The heat that Donald Trump can’t ignore

And the scandal that won’t let Keir Starmer rest

Get full access to Reuters.com for just $1/week. Subscribe now. Weekend Briefing Weekend Briefing From Reuters Daily Briefing   By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. Our On Assignment podcast features Beirut bureau chief Maya Gebeily, who talks about covering the complexities of Lebanon from war to daily life. Learn how 32-year-old Alyssa Poplaski earns thousands of ‘influencer’ dollars with fewer than 8,000 followers on TikTok. And City Memo takes us to Cairo. Iran exposes Donald Trump’s pressure point   REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani The economy, of course: The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have failed to topple its government and to force its leaders to agree to U.S. demands on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The energy crisis that came after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz revealed the limits of Trump’s willingness to tolerate domestic economic pain. A convoy of oil tankers crossed the strait on Saturday after Iran reopened the strait, only to reimpose restrictions on it again, citing U.S. acts of “piracy” under the guise of a blockade. It is unclear if the sides will meet for talks. Iran perseveres: People are striving to maintain a semblance of normal life after airstrikes and Internet cuts. They fear a new government crackdown and are living with an economy in tatters. But one woman told us something instructive for the White House: "I do not want to say that it is normal but as an Iranian with such a history, it is not very bad. We can live with it." Why is Keir Starmer facing calls to quit? ‘Incompetence over deceit’: That’s what one Labour Party lawmaker said of the choice facing the prime minister’s government after it emerged that Peter Mandelson failed the security vetting conducted before he was named the UK’s ambassador to the U.S. Starmer said nobody told him. Mandelson of course had ties to Jeffrey Epstein and leaked government documents to the late sex offender. And in the U.S.: A second woman accused Eric Swalwell of rape as the former contender for the California governorship resigned his seat in Congress. Swalwell, who is married and has three children, denied allegations of sexual misconduct and assault. Food crisis worsens as Sudan war drags on Hunger: Millions of people are surviving on one meal a day, NGOs say. An international conference in Berlin raised nearly $1.8 billion in humanitarian aid for the region. Neither Sudan nor the RSF paramilitary group sent representatives. A potent pontiff: Pope Leo debuted a more forceful speaking style during his Africa tour this week, issuing sharp denunciations of war and inequality that earned him Trump’s scorn. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth compared “Trump-hating” reporters to the enemies of Jesus. Hungary might get its oil next week, Magyar says Druzhba pipeline: Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who stood at odds with his EU allies as he learned toward Russia and against Ukraine, railed at Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s claims that repairs to the pipeline would take a while after it was damaged in a Russian attack. His successor, Péter Magyar, says supplies could resume as soon as next week. Crystal ball: More Russians are turning to witchcraft for health and love problems, including soldiers at the front in the Ukraine war who worry about their partners staying faithful. Sales of protective amulets and crystal balls have risen, as have sales of aspen stakes, said to defend their owners from evil spirits. The descent of a Chinese billionaire Evergrande: Indebted property companies don’t usually constitute the stuff of drama, but the fall of China Evergrande Group and its billionaire boss most certainly provides an exception. Signa: Austrian prosecutors are investigating former Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer on suspicion of breach of trust during his time at the now-collapsed Signa Property Group. Amazon uses AI to aid early-stage drug discovery Lab partner: The Amazon Bio Discovery application would generate and evaluate potential drug molecules and include an AI agent to help users select models, set parameters and interpret results. Health updates: Using Tylenol during pregnancy is not linked to autism, a Danish study found. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. avoided talking about his vaccine policies and autism during two congressional hearings. And mail order dominates abortion-pill dispensing in the U.S. despite a 2023 FDA decision allowing retail pharmacies to sell the drug. Before I forget… Cuba warded off the Americans once, and the old folks say they would do it again. That fervor is less apparent among the nation’s downtrodden youth. U.S. importers are getting ready to claim their tariff refunds when the system goes live on Monday. They fear that much still could go wrong. South Korea’s president compared Israel’s “wartime killings” to the Holocaust shortly before Yom HaShoah, the day when Israelis remember the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. Britain is considering entry fees for tourists visiting England’s most renowned museums. Some claimants to items in those museums seized during colonial times object. We know that the Colorado River has an approximately 6-million-year gap in its resume. Scientists are studying grains of zircon in the sandstone of the Grand Canyon to find out what it was up to at the time. When are they going to stop teasing us about UFOs and extraterrestrial life already?   Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website   Weekend Briefing is sent once a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions   © 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036

Trump says Iran war should end 'soon'

Plus, China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war.

Get full access to Reuters.com for just $1/week. Subscribe now. Daily Briefing Daily Briefing By Kate Turton Hello. Trump says Iran war should end 'soon', crowds gather in Cameroon for the biggest event of Pope Leo's Africa tour, and China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in an information war. Plus, our top photos of the week. Today's Top News   A couple gestures from a car as they return to their home, after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, Beirut, Lebanon. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi Middle East US President Donald Trump expressed confidence that an agreement could soon be reached to end the Iran war and said Tehran-backed Hezbollah should support the US-backed truce agreed between Lebanon ‌and Israel. Follow our live updates. Beirut Bureau Chief Maya Gebeily tells the Reuters World News podcast that this truce is fragile, particularly given the Israeli military will not withdraw from the south during the ten days, making it tricky for Lebanese families to return home. France and Britain will chair a meeting of around 40 countries aimed at signaling to the US that some of its closest allies are ready to ‌play a role in restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once conditions allow. In other news Voters in northern New Jersey chose Analilia Mejia, a progressive Democrat who worked on Senator Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential election campaign, as their next representative in a special election. A small group of Trump allies have targeted a hallowed dogsledding event in Greenland. They're dangling the possibility of big investments. And they're focusing on Greenland’s painful colonial past. The effort appears to be backfiring. Read our Special Report. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came under renewed pressure to resign despite sacking a senior official following news that Britain's former ‌ambassador to the United States had failed security vetting but was still handed the job. Thousands of people were gathering in Douala, Cameroon's ‌largest city and economic hub, for a Mass with Pope Leo that will likely be the biggest event of the pontiff's four-nation Africa tour. The astronauts who flew around the moon and back in NASA's landmark Artemis II mission said their re-entry into Earth's atmosphere was smooth, but the mission's commander described some charring on the Orion capsule's critical heat shield. Business & Markets   A worker inspects newly-made gloves at Top Glove factory in Shah Alam, Malaysia. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng/File Photo Rubber glove makers have raised prices and warned of production cuts as the Iran war ‌chokes supplies of key inputs, raising concerns for the healthcare sector. For years, French blue-chip companies studiously avoided engaging with the far right and Marine Le Pen's National Rally but, with polls indicating it could win the election, they are now trying to understand and influence its populist economic agenda. Also in France, TotalEnergies service station attendants went on strike to protest against rising fuel costs, demanding the oil giant, which owns a quarter of the country's ‌service stations, raise salaries. Netflix shares fell nearly 10% in premarket trading after chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings said he was leaving the company at a pivotal moment, as the streaming pioneer hunts for new growth avenues following ‌a failed deal with Warner Bros Discovery. The Iran war has strongly boosted prices of the urea fertilizer that is vital ‌to ensuring a successful wheat harvest in Argentina, forcing farmers into a bind weeks before the crop's season begins next month. The Week Ahead Bulgaria, a Black Sea nation of some 6.5 million on the European Union's southeastern frontier, votes on Sunday for the eighth time in five years. China sets its loan prime rate on Monday, though analysts see the central bank keeping its benchmark unchanged through the ⁠end of the year. Investors will learn more about Trump's pick to lead the Federal Reserve when the former Fed governor Kevin Warsh appears before Congress for his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Here's everything you need to know about the coming week in financial markets. China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war   A giant screen shows a news report on China's "Justice Mission 2025" military drills around Taiwan, in Beijing, China. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo Chinese state media outlets are increasingly amplifying Taiwanese critics of the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, including influencers and politicians linked to the opposition Kuomintang.  This is according to five Taiwanese security officials and data from ‌Taipei-based research group IORG that was shared with Reuters. Read more Photos of the week A firefighter works at the site of a recyclable materials warehouse hit by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenk Click through for a selection of our top news photography from around the world this week. View gallery   Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website   Reuters Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions   © 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036