Tuesday Briefing: Biden ends EU trade war in renewal of transatlantic ties

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

by Linda Noakes

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Here's what you need to know.

An FBI warning on QAnon, IKEA is fined for spying on employees, and the code that changed the world is up for auction

Today's biggest stories

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen talks with U.S. President Joe Biden at the EU-U.S. summit in Brussels, June 15, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

U.S.

U.S. President Joe Biden ended one front in a Trump-era trade war when he met European Union leaders by agreeing a truce in a transatlantic dispute over aircraft subsidies that has dragged on for 17 years.

Documents obtained from the Department of Justice detail efforts by then President Donald Trump, his chief of staff and other allies to pressure the department to challenge the 2020 presidential election results, a House panel said.

Five months after the attack on the Capitol, the Biden administration will unveil steps for federal and local officials and social media companies to battle national security threats posed by white supremacists and militia groups.

Meanwhile, the FBI has warned that followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory could again engage in violence against political opponents out of frustration that the theory's predictions have not come true.

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly apologized for her remarks last month comparing COVID-19 mask requirements and vaccinations to the Nazi Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews.

FILE PHOTO: Workers load sacks of spices onto a truck at a wholesale market in the old quarters of Delhi, June 8, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

WORLD

Having barely got over a devastating second wave of coronavirus infections, India has been gripped with alarm over risks of a resurgence as crowds throng railway stations and shopping malls a day after major cities relaxed curbs on movement. We look at how India let a deadly coronavirus variant spread.

Far-right Israeli groups will march in East Jerusalem today in a flag-waving procession that risks igniting tensions with Palestinians in the contested city and rekindling violence between Israel and Gaza militants.

In Peruvian capital Lima, fear is spreading among the city's small but powerful urban elite about the likely election win of a little-known socialist teacher. Conservatives have been quick to play up fears about the rise of "communism" and to stir up old ghosts of land grabs and a Venezuela-style collapse.

A Canadian man who is accused of deliberately running over five members of a Muslim family with his truck, killing four of them, now faces terrorism charges in addition to counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

BUSINESS

World stocks hit yet another record high, with European stocks poised for their longest winning streak since 2019 as investors bet likely "transitory" inflation pressures will stay the U.S. Federal Reserve's hand from signaling a shift in policy settings.

Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants could face more scrutiny and sanctions in the European Union after the bloc's top court backed national privacy watchdogs to pursue them, even when they are not their lead regulators.

A French court ordered IKEA to pay a $1.21 million fine for spying on its French staff, after the world's biggest furniture retailer was found guilty of improperly gathering and storing data on its employees.

The original source code for the World Wide Web that was written by its inventor Tim Berners-Lee is up for sale at Sotheby’s as part of a non-fungible token, with bids starting at just $1,000.

Quote of the day

"The deep state is willing to go as far as undermining one of its pillars of legitimacy to ensure that Ayatollah Khamenei's vision for the revolution's future survives him"

Ali Vaez

Senior adviser at the International Crisis Group

Front-runner for Iran presidency is hardline judge

Video of the day

JLR to test prototype hydrogen Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover sees possibilities for the mass adoption of hydrogen fuel cells, which emit only water as they produce electricity.

And finally…

'Diamond rush' grips South African village

More than 1,000 fortune seekers flocked to KwaHlathi in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province in search of what they believed to be diamonds after a discovery of unidentified stones in the area.

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