France on track for hung parliament after surprise left-wing surge

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

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1.

Left turn: France’s leftist coalition unexpectedly won the most seats in the parliamentary elections, setting Europe’s second-largest economy on track for a hung parliament, early projections suggested on Sunday. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance is projected to come a narrow second, with Marine Le Pen's far-right party in third, the Associated Press and Reuters reported, citing polling projections. The left-wing alliance is projected to win 172-215 seats out of 577, potentially leading to a divided parliament with three major groups and no tradition of cooperation. Final results are anticipated late Sunday or early Monday. The outcome is a disappointment for the far-right, which increased its parliamentary seats but fell short of expectations, and for Le Pen, whose party was for weeks forecast to win. The left edged them out of the first spot, partly thanks to strategic cooperation with Macron's centrist alliance to prevent the far right from gaining power. (Reuters)(Associated Press)(Capital Brief)

2.

American wounded: Hezbollah launched anti-tank missiles towards northern Israel on Sunday, injuring one soldier and two civilians, CNN reported citing the Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya. One of the civilians, a 31-year-old American, is in a serious but stable condition, the report said. The attack, claimed by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, was in retaliation for the killing of a key operative in Hezbollah’s Aerial Defence Unit in eastern Lebanon a day earlier. Israel responded by striking Hezbollah military structures, the report said. The escalation also follows an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killing Ehab al-Ghussein, the Deputy Minister of Labor in Gaza’s Hamas-run government, along with three others, and a separate strike on a school in central Gaza killing at least 16 Palestinians in an attack Israel said had targeted militants. Meanwhile Axios reported CIA director Bill Burns will travel to Qatar for ceasefire talks citing two unnamed Israeli sources, while an unnamed senior Hamas official told CBS that reports that the military group dropped the key demand that Israel commits upfront to a complete end of the way, are inaccurate, saying the group has not dropped the demand. (CNN)(CBS News)(Axios)

3.

Banker secrets: A sex offender worked at Goldman Sachs’s London office months after his conviction this year, the Financial Times reported citing sources and court documents. Goldman Sachs retained Ronan O’Grady, a 33-year-old executive director until June, despite his February guilty plea to eight counts of child sexual assault in Ireland, the paper said. The banker was sentenced to two years in prison on 28 June. Goldman Sachs told the paper it was "shocked" to learn of his past offences and sources said the bank terminated his employment when it became aware of his conviction. The bank requires employees to disclose any criminal proceedings regularly, which O’Grady failed to do. The offences took place between 2004 and 2008, the paper said. O’Grady’s name, however, remains on the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s register of authorised persons, as the regulator struggles to handle non-financial misconduct in the industry, the paper reported. (Financial Times)

4.

PNG punch: Papua New Guinea's Petroleum Minister, Jimmy Maladina, was charged with domestic assault after allegedly attacking a 31-year-old woman in Bondi, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. NSW Police responded to a domestic dispute at Imperial Avenue on Saturday morning, finding the woman with facial injuries. Maladina, 58, was granted conditional bail and is set to appear at Waverley Local Court on Thursday. He will step down while the matter is before the courts, the paper reported citing a statement. “I will make the general point that violence perpetrated by either a man, or violence by a woman, cannot be tolerated,” the paper cited him as saying. “We will all have our day in court and I look forward to the facts of the matter being presented.” A close adviser to Prime Minister James Marape, Maladina has been involved in international negotiations for a $17 billion liquified natural gas project in PNG. (Sydney Morning Herald)(BBC)

5.

Iranian pulse: Iranian voters picked moderate 69-year-old cardiac surgeon Masoud Pezeshkian as new president, defeating hardliner Saeed Jalili in the run-off election. Turnout was nearly 50%, with urban middle-class and young voters playing a key role. Pezeshkian is seen as a moderate but faces limitations due to the ultimate authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He aims to pursue pragmatic foreign policies, revive the stalled 2015 nuclear deal with major powers and promote social liberalisation. Although his victory raised hopes for improved relations with the West, he is seen as faithful to Iran's theocratic rule and with no intention of confronting the powerful security hawks and clerical rulers. Meanwhile, state media reported on Sunday that Iran's navy frigate Sahand capsized during repair work in the southern port of Bandar Abbas. (Reuters)(Bloomberg)

6.

Biden’s bid: President Joe Biden insisted in a high-pressure interview on Friday that nothing short of divine intervention would make him abandon his re-election campaign. Appearing tanned, confident and coherent, the 81-year-old sought to assure the nation he still has what it takes to win and serve a second 4-year presidential term. The interview, however, did not alleviate the pressure stemming from his shaky performance against former President Donald Trump, which raised serious questions about his mental and physical capacity. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said the President needs to “do more” in the "critical" week ahead, when the push from a small but growing number of fellow Democrats seeking to persuade Biden to step down is expected to intensify as Congress reconvenes. Meanwhile, a Bloomberg poll showed Biden trails Trump by just 2 points, 47% to 45%, in the critical swing states needed to win the election, marking the smallest gap since the survey began last October. The President now leads in Michigan and Wisconsin, is within the margin of error in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, but trails in Pennsylvania, the must-win state where he campaigned on Sunday. (Reuters)(Bloomberg)

7.

OpenAI hacked: A hacker infiltrated OpenAI's internal messaging systems in early 2023, stealing details about the company’s AI technologies, the New York Times reported. The breach, which exposed internal discussions, did not compromise systems housing and building AI, including ChatGPT. OpenAI executives informed employees and the board in April 2023 but chose not to publicise the incident, as no customer or partner data was stolen. The hacker was believed to be an individual without foreign government ties, and federal law enforcement was not notified, the report said. OpenAI in May said it disrupted five covert influence operations that sought to use its AI models for “deceptive activity”. (The New York Times)(Reuters)

8.

Dragon anchor: The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said China's largest coastguard vessel anchored within Manila's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, Reuters reported on the weekend. The 165-metre "monster ship" entered the 200-nautical mile EEZ on 2 July, PCG spokesman Jay Tarriela said at a news conference, adding it was an intimidation tactic. The vessel is anchored 800 yards (731 metres) from a PCG ship. The Chinese embassy and foreign ministry have not commented on the situation. China, which claims most of the South China Sea, has dismissed a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that rejected its expansive maritime claims. Despite tensions, the Philippines and China last week agreed to "restore trust" and "rebuild confidence" to better manage maritime disputes. (Reuters)