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In 1993, she squeezed a $333m settlement from a Californian energy company in a scandal over contaminated water. Three decades later, she has a new target in her sights – and it’s global

When Erin Brockovich woke to find 30 emails from people from the same town, she realised something was going on. People email Brockovich all the time because of what happened in 1993, when she was instrumental in suing Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) on behalf of residents of the town of Hinkley, California, whose groundwater had been contaminated. The case resulted in a settlement of $333m – then the largest ever payout for a direct-action lawsuit. When she was immortalised by Julia Roberts in the 2000 film Erin Brockovich, she became the hero we didn’t know we needed, a modern day Joan of Arc. She had won against PG&E with no formal legal training.

The emails she received a few weeks ago were about datacentres. In April, she put a callout on her website asking for anyone with concerns about one near them to get in touch. Within a month, 3,862 people had replied. Tech companies have needed datacentres to power their technology “for ever”, she says, but the new ones being built to power AI? “This feels like Hinkley on steroids.”

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For as dark as the world can be at times, humanity often finds a way to bring out the best in itself and inspire people to do incredible things for one another. That was certainly the case for comedian Mike Williams . Once successful at making others laugh , he found an entirely different calling after the devastating 2010 earthquake that rocked Haiti and created a humanitarian crisis. Unable to stand idly by while locals picked up the pieces, he uprooted everything to move to the Dominican Republic with his family, where he could do the most good for the most vulnerable people. His decision was just the beginning of a much longer, more expansive journey of personal sacrifice and service, and now his story is getting the feature-film treatment.

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Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

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A leak claims that the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 will offer 5,000 nits of brightness.

It could also include an 800mAh battery.

The water- and dust-resistance is said to be IP69K.

Unlike in 2025, Samsung plans to launch a full-on sequel to the Galaxy Watch Ultra this year. It’s expected that the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 will feature several hardware and software upgrades over its predecessor. A new leak may have revealed a few of the upgrades it could have.

Reputable tipster Ice Universe has shared a new post on Weibo , outing a few of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2’s specs. The tipster claims that the premium smartwatch has a brightness of 5,000 nits. If true, that would be a 2,000 nit increase over the previous model.

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Love it or hate it, TikTok has unlocked a whole new generation of passionate readers.

So many , in fact, that as of June 1, the #BookTok tag appeared on more than 80 million posts from creators around the world.

The algorithm knows a good thing when it sees one, so TikTok asked 10 of the biggest #BookTok creators to share their summer reading picks.

Romantasy reads Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe and Alchemised by SenLinYu lead the list.

Hot Greek Summer gets a moment with Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles .

Contemporary romance juggernaut and BookTok mainstay Abby Jimenez gets a nod for Just for the Summer .

Even literary fiction in translation gets some shine with a shout for Clarice Lispector’s Near to the Wild Heart .

Scroll the whole list .

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The EU on Monday defended its commitment to international law after the Vatican accused Brussels last week of applying a double standard when it comes to war.

Speaking at Pope Leo XIV’s closed-door conference on war last Friday, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, argued that governments have increasingly been invoking international law based on political convenience rather than universal principles.

He accused the bloc of inconsistency in its foreign policy , imposing sanctions on some countries and providing military and financial support to others, even when faced with what he described as “more serious invasions with even more brutal consequences” elsewhere. The contradiction, Fernández argued, reflected political and economic interests instead of a stable commitment to international law.

Brussels, in response, stopped short of engaging directly with the criticism.

“We do not usually comment on comments,” Paula Pinho, chief Commission spokesperson, told POLITICO on Monday.

European External Action Service spokesperson Anouar El Anouni reiterated the bloc’s standard position, saying the EU “calls for respect for international law, and this at all times and under all circumstances,” while condemning “violations of human rights, killing of journalists, targeting of civilians, including civilian infrastructure” wherever they occur.

But not everyone in Brussels was so cautious, with the criticism quickly finding support among some members of the European Parliament.

“The Vatican is voicing what much of the Global South feels: The EU does not stand for universal values. It stands for corporate interests,” Belgian MEP Marc Botenga told POLITICO. “EU foreign policy can be summed up as: Do as I say, not as I do.”

Botenga, a member of the Left group in the European Parliament, questioned why the bloc had responded so forcefully to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while, in his view, failing to take similar action over Israel’s actions in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, or the war on Iran.

Irish MEP and member of Sinn Féin Lynn Boylan likewise said Fernández was “correct to call out this double standard.” She argued the EU had adopted 20 sanctions packages against Russia while allowing Israel to act “with impunity.” She went on to point to Europe’s continued arms exports to Israel, trade with Israeli settlements and the EU-Israel Association Agreement despite the country’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

“You cannot claim to champion human rights and international law if you selectively apply their core pillars,” Boylan told POLITICO.