This Week's Brief

New York is bracing for Climate Week and UNGA’s diplomatic circus, but the real inferno is elsewhere.

We are off to the city, after a summer where extreme weather cost the EU an estimated €43 billion (£37bn) this summer, per a new Imperial College London study. Yet Africa’s losses were far greater: 7.3 per cent of its landmass burnt in 2024, compared with just 0.6 per cent in Europe and the US.

Foreign aid and UN programmes that support African fire-fighting (and other humanitarian programs) have been cut, even as major blazes have torn through the DRC, South Africa and Madagascar.

The kicker? African wildfires emit more carbon than the continent’s fossil fuel use. In 2022, fires released 2.4bn tonnes of CO2, against 1.3bn from coal, oil and gas. As we gather in New York and the inevitable finger pointing continiues, perhaps we can all pause and ask the question - If this isn’t the time to stop the geopolitical games and face the very real crisis that impacts every one of us (ultra wealthy, in poverty and everything else in between), when is?

Next up in This Week’s Brief, from Gaza to Gucci, we are tracking wars, resource and trade deals, and Italian handbags getting a new boss.

(These pins mark the stories with deeply buried, but globally significant signals.)

📌 Gucci has a new boss, again!

📌 GSK is set to invest $30 billion across the U.S

📌 UN Commission of Inquiry accuses Israel of Genocide

📌 U.S. President Seeks Supreme Court Order To Fire Fed Official

📌 Nepal’s Gen Z Topple A Govt, New PM In Place

📌 Tanzania’s electoral commission disqualified opposition presidential candidate, again

📌 Canada’s Chrystia Freeland Is Canada’s Ukrainian reconstruction Rep

📌 EU Woos India, Despite Ties To Russia

📌 EU’s 2030 Aid-For Trade Target To Be Missed

It’s all Business

• French luxury group Kering has named Francesca Bellettini as Gucci’s new chief executive, replacing Stefano Cantino after only nine months in the role. It is the first major shake-up under group CEO Luca de Meo. Bellettini, Kering’s deputy CEO for brand development since 2023 and previously president and CEO of Saint Laurent, succeeds Cantino, who had overseen Gucci’s artistic director change during his brief tenure. Read more at Vogue Business
• GSK (or as we plebs know it, Glaxo) will invest $30 billion across the U.S. in R&D and supply chain infrastructure over five years, including $1.2 billion in advanced manufacturing and AI-driven facilities. The company has already invested $2 billion in U.S. manufacturing over the past year. CEO Dame Emma Walmsley has said the investment strengthens GSK’s global presence, alongside more than £1.5 billion spent annually on R&D in the UK. Read more at GSK

Geopolitics

• A United Nations Commission of Inquiry led by Navi Pillay, concluded on Tuesday that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts, accusations Israel called scandalous. The report, issued as Israel launched a ground operation in Gaza City, cited killings, aid blockages, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic to support its findings, echoing conclusions from scholars and rights groups. Ms. Pillay was formerly judge at the International Criminal Court and was also the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She was also President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Read more at UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner
• U.S. President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to issue an emergency order allowing the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. A U.S. appeals court earlier this week rejected President Trump’s attempt to fire her. It is the first such case since the bank’s founding in 1913, in a legal battle threatening its independence. The U.S. President had signed documents allowing Stephen Miran (on leave as head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers) to join the Fed’s Board of Governors. Read more at The Hill
• A judge has approved a pre-trial protective order for Erika Kirk, widow of murdered conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk, after prosecutors sought measures to protect her safety and privacy. She has spoken publicly about the killing as a judge remanded suspect Tyler Robinson without bail. Read more at People
• Nepal has its first female prime minister. Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki was sworn in on September 12 as interim PM following deadly youth protests over corruption and the ostentatious lifestyles of “Nepo kids.” The unrest came days after the government blocked more than 20 social media sites for failing to comply with new restrictions. Read more at Al Jazeera
• Tanzania’s electoral commission on Monday again disqualified opposition presidential candidate Luhaga Mpina, reversing its earlier approval. The decision, affecting the leader of the country’s second-largest opposition party, leaves President Samia Suluhu Hassan a clear path to next month’s election, with only minor party candidates running. Read more at CNBC Africa
• Canadian Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland will leave cabinet to become Canada’s special representative for Ukrainian reconstruction, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday. The move ends her 12-year domestic political career. Once seen as a future prime minister, she lost badly to Carney in March for the Liberal Party leadership. Read more at Politico

European Trade

• The EU has called for closer ties with India while admitting there was no “mutual understanding” with Narendra Modi’s government over Russia’s war in Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and trade negotiator Maroš Šefčovič outlined a strategy on this week as part of Europe’s alliance-building push. Read more at European Commission
• The EU is accelerating its move away from Russian energy. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced measures to end all oil and gas imports from Russia. Current plans phase out gas by 2028 and oil by 2027. The Commission will soon present its 19th sanctions package, targeting crypto, banks and energy tied to Russia. Read more in The Brussels Times
• The EU will likely miss its target of directing a quarter of trade-related aid to the least developed countries by 2030, the bloc’s auditors said Tuesday. The “Aid for Trade” initiative, launched by the WTO in 2005, spans infrastructure, trade policy, regulation and sector capacity-building. Read more at ReutersPlease share widely, like and comment to help us beat the algorithm! Spread the word! Women are more than a check box in world affairs!