Flagship

US targets Russia-China ties

The Biden administration announced new sanctions on Russia on the eve of the G7 summit in Italy that will largely focus on ways to rein in Russia’s war economy. The measures are aimed at further isolating Russia from the international financial system, but the expanded secondary sanctions — meaning any foreign bank making transactions with sanctioned Russian entities could be blacklisted by the US — target the growing technological and financial ties between China and Russia. It’s an effective threat, one expert told The Associated Press: “Chinese banks have always been very careful not to become a target of secondary sanctions because it would be very costly.” Russia’s largest stock exchange announced it will halt trading in dollars and euros due to the measures.

How China may respond to EU tariffs

China stopped short of vowing direct retaliation in its initial response after the European Union imposed additional tariffs up to 38% on electric vehicle imports. Still, Beijing said it would “take all necessary measures” to protect Chinese business, with some analysts — and the German government — fearing the moves could spark a trade war. “Despite the bravado, China doesn’t want a trade war with Europe,” the Beijing-based Trivium research firm said. Instead, it’s more likely to make targeted moves, like imposing tariffs on French brandy or Spanish pork. Berlin-based Table.Media concurred: “Beijing will stick to a face-saving, carefully measured countermove.”

US inflation cools, interest rates steady

The US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, and signaled it could cut rates just once this year. Policymakers offered muted optimism on inflation — new figures showed inflation cooled more than expected in May, with prices not rising on a monthly basis for the first time since July 2022. But the Fed will likely look for sustained cooling before cutting rates. “This is kind of great, but it is one month,” J.P. Morgan’s chief US economist said. The White House, meanwhile, did a victory lap, as President Joe Biden looks to make the case that he revived a pandemic-era economy, and that his predecessor and challenger Donald Trump’s plans would hurt consumers.

Ceasefire terms may be unbridgeable

Hamas’ proposed changes to the US-backed Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel may not all be achievable, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. Without going into specifics, Blinken suggested talks would continue: “I believe those gaps are bridgeable — it doesn’t mean they will be bridged.” The terms pushed by the US are falling short of a breakthrough as public opinion in the Arab world turns against Washington and in favor of China, according to new polling from Arab Barometer. While the US is “theoretically well positioned” to secure a ceasefire deal, its unpopularity could leave space for actors like Beijing to assert a leadership role in the Middle East, researchers wrote in Foreign Affairs.

Most people are disengaged at work

Workers’ stress levels fell globally in 2023 for the first time since the pandemic began, but more than 60% of them don’t feel engaged at work. The resulting lack of productivity cost the global economy $8.9 trillion, according to a new Gallup report. Japan was among the countries with the least engaged workers, with 94% considered to be either “quiet quitting” or actively hostile toward their employers. The findings counter the country’s “hardworking image,” The Japan Times wrote, and highlight a generational shift as more workers seek out nontraditional careers with greater flexibility. Some dissatisfied workers are even outsourcing the act of resigning to companies that help them quit their jobs with less pressure.

‘Emotion canceling’ tech calms callers

A Japanese company has developed new artificial intelligence technology to protect call center operators from angry callers. SoftBank’s software has “emotion canceling” features that soften the pitch and inflection of an irate customer to reduce harassment and the “psychological burden” on workers, The Asahi Shimbun reported. The tool can also detect when a conversation is becoming too long or abusive, triggering an automated warning message. The fix isn’t perfect: A customer service agent might not be able to properly help a caller if they don’t know the person is angry. So developers “made sure that a slight element of anger remains audible.”

India saw productive AI uses in election

India’s mammoth general election saw a flood of deepfakes. Despite the use of artificial intelligence in creating misleading content, including videos of dead politicians “endorsing” candidates, the contest also showcased AI’s productive uses that bode well for future world elections, researchers argued. India has 22 official languages, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party embraced AI tools to translate speeches in real time and send personalized messages to voters. AI was also used adversarially, but often in a benignly humorous way; Modi joked about a deepfake video of himself, calling it “truly a delight.” Deepfakes “can make it harder to tell truth from fiction, but its consensual uses are likely to make democracy more accessible,” The Conversation wrote.

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Japanese pioneer of life-saving statins dies

Akira Endo, who discovered life-saving statins, died aged 90. Statins reduce cholesterol in the blood, and greatly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in at-risk people. Endo, inspired by the discovery of penicillin, studied fungi while working at a Tokyo pharma company to find compounds that could be used in medicine. He discovered the first one in 1973; they became widely available in the 1980s, and are estimated to have saved millions of lives since. But Endo never won a Nobel Prize, and since they are not given posthumously, he never will: A British Heart Foundation doctor told the BBC that “very few treatments … have had such a dramatic impact,” and that it was “a shame” Endo had not been recognized.

Group funds sun-blocking research

A major environmental group will spend millions of dollars researching the potential repercussions of blocking sunlight to slow climate change. Solar geoengineering involves releasing reflective particles or boosting the reflectivity of clouds, reducing the solar energy reaching the Earth. Some scientists say it will be necessary to keep warming below an acceptable level, but others are concerned about unintended consequences. Heated talks at the United Nations in March failed to lead to an agreement on international guidelines. The Environmental Defense Fund said it wanted to investigate the outcomes of solar geoengineering to educate policymakers, although it said reducing greenhouse gasses remained the most important way of addressing climate change.

Poor sleep may erode long-term memory

New research could explain why poor sleep affects memory, and suggests that trying to ‘recover’ with a night of sound sleep will not fix the problem. In the study, rats were deprived of uninterrupted sleep over several weeks and made to explore mazes, a test of their long-term memories. The researchers found that a brain signal linked to long-term memory formation goes awry in the rats, and doesn’t fully restore itself after they get some rest. The findings could lead to better treatments for sleeplessness and its effects, but they also suggest there is a “critical window for memory processing,” that may occur during sleep after a day’s activities, one scientist told Nature. “Once you’ve lost it, you’ve lost it.”

June 13:

• NATO defense ministers start a two-day meeting in Brussels.
• Former US President Donald Trump is set to speak with Senate Republicans about his campaign plans and policy priorities.
• Pixar’s Inside Out 2 hits US theaters.

The number of fans BTS member Jin is set to hug on Thursday after being discharged from mandatory South Korean military service. Jin, the oldest member of the mega-popular K-pop boy band, was the first of seven members to complete military service; several of his bandmates accompanied him when he left the military facility Wednesday and put on a celebratory saxophone performance. The fans invited to the three-hour hug marathon were chosen in a raffle.

A new Netflix documentary is “the perfect introduction” for people who have always wondered about the terracotta army. Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors digs deep into Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s “Manhattan-sized mausoleum complex” guarded by more than 8,000 life-size clay soldiers that he built to protect him in the afterlife. Qin, the first emperor of unified China, used tens of thousands of prisoners of war from conquered states to construct his sprawling tomb. The terracotta army was only discovered two millennia later, by a farmer digging a well in 1974. The documentary delves into why the pottery soldiers were “savagely vandalized,” The Wall Street Journal wrote, prompting one Qin historian to call the archaeological wonder “a crime scene.”

• Blackstone’s high-class problem: too many rich dentists.
• Democrats are planning a resistance playbook for Trump’s return.
• Biden has a TikTok problem. His superfans want to help.