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The acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned yesterday after six months in the role, according to the Department of Homeland Security. David Richardson's tenure was marked by scrutiny over FEMA's response to July's deadly floods in central Texas, which killed more than 130 people, including children at an all-girls summer camp.
Richardson drew criticism for having no disaster management experience and for what colleagues described as a lack of accessibility during the Texas floods. A former Marine Corps officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he also served as assistant secretary for the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. Richardson had taken over as FEMA's acting head after his predecessor, Cameron Hamilton, was removed following opposition to the Trump administration's plans to restructure the agency and shift more disaster-response duties to states.
Karen Evans, who has served as FEMA chief of staff, will become the new acting administrator Dec. 1. |
A domestic war crimes court in Bangladesh yesterday sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her home minister to death for violently suppressing student protests last year.
The UN estimates over 1,400 people were killed and thousands injured—primarily by Bangladeshi security forces—during three weeks of protests. The unrest began after a June 2024 court decision reinstated government job quotas favoring relatives of freedom fighters from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Although most quotas were later scrapped, protests expanded to broader grievances over stagnant private-sector jobs, high youth unemployment, and rising inflation. The unrest became the biggest challenge to Hasina’s government since she secured a fourth consecutive term in January 2024, which the main opposition party boycotted over concerns about a rigged electoral process.
Hasina, whose father was Bangladesh’s assassinated founding president, has reportedly been living in exile in New Delhi with her home minister since August 2024. India has so far declined Bangladesh’s extradition request. |
Parasitic ant queens can manipulate a colony into killing its queen using chemical warfare, new research reveals. The move allows the invading queen to take control and trick workers into raising her offspring until they die.
Ants have been known to commit matricide, killing their queen (and biological mother), including in cases when a queen is no longer fertile. There have also been documented cases of regicide, when an invading queen kills another by beheading her or biting her throat. However, yesterday’s study is the first to detail how a newly mated Lasius orientalis queen can trick Lasius flavus worker ants into doing the dirty work. The invading queen sprayed the host queen with a liquid from her abdomen—believed to be formic acid—masking the host queen’s scent and causing her daughters to see her as an intruder. The worker ants then descended on their queen-mother, killing her en masse.
See the process here (warning: graphic content).
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In partnership with Vero3 |
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How Wyoming Will Become a Lithium Powerhouse |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Metropolitan Museum of Art announces "Costume Art" as inaugural exhibition in Costume Institute's nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, opening May 2026; Met Gala dress code announcement expected in early 2026 (More) |
> Post Malone, Lil Jon, and Jack White to headline NFL Thanksgiving halftime shows (More) | Influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul to fight former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in professional match streamed on Netflix Dec. 19 (More) |
> Tom Cruise and Dolly Parton among lifetime achievement honorees at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Governors Awards (More) |
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> Jeff Bezos launches startup focused on AI applications in engineering and manufacturing; he will serve as co-CEO alongside former Google scientist (More) |
> Report reveals National Institutes of Health funding cuts affected over 74,000 participants across 383 clinical trials from late February to mid-August; cuts disproportionately impacted infectious disease studies (More) |
> Scientists build digital copy of mouse brain cortex with supercomputer, enabling them to simulate neurological diseases and test treatments virtually (More) |
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In partnership with hear.com |
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Hear Every Moment This Holiday Season |
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> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.9%, Dow -1.2%, Nasdaq -0.8%) as tech slumps weigh on markets; investors look ahead to delayed September jobs report, set for Thursday release (More) |
> Novo Nordisk cuts direct-to-consumer prices for weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic to $349 per month for existing cash-paying patients on most doses; offers limited-time $199 monthly price to new cash-paying patients on lower doses (More) |
> Ford partners with Amazon to sell certified used vehicles on the retail giant's auto marketplace, becoming second brand name to do so after Hyundai; initial rollout is in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Dallas (More) |
🏠 Everything you need to know about homeownership: from its role in building personal wealth to its central place in the American dream. Sign up for 1440 Business & Finance to see the best resources we've found on the topic. |
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> US House expected to vote today on whether to compel the Justice Department to release files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (More) | UN Security Council approves US plan authorizing international stabilization force in Gaza (More) |
> Federal agents say they have detained over 130 people in Charlotte, North Carolina, since Friday as part of an ongoing immigration crackdown; roughly 200 agents are due to be redeployed to New Orleans this upcoming weekend (More) |
> Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk calls explosion on railway track 60 miles from Warsaw an "act of sabotage"; investigators have not publicly identified a suspect or motive behind the attack, which has disrupted aid delivery to Ukraine (More) |
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> The World Sauna Championships
The Walrus | Sarah Everts. So-called sauna masters choreograph elaborate towel routines in a sweaty, competitive sport not unlike ice skating... but with heat. (Read) |
> Debunking Genetics Myths
Be Smart | Staff. Dozens of genes may be involved in the expression of a specific human trait, like eye or hair color. The Punnett square we learned about in grade school is too simple—and redheads aren't going extinct. (Watch) |
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In partnership with Vero3 |
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Last Call: Tap Into These $400B+ Markets |
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With sights on a 2028 IPO, Vero3 is readying for its biggest steps yet. No wonder investors have this week’s investment deadline circled.
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Clickbait: Thai police seize meth and 81 monkeys.
Historybook: Disney's "Steamboat Willie," first cartoon with synchronized sound, premieres (1928); Poet and novelist Margaret Atwood born (1939); 918 people die in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (1978); Massachusetts court ruling makes the state the first to recognize same-sex marriage (2003). |
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"A word after a word after a word is power." |
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*Disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for Vero3 Limited’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.vero3.com/. Timelines are subject to change. Listing on the NASDAQ is contingent upon necessary approvals, and reserving a ticker symbol does not guarantee a company’s public listing. |
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