My brave, brilliant friend was kidnapped in Iraq. Will the world stand up for her?

My brave, brilliant friend was kidnapped in Iraq. Will the world stand up for her?

Rachel Sharansky Danziger writes: Liza [Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is being held by a militia in Iraq] and [her sister] Emma, like us, grew up hearing prison stories and about the legacy of fighting repression in the name of what was right. Our father was a Zionist, while Liza’s parents, Arkady and Ira Tsurkov, were Marxists. But they all advocated a more democratic state, drawing international attention to the Soviet Union’s blatant abuse of its citizens. Most important, they all knew…

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All eyes on China after Russia leaves Black Sea grain deal

All eyes on China after Russia leaves Black Sea grain deal

Reuters reports: Russia halted participation on Monday in the year-old U.N.-brokered deal that lets Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea, spreading fear in poorer countries that price rises will put food out of reach. Hours earlier, a blast knocked out Russia’s bridge to Crimea in what Moscow called a strike by Ukrainian sea drones, killing two people in what Moscow cast as a terrorist attack on the road bridge, a major artery for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. The…

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Ukrainian drone strike disables bridge between Crimea and Russia

Ukrainian drone strike disables bridge between Crimea and Russia

The Wall Street Journal reports: A Ukrainian strike disabled the only road bridge connecting Russia with the occupied Crimean Peninsula, hitting once again a major symbol of President Vladimir Putin’s rule and constricting Russian supplies to the front lines in southern Ukraine. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said it would likely take until mid-September to restore partial two-way cargo traffic on the bridge, and until November to fully rebuild the 12-mile-long structure. According to Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee, Kyiv…

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What I saw in Jenin after Israel’s largest West Bank raid in 20 years

What I saw in Jenin after Israel’s largest West Bank raid in 20 years

Diana Buttu writes: As I entered the Jenin refugee camp, a few days after Israel’s deadly assault in early July, I was overcome by the sights and smells—and by my own memories. At the camp’s entrance, garbage was piled high, the first sign of Israel’s destruction of much of the camp’s infrastructure, including its sewage lines. The smell of the garbage rotting in the hot sun, mixed with the open sewage, was overwhelming. But as I walked deeper into the…

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In Africa, Wagner isn’t the only game in town

In Africa, Wagner isn’t the only game in town

Amanda Kadlec writes: When South Africa’s defense force disbanded in 1994, tens of thousands of military personnel found themselves out of work. The state’s massive security infrastructure — independently built with advanced capabilities relative to the country’s size and geopolitical importance — employed the force to keep an inhumane system in place. Suddenly jobless and pension-less with the fall of the apartheid state, some of the elite officers turned to Eben Barlow, the special forces lieutenant colonel who resigned just…

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How Harlan Crow slashed his tax bill by taking Clarence Thomas on superyacht cruises

How Harlan Crow slashed his tax bill by taking Clarence Thomas on superyacht cruises

ProPublica reports: For months, Harlan Crow and members of Congress have been engaged in a fight over whether the billionaire needs to divulge details about his gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, including globe-trotting trips aboard his 162-foot yacht, the Michaela Rose. Crow’s lawyer argues that Congress has no authority to probe the GOP donor’s generosity and that doing so violates a constitutional separation of powers between Congress and the Supreme Court. Members of Congress say there are federal…

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GOP donors fuel RFK Jr’s presidential campaign

GOP donors fuel RFK Jr’s presidential campaign

Judd Legum writes: Mark Dickson, a Californian who amassed a fortune treating aluminum for the aerospace industry, has donated more than $450,000 to federal candidates since 2015. The total includes $400,000 to Trump Victory, the joint fundraising committee that allows individuals to contribute large amounts to support Donald Trump. That money was then distributed to Trump’s presidential campaign, the Republican National Committee, state Republican parties, and others working on behalf of Trump. Keith Sheldon, a retired car dealership executive from…

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Wild parrot chicks babble like human infants

Wild parrot chicks babble like human infants

Science reports: Babies don’t babble to sound cute—they’re taking their first steps on the path to learning language. Now, a study shows parrot chicks do the same. Although the behavior has been seen in songbirds and two mammalian species, finding it in these birds is important, experts say, as they may provide the best nonhuman model for studying how we begin to learn language. The find is “exciting,” says Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Hunter College not involved with…

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How a vast demographic shift will reshape the world

How a vast demographic shift will reshape the world

The New York Times reports: The world’s demographics have already been transformed. Europe is shrinking. China is shrinking, with India, a much younger country, overtaking it this year as the world’s most populous nation. But what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning. The projections are reliable, and stark: By 2050, people age 65 and older will make up nearly 40 percent of the population in some parts of East Asia and Europe. That’s almost twice the share of…

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A rapid end to burning fossil fuel is possible

A rapid end to burning fossil fuel is possible

Bill McKibben writes: In the list of ill-timed corporate announcements, historians may someday give pride of place to one made by Wael Sawan, the new C.E.O. of Shell, the largest energy company in Europe. In 2021, Shell said that it would reduce oil and gas production by one to two per cent a year up to 2030—a modest gesture in the direction of an energy transition. But Sawan, who assumed command of the company in January, signalled a different direction….

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Big oil quietly walks back on climate pledges as global heat records tumble

Big oil quietly walks back on climate pledges as global heat records tumble

The Guardian reports: It was probably the Earth’s hottest week in history earlier this month, following the warmest June on record, and top scientists agree that the planet will get even hotter unless we phase out fossil fuels. Yet leading energy companies are intent on pushing the world in the opposite direction, expanding fossil fuel production and insisting that there is no alternative. It is evidence that they are motivated not by record warming, but by record profits, experts say….

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Changing places: Europeans grow more assertive on Ukraine as Washington shows caution

Changing places: Europeans grow more assertive on Ukraine as Washington shows caution

The Wall Street Journal reports: Last week’s NATO summit revealed a major realignment within the U.S.-led trans-Atlantic alliance. European nations, once seen as less steadfast in their support for Kyiv and more vulnerable to Russian pressure, are determined to help Ukraine win an unambiguous victory. At the same time, the Biden administration, which orchestrated a unified Western response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion last year, is increasingly cautious—constrained by domestic politics and a fear of direct confrontation with Moscow….

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U.S. gives ‘green light’ to European countries to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets, Biden official says

U.S. gives ‘green light’ to European countries to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets, Biden official says

CNN reports: The US will allow European countries to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets, a top Biden administration official confirmed Sunday, a potential boon for Ukraine’s efforts to counter Russia’s air superiority. “The president has given a green light and we will allow, permit, support, facilitate and in fact provide the necessary tools for Ukrainians to begin being trained on F-16s, as soon as the Europeans are prepared,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State…

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Trump’s efforts to bait prosecutor and judge have so far been met with silence

Trump’s efforts to bait prosecutor and judge have so far been met with silence

The Washington Post reports: Since his indictment last month on charges of withholding classified documents, former president Donald Trump has publicly called special counsel Jack Smith “deranged” and a “psycho” and said he “looks like a crackhead.” In response, Smith and the federal judge overseeing his pending criminal trial have said … nothing. The prosecution of Trump, who is the first former president to face federal criminal charges and is also under an unrelated state indictment in New York, presents…

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