Ukraine’s anti-government protests. Thousands of people demonstrated in Kyiv yesterday after legislators approved a bill to weaken the country’s anti-corruption institutions, marking the first major protests against the government since Russia invaded in 2022. Earlier yesterday, the European Union’s enlargement commissioner called the law “a serious step back.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the bill into law overnight, but today pledged to release a new anti-corruption plan within two weeks.
China-linked hacks on Microsoft. Chinese state-linked hacking groups are behind recent attacks that exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft software, the tech firm said yesterday. U.S. government agencies, such as the National Nuclear Security Administration, are among those targeted, unnamed sources including U.S. federal investigators told multiple news outlets. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing opposes all forms of cyberattacks, while Microsoft said it was working with U.S. government agencies to address the vulnerabilities.
Green energy savings. Last year, 91 percent of new utility-scale renewable energy projects produced cheaper electricity than the lowest-cost fossil fuel alternatives, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the transition to clean energy “unstoppable” in a speech yesterday, adding that the United States’ current policies are “missing the greatest economic opportunity of the twenty-first century.”
WHO mosquito virus warning. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a public warning yesterday about the global spread of chikungunya virus. Outbreaks have been registered this year in Indian Ocean islands, and the virus is spreading to India and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe. There is no cure for the mosquito-borne virus, which can cause long-term illness.
Pharma investment in the U.S. British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca pledged to invest $50 billion in the United States by 2030 amid the Trump administration’s threats to issue tariffs on foreign-made pharmaceutical products. AstraZeneca’s CEO made the announcement at a ceremony with U.S. officials on Monday. Swiss firms Roche and Novartis, as well as France’s Sanofi, also announced multibillion-dollar investments in the United States earlier this year.
Syrian probe of violence. A March spate of violence that killed security forces and Alawites—an Arab ethnoreligious group—left 1,426 people dead, according to a Syrian government fact-finding committee. It said that military commanders did not give orders for revenge attacks. An Alawite council rejected the findings and called for an independent investigation; a Reuters report last month linked some people who ordered attacks to the interim government.
Nuclear power in Japan. A Japanese power utility said yesterday that it will begin a survey about the potential construction of a nuclear reactor in Fukui prefecture. It is the country’s first step toward building a new reactor after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, during which a tsunami damaged a plant that released radioactive materials. The survey could take years to complete. Japanese public opinion remains divided on nuclear power.
China-India tourism thaw. Starting tomorrow, India will resume providing tourist visas to Chinese citizens after five years. The Indian government suspended the visas following 2020 border clashes, while China suspended tourist visas around the same time, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Senior officials held several bilateral meetings last year to ease tensions. China relaxed tourist restrictions for Indian nationals in March.
