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Forget the rainbow, let’s taste the vinegar

My mind wanders, and sometimes I just follow behind it, seeing where it goes. Driving to the gym recently, I debated bringing in my water bottle before remembering there was a water fountain inside. I started thinking about the person who designed the fountain itself, about the mechanics of the water arcing upward at exactly the right angle, about the pressure required to make it work, and the decision to replace the old metal push button by the spout with a broad bar easier to press. Someone had to solve those problems so the rest of us could take a drink without giving it a second ...

Daily Briefing

Nation California Suspect in standoff shot, killed by FBI Police say a man held 10 people hostage inside a California office building before the FBI shot and killed him, bringing a more than 15-hour standoff to an end. The Bakersfield Police Department says the hostages were found unharmed early Wednesday inside the downtown Bakersfield building that houses a bank and a school district office. The standoff began Tuesday afternoon when officers responded to a call of a bomb threat. District of Columbia Unclear if Trump still exempt from audits WASHINGTON — Treasury ...

Kuwait says Iranian drones hit airport; 1 killed

Kuwait said Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at its main airport Wednesday, killing one person, wounding dozens and briefly closing the airfield — the latest in back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the U.S. that test a fragile ceasefire. The strike reinforced the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Iran denied causing the damage. Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the war, now in its fourth month. They are increasingly ...

Senate begins voting on ICE funding

The Republican-led Senate is moving forward with legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies after forcing the Trump administration to say it will drop its settlement fund for political allies and stripping a separate proposal for White House security from the bill. The Senate voted 53-46 on Wednesday to begin debate on the roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. The legislation was delayed for weeks as Republican senators navigated the various obstacles to passage created by President Donald Trump and the White House, ...

Israel, Lebanon agree to renew deal

BEIRUT — Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned. In a joint statement released after a fourth round of U.S.-mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire “is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives” from areas south of the Litani River. It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army ...

Impact of data centers rivals most countries

The environmental footprint of data centers already rivals some of the world’s largest countries, according to a United Nations University report, which also predicts their water and energy use and pollution will double in just four years as use of artificial intelligence grows. Last year, global data centers used 448 trillion watt-hours of electricity, more than all but 10 countries of the world, said the report issued Wednesday. That electricity use produced about 208 million tons of carbon dioxide, about the same amount as Argentina, and producing that much energy consumed about ...