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‘It’s not supposed to look like you’re going to dive in’: Historians criticize Trump’s Reflecting Pool makeover as group sues

2026-05-18T08:00:51.235Z / CNN

By Sunlen Serfaty, Devan Cole, Dugald McConnell

PUBLISHED May 18, 2026, 4:00 AM ET

Workers paint the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool a shade called “American flag blue” on May 13.

Al Drago for The Washington Post/Getty Images

Workers with boots dyed an “American Flag Blue” have painted over about two-thirds of the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, covering the dull gray with bright azure following a directive by President Donald Trump to expedite the pace of the project.

Trump earlier this month laid out a timeline that put the project on track to be done this week. However, workers on the ground told CNN recently that they need another month until they are finished, and Trump said Saturday it “should be completed” by July 4, ahead of the US’ 250th birthday.

Time has quickly become one of the most essential factors in this project — one of many in Washington, DC, where Trump is racing to put his stamp on the nation’s capital.

As Trump is charging forward with overhauling the Reflecting Pool, controversy and derision have intensified, bringing a lawsuit that threatens to stop the project mid-paint job, potentially leaving the 2,800-foot pool on the National Mall only partially painted in the blue color he chose.

That court fight is coming to a head this week, when a judge will decide whether to issue an injunction sought by a DC nonprofit.

https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/loops/stellar/prod/22629022-reflecting-pool-loop-slow.mp4?c=original&q=w_480%2Cq_auto%2Cfl_keep_dar

Construction at the reflecting pool in Washington DC

CNN

Trump has disparaged the state of the Reflecting Pool, saying it is feces-infested and in disrepair. He has zeroed in on the color, which he claims no one likes. And he contends that previous administrations failed to repair leaks and other problems.

But critics fear the Reflecting Pool will look more like a swimming pool, with the shine of a country club, like the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. They also contend the administration is skipping required reviews that must be completed before work gets underway — and that the pool will actually be less reflective.

Trump posted images Saturday of a “sample test” at the Reflecting Pool, showing the painted pool with a small amount of water.

https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/loops/stellar/prod/22633696-wash-monum-before-after-2.mp4?c=original&q=w_480%2Cq_auto%2Cfl_keep_dar

A view of the Reflecting Pool, before the painting began and during Trump’s “sample test.”

Donald Trump/Truth Social, Getty Images

Critics: Trump is painting over history

For historians, the new blue paint is more than just a bold aesthetic choice they are simply not fond of — many view the move as Trump painting over history. They note the storied national landmark was the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the Vietnam War protests.

“It’s not supposed to look like you’re going to dive in and swim; it is intended to reflect the great geometry of the classical temple that is the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument,” said Judy Scott Feldman, of the National Mall Coalition, a nonprofit that helps protect the area’s legacy.

“It wasn’t intended as a place that looks jolly like your local golf course,” she added. “The intention is to create both beauty but also to symbolically link the father of the country with the preserver of the country.”

People gather for the March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech, on August 28, 1963.

CBS/Getty Images

Vietnam War protestors splash around in the Reflecting Pool during a rally on May 9, 1970.

David Fenton/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Feldman, of course, is referring first to George Washington, whose monument stands at the other end of the Reflecting Pool, and then to Abraham Lincoln.

Trump has also been intentional about his color choice, a vibrant shade of dark blue that he calls “American Flag Blue.”

“It’s much more beautiful than it was new because it never had the color people wanted, but now it’s going to have the great color,” Trump said earlier this month, as he drove in his presidential motorcade across the drained pool to survey the work.

The Interior Department told CNN in a statement that the color choice will “enhance the visitor experience” and improve reflection over the existing gray concrete.

Charles Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, the nonprofit that’s challenging the project in court, couldn’t disagree more and insists visitors would miss out on seeing themselves in the water as “part of the commemorative landscape.”

“Without immediate judicial intervention, defendants will deface an iconic American landmark, in open violation of Congressionally mandated procedures,” lawyers for the foundation and Birnbaum, who is also a named plaintiff in the case, told the judge in court papers last week.

The nonprofit argues the administration skirted laws mandating an environmental assessment and an opportunity for the public to weigh in, among other things.

US District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, is holding a hearing Thursday on a request from the foundation for a court order halting work on the project. Justice Department attorneys are set to submit written legal arguments in defense of the project by Monday.

Cost, contracts and quality

The growing cost, contract and quality of the work are also under scrutiny.

Trump first said the renovation would cost $1.8 million. But federal records show the price tag is now at $13.1 million for the project.

The Interior Department attributed the sevenfold increase to speeding up the project in time for the country’s 250th birthday celebrations. Officials said the quicker timeline meant more workers working longer hours.

They also say the National Park Service did consider other proposals to fix the leaking, one of the needed repairs, but those were short-term fixes they claim would have ended up costing more in the long term.

The project aims to improve water quality as well, to clear out duck droppings and algae. The National Parks Service is installing an “ozone nanobubbler” filtration system and will have a dedicated crew who will maintain the grounds.

Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a company based in Virginia, was awarded a no-bid contract for the work. Reached by CNN, the company declined to answer questions about the timeline or costs.

Workers apply paint to the Reflecting Pool on May 14.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The project drew tough questions on Capitol Hill earlier this month.

“My understanding is a no-bid contract is reserved for situations where delay would cause serious injury. What’s the injury with the Reflecting Pool?” Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Colorado, asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Burgum didn’t respond and instead pointed out nearly 20 fountains across the city don’t work.

“That’s the serious injury to the government?” Neguse shot back.

Trump has done little to clarify the process.

At first, he touted the contractor as one that worked on swimming pools for him in the past and was “unbelievable” at it.

“He looked at it. He called me up. He said, ‘Sir, we can do something on it,’” the president said in the Oval Office in April.

Earlier this month, the president said he had asked three companies to look at the project and that “the best one gave me a great price.”

Then last week, he said the contract “went to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before.”

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/politics/reflecting-pool-trump-paint

Trump motorcade drives through reflecting pool

President Donald Trump toured the drained Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool renovation site Thursday as his motorcade drove through the landmark, which he praised for its new “American flag blue” coating

0:39 • Source: CNN

Trump motorcade drives through reflectingPool

0:39

In 2012, the Obama administration spent $34 million for the last major renovation of the Reflecting Pool.

Trump administration officials claim, however, that those efforts did not resolve various issues, including that the pool leaks 16 million gallons of water a year.

The president has not shied from making this a political issue. One AI-produced image he shared on Truth Social featured former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi swimming in the Reflecting Pool with what appeared to be human waste, captioned “Dumacrats Love Sewage.”

“It won’t leak, it will shine, and be the pride of Washington D.C. for decades to come,” Trump said in another Truth Social post.

Trump’s psychedelic drug order boosts investor interest with promise of faster reviews

2026-05-18 10:10:22 UTC / Reuters

By Kamal Choudhury and Christy Santhosh

May 18, 2026 10:10 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order encouraging more research into ibogaine, next to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr., Joe Rogan, and Americans for Ibogaine CEO W. Bryan Hubbard, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., April 18, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan… Read more

May 18 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to accelerate psychedelic drug development has raised hopes among companies developing the drugs that it could help attract more capital, but researchers cautioned that new treatments are still a long way off.

Nine executives and investors interviewed by Reuters said the order could shorten administrative timelines and improve coordination between ​the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Several companies said new funds are still just a hope, but Joseph Tucker, CEO of psychedelic ‌drug developer Enveric Biosciences ENVB.O, told Reuters the company raised $5 million when the news of the Trump order emerged.

Dane Stevens, CEO of Optimi Health OPTI.CD, said his company fielded many calls almost immediately after the order, as potential investors sought to better understand the sector.

“When there’s things that happen from executive orders, the phone rings,” Stevens said.

But seven researchers working to find the medical benefits of the drugs said any new treatment first requires costly, ​time-consuming research, and that most psychedelic drugs are still in the early stages of development and are a long way from hitting the market.

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“I’m cautiously optimistic, but I’m ​not throwing a funding party yet,” said researcher Gül Dölen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, whose work explores how psychedelics may ⁠reopen ‘critical periods’ — windows of heightened brain plasticity that make it easier to relearn behaviors and process trauma.

The FDA highlighted slow development timelines and difficult trial designs in its 2024 decision to ​decline approval of Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD.

A sign the FDA is shifting gears came in April when it granted expedited review to three companies, Compass Pathways CMPS.O, Usona Institute and Transcend Therapeutics, ​all studying psychedelic treatments for mental health conditions.

INVESTORS SEE LOWER RISK

Sa’ad Shah, co-founder of Noetic Fund, a venture fund with investments in psychedelic companies, including Compass Pathways, Definium Therapeutics DFTX.O and AtaiBeckley ATAI.O, said the sector has historically attracted capital from family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trumps-psychedelic-drug-order-boosts-investor-interest-with-promise-faster-2026-05-18/

Now, he hopes the executive order will bring in institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds and public pension plans to the sector by reducing the regulatory uncertainty that ​had kept them on the sidelines and signaling that the sector has credible government backing.

Shah and Sri Teja Mullapudi, Noetic’s scientific lead, said faster FDA engagement could save clinical-stage companies “tens of ​millions of dollars” by compressing some review timelines from 10 to 12 months to as little as one or two months.

Still, investors said the benefits will not be evenly distributed. Late-stage developers with breakthrough therapy ‌designations or ⁠pivotal data are likely to benefit first from expedited reviews or priority vouchers.

For earlier-stage companies, the effect is “more fuzzy” but still positive because more investors may now consider psychedelics an investable category, said Matias Serebrinsky, co-founder of investment firm PsyMed Ventures.

Overview of psychedelic drug developers, their lead treatments, development stage, and regulatory status

COMPANIES SEE FASTER PATH

Robert Barrow, CEO of Definium Therapeutics, which is developing an LSD-based therapy for generalized anxiety disorder, said faster regulatory processes could improve efficiency and reduce waste.

The order’s instruction that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) begin work on scheduling controlled substances after late-stage data are available, rather than waiting until after the FDA approval, in ​particular, could help, he said.

The DEA assigns drugs ​to schedules that determine how tightly they ⁠are controlled and whether they can be prescribed. U.S. authorities recently moved to reclassify cannabis to ease research and investment hurdles.

Srinivas Rao, CEO of AtaiBeckley, said the order’s emphasis on improving communication between the FDA and the DEA on clinical trial protocols and site approvals could shave “several quarters” from ​development timelines.

AtaiBeckley is developing BPL-003, an intranasal formulation of 5-MeO-DMT for treatment-resistant depression.

FUNDING AND COVERAGE CONCERNS TEMPER OPTIMISM

Funding such treatments has been ​difficult, some researchers told Reuters, ⁠because of the government’s historical stance against the use of psychedelic drugs. Removing the regulatory hurdles cracks open a door for more independent study, they said.

PsyMed’s Serebrinsky said the executive order may speed up reviews, but does not provide clarity on insurance reimbursement hurdles for psychedelic therapies.

“Who’s going to pay for it?” Serebrinsky said. “That is an unanswered question, and the EO sort of does not give us ⁠full answers.”

Clinical ​experts cautioned that enthusiasm should not obscure the risks, especially around ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic derived from the African ​iboga plant that featured prominently in the political push by Trump.

Ibogaine has been promoted by veterans’ groups and addiction advocates as a potential treatment for PTSD and substance-use disorders, but companies remain far from bringing an ibogaine-based therapy to ​market, with most studies still in preclinical or early-stage development.

Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Chris Prentice in New York; editing by Caroline Humer and Shinjini Ganguli

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

特朗普再警告伊朗 不达成协议将一无所有

2026年5月18日 18:18 / 联合早报

伊朗持续对外展示强硬立场，图为伊朗军方星期天在德黑兰瓦纳克广场为平民进行武器训练，教导他们如何拆卸和组装枪支，以及瞄准目标。 （路透社）

（华盛顿/耶路撒冷综合电）美国总统特朗普警告，如果伊朗不尽快达成协议，最终将一无所有。据悉，特朗普已同以色列总理内坦亚胡通电话，讨论恢复对伊朗采取军事行动的可能性。

特朗普星期天（5月17日）在社交媒体发文称：“对伊朗来说，时间紧迫。他们最好赶紧行动起来，要快，否则他们将什么都不剩。刻不容缓！”

特朗普同日接受美国新闻网站Axios电话采访时也警告，时间已一分一秒过去，如果伊朗不提出更好的方案，“他们将遭到更猛烈打击”。

Axios引述两名美国官员的话说，特朗普预计于周二（19日）同国家安全团队开会，讨论再次对伊朗采取军事行动的选项。据悉，特朗普仍希望达成结束战争的协议，但伊朗拒绝他的多项要求，且不愿在核问题上做出实质让步，促使他重新考虑军事选项。

以色列媒体报道，内坦亚胡与特朗普星期天通电话，讨论了重启军事行动的可能性。

华盛顿智库昆西研究所执行副总裁帕尔西认为，特朗普正认真考虑采取进一步军事行动。他告诉半岛电视台，美伊双方都认为，再打一轮仗能在未来谈判中给他们带来优势。

美国和伊朗已通过主要调解方巴基斯坦交换几版停战方案，但至今未能达成一致。伊朗媒体称，美国没有在对伊朗方案的最新回应中做出任何具体让步，反而向伊方提出了五项条件。

据法尔斯通讯社报道，这五项条件包括：不向伊朗支付战争赔偿；把400公斤浓缩铀交给美国；伊朗只能保留并继续运行一处核设施；拒绝解冻伊朗资产；所有战线停战都须以开展谈判为前提。

迈赫尔通讯社（Mehr）称，美国拒绝做出具体让步，却试图得到未能通过战争获得的让步，这将导致谈判陷入僵局。

伊朗外交部发言人巴加埃周一（18日）说，伊朗已就美方最新提案做出回应，双方正继续通过巴基斯坦交换意见。

巴加埃也透露，伊朗和阿曼技术团队上周在阿曼会面，讨论霍尔木兹海峡安全过境机制，两国专家下周将继续相关讨论。

波斯湾国家持续遭受空袭

另一方面，波斯湾国家持续遭受空袭，凸显美伊停火协议的脆弱。

沙特阿拉伯星期天拦截了三架来自伊拉克领空的无人机。与此同时，阿联酋的巴拉卡（Barakah）核电站外围一台发电机遭无人机袭击后起火，但未造成人员伤亡，辐射水平也未受影响；阿联酋当天还拦截了另两架无人机。

阿联酋外交部以最强烈措辞谴责此次“无端恐怖袭击”，并表明绝不容忍任何对阿联酋安全和主权的威胁。

阿联酋总统顾问加尔加什暗示，这起袭击与伊朗和它的地区代理组织有关。他在X平台上写道：“无论实施者是祸首或它的代理人，恐怖分子对巴拉卡清洁核电站的袭击，都会使局势出现危险升级。”

国际原子能机构（IAEA）以及沙特阿拉伯、阿曼等地区国家也谴责此次袭击。

伊朗外交部则称，德黑兰对包括阿联酋在内的中东地区国家都没有敌意，各方应警惕外部势力制造分裂的图谋。

特朗普再警告伊朗 不达成协议将一无所有

2026年5月18日 18:18 / 联合早报

（华盛顿/耶路撒冷综合电）美国总统特朗普警告，如果伊朗不尽快达成协议，最终将一无所有。据悉，特朗普已同以色列总理内坦亚胡通电话，讨论恢复对伊朗采取军事行动的可能性。

特朗普星期天（5月17日）在社交媒体发文称：“对伊朗来说，时间紧迫。他们最好赶紧行动起来，要快，否则他们将什么都不剩。刻不容缓！”

特朗普同日接受美国新闻网站Axios电话采访时也警告，时间已一分一秒过去，如果伊朗不提出更好的方案，“他们将遭到更猛烈打击”。

Axios引述两名美国官员的话说，特朗普预计于周二（19日）同国家安全团队开会，讨论再次对伊朗采取军事行动的选项。据悉，特朗普仍希望达成结束战争的协议，但伊朗拒绝他的多项要求，且不愿在核问题上做出实质让步，促使他重新考虑军事选项。

以色列媒体报道，内坦亚胡与特朗普星期天通电话，讨论了重启军事行动的可能性。

伊朗持续对外展示强硬立场，图为伊朗军方星期天在德黑兰瓦纳克广场为平民进行武器训练，教导他们如何拆卸和组装枪支，以及瞄准目标。 （路透社）

华盛顿智库昆西研究所执行副总裁帕尔西认为，特朗普正认真考虑采取进一步军事行动。他告诉半岛电视台，美伊双方都认为，再打一轮仗能在未来谈判中给他们带来优势。

美国和伊朗已通过主要调解方巴基斯坦交换几版停战方案，但至今未能达成一致。伊朗媒体称，美国没有在对伊朗方案的最新回应中做出任何具体让步，反而向伊方提出了五项条件。

据法尔斯通讯社报道，这五项条件包括：不向伊朗支付战争赔偿；把400公斤浓缩铀交给美国；伊朗只能保留并继续运行一处核设施；拒绝解冻伊朗资产；所有战线停战都须以开展谈判为前提。

迈赫尔通讯社（Mehr）称，美国拒绝做出具体让步，却试图得到未能通过战争获得的让步，这将导致谈判陷入僵局。

伊朗外交部发言人巴加埃周一（18日）说，伊朗已就美方最新提案做出回应，双方正继续通过巴基斯坦交换意见。

巴加埃也透露，伊朗和阿曼技术团队上周在阿曼会面，讨论霍尔木兹海峡安全过境机制，两国专家下周将继续相关讨论。

波斯湾国家持续遭受空袭

另一方面，波斯湾国家持续遭受空袭，凸显美伊停火协议的脆弱。

沙特阿拉伯星期天拦截了三架来自伊拉克领空的无人机。与此同时，阿联酋的巴拉卡（Barakah）核电站外围一台发电机遭无人机袭击后起火，但未造成人员伤亡，辐射水平也未受影响；阿联酋当天还拦截了另两架无人机。

阿联酋外交部以最强烈措辞谴责此次“无端恐怖袭击”，并表明绝不容忍任何对阿联酋安全和主权的威胁。

阿联酋总统顾问加尔加什暗示，这起袭击与伊朗和它的地区代理组织有关。他在X平台上写道：“无论实施者是祸首或它的代理人，恐怖分子对巴拉卡清洁核电站的袭击，都会使局势出现危险升级。”

国际原子能机构（IAEA）以及沙特阿拉伯、阿曼等地区国家也谴责此次袭击。

伊朗外交部则称，德黑兰对包括阿联酋在内的中东地区国家都没有敌意，各方应警惕外部势力制造分裂的图谋。

Trump’s MAGA Supreme Court lawyer breaks tradition, but the justices embrace it

2026-05-18T09:00:51.540Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/politics/solicitor-general-john-sauer-supreme-court-conservative-majority

Over the past year, US Solicitor General D. John Sauer has been pushing the boundaries of the law at the Supreme Court with a delivery that is quickfire, confrontational and imbued with MAGA attitude.

President Donald Trump has welcomed it — and the high court has not resisted it.

Sauer, whose hard-hitting positions and uncompromising manner might have turned off the justices of even a decade ago, has been spared the kind of humiliating questions that Chief Justice John Roberts sometimes aimed at the Obama administration solicitor general team.

His hyperbole goes unchecked. And he has largely escaped the admonishment that predecessors as solicitor general received when they changed the government’s position.

Most significantly, Sauer has locked arms with the 6-3 conservative supermajority in its drive to enhance executive power and overhaul voting rights and election law.

How far that goes will be seen in upcoming weeks as the justices are scheduled to finish the current term by July 1. The majority has already sided with the administration in a raft of preliminary challenges to the Trump agenda, allowing him to begin dismantling federal agencies, diminishing international aid and speeding deportations of undocumented migrants.

Sauer first connected with Trump as his personal lawyer, winning him immunity from criminal prosecution at the Supreme Court in 2024. Earlier, as Missouri solicitor general, he was at the vanguard of a last-ditch state lawsuit protesting the 2020 presidential election results that ousted Trump.

Sauer has defied the studied detachment of the solicitor general’s office and openly retained his MAGA-warrior sensibility. When the administration lost the dispute over Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods — a rare, conspicuous defeat — Sauer was at the president’s side as he denounced the justices. Standing before television cameras, Trump called justices “an embarrassment to their families.”

His arguments in that Supreme Court case were some of the most politically charged of the current session.

He conveyed the president’s message in his opening to the justices: “On April 2, President Trump determined that our exploding trade deficits had brought us to the brink of an economic and national security catastrophe.” Echoing the president, Sauer warned that reversing the tariffs “would expose us to ruthless trade retaliation by far more aggressive countries and drive America from strength to failure, with ruinous economic and national security consequences.”

Lawyers who hold the US solicitor general post have certainly reflected the political party of the president who appointed them. But most in the role known as “the 10th justice” have tried to present a dispassionate demeanor and more clearly balance the overall interests of the federal government.

Roy Englert, who has practiced before the Supreme Court for four decades, including in the 1980s as an attorney in the US solicitor general’s office, says Sauer has disrupted the model.

“The solicitor general, consistent with the president and the rest of administration, has been more aggressive than in the first Trump term or prior Republican or Democratic administrations,” Englert said.

His tactic will work, Englert added, only if it “aligns with the Supreme Court’s own jurisprudential preferences.”

The solicitor general in Trump’s first term was Noel Francisco, much more a product of the Washington Republican establishment, working with an administration more restrained than in the second term. Francisco also faced a 5-4 conservative-liberal bench; with today’s additional right-wing vote, the majority has been moving to the right faster.

Sauer, to be sure, is not persuading the justices to go anywhere they are not already bound. The administration’s loss in the dispute over his sweeping tariffs showed the limits of the Trump administration advocacy.

But the Supreme Court’s recent evisceration of the 1965 Voting Rights Act demonstrated where the the solicitor general could guide the court. The decision in Louisiana v. Callais flowed from a decades-long drive led by Roberts. Yet it drew on arguments that Sauer’s team had crafted to subvert a key Voting Rights Act section without overruling it.

Dissenting Justice Elena Kagan recognized the influence of the solicitor general’s office, referring at one point to “the Solicitor General, whose ideas about how to upend (a 1986 voting-rights precedent) the majority largely filches.”

In the vein of the solicitor general’s “friend-of-the-court” brief, Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote for the majority, minimized the consequences of the new test for alleging discrimination in redistricting and said, “We need only update the framework …”

The Trump administration had switched the Justice Department position in the long-running Louisiana controversy, withdrawing support for a state map with two Black-majority congressional districts among the total six.

Trump, after hearing that the court invalidated that map in a decision that would help Republicans, responded, “I love it.”

CNN’s chief supreme court analyst reacts to bombshell ruling
1:52 • Source: CNN

CNN’s chief supreme court analyst reacts to bombshell ruling
1:52

Sauer, 51, came to national prominence in 2024 as he won Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump had been accused of election fraud, conspiracy and other offences in connection with his protest of the election results that validly gave Joe Biden the White House in 2020.

Even before that landmark ruling in Trump v. United States, Sauer had showed his allegiance to Trump. Sauer helped lead a group of states backing a Supreme Court challenge to the outcome of the 2020 election. The justices quickly dismissed the case, Texas v. Pennsylvania.

The week after Trump regained the White House in November 2024, he announced he would nominate Sauer to be US solicitor general, the government’s top lawyer before the Supreme Court.

In that post, Sauer has continually cited the case of Trump v. United States as grounds for greater executive power in this second Trump term. That Roberts opinion for the court emphasized the president’s “conclusive and preclusive” authority.

One pending case, Trump v. Slaughter, could lead the court to greenlight Trump’s removal of independent agency officials before their terms are up. When the controversy centered on former Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter came before the justices in December, Sauer stressed in his brief that, “The President must control all exercises of executive power.”

Adapting language from the immunity case, Sauer also asserted, “Just two Terms ago, the Court reiterated that the President’s ‘conclusive and preclusive’ ‘power to remove executive officers of the United States whom he has appointed may not be regulated by Congress or reviewed by the courts.’ That conclusive and preclusive removal power includes the authority to remove at will the presidentially appointed heads of multimember administrative agencies, such as the FTC.”

During oral arguments, he was adamant regarding expansive presidential power. He also strategically lifted a line from Roberts as he urged the court to overturn a 1935 precedent, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, that had restricted the president’s removal authority.

“Humphrey’s Executor has become a decaying husk with bold and particularly dangerous pretensions,” Sauer asserted, using a Roberts phrase from a 2024 decision that overturned a 40-year principle of judicial deference to federal agencies.

Duncan Hosie, a legal scholar at the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, criticizes Sauer for furthering what Hosie calls “the Trump project.”

“Previous SGs, including in Republican administrations, did not subjugate the office entirely to the president,” Hosie said, adding that Sauer “benefits from a court that is both sympathetic to Trump as an individual and to the framework of the conservative legal movement.”

Sauer offers Trump, and the high court, a distinct blend of zeal and credential.

He obtained a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, Harvard law degree, and clerkship with the late conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia, whom Trump has long held up as the ideal. Unlike many lawyers with that elite experience, however, Sauer left Washington. He returned home to the St. Louis area, serving as an assistant US attorney, then turning to private practice, before becoming the state solicitor general. He also began working on right-wing priorities, including against abortion rights and LGBTQ rights.

The culture-wars emphasis made him a good fit for Trump and for a high court that has rolled back reproductive rights and protections for transgender people.

In their own ways, Trump, Sauer and the Supreme Court have defied the norm. Unlike much of the last half-century, when the bench was ideologically split 5-4, the current Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative supermajority. The right-wing control was cemented in late 2020 with Trump’s appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

At the lectern in the traditional gray morning coat, the gravelly voiced Sauer is all movement. He gestures briskly, his shoulders pump up and down, as he promotes the president’s legal agenda.

Trump has watched Sauer in a courtroom four times, the first three as he was representing him personally in lower courts. In November 2023, Sauer argued against a gag order in Trump’s election subversion case in the DC Circuit; then in January 2024, the first appeal for Trump in his effort to be immune from criminal prosecution; and in September 2024, an appeal of a New York jury’s finding that Trump had sexually abused E. Jean Carroll and its award to her of $5 million.

The fourth opportunity came last month at the Supreme Court, during the dispute over the president’s order attempting to end birthright citizenship for children born of people who lack citizenship.

Trump signed the order on January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, and it was swiftly blocked by lower court judges. It conflicts with the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and with long-standing Supreme Court precedent.

Sauer likely understood the long-shot nature of the case, and Trump himself has predicted defeat. In a rambling Truth Social post earlier this month, he wrote, “based on what I witnessed recently by being the first President in History to attend a Supreme Court session … they will be ruling against us on Birthright Citizenship, making us the only Country in the World that practices this unsustainable, unsafe, and incredibly costly DISASTER.” (In fact, many other countries in the Western Hemisphere, including Canada and Mexico, provide such automatic citizenship.)

The president in that post criticized the court for declining to publicly recognize him. Trump attended as a litigant in the spectator seats. Regarding what he perceived as a slight, he wrote that the “fact was not even recognized or acknowledged, out of respect for the position of President, by the Court – Something which did not go unnoticed by the Fake News Media!”

For all the president’s complaints about the court, the conservative majority is more often than not aligned with him, continuing to bolster the president’s overall executive power.

And Sauer has never faced the pummeling other SGs experienced at the hands of the majority. Liberal justices have occasionally asked him to slow down, and Roberts chastised him during a January argument for interrupting a justice mid-question.

But the chief justice does not challenge Sauer the way he confronted Kagan (when she was solicitor general before President Barack Obama named her to the court) or her successor Donald Verrilli. Roberts was particularly unyielding when the subject was race, for example quizzing Verrilli on elusive voting statistics to suggest certain Voting Rights Act protections were no longer needed.

In a 2013 case, Roberts asked Verrilli, “Do you know which state has the worst ratio of White voter turnout to African American voter turnout?” When Verrilli, defending the 1965 VRA, said he did not, Roberts said, “Massachusetts,” and added, “Do you know what has the best, where African American turnout actually exceeds White turnout? Mississippi.”

Often when liberals pounce on Sauer’s arguments, conservatives come to his defense. That happened in the Trump v. Slaughter case that could give the president a freer hand to fire the heads of independent regulatory agencies.

“Counsel,” senior liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor began as she challenged Sauer’s argument for the reversal of precedent, “So you’re thinking or you’re arguing that the reasoning of the more current justices on this Court have more purchase than the views of renowned jurists like (Oliver Wendell) Holmes and (Louis) Brandeis … you’re suggesting that we have a better view than … all of those previous justices about what absolute executive power means?”

A few beats later, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of Trump’s three Supreme Court nominees, threw him a lifeline.

“In response to Justice Sotomayor’s question, you have (Chief Justice William Howard) Taft and Scalia, right? That’s not too shabby.”

“I think those are outstanding jurists,” Sauer rejoined enthusiastically, “and, with respect to Justice Scalia in particular, one of the greatest jurists in the history of the court.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmsVIRk3sBc

夏季能源需求高峰来临 全球能源危机趋近危险阶段

2026年5月18日 19:17 / 联合早报

AI摘要

• 夏季来临，全球能源需求增加，加剧原油、汽油、柴油和航空燃料的压力。
• 布伦特原油价格已超过每桶105美元，经济师警告可能飙升至180美元，导致通货膨胀和经济衰退。
• 76个国家采取紧急措施应对能源危机，包括增加库存和改变支持政策。
• 全球石油日耗量比产量多约600万桶，库存以创纪录速度下降。
• 美伊战争已使全球企业损失至少250亿美元，多个行业受影响。

本摘要由AI辅助生成，仅供参考

美伊战争在全球多国引发能源危机。5月15日，在印度西部大城市艾哈迈达巴德，电单车骑士赶在汽油价格再度上涨前，纷纷到油站加油。 （法新社）

（伦敦综合电）美伊战争引发的能源危机正逼近更危险的新阶段。目前已有近80个国家出台了紧急措施来保护国家经济，但随着北半球夏季来临，消暑需求和假日出行将进一步加剧对原油、汽油、柴油和航空燃料的需求压力。

《金融时报》报道，经济师和交易员警告，除非有更多滞留在波斯湾地区的燃料能够通过如今被封锁的霍尔木兹海峡出口，否则危机的下一阶段可能就是能源价格再次大幅上涨、燃料配给、工业停产以及全球经济增长显著放缓的影响扩大。

目前布伦特原油基准价格处于每桶105美元以上。基金管理公司安本（Aberdeen）首席经济师迪格尔说，他的团队已在研究布伦特原油飙升至每桶180美元的情景，这将导致许多欧洲和亚洲国家的通货膨胀率高涨并陷入经济衰退。

由于前景堪忧，更多国家开始未雨绸缪。澳大利亚承诺斥资100亿澳元（约91亿新元）来增加燃料和化肥库存；法国政府决定“改变支持的范围与规模”，以保护国家经济免受危机冲击；印度加紧充实外汇储备，同时敦促人民不要购买黄金或出国度假。

国际能源署估计，就此采取紧急措施的国家数量已达76个，比3月底的55个增加很多。

石油供不应求库存速降 临界点什么时候到来难预测

自美伊开战以来，全球的能源一直处于供不应求的状态，导致全球库存以创纪录的速度下降。

国际能源署估计，在3月至6月间，全球石油日耗量比产量多大约600万桶。一些分析师甚至认为，这个缺口可能接近每天800万至900万桶。

这个庞大缺口已经将交易商在陆地和海上的石油库存耗尽。各国政府虽释放战略储备救急，目前每天有超过200万桶应急原油流入市场，但许多释放计划到7月截止。

国际能源署说，自美伊战争爆发以来，全球储备已减少近3亿8000万桶，不包括滞留波斯湾地区而无法运出的库存。

至于究竟什么时候会达到临界点，目前还难以预测。全球石油储备（超过30亿桶）大部分由石油公司、交易商和炼油厂持有，但这个“库存”的绝大部分是确保整体系统运转的存在。输油管道内需有一定的输油量来维持压力，炼油厂需要持续不断的原油供应，储油罐不能完全排空否则会有损坏风险。

分析师指出，在这些库存归零之前，市场将早就陷入停滞了。

战争已使全球企业损失250亿美元

分析师预计，对于大多数发达经济体，这场危机将主要表现为价格上涨，而不是彻底的短缺。在发展中国家的大部分地区，短缺则已经显现。巴基斯坦、斯里兰卡和菲律宾已因此实行四天工作制。

受危机直接冲击最大的行业是石化和航空业。

汇丰银行欧洲油气研究主管福斯蒂尔说，目前冲击消费者的“震中”是成品油，因为库存在迅速收缩。这是由于炼油商不愿购买昂贵的原油并支付飙升的运输成本。许多炼油商一直在消耗现有库存，选择押注于冲突不久能结束。

另据路透社估计，美伊战争已令全球企业损失至少250亿美元（约320亿新元），原因包括能源价格飙升、供应链中断以及霍尔木兹海峡遭封锁导致贸易航线受阻等。

至少279家公司已采取提高价格和减产等应对措施，另一些则暂停分红或股票回购、暂时停工、加收燃油附加费，或寻求政府紧急援助。

这些公司来自各行各业，包括化妆品、轮胎、洗涤剂、游轮运营商和航空公司等。其中，大多数在能源价格原就居高不下的欧洲，另外近三分之一在亚洲。这也反映出这些地区对中东石油和燃料产品的高度依赖。

US states reject anti-vaccine bills as public health groups fight MAHA

May 18, 2026 10:06 AM UTC / Reuters

By Leah Douglas

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gestures as he speaks during the inaugural Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 12, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – Dozens of state anti-vaccine bills backed by “Make America Healthy Again” supporters have failed after public health groups won over Republican state lawmakers, marking a series of defeats for the backers ​of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The failures show a limit to the political power of the MAHA coalition groups that had set out this year to pass ‌laws against mandatory vaccinations in at least 10 states, hoping to capitalize on a rise in anti-vaccine sentiment and their role in helping elect President Donald Trump.

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Pro-vaccine groups and medical associations including American Families for Vaccines, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others lobbied in statehouses against bills seeking to end policies like school vaccine mandates, according to Reuters interviews with seven organizations.

Vaccine advocates used polling data and personal appeals to convince lawmakers in Republican-controlled states ​such as West Virginia, Louisiana and Florida that their constituents support vaccination and that the MAHA-backed bills posed a threat to public health.

“Even though this is an increasingly partisan ​space, Republicans across the board are not anti-vaccine and there are lawmakers that really just want sensible, transparent vaccine policy,” said Dr. Erin ⁠Abramsohn, executive director of the Infectious Disease Prevention Network, which fought anti-vaccine bills in 10 states this year.

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A February Reuters/Ipsos poll found that a bipartisan majority of Americans support school vaccination requirements and ​think vaccines are safe for children.

Kennedy, a long-time anti-vaccine activist, has used his post to advance several actions against mandatory inoculations including removing some shots from the childhood immunization schedule.

The childhood vaccine schedule ​changes were put on hold as part of a lawsuit addressing the overhaul of vaccine policies under Kennedy, who has a history of making claims about vaccines contrary to scientific evidence.

The White House has directed Kennedy not to take further steps against vaccines ahead of the November midterm elections, when Republicans will defend a slim majority in Congress.

A Department of Health and Human Services official said the agency does not comment on legislation.

ANTI-VACCINE BILLS ON ​THE RISE

While anti-vaccine bills have been proposed before, more emerged this year due to the coordinated efforts of MAHA groups, the groups told Reuters.

“In the past where you might have seen ​a couple of bills, now there’s hundreds of anti-vaccine bills in the state legislatures,” said Lecia Imbery, government affairs director of Vaccinate Your Family. VYF names some vaccine makers as donors in its annual report, including ‌Pfizer and ⁠Moderna.

Those states include Idaho, which saw six bills introduced; West Virginia, which saw nine; Tennessee, which saw eight; and South Dakota, which saw five – none of which passed, said Abramsohn.

Idaho last year passed a first-in-the-nation ban on vaccine mandates, but failed to advance further anti-vaccine legislation this session. Florida, too, discussed doing away with vaccine mandates but did not pass bills to do so during its legislative session.

To convince Republican lawmakers to oppose the bills, the pro-vaccine groups pointed to polling that showed constituents value vaccine mandates as a public health tool and said the elected officials could face political ​consequences if they supported anti-vaccine legislation.

“There’s a lot ​of people running for office, so this ⁠could potentially hurt them… in future elections if they were to vote against public health,” said Elizabeth Faber, director of programs at the Iowa Public Health Association.

Iowa public lobbying records give a snapshot of the advocacy push. Faber said advocates there were monitoring 18 anti-vaccine bills, one of ​which would have removed vaccine requirements for primary and secondary school students.

Nearly three dozen organizations lobbied against the bill, including the Iowa ​Nurses Association, Iowa Academy of ⁠Family Physicians, and the Iowa Association of School Boards, the records show. Just two groups, Iowans for Freedom and Inspired Life, lobbied for the bill. The records did not show how much money was spent on the lobbying effort.

BILLS ‘NOT GOING AWAY’

Both public health and anti-vaccine advocates say they expect to see more debate over vaccine policy in statehouses.

Leah Wilson, founder of Stand for Health Freedom, which promoted what ⁠it calls “medical freedom” ​legislation such as anti-vaccine mandate bills in a dozen states this year, said she is encouraged by the momentum ​those bills have seen, including hearings in five states.

“It’s definitely an issue that’s rising,” Wilson said. “It’s quite encouraging to see the civic engagement that we’re seeing right now.”

In Iowa, more legislators have joined caucuses to pursue anti-vaccine legislation, signaling ​more bills will be introduced down the road, said Iowa’s Faber.

“We definitely know that this is not going away,” she said.

Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

5 things to know for May 18: Prayer event, Trump’s new warning, primaries, Ebola outbreak, severe storms

May 18, 2026 6:40 AM ET / CNN

Many of us already have a complicated relationship with Mondays. This one could be especially rough for New Yorkers: city officials are warning of major travel disruptions as strikes disrupt America’s busiest commuter railroad.

Here’s what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day.

Attendees participate in the National Mall prayer event in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

Eric Lee/Reuters

1️⃣ Prayer event

An all-day prayer event on the National Mall on Sunday — backed by taxpayer dollars and private donations — has become the latest flashpoint in the debate over the separation of church and state under the Trump administration. The gathering in Washington, DC, was part of a broader push by the White House to elevate Christianity in the government’s operations, culture and policy. Experts CNN spoke with were split on whether the event was constitutional. Read more.

MORE:Religion is ‘back in fashion’ in America

2️⃣ Trump’s new warning

President Donald Trump is escalating his rhetoric toward Iran as he considers resuming US military strikes there. In a social media post on Sunday, Trump warned that if Iran does not move quickly toward a deal, “there won’t be anything left of them.” The threat came a day after he met with his national security team to discuss the path forward on the war. Read more.

3️⃣ Primaries

It’s a big week in US politics. Several states are holding primary elections on Tuesday, but one of the biggest political battlegrounds is Georgia, where high-stakes House and Senate contests could shape key midterm races. The results may also test President Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, especially after a Louisiana primary over the weekend showed the risks of opposing him. Read more.

4️⃣ Ebola outbreak

An international effort is underway to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda that has infected hundreds and caused at least 80 suspected deaths. The CDC is also working to relocate a “small number of Americans” who were reportedly affected. Read more.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/us/5-things-to-know-for-may-18-prayer-event-trumps-new-warning-primaries-ebola-outbreak-severe-storms

CDC to deploy resources to Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda

2:50

5️⃣ Severe storms

A rare high-end tornado threat has been issued for parts of the central US as a severe storm outbreak is expected to peak today. Forecasters warn dangerous conditions across the Plains and Midwest could bring intense tornadoes — including long-track EF3s or stronger — along with destructive hail, damaging winds and torrential rain. Read more.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/us/5-things-to-know-for-may-18-prayer-event-trumps-new-warning-primaries-ebola-outbreak-severe-storms

Tornado tears through Nebraska town

0:32

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Gallery: Dazzling photographs show nature in a new way

Rivers resemble woven yarn and microscopic organisms look like jewels in photographer Jon McCormack’s striking new collection below.

Dazzling photographs show nature in a new way
17 photos

Flamingos fly over Lake Magadi, an alkaline lake in southern Kenya.

Jon McCormack

-1 / 17

Diatoms, single-celled algae with glass-like silica shells, resemble intricate jewels under a microscope. McCormack was able to capture this image using a lab-grade scientific microscope modified to fit a mirrorless camera on top of it. He quickly noticed taking images this way resulted in an extremely shallow depth of field, meaning only one tiny sliver was in focus. McCormack needed to employ a digital imaging technique commonly referred to as “focus stacking,” where multiple images taken at different focus distances are merged to achieve one, fully in-focus image. The final photograph seen here was created from a stack of 25 pictures.

Jon McCormack

0 / 17

Flame-colored minerals create a stunning display as they flow through Iceland’s glacial rivers.

Jon McCormack

1 / 17

Flamingos fly over Lake Magadi, an alkaline lake in southern Kenya.

Jon McCormack

2 / 17

Long after the sun dips below the horizon, Death Valley’s red evening light lingers, casting soft pink hues across the dunes. When photographing a subject as large as these dunes, McCormack said he tries to simplify the scene by focusing on what specifically appeals to him. “For that, it really was these really sharp, windblown creases and lines and edges,” McCormack said. “And so then it was just a case of searching for a composition. And then it was waiting for the light.”

Jon McCormack

3 / 17

It was this photograph of California’s Monterey Bay that started the yearslong project. “This was the image that took me from sort of this idea of literal photography to being much more willing to play with and interpret the landscape in front of me,” McCormack told CNN. “Instead of saying, ‘This is what it looked like,’ to also use the photograph to say, ‘This is what it felt like to be there.’”

Jon McCormack

4 / 17

Air bubbles frozen under the floor of an ice cave appear as delicate rings within Iceland’s Vatnajökull glacier.

Jon McCormack

5 / 17

“Some images were taken in pretty exotic places, but some of them weren’t,” McCormack said of the photos in his book. In the case of this hibiscus petal, it was photographed in a friend’s garden.

Jon McCormack

6 / 17

Seen in detail, cactus-like spires of a candelabra tree become a living sculpture.

Jon McCormack

7 / 17

Trails left by hippos wind through marshland in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

Jon McCormack

8 / 17

McCormack shoots mostly with a 600 millimeter telephoto lens when looking for patterns. Sometimes he will also use teleconverters to make the lens even longer, turning it into an 840 millimeter or 1200 millimeter lens. In other words, he can photograph things from really far away. But even so, he said there’s still a need to get up close and personal with some subjects, such as the giraffe seen here. “I’ll need to be within 20 or 30 yards of the animal to really be able to isolate out that pattern,” McCormack said.

Jon McCormack

9 / 17

Water etches purple patterns into sand in Iceland.

Jon McCormack

10 / 17

Dusk settles over Death Valley’s Panamint Range.

Jon McCormack

11 / 17

Bold and abstract patterns make up the plumage of a vulturine guineafowl photographed in Kenya.

Jon McCormack

12 / 17

In Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, flamingos sweep across lakes and rivers, adding bursts of life and color to the landscape. The image is serene, but capturing it McCormack explained, was “chaos.” He estimates he spent six hours flying up and down the valley before coming across the grasslands that serve as the background of this image. While leaning out of an open helicopter door, about 1,000 feet above the ground, he began to photograph. “The first thing I did was photograph just the grasslands by themselves,” McCormack said. “And then all of a sudden in comes this unexpected flock of flamingos … and then it’s just this really frantic searching for a composition.”

Jon McCormack

13 / 17

Glacial water winds through volcanic sand in Iceland.

Jon McCormack

14 / 17

Red and golden bands shimmer in this macro photograph of a tiger’s eye stone in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Jon McCormack

15 / 17

Shaped by flowing water, sediment in a river delta spreads like a giant fan.

Jon McCormack

16 / 17

Diatoms, single-celled algae with glass-like silica shells, resemble intricate jewels under a microscope. McCormack was able to capture this image using a lab-grade scientific microscope modified to fit a mirrorless camera on top of it. He quickly noticed taking images this way resulted in an extremely shallow depth of field, meaning only one tiny sliver was in focus. McCormack needed to employ a digital imaging technique commonly referred to as “focus stacking,” where multiple images taken at different focus distances are merged to achieve one, fully in-focus image. The final photograph seen here was created from a stack of 25 pictures.

Jon McCormack

17 / 17

Flame-colored minerals create a stunning display as they flow through Iceland’s glacial rivers.

Jon McCormack

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Flamingos fly over Lake Magadi, an alkaline lake in southern Kenya.

Jon McCormack

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Long after the sun dips below the horizon, Death Valley’s red evening light lingers, casting soft pink hues across the dunes. When photographing a subject as large as these dunes, McCormack said he tries to simplify the scene by focusing on what specifically appeals to him. “For that, it really was these really sharp, windblown creases and lines and edges,” McCormack said. “And so then it was just a case of searching for a composition. And then it was waiting for the light.”

Jon McCormack

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Dazzling photographs show nature in a new way

And finally…

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/us/5-things-to-know-for-may-18-prayer-event-trumps-new-warning-primaries-ebola-outbreak-severe-storms

US aircraft carrier returns home after record …

1:39

▶️ Welcome home

A US Navy aircraft carrier is back home after a record-breaking deployment. See some of the sailors’ touching reunions with their families.

Today’s edition of 5 Things AM was edited and produced by CNN’s Andrew Torgan.

夏季能源需求高峰来临 全球能源危机趋近危险阶段

2026年5月18日 19:17 / 联合早报

美伊战争在全球多国引发能源危机。5月15日，在印度西部大城市艾哈迈达巴德，电单车骑士赶在汽油价格再度上涨前，纷纷到油站加油。 （法新社）

（伦敦综合电）美伊战争引发的能源危机正逼近更危险的新阶段。目前已有近80个国家出台了紧急措施来保护国家经济，但随着北半球夏季来临，消暑需求和假日出行将进一步加剧对原油、汽油、柴油和航空燃料的需求压力。

《金融时报》报道，经济师和交易员警告，除非有更多滞留在波斯湾地区的燃料能够通过如今被封锁的霍尔木兹海峡出口，否则危机的下一阶段可能就是能源价格再次大幅上涨、燃料配给、工业停产以及全球经济增长显著放缓的影响扩大。

目前布伦特原油基准价格处于每桶105美元以上。基金管理公司安本（Aberdeen）首席经济师迪格尔说，他的团队已在研究布伦特原油飙升至每桶180美元的情景，这将导致许多欧洲和亚洲国家的通货膨胀率高涨并陷入经济衰退。

由于前景堪忧，更多国家开始未雨绸缪。澳大利亚承诺斥资100亿澳元（约91亿新元）来增加燃料和化肥库存；法国政府决定“改变支持的范围与规模”，以保护国家经济免受危机冲击；印度加紧充实外汇储备，同时敦促人民不要购买黄金或出国度假。

国际能源署估计，就此采取紧急措施的国家数量已达76个，比3月底的55个增加很多。

石油供不应求库存速降 临界点什么时候到来难预测

自美伊开战以来，全球的能源一直处于供不应求的状态，导致全球库存以创纪录的速度下降。

国际能源署估计，在3月至6月间，全球石油日耗量比产量多大约600万桶。一些分析师甚至认为，这个缺口可能接近每天800万至900万桶。

这个庞大缺口已经将交易商在陆地和海上的石油库存耗尽。各国政府虽释放战略储备救急，目前每天有超过200万桶应急原油流入市场，但许多释放计划到7月截止。

国际能源署说，自美伊战争爆发以来，全球储备已减少近3亿8000万桶，不包括滞留波斯湾地区而无法运出的库存。

至于究竟什么时候会达到临界点，目前还难以预测。全球石油储备（超过30亿桶）大部分由石油公司、交易商和炼油厂持有，但这个“库存”的绝大部分是确保整体系统运转的存在。输油管道内需有一定的输油量来维持压力，炼油厂需要持续不断的原油供应，储油罐不能完全排空否则会有损坏风险。

分析师指出，在这些库存归零之前，市场将早就陷入停滞了。

战争已使全球企业损失250亿美元

分析师预计，对于大多数发达经济体，这场危机将主要表现为价格上涨，而不是彻底的短缺。在发展中国家的大部分地区，短缺则已经显现。巴基斯坦、斯里兰卡和菲律宾已因此实行四天工作制。

受危机直接冲击最大的行业是石化和航空业。

汇丰银行欧洲油气研究主管福斯蒂尔说，目前冲击消费者的“震中”是成品油，因为库存在迅速收缩。这是由于炼油商不愿购买昂贵的原油并支付飙升的运输成本。许多炼油商一直在消耗现有库存，选择押注于冲突不久能结束。

另据路透社估计，美伊战争已令全球企业损失至少250亿美元（约320亿新元），原因包括能源价格飙升、供应链中断以及霍尔木兹海峡遭封锁导致贸易航线受阻等。

至少279家公司已采取提高价格和减产等应对措施，另一些则暂停分红或股票回购、暂时停工、加收燃油附加费，或寻求政府紧急援助。

这些公司来自各行各业，包括化妆品、轮胎、洗涤剂、游轮运营商和航空公司等。其中，大多数在能源价格原就居高不下的欧洲，另外近三分之一在亚洲。这也反映出这些地区对中东石油和燃料产品的高度依赖。

研究：移居海外美国人数量创新高

2026年5月18日 19:27 / 联合早报

布鲁金斯学会指出，严格的移民政策和驱逐行动是促使一些美国人选择移居海外的原因。图为示威者5月12日在纽约市联邦广场外参加反对美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）的抗议活动。 （法新社）

（华盛顿讯）研究发现，移居海外的美国人数量创下历史新高，导致美国2025年的净移民人数为负值。这是至少50年来，美国首次出现离境人数超过入境人数的情况。

美国消费者新闻与商业频道（CNBC）报道，布鲁金斯学会的研究显示，美国2025年的净移民人数为负值，介于1万至29万5000人之间。估算区间最大的是自愿离境人群，预计去年有约21万至40万5000人主动离开美国。

布鲁金斯学会指出，严格的移民政策和驱逐行动是部分原因。一些美国公民则因求学、工作、抚育子女、退休等各种原因选择移居海外。

提供海外搬迁咨询的公司Expatsi本月举办的一场移居海外活动吸引约600人参加，是去年的两倍。

公司对与会者展开的抽样调查显示，约89%受访者称，政治因素是他们考虑离开的主要动机。其他人则说，移居是为了寻求冒险与成长（73%），以及节省开支（57%）。

约三分之二的受访者希望在两年内搬离美国，他们的平均月预算为3856美元（近5000新元）；在有意移居的人群中，单身人士占44%，伴侣占39%，有孩子的家庭占17%。

41岁的德尔和妻子正在考虑移居墨西哥。

德尔称，夫妻俩的移居时间表将取决于2026年美国中期选举的结果，如果民主党夺回参众两院的控制权，并采取“立即且实质性的行动，扭转本届政府做出的破坏性决定，那将会影响我们的时间表”以及移居的动力。