Tosca and the baby seagulls One Garden Against the World
A World Built for House Sparrows (excerpt) Flaming Hydra
Trail cameras capture first-of-its-kind footage of ‘one of the rarest’ feline species in the world: ‘An incredibly encouraging sign’ The Cooldown
Gizmo the dog went missing in Las Vegas in 2015. He’s been found alive after 9 years AP
The surprising thing sharks can teach us about life WaPo
Private Equity Firms Should Prepare for Increased Scrutiny as DOJ Puts False Claims Violations Under the Microscope National Law Review
Side Letter: Alaska plays offence Private Equity International
David Rubenstein’s daughter resigns Alaska fund post after cronyism claims FT
Private Equity Investors Plead for More Clarity on NAV Loans Bloomberg. “Private equity firms should alert investors before they borrow against their funds’ assets — especially when using so-called net-asset-value loans to juice returns, according to new guidelines from a trade group for such investors.”
Climate
Scientists call for greater study of glacier geoengineering options Guardian
Warning of a forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Nature. From the Abstract: “We estimate a collapse of the AMOC to occur around mid-century under the current scenario of future emissions.”
Wildfires ravage western Canada as Trudeau sends in military to help Anadolu Agency
Park Fire rips across 125,000 acres in northern California Wildfire Today
Life at 115F: a sweltering summer pushes Las Vegas to the brink Guardian
Capitalist catastrophism and eco-apartheid Geoforum From the Abstract: “Capitalist catastrophism has three characteristics. First, a newfound ability for social movements and theorists to imagine post-capitalist futures combined with an inability to realize them. Second, cascading and mutually amplifying social and ecological crises that outrun the capacities of states and capital to contain them. Third, an unevenly distributed cancellation of human and non-human futures.”
Water
Could humans run on water? Physics World
Syndemics
US bankrolls a third of global Pandemic Fund. Can it get congressional support? Endpoints News
Where is COVID-19 spreading? These states have the highest COVID rates USA Today
Data: COVID shaved 2.6 years from life expectancy—much more in some groups—in India Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
China?
China sets launch date for world’s first thorium molten salt nuclear power station South China Morning Post
Can China smash the Airbus-Boeing duopoly? The Economist
South China Sea: Is the Philippines becoming a gateway for the West’s Indo-Pacific interests? Channel News Asia
India
George Harrison, Ravi Shankar & The Journey Of The Sitar Madras Courier
Bangladesh continues curfew amid mass arrests of protesters Anadolu Agency
Africa
Evil Empires? New Left Review
Syraqistan
Atlantis Is Lost: How the Israeli Army’s Plan to Flood Hamas’ Network of Tunnels Under Gaza Failed Haaretz. The deck: “Israel started by adopting an old and unsuitable plan, continued by ignoring professional advice and the possible danger to the abductees – and ended quietly a few months later, anyone saying whether it achieved anything at all. Haaretz surveys profiles the Atlantis project – a predictable military failure which no one stopped until it was too late.”
American Surgeon Who Volunteered in Gaza Says IDF Snipers Shoot Toddlers Antiwar.com. The deck: “‘No toddler gets shot twice by mistake,’ said Dr. Mark Perlmutter.”
US humiliated itself ‘for the sake of a child killer’: Turkey’s former president Turkish Minute
Netanyahu irked by “critical” Harris comments Axios. Commentary:
Some will approvingly claim that Kamala Harris is showing more “empathy” for Palestinians than Biden. But she’s not calling for a single shift in the guiding policy of unfettered US support for Israeli mass murder.
She’s also adopting the guiding dehumanization of Palestinians… https://t.co/u9azrh86up
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) July 25, 2024
Meanwhile:
Illegal sale of Palestinian land embraced by Biden, governors, mayors and city councilmembers MR Online
‘Pressure for this to succeed’: Will Fatah-Hamas unity deal hold? Al Jazeera
The Buffer Zone Phenomenal World
The Assad visit to Moscow two days ago about which you have heard nothing Gilbert Doctorow
Why President Pezeshkian’s Election is Good News Pluralia. Iran.
European Disunion
Brussels abandons crackdown on overfishing FT
Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics AP
Dear Old Blighty
Health regulator not fit for purpose – Streeting BBC
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s hopes and challenges after long wait for F-16s BBC
NATO’s false promises are encouraging misplaced Ukrainian hopes Politico
EU transfers $2.2b from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine Straits Times. “Proceeds from.”
‘Hong Kong has gone rogue’: US report details entrepôt’s shipping links to Russia, Iran and North Korea Splash 247
Press review: China mediates on Ukraine and forecasting foreign policy under Kamala Harris TASS
South of the Border
Venezuela presidential candidates hold final rallies ahead of election Al Jazeera
Farming Is Hip in Brazil, Where a New Generation Is Outpacing the US Bloomberg
2024
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but crucial support AP
Seven Lessons from Joe Biden’s Candidacy The Bulwark
The Supremes
Justice Kagan says there needs to be a way to enforce the US Supreme Court’s new ethics code AP
How the most right-wing appeals court was reined in by the Supreme Court this term USA Today
Digital Watch
OpenAI to launch ‘SearchGPT’ in challenge to Google FT
This Machine Exposes Privacy Violations Wired
CrowdStrike Is Too Big to Fail RAND
Healthcare
We may finally know how the placebo effect relieves pain New Scientist
Boeing
NASA says astronauts stuck at space station until troubled Boeing capsule can be fixed France24
To Secure Undersea Cables, Take Lessons from the British Empire’s All-Red Line U.S. Naval Institute
Imperial Collapse Watch
How Four U.S. Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe WaPo. Commentary:
I rarely praise mainstream media but this is truly journalism at its very best by WaPo, revealing the economic warfare that the US wages against much of the world, and especially against poor countries, with 60% of them today under US sanctions!
Here is what their analysis… pic.twitter.com/3OSKTCRE58
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 25, 2024
What I Saw at the Discover-Capital One Merger Hearing Next City
Class Warfare
Video game performers will go on strike over artificial intelligence concerns AP
The Ju/’hoansi protocol Aeon
Antidote du jour (Dandy1022):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
