海角大神

Saudi Arabia signed a defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan, pledging that any attack on either nation would be considered an attack on both. The two nations have long-standing economic, religious, and security ties. The timing appears to signal a message to Israel, which has been conducting military operations in the region and is believed to have nuclear weapons. 鈥� The Associated Press

President Trump asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve鈥檚 board of governors, after an appeals court refused to go along with her ousting. The White House campaign to unseat Ms. Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board, which was designed to be largely independent from day-to-day politics. 鈥� AP

Erika Kirk will take over Turning Point USA, the organization her late husband Charlie Kirk founded to mobilize young conservatives, as CEO and board chair. 鈥淭he movement my husband built will not die,鈥� she said in a broadcast after his assassination. Turning Point has seen a surge in interest since then. The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to create a 鈥淣ational Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk.鈥� 鈥� Staff

Protesters across France staged transport strikes and demonstrations Thursday against plans to cut funding for public services. The day of upheaval aimed to pressure new Prime Minister S茅bastien Lecornu and President Emmanuel Macron amid an intensifying battle over how to plug holes in France鈥檚 finances. 鈥� AP

The United States sanctioned a powerful faction of the Sinaloa Cartel as it ramps up pressure on Mexican crime groups. It accused the El Mayo faction of producing and trafficking fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid, as well as other drugs. The sanctions also included five individuals and 15 companies that U.S. authorities say are linked to El Mayo. 鈥� Reuters

Scientists designed the world鈥檚 smallest gears after decades of attempts to build microscopic machines. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have built gears just microns across 鈥� smaller than a strand of hair. They can make the gears spin using lasers rather than traditional mechanics. The breakthrough opens new possibilities for tools that work at the scale of a human cell. 鈥� Staff

Meanwhile, a Nigerian chef cooked the world鈥檚 largest pot of jollof rice. Thousands of people gathered to watch Hilda Bassey prepare the beloved West African tomato-based dish in a nearly 20-foot-long skillet at a festival in Lagos. With the help of a team of chefs that included her mother, she beat the world record, despite the pot cracking under 19,000 pounds of weight. 鈥� Staff

The sidelining of comedian Jimmy Kimmel鈥檚 late-night show could signal a wider chilling effect on free speech, under pressure from President Donald Trump and regulators under him. The move also comes as media companies face a difficult environment for profits.

The French-Saudi initiative at the United Nations next week supporting an independent Palestine, while symbolically important, is not risk-free and is unlikely to lead soon to that long-sought goal. Yet it鈥檚 worth it, supporters say, to keep the discussion alive.

On Monday, in New York, diplomats will debate the prospects for a Palestinian state. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli bulldozers are set to begin construction that will, the government hopes, make such prospects moot.

When governments are brought down, like Nepal鈥檚 recently was after youth-led protests, a sense of renewal abounds. But the systems that led to the frustration in the first place are harder to dismantle and rebuild.

The vast majority of Canadians live close to the U.S.-Canada border. Spending time in the 鈥渘orth,鈥� however, feels like a completely different Canada.

This week, the Library of Congress named the 25th poet laureate of the United States. Amid the high-speed and siloed flow of internet-based information and entertainment, and the rapid decline in reading for pleasure, this announcement might seem anachronistic.

But for newly named laureate Arthur Sze 鈥� who, as a young man, abruptly transferred out of an undergraduate science program to study poetry 鈥� those very factors point to why poetry is both relevant and restorative.

鈥淚t helps us slow down and deepen our attention; it helps us uncover, discover things we didn鈥檛 know and things we didn鈥檛 know we already knew,鈥� he said in a talk at the Library this spring. More than that, Mr. Sze said, 鈥淧oetry speaks to our deepest selves and connects us all, and it also speaks to the exigencies of our time.鈥�

These include political and social divisions, as well as economic and environmental pressures that are straining bonds of democracy and community. Today鈥檚 poets are engaging with these issues and directly with the American public, offering pathways to uplift and connect.

For instance, just-retired Poet Laureate Ada Lim贸n鈥檚 signature project, 鈥淵ou Are Here,鈥� created poetry installations in seven national parks, to prompt reflection and conversations among visitors. Philadelphia-based Trapeta B. Mayson started the toll-free Healing Verse Poetry Line during the COVID-19 pandemic to inspire and support. It鈥檚 still going. Similarly, Poem-a-Day, set up by the Academy of American Poets, is distributed year-round via email, web, and social media.

A line from Mr. Sze鈥檚 poem, 鈥淩ift,鈥� captures the spirit of these interchanges: 鈥測ou followed the thread of poetry out of a maze into sunlight,鈥� it reads.

Such poet-public connections underscore the innate human appreciation for language that inspires new ideas and fresh insights 鈥� characteristics that have applications beyond the arts, in the spheres of business and politics.

Forbes magazine quotes an executive who sought poets to serve as managers, seeing them as 鈥渙ur original systems thinkers,鈥� able to wrest simplicity from complexity. The Harvard Business Review has pointed out that poetry fosters 鈥渁 more acute sense of empathy鈥� and creativity among managers. Not least of all, it noted, poetry can help teams be 鈥渋nvested with wonder and purpose.鈥�

Former laureate Lim贸n echoes the sentiment. For her, the Associated Press reports, the work of a poet is 鈥渢o not lose the amazement, not lose the wonderment at the world.鈥�

Mr. Sze, her successor, takes the conversation a next step. 鈥淧oetry is the essential language,鈥� he has said, 鈥渢he finite that puts us in touch with the infinite.鈥�