UK Economics and Business:

1. The cost of a two-year fixed-rate UK mortgage rose above 6% amid high interest rates, as the Bank of England continues its war on stubbornly high inflation.
2. Rishi Sunak has promised to turn Britain into a ‘science and technology superpower’ by 2030 as he seeks to embrace AI for economic development.
3. Vodafone has announced plans to merge with Three, which would be the most significant reshaping of the telephone market in over a decade. 

World Economics and Business:

1. The Federal Reserve left its interest rate unchanged, for the first time since 2022, at a range of 5% to 5.25%.  This followed the news that annual inflation had fallen to 4%, the lowest level since March 2021.
2. AstraZeneca is drafting plans to spin off its business in China and open one in Hong Kong due to the increasing difficulty of conducting business in the mainland.
3. America’s Nasdaq stock exchange bought Adenza, which produces risk-management and regulatory software, for $10.5bn.
4. Modelo Especial has replaced Bud Light as America’s bestselling beer, after a months-long boycott by conservatives over Bud Light’s association with a transgender activist.
5. A jury in New Jersey awarded $25.6m to Shannon Phillips, a Starbucks regional manager, who was fired after an incident in 2018 at a Starbucks outlet in Philadelphia in which two black men were asked to leave. Ms Phillips said she was sacked after questioning the firing of another white supervisor, who did not oversee that store.

UK Politics:

1. Rishi Sunak faced heavy criticism for missing a parliamentary vote on the report into Boris Johnson’s conduct, which had found Johnson guilty of five contempts of parliament. Theresa May urged other Tory MPs to vote in favour of the report, warning that public trust would be undermined otherwise.
2. The SNP unveiled plans for an independent Scotland to have written constitution safeguarding human rights. Opposition parties said the plans showed the SNP was out of touch with Scots facing the cost of living crisis.
3. Labour announced a plan that would create a five-year fund of £2.5bn paid to renewable companies if they invest in Britain’s industrial heartlands and coastal communities. Labour hopes the policy will reassure working class voters in northern England.

World Politics:

1. President Joe Biden said relations between America and China are “on the right trail” following a meeting between America’s secretary of state Antony Blinken and Xi Jinping, China’s president. Xi also said he saw “progress” in China-US ties. The two countries agreed to keep open communication to avoid conflict.
2. In the second week of Ukraine’s counter-offensive, it has made modest progress. The majority of its troops are held in reserve, waiting for a big enough opening in Russian defences to launch a main attack and reclaim land in the southern part of the country.
3. Germany published its first-ever national security plan. It called out Russia and China as significant threats to peace and reiterated Germany’s commitment to increase defence spending.
4. Australia introduced a bill criminalising the public display of Nazi and Islamic State symbols. Laws on sharing extremist material online were also toughened.
5. On Tuesday 20 June Andrew Tate and his brother were charged with human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group. They will face trial with Romanian authorities.

Written by Sean Tan and Zihan Tian