As of 1980, China was the most influential player in just one country: Albania. Now, China is the leading power across most of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and is catching up to the U.S. in its own hemisphere.
What we’re reading: That's according to a new report from the University of Denver and the Atlantic Council that seeks to measure the influence countries have on each other, and in so doing offers a dramatic portrait of China's rise.
Why it matters: COVID-19 cases across the U.K. are on the rise amid the spread of the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant. The B.1.617.2 variant, first detected in India, is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S. in three to four weeks, some researchers say.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Nestlé USA and Cargill in a lawsuit that accused the corporations of helping perpetuate child slave labor in the Ivory Coast, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: The ruling is yet another example of courts imposing "strict limits on lawsuits brought in federal court based on human rights abuses abroad," notes the New York Times.
An international court is examining whether the Honduran government was complicit in the killing of Vicky Hernández, a 26-year-old trans woman fatally shot on the night of the country's 2009 coup d'état.
Why it matters: Legal advocates say the case could set a legal precedent across Latin America, which has the world's highest concentration of trans murders, according to activists.
Three astronauts entered China's new space station for the first time after riding into space on the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft launched from the edge of the Gobi Desert on Thursday, according to AP.
Why it matters: Astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo are set to occupy the station for a three-month mission, marking the country's longest crewed space mission ever and the first in almost five years.
The House voted 268-161 on Thursday to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq, almost two decades after the resolution was first passed by Congress.
Why it matters: If passed by the Senate, the repeal of the AUMF would prevent U.S. presidents from carrying out attacks in Iraq without securing prior approval from Congress. The House also voted to repeal AUMF last year, but the measure was not taken up in the Senate and the Trump administration opposed the move.
Japan announced Thursday it is easing the pandemic-related state of emergency in Tokyo and six other areas starting next week, citing the decline of daily coronavirus cases, AP reports.
Why it matters: The announcement comes a month before the Summer Olympics, which will be held in Tokyo in July. Doctors and prominent executives had called for the games to be canceled during an uptick in cases at the time.
After eight days of talkingon the world stage, President Biden got prickly — then blunt, then reflective — in the final minutes before Air Force One lifted off for home.
Why it matters: One wish that aides to generations of presidents have in common is that when their boss walks away from the podium, he'll keep walking. And reporters know that the most revealing comments often come when an interview or press conference is "over": The newsmaker drops the talking points and is more likely to be real.
Iranian Judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi is the favorite to win Friday's presidential election, a result that would reassert conservative control over all levers of power in Tehran.
Driving the news: The latest polls in Iran project a very low turnout of around 42% — a testament to the disillusionment of supporters of the reformist camp who find themselves with no candidate to vote for.
Hong Kong's Apple Daily said 500 police officers searched the pro-democracy newspaper's offices and arrested five senior executives on Thursday.
Why it matters: The arrests of the paper's chief editor, Ryan Law, along with its chief operating officer, two other editors and the CEO of Next Digital, which operates Apple Daily, were made under China's national security law — which gives the government broad power to limit people's political freedom.
The World Bank has rejected the government of El Salvador's request to help the country implement Bitcoin as legal tender, Reuters first reported late Wednesday.
Why it matters: The international lender's rejection could hamper the government's goal of making the digital currency accepted across the country within three months.
President Biden's summit "reset" was less about trying to make a friend out of Russia than reframing what the U.S. believes can be accomplished by engaging with President Vladimir Putin.
Driving the news: The Geneva meeting yielded no immediate breakthroughs beyond agreements about ambassadors returning to work and plans to launch talks on nuclear security. But in classic Biden fashion — aviators on, jacket off and a one-liner about invading Russia he had to clarify was a joke — the U.S. president used a post-summit news conference to explain his approach.
