What to Know About the Suspension, and the Return, of Jimmy Kimmel’s Show The late-night show returned to the air on Tuesday night, nearly a week after ABC suspended it in response to Mr. Kimmel’s remarks about the shooting of Charlie Kirk. September 24, 2025, The New York Times 🌍获取完整外刊原文库，请加V: HLSHW666 After ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show for nearly a week over a monologue about the fatal shooting of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the show returned to television on Tuesday night, and the host addressed the controversy. ABC’s decision to pull the program “indefinitely” last week, made under unusual pressure from the Federal Communications Commission, had set off a political firestorm over free speech and the government’s ability to silence commentary it dislikes. Here’s what led to the suspension, and what Mr. Kimmel did on his return: What did Kimmel say that led to the suspension? In his monologue on Sept. 15, Mr. Kimmel discussed the politics of Tyler Robinson, the man accused of fatally shooting Mr. Kirk. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said. He then joked about President Trump’s response to a reporter who asked about how he was coping with Mr. Kirk’s death. Mr. Trump said he was doing “very good” and then quickly shifted to discussing a new $200 million ballroom being added to the White House. “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Mr. Kimmel said. “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

Why Gen Z Is Resurrecting the 1990s August 24, 2025, The New York Times 🌍获取完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 The idea that young people today have a damaging relationship with digital technology — a relationship that leaves them insufficiently grounded in the real world and psychologically and socially undeveloped — is not just an old person’s lament. Young people also express those concerns. A 2023 survey conducted by the Harris Poll in partnership with my research team found that 80 percent of Gen Z adults — that is, those born after 1997 — were worried that their generation was too dependent on technology. Seventy-five percent were concerned about social media’s impact on young people’s mental health, and 58 percent said that new technologies were more likely to drive people apart than bring them together. As a researcher who specializes in the psychology of nostalgia, I was struck by one finding in particular: Sixty percent of Gen Z adults said that they wished they could return to a time before everyone was “plugged in.” That, of course, would involve returning to a time that largely predates their own lives. Most of my research on nostalgia has focused on the sentimental engagement with cherished memories from one’s own life. But people can also feel nostalgic for a past that predates them, which is known as historical nostalgia. Consumer trends suggest that many members of Gen Z yearn for a taste of the predigital era. The oft-noted increase in sales of vinyl records, CDs, physical books and board games is driven only in part by older adults looking to revisit their youth. Young people who grew up on digital entertainments are also a major force behind this retro resurgence. This preliminary evidence was intriguing. But is Gen Z really in the grip of historical nostalgia — and if so, is that a good or bad thing? I wanted to find out. Nostalgia gets a bad rap. It is often characterized as an unproductive fixation on an idealized past, one that prevents people from living in the present and planning for the future.

The weird and wacky life hacks of China’s youth Melted ice-cream or carbonara sauce? September 4, 2025, The Economist 🌍获取完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 Picture yourself as the hero in a Chinese martial-arts novel. Intent on honing your powers or perhaps attaining immortality, there are two paths available to you. Do you choose zhengxiu, the orthodox one that typically demands decades of meditation in a cave? Or do you risk xiexiu, the heretical way? It is swifter. But it also involves moral compromise. In the novels, those who opt for the latter usually end up either corrupt or dead. Traditional mores warn against those who cheat established systems. But xiexiu has acquired a new lease of life among certain youngsters. Detached from its literary origins, it now denotes a departure from the proper way: more efficient, more creative or simply less bound by convention. In recent months videos tagged with the term have drawn billions of views on Dxxyin and Xxxxhongshu, a pair of social platforms. Businesses have joined the fun, selling products in strange combinations. Some departures are just rebranded life hacks, such as rendering lard in a microwave or learning English through fan fiction. Others veer into the absurd: reading advanced mathematics as a cure for insomnia, dining in the nude to shame oneself into getting in shape or melting ice cream to make carbonara sauce. Many of those embracing the trend are young adults, who see xiexiu as a middle path between striving hard (“996” office culture in China pushes unfortunate employees to work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week) and “lying flat” (resigning oneself to lacklustre employment to avoid intolerable stress). More than a shortcut, xiexiu signals disillusionment. A wobbly economy, rising housing costs and shaky job prospects have already made the path through adulthood more precarious. In July, the unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 24 in cities stood at 17.8%. So why not stray towards xiexiu?

A look at the life of Charlie Kirk, who helped build support for Trump among young people “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” President Donald Trump wrote of him. September 10, 2025 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 Charlie Kirk, who rose from a teenage conservative campus activist to a top podcaster, culture warrior and ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday during one of his trademark public appearances at a college in Utah. He was 31. Kirk died doing what made him a potent political force — rallying the right on a college campus, this time Utah Valley University. His shooting is one of an escalating number of attacks on political figures, from the assassination of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota to last summer’s shooting of Trump, that have roiled the nation. Trump announced Kirk’s death on his social media site, Truth Social: “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote. Kirk personified the pugnacious, populist conservatism that has taken over the Republican Party in the age of Trump. He launched his organization, Turning Point USA, in 2012, targeting younger people and venturing onto liberal-leaning college campuses where many GOP activists were nervous to tread. A backer of Trump during the president’s initial 2016 run, Kirk took Turning Point from one of a constellation of well-funded conservative groups to the center of the right-of-center universe. Turning Point’s political wing helped run get-out-the-vote for Trump’s 2024 campaign, trying to energize disaffected conservatives who rarely vote. Trump won Arizona, Turning Point’s home state, by five percentage points after narrowly losing it in 2020. The group is known for its flamboyant events that often feature strobe lighting and pyrotechnics. It claims more than 250,000 student members. Trump on Wednesday praised Kirk, who started as an unofficial adviser during Trump’s 2016 campaign and more recently became a confidant. “He was a very, very good friend of mine and he was a tremendous person,” Trump told the New York Post. Kirk showed off an apocalyptic style in his popular podcast, radio show and on the campaign trail. During an appearance with Trump in Georgia last fall, he said that Democrats “stand for everything God hates.” Kirk called the Trump vs. Kamala Harris choice “a spiritual battle.”

How style guru Giorgio Armani revolutionised fashion September 4, BBC Giorgio Armani, who has died at the age of 91, was the first designer since Coco Chanel to bring about a lasting change in the way people dress. Born in a pre-war era of rigid traditions and styles, his creations followed - and helped make possible - increasing social fluidity in the latter half of the 20th Century. Chiefly, he will be remembered for reinventing the suit - feminising it for men and popularising it for women. Armani took away the restrictions and confinements of stiffer styles that went before him - making men feel sophisticated and women empowered in the workplace. Newspapers hailed him the "first post-modern designer". In many ways, he was a revolutionary. Giorgio Armani was born in Piacenza, northern Italy, on 11 July 1934. His family's comfortable middle-class lifestyle was destroyed by the war and, with food hard to find, his earliest memory was hunger. Armani played with unexploded artillery shells in the street, until one suddenly went off. He was severely burned and a close friend was killed. "War," he later said, "taught me that not everything is glamorous.” As a young man, Armani drifted. In 1956, he began a medicine degree - but dropped out after three years and joined the army. Swiftly tiring of life in the military, he found a job as a window dresser at La Rinascente - a department store in Milan - where he moved swiftly through the ranks. Most designers learn their trade as apprentices or at fashion school - but Armani's education took place on the shop floor. He learned what fabrics the customers liked, and went to the textile mills to buy them. He became an expert in how the cloth was constructed, and used his knowledge to perfect the tailoring. Soon, Armani was working for Nino Cerruti - an influential haute couture designer. Within months, Cerruti asked him to restructure the company's approach. The 1960s middle classes could not afford haute couture, but yearned for a stylish, distinctive look of their own. With his expertise in fabrics, Armani provided an answer. His fine cloths made possible a menswear range with neat, precise cuts that could be manufactured at scale.

80 years after 1945, Japan finds its memories of WWII fading * Japan faces a challenge as the numbers of living war veterans and atomic bomb survivors dwindle, raising concerns about preserving wartime memories. * PM Ishiba expressed "remorse for the war," emphasising the need to learn from history and commit to peace, while Emperor Naruhito hoped such horrors would never be repeated. * Despite its apologies, Japan's political shift to the right and seeming discomfort with its own history stir unease among neighbouring countries over its wartime atonement. August 15, 2025, The Strait Times 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 As Japan marks 80 years since its surrender in World War II on Aug 15, 1945, the country’s collective memory of its role in the global conflagration – and the catastrophic defeat it suffered – is fading fast. The voices of living veterans, such as 95-year-old Hideo Shimizu, and atomic bomb survivors like 86-year-old Michiko Yagi, are fast disappearing. How Japan will remember its imperial past and the war’s influence on the nation’s psyche is now becoming a pressing concern. Ms Yagi, a hibakusha who experienced the devastation of her native Nagasaki on Aug 9, 1945, counts her family – her mother and four siblings – fortunate to have survived the blast, although they endured prolonged bouts of debilitating diarrhoea in its aftermath. Hibakusha is the term used to refer to survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Historically, Japan certainly has made mistakes, and those mistakes are our burden to bear as wartime aggressors,” Ms Yagi told The Straits Times. “It is our responsibility to remember, to convey our experiences, to fight for peace and to lobby for a world without nuclear weapons,” she said, expressing her deepest wish for Nagasaki to remain the last city on earth to suffer the horrors of an atomic bomb. “The youngest hibakusha is now 80, and soon there will not be many of us left. Looking at the perilous state of the world today, I honestly feel really scared.” Ms Yagi is one of just 99,130 remaining hibakusha, whose average age now stands at 86 years, according to official figures released on March 31. For the first time, their numbers have dipped below 100,000. The atomic bomb was a weapon of unprecedented destructive power that obliterated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then Emperor Hirohito, in a nationwide radio broadcast announcing Japan’s surrender at noon on Aug 15, 1945, starkly described it as “a new and most cruel bomb”, acknowledging that “the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage”. In the present day, a year-long series of war memorial events culminated in the Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead on Aug 15, although the surrender documents were formally signed only on Sept 2, 1945. At the annual ceremony, where a minute’s silence was observed at 12pm, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was the first leader in 13 years to express “remorse for the war” in his memorial speech. “We must never repeat the horrors of war. We must never again err on the path we take,” Mr Ishiba said. “We must now deeply engrave in our hearts the remorse and lessons of that war.” He added: “No matter how much time passes, we will continue to pass on the painful memories of war and our resolute pledge to never wage war again across generations and continue to take action towards lasting peace.”

Why Britain’s police hardly solve any crimes Crime has become more complex. The police have not kept up July 24, 2025, The Economist 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 When Stan Gilmour started out as a “regular street bobby” in 1993, he remembers picking up “multiple burglaries a day”. It was nearly all “traditional crime” back then: “you know, the whodunnit, broken window, property gone, search for the suspect”. There were no mobile phones or CCTV cameras, which meant lots of knocking on doors and learning to “manage the crime scene” to yield clues. Mr Gilmour didn’t know it, but he had started close to the crime peak. In 1995 an estimated 20m crimes were committed in England and Wales, an all-time high. That figure then fell for almost three decades, reaching a low of less than 5m in 2023 (see chart 1). Many politicians claimed credit for this “crime drop”, which happened across the rich world, and was driven by a fall in burglary and vehicle theft. Researchers later concluded that the main cause was better security technology. There was a catch. As the number of crimes plummeted, so too did the proportion that were solved. In 2015 around one in six recorded crimes resulted in a charge or a summons. Last year it was only around one in 20 (see chart 2). To the law-abiding citizen this shift amounts to a blessing and a curse. You are much less likely to become a victim of crime, and much less likely to see justice if you do. Politicians often frame this solely as a supply-side problem. Britain’s police experienced steep cuts between 2010 and 2018; seasoned officers were paid to leave. The public associates ineffectiveness with the absence of visible “bobbies on the beat”. Yet a better explanation is that crime has become harder to solve. And as the caseload has changed and technology has evolved, the police have not kept up. The crimes on which Mr Gilmour cut his teeth were voluminous, but straightforward. A car hot-wired for joyriding; a house robbed and the loot sold locally. The perpetrators of such offences tended to be “not all that sophisticated”, says Mike Hough, an academic who established the national crime survey. Today cases are more vexing. The number of reported sexual offences, for example, has more than tripled in the past two decades, to almost 200,000 (see chart 3). Strangely, that is (mostly) a good thing: more victims are coming forward. Yet the charge rate is just 4.2%. Investigations are long and difficult and the police are still often poor at handling victims. The rate of victims dropping out of investigations has soared.

Frank Caprio, Viral Judge Remembered for His Kindness, Dies at 88 August 21, 2025, TIME 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 Less than a week ago, Frank Caprio posted what appeared to be a self-created inspirational poster that read: “A life built on kindness is a life that echoes long after we’re gone.” Caprio, dubbed “the nicest judge in the world,” died Wednesday at the age of 88, but it seems his message is sure to live on. The Rhode Island jurist passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer, his family announced on social media. Caprio served as chief judge of the municipal court of Providence, Rhode Island, from 1985 to 2023. He is survived by his wife Joyce Caprio, five children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. “Beloved for his compassion, humility, and unwavering belief in the goodness of people, Judge Caprio touched the lives of millions through his work in the courtroom and beyond. His warmth, humor, and kindness left an indelible mark on all who knew him,” his family wrote. “He will be remembered not only as a respected judge, but as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend. His legacy lives on in the countless acts of kindness he inspired.” “On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, your thoughts, and your unwavering support for him throughout his journey,” Caprio’s son David Caprio said in a video posted to TikTok. “Your love lifted him in ways that words cannot describe.” Many became acquainted with Caprio through clips of the Emmy-nominated courtroom reality TV series Caught in Providence that were shared on social media over the last decade. The show, which was produced by Caprio’s brother Joe Caprio, initially aired in 2000, then returned to TV screens from 2015 to 2017. The series went into national syndication in 2018 and was renewed for a second season in 2019, but ended in 2023 when Caprio retired. After his retirement he was given the ceremonial title of “Chief Judge Emeritus” and his courtroom was renamed in his honor. Caprio was known for his compassion in the courtroom, as videos of him treating defendants with empathy and respect gained more than a billion views on social media and earned him the title of “the nicest judge in the world.” Caprio’s Instagram account and Facebook profile each amassed 3.4 million followers, while his TikTok had 1.6 million followers. Earlier this year, he published a book titled Compassion in the Court, outlining lessons he’d learned from his life and career. Caprio, the son of an Italian immigrant who worked as a fruit peddler, once told his alma mater Suffolk University’s law magazine, that he believed Caught in Providence resonated with people because, “they feel that they are talked down to and scorned. In the 100,000 or so comments I have gotten from viewers around the world, the most common words are compassion, understanding, and fairness. I think we have given them a sense of hope through the decisions I make.” He said he leaned on “the rule of common sense” when considering leniency toward defendants and did not view verdicts that made the defendant’s life worse as justice.

Zelensky survives another episode of the Trump show America hints at providing security guarantees for Ukraine August 18, 2025, The Economist 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 “I can’t believe it,” said Donald Trump, America’s president, as he greeted Volodymyr Zelensky, his Ukrainian counterpart, outside the White House on August 18th. “I love it.” Mr Trump was referring to Mr Zelensky’s decision to bow to American pressure and wear a suit-like garment to the meeting, an issue that had contributed to an acrimonious blow-up in the Oval Office in February (when Mr Zelensky wore a black sweater). It was a promising start to a pivotal summit, with a clutch of European leaders in attendance to support the Ukrainian leader. As he was hailed by the Europeans for his diplomatic efforts, Mr Trump announced that preparations were under way for a summit between Mr Zelensky and the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, to be followed by three-way talks with Mr Trump, too. Where and when such talks might take place is uncertain. But, crucially, Mr Trump offered some form of security guarantee for Ukraine to support any peace agreement. “Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. The on-camera discussions left unclear many details of the deal on the table. But the mood was surprisingly positive. Mr Zelensky handed Mr Trump a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, to Melania Trump, the first lady, who last week had written to Mr Putin about the plight of children caught up in the war. The Ukrainian president traded jokes with the American journalist who had provoked the row over his outfit in February and teased Mr Trump that he, too, might like to suspend national elections. It was a far cry from the last meeting between the two men, which had ended with Mr Zelensky being booted out of the White House. The gathering in Washington followed another summit, with Mr Putin in Alaska on August 15th. At that meeting Mr Trump failed to secure his stated goal of a ceasefire. Nor did he act on his threat to impose “very severe consequences” on Russia if Mr Putin did not agree to end the war. Now Mr Trump says a ceasefire might not be required, and could even “disadvantage” one or other side; better to aim directly for a lasting deal. Both Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, later challenged that contention. Mr Trump returned to the idea of “exchanges of territory”. Russia has demanded that Ukraine give up land in Donbas, a region in the south-east of the country that Ukrainian troops have so far defended. But Mr Trump granted that it would be a decision for Messrs Zelensky and Putin to make. Mr Zelensky sidestepped the issue, saying it would be discussed at the trilateral meeting. Perhaps the most important signal from the meeting was Mr Trump’s apparent openness to security guarantees for Ukraine, saying Mr Putin had agreed to the idea. Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s special envoy to Moscow, had suggested a day earlier that America was open to “Article Five-like” guarantees, a reference to the collective-defence clause in NATO’s charter which holds that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.

India’s and China’s civil-service exams are notoriously difficult They impose big costs on both societies June 19, 2025, The Economist 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 Cigarette butts, spectacle lenses and car tyres. Which of those items contain plastic? Papaya, pineapple, guava. How many of those fruits were brought to India by the Portuguese? Last month around half a million Indians sat down to answer such questions, which were eclectic, but high-stakes. They were part of the exam to join India’s civil service. For those who passed by correctly answering questions like those above (all three items contain plastic, and all three fruits were brought over by the Portuguese), it is merely the first and easiest step in a long and arduous process. Up next are nine more papers to be taken over 27 hours from August onwards, covering a range of subjects and even more obscure questions. Last year candidates were asked to write 1,000 words on statements such as: “The empires of the future will be the empires of the mind.” Those who do that successfully are then invited to a final interview. India’s selection process is so gruelling because a role in the civil service is highly coveted. Even as India’s private sector has grown, government jobs remain a ticket to prosperity, prestige and better marriage prospects. Last year 1.1m people applied to join the top tier of the civil service, but around 1,000 (0.2% of those who actually sat the first exam) were offered a spot. That makes India’s exams even more competitive than those in China, where, amid a slowing economy, a growing number of people are turning to the public sector. Last year a record 3.4m Chinese registered and passed the initial screening for the national civil-service exam—well over twice the number who did so in 2014. Just over 39,700 (1.5% of those who sat the exam) secured a job. In both countries the exams are considered the fairest way to filter candidates. But despite the exams’ meritocratic intentions, critics in both countries believe they filter candidates according to the wrong criteria. By screening for rote learning and test-taking, they neglect to assess actual public-policy skills such as management, teamwork and communication.

Wahaha Princess Reveals China’s Uncommon Prosperity A $2 billion inheritance lawsuit raises the question of extreme wealth and who owns what. July 22, 2025, Bloomberg 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 In a country where the government is short on fiscal income and its people are worried about layoffs and salary cuts, $2 billion raises a lot of eyebrows. Kelly Zong, chief executive at one of China’s largest beverage empires, is embroiled in an inheritance dispute. Three plaintiffs, identified by their lawyer as her “half brothers and sister,” are seeking an injunction in Hong Kong to prevent her from dealing with assets worth about that amount. The feud surfaced just a year after the heiress won a battle for control of Hangzhou Wahaha Group following her father’s death last February. As Bloomberg News reported, until now, Kelly Zong was the only child the public had known about. Her lawyer says she doesn’t accept the evidence and that her father Zong Qinghou’s directives were not given to her. According to the plaintiffs, Zong Qinghou, founder of the privately-held beverage empire, had asked his subordinates to help set up trusts for them at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong, promising $700 million each. The alleged half-siblings are also pursuing legal action in a Hangzhou court to secure their rights to these trusts. The lawsuit is changing how the Chinese view the mega rich. Kelly has been nicknamed the “Princess of Wahaha.” The patriarch was known for leading a simple and frugal lifestyle, wearing his signature black cotton shoes and working long hours. It turns out succession and inheritance at Wahaha are anything but simple. There are two main debates over the Zong family wealth. First, how ironclad are family trusts? Often, these entities are set up by a parent to give to a child who may not be in an appropriate position to receive an inheritance. In this case, the logic may apply if the alleged half-siblings have not established their legal relationships with their father. A trust would then allow the patriarch to peel off some of his assets before leaving the rest to Kelly. The plaintiffs are certainly worried the money the father had promised may no longer be there. About $1.1 million had been transferred out of the HSBC account as of last May, one of the legal filings showed. The account had about $1.8 billion as of early 2024. They are suing Kelly Zong to prevent her from disposing of, dealing with or diminishing the value of the assets in the HSBC account. This brings us to the second and more important question: Is the $2 billion Zong Qinghou allegedly promised his to give? Founded in 1987, Wahaha is a product of China’s so-called mixed-ownership reform. An investment arm of the Hangzhou government owns 46%, while the Zong family has a 29% stake, with Wahaha employees holding the remaining 25%. Until recently, this uncommon corporate structure worked. The patriarch was the undisputed person in charge, while the local government happily acted as a passive shareholder despite being the biggest. The status quo may have to change, however, now that the Zong family drama is dominating the national spotlight.

Israel’s secret war inside Iran Hacked phones, deep-cover agents and miniaturised weapons systems: the covert campaign that preceded Jewish state’s attack June 19, 2025, Financial Times 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 Last year an Israeli telecoms executive working in Europe had a call from an old friend back in Tel Aviv: could he help design a phone that looked like a cheap Android but could transmit encrypted data that mimicked social media traffic? Around the same time, a reservist working at an Israeli health start-up got a call from Unit 9900, a tiny part of the Israeli military that seeks clues in vast data sets. Could he tweak an algorithm he had worked on during his military service, so a dedicated server could sift through satellite images of fuel trucks and separate those carrying petrol from those with missile propellant? Neither was told exactly how their efforts shaped last week’s opening salvo in Israel’s aerial assault on Iran, which stunned the country with both its depth and precision. More than a dozen security chiefs and nuclear scientists were assassinated nearly simultaneously; entire aerial defence arrays were destroyed before they could fire off a single interception; and a large number of missile launcher sites were identified and destroyed. How Israel’s security services pulled off parallel operations combining the work of its military intelligence arm Aman with the foreign spy service Mossad into such an effective assault may never fully become public. But early hints are trickling out — some from authorised leaks aiming to embarrass Iran, others from people familiar with the operations speaking to the Financial Times on the condition of anonymity. They describe a sprawling, multiyear operation that leaned on every possible asset from which Israeli intelligence could draw — commercial satellites, hacked phones, deep-cover agents recruited locally, covert warehouses to assemble drones and even miniaturised weapons systems fitted into everyday vehicles. The goal, the people said, was to create a densely populated bank of targets to take out in the first hours of a military operation. One called it the Israeli version of “shock and awe”; another said it aimed to embrace the “audacious”.

The secret psychology of dogs and cats: do we ever really know what they are thinking? June 15, 2025, The Guardian 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 Pets have long been a source of comfort and companionship for humans. But are they really trying to console us when we’re distressed or do they just want their dinner? I am lost in Morris’s eyes. They are brown, almond-shaped and fringed by impossibly long lashes. He looks back at me, softly blinking occasionally, and then reaches out his tongue and licks my cheek, just once. I’ve been depressed lately, and while I’ve received compassion and support from many dear people, Morris, my 10-year-old terrier, has been one of the greatest sources of comfort. With that reassuring lick, that steady gaze, he’s conveying a message: “It’s OK. Everything will be all right.” Or is he? Could the look actually be saying: “Those biscuits in the tin … Fancy getting me one?” Was he merely licking a fleck of mayonnaise off my cheek? Dr Jon Bowen, a behavioural consultant at the Queen Mother hospital for animals in Hertfordshire, waves my doubts away. “I’m sure your dog was showing empathy and support,” he says. “It’s part of why our mutual bonds with them are so powerful.” He also tells me that the close eye contact we shared would have released oxytocin, the bonding hormone – in both of us. A 2021 study found that 80% of dog owners felt that their pet helped them get through tough times, and I’ve recently spoken to many people who felt the same. Sally Bayly, a yoga teacher from Rye in East Sussex, told me that when her husband, Michel, died in 2020, Lola, their black labrador, became extra attentive to her and her two sons. “It was as if she’d lost one of her pack and was determined not to lose any more,” she said. “Whenever one of us is feeling down, she’ll come over and lie near us, put her head close to us, or lick our hands, face, even clothes.” Lola accompanies Bayly to classes, where she plays an important role: “During relaxation, she walks around quietly, standing near people or sniffing them until they settle. She only lies down on her blanket when she feels everyone is totally relaxed. This helps me to know, too.”

I ditched the gym and you can too – here are six ways to get fit without it Whether you enjoy ‘rucking’, walking, running or making your own sandbags, life after winding up your monthly membership can be your healthiest and happiest ever June 15, 2025, The Guardian 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 After almost two decades of regular gym-going, I’ve finally cancelled my membership. The reasons for this are many and varied – I’m trying to save money, gym music is terrible these days, everyone seems to have forgotten how to share the equipment – but the main one is, I think it may actually make me fitter. Working for Men’s Fitness magazine for almost 10 years, I got to try out every trend, workout style and fitness event I wanted, and I noticed something interesting: quite frequently, the people with the fewest resources were in the best shape. I’m not including Hollywood actors in this, but otherwise, it’s often true: powerlifters working out in unheated concrete sheds get the strongest, runners who stay off treadmills get the fastest, and people exercising in basements have a focus rarely seen in palatial upmarket gyms. Browsing through photos from when my own gym membership was (briefly) paused during Covid lockdowns, I look … if not quite like Jason Statham, then at least his off-brand office-party equivalent. I might not have had the best cardio of my life – even social distancing couldn’t convince me to run more than three miles (5km) at a time – but I was certainly lean. Some of the correlation and causation here might be muddled, obviously – Covid also prevented me from getting to my favourite cake shop – but let’s not worry about that right now. So what’s the plan? Well, as a 46-year-old father with a lot to do, I’m focusing on fitting workouts into my life wherever is feasible, combining cardio, strength and mobility as much as possible, and buying as little kit as I can. Here’s what I’m up to. Running, fast and slow Over recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that VO2 max, a measure of your body’s ability to use oxygen during intense exercise, is a key indicator of health and lifespan: to the extent that it’s probably one of the main things worth focusing on for longevity. Unfortunately, building up a good VO2 max takes a little bit longer than getting strong – but there are things you can do to speed the whole process along. One is the so-called “Norwegian protocol”: working out at a high intensity for four minutes, then at a lower intensity for three minutes, then repeating – four times altogether. With a warmup on top, you’re done in little more than 30 minutes – and if you do that once a week, any other running workouts can be more ponderous or plodding. Recently, I’ve been a regular at my local Parkrun, which is always delightful – there are plenty of people far faster than me to keep me motivated, but nobody bats an eye if you put an audiobook on and turn in a 40-minute three miles. The final thing I’m doing run-wise is hill “sprints” – a bit of a misnomer, as my nearest hummock is angled so steeply that I can barely get up it faster than a jog. This is actually a good thing; with a couple of hamstring pings in my past, my actual sprinting days are probably over, but the hilly variety still force you to work hard, generate power with each stride, and recruit dozens of muscle fibres with every step.

US, China officials agree on plan that awaits both leaders sign-Off. June 11, 2025, from Bloomberg. 🌟完整外刊原文，请加V: HLSHW666 进学习群免费获取 The US and China capped two days of high-stakes trade talks with a plan to revive the flow of sensitive goods — a framework now awaiting the blessing of Donald Trump and the Chinese leader. After some 20 hours of negotiations in London, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said both sides had established a framework for implementing the Geneva consensus that last month brought down tariffs. “First we had to get sort of the negativity out,” he said. “Now we can go forward to try to do positive trade, growing trade.” While a more upbeat tone should reassure investors worried about a decoupling of the world’s largest economies, details were scarce and the deal could still be nixed by top leaders. The discussions also did little to fix issues such as China’s massive trade surplus with the US, and a belief in Washington that Beijing is dumping goods on its markets. Capping a marathon round of haggling that stretched over 12 hours on Tuesday, Lutnick said the Chinese had pledged to speed up shipments of rare earth metals critical to US auto and defense firms, while Washington would ease some of its own export controls — suggesting progress was made on two of the thorniest issues in bilateral ties. The US and Chinese delegations will take that proposal back to their respective leaders, according to China’s chief trade negotiator Li Chung-gaang. Negotiations were “in-depth and candid,” he told reporters in brief remarks before midnight outside Lancaster House, a Georgian-era mansion near Buckingham Palace that served as this week’s meeting site. In additional comments on Wednesday, Huh Lee-fung, the Chinese vice premier who led Beijing’s delegation, called on both countries to take advantage of their trade negotiation mechanism to “improve consensus, reduce misunderstanding and strengthen cooperation” after the talks, state broadcaster China Central Television reported. Market reaction to the announcement was muted, with US equity futures edging lower and the offshore yuan little changed. The Chinese onshore benchmark stock gauge gained 0.8% at the close, the most in nearly a month. European stocks were little changed. “Markets will likely welcome the shift from confrontation to coordination,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets. “We’re not out of the woods yet — it’s up to Trump and the Chinese leader to approve and enforce the deal.”