Prosecutors in El Salvador have opened a mass trial of 486 alleged members of the infamous MS-13 gang. And they collectively face charges of 47,000 crimes, ranging from homicide to extortion and arms trafficking. 

These mass trials are a feature of President Nayib Bukele’s “iron-fist approach” to fighting organized crime, said The Associated Press. But they “undermine the exercise of the right to defense and the presumption of innocence of detainees,” according to U.N. experts. 

What’s the history of MS-13? 
MS-13 was formed in the 1980s on the “street corners of Los Angeles” by Salvadoran immigrants who fled civil war, said Sky News. It only spread to Central America as members were deported from the U.S. 

At one stage, MS-13 and its rival gang, Barrio 18, controlled up to 80% of Salvadoran territory through “extortion, drug dealing, contract killings and arms trafficking,” said The Times. Bukele’s government estimates that “over three decades” the gangs have killed around 200,000 people, including many listed as disappeared. 

What’s the reaction to the crackdown? 
Bukele’s stance on criminal gangs has caused murder rates to plummet and “made him the most popular elected head of state in the world,” said the Times. But it has also “drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations.” 

Nearly 2% of El Salvador’s population is incarcerated — one of the highest rates globally, according to estimates from Human Rights Watch. More than 500 people have died in state custody since Bukele’s election, and there have been reports of torture, said Agence France-Presse. 

What’s next? 
The vast majority of defendants are being held at the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in Tecoluca and will watch the trial proceedings on a screen. A maximum-security prison built by Bukele in 2023, Cecot has become a “symbol of his controversial security policies,” said the AP. 

Seventy-three defendants remain at large and will be tried in absentia. Given the limited evidence specific to individuals, mass trials risk the conviction of innocent people. Many of the defendants have been held in custody for years and face blanket rulings from unknown judges.

Apple founder Steve Jobs created the iPhone and cultivated a reputation for innovation, then his successor, Tim Cook, turned the company into a colossus of profit. So what will the next CEO, John Ternus, do to build on their legacies?

Ternus “knows Apple at its core” after a quarter-century at the company, said CNN. As a senior executive since 2021, Ternus “led the hardware engineering behind Apple’s most recognizable products,” like the iPhone and iPad, and was “essential” in developing the new midprice MacBook Neo.

‘Apple lifer’
He’s a “safe choice in a dangerous moment” for Apple, said Semafor. Cook replaced Jobs when Apple was at the “height of its influence” and built it into the first company with a $1 million market cap. The company is “still a financial juggernaut,” though it does not command its former cultural cachet. 

Ternus is an “Apple lifer” unlikely to take Apple in a “radical new direction” that would “squander its lucrative business,” said Semafor. But his ascension comes as AI transforms the “entire concept of computing and technology.”

The “defining challenge” for Ternus is “fixing the company’s AI strategy,” said CNBC. Apple has so far avoided “hefty capital expenditures” on AI data centers and “punted” on its own AI model. 

Instead, Apple has bet that consumers will use its iPhones and other products to run AI. Choosing Ternus as CEO signals the company’s belief that the “future of AI will run through tightly integrated devices, not just software,” said Timothy Hubbard, an assistant professor of management and organization at the University of Notre Dame, to CNBC.

Apple faces an “existential challenge” figuring out “what comes after the iPhone,” said Axios. Cook “executed masterfully” to maximize iPhone’s success but “largely sputtered” with new products like the Vision Pro and a failed attempt at building autonomous cars. So a new leadership era opens with Apple “chasing its next hit” product. Ternus “must prove” it can “still innovate.”

‘Physical things’ in the face of AI
Apple has put the “hardware guy in charge” and is betting on itself as a “maker of first-rate physical things” in an AI-dominated world, said The Wall Street Journal. That means navigating “complex geopolitics threatening Apple’s supply chain” and countless “regulatory battles around the world.” 

A runner passes the now-drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Trump began renovating the 2,000-foot-long pool two weeks ago and said yesterday that he will be using a “contractor he knows from his years in real estate,” said The New York Times. 
Bryan Dozier / NurPhoto / Shutterstock

Most people live lives whose day-to-day events aren’t exactly gripping and whose trajectories are difficult to squeeze into the structures and strictures of serialized TV. So what these standout biographical series accomplish is even more impressive. They take sometimes mundane or contradictory raw material and turn it into art that entertains and informs.

‘John Adams’ (2008)
The show’s scope is epic, beginning with Adams’ legal career in prerevolutionary Boston. The series’ greatness is due to its status as one of the “few depictions of the American revolution that treats the founding fathers as people, whose particular hang-ups and fractious personalities informed the republic they were building,” said Vince Mancini at GQ. (HBO Max)

‘The Crown’ (2016-23)
As ambitious as anything Netflix has attempted, creator Peter Morgan’s ‘The Crown’ is a sprawling look at the life and times of the U.K.’s Queen Elizabeth II. Over the course of six lavishly produced seasons, she’s played by three different and phenomenal actresses: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman (pictured above) and Imelda Staunton. (Netflix)

‘Mussolini: Son of the Century’ (2025)
Its current home on niche arthouse streamer Mubi limits its reach, but director Joe Wright (“Darkest Hour”) delivers an important and resonant series with this biography of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (Luca Marinelli). The series, said Craig Mathieson at The Age, can be “overwhelming, even hinting at a rapturous trance state” in the way it shows us how war-traumatized Italy fell for such a madman. (Mubi)