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The Middle East is being confronted with the devastating impact of climate change

The Middle East is being confronted with the devastating impact of climate change

The Associated Press reports: Temperatures in the Middle East have risen far faster than the world’s average in the past three decades. Precipitation has been decreasing, and experts predict droughts will come with greater frequency and severity. The Middle East is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impact of climate change — and already the effects are being seen. In Iraq, intensified sandstorms have repeatedly smothered cities this year, shutting down commerce and sending thousands…

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Extreme heat makes pregnancy more dangerous

Extreme heat makes pregnancy more dangerous

Yale Climate Connections reports: Esther Sanchez’s pregnancy this summer has coincided with extreme heat in Madrid, Spain, where she lives. Overnight temperatures there have been particularly uncomfortable. One recent morning, her living room was still 88 degrees Fahrenheit [31 C] at 6 a.m. “So it was impossible to sleep and to rest and have a normal day — a normal life,” she said. For many pregnant people — a group that can include women, girls, transgender men, and nonbinary people…

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U.S. officials grow more concerned about potential action by China on Taiwan

U.S. officials grow more concerned about potential action by China on Taiwan

The New York Times reports: The Biden administration has grown increasingly anxious this summer about China’s statements and actions regarding Taiwan, with some officials fearing that Chinese leaders might try to move against the self-governing island over the next year and a half — perhaps by trying to cut off access to all or part of the Taiwan Strait, through which U.S. naval ships regularly pass. The internal worries have sharpened in recent days, as the administration quietly works to…

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The last ‘Arab Spring’ democracy is dangling by a thread

The last ‘Arab Spring’ democracy is dangling by a thread

CNN reports: Once regarded as the sole democracy to have emerged from the mass protests of the Arab Spring in 2011, Tunisia is today voting on a newly minted constitution that analysts fear could be the final nail in the coffin of its democratic era. Polls opened early on Monday and are due to stay open until late. It is unclear when the results will be announced, but many expect the landmark vote to pass, since there is no minimum…

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Russia wants to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government

Russia wants to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government

The Associated Press reports: Russia’s top diplomat said Moscow’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its “unacceptable regime,” expressing the Kremlin’s war aims in some of the bluntest terms yet as its forces pummel the country with artillery barrages and airstrikes. The remark from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov comes amid Ukraine’s efforts to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports, something that would help ease global food shortages, under a new deal tested by…

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Inside the siege that shaped the Ukraine war

Inside the siege that shaped the Ukraine war

The New York Times reports: The two Mi-8 helicopters tore across enemy territory early on the morning of March 21, startling the Russian soldiers below. Inside were Ukrainian Special Forces fighters carrying crates of Stinger and Javelin missiles, as well as a satellite internet system. They were flying barely 20 feet above ground into the hottest combat zone in the war. Ukraine’s top generals had conceived the flights as a daring, possibly doomed, mission. A band of Ukrainian soldiers, running…

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Don’t blame Dostoyevsky

Don’t blame Dostoyevsky

Mikhail Shishkin writes: Culture, too, is a casualty of war. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some Ukrainian writers called for a boycott of Russian music, films, and books. Others have all but accused Russian literature of complicity in the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers. The entire culture, they say, is imperialist, and this military aggression reveals the moral bankruptcy of Russia’s so-called civilization. The road to Bucha, they argue, runs through Russian literature. Terrible crimes, I agree, are being committed…

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White ‘Christian’ nationalism threatens American democracy

White ‘Christian’ nationalism threatens American democracy

John Blake writes: Three men, eyes closed and heads bowed, pray before a rough-hewn wooden cross. Another man wraps his arms around a massive Bible pressed against his chest like a shield. All throughout the crowd, people wave “Jesus Saves” banners and pump their fists toward the sky. At first glance, these snapshots look like scenes from an outdoor church rally. But this event wasn’t a revival; it was what some call a Christian revolt. These were photos of people…

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The Collins-Manchin election bill is a deal Democrats should grab

The Collins-Manchin election bill is a deal Democrats should grab

Richard L. Hasen writes: Last week’s announcement by a bipartisan group of senators proposing reforms to the poorly written 1887 law that governs Congress’ counting of the Electoral College votes is a good half-loaf measure against election subversion. This is an opportunity that Democrats should jump at, despite their nervousness, if they have the chance to pass the bill with some Republican support this summer or fall. Any meaningful step that lessens the chances of a stolen presidential election in…

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‘I am not a traitor’: Reality Winner explains why she leaked a classified document

‘I am not a traitor’: Reality Winner explains why she leaked a classified document

Scott Pelley reports: A story about someone named Reality Winner has got to start with the name. Her father, playing on the family name, explained he wanted “a real winner.” And so, Reality. Maybe that still doesn’t make sense, but it is the least baffling fact in this story. Reality Winner became an infamous name in 2017, when she was accused of espionage. She was hit with the longest sentence ever imposed on a civilian for leaking classified information to…

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The mysterious inner life of the octopus

The mysterious inner life of the octopus

Martha Henriques writes: It was a big night for Inky the octopus. The day’s visitors had been and gone, and now his room in the aquarium was deserted. In a rare oversight, the lid of his tank had been left ajar. The common New Zealand octopus had been without female company for some time, sharing a tank with only a fellow male, Blotchy. The loose lid provided Inky with an opportunity. With eight strong suckered limbs and, quite possibly, intimate…

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Climate change is not negotiable

Climate change is not negotiable

In an editorial, the New York Times says: The American West has gone bone dry, the Great Salt Lake is vanishing and water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two great life-giving reservoirs on the Colorado River basin, are declining with alarming speed. Wildfires are incinerating crops in France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, while parts of Britain suffocated last week in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet the news from Washington was all about the ability of a…

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How preventing unwanted pregnancies can help on climate

How preventing unwanted pregnancies can help on climate

Robert N. Proctor and Londa Schiebinger write: Every year, some 36 billion tons of anthropogenic carbon enter the atmosphere, mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels. With 8 billion people on Earth, this means that each human adds an average of 4.5 tons of carbon into the air annually. And wealthy people have a far bigger footprint than the poor — by a couple orders of magnitude. Too often ignored in devising solutions to slow global warming is the…

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Trump’s criminal intent is now clear. Merrick Garland’s intentions aren’t

Trump’s criminal intent is now clear. Merrick Garland’s intentions aren’t

Glenn Kirschner writes: For weeks, if not months, leadership at the Department of Justice has repeatedly told us they will follow the facts and the law and will hold Jan. 6 wrongdoers accountable “at any level.” Yet they provide few updates or concrete information. We have seen zero overt law enforcement activity against anyone but the foot soldiers of former President Donald Trump’s insurrection. In substance, the DOJ is asking the American people to trust them. But following the House’s…

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