YOUR
PRESIDENTIAL
DAILY BRIEF

Trump Denies Infighting Over Iran

Hopefully, Tehran is confused. That’s what President Donald Trump says about reports that his top foreign policy officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, were feuding over Iran policy. This comes after a drumbeat of moves, from sending warships and bombers to the Persian Gulf to evacuating some staff from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

What’s the dispute? According to sourced reports — dismissed as “bullsh*t” by Trump — Pompeo’s aiming at negotiations with Tehran, which aligns with Trump’s statements, but Bolton, who’s lately had more policy clout, is seeking regime change.

OZY’s security analyst, John McLaughlin, tries to make sense of U.S. Iran policy.   

Modi Calls Gandhi Taunts 'Disgusting' as Election Nears End

As the last day of voting in the world’s largest democratic election looms, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi admonished hard-liners in his own BJP party. He said their comments praising Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin as a “patriot” were “deplorable and disgusting.” The country’s seven-phase election began April 11 and ends Sunday in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous Indian state.

Who is the favorite? Modi had looked vulnerable this year, but the BJP appears poised for victory after a February military showdown with Pakistan made security a top issue. 

 Read this OZY profile on a young challenger to India’s ruling party.

US Abortion Bills Are Piling Up

Alabama this week enacted the most severe abortion ban, with no rape or incest exceptions, but it isn’t alone. Missouri legislators passed a “fetal heartbeat” bill Friday banning abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy, while six other GOP-led states passed similar measures. These bills aim to give the Supreme Court’s two Trump appointees a chance to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

What’s next? The bills don’t go into effect immediately and all are likely to be challenged in court, but clinics are fielding questions from women worried that prohibitions are already in force.

The (One) Day German Energy Was Sustainable

Germany’s wind turbines are impossible to miss, along with its photovoltaic solar panel farms. So far has the country come that on April 22, there was almost enough clean energy — 56 gigawatts — to power the entire nation. But when it’s not so sunny and windy, much of Germany’s electricity is coal-generated, and auditors complain that a renewables push has been costly and inefficient.

And the good news? Pollution-spewing German cars are approaching extinction, with hopes that hydrogen fuel could enable “wind-powered” vehicles in the near future.

Check out OZY’s profile of an inventor who makes cleaner fuel out of air.

Also Important...

U.S. immigration authorities have begun flying asylum-seekers from border areas to various American cities. Exit polls show opposition Labour party candidates ahead in today’s Australian elections. And U.S. trade officials have agreed to lift high tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

In the week ahead: On Sunday, Swiss voters will decide whether to tighten gun regulations to satisfy European Union demands. The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled Tuesday for testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn, whom the Trump administration may prohibit from appearing. And on Thursday, U.S. and international aviation regulators will hold meetings on allowing Boeing 737 Max aircraft to resume service following deadly crashes.

OZY Fest is back! Join OZY in New York’s Central Park July 20-21, where some of the biggest names and boldest thinkers — from John Legend and Trevor Noah to Stacey Abrams and Malcolm Gladwell — will help make this year’s OZY Fest the most memorable yet. Click here before Sunday for access to a limited number of presale tickets.

They Help Ransomware Victims ... by Paying Hackers

Who can help users of the estimated 1.5 million computers hit annually by ransomware? Two U.S. firms, Proven Data Recovery and MonsterCloud, say they’ve helped thousands of victims. They claim their technical know-how can free the data that hackers are holding hostage. But a ProPublica investigation suggests a pattern of offering to unhack computers, then simply paying a sometimes discounted ransom for a fee that easily covers it. The companies deny wrongdoing. 

Is this legal? Some experts say it looks like conspiring with hackers. The firms deny colluding, but they are reportedly at least misleading some customers.

OZY security analyst John McLaughlin explains why U.S. elections are easy to hack.

Scientists Learn From Puerto Rico's Traumatized Monkeys

Cayo Santiago is home to around 1,700 macaques, all related to the original 409 transplanted from India to Puerto Rico in the 1930s. From the very beginning, the population was studied and many generations of data enable modern behavioral research like nowhere else on Earth. After Hurricane Maria swept through in 2017, a new opportunity arose as the macaques, like their human counterparts, showed signs of trauma.

What can they teach us? Preliminary results of post-storm research showed the monkeys relying on one another more and getting along better — much as human disaster survivors often do.

Read OZY’s profile of San Juan’s tough-talking mayor.

Chernobyl: The Paradise at the End of the World

Wolves have proliferated in the decades following the 1986 nuclear reactor explosion and meltdown that sent clouds of radioactive particles into the air breathed by 3 billion humans. Elk and deer, along with bears and rodents, now thrive in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, one of the few terrestrial places that humans have stopped inhabiting.

What can we learn from this? The phenomenon shows what a world without us might look like — but lingering radioactive particles, perhaps transported by wildlife, remind us of the risks mankind faces when relying on nuclear power to combat climate change.

Read OZY’s account of a radioactive mosquito bite.

The Awesome Tree Sap Beer That'll Turn Your Stomach

Drink responsibly. That warning takes on a new urgency with salfi, the traditional “beer” in the southern end of India’s Chhattisgarh state. Tasting a bit like coconut milk with a mild, though bitter, finish, it’s usually harvested from an indigenous palm variety by hacking a branch and letting the sap drip into an earthen pot. Then the magic happens: Airborne yeast causes the juice to ferment quickly, so it can be consumed right away.

What’s the catch? If you don’t quaff salfi immediately, the rapid fermentation causes it to curdle and become toxic. So hurry up and drink.

Pro Wrestler's Death Brings Reality Into the Ring

The Silver King, a professional wrestler whose Mexican lucha libre credentials earned him a part as Jack Black’s cinematic antagonist in Nacho Libre, died mid-match of cardiac arrest last week. While the 51-year-old’s vocation involved a fake sport, opines sportswriter Oliver Bateman, his demise displayed the real hazards practitioners face — especially near the end of their careers.

Has this happened before? While most pros survive to retirement, there have been notable exceptions, like the 1997 death of young Plum Mariko, who died after an opponent’s powerbomb put her in a coma, and Mitsuharu Misawa, who died in 2009 after a career of damaging blows.