Flagship

Turkey stops trade with Israel

Turkey stopped all trade with Israel on Thursday, marking further global fallout for Israel ahead of its planned Rafah invasion. The move, which prompted Israel’s foreign minister to call Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “dictator,” followed Colombia’s decision to sever diplomatic ties with Israel, the largest country to do so. Meanwhile, Israeli officials are increasingly worried that the United Nations’ top criminal court could seek arrest warrants for military and political leaders. As talks over a security pact between the US and Saudi Arabia hinged on the governance of post-war Palestine, a UN report found that rebuilding destroyed structures in Gaza will take until at least 2040, but could drag on for decades.

US adversaries exploit protests

Washington’s adversaries are using the turmoil surrounding the pro-Palestinian campus protests to portray the US as a place gripped by disorder and division. State media outlets in Russia, China, and Iran have published nearly 400 English-language articles in the last two weeks about the unrest, and pushed anti-US content through bot accounts on social media, The New York Times reported. “The more we fight amongst ourselves … the more they can get away with,” said a media expert at Clemson University. The findings come as US President Joe Biden on Thursday issued his strongest direct remarks yet on the protests, criticizing some of them as “not peaceful” and saying they hadn’t changed his mind about Israel policy.

US, China citizens decoupling

Around 40% of Americans see China as an enemy of the US, according to a new Pew study, the highest level since the metric was first tracked in 2021. Despite thawing tensions between Beijing and Washington in the last year, the US has rolled out recent measures countering China on trade, Taiwan, and its relationship with Russia. The survey illustrated how geopolitical tensions have trickled down to the US public, despite efforts on both sides to promote cultural connection, like US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attending a basketball game in China last week. The populations of the two superpowers are “decoupling” too, US-China scholar Mary Gallagher wrote in World Politics Review. “People-to-people exchanges,” she observed, are at troublingly low levels.

UK bans ‘password’ as default password

The UK became the first country to ban computer manufacturers from creating easily guessable default passwords like “1234,” “admin,” or “password.” Those weak logins make it easy for hackers to break into devices, and the new guidelines require computers to come with a unique or randomized password. People are increasingly moving away from passwords as security measures. Google said Thursday that more than 400 million of its accounts now use passkeys, which are considered more secure than passwords because they use device-based authentication with your fingerprint, facial recognition, or a PIN. “Passwords have had a good run. … We’ve been able to work out most of the kinks with passwords, but they still suck, right?” a security executive at Google said.

Container ship emits ‘zero emissions’

The world’s largest electric container ship had its maiden voyage, shipping goods between Shanghai and Nanjing in China. International shipping accounts for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions: The Greenwater 01 — powered by a main 50,000 kilowatt-hour battery — is almost 400 feet long, capable of around 12 mph, and aims to save 8,600 pounds of fuel per 100 nautical miles, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 12 tonnes, the South China Morning Post reported. Its first trip had “zero emissions, pollution and noise,” its maker wrote, and would help the industry “achieve carbon neutrality.”

Eurovision could remove Palestine flags

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest, beginning next week in Sweden, is laying bare the global tensions around the war in Gaza. Organizers on Thursday said they are authorized to remove Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols, and will only allow flags of the 37 participating countries — which include most European nations, plus Israel and Australia — and the rainbow flag. Israel, meanwhile, issued a “moderate” threat advisory for the host city of Malmö, over fears of anti-Israel attacks during the weeklong event, and officials advised the Israeli competitor to stay in her hotel room when she isn’t performing. Israel has been a Eurovision participant since 1973, winning four times, and its inclusion this year was met with criticism.

Orangutan treats wound with plant

Scientists observed for the first time a wild animal treating an open wound with a substance known to have medicinal properties. Researchers in an Indonesian rainforest were tracking a male Sumatran orangutan with a facial wound who was seen chewing on a vine that has anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. He then applied the chewed leaves and sap to his face — days later, the wound closed, and fully healed within a few weeks. It’s unclear how the ape learned the process, but he appeared to use the plant intentionally, showing he “has the cognitive capacities that he needs to treat the wound with some medically active plants,” the lead researcher said.

Court slams ‘song and dance’ weddings

India’s highest court ruled that Hindu marriages are invalid without religious ceremonies, like the seven rounds taken by a bride and groom around a sacred fire. The court criticized the “song and dance” and “wining and dining” aspect of weddings, urging couples to think of marriages as “sacred.” Globally, India is known for its big fat weddings, with the industry worth at least $75 billion. The Indian Supreme Court has a history of controversial rulings on marriage and religion: In 2023 it declared all interfaith marriages void under the Hindu Marriage Act, and in 2022 it outlawed the Islamic practice of instant divorce, which Hindu nationalists hailed as an “anti-Muslim verdict.”

Marital customs of medieval invaders

A massive study using DNA from the burial sites of mysterious warlike horse riders in the sixth century revealed how they avoided inbreeding and practiced polygamy. The Avars, who shared ancestry with people buried in Mongolia, crossed the Danube into what is now Hungary, establishing a European power center and forcing the Byzantines in Constantinople to pay tribute, according to Science. They had no written records, but the DNA research shed light on their mating rituals: The men stayed in their birthplace, while the women left to find mates, thereby preventing marriages to cousins.

Latin music market breaks records

Latin music revenues broke the $1 billion mark in the US for the second year in a row. Industry figures showed that sales of Latin artists reached $1.4 billion in 2023, a 16% jump on the year before and almost 60% more than 2021. It also expanded its share of the overall music industry as it outpaced the market as a whole. Billboard reported that a wave of regional Mexican artists including Peso Pluma and Fuerza Regida drove Mexican music to record levels. Karol G’s album Mañana Será Bonito broke records for a female Latin artist, and Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican musician, topped the global album charts in 2022 with Un Verano Sin Ti.

• May 3: China launches Chang’e-6, a spacecraft set to collect samples from the far side of the moon.
• May 4: Horses race in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, including Japan’s Forever Young and T O Password.
• May 5: Voters head to the polls in Panama’s presidential elections.

North Texas is seeing a renaissance of Latino DJs playing goth and darkwave music that emerged in England in the 1970s. Bars across the US state regularly host special “goth nights” where post-punk fans can listen to bands like The Cure, Depeche Mode, and Bauhaus, The Dallas Morning News reported. The trend is fueled by nostalgia and has attracted a new wave of interest from younger DJs, many of whom play vinyl-only sets. “Growing up, the dark music was literally a soundtrack to my surroundings,” one DJ said. “I’m not from Manchester, but I would imagine that’s where that inspiration comes from, like living in a dark, gloomy place.”

• China refuses to meet with the US on nuclear arms control.
• Democrats are stuck in a familiar place: Arguing over Israel.
• Amazon researchers propose ways to get rid of bad AI data.