Plus, Trump approval sinks to new low.

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Daily Briefing

Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. Iran's Guards seize wartime power, Powell's tenure as Fed chief draws to a close, and Trump's approval sinks to a new low.

Plus, Methana unveils the secrets of slumbering volcanoes.

Today's Top News

 

A woman walks past a billboard featuring an image of the late Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamene. Tehran, Iran. Majid Asgaripour/WANA via REUTERS/File Photo

War in Iran

  • Two months into a war with the US and Israel, Iran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power — an abrupt break with the past that may be hardening Tehran’s stance as it weighs renewed talks with Washington.
  • US intelligence agencies are studying how Iran would respond if Trump were to declare a unilateral victory in the two-month-old war that has killed thousands and become a political liability for the White House.

In other news

  • President Donald Trump's approval rating sank to the lowest level of his current term, as Americans increasingly soured on his handling of the cost ‌of living and an unpopular war, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
  • The US president has suffered a string of courtroom setbacks in his battles with the American media, but the rulings have done little to blunt a broader campaign of pressure and retaliation that extends beyond the press.
  • The US State Department said it would produce a limited number of commemorative passports bearing Trump's portrait, the latest example of the ‌administration attaching the president's likeness or name to official property.
  • Britain's King Charles told the US Congress that despite an age of uncertainty and conflict in Europe and the Middle East, the UK and the US will always be staunch allies united in defending democracy, at a time of deep divisions between the two long-time allies.
  • Prime Minister Keir Starmer's decision ‌last month to let the British military board ships of Russia’s so‑called "shadow fleet" has had no clear impact on the number passing through UK waters, a Reuters analysis shows.
  • Argentine President Javier Milei, a libertarian who has long cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as one of his political role models, has recently sharpened his public tone on the Falkland Islands, a contrast from the moderate approach he has previously adopted as he's sought closer ties with the West.
 

Business & Markets

 
  • The United Arab Emirates is leaving OPEC, a move that could significantly shake up global oil markets. Simon Webb tells the Reuters World News podcast this means that the UAE, once bound by OPEC quotas, is now free to increase its output. Here's all you need to know about OPEC.
  • Top American companies from GM to Coca-Cola are trying to reassure investors they can weather the financial fallout from the Iran war, even as surging fuel and packaging costs threaten margins.
  • The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady as officials debate whether to flag risks of rising inflation in a policy statement issued after what ‌may be Jerome Powell's final meeting as head of the US central bank.
  • A pivotal moment for the artificial intelligence trade driving the US stock market to all-time highs arrives today, with quarterly reports from four massive companies at the heart of the investment boom behind the new technology.
  • Meta's Facebook and ‌Instagram were charged with breaching landmark EU tech rules and must do more to block children under 13 from accessing the social networks, EU regulators said.
  • Elon Musk took the stand at a high-stakes trial over the future of OpenAI, casting his lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker as a defense of charitable giving.
 

USDA rejects women picked for soybean board, appoints men instead

 

Farmer Susan Watkins checks her newly planted soybeans after a frost in Sutherland, Virginia. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The Trump administration rejected all four women farmers chosen by their peers to represent them in an industry group called the United Soybean Board earlier this year, a rare intervention by the US Department of Agriculture that three of the women suspected was because of their gender.

From the Pentagon to the US Department of Education, the Trump administration has vowed to root out policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, from every layer of government.

Normally, soy farmers pick their representatives and the USDA signs off. This time, the USDA rejected at least five of the farmers selected for the United Soybean Board, including four women. It did not give any reason, according to three of the women.

Read more
 

And Finally...