Your Friday Briefing: A Major U.S. Climate Ruling

Good morning. We’re overlaying a significant climate-related ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court docket, the twenty fifth anniversary of Hong Kong’s hyperlink with China and a victory for Ukraine.

New limits on the E.P.A.’s authority

The U.S. Supreme Court docket restricted the Environmental Safety Company’s powers to limit carbon emissions from energy crops.

Mixed with a worldwide power crunch and intraparty politics, the ruling makes it practically unattainable for President Biden to realize his local weather objectives. Consultants mentioned the ruling would make it mathematically unattainable for him to maintain a marketing campaign promise to chop U.S. air pollution in half by the top of the last decade.

The 6-to-3 choice comes at a time when specialists are issuing dire warnings on local weather change. In a dissent, the courtroom’s three liberal justices mentioned the choice had stripped the E.P.A. of “the ability to reply to essentially the most urgent environmental problem of our time.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for almost all, solely glancingly alluded to local weather change. As an alternative, Roberts argued that Congress had not given the E.P.A. sweeping authority to control the power trade. Listed below are dwell updates.

Xi Jinping visits Hong Kong

Xi Jinping, China’s chief, traveled to Hong Kong yesterday to have fun 25 years for the reason that finish of British rule there.

“Hong Kong has withstood one extreme problem after one other, and overcome one hazard after one other,” Xi mentioned in a quick speech upon his arrival. “After the storm, Hong Kong has been reborn from the ashes, displaying flourishing vitality.”

It was his first journey out of mainland China for the reason that pandemic began. Covid infections just lately rose in Hong Kong, and the town despatched 1000’s of individuals — officers, diplomats, journalists and staff — to motels for days of quarantine and each day Covid exams earlier than his go to.

It was additionally Xi’s first journey to Hong Kong in 5 years — and his first since Beijing imposed a crackdown on a 2019 pro-democracy motion that mounted a severe problem to its rule. Xi’s insurance policies have stifled dissent within the metropolis, and his go to underscores the significance of signaling his management over the previous British colony.

Evaluation: In 1997, China promised Hong Kong 50 years of a light-weight contact when the town returned to its management. Midway via that interval, these pledges seem badly weakened, if not damaged.

Historical past: Up to now 25 years, life on Queen’s Street, the primary thoroughfare constructed by the British after they seized Hong Kong, has been reworked.

Ukraine takes again Snake Island

Russian troops have withdrawn from Snake Island, a tiny however strategic outpost within the Black Sea, after repeated assaults by Ukrainian forces. Listed below are dwell updates.

The event is a setback for Moscow’s forces. Only a week in the past, the Kremlin bragged about repelling a Ukrainian try to retake the island.

Ukraine’s management of Snake Island may undermine Russia’s blockade of significant delivery lanes for grain within the Black Sea, which has raised the price of meals and created the probability of shortages and even famines in some nations. Nonetheless, there was no indication that the Kremlin was ready to permit protected passage of Ukrainian vessels leaving the port of Odesa.

Diplomacy: At Group of seven and NATO summits this week, Western leaders introduced a unified entrance in opposition to Russia. However power prices are hovering, Western publics are weary and leaders failed to explain the warfare’s endgame.

U.S.: President Biden mentioned that the nation may face larger gasoline costs for “so long as it takes” to defeat Russia, a dangerous assertion as midterm elections close to.

China: Beijing accused NATO of “maliciously attacking and smearing the nation” and “frightening confrontation” after the alliance’s leaders introduced an assertive new imaginative and prescient that, for the primary time, noticed China as a strategic “problem.”

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Behind the scenes, the worldwide consulting agency McKinsey suggested the businesses on the middle of the opioid disaster. A trove of paperwork reveals the way it helped opioid makers goal docs, drive up gross sales and market capsules twice as potent as OxyContin.

ARTS AND IDEAS

F.B.I. steps into an artwork case

In February, the Orlando Museum of Artwork opened a present that includes 25 never-before-seen work by Jean-Michel Basquiat. However a Occasions article by Brett Sokol solid doubt on their authenticity: One had been painted on a FedEx field with a typeface that hadn’t been used till 1994, six years after Basquiat’s dying.

In line with an F.B.I. affidavit, De Groft threatened an professional who expressed qualms after assessing the artworks. “Shut up,” De Groft allegedly wrote in an e mail. “Cease being holier than thou.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook dinner

That’s it for at this time’s briefing. See you subsequent time. — Amelia

P.S. Nestor Ramos might be our subsequent Metro editor.

The newest episode of “The Every day” is on European help for Ukraine.

You possibly can attain Amelia and the staff at briefing@nytimes.com.