International scheme to tax billionaires’ wealth technically feasible, study finds (www.theguardian.com)
More countries to reach NATO's 2% defense spending goal (www.dw.com)
US designates Scandinavian neo-Nazi group and three leaders as terrorists (www.theguardian.com)
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency warns against apathy and inaction, amid spike forced displacement. (www.unhcr.org)
The rise in overall forced displacement – to 120 million by May 2024 – was the 12th consecutive annual increase and reflects both new and mutating conflicts and a failure to resolve long-standing crises. The figure would make the global displaced population equivalent to the 12th largest country in the world, around the size...
Hungarians rally for former ally leading the charge against Viktor Orbán’s rule (www.theguardian.com)
Latin American anger grows over China's economic clout (www.dw.com)
European Central Bank cuts main interest rate by 0.25 points (www.theguardian.com)
Citing a sustained fall in inflation, the ECB said its deposit rate would be cut to 3.75% from a record high of 4%, putting it ahead of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, which have yet to cut interest rates.
NATO chief Stoltenberg proposes revised €100 billion weapons fund for Ukraine (www.euractiv.com)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Friday (31 May) for NATO members to spend together ‘equitably’, €40 billion a year for Ukraine, giving up on his original multi-year plan, nevertheless assuring this will provide a long-term perspective for Ukraine....
Hundreds treated for heatstroke as Pakistan heatwave rages on (www.euronews.com)
Meanwhile, international relief organisations have expressed concern that millions of children could be at risk of dehydration and exposure to record-high temperatures....
Russian court seizes millions of euros worth of German bank assets (www.france24.com)
A Russian court has ordered that Deutsche Bank’s and Commerzbank’s assets, accounts, property and shares be seized in Russia as part of a lawsuit involving the German banks, court documents showed.
Brazil counts cost of worst-ever floods with little hope of waters receding soon (www.theguardian.com)
Taiwan is selling more to the US than China in major shift away from Beijing (apnews.com)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Whether it’s tapioca balls or computer chips, Taiwan is stretching toward the United States and away from China — the world’s No. 2 economy that threatens to take the democratically ruled island by force if necessary....
Brazil flooding death toll rises to 90 as more than 155,000 people displaced (www.theguardian.com)
The death toll from what authorities call the worst climate disaster ever to strike southern Brazil has risen to 90, after ferocious rain flooded huge stretches of Rio Grande do Sul state, displacing more than 155,000 people and forcing the closure of the main airport in the country’s fifth biggest city....
EU restates readiness to launch trade war with China over cheap imports (www.theguardian.com)
The European Commission chief said she was “convinced that if the competition is fair” from China, then Europe “will have thriving durable economies”. But she said the “imbalances” caused by state support for Chinese industry leading to cut-cost products threatened jobs in Europe, and that was “a matter of great...
Archaeologists identify the birthplace of the mysterious Yamnaya (www.economist.com)
Yet they and their descendants would go on to transform Europe and much of Asia genetically, culturally and linguistically. Among the many innovations that these steppe migrants ushered in, scientists believe, are the Indo-European languages that are dominant in Europe today, and which are spoken by nearly half of humanity....
Hopes of Gaza ceasefire rise as Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo (www.theguardian.com)
Egyptian and US mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days and Egyptian state news channel Al-Qahera said on Saturday that a consensus had been reached in the indirect talks over many of the disputed points but gave no further details. However, many analysts remain pessimistic after five months of stop-start...
Gazprom slumps to first annual loss in 22 years as trade with Europe hit (www.theguardian.com)
The company made a net loss of 629bn roubles (£5.5bn) in 2023 amid dwindling gas trade with Europe, once Gazprom’s main sales market, as a result of sanctions and the throttling of pipelines to the continent.
Highway collapse in China's southern Guangdong province leaves at least 24 dead (apnews.com)
The ground beneath the highway appeared to have caved in, along with the section of the road that had broken off....
Global defence budget jumps to record high of $2440bn (www.theguardian.com)
The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history...
Armenia and Azerbaijan agree on ‘historic’ return of villages (www.aljazeera.com)
Armenia has agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what both countries say is an important milestone as they edge towards a peace deal after fighting two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
China supporting Russia in massive military expansion, US says (www.theguardian.com)
US officials said that China provided more than 70% of the $900m (£723m) in machine tools – probably used to build ballistic missiles – imported in the last quarter of 2023 by Russia....
EU passes asylum and migration pact after eight years of deadlock (www.theguardian.com)
Roberta Metsola, the European parliament president, wrote on X: “History made. We have delivered a robust legislative framework on how to deal with migration and asylum in the EU. It has been more than 10 years in the making. But we kept our word. A balance between solidarity and responsibility. This is the European way.”
'Panama Papers' trial starts. 27 people charged in the worldwide money laundering case (apnews.com)
A strong earthquake shakes Taiwan, damaging buildings and causing a tsunami (apnews.com)
Ukrainian navy says a third of Russian warships in the Black Sea have been destroyed or disabled (apnews.com)
Pletenchuk said that with the latest attack, a third of all warships that Russian had in the Black Sea before the war have been destroyed or disabled. At the same time, he acknowledged that just two of about a dozen of Russian missile carrying warships have been sunk and pledged that Ukraine will continue the strikes.
