April 1 update

A grand jury in New York voted to indict Donald Trump for his alleged role in covering up hush-money payments to an adult-film actress. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it had contacted Mr Trump to co-ordinate his surrender. According to his lawyer, Mr Trump will turn himself in on Tuesday to face the first criminal charges ever to be brought against a former American president. Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing in the case. In a statement he described the indictment as “political persecution and election interference” and called Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s district attorney, “a disgrace”.

China continued its ultra-fast economic recovery after it ended its draconian zero-covid policy in December, according to a key index measuring activity in its sprawling service and construction sectors. The country’s non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index hit a 12-year high in March, at 58.2 (a figure above 50 indicates an expansion of activity). Analysts now expect China’s GDP to grow by about 5% this year.

Britain signed a deal to join a trans-Pacific trade bloc, which includes countries like Vietnam, New Zealand and Mexico. Most British goods will now not be subject to tariffs when exported to the bloc. Rishi Sunak, the country’s prime minister, hailed the agreement as a benefit of “post-Brexit freedoms”. However, his government estimates the new trading arrangements will increase GDP by only 0.08%.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, approved a new foreign policy strategy aimed at countering the West’s “dominance” in world affairs. The 42-page document, signed by Mr Putin on Friday, describes America and its allies as pursuing an “aggressive policy” to weaken Russia. Mr Putin said his country would deepen its relations with “constructive partners” (such as India and China) to protect itself from “unfriendly states”.

Japan will restrict its exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, tightening its technology trade controls as America attempts to curb China’s production of chips. Japanese companies that play an important role in the semiconductor supply chain, such as Nikon and Tokyo Electron, will need government permission before shipping exports to any country. Japan’s government did not specify China as the target of its measures.

Wimbledon, Britain’s largest tennis tournament, announced it will allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete if they agree to neither represent nor receive funding from their countries. Last year the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, which runs the championship, excluded Russian and Belarusian players after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, described the reversal as “immoral”.

Italian regulators blocked ChatGPT for illegally collecting users’ personal information. The chatbot’s developer, OpenAI, harvests vast quantities of data to train its powerful natural-language system. The Italian watchdog opened an investigation into the suspected breach of EU privacy laws. OpenAI has 20 days to show how it will comply with European regulations or face a fine of up to €20m ($22m).

Word of the week: Xizang, the Chinese name for Tibet which is increasingly used by the country’s nationalist tabloid, Global Times. Read the full story.

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PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Japan’s foreign minister is China-bound

Japan’s foreign minister, Hayashi Yoshimasa, will probably travel to China this weekend, in what would be the first visit there by a top Japanese diplomat since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. Disagreements over territory and history—in particular, over the status of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea—have long strained the countries’ relationship. In recent years, Chinese aggression and intensifying Sino-American competition have heightened mutual suspicions.

As a result, Japan has pulled closer to America, its security ally, and boosted its own armed forces. While Xi Jinping, China’s president, visited Moscow last week, Japan’s prime minister, Kishida Fumio, travelled to Kyiv to see Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president. Earlier in March, China detained a Japanese citizen working for a pharmaceutical company on suspicion of spying, ratcheting up tensions further.

Nonetheless, the two neighbours’ economies are deeply interdependent and Japanese officials are keen to maintain “stable and constructive” relations. Mr Hayashi will have the difficult task of rekindling dialogue while delivering stern messages.

PHOTO: ALAMY

A full in-tray for Toyota’s new boss

Sato Koji, who takes over as Toyota’s boss on Saturday, has his work cut out. The Japanese car giant came late to battery-electric vehicles, having bet that hydrogen was the answer to zero-emission driving. Meanwhile firms like Tesla have thrived, ushering in more electric-vehicle startups, and other established carmakers have quickened the pace of electrification—leaving Toyota in the dust. In 2022, its total battery EV sales ranked 24th in the sector.

Mr Sato has already promised to “drastically change” Toyota and announced plans for a new EV “platform”. On top of that, Toyota must develop or acquire software, which is already critical to differentiating auto brands. (Here, too, Tesla is far ahead.)

Mr Sato was once the chief engineer of Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus. Transforming a vast firm that has spent decades refining fossil-fuel cars into a tech-focused electric-vehicle company will put all of Mr Sato’s skills—engineering and otherwise—to the test.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Four on the floor: Men’s college basketball

On Saturday the last four men’s teams remaining in the National College Athletic Association’s basketball tournament face off. Florida Atlantic will first play San Diego State, then the University of Miami will play the University of Connecticut; the two winners will vie for the title on Monday night. The tournament, known as “March Madness”, began two weeks ago with 64 teams, sorted into four divisions.

For millions of Americans, picking the tournament’s winners is a springtime ritual—even though the odds of correctly predicting all 63 games are around one in 9.2 quintillion, which is significantly lower than the odds of correctly identifying a randomly chosen grain of sand. This year’s tournament was especially bracket-busting: for the first time ever, none of the top-three seeds in each division made the Final Four, and for the first time in 50 years, three teams are in their first-ever Final Four. The only returner, UConn, is the oddsmakers’ favourite—for whatever that’s worth this year.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Art and controversy at the Gilbert & George Centre

On Saturday London welcomes its newest art gallery. The Gilbert & George Centre, which occupies the site of a former brewery, was conceived by Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore, a British art duo, as a space to host free public exhibitions of their art. Having worked together since the late 1960s, the pair are perhaps best known for their provocative stained glass-esque photographic compositions that confront sex, death, religion and British culture.

Although driven by the pair’s belief in “art for all”, the centre’s establishment has been soured by incendiary comments the artists made in 2021. They said museums were too “woke” to show their work, adding “at the moment it’s all black art, all women art, all this art and that art”. Gilbert & George, who are now 79 and 81 respectively, were once outsiders who went on to win the Turner Prize, Britain’s most prestigious art award. But to some, they are now the establishment.

PHOTO: AP

Weekend profile: Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor taking on Trump

Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s district attorney, is no stranger to threats. Growing up in Harlem in the 1980s, he had a gun pointed at him six times, thrice by police officers. He had a knife put to his neck and a semi-automatic gun to his head. On Thursday Mr Bragg announced that a grand jury had indicted Donald Trump—and so the latest threats are political.

The exact charges remain under seal, but the former president is accused of paying $130,000 to silence Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claims to have had an affair with him. He may have falsified records about the money, a misdemeanour under New York law. Such an act becomes a felony when there is intent to commit or conceal another crime. In this case, the second crime may have been taking an illegal and undeclared campaign contribution in the form of hush money. Mr Bragg’s investigation has enraged Mr Trump’s supporters: the DA’s office faced (bogus) bomb scares and received threatening calls, emails and a letter containing a death threat and suspicious powder.

A Harvard-educated career prosecutor who has worked at the state and federal level, Mr Bragg was elected Manhattan’s first African-American DA in 2021. He teaches Sunday School at his church. He promised criminal justice reform and to make his office a “progressive leader”. But by the time he took office, New Yorkers were more concerned about an increase in violent crime. His plan to not prosecute certain crimes, such as fare beating and prostitution, was controversial.

Mr Trump and some other Republicans call the hush-money probe politically motivated and a potential “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority”. But Mr Bragg’s record suggests he is driven by law and facts. Weeks after taking office, he was criticised by many Democrats for pausing his predecessor’s sweeping investigation into Mr Trump’s finances. Instead Mr Bragg focused on cases that are easier to prove, such as last year’s successful prosecution of the Trump Organisation for tax evasion and perhaps the investigation into the payment to Ms Daniels. Up until now he has not made “anybody on any side of the aisle politically happy. And so he’s obviously not playing politics,” says Rebecca Roiphe, a former Manhattan prosecutor. It “makes him look like a careful prosecutor”.