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Israel begins new Gaza offensive

Israel began an “extensive” new ground offensive in Gaza, even as negotiators resumed indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar. Negotiations between Hamas and Israel have languished since a temporary truce ended in March; one hold-up, according to Israeli media, is Hamas’ demand for an international guarantee, particularly from Washington, that Israel will not restart the war at a later date. Most Israelis do not support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy for Gaza, Haaretz’s Anshel Pfeffer argued, prioritizing the return of hostages instead of “total victory” over Hamas. But unless Israelis “insist on their own version of victory,” Pfeffer wrote, it seems likely that “international pressure will force Israel to end the war… through sanctions and international isolation.” 

Russia, Ukraine make little progress in talks

US President Donald Trump said he would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, days after Moscow and Kyiv held their first direct peace talks since 2022. Trump, who is also set to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he wants to stop the “bloodshed,” but despite the flurry of activity there is little indication the two sides are close to an agreement: On Sunday, Kyiv said Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war. And at last week’s rather brief meeting in Turkey, the Kremlin made demands described as “unacceptable” by officials in Kyiv. “Diplomacy has travelled a long distance this week to essentially return to zero,” a CNN analyst wrote.

Moody’s downgrades US rating

Moody’s became the latest major credit rating agency to downgrade the US, citing ballooning government debt that could grow further if Republicans pass a package to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. The White House sought to downplay Moody’s assessment, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday describing the rating as a “lagging indicator” of the country’s economic health. The GOP’s proposed budget package — which could add trillions to the federal deficit, according to estimates — suffered a blow Friday as party hardliners stopped the bill from moving forward, arguing it would add too much to the debt. Another push to advance the package was expected later on Sunday.

How Russell Vought shaped Trump agenda

A new profile in The Atlantic detailed how a longtime adviser to US President Donald Trump became a primary architect of the White House’s effort to overhaul the government and federal workforce. Now head of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought is advancing “a sophisticated ideological project decades in the making,” even as another Trump adviser, Elon Musk, receives outsized public attention. Vought believes in the so-called unitary executive theory, in which the president has absolute control over civil servants and traditionally independent government agencies. Critics warn that approach could cause a constitutional crisis, but for Vought, “that’s the whole point,” The Atlantic wrote. “If a crisis is coming, it’s because Vought is courting one.”

Nvidia expanding China footprint

Nvidia is scaling up its presence in China as the White House tightens export controls on advanced chips. The US tech giant plans to open a research center in Shanghai, the Financial Times reported, in an effort to stay competitive in the Chinese market while navigating the complex requirements of Washington’s chip curbs; core design and production will remain overseas. Nvidia is central to the US-China artificial-intelligence arms race, and the move to expand its China footprint could draw scrutiny from US officials: “The Trump administration should stop this,” a former White House adviser said.

Pope Leo XIV urges end to division

Pope Leo XIV used his inaugural mass Sunday to call for unity and peace, vowing never to rule like an autocrat as he was officially installed as leader of the Catholic Church. “This is the hour for love,” Leo told thousands of attendees in St. Peter’s Square, including US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Leo’s remarks at times seemed aimed at the Church’s more conservative factions, which have approached his papacy with wariness: While Leo appears aligned with his predecessor on issues like support for migrants, he also hit frequently on the need for “unity” — a term preferred by more conservative Catholics — and promised to uphold “the rich heritage of the Christian faith.”

US approves Alzheimer’s blood test

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, a move that could make it easier to detect the condition early in some people. The test, developed by a Japanese biotech company, looks for proteins in the blood that can indicate the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain — a key hallmark of Alzheimer’s. The blood test can’t definitively diagnose the disease, for which there is also no cure. Rather, experts said the test can help screen adults aged 55 and older who are at risk of Alzheimer’s, which could speed their path to diagnosis and treatment before the onset of symptoms, including severe memory loss.

Crypto investors face physical attacks

Wealthy crypto investors are increasingly taking their money offline amid cybersecurity fears, but criminals are also going analog. Hacking has long been seen as the primary threat to the world’s crypto elite, leading many to move their digital wallets to physical devices: “the hide-your-gold-under-the-mattress level of security,” as one bitcoin security executive told The Wall Street Journal. But real-world attacks — including violent kidnapping and extortion — are on the rise. Five abductions have occurred in France in recent months, with dozens more reported globally. More people with large crypto holdings are hiring bodyguards, a security expert told Bloomberg, as they increasingly realize “that intelligent security measures are part of the cost of doing business at this level.”

Robot witnesses aurora on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover witnessed an aurora on Mars, marking the first time the phenomenon has been observed from the surface of another planet. A solar storm last year bombarded all the planets with high-energy particles, triggering auroras across the solar system. NASA saw the storm coming, and told Perseverance to watch it. The rover has been collecting Martian rock samples since 2021 as part of the Mars Sample Return program, which is at risk of being defunded due to US budget cuts. Mars lacks a magnetic field like Earth’s, which helps shield us from solar radiation, and understanding how cosmic rays interact with Mars’ atmosphere could in turn help protect future human missions to the Red Planet.

Austria wins Eurovision, Israel 2nd

Austria won the Eurovision Song Contest, the campy pop music competition that has at times functioned as a geopolitical barometer. Countertenor JJ won Vienna its third trophy for his operatic anthem Wasted Love. This year’s contest featured an Estonian entry that poked fun at Italian stereotypes and a Norwegian pop star who represented Ireland with a song about a Soviet space dog, while Israel’s entry drew protests over the war in Gaza. Israel received the most votes from the public, placing second overall. That was a blessing in disguise, The Times of Israel wrote: A Eurovision win “would have focused a Swiss bank vault’s worth of unwanted attention on Israel.”

May 19:

• Computex, a global technology exhibition, kicks off in Taipei.
• The World Health Assembly convenes in Geneva.
• China releases retail sales data for April.

A huge stone slab discovered near the Iraqi city of Mosul offers new clues to the major deities of the ancient Assyrians, who ruled one of antiquity’s great empires. Unearthed by a German team at the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, the relief depicts the 7th-century BC ruler King Ashurbanipal, flanked by the gods Ashur and Ishtar. They are accompanied by a mythological creature known as a fish genius, who granted the gods and the king life and salvation. “These figures suggest that a massive winged sun disk was originally mounted above the relief,” one of the archaeologists said, adding that more work is needed to fully understand the monument’s significance.

It’s been 10 years since Takeshi “Tak” Niinami became the first non-family member to lead Suntory, the drinks company behind Yamazaki, Maker’s Mark, and Orangina. In that time, Niinami has advised four Japanese prime ministers, chaired Japan’s top business lobby group, and sat on numerous international CEO councils.

What he calls old-fashioned capitalism hasn’t worked for those in need, Niinami told Semafor’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson: “MAGA is a big lesson to us.” And unless corporate leaders embrace “inclusive” capitalism, they should expect populism to get “worse and worse.”