Who first buried the dead?

Who first buried the dead?

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Paige Madison writes: A mysterious cache of bones, recovered from a deep chamber in a South African cave, is challenging long-held beliefs about how a group of bipedal apes developed into the abstract-thinking creatures that we call “human.” The fossils were discovered in 2013 and were quickly recognized as the remains of a new species unlike anything seen before. Named Homo naledi, it has an unexpected mix of modern features and primitive ones, including a fairly small brain. Arguably the…

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Carlo Rovelli on changing how we think about time

Carlo Rovelli on changing how we think about time

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Charlotte Higgins writes: What do we know about time? Language tells us that it “passes”, it moves like a great river, inexorably dragging us with it, and, in the end, washes us up on its shore while it continues, unstoppable. Time flows. It moves ever forwards. Or does it? Poets also tell us that time stumbles or creeps or slows or even, at times, seems to stop. They tell us that the past might be inescapable, immanent in objects or…

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America’s first reality TV war

America’s first reality TV war

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Micah Zenko writes: One year after launching a limited strike against the Syrian government to deter future chemical weapons attacks, U.S. President Donald Trump did the same thing again Friday night. Within 12 hours, the Pentagon judged the operation as being “very successful,” which was a given since the three above-ground facilities were assuredly monitored for years and situated in a relatively low-threat air defense environment. The ability of a $700 billion military to destroy static targets is unremarkable. What…

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Journalist who exposed Russia’s secret mercenaries in Syria mysteriously fell to his death

Journalist who exposed Russia’s secret mercenaries in Syria mysteriously fell to his death

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Vice News reports: In February, Russian investigative journalist Maxim Borodin published a series of bombshell reports about the secret, substantial presence of Russian mercenary forces in Syria. On Sunday, he died, following a mysterious fall from his fifth-floor balcony. Now, a journalists’ advocacy group is calling for an investigation into his “suspicious” death — even though his own editor-in-chief has said there’s not yet any hard evidence of foul play. Local police said they’re investigating “several versions” of the death…

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Keeping stories alive when journalists are under threat

Keeping stories alive when journalists are under threat

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Laurent Richard writes: You killed the messenger. But you won’t kill the message. Over the past six months 45 journalists from 15 different countries have been working in secret to complete and publish investigations by the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed on 16 October 2017. Cooperation is without a doubt the best protection. What is the point of killing a journalist if 10, 20 or 30 others are waiting to carry on their work? Whether you’re a…

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How can Trump be commander-in-chief when he isn’t in command of himself?

How can Trump be commander-in-chief when he isn’t in command of himself?

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David Frum writes: So many people have so much difficulty joining their awareness of the president’s instability to their commentary on U.S. military actions. They mentally update the famous line of Donald Rumsfeld’s: “You don’t go to war with the commander-in-chief you want. You go to war with the commander-in-chief you have.” Yet if any other aspect of U.S. military power were in the same damaged condition as the supreme executive authority, responsible people would pause at going to war…

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Assad in a ‘good mood’ after U.S.-led strikes in Syria show no sign of threatening his hold on power

Assad in a ‘good mood’ after U.S.-led strikes in Syria show no sign of threatening his hold on power

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The Washington Post reports: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad praised Russian weaponry on Sunday as his government celebrated victory over rebels in the town where an alleged chemical attack took place, triggering U.S. airstrikes over the weekend. Assad made the comments during a meeting in Damascus with Russian lawmakers, who later told reporters that he was in a “good mood,” according to Russian news reports. Footage of the meeting broadcast by state television showed an animated Assad smiling and laughing as…

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Michael Cohen and the terminal phase of the Trump presidency

Michael Cohen and the terminal phase of the Trump presidency

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Adam Davidson writes: There are lots of details and surprises to come, but the endgame of this Presidency seems as clear now as those of Iraq and the financial crisis did months before they unfolded. Last week, federal investigators raided the offices of Michael Cohen, the man who has been closer than anybody to Trump’s most problematic business and personal relationships. This week, we learned that Cohen has been under criminal investigation for months—his e-mails have been read, presumably his…

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The battle to ban plastic bags

The battle to ban plastic bags

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A plastic bag floats in the ocean in this 2016 photo. Creative Commons By Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University and Tony Robert Walker, Dalhousie University There are increasing concerns about the use of plastics in our day-to-day lives. Single-use plastics of any kind, including grocery bags, cutlery, straws, polystyrene and coffee cups, are significant yet preventable sources of plastic land-based and marine pollution. In Canada, bans on plastics have so far been left up to municipalities, and some are taking action….

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Ocean heat waves are becoming more common and lasting longer

Ocean heat waves are becoming more common and lasting longer

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The Washington Post reports: Heat waves over the world’s oceans are becoming longer and more frequent, damaging coral reefs and creating chaos for aquatic species. A study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications found a 54 percent increase in the number of days in which heat waves have cooked the oceans since 1925. The rise in these marine heat waves has occurred while ever more heat is stored in the ocean because of accumulating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere….

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Has Assad’s survival made him dispensable?

Has Assad’s survival made him dispensable?

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Ewen MacAskill writes: The US-led operation against Syria, which included the contributions from the UK and France, was a modest one, limited to a short, sharp attack against targets alleged to be linked to chemical weapons. It is intended as a one-off, with no further strikes planned unless Syrian president Bashar al-Assad conducts chemical attacks in the future. There had been speculation in advance of the attack that there was a risk it could lead to world war three. It…

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The death toll in Syria

The death toll in Syria

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The New York Times reports: The last comprehensive number widely accepted internationally — 470,000 dead — was issued by the Syrian Center for Policy Research in 2016. The group, which was based in Damascus until that year, was long seen as one of the most reliable local sources because it was not affiliated with the government or aligned with any opposition group. But now, just getting a death certificate is problematic in Syria, let alone a collective tally of the…

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Collusion: Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier

Collusion: Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier

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McClatchy reports: The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spy’s report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election. It would also be one of the most significant developments thus far in…

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Key evidence ‘went missing’ from police records during investigation into Russian whistleblower’s death, court hears

Key evidence ‘went missing’ from police records during investigation into Russian whistleblower’s death, court hears

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BuzzFeed reports: Vital evidence disappeared from police custody during their investigation into the death of Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy, a court has heard. When Perepilichnyy died, authorities scoured his computer and discovered that he had been receiving threats. They also found a bank statement showing a mysterious payment worth half a billion dollars from an unknown company called “Precious Metal”. But that and much of the other evidence from a forensic imaging of his computer “went missing” from both police…

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