Vue lecture

California’s High Potency Cannabis is Fueling a ‘Cali Weed’ Trend in the UK

High-strength, California-grown marijuana is so popular in the U.K. that large quantities are being illegally smuggled on passenger flights, officials say.

© Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters

Police officers patrolling Hyde Park in London on 4/20, marijuana’s unofficial holiday each April 20, in 2023. Cannabis remains illegal in Britain.
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India Was the Economic Alternative to China. Trump Ended That.

A lurch in policy has shaken the India-U.S. economic alliance against China, leaving India little choice but to consider reversing its own strategy.

© Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times

Construction at the site of the Foxconn Apple Project in Bengaluru, India. Foxconn is the main contract manufacturer for Apple, which has become a touchstone for India’s China Plus One approach.
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Israel’s New Negotiating Stance Is Likely to Prolong Gaza War, Experts Say

A shift toward pressing for a permanent cease-fire deal, alongside plans for a new offensive in Gaza City, means the fighting is unlikely to end soon.

© Maya Levin/Associated Press

An Israeli military strike in the northern Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel on Sunday.
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Kyiv Links Moscow to Killing of Former Ukrainian Parliament Speaker

Ukraine said it had arrested a suspect in the murder of the politician, who had voiced anti-Russian views. The authorities did not explain how the suspect was tied to Moscow.

© Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

Andriy Parubiy presiding over a session of Ukraine’s Parliament in 2019.
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What to Know About the Earthquake in Afghanistan

Hundreds of people were killed and more than 2,500 were injured, according to the Taliban government, and the death toll was expected to rise.

© Wahidullah Kakar/Associated Press

A military helicopter in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province on Monday carried people injured in the earthquake.
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In the Remains of Canada’s Jasper Wildfire, Clues to Tame Future Blazes

A giant fire last year consumed much of Canada’s Jasper National Park. Canadian scientists leading research into wildfires are using the blaze to learn lessons for the future.

© Jesse Winter for The New York Times

Recreational vehicles in the fire-affected Jasper National Park last month in Alberta, Canada.
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Mexico’s Cartels Are Using Military Weapons

Recent attacks on villages in Mexico’s western state of Michoacán reveal the cartels’ growing paramilitary-style power, using drones, I.E.D.s and other weapons of war. Paulina Villegas examines the aftermath of these assaults.
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With Drones and I.E.D.s, Mexico’s Cartels Adopt Arms of Modern War

Under pressure from the government and each other, some of Mexico’s most powerful criminal groups are amassing homemade mortars, land mines, rocket-propelled grenades and bomber drones.

A hole left by a bomb dropped by a drone in the roof of a home in El Guayabo, Michoacán, Mexico. Cartels are using IEDs, drones and makeshift explosives in their fight for territory, capable of tearing through rooftops and scattering shrapnel across the ground below.
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He Burned a Flag and Won a Right. With Trump’s Order, He Worries That’s at Risk.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that burning an American flag is speech protected by the First Amendment. President Trump says it should be punished.

© Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times

Gregory Johnson displayed a flag he has used in protests, in Venice, Calif., in 2021. Mr. Johnson won a landmark Supreme Court case in 1989 protecting political expression that is now being challenged by President Trump.
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Crime Festers in Republican States While Their Troops Patrol Washington

Republican governors who have mustered National Guard troops for deployment in blue-state cities may re-examine their deployments if federal intervention significantly brings crime down.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

National Guard troops patrolling around the Washington Monument.
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Ukraine War Leads to Global Shortage of TNT for Military and Mining Use

Mining materials to make cement, gravel and a host of other common products require an explosive that is becoming more expensive and limited in supply.

© Eric Lee for The New York Times

An explosion with the power of 43,000 pounds of TNT blasts rock apart at a quarry in Virginia.
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