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Can geoengineering fix the climate? Hundreds of scientists say not so fast

Can geoengineering fix the climate? Hundreds of scientists say not so fast

The Guardian reports: As global heating escalates, the US government has set out a plan to further study the controversial and seemingly sci-fi notion of deflecting the sun’s rays before they hit Earth. But a growing group of scientists denounces any steps towards what is known as solar geoengineering. The White House has set into motion a five-year outline for research into “climate interventions”. Those include methods such as sending a phalanx of planes to spray reflective particles into the…

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Putin, isolated and distrustful, leans on handful of hardline advisers

Putin, isolated and distrustful, leans on handful of hardline advisers

The Wall Street Journal reports: Russian troops were losing the battle for Lyman, a small city in eastern Ukraine, in late September when a call came in for the commanding officer on the front line, over an encrypted line from Moscow. It was Vladimir Putin, ordering them not to retreat. The president seemed to have limited understanding of the reality of the situation, according to current and former U.S. and European officials and a former senior Russian intelligence officer briefed…

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Tucker Carlson’s rage at Zelensky caps a year of getting things wrong

Tucker Carlson’s rage at Zelensky caps a year of getting things wrong

Greg Sargent writes: After Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a rousing speech to U.S. lawmakers this week, Tucker Carlson unleashed a diatribe that put schoolyard sadists everywhere to shame. “No one’s ever addressed the United States Congress in a sweatshirt before,” he seethed, slamming Zelensky as a “strip club” manager whose presence was “humiliating” to “the greatest country on Earth.” Carlson’s attack on the Ukrainian president, whose olive green garb was meant to dramatize his country’s wartime plight, has sparked outrage because…

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Inside the monumental, stop-start effort to arm Ukraine

Inside the monumental, stop-start effort to arm Ukraine

The Washington Post reports: Virtually every day, a line of 18-wheel trucks loaded with weapons or ammunition pulls up to a sprawling warehouse here nestled near an asphalt runway stretching nearly two miles. Drawn from U.S. military depots around the country, the lethal cargo is unloaded onto pallets that will be packed aboard cargo planes bound for Europe, the next stop on its journey to the front lines in Ukraine. The constant tempo has evolved from choppy beginnings into precision…

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Leaked notes from Chinese health officials estimate 250 million Covid-19 infections in December

Leaked notes from Chinese health officials estimate 250 million Covid-19 infections in December

CNN reports: Almost 250 million people in China may have caught Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, according to an internal estimate from the nation’s top health officials, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times reported Friday. If correct, the estimate – which CNN cannot independently confirm – would account for roughly 18% of China’s 1.4 billion people and represent the largest Covid-19 outbreak to date globally. The figures cited were presented during an internal meeting of China’s National…

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Covid-19’s spread in China might tell us how deadly Omicron really is

Covid-19’s spread in China might tell us how deadly Omicron really is

The Wall Street Journal reports: Covid-19’s rapid spread in China has prompted reports of crowded hospitals and inundated crematoria. It could also help answer whether Omicron is truly a milder version of the virus. Iterations of the Omicron variant are spreading rapidly in China after officials relaxed zero-Covid controls in place for most of the pandemic. Pharmacies say they are out of fever medications and hospitals are strained, employees have said. Chinese officials have reported a modest rise in Covid-19…

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Twitter brings Elon Musk’s genius reputation crashing down to earth

Twitter brings Elon Musk’s genius reputation crashing down to earth

The Washington Post reports: Elon Musk was speechless. The Twitter CEO was on a live audio chat Tuesday night with software engineers when one user started quizzing him about the internal workings of the company’s systems. Musk, who hours earlier said he would keep control of Twitter’s software systems even though he plans to relinquish the CEO role, said the company’s code needed a complete rewrite. One of the participants asked what he meant — pushing for him to explain…

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How the birthplace of Christianity in Mesopotamia endures

How the birthplace of Christianity in Mesopotamia endures

Rasha Al Aqeedi writes: In 2008, the Iraqi government declared the day of Christmas, Dec. 25, a public holiday. Despite being one of the few Muslim-majority states to acknowledge Christmas, the decision was, in many ways, overdue. Iraq is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, one that played a key role in shaping the country’s rich diversity and endured some of the most gruesome persecution at the hands of various rulers and actors. For the…

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While holding Trump personally accountable, the January 6 committee may be letting the GOP off the hook

While holding Trump personally accountable, the January 6 committee may be letting the GOP off the hook

Ronald Brownstein writes: The congressional committee investigating the January 6 insurrection delivered a comprehensive and compelling case for the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump and his closest allies for their attempt to overturn the 2020 election. But the committee zoomed in so tightly on the culpability of Trump and his inner circle that it largely cropped out the dozens of other state and federal Republican officials who supported or enabled the president’s multifaceted, months-long plot. The committee downplayed the involvement…

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Major highlights of the January 6 report

Major highlights of the January 6 report

Ryan Goodman and Justin Hendrix write: What follows are highlights of the January 6th Select Committee’s final report from our initial review. Our discussion includes but is not limited to the report’s findings and treatment of issues including: Criminal misconduct in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Racism as a driver of efforts to overturn the popular vote in different parts of the country and in fueling some of the organized groups and individuals who attacked the Capitol. The…

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Past cases with classified papers show legal risk for Trump, experts say

Past cases with classified papers show legal risk for Trump, experts say

The Washington Post reports: In Kansas City, a former FBI analyst pleaded guilty in October to taking home more than 300 classified files or documents, including highly sensitive material about al-Qaeda and an associate of Osama bin Laden. She faces up to 10 years in prison. In Massachusetts, a defense contractor pleaded guilty in 2019 to removing classified national defense information from his office and storing it at home. He got 18 months. And in Maryland, Harold Martin, a former…

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Trump’s world is now limited to the golf course and Mar-a-Lago

Trump’s world is now limited to the golf course and Mar-a-Lago

Olivia Nuzzi writes: Donald Trump was calling from Mar-a-Lago. It was a Monday afternoon in the middle of December. He was at his desk in what is known as 45 Office, a room on the second floor, above what is known as the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom, 20,000 square feet festooned with 16 sedan-size crystal chandeliers and what he claims to be $7 million of gold leaf. Members of the Mar-a-Lago Club, who pay $200,000 initiation fees and annual…

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Rep.-elect George Santos’s early life — odd jobs, bad debts and lawsuits

Rep.-elect George Santos’s early life — odd jobs, bad debts and lawsuits

The New York Times reports: The polite young customer service agent at the Dish Network call center in Queens spoke English and Portuguese, so when Brazilian immigrants had trouble with their billing or their satellite dish, their calls would be routed his way. It was around 2012, and the man was George Santos, a son of Brazilian immigrants who, more than a decade later, would win a crucial election to Congress. But on the campaign trail, Mr. Santos, 34, told…

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North Korea sending arms to Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group fighting in Ukraine, U.S. says

North Korea sending arms to Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group fighting in Ukraine, U.S. says

The Wall Street Journal reports: North Korea has sent a large arms delivery to the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary force whose influence and operations in Ukraine are growing, according to the Biden administration. North Korea last month shipped infantry rockets and missiles to the Wagner Group, which paid for the weaponry, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said Thursday. The shipment comes as Moscow’s war in Ukraine enters another critical stage, with…

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