‘No one’s buying anything now’: how tariffs are striking a blow to historic Chinatowns

On a balmy afternoon last month, Amy Tran unboxed a delivery at Yue Wa Market, a small grocery and herbal medicine shop in Los Angeles’s Chinatown that she opened 17 years ago.The package contained two dozen units of Shou Wu Chih, a Chinese herbal concoction known to rebuild kidney function and promote hair health. The shipment arrived two weeks after the US implemented new tariffs on Chinese imports, so her distributor charged her $115, a $35 markup from her previous order.Tran said she had no choice but to increase the retail price from $6 to $7. It’s a steep up-charge for her customers, who are primarily Chinese seniors living off food stamps, some barely able to afford to buy a piece of fresh fruit or vegetable

Japan-owned car battery maker secures £1bn to build second Sunderland gigafactory

The owner of the UK’s only operating gigafactory has secured £1bn in funding for a new electric car battery plant in Sunderland, in a government-backed deal that secures the future of a key project for the struggling British car industry.The funding will allow Japan’s AESC to install tooling and start production of batteries at the site, which is being built to serve Nissan’s car factory down the road. More than 1,000 people are expected to be employed there.The National Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance, both state bodies, will provide financial guarantees that unlock £680m in financing for the battery maker. A further £320m in debt funding will come from private financing as well as new equity from the business

Wikipedia challenging UK law it says exposes it to ‘manipulation and vandalism’

The charity that hosts Wikipedia is challenging the UK’s online safety legislation in the high court, saying some of its regulations would expose the site to “manipulation and vandalism”.In what could be the first judicial review related to the Online Safety Act, Wikimedia Foundation claims it is at risk of being subjected to the act’s toughest category 1 duties, which impose additional requirements on the biggest sites and apps.The foundation said if category 1 duties were imposed on it, the safety and privacy of Wikipedia’s army of volunteer editors would be undermined, its entries could be manipulated and vandalised, and resources would be diverted from protecting and improving the site.Announcing that it was seeking a judicial review of the categorisation regulations, the foundation’s lead counsel, Phil Bradley-Schmieg, said: “We are taking action now to protect Wikipedia’s volunteer users, as well as the global accessibility and integrity of free knowledge.”The foundation said it was not challenging the act as a whole, nor the existence of the requirements themselves, but the rules that decide how a category 1 platform is designated

Tech giants beat quarterly expectations as Trump’s tariffs hit the sector

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, and this week in tech news: Trump’s tariffs hit tech companies that move physical goods more than their digital-only counterparts. Two stories about AI’s effect on the labor market paint a murky picture. Meta released a standalone AI app, a product it claims already has a billion users through enforced omnipresence. OpenAI dialed back an obsequious version of ChatGPT

England open to hosting IPL after border hostilities prompt suspension

The England and Wales Cricket Board is open to hosting the remainder of the Indian Premier League in September after escalating cross-border tension between India and Pakistan prompted the suspension of the world’s most lucrative Twenty20 tournament on Friday.In a chaotic 24 hours matches in both the IPL and the Pakistan Super League were cancelled or abandoned, schedules torn up and foreign players told to start packing and book flights home. The Pakistan Cricket Board announced that the last eight fixtures of its tournament were being relocated to the United Arab Emirates, only for the Emirates Cricket Board apparently to reconsider its decision to host because it was “wary of being perceived as an ally of the PCB”, leading to that tournament also being suspended.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has so far confirmed only that the IPL has been paused for a week. But with 16 games remaining and overseas players now in the process of flying respective home, its resumption is shrouded in doubt

UNC says Bill Belichick’s girlfriend still welcome at school despite reports

The University of North Carolina on Friday denied reports that Jordon Hudson, the girlfriend of head football coach Bill Belichick, has been banned from its football facilities.“While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities,” an athletic department spokesperson said in a statement. “Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick’s personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University.”The statement was released hours after journalist Pablo Torre reported on his podcast that Hudson had been barred from UNC’s football operations. Torre cited 11 sources, including two who claimed Hudson was specifically told she was “no longer allowed in the football building”