Aurelia Butler

Arkansas will also hold nomination contests while Texas will hold run-off elections for races that were unresolved in that state’s March 1 primaries. Here are seven races to watch:HERSCHEL WALKER’S U.S. SENATE BIDIn Georgia, Trump-backed Herschel Walker, a former professional football player with scant political experience, is expected to come in first in the contest against five other Republican hopefuls. But if he falls short of 50%, he will face the second-place Republican in a June 21 run-off. The eventual winner will likely face Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock. The November contest is widely seen as a toss-up. DAVID PERDUE VS BRIAN KEMPTrump-backed former U.S. Senator David Perdue has heavily trailed incumbent Republican Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp in polls. Perdue might not even force a run-off with Kemp, who sparked Trump’s ire by declining to help the former president’s effort to overthrow Trump’s loss in the state during the 2020 presidential election. The winner will take on Stacey Abrams, the lone Democrat seeking her party’s nomination, in what is expected to be a close contest.MORE REVENGE: HICE VS RAFFENSPERGERLike the race against Kemp, Trump also backed a challenger to Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on grounds that he did too little to bolster his false allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Trump-endorsed U.S. Representative Jody Hice, who has been close to Raffensperger in recent polls, could be Trump’s best chance at unseating an incumbent in Georgia.DEMOCRATIC DUEL: BOURDEAUX VS MCBATHGeorgia’s newly-drawn 7th congressional district pits two Democratic U.S. Representatives – Carolyn Bourdeaux and Lucy McBath – against one another. Bourdeaux was the only Democrat to flip a Republican House seat in the November 2020 elections, while McBath was a gun control advocate before winning a congressional seat in 2018. The 7th congressional district is heavily Democratic.MO BROOKS HOLDS ONU.S. Representative Mo Brooks, a Republican firebrand from Alabama, has shown a recent recovery in the polls ahead of his attempt to return to the U.S. Senate. He was an early supporter of Trump, but the former president in March withdrew his endorsement of Brooks’ then-struggling campaign after Brooks told Alabama voters it was time to move on from Trump’s false claims of a stolen election. Katie Britt, a former chief of staff to retiring U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, is still the favorite, but Brooks has made it a race.MODERATE DEMOCRAT VS PROGRESSIVE CHALLENGERU.S. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, a moderate Democrat, will again face progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros in party nomination contest after neither garnered 50% in their March 1st primary election. The winner will compete in one of Texas’ few competitive House races in November. Cuellar is the House of Representatives’ sole Democrat who opposes abortion rights, which Cisneros has attacked along with his opposition to legislation making it easier for workers to get union representation.WILL PAXTON SURVIVE?Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has already won one re-election campaign since his indictment in 2015 on state securities fraud charges. This time around, he will face state Land Commissioner George P. Bush in a runoff after neither won 50% in a March 1st primary contest. Bush is the grandson of former President George H. W. Bush.(This story refiles to fix typos in third and seventh paragraphs) More

(Reuters) – San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly on Monday said the U.S. economy has a lot of momentum, and said the central bank can raise interest rates to where they are no longer stimulating economic growth without starting a recession.”We really have a strong economy,” Daly said in an interview on Fox News. “I think that we can weather this storm, get the interest rate up…price stability restored and still leave Americans with jobs aplentiful and with growth expanding as we expect it to.” More

The economy ministry’s tax cut, which covers approximately 87% of the country’s tariff goods, was approved after a meeting of the Brazilian Foreign Trade Chamber is effective between June 1 this year and Dec. 31, 2023.A source had previously confirmed the information to Reuters.”Today’s measure, added to the 10% reduction already made last year, brings the Brazilian tariff level closer to the international average and, in particular, to the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),” the Secretary of Foreign Trade, Lucas Ferraz, said in a note to the press.The waiver resulting from the tax cuts, according to the ministry, is estimated at 3.7 billion reais ($768.45 million).The decision to reduce the tariffs, without approval of trade bloc Mercosur, was made under the protection of an article of the Montevideo Treaty.Ferraz said Brazil will keep negotiating with bloc members to try to consolidate and make the import tax cuts permanent.”Our expectation is that this year we will be able to make the 20% tax cut a measure of the entire Mercosur,” he said.Among products that will remain outside the measure are textiles, footwear, toys, dairy products and some automotive items.The government had already unilaterally reduced the common external tariff (TEC) rates by 10%, without approval of all Mercosur members, saying it was urgent to deal with rising prices.In April, the government showed its intention to promote a new 10% cut in import tariffs.The economy ministry backs a gradual opening of the economy and recently implemented cuts in the industrial tax (IPI) to make Brazilian industry more competitive and enable the new reduction of the import tax.An initial reduction of 25% in IPI was increased to 35%, preserving products from the Manaus Free Trade Zone. The measure was taken to court and currently is partially suspended.($1 = 4.8149 reais) More

Annual inflation in the South American nation reached 58% in April, as many food and energy prices surged in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with some analysts predicting consumer prices will jump 70% later this year.Domestic Trade Minister Roberto Feletti announced his move in a post on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) along with his resignation letter after serving a little more than seven months in the post and citing policy “discrepancies” but without going into detail.Last week, the ministry Feletti led was folded into the economy ministry, as internal tensions within the center-left ruling Peronists of President Alberto Fernandez have spilled out into public.In a statement issued later on Monday, Guillermo Hang, a central bank official, was named the new domestic trade minister. More

Joe Biden has pledged to use military force to defend Taiwan if China invades, in remarks made during his first visit to Japan as US president.Biden’s remark appeared to overturn the decades-old US policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would defend Taiwan, but the White House insisted its policy on the democratic island had not changed.The president’s comments have reignited speculation about his stance on Taiwan. Some defence experts had urged Biden to make it clear that the US would defend Taiwan as a way to deter an increasingly powerful China.But there has been no sign of a formal policy shift apart from his comment in Tokyo and two similar remarks last year. On all three occasions, the White House immediately rolled back on the remarks.Speaking alongside Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida, Biden reaffirmed Washington’s “one China” policy, which recognises Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China and acknowledges its position that Taiwan is part of China. He added that if China were to take Taiwan by force, “it will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine”.Elsewhere on his trip to Asia, the US president has launched a new trade initiative with 12 Indo-Pacific countries — including Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea — in his first serious effort to boost economic engagement in the region and help other nations resist Chinese pressure. India and seven south-east Asian nations — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Brunei — will also join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which includes nations that represent 40 per cent of the global economy.Over the weekend, Biden and South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol committed to exploring “new and additional steps” to reinforce deterrence as North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons.Thanks for reading FirstFT Asia. Here’s the rest of the day’s news — SophiaFive more stories in the news1. Didi investors vote to delist in US in bid to revive China business The Chinese ride-hailing group has notified the New York Stock Exchange that it will move to delist after shareholders overwhelmingly backed the plan designed to get the company’s services back on to Chinese app stores. The company has endured a months-long crisis after a botched $4.4bn IPO.2. Binance promoted terra as a ‘safe’ investment before $40bn collapse Just weeks before the stablecoin and its counterpart Luna collapsed, the world’s biggest crypto exchange advertised an investment scheme in which clients lend out their Terra to earn a yield of almost 20 per cent as a “safe and happy” opportunity, according to a message Binance sent on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app.3. Eurozone to end negative interest rates European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde has signalled that ECB’s eight-year experiment with negative rates will end, and that borrowing costs are on track to hit zero by the end of September. ECB officials estimate the neutral rate for the eurozone at between 1 per cent and 2 per cent, but economists are divided on whether it will raise rates above that level.4. Zelensky calls for global plan to rebuild Ukraine after war The Ukrainian president has urged the international community at Davos to help fund his country’s reconstruction after the war, which he estimates will cost $500bn. In addition to rebuilding war-torn areas, Zelensky has also proposed using frozen Russian assets to compensate victims. 5. Iran vows revenge after commander assassinated in broad daylight Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, a member of the Revolutionary Guards, was shot in front of his house in Tehran on Sunday afternoon. Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi blamed “global tyranny” for the death of the commander, a phrase that is usually a reference to the US and Israel.The day aheadQuad leaders summit Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida will host US president Joe Biden, Australia’s newly elected prime minister Anthony Albanese and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi. The Indo-Pacific security grouping is aimed at addressing China’s assertiveness in the region.Elizabeth line opens in London The city’s £18.9bn east-west express rail link, the Elizabeth Line, is set to open, three-and-a-half years later than originally planned.Eurozone business activity data A key test will come today from S&P Global’s latest survey of purchasing managers, which European Central Bank policymakers will watch as they weigh how soon to stop buying more bonds and start raising interest rates.What else we’re readingHow the war in Ukraine convinced Germany to rebuild its army Three days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the German government said it would spend €100bn on modernising its army. Germany has previously promised. to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence, but has never met that target. Now, some are left asking why it took so long — and whether it will be enough.US-China rift poses challenge for Hong Kong stock exchange chief At the first in-person World Economic Forum in two years, Nicolas Aguzin will attempt to persuade executives and officials that China is open for business. But the plan to reinforce HKEX’s role as the bridge between east and west has been “defeated for the time being” a person close to the HKEX said. The uncertain future of urban transit Cities as diverse as Paris, Auckland, and Ho Chi Minh City are pressing forward with building new urban metro systems. But these come as improved cycling infrastructure, disruptive technologies such as ride-hailing apps and new patterns of work are already changing travel patterns worldwide.

FT Executive Education Ranking 2022 France’s HEC Paris has topped the FT’s twin annual executive education rankings for open-enrolment programmes and custom courses for corporate clients for the first time, as leading academic institutions reported a surge in demand for non-degree courses. Read the full rankings and profiles of all the top schools.Vive la différence between work and play France’s attempt in 2017 to allow employees a “right to disconnect” is now being taken up across Europe. Italy and Spain are taking similar steps and Portugal forbids companies from contacting employees outside working hours. Meanwhile, the EU is drafting a directive to reduce work-related digital overload. More on work: Employers believe the impression of productivity is just as important, if not more so, than actual productivity. But leadership consultant Nels Abbey urges an end to the curse of presenteeism.How To Spend ItFrom Lake Como to Colombia, Bordeaux to the Bahamas, How To Spend It is full of ideas for getting away this summer in the special travel issue, with an opening letter from editor Jo Ellison.

The Vineyard House is a two-bedroom cottage on the Château Troplong Mondot estate in Bordeaux © Cécile Perrinet-Lhermitte More