| June 30, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
A relentless heat wave is gripping western Europe, setting new temperature records-like Spain's 46 degrees Celsius-and prompting widespread health alerts from Portugal to the UK, where amber warnings have been extended and officials urge the public to stay hydrated and check on vulnerable populations. In London, the heat is especially punishing for commuters: temperatures inside Tube carriages can soar up to 5 degrees Celsius above street level, with the oldest and deepest lines like the Central Line regularly exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, exacerbating health risks, causing passenger numbers to drop, and straining an aging, poorly ventilated infrastructure that is ill-equipped for such extremes. The power sector is also under severe pressure, as surging demand for cooling drives day-ahead electricity prices in Germany, France, and the UK to multi-month highs, while high river temperatures force Electricite de France to cut output at several nuclear reactors, highlighting the vulnerability of Europe's energy system as climate change makes such extreme weather events increasingly common.
Railbird Exchange received approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) on June 13, 2025, clearing the way for its launch as a federally regulated prediction market platform later this year. The New York-based startup, founded in 2021, will enable users to trade contracts on real-world events, including economic indicators, elections, and cultural moments, with all contracts cash-settled based on objective outcomes. To power its regulated marketplace, Railbird selected Connamara Technologies' EP3 platform, which provides robust order matching, risk management, and market surveillance capabilities within a scalable, modular architecture. CEO and co-founder Miles Saffran said the partnership with Connamara was key to ensuring flexibility and reliability as Railbird prepares to offer a transparent, CFTC-regulated venue for event-based derivatives trading.
Blue Ocean Technologies, a leading after-hours equities trading venue, has selected Eventus' Validus platform for trade surveillance to enhance marketplace protection as it expands its 24-hour equities trading model. Blue Ocean ATS Chief Compliance Officer Chris Meade said the Validus solution will "significantly increase our ability to monitor activity" with its centralized, flexible, and scalable surveillance features, supporting the firm's mission to provide efficient, risk-managed trading beyond traditional hours. Eventus CEO Travis Schwab highlighted that as markets move toward a 24/5 model, Eventus is "uniquely positioned as the leader in the trade surveillance space" to help safeguard market integrity. Both Blue Ocean Technologies and Eventus are sponsors of John Lothian News
The story "From Iran-Israel Strikes to Russia's War: How Conflicts Reshape Air Travel" by The New York Times, tells how geopolitical conflicts are increasingly disrupting global air travel, as seen when recent Iran-Israel missile exchanges and India-Pakistan skirmishes forced airlines to divert or cancel flights due to closed airspace, raising costs and inconveniencing passengers. The closure of Russian airspace since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine has had especially lasting effects, forcing airlines to reroute long-haul flights, add costly extra hours, and even abandon previously profitable routes-challenges that have upended business models for carriers like Finnair, whose Asia routes are now up to 40% longer. With more than 4.5% of the world's landmass affected by conflict, these disruptions to the civil aviation sector are becoming increasingly frequent and costly, reshaping the economics and logistics of global air travel.
Last Wednesday, President Trump publicly attacked CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand on Truth Social, demanding she be fired and "thrown out like a dog" over her reporting on recent U.S. airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, which CNN said only delayed Iran's nuclear ambitions by months, USA Today reported. This outburst was upsetting to me for two reasons. First, I don't like attacks on journalists and their coverage of (fill in the blank). However, before I became a journalist, or even thought of becoming one, I was a dog owner. Approximately 68 million Americans own dogs, which translates to a little over 45 percent of American households with a dog. Trump, a non-dog-owner, should have simply said, "I have a bone to pick with you" if he didn't like the coverage. Trump's comments might be ruff, and his bark is worse than his bite, but let's hope Bertrand continues to dig for the truth.
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has announced that its 42nd annual clearing conference, WFEClear 2026, will be hosted by TMX Group in Toronto from Tuesday, April 21-Thursday, April 23, 2026. The invitation-only conference will convene industry leaders from clearing houses, exchanges, and regulators to share original research and exchange ideas on the opportunities and challenges for the future of central clearing.
The SEC Historical Society's 2025 Ike Hunt Hall of Honor Recipients are former SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar, Carmen J. Lawrence, Former Regional Director for the SEC's Northeast Region, and Joy G. Thompson, EXAMS's Associate Regional Director of the SEC Philadelphia Regional Office.
Scott Lee, senior counsel and policy advisor in the office of CFTC Commissioner Goldsmith Romero announced on LinkedIn that "After 13 years, with two tours of duty at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the US Congress, I am stepping away from federal service."
The New York Yankees' upcoming Seinfeld Night on August 21, featuring a George Costanza "desk nap" bobblehead giveaway, has sparked a collector frenzy, with pre-sale prices for the limited-edition item reaching up to $250-nearly five times the cost of the cheapest game tickets, which are available for as little as $53, The New York Times reported. This dramatic premium on the secondary market reflects the scarcity and high demand for the collectible, much like how futures prices can trade above spot prices when anticipated demand or limited supply drives up value. Only the first 18,000 fans will receive the bobblehead, making it more coveted than entry to the game itself, and echoing how anticipation and exclusivity can inflate prices well beyond face value in both collectibles and financial markets.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: B3, CME lead listings as innovation driven new products, Cboe cites 'integration of credit futures' for record volumes, EEX partners with Taiwan to build domestic emissions trading scheme and Compliance Complexity in 2025: Buyside Firms Are Rewiring The Regulatory Playbook.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality, and justice.~JJL
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Our most-read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- European Options Markets on 'Cusp of Change' from MarketsMedia.
- Redefining Portfolio Resilience Beyond the 60/40 Allocation from Cboe.
- Massive Bitcoin Options Expiry on Deribit Signals Investor Optimism from Coindoo. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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DRW's Don Wilson Says 24/7 Collateral Mobility and Tokenization Are Essential for Market Evolution
JohnLothianNews.com
LONDON, UK-(JLN)-June 27, 2025-The future of financial markets hinges on real-time collateral movement and native tokenization, according to Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW. Speaking at FIA IDX in London, Wilson emphasized that as markets shift to 24/7 trading, the ability to move collateral and variation margin instantly is "essential" to avoid injecting "significant additional risk into the financial system." He warned, "If you move to 24/7 markets and you can't move collateral or variation margin 24/7 and instantaneously, you inject significant additional risk into the financial system. So I think that it's essential and it needs to go hand-in-hand with that evolution."
Watch the video »
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Vermiculus Founder Nils-Robert Persson Sees New Era for Matching Engines Post-Lehman JohnLothianNews.com LONDON, UK-(JLN)-June 29, 2025-Vermiculus Financial Technology Chairman and Founder Nils-Robert Persson says the company is taking a fresh approach to matching engine technology, starting from scratch while leveraging decades of industry knowledge. "If we now went out to look at Vermiculus, we are starting from scratch. We have all the knowledge, but we can start from scratch, and I think the company that is very similar, that is Tesla. Tesla had a lot of good people who had been designing cars for a long time, but they could start from scratch doing something totally different, and that is what we are doing," Persson said in an interview with John Lothian News at FIA IDX in London. Watch the Nils-Robert Persson Video » Brian Saldeen - Sterling Trading Tech Watch the Brian Saldeen Video » Meaghan Dugan - Cboe Watch the Meaghan Dugan Video »
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Merging an Elephant with a Rhinoceros: Thoughts from the iFX Expo International in Cyprus
Andy Jennings - BornTec
An old joke from childhood asks the question: "What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhinoceros?" The answer ("Eleph-ino" or, more directly, "Hell if I know!") can be applied to the current state of the environment for retail trading of FX in Europe. Two types of trading - CFDs (Contract for Difference) and futures - have been blending for some time and the ultimate results of this combination are open to question. However, like both an elephant and a rhinoceros, the result is going to be big.
/jlne.ws/3I1S00h
***** Some subjects are not discussed in polite company.~JJL
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Why Tech Billionaires Want Bots to Be Your BFF; In a lonely world, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and even Microsoft are vying for affection in the new 'friend economy'
Tim Higgins - The Wall Street Journal
Grok needs a reboot. The xAI chatbot apparently developed too many opinions that ran counter to the way the startup's founder, Elon Musk, sees the world. The recent announcement by Musk-though decried by some as "1984"-like rectification-is understandable. Big Tech now sees the way to differentiate artificial-intelligence offerings by creating the perception that the user has a personal relationship with it. Or, more weirdly put, a friendship-one that shares a similar tone and worldview. The race to develop AI is framed as one to develop superintelligence. But in the near term, its best consumer application might be curing loneliness.
/jlne.ws/4nwc0bG
****** If your chatbot doesn't insist you take it for walks, or make you pick up its poop and help you run into neighbors and strangers on your walks, then it will not be replacing my current cure for loneliness. If you want a friend, get a dog. And yes, I am a dog person and don't know what the phrase "thrown out like a dog" even means.~JJL
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GoFundMe is refurbishing a little-known financial tool in a bid to supercharge everyday giving
James Pollard - Associated Press
GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan had some complications while fundraising on his own website last fall. Several friends wanted to help Cadogan reach his $28,000 goal as he crowdfunded for a Los Angeles area wilderness rescue team. But they tried to donate through a lesser-known wealth management tool called a donor-advised fund, or a DAF, a no-frills investing vehicle for money earmarked as eventual charitable gifts. After cutting checks and waiting three weeks, Cadogan said, the money finally arrived.
/jlne.ws/4nwfpY0
***** I prefer the GMATM function. You know, Give Me All The Money.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our top clicked story Friday was FOW's CME plans September launch of US Treasuries and futures platform. Second was Bloomberg's Crypto's Audacious Bid to Rebuild Stock Market on the Blockchain. Third was FOW's TP ICAP's Mike du Plessis leaving industry for teaching role.
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| Lead Stories | UK launches biggest financial advice shake-up in more than a decade; Regulator unveils plans for 'targeted support' to help individuals get better returns
Emma Dunkley and Martin Arnold - Financial Times
Millions of British savers will be able to access "targeted support" under sweeping new rules to help individuals get better returns on their money, as companies including Hargreaves Lansdown and Vanguard gear up to offer such services. Unveiling one of the biggest shake-ups of investment advice for a decade, the Financial Conduct Authority said it would allow companies to make generic suggestions to consumers without having to meet all the costly restrictions involved in providing personalised financial advice.
/jlne.ws/3ZUBdCu
Why Nato is a model for global financial regulation; The world needs to galvanise to protect the financial system
Patrick Jenkins - Financial Times
Nato's mission of defending countries from enemy attack is not a million miles from maintaining a hard line on global financial regulation - even if explosions at banks tend to be more metaphorical. So financial policymakers around the world took some comfort from the unity on show among world leaders in The Hague last week: Donald Trump, for the most part, struck a supportive note, as he strong armed allies into pledging a big uplift in defence spending. The Basel-based Bank for International Settlements has an even longer pedigree than Nato. Founded after the first world war, initially to administer German reparations but also to facilitate co-operation between central banks, it later spawned the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which designs global standards for bank regulation. And it hosts and funds the Financial Stability Board, which has a broader remit to guard against financial meltdown. Both organisations thrived in the wake of the 2007-2008 crisis, as the world came together to protect itself from further chaos.
/jlne.ws/3TkXzJw
Digital Workers Have Arrived in Banking; Financial services companies like BNY and JPMorgan say AI's capabilities are taking more and more cues from the way humans work
Isabelle Bousquette - The Wall Street Journal
Bank of New York Mellon said it now employs dozens of artificial intelligence-powered 'digital employees' that have company logins and work alongside its human staff. Similar to human employees, these digital workers have direct managers they report to and work autonomously in areas like coding and payment instruction validation, said Chief Information Officer Leigh-Ann Russell. Soon they'll have access to their own email accounts and may even be able to communicate with colleagues in other ways like through Microsoft Teams, she said. "This is the next level," Russell said. While it's still early for the technology, Russell said, "I'm sure in six months' time it will become very, very prevalent."
/jlne.ws/448UXEL
The world is changing, the US market is not; To date, the Trump shock is that he has had so little impact
Ruchir Sharma - Financial Times
It's suddenly fashionable to talk about how the era of "American exceptionalism" is ending, given Trump's policies, the dollar's decline, and the fact that so far this year the US stock market is underperforming its international rivals by the widest margin since 1987. The surprise, however, is that despite the shocks emanating from Washington and the Middle East, US stocks are still grinding higher. And so are US bond prices, despite the exploding US deficit. American market performance is less exceptional because the rest of the world is rising, not because the US is declining.
/jlne.ws/4nx5AJi
Hong Kong on Track to Reclaim Global IPO Crown; The city has a key role in China's efforts to breathe life back into capital markets
Sherry Qin - The Wall Street Journal
After years of lackluster IPO activity, Hong Kong is back on track to be the world's No. 1 listing destination. So far this year, there have been 41 initial public offerings in the city, Dealogic data show. At US$13.66 billion, offering proceeds have already surpassed the total sum raised during 2024. The revival is being fueled by Chinese companies, which are flocking to the city as more favorable policies and improved market liquidity create attractive conditions. Excluding blank-check companies, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing topped Dealogic's tally of IPO fundraising in the first half of the year. The Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange placed second and third, respectively, the financial markets platform said.
/jlne.ws/4l41pml
Heat Wave Triggers Health Alerts, Nuclear Power Cuts in Europe
Joe Wertz - Bloomberg
The heat wave searing western Europe is set to peak in the coming days, threatening power networks and triggering health alerts. A high-pressure system combined with a stream of super-hot air from North Africa and abnormally warm oceans is baking the region from Portugal to the UK. On Sunday, Spain set a June heat record of 46C (114.8F) near El Granado in the south of the country, according to preliminary data from forecaster AEMET.
/jlne.ws/4lvGb0H
London Tube Carriages Can Be 5C Hotter Than Street in Heat Wave
Joe Wertz - Bloomberg
For London commuters squished into cramped carriages, faces against sweaty armpits, every day is a heat wave, and every heat wave is an inferno. Unusually hot weather is making it almost unbearable to travel on the UK capital's underground train network. As pedestrians bake in 30C heat at street level, seeking shade among the wilting roadside trees, temperatures inside some tube carriages can be nearly 5C hotter.
/jlne.ws/3GhVlb2
ECB Fine-Tunes Strategy to Cope With More Frequent Shocks
Mark Schroers and Jana Randow - Bloomberg
The European Central Bank tweaked the way it uses monetary policy to steer the economy, suggesting it will more carefully weigh risks to the inflation outlook as well as the tools it uses to deliver its 2% goal. The ECB confirmed Monday that it will take a symmetric approach to keeping price growth at that level over the medium term, and said it will use an "appropriately forceful or persistent policy response" to large and lasting deviations in either direction. That's a shift from its findings four years ago, when policymakers committed to taking "especially forceful or persistent" action to avoid too-low inflation becoming entrenched when the economy is "close to the lower bound."
/jlne.ws/44HOK2Q
Surprise Tax in G.O.P. Bill Could Cripple Wind and Solar Power; Wind and solar companies were already bracing for Congress to end federal subsidies. But the Senate bill goes even further and penalizes those industries.
Brad Plumer - The New York Times
Senate Republicans have quietly inserted provisions in President Trump's domestic policy bill that would not only end federal support for wind and solar energy but would impose an entirely new tax on future projects, a move that industry groups say could devastate the renewable power industry. The tax provision, tucked inside the 940-page bill that the Senate made public just after midnight on Friday, stunned observers. "This is how you kill an industry," said Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, a nonpartisan group of business leaders and investors. "And at a time when electricity prices and demand are soaring."
/jlne.ws/44lpBtn
Morgan Stanley looking to double down on Chicago
Mark Weinraub - Crain's Chicago Business
Even as it sits in the prime spot in Chicago's highly competitive wealth management business, with $178 billion in assets under management locally, Morgan Stanley is not taking time to enjoy the view from its revamped office near the top of Willis Tower"That is decades of work and investment," Blake Mackenzie, managing director and market executive in the firm's Chicago office, told Crain's in an interview. "Our goal is to remain . . . in the pole position."
/jlne.ws/45M08M7
Nasdaq reports record trading volume during Russell Reconstitution, facilitating over $102 billion in transactions in a single event.
Nasdaq
On June 27, 2025, Nasdaq, Inc. announced a record-setting day for its Nasdaq Closing Cross, which facilitated the rebalance of Nasdaq-listed securities during the annual reconstitution of the Russell US Indexes. This year marks the 41st anniversary of the Russell 3000 Index and the 22nd year of using the Closing Cross for this purpose. A total of 2.5 billion shares, valued at over $102 billion, were executed in just 0.871 seconds, surpassing the previous year's record of $95.2 billion. Nasdaq's Executive Vice President Kevin Kennedy highlighted the importance of the Closing Cross in maintaining market integrity and processing high volumes of trades. FTSE Russell CEO Fiona Bassett emphasized the significance of the Russell Reconstitution in maintaining the representativeness of US equity markets. Nasdaq's ongoing investments in technology aim to enhance market transparency and efficiency, ensuring the platform can support increasing trading volumes effectively.
/jlne.ws/3I7mGNB
Wall Street Hangs On to Hopes for a Boom in Deals; Blockbuster tie-ups continued in the second quarter in industries relatively insulated from tariffs
Ben Glickman, Miriam Gottfried and Corrie Driebusch - The Wall Street Journal
Dealmaking is off to its best start of the year since 2022 by some measures, showing demand for corporate tie-ups has held up despite market turmoil, global conflicts and President Trump's ever-shifting tariffs. U.S. deal value this year through June 25 is up about 10% from last year and at its highest level in three years, according to the London Stock Exchange Group. The second quarter got off to a slow start after Trump's sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs in early April sent stocks swinging and spooked dealmakers. But activity has since picked up again.
/jlne.ws/40s1Dvm
European Markets Are Becoming Increasingly Difficult to Ignore
Michael Msika and Naomi Tajitsu - Bloomberg
European stocks outperformed their US peers by the biggest margin on record in dollar terms during the first half, the most dramatic sign of how the region's markets are staging a comeback after more than a decade in the doldrums. The rebound isn't confined to stocks: the euro is up 13% against the dollar in the six months through June. Meanwhile, the chaotic rollout of US tariffs wiped some of the shine off Treasuries. German bunds have outperformed them since April even as the government braces to issue more debt. Assets in emerging European markets like Poland and Hungary are also rallying sharply.
/jlne.ws/449Fm87
Japan Proposes Crypto Tax Cut From 55% to 20%-The Boldest Move Yet in the Global Web3 Race
Nick Thomas - Benzinga
Japan is quietly orchestrating one of the most significant crypto policy reversals in recent history, and it could reshape how major economies approach digital assets worldwide. The country's Financial Services Agency has submitted a groundbreaking proposal to bring cryptocurrencies under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act-effectively reclassifying them from payment methods to legitimate financial products. More importantly for investors, the proposal includes slashing Japan's punitive crypto tax rate from as high as 55% down to a flat 20%, aligning it with traditional capital gains taxes.
/jlne.ws/44r8XbO
ECB warns AI and geopolitics make inflation fight tougher; Structural shifts are making the world more volatile, warns central bank in updated strategy statement
Olaf Storbeck - Financial Times
Keeping inflation in check will become harder as trade tensions and other "structural shifts" make the world more volatile, the European Central Bank has warned, as it vowed it would fight high price growth with "forceful or persistent" actions. European rate-setters have tweaked their strategy to emphasise the risk of sudden but persistent increases in inflation, after they were caught out by a jump in price rises in 2021-22 partly due to the war in Ukraine. The previous strategy focused on the then-relevant risk of deflation.
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | Canada Will Scrap Tax That Prompted Trump to Suspend Trade Talks; The government said on Sunday night that it would cancel its tax on American technology companies, handing a victory to the Trump administration.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff - The New York Times
Canada's government announced on Sunday night that it would cancel a tax on American technology companies that led President Trump to suspend trade talks between the two countries, handing an important victory to Mr. Trump. Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed the decision to scrap Canada's digital services tax with Mr. Trump on Sunday, Mr. Carney's office said. In a sign that trade talks were resuming, Canada's finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, spoke with the U.S. Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, on Sunday, according to Mr. Carney's office.
/jlne.ws/4l302Ez
Canadian Prime Minister Carney says trade talks with US resume after Canada rescinded tech tax
Rob Gillies - Associated Press
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said late Sunday trade talks with U.S. have resumed after Canada rescinded its plan to tax U.S. technology firms. U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he was suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called "a direct and blatant attack on our country." The Canadian government said "in anticipation" of a trade deal "Canada would rescind" the Digital Serves Tax. The tax was set to go into effect Monday.
/jlne.ws/4eD77JF
Trump Deals Poised to Fall Short of Sweeping Trade Reforms
Catherine Lucey and Jenny Leonard - Bloomberg
With just 10 days to go until President Donald Trump's country-specific tariffs are set to resume, the White House appears poised to fall short of the sweeping global trade reforms it promised to achieve during the three months they were on hold. Agreements with as many as a dozen of the US's largest trading partners are expected to be completed by the July 9 deadline, top Trump advisers have said over the past week. But if Trump's only two other accords, with China and the UK, offer any indication, the pacts likely won't be fulsome deals that resolve core issues, but instead will address a limited set of topics and leave many specifics to be negotiated later.
/jlne.ws/44poY1R
Tariff Bullying Is Working Too Well in Europe; A coalition of the willing against US threats is struggling to take form.
Lionel Laurent - Bloomberg
Donald Trump's April tariff barrage felt like the height of hubris. It infuriated allies, damaged his popularity at home and triggered financial-market chaos so acute the whole thing was paused within days - the latest sign of America's Icarus-like tendency to try to remake the world every few decades. Yet three months on, as the deadline for a compromise looms, Europe's own syndrome risks emerging: a tendency to look more like a collection of Asterix villages than a cohesive whole.
/jlne.ws/4l7OmRd
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| World Conflicts | | News about various conflicts and their military, economic, political and humanitarian impact. | Ukraine Invasion
Ukraine F-16 pilot killed in large-scale Russian attack, Zelenskiy calls for US help
Pavel Polityuk - Reuters
A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot died in a crash while repelling a Russian air attack that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, authorities said on Sunday, as Moscow intensifies night-time air barrages in the fourth year of war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, and bestowed upon him posthumously the title of Hero of Ukraine, the country's highest decoration. He also called for more support from Washington and Western allies to bolster Ukraine's air defences after the attack, which damaged homes and infrastructure across the country and injured at least 12 people, according to local authorities. In Kyiv, families huddled in metro stations for shelter after air raid sirens rung out. Machine-gun fire and explosions were heard across the capital and in the western city of Lviv, where such attacks are less common.
/jlne.ws/4l78Zgn
Putin's latest desperate escalation has created a new flashpoint for war with the West; The dictator is desperate to keep his shadow fleet of oil tankers operating
Tom Sharpe - The Telegraph
Maritime security has always been a contest of perception as much as presence. This week, that contest came to the fore in one of the world's most scrutinised and symbolically loaded waterways: the English Channel. In an event that risks being dismissed as routine but is anything but, the Russian Navy corvette Boikiy was confirmed to have actively escorted two tankers - Selva and Sierra - through the Channel to Russian Baltic ports. These are not just any tankers: both form part of the so-called "shadow fleet," vessels operating in circumvention of Western oil sanctions on Russia.
/jlne.ws/40rBm0e
Russia Masses 50,000 Troops Around Sumy, Putting Ukraine in Precarious Position; Holding the Russians off has become a game of whack-a-mole for outnumbered Ukrainian troops, with Russia frequently opening new lines of attack
Ian Lovett and Nikita Nikolaienko - The Wall Street Journal
Russian forces are just 12 miles from this northern Ukrainian regional capital, a new target for Moscow, as the Kremlin presses its manpower advantage at a growing number of places along the front. Having almost entirely ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian Kursk region earlier this year, Russian forces have now poured over the border in the opposite direction toward Sumy. With 50,000 troops in the area, they outnumber the Ukrainians roughly 3-to-1, according to soldiers fighting there. "Their main strategy," Gen. Oleksandr Syrskiy, Ukraine's top military commander, said of the Russians, is to "wear us down with their numbers."
/jlne.ws/4nnkfXv
Russia grooms Ukrainian teens as spies and saboteurs; FSB agents offer money on messaging apps for 'quests' to photograph targets and plant bombs
Christopher Miller - Financial Times
He blended in easily, another teenager scrolling through his phone on a bus. But in his pocket, according to Ukraine's security service, were coordinates and photographs of sensitive military targets intended for Russian intelligence. The 16-year-old Ukrainian, whose name has not been made public because he is a minor, was arrested and accused of spying for Russia, the Ukrainian security service (SBU) said earlier this week.
/jlne.ws/3I51VlI
Poland to boost howitzer shell output in face of Russian threat; State defence group PGZ will receive $663mn to make more ammunition
Raphael Minder - Financial Times
Poland will boost its production of howitzer ammunition fivefold as the country seeks to reduce dependence on imported weaponry and protect itself from the Russian threat in the east, according to state assets minister Jakub Jaworowski. In an interview with the Financial Times, Jaworowski said state-controlled defence group PGZ would "in the coming days" receive 2.4bn zlotys ($663mn) in government funds to increase the output of large-calibre ammunition and address one of Poland's most pressing defence shortfalls.
/jlne.ws/3G1Doxm
Middle East Conflict
US strikes on Iran 'less devastating than expected', intercepted calls reveal; Tehran could be enriching uranium for bomb 'in a matter of months'
Melanie Swan - The Telegraph
US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were less devastating than Tehran expected, according to intercepted phone calls between senior Iranian officials. In conversations overheard by the US and leaked to the Washington Post, the officials speculated as to why the attacks were not as destructive and extensive as anticipated. The Trump administration did not deny the existence of the calls, and criticised the newspaper for publishing the information. "It's shameful that the Washington Post is helping people commit felonies by publishing out of context leaks," said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary.
/jlne.ws/4l9EztP
How Israel-Aligned Hackers Hobbled Iran's Financial System; Broken cash machines, halted payments and a crippled crypto exchange were all the result of pro-Israeli efforts
Angus Berwick - The Wall Street Journal
While Israel and the U.S. were bombing Iran's nuclear sites, another battlefield emerged behind the scenes: the financial infrastructure that keeps Tehran connected to the world. Israeli authorities, and a pro-Israeli hacking group called Predatory Sparrow, targeted financial organizations that Iranians use to move money and sidestep the U.S.-led economic blockade, according to Israeli officials and other people familiar with the efforts. U.S. sanctions, imposed off-and-on for decades due to Tehran's nuclear program and support for Islamist groups, have aimed to cut Iran off from the international financial system.
/jlne.ws/45IWmTK
How Israel Killed Iran's Top Nuclear Scientists; Targeted attacks showed intelligence prowess and took out a layer of leaders, but a new generation could blunt the impact
Laurence Norman and Dov Lieber - The Wall Street Journal
When Israel's attacks on Iran began before dawn on June 13, explosions shattered the homes of some of Iran's top scientists, killing nine people who had worked for decades on Tehran's nuclear program. All nine were killed in near-simultaneous attacks to prevent them from going into hiding, according to people familiar with the attacks. Eleven days later, hours before a cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Qatar took effect Wednesday, an attack in northern Iran killed another scientist, Sayyed Seddighi Saber, according to Israeli and Iranian state media. He was sanctioned just weeks ago by the U.S. for his nuclear weapons-related work.
/jlne.ws/4eol8L2
After War With Israel and U.S., Iran Rests on a Knife Edge; The Islamic Republic limps on after the 12-day conflict. Where will the nation go from here?
Roger Cohen - The New York Times
Roxana Saberi felt like she was back behind bars in Tehran. As she watched Israel's bombing of Evin prison, the notorious detention facility at the core of Iran's political repression, she shuddered at memories of solitary confinement, relentless interrogation, fabricated espionage charges and a sham trial during her 100-day incarceration in 2009.
/jlne.ws/4l8UN6s
Other Conflicts
Electronic Warfare Crashes Global Shipping's Navigation Systems; The Iran-Israel war highlighted a critical flaw in the satellite-based systems that makes the industry hauling 80% of global trade vulnerable to mass-jamming.
Jack Wittels, Alex Longley, Julian Lee, and Prejula Prem - Bloomberg
Konstantinos Tsotras was captaining his oil supertanker through the Persian Gulf at the height of Israel's strikes on Iran when it disappeared from his own navigation screen. For the ship's managers thousands of miles away, it appeared - impossibly - to be on a hilltop near an Iranian gas field. The Greek captain knew immediately what was happening to the Nissos Nikouria, a 330-meter (1,083-foot) vessel that along with its cargo of Kuwaiti crude was worth about $260 million. His electronic navigation systems had been interfered with, something that happened thousands of times to vessels during the conflict.
/jlne.ws/3G3oExZ
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Clearstream Successfully Launches the Only Tri-party Collateral Management Solution with ECMS Go-live
Deutsche Boerse
After the successful launch, Clearstream has experienced a smooth start to its integrated tri-party collateral management solution with the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS). Starting from the launch of the European platform on June 16, 2025, Clearstream has been offering its clients comprehensive connectivity, being the only central securities depository (CSD) to provide full tri-party collateral management integration with the ECMS.
/jlne.ws/44msfz1
HKEX Welcomes Launch of 30-Year Swaps Trading in Northbound Swap Connect
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to announce today (Monday) the launch of interest rate swap contracts with a maximum tenor of 30 years to trade on Northbound Swap Connect. This latest enhancement to Swap Connect follows close collaboration between HKEX's clearing subsidiary, OTC Clearing Hong Kong Limited (OTC Clear) with China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) and Shanghai Clearing House (SHCH).
/jlne.ws/40wB9ZJ
ICE's Natural Gas and Oil Markets at Record Open Interest
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data and home of the most liquid energy markets in the world, today announced that its global natural gas and oil markets are at record open interest (OI). ICE's natural gas futures markets hit record OI of 24.17 million on June 25, 2025, while ICE's global oil futures and options markets hit record OI of 17.57 million on June 24, 2025, including record oil options OI of 7.3 million. The two complexes include the global benchmarks for natural gas and oil relied on by participants around the world as trusted price reference points, as well as markets to source physical natural gas and oil. ICE benchmark records in June include:
/jlne.ws/3TeMPfN
Listings and Market Operation Committee - Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX)
ATHEX Group
The Listings and Market Operation Committee of Athens Stock Exchange, during today's session, in view of the upcoming dual listing of the Company METLEN Energy & Metals (MYTIL) on the London and Athens Stock Exchanges through a share exchange proposal, and in order to maintain the smooth operation of the market, approved the handling of Derivatives Products on METLEN Energy & Metals (MYTIL), which will include the following stages:
/jlne.ws/3GrtncJ
Interim Revision of the LuxX Index on 1 July 2025
LuxSE
Interim Revision of the LuxX Index on 1 July 2025: In accordance with the rules governing the LuxX index, the executive committee of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange has decided to rebalance the LuxX index (base 1,000 as at 04/01/1999).
/jlne.ws/44pijoF
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Blue Ocean Technologies selects Eventus for trade surveillance
Eventus
Eventus, a leading provider of comprehensive, at-scale trade surveillance and financial risk solutions, and Blue Ocean Technologies, a capital markets fintech leader in global trading and data, announced that Blue Ocean ATS has selected Eventus' Validus platform as its trade surveillance solution. Blue Ocean ATS Chief Compliance Officer Chris Meade said: "As the first after-hours trading platform to round out the 24-hour equities market, our mission is to continue providing subscribers an efficient marketplace to help them manage risk. To support our ongoing expansion, we rely on robust tools, effective safeguards, clear policies and strong surveillance measures, all critical elements of our ongoing risk controls and success.
/jlne.ws/3Gdwp4r
Blue Ocean leverages Eventus' Validus platform for trade surveillance; The move follows an industry-wide uptake in extended trading developments in recent months.
Natasha Cocksedge - The Trade
Blue Ocean Technologies has chosen Eventus' Validus platform as its trade surveillance solution for Blue Ocean ATS. The move is expected to enhance reporting across operations and enable longer-term data-driven decision making, to support Blue Ocean ATS' subscribers and help them to manage risk.
/jlne.ws/4nt9TFh
Klarna accelerates shift to digital bank ahead of second IPO attempt; Swedish fintech's transition comes as pressure mounts on core 'buy now, pay later' business model
Akila Quinio - Financial Times
Klarna is stepping up attempts to position itself as a digital bank as the Swedish fintech looks to diversify away from its flagship "buy now, pay later" loans ahead of its second attempt at an IPO. The company, known for loans offered to online shoppers at the point of purchase that are paid back in several interest-free instalments, has in recent weeks launched new products designed to bring it more in line with digital banks such as Revolut and Chime.
/jlne.ws/4lakcg2
Railbird Exchange Selects Connamara Technologies' EP3® Platform to Power Regulated Prediction Market
Connamara Technologies
Connamara Technologies, a leading provider of fully integrated exchange technology solutions, is pleased to announce that Railbird Exchange has selected its EP3 exchange platform to power its newly approved U.S. regulated prediction market. Founded in 2021, Railbird Exchange allows users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events - including economic indicators, entertainment, and cultural moments. On June 13, 2025, Railbird was granted status as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), with plans to launch later this year.
/jlne.ws/4l8iSKE
Artificial Intelligence
It's Known as 'The List'-and It's a Secret File of AI Geniuses; Only a select few researchers have the skills for the hottest area in tech. Mark Zuckerberg and his rivals want to hire them- even if it takes pay packages of $100 million.
Ben Cohen, Berber Jin and Meghan Bobrowsky - The Wall Street Journal
All over Silicon Valley, the brightest minds in AI are buzzing about "The List," a compilation of the most talented engineers and researchers in artificial intelligence that Mark Zuckerberg has spent months putting together. Lucas Beyer works in multimodal vision-language research and describes himself as "a scientist dedicated to the creation of awesomeness." Yu Zhang specializes in automatic speech recognition and barely has an online presence besides his influential papers. Misha Bilenko is an expert in large-scale machine learning who also enjoys hiking and skiing-or, as he puts it on his website, "applying hill-climbing search and gradient descent algorithms to real-world domains."
/jlne.ws/3GkVfiP
A.I. Videos Have Never Been Better. Can You Tell What's Real?
Stuart A. Thompson - The New York Times
Artificial intelligence tools have taken another leap forward. A new wave of generators can create lifelike video along with realistic audio, including dialogue. These tools, including Google's Veo 3, are producing viral videos, satirical commentary and even realistic fakes of disputed events like riots and elections. Below is a collection of real videos alongside A.I.-generated fakes, which were created by writing basic prompts to guide what the tools come up with.
/jlne.ws/44EXrea
Microsoft unveils AI diagnosis tool in effort to transform medicine; Research is first initiative from Big Tech group's AI health unit formed by ex-DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman
Melissa Heikkila, Stephen Morris - Financial Times
Microsoft has built an artificial intelligence-powered medical tool it claims is four times more successful than human doctors at diagnosing complex ailments, as the tech giant unveils research it believes could speed up treatment. The "Microsoft AI Diagnostic Orchestrator" is the first initiative to come out of an AI health unit formed last year by Mustafa Suleyman with staff poached from DeepMind, the research lab he co-founded and which is now owned by rival Google.
/jlne.ws/4et89Id
Authors petition publishers to curtail their use of AI
Chloe Veltman - NPR
A group of more than 70 authors including Dennis Lehane, Gregory Maguire and Lauren Groff released an open letter on Friday about the use of AI on the literary website Lit Hub. It asked publishing houses to promise "they will never release books that were created by machines." Addressed to the "big five" U.S. publishers - Penguin, Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan - as well as "other publishers of America," the letter elicited more than 1,100 signatures on its accompanying petition in less than 24 hours. Among the well-known signatories after the letter's release are Jodi Picoult, Olivie Blake and Paul Tremblay.
/jlne.ws/45POQGQ
Connectivity/Data Centers
Meta seeks $29bn from private credit giants to fund AI data centres; Apollo, Brookfield and Pimco among the lenders in talks with Mark Zuckerberg's social media group
Eric Platt and Oliver Barnes and Hannah Murphy - Financial Times
Meta is looking to raise $29bn to fund its all-in push into artificial intelligence, turning to private capital firms to finance its build out of data centres in the US. Talks between the Instagram-owner and private credit investors have advanced, with several large players including Apollo Global Management, KKR, Brookfield, Carlyle and Pimco involved in the discussions, according to people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/4l53DCg
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Trump leaves Maria Bartiromo speechless after suggesting US is hacking China: 'You don't think we do that?'
Gustaf Kilander - The Independent
President Donald Trump left Maria Bartiromo briefly speechless during an interview when he suggested that the U.S. is hacking China. Bartiromo told Trump in the interview recorded on Friday and broadcast on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News that China "hacked into our telecom system, they've been stealing intellectual property, fentanyl, COVID, all of this stuff." "How do you negotiate with obviously a bad actor and trust them on economics?" she asked. "You don't think we do that to them? We do. We do a lot of things," Trump said to a silent Bartiromo.
/jlne.ws/3ZV2ggQ
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Prometheum Capital Now Authorized to Offer Correspondent Clearing Services for Blockchain-Based Securities Trading; Prometheum Capital will custody, clear, and settle blockchain-based securities for third-party broker-dealers, expanding investor access to on-chain assets
Prometheum Inc. via Businesswire
Promeheum Inc. ("Prometheum"), a market infrastructure provider for blockchain-based securities, announced its subsidiary Prometheum Capital, a FINRA member firm and SEC-registered special purpose broker-dealer ("SPBD"), is now authorized to provide correspondent clearing services to third-party broker-dealers. Prometheum's FINRA member and SEC-registered broker-dealer network will support introducing broker-dealers seeking to transact in on-chain securities under federal securities laws.
/jlne.ws/4ersRs1
Crypto Custodian Taurus Launches First Stablecoin Contract With Privacy Features
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
Digital asset infrastructure firm Taurus, whose clients which include Deutsche Bank and State Street, has launched the first private stablecoin contract, targeting financial institutions and businesses who have been hesitant to use stablecoins for privacy concerns. Built on Aztec Network, a privacy-focused Ethereum layer-2 backed by a16z, the contract combines zero-knowledge privacy with compliance features modeled on USDC, including mint/burn controls, emergency pause, blacklisting and audit logging.
/jlne.ws/4l5853W
Bolivia crypto transactions up over 530% amid currency woes
Reuters
Bolivia's central bank on Friday reiterated a dramatic uptick in transactions of digital assets, following a Reuters report that showed how more Bolivians were turning to crypto exchanges like Binance and stablecoins like Tether as a hedge against the depreciation of the local boliviano currency. According to new figures published on Friday by the Bolivian central bank, transactions using Electronic Payment Channels and Instruments for Virtual Assets (VA) soared more than 530%, from $46.5 million in the first half of 2024, to $294 million in the same period of 2025.
/jlne.ws/3FYWsfG
US Housing Regulator Considering Usage Of Cryptocurrency Holdings In Mortgage Qualification Process, Director Says
David Okoya - Benzinga
Your cryptocurrency holdings may soon count towards helping you secure your mortgage. U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte said Tuesday on X that the regulator will study how this can work. "We will study the usage pf [sic] cryptocurrency holdings as it relates to qualifying for mortgages," he said.
/jlne.ws/3I0XyrX
More Than 40 Million People Already Use Crypto Wallets Like Bank Accounts-Here's What They Know That You Don't
Nick Thomas - Benzinga
The crypto wallet you think you know is dead. In its place, a financial revolution is quietly unfolding-one that's already processing over $9 billion in weekly transactions and could fundamentally change how you bank, invest, and interact with money. According to explosive new data from Dune Analytics and Addressable.io, crypto wallets are morphing from simple storage tools into comprehensive financial superapps. With more than 40 million people already using these wallets globally, the implications for everyday investors are staggering.
/jlne.ws/4kkmuYx
Crypto Market Maker Wintermute Snags Bitcoin Credit Line From Cantor Fitzgerald
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
Wintermute, a digital assets-focused market maker and OTC desk, has attained a bitcoin(BTC)-backed credit line from Cantor Fitzgerald, following similar financing deals announced last month with Maple Finance and FalconX. Cantor said the newly launched Bitcoin Financing Business is expected to provide up to $2 billion in financing during its initial rollout. The size of Wintermute's deal with the investment bank was not disclosed.
/jlne.ws/4nsLMql
Bitcoin
Bitcoin firm says police shouldn't saw open Bitcoin ATMs to seize cash for scammed customers, will seek damages for destroyed machines - firm claims seizures are criminal and victimize the company
Jowi Morales - Tom's Hardware
Bitcoin Depot Chief Legal Officer, Chris Ryan, said that police departments using brute force to open Bitcoin ATMs and seize the cash inside is bordering on law enforcement overreach. Sawing them open might even be breaking banking and criminal laws, added Ryan. The executive told Decrypt that the money inside Bitcoin Depot ATMs rightfully belongs to the company, and that any damage to its machines will be held against the offending organization. "You've got these rogue law enforcement officers thinking that they're doing the right things by these consumers," Ryan said. "What they're actually doing is creating another victim, which is us, with the damage of our property and seizing of our funds."
/jlne.ws/3TicWCw
Trump-Fueled Bitcoin Mania Leaves Most of Crypto in the Dust
Kirk Ogunrinde and Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
On the face of it, 2025 looks like a banner year for crypto: Bitcoin hitting a record, an industry-boosting US president whose family is venturing headlong into the sector, and key legislation widely expected to be passed by Congress. But look beyond the bullish headlines and the rally in Bitcoin, and a vastly different landscape comes into view. Most of the so-called altcoins once touted as competitors to the original cryptoasset are nursing steep declines, with more than $300 billion of market value wiped out so far this year.
/jlne.ws/4lthdyT
Why Are So Many Firms Suing Strategy Over Its Bitcoin Holdings?; Bitcoin juggernaut Strategy is facing at least five copycat lawsuits-but law professors told Decrypt that the number of suits isn't unusual.
Stacy Elliott - decrypt
Bitcoin juggernaut Strategy is facing at least five copycat lawsuits accusing the company of securities fraud regarding its BTC treasury, but two law professors told Decrypt that the number of suits is not unusual. Law firms look to head consolidated class action suits, a role that would enable them to boost their earnings from the case, they said. They often file separately in such cases until a judge names a lead plaintiff and combines the separate actions.
/jlne.ws/4kiqbhs
London-listed companies pile into bitcoin; Moves highlight growing trend for businesses to turn themselves into proxies for the cryptocurrency
Nikou Asgari - Financial Times
London-listed companies are turning to bitcoin to boost their share prices, drawing Europe's largest equity market into a growing global trend in which businesses are transforming themselves into proxies for the cryptocurrency. At least nine companies, from a web design business to a gold miner, have in the past week announced that they have either bought bitcoin to add to their corporate treasuries or plan to do so.
/jlne.ws/4nws11i
Stablecoins
Stablecoins Are the 'Quiet Winners' of Polymarket's Surge: Coinbase Research
Tom Carreras - CoinDesk
As Polymarket seeks a $1 billion valuation in a Founders Fund-led round, the "quiet winners" may be the stablecoins underpinning its settlement infrastructure, Coinbase analysts wrote in a Friday research report. All of the platform's trades settle in Circle's USDC on Polygon, creating measurable demand for the dollar-pegged token. And while lending protocols lock capital in pools, prediction markets like Polymarket cycle funds at a high velocity - settling, redeploying and transferring balances continuously, the analysts said.
/jlne.ws/4nqep7o
BOK Halts Digital Currency Project As Stablecoins Gain Momentum
Soo-Hyang Choi - Bloomberg
South Korea's central bank has halted its digital currency pilot program, signaling diminishing enthusiasm for state-led digital currencies as President Lee Jae Myung's drive to promote a broader private-sector role for stablecoins gains momentum. The Bank of Korea has temporarily suspended preparations for the second phase of its pilot initiative testing program for a central bank digital currency, which had been scheduled for the fourth quarter, a BOK official told Bloomberg News.
/jlne.ws/3G3APed
South Korea lifts 14-year ban on 'kimchi bonds' after dollar-backed stablecoins frenzy; Regulator allows locals to purchase foreign currency debts issued onshore as it seeks to offset capital outflows
Song Jung-a and William Sandlund - Financial Times
A speculative frenzy in dollar-backed stablecoins has prompted South Korea to lift a 14-year ban on domestic financial institutions buying so-called kimchi bonds as it seeks to draw in offsetting capital inflows. The Bank of Korea had prohibited local investment in kimchi bonds - foreign currency debts issued onshore and intended for conversion into South Korean won - in 2011 because of concerns they would expose local issuers to currency mismatches.
/jlne.ws/4l60MJ1
Crypto-crazy investors make South Korea the best-performing market in Asia; New president's pledge to allow won-based stablecoins has led to huge gains in related shares this month
Song Jung-a - Financial Times
South Korea's stock market has been supercharged by an investor frenzy over won-based digital money this month, following newly elected President Lee Jae-myung's pledge to allow crypto assets backed by the national currency. Stocks that have been involved in the Bank of Korea's digital currency project, including Kakao Pay and LG CNS, have been on a wild ride. Kakao Pay shares more than doubled this month and LG CNS rose almost 70 per cent, before paring some gains this week on profit-taking.
/jlne.ws/3GfKKxg
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | U.S. Administration
How Awful Is the Republican Megabill? Here Are Four of the Worst Parts.
Jacob S. Hacker and Patrick Sullivan - The New York Times (opinion)
Mr. Hacker is a co-author of "Let Them Eat Tweets How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality." Mr. Sullivan is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale.
The Trump-era Republican Party, we're told, is a working-class party standing up for ordinary citizens against powerful elites. One section of the Republicans' major policy bill is even titled "Working Families Over Elites." But that bill - the one and only major legislative effort of Trump 2.0 - is the most regressive, least populist policy package in memory. With its distinctive mix of tax cuts laser-focused on the rich and spending cuts that most hurt middle- and low-income Americans, it would shift more resources up the income ladder than any bill passed since scorekeepers started keeping track. And when voters learn what it would do - even Republican voters - they recoil from it.
/jlne.ws/46ryvbk
The power and the glory of profanity; Donald Trump's inclination to swear is coarse, un-presidential, and highly effective
Jemima Kelly - Financial Times
You might have missed the British prime minister's response to the news that Israel and Iran had launched strikes on each other in the hours that followed their ceasefire agreement on Tuesday morning. "I want the ceasefire to continue, and therefore, obviously, the sooner we get back to that, the better," said Keir Starmer as he arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday for the Nato summit. You almost certainly did not miss the American president's. "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing. You understand that?" Donald Trump fumed at reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, before turning away, in mic-drop fashion, to board Marine One and begin his own journey to join the other world leaders gathered in The Hague.
/jlne.ws/4kiQDb0
Netanyahu corruption trial postponed after Trump intervention; US president railed against proceedings he considered were damaging ability to strike Gaza war deal
Henry Bodkin - The Telegraph
Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial has been postponed following repeated calls by Donald Trump for it to be scrapped. The Israeli prime minister was due to give evidence at the Jerusalem District Court this coming week. However, following a closed-door session involving the head of the Mossad spy agency and the head of IDF military intelligence, the court agreed to postpone the proceedings for at least a week. In recent days Mr Trump has railed against the ongoing criminal proceedings, saying they were damaging Mr Netanyahu's ability to strike a deal to end the war in Gaza.
/jlne.ws/3TibrEo
Judge permanently blocks Trump order against law firm Susman Godfrey; The firm is the fourth to successfully sue the president, with judges issuing rulings in the cases blocking and excoriating Trump's orders.
Mark Berman - The Washington Post
A federal judge on Friday rejected President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the law firm Susman Godfrey, the fourth time a judge has dismissed his attempts to punish a prominent firm for taking on cases he dislikes or hiring his perceived foes. Trump has issued several executive orders sanctioning law firms with penalties that include losing government contracts and security clearances. Four of those firms sued to fight his actions and they have racked up an undefeated record in court, with judges issuing rulings in each case blocking and excoriating Trump's orders.
/jlne.ws/3TkY722
U.S. Congress
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis Won't Seek Re-Election After Crossing Trump; Centrist has objected to Medicaid cuts in GOP's tax and spending megabill
Jasmine Li and Olivia Beavers - The Wall Street Journal
Centrist Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) said he won't seek re-election in 2026, less than 24 hours after he voted against a motion to advance President Trump's tax and spending megabill, drawing public backlash from the president. "As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven't exactly been excited about running for another term," Tillis, 64 years old, said in a statement Sunday afternoon. He said his choice was between "spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington" or spending that time with his family. "It's not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election," he said.
/jlne.ws/4ew15dZ
Other U.S. Politics
Musk Wades Back Into Politics, Slamming Trump's Domestic Policy Bill; Weeks after ending his war of words with President Trump, Elon Musk called the president's bill "utterly insane and destructive."
Ashley Ahn - The New York Times
Elon Musk waded back into the political fray on Saturday, slamming a major domestic policy bill that Senate Republicans are scrambling to pass, just weeks after he ended a feud with President Trump over the legislation.
/jlne.ws/4esXTiX
United Kingdom
EU: Brexit to blame for Britain's migrant crisis; Research paper claims record increase in net migration figures the result of UK leaving the bloc
Joe Barnes - The Telegraph
Brexit is the main driver of Britain's worsening migration crisis, an official European Union research document has claimed. The study insists that remaining in the EU would have helped UK governments tackle the influx of arrivals on small boats from the Continent. The Brussels paper claims the post-Brexit "liberalisation of migration laws" caused a record increase in net migration figures from 248,000 at the time of the 2016 EU referendum to 906,000 seven years later.
/jlne.ws/40u29sN
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | SEC Seeks to Rev Up 'Engine of Growth' by Loosening Corporate Disclosure Rules
Crystal Kim - The Daily Upside
Ripping up the red tape around public market debuts could lead to more ribbon-cutting ceremonies for startups. Or at least that's the hope of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is reportedly in talks with major stock exchanges to ease disclosure rules for public companies and spur initial public offerings. The agency is interested in "an overhaul of current proxy processes" that would, among other things, ease disclosure requirements, Reuters reported last week. Exchange listing fees and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) were also a part of the months-long discussions between the regulator and exchanges. "As the chairman has said, capital formation is at the root of what we do - fostering a direct, economical route for investors' capital to find its way to entrepreneurs and industry to create products and services. The SEC is focused on this engine of growth," an SEC spokesperson said in response to The Daily Upside's emailed query.
/jlne.ws/4kkmzeN
China Broker Tianfeng Unit Seeks Hong Kong Crypto Licenses
Bloomberg News
TF International Securities Group Ltd. is seeking regulatory approval to offer a wide range of virtual asset-linked services in Hong Kong and kick-start growth outside the traditional brokerage business, a person familiar with the matter said. The firm, a wholly owned unit of Shanghai-listed Tianfeng Securities Co., recently applied to Hong Kong's Securities & Futures Commission to provide virtual asset in/out services, enabling investors to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies rather than traditional currencies when dealing in virtual assets, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter.
/jlne.ws/3GnkNfa
Europe Pushes For More Clarity on Bank Lending to SRT Buyers
Nicholas Comfort, Esteban Duarte, and Tom Mackenzie - Bloomberg
European authorities are pushing banks to disclose more data on loans to investors who turn around and use the funds to help peers offload credit risk, according to a top regulator. Regulators want to ensure that risk is actually leaving the system when banks use significant risk transfers, or SRTs, to free up capital while keeping the assets on their balance sheets.
/jlne.ws/4kiGScL
The hunt for Britain's 'Wolf of Wall Street'
Lucy Burton - The Telegraph
When Ben was convinced by a financial adviser to visit a swanky new trading floor at the top of a City of London skyscraper the Heron Tower, he couldn't believe his luck. Staff promised him returns of 60pc a year if he invested, and told him that the business - Capital World Markets (CWM) - was run by a "Svengali-type individual who was hugely well-connected". It sounded to good too be true. That's because it was.
/jlne.ws/4ewAxJq
Financial Advice Is a Demand, Not a Supply, Problem; UK financial advice regime reforms are fine. But they won't tackle the fundamental issue.
John Stepek - Bloomberg
The "advice gap" is overhyped
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Britain's financial services watchdog, has promised a "once in a generation" change to the provision of financial advice. By "once in a generation," the FCA means that the reforms will "set the framework for the next 20 to 30 years." The idea is that there will be a new category of advice called "targeted support."
/jlne.ws/3ZVglLl
Former Nasa scientist, 85, admits defrauding investors and using funds to buy house; John Burford purchases home with 'substantial' money generated through illegal practices
The Telegraph
An 85-year-old former Nasa scientist has admitted defrauding investors and using some of the proceeds to buy a house. John Burford generated more than £1 million from 100 investors through his illegal practices, but only £760,000 was ever traded, much of which was lost. Substantial amounts of the money investors sent him were used to buy his own home, a court heard. Burford appeared at Westminster magistrates' court on Friday. He admitted fraud by false representation and carrying on a regulated activity when not authorised between January 2020 and December 2023.
/jlne.ws/3TjKUqm
Pension pots of savers at risk from new UK rule, industry experts warn; Forcing defined contribution schemes to invest a minimum amount in private assets could 'lead to poorer returns'
Mary McDougall - Financial Times
A contentious change in UK legislation is not consistent with what ministers had promised and could harm the retirement outcomes of millions of savers, some pension experts have warned. The pension schemes bill, expected to become law next year, proposes to give regulators a power to force defined contribution (DC) schemes to invest a minimum amount in private markets.
/jlne.ws/3I86xHJ
Remarks by Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham, 100 Impact Leaders Dinner and Annual Awards, Digital Assets Global Forum, UK House of Lords
CFTC
Good evening, my lords, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to express my gratitude to Lord Taylor of Warwick and Dr. Lisa Cameron, as well as the Financial Club and the UK US Crypto Alliance, for this recognition at the Digital Assets Global Forum 100 Impact Leaders Dinner and Annual Awards and inviting me to provide remarks. Thank you also to Baroness Uddin and Lord Ranger, and especially to all the event staff at the House of Lords.
/jlne.ws/4kcspyM
SEC Charges Former Registered Representative of Brokerage Firms with Defrauding Customers
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed settled charges against Rajesh Markan, formerly a registered representative and investment adviser representative employed by two securities brokerage firms, for soliciting his brokerage customers to invest in a fake private equity fund.
/jlne.ws/4kiQILQ
ASIC cancels Australian financial services licence of Ballast Financial Management Pty Ltd
SEC
ASIC has cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of Perth-based financial services provider Ballast Financial Management Pty Ltd effective 20 June 2025. The AFS licence was cancelled after ASIC became aware that Ballast had ceased to carry on a financial services business. ASIC may suspend or cancel an AFS licence if the licensee ceases to carry on a financial services business under section 915B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
/jlne.ws/4l9Uc4t
ASIC issues updated guidance for managed investment schemes
ASIC
These RGs were changed in minor and technical respects only and do not change legal requirements or impose additional regulatory burdens. The changes are focused on reflecting consequential changes to the law and legislative relief granted by ASIC since these RGs were last updated. ASIC did not consult externally on the changes as they are consequential and administrative in nature.
/jlne.ws/4lcUNT4
Samantha Barrass - Financial Conduct Report
FMA
We have said that the best way for us to do this is to be forward looking. To focus on the important emerging risks and opportunities. This week, we launched our first Financial Conduct Report, sets out what those are in the sectors we regulate, and how we propose to address them in the coming 12 months. This is critical to delivering our outcomes-focused approach by focusing our resources where they will make the biggest impact.
/jlne.ws/4lgTvX1
Former financial adviser pleads guilty to charges of theft
FMA
Murray McClune, a former financial adviser, has pleaded guilty to two charges of theft by a person in a special relationship (s 220(1) of the Crimes Act 1961), following an investigation by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - Te Mana TÄtai Hokohoko. Mr McClune had worked in the insurance industry since the late 1960s. He had an established book of clients, including some who had used his services for decades and considered him a friend. In addition to providing advice on insurance, Mr McClune also offered investment opportunities to some of his clients.
/jlne.ws/3I4Uxqs
Invoice and credit tasks added to My FCA
FCA
From today, registered and authorised firms can action their invoices and credit tasks via My FCA. Firms will receive emails to let them know when an Online Invoicing System (OIS) task is due in My FCA. There will be no change to the timing of annual fee invoices. They will be issued to firms between July and September.
/jlne.ws/4nzmy9Z
Once-in-a-generation advice changes to help millions navigate their financial lives
FCA
Millions more people could get help navigating their financial lives with support on pensions and investments, under proposals announced by the FCA. The FCA's proposals would allow firms to offer a new type of help called 'targeted support' and make suggestions to groups of consumers with common characteristics. These could include people who may be currently drawing down on their pension unsustainably, not saving enough for retirement or who have excess cash sitting in a current account.
/jlne.ws/45Ig2Ho
Singapore Renews Loan Commitment under the IMF's New Arrangements to Borrow
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that Singapore will renew its loan commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB)[1]. This renewed loan commitment supports multilateral efforts to strengthen the IMF's capacity to safeguard global economic and financial stability.
/jlne.ws/4nmSvSB
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | FOMO-Driven Call Buying Soars as Traders Chase S&P 500's Furious Run
Esha Dey - Bloomberg
Traders keen to seize on further gains after the S&P 500 Index hit its first record since February are betting on stock-market darlings that they expect will surpass the index's ascent. The signals from derivatives trading are clear, strategists said, as investors last week aggressively bought call options - a wager that an asset's price will keep increasing. Among the highlights: a rush into Nvidia Corp. on Wednesday that pushed the volume of call contracts on the stock to almost triple that of bearish puts, the biggest gap since January; a jump to a four-month high in the call-put ratio on the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund; and a drop to a two-month low in the cost of hedging against a selloff in Meta Platforms Inc. (META).
/jlne.ws/3ZWbGsw
The Unlikely Stocks That Drove the Market to a Record High; Dollar General, not the Magnificent Seven, is the rally's hero. It makes for a healthier market when unloved stocks get a bit of attention too.
James Mackintosh - The Wall Street Journal
It is easy to tell a simple story about the stock market at the moment. But it would be wrong. The simple story is Big Tech is back, baby! The Magnificent Seven went into a tailspin as tariffs, war and the spectacle of the president's coming close to firing the head of the Federal Reserve sent the world's biggest stocks plunging. But they have pulled out of their dive, and despite Friday's renewed trade tensions with Canada, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq made new highs on Friday. Boom! The truth is more nuanced. Since the last high for the S&P 500, on Feb. 19, the best performer among big stocks has been the most humdrum of companies, a discount store.
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The Stock-Market Rally Is Moving Beyond Big Tech and Investors Are Thrilled; One measure of market breadth recently touched a new high, as financial and industrial names fuel stocks' climb
Hannah Erin Lang and Roshan Fernandez - The Wall Street Journal
The summer stock rally is broadening beyond big tech. Megacap technology stocks such as Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom led the market's rapid, tariff-spurred selloff earlier this year, only to rebound just as quickly a few weeks later when trade fears eased. Now, with economic fears diminished and optimism growing that the Trump administration will take a milder stance on trade, the recovery has expanded to include stocks across a more diverse group of sectors, such as financials, industrials and utilities.
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Why Investors Are Right to Love Dividends; The payouts often aren't about income, and that's all right
Spencer Jakab - The Wall Street Journal
It turns out that caring about dividends can really pay dividends. Finance professors have long tsk-tsked about investors' love for cash payouts. But a recent report shows what people actually do with them and why they prefer receiving cash: because it works. One of the original studies on dividends in the early 1960s said people shouldn't care about the payouts. Maximizing wealth is the point, and dividends are just part of investors' total return. Any cash a company pays out reduces its value by an equal amount, after all.
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They're in the Top 10% of Earners. They Still Don't Feel Rich; By many measures, the most affluent Americans are thriving. But $250,000 doesn't mean what they thought it would.
Rachel Louise Ensign - The Wall Street Journal
Lauren Fichter and her husband earn about $350,000 a year. The couple own their Reading, Pa., home and a vacation property they rent out on Airbnb. Their three children play club sports, and the family often grabs takeout after games. But when her son Dalton heads to college next year, he'll have to tap student loans and hunt for scholarships. The couple haven't been able to save enough to cover all of their children's expected college expenses, which often cost around $75,000 a year per student for families at their income level.
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What Traders Have Gotten Wrong in 2025; Trump's tariff and tax policies test assumptions on the US Dollar, markets and bonds
Alice Gledhill, Malavika Kaur Makol, and Sagarika Jaisinghani - Bloomberg
Six months since Wall Street laid out its predictions for 2025, world conflicts and President Donald Trump's turbulent policy making have shattered assumptions about the strength and preeminence of US assets and the economy - leaving market favorites in tatters and conjuring unexpected winners. As foreseen: swings in sovereign bond markets have been sharp, the Japanese yen rallied, and a comeback for emerging markets is finally materializing.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | The extraordinary life and mysterious death of a carbon credits broker; How an Italian fugitive used diplomatic immunity to work with Dubai royalty and Liberia's fallen hero
Kenza Bryan - Financial Times
Late last year, Florentine prosecutors finally identified a fugitive by the bloated corpse washed up months before on a beach near Dubai, naked and with most of its skin missing. But an official DNA match to Samuele Landi, formerly the boss of one of Italy's top telecom companies, only deepened the mystery of his life. Landi was a telecoms entrepreneur turned fraudster and fugitive who burned a trail from Italy to west Africa to the Middle East over the course of a decade.
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Depopulation Is Coming. Don't Expect It to Solve Our Problems.
Michael Geruso and Dean Spears - The New York Times (guest essay)
Dr. Geruso and Dr. Spears are economists and the authors of the forthcoming book "After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People."
We've all heard that human overpopulation is a crisis. In 2017, Bill Nye warned us about the planet's "people problem," and that same decade David Attenborough told us that "we are a plague on the Earth." Project Drawdown, an environmental nonprofit, lists slower population growth among its top climate solutions. And now, fertility rates everywhere are falling.
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Trump Wants to Expand Nuclear Power. It Won't Be Easy; Developers need to prove they can deliver on time and on budget to kick-start interest
Josh Ulick and Jennifer Hiller - The Wall Street Journal
President Trump wants the U.S. power industry to go nuclear. His recent executive orders aim to quadruple nuclear-power generation in the next 25 years-a monumental target. For most of the past three decades, the industry has been managing ever-older assets instead of building new reactors. Developers are counting on a supply-chain revival and will have to prove they can deliver on time and on budget to drive interest in the sector. New York hopes to get the ball rolling. Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled plans last week to build a large nuclear-power facility. The project could be sizable enough to help jump-start domestic construction and test Trump's promise to expedite permitting.
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Google Is Betting on a Fusion Future in Power Deal With Commonwealth; Google will also invest again in Commonwealth, which expects its first commercial plant will generate power in the early 2030s
Dina Bass and Will Wade - Bloomberg
Alphabet Inc.'s Google has agreed to purchase 200 megawatts of power from Commonwealth Fusion Systems' planned first commercial plant, which is expected to begin delivering electricity to the grid in the early 2030s. Google is also making a second investment in Commonwealth, a leading contender in the effort to commercialize fusion power, according to a statement Monday. Google participated in a 2021 funding round led by Tiger Global Management that put $1.8 billion into the company. The companies declined to disclose the size of either investment.
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Smelters say they are losing power battle with Big Tech; US and European industry executives say high electricity prices are holding back efforts to rekindle domestic industry
Camilla Hodgson and Jamie Smyth - Financial Times
High electricity costs and an intensifying battle with Big Tech for power are hampering US and European policymakers' efforts to reshore strategically important metals processing industries, executives say. Washington and Brussels are offering billions of dollars of taxpayer funds for smelting, processing and mining projects for metals such as copper and aluminium, in order to break China's stranglehold on the industry. The US has also imposed punitive tariffs on imports in a bid to protect domestic industry.
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UK government demands probe into insolvency of Lindsey oil refinery; River Humber facility owned by privately held Prax Group started proceedings over weekend
Rachel Millard and Tom Wilson - Financial Times
The UK government has called for an investigation into the owners of the Lindsey oil refinery after the facility fell into insolvency, putting hundreds of jobs at risk. The refinery in north-east England, owned by the privately held Prax Group since 2021, filed for insolvency over the weekend, a UK government spokesman said on Monday. The facility processed about 96,600 barrels of oil a day in 2024 from the site on the river Humber, where about 400 people are employed. Those workers remained in place and continued to be paid, the newly appointed administrator Teneo said on Monday.
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The UK's Record-Breaking Sunshine Isn't All Good News; One of Britain's warmest - and sunniest - springs ever may be lifting spirits, but it comes with challenges.
Lara Williams - Bloomberg
There's one thing about climate change that's both boring and disturbing in equal measure: the repetitive breaking of meteorological records. Last year was the warmest on record globally, kicking 2023 off the top spot. So far, 2025 looks to be slightly cooler than 2024 - but is still far hotter than most years since 1940. Regionally, new records are also being set. The UK has just experienced its warmest spring since records began in 1884 - and the sunniest. With just over 653 hours of sunshine - 43% above average - spring 2025 has outshone even most summers, becoming the fourth-sunniest overall season for the UK and the sunniest overall for Northern Ireland. This bright weather has produced a series of winners, but it also serves as a reminder that record-breaking extremes come with challenges we need to prepare better for.
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Dealmakers Hit $1.8 Trillion as They Get Used to Trade Chaos
Ryan Gould, Michelle F Davis, Manuel Baigorri, and Dong Cao - Bloomberg
Big money takeovers of private companies helped drive mergers and acquisitions in the first half, as dealmakers got comfortable writing sizable checks in topsy-turvy markets. More than half of the 10 largest deals announced in 2025 have involved a private target, data compiled by Bloomberg show, including the tie-up of Charter Communications Inc. and Cox Communications, Alphabet Inc.'s purchase of cybersecurity firm Wiz Inc. and Constellation Energy Corp.'s acquisition of US power station operator Calpine Corp. All were valued at around $30 billion or more including debt.
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The boomerang bankers for whom escape becomes exile; It is not just pay and perks that are persuading those who walk away from the industry to return
Craig Coben - Financial Times
A few years ago, I attended the retirement party of a talented, charismatic investment banker in his fifties. The grand ballroom of a high-end London hotel overflowed with champagne, war stories (probably embellished), and misty-eyed tributes. His wife gave a stirring toast about his exciting new projects: writing a book, travelling the world, restoring a second home that was a listed building. It was a triumphant, no-tears farewell to the industry. All of us envied him. Then last year, the news dropped: he was back. Not at his old firm, but at a rival bank, in a senior coverage role. When I met him for a drink, I couldn't hide my surprise and concern. If someone as capable, connected, and genuinely likeable as this guy couldn't stay out of banking, what hope was there for the rest of us?
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Goldman Sachs Scraps Plans to Build Hotel Brand in Greece; The firm had big ambitions for three resorts with views of the Aegean Sea. It recently sold the properties, barely breaking even.
AnnaMaria Andriotis - The Wall Street Journal
Just a few years ago, Goldman Sachs had ambitions to create a hotel brand in Greece that could one day expand to spots around the Mediterranean. The Wall Street giant bought three seaside resorts in northern Greece in 2022, with plans to spruce them up and start welcoming guests as soon as this year. Tourism in the country was on a tear, and the bank saw an opportunity to snap up properties on the mainland with views of the Aegean Sea, rather than on the pricier Greek islands.
/jlne.ws/44s27mE
Wall Street Backs Los Angeles Wildfire Lawsuits, Chasing Billions; Funders offer loans to lawyers representing fire victims
Jef Feeley, Mark Chediak, Katherine Doherty, and Emily Siegel - Bloomberg Law
The Los Angeles wildfires have generated potentially thousands of new clients for lawyers and prospects for billions in fees. Wall Street wants in on the action, too. The chance at a piece of strong returns has encouraged investment banks, hedge funds and debt investors to vie for contracts to fund the litigation, according to people involved in transactions. That's in addition to firms solely dedicated to funding lawsuits, which has grown into a $16 billion industry in the US over two decades.
/jlne.ws/3I3Mkmf
Hedge Funds
Hedge funds seek to expand into private credit; Millennium, Point72 and Third Point among those seeking to push into popular asset class
Amelia Pollard and Eric Platt and Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
Big hedge funds are pushing into private credit as they seek to establish themselves as diversified financial institutions, with Millennium Management, Point72 and Third Point all looking to launch new funds and strategies. Third Point, a $20bn firm with a history as an activist investor, plans to launch a publicly traded private credit fund next month called Third Point Private Capital Partners, which will lend directly to businesses.
/jlne.ws/44mA4on
Private Markets
A Pioneer in Private Credit Warns the Industry Is Ruining Its Golden Era; Sixth Street's Alan Waxman says his publicly traded rivals are turning private credit into a commoditized business-and he isn't following suit
Miriam Gottfried - The Wall Street Journal
Private credit is in a golden age. The biggest firms are marching further into bank territory, raking in money from insurance companies and individual investors and setting their sights on the trillions of dollars in U.S. retirement accounts. But one of its pioneers thinks the industry is losing track of what made it great. Alan Waxman, CEO of investment firm Sixth Street, says publicly traded rivals such as Apollo Global Management and Blackstone have reoriented their credit businesses to take in huge sums of money from insurance companies and individual investors. That means money flows in and must be put to work quickly, whether or not the investment opportunity is ripe.
/jlne.ws/4kktUeH
Private Equity
Saudi PE Firm Jadwa Invests $45 Million in PetroApp Ahead of IPO
Fahad Abuljadayel - Bloomberg
Saudi private equity firm Jadwa Investment has committed $45 million to Saudi fuel and fleet management firm PetroApp, with a view toward taking the company public by 2028. The funding is part of a $50 million round for PetroApp that also includes Abu Dhabi-based Bunat Ventures, according to a statement. Jadwa is investing through its flagship blind pool fund and said it expects to finalize another deal with a healthcare company before the end of 2025.
/jlne.ws/4l6XDIY
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Europe Is Recruiting Academics Disenchanted With America; U.K., France, among others have set up funds to help U.S. researchers relocate to the continent
Noemie Bisserbe and Nidhi Subbaraman - The Wall Street Journal
PARIS-French President Emmanuel Macron has a message for American academics like Nathan Perl-Rosenthal: Forget the U.S., come to France! Perl-Rosenthal, a history professor at the University of Southern California, met Macron at a conference in Paris in May, weeks after the U.S. government canceled a grant funding his research on maritime history. Perl-Rosenthal was impressed by Macron's commitment to defend l'esprit critique and academic freedom. "He winked at me when I said I worked on the rise of mass politics," Perl-Rosenthal said. He is considering a permanent post in Paris.
/jlne.ws/3GpKV9b
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | 7 Exercises to Soothe Your Sore Neck and Shoulders; Try this simple routine to combat "tech neck."
Anna Maltby - The New York Times
For thousands of years, humans have hunched over to light fires, care for our children and harvest plants. But the modern version of this position - curving forward from focus or fatigue, then lifting our chins to stare at our screens - can lead to pain for many people.
/jlne.ws/44rWhBJ
Six life lessons from the healthiest town in Italy; Italians on the Amalfi Coast live longer - their love of anchovies and the lack of care homes in the area are just some of their secrets
Ella Nunn - The Telegraph
On the west coast of Italy, just south of Naples, is the region of Cilento. It's known for its sprawling national park which overlooks the crystal clear Mediterranean Sea, yet its most impressive feature is its residents. A disproportionately high number of them - roughly 300, in fact - are over 100 years old, and in remarkable health, free of heart problems and mental ailments. Professor Salvatore Di Somma, founder of Great Health Science, which runs research programs investigating healthy ageing, has studied Cilento's residents for the past decade, alongside a team of scientists from Italy and the United States.
/jlne.ws/3TMYZMW
The anti-inflammatory diet guide: Foods to eat - and the ones to avoid; Chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease and cancer. We asked experts which foods to eat (and avoid) to help tackle it
Jo Waters - The Telegraph
Ignore chronic inflammation at your peril. Recognised as a contributor to many deaths globally, half of these are partly attributable to inflammation-related diseases including heart disease, stroke, cancer, and Type 2 diabetes. "Whilst helpful in the short term - as part of the body's healing process in response to injury or an infection - inflammation becomes harmful if it becomes chronic," says Dr Sammie Gill, a dietitian and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) specialist.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Russia Base Metals Sales to China Surge, Signaling Deep Reliance
Bloomberg News
Russian base metals sales to China surged in the first five months of 2025, underscoring its economic dependence on its Asian neighbor even as the country seeks to diversify trade. Russian aluminum sales to China through May jumped by almost 56% year-on-year to nearly 1 million tons, copper sales advanced 66%, while nickel imports more than doubled, according to Trade Data Monitor, which sources information from China's customs office.
/jlne.ws/4krt288
India RBI Cuts Short Forex Derivative Book to $65.2 Billion
Subhadip Sircar - Bloomberg
India's central bank lowered short dollar positions in the derivatives market for a third successive month in a rejig of its intervention strategy under new chief Sanjay Malhotra. The net book was $65.2 billion short in the forwards market as of May, Bloomberg calculations from RBI data showed. This compares with $72.6 billion as of end-April and a record of $88.8 billion in February. The Reserve Bank of India has been extending the maturity of its forwards book to above three months segment. Bulk of the dollar repayments due stood in the three-month to one year bucket at $30 billion. The higher than one-year category was at $20.1 billion due to buy/sell swaps conducted by the RBI.
/jlne.ws/3G5XQNA
China's tighter export controls squeeze wider range of rare earths; Additional customs inspections cause long delays that threaten to disrupt global supply chains
Edward White - Financial Times
China's export controls are spilling over into products beyond the rare earths and magnets officially identified by Beijing, threatening broader supply chain disruption and undermining US claims that a new trade deal had resolved delays to shipments. Beijing, which dominates global supply of critical minerals, began requiring licences for exports of seven rare earth metals and related magnet materials in April in retaliation for Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports.
/jlne.ws/44s5slF
Donald Trump ally seeks to snap up DR Congo mine as US brokers peace deal; Financier Gentry Beach in talks over Rubaya coltan mine as Washington dangles investments to accompany end to regional conflict
William Wallis - Financial Times
The Democratic Republic of Congo is in talks with a Texan businessman allied to Donald Trump to make a notorious source of conflict minerals a central part of US-backed peace plans for the region. Gentry Beach, the chair of investment firm America First Global and former finance co-chair of Trump's campaign in 2016, is part of a consortium negotiating for rights to the Rubaya coltan mine, said Congolese officials and people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/4l6I4RD
Why rocketing cocoa prices are not benefiting West Africa's farmers; Global boom fails to reach the industry's heartlands, leaving ageing plantations vulnerable to disease and lack of investment
Susannah Savage - Financial Times
The plants are old, the earth is tired, said farmer Kouadio N'Guessan Yves, stamping his foot into the red dirt and running his hand up a gnarled trunk. The rows of cocoa trees stretching towards the sun were planted by the Ivorian's grandfather or great-grandfather, and no one since then has had the cash to plant new ones. Down a narrow, dusty path in a tiny village near the town of Daloa, Yves's neighbours pull apart the yellow cocoa pods and spread the white, fleshy beans across tarpaulins by hand. Once the sun has browned and sweetened them, the farmers carry sacks of cocoa down potholed roads to market on rusty motorbikes or on foot. Even four-wheel-drive vehicles struggle with the terrain.
/jlne.ws/44nfsMS
European companies look to France for domestic rare earths sector; China's trade restrictions cut exports of rare earth magnets by 51% in a month, Wood Mackenzie says
Camilla Hodgson and Ian Johnston - Financial Times
European industrial groups are turning to a developing rare earths ecosystem in France as they attempt to cut dependence on China for critical minerals used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. Beijing upended supply chains for minerals crucial to the energy transition and fuelled concerns about an impending shortage of permanent magnets when it imposed export controls in April, in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's tariffs.
/jlne.ws/4ntkjVp
The US can beat China on critical minerals but not by copying it; America must rebuild the infrastructure that underpins markets and thus supply chains
Daleep Singh - Financial Times
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Here's a Tip to Companies: Beware of Promoting AI in Products; Consumers have less trust in offerings labeled as being powered by artificial intelligence, which can reduce their interest in buying them, researchers say
Sean Captain - The Wall Street Journal
It seems like it's the latest marketing strategy: Push the idea that your product or service has artificial intelligence in it. But recent research suggests that approach could backfire and actually turn off consumers. The effect is especially pronounced for offerings perceived to be riskier buys, such as a car or a medical-diagnostic service, say the researchers, who were from Washington State University and Temple University. "When we were thinking about this project, we thought that AI will improve [consumers' willingness to buy] because everyone is promoting AI in their products," says Dogan Gursoy, a regents professor of hospitality business management at Washington State and one of the study's authors. "But apparently it has a negative effect, not a positive one."
/jlne.ws/44OpB5F
Buffett Donates $6 Billion in Berkshire Shares to Charities
Alexandre Rajbhandari - Bloomberg
Warren Buffett will donate about $6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares to five foundations as part of a pledge he made nearly two decades ago. About 9.43 million Class B shares will be given to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, according to a statement on Saturday. Another 2.92 million shares will be donated to his children's foundations - Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation - as well as the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after the billionaire's late wife.
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