As women’s social, occupational, and political engagement expanded in Western nations, social scientists anticipated a great psychological and behavioural convergence of men and women.

But instead of convergence of the sexes, we have something closer to a great divergence, says Andrew Keen .

Keen: Many psychological, behavioural sex differences are larger in more gender-equal countries.

Keen says biological changes are likely driven by biological changes, not down to evolutionary selection.

Height provides a clearcut, incontrovertible example of how favourable environments affect sex differences in biology.

As living conditions improve, men gain twice as much in height and weight as women.

Men’s relative height is compromised the most if they experience nutritional and caloric deficits in the first few years of life or during the pubertal growth spurt.

Pretermgirls (born at 3233 weeks , extremely preterm girls exposed to stress or exposure to stress) suffer relative deficits to full-term girls, whereas boys exposed to the same stressors hardly suffer at all in many physical competencies.

It makes sense in terms of wealthy egalitarian societies offering more options in life and looser social mores that enable the fuller expression of underlying sex differences in personality, proclivities, and lifestyle preferences.

Post hoc explanations, such as stereotypes and the stubborn persistence of the patriarchy, will still be offered in an attempt to rescue the blank-slate theory.

Seven families with transgender or nonbinary children filed a lawsuit Tuesday over President Donald Trump 's executive orders to halt funding for gender-affirming care for young people.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal want a judge to put the order on hold.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Finnish Foreign Ministry does not systematically collect data on the exact numbers of Finnish volunteers in Ukraine .

Ministry believes there are currently an estimated 30 Finns fighting in Ukraine , with a few fighting on the Russian side.

Ministry published an online information package for those planning or considering travelling to Ukraine to serve as volunteer fighters on Monday .

Gov. Greg Abbott unveils ambitious agenda that looks to the state’s future while also covering policies that appeal to all factions of a divided Texas GOP .

For business-minded Republicans , Abbott prioritized property tax cuts and expanded vocational training opportunities.

For social conservatives, Abbott declared school vouchers a must-pass item; threw his weight behind further restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Abbott has pushed the GOP -controlled Legislature to change the state Constitution to give judges more discretion to deny bail.

The effort has died repeatedly in the House , failing to secure the two-thirds support needed to pass a constitutional amendment or hitting end-of-session deadlines.

Abbott also indicated support for policies favored by the right wing of his party which has sometimes been critical of him.

Abbott seems on track to deliver on much of his agenda, with GOP majorities in both chambers.

Equality Texas CEO blasts Abbott for threatening to fire teachers who express supportive views of transgender people.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said last week that the Senate would pass a school voucher bill if Abbott declared it an emergency item.

President Donald Trump said he would like to close the federal Department of Education using an executive order.

Republicans were critical of the Education Department under former President Joe Biden , particularly over student loan forgiveness and policies related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

A White House official said on Monday that the Trump administration will take steps to defund the department.

Doug Ford's campaign director signed an “exclusive partnership” with a Washington D.C.-based lobbying firm.

That firm, Capitol Counsel , recently received a government contract for up to $1.3 million to help position Ontario with the next American administration.

The deal signed in August by Ford with Capitol Counsel included a stipulation the American company “devise a plan for the first 100 days of the new Congress and administration”.

Federal and state officials are eyeing legislation that would allow state officials to punish local officials for following so-called "sanctuary cities" policies.

Sanctuary cities limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal authorities concerning requests to remove illegal immigrants accused of misdemeanor or felony crimes.

The bill would allow victims harmed by illegal immigrant crime to sue sanctuary cities.

Supporters say immigration enforcement is the job of the federal government, not local authorities.

José Gustavo Arocha , senior fellow at the national security think tank The Center for a Secure Free Society , said sanctuary cities "harm the community" by offering a safe shelter to criminal illegal immigrants.

Tren de Aragua members "look for places where they control the territory," he said, where there is "no communication with ICE" and gang members "can control the communication".

Tony Bartlett is accused of killing his son, Atticus Bartlett , in Chard , Somerset .

The 38-year-old appeared at Yeovil Magistrates' Court on Tuesday and was remanded to appear at Bristol Crown Court .

Police say the charge was the result of an "extensive" investigation over two and a half years .

Ontario's main party leaders are mostly campaigning in the Greater Toronto area today .

The threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods dominated the campaign trail at the start of the week .

With the hefty duties on hold until at least early March , the NDP and Liberals say it’s time to put issues such as health care and education in the spotlight.

When Donald Trump was first elected US President in 2016 , the share of Canadians expressing “confidence” in him polled at just 22 percent .

But the tide shifted in the run-up to last year ’s Presidential election: A survey indicated that while a majority of Canadians still held negative views of Trump , the Republican candidate was more popular than Kamala Harris among Canadian Conservative voters.

Trudeau announced his resignation in early January , and then prorogued (which is to say, suspended) Parliament until March .

Much of the country’s media establishment, which until just a few weeks ago had resigned itself to a Conservative win in the coming election, has gone in hard for this sudden patriotic mania.

No one in modern Canadian history has done more to smear Canada ’s reputation or degrade its sense of national pride.

Trump might find support among Trudeau 's hard-core progressive base if he rebranded his tariffs as part of BDS -style sanctions aimed at punishing Canada for its many (supposed) crimes against humanity.

All of this feels like an exercise in victim blaming.