What Cheetahs, Armadillos and Whales Revealed About Human DNA New York Times
FDA Approves Poop-Based Pill to Treat Hardy Gut Infections Gizmodo (ksmith)
Climate/Environment
Smoke and Heat: Breaking Records in Southeast Asia The Diplomat
Toxic benzene lingered for weeks after shelter-in-place warnings ended following 2019 Houston-area chemical fire Texas Tribune
Water
“The Big Melt” has arrived as early season heatwave spikes flood concerns Weather West
#COVID-19
Urgent warning to anyone who’s had Covid over ‘long-term risk of killer complication’ The Sun (guurst)
Chickenpox hybrid-immunity debt?? https://t.co/SxoVdndH8b
— Anthony J Leonardi, MBBS, PhD (@fitterhappierAJ) April 27, 2023
CDC relaxes COVID restrictions for international travelers The Hill
Old Blighty
Chinese vice-president’s coronation appearance would be ‘outrageous’, say Tories The Guardian (Kevin W)
Scotland’s lighthouse workers set to take historic strike action as union takes aim at government ‘failure’ Unite the Union
The Lucky Country
Federal government commits $3.8b to Australia’s northern bases after Defence Strategic Review ABC. Meanwhile (Guurst):
Our refined fuel comes from Singapore, Korea, India, Malaysia, Japan and Taiwan. Our crude comes from Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and the US. If there is conflict in East Asia, as is contemplated by Govt, we are vulnerable to complete economic and societal shut down. 🧵4/4 #auspol pic.twitter.com/60ToZ2l2HC
— Rex Patrick (@MrRexPatrick) April 25, 2023
The Koreas
A Nuclear South Korea Is a Dangerous Miscalculation Foreign Policy
China denounces US plans to send nuclear ballistic submarine to South Korea South China Morning Post
China?
China pushes largest-ever expansion of nuclear arsenal France24
China demands immediate halt to US arms sales to Taiwan Anadolu Agency
Joe Biden to make landmark visit to Papua New Guinea as US vies with China for Asia-Pacific influence South China Morning Post
New Not-So-Cold War
Xi Jinping to send Chinese peace talks delegation to Ukraine The Guardian (Kevin W)
Ukraine Peace Talks – A Grown Up Is Taking Charge Moon of Alabama
Poland seizes Russian embassy and trade mission funds RT (Kevin W)
Procurement in the Bundeswehr: Speed Now Has Priority defense-aerospace.com
***
POST-PUTIN RUSSIA: THE RISE OF ULTRA-PATRIOTISM Geopolitica.RU (ctlieee)
When Russia is defeated in Ukraine, look to Chechnya PoliticoEU. Will do.
***
Renewables generate more of EU’s electricity than fossil fuels over winter for 1st time Anadolu Agency. “…but it cannot rely on emergency demand cuts and mild weather for future years.” And…
The Future of U.S. Natural Gas: A Conversation with Charif Souki (Video) CSIS, YouTube. (RK): “The EU is in deep doodoo vis-a-vis energy. The US is not. All according to plan.”
Letters LRB. (Alynch) On the origin of “iron curtain.”
Putin hails Turkey ties as first Turkish nuclear plant inaugurated Reuters
Al-Monitor/Premise poll: Turkey’s election in dead heat, Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu tied at 45% Al-Monitor
Syraqistan
Meeting of Iran, Syria and Turkey ministers of defense and intelligence in Moscow Gilbert Doctorow
Foreign actors tried to artificially accelerate Sudan military reform — diplomat TASS
Why Does Japan Have a Military Base in Djibouti? The Diplomat
South of the Border
Peru Declares a 60-Day State of Emergency at Its Border Areas teleSUR. “Besides establishing that the National Police and the Armed Forces will maintain control of internal order, the decree restricts the exercise of constitutional rights related to freedom of movement, assembly, and personal liberty and security.”
Peru’s coup-plotting congress has 6% approval, 91% disapproval (but full US backing) Geopolitical Economy Report. From April 16.
US to open Latin America migration centres, expedite deportations Al Jazeera
B-a-a-a-a-d Banks
First Republic works on plan to prevent government seizure FT
Banks, experts call for accountability above all else in Fed’s SVB report American Banker
US regulators worried about uninsured deposits before March crisis Reuters
JPMorgan employees gripe about Dimon’s return-to-office edict Reuters
Spook Country
Hunter Biden investigation: Intel laptop letter signers scored top jobs in Biden administration Washington Examiner
America, the Single-Opinion Cult Matt Taibbi, Racket News
Twitter is complying with more government demands under Elon Musk rest of world
Biden Administration
White House insists Biden reporter cheat sheet ‘entirely normal’ New York Post
Realignment and Legitimacy
Two Bush judges appointed in 1990 and one Obama judge from 2014 ruled that antitrust law isn’t really a thing. There’s no better example of the bipartisan neoliberal Constitution than this sentence. https://t.co/ekfrLJcBt2
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 27, 2023
The Supremes
Roberts Memo Threatened To Challenge Ethics Rules The Lever
CLARENCE THOMAS BILLIONAIRE BENEFACTOR HARLAN CROW BOUGHT CITIZENSHIP IN ISLAND TAX HAVEN The Intercept
Healthcare
A research team airs the messy truth about AI in medicine — and gives hospitals a guide to fix it STAT
Police State Watch
Gunz
Cops: Woman Shot Her Pet Parrot To Death The Smoking Gun (ReSilc)
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Global South Owes America Some Thanks Bloomberg. Commentary:
Has some real “India needs to thank the British for railways” energy. And speaking of how the global South should “thank” the North, friendly reminder that the North drains approximately $10T from the South per year: https://t.co/D5AhVOhsde https://t.co/2eWhjobipw
— Political Economy ☭ (@Politic71178681) April 27, 2023
Guillotine Watch
Will the extraordinary boom in luxury goods ever end? FT
Elizabeth Holmes gets bail extension one day before prison term start Ars Technica
Class Warfare
US growth slowed sharply in first quarter as Fed pushed rates higher FT
US FREIGHT WORKERS SAY IT’S TIME TO NATIONALIZE THE RAILROADS The Real News Network
On today’s earnings call, Norfolk Southern management estimated that the East Palestine derailment will cost the company around $387m in cleanup and legal costs.
To put that in perspective, that’s 1/8 of what the company spent on stock buybacks last year.https://t.co/EyLXqKqvXR
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) April 26, 2023
Tech
Tech giants aren’t just cutting thousands of jobs — they’re making them extinct Business Insider
The Bezzle
SpaceX’s Starship blew up after launch — it also caused ‘catastrophic’ damage on the ground The Verge (Kevin W)
L’affaire Epstein
WOMEN REPORT ‘RAMPANT’ SEXUAL ABUSE AT FEDERAL PRISON WHERE GHISLAINE MAXWELL IS HELD The Appeal
Zeitgeist Watch
googling “gyre narrow” “gyre keeps narrowing” “is my gyre dangerously narrow WebMD” as my forehead grows sweatier and sweatier
— Christian Brown (@DeepOmega) April 27, 2023
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
