Top Stories — Thursday, September 11, 2025
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- How Macron Failed to Curb the Far Right — nyt News
- Stock benchmarks are scaling record highs: 'Animal spirits are soaring' — CNBC
- Perplexity reportedly raised $200M at $20B valuation — TechCrunch
How Macron Failed to Curb the Far Right
Source: nyt News • Published: 9/11/2025, 10:00:05 AM
A Trump ally was fatally shot in Utah
Charlie Kirk, a close ally of President Trump's and the founder of America's pre-eminent right-wing youth organization, was shot and killed while speaking to a large crowd at a university campus outside Salt Lake City. He was 31.
Officials had taken two people into custody yesterday as part of their investigation, but both were released. One of them, a local political activist, was charged with obstruction of justice. Here's the latest.
Background: Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012. He became one of the most influential young right-wing figures in the U.S. Read more about him here.
For the past decade, the far right has been edging closer to power in France. And for the past eight years, the overarching response of President Emmanuel Macron has been the same: to make France more business-friendly, on the theory that a growing economy could serve as a bulwark.
It hasn't worked. France's growth has been modest. Its debt has ballooned. And with every election, Marine Le Pen's National Rally has kept gaining support.
This year, there was an attempt to try something different: a 2 percent tax on France's ultra rich — the 1,800 individuals worth more than 100 million euros. Most French people support the idea. Macron opposed it.
Today, France is in turmoil (again). Macron appointed a new prime minister (again) after the last one lost a confidence vote over austerity measures. Protesters blocked roads (again). The far right is polling higher than ever.
The wealth tax was a chance to combat the notion that Macron's business-friendly France benefits only the rich. It wouldn't have solved the debt problem — but it would have had tremendous symbolic value.
The contention of the far right (which is pushing for its own tax on financial wealth) is that elites are looking out only for one another. Many in France feel this is precisely what is happening. Far from weakening the far right, Macron may have inadvertently strengthened it.
A former banker, Macron ran on an unabashedly free-market platform when he first beat Le Pen in 2017: Make it easier and cheaper for companies to invest in France. They'll create jobs. That's how you win back voters from the far right.
Over the past eight years, he has cut corporate taxes and payroll taxes and abolished an existing wealth tax. All this cost the French treasury tens of billions of euros. At the same time, he raised the retirement age.
Then France's debt level — never low — surged during the pandemic. It's now widely seen as unsustainable.
It's against this backdrop that the government collapsed this week. It was unable to pass a budget that sought to freeze welfare spending, scrap two public holidays and cut pretty much everything except military spending.
Few disagree that something needs to be done. But "there is a sense of injustice," my colleague Liz Alderman, The Times's business reporter in Paris, told me. "There is a feeling that these business-friendly policies have not trickled down," and that ordinary people carry a disproportionate burden.
The 2 percent tax has become a symbol of that perceived injustice. It passed the lower house of Parliament, which is dominated by the far left and the far right. But in the upper house, center-right lawmakers and Macron supporters blocked it, calling it a far-left measure that would cause rich people to flee France.
I spoke to Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist of the I.M.F., who wrote an open letter in support of the tax this year in an effort to debunk that notion. The estimated revenue (which ranges from 5 billion to 25 billion euros a year) wouldn't come close to addressing the deficit, he said. But France will have to raise taxes to get its finances under control, and, he said, "If you want to convince ordinary people to accept cuts, it would be wrong, morally and politically, to exempt the wealthiest."
In Britain, the center-left prime minister, Keir Starmer, has also resisted pressure to impose a wealth tax, as has Germany's center-right chancellor, Friedrich Merz. (Two in three Germans also say they want the wealthiest people to pay higher taxes.)
In France, there is now some momentum to revive a version of the idea, in Parliament and on the street. But Macron's latest choice of prime minister, a loyal ally who has been in every cabinet since 2017, does not look like a candidate of change.
There is no guarantee that higher taxes on the wealthy would stop the far right. What does seem clear is that the same approach is likely to keep generating the same results.
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Europe: NATO fighter jets shot down more than a dozen Russian drones that had entered Poland. It was the first time that alliance fighters had engaged enemy targets in NATO airspace, in what Western officials described as a dangerous escalation of the war in Ukraine.
Nepal: Leaders of a youthful protest movement that forced out the prime minister held talks with military officials and proposed a former chief justice to lead an interim government.
Qatar: After Israel's brazen attack in Doha, Gulf powers worried about how committed the U.S. remained to their defense.
Yemen: Israel's military attacked several sites it said were connected to the Houthis, an Iran-backed militia that has fired missiles and drones at Israel.
Gaza: Many Gaza City residents said they would rather stay than follow Israel's order to evacuate ahead of what is expected to be a full-scale assault.
Mexico: A large gas explosion under a highway overpass in Mexico City killed three people and injured at least 70, officials said.
Royals: Prince Harry met his father, King Charles III, in London for tea in what appeared to be the first step toward healing their rift.
Cycling: The second week of Vuelta a España had surprise contenders, career-defining performances and many, many protests.
Was there life on Mars? Maybe. A new study of a Martian rock found by NASA's Perseverance rover discovered minerals that could be a byproduct of ancient microbial life. NASA is not saying that it has found traces of Martian microbes, but analysis of the rock raises that possibility.
Lives lived: Ken Dryden, the goaltender who helped the Montreal Canadiens win six Stanley Cups, died at 78.
Erasing Banksy: A mural by the street artist was removed from the wall of a British court building.
The Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested in London last week after several of his posts on X were deemed by the police to be inciting violence against transgender people. In one post, he wrote that anyone who sees a transgender woman in a "female-only space" should "make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls."
Right-wing politicians assailed "thought policing" while transgender advocacy groups warned of hate crimes on the rise. The episode intensified Britain's debate over free speech. Read more.
Bake: Golden seared chicken, florets of broccoli and a quick pan sauce come together in this weeknight meal.
Read: Check out a selection of great fantasy novels with unlikely heroes.
Watch: In this TV drama, Mussolini wants to "make Italy great again."
Travel: Here are seven fall harvest festivals in Europe for foodies to enjoy.
That's it for today. See you next time. — Katrin
Daniel E. Slotnik and Parin Behrooz contributed to this newsletter. We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at briefing@nytimes.com.
Katrin Bennhold is a senior writer on the international desk. She was formerly Berlin bureau chief and has reported from London and Paris, covering a range of topics from the rise of populism to gender.
Read the full story at nyt News.
Stock benchmarks are scaling record highs: 'Animal spirits are soaring'
Source: CNBC • Published: 9/11/2025, 9:57:08 AM
Equities in several parts of the world have been rallying as easing inflation pressures, resilient corporate earnings and expectations for U.S. rate cuts boost investor sentiment.
The MSCI All Country World Index, which tracks the performance of over 2,500 stocks from both developed and emerging markets, has hit fresh record highs for four straight sessions, data from LSEG showed.
The S&P 500 closed at a record for a second day on Wednesday, while Japan's Nikkei 225, South Korea's Kospi and Singapore's Straits Times Index have hit all-time highs this week.
The rally underscores how sentiment has flipped from earlier this year when fears of sticky inflation, geopolitical risks and U.S. tariffs threatened to derail growth, experts said.
"Markets have been a bit more resilient than what we've been expecting," said Eddy Loh, Maybank's head of investment strategy.
"Year-to-date performance has really been premised on still very robust economic growth, and, more importantly, corporate earnings. That is supporting equity market returns across the globe — not just in the U.S., but also Europe, Japan, and key markets in Asia ex-Japan," said Loh.
A slew of recent U.S. data has indicated labor market weakness, with a surprisingly soft U.S. producer price index reading on Wednesday further lifting sentiment, as investors bet the Federal Reserve now has more room to ease policy.
U.S. wholesale prices unexpectedly slid 0.1% in August from the prior month, well off the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.3% rise.
"Stocks have hit fresh records as a much weaker-than-anticipated PPI depicted deflation rather than expected inflation," said José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers. "Animal spirits are soaring because the well-received print is bolstering probabilities that the Fed will deliver cuts during each of its last three meetings of 2025."
Markets have priced in a quarter-point reduction at the Sept. 17 meeting, with CME Group's FedWatch tool showing about a 92% chance of a 25-basis-point reduction.
Maybank's Loh added that he is pricing in two rate cuts this year with September's "pretty much" on the table.
"Given that we are building a stronger case for the Fed to restart its cutting cycle while the economy remains on fairly solid footing, this environment serves as a tonic for risk investors," said Marvin Loh, senior global macro strategist at State Street.
Factoring in continued concerns about where long-term interest rates will settle, investors have been allocating capital to other asset classes such as equities, he said.
Oracle's blockbuster outlook for AI-related revenue has amplified confidence that the tech-led rally has legs, said Torres. The cloud giant on Wednesday soared to an all-time high and had its best day since 1992, gaining $244 billion in market cap and is now at $922 billion.
Torres added that investors are now eyeing the upcoming U.S. consumer price index even more closely. "A downside shocker would create a trio of developments — payroll benchmark revisions, softer-than-projected PPI, and subdued CPI — which would justify a larger reduction by the Fed. That would drive stocks to another new record," he said.
Maybank's Loh, however, struck a cautionary note, saying that the markets will see a "more visible" impact of U.S. tariffs in the coming months as they only came into effect in August and could lead to some tempering of sentiment.
Perplexity reportedly raised $200M at $20B valuation
Source: TechCrunch • Published: 9/11/2025, 9:29:10 AM
Perplexity, the AI-powered search startup that competes with Google by providing conversational answers to user queries, has secured $200 million in new capital at a $20 billion valuation, The Information reported. The fresh funding comes just two months after the company raised $100 million at an $18 billion valuation, according to a July report in Bloomberg.
Since its founding three years ago, the rapidly growing AI company has raised $1.5 billion in total funding, according to PitchBook data. It's unclear who led Perplexity's latest capital injection. Bloomberg reported that the July financing was an extension of a previous $500 million round completed earlier this year at a $14 billion valuation.
According to a source familiar with the company, Perplexity's annual recurring revenue (ARR) is approaching $200 million. Last month, Perplexity's head of communication told Business Insider that the company's ARR was more than $150 million.
Perplexity didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The funding comes as Perplexity positions itself as a challenger to Google's search dominance. In August, Perplexity offered to buy Google's Chrome browser for $34.5 billion. The offer came after the Justice Department, alleging that Google was acting anticompetitively, proposed that the company sell its web browser. However, earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Google will not have to break up its search business, effectively allowing the search giant to keep Chrome.
For complete details, visit the original sources linked above.
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