Humans are increasingly passing pathogens to animal populations

Humans are increasingly passing pathogens to animal populations

Nature reports: There was something wrong with the chimpanzees. For weeks, a community of 205 animals in Uganda’s Kibale National Park had been coughing, sneezing and looking generally miserable. But no one could say for sure what ailed them, even as the animals began to die. Necropsies can help to identify a cause of death, but normally, the bodies of chimps that succumb to disease are found long after decomposition has set in, if at all. So when Tony Goldberg,…

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Genocide expert, Omer Bartov: Israel’s claim that South Africa has aligned itself with Hamas is ‘nonsense’

Genocide expert, Omer Bartov: Israel’s claim that South Africa has aligned itself with Hamas is ‘nonsense’

  Omer Bartov, Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, gives his take on the trial at the International Court of Justice where Israel has been accused of genocide by South Africa. At the ICJ, Israel criticized the “critical part of the South Africa [genocide] thesis” arguing that it has created “safe passage corridors” to protect Palestinian civilians. This is the “humanitarian corridor” of Salah al-Din street where many were killed pic.twitter.com/kWZHuyLCLv — Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) January 15,…

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‘Stunned, angry, and infuriated’: Journalists address U.S. silence on colleagues killed by Israelis

‘Stunned, angry, and infuriated’: Journalists address U.S. silence on colleagues killed by Israelis

  According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 82 journalists and media workers have died since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7th, making this war the deadliest in modern history for journalists. Hamza Al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya are the latest journalists to be killed in the war. Hamza is the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza Bureau Chief Wael Al-Dahdouh, who had already lost his wife, daughter, another son, and grandson in an Israeli airstrike. Al-Dahdouh vows to continue reporting…

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The most durable force in American politics: Trump’s ties to his voters

The most durable force in American politics: Trump’s ties to his voters

Michael C. Bender and Katie Glueck write: Bill Clinton once explained the nation’s two political parties by saying that Democrats want to fall in love while Republicans want to fall in line. That adage has not withstood the Trump era. Today, it is Republicans who are besotted. Donald J. Trump’s decisive victory in Iowa revealed a new depth to the reservoir of devotion inside his party. For eight years, he has nurtured a relationship with his supporters with little precedent…

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Team Trump hopes to decimate both climate policy and regulations on fossil fuels

Team Trump hopes to decimate both climate policy and regulations on fossil fuels

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, staffed his environmental agencies with fossil fuel lobbyists and claimed — against all scientific evidence — that the Earth’s rising temperatures will “start getting cooler.” Expect a second Trump presidency to show less restraint. Trump’s campaign utterances, and the policy proposals being drafted by hundreds of his supporters, point to the likelihood that his return to the White House would bring an all-out war on…

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Europe prepares to stand alone as Trump returns

Europe prepares to stand alone as Trump returns

Politico reports: Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo warned that Europe must be ready to stand alone if Donald Trump sweeps back to the White House later this year. “If 2024 brings us ‘America first’ again, it will be more than ever Europe on its own,” he warned in a speech at the European Parliament, at the start of a year in which both European Union citizens and Americans go to the polls. “We should, as Europeans, not fear that…

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Ukraine shoots down two Russian aircraft in disastrous day for Kremlin

Ukraine shoots down two Russian aircraft in disastrous day for Kremlin

The Guardian reports: Ukraine’s military has shot down two of Russia’s command planes, in one of the most disastrous days for the Kremlin’s air power since the start of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander in chief, said his air force had destroyed an A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and an Il-22 control centre plane. Both were flying above the Sea of Azov on Sunday when they were hit at 9.10pm local time. The A-50, which detects air…

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What chaos theory has to teach us about human events

What chaos theory has to teach us about human events

Brian Klaas writes: The 21st century has been defined by unexpected shocks—major upheavals that have upended the world many of us have known and made our lives feel like the playthings of chaos. Every few years comes a black swan–style event: September 11, the financial crisis, the Arab Spring, Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, the coronavirus pandemic, wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Even daily life can feel like a roll of the dice: With regularity, some Americans go to…

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It’s not only Israel on trial. South Africa is testing the West’s claim to moral superiority

It’s not only Israel on trial. South Africa is testing the West’s claim to moral superiority

Nesrine Malik writes: It was only a little over six hours of legal argument, but the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel at the international court of justice had decades of history bearing down on it. The specifics dealt with Israel’s assault on Gaza, but at its heart, the case was about something wider: closing the gap between Palestinian reality and how the dominant political forces describe it. For weeks now, anger at events in Gaza has spilled…

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Jewish activists mobilizing against war are finding a new community

Jewish activists mobilizing against war are finding a new community

Shane Burley writes: “Let Gaza live! Let Gaza live!” The chant bounced off the century-old granite walls of New York City’s historic Grand Central Station on Oct. 27, as thousands poured onto the floor wearing black T-shirts reading “Jews Say Ceasefire Now.” This messaging has become familiar, as massive rallies around the country, including one of 5,000 people in Washington, D.C., and others in dozens more cities, have been organized by Jewish activists speaking primarily as Jews. These protests represent…

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Much of Houthis’ offensive ability remains intact after U.S.-led airstrikes

Much of Houthis’ offensive ability remains intact after U.S.-led airstrikes

The New York Times reports: The United States-led airstrikes on Thursday and Friday against sites in Yemen controlled by the Houthi militia damaged or destroyed about 90 percent of the targets struck, but the group retained about three-quarters of its ability to fire missiles and drones at ships transiting the Red Sea, two U.S. officials said on Saturday. The damage estimates are the first detailed assessments of the strikes by American and British attack planes and warships against nearly 30…

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Global confidence in American democracy is already waning

Global confidence in American democracy is already waning

Nahal Toosi writes: When I asked the European ambassador to talk to me about America’s deepening partisan divide, I expected a polite brushoff at best. Foreign diplomats are usually loath to discuss domestic U.S. politics. Instead, the ambassador unloaded for an hour, warning that America’s poisonous politics are hurting its security, its economy, its friends and its standing as a pillar of democracy and global stability. The U.S. is a “fat buffalo trying to take a nap” as hungry wolves…

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Poland presses for ambitious 2040 EU climate target, signaling U-turn

Poland presses for ambitious 2040 EU climate target, signaling U-turn

Politico reports: Poland’s new government will urge the European Union to “embrace” a plan to slash 90 percent of the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, a senior government official said on Monday — reflecting the country’s massive shift in climate policy. The European Commission is set to publish a roadmap toward the bloc’s next climate target on February 6, and the EU’s Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change has recommended an emissions cut of 90-95 percent by 2040 compared…

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Climate change threatens global forest carbon sequestration, study finds

Climate change threatens global forest carbon sequestration, study finds

University of Florida: Climate change is reshaping forests differently across the United States, according to a new analysis of U.S. Forest Service data. With rising temperatures, escalating droughts, wildfires, and disease outbreaks taking a toll on trees, researchers warn that forests across the American West are bearing the brunt of the consequences. The study, led by UF Biology researchers J. AARON HOGAN and JEREMY W. LICHSTEIN was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study reveals…

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