Japanese inflation rising as his popularity drops, Prime Minister resigns
(NYTimes) — When Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan stepped down Wednesday, he became the latest in a line of unpopular leaders to cycle through a sclerotic political system that has faced growing frustration. Kishida, 67, announced that he would not run in the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership contest in September, the winner of which will become the prime minister. The Liberal Democrats have held an iron grip on parliament for all but four years since 1955. But decades of scandals and its inability to tackle many of Japan’s deep-rooted challenges have spurred widespread voter dissatisfaction. Kishida was not popular even when he first took office in October 2021.
As famine deepens in Sudan, US leads new push for cease-fire
(NYTimes) — The United States opened new peace talks Wednesday that seek to stop Sudan’s civil war, driven by a growing sense of urgency that the country’s deepening famine, which threatens millions, could become the world’s worst in decades. But Sudan’s military, one of the war’s two main belligerents, did not send a delegation to the negotiations in Switzerland, stymying hopes of a quick cease-fire in a fight between two rival generals that has now lasted 16 months. Famine was officially declared this month in Sudan’s western Darfur region, and other areas are expected to follow. As many as 2.5 million Sudanese could die from hunger by the end of September.
WHO declares global emergency over new mpox outbreak
(NYTimes) — The rapid spread of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, in African countries constitutes a global health emergency, the World Health Organization declared Wednesday. This is the second time in three years that the WHO has designated an mpox epidemic as a global emergency. It previously did so in July 2022. That outbreak went on to affect nearly 100,000 people, primarily gay and bisexual men, in 116 countries and killed about 200 people. The threat this time is deadlier. The outbreak has spread through 13 countries in Africa, including a few that had never reported mpox cases.
New Zealand charity accidentally gives away meth disguised as candy
(NYTimes) — Police in New Zealand were trying Wednesday to recover chunks of methamphetamine a local charity accidentally gave out because they were disguised as candy. The fake candy distributed by Auckland City Mission looked like individually wrapped, pineapple flavored sweets from Malaysian confectionary brand Rinda. They had been donated by a member of the public, according to Helen Robinson, the charity’s CEO. They were actually small blocks of methamphetamine. Each weighed about 3 grams and packed up to 300 doses of the drug, said Ben Birks Ang, deputy executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, which examined the methamphetamine. That is a potentially lethal quantity.
Sweet would marry salty in $36 billion acquisition
(NYTimes) — Mars, the company behind M&M’s and Snickers, has agreed to acquire Kellanova, the snack food business spun off by Kellogg’s last year, in a multibillion-dollar deal that will create a new global food giant. The acquisition, one of the largest food deals in years, was announced Wednesday. The all-cash transaction values Kellanova at $35.9 billion, including debt, a hefty premium to the company’s market value before news of the deal first began to leak. Kellanova owns a large menu of brands, including Cheez-It, Pringles and Eggo. Acquiring Kellanova would allow Mars, which is privately owned and best known for its chocolate candies, to offer an array of both salty and sweet food.
Unresponsive brain-damaged patients may have some awareness
(NYTimes) — When people suffer severe brain damage, they may slip into a coma for weeks, their eyes closed, their bodies unresponsive. Some recover, but others enter a mysterious state: eyes open, yet without clear signs of consciousness. Hundreds of thousands of such patients in the United States alone are diagnosed in a vegetative state or as minimally conscious. They may survive for decades without regaining a connection to the outside world. These patients pose an agonizing mystery. Even if they can’t communicate, might they still be aware? A large study published Wednesday suggests that a quarter of them are.
Columbia president resigns after months of turmoil on campus
(NYTimes) — Columbia University’s president, Minouche Shafik, resigned Wednesday after months of fury over her handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and questions over her management of a bitterly divided campus. She was the third leader of an Ivy League university to resign in about eight months following maligned appearances before Congress about antisemitism on their campuses. Shafik, an economist who spent much of her career in London, said that her resignation was effective immediately, and that she would be taking a job with Britain’s foreign secretary to lead a review of the government’s approach to international development.
Trial in Texas school shooting asks: Could the assailant’s parents have stopped it?
(NYTimes) — As the nation has struggled to respond to mass shootings, often carried out by teenagers still living at home, focus has turned to the parents of the assailants and whether they bear responsibility for the horrific acts of their children. That has been the question at the center of a civil trial now taking place in Galveston, Texas. The parents of the assailant, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, have not been accused of any crime. Instead, the case is among the first in which those victimized by a school shooting are trying to hold the assailant’s parents liable in civil court.
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