We finally know what turned the lights on at the dawn of time

We finally know what turned the lights on at the dawn of time

Science Alert reports: We finally know what brought light to the dark and formless void of the early Universe. According to data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, the origins of the free-flying photons in the early cosmic dawn were small dwarf galaxies that flared to life, clearing the fog of murky hydrogen that filled intergalactic space. “This discovery unveils the crucial role played by ultra-faint galaxies in the early Universe’s evolution,” says astrophysicist Iryna Chemerynska of the…

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As Biden dithers, Israel is the driving force behind starvation in Gaza

As Biden dithers, Israel is the driving force behind starvation in Gaza

  Megan K. Stack writes: The threat of starvation is believed to be most intense in the bomb-scarred remains of northern Gaza, where by January, nutrition screenings found that more than 15 percent of children ages 6 months to 23 months were acutely malnourished, a condition rarely seen in Gaza before the current war. “Such a decline in a population’s nutritional status in three months is unprecedented globally,” UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the U.N. World Food Program said…

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These injured Palestinians made it out of Gaza. Their loved ones did not — and the distance is agony

These injured Palestinians made it out of Gaza. Their loved ones did not — and the distance is agony

HuffPost reports: Samira Thari recently told her six children still in Gaza that she doesn’t want to hear from them. She thinks of them constantly, especially those most hurt by the violence there ― like her 22-year-old son, who is in a wheelchair after being hit by shrapnel, and her 14-year-old daughter, who’s been rendered speechless by the shock of the war. But she knows that for the family to get cell service, they have to leave their tent shelter…

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Trump backs Israel bombarding Gaza: ‘Gotta finish the problem’

Trump backs Israel bombarding Gaza: ‘Gotta finish the problem’

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump is hoping to win big on Super Tuesday, and he kicked off the primary’s most vote-rich day with one of his favorite traditions from his time as president: calling in to Fox News to deliver an unhinged rant. The former president called Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning, where he celebrated Monday’s Supreme Court decision barring states from removing him from the ballot, doubled down on his claims that migrants are “poisoning our country,” and…

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Donald Trump, seeking cash infusion, meets with Elon Musk

Donald Trump, seeking cash infusion, meets with Elon Musk

The New York Times reports: Donald Trump, who is urgently seeking a cash infusion to aid his presidential campaign, met on Sunday in Palm Beach, Fla., with Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, and a few wealthy Republican donors, according to three people briefed on the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private discussion. Mr. Trump and his team are working to find additional major donors to shore up his finances as he…

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The Supreme Court just erased part of the Constitution

The Supreme Court just erased part of the Constitution

David French writes: As of Monday, March 4, 2024, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution is essentially a dead letter, at least as it applies to candidates for federal office. Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that reversed the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision striking Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot, even insurrectionists who’ve violated their previous oath of office can hold federal office, unless and until Congress passes specific legislation to enforce Section 3. In the…

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The worst wildfire in Texas’ history has a complex link with climate change

The worst wildfire in Texas’ history has a complex link with climate change

BBC Future reports: The worst wildfire in Texas’ history is leaving wide scars on the landscape. Why is the blaze so extreme? Temperatures dropped and snow began to fall on the Texas panhandle, dusting the scorched grasslands, thousands of dead cattle, and hundreds of burnt-out buildings with a fine layer of white powder. It was a welcome relief – and an apocalyptic image – for the state, which has been battling its worst wildfire in history. The Smokehouse Creek fire,…

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Where did India’s people come from? Massive genetic study reveals surprises

Where did India’s people come from? Massive genetic study reveals surprises

Science reports: South Asia is home to one of the most diverse assemblages of people in the world. A mélange of different ethnic identities, languages, religions, castes, and customs makes up the 1.5 billion humans who live here. Now, scientists have revealed the most detailed look yet of how this population took shape. In the largest ever modern whole-genome analysis from South Asia—published as a preprint last month on bioRxiv—researchers reveal new details about the origin of India’s Iranian ancestry…

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The real reason Trump loves Putin

The real reason Trump loves Putin

Franklin Foer writes: For nearly the entirety of the past decade, a question has stalked, and sometimes consumed, American politics: Why do Donald Trump and his acolytes heap such reverent praise on Vladimir Putin? The question is born of disbelief. Adoration of the Russian leader, who murders his domestic opponents, kidnaps thousands of Ukrainian children, and interferes in American presidential elections, is so hard to comprehend that it seems only plausibly explained by venal motives—thus the search to find the…

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It’s past time to quit hoping the courts are going to stop Trump

It’s past time to quit hoping the courts are going to stop Trump

Richard L. Hasen and Dahlia Lithwick write: The latest decisions out of the Supreme Court, first on when to hear former President Donald Trump’s immunity appeal, then on how to deal with his Colorado ballot disqualification, have made one thing very clear: We need to stop deluding ourselves that a majority of the Supreme Court sees the same political emergency that many of us do in terms of the threat Trump poses to American democracy. Whether it understood or even…

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Trump’s White House was ‘awash in speed’ — and Xanax

Trump’s White House was ‘awash in speed’ — and Xanax

Rolling Stone reports: If you ever looked at the actions of the Trump White House and wondered, ‘Are they on drugs?’ — the answer was, in some cases, yes. Absolutely, yes. In January, the Defense Department’s inspector general released a report detailing how the White House Medical Unit during the Trump administration distributed controlled substances with scant oversight and even sloppier record keeping. Investigators repeatedly noted that the unit had ordered thousands and thousands of doses of the stimulant modafinil,…

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Israel’s Gantz tests Netanyahu partnership in Washington

Israel’s Gantz tests Netanyahu partnership in Washington

Reuters reports: Benny Gantz, the Israeli war cabinet member visiting Washington this week, tells a story of how his mother, a Holocaust survivor, once had an operation in Germany performed by a Palestinian doctor from Gaza. The story encapsulates the hope for reconciliation that motivates optimists in the Middle East but which has been cruelly tested by the war with Gaza that erupted on Oct. 7, the deadliest day in Israel’s history. Gantz, 64, who leads a centrist party that…

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How Israel quietly crushed early American Jewish dissent on Palestine

How Israel quietly crushed early American Jewish dissent on Palestine

Debbie Nathan writes: The Israeli government covertly meddled into American Jewish politics from the 1950s to 1970s, and they did so to quash Jewish criticisms of the 1948 Nakba — the mass dispossession and expulsions of Palestinians during Israel’s founding — and Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Israeli diplomats who oversaw the furtive campaign were at one point assisted by Wolf Blitzer — today the host of CNN’s primetime show “The Situation Room.” These are some of the findings of “Our…

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In race for top EU, NATO jobs, Eastern Europe asks: ‘Are we equals or not?’

In race for top EU, NATO jobs, Eastern Europe asks: ‘Are we equals or not?’

Politico reports: Two decades after joining the European Union and NATO, Eastern European countries fear they’ll once again be passed as the top jobs of both institutions are reshuffled later this year. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s likely appointment as the new head of NATO this summer may have received the endorsement of Washington, London, Paris and Berlin. Among many of the alliance’s newer members, however, in particular those bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the welcome was far less warm….

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