Evening Brief, Friday 10 July

Iran interred Ali Khamenei at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad after a week of ceremonies that Fars, linked to the Revolutionary Guards, estimated drew between 41 million and 43 million mourners across Iran and Iraq. The scale let the regime project unity after the February strike that killed Khamenei, but his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, stayed out of sight, which sharpened doubts about his injuries, security and grip on the system. President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were reportedly jeered during the mourning, a small but telling sign that the elite split over talks with America has spilled into public view.

The funeral unfolded as the ceasefire frayed. US Central Command said American forces struck around 90 Iranian targets, while Iran's armed forces said they struck American military infrastructure in Gulf states. Iran reported 14 killed and 78 wounded across two days of US attacks, and Iranian media described explosions near southern sites including Bushehr, though a US official told Reuters that Washington had not struck in the last hours. Donald Trump put the rupture bluntly.

Qatari and Pakistani mediators are still trying to restart talks, while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed along the Oman maritime route. Israel also reportedly passed Washington fresh intelligence about an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump, adding another layer of personal and strategic danger to a conflict already pressing energy markets and Gulf security. Castles rarely decide modern wars; this funeral may still decide how much authority is left in a truce that had little to spare.

Spain's southern province of Almería counted at least 12 dead after a wildfire tore through Los Gallardos and nearby areas, with 10 victims believed to be foreign nationals. Antonio Sanz, Andalusia's emergencies minister, said four people found in a car were possibly British, while another group included likely Belgian or British victims and one Spaniard. Four people with serious burns were being moved by helicopter to Seville's Virgen del Rocío Hospital, and Juanma Moreno, Andalusia's president, said the immediate task was to prevent more deaths, locate the missing and contain the blaze.

The fire forced around 600 residents from Los Gallardos, Antas and Bédar to leave their homes, and 193 people sheltered in public facilities. Flames have burned more than 3,000 hectares, with ravines, scattered homes and a dangerous right flank making the response harder. Officials also tracked 19 people as unaccounted for on Friday morning, though some may be in shelters or among those not yet identified.

The response drew hundreds of firefighters, military emergency personnel, Guardia Civil officers, vehicles, aircraft and drones. Virginia Barcones, Spain's civil-protection chief, said state resources were being placed at Andalusia's disposal, while regional leaders tried to keep the operation coordinated despite political sniping from Madrid. The blaze shows how Mediterranean fire seasons now turn villages, tourist routes and retirement enclaves into one shared emergency map.

France activated its Orsec extreme-heat plan for the first time, opening cooling centres and coordinating local services as red alerts spread across the country. Météo-France placed nine western departments on red alert on Friday and said 24 departments would move to red on Saturday, while dozens more sat under orange warnings. Forecasts put highs at 38C to 40C across parts of western and central France, with Paris expected to reach 37C, and the national average temperature was approaching records set in June.

France's climate watchdog added the harder diagnosis: the country has warmed by 2.2C since the early 20th century, while summers have warmed by 2.9C. Its annual report said homes, cities, schools, hospitals and farms were built for a climate that no longer exists. In just eight days, fires burned 8,000 hectares across several regions, hospitals came under pressure and riverbeds dried, turning heat from an inconvenience into a test of public administration.

Italy faced its third heatwave of the summer, with Florence and Perugia under red alert and forecasters warning of a stronger Saharan surge from July 13. Sardinia and parts of the south were set for readings near or above 40C, while Copernicus identified June 2026 as western Europe's hottest June on record. Europe no longer debates whether heat plans are useful; it now discovers whether they are fast enough.

Donald Trump removed the last three commissioners of the US Election Assistance Commission, leaving the federal body with zero active members months before the November midterms. One Republican appointee resigned, while two Democratic appointees were fired by email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office. The EAC certifies voting systems, accredits testing laboratories and maintains the national mail voter-registration form, but it needs three commissioners to act, so the agency is now effectively paralysed.

The White House pointed to a recent Supreme Court ruling that expanded presidential power to remove members of independent agencies. It said Donald Trump reserves the right to remove people who may not be aligned with securing elections and ensuring that every legal vote is counted. The 2002 Help America Vote Act allows the president to appoint replacements, but finding nominees and winning Senate confirmation could take months, which is not a small detail when voting equipment, registration forms and local election offices need steady federal support.

Democratic election officials reacted sharply. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called the move dangerous and accused the administration of sowing chaos among election administrators.

The dismissals fit a broader push by Donald Trump to tighten vote-by-mail rules, revisit the 2020 election and press for proof-of-citizenship requirements on federal voter forms. A small commission is not glamorous, which is why disabling it matters: election systems tend to fail not in speeches, but in the quiet machinery nobody notices until it stops.

Dealmakers packed a lot into one trading morning. Apollo Global Management offered about £5.7 billion for easyJet, topping Castlelake's 690p-a-share approach with a 715p proposal and pushing the airline's board to switch its recommendation if a firm bid arrives. The bid lifted easyJet shares nearly 14 percent, though the stock stayed below both offers, a sign investors still see regulatory and ownership hurdles because Apollo cannot fully control the carrier under British and European airline rules.

Xavier Niel, the French telecoms billionaire behind Iliad, agreed to buy E&'s 16.2 percent stake in Vodafone for about £4.4 billion, becoming the British group's largest shareholder. The price of 112.5p a share represented a 15 percent premium, and Vodafone's stock jumped more than 11 percent in early London trading. Niel says he will act as a supportive long-term investor, not a bidder, but his arrival adds pressure as Vodafone sells weaker units and concentrates on core markets.

In chips, SK Hynix priced its US ADRs at $149 each and raised about $26.5 billion, the largest US listing by a foreign company and a fresh measure of investors' hunger for artificial-intelligence hardware. The deal was more than seven times oversubscribed despite a semiconductor sell-off, while Volkswagen showed the other side of industrial change: Oliver Blume's restructuring plan stalled after no agreement emerged on possible cuts or closures.

Capital is not scarce; patience is. Europe's corporate bosses can still attract money, but only if they can explain what they will do with the old businesses while everyone funds the new ones.