California

USA: Elon Musk imposes daily limits on reading posts on Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter owner Elon Musk has limited the number of tweets that users can view each day — restrictions he described as an attempt to prevent unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data from the social media platform.

The site is now requiring people to log on to view tweets and profiles — a change in its longtime practice to allow everyone to peruse the chatter on what Musk has frequently touted as the world’s digital town square since buying it for $44 billion last year.

Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government

REPRESA, California (AP) — The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates’ tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage – one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by fellow prisoners.

For these were no ordinary graduates. Their black commencement garb almost hid their aqua and navy-blue prison uniforms as they received college degrees, high school diplomas and vocational certificates earned while they served time.

US retailers targeted with bomb threats, seeking bitcoin and gift cards, Wall Street Journal reports

June 25 (Reuters) - Law-enforcement officials and retailers are investigating a recent wave of bomb threats across the United States, targeting grocery operators and other stores, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Retail companies including Kroger (KR.N), Walmart (WMT.N) and Amazon's (AMZN.O) Whole Foods Market, among others, have received bomb threats at their stores in recent months, the report said, adding that some callers demanded gift cards, bitcoin or money and threatened to detonate bombs if payments were not made.

USA: Remains found in California mountains where actor Julian Sands went missing

June 25 (Reuters) - Hikers have found human remains in Southern California's Mount Baldy wilderness, the mountainous area where British-born film actor Julian Sands went missing in January, local authorities said late on Saturday.

The hikers contacted Fontana Station officials at about 10 a.m. on Saturday to report the discovery of the body, which was taken to the coroner's office for identification, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

The US has tons of leftover food. Upcycling turns would-be trash into ice cream and pizza

LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) — At Tyler Malek’s ice cream parlors, one cook’s trash is another chef’s frosty treat.

The head ice cream maker at the Portland, Oregon-based Salt & Straw uses the whey leftover from yogurt makers in upstate New York to make his lemon curd flavor. For chocolate barley milk, he mixes in the remnants of rice and grains from beer brewing to give it a light and creamy taste.

“Instead of calling this food waste, we need to call it wasted food and start decreasing how much wasting we’re doing,” Malek said.

USA: New survey finds poverty, high housing costs behind California homeless crisis

SACRAMENTO, the United States, June 22 (Xinhua) -- To better understand why so many people end up homeless in California, a group of researchers conducted a statewide survey, which found that deep poverty and lack of affordable housing are to blame.

For most of the people living on the streets, they lost their homes simply because the cost of housing had become unsustainable, according to the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness released on Tuesday.

Microsoft, U.S. regulators head to court over $69 billion deal that could reshape video gaming

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft on Thursday will try to gain clearance to complete a $69 billion takeover of video game maker Activision Blizzard in a legal showdown with U.S. regulators that will reshape a pastime that’s bigger than the movie and music industries combined.

The battle will pit Microsoft’s ambition to expand its video game imprint beyond its Xbox console against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s bid to block a deal that it contends will stifle competition and innovation to the detriment of consumers.

USA: China hits back as Biden labels Xi a 'dictator'

KENTFIELD, California/BEIJING, June 21 (Reuters) - China hit back on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden referred to President Xi Jinping as a "dictator", saying the remarks were absurd and a provocation in an unexpected row following efforts by both sides to lower tensions.

Biden made his comments just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to stabilize relations that China says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established.

USA: Inside the deepening rivalry between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there’s no chance “on God’s green earth” he’s running for president in 2024, but he wants to make clear that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running, is “weak” and “undisciplined” and “will be crushed by Donald Trump.”

DeSantis, meanwhile, likes to mock Newsom’s apparent “fixation” on Florida while insisting that the Democratic governor’s “leftist government” is destroying California.

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