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It's Wednesday, April 30, and in today’s edition of Rise & Recap, we look at:

• Harvard is ‘Sorry’ over Islamophobia, antisemitism allegations.

• Two 30-min gym sessions weekly are enough for strength.

• Household plastics linked to thousands of deaths due to heart diseases.

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Spill The News

Hegseth Axes Women’s Programme Signed by Trump in 2017

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday he had “proudly” canceled a federal initiative aimed at increasing women’s roles in global conflict resolution and national security. The Women, Peace and Security Act — signed into law by President Trump in 2017 — was designed to boost women’s participation in preventing and resolving conflict worldwide.

Hegseth slammed it on X as “yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING.”

President Trump signed the act into law, directing the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security to implement it. The legislation was authored by current Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during her time in the House and co-sponsored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio while he served in the Senate.

The Trump campaign website had highlighted the initiative as one of his top accomplishments for women during his first term. The law aimed to promote women's participation in all aspects of overseas conflict prevention, management, and resolution, as well as post-conflict relief and recovery efforts, to be implemented by the State Department, Pentagon, and other government agencies.

Harvard is ‘Sorry’ Over Islamophobia Allegations

Harvard University's president issued an apology and pledged reforms after two internal reports on antisemitism and anti-Arab bias were released Tuesday. The reports follow a lawsuit Harvard filed against the Trump administration, which froze billions in federal funding. While the legal battle centers on combating antisemitism, it has also evolved into a broader dispute over government oversight of higher education.

Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter, “The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful. I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community. In parallel, we are initiating further review of disciplinary policies and procedures to assess their effectiveness and efficiency, and are laying the groundwork to generate annual reports describing the University’s response to complaints of discrimination or harassment.”

The announcement came the same day Harvard revealed it is renaming its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office to Community and Campus Life. Both reports outlined how Jewish, Israeli, Arab, and Palestinian students have felt unsafe on campus and unable to express their views freely. The antisemitism report noted that the issue predates Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, tracing back to the early 2010s. The anti-Palestinian bias report emphasized widespread concerns over free speech on campus.

Why Has Women’s Life Expectancy in Some States Barely Budged in 100 Years?

Americans’ life expectancy rose steadily through the 20th century, but in some Southern states, residents — especially women — aren’t living much longer than they were a century ago. Life expectancy at birth is used to gauge a nation’s overall health. Across the U.S., those gains varied widely by state.

Researchers from Yale School of Public Health analyzed death records for 77 million women and 102 million men born between 1900 and 2000. Published Monday in JAMA Network Open, the study found that nationwide, women’s life expectancy increased from 73.8 to 84.1 years, while men’s rose from 62.8 to 80.3. 

The five states with the lowest life expectancy for women born in 2000 — compared to those born in 1900 — are: West Virginia: 75.3 years (up from 74.3); Oklahoma: 76 years (down from 76.7); Kentucky: 76.5 years (up from 74.9); Mississippi: 76.6 years (up from 73.2); Arkansas: 76.6 years (up from 75.7).

Study’s co-author Theodore Holford told NBC News, “What was surprising to me was that for some states, especially for women, there’s basically no change. Over 100 years, in some of these Southern states, they improved less than two years in the framework of all of the medical advances that we have seen during the 20th century.”

Click-Worthy

🇵🇰 Pakistan says ‘credible intelligence’ points towards India planning imminent military strike.

🍝 The perfect (scientist-approved) pasta recipe.

💉 RFK Jr. to new parents on vaccines — ‘Do your own research’.

🧬 Human wounds heal so much slower than animals’.

🏛️ Democratic women do not want the White House to push for more babies.

🏳️‍🌈 As democrats reintroduce landmark LGBTQ bill, Trump administration proposes cutting crisis hotline serving community’s youth.

🏋️‍♂️ Skip gym marathons — two 30-minute sessions weekly can make you stronger.​

🚨 FBI raids wrong house, SCOTUS likely to chime in.

🧴 Household plastics linked to thousands of deaths due to heart diseases.

💰 Trump and Amazon split over showing tariff prices at checkout. Will it happen?

Her Hustle

🤝 Workplace loneliness is rising, but the fix isn’t fancy perks — it’s connection. Team lunches, real conversations, and simple moments might be the secret to a more loyal team.

👔 The return-to-office movement is sparking a fashion revolution, blending comfort with office chic. From "power casual" to "corpcore", employees are redefining workplace style

House to Home

🍹 Outdoor bar carts are transforming backyards into stylish, mobile happy hour hubs. They blend function with flair, making alfresco entertaining effortlessly chic.​

🎨 Give your mantel a glow-up — layer art, mix heights, and embrace quirky objects. It’s not just decor, it’s your personality perched above the fireplace.

The Fame Frame

🧑‍⚖️ Why did Marvel find ‘Deadpool’ mentions in Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively “particularly sensitive”?

🎥 Get ready to scream as Netflix set to bring Alfred Hitchcock’s film collection.

🎬 Jenna Ortega’s 10-year-old script to mark her directorial debut!

🤠 Sydney Sweeney and Brandon Sklenar heat up Stagecoach, fueling rumors.

📸 Ed Sheeran shares playful 2015 pictures with a young Taylor Swift!

Go. See. Do.

🖼️ Visit | Under-the-radar art shows in New York and those to wait for!

🎧 Listen | Bon Iver’s ‘From’ to Sleep Token’s Caramel’ — genre-smashing songs.

🏛️ Explore | Mykonos, like a Greek God.

📚 Read | Bridget Read’s ‘Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America’.

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

— Leonard Cohen