Semua Kabar

Court suspends Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrives at Government House for a cabinet meeting in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday.Sakchai Lalit/APhide caption

BANGKOK — Thailand's Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office Tuesday pending an ethics investigation over a leaked phone call with a senior Cambodian leader.

The judges voted unanimously Tuesday to take the petition accusing her of a breach of ethics, and voted 7 to 2 to suspend her from duty as a prime minister. The court gave Paetongtarn 15 days to give evidence to support her case.

Paetongtarn has faced growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the latest border dispute with Cambodia, involving an armed confrontation on May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed. The leaked phone call while she engaged in diplomacy over the border dispute set off a string of complaints and public protests.

There was no immediate reaction from Paetongtarm after the court order. She said Monday that she would accept and follow the process although she didn't want to see her work interrupted.

It's expected that Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Jungrungruangkit will become the acting prime minister following Paetongtarn's suspension, although there's still no official confirmation.

Earlier Tuesday, King Maha Vajiralongkorn had endorsed a Cabinet reshuffle forced when a major party left Paetongtarn's coalition government over the leaked phone call.

Protesters gather at Victory Monument demanding Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra resign in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday.Sakchai Lalit/APhide caption

The reshuffle replaced former Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, which had held several Cabinet positions in her government.

Paetongtarn took the position of culture minister in addition to prime minister in the new Cabinet. She said she wanted to promote Thai culture on a global scale. It's unclear if she can take the oath to remain in that role.

Paetongtarn also faces investigations over an alleged breach of ethics by the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, whose decision could also lead to her removal.

The Constitutional Court last year removed her predecessor over a breach of ethics. Thailand's courts, especially the Constitutional Court, are viewed as a bulwark of the royalist establishment, which has used them and nominally independent agencies such as the Election Commission to cripple or sink political opponents.

Outrage over the call mostly revolved around Paetongtarn's comments toward an outspoken regional army commander and her perceived attempts to appease Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen to ease tensions at the border.

Thousands of conservative, nationalist-leaning protesters rallied in central Bangkok on Saturday to demand Paetongtarn's resignation.

Zohran Mamdani on his run for NYC mayor, taxing the rich and tackling hate head-on

When Zohran Mamdani launched his mayoral campaign for New York City last year, many wrote off his chances.

He's a South Asian Muslim Democratic socialist. He faced resistance from his own party's establishment. EvenThe New York Timeseditorial board told voters not to support the 33-year-old.

And even though Mamdani tried hard to keep affordability at the center of his campaign, others tried to define his identity with unsubstantiated claims that he would promote Islamic law, that he supports terrorism and that he's an antisemite.

"There are a lot of concerns based on a caricature of myself," Mamdani said onMorning Edition. "I don't blame New Yorkers for having that caricature because they've had to deal with more than $30 million of spending that paints me in that manner — that smears and slanders me, that artificially lengthens the color and the length of my beard, that calls me a monster."

But for the most part New Yorkers didn't fall for it. Mamdani is now the presumptive Democratic candidate after getting the most votes in the primary last week. He is one step closer to becoming mayor of the nation's largest city.

On Monday, NPR's Leila Fadel sat down with Mamdani in New York City to discuss the lessons his victory holds for his party and how he plans to implement his policies if he becomes mayor despite skepticism about their feasibility.

Mamdani clarified remarks he made on NBC News'Meet the Pressabout billionaires, saying, "I think the better question is whether working people have the right to exist, because what we've seen in this city is that more and more working people are being pushed out."

Asked about his proposals, like free public transit and expanded childcare, he acknowledged that many of his ideas would need state-level support, particularly from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has voiced skepticism and so far has not endorsed him. But he remained optimistic, citing his success in launching New York City's first fare-free bus pilot as evidence that progressive reform is achievable.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Leila Fadel:Let's talk about your policies, because one of the criticisms that your detractors have is that it sounds great to have free childcare and free buses and groceries that you can afford. But a lot of what you're promising is out of the mayor's hand. It's something that will have to happen at the state level. It will have to happen with other actors. So how, how can you actually fulfill any of these promises?

Zohran Mamdani:Any mayor that has an ambition that meets the scale of the crisis of the people that they're seeking to represent will have to work with Albany. And the reason that I put forward this agenda is not only because it's urgent, but because it's feasible. I say that to you as an assembly member who won the first fare free bus pilot in New York City, who saw that in making buses free. It wasn't simply about economic relief. It's also about public safety, the fact that assaults on bus drivers went down by 38.9% through this pilot, the fact that we actually saw an increase in riders who had previously been driving a car or taking a taxi, reducing congestion around those same routes. These are the reasons why we pursue this agenda.

Fadel:The way that you say you're going to pay for these programs is by increasing the corporate taxes on corporations and then also an income tax on anybody who makes over a million dollars, right?

Mamdani:The top 1% of New Yorkers.

Fadel:So again, that's a non-starter for Gov. Kathy Hochul, she said that. So how are you going to pay for it?

Mamdani: I've appreciated my conversations with the governor, and one thing that I really appreciate about our current governor, Kathy Hochul, is she is laser focused on affordability. And what we've seen is that these policies I'm speaking to you about, they are not just policies that people are voting for, incidentally, while they're voting for me, they're voting for this platform.

Fadel:But again, what makes you confident about the coalition building when you're hearing the governor say it's a non-starter, she hasn't also endorsed you yet, as these other leaders within your party have not done?

Mamdani: The experience that I've had. Over this campaign, there was a time when many of the ideas we were putting forward were considered to be distinct to our campaign, and yet, as we built it, more and more candidates started to embrace those same policies, and I am confident of seeing that happen across the political spectrum. Even Andrew Cuomo, in his own transportation plan, said that he wanted to explore making buses free. That was a recognition of the popularity of that as a proposal.

Fadel:You made some waves this weekend when you said that you didn't believe that billionaires had the right to exist. What does that mean?

Mamdani:I was speaking about the stark nature of income inequality in this city and in this country, and ultimately, I think the better question is whether working people have the right to exist, because what we've seen in this city is that more and more working people are being pushed out. The vision that I'm speaking about, it's a vision that I want everyone to enjoy and benefit from, including billionaires. Though my taxes that I'm proposing are ones that would be on the top 1% of New Yorkers, on the most profitable corporations, it's not taxes that will detract from their life. It's, in fact, taxes that will benefit everyone across the city, including those who are being taxed. And ultimately, this is not an interest in taxation in and of itself. It's an interest in finding revenue to pay for something that will transform life in the city.

Fadel:So you weren't proposing that your policies would ultimately lead to a New York with no billionaires?

Mamdani:No, that's not what I was proposing.

Fadel:You are going to have what looks like a tough race in November. You already have people like billionaire Bill Ackman saying he'll give hundreds of millions of dollars to anybody who runs against you.

Mamdani:I think he also said some nice things, nice things about me as well.

Mamdani:I think he said that I was smart, which I appreciated. Thank you, Bill.

Fadel:Well, okay, but he also doesn't want you to be mayor of New York City, you know, and there are other corporations, wealthy New Yorkers, who feel the same way, and there are some people who fear your candidacy. You have support among some Jewish voters, and you have some Jewish voters who are extremely skeptical of you and afraid of your candidacy.

Mamdani: My job is to lead this entire city. My job is to address those very concerns that New Yorkers may have, be it for whatever basis. My commitment is now to have meetings with New Yorkers who may be concerned. Maybe it's, you know, a business leader who is worried about the impact of my tax proposals, and I get to share the fact that these are proposals that will make it easier for them to attract and retain talent. If I can speak with a Jewish New Yorker who's concerned about the issue of antisemitism, and I can share the fact that this is a real crisis that we have to tackle, and one that I'm committed to doing so through increased funding for actually preventing hate crimes across the city, and make it clear time and again that my commitment is to protect Jewish New Yorkers and that I will live up to that commitment through my actions. And that's what these next many months are about.

Fadel:You know, the thing that was very clear in the weeks before and the days after the primary was this barrage of racist, anti-Muslim attacks on you, equating you to a terrorist, saying you're a danger to the safety of Americans, especially Jewish Americans. I'm going to repeat some of the attacks, not because I think they're okay to say, but I want listeners to understand what's being said. And it's not just from the right wing and Republicans in office. It's also from other influential figures. Deborah Messing ofWill & Graceposted online that you sided with terrorists and you celebrated 9/11. You were nine when that happened. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace posted a picture of you in your Eid outfit and wrote, "After 9/11 we said, "Never Forget." I think we sadly have forgotten." Republican Rep. Andy Ogles called you "little Muhammad," and said you need to be deported, and is calling for your denaturalization. Were you prepared for this level of bigotry?

Mamdani:It's unsurprising, and yet it's still deeply saddening. As many Muslims in this country know, to exist in public life is to have to deal with this kind of slander at a different scale, and it's part of why so many have thought that the safest place to live is in the shadows, and so much of my hope for this campaign was to bring the margins of our city into the mainstream. It's been very difficult to see just how much of this hatred has been normalized. And as you've said, it's, it's not just Republican Congress people. It's an actress from a show that I used to watch as a kid. I think that ultimately my responsibility is to show that our vision for this city, it's a vision that is universal. It's a vision that wants to recognize the belonging of each and every New Yorker, and it's in stark contrast to this exclusionary vision that we see from so many, one that seeks to distract people from an inability to take care of working people by designating the enemies as the other. One of the most difficult parts of this, however, have been that the threats that have been made on my life and on people that I love are ones that fundamentally transform how you can live.

Fadel:And so it's changed how you can live?

Mamdani:It has. The fact that I now have to have security at all times. It's a different way of engaging with the world. But my responsibility is to showcase that this is but a drop in the bucket of how people actually feel in the city. Just a few days after I received a number of death threats and someone who said that he was going to blow up my car, which was news to me, because I don't own a car. I walked the length of Manhattan to speak to New Yorkers. And I did it because I think, though, the way that we defeat this bigotry is by showcasing just how small of a minority it actually represents.

The digital version of this interview was edited and produced by Majd Al-Waheidi. Video edited by Courtney Theophin and Nick Michael.

Poll: Most feel democracy is threatened and political violence is a major problem

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Imageshide caption

Ahead of the July Fourth holiday and the country's 249th birthday, three-quarters of Americans say democracy is under serious threat, according to a newNPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

Nearly three-quarters also see politically motivated violence as a major problem.

The findings come at a time of great political volatility. In the midst of Donald Trump's second term as president, the country is polarized and sharply divided.

The U.S. is grappling with what it means to be American, who is essential to its story, who belongs, who doesn't and which direction the country should take — all while Americans are expressing very little faith in its political leadership, the survey finds.

Marist interviewed 1,381 adults from June 23-25. Respondents were reached via text message or online. The survey was available in both English and Spanish. The poll has a +/- 2.9 percentage point margin of error. The survey was weighted to reflect the demographic breakdowns in the U.S. Census.

The overwhelming majority of respondents — 76% — said democracy is under serious threat. That's statistically unchanged from April of this year, but down significantly from August of 2023 when 87% overall said there was a serious threat to democracy.

Republicans are largely responsible for the decline, going from 88% saying there was a serious threat — while Democrat Joe Biden was president — to 57% now.

In this most recent poll, 89% of Democrats, 80% of independents and 57% of Republicans said there is a serious threat to the future of democracy. Respondents did not specify what they see as constituting that threat, and Democrats and Republicans likely have very different reasons for saying so.

There was no meaningful difference by race, income or education, but those who most see democracy under serious threat were people who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris and white women, regardless of college education — 85% of white women with degrees and 81% of white women without them said the threat was serious, compared to 70% of white men with degrees and 67% of white men without them.

Here, too, a significant majority — 73% — said they see politically motivated violence as a major problem.

While there was little difference by political party, there was some division by race and age. While majorities of Latinos, Black voters and younger voters saw politically motivated violence as a major problem, they were more than 10 points less likely to say so than whites and older voters.

Here, again white women with college degrees (83%) were the most likely to say it's a major problem, followed closely by those 60 and older (81%), as well as white women without degrees (80%).

Whether it's Trump, congressional Republicans or congressional Democrats, respondents do not have much confidence in their elected leaders.

Overall, Trump gets just a 43% job approval. His handling of immigration mirrors his overall rating, and people have even less faith in his handling of foreign policy (41%) or the economy (39%).

As for the parties themselves, just 35% approve of the job congressional Republicans are doing — and that's the highest Marist has recorded ever since it started asking the question back in 2011.

As for congressional Democrats, just 27% approve of them, their lowest score in seven years.

The glaring difference between the parties' ratings is how people in their own parties see them. While 73% of Republicans approve of congressional Republicans, just 44% of Democrats approve of congressional Democrats.

Notably, there's no generational divide. In fact, the older Democrats were in this survey, the more likely they were to disapprove of congressional Democrats.

Almost two-thirds said America's openness to people from all over the world is essential to what the country is.

But Republicans diverged sharply from Democrats and independents on that question. While 85% of Democrats and 68% of independents agreed, 62% of Republicans said if America is too open to people from all over the world, it risks losing its identity as a nation.

Trump's deportation policies mirrored his overall approval on immigration — 43% said the administration's policies are making the country safer, 33% said less safe and another quarter said they're not really having an impact either way.

When digging into who should stay and who should go, there was broad support for deporting people convicted of crimes who are in the country without authorization, less support for deporting agricultural and food industry workers, and a divide over those in the country on expired student visas.

Republicans, though, are heavily in favor of deporting all of them.

As for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a majority (54%) think it has gone too far in enforcing immigration laws. About a quarter said ICE is doing about right, while almost 1 in 5 think it hasn't gone far enough.

More than 4 in 5 said presidents should follow court orders even if he or she doesn't like them. That includes 70% of Republicans, but only 22% of Republicans strongly agree with that statement.

Respondents split down the middle — 50%-50% — on whether they agree or disagree with the U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Three-quarters of Democrats and 54% of independents disagree, while a sweeping majority of Republicans (84%) agree.

The attacks are very polarizing, likely reflecting views of Trump himself: 53% of Republicans strongly agree with the attacks, while 46% of Democrats strongly disagree. (As noted above, Trump has a 43% approval rating — another 43% strongly disapprove of the job he's doing.)

Forty-eight percent of respondents said Iran is a major threat to the security of the United States, as opposed to 39% who said it posed a minor threat. Just 13% said it is no threat at all.

Gen Z and millennials were most likely to say it represents no threat — roughly 1 in 5 said so.

Three-quarters of people said they're concerned about retaliation. Trump voters were the most likely to say they were not concerned about it (38%).

Mail-in voting rates dropped but early in-person voting is a hit, federal report shows

In this file photo, election workers prepare mail-in ballots for tallying at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center on the eve of Election Day, November 4, 2024, in City of Industry, California.Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Imageshide caption

Fewer Americans cast their ballots by mail during last year's election, while more voters embraced casting their ballots in-person before Election Day.

New datafrom the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found that the 2020 presidential election remains a high-water mark for vote by mail usage in a nationwide election.

According to a national survey of local and state election officials that the agency conducts after every major election, "mail voting comprised 30.3% of the turnout for the 2024 election," which is a decrease compared to the 2020 election when mail ballots comprised 43% of turnout.

The commission, however, noted that the share of mail voting last year is still "larger than the percentage of the electorate that voted by mail in pre-pandemic elections." Turnout has also stayed above pre-pandemic levels. During the 2024 election, nearly 65% of the citizen voting age population participated in the general election, which is the second highest turnout in the last five presidential elections.

In this file photo, voters head into a polling location to cast their ballots on the last day of early voting for the 2024 election on November 1, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. A new federal report shows early in-person voting increased from 2020 to 2024.Megan Varner/Getty Imageshide caption

The EAC found that in-person voting started to see "a resurgence" in 2022, while mail voting saw a corresponding decrease that year.

"For the 2024 general election, more than two thirds of voters cast their ballots in person either before or on Election Day," the report found. "Approximately three in 10 voters cast their ballots by mail."

Commissioner Donald Palmer told NPR that voters often "have their own preferences" when it comes to methods of casting a ballot, but that can change over time if other methods become available to them.

"And so election officials, what we take away from that is that we need to be prepared and be ready to facilitate different forms of voting," he said.

There are several reasons experts expected that vote by mail was unlikely to be as popular as it was during the pandemic. For one, many states expanded vote by mail for health and safety reasons during the 2020 election, but some reverted back to more limited programs ahead of the 2024 election.

Also, in the wake of the 2020 election, President Trump and Republican lawmakers across the country alsospread misinformationaimed at discrediting voting by mail, which eventually led to a slew of laws being passed in recent years that create new limits on this method of voting.

Republicans did embrace mail-in ballots in the 2024 election, encouraging voters to "Bank Your Vote" by getting it in early, in contrast to previous elections.

Despite efforts to limit voting by mail in some states, overall access to the ballot for most Americanshas expandedsince 2020.

One of the methods of voting that has become more popular in recent years is in-person early voting. During the last presidential election, more than 158 million ballots were cast and counted and the majority of those ballots were cast in-person — 35.2% of those votes were cast before Election Day and 37.4% on Election Day.

According to the EAC, "for the first time, all states reported offering some form of in-person voting before Election Day."

Palmer said he thinks early in-person voting is one of the most convenient voting options for many Americans.

"It really is convenient to take one of those days in the lead up to Election Day and vote early, particularly if you have to travel or if you've got to be away or you're working," he said. "So I actually think it's just time to take advantage of the convenient voting."

Palmer said there were a lot of bright spots in the report – particularly on the security side of voting. At this point, about 98% of voting jurisdictions have a paper trail for their voting systems. Also, the nationwide rejection rate of mail ballots was only 1.2%, which has remained consistently low in recent years.

In this file photo, a poll worker rolls up stickers while working inside a FEMA tent used as a voting site on November 5, 2024 in Morganton, North Carolina.Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Imageshide caption

One area where there is still work to be done, Palmer said, is in recruiting "the next generation of poll workers." The aging workforce of poll workers has been an ongoing issue in elections. According to the EAC, the primary demographic working at polling sites are between the ages of 61 and 70.

Because of the pandemic, younger demographics helped out during the 2020 election. But this reverted a bit, Palmer said, during the last election.

"It's going to be a challenge for us as a community to continue to recruit those individuals that really are the backbone of the election," he said. "So we really need the new generation. I guess Gen X needs to step up and start to fill some of these roles as the more elderly population retire or turn over the keys to the folks in the office."

Doctors don’t get much menopause training. State lawmakers are trying to change that

California Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan introduced a bill in the current legislative session to mandate menopause education for doctors in the state.Rich Pedroncelli/APhide caption

Former middle school teacher Lorraine Carter Salazar isn't easily embarrassed. But when she began having hot flashes at school about a decade ago, she worried about how she came off to coworkers, students and parents.

"It doesn't convey competence," said Carter Salazar, 62. She recounted how parents could tell she was uncomfortable in meetings. One time, a student even fanned her and remarked that she was used to seeing her grandma feeling the same way.

When she took her concerns to her doctor, he didn't take them seriously.

"So you sweat," Carter Salazar recalled him saying. "And he's right. Nobody dies from sweating."

People experiencing perimenopause and menopause symptoms —which can range fromhot flashes and night sweats to mood changes, decreased libido and cognitive issues — often complain of unresponsive doctors and inconsistent care. Symptoms can impact quality of life in the moment, and long-term health.

Many doctors are ill-equipped to handle these conversations.

Lorraine Carter Salazar (right) works on a knitting project at a craft group she attends weekly at a Sacramento library branch.Megan Myscofski/CapRadiohide caption

A needs assessment publishedin the medical journalMenopausein 2023 showed just under a third of the residency programs in obstetrics and gynecology it surveyed offered training on menopause, even though half of the population experiences it.

That's led lawmakers in California and nationally to try to intervene.

In California, legislators introduced two bills this legislative session on menopause education for doctors.Assembly Bill 360, which would have required a state agency to look into education gaps and how to fill them, was tabled last month. ButAssembly Bill 432, which would require menopause coursework for doctors to renew their licenses — if at least 25% of their patients are women under 65 — is still moving through the legislature.

"It reflects my own experience having to go to three doctors before a doctor could adequately have a conversation with me about menopause," said Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, who introduced the measure.

She says when she was going through menopause, her brain fog became so intense that she worried she might have early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.

And California's efforts are part of a national trend.

"Thirteen states, including California, have introduced a total of 21 bills [related to menopause] this legislative session, which is pretty stunning actually for an issue that really wasn't on any legislator's radar, certainly three years ago," said Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, who runs the Birnbaum Women's Leadership Center at New York University andtracks menopause bills.

Several of those bills also touch on doctor education. In New Jersey, for example,one bill would allowproviders to use continuing education credits towards their license renewal.ArizonaandMassachusettsintroduced bills this year to provide more information on menopause to providers and patients.

In recent years,IllinoisandLouisianahave started to mandate insurance coverage for some menopause treatments.

Training is available for doctors who want it – and treatments are available for people who need them.

"There's no reason that somebody should suffer with those symptoms," said Dr. Monica Christmas from the University of Chicago. She runs the menopause program at the Center for Women's Integrated Health.

Christmas, who has practiced gynecology for over 20 years, fell into the speciality because her colleagues kept sending her their menopausal patients.

"I didn't know the answers, but I listened," she said.

After hearing their concerns, she researched their symptoms before coming back with treatment ideas. They, in turn, told their friends at work, over coffee, and while waiting for the train about the doctor who took them seriously.

"And so very quickly, I got super busy," she said.

Christmas said the training a school offers on menopause usually depends on how well-resourced it is. Since few schools have a robust program, many physicians also seek out information and training elsewhere.

Christmas also works forThe Menopause Society— a national organization that provides training for doctors on how to treat women at this stage of life.

Christmas said it's imperative that doctors know how to work with lots of different people — because symptoms vary, and so do people's tolerance levels and trust in the medical system.

"Black women like myself were very reluctant to take anything for the symptoms that they were experiencing," she said. She never understood why, and heard myriad reasons when she asked. Some patients explained that menopause is simply a natural process meant to be endured. "Yet, I could see in front of me them having hot flashes in the conversation."

Kim Robinson, with the advocacy organization Black Women for Wellness, said Black women have tonavigate discriminationon top of seeking helpful information from health care providers.

She added that doctors should be better versed in how Black women experience this time of life differently from other women.

For instance, Black women often experience fibroids, or benign growths in the uterus, at higher rates than white women, according to arecent studyin the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

As they reach menopause, Robinson saidmany doctors suggest Black women get hysterectomy, which is the removal of the uterus, without fully explaining the risks or alternatives.According to the Mayo Clinic, several alternatives exist, such as hormone regulation, but nearly 60% of women who receive a hysterectomy are offered other treatment first.

"It's not just this one invasive thing, remove your parts and the problem is solved," she said of the procedure.

Robinson knows from experience. When her doctor suggested she get a hysterectomy, she knew to push back and ask questions, eventually finding a less-invasive alternative.

But, she said, the burden shouldn't be on patients to advocate for themselves. Doctors, she said, should get more training and education on symptoms and treatments.

In California, the measure that would require doctors to study menopause builds off a bill that DemocraticGovernor Gavin Newsom vetoedlast year. In his veto message, Newsom said the bill was "too far-reaching" because it would have required health insurance plans to cover expensive and non-FDA-approved treatments.

However, Newsom encouraged lawmakers to "continue to work towards a more tailored solution that can improve access to perimenopause and menopause care, inform patients of their options, and encourage providers to stay informed of the latest clinical care recommendations," he wrote.

But Bauer-Kahan, the assemblymember, kept the provisions that Newsom cited as a problem. However, she added education requirements, when last year's bill strictly focused on insurance.

"We've doubled down," she said. "I think one of the things I learned last year through the hearings we held on menopause and this work is how little is understood about menopause."

Newsom's office declined to comment on the measure.

Opposition within the medical field is also an obstacle.

Dr. Tanya Spirtos, former president of the California Medical Association, which represents doctors, said the bill is well-intentioned but misguided. Doctors generally know they must stay up to date and informed about the latest treatments, she said.

"We do the reading and the education, as I say, to stay one step ahead of our patients," she said.

Spirtos, a gynecologist, also said there are lots of areas — like diabetes or nutrition — where doctors need to stay current, but requiring training in each one would create too much of a burden. She said doctors should decide for themselves what kind of training is most relevant to their practice.

"Every area that touches on bones or brain or heart or vagina or hot flashes has literature available that's really easy for our physicians to get a hold of and educate themselves," she said.

NYU's Weiss-Wolf's says she hopes to see access to good menopause care take off. Her focus on women's health also includes advocating for making tampons and pads more accessible.

"Certainly when I started working on periods, people weren't talking about it in any sort of public and systematic way," she said. "And I would say that 10 years later, that feels different to me."

She thinks something similar is happening now for menopause.

This story is part of a series produced for the USC AnnenbergCenterfor Health Journalism's 2025 California Health Equity Fellowship.

As light pollution increases, West Texas works to protect the world’s largest ‘dark sky reserve’

The night sky looms bright over the facilities of McDonald Observatory after a Star Party in Fort Davis, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Paul Ratje/Paul Ratje for NPRhide caption

DAVIS MOUNTAINS STATE PARK, TEXAS — It's a packed night atMcDonald Observatory, where dozens of people are crowding around high-powered telescopes as a thunderstorm rolls off to the east.

Locals and visitors from around the country come here to experience a vanishing and free natural resource: some of the darkest nighttime skiesin the world.

From the observatory's perch high up in the Davis Mountains of Far West Texas–some 6,800 hundred feet above sea level–you can see just how far the desert floor stretches out and the nighttime sky almost feels within reach. Under tonight's starry shroud, couples embrace, heads tilting toward the sky and children skip from telescope to telescope to catch a glimpse of the celestial show.

"It just feels amazing looking up seeing all these different constellations," said Maya Howitt. The girl is here with her parents, Emma and Cameron Howitt, and the three of them are taking turns looking through a telescope that's pointed at a pair of stars in the 'handle' of the Big Dipper."I just feel like I'm in a dream whenever I look up here."

Ethan Day, a telescope operator, points to the sky while helping attendees look through a telescope during a Star Party at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Paul Ratje/Paul Ratje for NPRhide caption

About75,000 peopleattend the observatory's "star-parties" throughout the year and take in the region's famously dark skies.

"It makes me feel kind of small – not insignificant, but small, just part of this whole cosmos that we live in," said Cameron Howitt.

Recent researchshows the night sky in North America is getting brighter every year – on average, researchers say, you can see about 10 percent fewer stars than the year before. Butthe Big Bend area in Texas has fended off the light glow that washes out starry nights.

A storm cloud rolls in over the hills near McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Paul Ratje/Paul Ratje for NPRhide caption

Over the last several years, astronomers and conservationists in the region haveworked with cities and counties on lighting ordinancesto reduce light pollution. They have also convinced oil and gas operators in the nearby Permian Basin–a major source of light pollution–to also take updark-sky friendly lightingat drilling rigs and gas plants.

In spring 2022, this regionwas designatedas "dark sky reserve," meaning it's an area where not only is the sky dark, but there are policies in place to help preserve the nighttime sky.

And the reserve here, dubbedthe Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve, is thelargest of its kindin the world. The reserve is a15,000 square milestretch over the entire Big Bend area and a ribbon of northern Mexico – an area larger than Massachusetts.

"We're protecting an entire sky shed," saidStephen Hummel, the dark skies coordinator at McDonald Observatory, which is managed by the University of Texas. "You can stand in the middle, and everywhere as far as you can see along the horizon is still part of the Dark Sky reserve."

Hummel says the reason why it's important for the observatory to preserve the nighttime sky is pretty straightforward: you can't study the stars if you can't see them.

Rachel Gean, a summer intern, shows attendees the M13 Globular Cluster during a Star Party at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Paul Ratje/Paul Ratje for NPRhide caption

"If we lose the night sky completely, it's like losing a natural history museum's worth of information," said Hummel, who grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area under, what he calls, a "light-polluted sky."

"If we can't preserve the dark skies here that's kind of it. There's really nowhere else we can go on earth now to really be sure we'll have a good view of the night sky."

And that "good view" isn't just a boon to research, but the dark skies are important tothe local economyand crucialto the environmentand wildlife too.

But for all its benefits, protecting the dark sky isn't without its hurdles.

Amber Harrison, with DarkSky International, a non-profit organization based in the U.S., says some people believe having a dark sky means not having any light.

"We are not talking about turning off lighting," says Harrison, who lives in one of the darkest pockets of the reserve. "Lighting is not a bad thing, it's the way that we use it."

That means out here, you'll seeamber-tinted lights and hooded fixtures that keep light on the ground– which, along withother efforts,go a long way in maintaining the darkness of the night sky.

At a star party in Alpine, Texas, local musicians belt out songs as eager stargazers, like Jodie Kramer, spread blankets over the crunchy desert grass.

The Hobby Eberly Telescope stands atop a hill before the beginning of a Star Party at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Paul Ratje/Paul Ratje for NPRhide caption

The iconic Marfa water tower and other buildings poke above the horizon in Marfa, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Paul Ratje/Paul Ratje for NPRhide caption

This region, from Alpine and Fort Davis to Marfa and Terlingua, takes pride in its designation as a dark sky reserve. The courthouse in Alpine is lined with fixtures that mitigates light pollution, murals off that city's main thoroughfare depict wildlife resting in the comfort of a dark sky. In Marfa, people can check out a telescope from the public library, and it's not uncommon for people here to drive out on rural country roads to do their own stargazing.

"The dark sky is just something that just not everybody gets to experience," said Jodie Kramer, who's been to "multiple star parties."

The region's starry skies is what attracted Kramer and her husband, Alan, to this remote area.

The two are from the Houston area, where Jodie Kramer says "you hardly get to see the stars."

After a vacation to the Big Bend, they fell in love with the area, and now they can regularly see celestial wonders like the Milky Way from their home's front yard in Fort Davis.

"We came out here because it's our happy place, there's something magical about it," said Jodie Kramer.

"I mean there's nothing like it."

The McDonald Geodetic Observatory, a radio telescope, points into the night sky after the end of a Star Party at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Paul Ratje/Paul Ratje for NPRhide caption

Most Americans feel democracy is theatened, poll shows. And, Mamdani speaks with NPR

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter.Subscribehere to get it delivered to your inbox, andlistento the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll reveals that 76% of Americans believe democracy is facing a serious threat.That percentage includes 89% of Democrats, 80% of Independents and 57% of Republicans. Additionally, 73% viewpolitically motivated violence as a significant issue. These findings emerge during President Trump's second term, when the U.S. is notably polarized.

The U.S. Capitol is seen on May 20 in Washington, D.C.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Imageshide caption

Senate Republicans aim to pass Trump's significant tax and spending bill later today.However, they first need to address a series of amendment votes from both parties, which are currently ongoing after a lengthy overnight session. Democrats oppose the plan's passage, and Republicans face internal divisions as they work to get the bill on Trump's desk by Friday.

The U.S. Agency for International Development officially shuts down and merges its remaining operations with the State Department today.A new study inThe Lancetestimates that it has saved over 90 million lives in the past two decades. When the Trump administration took office at the beginning of 2025, one of its first major moves was dismantling USAID.

Zohran Mamdani launched his mayoral campaign for New York City last year with odds stacked against him as he faced resistance from his own party's establishment. He tried hard to keep affordability the focal point of his campaign, but encountered attempts from others to misrepresent his identity. Unfounded claims were made suggesting he would promote Islamic law, while some accused him of supporting terrorism and being antisemitic. For the most part, New Yorkers didn't fall for these attacks. Mamdani is now the presumptive Democratic candidate after receiving the most votes in the primary last week.Morning Editionhost Leila Fadel sits down with Mamdani to discuss what his victory means for his party and how he plans to implement his policies if he becomes mayor, despite skepticism about their feasibility.Listen to the interviewor read more about him andwatch a video of the interview here.

Living Better is aspecial seriesabout what it takes to stay healthy in America.

Cancer survivors and advocates say that all too often, even well-intentioned people get the fundamentals wrong when they share their bad news. What is worse is when people disappear without a word. The phenomenon is so common that many cancer patients call it "cancer ghosting." This often occurs because people may be unsure of how to respond. But the silence can be even more painful than the treatments themselves, several cancer survivors tell NPR. Here'sadvice for what to do and say— and what not to say — when a loved one faces cancer.

Bobby Vylan of Bob Vylan crowdsurfs in front of the West Holts stage during day four of Glastonbury festival 2025 on June 28 in Glastonbury, England.Leon Neal/Getty Imageshide caption

This newsletter was edited bySuzanne Nuyen.

Is Cheese Giving You Nightmares?

For centuries, folklore and popular wisdom have linked poor eating habits and indigestion to nightmares and restless sleep. InA Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scroogeat first dismissesthe ghosts that torment him as mere dietary disturbances: “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato,” he says to one spectral visitor. “There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!" Earlier, Benjamin Franklinlamented that“[I]ndolence, with full feeding, occasions nightmares and horrors inexpressible; we fall from precipices, are assaulted by wild beasts, murderers, and demons, and experience every variety of distress.” In the early 20th century, cartoonist Winsor McCay made his name with his “Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend” series, in which his protagonists suffer bizarre dreams and nightmares which they attributed to eating Welsh rarebit—a delicacy of spiced cheese on toast.

A modest body of contemporary research has sought to explore the link between food and nightmares more empirically. The latest is a newstudypublished in the journalFrontiers in Psychology—finding that if you want to get your z’s, you’d best limit the cheese.

To conduct the current study, Tore Nielsen, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal, and his colleagues surveyed 1,082 students at MacEwan University in Alberta. All of them completed a questionnaire about their diet, food sensitivities, sleep habits, dream recall, and more. The students reported how late in the evening they eat, whether they regularly snack without feeling hungry, and if they have any gastrointestinal symptoms, food allergies, or diet-related conditions such as lactose intolerance. They also reported how well they sleep and how often their sleep is disturbed by nightmares.

Read More:What Doctors Really Think of Sleepmaxxing

About 25% of people said that eating certain foods before bed seemed to worsen their sleep, while just over 20% said that some foods improved their sleep. Of the people who reported having more nightmares after eating certain foods, 31% attributed the bad dreams to consumption of desserts and other sweets, 22% pointed to dairy, 16% cited meats, and 13% blamedspicy foods.

The most commonly cited medical condition linked to sleep quality was lactose intolerance—lending legitimacy to Scrooge’s “crumb of cheese” charge. Of the people who believed their diet was related to worse sleep overall, 30% were lactose intolerant.

“Nightmares are worse for lactose intolerant people who suffer severe gastrointestinal symptoms and whose sleep is disrupted,” said Nielsen in astatementthat accompanied the release of the study. “This makes sense because we know that other bodily sensations can affect dreaming.” One 2024meta-analysis, for example, found that all manner of sensory experiences—including sounds, smells, flashing lights, physical pressure, and pain—can be incorporated into dreams when people are sleeping and investigators provide the stimulus.

Food-related nightmares might also be linked to depression and anxiety, the researchers say; lactose-intolerance symptoms like bloating, cramping, and gas directly affect mood, which can carry over into sleep, powering bad dreams. The paper cites an earlier 2005studyby Nielsen showing that “dreaming is more emotionally intense and conflictual when abdominal cramping is at its worst,” including during menstruation.

Read More:What's the Least Amount of Sleep You Need to Get?

When people eat can make a difference as well. Eating late in the evening or snacking up until bedtime is linked to an “eveningness chronotype”—essentially the state of being anight owl—which by itself has been associated with nightmares in earliercitedstudies.

Nielsen and his colleagues concede that their current work does not establish causation, with at least the possibility existing that bad dreams and poor sleep may lead to equally poor dietary habits, rather than the other way around. “Direction of causality in many studies of food and sleep remains unclear,” the authors write.

Not all foods, of course, are linked to nightmares and sleep disruption, and some may even support better sleep. Close to 18% of people who regularly eat fruits reported better sleep, along with 12% of people who consume a lot of vegetables, and 13% of people who drink herbal tea.

Nielsen does not believe the current research remotely closes the book on the food and sleep and dreaming link, seeing a need for a lot of future work. “We need to study more people of different ages, from different walks of life,” he said in the statement. “Experimental studies are also needed to determine if people can truly detect the effects of specific foods on dreams. We would like to run a study in which we ask people to ingest cheese products versus some control food before sleep to see if this alters their sleep or dreams.”

‘Don’t Bankrupt America’: Musk Vows to Campaign Against Republicans Who Support Trump’s Debt-Raising Megabill

President Donald Trump has made clear that any Republican member of Congress who opposes his sprawling tax-and-spending package dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” will face his wrath. He launched a campaign to primaryRep. Thomas Massieof Kentucky and suggested he would do the same againstSen. Thom Tillisof North Carolina, before Tillis announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection.

Now, however, another powerful politicalkingmakerhas vowed to challenge any Republican who supports the bill.

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” tech billionaire and former close ally of Trump Elon Muskpostedon X. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

Musk spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump in 2024 butsaidin May that he had “done enough” and was going to do “a lot less in the future.” He added at the time, however, “if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it.”

Musk posted his warning, among many posts on the topic, on Monday night as Senators continued to vote on a series of amendments to the megabill, which estimates say will add trillions to thenational deficitand lead to cuts toMedicaid.

Reigniting aonce-regretted feudwith the President and Republicans that exploded afterMusk left a temporary government rolein the Administration in May, Musk reiterated a prior idea he’d floated of starting anew political party.

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” hepostedon X. “Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.” In another post, hesaidthat if the bill actually passes, the “America Party will be formed the next day” to provide “an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

When former Rep. Justin Amash, wholeft the Republican Party in 2019and opted not to run for reelection in 2020 amid criticisms of Trump, asked Musk to support his friend and fellow libertarian-minded conservative Massie, whom Trump has set his sights on ousting from the House, Muskresponded“I will.”

“The establishment is working to primary him because he’s a genuine fiscal conservative and opposes the Big, Bloated Scam,” Amash said of Massie.

Trump took to his own Truth Social platform Monday night to lash out at Musk, suggesting that the wealthiest man in the world, who is also the CEO of electric-car company Tesla and space-technology company SpaceX, is self-interested.

“Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate,” Trumpposted, referring topoliciesthat incentivize—though don’t require—the manufacture and purchase of electric vehicles. “It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one. Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE,” Trump added. Musk’s companies are estimated to receive about$38 billionin government contracts and subsidies. “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this?” Trump added, referencing the Department of Government Efficiency that Musk spearheaded. “BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

Musk previously dismissed Trump when the President made a similar claim about the former White House adviser’s priorities. “Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!),” hepostedon X in early June.

Over the weekend, however, Muskpostedthat “A massive strategic error is being made right now to damage solar/battery that will leave America extremely vulnerable in the future.” The bill threatens to endbillions of dollarsin green-energy tax credits, which some say could decimate the country’s wind and solar industries.

Musk reposted on Monday apost by Tillis, theRepublican Senatorwho announced on Sunday that he planned to retire at the end of his term and would be free from expected deference to party leaders, which backed Musk. “Folks, @ElonMusk is 100% right, and he understands this issue better than anyone,” Tillis posted. “We should take his warnings seriously. We can’t let Communist China become the long-term winner.”

Still, Musk insisted that his main focus is the national deficit. “All I’m asking is that we don’t bankrupt America,” hepostedas Senators continued to vote on amendments early Tuesday.

The White House hasmaintainedthat the bill “actually reduces the debt burden on future generations,” claiming that it “will unleash robust, real economic growth and restore fiscal sanity in America.”

But a new estimate from the nonpartisanCongressional Budget Officereleased on Sunday showed that the Senate version of the bill would add nearly $3.3 trillion to the deficit over a decade.

Shuttering of USAID Will Lead to Millions of Deaths Around the World: Studies

President John F. Kennedysaidin 1961 that “there is no escaping” what he described as America’s “moral obligations as a wise leader and good neighbor in the interdependent community of free nations; our economic obligations as the wealthiest people in a world of largely poor people, as a nation no longer dependent upon the loans from abroad that once helped us develop our own economy; and our political obligations as the single largest counter to the adversaries of freedom.”

He was speaking to Congress about foreign aid and later that year would establish throughexecutive orderwhat has since been known as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which helped make the U.S. the world’s largest foreign aid provider.

For more than six decades, USAID has helped dozens of low- and middle-income countries, including conflict-stricken ones, to improve access to food, water, health care, and education. It’s helped stop disease outbreaks, revolutionize agricultural practices, and in some cases, promote democracy.

But on Tuesday, USAID shutters its doors for good.

The agency’sdismantlingbegan just days after President Donald Trump returned to the White House at the start of this year. Tech billionaire andone-time Trump ally Elon Musk, who was spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency, singled out the agency as a locus of “corruption and waste,”despite the fact that it constituted just about 0.5% of government spending.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took the reins of the agency in February,saidin March that more than four-fifths of USAID programs were cancelled, and the approximately 1,000 that remained would be absorbed by the State Department byJuly 1, even amidcourt battlesabout the constitutionality of USAID’s closure.

On the eve of USAID’s final day, former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama gathered with former staffers as well as U2 singer and humanitarian Bono on a video call. Obama described USAID’s gutting as a “travesty” and a “tragedy,” according to theAssociated Press.

“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work,” Bush told the USAID staffers. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.”

Just how many lives won’t be saved as a result of the closure of USAID has been the subject of several studies andprojections.

On Monday, medical research journalThe Lancetestimated that USAID prevented the deaths of more than 90 million people between 2001 to 2021. The study, conducted by researchers from Brazil, Mozambique, and Spain, forecasted that the defunding of the agency could lead to some 14 million deaths by 2030, including 4.5 million deaths of children and babies under the age of 5.

Here are some of the biggest estimated impacts of the U.S. shirking Kennedy’s “obligations.”

To fight against HIV globally, President Bush launched PEPFAR, or the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, in 2003. The program supports some 20.6 million people with HIV worldwide, including 566,000 children, through providing anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to control the infection. The program also provided HIV testing services to 83.8 million people in 2024.

USAID was PEPFAR’smain implementing agency, and while the State Department is seeking$2.9 billionin funding to continue HIV-AIDS programs, it’s far lower than theat least $4.7 billionbudget PEPFAR had.

Astudypublished in theRetrovirologyjournal in March said that the suspension of USAID funding could hamper access to ART and cause a potential resurgence of up to630,000HIV-AIDS-related deaths annually, withsub-Saharan Africamost affected.

USAID has invested$9 billionto help tackle malaria, the mosquito-borne illness that is preventable and curable but causes millions of deaths in Africa every year, since the inception of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in 2005.

Animpact trackerby Boston University infectious disease mathematical modeller and health economist Dr. Brooke Nichols and Amsterdam-based product managerEric Moakley forecast almost 10 million additional cases of malaria globally—of which an estimated 7 million would affect children—in just one year due to USAID funding cuts.

The tracker also only considered African countries that were part of PMI and did not include countries in Asia that have also been supported by USAID. “Thus we may be underestimating the effect of PMI’s cessation,” it said.

The war-torn northeast African country of Sudan was among those worst hit by USAID’s suspension.More than halfof its 50 million population is in need of humanitarian assistance as residents suffer from famine and disease outbreaks amid ongoing conflict. The World Health Organization estimates that 5 million Sudanese people may lose access to “lifesaving” health services as a result of the cuts, according to theWashington Post.

Naomi Ruth Pendle, a lecturer at the University of Bath in the U.K., wrote forThe Conversationin April that the sudden suspension of USAID is “is set to make the famine in Sudan the deadliest for half a century.”