Scientists spot the most luminous object ever detected in the known universe, with a brightness equivalent to 500 trillion suns. / BBC News Yulia Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny's widow, urges the world not to recognize Russia's election, scheduled for March. / Reuters Britain and France have 500 nuclear warheads
Making the case that Vladimir Putin assassinated his imprisoned rival Alexei Navalny. / Why It Matters See also: Navalny seen in video a day before his reported death. / BBC News How Navalnyorganized anti-Putin Russians—who remain and are in larger numbers than ever. / Foreign Affairs Tucker Carlson's quip
A family struggles amid health issues, financial turmoil, and an unsupportive state government: the year after a denied abortion. / ProPublica Yesterday, SpaceX launched a lunar launder that, if successful, will be the first private spacecraft to land on the moon. / Quartz See also: The legal and ethical tug of war
Britain and Japan fell into technical recessions in the final quarter of 2023. / ABC News Meanwhile, the sneaker resale market is plummeting. / Business of Fashion "Tooth fairy inflation" refers to parents competing over Generation Alpha's average payout per lost tooth. / The Wall Street Journal [+] "People
The United States CDC plans to drop its five-day COVID-19 isolation recommendations. / Reuters Michigan becomes the first state in decades to repeal the union-restricting law known as "right-to-work." / The Associated Press See also: A day in the life of our "most prolific&
South Africa says it's sending 3,000 troops to fight groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. / Reuters In 2022, the DRC produced almost three-quarters of the world's cobalt—"essential in the green-energy transition." / Semafor Taylor Swift's private flight to
Even as guns remain a cornerstone of Republican politics, the NRA is in decline, losing more than a million members over the last five years. / The New York Times [+] According to a new report, climate change is erasing many of the gains in air quality over the past few decades.
"Part of the reason why our immigration debate is so bad is the perception among many people that there is a fixed number of jobs in this country." / How Things Work Thirty seconds of Super Bowl advertising alone is not worth $7 million. / Axios See also: A Super
In describing Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," the special counsel's report opened a new front in the election. / Vox See also: "[The special counsel], a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn't have a case against
For the first time on record, global warming exceeds the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit over a 12-month period. / Al Jazeera An unlikely coalition behind the White House's natural gas pivot: climate activists and manufacturing facilities. / Grist Some good news? "Hungry sea otters are helping save
