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- Whether someone prefers Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo—arguably two of the world's greatest footballers today—may be associated with their political outlook, according to the results of an international survey led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).
- UK newspapers responded to a major climate ruling by the world's top court by claiming "lawfare" and linking the decision to the U.K.'s proposed handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a new review of global media coverage has found. The review is titled Frames in Newspaper Coverage of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and Their Impact Potential.
- Individuals subject to extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs), or "red flag" laws, were significantly less likely to be arrested—including for violent and firearm-related offenses—while the orders were in effect than in the six months before. Strikingly, the drop in arrests did not end when the orders expired and continued for months afterward, according to a new study published in PNAS Nexus.
- Every year, more people in England and Wales are involved in disputes before the civil courts than in the criminal courts. More than 1 million claims a year—for personal injury, debt, housing disrepair, faulty consumer goods or breach of contract, for example—are dealt with in the county court.
- For women's health providers, the Dobbs decision that rescinded abortion rights wasn't just an abstract political event.
- A new study by Prof. Gabriel Weimann, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at Reichman University and professor emeritus in the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa, and Daniel Haberfeld, a researcher and head of the Cyberterrorism Desk at ICT, explored the activities of the Handala hacker group, which is linked to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The study sought to determine whether the group's operations are best characterized as cyberterrorism or psychological warfare.
- As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to fall, new research from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania finds that jury service is associated with more positive attitudes toward courts and judges—but that Americans' opportunities to serve are shrinking as jury trials become increasingly rare.
- Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year, "brain rot," refers to the loss of intelligence or critical thinking skills due to the overconsumption of specific types of content, most often in the digital sphere. A Binghamton University doctoral student has published findings that help explain how the structural forces of large tech companies make it difficult to focus, read and even engage in democracy.
- Listening to someone who disagrees with you on a controversial topic, but shares basic values, might not change your mind—but it could moderate an extreme position, reducing polarization, new Cornell economics research finds.
- When citizens feel a bigger tax pinch, political corruption goes down and voter turnout rises. That's a key finding from new research led by Washington State University, which found that a higher tax burden is associated with increased civic engagement and citizen monitoring of public officials.
- As global audiences follow ongoing conflicts, stories of personal sacrifice often stand out. New research from the Kelley School of Business shows that people across the United States consistently view self-sacrificial actions as more heroic and inspiring—even when they lead to the same outcome.
- For several years now, the radicalization of young people has been making headlines. This phenomenon can be linked to the far-right movement, as we saw on May 30 in Shawinigan during a demonstration calling for a "White Québec," or revolve around other forms of radicalism, including Islamist movements.
- With the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicking off, millions of soccer fans around the world will be following the tournament taking place across 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
- Global migration has risen sharply from approximately 13 million people per year in 2000 to around 35 million people per year in 2023. This is according to a new dataset on human migration published in Nature by researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), IIASA and the University of Hong Kong.
- Since January 2025, the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement. A key rationale for the policy is that it will open up jobs for Americans by reducing competition from undocumented immigrants.
- If the drug trade has helped define the modern Mexican state, writes the author of a new article in The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, so too have wars on drugs. In "From Bandit Hunting to a War Against 'Social Poisoners': Counterinsurgency as Drug War and Drug War as Counterinsurgency in 1960s–1970s Southern Mexico," author Alexander Aviña argues that the strategies eventually employed against Mexican drug traders were first developed in the violent suppression of rural guerrilla movements.
- In recent years, anti-immigration sentiment has become increasingly common around the world. A common concern surrounding immigration is its potential impact on the host country's welfare system, including health care. Such concerns can reduce public support for accepting immigrants and for redistributive welfare policies.
- A Stanford team used geospatial data and detection algorithms to achieve a tenfold increase in rescues from modern slavery in the Brazilian Amazon. Now, they are planning to expand their approach.
- Users who participate in online communities linked to conspiracy theories show distinctive linguistic characteristics even when discussing apparently neutral topics, such as films, music, cooking or science, and even before they take part in conspiracy communities.
- Japan is experiencing historically high numbers of foreigners. Its population is shrinking, and its workforce is aging, driving foreign labor to historic levels.
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