Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We're following the news from three war zones and plenty more. And I recommend this story about South Korea's young shamans who are reviving an ancient tradition with social media.

REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel batters Gaza and Sudan war displaces millions

Middle East: Israel's military bombarded central and southern Gaza, killing dozens, as tank forces advanced toward Rafah. People are trapped in their homes, afraid of snipers and machine-gun fire. Hamas has lost half its forces and has resorted to ambushes instead of full skirmishes, and ceasefire talks remain stalled. Israel's military warned the government that cutting off funds to the Palestinian Authority could provoke a third intifada in the West Bank.
Africa: The number of internally displaced people in Sudan soon could exceed 10 million, more than half of them women and a quarter children under 5 years old. Pro-democracy activists say the paramilitary RSF killed more than 100 people in one village. Refugees in Ethiopia fled two camps and hid in a forest and on roadsides after repeated attacks by gunmen.

Biden apologizes to Zelenskiy for weapons delays

Checks and balances due: The leaders met in Paris, where Joe Biden blamed "very conservative members" of Congress for holding up the aid package. He also pledged $225 million to help Ukraine reconnect its electricity grid. Vladimir Putin warned the West against supplying Ukraine with weapons to strike Russian territory, and said he was considering arming the West's enemies in retaliation.
A radioactive topic: Putin said there was no need to use nuclear weapons to win the Ukraine war and that he wished people would stop discussing the idea. Earlier in the week, he proposed deploying conventional missiles within striking distance of the West and said no one should assume that Russia never would use nuclear weapons.

A season in climate hell

Wrong direction: Each of the past 12 months ranked as the warmest on record in year-on-year comparisons, an EU report said, while U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent action such as a 30% drop in fossil-fuel production and use to avert "climate hell."
Having it both ways: The U.S. might revive some nuclear plants to help meet its emissions goals, while solar-power developers will build two big projects on Energy Dept.-owned lands in Idaho that were cleaned up after decades of tests on nuclear reactors. At the same time, concessions on emissions regulations that the Biden administration made for automakers will lead to substantially more pollution than the White House's original plan envisioned.

Have I told you lately that I love your resilient labor market?

The numbers: The unexpectedly strong May U.S. jobs report is set to keep the Fed on the sidelines and taking its time in deciding when to begin lowering borrowing costs. The Labor Department next Wednesday will publish consumer price index data for May, giving policymakers fresh insight on whether inflation data is breaking lower.
Our cash: Recent quarterly financial results from retailers show that we're selectively buying non-essential nice-to-have things, focusing more on clothing and accessories and less on electronics and homeware purchases such as patio sets, beds and outdoor grills. People all over the world are spending money on airline travel as well, and the International Air Transportation Association raised its 2024 profit forecast as a result.

Before I forget…

Rishi Sunak learned the hard way that leaving Normandy in a hurry doesn't always work out well for the English. And British paratroopers recreating the D-Day airdrop behind German defenses had to line up and present their passports to a makeshift border checkpoint.

The most downloaded news app in the United States is NewsBreak. It has origins in China, publishes AI-generated articles, and seems to have a lock on fiction masquerading as fact.

A swift and deadly pathogen wiped out sea-urchin populations in the Red Sea and is spreading to the Indian Ocean, and possibly beyond. This will have a big and negative effect on coral reefs.

It's easier than ever to blow the whistle at companies and public bodies, but people are still scared to do it, a survey shows. Many respondents also said they were willing to behave unethically to boost their careers or financial positions.

A U.S. appeals-court panel ordered eight of 17 books back on library shelves in Llano, Texas, overruling conservatives' complaints that they were inappropriate. One book that did not make the cut: "Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose," one of William Faulkner's lesser-known works.*

*Kidding. Just checking to make sure you're still reading.

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