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Good morning. Today we’re covering:
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A first in American legal history
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Predictions of a slowing global population
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The “reappearance” of Angela Merkel
But we start with Joe Biden’s gaffe-prone appearance yesterday at the closure of the Nato summit in Washington.
At one point in the high-stakes press conference the president referred to Kamala Harris as “vice-president Trump” and earlier in the day Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin”.
But the president vowed to stay in the US presidential race and showed his grasp of global affairs, with detailed answers on Ukraine and Israel. “I beat him once, and I’ll beat him again,” Biden said of his 78-year-old predecessor and Republican rival Donald Trump. Critics seized on his stumbled answers.
And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:
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Results: A dealmaking revival is expected to boost earnings at Wall Street banks. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo report today, as does Citigroup, which issued more than $40mn in shares to new head of banking Viswas Raghavan and was recently fined $136mn for compliance failures.
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Apple: The Vision Pro goes on sale in Europe today, but the tech giant is struggling to attract apps for its $3,500 headset.
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Sport: The Wimbledon singles finals are this weekend, while England will play against Spain in the Euro 2024 final on Sunday.
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Big rich Indian wedding: Celebrities, business leaders and politicians will flock to India’s financial capital this weekend for the wedding of the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man. Here’s who’s on the star-studded guest list.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
Five more top stories
1. Russia is believed to be behind a foiled plot to assassinate the head of Europe’s largest arms manufacturer over his company’s support for Ukraine, according to Nato diplomats. The diplomats said the alleged conspiracy against Armin Papperger, chief executive of Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall, was being treated as part of Russia’s wider sabotage and hybrid attack campaign against European Nato states.
2. China’s CATL has held talks with overseas sovereign wealth funds and the world’s super-rich about raising a $1.5bn fund to build out its global supply chain. The offshore fund would enable the world’s biggest electric vehicle battery maker, which supplies Tesla, Volkswagen and Ford, to finance expansion to Europe and other foreign markets. Read the full story.
3. The US will not reopen its makeshift pier delivering aid to Gaza after American troops tried and failed to reattach it to the shore this week. Bad weather halted the marine facility in late June, the third time waves had disrupted its operations since it was completed on May 17. Here’s how much aid the pier has delivered since it was set up.
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October 7: In its first probe into the day Hamas attacked, Israel’s military admitted its forces delayed entering a kibbutz for several hours.
4. KKR and Axel Springer are in talks to break up the German media group, in a deal that would separate its media assets from its digital classifieds operation. Under the separation being discussed, the group’s chief executive Mathias Döpfner and Friede Springer, the widow of its founder, would assume greater control of the group’s media properties. Here’s more on the talks.
5. Investors yesterday increased bets on a US interest rate cut after inflation fell faster than forecast in June. The 3 per cent year-on-year rise in consumer prices was below May’s 3.3 per cent reading and less than economists’ expectations. Treasury yields dropped as traders increased their bets on two interest rate cuts this year.
Today’s big read
In November 2021, Ethan Crumbley ambled into a high school in Michigan, Detroit and in a meticulously planned attack murdered four students and injured seven more. In the trial more than two years later it wasn’t Crumbley having to explain his actions but his parents — Jennifer and James Crumbley. It was an unprecedented moment in the grim saga of mass shootings in America.
We’re also reading . . .
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‘The Squad’: Some of the US president’s harshest Democratic critics, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are trying to halt the revolt against Joe Biden.
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French politics: As political parties jostle for power, President Emmanuel Macron has yet to appoint a new prime minister. Here are the contenders.
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Donald Tang: The executive whose rise on Wall Street won fame in his native China now faces a tough task leading Shein as it plans for a London listing.
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Rise of the right: As the populist right surges across the rest of Europe, writes John Burn-Murdoch, British voters seem to be the last bastion of moderation. Or are they?
Chart of the day
The world is set to have 200mn fewer people than previously expected by 2100, according to a UN report that highlights the dramatic impact of falling birth rates on the global population.
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Take a break from the news
Nearly three years after quitting politics, Angela Merkel, the former chancellor has “reappeared” in a radically new guise: as a German Miss Marple, solving murders accompanied by a flatulent pug called Helmut. It airs for the first time in Italy today.
Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm
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