Friday 17 September 2021

Friday Briefing: Biden convenes world leaders to discuss climate change

Friday, September 17, 2021

by Linda Noakes

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Here's what you need to know.

Kremlin foes accuse Google and Apple of bowing to censorship, investors brace for a great fall in China, and banks beware - outsiders are cracking the code for finance

Today's biggest stories

Icebergs are seen at the mouth of the Jakobshavn ice fjord near Ilulissat, Greenland, September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

WORLD

U.S. President Joe Biden convenes world leaders today for a discussion about intensifying efforts to tackle climate change, seeking to build momentum ahead of an international summit on global warming later this year.

Opposition activists in Russia accused Alphabet's Google and Apple of caving in to Kremlin pressure after they removed an anti-government tactical voting app from their stores on the first day of a parliamentary election.

As Canada's election race enters its final weekend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is redoubling efforts to motivate supporters, knowing his bid for re-election on Monday could be doomed by low turnout.

Candidates vying to become Japan's next prime minister promised to restore popular trust in the ruling party by tackling income disparity, the coronavirus pandemic and climate change as they launched campaigns.

As Beijing seeks to tighten its grip over Hong Kong, it has a new mandate for the city's powerful property tycoons: pour resources and influence into backing Beijing's interests, and help solve a potentially destabilising housing shortage.


Migrants seeking asylum bathe in the Rio Grande river near the International Bridge between Mexico and the U.S. in Del Rio, Texas, September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

U.S.

Thousands of migrants have converged under the bridge that connects Del Rio, Texas and Mexico's Ciudad Acuña, creating a makeshift camp with few basic services in intense heat in the latest border emergency. A U.S. district judge blocked the expulsion of migrant families caught crossing the border under an order put in place by former President Donald Trump's administration.

Public approval of Biden has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency, with Americans appearing to be increasingly critical of his response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that voters could consider a ballot measure to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety following the killing of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin. Meanwhile, Chauvin pleaded not guilty to violating a teenager's civil rights by using a neck restraint similar to the one that killed Floyd.

A cybersecurity attorney known for his work advising Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign was indicted for lying to the FBI, as part of U.S. Special Counsel John Durham's probe into the origins of the FBI investigation of ties between Russia and Trump's campaign.

BUSINESS

International investors that have been piling into China in recent years are now bracing for one of its great falls as the troubles of over-indebted property giant China Evergrande come to a head.

Regulators in Asian hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong have threatened to retaliate against European Union plans to force airlines to start using take-off and landing slots frozen during the coronavirus pandemic, a move that could oblige Europe's carriers to fly empty seats for thousands of miles at a loss.

Anyone can be a banker these days, you just need the right code. Global brands from Mercedes and Amazon to IKEA and Walmart are cutting out the traditional financial middleman and plugging in software from tech startups to offer customers everything from banking and credit to insurance.

When Ford built its first factory in India in the mid-1990s, U.S. carmakers believed they were buying into a boom - the next China. It never happened. We look at how Ford woke up badly burned from its India dream.

JPMorgan is set to launch its big assault on British high street banks and online lenders from next week, with the launch of its long-planned digital retail bank Chase. But it will compete with a crowded field of relative newcomers.

PODCAST

Green hydrogen could help fight global warming, but it’s still too expensive. Snam CEO Marco Alvera tells Breakingviews' Lisa Jucca about an energy revolution that could surprise us all.

Quote of the day

"The world is vast and the ways of evading sanctions are endless"

Hamid Hosseini

Board member of Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union

Iran's petrochemical and fuel sales boom as sanctions hit crude exports

Video of the day

Indian teacher turns streets into classrooms

In a small village on the eastern tip of India, an enterprising teacher has turned walls into blackboards and roads into classrooms, trying to close the gap in learning brought on by prolonged school shutdowns in the country.

And finally…

Dutch museum finds Van Gogh drawing of tired old man

"I think we’re all coming out of the COVID period feeling like this," said Van Gogh Museum Director Emilie Gordenker.

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