The U.S. and Japan have Play a war game As well as holding joint military exercises during the conflict with China in Taiwan, because concerns about the arbitrary behavior of the Chinese military are escalating.

According to six individuals who asked not to be named, military officials in the United States and Japan began to carefully plan for possible conflicts in the Trump administration’s final year. Activities include top-secret tabletop war games and joint exercises in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

Due to China’s threat to Taiwan and the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the then Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, decided in 2019 to substantially expand military planning. According to three people familiar with the matter, this work continues under the leadership of Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

• More U.S. Defense News: Donald DrumsfieldHis family said on Wednesday that the two-term US Secretary of Defense and the mastermind of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq have passed away at the age of 88.

Five stories in the news

1. The financial services industry will break away from the G7 tax agreement Britain is ready to ensure Financial services exemption From the new global rules on taxation of multinational companies, this move will ensure that the largest banks in the City of London will not pay more taxes on their profits in other countries.

2. Deutsche Bank Hong Kong IPO license expires This German bank will not be able to sponsor an IPO in Hong Kong from July after failing to replace it Two supervised staff are on time, Disrupting the company’s plan to restart its Asian equity business.

3. Economists predict that the United States will raise interest rates at least twice by the end of 2023 High inflation will force the Fed to raise interest rates U.S. interest rate According to a new poll of leading academic economists by the Financial Times, at least twice by the end of 2023.

4. Record high-tech M&A in Southeast Asia Technology industry transactions Driven by the acquisitions of leading groups Grab, Gojek and Sea, Southeast Asia reached US$19 billion in the first six months of 2021, the strongest start of the year in history. subscription For us Due Diligence Newsletter Get the latest news about global transactions.

• Other aspects of the transaction: Chief Executive Officer Citizen financeBanks that recently acquired HSBC’s US retail banking business predict that as small banks struggle to keep up in the financial technology race, there will be more opportunities for mergers and acquisitions.

5. Robinhood was ordered to pay US$70 million in fines to U.S. regulators The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered a retail trading platform Robin Hood Paying more than $70 million in fines because it caused so-called “extensive and significant” harm to its customers.

Coronavirus Digest

• Kim Jong Un, leader North Korea, Has warned of “serious incidents” related to the pandemic, triggering Fear of outbreak In isolated countries.

• Opponents of Jair Bolsonaro caught Brazil exceed Procurement of coronavirus vaccine Stirring political enthusiasm among right-wing presidents.

• Southern European countries Have to Restrict foreign travel Or risk the rapid spread of Delta variants.

For the latest coronavirus news, please follow our Live blog with Sign up For us Coronavirus business update communication.

the day before

Centenary of the Communist Party of China China’s economic transformation in the past 40 years is a landmark achievement Chinese Communist PartyTo celebrate its 100th anniversary Nowadays. President Xi Jinping A keynote speech will be delivered at Tiananmen Square. Our editorial department He wrote that under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China has become an uncompromising authoritarian regime. (“Financial Times”, “South China Morning Post”)

OPEC meeting The oil cartel will meet today to decide whether to increase supply. Even if oil prices hit a record high, producers have not turned on the tap. Tuesday edition of Energy Explained the reason. Newsletter subscription Here.

Bidens visits the scene of the collapsed Miami apartment US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit partially collapsed Champlain Tanan Thursday in Surfside, Florida. Yesterday, the official death toll rose to 16, and more than 140 people are still missing.Below is Apartment location The missing and confirmed dead. (National Public Radio, New York Times)

What are we still reading

Amazon changing of the guard Founder Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos) is only a few days away from resignation Can Amazon survive without him It is still an urgent issue. But the news of his departure did not change the company’s stock price or weaken its $1.7 trillion market value, which may be due to investors’ trust in the company machine Bezos built and his successor Andy Jassy.

• Amazon News: The e-commerce giant is seeking to force Lina KhanThe new chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission, based on her previous work and criticism of the company, avoided any investigation involving Amazon.

How Brexit is reshaping British politics Five years after the referendum, six months after Britain withdrew from the EU single market, the “earthquake” Still being felt“This makes the UK more divided and more angry,” said a polling expert. Sign up for our weekly Brexit briefing Emails regularly updated after Brexit.

Bitcoin’s limits What’s the point if you kill Can’t spend the spoils? Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, and they are facing this problem after their account was disconnected from one of the main UK payment systems.In addition, Madison Darbyshire explained consumer protection measures Crypto transaction. Short answer: not much.

• Related Reading: Cryptocurrency investors and digital collectors believe that the original source code of the web is more valuable than the first tweet, but not as popular as pixelated punk.A kind “Non-fungible tokens” The network invented on behalf of Sir Tim Berners-Lee was sold at an auction on Wednesday for $5.4 million.

Finding ET has lessons for all of us Even if we never find any Alien lifeGillian Tett wrote that the exploration of it helped to spark a debate about what enables humans to communicate with other “alien” humans across time and space on our own planet. Now, this is very much needed-regardless of whether there are any UFOs.

Fight for the right to party in the park The blockade raises the thorny question of who can enter public places.Simultaneously Primrose Hill in London and Washington Square Park in New York There was a conflict Between police, revellers and residents Caroline Binham wrote that because young people claim the right to gather, people living nearby complain about drug trafficking, late night noise and violence.

travel

After experiencing “the worst year of real estate sales in ten years”, Mykonos, Greece Is returning to the realm of hedonism. The DJs returned to the bar, the umbrellas returned to the beach, and the winding whitewashed alleys of the old port were again crowded with tourists.