May 9 2025

China Reroutes Trade: Exports to U.S. Down 21% Amid Tariff War, Overall Growth Resilient as New Partners Emerge

White House Eyes Return to 39.6% Top Tax Rate to Fund Cuts, Counter Critics

From Floppy Disks to Fiber Optics: Transportation Sec. Vows New Air Traffic Control System in 3-4 Years

Attacks Intensify as India-Pakistan Hostilities Escalate, Reports of Fighting Deep Within Both Nations

Cardinal Prevost of Chicago Becomes Pope Leo XIV

BONUS: Amid War, Putin Welcomes Xi, Lula, Others, Signaling Alliance Strength

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China Reroutes Trade: Exports to U.S. Down 21% Amid Tariff War, Overall Growth Resilient as New Partners Emerge

China said exports to the U.S. plunged in April, as the Trump administration’s tariff assault forced the world’s second-largest economy to redirect more of its goods to Southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa. Overall, China said its export growth demonstrated surprising resilience last month, with the headline figure showing exports rising 8.1% in dollar-denominated terms in April from a year earlier. But beneath that rosy number was a marked shift in the composition of outbound shipments from China, which has spent the past three decades building up its status as the world’s factory floor. Chinese shipment of goods to the U.S. dropped 21% in April from a year earlier, while exports to the bloc of Southeast Asian nations known as Asean surged 21%, according to official trade figures released Friday by China’s General Administration of Customs. Exports to Latin America jumped 17%, while shipments to Africa soared 25%, the data showed. Chinese exports to the European Union rose 8.3%. U.S. and Chinese officials are set to meet in Switzerland this weekend to talk, potentially paving the way for broader trade negotiations. Last year, exports made up roughly one-third of China’s GDP growth

Editors note: not mentioned by the WSJ article, are these official numbers trustworthy?

WSJ

White House Eyes Return to 39.6% Top Tax Rate to Fund Cuts, Counter Critics

WASHINGTON—Fifteen days after taking a marginal tax-rate increase off the table, President Trump put it back in play. The president, who rejected a “millionaire tax” April 23, is now considering backing a tax structure that would return the top individual income-tax rate to 39.6% from 37% for people making over $2.5 million, according to people familiar with White House discussions. The move could create breathing room as Republicans struggle to squeeze Trump’s tax cuts into a fiscal bill they are trying to unveil in the next few days and push through the House this month. The higher the top tax rate goes, the easier it could be for Republicans to avoid deep Medicaid cuts and reduce other taxes. It could also help counter Democrats’ charges that the GOP wants to cut the social safety net to pay for tax reductions for the rich. The higher rate would raise about $59.3 billion over a decade, according to the Tax Foundation. It would affect 150,000 to 200,000 households.

WSJ

From Floppy Disks to Fiber Optics: Transportation Sec. Vows New Air Traffic Control System in 3-4 Years

Plans for a new air traffic control system were announced Thursday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy amid a spotlight on the out-of-date ATC system and the air traffic controller shortage. The Transportation Department said in a statement the current ATC system is "antiquated" and said the new "state-of-the-art" system will improve safety and cut back on delays. Changes include swapping out old telecommunications for "new fiber, wireless and satellite technologies"; "installing new modern hardware and software"; replacing 618 old radars; and building six new air traffic control centers and replacing towers, the Transportation Department said. Duffy stressed the old equipment in the current ATC system, noting how air traffic controllers still use floppy disks. "We shop on eBay to replace parts, to fix our equipment in the system that keeps you safe, keeps your family safe," he said at a news conference, calling it "100% unacceptable." Duffy said he hopes to have the system built in the next three to four years. Duffy didn’t ballpark a price tag, simply saying it will cost "billions." Duffy said he will ask for the full amount up-front from Congress, which has previously signaled support over calls for the modernization of ATC systems.

ABCNews

Attacks Intensify as India-Pakistan Hostilities Escalate, Reports of Fighting Deep Within Both Nations

India and Pakistan were engaged on Friday in their most expansive military conflict in decades, with widespread accounts of attacks within each country well beyond their disputed Kashmir border. The conflict has rapidly escalated since airstrikes by India hit targets in Pakistan and the Pakistani-controlled side of Kashmir on Wednesday morning. Despite international diplomatic concern, the combat has widened and intensified: There were reports of nonstop fighting and barrages along the border overnight into Friday, and reports of attacks by Pakistan into the Indian city of Jammu, part of the territory of Kashmir.

NYTimes

Cardinal Prevost of Chicago Becomes Pope Leo XIV

VATICAN CITY—The Roman Catholic Church elected the first American pope in its history, placing its 1.4 billion faithful in the hands of a missionary-turned-Vatican prelate who has been critical of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old native of Chicago, emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and was introduced to the world as Pope Leo XIV. A throng of more than 100,000 pilgrims, tourists and ordinary Romans filling the square below reacted with surprise at the election of a pope from the U.S.—an event long considered unthinkable. Delivering his first Urbi et Orbi address to “the city and the world,” Leo positioned himself as a unifying figure for a world beset by conflicts and for the Catholic Church, riven by years of ideological tensions between its progressive and conservative wings.

WSJ

BONUS: Amid War, Putin Welcomes Xi, Lula, Others, Signaling Alliance Strength

MOSCOW - As Russian tanks, missiles and drones rumbled through Red Square Friday for the annual Victory Day parade celebrating the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II, President Vladimir Putin was joined by at least two dozen world leaders, marking a victory of his own as a leader the West has sought to isolate. After some subdued Victory Day celebrations in past years with few tanks and almost no visiting leaders, Russia for this year’s 80th anniversary has welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the leaders of Slovakia, Serbia, Egypt, Vietnam, Venezuela and others from what Moscow calls “friendly countries” to its most solemn and emotional holiday. In the intense propaganda blitz for Victory Day, Putin is projecting himself as a confident, global leader on course to defeat Ukraine, with the alliance between the United States and Europe fraying, Ukraine’s forces under pressure and negotiations to end the war largely on Russia’s terms.

Washington Post

May 9, 1960: FDA approves “the pill”

The invention of hormonal birth control stands as one of the most transformative scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, fundamentally altering human reproduction patterns and societal structures. Before contraception was widely available, the average American woman had approximately 3.5 children in the 1950s; by 2020, this figure had dropped to 1.7 children per woman—a 51% decrease and well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. This replacement rate represents the average number of children each woman needs to have to maintain a stable population. Birth control directly empowered women to pursue education and careers, contributing to female workforce participation rising from 34% in 1950 to over 57% by 2019. However, the remarkable success of contraception has contributed to the looming specter of depopulation in many developed nations, with over 60 countries now facing fertility rates below replacement levels. Japan, for instance, lost nearly 450,000 people in 2022 alone. These demographic shifts present unprecedented economic challenges, including labor shortages, pension system strains, and decreasing consumer bases, even as they've prevented an estimated 400 million unintended pregnancies worldwide between 1990 and 2020.

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Sources

1. https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/chinas-export-growth-remained-resilient-in-april-00bf93a6?mod=hp_lead_pos1
2. https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-millionaire-tax-plan-individual-rates-d620fe0e?mod=hp_lead_pos6
3. https://abcnews.go.com/US/plans-new-air-traffic-control-system-unveiled-transportation/story?id=121600117
4. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05/09/world/india-pakistan-kashmir/here-is-the-latest?smid=url-share
5. https://www.wsj.com/world/new-pope-elected-white-smoke-vatican-f9a52ef5
6. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/05/09/russia-victory-day-putin-ukraine/