Cruise Missile: Buzzfeed: “In dozens of court documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News, cruise ship passengers say they have been dragged into cabins and raped, pushed into janitors’ closets and assaulted, and even attacked in the public corridors of ships … sexual assaults are the most prevalent reported crime on cruise ships, according to the FBI. Since 2015, there have been 454 reported allegations of sex crimes on cruise ships. Experts believe that the actual numbers are far higher.”

+ Mortality Wound “How could this happen? In a country that prides itself on scientific excellence and innovation, and spends an incredible amount of money on health care, the population keeps dying at younger and younger ages.” ‘Live free and die?’ The sad state of U.S. life expectancy.

+ Paying for Sex: “A Japanese Cabinet minister in charge of tackling the country’s declining birthrate unveiled a draft proposal Friday aimed at reversing the downtrend, including increased subsidies for childrearing and education and a salary increase for younger workers.”

+ Detained Journalist: “‘Evan,’ I said out loud in my hotel room. In that moment, this news story moved out of the realm of professional dismay and into the intensely personal.” Margaret Sullivan: The arrest of an American journalist in Russia is awful. For me, it’s also painfully personal.

+ Non Sei il Benvenuto: ChatGPT banned in Italy over privacy concerns. La discrezione è la virtù dei forti! La vita privata è sacra! (Those were the best two responses I could get from ChatGPT.)

+ Prison Break: “They asked me, ‘How did you enter Russia?,’ said Ruslan Osadchyi, another Kherson prisoner. ‘You brought me here, under the muzzles of automatic guns! … Like everything in Russia, it was completely absurd.'” NYT: When Russian troops left Kherson, they took with them 2,500 Ukrainian convicts from local prisons. For some, it was the start of a bewildering, five-country journey highlighting the war’s absurdity.

+ Food Court of Public Opinion: Fountains of Youths: One grown-ass woman’s descent into the soul of the American teen on their home turf: the mall food court. (It’s nice to know some things never change.)