The Good

Norway has launched a new plan to lure top international researchers amid growing pressure on academic freedom in the US under the Trump administration.

  • Following in the footsteps of multiple institutions across Europe, the Research Council of Norway on Wednesday launched a 100 million kroner (C$13,3 million) fund to make it easier to recruit researchers from other countries. (The Guardian)

The Ugly

Our cover this week.

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— Shashank Joshi (@shashj.bsky.social) April 24, 2025 at 10:46 AM

A federal judge blocked part of Trump’s executive order that would have required people to prove their citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. (AP)

Election officials from across the US meet to consider Trump’s order overhauling election operations (AP)

Hedge fund Citadel CEO and billionaire founder Ken Griffin says Trump chaos made US ’20% poorer in 4 weeks’ (The Daily Beast)

March home sales in US drop to their slowest pace since 2009

  • Sales of previously owned homes in March fell 5.9% from February.
  • Inventory was up nearly 20% from a year earlier.
  • More inventory and slower sales are starting put a chill on prices. (CNBC)
  • Housing market stalls as homeowners struggle to sell: ‘We’re really bleeding’ (Market Watch)
  • Spooked house hunters are dropping out of the real-estate market as they confront economic uncertainty on many fronts (Market Watch)

Beijing has called on the US to “completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures” if it wants trade talks

  • Beijing on Thursday also said there were “currently no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States”, despite recent signs of softening on the dispute from Washington. US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said in recent days that the trade war is “not sustainable” and “there would have to be a de-escalation by both sides”. “The unilateral tariff measures were initiated by the US,” said He Yadong, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson. “If the US truly wants to solve the problem, it should . . . completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China and find a way to resolve differences through equal dialogue.” (Financial Times)

US airlines, rattled by trade war and spending pullback, continue to cut flights, pull outlooks (AP)

Trump suddenly in retreat on many fronts as poll reveals key weakness

  • Suddenly, Trump appears to be retreating—or getting knocked back—on multiple fronts. Trump is considering whether to slash his tariffs on China. Elon Musk is stepping back from the administration. Federal scientists are admitting the measles outbreak is worse than previously acknowledged. And the leaks about Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth are intensifying. All this comes as a new poll finds broad public opposition to Trump’s abuses of power, revealing a surprise weakness in an area that savvy observers assured us voters don’t care about. (The New Republic)

The Guardian profiles five families who have joined America’s swelling class of internal refugees.

  • They’re being propelled by hostile political forces bearing down on them because of who they are, what they believe, or for their medical needs. All are displaced within their own country for reasons they did not choose. They are the new generation of America’s internal refugees – and their ranks are growing by the day. (The Guardian)

Stocks? Down. The U.S. dollar? Same. Demand for U.S. bonds? Also sinking. This isn’t supposed to happen — not all three at once.

  • Barry Eichengreen sees a historic reaction where there’s really one common theme: a collapse in faith in the United States.
  • “Global investors have concluded that there is a madman in the White House, and that the lunatics have gained control of the asylum,” said Eichengreen, a historian at the University of California at Berkeley who studies currencies and central banks. “The damage is clearly beyond repair.” (CBC)

A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador, whose removal violated a previous court settlement (ABC)