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The French aristocrat who understood evolution 100 years before Darwin – and even worried about climate change

The French aristocrat who understood evolution 100 years before Darwin – and even worried about climate change

Donna Ferguson writes: Shortly after Charles Darwin published his magnum opus, The Origin of Species, in 1859 he started reading a little-known 100-year-old work by a wealthy French aristocrat. Its contents were quite a surprise. “Whole pages [of his book] are laughably like mine,” Darwin wrote to a friend. “It is surprising how candid it makes one to see one’s view in another man’s words.” In later editions of The Origin of Species, Darwin acknowledged Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon,…

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‘The war in Gaza is over, but the state of war is not,’ says retired general Israel Ziv

‘The war in Gaza is over, but the state of war is not,’ says retired general Israel Ziv

David Horovitz writes: Is this how the war ends? Not with a bang, or even a whimper, but with the IDF pulling its ground forces out of Khan Younis, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserting, in defiance of reality, that Hamas has “stopped functioning as a military organization throughout the Gaza Strip,” contradicting himself in the next breath, and clarifying a few hours later? As Israel on Sunday marked six months since the October 7 massacre, the two prime declared…

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‘Unprecedented in modern history’: U.S. aid experts warn Gaza likely already experiencing famine

‘Unprecedented in modern history’: U.S. aid experts warn Gaza likely already experiencing famine

HuffPost reports: A group of U.S. government humanitarian experts on Tuesday privately warned fellow officials that the spread of hunger and malnutrition in Gaza amid the U.S.-backed Israeli offensive is “unprecedented in modern history,” famine is likely already occurring in parts of the Gaza Strip and the pace of hunger-releated deaths will “accelerate in the weeks ahead.” The striking assessment was shared in a cable drafted by officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development and sent to the White…

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José Andrés frustrated it took foreign aid workers’ deaths to spark international outrage over Gaza

José Andrés frustrated it took foreign aid workers’ deaths to spark international outrage over Gaza

HuffPost reports: “There’s way too many cases now of humanitarians dying ― many civilians, women, children that the only thing they did was trying to get close by, to somewhere that they were giving them flour or bread,” Andrés told Martha Raddatz on Sunday during ABC’s “This Week.” "This doesn't seem a war against terror. This doesn't seem anymore a war about defending Israel. This really, at this point, seems it's a war against humanity itself," José Andrés tells @MarthaRaddatz…

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Gaza’s carnage through the eyes of Palestinian photojournalists

Gaza’s carnage through the eyes of Palestinian photojournalists

Rolling Stone reports: On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking over 200 hostages. Israel began its siege on Gaza that same day. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently asked photojournalists to share images, taken in Gaza during the war, that they want the world to never forget. Each image is accompanied by a personal text from the photographer, explaining the context and their emotions as they took these photographs….

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Inside Donald Trump’s secret, long-shot plan to end the war in Ukraine

Inside Donald Trump’s secret, long-shot plan to end the war in Ukraine

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump has privately said he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory, according to people familiar with the plan. Some foreign policy experts said Trump’s idea would reward Russian President Vladimir Putin and condone the violation of internationally recognized borders by force. Trump’s proposal consists of pushing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia, according to people who discussed it with Trump…

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Hundreds of new species discovered on Africa’s isolated sky islands

Hundreds of new species discovered on Africa’s isolated sky islands

GrrlScientist writes: Located in southeastern portion of Africa in the nations of Malawi and Mozambique, there lies a chain of mountains, or granitic inselbergs, that tower above the surrounding landscape. They were formed millions of years ago when the Earth’s crust pushed upward and torrential rainfall cut through and washed away the soil, leaving patches of forest perched atop granite mountain peaks, separated from lower elevations. These inselbergs comprise an “inland archipelago” or “sky islands”, if you prefer, that are…

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Gaza war turns spotlight on long pipeline of U.S. weapons to Israel

Gaza war turns spotlight on long pipeline of U.S. weapons to Israel

The New York Times reports: In the fall of 2016, the Obama administration sealed a major military agreement with Israel that committed the United States to giving the country $38 billion in arms over 10 years. “The continued supply of the world’s most advanced weapons technology will ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself from all manner of threats,” President Barack Obama said. At the time, the agreement was uncontroversial. It was a period of relative calm for…

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Israeli inquiry findings on aid worker killings lack credibility, World Central Kitchen says

Israeli inquiry findings on aid worker killings lack credibility, World Central Kitchen says

The Guardian reports: World Central Kitchen has rejected as lacking credibility the findings of an Israeli investigation led by a former general into a coordinated series of Israeli drone strikes on the charity’s vehicles in Gaza this week that killed seven aid workers. As the Israel Defense Forces blamed a series of “grave errors” by officers for the deadly attack that killed three Britons, three other foreign nationals and a Palestinian colleague while delivering food, WCK renewed its calls for…

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Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemns Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemns Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Days after Israel killed 7 aid workers in Gaza…on one of the holiest nights of Ramadan for Muslims…Israeli forces used drones to tear gas worshipers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied E Jerusalem.Imagine the outrage if Jewish worshipers were similarly attacked in a synagogue. https://t.co/ljK0CYDw6A — Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) April 6, 2024 Arab News reports: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned Israeli forces for preventing thousands of people from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday. It also denounced a “blatant attack…

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Trump is accidentally exposing Judge Cannon’s shady pro-MAGA game

Trump is accidentally exposing Judge Cannon’s shady pro-MAGA game

Greg Sargent writes: When Judge Aileen Cannon handed down her latest ruling in the prosecution of Donald Trump for stealing classified documents, many legal observers immediately understood the shady gamesmanship lurking behind it. She did, technically, rule against Trump by refusing to dismiss the case—but actually made it easier for herself to kill the case later, or to steer a jury toward an acquittal. Trump’s lawyers had argued that the Presidential Records Act, which was passed in the wake of…

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When a top Republican says Russian propaganda has infected the GOP

When a top Republican says Russian propaganda has infected the GOP

The Washington Post reports: During the first impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump in 2019, former Trump national security aide Fiona Hill made an extraordinary plea. Seated in front of congressional Republicans, she implored them not to spread Russian propaganda. “In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” she told them. She was referring to comments they had made during her earlier deposition breathing life…

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Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information

Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information

The Associated Press reports: The reposts and expressions of shock from public figures followed quickly after a user on the social platform X who uses a pseudonym claimed that a government website had revealed “skyrocketing” rates of voters registering without a photo ID in three states this year — two of them crucial to the presidential contest. “Extremely concerning,” X owner Elon Musk replied twice to the post this past week. “Are migrants registering to vote using SSN?” Georgia Rep….

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