Five trends that will shape urban Africa in 2025—e.g., the Addis Ababa model. / The Week in Africa William Shoki: Elon Musk's opinions about South Africa want to reinforce the idea that black political power is threatening. / Africa Is a Country How to understand President Trump best?
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is charged with leading a plot to overthrow the government. / Reuters Argentina's president tries to deflect criticism after a cryptocurrency he endorsed on X collapses, erasing $4 billion in value. / The Wall Street Journal [+] President Trump suggests Kyiv is to blame for Russia&
Scientists worry about the politicization of vital statistics. / Undark Magazine Connecting the dots between Vice President Vance's recent "Nazi apologia" and his artificial-intelligence boosterism. / Forever Wars See also: Thanks to under-moderated social platforms, anyone can write their own Mein Kampf now. / Garbage Day "
Historians say the United States is on the cusp of "competitive authoritarianism." / Foreign Affairs Chris Geidner: Trump and Musk are trying to sell America on being an authoritarian state, "but they can't do it unless we allow them to do so." / LAWdork The State
The playbook on how to win influence over President Trump is well known—and it still works. / Wake Up to Politics Law professors explain what happens if the White House ignores the courts. / NPR Benjamin Wittes: How effective can judges be in this task? Courts, after all, don't
M. Gessen explains the five categories of arguments people use when they engage in "anticipatory obedience." / The New York Times [+] Spencer Ackerman: Regarding Palestinians, Donald Trump is "a fulfillment of longstanding currents in American history." / Forever Wars A trend forecaster plots the chart between Brat Summer
Studies suggest people often prefer AI-generated content to human-generated material, or can't tell the difference. / Allure See also: A clamshell keyboard that turns phones into laptops. / dezeen A former Instagram researcher says Meta not only doesn't understand how friendship works, it doesn't
Thousands of residents flee the Greek island of Santorini after earthquakes are recorded for a fourth consecutive day. / BBC News Sweden suffers its worst school shooting, with at least 11 people killed. / Al Jazeera A growing number of countries are forging economic partnerships without the United States. / The New York
Pictures from the recent "day without immigrants" protests, mostly organized on social media. / The Los Angeles Times China responds to tariffs with export restrictions and surcharges on American coal and gas. / Semafor India extracts more groundwater than any other country worldwide, more than the US and China combined.
A technical glitch prevented yesterday's edition from mailing—our apologies! More than half a million displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza. / Al Jazeera Kenyans ranked as the most optimistic people on the planet in 2002—an overview of their hope ever since. / Africa Is a Country No
