Mexico City is one of the fastest sinking cities in the world. Now, a powerful satellite from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirms the accelerated advance of this silent threat that puts nearly 20 million people at risk.

The satellite designed by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), known as NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), was able to capture with unprecedented precision the magnitude and evolution of this phenomenon in different areas of the Mexican capital. The analysis is based on preliminary measurements taken from space between October 2025 and January of this year, during the dry season in Mexico City.

Their findings were captured in a map that shows how the subsurface of the metropolis is shifting. In the map, NASA identified areas with subsidence greater than 2 centimeters per month (marked in dark blue). The agency specifies that the areas marked in yellow and red could correspond to background signals (or noise) that are expected to diminish as the satellite instrument collects more data.

The image also highlights the location of Benito Juarez International Airport, located near Lake Nabor Carrillo, which operates in the middle of an area with accelerated subsidence. “Images like this confirm that the NISAR measurements are in line with expectations,” said Craig Ferguson, deputy director of the project.

Mexico City sits atop the clay and lake bed of ancient Lake Texcoco. NASA explains that this process is a consequence of intense groundwater pumping and the increasing weight associated with urban development. Both factors have caused the compaction of the ancient lake soil for more than a century.

The phenomenon was first documented in 1925 by engineer Roberto Gayol. Between the 1900s and 2000s, some areas experienced a drop of nearly 35 centimeters per year, causing damage to infrastructure such as the Metro, one of the largest mass transit systems in the Americas.

A study conducted in 2024 by Dario Solano-Rojas, a remote-sensing specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, found that subsidence is not uniform. After analyzing changes in the city’s elevation between 2011 and 2020, the researcher and his team concluded that subsidence rates are highly variable: While some areas register up to 50 centimeters per year, in others the phenomenon is almost imperceptible.

This creates “differential subsidence,” where the ground sinks unevenly not only across square kilometers or city blocks, but even on a meter scale. When a street, railway, or building sinks differently at one end compared to the other, its stability is compromised.

I’m looking at Volume 1,536 of the Epstein files, page 311. It’s an early 2016 email thread between Jeffrey Epstein and a woman whose name is redacted by the Department of Justice.

In the thread, Epstein asks the unidentified woman for a “naughty selfie” and later sends her a camera. In late February, he replies with a different ask: “Do you have any friends that might want to work for me?…I will give you money if you find someone willing to travel, 22-25, educated. Personable.”

The exchange carries extra resonance when you consider that Epstein is accused of sex trafficking minors, with the Department of Justice estimating that he had more than 1,200 potential victims. But I just happen to flip to it randomly during my recent visit to the newly opened Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room.

Tucked away in a nondescript gallery in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, the reading room is a massive library of all 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related records released by the Department of Justice earlier this year, compiled into more than 3,700 individual volumes. From May 8 to 21, the reading room will be open to the public by appointment only.

The library—essentially, the Epstein files in analog—is intended to represent the staggering scale of Epstein’s crimes, as well as the impunity with which he carried them out. More than 17,000 pounds of evidence is on display at the library, says David Garrett, the main organizer of the exhibit at the Institute for Primary Facts, a nonprofit intended to promote transparency and accountability in the US government.

“The evidence in this room is evidence of one of the most horrific crimes in American history,” Garrett says. “When people come through this room, I hope they realize that in America, we have the rule of law, and if they stand up they can take action and demand accountability for the crimes that were committed.”

Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, is now synonymous with systemic corruption and abuse, particularly in light of his ties to President Donald Trump. The installation features a detailed timeline of Epstein’s relationship with Trump, from their purported initial meeting in Palm Beach in 1987 to Epstein’s 1993 attendance at Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples to the end of Epstein’s membership at Mar-a-Lago in 2007, when Trump allegedly witnessed him behaving inappropriately toward the teenage daughter of another member. The shelves are organized around an exhibit in support of Epstein’s survivors, with candles laid out on the ground to represent the more than 1,200 victims. In response to a request for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump has “been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein,” claiming that he “has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone.”

A solicitor who had his mobile phone containing legally privileged material seized and downloaded by police was wrongly described in a police risk assessment as being a member of Hamas.

Fahad Ansari, who specialises in national security cases, argues that police unlawfully stopped and questioned him because they wrongly “equated” him acting as a lawyer for Hamas with being a member of the proscribed organisation.

The case is believed to be the first targeted use of Schedule 7 powers, which allow police to stop and question people and seize their electronic devices without the need for suspicion, against a practising solicitor.

The Court of Appeal ordered an immediate stay on Tuesday to a judicial review brought by Ansari while it considers whether police should be required by law to disclose details of their case against him.

Ansari, an Irish solicitor who represents Hamas in a legal appeal to have its proscribed status overturned in the UK, was stopped and questioned by police after returning home with his family from Ireland to Holyhead in August 2025.