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Iran says it still controls Strait of Hormuz, not seeking talks, after Trump halts bombing

Iran says it still controls Strait of Hormuz, not seeking talks, after Trump halts bombing

Reuters reports: Iran said on Monday it was still in control of the Strait of Hormuz and not seeking to resume peace talks ‌with the United States, after President Donald Trump halted a two-week bombing campaign that his top brass told him had run its course. Following 13 successive nights of intensifying bombing that provoked Tehran to fire on U.S. bases in response, Trump halted the campaign over the weekend. Iran said it would suspend its own attacks for as…

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GOP senators warn of growing crisis of confidence in Hegseth as Iran war drags on

GOP senators warn of growing crisis of confidence in Hegseth as Iran war drags on

The Hill reports: Republican senators say that confidence is waning in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership of the U.S. armed forces as the war with Iran drags on without an end in sight. They are also warning that the success of a possible “massive attack” against Iran could be critical to shoring up support for the unpopular conflict. Some GOP lawmakers are questioning the administration’s failure to anticipate the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz — which has caused…

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In Memphis, an ‘anti-crime’ task force quietly turned into an ICE crackdown

In Memphis, an ‘anti-crime’ task force quietly turned into an ICE crackdown

NPR reports: When President Trump announced an anti-crime task force for Memphis last fall, federal and local officials never mentioned immigration enforcement as a goal. But the influx of federal agents into the city has led to widespread immigration arrests — a majority without criminal convictions, according to an Institute for Public Service Reporting data analysis. NPR reviewed arrest data and spoke with lawyers, immigrants, activists and community members to piece together the task force’s impact on Memphis over the…

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Why are Democrats so quiet about the Tate brothers?

Why are Democrats so quiet about the Tate brothers?

Moira Donegan writes: It’s not exactly strange that elements of the Magaverse have embraced Andrew Tate. What’s strange is that the Democrats do not seem interested in holding the Trump movement to account for it. Andrew Tate, the misogynist influencer who is accused by numerous women around the world and now British prosecutors of rape and strangulation, as well as assault, sex trafficking, possession of child abuse images and extreme pornography, and various other forms of gender violence and exploitation,…

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France had never seen a ‘fire cloud’ until this month’s record-smashing blazes

France had never seen a ‘fire cloud’ until this month’s record-smashing blazes

Wired reports: Firefighters in France are confronting a phenomenon never seen in the region before: fire clouds. It’s a sign of the intensity of the blazes burning—and how climate change is upping the odds that they appear. A wave of fires has swept over France and Spain, sending hundreds of thousands fleeing. Firefighters on the frontlines are facing what a spokesperson for the French firefighter association told AFP called an “operational impossibility”—in other words, a “natural force beyond our control.”…

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Millions of farmers around the globe are contending with scarcity and higher prices for fuel

Millions of farmers around the globe are contending with scarcity and higher prices for fuel

The New York Times reports: For three days, he waited at the gas station in a crush of hundreds of villagers, as the temperature rose to 104 degrees. People tried to cut the line, and fights broke out, drawing police officers wielding batons. This, Dulal Hossain endured for the chance to buy diesel fuel. He was tormented by worries about his rice plants, the source of most of his livelihood. The diesel he eventually carried home by bicycle, in a…

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Gulf countries want the war to end, but can’t agree on how. ‘The GCC is nonfunctional’

Gulf countries want the war to end, but can’t agree on how. ‘The GCC is nonfunctional’

Politico reports: As the U.S. continues daily strikes on Iran, the Arab states battered by Tehran’s retaliatory attacks are trying to unite to chart a path toward peace. Longstanding tensions are getting in the way. In recent weeks, top ministers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have posed for a photo showing their countries are reconciling; Jordan and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council have had meetings at the State Department and on Capitol Hill; and the GCC has…

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Admiral Daryl Caudle’s rise reveals the politics driving Hegseth’s Pentagon

Admiral Daryl Caudle’s rise reveals the politics driving Hegseth’s Pentagon

The New York Times reports: Adm. Daryl Caudle saw an opening to land the Navy’s top job last year, and he seized it. Before Pete Hegseth had even been sworn in as defense secretary, Admiral Caudle, then the head of a major Navy training command, offered to help Mr. Hegseth prepare for his politically contentious Senate confirmation hearing, according to current and former defense officials. The outreach was a breach of military ethics, the officials said. Senior military officers are…

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Brazil moves to ‘protect our voting system’ from U.S. interference; denies visas to State Dept. officials

Brazil moves to ‘protect our voting system’ from U.S. interference; denies visas to State Dept. officials

The Washington Post reports: Brazil has denied visas to two senior State Department officials whom the Trump administration planned to dispatch on a mission to cast doubt on the fairness and integrity of the country’s electoral system before millions of Brazilians vote in a presidential election on Oct. 4, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. A U.S. State Department delegation, including Trump political appointees Riley M. Barnes, an assistant secretary, and Samuel Samson, a deputy assistant secretary, had planned to depart…

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From a Ukrainian bomb shelter, Laura Loomer explains her shift on Russia’s war

From a Ukrainian bomb shelter, Laura Loomer explains her shift on Russia’s war

The Associated Press reports: Laura Loomer became infamous for spreading conspiracy theories online. Now, as she travels across Ukraine to see the damage inflicted by Russia in its yearslong war, she wants to admit that she fell for some falsehoods of her own. A close ally of President Donald Trump, Loomer has completely reversed her longtime criticism of Ukraine and is urging fellow conservatives to be wary of Moscow’s propaganda, which she blames for duping large swaths of the American…

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The Smithsonian is under siege

The Smithsonian is under siege

Philip Kennicott writes: Lost in this new effort [by Trump] to rewrite American history scrubbed of its invigorating, infuriating, thrilling complexity, is the emotional toll it takes on people who serve the institution. I am sorry that the scholars, curators, volunteers, security guards and the rest of the loyal staff will have to pass signs that demean the integrity of their work. The contents of the museum, the history it explicates, will prepare them for this attack, which is yet…

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Diversity in graduate school linked to higher starting salaries

Diversity in graduate school linked to higher starting salaries

PsyPost reports: Recent research indicates that attending graduate school with a racially diverse group of peers is linked to higher median starting salaries upon graduation. The large study examined decades of data from business and law schools across the United States. The results were published in Nature. The United States Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in college admissions in 2023. Justices opposing the practice argued that the educational benefits of diversity were too abstract for courts to evaluate…

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Pentagon accused of cover-up over U.S. military casualties in Iran war

Pentagon accused of cover-up over U.S. military casualties in Iran war

The Guardian reports: The Pentagon is taking a “shameful approach” to releasing information about US casualties in the Iran war, Leon Panetta, a former defence secretary and CIA director, has told the Guardian. The defence department has not held a press briefing for two-and-a-half months. Officials have faced accusations that they are engaged in a cover-up designed to hide the true cost of Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran, fearing a public backlash before November’s midterm elections. Panetta, who…

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Trump holds off on major escalation against Iran as advisers raise concerns

Trump holds off on major escalation against Iran as advisers raise concerns

The New York Times reports: President Trump has set aside, at least for now, plans to sharply escalate the American military assault against Iran, with particular concern that intensifying the war could dangerously drain the Pentagon’s already diminished stockpile of Patriot antimissile interceptors and other air defense munitions in the Middle East. The threat to interceptor stockpiles is one of many considerations that have made a return to major combat operations a hugely risky endeavor, administration officials say. Mr. Trump…

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