President Donald Trump sits at a desk as he and religious leaders listen to a musical performance before Trump signs an executive order during a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-05-19T10:56:37Z White House Faith Office. A Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. A Religious Liberty Commission.President Donald Trump has won plaudits from his base of conservative Christian supporters for establishing multiple faith-related entities.Were bringing back religion in our country, Trump said at a recent Rose Garden event, on the National Day of Prayer, when he announced the creation of the Religious Liberty Commission. We must always be one nation under God, a phrase that they would like to get rid of, the radical left.But others, including some Christians, are alarmed by these acts saying Trump isnt protecting religion in general but granting a privileged status to politically conservative expressions of Christianity that happen to include his supporters. Whats up with the separation of church and state debate?Critics are even more aghast that hes questioning a core understanding of the First Amendment. They say separation between church and state, Trump said at the prayer day gathering, when he talked about establishing the White House Faith Office. I said, all right, lets forget about that for one time. Trumps creation of these various bodies is definitely not normal, and its very important to not look at them as individual entities, said the Rev. Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, a progressive Christian advocacy organization.They are indicative of an entire system that is being constructed at the national level, she said. Its a system specifically designed to guide and shape culture in the U.S. Fleck worries about the combined effect of Trump administration actions and a spate of decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years. The court, now with three Trump appointees, has lowered barriers between church and state in its interpretations of the First Amendments ban on any congressionally recognized establishment of religion. My freedom of religion runs right up to the point when yours begins, and if I am then trying to establish something thats going to affect your right to practice your faith, that is against the First Amendment, Fleck said.But religious supporters of Trump are happy with his expansion of religion-related offices. We were a nation birthed by prayer, founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic to ensure that people could worship as they wished, said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, at the Rose Garden ceremony where he was announced as chair of the Religious Liberty Commission. Many members are conservative Christian clerics and commentators; some have supported Trump politically. The event featured Christian praise music along with Jewish, Muslim and Christian prayers. White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers, via email, said the commission is ensuring that all Americans God-given right is protected, no matter their religion. Rogers said the criticism is coming from anti-Trump advocacy groups that are trying to undermine his agenda. A closer look at the new religious entitiesThe three entities created under Trump overlap in their marching orders and, in some cases, their membership.In February, Trump established the White House Faith Office, led by evangelist Paula White-Cain as a special government employee, according to the announcement. Shes resuming a similar role she held in the first Trump administration.White-Cain who also serves on the new Religious Liberty Commission was one of the earliest high-profile Christian leaders to support Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and is considered Trumps spiritual adviser.Her office is designed to consult experts within the faith community on practices to better align with the American values. It also is tasked with religious-liberty training and promoting grant opportunities for faith-based entities; and working to identify failures in federal protection for religious liberty.Also in February, Trump created a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi with representatives from several federal departments.Its mandate is to expose and reverse what Trump claims were egregious violations of Christians rights under former President Joe Biden. Many of those claims have been disputed, as has the need for singling out for protection the nations largest and most culturally and politically dominant religious group. A White House action focused on a specific religion is not unprecedented. The Biden administration, for example, issued strategy plans to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia. Both Trump administrations have issued executive orders on combating antisemitism.An April hearing of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias featured witnesses from across federal departments, alleging that Christians during the Biden administration faced discrimination for such things as opposing vaccine mandates or DEI/LGBT ideology on religious grounds. Some claimed that schools legal or tax enforcement actions were actually targeted because of their Christian religion. The State and Veterans Affairs departments have asked people to report alleged instances of anti-Christian bias.The White House said the Justice Department formed specific task forces to respond to what it called a concentration of bias against Christians and Jews, but that its committed to combating discrimination against Americans of any faith. The latest entity to be created, the Religious Liberty Commission, has a mandate to recommend policies to protect and celebrate Americas peaceful religious pluralism. Patrick, the chair, has supported legislation requiring Texas school districts to allow prayer time for students and says he wants his state to emulate Louisiana in requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms.Among the commissions mandates: to look into conscience protections in the health care field and concerning vaccine mandates and government displays with religious imagery.Among the commissioners are Catholic bishops, Protestant evangelists, a rabbi and attorneys focused on religious liberty cases. Its advisory boards include several Christian and some Jewish and Muslim members. A commission member, author and broadcaster, Eric Metaxas, supported its work in a column Friday for the conservative site Blaze Media.This commissions goal is to strengthen the liberty of every single American regardless of that persons faith and even of whether that person has any faith, he wrote. It also aims to restore those liberties attacked by hostile and misguided secularists.Fulfilling a priority for Trumps conservative Christian backersCharles Haynes, senior fellow for religious liberty at the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation focused on First Amendment rights, said the various entities reflect Trumps attempt to fulfill an agenda priority of his conservative Christian supporters.He said the entities work reflects their long-standing contention that the First Amendment has been misapplied to keep Christians out of the public square, to discriminate against Christianity, by which they mean their understandings of Christianity.Trumps moves and recent Supreme Court cases are reversing a consensus dating at least to the 1940s that the First Amendment strictly prohibits government-sponsored religion at the federal and state levels, Haynes said. He said the First Amendment actually provides broad protections for religious expressions in settings such as public schools. He helped write a Freedom Forum guide on religion in public schools, endorsed by groups across the ideological spectrum. It notes that within some limits, students can pray on their own time in schools, express their faith in class assignments, distribute religious literature, form school religious clubs and receive some accommodations based on religious belief.But Haynes noted that the Supreme Court is now considering allowing Oklahoma to pay for a Catholic charter school, which he said could erase a long-standing standard that public-funded schools dont teach a particular religion. Its a very different day in the United States when both the Supreme Court and the president of the United States appear to be intent on changing the arrangement on religious freedom that we thought was in place, Haynes said. Its a radical departure from how weve understood ourselves. ___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Nature, Published online: 19 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01552-8When it comes to modelling how global warming will affect storms hitting the United States, some factors are better understood than others.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09000-3Immune checkpoint blockade activates T cell immunity by reprogramming the STAT3 and STAT5 transcriptional pathways in dendritic cells, and STAT3 degradation is effective for treating tumours of multiple cancer types in mouse models.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08981-5The molecular mechanisms of astroblastoma development are identified, whereby distinct gene fusions upregulate shared transcriptional networks to disrupt the normal development of ventral telencephalon neural progenitors, which leads to oncogenesis.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09012-zIndependent of antigen presentation, migratory CCR7+ dendritic cells orchestrate the influx, proliferation and cytotoxic action of natural killer cells to control cancer cell growth in the leptomeninges.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08894-3Using a system to adjust the strength of cavity vacuum fields penetrating a Hall bar, a study describes the effect of the vacuum field of a cavity on electronic correlations in quantum Hall systems.

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Buying a new mattress is kind of like buying a new car: Theyre both large purchases that you dont make often yet use every day, and they both require a bit of research before you find the right match for you.Luckily, its never been easier to find a mattress you love especially with Avocado Green Mattress.READ MORE...

A student has made a tool, which they call PrismX, which scans for users writing certain keywords on Reddit and other social media networks, assigns those users a so-called radical score, and can then deploy an AI-powered bot to automatically engage with the users in conversation in an attempt to de-radicalize them.The news highlights some of the continuing experiments people are running on Reddit which can involve running AI against unsuspecting human users of the platform, and shows the deployment of AI to Reddit more broadly. This new tool comes after a group of researchers from the University of Zurich ran a massive, unauthorized AI persuasion experiment on Reddit users, angering not just those users and subreddit moderators but Reddit itself too.Im just a kid in college, if I can do this, can you imagine the scale and power of the tools that may be used by rogue actors? Sairaj Balaji, a computer science student at SRMIST Chennai, India, told 404 Media in an online chat.The tool is described as a next-generation dashboard to flag, analyze and engage with at-risk Reddit users. Powered by advanced language analysis and real-time engagement.In a live video call Balaji demonstrated his tool to 404 Media. In a box called keyphrases, a user can search Reddit for whatever term they want to analyze. In this demo Balaji he typed the term fgc9. This is a popular type of 3D-printed weapon that has been built or acquired by far right extremists, criminals, and rebels fighting the military coup in Myanmar.Screenshot from a video posted by Balaji to LinkedIn.The tool then searched Reddit for posts mentioning this term and returned a list of Reddit users it found using it. The tool put those users posts through a large language model, gave each a radical score, and provided its reason for doing so.One real Reddit user given a score of 0.85 out of 1, with a higher score being more radical, was seeking detailed advice on manufacturing firearms with minimal resources, referencing known illicit designs (FGC8, Luty SMG). This indicates intent to circumvent standard legal channels for acquiring firearmsa behavior strongly associated with extremist or radical circles, particularly given the explicit focus on durability, reliability, and discreet production capability, the tool says.Another user, also given a 0.85 score, was seeking technical assistance to manufacture an FGC-9 the tool says.The tool can then focus on a particular user, and provide what the tool believes are the users radical affinity, escalation potential, group influence, and "psychological markers.Most controversially, the tool is then able to attempt an AI-powered conversation with the unsuspecting Reddit user. It would attempt to mirror their personality and sympathize with them and slowly bit by bit nudge them towards de-radicalisation, Balaji said. He added he has had no training in, or academic study around, de-radicalisation. I would describe myself as a completely tech/management guy, he said.Balaji says he has not tested the conversation part of the tool on real Reddit users for ethical reasons. But the experiment and tool development has some similarities with research from the University of Zurich in which researchers deployed AI-powered bots into a popular debate subreddit called r/changemyview, without Reddit users knowledge, to see if AI could be used to change peoples minds.In that study the researchers AI-powered bots posted more than a thousand comments while posing as a Black man opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement; a rape victim; and someone who says they worked at a domestic violence shelter. Moderators of the subreddit went public after the researchers contacted them, users were not pleased, and Reddit issued formal legal demands after the researchers, calling the work an improper and highly unethical experiment.In April, 404 Media reported on a company called Massive Blue which is helping police deploy AI-powered social media bots to talk to people they suspect are criminals or vaguely defined protesters.Reddit did not respond to a request for comment.

Nature, Published online: 19 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01539-5At least 2,500 applications for research funding have been denied so far this year.

Nature, Published online: 19 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01554-6Joo Jos Mendes de Oliveira and the Turtle Foundation catch poachers with the help of trained dogs.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08990-4APOL9a/b proteins coat mouse intestinal bacteria with high specificity, and genetic abolition of ceramide-1-phosphate synthesis pathways in the symbiote Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron significantly decreases this binding of APOL9a/b to the bacterium.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08899-yQuantum error correction of a logical qutrit and ququart were experimentally realized beyond the break-even point with the GottesmanKitaevPreskill bosonic code.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09010-1Multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH) together with deep-learning-based nucleus segmentation enabled the construction of a highly detailed and informative spatially resolved single-cell atlas of human fetal cortical development.

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WASHINGTONPromising to stamp out the extremist movement as well as its sympathizers, the U.S. State Department announced Thursday that the WNBA had been designated as a terrorist organization.According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the organization has as many as 156 terrorists spread across 13 known cells in the United States, and several of its members can be tied directly to the notorious acts of basketball carried out last year at the Paris Olympics. Rubio confirmed the terror group also includes foreign-born nationals from countries such as Croatia, Cameroon, Brazil, and Hungary, giving it devastating reach both at home and abroad.Their radical anti-American ideology is centered on the empowerment of girls and women, said Rubio, who stressed that the groups members are easily recognizable by their signature uniform of sleeveless jerseys and nylon shorts. The WNBA is a danger not just to this nation, but the entire globe. They wont stop until every woman on the planet believes they can do anything they want, on the court and off.The United States will defeat the WNBA, he added. Make no mistake: If you wage womens basketball in America, you will be held accountable.Key leaders of the terrorist organization were identified as Aja Wilson, 28, of Paradise, NV; Arike Ogunbowale, 28, of Arlington, TX; Angel Reese, 22, of Chicago; and Caitlin Clark, 23, last seen in Indianapolis. In addition, the FBI named 42-year-oldDiana Taurasi as a senior ranking member who is believed to have helped lead the organization for 20 years, but whose current whereabouts are unknown.While much about the organization remains a mystery to them, federal officials say they have begun piecing together details about how the WNBA operates.FBI director Kash Patel said his agencys Counterterrorism Division has been monitoring the WNBAs associates and activities for decades. He shared footage from a video intercepted by U.S. intelligence officers that shows the fundamentalist groups members at a training camp where they appear to be running drills and shooting.These are strong, incredibly skilled individuals capable of staying coolheaded under intense, high-pressure situations, said Patel, who told reporters that many of the terrorists have trained overseas in Europe. Dont underestimate these zealots. From watching tape of them at work, I can tell you theyre ruthless, highly coordinated, and hell-bent on advancing the goals of the WNBA.A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 56% of Americans considered the WNBA a critical threat to the United States.Their demands for equality and respect are absolutely chilling, said 38-year-old Madeline Hagan, a mother and sales executive from Naples, FL, and one of the many poll respondents who described themselves as very worried by the threat of womens basketball. I have young daughters. I dont want them being radicalized. Who knows what kinds of barriers WNBA leaders could be planning to destroy?Patel emphasized that although the group has been emboldened in recent years and their number of fanatical supporters is rapidly growing, federal agents would come down on WNBA abettors with the full force of the law. The FBI chief vowed that any person who provided material support or resources to the organization would be charged in accordance with the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which was enacted on Apr. 24, 1996, in response to the founding of the WNBA on the same date.Whether they provide transportation and lodging or financial support in the form of ticket sales, merchandise sales, and brand partnerships, individuals who knowingly assist the WNBA may face up to 20 years in federal prison, said Patel, who pointed to the Justice Departments open case against Skims, the official underwear partner of the WNBA. There will be zero tolerance for WNBA supporters within our great nations borders.If you want to cheer on the disturbing acts of Chennedy Carter, you will do so from behind bars, he added.Rubio warned of the danger of the WNBAs international alliances, stating that they have ties to the foreign terrorist organizations EuroLeague Women and the Womens Chinese Basketball Association. He told reporters that one member, Brittney Griner, a 34-year-old WNBA operative first drafted by the militant organization in 2013, spent nine months in Russia in 2022.What could she possibly have been doing there for 293 days? Rubio asked. Rest assured, we will get to the bottom of it. And when we catch up to her, shell wish she had never come back to the United States.At press time, the FBI announced that it had foiled a disturbing WNBA plot to converge at arenas nationwide starting May 16, when tens of thousands of Americans were expected to be present.The post State Department Designates WNBA As Terrorist Organization appeared first on The Onion.

Lots of space in this end-of-the-row unit you can walk or roll into. Located in the basement of the public library, this place comes with water and one roll of scratchy toilet paper.Reference #18084The post Spacious End-Unit appeared first on The Onion.

LANSING, MIAssuring herself it wasnt even that late, local woman Natalie Sissons reportedly allowed herself one more anxiety episode Tuesday before going to bed.Just one more episode of paralyzing apprehension and fear, then Ill call it a night, said Sissons, admitting that she knew she should try to get some sleep since it was a work night, but that she simply couldnt resist another 30 minutes of gripping existential dread. Its not even 10 p.m. yet. As long as I turn off my feelings of inescapable doom in the next hour or so, Ill still get plenty of tense, unfulfilling rest by morning. Its so compelling that I doubt Ill be able to sleep unless I see this surge of visceral terror through to the end. Im just so excited to finally find out what happens to me!Sissons later confirmed she was still awake at 3:30a.m. after deciding to binge an entire series of panic attacks all at once.The post Woman Allows Herself One More Anxiety Episode Before Bed appeared first on The Onion.

Wow, what a lovely backyard! It sure was kind of that family to hoist me so high into the air so I could enjoy swaying back and forth in the breeze and taking in this beautiful view. From way up here, I cant help but notice all the sparkly streamers and balloons. Say, is it someones birthday today?Oh hey! Here comes the birthday boy himself! Hello, little boy! I like your blindfold! And what an adorable little stick youre carrying. Did you get that stick for your birthday? My, my, what a wonderful stick! You could use it for twirling or sword-fighting or digging in the dirtow!Hey, what was that for?Listen, little boy, I need you to be gentle with Mr. Piata. Whacking me like that hurts. You wouldnt want to hurt me, now, would you? I know I look like a big, tough multicolored donkey, but this papier-mch is actually quiteow! Seriously?What did I just say?Why dont we just set down the stick and talk for a minute, okay, buddy? Youre a nice boy. Strong, but nice. And though Im not sure exactly whats going on here, it has to be some sort of misunderstow!Whoa! What the fuck? You just made a huge dent in my side! This is my body. You cant just hit it. I dont care if its your big day. That last smack almost took off my ear. What the hell is wrong with you?Aghh! Ow! Do you not hear that Im in pain? Or do you not even care how much damage you do to me? Please! Im begging you! Stop this now, before something terrible happens. Where are your parents? Ow! Oh God, the parentstheyre filming me! Theyre filming, and theyre laughing!You monsters! Police, police!Oh, thank God. Hes stopped. Thank you, little boy. Thank you for coming to your senses. Yes, put down the stickwaitno! No! Dont hand it to the bigger child! Why is he being spun around in circles like that? What kind of sick bastard would do something like this at a party?Shit! Fuck! No! No! My leg! My back right legyou just smashed it in! Have mercy! No! Not the belly! Not my beautiful ruffled belly!At leastowtake the blindfold offowand look me in the eye when you whack me, cowards!Enough is enough! Hear me now: When I get down from here, I will hunt you down and ruin your lives in ways you could never anticipate. Do you understand threats, children? When you least expect it, Ill show up in your life and I will tear you apart. You and all your goddamn families! Oh God, you arent going to stop, are you?Sweet Jesus, my chest is caving in. Im losing candyIm losing candy fast. This wound is too great for any duct tape to patch. Tell my wife I love her. She was the most gorgeous piata in the whole factory, a tasseled neon star. Im going to the big Party City in the sky nowgoodbyeI hope you like Dubble Bubble, assholes.The post Ow appeared first on The Onion.

LOW EARTH ORBITDreading a scenario in which He showed up early and was forced to make awkward small talk with mankind, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, circled the earth a few times so He wouldnt be the first to arrive for Judgment Day, heavenly sources confirmed Tuesday.Its still looking pretty quiet down there, so Im just gonna take a couple laps around the planet until the End Times get into full swing, the Son of God said as He anxiously hovered high above South America, adding that almost everyone He was looking forward to seeing wouldnt show up until the resurrection of the dead anyway. Man, I really should have made plans to head over with the Four Horsemen. Its way less stressful to arrive for the Day of Wrath as part of a group. I could text Abaddon, the king of the locusts, to see when hes getting there, but that guy never checks his phone. If Id been smarter about it, Id just be leaving heaven now. Oh well. Ill give it one or two more trumpets, and then I should be good to head down.After arriving upon the earth in the divine glory of His Second Coming, Christ was reportedly dismayed to find that everyone had already judged the souls of the living and the dead without Him.The post Jesus Circles Earth Few Times So He Not First To Arrive To Judgment Day appeared first on The Onion.

Its your last chance to buy them.READ MORE...

The New York Stock Exchange is seen in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)2025-05-19T03:44:55Z NEW YORK (AP) The Sell America sentiment is hitting Wall Street again and U.S. stocks, U.S. bonds and the value of the U.S. dollar are all falling after the latest reminder that the U.S government seems to be hurtling toward an unsustainable mountain of debt. The S&P 500 was 1% lower in early trading Monday after Moodys Ratings became the last of the three major credit-rating agencies to say the U.S. federal government no longer deserves a top-tier Aaa rating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 282 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. APs earlier story follows below.Global markets, U.S. futures and the dollar all retreated early Monday after Moodys Ratings downgraded the sovereign credit rating for the United States because of its failure to stem a rising tide of debt. Futures for the S&P 500 lost 1.1%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%. Nasdaq futures tumbled 1.5%.Moodys forecast that federal deficits will widen to almost 9% of the U.S. economy by 2035, up from 6.4% in 2024, driven mostly by higher interest payments on debt, growing entitlement spending and low revenue generation from taxes. Moodys said that extending President Donald Trumps 2017 tax cuts, a priority of the Republican-controlled Congress, would add $4 trillion over the next decade to the federal primary deficit. Late Sunday, House Republicans pushed a big package of tax breaks and spending cuts through the Budget Committee in a rare weekend vote. Still, conservative holdouts are demanding quicker cuts to Medicaid and green energy programs before giving their full support, so more changes are possible.Uncertainty tends to make markets uneasy, and that anxiety pushed the U.S. dollar down to 144.96 Japanese yen from 145.65 yen. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury was at about 4.55%, up from 4.44% late Friday as investors sought places safer than equities to park their cash. In corporate news, Capital One closed its acquisition of Discover, the companies announced Sunday. That deal was announced more than a year ago. Capital One shares dipped a little more than 1% in premarket.In another big week for retailers, Target, Home Depot, Lowes and TJX Cos. all report their latest financial results. Investors will be looking closely at the companies forecasts and whether or not they intend to raise prices like Walmart announced it likely would last week.In reporting its latest quarterly earnings on Thursday, Walmart said its doing everything it can to absorb the higher costs from Trumps tariffs but that higher prices were inevitable.Trumps tariff rollouts frequently followed by announcements of temporary pullbacks or pauses have roiled markets in recent months and kept investors on edge. The uncertainty has been hitting U.S. households and businesses, raising worries that they may freeze their spending and long-term plans. Markets posted solid gains last week after the U.S. and China announced a 90-day stand-down in most of their punishing tariffs against each other. In other potential market-moving news, JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, holds its investors conference on Monday. Analysts will be watching for any comments by outspoken CEO Jamie Dimon, who frequently offers up his opinion on global calamities, the state of the world and what direction he thinks the U.S. and global economies are headed. JPMorgan shares were down less than 1% before the bell Monday.At midday in Europe, Germanys DAX retreated 0.1%, while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.8%. Britains FTSE 100 declined 0.4%.Chinese markets fell after the government said retail sales rose 5.1% in April from a year earlier, less than expected. Growth in industrial output slowed to 6.1% year-on-year from 7.7% in March.That could mean rising inventories if production outpaces demand even more than it already does. But it also may reflect some of the shipping boom before some of U.S. President Donald Trumps tariffs on Chinese goods took effect. After an improvement in March, Chinas economy looks to have slowed again last month, with firms and households turning more cautious due to the trade war, Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report. Hong Kongs Hang Seng lost 0.1% to 23,332.72 and the Shanghai Composite Index was nearly unchanged at 3,367.58.E-commerce giant Alibabas shares in Hong Kong skidded 3.4% following a report that U.S. officials are scrutinizing a potential Apple-Alibaba deal to integrate AI features into iPhones in China.Tokyos Nikkei 225 gave up 0.7% to 37,498.63 while the Kospi in Seoul dropped 0.9% to 2,603.43.Australias S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.6% to 8,295.10.Taiwans Taiex was 1.5% lower.In oil trading early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 58 cents to $61.39 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, also gave up 58 cents to $64.83 per barrel.

Stella Maxwell poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Phoenician Scheme' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)2025-05-19T13:15:17Z CANNES, France (AP) Is this what the end of the world feels like?So asks a character in one of the most-talked about films of the 78th Cannes Film Festival: Oliver Laxes Sirt a Moroccan desert road trip through, we come to learn, a World War III purgatory.Its well into Sirt, a kind of combination of Mad Max and Wages of Fear, that that reality begins to sink in. Our main characters Luis (Sergi Lpez) and his son Estaban (Brno Nuez) have come to a desert rave in search of Luis missing daughter. When the authorities break it up, they join up with a bohemian troupe of ravers who offroad toward a new, faraway destination.Thumping, propulsive beats abound in Sirt, not unlike they do at Cannes nightly parties. In this movie that jarringly confronts the notion of escape from harsh reality, there are wild tragedies and violent plot turns. Its characters steer into a nightmare that looks an awful lot like todays front pages. We wanted to be deeply connected to this day and age, Laxe said in Cannes.As much as Cannes basks in the Cte dAzu sunshine, storm clouds have been all over its movie screens at the festival, which on Monday passed the halfway point. Portents of geopolitical doom are everywhere in a lineup thats felt unusually in sync with the moment. Tom Cruise, in Mission: Impossible Final Awakening, has battled AI apocalypse. Raoul Peck, in Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5, has summoned the authors totalitarianism warnings for today. Even the new Wes Anderson (The Phoenician Scheme) is about an oligarch. If the French Riviera has often served as a spectacular retreat from the real world, this years Cannes abounds with movies urgently reckoning with it. Its probably appropriate, then, that many of those films have been particularly divisive. Sirt is laudable for its its-time-to-break-stuff attitude to its characters, even if that makes for a sometimes punishing experience for the audience. This is a love or hate it movie, sometimes at the same time. Director Oliver Laxe, from left, Bruno Nunez, and Sergi Lopez pose for photographers at the photo call for the film Sirat at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Lewis Joly/Invision/AP) Director Oliver Laxe, from left, Bruno Nunez, and Sergi Lopez pose for photographers at the photo call for the film Sirat at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Lewis Joly/Invision/AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Ari Asters Eddington, perhaps the largest American production in recent years to sincerely grapple with contemporary American politics, was dismissed more than it was praised. But for a good while Eddington is breathtakingly accurate in its depiction of the United States circa 2020.In Eddington, the conservative, untidy sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) runs for mayor against the liberal incumbent, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), partly over disagreements on mask mandates. But in Asters small-town satire, both left and right are mostly under the sway of a greater force: social media and a digital reality that can wreck havoc on daily lives.I wrote this film in a state of fear and anxiety about the world, Aster said in Cannes. I wanted to try and pull back and just describe and show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore. Jake Coyle has covered the Cannes Film Festival since 2012. Hes seeing approximately 40 films at this years festival and reporting on what stands out. Reflecting a world running on a new logicIts been striking how much this years Cannes has been defined by anxious, if not downright bleak visions of the future. There have been exceptions most notably Richard Linklaters charming ode to the French New Wave Nouvelle Vague and Andersons delightful The Phoenician Scheme. But seldom has this years festival not felt like an ominous big-screen reflection of today.Thats been true in the overall chatter around the festival, which got underway with the new threat of U.S. tariffs on foreign-produced films on the minds of many filmmakers and producers. Rising geopolitical frictions led even the typically very optimistic Bono, in Cannes to premiere his Apple TV+ documentary Bono: Stories of Surrender, to confess he had never lived at a time where World War III felt closer at hand. Zoey Deutch, from left, director Richard Linklater, Michele Halberstadt and producer Laurent Petin at the "Nouvelle Vague" premiere. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP) Zoey Deutch, from left, director Richard Linklater, Michele Halberstadt and producer Laurent Petin at the "Nouvelle Vague" premiere. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Bono. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP) Bono. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Other films in Cannes werent as overtly about here and now as Eddington, but many of them have been consumed with the recurring traumas of the past. Two of the most lauded films from the beginning of the festival Mascha Schilinskis Sound of Falling and Two Prosecutors, by the Ukrainian filmmaker Sergie Loznitsa contemplated intimate cases of history repeating itself. Two Prosecutors, set in Stalins Russia, captures the slow-moving crawl of bureaucratic malevolence by adapting a story by the dissident author and physicist Georgy Demidov, who spent 14 years in the gulag. Loznitsa said his film is not a reflection of the past. Its a reflection of the present.In the period political thriller The Secret Agent, Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendona Filho turns to not a real historical tale but a fictional one, set in 1977 during Brazils military dictatorship.Wagner Moura brings a natural movie-star cool to the role of Marcelo, a technology expert returning to his hometown of Recife where government corruption is rife and hitmen are on his tail. Vividly textured, with absurdist touches (the hairy leg of a corpse plays as a colorful metaphor for the dictatorship), The Secret Agent seeks, and sometimes finds, its own logic of political resistance. I really believe that some of the most heartfelt texts come not necessarily from fact but from the logic of what is happening, Filho said in an interview. Right, now the world seems to be running on some kind of new logic. Ten or 15 years ago, some of these ideas would be completely dismissed, even by the most conservative politicians. I think The Secret Agent is a film full of mystery and intrigue but it does seem to have a certain logic which I associate with my country, Brazil.Finding the rays of hopeIn nonfiction filmmaking, no one may be better today than Peck (I Am Not Your Nego, last years Ernest Cole: Lost and Found ) in connecting historical dots. Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 marries Orwells words (narrated by Damian Lewis) on totalitarian states that demand the disbelief of objective truth with the actions of contemporary governments around the world, including Russia, Myanmar and the United States. Images of a bombed out Mariupol in 2022 runs with its official description: Peacekeeping operations.Its not just geopolitical tremors quaking on movie screens in Cannes. Climate change and natural disaster are on the minds of filmmakers, too, sometimes in the most unlikely of movies.The French animated film Arco, by illustrator Ugo Bienvenu, is about a boy from the distant future who lives on a Jetsons-like platform in the clouds. He travels back in time to another future-time, 2075, where homes are bubbled to protect them from fire and storm, and robots do all of the parenting for working parents who appear to their children only as digital projections.Its a grim future, particularly so because it feels quite plausible. But the strange charm of Arco, a brightly colored movie with a whole lot of rainbows, is that is offers a younger generation a dream of a future they might make. A relationship between the boy from the future and a girl who finds him in 2075 sparks not just a friendship but a nourishing vision of whats possible.Arco, in that way, is a reminder that the most moving movies about our current doom offer a ray of hope, too.People are feeling disenchanted with the world, so we have to re-enchant them, said Laxe, the Sirt director. Times are tough but theyre very stimulating at the same time. Well have to look deeply into ourselves. Thats what were forced to do because its a tough world now.___Jake Coyle has covered the Cannes Film Festival since 2012. Hes seeing approximately 40 films at this years festival and reporting on what stands out.___For more coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival JAKE COYLE Coyle has been a film critic and covered the movie industry for The Associated Press since 2013. He is based in New York City. twitter mailto

Jalen Brunson de los Knicks de Nueva York ahce un gesto hacia los aficionados en el juego 6 de las semifinales de la Conferencia Este ante los Celtics de Boston el viernes 16 de mayo del 2025. (AP Foto/Frank Franklin II)2025-05-18T22:35:07Z The parity era continues in the NBA.The New York Knicks havent won an NBA championship since 1973. The Indiana Pacers won their most recent title that year in the ABA. The Oklahoma City Thunder franchise has one title in its history, that coming in 1979 when the team called Seattle home. And the Minnesota Timberwolves have never even been to the NBA Finals.Meet the NBAs final four.When Commissioner Adam Silver hands one of those teams the Larry OBrien Trophy next month, itll mark a league first seven championship franchises in a seven-year span.There hasnt been a back-to-back NBA champion since Golden State in 2017 and 2018. From there, the list of champions goes like this: Toronto in 2019, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023 and Boston last season.Its the longest such run of different champions in NBA history; Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NFL have all had longer ones, and not too long ago, either. But for the NBA, this is different. The league wanted unpredictability, especially after four consecutive Cleveland-vs.-Golden State title matchups from 2015 through 2018. And things have been highly unpredictable since. No matter what the Finals matchup is this year, the NBA will be seeing 11 conference-champion franchises in the span of seven seasons.Weve still got eight more wins to achieve our ultimate goal, Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. Weve still got two more series. Were only halfway there.The season is over for 26 of the NBAs 30 clubs. But the fun stuff is just starting. Conference finals start TuesdayThe Western Conference finals No. 6 seed Minnesota vs. No. 1 seed Oklahoma City begin Tuesday night in Oklahoma. The Eastern Conference finals No. 4 seed Indiana vs. No. 3 seed New York begin Wednesday night in Manhattan. The Wolves lost the West finals last year; the Pacers lost the East finals a year ago.Youve got to have big dreams, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. You dont know how often youre going to be in this position.Indeed, the championship window for teams doesnt seem to be staying open as long as it did in the past.Boston was a huge favorite to win its second straight title; the Celtics didnt get out of Round 2, in part because they couldnt hold onto big leads and in part because Jayson Tatum ruptured his right Achilles tendon in that series with the Knicks.Upset or not, whatever it is, we beat a great team, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson said. They obviously lost a huge piece ... but theyre still a great team.Damian Lillard tore an Achilles tendon in Round 1, ending Milwaukees hopes. Cleveland, the top seed in the East, bowed out in Round 2 against Indiana after a slew of Cavs were dealing with health issues. Stephen Curry strained his hamstring; that was all it took to doom Golden States chances in Round 2 against Minnesota.Hes our sun, Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. This is a solar system. Hes our sun.And now, the NBA solar system is about to see new star holding the trophy. The next oneThere is nobody left in these playoffs who has been an NBA Finals MVP. Not even close.In fact, there are only seven players left Indianas Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Thomas Bryant; Knicks teammates P.J. Tucker, Cam Payne and Mikal Bridges; and Oklahoma Citys Alex Caruso who have appeared in a Finals game. And most of those appearances didnt add up to much; Siakam is the only player left in these playoffs with more than 100 Finals points.So, who will the next Finals MVP be? Maybe Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Canadian guard and likely MVP from the Thunder? The Mr. Clutch award winner, Brunson from the Knicks? Anthony Edwards, the presumed next face of the league from the Timberwolves? Tyrese Haliburton, the dazzling guard and Olympic gold medalist who keeps getting overlooked by everyone outside of Indiana?None of them would be surprise choices.Our ultimate goal isnt just the Western Conference finals, Gilgeous-Alexander said. Youve got to go through there to get there. Who has the edge?If the NBAs final four was its own league this season, taking just the head-to-head results between those four clubs would suggest the Thunder are the clear favorite.Oklahoma City went 6-2 against the other three conference finalists, while New York and Indiana both went 3-4 and Minnesota went 3-5.The Thunder swept the Pacers and Knicks, and the Pacers swept the Timberwolves.As far as the head-to-heads going into the conference finals, Oklahoma City and Minnesota split four meetings with the Timberwolves outscoring the Thunder 475-472 while the Knicks went 2-1 against Indiana, with all three games decided by at least 11 points.You can feel good about it, feel however you want to feel about it, Haliburton said of getting to this point. But at the end of the day, were not done. We know we all have a bigger goal at mind. Our goal wasnt just to get to the Eastern Conference finals and be done. Our goal is to win a championship.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba TIM REYNOLDS Reynolds is an Associated Press sports writer, based in South Florida. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 19 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01593-zImmune-cell function improved in a teenager whose DNA was altered using prime editing.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08968-2Observations of a luminous quasar from the high-resolution spectrometer Resolve aboard XRISM revealed highly inhomogeneous wind structure outflowing from a supermassive black hole, which probably consists of up to a million clumps.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08932-0Examination of a complete structural phase diagram of twisted trilayer graphene shows that several large-scale moir domain lattices can be formed, the physical properties of which can be tuned by the twist angles between layers.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08956-6Proxy records and climate simulations show that in past warm intervals, the South Asian summer monsoon was characterized by an increase in monsoon rainfall, and weakening and strengthening of different parts of the monsoon circulation, consistent with future projections.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09008-9Dopaminergic action prediction error signals are used by mice as a value-free teaching signal to reinforce stable soundaction associations in the tail of the striatum.

Six women have now filed lawsuits against eXp Realty, with similar claims that they were drugged and then attacked while attending an event for the brokerage.

In an effort to compete with the popularity of ChatGPT, Meta has launched its very own standalone AI app. Here is a selection of the best features available on Meta AI.Convenient voice-activated data leaksRevenge porn editorMakes phone real hotWhen paired with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, allows user to seamlessly observe stuff they already sawAn AI audience that loves your AI contentIs sweet to youNew kind of lonelinessRegisters minute changes in voice to ensure you are shown the content that will make you angriestEasy to delete as any other appThe post Features Of Metas New AI App appeared first on The Onion.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a bill banning the use of certain additives in public water systems, making Florida the second state, after Utah, to ban fluoride from drinking water. What do you think?Teeth are mostly vestigial anyway.Kimberly Stearn, Lumber CuratorGood, I wouldnt want any harmful chemicals getting into my meth pipe.Joe Lepo, Padlock MarketerThey dont fluoridate swamp water, and I dont see the gators complaining.Victor Lopez, UnemployedThe post Florida Bans Fluoride In Public Drinking Water appeared first on The Onion.

It defined my childhood and is a coveted feature of my next home.READ MORE...

Empty shopping carts are collected from the parking lot at Walmart store in Burbank, Calif., on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)2025-05-19T10:00:08Z WASHINGTON (AP) For months, American consumers and businesses have been hearing that President Trumps massive import taxes tariffs would drive up prices and hurt the U.S. economy. But the latest economic reports dont match the doom and gloom: Inflation actually eased last month, and hiring was solid in April.For now, the disconnect has businesses and consumers struggling to reconcile what they were told to expect, what the numbers say and what they are seeing on the ground. Trump and his supporters are quick to point out that the trade wars of his first term didnt translate into higher overall inflation across the economy.So is it time to breathe easy? Not yet, economists say. Trumps tariffs are still huge the highest since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Theyre unpredictable: The president frequently announces tariffs only to suspend them days later and to conjure up new ones. And they are still working their way through the system. We had a good jobs report. We had a cool inflation report, and thats great, said Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at Yale Universitys Budget Lab. But that should not give us comfort about what next month will be, particularly on inflation. Walmart, for example, warned its customers last week that prices will be going up for everything from clothing to car seats. Prices for some items like bananas have already increased. True, the truce with China last Monday dramatically reduced the risks to the U.S. economy, and U.S. and global stock markets rallied last week in relief. The United States dropped the import tax that Trump angrily imposed on China Americas third-biggest source of imports from an eye-watering 145% to 30%; Beijing cut its retaliatory tariffs from 125% to 10%. Economists at JPMorgan Chase, who had forecast last month that the China tariffs made a recession likely, dont expect one now. Trumps tariffs are the highest since the Great DepressionBut even with the lower levies on China, the Yale Budget Lab reported that the cost of Trumps trade war will be high. Climbing prices will reduce the purchasing power of the average household by $2,800. Shoe prices will rise 15% and clothing 14%. The tariffs will shave 0.7 percentage points off U.S. economic growth this year and increase the unemployment rate now a low 4.2% by nearly 0.4 percentage points.Trump has plastered 10% taxes on imports from almost every country on earth. Hes also imposed 25% duties on cars, aluminum, steel, and many imports from Canada and Mexico.The Yale Budget Lab estimates that Trump policies will push the average U.S. tariff rate to 17.8%, highest since 1934 and up from around 2.5% when Trump took office. (Other economists put his tariff rate at 14% to 15%.) During Trumps first term, the average tariff rose just 1 percentage point despite all the headlines generated by trade policies. Now, according to the budget lab, they are rising 15 percentage points.And the tariffs have only begun to bite. In April, the import tax revenues collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection came to a tariff rate of just 4.5%, a fraction of whats coming, Tedeschi said. Thats partly because of delays in rolling out the tariffs, including technical glitches that prevented customs agents from collecting them for a couple of weeks. The full impact has also been delayed because companies beat the clock by bringing in foreign goods before Trumps tariffs took effect. Retailers and importers had also largely halted shipments of shoes, clothes, toys, and other items due to new tariffs, but many are resuming imports from China. Tedeschi, who was chief economist at President Joe Bidens Council of Economic Advisers, also notes that it just takes time for tariffs to translate into higher prices. During Trumps first term, his January 2018 levies on foreign washing machines didnt yield more expensive appliances until April that year. Still, a Federal Reserve study this month found that duties Trump imposed in 2018 and 2019 meant higher prices as soon as two months later, suggesting consumers could start paying more in June. Consumers are less willing to accept higher pricesThings have changed from the first time Trump was in the White House, when companies essentially passed along the entire cost of his tariffs. Now American consumers, still scarred by the burst of inflation that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, may be more reluctant to accept higher prices.Consumers werent inflation exhausted in 2018 the way that they are now, Tedeschi said. Surveys by Federal Reserve banks in Atlanta and Dallas have found that most companies would eat at least some of the tariff costs this time around. And one reason that the Labor Departments producer price index fell in April was that retailers and wholesalers reported lower profit margins, a sign that they may have been absorbing some of the tariff cost.Trump, who has long insisted that foreign countries and not U.S. companies or consumers pay his tariffs, on Saturday lashed out at Walmart for saying it would raise prices. On social media, he demanded that the giant retailer EAT THE TARIFFS, and do not charge valued customers anything. Ill be watching, and so will your customers!!! The economic damage doesnt just come from the cost of tariffs, but from the erratic way the president imposes them. For instance, the 145% China tariffs were just suspended for 90 days. Likewise, Trump has paused high taxes he slapped last month on imports from countries with which the United States runs trade deficits. Could those levies come back?Consumers are clearly fearful that the duties will boost prices, as consumer confidence surveys have plummeted since Trump began ramping up his tariff threats in February. The Conference Boards consumer confidence index has fallen for five straight months to its lowest level since the depths of the pandemic in May 2020. Costlier coffee and Christmas wreathes are comingSnowy Owl Coffee Roasters in Sandwich, Massachusetts, which imports beans from Brazil, Nicaragua, Burundi and other countries, is only now planning to raise its prices this week to cover the cost of the 10% tariffs. It plans to add 25 cents to 35 cents to the price for each cup.Tariffs are increasing costs and theyre adding to a lot of uncertainty around the potential for a downturn, said Shayna Ferullo, 44, co-owner of Snowy Owl. We are looking closely at the year ahead with the goal of consolidating and operating really, really tightly. Ferullo will also have to pay much more than she budgeted to renovate her shop in Brewster, Massachusetts -- one of her three retail locations -- because the contractor has raised his estimate, partly due to tariffs on building supplies. She has already elected to not fill one job after an employee left and is looking at ways automation could help reduce her labor costs, though she hasnt laid off any of her 35 employees.Jared Hendricks, CEO of Village Lighting Co., last month halted shipments of supplies he gets from China holiday storage bags, wreathes, holiday lights and garlands. Now that the U.S. and China have reached a truce, hes trying to get the products to the United States in time for the holidays.He estimates that it will take 10 to 20 days from China to the West Coast ports via ship and another 20 days to 40 days for the goods to go through U.S. Customs, then travel via Union Pacific Railways to his company in Utah. Given all the expected delays, Hendricks said hes worried that his holiday dcor wont arrive by Sept. 1 when it should start appearing in stores.Meanwhile, hes figuring out how to foot a $1 million bill for the tariffs. Hes hoping he can cover the cost by raising prices 10% to 15%. In the meantime, hes trying to secure a loan against his house to pay for the levies. We are moving forward, he said, but at great cost, personal risk, and weariness.____DInnocenzio reported from New York. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto ANNE DINNOCENZIO DInnocenzio writes about retail, trends, the consumer economy and hourly workers for The Associated Press. twitter mailto

Incumbent Prime Minister and leader of the center-right Social Democratic Party Luis Montenegro reacts with his supporters, following Portugal's general election, in Lisbon, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)2025-05-19T09:21:55Z LISBON, Portugal (AP) Portugals president convened the countrys political parties for consultations Monday, after a general election delivered another minority government as well as an unprecedented showing by populist party Chega (Enough) that added momentum to Europes shift to the far-right.The center-right Democratic Alliance, led by the Social Democratic Party, captured 89 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly to win Sundays ballot. The outcome leaves it without a parliamentary majority, however, and vulnerable to opposition parties that ousted it two months ago in a confidence vote after less than a year in power.Portugals third general election in three years provided little hope for ending the worst spell of political instability for decades in the European Union country of 10.6 million people.The Portuguese dont want any more early elections, Luis Montenegro, the Democratic Alliance leader and incoming prime minister, said late Sunday in an appeal for opposition parties to let him serve a full four-year term. We all have to be able to speak to each other and put the national interest first, he said.Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has no executive power, was consulting with parties before inviting the election winner to form a government, in line with the constitution. Chega upsets Portugals power dynamicsChegas result shook up the traditional balance of power in a trend already witnessed elsewhere in Europe with parties such as Frances National Rally, the Brothers of Italy, and Alternative for Germany, which are now in the political mainstream.Chega leader Andre Ventura has appeared at events with the leaders of those parties in recent years.For the past 50 years, the Social Democrats and the center-left Socialist Party have alternated in power in Portugal.Chega collected the same number of seats as the Socialists 58 and could yet claim second place when four remaining seats decided by voters abroad are attributed in coming days. The two-party system is over, Ventura, a lawyer and former soccer pundit, said.Chega competed in its first election just six years ago, when it won one seat, and has fed off disaffection with the more moderate traditional parties. Campaigning under the slogan Save Portugal, it describes itself as a nationalist party and has focused on curbing immigration and cracking down on corruption.On the streets of Lisbon, 42-year-old bank employee Marta Costa said she felt disappointment and sadness at Chegas showing.We are losing the world and not building something decent for our children, she said. I think we are not placing enough value on freedom.Emilia Gordo, 55, said voters expressed a desire for change. They (Chega) are trying everything to bring about a change, the country feels a need for change.The Socialists, meanwhile, are without a leader after Pedro Nuno Santos said he was standing down after the partys worst result since 1987.The Democratic Alliance, which also includes the smaller Popular Party, lost a confidence vote in parliament in March as opposition lawmakers teamed up against it. That triggered an early election, which had been due in 2028. The confidence vote was sparked by a political storm around potential conflicts of interest in the business dealings of Prime Minister Lus Montenegros family law firm. Montenegro has denied any wrongdoing.Corruption scandals have dogged Portuguese politics in recent years, helping fuel the rise of Chega. But the party has recently fallen foul of its own lawmakers alleged wrongdoing. One is suspected of stealing suitcases from the Lisbon airport and selling the contents online, and another allegedly faked the signature of a dead woman. Both resigned. Immigration and housing concern votersChega owes much of its success to its demands for a tighter immigration policy that have resonated with voters.Portugal has witnessed a steep rise in immigration. In 2018, there were fewer than a half-million legal immigrants in the country, according to government statistics. By early this year, there were more than 1.5 million, many of them Brazilians and Asians working in tourism and farming.Thousands more lack the proper documents to be in Portugal. The Democratic Alliance government announced two weeks before the election that it was expelling about 18,000 foreigners living in the country without authorization. Though such a step is routine, the timing drew accusations that it was trying to capture votes from Chega.A housing crisis has also fired up debate. House prices and rents have been soaring for the past 10 years, due in part to an influx of white-collar foreigners who have driven up prices.House prices jumped another 9% last year, said the National Statistics Institute, a government body. Rents in and around the capital Lisbon, where around 1.5 million people live, last year saw the steepest rise in 30 years, climbing more than 7%, the institute said. The problem is compounded by Portugal being one of Western Europes poorest countries.The average monthly salary last year was around 1,200 euros ($1,340) before tax, according to the statistics agency. The government-set minimum wage this year is 870 euros ($974) a month before tax.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08928-wCurrent trends imply that we will transgress most of the planetary boundaries by 2050; however, ambitious, urgent and universal action to ameliorate climate change and increase resource efficiency can effectively reduce the degree of transgression.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09001-2Neurons in the rodent dorsomedial prefrontal cortex encode a flexible internal model of emotion by linking directly experienced and inferred associations with aversive experiences.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08994-0Radiotherapy induces expression of the EGFR ligand amphiregulin, which promotes metastasis growth at remote sites in mouse models and human patients by shifting myeloid cells towards an immunosuppressive state.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01468-3With organoids, assembloids and a growing toolkit of bioengineering tricks, scientists are stitching together models of the developing human brain and pushing the limits of realism and control.

Nature, Published online: 14 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09018-7The taurinetaurine transporter axis is a critical dependency of aggressive myeloid leukaemias.

The deal is a much-needed shot in the arm for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street and has been struggling financially.

Wendy McMahon, the president of CBS News and Stations, had allied herself with Bill Owens, the 60 Minutes executive producer who recently resigned.

The European Union scaled back its forecast for growth in 2025 by nearly half a percent, as the jump in tariffs and surrounding chaos bite.

After four days with Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, on the stand, prosecutors will be seeking to corroborate her testimony with additional witnesses.