Flagship

Growing pressure on Israel

Pressure grew on Israel to allow aid into Gaza, as the UN said 100 trucks full of food and medical supplies were still being blocked despite a promise to lift the siege. Canada, France, and the UK warned of “concrete actions” against Israel if it pressed ahead with plans to expand its military operations in the enclave: The UK suspended talks on a trade deal, while the European Union said that it was reviewing its relationship with Israel. The situation in Gaza remains “catastrophic,” a BBC correspondent wrote, with two million facing starvation: “Even 100 trucks are not going to make a huge difference, because Gaza has been without food for 11 weeks.”

Israel mulling Iran strike: report

Israel is reportedly preparing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, even as Washington pushes to agree a deal curbing Tehran’s atomic ambitions. US intelligence officials do not believe Israel has made a final decision on carrying out the attack, CNN said, but oil prices rose on the risk. Israel’s apparent moves point to growing fissures between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and that of US President Donald Trump, who has made announcements with Middle East powers “without heeding Israeli concerns,” the Times of Israel’s founding editor noted. Any Iran nuclear deal remains a long way off — Washington’s demand that Tehran have zero domestic enrichment capacity is a red line for both sides.

Trump outlines ‘Golden Dome’ plans

President Donald Trump confirmed plans to build a vast missile defense system before the end of his presidency to protect the US from foreign attacks. The “Golden Dome” project is styled on Israel’s Iron Dome and includes satellite weapons and sensors, but would be far more extensive, in theory able to detect and stop missiles at any point from launch to impact. Trump put the total cost at $175 billion, but the Congressional Budget Office said the space-based components alone would cost $542 billion over the next 20 years. If deployed, it would represent the first known US weapons in space: Defense analysts believe both Russia and China have satellites with offensive capabilities.

Ramaphosa readies for Trump talks

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will look to patch up fraying ties with US President Donald Trump during a visit to Washington, DC today. The White House has withdrawn aid and imposed tariffs on South Africa, slamming Pretoria for what it calls racist policies towards the country’s white minority. The US has also taken in dozens of Afrikaners as refugees even as it has cracked down on other migrants: Trump reportedly plans to press Ramaphosa over South Africa’s “genocidal rhetoric.” Pretoria has cards to play, though: As a Semafor columnist noted, the country’s reserves of critical minerals are lucrative — and necessary — for Trump’s efforts to expand manufacturing in the US.

DRC faces US, Chinese pressure

China’s top cobalt producer called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to lift its ban on exporting the mineral, as the African country becomes a battleground between Washington and Beijing. The DRC holds the world’s biggest reserves of cobalt and has attempted to exert greater control on the price of the commodity, a key component of EV batteries. The demand from CMOC Group — which Kinshasa interpreted as a threat, according to Reuters — comes with the DRC locked in talks with the US over a minerals-for-security deal, a pact which also risks angering Beijing, by far its biggest trading partner and foreign investor. “The government in Kinshasa is walking a tightrope,” Bloomberg wrote.

Bird flu vaccine for cows

Early tests of a bird flu vaccine for cattle showed promise, raising hopes that it could reduce both the disease’s economic impact and the risk of a major human outbreak. The H5N1 avian influenza virus was first reported in US dairy cattle in March 2024 and has affected more than 1,000 herds in 17 states, as well as causing dozens of human infections and one death. The new mRNA-based vaccine created a strong immune response in calves and reduced their levels of the virus, although the research has not yet been peer-reviewed. The vaccine may also face “political headwinds,” Nature reported: Lawmakers in several US states have moved to ban mRNA vaccines, and the US health secretary is a noted vaccine skeptic.

NOAA in ‘gridlock’

The leading US climate science agency is in “gridlock” because the official overseeing it insists on personally reviewing all major new work, Scientific American reported. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick promised to inspect every National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contract over $100,000, with the stated aim of cutting waste. But he has a huge backlog, meaning “everything has ground to a halt,” one NOAA official said. Even Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a staunch White House ally, warned that programs “from post-hurricane flood assessment to janitorial services” are being held up. The delays come at a bad time: Storms and tornadoes killed 28 people last weekend, and more severe weather may be on the way.

Mexico killings spotlight crisis

Two senior aides of Mexico City’s mayor were murdered yesterday, an attack that came as the country battles a security crisis. President Claudia Sheinbaum — herself a former mayor of the capital — was elected last year pledging to cut the country’s soaring number of murders, which reached 200,000 during her predecessor’s term, yet Mexico reported 16,000 killings in her first seven months in power. More than half of the population says security is their top concern. Further pressure may be coming from abroad, with US President Donald Trump urging Mexico to crack down on cartels. “A full-blown recession could follow if Trump sees the efforts as fruitless and ratchets up tariffs,” Bloomberg reported.

Chengdu bucks China trend

A southwestern Chinese city’s boom offers a rare bright spot for a country battling challenging demographics and a real estate downturn. Chengdu’s population has grown and property prices have soared in the past five years, reversing a trend that once saw young people leave the city in droves for more lucrative careers in China’s eastern megalopolises. Those priorities may now be changing as China grapples with slowing growth and persistently high youth unemployment: “Jobs in Chengdu generally pay less than those in other major cities, and the opportunities for career advancement are more limited, but it is a less stressful place to live,” The New York Times noted.

Google amps up AI deployment

Google is stepping up artificial intelligence’s role in search. Its new “AI Mode,” powered by a custom version of Gemini 2.5, the tech giant’s most advanced model, is “agentic,” Google said, meaning it can not only find tickets to a sporting event, for instance, but fill out forms to buy them, while a “shopping partner” allows users to virtually try on billions of outfits. Other announcements at Google’s annual I/O conference included new smart glasses intended to challenge Meta’s augmented reality Ray-Bans, and a collaboration with Volvo to add Gemini to its cars — allowing drivers to play music or ask for navigational help, while keeping their eyes on the road.

• G7 finance ministers and central bank officials continue their meetings in the Canadian city of Banff.
• Paraguay’s president meets with Japan’s prime minister, the second Latin American leader in as many weeks to visit Tokyo.
• The Trump Organization breaks ground on a luxury golf resort near Vietnam’s capital.

The number of galleries that are planning to show at Art Basel Doha next year, reflecting the art world’s enthusiasm to tap the Gulf’s vast wealth as sales fall elsewhere. The Qatari fair will join Hong Kong, Miami, Paris, and Basel as cities where Art Basel, the world’s leading organizer of modern and contemporary art fairs, holds yearly events. “It makes sense for Art Basel to come to our region. It’s the right time,” the chair of Qatar Museums and sister of the ruling emir told The New York Times.

Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi. This book, which the BBC said “poignantly captures the hardships of Muslim women living in southern India,” just won the International Booker Prize: It is both the first short-story collection and the first book written in the Kannada language to do so. Mushtaq’s writing draws attention to figures often forgotten in Indian literature, a review in The Indian Express said: “Muslim women are often flattened into metaphors — silent sufferers or tropes in someone else’s moral argument. Mushtaq refuses both.” Buy Heart Lamp from your local bookstore.

A new book titled Original Sin is sparking the Democratic Party’s umpteenth reckoning on Joe Biden’s decision to run for reelection in 2024, with his cancer diagnosis adding a tense twist to publication week, Semafor’s David Weigel reported.

“Clearly, there were some people around the president that were in denial,” Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett told Semafor, while wishing Biden a “full recovery.” With some Republicans speculating that Biden’s diagnosis may have been hidden for political purposes, Democrats who pity the former president may have an opening to defend him — if they choose to take it.