Gamble

Hello from the FT newsroom.?Il faut prendre son risque —?you must be willing to take risks — is a phrase French President Emmanuel Macron often uses in private. Suddenly, on Sunday evening, he went public, and with a bombshell risk.

Macron took the world aback by calling a snap election in response to the success of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National in European parliamentary elections. We asked our Paris bureau chief?Leila Abboud to explain Macron’s high-stakes gamble.

European allies will be watching closely. Will warnings of a?“Liz Truss-style debt crisis”?be enough to stem support for the right? Or will Jordan Bardella, the?slick 28-year-old TikTok sensation, cut through in his quest for the premiership?

My choices this week

1. Across the Channel, Britain’s political parties have been unveiling their manifestos this week. As they set out their visions for the future, we’re examining the state of the country they will inherit. In charts, we depict the story of the last 14 years of Conservative rule. To have leading UK political analysis delivered to your inbox every weekday, sign up for a free trial to Stephen Bush’s Inside Politics newsletter.
2. Ukrainian children who were abducted and taken to Russia in the early months of the war are being put up for adoption by Russian authorities, an FT investigation has revealed. The findings add to a growing body of evidence pointing to Moscow’s alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. To read this story for free, download the FT Edit app, which provides a daily selection of our best journalism.
3. Siri is about to get smarter. Apple has announced a new partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its devices, as the tech giant races to catch up with its rivals on artificial intelligence. Read about the new features of “Apple Intelligence” — and what investors are thinking.
4. The battle for the US presidency crossed the Atlantic this week, as both the Trump and Biden campaigns hosted A-list fundraising events in London. Anna Wintour, Nigel Farage and Holly Valance were among the names enjoying the UK-US “special relationship” at the hotly anticipated parties.
5. Wall Street is speculating about the future of Citigroup. A watch-the-throne game kicked off after chief executive Jane Fraser appointed three outsiders to top leadership positions, in an effort to turn around the underperforming lender. (Free to read)
6. The first-ever creative designer of Royal Ascot has a task: inject some old-school elegance back into the dress code of the races. Here are the new rules of dressing for Ascot. (Free to read)

Thanks for reading,

Roula Khalaf, FT editor