On Wednesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Berlin will help Kyiv produce long-range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia. It’s another sign that Europe has lost patience with Vladimir Putin’s reluctance to talk peace and a recognition that whatever happens on the battlefield this summer will shape the outcome of eventual talks.
The House-passed “Big Beautiful Bill” has one unhappy customer: Elon Musk, who said he’s “disappointed” by the tax-policy legislation. He argued that it “increases the budget deficit … and undermines the work that the [Department of Government Efficiency] team is doing.” It’s the heaviest criticism that Musk, who spent over $250 million to help US President Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election, has directed toward the administration. We’re watching to see whether this is merely a blip in the Musk-Trump relationship, or whether the Tesla owner now splits with the Republican Party – and takes his dollars with him.
“In 2025, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries will make record high debt repayments totaling $22 billion to China,” according to a report by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank. That’s mainly thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative. which has loaned more than 150 countries a total of more than $1 trillion since 2013 for infrastructure projects. The initiative risks becoming an albatross for both China and its debtors.
The US leader will seek to reinforce his bonds with evangelical Christians when he reads from the Bible tonight, in what will be a televised reading.
It’s unclear if the second round of US-Iran talks will go ahead in Pakistan after the US Navy intercepted and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship outside the Strait of Hormuz this weekend.
Wall Street Journal Beijing bureau chief Jonathan Cheng says China has already won the tariff standoff, and the upcoming Trump-Xi Summit is a chance to project something bigger: that Beijing, not Washington, is the world's reliable partner.
The Kim dynasty has outlasted every threat for 80 years. Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Cheng explains how, and why the Iran war just made Kim Jong Un seem untouchable.