Barack Obama warns of ‘tight race’ in rousing speech backing Kamala Harris

Good morning. The seek for survivors of a superyacht that sank off the Sicilian coast continues this morning, and we’ve an in-depth learn on why the US is backing a $10bn railway challenge in Africa.

However first, we flip to Chicago, the place Barack Obama has simply delivered a rousing speech to cheering crowds on the Democratic Nationwide Conference.

The previous US president, who stays one of many get together’s hottest and influential figures, used his political star energy to attempt to quash any doubts over Kamala Harris’s candidacy and warning voters towards complacency, warning it might be a “tight race” for the White Home.

Some Democrats have tried to attract parallels between Obama’s win in 2008, when he was elected the primary Black US president, and Harris’s bid to grow to be the nation’s first feminine president. As he took the stage, Obama was met with chants of his personal marketing campaign slogan, “Sure we will”, later echoed by his personal phrases in assist of the vice-president: “Sure she will.”

Obama’s speech deployed among the hovering rhetoric he’s recognized for, but in addition mocked Donald Trump as a “whining” self-interested billionaire and conspiracy theorist whose act had gone “fairly stale”. Talking instantly earlier than him, his spouse and former first girl Michelle Obama additionally hit out at Trump. Here’s more from the Obamas and other speakers at the second night of the convention.

• Chicago protests: Lower than two miles from the conference, police and protesters clashed outdoors the Israeli consulate, resulting in arrests of pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

• Kamalanomics: Good coverage, or good politics? Steff Chávez discusses Harris’s economic agenda within the newest version of US Election Countdown. Join the e-newsletter here.

Right here’s what else I’m preserving tabs on at the moment:

• Financial information: The UK releases July public sector borrowing information and South Africa has its shopper value index for a similar month.

• Federal Reserve: The central financial institution’s rate-setting committee releases minutes from its final assembly, forward of a speech by chair Jay Powell at Jackson Hole on Friday.

• Sicily yacht sinking: The seek for UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and 5 different passengers is ready to proceed this morning as Italian authorities mentioned possibilities they had been nonetheless alive had been now “minimal”.

Thanks for studying FirstFT. Have burning questions for an FT reporter or about this text? Electronic mail firstft@ft.com or hit “reply” and bear in mind to incorporate your title and the place you’re writing from. We’ll reply as many as potential in a particular weekend version of the e-newsletter.

5 extra high tales

1. Virtually $90bn poured into US cash market funds within the first half of this month as traders sought to lock in engaging yields that might outlast an anticipated rate of interest lower by the Federal Reserve subsequent month. Many of the inflows originated from institutional traders moderately than retail traders. Read the full story.

2. A US decide has blocked the Federal Commerce Fee’s ban on non-compete agreements, saying the regulator lacked the authority to cease agreements that bar staff from getting new jobs at rival corporations. In a call yesterday, the decide from Texas known as the FTC’s ban “arbitrary and capricious”.

3. Unique: China has disbursed solely a fraction of a flagship central financial institution fund designed to rescue property builders as authorities wrestle to chop an unlimited inventory of unsold properties and finish a chronic actual property hunch. Beijing’s coverage responses have emphasised market-based lending, however they’ve run right into a difficult financial backdrop. Joe Leahy and Thomas Hale have the full story.

4. Unique: The UK chancellor is planning to boost social rents by greater than inflation for the subsequent 10 years in an try to spice up the constructing of inexpensive properties. Authorities insiders say Rachel Reeves plans to introduce the measure in October’s Finances to offer extra certainty over money flows to housing associations and councils. More details on her plans.

5. A Canadian railway strike might have a “devastating” impression on the continent’s financial system, enterprise teams have warned. About 9,300 staff have threatened unprecedented motion as quickly as tomorrow towards the nation’s two largest freight railways, which stretch into the US, with one reaching Mexico. Here are the critical industries that would be disrupted.

The Massive Learn

The US helps to finance the Lobito Hall, a revival of a 100-year-old railway line that can join resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast. The formidable challenge will value not less than $10bn and includes different infrastructure together with bridges and roads. However Washington’s assist for essential minerals throughout the broader area isn’t any remoted act. It’s a part of a technique to reverse its diminished influence in Africa, the place different nations similar to China have gained floor. 

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Local weather claptrap: From Elon Musk to Challenge 2025, misleading twaddle on local weather change simply retains on coming, writes Pilita Clark.

• UK politics: A think-tank arrange when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister has been quietly supplying the brand new Labour authorities with insurance policies and MPs.

• Bond market: The charges market is meant to be the place the true brains are, writes Katie Martin, however the sector has been displaying memestock-like tendencies.

Chart of the day

The greenback hit its lowest level for the reason that begin of the yr yesterday as traders braced for the Federal Reserve to start out reducing rates of interest and the August sell-off that spooked markets light.

Take a break from the information

Because the seventh baby of the twenty fifth son of the founding father of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman was not destined for the throne when he entered politics in 2009. A brand new BBC documentary charting his formidable rise paints a Machiavellian portrait of the crown prince, writes Dan Einav.

Extra contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Harvey Nriapia