Good morning.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has said he plans to ask Congress for \u201clong-term\u201d control<\/a> of Washington DC\u2019s police department and signaled that he expects other US cities to change their laws in response to his deployment of national guard troops and federal agents into the capital.<\/p>\n In an unprecedented move, Trump this week invoked a clause that allows a 30-day federal takeover of the police department, but will need Congress\u2019s permission to extend it beyond this timeframe. Despite Congress being out of session, the president said he expected to propose the legislation \u201cvery quickly\u201d, before alluding to other plans to secure the extension, saying: \u201cIf it\u2019s a national emergency, we can do it without Congress\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to go for statutes in DC and then ultimately for the rest of the country, where that\u2019s not going to be allowed,\u201d Trump said, singling out Democrat-led cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Putin faces \u2018very severe consequences\u2019 if no Ukraine truce agreed, Trump says<\/strong>President Donald Trump speaking at the Kennedy Center after his call with European leaders. Photograph: Alex Brandon\/AP<\/p>\n Vladimir Putin will face \u201cvery severe consequences\u201d unless he agrees<\/a> to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine when he meets Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, the president has said.<\/p>\n Trump said that if the summit went well, he would push for a second meeting that would include the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, adding that he \u201cwould like to do it almost immediately\u201d but giving no concrete timeframe.<\/p>\n He made the comments after a call with Zelenksyy and other European leaders, in which he reassured them that a truce was his priority and he would not make any territorial concessions without Kyiv\u2019s full involvement.<\/p>\n What are European leaders calling for?<\/strong> The UK, France and Germany have repeatedly said negotiations can begin in earnest only with a ceasefire in place. They called for Russia<\/a> to face further sanctions if it does not agree to a truce at the summit.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Over 115 scholars condemn cancellation of Harvard journal issue on Palestine<\/strong>Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rallying on 17 April 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photograph: AP<\/p>\n More than 115 scholars have condemned the cancellation of an entire issue<\/a> of a prestigious academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as \u201ccensorship\u201d.<\/p>\n In an open letter published Thursday, they condemned the sudden cancellation of a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review \u2013 which was first revealed by the Guardian in July \u2013 as an \u201cattempt to silence the academic examination of the genocide, starvation and dehumanisation of Palestinian people by the state of Israel and its allies\u201d.<\/p>\n In other news \u2026<\/strong>Jeff Bezos (centre) and Elon Musk, with Google\u2019s Sundar Pichai standing between them, at Donald Trump\u2019s presidential inauguration in Washington on 20 January 2025. Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/APStat of the day: Agricultural production will need to grow by about 50% by 2050 to feed population<\/strong>Farmers fumigate a strawberry crop in Sibate, Colombia, in 2022. Photograph: Daniel Munoz\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n In order to feed a growing human population, agricultural output will need to rise by 50% in the next 25 years<\/a>, the journalist Michael Grunwald estimates in his new book, We Are Eating the Earth. Doing this without wiping out biodiversity and ramping up global heating will be a momentous challenge. \u201cFeeding the world without frying it\u201d looks to be even tougher than ending the age of fossil fuels, Grunwald argues.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss this: Trump\u2019s DC takeover harkens back to a dark incident 33 years ago \u2013 when crime was far worse<\/strong>A protest for District of Columbia home rule, in front of the White House in April of 1965. Photograph: National Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n In 1992, the death of a staffer for Senator Richard Shelby led the senator to introduce legislation to legalize the death penalty. The incident has similar qualities to the events leading up to Donald Trump\u2019s decision to take over Washington DC and deploy the national guard, after a Doge staffer was assaulted. But there\u2019s a big difference between DC then and now. Violent crime is at a 30-year low: in 1991, DC recorded 482 murders, earning it infamy as the US\u2019s murder capital. By contrast, there were 187 homicides in 2024 and the city looks set to record a lower number this year. Fred Frommer examines the period in the district\u2019s history.<\/a><\/p>\n Climate check: Deadly Nordic heatwave supercharged by climate crisis, scientists say<\/strong>Global heating made the heatwave at least 10 times more likely and 2C hotter, scientists said. Photograph: Victoria Jones\/PA<\/p>\n \u201cNo country is safe from climate change\u201d, scientists have warned after Nordic countries<\/a> endured a dangerous heatwave in July. Despite their typically cool climates, Norway, Sweden and Finland were hit with soaring temperatures last month, including a record run of 22 days above 86C in Finland. In 2018, during the region\u2019s last major heatwave, 750 people died prematurely in Sweden alone, and scientists expect to see a similar toll once the data is processed.<\/p>\n Last Thing: Driven by \u2018nonsensical dream logic\u2019, And Just Like That rewrote the rules of TV<\/strong>And Just Like That \u2026 it was over. Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in And Just Like That. Photograph: HBO<\/p>\n After three bizarre seasons, And Just Like That says it is finally wrapping up. The critically panned Sex and the City\u2019s spin-off was characterized by incoherence, with some viewers wondering if it had secretly been written by artificial intelligence. Despite functioning more like \u201ccontent\u201d than TV, Lara Williams admits<\/a> she was drawn to its anaesthetizing lull: \u201cAnd when it comes back, as I\u2019m almost certain it will, I will feel much the same about it as Donald Trump does about Coca-Cola: I\u2019ll still keep drinking that garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for the US morning briefing<\/p>\n<\/p>\n First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you\u2019re not already signed up, subscribe now<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n