April was the Earth’s 11th consecutive month of record-breaking heat, with warmer weather already sweeping across Asia and a hotter-than-usual summer expected in Europe.

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month’s temperatures globally were 1.58C (2.8F) above historical averages and marked the hottest April on record. The past 12 months have been 1.61C higher than pre-industrial temperatures, exceeding the 1.5C threshold that policymakers and scientists say could threaten life on the planet.

“Whilst temperature variations associated with natural cycles like El Niño come and go, the extra energy trapped into the ocean and the atmosphere by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will keep pushing the global temperature towards new records,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.

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World Extends Run of Heat Records for 11th Straight Month https://t.co/058Y6sQ6Hd

— Shehzad Younis شہزاد یونس (@shehzadyounis) May 8, 2024

The bet is that global capital will do the heavy lifting on infrastructure once the red carpet is rolled out. It is a risky proposition in a changed world order where industrial policy is de rigueur, and the new gospel is how to leverage private investment with public seed money.

But not every country has a Vaca Muerta to offer. McKinsey says the basin will need $45bn of investment over the next 10 years to reach scale, beyond the means of the Argentine state in any plausible scenario.

Foreign investors are keeping a watchful eye on the Peronist backlash, so far gaining little traction in a country hungry for a fresh start – like washed-out Britain in the 1970s after hitting bottom during the three-day week.

Mr Milei’s omnibus law has successfully run the gauntlet through the lower house of parliament after much horse-trading, but doing better in his showdown with the discredited parties of the ‘casta’ than many expected. The senate will be harder (he has only seven seats) but he carries the big stick of decree power if all else fails, like Emmanuel Macron in today’s France.

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Milei’s Argentina is fast becoming the Texas of Latin America
The country’s vast shale reserves are the president’s most potent economic weapon https://t.co/KbX0liJuIe

— Paul Deaux (@deauxpaul) May 8, 2024

In the decades immediately ahead, East Asia will experience perhaps the modern world’s most dramatic demographic shift. All of the region’s main states—China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—are about to enter into an era of depopulation, in which they will age dramatically and lose millions of people. According to projections from the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic Social Affairs, China’s and Japan’s populations are set to fall by eight percent and 18 percent, respectively, between 2020 and 2050. South Korea’s population is poised to shrink by 12 percent. And Taiwan’s will go down by an estimated eight percent. The U.S. population, by contrast, is on track to increase by 12 percent.

People—human numbers and the potential they embody—are essential to state power. All else being equal, countries with more people have more workers, bigger economies, and a larger pool of potential soldiers. As a result, growing countries find it much easier to augment power and extend influence abroad. Shrinking ones, by contrast, struggle to maintain their sway.

East Asian countries will be no exception: the realm of the possible for its states will be radically constricted by the coming population drop. They will find it harder to generate economic growth, accumulate investments, and build wealth; to fund their social safety nets; and to mobilize their armed forces. They will face mounting pressure to cope with domestic or internal challenges. Accordingly, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan will be prone to look inward. China, meanwhile, will face a growing—and likely unbridgeable—gap between its ambitions and capabilities.

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In the coming decades, all of East Asia’s main states will experience an era of depopulation, making it more difficult for them to generate economic growth, mobilize armed forces, and extend influence abroad, writes Nicholas Eberstadt.https://t.co/uELJupGylq

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) May 8, 2024

Walking past empty pews and stained-glass windows, the Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin, pastor of Inglewood First United Methodist Church in Inglewood, Calif., talked about how housing prices were threatening his flock.

Congregants were being priced out of the neighborhood, he said. Many of those who remained were too burdened by rent to give to the church.

As Mr. Cyrus-Franklin spoke, a 78-year-old man named Bill Dorsey was a few yards away in an outdoor corridor that led to the chapel, amid tarps and piles of clothes. Mr. Dorsey’s makeshift residence, which the church tolerates, is one of several homeless encampments that sit in and around Inglewood First’s property, which is in a neighborhood of modest homes and small apartment buildings near Los Angeles International Airport.

“We know their stories and we know how hard it is to find housing,” Mr. Cyrus-Franklin said.

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What Would Jesus Do? Tackle the Housing Crisis, Say Some Congregations. https://t.co/Hggl8Ggk1a #PMMilestone #Projectmanager #Projectmanagement #PMP #PMOT #constructionmanager #planning #businessplanning #management #projectmanagementtemplates #construction #engineering #PMO… pic.twitter.com/sXhuJQ5kyf

— Hassan Eliwa, PhD (@hassan_khe) April 28, 2024

Lord God, who in thy compassion didst grant to the Lady Julian many revelations of thy nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek thee above all things, for in giving us thyself thou givest us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England celebrates Julian of Norwich, Spiritual Writer, c.1417

Image: Stained glass depiction in the Parish Church of St Andrew the Apostle, Holt, Norfolk. Photo: David from Colorado Springs, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons pic.twitter.com/RcWCUF5QZl

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 8, 2024

O Almighty God, who hast created the earth for man, and man for thy glory: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and be mindful of thy covenant; that both the earth may yield her increase, and the good seed of thy Word may bring forth abundantly, to the glory of thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Guten Morgen 🌼🌱🌼🌱🌼🌱
🌼🌱🌼🌱 Schönen Mittwoch! pic.twitter.com/fGV65A6UPx

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) May 8, 2024

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

–Ephesians 1:1-10

Robin Hood's Bay ♥️ pic.twitter.com/fwx5RiY8Di

— Visit North Yorkshire (@visitnorthyork) May 8, 2024