This Week's Brief

THE STORIES WE ARE WATCHING THIS WEEK:

(These pins mark the stories with deeply buried, but globally significant signals.)

📌 Sanctioned Russian Official Attends Geneva Summit

📌 China’s AI Revolution Has a Suburban Address

📌 Curtain Up on a Bot-Powered Fringe

📌 Inside the U.S. DoJ’s Antitrust Turmoil

📌 Swiss President Rushes to Stop Steep U.S. Tariffs

📌 Prevot’s Tour de France Triumph Cements GOAT Status

📌 Silent Assassin: Golf’s Next Star Arrives

📌 All-Women Tours Defy the Odds in Afghanistan

People

All-Women Tours Defy the Odds in Afghanistan

Despite severe restrictions on women and official government travel warnings, a growing number of British women are joining female-led, all-women tours to Afghanistan. Swapping holidays in places like Ibiza for a firsthand look at one of the world’s most dangerous regions, these groups are challenging perceptions and pushing boundaries. Read more at The Week

Japan’s Grandmas-for-Hire Ease Loneliness & A New Supercentenarian

In Japan, services offering “grandmothers-for-hire” are growing in popularity, letting people experience motherly care—like cooking, cleaning, and life advice—for as little as $60 per visit. For women like 69-year-old Taeko Kaji, it’s a way to stay active and valued in a society facing a loneliness epidemic and age-related marginalisation. Read more at ABC News

In a country famed for its supercentenarians, a new name has meanwhile topped the list. At 114, Shigeko Kagawa has become Japan’s oldest living person following the recent passing of Miyoko Hiroyasu. Read more in The Times of India

Artificial Intelligence

China’s AI Revolution Has a Suburban Address

Liangzhua is a leafy suburb of Hangzhou, the tech-heavy capital of Zhejiang province in China. This is the home of not just DeepSeek. It is an area at the heart of an AI ecosystem which China hopes will soon rival America’s. The AI revolution in China is moving faster than you thought. Read more in The Economist

AI for Chips: SixSense Scores $8.5M

Singapore-based startup SixSense, co-founded by CEO Akanksha Jagwani and CTO Avni Agarwal, has raised $8.5 million to bring AI-powered “intelligent automation” to semiconductor manufacturing. Their platform helps fabrication plants catch production issues early, improve output, and enhance control. Already used by major players like GlobalFoundries and JCET, SixSense operates across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Israel and is now expanding into the U.S. Read more at INC

Curtain Up on a Bot-Powered Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is in something of an AI apocalyptic mood this year. In Dead Air, Alfrun Rose channels a Hamlet-esque character haunted by an AI simulacrum. In Stampin’ in the Graveyard, Elisabeth Gunawan takes centre stage as an AI chatbot. And in AI: The Waiting Room – An Audiovisual Journey, the Angry Fish Theater and Ally Artists Group let AI generate a bespoke script for each spectator. If artificial intelligence is dominating your thoughts, this year’s Fringe has you covered. Read more in The Guardian

Politics & Policy

Sanctioned Russian Official Attends Geneva Summit

Valentina Matviyenko, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and Chair of the Russian Federation Council, appeared in Geneva for a high-level Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) summit despite being under Western sanctions for her support of the invasion of Ukraine. The 76-year-old, who arrived on a Russian government plane, attended the 15th summit of women parliament presidents, which was opened by Swiss House Speaker Maja Riniker. Her presence has sparked controversy and a walkout during her speech, given her inclusion on sanctions lists from the U.S., EU, and Switzerland. In Russia, state media celebrated her visit, showing images of her being welcomed with flowers. Read more at Swiss Info & The Moscow Times

Inside the U.S. DoJ’s Antitrust Turmoil

Gail Slater, U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick as chief antitrust enforcer, is fending off pressure from loyalists inside and outside the administration. Two of her top deputies were ousted last week after raising concerns about a favourable Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) settlement brokered by politically connected lawyers/lobbyists. Their objections reportedly reached those same lawyers, triggering complaints about Slater’s leadership. With the shake-up, senior figures like Chad Mizelle and Stanley Woodward are now expected to take greater control of her division. Read more in The Wall Street Journal

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Trump Tariff Watch

Swiss Rush to Stop Steep U.S. Tariffs

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Vice President Guy Parmelin are under fire. They returned empty handed after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, trying to avert steep new tariffs on Swiss exports. President Trump recently raised the proposed tariff rate on Swiss goods from 31% to 39%, placing Switzerland among the highest-taxed countries for U.S. imports. While no trade deal was announced, both sides expressed a commitment to fair trade and strengthened defense ties. Switzerland signaled willingness to revise its offer to address U.S. concerns, as key exports like pharmaceuticals, watches, and chocolate face significant impact. Read more at The Hill

US-India Ties Hit Low as Trump Imposes 50% Tariff

India, one of the few major economies without a U.S. trade deal, now faces the world’s highest tariff rate. The tariff was raised from 25% to 50% this week with the Trump administration citing Russian oil purchases as the reason. While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Indian farmers in a speech he will ‘never compromise’ in face of 50% US tariffs, how Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will deal with the fallout will be closely watched. Read more in The Financial Times

Tariff Tensions Rise: Brazil Seeks WTO Relief

Brazil now faces a total U.S. tariff rate of 50% after a new executive order, linked to the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro added a 40% surcharge to its official 10% rate. In response, the Brazilian government has filed a formal petition with the World Trade Organization, seeking consultations to ease the burden. Brazilian officials confirmed the move anonymously to outlets including AFP and The Associated Press. Read more at Al Jazeera

Other Tariff Impact

Only Laos, Myanmar, and Syria face higher U.S. tariff rates than Switzerland and India, with rates of 40–41%. These new levies range from 10% for the UK to over 40% for select countries and are applied on top of existing import duties.

The EU is the only partner with a framework deal (negotiated by the Ursula von der Leyen led European Commission) allowing its 15% baseline tariff to absorb existing duties, so items like cheese will be taxed at 15%, not the combined 29.9%. Read more in The Guardian

Sports

Prevot’s Tour Triumph Cements GOAT Status

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot has made history by winning the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, just one year after returning to road racing following a seven-year break. Already a multi-discipline world champion in road, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, and gravel, her latest triumph adds to an already legendary career. Read more at TNT Sports

Nigeria Rewards Women’s Basketball Champs with Cash and Homes

Nigeria’s national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, will each receive $100,000 and a three-bedroom flat after winning the Fiba Women’s AfroBasket Championship in Ivory Coast. The victory over Mali (78–64) marks their seventh AfroBasket title and secures a place in next year’s Fiba Women’s World Cup. Read more at BBC News

Golf

Silent Assassin: Golf’s Next Star Arrives

Lottie Woad made a sensational professional debut by winning the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, becoming only the third player in LPGA history to do so. Her calm, mysterious presence and dominant performance earned comparisons to a “silent assassin” poised to become golf’s next female superstar. Woad follows in the footsteps of Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951) as players who won on their pro debut. She humbly celebrated the win online, calling it a “pretty good first week at work.” Read more at Sky Sports

Yamashita Makes History at British Open

Miyu Yamashita won the Women’s British Open in Porthcawl, Wales, finishing 11-under par to claim her first LPGA Tour victory. The 24-year-old is the sixth Japanese woman to win a major and the first since Hinako Shibuno’s 2019 triumph. Read more at Nippon

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