Happy Wednesday, and welcome to your morning wrap of the key political and business headlines from around the world.
First up, more details are emerging after Israel’s missile attack on a hospital in Gaza killed 20 people, including five journalists.
The Israeli military has said it was targeting what it believed was a Hamas surveillance camera, as well as individuals identified as militants, Associated Press reports.
The military said the back-to-back strikes on southern Gaza’s largest hospital were ordered because it believed militants were using the camera to observe Israeli forces, and because Israel has long believed Hamas operates from hospitals.
They also acknowledged several gaps in the investigation so far, such as what kind of ammunition was used and how the attack was authorised.
A spokesperson for the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has called the attack “completely indefensible,” the BBC reported.
Meanwhile, protesters have filled Israel’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. They can be seen waving flags depicting the faces of those still held captive by Hamas. The “day of disruption” has been taking place throughout the country.
Sir Keir Starmer.
To the United States, where Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook’s lawyer says she will file a lawsuit to prevent President Donald Trump from firing her, Reuters reported.
“His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis,” said Washington attorney Abbe Lowe, who is representing Cook.
It comes a day after Trump said he would fire Cook for alleged “deceitful and potential criminal conduct” related to mortgages she took out in 2021. Cook has said Trump does not have the authority to dismiss her.
Cook is the latest Fed official to draw his ire, as Trump has routinely criticised chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates quickly enough.
The Federal Reserve Building.
Moving to France, where stocks have been sold off and borrowing costs have risen to their highest level since March as investors respond to the prospect of the government collapsing, the Financial Times reported.
Prime Minister François Bayrou yesterday called for a confidence vote in two weeks’ time over his deficit-cutting budget proposals.
The country’s blue-chip stock index, the CAC 40, fell 1.7% today, after declining 1.6% on Monday. Meanwhile, the country’s 10-year borrowing costs climbed as high as 3.53% before easing to 3.5%.
Bayrou’s proposed package of €44 billion in tax increases and spending cuts for 2026, including a one-year freeze on state spending and getting rid of two national holidays, has been rejected by opposition lawmakers.
Crucial swing blocs such as the Socialists and the far-right Rassemblement National have said they will not support the government, making it all but inevitable that Bayrou’s government will fail.
In business news, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said top officials at the Pentagon are “thinking about” whether the US should acquire equity stakes in defence contractors such as Lockheed Martin, CNBC reported.
Lutnick told CNBC the Defence Department was interested in taking a position, days after the US acquired 10% of Intel’s stock. Lockheed, which generates most of its revenue from federal contracts, is “basically an arm of the US government,” he said. He added that the President is rethinking how the US finances its munitions.
A Lockheed spokesperson said the company is continuing its strong working relationship with Trump and his administration.
Howard Lutnick.
On Wall Street, the main indices have inched higher as investors anxiously await the quarterly figures from chip giant Nvidia.
Nvidia’s earnings, which will be released tomorrow, could bolster the megacap tech stocks amid its recent slide. Ameriprise chief market strategist Anthony Saglimbene expects the results will be “good.”
“It all comes down to execution,” Saglimbene told CNBC. “How is Nvidia going to deliver and execute on what I think are pretty elevated expectations right now? Do they guide higher? Do they guide more than what the market expects? Those are things that I think are going to influence how the market reacts.”
Finally, American pop superstar Taylor Swift and NFL football player Travis Kelce have announced their engagement in a joint post on Instagram.
The couple wrote: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” along with photos of Kelce proposing to Swift.
ABC reports the post has been “liked” more than 10 million times in about an hour.
