FirstFT: Diplomats maintain pressing talks to move off risk of Mideast struggle

Good morning. We start within the Center East, the place US and EU diplomats are holding pressing discussions to attempt to head off the specter of a full-blown regional struggle after Israel focused Hizbollah and Hamas leaders in Beirut and Tehran.

Enrique Mora, one of many EU’s most senior diplomats, was holding crucial talks with officers in Iran’s capital yesterday after the killing of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which was blamed on Israel. Brett McGurk, the White Home’s prime official within the Center East, held discussions in Saudi Arabia.

The western diplomatic strain comes as fears over a broader regional battle soared. Iran and Hizbollah have individually vowed to avenge the assaults. Right here’s what we learn about how the talks are progressing.

And right here’s what I’m conserving tabs on at the moment:

• Financial knowledge: S&P International releases manufacturing buying managers’ indices for the Eurozone, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US.

• UK rates of interest: Traders have beefed up bets on a lower by the Financial institution of England when it proclaims its financial coverage choice at the moment.

• Outcomes: ArcelorMittal, BAE Techniques, Barclays, Deutsche Submit, London Inventory Change, Rolls-Royce, Schroders, Shell, Thomson Reuters, Veolia Environnement, Volkswagen and Wizz Air report.

5 extra prime tales

1. The Federal Reserve has stated it may begin reducing rates of interest as quickly as September after US policymakers voted to carry borrowing prices at a 23-year excessive for the eighth assembly in a row. “A reduction in our policy rate could be on the table as soon as the next meeting in September,” stated Fed chair Jay Powell. Learn extra on the place central financial institution officers stand.

2. Unique: The European Fee has issued a listing of eight calls for to “demonstrate real UK government commitment” to honouring its Brexit divorce cope with Brussels. The bloc has claimed that Britain did not implement current Brexit agreements on Northern Eire and the rights of EU residents dwelling within the nation. Listed here are the EU’s different calls for.

3. Unique: Spain’s southern Valencia area is becoming a member of a rising variety of governments cracking down on Airbnb-style vacation leases in response to backlash in opposition to mass tourism. The regional authorities is looking for to stamp out black-market leases by threatening rule-breaking landlords with fines of as much as €600,000.

4. Gunvor has agreed to amass half of Varo Power’s $600mn Dutch biofuel venture within the newest signal of Europe’s privately held commodity merchants diversifying after two years of document income. The Swiss group, which owns two biofuel crops, is stepping up its wager on the renewable gasoline regardless of decrease than anticipated progress in demand.

5. A UN scientist working to steer the worldwide physique that governs seabed mining has stated no firm must be granted a licence earlier than clear safeguards are in place, staking out probably the most distinct pro-conservation stance on this week’s election for the publish. Leticia Carvalho, head of the UN’s marine and freshwater department, cited “mind-blowing” analysis suggesting ocean ground metals electrically produce life-giving “dark oxygen”. Learn the complete interview.

The Large Learn

Athletics, which begins on the Paris Olympics at the moment, is commonly the largest draw at an occasion that kinds itself because the “greatest show on Earth”. From Jesse Owens and Roger Bannister to Allyson Felix and Usain Bolt, its icons have produced performances which have redefined the bounds of human achievement. However for a lot of sports activities followers, the Video games are the one time they take note of athletics. Can the game win a giant viewers exterior the Olympics?

We’re additionally studying and watching . . . 

• Yen weak spot: For higher or worse, the Financial institution of Japan has tacitly admitted, on behalf of a nation enduring a phrases of commerce disaster, that foreign money is all the pieces to its economic system, writes Leo Lewis.

• Russian enterprise: Unable to make use of courts to guard their enterprise pursuits, executives are turning to figures reminiscent of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov to fend off predators.

• FT Movie: Nigeria’s oil sector has been stricken by profiteering, theft and under-investment. Can the brand new $20bn Dangote refinery assist rework the trade and wider economic system?

Chart of the day

A rising consciousness of consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction amongst younger girls pushed by TikTok has seen prescriptions for the situation sometimes related to boys hit document ranges in England. A Monetary Instances evaluation of prescription knowledge exhibits that within the first quarter of 2024, there have been 19,400 girls aged 25-34 prescribed treatment for ADHD, greater than 5 instances as many sufferers as at the beginning of 2019.

Take a break from the information

For Renate Reinsve, the star of The Worst Particular person In The World, summer season in Oslo is like “one big festival” that lasts for 3 months. The actor shares the place to savour the Norwegian capital’s wealthy cultural and eating scenes and the place to retreat to nature.

Further contributions from Emily Goldberg and Georgina Quach