Earth’s tectonic plates have moved continuously since they emerged a whopping 3.6 billion years ago, according to a new study on some of the world’s oldest crystals. Previously, researchers thought that these plates formed anywhere from 3.5 billion to 3 billion years ago, and yet-to-be published research even estimated that the plates are 3.7 billion years old.
The scientists on the new study discovered the onset date of plate tectonics by analyzing ancient zircon crystals from the Jack Hills in Western Australia. Some of the zircons date to 4.3 billion years ago, meaning they existed when Earth was a mere 200 million years old — a baby, geologically speaking. Researchers used these zircons, as well as younger ones dating to 3 billion years ago, to decipher the planet’s ongoing chemical record.
“We are reconstructing how the Earth changed from a molten ball of rock and metal to what we have today,” study lead researcher Michael Ackerson, a research geologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
Scammers are posing as celebrities to poach bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from investors, the FTC said.
Americans have lost more than $80 million in cryptocurrency investment scams since October, a 1,000% increase from the fall of 2019, according to Federal Trade Commission data.People between the ages of 20 and 39 were hit particularly hard, representing about 44% of the reported losses, the FTC said.
The FTC data, released Monday, showed about 7,000 reports of crypto investment scams received by the agency since last fall, with a median loss of $1,900. The losses are taking place as bitcoin prices surge, celebrities back dogecoin and more Americans try to understand what cryptocurrency is all about.
Far-right US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene has joined GOP opposition to a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection.
In a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, the congresswoman asked a series of “what about” questions to deflect from an investigation into the attack, fuelled by former president Donald Trump’s false “stolen” election narrative amplified by his GOP allies like Ms Greene.
She said: “The question that comes to mind is this: What about all the riots that happened during the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd? What about the damage caused to federal buildings, churches, people’s businesses and innocent people that were killed? Is that not an insurrection?”
Ms Greene also claimed that Capitol rioters have been “abused” in jail and “held for 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.”
She also called for “justice” for the killing of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a US Capitol Police officer as a mob attempted to break through the House chamber doors on 6 January.
SOUTH UNION TOWNSHIP (KDKA) — Elections officials in Fayette County are working to solve a problem dealing with voting machines not accepting ballots.
Numerous voters have contacted KDKA, reporting that their Republican ballots were not accepted.
Hutchison Elementary School, the polling location for South Union Township’s 3rd voting district was among those having issues on Tuesday morning.
Chris Varney, Judge of Elections says they were initially under the impression that it was a problem with all ballots, but then determined it was only a problem with Republican ballots.
Varney says he was unaware of which specific precincts were dealing with the same issue, but that this same issue was happening in numerous locations across Fayette County.
The Fayette County Bureau of Elections has confirmed that precincts across the county are having issues with machines not scanning bar codes on all ballots, for both Republicans and Democrats.
On the night of May 25-27, observers in Oceania, Hawaii, eastern Asia and Antarctica will see a lunar eclipse that coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth — making it a “supermoon” eclipse that will turn the moon reddish — also known as a “blood moon.” (The dates of this eclipse span two days because the area it will be visible spans the international date line).
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth as the sun. Usually we see a full moon when this happens, but every so often the moon enters the Earth’s shadow, resulting in an eclipse. This doesn’t happen every full moon because the plane of the moon’s orbit is tilted about 5 degrees from the plane of the Earth’s orbit, and the moon “misses” the shadow of the Earth.
Unlike a solar eclipse, which is only visible along a narrow track, lunar eclipses are visible from the entire night side of the Earth; this entire eclipse takes about five hours from start to finish. The timing depends a lot on what time zone you are in, relative to what is called Universal Coordinated Time (effectively the hour in Greenwich, England). In Asia, the eclipse occurs near moonrise in the evening. On the west coast of the Americas, the eclipse happens in the early morning hours, near moonset. The best viewing will be in between those two extremes: Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the islands of the South Pacific and southwestern Alaska.
An airline passenger who tried to open the cockpit door and hit a flight attendant in the face twice is facing the year’s largest fine from the Federal Aviation Administration: $52,500. The passenger on a December 23 Delta airlines flight from Honolulu to Seattle is one of four “unruly passengers” the agency announced Monday it is seeking fines against under its zero-tolerance policy.
The FAA says the passenger facing the largest fine also refused to comply with crew members’ instructions, threatened the flight attendant and slipped out of plastic cuffs during the flight, which was met by police when it landed. While it’s unclear if this is the highest fine ever sought by the agency, it is the most announced this year. The largest fine the agency can seek is $35,000, but multiple offenses can result in a higher penalty, officials told CBS News.
The agency also announced it is seeking fines against three other passengers, who have 30 days to respond to the agency. One woman is facing a $9,000 fine for continually refusing to wear a mask properly and cursing at flight attendants on a February 15 Allegiant Air flight from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Knoxville, Tennessee.
RALEIGH (WTVD) — The state has seen a minor change in the number of gas stations regaining fuel in the last day, according to GasBuddy which is now reporting 50.1 percent of North Carolina stations are without gas.
North Carolina has hovered somewhere in the upper 50s since Sunday — an improvement from the past couple of days.
Both Durham and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools made a return to the classrooms Monday after having to cancel in-person learning due to the shortage Friday.
On Monday, Colonial Pipeline reiterated that the supply chain will take some time to catch up since the pipeline system restart last Wednesday. The company said operations are back to normal.
Experts say the Colonial Pipeline hack didn’t cause the shortage. Instead, it was the panic-buying that happened in response.
State officials continue to discourage panic-buying. They say people rushing out to fill up all their vehicles and topping off their tanks despite not really needing it was a major reason for all the gas station outages in the first place.
GasBuddy says data shows “the epicenter of restoration efforts appears to be North Carolina at the present time.”
Washington (CNN)For years, the US government largely ignored reports of mysterious flying objects seen moving through restricted military airspace but itis now slowly beginning to acknowledge that UFOs, which the Pentagon refers to as unidentified aerial phenomena, are real.
While it is certainly premature to speculate as to whether these flying objects come from another world, the US military has recently confirmed the authenticity of several videos and images showing encounters with unidentified flying objects — fueling questions about what the Pentagon knows about such incidents and others like them.
Next month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other agencies are scheduled to deliver unclassified reports on UFOs to Congress.
The Department of Defense’s watchdog is also set to examine how the Pentagon has handled reports of UFOs. A source with knowledge of the subject matter told CNN earlier this month that there will be more inquiries announced in the near future on how these encounters were handled in recent years.
In the wake of Bill and Melinda Gates’s divorce announcement earlier this month, several reports have emerged detailing the dissatisfaction in their soon-to-be-dissolved union. While many billionaire couples face problems surrounding fidelity and arguments over who is in their cohort, the tiffs between Mr. and Mrs. Microsoft boiled down to a very specific version of those anxieties: Bill Gates’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein. According to reporting earlier this month in People, the Daily Beast, and the Wall Street Journal, the pair argued on several occasions over the computing giant’s connections to the convicted sex offender, to the point that Melinda Gates reportedly began speaking to divorce lawyers in 2019, just after her husband’s ties to Epstein became public.
On Sunday night, another volley of reporting on Gates’s alleged behavior was published, including several details on the Microsoft co-founder’s improprieties at work.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — “Despicable” and “disgusting”, that’s what State Troopers are calling a memo from Governor Wolf giving state workers a day off for Juneteenth.
Troopers aren’t upset with the holiday, but a sentence Wolf used in proclaiming it.
The memo from Governor Wolf giving state workers a day off for Juneteenth is 248 words. But State Police are focused on these 12. “Sadly, the continued death of African Americans at the hands of police.” He wrote it to note there’s still work to be done in achieving justice.
“For the governor to use that platform to continue to drive the false narrative that police officers are murdering racists is despicable,” President of the PA State Troopers Association, Dave Kennedy said.
The May 17 extended tax filing deadline has arrived. Those who still aren’t ready may feel panicked, yet experts say there are options for people who aren’t prepared to file or pay.
They can submit Form 4868 through filing software, which may help estimate their tax balance.
Filers may also request more time through Free File, the IRS tax software for those with an adjusted gross income below $72,000.
However, filing an extension won’t prolong the deadline to pay.
“We tell our clients that they need to pay as much as they can, even if it’s not much,” Barlow said.
Penalties for tax balances will start to accrue after May 17. The failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5% of the unpaid taxes per month, with a cap of 25%.
Those who can’t afford to pay now may apply for a payment plan online, by phone or in person. Depending on the plan, filers may owe a set-up fee, along with accrued penalties.
However, the IRS may be willing to offer penalty relief in some cases.
Filers may consider adjusting their withholdings to avoid trouble next year, Barlow suggests, and with changing tax laws, it may be smart to work with a professional.
Palestinian officials say nearly 200 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including many children. The death toll on the Israeli side stands at eight, including one child.
Four police officers were shot and a suspect was killed during a police search warrant execution in Alabama.
Two officers were shot, and two were grazed by gunfire during the shooting, the police said.
The incident that led to the search warrant dealt with a shooting that took place around 6:30 a.m. where a man and woman were killed, allegedly in an altercation over a dog, the police said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Board members at Microsoft Corp. made a decision in 2020 that it wasn’t appropriate for its co-founder Bill Gates to continue sitting on its board as they investigated the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Citing unnamed sources, The Journal reported online Sunday that board members looking into the matter hired a law firm in late 2019 to conduct an investigation after a Microsoft engineer alleged in a letter that she had a sexual relationship with Gates over several years.
The Journal reported that Gates resigned before the board’s investigation was finished, citing another person familiar with the matter.
An unnamed spokeswoman for Gates acknowledged to The Journal that there was an affair almost 20 years ago, and that it ended “amicably.” The spokesperson told The Journal that “his decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter.”″
This publication does not contain information on Brandon Boburka’s funeral plans and visitations. You may wait for the family to release a statement on that or reach out to them when it is convenient for them to speak.
Family privacy should be respected at this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the passing of Boburka.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli medics said at least two people were killed and more than 150 injured after a bleacher collapsed at an uncompleted West Bank synagogue on Sunday, the eve of a major Jewish holiday.
The bleacher was packed with ultra-Orthodox worshippers and collapsed during prayers at the beginning of Shavuot. A spokesman for Magen David Adom told Channel 13 that paramedics had treated over 157 people for injuries and pronounced two dead, a man in his 50s and a 12-year-old boy
Rescue workers were on the scene, treating the injured and taking people to the hospital. The collapse comes weeks after 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews were killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it dispatched medics and other search and rescue troops to assist at the scene. Army helicopters were airlifting the injured.
President Joe Biden entered office poised to oversee a record recovery and a return to the booming economy and all-round stability of pre-pandemic life. Instead, he’s turned out to be a master of disaster, with self-inflicted crises across the board threatening to set America back to the 1970s — with that era’s infamous “stagflation” as well as a foreign policy in flames.
When Biden took office in January, the nation was on the mend from a post-holiday surge in COVID cases and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines produced at unprecedented speed and nearly a million jabs a day going into American arms. With the unemployment rate — 3.5 percent — at a five-decade low in February 2020, Biden inherited a strong pre-pandemic economy that was already bouncing back strong as the pandemic and lockdowns began to end.
President Donald Trump had also done him a favor at the southern border, getting what was once a real crisis under control by prioritizing strong border security, negotiating a Remain in Mexico policy that saw asylum-seekers await the conclusion of their cases outside the country and instituting a public-health order that kept migrants out while we focused on eradicating the virus.
US consumer confidence fell unexpectedly this month as rising prices, a hiring slowdown and energy uncertainty hit hard. On Friday, the University of Michigan said its Index of Consumer Sentiment declined to 82.8, from 88.3 in April. Economists had predicted it would rise to 90.4.
It wasn’t the first disappointment for prognosticators this month. Economists expected the country to tack on 1 million jobs in April after seeing gains of 770,000 in March. Instead, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported just 266,000, as the unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent.
And then it announced that consumer prices rose 4.2 percent year-over-year in April — far worse than economists had predicted. It was the largest such jump since September 2008, when the financial crisis was at its height. Oh, and core inflation rose 0.8 percent from March to April, the biggest rise in nearly four decades.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 26 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory’s militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among those killed, with another 50 people wounded in the attack. A rescuer could be seen shouting into a hole in the rubble. “Can you hear me?” he called out. “Are you OK?” Minutes later, first responders managed to pull a survivor out and carried him off on an orange stretcher.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gaza’s top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.
Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire. But targeting the group’s leaders could hinder those efforts. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.
The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews. Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza.
At least 181 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 52 children and 31 women, with 1,225 wounded. Eight Israelis have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.
The military said Sunday it struck Sinwar’s home and that of his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas’ political branch.
Hamas’ upper echelon has gone into hiding in Gaza, and it is unlikely any were at home at the time of the strikes. Hamas’ top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, divides his time between Turkey and Qatar, both of which provide political support to the group.
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed since the fighting broke out Monday. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were “eliminated.”
An Egyptian diplomat said Israel’s targeting of Hamas political leaders would complicate cease-fire efforts. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, said Cairo is working to broker an end to the fighting. A U.S. diplomat has also been dispatched to the region and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.
The Egyptian diplomat said the destruction of Hamas’ rocket capabilities would require a ground invasion that would “inflame the whole region.” Egypt, which made peace with Israel decades ago, has threatened to “suspend” cooperation in various fields, the official said, without elaborating.
Hamas and other militant groups have fired some 2,900 rockets into Israel. The military said 450 of the rockets had fallen short or misfired, while Israeli air defenses intercepted 1,150.
The interception rate appeared to have significantly dropped since the start of the conflict, when Israel said 90% were intercepted. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel has meanwhile carried out hundreds of airstrikes across impoverished Gaza, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians and has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
Israel has leveled a number of Gaza City’s tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they contain Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, Israel bombed the 12-story al-Jalaa Building, where the office of The Associated Press was located. The building also housed the TV network Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, along with several floors of apartments.
“The campaign will continue as long as it is required,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. He alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building.
Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting certain locations in airstrikes, including residential buildings. The military also has accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but provided no evidence to back up the claims.
The AP has operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the news agency’s cameras from its top floor office and roof terrace offered 24-hour live shots as militants’ rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.
“We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. “This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”
In the afternoon, the military called the building’s owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and other occupants evacuated safely. Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust.
“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” Pruitt said. “We are shocked and horrified.”
He said the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later spoke by phone with Pruitt, offering his support for independent journalists and media organizations, and the White House said it had communicated directly with Israel to urge safety for journalists.
The Biden administration has affirmed its support for Israel while working to de-escalate the crisis. U.S. diplomat Hady Amr is in the region as part of efforts to broker a truce.
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Krauss reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
President Biden continues to get good marks for his handling of the most pressing issue of the day — the coronavirus pandemic. He also remains on average above 50% for his handling of the economy, which is closely tied to COVID-19.
But as things start to open up more and get back to normal — with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new mask guidance for fully vaccinated people leading the way — there are crises or potential crises looming on the horizon.
This week, some new things got added to Biden’s plate, including inflation, a run on gas and renewed fighting in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinians. They threaten to derail an agenda that has so far, for the most part, stayed on the tracks.
“A suspected white supremacist is facing charges after allegedly ditching a bullet-riddled car containing three dead men in the parking lot of an Albuquerque hospital this week,” The Daily Beast reported Saturday. “Richard Kuykendall, a 41-year-old with an “apparent association” with the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, was charged Friday with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition for his role in the Wednesday triple homicide, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for New Mexico.”
“Prosecutors allege that after a deadly shootout in a nearby alley, Kuykendall drove to Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital with the victims, removed his shirt and told a security officer ‘that there were three dead guys in the Chevy’ before he walked away,” The Beast reported. “The criminal complaint—first obtained by Seamus Hughes, a researcher at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism and a Daily Beast contributor—notes that authorities only believe Kuykendall ‘may be responsible for the death of one of the three men.'”
Bill Maher has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the cancellation of the Friday taping of his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the show announced Thursday. The comedian is fully vaccinated, asymptomatic and “feels fine,” the show said.
No other staff or crew members have tested positive, the show said. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Max Brooks and Dan Carlin were the guests scheduled for the canceled show on Friday.
Maher, 65, thanked fans concerned about his health and expressed disappointment at missing his show and ending his streak of consecutive tapings.
The rover, Zhurong, named after a god of fire in Chinese mythology, landed Saturday morning at the pre-selected area in Utopia Planitia on Mars, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The six-wheel solar-powered Zhurong rover weighs about 240 kilograms (529 pounds) and carries six scientific instruments. It will be later deployed from the lander for a three-month mission in search of signs or evidence of ancient life on Mars’ surface.
The Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter will relay its signal to the rover during its mission and then conduct a global survey of the planet for one Martian year. The probe has spent three months in orbit reconnoitering the landing area before releasing the rover to the surface.
Tianwen-1 was launched by a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang space launch center in Hainan on July 23 last year, and spent seven months en route to Mars before entered its orbit in February.
