There are days when it's hard not to wonder just how much time is left on the clock for humanity.
Whether it's war, famine, another grim report about climate change or a pandemic that's killed 6 million people to date, life on this planet can start to feel precarious. Sometimes, it all feels like an action movie entering its final act.
But is it actually possible that nearly 8 billion humans could one day disappear? That the planet could continue to spin in peace without us?
"The end of the world is such a great concept for giving shape to history," says Anders Sandberg, senior research fellow with the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. "We want to know how it ends. We want there to be a meaning or a tragedy or a comedy. Maybe a laugh track at the end of the universe."
It turns out, scientists, scholars, policy experts and more are studying this question, trying to decipher how humanity's end could come about, and whether there's anything that can be done to prevent it.
QAnon, a fringe right-wing conspiracy theory centered on former President Donald Trump, didn't fade away when he left office. Instead, belief in the wild conspiracy persists and continues to play a part in the political discourse, whether Americans realize it or not.
The QAnon conspiracy, which began in October 2017, falsely purports that Trump was fighting a hidden war against a cabal of Satanist pedophiles in Hollywood and the Democratic Party. The nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute -- a nonprofit that researches the intersection of religion, culture and public policy -- released a study in February showing nearly 16% of Americans believed the core QAnon conspiracy.
"QAnon has evolved from a movement centered around Trump leading a secret military intelligence operation to save the world, into a movement that not only doesn't need Trump but doesn't even need the iconography it developed over the past four years," said Mike Rothschild, conspiracy researcher and author of The Storm Is Upon Us, which provides a history of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Sorry, i had to throw this in just because it’s another “dems in disarray” headline. msm headline writers don’t seem to have any imagination.
Reuters
A New York judge approved a new congressional map that pits two veteran Democratic incumbents against one another and boosts Republican odds of capturing more seats in November's midterm elections, further endangering Democrats' fragile U.S. House majority.
Justice Patrick McAllister, a judge in rural Steuben County, signed off on the map just before midnight on Friday, weeks after New York's top court ruled that the redistricting plan passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature was unconstitutionally manipulated to benefit the party.
The Guardian, Australian Edition
Australia’s new parliament looks set to be the most diverse, but there’s still a long way to go, diversity advocates say.
For the first time, both Northern Territory Senate spots will be held by Indigenous women – Labor’s Malarndirri McCarthy was re-elected and would be joined by the Country Liberal’s Jacinta Price.
In the House of Representatives, Linda Burney would become the first female Aboriginal minister for Indigenous affairs. The former minister, Ken Wyatt, was the first Indigenous person to hold that portfolio. Labor’s Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari), who was the first Indigenous woman to be elected to the NT parliament, and Wiradjuri emergency doctor Gordon Reid (Robertson) are newly elected.
The Guardian, Australian Edition
The National party will spill its leadership positions next Monday as the Liberals debate whether Peter Dutton’s deputy should be Jane Hume or Sussan Ley.
As the Coalition continues to grapple with the fallout from Saturday’s election rout amid conflicting views about how to reposition in response, Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia’s 31st prime minister before leaving for Tokyo and his first meeting with Joe Biden and key regional allies.
Before departing for Japan, the new Labor prime minister sought confidence and supply assurances from crossbenchers and confirmed he would shortly appoint a new departmental head, rather than work with the former Liberal party adviser and
Scott Morrison appointee, Phil Gaetjens.
The Guardian, UK Edition
Boris Johnson is facing fresh claims of lying to MPs after photos emerged of him toasting a senior aide at a Downing Street leaving drinks event during a national Covid lockdown.
The Metropolitan police later fined staffers for attending the event on 13 November 2020 – but did not sanction Johnson, who is clearly seen raising a glass in a room full of alcohol.
Johnson had previously told MPs he was sure “the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times” when asked about the event in parliament.
The Guardian understands that the police had been handed details of the leaving drinks and Johnson’s attendance but chose not to issue him with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN), raising fresh questions about Scotland Yard’s Partygate inquiry.
Sources said that Johnson was the instigator of the event for Lee Cain, his director of communications, and was alleged to have poured the drinks for staff.
The Guardian, Climate Change News
Cutting methane sharply now is crucial, as focusing on carbon dioxide alone will not be enough to keep rising temperatures within livable limits, scientists have warned.
CO2 is the greenhouse gas most responsible for heating the planet, with most of it coming from the burning of fossil fuels. As a result, it has been the major focus of international efforts to prevent climate breakdown.
The study found that cuts to CO2 alone could not achieve the reductions needed to stay within 1.5C of pre-industrial temperatures.
The Guardian, UK Edition
UK accused of agreeing to Iran’s ‘unlawful’ request that she sign false statement as condition of her release.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has accused the UK Foreign Office of being complicit in forcing her to sign a letter of false confession to the Iranian government as part of the last-minute terms of her release in March.
She signed the letter at Tehran airport as she waited to find out whether she would be allowed to leave Iran after six years in detention.
The allegations, in a 20-page letter to the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, exclusively obtained by the Guardian, suggest she was shocked when she found out the Foreign Office had agreed this condition as part of
her release, adding its actions had “taken a huge personal toll on her and caused her severe trauma”.
The Guardian, US Edition
The US supreme court on Monday gutted constitutional protections that for years have provided a federal lifeline to innocent prisoners facing prolonged incarceration or even execution following wrongful convictions stemming from poor legal counsel given to them by the states.
In a 6 to 3 ruling, the newly-dominant rightwing majority of the nation’s highest court barred federal courts from hearing new evidence that was not previously presented in a state court as a result of the defendant’s ineffective legal representation.
The decision means that prisoners will no longer have recourse to federal judges even when they claim they were wrongfully convicted because their lawyers failed to conduct their cases properly.
The Guardian, US Edition
California could face mandatory water restrictions if residents don’t use less on their own as the drought drags on and the hotter summer months approach, the state’s governor has said.
Gavin Newsom threatened the possibly of statewide mandates in a meeting with representatives from major water agencies, including those that supply Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area, according to his office. The Democratic governor has avoided issuing sweeping, mandatory cuts in water use and instead favored an approach that gives local water agencies power to set rules for water use in the cities and towns they supply.
January through March is typically when most of California’s annual rain and snow falls, but this year those months were the driest in at least a century. Despite calls for conservation, the state’s water use
went up dramatically in March – 19% compared to the same month in 2020 – and now Newsom is considering changing his approach.
The Guardian, US Edition
Washington DC’s attorney general has sued Mark Zuckerberg, seeking to hold the Facebook co-founder personally responsible for his alleged role in allowing the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal data of millions of Americans during the 2016 election cycle.
The suit, filed in the capital by the District of Columbia attorney general, Karl Racine, alleges that Zuckerberg directly participated in policies that allowed Cambridge Analytica to gather the personal data of US voters without their knowledge in an attempt to help Donald Trump’s election campaign.
“This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans’ personal information, and Mr Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct,” Racine said in a news release.
Al Jazeera
Tehran, Iran – At least six people have been killed and dozens more are feared trapped after a 10-story building collapsed in Iran’s southwestern city of Abadan on Monday, according to authorities.
The head of the local branch of the Red Crescent said 32 people have been rescued from under the rubble so far, with 27 being taken to local hospitals.
Large parts of the commercial Metropol building, located in the busiest street at the centre of the city, were reduced to rubble, and officials told state television up to 80 people may still be trapped.
Rescue dogs, helicopters, vehicles, and personnel have been mobilised from across several provinces to assist with the ongoing rescue operation. Those include 80 forces from Tehran, namely 50 firefighters and rescuers to assist operations on the ground and 30 emergency responders to provide aerial assistance.
Al Jazeera
The Palestinian foreign ministry has announced it has formally asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
On May 11, Abu Akleh, 51, was covering an Israeli military raid near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when she was shot dead. Eyewitnesses and colleagues who were present at the scene said she was killed by Israeli forces.
“We have documented [the crime] and submitted a file about it to the ICC prosecutor alongside other Israeli violations,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
Al-Maliki called on The Hague-based court to add Abu Akleh’s death to other crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians to facilitate an official investigation and bring Israel to accountability.
DW News
Historian Christopher Clark, author of "The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914," discusses with DW the complexities of war, and why Putin's behavior does not represent Russia.
DW: Your book "Sleepwalkers" caused people to rethink World War I, and whether it was just Germany starting the war, or whether it was rather many European nations sleepwalking into a massive battle. What was your ultimate conclusion in your work?
Christopher Clark: Well, I think the conclusion of the book about 1914 was that the causes behind this war were complex.
A debate had been underway — which is still not finished — about what brought this war about. That's because the story was so complex.
And so I suppose the book was really making a plea for complexity, to understand how complex these things are. That was the first main point.
DW News
The United States stands by its One China policy that sees Taiwan as a part of China, but Washington would intervene if Beijing was to use force against the island, Joe Biden said while speaking at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
When asked if the US would use military force, the US president replied: "Yes."
"That's the commitment we made."
A Chinese attack against the self-ruled island would "just not be appropriate," Biden said. "It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine."
He said the burden to protect Taiwan was "even stronger" after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Biden is on a five-day Asia tour. After three days in South Korea, he arrived in Tokyo on Monday morning for the last leg of his trip. His statements appear to clash with the US tradition of "strategic ambiguity," as Washington usually avoids making any such explicit guarantees to Taiwan.
Bangkok Post
The Oil Fuel Fund board on Monday decided to continue capping the retail price of standard diesel at 32 baht per litre for another week.
Board director Wisak Watanasap said it would help protect consumers. The global diesel price was not too high, at $US138 per barrel, and the Oil Fuel Fund Office could still manage its liquidity, he said.
High global prices earlier prompted the board to raise its diesel price cap from 30 baht to 32 baht per litre on May 1. The board intends to review the diesel price and its price cap on a weekly basis.
CNN Business
New York (CNN Business)The Covid-19 pandemic has been good for the wallets of the wealthy.
Some 573 people have joined the
billionaire ranks since 2020, bringing the worldwide total to 2,668, according to an analysis released by Oxfam on Sunday. That means a new billionaire wasminted about every 30 hours, on average, so far during the pandemic.
The report, which
draws on data compiled by Forbes, looks at the rise of inequality over the past two years. It
is
timed to coincide with the kickoff of the
annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, a gathering of some of the
wealthiest people and world leaders.
Billionaires have seen their total
net worth soar by $3.8 trillion, or 42%, to $12.7 trillion during the pandemic. A large part of the increase has been fueled by strong gains in the stock markets, which was aided by governments injecting money into the global economy to soften the financial blow of the coronavirus.
CNN
(CNN)Jason Douglas Owens, charged with assaulting a police officer at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, wanted to go on his company's getaway trip to Mexico next month.
A federal judge was not amused.
Last month, Owens asked for permission to attend the "2021 President's Club" event in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, as a reward from his employer, opioid maker Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
The application for the 5-day retreat in June included such details as Owens' favorite color, which is blue, and shoe size (men's 10.5), according to court records submitted by Owens. For meals, he indicated he is "Vegan, but not too crazy strict."
NPR
Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which will determine whether the freshman lawmaker violated rules by promoting a cryptocurrency while having a personal financial interest invested and engaged "in an improper relationship" with a member of his staff.
The move comes less than a week after Cawthorn was defeated in the North Carolina Republican primary following weeks of scandals that resulted in backlash from Capitol Hill Republicans.
NPR
As Monday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day:
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian missile attack last Tuesday killed 87 people in northern Ukraine, reported to be the heaviest death toll so far from a single airstrike since Russia's invasion began three months ago. Zelenskyy did not specify whether casualties in the town of Desna were military or civilians. He disclosed the attack in his video address at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In the speech, Zelenskyy also called for "maximum" sanctions against Russia and invited businesses that are leaving Russia to come to Ukraine.
The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.