Our daily stroll around the world

🇸🇦 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday. US officials said the nearly two-hour meeting was mainly centered around the ongoing civil war in Yemen, with both sides reaching a “comprehensive political agreement to achieve peace, prosperity, and security” in the region. Other topics of discussion included the PGA Tour/LIV Golf merger plans to deepen economic ties between the two nations, Saudi Arabia’s potential to normalize relations with Israel, and human rights issues, sources told Reuters.

🐊 Scientists in Costa Rica have recorded the first known “virgin birth” in a crocodile. In a new peer-reviewed study, scientists reported on a female crocodile in a Costa Rican zoo who laid a clutch of eggs in 2018 after having lived alone for the previous 16 years. The act itself wasn’t unusual, since crocodiles can lay sterile eggs that don’t develop – but one egg continued to mature and eventually hatched into a stillborn baby. Scientists said the phenomenon of “virgin birth” – scientific name: parthenogenesis – has also been observed in birds, fish, and other reptiles, which implies it was inherited from an evolutionary ancestor (potentially dinosaurs).

🇨🇳 A record-high 12.9 million Chinese students are currently taking the country’s college entrance exam. The two-day “gaokao” exam is the sole determinant for admission to nearly all Chinese universities. Students are allowed as many attempts as they would like – but the test is only held once per year. Overall, China’s youth are the most educated in decades based on college graduation rates; they’re also currently facing record-high levels of unemployment (20.4% in April, up from pre-pandemic rates of 13% or lower).