This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here
Good morning. Today I’ll be covering:
-
The fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff
-
Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill
-
The EU’s trade sweetener to the US
-
And Starlink’s market dominance
Two Israeli embassy aides were fatally shot in Washington last night by a man who chanted “free, free Palestine”, in an attack condemned widely as an act of antisemitism.
The details: The victims were named as Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who Israel’s ambassador to the US said were a couple about to be engaged. They were killed at about 9pm while leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee less than 1km from the US Capitol. The Metropolitan Police Department said a suspect had been remanded in custody.
Why it matters: The shooting spotlights the rise in antisemitism across the US since Hamas’s murderous October 7 attack on Israel. The subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed 53,500 Palestinians according to local officials, and has generated growing disquiet among allies of the country about its conduct in the enclave.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
Join us for a subscriber-only webinar next Wednesday for insights into the most consequential geopolitical rivalry of our time: the US-China showdown. Register now and put questions to our panel.
Five more top stories
1. Donald Trump has moved closer to passing a sweeping budget bill that would extend tax cuts and increase the US federal debt. US government bonds and stocks fell after a weak Treasury auction brought investor unease over the country’s fiscal deficit into sharp focus.
-
Explainer: Here’s what Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill means for the US economy and the president’s political agenda.
-
US market: Investors are asking “what next” as the fever over American exceptionalism breaks, writes Katie Martin.
2. Trump attacked South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa over his country’s alleged mistreatment of white farmers at a televised White House meeting yesterday. The president at one point took the unprecedented step of projecting videos on to screens on the wall of the Oval Office purporting to show the persecution of white farmers. Here are more details from the meeting.
3. Telegram leapt to a $540mn profit last year, as the messaging app achieved rapid growth despite the ongoing French legal proceedings against its founder Pavel Durov. The Dubai-based group told investors it went from a $173mn loss in 2023 to its first annual profit, according to a company presentation seen by the Financial Times.
4. The EU is offering to extend tariff-free access for American lobsters to entice Trump into a broader trade deal. A 2020 agreement to eliminate levies on the shellfish expires on July 31, but the bloc’s officials say it could be extended as part of a package to remove the US president’s recent tariffs. Andy Bounds has more details from Brussels.
5. The Pentagon has formally accepted the $400mn jumbo jet gifted to the US president by Qatar, despite Democrats’ concerns about national security and bribery. Trump intends for the plane to be used as Air Force One.
The Big Read
With more than 7,000 operational satellites circling the Earth, Starlink is by far the dominant force in the industry. While Amazon and rivals from China and Europe are trying to catch up, has Elon Musk’s company already won the new global space race?
We’re also reading . . .
-
UK housing: Unless you’re willing to move further afield, you might be stuck in your existing home for longer than you expect, writes Neal Hudson.
-
Eurostar’s competition: Financing, regulation and different rail systems mean potential rivals are years away from launching services.
Chart of the day
Nestlé’s strong, pandemic-era growth has slowed, and the company now trails its European rivals. Its chief executive, who took the helm last August, blamed his predecessor, whose forays into new product lines “weakened the fabric of the organisation”, he said.
Take a break from the news
When the first baboons started to descend on an affluent Cape Town suburb the residents were only slightly perturbed. The occasional monkey would pick fruit and return to Table Mountain. But a trickle became a flood, in an invasion that “set humans against simians and neighbour against neighbour”. Now the primates are testing even the suburb’s most liberal residents.
