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Sister of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemns his rule, urges Guards to disarm

Sister of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemns his rule, urges Guards to disarm

Reuters reports: A sister of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has condemned his crackdown on nationwide protests and called on the widely-feared Revolutionary Guards to lay down their weapons, according to a letter published by her France-based son. Iran has been gripped by unrest since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody on Sept 16., and is facing a three-day general strike movement which started on Monday. Badri Hosseini Khamenei, who lives in Iran…

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Democrats ramp up investigation of Kushner family business dealings

Democrats ramp up investigation of Kushner family business dealings

The Washington Post reports: Democrats on a pair of congressional committees have launched an aggressive new effort to obtain information about whether Jared Kushner’s actions on U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf region as a senior White House adviser were influenced by the bailout of a property owned by his family business. Citing previously undisclosed emails and other documents related to former president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, the committees on Monday night sent letters to the State and Defense departments requesting…

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UK coalmine approval shows PM doesn’t care if he is seen as green

UK coalmine approval shows PM doesn’t care if he is seen as green

Fiona Harvey writes: Opening a new coalmine when the world stands on the brink of climate catastrophe is “absolutely indefensible”, in the words of the UK government’s independent climate adviser, the chair of the Climate Change Committee and the former Conservative minister Lord Deben. The £165m mine in Cumbria will produce coking coal for steelmaking, which the government has said will still be needed, even though steelmakers must move to low-carbon production in the next 13 years. Two of the UK’s existing steel…

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German police arrest 25 suspects in plot to overthrow state

German police arrest 25 suspects in plot to overthrow state

Deutsche Welle reports: In a nationwide raid, 25 suspected members and supporters of a terrorist organization were arrested early Wednesday. Officials said the network, part of a wider right-wing movement, was already well established with a concrete plan to overthrow the German state by force and install a new government. The raids were announced by Germany’s federal prosecution agency and German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. Buschmann said the investigations were directed against a suspected terrorist network with known ties to…

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The 30 percent goal: Is bigger always better for biodiversity?

The 30 percent goal: Is bigger always better for biodiversity?

Fred Pearce writes: In 2009, the U.S. government turned more than 190,000 square miles of pristine ocean centered on the Mariana Trench in the remote Pacific into one of the world’s largest protected areas. The same year, Mexico completed a management plan for the Cabo Pulmo coral reef in the Gulf of California, covering just 27 square miles. Which action achieved the most? As the biggest United Nations conference on biodiversity in a decade gathers in Montreal this week, it…

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World’s oldest DNA discovered, revealing ancient Arctic forest full of mastodons

World’s oldest DNA discovered, revealing ancient Arctic forest full of mastodons

Scientific American reports: The oldest DNA ever recovered has revealed a remarkable two-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland, including the presence of an unlikely explorer: the mastodon. The DNA, found locked in sediments in a region called Peary Land at the farthest northern reaches of Greenland, shows what life was like in a much warmer period in Earth’s history. The landscape, which is now a harsh polar desert, once hosted trees, caribou and mastodons. Some of the plants and animals that thrived…

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The Trump Organization was convicted after a truly embarrassing defense

The Trump Organization was convicted after a truly embarrassing defense

Ankush Khardori writes: As of Tuesday afternoon, Donald Trump’s company is a convicted felon. The result comes courtesy of the jury in the criminal trial of the Trump Organization, which found Trump’s namesake company guilty on all 17 counts of the indictment. The result is significant but not exactly surprising. The Trump Organization was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in the summer of 2021 along with the company’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, over a yearslong scheme to avoid paying taxes on…

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How Trump’s legacy became ‘pure poison’ for independents

How Trump’s legacy became ‘pure poison’ for independents

Ronald Brownstein writes: The highly touted red wave in last month’s midterm election failed to develop largely because it hit a wall of resistance among independent voters, especially across the key battleground states. And that presents difficult questions for Republicans looking forward to 2024. The GOP’s disappointing showing among independents this year marked the third consecutive election in which the party has underperformed with those critical swing voters. Although Donald Trump ran competitively among independents in his first presidential race…

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How #TrumpCrimeFamily became a trending term

How #TrumpCrimeFamily became a trending term

HuffPost reports: Tuesday’s verdict against the Trump Organization was bad news for former President Donald Trump, his family members and employees. On the bright side, it seemed to inspire some Twitter users to new heights of “schadenfreude,” that very apt German word that basically means “finding joy in others misfortunes.” After a jury found Trump’s company guilty of tax fraud and other crimes, people following the case expressed on social media the joy of the American ideal that no one…

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House January 6 committee has decided to make criminal referrals, chairman says

House January 6 committee has decided to make criminal referrals, chairman says

CNN reports: The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol has decided to make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, the panel’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, told reporters Tuesday. Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said the committee has not narrowed down the universe of individuals who may be referred. Asked whether Thompson believed any witnesses perjured themselves, he said, “that’s part of the discussion.” When the panel makes referrals, Thompson said it will be…

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Society can’t slow climate change without reining in Big Tech, new report warns

Society can’t slow climate change without reining in Big Tech, new report warns

Inside Climate News reports: Any effort to curb global greenhouse gas emissions and stave off catastrophic warming is doomed to fail unless far more is done to address the “foundational” role Big Tech companies now play in exacerbating the climate crisis. That’s the conclusion of a new report released last week by the international environmental nonprofit Global Action Plan. From amplifying conspiracy theories and misinformation to their increasingly massive energy footprint, the world’s biggest tech companies aren’t only making global…

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Small lakes keep growing across the planet, and it’s a serious problem

Small lakes keep growing across the planet, and it’s a serious problem

Science Alert reports: A new study has revealed that small lakes on Earth have expanded considerably over the last four decades – a worrying development, considering the amount of greenhouse gases freshwater reservoirs emit. Between 1984 and 2019, global lake surfaces increased in size by more than 46,000 square kilometers (17,761 square miles), researchers say. That’s slightly more than the area covered by Denmark. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other gasses are constantly produced from lakes, because of the…

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Asymmetry detected in the distribution of galaxies

Asymmetry detected in the distribution of galaxies

Katie McCormick writes: Physicists believe they have detected a striking asymmetry in the arrangements of galaxies in the sky. If confirmed, the finding would point to features of the unknown fundamental laws that operated during the Big Bang. “If this result is real, someone’s going to get a Nobel Prize,” said Marc Kamionkowski, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the analysis. As if playing a cosmic game of Connect the Dots, the researchers drew lines between…

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Ukrainian drones attack military bases hundreds of miles inside Russia, escalating the war

Ukrainian drones attack military bases hundreds of miles inside Russia, escalating the war

The New York Times reports: Ukraine executed its most brazen attack into Russian territory in the nine-month-old war on Monday, targeting two military bases hundreds of miles inside the country using drones, according to the Russian defense ministry and a senior Ukrainian official. The drones were launched from Ukrainian territory, and at least one of the strikes was made with the help of special forces close to the base who helped guide the drones to the target, said the official,…

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