Weekend Papers Summary
NEW YORK TIMES
-Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, became perhaps the most transformational politician in the country’s post-World War II history.
His assassination sets off a race to lead one of the most powerful factions of the Liberal Democratic Party. And his influence, scholars say, will be lasting.
-Shinzo Abe’s assassination was especially hard to fathom because it involved a gun — an extremely rare type of crime in Japan.
-Japanese police said the man charged with killing Shinzo Abe had a “grudge” against a group he associated with the ex-prime minister. Mr. Abe’s body arrived Saturday at his home in Tokyo.
-Strong wage and jobs growth is keeping the Federal Reserve on track for big rate increase. The Fed is trying to cool down the economy to bring inflation under control, but the job market is still going strong.
-The US economy added 372,000 jobs last month, easing worries of a slowdown, but also complicating the Fed’s attempt to quell inflation.
-Elon Musk moves to end $44B deal to buy Twitter. In a regulatory filing on Friday, Mr. Musk said Twitter was in “material breach” of the acquisition agreement.
-The far-right Christian quest for power: ‘we are seeing them emboldened’. Political candidates on the fringe mix religious fervor with conspiracy theories, even calling for the end of the separation of church and state. Doug Mastriano, a Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor, called the separation of church and state a "myth."
-As Russia looms, a Ukrainian city’s loyalties divide. Most residents have fled the eastern city of Sloviansk before an expected assault. About half of the 23,000 remaining are eager to welcome the invaders.
-Russia’s Lavrov was a pariah at Group of 20 Event, but only for some
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. And other Western foreign ministers refused to meet with the Russian diplomat, but for many others it was business as usual.
-Louisiana judge allows abortion ban to take effect. The fast-changing status in the state is emblematic of the chaotic national landscape that has unfolded since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
-Under pressure, Biden issues an executive order on abortion. Some of President Biden’s supporters wanted him to push harder to protect abortion access. But details about what his new order will do remain unclear.
-Health officials said the subvariants known as BA.4 and BA.5 were fueling a rise in cases after most Covid policies were relaxed. Catch up on pandemic news.
-Columbia University loses its no. 2 spot in the U.S. news rankings. US News & World Report said that it had “unranked” the Ivy League university after being unable to verify its data.
-A deadly confrontation at a Harlem store that drew attention from Mayor Eric Adams feeds a broader debate about crime and politics.
President Biden signals support for controversial Alaska oil project. President Biden’s administration took a key step toward approving the Willow project. Opponents say drilling would violate a pledge to rein in fossil fuel.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-Elon Musk has notified Twitter that he intends to terminate his agreement to buy the social media group for $44B, accusing it of disclosing “false and misleading” information about the number of fake and spam accounts.
Musk’s attempt to pull out of the deal sets the stage for a high-stakes legal battle between the billionaire Tesla chief executive and the social media platform. Twitter’s chair, Bret Taylor, responded swiftly, saying the board was “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr Musk” and would pursue legal action to enforce the agreement.
-Shinzo Abe, a polarizing, nationalist scion of an elite political dynasty and Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, defined an era of reform and invited the world to reassess the giant Asian economy under his Abenomics banner. He died after being shot during a campaign speech in western Japan at the age of 67.
-Labour is planning a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson to try to force him out of Downing Street immediately, because of concerns he might abuse his role as caretaker prime minister. Angela Rayner, deputy Labour leader, said Johnson was “engulfed in sleaze” and should not be allowed to continue in office.
-Boris Johnson’s allies aim to stop Rishi Sunak becoming Conservative party leader and are accusing the former chancellor of treachery for triggering the prime minister’s premature exit.
-Russian president Vladimir Putin has threatened “catastrophic consequences” for world energy markets if western powers impose further sanctions on Moscow, as G7 members discuss plans to try to cap Russia’s oil revenues following its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian president admitted that sanctions were undoubtedly hurting Russia’s economy but said western powers stood to inflict more harm on themselves as they wrestle with rising inflation and a growing cost of living crisis.
-Federal Reserve vice-chair Lael Brainard has said recent crypto volatility has exposed “serious vulnerabilities” in an industry in need of tighter regulation. Brainard told a Bank of England conference in London on Friday that crypto is not yet “so large or so interconnected” with traditional finance to pose systemic risk but raises familiar regulatory concerns.
-20 Years ago, Wang Chuanfu, the Chinese billionaire, unveiled plans for his BYD group to buy a failing state car manufacturer that had attempted to develop a sideline in making missiles.
His logic: rip out the petrol guzzling internal combustion engines from the cars and replace them with batteries. For BYD shareholders who thought they had invested in a more humdrum maker of batteries for mobile phones, the strategy “seemed loaded with nutty ambition”, according to an analyst. But six years later, Wang pulled off a coup when Warren Buffett invested $232M in BYD. This week, Wang’s vision — and Buffet’s bet — was validated when BYD snatched Tesla’s crown as the most popular maker of battery-driven cars. Half-year sales figures showed that BYD — short for “build your dreams” — sold more vehicles than Tesla.
-Intense labor demand stoked another strong month of US jobs gains, defying expectations for a sharper slowdown and giving the Federal Reserve greater leeway to continue raising interest rates to stamp out soaring inflation.
-US president Joe Biden on Friday announced measures designed to maintain access to abortion and urged women to vote in November’s midterm elections, as his administration looks to limit the fallout of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade. Biden spoke from the White House about how he intends to make sure Americans can still get abortions even after the country’s highest court struck down the decades-long precedent that guaranteed a right to an abortion, paving the way for multiple states to ban or restrict the procedure.
-Prosecutors on Friday said three former members of JPMorgan Chase’s precious metals trading desk “scammed the market” as part of a years-long criminal conspiracy to manipulate the global silver and gold markets.
-Prosecutors on Friday said three former members of JPMorgan Chase’s precious metals trading desk “scammed the market” as part of a years-long criminal conspiracy to manipulate the global silver and gold markets.
-Two of Europe’s largest airlines, Lufthansa and KLM, took the rare step of restricting sales of all but their most expensive tickets while cancelling another set of flights as the disruption gripping aviation worsened. The two airlines adopted the measures to help ease the travel problems caused by staff shortages and the rise in demand for seats since the relaxation of Covid-19 rules.
NY POST
-It’s official. Chris Cuomo is back.The disgraced former CNN anchor posted an Instagram Reel on Friday with shots of him shirtless, smoking a cigar and flexing his muscles. “Something’s coming . . . Summer ’22,” Cuomo, 51, teased, while he also showed off his chest tattoo.The journalist’s tease was greeted with much fanfare from his followers.
- The suspect who shot dead Shinzo Abe on Friday believed the former Japanese prime minister was involved in a “specific organization” — and that his grudge wasn’t political, police said. The suspected killer, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, was tackled to the ground just moments after he allegedly opened fire on the 67-year-old former leader as he delivered a campaign speech in the western region of Nara. In an interview with investigators, Yamagami allegedly admitted to plotting to kill Abe because he thought the ex-prime minister was connected to an organization that he bore a grudge against.
-Former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is defending his comments from last month in which he claimed that millions of Americans may need to lose their jobs in order for inflation to come under control. Summers, who has emerged as a chief critic of the Biden administration’s economic policies, told the London School of Economics recently: “We need five years of unemployment above 5% to contain inflation — in other words, we need two years of 7.5% unemployment or five years of 6% unemployment or one year of 10% unemployment.”