Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, issued a rare rebuke of Trump on Tuesday, saying it was “truly unacceptable” to threaten to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization.” He did not mention the president by name, but it was clear to whom he was referring. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/w...

Above all, there are no winners, only losers. Iran is left with a brutal state, a traumatized population, a decimated infrastructure and worse economy. Lebanon's best chance at a viable state in a decade is obliterated, with yet another generation of rebuilt infrastructure bombed to rubble.

“I think people should be able to teach at Harvard who have a variety of different degrees of moral character,” Cornel West said. "I always give Brother Summers, and anybody else, a chance to just choose to be a better person." "Brother Summers" www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the United States did not surprise Israel by announcing its two-week cease-fire with Iran, saying the truce is not "the end of the war" but a "stop on the way to achieving all our goals." www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

"Read [these books] while you can, while you still have breath in your body, because they are chronicling the end of the world as we once knew it," writes Caroline Fraser @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

In the midst of all the world events, it's nice to have a piece like this in @nature.com on scientists who write lyrical, moving poetry. Many thx to @josiegz.bsky.social for the wonderful pitch & piece. Engaging the head and the heart: why scientists turn to poetry www.nature.com/articles/d41...

in 1991 Larry Summers, then chief economist of the World Bank, suggested, with no Swiftian irony, that the “economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.” @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

German mayors have called for a nationwide ban on night-time use of robot lawnmowers to protect hedgehogs & other nocturnal animals from being killed or maimed in the dark. Studies highlight the threat lawnmower blades pose to wildlife that are active at night. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

My latest for @natureportfolio.nature.com: A dream assignment. Engaging the head and the heart: why scientists turn to poetry. Poetry-writing scientists draw inspiration from trees, leaves, fish, hurricanes, the climate crisis and even electricity pylons. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

All Republican members of Congress, no matter what other good and bad things they've done in their lives, will be remembered for choosing party over country and keeping this guy in office when it's clear that he's 100% unfit for office.

Lili said she and her family had made no contingency plans at all, and they were not planning to flee Tehran. They were not stocking up on goods and there is no apparent haven to flee to: Attacking infrastructure meant almost anywhere could become a target. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/w...

Jeff Bezos has $222 billion. If he paid my wealth tax this year, we could fund insulin in America for everyone who needs it plus free school lunch for every kid in Texas—and have plenty of money left over. And Bezos would still have $215 billion dollars to spare.

On the night of Saturday, April 28, the police forcibly dispersed a demonstration against the war in Tel Aviv's Habima Square, citing Home Front Command's emergency orders. They haven't enforced the ban on crowds at beaches, malls or weddings. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

The Iranian civilian population is the main victim of the Iranian regime. It would also be the main victim of a widening of the military campaign.

My latest for @natureportfolio.nature.com: A dream assignment. Engaging the head and the heart: why scientists turn to poetry. Poetry-writing scientists draw inspiration from trees, leaves, fish, hurricanes, the climate crisis and even electricity pylons. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The United States and Israel initiated strikes on Iran over one month ago, on February 28, 2026. The attack was a clear violation of the United Nations Charter, say 100 international law experts www.justsecurity.org/135423/profe...

Increasingly the US is not so much the gatekeeper of the world’s only energy system, but the paranoid guardian of an ailing oil order that is rapidly losing primacy. Clean energy alternatives are becoming more attractive, cheaper, and—most importantly—more reliable.

In Japan, the oil crisis has sparked fears that patients with chronic kidney failure won’t be able to get treatment due to a lack of plastic medical tubes used in hemodialysis. The global oil crisis is turning into an everything crisis edition.cnn.com/2026/04/04/b...

The Middle Eastern war could cause the collapse of American fossil-hegemony and help China to remake the global energy order. @katemac.bsky.social & I argue here: www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/war...

"Cake not Hate." Worshippers at the Glasgow mosque were delighted to meet Josh and sample his cakes. One man said: It’s so nice to see a unique initiative like this, a young boy fostering better relationships. “I think many more mosques should invite him over.”

Over the past few years, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. This video explains why targeting civilians in wartime is a crime under international law.

Under the Geneva Conventions and related frameworks, deliberately targeting civilian objects, incl. power plants, bridges, & water systems not being used for military purposes, constitutes a war crime. Trump telegraphs war crimes in profanity-filled Easter threat www.advocate.com/politics/nat...

The troubling rise of family estrangement As more adults cut off their parents, psychologist Joshua Coleman calls for closer scrutiny of causes and effects, and suggests paths to reconciliation Interesting interview @knowablemag.bsky.social knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

Under the Geneva Conventions and related frameworks, deliberately targeting civilian objects, incl. power plants, bridges, & water systems not being used for military purposes, constitutes a war crime. Trump telegraphs war crimes in profanity-filled Easter threat www.advocate.com/politics/nat...

Over the past few years, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. This video explains why targeting civilians in wartime is a crime under international law.

The US signed onto and ratified all four, but seems to me the 4th Convention is especially worth a reminder. It protects civilians in wartime, bans murder, torture, deportations, hostage taking, discrimination. It also PROHIBITS collective punishment and requires humane treatment/access to relief.

"Cake not Hate." Worshippers at the Glasgow mosque were delighted to meet Josh and sample his cakes. One man said: It’s so nice to see a unique initiative like this, a young boy fostering better relationships. “I think many more mosques should invite him over.”

A church was built in the West Bank town of Taybeh in the 5th century, and the Christian community survived the crusaders, conquest by Saladin, the Ottoman empire, the British empire & 3 Arab-Israeli wars, but inhabitants say its long-term future is in question. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Storm Dave (yes! Storm Dave, named after my Granddad) is expected to cause travel disruption this Easter weekend, with warnings for heavy snow and gale-force winds issued across northern parts of the UK. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Notice the difference between the Easter Bunny and the Library Bunny. The Library Bunny has a book in place of an ax. Also, the Easter Bunny is wearing a scarily cheerful smile whereas the Library Bunny's face is serious and seems to be saying "don't disturb me while I'm reading".

🇭🇺 At Orbán's election rally, people chant "Ruszkik haza," meaning "Russians, go home." "Ruszkik haza" is the slogan of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against Soviet troops.

A famous Cambodian mine-clearing rat, who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism, has been commemorated with a statue. Using his acute sense of smell to detect a chemical compound within explosives, Magawa would then alert human handlers of mines. 🧪🐀💥🏅 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bee Everybody quiet down now and get some sleep. I’m dreams we find truths that reality hides. #bee #goodnight #dream

An echidna-graced Easter is a blessed Easter 💚 Dandenong Ranges, land of the Wurundjeri woiwurrung

The bloodshed and upheaval [in the Middle East] has exposed children to traumatic events. Prolonged exposure to violence and instability is known to have lasting impacts on brain development, emotional regulation and long-term mental health. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Sisters Bernadette, Regina and Rita broke into their Austrian convent home in Elsbethen last September with the help of former pupils of the Catholic school. The trio say they were sent to the care home against their will and they wish to die at their convent. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

The United States and Israel initiated strikes on Iran over one month ago, on February 28, 2026. The attack was a clear violation of the United Nations Charter, say 100 international law experts www.justsecurity.org/135423/profe...

Rivka Geffen—at age 94, “a young girl,” she said—has made a makeshift home in the Tel Aviv shelter. Geffen hadn’t planned to be in the parking garage for the Passover seder, but organizers invited her. “If I [am] scared, I’m with other people too,” she said. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

“After the last war, we rebuilt our home. We said it’s over. And now it’s all being destroyed again,” said Ali Akkar, 78, who was displaced from his home in Khiam, South Lebanon. “In the last war, we had some hope to return home. Now we have none.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A century-old medical research centre, The Pasteur Institute of Iran, has been heavily damaged in strikes on Tehran, Iran’s health ministry has said. The Institute plays a key role in combating infectious diseases like cholera and Covid-19. www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

AI-rewilded landscapes were all very similar, all but one featuring distant hills, grading to a valley foreground of open meadow with a stream or pool. There was also no mess, no decay, no death, no wolves, lynx, bears or bison, writes ecologist Mike Jeffries theconversation.com/ai-makes-rew...

Milk parsley, which grows in marshy habitats, was once widespread around Hornsea Mere, but has declined sharply in recent decades. Conservationists hope that planting it could help bring the swallowtail back to the area for the first time in more than a century. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Record year for breeding Cranes in Scotland: The birds were driven to extinction in Scotland during the 16th century due to habitat loss and hunting. Last year a total of 10 pairs fledged nine chicks, up from six pairs in 2024. www.rspb.org.uk/scotland/new...

Almost 40% of England’s seas are designated as marine protected areas. And yet in the four years to 2024, trawlers using vast nets, including those that scour the seabed, caught more than 1.3m tonnes of fish within them. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"I lived between despair and hope that my daughter might still be alive," said Sundus al-Kurd. After nearly a year, Sundus was told that her daughter was reported alive and well in an Egyptian field hospital. Gazan mom reunited with evacuated daughter after two years www.bbc.com/news/article...

“The Israeli military cannot claim to be safely evacuating the civilian population for imperative military reasons when, in some areas, its expulsions are based on religion and only Shia civilians are forced to leave,” said Nadia Hardman, senior refugee and migrant rights researcher @hrw.org

“The town [of Rmeish] received and hosted us, we are grateful for that,” said Ali Naser, 26, a Shiite Muslim from one border village, Aitaroun. But, he said, local leaders told him the pressure from Israel to make them leave was too great. “I’m at a loss,” he said. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/w...

"Go Down, Moses," - The Many Sending thoughts of freedom to everyone everywhere celebrating the Passover seder tonight. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgjc...

Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which usually carries about 20% of the world’s oil & gas, has put severe pressure on the global economy. Some analysts are warning a new flashpoint could emerge: the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, writes Flavio Macau theconversation.com/why-a-second...

After Eichman was sentenced to death, my grandfather, who was a member of cabinet at the time (and fled Germany in 1939), was one of two ministers who objected to carrying out the sentence. He asked that Eichman live out his days as a condemned man. He was overruled. 1/2