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Blinken-Xi talks in Beijing

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, on a trip that may yield some progress on low-level issues but is unlikely to resolve the fundamental tensions between the superpowers. Washington and Beijing hope to improve bilateral military communication and reduce travel restrictions, The New York Times reported, but disputes over trade, security, and territorial conflicts remain: Blinken was to deliver the most direct in-person warning yet to Beijing over its tacit support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, while his Chinese counterpart spoke of the potential for a “downward spiral” in ties between the US and China.

US begins building Gaza pier

US forces began construction of a pier off the coast of Gaza aimed at increasing the flow of humanitarian supplies to the enclave. Washington aims to have the facility handling around 100 trucks worth of aid daily, though that remains far short of what is required for the territory, which has been battered by Israel’s war against Hamas, leaving humanitarian officials warning of widespread hunger. In a sign of the risks to the project, Palestinian militants launched mortar attacks on Israeli forces preparing for the US effort, though no pier equipment was damaged. On the ground, Israeli artillery shelling targeted Rafah, with an Israeli official saying the country was “moving ahead” with plans to invade the Gazan border town.

Japan worries over yen decline

Japan’s finance minister voiced concern over the plummeting value of the yen. The currency is at its weakest against the dollar since 1990, driven in large part by a huge gulf in interest rates between Japan and the US, driving investors to park their money in the latter where rates appear likely to remain elevated for months to come. And while policymakers in Tokyo last month raised rates for the first time since 2007, borrowing costs remain near zero and are unlikely to increase until later this year. The declining yen is a boon for exporters but also a driver of inflation as it increases the costs of imported goods.

Google profits, shares surge

Google’s parent company Alphabet declared better-than-expected results, leading to a 16% surge in stock prices. Google has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence, but its growth this quarter came mainly from its older products — advertising and cloud computing: The company had poured money into the cloud to keep up with Amazon and Microsoft’s services, and is finally seeing results, according to CNBC. But Big Tech will keep spending on AI, The Washington Post reported: Google, Microsoft, and Meta are all investing billions in data centers, pushing up demand for chips and power. Microsoft is leading the way in actually monetizing it, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it would take years for Meta’s AI systems to become profitable.

World powers eye Ghana nuclear deal

Ghana is choosing between competing bids from world powers for its first nuclear power plant. As countries around the world look for reliable, clean energy, the technology is taking on a growing geopolitical role: Authorities in Accra are considering bids from companies in the US, Russia, China, France, and South Korea, Semafor Africa reported. For now, South Africa is the only African country with a nuclear power plant, but Ghana is among several others — including Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda — that have announced nuclear energy plans. Key issues are yet to be resolved, such as whether Accra opts for traditional large-scale nuclear plants or newer, small modular reactors, but a decision is due this year.

Latin America’s demographic costs

Latin America’s aging population could undercut economic growth in the region, the International Monetary Fund predicted. Concerns about slowing population growth have largely concentrated on richer countries — the US and South Korea both recently reported record low birth rates — but worries are growing over aging populations in countries that have not yet graduated to high-income status, China chief among them. In a blog post, two IMF economists forecast that economic growth in Latin America in the next five years would be below its historical average, in part because “the demographics are turning, and the labor force won’t grow as fast as before.”

Hundreds held in US student protests

Hundreds of students were arrested on college campuses across the US during protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Demonstrations began last week at Columbia University in New York, and yesterday the University of Southern California and Emerson College in Boston each saw around 100 people detained. The protesters want universities to cut ties with companies supporting Israel, or even Israel itself. The Israeli prime minister called the demonstrations “horrific” and “antisemitic,” but while protest leaders admitted some Jewish people had been abused, they denied that the movement was antisemitic. Student political protests are hardly new, The Washington Post noted: Columbia was also at the center of the 1968 protests against the Vietnam War and what students considered racist university policies.

Philippines ban golden rice farming

A Philippine court blocked the farming of golden rice, the genetically modified, vitamin-A-enriched cereal intended to combat childhood blindness. The country was the first in the world to approve golden rice, but environmental groups, including Greenpeace, challenged the ruling. A Greenpeace spokesperson called the decision a “monumental win for Filipino farmers,” but the environment writer Mark Lynas wrote in The Spectator that vitamin A deficiency causes hundreds of thousands of cases of child blindness and death worldwide, that decades of research show GM crops to be safe, and that if similar decisions are made elsewhere, such as in Bangladesh, “the potential effect could be in the order of 100,000 avoidable child deaths per year.”

Conservation restores biodiversity

Conservation efforts successfully reduce biodiversity loss, a new study showed. The journal Science looked at 665 trials going back 130 years, and found that they were often successful: A management plan in the Congo Basin reduced deforestation by 74%, and captive breeding helped restore Chinook salmon in Idaho rivers, for instance. More recent efforts tended to be more effective than older ones. The authors said the study was a “ray of hope” that showed conservation efforts were often “not just a little bit better than doing nothing at all, but many times greater.” One scientist told the BBC that while such efforts worked, they were “not being funded at a sufficient scale to actually start to reverse global declines in biodiversity.”

Plans to move Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa may be moved from its place in France’s Louvre Museum, to improve the experience of viewing what was recently dubbed the “world’s most disappointing masterpiece.” The painting, just 30 inches by 20, is presented in a large room behind bulletproof glass, and crowds make it impossible for most to get near, so one curator told Le Figaro that “at first glance it looks like a postage stamp.” Leonardo da Vinci meant it to be viewed face-to-face. It is the main draw for the Louvre’s 9 million annual visitors, but a poll found it to be the most underwhelming of 100 great artworks. The museum’s director has proposed moving the painting to a new, dedicated room in the basement to “put an end to public disappointment.”

• The Olympic flame handover ceremony takes place at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
• New Zealand’s foreign minister holds meetings with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara.
• Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut, a new documentary, is released on Netflix.

Each Friday, we’ll tell you what a great independent bookstore suggests you read.

Toronto’s TYPE Books recommends Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls. Bookseller Max describes the graphic memoir as “awe-inspiring and almost overwhelming.” Buy it from TYPE, or your look bookstore.

A new exhibition in London explores the rise of Switzerland-born painter Angelica Kauffman, one of the 18th century’s most influential yet today lesser-known artists. The Royal Academy of Arts show spotlights how Kauffman, regarded as a child prodigy, was later sought after for her celebrity portraits and history paintings that focused on female protagonists. She went on to become one of the founding members of the Academy, one of only two women among 34 men. In The Times Literary Supplement, the art historian James Hall called her “the first female artist anywhere to enjoy an international reputation.”

• Crypto project Worldcoin faces an orb shortage.
• Poor countries have a climate bomb on their balance sheets.
• China is extending its lead over the US in Africa’s energy transition.