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Daily Briefing

Hollywood actors head to the picket lines, Putin snubs Prigozhin, and Johnson & Johnson sues doctors.

Plus, China invites global investors for a rare meeting.

By Linda Noakes

Today's Top News

Major General Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Military Intelligence of Ukraine, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kyiv, July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

He wears a pistol to interviews with foreign journalists and discusses wartime intelligence. Weapons and military gear are strewn on the floor of his Kyiv office. For a man running Ukraine's spy operations, Kyrylo Budanov has built up an unusually public profile.
What do Major General Ivan Popov's angry words say about discontent within the Russian army? Our Russia Chief Political Correspondent Andrew Osborn speaks to the Reuters World News podcast on the turmoil in the military.
It's been reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Wagner mercenaries the opportunity to keep fighting at a meeting just days after their failed mutiny but suggested Yevgeny Prigozhin be moved aside in favor of a different commander.
US President Joe Biden said the United States was unsure where Prigozhin was but quipped that the mercenary chief could be poisoned. "If I were he, I'd be careful what I ate. I'd be keeping my eye on my menu."

ACTORS ON STRIKE

Striking Hollywood actors are expected to join film and television writers on picket lines on the first day of a dual work stoppage that has forced US productions to shutter as workers battle over pay in the streaming TV era.
The twin strikes will add to the economic damage from the writers walkout that started May 2, delivering another blow to the multi-billion-dollar industry struggling with changes to its business. Hollywood has not faced two simultaneous strikes since 1960.
The Screen Actors Guild says it is battling the studios for control over the digital replicas of performers that could be used "for the rest of eternity". The studios counter that they have offered groundbreaking protections from misuse of images.

HEATWAVES AND FLOODS

Southern Europe sweltered under a fierce heatwave, with a warning that temperatures could hit record highs for the continent next week, raising fears about the impact on human health, crops and animals.
Demand for power in Texas hit a record high for a second day in a row as homes and business kept air conditioners cranked up during a lingering heat wave.
Chongqing, a sprawling municipality in southwest China, issued heightened warnings for heavy rain in 24 districts and counties as downpours pummel the area and numerous rivers threaten to overflow their banks.
Torrential rain swept across South Korea, forcing the cancellation of over a hundred flights and leaving thousands of homes without power as the government put officials on high alert for the peak of the summer monsoon season.
Transport was disrupted in several areas of India's capital after water from the swollen Yamuna river that runs through New Delhi flowed in through a broken drain regulator.

Business & Markets

Cooling US inflation is accelerating a decline in the dollar, and risk assets around the world stand to benefit. We look at what dollar weakness means for markets.
Finland's Nokia cut its annual outlook and Swedish rival Ericsson reported plunging quarterly profits, as a slowdown in consumer spending hit sales of telecommunications gear.
Johnson & Johnson has sued four doctors who published studies citing links between talc-based personal care products and cancer, escalating an attack on scientific studies that the company alleges are inaccurate.
Ripple Labs did not violate federal securities law by selling its XRP token on public exchanges, a US judge ruled, a landmark legal victory for the cryptocurrency industry that sent the value of XRP soaring. The decision is likely to provide ammunition for other crypto firms battling the SEC.
Italy's luxury fashion groups, which for decades jealously guarded their independence, have started teaming up to protect their supply chains and the Italian roots of smaller companies, showing a new spirit of collaboration.

The Week Ahead

The European Commission is helping the United Nations and Turkey try to extend a deal allowing the Black Sea export of Ukraine grain and is open to "explore all solutions" ahead of the deal's possible expiration on Monday.
A meeting of global finance ministers, earnings from US companies whose market value exceeds that of some nations' entire economies, and a pulse-check for Chinese growth are in the market spotlight.
China's financial regulators have invited some of the world's biggest investors to a rare symposium next week, sources said, seeking to encourage foreigners to keep investing in the world's second-largest economy.
The G20 gather in India to discuss loans to developing countries, among other things, while Tesla kicks off earnings season for the mega-caps. All this takes place against a backdrop of an epic dollar sell-off as the US economy cools and markets bet the Federal Reserve is nearly done raising rates.
Here's a look at the week ahead from our markets team.

The Week In Pictures

It's been a week of high-stakes diplomacy, worrying weather and sporting thrills. Reuters photographers were there to capture it all.

As the Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona draws to a close, photographer Susana Vera tells the Reuters World News podcast what it's like to cover the perilous event.

And Finally...

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is seen in a 'selfie' that it took in this file photo.

Evidence is mounting about what may be a wealth of organic molecules - a potential indicator of life - on Mars, with new findings from NASA's Perseverance rover suggesting the presence of a diversity of them in rocks at a locale where a lake existed long ago.

Read more here: NASA rover reveals new evidence about organic molecules on Mars

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