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Senator John McCain (R-AZ), recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, departs after returning to the Senate to vote on health care legislation on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
U.S. politics
After a months-long struggle, Republicans succeeded in bringing Obamacare repeal legislation to a debate on the U.S. Senate floor. Republican Senator John McCain appealed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to start over by having a Senate committee, in a bipartisan way, craft new healthcare legislation. His proposal was promptly ignored.
Top Republican lawmakers rallied to the defense of Jeff Sessions as allies of the attorney general said President Donald Trump appeared to be trying to pressure him to quit by repeatedly criticizing him on Twitter and in interviews.
Russia
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry took a phone call with a Russian prankster who Perry thought was Ukraine's prime minister. Perry optimistically discussed expanding American coal exports to Ukraine and other energy matters during a lengthy phone call this month. Perry actually was talking with comedians known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians with audacious stunts, Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said in a written statement.
Russia warned that new U.S. sanctions against Moscow approved by the House of Representatives take already battered ties into uncharted waters and said it was close to taking retaliatory measures of its own.
Scientists are sucking carbon dioxide from the air with giant fans and preparing to release chemicals from a balloon to dim the sun's rays as part of a climate engineering push to cool the planet.
Fireflies seeking mates light up in synchronized bursts inside a forest at Santa Clara sanctuary near the town of Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala state, Mexico, July 24, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
The Trump administration's refusal to publicly accuse Russia and others in a wave of politically motivated hacking attacks is creating a policy vacuum that security experts fear will encourage more cyber warfare. Chris Painter, the official responsible for coordinating U.S. diplomacy on cyber security, will leave his post at the end of July. No replacement has been named and the future of the position in the State Department is in flux.
Earnings
Business
The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and possibly hint that it will start winding down its massive holdings of bonds as soon as September in what would be a vote of confidence in the U.S. economy.
Breakingviews
Harvard Business School has trained world leaders, like President George W. Bush, and billion entrepreneurs, including Steve Schwarzman and Mike Bloomberg. It also churned out convicted felons like Enron's Jeff Skilling and former McKinsey boss Raj Gupta. Duff McDonald, author of “The Golden Passport,” discusses the seamier side of Harvard's teachings with Breakingviews Global Editor Rob Cox.
World
A brewing political scandal in Sweden intensified when center-right opposition parties said they would call a no confidence vote in three government ministers, a vote they are likely to win. The opposition is seeking to boot out the ministers of infrastructure, defense and the interior for their role in outsourcing IT-services for the Swedish Transport Agency in 2015. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said his country and its citizens were exposed to risks by potential leaks as a result of the contract.
As people return home to Mosul and other areas of northern Iraq freed from Islamic State, homemade booby-traps laid by insurgents in houses, schools, mosques and streets are claiming hundreds of victims and hampering efforts to bring life back to normal.
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