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Spate of fake news sites with Russian ties pop up in U.S.

Spate of fake news sites with Russian ties pop up in U.S.

The New York Times reports: Into the depleted field of journalism in America, a handful of websites have appeared in recent weeks with names suggesting a focus on news close to home: D.C. Weekly, the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle and a newer sister publication, the Miami Chronicle. In fact, they are not local news organizations at all. They are Russian creations, researchers and government officials say, meant to mimic actual news organizations to push Kremlin propaganda by…

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PragerU is a conservative video giant. Here’s why it’s trying to get into schools

PragerU is a conservative video giant. Here’s why it’s trying to get into schools

NPR reports: Despite the suggestive sound of its name, PragerU is not a university. It’s a content creator. The conservative media nonprofit makes short, well-produced videos crafted to appeal to college students and young people. It has polished animations and titles like “What Radical Islam and the Woke Have in Common” and “Is There Really a Climate Emergency?” Recently, news headlines have focused on its PragerU Kids content. Arizona recently became the latest state where education officials have embraced online…

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Landmark study links microplastics to serious health problems

Landmark study links microplastics to serious health problems

Nature reports: Plastics are just about everywhere — food packaging, tyres, clothes, water pipes. And they shed microscopic particles that end up in the environment and can be ingested or inhaled by people. Now the first data of their kind show a link between these microplastics and human health. A study of more than 200 people undergoing surgery found that nearly 60% had microplastics or even smaller nanoplastics in a main artery. Those who did were 4.5 times more likely…

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Biden may be engaging in one of the most selfish and destructive acts ever undertaken by an American president

Biden may be engaging in one of the most selfish and destructive acts ever undertaken by an American president

Mark Leibovich writes: As a general rule, voters tend not to appreciate late-career politicians when they’re trying to stick around. Hillary Clinton was among the most admired leaders in America when she left her post as secretary of state, in early 2013. That esteem eroded considerably when she started seeking a promotion in 2015. Perhaps Biden’s turnabout owes to a similar phenomenon: Voters preferred his presidency as a farewell tour more than an endurance run. Even many of Biden’s biggest…

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U.S. floods arms into Israel despite mounting alarm over war’s conduct

U.S. floods arms into Israel despite mounting alarm over war’s conduct

The Washington Post reports: The United States has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began Oct. 7, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid, U.S. officials told members of Congress in a recent classified briefing. The triple-digit figure, which has not been previously reported, is the latest indication of Washington’s extensive involvement in the polarizing five-month conflict even as top…

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Starvation in Gaza. There is no precedent for what is happening — and it is entirely preventable

Starvation in Gaza. There is no precedent for what is happening — and it is entirely preventable

Devi Sridhar writes: The news from Gaza feels too painful to watch. Videos of immediate violence capture TV and social-media audiences: within seconds, entire hospitals are destroyed and buildings fall to the ground. We are watching death in real time. In my last piece on Gaza, I highlighted the records being set: considering its short duration, it has been the deadliest war in modern history for children, for journalists, for healthcare workers and for UN staff. But there are parts…

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Canadian government will resume funding to United Nations relief agency for Palestinians

Canadian government will resume funding to United Nations relief agency for Palestinians

CBC reports: The federal government is resuming funding to UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, CBC News has learned. In addition to going ahead with a scheduled payment in April of $25 million, Canada’s international development minister also intends to announce new funding, according to a senior government official. The Canadian government announced a pause on funding in January after Israel alleged that 12 employees of UNRWA were involved in some capacity in the Oct. 7 attack on…

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What NATO allies must do to prepare for Russian aggression

What NATO allies must do to prepare for Russian aggression

Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Greg Weaver write: The U.S. has long framed the invasion of Ukraine as a strategic failure for Russia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared it as such in June 2023, saying: “Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure, greatly diminishing Russia’s power, its interests, and its influence for years to come.” And yet, in the last two months, a growing number of Western officials have warned of a military threat from Russia against…

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Inside Big Oil’s plot to keep their emissions confidential

Inside Big Oil’s plot to keep their emissions confidential

The New Republic reports: The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday voted 3–2 to finalize a rule on what companies disclose about their greenhouse gas emissions and how climate change stands to impact their business. On its face, that wouldn’t seem to be much cause for alarm. Companies are already required to disclose information on their management structures, overall financial health, and the kinds of risks facing their business. Large segments of the oil and gas industry, though, as well…

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We finally know what turned the lights on at the dawn of time

We finally know what turned the lights on at the dawn of time

Science Alert reports: We finally know what brought light to the dark and formless void of the early Universe. According to data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, the origins of the free-flying photons in the early cosmic dawn were small dwarf galaxies that flared to life, clearing the fog of murky hydrogen that filled intergalactic space. “This discovery unveils the crucial role played by ultra-faint galaxies in the early Universe’s evolution,” says astrophysicist Iryna Chemerynska of the…

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As Biden dithers, Israel is the driving force behind starvation in Gaza

As Biden dithers, Israel is the driving force behind starvation in Gaza

  Megan K. Stack writes: The threat of starvation is believed to be most intense in the bomb-scarred remains of northern Gaza, where by January, nutrition screenings found that more than 15 percent of children ages 6 months to 23 months were acutely malnourished, a condition rarely seen in Gaza before the current war. “Such a decline in a population’s nutritional status in three months is unprecedented globally,” UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the U.N. World Food Program said…

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These injured Palestinians made it out of Gaza. Their loved ones did not — and the distance is agony

These injured Palestinians made it out of Gaza. Their loved ones did not — and the distance is agony

HuffPost reports: Samira Thari recently told her six children still in Gaza that she doesn’t want to hear from them. She thinks of them constantly, especially those most hurt by the violence there ― like her 22-year-old son, who is in a wheelchair after being hit by shrapnel, and her 14-year-old daughter, who’s been rendered speechless by the shock of the war. But she knows that for the family to get cell service, they have to leave their tent shelter…

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Trump backs Israel bombarding Gaza: ‘Gotta finish the problem’

Trump backs Israel bombarding Gaza: ‘Gotta finish the problem’

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump is hoping to win big on Super Tuesday, and he kicked off the primary’s most vote-rich day with one of his favorite traditions from his time as president: calling in to Fox News to deliver an unhinged rant. The former president called Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning, where he celebrated Monday’s Supreme Court decision barring states from removing him from the ballot, doubled down on his claims that migrants are “poisoning our country,” and…

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Donald Trump, seeking cash infusion, meets with Elon Musk

Donald Trump, seeking cash infusion, meets with Elon Musk

The New York Times reports: Donald Trump, who is urgently seeking a cash infusion to aid his presidential campaign, met on Sunday in Palm Beach, Fla., with Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, and a few wealthy Republican donors, according to three people briefed on the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private discussion. Mr. Trump and his team are working to find additional major donors to shore up his finances as he…

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