Le Pen's far-right party wins first round as Macron's snap elections gamble backfires — AFP — 30 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 164 media reports — (LINK)

Turkey arrests at least 15 protesters at banned Pride rally — AP — 30 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 48 media reports — (LINK)

Eleven dead in Indian capital after heavy rain on 28 June, flight operations stutter — Dawn — 30 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 13 media reports — (LINK)

Taliban delegation attends UN meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan, women excluded (video) — france24 — 30 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 26 media reports — (LINK)

Fox: UN official called 'terror sympathizing antisemite' by Israeli ambassador as calls grow for her dismissal — foxnews — 30 June 2024 (LINK)

— Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, recently made news after criticizing the Jewish state for its successful June rescue of four hostages held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Israel's outgoing ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, told Fox News Digital, "Francesca Albanese is the very definition of a terror sympathizing antisemite. Her role at the U.N. is dedicated toward one goal: the destruction of the State of Israel. I'm not surprised that the secretary-general, who is motivated by hatred for Israel, is not doing anything about her justification of terror against Israelis."

— Albanese's June 8 post on X said of the rescue mission, "This is 'humanitarian camouflage' at another level. Israel has used hostages to legitimise (sic) killing, injuring, maiming, starving and traumatising (sic) Palestinians in Gaza. And while intensifying violence against Palestinians in the rest of the occupied territory and Israel. Israel could have freed all hostages, alive and intact, 8 months ago when the first ceasfire (sic) and hostage exchange was put on the table. Yet, Israel refused in order to continue to destroy Gaza and the Palestinians as a people. This is genocidal intent turned into action. Crystal clear."

Ukraine General Staff: Russia lost 3 planes, 350 tanks in June — kyivindependent.com — 30 June 2024 (LINK)

Russia presses its offensive in Ukraine and issues new threats as the West tries to blunt the push — AP — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

— Russia took advantage of its edge in firepower amid delays in U.S. aid to scale up attacks in several areas along the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front. Relatively small units are probing Ukrainian defenses for weak spots, potentially setting the stage for a more ambitious push. Russia's offensive near Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, that began in May and worried Kyiv's Western allies has apparently lost momentum after the Ukrainian army bolstered its forces in the area by redeploying troops from other sectors.

Multiple suicide bombings kill at least 18 people in northeast Nigeria: At least 18 people were killed and 19 seriously wounded in suicide attacks targeting a wedding, a hospital and a funeral in northeastern Nigeria — AFP — 29 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 71 media reports — (LINK)

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seize key town in east DRC — AFP — 29 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 12 media reports — (LINK)

Arab League rescinds the classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist group — haaretz — 29 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 19 media reports — (LINK)

Panama court acquits 28 implicated in Panama Papers and Operation Car Wash scandals — CNN — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

— A court statement said that evidence collected in the case did not meet due process, casting doubt over its 'authenticity and integrity'. Judge Baloísa Marquínez ordered the lifting all the precautionary measures made against the defendants, who have not been named. She said one of the group had died during the process. The documents allegedly revealed a clandestine network involving associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and business ties between a member of FIFA's ethics committee and men whom the United States had indicted for corruption.

— Operation Car Wash was a money laundering investigation into Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil company.Those acquitted from the Operation Car Wash case were discharged because the income of money from illicit sources could not be demonstrated, the statement said.

List of threatened species grows by 1,000: a staggering 82% of species at risk now threatened with extinction, a significant jump from 55% in 2013, but conservation efforts bring hope for some animals — AP — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

— Over 45,000 species are now threatened with extinction — 1,000 more than last year — according to IUCN that blames pressures from climate change, invasive species and human activity such as illicit trade and infrastructural expansion. The risk list now includes 163,040 species, an increase of about 6,000 from last year.

— The list revealed the “staggering” decline of endemic reptiles — the giant lizard and skink — on the Canary Islands and Ibiza due to predation by the invasive snakes. The 2024 update also highlights the Asian elephant in Borneo as an endangered species. It is estimated that only about 1,000 Bornean elephants remain in the wild.

— In a contrasting tale, conservation efforts have revived the Iberian lynx from the brink of extinction, with the population increasing from 62 mature individuals in 2001 to 648 in 2022 and more than 2,000 now.

Hungary's 'illiberal' Orban takes helm of EU Presidency: Once a fiery law student who called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has had a major shift in political orientation over his three decades in politics. — kyivpost — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

— Commentator warns not to "overestimate the importance" of Hungary's six-month presidency but predicted that Orban would continue to block key issues as he did with EU aid for Ukraine while "loosening restrictions" on rule of law issues on which he has been censured by Brussels in order to unlock blocked EU funds.

Can Biden come back from a bad debate the way Reagan did in 1984? — NPR — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

!New York Post: Fact check: Biden's horrific debate performance made worse by multiple lies and gaffes — nypost — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

Panama court acquits 28 implicated in Panama Papers and Operation Car Wash scandals — CNN — 29 June 2024 (LINK)

— A court statement said that evidence collected in the case did not meet due process, casting doubt over its 'authenticity and integrity'. Judge Baloísa Marquínez ordered the lifting all the precautionary measures made against the defendants, who have not been named. She said one of the group had died during the process. The documents allegedly revealed a clandestine network involving associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and business ties between a member of FIFA's ethics committee and men whom the United States had indicted for corruption.

— Operation Car Wash was a money laundering investigation into Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil company.Those acquitted from the Operation Car Wash case were discharged because the income of money from illicit sources could not be demonstrated, the statement said.

Only 17% of 169 targets to improve life around the world are likely to be reached by 2030, UN reports — AP — 28 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 18 media reports — (LINK)

Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024 — (LINK)

US removes Gaza aid pier due to weather and may not put it back, officials say — VOA — 28 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 66 media reports — (LINK)

Trump would withdraw US from Paris climate treaty again, campaign says — politico — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

Research expert tells UN it has 'irrefutably' established missile debris in Ukraine is North Korean — ABC — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

Argentina's parliament approves President Milei's austerity-heavy reform package — AP — 28 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 50 media reports — (LINK)

Turkey welcomes removal from a key money-laundering watchlist, hoping to boost foreign investment — AFP — 28 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 24 media reports — (LINK)

Supreme Court just ruled in favor of over 300 January 6 insurrectionists, and including Donald Trump — vox.com — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

— the Supreme Court ruled that a federal law, providing that anyone who "obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so" commits a very serious federal crime, does not actually apply to everyone who obstructs, influences, or impedes an official proceeding.

— Approximately 330 people who allegedly participated in that insurrection are charged with violating the statute at issue in Fischer v. United States, including Donald Trump. So Friday's decision could potentially undermine much of the Justice Department's ability to prosecute hundreds of people who attacked the US Capitol.

— According to Justice Roberts, January 6 defendants can only be charged under the statute if they created false evidence or otherwise impaired "the availability or integrity of other things used in an official proceeding beyond the 'record[s], document[s], or other object[s]' enumerated in (c)(1), such as witness testimony or intangible information."

— Let's stipulate that Roberts's interpretation of the statute is super confusing and that it does not comport with the way most English speakers would read this law. The oddest thing about Fischer is that there are actually some Supreme Court precedents that support Roberts's decision.

'Inhumane': Homelessness advocates slam U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding ban on sleeping outside — ABC — 30 June 2024 (LINK)

— "It makes it harder for them to get jobs. It makes it harder for them to get it into apartment, because fines rack up, sometimes they turn into criminal charges and bench warrants. So it not only doesn't end homelessness for anybody, it actually makes it worse for the people who are subject to these kinds of ordinances."

— The decision is a win for lawmakers across the country who have recently implemented similar bans on the homeless and restrictions on encampments or possessions in public spaces, but who have been faced with legal challenges. The most recent report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in December found that more than 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023 across the U.S., a 12% increase from 2022.

'Inhumane': Homelessness advocates slam U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding ban on sleeping outside — ABC — 30 June 2024 (LINK)

— "It makes it harder for them to get jobs. It makes it harder for them to get it into apartment, because fines rack up, sometimes they turn into criminal charges and bench warrants. So it not only doesn't end homelessness for anybody, it actually makes it worse for the people who are subject to these kinds of ordinances."

— The decision is a win for lawmakers across the country who have recently implemented similar bans on the homeless and restrictions on encampments or possessions in public spaces, but who have been faced with legal challenges. The most recent report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in December found that more than 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023 across the U.S., a 12% increase from 2022.

Why pill bottles are orange: it helps filter out UV light so it does not alter the medication — Readers Digest — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

Serotonin 2C receptor key to memory — neurosciencenews.com — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

— Mutations in the serotonin 2C receptor gene lead to memory deficits, but serotonin analogs like lorcaserin could improve memory by activating these receptors. This finding opens the door to potential new therapies for Alzheimer's and other memory-related disorders.

ChatGPT gives better answers to health-related questions than human physicians in 79% of cases, study finds — www.psypost.org — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

— The researchers drew a random sample of 195 exchanges between physicians and patients from the Reddit's online forum r/AskDocs, a subreddit with approximately 474,000 members, where users can post medical questions and verified health care professional volunteers submit answers. They took care not to repeat questions and answers from the same physician and the same patient.

— Although different types of healthcare professionals respond in this forum, this study solely focused on answers given by physicians. This was because the study authors expected the responses of physicians to be of better quality than answers given by other types of healthcare professionals. If a physician provided multiple responses, only the first was included in the analysis.

ChatGPT was tasked with generating answers to the same questions. The original question, the physician's response, and ChatGPT's response were presented to a team of three evaluators, who were blinded to the source of each response. The evaluators assessed which response was better, rated the quality of the information, and evaluated the empathy or bedside manner displayed.

Google Translate is using AI to translate a whopping 110 new languages — androidcentral.com — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

ChatGPT has changed the way scientists write scientific papers. — neurosciencenews.com — 28 June 2024 (LINK)

— A study of 14 million research papers reveals a sudden and dramatic change that occurred soon after ChatGPT appeared. Thato the researchers' surprise, an even bigger change occurred in 2024 with an increase in words like delves, crucial, important and potential. Curiously, these are not words related to the scientific content of a paper but to writing style. "The unprecedented increase in excess style words in 2024 allows us to use them as markers of ChatGPT usage."

— The data suggests that at least 10 per cent of the papers on PubMed in 2024 were influenced in this way. "With ˜1.5 million papers being currently indexed in PubMed per year, this means that LLMs assist in writing at least 150 thousand papers per year," conclude the researchers. The team observed that AI-assistance was more common in papers from countries where English was not the first language.

'Iran-backed plot' to destabilize Jordan thwarted — eurasiareview — 27 June 2024 (LINK)

— Jordanian security forces have detonated a cache of explosives found concealed in a commercial warehouse in an industrial area southeast of Amman, thwarting what authorities said was part of an Iran-backed plot to destabilize the kingdom. Officials said the material was hidden by the same gang who stored explosives uncovered on Saturday in a crowded residential area close to a military airport.

Swiss companies are pioneering revolutionary batteries that can charge in one minute: 'The only way of meeting the enormous rise in demand for high-performance batteries' — thecooldown — 27 June 2024 (LINK)

— BTRY is the maker of an ultra-thin solid-state battery that "charges in minutes [and] stores for years," per the designers. 8inks offers a battery manufacturing process that experts claim allows power packs "to reach their full potential."

All eyes are on Nvidia's stock, so what's been going on? — AP — 26 June 2024 (LINK)

— Nvidia shares rebounded Tuesday, halting a three-day skid that had surprised many investors and wiped away more than $400 billion in market value. Early last week, Nvidia overtook Microsoft as Wall Street's most valuable public company. Then it fell 13% over three days, its worst such stretch since 2022.

— There's been nearly insatiable demand for Nvidia's chips to power artificial intelligence applications and the company has played a big role in the U.S. stock market's recent record runs even as the economy's growth slows under the weight of high interest rates. But the AI boom is moving at such a rapid pace that it's raised worries about a possible bubble in the stock market and too-high expectations among investors.

New Mpox strain Clade 1b 'most dangerous so far' and 'could spread internationally', scientists warn — Reuters ● — 25 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 12 media reports — (LINK)

UN tells Israel it will suspend aid operations across Gaza without improved safety — globalnews.ca — 25 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 37 media reports — (LINK)

UN-backed contingent of foreign police arrives in Haiti as Kenya-led force prepares to face gangs — rfi — 25 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 49 media reports — (LINK)

Julian Assange formally admits spying charge as part of a plea deal with US authorities — jurist.org — 25 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 119 media reports — (LINK)

At least 24 killed by flooding, landslides after heavy rains in Ivory Coast — africanews.com — 25 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 19 media reports — (LINK)

Zelensky: Ukrainian drones have struck over 30 Russian oil targets — kyivindependent/span> — 25 June 2024 (LINK)

Friendly's and Hershey's ice creams among nearly 70 products recalled over risk of listeria contamination — independent.co.uk — 25 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 35 media reports — (LINK)

Protecting 1.2% of Earth's land would stop 'Sixth Great Extinction', scientists say — ecowatch — 25 June 2024 (LINK)

— The coalition of experts identified 16,825 potential conservation sites that need to be prioritized in the next five years in order to save thousands of rare species. The scientists estimated that the new protected lands only covered a small portion of the habitat of threatened and range-limited species — 0.11 million square kilometres.

Brain activity when someone dies gives new meaning to 'seeing a light' at the end of the tunnel — thefocus.news — 25 June 2024 (LINK)

— An electrogram device to monitor the brain activity of four people who passed away in hospitals. it showed increased activity in the TPJ region of the brain at the time of death. That's the temporoparietal junction, which plays a crucial role in distinguishing between ourselves and other people. There appears to be a connection between the TPJ and Alzheimer's disease, autism spectrum condition, schizophrenia, and certain anxiety disorders. Meanwhile, connections made there help people understand their emotions. So it's a complex and important part of the brain.

Families of October 7 attack victims sue UNRWA over 'helping' Hamas — AFP — 25 June 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 27 media reports — (LINK)

China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe returns to Earth with world-first samples from dark side of Moon — AFP — 24 June 2024 (LINK) — span class="media">ground.news: 61 media reports — 25 June 2024 (LINK)