Venezuelans protest against disapproved election results

Good morning, here’s what we’re going to cover today:

But first, protests erupted in Venezuela yesterday against the re-election of autocratic President Nicolas Maduro after the opposition claimed they had evidence that the vote tally was fraudulent.

Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had a lead of at least 20 points over Maduro in independent polls before the election, and government-controlled electoral authorities declared him the winner yesterday, even though all the votes had not yet been counted.

Russia, China, Iran and Cuba welcomed his victory, while the United States, the EU and Britain demanded a detailed breakdown of the vote. Dismayed Venezuelans took to the streets across the country, in some cases being met with police firing tear gas and live ammunition.

The oil-rich country saw its GDP shrink by 75% between 2013 (the year Maduro was elected president) and 2021. Hyperinflation, frequent power outages, chronic food and medicine shortages, and mass population exodus have devastated the country.

“How long is this going to go on for?” asked one protester, who told a Financial Times reporter on the ground: “Maduro is no longer our president.”

Other things I’m focusing on today are:

• Economic data: Mexico releases preliminary second quarter GDP figures.

• Federal ReserveThe US central bank’s monetary policy committee begins a two-day meeting.

• result: Reports from Merck, Pfizer, Airbus, BP, Diageo, PayPal, Procter & Gamble, Standard Chartered, Western Union, L’Oreal, Microsoft and Nomura.

Five more top stories

1. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper withdrew his name from the running. The field will narrow down the candidates from among prominent Democrats vying for the vice presidential spot to be Kamala Harris’ running mate.

• The Fed’s Trump Dilemma: Former New York Fed official Krishna Guha writes that the U.S. central bank will not want to be seen to be prejudge policy on inflation during the election season.

For many, Sign up for our US Election Countdown NewsletterThe FT’s essential guide to the twists and turns of the 2024 presidential election.

2. Donald Trump has promised to make the United States the “world’s Bitcoin superpower.” He is seeking to win the support of an industry frustrated by the Biden administration’s increased scrutiny.

3. McDonald’s sees first decline in global sales since 2020 Rising prices have led consumers around the world to cut back on purchases, raising concerns that the post-COVID consumer boom has peaked.

4. Mid-sized U.S. accounting firms are rethinking their global operations Meet the needs of an increasingly international clientele while better leveraging our global network to spread technology and staff costs.

5. World’s largest mining company BHP and Canada’s Lundin The company agreed to buy South American copper miner Filo for $3 billion, giving it full control of the Filo del Sol mining area, which straddles the Argentina-Chile border near the copper-rich Atacama Desert.

Big Lead

To stem the flow of migrants across the border, the Biden administration has leaned heavily on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has used it as a bargaining chip to push through left-wing nationalist reforms that critics say are undermining Mexico’s economy and democracy, while Washington turns a blind eye.

We are also reading…

• “Super Shoes”: To understand what makes certain shoes so fast, the FT teamed up with experts to analyse the technology behind record-breaking shoes.

• AI Front: Economic historian Chris Miller writes that the global chip wars could turn into a cloud computing war as governments view AI-enabled data centers as a strategic resource.

• Paris Olympics: Three years after her shock withdrawal from most of the competition in Tokyo, Olympic star Simone Biles is positioning her Olympic performance as a “revenge tour.”

Today’s Chart

Starbucks CEO Lakshman Narasimhan has faced criticism from many quarters, including the chain’s former president, the barista union and activist investor Elliott Management. Sales have stagnated due to inflation, a mass boycott over the company’s stance on the Gaza war and weak performance in China. Is there a way for the coffeehouse chain to bounce back?

Take a break from the news

Alex Robertson-Texter flew on the first-ever flight between Nuuk, Greenland and Nunavut, Canada, connecting two remote places with a shared Inuit identity. Not only is the route commercially viable for the first time, it challenges old colonial constraints and, in the words of Nunavut’s Premier, “feels like a family coming home.” Read his report here.

Benjamin Wilhelm and Camille de Guzman