Bedugul Coffee: Trump’s unstoppable force, Iran’s immovable object

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Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Thanks for reading the Weekend Briefing. Most of you will read this at breakfast, but chef recommends our visual rundown of the dinner menu at the U.S.-China summit, which pairs well with the seating chart. Democrats are portraying Donald Trump’s ballroom project as a waste of money as Americans swallow a jump in gasoline prices because of the Iran war. Canada is strengthening its defense ties with Nordic countries after Trump’s threats to seize Greenland.

Trump’s unstoppable force meets Iran’s immovable object

Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Bluster and coercion: Trump’s package of public threats, insults and ultimatums seems to have hit a wall with Iran and may undermine his efforts to end the war. Trump said Xi Jinping agreed that Tehran must open the Strait of Hormuz, but China gave no indication it would weigh in. High gasoline prices aren’t dissuading these Colorado voters from supporting Trump. They also are straining U.S. school-district budgets.
Middle East and Africa: Hamas said its military chief died after Israel said it targeted him in airstrikes. Trump said U.S. and Nigerian forces killed ISIS’ second in command. Thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City to commemorate Israel’s capture of the eastern part of the city six decades ago. They chanted “May your villages burn” and “Death to Arabs” while waving Israeli flags.

U.S. dangles $100 million in aid in front of Cuba

Strings attached: Cuba said it would entertain the offer of humanitarian aid and “free and fast satellite Internet” while expressing skepticism over Trump’s intentions. The CIA chief visited top Cuban officials, offering U.S. engagement if Havana makes “fundamental changes.” Learn about the 1996 incident that the U.S. plans to use to indict Raúl Castro.
The big heat: A U.S. blockade of oil to the island has caused interminable power outages as summer heat mounts and tempers short-circuit. Most gas stations remained shut while the price of gasoline and diesel nearly doubled.

Ukraine graft probe widens

Operation Midas: Investigators took Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s former top aide Andriy Yermak into custody, naming him an official suspect in a sprawling corruption case. The case could hang over Zelenskiy once the war with Russia ends. Separately, Zelenskiy met the CEO of Palantir Technologies as Ukraine works with the company to deploy AI to gain an edge in the war.
Ripping it up in Riga: Latvia’s prime minister booted her defense chief after holding him responsible for the army failing to stop two Ukrainian drones from exploding at an oil-storage facility. Andris Sprūds’ party in turn pulled their support from Evika Siliņa’s coalition government, triggering her resignation and its collapse.

No lawyers, guns or money

Bot, get me out of this: More Americans are using AI tools so they can act as their own advocates in court. On the other side of the legal coin: a family sued OpenAI, saying the man who killed their son in a mass shooting used ChatGPT to plan the attack. On a tangential note: Does it make a difference to a jury when a man accuses a woman of sexual harassment instead of the other way around?
At the movies: The sense I get from reading this story from the Cannes Film Festival is that attitudes in the business toward AI are growing slightly more accommodating. Learn what this could mean for the future – as well as for the adventures of a giant shark in the Seine.

No clear link: antidepressants, pregnancy and autism

Study: Using antidepressants while pregnant does not raise children’s risk for autism, the analysis found. It appears to contradict such assertions by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Law: A U.S. judge blocked the Justice Dept. from forcing a Rhode Island hospital to hand over records on gender-affirming care for transgender children. The Supreme Court ensured that doctors can prescribe the abortion pill through telemedicine and that people can receive it by mail.

Before I forget…

Albertans who want to secede from Canada suffered a setback after a provincial court ruled in favor of a First Nations bid to stop a referendum petition.
Flávio Bolsonaro stunned aides and members of his right-wing party by admitting he has a connection to a jailed banker at the center of a major scandal in Brazil after denying it. Here’s how Jim Caviezel is involved.
The Solomon Islands parliament elected opposition leader Matthew Wale as prime minister. Australia welcomed the decision despite his softening of criticism of China, which is trying island by island to build its influence in the Pacific.
Friedrich Merz said he never meant to call Germans lazy. He did not, however, revisit his comment about how he would not advise his children to live in the U.S. at this time.
Reuters Fact Check: China has not banned U.S. citizens from entering because of hantavirus. There is no evidence that ivermectin would work on a hantavirus infection.
Neanderthal dental surgery: It was probably more painful than the interrogation scene in Marathon Man.
Who moved my skull?

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