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The World
After 363 years tracking summer heat, U.K. could see an all-time high: Runways melted in the heatwave as a Met Office expert said warnings of 41C felt “unreal” and “crazy”. England had its hottest day of the year on Monday with 38.1C (100.4F) recorded in Santon Downham, Suffolk, closing in on the all-time UK record of 38.7C in Cambridge in July 2019. A high of 38.5C was reached in Faversham, Kent, in August 2003, making yesterday the third hottest day on record. (Washington Post, The Times)
Biden could declare climate emergency as soon as this week, sources say White House officials are scrambling to advance the president’s environmental agenda after talks with Sen. Joe Manchin III stalled. (Washington Post)
Why Europe Is Becoming a Heat Wave Hot Spot: This year’s scorching weather is in keeping with a trend. Scientists say a number of factors, including changes in the jet stream, are in play. (New York Times)
Humanity faces ‘collective suicide’ over climate crisis, warns UN chief: António Guterres tells governments ‘half of humanity is in danger zone’, as countries battle extreme heat. (The Guardian)
Air Travel Is Broken. Here’s Why. It’s not just one thing going wrong. The system is under strain or breaking down at every link in the chain, and each of the problems at the airlines and airports exacerbates others. A dearth of baggage handlers and security agents keeps passengers from checking in, leading to flight delays. When immigrations and customs at hub airports are short-staffed, passengers have sometimes had to wait on planes, an issue that affected 2,700 flights arriving in Toronto in May. All this means that pilots and flight attendants work longer days and that there is less time for overnight maintenance. Over time, crew and equipment shortages build. (Wall Street Journal)
China asks European leaders to meet Xi in November. But will they accept? The trips would mark a return to Beijing for Western European leaders following almost three years of a zero-Covid policy that has prevented in-person diplomacy. The proposed date would likely be right after the 20th party congress, expected to be held in October. (South China Morning Post)
The Tory leadership contest was thrown wide open last night as three candidates were left fighting to take on Rishi Sunak in the final run-off. In the next 48 hours Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch will vie for support after Tom Tugendhat was knocked out of the contest. Mordaunt slipped back by one vote in the latest round but is expected to pick up a significant number of Tugendhat’s supporters. (The Times)
The Pentagon leadership is reviewing an assessment of the military’s role in the Afghanistan conflict but hasn’t decided if aspects of the highly classified document will be released, according to people familiar with the issue. The draft report, which was submitted to top Pentagon officials earlier this month, is one of a series of assessments—known as after action reports—that each agency is conducting to assemble a record of the American role in Afghanistan. The Pentagon’s report was sent back earlier this year for revisions to broaden its scope, according to a Department official. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. successfully tested a Raytheon air-breathing hypersonic weapon capable of speeds faster than five times the speed of sound, making it the third successful test of that class of weapon since 2013. (Reuters)
China’s military puts advanced rocket launch system to the test at high altitude. PLA said to have used PCL191 to hit a target several kilometres away during recent test at a desert shooting range. It was reported on state television as China and India began another round of talks on their protracted border stand-off. (South China Morning Post)
Most Americans are discontented with Biden, the economy and the state of the country: The summer of 2022 is a season of deepening and widespread discontent, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. The survey finds the public’s outlook on the state of the country the worst it’s been since 2009, while its view on the economy is the worst since 2011. And nearly 7 in 10 say President Joe Biden hasn’t paid enough attention to the nation’s most pressing problems. Biden’s approval rating in the poll stands at 38%, with 62% disapproving. His approval ratings for handling the economy (30%) and inflation (25%) are notably lower. Rising costs are a primary economic pressure for most Americans: 75% call inflation and the cost of living the most important economic problem facing their family. Last summer, that figure stood at 43%. (CNN)
Economy
How Joe Manchin Left a Global Tax Deal in Limbo: In June, months after reluctantly signing on to a global tax agreement brokered by the United States, Ireland’s finance minister met privately with Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, seeking reassurances that the Biden administration would hold up its end of the deal. Ms. Yellen assured the minister, Paschal Donohoe, that the administration would be able to secure enough votes in Congress to ensure that the United States was in compliance with the pact, which was aimed at cracking down on companies evading taxes by shifting jobs and profits around the world. It turns out that Ms. Yellen was overly optimistic. Late last week, Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, effectively scuttled the Biden administration’s tax agenda in Congress — at least for now — by saying he could not immediately support a climate, energy and tax package he had spent months negotiating with the Democratic leadership. He expressed deep misgivings about the international tax deal, which he had previously indicated he could support, saying it would put American companies at a disadvantage. (New York Times)
Goldman warns of job cuts even as traders help profits beat forecasts. Meanwhile, an investment banking slowdown sparks fears of Wall Street belt-tightening. (Financial Times)
Goldman Sachs said that 2Q22 earnings fell 47%, capping an earnings season where weak and volatile markets crimped investment banking revenue across the industry but boosted trading. Goldman’s investment banking revenue fell 41% from a year ago to $2.1 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America Corp. reported even sharper declines. But what was bad for investment bankers was good for traders. Widespread volatility meant investors placed more trades across a variety of asset classes, and banks took advantage. At Goldman, second-quarter trading revenue rose 32% to $6.5 billion. The other banks also reported big increases in trading revenue. (Wall Street Journal)
Rising interest rates are slamming the brakes on a global housing boom that spread far beyond the U.S. during the pandemic, heaping extra pressure on central banks as they try to tame inflation without triggering deep downturns in their economies. From Europe to Asia to Latin America, residential real-estate markets are coming off the boil, and in some cases seeing home values fall, as central banks jack up borrowing costs to bring consumer-price growth to heel. (Wall Street Journal)
Foreign Purchases of U.S. Homes Fall to New Low: Foreigners bought 98,600 homes in the year ended in March, down 7.9% from prior year. (Wall Street Journal)
Strong Dollar Has Americans Splurging in Europe: For Americans traveling to Europe, a weaker euro is granting them a license to splurge. Many travelers are splurging on luxury goods, fine wines and accommodations, while others are already planning to go back later this year. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Apple is the latest major technology company to rein in hiring and spending plans, adding to the evidence that even Silicon Valley stalwarts are worried about a recession in the coming months. The iPhone maker is looking to limit expenditures and job growth at some of its divisions, Bloomberg reported Monday, though Apple hasn’t adopted a companywide policy. The more cautious stance mimics the approach of its tech peers, including Amazon, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft Corp., which have all taken steps to decelerate spending. (Bloomberg)
Sony Group will develop a new self-driving sensor that uses 70% less electricity, helping to reduce autonomous systems' voracious appetite for power and extend the range of electric vehicles. Electric vehicles will make up 59% of new car sales globally in 2035, the Boston Consulting Group predicts. Over 30% of trips 5 km and longer are expected to be made in self-driving cars, which rely on large numbers of sensors and cameras and transmit massive amounts of data. (Nikkei Asia Review)
GM Will Finally Have a Rival to Tesla’s Model Y With Blazer EV. (Bloomberg)
Hulu Is Driving More Streaming Subscribers to Disney Than Marvel or Star Wars: New subscriptions to Hulu have outpaced those of Disney’s flagship streaming platform in 18 of the past 24 months as the company makes more content for adults. (Wall Street Journal)
Slack to update its subscriptions on Sept. 1, with free plans getting access to the last 90 days of messages and Pro plans to cost a max $8.74/user per month. (TechCrunch)
Smart Links
Will he stay or will he go? Mario Draghi’s Italian dilemma. (Politico EU)
South-east Asian currencies weather market storm better than international peers. (Financial Times)
Russia's Gazprom tells European buyers gas supply halt beyond its control. (Reuters)
Starbucks CEO Says More Stores to Close for Security Reasons. (Bloomberg)
These Are the Cities Where Rents Have Risen the Most (we’re looking at you, Austin, TX). (Bloomberg)
U.S. Blue Angels names first female pilot in squad's history. (Reuters)