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Russia frees WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich

Russia released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich Thursday as part of the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War. The Journal detailed the three continent-wide effort — involving spy agencies and Gershkovich’s mother — to free the reporter, who had been wrongfully detained on espionage charges for nearly 500 days. Two other Americans, including former US Marine Paul Whelan, were among the 16 individuals released from Russia in exchange for eight Russians being held in the West, including the notorious hit man Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany. The swap could signal that Moscow and the West are perhaps ready for other “serious political negotiations,” a Russian diplomat told state media.

Israel said it killed Oct. 7 mastermind

Israel said a July strike in southern Gaza killed Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif, who is reported to be one of the masterminds behind the Oct. 7 attack. The claim comes a day after Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated by a bomb explosion at a guesthouse in Tehran, an attack that Israel has not claimed responsibility for. The death of the two prominent leaders could give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a political off-ramp to end the war,” The Washington Post wrote, allowing him to walk back his promise of a “total victory” over the militant group. But already-precarious ceasefire talks could be further delayed if Hamas decides to back away from negotiations in response to the assassinations, Reuters reported.

Intel announces massive layoffs

Intel said it was slashing 15% of its global workforce Thursday. Once a giant of microprocessor chips, Intel’s revenue has fallen significantly in the last several quarters as it struggles to compete with rivals like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, who have dominated the artificial intelligence chip market. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger hopes to resolve the crisis by turning the company into a foundry business, CTech reported, meaning Intel would produce chips designed by others. “In an ideal scenario, this could turn Nvidia from a competitor into a customer,” CTech wrote, but the transition requires massive capital that can only be secured through layoffs.

Bank of England cuts interest rates

The Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time since 2020 as inflation cooled. The decision came a day after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady, but left the door open for a future cut if data continued to show inflation slowing. The Bank of England’s governor said it would be careful “not to cut rates too much or too quickly” for fear of fueling inflationary pressures. The decision will likely bring relief to mortgage holders and business owners, The New York Times reported, and it is an “early gift” to the new Labour government, Bloomberg wrote.

Pyongyang hopes for Trump presidency

Pyongyang wants to restart nuclear arms talks with the US if Donald Trump is reelected as president, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea told Reuters. Trump engaged in unprecedented diplomacy with Kim Jong Un during his first term, but a second summit between the two ultimately collapsed in 2019, which the diplomat blamed on “inexperienced, clueless” military commanders charged with nuclear diplomacy. Hoping for a Trump win this year, North Korea is exacerbating tensions with the South, with plans to back down and let Trump score a political win for bringing peace, the former German ambassador to North Korea argued in NPR. If Pyongyang succeeds, a future President Trump “may well give in this time” to Kim’s demands.

China is winning in the global south

The Global South is the new commerce battleground as rapidly expanding Chinese firms take on Western corporate giants, The Economist argued. Listed Chinese companies’ sales in those fast-growing economies have quadrupled since 2016 to hit $800 billion. Slow economic growth in China has forced its businesses to look abroad, and Western trade restrictions on Chinese imports of solar panels and electric vehicles has made the Global South more appealing. While the consequences of the West’s “decision to turn inward to shield itself from Chinese competition will take years to become completely clear,” The Economist wrote, its biggest multinationals are already “surrendering ground in the world’s fastest-growing and most populous markets.”

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Olympic record sparks geopolitical tension

A record-breaking win at the Olympics has sparked hostility between Australia and China. A prominent Australian swimming coach cast doubt over Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle’s 100m freestyle world record, saying it was “not humanly possible,” The Telegraph reported. His comments came as recent New York Times reports have raised doping suspicions around China’s elite swimmers. An Australian morning show anchor further inflamed tensions after accusing Beijing’s Olympic swimming system of being “designed around cheating.” China has slammed Western media outlets for politicizing the doping issue and affecting its athletes’ “psychology.” Meanwhile, the World Anti-Doping Agency said it had been “unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions” between the US and China.

Baby sharks made without males

Parthenogenesis — virgin birth — was observed in a new shark species for the first time. Two female common smoothhounds, an endangered species, which have been in an Italian aquarium since 2010 without male company, have given birth several times. Smoothhounds can store sperm, but only for about three months, ruling that out as a cause. Parthenogenesis is more common in invertebrates, but some species of reptiles, and a few sharks, skates, and rays, are able to “modify their adaptive strategy according to the surrounding circumstances,” the researchers wrote, i.e. make do without the males. One of the four babies remains alive, at three years old: The others were apparently attacked at birth by the adults.

Worm fossil sheds light on insects

A 520 million-year-old fossil of a worm-like creature gave a glimpse into the ancestry of modern insects, spiders, and crabs. The tiny fossil larva, the size of a poppy seed, is so detailed that scientists could see its internal organs, brain, and nervous system, and revealed that early arthropods were more advanced than once thought. One researcher said he used to “daydream” about finding an arthropod larva fossil, knowing it would give profound insight into their evolution. But they are so delicate that he thought “the chances of finding one fossilized are practically zero… how could these intricate features have avoided decay and still be here to see half a billion years later?”

Hope for famous tree felled by vandals

The stump of England’s famous Sycamore Gap tree, felled by vandals last year, sprouted shoots. The 150-year-old sycamore stood in a valley along the line of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, which marked the northernmost border of the Roman Empire. It was a local landmark — it featured in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, implying an unlikely 340-mile detour for Robin on his journey from Dover to Nottingham. Ten months after it was cut down by two men, conservationists noticed eight small growths around the base, raising hopes that the tree could bring forth new life: Officials asked the public to keep away, to give the shoots the best chance of “making a go of it.”

August 2:

• Members of Catalonia’s pro-independence party vote on a regional government deal with Spain’s ruling Socialists.
• The Edinburgh Fringe Festival kicks off in Scotland.
• Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein launches a pop-up store in South Africa.

Rojak is a colloquial Malay word for “eclectic mix,” and is the name for a Javanese dish that typically combines sliced fruit and vegetables with a spicy dressing.

Eye-opening industry

China’s sex toy industry is thriving. Online sales are at an all-time high and expected to reach $28.5 billion by 2025, according to research firm iiMedia. Customers have been spending more on sex toys since the pandemic: In 2023, the average spent per order was 300 to 1000 yuan, compared with 100 to 300 yuan in 2020.

But it’s not an easy industry to break into, several merchants told Following the Yuan Substack, citing cultural and political issues. Internet censorship prohibits online ads, and lax regulations mean sellers have little copyright protection. Despite the barriers, the industry has expanded, with more women customers in particular. Companies “are leveraging [sex toys’] popularity to promote awareness of sexual wellbeing,” the newsletter wote, which buyers appreciate due to the lack of comprehensive sexual education in China’s schools.

Self-isolation

Despite low wages in Japan, young people are not seeking better prospects abroad or trying to get international exposure: Fewer than 60,000 Japanese students now study overseas each year, compared with a peak of more than 84,000 in 2004, according to the KonichiValue economics blog.

The reluctance to leave Japan for better opportunities is a self-imposed “modern-day Sakoku,” the blog wrote, referring to the country’s 200-year period of isolation. Part of the hesitancy stems from language skills: Japan fell from 14th place in 2011 to 80th in 2022 in one measure of English proficiency. But Japanese companies also prefer to recruit young graduates straight out of university rather than those who have worked abroad. That could have wider repercussions, the blog wrote, since a lack of international experience “could stymie these companies’ growth and, by extension, hamper Japan’s economic vitality​.”

Food preservation

The Malaysian state of Penang has become world-famous for its street food such as nasi lemak and hokkien mee. But after locals complained that the quality of the dishes was deteriorating, the city government decided to ban foreign cooks from preparing 13 dishes at the stalls.

The controversial step has split the community, with some hawkers attributing quality issues to higher demand as well as rising food prices and rent. “Blaming foreign cooks is just the easy way out,” wrote Murray Hunter, a blogger who writes about Southeast Asian business and politics. “If one travels the world, one can see that race and ethnicity has nothing to do with cooking good food.”

A new art exhibition in Marseille invites visitors to leave their clothes at home. Mucem’s Paradis Naturistes (Naturist Paradises) promises to bare all on a century of naturism, from the pioneering 1920s nudist communities of France and Switzerland to the modern craze for going naked in nature as part of a holistic lifestyle. True to its spirit, the exhibition, which includes more than 600 artworks and artifacts, will permit visitors to attend naked on certain Tuesdays until its run ends in December. Museum curator Amélie Lavin told ArtNews she hoped the exhibition would lead people to “question the equation that we systematically make between nudity and sexuality.”

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