Flagship

Chaos as Gaza aid distributed

A controversial new effort to distribute aid in Gaza descended into chaos on its first full day. Videos showed crowds running towards boxes of aid, while in others gunshots could be heard as people fled, with some climbing over metal fencing surrounding the site. The desperate scenes generated fresh public pressure on the latest humanitarian efforts, in which a private foundation has been tasked with distributing aid to Gazans left facing famine after a months-long Israeli blockade. The US and Israel support the drive, but the new system has been criticized by the UN and prominent NGOs, with one top aid official characterizing it as “militarized, privatized, politicized.”

Musk, GOP criticize Trump

Elon Musk and top Republicans criticized US President Donald Trump over his spending programs and foreign policy. Musk — tasked by Trump with slashing government outlays — told CBS in an interview set for broadcast Sunday that he was “disappointed” by a bill that just passed the House of Representatives which experts estimate will add $3 trillion to the national debt, with multiple GOP senators also criticizing the legislation. Outside the US, a bipartisan Senate delegation this month sought to assuage Canada that Trump’s frequent calls to annex the country were nothing to worry about, while Republicans in the chamber are weighing new sanctions on Russia, “with or without the White House,” one told reporters.

Charles lends support to Canada

King Charles III warned that Canada faced “unprecedented” challenges, in a speech widely seen as a rebuke to pressure from US President Donald Trump. The monarch — Canada’s head of state — made the trip from London to open the country’s Parliament at short notice while undergoing cancer treatment, indicating that the visit was far from ordinary. Since taking office, Trump has imposed punishing tariffs on Canada, and repeatedly said he wants to annex the country: On Tuesday, he said Canadians could join a planned missile defense system for free “if they become our cherished 51st State.” Charles, thus, was arguing that Canada was “not merely a place, or a line on a map,” a Globe & Mail columnist wrote.

Official pushes Pacific defense

The US should build a NATO-like defense alliance in Asia to constrain China, a former senior security official argued. Ely Ratner, who was an assistant secretary of defense in the Biden administration, argued in Foreign Affairs that while Washington and Asian allies were working to raise their defense capabilities, these arrangements “remain too informal and rudimentary.” Instead, the US should create a more formal grouping with Australia, Japan, and the Philippines to challenge China. Though US President Donald Trump has appeared to undermine allies by imposing tariffs and calling Washington’s commitment to their defense into question, his defense secretary in March visited Japan and the Philippines, vowing to increase cooperation.

China’s role as debt collector

China’s transformation from a lender to a debt collector threatens to reshape developing-world politics, a new report argued. Though China-watchers have long argued that warnings of what Western officials call Beijing’s “debt-trap diplomacy” are overblown, the country nevertheless faces growing domestic pressure to recover outstanding loans, rather than restructure them. As a result, debt-servicing costs on China’s 2010s-era infrastructure financing now “far outstrip new loan disbursements,” the Sydney-based Lowy Institute noted. That has major implications for the countries themselves, which are already grappling with persistently high interest rates on foreign-currency borrowing and are struggling to fund domestic priorities, as well as the West, which is “squandering any geopolitical advantage” by retrenching on aid.

US university crackdown

US President Donald Trump ordered embassies across the globe to halt student visa processing as Washington expands its crackdown on higher education. Officials said social media vetting would be ramped up as part of the visa application process for foreign students. It comes as Asian and European universities unveil plans to woo those who are no longer able, or willing, to study in the US following a widespread freeze on research funding, part of a broader bid to expunge the “woke” ideology the White House claims is pervasive in higher education. The moves will hurt the US’ “ability to be the leading innovative nation of the world, and other countries and economies are going to go sailing past,” an expert told Nikkei.

Germany, Ukraine leaders to meet

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz will meet with Ukraine’s leader today as Berlin looks to play a more assertive role in the war with Russia. Merz has taken “a more robust line” than his predecessor, The Economist wrote, raising hopes in Kyiv that Berlin may soon provide Taurus missiles capable of hitting targets deep inside Russia: The German leader already announced this week that his country and other Western powers would lift range restrictions on missiles transferred to Ukraine, and has eased fiscal curbs in order to drastically expand defense spending. The meeting comes a day after US President Donald Trump accused Moscow of “playing with fire” after Russia hit Ukraine with massive air strikes.

As electricity demand soars — driven by the rapid expansion of data centers and AI — pressure is mounting to scale secure and reliable energy resources.

Join Semafor for a timely conversation with Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Aamir Paul, President of North American Operations at Schneider Electric, as they discuss how the new US administration plans to accelerate domestic energy production — and whether current infrastructure is up to the task. The discussion will also explore the innovative policies and technologies that could help close the growing supply-demand gap.

June 11, 2025 | Washington, DC | RSVP

US will not renew Chevron license

The US said it will not renew oil giant Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela, a decision that comes as Washington hardens its stance on Caracas. The US special envoy for the region had previously said the license would likely be extended as part of a broader deal with Caracas, underscoring Washington’s erratic policy toward the country, where it exerts great influence: Almost 800,000 Venezuelans live in the US, and Chevron is responsible for around a quarter of Venezuela’s total oil output. “When asked, Trump wants everything,” including cheap oil, access to business deals, and a place to deport Venezuelans, but there is “no clear priority among these goals,” an expert wrote in the Latin America Risk Report.

Starship launch falls short

SpaceX’s mammoth Starship rocket made notable improvements in its ninth test launch, but fell short of its flight goals. The company aims for Starship to eventually be fully reusable, making it cheaper to fly than SpaceX’s own cutting-edge rockets. Tuesday’s launch included significant reused materials, Space.com noted, and initial stages went off as planned — marking progress following earlier launches that were cut short within minutes — before it appeared to suffer a leak and lost control. Starship is key to company chief Elon Musk’s plan to transport humans to Mars, with the billionaire recently saying it would ferry robots to the Red Planet as soon as next year, “an incredibly ambitious timeline,” Bloomberg noted.

Namibia marks genocide

Namibia will for the first time commemorate the killing of 70,000 Africans by Germany, a genocide that took place decades before the Holocaust. German forces used concentration camps in the early-20th century to torture and kill local communities who refused to give up their property in what was then South West Africa. In recent years, Windhoek has pressured Berlin to pay reparations for the mass slaughter, with Germany so far offering about $1.3 billion in development aid to be paid over 30 years, albeit without describing the sum as reparations. Today’s Genocide Remembrance Day, a national holiday, will be marked by a minute’s silence and candlelight vigil outside Namibia’s parliament.

• Chip giant Nvidia will release its Q1 earnings, with economists expecting more muted revenue as a result of Trump’s trade war.
• A former surgeon is due to be sentenced following a three-month trial of the worst mass child abuse case in French history.
• The Economic Community of West African States marks its 50th anniversary in Praia, Cabo Verde.

The difference in the cost of US-made ships compared with Asian ones, underscoring the immense challenge of reviving American shipbuilding. US President Donald Trump and a bipartisan group in Congress want US shipbuilders to be able to rival China’s. However industry experts believe the goal is so daunting that it is bound to fail unless Washington is willing to pump billions of dollars a year into the industry. “It’s not just about business,” the head of a US shipyard told The New York Times. “It’s about the country, it’s about labor, and it’s about priorities and strategic decisions.”

Living Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday 1920s–1970s at the Tokyo National Art Center. The exhibition, which houses numerous models of some of the 20th century’s most influential home designs, provides “a chance to reflect on our living spaces and way of living,” Tokyo Art Beat wrote. The show runs until June 30.

SolarWinds is eyeing double-digit revenue growth in the Gulf as the Texas-based IT software company rebuilds following a cyberattack in 2020, Semafor’s Kelsey Warner reported.

More than 80% of government entities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar already use its software, and the now privately held company aims to accelerate the rollout of new tools for the artificial intelligence age, SolarWinds’ chief technology officer said.