NATURE MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 4, 2025

December 3, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

NATURE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Photo Realism’ – Ethical image data set help to benchmark bias in AI models…

Cooking up a storm of air pollution

A study of the effects of COVID-19 policies highlights the underexplored impacts of commercial cooking on air quality.

The mystery of emerald green — cracked‘

Emerald’ or ‘Paris’ green was once a highly popular pigment among painters, but the chemistry behind its slow decay over time has been unclear.

Laser cooling traps more antimatter atoms than ever before

Studying trapped antimatter could help to explain why our world is so full of matter.

AI finds signs of life in ancient rocks

A specially trained algorithm could aid the search for biological activity both on the early Earth and on other worlds.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – WEDNESDAY, DEC. 3, 2025

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Search for Fed Chief Puts Pressure on Bessent to Deliver for Trump

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could face President Trump’s wrath if the person chosen as the next Federal Reserve chair does not quickly lower interest rates.

Trump Calls Affordability a ‘Con Job’ as His Edge on the Economy Slips

President Trump is growing frustrated as Americans struggle with higher prices and pessimism over the state of the economy.

After Decades in Combat, a SEAL Comes Under Scrutiny in Boat Strikes

Adm. Frank Bradley will soon face questions from lawmakers, as Republicans and Democrats express concerns about a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean.

Hegseth Says He Did Not See Survivors of Boat Attack Clinging to Wreckage

Europe Wants to Get the Word Out: Russia Is to Blame for Sabotage

Officials are accusing Russia of smaller-scale assaults. President Vladimir V. Putin sought to turn the tables, saying that if Europe were to start a war, Russia is ready.

Arts & Literature, Books, History, Magazines, Opinion, Reviews

LITERARY REVIEW – DECEMBER 2025

December 2, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

LITERARY REVIEW : The latest issue features Peter Marshall on Holbein * Joanna Kavenna on Camus * Sophie Oliver on Margaret Atwood * Dorian Lynskey on George Orwell * Daisy Dunn on Clodia of Rome * David Andress on Jean-Paul Marat * John Foot on the Spanish Civil War * Jerry White on high-rise buildings * Edward Shawcross on Mexico * Daniel A Bell on the Chinese examination system * Anna Reid on Russian women * Charles Darwent on Barnett Newman * Robert Crawford on T S Eliot * Ian Sansom on William Golding * Mark Lawson on John Updike * Charles Shaar Murray on musicians * Patrick Porter on NATO * Thomas Morris on Renaissance diagrams * Diane Purkiss on palmistry * Nigel Andrew on penguins * John Mullan on pedants * Molly Pepper Steemson on Anthony Bourdain * Mark Ford on Helen Vendler * Emma Smith on book

Holbein: Renaissance Master By Elizabeth Goldring

It’s an irony to savour: the man who invented the Tudors was a German. If Henry VIII, his wives and courtiers exercise a stronger hold on the public imagination than their Plantagenet precursors or Stuart successors, it is because we can all picture them so clearly. That, in turn, is due to an extraordinary sequence of portraits and drawings produced between the late 1520s and early 1540s by Hans Holbein of Augsburg (c 1497–1543), many of which have become instantly recognisable.

Doublethink & Doubt

Orwell: 2+2=5 By Raoul Peck (dir)

George Orwell: Life and Legacy By Robert Colls

Nobody under the age of seventy-five has heard George Orwell’s voice. The only extant video footage is in a silent movie of the Eton Wall Game. None of his many wartime recordings for the BBC Eastern Service has survived. By all accounts his voice, damaged by a bullet to the throat during the Spanish Civil War, was thin, flat and weak. In fact, the controller of the BBC Overseas Service complained that putting on ‘so wholly unsuitable a voice’ made the BBC appear ‘ignorant of the essential needs of the microphone and of the audience’.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2025

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Honduran Ex-President Is Freed From Prison After Trump Pardon

Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted in the U.S. of drug trafficking charges, was released from a federal prison in West Virginia, his lawyer said.

Ex-President of Honduras Had Flooded America With Cocaine

Juan Orlando Hernández helped orchestrate a decades-long trafficking conspiracy that ravaged the Central American country.

Vaccine Panel to Weigh Significant Changes to Childhood Shots

Advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appear poised to delay hepatitis B shots and discuss revising the use of other vaccines.

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine

A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

Putin Is Meeting With Witkoff and Kushner as U.S. Pushes for Ukraine Deal

Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy, and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, are expected to present President Vladimir Putin with a proposal to end the war.

Arts & Literature, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 8, 2025

December 1, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Trump admires a Christmas tree in his cavernous gilded ballroom.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest cover features ‘Klaas Verplancke’s “White House of Gold” – Mar-a-Lago extravagance on Pennsylvania Avenue.

In the Line of Fire

During the Trump era, political violence has become an increasingly urgent problem. Elected officials from both parties are struggling to respond. By Benjamin Wallace-Wells

The Undermining of the C.D.C.

The Department of Health and Human Services maintains that it is hewing to “gold standard, evidence-based science”—doublespeak that might unsettle Orwell. By Dhruv Khullar

What Makes Goethe So Special?

The German poet’s dauntingly eclectic accomplishments were founded on a tireless interrogation of how a life should be lived. By Merve Emre

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2025

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Zelensky Turns to Europe as Witkoff Is Expected to Meet Putin in Moscow

Volodymyr Zelensky was meeting with France’s leader in Paris. Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for President Trump, was expected to travel to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.

Despite Supreme Court Wins, Elite Justice Dept. Unit Has Seen Mass Turnover

Even with an exodus of lawyers, the Office of the Solicitor General has had remarkable success. But close White House ties have raised concerns.

Fight Over 2020 Election in Georgia Persists as Midterms Approach

The Justice Department is trying to access ballots cast in 2020, while several officials who fought over the election outcome are seeking higher office.

Trump-Endorsed Candidate and Sportscaster Lead Honduran Presidential Race

Electoral authorities said partial results showed the two conservative candidates were virtually tied — and far ahead of the governing left-wing party.

Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime

Top Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding answers about the military campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at targeting drug traffickers.

Books, Economics, Foreign Affairs, History, Previews, Reviews

Reviews: Best Books On Foreign Affairs Of 2025

November 30, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Foreign Affairs Magazine: The very best of the hundreds of books on international politics, economics, and history that were featured in the magazine this year, selected by Foreign Affairs’ editors and book reviewers.

The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping

by Joseph Torigian

In this prodigiously researched epic, Torigian details the life of Xi Zhongxun—the father of China’s current leader, Xi Jinping—to explain the history of the Chinese Communist Party. Along the way, readers gain a sense of how the younger Xi became the man he is today.

Read the review

Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America’s Great Power Prophet

by Edward Luce

Luce, a gifted storyteller, chronicles the personal life and intellectual journey of former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, who played a significant but underappreciated role in opening the United States to China, bringing the Cold War to an end, and shaping the world that came after. In writing this gem of a book, Luce has rendered a genuine service to history.

Read the review

Our Dear Friends in Moscow: The Inside Story of a Broken Generation

by Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov

Soldatov and Borogon, two Russian journalists, tell the story of their one-time group of friends and colleagues—young Russians who, over the course of the Putin years, steadily drift toward nationalist and illiberal ideas and end up as supporters of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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The West: The History of an Idea

by George Varouxakis

In this masterful study, Varouxakis tracks the meanings of “the West” from the late eighteenth century to the present—and argues that the modern notion of the term emerged in the 1830s as a way to distinguish western Europe from Russia. Today, for beleaguered countries such as Ukraine, “the West” is still a powerful idea.

Read the review

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2025

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Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends

David Sacks, the Trump administration’s A.I. and crypto czar, has helped formulate policies that aid his Silicon Valley friends and many of his investments.

As Trump Threatens Cartels, He Vows to Free a Convicted Cocaine Trafficker

President Trump’s social media posts about Venezuela and a former Honduran president demonstrated a dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.

Mamdani, a Sharp Critic of Police Surveillance, Will Soon Oversee It

Despite his criticism, Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor-elect, has reappointed the police commissioner who helped create a ubiquitous web of monitoring.

Fed Up With the Taliban, Pakistan Expels Masses of Afghans

Labeling Afghans a national security threat, Pakistan has forced out about a million this year, depriving them of a haven from Afghanistan’s turmoil.

Netanyahu Asks Israel’s President to Pardon Him in Corruption Cases

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the contentious appeal weeks after President Trump made the same request to the Israeli president.

Business, Finance, Investing, Magazines, Retirement

BARRON’S MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 1, 2025

November 29, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Stocks Rally to 7th Straight Monthly Gain - Barron's

BARRON’S MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Roblox Grow Up’ – Kids are swarming to play games on Roblox. Investors are missing out.

Roblox Isn’t Playing Games. Why the Stock Could Jump 50%.

The videogame platform is looking more and more like the next YouTube. Investors are missing the opportunity.

Higher Earners Are Losing a Tax Break on Retirement Savings. There’s a Silver Lining.

Older workers making catch-up contributions to 401(k)s may lose a tax break next year. Here’s how to maximize your tax savings.

Dominion Energy Is a Utility Play With AI Upside. It’s a Buy.

The stock is cheap after years of negative returns, providing a buying opportunity.

AI Is Remaking Shopping. These Companies Are the Leaders.

From Shopify to Walmart, brands and retailers are laying the groundwork for agentic e-commerce. Why “discoverability” is an issue.

New Ways to Minimize Taxes on Your Investments—and Why It’s Especially Important Now

In an elevated market, investors need to embrace new strategies to lower taxes on portfolios.

Tax Rules Are Changing. What to Do Before Year End.

Your guide to changes that are part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed in July.

Google Stock Has Been the Clear AI Winner—and the Gains Could Keep Coming

The company’s shares have gained 70% since Barron’s recommended them in December. They’re worth holding despite the jump.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SATURDAY, NOV. 29, 2025

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How Fraud Swamped Minnesota’s Social Services System on Tim Walz’s Watch

Prosecutors say fraud took root in pockets of the state’s Somali diaspora. President Trump has called attention to the scandal amid his crackdown on immigration.