Real-life Chicken Run! Stowaway hen makes 25-mile break for it before anyone realises it’s escaped Daily Mail
Banks closed more than 100 branches in three weeks as closure bloodbath continues in 2025 Daily Mail
Data hoarders race to preserve data from rapidly disappearing U.S. federal websites Tom’s Hardware
Climate
Global biodiversity loss from outsourced deforestation Nature
Rise of smoky wine? How California wildfires could yield new trend among connoisseurs Study Finds
Syndemics
Notes from the Field: Seroprevalence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5) Virus Infections Among Bovine Veterinary Practitioners — United States, September 2024 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC. Finally released.
Bird Flu Is a Big Threat. The US Needs to Start Acting Like It. Bloomberg
Five years later, Americans say pandemic drove them apart Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
China?
PRC Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s not-so-subtle reprimand falls on deaf ears Language Log
US research hub at heart of brain drain for scientists returning to China, study finds South China Morning Post
Chinese AI marches on as Baidu makes its chatbot free, Alibaba scores Apple deal The Register
China’s marriage problem: fewer young people, and fewer weddings FT
Jurassic fossil discovery in China sheds new light on origin of birds CGTN
Young Indonesians yearn to ‘run away’ overseas for work as frustration grows South China Morning Post
Syraqistan
US awaits Arab plan for Gaza, Trump plan remains default option: Washington Anadolu Agency
Saudi Arabia spearheads Arab scramble for alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan Reuters
Hamas says it will continue releasing Israeli hostages under Gaza deal BBC
* * * Lebanese speaker rejects Israeli plan to remain in southern Lebanon after withdrawal deadline Anadolu Agency
Israeli forces use UN agency health center as detention site in occupied West Bank: UNRWA Anadolu Agency
European Disunion
Mafia godfathers lament ‘miserable’ calibre of new recruits The Telegraoh
New Not-So-Cold War
Telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump (readout) President of Russia
* * * Trump wants denuclearization talks with Russia and China, hopes for defense spending cuts AP
‘No reason’ for new nukes: Trump floats disarmament talks with China, Russia FOX
* * * Ukraine – The Beginning Of The End (Which Is Yet Far Away) Moon of Alabama
* * * Hegseth says US presence in Europe will not last ‘for ever’ FT
Pete Hegseth Walks Back Yesterday’s Policy Announcement on Ukraine and NATO National Review
Possibility of Ukraine joining NATO is not ruled out – US official Ukrainska Pravda
Trump’s envoy Kellogg: Formalising Ukraine’s territorial losses does not mean recognising them Ukrainska Pravda
Bowen: Zelensky forced to face tough new reality after Trump-Putin phone call BBC
Ukraine’s army should be EU’s military backbone, says Ukrainian PM Ukrainska Pravda
Trump Administration
From obscure cult to “top spy”: The epic rise of Tulsi Gabbard Times of India. Commentary:
The perfect storm that carried RFK Jr. from fringe to center of Trump administration STAT
Trump Unveils Plan to Levy Reciprocal Tariffs on U.S. Allies, Competitors Foreign Policy
Biden’s EPA issued $20 billion in green grants. Now Trump’s administration wants that money back AP
Trump taps former UPS, Amazon exec David Keeling to lead OSHA Safety+Health
3 federal prosecutors resign after DOJ order to drop NYC mayor’s case Axios
DOGE
Anyone Can Push Updates to the DOGE.gov Website 404 Media. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Elon Musk Blocked a Bill to Stop Amazon from Helping Kids Kill Themselves Matt Stoller, BIG
Elon Musk the Dadfluencer? The Billionaire Is Leveraging His Son to Rebrand Himself as a Father Figure Taylor Lorenz, Zeteo
What Elon can learn from the original Doge FT
* * * California, other states sue over Elon Musk’s virtually ‘unchecked’ power in White House LA Times
* * * VA dismisses more than 1,000 employees in line with Trump’s sweeping layoffs FOX
US Housing Department to Shed Half its Workers, Union Chief Says Bloomberg Law
Trump administration begins sweeping layoffs with probationary workers, warns of larger cuts to come AP
US Forest Service to Terminate 3,400 Workers, Union Leader Says Bloomberg Law
DOGE is at DOL: Here’s why that matters for the US economy. Politico
Digital Watch
AI Is Infiltrating the U.S. Government Foreign Policy
Our Famously Free Press
Reporters Laugh as Trump Lambasts CNN Star Kaitlan Collins to Her Face Daily Beast. Solidarity!
Supply Chain
Breakfast for Eight Billion The New Atlantis
Imperial Collapse Watch
US aircraft carrier collides with ship in Mediterranean Sea ABC
What 15th-Century Lovers Wrote in Their Valentines ArtNet. Musical interlude.
Antidote du jour (Bernard DUPONT):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
