Flagship

Weapons for Ukraine

The first U.S. Patriot missiles arrived in Ukraine, a key upgrade of Kyiv’s aerial defense systems as the war with Russia grinds to a stalemate. Neither side has made significant progress in recent weeks, but leaked U.S. intelligence suggests Ukraine is running low on supplies ahead of an expected counteroffensive. The Biden administration is planning to send additional supplies of ammunition and missiles, while the European Union is readying fresh sanctions against Moscow, Politico reported. The President of South Korea, a major U.S.-allied arms manufacturer that has thus far refused to help bolster Kyiv’s forces, told Reuters, meanwhile, that Seoul would consider supplying military aid if Ukraine suffered a large-scale attack on civilians.

EU gas usage falls

Natural gas consumption fell 17.7% in the European Union last year, easing fears of an energy crisis. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to gas import cuts. But a mild winter, energy-conservation efforts, a switch to alternative energy sources, and a spike in prices led to a huge drop in use. The EU’s gas storage levels are at a record high for this time of year — more than 50% of capacity, well over double the five-year average — raising hopes that the bloc can wean itself off Russian gas altogether in coming years, according to the Financial Times.

US eyes new China curbs

The White House is reportedly gearing up to issue new wide-ranging restrictions on U.S. investment in China, the latest push by Washington to decouple the two countries’ economies and curb Beijing’s growing power. The Biden administration has been briefing industry groups about the plans, which are not yet finalized but will likely bar deals in sensitive sectors such as chips, Politico reported. The push is part of broader efforts by the U.S. and its allies to limit economic ties to China without harming their own businesses. Beijing — which has harshly criticized the moves — is not blameless, however. “It was Xi Jinping who made the first crucial statement that led to the separation of the U.S. and Chinese economies,” a retired Chinese Communist Party veteran told Nikkei.

Psychedelic drugs may be OK’d

The U.S. may this year approve the use of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of mental illness. Studies have shown that MDMA, also known as ecstasy, may be helpful in treating PTSD, and that psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, is as effective as antidepressants in treating depression. Researchers plan to ask U.S. regulators to approve MDMA when a new trial is complete. Research into psychedelics is difficult, partly because the drugs are illegal, but also because research subjects can usually tell whether they’re on the placebo or not. But there are strong theoretical reasons to believe that they should help: They are believed to “relax” trapped negative beliefs, allowing patients to reassess their condition.

US considers Sudan sanctions

A second proposed ceasefire in Sudan broke down soon after it began. At least 270 people have died in nearly a week of violence between warring factions of the armed forces, and thousands have fled the capital Khartoum. The Biden administration is readying sanctions against both sides in the conflict — the military, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — according to Foreign Policy. Yet analysts and officials worry those efforts will come too late. The world “gave these selfish and brutal leaders more time to run out the clock through a conspiracy of optimism,” the top Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said.

Dozens killed in Yemen crush

At least 78 people died in a stampede at a school in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as crowds gathered to receive charitable donations equivalent to $10 to mark the coming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The Houthis, who have controlled Sanaa since ousting an internationally recognized government in 2014, blamed merchants who organized the gift-giving. Witnesses, however, told the Associated Press that armed Houthis fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, accidentally hitting an electricity transmission wire, causing an explosion and triggering panic. Yemen’s years-long civil war has hammered the country’s economy and infrastructure, but a recent prisoner swap has raised hope that an end to the conflict may be in sight.

Brazil lags on deforestation goal

Brazil is struggling to meet environmental protection targets as its beef industry booms. Already the world’s biggest beef producer — it makes up almost a quarter of the global market — Brazil’s exports have surged this year after China and the Middle East restarted imports paused following an outbreak of mad cow disease earlier in the year. Despite President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s pledges to stem the surge in deforestation set off by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, rates of cutting down the Amazon reached a record high in March, largely driven by cattle grazing. “The current situation is worrying,” a rainforest expert at Greenpeace Brazil told DW. “And far from being in line with the government’s goal of zero deforestation.”

DeSantis faces Trump pressure

Florida expanded a ban on discussing gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms to include secondary as well as elementary school students. The new legislation, called “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics, comes after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week signed a six-week abortion ban — among the most restrictive in the U.S. — as part of efforts to solidify his conservative credentials ahead a widely expected presidential bid. Yet he is struggling to win over politicians in his own state: Eight members of the state’s legislature have backed Florida resident Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, while just one has endorsed DeSantis.

Wyoming wind to California grid

A 730-mile transmission line will be built to take wind-generated electricity from Wyoming to California. Permission for the TransWest Express took 18 years, requiring a federal environmental review, and the approval of bureaucracies in four states. A 600-turbine onshore wind farm, the largest in North America and capable of powering 2 million homes, is under construction in Wyoming. The line will connect it to grids in Arizona, Nevada, and California. Renewables have an intermittency problem: Sometimes the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. Connecting grids together helps avoid that problem. But as Semafor’s Tim McDonnell reported recently, there is a huge backlog in connecting renewables to the grid.

COVID database boss’s alter egos

The founder of GISAID, the world’s largest database of SARS-CoV-2 genomes, apparently pretended to be a World Cup skier to sell instructional videos. Peter Bogner also allegedly made up a fake alter ego, “Steven Meyers,” and was once jailed for securities fraud. A major investigation by the magazine Science notes that scientists who raised concerns over Bogner’s behavior had access to the database cut off. It also reported claims that Bogner accused then-Wellcome Trust boss Jeremy Farrar of planning a “coup” with Bill Gates and the former director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health to “take down GISAID.” The database has been vital in coordinating global responses to the pandemic, and there is no suggestion that the data itself was compromised.

• French workers strike against the country’s new pension reform law.
• U.S. President Joe Biden hosts Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House.
• The two-day Global Buddhist Summit begins in New Delhi.

The date of the most distant solar eclipse in NASA’s database of predictions. The movement of planets is so well understood that their positions can be predicted with astonishing precision even 1,000 years in advance. The database also lists all the eclipses that have ever happened since 2,000 BC. A rare “hybrid” eclipse took place in Western Australia a few hours before Flagship went to press: It could, in theory, have been predicted by the Byzantines in Constantinople, if they’d had access to modern physics.

An abandoned international railway station in the Spanish Pyrenees reopened as a luxury hotel. Canfranc Estación — nicknamed the “Titanic of the mountains” — was inaugurated in 1928, marking “a new era of collaboration” between Spain and bordering France. The sprawling palatial building, decked with 365 windows and 200-meter-long platforms, later became a hub for spies and refugees during World War II. The route eventually fell into disrepair and in 1970 a derailment led to its closure. After decades of decay the building opened its doors again in February as a 104-room hotel. “Canfranc still feels like a place of escape,” Claire Wrathall wrote in the Financial Times, “but these days it’s from the cares of the world.”

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