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Today’s high tales

The Biden administration is predicted to announce at this time that it’ll ship cluster munitions to Ukraine, regardless of human rights considerations. The controversial bombs have been used on the battlefield for many years, together with by each side within the ongoing battle between Russia and Ukraine. NPR’s Greg Myre reports on Up First from Kyiv that they may very well be a really invaluable weapon as Ukraine tries to interrupt by way of Russian traces within the east and south.

The Pentagon brand and an American flag stand within the briefing room of Pentagon in Arlington, VA.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

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Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Pentagon brand and an American flag stand within the briefing room of Pentagon in Arlington, VA.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

• More than 120 international locations have pledged to not use cluster munitions, which might trigger hurt lengthy after preventing ends. The U.S. has a big stockpile of the weapons, which it used within the Afghan and Iraq wars. U.S. officers have advised NPR that it’ll solely be sending these with a “dud rate” of round 2% or much less, although some critics query whether or not the speed is de facto that low.

The Food and Drug Administration has given its full approval to Leqembi, the primary drug proven to decelerate Alzheimer’s illness. That motion means will probably be broadly lined by Medicare, opening up entry for a lot of extra seniors in early stages of the disease. NPR’s Jon Hamilton says it may doubtlessly attain one million folks or extra.

• Leqembi appeared to gradual declines in reminiscence and considering by about 27% after 18 months of remedy, per FDA-reviewed research, although is just not with out potential unintended effects. 
• The drug will price about $26,500 a 12 months. Hamilton says it is essential that Medicare can pay, because the program covers folks 65 and up — “the vast majority of people with Alzheimer’s.” 

President Biden hasn’t made good on all his marketing campaign guarantees, like forgiving scholar loans, ending new drilling on federal lands and making two years of neighborhood school free. In the run-up to the 2024 election, progressive voters and activists need him to do extra, and quicker.

• NPR’s Deepa Shivaram says that after the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s scholar mortgage aid plan final week, progressive groups told her they had been glad he bounced again with one other plan and assume he ought to apply that technique to different points as effectively.
• While many citizens really feel like Biden backed down on his local weather guarantees, Shivaram says he is already picked up quite a few 2024 endorsements from environmental and conservation teams.

From our hosts

Rob Schmitz is NPR’s worldwide correspondent primarily based in Berlin. He has been guest-hosting Morning Edition this week from Washington D.C.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in Beijing this week, and expectations could not be decrease – the connection between the world’s two largest economies is at an historic low amidst a slate of variations over market entry, semiconductor know-how, safety threats, and Trump-era tariffs. How did we get thus far?

Morning Edition guest-host Rob Schmitz on a hike in Tibet throughout his time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China within the mid Nineties.

Rob Schmitz

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Rob Schmitz

Morning Edition guest-host Rob Schmitz on a hike in Tibet throughout his time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China within the mid Nineties.

Rob Schmitz

My relationship with China goes again 27 years after I arrived in Sichuan Province as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer. It was 1996, and Bill Clinton was president. His administration noticed China, a long-dormant communist nation, as a possible ally and buying and selling companion, and my position as a volunteer instructor was a part of an effort geared toward mutual studying and respect on a granular, human stage. My Peace Corps service within the metropolis of Zigong led to lifelong friendships and a profession the place I assist NPR listeners higher perceive one of many world’s most fascinating and essential international locations.

Sadly, the Trump administration shut down the Peace Corps China program in 2020, considered one of many invaluable people-to-people packages between the US and China which have ended up to now decade as mutual mistrust has grown like a most cancers. I’ve all the time believed that if the U.S.-China relationship had been left to the American and Chinese folks, as an alternative of our governments, our relationship could be improved. Our peoples share a lot in frequent: our love of household, schooling, freedom, our work ethic, and our willingness to be taught from others. I’m hoping Yellen and her Chinese counterpart will be taught from – and take heed to – one another this week in Beijing.

Weekend picks

Sabrina Wu as Deadeye, Ashley Park as Audrey, Sherry Cola as Lolo, and Stephanie Hsu as Kat in Joy Ride. Photo Credit: Ed Araquel

Ed Araquel/Lionsgate/Ed Araquel/Lionsgate

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Ed Araquel/Lionsgate/Ed Araquel/Lionsgate

Sabrina Wu as Deadeye, Ashley Park as Audrey, Sherry Cola as Lolo, and Stephanie Hsu as Kat in Joy Ride. Photo Credit: Ed Araquel

Ed Araquel/Lionsgate/Ed Araquel/Lionsgate

Check out what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:

Movies: Joy Ride is filled with filthy one-liners and priceless sight gags. But critic Justin Chang writes that the movie can be savvy about Asian tradition in a approach that is nonetheless not often seen in Hollywood.

TV: In Platonic, Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne are former BFFs navigating midlife crises as they reconnect after years.

Books: Mai Nguyen’s debut novel, Sunshine Nails, simmers with questions on work, class and generational divides by way of the story of the household of Tuyết and Xuân Tran, Vietnamese refugees who settle in Toronto.

Music: Join Alt.Latino hosts Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras as they spherical up the best albums of 2023 thus far.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Devils Hole pupfish collect on the dear rocky shelf that helps their total fragile existence within the wild.

Olin Feuerbacher/NPS

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Olin Feuerbacher/NPS

Devils Hole pupfish collect on the dear rocky shelf that helps their total fragile existence within the wild.

Olin Feuerbacher/NPS

1. Against all odds, the Devils Hole pupfish simply hold swimming. The endangered species, which lives in a hole in a cave within the Nevada desert, has bounced again from a low of 35.
2. Nearly half of the faucet water within the U.S. may comprise PFAS “forever chemicals,” a authorities research estimates. Here’s what to do in the event you’re apprehensive about yours.
3. The Philippines may very well be the subsequent nation after Vietnam to ban the “Barbie” film, over a scene that includes a controversial map of the South China Sea.

This e-newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.