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Republican Oversight members divided over whether to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, committee chair says

Republican Oversight members divided over whether to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, committee chair says

Politico reports: Members on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are divided over whether President Donald Trump should pardon Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for her cooperation in the panel’s Epstein investigation, Chair James Comer said in an interview Wednesday. Maxwell, who was deposed by the Oversight Committee as the sole convicted accomplice in the Epstein sex trafficking scheme, previously invoked her Fifth Amendment right in declining to answer the panel’s questions. Her lawyer has said…

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Top Trump terror official, Julia Varvaro, exposed on ‘sugar daddy’ site

Top Trump terror official, Julia Varvaro, exposed on ‘sugar daddy’ site

The Daily Beast reports: A Department of Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism has been accused of picking up men on a sugar daddy website. Julia Varvaro, 29, allegedly had a profile on Seeking.com, a site that is often used by young, attractive singles looking for older, wealthier partners to help fund their luxury lifestyles, according to the Daily Mail. The profile, which was under the name “Alessia,” said its owner worked for a government agency and offered “seductive…

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FBI said to have investigated New York Times reporter after article on Patel’s girlfriend

FBI said to have investigated New York Times reporter after article on Patel’s girlfriend

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. began investigating a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, using bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security and transportation, according to a person briefed on the matter. Agents interviewed the girlfriend, queried databases for information on the reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, and recommended moving forward to determine whether Ms. Williamson broke federal stalking laws, the person said. Those actions prompted concerns among some…

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Could the oldest human story really be 100,000 years old?

Could the oldest human story really be 100,000 years old?

Mihai Andrei writes: For as long as humans have existed, they have looked to the sky. There are thousands and thousands of different myths and legends linked to stars and constellations, but one radical new idea says that one such story could be incredibly old. The legend is linked to the Pleiades, a set of stars that many cultures call the “Seven Sisters”. But look at them with the naked eye and you’ll only see six; so where’s the seventh…

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Trump extends ceasefire indefinitely as Iran says it won’t join talks until U.S. ends the blockade

Trump extends ceasefire indefinitely as Iran says it won’t join talks until U.S. ends the blockade

The Washington Post reports: President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would extend a ceasefire with Iran hours before it was due to expire, pledging to refrain from attacks until discussions with Tehran “are concluded, one way or the other.” Trump said Iran’s leadership was “seriously fractured” and needed to “come up with a unified proposal.” Trump made the announcement of an indefinite ceasefire as talks scheduled to take place between U.S. and Iranian delegations in the Pakistani capital were…

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Even Trump’s most basic claims about the Iran war can’t be trusted

Even Trump’s most basic claims about the Iran war can’t be trusted

Daniel Dale writes: On Monday morning, President Donald Trump told The New York Post that Vice President JD Vance was already on his way to Pakistan for negotiations with Iran. “They’re heading over now,” the Post quoted Trump as saying. “They’ll be there tonight, [Islamabad] time.” Except that wasn’t true. A bit later on Monday morning, people familiar with Vance’s plans told CNN’s Alayna Treene that the vice president was expected to depart for Pakistan on Tuesday for talks beginning…

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Trump is ‘easily the worst president in U.S. history’

Trump is ‘easily the worst president in U.S. history’

Thomas B. Edsall writes: I asked Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus and former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and the author of “The Right-Wing Idea Factory: From Traditionalism to Trumpism,” which will be published in May, to assess — without regard to merit — how consequential the Trump presidency will be. On this measure he placed Trump in the Top 5 of American presidents, alongside George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon…

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Sebastian Gorka: The counterterrorism czar without a counterterrorism plan

Sebastian Gorka: The counterterrorism czar without a counterterrorism plan

By Hannah Allam This story was originally published by ProPublica March unfolded like a stress test for U.S. counterterrorism authorities. The month opened with a gunman in an Iranian-flag shirt killing three people at a bar in Texas. Then, an attack with homemade explosives outside the mayor’s mansion in New York City. Next came a deadly shooting March 12 on a Virginia college campus and, the same afternoon, a car-ramming at a Michigan synagogue. Days later, agents arrested a man…

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Escape route from Iran energy shock leads to China, U.S. allies find

Escape route from Iran energy shock leads to China, U.S. allies find

Politico reports: America’s allies, stung by soaring energy costs due to Washington’s attacks on Iran, are confronting an uncomfortable truth: The escape route from fossil fuel shocks leads straight into China’s arms. From the European Union and the United Kingdom to South Korea and the Philippines, numerous countries have responded to the war-driven spike in oil and gas prices with calls to accelerate electrification and the rollout of clean energy infrastructure. While that doesn’t offer an immediate fix to higher…

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China’s energy fortress was built to withstand just this type of oil shock

China’s energy fortress was built to withstand just this type of oil shock

CNN reports: For more than a decade, leader Xi Jinping has overseen a transformation within the Chinese economy with one aim: making it energy-secure. Under that vision, China has unleashed a renewable energy revolution of wind, solar and hydropower, drilled ever deeper into oilfields offshore and on, and forged pacts with partners for more supply – all in a bid to cut the country’s reliance on imported fuel and insulate it against “external shocks.” Now, the historic oil crisis triggered…

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Global growth in solar ‘the largest ever observed for any source’

Global growth in solar ‘the largest ever observed for any source’

Ars Technica reports: On Monday, the International Energy Agency released its analysis of the energy trends of 2025, covering the entire globe. It confirms and extends the primary conclusion of a more limited analysis by the International Renewable Energy Agency: 2025 was the first year of solar’s dominance. Increased solar production was a key reason the growth of carbon-free energy sources outpaced rising demand. Coupled with a massive growth in battery storage and relatively stagnant fossil fuel use, the year…

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The forces of scarcity hitting Asia may soon spread across the world

The forces of scarcity hitting Asia may soon spread across the world

Damien Cave writes: When the war in Iran started on Feb. 28, Asia expected to see serious, gradual impacts from losing access to a huge portion of the world’s oil and gas. But the conflict’s economic and social impacts have hit the region harder and faster than officials and experts expected. Many countries across the Asia-Pacific are experiencing sudden jolts of disruption that they are struggling to manage, with some comparing the crisis’s breakdowns and scope to the Covid pandemic….

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Distrust, dishonesty and Trump’s elusive Iran deal

Distrust, dishonesty and Trump’s elusive Iran deal

Axios reports: President Trump told reporters to expect a peace deal with Iran by Monday, and said Monday morning that Vice President Vance was heading to Islamabad for talks. But Vance was actually still in Washington, waiting for a signal from Tehran before boarding his plane — a sign of the deep uncertainty over what will happen next. The big picture: Trump wants the war to end, now, on his terms. But there’s only one day left before the ceasefire expires, Iran still controls the…

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Ukraine: For the first time in years, outright victory seems possible

Ukraine: For the first time in years, outright victory seems possible

Brynn Tannehill writes: The end of 2024 looked grim for Ukraine: President Trump was promising no further aid, and Hungary under Viktor Orbán was vowing to block any further European Union financial support. Seeing an opportunity, Russia poured all the manpower possible into collapsing Ukrainian front lines, hoping to convince Trump that Russia’s victory and Ukraine’s defeat were inevitable, so that he would pressure Ukraine into a peace treaty favorable to Putin. Instead, Ukraine dug in. They continued to innovate,…

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