The world in brief

When Antony Blinken last visited Beijing, in June, America and China were barely on speaking terms. America’s top diplomat may expect a warmer welcome on Wednesday, as he began his latest trip to China. Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are now talking more; in November they agreed to resume high-level military communication after a 16-month hiatus. On his three-day visit Mr Blinken will meet several dignitaries including Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, and possibly Mr Xi.

Dialogue between the countries, though, remains tense. Mr Blinken reportedly plans to press China on its terrorising of Filipino boats in the South China Sea and its aggression towards Taiwan. He will demand that China stops selling Russia chips and other weapons-related technology that is helping it fight Ukraine. And he is expected to ask Chinese officials to push Iran to calm tensions in the Middle East. China, however, is boosting its ties with both Iran and Russia. That means America’s pleas will probably elicit little more than a polite smile.

Moyle v United States, another skirmish in America’s abortion battle, comes to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. A month after hearing a case involving access to abortion pills, the justices will decide whether Idaho’s Defence of Life Act—which bans terminations except in cases of reported rape or incest, or when “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman”—squares with federal law.

According to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labour Act, passed in 1986, hospitals receiving public funding must provide “stabilising treatment” to anyone showing up at their doors. In 2022, the Biden administration clarified that this includes abortion when a woman’s pregnancy threatens her health. Idaho, meanwhile, argues that all states have the right to “regulate the practice of medicine, including on the issue of abortion”, as they choose. But the federal government contends that by criminalising abortion unless a woman is on the brink of death, Idaho’s law will put some pregnant women at risk of complications like “organ failure or loss of fertility”.

On Wednesday the European Parliament passed legislation that will hold big companies responsible for protecting human rights and the environment across their supply chains. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will now go on to be formally endorsed by the European Council and then be rolled out in timed stages, coming into full effect in 2029. From then, companies with at least 1,000 employees and an annual turnover of €450m ($480m) or more will have to have drawn up plans to prevent risks like forced labour or excessive water consumption, then ensure that they (and their suppliers) stick to them. A network of advisory bodies in each member state will police the scheme, and be able to dole out hefty fines for wrongdoing.

The legislation has been watered down significantly after several countries complained bitterly about the “additional burden” of red tape it would generate. It now applies only to the biggest businesses, excludes financial institutions and will be fully implemented several years later than first planned.

The most powerful prosecutors in America convene in Chicago on Wednesday for an annual conference. State attorneys-general from across the country plan to spend several days discussing campaign security, artificial intelligence, social media and young people’s mental health, plus the cases currently before the Supreme Court.

Attorneys-general used to spend their time going after cheats, frauds and corporate bullies. Today their jobs are far more political and their roles more national. One Republican and one Democrat exemplify the new breed. In New York Letitia James went from challenging Donald Trump’s environmental policies to suing the ex-president when he left office. Texas’s Ken Paxton has made a name for himself by crusading against Joe Biden’s immigration agenda. Other states are following suit. The prosecutors’ growing influence on the national stage is reflected in the cash pouring into their campaigns: between 2008 and 2022 the annual total cost of state attorney-general races rose from $17m to $222m.

Most springtime tourists go to Kyoto for the cherry blossoms. But those visiting the Japanese city this month may instead be struck by images of the protests that swept Iran in 2022 after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code for women, died in police custody. “You Donʼt Die: The Story of Yet Another Iranian Uprising” is the star exhibit of this year’s Kyotographie, an annual international photography festival which runs until May 12th. The central image—by Ahmadreza Halabisaz, a now-imprisoned Iranian photographer—won a World Press Photo award. It is accompanied by smartphone photography from anonymous civilians at the forefront of the unrest.

Other highlights include exhibits by Claudia Andujar, an artist-activist who began working with the Yanomami tribe in Brazil more than 50 years ago, and by Rinko Kawauchi and Tokuko Ushioda, Japanese photographers whose work gracefully documents domestic life. All 13 exhibits are well worth a detour from the cherry blossoms.

We will serve you a new question each day this week. On Friday your challenge is to give us all five answers and, as important, tell us the connecting theme. Email your responses (and include mention of your home city and country) by 1700 GMT on Friday to [email protected]. We’ll pick randomly from those with the right answers and crown three winners on Saturday.

Wednesday: Which Spaniard won the Formula 1 World Championship in 2005 and 2006?

Tuesday: Which nun won the 1979 Nobel peace prize?