Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Hello, everyone. It's a U.S. holiday weekend, but we're here anyway, keeping you up to date with the big developments of the week that passed and the one to come.

President Biden hosts debt-limit talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House, May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis

A few rafters short of a ceiling

Work it on out: Most lawmakers left D.C. for the long weekend, but congressional leaders said they should be ready to return in case the White House and Republican negotiators strike a deal on raising the government's debt ceiling. Even if they do, watch out for any opposition that might arise, particularly in the Senate.
The local-news angle: What it means for politicians, business and finance is all very interesting, but here's how a default would affect people like you and me.

It's runoff time in Turkey

What's at stake: President Tayyip Erdogan aims to extend his rule into a third decade, with momentum seen in his favor in the runoff vote after a first round showed him ahead of his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The result will reverberate far beyond Turkey's borders.
Get up to speed: See our primer on the candidates, the issues and a timeline on when we can expect results from Sunday's voting.

Who's going to rebuild Ukraine?

Where the money will be: Central European companies are scouting out locations, signing contracts and launching projects, seeking a foothold for future reconstruction work that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Where the nukes are: Russia moved ahead with its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, and offered a glass-houses reply to the United States' disapproval. President Zelenskiy condemned Russia for killing two people and wounding 30 in a missile strike on a clinic in Dnipro.

Never mind what the chatbot said, we're staying in the EU

We like it here: OpenAI has no plans to leave Europe, CEO Sam Altman said, reversing a threat made earlier this week to leave the region if it becomes too hard to comply with upcoming laws on artificial intelligence.
Chip money: Learn how Nvidia closed in on a trillion-dollar market value because of the chipmaker's role in the AI boom. Also see how seasoned investors are trying to avoid the hype surrounding AI.

Before I forget...

Special Report: How doctors in the United States pay their way out of trouble. Worth a read.

North Korea spent the pandemic building a huge border wall. Really good-looking graphics here.

Harlan Crow doesn't want to share a list of gifts that he or his companies have made to his friend, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Lev Parnas, the Ukrainian-American businessman accused of funneling a Russian oligarch's money into U.S. political campaigns, had a closer relationship with presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis than the Florida governor let on.

Far-right Oath Keepers received some lengthy prison sentences this week for the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol building.

Espresso and instant-coffee drinkers, wake up: The El Niño weather pattern this year likely will have a larger effect on robusta coffee production than on arabica, its milder cousin.

Target is pulling some LGBTQ-themed products from its shelves after they led to confrontations between employees and angry customers.

Police used pepper spray and teargas against climate protesters at TotalEnergies' annual meeting, while demonstrators tried to storm the stage at Shell's yearly shareholder gathering.

And finally, everybody's favorite subject: Air travel. Cathay Pacific fired three staff for making fun of passengers who struggled to speak English, a man opened the door of an Asiana aircraft... just before it landed (He said he was uncomfortable and stressed, Yonhap reported), and U.S. airlines are working hard to make sure that the summer travel season produces no PR nightmares.

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