Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle endorsed Kamala Harris‘ bid for president in a roughly one-minute long video that captured a private phone call between the couple and the current vice president.
Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden. Netanyahu will also visit Republican candidate Donald Trump in Florida.
Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his ex-partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for US authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.
In other news
North Korean hackers have conducted a global cyber espionage campaign in efforts to steal classified military secrets to support Pyongyang’s banned nuclear weapons program, the US, Britain and South Korea said in a joint advisory.
Typhoon Gaemi lashed towns on China’s coastal Fujian province with heavy rains and strong winds as the storm began its widely watched trek into the populous interior. Earlier this week, Gaemi turned streets in the Philippines into rivers – view our gallery.
The Bank of England’s first interest rate cut since 2020 hangs in the balance next week, with greater uncertainty than usual as key policymakers have not spoken publicly for more than two months due to rules in the run-up to July 4’s election.
OpenAI is venturing into a territory long dominated by Google with the selective launch of SearchGPT, an artificial intelligence-powered search engine with real-time access to information from the internet.
It’s a big week for central banks, with policymakers in the US, Japan and Britain all due to reconsider lending rates and markets on edge over more earnings from US tech giants.
The steep selloff in markets in recent days is shining a spotlight on the Federal Reserve, which concludes its July monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.
Venezuelans will head to the polls on Sunday for an election which has seen the opposition attract significant support – Andean Bureau Chief Julia Symmes Cobb talks through it on the Reuters World News daily podcast – listen now.
From Monday be sure to check the Daily Briefing for a live medals tally from the Olympic Games in Paris.
US told Philippines it made ‘missteps’ in secret anti-vax propaganda effort
A health worker shows a vial of Sinovac Biotech’s Coronavac. Fort Bonifacio, Philippines, March 2, 2021. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez/File Photo
The US Defense Department admitted that it spread propaganda in the Philippines aimed at disparaging China’s Sinovac vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a June 25 document cited by a former top government official earlier this month.
The US admission followed a June 14 Reuters investigation that revealed how the Pentagon launched a secret psychological operation to discredit Chinese vaccines and other COVID aid in 2020 and 2021, at the height of the pandemic.
Reuters Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.
Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you’re signed up for, click here.
