Religious

While hiking in the Lower Galilee, a man was surprised to spot a small scarab seal sparkling on the ground. Used by Near Eastern cultures for millennia, seals are important indicators of peoples who lived in or passed through different places. The iconography of the seal, carved in the shape of a scarab beetle, identified it as Assyrian, possibly dating back to the eighth century BCE, suggesting the presence of Assyrians in Israel at that time. — Bible History Daily, 2/11/2024

During excavations at the site of Legio, at the foot of Tel Megiddo in northern Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) uncovered the main road and monumental buildings of the Roman legionary camp of the VIth Ferrata Ironclad Legion. Uncovering roads, architecture, weapons, and more, the excavation sheds further light on the largest legionary camp ever discovered in Israel. Occupied from around 120 to 300 CE, Legio is one of only two permanent legionary camps located in Israel, the other being the Xth Fretensis Legion in Jerusalem, little evidence of which survives. — Bible History Daily, 2/15/2024

Nine Jehovah’s Witnesses were convicted of extremism by a Russian court on March 5, receiving sentences of up to seven years in a penal colony for practicing their faith. Eight had already served more than two years in pretrial detention, often in solitary confinement, according to a Jehovah’s Witness spokesperson. In 2017, the Russian Federation’s Supreme Court banned Witness activities and liquidated their legal entities. Since then, almost 800 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been criminally charged, according to Jarrod Lopes. — RNS, 3/7/2024

Two zookeepers found themselves in a frightening situation as they encountered a silverback gorilla in a World of Primates exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas. The gorilla, Elmo, was captured on video as he appeared to aggressively charge towards one zookeeper, who is seen running, using a two-way radio to call for help. A second zookeeper was unable to escape until Elmo moved into an area far enough from the enclosure’s exit. A woman and a man can be heard praying for the zookeepers as the workers try to safely escape. “God help her. God help her. God help her,” a woman can be heard saying in the TikTok video. As the second zookeeper escapes, one of the bystanders can be heard saying, “Thank you, Lord.” — Fox News, 3/8/24

Social

A new study shows the return of sea otters and their voracious appetites has helped rescue a section of California marshland. Researchers found that the return of the crab-eating sea otters to a tidal estuary near Monterey, California, since the 1980s helped curb erosion. — AP, 1/31/2024

Hoboken, New Jersey, a city of nearly 60,000 people, has gone seven years without a traffic fatality In 2015, Agnes Accera, an 89-year-old woman in Hoboken, died as she was crossing the street and a vehicle struck and killed her. Ravi Bhalla, who later became mayor, adopted a set of guidelines aimed at eliminating severe injuries and fatalities from traffic accidents. The guidelines eliminate obstacles that impede visibility at an intersection, to block off space ahead of a crosswalk so drivers and pedestrians can see each other, avoiding dangerous collisions. — Newsspace.com, 3/7/2024

Lyme disease cases in the U.S. jumped nearly 70% in 2022, which health officials say is not due to a major increase of new infections but to a change in reporting requirements. Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infection in the U.S., occurring mostly in the Northeast, Midwest and mid-Atlantic states. An estimated 476,000 Americans are diagnosed each year, but only a fraction is officially reported. More sensitive testing may have contributed to the increase, but it’s too early to tell, CDC officials said. — AP, 2/15/2024

Minuscule pieces of plastic lodged in the fatty deposits that line human arteries may be linked with higher risks for heart disease, strokes, and death, Italian researchers reported. Among 304 patients who underwent procedures to clear a major artery in the neck, 58% were found to have microscopic and nanoscopic “jagged-edged” pieces of plastic in the plaque lining the blood vessel, including polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride containing chlorine, Dr. Raffaele Marfella at the University of Campania in Naples and colleagues reported. These “are used in a wide range of applications, including the production of food and cosmetics containers and water pipes,” the authors wrote in the report in The New England Journal of Medicine. — Reuters, 3/6/2024

In Florida, Charlotte County, in the early evening of February 8, a motorcycle passed Deputy Sgt. Dave Musgrove, going over 100 mph. The speeding motorcycle collided with another vehicle. Mother Kayleigh Foley was in the vehicle with her two kids, 3-year-old Ariel and baby Lola, 6 months. With the help of a passerby, Musgrove went back to the car for Lola, got her out from under the dead cyclist who had come through the back seat, and gave CPR. Shortly after, EMS arrived and took over. “I’m forever grateful for him. My children call him Uncle Dave,” Foley says. “He’s our family now.” — People Magazine, 3/4/2024

Political

The European Union (EU) has reached a unanimous agreement on the bloc’s Artificial Intelligence Act, overcoming concerns that the rules would stifle innovation. The law bans certain applications of AI technology and imposes limits on high-risk use cases. Advanced software models must adhere to transparency and stress-testing. This makes the EU the first to establish binding regulations for AI technology. Other countries mostly rely on voluntary codes of practice. — Press Rundown, 2/3/2024

The state-run Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) cut power supplies to parliament over a debt of 23 million Ghanaian cedi ($1.8 million). Ghana’s only public electricity company faces crippling financial difficulties, and frequently disconnects power from indebted clients. The country grapples with its worst economic crisis in a decade. Private electricity suppliers are owed $1.6 billion by the state power company, according to Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, head of the organization representing them. — BBC News, 3/1/24

A newly-elected provincial parliamentarian in Pakistan was declared victorious. But, in a display of honesty and fairness, he gave up the seat to his opponent after discovering significant vote tampering had facilitated the win. Mr. Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, from the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, discovered the tally for his opponent had been reduced, without explanation, from 31,000 to 11,000. “Let the winner win, let the loser lose, no one should get anything extra. I will not accept it; the winner should be given the victory.” — Reuters, 2/16/2024

Families of Indonesian activists kidnapped and tortured by the military 25 years ago demanded justice and expressed shock over the apparent presidential victory of Prabowo Subianto, whom they blamed for the atrocities. The defense minister under outgoing President Joko Widodo, Subianto, 72, was a top general and commander of the army’s special forces, called Kopassus. They were blamed for abuses, including the torture of 22 activists who opposed Suharto, the leader whose 1998 downfall restored democracy in Indonesia. — AP, 2/15/2024

Uruguay’s main port received two cargo scanners 16 years ago to detect drugs and other suspicious loads. Unfortunately, during delivery one of them fell into the sea. Since then, cocaine shipments to Europe have surged through the port of Montevideo, which handled a record 1.1 million containers last year, fueling a rise in gang violence and undermining Uruguay’s reputation as a beacon of stability in turbulent South America. — Reuters, 2/17/2024

Research from a DC think tank demonstrates that a greater percentage of Americans are bilingual than the French, Italians, or British. 66% of American bilinguals are Spanish speakers. More than one million speak Tagalog, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, Korean, French, or German. The US has between 100,000 and 1 million speakers of 35 other languages. — Good News Network, 2/15/2024

Financial

America is expected to spend $870 billion, or 3.1% of gross domestic product, on interest payments in 2024, nearly double the average of 1.6% of GDP since 2000. Interest costs are projected to reach 3.9% of GDP by 2034. Federal debt held by the public is projected to increase from a record $26 trillion in 2023 to $48 trillion by 2034, according to the CBO, more than eight times the amount in 2008. That would bring debt from 97% of GDP today to 116%. Campbell Harvey, director at Research Affiliates, says “The debt will become a problem, but it’s very hard to know exactly when.” — Wall Street Journal, 2/17/2024

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell downplayed the possibility of the central bank issuing its own digital currency. “Nothing like that is remotely close to happening anytime soon,” he told the Senate Banking Committee. The Fed has no interest in establishing accounts for individuals that would compete with the banking system, and it would not support any Fed monitoring of personal financial transactions. — Reuters, 3/7/24

Microsoft said that hackers linked to Russia’s foreign intelligence were trying again to break into its systems, using data stolen from corporate emails in January to gain new access to the tech giant whose products are widely used across the U.S. national security establishment. — Reuters, 3/8/2024

Medicare Advantage is facing a disadvantage. The private plans have grown in popularity because they come with no monthly premiums and offer extra benefits: vision, dental, and fitness memberships. Now the industry is contending with pressure on both costs and revenues, as seniors who held back on procedures during the pandemic rush back, and the Biden administration curtails payments to plans. Next year’s reduction in benefits will reduce enrollment growth, said David Windley, an analyst at Jefferies. — Wall Street Journal, 2/11/2024

Israel and the Middle East

What began as a small agency providing tents, food and other emergency relief for refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war has grown into an organization with a staff of 30,000 people, nearly all Palestinians, operating in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Western nations pay for most of its roughly $1.3 billion budget. Western donors question whether the agency is irrevocably radicalized. The U.S. is among 18 countries that have suspended funding. — Wall Street Journal, 2/2/2024

Iranian-backed Houthi militants controlling swaths of Yemen, use sophisticated weapons, including ballistic missiles and “kamikaze” drones, attacking international shipping in the Red Sea in support of Hamas. The attacks began on November 19 when Houthi commandos landed a helicopter on the Galaxy Leader cargo vessel, passing through the southern Red Sea. Since then, 29 more ships have been attacked, 13 suffering missile or drone attacks. This has disrupted global trade, some 12% of which passes through the Red Sea. — Reuters, 2/3/2024

Iran has given Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah the green light to escalate attacks along Israel’s northern border, the Arabic Post reported on February 28, citing high-level Iranian and Lebanese sources. The Islamic Republic ordered Hezbollah to launch a large-scale attack on Israel only after it “had become certain of Israel’s intention” to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah. As per the report, Tehran gave the go-ahead amid fears that, after the IDF completes an invasion of Rafah, southern Lebanon “will be next.” — Jerusalem Post, 2/28/24

Argentine President Javier Milei described the October 7 Hamas massacre as “21stcentury Nazism.” The remarks during a visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz with President Isaac Herzog, were the latest signal of a major shift in Argentina’s foreign policy towards the US and Israel after decades of backing Arab countries. Milei reiterated his pledge to move his nation’s embassy to Jerusalem as well as to blacklist Hamas, and open a new chapter in bilateral relations. — JNS, 2/7/2024