Flagship

Biden drops out 2024 race

US President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, a historic decision that will remake the election. In a statement Sunday, Biden said his decision was in the “best interest of my party and the country.” Separately, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take over as nominee. Top Democrats, liberal commentators, and donors have called for Biden to resign for weeks, concerned about his age and ability to beat Donald Trump, who leads the polls. It’s unclear at this point how his decision will affect Democrats’ hopes of keeping hold of the White House this November. But writing in June, New Yorker editor David Remnick said stepping back was “the more rational course and would be an act of patriotism.”

The world reacts to Biden

US allies praised Biden’s decision to step down, while the tone was more nuanced in Russia and China. European leaders reacted with gratitude for Biden’s support, while a Ukrainian lawmaker noted he has been “a great friend to Ukraine.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog thanked Biden for his support, too. European and NATO officials had for months worried over Biden’s chances, fearing a return of the tensions that defined the first Trump presidency should he have lost — many may see him stepping back as a better bet to keep Trump out. Russian media meanwhile suggested that Biden’s decision was the result of a Democratic conspiracy, and Chinese commentators are already voicing doubts that Kamala Harris or any other Democrat can beat Trump.

What happens next for Democrats

Vice President Kamala Harris is riding a wave of early endorsements and has Biden’s support. But her selection isn’t automatic: Biden’s withdrawal means that his delegates are free to vote for whichever candidate they choose. Some Democrats think they should ditch Harris to leave behind any lingering Biden baggage and there have been calls for a “blitz primary” to find a consensus candidate. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have all been floated as potential alternatives, but it’s an open question if anyone significant runs. Harris has already inherited Biden’s war chest, which should help her campaign. Yet, she needs to convince a “few hundred thousand voters” in key swing states that she is “not too liberal,” wrote New York’s political columnist Jonathan Chait.

Chinese growth plan leaves investors cold

China released a much-anticipated economic policy update Sunday that promised to “deepen reform” and boost growth but offered few details on how. In the lengthy document, the government set out a plan to excercise more power over local authorities, and bolster self-reliance in manufacturing, especially as the country faces more sanctions and tariffs. Financial markets have not exuded confidence: A major Chinese index fell every day last week, and Hong Kong delistings dwarf new listings in value. A senior economist told Reuters that the plan offers an uncertain future for the country’s growth outlook.

China, Philippines reach maritime deal

China and the Philippines reached a “provisional arrangement” over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. For weeks, the island has been the site of a standoff between the Chinese coast guard and the Philippine navy and civilian boats that had threatened to cascade into conflict. The deal allows the Philippines to keep resupplying a deliberately beached ship that Filipino sailors continue to work on in an effort to maintain the country’s territorial claim; China claims the entirety of the South China Sea as its territory. It remains to be seen if it will hold, but the arrangement may “spark hope” of similar deals between Beijing and other countries in the region, like Malaysia and Vietnam, that also have disputes, The Associated Press reported.

Israel strikes Houthis in Yemen

Israel struck a suspected Houthi military base in Yemen on Sunday, killing six people. The attack came in response to a Houthi drone strike in Tel Aviv that killed one person. Tensions are rising between Israel and the Iranian-backed Houthis to the south and Hezbollah to the north as the war in Gaza continues. The retaliatory strikes set the tone for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the US — while he is supposed to meet with Biden, the latter’s decision to drop out the 2024 race means Netanyahu’s trip has now taken an “unexpected turn,” and he could further divide Democrats if he tries to undermine Biden in Washington, wrote Haaretz’ correspondent Etan Nechin.

Bangladesh scraps controversial quotas

Bangladesh’s top court scrapped almost all government job quotas as nationwide protests left at least 110 people dead. The government has imposed a national curfew and an internet blackout. The attorney general told Reuters he hoped the court’s move would halt the protests, a response to the quotas that many saw as unfairly privileging supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Human rights advocates have criticized the crackdown as characteristic of Hasina’s government’s intolerance of criticism. “Local news sites are inaccessible, and people in the country are left incommunicado with the rest of the world all in the pretext of conducting sweeping operations by the state that have often resulted in serious human rights violations,” one told The Associated Press.

Nepal farmers bank on Japanese yen notes

Japan’s newly redesigned banknotes have proven an unexpected boon for Nepali farmers. The Japanese yen note is made from an evergreen shrub called Edgeworthia gardneri, or mitsumata, in Japanese, that only grows at high altitudes, and Nepal’s hilly geography makes it perfect for cultivation. Japan still relies heavily on physical currency, and the country will need “mountains of fresh [banknotes]” to replace outdated bills. Mitsumata doesn’t grow in Japan, and Nepali farms are hiring dozens of new employees this year to meet the surge in demand for the shrub. It’s a lucrative gig, bringing in about 25,000 rupees ($185) a month — much higher than the monthly average salary of 17,300 rupees ($129), according to the South China Morning Post.

Psychotherapy booming in China

Psychotherapy is booming in China after years of being suppressed as a bourgeois Western invention. Under Mao Zedong, the anthropologist Sonya Pritzker told JSTOR, mental distress was seen as a political problem, and psychology was taboo until China started opening up in the 1980s. Simultaneously, economic growth boosted Chinese living standards, and once people had enough for food and shelter, “you start to worry about things like mental well-being,” Pritzker said. Descriptions of mental illness are becoming more Western-like: Chinese people often expressed distress in physiological terms, because when psychological problems were politically sensitive, “it was better to tell people you had a stomach-ache than to admit you were feeling anxious.”

Bull sharks thriving in warming water

Juvenile bull sharks are thriving in the warming waters of Texas and Alabama’s estuaries. Many species struggle to adapt to climate change, but bull sharks are famously resilient — they can survive in fresh water, unlike most sharks, and have been found as far inland as Illinois. Their numbers have increased in the last 40 years in the US Southwest, and researchers detected a fivefold rise in sightings of baby sharks in Mobile Bay, Alabama, and several Texas rivers. Adult bulls, named for their stocky build, can be aggressive, but juveniles are no threat to humans, and seem to use the estuaries as protection from bigger predators. Other fish species have declined, but for bull sharks, so far, it’s “the warmer the better,” one researcher said.

July 22:

• Taiwan holds drills that simulate a Chinese invasion.
• French President Emmanuel Macron tours the Paris Olympics athletes village.
• New York state court holds a pre-trial conference over ex-Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s border wall fraud case.

A new exhibit in Delhi provides a glimpse into how European artists viewed India when Britain ruled the country. The show focuses on the less-explored period of 1857 to 1947, when many foreign artists visited India, “seeking to capture the essence of this multifaceted nation,” an Indian lawmaker and author wrote in the introduction to the exhibit. Many of the oil and watercolor paintings focus on the royal courts, but also on ordinary people in the streets, the BBC wrote. “In their works we find an India — if we can put it this way — that we do not just see, but that we can hear and smell,” said the managing director of the art firm putting together the show.

• Democrats detail ‘blitz primary’ options to replace Biden.
• Trump steps up attacks against Harris as Biden falters.
• Bright Stars’ big night gave South Sudan hope.