Flagship

Dems resume calls for Biden to drop out

US President Joe Biden said he would consider dropping his reelection bid if diagnosed with a medical condition that might interfere with his ability to govern. Later on Wednesday, Biden apparently tested positive for COVID-19, according to organizers of an event he was set to speak at. Calls for the 81-year-old to quit had quieted since the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but on Wednesday, California Rep. Adam Schiff became the most prominent congressional Democrat to say Biden should step aside. The party’s senators have circulated polling showing Biden hurting their candidates, Semafor reported, while a new AP poll showed nearly two-thirds of Democrats think he should withdraw, countering the president’s claim that “average” party members still back him.

US weighs ‘draconian’ chip controls

The US is considering using the most severe trade restrictions possible on Japanese and Dutch chipmakers to limit their ties to China. A rules allows the US to impose controls on imports that use even the smallest amount of American technology; such a move is seen as “draconian” by Washington’s allies. The Biden administration has asked the Netherlands and Japan to tighten restrictions on China’s chip industry, but “the prospect of stricter trade rules would suggest that attempts to form a unified front against China’s chip ambitions have fallen short,” Bloomberg wrote. Semiconductor stocks fell Wednesday in the wake of the report, and following Donald Trump’s comments that chip-rich Taiwan should pay for its own defense.

Europe chaos reverberates in Asia

Political chaos in Europe could have ripple effects in Asia, analysts said. The uncertainty in France, where recent elections effectively created a lame-duck government, could ultimately affect Europe’s support for Ukraine. And a Japanese security official told Nikkei that if Russia gains the upper hand over Kyiv, “it will inevitably impact Asia. North Korea, which has been deepening its military cooperation with Russia, may become more assertive as a result.” Meanwhile, Asian powers have upped their military presence in Europe: North Korean and Chinese tech has ended up on the battlefield in Ukraine, while China held joint exercises in Belarus. “Whereas once-weak Asian powers used to be the object of Europe’s strategic calculations, it will now be the other way around,” a Foreign Policy columnist wrote.

China intensifies AI censorship

China is testing homegrown artificial intelligence systems to ensure they “embody core socialist values.” Beijing has previously published rules telling chatbots to avoid topics seen as sensitive, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, but the mandatory review process for companies like ByteDance and Alibaba marks an intensification of the government’s AI censorship efforts, the Financial Times reported. The restrictions present a challenge for both AI companies and Beijing’s censors: “It’s very hard for developers to control the text that [bots] generate,” one expert said. Some Chinese chatbots reject most questions that mention Chinese leader Xi Jinping. One bot, when asked about his leadership, provided a long list of Xi’s accomplishments and called him “undoubtedly a great leader.”

Bhutan AI startup snags big clients

An artificial intelligence company run by seven college students out of a dorm room has snagged high-profile clients in Bhutan. As the South Asian country’s first AI startup, NoMindBhutan creates and deploys chatbots, and works with the Bhutan National Bank, the country’s national airline, and several government agencies. But the reclusive Himalayan kingdom is home to only 15 tech startups, and experts say it needs more infrastructure for the industry to thrive: It has just one small data center. “When we started, we [didn’t] really [have] a big dream,” one of NoMindBhutan’s co-founders told Rest of World. We just wanted to bring in AI tools suitable for all the Bhutanese context.”

Anti-aging breakthrough in mice

An anti-aging therapy extended the lifespan of middle-aged mice by 25%. Researchers found that a protein, IL-11, which causes inflammation, was associated with aging. After scientists either deleted the genes for IL-11 or blocked it with a drug, they found that 75-week-old mice — about equivalent to 55-year-old humans — suffered fewer age-related diseases. Andrew Steele, the author of a book on anti-aging science, told Flagship the findings were “up there with some of the best known longevity drugs in mice” and could potentially translate rapidly into human drugs, but warned we should be careful with any therapy that completely blocks a gene.

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Australian admits he isn’t bitcoin creator

An Australian who insisted he was the creator of bitcoin may now face perjury charges after admitting that he is not. Craig Wright claimed for years to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous author of the white paper behind the concept of cryptocurrency, even demanding other people remove the paper from their sites for copyright reasons. Crypto groups sued him in London: The judge ruled against him, saying he “lied to the court repeatedly and extensively” about being Nakamoto. Wright posted a court-ordered message admitting that he is not the bitcoin creator, and the judge recommended that he face criminal charges for forgery and perjury that could see him jailed.

Loggers near uncontacted tribe

Rare images of an uncontacted tribe in the Peruvian Amazon showed dozens of members just a few kilometers away from logging sites. The Mashco Piro live in the Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru, and rarely communicate with other neighboring tribes or anyone else. They are believed to be the largest uncontacted tribe in the world, with an estimated 750 members. Sightings are increasingly common as the number of loggers grows, an NGO said. The Mashco Piro live partly in an area granted as a reserve, but it only covers a third of the land originally proposed, and much of the remainder has been sold as logging concessions. “They are a people with no peace, restless, because they are always on the run,” a missionary told Reuters.

Unhealthy soil roils conservationists

The UN’s conservation arm UNESCO will create a global index of soil health. Research suggested that 75% of the world’s soils are degraded, and the figure is forecast to rise to 90% by 2050. A conference in Morocco this month put together a plan to improve scientific understanding and monitoring of soil, and to find ways to protect and rehabilitate it. “Soil plays a crucial role in sustaining life on Earth,” the UNESCO director general said. “Yet it is still often neglected or poorly managed,” with around 3.2 billion people affected by degraded soil. A starting point will be establishing what soil should look like: At the moment, “there is no consensual definition of what constitutes healthy soil,” a scientist told Le Monde.

‘Shōgun’ dominates Emmy nominations

Shōgun, the TV adaptation of the 1975 James Clavell novel set in feudal Japan, dominated Emmy nominations on Wednesday, snagging 25 nods. The show will compete for outstanding drama, lead actor (Hiroyuki Sanada), and lead actress (Anna Sawai). Cult Japanese star Tadanobu Asano, who won a new fanbase in the West with his performance as wily warlord Yabushige, was also nominated for best supporting actor. The show’s mainstream success and critical acclaim is notable given that it was made by an American network for an American streaming service, but has mostly Japanese dialogue. Many of the nominees are the first Japanese performers to be recognized in their categories.

July 18:

• US regulators hold a public meeting on Capital One’s takeover of Discover.
• Trump speaks on closing day of the Republican National Convention.
• The European Central Bank decides on interest rate cuts.

There’s a vibrant black market for artwork stolen from the walls of Taco Bell locations across the US. More than 20 years ago, the fast food chain commissioned artist Mark T. Smith to create artwork for its restaurants; he came up with a set of eccentric, Maxfield Parrish-inspired pieces designed with acrylic, crayon, and cut paper. Smith estimates copies of the paintings went up in some 4,000 Taco Bell locations — but some have been stolen and resold, Artnet wrote. Stolen paintings are going for up to $8,500 on eBay. “I think it’s really cool,” Smith said. “There is this whole subculture of collecting and trading and stealing.”

• Trump’s call for Taiwan to pay for its defense rattles chip stocks.
• Trump backs a corporate tax cut, which JD Vance initially opposed.
• JD Vance’s energy reversal is a risky gamble on Ohio’s future.