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The French will vote on Sunday in the final round of their snap parliamentary election. The chances of Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally (RN) securing a majority of seats have receded somewhat since the first round on June 30th, as tactical deals were struck among 224 candidates in 577 constituencies. Scores of candidates from both the left-wing New Popular Front and from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance have stood down, in order not to split the anti-Le Pen vote.

By Friday, the last day for the publication of polls under electoral rules, they suggested that the RN could gain 174-250 seats, short of the 289 needed to control parliament. Even without a majority, however, Ms Le Pen’s party may be asked by Mr Macron to try to form a government. If she accepts, she would put forward Jordan Bardella, her 28-year-old protégé, to be prime minister. Mr Bardella may not manage to scrape together a majority. But the invitation itself would represent a political earthquake.

In Death Valley National Park, mostly in eastern California, there is a famous thermometer. Tourists brave the region’s scorching temperatures to pose in front of it. But that photo opportunity might best be avoided this weekend. Between Sunday and Tuesday the mercury may reach even 54.4°C (130°F), the highest reliably recorded temperature on earth. (In 1913 one observer in the park recorded 56.7°C, though that number is disputed.)

The peak heat in Death Valley is no outlier. Heatwaves are wreaking havoc across the northern hemisphere, where more than 85% of the world’s population lives. Climate change, caused by greenhouse-gas emissions, has led to the world’s average temperature rising by 1.2°C since the 19th century. Heatwaves are among the deadliest consequences, putting vulnerable people, especially the old and poor, at grave risk. Governments must do more to protect them as sizzling summers become the norm.

On Sunday the first bull run of the festival of San Fermín begins in Pamplona, in northern Spain. The weeklong jamboree centres around the daily running of six bulls down an 848-metre stretch of narrow streets, with white-clad, red-handkerchiefed people running pell-mell ahead of them. Most injuries are caused by falls, though last year a visitor took a horn to the scrotum.

Then, each afternoon, the six bulls will be killed in a bullfight. Spain has recently undergone a periodic bout of debating the bloody practice. Adherents consider it sublimely beautiful (it is not a sport, as the bull has little chance of “winning”, supporters acknowledge). But the culture minister, from a far-left party, has called it “animal torture”. Colombia banned bullfighting this year; Catalonia no longer hosts bullfights. But in some places—Seville, Madrid and of course Pamplona—it is deeply rooted, and going nowhere fast.

There is supposedly no such thing as bad publicity. But not in the case of sharks. “Jaws”, a blockbuster film of 1975, not only created a widespread fear of the fish, but also encouraged people to hunt them for sport. (Steven Spielberg, the director, has lamented the film’s role in the “decimation of the shark population”.) In response, executives at the Discovery Channel launched “Shark Week” in 1988, a series of documentaries to educate the public about the creatures and aid conservation efforts.

Shark Week is now one of the hits of the entertainment calendar. Discovery says it is the longest-running cable-TV event. This year’s extravaganza, hosted by John Cena, a former wrestler, begins on Sunday. Commissioners seem keener to terrify viewers than mollify them, with programmes such as “Belly of the Beast: Bigger and Bloodier”, “Great White Serial Killer: Sea of Blood” and “Deadliest Bite”. Galeophobes would be better off watching something else.

Boeing must decide on Sunday whether to accept an offer from America’s Department of Justice to plead guilty to fraud in connection with two deadly plane crashes involving its 737MAX some five years ago. The aerospace giant is accused of violating a deal that it made with the authorities to head off a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government. It did this by allegedly misleading regulators over the cause of the crashes. The blowout of a door panel on another 737MAX in January appeared to invalidate an agreement to oversee safer manufacturing.

The Department of Justice may impose a fine on Boeing. If Boeing rejects the offer it faces a criminal trial, or might have to make another deal that would include even greater regulatory oversight of the company’s production process. Such an outcome could further hamper the rate at which it makes new planes.

On Thursday Li Qiang, China’s prime minister, wraps up a three-day visit to Malaysia. The countries are marking the 50th anniversary of their establishing diplomatic relations. Today ties between them are strong. On Wednesday Mr Li met Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s prime minister, who earlier this week described Xi Jinping, China’s ruler, as an “outstanding leader”. Mr Anwar also announced that Malaysia would like to join the BRICS, a bloc of ten economies that includes China.

Investment is why Malaysia wants to be close. China is its largest trading partner. On Wednesday China agreed to buy Malaysia’s fresh durian, a pungent fruit adored by Chinese consumers. China wants other things, too, including influence in South-East Asia. Through its Belt and Road Initiative, China has ploughed money into Malaysian infrastructure. Mr Li visited the East Coast Rail Link, a China-funded venture, during his trip. Such projects are, however, becoming less popular. Malaysia increasingly courts Chinese financing for new priorities, such as e-commerce.

Rate-setters at the Bank of England will meet on Thursday, a day after the welcome news that the headline annual inflation rate in Britain has returned to its 2% target. Nonetheless, the majority of the Monetary Policy Committee is unlikely to vote for a cut in the bank’s benchmark interest rate, currently 5.25%, quite yet.

The reason for this reticence is that much of the decline in headline inflation stems from a sharp decline in energy prices. That probably won’t happen again. Other gauges of inflationary pressure are falling more slowly. Annual core inflation—which excludes volatile food and energy prices—remains well above target, at 3.5%. Wage growth and services inflation, which the MPC watches closely, are also high.

Still, cuts should be on the way soon. Unemployment is up to 4.4%, a post-pandemic high, and labour-market surveys suggest further weakening is ahead.

Thursday marks the end of a legislative session in Colombia, after which any bills that have not progressed are thrown out. The country’s first left-wing government, which came to power in August 2022, is racing to pass reforms intended to reduce inequality in one of the world’s most unequal countries.

On Friday the lower house approved a pension bill, the biggest change to Colombia’s social-security system since 1993. It will expand pension coverage to almost everyone of retirement age, from a quarter of them now. On June 11th legislators began the long process of debating a labour-reform bill; they have since approved the majority of its articles.

But it isn’t all smooth sailing. The pension reform could face opposition in court. A new education law which seeks to improve access to schools and universities looks sunk. It enraged the largest teachers’ union, which said a proposed change would have funnelled public money to private schools.

On Thursday the northern hemisphere will enjoy its summer solstice, the moment in the year when it can expect most sunlight. Since the vast majority of the world’s solar power capacity is in the northern hemisphere—almost half of it in China—this makes it, in principle, the technology’s best week of the year.

To mark this midsummer abundance The Economist is this week looking at all manner of matters solar. An essay makes the case that the technology’s exponential rise is far from over. A piece in the Middle East and Africa section considers the dramatic effects the technology is having in easing South Africa’s brownouts. In the Business section we look at the troubled state of the Chinese solar industry, which has produced a booming technology without booming profits. And elsewhere we contemplate the way the sun has inspired artistic recognition from the stone age on.

If you were to make a documentary about Roger Federer, you might start at the beginning, showing his days as a ball boy, years as a junior champion and almost two decades competing at the highest echelons of tennis. You might look at how he developed his signature, graceful style, or his sweeping one-handed backhand.

Yet “Federer: Twelve Final Days”, released on Prime Video on Thursday, takes a different approach. The film focuses on the period up to and including Mr Federer’s last-ever game of high-level tennis at the Laver Cup in 2022. It takes his brilliance as given and does not analyse his technique; instead, the prospect of retirement prompts Mr Federer to reflect on the rewards and challenges of a life lived for sport. Mr Federer won plenty of silverware—including 20 grand slams—during his career. But the documentary suggests that his bond with Rafael Nadal, his longtime rival on the court, was as cherished a prize.

When the Bank of Japan ended its negative interest-rate policy in March, the country’s economy appeared to be poised for a fresh start. The bank promised a “virtuous cycle” of moderate growth in both wages and inflation. But the economy shrank at an annualised pace of 1.8% in the first quarter of 2024, according to government data released on Monday.

The biggest drag was private consumption, which accounts for around 60% of total GDP. It fell by 0.7% from the previous quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of decline. The weak yen is driving up prices. April was the 25th successive month in which real wages fell, and consumers have been tightening their purse-strings.

But the effects of some one-off factors might diminish soon. For example, car sales slumped owing to a data-rigging scandal at Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota.

On Monday Raiffeisen, an Austrian bank, will stop making dollar payments out of Russia. The decision suggests that America’s campaign against financial firms accused of aiding the Kremlin’s war effort is paying off.

In December the Biden administration issued an executive order exposing foreign banks to secondary sanctions if they facilitate transactions involving Russia’s military-industrial complex. Raiffeisen, the largest Western bank still operating in Russia, argues it does no such thing.

But the bank may have strayed too close when it pursued a deal to swap some of its Russian assets for a stake in an Austrian construction firm owned by Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch under sanctions. Soon after America’s treasury threatened to curtail its access to the country’s financial system. A few days later Raiffeisen dropped the deal, and is now suspending outbound dollar transfers to placate America’s concerns further. It is not yet clear whether that is enough to get the bank out of Uncle Sam’s crosshairs.

When Apple first unveiled Siri, the virtual assistant was a breakthrough. Over a decade later, it has become more frustrating than fascinating. But from Monday through to Friday, an upgraded Siri will take centre stage at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The event looks likely to be the most significant for several years.

Siri’s overhaul will see it powered by generative AI. The integration of large language models will help the assistant handle complex requests and quick back-and-forth dialogue—rather than the stilted conversations users are accustomed to. Apple will also introduce generative AI into web browsing, emoji creation and more in its operating-system updates.

This suite of new features is part of Apple’s broader foray into AI, a lucrative field in which it has lagged behind its competitors. Investors are optimistic. Ahead of the event Apple’s share price has climbed to its highest since last December after falling by as much as 15% earlier this year.

Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, died in a helicopter crash on May 19th. The country’s leaders have ensured that the election campaign that begins on Monday to choose his successor will be as predictable as possible. On Sunday, the Guardian Council, the Supreme Leader’s electoral vetting body, excluded all but one of the many heavyweights who submitted their candidacy, virtually awarding victory to the clear front-runner, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf (bottom-right in picture). A former military commander, he is a relative of the ageing Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The foregone conclusion is likely to prompt the lowest-ever turnout on June 28th, lower even than at the election three months ago, itself a record. But behind the scenes, a power struggle rages. In the past the presidency was a stepping stone to the post of supreme leader. But Mr Qalibaf, unlike Mr Raisi, is not a cleric. His selection will bolster speculation that Mr Khamenei is grooming his son, Mojtaba, for a dynastic succession.

Olympic finals usually bring together the best athletes from around the globe. Occasionally, though, one country’s depth of talent can skew that outcome: Australia’s in swimming, for example. In the women’s 100m freestyle, five currently-competing Australians have recorded one of the 25 fastest times in history. Yet countries can only enter two athletes per Olympic event. Consequently Australia’s national trials, which began on Monday in Brisbane, could see faster times than the Olympics this summer.

The contestants in Brisbane include Emma McKeon, the current Olympic champion; Cate Campbell, the fourth-fastest woman ever; and Mollie O’Callaghan, last year’s world champion. Whatever happens, at least one of them will be excluded from the Olympic team—more if other decorated swimmers, such as Ms Campbell’s sister Bronte or Shayna Jack (a five-time world champion) spring a surprise. Olympic rules mean that more countries have a greater chance to win medals. But they also mean some world-class athletes are left out.