☕ Stories inside El Salvador's prisons

Good morning!

President Trump will speak about America’s AI future today at a tech summit in DC, and is expected to announce an “action plan” for how the U.S. can win the global race to lead the innovation charge. We’ll keep an eye on all the developments, and update you tomorrow morning.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• The U.S. has withdrawn from UNESCO for the second time, cutting nearly 8% of the UN cultural organization's funding. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said the withdrawal was "regrettable but anticipated" and the agency had prepared by diversifying funding sources. The Trump administration cited UNESCO's support for "divisive cultural causes" and its inclusion of Palestine in 2011 as reasons for leaving. Trump previously withdrew from UNESCO in 2017, but President Biden had rejoined the organization in 2023.

• More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food aid since May, according to the UN human rights office. Most deaths occurred near distribution centers run by humanitarian groups, as Gaza faces severe shortages with only 30 aid trucks entering daily compared to 500 before the war began. Israel blamed Hamas for stealing supplies and accused aid groups of mismanagement, while workers said Israeli checkpoint delays cause food to spoil before delivery. The deaths add to over 45,000 total casualties in the 15-month conflict.

• President Trump announced a trade agreement with Japan on Tuesday, imposing 15% tariffs on Japanese goods in exchange for $550 billion in Japanese investment. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called the deal a success, saying Japan secured lower tariffs than the initially threatened 25% rate. The agreement allows increased U.S. exports of cars, trucks, rice and agricultural products to Japan, while reducing American tariffs on Japanese automotive parts from 25% to 15%. The deal comes as Ishiba's ruling party faces political pressure following its loss of parliamentary majority.

• Heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne has died at the age of 76. In a statement on X, his family said: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love.” The family did not share the cause of death. As well as his music career, Osbourne also found success in reality TV with the MTV show “The Osbournes”.

I’ve got 1 minute

More than 250 Venezuelan men were released from an El Salvador prison on Friday, four months after the Trump administration deported them there as suspected gang members. The men were freed in a prisoner swap with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who released 10 Americans in exchange. Here's what you need to know.

Context

In March, President Trump declared that Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was staging an "invasion" of the U.S., enabling him to invoke the Alien Enemies Act—a wartime power not used since World War II. Trump then ordered the deportations of suspected members to CECOT, El Salvador's maximum-security prison, using the law to suspend their right to court hearings.

The American Immigration Council said Monday that "most if not all of these men had no real connections to Tren de Aragua at all."

What are the allegations?

Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek Saab announced an investigation into El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele and two officials, alleging the deportees faced sexual assault, beatings, withheld medical treatment, and contaminated food and water.

At a press conference, Saab showed videos of detainees describing torture, along with footage of missing teeth, scars, and injuries sustained at CECOT.

"They beat us with wooden bats and held us in dark rooms," three former detainees told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Significance

The case represents the first mass use of the Alien Enemies Act since Japanese American internment during World War II. Legal experts say it sets a precedent for bypassing immigration courts during declared emergencies.

Many of the deportees had originally fled persecution under Maduro's government and were seeking asylum in the U.S.

The future of the released men remains uncertain. While Maduro celebrated their return, opposition members noted that Venezuelan prisons face similar abuse allegations.

When asked about CECOT conditions, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Washington Post: "Nearly 300 Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer pose a threat to the American people."

I’ve got 2 minutes

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) will bar transgender women from competing in women's sports.

The USOPC oversees the national governing bodies for various sports. These bodies nominate athletes to compete at the Olympics and Paralympics.

It follows an executive order to this effect from President Trump earlier this year.

The move also comes amid global restrictions on trans female athletes and those with differences in sex characteristics (intersex people).

Context

In 2022, openly transgender student Lia Thomas competed at the national college swimming championships. Thomas, who was representing the University of Pennsylvania, tied for fifth in the women’s 200-yard final with another student, Riley Gaines.

Thomas also won the women’s 500-yard freestyle, becoming the first trans female athlete to win a national title.

Over the following years, Gaines has mounted a campaign against Thomas and other trans female athletes in the college and school system, including a lawsuit under Title IX.

This is the law governing sex discrimination in publicly-funded colleges.

Thomas’ college settled the lawsuit earlier this month, wiping her achievements from their official records and banning trans women from women’s events.

Global sporting bodies including World Aquatics and World Athletics have since barred almost all trans women from competing in women’s events.

What happened?

This week, the USOPC updated its athlete safety policy to include a new clause detailing a commitment to comply with an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”.

The order, signed by Trump in early February, has the effect of requiring sporting bodies to provide women with “single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms”. A fact sheet attached to the order calls on the International Olympic Committee to “preserve single-sex sports, a necessity for safety and fairness”.

In its policy update, the USOPC said its goal was to “ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment” consistent with the two documents. The revised athlete safety policy does not itself include the word “transgender”, but instead references compliance with Trump’s order and the amateur sport legislation.

Reactions

A memo from USOPC President Gene Sykes and CEO Sarah Hirshland said: "As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations”. The USOPC does not receive Government funding, however.

In a statement reported by the Associated Press, the National Women's Law Centre said: "By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes”.

The 2028 Summer Olympics will be hosted in Los Angeles, with Trump previously calling for transgender athletes to be excluded from the event. The IOC currently delegates the responsibility to set individual participation policies to the federations of individual sports.

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