A super El Niño killed millions of people in 1877. Are we better prepared now?

A super El Niño killed millions of people in 1877. Are we better prepared now?

The Washington Post reports: As chances rise for one of the strongest El Niño events on record later this year, the potential for dangerous conditions has prompted comparisons to 1877, when such an event drove catastrophe around the globe. El Niño is a warming of ocean waters in the east-central tropical Pacific that develops every few years. This year, ocean temperatures there could surge 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above average and break records. The climatic shift devastated crops…

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China’s ‘industrial policy of everything’ leaves rest of the world in the dust

China’s ‘industrial policy of everything’ leaves rest of the world in the dust

Greg Ip writes: In the decades since China joined the world economy, U.S. presidents have traveled to Beijing with a predictable list of demands: stop stealing American intellectual property, don’t force technology transfer, open your markets. Donald Trump followed the script on his previous visit in 2017. Whether he does so again this week, it would be pointless. Those demands reflect a view of Chinese industrial policy (broadly, government support for favored sectors) that is woefully out of date. Xi…

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Trump administration considers creating $1.7 billion slush fund for allies investigated under Biden

Trump administration considers creating $1.7 billion slush fund for allies investigated under Biden

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is considering the establishment of a $1.7 billion fund to compensate allies investigated by the Justice Department under President Biden, creating an ethical, legal and political minefield for Republicans and the department’s leadership. The unusual plan, which Democrats and former government officials criticized as a vast political slush fund financed by taxpayers, has yet to be finalized or approved, according to three people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition…

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Investigation indicates U.S. boat strikes were never a serious counter-drug operation

Investigation indicates U.S. boat strikes were never a serious counter-drug operation

The Guardian reports: A five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has killed nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House. The Trump administration has consistently sought to justify…

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‘Slap in the face’: Republicans skewer Pentagon over Poland move

‘Slap in the face’: Republicans skewer Pentagon over Poland move

Politico reports: Top Republicans on Friday condemned the Pentagon for canceling a U.S. troop deployment to Poland, an abrupt move that also appeared to catch Army leaders by surprise. The decision, House Armed Service Committee members said, amounted to a gut punch to the NATO ally and to a Congress that has sought to beef up the U.S. presence in Europe. They made those frustrations clear at a hearing with Army officials, where the service’s top civilian and uniform leaders…

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New finding refines how scientists study animal happiness

New finding refines how scientists study animal happiness

Science News reports: For nearly a decade, Vincent Bombail has been tickling rats. It’s been a standard technique used in the study of animal happiness. But not all rats particularly enjoy the experience, data show. Female rats prefer gentler, more playful tickling than males, Bombail and his colleagues report April 15 in Biology Letters. The findings suggest that the same physical experience evokes a different emotional response in different individuals, potentially influencing the results of studies on animal happiness. “This…

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Thucydides Trap: How two words from China’s president finally silenced Trump

Thucydides Trap: How two words from China’s president finally silenced Trump

David Gardner writes: Donald Trump will leave China a chastened man. If he didn’t know what Xi Jinping meant by raising the specter of the Thucydides Trap when he arrived in Beijing, you can be sure that he does now. Because it was a warning issued by a leader who is very much Trump’s equal in power and way more experienced at using it. Amid the pomp of Trump’s arrival on Thursday, Xi invoked a classical Greek reference suggesting that…

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As Trump meets Xi, Iran lets Chinese ships through Strait of Hormuz

As Trump meets Xi, Iran lets Chinese ships through Strait of Hormuz

The New York Times reports: Iran has allowed some Chinese vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following diplomatic overtures from China’s government, semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported on Thursday. The reports coincided with a visit to Beijing by President Trump, who held talks with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday that were expected to focus heavily on the crisis over the strategic waterway. Dueling Iranian and U.S. attempts to control traffic in the strait have rattled global energy…

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Saudi Arabia floats non-aggression pact with Iran and regional states, FT

Saudi Arabia floats non-aggression pact with Iran and regional states, FT

Middle East Eye reports: Saudi Arabia has floated a non-aggression pact between Iran and Middle Eastern states based on a 1970s agreement that eased tensions in Europe during the Cold War, The Financial Times reported on Thursday. The Saudi Arabian efforts have gained the support of European capitals and EU institutions, but it’s unclear if Israel and the US would support it. The UAE has taken a hawkish position on Iran and moved substantially closer to Israel since the US-Israeli…

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‘No idea it was coming’: Pentagon officials stunned by Hegseth decision on troops in Poland

‘No idea it was coming’: Pentagon officials stunned by Hegseth decision on troops in Poland

Politico reports: Pete Hegseth’s last-minute decision to cancel the deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland caught Pentagon staff and European allies by surprise — the latest example of an abrupt personnel move from the Defense secretary that blindsided both sides of the Atlantic. It wasn’t clear exactly why Hegseth issued the order, according to three defense officials familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed anger and frustration with European allies for their failure to help with the…

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Acting AG Todd Blanche was told last year to recuse from DOJ matters involving Trump

Acting AG Todd Blanche was told last year to recuse from DOJ matters involving Trump

CNN reports: It was less than two weeks after Todd Blanche took on his role of deputy attorney general in March 2025 when the Justice Department’s top ethics lawyer delivered some straightforward yet inconvenient news: His recusal from legal cases that involved President Donald Trump in his personal capacity was necessary. The official conducting the briefing, Joseph Tirrell, handed Blanche and his then-top deputy Emil Bove, who was also in the conference room, a printed PowerPoint presentation on ethics, according…

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Meta: What it’s like inside a company where ‘everyone is unhappy’

Meta: What it’s like inside a company where ‘everyone is unhappy’

Wired reports: As Meta employees brace for layoffs next Wednesday, May 20, many say the vibes are horrifically, historically low. “Everyone is unhappy; the only people who are not unhappy are, literally, executives,” says an employee who works on Instagram. The social media giant plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce, or nearly 8,000 people, “to run the company more efficiently” and “offset the other investments” it’s making, according to a human resources leader. But the layoffs, which…

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Neanderthals used stone drills to treat cavities 59,000 years ago, tooth suggests

Neanderthals used stone drills to treat cavities 59,000 years ago, tooth suggests

The Guardian reports: Neanderthals used stone drills to treat cavities almost 60,000 years ago in what is the earliest known evidence of dental treatment. The single molar, which was unearthed in a cave in southern Siberia, features a deep hole that appears to have been created using a sharp, thin stone tool during the lifetime of the tooth’s owner. While the prospect of stone age root canal treatment may be excruciating to even contemplate, archaeologists say the discovery provides remarkable…

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10,000 rulings: The federal courts’ overwhelming rebuke of Trump’s ICE policies

10,000 rulings: The federal courts’ overwhelming rebuke of Trump’s ICE policies

Politico reports: Ten thousand losses. That’s the Trump administration’s track record in court as federal judges grapple with the way ICE agents have swept through major U.S. cities and detained thousands of people in support of President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda. More than 10,000 times, judges have said those detentions, typically carried out with no opportunity for detainees to plead their case, were illegal. That’s roughly 90 percent of all cases — a staggering rejection of a core piece…

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