Yemen has been suffering under a brutal civil war for over a decade, but newfound factors are exacerbating one of the Middle East’s most dire humanitarian crises. The country has been trying to dig itself out of this hole, but continued pressure from Yemen’s Houthis — who are engaged in conflict with U.S. forces — is making this a difficult task.

American bombs began falling on the Iran-backed Houthis, the terrorist group controlling northwest Yemen, on March 15 (followed by a highly publicized Signal leak of the operation to a journalist from The Atlantic). This bombing campaign, spearheaded by President Donald Trump, has had limited success, The New York Times found — but it could cause the country’s already significant humanitarian crisis to spiral.

Yemen’s humanitarian crisis

Yemen has been dealing with a humanitarian crisis since it devolved into civil war in 2014, but the recent campaign against the Houthis has “killed civilians and brought further destruction and uncertainty to the poorest country in the Middle East,” said The Guardian. As part of their pushback against the U.S., Houthi fighters are reportedly blocking off bomb sites — but towns are being “hit in the middle of the night, which is a sure-fire way to kill civilians,” said Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch, to The Guardian.

Saba, a Houthi-led news agency, has reported that the U.S. performed an “aggression targeting of al-Rasoul al-Aadham Hospital Project for Cancer Treatment in Sa’ada city.” Western outlets have not verified this, but “independent groups have also suggested a high degree of civilian harm.” These types of attacks “may usher in a new phase of war and instability for Yemen,” said Al Jazeera.

And while Trump has claimed that the Houthis have been “decimated by the relentless strikes,” that is “not what Pentagon and military officials are privately telling Congress and allied countries,” said the Times. These officials have “acknowledged that there has been only limited success in destroying the Houthis’ vast, largely underground arsenal of missiles, drones and launchers,” while at the same time potentially bombing civilians.

‘You never know which way things will go’

With the bombings ramping up, aid workers “never know which way things will go,” Siddiq Khan, a Yemen director for the aid organization Islamic Relief, said to The Guardian. These attacks have “further scared the organizations here about whether this will be the right place to stay and work. So overall, there’s a huge vacuum” of aid workers.

Compounding this is Trump’s slashed funding for foreign aid, including the nation’s primary civilian foreign aid group, USAID. The White House is attempting to shut down USAID permanently and transfer any remaining duties to State Department offices. Beyond this, the United Nations “suspended its humanitarian operations in the stronghold of Yemen’s Houthi rebels” in February following a Houthi attack, said The Associated Press. This additionally affected the “global response to one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.”

To prevent additional humanitarian problems in Yemen, the U.S. needs to “avoid targeting civilian infrastructure,” said Mohammed Al-Basha, an analyst who founded the Yemen consultancy Basha Report, to PBS News. It should also minimize as many civilian casualties as possible, which will “avoid giving the Houthis any means or tools to use as propaganda that the airstrikes are killing civilians.” Beyond this, the “regional powers and the anti-Houthi coalition in Yemen need to sit down and figure out” a long-term policy.

The April showers you get this month might just be your own tears, as not one but two new movie releases deal with sweet baby animals. There is a doc about the endangered pangolin and a fantasy adventure starring the fictional Ochi; and in the non-baby animal categories, here come a Minecraft adaptation, a unique spin on the vampire genre and a high-octane spiritual successor to “Speed.”

‘A Minecraft Movie’

You cannot go wrong with Jack Black’s zany, earnest energy at the center of a film. “A Minecraft Movie” is based on “Minecraft,” one of the most popular video games of all time, and “seems all but guaranteed to follow in the hugely successful footsteps of something like ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ or ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie,'” said IndieWire. The story follows four misfits who are transported to the Overworld, a cubic wonderland where everything has sharp edges and creativity is the key to survival. Also starring Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, Kate McKinnon and Jemaine Clement. (April 4 in theaters)

‘Sinners’

Just when you want to be done with vampire movies, Ryan Coogler pulls you back in. The director of blockbuster hits “Creed” and “Black Panther” “finally gets the chance to play in a studio tentpole sandbox with a wholly original idea,” said IndieWire of his new horror project, “Sinners.” This period vampire story stars Michael B. Jordan as a set of twins (one actor in two roles, à la “The Parent Trap”) living in the 1930s American South. “With each project, [Coogler] doesn’t simply depict Black life — he honors it, reframes it and reclaims it,” said Essence. (April 18 in theaters)

‘Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey’

If action and horror are not your vibes, you are likely to relish a poignant documentary about a cute scaly anteater. “Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey” follows Gareth Thomas, a man who rescues and rehabilitates a baby pangolin named Kulu; pangolins are among the most trafficked animals in the world, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Pangolins are also “deeply sensitive, innocent creatures” who “can’t run or bite, and their only defense is to roll up in a ball,” said Academy Award-winner Pippa Ehrlich, director of “My Octopus Teacher,” to People of her new film. (April 21 on Netflix)

‘Bullet Train Explosion’

From “Shin Godzilla” co-director Shinji Higuchi comes a remake of Jun’ya Sato’s 1975 action flick “Bullet Train” (which directly inspired the ’90s hit “Speed.”) “The set-up is simple,” said Empire of “Bullet Train Explosion,” the latest iteration: “There’s a bomb hooked up to a Shinkansen train that’ll detonate if its speed drops below 100km/h, and there’s a ransom being demanded by the nutter who rigged it.” Naturally, the train crew and passengers must work together to prevent disaster and their own demise. The production consulted with the East Japan Railway Company to ensure authenticity, plus used actual bullet trains and railway facilities. (April 23 on Netflix)

‘The Legend of Ochi’

The first feature from music video director Isaiah Saxon is a fantasy adventure set on the island of Carpathia, where a farm girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) has been taught to fear the Ochi, creatures who roam the verdant forests. When Yuri finds a wounded baby Ochi in the woods, she is charmed by its unexpected sweetness — and sets off from the safety of her village to reunite the baby with his family. The film’s dazzling visual effects “were largely the result of painstakingly executed puppetry and animatronics, the settings often a combination of Romanian locations and matte paintings, all overseen by the obsessive Saxon,” who “spent years working on this,” said Vulture. (April 25 in theaters)

CROSSWORD – APRIL 11, 2025

SUDOKU – APRIL 11, 2025

A three-decade global effort to end the use of land mines appears to be over. Finland and other European countries are leaving the Ottawa Convention, the treaty banning anti-personnel mines, as the risk of confrontation with Russia continues to rise.

The 1997 pact has “come under increasing pressure because of the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine,” said Politico. Finnish President Alexander Stubb — whose country has a border with Russia stretching more than 800 miles — made his announcement Tuesday, following last month’s announcement by Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that they will also end their participation in the treaty. The move is a “part of Finland’s contribution to Europe taking greater responsibility for our own defense,” said Stubb.

The “lofty goals” of the land mine ban “simply can’t withstand the harsh realities on the ground,” Jordan Embree and Steven Groves said at The Heritage Foundation. The “grinding war” in Ukraine forced Kyiv to use mines to “protect their country and safeguard their soldiers.” (America, Russia and China never signed the pact.) But the treaty has had a “measurable impact on reducing civilian injuries and deaths from landmines,” said The Stimson Center. Abandoning the treaty will “certainly present new risks to civilians.”

What did the commentators say?

Land mines are “indiscriminate” weapons that “harm civilians, violate human rights, and have long-term societal impact,” said Mary Wareham at Human Rights Watch. The newest risks do not just come from countries abandoning the treaty. For three decades, America has been the “world’s largest contributor to humanitarian demining,” reducing the risk to civilians from weapons left behind on old battlefields, but the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid are “now disrupting mine clearance operations.” The prices of those cuts “will be evident as casualties increase.”

The land mine ban is the product of “noble intentions but limited perspective,” Dan Rice said at Small Wars Journal. But when Russia invaded Ukraine, treaty commitments “delayed Ukraine’s access to essential defensive weapons.” Mines, along with cluster munitions, have “proven decisive in Ukraine’s defense,” inflicting massive casualties on the invaders. The lesson is clear to nations on the front lines of conflict: “These weapons, though imperfect, are often essential for survival.”

What next?

Norway is “not about to change” its commitment to the landmine treaty, said Reuters. The country also borders Russia, but Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said it is important to keep the “global stigma” against the weapons in place. Leaving the treaty “makes it easier for warring factions around the world to use these weapons again,” he said, “because it reduces the stigma.”

Finland is making other moves to beef up its defenses against Russia. The country also “plans on increasing defense spending to a minimum of 3 percent GDP,” said Breaking Defense. Helsinki is responding to a “more naked, aggressive and authoritarian Russian leadership,” said defense expert Robin Häggblom. There are worries that Moscow’s pivot to a wartime economy will make it hard to accept “some kind of peaceful coexistence,” he said, “even if somehow the Ukraine situation magically was resolved.”

For many student loan borrowers, income-driven repayment (IDR) plans can make monthly payments much more manageable. Rather than simply divvying up the total owed across the loan term, IDR plans base the monthly payments on a borrower’s income and family size.

But lately, borrowers have faced some whiplash on the option’s availability. “In February, a U.S. appeals court blocked” one IDR plan, the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, and “called into question parts of other IDR plans.” As a result, the Department of Education “closed applications for all IDR plans,” said Investopedia. Borrowers already enrolled were also affected, as they could not recertify their loans.

Then, as of late March, the plans became available once again, as “the Department of Education reopened applications for Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans” after making revisions “to comply with the appeals court’s order,” said Investopedia.

What is income-driven repayment?

Technically there are four different income-driven repayment plans options — Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE), Income-Based Repayment (IBR) and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) — but they all offer something similar: “With these plans, you’ll pay a percentage of your discretionary income for a set period, at which point your remaining balance will be forgiven,” said Bankrate.

IDR is only available for federal student loans, but depending on a borrower’s specific circumstances, it can make a big difference in the affordability of payments. The plans “can lower your monthly bills based on your income and family size,” pushing payments potentially as low as “$0 if you’re unemployed or earn less than 150% or 225% of the poverty threshold, depending on the plan you choose,” said NerdWallet.

When does IDR make sense?

In general, IDR “can be good for those with high loan balances and low incomes,” as well as “for borrowers who are struggling with their payments and don’t want to refinance their student loans and those who want to avoid entering deferment or forbearance,” said Bankrate.

However, there are downsides worth weighing. For one, eligibility “is mainly limited to federal student loan borrowers” and not all loan types qualify, said student loan blog Saving for College. Additionally, under an IDR plan, “your total balance can increase” due to what is known as negative amortization, which “occurs when loan payments are less than the new interest accrued that month, increasing the loan balance.”

What are alternatives to income-driven repayment?

Whether you are unsure if IDR is a fit for you or are simply unnerved by the recent back-and-forth, there other ways to shift your student loan payments, including:

Graduated repayment: With this option for federal loans, “loan payments start low and increase every two years,” said Bankrate, allowing you time to get your career and earning potential off the ground.

Extended repayment: This plan allows you to lower payments by stretching them over a longer timeframe. Just note it “ultimately increases the total interest paid over the life of the loan,” said Bankrate.

Student loan refinancing: If your credit has improved, refinancing can allow you to secure a lower interest rate and/or change your loan’s term, which may lower payments. Just note that refinancing federal loans results in the loss of borrower benefits and protections.

‘With his marathon speech, Cory Booker showed us how to fight’

Karen Attiah at The Washington Post

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) “displayed a historic level of legitimate cardio — stamina — speaking on the Senate floor,” says Karen Attiah. To “stand for 24-plus hours is an honorable display of physical and mental strength,” and we “need to see way more fighting spirit from the Democrats.” This is “where Booker’s spectacle and persuasion matter the most: to stir the masses.” What he did “will live on for the history books, but we need bodies on the line.”

Read more

‘What it’s like to be a U.S. historian right now’

Thomas A. Foster at The Hill

The “current cultural climate is filled with historical consciousness, but also with widespread misunderstandings and misrepresentations of history,” says Thomas A. Hill. Historians are “often distanced from this sensation because we know how past events turned out,” but “living through history in real-time makes that sense of unpredictability palpable in a way that is rarely captured in historical narratives.” Adding to this “uncertainty is the intense battle over our national narratives and historical identity.”

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’50 years after fall of Saigon, Vietnam can’t heal by erasing half its past’

Nghia M. Vo at USA Today

April “marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon, and the wounds of the Vietnam War remain open — not just for Americans who fought there, but also for those who lost everything when the war ended,” says Nghia M. Vo. For “those who fought alongside the United States, the past five decades have been defined by discrimination and erasure under Vietnam’s communist regime.” The “Vietnamese government must acknowledge the suffering of those who had fought for South Vietnam.”

Read more

‘For beauty products, natural isn’t always better’

Joshua Britton at Time

Many “people believe that natural ingredients are always preferable in beauty products,” but this “ignores fundamental truths about the toll of global ingredient harvesting,” says Joshua Britton. Earth “cannot keep up with consumer demand for natural ingredients in beauty,” as its “cultivation is hugely water and energy-intensive, necessitating pesticides and other agrochemicals.” We “need to find another way and biotechnology offers a solution. It “reduces our dependence on unsustainable ingredient extraction and addresses our enduring love of naturals.”

Read more

What happened

South Korea’s Constitutional Court Friday morning unanimously upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol and removed him from office. Yoon’s Dec. 3 declaration of martial law was a “grave betrayal of the people’s trust” and a “serious challenge to democracy,” acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae said from the bench. The National Assembly had quickly quashed the decree and impeached Yoon Dec. 14.

Who said what

When the verdict was announced, protesters supporting Yoon’s ouster “reacted with hugs and screams,” The New York Times said. At a rally of his supporters, “there was loud booing.” The court “removed a major source of uncertainty,” and “not a moment too soon,” Leif-Eric Easley of Seoul’s Ewha University told Reuters. The next president “must navigate North Korea’s military threats, China’s diplomatic pressure and Trump’s trade tariffs.”

Yoon’s conservative People Power Party said it “humbly” accepted the verdict. Yoon said he was “regretful and sorry that I could not live up to your expectations.” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the acting president, said he would do his “utmost to manage the next presidential election” and ensure a “smooth transition to the next administration.”

What next?

“Deeply divided” South Korea “must now hold a presidential election within 60 days,” The Associated Press said. Yoon, barred from office for five years, “may refuse to be ignored,” as he would “strongly prefer a conservative president who could pardon him if convicted” of insurrection charges in a separate criminal trial.

What happened

President Donald Trump reportedly fired Gen. Tim Haugh, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, Thursday and sacked at least five National Security Council officials, a day after far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer had recommended the firings in a closed-door Oval Office meeting, according to Loomer and multiple White House officials.

Who said what

Trump confirmed Wednesday’s meeting Thursday but “downplayed Loomer’s influence on the firings,” The Associated Press said. Loomer later “appeared to take credit.” Haugh and his civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, “were “fired” because they “have been disloyal to President Trump,” Loomer said on X. “The NSC officials I reported to President Trump are disloyal people.”

Loomer brought to the Oval Office a “sheaf of papers attacking the character and loyalty of numerous NSC officials” and “vilified” several “by name,” The New York Times said. Remarkably, Loomer, “viewed as extreme” even by some of Trump’s “far-right allies,” apparently wields “more influence over the staff of the National Security Council” than their embattled boss, Michael Waltz.

What next?

Lt. Gen. William J. Hartman, Haugh’s deputy at Cyber Command, will reportedly serve as acting NSA director. Trump told reporters Thursday, en route to a golf gala in Miami, that “we’re letting go” of “people that we don’t like or people that we don’t think can do the job or people that may have loyalties to somebody else.”