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Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates criticized Elon Musk's characterization of USAID as "a criminal organization," calling its workers "heroic people."⁠ ⁠ At the link in our bio, Gates speaks with WSJ editor in chief Emma Tucker about his plans to donate more than $200 billion over the next two decades to fight poverty, malnutrition, polio and other issues.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Gates Foundation

To some in San Francisco, turning Alcatraz back into a prison would be a crime. But President Trump on Sunday said he is directing the Bureau of Prisons and other federal agencies to rebuild Alcatraz to house “America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”⁠ ⁠ Host/Reporter: Jim Carlton⁠ Reporter: Sara Randazzo⁠ Producer: @juliamunslow

Kyla Scanlon, perhaps best known for coining the term “vibecession,” helped transform how younger generations engage with news about the economy and finance.⁠ ⁠ Scanlon sits down with WSJ’s Telis Demos to talk about economic trends like meme stocks, dressing up as Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the idea of treating investing like gambling.⁠ ⁠ At the link in our bio, listen to this episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week podcast with @kylascan.

The Tate brothers, online influencers with millions of followers, stir up controversy at my private, all-boys Catholic high school in Chicago. But they have won over a small, outspoken group of young male fans.⁠ ⁠ “He’s back!” someone exclaimed in a group chat, celebrating the return to the U.S. in February of Andrew and Tristan Tate from Romania, where they have been under investigation since 2022 for human trafficking and money laundering—charges they deny.⁠ ⁠ At a time when many of us have too many questions about what it means to be a man, the Tates offer answers that are appealingly simple. If we follow their sexist, racist lead, they promise, we’ll be alphas too.⁠ ⁠ Plenty of guys here dismiss Andrew Tate as a “blowhard,” but when a student wrote in a chat in February that Tate was an “alpha male ready to save the world,” some gave him a thumbs-up. When videos of Tate bragging about his wealth and dismissing women’s rights hit a group text, a few peers praised him for showing men how to be strong and successful. In group chats and hallways, a handful of guys trade jokes or memes mocking feminism, but edged with a serious undertone.⁠ ⁠ Being a teenage man today feels like standing in a hallway with a dozen doors, each leading somewhere different, and no one telling you which to pick.⁠ ⁠ Am I supposed to lead or step back? Does “manly” mean just one thing, and should I still chase it? It’s hard to figure out what it means to be strong without being “toxic,” confident but not arrogant, assertive but not overbearing. Are we meant to shrink so others can rise? Is it always zero-sum? It’s confusing.⁠ ⁠ That’s where figures like the Tates, Elon Musk and President Trump step in with bold answers: Don’t worry, just dominate. Trump’s brashness mirrors what many of the teenage boys I know crave—unapologetic power.⁠ ⁠ Read more of student Eli Thompson's essay at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Photo: Vadim Ghirda/AP

American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has become the 267th pontiff of the global Catholic Church, taking the name of Pope Leo XIV.⁠ ⁠ The new pontiff is expected to be a unifying figure after years of fractious ideological tensions between the progressive and conservative wings of the Catholic Church.⁠ ⁠ Cover photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images

“Peace be with you,” the 69-year-old Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV told the crowd in his first words as pontiff. Speaking in Italian, he called for world peace and recalled with gratitude the pontificate of his predecessor, the late Pope Francis.⁠ ⁠ Pope Leo, who rarely took an outspoken stance on the church’s polarizing issues when he was a cardinal, is expected to be a unifying figure after years of ideological tensions between the progressive and conservative wings of the Catholic Church.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photos: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters, Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images, Dylan Martinez/Reuters, Dan Kitwood/Getty Images, Murad Sezer/Reuters, Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has become the 267th pontiff of the global Catholic Church, taking the name of Pope Leo XIV.⁠ ⁠ The new pontiff, the first from the U.S. in Christianity’s 2,000-year history, is expected to be a unifying figure after years of fractious ideological tensions between the progressive and conservative wings of the Catholic Church.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

White smoke rose from the chimney over the Sistine Chapel, indicating that cardinals of the Catholic Church have elected a new pope.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: AP

Pro-Palestinian protesters took over the main library at Columbia University in the first major demonstration on the campus since the ones that overwhelmed the school last spring.⁠ ⁠ The New York Police Department said 78 people were arrested, and two were issued summonses.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Johanna Hansel/dpa/ZUMA Press

Berkshire Hathaway used to be a middling textile company. Now, as Warren Buffett prepares to pass on the helm after six decades, it is everything but.⁠ ⁠ Over the decades, the company has accumulated dozens of businesses that employ more than 392,000 people. Its vast portfolio of stock investments give it exposure to more. Some of the companies it owns are household names: Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, See’s candy, Duracell batteries, the paint company Benjamin Moore.⁠ ⁠ Other subsidies operate under names that aren’t so recognizable, but their products are. Berkshire companies sell artificial turf for football fields, recreational vehicles and hotel shuttle buses, and diamond rings. There are cowboy boots and Garanimals-label baby clothing. One company rents out cubicles to offices; another designs and manufacturers flight simulators for pilots.⁠ ⁠ In recent years, though, Berkshire came to rely more heavily on what Buffett himself has called his “four giants”: an insurance empire; one of North America’s largest railroads; an energy behemoth; and a sizable stake in the world’s most valuable company, Apple.⁠ ⁠ These four holdings dominate Berkshire’s earnings and value and, in each their own way, come to symbolize Buffett’s investment philosophies and interests.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.

Secluded in the Sistine Chapel, 133 cardinals of the Catholic Church began casting their votes for a new pope on Wednesday. This conclave is one of the most unpredictable for decades. Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was Pope Francis’s dutiful No. 2 at the Vatican, would be the obvious successor. But many cardinals are also doubtful that this rather low-key career diplomat has the pizzazz to make a good pope. The central question of the 2025 conclave is: Who can beat Parolin? Read more at the link in our bio. Photos: ZUMA Press, Eloisa Lopez/Reuters, Riccardo De Luca/AP, Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images, Dylan Martinez/Reuters, Christopher Furlong/Getty Images, Stefano Costantino/ZUMA Press, Massimo Percossi/Shutterstock, Alessia Giuliani/ZUMA Press (Corrects previous version of this post, which has been deleted, that misstated Cardinal Péter Erdő’s age. He is 72.)

Starting Wednesday, most U.S. travelers without a passport will be required to have a REAL ID to board domestic flights.⁠ ⁠ After more than a decade of warning this day would come, the TSA says every flier over the age of 18 will be expected to have the security-enhanced REAL ID or an approved alternative to pass through airport security checkpoints.⁠ ⁠ Here’s what you need to know.⁠ ⁠ Reporter/Host: Jacob Passy⁠ Producer: @juliamunslow

India said it conducted military strikes on nine sites in Pakistan in response to a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir.⁠ ⁠ WSJ’s South Asia Correspondent Shan Li explains what’s at stake.⁠ ⁠ Watch more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Storyful

The election of a new pope is both mysterious and theatrical. The spectacle draws huge crowds and global attention—and yet nobody outside the Sistine Chapel knows what’s going on, until white smoke from a chimney signals that there’s a result. Here’s how it works.⁠ ⁠ Reporters: Brian McGill and Marcus Walker⁠ Host/Producer: Jacob Ohara

Time is up: Starting Wednesday, most U.S. travelers without a passport will be required to have a REAL ID to board domestic flights. ⁠ ⁠ After more than a decade of warning this day would come, the Transportation Security Administration says every flier over the age of 18 will be expected to have the security-enhanced REAL ID or an approved alternative to pass through airport security checkpoints. ⁠ ⁠ If they don’t, they will face extra scrutiny at the airport, though still be allowed to fly, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday. ⁠ ⁠ “We intend to follow the law,” Noem told lawmakers during a House committee hearing. Still, “we will make sure that it is as seamless as possible and that travelers will get to stay on their intended itinerary.”⁠ ⁠ Government officials anticipate some air travelers won’t have REAL ID-compliant identification on them. As of April, 81% of travelers at TSA checkpoints were presenting a state-issued REAL ID or other acceptable identification, according to the TSA. ⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Photo: Megan Varner/Reuters

Electric bikes have become ubiquitous in the world’s second-largest Amish settlement, routinely flying past the horse-drawn buggies that have trundled across the hilly countryside here for two centuries. Not everyone is rolling with it.⁠ ⁠ Reporter: Scott Calvert⁠ Host/Producer: Jacob Ohara

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