Nova Khakovka Dam Destroyed in Kherson, Ukraine

Apple are hoping that they’re going to change the way we interact with the world via technology, again. Last night’s Worldwide Developer Conference saw the unveiling of Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s first ‘Spatial computer’ –  a headset that ‘augments reality’, allowing users to immerse themselves in work projects, photos, audio and video. The product was amazingly well received on the unveiling, until the price was announced! At $3,500 this is more than three times the cost of Meta’s VR headset – which is the closest proxy, despite being a very different proposition – the news of the price was enough to take the wow factor out of the share price sails and in after hours trading they’ve lost 2.5% from their all-time high (still, with a market cap above $2.8trillion and $55bn cash at hand, Tim Cook won’t be losing too much sleep). If you get a few minutes to have a read/watch of the Apple press release, it’s a fascinating insight into what the future of computing might look like. www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/introducing-apple-vision-pro/

The French president Emmanuel Macron argued against proposals for NATO to establish an office in Japan, maintaining that the organisation should be focused on its namesake, the North Atlantic. Recent diplomatic tensions in the Indo-Pacific region have led to some within NATO pushing for an outpost in Japan, with the country being strategically important geo-political tensions grow around China, North Korea and Taiwan.

The prospect of such an outpost has of course angered Beijing. Hence, according to one French official cited by the FT, France are keen to maintain a amicable relationship with China as they with the former trying to persuade the latter not to supply Russia with weapons.  As such, Paris is trying to avoid anything that could exacerbate Nato-China tensions with Macron arguing that “If…we push Nato to enlarge the spectrum and the geography, we will make a big mistake.”