We’ve summarised the top stories of this summer, 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

1. New data emerged that Britain’s GDP had been expanding at a faster pace than thought. GDP had grown by 0.6% between the end of 2019 and the end of 2021, rather than shrinking by 1.2%.
2. Britain’s inflation rate fell to 6.7% in August, down from 6.8% in July. Core inflation fell from 6.9% to 6.2%.
3. Dame Alison Rose resigned as chief executive of NatWest in July, after it was revealed that Coutts, a subsidiary of NatWest, had shut down Nigel Farage’s bank account for political reasons.
4. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, announced reforms to pension funds, allowing them to invest in unlisted high-growth firms and private equity. This is predicted to increase pension pots by 12% and investment by £50bn.
5. Thames Water said it had raised £750mn from shareholders in emergency funding. It sought £1bn to cover its debts and the government may nationalise it if it collapses. The company currently faces trouble along with other water companies over its release of untreated sewage into waterways, and a failure to invest in better water treatment plants to combat this problem.
6. Arm, a British chipmaking company, priced its IPO on Nasdaq at  $51 a share, giving a market value of around $52bn. This is less than the implied $64bn valuation from SoftBank, its owner, a month ago.

World Economics

1. China’s exports fell by 8.8% in August year on year, the fourth month in a row of decline. The country is on the edge of deflation and has cut interest rates. Domestic demand has also been low, participants in the housing sector. In particular, Country Garden, a developer, is in the spotlight for its huge quarterly losses and debts.
2. The IMF predicted that the world economy would grow by 3% this year. America’s economy grew by 2.4% year on year in the second quarter, a rate higher than previous expectations.
3. Turkey’s central bank raised interest rates from 17.5% to 25%, a far greater increase than expected. Inflation had soared to 47.8% in July.
4. Meta released Threads, an alternative to Twitter (X), last month. 100 million users signed up in the first few days, but daily usage has plummeted to under 10 million.
5. Goldman Sachs reported a net income of $1.1bn for the second quarter, its lowest quarterly profit in three years. On the other hand JPMorgan Chase’s profits surged 67% year on year, to $14.5bn.
6. The OECD published a report on AI taking jobs. It noted that jobs most at risk included managerial roles. Those least at risk include rubbish collectors and cleaners. Interesting court rulings have also been handed down in recent weeks, denying copyright protections to some AI generated work and therefore reassuring employees in creative industries who were growing increasingly concerned about generative AI.
7. “Barbenheimer” brought in over $2bn in combined global box office revenue, as Barbie beat Oppenheimer by $600mn. However, this may have been at the expense of other blockbusters released over the summer such as Indiana Jones and the Dials of Destiny.
8. Google went on trial in Washington, with the Department of Justice accusing Google of monopolising the search market. Google claims that “forcing people to use inferior products” is not competition.
9. Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their voluntary cuts in oil production until the end of 2023, rather than October. Barrels of crude traded at $90 for the first time since last November, and America’s inflation increased to 3.7% mostly as a result. Core inflation in the US, however, dropped to 4.3%.

UK Politics

1. The UK is to rejoin the EU’s €96bn Horizon research programme, a move which some commentators have posited may leave the door open for additional deals with the EU in the near future.
2. Approximately 700,000 pupils were found to be being taught in unsafe school buildings, owing to RAAC concrete used in their construction having become dangerous. 
3. Labour won 2 of 3 by elections in mid-July, a further blow to Tory electoral hopes in the next general election. However Johnson’s former seat was retained by the Conservatives with a shock majority of 495.
4. The Police Service of Northern Ireland accidentally published the details and locations of its 10,000 officers and staff, potentially exposing them to attack. Electoral commission in UK also apologised as it revealed a ‘hostile actor’ had accessed voter records.
5. Party conferences are taking place currently, with potential backtracking over HS2 overshadowing the Conservative Party conference, and with the charitable status of private schools being the most widely report issue from the Labour Party conference.
6. Post Office scandal victims are finally to receive £600,000 each from the government in compensation for its role in allowing the unjust prosecution of post-masters.

World Politics

1. Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin went missing early in the summer after his failed coup, and was killed in a plane crash in August, Russian media reported.
2. Turkey agreed to support Sweden’s NATO membership bid, having blocked it for a year after alleging that Sweden was harbouring Kurdish militants.
3. A US nuclear submarine arrived in South Korea for the first time since the 1980s under a new agreement covering information sharing and other forms of co-operation.
4. Throughout July and August, former US president Donald Trump was charged with obstruction and wilful retention of national defence information, and further indicted in connection with attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
5. General Abdourahmane Tchiani declared himself leader following a military coup in Niger, during which the country’s military guard removed and detained President Bazoum.
6. US agreed that Denmark and the Netherlands were to send US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, once pilot training is completed.
7. The European Commission clarified that weapons supplied to Ukraine can only be used for self-defence purposes after drones hit Moscow on multiple occasions over the summer. 
8. On a more positive note, a German-Chinese-owned cargo ship travelled safely from Ukraine to Turkey, the first boat to travel out of Ukrainian waters since Russia’s to treat any boat leaving Ukraine as a military target, and hopefully kickstarting a move towards restoring free navigation in the Black Sea.

Written by Zihan Tian and Angus McIntyre