleaded guilty in February to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Nikhil Wahi pleaded guilty in September to a wire fraud conspiracy charge, and in January was sentenced to 10 months in prison. At Tuesday's hearing, Ishan Wahi expressed remorse for his actions and their effect on his friends and family, several of whom were in court. Prosecutors had called for Ishan Wahi to spend more than three years in prison to deter other cryptocurrency insiders from misusing corporate information.

Summary Trump's lawyer calls the case an 'affront to justice'Jury due to begin deliberations on TuesdayNEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's absence from a trial where writer E. Jean Carroll accuses him of rape and defamation shows that "he did it," a lawyer for Carroll said on Monday, while Trump's lawyer told jurors the case was "outrageous." "He never looked you in the eye and denied raping Ms. Carroll," lawyer Mike Ferrara told jurors as the civil trial in Manhattan federal court neared the end of an eighth day. Jurors also heard from two other women who said Trump sexually assaulted them in separate incidents decades ago. She said Carroll had been unable to sustain a romantic relationship since the alleged rape, and that Trump's public criticism had harmed her client's reputation. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen WalderOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] E. Jean Carroll, former U.S. President Donald Trump rape accuser, arrives at Manhattan Federal Court for the continuation of the civil case, in New York City, U.S., May 8, 2023. REUTERS/David 'Dee' DelgadoSummary 'Grab 'em' remark undermines denials, accuser's lawyer saysJury due to deliberate in rape and defamation case on TuesdayNEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's lawyer on Monday called a rape and defamation case brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll against the former U.S. president an affront to the justice system. She has abused this system by bringing a false claim for amongst other things money, status, political reasons," Tacopina said. Trump accuses Carroll of making up the story to drive sales of a 2019 memoir in which she made her claims public. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll's lawyer, said he expected jurors to begin deliberating on Tuesday.

[1/3] E. Jean Carroll, former U.S. President Donald Trump rape accuser, arrives at Manhattan Federal Court for the continuation of the civil case, in New York City, U.S., May 8, 2023. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll's lawyer, said he expected jurors to begin deliberating on Tuesday. "The truth is that E. Jean Carroll, a former cheerleader and Miss Indiana, was exactly Donald Trump's type," Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer, said during closing arguments. "Donald Trump here is a witness against himself." Jurors also heard from two other women who said Trump sexually assaulted them in separate alleged incidents decades ago.

[1/2] E. Jean Carroll, former U.S. President Donald Trump rape accuser, walks at Manhattan Federal Court following a civil case, in New York City, U.S., April 26, 2023. Trump has so far not attended the trial, which began on April 25, but told reporters in Ireland last Thursday that he "probably" would attend. Kaplan has scheduled closing arguments for Monday, with jurors due to begin deliberations after that. Jurors also heard from two other women who said Trump sexually assaulted them in separate alleged incidents decades ago. In a video deposition played for the jury last Wednesday, Trump denied raping Carroll.

☆ How to build a giant? Sauropod dinosaurs did it 36 different ways
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A new study has calculated for the first time the number of different sauropod lineages that achieved whopping proportions - 36 of them in a span of about 100 million years bridging the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The heavyweight champion was Argentinosaurus, which lived about 95 million years ago in - you guessed it - Argentina, and weighed about 76 metric tons. Next were Brachiosaurus, at 63 metric tons, and Barosaurus, at 60 metric tons, both living approximately 150 million years ago in western North America. D'Emic identified 45 species from 36 sauropod lineages that beat those. "I think it's amazing that we are still learning so much about these animals," D'Emic said.

But Gilliam gave Borodaenko, who lives in Scotts Valley, California, three weeks to file an amended lawsuit further detailing his claims in the lawsuit, proposed as a class action. Borodaenko, a cancer survivor, claims that Twitter fired him in November when he refused to stop working remotely. The lawsuit is one of several that Twitter is facing stemming from Musk's decision to lay off about half of the company's workforce. Twitter has denied wrongdoing in those cases, including ones claiming that female employees were targeted for layoffs and that the company failed to pay promised severance. Liss-Riordan also represents nearly 2,000 former Twitter employees who have filed legal claims against the company in arbitration.

☆ Isolated protest in eastern Cuba sparks dueling versions on social media
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But state-run radio journalist Mabel Pozo said on social media that the protest began when "various citizens, some in a state of drunkenness, yelled statements against the Cuban social process and regarding their dissatisfactions." Reuters could not independently verify the reports or video on social media or the official media version of events. Dissidents have accused the Cuban government of blocking internet traffic countrywide when protests flare in a bid to contain anti-government sentiment. Global web watchdog Netblocks showed a sharp drop in web traffic in Cuba on Saturday shortly after the protest was first reported. The state-run media version of events appeared to blame the lack of internet access on a spike in web traffic.

☆ Warren Buffett set for 59th Berkshire Hathaway shareholder marathon as big questions loom
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett walks through the exhibit hall as shareholders gather to hear from the billionaire investor at Berkshire Hathaway Inc's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 4, 2019. Tens of thousands of people are flocking to Omaha, Nebraska this weekend for the extravaganza that Buffett, 92, calls "Woodstock for Capitalists." "Charlie is 99 and Warren turns 93 on Aug. 30," Lountzis added, "and you just don't know how many more you're going to have." Buffett and Munger are due to answer five hours of shareholder questions at the meeting. "We believe in constructive engagement and dialogue, whether it's Warren Buffett or another company," Frerichs said in an interview.

[1/2] The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, U.S., April 6, 2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File PhotoLaw Firms Reed Smith LLP FollowWASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday halted the scheduled execution of Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, whose cause drew support from the state's Republican attorney general after an investigation shed new light on evidence relating to the 1997 murder Glossip was convicted of commissioning. "We are very grateful to the U.S. Supreme Court for doing the right thing in stopping Richard Glossip's unlawful execution," Knight said. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on April 20 upheld Glossip's murder conviction, rebuffing Drummond's request. Glossip has pending petitions for appeal before the Supreme Court challenging his conviction on grounds including that prosecutors failed to hand over evidence about Sneed to Glossip's defense counsel.

Law Firms Reed Smith LLP FollowWASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday halted the execution of Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, whose case has drawn support from the state's Republican attorney general after an investigation shed new light on evidence relating to the 1997 murder Glossip was convicted of commissioning. A separate independent investigation conducted last year by the law firm Reed Smith at the request of Oklahoma lawmakers also raised serious concerns about Glossip's case and conviction. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on April 20 upheld Glossip's murder conviction, rebuffing Drummond's request. Sneed confessed to carrying out the killing and said Glossip, a manager at the motel, had hired him to do it. Glossip has pending petitions for appeal before the Supreme Court challenging his conviction on grounds including that prosecutors failed to hand over evidence about Sneed to Glossip's defense counsel.

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