Plus, China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war.

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Daily Briefing

Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. Trump says Iran war should end 'soon', crowds gather in Cameroon for the biggest event of Pope Leo's Africa tour, and China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in an information war.

Plus, our top photos of the week.

Today's Top News

 

A couple gestures from a car as they return to their home, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, Beirut, Lebanon. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Middle East

  • US President Donald Trump expressed confidence that an agreement could soon be reached to end the Iran war and said Tehran-backed Hezbollah should support the US-backed truce agreed between Lebanon ‌and Israel. Follow our live updates.
  • Beirut Bureau Chief Maya Gebeily tells the Reuters World News podcast that this truce is fragile, particularly given the Israeli military will not withdraw from the south during the ten days, making it tricky for Lebanese families to return home.
  • France and Britain will chair a meeting of around 40 countries aimed at signaling to the US that some of its closest allies are ready to ‌play a role in restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once conditions allow.

In other news

  • Voters in northern New Jersey chose Analilia Mejia, a progressive Democrat who worked on Senator Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential election campaign, as their next representative in a special election.
  • A small group of Trump allies have targeted a hallowed dogsledding event in Greenland. They're dangling the possibility of big investments. And they're focusing on Greenland’s painful colonial past. The effort appears to be backfiring. Read our Special Report.
  • British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came under renewed pressure to resign despite sacking a senior official following news that Britain's former ‌ambassador to the United States had failed security vetting but was still handed the job.
  • Thousands of people were gathering in Douala, Cameroon's ‌largest city and economic hub, for a Mass with Pope Leo that will likely be the biggest event of the pontiff's four-nation Africa tour.
  • The astronauts who flew around the moon and back in NASA's landmark Artemis II mission said their re-entry into Earth's atmosphere was smooth, but the mission's commander described some charring on the Orion capsule's critical heat shield.
 

Business & Markets

 

A worker inspects newly-made gloves at Top Glove factory in Shah Alam, Malaysia. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng/File Photo

  • Rubber glove makers have raised prices and warned of production cuts as the Iran war ‌chokes supplies of key inputs, raising concerns for the healthcare sector.
  • For years, French blue-chip companies studiously avoided engaging with the far right and Marine Le Pen's National Rally but, with polls indicating it could win the election, they are now trying to understand and influence its populist economic agenda.
  • Also in France, TotalEnergies service station attendants went on strike to protest against rising fuel costs, demanding the oil giant, which owns a quarter of the country's ‌service stations, raise salaries.
  • Netflix shares fell nearly 10% in premarket trading after chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings said he was leaving the company at a pivotal moment, as the streaming pioneer hunts for new growth avenues following ‌a failed deal with Warner Bros Discovery.
  • The Iran war has strongly boosted prices of the urea fertilizer that is vital ‌to ensuring a successful wheat harvest in Argentina, forcing farmers into a bind weeks before the crop's season begins next month.
 

The Week Ahead

  • Bulgaria, a Black Sea nation of some 6.5 million on the European Union's southeastern frontier, votes on Sunday for the eighth time in five years.
  • China sets its loan prime rate on Monday, though analysts see the central bank keeping its benchmark unchanged through the ⁠end of the year.
  • Investors will learn more about Trump's pick to lead the Federal Reserve when the former Fed governor Kevin Warsh appears before Congress for his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
  • Here's everything you need to know about the coming week in financial markets.
 

China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war

 

A giant screen shows a news report on China's "Justice Mission 2025" military drills around Taiwan, in Beijing, China. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

Chinese state media outlets are increasingly amplifying Taiwanese critics of the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, including influencers and politicians linked to the opposition Kuomintang. 

This is according to five Taiwanese security officials and data from ‌Taipei-based research group IORG that was shared with Reuters.

Read more
 

Photos of the week

A firefighter works at the site of a recyclable materials warehouse hit by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenk

Click through for a selection of our top news photography from around the world this week.