Flagship

Trial into new TB vaccine begins

A trial began into what would be the first new tuberculosis vaccine for more than 100 years. TB is a huge global problem: Estimates suggest 25% of the world’s population is infected with the TB bacteria, and it kills 1.6 million people annually, more than any other infectious disease in non-pandemic years. But the only vaccine was made in 1921 and is indifferently effective. Drugmaker GSK developed a promising new vaccine in 2019 and handed the patent to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, saying it lacked expertise to run trials in poorer countries. Early indications are that the jab reduces transmission by 50%. Commercializing the vaccine, given that most cases are in the developing world, will be challenging: Government-backed purchase schemes may be required.

Putin tries to regain control

Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to shore up his power following last weekend’s short-lived uprising. Russian officials sought to take over the Wagner mercenary group’s operations in Syria, Mali, and the Central African Republic, The Wall Street Journal reported, while the Kremlin ordered a shakeup of the domestic security services, elevating loyalists and denying promotions to hardline critics who have bemoaned Russia’s performance in its invasion of Ukraine. Experts were also watching for any sightings of a prominent commander who has not been seen in public for days after he was reported to have been aware of the recent uprising plot in advance.

Protests over French police shooting

More than 150 people were arrested across France in violent protests over the police killing of a teenager. The youth, named as Nahel M and reportedly of Algerian descent, was shot at point-blank range after refusing to stop for police. The Paris suburb where he died has seen the worst rioting, although protests have spread across France. French President Emmanuel Macron said the killing was “unforgivable and inexplicable,” and the officer who shot Nahel is in custody. The shooting has renewed debate in the country over police treatment of ethnic minorities, particularly in low-income suburbs like the one where the 17-year-old was killed.

Biden trumpets economic successes

U.S. President Joe Biden defended his economic record in a fiery speech, saying “Bidenomics” had succeeded where the “trickle-down approach” had failed. Biden’s tenure has been marked by a series of big-ticket investments in infrastructure — green tech, transit, communications, and more. Whether coincidentally or not, the U.S. economy is outperforming other developed nations’. Biden claims his old-school Keynesian approach, intended to stimulate the sluggish post-pandemic economy, is working: Officials estimate that the administration’s tax incentives have led to $500 billion in new private-sector spending on solar, batteries, and semiconductor production. A spokesperson for the president said “Bidenomics” is “word of the day, word of the week, word of the month” at the White House.

Solar helps Texas avoid blackouts

Texas avoided rolling blackouts despite record electricity demand, thanks to its huge solar energy output. A deadly heat wave has driven unprecedented air-conditioner use, and several of the state’s aging coal plants have failed. But solar supply has doubled since early last year, accounting for more than 15% of the state’s electricity supply in the afternoons, The Guardian reported. Battery storage capacity, which has also increased hugely in recent years, has kept that supply going once the sun starts to set, while wind power — with which Texas is also well stocked — tends to work better in the evenings too. The inventor of the lithium-ion battery, John Goodenough, died this week aged 100, just as his invention may have helped save the Texas power grid.

Japan eases contraception rules

Japan allowed the sale of the morning-after pill without prescription. The law currently requires women, even those who have been sexually assaulted, to attend a clinic or hospital to gain emergency contraception. Japan, with its male-dominated politics, moves slowly on women’s sexual health: It took 40 years to approve oral contraceptives, reported The Guardian, compared to six months to approve erectile dysfunction drugs. The new law brings it into line with most other developed nations. Meanwhile, Malta voted to allow abortions for the first time, albeit only in cases where the woman’s life would be at risk. A U.S. tourist who miscarried had to be airlifted out of the deeply Catholic country last year in order to receive treatment.

Brazil’s population growth slows

Brazil, the world’s sixth-largest country by population, has 10 million fewer people than expected according to a new census. The country’s population growth has decelerated rapidly: Last year, it grew by just 0.52%, the lowest rate since 1872, to barely 200 million. Fertility rates in Brazil, among the highest in the world in the 20th century, have been below the replacement rate of 2.1 since 2002. There may be some unintended benefits, though: “This transition brings an opportunity for female empowerment,” and growing participation of women in the workforce, the head of the statistics service told Folha de S.Paulo.

UN troops set to exit Mali

Foreign forces are accelerating their departure from Mali ahead of the coming withdrawal of U.N. forces from the country. The U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, was established a decade ago to help battle armed groups, but tensions have grown since a 2020 coup brought a military government to power, with the country’s new rulers increasingly relying on Russia’s Wagner mercenary group. The U.N.’s mandate concludes tomorrow and its 12,000 peacekeepers are due to pull out by the end of the year. Germany said this week it would hasten its own departure because of the U.N. withdrawal.

Chinese digitizes more of its language

Chinese authorities announced the digitization of 17,000 rare characters. Mandarin Chinese is written with tens of thousands of characters, making it both hard to learn for foreigners accustomed to alphabets, and difficult to encode into computers, creating hassles for an estimated 60 million Chinese people whose names are written using such “rare” characters. The conceptual difference between Chinese and English was neatly summed up by the linguistics expert David Moser: “A Spanish person learning Portuguese is comparable to a violinist taking up the viola, whereas an American learning Chinese is more like a rock guitarist trying to learn to play an elaborate 30-stop three-manual pipe organ.”

Qatar close to Man Utd deal

A Qatari group is reportedly confident that it will win the race to buy Manchester United. The sale of the world’s second-most valuable soccer team has dragged on for months, with the owners split over whether to sell. But the Qatari bidders think the end is near, according to Bloomberg. The country’s sovereign wealth fund also bought 5% stakes in three Washington sports teams. The $4 billion deal is believed to be the first Qatari investment in U.S. sports. The Gulf emirate is competing with regional rival Saudi Arabia in global sports: Qatar hosted last year’s men’s football World Cup, whereas the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament led to an upheaval in world golf.

• The Czech Republic’s lower house of parliament will vote on whether to legalize same-sex marriage.
• Dutch farmers are expected to protest in The Hague against government plans to curb nitrogen pollution, which they say threaten their livelihoods.
• The third season of The Witcher drops on Netflix.

The New York Yankees’ Domingo German pitched a perfect game, something that has happened in only 0.01% of Major League Baseball games. Considered the ultimate pitching feat, a perfect game means all 27 batters faced were unable to reach base, whether by way of a hit or a walk. German’s perfect game — the first in more than a decade — is just the 24th in MLB’s more than 238,000 games.

A Bollywood remake of a hit Pakistani song divided listeners. Pasoori by Ali Sethi and Shae Gill became a global phenomenon after its release in February 2022: It was Google’s second most-searched song of that year, and a symbol of unity for its Indian and Pakistani fans. But a recreated version, Pasoori Nu from the Hindi film Satyaprem Ki Katha, has not struck the same chord. “Even Arijit Singh’s melodious voice can’t save this song,” said one commentator quoted in the Hindustan Times, referring to the popular Indian singer who sang the remake.

• What a Chinese heat wave means for the world.
• OpenAI is training AI models on Microsoft’s cloud services, Reed Albergotti reported. The cloud-computing industry is expected to grow north of $2 trillion by 2030 and the fight for market share is intensifying.
• Prigozhin may have colluded with other Russian officials before his failed coup. Read our curated analysis from experts.