Flagship

US sanctions on Iran may ‘infuriate’ China

Washington is imposing more sanctions on Iran for attacking Israel, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday, but the U.S. can only do so much without angering China, experts said. One remaining lever that would hurt Tehran involves targeting Chinese refineries and banks that buy lots of oil from Iran, but “a sudden blow to energy production could infuriate Beijing” during a delicate time in U.S.-China relations, The Washington Post wrote. It could also drive up global oil prices, and U.S. President Joe Biden “can’t afford to sanction Iran’s oil,” an energy consultant said. “The last thing Biden wants is higher gas prices, so he wants Iran selling its oil to China.”

Ukraine eyes US’s Israel response

The difference in the U.S. response to attacks in Ukraine and Israel reflect the “practical and political” factors defining Washington’s posture toward both conflicts, analysts said. Some Ukrainians, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were frustrated that the U.S. and its allies helped shoot down Iranian drones and missiles targeting Israel, while Kyiv has endured similar attacks from Russia — also using Iranian drones — for two years. But the U.S. has “fundamentally different security relationships” with Israel and Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal wrote, and taking a more combative stance against Russian attacks comes with a high risk of nuclear escalation. Support for Kyiv is also less popular in Washington, though the U.S. House could vote on Ukraine aid this week.

Diplomatic tensions heighten in LatAm

Diplomatic rancor is spreading across Latin America. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday ordered the closure of his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador, days after Ecuadorian authorities raided the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest the country’s former vice president. The incident also caused Mexico to cut diplomatic ties with Ecuador. In recent weeks, the leaders of Colombia and Brazil have criticized Maduro over election fairness issues; Argentina’s President Javier Milei called his Colombian counterpart a “terrorist murderer”; and Nicaragua’s government has been singled out for alleged human rights abuses. “Latin America is awash in diplomatic strife,” El País wrote.

With six sessions across two days — April 17 and 18 — and two stages, including the Gallup Great Hall, the 2024 World Economy Summit will showcase the most influential economic and business decision makers in the world, coming together for on-the-record interviews on the state of the global economic landscape. Each session will be streamed live, starting Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET with the Global Growth and Digital Infrastructure sessions. Later in the afternoon, tune in for The Future of Mobility session starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.

A ‘most important’ election

Elections in the Solomon Islands on Wednesday could alter the trajectory of China’s influence in the Pacific. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who is running for reelection, has deepened the country’s relationship with China — cutting ties with Taiwan in 2019 and striking a security pact with Beijing — leading to Western concerns that China could try to build a military base there. Sogavare’s rivals have said they would reassess that deal. The geopolitical stakes make it the “most important” election since the Solomon Islands achieved independence in 1978, a Pacific islands expert at the University of Hawaii said. It’s also one of the world’s most logistically challenging elections: The country consists of more than 900 islands, and it could take weeks to collect ballots.

EU returns to magnesium mining

The European Union will restart magnesium mining for the first time in 10 years in an ongoing effort to reduce raw material reliance on China. Romania granted a license to a mining company to reopen an abandoned mine: More than 90% of the EU’s magnesium, crucial in aluminum alloys, comes from China. The EU aims for 10% of its magnesium to come from domestic sources by 2030. Meanwhile, the U.S. hopes to become lithium-independent, after major reserves were discovered in Nevada: The country lacks extraction and refining facilities, but the Department of Energy announced a $2.6 billion loan to a mining company to boost capabilities. The Nevada deposit is believed to contain enough lithium ore to support 375 million electric vehicle batteries.

Chaos at Brussels conservative event

Authorities tried to shut down a gathering of high-profile conservative political figures in Brussels on Tuesday, spotlighting the far right’s rising popularity ahead of European Parliament elections in June. The National Conservatism Conference, whose speaker list included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Britain’s Nigel Farage, “descended into chaos” after police arrived two hours into the event to stop it, Politico EU reported. Organizers argued it violated free speech, “giving Europe’s hard-right elites a further opportunity to rail against cancel culture and Brussels overreach,” The Washington Post wrote. Polls predict gains for right-wing parties in parliamentary elections, though rifts between Europe’s nationalist leaders threaten their efforts to hold power, Reuters reported.

Mars rock plan on hold

NASA said its plan to bring rocks back from Mars — a top priority in space exploration — is unachievable given time and budget constraints. The Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in 2021, is gathering rocks from the Jezero Crater: The crater once held liquid water and the rocks could tell us whether life once existed on Mars. The plan was to send a new spacecraft that would land a rocket next to Perseverance, collect the rocks, and return to Earth in 2033. But an independent review found costs could balloon to $11 billion and would not be achievable before 2040. NASA’s science director said that the agency is “looking at out-of-the-box possibilities that could return the samples earlier and at a lower cost.”

California’s giant battery plant

A gas power station in Southern California is being replaced with the U.S.’s second-biggest battery plant. The plant’s twin smokestacks dominated the skyline in Menifee until it was decommissioned last year: California’s power is being increasingly provided by renewables, and the plant’s 12-hour startup time made it unhelpful as an occasional backup. The new battery farm, built in less than a year, will hold enough juice to power 680,000 homes for four hours, maintaining “grid reliability in the face of all of these intermittent renewables,” an energy manager told Canary Media. California leads the nation in battery capacity, although Texas, with its vast solar infrastructure, is on course to overtake it.

Whales and dolphins are people

The Pacific’s whales and dolphins are now officially seen as “legal persons” in a landmark treaty for Indigenous communities. Whale and dolphin populations are increasingly under threat due to climate change, noise pollution, fishing practices, and ship strikes, and giving them legal personhood could help introduce vessel speeding limits and alternative shipping routes. But environmentalists are unclear about the extent to which personhood could protect some of the more vulnerable species. Even so, the treaty — signed by leaders from the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Aotearoa, and Tonga — is a “watershed moment for Indigenous self-determination,” The Conversation wrote, and as the community reclaims more control over their land and waters, it could “mark a shift in Pacific environmental policy.”

Fashion targets older shoppers

The fashion industry is increasingly targeting older shoppers, seen as more reliable spenders than younger consumers. Over-65s make up 17.7% of the U.S. population, and are less vulnerable to the impacts of economic uncertainty. As a result, brands are using models like Dame Maggie Smith, 89, who Loewe deployed to sell a handbag, and Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford – both in their 50s — also featured in major campaigns. While old-school catalogs remain relevant in targeting shoppers, many over 50 are also online: “You’re seeing people in their 40s, 50s, 60s on TikTok talk about fashion and beauty choices in ways that feel real and not ‘Golden Girls’,” one consultant told The Business of Fashion. “The picture of aging is so radically different.”

April 17:

• Parliamentary elections take place in Croatia.
• Columbia University President Minouche Shafik testifies before Congress about campus antisemitism.
• 100 days until the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

A new documentary chronicles a day in Iceland in 1975 when 90% of women refused to work, cook, or take care of children. The mass gender equality protest was a pivotal moment in Icelandic history: The Day Iceland Stood Still, which premieres later this month, includes an interview with former president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the world’s first democratically elected female head of state, along with Iceland’s current president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson “who tells a story about his father’s tragic attempt to cook the family dinner on strike day,” Variety wrote. It features a score by Icelandic rock singer Margrét Rán, and an end credits song by Icelandic singer Björk.

• Senegal’s new leader is breaking old ties.
• Some MAGA politicians move left on abortion.
• The Intercept is running out of cash.