Liz Truss becomes the UK's prime minister with seeming plans to spend $116 billion to freeze household energy bills. / Reuters Related: Russia's weaponization of its energy supplies is testing Europe's financial resources. / The Economist Unrelated: An unofficial guide to London's most heterosexual
We'll be off for Labor Day on Monday, and will see you again on Tuesday! Dictators have long used various methods to manipulate public opinion, and AI may become their most promising tool yet. / Foreign Affairs See also: The number of electoral autocracies is growing, resulting in more
The UN's outgoing human rights commissioner says China may have committed crimes against humanity by abusing Uyghur Muslims. / BBC News The US imposes new restrictions on sales of some sophisticated computer chips to China and Russia. / The New York Times French tax authorities use AI to spot thousands
In its steepest decline in almost a century, US life expectancy has dropped sharply over the past two years. / STAT The latest national test results among American schoolchildren show the pandemic has reversed two decades of math and reading progress. / The New York Times As US bases reduced pandemic restrictions,
A study finds Black and Asian people in England have to wait longer for a cancer diagnosis than white people, with some forced to wait an extra six weeks. / The Guardian Congress's first Gen Z member is likely to be a Black anti-gun activist from central Florida.
In a "monster monsoon," a third of Pakistan is now underwater. / NBC News Related: Before-and-after satellite photos of the destruction in Pakistan. / Axios The Greenland ice sheet is losing ice at a rate that will add nearly a foot to sea levels—and there's
NASA cancels today's "mega-moon" rocket launch due to an engine problem. / NPR The project's conception and execution are said to be "a near-perfect example of pork-barrel politics." / The Economist Related: How to eat desert like an Apollo 11 astronaut.
Russia blocks adoption of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty over a Ukraine mention. / BBC News Remembering a largely forgotten Navy catastrophe that helped force the US military to desegregate. / Smithsonian Magazine State and federal authorities investigate the killing of a Yellowstone wolf by a veteran Park Service employee. / The Intercept
Moderna is suing Pfizer and BioNTech, alleging they infringed on patents for the mRNA technology behind the Covid vaccines. / NBC News Following the fall of Roe, trigger laws took effect yesterday in Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas, banning abortion in those states. / CNN Unaccompanied immigrant children who are in US custody
Are sanctions on Russia working? Yes, but they're not a knockout blow, and other autocracies are watching. / The Economist Suketu Mehta: It is crucial that India remains a democracy for all its citizens. / Scroll.in The White House says it will cancel up to $20,000 of federal
