Across the world, this week was pretty wild.

UNITED STATES

The CDC said that there’s an E. coli outbreak in at least 16 states. Oh no. This outbreak is linked to chopped romaine lettuce, and has so far infected at least 53 people. Investigators think the contaminated lettuce is from Arizona, but no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand has been identified. A 66-year-old woman in New Jersey, Louise Fraser, filed a lawsuit in federal court against Panera Bread after claiming she ate contaminated romaine lettuce there, which sent her to the hospital for two weeks in March. So, just be careful with the greens you eat and wash your hands. And maybe make sure the lettuce isn’t from Arizona.

Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that it busted a multi-state opioid drug ring. More than 100 people were charged, and officials found enough fentanyl to kill over 250,000 people. The takedown of what was referred to as the Peterson Drug Trafficking Organization was unveiled by Mike Stuart, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, a state that has been hammered by the opioid epidemic. Over the last few years, an unprecedented amount of people in the US have been dying from opioid overdoses – 45,000 people died in the past 12 months. Last year, President Trump declared it a public health emergency. Earlier this month, the surgeon general issued a rare public health advisory on opioids.

Wednesday, the entire island of Puerto Rico lost power after a bulldozer got too close to a power line, and caused it to fail. More than three million US citizens live in the US territory that was hit hard by Hurricane Maria almost seven months ago. About 40,000 people are still in the dark, and there still isn’t a definite estimate on the storm’s death toll (the official toll is 64, the NYT placed it at up to 1,052). By Thursday, electricity was restored in 97% of the island. The incident shows the fragility of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure nearly half a year after the incident.

NORTH KOREA

Lately, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is coming out of his hermit shell, showing increased willingness to discuss the end of the nuclear program that has kept the world on its toes (and in apocalypse bunkers). Basically, Kim is saying he might reconsider his program under some conditions – but he seems open to negotiation, and on Friday he eased up the preconditions by saying the US can keep its troops in South Korea.

Next week, North and South Korea will have a second round of negotiations during their first summit in more than a decade.

Oh, and Tuesday it came out that CIA director (and Trump’s pick for next Secretary of State) secretly visited NK to meet up with Kim. This was the highest level of contact the US and NK have had in almost two decades. Wild.

LATIN AMERICA

Wednesday, 57-year-old First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel was selected as the the successor to the 86-year-old President Raul Castro. The transition aimed at ensuring that the country’s single-party system lasts in the face of economic stagnation, an aging population and increasing disenchantment among younger generations

Castro will remain the head of the Communist Party, designated by the constitution as “the superior guiding force of society and the state” – so he will effectively remain the most powerful person in Cuba. But the symbolism of the transition is still a very important moment for the country accustomed to six decades of rule by Fidel and Raul Castro.