Good morning.
Domestic concerns were high on Joe Biden’s agenda as he embarked on his tour of the Middle East on Wednesday, with soaring inflation hitting the president’s approval ratings ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
With inflation at a 40-year peak, Biden labelled the issue the country’s “most pressing economic challenge”. Inflation has largely been driven by energy prices, which will be a priority when he makes a controversial visit to Saudi Arabia this week.
Biden called on energy companies to lower their prices and for Congress to pass a slow-moving economic spending plan that aims to help Americans with the cost of living crisis. The legislation has stalled amid hesitation from moderate Democrats such as Senator Joe Manchin, who has warned against “add[ing] any more fuel to this inflation fire”.
Here’s what you need to know about the midterms:
Economic concerns are paramount for “non-white and working class voters”, a New York Times/Siena College poll found, while white college-educated voters are more focused on issues like abortion and guns.
Only 20% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say Biden’s policies have improved the economy.
But it could still be a tighter race than expected, following a series of mass shootings, the supreme court ruling on Roe v Wade, and recent revelations about Donald Trump’s attempts to hold on to power.
Global recession risk rising as economic outlook ‘darkens significantly’, IMF says
The world faces a rising risk of recession in the next year, the head of the IMF has warned, with the war in Ukraine intensifying the cost of living crisis globally.
The outlook for the global economy has “darkened significantly” in recent months, Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday, and rising prices caused by the war were “only getting worse”. Additionally, the world’s recovery from the pandemic has been worsened by supply bottlenecks and repeated Covid lockdowns in China.
“The outlook remains extremely uncertain. Think of how further disruption in the natural gas supply to Europe could plunge many economies into recession and trigger a global energy crisis,” Georgieva wrote in a blogpost. “This is just one of the factors that could worsen an already difficult situation.”
What did Georgieva recommend? She called for raised interest rates, reduced government debt and more global cooperation.
Committee argues Capitol attack was premeditated
Donald Trump appears to be facing intensifying legal pressure as the House January 6 committee argues that his instigation of the US Capitol riot was premeditated, making a criminal prosecution increasingly likely.
The panel’s seventh hearing on Tuesday argued that the the former president cannot hide behind a defence of being “willfully blind”. The prospect of witness tampering has also been raised after it was revealed that Trump tried to contact a person talking to the committee about potential testimony.
While Trump and allies have long claimed that the riot was a peaceful demonstration that got out of control, the latest hearing revealed proof that he planned ahead to send protesters, who he knew were armed, to the Capitol.
How likely is a criminal case? It would be “increasingly problematic for the attorney general not to authorise a full-blown investigation”, said the Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe.
In other news …
An Ohio man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who later had to travel to Indiana for an abortion due to being three days past her state’s six-week limit. The case was cited by Joe Biden in his criticism of the supreme court ruling.
Hundreds of people attended a funeral for Jayland Walker, the 25-year-old Black man killed by police in Akron, Ohio, after an attempted traffic stop. The Akron mayor, Dan Horrigan, declared Wednesday a day of mourning.
Tensions are running high in Sri Lanka after the president’s resignation failed to materialize on Thursday morning, following his escape to the Maldives. The country is in a state of emergency after protesters occupied the prime minister’s offices and took over the state television broadcaster.
Turkey has announced an agreement with Ukraine, Russia and the UN aimed at resuming Ukrainian grain exports blocked by Russia. Turkey’s defence minister said the deal, which raises hopes that the standoff which has threatened food security for millions, would be signed next week.
Stat of the day: a white roof in NYC can be 23C (73F) cooler on the hottest day of summer
Research by Nasa has found that a white roof in New York City can be 23C (73F) cooler than a black asphalt one on the hottest day of the summer. Changes like this, alongside planting trees in streets and creating waterways, could play an important role in keeping our cities cooler in the climate crisis, Oliver Wainwright reports.
Don’t miss this: the people who come out in later life
The average age for coming out as LGBT has fallen over the years, but there is no ‘right’ age to do it. After Olympic athlete Dame Kelly Holmes spoke publicly about her sexuality for the first time at the age of 52, Michael Segalov met five people who came out in later life. “At last, I could shout about my sexuality – but I didn’t know how to come out, or what that would entail,” 72-year-old Norman Goodman says.
Climate check: the growing fight to stop new North Sea fossil fuel drilling
When the UK business secretary announced the government had given the green light to a new oil and gas project in the North Sea just before a long bank holiday weekend, ministers likely hoped it wouldn’t stir up too much reaction. But within 24 hours, hundreds of climate activists had sprung into action in London and Edinburgh. Matthew Taylor writes about how the movement to stop North Sea oil expansion is gaining momentum.
Last Thing: Nasa’s glitterball images predicted by pop music
The James Webb space telescope’s pictures were breathtaking – but some music fans were left with a feeling they’d seen it all before. And they weren’t (totally) wrong as they made comparisons that were “aesthetically apt, if astrophysically inexact” to album covers by the Cocteau Twins and Parliament.
