'I'm not even thinking about Elon'

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Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Welcome to another edition of the Weekend Briefing. We have an excellent story on the Ohio food banks that are under strain as President Trump slashes federal-aid programs. Our World News podcast examines China's dominance over rare-earth minerals, and our latest City Memo takes us to Bangkok.

'I'm not even thinking about Elon'

REUTERS/Nathan Howard

The bust-up: Donald Trump and Elon Musk were set to talk on Friday, a White House official said, after the spectacular breakdown of their once tight bond over Musk's objections to Trump's tax and spending bill. Another official later said there would be no talk. Tesla shares recouped some losses after the spat knocked billions off its market value. Short sellers made out well. And Republican lawmakers are trying to stay out of the crossfire as they worry about their hold on Congress in the midterm elections.
Trump transom: A federal judge blocked Trump from barring the entry of foreign nationals who want to study at Harvard. Trump banned the citizens of 12 countries from entering the U.S. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, mistakenly deported to El Salvador, was returned to the U.S. to face criminal charges of transporting illegal immigrants. Trump said Xi Jinping agreed to let rare-earth minerals and magnets flow to the U.S. China didn't comment. If you don't know much about rare earths, learn why they and the Chinese bureaucrats who control them are creating such consternation.

Russia faces struggle to replace bombers

Extensive damage: Russia will take years to replace nuclear-capable bombers that Ukraine hit in drone strikes, Western military-aviation experts said. Its military attacked Kyiv early on Friday after Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin would hit back after Ukraine's attack on the bombers. At least three more people died in an attack on Kharkiv on Saturday. Trump downplayed immediate peace prospects.
Gaza: Aid distribution was halted after the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding made it unsafe to continue. The U.S. may give half a billion dollars to the group. Doctors in the strip are donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get aid. The Trump administration sanctioned four International Criminal Court judges over the court's arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu.

U.S. job growth slows

It's because of the tariffs: While the unemployment rate held steady, economists say Trump's flip-flopping on import duties hampers the ability of businesses to plan ahead. The latest jobs report showed that the labor market is far from crumbling, which likely will leave Federal Reserve policymakers in no rush to cut interest rates. Trump disagrees with that stance.
Stretch your dollar: Lululemon Athletica's shares tanked after the retailer warned that tariff costs and uneven demand in North America and China will dent its profits this year. Summer hotel reservations and airfare bookings are down from last year as Americans scale back travel plans and wait for discounts.

Bring on the hurricanes

'We are fully staffed': The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is ready to handle the U.S. hurricane season, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, adding that he had the National Weather Service exempted from a federal hiring freeze. Two sources told us that NOAA's Navigation Response Team, which reopens ports after storms and accidents, is unstaffed because of job cuts.
Just kidding? Federal Emergency Management Agency staff were baffled after their chief said he wasn't aware that the U.S. has a hurricane season, sources said. A Homeland Security spokesperson said David Richardson was joking.

Before I forget…

Mycology report: An Australian woman accused of using poisonous mushrooms to kill her in-laws and her mother-in-law's sister denied measuring out a fatal dose of death caps on her kitchen scales. And a Michigan court scheduled a bail hearing for a Chinese researcher accused of smuggling fungus samples into the U.S.
Contraceptives that could prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies in some of the world's poorest countries are stuck in warehouses in Belgium and Dubai because of U.S. aid cuts.
Italy will make life harder for public protesters, pickpockets, squatters and cannabis users. It also might make life easier for people who are trying to become citizens.
Sweden should end international adoptions, a government-appointed commission said, prompted by concerns that children were taken from their biological parents without permission.
New Zealand's parliament suspended three Te Pati Maori lawmakers who performed the haka during the reading of a bill that reinterprets a 185-year-old treaty between the British and the Maori that still shapes policy and legislation.
Farmers in Russia's Saratov region appealed to Vladimir Putin for help in dealing with an invasion of saiga antelopes that migrated from Kazakhstan and devastated their fields.

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