gedaliyah

Far fewer babies went to the hospital struggling to breathe from RSV, a severe respiratory infection, after the debut of a new vaccine and treatment this season, according to an analysis published today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RSV, or respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, is the leading cause of hospitalization for infants in the US. An estimated 58,000–80,000 children younger than 5 years old are hospitalized each year. Newborns—babies between 0 and 2 months—are the most at risk of being hospitalized with RSV. The virus circulates seasonally, typically rising in the fall and peaking in the winter, like many other respiratory infections.

But the 2024–2025 season was different—there were two new ways to protect against the infection. One is a maternal vaccine, Pfizer's Abrysvo, which is given to pregnant people when their third trimester aligns with RSV season (generally September through January). Maternal antibodies generated from the vaccination pass to the fetus in the uterus and can protect a newborn in the first few months of life. The other new protection against RSV is a long-acting monoclonal antibody treatment, nirsevimab, which is given to babies under 8 months old as they enter or are born into their first RSV season and may not be protected by maternal antibodies.

Trump is "struggling to increase deportations to fulfill" his campaign promise of a million expulsions in his first year, The Wall Street Journal said. Despite aggressive tactics and high deportation quotas, his administration has averaged "about 660 a day, compared with 742 a day in 2024."

The Department of Homeland Security said Monday it would give $1,000 and a plane ticket home to any undocumented immigrants who opted to "self-deport," calling the "historic" offer a "dignified way to leave the U.S." Migrants who register for "voluntary self-deportation" through the Customs and Border Protection app will be "deprioritized for detention and removal," DHS said, so long as "they are making meaningful strides" toward their departure.

Within hours of a public showdown at the White House between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in February, a Ukrainian banker started a fundraising campaign to buy nuclear weapons. Despite the privations inflicted by the war, Ukrainians donated as much as they could and gathered more than half a million dollars before he declared it was meant in jest and redirected the fund toward the purchase of drones.

Washington has more than a hundred B61 gravity bombs deployed across the continent in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. The total U.S. inventory is above 5,000, roughly matching Russia’s arsenal. In comparison, France and Britain, Europe’s only nuclear-armed states, possess a little more than 500 nuclear warheads combined.

Moreover, there are doctrinal challenges. The French nuclear doctrine limits the use of nukes to only if France came under attack. In comparison, Britain has declared that its deterrent extends to European allies, but the British nuclear deterrent itself is dependent on the United States for Trident missiles aboard four Vanguard-class submarines, since the missiles are leased from Lockheed Martin.

Cuttlefish wave their expressive arms in four distinctive dancelike signals—potentially letting them communicate visually and by vibration.

The “up” sign involves cuttlefish extending one pair of their arms upward as if swim dancing to the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” while twisting their other arms together in the middle. For the “side” sign, the animals bring all their arms to one side of their body or the other. The “roll” sign involves cuttlefish folding all their arms beneath their head (making their eyes bulge out), as if they are about to do a front flip. And the “crown” sign is rather like when a person puts the fingertips of both of their hands together to form a pyramid shape.

Cohen-Bodénès and Neri recorded cuttlefish signing in different contexts and played the videos back to other individual cuttlefish.

“We found that when they see [others] signing, the cuttlefish sign back,” Cohen-Bodénès says. “We don't think it’s a mimicking signal because when they sign back, they sometimes display different types of signs.” This suggests a possible communication signal, Neri adds.

The 17-page indictment against Combs reads like a charging document filed against a Mafia leader or the head of a drug gang, accusing him of engaging in sex trafficking and presiding over a racketeering conspiracy.

The indictment says that with the help of people in his entourage and employees from his network of businesses, Combs engaged in a two-decade pattern of abusive behavior against women and others.

Women were manipulated into participating in drug-fueled sexual performances with male sex workers that Combs called “Freak Offs,” prosecutors say.

To keep women in line, prosecutors say Combs used a mix of influence and violence: He offered to boost their entertainment careers if they did what he asked — or cut them off if they didn’t.

Discussions with the Central African country come as the Trump administration looks for more countries willing to accept deportees as part of a sweeping crackdown.

It was unclear if a deal would involve migrants who had already been deported or those who will be in the future, but any deal would potentially make Rwanda the first African country to enter into such an agreement with the United States.

Rwanda’s foreign minister, Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe, said on Sunday that his country’s government was in “early stage” talks about receiving third-country deportees from the United States.

I don't have a problem with paying people for their labor, but I do want to have books that I actually own. I'm done paying for things that are locked into a particular corporate app. How do I buy ebooks and audio books that I actually own? Is this even possible in 2025?

Clashes between Myanmar’s junta and an ethnic army in central Myanmar have forced more than 4,000 people from their homes, according to a statement by the Karen National Union, or KNU.

Despite a ceasefire declared on April 2 and extended to April 30 to aid recovery work after an earthquake killed over 3,700 people, junta troops have launched hundreds of attacks across the country, killing more than 240 people, according to the exiled civilian National Unity Government.

Why, tho?

In a twist worthy of the film and novel "Conclave", the Vatican's secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin "allegedly had" two letters, signed "F" by Pope Francis, apparently indicating that "Becciu could not participate" in the election of his successor, according to Catholic news site The Pillar.

Becciu was convicted in 2023 on counts of embezzlement, aggravated fraud and abuse of office, and barred from holding public office. His jail sentence of five years and six months is pending an appeal hearing and he is allowed to remain living in a Vatican apartment while the process continues. Becciu strongly maintains his innocence and claims he was the victim of a conspiracy.

Opinions among Becciu's fellow cardinals on his eligibility were "mixed", said Jesuit magazine America. A source close to the case said his argument was "ridiculous", said the National Catholic Register. Italian investigative journalist Maria Antoinetta Calabro said in HuffPost that Becciu "never raised the issue" while the Pope was alive, "perhaps because it would have triggered a public stance by Pope Francis" that would not have gone in his favour.