“Container bookings from China to the United States have surged nearly 300 per cent after the world’s two biggest economies agreed to pause sky-high tariffs that threatened global shipping, according to Vizion, a container-tracking service provider. The latest seven-day booking average from China to the US soared to 21,530 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), up from 5,709 for the previous week ending May 5 – a huge 277 per cent increase, said Ben Tracy, Vizion’s vice-president, in an online post on Wednesday. Following Beijing’s and Washington’s Monday announcement of a 90-day pause on most tariffs, analysts predict an earlier peak shipping season.” (05/15/25)
“Federal public health officials on Thursday announced an unprecedented drop last year in drug overdose deaths, which have plagued the United States for decades and had been rising steadily over the past several years. But experts warned that now is exactly the wrong time to ‘take our foot off the gas pedal,’ as the Republican Party and President Donald Trump are threatening to do with steep cuts to Medicaid and other federal programs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that an estimated 80,391 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses in 2024 — a 27% drop, with about 30,000 fewer deaths than in 2023 and ‘more than 81 lives saved every day.’ Synthetic opioids like fentanyl were still involved in most overdose deaths last year, but those deaths were down 37% between 2023-24.” (05/15/25)
“What was long thought to be a copy of the Magna Carta at Harvard Law School in the US is in fact an extremely rare original from among seven surviving versions of the document issued by English King Edward I in 1300, British experts said on Thursday. The ‘Great Charter,’ the first extant expression in writing of the principle that a king and his government are not above the law, originally dates from June 1215, when it was signed by King John. Among other things, it was key to the drawing up of the US Declaration of Independence and constitution in the late 18th century. Harvard obtained the document in the 1940s for just $27.50, the equivalent of just over $470 (€420) today, according to a US Department of Labor inflation calculator.” (05/15/25)
“Multiple air strikes have hit Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis overnight, killing more than 50 people in a second consecutive night of heavy bombing. An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 air strikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed. … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of [ethnically cleansing the area].” (05/15/25)
“NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively ramp up defense investment as the United States focuses on security challenges outside of Europe. At talks in Antalya, Turkey, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said more investment and military equipment are needed to deal with threats posed by Russia and terrorism but also by China, which has become the focus of U.S. concern. ‘When it comes to the core defense spending, we need to do much, much more,’ Rutte told reporters. He underlined that once Russia’s war in Ukraine is over, Moscow could reconstitute its armed forces within three years to five years. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ‘the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link.'” (05/15/25)
“Skirting a question on an issue that has gained him support and stoked opponents, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Wisconsin Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan during a hearing before a House committee he thinks Americans should not be taking medical advice from him. The issue? Vaccines. Pocan asked Kennedy, ‘If you had a child today, would you vaccinate that child for measles?’ ‘Probably for measles,’ Kennedy said, before backpedaling. ‘What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant.’ ‘I don’t want to seem like I am being evasive but I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me,’ he added, reiterating his stance when pressed further by Pocan.” (05/14/25)
“Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei issued a decree on Wednesday curbing immigration to the South American nation, a move coinciding with the immigration restrictions put in place by the Trump administration. Milei’s abrupt measures and declaration that newcomers were bringing ‘chaos and abuse’ to Argentina — a country built by millions of immigrants that has long prided itself on its openness — drew criticism from his political opponents and prompted comparisons to U.S. President Donald Trump. Milei’s government welcomed those comparisons to its close American ally, with presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni saying it was ‘time to honor our history and make Argentina great again.'” (05/15/25)
“US President Donald Trump’s claim that India has offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from his country has been swiftly disputed by Delhi. In a statement to local news agencies India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar countered the claim saying talks are still going on and ‘nothing is decided till everything is.’ The statement is in stark contrast to comments by Trump to reporters earlier in the day, when he declared Delhi ‘had offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff’. India and the US are currently in talks to negotiate a trade agreement. Jaishankar said on Thursday that any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial and work for both countries. ‘That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature,’ he told news agencies.” (05/15/25)
“A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration unconstitutionally retaliated against the American Bar Association when it abruptly canceled millions in grants awarded to the world’s largest association of lawyers and legal professionals. Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction against the cancelation of the five grants and ordered the Justice Department to fully pay out the $3.2 million previously allocated to the ABA. The grants were intended to train lawyers and judges who work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.” (05/15/25)
“A federal appeals court foreclosed on Wednesday one of the main remaining means by which civil rights activists could enforce a landmark voting rights law’s protections against racial discrimination in seven mostly Midwestern states. The 2-1 panel of the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private plaintiffs cannot use an 1871 civil rights law as a means to enforce protections enshrined in the Voting Rights Act. The court reached that conclusion as it reversed a judge’s ruling finding that Republican-led North Dakota’s 2021 legislative redistricting plan unlawfully diluted the voting power of Native Americans. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the ruling, if allowed to stand, would weaken voters’ ability in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota to challenge unfair voting maps.” (05/14/25)
