Country diary: Yet another peril for our poor hedgehogs – glitter Guardian
Why it might be time to stop riding horses Telegraph
Climate
What has worked to fight climate change? Policies where someone pays for polluting, study finds AP.
Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades (paywalled) Science. From the Abstract: “Our insights on effective but rarely studied policy combinations highlight the important role of price-based instruments in well-designed policy mixes and the policy efforts necessary for closing the emissions gap.”
New Federal Report Details More of 2023’s Extreme Climate Conditions Inside Climate News
Scientists closely watching these 3 disastrous climate change scenarios USA Today
Syndemics
Asia ramps up border controls, tests and vaccines as new clade of mpox spreads Telegraph
Thailand Confirms Asia’s First Case of New Mpox Virus Strain Bloomberg
Europe Does Not Need Border Controls to Contain Mpox Spread, Health Authorities Say Schengen
Clinical and laboratory predictors of mpox severity and duration: an Italian multicentre cohort study (mpox-Icona) eBio Medicine. From the Results: “our findings showed a direct association between the MPXV Ct-value [(the cycle threshold value (Ct-value, surrogate of viral load)] measured in the first week after onset in the upper respiratory tract and disease severity.”
From gay sex to miracle cure: Fake news epidemic follows mpox outbreak France24
The Covid-19 Summer Wave Is So Big, the FDA Might Release New Vaccines Early Wired. Commentary:
China?
Morality and rules, and how to avoid drowning: what my daughters learned at school in China Guardian
India
Despite operational risks, data shows digital payments cruising ahead Business Standard
India shocked by report on rampant sexual abuse in Kerala’s film industry South China Morning Post
Pine Gap Readies For U.S. Nuclear War Declassified Australia
Syraqistan
Israel Will Collapse Within a Year if the War of Attrition Against Hamas and Hezbollah Continues Haaretz
Shin Bet Chief Warns PM and Ministers: Jewish Terror Is Jeopardizing Israel’s Existence Haaretz
Biden speaks with Netanyahu as US prods Israel and Hamas to come to agreement on cease-fire deal AP. Commentary:
1/
It’s time to tell a real Netanyahu story, one that I’ve periodically told friends in very senior positions.
In the early 1990s I was a practicing attorney with real clients, one of which was the first non-kosher upscale restaurant in Jerusalem.
The owners asked to meet. https://t.co/o6DfGooy5p
— Daniel Seidemann (@DanielSeidemann) August 22, 2024
Netanyahu’s office denies reports Israel considering international force on Philadelphi Route Times of Israel
Dire Warnings As Israel’s Fascists Have Taken Over The Rein Moon of Alabama
Jews bow in prayer on Temple Mount, violating status quo, as police stand by and watch Ynet
Hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Israelis Clash With Police Over Draft NYT
Israeli soldiers share videos documenting ‘war crimes’ in Gaza Anadolu Agency
Anger, Despair As Israelis Bury Hostages Who Died In Captivity Agence France Presse
Israeli hostages reportedly killed by fire started by IDF operation The Jewish Chroncicle
Morocco pardons 4,800 jailed for cultivating cannabis – so they can farm legally Middle East Eye
Accusations of US Regime-Change Operations in Pakistan and Bangladesh Warrant UN Attention Common Dreams
Africa
The foreign powers competing to win influence in Africa FT
China’s green panda bonds are ‘reliable’ financing option for Africa, summit hears South China Morning Post
European Disunion
EU reaffirms commitment to lithium deal amid rising tensions with Serbia BNE Intellinews
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s shock invasion of Kursk takes away one of Russia’s biggest advantages and may force it to rethink how this war is fought Business Insider
Zelensky’s Misadventures in Kursk Patrick Lawrence, Scheerpost
Zelensky’s new offensive could spell disaster for Putin The Spectator
Ukrainian troops retreat on Pokrovsk front to avoid encirclement – ISW Ukrainska Pravda
Biden’s Ukraine Strategy Is Missing in Action Foreign Policy
Cases against American, Italian and Ukrainian journalists who visited Sudzha City were initiated in Russia Ukrainska Pravda
Russia’s new war middle class BNE Intellinews
Ukraine 2023/24 grain exports jump 60% so far The Pig Site
2024
Key takeaways from the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention Al Jazeera
Kamala Harris vows to ‘strengthen, not abdicate’ US global leadership FT. Commentary:
When Kamala Harris said she’d make sure America always has the strongest most lethal fighting force in the world and the crowd broke into USA! USA! chants I knew then she was going to defeat fascism
— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) August 23, 2024
Accepting historic nomination, Harris vows ‘America, not China’ will win 21st century South China Morning Post
Sometimes You Just Have to Ignore the Economists Zephyr Teachout, The Atlantic
Digital Watch
In a leaked recording, Amazon cloud chief tells employees that most developers could stop coding soon as AI takes over Business Insider
WildChat: 1M ChatGPT Interaction Logs in the Wild arVxiv. From the Abstract: “We compare WildChat with other popular user-chatbot interaction datasets, and find that our dataset offers the most diverse user prompts, contains the largest number of languages, and presents the richest variety of potentially toxic use-cases for researchers to study.”
The Final Frontier
Astronomers think they’ve found a plausible explanation of the Wow! signal Ars Technica
South of the Border
Nicaragua shuts down 151 more NGOs, including US Chamber of Commerce affiliate Anadolu Agency
Our Famously Free Press
‘Judging Freedom’ resumes on youtube.com: today’s chat with Judge Andrew Napolitano Gilbert Doctorow
Healthcare
Does Ozempic Burn Fat or Just Reduce Appetite? A New Study Offers a Clue Gizmodo
World’s first mRNA lung cancer vaccine trial launched Anadolu Agency
Boeing
Striking Is in the Air at Boeing Labor Notes
Boeing whistleblower points to past electrical wiring defects in 737 MAX Seattle Times
Imperial Collapse Watch
US military contracting vessels will haul back Army boats used in Gaza pier mission FOX
Class Warfare
Amazon Is Boss of Subcontracted Drivers, Labor Board Prosecutors Say Bloomberg
Are US manufacturing jobs worth fighting for? FT
Antidote du jour (Calle Eklund/V-wolf):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
