Flagship

More bad news for Biden

Biden faced another bruising day on the home front. For the first time on Wednesday, a Democratic senator publicly said Biden should drop out of the race. An eighth House representative said the same, and Hollywood star and top Democratic fundraiser George Clooney joined the chorus. Meanwhile, an election forecaster said six key swing states now “lean Republican.” The noise about Biden’s age is “burying good economic news” for the Democrats, Semafor’s Jordan Weissmann reported: Jobs are up, inflation is cooling, and most observers think the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. No doubt Biden’s campaign would like the party to stop bickering and “play up the positive developments,” Weissmann wrote, but it seems that his age has “become the all-encompassing storyline that will define his candidacy.”

NATO: China is backing Russia’s war

NATO openly accused China of supplying Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A joint declaration from the 32 members of the security alliance called Beijing “a decisive enabler of Russia’s war,” and demanded it stop providing “weapons components” and other military technology to the Kremlin. The statement marks “a major departure for NATO,” The New York Times reported, having previously only mentioned China in “the blandest of language.” NATO warned China could face unspecified consequences to “its interests and reputation,” likely meaning economic sanctions, for enabling “the largest war in Europe in recent history.” China rejected the accusations as “lies and smears.” Tensions between the US and China, in particular, are already high as Beijing steps up its activities in the South China Sea, menacing US allies.

Juntas pull out of West Africa bloc

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger withdrew from a major West African alliance, further destabilizing an area beset by violent insurgencies. According to officials, the three nations — all ruled by military juntas friendly to Russia — will build their own confederation to rival ECOWAS in response to sanctions from the bloc. The triple secession comes during an increase in violence across much of West Africa and the Sahel, a semi-arid region that straddles the Sahara desert. According to a report from the United Nations children’s agency, recruitment and use of children by armed groups in the three nations increased by 130% in the last quarter of 2023 compared to the previous three months.

Paris evicts homeless before Games

Thousands of homeless immigrants have been removed from Paris by the French government ahead of the Olympics. President Emmanuel Macron wants the Games to showcase the city to the world, but the Olympic Village is located in a poor suburb. Police have evicted around 5,000 people, mainly single men, encouraging them to board buses to other cities.“They promised us housing,” one migrant told The New York Times, but instead the migrants were screened for deportation or deposited in unfamiliar cities with no shelter. The government denied that the clearance is connected to the Olympics, but a leaked email from one official said the goal was to “identify people on the street in sites near Olympic venues.”

Hundreds dead in El Salvador prisons

At least 261 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons since President Nayib Bukele initiated a crackdown on the country’s gangs more than two years ago. Bukele — who recently began a second term despite a constitutional ban against it — declared a state of emergency in 2022 that has led to the arrest of more than 80,000 suspected gang members, many of whom have been convicted in mass trials. Despite criticism from rights groups, countries across Latin America have vowed to implement similar mass incarceration campaigns to deal with soaring crime in the region, one of the world’s most violent. “That is a subtle and dangerous influence on the region’s mood,” an expert told the Financial Times.

UAE jails activists

The United Arab Emirates sentenced more than 40 political and human rights activists to life in prison in a trial that campaigners said was “shamelessly unfair.” According to UAE officials, the activists were convicted for their involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization that it says is a terrorist group. The UAE is relatively permissive when it comes to the behavior of wealthy Westerners, but has zero tolerance for domestic political dissent, a stance that has insulated it from the instability that has destabilized its neighbors. However, the latest crackdown could damage the country’s image abroad. The harsh sentences “made a mockery of justice,” an expert at Human Rights Watch told the Financial Times.

Osteoporosis treatment hope

A hormone found in breastfeeding mice that seems to maintain strong bones has raised hopes for a treatment for osteoporosis. The body strips calcium from bones during breastfeeding to provide infants essential nutrients in milk, and tamps down estrogen production, which also affects bone health. Exactly why most women only undergo slight, temporary bone loss during lactation has been a mystery. Researchers found that a hormone called CCN3, only produced when breastfeeding, made the body strengthen bones, and that blocking it led to greater bone loss. Osteoporosis in older people, especially women, is a significant cause of injury, and while mice are not humans, the authors hope the findings could lead to treatments that boost bone strength.

Germany moves to ban Huawei 5G

Germany is expected to cut Chinese companies’ involvement in its 5G wireless network. The government and major phone carriers agreed on a plan to remove components made by Huawei and other Chinese firms over the next five years from the network, several German newspapers reported. Other Western countries have also reduced their reliance on Chinese tech, particularly in critical infrastructure, out of security concerns: The US prohibited companies from using Huawei equipment in 2012, while the UK banned Huawei products in its telecoms networks in 2020, and France, Italy, and others have made similar moves. Indeed, Berlin is considered a “laggard” for only doing this now, Reuters reported.

Cameroon leader’s daughter comes out

The daughter of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya came out as gay, even as same-sex relationships are punishable by up to five years’ jail under Cameroonian law. Brenda Biya, a musician who lives abroad, shared an image of her kissing another woman last week, with the message “I’m crazy about you & I want the world to know.” She told French outlet Le Parisien that it was “an opportunity to send a strong message.” She said her parents had called asking her to delete the post, but “since then, it’s been silence.” Activist groups welcomed her stance, although one said that the “Anti-LGBT laws in Cameroon disproportionately target the poor,” and Biya’s wealth and status protects her. A group that backs the law called for her to be prosecuted.

Borneo elephants instantly endangered

The world’s smallest elephants were confirmed a distinct subspecies and immediately declared critically endangered. Scientists disagreed whether Borneo pygmy elephants — disappointingly not that tiny, at roughly nine feet tall, but small by elephant standards — were separate from other Asian elephants. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature confirmed that they are, meaning that the species went straight onto the “red list” of threatened animals: It is thought there are fewer than 1,000 left in the wild, with its jungle habitat devastated by logging for timber and for palm-oil plantations, leaving the elephants confined to small regions of disconnected forest in Borneo.

• The Wimbledon tennis tournament’s women’s semi-finals take place.
• NATO leaders hold a press conference in Washington, DC.
• The annual Pamplona Bull Run, also known as The Running of the Bulls, begins.

The proposed retirement age for members of the British House of Lords. The new UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants to reduce the size of the country’s upper chamber, which has more than 800 members, and plans to do it by effectively ending lifelong appointments. Notably, 80 is a year younger than the sitting US president, but Starmer — in Washington for the NATO summit — said that was besides the point: “The simple fact is that our House of Lords is massive … it doesn’t reflect on how other elected representatives are chosen in other countries.”

The Umbrella Murder, by Ulrik Skotte. In 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed while standing on Waterloo Bridge in London, with a weapon disguised as an umbrella. The case was never closed, but Danish journalist Skotte worked for two decades to track down the alleged perpetrator: The “masterly investigation” reveals “an assassin worthy of James Bond,” the Guardian wrote. Skotte even manages to record a three-hour interview with the suspected murderer — though he never confesses to the crime — making for a story that is “international, evocative and satisfyingly odd.”

• Top EU pol voices Trump concerns, slams Orbán in Semafor interview.
• As leadership steps back, the anti-Biden rebellion grows.
• Nancy Pelosi fuels doubt around President Biden’s nomination.