Sperm whales live in culturally distinct clans, research finds

Sperm whales live in culturally distinct clans, research finds

The Guardian reports: Sperm whales live in clans with distinctive cultures, much like those of humans, a study has found. Using underwater microphones and drone surveys, Hal Whitehead, a sperm whale scientist at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Canada, examined the sounds the animals made and their feeding habits and found they organised themselves into groups of up to around 20,000. The paper, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, said the clans were defined by variations in their vocalisations…

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Why Israel should be very worried by genocide case at International Court of Justice

Why Israel should be very worried by genocide case at International Court of Justice

  Owen Jones: “You might think that South Africa’s case against Israel for genocide is doomed – that Israel will just ignore the International Court of Justice if it issues a provisional ruling ordering it to cease its murderous onslaught against Gaza. “But as lawyer Daniel Machover explains – this could have major consequences for Israel. He explains – very clearly – what the legal case means – and where it could lead.” The New Arab reports: Jordan’s foreign minister…

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How apartheid history shaped South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

How apartheid history shaped South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

Chris McGreal reports: Israel has denounced South Africa’s legal action at the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza as amounting to support for Hamas. Israel called the charge that it was intentionally killing thousands of Palestinian civilians – which the ICJ is expected to start hearing on Thursday – a “blood libel”. Jewish organisations in South Africa accused the ruling African National Congress of siding with terrorism and antisemitism. But South Africa’s lawsuit…

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Israel tasks ex-Supreme Court chief Aharon Barak to serve at Hague genocide hearings

Israel tasks ex-Supreme Court chief Aharon Barak to serve at Hague genocide hearings

The Times of Israel reports: Retired Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, 87, will be Israel’s appointee to the 15-judge panel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague that will this week hear South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, Jerusalem announced Sunday. The Foreign Ministry confirmed Barak’s appointment to The Times of Israel. Barak’s name was suggested by the International Department of the State Attorney’s Office, backed by Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara and personally approved…

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The epidemiological war on Gaza

The epidemiological war on Gaza

Maya Rosen writes: Since October 7th, Israel has severely reduced the entry of food, water, and fuel into Gaza, successfully creating what global health expert Yara Asi described as “a dire human-made humanitarian catastrophe” characterized by mass hunger, thirst, homelessness, and lack of medical services. As months pass without any meaningful relief, these conditions have produced “the perfect storm for disease,” in the words of United Nations Children’s Fund spokesperson James Elder. On January 2nd, the WHO announced that there…

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Biden’s refusal of Gaza ceasefire could drag U.S. into Middle East war

Biden’s refusal of Gaza ceasefire could drag U.S. into Middle East war

  Middle East policy expert Trita Parsi says President Biden’s reluctance to press Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza has the potential to drag the U.S. into a war with Iran and its allies in the region. On Monday, Israel reportedly killed a Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, just days after an airstrike killed a senior Hamas leader in the capital Beirut. Meanwhile, the U.S. has exchanged fire with Yemen’s Houthi forces, who have attacked commercial ships in the Red…

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Israel is not promising to ‘scale back’ its war on Gaza

Israel is not promising to ‘scale back’ its war on Gaza

Spencer Ackerman writes: Readers of The New York Times were treated on Monday morning to a breaking-news alert heralding what seemed like a welcome development: “Israel says it has begun to scale back war.” That description, which led the Times website, is about as close to the opposite of the way Israel’s war is heading as could appear in the leading US newspaper. The Israeli Defense Forces spokesman, Radm. Daniel Hagari, gave the Times the interview that it used for…

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Evolution might stop humans from solving climate change, says new study

Evolution might stop humans from solving climate change, says new study

University of Maine: Central features of human evolution may stop our species from resolving global environmental problems like climate change, says a new study led by the University of Maine. Humans have come to dominate the planet with tools and systems to exploit natural resources that were refined over thousands of years through the process of cultural adaptation to the environment. University of Maine evolutionary biologist Tim Waring wanted to know how this process of cultural adaptation to the environment…

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Israel’s talk of expanding war to Lebanon alarms U.S. — but not enough to demand a ceasefire

Israel’s talk of expanding war to Lebanon alarms U.S. — but not enough to demand a ceasefire

The Washington Post reports: President Biden has dispatched his top aides to the Middle East with a critical objective: Prevent a full-blown war from erupting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Israel has made clear it views as untenable the regular exchange of fire between its forces and Hezbollah along the border and may soon launch a major military operation in Lebanon. “We prefer the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Friday,…

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CPJ urges investigation into whether Israel is targeting journalists in air strikes

CPJ urges investigation into whether Israel is targeting journalists in air strikes

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for an independent investigation into an Israeli drone strike that killed Al-Jazeera journalist Hamza Al Dahdouh, who is the son of Al-Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh, and freelance journalist Mustafa Thuraya on Sunday as they drove their car to an assignment in southern Gaza. “The killings of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya must be independently investigated, and those behind their deaths must be held accountable. The continuous killings of…

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Seizing Russia’s frozen assets is the right move

Seizing Russia’s frozen assets is the right move

Joseph E. Stiglitz and Andrew Kosenko write: As Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to wreak havoc both regionally and globally, the Ukrainian people and their allies demonstrate remarkable determination and courage. But nearly two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, it is increasingly clear that the international community can and must do much more to help. While the G7 countries and other governments around the world have been extraordinarily generous in supporting the Ukrainian war effort, there are signs…

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Trump tries reappropriating ‘insurrection’ on Jan. 6 anniversary

Trump tries reappropriating ‘insurrection’ on Jan. 6 anniversary

The Washington Post reports: Republican polling leader Donald Trump observed the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by glorifying people charged in the riot, repeating baseless claims that left-wing or government interlopers caused the breach, and attempting to turn the term “insurrection” against his political opponents. The remarks were part of an ongoing escalation of Trump’s and other Republicans’ efforts to minimize, justify and deny the violence of three years ago while also defending…

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The real reasons the GOP suddenly pretended to care about Harvard

The real reasons the GOP suddenly pretended to care about Harvard

Will Bunch writes: The true meaning of Claudine Gay’s ouster can be seen in a story that’s gotten zero coverage in the New York Times or the rest of the mainstream media. At Louisiana State University, whose undergraduate enrollment of just under 29,000 is exactly four times that of Harvard, the looming arrival of a new right-wing GOP governor across town in Baton Rouge has sparked a quiet but significant effort to dismantle diversity efforts and kill anti-racism education in…

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‘He’s a cipher’: How Austin’s need for privacy just backfired

‘He’s a cipher’: How Austin’s need for privacy just backfired

Politico reports: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is one of the most reclusive Pentagon chiefs in recent memory. That’s creating a major problem for him now. Austin’s failure to inform his most senior advisers, congressional leaders and even President Joe Biden of his hospitalization last week due to complications from a medical procedure has erupted into a controversy that’s left senior White House and Pentagon officials infuriated and befuddled. Some Republicans quickly called for investigations or even for Austin to be…

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