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Silicon Valley Bank chief pressed lawmakers to weaken bank risk regulations

Silicon Valley Bank chief pressed lawmakers to weaken bank risk regulations

The Lever reports: Eight years before the second-largest bank failure in American history occurred this week, the bank’s president personally pressed Congress to reduce scrutiny of his financial institution, citing the “low risk profile of our activities and business model,” according to federal records reviewed by The Lever. Three years later — after the bank spent more than half a million dollars on federal lobbying — lawmakers obliged. On Friday, California regulators shut down the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a…

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Saudi deal with Iran worries Israel, shakes up Middle East

Saudi deal with Iran worries Israel, shakes up Middle East

The Associated Press reports: News of the rapprochement between long-time regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran sent shock waves through the Middle East on Saturday and dealt a symbolic blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the threat posed by Tehran a public diplomacy priority and personal crusade. The breakthrough — a culmination of more than a year of negotiations in Baghdad and more recent talks in China — also became ensnared in Israel’s internal politics, reflecting…

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The story behind Germany’s embarrassing intelligence leak

The story behind Germany’s embarrassing intelligence leak

Der Spiegel reports: It was May 13, 2021, Ascension Day, in the Bavarian town of Weilheim, and a local club was having a party. The pandemic had put a bit of damper on the festivities, but 10 guests showed up nonetheless. It was a cozy gathering. The party had been organized by Reno S., a soldier in the German military, the Bundeswehr, and a functionary in the right-wing radical party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Among the invitees was a businessman…

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Big Oil shuts the door on Ukraine’s foremost energy campaigner

Big Oil shuts the door on Ukraine’s foremost energy campaigner

Bill McKibben writes: 🔴BREAKING:Just found out I've been banned from #CERAWeek,the world's most influential energy conference 🛢️.Are they afraid of a strong advocate for ending #War and #FossilFuels? I will not be quiet; we need #ClimateJustice now, and together the energy majors won't stop us! pic.twitter.com/97iHBlUsGN — Svitlana Romanko (@SvitlanaRomanko) March 6, 2023 You may recall that last year, days after the invasion of Ukraine, this newsletter launched the (ultimately successful) campaign to get the Biden administration to invoke the…

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Biden admin paradox: Boost oil — and cut CO2?

Biden admin paradox: Boost oil — and cut CO2?

E&E News reports: The Biden administration’s seemingly contradictory energy and climate strategy was on full display here Wednesday: Try to pivot away from fossil fuels, but promote them for now. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm faced that paradox as she addressed energy leaders and insiders gathered in a hotel ballroom, praising the uptick in U.S. oil and gas exports during Russia’s war in Ukraine while touting a clean energy shift. “Europe is poised to reach the spring without major outages or…

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Russia-linked individuals working to trigger insurrection against Moldovan government, U.S. believes

Russia-linked individuals working to trigger insurrection against Moldovan government, U.S. believes

CNN reports: The US intelligence community believes that individuals with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in Moldova to try to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government, with the ultimate goal of seeing a more pro-Russia administration installed there, White House officials said Friday. The US believes that Russia is working to weaken the Moldovan government which is seeking closer ties with the European Union, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said,…

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Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to restore ties, in talks hosted by China

Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to restore ties, in talks hosted by China

The New York Times reports: After years of open hostility and proxy conflicts across the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties, they announced on Friday, in a significant pivot for the two regional rivals that was facilitated by China. China hosted the talks that led to the breakthrough, highlighting Beijing’s growing role as a global economic and political power, and counterbalance to Washington — particularly in the Middle East, a region that was long…

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Can Georgia Republicans really fire a prosecutor for indicting Trump?

Can Georgia Republicans really fire a prosecutor for indicting Trump?

Norman L. Eisen and Fred Wertheimer write: Under the Georgia Constitution, district attorneys are elected to four-year terms from the electorate in local judicial circuits, and they have immunity from private suits for actions arising from their performance of their duties. Powers of review and oversight of attorneys for allegations of misconduct is, in Georgia, like throughout the country, exclusively reserved for judges. This separation of powers works the same way in many other state constitutional frameworks. For example, when…

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Trump is losing his grip on the grassroots

Trump is losing his grip on the grassroots

Seth Masket writes: Republican grassroots leaders are increasingly losing interest in former President Donald Trump — and eyeing Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential campaign. That’s according to a new survey I conducted with GOP county chairs across the country, the first survey in an ongoing project that will be featured in POLITICO Magazine over the next year. It’s designed to track the shifting state of what’s often called the “invisible primary,” that lengthy, and critical, period between now and…

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Unlocking secrets of the honeybee dance language – bees learn and culturally transmit their communication skills

Unlocking secrets of the honeybee dance language – bees learn and culturally transmit their communication skills

A honeybee is performing the waggle dance in the center of this photo to communicate the location of a rich nectar source to its nestmates. Heather Broccard-Bell, CC BY-ND By James C. Nieh, University of California, San Diego The Greek historian Herodotus reported over 2,000 years ago on a misguided forbidden experiment in which two children were prevented from hearing human speech so that a king could discover the true, unlearned language of human beings. Scientists now know that human…

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Global freedom has declined for the 17th consecutive year

Global freedom has declined for the 17th consecutive year

The 2023 edition of Freedom in the World from Freedom House reports: The global struggle for democracy approached a possible turning point in 2022. The gap between the number of countries that registered overall improvements in political rights and civil liberties and those that registered overall declines was the narrowest it has ever been through 17 consecutive years of deterioration. The most serious setbacks for freedom and democracy were the result of war, coups, and attacks on democratic institutions by…

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Prosecutors signal criminal charges for Trump are likely

Prosecutors signal criminal charges for Trump are likely

The New York Times reports: The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in…

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Inside the ‘private and confidential’ conservative group that promises to ‘crush liberal dominance’

Inside the ‘private and confidential’ conservative group that promises to ‘crush liberal dominance’

ProPublica reports: A few months ago, Leonard Leo laid out his next audacious project. Ever since the longtime Federalist Society leader helped create a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court, and then received more than a billion dollars from a wealthy Chicago business owner to disburse to conservative causes, Leo’s next moves had been the subject of speculation. Now, Leo declared in a slick but private video to potential donors, he planned to “crush liberal dominance” across American life. The…

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Massive protests prompt Georgia to withdraw Russian-style ‘foreign agents’ law

Massive protests prompt Georgia to withdraw Russian-style ‘foreign agents’ law

Kato Kopaleishvili reports: Tens of thousands of Georgians occupied the main thoroughfare of the capital, Tbilisi, for the second night in a row Wednesday, holding EU flags and posters protesting a Russian-style draft law that would label some nongovernmental groups and media outlets “foreign agents.” The law is seen as an attempt to suppress civil society and amplify the government’s propaganda that Western partners are not acting in the interests of Georgians. Some protesters stormed the barricades in front of…

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