May 28 update

President Joe Biden said a deal to raise America’s debt ceiling was “very close”, as weeks of negotiations with representatives of the Republican Party appeared to bear fruit. Earlier Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, pushed back the “X-date” by four days to June 5th. That is when she says the government will run out of money unless the borrowing limit is raised.

Oleksiy Danilov, a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s war cabinet, told the BBC that Ukraine was ready to launch its counter-offensive. On Friday Ukraine said it had shot down ten Russian missiles and more than 20 drones launched overnight. At least two people were killed and 30 injured in Dnipro after a missile hit a hospital. In Kharkiv a fire reportedly broke out in an oil depot after it was struck twice.

The governor of Pskov, a Russian region, said a strike by two drones had damaged an oil-pipeline building near the border with Belarus. Meanwhile, Russia dismissed America’s criticism of its plan to move nuclear weapons to Belarus—the first deployment outside its borders since 1991. Russia’s embassy in America said Belarus and Russia had a “sovereign right” to ensure their security.

Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, said he would step down as leader of his party but remain as president. His government has faced multiple crises in recent weeks. On Friday Mr Vucic ordered army units towards the border of Kosovo, after a group of ethnic Serbs clashed with police there. He has also faced widespread protests after two mass shootings in Serbia.

Iran exchanged fire with the Taliban on the Afghan border, exacerbating a conflict over water rights. This month Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, warned Afghanistan not to restrict his country’s rights to the Helmand river, which flows into Lake Hamun, on the border. Its water is a vital resource: Iran’s meteorological agency says 97% of the country faces some level of drought.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said that three Chinese naval ships, including the Shandong, an aircraft carrier, had passed through the Taiwan Strait. The ships sailed along the median line, which is the unofficial border between the self-governing island and China, the ministry said. The Shandong played a prominent role in the invasion drills that China ran around Taiwan in April.

An Indian official was suspended after he drained an entire reservoir to recover the mobile phone he had dropped into it. Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector for the central state of Chhattisgarh, was taking a selfie at the time. He claimed to have received permission to pump out 2m litres of water, in an operation that took three days.

Word of the week: Shukatsu, or “death planning” in Japanese, a term that combines the words “end” and “activity” and is often used in relation to funeral planning. Read the full story.

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PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Russia’s Bakhmut “victory” overshadowed

On Thursday Yevgeny Prigozhin—whose Wagner Group recently claimed a Pyrrhic victory in Bakhmut—said his forces had begun withdrawing from the Ukrainian city, soon to be replaced by official Russian soldiers. Wagner’s “win” came at an immense cost: at least 10,000 of the 50,000 men whom it recruited from Russian prisons and a similar number of regular fighters died there, according to Mr Prigozhin.

Outside Bakhmut, the attention of Russian military bloggers has focused on the cross-border raid by pro-Ukrainian militias in Russia’s Belgorod region. Russia says it expelled the groups responsible. Whether or not Kyiv was behind the raid, the humiliation has worsened Russian morale. Now the battlefield has the feel of the lull before a storm—in this case, Ukraine’s much-anticipated counter-offensive.

PHOTO: THE ECONOMIST/VINCENT TULLO

The Kissinger century

On Saturday Henry Kissinger turns 100. As national security adviser and then secretary of state, Mr Kissinger orchestrated America’s rapprochement with China in 1972 and arms-control treaties with the Soviet Union. But he is also a deeply polarising figure, accused of enabling human-rights abuses in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chile and elsewhere. In 1973 he controversially won a Nobel peace prize for negotiating a ceasefire in the Vietnam war.

Although he has not held public office for 46 years, China’s rise makes Mr Kissinger’s analysis of great powers increasingly relevant. Ahead of his centenary he spent more than eight hours in conversation with The Economist. He outlined his deep concerns about the state of relations between America and China. “We are on the path to… confrontation”, he warned, because “both sides have convinced themselves that the other represents a strategic danger”. But Mr Kissinger also laid out his strategy for avoiding world war three—through realism, dialogue and leadership.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Winners anointed at Cannes

On Saturday the main prizes will be handed out at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival, including the coveted best-in-show award, the Palme d’Or.

One hotly tipped contender is “The Zone of Interest”, which dramatises the daily lives of Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller, a favourite in the Best Actress category). Directed by Jonathan Glazer, it was adapted from the novel by Martin Amis, who died on the day of its premiere, May 19th.

Several of the festival’s highest-profile films were shown “out of competition”, so are not eligible for awards. They include “Killers Of The Flower Moon”, a true-crime saga directed by Martin Scorsese, and “Jeanne du Barry”, a French costume drama starring Johnny Depp, who has had two recent court battles relating to domestic-abuse allegations. Protesters were unhappy that Cannes gave him the red-carpet treatment, even if it can’t give him a prize.

PHOTO: ALAMY

A French Open without its king

Few athletes have dominated an event like Rafael Nadal at the French Open. Mr Nadal has won the grand-slam title, one of tennis’s four most prestigious prizes, 14 times. But for the first time since 2004 the Spaniard, who is injured, will not feature in this year’s tournament, which starts on Sunday. His absence opens the door for his great nemesis, Novak Djokovic. Should the Serb win, he would overtake Mr Nadal as the man with the most grand-slam titles (23) and cement his claim as the greatest male tennis player ever.

But Mr Djokovic is himself battling injuries. He will also have to overcome a new generation of young prodigies, led by Carlos Alcaraz, a 20-year-old who is the world’s top-ranked player and the bookies’ favourite. Many consider the Spaniard the heir to Mr Nadal. The crown could soon be passed.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Weekend profile: Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s incoming president

When Bola Tinubu is inaugurated as Nigeria’s president on Monday, he will move into the official residence. Among his baggage will be plenty of the political and legal sort. The wealthy 71-year-old styles himself as the “Godfather of Lagos”, Nigeria’s sprawling commercial capital, where he was governor for eight years until 2007. His backers say that he cleaned up the city, increased the tax take nearly six-fold and built infrastructure.

Yet his record invites questions. His rivals are still disputing his election win in court and claim it was rigged. Some Nigerians suspect that he pulled strings in dubious ways in the past to help his predecessor as president, Muhammadu Buhari, get elected. Back in 2019, when Mr Buhari was running for a second term, onlookers spotted two armoured vehicles, similar to those used by banks to transport cash, driving into Mr Tinubu’s compound in Lagos. He dismissed any suggestion that he had bought votes. “If I have money…I give it to the people free of charge, as long as [it’s] not to buy votes,” Mr Tinubu explained, less than reassuringly.

Some wonder where his money comes from. His explanations have varied from inheritance and real estate to a large bonus earned while working as an auditor at Deloitte, an accounting firm. In the 1990s the American government froze his assets over his alleged links to the heroin trade. Mr Tinubu denied wrongdoing and reached a settlement with the Americans whereby he forfeited $460,000.

Others question how he so impressively increased Lagos’s tax take. Last year he settled a lawsuit accusing him of secretly owning most of a firm that had won a contract to collect taxes on behalf of Lagos state during his governorship. Court papers alleged that it earned a commission of 10% on all revenues collected there. Mr Tinubu again denied wrongdoing.

Mr Tinubu now faces one of the world’s toughest in-trays. Many Nigerians also question whether he has the energy—and health—to tackle it. He is often abroad for medical trips, including a recent stay in Paris. As the presidential race last year heated up Mr Tinubu had been absent from the public eye for so long that he released a video on Twitter of himself pedalling an exercise bike. “Many have said I have died”, he posted. “Well…Nope”.