In the West, baby hawks, too young to fly, are leaping from their nests to escape the extreme heat

In the West, baby hawks, too young to fly, are leaping from their nests to escape the extreme heat

The Washington Post reports: One wildlife rehabilitation center in rural Oregon says it got “three months’ worth of birds” in three days. Another, in northern California, declared a “hawkpocalypse” in June. And earlier in the summer, Portland Audubon, a nonprofit environmental organization, took in more than 100 Cooper’s hawks over four days as temperatures soared to record highs in the 110s. Normally they might get a dozen in a year. Around the West, young birds of prey have been jumping…

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How Covid-19 has upended life in undervaccinated Arkansas

How Covid-19 has upended life in undervaccinated Arkansas

The New York Times reports: When the boat factory in this leafy Ozark Mountains city offered free coronavirus vaccinations this spring, Susan Johnson, 62, a receptionist there, declined the offer, figuring she was protected as long as she never left her house without a mask. Linda Marion, 68, a widow with chronic pulmonary disease, worried that a vaccination might actually trigger Covid-19 and kill her. Barbara Billigmeier, 74, an avid golfer who retired here from California, believed she did not…

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Leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon

Leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon

The Guardian reports: Human rights activists, journalists and lawyers across the world have been targeted by authoritarian governments using hacking software sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, according to an investigation into a massive data leak. The investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations suggests widespread and continuing abuse of NSO’s hacking spyware, Pegasus, which the company insists is only intended for use against criminals and terrorists. Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android…

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As little as 1.5% of our genome is ‘uniquely human’

As little as 1.5% of our genome is ‘uniquely human’

Live Science reports: Less than 10% of your genome is unique to modern humans, with the rest being shared with ancient human relatives such as Neanderthals, according to a new study. The study researchers also found that the portion of DNA that’s unique to modern humans is enriched for genes involved with brain development and brain function. This finding suggests that genes for brain development and function are what really set us apart, genetically, from our ancestors. However, it’s unclear…

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Africa’s Covid crisis deepens, but vaccines are still far off

Africa’s Covid crisis deepens, but vaccines are still far off

The New York Times reports: Africa is now in the deadliest stage of its pandemic, and there is little prospect of relief in sight. The Delta variant is sweeping across the continent. Namibia and Tunisia are reporting more deaths per capita than any other country. Hospitals across the continent are filling up, oxygen supplies and medical workers are stretched thin and recorded deaths jumped 40 percent last week alone. But only about 1 percent of Africans have been fully vaccinated….

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In parts of America, the pandemic is now the worst it’s ever been

In parts of America, the pandemic is now the worst it’s ever been

Ed Yong writes: The summer wasn’t meant to be like this. By April, Greene County, in southwestern Missouri, seemed to be past the worst of the pandemic. Intensive-care units that once overflowed had emptied. Vaccinations were rising. Health-care workers who had been fighting the coronavirus for months felt relieved—perhaps even hopeful. Then, in late May, cases started ticking up again. By July, the surge was so pronounced that “it took the wind out of everyone,” Erik Frederick, the chief administrative…

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Huge study supporting ivermectin as Covid treatment withdrawn. Data appears ‘totally faked’

Huge study supporting ivermectin as Covid treatment withdrawn. Data appears ‘totally faked’

The Guardian reports: The efficacy of a drug being promoted by rightwing figures worldwide for treating Covid-19 is in serious doubt after a major study suggesting the treatment is effective against the virus was withdrawn due to “ethical concerns”. The preprint study on the efficacy and safety of ivermectin – a drug used against parasites such as worms and headlice – in treating Covid-19, led by Dr Ahmed Elgazzar from Benha University in Egypt, was published on the Research Square…

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EU Commission President: ‘Our current fossil-fuel economy has reached its limit’

EU Commission President: ‘Our current fossil-fuel economy has reached its limit’

The Wall Street Journal reports: The European Union and China presented sweeping plans to limit greenhouse-gas emissions that will increase costs for industry and consumers, though they drew criticism from environmentalists as not going far enough to slow climate change. The moves, while both long discussed and still months or years from full implementation, show a new urgency to regulate emissions in two of the world’s biggest economies. They come as the Biden administration promises its own bold initiatives but…

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General Mark Milley’s fight to prevent Trump starting a war with Iran

General Mark Milley’s fight to prevent Trump starting a war with Iran

Susan Glasser writes: The last time that General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with President Donald Trump was on January 3, 2021. The subject of the Sunday-afternoon meeting, at the White House, was Iran’s nuclear program. For the past several months, Milley had been engaged in an alarmed effort to insure that Trump did not embark on a military conflict with Iran as part of his quixotic campaign to overturn the results of the…

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Witness directly implicates Trump in tax scheme

Witness directly implicates Trump in tax scheme

The Daily Beast reports: A witness in the New York investigation against the Trump Organization has told prosecutors that Donald Trump personally guaranteed he would cover school costs for the family members of two employees in lieu of a raise—directly implicating the former president in an ongoing criminal tax fraud case. The explosive claims come from Jennifer Weisselberg, the ex-wife of a longtime company employee, during a teleconference call with investigators on Friday, June 25, according to two sources who…

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Trump isn’t such a crowd puller when the audience has to pay. They’d rather see Bad Bunny

Trump isn’t such a crowd puller when the audience has to pay. They’d rather see Bad Bunny

Politico reports: Donald Trump is having trouble selling advance tickets for his upcoming speaking tour with conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly, according to interviews with ticketing officials for the venues. Early last month, Trump and O’Reilly, the one-time top Fox News host, announced a joint “History Tour” featuring four stops in December. O’Reilly said his conversations with Trump “will not be boring,” while the former president promised “fun, fun, fun for everyone who attends.” Tickets went on sale for the events…

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It’s time to name anti-Palestinian bigotry

It’s time to name anti-Palestinian bigotry

Peter Beinart writes: In June, three Republicans in the House of Representatives—Michael Waltz, Jim Banks and Claudia Tenney—introduced a resolution censuring Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for, among other things, “inciting anti-Semitic attacks across the United States.” House Democrats accused their colleagues of Jew-hatred as well, just less explicitly. Rep. Ted Deutch did not mention his colleagues by name, but characterized their accusations of apartheid, and Tlaib’s opposition to a Jewish state, as “[a]ttacks . ….

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Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House

Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House

The Guardian reports: Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents. The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, the papers suggest, with the Russian president, his spy chiefs and senior ministers all present. They agreed a Trump White House would help secure Moscow’s strategic objectives,…

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Top generals feared Trump would attempt a coup after election

Top generals feared Trump would attempt a coup after election

CNN reports: The top US military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, was so shaken that then-President Donald Trump and his allies might attempt a coup or take other dangerous or illegal measures after the November election that Milley and other top officials informally planned for different ways to stop Trump, according to excerpts of an upcoming book obtained by CNN. The book, from Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, describes how Milley…

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