Noaa to stop tracking cost of climate crisis-fueled disasters: ‘Major loss’

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US agency will no longer update major weather database in latest showing of Trump’s influence on climate resources

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) will no longer track the cost of climate crisis-fueled weather disasters, including floods, heatwaves, wildfires and more. It is the latest example of changes to the agency and the Trump administration limiting federal government resources on climate change.

Noaa falls under the US Department of Commerce and is tasked with daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring. It is also parent to the National Weather Service.

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Forgive and forget? Both sides must be accountable after a family fallout

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Prince Harry and King Charles will need to put past grievances to one side if they are to move on from their estrangement, experts say

For most families, fallouts and squabbles are a regular occurrence. But what happens when those rifts deepen to an estrangement, such as appears to have beset the royal family and the Beckhams, and how can relationships be rebuilt?

According to the following psychologists and psychotherapists, family reconciliation requires both sides taking accountability for their behaviour and not letting past grievances and trauma block efforts to meaningfully re-engage with estranged relatives.

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Federal prosecutors open criminal investigation into New York attorney general

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Exclusive: Prosecutors impanel federal grand jury in Virginia to hear evidence after Trump official’s referral against Letitia James

Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, after the Trump administration alleged last month in a referral that she may have falsified paperwork for properties she owns in Virginia and New York, according to people familiar with the matter.

The investigation marks a swift and notable escalation against James, a major political enemy of Donald Trump, who was ordered to pay more than $450m in penalties as a result of a lawsuit brought by James’s office that accused him of inflating his net worth to secure financial benefits.

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Trump hails trade deal with ‘oldest ally’ UK – but what about the details?

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President’s announcement receives favorable political reaction but experts warn much remains unresolved

There was plenty of congratulatory backslapping in the Oval Office as Donald Trump unveiled his “major” trade deal with the United Kingdom on Thursday, but many of the details of that agreement have been left to later discussions.

Trump’s rush to claim a win for his controversial tariffs policy left many grasping just what to call this: a deal, an agreement, a framework? Observers predict that the coming negotiations could take months.

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Stockholm rejects ‘bizarre’ US letter urging city to scrap diversity initiatives

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City official says it will not comply with request seeking to impose Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity measures

A city official in Stockholm has said the municipality has no plans to comply after one of its offices received a letter seeking to impose Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity measures, in what is believed to be the first such missive sent to a foreign government.

“It’s so bizarre,” said Jan Valeskog, Stockholm’s vice-mayor for planning. “It’s our political priorities that count, not the ones from this embassy or any other embassies.”

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The United States Must Retaliate Against Whatever Aquatic Demon Is Dragging Its Fancy Fighter Planes to the Watery Depths – Slate Magazine

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  1. The United States Must Retaliate Against Whatever Aquatic Demon Is Dragging Its Fancy Fighter Planes to the Watery Depths  Slate Magazine
  2. A US Navy aircraft carrier in the Red Sea fight just lost a third Super Hornet. The $60 million jet went overboard on landing.  Yahoo
  3. Second US Navy jet is lost at sea from Truman aircraft carrier  CNN
  4. Second fighter jet crashes into the sea after landing failure on USS Harry S. Truman  NBC News
  5. More Troops Injured as U.S. Planes Keep Plunging Into Red Sea  The Intercept
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Chicago native Cardinal Prevost elected pope, takes name Leo XIV – United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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  1. Chicago native Cardinal Prevost elected pope, takes name Leo XIV  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
  2. Pope Leo XIV Live Updates: Pope Celebrates First Mass in Sistine Chapel  The New York Times
  3. What Pope Leo XIV’s speedy election means for the Catholic Church  America Magazine
  4. What to know on Pope Leo XIV: Meet Robert Prevost, a multilingual Chicago native and Villanova graduate  NBC News
  5. Pope Leo's Five Biggest Challenges  Newsweek
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Netherlands museum rethinks lending works to US amid Trump arts cuts

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Mauritshuis in The Hague says guarantees would be needed of artworks’ safety amid uncertainty caused by US funding cuts

A leading museum in the Netherlands has said it is reconsidering lending works from its collection to museums in the US amid the uncertainty wreaked by Donald Trump’s funding cuts and ideological impositions.

Martine Gosselink, the director of the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, whose collection includes Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, said the turmoil had left her team wary of lending pieces to the US.

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New Pope Elected: Robert Prevost Named First American Pontiff in History – Rolling Stone

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  1. New Pope Elected: Robert Prevost Named First American Pontiff in History  Rolling Stone
  2. Live updates: Conclave elects Cardinal Robert Prevost to be Pope  CNN
  3. Opinion | With Leo, there’s no going back from Francis  The Washington Post
  4. Who is Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV and first American Pope?  BBC
  5. White smoke over Sistine Chapel as new pope chosen  Fox News
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Cardinal Prevost elected next pope, first American pontiff – PBS

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  1. Cardinal Prevost elected next pope, first American pontiff  PBS
  2. Who is the new Pope Leo XIV and what is his background?  NPR
  3. What to know on Pope Leo XIV: Meet Robert Prevost, a multilingual Chicago native and Villanova graduate  NBC News
  4. New pope chooses Leo as his papal name. Here's why pontiffs change their names and what they mean.  CBS News
  5. Pope Leo XIV’s Creole ancestry uncovered  The Washington Post
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Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in Kilmar Ábrego García case

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Lawyers say they’re ‘still in dark’ about government’s efforts to free the man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador

The Trump administration is invoking the “state secrets privilege ” in an apparent attempt to avoid answering a judge’s questions about its erroneous deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García to El Salvador.

US district judge Paula Xinis disclosed the government’s position in a two-page order on Wednesday. She set a Monday deadline for attorneys to file briefs on the issue and how it could affect Ábrego García’s case. Xinis also scheduled a 16 May hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, to address the matter.

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Canada medical mystery takes twist as study finds no evidence of brain illness

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Researchers link suspected cases in New Brunswick to known diseases, suggesting ‘misdiagnosis and misinformation’

A new peer-reviewed scientific study has found no evidence of a mystery brain disease in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, suggesting instead a troubling combination of “misdiagnosis and misinformation”.

The research comes as the Maritime province prepares its own assessment of more than 220 suspected cases in the hope of giving families some answers to a medical mystery that has gripped the region for years.

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