Two debut books make the prestigious Booker Prize shortlist Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You and Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane are among the contenders for this year’s prize, which honors the best English-language fiction published in the UK and Ireland. Read more on NPR

The world hopes to enact a pandemic treaty by May 2024. Will it succeed or flail? This week leaders at the U.N. adopted a declaration recognizing the need for nations to work together to address future pandemics. But Questions loom. How will it be enforced? Who’s footing the bill? Read more on NPR

Anheuser-Busch says it will no longer amputate the tails of Budweiser’s Clydesdales The beermaker says it will end the practice known as tail docking after it came under pressure by animal rights group PETA. Read more on NPR

The U.N. plan to improve the world by 2030 is failing. Does that make it a failure? The 17 Sustainable Development Goals — starting with an end to poverty — were set in 2015. At the halfway mark, the world is reeling from crises. Progress is stunted. Do the goals still help? Read more on…