Russia uses new generation of laser weapons in Ukraine
18 May 2022 - Russia on Wednesday [18 May] said it was using a new generation of powerful laser weapons in Ukraine to burn up drones, deploying some of Moscow's secret weapons to counter a flood of Western arms supplied to its former Soviet neighbor. (more)

U.S. Supreme Court backs Ted Cruz, dumps campaign finance curb
16 May 2022 - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday [16 May] further undermined campaign finance restrictions, striking down as a free speech violation part of a bipartisan 2002 law challenged by Republican Senator Ted Cruz that federal officials had touted as an anti-corruption safeguard. ...It was the latest in a series of rulings in which the conservative-majority court has rolled back campaign finance restrictions, citing free speech concerns. (more)

Elon Musk says Americans 'are trying to avoid going to work at all,' unlike Chinese workers who 'will be burning the 3 a.m. oil'
13 May 2022 - Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said he expects China to produce 'some very strong companies' because of the country's workforce. 'They won't just be burning the midnight oil. They will be burning the 3 a.m. oil,' he said in an interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday [10 May]. ... Last month, workers at Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory were required to sleep at the facility as production resumed following a three-week shutdown, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A memo, which Bloomberg reported, indicated that each worker would be provided with a sleeping bag and an air mattress and expected to work 12-hour shifts with one day off per week. (more)

Elon Musk praises Chinese workers for 'burning the 3am oil' - here's what that really looks like
13 May 2022 - How do you become the richest man in the world? In Elon Musk's case, part of it involves making workers in China put in hours that would be unacceptable according to labor norms elsewhere. On Tuesday [10 May], the Tesla boss praised Chinese factory workers for pulling extreme hours while taking a shot at American workers. 'There is just a lot of super talented hardworking people in China who strongly believe in manufacturing,' the billionaire said. 'They won't just be burning the midnight oil, they will be burning the 3am oil, they won't even leave the factory type of thing, whereas in America people are trying to avoid going to work at all.' (more)

Climate change to make droughts longer, more common, says UN
12 May 2022 - The frequency and duration of droughts will continue to increase due to human-caused climate change, with water scarcity already affecting billions of people across the world, the United Nations warned in a report Wednesday [11 May]. The U.N. desertification agency, which is currently hosting a conference of parties in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, estimates that roughly one third of the world's population -- 2.3 billion people -- is already facing water scarcity, with that number expected to double by 2050. (more)

US: California mansions burn as wildfires spread
12 May 2022 - Hundreds have been forced to evacuate from their homes due to a swift-moving wildfire in southern California that has torched some 20 mansions so far. The Coastal fire in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, has grown to 199 acres since it began on Wednesday [11 May]. Meanwhile, the largest wildfire in the US has burned around 170 homes in New Mexico, and continues to threaten communities and businesses. Fire season is off to an early start, partly due to a decades-long drought. (more)

Birds fall from the sky as heatwave scorches India
11 May 2022 - Rescuers in India's western Gujarat state are picking up dozens of exhausted and dehydrated birds dropping everyday as a scorching heatwave dries out water sources in the state's biggest city, veterinary doctors and animal rescuers say. (more)

'Forever chemicals' may have polluted 20m acres of US cropland, study says
10 May 2022 - About 20 million acres of cropland in the United States may be contaminated from PFAS-tainted sewage sludge that has been used as fertilizer, a new report estimates. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 9,000 compounds used to make products heat-, water- or stain-resistant. Known as 'forever chemicals' because they don't naturally break down, they have been linked to cancer, thyroid disruption, liver problems, birth defects, immunosuppression, and more. (more)