The year is nearly half over, and, yes, there is another recent season’s worth of new podcasts to tap into. Spring featured a number of new releases and the return of some popular shows. Here are a few of the best springtime podcasts to catch up on as we leave the season behind.

Frozen Files (Independent)

True crime podcasts remain a popular podcast genre, with new ones cropping up often. Madison McGhee’s Frozen Files takes on unsolved crimes, with a weekly deep dive into overlooked cold cases. The show is “already a hit with listeners,” Podcast Review said. “The format is clear, the mission admirable.” The host doesn’t just “examine the facts behind failed investigations.” She questions “why cases remain cold and whether systems have failed these victims.” (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Raven (Drum and Monkey Media)

True crime and the arts collide in this narrative podcast from host Gavin Whitehead. The series is “part character study, part investigation” and tells the “tale of Raven Chanticleer, founder and owner of the African American Wax Museum in Harlem,” said The Guardian. The show’s focus “flits between Chanticleer’s wild life story” and the “whereabouts of the waxworks which disappeared after his death in 2002, all of which is full of entertaining detail.” (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Saigon (iHeartPodcasts, Thoroughbred Studios and Goldhawk Productions)

The new fiction podcast Saigon is a must-listen if you are looking for strong emotional storytelling. The eight-part series, adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name by Anthony Grey, stars “Star Wars” actress Kelly Marie Tran and “Supernatural” actor Rob Benedict.

The pair comes together to tell this “epic story that spans four decades of Vietnamese history,” said Podcast Review. The characters are “entangled in a tale of love and betrayal,” set against the backdrop of “WWII, Japanese occupation, the rise of Vietnamese nationalism and America’s war in Vietnam.” Personal family experience drew Tran to narrate “Saigon,” a story about “family, distance and the ties that endure across generations,” she said, per Variety. “I see my parents as heroes, much like the people you’ll meet in this drama.” (iHeart Media, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Stories from a Stranger (Higher Ground)

The content-creator-to-podcaster pipeline doesn’t always deliver the best shows, but Hunter Prosper’s Stories from a Stranger stands out. Prosper, a former nurse, first went viral on TikTok, interviewing strangers during the Covid pandemic. He followed that with a bestselling book chronicling his street interviews. The podcast is a “decidedly earnest brand extension, featuring polished chats with unusually candid folk,” said The Guardian.

His first episode centers on three love stories, including “one from sprightly 96-year-old Sally.” Higher Ground, the media company founded by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, launched the show this spring. Prosper has a “remarkable gift for creating space where people feel safe enough to share the moments that shaped them,” Higher Ground’s Dan Fierman said, per The Hollywood Reporter. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

We Regret to Inform You: The Rejection Podcast (Apostrophe Podcast Network)

If you are looking for tools to fight imposter syndrome, this podcast is here to assist. For those “plagued with people-pleasing tendencies” or “afraid to start a creative project due to crippling perfectionism,” We Reject to Inform You delivers lessons about rejection from some of the greatest writers, actors and entrepreneurs, said Podcast Review. The seventh season premiered this spring with an episode dedicated to Joan Jett and George R.R. Martin. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Migrant deaths in federal custody hit an all-time high this year, as the Department of Homeland Security executes President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies across the nation. Between October 2025, when the federal fiscal year began, and April 2026, at least 29 people died in DHS custody according to government data, “already surpassing 2004’s toll of 28, the previous record,” said NPR.

Suicides, in particular, have exploded at an “alarming” rate, said The Associated Press. And with tens of thousands of migrants still concentrated in DHS camps across the country, mortality rates have become a regular feature of the agency’s current tenure.

‘Something is going profoundly wrong’

The rise in deaths at DHS facilities comes as “detention numbers have skyrocketed during the Trump administration,” said NPR. Trump officials “denied there’s been a spike in deaths” and “attributed the increase to the large number of people in detention” overall. The increase in deaths is “because we do have the highest amount in detention that ICE has ever had since its inception in 2003,” said outgoing ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons at a congressional budget hearing in April.

That an “unprecedented number” of DHS detainees have taken their own lives is an “indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention” of their tens of thousands of charges, said the AP. “Something is going profoundly wrong from any kind of public health or mental health perspective,” said epidemiologist Dr. Sanjay Basu, the co-author of a new study on mortality and suicide rates among ICE detainees, to NPR. “This is one of those alarming, sudden increases.”

Last year saw “more than 1,000 emergency requests” to 911 made from multiple detention centers around the country, 28 of which were prompted by “serious incidents of self-harm,” said NBC News. One detainee “swallowed a razor blade,” another “drank cleaning chemicals” and “at least three cut their own wrists.” Suicides among people in DHS custody are “tragic and rare,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement to the outlet. Upon seeing “signs of a detainee being at risk for suicide,” detention center staff follow a “strict prevention and intervention protocol to ensure the detainee’s health and well-being is protected.”

‘Preventable’

More detainees have died in DHS custody last year than in any year in at least two decades, said CNN, with 2026 “on track to be even higher.” But many of the past year’s deaths “appear to have been preventable.” In “more than a dozen cases,” the “deadly outcomes” stemmed in part from “substandard treatment by at-times understaffed medical teams dealing with escalating detainee populations.”

California’s Adelanto ICE Processing Center and the Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, have each seen three migrant deaths in their respective facilities — the “most out of ICE’s sprawling detention operation,” said NPR. ICE has “repeatedly asserted” that all detainees are screened for “medical, dental and mental health conditions” within 12 hours of arrival, said the AP. But reviews of ICE’s own inspection reports and jail records show “three of the nine facilities where ICE detainees died by suicide have struggled to meet that standard.”

Eagerness about artificial intelligence has led to a competitive push at tech companies to use as much AI as possible in a trend called tokenmaxxing. Employers are happily spending thousands to keep up with output, but whether the practice is sustainable is up for debate.

What is it?

At the core of the AI workplace trend are tokens. They represent small bits of text that AI models process during a prompt, tracking AI usage and calculating costs. AI companies “typically charge a monthly subscription for a fixed allotment of tokens,” with additional usage billed separately or available in higher-tier plans, Built In said.

Tokenmaxxing is about “encouraging engineers to consume as many AI tokens as possible,” said Forbes. Companies argue that “token consumption is a key indicator for measuring employee and developer productivity.” There is a growing sentiment that “teams that aren’t burning enough tokens simply aren’t automating enough and get left behind.”

Employees rack up tokens by deploying multiple agentic AI models on separate projects simultaneously or by running longer prompts. The trend came to public attention after The Information uncovered that a Meta employee had created an internal leaderboard ranking employees by token usage. Employees were incentivized to use more tokens to outperform coworkers and earn rewards such as digital badges and exclusive titles like “Cache Wizard.” The highest-ranked individual user averaged 281 billion tokens, “which could cost in the hundreds or thousands of dollars,” said The Information. The leaderboard has since been taken down.

Leaderboards are just the icing on the AI-workplace cake. Token budgets are “becoming another form of employee compensation, alongside stock options and yearly bonuses,” said Built In. While some workers go through millions of tokens a week, employers are “happily footing the bill,” believing that “more AI use means more productivity and, of course, more money for the business in the long run.”

Is it worth it?

The popularity of tokenmaxxing “reflects a desire to incentivize AI usage” and presents the assumption that “tokens are the base unit for AI usage,” meaning “greater consumption indicates higher value of AI,” Jim Rowan, the U.S. head of AI at Deloitte Consulting LLP, said to Forbes. While well-intentioned, there are “risks of turning tokens into a ‘vanity metric.’”

Still, some proponents of the competitive practice push back against such rhetoric. “We all should be tokenmaxxing,” Sonya Huang, a partner at Sequoia Capital, said to The Wall Street Journal. Artificial intelligence is an “insane new piece of technology that is fundamentally going to rewrite how we work.” What matters most for your company is: “Has my employee become insanely AI-pilled?” That requires “getting them on this tokenmaxxing mindset.”

The tokenmaxxing trend is a “crazy, rushed, temporary phase,” Michael Burry, the investor behind “The Big Short,” said in his Substack Short Thoughts. It is not “merely heavy AI use,” and it is “certainly not sustainable AI use.” It is “quota-driven, leaderboard-driven, management-mandated overconsumption.”

It’s true that the “cost of training AI models is falling, making AI tokens more affordable,” but people have started using “more tokens in their day-to-day tasks,” said The Week sister site Tom’s Hardware. Though AI is “indeed a useful tool,” some companies are “using it to replace people in a bid to cut labor costs.” If the number of tokens needed to accomplish tasks “outpaces the speed at which these tokens become cheaper, then that move might just backfire.”

The Trump administration’s moves to cut foreign aid and end ties with the World Health Organization could be making it more difficult to halt the latest Ebola outbreak in Africa.

Public health experts believe White House policies are “weakening critical networks” that respond to outbreaks in a “densely populated, politically unstable part of the world,” said Axios. The dismantling of U.S. support has “left the region dangerously exposed,” leading to the likelihood that Ebola was spreading “for some time” before it was detected, International Rescue Committee’s Heather Reoch Kerr said in a statement, per the outlet.

The Trump administration is pushing back against the criticism. The U.S. is “working with international partners” and “supporting response efforts” in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement to Axios.

What did the commentators say?

“This is what happens when you defund Ebola prevention,” Sara Herschander said at Vox. There are “no vaccines or treatments” for the strain of virus at the heart of the current outbreak and the disease is spreading quickly “under the heavy shadow of U.S. foreign aid cuts” that “gutted” Ebola detection and response programs. Many of the experts and researchers who once would have guided the response are “simply not there anymore.” The U.S. has now pledged $23 million in emergency funding to Congo and Uganda, but “you can’t expect a bandaid to make up for the damage.”

The Ebola outbreak is a story of “institutional erosion,” Columbia University’s Thoai D. Ngo said at Newsweek. U.S. aid “helped build laboratory networks, train field epidemiologists, establish emergency operations centers” and other public health infrastructure that made it possible for epidemics to be “detected early and contained quietly.” That system is being “hollowed out,” which is short-sighted. “Global health security is domestic health security.”

The world “doesn’t have to fail” the test posed by Ebola, Michael T. Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said at The Washington Post. It is “not fair” to place blame for the outbreak at the “feet of the Trump administration.” This virus emerged in an “unstable area of Congo” and is able to avoid detection by Ebola tests designed to find more common strains. But the U.S. can choose to once again deploy its resources to help contain dangerous diseases, even when they emerge in foreign lands. That choice would protect Americans “at home and abroad from a highly lethal illness.”

What next?

American infectious disease experts “have been barred from speaking directly with the World Health Organization,” said CNN. The Trump administration-issued ban — which applies to officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — was in place for the recent hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship but was “relaxed slightly” for the Ebola outbreak.

These restrictions “hobble quick cooperation” in disease response, health officials said, per CNN. The United States has “written off most of the institutions with global health,” Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, told the outlet.

Your house may have seemed just right for you when you bought it. But over the years, your situation can change. Perhaps you had a kid or started working from home full-time. Maybe one-and-a-half baths and a smaller kitchen did not feel restrictive when you made the purchase, and now it does.

In this situation, you are faced with two options: renovate your home for your current wants and needs, or move. While staying put may seem like the simpler option, it “isn’t always the easier or cheaper path,” said Realtor.com. Then again, relocating is also an undertaking in and of itself, even if it is just a few streets over.

When does renovating make sense?

The “biggest reason to put the time and effort into renovating or expanding your home is its location,” said U.S. News & World Report. If you are attached to the area where your home is, whether because of your kids’ school, nearby neighbors or favorite shops, it can make sense to commit.

For homeowners with “strong equity and a solid mortgage, remodeling can be a savvy way to level up your living space without resetting your entire financial picture,” said Realtor.com. There are improvements you can make that boost livability and enjoyment now, with some even pushing up resale value later, too.

When is moving a better choice?

It’s “easy to think that a remodel will solve everything you don’t like about your home, but in reality, it’s not a magic bullet,” said Zillow. The truth is, “there are some things that a renovation just can’t fix, like having loud neighbors, an unfavorable school district, more or less square footage or the type of home you’re living in.” In these cases, moving will likely be a better use of your time and money.

While a whole new house may sound like a much bigger-ticket item, in some scenarios, it is still the more financially sound option. “If the desired renovation project exceeds $100,000 to $150,000, it starts to make more financial sense to move, especially when factoring in time, stress and lifestyle disruption,” said real estate agent Mike Toltzis to U.S. News & World Report.

What should you take into account when making the decision?

When weighing whether to renovate or relocate, consider the following factors:

Cost: Cost is a major component of this decision. Even if a renovation looks cheaper on paper, it “isn’t always a value-adding slam dunk, especially if your home is already priced near the top of the market,” said Realtor.com. For moving, look at more than just the sale price — also factor in moving costs, realtor commissions and perhaps a larger mortgage payment if your next house is bigger.

Timeline: Buyers “often underestimate the cost and time involved in remodeling,” said realtor Ashley DeHart to NerdWallet. But a “real estate agent can help weigh these factors against the convenience and potential savings of buying a move-in-ready home.”

Current real estate market: If you’re in a “down market and can’t get the price you want or need out of your home to move to a better property or neighborhood, it might make more sense to renovate,” said U.S. News & World Report. In a competitive market, it can be smarter to “sell your home while prices are high and homes are in strong demand.”

Long-term plans: “Will this home still serve your needs in five or 10 years? Or are you stretching it to fit a life it’s already outgrown?” said Realtor.com. You will also want to ask yourself whether you are renovating “because you love your home — or because you’re avoiding a harder decision.”

‘I witnessed our Ebola response in 2014. We are now seeing the costs of US aid withdrawal.’

Elizabeth Shackelford at the Chicago Tribune

As the “current Ebola epidemic unfolds,” the “withdrawal from the World Health Organization during the second administration of President Donald Trump” alongside “massive cuts to foreign aid” and the “gutting of global health staff” has “put us and the world at far greater risk from epidemics,” says Elizabeth Shackelford. By “withdrawing our funding, expertise and participation from the WHO, the United States also severely eroded the capacity of the global institution best positioned to respond to epidemics.”

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‘The GOP wants to tax your car’

Kimberley A. Strassel at The Wall Street Journal

“Campaign slogans can be catchy, clumsy or clever,” but “few are as crazy as the one Republicans are setting themselves up for this fall: ‘Vote GOP. The party that brought you a national car tax,’” says Kimberley A. Strassel. Republicans have “conjured up a new revenue stream: the first-ever federal ‘annual registration fee’ for vehicles,” and “such is the blindness that accompanies Washington’s lust for earmarking dollars for home-state pork.” This “idea is as short-sighted as they come.”

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‘Cuba’s only choice’

Michael J. Bustamante and Ricardo Herrero at Foreign Affairs

Donald Trump’s “de facto oil blockade” of Cuba has “pushed the country to the precipice: power blackouts are now daily and unpredictable, basic services have ground to a halt and citizens are growing desperate,” say Michael J. Bustamante and Ricardo Herrero. This is “not just a story about Washington’s choices, however,” as “for decades, the island’s government has prioritized internal control and external patrons over political and economic transformation.” Cuba “has long framed negotiating with Washington” as “incompatible with sovereignty.”

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‘Dear Disney, there’s such a thing as too much “Star Wars”’

Miles Surrey at Bloomberg

Disney “acquired ‘Star Wars’ with a strategy built around saturation when the franchise has historically thrived on scarcity,” says Miles Surrey. “Between 1977 and 2005, Lucasfilm released six ‘Star Wars’ films,” and this “turned out to be an economic asset.” Every “time a ‘Star Wars’ film arrived in theaters, it was a genuine cultural event.” But Disney’s “approach inverted that logic entirely,” so they must “restore the feeling that every theatrical release is an unmissable event.”

Read more

What happened

A $9.7 billion Pentagon contract with Dell Technologies announced this week sent the company’s stock soaring, likely boosting President Donald Trump’s more than $1 million investment in the company, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported Thursday. “Government ethics watchdogs are sounding the alarm” not only because Trump “potentially stands to gain financially” from the Dell deal, the Post said, but also because he “has repeatedly praised the company at public events” since acquiring the shares earlier this year.

Who said what

The Dell investments were among more than 3,600 trades executed in Trump’s investment portfolio from January through March, according to a mandatory filing released this month. The Trump family has “argued that the president does not personally control the trading,” but the president’s financial accounts “are not in a traditional ‘blind trust,’” the Times said. And his Dell purchase “draws new attention to the inherent problems” with the family’s “widespread investments” in military drones, cryptocurrency, mining and prediction markets while Trump “oversees policy and government purchase decisions for those same sectors.”

What next?

Presidents are exempt from an ethics law that prohibits official self-enrichment. Congress should “revisit the arrangement whereby we rely on the president’s own sense of integrity rather than law to avoid conflicts of interest,” Greg Williams from the Project on Government Oversight told the Post.

What happened

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday his department has been working to create a $250 bill bearing President Donald Trump’s portrait, and he showed off a mockup ordered by U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach. “At present, no living person can be on U.S. currency,” under a 1866 law, Bessent said during a press conference. “We will stick to the law” but “have prepared in advance” in case Congress passes “proposed legislation” authorizing the Trump banknote.

Who said what

The Treasury Department is “moving proactively” and doing “due diligence” in response to legislation introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a spokesperson said. That “Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act” has “since stalled out, with no actions” since February 2025, CBS News said. Trump has “also pushed for the creation of a $1 coin bearing his image,” The New York Times said, and is “having his signature added to U.S. currency this year,” as he endeavors to “honor himself while commemorating the nation’s 250th birthday.”

What next?

New banknotes can take “more than a decade to design and produce,” The Washington Post said, and typically require “extensive coordination” with the Federal Reserve and Secret Service to add “dozens of embedded security features” to prevent counterfeiting.

What happened

U.S. and Iranian negotiators on Thursday reached a tentative agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire for another 60 days while thornier issues like Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. sanctions are hashed out, U.S. officials said. “We’re not there yet, but we’re very close,” Vice President JD Vance told reporters, adding that it’s “still TBD” if and when President Donald Trump “can endorse the agreement.” Tehran did not comment.

Who said what

The “emerging memorandum of understanding came as the fragile ceasefire” appeared to be “wavering,” The Associated Press said. Several “brief exchanges of fire” this week have added “pressure on negotiators,” The New York Times said. Meanwhile, Trump’s “seemingly haphazard approach to the conflict is bewildering allies” as he “veers between diplomatic dealing, military strikes and increasingly far-fetched ideas” to clinch some sort of victory.

Trump “finds himself in a bind,” Reuters said, as he “seeks to end the war” and secure a “quick solution to high gas prices” while avoiding a “potential backlash from Iran hawks” over “any concessions to Tehran.” Those “competing demands” leave him “little room to maneuver.”

What next?

Trump was “leaning toward signing off on the deal” as of Thursday afternoon, Axios said, citing senior U.S. officials. But he “wants to wait another few days” to “make sure Iranian officials would sign” and to “see how the domestic political debate around the deal plays out.” In Iran, officials “said Tehran is concerned Trump will scuttle the deal under Israeli influence,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Vomiting, diarrhoea, sweating and a swollen face. Not the normal desired effects of a detox, but a kambo ceremony is not a normal detox.

Kambo is a poisonous secretion from an Amazonian tree frog, used by some indigenous people as traditional medicine. Its use as a wellness practice has spread to the US and Europe.

Last weekend it was reported that Kristian Trend, a 40-year-old wellness coach and cancer survivor from Leicester, had died after taking the frog poison. “He is believed to be the first British victim,” said The Times, but at least six deaths worldwide have been associated with kambo.

The substance is harvested from the defensive skin secretions of the Amazonian giant monkey tree frog. In the traditional medicine of some indigenous peoples of the Amazon, kambo “is applied to superficial burns on the skin of participants to produce an intense purging effect”, said Martin Williams, research fellow at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, on The Conversation.

‘Uncontrolled increase in fatalities’

Self-styled “kambo practitioners” have touted a range of supposed benefits for the purge and detox, including reduced anxiety, boosted energy and relief from chronic pain. Despite the documented side-effects, “the great majority of users of kambo anecdotally report positive physical, emotional and spiritual after-effects”, said Williams. Several celebrities have reportedly tried kambo, including actor Orlando Bloom, who told GQ that he had tried the treatment several times and claimed it left him with a “feeling of being clearer and wide open”. “You have this sensation of death and you kind of purge your body. But it’s incredible.” He did add, however, that “it was pretty brutal in terms of what it does to the body in the moment”, describing it as “coming out both ends”.

Kambo can also have more severe health consequences, with a paper published last year in Cureus, the online journal, warning of potential long-term issues. According to the scientists, the psychiatric effects were induced by hyperthermia and hyponatraemia, which were “often misinterpreted by participants as ‘astral travel’, instead of being recognised as potentially fatal conditions”. They added: “The widespread availability of kambo on the internet poses another pressing concern, contributing to an uncontrolled increase in fatalities.”

‘Absolute Western arrogance’

Governments around the world have acted to ban the poison. In Brazil, it’s illegal to sell or market kambo. In Australia, where two deaths after kambo rituals have led to coroner’s inquests, it was listed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2021 as a Schedule 10 poison: a “substance of such danger to health as to warrant prohibition of sale, supply and use”.

Trend’s mother Angie told The Telegraph that she wants the treatment to be banned in the UK following her son’s death: “He was going to cleanse himself, that’s what he said to me. He was very spiritual. He took a lot of vitamins.”

Despite the dangers, the adoption of wellness rituals involving kambo continues to grow worldwide. “A lot of these Western wellness practitioners are exploiting people’s gullibility and exploiting those who are sceptical about Western medicine,” Prof Roger Byard, a forensic pathologist at Adelaide University, told The Guardian.

“But the techniques of shamans and healers in Indigenous communities have been used for hundreds of years and they have been trained to safely use these substances for certain, specific situations. To think that we can go into a community or spend a bit of time in another country and then take one of their time-honoured, cultural practices and then just take it for our own use is absolute Western arrogance.”

Find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest news and other global events by putting your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week.

The line between gamer culture and traditional storytelling is being blurred, one quest notification at a time, as readers get addicted to novels that combine sci-fi and fantasy narratives with features from video games.

These “gamified novels”, which are based on video games, are “going mainstream” and selling in their millions, said The Economist.

Cosmic octopus 

Standing for “literary role-playing game”, LitRPG is a genre of fiction that combines a traditional story with mechanics from role-playing games and video games. Although a Russian publisher insists that it coined the term in 2013, versions of the genre had been popular in Asia since the turn of the century.

The books “borrow the tropes of video and tabletop games”, and the characters “face challenges and grow stronger” as they “go on quests to obtain rewards”.

For instance, in the novels of Matt Dinniman, whose books have sold over six million copies, the hero “gets tougher as he punches goblins” and “defeats a monster” that is a mix of a “cosmic octopus” and “your average, suburban, anti-vax, let-me-talk-to-your-manager mom”.

The reader is regularly “updated on his character stats, health bar, XP [experience points] and special skills”. “Video-game vernacular” offers a “useful shorthand” – “minor figures” in the story are called “NPCs: non-playable characters”.

“Unlike choose-your-own-adventure tales”, readers don’t “make narrative choices”, but they “often interact with their favourite authors and leave comments on chapters, which then shape the stories”. This means the authors are “thinking strategically on and off the page” and many “self-publish their work online, chapter by chapter”. Some writers are particularly “prolific, posting new material daily”.

Foot-shaped sex toys

The adulation of readers is quite something. Dinniman “knew things were getting out of hand” when “rabid” fans “started asking him to sign their feet”, said The New York Times last year. When he put out a statement drawing the line at signing feet, his “undeterred” fans brought “foot-shaped silicone sex toys”, “heart-patterned boxers, pink Crocs, ‘Gilmore Girls’ DVDs, stuffed cats and severed doll heads” – all objects that feature in his novels.

The money is impressive, too. His series is in development for television and is being adapted into graphic novels, a multi-cast audio drama and a tabletop game. Dinniman has a merchandise range that includes sweatshirts, baseball caps, phone cases, wall tapestries, action figures and plush toys.

“Quantity has been trouncing quality,” said The Economist, so the genre is “not going to win any prestigious awards”, but readers “looking for escapist thrills are often forgiving”. Although the core readers are “gamers in their 30s”, its “biggest audience” is audiophiles, ranging from “truckers to stay-at-home mothers”, because the novels “often have only one perspective, and are usually narrated in the first person”, making them “easy to follow”.

Many of the readers “grew up gaming or playing tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons”, said USA Today. Brandon Dwane, a 28-year-old from Massachusetts, “never considered himself a reader”, but “that changed” when he began reading LitRPG. Now, he’s a “junkie” for the “dopamine” hits the novels give him.

It’s never been easier to start your own business, said Jim VandeHei in Axios. “Anyone with a strong idea” can “model and prep a new business in a weekend.” When “Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz, and I started Axios in 2017, it took months to sketch it out, mock up designs, and scrub legal obstacles.” Artificial intelligence now can do that “in hours.” Describe your ideal setup to Claude or ChatGPT and it will immediately produce “an LLC or S Corp breakdown, a filing checklist, and a draft operating agreement.” Paste in the concept and it will conduct the market research, including “the existing players, pricing, and complaints.” AI will build the spreadsheets and forecasts, generate a logo and website, and email pitches. It will even help fine-tune your product, changing “how it looks or works in minutes.” The excuse for not starting a business was always the cost of capital. There’s no excuse anymore.

Age shouldn’t be an obstacle to entrepreneurship either, said Daniel Akst in The Wall Street Journal. At 67, “I retired from a career in business journalism only to start a small publishing enterprise of my own.” Launching a startup “in retirement may sound like an oxymoron,” but the work “can be more of a feature than a bug.” You can decide for yourself “whether to keep things small or build a modest empire,” becoming only “as busy as you want to be.” Some of my retired friends “now find themselves bored or underoccupied.” That’s something you won’t experience as a startup founder. And for young people feeling increasingly unloved in this job market, “the new promise is ownership,” said Arielle Pardes in The Guardian. Gen Z founders say launching a startup gives them “a sense of control” they couldn’t otherwise get from a corporate career. Some are also turning to entrepreneurship “in the form of side hustles or backup plans.” AI makes up “for the skills they don’t yet have, offering tools and platforms they can put to use, and allowing them to do more things at once.”

It’s now conceivable that a one- or two-person team can run a $1 billion business, said Erin Griffith in The New York Times. With today’s AI, entrepreneurs can “expand their startups to an enormous scale at breathtaking speed” while needing very few actual workers. Take the case of Medvi, a telehealth provider of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, which was started in 2024 by Matthew Gallagher and his younger brother. Gallagher, 41, “used AIto write the code for the software that powers his company, produce the website copy, generate the images and videos for ads, and handle customer service.” With the help of only “some contractors,” Medvi booked $401 million in sales in 2025 and is on track to do $1.8 billion this year. But the efficiency has a downside. “I kind of want to hire people,” Gallagher said. “I’m lonely.”

With many police officers across the U.S. wearing body cameras, a cottage industry of YouTube channels streaming police interactions on bodycams has sprung up. These videos rack up thousands or even millions of views. But some law enforcement experts consider them exploitative.

How do these channels operate?

Bodycam channels all get their content “from the same basic model: Someone uses public records requests to obtain video from police arrests, lightly edits the video, adding maybe a brief AI narration or captions, and then hits ‘publish,’” said Vox. Many of the videos involve DUIs or intoxicated people “yelling, speeding, throwing things, hitting cops” and then “being arrested while crying, screaming, spitting and so on.” The channels also document “people being arrested for just about anything, from shoplifting to murder and kidnapping cases.”

Many of these channels do big numbers. One of them, Code Blue Cam, averages “over 10 million views a video and has totaled more than a billion across hundreds of videos,” while another called Midwest Safety “has totaled over 1.5 billion views,” said Vox. The channels claim to publish bodycam footage “based on their significance, the clarity of the footage and whether the interaction offers meaningful insight into how officers respond under pressure,” the owner of Code Blue Cam, who goes by LJ, told Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR).

Why are people concerned?

Many experts say the people uploading these videos “usually aren’t on a crusade for justice. They are interested in having footage of someone’s shoplifting arrest rack up millions of views for profit,” said Vox. The most viral videos “can be devastating for their subjects, damaging relationships with family and friends, frustrating job searches and scarring psyches,” said Intelligencer. And because bodycam footage is often public record, the people in the videos generally “have little legal recourse: Claims of defamation and false light,” the legal term for invasion of privacy, are “extremely difficult to prove.”

For victims, the “experience of having their worst moments broadcast to millions of strangers on the internet” can be “devastating,” said WPR, especially since they are often uncensored and include defendants’ real names. Women and people of color are most heavily featured, according to researchers. At least one bodycam channel came under scrutiny because it “only requested DWI stops involving young women, some being underage,” said WPVI-TV Philadelphia. Women are disproportionately seen, even though “some 80% of DUIs are committed by men,” said Intelligencer.

These channels also have a financial component. Code Blue Cam earns about $325,000 monthly, according to YouTube analytics tracker VidIQ. Many of the channels additionally “feature a list of affiliate links to earn commission from viewers purchasing products like security and dash cameras,” said WPR.

Some police departments are starting to fight back. Officials in Spokane County, Washington, recently passed a resolution “fee of 78 cents per minute of time it takes staff to obscure portions” of bodycam footage “that state law says should not be public,” said The Spokesman-Review. The fee is “intended to deter social media creators who make voluminous requests for footage.” The Illinois House of Representatives is also considering a bill that would “allow police to deny video requests from internet sites and social media channels,” said the Daily Herald.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to tacos. There are so many regional specialties and choices to be made — crunchy shell or soft, what type of filling, which toppings, and what style of salsa to add.

Los Angeles is one place where all this bounty collides. The city is home to thousands of taquerías, taco trucks and stands, many of them owned by immigrants, where hungry diners queue for perfect bites of al pastor, carne asada and carnitas wrapped in freshly made tortillas. These nine spots are just a few of the places Angelenos head to when the mood for a satisfying taco strikes.

Carnitas El Momo

Pork is the star of the show at Carnitas El Momo, where the Michoacán-style carnitas tacos “shine the brightest on the menu,” said The Infatuation. Before you place your order, you’ll be hit by the “intoxicating” scent of “fried pork in bubbling cauldrons,” cooked in lard and seasoned with a “secret blend of spices.” The meat — choose from shoulder, belly, skin or a combination of all three — is so “obscenely rich” that the best way to top your tacos is simply with some pickled jalapeños, lime or “smoky” salsa verde.

El Cocinero

The focus at El Cocinero, the San Fernando Valley’s first Mexican vegan restaurant, is imparting a “rich, soulful flavor” to the soy alternatives used instead of meat, L.A. Taco editor Javier Cabral told Bon Appétit. Each piece undergoes an “intense seasoning” and “heavy fry,” and though all of the plant-based options are “delicious,” the vegan chicharrón taco is the most impressive. Traditional fried pork rinds are replaced with soy curls cooked to have an “amazing crunch” and the same “satisfying, umami-forward flavors” of a traditional chicharrón.

Holbox and Chichen Itza

Holbox serves some of the "highest quality and most beautifully prepared seafood" in all of Los Angeles, said the New York Times. The menu changes based on the season and catch, but expect tacos stuffed with shrimp, Hokkaido diver scallops, vermilion rockfish, octopus and kanpachi.

Holbox is located inside the Mercado La Paloma food hall in South Los Angeles, next to its sister restaurant Chichén Itzá. The seafood game is also strong at this Yucatán-inspired spot, and while the hearty tacos de pescado with flaky fried fish are great, fans love the "succulent" cochinita pibil (achiote-seasoned pork) tacos with pickled red onions, said Condé Nast Traveler.

Mariscos Jalisco

At lunchtime, the crowds head to Mariscos Jalisco, one of the “pioneering” taco trucks that dot Olympic Boulevard in Boyle Heights, said the Los Angeles Times. The taco de camarón is what lures diners and keeps them returning. These “golden” tacos are filled with crispy shrimp that emerge from the fryer “tender at the center and crisped on the edges.” Each one is topped with salsa and avocado, which together add bright creaminess.

Sonoratown

The made-in-house flour tortillas at Sonoratown set this taqueria apart. They are “so paper-thin you can almost see through them,” Cabral told Bon Appétit. Lard makes them chewy, and the “first bite feels different than any other taco in the city.” Everything here is cooked in Sonoran style, that is over a mesquite grill, and the meat has a “slight crisp to it.” The costilla asada taco is a standout, thanks to a “unique” cut of rib meat that’s tender and juicy.

Tacos Don Cuco

With carne asada, pollo asada, chorizo, tripa and al pastor on the menu, it’s “difficult to go wrong” with Tacos Don Cuco’s meat options, said the Los Angeles Times. Tacos are prepared Tijuana-style, and the meat is cooked over mesquite coals before being sliced to order and placed in a fresh corn tortilla. The thick adobada, or marinated pork, does have the edge, as it gets “caramelized and crispy” and “garners even more smokiness off the mesquite grill.”

Tacos Los Guichos

When you walk up to the Tacos Los Guichos taco cart, you’ll be greeted by “glistening” trompos (vertical rotisseries) of the “absolute best al pastor” around, said TimeOut. Expect “sweet, porky nirvana” in the form of “beautifully charred” and “slightly smoky” shaved al pastor, which manages to taste even better when “anointed” by either the “delicious” salsa verde or “subtly fiery” salsa roja. You can only order the al pastor after 5 p.m., but it’s worth fighting traffic to get there on time (it helps that Tacos Los Guichos is at a tire shop right off the 110 freeway).

Tacos y Birria La Unica

You can find a birria truck on “practically every corner of Los Angeles,” but none are like Tacos y Birria La Unica, said Eater. It specializes in shredded goat and shredded beef birria, cooked in a “rich, herbal stew.” The meat is served in a variety of ways, with the quesataco (crunchy taco with cheese) a popular choice. Do not skip the consomé — you will want to dip your tacos in the savory broth.

‘Plant viruses could threaten your coffee, chocolate and wine’

Anna E. Whitfield, Julie K. Pfeiffer and Terence S. Dermody at The Hill

Coffee, chocolate and wine are “woven into daily life and global economies,” say Anna E. Whitfield, Julie K. Pfeiffer and Terence S. Dermody. But the “plants that make these pleasures possible are increasingly under threat from plant viruses.” The “same forces driving viral outbreaks in coffee, cacao and grapes also threaten staple crops that underpin global food security.” Coffee, chocolate and wine’s “vulnerability is a reminder that plant health underlies far more of daily life than we tend to notice.”

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‘RFK Jr.’s move on peptides ignores serious risks’

Eli Thompson at USA Today

RFK Jr. “announced that he would force the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider a ban on peptides,” but as he “pushes to make these unregulated drugs easier to access, the trend is already here,” says Eli Thompson. These “substances, which were once only used by serious bodybuilders or in medical settings, are now part of everyday conversation.” This “shift is happening quickly,” and Americans “need to find a way to make peptides less attractive to young men.”

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‘As 2028 approaches, America needs ranked choice voting more than ever’

Jamie Raskin at The Guardian

Democrats “must act shrewdly to advance party rules of our own that promote majority rule, interracial political solidarity and the power of the voters,” says Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). The “best tool to empower voters to make constructive choices among exciting new voices in such a crowded field is the mechanism of ranked choice voting.” Allowing “greater use of ranked choice voting in states where Democratic Party organizations choose it should be a slam dunk for DNC decision-makers.”

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‘Tokens are not the new billable hour (and confusing the two will be costly)’

Ravi Kumar S at Newsweek

For “decades, IT services companies were built on the simple production function of human effort, delivered through billable hours and the pyramid structure,” says Ravi Kumar S. But as AI “model interactions become more embedded into workflows, tokens emerge as the new production input reshaping the foundation of the services model.” If “token consumption continues to be treated as the primary metric, costs will scale linearly with demand without a corresponding return in business outcomes.”

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The rise of artificial intelligence depends on the construction of giant new data centers to supply the necessary computing power. But Americans do not want the facilities in their neighborhoods.

Backlash to data centers is “bipartisan and growing across the country,” said 404 Media. States and cities are outlawing the “noisy, power and water hungry buildings” in a fight that could “shape American politics for years to come.” Seven in 10 Americans oppose building a data center in their area, said Gallup, higher than the 53% who would oppose a nuclear plant nearby. Industry leaders are now fretting over their inability to win public opinion that is “increasingly aware and skeptical,” said Business Insider. The tech sector “hasn't done a good job of explaining itself,” said Flexential CEO Ryan Mallory, whose company develops and operates the data centers.

What did the commentators say?

The backlash to AI “could get very ugly,” Lila Shroff said at The Atlantic. A “record number of proposed projects” were canceled during the first quarter of this year after “local pushback.” In April, an Indianapolis councilman found a “NO DATA CENTERS” note under his doormat after somebody shot at his house 13 times.

The fights over data centers will likely only “intensify,” as the facilities “stimulate local economies” but also take “physical and environmental tolls” on the places they are built, said Shroff. And though AI opponents may not be able to stop Anthropic from distributing its Claude model, “they can raise concerns about new construction at a local city-council meeting.”

“Nobody wants this in their backyard,” Sara Pequeño said at USA Today. In Utah, officials overrode local opposition to approve a giant new center that will consume “more than two times the energy used in the entire state.” Rural areas across the country face similar proposals. Data centers are “almost certainly here to stay” because of the computing power needed to keep up with “our ever-growing reliance on AI.” But Americans “clearly don’t feel great” about having them nearby.

The “brewing populist resistance” to data centers is a “critical new front in the fight against tech-enabled authoritarianism,” Astra Taylor and Saul Levin said at The Guardian. A local fight over land use can double as opposition to “job-eating algorithms, distorting deep fakes and autonomous drone strikes.” It also portends the next big electoral fight. AI is “shaping up to be a key fault line” in both this year’s midterms and in 2028.

What next?

The canceled data center projects are “sapping confidence” among AI investors, the investment bank Jefferies said in note to clients, per Axios. The pushback could become a “financial liability for AI labs if it continues to curb access” to the computing power artificial intelligence requires, the outlet said.

The backlash movement has one notable new ally. Erin Brockovich, the activist portrayed in an Oscar-winning performance by Julia Roberts, has launched a new website tracking proposed and under-construction data centers. The map “captures the real-world footprint” of the AI race, she said on the site.

What happened

Veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi said Wednesday that CBS News had declined to renew her contract, six months after she clashed with newly installed network boss Bari Weiss over a segment on torture in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. According to Alfonsi, her “agent’s inquiries with CBS News over the past several weeks had been met with silence,” The New York Times said.

Who said what

After Weiss pulled the CECOT report, saying it needed an on-camera response from the Trump administration, Alfonsi said in a newsroom memo that the decision was “political” and Weiss was giving the government an editorial “kill switch.” The segment “eventually aired” with “minimal changes,” The Washington Post said, but the “newsroom firestorm” reverberated. In a statement Wednesday, Alfonsi said letting her contract lapse after nearly 20 years “was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting.”

What next?

Alfonsi “remains an at-will employee” at CBS, The Wall Street Journal said. An expected “re-engineering at ‘60 Minutes’” would be “a major gamble” for Weiss, the Times said. Weiss’ “other signature initiative, the remaking of ‘CBS Evening News,’ has suffered from low viewership and some embarrassing errors.”

What happened

Kenneth Iwamasa, actor Matthew Perry’s live-in assistant and the person who injected him with a fatal dose of ketamine in 2023, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison on Wednesday. Iwamasa was the last to be sentenced of five people who pleaded guilty in the case, apparently “bringing a yearslong legal saga to a close,” The New York Times said. Only “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha drew a longer sentence, at 15 years.

Who said what

Iwamasa was Perry’s “enabler, drug messenger and de facto doctor,” The Associated Press said. Wednesday’s hearing was “largely a debate” over the “level of responsibility that can be put on the employee of a powerful person when addiction is in the mix.” Iwamasa’s lawyers asked for six months, but the judge matched the recommendation from prosecutors, who said the assistant “violated his position of trust” but also became their most important informant. “Matthew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny,” Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, said in a letter to the court. “Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction.”

What next?

Iwamasa was ordered to report to prison on July 17. His sentence also included two years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine.

What happened

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the magazine columnist who won $88.3 million in civil judgments against President Donald Trump after federal juries found he sexually abused her and defamed her by lying about the assault, CNN and other news organizations reported Wednesday. The investigation reportedly centers on whether Carroll committed perjury in a 2022 deposition when she said her lawsuit received no outside funding.

Who said what

Two weeks before the 2023 trial, Carroll’s lawyers informed the judge and Trump’s lawyers that billionaire Reid Hoffman’s nonprofit had paid some of her legal expenses. The judge “permitted Trump’s attorneys to question Carroll again in a deposition,” but “said he saw no issue with Carroll’s credibility,” CNN said. In 2024, a three-judge federal panel handling Trump’s appeals “dismissed the claim that Carroll had lied in her deposition,” The Guardian said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who “has approved a growing number of inquiries into the president’s enemies,” is “said to have recused himself” from this matter because he represented Trump in the case, The New York Times said. Instead, senior Justice Department leaders “referred the investigation to federal prosecutors in Chicago,” where Hoffman’s nonprofit is based, said CNN.

What next?

The probe “may not necessarily result in charges being brought against Carroll,” Reuters said. But if it does, said ABC News, a number of the DOJ’s investigations “into foes of Trump” have “faced significant obstacles in the courts and grand juries.”

Lena Dunham “crashed into public consciousness” in 2012 when the first season of her comedy-drama “Girls” – often described as the millennial “Sex and the City” – aired on HBO/Sky Atlantic, said Sarah Ditum in The Times. The show “made her very, very famous” – the kind of fame which involved her face appearing on “building-sized billboards” – and “that in turn made her very, very hated”.

Dunham was attacked for many things – for embodying white privilege, for having the wrong body shape – and that “barracking” profoundly damaged her mental and physical health.

In this “melancholic” memoir, Dunham documents a seemingly unending range of afflictions. These include colitis, endometriosis, opioid addiction, “constant gynaecological issues”, OCD and PTSD, said Hannah J. Davies in The Guardian. At one point, she “accidentally sets herself on fire”; there’s also a horrifying incident involving cotton buds. Dunham isn’t always an easy person to feel sorry for – her decisions are “questionable”, and her name-dropping is shameless – but she writes honestly and fluently, and has a rare ability to discuss the “painful parts of life in a way that feels both intimate and universal”.

Weaving together the “funny, the heartbreaking and the grotesque”, this book (Dunham’s second memoir after 2014’s “Not That Kind of Girl”) “confirms her talents as a writer of prose as well as scripts”, said Hannah Williams in the Financial Times.

The strongest chapters are those that focus on “Girls”, which “time has cemented” as one of the most notable shows of the past two decades. Later on, the book becomes “a little bloated” and repetitive. “But in its portrayal of the ecstasy, heartbreak and sheer thrill of what it is to be young and lost, ‘Famesick‘ reaffirms Dunham’s status as a generational voice.”

Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based biotech company known for its de-extinction agenda and previous claims about genetically engineering dire wolves, has successfully hatched 26 chicks from artificial eggs. The company now hopes to use the technology to bring back extinct birds, including the dodo and the giant moa. But skeptics say de-extinction is not possible and the company may be overstating its claims.

A whole new bird

Eggs are a biological wonder. They are the “largest single cell of any species” and a “self-contained engine of incubation, doing away with the need for a living womb to keep a growing organism safe,” said Time. Because of eggs’ unique properties, artificially engineering them is a difficult task. However, Colossal Biosciences has managed to 3D-print artificial eggs with a “semi-permeable, silicone-based membrane housed inside a rigid hexagonal support cup,” said the company in a release. The membrane was “engineered to replicate the gas-exchange function of a natural eggshell — allowing oxygen to pass through while retaining moisture and blocking contaminants.”

The company released a video showing the hatching chicks. Researchers “took recently laid chicken eggs and carefully poured their contents into the artificial shells, where they continued growing,” said MIT Technology Review. A “window on top lets researchers peek inside.” To “see them all moving around in their artificial eggs was absolutely mind-blowing,” said Andrew Pask, Colossal Biosciences’ chief biology officer, to the outlet. “You really feel you can grow life outside of the womb.”

“Artificial egg” may be a misnomer, according to some. “You’ve poured in all the other parts that make it an egg. It’s an artificial eggshell,” said Vincent Lynch, an evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo, to CBS News. In addition, “producing a chick from an artificial vessel is not necessarily new,” said Nicola Hemmings, who studies bird reproductive biology at the UK’s University of Sheffield, to CBS News. In the past, scientists “used cruder technology to create transparent eggshells that hatched chicks from plastic films or sacks,” mainly to “study chicken development and glean insights that can also be applied to other mammals and even humans,” said CBS News.

A crack at de-extinction

The company’s artificial shell is just a first step in larger de-extinction plans. Colossal Biosciences’ ultimate goal is to bring back extinct birds like the giant moa or dodo. The egg’s design is “variable in size” and “scalable from hummingbird-egg dimensions down to the soccer-ball-sized eggs of the South Island giant moa, which once stood nearly 12 feet tall,” said the release.

Before the company can resurrect an extinct species, “scientists will need to genetically engineer bird DNA at a much earlier stage,” said National Geographic. “Once the fertilized egg is laid, the embryo already has around 50,000 cells — that’s way too many cells to bioengineer,” Hans Cheng, a retired molecular geneticist who teaches at Michigan State University, told the outlet.

Colossal Biosciences previously claimed it revived the extinct dire wolf and hopes to resurrect species like the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger. The company has also suggested its technology could support conservation efforts but included “no data or peer-reviewed scientific publications” in its release about the hatching chicks, “making it difficult to independently assess the claim,” said Nic Rawlence, an associate professor in ancient DNA at the University of Otago, at The Conversation. “If the technology lives up to the hype, it won’t be a silver bullet or panacea to stopping species declines, but it might just help.”

“Drake is looking to chart dominance to turn the page on one of the most infamous rap battles in music history,” said Ethan Millman in The Hollywood Reporter. Two weeks ago, the Canadian singer-rapper surprised even his fans when he released not one but three albums in a single day, bidding to become the first artist since Michael Jackson to simultaneously hold the first three slots on Billboard’s album chart. It’s impossible not to read the move as Drake’s response to his decisive loss to Kendrick Lamar in a 2024 rap beef that culminated with Lamar enlisting an entire Super Bowl halftime audience to join him in slurring Drake as a pedophile. Drake has sued over the accusation while now daring to tie himself to Jackson, even creating an album cover that shows a hand wearing one of the crystal-covered gloves that once belonged to the deceased accused pedophile. None of this fully makes sense, except that the album rollout is pushback, and whenever people debate who this century’s greatest rapper is, the argument for Drake “goes down to his pure commercial dominance.”

Drake’s three-album onslaught “does more than attempt a comeback,” said Jeff Ihaza in Rolling Stone. “It takes on the Herculean task of reframing the argument entirely.” On the tracks “Ran to Atlanta” and “2 Hard 4 the Radio,” both on the lead album, Iceman, the 39-year-old adopts Atlanta and West Coast sounds so effectively that he upends Lamar’s authenticity diss: that a mixed-race, middle-class rapper from Toronto had no business in the game. Meanwhile, Drake reignites at least a dozen beefs, comparing Lamar to Muggsy Bogues, the shortest NBA player ever, and lashing out at Jay-Z, A$AP Rocky, Dr. Dre, DJ Khaled, and even LeBron James. Across the record’s 69 minutes, though, “the bickering feels tedious.” Better is Habibti, an 11-song album that “finds Drake in romantic territory, embracing the R&B lover boy that audiences first came to love.” Meanwhile, the groove-centric Maid of Honour is “his strongest work since More Life,” released in 2017. From “Hoe Phase” on, Maid of Honour finds Drake “engaging deeply with niche Black regional sounds” and converting those sounds into so many bangers that the borrowing he’s been slagged for is “reframed as a form of cultural fluency.”

“Say what you want about Drake, but music needs someone like him right now,” said Steffanee Wang in The Fader. “A hateable target is one way to look at it; more generously, Drake’s an incredible showman.” No matter how high he ranks among the most streamed artists in the world—third behind Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift—he always acts as if he’s an underdog who needs to go nuclear when he releases solo music. And the strategy works. “Maybe it’s not Drake we wanted, but it’s Drake we got,” and “at least the public is talking for once, together, like we used to.”

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Manil Suri’s new memoir, A Room in Bombay, describes his coming of age in a single room that he shared with his parents before his move to the U.S. at age 20. Below, the author of the award-winning novel The Death of Vishnu recommends six books set in Indian cities.

‘The Heart is a Shifting Sea’ by Elizabeth Flock (2018)

With surprisingly candid reportage, Flock tracks the lives of three middle-class couples as they navigate life in a newly globalized Mumbai. Each couple finds that the notion of love, so romanticized in Bollywood movies, must be forged into something more practical if they are to survive the city’s myriad challenges. Buy it here.

‘Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal’ by Sandip Roy (2026)

A fascinating account of Chapal Bhaduri, one of the last iconic female impersonators in Kolkata. In a series of interviews, Chapal takes us from memories of his mother through the rise and fall of his career. A must for understanding how attitudes toward gender and sexuality have evolved in India’s larger cities. Buy it here.

‘The Sari Shop’ by Rupa Bajwa (2004)

Bajwa transports you into the heart of Amritsar, with its glitzy bazaars, dusty slums, and plush mansions. The story she weaves, about the widening gap between India’s classes, is ultimately devastating. Sadly, such stories still play out repeatedly in every corner of the country. Buy it here.

‘Ghachar Ghochar’ by Vivek Shanbhag (2017)

India has deep literary traditions in several regional languages, and this delicious novella, translated from Kannada, is a perfect amuse-bouche. The narrator’s family has moved to an affluent part of Bengaluru, and their attempts to head off meddling outsiders are at times subtle, at times pugnacious, but always hilarious. Buy it here.

‘Land Where I Flee’ by Prajwal Parajuly (2013)

Amma’s grandkids travel to remote and hilly Gangtok (a city “infested with stairs”) to celebrate her 84th birthday. Everyone has an acid tongue and brims with spiteful resentment. The resulting snark-fest makes this one of the funniest Indian novels I’ve ever read. Buy it here.

‘The Painter of Signs’ by R.K. Narayan (1976)

This classic work by one of the founding fathers of Indian fiction is set, like most of his novels, in the unhurried fictional town of Malgudi. Narayan’s bittersweet love story about a hapless painter’s crush on an emotionally distant social worker has lost none of its humor, relevance, or unconventionality. Buy it here.

‘This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History’ by Beverly Gage

“In one obvious respect, This Land Is Your Land is perfectly timed,” said Jennifer Szalai in The New York Times. Our country’s looming semiquincentennial inspired historian Beverly Gage to embark on the “companionable” national tour she chronicles here. In 2023 and 2024, the Pulitzer Prize– winning author visited roughly 300 historical sites associated with particular events, choosing to focus on just 13, which she presents in chronological order. Because Gage avoids venerating or condemning her countrymen for past deeds, “what comes through is how complicated and just plain weird a lot of American history is.” The sites she visits are “often marked by contradiction,” which Gage “highlights to powerful effect.” And while her accounts of past events are never divisive, “as a historian, she knows that none of the attempts to fulfill the Declaration’s promise of freedom and equality has ever come easily.”

To anyone expecting an old-fashioned American road trip, with all the minor misadventures such journeys entail, “you’ll be disappointed,” said Ceci Browning in The Times (U.K.). As a guide to the story of the nation as told by its historic sites, though, “it’s pretty great.” Gage begins her tour in Philadelphia at the Museum of the American Revolution, which, she notices, lavishes more attention on George Washington’s tent than the thousands of soldiers he camped alongside. At Washington’s Mount Vernon home, barely a mention is made in the main tour of the people he enslaved. Gage admires the National Women’s Hall of Fame, in Seneca Falls, N.Y., but points out that it’s housed not in a majestic building but in a former sock factory. Does she end up making sense of the American story? “She certainly shows that ‘sense’ of any kind is getting harder and harder to come by” as the sites of many important events either venerate or condemn, simplifying history to make it easier for tourists to absorb.

Though Gage is “an accomplished historian and capable writer,” said Charles Lane in The Wall Street Journal, her “warts-and-all look at the American past dwells, a bit predictably, on the warts.” When the time comes to cover World War II, for example, she takes readers to the remnants of a Japanese internment camp and the atomic bomb testing site in Los Alamos, N.M. “If Gage wanted some celebratory leaven,” she’d have had plenty of options, including, say, the many sites in Dayton, Ohio, devoted to the Wright Brothers. But credit Gage for finding a fresh way to tell a history of the U.S., said Edmund Fawcett in the Financial Times. And while she does her best to stay hopeful, it’s clearly a struggle, given the dour mood of the nation amid its 250th year.

‘Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health’ by Roxanne Khamsi

“People tend to assume that the genes we inherit from our parents are a fixed blueprint for our growth and development,” said Jerome Groopman in The New Yorker. But medical researchers are increasingly interested in the ways our DNA is forever changing, and in Beyond Inheritance, science journalist Roxanne Khamsi “provides a useful guide to this body of research and its far-reaching implications.” Advances in DNA sequencing have revealed that of the 30 trillion cells in the human body, about 4 million are replaced every second, requiring 4 million copies of a code that’s many billions of letters long. Eventually, errors slip in, errors that accumulate. These can be harmful, producing cancer, while some have real benefits.

Still, Khamsi’s “disquieting” book vividly reveals the battle that our cells are forever waging against one another, said David A. Shaywitz in The Wall Street Journal. Cancers begin with a single mutant cell whose offspring compete for dominance while acquiring additional mutations that can render them resistant to medication. As even healthy-seeming people age, they accumulate mutant blood cells that have a growth advantage over healthy cells. This makes many seniors far more susceptible to blood cancers, heart attacks, and strokes. Mutant cells in the aging brain, meanwhile, appear to contribute to cognitive decline. At times, Khamsi “seems almost apologetic for the dismal message she carries,” but, from birth, a process is unfolding within us that will kill us if nothing else does sooner.

“It isn’t all bad news,” said Michael Le Page in New Scientist. Khamsi’s “most astonishing chapter” describes how mutations sometimes correct inherited conditions, including the rare immunological disorder associated with babies who must live in protective bubbles. Still, “helpful mutations are the exception rather than the rule,” and there’s apparently no escaping the damaging ones. Khamsi “doesn’t go on to draw what seems the obvious conclusion: that the only way to dramatically extend lifespans is to redesign the human genome to massively reduce the mutation rate.” While the resulting new beings may look like us, however, they’ll “no longer be human.”

The “AI slopification of music” is here, said Ece Yildirim in Gizmodo. It’s gotten so difficult to decipher which songs are human-made and which are synthetically produced by artificial intelligence that Spotify, the world’s largest audio-streaming service, announced recently it’s going to append a “verification badge” on trusted artists’ pages. It stopped short, however, of an AI ban. That would have hurt outfits like the Velvet Sundown—an indie band that garnered millions of streams on Spotify last summer. Fans later learned that the group was “completely AI-generated,” including a phony album cover featuring the smiling faces of four fake members. Another music streaming platform, Deezer, reported recently that “44% of its daily uploads were AI-generated songs,” and an “overwhelming majority of people couldn’t tell AI-generated music apart from songs written and performed by actual humans.” Humans have been making music for 35,000 years. But AI could be about to end our run.

Billboard allowing fake artists on its charts isn’t helping, said Peter A. Berry in Bloomberg. For 113 years, the music and entertainment brand has served as an “institutional gatekeeper,” and its rankings were always a “competition between human beings and the limits they naturally possess.” But in November, Billboard opened its hallowed charts to nonhumans for the first time, allowing streams of songs by AI performers like country music act Breaking Rust and R&B singer Xania Monet to count alongside Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. If Billboard wants to create a separate chart for AI creations, fine. But humans shouldn’t be “competing against machines” that can “generate abilities that aren’t naturally there.”

“The flood of AI music shows no signs of abating,” said Terrence O’Brien in The Verge, and it won’t as long as platforms keep allowing it. “In survey after survey, public opinion toward AI music is pretty unfavorable,” with people most worried about synthetic artists degrading the music. But “companies are hesitant to penalize AI use in part because they expect it to become a standard tool in the industry” as more artists start to incorporate it into their creative processes in some form.

Eventually, it will be impossible to separate music-based AI use, said Nathan Brackett in Rolling Stone. Because “behind closed doors,” AI tools are “creeping into the workflows of top producers, songwriters, and artists.” Mikey Shulman, CEO of AI music creation platform Suno, compares it to Ozempic: “Everybody is on it, and nobody wants to talk about it.” Most musicians aren’t using AI to generate entire songs from scratch. But producers will, for example, “make funk and soul samples out of AI, rather than license original music or hire musicians.” And that means “for every task that AI streamlines, there might be someone” who used to fill that role “who isn’t paid anymore.”

You vowed till death do us part at the altar — but does that have to extend to your money, too? Not necessarily.

Increasingly, many married couples are opting to keep their finances separate, at least to some extent. “Between 1996 and 2023, the share of married homeowners with financial assets who held at least one joint account, such as a checking or savings account, dropped from 85% to 77%,” said The Washington Post, citing Census Bureau data. Instead, “couples are opting for individual accounts alongside or instead of shared ones.”

There are definite pros to this approach. But there are also downsides, and couples should consider both before deciding to go financially solo.

Pro: provides greater financial independence and protection

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons couples decide to keep separate accounts is to maintain some sense of independence — and in the case of divorce, to have an easier path out. Having a separate account as an “emergency fund” allows you to “protect yourself if your relationship turns sour,” said U.S. Bank. It also ensures that you avoid a “common scenario where a partner legally drains a joint account without the other’s knowledge.”

Con: detracts from financial alignment and transparency

As the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work, and merging finances can encourage that. “Instead of keeping a running tally of who spent what or operating their married lives like they are college roommates,” couples who share accounts “tend to focus on their collective needs, supporting one another without worrying about an immediate or equal payback,” said the Post. Plus, shared ownership ensures that both partners are aware of and have access to the full financial picture.

Pro: minimizes conflicts over spending

“Nobody wants to scold or nag, but it’s hard to hold your tongue when your significant other is a spendthrift — or its opposite, a penny-pincher,” said TIAA. While at least some level of financial alignment is integral to a marriage, separate accounts give both spouses a bit more breathing room when it comes to discretionary purchases.

Con: makes covering bills and expenses more complicated

When there is just one pool of money to tap for costs of living, it is straightforward to simply hit “pay.” But when the funds are divided between different accounts, it takes more figuring out. While certainly possible to navigate, couples with separate accounts will “need a system for splitting monthly bills, whether through regular transfers, payment apps or rotating responsibility,” said SoFi.

Pro: keeps separate debts separate

If you “wind up merging all your finances — credit cards, too — you could be on the hook for your partner’s spending habits,” said Bankrate. This may leave your hard-earned money on the line, not to mention it can impact your credit score, if your spouse falls behind on making debt payments. A separate account will shield you from that liability.

Con: makes money more difficult to access in an emergency

With a joint account, “by having each of you listed as an authorized account holder, you won’t need to jump through any hoops to access your money if the other is unavailable,” said Bankrate. However, when your accounts are all separate, “if one partner becomes incapacitated, the other may struggle to access needed funds,” said SoFi.

CBS needed a replacement after controversially canceling “The Late Show” hosted by Stephen Colbert and found a longstanding media name to fill the gap: Byron Allen, a billionaire industry mainstay whose “Comics Unleashed” panel comedy show ran in syndication from 2006 to 2016 and is now running in place of “The Late Show.” But unlike Colbert, Allen, who began his career in standup, has vowed to shy away from political humor.

Comedy roots

Allen, 65, was born in Detroit and eventually moved to Los Angeles with his mother. At a young age, he had an obsession with “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and at 18 became “one of the youngest comedians to perform stand-up on Carson’s show, making his debut on May 17, 1979, a week before graduating high school,” said CNN.

He eventually transitioned from the stage to a behind-the-scenes role and soon “developed a business model that would define his career: producing reality shows and selling them directly to local stations,” said CNN. Allen founded his eponymous company, Allen Media Group, in 1993 and currently “owns over a dozen ABC, CBS and NBC network-affiliate broadcast television stations around the country, 10 24-hour HD television networks and multiple digital streaming platforms,” said USA Today. He also owns The Weather Channel and recently “acquired a ‘majority stake’ in BuzzFeed.”

‘I’m not trying to replace him’

When it was announced in July 2025 that Colbert‘s show would be ending, Allen originally “urged CBS to ‘not put on another show’ if it went through with canceling the cancellation,” instead offering to buy the block of time, said NBC News. Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” ran in syndication from 2006 to 2016 before being slotted in to take over “The Late Show.” Under his deal with CBS, Allen “leases the hour and sells the advertising inventory himself.”

In another departure, Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” focuses “strictly on comedy and roundtable storytelling with no political content,” said NJ.com. Colbert was known for his humor revolving around President Donald Trump (many feel his cancellation was politically motivated, an accusation CBS denies). “I’m not trying to replace Colbert. I don’t think anybody can replace Colbert. I think he’s phenomenal,” Allen said to The Guardian.

There is “nothing like it on TV right now where you have five comedians sitting around with one purpose: making people laugh,” Allen told The Guardian of his show. When Allen “first started doing the show, and I’ve had on over 1,000 comedians, I said, ‘No political humor, nothing racist, nothing sexist, nothing antisemitic, nothing homophobic, just be funny.’” Allen has also claimed that people are okay with not hearing political humor in late-night.

“Would you have interest to look at news that was recorded a month ago or two months ago? That news is long gone,” Allen said to The Guardian. “So why do you want to hear about the political news from eight weeks earlier?” Allen claims that “Comics Unleashed” is already making a profit for CBS (the network cited financial reasons for axing Colbert’s show). Despite the controversy, the late-night slot is an opportunity Allen has long wanted. “If they are looking for a show, my hand is already up,” Allen said in October 2025 to Variety. “Fifty years I have been waiting for this moment.”

The benefits of bird-watching are plenty — it’s relaxing, can offer a mental-health boost, gets you outside in the fresh air, teaches you about new types of species and helps you focus. Start in your backyard or local park, then consider these eight global hot spots, where opportunities to zero in on avian splendor are plentiful.

Cape Town, South Africa

The Cape sugarbird, Cape rockjumper, orange-breasted sunbird and bank cormorant are some of the endemic birds that draw nature lovers to Cape Town. The best place to do serious birding is Strandfontein Sewage Works, where visitors “may count more than 50 species on any given morning,” said Afar. Flamingos, African marsh harriers and Cape longclaws all gather in and around the ponds, and in the summer grey and purple herons arrive in droves.

Colombia

Nearly 2,000 avian species call Colombia’s mountains, forests and beaches home, making the country a “veritable paradise” for birders, said Forbes. Don’t overlook the cities, either; Cartagena is an “underrated gem for avitourism” and a great “jumping-off point” for birding adventures.

Ekoparque Luna Forest is “prime territory” for the chestnut-winged chachalaca, a species endemic to the Colombian Caribbean, and the tropical dry forest at Santuario de Flora y Fauna Los Colorados is home base for the scarlet macaw, Amazon kingfisher and rose-breasted grosbeak.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s rainforests offer varied bird-watching experiences. Quetzals dwell in the “ethereal cloud forests,” said Travel and Leisure, while red-capped manakins live in the lowland tropical rainforest.

A “great” destination for bird-watching is Carara National Park on the central Pacific coast, where tropical dry forests and humid rainforests meet. Birds from both environments, like scarlet macaws, toucans and herons, live here. On the Caribbean coast, discover “abundant wildlife” in Cahuita National Park. Visitors can walk a five-mile forest hiking trail and experience the chance to see kingfishers, hawks and green ibis.

Daintree Rainforest, Australia

More than half of Australia’s bird species live in Daintree Rainforest, and bird-watchers from “all over the world” come here for a “day, or even a week, of bird-spotting,” said Time Out. This is the oldest continually surviving rainforest on Earth — it’s estimated to be more than 180 million years old — and “wing-watchers” flock here to search for the “elusive” flightless Southern cassowary. There are more than a dozen endemics to keep an eye out for, including the pied monarch, Macleay’s honeyeater and Victoria’s riflebird.

Everglades National Park, Florida

Wading birds are “essential” residents of the Everglades, playing a vital role in Florida’s wetlands ecosystem, said Lonely Planet. Birders glide down the coastline in kayaks and canoes to watch “egrets, ibis and roseate spoonbills pick through the shallows for food,” and there are trails throughout the park offering views of birds like cormorants, warblers and nesting anhingas. One of the best times to visit is in mid-February, when swallow-tiled kites return from their winters in Central and South America.

Hokkaido, Japan

During winter, the bird-watching in Hokkaido is “spectacular,” said National Geographic Traveler. The “remarkable” red-crowned cranes can be found performing “elaborate mating dances against snowy landscapes,” while the Steller’s sea eagles dive into the chilly water for fish. The Blakiston’s fish owl is the rarest owl in Japan but often visits the Yoroushi onsen in the evening.

Manu National Park, Peru

What birds you see at Manu National Park depends on your elevation. When in the cloud forest, be on the lookout for the vibrant Andean cock-of-the-rock, quetzals, tanagers, horneros and parakeets.

Down in the lower parts of the park, you might spy the Amazon umbrellabird, or nesting nightjars and yellow-billed terns on the beaches along the Manu River. Go off the beaten path to “remote areas like the Huacarpay wetlands, home to nearly 60 resident species” like yellow-winged blackbirds and violetear hummingbirds, said Condé Nast Traveler.

Scottish Highlands

The “majestic” golden eagle, “elusive” capercaillie and “tiny” crested tit are some of the reasons why bird-watchers love the Scottish Highlands, said National Geographic Traveler. Spot ptarmigan, dotterel and snow bunting, “three high mountain specialists,” in Cairngorms National Park and Spey Valley, but prepare to put in some work — you will have to “trudge up mountains” and “search through pine forests to find them.” It’s worth it to spend time in the “spectacular” landscape, amid the “dense foliage,” and listen to the birdsong.

‘The steroid Olympics fell short of its own finishing line’

Anjana Ahuja at the Financial Times

The Enhanced Games in Las Vegas “were informally billed as the ‘steroid Olympics’” and the “edgy experiment was meant to shatter world records and force a rethink of what it means to be the strongest or fastest human on Earth,” says Anjana Ahuja. But the “thing that was most pumped up was the marketing.” The games were “performance enhancement as a kind of DEI initiative — and one that mostly served to make current ‘non-enhanced’ Olympians look more superhuman.”

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‘The Mali crisis could have a dangerous spillover effect’

Mohamed El Hajj Mahmoud El Talib at Al Jazeera

It “has been almost nine months since rebel groups imposed a fuel blockade on Mali’s capital Bamako” and the “present crisis is compounded by the weakening of the Malian state following the 2021 coup and foreign intervention,” says Mohamed El Hajj Mahmoud El Talib. In the “absence of any serious effort to address it, instability could spill over across the whole Sahel region.” The “ongoing humanitarian crisis could trigger a major migration wave toward Europe and North America.”

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‘What if some fears can’t be conquered?’

Katie Arnold-Ratliff at The Cut

When “undertaken with the help of a clinician,” exposure therapy’s “success rate is well-known to be high — estimated at up to 90%,” says Katie Arnold-Ratliff. But “‘success’ in this context means feeling a reduction in fear upon completion of the program, a definition that belies a difficult and underpublicized reality of ET: its positive effects frequently wane with time.” Though “few therapists lead with this truth, many patients chip away at their phobia for years, not days or weeks.”

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‘There’s a simple reason why I’m sure AI won’t achieve consciousness’

Noah Giansiracusa at Slate

AI chatbots “provide a convincing illusion of consciousness, but we know they are just a sequence of lifeless math calculations,” says Noah Giansiracusa. These chatbots are “estimated to have trillions of parameters” but “they are mere formulas.” It is “safe to say that a math formula written on a sheet of paper is not a conscious entity.” There is “no consciousness to discover here when you break down what is inside the machine that is AI.”

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Any path President Donald Trump takes to end the war with Iran is bound to generate a lot of dissatisfaction among his GOP supporters and advisers. Hawks like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) continue to “press for more aggressive U.S. military action,” Daniel R. DePetris said at the Los Angeles Times, and Republicans “consider anything short of Iran’s total surrender a failure.” But Trump’s in-house political strategists want a quick end to the unpopular war to “minimize political repercussions against the Republican Party” in November’s midterm elections. Trump clearly wants the deal that he keeps promising to the U.S. public, yet accomplishing that may put him at odds with Republicans who “would consider anything short of Iran’s total surrender a failure.”

‘A bad option and a worse one’

The president “seems conflicted,” said DePetris. He’s “fed up with the current situation” but also “afraid of escalation,” said Danny Citrinowicz, of The Atlantic Council, to The New Yorker. The president is “fed up with the current situation,” but he is also “afraid of escalation,” the Atlantic Council’s Danny Citrinowicz said in an interview with The New Yorker. Escalation probably will not work “because the Iranians are not going to capitulate.” The other option to end the war, then, is a deal that provides both money and sanctions relief to the Islamic regime in exchange for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s choices are “between a bad option and a worse one.”

“Will Trump bail out Iran’s regime?” The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial. Inflation pressures at home are likely behind the president’s desire to “reopen the Strait even on Iran’s terms.” But a “bad deal would leave him worse off politically” even if domestic prices recede. Iran’s regime was beset by domestic crises that the war has exacerbated. A “half victory” by Iran now “would hurt America’s standing — and Mr. Trump’s.”

The issue is not Trump “terminating the conflict too soon,” Jacob Heilbrunn said at The Spectator. It is “that he began it in the first place.” The war is undermining both his presidency and U.S. military power, and the idea that escalation would result in Iran’s surrender “defies credulity.” The ugly truth illustrated by the Hormuz closure is that Trump “does not hold the cards.”

‘Leaving core issues unsolved’

Trump is looking to get a ceasefire deal now and “deal with the toughest problems later,” said The New York Times. He took the same approach in Gaza, where he brokered a truce last year. That effort ended the fighting but left issues of Hamas’ future and the rebuilding of Gaza to be figured out at a later date. So far that has not happened. Such an approach can be a way for Trump to “claim victory while leaving the core issues unsolved.”

“Doubling down” on the war remains a possibility, Ravi Agrawal said at Foreign Policy. But that would come with “uncertain benefits” and “much more potential pain.” We may soon find out one way or another, as the U.S. on Monday conducted strikes on Iranian positions, a sign the temporary truce is faltering.

What happened

President Donald Trump on Tuesday spent more than three hours at Walter Reed Medical Center for his fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since returning to office last year. The White House did not release any details of the exam, but “everything checked out PERFECTLY,” Trump, who turns 80 next month, said on social media.

Who said what

Trump’s unusually frequent exams have put his health “under renewed public scrutiny after he has worked to dismiss concerns over his age and stamina,” The Associated Press said. He “frequently casts himself as more energetic and fitter than Joe Biden,” who left office at age 82 after “facing questions about his fitness for the job,” Reuters said.

Trump’s “health and fitness have been central to his political identity,” but as an “aging president, he now receives some of the same questions that dogged Biden — namely, whether he is mentally and physically fit” enough, The Washington Post said. “Independent doctors” have called the White House’s explanations for Trump’s bruised hands, neck rash, swollen legs and “occasional sleepiness” at meetings “insufficient.”

What next?

It was “not immediately clear whether the White House would release details” from Trump’s clinical exam to “support his claim” of good health, The New York Times said.

What happened

Republican redistricting efforts in Alabama and South Carolina were blocked Tuesday, stalling President Donald Trump’s mid-decade gerrymandering campaign. South Carolina’s GOP-led state Senate thwarted a plan to cancel an ongoing primary and swap in a new map that would erase the state’s lone Democratic and majority Black district. In Alabama, a panel of federal judges temporarily blocked the state GOP’s proposed map, saying it was “tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.”

Who said what

The 12 South Carolina GOP senators who “effectively killed” the Trump-backed gerrymander cited “numerous” concerns, from practical and political to procedural, said The Post and Courier. “Neither my conscience nor my common sense is going to let me stop an election that’s already underway,” state Sen. Richard Cash (R) said before the vote. The “rebuke from fellow Republicans came as a shock to Trump’s political operation,” Politico said. But “even without the extra seat” or two, Republicans “have an overall edge in the redistricting war.”

What next?

In Alabama, the three-judge panel, which includes two Trump appointees, said the state had to use a court-ordered 2024 map that includes two substantially Black districts. Alabama said it would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.

What happened

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary, unseating Sen. John Cornyn despite being outspent by about $80 million. Boosted by an “eleventh-hour endorsement” from President Donald Trump, Paxton’s 64% to 36% defeat of “one of the most successful politicians in Texas GOP history” was a “political earthquake” that “will reverberate nationally,” The Texas Tribune said. Senate Republicans and political analysts believe Paxton’s victory gives the Democratic candidate, state Rep. James Talarico, a fighting chance to win in November.

In notable Texas Democratic primaries Tuesday, former Rep. Colin Allred unseated Rep. Julie Johnson, newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee beat 11-term Rep. Al Green in a newly combined Houston-area district, and former sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia defeated sex therapist Maureen Galindo, a controversial candidate funded by a mysterious GOP-backed super PAC.

Who said what

Republicans just nominated “the most corrupt politician in America,” Talarico said Tuesday night, in his first ad of the general election. Paxton is “known for his polarizing style, ethical travails and lousy political judgment,” but his “fealty and bombast” won over Trump, The Wall Street Journal said in an op-ed. Republicans can now “spend $100 million or more trying to salvage the seat and keep their Senate majority.” Minutes after the race was called, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its Texas Senate forecast from “likely” to “lean” Republican.

What next?

Paxton has faced “allegations of corruption, financial malfeasance and infidelity,” The Washington Post said, but he “still stands a decent chance of winning” in solidly red Texas.

This week’s question: The discovery of a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal molar with a circular hole in it—possibly made by a drill-like stone tool—has led researchers to conclude that our ancient cousins practiced a primitive form of dentistry. If a researcher specializing in Stone Age tooth care were to open a dental clinic in the U.S., what should the business be named?

How to enter: Submissions should be emailed to contest@theweek.com. Please include your name, address, and daytime telephone number for verification; this week, please type “Dated dentistry” in the subject line. Entries are due by noon, Eastern Time, Tuesday, June 2. Winners will appear on the Puzzle Page of the June 12 issue and at theweek.com/contest on June 5. In the case of identical or similar entries, the first one received gets credit. All entries become property of The Week.

The winner gets a one-year subscription to The Week.

Click or tap here to see the winner of last week's contest: Waymo woes

Iran has signalled that any peace deal must include an end to Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon. But it’s unclear if the US could get Israel to agree to that, even if it wanted to.

Despite last month’s ceasefire, Israel has continued to pound Lebanon with airstrikes, killing at least 608 people, according to the World Health Organization. Yesterday, in response to a Hezbollah attack on its military posts, Israel launched one of its most intense waves of bombings, saying it had hit more than 100 Hezbollah targets. “I have ordered an even greater acceleration of our operations,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We will intensify our blows, increase our firepower, and we will crush them.”

What did the commentators say?

“Lebanon is in danger of becoming an overlooked but increasingly deadly sideshow”, as both Israel and Hezbollah violate the ceasefire, said Tom Kington in The Times. Israeli troops are occupying swathes of southern Lebanon, and won’t withdraw unless Hezbollah disarms. But the Iran-backed group says it won’t stop attacking Israeli positions until Israel withdraws. “The result has been a stand-off.”

Hezbollah is “waiting for a cue from Iran, which in turn depends on how Iran’s talks with the US go”, Michael Young, of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, told The Times. “If Iran emerges stronger from its clash with the US, Hezbollah will feel reinvigorated.” They will “be able to say they resisted and claim victory”. Meanwhile, Israel will be trying “to torpedo any deal”.

Washington is “pressuring” Lebanon’s leaders to disarm Hezbollah or else “face more Gaza-style destruction”, said Rami G. Khouri, a policy analyst at the American University of Beirut, in Al Jazeera. It has also “tied financial support” for the country’s reconstruction to “Beirut’s compliance with US-Israeli terms”. The Lebanese government faces “a disgruntled, deeply impoverished population, exasperated by relentless Israeli attacks”.

April’s ceasefire agreement heralded “weakened US-Israeli positions in the region”, as well as dealing “deep political blows” to Netanyahu and gifting “new diplomatic leverage” to Iran and Hezbollah. Having survived their “existential” battles and now pressing for permanent ceasefires, they could “weaken Israeli postures and help reshape Lebanon’s internal dynamics”.

“But far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition are pushing him to challenge” Donald Trump on the “ceasefire with Hezbollah”, said The Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison. “It is time for the prime minister to bang on Trump’s table and inform him that we are returning to war in Lebanon,” said Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, on social media. “There is an urgent need to put an end to the threat posed by Hezbollah’s explosive drones,” the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, posted on Telegram. Hezbollah has “ignored repeated requests to stop firing at Israel”, a US official told Reuters. Israel will never “​passively absorb attacks on its forces and civilians”.

But Tehran won’t accept such attacks on its proxy, either, Danny Citrinowicz, a Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council, told The New Yorker. Lebanon is of “real strategic importance” to Iran; Hezbollah is “a vital element” of its “so-called Axis of Resistance”. So Trump “has a mountain to climb”. If he wants an agreement with Iran, he will have to “force Netanyahu’s hand on Lebanon”.

What next?

On Friday, delegations from Israel and Lebanon will meet for direct talks in the US, in preparation for further negotiations on 2 and 3 June.

The shaky US-Iran ceasefire, meanwhile, is under increasing strain: Iran has said US strikes near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday were a “gross violation”, and validated its “deep suspicion”. The US said its attacks were “defensive”.

But “even if Lebanon is part of a US-Iran peace deal, the Lebanese people will be wary”, said Kington in The Times. After all, April’s Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran, supposedly included Lebanon – but Israel “denied this was the case and launched 100 attacks in a few minutes”.

Nobody knows how the phrase “Vedi Napoli e mori” (See Naples and die) came into being. The sentiment that once you have seen the beauties of Naples there is no need to go on is most commonly ascribed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on his grand tour of Italy in the 1780s. Goethe and I have little in common – just ask my GCSE German teacher – but it is a feeling that is easy to share. Indeed my first time in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius was much like the volcano itself: beguiling and beautiful but filled with noise, theatre and barely contained energy.

It is all the more surprising, then, that the most impressive hotel on the Naples waterfront achieves its effect not through a crescendo of Neapolitan drama and excess but through piano, or restraint. ROMEO Napoli is a hotel that exudes class, almost effortlessly, and in a city that is so turned up to 11, that quality alone is something of a luxury.

Why stay here?

The building has a history worthy of its surroundings. Once the headquarters of Achille Lauro’s legendary shipping fleet, the palazzo was entrusted to the late Pritzker prize-winning Japanese architect Kenzō Tange for a transformation that is stark and yet incorporates so much of what has gone before.

The result is a double skin of glass and steel rendered in an aquamarine shimmer, its gently undulating curves calling to mind the prow of a great vessel preparing to cast off. It is striking in the way that all great Italian suits are striking, in that you can’t quite take your eyes off it, but you’d struggle to explain why. Against the backdrop of Naples’ Unesco-listed historic centre, it somehow manages to stand entirely apart while remaining very much of its place.

Inside, the philosophy is one of “essentiality”, something I took to mean that while some of the art and decor could feel over the top, it instead feels perfectly appointed. Black marble floors and Macassar ebony flow through communal spaces and into the 77 rooms and suites, each a tightly composed study in materiality. All the mod-cons of the highest end hotels are here, while the bed has a comfort level that is usually reserved only for your own one at home.

The mostly monochromatic palette, punctuated with flashes of blood red and cobalt, lends the whole place a cinematic quality, like something from a Paolo Sorrentino film, rather than your standard five-star interior. The Gulf of Naples, visible from most rooms, remains the star attraction and the “essentiality” of the interior decor means that there is nothing too in-your-face to compete for your attention.

The art collection deserves a mention, too, as it is not art for the sake of art. The founder, Alfredo Romeo, is himself a serious collector, and the works here – ranging from 17th-century paintings to Samurai armour, from Mario Schifano’s pop-inflected take on Vesuvius to Andy Warhol’s typically flat, iconic treatment of the same volcano – feel genuinely chosen rather than acquired.

Mark Kostabi, the American artist whose stylised, mannequin-like figures explore themes of isolation and alienation in the age of technology, is another recurring presence. His pieces appearing in the rooms as well as the public spaces give an unsettling elegance. Marc Chagall’s dreamlike figurative work brings a note of European modernism to the mix, while a lenticular piece by Neapolitan artist Francesco Clemente shifts and transforms as you move past it. Lemons, sheep, Vesuvius – the iconography of the area flickers in and out of focus like a half-remembered memory. It is a fitting tribute to a city that always shows you something different.

Eating and drinking

That Alain Ducasse chose Naples for his first Italian restaurant is testament to the history, quality and excitement that eating in the city can bring. The food offering at the ROMEO is the perfect example of all three. Il Ristorante Alain Ducasse Napoli, on the ninth floor with panoramic views across the Gulf, has already been awarded its first Michelin star. It would be no surprise if more were on the way.

On Sundays and Mondays, when the main restaurant rests, the kitchen migrates up to La Terrazza, where lunch and dinner are served against a view that, well, it is a cliché, but it took my breath away. As we were there on a Monday we were treated to a smorgasbord of delights from the menu, once we’d caught our breath of course. It’s rare that a salad steals the show, but the caprese was quite simply perfect – the tomatoes in this part of the world are worth travelling for.

While the two pastas were divine, a pomodoro sauce and a white wine and clam number, it was in fact the ceviche and octopus courses that have lived long in the memory.

Despite to this day being a thriving port city and with so many people so close to the sea, Naples has plenty of substandard fish restaurants. But at ROMEO the simplicity of cooking is a key reason behind its excellence. Executive chef Alessandro Lucassino’s kitchen operates on the principle of letting the exceptional Mediterranean produce speak for itself. This is shown in the delectable nature of their fish and seafood dishes.

Lemons are the other food staple that are just better in Naples than pretty much anywhere else on the planet and we ended our meal with a lemon tart that was truly out of this world. There’s an ease and warmth in which the food is served that also speaks to the quality of the dining experience. Too often high-end places with this sort of menu can feel stuffy, but the ROMEO has a quality offering that comes with an air of relaxed confidence, with is both instantly appealing and relaxing in equal measure.

Breakfast, served in the same space, is another Ducasse production and considerably above what most hotels consider sufficient. For something more casual, Il Bar, a sleek all-day space with an interesting past life as Naples’ first fusion restaurant, offers seasonal plates at any hour.

Things to do

Few hotel spas manage to be impressive in scale and genuinely immersive in atmosphere at the same time. LA SPA by Sisley Paris, occupying more than 1,000 square metres within what was historically the city’s salt customs office, manages both with considerable style.

Descending into it feels like entering an entirely different world. In fact, if you’ve ever wondered what it might feel like to be a very well-pampered astronaut, the spa has the answer. There is a salt cave, an infrared sauna and a snow room that delivers exactly the kind of bracing shock to the system that you didn’t know you needed. Three plunge pools are backed by futuristic projections of water scenes, while most remarkable of all are the circular “phyto-aromatic” cabins. They are neon-lit pods in which you lie back, breathe in essential oils and watch scenes from the natural world play out above you.

The treatments themselves are everything you would expect from a brand such as Sisley. I felt rejuvenated, revitalised and really could have spent my whole week down there. But there were more delights above ground with the two pools, and the Krug Champagne terrace on the rooftop, offering a different but no less necessary kind of therapy. On a clear day, the 120-square-metre infinity pool appears to dissolve into the Gulf itself, with the islands of Ischia and Capri floating on the horizon.

The verdict

Naples, as Goethe well knew, is one of those cities that stays with you long after you leave. ROMEO Napoli, rather than fighting that feeling, channels it into something altogether more considered.

A special mention too must go to the staff who all went above and beyond to ensure our stay was such a delight. It’s rare to see staff members engaged in such convivial conversations with so many of the guests but that seems to be the ROMEO way.

From the architecture and the art to the dining and the view, no trip to the ROMEO is wasted, while the spa, the pools and that terrace ensure that “see Naples and die” feels, for the duration of your stay at least, like a very long way off indeed.

Rooms from approximately €700 per night. Il Ristorante Alain Ducasse Napoli is open Tuesday to Saturday for dinner; reservations are essential. Daily spa access is included for hotel guests. theromeocollection.com