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The world economy is becoming wary of the U.S.

The world economy is becoming wary of the U.S.

The New York Times reports: Global investors are balking at U.S. bonds. Talk of the dollar’s dwindling power is getting louder. Foreign governments are hauling their gold out of American vaults. Almost two years into President Trump’s second term, the world economy is increasingly looking for ways to distance itself from America. Concerns about a $40 trillion debt burden, the excessive use of sanctions to solve foreign policy problems and Mr. Trump’s penchant for pushing the limits of the rule…

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Thanks, Trump: Why Canada may become the European Union’s first ever ‘associate member’

Thanks, Trump: Why Canada may become the European Union’s first ever ‘associate member’

By Stewart Prest, University of British Columbia Can a country change continents? Canada seems set to try. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced an intention to seek some novel form of associate membership in the European Union. It’s no mere flight of fancy, either, as Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, has already endorsed the idea. It’s a proposal that manages to be both absurd and eminently logical, depending on how you frame it. Geographically, Canada…

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The broad coalition warning about the threats from AI

The broad coalition warning about the threats from AI

Toluse Olorunnipa writes: If there was any question over whether the concept of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is still operative in Washington’s hyper-partisan political environment, the answer may be found in the budding coalition of progressives and MAGA-friendly activists who have united in recent days to speak out against artificial intelligence. Which is how Senator Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon found themselves speaking on the same stage today. With warnings that the technology could cause mass…

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AI is taking over job interviews

AI is taking over job interviews

CNBC reports: For both job seekers and employers, AI has already permeated almost every step of the hiring process, from evaluating resumes to writing cover letters. The latest frontier is job interviews. Rather than hopping on a phone or Zoom call with a human recruiter, candidates are increasingly being asked to speak with an AI interviewer as the first step in the hiring process. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of 2,950 active job seekers surveyed by Greenhouse, a hiring platform and applicant…

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Trump escalates his war on federal data

Trump escalates his war on federal data

Axios reports: The nerdy, traditionally apolitical world of federal data is increasingly getting swept up in the Trump administration’s push to control every level of government. Across the federal government, agencies are changing how they collect and publicize information. More and more, politics and ideology are part of the equation. Why it matters: Reliable, unbiased data informs nearly everything the federal government does — from distributing benefits and enforcing workplace discrimination laws to responding to public health threats. Driving the news: The administration’s moves…

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Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 years

Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 years

The Associated Press reports: About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice five feet deep across the continental United States, according to a major scientific report. A warming Earth is accelerating the melting of the planet’s two major ice sheets, with five-sixths of the melt not coming from hotter air, but from warmer waters eating away at the ice sheets…

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Saudi Arabia faces ‘worst-case scenario’ after being rebuffed by Trump

Saudi Arabia faces ‘worst-case scenario’ after being rebuffed by Trump

The New York Times reports: Saudi Arabia has increasingly found itself caught in the middle of the war between the United States and Iran. Now, the kingdom’s leadership is assessing dwindling options on how to respond. In recent weeks, the Iran-allied Houthi militia in Yemen has repeatedly attacked the kingdom, threatening to throttle its ability to export oil and piling pressure on the global economy. But Saudi Arabia has been left frustrated and disappointed by President Trump’s reluctance to confront…

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Photos show U.S. positions damaged by Iranian attacks: ‘We’re just watching them get destroyed’

Photos show U.S. positions damaged by Iranian attacks: ‘We’re just watching them get destroyed’

CBS News reports: New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The images were sent to CBS News by active service members on condition of anonymity because of rigid media restrictions within the military. “This is major damage to our bases that hasn’t been communicated to the American public,” one…

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The U.S. just admitted it has weapons in space. Why that’s a big deal

The U.S. just admitted it has weapons in space. Why that’s a big deal

Jeffrey Kluger writes: On Sept. 14, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the quiet part out loud. Speaking at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., Meink openly conceded something U.S. policymakers have been avoiding acknowledging for years—that the American military intends to weaponize space, and indeed, that it already has hostile hardware in Earth orbit. “We are increasing readiness against existing threats,” Meink said. “[T]he United States has on orbit space control weapons capable of defending…

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Trump’s effort to assert control over elections continues, despite court loss

Trump’s effort to assert control over elections continues, despite court loss

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Monday dealt President Trump a major blow when it blocked his executive order to restrict mail ballots. But Mr. Trump’s battle to assert control over the election process is far from finished. The stymied attempt to have the U.S. Postal Service screen mail ballots was just one piece of a broader effort involving the full power of the federal government to take more control of state-run elections. Just days before the…

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Papa Johns, propaganda and Putin: How a MAGA influencer with ties to Russia became Trump’s Arctic adviser

Papa Johns, propaganda and Putin: How a MAGA influencer with ties to Russia became Trump’s Arctic adviser

By Heather Vogell This story was originally published by ProPublica For more than 40 years, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission has advised Congress and the president on what to study in the frigid and dynamic far north, from the environment to military security. It’s typically done so without making waves, led by people well-versed in science and public policy. That was until December, when President Donald Trump appointed a Texas venture capitalist and MAGA influencer with no formal background in…

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‘Tidal wave’ of forever chemicals being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn

‘Tidal wave’ of forever chemicals being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn

The Guardian reports: Pfas [Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] companies are launching a “tidal wave” of forever chemicals production to meet demand from the AI industry, a campaign organisation has warned. Despite alarm over the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, a survey of the 10 biggest manufacturers found most had plans to increase production. Many frame their investments around the “AI revolution”, because of the role Pfas play in semiconductor production and next-generation datacentre cooling systems. But opponents warn…

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A fossilized feather from the age of dinosaurs may explain why only some birds survived

A fossilized feather from the age of dinosaurs may explain why only some birds survived

NPR reports: Paleontology can be quite physical. In 2016, David DeMar was doing field work in the rocky badlands of Montana in what’s known as the Hell Creek Formation. “We all get down on our hands and knees,” he recalls. “And I start crawling up the hill and I noticed this little dark, round object on the ground. It was kind of odd.” DeMar, a lab manager at the Burke Museum in Seattle, picked up the cherry-sized fossil. “I start…

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Supreme Court blocks Trump mail-in ballot plan

Supreme Court blocks Trump mail-in ballot plan

Politico reports: The Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to enforce new mail-in ballot delivery rules that threatened to severely disrupt the looming midterm elections. In a ruling Monday, the justices left in place a lower-court decision that blocked the Postal Service from implementing the new requirements in the coming weeks due to the potential that millions of voters could be disenfranchised by not having their ballots delivered. Most of the high court’s majority did not offer a…

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