Daily Briefing

Key allies pledge support to Modi after a humbling election verdict, Israel steps up its military offensive in Gaza amid renewed truce efforts, and the first head-to-head debate of Britain's election.

Plus, no more chicken Big Macs: an EU court rules against McDonald's in a trademark case.

By Edson Caldas

Today's Top News

Narendra Modi at Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

ELECTIONS AROUND THE WORLD

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to be sworn-in for a record-equaling third term on Saturday, after key allies pledged their continued support. Modi's Hindu nationalist party lost its outright majority in parliament in a surprise election verdict, which we broke down in graphics here.
In a heated debate, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour challenger Keir Starmer went head-to-head over how to boost the country's economy and reduce immigration. Political Editor Liz Piper joins the Reuters World News podcast with her insights on the first debate ahead of the July 4 election.

MIDDLE EAST

Deep divisions will limit progress at reconciliation talks between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah this month, conversations with five sources in the groups indicate, but the meetings highlight that the Islamist group is likely to retain influence after Israel's war in Gaza.
Israel announced a new military campaign against Hamas in central Gaza where Palestinian medics said dozens of people had been killed in airstrikes, complicating expected talks between mediators to try to finalize a ceasefire deal. Follow the latest.

IN OTHER NEWS

US President Joe Biden instituted a broad asylum ban on migrants caught illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, a major enforcement move in the run-up to the presidential elections. Migrants caught crossing illegally could be quickly deported or turned back to Mexico under the measure.
Governments need to plant more trees and deploy technologies that will quadruple the amount of carbon dioxide removed each year from the atmosphere in order to meet global climate goals, a team of researchers said. For more on climate change, sign up to our Sustainable Switch newsletter.

Business & Markets

Euro zone business activity expanded at its quickest rate in a year in May as growth in the bloc's dominant services industry outpaced contraction in manufacturing, according to a private survey.
US fast-food chain McDonald's does not have the right to use the term "Big Mac" for poultry products after it had not used it for them for five consecutive years, Europe's second top court ruled, in a partial win for Irish rival Supermac's.
Some of Tesla's institutional shareholders are getting out, convinced that the electric carmaker's days of dizzying growth are in the rear-view mirror. The company's shares are down nearly 30% this year.
A group of current and former employees at artificial intelligence companies, including Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet's Google DeepMind, raised concerns about risks posed by the emerging technology.
A former Meta engineer accused the company of bias in its handling of content related to the war in Gaza, claiming in a lawsuit that Meta fired him for trying to help fix bugs causing the suppression of Palestinian Instagram posts.

The Wider Image

Nepal's honey gatherers say fewer hives threaten tradition. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Aita Prasad Gurung dangled off a cliff in Nepal, carefully manipulating a long pole with a blade at its end to cut away chunks of honeycomb after Himalayan bees fled the fumes from a fire set to drive them from their homes. His community has traditionally harvested honey from hives perched hundreds of feet off the ground.

Now the generations-old craft is increasingly under threat as some experts say rising temperatures brought by climate change disrupt the growth of bees, the availability of their food and even pollination of plants.

See our photo essay.

And Finally...

An artist's reconstruction of a 67 million-year-old Cretaceous Period landscape. Andrey Atuchin and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science/Handout via REUTERS

A rare fossil of an adolescent Tyrannosaurus rex has been excavated in North Dakota's badlands - a find noteworthy for the scientific insight it may offer into the life history of this famous dinosaur and for the tale of the kids who found it.

The discovery was announced by the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where it will be studied and displayed.

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