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☆ Scientists unveil new and improved 'skinny donut' black hole image
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - The 2019 release of the first image of a black hole was hailed as a significant scientific achievement. There is also a larger "brightness depression" at the center - basically the donut hole - caused by light and other matter disappearing into the black hole. This supermassive black hole resides in a galaxy called Messier 87, or M87, about 54 million light-years from Earth. The M87 black hole image stems from data collected by seven radio telescopes at five locations on Earth that essentially create a planet-sized observational dish. "The image we report in the new paper is the most accurate representation of the black hole image that we can obtain with our globe-wide telescope."

Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, called Trump's lawsuit "frivolous." "Mr. Trump is once again using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen," Davis said. Trump's lawsuit said Cohen wrongfully called Trump "racist" in the disbarred lawyer's 2020 book, entitled "Disloyal," and fabricated conversations with Trump from when he served as his attorney. Once known for intense loyalty to Trump, Cohen has become a harsh critic and has assisted law enforcement agencies and lawmakers investigating his former boss. Trump filed a suit against James seeking to halt her civil case, but a judge dismissed it, writing that there was "no evidence" that the investigation was undertaken in bad faith.

The deal, which also included Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Mexico, means that San Francisco-based Juul has now settled with 45 states for more than $1 billion. The various states had accused Juul of falsely marketing its e-cigarettes as less addictive than cigarettes and targeted minors with glamorous advertising campaigns. It previously reached a $439 million settlement with 34 states and territories, as well as settlements with several individual states. As of December, its share of Juul was valued at $250 million, down from $12.8 billion in 2018. The CDC also has said using nicotine in adolescence may raise the risk for future addiction to other drugs.

NEW YORK, April 12 (Reuters) - E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc has agreed to pay $462 million to settle claims by six U.S. states including New York and California that it unlawfully marketed its addictive products to minors, the states announced on Wednesday. With the deal, Juul has now settled with 45 states for more than $1 billion. The states had accused Juul of falsely marketing its e-cigarettes as less addictive than cigarettes and targeted minors with glamorous advertising campaigns. As of December, its share of Juul was valued at $250 million, down from $12.8 billion in 2018. The CDC also has said using nicotine in adolescence may raise the risk for future addiction to other drugs.

Companies Deutsche Bank AG FollowNEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - A former Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) investment banker has been charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday with misappropriating funds from investors whom he wooed with promises of big returns from cryptocurrency trading. Rashawn Russell, 27, of Brooklyn, solicited investments from friends and colleagues but used the funds for gambling and other personal expenses, federal prosecutors said. According to the indictment, Russell was an investment banker from July 2018 through November 2021 at a financial institution that was not identified in the document. His LinkedIn profile states that he became a Deutsche Bank investment banking analyst in July 2018 and was promoted to associate in July 2020. Deutsche Bank said in a statement that while it would not comment on an ongoing legal proceeding, it "regularly supports law enforcement and regulatory oversight efforts, including appropriately responding to and cooperating with authorized investigations and proceedings."

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis issued the sanction after Dominion's lawyers revealed instances in which Fox's attorneys did not turn over evidence in a timely manner, the Times reported. Fox said in a statement that it "produced the supplemental information" to Dominion "when we first learned it." Dominion sued Fox News and parent company Fox Corp (FOXA.O) in 2021. Grossberg said in her latest filing that she has tapes of former Trump lawyers, including Giuliani, conceding they lacked evidence for their claims. As a Fox News officer, Murdoch would likely have been subject to more probing discovery by Dominion.

☆ World stocks hope for Fed pause, dollar stalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Herbert Lash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Gold climbed back up above the key $2,000 per ounce level as the dollar came off Monday's peak, while oil prices rose despite Chinese inflation data pointing to persistently weak demand. Investors are eagerly awaiting U.S. consumer prices data on Wednesday and producer prices on Thursday. The consumer price index is expected to show core inflation rose 0.4% on a monthly basis (USCPF=ECI) and 5.6% year-over-year (USCPFY=ECI) in March, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The dollar fell after a strong U.S. jobs report for March showed a resilient labor market, adding to expectations of another Fed rate hike. The dollar index fell 0.244%, with the euro up 0.41% to $1.0904 and the yen weakening 0.12% at 133.78 per dollar.

☆ Ex-Deutsche Bank investment banker charged in U.S. with crypto fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - A former Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) investment banker has been charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday with misappropriating funds from investors who he wooed with promises of big returns from cryptocurrency trading. Rashawn Russell, 27, of Brooklyn, solicited investments from friends and colleagues but used the funds for gambling and other personal expenses, federal prosecutors said. According to the indictment, Russell was an investment banker from July 2018 through November 2021 at a financial institution that was not identified in the document. His LinkedIn profile states that he became a Deutsche Bank investment banking analyst in July 2018 and was promoted to associate in July 2020. U.S. prosecutors and regulators have been working to crack down on fraud involving digital assets.

☆ Oklahoma to vote on first religious charter school in US
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Brad Brooks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

April 11 (Reuters) - An Oklahoma school board is set to vote on Tuesday on whether the state will allow the first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in the U.S. - a decision that promises to ignite a legal battle testing the concept of separation of church and state. The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board will vote on an application backed by the Catholic church for the creation of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, planned by its organizers to offer an online education for kindergarten through high school initially for 500 students and eventually 1,500. The board is a state entity that considers applications for charter schools - publicly funded but independently run - that operate virtually in Oklahoma. Laser disagreed and said her organization would fight the Catholic church in any court over St. Isidore and any other publicly funded religious school. "There is an attack being waged on public schools in Oklahoma, and that attack is to convert public schools into religious schools," Laser said.

☆ Wall Street meanders, dollar gains as Fed rate hike seen in May
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Herbert Lash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"My sense is that the labor market and CPI would favor the Fed raising rates again. However, what has made the market have second thoughts is the extent of the tightening of lending." The dollar index rose 0.52% and the two-year Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, added 4.2 basis points to 4.014%. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 0.3%, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 0.10% and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 0.03%. The dollar extended gains against the yen to 133.87 , the highest since March 15, on receding expectations of a near-term tweak to Japan's ultra-loose monetary policy.

☆ Musk says SpaceX Starship rocket launch slipping to later in April
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - A key SpaceX Starship Super Heavy rocket launch test now is likely to take place later this month rather than sometime this week, the space company's CEO Elon Musk said on Monday. The rocket is scheduled to lift off from SpaceX's Starbase facilities at Boca Chica in South Texas in the first launch of the company's fully stacked 394-foot (120-meter) tall Starship rocket system. "Starship launch trending towards near the end of third week of April," Musk wrote on Twitter a day after stating that it was ready for launch and "awaiting regulatory approval." Musk said last week Starship would be ready to launch this week. The Starship rocket system consists of a Starship rocket sitting atop a "Super Heavy" first stage booster with 33 rocket engines.

☆ Ben Ferencz, last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor, dies at 103
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

We mourn the death of Ben Ferencz—the last Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor. At Nuremberg, Ferencz became chief prosecutor for the United States in the trial of 22 officers who led mobile paramilitary killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen that were part of the notorious Nazi SS. The case we present is a plea of humanity to law," Ferencz added. "Genocide - the extermination of whole categories of human beings - was a foremost instrument of the Nazi doctrine," Ferencz said. After the Nuremberg trials, Ferencz worked to secure compensation for Holocaust victims and survivors.

Adding to the volatile legal landscape around abortion, a federal judge in Washington state on Friday issued a seemingly conflicting injunction that prevented federal regulators from altering access to the same abortion drug. Kacsmaryk's ruling is a preliminary injunction that would essentially ban sales of mifepristone while the case by anti-abortion groups before him continues. By choosing to sue in Amarillo, the plaintiffs ensured that the case would go before Kacsmaryk, a conservative former Christian activist. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a conservative reputation, with more than two-thirds of its judges appointed by Republican presidents. The FDA in January said that the government for the first time will allow mifepristone to be dispensed at retail pharmacies.

April 7 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday halted federal regulators' approval of the abortion pill mifepristone while a legal challenge proceeds, partially granting a request by anti-abortion groups and dealing another setback to abortion rights in the United States. A White House official said they are reviewing the abortion ruling. Kacsmaryk's ruling is a preliminary injunction that would essentially ban sales of mifepristone while the case before him continues. Some abortion providers have said that if mifepristone is unavailable, they would switch to a regimen using only misoprostol for a medication abortion. During the hearing in the case, the judge raised questions about the regulatory process used by the FDA.

☆ Small ears, frizzy hair and dry ear wax - the genetics of mammoths
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Researchers on Friday said they had analyzed the genomes of 23 woolly mammoths - including 16 newly sequenced ones - based on remains preserved in Siberian permafrost. "We find that woolly mammoths had molecular adaptations in genes related to coping with cold Arctic environments, such as thick fur, fat storage and metabolism, and thermal sensation, among others," Díez-del-Molino added. Woolly mammoths were about the size of modern African elephants, around 13 feet (4 meters) tall, but had much smaller ears to guard against losing body heat from a larger ear surface. One of them in humans is associated with Uncombable Hair Syndrome, a condition characterized by dry and frizzy hair that cannot be combed flat. The study helped clarify variable shades of mammoth hair color - brownish with a touch of red.

☆ Oklahoma eyes first US religious charter school after Supreme Court rulings
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( John Kruzel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstApril 6 (Reuters) - An Oklahoma school board is set to consider next week whether to approve the first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in the United States in a move that follows recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings expanding religious rights. The board is a state entity that considers applications for charter schools - publicly funded but independently run - that operate virtually in Oklahoma. They estimated that it would cost Oklahoma taxpayers up to $25.7 million over its first five years in operation as a charter school. In 2020, the Supreme Court endorsed Montana tax credits that helped pay for students to attend religious schools. Secular opponents have said religious charter schools would violate legal limits on government involvement in religion.

☆ Trump, newly charged, urges defunding US Justice Department and FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Rami Ayyub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

But Trump faces two Justice Department criminal investigations led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. "REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES," Trump wrote on his social media platform. The FBI, part of the Justice Department, is the U.S. domestic intelligence and security agency. Trump backed spending increases for the Justice Department while serving as president from 2017 to 2021. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

[1/3] Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley arrives for a campaign event in Dover, New Hampshire, U.S., March 27, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoWASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley has raised more than $11 million since declaring her candidacy in February, her campaign said on Wednesday, a significant sum that could help her expand her support in the coming months. It noted that Haley's fundraising figure exceeded the $9.5 million raised by rival Donald Trump in the fourth quarter of 2022, when he declared his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. "That's a very solid number and a testament to what a strong launch she had," Alex Conant, a Republican strategist, said of Haley's fundraising numbers.

☆ Trump, facing criminal charges, calls for defunding the FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Rami Ayyub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES," Trump wrote on his social media platform. Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, backed spending increases for the Justice Department and FBI while in office. Trump faces two Justice Department criminal investigations led by a special counsel appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Trump himself appointed the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, after firing the agency's previous chief, James Comey, in 2017. Prosecutors said the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal constituted an attempt to conceal a violation of election law.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy said: "The defendant Donald J. Trump falsified New York business records in order to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and other violations of election laws." SOCIAL MEDIA POSTSProsecutors during the arraignment said Trump made a series of social media posts, including one threatening "death and destruction" if he was charged. "They can't beat us at the ballot box so they try to beat us through the law," Trump said. The false records included invoices from Cohen, entries in a ledger for Trump maintained by the Trump Organization, and check stubs, according to the indictment. "Under New York state law, it is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and intent to conceal another crime.

☆ Study explains how primordial life survived on 'Snowball Earth'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Life somehow managed to survive during this time called "Snowball Earth," and a new study offers a deeper understanding as to why. "Our study shows that, at least near the end of the Marinoan 'Snowball Earth' event, habitable areas extended to mid-latitude oceans, much larger than previously thought. And the Earth spiraled into Snowball Earth conditions," Virginia Tech geobiologist and study co-author Shuhai Xiao said. Multicellular organisms including red algae, green algae and fungi emerged before the Cryogenian and survived "Snowball Earth." "It is fair to say that the 'Snowball Earth' events were significant challenges to life on Earth," Xiao added.

Trump, the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, is due to be arraigned, fingerprinted and photographed at the downtown Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday. A court official said the arraignment is planned for 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT) on Tuesday. Trump then will return to Florida and deliver remarks at Mar-a-Lago at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday (0015 GMT on Wednesday), his office said. Other courtrooms on the courthouse's higher floors will be shut down ahead of the arraignment as part of the security precautions, a court official said. U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted an invitation on Sunday to join her at a protest near the courthouse on Tuesday, saying "They’re not coming after President Trump, they’re coming after us, he’s just in their way."

☆ Asa Hutchinson to run for president, urges Trump to drop out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Doina Chiacu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"I have made a decision, and my decision is I'm going to run for president of the United States," Hutchinson said. Trump remains popular among many Republicans despite becoming the first former U.S. president to be indicted on criminal charges. "I think it's a sad day for America that we have a former president that's indicted," Hutchinson said. Asked whether Trump should step aside, Hutchinson said, "Well, he should, but at the same time, we know he's not." Hutchinson was a former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and a Homeland Security official under President George W. Bush.

☆ Republican Hutchinson to run for US president in 2024, urges Trump to go
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Doina Chiacu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced his 2024 U.S. presidential candidacy on Sunday with a proclamation that set him apart from other current or potential Republican candidates: former President Donald Trump should step aside from the race. "I have made a decision, and my decision is I'm going to run for president of the United States," Hutchinson said. "I think it's a sad day for America that we have a former president that's indicted," Hutchinson said. Asked whether Trump should step aside, Hutchinson said, "Well, he should, but at the same time, we know he's not." Former Vice President Mike Pence and current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are considered as possible candidates.

Biden was continuing a strategy his White House has honed on Trump over two years - silence is golden. As president, Biden has lambasted the former president's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) allies and policies, but rarely Trump himself. "They've been smart to stay out of it," Democratic strategist Lis Smith said of the White House strategy on Trump. The split screen of President Biden focused on doing his job well versus Trump and the Republican Party in chaos will only help him." The White House has said it will not comment on Trump because his actions are being investigated by Biden's own Justice Department, which the president has pledged to leave independent.

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