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The World
The Russian state paid billions of dollars to the Wagner paramilitary group, President Vladimir Putin said, as more details emerged of the deal that ended last weekend’s mutiny. Putin admitted for the first time on Tuesday — after years of Kremlin denials — that Wagner had been “completely financed” by the state, with Rbs86bn ($1bn) in payments made from May 2022 to May 2023 and a further Rbs110bn in insurance payouts. His comments came as Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was confirmed to be in Belarus by the country’s president and as the Russian defense ministry announced it was taking control of the paramilitaries’ heavy weapons. (Financial Times)
A senior Russian general had advance knowledge of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership, according to U.S. officials briefed on American intelligence on the matter, which has prompted questions about what support the mercenary leader had inside the top ranks. The officials said they are trying to learn if Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigozhin’s actions last weekend, which posed the most dramatic threat to President Vladimir V. Putin in his 23 years in power. American officials also said there are signs that other Russian generals may also have supported Mr. Prigozhin’s attempt to change the leadership of the Defense Ministry by force. Current and former U.S. officials said Mr. Prigozhin would not have launched his uprising unless he believed that others in positions of power would come to his aid. (New York Times)
Wagner mutiny exposes risks for China's deep Russian ties: a top U.S. official on Monday said the weekend uprising had unsettled Beijing's cloistered leadership, and some analysts inside and outside China have started to question whether Beijing needs to ease off its political and economic ties to Moscow. "It has put a fly in the ointment of that 'no-limits' relationship," said Singapore-based security analyst Alexander Neill. (Reuters)
The European Commission is discussing ways to use frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine and hopes to put forward a proposal soon, the body's president, Ursula von der Leyen, told Nikkei. "I am of the strong opinion that Russia must pay for the cost of the massive destructions it has provoked in Ukraine," von der Leyen said. (Nikkei Asia)
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced plans to permanently station 4,000 soldiers in NATO ally Lithuania to help secure the alliance's eastern flank. (Deutsche Welle)
The US Justice Department filed criminal charges against four Chinese chemical companies and eight Chinese nationals, accusing them of trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals to the Sinaloa cartel. Two high-ranking employees at the Chinese company, Amarvel Biotech, were arrested in Hawaii. The indictments mark the first time that Chinese producers, rather than cartel members, are being prosecuted for their alleged role in the US fentanyl epidemic. (GZERO Media)
A Supreme Court term that began with dread among voting rights advocates that the justices could upend the rules governing elections is ending with relief and surprise that they have opted instead to largely uphold the status quo. Three weeks ago, the conservative-led court astonished observers with a ruling in an Alabama case that upheld its interpretation of the Voting Rights Act. On Monday, it cited that decision in lifting a hold on a Louisiana redistricting case, raising the prospect that the state would have to draw another congressional district where Black voters have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. And on Tuesday, it rejected the most extreme version of a novel legal theory that could have prevented state supreme courts from exercising oversight of state lawmakers’ handling of redistricting, voter ID and other policies for federal elections. Voting rights advocates welcomed the ruling, saying it reduces — while not eliminating — the opportunities for losing candidates to inject confusion into the 2024 election by appealing to state legislatures, judges or Congress for help overturning the results. (Washington Post)
Stomach Virus Spreads Through Cruise Ships at Fastest Pace in Years: Cruises are packed as more travelers choose long-delayed vacations at sea. The downside: Higher numbers of those passengers are getting sick. So far this year, there have been 13 outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships, according to reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That marks the largest number of norovirus incidents on these vessels in a single year since 2012—and the year is only halfway over. The most recent outbreak occurred on a North Atlantic Viking Cruises sailing that docked in New Jersey on June 20. More than 100 passengers fell ill, according to the CDC, accounting for 13% of all vacationers on the ship. Crew members also contracted the gastrointestinal illness. (Wall Street Journal)
Chicago’s air quality: ‘We’re in the crosshairs.’ Wildfires and wind push region’s air to worst in the world, global pollution index shows. Health officials said Chicagoans should take these precautions: Avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep outdoor activities short, consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them, consider wearing masks, run air purifiers and close windows. (Chicago Tribune)
As the wildfires in Canada continue to shroud much of the midwest in a thick haze of smoke, New Yorkers are preparing yet again for the smoke to make its way further east. On Tuesday, the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, issued a warning on social media that the smoke from Canadian wildfires is forecast to enter New York airspace on Wednesday and Thursday. (The Guardian)
Temperatures already started to climb in Spain last week with the first heatwave of the summer producing highs of up to 44°C (113°F) on Monday. Heatwaves can have dramatic effects, especially for the elderly and people with health problems. A study published in March this year in the scientific journal The Lancet compares the excess mortality of people aged 85 and over in European cities (854 in total) in the event of extreme temperature events between 2000 and 2019. The study shows that Paris, among the 30 European capitals analyzed, is the city with the highest risk of excess mortality of older adults in the event of heatwaves (relative risk of 1,603). Amsterdam (1,595) and Rome (1,572) are very close to the French capital, while Madrid (1,402) is also among the capitals that are dangerous for the elderly in times of extreme heat. (Statista)
Economy
Americans are feeling fairly bullish about the US economy: A key measurement of consumer confidence just jumped to its highest level since January 2022. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index was 109.7 in June, rising from 102.5 the month before, according to a report released Tuesday. The latest survey from the business research and membership organization continued to show that consumers retained a far sunnier outlook about the present than what could come in the months ahead. Both the present situations index and the expectations index rose from May; however, the latter remains at a level that flashes a recession warning signal, the Conference Board noted. (CNN)
President Joe Biden told donors he thinks the US will avoid a potential recession that economists and banks have long been predicting. (Bloomberg)
Some Wall Street Interns Are Raking in $120 an Hour This Summer: Interns at Wall Street firms are getting bigger paychecks this year, as the finance industry seeks to attract more young people disillusioned by layoffs in tech. For finance jobs across the US, median intern pay jumped 19% at 16 top firms studied by Levels[dot]fyi, which analyzes compensation data submitted by users. The bump was even higher at hedge funds and prop-trading firms, where hourly pay surged 29% year-over-year to $111, or $4,400 before taxes for a 40-hour week, according to the company. (Bloomberg)
New York Landlord Vornado Bets $1 Billion That More Commuters Will Return: Real-estate investor builds around Penn Station in the hope that workers will travel to the transit hub if the journey is easy. (Wall Street Journal)
UBS is planning to cut more than half of Credit Suisse Group AG’s 45,000-strong workforce starting next month as a result of the bank’s emergency takeover. Bankers, traders and support staff in Credit Suisse’s investment bank in London, New York, and in some parts of Asia are expected to bear the brunt of the cuts, with almost all activities at risk, people familiar with the matter said. (Bloomberg)
Canary Wharf’s post-pandemic woes: For more than two decades, 8 Canada Square, the London skyscraper that houses HSBC’s global headquarters and bears its logo, has been a symbol of Canary Wharf’s status as a global financial centre. But the bank’s decision to ditch the city’s east-end Docklands in favor of a more central location reflects the business district’s waning allure to finance companies after a transformative shift in working habits. “It is another blow to a part of London that has been hit disproportionately hard since the pandemic began,” said Mark Stansfield, senior director at commercial real estate data provider CoStar. “Many of the large banks based here are cutting their office footprints.” With the future of another landmark tenant, Credit Suisse, in flux, Canary Wharf’s reputation as a hub for global banking has been cast into doubt. (Financial Times)
China’s $7tn energy overhaul sparks battery ‘gold rush’: Companies including sesame-dessert maker pivot to lithium batteries in rare bright spot for Chinese economy. (Financial Times)
Technology
Google violated its promised standards when placing video ads on other websites, according to new research that raises questions about the transparency of the tech giant’s online-ad business. Google’s YouTube runs ads on its own site and app. But the company also brokers the placement of video ads on other sites across the web through a program called Google Video Partners. Google charges a premium, promising that the ads it places will run on high-quality sites, before the page’s main video content, with the audio on, and that brands will only pay for ads that aren’t skipped. Google violates those standards about 80% of the time, according to research from Adalytics. (Wall Street Journal)
Google cuts jobs at Waze as it continues to merge mapping products. (CNBC)
The Biden administration is considering new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips to China, as concerns rise over the power of the technology in the hands of U.S. rivals, according to people familiar with the situation. The Commerce Department could move as soon as early next month to stop the shipments of chips made by Nvidia and other chip makers to customers in China and other countries of concern without first obtaining a license, the people said. (WSJ)
More Data in the Cloud Means More Centers on the Ground to Move It: The need for data centers has soared, fueled by remote work and the growth of high-speed streaming. But finding the necessary land and energy can be a challenge. (New York Times)
First came Ford. GM and Rivian followed. Now, Volvo is turning to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard. Under an agreement announced Tuesday, Volvo EV owners will have access to about 12,000 of Tesla’s fast chargers, known as Superchargers, via an adapter starting in the first half of 2024. Today, Volvo produces and sells two battery electric vehicles, the XC40 and C40 Recharge. The company, which aims to only produce EVs by 2030, recently revealed the EX30 and EX90. The bigger change occurs in 2025 when Volvo EVs sold in North America will be built with Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging port. (TechCrunch)
OpenAI Plans ChatGPT ‘Personal Assistant for Work,’ Setting Up Microsoft Rivalry. In the span of half a year, ChatGPT has become one of the world’s best-known internet brands. Now its creator, OpenAI, has bigger plans for the chatbot: CEO Sam Altman privately told some developers OpenAI wants to turn it into a “supersmart personal assistant for work.” With built-in knowledge about an individual and their workplace, such an assistant could carry out tasks such as drafting emails or documents in that person’s style and with up-to-date information about their business.The assistant features could put OpenAI on a collision course with Microsoft, its primary business partner, investor and cloud provider, as well as with other OpenAI software customers such as Salesforce. Those firms also want to use OpenAI’s software to build AI “copilots” for people to use at work. But for OpenAI, building new ChatGPT capabilities will be the focus of its commercial efforts, according to Altman’s comments and two other people with knowledge of the company’s plans. (The Information)
Smart Links
64% of C-suite leaders plan to hire more as a result of generative A.I. (CNBC)
Y Combinator’s Latest Batch Is 35% AI Startups (Bloomberg)
Walgreens stock plummets after pharmacy chain cuts 2023 outlook. (Healthcare Dive)
How Colorado Went From ‘Laggard to Leader’ in Early Childhood Education. (EdSurge)
Sri Lanka tea prices dip 40% from record high on production rebound. (Nikkei Asia Review)