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Toxic Currents: Mercury Rises in UK Porpoises; Charges in USF Anti‑Muslim Harassment; Greene Out as Trump Grip Endures; Rubio Brands Leaked Ukraine Plan Moscow’s
Mercury Climbs in UK Porpoises, Promises Do Not
Eight years after the Minamata Convention vowed to rein in mercury, a study of 738 stranded UK harbor porpoises finds concentrations climbed about 1 percent per year over three decades, nearly doubling by 2021. Higher mercury levels were linked to a greater risk of dying from infectious disease. Mercury in shallower ocean waters has tripled since the industrial revolution, and warming seas plus shifting food webs are accelerating its buildup in the marine food chain. About one in ten porpoises in the past decade carried mercury at levels where serious health effects are expected. The one bright spot, other metals like lead, cadmium, chromium, and nickel declined, proof that bans work when they are actually enforced. Mercury, however, still tracks smokestacks and warming seas, not podiums or press releases.
Three Men Charged Over Anti-Muslim Harassment During USF Prayers
Police say Christopher Svochak, Richard Penskoski, and Ricardo Yepez climbed the roof of the University of South Florida’s Collins Boulevard Parking Garage during fajr prayers, shouted anti-Muslim slurs at students, waved bacon, and displayed messages including a thobe reading Jesus is God and a cardboard sign declaring Kaaba 2.0 Jesus is Lord. None are affiliated with USF. They face a felony count of disturbing schools and religious assemblies under Florida’s hate-crime enhancement, plus misdemeanors for disorderly conduct and disrupting a lawful assembly. Students reported the men demanded they bow down to Lord Jesus Christ and made a bomb insinuation, then kept filming and jeering after prayers. Campus police issued trespass warnings and said they acted swiftly, and local Islamic leaders condemned the incident as intolerable. Intimidation dressed up as conviction is still intimidation, and now it is criminally charged.
Greene Exits, Trump Grip Still Squeezes the Faithful
Marjorie Taylor Greene abruptly resigned, a timely reminder that even as a lame duck, Donald Trump can still exact a price from apostates. Her nearly 11-minute, defiant exit video went viral and doubled as a Rorschach test for the movement, where loyalty looks less like unity and more like a forced march. The brand remains potent, the coalition less so.
Rubio Disowns Leaked Ukraine Plan, Calls It Moscow’s Not Washington’s
After days of confusion, Senator Marco Rubio told lawmakers the leaked Ukraine proposal does not reflect administration policy and is essentially a Russian plan, not a U.S. initiative. The distancing followed a barrage of criticism from Kyiv, European governments, and some Republicans who said the terms leaned hard toward Moscow. President Trump, seeing the blowback, said he is open to changes to the administration’s 28-point framework. The cleanup continues, the policy compass still spinning.
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