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Astonishing Array of Wildlife Discovered in Cambodia Mangroves: ‘700 Different Species’ (Maria)
The author writes, “One of the most comprehensive biodiversity surveys ever carried out in a mangrove forest has revealed that an astonishing array of wildlife makes its home in these key, threatened habitats. Hundreds of species — from bats to birds and fish to insects — were identified during the study of the Peam Krasop sanctuary and the adjacent Koh Kapik Ramsar reserve in Cambodia. Hairy-nosed otters, smooth-coated otters, large-spotted civets, long-tailed macaques and fishing cats, as well a wide range of bat species were among the residents recorded by the survey. … The variety of wildlife has staggered biologists.”
Why Trump’s ‘Hush Money’ Case Is Bigger Than Hush Money (Russ)
The author writes, “The fact that Donald Trump has been indicted four times means we all must use shorthand to differentiate between the cases. So one case is the ‘classified documents’ case. We’ve got the twin federal and Georgia ‘election subversion’ or ‘Jan. 6’ cases. Then there’s the first case charged: the Manhattan ‘hush money’ case, which will also be the first to go to trial, next week, unless Trump succeeds in delaying it. But that last shorthand might not be totally apt, if a Monday letter from the judge in the case is any measure. Indeed, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan seems to indicate that what we really have is a third election interference case.”
Iran’s Attack on Israel Could Be Bad for Russia’s War in Ukraine (Sean)
The author writes, “Iran’s attack on Israel on Saturday is bad not only for the Middle East but also for Russia’s war in Ukraine as new fault lines emerge between Moscow and Tehran. Michelle Grisé, a senior policy researcher at RAND, an American think tank, described in a commentary how a broader conflict in the Middle East could impact Russia. The commentary was first published in The National Interest magazine on Thursday — days before Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday. Grisé’s piece followed a strike on Iran’s embassy in Damascus, Syria, on April 1. Israel didn’t claim responsibility for the strike, but Iran held it accountable and vowed retaliation.”
Trump’s Second-Term Blueprint Would Take a Wrecking Ball to Public Lands (Laura)
From HuffPost: “When it was time to outline their vision for managing America’s federal lands under a future Republican presidency, pro-Donald Trump conservatives turned to a man who has spent his career advocating for those very lands to be pawned off to states and private interests. William Perry Pendley, who served illegally as Trump’s acting director of the Bureau of Land Management for more than a year, authored the Interior Department chapter of Project 2025, a sweeping policy blueprint that the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other right-wing organizations compiled to guide Trump and his team should he win in November.”
More Than Half of Foreign-Born People in US Live in Just 4 States and Half Are Naturalized Citizens (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “More than half of the foreign-born population in the United States lives in just four states — California, Texas, Florida and New York — and their numbers grew older and more educated over the past dozen years, according to a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2022, the foreign-born population was estimated to be 46.2 million people, or almost 14% of the U.S. population, with most states seeing double-digit percentage increases in the last dozen years, according to the figures from the bureau’s American Community Survey.”
What To Know About the Real Estate Tycoon Sentenced to Death in Vietnam’s Largest Fraud Case (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “A Vietnamese real estate tycoon was sentenced to death Thursday in the country’s biggest ever financial fraud case, a shocking development in an intensifying anti-corruption drive in the southeast Asian nation. Truong My Lan, a high-profile businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022. The 67-year-old has been convicted for fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP — and for illegally controlling a major bank and allowing loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion, state media outlets reported. Death sentences are not uncommon in Vietnam, but it is rare in financial crime cases and for someone this well known.”
Protecting Dark Sky Country (Dana)
From Noema Magazine: “For as long as we’ve been human, we’ve looked to the sky to find ourselves. Ever-increasing light pollution threatens not just our sense of identity, but our relationship with the whole biosphere.”
FROM 2023: Decades Old? No Problem: Publisher Makes a Bet on Aging Books (Al)
From The New York Times: “The life of a good book can span hundreds of years, but most of the time, a book gets a flash of attention when it is first published — if its author is lucky. Then, it fades away. A company called Open Road Integrated Media is trying to change that by giving a second life to older books. It does that by using machine learning to make those titles more visible online and … by republishing books that were largely forgotten or had fallen out of print.”
