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Court filing by Durham started a furor in right-wing outlets, but their narrative is off track

Court filing by Durham started a furor in right-wing outlets, but their narrative is off track

Charlie Savage writes: When John H. Durham, the Trump-era special counsel investigating the inquiry into Russia’s 2016 election interference, filed a pretrial motion on Friday night, he slipped in a few extra sentences that set off a furor among right-wing outlets about purported spying on former President Donald J. Trump. But the entire narrative appeared to be mostly wrong or old news — the latest example of the challenge created by a barrage of similar conspiracy theories from Mr. Trump…

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On stage at the Kremlin: Putin and Lavrov’s de-escalation dance

On stage at the Kremlin: Putin and Lavrov’s de-escalation dance

Politico reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his trusty foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, on Monday signaled that there would be no imminent military strike on Ukraine and that they were prepared to continue diplomatic dialogue with the West, led by the United States. Coming after the U.S. warned that a major invasion could begin as soon as Wednesday, the geopolitical dance moves were so exquisitely choreographed that a meeting between Putin and Lavrov might have been better held on stage…

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Accounting firm severs ties with Trump and retracts a decade of financial statements

Accounting firm severs ties with Trump and retracts a decade of financial statements

The New York Times reports: Donald J. Trump’s longtime accounting firm cut ties with him and his family business last week amid ongoing criminal and civil investigations into whether Mr. Trump illegally inflated the value of his assets, court documents filed on Monday show. In a letter to the Trump Organization on Feb. 9, the accounting firm notified the company of its decision and disclosed that it could no longer stand behind annual financial statements it prepared for Mr. Trump….

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Peter Thiel has re-emerged as a prime financier of the MAGA movement

Peter Thiel has re-emerged as a prime financier of the MAGA movement

The New York Times reports: The wine flowed. Donald Trump Jr. mingled with the guests. And Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire and host of the event, had a message for the well-heeled crowd: It was time to clean house. The fund-raiser at Mr. Thiel’s Miami Beach compound last month was for a conservative candidate challenging Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming for a spot on the ballot in November’s midterm elections. Ms. Cheney, one of several Republicans who had voted to…

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The quiet flight of Muslims from France

The quiet flight of Muslims from France

The New York Times reports: France’s wounded psyche is the invisible character in every one of Sabri Louatah’s novels and the hit television series he wrote. He speaks of his “sensual, physical, visceral love” for the French language and of his attachment to his hometown in southeastern France, bathed in its distinctive light. He closely monitors the campaign for the upcoming presidential elections. But Mr. Louatah does all of that from Philadelphia, the city that he began considering home after…

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Pharmaceutical drugs have dangerously polluted the world’s rivers, scientists warn

Pharmaceutical drugs have dangerously polluted the world’s rivers, scientists warn

The Guardian reports: Humanity’s drugs have polluted rivers across the entire world and pose “a global threat to environmental and human health”, according to the most comprehensive study to date. Pharmaceuticals and other biologically active compounds used by humans are known to harm wildlife and antibiotics in the environment drive up the risk of resistance to the drugs, one of the greatest threats to humanity. The scientists measured the concentration of 61 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) at more than 1,000…

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West megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years

West megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years

The Associated Press reports: The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds. A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one of the driest years ever recorded for the region — pushed the 22-year drought past the previous record-holder for megadroughts in the late 1500s and shows no signs of…

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Conservation has a human rights problem. Can the new UN biodiversity plan solve it?

Conservation has a human rights problem. Can the new UN biodiversity plan solve it?

Inside Climate News reports: For decades, if not centuries, Maasai cattle farmers in Northern Tanzania have reared their animals alongside iconic wildlife species like cheetahs, lions and black rhinos. But that may change this year for a Maasai community living in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a park adjacent to Serengeti National Park and about the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The Tanzanian government, citing the growth in population of the Maasai and their cattle as the main threat…

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Russians have already started hybrid war with bomb threats, cyberattacks, Ukraine says

Russians have already started hybrid war with bomb threats, cyberattacks, Ukraine says

The Wall Street Journal reports: U.S. officials are warning that Russia could be about to attack Ukraine. For many citizens in this embattled country, the assault has already begun. Ukrainian officials say that Russia, which has positioned more than 100,000 troops around three sides of Ukraine, is stepping up a destabilization campaign involving cyberattacks, economic disruption and a new tactic: hundreds of fake bomb threats. Russian forces and their proxies already control portions of Ukraine and frequent skirmish with government…

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Finland’s president knows Putin well. And he fears for Ukraine

Finland’s president knows Putin well. And he fears for Ukraine

The New York Times reports: As the threat of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine grew, the European head of state with the longest and deepest experience dealing with Vladimir V. Putin fielded calls and doled out advice to President Emmanuel Macron of France and other world leaders desperate for insight into his difficult neighbor to the east. “‘What do you think about this about this, what about this, or this?’ That’s where I try to be helpful,” said Sauli…

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Why the West’s diplomacy with Russia keeps failing

Why the West’s diplomacy with Russia keeps failing

Anne Applebaum writes: Tragically, the Western leaders and diplomats who are right now trying to stave off a Russian invasion of Ukraine still think they live in a world where rules matter, where diplomatic protocol is useful, where polite speech is valued. All of them think that when they go to Russia, they are talking to people whose minds can be changed by argument or debate. They think the Russian elite cares about things like its “reputation.” It does not….

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Ukrainian airline grounds fleet as warnings over Russian invasion cause insurers to pull cover

Ukrainian airline grounds fleet as warnings over Russian invasion cause insurers to pull cover

The Wall Street Journal reports: One of Ukraine’s main airlines said Sunday it was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Moldova and suspended sales for flights this week after its insurers stopped covering aircraft in Ukrainian airspace due to an increased threat of a Russian military invasion. The announcement by Kyiv-based carrier SkyUp Airlines came a day after Dutch national flag carrier KLM said it had suspended its flights to Kyiv and wouldn’t operate flights in Ukrainian airspace. Separately,…

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The seeds of political violence are being sown in churches across America

The seeds of political violence are being sown in churches across America

David French writes: On Thursday night in Castle Rock, Colorado, a group called “FEC United” (FEC stands for faith, education, and commerce) held a “town hall” meeting that featured a potpourri of GOP candidates and election conspiracy theorists. Most notably, the event included John Eastman, the Claremont scholar who authored the notorious legal memos that purported to justify the decertification and reversal of the 2020 election results. During the meeting, a man named Shawn Smith accused Colorado secretary of state…

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McConnell is trying to prevent Trump’s unelectable ‘goofballs’ win Republican primaries

McConnell is trying to prevent Trump’s unelectable ‘goofballs’ win Republican primaries

The New York Times reports: For more than a year, former President Donald Trump has berated Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, savaging him for refusing to overturn the state’s presidential results and vowing to oppose him should he run for the Senate this year. In early December, though, Mr. Ducey received a far friendlier message from another former Republican president. At a golf tournament luncheon, George W. Bush encouraged him to run against Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, suggesting the…

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