Financial Times - Alex Rogers and Stefania Palma / Donald Trump chooses Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead government efficiency effort

• Donald Trump has chosen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “department of government efficiency”, putting the two entrepreneurs in charge of a promised effort to slash rules, bureaucracy and spending throughout government. 

• Trump said the duo would work with him and the Office of Management and Budget until July 4 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The acronym for the new department, “Doge”, is also the name of a crypto token Musk has promoted. 

• The newly created White House advisory effort will “provide advice and guidance from outside of government,” looking for ways to “dismantle” bureaucracy, “slash” regulations, “cut” spending and “restructure” agencies, Trump said in a statement on Tuesday. 

• Some pillars of regulators’ agendas have been thrown out by US judges amid fierce pushback from corporate America. Some market participants strategically filed legal challenges in venues known to be more sympathetic to business’s views.

   

South China Morning Post / Exclusive | China to host leaders of international economic bodies as global uncertainties mount

• Chinese leaders plan to hold a high-profile meeting with the heads of major international economic organisations next month to brief them on the country’s economic development and better navigate global uncertainties, according to multiple sources.     

• Ten major international organisations, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, International Labour Organization, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Financial Stability Board, will be invited to Beijing. 

• No details of the meeting, including its date, were provided as it is still in the planning stage. All sources spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter. 

• Having contributed about 30 per cent of global economic growth each year since 2009, the country is seen as a key driver of global economic recovery, a firm upholder of globalisation and an opponent of trade protectionism, especially with Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House triggering concerns around the world about the future of global trade and investment.
   

Al Jazeera / Houthis launch missile, drone attacks on US warships off Yemen’s coast

• US warships came under sustained missile and drone attack from Houthi fighters as they sailed off the coast of Yemen, the Pentagon has confirmed, with the armed group claiming it attacked the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and two US destroyers. 

• Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday that the  United States military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) forces “successfully repelled multiple Iranian backed Houthi attacks during a transit of the Bab al-Mandeb strait”, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. 

• Earlier on Tuesday, Houthi fighters announced that they had carried out two “specific military operations” against the US Navy in an assault lasting eight hours. 

• The Houthis have targeted more than 90 vessels with missiles and drones, killing four sailors and sinking two ships. The crew of one vessel – the Galaxy Leader, a British-owned and Japanese-operated carrier, hijacked last November – remain detained in Yemen.                
   

Politico - Elena Giordano / Giorgia Meloni’s vendetta against Italy’s judges

• Italy’s prime minister has turned her fire on the country’s judiciary, even as her critics decry “dangerous” political attacks reminiscent of Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán.

• From journalists and intellectuals who scrutinize her actions, to judges who rule against her policies, Meloni routinely lashes out at opponents, portraying herself as the victim in a broader government campaign against dissent.

• On Monday, a Rome court ordered that seven Egyptian and Bangladeshi asylum-seekers held in a migration center in Albania must be taken back to Italy, challenging for the second time Meloni’s flagship deal with Tirana to crack down on undocumented migration. 

• “It is very difficult to work and try to give answers to this nation when you face opposition from part of those institutions that should help to give answers,” Meloni said referring to the court’s decision.

   

Our opinion reads for today:

• Foreign Affairs - Renad Mansour / The Axis of Resilience
•  Project Syndicate - Daron Acemoglu / The Trump Shock Is the Democrats’ Fault