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level, involves diplomats, intelligence operatives, and officials from Rostekhnadzor and Rosatom.

The accelerating decay of Russia’s nuclear sector, driven by financial constraints and technological stagnation, has forced the Kremlin to turn to theft and covert operations under slogans of “friendship” and “partnership.” As Rosatom increasingly fails to meet its obligations, espionage has become a strategic substitute for innovation.

On May 8, 2025, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev publicly stated that the Russian state nuclear corporation is in discussions with Chinese partners to build new nuclear power units. This statement, made during an interview with TASS, indicates that talks have been ongoing since late 2018.

Background: Alexey Likhachev is a senior Russian official who has led Rosatom since 2016. The corporation encompasses all civilian nuclear enterprises in Russia, defense nuclear industry facilities, research institutions, and the Russian nuclear fleet.

Likhachev’s statement requires careful scrutiny, as Russia and China have long cooperated in the nuclear field. To date, the two countries have jointly constructed four nuclear power units in China, with four more currently under construction. Operating reactors include four VVER-1000 units built with Rosatom’s participation. In addition, four VVER-1200 reactors are being constructed—two at the Tianwan NPP and two at the Xudabao NPP.

The Strategic Intent Behind Cooperation

A closer look reveals that Russia’s nuclear cooperation with China serves not only commercial interests but also a strategic espionage agenda. The Kremlin views its engagement with Chinese counterparts as a unique opportunity to acquire critical nuclear technologies—most notably, China’s cutting-edge high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology using spherical micro-fuel elements under the HTR-HM project, which is currently absent in Russia’s technological arsenal.

Russian intelligence services, particularly the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), are actively seeking to penetrate Chinese companies and research institutes under the guise of formal contracts. Their ultimate objective is to obtain access to proprietary Chinese innovations—specifically the HTR-PM, one of the most advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) with a capacity of 210 MW, the first of which went online at the Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant in Shandong province in late 2023.

Motivations and Context

This aggressive espionage campaign is fueled by two key factors: (1) Russia’s historical reliance on illicit technology acquisition, often coordinated by its intelligence agencies, and (2) the growing technological isolation of Russia following Western sanctions, which have blocked most advanced countries from scientific and technical cooperation with Moscow.

China’s continued engagement with Russia makes it an indispensable source of innovation for the ailing Russian nuclear sector. With Rosatom’s 2025 projects funded at only 20–30% of their required budget—due in large part to the Kremlin’s prioritization of war spending—Russia’s nuclear industry is in decline and struggling to fulfill contractual obligations. Thus, China remains Russia’s last hope for salvaging its deteriorating atomic capabilities.

The Role of Vienna and the IAEA

Vienna, known as the global capital of espionage, plays a pivotal role in Russia’s technological intelligence operations. The SVR has embedded a covert station, known as “Vienna-2,” within Russia’s Permanent Mission to International Organizations in Vienna. This network leverages institutional cover from both the IAEA and the OSCE.

Simultaneously, a second station—“Vienna-1”—operates from the Russian Embassy, encompassing political, economic, scientific-technical, and counterintelligence lines. These two outposts coordinate intelligence activities targeting Chinese nuclear expertise.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russia to International Organizations in Vienna, Daniil Mokin, discreetly explored ways to establish contact with key Chinese specialists during informal discussions with his own contacts — namely, the Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to International Organizations in Vienna, Song Li, and the Deputy Head of the Chinese diplomatic mission, Guanghui Liu.

In the same area, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) actively utilizes its officers and operational sources embedded within the State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom” and the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (“Rostechnadzor”). Their main goal is to establish contacts for the potential recruitment of personnel from the China Huaneng Group (CHNG), the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), researchers from the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology at Tsinghua University, engineers from the world’s first fourth-generation nuclear power plant “Shidaowan” (Shandong Province, PRC), and officials from Chinese nuclear regulatory bodies who may have access to data and technical documentation related to the HTR-PM project.

In September 2024, during the 68th session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, negotiations took place between the head of Rostechnadzor, Aleksandr Trembitsky, and the head of China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA), Dong Baotong.

Notably, no information about these talks with the Chinese side appears on Rostechnadzor’s official website. This indicates Russia’s unwillingness to publicize such contacts, thereby underscoring their particular importance to the Kremlin. The negotiations focused on amending the interagency agreement between Rostechnadzor and the NNSA in light of new challenges, cooperation in organizing scientific and technical support, and the prospects for interaction within the Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA).

A striking example involves Russian attempts to access HTR-PM technologies through informal meetings between Rosatom and IAEA Secretariat personnel and Chinese diplomats in Vienna. Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to International Organizations in Vienna, Daniil Mokin, discreetly pursued contacts during unofficial talks with Chinese officials, including Song Li (Permanent Representative of China to International Organizations in Vienna) and Guanghui Liu (Deputy Head of China’s diplomatic mission).

On December 20, 2021, China marked a historic milestone by connecting the world’s first High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTR-PM) to the grid at the Shidao Bay Nuclear Power Plant. This development, supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), not only confirms China’s leadership in advanced nuclear technologies but also has significant strategic, economic, and geopolitical implications. Moreover, the technological sophistication and civil-military potential of the HTR-PM reactor raise security concerns regarding foreign interest and potential espionage, particularly from Russia.

The HTR-PM is a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with a unique pebble-bed core and helium cooling system. Its main features include:

• Enhanced Safety: Inherently safe design that prevents meltdown even in case of coolant loss.
• High Efficiency: Capability to operate at 750–950°C, offering higher thermal efficiency than traditional light-water reactors.
• Versatility: Potential for industrial applications beyond electricity generation, including hydrogen production and desalination.

This breakthrough reflects decades of Chinese investment in nuclear R&D, underpinned by international cooperation, including technical support from the IAEA.

China’s pursuit of the HTR-PM program is driven by a mix of domestic and international motivations:

• Energy Security: Reducing dependence on coal and foreign fossil fuels.
• Climate Policy: Supporting carbon neutrality targets by 2060.
• Industrial Autonomy: Creating exportable, independent nuclear technologies, which can compete with U.S., Russian, and French designs.
• Dual-Use Potential: The HTR’s ability to produce weapons-grade isotopes or high-temperature hydrogen makes it strategically sensitive.

The Chinese HTR-PM has emerged as a game-changer in the international nuclear marketplace. Its modular, safe, and export-friendly design challenges the market dominance of traditional suppliers, including Russia’s Rosatom. From a geopolitical perspective, this triggers the following dynamics:

• Export Rivalry: China could target emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—areas where Rosatom traditionally dominates.
• Technological Benchmarking: Russia may seek to replicate or neutralize China’s HTR technology to protect its own global market share.
• Espionage Risk: Given China’s growing technological independence, Russian intelligence services may attempt to acquire classified information under the guise of IAEA cooperation or bilateral nuclear exchanges.

There are credible indications that Rosatom-linked structures and Russian diplomatic missions may be seeking access to China’s HTR innovations. Espionage activities could be aimed at acquiring design documents, fuel cycle details, or data on helium-cooling operations.

Russia also utilizes internal assets within Rosatom and the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostekhnadzor) to establish relationships with potential targets for recruitment.These include employees of:

1. China Huaneng Group (CHNG),
2. China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC),
3. The Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology at Tsinghua University,
4. Engineers of the Shidaowan fourth-generation nuclear plant,
5. Officials from China’s nuclear regulatory bodies.
6. The Kremlin has institutionalized a vast effort to expropriate Chinese nuclear technologies under the guise of international cooperation. This policy, sanctioned at the highest political level, involves diplomats, intelligence operatives, and officials from Rostekhnadzor and Rosatom.
7. The accelerating decay of Russia’s nuclear sector, driven by financial constraints and technological stagnation, has forced the Kremlin to turn to theft and covert operations under slogans of “friendship” and “partnership.” As Rosatom increasingly fails to meet its obligations, espionage has become a strategic substitute for innovation.

In September 2024, during the 68th IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Alexander Trembitsky (head of Rostekhnadzor) met with Dong Baotong, head of China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA). The absence of any mention of these talks on the official Rostekhnadzor website suggests the Kremlin’s intent to conceal the meeting, underscoring its strategic significance.

The discussions focused on amending the inter-agency agreement between Rostekhnadzor and the NNSA in response to new challenges, enhancing scientific-technical cooperation, and exploring future collaboration under the OECD’s Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP).

Despite public rhetoric about Russian-Chinese friendship, Russia’s intelligence services continue to exploit IAEA-affiliated events not only to monitor Western adversaries but increasingly to target friendly nations like China. Their main targets remain:

• Employees of CHNG and CNNC,
• Scientists from Tsinghua University,
• Engineers at Shidaowan NPP,
• Chinese nuclear regulatory officials.

On December 20, 2021, China achieved a historic milestone by connecting the world’s first high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR-PM) to the grid at the Shidaowan nuclear power plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officially confirmed the event on January 13, 2022. However, behind this technological triumph lies a developing counterintelligence concern: the growing interest of Russian intelligence agencies, particularly those linked to Rosatom and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), in accessing the sensitive technological components of the Chinese HTR-PM program. This paper analyzes the underlying structure of the reactor project, its strategic significance, and the concerted efforts by Russian intelligence to infiltrate and extract proprietary data—efforts that pose a serious threat to Chinese technological sovereignty and global nuclear innovation.

Rosatom Takes the Lead in Technology Theft

On May 21, 2025, Vladimir Putin personally visited the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Kurchatov. That same day, Rosatom’s head, Alexey Likhachev, addressed the Federation Council, touting Russia’s ability to export “sovereignty” to friendly nations. By this, he meant the construction of nuclear power plants (including small-scale reactors), nuclear technology centers, and training hubs for foreign specialists.

However, this claim starkly contrasts with Rosatom’s actual technological capacity. Investigative reports surrounding Rosatom’s contract performance highlight a pattern of technological backwardness and desperation to acquire Chinese nuclear technologies—even by involving third-party countries.One revealing example came on January 4, 2025, when Likhachev told Rossiya-24 that Rosatom plans to sue Siemens for failing to deliver equipment for Turkey’s Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant—an implicit admission of Russia’s growing technological and financial dependence on foreign vendors.

The New York-area PBS station WNET has scrubbed its archives of at least three educational TV episodes that discuss transgender identity and drag expression, The Intercept has learned, as Congress and the Trump administration target public broadcasters with attempts to strip their funding.

The station’s educational program “Let’s Learn” became an object of ire for the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency this spring over the 2021 episode “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish,” in which the drag queen and children’s author Lil Miss Hot Mess sings about drag performance to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.” The subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., opened the “Anti-American Airwaves” hearing in March by claiming that “PBS News is not just left-leaning, but it actively uses taxpayer funds to push some of the most radical, left positions like featuring a drag queen on the show” and calling Lil Miss Hot Mess a “child predator” and a “monster.”

Far from defending the programming, PBS CEO Paula Kerger distanced the broadcaster from the show. 

“The drag queen was actually not on any of our kids’ shows,” she said, claiming the episode made it to the PBS website by mistake and had already been removed. PBS followed up with a letter that said it had “removed all remaining references to the Episode” online on March 26, 2025.

But it wasn’t just PBS: The New York member station that produces “Let’s Learn” — which had stood by the episode under scrutiny in previous years — then quietly removed the episode across its platforms, according to an Intercept analysis. WNET also erased two other episodes about a children’s book featuring a a transgender protagonist, the analysis shows.

WNET did not respond to requests for comment. A PBS spokesperson reiterated Kerger’s claim that the episode was uploaded by mistake and said its removal was unrelated to the current political climate, but did not respond to questions about why over 250 other “Let’s Learn” episodes are still available for viewing on the official PBS website.

Public broadcasting was an object of U.S. conservative wrath for decades before the Trump administration. But as the current government has intensified its attacks, PBS has engaged in other recent examples of self-censorship. PBS removed a scene in which Art Spiegelman discusses an anti-Trump cartoon from a documentary about the artist, and it pulled a gaming documentary with transgender themes from planned syndication — then relisted it after The Atlantic asked about the deletion. But the erasure of WNET’s programming on drag and transgender culture shows the effects reaching a local level, where the station that produced the episodes elected to take them down — despite previously having defended them.

After premiering in the spring of 2021, “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish” quickly garnered social media outrage and news coverage. Following the first round of backlash, WNET added a disclaimer on its YouTube channel and the “Let’s Learn” website, noting that the series is “not funded or distributed by PBS.” 

But at the time, WNET defended the episode, telling Fox News that Let’s Learn “strives to incorporate themes that explore diversity and promote inclusivity, which are relevant to education and society. Drag is a performance art that can inspire creative thinking and the questioning of stereotypes.”

The outrage didn’t go away: Two years later, Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt explicitly mentioned the episode when he vetoed a bill to extend funding for his state’s PBS station. 

Despite all the attention, WNET continued to make the episode available — until this year. 

An Intercept analysis showed that following the DOGE hearing, WNET quietly removed all mentions of the episode across its platforms. 

The original episode page now displays a generic error message, reading “Oops! The page you are looking for was not found.” “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish” no longer appears in a list of episode titles, and the video is listed as private on the WNET Education YouTube channel. WNET also instructed search engines not to list the episode’s old webpage. 

Aside from removing “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish,” WNET has additionally removed at least two more “Let’s Learn” episodes, The Intercept has found. 

In the November 2020 episode “Max and the Talent Show,” author Kyle Lukoff reads his book of the same name. The story concerns a white transgender boy named Max who helps his Black male friend Steven prepare for a talent show and “find the perfect gown, shoes, cape, and tiara,” according to the School Library Journal. The journal calls the book “an excellent choice as an early reader with an LGBTQIA+ theme.” 

WNET removed that episode and another, called “Brain and Same Both Have Long ‘A.’” That hourlong episode also features “Max and the Talent Show,” which students read in order to “practice sounds with the long ‘a.’” 

Although it has been erased from PBS and WNET platforms, “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish” can still be viewed via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. 

The post PBS Station Wipes Drag and Trans Content After DOGE Outcry appeared first on The Intercept.

(NewsNation) — After being pardoned by President Donald Trump earlier this week, all eyes now turn to whether the Chrisley family will return to television. The answer is yes.

According to a report, an untitled Chrisley project has been greenlit for Lifetime.

The new program will revolve around the family’s challenge of carrying on the Chrisley name and legacy on their own with only phone calls and brief visits with their incarcerated parents.

“The multigenerational family will also be exposing the raw truth of their lives — past and present — and the reality is far different from what audiences have seen before,” the network said.

Todd and Julie Chrisley were convicted in 2022 of conspiring to defraud banks in the Atlanta area out of more than $30 million in loans by submitting false documents. Todd Chrisley was initially sentenced to serve 12 years, but his sentence was later reduced by two years. Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in Kentucky before the sentence was shortened by 14 months.

The Chrisleys rose to fame with their hit series “Chrisley Knows Best” on the USA Network from 2013 to 2023.

The new series is expected to premiere later this year.

Landlords who own buildings with one or more rent-stabilized units are now required to post signs informing tenants that the building contains rent-stabilized apartments — a move aimed at empowering tenants to fight illegal rent hikes, demand better living conditions and restore illegally deregulated units.

The Tenants Transparency Act, also known as Intro 1037, was introduced by Council Member Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn), and passed the City Council with a supermajority of 49 votes on May 28.

The law, which takes effect in 2026, also requires landlords of rent-stabilized units to submit an annual filing to the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and provide each tenant with a copy, ensuring tenants are aware of the status of their units. Landlords who fail to file may face penalties.

They must also post signs in English and Spanish in common areas of the building. The signs will inform tenants which authorities or organizations to contact — such as the DHCR and its Office of Rent Administration — to check the status of their unit and its rent history.

Nurse, who represents Cypress Hills, Bushwick, City Line, Ocean Hill, Brownsville and East New York, told Brooklyn Paper that when she moved into a rent-stabilized building in 2021, she wasn’t informed that her unit was subject to the Rent Stabilization Law of 1969 — and her landlord attempted to overcharge her by 20%.

“The only way I found out eventually by looking it up and finding that, in fact, it was rent-stabilized, but also that the landlord hadn’t registered the unit,” Nurse said, stressing that as a city council member focused on housing justice issues, she was equipped with the tools to dig deeper into the rent history of her apartment. “Imagine you don’t know any of that, so you’re just getting overcharged. And this is a simple tool that once it’s implemented [and] in effect, tenants will at least be able to check.”

If tenants discover they live in a rent-stabilized apartment and were overcharged, they can contact their elected officials, who can connect them with organizations that help navigate the court system to challenge the overcharge.

“The reason we’re doing this is because so many people just don’t know that their unit is rent stabilized, and that has led to harassment, illegal rent surcharges, overcharging, and eventually that can lead to eviction,” Nurse said.

Nurse said some residents have already told her that, because of her initiative, they learned their apartment is rent-stabilized.

“Information is power,” the pol said. “Even if a broker is taking you to the building, they’re not going to tell you it’s rent-stabilized. The landlord has no interest in telling you it’s rent-unstabilized.”

The Brooklyn Council member also introduced legislation, Intro 1294-2025, alongside Council Member Chi Ossé (D-Brooklyn), and in partnership with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. If passed, the law would require the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to create a website with publicly available information on all individuals convicted of larceny by deed theft in New York City.

According to the New York State Attorney General’s office, the New York City Sheriff’s Office received nearly 3,500 deed theft complaints between 2014 and 2023. More than 1,500 of those were in Brooklyn, many in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick, where property values are skyrocketing. Many victims are Black and Brown homeowners, stripped of the generational wealth they spent their lives building.

“We hope this is also a source of information and education for people who might be getting a door knock or solicitation,” Nurse said. “We’re really excited to expose these criminals because that’s what they are. They’re thieves. They’re stealing generational wealth from people, and specifically Black elders.”

Since the College of Cardinals selected Robert Prevost to become Pope Leo XIV on May 8, the first American Pope has generated much attention, with numerous publications attempting to peel back the curtain on the true identity of the new pontiff.

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Yet, the Pope himself may have told the world something significant about his vision and philosophy for the papacy through the simple act of choosing a name. The choice of Leo XIV makes Prevost the first pope to take this name since Leo XIII, who led the Church from 1878 to 1903, a critical time at the turn of the 20th century when the world was heading into an industrial and increasingly globalizing era that would soon lead to the First World War.

Based on the tenure of Leo XIII, this choice may indicate that Prevost places substantial emphasis on the Church’s responsibility to care for the poor, as well as the protection of workers’ rights in an era of growing economic inequality. Yet, it also may signal that the new pope aims to chart a middle course in an era of extremes and won’t look kindly on those challenging doctrine or the Church’s hierarchy. If so, such a vision will be deeply rooted in a specific tradition of American Catholicism that emerged thanks to Leo XIII’s teachings.

Pope Leo XIII, born Gioacchino Pecci, ascended to the papacy in an era characterized by the spread of factories and wage labor, the rise of massive fortunes and the growth of worker discontent and organizing, and existential battles between the forces of capitalism and socialism. He responded by launching a transformative intellectual tradition known as Catholic social teaching.

Read More: Pope Leo’s Style of American Leadership Is a Hopeful Opportunity

This body of thought, which had its most notable appearance in his 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, introduced the world to a new approach to the social, economic, and political challenges of the day. Rerum upheld labor unions as a proper exercise of workers’ natural rights to dignity and authentic freedom—and emphasized the obligation of the state to protect their rights and interests. Leo XIII also called for a “remedy…for the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class.” He underscored the Catholic Church’s care for the poor and its concern for the common good as well.

Yet, Catholic social teaching wasn’t a one-sided doctrine. In Rerum, Pope Leo XIII reflected on “the spirit of revolutionary change” that had “long been disturbing the nations of the world.” Instead of a revolution, this new approach contemplated a middle way between capitalism and socialism, one premised on a cooperative relationship between workers and management.

Another key document written by Leo XIII further emphasized that the Pope was not quite a radical. In 1899, he wrote a papal letter, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, which was directed at American Catholics and condemned what he termed the heresy of “Americanism.” The decision to write the letter may have stemmed from confusion and misperceptions about what liberal prelates and theologians in the U.S, were preaching.

Liberal priests, most prominently Isaac Hecker, extolled the virtues of freedom and liberty as it related to the Church in the U.S. In his 1876 book, The Faith of Our Fathers, for example, Baltimore’s James Cardinal Gibbons wrote of his country, “[T]here is no nation on the face of the earth where the Church is less trammeled, and where she has more liberty to carry out her sublime destiny, than in these Untied States.” Twelve years later, St. Paul’s Archbishop John Ireland, proclaimed, “In America, the Church is free—as the bird is free in the air to spread out its pinions and fly whithersoever it wills.”

Conservative critics, both in the U.S., and in the Vatican, viewed these liberal prelates with suspicion because of their openness to engage in inter-religious encounters. Testum indicates that Leo XIII wanted to make clear that the Catholic Church in the U.S. wasn’t spiritually distinct from the global church, and couldn’t go its own way. It showed that, while sympathetic to workers and inequality, he wasn’t prepared to see Church doctrine or the power of the Vatican challenged. 

Leo XIII’s legacy, then, was one characterized by deep concern for the plight of workers and the poor, but also one that reflected concern over maintaining hierarchical discipline within the Church. He also wanted to moderate any spiritual experimentation, however illusory in the case of Americanism, that may have suggested the potential for Catholics to stray too far from Church teachings.

Read More: What the History of Saint Augustine Can Teach us About Pope Leo XIV

Despite setting limits on the autonomy of the American Church, the social teachings of Leo XIII had enormous influence on Catholicism in the U.S., especially after the horrors of World War I. The National Catholic Welfare Council (now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or the USCCB) gave its full support to the philosophy laid down by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum. In 1919, the Council adopted a Program of Social Reconstruction, which supported the institution of living wages, public pensions, and a variety of other government-provided aids for working men and women.

In the following decades, numerous labor priests, such as John A. Ryan, George G. Higgins, Philip A. Carey, Joseph F. Donnelly, and Charles Owen Rice, led the way in advocating for workers. They instructed workers about Catholic social teaching, and operated labor schools to educate them on their rights and on the Catholic Church’s positions on the important economic and social issues presented by the Great Depression and World War II. The Catholic Worker movement, led by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, was but one prominent example of the impact and the implementation of Catholic social teaching outside of theology courses and on American city streets. It provided charitable relief and practiced communal labor through its houses of hospitality, which Day envisioned would bring “workers and scholars together” in a place where they could “discuss Christian principles of organization as set forth in the encyclicals.”

Over time, American Catholicism has become fractured between theological conservatives and liberals. Today, the divides increasingly intersect with broader partisan battles outside the Church. In this landscape, Catholic social teaching and debates over the compatibility of Catholicism and Americanism are not mere historical relics of a previous century. They are vital issues that played formative roles in shaping the contemporary Catholic Church that Leo XIV now leads.

Whether the new Pope chose the name Leo XIV to signal his affinity for Leo XIII is probably something only he knows. Yet, in so much as it does, it may indicate both that the new Pontiff is interested in economic matters, especially the struggles of working men and women to scrape by, and the ever-present debates over freedom versus order and the meaning of liberty in a hierarchical institution like the Church. The choice of his name may suggest that while Leo XIV will thrill liberal Catholics on social justice issues, he may lean more toward the Church’s conservative wing when it comes to maintaining doctrinal boundaries.

William S. Cossen is a historian of American religion and nationalism, and the author of Making Catholic America: Religious Nationalism in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era .

Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.

(NewsNation) — Authorities are providing an update Thursday on the ongoing search for two escapees from a New Orleans jail.

A joint news conference is being held by Crimestoppers GNO, Louisiana State Police, the FBI, the ATF, U.S. Marshals and the New Orleans Police Department.

Derrick Groves, 27, and Antoine Massey, 33, are the last remaining fugitives after a group of 10 inmates escaped the Orleans Parish jail on May 16.

Groves was convicted in October 2024 in connection with the killings of two people during Mardi Gras in 2018. According to WDSU, Groves was found guilty of two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder.

Massey was jailed on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation and the theft of a car, which New Orleans police said took place in November. According to booking information, Massey had also been charged with violating his parole.

A $20,000 reward per inmate is being offered for information leading to their capture. Authorities have said they’re pursuing leads across Louisiana and neighboring states.

So far, 13 other arrests have been made in connection with the escape, including civilians, an inmate and a jail maintenance worker.

NewsNation’s Patrick Djordjevic and Jeff Arnold and NewsNation affiliate WGNO contributed to this report.

Germany’s Federal Prosecutor has filed charges against three men who are suspected of planning a hit on a former Ukrainian soldier in Frankfurt am Main on behalf of Russia in 2024.

The .338-caliber “Chernivtsi-Ashdod” Ruger sniper rifle, donated through the Vengeance Guard project will see service with Ukraine’s 8th Separate Rifle Battalion.

Out of its First Quarter total budget expenses of $27.9 Billion, the Kyiv government outlay for defending against Russia’s full-scale invasion was $20.8 Billion, or 74.6%.

(NewsNation) — Before she was pardoned by President Donald Trump during his first term, Alice Johnson was behind bars for 20 years for drug-related offenses.

Now, Johnson spends her days as the White House’s “pardon czar,” overseeing and recommending clemency cases for the Trump administration.

A series of pardons issued Wednesday led to the release of “Chrisley Knows Best” reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, rapper NBA Youngboy, a labor union leader and others.

“I know not only their stories, but I make sure that I’m selecting people who have either been rehabilitated, who pose no safety risk, and also we look at cases where there has been obvious weaponization against these individuals,” Johnson told “NewsNation Now.”

Chrisleys will be criminal justice reform advocates: ‘Pardon czar’ Alice Johnson

Johnson said the Chrisleys, whose show aired on USA Network for nearly a decade, were not pardoned for their celebrity status.

“If you look at all, the list of people who were pardoned, these were everyday Americans who deserved a second chance,” Johnson said. “I’m going to say that if they did not have a daughter like Savannah who was out there fighting for them, they would not have been pardoned.”

Savannah Chrisley had publicly advocated for her parents’ release, arguing their sentences were excessive. She told a crowd at the 2024 Republican National Convention that they were the victims of a “two-faced justice system.”

“I know that everyone who’s in prison [wishes] they had an advocate like Savannah Chrisley,” Johnson said.

She said she believes Julie and Todd Chrisley will become staunch advocates for criminal justice reform, like their daughter.

“I talked to Todd yesterday in the vehicle while he was leaving prison, and that man was in tears, and we have a new advocate now,” Johnson said. “You can believe that this couple is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the criminal justice reform space.”

Earlier this week, Savannah Chrisley told NewsNation, “Alice Johnson was the greatest appointment that President Trump could have ever done.”

Advice for Chrisleys: ‘Enjoy your family for a moment’

Rather than leap into action upon their release, Johnson said she hopes the Chrisleys take the time to “soak in their freedom and their family time.”

“I know that they’re anxious to get out here and start fighting for the people who they left behind, too,” she said. “But don’t forget about your family time.”

Though she expects plenty of advocacy in the future, Johnson said she wished she had taken a break following her release.

“Take time to breathe and don’t get caught up in and being pulled in every different direction,” she said.