NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising toward another record following a trade deal between the world’s No. 1 and No. 4 economies, one that would lower proposed tariffs on Japanese imports to the United States.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in early trading Wednesday, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 219 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%.

The Nikkei 225 rallied 3.5% in Tokyo after President Donald Trump announced a trade framework that would place a 15% tax on imports from Japan. That’s lower than the 25% rate Trump had earlier threatened.

By MOLLY QUELL, Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The top United Nations court has opened a hearing to deliver an advisory opinion in a landmark case about nations’ obligations to tackle climate change and consequences they may face if they don’t.

The president of the International Court of Justice is expected to read the non-binding opinion that is seen as a potential turning point in international climate law. The decision could serve as the basis for other legal actions, including domestic lawsuits, and legal instruments like investment agreements.

The case is led by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and backed by more than 130 countries.

Activists demonstrate outside the International Court of Justice ahead of an advisory opinion on what legal obligations nations have to address climate change and what consequences they may face if they don’t, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

All U.N. member states including major greenhouse gas emitters like the United States and China are parties to the court.

Outside the court, climate activists gathered. They held a banner that read: “Courts have spoken. The law is clear. States must ACT NOW.” The courtroom, known as the Great Hall of Justice, was packed.

After years of lobbying by vulnerable island nations who fear they could disappear under rising sea waters, the U.N. General Assembly asked the ICJ in 2023 for an advisory opinion, an important basis for international obligations.

A panel of 15 judges was tasked with answering two questions: What are countries obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions? Second, what are the legal consequences for governments when their acts, or lack of action, have significantly harmed the climate and environment?

“The stakes could not be higher. The survival of my people and so many others is on the line,” Arnold Kiel Loughman, attorney general of the island nation of Vanuatu, told the court during a week of hearings in December.

In the decade up to 2023, sea levels rose by a global average of around 1.7 inches, with parts of the Pacific rising higher still. The world has also warmed 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit since preindustrial times because of the burning of fossil fuels.

A sea turtle nibbles on what remains of the once vibrant reef at Havannah Harbour, off the coast of Efate Island, Vanuatu, on Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Vanuatu is one of a group of small states pushing for international legal intervention in the climate crisis but it affects many more island nations in the South Pacific.

“The agreements being made at an international level between states are not moving fast enough,” Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s minister for climate change, told The Associated Press.

Any decision by The Hague-based court would be unable to directly force wealthy nations into action to help struggling countries. Yet it would be more than just a powerful symbol, since it could serve as the basis for other legal actions, including domestic lawsuits.

“What makes this case so important is that it addresses the past, present, and future of climate action. It’s not just about future targets — it also tackles historical responsibility, because we cannot solve the climate crisis without confronting its roots,” Joie Chowdhury, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, told AP.

Related Articles

Zelenskyy faces backlash as Ukrainians protest new anti-corruption law

Today in History: July 23, the 1967 Detroit riot begins

Photos: Filipino couple marry in typhoon-flooded church

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff to visit the Middle East in push for a ceasefire in Gaza

Lawyers say Venezuelan migrant ordered returned to US sent to home country under prisoner exchange

Activists could bring lawsuits against their own countries for failing to comply with the decision and states could return to the International Court of Justice to hold each other to account. And whatever the judges say will be used as the basis for other legal instruments, like investment agreements, Chowdhury said.

The United States and Russia, both of whom are major petroleum-producing states, are staunchly opposed to the court mandating emissions reductions.

Simply having the court issue an opinion is the latest in a series of legal victories for the small island nations. Earlier this month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that countries have a legal duty not only to avoid environmental harm but also to protect and restore ecosystems. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that countries must better protect their people from the consequences of climate change.

In 2019, the Netherlands’ Supreme court handed down the first major legal win for climate activists when judges ruled that protection from the potentially devastating effects of climate change was a human right and that the government has a duty to protect its citizens.

Associated Press writer Annika Hammerschlag in Vanuatu contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian activists called for more protests Wednesday against a law they say weakens the country’s anti-corruption watchdogs, following the first major demonstration against the country’s government in more than three years of war. The legislation has also drawn rebukes from European Union officials and international rights groups.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, under pressure as the change threatened to endanger his public support at a critical time in the war, convened the heads of Ukraine’s key anti-corruption and security agencies Wednesday morning in a response to the outcry against his decision to approve the new law that was passed by Parliament.

“We all hear what society says,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram after the meeting. But he insisted the new legal framework was needed to crack down harder on corruption.

A man waves a flag during a protest against a law targeting anti-corruption institutions in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

“Criminal cases should not drag on for years without verdicts, and those working against Ukraine must not feel comfortable or immune from punishment,” the Ukrainian leader said.

He said all government agencies agreed to work constructively and respond to public expectations for fairness and effectiveness. A detailed joint action plan is expected within two weeks, aimed at addressing institutional weaknesses, removing legal hurdles, and ensuring justice across the board, he said.

Thousands of people gathered in the capital and other cities across Ukraine on Tuesday evening to urge Zelenskyy to veto the controversial bill. After Zelenskyy approved it, activists called on social media for another demonstration in the center of Kyiv at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The legislation tightens government oversight of two key anti-corruption agencies. Critics say the step could significantly weaken the independence of those agencies and grant Zelenskyy’s circle greater influence over investigations.

EU officials warn of possible setback to joining bloc

Fighting entrenched corruption is crucial for Ukraine’s aspirations to join the EU and maintain access to billions of dollars in Western aid in its fight against Russia’s three-year invasion.

“Limiting the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency hampers Ukraine’s way towards the EU,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul warned Wednesday in a post on X.

Related Articles

Today in History: July 23, the 1967 Detroit riot begins

Photos: Filipino couple marry in typhoon-flooded church

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff to visit the Middle East in push for a ceasefire in Gaza

Lawyers say Venezuelan migrant ordered returned to US sent to home country under prisoner exchange

Swarms of Russian drones attack Ukraine nightly as Moscow puts new emphasis on the deadly weapon

EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, also on X, noted: “In war trust between the fighting nation and its leadership is more important than modern weapons — difficult to build and to keep, but easy to lose with one significant mistake by the leadership.”

The Ukrainian branch of Transparency International criticized Parliament’s decision, saying it undermines one of the most significant reforms since what Ukraine calls its Revolution of Dignity in 2014, and damages trust with international partners. It accused authorities of “dismantling” the country’s anti-corruption architecture.

Zelenskyy has been the international face of Ukraine’s determination to defeat Russia’s all-out invasion, and his domestic troubles are an unwelcome diversion from the war effort.

Zelenskyy said the new law clears out “Russian influence” from the fight against corruption and ensures punishment for those found guilty of it, after what he said were yearslong delays in criminal proceedings involving huge amounts of money.

“The cases that have been lying dormant must be investigated,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post after midnight Wednesday. “For years, officials who have fled Ukraine have been casually living abroad for some reason – in very nice countries and without legal consequences – and this is not normal,” he said.

He didn’t provide examples of what he said was Russian interference.

Russian officials relished Zelenskyy’s difficulties. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mocked Zelenskyy’s claim of Russian infiltration into the anti-corruption agency, noting sarcastically that “they might just as well pull a couple of bears out of the corner.”

Russia and Ukraine plan talks in Istanbul

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine were set to meet in Istanbul on Wednesday for their third round of direct talks in two months, the Kremlin and Ukrainian officials said. The meeting wasn’t expected to make progress on ending the war and would likely focus on exchanges of prisoners of war.

The legal changes in Ukraine would grant the prosecutor general new authority over investigations and cases handled by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

The mood of anger and frustration among the war-weary Ukrainians prevailed in the crowd Tuesday. Some protesters accused Ukraine’s leadership of prioritizing loyalty and personal connections over the fight against corruption.

“Those who swore to protect the laws and the Constitution have instead chosen to shield their inner circle, even at the expense of Ukrainian democracy,” said veteran Oleh Symoroz, sitting in a wheelchair because both his legs were amputated after he was wounded in 2022.

By MATT O’BRIEN and ALI SWENSON, Associated Press

An artificial intelligence agenda that started coalescing on the podcasts of Silicon Valley billionaires is now being forged into U.S. policy as President Donald Trump leans on the ideas of the tech figures who backed his election campaign.

Trump on Wednesday is planning to reveal an “AI Action Plan” he ordered after returning to the White House in January. He gave his tech advisers six months to come up with new AI policies after revoking President Joe Biden’s signature AI guardrails on his first day in office.

The unveiling is co-hosted by the bipartisan Hill and Valley Forum and the All-In Podcast, a business and technology show hosted by four tech investors and entrepreneurs who include Trump’s AI czar, David Sacks.

The plan and related executive orders are expected to include some familiar tech lobby pitches. That includes accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings that are needed to form and run AI products, according to a person briefed on Wednesday’s event who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

It might also include some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year.

Blocking ‘woke AI’ from tech contractors

Countering the liberal bias they see in AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini has long been a rallying point for the tech industry’s loudest Trump backers.

Related Articles

Flurry of trade deals offers relief for some Asian countries, while others wait

Trump likes renaming people, places and things. He’s not the first to deploy that perk of power

Trump says a China trip is ‘not too distant’ as trade tensions ease

Columbia University says it has suspended and expelled students who participated in protests

Senate considering nomination of ex-Trump defense lawyer for lifetime appointment to appeals court

Sacks, a former PayPal executive and now Trump’s top AI adviser, has been criticizing “woke AI” for more than a year, fueled by Google’s February 2024 rollout of an AI image generator that, when asked to show an American Founding Father, created pictures of Black, Asian and Native American men.

“The AI’s incapable of giving you accurate answers because it’s been so programmed with diversity and inclusion,” Sacks said at the time. Google quickly fixed its tool, but the “Black George Washington” moment remained a parable for the problem of AI’s perceived political bias, taken up by X owner Elon Musk, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Vice President JD Vance and Republican lawmakers.

The administration’s latest push against “woke AI” comes a week after the Pentagon announced new $200 million contracts with four leading AI companies, including Google, to address “critical national security challenges.”

Also receiving one of the contracts was Musk’s xAI, which has been pitched as an alternative to “woke AI” companies. The company has faced its own challenges: Earlier this month, xAI had to scramble to remove posts made by its Grok chatbot that made antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler.

Streamlining AI data center permits

Trump has paired AI’s need for huge amounts of electricity with his own push to tap into U.S. energy sources, including gas, coal and nuclear.

“Everything we aspire to and hope for means the demand and supply of energy in America has to go up,” said Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a video posted Tuesday.

Many tech giants are already well on their way toward building new data centers in the U.S. and around the world. OpenAI announced this week that it has switched on the first phase of a massive data center complex in Abilene, Texas, part of an Oracle-backed project known as Stargate that Trump promoted earlier this year. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and xAI also have major projects underway.

The tech industry has pushed for easier permitting rules to get their computing facilities connected to power, but the AI building boom has also contributed to spiking demand for fossil fuel production that will contribute to global warming.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the world’s major tech firms to power data centers completely with renewables by 2030.

“A typical AI data center eats up as much electricity as 100,000 homes,” Guterres said. “By 2030, data centers could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today.”

A new approach to AI exports?

It’s long been White House policy under Republican and Democratic administrations to curtail certain technology exports to China and other adversaries on national security grounds.

But much of the tech industry argued that Biden went too far at the end of his term in trying to restrict the exports of specialized AI computer chips to more than 100 other countries, including close allies.

Part of the Biden administration’s motivation was to stop China from acquiring coveted AI chips in third-party locations such as Southeast Asia or the Middle East, but critics said the measures would end up encouraging more countries to turn to China’s fast-growing AI industry instead of the U.S. as their technology supplier.

It remains to be seen how the Trump administration aims to accelerate the export of U.S.-made AI technologies while countering China’s AI ambitions. California chipmakers Nvidia and AMD both announced last week that they won approval from the Trump administration to sell to China some of their advanced computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence.

AMD CEO Lisa Su is among the guests planning to attend Trump’s event Wednesday.

Who benefits from Trump’s AI action plan

There are sharp debates on how to regulate AI, even among the influential venture capitalists who have been debating it on their favorite medium: the podcast.

While some Trump backers, particularly Andreessen, have advocated an “accelerationist” approach that aims to speed up AI advancement with minimal regulation, Sacks has described himself as taking a middle road of techno-realism.

“Technology is going to happen. Trying to stop it is like ordering the tides to stop. If we don’t do it, somebody else will,” Sacks said on the All-In podcast.

On Tuesday, 95 groups including labor unions, parent groups, environmental justice organizations and privacy advocates signed a resolution opposing Trump’s embrace of industry-driven AI policy and calling for a “People’s AI Action Plan” that would “deliver first and foremost for the American people.”

Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which helped lead the effort, said the coalition expects Trump’s plan to come “straight from Big Tech’s mouth.”

“Every time we say, ‘What about our jobs, our air, water, our children?’ they’re going to say, ‘But what about China?’” she said in a call with reporters Tuesday. She said Americans should reject the White House’s argument that the industry is overregulated and fight to preserve “baseline protections for the public” as AI technology advances.

Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.