Happy Friday and welcome to your morning wrap of the latest political and business headlines from around the world.
Starting in the United States, where president Donald Trump’s tax bill has made it through the House of Representatives, sending it to his desk for his final signature. It comes after Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries finished a nearly nine-hour speech criticising the bill on the chamber floor, CNBC reported.
“Republicans are trying to take a chainsaw to Social Security, a chainsaw to Medicare, a chainsaw to Medicaid, a chainsaw to the healthcare of the American people, a chainsaw to nutritional assistance for hungry children, a chainsaw to farm country and a chainsaw to vulnerable Americans,” he said.
Jeffries spoke for eight hours and 44 minutes, breaking the record for the longest speech in House history.
The legislation, which Trump has called the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” passed with the support of House Republicans, who had a slight majority. The Bill includes a mixture of tax cuts and spending cuts, while ramping up spending on defence and funding for deportations. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has warned the Bill will increase the US deficit by US$3.4 trillion between 2025 and 2034.
Hakeem Jeffries (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
To Gaza, where the health ministry said Israeli airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in recent days, including 45 who were attempting to get humanitarian aid, the Associated Press reported. Witnesses have said Israeli troops regularly unleash barrages on crowds of Palestinians trying to reach the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution sites.
The Israeli military, whose forces are deployed on the roads leading to the sites, said it fires warning shots to control the crowds or at Palestinians who approach its troops. Armed US contractors guard the sites. Trump said earlier this week that Israel had agreed to terms for a 60-day ceasefire and urged Hamas to accept the deal. But the militant group emphasised its demand that a truce lead to an end to the war.
Gaza Palestinians evacuate wounded after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp.
To the war in Ukraine, where the deputy head of the Russian Navy has been killed, the BBC reported. Major General Mikhail Gudkov, who was appointed by President Vladimir Putin in March, was killed during what the Russian defence ministry called “combat work” in the western Kursk region.
Ukraine launched a surprise offensive in Kursk this time last year. While its troops have mostly been pushed out, Kyiv said it was still holding on to small areas in the region. Gudkov is one of the most high-profile deaths for Moscow since the start of the invasion.
To Europe, where the European Union is hoping to strike a trade deal with the United States before next week’s tariff deadline, Politico reported. The EU is hoping to strike a deal similar to the one the United Kingdom reached with the US, which allows British car makers to export vehicles to the US at a reduced tariff rate of 10%.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference in Denmark that the EU aimed to have an agreement in principle by next week, adding that a more detailed deal would be “impossible” by July 9.
Ursula von der Leyen.
In market news, some of Wall Street’s main indices have hit fresh record highs after a better-than-expected jobs report, CNBC reported. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the broader S&P 500 both scaled new heights, rising 1% and 0.8% respectively. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8%.
The rise comes as nonfarm payrolls rose by 147,000 in June, which was well ahead of economists’ predictions for 110,000. The jobs report caused Treasury yields to spike and lowered expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates soon.
“The biggest implication from the employment report would seem to be there’s no way the Fed’s cutting rates in July, and it’s a question mark as to whether rates are cut at all this year,” Argent Capital Management portfolio manager Jed Ellerbroek told CNBC.
Finally, this morning, tributes have poured in from around the world following the death of Portuguese Liverpool football player Diogo Jota.
The 28-year-old and his brother died after the Lamborghini they were in crashed due to a tyre blowout while overtaking another car in Spain. The car then burst into flames, the BBC reported. In Liverpool, fans have gathered outside Anfield to pay tribute to Jota, who had been with the club since 2020. Former manager Jurgen Klopp said, “We will miss you so much” in a post on social media.
Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo said the news “doesn’t make sense”. Jota's death comes less than two weeks after he married his long-term partner, and the mother of his three children.
