Australia and UK set to strike trade deal

Canberra and London are expected to announce today that they’ve agreed in principle on a new free trade deal. The accord will cut tariffs on agricultural products and liberalise work visas. The agreement was reportedly reached by the Australian and British prime ministers, Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson, during a dinner in London on Monday evening. It is the UK’s first post-Brexit trade deal not based on an existing EU framework. Sources: ABC News, BBC, Bloomberg, The Guardian and Sydney Morning Herald.

EU and US aim to settle Airbus-Boeing dispute

Brussels and Washington are expected to declare a truce over several transatlantic trade disputes--including a 17 year feud over subsidies to the aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing--during talks this week. Sources: Euronews, FT, DW, New York Times and Reuters.

Northern Ireland’s Foster steps down

Arlene Foster formally resigned as first minister of Northern Ireland, as conflict over the province’s post-Brexit future continues to simmer. Sources: AFP, DW, Politico and Sky News.

Nato says China is ‘challenge’

Nato members concluded their summit in Brussels by declaring China a security risk and criticising Russian aggression. Sources: BBC, CNBC, DW and The Guardian.

French firm fixing Chinese nuclear plant

Framatome, a subsidiary of the French energy group EDF, said it was addressing “a performance issue” at the Taishan nuclear power plant in southern China. Earlier, CNN reported that the company had warned US officials of an “imminent radiological threat” at the site. Sources: Bloomberg, FT, DW and The Guardian.

Schueberfouer officially cancelled

The City of Luxembourg formally axed the annual Schueberfouer (funfair), but said it would repeat last year’s D’Stad lieft (My city’s alive) programme of neighbourhood micro-fairs. Sources: Delano and Paperjam.

CFL still in the black

Luxembourg’s national railway company, CFL, posted a net profit of €4.6m for 2020, compared to €17.8m for 2019. Passenger traffic fell sharply, due to the pandemic, while freight revenue declined mildly. Sources: Delano, Paperjam and 100,7.

EU initiates recovery bonds sale

The EU has begun selling the first €10bn tranche out of a total of €800bn in bonds for the bloc’s post-pandemic economic recovery plan. Sources: Bloomberg, Euractiv and Reuters.

England lockdown easing delayed

Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said current covid restrictions in England, which were set to be lifted on 21 June, would be extended until 19 July, due to the Delta variant. Sources: BBC, DW, The Guardian and RTE.

Luxembourg coronavirus update

There was only one new covid-19 infection and only one covid-19 patient in intensive care in the grand duchy on Sunday. Sources: Delano and health ministry.

Novavax trial shows vaccine is highly effective 

The biotech firm Novavax said its covid-19 vaccine candidate was 90.4% effective in a major trial. The company will request authorisation from EU, UK and US regulators later this year. Sources: CNBC, FT, NPR and Reuters.

Stripe investors up stakes

Existing investors took another $1bn in shares in the Irish-American payments firm Stripe ahead of the firm’s planned IPO, the Wall Street Journal reported. The fintech was recently valued at roughly $95bn. Additional source: CNBC.

OVHcloud says it will still have IPO

The data centre operator OVHcloud will proceed with a stock floatation in Paris, despite a massive fire destroying its flagship hub in Strasbourg earlier this year. Sources: Reuters and Techradar (in English); Agefi and Capital (in French).

Supreme Court revives Linkedin-Hiq data scraping case

The US Supreme Court said Linkedin, the social media network owned by Microsoft, could pursue a claim against Hiq, a rival that has been harvesting Linkedin user profiles. Hiq says it’s public data; Linkedin says it’s a privacy concern. Sources: Bloomberg, The Register, Reuters and Techcrunch.

Linguistic origins

Do you know who coined the common phrases “wild goose chase”, “seen better days”, “off with his head”, “forever and a day”, “good riddance”, “fair play”, “be cruel to be kind”, “love is blind”, “break the ice”, “heart of gold”, “knock, knock, who’s there” and “too much of a good thing”? That is the question. Source: Mental Floss.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald