Greetings! Happy World Teachers Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

🇲🇦 Protests rattle Morocco’s status quo. Morocco’s youth-led demonstrations, organized largely on encrypted apps and stitched together by campus networks, have grown from cost-of-living gripes into broader critiques of governance, royal prerogative, and inequality. Organizers are deliberately decentralized, a tactical hedge against arrests and the whiplash of social-media bans. Authorities have alternated between limited concessions and crowd-control tactics, but the marches persist, drawing students, gig workers, and recent grads whose unemployment rates run well above the national average. Economists warn that persistent youth joblessness (north of one in four in some regions) acts like a political accelerant, especially when prices for staples outpace wages. The protests also test the limits of Morocco’s “stability premium", the idea that calibrated openness can deliver investment without ceding control. Diplomatic partners are watching for signals on reforms that might lower the temperature without shrinking civic space. For now, the rallies suggest a clarion call sticking to the script of a generational thesis: fix the future, or the future will fix you.

🇵🇸 Gaza flotilla detainees disclose abuse during Israeli custody. Some of the 450 humanitarian participants, including climate justice activist Greta Thunberg, from an international relief coalition seized at sea during their mission to Gaza, disclosed they were strip-searched, beaten, and denied medication while held in Israeli detention. The Global Sumud Flotilla’s interception reignited arguments over humanitarian access, with rights groups noting that the most direct method to avoid future relief restrictions is for Israel to open predictable land corridors for food and fuel at long last. Medical NGOs point to acute child malnutrition and intermittent power at clinics as evidence that the aid “trickle” model is failing. Aid groups contend that long delays doom perishable supplies regardless of security rationale. The claims arrive alongside renewed diplomatic pressure for a verifiable cease-fire and corridor guarantees, the only combination that reliably stabilizes mortality. Legal teams for detainees say they’ll press for independent medical exams and video preservation to substantiate the accounts. What happens next will shape both the next flotilla and the next set of rules around it.

🚨 Trump orders 300 California National Guard troops to Oregon. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the federal order reassigns 300 Guard members to protect federal immigration facilities in Oregon, a move he criticized as heavy-handed and mismatched to local needs. The deployment highlights how the National Guard’s dual state–federal role can trigger political knife-fights when Washington asserts command. Oregon officials said they were briefed but not consulted on timing or scope, while California’s brass scrambled to rework training and coverage schedules. Legal scholars noted the Insurrection Act isn’t at issue here; rather, it is Title 10/32 authority and the federal government’s broad latitude over Guard missions. Civil-rights groups warned that militarizing administrative buildings risks escalating encounters with nonviolent protesters and immigrants seeking services. Federal officials say threat assessments justify the posture and that rotations will be short. However, even brief reassignments can ripple through overtime budgets and readiness drills back home.

⚓ The United States Navy turns 250 amid shutdown optics. President Donald Trump saluted sailors and a quarter-millennium of sea power in Norfolk even as civilian furloughs elsewhere underscored the shutdown’s reach. The ceremony combined pageantry with policy, highlighting shipbuilding timelines, maintenance backlogs, and recruiting gaps that have plagued multiple administrations. Brass emphasized alliances and deterrence while fielding questions about industrial-base capacity and the pace of submarine and frigate deliveries. Defense analysts noted the irony: milestone celebrations colliding with budget gridlock that slows the very contracts being toasted. Local economies still benefit as anniversary events fill hotels and restaurants, but procurement uncertainty increases unit costs as shipyards juggle schedules. For sailors, the throughline is simpler: keep platforms mission-ready despite legislative weather. The party doubled as a reminder that strategy needs a signed check.

🛢️ OPEC opens the taps as demand looks sturdier than feared. The oil alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to increase output, citing a steadier global outlook and inventories that no longer look dangerously thin. Energy desks immediately recalibrated price decks, with some banks trimming fourth-quarter Brent forecasts by a few dollars per barrel. For consumers, more barrels tend to ease pump prices with a lag, though refinery maintenance and regional bottlenecks can blur the effect. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) can’t make fuel cheaper, but lower crude plus normalizing crack spreads help more than any tweet. Shale producers will watch for price floors that justify drilling programs; too soft, and capex cools. For importers with weakening currencies, even modest relief matters to headline inflation. Translation: not a glut, not a panic—just a little more cushion in the global tank.

🗽 Two New York teenagers die in subway surfing incident. Authorities said the girls were found on top of a train near a Queens station after an apparent social-media-influenced stunt, the latest in a string of copycat incidents despite transit warnings. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has run safety campaigns for years, but peer challenges and viral clips keep outracing public-service announcements. Prosecutors said no charges were immediately filed as investigators reconstruct the timeline from station cameras and phone data. Psychologists point to risk perception gaps among teens, especially in group settings where dares become badges. Transit unions renewed calls for platform-edge barriers and targeted policing at known hotspots. Parents, meanwhile, face the familiar whiplash of moderation apps that can’t police offline bravado. The MTA’s blunt advice stands: do not ride outside the car, ever.

Help better understand our audience. Take this 1-minute survey here so we can provide our community with the best content, news, and stories that matter to you most.

Feel free to reply with your feedback. PM reads and responds to every email. :)

That’s all for today!

Much obliged and many thanks for reading and sharing today’s newsletter.

See you tomorrow!