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A central plank of the US Innovation and Competition Act, passed by the senate on Tuesday, is a $50bn allotment to boost semiconductor development and manufacturing as the United States seeks to compete with China. Photo: Shutterstock 

Innovation act to boost US tech sector

A $250 billion technology spending bill passed by the US senate on Tuesday will see the United States fund scientific research, boost semiconductor development and create a new AI and quantum science arm at the National Science Foundation. President Joe Biden said that the Innovation and Competition Act was essential if the US was to maintain its position as a global leader in terms of innovation and production. “We are in a competition to win the 21st century, and the starting gun has gone off,” he said. The bill, which still has to pass through the House of Representatives, includes several provisions that specifically tackle China’s growing influence in technology and science. CNBC, the FT, Reuters and The Guardian all have more.

EU digital covid certificate expected for 1 July

The European Parliament is expected on Wednesday to pass a bill that will formalise the practical rollout of the new EU digital covid certificate by 1 July. EU members states will start to issue and verify digital covid certificates that will replace the current “patchwork” of national schemes. The bill’s rapporteur, Spanish MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar, said it was about “re-launching mutual trust between member states and among EU citizens.” The Parliament magazine and El Pais have details.

Luxembourg economy set for rebound

Luxembourg’s gross domestic product should grow by 6% in 2021, according to a report issued by national forecaster Statec on Tuesday. Economic indicators are “on the whole rather positive” the report states, though the hospitality sector still faces challenges and unemployment is unlikely to improve. Delano reports.

Macron slapped in face

Two people were arrested in a town outside the city of Valence in south-eastern France on Tuesday after a man slapped president Emmanuel Macron in the face.Macron later said the incident was an “isolated event” and vowed that nothing would stop him pursuing his agenda. The man, who attacked Macron from behind a security barrier, reportedly shouted “down with Macron-ism” as he slapped the president with an open palm. The BBC, Sky News and France24 have reports and video.

Report unveils super-rich tax details

A report claims that billionaires are benefitting from “tax-avoidance strategies beyond the reach of ordinary people” that means they are paying on average a “true tax rate of only 3.4%” compared to those earning the median US household income--around $70,000--who pay 14% in federal taxes. ProPublica says it has confidential IRS records that show that the 25 richest Americans--the likes of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg--“saw their worth rise a collective $401 billion from 2014 to 2018.” CNBC and the BBC report.

Harris tells migrants not to come to US border

US vice-president Kamala Harris has issued a message to undocumented Guatemalan migrants to think twice before “making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border.” “Do not come,” Harris said after a meeting with Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei. Harris, who also met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to discuss migration, was criticised for her remarks by some of her Democratic Party colleagues including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Guardian and Reuters have more.

Cloud outage brings down global websites

An outage at “edge cloud” computing services provider Fastly meant several major websites were offline for up to an hour on Tuesday morning. Amazon, The Guardian, Reddit, Hulu, Gov.uk and the White House were all among the websites affected. Vox and TechCrunch have details while The Guardian and Spectrum News have explainers

Juno sends images of Jupiter's moon

Nasa has published the first ever close-up views of Jupiter’s moon, taken by its Juno spacecraft. Ganymede is largest moon in the solar system and is thought to contain a sub-surface sea. CBS and Forbes have reports.

Down under dominates most liveable cities ranking

Australia and New Zealand have six of the world’s top ten most liveable cities, according to an annual ranking released on Tuesday. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index places Auckland top with Osaka in Japan and Adelaide in Australia third. Wellington is fourth and Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia also feature. The Swiss cities of Zurich and Geneva, seventh and eighth respectively, are the only European countries to make the top ten. The report states that “the overall global average liveability score has fallen by seven points, as compared with the average pre-pandemic score.”

The size of wineglasses and other essential facts

Our go-to site for trivia, Bored Panda, has collated a roundup of fabulous infographics of essential factoids from Factourism, run by Danish agency Ferdio. They include the revelation that wine glasses are seven times larger than they used to be, baby giraffes are born falling 1.5 metres to the ground and tennis players produce up to three litres of sweat an hour.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Duncan Roberts