Barack Obama warns of ‘tight race’ in rousing speech backing Kamala Harris

Good morning. The search for survivors of a superyacht that sank off the Sicilian coast continues this morning, and we have an in-depth read on why the US is backing a $10bn railway project in Africa.

But first, we turn to Chicago, where Barack Obama has just delivered a rousing speech to cheering crowds at the Democratic National Convention.

The former US president, who remains one of the party’s most popular and influential figures, used his political star power to try to quash any doubts over Kamala Harris’s candidacy and caution voters against complacency, warning it would be a “tight race” for the White House.

Some Democrats have tried to draw parallels between Obama’s win in 2008, when he was elected the first Black US president, and Harris’s bid to become the country’s first female president. As he took the stage, Obama was met with chants of his own campaign slogan, “Yes we can”, later echoed by his own words in support of the vice-president: “Yes she can.”

Obama’s speech deployed some of the soaring rhetoric he is known for, but also mocked Donald Trump as a “whining” self-interested billionaire and conspiracy theorist whose act had gone “pretty stale”. Speaking immediately before him, his wife and former first lady Michelle Obama also hit out at Trump. Here’s more from the Obamas and other speakers at the second night of the convention.

• Chicago protests: Less than two miles from the convention, police and protesters clashed outside the Israeli consulate, leading to arrests of pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

• Kamalanomics: Good policy, or good politics? Steff Chávez discusses Harris’s economic agenda in the latest edition of US Election Countdown. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The UK releases July public sector borrowing data and South Africa has its consumer price index for the same month.

• Federal Reserve: The central bank’s rate-setting committee releases minutes from its last meeting, ahead of a speech by chair Jay Powell at Jackson Hole on Friday.

• Sicily yacht sinking: The search for UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and five other passengers is set to continue this morning as Italian authorities said chances they were still alive were now “minimal”.

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Five more top stories

1. Almost $90bn poured into US money market funds in the first half of this month as investors sought to lock in attractive yields that could outlast an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month. Most of the inflows originated from institutional investors rather than retail investors. Read the full story.

2. A US judge has blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on non-compete agreements, saying the regulator lacked the authority to stop agreements that bar employees from getting new jobs at rival companies. In a decision yesterday, the judge from Texas called the FTC’s ban “arbitrary and capricious”.

3. Exclusive: China has disbursed only a fraction of a flagship central bank fund designed to rescue property developers as authorities struggle to cut a vast stock of unsold homes and end a prolonged real estate slump. Beijing’s policy responses have emphasised market-based lending, but they have run into a challenging economic backdrop. Joe Leahy and Thomas Hale have the full story.

4. Exclusive: The UK chancellor is planning to raise social rents by more than inflation for the next 10 years in an attempt to boost the building of affordable homes. Government insiders say Rachel Reeves plans to introduce the measure in October’s Budget to provide more certainty over cash flows to housing associations and councils. More details on her plans.

5. A Canadian railway strike could have a “devastating” impact on the continent’s economy, business groups have warned. About 9,300 workers have threatened unprecedented action as soon as tomorrow against the country’s two largest freight railways, which stretch into the US, with one reaching Mexico. Here are the critical industries that would be disrupted.

The Big Read

The US is helping to finance the Lobito Corridor, a revival of a 100-year-old railway line that will connect resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast. The ambitious project will cost at least $10bn and comprises other infrastructure including bridges and roads. But Washington’s support for critical minerals across the wider region is no isolated act. It is part of a strategy to reverse its diminished influence in Africa, where other countries such as China have gained ground. 

We’re also reading . . . 

• Climate claptrap: From Elon Musk to Project 2025, misleading twaddle on climate change just keeps on coming, writes Pilita Clark.

• UK politics: A think-tank set up when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister has been quietly supplying the new Labour government with policies and MPs.

• Bond market: The rates market is supposed to be where the real brains are, writes Katie Martin, but the sector has been displaying memestock-like tendencies.

Chart of the day

The dollar hit its lowest level since the start of the year yesterday as investors braced for the Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates and the August sell-off that spooked markets faded.

Take a break from the news

As the seventh child of the 25th son of the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman was not destined for the throne when he entered politics in 2009. A new BBC documentary charting his formidable rise paints a Machiavellian portrait of the crown prince, writes Dan Einav.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Harvey Nriapia