Good morning.
Joe Biden vowed yesterday that the first bill he sent to Capitol Hill next year would codify Roe v Wade – if Americans return his party to power with wide enough margins to pass abortion protections.
It’s a major lift for Democrats, who face a challenging political environment marked by a rocky economy and decades-high inflation. But the loss of abortions rights has sparked a political backlash, motivating Democratic voters and women more broadly who have registered to vote in significant numbers since the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe in Dobbs v Jackson.
“I’m asking the American people to remember how you felt that day the extreme Dobbs decision came down and Roe was overturned after 50 years,” Biden said during remarks at an event hosted by the Democratic National Committee at the Howard Theater in Washington. “The anger, the worry, the disbelief.”
“If you care about the right to choose,” he added, “then you gotta vote”.
Will this tactic work? Clear majorities of Americans believe abortion should remain legal and disapprove of the supreme court’s decision. Yet polling consistently shows that voters’ top priority this election is the economy and inflation, issues that play to Republicans’ strengths. Biden’s approval rating remains low, which is a drag on vulnerable Democratic candidates.
Next pandemic may come from melting glaciers
The next pandemic may come not from bats or birds but from matter in melting ice, according to new data.
Genetic analysis of soil and lake sediments from Lake Hazen, the largest high Arctic freshwater lake in the world, suggests the risk of viral spillover – where a virus infects a new host for the first time – may be higher close to melting glaciers.
The findings imply that as global temperatures rise owing to climate change, it becomes more likely that viruses and bacteria locked up in glaciers and permafrost could reawaken and infect local wildlife, particularly as their range also shifts closer to the poles.
For instance, in 2016 an outbreak of anthrax in northern Siberia that killed a child and infected at least seven other people was attributed to a heatwave that melted permafrost and exposed an infected reindeer carcass. Before this, the last outbreak in the region had been in 1941.
What do scientists say about the research? “Two things are very clear now. Firstly, that the Arctic is warming rapidly and the major risks to humanity are from its influence on our climate. Secondly, that diseases from elsewhere are finding their way into the vulnerable communities and ecosystems of the Arctic,” Arwyn Edwards at Aberystwyth University said.
‘Where’s the beef?’: special master says Trump’s Mar-a-Lago records claims lack substance
Donald Trump’s assertions of executive and attorney-client privilege over certain documents that the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort appeared to lack evidence sufficient for him to rule in the former US president’s favor, the special master reviewing the records suggested yesterday.
The special master, senior US district court judge Raymond Dearie, complained during a conference call in the case that the log of documents Trump is trying to withhold from the justice department did not give enough information about the validity of the privilege claims.
Dearie encouraged Trump’s lawyers to elaborate on why they believed the documents could be excluded from the justice department’s criminal investigation into the potential wilful retention of national defense information, removal of government records and obstruction of justice.
“It’s a little perplexing as I go through the log,” Dearie said. “What’s the expression – ‘Where’s the beef?’ I need some beef.”
What does this mean for the legal case? The dispute could foreshadow what could be a messy argument between Trump’s lawyers seeking to limit what documents can be used in the criminal inquiry, and the justice department, which is trying to keep as many records in play.
In other news …
The Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi has received a jubilant welcome on her return to Tehran, after competing in South Korea without wearing a headscarf as required of female athletes from the Islamic Republic. Video shared online showed large crowds chanting her name and calling her a hero.
The new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine said civilians were being “resettled” from the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, describing the military situation as “tense”. Sergei Surovikin’s statement came amid repeated military setbacks for Russian forces.
Britain’s beleaguered prime minister, Liz Truss, is facing cabinet unrest over her plans for brutal public spending cuts across all departments after her disastrous mini-budget. She remains in a precarious position, having in effect handed power to Jeremy Hunt, the new chancellor.
The last man seen with Kristin Smart was convicted on Tuesday of killing the college freshman, who vanished from a California campus 25 years ago. Jurors unanimously found Paul Flores guilty of first-degree murder. Flores was one of Smart’s college classmates at the time.
At least a dozen coffins have been left dangling in the air after the collapse of a four-storey building containing burial niches at the oldest cemetery in Naples. It is the second such incident at the site this year, with critics blaming the poor management of cemeteries in the southern Italian city.
Stat of the day: More than 80% of US waterways contaminated by ‘forever chemicals’
Most of America’s waterways are probably contaminated by toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, says a study. The Waterkeeper Alliance analysis found detectable PFAS levels in 95 out of 114, or 83%, of waterways tested across 34 states and the District of Columbia, and frequently at levels that exceed federal and state limits. “The results clearly show widespread PFAS contamination across the country and demonstrate that existing laws and regulations are inadequate for protecting us,” said Marc Yaggi, the CEO of the Waterkeeper Alliance.
Don’t miss this: Ditch the hearse, bring the kids, have a picnic – an alternative undertaker’s tips for a better funeral
Sharpham Meadow doesn’t look much like a cemetery. There are no high walls, wrought iron gates or yew trees. You won’t find mausoleums or elaborate headstones. There are no signs of gothic horror. There are plenty of flowers but not the sort that come wrapped in cellophane – these ones are wild and alive. The whole place is wild and alive, with buzzing bees and birdsong. And yet it is a cemetery or, as this land is unconsecrated, more correctly a burial ground. The Guardian meets the alternative undertaker Rupert Callender.
Climate check: Microphones dropped into ocean off Greenland to record melting icebergs
An expedition of scientists and an artist is deploying underwater microphones in the ocean off Greenland to record and preserve the soundscape of melting icebergs. The hydrophones will record sounds every hour for two years before being collected, harvested for data and the recordings turned into an acoustic composition. The instruments are being lowered to different levels and temperatures to record earthquakes, landslides, wildlife, pollution and meltwater, creating an archive of the “ocean’s memory”.
Last Thing: Wyoming college wrestler wrestles grizzly bear who attacked teammate
A college wrestler from a small Wyoming school helped his teammate survive a grizzly mauling over the weekend by trying to wrestle the massive bear off his friend, eventually drawing a more brutal attack to himself. The men are crediting their bonds as wrestling teammates at Northwest College in Cody, Wyoming, with helping them survive the attack on Saturday evening in the south-east of Yellowstone national park. “I didn’t want to lose my friend. It was bad,” Kendell Cummings told the Deseret News. “There was a big ol’ bear on top of him.”
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