We want to talk about the football. Marcus wants to talk about the fact that he watched Fulham on Wednesday with Stuart Broad and then convinced Roberto Martinez to take the England job at the urinals. Well, we’ve had one England manager resign from a toilet so why not…

Marcus, Andy, Luke and Pete discuss Steve Cooper’s last chance saloon at Wolves and a huge showdown at Villa Park! Pete also ponders on the logistics of ‘doing an Emi Martinez’, while Marcus has penned an ode to the great man. Emi, not Pete. Join us!

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This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

New Mexico will invest $500 million into purchasing water from controversial sources, including treated oilfield wastewater, as a means to bolster the state’s water portfolio. The purchases are the latest in a long-running series of deals dipping into untapped waters to shore up dwindling supplies as climate change and decades of overconsumption drive aridification of the Southwest. 

The water would come from two sources: brackish saltwater, from aquifers deep underground, and produced water—wastewater from oil and gas wells. Neither source, but particularly the latter, is immediately fit for most consumptive purposes. But as traditional water supplies like rivers and groundwater aquifers are depleted in the Southwest, local and state governments are increasingly investing in new water sources to keep up economic and population growth, despite skepticism from environmentalists and water experts. 

“In arid states like ours, every drop counts. A warming climate throws that fact into sharper relief every day,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in a press release Tuesday. “This is innovation in action: We’re leveraging the private sector to strengthen our climate resiliency and protect our precious freshwater resources.”

“Produced” water comes from the industry most responsible for climate-changing emissions, and can be filled with toxic chemicals. 

Critics are calling the plan a handout for the fossil fuel industry that will only incentivize further drilling for oil and gas in New Mexico, where the produced water comes from, driving increased emissions of greenhouse gases to further warm the climate and dry out the region. 

The art industry has once again descended on Miami for a week of “parties, paintings, and pills” at Art Basel Miami Beach, with several galleries already reporting sales of works over $1 million.

This year’s edition of ABMB takes place after a “fair and sober” evening auction season, but any concerns about international conflict or an economic recession were quickly mitigated during preview days.

“Sales at the booth have been strong since the opening hours of the fair, signaling an optimistic shift in this year’s sleepier market and economy,” Lehmann Maupin partner Fionna Flaherty said in a press statement. (Sales are self-reported by galleries, making the data difficult to confirm.)

Dealers reported robust attendance from collectors, curators, and museum groups hailing from Aspen to Paris to Hong Kong, as well as sales of works valued as highly as $20 million.

Below, a look at seven works that galleries said sold during Art Basel Miami Beach’s opening days, as well as a major work that could break an artist’s sales record.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

When Greta Thunberg posted a photo of herself holding a “stand with Gaza” sign on Instagram in October, the backlash in Israel and Germany came hard and fast.

An Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson initially told Politico that “whoever identifies with Greta in any way in the future, in my view, is a terror supporter,” although later retracted his comments. The official X account of Israel said “Hamas doesn’t use sustainable materials for their rockets” and told Thunberg to speak up for its victims. The Israeli education ministry said it would strike any reference to the Swedish climate activist from its curriculum.

In Germany, politicians and pundits across the political spectrum demanded that the national branch of Fridays for Future, the student protest movement that Thunberg started in 2018, distance itself from her views. The group put out a statement underlining its support for Israel’s right to exist and, in the weeks that followed, explicitly distanced itself from social media posts made by the international group. Germany’s leading news magazine Der Spiegel ran a lengthy article with personal comments on Thunberg’s childhood character and appearance under the headline: “Has Greta Thunberg betrayed the climate movement?”

The violence in Israel and Gaza since October 7 has become an unexpected flashpoint for climate activists in rich countries. As world leaders meet for the Cop28 summit in Dubai, the loose collection of movements, many of which have built their support around inclusivity and global justice, are divided on whether or how to take a stand on the conflict.

The four GOP candidates competed over many things at the Republican debate Wednesday night—support for Israel, fitness to lead, and how they felt about Donald Trump. But one recurring theme was which one could claim to be most anti-trans of them all.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sparred over who took a more draconian stance on so-called bathroom bills, which prevent transgender people from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity.

Haley pointed out that while running for governor in 2018, DeSantis once dismissed legislating the “bathroom wars” as not “a good use of our time.” DeSantis clapped back, noting that he signed a bathroom bill as governor and took Haley to task for refusing to do so herself. She claimed such a bill was unnecessary and voters weren’t asking for it.  

“I stood up for little girls,” DeSantis declared. “You didn’t do it.”

Vivek Ramaswamy falsely claimed “transgenderism” is a “mental health disorder,” adding that he wants to impose a federal ban on gender-affirming care for minors. 

Chris Christie said the quiet part out loud at the fourth Republican debate Wednesday night. The dominant figure in the Republican Party—former President Donald Trump—isn’t on the debate stage, and when the debate began, nobody talked about him despite his dominance in the polls.

When the former New Jersey governor finally wrestled some airtime from his three opponents—Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—he noted that none of them had taken on Trump directly.

“We’re 17 minutes into this debate and…we’ve had these three acting as if this race is between the four of us,” Christie said. “The fifth guy, who doesn’t have the guts to show up and stand here, he’s the one who, as you just put it, is way ahead in the polls.”

“The fact is that when you go and say the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody…then I understand why these three are timid to say anything about it,” he added, calling Trump “Voldemort, he who shall not be named.”

During his first time speaking in tonight's GOP debate, Chris Christie criticized his debate competitors and moderators for not bringing up Donald Trump or clearly denouncing the former president's falsehoods and recent comments about being a “dictator.” https://t.co/kN48tKlMMu pic.twitter.com/3aNfIwvXYK

Unlike Trent Alexander-Arnold, Pete and Andy keep their bums very much covered on tonight’s Ramble Reacts! But there’s no hiding Pete’s secret…

They discuss a hugely important win for Man United, Aston Villa’s masterclass to beat Man City, and why Evangelos Marinakis’s Craven Cottage ticket ended up in a hedge – and why ol’ Roy the Boy could be thrown in one soon, too!

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For the first time since Roe was decided in 1973, a pregnant adult is asking a court to step in so she can have an abortion.

In late November, Kate Cox received the confirmation she’d been dreading: her fetus likely wasn’t going to survive. Cox, who lives in Texas, is 20 weeks pregnant. Doctors told her continuing the pregnancy could threaten her life.

Cox is now asking a judge to grant a temporary restraining order to halt the enforcement of Texas’ near total ban so she can terminate her pregnancy. “Kate Cox needs an abortion,” reads the first line of Cox’ petition, “and she needs it now.” 

Cox is represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The organization is currently arguing in the Texas Supreme Court that pregnant people with medical complications have not been receiving proper care in the state. As I have previously reported, that case is about situations like the one Cox is experiencing right now in which vague exceptions to abortion bans undermine clarity of care:

[Texas’] law calls for “reasonable medical judgment” and permits abortion if the patient could die or if they’re at “serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” The lawsuit argues this language is too vague and dangerous for pregnant people and providers. 

President Biden condemned accounts of rape and sexual violence reportedly perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli girls and women, stating that “the world can’t just look away at what’s going on.” 

Biden made the comments at a campaign fundraiser in Boston on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, adding that the world must condemn “without equivocation” and “without exception” the “horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty” shared by survivors over the past few weeks. 

“Reports of women raped—repeatedly raped—and their bodies being mutilated while still alive—of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them,” Biden said, according to the AP. “It is appalling.”

Hamas has denied allegations of sexual assault.

Biden’s comments come as evidence of sexual atrocities perpetrated by Hamas mounts and officials increasingly demand an investigation.