| Plus: Who's listening to the AI doomers? |
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| Welcome to the weekend! The real-life Succession reached its series finale this week, as the conclusion of the Murdochs’ legal battle left a certain son officially on deck to take over his father’s media empire. Which younger Murdoch? Find out with the Pointed quiz. What has all the makings of a good legal thriller? Our audio playlist, available in the Bloomberg app. We’ve got four great stories this week, including a breakdown of Australia’s mushroom murders. Don’t miss Sunday’s Forecast, in which we tackle Fed independence – in charts! For unlimited Bloomberg access, subscribe. | |
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| The Fed’s origin story starts with Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo, who helped create the system in 1913 and served as its first chair. World War II brought the institutions closer, with the central bank pegging rates to finance deficit spending. But by 1951, inflation was surging and a showdown with Truman produced the Treasury-Fed Accord that set the central bank free. Donald Trump is now testing that independence by pushing for lower rates, Saleha Mohsin writes, hoping to become the first president to pick a fight with the Fed and win. | |
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| Sometimes independence is reassuring — like a central bank free from political influence. Other times it’s unnerving, as with data centers full of superintelligent machines working under limited safeguards. In 2023, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton warned the technology had up to a 50% chance of wiping out humanity, and many academics and experts signed a petition for a research pause. Just two years later, the AI race is accelerating, Peter Guest writes, and many former AI doomers now make money from the tech they once warned about. | |
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| Edward Enninful knows all about the pull of autonomy. The former editor-in-chief of British Vogue was born in Ghana, came to the UK at 13 and was scouted as a model before rising through the ranks of the magazine world. Now he’s starting a new venture: EE72, a media company with a quarterly print publication. “I never wanted Anna Wintour’s job,” Enninful tells Mishal Husain in a conversation that touches on the power of Vogue, the fight for inclusion and the enduring appeal of the ’90s. “I wanted my own thing.” | |
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| Projecting your own values is powerful, which is why every World Cup host nation has used the tournament to do just that. Uruguay, in 1930, touted its progressive policies and economic development. Four years later, Mussolini cast Italy as proof of fascism’s efficiency. England in 1966 leaned into irreverence, cool and commercial flair. Qatar in 2022 sought global visibility and trade. Yet 2026 may stand apart, Jonathan Wilson rights. The US, co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, is striking an antagonistic posture toward both its partners and the wider world. | |
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| India
A world away from the traffic-choked streets of Mumbai, Mahesh Chhabria begins his day with a calming jog before a commute that takes just 10 minutes by car. Chhabria is a poster child for GIFT City, India’s attempt to build a finance hub from scratch to rival Dubai and Singapore. The city has already attracted more than 100 companies in finance and tech. But the homes, schools and nightlife that make a city truly livable have yet to catch up.  Pedestrians outside the Gift One Tower in GIFT City. Photographer: Elke Scholiers/Bloomberg Morocco
Each year, tens of thousands descend on Madagh for the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, filling the town with religious ceremonies, a book fair and a vast market of local goods. Home to the Budshishiyya, a centuries-old Sufi order with millions of followers, Madagh also houses a green-domed shrine where three former leaders are buried. But this year festivities were suspended after the death of the order’s leader sparked a succession battle between his sons — raising fears of a rift radicals could exploit amid anger over Gaza.  Budshishiyya followers mark the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday at a gathering. Photographer: Imane Djamil/Bloomberg | |
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| The Fed is doing what it’s been told. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seems to want the Fed to address inequality. But inequality is arguably a consequence of the Fed succeeding at its mandate, John Authers writes for Bloomberg Opinion.
The US-UK relationship is about to become more explosive. MAGA is obsessed with the contrast between its idealized vision of Britain and the reality they encounter on the streets, Adrian Wooldridge writes for Bloomberg Opinion. | |
The Rent Is Too Dang High | | “What has changed is who is feeling the crunch. It’s spreading all the way up.” | | Barika Williams Director for the Association of Neighborhood & Housing Development | | To understand why residents of New York City, the epicenter of American capitalism, are supporting a democratic socialist candidate for mayor, look no further than the rental market. Record-high rents aren’t just bogging down the working class. At least 65,000 households making between $100,000 and $300,000 a year pay a third or more of their gross income to landlords — tens of thousands more than just four years ago. | | |
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| What we’re trying: Jaba juice, an energy drink made with khat — the bitter leaf long favored by truck drivers and night-shift workers. Now it’s hitting Nairobi clubs and coastal beach parties, dressed up with sleek packaging and premium price tags. What we’re not trying: polyester hair implants. That’s just one of the many terrible ideas for human improvement that science writer Mary Roach documents in her newest book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy. What we’re pre-ordering: an iPhone Air. At just 5.6 millimeters thick, it’s emblematic of a new suite of iPhones that look meaningfully different, after years of incremental upgrades. All of them have better cameras and tougher outer glass. What we’re saving up for: a Spanish village. Sparsely populated regions dubbed “Empty Spain” makes up the country’s interior. Now Spain is trying to lure the wealthy by selling some villages and offering subsidies to live there. | |
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