海角大神

A U.S. special envoy arrived in Israel.聽Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee were to inspect food distribution in Gaza Friday. The Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 91 Palestinians have been killed and more than 600 wounded while trying to get aid during another 24-hour period. The Israeli military says it targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas. Mr. Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday. Mr. Trump said Thursday that Mr. Witkoff will travel next to Russia.聽鈥� AP, Reuters

Health data is to be uploaded to private apps. A new U.S. initiative aims to make it easier to access records and monitor wellness. More than 60 companies, including tech firms such as Google, Amazon, and Apple, as well as healthcare giants like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. Medicare and Medicaid officials, who will be in charge of maintaining the system, say patient data will be secure. Experts warn of ethical and legal concerns. 鈥� AP

El Salvador鈥檚 ruling party passed a bill to overhaul elections.聽The move opened the door for President Nayib Bukele to serve another term. He won a second term last year despite a constitution prohibition. El Salvador鈥檚 top court, filled with Bukele-backed judges, ruled in 2021 that it was the leader鈥檚 right to run again. The constitutional amendment passed on Thursday by Mr. Bukele鈥檚 New Ideas party will allow indefinite presidential reelection, extend terms from five years to six, and scrap run-offs. 鈥� Reuters

The U.S.聽administration canceled plans for offshore wind power.聽An area of more than 3.5 million acres had been deemed suitable for wind energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is rescinding all designated wind energy areas in federal waters, citing what it calls 鈥渟peculative wind development.鈥� Offshore wind lease sales were anticipated off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, New York, California, and Oregon. 鈥� AP

A judge extended some migrant status protections. An order Thursday by U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson in San Francisco affects 7,000 Nepalese whose Temporary Protected Status designations were scheduled to expire Tuesday. About 51,000 people from Honduras and nearly 3,000 from Nicaragua were scheduled to have their status terminated in September. Homeland Security had ended the program, maintaining that conditions in their home countries no longer warranted protections. 鈥� AP

The White House unveiled plans for a ballroom.聽It said Thursday that workers would break ground in September for one to be built adjacent to the mansion鈥檚 East Wing. Mr. Trump has long said that the White House lacked a large-scale facility for entertaining. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that work on the 90,000-square-foot facility will be completed 鈥渓ong before鈥� Trump鈥檚 term ends in January 2029. The $200 million cost will be donated by Trump and other donors, she said. 鈥� Reuters

A sea turtle made its return to the sea. The adult female, injured by a boat strike off the Florida coast last May, was deemed strong enough to return to the wild this week after months at South Florida鈥檚 Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach. All sea turtles are considered endangered or threatened species. Six volunteers gently carried the turtle, which had been named Pennywise, to the beach. The turtle slowly crawled into the sea as onlookers cheered. 鈥� AP

After an era pushing the world toward open trade, the U.S. under President Trump is imposing higher tariffs from Canada to South Korea. His bilateral brinkmanship has won promises of new investment in America, but prices are poised to rise.聽

The international community has unified around the question of Palestinian statehood, diverging from the U.S. and Israel. But will it make a difference? Not since the mid-1950s under Dwight Eisenhower has a U.S. president held such sway over Israel.

Female genital mutilation has long been a critical rite of passage for girls in Sudan. But now, exiled by civil war to Egypt, their聽mothers are quietly breaking with this harmful tradition.

Europeans have been pushing back on overtourism. For many the issue is more than just crowds, it鈥檚 also pollution from vessels that visitors ride in on. Is there a way for port cities to have needed cruise dollars and cleaner air?

At the Brimfield Antique Flea Market in Massachusetts, the love of the perfect find brings people back year after year. There's also the聽sense of community the market has always fostered.

Stand-up comedians almost everywhere tread a fine line. They can amuse or challenge. They can spark a social reckoning or tap into one. They can engender acclaim or backlash.

In China, where unauthorized public dissent can lead to private tragedy, they are doing all of those things 鈥� and often all at the same time.

鈥淸The genre] has emerged as a powerful and complex form of creative expression,鈥� states University of Richmond professor Dan Chen, who researches how comedy influences public opinion in China. While the ruling Communist Party controls much of public discourse, she adds, popular demand for norm-breaking humor continues to grow.

This demand, among those Chinese who watch live or livestreaming comedy shows, underscores the role of humor under authoritarian rule. It can be both subtly subversive and individually liberating.

鈥淲hen we tell jokes, we are often simply testing opinions or ideas that we are unsure of,鈥� according to Jonathan Waterlow, author of a book about how humor sustained ordinary citizens under the Soviet regime of Josef Stalin. Writing on the culture website Aeon, he noted, 鈥淲e laugh in the darkest times, not because it can change our circumstances, but because it can always change how we feel about them.鈥�

Although political farce and wry wit flowered in the China of a century ago, few comedians today risk making overtly political jokes. (In 2023, one comic was banned after he jested about the military, and his company was fined $1.9 million.) Instead, they shrewdly critique social conventions. And, as more women enter the industry, traditionally unequal gender relations and deep-seated biases are becoming prominent topics 鈥� and political flash points.

Most women and at least some men appreciate the humor, but the authorities are not amused. Last week, the government of Zhejiang province criticized jokes that 鈥減rovoke鈥� and stir up 鈥渙pposition between men and women.鈥� The warning followed a wave of popularity around comedy newcomer Fan Chunli. The rural mother and former sanitation worker joked about marriage, domestic abuse, and divorce. Many in her audience applauded when she revealed she had left her husband.

Authorities often criticize outspoken women as Western-influenced 鈥� which comedian Fan is demonstrably not. Her humor, London School of Economics communications professor Bingchun Meng told CNN, indicates that discontent around 鈥渢raditional Confucian, patriarchal values鈥� is widespread.

Whether cultural or political, humor is a valuable way of dealing with overly restrictive systems. 鈥淒espotism has to hold itself up as pompous, ... powerful, and inviolable,鈥� wrote exiled Chinese lawyer and activist Teng Biao for Radio Free Asia. 鈥淛okes dissolve tyranny.鈥澛�