📌 ‘Activist’ Judges, The Happiest Countries, More

The White House blasted “activist” federal judges Wednesday and called on the Supreme Court to rein them in.

President Donald Trump and his allies escalated their attacks against judges who have ruled against his administration. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters it was incumbent upon the Supreme Court to take action against judges “acting erroneously.”

Her comments came a day after Trump called for the impeachment of Washington-based US District Judge James Boasberg, who issued an order temporarily banning the administration from removing migrants under an 18th-century law that the president invoked.

The comment drew a swift rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who said an appeal, not impeachment, was the appropriate response when disagreeing with a judge's decision. Trump called Boasberg “a Radical Left Lunatic Judge” who “wants to assume the role of President.”

Tech billionaire Elon Musk complained about another judge who temporarily blocked the military from enforcing Trump's executive order barring transgender people from service. Under the US Constitution, federal judges are part of a separate branch of government considered equal to the executive branch.

Trump said in an interview on Tuesday on Fox News that his administration would not defy any court orders and that he was confident the Supreme Court would rule in his favor in the case of the deported Venezuelans.

Thousands of Israelis protested against resumed attacks in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Protestors are unhappy with Netanyahu for his plan to fire Shin Bet intelligence head Ronen Bar. The agency is leading a corruption investigation into Netanyahu's office known as “Qatargate.”

At least four people were arrested as protesters also accused the government of resuming the Gaza war to maintain Netanyahu's political power rather than acting in the best interests of Israel. The protesters gathered outside the Knesset in Jerusalem and then marched toward Netanyahu's home.

Some carried a banner that said, “The future of the coalition or the future of Israel,” reflecting the sentiment that Netanyahu is more focused on preserving his right-wing political coalition over Israel's security.

The demonstrators gathered a day after Israel once again attacked Gaza, killing at least 404 Palestinians and injuring over 560. The attacks were seen as helping stabilize Netanyahu's fragile governing coalition as he continues to battle a long-running corruption trial and investigation against him.

Netanyahu was scheduled to testify in the corruption trial on Tuesday, which was canceled because of the Israeli military action in Gaza, reported the UPI news agency.

Microsoft is working on a feature in Windows 11 to explain how less RAM or a weaker GPU can affect a PC’s performance.

The latest preview builds of Windows 11 include a frequently asked questions section in the system settings, with answers related to GPU memory, system RAM, and even OS versions.

Windows watcher Phantomofearth discovered the new section in the latest Dev Channel build of Windows 11 released earlier this week. Microsoft hasn’t officially acknowledged it’s working on this FAQ feature, and it’s currently hidden away and has to be manually enabled in the latest builds.

The FAQ includes answers to questions about low RAM, or recommendations if your GPU has less than 4GB of memory. If you’re not running the latest version of Windows 11, then this will also be flagged in this section.

Microsoft typically tests features in the Dev Channel that are close to rolling out for its 24H2 update to Windows 11, although the company does occasionally scrap features before they’re released.

Most comments on the online article blamed the OS. “For most, it isn’t a hardware issue, it's more of Windows 11 using so many resources per usual,” said one. Another commented: “The problem is Microsoft. They need to admit it and fix it.”

Ben & Jerry's said its chief executive David Stever is being removed by parent company Unilever for “political activism.”

The allegation forms part of a legal case filed in a US court by Ben & Jerry's that says Unilever violated a merger agreement by trying to silence its “social mission.” It comes a month after the ice cream company accused Unilever of demanding that it stop publicly criticizing US President Donald Trump.

A Unilever spokesperson said it is “disappointed that the confidentiality of an employee career conversation has been made public.” It said it had made “repeated attempts to engage the [Ben & Jerry's] board and follow the correct process.”

The filing with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said Unilever had “repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry's personnel, including CEO David Stever, should they fail to comply with Unilever's efforts to silence the social mission.”

Ben & Jerry's has long been known for taking a public stance on social issues since it was founded in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. It has often backed campaigns on issues like LGBTQ+ rights and climate change.

The ice cream maker was bought by Unilever in 2000 through a merger agreement that created an independent board tasked with protecting the ice cream brand's values and mission.

Researchers analyzed the lifestyle and diet of Catalonian Maria Branyas to see what long-life lessons they could gather.

The team from the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute in Spain conducted a comprehensive analysis of Branyas, who lived 117 years and 168 days. They investigated everything from her genes to her proteins to her microbiome to her metabolism to see what they could learn.

Their report, to be peer-reviewed, provides a rare glimpse into the cellular machinery that just might give some of us a shot at starting a second centenary. Only around 1 in 10 of the people who make it to a century of living then manage another decade.

Branyas had a mentally, socially, and physically active lifestyle, known to keep dementia at bay. She ate well, sticking mostly to a Mediterranean-style diet that's been linked to a longer lifespan. And she loved yogurt — her gut microbiome had the characteristics of someone much younger.

Branyas had genes associated with a stronger immune system, protection against heart disease, and a reduction in the risk of cancer. The distinct algorithms of age based on DNA methylation exhibited a much younger biological age than her real chronological age.

Other factors were Branyas’s efficient metabolism, leading to lower ‘bad' cholesterol and higher ‘good’ cholesterol, and low inflammation (protecting against multiple health issues). Maria herself put her long life down to an “orderly life and pleasant surroundings.”

Finland once again tops the World Happiness Report’s rankings, the US — at No. 24 — earned its lowest ranking yet.

The 13th edition of the annual report marks the United Nations International Day of Happiness today. The report draws on Gallup World Poll data from over 140 countries, ranking happiness on their average life evaluations over the three preceding years, in this case, 2022–2024.

Participants scored their lives as a whole. Six key variables were then analyzed to help explain life evaluations: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

“Nordic countries like Finland continue to benefit from universally available and high-quality health, education and social support systems. Inequality of wellbeing is also low,” said Ilana Ron-Levey, managing director at Gallup.

Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden follow the same top four order as 2024. And Norway is again No. 7. A less materialistic mindset may work in Finland’s favor, said John Helliwell, a founding editor of the report. “To focus on the personal rather than the material is of ever-increasing importance.”

Ron-Levey commented: “The decline in the US in 2024 was at least partly attributable to Americans younger than 30 feeling worse about their lives. Today’s young people report feeling less supported by friends and family, less free to make life choices, and less optimistic about their living standards.”

Four snow leopards were photographed moving through snow-covered hills in the remote mountains of northern Pakistan.

The animals are seldom seen alone, much less in a group, and it’s considered a sign of success for Pakistan’s conservation efforts.

“I had been noticing leopard pawmarks. While I was on the roof of my house, I used binoculars to observe the mountains and spotted a female snow leopard along with her four cubs,” said photographer Sakhawat Ali.

Ali lives in the remote village of Hushe, and is also a gamekeeper at the Central Karakorum National Park in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region, where he saw them. Snow leopards thrive here. Their coats allow them to blend into the snowy mountains and remain undetected by their prey.

Snow leopards live in Russia, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan.