This just absolutely 🤯 me - I'm struggling to get my head around the fact that it's actually real... www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

A party, 101 princesses and an eccentric millionaire: Jon Ronson on a mysterious castle – and what it taught him about masculinity in crisis

When my son texted me from a Connecticut fortress in the middle of the night with an alarming message, it set me on a quest to understand the bizarre lifestyle of its owner

theguardian.com

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading more quickly than any other in history—now a global cohort is racing to fix it, @hana-kiros.bsky.social reports.

The Most Basic Step of the Ebola Response Is Falling Short

Curbing the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will require stepping up testing.

bit.ly

NEW: The website once owned by Cambridge Analytica (!) is now an AI content farm. Rebranded as "CA Privacy Watch," the site is littered with plagiarism and weird errors. It's also utilized at least one fake writer whose face seems to have been stolen from a random guy. futurism.com/artificial-i...

Cambridge Analytica's Website Is Now an AI Slop Farm

Cambridge Analytica has returned, in a very 2026 way: CambridgeAnalytica.org is now an AI-powered content farm.

futurism.com

Scientists are getting better at pinpointing the role of climate change in extreme weather events, opening governments and companies to financial liability. So there's growing pressure from fossil-fuel industry and Republicans to cast doubt on attribution science.🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Climate Models Become More Precise Even as Political Attacks Sharpen

Computer simulations are vital to the work scientists and insurers do. The resulting studies may also be used to hold companies and governments liable for damage caused by climate change.

bloomberg.com

Vladimir Putin “has convinced himself that the attritional math of the war favors Russia,” Simon Shuster writes, “and he will continue to press the numerical advantage of his forces regardless of how long the lines for gasoline in Moscow might get.”

Putin Is Slipping Into Delusion

The Russian dictator remains obsessed with his war in Ukraine, but doesn’t seem to comprehend how badly it’s going.

bit.ly

Over the past two and a half years, Israel has taken control of swaths of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria that amount to its biggest expansion of militarily occupied lands in decades. It is an area larger than many major cities. Israel has said it plans to stay indefinitely. apnews.com/projects/isr...

Israel seized more land from neighbors since 2023 than it has in decades

Israel has seized more than 1,200 square kilometers of territory since 2023. Here's a closer look at its expansion.

apnews.com

Worth reading @hannahdaly.ie's full research here - it contains some really stunning numbers. The most important point is the 80% renewable mandate delayed by six years: meaning six years of massive gas use and emissions, breaching carbon budgets and spiking bills zenodo.org/records/2058...

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 4mo ago

Data centre electricity demand could exceed power usage of entire country

Today there was a "high level" event featuring COP29 & COP30 presidents and other senior figures talking about the next steps for the "Baku to Belem roadmap" to $1.3tn It also saw the major climate finance donors – EU🇪🇺 Japan🇯🇵 UK🇬🇧 – as well as China 🇨🇳 Kenya 🇰🇪 and Colombia 🇨🇴 offer their thoughts.

All in all, IHLEG says the total climate finance needs of developing countries, excluding China, will be $3.2tn annually by 2035. However, it expected 60% of this finance to come from domestic sources in developing countries themselves – leaving $1.3tn to be picked up internationally.

An influential team called the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance has laid out what it calls an "entirely feasible path" to mobilising $1.3tn by 2035. This was the aspirational goal agreed at last year's COP. Half of the finance in their pathway comes from the private sector.

Super-warming methane gas is being tackled too slowly, UN says ahead of COP30 reut.rs/4ovardB

Super-warming methane gas is being tackled too slowly, UN says ahead of COP30

Almost 90% of satellite-detected methane leaks flagged to governments and oil and gas companies are not being acknowledged, the UN said Wednesday ahead of the COP30 climate talks next month.

reut.rs

In the same article it says that Microsoft executes believe OpenAI would fail www.theinformation.com/articles/mic...

Unusual Whales@unusualwhales.bsky.social · 12mo ago

BREAKING: Microsoft, $MSFT, leaders worried that meeting OpenAI’s rapidly escalating compute demands could lead to overbuilding servers that might not generate a financial return, per the Information

US documents dozens of new avian flu cases in wild birds as PAHO notes human case www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influe...

US documents dozens of new avian flu cases in wild birds as PAHO notes human case

Affected states include Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

cidrap.umn.edu

ICYMI: @jbwinters.bsky.social is reporting from Geneva as the U.N. approaches a global plastics treaty. Here’s our chart-heavy look from last week on the state of the plastics crisis: grist.org/internationa...

The global plastics crisis explained in 6 charts

Research shows the extent of plastic pollution today — and why the U.N. is negotiating a treaty to keep it from getting worse.

grist.org

The EU said it is ready to make a deal on a global plastics treaty but will not accept an agreement “at any cost,” leaving the door open to rejecting a weak outcome as negotiators enter the final 72 hours of talks with core provisions still deadlocked. healthpolicy-watch.news/eu-ready-to-...

EU Says It's Ready To Deal On Plastics Treaty, But Not 'At Any Cost' - Health Policy Watch

The European Union said Tuesday it is ready to make a deal on a global plastics treaty but will not accept an agreement "at any cost,"...

healthpolicy-watch.news

Global Plastics Treaty Talks Near Collapse With Days to Deadline "We have more square brackets in the text than plastic in the sea. It's time to get results," EU environment chief Jessika Roswall said. "We cannot miss this historic opportunity." healthpolicy-watch.news/global-plast...

Global Plastics Treaty Talks Near Collapse With Days To Deadline - Health Policy Watch

GENEVA — The world's attempt to forge a plastics treaty billed as the most important environmental deal since the Paris climate accord is falling apart after

healthpolicy-watch.news

Mass Killings, Sexual Violence, and Famine Grip North Darfur as Rebels Prepare El Fasher Assault ⏰⬇️Critical updates in the latest reports from @msf.ca, @amnesty.org, @unicef.org, and the @unhcr.org. ✍️ @stefananderson.bsky.social @wfp.org

Mass Killings, Sexual Violence And Famine Grip North Darfur As Rebels Prepare El Fasher Assault - Health Policy Watch

Based on interviews with over 80 civilians, MSF data and direct observations from its medical teams, the report documents the violence and humanitarian

healthpolicy-watch.news

I just published an explainer on aerosols and their role in the climate that I've been working on for the past few months! It includes both how aerosols work, how emissions have changed, and how thats driven recent warming: www.carbonbrief.org/...

Months after Musk and Trump told the agency it is “time to die,” looks like the final nail in the coffin. USAID will cut all international staff by September, ending nearly seven decades of operation for the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump administration to cut all USAID overseas roles and axe thousands of staff

State department to take control of US foreign assistance programs in mass restructuring by 30 September

theguardian.com

Artificial intelligence threatens to raid the water reserves of Europe's driest regions — @politico.eu www.politico.eu/article/arti...

Artificial intelligence threatens to raid the water reserves of Europe’s driest regions

The EU wants to compete with the U.S. and China on artificial intelligence. But critics say policymakers haven’t planned for the sector’s extreme water demand.

politico.eu

The SSA is shifting all public comms to X amid major staffing cuts: www.wired.com/story/social...

The Social Security Administration Is Gutting Regional Staff and Shifting All Public Communications to X

The SSA's shift to Elon Musk's X comes as the agency plans to cut its regional office workforce by roughly 90 percent, WIRED has learned.

wired.com

#UN Agency Chiefs Warn of ‘Utter Disregard for Human Life’ as Gaza Blockade Enters Second Month Heads of six UN agencies including the @who.int , @unicef.org, and the @wfp.org issued a desperate warning. ✍️ @stefananderson.bsky.social @msf.ca @costsofwar.bsky.social

UN Agency Chiefs Warn Of 'Utter Disregard For Human Life' As Gaza Blockade Enters Second Month - Health Policy Watch

Heads of six UN agencies including the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme issued a desperate warning that blockades of aid, food,

healthpolicy-watch.news

Russia-linked Telegram channels ‘offering to pay for attacks on mosques’ www.theguardian.com/news/2025/fe...

Russia-linked Telegram channels ‘offering to pay for attacks on mosques’

Exclusive: campaigners say cryptocurrency payments were offered to UK residents who daubed anti-Muslim graffiti

theguardian.com

At least 880 NOAA employees were fired today with hundreds more expected as soon as Friday. Right as there's: 🔥 a red flag warning for most of Nebraska and Iowa 🌪️ severe weather season picking up next week in the South 🔥🔥 "significant" wildfire potential for the Southwest and Southeast next month

At Least 880 Workers Were Fired at US Weather Agency

Hundreds of employees at the top US agency overseeing weather and climate research were fired as the Trump administration moves to shrink the size of the federal government.

bloomberg.com

Scoop: UNHCR moved to freeze 'activities worth about US$300 million.' The budget freeze is part of almost US$700 million the U.N. refugee agency already received from the United States. By @stefananderson.bsky.social

UNHCR freezes US$300 million of suspended U.S. aid, impacts 600 staff

The budget freeze is part of almost US$700 million that the U.N. refugee agency already received from the United States.

aretenews.com

The State Department is putting “all direct hire personnel” at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on administrative leave, except staff responsible for mission-critical functions.

State Department Puts ‘All Direct Hire’ USAID Personnel on Administrative Leave

The US government’s primary foreign aid agency has employees stationed all over the world, many of whom are now bracing to abruptly leave their posts.

wired.com

🌐 🇺🇳 Scoop: UNHCR is the latest U.N. agency to impose urgent spending cuts after nearly US$1 billion of its 2025 budget was held up in Trump's foreign aid freeze. WHO announced similar cuts last week - both agencies count the U.S. as their top donor. www.aretenews.com/unhcr-cuts-c...

U.N. refugee agency freezes hiring, cuts spending amid U.S. aid pause

UNHCR's directors scrambled to tighten its budget in response to the Trump administration's 90-day aid stoppage.

aretenews.com