This week: On Saturday, the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, began and ended an armed insurrection against Vladimir Putin, sending troops towards Moscow, causing alarm in the Kremlin. Prigozhin justified the mobilisation by claiming that the regular Russian army had attacked his forces. Putin called the act a “a knife in the back”, assuring a “harsh” response.

• By evening, Prigozhin ordered his troops to return, saying he did not want to spill Russian blood. A Kremlin spokesperson said that Prigozhin would leave for Belarus, with no repercussions.
• Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said that “those who choose the path of evil destroy themselves”, and Russia claimed Ukrainian troops were “taking advantage of Prigozhin’s provocation”. Ukrainian generals are still probing for weaknesses and are yet to commit the bulk of their forces.

UK Economics

1. Britain’s headline annual inflation rate remained stubborn at 8.7% in May, defying expectations of falls. Core inflation rose to 7.1%, the highest since March 1992.
2. The Bank of England lifted its interest rate by half a percentage point to 5.0%, instead of by a quarter-point, in response to the high inflation figures. 
3. The UK electricity network faces ‘electrification’ which requires clean energy to replace coal, gas and oil as a part of the government’s legally binding goals to cut down on carbon emissions. The process needs more than 460,000km of onshore cables by 2050.

World Economics

1. China’s central bank cut its loaning interest rates for the first time in ten months, by a tenth of a percentage point, following official figures that revealed lacklustre economic activity. This followed China’s exports falling at the sharpest rate in two years.
2. Turkey’s central bank’s new governor Hafize Gaye Erkan raised its interest rates to 15%, the first increase since 2021, signalling a reversal to the country’s unorthodox policies. However, the Turkish Lira dropped by 5% against the dollar following this announcement.
3. Oil and Gas majors are stepping up efforts to break into Lithium to diversify beyond fossil fuels as hope rises over a technological breakthrough to produce the metal critical for electric car batteries.
4. The International Energy Agency published a report on clean energy in developing economies. It said that investments in those countries would have to rise from $770bn to more than $2.2tn a year by the early 2030s if the Paris agreement’s goals are met. Currently, China accounts for two-thirds of international spending on clean energy.
5. JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said that US consumers have $1.5 trillion in excess savings from pandemic stimulus programs, but that this may run out some time in mid-2023. He also said the Federal Reserve may pause interest rate rises for 3-6 months after lifting them to 5%, but that this may “not be sufficient” to curb high inflation.

UK Politics

1. The Government is set to block the pay rises that public sector review bodies recommend, including 6% pay rises for teachers, police officers, prison officers and junior doctors. Rishi Sunak described pay rises as “giving with one hand” and “taking away with the other”.
2. According to Rishi Sunak the NHS is set to undergo the “largest expansion in training and workforce” in its history. He said he would reduce “reliance on foreign-trained healthcare professionals”.
3. Mr Hunt insisted the plans agreed with banks on Friday would offer more flexibility over interest-only mortgage holidays and would make a “big difference” to hard pressed families. This came in the form of a 12-month repossession grace period and a guarantee that credit scores will not be impacted by support.

World Politics

1. An OceanGate Expeditions submarine called the ‘Titan’, which contained Stockton Rush, the CEO of the firm and 4 other passengers, was visiting the Titanic wreckage site on Sunday 18^th June when they lost communications with the Polar Prince research ship. It is now known that soon after launch, the pressure chamber imploded and all those inside were lost. 
2. Greece is voting in their second general election in two months. The right-of-centre New Democracy Party, led by the former prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is set to win a sweeping majority under a new proportional election system that awards 50 bonus seats to a party if it captures more than 40% of the vote.
3. According to the UN, Russia killed 136 children during its offensive in Ukraine in 2022. Also, the Russian army and its fighters are said to have maimed 518 children and carried out 480 attacks on schools and hospitals.” The UN found they used 91 children as human shields. 
4. Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to failing to pay income tax and to illegal possession of a gun. He reached a deal with the Justice Department that will see him avoid prosecution. Republicans were in uproar over what they claimed as a lenient handling of Joe Biden’s son.
5. Japan raised its age of consent from 13 to 16 following landmark reforms passed by the country’s legislature. The definition of rape will be broadened from “forced” to “non-consensual” sexual intercourse.

Written by Zihan Tian, Benji Bushnell and Alex Murray-Bruce