Conservation Society Maps Future Without American Aid

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‘We Cannot Replace USAID, But We Can Do Big Things’: Conservation Society Maps Future Without American Aid (Maria)

The author writes, “The forests of Liberia are among the most diverse on the planet, home not only to humans and their ancestral ties but also rare species. In late January 2025, the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia learned that USAID, the eco-guards’ primary financial backer, was being dismantled by the Trump administration and funding abruptly suspended. … Most of the public attention on the demise of USAID has focused on its consequences for human health; USAID support for HIV/AID treatment, malaria control and other initiatives has saved 91 million lives over the past 20 years, according to one analysis.”

Iran Wages Economic War in Hopes of Outlasting US and Israel (Russ)

The author writes, “As American and Israeli armed forces hunt Iranian missile launchers, radar sites and warships, Iran is taking aim at a different set of targets: the civilian institutions that define the modern age of globalization. Tehran’s strategy in what some are calling the third Persian Gulf War — following clashes in 1991 and 2003 — threatens to imperil its more prosperous neighbors’ standing as a hub of global trade and finance.” 

Lawyer Who Sought Trump Pardon for His Client Is Accused of Plotting ‘Violent’ Extortion, Feds Say (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “A lobbyist and attorney who helped secure a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for a former nursing home operator was arrested Friday in New York, with federal authorities charging him with attempting to extort $500,000 from a former client. Joshua Nass, 34, was taken into custody by FBI agents and is charged with attempted extortion, prosecutors said. If convicted, Nass could face up to 20 years in prison. He was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Saturday.”

America Needs a Movement To Curb Billionaires’ Power (Reader Jim)

From The Guardian: “Not a day goes by without some news about billionaires throwing their weight around to bend the system in their favor or about politicians giving them tax cuts, government contracts or pardons. In today’s new Gilded Age, the 900-plus billionaires in the US have far too much influence over our elections, our economy, our government policies and our news media, and it’s urgent for Americans to create a movement to curb their power in order to preserve what’s left of our democracy and assure we have an economy with some basic fairness.”

FDA Warns Novo Nordisk Over Potential Unreported Ozempic Side Effects, Deaths (Bethany)

The author writes, “Weight loss drug giant Novo Nordisk has received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to report side effects potentially linked to Ozempic usage, including two deaths and a suicide, according to a press release.”

Fukushima at 15 (Dana)

From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: “The word of the year last year in Japan was bear. Black bear sightings doubled from the previous year. There were 200 injuries and 13 deaths. Okuma, meaning ‘big bear,’ is a town on the east coast of Japan. But it is not the bears that people in Okuma fear the most. It is radiation. Okuma is the closest town to the three nuclear reactors that melted down at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant on March 11, 2011. On that day, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami destroyed the backup generators and cooling pumps at three reactors loaded with nuclear fuel. A fourth reactor was unfueled, but its building, filled with hydrogen from the neighboring unit, exploded along with the other three. … Fifteen years later, 4,000 workers struggle to control the ongoing disaster.” 

In Search of Banksy (Laura)

From Reuters: “The British street artist’s identity has been debated, and closely guarded, for decades. A quest to solve the riddle took Reuters from a bombed-out Ukrainian village to London and downtown Manhattan — and uncovered much more than a name.”