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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 09:30
Lion Cubs! London Zoo’s three Asiatic lion cubs have been pictured taking their first steps outside with mother Arya. The 8-week-old cubs appeared tentative at first, looking to mum for reassurance, but were soon spotted skipping around their Indian-inspired habitat, chasing each other and playing with mum’s tail. The cubs, born on 13 March 2024, have so far spent their time cosied up in their special indoor cub dens with mum. The trio are yet to be sexed, and this will happen during their first health check later this month. From their first moments of nursing to their playful antics inside the den, every development has been closely monitored by zookeepers and captured on the zoo’s hidden “cubcam”. The three cubs are an important addition to the conservation breeding programme, which safeguards a healthy population of the Critically Endangered species. Surviving only in the Gir Forest in Gujarat, India, the wild population is particularly vulnerable to disease or natural disaster. Recent population estimates suggest that only 600 to 700 individuals remain in the wild.
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 08:00
Trump vs Biden on D-Day I actually had this thought myself yesterday as I was watching Trump’s rally following Biden’s speech in Normandy. Dana Milbank: President Biden went to Normandy and spoke about American greatness. Donald Trump went to Phoenix and called the United States a “failed nation” and a “very sick country.” In France, Biden rhapsodized about “the story of America” told by the rows of graves at the Normandy America Cemetery: “Nearly 10,000 heroes buried side by side, officers and enlisted, immigrants and native-born, different races, different faiths, but all Americans.” In Phoenix, Trump, invoked the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, saying Biden had orchestrated an “invasion” at the border as part of “a deliberate demolition of our sovereignty” because “they probably think these people are going to be voting.” Biden hailed NATO, the “greatest military alliance in the history of the world,” and vowed to defend Ukraine: “To bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable.
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 06:30
You knew that, of course. She’s managed to delay the stolen classified documents trial so long that it’s almost impossible for it to be tried before the election. It’s obvious that she has a bias for the defense, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since Trump appointed her and many of the judges he appointed were highly partisan and chosen for that reason. She’s also extremely inexperienced and possibly a little bit weird on top of it. CNN took an in depth look at her work and it’s very interesting: Several attorneys who have practiced in front of Cannon – and who spoke to CNN for this story – pointed to her isolation as one explanation for her conduct. Cannon’s solitary post in the Fort Pierce courthouse, one that rarely sees high-profile action, deprives her of the informal, day-to-day interactions with more seasoned judges who sit at the other courthouses and could offer her advice, the lawyers told CNN. They also said Cannon’s lack of trial experience, both as a lawyer and a judge, is apparent.
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 05:00
Convicted criminal Donald Trump wanted to jail his predecessor It’s important that people understand just what crock this new line about Trump never calling for the prosecution of his political enemies is. He’s a liar, of course. But there’s more to this than just Trump’s usual mendacity, which Aaron Rupar ably covers in this free article from his newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. It’s tough to remember now as Donald Trump regularly wails about the need for total presidential immunity, but four years ago, the then-president was a huge proponent of prosecuting presidents. In the spring and summer of 2020, Trump desperately tried to make a big scandal out of “Obamagate” — the idea that President Obama had done, uh, something or other worthy of serious investigation and possible prosecution. (Trump at one point called the non-scandal the “biggest political crime in American history, by far!”) We won’t get too into the details, because Trump certainly didn’t.
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 04:59
The Flag March on Jerusalem Day is an accurate thermometer of the condition of Israeli society. It measures the levels of hatred, racism and violence in the religious Zionist society and the tolerance of the police and the rest of society to these traits. This year’s diagnosis is terminal. Wednesday’s march was one of the Continue reading »
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 04:58
Euripides drama Medea about unpunished crimes infecting the Greek city-state contains some sobering lessons for Australia’s future in AUKUS. Ancient Greeks believed that hubris (ivris) was a crime against the people of the city-state, mobilising imperialism and warfare against the power of justice. Athens unpunished crime was an attack against justice. Eventually hubris’ power waged Continue reading »
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 04:57
In Asian media this week: Voters teach Modi a lesson. Plus: Graham Allison on Thucydides’ Trap latest assessment; China, US switch off the megaphones; IMF, World Bank warn of system break-up; summit opens way for rules-based competitive order; tobacco companies control smoking-law narrative. India’s national elections were a double victory for democracy – a massive Continue reading »
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 04:57
The Census is important because it tells us so much about ourselves. But the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is complicating the data we collect on religion. The Australian public service is positively benign compared its US counterpart. I know how Kafkaesque the US is because I’ve had several years dealing with them in terms Continue reading »
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 04:55
Analysis using remote sensing technology from Wuhan University puts the level of damage at about 60 per cent. Researchers from the university tracked the conflict’s impact since mid-October. About 60 per cent of all the buildings in Gaza have been damaged in the past six months, according to analysis of Chinese satellite images presented at Continue reading »
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 04:53
In an era of out of control climate change, the case for leaving gold in the ground is even stronger than that for coal. Investor and shareholder pressure has seen the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto divesting from the latter; but in practical, if not financial, terms ending the mining of gold is a Continue reading »
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 02:00
Public opinion polls about the current presidential race are mystifying in a lot of ways. How can it be that the twice impeached, convicted felon Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party again? As inexplicable as it is to many of us I think after eight years we have to just accept the fact that almost half the country is beguiled by the man while the other half looks on in abject horror. and carry on from there. But as much as we may be dismayed by this adoration and fealty to Trump the man, it’s still maddening that so many voters, even including Democrats, insist that everything was so much better when Donald Trump was president. By almost any measure it was an epic shit show and I can’t believe that people have forgotten what it was really like. One obvious explanation is that he lies relentlessly about his record and after a while people start to believe him. According to him we had unprecedented prosperity, the greatest foreign policy, the safest, the cleanest, the most peaceful world in human history and it immediately turned into a toxic dystopia upon his departure. The reality was far different.
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Sat, 08/06/2024 - 00:30
It’s still in peril The contrasts during Thursday’s 80th D-Day remembance in Normandy could hardly have been more stark. The choices ahead for the U.S., NATO and Europe were there in subtext even when not all but obvious. Stephen Collinson comments for CNN: President Joe Biden is in Europe, warning of totalitarian evil and the dangers to democracy. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is back home, seeking a favor from Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, mulling revenge and trashing US elections. The former president is making his 2024 opponent’s case — that the West is being challenged by unprecedented threats to the rule of law from hostile forces outside and in. But Trump’s strength also suggests that the centerpiece of Biden’s trip — an homage on Friday in Normandy to one of former President Ronald Reagan’s greatest speeches — may fall on many deaf ears back in America. The former president is showing in every speech and public appearance that the seduction of demagoguery, the demonization of outsiders and the language of extremism is as potent now as it was before World War II.