Last Friday afternoon, a light aircraft belonging to a local aviation school flew into the side of Beijing’s tallest building, the 109-storey Citic Tower, killing the pilot and injuring at least 13 people.

Five days later, we’re none the wiser about “why, and how, that happened”, said the BBC. The only official statement on the incident is a “60-word report detailing the basic facts in state-owned Beijing Daily”, while eyewitness videos and photos have been “scrubbed off the internet”.

What did the commentators say?

The skyscraper is only a few miles from Zhongnanhai, the tightly controlled complex that acts as the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party and the centre of government. An unidentified aircraft over this sensitive area would have posed a security dilemma for authorities, said Li Wei, director of the Centre for Counter-Terrorism Studies at the state-run think tank China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Once the plane deviated from its approved flight path, there would have been “little reaction time for air traffic control and air defence identification”, he told the South China Morning Post. “Shooting down a civilian aircraft in a crowded urban area would create potential ground threats and panic.”

Beijing has “some of the world’s strictest airspace controls”, including a “permanent no-fly zone of roughly 100 sq km (39 sq miles) over its political core”, said the BBC. Chong Ja Ian, a non-resident scholar at Carnegie China research centre, told the broadcaster that the incident would be an “embarrassment to the security services”. “A small plane hitting Citic Tower means that a drone or missile might be able to as well,” he said.

Although China “periodically” experiences high-profile “acts of suicidal violence”, the most likely explanation “lies not in protest but in privilege”, said James Palmer in Foreign Policy’s China Brief. Private planes are a rarity in China, reserved for the “well connected”, whose sense of entitlement “extends to the skies”. Corruption is “endemic” within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and “it would not be surprising if certain civilians were occasionally allowed into PLA airspace”. If that is what occurred here, “the political consequences will be severe for whoever bent the rules”.

What next?

Whether accidental or deliberate, “the fatal flight will raise awkward – and potentially career-ending – questions for those responsible for security” in the capital, said the Financial Times. At next year’s Communist Party Congress, Xi Jinping is expected to “choose a new line-up of top party cadres”, and regional analysts say responsibility for the Citic Tower incident could fuel “fierce jockeying among leadership candidates”.

This eye-opening podcast from Serial Productions follows David Wood’s capital defence lawyers as they “try to save their client’s life” during his last weeks on death row, said The New York Times.

It’s been over three decades since Wood was convicted of murdering six young women and girls and burying their bodies near El Paso – crimes for which he was nicknamed the Desert Killer. The five-part series centres around the “high stakes and at times bizarre work involved in trying to halt an execution”.

Pulitzer Prize-winning death penalty reporter Maurice Chammah is given “extraordinary level of access” to the inner workings of this capital case in its “final stretch”, bringing listeners “into the room with the lawyers” as they attempt to “poke holes in the case” and search for elusive witnesses, all while the “clock ticks down”.

Made in collaboration with the non-profit news organisation, The Marshall Project, it’s a “spare but thought-provoking” podcast, said The Guardian. As Wood’s execution looms, his lawyer’s final attempt to prove his innocence naturally seems “inconceivable to the victims’ families”.

“More dead women as content! How marvellously unsurprising, I thought”, said Jude Rogers in The Observer. But as I kept listening I realised “this isn’t another mindless excursion into true crime’s murky waters, but a proper immersion in the waves that surround it.” Even sections about the legal process that should be “brain-crushingly dull” are made to “glisten” with fascinating details.

The series begins with an answerphone message from a convicted murderer who shared a prison cell with Wood. In it, he claims police took him and other prisoners on a scenic drive, plied them with hamburgers, and encouraged them to say that Wood had confessed to the El Paso killings.

Like other Serial Productions’ work, the “modus operandi is hardcore”: to introduce a “deeply tangled” court case, “then patiently tease apart the threads, demanding the listener’s full attention”.

When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team.

Summer is here, and it’s time to fire up the grill. Cooking outside keeps your house cooler and cleaner — and when you use these nine tools and accessories, making yourself one with the flames is a whole lot simpler.

Bambusi meat cutting board

Grill masters will love this “smartly designed” bamboo board, said CNET. Treads on one side of the “sturdy” block help “stabilize slick meats,” and a deep juice groove catches “all that liquid gold for basting or making sauce.” The other side is smooth and great for prep work like chopping vegetables. ($25, Amazon)

Black Diamond Spot 400-R headlamp

Sometimes grilling sessions last into the night, or you want to get started after dark when temperatures drop. Wearing a headlamp ensures you can see what you’re doing and cook safely well after the sun goes down. The Spot 400-R is a “small, powerful and effective” headlamp with a “simple and intuitive” user interface, said GearJunkie. It’s lightweight, rechargeable and can run on low for 225 hours. ($80, Amazon)

GIR silicone basting brush

With its long handle and two types of durable bristles, this basting brush is “perfect” for “applying marinades and sauces while food is on the grill,” said The Strategist. Silicone is highly heat-resistant and also makes cleaning a “breeze.” (starting at $10, Amazon)

Grillaholics grill basket

Throw your diced vegetables in the basket, and let the grill do the work. The stainless steel basket’s “larger perforations” provide “better heat and air circulation” and give veggies more contact with the grate, resulting in “more color and flavor,” said Wirecutter. The basket can also be used for chicken wings, fish and small pieces of meat. ($30, Amazon)

Nordic Ware Naturals baker’s half sheet

Baking sheets aren’t just for cookies and one-pan dinners — they are also the “perfect vessel” for transporting food to and from the grill, said Wirecutter. This half sheet is made of “sturdy” aluminum and has a 1-inch rim you can “grip comfortably with one hand while working fast over the grill.” The galvanized rims also won’t warp, so you can plan on keeping the sheet for years to come. ($33, set of two. Amazon)

Oxo Outdoor Grilling turner and tongs set

Made of stainless steel with nonslip grips, Oxo’s turner and tongs help you flip burgers, rotate hot dogs and even open bottles with ease. Both tools are sturdy, and come with metal loops at the end so you can hang them. The scalloped tongs are especially useful, with extra-long handles that are the “perfect length” and a built-in bottle opener if you want to enjoy a cold beverage grillside, said Serious Eats. ($24, Amazon)

Scrub Daddy BBQ Daddy grill brush

Using a wire-bristle brush to clean your grill is “out,” as the sharp fibers can “dangerously” dislodge, get stuck to grill grates and “end up in your food,” said Food & Wine. The bristle-free BBQ Daddy is made with woven steel-wool mesh, and you just dip it in water, then let the steam of the grill “power” the brush through the “built-up deposits” and “residual gunk.” ($30, Amazon)

Thermapen One meat thermometer

Getting an accurate meat temperature is an important part of grilling, and the Thermapen One meat thermometer offers precise, consistent readings in about one second. You’d be “hard-pressed” to find an “easier-to-use” or “faster-responding” thermometer, said Food & Wine. The large display is backlit and “rotates to orient itself,” so you never have to “read the temperature upside down.” ($80.50, ThermoWorks)

Williams Sonoma mini rub bestsellers set

Kick your dinner’s flavor up several notches. Four of Williams Sonoma’s best-loved rubs are in this sampler, with each blend of spices and seasonings bringing a different point of view to the table. The mildly spicy Potlatch Classic Seasoning combines paprika with chile pepper, while the Smokehouse Rub strikes a savory-sweet balance. Chile Lime Rub pairs bold New Mexican chiles with tart lime, and Butcher’s Rub mixes salt, pepper and garlic with chile flakes, paprika and mustard seed, plus a dash of Worcestershire sauce. ($30, Williams Sonoma)

Desperate to soothe symptoms caused by unbalanced hormones, women are turning to a TikTok trend that recommends combining allergy medication and antacids to treat conditions like PMS or menopause. Despite a lack of clinical evidence, experts say there may be a reason the cocktail is helping some people keep persistent symptoms at bay.

OTC relief

People who feel “extra rotten in the days leading up to their period” are finding relief from this TikTok-approved concoction, said NPR. The over-the-counter combo “helps to combat premenstrual blues,” leading participants to feel “less irritable and more energetic.” Others going through perimenopause and menopause reported that it “helps to lessen similar symptoms.” The drugs also went viral last year amid claims they helped manage symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), where patients “experience depression and anxiety caused by premenstrual hormonal shifts.”

Women struggling with “conditions marked by hormonal fluctuations” swear that the blend finally provides some relief, said People. It helps with “hot flashes, mood swings and sleeplessness often associated with these disorders.” The specific drugs most often “touted in this hormonal cocktail” are Allegra and Pepcid AC.

To date, there have not been any clinical trials testing the safety or efficacy of this trend. Those who are using the combo are operating in an “evidence-free zone,” Leigh Frame, the executive director of the Office of Integrative Medicine & Health at George Washington University, said to NPR. There is “no evidence that it does or doesn't work."

However, experts agree there is a “plausible biological mechanism” for why some may be seeing benefits from this hack, said NPR. It has to do with histamine, a chemical released when you come into contact with an allergen, which triggers an inflammatory response. There is evidence that suggests “histamine also fluctuates with your menstrual cycle.” Estrogen, which stimulates the release of histamine, “ebbs and flows throughout the month,” while progesterone acts as a “sort of natural antihistamine.” But in the days leading up to your period, progesterone “takes a nosedive.” In perimenopause, too, the levels of both hormones “rise and fall rapidly, often erratically.”

Both allergy medication and antacids are histamine blockers that interact with different receptors throughout the body, said Mara Rivera, a psychiatrist who specializes in reproductive health challenges, to NPR. The theory is that this combination may help keep histamine in check, basically replacing the effect of progesterone. In some ways, the trend is a modern-day example of an old wives’ tale. Women have been “doing this forever, just talking to one another, and seeing what works,” Rivera said.

Feeling unheard

The popularity of the “DIY Allegra and Pepcid AC cocktail” stems in part from “women feeling like they are not being heard by their doctors,” People said. Women are “hungry to know more and to help themselves,” and they often “feel like they’re not being listened to,” Soma Mandal, the medical director of women’s health at Jersey Shore University Medical Center at Hackensack Meridian Health, said to People. It is important to “find someone who will listen,” who will “take complaints seriously” and who also understands that this is a “physiologic part of life and deserves the appropriate treatment.” If you are not getting that level of care with your current practitioner, “then it’s time to move on."

Experts are not against open discussion and the sharing of symptoms and potential remedies over social media. It is “great that we are asking these questions and bringing up these ideas,” because we “desperately need more research in midlife women’s health,” gynecologist Amy Voedisch said to Everyday Health.

Guess the four-digit number in six tries. Choose your number and tap enter to submit. Each tile will change to green if the digit is correct and in the right position, or orange if it is correct but in the wrong position. A dark grey tile means the digit does not appear anywhere in the number. Come back here tomorrow for the next Guess the Number game.

You have six tries to guess the five-letter word. Type in the letters and hit enter. After each guess, the colour of the tiles will change if you choose the correct letters. A green tile means the letter is in the correct spot. A peach tile means the letter is in the word but is in the wrong spot. The tile will not change colour if the letter is not in the word. This game will update daily.

Fill the grid with numbers one to nine so that each row, column and square contains every digit exactly once. This game will update daily.

On the small Caribbean island of St Lucia, a crisis is brewing. For “more than a decade”, residents have lived with an “intermittent water supply”, said The Guardian. But the most recent emergency has upended day-to-day life for thousands, turning everything from “normal hygiene” practices to “food preparation” into a struggle.

And despite “millions of dollars of investment”, including $80 million (£60 million) from World Bank financing, funds have merely “scratched the surface” when it comes to tackling the water supply issues pushing islanders “to the brink”.

‘Complex mix of challenges’

Water supply is among St Lucia’s “most politically contentious issues”, with the two major political parties, Labour and the United Workers Party, “routinely trading accusations” that resources have been “mismanaged”, said The Guardian. The island has a sole water company – the Water and Sewerage Company (Wasco) – which therefore has the monopoly on supply.

Wasco’s provision of water to homes and businesses is hampered by service issues including leaks, blockages “and damage to key transmission lines”, said the St. Lucia Times. But there is also a “complex mix of challenges” at play, ranging from climate change to the island’s “ageing infrastructure”. Rainfall patterns are now far “less predictable” and the island grapples with “drier years alternating with wetter ones”.

The “severe” water shortage even led the island’s government to consider the “unprecedented” measure of importing water from nearby Dominica at the peak of its tourist season, said Caribbean National Weekly. While the return of rainfall in May ultimately tackled the issue, many fear the implications for future supply issues.

The ‘new norm’?

While the “popular imagination” may lend itself to believing the “paradise” islands of the Caribbean would not struggle with supply, “water scarcity may become the new norm” in the region, said PreventionWeb in 2024. In fact, the Caribbean as a whole is “one of the most water-stressed regions in the world”. Trinidad and Grenada have grappled with drought, St Vincent and St Kitts have both had to ration water, and Barbados has previously implemented “water bans” to curb usage.

In the meantime, “urgent but carefully planned intervention” is required to keep the island’s water system afloat, said the St. Lucia Times. As a temporary solution, citizens have been urged to “engage in rainwater harvesting”. In the longer term, the government has already promised “significant investment” along with a “dedicated committee” to examine Wasco’s future. The supplier’s slogan declares that “water is life”, said the newspaper. If that is the case, it is also true that “clearly the company and its systems are gravely ailing”.

With its $22 billion deal to acquire Roku earlier this month, Fox suddenly became a “rather ferocious” player in “the next phase of the streaming wars,” said The Economist. Rupert Murdoch’s right-wing media empire had been a “noncombatant” in the years-long melee, preferring to keep “its powder dry while companies such as Disney blew gazillions on building streaming services to compete with Netflix.” But it has been quietly amassing a substantial streaming portfolio, beginning in 2020 with Tubi—a free, ad-supported service now with as many viewers as Paramount and NBCUniversal’s Peacock—and launching Fox One last year. With Roku, which sells smart TVs and streaming hardware and software, and has its own streaming channel, Fox would become the third-largest streaming company behind YouTube and Netflix, commanding “11% of streaming viewership in America.”

Fox is finally looking beyond cable, said David Dayen in The American Prospect. Only 36% of households in the U.S. had linear TV in 2025, according to Pew Research Center data, down from 85% a decade ago. And only 16% of those cable subscribers are under 30. “It’s a matter of time” before these whole cable systems “are shut down.” Roku’s easy-to-use hardware has made it “essentially the cable box of the 21st century.” This deal gives Fox “control of that box.” We’ve hit “a turning point in the streaming wars,” said Sara Fischer in Axios, which is no longer a race to gather the most subscribers. It’s a race to see who has a bigger “competitive edge against Netflix.” For Fox, that means “bringing more eyeballs to its live programming” like news and sports, “and selling more digital TV ads.”

“What a shame,” said Devindra Hardawar in Engadget. Roku began as “an innovative streaming platform” that “pushed TVs to be smarter.” Now it’ll be just “another cog in the Murdoch empire,” soon to be “flooded with Fox News content and ads.” That it comes so shortly after Paramount, and its right-wing ownership, bought Warner Bros. Discovery is “yet another sign of media consolidation” that will “ultimately make our lives worse.”

This is Lachlan Murdoch’s biggest move since taking over from his 95-year-old father as Fox CEO in 2019, said Chris Hughes in Bloomberg. And it’s a risky gamble. Yes, he “had to do something sooner or later to address Fox’s reliance on legacy cable TV.” But this attempt “to future-proof Fox is looking incredibly expensive.” Fox offered $160 a share, “nearly 40% above Roku’s stock price.” That’s a $7 billion premium. “Cue a savage market reaction,” which slashed $4 billion off Fox’s valuation. Lachlan has spent the past couple years “tidying up his family’s messy ownership of the media empire,” which had lifted Fox’s stock price. We’ll have to wait and see if this “plot twist” pays off.

It could be the worst case yet in President Trump’s abuse of prosecutorial power to “bully his political rivals,” said Kim Wehle in The Bulwark. California Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed recently that he and his wife are being investigated by the Department of Justice. The investigations into a Trump foil and possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate reveal “how bad things have gotten”—but Newsom is showing Americans “how to resist” Trump’s assault on the rule of law. He put the DOJ “on the defensive” by announcing its investigations himself and has filed a Freedom of Information request for documents related to two ongoing probes. “He’s coming after me because I am considering running for president,” Newsom said, adding that he is proud to join Trump’s “hit list.”

The governor’s claim of political persecution shows “savvy political skill,” but it may be misleading, said Nicole Russell in USA Today. According to the Los Angeles Times, federal prosecutors in California launched two investigations a year ago based on whistleblower tips. One investigation focused on Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, who recently pleaded guilty to fraud and false statements to the FBI; that case may now be expanded beyond her. The other probe apparently is focused on Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s finances and taxes. Her nonprofits have drawn public criticism for accepting donations from corporations that lobby her husband for favorable policies, and the governor has solicited $4.3 million in donations for a nonprofit she co-founded. But “martyrdom at the hands of a Republican plays well” in a Democratic presidential primary. In fact, Newsom “seemed almost happy to drop the news,” said Kimberley A. Strassel in The Wall Street Journal. California permits elected officials to solicit donations for nonprofits, called behested payments, and Newsom has approached many people and companies—some with business before the state—on his wife’s behalf. “Ethically ugly isn’t the same as illegal,” but “the Newsoms shouldn’t be allowed to pretend that there’s nothing to see here.”

California’s First Couple is now bracing for months of intense scrutiny, said Melanie Mason and Jeremy B. White in Politico. Law enforcement is questioning their acquaintances, and Siebel Newsom has become “a recurring target in the conservative social media ecosystem,” which villainizes her as a woke elitist. Fairly or not, the DOJ’s investigations have “opened a new front in the governor’s battle with the White House.”

When the San Francisco Giants recently held Pride Night, said Hannah Keyser in CNN.com, three of the team’s pitchers decided to make a “culture war” statement. JT Brubaker, Landen Roupp, and Ryan Walker scribbled the numbers of Bible verses next to the rainbow-colored logo on their themed caps to protest the celebration of the Bay Area’s large LGBTQ+ community. The three Christian pitchers could have simply opted not to wear the rainbow cap, as a fourth Giants pitcher chose to do, but instead they decided to express their religious beliefs about homosexuality. Major League Baseball issued a mild warning that the players had violated a rule against personally modifying on-field attire without prior approval, saying its reminder “had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message.” Still, MLB’s response sparked outrage on the Right. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) accused the league of religious discrimination, and the Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation. “Trump won,” chimed in Vice President JD Vance. “We don’t have to do this anymore.”

Tell that to the hypocritical left, said Becket Adams in National Review. Sportswriters and progressives promptly portrayed the pitchers as “villains.” But it wasn’t long ago that another San Francisco athlete, former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, refused to stand for the national anthem to protest police brutality against Black men. His demonstration was far more “conspicuous” than what the three Giants did. For expressing his views, Kaepernick was celebrated as a “civil rights hero.” Actually, said Scott Ostler in The San Francisco Standard, Kaepernick paid dearly for kneeling during the anthem. He was vilified by conservatives and “blackballed from the NFL at age 29,” ending his career. That was wrong, just as it would be wrong to punish these baseball players for “their peaceful protest.”

As a gay sportswriter, I don’t object to professional athletes showcasing their homophobia, said Jason Page in MS.now. It serves as a necessary reminder that “the fight for acceptance isn’t over.” Just look at what’s happening around the U.S., said Drew Atkins in USA Today. Polls shows that support for LGBTQ+ rights is regressing “after nearly two decades of growth.” So far this year, “nearly 800 anti-trans bills have been filed across 43 states.” A 2025 report “revealed that 1 in 10 LGBTQ youth attempted suicide.” In Donald Trump’s America, it is “a frightening time to be openly queer.”

President Trump’s Iran deal-in-progress “is Israel’s disaster,” said Ruth Margalit in The New Yorker. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied Trump to launch the Iran war, telling him they could together topple Iran’s Islamist regime, wipe out its ballistic missiles, and end its nuclear threat. Four months later, that war of choice has ended with Trump signing a “memorandum of understanding” with Tehran that not only leaves the hard-liners in charge but also does nothing to address Iran’s arsenal of long-range missiles or its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. “Perhaps most disturbingly for Israel,” said Lazar Berman in The Dispatch, the deal yields to Iran’s demand for a ceasefire in Lebanon, shielding its proxy Hezbollah from attack even as the terrorist group continues to “threaten Israel from the north.” Rubbing salt in the wound are the “gratuitous insults” from Trump, who has called Israel a “very small partner” and Netanyahu a loose cannon with “no f---ing judgment,” while praising the Iranians as “strong,” “smart,” and “very rational.”

Vice President JD Vance also had some “harsh words for Israel,” said Aaron Blake in CNN.com. Responding to criticism of the Iran deal from top Israeli lawmakers, he warned the country to tread carefully. He noted the Jewish state’s reliance on U.S. weaponry, and said some Israeli leaders needed to “wake up and smell the reality” and defer to Trump, “the only head of state in the entire world” who’s still in their corner. It’s a stunning turnabout, said Matt K. Lewis in the Los Angeles Times. Broad bipartisan support for Israel was for decades “a law of physics” in the U.S. But Israel’s bloody campaign in Gaza following the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, “repelled” many young Americans. And by allying himself so closely with Trump to “gin up a war against Iran,” Netanyahu alienated mainstream Democrats and Never Trump conservatives and infuriated “America first” populists in the GOP. Today, some 60% of U.S. adults view Israel unfavorably, up from 42% in 2022.

Netanyahu is in a bind of his own making, said Yair Rosenberg in The Atlantic. “He’s built his brand on two promises” to Israelis: that “he alone could withstand international pressure to compromise on Israeli security and that he alone could handle Trump.” Facing re-election in October, he must now choose whether to defy Trump and “save his reputation as a stalwart security hawk” or cave and maintain what’s left of their relationship. He’s learning the hard way that with Trump any alliance is a “marriage of convenience.” As “a student of power” himself, Netanyahu “should have seen this rug pull coming.”

What festivities are planned?

The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is being celebrated with a series of MAGA-fied gatherings, concerts, and competitions. Many of them have an overtly partisan component. The first event was a night of Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts staged on the White House lawn specifically to coincide with Trump’s 80th birthday. The next, the “Great American State Fair,” which runs on the National Mall for two weeks, was supposed to include stands from every U.S. state and territory. But at least seven states (six of them with Democratic governors) pulled out, citing costs and politics, after it became clear that the event would feature Republican themes like Make America Healthy Again Monday and the participation of conservative groups such as Moms for America. This event is “a more partisan affair than originally presented,” said Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek through a spokesman. The pro-Trump vibe also caused the cancellation of a planned June 25 kickoff concert, after country singer Martina McBride, rapper Young MC, and bands including Morris Day and the Time and the Commodores all bowed out for political reasons. Trump said he would open the State Fair with one of his political rallies instead, adding that he’d make July 4 “the most spectacular Trump rally of them all.”

Was this the original plan?

No. In 2016, Congress authorized a bipartisan nonprofit known as America250 to organize America’s milestone birthday. Inspired by the 1976 bicentennial—a widely praised extravaganza featuring 12 weeks of festivals on the Mall, events in every state, and the opening of the Air and Space Museum—the group said then it hoped to “educate, engage, and unite” Americans with programs across the country that would present and celebrate our history. So far, it has organized events such as a July 4 benefit concert in Los Angeles featuring Smashing Pumpkins and Queen Latifah; a succession of ball drops in New York City’s Times Square for each U.S. time zone on July 3; and the burying in Philadelphia of a huge time capsule to be opened in 2276. But it’s not very well funded. For the bicentennial, Congress had spent the equivalent of $900 million in today’s dollars. For this celebration, it has given less: some $80 million total between 2019 and 2025. While another $150 million was allocated in last year’s giant budget bill to top up the funds, the bulk of that money doesn’t go to America250 but to a rival group, Freedom 250.

What is Freedom 250?

It’s the Trump-chaired White House task force behind the UFC fight and the fair. Created by one of Trump’s early executive orders specifically to take the place of the bipartisan America250, Freedom 250 consists entirely of Republicans, nearly all white men. Vice President JD Vance serves as vice chair, and most Cabinet members are on the task force. Over a quarter of the partners listed on Freedom 250’s website are Christian groups or have Christian affiliations, although it also has connections with firms such as John Deere and Northrop Grumman. Freedom 250 says its mission includes inviting Americans “to pray for our country and our people and rededicate ourselves as One Nation Under God.” Both groups are running events.

How do the two groups differ?

Democrats call Freedom 250 a “Trump vanity” project, saying it promotes a revisionist, overly sanitized version of American history. Freedom 250 materials for a student art contest, for instance, describe Martin Luther King Jr. as having a “can-do” attitude but don’t mention that he fought segregation. But the Trump administration said it had to create its own task force because America250 placed too much emphasis on the darker aspects of American history, like slavery and discrimination. Chris LaCivita, a former Trump campaign manager, even accused the commission of wanting “to apologize” for the past 250 years. Meanwhile, the two sides are now squabbling over funding. America250 was supposed to get $50 million of the celebration money Congress allocated last year. As of June, though, the Interior Department had transferred only half of that.

Why the holdup? 

The administration says America250 has overspent “on frivolous, poorly attended events.” It points to the America’s Field Trip initiative, an essay contest whose winners get trips to historic sites, which is costing an estimated $10.4 million. Yet the White House has also raised eyebrows with its spending. The Interior Department has splashed out $98 million to spruce up Washington, D.C., for the celebrations, gilding horse statues and repainting the Reflecting Pool. The huge triumphal arch that Trump wants to build will cost another $100 million, at least. Plus, there are allegations of corruption: Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) launched a probe into whether the White House was running a “pay-to-play” scheme by giving wealthy Freedom 250 donors access to Trump.

Are Americans excited to turn 250?

Some are. Major concerts, festivals, and parades are expected to draw big crowds in Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Richmond, Va.; and Charleston, S.C. But Gallup found that while 84% of Americans over 65 plan to celebrate, the number drops to 66% for those ages 40 to 64, and just 54% for those 18 to 39. An NBC News poll found the number of respondents who were “extremely” proud to be an American is at a record low of 33%, and 38% told Reuters/ Ipsos they don’t believe the U.S. will be around for its 500th birthday. Some historians blame the apathy on the president. “The carnival atmosphere of cage fights on the White House lawn and a concert that everyone seems to be backing out of tells you all you need to know,” says historian James Robenalt. “There is no serious look at the nation or its complicated history.”

What happened

Far-left candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept Democratic House primary races in the city last week, a sign that the party’s momentum has lurched sharply left. Two of the three Mamdani-backed primary winners are fellow members of the Democratic Socialists of America, a political organization that favors universal health care and higher taxes on the rich and calls Israel an “apartheid regime.” Darializa Avila Chevalier pulled off the evening’s biggest stunner, unseating Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Another DSA member, Claire Valdez, beat a candidate endorsed by retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, while Brad Lander, a Mamdani ally who’s a former DSA member, trounced incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman. Much like Mamdani’s grassroots mayoral campaign last year, the upstarts relied on thousands of DSA volunteers, who knocked on doors and made phone calls to turn out votes. The DSA has also had success outside of New York, with its candidates advancing in mayoral primaries in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles earlier this month. “The Democratic establishment better wake up,” Usamah Andrabi of the progressive group Justice Democrats told Politico. “Because the Left is winning.”

Moderate Democrats fared better outside of New York City. In Utah, former representative Ben McAdams staved off progressive challengers to win his primary in a redrawn district that now favors Democrats. In Maryland, Adrian Boafo earned a chance to succeed his old boss, Rep. Steny Hoyer, a staunch supporter of Israel. Among Republicans, several candidates endorsed by President Trump pulled off upsets: In upstate New York, Anthony Constantino defeated an assemblyman backed by the N.Y. GOP, while in the race for Republican nominee for South Carolina governor, Alan Wilson, the attorney general Trump endorsed at the last minute, won in a landslide

What the columnists said

Mamdani’s “audacious gamble” paid off, said Nicholas Fandos in The New York Times. He’s now “the unquestioned political kingmaker of the nation’s cultural and financial capital,” and the DSA, after years on the margins, is “a formidable force.” But it’s too early to tell if this movement has expanded beyond the bluest parts of the state. After all, New York held primaries for all 26 of its congressional districts, 13 of which are housed, at least in part, in the city. Mamdani got involved in only three.

Those were the races in which criticism of Israel played a major role, said Lisa Kashinsky in Politico. Lander, who is Jewish and a self-described “liberal Zionist,” upbraided his opponent for failing to endorse an arms embargo on Israel “and for refusing to call its war in Gaza a genocide.” Avila Chevalier “relentlessly attacked” Espaillat for taking AIPAC money. And the crowd at several of the victory parties chanted “Free, free Palestine.” Criticizing Israel “is now not only politically survivable” for a Democrat but actually “advantageous.”

It’s not mere criticism—some of these people openly side with the terrorists who murdered Israelis on Oct. 7, said Jeffrey Blehar in National Review. Avila Chevalier, a Muslim convert, is adamant “that Hamas Did Nothing Wrong.” But that’s not the only reason she is set to become “the single craziest member of Congress.” She’s also a “prison abolitionist who authentically believes murderers should not be behind bars.” In her now-deleted social media posts, she calls for abolishing national borders and nationalizing private companies and rages against mainstream Democrats. In one post, she calls former president Joe Biden a “rapist.” In another, she declares, “F--- Kamala Harris.”

In endorsing such extreme leftists, Mamdani is trying to “remake the national Democratic Party,” said Perry Bacon in The New Republic. Mayors “don’t usually interject themselves into congressional races.” Unable to run for president since he wasn’t born a U.S. citizen, this is how he can leave his mark nationally.

The charge he has led against the Democratic Party establishment is “reminiscent of the Tea Party that once shook Republicans,” said David Smith in The Guardian. That grassroots movement remade the Republican Party in the 2010s, turning it into a hotbed of anti-incumbent fury and contempt toward elites. Will the DSA surge do the same? Democratic primary voters clearly want their candidates to “stand for something, rather than nothing, because writing strongly worded letters to Trump is not enough.”

What happened

The U.S. last week removed sanctions on Iranian oil even as peace talks between Washington and Tehran appeared to descend into confusion, with the two sides issuing conflicting accounts of discussions on nuclear inspections and the unfreezing of billions in Iranian funds. An initial round of talks in Switzerland “laid a very good foundation” for a final peace deal, said Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation. But the two sides soon sparred publicly over Iran’s nuclear program, with Vance and President Trump saying Tehran had agreed to U.N. inspections of its damaged nuclear sites while Iranians insisted they hadn’t. “They know they’re wrong,” Trump said. “They told us inside.” The two sides also disagreed over the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium, which the preliminary agreement states will be diluted. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country will “never back down from the right to enrich uranium”; Trump shot back that “he better watch his mouth” or “we’ll take over the rest of the country.”

Citing “productive” talks, the U.S. waived long-standing sanctions on Iranian oil through August and cleared the way for Tehran to be paid in dollars, including by U.S. buyers. Iranian officials said steps had been taken toward the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Vance said if assets were released, Iran would have to spend them on U.S. exports, but Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei insisted Iran can spend any released funds “freely.” There were also sharp divisions over the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds of ships were stranded during the conflict. Iran said it will charge “fees” to ships using the strait in exchange for unspecified services; Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that no country can charge fees for transiting an international waterway.

In Washington, the Senate passed a resolution barring Trump from resuming the Iran war without congressional authorization, with four Republicans joining Democrats in a rare rebuke of the president. The vote came amid broad GOP skepticism about Trump’s ceasefire deal, which has been widely criticized for ceding too much to Iran while achieving none of Trump’s war aims. “The administration acts like they want a deal much more than the ayatollah regime,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). It “looks like weakness.”

What the columnists said

The “sweeping rollback” of U.S. oil sanctions reverses “years of pressure designed to cripple Iran’s economy,” said Anniek Bao in CNBC.com. The 60-day license issued by the Treasury Department will unlock the sale of 67 million barrels of Iranian crude floating in the strait, yielding a “windfall” of up to $9 billion for Tehran. And it reopens “Iran’s most important revenue stream.” Sanctions are unlikely to return after 60 days, said Jonathan V. Last in The Bulwark. “Once Iranian oil is in the international supply line, they have Trump over a barrel,” because he won’t be able to impose curbs on Iranian exports without “pushing oil prices up again.”

This is quite the turnaround for the Trump team, said Andrew Kaczynski and Jennifer Hansler in CNN.com. For years, Trump, Rubio, and Vance assailed deals that provided financial concessions to Iran, saying they would enrich a dangerous foe that “fuels terror.” That was their “central indictment” of former president Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal, which granted Iran sanctions relief and “access to frozen assets.” Now they’re poised to hand the regime piles of dollar bills.

And for what? asked The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Tehran has “made no serious concession on nuclear matters.” Lifting oil sanctions now will “gut” U.S. leverage and send cash flowing to the coffers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran claims some of its frozen assets have already been released, possibly $6 billion that was being held in Qatar. Even if Tehran complies with a U.S. dictate that such cash be spent only on food and medicine, “it frees up other funds for military purposes.”

Meanwhile, the preliminary deal signed by Trump treats our ally Israel as if it were a U.S. “puppet” with “no sovereignty beyond that which America grants it,” said Noah Rothman in National Review. By demanding a ceasefire in southern Lebanon, Iran has compelled America to tacitly take the side of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists who use the region to strike at northern Israel. “And all in the craven pursuit of a ‘peace’ unworthy of the word.”

“Negotiating with Iran has always been an extraordinary challenge,” said David E. Sanger and Yeganeh Torbati in The New York Times, but it’s even more complex under Trump. Instead of letting negotiators quietly work toward a full agreement, he likes to trumpet “his preferred outcomes as fully negotiated side deals,” in a bid to force Iran’s hand. The Iranians have their own “spin strategy”: Deny every claim, even if it contains “an element of truth.” Some “posturing” is par for the course, but at this level it raises the question of whether the sniping “will ultimately sink the whole venture.”

Hanging over the negotiations is “an uncomfortable question,” said Aviva Klompas in USA Today. What exactly has the U.S. accomplished? The hardliners remain in power in Tehran. The fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is unsettled. The Strait of Hormuz, where oil shipping was uncontested before the war, is now a “bargaining chip.” Iran has “suffered enormous losses” to its military and nuclear infrastructure. But if it is financially rewarded and retains its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, it’s fair to ask “whether Tehran has once again accomplished a tactic it has spent decades perfecting: losing the war while winning the negotiation.”

While some people may grow up dreaming of a career in public office, politicians sometimes come from a less conventional source: Hollywood. There’s a long list of film and television actors who have gone on to roles in politics, including President Donald Trump, who expanded his standing in the public eye as the host of “The Apprentice.”

Al Franken

Al Franken took perhaps the most ironic leap in U.S. politics: going from parodying a U.S. senator on television to actually getting elected as one. Franken was widely known for his time on “Saturday Night Live,” during which he often portrayed former Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) during the show’s cold open sketches. But it turns out he wasn’t satisfied with merely pretending to be a politician.

In 2009, Franken became a Democratic senator for Minnesota in a contest that saw “more than 2.9 million Minnesotans cast votes in the state’s U.S. Senate race — one of the most expensive in the country,” said PBS News. After a judicial review, the election ended when Franken “won by 312 votes,” one of the closest Senate races ever. However, Franken’s political career abruptly concluded in 2018 when he resigned after several women said he “groped or tried to forcibly kiss them,” said Politico.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Action star Arnold Schwarzenegger dominated the 1980s in projects like “The Terminator,” “Predator” and “Conan the Barbarian.” But the Austrian-born actor became an “increasingly politically active Republican during the 1990s,” and he “ran for the California governorship and won when Gray Davis was recalled in 2003,” said Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial biography.

Thus, the Terminator became the “Governator,” and despite initial skepticism, proved to be a popular leader of the Golden State. In 2006, despite a “poor year nationally for the GOP, he was re-elected with 56% of the vote” and a “margin of well over 1 million votes,” said Politico. But after this, Schwarzenegger’s popularity waned, and he left office in 2011 “with a record-low 23%” approval rating, only “1% higher than that of Davis when he was recalled.” Schwarzenegger has since taken on an active role in denouncing MAGA and the Trump wing of the GOP.

Clint Eastwood

After getting his start as a major Western star, Clint Eastwood publicly espoused a wide variety of political views, supporting both Democrats and Republicans. “Politics are evidently always simmering with Eastwood,” said The Guardian, though in his later years he became much more associated with the GOP. But even then, his views often remained fluid.

This became even more evident in 1986, when Eastwood was elected the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Though associated with conservative values, during his time as mayor Eastwood was “sympathetic to environmental concerns and less sympathetic to big business,” said The Guardian, bucking traditional GOP tenets. After leaving office, Eastwood remained in the political sphere, most notably the bizarre moment when he “spoke to that empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention,” said The Washington Post.

Jerry Springer

While Jerry Springer made several film and television appearances over the years, it was his eponymous television show that made him a household name, often featuring “controversial subjects like adultery, occasional nudity and even physical violence,” said Biography. But the show was a second career for Springer, who started in the Democratic political arena.

After working as a campaign adviser for Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) in the 1960s, Springer made his way to Ohio and was “elected to Cincinnati City Council in 1971 but unexpectedly resigned in 1974,” said Biography. The hiatus didn’t last long, as Springer was re-elected to the city council in 1975 and “became Cincinnati mayor in 1977.” Though he only served as mayor for one year before his political career largely fizzled out, Springer “considered runs for the U.S. Senate and a second attempt as Ohio governor in 2018.”

Ronald Reagan

When thinking of actors who turned to politics, there is one name everyone probably recalls instantly: While other Hollywood stars have held important positions, former President Ronald Reagan is the only one to have occupied the nation’s highest office. Before moving into the White House, Reagan’s career started on screen in 1937, when a contest “won him a contract with Warner Brothers in Hollywood,” said the White House Historical Association (WHCA).

Over the next 20 years, Reagan “appeared in 53 films, including ‘Kings Row’ and ‘Knute Rockne, All American.’” He later turned to politics with a staunch Republican platform, and in 1966 “defeated incumbent Pat Brown to become governor of California, and was reelected in 1970.” From there, Reagan looked to the national stage, and amid the Democratic Party’s rising unpopularity, he defeated sitting President Jimmy Carter in a landslide during the 1980 election.

Sean Duffy

Several television personalities occupy spaces in President Donald Trump’s White House, most notably Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Before earning his law degree, Duffy “got his TV start in his 20s on ‘The Real World,’ appearing on the Boston edition of the show's sixth season,” said People. This version of the show, as with the other seasons of “The Real World,” followed Duffy and six other strangers who lived together in a converted firehouse in Boston.

After his reality television debut, Duffy “moved into law in his home state of Wisconsin, serving as the district attorney of Ashland County for a decade,” said People. He went on to serve Wisconsin in Congress, “representing the state’s 7th Congressional District, from 2011 to 2019.” After winning the 2024 election, Trump nominated Duffy to lead the Transportation Department. Several controversies have marked his tenure.

Sonny Bono

Sonny Bono remains best known for the singing duo he formed with his wife Cher, which made the pair two of the most iconic celebrities of the 1960s. But Bono was also a longstanding member of the Republican Party and was active in GOP politics throughout his life. His entrance into the political sphere came after he “fell almost completely out of the public eye following the cancellation of ‘The Sonny and Cher Show’ in 1977,” said History.

Soon after the show was axed, though, Bono began to make a new name for himself in politics, and he was elected mayor of Palm Springs, California, in 1988. After serving as mayor for four years, Bono “set his sights on national office,” and in 1994 he was “elected to Congress as a representative from California’s 44th Congressional District,” said Biography. While in Congress, Bono became known for his “wit and his deeply conservative views,” and he remains the only member of Congress to have scored a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

If the weather doesn’t scorch, you want to be outside during the year’s hottest months. You also want to be drinking because you are going to need to both stay hydrated and take the edge off. These eight destinations run the spectrum from full-bore bars to semi-restaurants that also do drinking very well. Fun in the sun — or better still, shade — is how to hit the bars this time of year.

Bacchanal Wine, New Orleans

Bacchanal is New Orleans’ worst-kept secret: a top-tier, low-key destination with an enormous patio, far from the scrum of the French Quarter. At its core, “it’s just a really, really cool wine shop, with a great number of bottles prechilled,” said Imbibe magazine. That is merely the opening salvo. You could leave with your bottle, or you could head to the building’s back and share your bottle with a bunch of current — or new — friends while you nod along to the live jazz band.

Bowstring Brewery, Raleigh

If your idea of the ideal outdoor drinking spot involves 10,000 square feet, throngs of people and constant live music, Bowstring Brewery is where to be. There are more than 10 beers available by draft and endless others available in a can. The food menu is designed for people-pleasing, with pizza, wings and cheesesteaks. Sometimes, you want to hide in a bar. Other times, you want to be among loads of other drinkers. Bowstring is all about the latter.

Club Tee Gee, Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a wonderland of outdoor drinking spaces. But good luck finding one that sports the right vibe — cool but not trying too hard. Club Tee Gee nails it. The 75-year-old bar reopened in 2018 after a renovation and now has a “banging roster” of dance parties, karaoke nights and regular live music, said The Infatuation.

Jet Wine Bar, Philadelphia

Sparkling Spanish whites, earthy Georgian oranges, bright Chilean reds — Jet Wine Bar wanders wide for its exciting by-the-glass wine list. Out back on the patio is where you want to be while getting to know your wine. Once a month, there is a wine tasting group, and its leader, Jill Weber, comes at wine from an uncommon angle, taking attendees on “wild side quests through unexpected histories” about the day’s wine-growing regions, said Philadelphia magazine.

Metro, Indianapolis

This “laid-back” bar is the “gathering place for much of Indy’s LGBTQ+ community,” said Do317 of this bi-level institution. Mondays have $5 martinis, mules and margaritas, Fridays and Saturdays are for boogying upstairs and the patio at Metro is an any-day spot for a leisurely drink or three.

Paymaster Lounge, Portland, Oregon

A good dive bar rarely lends itself to outdoor seating. Too much sun and space can burn the allure away. Paymaster Lounge sizes its patio right, with plastic siding functioning as roof material and well-worn communal tables optimal for staying put. Two bonuses: an outdoor pool table, if that is how you want to pass your time, and a drink menu far better than it needs to be.

Strega, Nashville

“Casual but not sloppy,” said Nashville Scene about the admirable vibe of this new Italian-centric bar. On the ample patio are darts, a pool table and a shuffleboard, along with plenty of tables under umbrellas. The drinks at Strega, like the Cucumber Lemon G&T and Italian Margarita, are smart and accessible. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. during the week, pizza slices are a mere $1. Come thirsty, come hungry.

Supergeil, Detroit

In some ways, Supergeil, with its dishes that speak to the culinary connections between eastern Europe and northern Africa, can indeed be experienced as a restaurant. But the inspired cocktails, many of which are made with spirits from the local distiller Two James Spirits, demand that attention must be paid. Do so on the patio, and order a doner or lamb meatballs to help you keep drinking.

Strong showings from the Democrats’ left flank in recent elections have spooked some in the party’s leadership. Criticism of Israel, once deemed outside the bounds of mainstream political discourse, has become an increasingly common feature of progressive campaigns. Victories in New York City by candidates who “ran hard against the war in Gaza” are now “turbocharging” Democrats’ “yearslong shift away from Israel,” said Politico. While progressives begin flexing their newfound electoral muscles, party centrists are feeling anxious. These growing pains for the party, combined with an appetite for sharper Israel criticism, could reflect a national electoral risk in November.

What did the commentators say?

Progressive primary victories by strident Israel critics in New York “paint a picture of a Democratic Party rapidly shifting” on an issue once considered a ”bipartisan prerequisite for success in the Big Apple and beyond,” said Politico. The victories of candidates like self-described “liberal Zionist” Brad Lander over the more conservative Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman demonstrated that “harsh criticism” of Israel is “not only politically survivable” but can even be “advantageous in New York City’s dominant party.”

Primary wins in the “deep-blue districts of Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier” signaled a “new era of skepticism” among some Democrats “toward the Jewish state and its actions,” said The New York Times. Do those wins “mark the end for Democratic politicians who hold traditional pro-Israel views?” asked Forward. Or do they “represent something more narrow” and specific to New York?

Democrats’ shifting relationship with Israel “looms in Michigan,” where the party will defend outgoing Sen. Gary Peters’ seat, and “may continue” to be felt in Colorado, where challenger Melat Kiros has accused Rep. Diana DeGette of “being too supportive of Israel,” said The Guardian. The ongoing focus on Israel has become a “bigger issue” that Democrats need to “deal with more comprehensively than, like, ‘If I don’t talk about it, it doesn’t happen,’” said Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) to The Hill. The debate has become a “corporate issue with all these PACs pouring in a lot of money,” which is “giving people a really bad taste in their mouth.”

In previous elections, Democrats’ Israel-focused policies have been “confined largely to niche foreign policy considerations for most voters,” said Haaretz. This year, voters are “considering Israel at the ballot box more than ever before.” Establishment Democratic leaders “still very much believe that being a Zionist and a Democrat are not mutually exclusive.” But it’s become “abundantly clear” that aspirants “within the party structure” are “participating in a real-time vibe shift” that prioritizes a “willingness to hold Israel to account” over “pro-Israel bona fides.”

“More and more Democrats” are “making it clear” they want to end “U.S. taxpayer support to the government of Israel,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to the Times. Next session, Congress should eschew “reflexive unconditional support to the government of Israel.”

What next?

Incumbent losses in New York’s recent primaries show that the debate over Democrats’ relationship with Israel has “already left a lasting mark on the midterms,” said the Times. No matter what “other issues were at play in the individual races,” said JTA, the success of candidates with an “outsized focus” on criticizing Israel “sends the message that their approach is a winning strategy.” Republicans, meanwhile, “believe that Democrats reap what they sow” ahead of the midterms, said Fox Business. Conservatives “plan to use this” in November, as Democrats contend with a trend that works in “urban areas, but not swing districts.”

Leftist critics of Israel are having a moment,” said former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) to Politico. “That doesn’t mean they represent a majority of congressional Democrats in the country.” Pro-Israel Democrats must develop a “better strategy before a handful of primaries approach a tipping point.”

The effects will likely be felt beyond November. Every Democratic presidential candidate “will be required to declare himself or herself on the matter of the United States’ stance toward Israel,” said Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Bill Galston to The Guardian. “The question was largely evaded in 2024. That strategy is no longer possible.”

‘The case against fireworks’

Char Miller at Time

“This year’s Fourth of July fireworks promise to be especially explosive,” but they have “negative consequences for our environment and our health,” says Char Miller. Climate change is “making landscapes more vulnerable to fire,” and fireworks also “pose other life-threatening challenges.” They “can degrade air quality for hours or even days.” For “people with asthma, cardiovascular disease, or other respiratory conditions, the toxic air presents genuine health risks.” Drone displays “are an innovative alternative with far fewer risks.”

Read more

‘Assailed by right and left, the Peace Corps continues to make an apolitical difference’

Jonathan Zimmerman at The Philadelphia Inquirer

Republicans have “proposed to eliminate funding for the Peace Corps,” but the organization “has also been the target of left-wing attacks,” says Jonathan Zimmerman. Neither side “believes that Americans can be a force for good in the world,” and that is “why the Peace Corps matters.” It is “based on the simple proposition that bringing different people together can help them thrive. And it’s a standing rebuke to cynics on the right and the left.”

Read more

‘Why the Arab League could not stop Israel’s genocide’

Rami G. Khouri at Al Jazeera

“Arabs are perplexed by why their governments and the Arab League have been so docile in the face of the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” says Rami G. Khouri. But Arab states “have never been able to harness their natural, human and geographic resources to become powerful, confident states that are not constantly manipulated.” They “rely heavily on non-Arab powers for financial, military, technological and other assistance that is vital for their survival; this deep dependence has diluted their sovereignty.”

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‘The obesity curve finally bent. Now comes the hard part.’

Ashish K. Jha at The Boston Globe

GLP-1s “appear to have done what no public health effort could” for obesity, but “having a treatment is not the same as getting it to the people who need it,” says Ashish K. Jha. Obesity drugs “should be covered by health insurance.” Coverage “should be broad and clinically grounded. It currently is not.” Insurance companies can “build in lower-cost maintenance once a patient stabilizes, so the choice is not a $1,000 injection forever or watching the weight return.”

Read more

What happened

A federal judge in Manhattan Monday sentenced self-exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui to 30 years in prison for financial fraud. Guo was convicted in 2024 after transforming himself from wealthy Beijing insider to U.S.-based anti-Communist crusader with prominent conservative allies and a luxury lifestyle.

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said he had “preyed on people seeking to bring democracy to China,” causing more than 1,000 supporters “substantial financial and emotional harm.”

Who said what

“The reason I came to the U.S. is to destroy” the Chinese Communist Party, Guo said in court Monday. “Guo did not lead a movement; he led a criminal enterprise,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finkel countered.

Guo fled China in 2015 amid an anti-corruption crackdown. “By 2017, he was a member of Mar-a-Lago” and quickly “built political and business connections with some powerful people” in President Donald Trump’s orbit, notably Steve Bannon, The New York Times said. Bannon was arrested aboard Guo’s yacht in 2020 for allegedly defrauding investors, though “Trump eventually pardoned him.” Bannon “has repeatedly called for Guo’s freedom,” The Wall Street Journal said.

What next?

Trump faces “calls from Guo’s supporters to pardon him” but also “Beijing’s long-running demand to hand him over,” the Journal said. Despite “Guo’s political alliances, a presidential pardon appears unlikely,” the Times said.

What happened

Venezuela Monday raised the death toll from last week’s powerful earthquakes to 1,719 people, with another 5,034 injured and 15,866 displaced. The numbers are expected to keep rising.

Among the missing are more than 100 Venezuelans who arrived in La Guaira on a U.S. deportation flight hours before the back-to-back quakes struck, The Associated Press said. The government-run hotel where they were brought for medical screenings and ID cards collapsed.

Who said what

The 146 Venezuelans on the deportation flight from Miami included 19 women and seven children, according to Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor. Venezuela’s repatriation agency showed one family a list of 32 survivors from the flight, but most are believed to have died, Reuters said. Relatives “have questioned why deportees were taken there and why their phones and documents were withheld, complicating efforts to find and identify them.”

What next?

The search for survivors “was growing increasingly desperate” Monday, five days after the quakes, The New York Times said. “Frustration is growing” with Venezuela’s “U.S.-backed government” and what critics call its “slow and inept” response, NPR said. Venezuela’s “thousands of police and army troops” have been “slow to arrive” and hindered rescue efforts by “demanding government permits from doctors and rescue workers.”

What happened

A pair of landmark Supreme Court decisions Monday gave presidents broad authority to fire the heads of previously independent federal agencies while appearing to carve out an exception for the Federal Reserve. Both rulings were written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

In the “more significant decision,” CNN said, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority allowed President Donald Trump to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Kelly Slaughter at will “despite a federal law that requires presidents to show cause — such as malfeasance.” In the other, a 5-4 court said Trump can’t fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, for now.

Who said what

Monday’s rulings “took a sledgehammer to much of the federal government’s regulatory structure,” Nina Totenberg said at NPR, with the court’s conservatives “striking down almost all the limits that Congress — and the courts — had previously established to protect the independence” of regulatory agencies. Slaughter said the decision allowed Trump to “fire watchdogs who won’t put politics over principle” and “replace them with lap dogs.”

Cook celebrated her narrow victory as a win for the “American people, whose economic well-being depends on a central bank that answers to its mission, not political intimidation.” But the ruling gave Trump “an opening to keep fighting,” and he signaled he would, The New York Times said. The decision was “procedural,” Trump said, and he would “take appropriate action immediately.”

What next?

The court’s massive “expansion of presidential power” could “open the door to allowing presidents to fire at will not just agency leaders, but potentially lower-level government experts who have been protected by the Civil Service Reform Act since 1883,” Totenberg said.

In his first speech as prime minister in waiting, Andy Burnham promised he would achieve “good growth in every postcode” and spearhead the “biggest rebalancing of power” in political history.

Keir Starmer announced his own “devolution revolution” in 2024, but Burnham aims to move even more influence away from Westminster towards other regions of the UK to drive more balanced economic growth.

His speech at the People’s ­History Museum in Manchester was “­important in shedding light on a Burnham Britain”, said The Times. As he was championing a “devolution first” attitude, the support of his audience was “not in doubt”. But the “viability of his proposals was”.

How is the UK already devolved?

Manchester has benefited from some of the “most extensive” powers devolved to English cities, said the BBC. It has significant control over local transport, housing and strategic planning decisions.

Northern Ireland and the Welsh Senedd have similar autonomy over health, education and housing policies among others, with the latter also managing local government. In Scotland, Holyrood controls health, education, local government, environment, justice and policing. It can set most income tax rates and has some control over welfare policy, too.

What has Burnham proposed?

Burnham said he would create a “No 10. North”, a new prime minister’s office based in Manchester and acting as the “nerve centre of a rewired Britain”. It would support regional powers in delivering a nationwide agenda of reindustrialisation, regeneration and reform of essential services.

Local authorities would be offered greater control over key utilities such as water, energy and transport. Burnham’s advisers have also “floated ideas” about allowing local authorities to introduce local income tax, and to set and retain business rates to mirror policies in Denmark, Sweden and Canada, said Matthew Brooker on Bloomberg.

The dispersal of power has already begun. The MP for Makerfield has appointed Caroline Simpson as his deputy chief of staff to lead No. 10 North should he become prime minister, said The Guardian. Previously described as Burnham’s “right-hand woman”, the career civil servant has overseen Greater Manchester’s £3 billion-a-year budget since 2024.

What is the aim?

The UK is one of the most centralised economies among developed countries, said Brooker. In 2023, the share of UK tax revenue generated at a subnational level – essentially by regions below the central government – was less than 5%, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This is compared with 14% for France, 24% for Spain and nearly a third for Germany. “Regions tend to do better when they raise more of their own revenue.”

If Burnham’s devolution policies prove successful, the “big prize” would be a rise in nationwide GDP, said Bloomberg. If the rest of the UK came even halfway to matching London’s productivity levels, the economy would be “at least 4% larger”, according to PwC analysis from 2019.

There has been no indication how Burnham will split his time between London and Manchester, but the decision felt “more significant than the relocation of staff”, said the BBC’s chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman. With a tailored agenda, it could signify a “wider shake-up of the machinery of government is in the offing”.

“Rethinking and reshaping No. 10 is long overdue,” said the Institute for Government. But Burnham’s plans for No. 10 North will only succeed if “he knows – and spells out in public – what a split operation is for”.

Vladimir Putin took the rare step of acknowledging fuel shortages in Crimea, following Ukrainian bombardments targeting the Russia-annexed peninsula. As Ukraine’s drones and missiles struck roads, railways and bridges, Putin admitted that there was only “a few days’ supply” left in Crimea, though he insisted that he was “confident” more fuel would be brought in soon.

The offensive has “upended life in Crimea and undercut its image as a showcase of Putin’s imperial ambitions” in Ukraine, said The Wall Street Journal. Although he “poured money into the peninsula”, locals say “basic services” like kindergartens, trash collection and ATMs have “stopped functioning”.

What did the commentators say?

Ukraine’s offensive coincides with the approach of September’s Russian parliamentary elections, forcing the Kremlin to “maintain a strict sense of composure”, said The Wall Street Journal. Putin wants to prevent political tensions “from rising” over the situation in Crimea, framing Ukrainian strikes to his electorate as part of an information campaign to break Russia’s morale.

“The unspoken assumption within the Ukrainian government is that it will have to accept Russia’s de facto control of Crimea as part of the price of peace,” said The Times. But the “outcome” may be “rather less predictable” than Volodymyr Zelenskyy “seems to think”.

Some “pragmatists” in Moscow feel that the war has “reached a point of diminishing returns” for the Kremlin, who should now “freeze the conflict” along current lines and “declare victory”. However, the “maximalist camp” calls for “escalation”, with the “mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists”, the “deployment of conscripts” and “more aggressive covert operations” against the factories in Europe that are supplying Kyiv’s weapons.

It “may be a mistake” to conclude that these problems will “force the Kremlin to yield”, said Matthew Chance, CNN’s chief global affairs correspondent. Putin has “built a relatively brittle image as an uncompromising leader”, which makes “capitulation, retreat or even compromise in Ukraine incredibly unlikely and difficult for him to pull off”.

What next?

“Despite his macho public persona”, Putin is “generally quite risk averse”, but when he’s “panicked, he tends to make decisions hastily and badly”, said The Times.

In a worst-case scenario, “egged on” by hard-liners, a pressured Putin “does something particularly stupid, such as escalating attacks on Kyiv or even using tactical nuclear weapons”, said The Telegraph in a leader. The Russian foreign ministry has already alluded to the possibility of unspecified “systematic strikes”. When Nato leaders meet in Ankara next month, they “need to be ready for a potential showdown with Moscow”.

“It would take a lifetime to explore all of Scotland’s kelp-fringed islands,” said Mike MacEacheran in The Times. Stretching all the way from the “west-coast Hebridean chains” to the “northerly Orkney and Shetland archipelagos”, there are around 800 of these “mystical destinations” – although just under 100 are inhabited.

Whether you’re looking for a place to immerse yourself in nature or the setting for your next foodie break, these are some of Scotland’s best islands.

Jura, Inner Hebrides

Deer outnumber residents by almost 30 to one on this “sardine-shaped” island, said MacEacheran in The Times. On the western side, three mountains – the Paps of Jura – “rise up from stretches of blanket bog interspersed by lochans (small lochs)”. There are plenty of hiking trails to explore; be sure to walk to the north side of the island where you’ll find the “lonely” whitewashed house where George Orwell wrote “1984”.

Islay, Inner Hebrides

Just a short ferry ride from Jura lies Islay. Known for its distinctive, peaty whiskies, the island is home to a “whopping” 14 distilleries, said Robin McKelvie in The Telegraph. With its “floor-to-ceiling windows sweeping out to water”, Ardnahoe is the “stuff of ‘Grand Designs’”: stop by for a delicious lunch with whisky pairings. Book a room at the Port Charlotte Hotel which “feels like living in a postcard”.

Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides

If you’re looking for “blissful isolation” and stunning scenery, make a pilgrimage to the Isle of Harris, said Ted Thornhill in The Independent. Luskentyre is one of the best beaches in the world: an “outrageous sweep of golden sand” that’s “almost totally deserted”. While the west coast is filled with beautiful sandy stretches that wouldn’t look out of place in the Maldives, the east coast is a “lunar-like landscape pockmarked with tiny lochs”.

Orkney mainland

Located on the Mainland, the largest island, Heart of Neolithic Orkney is a network of 5,000-year-old monuments that “blows Stonehenge out of the prehistoric water”, said McKelvie in The Telegraph. It’s worth travelling to Orkney to visit this Unesco World Heritage Site alone. But there are more “showstopping” landmarks to explore, such as Maeshowe where you can take a guided tour “down the long dark tunnel into the ancient burial cairn illuminated with Viking graffiti”.

Unst, Shetland

Britain’s most northerly inhabited island is a wonderful spot for birdwatchers. It’s home to the Hermaness Circular: a dramatic clifftop nature reserve where you can spot “puffins, guillemots and dive-bombing skuas”, said Kerry Walker in National Geographic. The “drama peaks at the island’s northern tip”, where you’re met with sweeping views of “rocky islets like Muckle Flugga – home to a 19th-century lighthouse built by the father of ‘Treasure Island’ author Robert Louis Stevenson”.

Addison, Vt.

Blue Heron Point, a shingled gambrel-roofed home on a headland with more than 1,200 feet of Lake Champlain shoreline, was built in 2001. The four-bedroom’s vaulted great room features northern hemlock timber and a floor-to-ceiling fieldstone fireplace; a lower level includes a gym, wine fridges, and another fireplace.

The 14-plus-acre property has a pool, trails, gardens, lawns, a pond, a barn apartment, and a lakeside lounge area. $5,500,000. Wade Weathers, LandVest/Christies International Real Estate, (802) 238-6362

Norfolk, Conn.

Located on 118 wooded acres, Katsura Lodge has about a mile of frontage on Winchester Lake. Built in 2004, the five-bedroom contemporary features a great room with vaulted wood ceilings, heart pine floors, a fireplace made from the property’s stones, a bay-window seating nook, and a high-end, wood-clad kitchen.

The lot includes a pool, tennis court, and boathouse. New York City is under three hours away. $7,250,000. Lenore Mallett, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, (203) 209-1777

Six Mile, S.C.

This 2023 four-bedroom contemporary lodge in a gated community is steps away from Lake Keowee. The open-plan main room has exposed wood trusses, a stone fireplace, and a gourmet kitchen with aqua-hued cabinets and an eat-in island.

Outside on the almost 1-acre lot are a deck, a covered patio, and a dock. Clemson is about 15 miles away, and amenities nearby include a pool, gym, and dining. $5,999,000. Justin Winter, Justin Winter & Associates/Forbes Global Properties, (864) 506-6387

Grand Beach, Mich.

On the southern shores of Lake Michigan, this modern 2010 home’s glass walls offer full water views. The open-plan four-bedroom includes ceramic tile floors, a glass-sided staircase, a chef’s kitchen with granite counters, a fitness room, a balcony, and an elevator.

The nearly 1-acre lot on a private road has a pool and stairs leading down to the beach. New Buffalo’s casino, nature preserve, and dining are a short drive. $4,450,000. Liz Roch, @properties/Christie’s International Real Estate, (312) 636-8751

Sammamish, Wash.

In a Seattle suburb, this 1942 four-bedroom shingled lake home is on a stretch of private Beaver Lake shoreline. The living room has hardwood floors and beamed ceilings; the kitchen includes a peninsula and a sitting area that opens to a balcony; and the primary suite features a bath with heated floors.

Outside are evergreens, a hot tub, a wraparound deck, and a patio by the water. $3,390,000. Mei-an Yuen and Colin Dalrymple, Windermere Real Estate/Luxury Portfolio International, (425) 546-7399

Vernon, N.J.

Evergreen Cove, a 1960 ranch about 50 miles from Midtown Manhattan, is on East Highland Lake in northern New Jersey. The waterfront three-bedroom has hardwood floors, tongue-and-groove wood walls, exposed beams, a fireplace with a wood nook, French doors to a primary bedroom, and a country kitchen with a farmhouse sink and laundry.

A lake path leads to a private dock and firepit. $555,000. Robin Dora, Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby’s International Realty, (973) 570-6633

‘Maddie’s Secret’

Directed by John Early (Not rated)

★★★★

“The secret of Maddie’s Secret—or maybe it’s the central joke—is that the movie’s creator and star takes the whole thing seriously,” said Peter Debruge in Variety. In this “tricky, one-of-a-kind stunt,” comedian John Early sends up disease-of-the-week TV movies of the 1980s and ’90s while cross-dressing to play the title character, a woman with an eating disorder that’s reactivated by sudden fame. But the Search Party star “treads lightly here,” spoofing a movie genre while taking Maddie’s bulimia utterly seriously. The blend of high camp and deep sincerity works only because Early, while playing Maddie, “wins the audience over so thoroughly,” said Monica Castillo in The A.V. Club. Maddie is thrust into food-world stardom after her husband shoots a video clip that goes viral, but the pressure causes her to unravel. Some scenes in the movie are light and silly, including those pairing Maddie with a lesbian friend, played by Kate Berlant, who clearly loves her. Other sequences “take a deeply serious turn,” even landing Maddie in a hospital.

By then, “Maddie’s Secret has, without any fundamental shift in tone, begun to feel ultra-real,” said Sam Bodrojan in IndieWire. “The film’s climax, which has Maddie confronting her mother about her childhood, is a genuine showstopper, one that can only really work with the trust Early and company have built up with the audience over the preceding hour and a half.” The result is “a film of real kindness” that’s also “one of the boldest American movies I have seen in years.”

‘Rose of Nevada’

Directed by Mark Jenkin (Not rated)

★★★

“In the hands of a conventional filmmaker, this would be a conventional scary movie,” said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. Two strangers in need of money take work on a potentially cursed fishing trawler and discover when they return from two days at sea that it’s 30 years earlier in their village and that the lives they’d known no longer exist. But instead of using that premise to chase scares, British director Mark Jenkin “makes of it something more elusive and complex,” a movie that “feels like a remembered dream” and conjures “the claustrophobia of family and community.”

Co-star Callum Turner brings “an absorbing swagger” to the role of a drifter who suddenly finds himself with a wife and child in his new reality, said Josh Parham in Next Best Picture. George MacKay “makes a much more lasting impression,” though, because he plays a father and husband who loses his family when time mysteriously spins back to 1993. But even though Turner’s Liam and MacKay’s Nick find themselves mistaken for two men lost when the Rose of Nevada vanished in ’93, the story that then unfolds feels more conventional than the filmmaking. Because Jenkin films on grainy 16mm and overdubs his actors’ dialogue, said Tim Grierson in the Los Angeles Times, his movies have a disorienting effect. Fortunately, “everything that the casual moviegoer would consider ‘wrong’ about Jenkin’s approach is what makes his films so transcendently jarring.”

Xenophobia has enveloped South Africa for years, and now a rising tide of anti-migrant views is flooding the country. Amid growing protests, a slew of anti-immigration groups have called for all undocumented migrants to leave South Africa by the end of June. Though there’s no stated plan for what happens after this date, many in the country are concerned.

‘All of them are now under threat’

South Africa is a melting pot of culture, with “Zimbabweans trained as doctors but driving Ubers, Ethiopians running bustling restaurants and Congolese selling colorful wax print fabrics,” said NPR. “All of them are now under threat” as a result of continued pressure from anti-migrant groups. For several months, “anti-immigrant protesters, many brandishing sticks, have been marching through the streets.” Many of them chant “Mabahambe,” a Zulu phrase meaning “they must go.”

The protests have also “sparked attacks against foreigners” throughout South Africa, said The Associated Press. As the violence and attacks continue, several of the most notable anti-immigration groups have “set what they are calling a June 30 deadline for people in the country illegally to leave and the government to take action” against undocumented migrants. The largest of these groups, March for March, is led by a former radio host from the city of Durban.

The June 30 deadline appears to be an arbitrary date, and most of the anti-immigration organizers have “not specified what will happen when it passes,” said NPR. Some of the groups have said they will go on a “national shutdown,” but what this would entail is unclear. As the deadline arrives, some nations have “begun repatriating citizens while criticizing South Africa for what they call a climate of xenophobia,” said the AP.

‘South Africa has long attracted migrants’

The flash point of xenophobia is largely because of the country’s large number of immigrants. As “one of Africa’s richer countries, South Africa has long attracted migrants from elsewhere in Africa seeking a better life,” said the AP. But they still remain a small portion of the total country: South Africa’s most recent census figures from 2022 show there were “2.4 million foreign nationals who had immigrated out of South Africa’s population of 62 million — less than 4% of the population.”

The protestors’ main complaint is that South Africa is “overrun with illegal immigrants who take jobs away from South Africans, ‌use up scarce public services and are responsible for high crime rates,” said Reuters. However, data disputes these claims. For one, every migrant job creates approximately two jobs for native South Africans, according to a 2018 World Bank report. Undocumented migrants are also “highly unlikely to try to use public hospitals or schools, for which they must register, for fear of being found out,” Anthony Kaziboni, a senior researcher at ​the University of Johannesburg’s Center for Social Development in Africa, told Reuters.

Nonetheless, the “current protests are already causing socioeconomic damage,” said Deutsche Welle. And some fear more violence is coming. “They asked me, ‘When are you going to leave the country?’” Kaunga Nyirenda, a Malawian gardener in Johannesburg, said to CNN of the threats he received. “‘If you don’t leave now, you are going to leave in a coffin, because we don’t need anyone after 30th of June.’”

You usually have to wait until you reach age 59 ½ before you can dip into your retirement funds penalty-free. Otherwise, you end up forfeiting 10% of the amount you withdraw from your 401(k) or similar tax-deferred retirement plan. But what if you want to retire sooner than that and need access to your money?

If you are at least 55 years old, you may be in luck, thanks to what is known as the Rule of 55. This IRS provision has saved one retiree “about $24,000 in tax penalties,” and another says they “wouldn’t have been able to retire from teaching early” without it, said The Wall Street Journal. And yet, it remains a “tax break few people know about, and even fewer use.”

What is the Rule of 55?

The Rule of 55 is an “IRS provision that allows you to withdraw money from your 401(k) or other qualified retirement plan without the 10% early withdrawal penalty if you leave your job in or after the year you turn 55,” said Kiplinger. Typically, you pay this penalty on top of the other taxes you owe on withdrawals from tax-deferred retirement accounts, like 401(k) and 401(3)b plans. But if you meet the eligibility requirements, the Rule of 55 lets you skip that early withdrawal penalty, though you will still owe taxes on the amount withdrawn. Note that the rule only applies to employer-sponsored retirement plans; it does not apply to IRAs.

Who is eligible for the Rule of 55?

Generally, “to qualify, you must leave your job — either voluntarily or involuntarily — in or after the year you turn 55,” said Kiplinger. This timeline gets moved up a bit for “public safety employees, such as police officers, firefighters, EMTs and air traffic controllers,” for whom the rule “applies in the calendar year in which they turn 50,” said Charles Schwab.

Further, you can only withdraw funds penalty-free “from the plan specific to your most recent employer,” meaning the account you were contributing to when you stopped working, said Charles Schwab. The money also needs to stay in that plan for you to continue to access it without penalty, at least until you turn 59 ½. You cannot roll over the funds to an IRA or other retirement account and still make penalty-free withdrawals.

When does it make sense to use the rule for early withdrawals?

The Rule of 55 can make a major difference “if you’ve decided to retire during or after the year in which you attain age 55 and need immediate financial support,” said Fidelity. But it is not necessarily a magic bullet for an early retirement. “Remember, if you’re withdrawing money from your retirement savings, they can no longer benefit from potential compounding returns,” said Charles Schwab.

Generally, the approach tends to make sense either as a bridge to cover short-term needs in the interim, such as in the case of an unexpected late-career layoff, or if you have an ample balance in your 401(k). “If you’ve managed to save well in your current 401(k), you may be able to retire early with enough income to take some withdrawals now and support yourself in your future retirement years,” said Fidelity.

The United States mostly abandoned the construction of new nuclear power plants after 1990, but that is about to change. The Trump administration is attempting to jump-start a new atomic age with a program to build 10 new power plants by the mid-2030s. And federal officials say that dozens more facilities could come online after that.

What did the commentators say?

“This is the start,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said to reporters, per The Associated Press. The administration is providing $17.5 billion to “speed the development” of the new reactors in a bid to meet growing electricity demand from “massive data centers,” said the AP. President Donald Trump has made a goal of “quadrupling domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years.” But critics say the plants are “too expensive and riskier” than solar, wind and “other low-carbon energy sources.”

“Trump’s big nuclear play is here,” said Robinson Meyer at Heatmap. That is no surprise. Support for nuclear power has become “surprisingly bipartisan, at least at the elite level,” with figures as disparate as Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) seeking to speed the development of new reactors. They are taking cues from countries like France and Sweden that have expanded their low-carbon power supplies by “undertaking large, state-led nuclear energy buildouts.” This should have benefits for the warming climate, but highlighting that benefit carries the “risk of discouraging the Trump administration.”

Nuclear power “should generate the cheapest electricity available,” said Alex Trembath at The Dispatch. Instead, the process of building new plants became “increasingly expensive over the decades” thanks to “overregulation, environmentalist opposition, and industrial mismanagement.” But the 57 plants that are online produce 20% of the nation’s power supply. Now it should be “time to build.”

The United States “used to be the world’s leader in nuclear power,” said The Washington Examiner editorial board. That ended because of “regulatory paralysis,” where “endless process had become an enemy of progress.” The Trump administration has now ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to “speed up licensing” and created a Reactor Pilot Program that makes it easier for companies to “build, operate, and test reactors” under supervision from the Department of Energy. That has not yet resulted in a completed nuclear plant, but the “restoration of ambition” under Trump could “bring the nuclear renaissance America has needed for half a century.”

What next?

Hopes for a nuclear revival have been “longer on aspiration than action,” but the new loan program “could move the needle,” said Axios. Developing so many plants at once should “create more efficient, scaled, standardized and cheaper supply chains” that will enable the subsequent production of additional plants.

Even as the number of plants expands, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that oversees the industry is preparing to make “huge cuts” to hours devoted to safety and emergency inspections, said CNN. The changes “must be approved by five NRC commissioners to be finalized.”

It is not just that you want to avoid adding additional heat to your home during summer. Skipping the oven and the stove for meals during the dog days also ensures a mere modicum of effort. Because the last thing anyone wants to do during summer is spend unnecessary time feeding themselves.

Bean Salad Marbella

The best bean salads are adventures in contrast. This legume-centric take on chicken Marbella combines prunes, capers and almonds with a plucky vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, maple syrup and Dijon mustard. In the interest of ease, choose whichever canned beans suit your fancy. (Get your recipe)

Everything Bagel Cottage-Cheese Dip

Cottage cheese: very much not just for breakfast! Acquaint your crackers and crudités with the pleasurable versatility of this savory dip. Bring out the premade everything bagel seasoning dip, or make your own. Stir it into cottage cheese, along with capers and scallions. Make the dip a day ahead or so, if you like. (Get the recipe)

Greens-and-Beans Sandwiches

Mashed beans are mixed with a sesame-scallion sauce then stacked with fennel, planks of feta and chile-spiked cucumbers on rye bread. Zip, crunch, salt, lushness — satisfaction in no time. (Get the recipe)

Raw Thai Citrus Crunch Salad

The dressing does the heavy lifting in this vibrant tangle of zucchini, carrots, cabbage and red bell pepper. You whir together soaked cashews, dates, lime juice, chile, ginger and garlic, then toss it with the uncooked vegetables. The result is both light and rich, precisely how you want to be satisfied when the scorching weather heckles. (Get the recipe)

Strawberry Malt Icebox Cake

Seven ingredients and many hours in the fridge are all this no-bake recipe requires. The cake anchor is dozens of vanilla wafer cookies layered with whipped cream laced with malted milk powder and strawberry slices. No muss, no fuss, all summertime deliciousness. (Get the recipe)

Sugared Melon with Cardamom and Mint

A sublime melon needs nothing further than a fork and your mouth. Then you go and toss it with turbinado sugar, salt, and smashed cardamom, let it sit for an hour or so and realize: Oh, now that is a whole other kind of delicious. (Get the recipe)

Tomato Tonnato

No, not toh-may-toh, toh-mah-toh. Toh-may-toh, toh-nah-to. Tonnato being the absurdly delicious — and absurdly simple — sauce of tuna, mayonnaise, capers and anchovies. Tradition dictates, in its birthplace of the Piedmont region of Italy, that tonnato is served with thin pieces of veal. Here, the lush puree is mounded on a plate, then topped with sliced ripe tomatoes, black sesame seeds, basil and flaky salt. (Get the recipe)

Wedge Salad with Tahini Green Goddess Dressing

The “green” comes from a glut of basil, cilantro, dill and parsley. The dressing’s base is mayonnaise and sour cream, along with the traditional addition of tinned anchovies and the untraditional — and inspired — inclusion of tahini. The wedge salad never saw the tahini coming and will never want to bid it goodbye. (Get the recipe)

Kalshi and Polymarket currently dominate the prediction market industry, but one of the wealthiest men on Earth wants to change the status quo. Meta is developing an experimental prediction app at the direction of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. While Kalshi and Polymarket are both billion-dollar brands, the already controversial prediction market could be turned on its head if the man controlling Facebook and Instagram gets his way.

What is Meta working on?

Zuckerberg has ordered a small team at Meta to “create a smartphone app similar to Polymarket and Kalshi,” according to The New York Times. The app is being referred to within Meta as Arena and “would function independently from Meta’s social networking apps, which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.” Meta hopes to “grow the app by leveraging its large social networking audiences and directing them toward using it.”

As with the other major prediction apps, users will be allowed to “guess the outcome of real-world events,” said NPR. But at least for the time being, Arena would have one big difference from most prediction platforms: Unlike Kalshi and Polymarket, users on Meta’s app “would not wager money, and the app would probably rely on a video-game-like points system instead,” said the Times. However, Meta has “not ruled out the eventual use of real money betting.”

There will also reportedly be an AI aspect to Meta’s app, as it will use “Llama, the company’s large language model, to automatically generate questions from trending topics,” said NPR. Arena is not the first time Meta has tried to get into the prediction marketplace; in 2020, the company “released an app called Forecast, a crowdsourced prediction market app where people could guess about what might happen in the world, including predictions about the course of the pandemic.” The app did not take off and was shut down in 2022.

What does this mean for prediction markets?

Zuckerberg’s bet comes at a time when the industry is booming. Prediction markets “surged in popularity during the 2024 U.S. presidential election and have evolved ​into an asset class that lets investors wager on a variety of events, from monetary policy to sports tournaments,” said Reuters. The entire market could reach more than $1 trillion in value by 2030, according to wealth management firm Bernstein.

But the industry has also “drawn ​increasing scrutiny as well-timed trades ahead of ​President Donald Trump’s major policy surprises have potentially led to millions of dollars in profits ​for unknown traders,” said Reuters. It is possible that a prediction market app from Meta could create similar scrutiny. Zuckerberg doesn’t seem to mind this, though, and probably wants to follow the lead of “other social media sites” like X, which “forged a partnership with Polymarket last summer” and have “sought to capitalize on the industry,” said TechCrunch.

Adding another prediction tool to the mix could also further complicate legal proceedings, which are already fairly complicated. States have “begun to sue prediction markets over what they allege are violations of gambling laws,” said TechCrunch. In yet another twist, the “current administration, which is decidedly pro-prediction market, has sued states for having sued prediction markets.” But even as these cases progress, the industry has continually “fueled big profits.”

‘We're eating too much sugar. There are ways to change that.’

Priya Fielding-Singh at USA Today

Added sugar “isn't just in candy and soda,” says Priya Fielding-Singh. It is “pervasive, hiding in everyday staples families depend on — from bread and yogurt to tomato sauce.” The government “should set stricter standards around added sugar in the places where children learn and play, from childcare and schools to aftercare programs.” The USDA “should further reduce how much added sugar is allowed, while investing in kitchen infrastructure so schools can prepare more food on site.”

Read more

‘Once, cyber attacks required great skill. AI is changing that.’

Bruce Schneier at The Guardian

“Cyber attacks — both large and small — have been a significant issue since long before the current crop of generative AI models,” says Bruce Schneier. What has been “changing over the decades, and what AI is changing even faster, is the gap between skill and ability.” These “models can, with little detailed direction, autonomously hack into networks, steal data, deploy ransomware and destroy systems.” To the “extent there is a solution, it’s going to involve harnessing AI for the defense.”

Read more

‘What's really driving Latin America’s rightward elections’

Orlando J. Pérez at The Dallas Morning News

Latin American voters are “not embracing a coherent right-wing program any more than voters in 2018 and 2019 embraced a coherent left-wing one,” says Orlando J. Pérez. They are “doing what Latin American electorates have done for decades: punishing whoever holds office when crime rises and the economy stalls, and backing whoever promises to fix both.” Latin Americans are “exhausted with their governments and quick to replace them.” When “citizens feel unsafe, they back almost anyone who promises order.”

Read more

‘The threat of force was a far more effective deterrent than Trump’s show of force in Iran’

Gilles Paris at Le Monde

Donald Trump “pledged to deliver results that would last for at least the next half-century, but the outcome was disappointing,” says Gilles Paris. The Iran memorandum’s “positions are especially difficult to hold today, notably the belief that Washington’s ‘trustworthiness’ will ‘continue to make us the global partner of first choice.’” The “war, which caught U.S. allies off guard and resulted in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a systemic global crisis, demonstrated the exact opposite.”

Read more

What happened

The U.S. attacked Iranian targets twice over the weekend while Iran struck an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and fired drones and missiles at U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. The “renewed fighting was sparked by competing interpretations of the memorandum of understanding” to end the war, Axios said, especially regarding the strait.

Who said what

Hours after Saturday’s oil tanker strike, President Donald Trump warned on social media that if Iran kept violating the ceasefire, the U.S. might be “forced to militarily complete the job” in Iran, which would then “no longer exist!” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday said the MOU gave Tehran sole responsibility for “the management and full restoration of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Attacking ships transiting the economically “pivotal” waterway “through Omani waters” was a risky but “necessary gambit” for Tehran, The New York Times said. Its “newfound power to disrupt traffic” in the strait is “critical leverage it cannot afford to lose — either at the negotiating table or back at war.”

What next?

After the weekend’s fighting, “both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,” a Trump administration official told news organizations. “Iran has yet to confirm an agreement,” the Times said. U.S. officials said talks with Iran will resume tomorrow in Qatar.

What happened

Europe’s record-shattering heat wave began shifting eastward on Sunday as Public Health France estimated that more than 1,000 people died due to the heat and humidity. The number of excess deaths since the heat dome descended over France on June 20 is expected to rise as more death certificates come in from homes and eldercare facilities, the agency said. More than 80% of the heat-related deaths so far were among people 65 and older.

Who said what

“Right now, 150 million people ​are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media. “The ‘once-in-a-generation’ heat wave is now occurring nearly annually.” Scientists with World Weather Attribution said last week that Europe’s record temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change. “I’m getting hundreds of calls,” Paris mortician Zouhaeir Hertelli told The Associated Press, but “we’re really full, full, full.”

What next?

Europe’s heat wave has already “disrupted power generation, damaged infrastructure and overwhelmed healthcare systems,” Reuters said. On Sunday it started moving toward Austria, the Czech ​Republic, Germany and Poland. A “dangerous and prolonged heat wave” could also “reach record-breaking levels” in the U.S. Midwest and East Coast this week, The New York Times said. But about 90% of U.S. homes have air conditioning, versus only 20% in Europe.

What happened

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged publicly on Sunday that his country was experiencing a “certain deficit” of gas and other fuels after Ukrainian drone strikes, but he insisted the “problems” aren’t “critical.” Ukraine “kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia,” setting fire to two more oil refineries over the weekend, The Associated Press said. Kyiv’s drone campaign has “choked Russian fuel supplies,” forcing rationing, “long lines at gas stations across the country,” and export halts.

Who said what

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week he had approved a “40-day influence operation” to compel Moscow “to end the war.” Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions,” he said Sunday, reduce the “resources that fuel the Russian war machine,” moving the conflict “another step toward peace.” The “strikes against critical infrastructure in general, and energy infrastructure in particular,” do “create problems, that’s obvious,” Putin said in an interview, but the Kremlin would fix them by ramping up the production of air defenses and importing fuel to ease the shortages.

“Behind the scenes,” there’s “growing panic” in Moscow, The Washington Post said. Over the past week, “swarms of Ukrainian drones hit” semiconductor plants, munitions factories, a satellite communications center and “oil facilities across Russia,” including a “dramatic onslaught on Moscow” that “spread plumes of black smoke over the capital as its main oil refinery went up in flames, halting production possibly until next year.”

What next?

Putin said Ukraine’s drone strikes were meant to “cause a split in Russian society and force Russia to halt” its invasion and enter negotiations, but “we will not give them that chance.”

Wimbledon fortnight is underway with a record prize pot of £64.2 million, but this has done little to assuage the sport’s “increasingly mutinous” players, said The Observer.

Tennis is “having a moment”. It's jettisoned its “gentlemanly image” to become a “global cultural phenomenon”, but this also means its stars want a “bigger slice of the pie”.

What are the protests about?

The players want a larger ratio of revenue to acknowledge their contribution towards the financial successes of the tournaments, with “more money trickling down the draws”, said the BBC.

Specifically, they are calling for the prize pots of the four Grand Slam tournaments to be increased to 16% of each one's revenues, rising to 22% by 2030. Wimbledon’s new prize money is equal to 14.4% of its revenues,

They’re also concerned about welfare issues, including how much the Grand Slams contribute to pension, healthcare and maternity pots, and they want better consultation on questions such as scheduling, late-night finishes and prolonged tournaments.

Several star names had planned to limit their contractual media commitments to a “symbolic” 15 minutes per match day during the first week of the tournament, said The Independent. The 15 minutes referred to the prize money and the fact they were getting less than 15% of the overall tournament revenue.

But leading players will return to normal media duties following what they describe as “constructive meetings” with the All England Club. Though they have warned that the “underlying matters remain unresolved”.

Why is it so controversial?

Wimbledon announced a 20% increase in prize money, taking the “total sum of the pot” to £64.2 million only a couple of weeks ago, said the BBC. The All England Club has said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the threat of players’ action, and the broadcaster's pundit Andrew Castle said the players were being “tone deaf”.

Some of the game’s biggest names, including last year's Wimbledon winner Jannik Sinner, have threatened boycotts. Others include Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka, the women's world number-one, but with career winnings of $65m and $49m respectively, plus “lucrative” sponsorship deals, they would be “just fine if the money remained the same”, said The Observer.

But it can be a “slog” for lower-ranked players, whose winnings must fund their coaches and travel in a sport that “spans continents”, leaving them “barely breaking even”. “We don’t do it for ourselves,” said Sabalenka, “we do it for the rest of the players who are suffering to even hire a coach.”

What next?

The players welcomed Wimbledon’s “commitment to return with specific proposals” addressing their concerns, while promising to “carefully evaluate the proposals once received”. In return, the players said they will provide Wimbledon with further information it has requested.

Wimbledon argues that the players’ representatives underestimate the costs of running tournaments and staging important warm-up events.

The education system is “not set up to serve white working-class children and families”, an independent inquiry has found, and has created a “white working-class disadvantage gap”.

The Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, found that in 2025, just 36% of white British pupils on free school meals achieve a Grade 4 or above in English and Maths GCSE, compared with 72% of non-free school meal pupils.

This independent investigation is the “biggest piece of research in recent years into white working-class underachievement in England”, said education editor Nicola Woolcock in The Times. But without immediate investment and implementation of recommendations, the gap could widen.

What did the commentators say?

Realising the reasons of why white working-class children “don’t make it” in education “may not be rocket science but it is complicated”, said social affairs editor Jackie Long on Channel 4 News’ Substack. “Behaviour, disengagement and absenteeism” seem to be the most significant factors for low attainment, but the “intersection between geography, culture, opportunity and aspiration” has yet to be “fully unravelled by the inquiry.” “There will be no quick fix.”

Nigel Farage and the political right have “overreached” by blaming the Equality Act and a “proliferation of critical race theory” in British institutions, said Dr Rakib Ehsan on UnHerd. There is an “endemic” problem, facilitated by a “broader economic malaise of regional and class disparity, deindustrialisation, a lack of secure local employment”. This is a lesson for the right: they should be “wary of indulging in the very types of racial victimhood and identity politics they seek to condemn”.

This demographic group has “dominated the headlines” in recent years, said educator Sir John Townsley in The Telegraph. Recent analysis by University College London revealed that 40% of white working-class pupils miss a day of school every fortnight, and that they are “more than twice as likely” than the average pupil to be “severely absent” from school.

But the reality is harsh. Blame lies not just with the government and wider society, but also with “the families in question” for perpetuating a “culture of low-expectations” and placing “no value whatsoever on education”. Without “radical change” and “generational” planning, we are headed for “further disaster”.

The narrative that white working-class boys have been neglected by the system is “set like concrete”, said Terri White in Prospect. But “what about our white working-class lasses?” White working-class girls still marginally outperform their male counterparts (by 38% to 35%) to achieve the “expected standard” at GCSE level, the girls’ numbers have “dropped dramatically” over the past six years, while boys are “seeing change in the opposite direction”.

And once girls leave school, they are “plunged” into an earning disparity which resembles a “yawning chasm”, with boys out-earning them even when they have fewer qualifications. White working-class girls are “walloped by” a “double disadvantage”: discrimination by both class and gender.

In an environment where education has become “increasingly politicised”, white boys are seen as a “problem”, said Joanna Williams on Spiked. With the prime example of Keir Starmer’s initiative to show Netflix’s “Adolescence” in every school, it appears the government has offered white working-class boys nothing except “panic-fuelled hectoring”. They have been let down by a political class that has done little to provide “well-paid, meaningful employment”, and been ignored by a schooling system that “prioritises therapeutic interventions over discipline and high standards”. “All children deserve better.”

What next?

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that there is “clear” evidence that children “arrive at school not ready to learn, having not achieved the levels that they should”. Opportunities for progress lie not just with schools but “beyond the school gate, because so much of what a child is able to achieve in their life comes down to the support their family have”.

The inquiry has raised free transport for under-21s, a “crackdown on excessive screen use” and for high-performing schools to “take more white working-class children” as possible solutions, said Woolcock in The Times. In order to achieve progress, there must be a “clearer definition” of the term white working-class and that communities should “provide significantly greater access to sport, arts, culture, volunteering, outdoor activity and employer engagement, backed by sustained long-term funding”.

If a hacker steals your password, you can create a new one, but if someone gains access to your fingerprint or iris data, you can hardly replace your fingers or eyes. But a new study has shown promise with a technique that allows users to “update” their fingerprints, which could make us all safer online.

Spy novels

Concern about the security of using fingerprints instead of passwords has grown this month amid reports that scammers could extract close-ups of fingerprints from social media photos and “enhance them with AI”, said Moneywise. The criminals could then use the victim’s unique fingerprint ID to gain access to their accounts, or launch identity theft and phishing attacks, although they would still need access to a physical scanner, like a smartphone unlock key, to use the cloned fingerprint.

It “sounds like the stuff out of spy novels or ‘Mission Impossible’”, Vyas Sekar, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told CBS News, but “in theory, it’s possible, especially if people are posting high-resolution images”. In 2014, a hacker claimed to have cloned a fingerprint of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, then Germany’s defence minister, using close-up photos taken at a press event.

‘Scrambled and compressed’

A study in the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics has found that “irreversible identity theft” can be “largely avoided” by giving users a chance to “reset” fingerprints and other biometrics, said TechXplore.

The method is “similar to changing a password”, said Knowridge. Rather than storing a person’s original fingerprint or other biometric information directly, it transforms their data into a protected version. To do this, it identifies unique features in a fingerprint image, such as distinctive patterns and points, and “uses mathematical methods to convert these features into a different form that is difficult to reverse-engineer”. The data is then “further scrambled and compressed” into a secure digital version.

In this form, it can still verify a person’s identity, but the original biometric data is hidden. If the protected version is ever compromised, it can be “cancelled and replaced”. Even if hackers gained access to the stored information, the user would not be permanently exposed.

Walkers tend to drift leftwards

Humans instinctively move anticlockwise, a study has found. “If you simply ask someone to start walking, whether they are wandering around a museum, a supermarket, or even an empty room, it is surprisingly likely that they will drift [in that direction],” said lead author Dr Iñaki Echeverría Huarte, of the University of Navarra in Spain.

The researchers first noticed the bias when investigating social distancing during Covid: in 32 of the 33 experiments, people ambling around enclosed spaces were more likely than not to do so in an anticlockwise direction. Suspecting that it might be a cultural phenomenon, they asked scientists in Japan to repeat the experiments. The results were the same. Further work revealed that humans veer left regardless of whether they are right- or left-handed, alone or with others, male or female, young or old.

The team can’t explain this but hypothesise that biomechanics play a role. “None of us is perfectly symmetrical and the way each person’s brain gathers sensory information and coordinates it with the muscles seems to tip them gently to one side,” Dr Echeverría Huarte told The Guardian.

A step closer to a cure for lupus

An experimental treatment that resets the immune system has offered hope of a cure for lupus – a condition that affects about 50,000 people in the UK. In patients with the autoimmune condition, faulty B cells attack healthy tissue and organs, leading to symptoms including painful joints, skin rashes, extreme fatigue, and organ damage. Anti-inflammatory drugs can help control these, but they do not work for everyone. Now, though, patients taking part in a small trial of a new therapy have gone into remission.

Doctors at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and UCL removed T cells (white blood cells that destroy infected cells) from six people with severe lupus that wasn’t responding to treatment. The cells were then modified, to make them hunt down the rogue B cells, before being infused back into the patients.

Within three months, all six were in remission, and five were still in remission 12 months later, suggesting their immune system had been reset. One of them, Katie Tinkler, from Surrey, had previously been in such pain, she’d struggled even to pick up a tea cup. Since the trial, she has been skiing, and she now hopes to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. “If these results are confirmed in larger studies, the prospect of a cure for lupus may no longer be out of reach,” said lead researcher Professor Karl Peggs.

Rare sighting of the ugliest shark

With its soft flabby body, pointy head and retractable jaw that shoots out to snatch prey, the goblin shark is “arguably the ugliest shark on the planet”, one ecologist told The Guardian. It is also one of the most mysterious: the sharks, which live in the deep oceans, have rarely been seen alive, other than when accidentally hauled in by fishing vessels. Now, though, they have been observed for the first time in their natural habitat.

In 2019, a male thought to be more than 50 years old was spotted in the South Central Pacific at a depth of 1,200m. Five years later, and thousands of miles away, another goblin was filmed at a depth of 2,000 metres in the southwestern Pacific. More than 50 days of filming yielded only about 20 seconds of footage, “which is testament to how elusive this species is”, said co-author Professor Alan Jamieson. “It’s a classic case of a deep-sea animal that has very low abundance, but an absolutely massive geographical range.”

Making sperm magnetic

Scientists have developed magnetic sperm – a breakthrough that could lead to a less invasive, more natural alternative to IVF. When a man has a low sperm count, or sperm that swim poorly, couples often turn to IVF, in which the sperm and egg are combined in a dish in the lab; this involves various invasive procedures, and it is not always successful, partly because of the environment in which the sperm and egg meet, says The New Scientist.

To address this, researchers in Spain incubated sperm with nanoparticles made from iron oxide and polystyrene; about 30 stuck to each one, making the sperm magnetic. They also showed that they could steer these sperm with magnets. Their hope is that, in future, they’ll be able to use magnets to draw such sperm through a woman’s body to the fallopian tubes, where they’d fertilise the waiting egg under natural conditions.

Giorgia Meloni is suffering from a “splitting political headache”, said Hannah Roberts on Politico (Brussels). Italy’s first female PM has enjoyed remarkable success since her election in October 2022. She has kept her Brothers of Italy party dominant in the polls; she has held together her coalition formed with two other right-wing parties – Lega (the League) led by Matteo Salvini, and Forza Italia (the party created by Silvio Berlusconi). Come September, she will be Italy’s longest-serving post-war leader. And she’s achieved all this by skilfully “pushing Italy’s post-fascist Right towards the political mainstream”.

This month, though, a figure has emerged who threatens to undo it all and drag the Right back the other way. Roberto Vannacci, a highly decorated retired general, formally launched a new hard-right, fiercely anti-immigrant party, National Future, in Rome last week.

It is rapidly gaining support: it already has 100,000 registered members; boasts eight MPs after a string of defections from the League and Forza Italia; and is polling at over 5%. Meloni’s headache is whether to keep him at arm’s length or bring him into her political orbit. So far she’s picked the first option, but if Vannacci’s popularity keeps rising in the run-up to next year’s general election, she may have to reconsider.

‘Incandescent’ and ‘disturbing’

Since the fall of Mussolini, Italy has produced a long line of populists, said Antonio Preiti on Linkiesta (Milan). But none has been “more incandescent, more aggressive, more disturbing” than Vannacci, nicknamed “Il Generale” by his legion of fans and hailed as a modern-day Julius Caesar by his colleagues.

The Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran’s controversial demand for “remigration” – the forced deportation of immigrants to their countries of origin – should come as no surprise. This is the man, after all, who made a name for himself in 2023 with his outlandish book “The World Upside Down”, in which he hit out at the “dictatorship of minorities”; claimed that black immigrants could never be Italian; and derided gay people as “not normal”.

That made him hugely popular, and prompted Salvini, the deputy PM, to ask him to join his Lega party to help revive its fortunes. But that gamble “backfired in a spectacular fashion”, said Nick Squires in The Daily Telegraph. Elected as an MEP for the League in 2024, he proved not a “pliant acolyte” but a thorn in its side. His new party is now wooing Salvini’s supporters.

‘Extremist passions’

The old soldier may have learnt to “move shrewdly” in politics, said Stefano Folli in La Repubblica (Rome), and he sure knows how to grab people’s attention. But can he keep up the momentum? Doubtful, said Lisa Di Giuseppe in Domani (Rome). He’s been conspicuously short on economic and foreign policy ideas, for a start. At his party’s inaugural congress this month, the 57-year-old gave little indication of strategy “beyond resentment, revenge and remigration”.

Vannacci is a man known for “extremist passions masquerading as common sense”, said David Allegranti in Quotidiano Nazionale (Bologna). Such policies as he has are designed to lure disgruntled right-wingers: plans to build more jails and to pay mothers to stay at home to free up jobs that “men can’t find”. His pitch at the conference was abundantly clear. “We represent the rejects and the scum, and we are proud of it,” he told party delegates.

Meloni must “behave like a statesman”, erect a “cordon sanitaire” around National Future, and ostracise this “latest adventurer” in Italian politics, said Mario Lavia on Linkiesta. It may result in her losing office to the centre-left, but for the good of the nation she needs to do it. Vannacci is no Mussolini, it’s true, but given half a chance he’ll corrode democracy with his pro-Russia and anti-EU rhetoric.

But would that isolation strategy actually work, asked Roberto Gressi in Corriere della Sera (Rome). It certainly hasn’t in the case of the National Rally in France or the AfD in Germany, both now trending in the polls. Sad to say there’s no easy way to slay the populist far-right crocodile.

Iran has become a “lose-lose issue” for Donald Trump, which is alienating his entire political base, said Zeeshan Aleem on MS Now. When he attacked Iran, he infuriated the isolationist wing of his coalition, who believed his promise that he’d start “no new wars”. Now, his scramble to end the conflict “is alienating the hawkish sector of his party”, who believe it amounts to a humiliating surrender.

One Republican senator described the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Trump last week as “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades”. Texas senator Ted Cruz said Trump must be getting “very poor advice”. Critics are particularly outraged by the potential creation of a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran. Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen called the provision a “disaster”, likening it to offering the “Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany while the Nazis were still in power”.

Vance under fire

Furious as they are, many Republican hawks are still reluctant to criticise Trump directly, said Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic. So they’re turning their fire instead on the vice-president, J.D. Vance. “Trump effectively won the war and at the 11th hour Vance is negotiating his way to a loss,” raged one unnamed congressman to a Washington correspondent.

The president has done nothing to discourage such talk. “If it works out, I’m going to take the credit,” he said, half-jokingly, of the peace deal. “If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming J.D.” The irony, said Jim Geraghty in The Washington Post, is that Vance opposed starting this war. Now it has fallen to him to sell the peace deal and serve as the fall guy when it goes sour. “You almost have to feel sorry for Vance. Almost.”

Face of peace

“Playing the part of Trump’s surrender monkey” will hurt Vance’s image in the short term, said Jonathan V. Last on The Bulwark, but few Republican voters are likely to remember any of this stuff in two years’ time if petrol prices are back to normal and Iran hasn’t tested a nuclear device. Vance will just be the guy who helped bring an unpopular war to an end.

He has certainly been happy to serve as the face of this peace agreement, said Adam Cancryn on CNN. He asked to play a leading role in the talks, rather than being pushed into it. Vance may get the blame if the deal blows up, but he has no doubt concluded that if the two sides return to an intractable conflict, his hopes of becoming president are probably scuppered in any case.