Great news last week: “President Sheinbaum signed the presidential decree on April 7, formally creating Mexico’s Universal Health Service, which she described as “a historic step” toward guaranteeing free public healthcare for all Mexicans regardless of which institution they are affiliated with.”

In parenting, I’m past the bedtime stories phase. But some of our happiest memories are of the years where I’d tell silly stories I made up from my own brain and out of *our family experience.* How is this “tell us a [slop] story from your phone” not repulsive to every thinking/feeling person?

"Hamas was not and is not looking to disarm. Israel is not willing to withdraw, especially with elections later this year," said Julie Norman, a professor of international relations who co-ordinates the Israel-Palestine Initiative at University College London. www.cbc.ca/news/world/t...

A newborn baby abandoned in Union Square subway station in New York was found and adopted by a gay couple. The baby is now 26. Beautiful story. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Kegham Djeghalian, a photographer and Armenian genocide survivor, settled in Gaza in 1944. He documented the Palestinian territory through portraits and reports until he died in 1981. His grandson has chosen to exhibit his images of ordinary & joyful moments in Gaza. www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/...

Also: Fifty-five out of 59 USAID-funded projects in Bangladesh were shut down following a "stop-work" order issued by the Trump administration in January 2025. Bangladesh lost development assistance worth $700 million. www.thedailystar.net/news/banglad...

Since the ceasefire, Israeli forces have moved the “Yellow Line,” the agreed limit of Israeli territorial control inside Gaza, westward beyond its agreed boundaries. They have established at least 32 outposts, reports Human Rights Watch @hrw.org www.hrw.org/news/2026/05...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a large measles outbreak in Bangladesh, with more than 19 000 suspected cases, the majority in children aged 5 years or younger, reported in a single month—from mid-March to mid-April. @jama.com jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

An Israeli ⁠airstrike on an ‌apartment in ‌central Gaza on Sunday killed three people in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Mohammad Abu Mallouh, the infant's father, Alaa Zaqlan, the mother, and their six-month-old child, Osama. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

I'm here to tell you that there is no need to force yourself through the torment of reading a boring book if you realize that reading — or listening to a book — is self-care. You can stop reading that book midway through or after the first ten pages. My latest: medium.com/@josieglz/no...

Five products on sale in the UK that contain ASBESTOS include Fun Sand, Sand Art Bottle manufactured by the HTI Group, Glitter & Glow, Magical Sand Art by KandyToys; and Sand Filled Weirdo, Wordpad Montessori Sand Tray and 4 Pack Stretchy Gorilla Toy. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

A decree by the Taliban in Afghanistan has drawn condemnation from human rights groups for recognizing child marriage. Article 5 states: “Upon reaching puberty, the minor has the option to dissolve the marriage” that a relative may have contracted for her. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/w...

On May 21 Trump announced the easing of curbs on a group of powerful greenhouse gases, super-pollutants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), that drive climate change and are commonly found in refrigerators and air conditioners. @lemonde.fr www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...

Several factors are impeding the aid response to Ebola in in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, incl. the strain of the virus, for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine. Also, big shortfalls in aid budgets driven by the Trump’s cuts to foreign aid. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

A newborn baby abandoned in Union Square subway station in New York was found and adopted by a gay couple. The baby is now 26. Beautiful story. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been released from a hospital in Tehran after more than two weeks, her supporters said Monday. apnews.com/article/iran...

I'm here to tell you that there is no need to force yourself through the torment of reading a boring book if you realize that reading — or listening to a book — is self-care. You can stop reading that book midway through or after the first ten pages. My latest: medium.com/@josieglz/no...

Sorry, but no. The vast majority of us perfectly understand what a dictatorship is, the one Spain lived, and how deep we refuse to even think in another such period for our country. There are a few people stuck in far-right discourse, that's true. 59 yo male from Valencia writing here, fyi 🤗

Said the Dead, by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, "is an intimately researched but also wildly imaginative study of lives (mostly female) lived and often concluded during Cork Mental Hospital’s first 70 years or so." www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

The Supreme Court has ruled that a widely used abortion medication could continue to be prescribed by telehealth and sent to patients by mail. Nearly two-thirds of abortions in the US are now carried out with abortion pills and about one-quarter involve telehealth. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/u...

Gaza Is Rebuilding With Lego-Like Bricks Made From Rubble As reconstruction materials remain blocked, Palestinians are crushing debris into interlocking blocks to build shelters from destruction. www.wired.com/story/gaza-i...

"The year is 2026 and you have encountered one of Spain’s network of bars and restaurants that proudly glorify Franco and his dictatorship. These unsettling and unusual places tell a vivid story about the unique way that Spain deals with its past – or fails to." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It may seem hopeless at this point, when any kind of just peace is unlikely and distant, but now more than ever these projects are important.

"The Trump administration has struck what some see as the final blow to PEPFAR, the vaunted US program that has saved the lives of 26 million people living with HIV. The State Dept now says that as of 30 September, CDC support for PEPFAR will end in most countries." www.science.org/content/arti...

We didn’t see Pizza Rat in NYC this weekend, but we did see Bread Crust Squirrel

The Guardian published its list of “100 Best Novels.” If you polled one thousand random members of the reading public, they might come up with a 1000 different “100 Best Books” lists, and every single list would be equally valid, to the reader themselves. My latest: medium.com/p/342ed16138...

Good morning! Here is a three-day old sea-otter pup, snoozing on their Mama. The image is by one my favourite wildlife photographers, Suzi Eszterhas, who runs girlswhoclick.org - an organisation that mentors girls and young women interested in nature photography. Feel free to share.

And you can always find this gal reading folks, she is never not reading because books are magic.

As an avid reader & I am not using that as an idiom no sirree bob, this economist gal reads a novel per week - not to quantify but because novels r my medicine, as I always say to my bookclub girlies & my students. Alors, this was such a treat to read! Mille merci @josiegz.bsky.social for writing!

The International Criminal Court's top prosecutor has requested sealed arrest warrants issued for Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Three more warrants would target Minister Orit Strock and two IDF officials. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

The Guardian published its list of “100 Best Novels.” If you polled one thousand random members of the reading public, they might come up with a 1000 different “100 Best Books” lists, and every single list would be equally valid, to the reader themselves. My latest: medium.com/p/342ed16138...

In the protestors' view, any revision to Japan's constitution risks remilitarizing Japan, hurting the reputation it built after World War II as a rule-abiding, nonthreatening economic power. They are also concerned that PM Takaichi will embroil the country in war. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/w...

“Inea is a New Yorker and a Nakba survivor,” Mayor Mamdani said, using the Arabic term for “catastrophe,” which Palestinians use to refer to the loss of their land in 1948. “She shared her story with us — one of home, tradition and memory over generations.” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/n...

These lists are entertaining but at the same time annoying. Reading tastes are so personal - one person's fave is another person's bore. Also, "Jude the Obscure" is THE most depressing book I've ever read and I can never get the ending out of my head. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

Our kids’ lungs are not a manufacturing experiment! 🛑 The EPA wants to let plastic 🔥 🔥 plants skip air pollution checks by calling it "advanced recycling." We see through the name change—it’s incineration. #CleanAirForKids #BeyondPetrochemicals www.wastedive.com/news/epa-pro...

Recently I realized that reading novels is an essential form of mental health care. Therefore if I'm not engrossed in a book, or keep looking at the page numbers, or find it dreary or boring or cliched, it's fine to stop reading. Because reading is self-care and reading a boring book is not.

Turns out, if you stop tearing up the seabed, wildlife thrives: ten years after banning bottom trawl fishing, there are 3 times the number of sea creatures + double the number of species in the South Arran MPA, Scotland, than there were before the ban 👏🦪🐟 share.google/2M5WqP3CXwSH...

In four years, Israel fell 30 points in the press freedom index. And this year’s ranking is the lowest it’s ever been, reflecting censorship, political interference, and killing of journalists in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

The European Parliament adopted on Tuesday a resolution calling on the European Commission to make consent the determining factor in rape legislation across the EU. @hrw.org Human Rights Watch reports: www.hrw.org/news/2026/04...

What a comfy soft red blanket, it's MINE, mine I say.

At the start of this academic year, officials in Texas scrutinized the syllabi offered at dozens of schools. Perhaps most symbolic was the mandated removal of certain works by Plato from an introductory philosophy class at Texas A&M University. @penamerica.bsky.social pen.org/texas-tech-a...

"Palestinians are human beings, and their lives must be protected," writes Yuli Novak, the executive director of the Israeli Human Rights organization B’Tselem. The backlash to revelations of sexual torture of Palestinian prisoners: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The rate of maternal syphilis in the US rose by 28% from 2022 to 2024, according to the CDC. A driver of the increase in maternal syphilis is lack of access to prenatal care: 1 in 4 pregnant people do not have access to prenatal care in their 1st trimester. thequantasticjournal.com/syphilis-cas...

Levels of some of the most dangerous PFAS "forever" compounds have dramatically fallen in Canadian seabird eggs, which study authors say illustrates how regulations are effective. The eggs were collected from the remote Bonaventure Island. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

In anticipation of its historic loan of the Bayeux Tapestry, the British Museum is creating a woodland evoking the landscape of 11th-century England. Visitors will encounter a canopy of 37 silver birch trees along with planters filled with woodland grasses. news.artnet.com/art-world/br...

A cottage located at a national nature reserve has been granted Grade II listed status. Fen Cottage at Wicken Fen, in Cambridgeshire, was built in roughly 1700 and is one of the last surviving homes of the ancient fen dwellers. www.bbc.com/news/article...

"What drove the birds to retreat to inaccessible cliffsides was changing human behavior, including desperate Spaniards gathering gull eggs to survive the country’s civil war from 1936 to 1939 and the famine that followed." www.biographic.com/spains-cliff...

The mountain bongo is a rare antelope known for its brown skin and distinct white stripes. With fewer than 100 individuals left in the wild, a conservancy based in Kenya is breeding them and slowly reintroducing them into the wild. phys.org/news/2026-05...

Do insects feel pain? "Crickets that received the hot probe “overwhelmingly” directed their attention to the affected antenna – they groomed it more frequently, and tended to it over a longer period of time." www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Zhang Kequn was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 1 million Kenyan shillings (£5,690) on 15 April after his arrest in March at Jomo Kenyatta international airport. Authorities found more than 2,200 live harvester ants in specialised tubes. www.theguardian.com/environment/...