Reuters -Daily Briefing - by Kate Turton - Britain reaches a trade and defense reset with the EU, Israel kills 20 Palestinians in airstrikes after agreeing to let some aid into Gaza, and Trump’s crypto business partners left their old clients in the lurch.

 

Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. Britain reaches a trade and defense reset with the EU, Israel kills 20 Palestinians in airstrikes after agreeing to let some aid into Gaza, and Trump’s crypto business partners left their old clients in the lurch.  Plus, the best images from the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.

Today's Top News   Russia launches 273 drones targeting Ukraine. REUTERS/Stanislav Kozliuk Europe US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to speak about a ceasefire in Ukraine, even as Moscow launched its biggest drone attack of the war. Russia Chief Political Correspondent Andrew Osborn joins the Reuters World News podcast to discuss what to expect from the phone call.  The European Union and Britain reached a tentative agreement on defense and security, fisheries and youth mobility ahead of a EU-UK summit, paving the way for British firms to participate in large EU defence contracts. Romania's centrist Bucharest mayor, Nicusor Dan, won the country's presidential election in a shock upset over a hard-right, nationalist rival who had pledged to follow a path inspired by Trump's politics. United States Republicans who control the House of Representatives will try to nudge Trump's sweeping tax bill toward passage this week, despite a running battle over spending cuts and tax breaks that threatens to shatter their fragile majority. The Supreme Court in a trio of rulings expected in the coming weeks appears inclined to extend its trend of taking an expansive view of religious rights while potentially dealing a sharp blow to the principle of separation of church and state. Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his office said in a statement. In other news Israel pursued its military operation in Gaza, killing at least 20 Palestinians in overnight airstrikes after it agreed to lift a two-month-old blockade on aid deliveries that has left the enclave on the brink of famine. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he was open to reconciling with the Duterte family, one week after allies of his estranged Vice President, Sara Duterte, outperformed expectations in a fiercely contested and pivotal Senate race. The Indonesian government's plan to release new history books has sparked concerns that some of the country's darkest chapters could be recast to show President Prabowo Subianto and late authoritarian ruler Suharto in a favorable light. Pope Leo XIV, a US citizen who as a cardinal criticized the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies, met at the Vatican with US Vice President JD Vance.

Business & Markets   A US sovereign downgrade by Moody's has exacerbated investor worries about a looming debt time-bomb that could spur bond market vigilantes who want to see more fiscal restraint from Washington. China's factory output slowed in April but showed surprising resilience, a sign that government support measures may have cushioned the impact of a trade war with the US that threatens to derail momentum in the world's second-largest economy. Finance leaders from the Group of Seven democracies will strive for a show of unity when they meet this week on topics other than US tariffs, including economic security, Ukraine and artificial intelligence cooperation. J.P. Morgan upgraded its rating on emerging market equities to "overweight" from "neutral", citing easing US-China trade tensions and a softer dollar. The company's top brass will take center stage at its investor day with the Wall Street giant's succession plan in focus. Nvidia said it plans to sell a technology to others that will tie chips together in order to speed up the chip-to-chip communication needed to build and deploy artificial intelligence tools. Microsoft hosts its annual software developer conference in Seattle, drawing thousands of coders looking to turn the past years of investments into artificial intelligence into profitable products and services for consumers and businesses.

How Trump’s crypto business partners left their old clients in the lurch   Charles Hoskinson, Chase Herro, Zach Witkoff, Zak Folkman and Donald Trump Jr. The Digital Chamber/Joyce Boghosian/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo A Reuters review of previously unreported correspondence, combined with interviews with 10 former Dough customers and a review of social media posts, lays out for the first time how some crypto entrepreneurs walked away from their old venture just as they became entwined with World Liberty, a crypto project that has sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the family of President Trump. Read more

In pictures: The best of this year's Eurovision Louane, representing France, performs "Maman". REUTERS/Denis Balibouse Austria won the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 for the first time since bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst took the trophy in 2014. We look at some of the most memorable moments of the night.  View gallery