BERLIN — Four years of successive crises — a pandemic, large-scale war in Europe for the first time in decades, and debilitating inflation — are fueling a global anti-incumbent backlash, Axios' Zachary Basu and Dave Lawler write.

• Why it matters: Voters almost everywhere are ready to throw their leaders out in the biggest election year in human history.

Across Europe, parties in power are bracing for a drubbing in this week's elections for the EU's parliament — in many cases, at the hands of far-right populists.

🔎 Zoom in: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been described as the most popular leader in the world. Even he was humbled by election results this week. He'll keep his job, but without an outright majority.

• Last week in South Africa, the long-ruling African National Congress suffered its worst performance since the end of Apartheid.
• Ruling parties from South Korea to Senegal have suffered recent defeats.
• Next month, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are on course to be swept out in a landslide.
• President Biden is trailing former President Trump in most polls.

🧮 By the numbers: Biden's approval rating is stuck in the high 30s. Even that is better than Canadian PM Justin Trudeau (35%), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (26%), French President Emmanuel Macron (23%) or Japanese PM Fumio Kishida (15%), according to Morning Consult's tracker.

• The most popular leader on the tracker, aside from Modi, is Argentina's Javier Milei (61%) — a self-described "anarcho-capitalist" who was swept to office in December on a burn-it-all-down platform.
• Mexico defied the trend last week by electing an ally of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Claudia Sheinbaum. Before that, incumbents in Latin America had lost 20 elections in a row.

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Former President Trump has requested financial and other documents from eight potential VP picks as he formalizes his vetting, an official tells me (no particular order):

• Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio)
• North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum
• Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.)
• Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.)
• Ben Carson, former HUD Secretary
• Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.)
• Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.)
• Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.)

🕵️ The intrigue: Some candidates got more extensive paperwork requests than others — a possible clue to how hotly they're being considered.

Between the lines: I'm told the list, reported earlier by Politico and others, is very much subject to change.

This is Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried with a Gecko Robotics robot, onstage yesterday at our Axios AI+ summit in Manhattan.

• This device can scan tanks, planes and buses for corrosion and damage — harvesting data so AI can help determine whether an essential part should be replaced.

Why it matters: At our jam-packed summit, Axios journalists interviewed executives, investors and entrepreneurs — plus AI pioneers in sports and music — about what's real and what's hype, what's coming, and how generative AI will reshape productivity.

🍿 A few highlights:

🔎 Helen Toner — a former director of OpenAI, who left after the effort to oust Sam Altman — told Ina that generative AI remains a bit of a black box, even to experts.

• "This is a very powerful technology," Toner said. "We don't know how it works. Right now it's being developed and pushed forward by a very small group of people."
• Toner, director of strategy at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), said about OpenAI: "I definitely want to give the new board a chance. ... They have a lot of new structures in place that were not possible for us to put in place." Keep reading.

💐 Scent mail: Sending a smell to someone via email or online chat is "going to happen" someday, predicted Alex Wiltschko, CEO of Osmo.

• The startup is developing tech to give computers a sense of smell. Keep reading.

🎾 IBM's watsonx uses the power of generative AI to serve U.S. Open athletes and fans.

• The technology makes predictions, collects millions of data points during matches, and provides play-by-play audio commentary and text captions for highlight reels. Keep reading.

Go deeper.

UTAH BEACH, France (AP) — As the sun sets on the D-Day generation, it rose today over Normandy beaches where soldiers fought and died 80 years ago today, kicking off anniversary commemorations against the Ukraine backdrop of renewed war in Europe. Keep reading.

Some of the last remaining veterans of the D-Day invasion — June 6, 1944 — descended on Normandy, France, to participate in a ceremony overlooking Omaha Beach.

• For many veterans, who are all nearing or over 100, this could be their last chance to revisit the site and mourn those who paid the ultimate price.

Even a 19-year-old who stormed ashore in the biggest amphibious operation in history will soon be 100, CNN's Stephen Collinson notes.

• Go deeper: Centenarian veterans share their memories ... How AP covered the landings ... D-Day, hour-by-hour ... By the numbers.
• Watch the ceremony (6:30 a.m. ET).

ABC News anchor David Muir will interview President Biden today in France — part of a broader press push as the general election heats up, Axios' Sara Fischer writes.

• The interview piggybacks off of Muir's D-Day anniversary coverage, which includes a two-part series on the last living heroes of Normandy.

Keep reading.

Nvidia — the undisputed winner of the past year's AI stock boom — passed Apple to become the second-most valuable public company.

• The chipmaker's market cap passed $3 trillion for the first time, putting the company just behind Microsoft.

Its stock, which has jumped more than 147% for the year, is the strongest force lifting the S&P 500.

A meeting between Secretary of State Tony Blinken and a group of Arab officials about a month ago flew off the rails after an unusual shouting match between the UAE foreign minister and a senior adviser to the Palestinian president, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• Why it matters: The spat reflects skepticism over the Palestinian Authority's planned reforms and disputes among Arab leaders, both of which could challenge the Biden administration's efforts to forge a post-war strategy for Gaza.

The April 29 meeting took place in Riyadh on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting.

• According to two sources, the Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed called the Palestinian leadership "Ali Baba and the forty thieves" — and claimed senior officials in the Palestinian Authority are "useless" and therefore "replacing them with one another will only lead to the same result."

The big picture: Tensions between the UAE and the Palestinian Authority stem from both personal and policy disputes.

• Keep reading.

Koch Industries — one of America's largest and most influential privately held companies — is changing its name for the first time since 1968, Axios' Eleanor Hawkins writes.

• Why it matters: The diverse conglomerate, owned mostly by billionaire Charles Koch and his family, is dropping "Industries" — signaling the evolution from the oil-refining operation that brought it to prominence.

Being known as Koch Inc. (or Koch) is a "better fit for our current business and vision for the future," according to an email to employees obtained by Axios.

🎨 The big picture: The change speaks to a broader trend of legacy companies rebranding as their businesses evolve.

• Pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen recently rebranded to Cencora. Elon Musk changed Twitter's name to X.

Between the lines: Koch, isn't divesting its industrial business. It continues to operate refineries in Texas and Minnesota.

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Two years ago, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a stunning decision to open his archives and sit for interviews with a journalist.

• The resulting biography from AP deputy Washington bureau chief Michael Tackett, "The Price of Power," is out Oct. 29 — a week before the election.

Why it matters: "In the long history of American government, few Senators have wielded as much power as Kentucky's Mitch McConnell," the publisher notes.

• Tackett drew on "thousands of pages of archival materials, letters, and more than 100 interviews with associates, colleagues, and McConnell himself" to piece together the story of the senator's life.

More on the book.