Flagship

SCOTUS jumps into trans rights fight

The US Supreme Court will take up a case on state bans on gender-affirming care for children, jumping into the fraught political fight over transgender rights. Since 2021, more than 20 states have sought restrictions on access to gender-affirming care for minors as part of a broader Republican-led push to limit the rights of transgender people, but the federal government has challenged the bans’ constitutionality. The announcement comes during a busy week for the nation’s highest court: It is expected to decide several high-profile cases in the coming days, including whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from criminal prosecution and whether states with abortion bans need to provide emergency medical care to pregnant women.

China partners push Taiwan rhetoric

China is pressing its partners in the Global South to publicly support “reunification” with Taiwan, a phrase favored by Beijing, analysts said. Leaders from Malaysia, Bahrain, Egypt, and elsewhere have used the term in recent weeks, Nikkei reported, reflecting Beijing’s worldview that the island will inevitably return to China. It’s a step up from past strategies to quell international support for Taiwan. “Beijing is no longer satisfied with deterring Taiwan independence. Xi Jinping is now seeking to promote reunification,” one China expert said. Moving closer to Beijing could help some Southeast Asian nations as they seek to join the BRICS bloc of developing countries, which includes China: This week, Malaysian officials said the country would try to join after Thailand made a similar bid.

ByteDance in talks with US chip firm

Chinese tech company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, is in talks with American chip designer Broadcom to develop an advanced chip to power its artificial intelligence ambitions, Reuters reported. Such a partnership would not violate US export restrictions on chip technology to China, but it will be noticed: No collaborations on advanced chips between US and Chinese companies have been announced since Washington introduced the export controls in 2022. ByteDance is already under scrutiny from US lawmakers seeking to ban TikTok, while US-based companies have sought to downplay any ties to China amid tensions between the two superpowers.

SKorea fire spotlights workplace safety

A fire at a lithium battery plant near Seoul killed 22 people on Monday, renewing worries about workplace safety in a country that has one of the highest industrial death rates. South Korea is home to some of the world’s major producers of lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles but pose a particular fire risk. Lithium battery production involves extremely flammable and toxic materials, and firefighters had to use sand rather than water to extinguish the fire. Most of the victims were identified as migrant workers from China. South Korea is a top destination for Chinese nationals who often take physically demanding and low-paying jobs in factories; some industrial sectors now almost entirely depend on migrant workers due to South Korea’s low birth rate.

EU charges Apple under Big Tech rules

European Union regulators accused Apple of violating the bloc’s law to rein in the power of Big Tech — it’s first such charge under the new rules. The European Commission said Apple does not allow app developers to communicate with customers about alternate ways to make purchases. The charges, which could result in a hefty fine if Apple doesn’t fix the problem, mark the latest setback for the tech giant in the European market; last week it said it wouldn’t roll out its new artificial intelligence tech in the EU this year, citing “regulatory uncertainties.” The company is also facing antitrust challenges across the Atlantic, where US prosecutors allege Apple operates an illegal monopoly over smartphones.

Export controls on Russia are working

Export controls on Russia are much more effective than they are made out to be, an expert argued in Politico. “The measures are leaky, but they’re curbing Moscow’s ability to access high-tech goods and making it more difficult and expensive for the Kremlin to wage its war,” Agathe Demarais of the European Council on Foreign Relation wrote. Russia is able to smuggle some goods in at a premium, but that doesn’t detract from the huge drop in imports of Western technology, she said. Meanwhile, Western countries continue to twist the knife. On Monday, the EU launched its 14th sanctions package, closing loopholes and restricting Russia’s energy revenue.

Philippines pushes ‘gastronomy tourism’

The Philippine government is making a concerted effort to boost its cuisine on the world stage. Filipino food is less familiar to Western palates than other Southeast Asian cuisines like Thai or Vietnamese, although some individual dishes like lumpia, a kind of spring roll, or adobo, a garlicky stew made with chicken or pork, are relatively well known. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is urging the 10-million-strong Filipino diaspora to push their cuisine overseas, while inside the country, the government has started to promote “gastronomy tourism” to improve foreign visitors’ culinary experiences in the country, in part by creating tourist routes that cater to foodies and a year-long food festival, Eatsperience, in a popular area of Manila.

Tired of one-sided political news? Tangle is the solution. An independent, non-partisan politics newsletter that gives nuance and perspective while summarizing the best arguments from the left, right, and center on one big debate each day. Get a 360-degree read this election season. Sign up for free.

AI companies try to be multilingual in India

Artificial intelligence companies are racing to produce chatbots that can talk in India’s many languages. Hindi is the most common of India’s 22 officially recognized languages, but there are thousands of other tongues and dialects, presenting a challenge for large-language models. Google, Microsoft, and others are increasingly offering Indian AI voice assistants — Google’s Gemini launched in nine Indian languages last week, while Microsoft’s Copilot is available in 12. The tools could support the country’s huge customer service and call center sectors, the Financial Times reported, and their development could lead to more powerful and useful AIs. Meanwhile homegrown AI companies, such as Sarvam AI, are working to adapt existing models for India.

Cache of EV minerals found in Japan

Japanese researchers have discovered vast deposits of precious metals on the seabed near an island off the country’s coast. The researchers found 250 million tons of manganese nodules around Minami-Torishima, an uninhabited island around 1,000 miles southeast of Tokyo. The nodules contain iron, manganese, cobalt, and nickel, the last three of which are crucial for electric vehicle batteries: Hundreds of thousands of tons of pure metals should be extractable, and the research team hopes to start extraction in the next year. If retrieved, there are likely enough minerals for more than a decade’s-worth of industrial use by Japan — a potential boon in boosting green tech manufacturing.

Wall St bets on sailing as the next F1

Billionaire investors are betting extreme sailing could be the next Formula 1. SailGP, a professional sailing league started by tech billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, held its second New York race last weekend, and officials said it could break even by 2025. The league’s 50-foot catamarans can lift out of the water and accelerate past 60 miles per hour, replicating the thrill of a high-speed auto race. The sport is also expanding its global reach, with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund backing a Brazilian team for next season. Yet extreme sailing is just one of several emerging sports that’s benefiting from private equity investment, along with drone racing, lacrosse, and pickleball, the Financial Times reported.

June 25:

• Japan’s emperor attends a banquet at Buckingham Palace with the UK’s King Charles.
• Kenyan lawmakers meet to vote on controversial tax reforms that have sparked large protests.
• Swimming legend Michael Phelps testifies to the US Congress about anti-doping measures at the Olympics.

An Indian drama about a mother interfering in her daughter’s love life has swept up awards on the international film festival circuit ahead of its theatrical release. First-time director Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls won the top prize at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania, and the grand prize at France’s Biarritz Nouvelles Vagues Festival, which celebrates young talent. The plot follows a teenager at a strict boarding school in the Himalayas who gets into a love triangle with her mother as they compete romantically for the same boy. “The story of this film is very rooted in India, but I always hoped that people outside this very specific space and time where the story takes place would resonate with it,” Talati said.

• TikTok in denial as US ‘ban’ approaches.
• Sierra Leone bans child marriage.
• Kenya’s revolution is being televised on TikTok and X.