Flagship

SCOTUS to rule on Trump immunity

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider former President Donald Trump’s claim that he should be immune from prosecution on charges of attempting to overthrow his 2020 election loss. Arguments will be heard from April 22, further delaying a trial. Trump’s strategy has been to slow down proceedings, and the decision gives him “a legal lifeline,” wrote The New York Times’ Alan Feuer: If he wins the 2024 election he could dismiss the indictment. Other legal news was less good for Trump: A judge barred him from primary ballots in Illinois, pending appeal, over his role in the 2021 Capitol attack, and in Georgia, Trump’s attempt to get a prosecutor thrown off a racketeering case is “collapsing,” New York Magazine reported.

Transnistria appeals to Putin

Politicians in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova, appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to “protect” it from the Moldovan government. Transnistria sits on Moldova’s border with Ukraine and has a large ethnic Russian population. Moldova has repeatedly accused the Kremlin of destabilizing the region. The lawmakers stopped short of calling for annexation by Russia, but the situation is reminiscent of that in eastern Ukraine in 2022, where Russian-backed separatist forces in Donetsk and Luhansk declared the areas independent republics, giving Putin a pretext to invade. Russia maintains a military presence in the region, which prevents reunification with the rest of Moldova, Politico reported.

China cracks down on state secrets

China expanded the scope of what can be considered a “state secret,” stiffening an already stringent law. The changes “elevate the risks for foreign businesses operating in the country,” The New York Times reported. Despite forecasts showing the Chinese economy will grow this year at roughly half the pace it did a decade ago, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made national security a priority ahead of boosting the country’s flagging economy, putting foreign investors at odds with Beijing. “I think there’s been a contradiction in the messaging from the government here,” Washington’s ambassador in Beijing told CBS News. “On the one hand, they say, ‘We’re open for business…’ But on the other hand, they’ve raided six or seven American businesses since last March.”

Philippines, Australia boost defense ties

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told the Australian Parliament that he would not yield an “inch” of territory to China. Australia and the Philippines are boosting their military ties, signing an agreement to step up joint exercises in the South China Sea. Manila accuses Beijing of regularly entering its waters in the disputed waterway, and has increasingly pivoted to the West: It allowed the U.S. access to four military bases last year. Canberra’s relations with Beijing have thawed in recent years, but Australia’s head of intelligence said that an unnamed former politician “sold out” the country — even offering access to the prime minister’s family — to a foreign spy network, believed to be Chinese. “Australians need to know that the threat is real,” he said.

US probes risks of Chinese tech in cars

The U.S. Commerce Department is launching an investigation into internet-connected cars built with Chinese technology. The White House has “a high level of concern” about security risks, the commerce secretary said, and wants to act before the cars become “widespread in the United States and potentially threaten our privacy and our national security.” Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant reported that the investigation will seek comments about the risks of connected vehicles using technology from “countries of concern,” and could impose bans or other measures. China-U.S. tensions are already high, with Beijing angered by Washington’s curbs on chip exports.

A world class line-up of global economic leaders has been announced for the 2024 World Economy Summit, taking place in Washington, D.C. on April 17-18. Speakers include Brian Moynihan, CEO, Bank of America; Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; Suzanne Clark, President & CEO; U.S. Chamber of Commerce; John Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; José Muñoz, President & COO, Hyundai Motor Company; Jared Bernstein, Chair, White House Council of Economic Advisors; Richard Lesser, Global Chair, Boston Consulting Group; Sim Tshabalala, CEO, Standard Bank and Gretchen Watkins, President, Shell USA, Pat Gelsinger, CEO, Intel; Sen. Ron Wyden, (D) Oregon and more. Speakers, Sessions & Registration here.

Violence in Chad after election news

Heavy gunfire broke out in Chad’s capital N’Djamena a day after the government announced that it will hold presidential elections on May 6. The government has blamed the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders for the unrest, with witnesses saying military vehicles were deployed to the party’s headquarters. The opposition leader denies the allegations. President Mahamat Déby, a military leader who rose to power in 2021 after his father was killed, has vowed to return the country to civilian rule. His government is one of several military juntas in power in West and Central Africa, a region that has seen eight coups since 2020.

Darien Gap migration crackdown

Colombia arrested two boat captains responsible for ferrying migrants to the Darien Gap jungle, temporarily suspending crossings on the perilous route toward the United States. The crackdown came as Bogotá faces increased pressure from Washington to stem the flow of migrants — mostly from Venezuela — who are bound for the U.S. border. Although most Venezuelan migrants attempt to reach the U.S., those who settle in countries in Latin America benefit the local economies considerably, highlighting the economic benefits of migration. According to two recent studies by leading financial institutions, Venezuelan migrants will boost the economies of their host nations in the region by as much as 0.25% every year until 2030. “This study evidences what we already knew: migration is good business,” an expert told The Guardian.

Oprah to quit Weight Watchers board

Oprah Winfrey will stand down from the board of Weight Watchers, prompting shares in the weight-loss support company to drop by 27%. It’s another blow for Weight Watchers, which is struggling in the face of competition from effective weight-loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic: On Tuesday, it announced a net loss of $88 million for the last quarter of 2023. Winfrey herself has said she uses weight-loss drugs as a “maintenance tool.” Last year, Weight Watchers bought the digital health company Sequence, which can prescribe drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, in an attempt to keep up with the changes in the weight-loss industry.

Saudi Arabia signs tennis deal

ATP Tour, the governing body of men’s tennis, signed a “multiyear strategic partnership” with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, marking the latest foray by the kingdom into the world’s top sports leagues. As part of its Vision 2030 plan — through which it seeks to diversify the country’s economy away from oil — Riyadh has invested billions of dollars in sports leagues around the world. However, critics say the investments represent little more than a ploy for Saudi Arabia to “sportswash” its dire human rights record. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, is unbothered by the accusations: “If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by 1%, then we will continue doing sportswashing,” he told Fox News last year.

The leap day arrives

Today is leap day, the day added to the calendar every four years to even out the fact that the Earth’s journey around the sun takes slightly longer than 365 days. The practice was begun by the Romans, hence the day landing at the end of February, not December 32, which might make more sense: The Romans’ calendar started in spring. In the Christian calendar, keeping track of the day was doubly important, because vital festivals such as Easter were calculated from the spring equinox. Without the leap day, “suddenly your parish is celebrating a whole host of religious observances from Ash Wednesday, to Lent, to Holy Week, to Pentecost on the wrong day,” a professor of Old English wrote in The Conversation.

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• Senior U.S. and Thai officials meet to discuss bilateral ties in Bangkok.
• The U.N. Human Rights Council holds a dialogue on the Israel-Hamas war.
• A Round of Applause, a new Turkish drama series, is released on Netflix.

The number of hours of high-definition video that one new DVD-like disk could hold. Chinese researchers found a way of creating multiple layers of data on a single disk, meaning it can hold 1 petabit, or 125,000 gigabytes — equivalent to 5,000 standard Blu-Rays. An hour of 1080p HD video uses about 3GB, so the disk could contain 20,000 two-hour HD movies, enough for someone to watch a film every night for almost 60 years.

The Lagos Wife, the U.K. edition of The Nigerwife, was published today. Vanessa Walters’ debut novel about a young woman who goes missing in Lagos and the aunt who tries to track her down is drawing rave reviews. Set in the noughties, the thriller explores family, identity, and diaspora. A reviewer in the Nigerian magazine Afapinen described Walters as “a powerful guide,” saying she expertly brings the megacity to life: “Lagos is as real as ever: the muddying rain, the glittering streets, the crammed populace, and the extreme upper-class culture.”

• Japan Inc. is finally ready for the global stage.
• Google CEO calls AI tool’s controversial responses ‘completely unacceptable.’
• Senate Republicans may be warming to Congress’s $78 billion tax bill.