A selection of news clips and short pieces.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
For an Endangered Animal, a Fire or Hurricane Can Mean the End
When a wildfire swept through Arizona, all but 35 rare red squirrels disappeared. After California’s fires and Hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma, so did other near-extinct animals.
52 Environmental Rules on
the Way Out Under Trump
Since taking office in January, President Trump has made eliminating federal regulations a priority.
How Republicans Think about Climate Change, in Maps
Over the past two decades, Republicans have grown increasingly doubtful about climate change, even as Democrats have grown increasingly convinced that it’s happening and is caused by humans.
30 Vaquita Porpoises Are Left. One Died in a Rescue Mission
In the past five years, the vaquita population — which lives in only a sliver of water between Mexico’s mainland and Baja California — has plummeted by 90 percent.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Conservationists See a Hurricane Risk: Florida’s Exotic Pets Could Escape
With Hurricane Irma fast approaching Florida, wildlife organizations are concerned that nonnative species could be unleashed.
TABLET MAGAZINE
Italian Newspaper Offers ‘Mein Kampf’ as a Free Throw-In
The Jewish community is up in arms, as the editor of ‘Il Giornale’ believes it’s "unreasonable to view the decision as a sign of support for Nazism and the movements anti-Jewish policies."
TIMES OF ISRAEL
Stark biblical themes pepper film’s bleak depiction of Israeli reality
A brooding conversation at Cannes with award-winning Israeli director Eran Kolirin on ‘Beyond the Mountains and Hills,’ a story of a family entangled in society’s dark forces.
COLORS MAGAZINE
The Girl Boxers of Nairobi
Every week, young women from the marginalized communities of northern Nairobi are taught self-defense at BoxGirls, an organization set up in 2007 by Analo Anjere (known as Priest) after he overheard two girls say they wanted to “box like boys.”
SELECTION FROM THE
AUSTRALIAN JEWISH NEWS:
Alleged child abuser cleared of bail breach
A man accused of a series of child abuse offences against students from Yeshivah College will not be jailed ahead of his trial, despite attempts by the police to have his bail revoked.
Protest at BDS activist trial
Anti-Israel protestors on the steps of the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court bound their hands with Israeli flags and taped their mouths shut as the trial of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) demonstrators got underway this week.
Nazi flags raise ire
A member of Melbourne’s Jewish community has launched a personal crusade against the public display of Nazi symbols, after he and a friend noticed SS and swastika flags flying outside a house in Carrum.
Community welcomes child-abuse Inquiry
Melbourne's Jewish community has welcomed the state government’s announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child-abuse cases by religious organisations.
VICE.COM
Memories From Melbourne’s Best Independent Video Store
ith the rise of home-viewing options like Netflix, Stan, and Presto, Stefani can't afford to keep the store open and is shutting down on Wednesday, much to the dismay of the local community.
VICE.COM
Some Guy in Italy Is Trying to Resurrect David Bowie With an Online Petition
Addressed to "God or whom it may concern," the petition is an effort to resurrect the White Duke, simply via the power of public demand. As of Monday, more than 10,000 supporters have signed the petition.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Is Climate-Themed Fiction All Too Real? We Asked the Experts
Some works of apocalyptic fiction are starting to feel too close for comfort. We chose seven of them and asked: How likely are they to come true?
THE NEW YORK TIMES
How Pet Snakes Set Off an Unlikely Chain of Events That Could Make You Sick
Opossums, raccoons and deer all but disappeared from Everglades National Park in Florida after the Burmese python invaded. When they vanished, mosquitos turned to feeding on rats that can carry encephalitis. That could put humans at risk.
VICE MAGAZINE
This Is What Extinction Sounds Like
Seventy-nine-year-old soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause used to go into the wild to record the chorus of nature. Now, he has become an expert in the sound of extinction.
VICE.COM
A day at the Koori Court
This division of the Victorian Magistrates' Court is curbing recidivism by allowing Indigenous defendants an informal conversation with community elders and judges.
QUARTZ
The World Expo in Milan is a delicious joke, but try it anyway
The 2015 Milan Expo, “Feeding the planet, energy for life” rolled out the red carpet last month, claiming to address the global need for "healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone..."
HAARETZ
Looking for Myself in the World's Oldest Ghetto
My Hanukkah in Venice began with a lukewarm, under-baked sufganiya that’s status as “chocolate flavored” came, apparently, from the daub of Nutella on its top.
MEANJIN LITERARY JOURNAL
What I'm Reading
When I landed my first gig as a writer, my mum gave me The Elements of Style. Originally written by Will Strunk Jr. and revived by his student E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web) it is the classic writer’s handbook.
TABLET MAGAZINE
In Milan, A Taste of the Jewish Experience
The clammy hand of history tightened its grip when my parents, who themselves carry the guilt of second generation survivors, visited me here in Italy. They even managed to tour the pinnacle of Catholicism, the Vatican, from a Jewish perspective.
VICE MAGAZINE
New Words are Being Invented to Talk about our Dying Planet
We don't talk about climate change because we have no words for it. It's not quite the apocalypse; it's something else—kind of like a fierce, looming stranger, whom we haven't decided whether to try to murder or strategically befriend.
VICE MAGAZINE
We're 30 Seconds Closer to Doomsday
Six days after Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Doomsday Clock's hands moved to two and a half minutes to midnight—the closest they had been since 1953.
VICE.COM / MUNCHIES
Meet the Man Who Invented Sexless Oysters
In a lab deep in Maine, in 1979, the geneticist Standish Allen was meddling with chromosomes to create a sexless, freak oyster, which could be consumed year-round. His theory? Create a tri-chromosome creature that, because it was infertile, would not spawn and could feed the masses’ insatiable appetite—rain, hail, or shine. It worked.
VICE.COM
Australia Has Launched its First University Program to Get Women Into Parliament
Women hold less than 30 percent of parliamentary jobs in Australia. Melbourne University wants its Pathways to Politics program to even the score.
VICE.COM
The Hawk Trainer Assigned to Protect Stars at Cannes
In 2011, a seagull at the Cannes Grand Hyatt knocked a glass of wine over the French actress Sophie Marceau, just minutes before the Braveheart star was to walk the red carpet.
COLORS MAGAZINE
Anywhere but here
Ten years ago, Evghenia began building a rocket in her back garden from spare car parts and old “nuclear facility.” On August 3, 2014, she flew her ship to Mars. Or at least that’s what she tweeted.
TABLET MAGAZINE
Boutique Italian Museum Explores History of Lecce’s Medieval Jews
The Jewish heritage of a tiny town is being brought back to life with a museum on the site of an ancient synagogue in Lecce, Italy.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
Formerly ultra-Orthodox youth bring their worlds to the stage
Yossi is one of eight former ultra-Orthodox Jews who portray their journeys in the documentary-style play, which showed in Jerusalem and Hamburg in April as part of an initiative commemorating 50 years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel.
QUARTZ
MIT researchers are sending robots into sewers to monitor city dwellers’ waste
Beneath the streets of Boston, two robots named Mario and Luigi inspect the flow of human waste, collecting data on city residents.
BROADSHEET MELBOURNE
The Last Single Screen
George Florence can still remember sneaking off to explore the musty space behind the screen at his uncle’s Greek cinema in Richmond. He recalls heaving an old piano (left behind from the theatre’s silent movie days) into its rightful place, before dusting it off and tinkering the keys to an imaginary projection on the long sealed off screen.