Hello, readers – happy Monday! Today, we’ll be talking about tariffs, Israel’s latest moves in Gaza, drone strikes in Ukraine, elections, Biden’s cancer diagnosis, a bombing, and nuclear fusion.

Here’s some good news: An Oakland, California-based company, Cadence, has spent the last year stocking highway gas stations, corner delis, and 24-hour convenience stores with its own emergency contraception brand called “Morning After Pill.” Also, researchers discovered sources of hydrogen that could be hiding amid the Earth's crust that are enough to power Earth at its current energy needs for the next 170,000 years.

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“I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks

Let’s Talk Tariffs

Remember when Trump promised that slapping massive tariffs on all of America’s trade partners would magically increase foreign investment in the U.S.? Well, just like every expert predicted, that’s not the case. In fact, the tariffs seem to be actively discouraging investment in the U.S. “One of our contacts described it to me as driving a car in the fog,” said North Carolina’s Commerce Secretary last week. “You’re driving along, the fog descends, you slow the car down. Depending on how bad the fog is, you might pull the car over and turn on the blinkers. And we feel like we’re in that space a little bit.” 

While it can’t make foreign companies boost their investments in America, the Trump administration can twist the arms of American corporations. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that U.S. retail juggernaut Walmart will “eat some of the tariffs” instead of forcing their rising operating costs onto consumers. 

The White House also announced an overhaul of its tariff policies over the weekend. Instead of striking direct deals with every country that Trump slapped his AI-powered tariffs on, diplomats will now work out batch deals with countries based on their region. “We will do a lot of regional deals — this is the rate for Central America, this is the rate for this part of Africa — but what we are focused on for right now is the 18 important trading relationships,” Bessent said on Sunday.

Chariots & A Tiny Bit Of Charity?

Israel changed the status quo in Gaza over the weekend. First, the IDF kicked off Operation Gideon’s Chariots, the codename for “extensive” new ground operations in Gaza. Second, the IDF announced that it would be allowing limited amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave, ending its over two-month-long siege of Gaza.

As part of its new operation, the IDF unleashed a series of airstrikes across Gaza, killing at least 103 people and shutting down the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, the main hospital in the area. According to the Israeli military, the goal of the operation is to “increase control over the Gaza Strip by dividing the territory and moving the population.” The military says there are at least five divisions of Israeli soldiers operating on the ground in Gaza after last week’s “preliminary wave of strikes” hit at least 670 targets (including hospitals and tent camps), killing hundreds.

As for the humanitarian aid blockade being lifted, details are scarce. “On the recommendation of the IDF … Israel will introduce a basic amount of food to the population in order to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip,” said the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A Drone Attack Sandwich

• According to Kyiv, Russia launched its largest-ever drone attack against Ukraine over the weekend. Ukrainian sources said the Kremlin fired off a wave of at least 273 drones at targets across the country on Sunday, with the focus on the Kyiv region, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions in the east.

• Ukraine’s air force claimed that 88 drones were intercepted by its air defenses, while 128 missed their targets “without negative consequences.” That means at least 57 drones reached their targets – one Ukrainian was killed by the drones, with at least three others injured. 

• Russia chose a strange time for the massive drone attack, sandwiching it between two major diplomatic meetings – representatives from the two countries met face-to-face on Friday (though little came out of the meeting), and Putin is scheduled to meet with Trump on a phone call today to discuss a ceasefire deal.

Just Another Super Sunday

• Voters across Poland, Portugal, and Romania headed to the polls yesterday in a European “Super Sunday” of national elections. In Poland, people cast ballots for a range of 13 candidates in the country’s first round of presidential elections, which will whittle down the pool of candidates to just two people – polls predict that Rafał Trzaskowski (the centrist Mayor of Warsaw) and Karol Nawrocki (a right-leaning historian) will be brought into a head-to-head in the second round. In Portugal, voters participated in their third general election in three years – incumbent prime minister Luís Montenegro’s party is expected to come in first place, but the center-right group will likely need to scrape together a coalition government to remain in power.

• While those two are interesting contests, most eyes were on Romania’s presidential election, which saw George Simion (a far-right ultranationalist) face off against Nicuşor Dan (the centrist mayor of Bucharest). If Simion wins the election, the vocal E.U. critic will likely pull the country away from the union, weakening it during a critical moment in international politics. While Simion steamrolled the first round of Romania’s election, Dan has been gaining ground in recent weeks, though it’s unclear who’s won the contest at the time of writing.

More Mixed Nuts

• World leaders descend on Rome for Pope Leo’s inauguration (Politico)

• Nvidia, Cisco, Oracle and OpenAI are backing the UAE Stargate data center project (CNBC)

• Ten dead in ‘brutal’ attacks by Isis-linked militants on Mozambique wildlife reserve (Guardian)

• Minister 'pushing' for deal over use of EU passport e-gates (BBC)

A Presidential Prognosis

• Former President Joe Biden’s staff revealed yesterday that he has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Biden, 82, was seen last week by doctors after urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule were found.

• “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his office said. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

Calamity Near Coachella

• Law enforcement officials revealed yesterday that the bombing outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic on Saturday was motivated by anti-natalist ideology (the belief that nobody should have children). The bombing killed one person (the bomber) and injured four others.

• At a press conference on Sunday, authorities said they believe the 25-year-old suspect was attempting to livestream the attack and are looking into what they call a “manifesto.” The explosion caused damage to multiple buildings and businesses within a 250-yard blast radius, officials said.

More Nuts In America

• At least 18 killed as severe weather lashes Kentucky, and 9 more die elsewhere (AP)

• Mexican tall ship strikes Brooklyn Bridge, snapping masts and killing 2 crew members (AP)

• Oklahoma high schools to teach 2020 election conspiracy theories as fact (Guardian)

• Sen. Rand Paul: Qatari gift plane has 'raised more questions than I think it's worth' (ABC)

• 7 inmates still at large after New Orleans jail escape, officials increase reward (USA Today)

Death Ray For Fusion

• Who doesn’t like lasers? And unlimited clean energy? Hey, what if we combined the two (kind of)? That’s what the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) is doing – using lasers to spark nuclear fusion reactions – and it’s recently made a whole lot of progress. 

• The facility’s entire purpose is to fire massive laser shots at pellets of nuclear fuel encased in a diamond coating. If everything goes correctly, the laser blast turns the coating into an expanding plasma, squishing the atoms of the pellet together until their nuclei fuse together – that fusion produces a blast of energy that, under the right conditions, can produce massive amounts of energy. 

• The NIF first generated a net positive amount of energy in 2022, when it fired a 2.05 megajoule laser at a pellet. That reaction created 3.15 megajoules – technically a net positive of 1.1 megajoules, but not the explosive amount of energy you’d want in a fusion reaction. More recently, though, the facility has been on a hot streak. According to a source with knowledge of the NIF experiments, recent fusion tests have created net positives of 5.2 megajoules and then 8.6 megajoules. That second result is equivalent to exploding roughly 2 kilograms of TNT at once – pretty impressive!

More Loose Nuts

• Paleontologists discover a 500-million-year-old, 3-eyed predator (NPR)

• FDA approves Novavax COVID-19 shot but with unusual restrictions (AP)

• Universities cutting sports, others adding ahead of $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement (AP)

• Austrians celebrate JJ bringing home first Eurovision win in 11 years (Guardian)

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Team Thoughts

Kayli - Powering Earth for 170,000 years? Sounds like something out of a Marvel movie. 

Marcus - What sound does this giant laser make? Please don’t tell me it’s silent.

Editor In Chief: Kayli Woods

Head Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

Designer: Joe Stella