ruet
ruet's JournalMagnitude 8 earthquake strikes off Russia's Kamchatka, sparks tsunamis warnings, USGS says
Source: Reuters
July 29, 20258:24 PM EDTUpdated 11 mins ago
July 30 (Reuters) - A magnitude 8 earthquake struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, sparking tsunami warnings from Japan and the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow, at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles).
The Japan Weather Agency said it expected a tsunami of 1 meter (3.28 feet) to reach large coastal areas starting around 0100 GMT.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System also issued a warning of "hazardous tsunami waves" within the next three hours along some coasts of Russia and Japan.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/magnitude-8-earthquake-strikes-off-russias-kamchatka-sparks-tsunamis-warnings-2025-07-29/
This quake has been upgraded to an 8.7. Huge!
Court nullifies "click-to-cancel" rule that required easy methods of cancellation
Source: Ars Technica
A federal appeals court today struck down a "click-to-cancel" rule that would have required companies to make cancelling services as easy as signing up. The Federal Trade Commission rule was scheduled to take effect on July 14 but was vacated by the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.
A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the Biden-era FTC, then led by Chair Lina Khan, failed to follow the full rulemaking process required under US law. "While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission's rulemaking process are fatal here," the ruling said.
Indicating their sympathy with the FTC's motivations, judges wrote that many Americans "have found themselves unwittingly enrolled in recurring subscription plans, continuing to pay for unwanted products or services because they neglected to cancel their subscriptions." Last year, the FTC updated its 1973 Negative Option Rule by "adding provisions that bar sellers from misrepresenting material facts and require disclosure of material terms, express consumer consent, and a simple cancellation mechanism," the ruling said.
The FTC is required to conduct a preliminary regulatory analysis when a rule has an estimated annual economic effect of $100 million or more. The FTC estimated in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that the rule would not have a $100 million effect.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/us-court-cancels-ftc-rule-that-would-have-made-canceling-subscriptions-easier/
Texas attacks fluoride toothpastes as "dangerous," probes makers
Source: Ars Technica
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating two leading toothpaste makers over their use of fluoride, suggesting that they are "illegally marketing" the teeth cleaners to parents and kids "in ways that are misleading, deceptive, and dangerous."
The toothpaste makers in the crosshairs are Colgate-Palmolive Company, maker of Colgate toothpastes, and Proctor & Gamble Manufacturing Co., which makes Crest toothpastes. In an announcement Thursday, Paxton said he has sent Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to the companies.
The move is an escalation in an ongoing battle over fluoride, which effectively prevents dental cavities and improves oral health. Community water fluoridation has been hailed by health and dental experts as one of the top 10 great public health interventions for advancing oral health across communities, regardless of age, education, or income. But, despite the success, fluoride has always had detractors—from conspiracy theorists in the past suggesting the naturally occurring mineral is a form of communist mind control, to more recent times, in which low-quality, controversial studies have suggested that high doses may lower IQ in children.
The debate was renewed earlier this year when the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences finally published a particularly contentious study after years of failed scientific reviews. The study claims to find a link between high levels of fluoride exposure and slightly lower IQs in children living in areas outside the US, mostly in China and India. But the study's methodology, statistical rigor, risk of bias, and lack of data transparency continue to draw criticism.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/05/texas-goes-after-toothpaste-in-escalating-fight-over-fluoride/?comments-page=1#comments
Trump shut down program to end human waste backing into Alabama homes, calling it 'illegal DEI'
Source: NBC News
For the last 14 years, when it rains in Lowndes County, Alabama, contaminated standing water builds up around Annye Burke’s home. When the septic tank breaks down, raw sewage backs up into her toilet, she said.
Although “frustrated” by the unhealthy and inconvenient conditions, Burke said she doesn’t let it get her down. Human wastewater contaminating homes and yards in these rural parts of central Alabama “has become a way of life,” she said. The problem has existed so long and was so pervasive that a 2017 study determined 1 in every 3 adults in the county had the intestinal parasite hookworm.
The Biden administration investigated and allocated nearly $26 million to rebuild Lowndes County’s water infrastructure, with the Department of Justice declaring the majority-Black area was suffering from “environmental racism.”
But earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to kill the deal, calling it “illegal DEI.”
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/trump-canceled-dei-program-raw-sewage-alabaman-homes-rcna201164
Hegseth 'proud' to end Women, Peace and Security program
Source: The Hill
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Tuesday that he had begun to shutter a Pentagon program meant to advance women’s participation in peace-building and conflict prevention, which was created by a law written by GOP lawmakers and signed by President Trump during his first term.
“This morning, I proudly ENDED the ‘Women, Peace & Security’ (WPS) program inside the [Defense Department],” Hegseth wrote in a post on the social platform X.
He said the program was “yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING.”
Hegseth also called WPS a “UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists,” claiming that “troops HATE it.”
As the program is under federal statute and can’t be outright killed by Hegseth alone, he said the Pentagon would comply with the minimum requirements of the WPS and fight to end the program during the department’s next appropriations process.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5272905-hegseth-pentagon-women-peace-security/
Exclusive: The White House is looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary
Source: NPR
The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
NPR has reached out to the White House for comment.
This comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. NPR has also confirmed with the same official that Hegseth shared details ahead of last month's Yemen strikes with his wife and brother in a Signal chat on his personal phone, minutes after being updated by a senior U.S. military official. The news of the second Signal group chat about the mission was first reported by The New York Times.
In March, Hegseth shared details about action against Houthi targets in Yemen in a Signal chat with top White House officials that accidentally included a journalist.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5371312/trump-white-house-pete-hegseth-defense-department
Ford halts shipments of vehicles to China amid tariffs
Source: Reuters
Ford Motor said on Friday it has halted shipments of its SUVs, pick-up trucks and sports cars to China, as it starts to face the heat from retaliatory tariffs that have seen vehicles face taxes as high as 150%.
"We have adjusted exports from the U.S. to China in light of the current tariffs," Ford said in a statement.
The company this week halted shipments of its F-150 Raptors, Mustangs and Michigan-built Bronco SUVs as well as Kentucky-made Lincoln Navigators to China.
The development comes as U.S. automakers scramble to find ways to tackle President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs, which are expected to dent profits of carmakers and parts suppliers likewise.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the halt, citing people familiar with the matter.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ford-halts-shipments-vehicles-china-amid-tariffs-wsj-reports-2025-04-18/#:~:text=April%2018%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20Ford,people%20familiar%20with%20the%20matter.
Federal judge pausing Trump administration's plans for mass layoffs at the CFPB
Source: Yahoo News
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ruled Friday that the bureau can’t go forward immediately with plans to mass fire hundreds of employees.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she is “deeply concerned” that administration officials aren’t complying with her earlier order that maintains the bureau’s existence until she rules on the merits of a lawsuit seeking to preserve it.
During a hearing, Jackson said she will bar officials from carrying out any mass firings or cutting off employees’ access to bureau computer systems on Friday.
Jackson scheduled a hearing on April 28 to hear testimony from officials who were working on the reduction in force, or RIF, procedures.
“I’m willing to resolve it quickly, but I’m not going to let this RIF go forward until I have,” she said.
Roughly 1,500 employees are slated to be cut, leaving around 200 people.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-judge-pausing-trump-administrations-160415744.html
Trump Admin to Slice NASA in Half and Cancel New Telescopes
Source: The Daily Beast
So long, space travel. The White House plans to terminate billions of dollars’ worth of ongoing and future National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions, effectively cutting the world-renowned scientific agency in half. President Donald Trump’s most recent budget proposal to Congress proposes major reductions that would cut NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) from $7.3 billion to $3.9 billion, The Washington Post reported Friday. The SMD is responsible for sponsoring research in several fields: earth science, heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary science, and biological and physical sciences. The astrophysics budget would drop from $1.5 billion to $487 million. The planetary science budget would plunge from $2.7 billion to $1.9 billion. No telescope other than the extant Hubble and Webb telescopes will be funded, including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a groundbreaking instrument in the works that would study distant galaxies and faraway planets. Not all hope is lost, however, as the budget draft is only the first step in the process in which Trump sends Congress a 2026 fiscal year budget request. Congress, which has the “power of the purse,” could still rescue NASA. The Daily Beast has reached out to the Trump administration for comment.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admin-to-slice-nasa-in-half/
Judge Rules Breonna Taylor's Boyfriend Caused Her Death, Throws Out Major Charges Against ex-Louisville Officers
Source: CBS News
A federal judge has thrown out major felony charges against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Breonna Taylor's door before they fatally shot her.
U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson's ruling declared that the actions of Taylor's boyfriend, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a bad warrant.
Federal charges against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 during a high-profile visit to Louisville. Garland accused Jaynes and Meany, who were not present at the raid, of knowing they had falsified part of the warrant and put Taylor in a dangerous situation by sending armed officers to her apartment.
But Simpson wrote in the Tuesday ruling that "there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor's death." Simpson's ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which had carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/breonna-taylor-kenneth-walker-judge-dismisses-officer-charges/
Terrible decision.
Profile Information
Member since: 2003 before July 6thNumber of posts: 10,195