We’ve summarised the top stories of the last week into an easily digestible briefing, so that you can stay up to date on what’s happening around the world. You can subscribe to receive the briefing in your inbox each week.

UK Economics and Business

1. Britain’s inflation rate fell to 8.7% in April, but this was less than expected; last April’s rise in energy prices were no longer in the comparison. The core rate (without food or energy), rose to 6.8%, and food prices were up by 19.1%.
2. The yield on British government bonds increased as expectations for more interest rate hikes persisted. Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, admitted there were “big lessons to learn” from the failures of the bank’s models to predict inflation.
3. The UK government has offered  £1,500 to civil servants to end strikes. This one off payment comes as ministers wish to end the longest string of public sector strikes in decades. Additionally, they have pledged to avoid compulsory redundancies ‘where possible’. 
4. Rishi Sunak has been warned by leading think tanks not to enter a subsidy race with the US and EU to protect the British car industry. The PM has tried to convince Tata to build a factory in Britain to supply batteries to Land Rover. However, the think tanks believe Tata will instead build the factory in Spain due to cheaper labour and land. 

World Economics and Business

1. The US debt ceiling deal has now passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Treasury had warned that it might run out of cash if the Senate didn’t pass the bill by June 5th. The Congressional Budget Office predicts it will reduce spending by $1.3tn in the next decade. Creditors said that the “AAA” American debt would remain on negative watch.
2. Price controls have returned in several European countries. They have been imposed on products such as food prices and other household goods. This is partly due to the 16.6% price inflation for these goods.
3. House prices have increased in America again in March, rising by 0.4% over February, leading many to believe the declining house prices since June has ended. However, high interest rates and mortgage rates still pose ‘challenges’. 
4. Shell’s annual general meeting was disrupted by climate change protestors. Activist investors, making up 20% of the shareholders present, rejected the company’s energy transition plan on the grounds that it was too slow to reduce fossil fuel production.
5. Nvidia became the first chipmaker to hit a $1tn valuation, after its chief executive launched a new supercomputer and struck new AI alliances with companies including WPP and Softbank. Nvidia stock has gained more than 180% in 2023, a result of recent enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.
6. Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed Mehmet Şimşek as Turkey’s new finance minister. Mr Şimşek promised to return to “rational” economic policies to “prioritise macro financial stability” after years of unorthodox policy led to record lows for the Turkish lira.
7. Apple unveiled their latest gadget, the Vision Pro, on June 5th. At a hefty $3499, the virtual and augmented reality headset is almost 10 times as expensive as Meta’s Quest 2 headset. However, it introduces new technology. Unlike other headsets which require hand-held controllers, Vision Pro is controlled by hand gestures. It also introduces 3-D video recording. It will be released in the U.S. in early 2024.

UK Politics

1. The UK government has taken legal action to protect Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages. The former PM had only given government messages relating to after May 2021, as he had switched phones at that time. Labour claimed that both Sunak and Johnson were trying to frustrate the inquiry.
2. Official figures revealed that net migration last year was more than 600,000, a record high. This was yet another blow to the Conservative party, which has been promising for years to reduce migration.
3. Starmer is under pressure to rebrand his ‘Green prosperity plan’. This comes after senior allies said that the Labour leader needs to focus more on economic effects and less on climate change. There is a growing tension within the party over this expensive Labour policy. 
4. Rishi Sunak decided against launching an ethics investigation into home secretary Suella Braverman, after claims she had asked civil servants to secure special treatment to avoid a fine and points on her license. Starmer accused Sunak of being too weak to sack his home secretary.

World Politics

1. On 28th May, Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the election in Turkey, with 52.1% of the vote. Erdogan has already been in power for 20 years, and will now be able to continue for at least another 5 years. His policies have led to inflation that peaked at 86%. The recent earthquake also exposed flaws with preparedness and corruption. Nonetheless, he was able to use media and play on nationalism to secure his majority.
2. The G7 held a summit in Hiroshima, and talks emphasised efforts to tackle Russian and Chinese threats. The forum criticised China over Taiwan, human-rights violations and economic coercion, and adopted a strategy of “de-risking” the West’s trade links with China. Chinese media called the meeting an “anti-China workshop”.
3. Spains Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, called a snap election after suffering heavy losses in regional and local elections. The Socialist party will look to the right wing Vox party to help deliver a governing majority.  
4. NATO is sending another 700 peacekeeping troops to Kosovo. This is due to a clash between the ethnic Serbs and the current peacekeeping force who are protesting the instalment of Albanian mayors in the north. 
5. AI experts, including the bosses of Google, OpenAI and Deepmind, signed a statement warning that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority” on the same scale as pandemics and nuclear war. Other scientists say that the risk to humanity is exaggerated. 
6. In India, there was a large train crash with casualties amounting to 230 with 900 injured. Narendra Modi, on visiting, vowed to ’punish those responsible’. Early findings point to failures in the ‘electrical interlocking system’, ie. signal failure.
7. Ukraine received a batch of F-16 fighter jets from the US. Joe Biden made the decision before the G7 meeting in Hiroshima in May. The hope is this will be a real turning point in the war in tandem with the many pilots being trained by Britain over the summer. However, the Ukrainian airfields have been destroyed due to Russian bombing meaning the F-16’s will be useless without any repairs.  

Written by Zihan Tian and Tanish Navamani