Flagship

Racing to define Walz

Tim Walz highlighted his rural roots and said Donald Trump would take the US “backwards” in his first speech since becoming Kamala Harris’ running mate. The race is now on to define Walz — a former soldier, teacher, American football coach, congressman, and governor. His opponents branded him a “far-left favorite,” Semafor’s US Politics team reported, whereas allies say he is a champion of forgotten small-town Americans. Analysts combed through his background for his priorities, finding their own cause célèbres, with one European analyst pointing to Walz’s travel to Norway and Finland as giving him an appreciation for left-wing economic policy and Gizmodo calling his ascension a “huge win” for the environmentally friendly right-to-repair movement.

Progress against fentanyl

China strengthened controls on chemicals used to make fentanyl, a move hailed by the US. The growing cooperation between the two countries to combat illicit fentanyl production and trafficking is a rare bright spot in otherwise tense relations: Washington has blamed Beijing for either tacitly allowing or actively supporting the production of fentanyl precursors, thereby worsening the US’ own opioid crisis which kills more than 100,000 people a year. Recent data suggests, however, that fatalities may be dropping. “We have been to false peaks before,” a researcher told Scientific American. Still, “there are a lot of reasons to be, I wouldn’t say optimistic… but to think we’re making a turn.”

China’s exports disappoint

China’s export growth was below analysts’ forecasts, a shortfall blamed on weaker global demand. The worse-than-expected trade data adds to the difficulties facing Beijing: The property sector and local governments are laden with huge debt, youth unemployment is high, and fears of deflation persist. The slowdown is having far-reaching consequences within China, with interest in government jobs, for example, reaching the highest level in decades as new graduates seek out stable — if lower-paying — work. Western economists have counseled Beijing to focus on growing domestic spending, but Chinese authorities view consumption as “an individualistic distraction” that diverts focus from the country’s “core economic strength: its industrial base,” an expert wrote in Foreign Affairs.

AI’s brutal talent war

A series of hires and acquisitions point to a widening high-end war for artificial intelligence talent. Just this week, a co-founder of ChatGPT maker OpenAI left for rival firm Anthropic, and Google paid $2.5 billion for the chatbot developer Character, a deal The Information characterized as “a very expensive acqui-hire, even by Silicon Valley standards.” US regulators are increasingly scrutinizing deals in which Big Tech giants allegedly circumvent merger rules by hiring a firm’s staff, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti noted. Regardless, the battle to lure and retain AI researchers is a brutal one, with some 20,000 companies across the West hiring, and job descriptions requiring experience in generative AI increasing more than 100-fold since 2023.

Gaza ceasefire talks at ‘final stage’

Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at “a final stage,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Washington has repeatedly pushed for a deal between the warring parties, and diplomats on multiple occasions have said an agreement resulting in the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants was imminent. Still, the Gaza war has shown little sign of relenting: Nearly 40,000 people have been killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left 1,100 dead. Blinken’s remarks followed talks between the leaders of the US, Egypt, and Qatar, and with the Middle East awaiting a widely expected Iranian attack on Israel, in revenge for the killings of top Hamas and Hezbollah commanders.

Mexico invites Putin to inauguration

Mexico invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum on Oct. 1. The Kremlin is yet to confirm if he will attend. As a member of the International Criminal Court — which issued an arrest warrant against Putin over the mass deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia — Mexico would be required to arrest him were he to arrive in the country. The invitation came as a surprise to many given the scant ties between the two countries: In 2022, Mexico exported just $13 million of goods and services to Russia. “So besides being shameful and wrong, morally and geopolitically… Mexico also plans to ignore the ICC?,” a former Mexican diplomat wrote on X.

Marchand central to French Olympics

LeBron James, basketball’s biggest star, was unexpectedly upstaged at the Olympics. The crowd watching the US play Brazil gave a huge roar as James returned to the bench after treatment for an injury, which he interpreted as for him — but which turned out to be for Léon Marchand, the French quadruple gold medal-winning swimmer who was in the crowd. “King Léon” is the “breakout star” of the Olympics, the Financial Times’ Paris correspondent noted, as France as a whole has got behind the Games: Pre-Olympics gloom has been replaced with “a frenzied enthusiasm for Les Bleus” and a sense of national unity, a welcome change after political chaos last month.

First African host of astronomy Olympics

The International Astronomical Union’s General Assembly — held every four years and so, inevitably, known as the Olympics of astronomy — is being hosted in Africa for the first time. The 32nd meeting of the world’s top space researchers started in Cape Town yesterday. South Africa and several other southern African nations, alongside Australia, will be home to the world’s largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometer Array, the first stage of which is set for completion in 2027. That, as well as the continent’s growing scientific prowess, led to the decision to host the assembly there. “This is a significant milestone,” one African astronomer wrote in The Conversation: Space science in Africa “has grown and strengthened tremendously over the past decade.”

Goldman bullish on carbon markets

Carbon credit prices are about to take off, Goldman Sachs analysts predicted. The European Union’s carbon market is the world’s largest, but the cost of carbon emissions has traditionally moved in tandem with gas prices. That is expected to decouple: Gas prices are down, but the bloc will likely push carbon prices higher, knowing that cheaper gas will cushion inflationary pressures. The change may be enough to make carbon capture systems profitable, the report argued. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said last year that funding for climate solutions is way below the levels required to meet 2030 climate goals, so major upticks in decarbonization markets are good news.

Britain’s coin maker turns e-waste to gold

Britain’s Royal Mint started extracting gold from e-waste. Millions of tons of old technology are thrown away every year — from outdated phones to broken TVs. Many Flagship readers may have several ancient smartphones sitting in a drawer somewhere. The Mint, which makes all of Britain’s money, will process 4,500 tons a year, heating it so that plastic components are removed: Circuitboards each contain small amounts of valuable metals, so it expects to make about 450kg (992lb) of gold annually, which it will convert into jewelry and commemorative coins. The system will also recover aluminum copper, tin, and steel, among other metals: “What we’re doing here is urban mining,” one executive told the BBC.

• Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Republican vice-presidential contender JD Vance both campaign in the US state of Wisconsin.
• Pope Francis holds his first weekly general audience at the Vatican after a month-long break.
• Secret World of Sound, a new docuseries narrated by David Attenborough, drops on Netflix.

The number of small satellites in a constellation planned by China. A rocket carrying the first 18 to low-Earth orbit launched on Tuesday: The “Thousand Sails” system is intended to rival SpaceX’s Starlink. Beijing hopes to get 648 spacecraft into orbit by 2025, building a global internet network without need for cables.

White Blotted Mountain by Liang Yiyuan. The painter-turned-musician’s songs have so far “ranged from dark ambient to abstract electronics… often taking unexpected twists and turns,” but his latest album is “a highly accessible work from a musician for whom ‘accessible’ hasn’t exactly been a watchword,” Jake Newby wrote in his newsletter on Chinese music, Concrete Avalanche. Buy White Blotted Mountain on Bandcamp or listen to it on Spotify.

• UK could summon Musk over riots.
• Where Democratic VP pick Tim Walz stands on China, Israel, and Ukraine.
• Muhammad Yunus tapped by army to serve as Bangladesh’s interim leader.