Flagship

Biden mulls Ukraine weapons ask

US President Joe Biden is expected to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia, which Kyiv says is necessary to turn Moscow’s forces back. The White House’s deliberations are “coming to a head,” The New York Times reported, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer — whose government supports the move — due to meet Biden in Washington today. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the move would be a major escalation and put NATO “at war” with Moscow. One expert argued in Foreign Policy, however, that the White House should disregard Putin’s warnings: “Escalation management is failing to secure a Russian defeat.”

Glimpse of NKorea nuclear program

North Korea released rare images of its secretive nuclear facilities. The pictures — which show a visit by the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, during which he called for staff to “exponentially” ramp up Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program — provide clues to researchers and security officials as to the secretive dictatorship’s capabilities. The images were likely released to increase leverage in any future negotiations with the US, one analyst told the Associated Press: Pyongyang conducted short-range ballistic missile tests yesterday, and has been ramping up weapons testing since 2022. “We should not assume that North Korea will be as constrained as it once was,” another expert said.

US backs Africa UNSC seats

Washington said it supported expanding the UN Security Council to accommodate two permanent seats for African countries. The announcement echoes widespread calls for recomposing the Security Council: At present, 10 of the body’s 15 members are selected for two-year terms, but India, Brazil, and Japan in particular have made the case for permanent seats. Any change would require support from all five permanent, veto-wielding members, whose clashing geopolitical ambitions often hamper agreement on various issues and who are unlikely to give up their own power. African nations shouldn’t hold out hope for immediate change: US President Barack Obama won huge applause when he told India’s Parliament he supported New Delhi having a permanent seat. That was in 2010.

Brazil hosts US and China

Brazil will next week host military drills that will be unusual for the participation of both the US and China. Tensions between Washington and Beijing have been near historic highs in recent months, but the powers have made efforts to at least improve military communications to avert accidental conflicts, with senior US and Chinese officials holding meetings and attending each others’ conferences. In Brazil, neither side will play a significant role in the exercises — the US is sending 62 marines, and China 32 sailors — but Folha de S.Paulo said they were nevertheless in a “silent dispute,” with each upping their contributions from prior years in a show of one upmanship.

Oil prices crater on China demand

Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel for the first time in three years, and are expected to keep dropping. Weak demand in China, thanks to the country’s slowing economy, and expanding production in non-OPEC countries, notably the US, will continue “downward pressure on the price,” the head of the International Energy Agency said, offsetting production shutdowns in the Middle East and geopolitical tensions, both of which usually prop up prices. The issue has political implications ahead of November’s US presidential election, Semafor’s climate & energy editor writes today: Both candidates want to reduce gasoline prices, but the low cost of oil reduces the incentives for companies to make the investments necessary to boost supply.

Return of harsher drug policies

Jurisdictions worldwide are walking back drug decriminalization policies. In the US, Oregon this month once again made it illegal to possess hard drugs, after a law permitting possession of small quantities expired. Japan will criminalize cannabis from December over increasing use by young people, and Thailand, the first Asian country to permit cannabis use, reversed its decision recently. Even Portugal, a pioneer in treating drugs as a public health issue rather than a criminal one, is having second thoughts. Oregon, which based its policies on Portugal’s model, changed its position in the face of a shortage of healthcare providers — a problem exacerbated by the pandemic — and the rise of fentanyl, which causes far more overdose deaths than other hard drugs.

AirPods approved as hearing aids

US regulators approved the use of Apple AirPods as hearing aids. The tech company announced the feature for its latest model earbuds this week, and the Food and Drug Administration said it would become the first over-the-counter hearing aid device. People have been using AirPods for hearing boosting for a while: In a moving piece last year, BuzzFeed’s Pranav Dixit described giving them to his 95-year-old grandfather, who had suffered hearing loss throughout his life. The Live Listen feature boosted sounds from his phone’s microphone, and allowed his grandfather to hear him. AirPods might be overpriced, Dixit wrote, but they “helped me reconnect with my grandfather in a way that no other device has been able to.”

After a quick review of which memes will stick from this week’s debate, Ben and Nayeema turn to The New York Times’ former restaurant critic Pete Wells to answer the question on every foodie’s mind: What is a Critic in an Influencer’s World? Together, they explore the battle between the new wave of influencers and the old guard of gatekeepers in food. On the menu: the health hazards of criticism, how celebrity chefs and TikTokers have altered the power of his position, and whether diversifying food reviews in the midst of the culture wars is “DEI,” “virtue signaling,” or simply — as Pete reveals — an organic evolution.

Wall Street’s overwork crackdown

Wall Street banks are cracking down on a culture of overworking, albeit while maintaining schedules — and pay packets — that far surpass many other industries. JPMorgan will restrict junior bankers’ to working a maximum of 80 hours a week in most (though not all) cases, and currently offers them one guaranteed full weekend off every quarter. Bank of America, meanwhile, is debuting a new tool to track bankers’ hours, and Goldman Sachs promises its staff a “protected Saturday,” with no work from 9pm on Friday to 9am on Sunday. As The Wall Street Journal noted, thousands join the sector each year, drawn by the financial rewards, but many grapple with the mental and physical burden of the hours demanded.

Polaris Dawn’s scientific mission

The Polaris Dawn mission is a throwback to the golden age of scientific research vessels. The spacecraft — whose crew yesterday conducted a historic spacewalk — will test commercial devices to check astronauts’ health and how exposure to space conditions affect the body, such as how microgravity causes bone loss and kidney stones. Its efforts mirror those of the 19th century, when several British Royal Navy vessels were modified into floating laboratories: HMS Challenger, which discovered the ocean’s deepest point, is considered “the beginning of modern oceanography,” a scientific historian told JSTOR. Similar to Polaris Dawn and other such spacecraft, Challenger marked a change from the ship as an instrument, simply mapping new regions, to the “ship as laboratory.”

Pigeon missile paper wins Ig Nobel

A decades-old research paper by a father of modern psychology won a not-exactly-prestigious scientific prize. The Ig Nobels, an affectionate parody of the Nobel Prizes, recognize research which “make people laugh and then make them think.” BF Skinner proposed during WWII using pigeons to guide missiles. He made it work, but the US military inexplicably did not follow through, leaving him with — as he wrote — “a loftful of curiously useless equipment and a few dozen pigeons with a strange interest in a feature of the New Jersey coast.” Other prizes went to research showing real plants mimic nearby fake plastic plants, and exploring why some people have anticlockwise or clockwise whorls of hair on the crowns of their heads.

• Pope Francis departs Singapore at the end of his 12-day tour of Asia and Oceania.
• Peruvians attend the wake of former President Alberto Fujimori.
• London Fashion Week opens.

The amount of data, in megabytes, transmitted over US cellular phone networks last year. That figure doesn’t include Wi-Fi, and is roughly double the figure from two years earlier and 33 times that of 2013. The explosion of 5G-equipped devices and cellular carriers offering home internet services, competing with cable, is driving the growth, The Information reported. If the expansion continues at the current rate, cellular providers will “need significantly more spectrum by 2027” or will run out of bandwidth, which may be a problem because expanding the available spectrum is legally complex.

The Albigensian Crusade by Jonathan Sumption. The pseudonymous Mr Psmith of Mr and Mrs Psmith’s Bookshelf recommends “this short history of one of the nastiest little wars in the entire Middle Ages,” written in 1978 by a British judge. It explains much about the shape of modern Europe, and unlike other works of medieval history, has “the distinct advantage of not being five volumes long.” Buy it from your local bookstore.

• Actually, the center could hold.
• Republicans fear Laura Loomer is influencing Donald Trump.
• LinkedIn’s have nots and have bots.