Flagship

Taiwan quake hits chip manufacture

Taiwan’s largest earthquake since 1999 killed at least seven, and forced the evacuation of several critical chip-making facilities. The magnitude 7.2 quake destroyed buildings in the east of the island and triggered tsunami warnings in nearby countries. Taiwan is the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, the manufacture of which relies on precise conditions and is extremely vulnerable to even tiny vibrations. Employees have begun to return to work, although the incident highlights the risks of building one of the world’s most vital products on a geological fault: California and Japan, two other tech industry hubs, are also seismically active regions. The 1999 quake, which released about four times as much energy, destroyed 50,000 buildings and killed 2,400 people.

US-China rhetoric thaws

The U.S. treasury secretary is due in China this week, the latest sign of thawing ties between Washington and Beijing. Her visit will come shortly after the two countries’ leaders held a nearly two-hour phone conversation. The improved rhetoric marks a contrast from a year ago, when the superpowers were sparring over a Chinese spy balloon traveling over the U.S., but contentious issues remain at the core of their rivalry: During their call, the two leaders sparred over American support for Taiwan, and Washington’s curbs on Chinese access to cutting-edge semiconductor technology, with the U.S. unlikely to budge on either issue — it has asked allies to tighten their own controls, and will soon reportedly unveil expanded restrictions.

EU science fund admits South Korea

South Korea will join Horizon, the pan-European scientific research funding program. It will become the first East Asian country to do so, meaning its researchers can apply for grants on equal footing with European Union-based scientists. New Zealand joined last year, and Canada is in negotiations, as Horizon opens up to non-European countries. Global tensions may be on the rise, but science has always stood aside from diplomatic relations and seen international collaboration even as nation-states compete: In 1813, at the height of the Napoleonic wars, the British scientists Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday visited Paris upon the invitation of Napoleon to receive an award for services to science.

Retirement worries rise

A looming pensions crisis threatens global economies of all stripes worldwide, analysts argued. The typical U.S. resident says they need nearly $1.5 million for a comfortable retirement, but savers on average have barely $88,000 in their pension, a new survey showed. The figures reinforce concerns from BlackRock’s chief executive, who warned last week of a “retirement crisis,” pointing to an aging population and a severe shortfall in savings. The issue is in some ways starker outside the West, where safety nets are even more threadbare: 300 million people are set to age out of China’s workforce in the next decade, and the country’s state pension fund is estimated to run out of money by 2035.

Biden’s growing challenge

U.S. President Joe Biden’s climb to reelection appeared to steepen, with a proposed state law and recent polling illustrating the extent of his challenge. Nebraska outlined changes that would likely deny Biden crucial electoral college votes and narrow his path to a second term, while a new Wall Street Journal poll pegged Trump ahead of Biden in six of the seven closest swing states for the 2024 election. The race is far from a done deal, though: More than a quarter of voters dislike both candidates, according to research from Gallup, and Trump’s team is grappling with squeezing in campaign events between a packed legal schedule.

Criticism of Israel grows

Major powers, including the U.S., sharply criticized Israel over an airstrike that killed aid workers in Gaza. U.S. President Joe Biden led the condemnation, saying he was “outraged and heartbroken,” while Britain’s prime minister said the situation in Gaza was “increasingly intolerable.” The incident, which Israel has said was unintentional, has widened the gulf between the country and its allies, though as Haaretz’s military correspondent noted, “the world had run out of patience with Israel” even before the strike. That anger has not yet resulted in the suspension of arms sales, however: The White House is close to approving $18 billion in new transfers, CNN reported.

Concerns grow over India vote

Concerns are growing over India’s general election, which begins this month. The weeks-long exercise has already been blighted by the arrest of opposition leaders and the direction of anonymous donations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Hindu nationalist party. The Indian Express reported that over the past decade, of 25 politicians who faced federal investigations in India and ultimately joined Modi’s party, 23 eventually received reprieves — a trend dubbed a “washing machine” by critics. A separate report by two NGOs, meanwhile, said that YouTube approved dozens of ads promoting violence and voter suppression in the election, which begins on April 19 and will be carried out in several stages through June 1.

Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation; Ali Zaidi, White House National Climate Advisor; Gretchen Watkins, Shell USA President; Mexico’s Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O; José Muñoz, President & COO, Hyundai Motor Company; and Rep. Steny Hoyer will participate in the Future of Mobility Session at the 2024 World Economy Summit. The discussion will revolve around how the world is accelerating towards a faster, greener, and more convenient transportation future while addressing supply chain complications, geopolitical tensions, and regulatory hurdles.
April 17 | 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. ET | Washington, D.C.

Brazil fintech booms

Pix, a QR-code payment system, has become Brazil’s most popular way to pay, highlighting the country’s breakneck uptake of financial technology. Although launched less than four years ago, Pix has largely replaced cash as a form of payment across the country, a transition that is often linked with lowering corruption and increasing taxation as transactions become visible to authorities. “Pix has come to change the game,” a user in Rio de Janeiro told Bloomberg. The move is part of a wider shift that has made Brazil one of world’s leaders in fintech adoption, helping bring the share of the unbanked population down to 9%, from more than 44% in 2011.

Botswana: Take our elephants, please

Botswana offered to send 20,000 elephants to Germany. The possibly tongue-in-cheek offer was a response to the German environment minister calling for stricter limits on imports of hunting trophies. Elephants, which have few natural predators, damage property and crops, and sometimes kill people. Botswana exports them, but also offers hunting licenses, both to control numbers and to attract tourism. Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi said elephant numbers in the country have exploded thanks to conservation — 40% of its land is nature reserve, and it is now home to 130,000 animals, about a third of the world’s total. Masisi told Bild that Germans should “live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to,” adding that he was “dead serious.”

Rescuing a dying language

Linguists are racing to record a dying language considered to be the closest surviving link to Ancient Greek. Romeyka is spoken by about 2,000 people in Trabzon, northern Turkey. It has no writing system, is transmitted only orally, and most surviving speakers are over 65 as younger people tend to learn Turkish. Romeyka is related to modern Greek, but while that language has no infinitive — so speakers say “I want that I go” — Romeyka speakers say “I want to go,” which indicates that it is “a sister, rather than a daughter” of Greek, Professor Ioanna Sitaridou of Cambridge University said. Sitaridou is developing a crowdsourcing tool to encourage Romeyka speakers from around the world to upload audio to preserve the language for future generations.

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• Vietnam’s foreign minister arrives in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart.
• The annual Sohn Investment Conference begins in New York.
• Files of the Unexplained, a new docuseries, is released on Netflix.

The average number of viewers of the Louisiana State-Iowa women’s college basketball game on Monday. Driven by Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark — who made a record nine 3-pointers during the game — viewership figures surpassed those of last year’s baseball World Series and the 2023 NBA Finals. Although the numbers are extraordinary relative to historic standards, they’re nonetheless part of a years-long shift in increased coverage of women’s sports. According to a recent study, women’s sports could account for 20% of sports media coverage in the U.S. by 2025, up from just over 5% in 2019.

A new spiral-shaped community center in the central Indian state of Rajasthan was inspired by sand dunes and traditional Indian courtyards. The curvilinear complex swirls up to a height of nine meters from ground level, topped with a striking, sloping green roof that opens up as a garden space with views of the surrounding desert. The center, designed by the Mumbai-based studio Sanjay Puri Architects, offers residents a semi-sheltered open amphitheater, library, cafe, and museum, set behind an undulating sandstone facade, reported Dezeen. 

• Republicans are on a quest to ban lab-grown meat.
• Beijing gives warm welcome to Taiwan’s former president.
• Apple muscles in on subscription podcasts.