Trump is the only living president whose family didn’t own slaves, report says
Donald Trump is the only president alive, past or present, whose family can’t be linked to slave ownership, according to a new report.
Reuters says Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are all descendants of a slave owner.
That study also found Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, as well as at least 100 lawmakers, descended from ancestors who enslaved Black people. Sitting members of Congress who can link their heritage to slavers include at least 28% of Republicans and 8% of Democrats, Reuters claims.
Obama, the only Black president elected in the U.S., can reportedly trace his family’s slave-owning roots to one man on his white mother’s side of the family, who subjugated two humans.
—New York Daily News
Malaria alert issued in Florida. Why infectious mosquitoes have led to statewide concern
Four people in Sarasota have fallen ill with malaria, and the Florida Department of Health has issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness alert, the department said this week. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control also has issued an alert after the Florida cases, and one case in Texas, are the first instances of locally transmitted malaria in the U.S. since 2003.
The four people in Sarasota who were ill after being bitten by infectious mosquitoes have all recovered. All four patients were infected with P. vivax malaria. According to state health officials, it is less fatal than other species.
Malaria symptoms include headaches, nausea, vomiting, sweating, fever and chills. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should seek medical help within 24 hours of symptoms, the state advised.
The health department is urging all residents across the state to take precautions while outdoors by using bug spray, avoiding mosquito-infested areas, and wearing long pants and shirts whenever possible, especially at sunrise and evening when mosquitoes are most active.
—Miami Herald
Hairy moles may provide antidote for baldness, UCI researchers find
The guy whose naked skull is pale and shiny — save that discolored mole shaped like Cuba near his ear, which inexplicably bristles with hair — may harbor an antidote to baldness.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine say they’ve zeroed in on the molecule responsible for hair strands sprouting from moles like that. Their peer-reviewed study, published June 21 in the respected scientific journal Nature, is being touted as a major baldness breakthrough.
“This is a game changer for hair loss for a couple of reasons,” said Maksim Plikus, professor of developmental and cell biology at UCI and study lead. “Instead of studying only mouse fur — research in this area is usually done with mouse fur — we said, ‘Enough of that. Let’s look at human hair. The solution to human hair loss is in humans.’”
Millions of people have skin growths — “nevi,” in scientific-speak — with hair growing out of them, “a really cool experiment that nature created itself,” he said.
—The Orange County Register
UN: Over 1,000 civilians killed in Afghanistan since Taliban takeover
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — More than 1,000 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August of 2021, a United Nations report released on Tuesday shows.
In total, the U.N. diplomatic mission in Afghanistan recorded 1,095 deaths and 2,679 injuries for the period between mid-August 2021 and the end of May 2023.
According to the U.N., the number of casualties has fallen sharply compared with the period before the Taliban seized power. In 2020, the U.N. reported 3,035 civilians killed and 5,785 wounded.
At the time, the Taliban militants were fighting the Western-backed government in Kabul. The so-called Islamic State (IS) extremist group also carries out attacks in the conflict-ridden country to this day.
—dpa
