Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions

The UK will formally recognize the state of Palestine in September unless Israel acts to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza. The UK’s decision follows a pledge by French president Emmanuel Macron on July 24 to formally recognise Palestinian statehood in September. If this is acted upon, France and the UK would be the first G7 members and the first members of the UN security council to recognize the state of Palestine.

Catholic priests across the U.S. discuss immigration with their congregations more than leaders in many other faith traditions. Catholic priests also said they discussed immigration more than nearly all other political issues, including hunger in their communities, capital punishment, health care and the environment. Abortion was the only one priests discussed slightly more often.

Politics has a much stronger presence in articles about the U.S. Supreme Court today than in years past, with a notable increase beginning in 2016. Across the five major newspapers, reporting about the court has gradually become more political over time. That isn’t surprising: America has been gradually polarizing since the 1980s as well, and the changes in news media coverage reflect that polarization.

The Pacific region is highly prone to powerful earthquakes and resulting tsunamis because it’s located in the so-called Ring of Fire, a region of heightened seismic and volcanic activity. All ten most powerful earthquakes recorded in modern history were located on the Ring of Fire.Here’s why the underlying structure of our planet makes this part of the world so volatile.

A third of Gazans have gone without food for several days and 90,000 women and children now require urgent care for acute malnutrition. Local health authorities have reported 147 deaths from starvation so far, 80% of whom are children. Air-dropping food supplies is considered a last resort due to the undignified and unsafe manner in which the aid is delivered. The UN has already reported civilians being injured when packages have fallen on tents. Air-dropped pallets of food are also inefficient compared with what can be delivered by road.

Already around 60,000 Gazans have been killed and growing numbers are now dying from hunger and malnutrition. More than 90% of the private homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. Israeli officials continue to speak of moving Gazans into what has been termed a “humanitarian city” but what former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert described as a “concentration camp”. In the same interview Olmert called decision to move Gazans into the camp as “ethnic cleansing”. All the while, the world’s leaders look on. Most are apparently content to condemn – but little action has been taken.

As the internet has become more integrated in our daily lives, few would describe it as a place of love, compassion and cooperation. Study after study describe how social media platforms promote alienation and disconnection – in part because many algorithms reward behaviors like trolling, cyberbullying and outrage. Is the internet’s place in human history cemented as a harbinger of despair? Or is there still hope for an internet that supports collective flourishing?

Triggered by sensory stimuli such as music, scents and foods, nostalgia has the power to mentally transport us back in time. This might be to important occasions, to moments of triumph and – importantly – moments revolving around close family and friends and other important people in our lives. As it turns out, this experience is good for us.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recently sparked controversy by comparing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Nazi Germany’s notorious secret police, the Gestapo. Among other responsibilities, the Gestapo was tasked with investigating political crimes and monitoring opposition activity. It later enforced racial laws in Germany and across occupied Europe.

The FBI warned in a May 15 alert about an “ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign” in which “malicious actors have impersonated senior US officials.” The alert noted that the campaign includes “vishing” attacks. Vishing is a portmanteau of the words voice and phishing, and refers to using voice deepfakes to trick victims into giving information or money, or compromising their computer systems.

Australia has joined 28 international partners in calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and a lifting of all restrictions on food and medical supplies. Gazans, including malnourished mothers denied baby formula, face impossible choices as Israel intensifies its use of starvation as a weapon of war. In Gaza, survival requires negotiating what the United Nations calls aid “death traps”.

Over time, what started as a baseless conspiracy on obscure platforms has migrated into the mainstream. It has influenced rhetoric and policy debates, and even reshaped the American political landscape. To some, the delay in the release of the Epstein files feels like a betrayal, or even the possibility of his wrongdoing. Others are trying to reinterpret Trump’s actions through increasingly baseless conspiracy logic.

Accusing the media of liberal bias has been a consistent conservative complaint since the civil rights era, when white Southerners insisted news outlets were slanting their stories against segregation. But those charges of bias rarely survive empirical scrutiny. That independence in the United States – enshrined in the press freedom clause of the First Amendment – gives journalists the ability to hold government accountable, expose abuses of power and thereby support democracy. That’s what GOP lawmakers call a liberal bias.

In some parts of Russia, schoolgirls who become pregnant are being paid nearly $1,200 for giving birth and raising their babies. This new measure, introduced in the past few months across ten regions, is part of Russia’s new demographic strategy, widening the policy adopted in March 2025 which only applied to adult women. It is designed to address the dramatic decline in the country’s birthrate.

U.S. charitable giving increased 3.3% to US$593 billion in 2024, lifted by the strength of the economy. The annual report from the Giving USA Foundation, produced in partnership with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, found that this was the second-highest level on record after adjusting for inflation.

The appeal of carbon capture and storage, in theory, was that it could be bolted on to an existing factory with minimal changes to the core process and the carbon pollution would go away. Without the expectation that carbon capture will help them meet regulations, this may create space to focus on materials breakthroughs that could revolutionize manufacturing while solving industries’ emissions problems.