Weekend Papers Summary
NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday
Iranians went to the polls on Friday to vote for a new president, but turnout was low amid apathy as during the presidential race many complained that they felt manipulated to support the conservative candidate, Ebrahim Raisi, who is backed by Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
· In an analysis piece, it is suggested that President Biden’s recent European, and first foreign, trip was generally successful at fulfilling the Administration’s three tasks for the mission, including that of persuading allies that ‘America is back,’ even as Europeans still appear uncertain about the endurance of Washington’s commitment to the Atlantic alliance.
· On Friday, American Roman Catholic bishops ignored the Vatican’s warnings on the Eucharist and voted to deny President Biden communion because of his support for abortion rights, exposing divisions within US Catholicism.
· Rather working toward a bipartisan Bill, Democrats have vowed to push their own plan in order to keep their top priorities.
· On Thursday and Friday, the Israeli air force launched strikes against targets in Gaza the second time in three days, retaliating against after Palestinian militants’ release of incendiary balloons, which landed and set fire to areas of farmland in southern Israel. While no casualties were reported, there are fears that the full scale 11-day conflict, which ended a month ago, could resume.
· Hopeful that that Europe has seen the worse of the pandemic, the European Union on Friday encouraged member states to welcome American tourists this summer to offset the economic damage resulting from over a year of closures and restrictions.
· The Maldives had managed to ward off the worse effects of the pandemic and want tourism to resume, but a recent surge of covid cases has exposed a problem of overreliance on foreign medical staff, as the island nation ensures a shortage of nurses.
· North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, appears ready to talk to the United States again, having asked his government to prepare for “both dialogue and confrontation” with Washington in his first public reaction to the Biden administration’s policy on confronting Pyongyang’s growing nuclear and missile programs.
· In a long feature, the NYT explores the highly competitive nature of E-sports in South Korea and the American company Gen.G’s academy to help develop related talent. Participants are driven to addiction as some e-sports champions can earn millions and many students aspire to achieve related careers: “E-sports is now the fifth-most popular future job among South Korean students, after athletes, doctors, teachers and digital content creators”, according to a survey.
· Covid-19 cases in Brazil have not abated, as the number of deaths in South America’s largest country has approached 500,000. To make matters worse, Brazil is also confronting a drought that could set off intense fires in the Amazon rainforest while impeding efforts to sustain economic growth.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Weekend
· The conservative cleric and head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi, has won Iran’s presidential election by a landslide. The victory means that Iran’s most conservative elements have gained control over “all branches of the state for the first time in almost a decade.” But the election was marked by one of the lowest turnouts since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
· In the ‘Big Read’ section, the feature is an analysis of President Biden’s European visit and its success in reassuring EU leaders that ‘America is back,’ and that in Biden’s words, Europe’s security was America’s “sacred obligation”. Nevertheless, despite Washington’s renewed cultivation of ties with Europe, Biden’s real focus appears to be on China and the Indo-Pacific region.
· General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has dismissed rumors that the Chinese military is preparing to invade Taiwan, noting that Beijing lacks the necessary level of preparedness for such a mission.
· Inflationary pressure and Federal Reserve’s hints it would raise interest rates may account for the fact that “stocks on Wall Street had their worst week in nearly four months.” The benchmark S&P 500 fell 1.9% for the week ending June 18.
· Noted short-seller and anti-corporate fraud knight Nathan Anderson, who founded Hindenburg Research is targeting special purpose acquisition companies, or Spacs such as the major sports betting provider DraftKings, causing its shares to fall by more than 11 per cent even as these have recovered.
· In what was an effort to imitate Elon Musk’s social media antics, Volkswagen played an April fool’s joke suggesting that it was rebranding to ‘Voltsvagen’. But, the joke failed, forcing the German automaker to apologize. The FT examines VW’s effort to shine its image as a maker of ecologically sensitive products.
· In an analytical feature in the Personal Finance section, the FT features a behavioral finance focused article examining the relationship between culture and attitude toward money, noting that the financial industry places undue confidence on the rationality and predictability of human behavior.
· On June 18, the EU has failed to secure a legal ruling to oblige AstraZeneca “to speed up delivery of Covid-19 vaccines or risk billions of euros in fines,” after a Brussels court failed to impose a revised delivery schedule even as it chastised the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant for breaching its contract.
· The FT interviews Vladislav Surkov, one of the intellectuals who have helped shape the ‘Putinism’, and architect of Russia’s “sovereign democracy”.
· Soccer fans can enjoy a feature on Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been leading his Portugal team’s (and reigning champions) strong performance in the EURO 2020 tournament. In a pre-match press conference, Ronaldo made headlines last week for triggering a selloff of Coca-Cola shares after he removed the two Coke bottles set before him, urging fans to drink water instead.
NEW YORK POST
· A 43-year old woman suffered cuts, scrapes and bruises after she was trampled in New York City’s Washington Square Park early Saturday after a when a taser-waving and knife armed man caused panic among the park dwellers who ran away from him.
· The NY Post revisits the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy and the possibility that the crew survived the rocket explosion before crashing into the ocean.
· White House press secretary Jen Psaki has denied Politico’s allegations on Friday that the Biden administration had deliberately delayed a $100 million military aid package for Ukraine.