In the news today: Biden calls for a ban on stock trading for Congress members; Palestinians are suing the State Department over US support for Israel’s military; and a massive detector will soon begin the difficult task of sniffing out mysterious ghost particles. Also, how the caramel-colored mutts of Brazil became a new national icon. |
President Joe Biden during a Hanukkah reception in the White House, Monday. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
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Biden calls for a ban on congressional stock trading |
President Joe Biden endorsed a ban on congressional stock trading in an interview that’s being released this week, belatedly weighing in on an issue that has been debated on Capitol Hill for years. Read more. |
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“Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they’re in the Congress,” Biden said. The interview was conducted by Faiz Shakir, a political adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders, and published by A More Perfect Union, a pro-labor advocacy and journalism organization. The Associated Press reviewed a video of the interview before its release.
The issue has been a catalyst for populist anger in Washington. For example, when the coronavirus pandemic was approaching, some lawmakers bought and sold millions of dollars’ worth of stock after being briefed on the virus. Although lawmakers are required to disclose stock transactions exceeding $1,000, they’re routinely late in filing notices and sometimes don’t file them at all.
- It’s unclear what impact Biden’s statement could have, coming only a month before his term ends. Biden had previously declined to take a position on congressional stock trading. A bipartisan proposal to ban trading by members of Congress and their families has dozens of sponsors, but it has not received a vote.
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Palestinians sue State Department over US military aid to Israel
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The State Department has carved out exceptions for close ally Israel that block a U.S. law restricting foreign military support over human rights abuses, a lawsuit from a group of Palestinians in Gaza and American relatives asserted Tuesday. Former State Department officials and crafters of the 1997 Leahy law were among those advising and backing the lawsuit. Read more.
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Tuesday’s lawsuit is part of a last push on the outgoing Biden administration by Muslim Americans and others to limit U.S. military support to Israel, which is estimated to have reached $17.9 billion in the first year of the war, over its treatment of Palestinian civilians. The law bars U.S. military assistance to foreign military units when there is credible evidence of gross human rights abuses.
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A State Department report in May concluded there was “reasonable” evidence that Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza violated international law that protects civilians but bypassed a decision on limiting arms, saying the war itself made it impossible for U.S. officials to judge for certain. It also declined last month to hold back arms transfers over humanitarian aid to Gaza, as it had threatened.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken has denied that the department has given Israel a pass. “Do we have a double standard? The answer is no,” he said in April. The State and Justice departments declined to comment Tuesday.
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A new neutrino detector aims to spot mysterious ghost particles lurking around us
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China’s Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory will soon begin the difficult task of spotting neutrinos: tiny cosmic particles with a mind-bogglingly small mass. The detector is one of three being built across the globe to study these elusive ghost particles in the finest detail yet. The other two, based in the United States and Japan, are still under construction. Read more.
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Spying neutrinos is no small feat in the quest to understand how the universe came to be. The Chinese effort, set to go online next year, will push the technology to new limits, said Andre de Gouvea, a theoretical physicist at Northwestern University.
Neutrinos date back to the Big Bang, and trillions zoom through our bodies every second. They spew from stars like the sun and stream out when atomic bits collide in a particle accelerator. Scientists have known about the existence of neutrinos for almost a century, but they’re still in the early stages of figuring out what the particles really are.
There’s no way to spot the tiny neutrinos whizzing around on their own. Instead, scientists measure what happens when they collide with other bits of matter, producing flashes of light or charged particles. Neutrinos bump into other particles only very rarely, so to up their chances of catching a collision, physicists have to think big.
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A series of images from Brazil of the iconic caramelo dog. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, Andre Penner, Bruna Prado)
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How a caramel-colored street dog became Brazil’s new national icon
The caramel-colored mutts of Brazil are having a major moment. The “vira-lata caramelo” (literally: caramel trashcan-tipper) is being exalted in memes, videos, petitions, an upcoming Netflix film, a Carnival parade and draft legislation to honor it as part of Brazilian culture. |
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AP Buyline: Ideas for last-minute holiday shopping |
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If you're still trying to figure out the perfect gifts for the special people in your life, we've got you covered. Discover gifts for him, gifts for her, gifts for kids, Secret Santa suggestions and more, right here. |
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