Throughout his time as Russian President, Vladimir Putin has been alert to the power of visual imagery. The first time I interviewed him in 2001, an aide swooped in just before the cameras went live and snatched away the small water glasses on the table in front of us. Why did you do that? We wouldn't want anyone to think they were for vodka, came the reply. And anyway, we can't risk a glass spilling live on TV.

Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was removed from her role last month, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, according to multiple US outlets. Her diagnosis came shortly after President Donald Trump ousted her from the post of America's top law enforcement officer, according to Axios, which first reported the news of her illness. Bondi, 60, told CNN she is undergoing treatment and is still recovering from surgery that took place a few weeks ago, but is doing well. She is continuing to work despite the diagnosis, and will be joining the White House's new advisory council on AI, the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Podcast host and former White House adviser Katie Miller posted on social media that Pam has been quietly kicking cancer's ass the last few weeks, adding that Bondi has a heart of gold.

Ghana welcomes Pope's apology over Catholic Church's role in slavery Ghana has welcomed Pope Leo XIV's apology for the Catholic Church's historic role in slavery, describing it as an act of moral courage that was important in the global pursuit of truth, human dignity and justice. The Pope issued the clearest apology yet for the Church's involvement in legitimising slavery and its delay in condemning it for centuries. The apology was published on Monday in the Pope's first major teaching document of his papacy, which also focused on the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) . Ghana was a major hub for the transatlantic slave trade when millions of people were captured and loaded on to ships, never to return home. Between the 16th and 19th Centuries, 12-15 million Africans were shipped to the Caribbean, with about two million dying during the journey.

David Sacks and Mark Zuckerberg attend a dinner with tech leaders at the White House in Washington DC on 4 September 2025. David Sacks and Mark Zuckerberg attend a dinner with tech leaders at the White House in Washington DC on 4 September 2025. How big tech got its way on Trump's AI executive order The US president's reversal on calling for a safety review of new AI models is a green light for tech's unchecked power Only hours before Donald Trump was set to sign a long-awaited executive order on Thursday that would have called for a government safety review of new artificial intelligence models before their release, the president abruptly backed out . Despite growing public backlash to the technology and experts warning new models will pose critical security risks, Trump vowed the US government would not slow down the AI race. During a meeting with reporters on Thursday, Trump cited both American dominance and competition with China and as his reasoning behind the reversal.

A year to go until France chooses its next president, the big question is who can save the election from being a battle of the extremes. For now, and perhaps only for now, the answer is pretty clear. It is President Emmanuel Macron's former prime minister, Edouard Philippe. Latest opinion polls concur that the 55-year-old centre-right politician is the only figure capable of beating a hard-right candidate in round two of the vote next May, whether that is Marine Le Pen or her young deputy Jordan Bardella. In any other polled scenario, the other candidate would lose and France would have a populist-right head of state.

The President swept off to Beijing to court Xi Jinping. Back Stateside, it was non-Presidential motorcades, video games, and a languid vibe at the White House. The endless motorcades and wail of sirens in Washington this week made it seem as if the President were travelling non-stop around the city, or receiving a bevy of foreign dignitaries. As it happened, it was National Police Week, and the ceremonial convoys were carrying the families of police officers who had been killed in the line of duty. Donald Trump was leaving for China.

Who are the US CEOs in China with Trump, and what's in it for them? More than a dozen United States business leaders have joined President Donald Trump on his state visit to China, where he is discussing issues including trade, technology and artificial intelligence (AI) with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Upon arrival in Beijing on Wednesday, Trump introduced the group by telling Xi that they were all "distinguished representatives from the American business community" who "all respect and value China", according to China's Xinhua news agency. The Chinese president responded by welcoming more "mutually beneficial cooperation" and assured them that American companies "will have broader prospects in China". The visit comes amid a long-simmering trade war between the two countries, after Trump's sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100 percent.

Donald Trump is heading to China this week, and if his guest list is any clue, he wants to discuss technology with Xi Jinping. Donald Trump is heading to China this week, and if his guest list is any clue, he wants to discuss technology with Xi Jinping. Donald Trump is heading to China this week. If his guest list is any clue, he wants to discuss technology with Xi Jinping, though perhaps after the war in Iran. On Monday, news broke that outgoing Apple CEO, Tim Cook, as well as SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, would join the US president.

As chaotic negotiations over the end of the Iran war continue, US negotiators think they have the framework for a deal in place. Now they just have to sell the president on it. President Donald Trump's negotiators face the arduous task of trying to convince the president that a deal he previously rejected is their best option in Iran . Last month, Trump initially gave his blessing for a so-called "cash for uranium" deal, under which the US would release around $20 billion in frozen funds in exchange for Iran handing over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, sources familiar with the matter tell WIRED. Trump's negotiators, vice president JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, received repeated approvals from the president while they were in Islamabad, giving them confidence a deal was close.

This story appears in the June 2026 print edition. While some stories from this issue are not yet available to read online, you can explore more from the magazine . Get our editors' guide to what matters in the world, delivered to your inbox every weekday. The courtship between Silicon Valley and MAGA was consummated on June 6, 2024, in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood, on a street known as "Billionaires' Row," at the 22,000-square-foot, $45 million French-limestone mansion of a venture capitalist named David Sacks. Along with Chamath Palihapitiya, a fellow venture capitalist and a colleague on the podcast, Sacks hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump. He knew that other technology titans were coming around to the ex-president but remained in the closet. "And I think that this event is going to break the ice on that," Sacks said on the podcast the week before the fundraiser. "And maybe it'll create a preference cascade, where all of a sudden it becomes acceptable to acknowledge the truth." Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. A few years earlier, Sacks had described the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as an "insurrection" and pronounced Trump "disqualified" from ever again holding national office. "What Trump did was absolutely outrageous, and I think it brought him to an ignominious end in American politics," he said on the podcast a few days after the event. "He will pay for it in the history books, if not in a court of law." Palihapitiya was more colloquial, calling Trump "a complete piece-of-shit fucking scumbag." These might seem like tricky positions to climb down from--but the path that leads from scathing denunciation through gradual accommodation to sycophantic embrace of Trump is a well-worn pilgrimage trail. The journey is less wearisome for self-mortifiers who never considered democracy (a word seldom spoken on the podcast) all that important in the first place.