Flagship

US renews Houthi strikes

The U.S. and U.K. struck dozens of Houthi targets soon after carrying out retaliatory strikes on other Iran-backed militant groups in Syria and Iraq. The latest attacks hit command centers and weapon facilities in Yemen that the Houthis have used to fire upon commercial vessels, threatening vital global trade routes. The bevy of strikes reflect a delicate balance for Washington: Domestically, U.S. President Joe Biden has faced criticism that the strikes were insufficiently aggressive to deter Iran, but abroad his administration has sought to avoid further destabilizing a region already in upheaval over Israel’s war in Gaza. “That was the beginning of our response and there will be more steps to come,” Biden’s national security adviser told CNN.

Senegal postpones elections

Senegal’s president postponed the country’s February general election indefinitely, in what opposition leaders called a “constitutional coup.” President Macky Sall blamed a legal dispute over key candidates’ eligibility, which he said needed to be resolved before polls could be held. Protests immediately erupted over the decision, with police firing tear gas on opposition supporters in Dakar on Sunday. Senegal has repeatedly held peaceful elections in recent decades, building a reputation as one of Africa’s most stable democracies even as a series of coups have rocked its neighbors. International observers said Sall’s decision was sending the country into uncharted waters, with former colonial power France calling for an election “as soon as possible.”

Weibo’s ‘wailing wall’

The Weibo account of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing became a digital “Wailing Wall” this weekend for angry users expressing frustration over China’s lagging economy. The account on Friday posted a seemingly apolitical update on wildlife conservation, but soon drew in more than 145,000 comments, several thousand of them criticizing China’s economic policy. “Could you spare us some missiles to bomb the Shanghai Stock Exchange?” one user wrote. Many of the comments have since been deleted by censors, highlighting the struggle many young Chinese people face in finding a venue to express grievances over their economic hardships.

The global WFH fallout

The growth of work-from-home culture in the U.S. post-pandemic is hitting Japanese banks. Aozora, Japan’s 16th-biggest lender, invested heavily in U.S. real estate before the onset of COVID-19. But commercial property prices are down more than 10% since March 2022, as more and more people work from home. Aozora’s woes — it suffered sudden panic-selling last week, the Financial Times reported — are a key reason behind the Nikkei stock index’s recent slump, and further declines should be expected as other lenders’ investment in real estate come to light, although “contagion risk for the wider financial sector is low” as bigger banks’ overseas investment strategy was more conservative.

Bitcoin ‘founder’ case opens

A case against an Australian man who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, begins in a U.K. court on Monday. Nakamoto’s name was on the 2008 paper sketching the vision for cryptocurrency, but he has never been identified. Craig Wright has claimed since 2015 to be Nakamoto, but has never provided convincing evidence. Now a group is suing Wright over his claims to intellectual property rights over Bitcoin. “In effect,” WIRED reported, the court is being asked “to rule that Wright is not Nakamoto.” The verdict will have important implications: If Bitcoin has no creator, then it is open to all to develop. “Satoshi’s greatest gift to the world was Bitcoin,” one software developer said. “His second greatest gift was to disappear.”

Germans protest AfD

At least 150,000 people protested Germany’s extremist anti-immigration AfD party in Berlin on Saturday as its popularity surges in polls. The country has been rocked by revelations that members of the AfD participated in meetings with Neo-Nazis in recent months, apparently devising a plan to deport millions of immigrants — including those with German citizenship — should it take power. Across Europe, the AfD and similar parties are increasingly resonating with voters frustrated with what they see as lax migration policy and unequivocal support for Ukraine: The European Council on Foreign Relations projects that populist and radical-right parties will experience a surge in European Parliament elections this year.

Panama Canal repair worries

Fixing the Panama Canal so it’s resilient to climate change will take years, if it’s possible at all. The canal, through which 3% of global trade passes, carried barely half its usual capacity for much of last year, after drought reduced water levels in its reservoirs. A rainier-than-usual November allowed 24 ships a day through, Bloomberg reported, still below its 38-ship pre-drought capacity. In the short term, extra water can be released from a secondary reservoir, but in the long term, a new dam must be built to form another reservoir, then a tunnel drilled through a mountain to bring the water to the lake. It will take at least six years and may not be feasible.

Biogen drops Alzheimer’s license

The maker of the controversial Alzheimer’s treatment aducanumab, aka Aduhelm, is abandoning its license for the drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Aduhelm, made by Biogen, in 2021 despite its own statisticians and an independent advisory body concluding that it likely didn’t work. It also carries significant risks of side effects. Aduhelm’s price was set at $56,000 a year, and many insurers including Medicare refused to cover it. Pharma veteran Derek Lowe called the approval “one of [the FDA’s] worst decisions” in his 30-year drug-industry career, but Alzheimer’s is such a frightening, intractable, and widespread disease that regulators and pharma companies are tempted to get a drug to market, however marginal its effects.

New lab-grown meat promise

A new, faster method of culturing cow muscle cells could slash the cost of lab-grown meat. At the moment, growing cow cells outside a cow requires a growth medium — a mix of nutrients and “growth factors” which allow the cells to duplicate. That makes it expensive: The medium accounts for 90% of the cost of production. But researchers at Tufts University in the U.S. engineered cells to produce their own growth factors, meaning that they duplicate and form the various cell types required for meat. “Give a cell a fibroblast growth factor and it’ll grow for a day,” one researcher told New Scientist, “but teach a cell to produce its own fibroblast growth factor and it’ll grow forever.”

China’s love for crime movies

Chinese moviegoers are turning to crime and action movies after years of favoring family-friendly comedies and love stories. Three of the top five box office hits in China last year were crime and suspense thrillers, taking in more than $1.5 billion overall, according to Singaporean news site Initium Media. The Chinese movie industry took a hit during the pandemic, but has recovered in large part thanks to growing interest in domestic blockbusters that are fast replacing Hollywood films which are facing a growing number of hurdles in accessing the Chinese market.

February 05 | Washington D.C.
Principals Live with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi
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An exclusive 1:1 interview with Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi on competing with China, the Democratic foreign policy argument, and the Select Committee’s focus for 2024.

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Feb. 5:

• Norway’s foreign minister visits China for talks, including on the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East.
• France’s newly appointed foreign minister holds a press briefing in Jerusalem during a three-day Middle East tour.
• Formula 1’s Williams holds its 2024 season launch event.

One of Japan’s most beloved winter events has returned in full glory after years of COVID-19 restrictions. Visitors to the Sapporo Snow Festival will finally be able to enjoy tasty treats like yakitori chicken skewers and takoyaki octopus balls that were banned because of transmission concerns. In all, 196 snow and ice sculptures will be on display across three venues, with some of the most anticipated attractions including replicas of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani and an Asian elephant born at a Sapporo zoo last year. Prior to the pandemic, the festival attracted more than 2 million visitors every year.

• Former Trump adviser: Republicans will pass a military-only Ukraine aid bill.
• How Iran used its ties to a top global NGO.
• Fundraising is tough. Just ask this hedge-fund star.