SOCIAL A 4,000-year-old ancient Egyptian skull may show signs of cancer treatment. The find shows that Egyptian medicine was both advanced and sophisticated, said author Edgard Camarós, a palaeopathologist from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. One of world's biggest botnets shut down. Law enforcement agencies from around the world have shut down a global malware network which stole $5.9bn and is linked to other crimes, the US Department of Justice has said. The botnet hacked into more than 19 million Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in almost 200 countries.
New dinosaur species discovered in Zimbabwe. Scientists discovered the never-before seen species on the shores of Lake Kariba, named Musankwa Sanyatiensis. The find was named after the houseboat used by the team and represents an important milestone in the study of dinosaurs in Africa.
Paintings by Nelson Mandela on display in British gallery. The signed lithographs portray the apartheid hero’s time in Robben Island prison. A limited edition of Mandela’s book will also be on sale.
Norway’s defense chief thinks NATO has just two to three years to rebuild its military stocks before Russia has renewed its own ability to attack alliance members in Europe, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. “At one point someone said it’ll take 10 years” for Russia to regenerate its losses from the ongoing Ukraine invasion, “but I think we’re back to less than 10 years because of the industrial base that is now running in Russia,” Gen. Eirik Kristoffersen said Monday in Oslo. Still, he added, “It will take [Moscow] some time, which gives us a window now for the next two to three years to rebuild our forces, to rebuild our stocks at the same times as we are supporting Ukraine.” One U.S. expert’s grim forecast: “Unfortunately for Ukraine and the West, it is increasingly clear that, with sufficient political will, even an anemic level of economic growth can likely sustain the Russian war effort for years to come,” Atlantic Council alum Emma Ashford wrote recently in a 10-point mythbusting analysis for the Stimson Center. “The most plausible range of scenarios for the war suggests grinding conflict that moderately advantages Russia, but only in the costly conquest of tiny amounts of territory,” she wrote in late May. To those looking for a settlement or some sustainable way out of the Ukraine war, “Assurances to Russia about future NATO expansion, or conventional arms control limitations on either side, could help to defuse concerns about future conflict and improve the odds a settlement will succeed,” she said, and cautioned, “Precisely because they are controversial, however, these issues will be significantly harder to reach agreement on.” Read more, here.
China’s latest aircraft carrier is much more than a big ship By J. Michael Dahm and Peter W. Singer Along with technical and operational advances, the Fujian represents a response to 19th-century humiliation.
After meeting in person for the first time in more than a year, the military chiefs of the U.S. and China spent the weekend conveying contrasting messages of ease and caution, respectively, on the public stages of this year’s Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore. The two leaders first met face-to-face on the sidelines of the summit Friday, almost exactly five months after China’s Defense Minister Adm. Dong Jun took the job in December (we discussed the initial messaging from both offices in Friday’s newsletter), and after nearly two years of severed military-to-military communications between the two nations following a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2022. The presidents of U.S. and China agreed to resume those mil-to-mil talks after meeting November in California. “We had a frank discussion [on Friday], and that's important,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said early in his remarks on stage Saturday. “There is no substitute for direct military-to-military talks between senior leaders, and there's no substitute for open lines of communication to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculations,” he said. But the heart of his messaging in Singapore concerned Washington’s allies and partners in the region. “Today, we are witnessing a new convergence around nearly all aspects of security in the Indo-Pacific,” Austin said. “And this new convergence is producing a stronger, more resilient, and more capable network of partnerships, and that is defining a new era of security in the Indo-Pacific.” |
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Four-day vote will set direction of EU policy and shape top jobs appointments JUNE 6, 2024 by Andy Bounds in Brussels
Trump’s veepstakes are intensifying. And he’s running this search the way he handles everything — like an unhinged reality show. Disgraced former president and convicted felon Donald Trump’s campaign has reportedly begun formally vetting a handful of potential VP picks. Top names include Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). But like the washed-up game show host that he is, Trump will keep everyone guessing until the big reveal. It’s a demented, GOP version of The Apprentice: To advance, hopefuls must debase themselves on TV by praising Trump, attack the justice system, hang out in court while Trump catches felonies, and waffle about accepting the results of the 2024 election.
In a sense, Trump’s putting a fresh twist on his veep-search. Traditionally, the candidate hunts for someone who can help with trouble spots. That can mean connecting with a certain group of voters or helping with a swing state. After all, Trump chose VP Mike Pence to reach Evangelical Christians (and it worked). This time, Trump seems inclined to pick someone a lot more like himself: his own Mini-Me.
That may be why Trump likes Burgum. The incredibly boring governor of North Dakota has no sparkle. He hails from a deep-red state where Trump needs no help. There is no Burgum fanbase. But the guy’s a wealthy businessman who won’t upstage Trump and a loyalist who made a courthouse pilgrimage to Trump’s trial. The only balance he’d bring would be to offset Trump’s wackiness with relative normalcy. Burgum is the kind of toady who’d tell Newsmax: “Trump is so strong right now, he could get elected without a vice president!” See? Trump’s kinda guy!
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Other names still in the mix include Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Development Ben Carson. You know, just a few characters from our recurring nightmares. The way Trump and his madman ego-driven brain works, there could still be a dark horse that emerges in the days leading up to the RNC. We will be standing by with our popcorn. |
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Crooked is going big, because we refuse to go home! Help us hit our $100K fundraising goal in support of organizations fighting in states where conservatives are banning gender affirming care and targeting trans youth at the exact moment they need us the most. We’re aiming high, because lord knows these right-wing freaks are going low. Donate directly to the fund or pick up items from our new Pride or Else collection and let Crooked do it for you, with a portion of proceeds going directly to the fund. Learn more at crooked.com/pride. |
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Can anything stand up to big AI? Federal regulators are reportedly about to try. Officials at two key departments have reached an agreement on how to proceed with antitrust investigations into major artificial intelligence companies, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. The Justice Department will take a look at the incredibly lucrative chip-maker Nvidia. The Federal Trade Commission will look into Microsoft, and also OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. These probes represent a new kind of oversight for companies that are rapidly remaking the digital fabric of our lives with astonishingly lifelike videos, still images, audio and text. Congress has yet to set down any meaningful regulations governing the powerful new technology. Big AI has largely escaped the scrutiny of the Biden administration until now. Europe, meanwhile, is ahead of the game in passing AI regulations. Silicon Valley bros hate when the government gets in their business. Then again, the rest of us hate it when AI tells us to eat rocks, put glue on our pizza, or run with scissors, as Google’s AI Overview feature recently did. When one user asked the system whether Google search violates antitrust laws, the AI reportedly answered: “Yes, the U.S. Justice Department and 11 states are suing Google for antitrust violations.” Federal regulators may want to ask that AI search bot a few more probing questions, and this time, put it under oath. |
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Steve Bannon has been ordered to prison, and soon! A federal judge on Wednesday told the former Trump advisor to begin his four-month prison sentence on July 1. Bannon’s appeal to overturn his conviction for ignoring January 6 committee subpoenas was rejected, and now he has to spend some time in the big house. Maybe he’ll save a warm bunk for his former boss.
An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza killed at least 33 people, including 23 women and children, according to the Associated Press. The Israeli military claimed that Hamas militants were operating from within the school. Israeli fighter jets reportedly used U.S.-made munitions in the strike.
Spain became the first European country to ask the United Nations court for permission to join the international case accusing Israel of genocide brought by South Africa. “There should be no doubt that Spain will remain on the right side of history,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Congress has been rescheduled to July 24, according to Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman. The original date, June 13, was changed due to the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. State GOP lawmakers in Pennsylvania reportedly booed two officers who defended the Capitol on January 6 during a visit to the statehouse. Democrats introduced former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and former sergeant Aquillino Gonell as “heroes” to their colleagues before the room filled with chaos as Republicans booed, heckled, and walked out of the chamber in protest. Keep it classy, fellas. The NYPD is seeking to revoke Trump’s gun license after he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last week, according to the New York Times. Federal law in New York and Florida says people with felony convictions cannot own firearms, and Trump reportedly had three pistols registered in New York. Two were turned over when Trump was indicted in April of last year. The third was legally transferred to Florida, but it’s unclear if the gun is still in Trump’s possession. Seems like Trump’s gun slingin’ days could be over. |
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Today the S&P 500, which tracks the stock performance of 500 of the biggest companies on U.S. stock exchanges, closed at a new record high of 5,354. The Nasdaq Composite, which is weighted toward the information technology sector, also closed at a record high of 17,187. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also up, but not to a new record. It closed at 38,807. That notable economic news got very little attention, likely in part because there is so much else going on. Most dramatically, House speaker Mike Johnson elevated Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Scott Perry (R-PA) to the House Intelligence Committee, giving them oversight of the entire U.S. intelligence community and access to the nation’s most sensitive foreign intelligence. The Intelligence community includes intelligence from the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Space Force, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department, the State Department, the Department of Energy (which oversees information about nuclear weapons), the Treasury Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. It also oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and that oversight is likely a key reason Johnson put Jackson and Perry on the committee. A former Navy admiral, Jackson was Trump’s White House physician. Trump liked him enough to try unsuccessfully to promote him into the cabinet and within the U.S. Navy, and then to back him successfully for Congress after he retired from the Navy in 2019. In 2022 the U.S. Navy demoted him from admiral to captain after a 2021 report by the inspector general of the Defense Department showed he had “disparaged, belittled, bullied, and humiliated” his staff and abused alcohol on at least two occasions when he was supposed to be providing medical care to government officials. Perry is more problematic than Jackson. Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, told the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol that Perry played an important role in the plan to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election. She told podcast host Scott Lamar in October 2023 that Perry was “central to the planning of January 6,” and she has said repeatedly that Perry asked Trump for a pardon before he left office. Federal authorities from the FBI seized Perry’s cell phone in 2022 as part of their investigation into the effort to seize the presidency; he is the only member of Congress whose cell phone was seized. Like Trump, who has attacked the FBI since then-director James Comey refused to drop the investigation into the connections between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian operatives, Perry has complained bitterly about the FBI’s investigation of him. Now, Perry will be on the committee that oversees the FBI. In a statement, he said: “I look forward to providing not only a fresh perspective, but conducting actual oversight—not blind obedience to some facets of our Intel Community that all too often abuse their powers, resources, and authority to spy on the American People.” Former director of the CIA General Michael Hayden wrote: “That’s unbelievable. Both of them. Intelligence Committee? God help us.” There is other news about the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election: yesterday Wisconsin attorney general Josh Kaul filed felony forgery charges against attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who planned the use of fake electors; former judge James Troupis, who managed Trump’s 2020 campaign in Wisconsin; and Michael Roman, a political operative who allegedly delivered the paperwork for Wisconsin’s fake electors to a congressional staffer to try to get them to Vice President Mike Pence. On January 6, 2021, after the document was delivered, Troupis texted to Chesebro: “Excellent. Tomorrow let’s talk about SCOTUS strategy going forward. Enjoy the history you have made possible today.” In Georgia, a court of appeals paused the case against Trump and his co-conspirators from proceeding until it rules on Trump’s appeal to disqualify Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis. It has tentatively set a hearing date for October 4, meaning that voters will not get to learn the outcome of the trial until after the election. If Trump is reelected, the trial will almost certainly not go forward. The federal criminal case against Trump for retaining classified documents is also stalled. Judge Aileen Cannon not only has put off hearings, she has added a hearing on June 21 to consider whether Special Counsel Jack Smith was properly appointed in the first place. She is revisiting a decision already decided in the affirmative in 2019 by the Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals. She has also taken the highly unusual step of inviting three people not involved in the case to argue in that hearing: two will argue that the appointment is invalid, one will argue that it was done properly. Meanwhile, there were signs over the past few days of the deeply different party principles at the heart of the 2024 election. At an event to reach Black voters in what Julia Terruso and Sean Collins Walsh of the Philadelphia Inquirer described as “one of the whitest and most conservative parts of Philly,” Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is Black, illustrated the grip of a fantasy idyllic past on MAGA Republicans. Donalds praised the Jim Crow era of American history—which was literally named for a vicious caricature of African Americans that helped to justify the lynching that characterized the period—because “during Jim Crow the Black family was together.” He blamed the Great Society programs of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, including civil rights and social welfare programs, for eroding family values. On the House floor, Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) urged Donalds to “check yourself before you wreck yourself.” Democratic National Committee chair Jamie Harrison was less poetic but more succinct. He wrote: “These fools have lost their damn minds….” In the Senate, Democrats forced Republicans to vote on advancing a bill to protect access to contraception. Republicans threatened a filibuster, meaning it would take 60 votes to bring the bill forward. And so the measure failed by a vote of 51 in favor to 39 against (Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York voted no so he could bring the measure up again). Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of the measure. All the other Republicans either voted no or did not vote. All the Republicans running for reelection this year voted no: John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Roger Wicker (R-MS). Some of them said they voted no because there was no danger that Republicans would attack contraception, claiming that Democrats were just “fear-mongering.” But in 2022, House Republicans overwhelmingly voted against protecting contraceptive rights, and in an interview last month, Trump said he was looking at restrictions on contraceptives before his campaign walked the statement back. Yesterday, in a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on “How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America,” a Republican witness, Dr. Christina Francis, chief executive officer of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) took the position that IUDs and Plan B emergency contraception constitute abortion and should be banned. In the Senate itself, Jodi Ernst (R-IA) has already proposed getting rid of Plan B. A February 2024 poll showed that 80% of American voters said that protecting access to birth control was “deeply important” to them. For all their rhetoric about “America First,” MAGA Republicans are out of step with actual Americans. The Trump loyalists now in charge of the Republican National Committee also appear to be remarkably ill-informed about the country itself. Sam Brody, political reporter for the Boston Globe, noted yesterday that on their website promoting the Republican National Convention to be held in July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Republicans used a photograph not of Milwaukee, but of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. “ "At a moment when global conflict is rising, the United States would be well advised to support the few bright spots, including Colombia, where peace is advancing. Continued strong U.S. support for implementation of the 2016 accords and more visible U.S. backing for the most advanced negotiations—with the ELN—would help Colombia’s progress towards peace." – Excerpt from IPS's new report, "Advancing from Partial Peace"
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In Egypt, displaced Gazans organize in grassroots movementsBetween 80,000 and 100,000 Gazans are estimated to have crossed into Egypt from Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023. Despite a precarious life without rights or financial resources, displaced Gazans are now organizing themselves into grassroots movements to respond to community needs and send humanitarian aid back to Gaza. How Saudiwood’s power play is reshaping Middle East film industryA Saudi film chased an award at Cannes last month — marking a first, but likely not last, for the country at the prestigious film festival. That movie, “Norah,” is a drama about artistic repression in the kingdom in the 1990s from director Tawfik AlZaidi and was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard category, which has served as a launching pad for emerging film talent.
After Modi's win, can Turkey-India ties grow despite Kashmir, IMEC differences?India's election results may not seem to be good news for Ankara-New Delhi ties, as there is no love lost between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Narendra Modi, who will stay on as India’s prime minister for a third term. However, there is room for the two countries to expand their bilateral ties through trade and similar outlooks on global affairs, experts and Turkish officials believe. Lebanon's resistance through culture: Return of Beirut’s Metropolis CinemaSince its establishment in 2006, Metropolis Cinema has served as a haven for enthusiasts of independent and author films in Lebanon, standing out amid the proliferation of commercial theaters dominated by Hollywood productions. As Beirut continues to navigate its path toward recovery, the cinema has become a symbol of the enduring power of art and culture to resist, unite and inspire.
Will China's support help UAE in dispute with Iran over Hormuz islands?In a joint statement with the UAE, China expressed unequivocal support for Abu Dhabi’s efforts to reach a “peaceful solution” on the issue of three islands disputed between Abu Dhabi and Tehran. China's support for the UAE may have angered Iran, but it shows how Beijing views its priorities and strategic depth in Gulf region. |
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