China pushed back against U.S. plans to revoke student visas. In a formal diplomatic protest, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said the move threatens Chinese students’ “legitimate rights” and urged the United States to “immediately correct its mistakes.” China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called the U.S. decision “discriminatory” and said it would damage America’s reputation. The more than 277,000 students from China make up nearly a quarter of all foreign students in the U.S., although their numbers have declined in recent years amid growing U.S.-China tensions. – Staff

For the first time in three years, the U.S. economy contracted. It shrank at a 0.2% annual pace from January through March as trade wars disrupted business, the government said Thursday. First-quarter growth was brought down by a surge in imports as U.S. companies hurried to bring in foreign goods before the president imposed new import taxes. Consumer spending also slowed sharply, and federal government spending fell at a 4.6% annual pace, the biggest drop in three years. – The Associated Press

Israel approved the expansion of West Bank settlements. Half of the 22 settlements are new; the others are outposts and farms that will now be deemed legal under Israeli law. Peace Now, a left-wing organization monitoring settlement activity, cautioned the settlements could “dramatically reshape the West Bank,” further entrenching the occupation. Defense Minister Israel Katz praised the move as helping block the establishment of a Palestinian state. Palestinian leaders called it a “dangerous escalation.” The settlements, illegal under international law, have expanded sharply under the current Israeli government, which for the first time has settlers in two senior Cabinet positions. – Staff

A new youth climate lawsuit set a precedent in the U.S. A group of 22 plaintiffs, many of whom were involved in successful state climate lawsuits, claims that a spate of executive orders promising to “unleash” fossil fuels and dismantle climate protections threaten their constitutional right to life, liberty, and personal security. They argue the Trump administration is “scrubbing, suppressing and dismantling climate science.” This marks the first comprehensive legal action targeting wide-ranging administrative efforts to eliminate research, programs, incentives, and speech connected to the warming planet. – Staff

Threats against federal U.S. judges have spiked. Eighty judges received threats from October 2024 through February 2025, according to internal data compiled by the U.S. Marshals Service and reported by The New York Times. But in just six weeks – beginning March 1 – 162 judges received threats. Threats to federal judges had already doubled between 2021 and 2024, according to a Marshals Service survey. Judges are now considering adopting their own armed security force, The Wall Street Journal reported. – Staff

Harvard can continue enrolling international students. A federal judge on Thursday extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to bar Harvard University from enrolling foreign students, as a lawsuit proceeds. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs extended the block she imposed last week. The dispute over international enrollment at Harvard is the latest escalation in a battle between the White House and America’s oldest and wealthiest college. – AP

Texas provided a border-enforcement blueprint for President Donald Trump. Now people in the Eagle Pass area, which was once an immigration epicenter, live with a new, quieter reality. “The border has never been as secure as it is right now under President Trump,” says Kate Hobbs, whose family manages a watermelon farm near Normandy, Texas. Others wish state funds spent on border security were apportioned elsewhere.

President Donald Trump campaigned as a deal-maker and peacemaker, pledging to quickly resolve the wars and international security crises that threaten global stability. But the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have proved extraordinarily challenging. And as complex a problem as Iran’s advancing nuclear program may be, it may offer Mr. Trump his best option for progress – if not a full-fledged deal, at least an interim agreement laying out the parameters of a deal.

Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza has for many people undermined the Jewish state’s moral authority and raised troubling questions about the country’s future. And for Israelis of all stripes, from West Bank settlers to Tel Aviv tech entrepreneurs, the trauma of Oct. 7, 2023, still runs deep. But many Israelis’ inability to comprehend the scale of destruction in Gaza – and the agony of Palestinian civilian victims – could be changing.

While courts challenge the legality of President Donald Trump’s recent tariffs, the longer-term damage of America’s chaotic tariff policy is more likely to be political than economic. In the U.S.-EU trade war, nearly $1 trillion worth of trade in mostly high-value goods is at stake. But the sense of trust between longtime allies could be a casualty.

Twenty-five years after the infamous seizures of its white-owned farms, Zimbabwe is still reckoning with that period’s complicated legacy. For years, farmers who lost their land have demanded the Zimbabwean government compensate them. Western countries and international lenders have also made those payments a key condition for helping Zimbabwe dig itself out of its $21 billion debt.

Youth America Grand Prix offers dancers an invaluable opportunity to perform in front of an audience and to be seen by judges. It also highlights the warm support young dancers offer one another. What do judges look for? In addition to technique and skill, says one, “I’m looking for how much enjoyment they have in self-expression.”

Africa’s leaders are setting the clock on achieving higher economic growth for the continent. One big reason: By 2050, about 1 in 4 people on Earth will be African.

A good example of this resolve was the May 29 election of a new head of the African Development Bank, a premier finance entity for driving job creation. The winner was Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania. He most recently led the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, where he quadrupled the bank’s assets and secured a triple-A rating.

A common thread in the competitive election for a new bank president was the need to shift Africa from a dependence on foreign donors to economic self-reliance and a shared vision for investments. That goal is urgent after the slashing of American foreign aid by President Donald Trump as well as a decline in European assistance.

“As Africans we are not completely sad about [these] developments,” Tanzania’s former foreign minister told The Economist. “This is what we have always been saying we want, to rely less on others.”

Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was more blunt: “Why are you crying?” he asked during initial shock over the aid cuts. “[Instead] say, ‘OK, what are we going to do to help ourselves?’” 

One popular answer is to tap private capital in Africa. An estimated $4 trillion is held in African banks, pension funds, and foreign reserves. “The issue is,” a Lagos, Nigeria-based lender told the news site Semafor, “how we get [that money] to flow into projects.” Key targets include power supply, natural resources, and agriculture.

The first challenge for Mr. Tah is to align the bank’s 54 member nations toward common goals. One model of cooperation for him is the Economic Commission of West African States, which marked its 50th anniversary this year. Despite linguistic, cultural, and political differences among its more than a dozen members, it has been effective. The countries allow free movement and free trade for citizens and businesses and agree on common tariffs and policies toward nonmember states.  

The African Development Bank now has a chance to become “a true engine of continental unity,” wrote Kenya-based economist Hannah Ryder in Semafor. It can also break from an overdependence on foreign aid that has prevented a firm footing for democracy – the kind in which citizens hold elected leaders accountable for economic growth, not for how much aid is amassed.