Our daily journey around the world

🇯🇵 A Japanese startup is making Her a reality. Loverse, a dating app that only allows interaction with generative artificial intelligence, has amassed over 5,000 Japanese users one year after its creation, per a new Bloomberg report. Loverse’s push into AI dating comes as younger Japanese citizens increasingly shun conventional dating, with government data showing 55+% of residents in their 20s don’t have a partner, and 30+% have never gone on a date.

🇮🇹 Italy plans to reintroduce nuclear energy for the first time in 35 years. Italy shut down its nuclear power stations over three decades ago, following a surge of anti-nuclear sentiment from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. But in an interview on Saturday, PM Giorgia Meloni announced plans to introduce legislation to develop new reactors, with the aim of making Italy more energy-autonomous. The plan calls for new nuclear reactors to be operational within 10 years, and account for 11+% of Italy’s total electricity consumption by 2050.

🇰🇷 Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning mix is now banned in South Korea. The seasoning blend includes poppy seeds, which are prohibited under South Korea’s strict anti-drug laws for containing an ingredient of the poppy family. The poppy plant is a key source of compounds found in opioids like codeine, morphine, and heroin – though the seeds themselves don’t contain any opiates.