Vive la République!

Start your day smarter with the most important world news, plus intriguing and offbeat stories. www.ozy.com [OZY]() Your World. Bold & Bright [Presidential Daily Brief]( Sponsored by [Cariuma]( Start your day smarter with a dossier on the most important world news, rounded off with a shot of intriguing and offbeat stories. Like the president, you deserve no less. Apr 25, 2022 Today Emmanuel Macron has won the French presidential election, the first incumbent to gain a second term in 20 years. Top U.S. officials made a secret visit to Kyiv yesterday to announce new military aid and renewed diplomacy. Twitter and Elon Musk are said to be making progress over the billionaire’s surprise bid to acquire the company. And experts are raising the alarm on a troubling rise in anxiety, depression and suicide among U.S. teens. All this and more in today’s PDB. IMPORTANT Vive la Liberté! Europe Breathes Sigh of Relief as Macron Beats Far-Right Le Pen French President Emmanuel Macron beat Marine Le Pen in the final round of elections Sunday to become the first candidate in 20 years to win a second term. Though Macron won by a healthy 58.8% to Le Pen’s 41.2%, it’s the closest the far right has ever come to taking power. European leaders can relax now that Le Pen — who’s cozier with Russian President Vladimir Putin than with the EU — was thwarted in her third bid for the presidency. In his acceptance speech Macron acknowledged the divisive election, saying he must address “the anger and disagreements” that drove voters to the far right. (Sources: [France24](, [Le Monde](, [The Local]() Strengthening Ties Blinken Visits Ukraine as US Restores Diplomatic Relations Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv yesterday for a secret meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to announce new military aid and a return of American diplomats to the western city of Lviv. President Joe Biden plans to nominate Bridget Brink, the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, as ambassador to Ukraine, a position that's remained empty since 2019. The American delegation has now returned to Poland to meet with European officials. Meanwhile, Russia is reportedly attempting to lift the remains of sunken warship Moskva from the seabed to salvage missiles and secret military documents. (Sources: [NYT](, [WaPo](, [Al Jazeera]() A Little Bird Told Me Twitter and Musk Could Strike a Deal as Early as This Week In a dramatic turn of events, Twitter and Elon Musk are reportedly making progress in talks over the billionaire’s much-criticized takeover bid. The announcement came Sunday, just 10 days after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO unveiled a [$43 billion plan]( to buy the social media giant. Twitter was widely expected to refuse the offer and block Musk from increasing his recent 9.2% stake in the company. Though Musk said he won’t budge on price, the turnaround may be due to his allegedly promising shareholders he would resolve the free-speech issues plaguing the company, said people familiar with the talks. (Source:[WSJ]() The Kids Are Not Alright Experts Alarmed at National Mental Health Crisis Among US Teens Depression, anxiety and suicide among American teens are alarmingly on the rise, far exceeding historic threats like drunk driving, drug use or teen pregnancy. In December, the U.S. surgeon general warned of a “devastating” mental health crisis among adolescents, and health providers have called it a national emergency. Though kids are more educated and less likely to die of accidents, “there are these trends in anxiety, depression and suicide that stop us in our tracks,” said Candice Odgers, a psychologist at University of California, Irvine. “We need to figure it out,” she said, “because it’s life or death for these kids.” (Sources: [NYT](, [USA Today]() Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: Animal crossing. Construction has started on the world’s largest wildlife crossing — a bridge spanning 10 lanes of a Los Angeles highway to provide safe passage to wild creatures like mountain lions. (Source: [CNN]() Beijing braces. As China’s worsening COVID-19 outbreak threatens Beijing, city residents rushed to buy provisions while policymakers raced to avert a Shanghai-like crisis. (Source: [Bloomberg]() Slovenia changes course. Liberal newcomer Robert Golob, whose Freedom Movement was only launched in January, has defeated three-term populist Prime Minister Janez Janša. Golob hopes to restore the democratic institutions undermined by the outgoing Trump-supporting PM. (Source: [The Guardian]() [A pair of shoes, a pair of trees.]( [Cariuma]( Every time you buy a pair of stylish, sustainable and comfortable sneakers from [Cariuma](, two trees are planted in the Brazilian rainforest. You not only look good, you feel good – and help us all breathe better. [Use the code OZY2022 to get $15]( off as a proud member of the OZY global community. [Shop Now]( INTRIGUING Eye of the Beholder Florida Activist Demands the Bible Be Removed From Public Schools “If they’re gonna ban books, then the whole library should be in play,” said Chaz Stevens, who addressed his request to Miami-Dade County Public Schools in response to the countrywide Republican-led crusade over who gets to read what. Stevens, who wants the religious text removed from classrooms, libraries and all instructional materials, cited several reasons it should be forbidden, including “age inappropriateness, social-emotional learning, mentions of bestiality and rape, and ‘wokeness.” Stevens, an atheist and self-proclaimed “local political stunt activist,” said he hopes “they will apply their own standards to themselves and ban the Bible.” (Source:[Salon]() Who's Sleeping in My Bed? Odd ‘Rumbling’ Noises in House Turn Out to Be Hibernating Bears If it sounds like snoring, it probably is snoring. So learned a California family who spent the winter wondering about “odd rumbling, snoring-like noises” in their house, but ignored them because they “didn't make sense.” That is until the five bears — a mother and four year-old cubs — that had cozied into a basement crawl space woke up. “Each winter, about 100 to 150 of our bears attempt to hibernate under homes in Tahoe,” said Anne Bryant of BEAR League, explaining they find the spaces comfortingly cave-like. The bears pose no threat to humans, though their snoring can be a nuisance. (Source:[HuffPost]() Wild Goose Chase China’s Guard Geese Hold the Front Line Against COVID-19 As the pandemic worsens in China, the country is trying a novel approach to limiting its spread. After experiments found geese are more selective than dogs about raising an alarm, Beijing deployed a “geese army” across 300 miles of the Chongzuo Prefecture to stop potentially infected immigrants from crossing. “If you walk onto a geese's turf, they will almost charge you, honk, and use intimidation tactics,” said Lauren Thielen, a veterinarian for domestic geese. But the practice may not be so original: Geese have been used in Scotland to guard whisky and by the U.S. Army to safeguard military installations. (Sources: [Smithsonian](, [France24]() Mysteries of the Oreo Why There’s Just No Equity in Sharing the Beloved Cookie MIT scientists have finally explained something kids have known for decades: Twist open an Oreo to share and someone will get short shrift. In a paper published last week, researchers confirmed the impossibility of splitting the wafer so that equal amounts of the famous cream end up on both sides. Using a rheometer, they tried every which way, but the cream still stuck mostly to one wafer. But all is not lost — scientists coined a new field of study: Oreology. And though studying Oreos may seem silly, the research will help explain complex fluid dynamics used in fields like 3D printing. (Sources: [Smithsonian](, [Popular Science]() Divine Intervention Supreme Court Will Hear Case of Prayer on the Playing Field — Again Kennedy v. Bremerton School District arrives before America’s highest court today — a case that could overturn 60 years of rulings, including the decision that government cannot promote prayer in public schools. It started in 2015, when Washington state high school football coach Joseph Kennedy was finally disciplined after years of postgame prayer on the 50-yard line. Though the court declined to hear the case in 2019, four justices sympathized with Kennedy. Now the case offers the court, which is overwhelmingly protective of religious rights, the chance to radically transform precedent and curtail the government’s ability to protect schoolchildren from pray-to-play pressure. (Sources: [WaPo](, [CBS News]() [Conscious mind. Comfy feet.]( [Cariuma]( The right shoes can not only put some pep in your step, they can also help you make a statement. When you wear [Cariuma](, you tell the world that you care about your look – and the people you share the planet with. Beyond the consciously-sourced materials and the commitment to reforestation, there’s the knowledge that you support ethical factories. Try them once, and we think you’ll agree – it’s a better way to go. (OZY family: [Use the code OZY2022 for $15 off!]() [Shop Now]( Catch the Newest Episodes of The Carlos Watson Show, Season 4! COMMUNITY What else are you curious about? 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