CNN
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Daniel Beckman, a neuroscientist who grew up in Brazil, always dreamed of moving to the US for work. So, in 2017, when Beckman got the opportunity to work at UC Davis’s National Center for Primate Research, she jumped at it.

“I was very excited,” she recalled. “It’s always been a dream to come to the US. It’s always been a place where there’s always the biggest investment in science and where there’s always.”

However, months after President Donald Trump’s second term, Beckman no longer sees the United States as a welcome home for research, as his administration is fighting an unprecedented war with the country’s top universities and research institutions.

She told CNN that she is currently planning to move and is seeing opportunities in Germany and France.

Beckman is part of the wave of scholars, scientists and researchers leaving the United States, where many warnings may be the biggest brain drain seen over decades.

However, America’s losses could be in the profits of the rest of the world.

The Trump administration is competing to freeze billions of dollars with research funding, interfere with curriculum, threaten the ability of international students to study in the US, government, universities and research institutions in Canada, Europe and Asia, and attract talent to flee.

The European Union has pledged 500 million euros ($562 million) “to turn Europe into a researcher’s magnet” over the next three years.

The university in Marseille, France, is pleading for scholars who have been persecuted under a new program called “Safe For Science.” Canada’s largest health research institute has invested $30 million ($21.8 million) to attract 100 scientists early in their careers from the US and elsewhere. Norwegian Research Council has launched a fund of 100 million crores ($9.8 million) to attract new researchers. The president of Nanyang University of Technology in Singapore recently spoke to the crowd at the Higher Education Summit.

The Australian Academy of Sciences has also launched a new talent programme to recruit disillusioned US-based scientists and tempt Australians to their homelands.

Anna Maria Arabia, the Academy’s chief executive, said the program has received “encouragement interest” so far.

Arabia told CNN that the flooding of agencies rushing to fill the void left by US funding cuts reflects “global hunger” for science and technology experts.

“It is very important that science continues without ideological interference,” Arabia said.

The US has long been a major powerhouse when it comes to research and development, attracting talent from afar with its large budgets, high pay and fashionable labs.

Since the 1960s, federal government data shows that US government spending (R&D) in 1961 has more than doubled from $58 billion in 1961 to nearly $160 billion in 2024 (inflation-adjusted dollars). When incorporating R&D funds from the private sector, that number of balloons will be estimated at over $900 billion in 2023.

The huge US investment in R&D has had a major impact on the global stage. The United States has won over 400 Nobel Prizes. The UK is more than twice as many as the next country. More than a third of the US awards were won by immigrants.

Kenneth Wong, professor of education policy at Brown University, said:

But Trump’s second term overthrew ties between higher education and the federal government.

Trump’s tumultuous federal health science institutions has led to job losses and reduced funding, including the National Institutes of Health, which fund nearly $50 billion in medical research each year at universities, hospitals and science institutions.

About 700 NIHs cancelled a total of $1.8 billion grants between the end of February and the beginning of April, according to an analysis by the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Trump administration has proposed a 40% reduction in the NIH budget for 2026.

The National Science Foundation has also significantly reduced grants worth $1.4 billion. On Wednesday, 16 US states sued the Trump administration over NSF cuts, which they argue would hinder “groundbreaking scientific research” and “(at risk) national security, economy and public health.”

Trump is also targeting elite universities and is in the midst of a legal battle with Harvard for refusing to succumb to administration instructions to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and for refusing to bring billions of federal funding. The fight escalated significantly this month when Trump banned Harvard’s ability to register international students. This is a decision that was promptly stopped by a federal judge after Harvard University filed the lawsuit.

This week, the White House directed federal agencies to cancel all contracts with Harvard.

“The president is more interested in giving money to the taxpayers to trade schools, programs and state schools that promote American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on the skills we need in the economy and society.

“We need to have more people in our country and fewer LGBTQ alumni from Harvard.”

Foreign institutions have already jumped at the opportunity to welcome Harvard students who are currently caught up in legal spheres. On Monday, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said it would accept Harvard students who wish to transfer and prospective students with Harvard’s current offers.

“I think this is the most important crisis that universities have faced since World War II,” Wong said. “We see a complete reset of this joint relationship between the federal government and the major research institutions.”

Beacons of scientific research once became an increasingly hostile place for research, teaching and research. Three-quarters of US scientists surveyed by the Journal Nature In March they said they were considering leaving because of Trump administration’s policies.

Some have already jumped over the ship. Yale University’s Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, and scholars of fascism, announced in March that they would depart for the University of Toronto across Canada’s borders for the humiliation of Trump’s academic freedom.

Beckman, a Brazilian neuroscientist, said her lab has seen $2.5 million in grant funding cancelled in recent months. In addition to these funding issues, Beckman said that by cracking down on immigration by the Trump administration and changing attitudes towards foreigners in the US, she has encouraged her to look for jobs elsewhere.

“It’s only been since I moved here that I feel I’m not welcome anymore,” she said.

Early career scientists will be hit hardest as the US research ecosystem responds to reduced academic freedom budgets and intrusions, Wong said. But young researchers are also more mobile, and institutions around the world welcome them with open arms.

“What we’re losing is that this whole executive of very productive, young, energetic, well trained, knowledgeable, highly skilled researchers, is ready to take off,” Wong said.

Other countries have long been deprived of investment in scientific research as the US has absorbed global research and development needs, Wong said. But that trend is changing.

R&D spending in China has skyrocketed over the last few decades, and the country has narrowed the gap with the US. China spent more than $780 billion on R&D in 2023, according to OECD data. The European Union is also spending more on research and development. According to the OECD, R&D investment in the block increased from around $360 billion in 2007 to $540 billion in 2023.

For months, Beckman said he had considered moving away from her covid-19 research, which is becoming increasingly politicized under the Trump administration.

However, she then began interviewing institutions in other countries.

“I’m interested in virology around the world, except in the current US.”

CNN
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Two bridges collapsed in the western region of Russia, adjacent to Ukraine, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens, authorities said.

It was not clear whether the two incidents involving the train were linked to adjacent Briance and Kursk, or whether they caused separate collapses.

The Russian commission on investigation described both incidents as being caused by the explosion, and they were labelled as “terrorist” acts, state media reported.

At least seven people were killed in Briansk when the road bridge gave way to passenger trains late Saturday, and railway authorities have cited “illegal interference.”

Russian authorities say the bridge came down to Vygonicz district, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Ukrainian border, crushing the mobile train, causing injury to at least 66 people.

Briansk’s regional governor Alexander Bogomaz accused him of exploding the collapse of his area in the state media.

Bogomaz told Telegram that 44 people were hospitalized and three were in serious condition, including children. The train carried 388 passengers.

Among the people killed in the incident were train engineers, reported Ria Novosti, a Russian state media outlet.

According to the RIA, the train had moved from the town of Klimov to the capital Moscow and the capital of Moscow.

Images of the remains from the Moscow prosecutor’s office show fallen Earth, fallen Earth on what appears to be a passenger train, debris and concrete, showing carriages derailed as emergency services attended the scene.

The Moscow Railway said the collapse was caused by “illegal interference in transport operations.”

According to Tass, passengers were evacuated from the wreckage and taken to temporary accommodation at a nearby station.

Railway workers later discovered damage to another section of the railway tracks in the Briance area, Bogomaz said, but added that there were no casualties.

According to the regional representative governor, another incident up until Sunday saw the bridge collapse as a freight train passed by in Russia’s Kursk region (Ukraine, also adjacent to Ukraine) injured one of the drivers.

“Some of the trains collapsed into a highway under the bridge,” Governor Alexander Kinstein told Telegram. The incident caused a fire to the train and emergency services officials worked to put out the flames, he added.

Kiev has not commented on the collapse of the bridge, and there are no immediate signs of Ukraine being involved.

Putin received updates on two incidents all night from the Federal Security Services (FSB) and the Russian Ministry of Emergency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, according to state media.

State media also reported that Russian leaders discussed the incident in a telephone call with Bogomaz and head of the Russian railway, Oleg Belozerov.

In the third incident on Saturday night, Ukraine’s defense information revealed that a Russian military freight train exploded near Meritpol, the occupied city of Ukraine’s Zaporidian region.

“The explosion led to a train of fuel tanks and freight cars derailed on the railroad tracks,” the intelligence agency said.

The freight trains had moved under Russian occupation via “major logistics arteries” often used by Russian troops, authorities added.

Since Moscow began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kiev responded to Russian attacks and launched attacks using drones, artillery and troops on the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions. Pro-Uklein agents and sympathizers within Russia are also sabotaging Russian targets.

In 2023, Ukrainian defense sources said the fire that ran through the train along a strategic railway tunnel in eastern Russia was attributed to Ukrainian Security Services (SBU).

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN
–

At least 26 Palestinians were killed and injured after Israeli forces fired on Sunday near the South Gaza Aid Distribution Center run by the controversial US Support Foundation, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Association and a nearby hospital.

When Israeli forces fired, they were “heading to receive food aid” from the Rafa area site, said a paramedic with PRCS, the only medical expert in the area.

According to the Nasser Medical Complex of South Gaza, more than 80 people were injured, according to the Nasser Medical Complex of South Gaza.

CNN contacted the Israeli military for comment and contacted the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the site.

The GHF is a private organization supported by Israel and the United States. It was founded amid Israel’s accusations that Hamas had stole aid in Gaza and sold it for profit. Humanitarian organisations say there is no evidence of this, and Israel has not publicly presented evidence.

The UN aid agencies have criticised the GHF’s ​​aid mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles and poses risks for Palestinians.

UN aid groups such as UNRWA usually rely on a registered family database when verifying identification and distributing aid.

However, GHF has not screened Palestinians on aid distribution sites, despite saying additional security measures are the core reasons for creating new programs.

Criticism has been growing for both Israel and the GHF after chaos broke out last week when tens of thousands of starved Palestinians arrived at two new food distribution sites.

Palestinian Ministry of Health figures before the incident on Sunday showed that 11 people have been killed and dozens have been injured since the aid distribution site was opened. The GHF said Thursday that no one has been killed or injured since the aid distribution began last week.

The statement added that it has served more than 4.7 million meals over six days. This provided 16 trucks of food on Sunday mornings and over 887,000 meals.

In a statement issued Sunday, GHF said it will continue to scale with plans to build additional sites across Gaza, including the northern region, in the coming weeks.

Aid read the statement “without any issues.” The group “recognizes that they are being actively fomed by Hamas, suggesting death and injury today,” the group added.

However, a mixed photograph appears on the ground, along with the claim that aid claims that are considered inaccurate are distributed.

GHF also claims that reports of “death, mass injuries and chaos” on the site are “false.”

“They are not true, they are manufactured,” the statement continued.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN
–

Self-declared “the coolest dictator in the world” Naive Buquer will be making his sixth year as president of El Salvador on Sunday, a period defined by the controversial reforms that critics brought peace on the streets at incredibly high prices.

Once the most violent country in the Western Hemisphere, his crackdown on crimes in the country where the iron attacked led to the arrest and detention of around 87,000 people.

The government has defended the move, referring to a massive cut in gang violence across the country, but opponents say it has been at the expense of mass incarceration and erosion of civil liberty.

Critics say the dragnets expanded over time.

On May 19, Ruth Lopez, an anti-corruption lawyer for the human rights group Cristosal, who is also a prominent critic of Buquere, was taken into custody by Salvadora authorities after allegedly “stolen funds from state funds.” However, despite being kept in custody, Lopez is still not charged with a crime.

Shortly after Lopez was arrested, the Buquere government passed a law that taxed foreign contributions to NGOs like 30% Christosall.

“What we saw is a massive amount of power in the hands of (Bukere’s) hands,” Juan Papia, deputy director of Latin America at Human Rights Watch, said of Bukere’s six years of power. Bukele’s rules are “based on the dismantling of democracy checks and balances and increasing efforts to silence and intimidate critics.”

With the reductions in gang-related crime in El Salvador, Bukkel has become popular in the Central American country, and he was re-elected last year with a landslide victory, despite last year’s constitution banning those standing in a second term. (Bukere’s allies in Parliament eventually replaced the Supreme Court Supreme Court with a judge willing to interpret his favourable constitution.)

Since March 2022, the country has been under a “state of exception” and has allowed the suspension of many constitutional rights. In San Salvador, many say they feel safe walking around the neighborhood when once considered dangerous. They acknowledge that the country has seen a significant increase in imprisonment and a halt of rights, but Bukere’s supporters believe that the resulting peace and security are worth the trade-off.

Not everyone agrees.

Samuel Ramirez, founder of the administration’s Victim Movement (MOVIR), a human rights group that works with the families of people believed to have been detained without legitimate proceedings, says thousands have been arrested on unfounded suspicions that they are linked to gangs.

Bukele previously admitted that some innocent people were mistakenly taken into custody, but thousands have said they have already been released.

Ramirez and other activists believe that many are so afraid they can’t speak publicly.

“Here, soldiers armed with street teeth, police, even armored trucks on the street are synonyms for war,” he said. “For me, gangs have already been neutralised, and now war is against the people.

Although he presents himself as a leader in law and orders, Bukel has long faced allegations that he negotiated the peaceful security situation in El Salvador through backdoor deals with gangs.

In 2021, the Biden administration denounced the Bucquere administration, which bribed two of El Salvador’s most infamous gangsters, the MS-13 and the Barrio 18, “guaranteed that the number of gang violence and confirmed murders was low.” The alleged payoff included cash, cell phones and prostitutes for the imprisoned capo.

Bukel immediately denied the allegations and called them “obvious lies.”

But four years later, independent newsroom El Faro released an explosive interview with two self-style gang leaders at Barrio 18. He claimed he threatened voters to vote for Buquere during Mayor San Salvador’s 2015 bid in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash.

The two-man gang leaders also claimed that when he became president in 2019, Bukere arranged for El Salvador’s most powerful gang to refrain from unfair murder and terror.

Buquere has not yet publicly responded to their allegations, but he diagonally referenced a report from El Faro in his May 10th post.

The El Faro journalist who broke the story escaped the country before it was published, anticipating an arrest.

“I think Buquel is going to put us in prison. I have no doubt about that. After what he did to Ruth Lopez, Buquele has definitely decided to raise the bar and persecute the most visible critics in El Salvador.”

He said seven of the publication’s journalists face a warrant for reporting on the alleged transaction. Still, he said the newspapers continue their journalistic work. Over the past two years, the publication has carried out most of its operations in exile from Costa Rica.

“If there was any democratic similarity left in El Salvador, it was in independent journalism,” said Noah Brock, executive director of Christosal.

CNN contacted the presidency for comment.

“We are under a dictatorship.”

Last week, Bukel’s government passed a law that taxes foreign contributions to NGOs at 30%.

He had proposed a similar law in 2021, but did not pass. In any case, Bullock says it is irrelevant whether the law has been proposed, passed or represented in El Salvador.

Gracia Grande, the programme officer for the Salvadran branch of the Dutch Institute for Multiparty Democracy, told CNN that the law is an existential threat to the work of her NGOs.

She said the law would make it impossible for them to continue working. I’ll give you 3 months to renew my registration as an NGO, but I don’t know how the process will work.

The assessment of Grande’s situation is not clear. “Now we can be very openly told that we are under a dictatorship.”

Despite growing anger from rights groups, Bukel’s punishment system has earned him a fan.

US President Donald Trump praised the crackdown and cut his deal with Bukere. Buquer, along with thousands of detained Salvadorans, agreed to hold hundreds of boring Venezuelans in El Salvador’s terrorist confinement centres.

Megaprison, known as CECOT, is considered the largest prison in the Americas and is well-known in the Spartan situation where rights groups accuse them of being inhumane.

“I think what’s going on here is a kind of lab about what happens in other countries,” warned NGO Worker Grande. “Even in the US.”

At Trump’s April meeting with Bukkele in the White House, Bukkele proposed that the US president follow his lead on a massive detention.

“President, you have 350 million people to free,” Bukere said of the US population. “But to free 350 million people, you have to be jailed. You know, that works, right?”

Seoul, Korea
CNN
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After six months of political turmoil, uncertainty and division, South Korea will vote for a new president to replace Yoon Sook Yeol, a dishonest former leader who plunged the democratic state into chaos by declaring martial law in December.

I feel this election is particularly important. A US ally and an Asian economic and cultural powerhouse, the country was amazed for months at the revolving door of the interim leader, navigating the multifaceted investigation of Yoon’s bluffing each trial and his short-lived power grab.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s economy is suffering, with President Donald Trump’s trade war and a potential global recession coming from the backdrop. The two men are committed to helping the country recover if elected. A legal case in which lawyers survived an attempted assassination became politicians, and former anti-establishment activists became conservative ministers.

The vote will be held Tuesday morning and the winner may be declared by Wednesday.

This is what you need to know.

Who is the main candidate?

The frontrunner is Lee Jae-myung (60), a liberal opposition Democratic Party.

Lee, a former minor factory worker in a poor family, became a human rights lawyer before entering politics. He is a former mayor and governor, and most recently served as a lawmaker after a slight defeat to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election.

He survived an assassination attempt in January 2024 when a man stabbed him in the neck during a public event.

He made the headline again on December 3, 2024. At night, Yoon declared martial law and sent his troops to Congress. Lee rushed to Congress and was one of the lawmakers who pushed past soldiers to vote in an emergency to lift martial law. He streamed live across the fence to enter the building on a viral video that was viewed tens of millions of times.

In the campaign trajectory, Lee has amended the constitution that promises political and economic reforms, including more control over the president’s ability to declare martial law, allowing two years of presidential terms rather than the current five-year term.

He emphasizes easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula while retaining its long-standing goal of denuclearizing North Korea. He also supports small and medium-sized businesses to boost their growth in the AI ​​industry.

However, Lee is also unhappy with legal cases, including several ongoing trials for alleged bribery and accusations related to property development scandals.

Separately, he was found guilty of violating election law in another ongoing case sent to the Court of Appeal.

Lee denies all charges against him. Speaking to CNN in December, he allegedly had been charged with various charges “without evidence or basis,” claiming the allegations were politically motivated.

Lee’s main rival is Kim Moons from the Conservative Power Party (PPP).

When Yoon left the party in May, he urged supporters to support Kim, a former 73-year-old labor minister who was a prominent university labor activist, and was expelled and imprisoned for protest. He eventually joined the Conservative Party and after several party civil wars he stepped into nominations.

The PPP first selected Kim as the candidate. He then dropped him and instead focused on former prime minister Han Dak Thor. The party finally chose Kim after submitting legal assignments.

However, the PPP remained deeply divided, and the candidate kicked out Lee in the pre-election vote. In a post-nomination statement, Kim vowed to build a “big tent” coalition in search of unity to take on Lee, according to Reuters.

Kim also pledged to reform the country’s political, judicial and election management systems to rebuild public trust. His campaign emphasized making South Korea business-friendly by easing tax cuts and restrictions and promoting new technologies and nuclear energy.

Several third parties and independent candidates are also running for the presidency. They include Lee Jun-Seok, a former PPP leader who founded his own conservative new reform party last year.

At the forefront of voters’ minds is the country’s fiery economy and the increased cost of living. Youth unemployment rates have skyrocketed, consumption has declined, and the economy has unexpectedly signed contracts in the first quarter of this year.

Part of that comes from Trump’s trade war. This is a major blow to South Korea’s export-dependent economy. South Korea’s exports to the US fell sharply in the first few weeks of April after tariffs began, with the country’s biggest airline warning that the slump could cost up to $100 million a year.

Officials from both countries met for a tariff talks, but political turmoil at home is likely to slow progress and hinder trade deals until a new South Korean president is elected.

So, both key candidates are focused on the economy, committing to stabilizing the cost of their products and improving housing, education and job opportunities.

But there are also many other issues that the next president needs to tackle. For example, it represents an emergency demographic crisis seen in other countries such as Japan and China, such as the country’s rapidly aging society and fertility rates. Among the general complaints of young couples and singles, the costs of parenting, gender inequality and discrimination against working parents are high.

After that, there is local tension. There is an ever-present threat from North Korea. It is rapidly modernizing the military, developing new weapons, and testing intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach almost anywhere in the United States. Experts have warned in recent years that the country may be preparing to resume nuclear tests, and it was suspended in 2018.

China is crossing the yellow sea, and South Korea has strong trade relations, but historically it has diplomatic relations.

South Korea also maintains a close security alliance with the United States, hosting around 30,000 American troops within the country. In recent years, South Korea, Japan and the US have been more closely attracted and working to counter China’s influence in the strategically important Asia-Pacific region.

After Congress voted to fire him each last year, Yoon took office in April months after the legal battle.

It was an incredible collapse from the bounty of becoming a former prosecutor and a politician. The politician became prominent due to his role in another president’s ammo each.

Soon after that, Yoon moved from the president’s residency to an apartment in the capital Seoul. However, his legal battle is ongoing. He faces charges such as insurrection, crimes punished by imprisonment of life or death (although South Korea has not enforced it for decades). Yoon denied all charges against him.

Istanbul
AP
–

Turkish authorities on Saturday escalated the crackdown on opposition-run Istanbul municipality on suspicion of corruption and detained 30 people.

Holdings include the People’s Party, a major opposition Republican Party, or former CHP lawmakers, and mayors of three CHP-run districts in Istanbul.

The state-run Anadoru agency reported that the detention was part of four separate corruption investigations, including the Istanbul metropolitan municipality.

Saturday’s detention is the fifth wave of legal crackdown on the Istanbul regime since March 19, when Mayor Ekrem Imamoguru was arrested on corruption charges.

Imamogul’s arrest is considered the most viable challenger to President Recept Tayp Erdogan’s 22-year rule, sparking widespread demonstrations calling for his release to end Turkey’s democratic reversal under Erdogan.

Opposition parties and their supporters have argued for his arrest, and the subsequent arrests of dozens of more have been politically motivated by the CHP.

“This time the coup didn’t come with boots or tanks, but it did have the prosecutor’s robe,” CHP chairman Ozgur Ozel told a crowd of supporters in the northwestern city of Duzce on Saturday.

However, the government argues that Turkish judiciary is independent and has no political influence.

The second crackdown on local and districts operated by CHP occurred in late April, with the third and fourth waves in late May, resulting in dozens of detention.