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IMF optimistic on world economy

The International Monetary Fund upgraded its global economic forecasts. Its latest World Economic Outlook said that acute stresses in the banking sector are easing and inflation is starting to slow as the post-pandemic recovery continues. However, tight credit, an aging population, and cost of living increases mean “we’re not out of the woods,” the IMF’s chief economist told Reuters. Growth is forecast at 3% for 2023, slow by historical standards, and the medium-term outlook is similarly indifferent, driven by weak manufacturing in advanced economies. The IMF warned that an intensification of the war in Ukraine, or extreme temperatures caused by El Niño, could worsen inflation again.

China sacks foreign minister

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang — who had not been seen in public for a month — was fired. Reports and rumors had variously blamed Qin’s public absence on poor health and an extramarital affair, but analysts were none the wiser for why he was ultimately dismissed. Curiously, though mentions of him were scrubbed from the foreign-ministry website, he appeared to have retained his role as a state councillor, which ranks above that of a cabinet minister. Wang Yi, already China’s top diplomat and Qin’s predecessor as foreign minister, took over the position in what analysts interpreted as a temporary move.

The episode marks a significant political controversy in Beijing: Qin was long seen as a close ally of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Yet Western experts admitted they had little insight to offer. “We have these occasional moments that remind us just how little we know about Chinese politics,” one told Bloomberg, while a former China correspondent cited a colleague’s description of Beijing machinations as “a struggle of sea monsters. Only bubbles come to the surface to tell us that there are terrible struggles, but we don’t know what they are struggling about.”

Heat waves damage infrastructure

A heatwave has left hundreds of thousands across Sicily without power or running water. A mayor in the Italian region said his city had been “brought to its knees” by temperatures approaching 50 degrees Celsius, more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which had melted underground cables. High temperatures across Europe and North Africa have affected utilities, airports, and public transport. As heat waves increase in intensity and duration, repair bills could become expensive. “Most of our existing infrastructure was designed based on temperature averages 60 to 80 years ago,” an expert in engineering and critical infrastructure told The Wall Street Journal, “but these aren’t the conditions we are facing today.”

App developers sue Apple

Apple faces a class-action lawsuit from 1,500 developers who say its App Store fees of up to 30% are anticompetitive. Apple has seen rapid growth from the App Store and other services, which bring in around $20 billion per quarter, according to Reuters. But a competition lawyer acting on behalf of the British app developers said that the 15% to 30% commission it charges on app transactions is “only possible due to its monopoly on the distribution of apps onto iPhones and iPads.” The European Union is also suing Apple over antitrust issues, with new regulations potentially forcing the tech giant to allow rivals to establish their own app stores on iOS devices.

Ghana abolishes death penalty

Ghana became the 29th African country and the 124th worldwide to abolish capital punishment. The country last carried out an execution in 1993, but still has more than 170 people on death row. Death sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment. Rights groups welcomed the decision by Ghana’s parliament, but Amnesty International noted that the country’s constitution still demands death for high treason. “Abolishing the death penalty shows that we are determined as a society not to be inhumane, uncivil, closed, retrogressive and dark,” Francis-Xavier Sosu, the Ghanaian lawmaker who put forward the reforms, said.

Court ends US asylum policy

In a major blow to the White House, a federal judge struck down a controversial asylum policy credited with reducing the number of illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border. Under the policy, only people who secured an appointment with immigration authorities, or who could prove they had sought legal protection in another country, could request asylum. The policy was part of a wider plan by the Biden administration to crack down on border crossings: Mexican authorities, under pressure from the White House, have stepped up efforts to turn back migrants before they reach the U.S. border, and an app for migrants to request an asylum review is also credited with helping bring down crossings.

Brussels bombers convicted

A Brussels court convicted eight men on various murder and terrorism charges over the 2016 Islamist attack on the Belgian capital that killed 32 people. The bombings came during a period of heightened fear of Islamist terror in Europe: Paris suffered attacks in January and November 2015, while Britain was struck by at least four in 2017. Terrorism overall is now markedly down — deaths worldwide in 2022 were nearly 40% lower than 2015, according to the Global Terrorism Index — and its characteristics have changed: Africa’s Sahel region is now the global epicenter of terrorism, and ideologically motivated terror has replaced religiously motivated terror as the West’s main threat.

DeSantis staffer fired after Nazi symbol vid

Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign fired a staffer who posted a video containing Nazi imagery. Semafor reported that the aide had retweeted a video showing a Sonnenrad, a symbol associated with 20th-century fascism, although it’s not clear whether that was what led to his sacking: 37 other staff were also let go. DeSantis, once neck-and-neck with Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, has seen his campaign self-immolate. Trump polls above 50% now, while DeSantis has dropped below 20% and is in danger of falling in with the rest of the pack, FiveThirtyEight poll-tracking shows.

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EU to mandate regular EV chargers

The European Union will require fast electric-vehicle charging stations at regular intervals along all major highways by the end of 2025. The new rules say that the chargers must meet a certain power standard, must accept direct payment rather than requiring subscriptions, and should be no more than 60 km (37 miles) apart. The rules will apply on all the “Trans-European Network” roads. Smaller roads will also be included in the requirements in later years. It’s part of an EU plan to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030: Transport accounts for 25% of total emissions, mostly from road use.

UK approves huge ‘water battery’

The U.K. gave the green light to a massive new pumped hydro “water battery” to store green energy. Storing renewable energy is a major challenge. Pumped hydro stations use turbines to pump water into a hillside reservoir when energy is plentiful, then release it and run generators from it when it’s needed. The plant, at the brilliantly named Hollow Mountain site in Scotland’s Loch Awe, will provide 600 megawatts of energy, enough to power about 500,000 homes, BusinessGreen reported. Drax, the energy giant, will invest $650 million in the site, although it is asking the U.K. government for reforms to the energy market to ensure profitability.

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to reshuffle his cabinet to focus on the economy.
• The U.S. Federal Reserve concludes its rate-setting meeting, during which it is expected to agree a 0.25% hike.
• The International Olympics Committee’s president meets with athletes at the Paris 2024 Games headquarters, with exactly a year to go until the event opens.

Japan’s population fell 800,000 in 2022. Every single one of Japan’s 47 prefectures declared a drop in population. The country saw 1.56 million deaths last year, and just 771,000 births. Increased immigration hasn’t been enough to stop the steady decline in population. Every area of society is affected: More than 1.2 million small businesses have “owners aged about 70 with no successor,” The Guardian reported, while the median yakuza gangster is now over 50.

A new exhibit pays tribute to one of post-war Japan’s most important bands of photographers. Tokyo’s Image Shop Camp staged around 200 exhibitions over eight years beginning in the 1970s, showcasing and encouraging “some of the most explosive happenings” of the time, AnOther magazine said. Now its images, flyers, and other paraphernalia are on display at Les Rencontres d’Arles, an annual photography festival in southern France. The exhibit’s curator hopes to take it on tour around the world, with the goal of ultimately concluding in the Japanese capital.

• Hunter Biden is a scandal machine. Democrats aren’t worried — yet.
• What’s a security? For once, the SEC won’t say.
• Russia’s and China’s joint military drills in Asia are making the Pentagon very nervous.