Abdullah Ibrahim – A Brother With Perfect Timing

Abdullah Ibrahim – A Brother With Perfect Timing

  A Brother With Perfect Timing was filmed in 1986—four years before the release from prison of Nelson Mandela, and while the apartheid regime was still in place. The documentary includes a live performance by Ibrahim and discussions about two of his compositions, “Anthem for a New Nation” and “Mannenberg”. As described by the reviewer for KUVO radio, “Throughout the film, Ibrahim plays different roles. At times he is the narrator, telling stories and sharing anecdotes, cultural and musical history…

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Texas is gearing up in a big way for Trump’s mass deportation campaign

Texas is gearing up in a big way for Trump’s mass deportation campaign

The Washington Post reports: While Donald Trump’s opponents denounce the president-elect’s planned “mass deportations” and border crackdown, this state’s Republican leaders are vying to make Texas the launching pad. Gov. Greg Abbott and other top officials have spent the past four years positioning themselves as the Biden administration’s greatest antagonists — and heirs to the border enforcement campaign begun by the last Trump administration. Despite having no constitutional authority on immigration enforcement, they have used tools of the state to…

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Trump is filling his administration with people tied to Project 2025

Trump is filling his administration with people tied to Project 2025

The New York Times reports: During the campaign, President-elect Donald J. Trump swore he had “nothing to do with” a right-wing policy blueprint known as Project 2025 that would overhaul the federal government, even though many of those involved in developing the plans were his allies. Mr. Trump even described many of the policy goals as “absolutely ridiculous.” And during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he said he was “not going to read it.” Now, as he plans…

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Trump blocks RFK Jr’s hoped for influence over the agricultural industry

Trump blocks RFK Jr’s hoped for influence over the agricultural industry

Politico reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent weeks lobbying Donald Trump to nominate an Agriculture secretary who would be his ally in a war with the sugar, soybean, corn and other farm commodity interests he argues are poisoning Americans. Working largely from his home in California, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services even meticulously vetted and put forward his own list of candidates to run the massive agency responsible for the country’s farm and food…

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Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, food minister says

Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, food minister says

The Guardian reports: The Israeli military will remain in Gaza for many years, fighting against fresh Hamas recruits in the territory and could be responsible for delivery of humanitarian aid there, a senior Israeli minister has said. The comments by Avi Dichter, Israel’s minister for food security and a member of the Israeli security cabinet, confirm an emerging picture of a long-term deployment of Israeli troops inside Gaza, with no immediate Israeli plan for any other administration to govern the…

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UK spy chief says Russia behind ‘staggeringly reckless’ sabotage in Europe

UK spy chief says Russia behind ‘staggeringly reckless’ sabotage in Europe

Reuters reports: Britain’s foreign spy chief accused Russia on Friday of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe while also stepping up its nuclear sabre-rattling to scare other countries off from backing Ukraine. Richard Moore, head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6, said that any softening in support for Ukraine against Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies. In what appeared a message to incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration…

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Big pharma is the only reason anyone still dies from HIV

Big pharma is the only reason anyone still dies from HIV

Charlotte Kilpatrick writes: The year is 1998. While antiviral drugs to treat HIV had been approved a decade earlier, only five out of 33 million people who carried the virus were receiving the life-saving treatment. Nowhere was the situation worse than in South Africa. The country had the highest global prevalence of the disease with nearly one in five people infected and 200,000 children orphaned. Treatment options were limited. That year, the Minister of Health released a report outlining the…

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A grief with no name

A grief with no name

Jelena Markovic writes: I keep religious icons in my house, the Orthodox ones where Christ has dark, pensive eyes. When my friends come over, they sometimes ask why. It doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of my personality. ‘My parents are religious,’ I say. This makes no sense, because I put the icons up myself. My friend Daniel keeps icons up as well. ‘I’m not sure if I’m a believer, but if there was one true faith, it would…

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Mexico president touts friendly Trump call, but warns tariffs would kill 400,000 U.S. jobs

Mexico president touts friendly Trump call, but warns tariffs would kill 400,000 U.S. jobs

Reuters reports: Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday she and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had agreed to maintain a good relationship in a friendly phone call that appeared to ease tensions between the top trading partners amid tariff threats. Sheinbaum struck a more conciliatory tone a day after saying Mexico would retaliate if Trump carries out his pledge to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports. “It was a good conversation and we are going to keep…

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The message to Democrats is clear: you must dump neoliberal economics

The message to Democrats is clear: you must dump neoliberal economics

Joseph Stiglitz writes: As the shock of Donald Trump’s victory sinks in, pundits and politicians are mulling what it means for the future of the US and global politics. Understanding why such a divisive, unqualified figure won again is crucial for the Democrats. Did they go too far left and lose the moderate Americans who make up a majority? Or did centrist neoliberalism – pursued by Democratic presidents since Bill Clinton – fail to deliver, thus creating a demand for…

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Crypto leaders press Trump to create federal bitcoin reserve

Crypto leaders press Trump to create federal bitcoin reserve

The Washington Post reports: Top cryptocurrency executives and investors are pushing President-elect Donald Trump to create a national stockpile of bitcoin, a move that could more closely tie the little-regulated, volatile industry to the future of the country’s finances. Trump has publicly expressed broad interest in the idea, though some crypto advocates have urged him to take an even more aggressive step: They want him to acquire tokens worth billions of dollars, then hold them for decades in the hopes…

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Ruble tumbles as Russia’s war economy comes under increasing strain

Ruble tumbles as Russia’s war economy comes under increasing strain

Politico reports: The ruble tumbled on Wednesday to its lowest level in over two years, as a mix of low oil prices, new sanctions against Russian businesses and burgeoning government spending on its war effort put ever-greater strain on the Russian economy. The central bank reacted by suspending currency purchases for the rest of this year. That will restrict the supply of rubles and should support the exchange rate accordingly. It took a similar step last year, after the mutiny…

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Australia passes world-first law banning under-16s from social media despite safety concerns

Australia passes world-first law banning under-16s from social media despite safety concerns

The Guardian reports: Australia’s parliament has passed a law that will aim to do what no other government has, and many parents have tried to: stop children from using social media. The new law was drafted in response to what the Labor prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says is a “clear, causal link between the rise of social media and the harm [to] the mental health of young Australians.” On Thursday, parliament’s upper house, the Senate, passed a bill by 34…

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Bunkerised society – why prepping for end times is so American

Bunkerised society – why prepping for end times is so American

Robert Kirsch and Emily Ray write: A family of six pulls up to the Be Prepared Expo in Farmington, Utah. They are concerned about supply-chain failure, sure of the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic was only a taste of what’s to come. They want to buy seeds for their garden so they can grow food to preserve and stash in the basement. The kids pet the puppies at breeder booths selling guard dogs, the father exchanges opinions about the best…

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Their DNA survives in diverse populations across the world – but who were the Denisovans?

Their DNA survives in diverse populations across the world – but who were the Denisovans?

This finger bone discovered in Siberia in 2008 led to the original Denisovan discovery. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA By Linda Ongaro, Trinity College Dublin It started with a finger bone found in a cave in the Altai mountains in Siberia in the late 2000s. Thanks to advances in DNA analysis, this was all that was required for scientists to be able to identify an entirely new group of hominins, meaning upright primates on the same evolutionary branch as humans. Now known…

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