'Spare us the charade'

'All this so-called heroism and not a single noble action to be found'

Kirsten Fleming at the New York Post

After Democrats "wrest[ed] the candidacy from [President Joe Biden's] stubborn, locked grip, they rushed to valorize him with effusive praise and glowing political obituaries," says Kirsten Fleming, Many have called him a "patriot" and a "hero." But there are "inconvenient realities here," as "Biden was clearly bullied into submission by party leaders." The people around the sitting president "shielded" the American public "from the real Biden: an elderly man who is feeble and cognitively diminished."

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'He's merely another pawn in Putin's evil geopolitical chess game'

Lee Michael Katz at USA Today

The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been "handed a long Russian prison sentence" just for "doing his job," says Lee Michael Katz, sending a "cautionary message" to all journalists. "It's easy to think of news as an easy process, without realizing the pain and blood that can come from gathering real news," Katz says. "Journalists are threatened, beaten and sometimes killed in Russia and around the globe, just for the crime of informing us of the truth."

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'Researchers who want to make pathogens more transmissible … bear great responsibility'

Tom Inglesby, Anita Cicero and Marc Lipsitch at The New York Times

In 2012, scientists "genetically engineered highly lethal avian flu viruses to make them more contagious," say Tom Inglesby, Anita Cicero and Marc Lipsitch, in order to "deepen their scientific understanding" of avian flu. "We were among the many experts around the world who objected to their research. The risk of an accidental or deliberate pandemic emerging from these enhanced viruses far outweighed any potential scientific benefit." Now, these pandemic experts are calling for "stronger government oversight of risky virus research."

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'Europe has been dubbed the world's museum'

Barney Jopson at the Financial Times

Record tourism numbers prompted protesters in Spain to spray visitors with water pistols this month. But the "backlash against tourism … extends far beyond Barcelona," says Barney Jopson. In some countries, the "mass of pleasure seekers has grown so great" that the "patience of locals has snapped." Residents complain housing is unaffordable, "medieval town centers are being 'Disney-fied,'" and "antisocial behavior is rife." Spain is hard hit as the world's second-most visited country, plus it "depends more on tourism than France, the top destination." 

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