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Category: Politics

‘Digital colonialism’: U.S. demands to access Africans’ data raise privacy, sovereignty concerns

‘Digital colonialism’: U.S. demands to access Africans’ data raise privacy, sovereignty concerns

By Sharon Lerner and Anna Maria Barry-Jester This story was originally published by ProPublica Frank Ssekamwa says the United States presented his country with an impossible choice. If it accepted the terms of a new health agreement, Uganda would have to give the U.S. access to the data of millions of his fellow citizens — a decision he worries would make their personal information more vulnerable to breaches and possible exploitation. But if it refused, the East African nation would…

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An EPA researcher details the agency’s assault on science

An EPA researcher details the agency’s assault on science

Elizabeth Kolbert writes: Thomas Luben is an epidemiologist who for nearly 20 years worked for the scientific arm of the Environmental Protection Agency — the Office of Research and Development — in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. His work focused on what are known as the “criteria pollutants,” which are regulated, under the Clean Air Act, by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, often shortened to NAAQS (pronounced “nacks”). At the start of the second Trump administration, life for most…

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Trump’s off-ramp from war with Iran runs through Qatar

Trump’s off-ramp from war with Iran runs through Qatar

Shane Harris writes: Several countries can claim some credit for the tentative memorandum of understanding to end the war between Iran and the United States, which officials from both countries plan to sign later this week. Pakistan had for some time led negotiations. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Oman were involved in elements of the talks. But to hear Donald Trump tell the story, the whole deal might not have materialized without the intervention of a crucial friend in the neighborhood….

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Iran deal includes $300 billion fund, more than half of which already committed, source says

Iran deal includes $300 billion fund, more than half of which already committed, source says

Reuters reports: A $300 billion private fund designed ​to trigger investment into Iran is outlined in the U.S.-Iran framework agreement and more than half that sum has already been committed, a source with ‌direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters. The fund is designed to give both sides an economic incentive to conclude a final deal, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced as Washington and Tehran prepare to sign…

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Republicans hopeful Iran deal could stop the pain at the pump — but it may be too late

Republicans hopeful Iran deal could stop the pain at the pump — but it may be too late

Politico reports: Republicans who have been raising alarm about the political costs of gas pump sticker shock are relieved the Iran war could be ending — and hopeful prices will soon ease near pre-war levels. They’re split on whether it’s too little, too late. Gas prices have been falling since their pre-Memorial Day peak of $4.56 per gallon in anticipation of a deal to end the war, now hovering just above $4 a gallon. A reopening of the Strait of…

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Trump: ‘There would be no Israel’ without me

Trump: ‘There would be no Israel’ without me

The Hill reports: President Trump said on Tuesday that there “would be no Israel” without him, marking some of his most pointed criticism toward the country amid its ongoing attacks on Lebanon. “Without the US, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel because no other president was willing to do what I did. I have had a great relationship with Bibi. Now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” Trump said, speaking…

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MN U.S. Attorney won’t say whether officers were harmed as he charges ICE protesters with felonies

MN U.S. Attorney won’t say whether officers were harmed as he charges ICE protesters with felonies

TPM reports: Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen announced an eight-count felony indictment against 15 anti-ICE protesters Tuesday, centered on a broad “antifa”-inflected conspiracy. During a Tuesday press conference, Rosen would not say whether any federal officers were actually harmed, despite one of the counts being conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer and two of the counts being assault on a federal officer. “Whether or not they actually at the end of the day caused bodily harm is not…

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Leak exposes members of Peter Thiel’s secretive ‘Dialog’ society

Leak exposes members of Peter Thiel’s secretive ‘Dialog’ society

Wired reports: A trove of internal records from a secret society for powerful figures in US politics, finance, and tech was left exposed online, WIRED has confirmed, naming participants in its events and revealing sensitive personal details they were assured would stay private. The group, called Dialog, is a private, invitation-only organization cofounded in 2006 by the billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel. It convenes US officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. Dialog has spent…

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Netanyahu’s epic failure

Netanyahu’s epic failure

The New York Times reports: Israel now finds itself counting the ways that Mr. Netanyahu’s grand strategy against Iran has failed. And Israelis are increasingly convinced that it will make the 2015 Iran nuclear deal look “perfect in comparison,” as the Netanyahu biographer Ben Caspit wrote in the Israeli daily Maariv on Monday. For more than a decade, Mr. Netanyahu has steadily raised his bets in pursuing his strategy against Iran. His 2015 address to Congress denouncing then-President Obama’s nuclear…

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The U.S. had no choice but to return to diplomacy

The U.S. had no choice but to return to diplomacy

Nancy A. Youssef, Russell Berman, and Vivian Salama write: Declaring that “the deal is all signed” with Iran, as President Trump did today, is like shopping for a wedding dress after a good first date: It’s just too soon. A deal has an element of finality and permanence. A nuclear deal with Iran, for example, would require specific obligations, concessions, and verification measures, such as inspections, agreed to by all parties. What Iran and the United States are moving toward,…

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Ministers say Israel won’t be bound by Iran deal, as opposition castigates Netanyahu’s ‘absolute failure’

Ministers say Israel won’t be bound by Iran deal, as opposition castigates Netanyahu’s ‘absolute failure’

The Times of Israel reports: Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Monday that the Israeli military will remain in southern Lebanon and warned that if Iran strikes, it will be hit “with full force,” promising that Israel will resist any pressure after the US and Iran agreed a deal to end the war that also reportedly includes a commitment to end hostilities in Lebanon. There was no immediate comment on the deal from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but far-right members of…

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A fragile thaw in Hormuz but timing and sequence now matter

A fragile thaw in Hormuz but timing and sequence now matter

Richard Meade writes: The U.S.-Iran agreement has injected a rare moment of relief into a region where merchant seafarers have paid the highest price. But while the headlines trumpet de‑escalation, the maritime sector is treating the news with something closer to wary disbelief than celebration. The Strait of Hormuz may be reopening, but the rules of engagement — literal and political — remain murky. The industry is still waiting for clarity on the administrative and practical arrangements governing the strait,…

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Frustrated by courts, Trump weighed suspending a fundamental constitutional right: habeas corpus

Frustrated by courts, Trump weighed suspending a fundamental constitutional right: habeas corpus

The New York Times reports: Last spring, Will Scharf, an arch-conservative lawyer serving as the White House staff secretary, wrote a secret memo to the chief of staff that reflected growing unease in the West Wing about one of the extreme measures being weighed by Stephen Miller, the powerful adviser driving President Trump’s deportation campaign. Dated April 29, 2025, and stamped “confidential,” the memo was careful and lawyerly but amounted to a warning against end-running the rule of law. The…

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At G-7, allies plan for a world in which the U.S. has less influence

At G-7, allies plan for a world in which the U.S. has less influence

The Washington Post reports: When President Donald Trump arrives on the shores of Lake Geneva for this week’s Group of Seven summit, he will find America’s closest allies in a new posture: increasingly willing to tell him no. After years of tariff threats, diplomatic whiplash and public confrontations, many world leaders have concluded that Trump is not an interruption to the international order but a feature of it — a reordering likely to endure regardless of who sits in the…

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Trump’s anti-free speech rhetoric increases support for censorship among his voters

Trump’s anti-free speech rhetoric increases support for censorship among his voters

PsyPost reports: A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that when political leaders suddenly express support for censorship, their supporters tend to adopt those same views. The findings provide evidence that the statements of prominent politicians can easily sway public opinion on foundational democratic rights like freedom of speech. This highlights how political language can influence voters to abandon long-held values in favor of restricting the rights of opposing groups. President Donald Trump…

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U.S. and Iran will sign a ‘peace deal’ — then spend the next two months negotiating its terms

U.S. and Iran will sign a ‘peace deal’ — then spend the next two months negotiating its terms

The Wall Street Journal reports: Iran and the U.S. have agreed on a peace deal, the two nations announced Sunday, a major breakthrough after nearly four months of fighting that created global political and economic turmoil. President Trump, in an interview earlier Sunday with The Wall Street Journal, said this deal would either be signed electronically by himself or Vice President JD Vance on Sunday. Pakistani negotiators said a formal signing would come later this week. Trump’s interview with the…

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