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Joe Biden has called on Congress to “finally do something” to toughen US guns laws, such as banning assault weapons or raising the age at which they can be purchased, to stop the country’s “ordinary places” from becoming “killing fields”.
Biden spoke from the White House on Thursday evening in a rare primetime address after delaying a previously planned trip to his beach house in Delaware by a few hours.
His appeal came on the heels of three high-profile deadly shootings across the US in recent weeks — in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, earlier this week.
“Let’s hear the call and the cry. Let’s meet the moment. Let us finally do something,” Biden said.
While the chances of any legislative compromise to tighten gun laws in the US are seen as remote given huge Republican opposition, a small group of senators including Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat, and John Cornyn, the Texas Republican, has been holding talks to see if there might be an opening for a deal.
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Five more stories in the news
1. Investors return to Chinese stocks Global investors are returning to China’s stock markets after a widespread sell-off earlier this year triggered by draconian Covid-19 restrictions, the geopolitical implications of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of regulatory crackdowns.
2. Opec agrees to accelerate oil production The oil cartel and its allies agreed to accelerate production in July and August, as Saudi Arabia bowed to US pressure to cool a crude price rally that has threatened to stall the global economy. US relations with the Saudis have undergone a dramatic U-turn as oil prices and inflation bite.
3. Top Fed official warns half-point rate rise may be needed in September Lael Brainard, vice-chair of the Federal Reserve, warned that the US central bank may need to extend its run of half-point rate rises into September if inflation does not slow sufficiently in the coming months.
The latest on the war in Ukraine:
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Sanctions: The US has imposed more punitive measures on middlemen and yachts linked to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
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Military brutality: The behaviour of Russian troops has reflected how Putin’s authoritarianism has undermined the military reform he launched a decade ago.
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Opinion: The challenges that the war has generated appear to be reinforcing European disunion, writes Stefan Auer, associate professor at the University of Hong Kong. Edward Luce argues that the west is feeling fatigued over Ukraine.
4. Eurozone producer prices hit record Prices charged by eurozone industrial producers rose 37.2 per cent in the year to April, up from March’s all-time high of 36.9 per cent and the fastest pace since the launch of the single currency more than two decades ago, prompting European central bankers to warn that inflationary pressures were becoming too broad as well as too high.
5. Johnny Depp awarded $15mn by jury in Amber Heard case A jury found that Amber Heard defamed Johnny Depp by claiming that she was a victim of domestic abuse in an opinion piece, a victory for the Hollywood actor after several weeks of sordid testimony as the former spouses accused each other of destroying their careers.
The days ahead
Economic data Non-farm payrolls data from the US Labor Department today are likely to show the unemployment rate to have inched back down to its pre-pandemic level in May, despite the monthly pace of jobs growth being forecast to slow slightly, as employers grapple with a tight labour market.
UK festivities Celebrations marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee continue with a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral today, a concert outside Buckingham Palace on Saturday and a pageant along London’s Mall on Sunday.
French Open France hosts the women’s final of the tennis tournament tomorrow and the men’s final on Sunday.
What else we’re reading
‘Facebook would not be Facebook without Sheryl’ Sheryl Sandberg intended to spend just five years at Facebook when she joined in 2008 as Mark Zuckerberg’s right-hand woman. Instead, she stayed 14 years, becoming one of the most recognisable, and polarising figures, in Silicon Valley. When she steps down as chief operating officer of Facebook, now known as Meta, this autumn, she will leave behind a mixed legacy.
‘All the power is in his hands’ Lockdowns and other restrictions in China have been costly and crushed economic activity, but President Xi Jinping’s aggregation of power over the past decade has been so complete that he is unlikely to pay a significant political price for the considerable costs of his zero-Covid strategy, analysts said, even as he attempts to secure an unprecedented third term in power.
How the Queen built her reign on duty and detachment While recent opinion polls have suggested that younger Britons are more ambivalent about the role of the royal family, the overall majority in favour of the institution has remained relatively steady throughout Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and was still buoyant on the eve of her jubilee celebrations.
CBDCs have wholesale appeal The collapse of stablecoins terra and luna and the tumbling price of tokens such as bitcoin have triggered chatter of a “crypto winter”. But using central bank digital currencies for wholesale cross-border payments, moving funds between financial institutions and central banks, is sparking establishment interest, writes Gillian Tett.
Did inhaling nitrous oxide inspire Roget’s Thesaurus? Peter Mark Roget knew that if we are to understand the world around us, we need to be able to name it. But it might have taken drugs and a drab time to drive him to produce the major work.
Books
TikTok clips seem an odd fit with the literary world. But publishers mindful of their bottom line would do well not to sniff at the recent BookTok trend.
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