DAILY NEWS Stream – May 19, 2026

A large delegation of top US CEOs joins US President Trump in China as Beijing signals it will widen market access to American businesses, with executives from Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, Boeing, major banks, and financial firms seeking expanded market access, tariff relief, and regulatory concessions, while both governments discuss trade, investment and technology issues. Mr. Trump states there have been verbal commitments by the Chinese government for major purchases including Boeing jets and US agricultural goods (Reuters)

The UK government launches a £12.4 million Fostering Innovation Fund to modernize foster care in England by supporting more flexible, inclusive models, expanding partnerships and pilot programs through Regional Care Cooperatives and fostering hubs, with the goal of recruiting more diverse caregivers and creating 10,000 additional foster places during this Parliament (Gov.uk)

Sweden temporarily cuts fuel taxes and launches a 17.5-billion-krona energy relief package, about US$1.88 billion, to shield households and businesses from Middle East war–driven price spikes, lowering gasoline and diesel by 3 kronor, about US$0.30, per liter and adding electricity-bill refunds (Reuters)

British advertising regulators ban two ads for British beef and milk after environmentalist Chris Packham (vegan) successfully challenges claims about their carbon footprint. The ads, part of the AHDB [Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board]’s “Let’s Eat Balanced” campaign, asserts that British beef has a carbon footprint “half the global average” and that British milk’s footprint is a third lower than international levels. Mr. Packham argues the figures were misleading because they did not reflect the products’ environmental impact during their entire life cycles, neglecting emissions such as those created once purchased by the consumer. The UK’s ASA [Advertising Standards Authority] agreed, finding that the AHDB’s evidence was insufficient to support such broad claims and therefore barred the ads from further broadcast in their current form (Vegan Food & Living)

Singapore announces that, starting May 16, all first-time drug abusers who voluntarily surrender to the Central Narcotics Bureau will no longer be detained in the Drug Rehabilitation Centre but instead enter rehabilitation in the community under supervision and mandatory case management, a shift Singapore’s Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong says is meant to encourage early help-seeking amid rising youth drug use and regional methamphetamine trends (Channel News Asia)

The European Commission adopts a Global Health Resilience Initiative that sets a new framework for strengthening global prevention, preparedness and response to future health threats by promoting a more coherent global health architecture, supporting country-led health systems, reinforcing international epidemic readiness, diversifying supply chains for key medical products and countering health misinformation, with nine flagship measures to be rolled out from 2026 to 2027 (European Commission)

An expert uses paradoxical intention to combat insomnia by telling patients to stay awake. British physician and sleep expert Dr. Deborah Lee explains that forcing sleep increases stress, while this reverse psychology trick reduces performance anxiety. By leaning into wakefulness, the brain relaxes and falls asleep faster. The method specifically targets stress-induced sleeplessness rather than medical conditions. She says, “Just keep repeating the phrase in your head ‘do not fall asleep’.” (VnExpress)

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ituri province, a deadly Ebola outbreak kills 65 people, with 246 suspected cases, and raises fears of wider spread. Health officials confirm the Bundibugyo strain caused the outbreak. Experts warn that heavy travel through Ituri’s mining towns and border regions could accelerate transmission and complicate containment efforts (The Guardian)

University of Edinburgh [Scotland, UK] researchers discover that widened brain arteries, rather than fatty blockages, trigger lacunar ischemic strokes [ones that occur deep within the brain]. This breakthrough may explain why standard aspirin and other antiplatelet treatments often fail to prevent the condition (SciTech Daily)

Multiple wildfires have burned more than 18,000 hectares across parts of northern Texas and eastern New Mexico [US] since May 14, triggering evacuations near Amarillo, Texas, and the Texas-New Mexico border and destroying structures and a railroad bridge. Firefighters make progress containing several blazes (The Watchers)

The US Climate Prediction Center says the El Niño weather pattern has an 82% chance of forming between May and July 2026 and has a 98% chance of persisting through the Northern Hemisphere winter [December 2026- February 2027]. Experts warn the climate pattern may increase the risk of drought and agricultural disruptions in parts of Asia (Reuters)

Blinding dust storms cause multiple highway crashes across parts of North Dakota [US] as visibility drops to zero, creating dangerous travel conditions and prompting state highway patrol officials to urge motorists to avoid travel (The Watchers)

A new Keep America Beautiful study finds US litter down 34% since 2020 — with roadway litter falling 22% and waterway litter 45% — driven by education, better waste infrastructure and public engagement, even as emerging trends such as rising cardboard and e-cigarette waste and extremely high coastal litter densities show where further action is needed (Good News Network)

Organized crime groups expanding drug-trafficking routes and illegal mining operations across the Amazon basin are driving violence and undermining environmental protection, with an International Crisis Group report warning that gangs now operate in about two-thirds of Amazon municipalities (Taipei Times)

Indian students Avyana Mehta, Vivaan Chhawchharia and Ariana Agarwal are selected as the Earth Prize 2026 regional winners for Asia for developing Plas-Stick, a biodegradable powder made from waste tamarind seeds that binds microplastics in stored drinking water so they can be lifted out with a handheld magnet, a low-cost solution designed for rural communities and now supported with US$12,500 in prize funding to scale their work (The Earth Prize)

Animal-people rights groups launch a nationwide Mother’s Day campaign in several large cities across India, including Delhi and Mumbai. Through street theater, activists protest inhumane dairy and animal-people meat industry practices and promote veganism by highlighting the cruel separation of animal-person families (ABP LIVE)

Grocery chain Lidl launches seaweed-based vegan caviar in UK stores under its Vitasia brand. The low-calorie black and orange pearl varieties offer an affordable, sustainable, and kind alternative to traditional caviar (Plant Based News)

V-Label LATAM [certifying organization for vegan products] will host a free virtual VegBusiness event on May 27 for Latin American companies. The seminar will highlight how vegan certification drives sales, regional innovation, and market competitiveness across Latin America (Vegconomist)

The House of Representatives in Missouri [US] approves a bill requiring medical professionals to provide immediate care for babies born alive during or after attempted abortions. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act states these infants must receive the same rights and protections as any Missouri resident and makes intentionally killing such infants first-degree murder. The bill now heads to Governor Mike Kehoe for his approval (LifeNews.com)

A Hong Kong mother, Chau Ting-ting, overcomes suicidal thoughts due to financial hardship and the stress of caring for an autistic son through the Wemp Foundation-backed Mindful Support Programme. The initiative provides therapy funding for high-risk families, enabling Ms. Chau to receive needed mental healthcare and to put her autistic son in a special childcare center (South China Morning Post)

Two sanitation workers in Âu Lạc (Vietnam) rescue two endangered sea turtle-people found entangled in drifting fishing nets while collecting marine waste. After cutting the exhausted animal-persons free and safely releasing them into the ocean, local authorities praise the workers for their inspiring contribution to marine wildlife conservation (Lao Động)

Enlightening quote of the day: “In the morning, greet the energy of the Sun; at night, inhale the vitality of the Moon.” – Sun Bu’er (vegetarian) Venerated Enlightened Master and Taoist Poet (Secret Book on the Inner Elixir)

American Don Johnson shares how he died of a heart attack and was met by his late mother in a brilliant Light of love. Two years before his heart attack, Don and his wife moved into town, choosing a house just two blocks from the hospital. It had not been Don’s first choice, but his wife felt strongly that they needed that house. While they were moving in, Don even pointed the hospital out to his son and joked that, if he ever had a heart attack, he could just take himself there. Then, on February 11, 2020, while training for the Portland Marathon and in the best shape of his life, that is exactly what happened. Don suffered a massive heart attack and went to the emergency room, but because it was the beginning of COVID, the hospital was packed. As he tried to leave, someone stopped him, saw that he did not look right, and within seconds, hospital team members were cutting off his running clothes and telling him he was having a heart attack. Don’s heart stopped in the emergency room, and he was gone for a minute and a half before doctors brought him back.

I didn’t have, like, the hovering over my own body experience, but I did experience the Light, so much warmth, and just love, and a feeling like I’ve never felt before, and I couldn’t explain it if I had to. Then, in the midst of that Light, Don saw someone he recognized. My mother passed away 3 years, on that same day, 3 years prior, from brain cancer. And I saw my mom as plain as day, and young and beautiful, and full of life, and [she] had told me that it wasn’t my time. And I’m told that my cardiac arrest lasted a minute and a half. I do kind of remember the paddles, just how that felt, but the time on the other side was like timeless. It was like it seemed like an eternity, but it didn’t seem like an eternity.

But, when I say bright Light, I mean, I’m talking bright Light, brighter than you could even imagine. Brighter than anything you’ve ever seen on Earth, but not that it would blind you. You could look at it, and it was not blinding, but it was brighter than I could ever — anything I’ve ever seen on Earth. I mean, look straight into the Sun, it’s brighter than that, but it wasn’t blinding. And, I didn’t see any life flashing before my eyes, or any — not even my kids or anything. I literally saw my mom only, and the super bright white Light, and kind of like a — like a marble color around my mom’s aura. But that’s really all I saw.

The last thing I remember was literally the next day, waking up in the ICU, and just literally being in awe for probably 5 minutes that, one, I was still alive, and two, I couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened to me. And it took me, I don’t know, probably a good 2 weeks to fully even, I guess, come down from the experience. Don spent two weeks in the hospital — then, after testing positive for COVID, he was immediately called back and spent more time there. His recovery moved straight from the heart attack into COVID isolation, and when he did mention his near-death experience to others, not everyone believed him.

I had people say that I wasn’t telling the truth, or that I made it up, or that it was some side effect of some drug or something, but I know what I saw, and I know what I felt. And, like, some of those people — if it’s not explained by science, then it doesn’t exist. I’m no longer scared to die, for sure. I mean, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s more love than I felt ever. And I have kids, and I have a great relationship, and have lots of love and great friendships around me, but that is different. It is like just beyond words different.

I sometimes think and dream that, OK, so I died for a little bit, and I came back. So, I sampled it. But what’s beyond — what’s totally beyond? And I’ve had a lot of loved ones die in my life, and I used to be pretty sad about that, but I don’t know that that’s something to be totally sad about anymore, because it was — especially like in the case of my mom, she was suffering. And she’s not suffering. I saw her. People say, “Oh, well, you’ll see them again.” Well, that’s true for me. I saw my mom. And I mean, just as if she were standing right in front of me today. It was as real as real could be. So, I hope that’s really true, and I get to hang out with all the people that I truly miss. (NDE Diary)