While a fire rages in Gaza, the West Bank smolders

While a fire rages in Gaza, the West Bank smolders

Omar Shakir writes: While global attention is focused on Israel and Gaza, Israeli authorities are tightening their repression in the West Bank and Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians are surging. That repression was already at a peak before the October 7 Hamas-led attack that killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel, but it has gotten much worse since. Between January 1 and October 6, Israeli security forces killed more Palestinians in the West Bank – 192, including 40 children…

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OpenAI researchers warned board of dangerous AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster, sources say

OpenAI researchers warned board of dangerous AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster, sources say

Reuters reports: Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s four days in exile, several staff researchers wrote a letter to the board of directors warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The previously unreported letter and AI algorithm were key developments before the board’s ouster of Altman, the poster child of generative AI, the two sources said. Prior to his triumphant return late Tuesday, more than 700…

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The Netherlands underestimated the far right – and Geert Wilders’ victory is the result

The Netherlands underestimated the far right – and Geert Wilders’ victory is the result

Cas Mudde writes: Two things were already clear months before Dutch election day: the Netherlands would have a new prime minister and dozens of new parliamentarians. Forty sitting members of parliament, a quarter of the Tweede Kamer (lower house), and, even more striking, three of the four leaders of the outgoing conservative-led coalition had announced their departure from national politics. Ironically, in this sea of electoral change, it was the far-right mainstay, Geert Wilders, the soon-to-be longest-sitting MP, who would…

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U.S. coal power plants killed at least 460,000 people in past 20 years, report finds

U.S. coal power plants killed at least 460,000 people in past 20 years, report finds

The Guardian reports: Coal-fired power plants killed at least 460,000 Americans during the past two decades, causing twice as many premature deaths as previously thought, new research has found. Cars, factories, fire smoke and electricity plants emit tiny toxic air pollutants known as fine particulate matter or PM2.5, which elevate the risk of an array of life-shortening medical conditions including asthma, heart disease, low birth weight and some cancers. Researchers analyzed Medicare and emissions data from 1999 and 2020, and…

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The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

By Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Edith Cowan University and Waqas Uzair, Edith Cowan University We hop in the car to get groceries or drop kids at school. But while the car is convenient, these short trips add up in terms of emissions, pollution and petrol cost. Close to half (44%) of all Australian commuter trips are by car – and under 10km. Of Perth’s 4.2 million daily car trips, 2.8 million are for distances of less than 2km. This is common in…

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Trump’s authoritarianism appeals to the millions of Americans who want an authoritarian leader

Trump’s authoritarianism appeals to the millions of Americans who want an authoritarian leader

Peter Wehner writes: I thought about the events that led up to the Rwandan genocide after I heard Donald Trump, in a Veterans Day speech, refer to those he counts as his enemies as “vermin.” “We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country—that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Trump said toward the end of his speech in Claremont, New…

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Gaza’s next tragedy: Disease risk spreads amid overcrowded shelters, dirty water and breakdown of basic sanitation

Gaza’s next tragedy: Disease risk spreads amid overcrowded shelters, dirty water and breakdown of basic sanitation

By Yara M. Asi, University of Central Florida After more than a month of being subjected to sustained bombing, the besieged people of the Gaza Strip are now confronted with another threat to life: disease. Overcrowding at shelters, a breakdown of basic sanitation, the rising number of unburied dead and a scarcity of clean drinking water have left the enclave “on the precipice of major disease outbreaks,” according to the World Health Organization. As an expert in Palestinian public health…

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Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right figurehead sending a chill across Europe

Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right figurehead sending a chill across Europe

The Guardian reports: Known for his distinctive platinum-blond hairstyle and his aggressive anti-Islam and anti-immigration rhetoric, Geert Wilders has been catapulted by the Dutch elections to the place he loves most to be: at the centre of attention. In a political earthquake, Wilders’ Freedom party was on course late on Wednesday to win the most votes in the country’s parliamentary elections, opening the way for the politician to play a key role in the formation of the next government after…

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Nikki Haley is consolidating the ‘Never Trump’ vote

Nikki Haley is consolidating the ‘Never Trump’ vote

Politico reports: Two years after Nikki Haley vowed not to challenge Donald Trump for the presidential nomination, the former South Carolina governor who served in his administration and once called him a “friend” is becoming the standard-bearer of the movement to knock him out. In recent weeks, Haley has drawn a surge in support from Trump-skeptical Republicans across the GOP, including donors and organizers in early voting states. A group of former Tim Scott donors is preparing to host a…

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Former Obama adviser in custody after halal cart confrontation, NYPD opens hate crime investigation

Former Obama adviser in custody after halal cart confrontation, NYPD opens hate crime investigation

WABC reports: A former Obama administration adviser was taken into police custody Wednesday after a confrontation at a halal cart in Manhattan was caught on camera, police say. Stuart Seldowitz lives around the corner from the halal cart. Several videos captured the former diplomat allegedly harassing the vendor about his Egyptian roots and Islamic faith. Seldowitz was fired from his work with lobbying and communications firm Gotham Government Relations. A hate crime investigation was opened by the NYPD after Seldowitz…

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Far-right conspiracy theorists accused a 22-year-old Jewish man of being a neo-Nazi. Then Elon Musk got involved

Far-right conspiracy theorists accused a 22-year-old Jewish man of being a neo-Nazi. Then Elon Musk got involved

CNN reports: Ben Brody says his life was going fine. He had just finished college, stayed out of trouble, and was prepping for law school. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Elon Musk used his considerable social media clout to amplify an online mob’s misguided rants accusing the 22-year-old from California of being an undercover agent in a neo-Nazi group. The claim, Brody told CNN, was as bizarre as it was baseless. But the fact he bore a vague resemblance to…

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How mathematics built the modern world

How mathematics built the modern world

Bo Malmberg and Hannes Malmberg write: In school, you might have heard that the Industrial Revolution was preceded by the Scientific Revolution, when Newton uncovered the mechanical laws underlying motion and Galileo learned the true shape of the cosmos. Armed with this newfound knowledge and the scientific method, the inventors of the Industrial Revolution created machines – from watches to steam engines – that would change everything. But was science really the key? Most of the significant inventions of the…

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World facing ‘hellish’ 3C of climate heating, UN warns before Cop28

World facing ‘hellish’ 3C of climate heating, UN warns before Cop28

The Guardian reports: The world is on track for a “hellish” 3C of global heating, the UN has warned before the crucial Cop28 climate summit that begins next week in the United Arab Emirates. The report found that today’s carbon-cutting policies are so inadequate that 3C of heating would be reached this century. Temperature records have already been obliterated in 2023 and intensifying heatwaves, floods and droughts have taken lives and hit livelihoods across the globe, in response to a…

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U.S. has sent Israel data on aid group locations to try to prevent strikes, but the strikes continue

U.S. has sent Israel data on aid group locations to try to prevent strikes, but the strikes continue

Politico reports: The Biden administration has been providing Israel with the location of humanitarian groups in Gaza for weeks to prevent strikes against their facilities. But Israel has continued to hit such sites. The information included GPS coordinates of a number of medical facilities and information on movements of aid groups in Gaza to the Israeli government for at least a month, according to three people familiar with the communications. All were granted anonymity because they feared speaking publicly would…

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