🚪 Doorbell Diplomacy
If no one answers, the neighbors will.
Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française
Good morning!
EQT beat 26 rivals for the Scaleup Europe Fund mandate, including Atomico, which presumably had brochures printed. With €269B under management, the Swedish firm was the obvious front-runner for a €5B vehicle with a deceptively simple purpose: stop Europe’s best technology companies from signing term sheets in California. Private manager, competitive tender, no member state veto over individual investments, governance stripped of the usual bean-counting over national allocations. The fund was built not to function like an EU project. That distinction survived contact with the first general meeting.
Britain’s €150M is 3% of the target vehicle, the kind of sum a mid-sized European scaleup might raise in a single round. Member states are capped such that their companies cannot capture more than 25% of what the fund invests, and nobody has written the rule for a contributor that left the Union six years ago. That question lands at the precise moment Britain wants border and customs controls on agricultural goods lifted, carbon markets reconnected, and a mobility scheme opened for the under-30s, and « methodological question from Paris » is the most diplomatic translation available of « not before the autumn summit. » Three other capitals are running the same calculation, less elegantly.
The €150B European defence fund collapsed in November, having reached precisely zero in deployed capital, when Britain refused the entry fee Brussels demanded, the whole apparatus folding with all the grandeur of a conference call that never reaches quorum. Europe announces an instrument designed to bypass its own institutional reflexes; the reflexes arrive for inspection at the first opportunity, and by the time the instrument is operational the problem it was built to solve has found another solution. The Scaleup Europe Fund was explicitly constructed to escape the distribution key logic, the assumption that each contributor recoups its proportional cut from portfolio returns. The first act of the public shareholders: produce the distribution key.
Late-stage venture capital in Europe runs at $21.3B against $133B in the United States. Close to half of European late rounds close with American or Asian capital. One scaleup in ten relocates its centre of gravity outside the Union, 85% of them toward the United States. When the seat moves, the patents follow, and so do the engineers’ payslips. The fund will eventually deploy. The summits will happen, the methodology will be agreed, the British contribution accepted under whatever formula Paris and the Commission negotiate before the next budget cycle. The founders currently closing Series C rounds will not have waited. They are signing with whoever picks up the phone first. That fund is in Menlo Park, and it has no methodological questions about Britain.
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🗞️ Top Story
- 🇩🇪 SharkNetting. Three alleged members of the SharkNet group, including two teenagers, are under investigation for cyberattacks targeting German public offices and firms with ransom demands. (Die Zeit)
- 🇵🇱 Burn Notice. Authorities in Poland open a terrorism investigation into a deliberate blaze at a WB Electronics drone plant, with foreign sabotage suspected but no official culprit. (Le Parisien)
- 🇺🇸 Return Fire. The and Iran exchange missile attacks after a month of relative calm, prompting Trump to promise a forceful American response and rattling global markets. (Financial Times)
- 🇲🇽 Badge Blast. A car bomb injured six, including a police officer, outside the Ojocaliente police station in Mexico, as officials tally the damage. (Ouest-France)
- 🇰🇷 Holy Handbag. South Korea’s Han Hak-ja, head of the Unification Church, gets two years in prison after gifting designer goods to curry political favor. Divine intervention not accepted as evidence. (Le Monde)
- 🇮🇷 Strait Down. Only 10 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, a dramatic drop from pre-war levels as tanker owners avoid the conflict zone. (Boursier)
- 🇨🇩 Case Closed. The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has surpassed 6,000 confirmed cases and 2,900 deaths, with authorities warning the epidemic is still accelerating. (Le Monde)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Prime Time. Andy Burnham faces Parliament as prime minister for the first time, ending his summer honeymoon and beginning the real test of his leadership. (Bbc)
- 🇬🇧 Cabinet Shuffle. Kemi Badenoch ousts Mel Stride and Priti Patel from the Tory shadow cabinet, installing Andrew Griffith and Tom Tugendhat in a pre-conference reset. (Bbc)
- 🇬🇧 Mobility Optional. The government is considering axing the Social Mobility Commission, arguing its work is now redundant and should be absorbed by Whitehall. (The Guardian)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇪🇺 Fowl Play. Brussels suspends Brazilian poultry and beef imports, citing insufficient guarantees on antibiotic use and leaving exporters waiting for a green light. (Ouest-France)
- 🇨🇭 Capital Gains. Swiss lawmakers are set to vote on a softer capital requirement for UBS 🇨🇭, potentially letting the bank avoid the full $20B CET1 buffer the government wanted. (Boursier)
- 🇺🇸 Freeze Frame. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Russia’s finance minister there will be no sanctions relief or economic deals until the Ukraine war ends, while Europe keeps Moscow firmly out in the diplomatic cold. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Studio Rescue Act. Trump pledges to subsidize Hollywood with new tax breaks, hoping to reverse years of lost film production to Canada and beyond. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 Talk is Expensive. A single speech from Kevin Warsh revives fears of tighter policy, leaving investors to pay the price in volatility. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Crash Guest. Russia’s finance chief Anton Silouanov showed up unannounced at the G20 in North Carolina, prompting European officials to demand he be left out of the official group shot. (Le Parisien)
- 🇨🇦 Duty Calls. Wells Fargo 🇺🇸 dismisses Canada’s new steel tariffs as political theater in the ongoing trade war with the US, calling them all for show. (Bloomberg)
- 🇰🇷 Chip Happens. South Korea’s exports soared 68.7% in August, powered by record $46.7B semiconductor sales as global AI demand turns chips into gold. (Die Zeit)
- 🌍 Flight Club. The world booked more airline seats than ever this July, as IATA reports record demand even with expensive fares and Middle East turmoil. (Le Monde)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Loan Rangers. Barclays, Starling Bank and HSBC are chasing nearly 70 dormant companies for defaulting on Covid-era state-backed loans after government pressure to recover taxpayer losses. (Financial Times)
- 🇬🇧 Pension Tension. The number of UK pensioners paying 40% or 45% tax has doubled to over 1M in five years, thanks to frozen thresholds and inflation. Retirement just got a lot less relaxing. (Financial Times)
- 🇬🇧 Till Shock. British Retail Consortium data shows in-store inflation jumped to 1.5% in August, with food and tech prices leading the charge thanks to energy costs. (The Guardian)
- 🇬🇧 State of Play. Prime Minister Andy Burnham will tell MPs that putting more essential services under public control is the only path to UK economic growth. (The Guardian)
- 🇪🇺 Race to the Top. The Financial Times and Statista invite companies across Europe to compete for a spot on the 2027 FT1000, spotlighting revenue rockets of the past three years. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Gone With the Windfall. After the Trump administration downsized the IRS, audit revenue tumbled from $10B to $6.5B, giving tax dodgers a fiscal holiday. (New York Times)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇺🇸 Ballroom Blitz. The Supreme Court narrowly allows Donald Trump to continue building a new White House ballroom, dismissing preservationists’ objections as insufficient grounds to halt construction. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 House Arrest. So-called ‘shadow homebuyers’ in the are pausing their plans, waiting for mortgage rates to fall before making a move. (Bloomberg)
- 🇦🇺 Bubble Trouble. The Australian housing boom that made homeowners rich is now showing signs of strain, with consequences spreading beyond real estate. (Bloomberg)
- 🇸🇦 Chip Ship. Together AI 🇺🇸 partners with Saudi Arabia’s Humain for $5B worth of data center access and 120,000 semiconductors, as local NIMBYism drives the industry abroad. (New York Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Crude Awakening. Renewed Iran war attacks push oil prices higher, sending 30-year mortgage rates to 6.87% and dashing hopes for cheaper loans in 2024. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Rent of Thrones. Manhattan’s luxury rental market is breaking records as wealthy New Yorkers pay up to $100,000 a month for trophy apartments they could easily buy. (Cnbc)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇺🇸 Santos Clause. Kalshi permanently bans ex-Congressman George Santos from its platform after a CFTC case, proving some contracts really are non-renewable. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Saylor Moon. Strategy 🇺🇸 breaks its two-month silence by buying 4,603 more Bitcoin for $370M, bringing its total stash to 845,050 BTC and signaling it is back in accumulation mode. (Wall Street Online)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Fault Line. Gemini escapes liability for the Earn program’s downfall after an arbitrator finds insufficient proof of deception or negligence by the crypto exchange. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Bench Pressed. Kalshi’s Brian Quintenz says the Ninth Circuit’s opinion on prediction markets muddied the waters, leaving the Supreme Court to clean up the mess. (Bloomberg)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇺🇸 Cloud Nine Figures. Anthropic has signed a $35B deal to rent Nvidia-backed computing power from Lambda in Texas, escalating the AI arms race with OpenAI and fueling talk of a tech bubble. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 Byte Club. Apple accuses former employee Chang Liu of stealing secret tech for OpenAI, claiming “shocking evidence” and a cover-up attempt involving destroyed data and hidden files. (TechCrunch)
- 🇺🇸 Bot and Sold. The global financial watchdog cautions that AI-powered cyber risks could trigger a disorderly market correction, putting G20 officials on high alert ahead of their meeting. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 Cooked to Order. John Ternus takes over as Apple’s new CEO after Tim Cook’s 15-year reign, inheriting AI headaches, hardware expectations, and a very watchful predecessor. (Libé)
- 🇺🇸 Prime Suspect. The FTC and over 20 state attorneys general are suing Amazon 🇺🇸 for allegedly deceiving advertisers and pocketing tens of billions by secretly raising ad prices. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Lake Expectations. President Trump asks Apple to relabel Lake Ontario as Lake America on its Maps platform, pushing his latest rebranding campaign into digital territory. (Bbc)
- 🇺🇸 Power-Up. GameStop 🇺🇸 projects higher Q2 earnings, mainly from its eBay 🇺🇸 investment, while core sales continue their losing streak. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇻🇪 Field of Streams. President Trump announced a deal giving NABEP, a US-backed firm, century-long rights to 17 Venezuelan oil fields, with Washington securing a 35% equity stake and priority access to vast reserves, but experts warn the price at the pump is unlikely to budge soon. (Cnbc)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- HITAI 🇬🇧 acquires Quell 🇬🇧, the YC-backed fitness gaming developer and publisher behind Impact and Shardfall, taking its technology and IP including camera-less, patent-pending motion tech for HITAI’s camera-based motion recognition platform.
- BT 🇬🇧 set to net an estimated £2bn+ over the next decade by selling old copper cabling as full-fibre rollout and rising recycled metal prices coincide with the AI boom.
- Aberdeen Investments 🇬🇧 cedes control of Airband Community Internet 🇬🇧, facing a £200M hit as control moves to its creditor banks.
- Ardian 🇫🇷 acquires Horse Creek and Electra 🇺🇸 from MEAG 🇩🇪, minority stakes in two Texas onshore wind farms totaling 460 MW, operational since 2016.
- Astorg Partners 🇫🇷 and Montagu Private Equity 🇬🇧 explore a $3.5B sale of Nemera 🇫🇷, GLP-1 pen maker.
- Airbus 🇫🇷 considers sale of its US small-satellite manufacturing business 🇺🇸.
- Coinhouse 🇫🇷 acquires Tilvest 🇫🇷, a deal in crypto management.
- BMPS 🇮🇹 makes a $10.2B takeover offer for Banca Generali 🇮🇹, the wealth manager.
- Baker Tilly 🇧🇪🇳🇱 forms a Benelux alliance with Baker Tilly Luxembourg 🇱🇺 after the Belgian and Dutch branches merged.
- TAP Air Portugal 🇵🇹 hit by higher fuel prices as the airline nears sale.
- Unimot 🇵🇱 ends talks to acquire Shell 🇬🇧’s stake in Schwedt refinery 🇩🇪.
- EQT 🇸🇪 and Allianz 🇩🇪 explore a $6.8B takeover of The AA 🇬🇧, the UK roadside recovery business.
- Aon 🇮🇪 acquires USI Insurance Services 🇺🇸 from KKR 🇺🇸 for $17B, including debt, insurance brokerage.
- US 🇺🇸 acquires new Venezuela oil JV 🇻🇪, taking 55% control of a JV that comprises 20% of the country’s oil reserves and includes a 35% passive stake in Blue Energy Partners 🇺🇸.
- Oneok 🇺🇸 and Apollo 🇺🇸 acquire Brazos Midstream Holdings 🇺🇸’ natural gas operations for $9B, including $5B of debt to be paid off.
- Authentic Brands Group 🇺🇸 acquires a 51% stake in the IP of Drake’s lifestyle brand OVO 🇨🇦 at a ~$235M valuation.
- Eli Lilly & Co. 🇺🇸 to buy Merida Biosciences Inc. 🇺🇸 for $2.88B. Deal concerns autoimmune and allergic-disease assets.
- SLB 🇺🇸 acquires Kelvion 🇩🇪 for $3.4B cash and assumption of $700M debt. Deal expected H1 2027, majority owner Apollo and minority holder Triton included.
- Elliott Management 🇺🇸 builds a stake in Air Liquide 🇫🇷, activist hedge fund with $80.3B AUM. Air Liquide market cap €108B. Group margins 21% vs Linde 30%. Electronics division 10% of revenues. Returned €14B to investors over the past decade vs Linde €45B.
- Goldman Sachs (alternative branch) 🇺🇸 invests in Owner 🇺🇸 at a $2.3B valuation.
- Osedea 🇨🇦 acquiert ventriloc 🇨🇦, firme sherbrookoise spécialisée en IA, ingénierie de données et robotique; ~25 employés rejoignent les ~75 d’Osedea.
- BYD 🇨🇳 asks about buying Stellantis 🇳🇱’s idled Brampton plant to make buses, according to the mayor.
- Valterra Platinum 🇿🇦 made an informal approach to rival Northam Platinum 🇿🇦.
- Zambian State Mine Investor 🇿🇲 considers selling a stake in the state-owned mine 🇿🇲.
🇺🇸 United States
- Athena Agentic 🇺🇸 acquires Omni Cyber Solutions Agentic Platform 🇺🇸 in an asset purchase effective July 16, 2026 (Athena’s second acquisition this year, including the platform’s AI-powered security operations technology).
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇫🇷 Play It Again. VLC media player has hit 7B downloads worldwide, proving that free and offline still beats pricey streaming for billions of users. (TechCrunch)
- 🇪🇺 Game of Compliance. ChatGPT, OpenAI 🇺🇸, Roblox 🇺🇸, and Reddit 🇺🇸 must now follow tougher rules to limit risks to users, especially minors, after crossing the 45M user threshold. (France Info)
- 🇪🇺 Buyout Alone. CVC, the British-born private equity firm based in Luxembourg, is the only European player to crack PitchBook’s global top 10 for LBOs this year. (Agefi)
- 🇺🇸 Bot and Sold. OpenAI’s ChatGPT ads are now raking in $1B a year, proving that even artificial intelligence cannot resist the siren call of digital advertising. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Track Record. The Vanguard 500 Index Fund turns 50, marking half a century since it launched the era of passive investing and changed Wall Street forever. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Bot and Sold. Jane Street lost $15B in trading revenue after its big AI bets turned sour, marking its first monthly loss in a decade and stunning Wall Street rivals. (Financial Times)
- 🇸🇬 Money Talks. Singapore commits S$220M to its fintech ecosystem, proving that innovation is easier when you write the check yourself. (FinExtra)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Crown Funding. The UK government launches a £100M contest for domestic AI start-ups to tackle public sector challenges, aiming to keep innovation local and Palantir at bay. (Financial Times)
- 🇬🇧 Pot Luck. With £1.5B sitting in 760,000 unclaimed child trust fund accounts, the FCA tells providers to step up and help young people find their missing money. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Equity Timeout. RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital dangle millions at Big 12 schools, yet universities balk at borrowing with a 10% interest rate attached. (New York Times)
Fundraising
- Polymarket 🇺🇸 (Prediction markets): $1B (1789 Capital)
- Instinct 🇺🇸 (AI): $250M (Index Ventures, Benchmark)
- Owner 🇺🇸 (Restaurant): $240M (Goldman Sachs Alternatives Growth Equity, Meritech, Redpoint, Headline, Jack Altman)
- REGENT Craft 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $240M (Mare Liberum, AE Ventures, Erebor Bank, DCVC, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Japan Airlines, Giant Step Capital, Strategic Development Fund)
- Gatik 🇺🇸 (Mobility): $200M (Qatar Investment Authority, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Millennium Management, ARK Invest, Intact Private Capital)
- Nexeon 🇬🇧 (Battery): €116.7M (National Wealth Fund, Korea Development Bank, Honda Xcelerator Ventures)
- Elekta 🇸🇪 (HealthTech): €100M (European Investment Bank)
- JetZero 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $100M (Pinegrove Partners, Silicon Valley Bank (a division of First Citizens Bank))
- Linear 🇺🇸 (DevTools): $99M (Accel, 01A, Salesforce Ventures, S32)
- HubX 🇺🇸 (AI): $75M (Point72 Private Investments)
- EIT Pharma 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $35M (Propel Bio Partners, Good Ventures, Arrowtown, others)
- Yuma Energy 🇮🇳 (Mobility): $35M (Magna International)
- Breedr 🇬🇧 (Agtech): $27M (Partech, Latitude, Outsiders Fund)
- Bolt 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $27M (Ryan Breslow, existing investors)
- Retro (Photo-sharing): $21M
- Lone Palm Labs 🇺🇸 (Social): $21M+ (Thrive Capital, Scribble Ventures, BoxGroup, Imaginary Ventures, Coalition, Conviction, Copper, Positive Sum, Dylan Field)
- Easy Aerial 🇺🇸 (Defense): $20M (Insight Partners, Entrée Capital, private U.S. investors)
- Convergen 🇨🇳 (Biotech): $15M (MPCi, LAV, BioTrack Capital, a leading biotech fund)
- Molten Salt Solutions 🇺🇸 (Nuclear): $7M (Dolby Family Ventures, Vanedge Capital Partners, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, True Ventures, Future Ventures)
- Blue Voice 🇺🇸 (AI): $6M (SignalFire, Las Olas VC)
- Reformer Club 🇩🇪 (Fitness): €2M (Vorwerk Ventures)
- KOVE Medical 🇨🇭 (MedTech): €1.7M (syndicate of angel investors)
- PANDA Therapeutics 🇨🇭 (Biotech): €160K (Venture Kick)
- Foldcast 🇨🇭 (Construction): €160K (Venture Kick)
Fund Watch
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) 🇺🇸: $8.5B (5th growth fund for growth-stage startups)
- Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners 🇩🇰: $3B (2nd Growth Markets Fund, growth markets infrastructure)
- a16z 🇺🇸: $1.1B (Machine Age, first dedicated AI hardware infrastructure fund)
- LGT Capital Partners 🇱🇮: $1B (7th European small buyout fund)
- GenNx360 Capital Partners 🇺🇸: $865M (4th fund, mid-market industrials private equity)
- Crow Holdings 🇺🇸: $625M (real estate fund, $3.25B target)
- Crestline Management 🇺🇸: $625M (2nd European Capital Solutions fund)
- Carrick Capital Partners 🇺🇸: $600M (single-asset continuation vehicle for Saviynt)
- Canyon Partners 🇺🇸: $570M (opportunistic real estate fund, distressed focus)
- Siguler Guff 🇺🇸: $500M (2nd India mid-market growth fund)
- OpenAI 🇺🇸: $400M (2nd VC fund, investing its own capital)
- Machine Investment Group 🇺🇸: $350M (2nd opportunistic real estate fund)
- Reach Capital 🇺🇸: $265M (5th fund, human potential theme)
- Polar Asset Management 🇨🇦: $215M (2nd SRT fund)
- MassMutual Ventures 🇺🇸: $150M (2nd climate fund, incorporating AI and real assets)
- Floating Point 🇺🇸: $125M (3rd fund, VC for real-world businesses)
- Palinuro Capital 🇮🇹: $75M (macro hedge fund, AUM past $100M)
- F&F Ventures (Founders & Funders) 🇺🇸: $10M (ecommerce fund, pre-seed–Series A, partnered with SHOPLINE)
- Mykhailo Fedorov 🇺🇦: amount TBD (defense tech fund, seeking US investors to back startups to help defeat Russia)
🔔IPO
- Wella Company 🇨🇭 (Beauty): filed for a U.S. IPO to list on the NYSE under symbol WELA, KKR-backed after its 2020 60% acquisition.
- Samsung Biologics 🇰🇷 (Biopharma): seeking to raise $2.2B in a rights offering to fund its acquisition of PolyPeptide Group.
- Shein 🇭🇰 (E-commerce): raised HK$13.6 billion (~$1.7B) in its Hong Kong IPO, valuing the company at about $26.3B.
- Knowledge Realty Trust 🇮🇳 (REIT): Blackstone is selling a 25% stake worth $1.25B at a 5% discount (13% to NAV).
- Tata Group 🇮🇳 (Conglomerate): talks to unlock liquidity via a swap of listed shares, a Tata Sons buyout of Shapoorji Pallonji’s stake, or a sale to an external investor.
- Jio Platforms 🇮🇳 (Télécoms): a obtenu l’accord des autorités pour une IPO qui devrait lever ~377 milliards ₹ (3,9B$).
- Electra Therapeutics 🏳️ (Biotech): filed for an IPO.
🧳 Debt
- Broadcom 🇺🇸: could raise over $100B in debt to finance AI chips for Anthropic and others.
- Colombia 🇨🇴: plans $11B in extra borrowing this year and will offer debt swaps.
- Zhongsheng Group 🇨🇳: its 2028$ bond yield topped 10%, trading like junk as shares plunge ~63%.
- Japan 10-Year 🇯🇵: 10-year government bond sale passed smoothly after yield hit 3% (bid-to-cover 3.29).
- South Korea 🇰🇷: plans up to 222.8 trillion won in 2027 bond issuance.
- Megha Engineering & Infrastructures 🇮🇳: seeking $700M private credit from Davidson Kempner, Elham, and Varde Partners to buy out a 43% stake and take full ownership.
- Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦: seeking at least $8B in a potential new borrowing.
🇺🇸 United States
- Nscale 🇺🇸: closed approximately $3B in senior secured delayed-draw term loans (up to $1.85B for Ward County, TX and $1.2B for Madison County, NC).
- Drew Capital 🇺🇸: secured $70M in financing for Cosmo 440, a 216‑unit Newark tower.
❌ Failures
- Aberdeen 🇬🇧: will take a $272M hit to one of its infrastructure funds after the collapse of UK broadband provider Airband.
- BioXcel Therapeutics 🇺🇸: the AI-driven biopharma filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- GameStop 🇺🇸: expects Q2 net sales of $780–$800M after planned store closures and the sale/exit of its France operations.
- Bathla Group 🇦🇺: fell into insolvency owing $2.4B, mostly to private credit firms.
- LIV Golf 🇸🇦: Saudi-backed golf league may file for bankruptcy next week.
🇺🇸 United States
- MIT Artspace 🇸🇬: after eight months the pottery studio abruptly closed, leaving customers unable to collect pieces and some who paid about $91 for workshops.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇺🇸 Hit Replay. After 30 years of rumors and unsolved leads, a Nevada jury found Duane Davis guilty of orchestrating the killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 Can Heist. Over 50,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, worth $70,000, vanished in a massive beer theft as the company pleads for tips and cracks jokes online. (Le Parisien)
- 🇳🇵 Live and Let Die. Nepal’s catastrophic floods go viral as bystanders record the oncoming destruction, illustrating just how frozen we are by climate shock. (Libé)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Carnival Knowledge. Notting Hill Carnival marks its 60th anniversary with three days of music, parades, and Caribbean culture, drawing more than 2M people to London’s streets. (Bbc)
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