Trump, John Bolton and the Taliban Peace Deal

A week ago, President Donald Trump announced the failure of his long-standing promise to end the nation’s longest war — on the verge of its reported success. The unhappy president said he then fired the loudest advocate of this about-face on the eve of the 18th anniversary of 9/11: national security adviser John Bolton. So do the Taliban, whose members also feuded over peacemaking, and Trump now have a Bolton-free path back to the table?

Could other hot spots become depressurized? Reports indicate that the famously mustachioed policy guru also discouraged Trump’s vision of talks with his Iranian counterpart, so anything’s possible.

Israelis Try Again to Elect New Government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could win his fifth consecutive term on Tuesday. But the election promises to be close, with his Likud party projected to win roughly the same number of seats as Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party. After winning the most seats in April, Netanyahu, who’s facing corruption charges, couldn’t form a government.

What’s he doing to bolster his odds? Seemingly everything, including appealing to hard-line voters by promising to annex large sections of the West Bank and visiting Russia to demonstrate his international bona fides — and even hinting at a new war in Gaza.

Check out this OZY story about the Israeli occupation of a delicious Palestinian dessert.

Felicity Huffman Gets Jail in Admissions Scandal

After prosecutors said privileged parents should be “equally subject to the law,” a federal judge in Boston sentenced the 56-year-old Desperate Housewives star to 14 days in jail, to begin Oct. 25, a $30,000 fine and 250 hours of community service. She pleaded guilty in May to mail fraud conspiracy charges for her part in a wide-ranging scheme to rig college admissions. During sentencing, Huffman cried, saying she was “deeply ashamed” and apologized for paying $15,000 to get her daughter’s 2017 SAT test corrected by a proctor.

How big is the case? Authorities have charged 51 people, and 19 of 34 accused parents are fighting the charges.

Where Are the European Vaping Victims?

In the U.S., vaping has made 450 people sick and is blamed for the death of six, prompting a move to ban flavored electronic cigarettes. So far, though, there is no sign of the sickness in Europe. Is that because no one is keeping track of the problem, or, as one British smoking cessation advocate believes, American health authorities have “lost all their moorings with evidence and good practice” in declaring war on vaping?

Will Europe act too? A broad analysis of the continent’s e-cigarette safety should emerge next year, while an EU-wide reporting system is being developed.

Check out this OZY Special Briefing on the vaping crisis.

Also Important...

New York’s attorney general has reported discovering $1 billion in money transfers indicating that Sackler family members, enriched by marketing of fatally addictive opioid painkillers, have moved money offshore to shield it from legal action. Saudi Arabia says it has brought under control drone-ignited fires at two oil facilities, but so far hasn’t named a suspected attacker. And Eddie Money, who wrote and performed 1970s and 1980s hits like Baby Hold On and Two Tickets to Paradise, died Friday at the age of 70 after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

In the week ahead: The U.N. General Assembly begins its 74th session on Tuesday. That day will also see the publication of Edward Snowden’s memoir detailing his revelation of widespread U.S. communications surveillance and subsequent flight from American prosecution. And on Friday, new Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will meet with President Trump at the White House.

OZY is hiring! We’re looking for an analytical and globally minded reporter to sniff out today’s most important stories in science, technology and health. Check out our jobs page and read the description here.

In a Violent Ocean, No One Hears Workers' Cries

If the environmental implications aren’t stopping you from eating fish sticks, consider the human toll. In The Outlaw Ocean: Crime and Survival in the Last Untamed Frontier, Ian Urbina describes some of the world’s cruelest employers. Workers on the fishing ships of one Korean conglomerate told New Zealand authorities they were forced to eat vermin-infested food and subjected to beatings and sexual assaults by officers.

What’s being done about it? A deadly sinking in its waters prompted New Zealand to ban foreign vessels and enforce stricter regulations, but allegedly abusive owners are simply trawling less supervised waters.

Check out OZY’s look at millennials repopulating labor unions.

Coming of Age in a Concentration Camp

When she dies, Zuzana Justman will leave behind more than her childhood diary from the Terezín concentration camp. Examining the museum piece, she remembers writing “mommy was away from us” so as not to upset her Nazi captors by revealing that her mother had been taken away by the SS. In a new essay, the Czech documentarian fills in the gaps: Her parents’ marital problems, her brother’s polio and the deaths of so many relatives and friends.

What do the stories show? Justman’s memories paint a picture of a preadolescent girl forced to grow up too fast in inhuman conditions.

This OZY True Story looks at another Holocaust memoir.

The Delicious History of a Vietnamese Treat

Broken rice, the damaged grains once discarded during the milling process, never needed fixing. It first sustained impoverished laborers and has since become a Vietnamese delicacy, growing so popular some outlets have to painstakingly break rice by hand to meet demand, OZY reports. It’s cuisine that tells a story — from French colonial merchants dumping unwanted riz brizé in Africa, germinating that continent’s own tradition, to the 1980s failings of Hanoi’s collective agriculture.

How is it served? Better known at home as cơm tấm, it’s often accompanied by a smoky barbecued pork chop, flavored with spicy fish sauce and topped with a fried egg.

All Aboard the Hype(rloop) Train

Its low-pressure tubes might allow passenger pods to travel at jet speed, but will it ever leap from sci-fi daydreams to an actual public works project? First conceived in the early 1900s as “vacuum trains,” the idea has been resurrected thanks to environmental anxiety and renamed “hyperloop” by Elon Musk. Even devotees acknowledge the concept sounds a bit loopy, so to speak, but with no viable environmentally-friendly alternative to air travel, they say its moment has come.

How far off is hyperloop service? Innovators say it’s the future, but even if it works, development, unlike the whizzing pods, promises to be agonizingly slow.

OZY takes a look at the future of unmanned shipping.

Female Soccer Players Also Face CTE Fears

The signs are there. Some female soccer players appear to be suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Researchers, though, generally study the brains of deceased NFL players — and no women. A big part of the problem is sample size; while there’s a growing amount of men’s gray matter to study, there’s little from women. Even talking about the subject is difficult, says one ex-player who’s displaying symptoms: Top players haven’t talked much about it.

Could this change? While they may not be talking, they are donating: Megan Rapinoe and other USWNT stars have signed up to let researchers use their brains for study after they die, eventually providing meaningful samples and research.