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Trump Poll Plummet: More Americans Are Unhappy with Trump, Including More Republicans (Associated Press)
Approval of the way President Donald Trump is managing the government has dropped sharply since early in his second term, according to a new AP-NORC poll, with much of the rising discontent coming from fellow Republicans.
It shows that only 33% of US adults approve of the way the Republican president is managing the government, down from 43% in an AP-NORC poll from March. That was driven in large part by a decline in approval among Republicans and independents. According to the survey, only about two-thirds of Republicans, 68%, said they approve of Trump’s government management, down from 81% in March. Independents’ approval dropped from 38% to 25%.
Global Health Warning: Canada Lost Its Measles Elimination Fight. The US Could Be Next. (Bloomberg Opinion - Lisa Jarvis)
This week, Canada officially lost its measles elimination status, which it held for nearly 30 years — a shameful consequence of falling childhood vaccination rates.
In normal times, Canada’s misfortune might serve as yet another wake-up call for public health leaders in the US, which is precariously close to losing its own measles-free status, Lisa writes.
But these are not normal times. Anti-vaccine and anti-science rhetoric continue to grow more deeply entrenched — within our health agencies, through local and state policies, and in the public imagination — making the nation’s elimination status only one of many looming threats to public health.
That situation is the result of a years-long campaign by anti-vaccine activists, who once operated at the fringes of society. But with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now leading the nation’s health agencies, these individuals are suddenly emboldened to push their agenda even further.
Climate
Alarm: Carbon
Dioxide Emissions Head for Another Record in 2025 (New York Times)
Global fossil fuel emissions are on track to soar to record highs in 2025 and show no signs of declining overall. Not everywhere saw a large increase. Emissions appear to have stayed nearly flat in China and Europe, but rose significantly in the United States and much of the rest of the world.
Cold Reception to 'Forever Debt': Trump’s 50-Year Mortgage Loses Steam as Industry Questions Costs (Bloomberg)
Days after Donald Trump’s party lost several key election contests that centered on cost-of-living concerns, the president floated the prospect of a 50-year mortgage to help voters tackle one of their top concerns: housing affordability.
Yet the president’s idea is struggling
to gain traction in the housing industry, as experts largely dismiss it as a short-sighted model that provides little cost relief and ends up hurting homeowners over the long term.
Paying for a home over five decades would increase the amount of interest homeowners would pay while slowing the amount of equity they build in their homes. Experts also caution that the plan could stoke demand that further raises home prices in a market constrained by a lack of supply.
Exclusive: Zelenskiy Says Ukraine’s Survival Rests on Funds From Allies (Bloomberg)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy implored European Union allies to overcome their divisions on the use of frozen Russian assets, saying fresh funding is critical for his war-battered economy to stay in the fight against Moscow.
“I hope, God bless, we will get this decision,” Zelenskiy told Bloomberg Television in an interview late Wednesday in Kyiv. Otherwise, “We will have to find an alternative, it’s a question of our surviving. That’s why we need it very much. And I count on partners.”
Post-Truce Pause: China’s Purchases of US Soybeans Stall Despite Trade Truce (Bloomberg)
Sleep is Overrated: Japan Prime Minister Takaichi Says She Sleeps Only 2-4 Hours a Night (Agence France-Presse)
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Thursday she only sleeps for between two and four hours every night, while she also faces criticism for encouraging people to overwork.
The revelation about how little she sleeps came after Takaichi raised eyebrows last week by arranging a 3 am staff meeting in her office to prepare for a parliamentary session.
Tension: UK Pauses Intelligence Sharing with US Over Caribbean Boat Strikes (Financial Times)
The UK has paused some intelligence sharing with the US on counter-narcotic operations in the Caribbean, over fears the Trump administration’s policy of lethal military strikes against suspected smugglers could be illegal, according to the Financial Times.
Normally the UK shares intelligence
with the US Coast Guard to help coordinate seizures, but the move to hold back some intelligence illustrates the unease from one of the US’s closest allies over the Trump administration’s newly aggressive strategy.
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AI
Unfiltered: 47,000 ChatGPT Chats Reveal What Users Are Asking the Bots (Washington Post)
A collection of 47,000 publicly shared ChatGPT conversations compiled by The Washington Post sheds light on the reasons people turn to the chatbot and the deeply intimate role it plays in many lives.
The conversations were made public by ChatGPT users who created shareable links to their chats that were later preserved in the Internet Archive, offering a rare snapshot into how people interact with the AI across personal, emotional, and philosophical contexts.
Emotional conversations were common,
with about 10 percent of chats showing users discussing their feelings, personal struggles, or relationships — sometimes addressing the chatbot romantically or using nicknames.
In many cases, ChatGPT appeared to mirror users’ perspectives, creating a personalized echo chamber. The Post’s analysis also revealed that ChatGPT began its responses with variations of “yes” or “correct” nearly 17,500 times — almost 10 times more often than it started with “no” or “wrong” — underscoring the chatbot’s tendency to agree with users rather than challenge them.
American Currency News: US Mint in Philadelphia Presses Final Pennies as the 1-Cent Coin Gets Canceled (Associated Press)
The American penny died on Wednesday in Philadelphia. It was 232.
The cause was irrelevance and expensiveness, the Treasury Department said, according to the New York Times.
The US Mint ended production of the penny, a change made to save money and because the 1-cent coin that could once buy a snack or a piece of candy had become increasingly irrelevant.
The
last pennies were struck
at the mint in Philadelphia, where the country’s smallest denomination coins have been produced since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act.
President Trump ordered the penny’s demise as costs climbed to nearly 4 cents per penny and the 1-cent valuation became somewhat obsolete. Billions of pennies remain in circulation, but they are rarely essential for financial transactions in the 21st century economy.
In Photos: Northern Lights Glow Across Skies in the US and Across the World (Axios)
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