Latest Developments

Europe
The Guardian

Democrats allege Trump administration stalled US-Canada bridge opening as a favor to billionaire donor

The Gordie Howe international bridge, will link Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario. Photograph: Dax Melmer/ReutersView image in fullscreenThe Gordie Howe international bridge, will link Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario. Photograph: Dax Melmer/ReutersBusinessDemocrats allege Trump administration stalled US-Canada bridge opening as a favor to billionaire donorDelay seen as move to protect interests of Matthew Moroun, the owner of nearby Ambassador Bridge and a Trump donor The Trump administration for months blocked a $4.7bn publicly owned bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, a move critics allege is a quid pro quo for a billionaire Donald Trump donor. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Gordie Howe international bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor was initially scheduled for early June but was abruptly cancelled amid dispute between US and Canadian officials. On 10 July, Canada announced it reached a deal with the US, and the bridge will open on 27 July. The delay was heavily scrutinized by Democrats, including Rashida Tlaib, a US representative, who said the Trump administration blocked the bridge’s opening as a favor to a donor who owns a nearby bridge. Canada paid for the Howe’s construction, and it will be jointly owned and operated by Michigan and the Canadian government. It was first set to open earlier this year after eight years of construction. The new deal requires US government approval if toll fees are lowered below regional averages, according to media reports. Previously, the Canadian government set toll prices, but the Trump administration seemed set on protecting a nearby bridge owned by Matthew Moroun, a son of the late transportation and real estate scion Manuel Moroun. The younger Moroun owns the nearby Ambassador Bridge, which is North America’s busiest international crossing, and has for decades fiercely opposed plans for the new bridge because he stands to lose business. As many as 3m trucks cross the Detroit River via the Ambassador bridge annually, and Moroun collects up to $100 on each. But the 93-year-old bridge is often heavily congested with truck traffic that causes extremely long delays that slow and frustrate businesses conducting international trade. The delays have gotten so bad that many truckers and others use a nearby tunnel, or a bridge in Port Huron an hour to the north. The bridge has also been cited for safety violations in recent decades and its narrow lanes are considered a danger for first responders. The Howe was envisioned as a symbol of the US and Canada’s close bond, but instead has become a representation of US foreign relations dysfunction. Moroun has capitalized; over the last two decades, his family has mounted multi-prong attacks against the new plans, and is a prolific campaign donor at the state and federal level. Moroun donated $1m to a Trump political action committee (Pac) in January, and in February received a meeting with Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary. Hours later, Trump on Truth Social threatened not to open the Howe. June’s deadlines for an opening passed. The appearance of a political favor has drawn bi-partisan criticism and an investigation from the House oversight committee members Robert Garcia and Tlaib, whose district includes south-west Detroit, where both bridges sit. A letter the Congress members sent to Moroun accuses him of trying to “derail the project”.

Democrats allege Trump administration stalled US-Canada bridge opening as a favor to billionaire donor
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Technology as an enabler: Reimagining Indian agritech

India has produced hundreds of agritech startups over the past decade, attracted more than two billion dollars in venture capital, and still cannot point to a definitive pure-play agritech unicorn in the field. That gap between investor enthusiasm and commercial outcomes is not a failure of technology. Rather, it reflects a deeper reality: technology investments have frequently overlooked the most critical bottlenecks in the agricultural value chain. The paradox is particularly striking in a country where agriculture and allied sector supports 46.1 per cent of the population and contributes around 16 per cent to the GDP. The rise of agritech in India followed a familiar and logical trajectory. In the early years, roughly 2012 to 2017, efforts focused on advisory services, weather data and market information delivered through mobile platforms. As the ecosystem matured, investors moved into a more ambitious phase, backing platforms that sought to connect farmers directly with inputs, procurement, logistics and financial services. Several sizable businesses emerged on the premise that a digital layer could unlock significant value by connecting India’s fragmented agricultural ecosystem. However, farmer adoption never kept pace with the capital invested. The challenge became more visible when technology required farmers to pay upfront, change established habits or trust algorithmic recommendations over years of field experience. A smallholder farmer operating on thin, unpredictable margins simply asked one question. If the monsoon fails or prices plummet, who bears the loss? Most agritech solutions, regardless of their technology or design or utility, have yet to convincingly answer that question. This challenge is global, but India’s scale and fragmentation make it particularly acute. As startups attempt to scale nationally, localization costs increase significantly. At the same time, trust in rural India continues to reside primarily with local input dealers, progressive farmers, FPOs, co-operatives and village networks. Therefore, a startup that appears digital at the product level can quickly become operationally intensive on the ground. None of this means that technology has failed agriculture. Rather, it means that direct-to-farmer software, sold and adopted like consumer apps in cities, was never the most natural entry point. From an investment perspective, the more durable opportunity lies in what can be called the agricultural middle stream – the critical layer between farm gate and the end user market. This includes differentiated procurement platforms with supply chain control, FPC/FPOs, innovations in grading and quality assessment, storage and logistics infrastructure, energy- efficient cold chains and post-harvest solutions. This layer is far from being peripheral. Rather, it is the operational core that links farmers to buyers, credit, quality assurance, and price discovery systems. Technology embedded within these existing relationships tends to succeed more often than technology that attempts to create an entirely new relationship from scratch. This distinction matters because it shifts what a farmer is truly asked to do. Instead of adopting a new digital tool and hoping for payback, the farmer continues selling produce or buying inputs through familiar channels. Technology makes those channels faster, more transparent, and more efficient. Traceability systems, embedded credit scoring, digital quality assessment, warehouse intelligence, and market linkage platforms that operate through existing aggregators, digitised Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), co-operatives or farmer organizations exemplify this approach. In such models, the technology does the heavy lifting of connecting local supply to broader markets, and farmers continue doing what they already do. Further, better grading, traceability and storage infrastructure tend to translate up directly and reliably in the price a farmer receives.

Technology as an enabler: Reimagining Indian agritech
Europe
BBC Business

Thames Water lenders preparing legal challenge in event of Burnham nationalisation

Image source, EPABySimon JackBusiness editorPublished9 hours agoThe lenders to Thames Water are preparing a legal challenge in case a Burnham-led government attempts to nationalise the UK's biggest water company. Burnham - who takes over as PM on Monday - has previously said he wants to see "greater public control" of the water and energy sectors and has called for Thames Water to be nationalised. Its lenders had proposed a deal to write off nearly half of that and inject new cash in return for some leniency from future pollution fines, but this deal has previously been rejected by the government as being "weak" and bad for consumers and the environment. Sources close to the creditors have told the BBC that in the event of full nationalisation, they would pursue payment in full of the outstanding debts as has happened in previous cases, which could leave the government with a multi-billion-pound bill. Fears first emerged three years ago that Thames Water could collapse and on Thursday, the firm warned it has enough cash to last until the end of this year. Creditors insisted on Sunday that they were still working with officials and regulators to reach an agreement to rescue the company. A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the government was "prepared for any eventuality". "Thames Water customers have been let down for far too long, with 15 years of under-performance, increasing serious pollution, and customers left to pick up the bill," the spokesperson said. "The secretary of state has written to Ofwat to outline her early views that she is not convinced London and Valley Water's proposal is good enough for consumers or the environment." The lenders have offered to write off £9.4bn of Thames Water's near £20bn debt pile and put £3.35bn of cash into the company, but in return they want leniency from future pollution fines in order to turn the firm's fortunes around. Objecting to the proposal, Emma Reynolds said in June that she did not want a scenario where Thames Water customers had to "pick up the bill for the company's failures". At the time, she told reporters that the government "stands ready for all eventualities", including temporary nationalisation.

Thames Water lenders preparing legal challenge in event of Burnham nationalisation
Europe
The Guardian

Brazil vows to retaliate if US imposes 25% tariffs on some of its products

People hold signs during an August 2025 protest against US tariff policy towards Brazil in São Paulo. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenPeople hold signs during an August 2025 protest against US tariff policy towards Brazil in São Paulo. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty ImagesTrump tariffsBrazil vows to retaliate if US imposes 25% tariffs on some of its productsPresident Lula’s office says US move is result of pressure on White House by family of predecessor Jair Bolsonaro Brazil has vowed to retaliate against Washington’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports of some Brazilian products. The office of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, described the tariffs as “a regrettable milestone” in the history of relations between the two countries and said they were the result of pressure exerted on the White House by the family of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. The new tariffs are scheduled to take effect on 22 July. Once that happens, Brazil – which has historically run a trade deficit with the US – will become the second most heavily tariffed country by Washington after China. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) confirmed the tariffs, which had first been proposed last month, late on Wednesday, citing what it described as Brazil’s “unreasonable acts, policies, and practices” that had “harmed US commerce”. Brazil, however, says it repeatedly sought to present data refuting the allegations and sees the decision primarily as political. Politicians from Lula’s party also view it as an attempt by Donald Trump to influence Brazil’s upcoming elections. Lula, whose relationship with Trump has been marked by ups and downs and is currently at a low point, is seeking re-election in October. His main challenger will be one of Bolsonaro’s sons, the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who was chosen to run after the former president was convicted for attempting to overturn the 2022 election, which he lost to Lula. View image in fullscreenThe Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his government ‘have not negotiated with the US in good faith’, said Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state. Photograph: André Borges/EPAThe USTR investigation began in July last year. At the time, Trump cited Bolsonaro’s ongoing trial as one of the reasons for launching it, saying it “should not be happening”. “It is a witch-hunt that must end IMMEDIATELY!” the US president wrote. At the time, another of Bolsonaro’s sons, the then-congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, claimed credit for encouraging Trump – a longstanding ally of his father’s – to take retaliatory measures against Brazil. He was later stripped of his seat after moving to the US, where he remains. Lula’s office said on Wednesday that the tariffs were the result of “a narrative constructed with the active collaboration of the Bolsonaro family”. “They are false patriots who plotted and publicly defended actions against our country, driven by electoral objectives,” it said. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who had meetings with Bolsonaro’s sons in Washington, posted that there should be no confusion about why the US had imposed the tariffs.

Brazil vows to retaliate if US imposes 25% tariffs on some of its products
Europe
BBC Business

New EU border system tripling time at passport control, airport boss says

The EU's new border system has nearly tripled the time it's taking for Brits to get through passport control even after improvements have been made, a boss at Rome's main airport has said. It comes as Ryanair has warned passengers travelling to Europe this summer to prepare for extended waits. Border police at Portugal's Faro airport also told the BBC the Entry Exit System technology suffered from bugs, but insisted any queues there would go down quickly. The European Commission (EC) has said in most EU airports disruption is limited, and added that it will continue to support member states in the system's implementation. The digital Entry Exit System (EES) requires non-EU citizens entering the Schengen area - made up of 29 European countries - to register fingerprints and a photo when they arrive. The information is checked as they leave. It's often done using standalone, automated machines known as "kiosks" and sometimes with border officers - for example, for children under 12. The new process and machines have been phased in since October. Some European airports have seen hours-long queues at passport control. Passengers have even reported missing flights home. This week, Ryanair said "the failed EES rollout" was causing unnecessary delays and long queues. The airline said UK passengers should "allow extra time for their journey and be prepared for extended waits at passport control." In Rome, a perennially popular destination for tourists from the UK and around the globe, everyone we spoke to in the Piazza di Spagna had an EES story. "It was two hours queuing, from getting off the plane to getting through with children. I knew it was going to be bad, but not as bad as that." David, visiting from the US with his wife Marlo, said the queue took about an hour. "We actually missed our car, our driver."

New EU border system tripling time at passport control, airport boss says
North America
CNBC Economy

Wholesale prices unexpectedly declined 0.3% in June on big drop in gasoline

Wholesale prices unexpectedly fell in June as sliding energy costs helped brighten the inflation picture, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The produce price index posted a seasonally adjusted 0.3% decline for the month, compared with the Dow Jones consensus estimate for the final demand cost measure to be unchanged. On an annual basis, the index indicated a 5.5% inflation rate. The May reading was revised sharply lower, from an initially reported increase of 1.1% to 0.6%. Excluding food and energy, the core PPI rose 0.2%, against the outlook for a 0.3% increase. The core PPI less trade services rose 0.1% and was up 5.1% from a year ago. As with consumer prices, the index benefited from easing energy costs, particularly as oil fell due to the brief pause in tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Goods prices posted a 1.4% monthly decline, the biggest drop since July 2022 as energy slumped 6.4% and final demand food prices were off 0.6%. Within the goods category, gasoline tumbled 12%, accounting for about two-thirds of the monthly decrease. At the same time, services prices rose 0.2%, boosted by a 0.4% increase in trade services. The release comes the day after the BLS reported that the consumer price index, a broad measure of inflation at the cash register, posted an unexpectedly sharp decline of 0.4% in June, bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.5%. That was the biggest monthly drop since April 2020, just after the Covid pandemic declaration. Core consumer inflation slipped to 2.6% after prices were unchanged for the month. While the inflation measures are still well above the Federal Reserve's 2% goal, they do represent progress in the central bank's five-year battle to get back to target. "The Fed's war with inflation isn't over by any means," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds, "... but there is good news from the front and the odds of Fed rate hikes should continue to recede as inflation at the factory level is trending lower, and producers will not be passing on their higher costs to the consumer level as much as we previously thought." Stocks were higher Wednesday morning, though traders scaled back expectations for interest rate hikes, with September now a 50-50 bet, according to the CME Group's FedWatch gauge of futures pricing. The consumer and producer price indexes both feed heavily into the calculation of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. Policymakers most closely follow the personal consumption expenditures price index, due to be released later this month from the Commerce Department. For May, the PCE index indicated headline inflation of 4.1% and core at 3.4%, both likely to come down following this week's releases.

Wholesale prices unexpectedly declined 0.3% in June on big drop in gasoline
North America
CNBC Finance

‘Arsenal of democracy’: Jamie Dimon announces $24 million effort to boost American shipbuilding

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday announced a $24 million effort to help revive American shipbuilding, his latest move under the bank's $1.5 trillion security project aimed at bolstering industries critical to U.S. economic and national security. The figure includes $18 million in loans and $6 million in grants to finance a new submarine manufacturing facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard being built by Rhoads Industries, expand lending to maritime-related small businesses and strengthen regional suppliers, JPMorgan said. "The arsenal of democracy has been reignited," Dimon told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin. "People said it couldn't happen, but here you have Hanwha shipbuilding at the Philadelphia Navy Yard," Dimon said, naming a South Korean conglomerate with a U.S. vessel-making subsidiary. The announcement comes as rising geopolitical tensions, including wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, spur governments to rearm and reinvest in domestic industrial capacity. Last year, JPMorgan launched a $1.5 trillion initiative to finance sectors it considers critical to U.S. economic and national security, including shipbuilding. The firm announced an expansion of the program into Europe this year. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

‘Arsenal of democracy’: Jamie Dimon announces $24 million effort to boost American shipbuilding
North America
CNBC Finance

Morgan Stanley posts record quarterly revenue and profit as equities trading surges 69%

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday posted record revenue and profit for the second quarter, driven by a 69% surge in equities trading revenue. The company said profit jumped 58% from a year earlier to $5.58 billion. Revenue climbed 27% to $21.35 billion. Like at peers Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, a massive beat in equities trading drove the quarter's outsized results. Heightened activity fueled by the global artificial intelligence boom propelled JPMorgan and Goldman to beat estimates for equities trading by a combined $4.4 billion, while investment banking at the two firms topped estimates by a combined $1 billion. Equities trading revenue at Morgan Stanley hit a record $6.3 billion, roughly $1.9 billion more than analysts surveyed by StreetAccount had expected. The firm cited strength across the equities franchise and "notable strength in Asia," another recurring Wall Street theme as the AI trade spreads globally. Meanwhile, fixed income trading rose 13% to $2.46 billion, essentially matching the consensus estimate, on good results in credit trading. "Active markets and consistent execution across all three regions drove exceptional results for our integrated firm," CEO Ted Pick said in the release. Investment banking revenue surged 58% to $2.44 billion, about $270 million more than analysts had expected, on additional completed mergers, initial public offerings and related equities deals, and rising debt issuance. Revenue in the firm's giant wealth management division climbed 14% to $8.86 billion, about $146 million more than expected, as asset levels were buoyed by the rising stock market and growth in deposits and lending. Revenue in investment management, the firm's smallest division, rose about 6% to $1.65 billion thanks to rising asset values, essentially matching the estimate. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Morgan Stanley posts record quarterly revenue and profit as equities trading surges 69%
Europe
BBC Business

The hidden cost of the night shift and how to sleep it off

ByPallab GhoshScience CorrespondentIt is four in the morning, and the ward is quiet. A resident doctor has been on her feet for nine hours. She is tired, her muscles are sore and her eyes are straining, but when her shift ends at six in the morning and she finally gets home, she struggles to sleep. Her internal clock, built over millions of years of evolution to tune human biology to the rising and setting of the Sun, is insisting it is morning. Time to wake up. Time to be alert. No amount of darkness, earplugs or blackout blinds can entirely silence it. This is not a personal failing. It is a collision between the demands of her job and some of the deepest machinery in the human body. This is playing out, invisibly, in the lives of millions of shift workers. Among them are the nurses, paramedics, engineers, lorry drivers and factory workers, who keep the country running while everyone else sleeps. And the scientific evidence about what this relentless battle with our own internal clocks and modern living costs them - in heart attacks, strokes, cancer, mental illness, and quite possibly their precious memories - is increasingly difficult to ignore. Now scientists are beginning to explore whether changing how we sleep can play a role in mitigating the toll of night shifts, and potentially alleviate the ill-effects of disrupted nights. Their studies are also testing a surprising theory: that splitting sleep into two separate blocks - rather than attempting to force one long stretch during the day - may in fact be the most effective sleep pattern for people working through the night. To understand what shift work does to the body, it's worth looking at what emerging research suggests about sleep itself. Sleep does far more than give the brain and body a rest. When we are asleep, our brain consolidates the memories of the day, processes emotions, and solves problems that defied it in the waking hours. It also strengthens immune defences and repairs muscle tissue. Prof Russell Foster is a sleep scientist at Oxford University, who has spent a career studying the biology of the sleeping brain. "Sleep is a pillar of our health," he says, "in the same way we think about diet and exercise. We have to take control of it." In that light, the strain of shift work becomes easier to see: it's not solely about being tired, but potentially about repeatedly disrupting a system that's doing far more behind the scenes than many people realise. One of the most remarkable discoveries of recent years is that while we sleep, the brain cleans itself. Deep within the grey matter is plumbing called the glymphatic system. Fluid runs along tiny channels beside the brain's blood vessels, washing away the waste products that accumulate during waking hours. Prof Hugh Markus, a neurologist who leads the stroke medicine group at the University of Cambridge, has begun to answer this question.

The hidden cost of the night shift and how to sleep it off