Eyes on Biden

Hello from the FT newsroom. All eyes are on Washington this week, where Nato leaders are meeting for their annual summit. It’s a big first week in the job for new UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

US President Joe Biden’s performance will be under particularly close scrutiny, as his bid for re-election falters amid concerns about his health. Team Biden is doubling down, but the campaign suffered fresh blows from veteran Democratic legislator Nancy Pelosi as well as George Clooney yesterday.

The way things are going, the next summit may well be attended by a second-term president Donald Trump. What would that look like? Chaotic, probably, if our new behind-the-scenes telling of the 2018 summit is anything to go by.

My choices this week

1. The world’s largest oil company is betting on the future of petrol — in fact, a senior executive at Saudi Aramco told the FT he believes that fuel engines will be around forever. The company is putting its money where its mouth is and investing in combustion engines.
2. France’s leftwing alliance stunned politicians and the public on Sunday night by coming out on top in the second-round parliamentary election. It defied the polls by beating Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National. In charts, we show how the French far right lost the election.
3. A Russian missile hit a children’s cancer hospital in Kyiv this week, killing at least 33 people. Yesterday, the FT revealed that the missile — a Kh-101, critical to Moscow’s air strike campaign against Ukraine — was made with western technology, showing how Russia is outmanoeuvring sanctions.
4. UBS is falling out with Switzerland. After the bank was applauded for rescuing its failing rival Credit Suisse last year, its relationship with the Swiss authorities has started to sour. Can it patch it up? (Free to read)
5. Enzo Lefort is a photographer, podcaster and qualified physiotherapist. Oh, and an Olympian. In this week’s HTSI, Simon Kuper visits the studio with the fencing champion preparing do battle in his hometown of Paris — a very modern musketeer.
6. The number of children reading in their free time has reached an all-time low. But reading for fun is a joyous and essential part of growing up, writes columnist Nilanjana Roy. (Free to read)

Thanks for reading,

Patrick Jenkins, deputy editor

PS If you would like to be able to read more of the FT, you can try us out for ￡1, and enjoy all our balanced reporting, expert analysis and life and arts content.

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