Hard Numbers: Three Stripes and Ye out, Chinese yuan hits low, Russia rejects Griner appeal, no answers on Nord Stream

Rapper Kanye West smiles during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Rapper Kanye West smiles during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

10: Adidas on Tuesday officially cut ties with Ye – né Kanye West – over the star musician/designer's recent antisemitic tirades. While Ye’s other business partners left him quickly, the German sportswear giant held out for weeks, likely because Yeezy-branded apparel accounts for $2 billion in sales, or nearly 10% of the three-stripe brand’s annual revenue.

15: The Chinese yuan fell to its lowest level in 15 years on Tuesday in onshore trading, as investors continued to worry about the intentions of Xi Jinping. After securing an unprecedented third term as Communist Party boss, Xi has ousted technocrats in favor of hardline loyalists.

9: A Russian court rejected WNBA star Brittney Griner’s appeal of her 9-year sentence for illegal possession of cannabis. It is unclear whether Griner’s lawyers will pursue a further legal path, but the ball is now in the White House’s court, so to speak, as the Biden administration has signaled it would take “tough decisions” to bring Americans home from foreign captivity.

0 for 3: It’s been a month since someone blew up three of the four Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that link Russia to Germany under the Baltic sea. Theories abound about who did it. The Russians? The Americans? The Ukrainians? But of the three serious investigations under way — Danish, Swedish, German — there are still zero definitive conclusions.


This comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Sign up today.

More from GZERO Media

More than 60% of Walmart suppliers are small businesses.* Through a $350 billion investment in products made, grown, or assembled in the US, Walmart is helping these businesses expand, create jobs, and thrive. This effort is expected to support the creation of over 750,000 new American jobs by 2030, empowering companies like Athletic Brewing, Bon Appésweet, and Milo’s Tea to grow their teams, scale their production, and strengthen the communities they call home. Learn more about Walmart's commitment to US manufacturing. *See website for additional details.

Last month, Microsoft released its 2025 Responsible AI Transparency Report, demonstrating the company’s sustained commitment to earning trust at a pace that matches AI innovation. The report outlines new developments in how we build and deploy AI systems responsibly, how we support our customers, and how we learn, evolve, and grow. It highlights our strengthened incident response processes, enhanced risk assessments and mitigations, and proactive regulatory alignment. It also covers new tools and practices we offer our customers to support their AI risk governance efforts, as well as how we work with stakeholders around the world to work towards governance approaches that build trust. You can read the report here.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe on June 27, 2025.
REUTERS

On June 27, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a US-mediated peace accord in Washington, D.C., to end decades of violence in the DRC’s resource-rich Great Lakes region. The agreement commits both nations to cease hostilities, withdraw troops, and to end support for armed groups operating in eastern Congowithin 90 days.