July 20, 2025-July 26, 2025
Chinese authorities bar another American from leaving the country; China proposes creating a new, Shanghai-based body to coordinate global AI governance; Hong Kong’s High Court strikes down a law that requires transgender persons to use public toilets that match their assigned sex at birth; the US and Japan announce a trade deal but Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba immediately comes under pressure to release more details of an unprecedented $550 billion investment fund that is part of the deal; a South Korean court orders former President Yoon Suk Yeol to compensate ordinary citizens for the mental distress caused by his martial law declaration in December 2024; voters in Taiwan reject an attempt by supporters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to end divided government gridlock by ousting 24 Nationalist Party legislators.