Flagship

Russian ‘collusion’ with Wagner

A senior Russian general knew in advance about the Wagner mercenary group’s plans to rebel against the Kremlin, according to U.S. intelligence. Officials told The New York Times that they are unsure if he helped plan Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived uprising. There are reasons to be skeptical of the claims — U.S. intelligence has obvious motives to smear one of Russia’s most senior and competent military officials — but also to believe Russian army leaders had foreknowledge of Wagner’s actions. The mercenaries took the city of Rostov essentially unopposed, and marched to within miles of Moscow. “Too many weird things” happened, a former U.S. diplomat said, raising questions of “collusion.”

Russia crisis puts foreign ties in question

The Wagner group’s aborted uprising has thrown Russia’s relations with friendly countries into limbo. Mali and the Central African Republic, in particular, rely on Wagner to help fight insurgencies, but will now need to wait until the crisis in Moscow dissipates, Semafor Africa’s Alexis Akwagyiram wrote. Similar situations are playing out elsewhere: Leaders of Middle East powers phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed support, but are privately concerned about “an even more unreliable and potentially unstable Russia,” a veteran U.S. diplomat told The New York Times. As for Beijing, a weakened Putin allows China “yet more influence over Russia’s economy and policy,” but at the cost of improving Western ties, The Atlantic’s Michael Schuman noted.

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Tesla chargers move closer to standard

Volvo became the latest car manufacturer to adopt Tesla’s electric-vehicle chargers, further boosting Elon Musk’s company’s position as the U.S. national standard. General Motors, Ford, and the EV firm Rivian already moved to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard system, snubbing the government-backed Combined Charging System. The reason is simple, argues the tech blog Stratechery: Tesla’s charging system is “flat-out better,” faster, and more reliable. From Tesla’s point of view, making its chargers widely available reduces its market advantage in the short term, but will provide the company with a long-term source of income: It becomes a sort of “gas station,” with other manufacturers paying for a license to use its chargers.

Silicon Valley’s drug culture exposed

Growing drug use by startup founders in Silicon Valley is drawing concern from business leaders and corporate boards, The Wall Street Journal reported. Accounts ranged from Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk using ketamine to Google co-founder Sergey Brin ingesting magic mushrooms. One artificial-intelligence startup boss blamed venture capital funds’ high expectations: “They want something extraordinary. You’re not born extraordinary.” The Information’s Jessica Lessin wrote of her worry of the issues underlying the drug use, as well as Musk and Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg agreeing to a cage fight. “The beauty of business is that you don’t have to take drugs or fight people to compete. You can just build a better business and be a better leader.”

US mulls new China chip rules

The U.S. is considering new tech curbs on China, restricting sales of chips designed to power artificial intelligence. The plans come despite an attempt to thaw the rhetoric between Washington and Beijing, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen due to visit China next month, The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times said. The Biden administration has sought to strike a balance in its tech battle with Beijing, clamping down on China’s access to high-tech goods without disrupting global supply chains and harming allies’ own industries. “Fighting a chip war with China won’t be easy or quick. To succeed, the U.S. will need a lot of scientific brawn and common sense — and its friends and allies,” the Journal noted.

More anti-obesity drugs show promise

Two new anti-obesity drugs have shown advantages over existing ones such as Ozempic. Both orforglipron and retatrutide, like Ozempic — chemical name semaglutide — mimic hormones in the brain that tell us when we are full. But orforglipron is easier to make and use than Ozempic, meaning it will probably be cheaper when it reaches the market, while retatrutide is even more effective: While the average obese patient on Ozempic loses about 15% of their bodyweight, on retatrutide the figure is more like 25%. Obesity is strongly correlated with almost every negative health outcome, from heart disease to diabetes to death from COVID-19, and prescribing diet and exercise is rarely effective: A doctor told Nature the new drugs are a “game-changer.”

Documents clip was ‘bravado,’ says Trump

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said that an audio clip in which he talked about holding “highly confidential” material was “bravado,” and that he in fact had no classified documents — he was simply holding magazines and building plans. Trump faces charges of mishandling classified material after he left office, among other legal threats. A legal expert said the “bravado” defense, outlined in an interview with Semafor and ABC News, is weak. The comments “speak to Trump’s intent and awareness of the limitations on his ability to have and share classified records,” and prosecutors probably have other evidence to show that the documents he was referring to were indeed confidential.

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Deforestation up globally

Almost 10 million hectares of tropical forests were felled in 2022, an increase of 10% from the previous year. Brazil made up 43% of the deforestation, while South America combined made up more than 60%. Deforestation of Brazil’s Amazon increased sharply during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro, after years of steady decline. Bolsonaro encouraged the exploitation of the Amazon for mining, and the razing of the forest for cattle ranching. His successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, vowed to stop deforestation completely by 2030, although he has struggled to stem it since returning to power.

Aiming for a rat-free New Zealand by 2050

New Zealand plans to eradicate all its rats. Before the arrival of humans, the only land mammals in New Zealand were marsupials — those with pouches, like kangaroos and wallabies — and monotremes, egg-layers such as the platypus. But in the 13th century, Polynesian explorers brought mice and rats. Later settlements by Europeans brought larger animals. They have since killed about a third of native bird species, and the kiwi, the national symbol, is under threat, the BBC reported. Wellington has introduced a target, Predator Free 2050, and by using infrared cameras, self-resetting traps, and slow-acting poisons, plans to clear the nation of the latecomers by midcentury.

South Korea dumps age-counting system

South Koreans became younger overnight as a new law that abolished the country’s prior aging system came into effect. For centuries, Koreans inflated ages compared to the rest of the world, as babies turned one on the day of their birth. President Yoon Suk Yeol said the old system had “unnecessary social and economic costs,” as it created confusion in determining eligibility for social support programs. The change could complicate South Korea’s strict hierarchies, where age influences social standing: “Kids when they bump into each other at the playground will first ask their ages before their names,” a local entrepreneur told The Wall Street Journal.

• The Mobile World Congress, an annual gathering of the telecoms industry in Barcelona, opens its Shanghai offshoot.
• Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey goes on trial in the U.K. on charges of sexual assault.
• Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate, a German documentary about the queer community in 1920s Berlin, is released on Netflix.

The valuation of stock held by U.S. startup employees has fallen by 36% since the first quarter of 2022, as Silicon Valley venture capitalists struggle to raise cash from investors. Insight Partners, one of the most successful VC firms, raised just $2 billion of its proposed $20 billion fund, while Tiger Global managed just a third of its intended raise. Startup valuations have plummeted as interest rates have risen and investors’ cash has tightened. “People who are new to the business think this is temporary,” a VC told the Financial Times. “It will dawn on them that the world has changed.”

An upcoming sci-fi anthology series on Disney+ is being called a “game-changer” for the African animation industry. Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire explores “original visions of the future from a distinctly African perspective,” Variety reported, with “a dizzying blend of mythology, science fiction and Afrofuturism,” over 10 episodes. Peter Ramsey, the co-director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is the executive producer of the series, which drops on July 5 and features animators from six African countries.

• Republicans have never been more suspicious of government surveillance, which could make an already contentious reauthorization vote that much harder, Morgan Chalfant reported.
• There’s new conventional wisdom in podcasting and A-list celebs are out. “Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,” UTA’s CEO told Max Tani.
• Trump still isn’t backing a national abortion ban — and evangelicals don’t care.