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US-China deal agreed

The US and China agreed a possible framework for rolling back export controls, raising hopes for a renewed truce in their trade war. Beijing has limited the export of rare earths, vital to the energy transition, while Washington has curbed software and chip sales, in an ongoing dispute triggered by US President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs. Neither side disclosed any specifics of the deal, but the US commerce secretary said they had agreed in the London talks to roll back the restrictions. The proposed deal must still be approved by the two countries’ leaders. The trade war has already significantly damaged the world economy: The World Bank yesterday predicted the slowest decade for global growth since the 1960s.

Blackstone bets big on Europe

Blackstone plans to invest $500 billion in Europe over the next decade, a major boost to the continent as it faces down US trade threats and Chinese manufacturing dominance. Chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman told Bloomberg and the Financial Times that European governments’ moves to deregulate their economies and focus on growth offered the investment behemoth opportunities for infrastructure and private equity deals. Blackstone is not alone in its assessment: “With inflation pressures easing and a fresh wave of defence and industrial stimulus gaining traction, economic momentum [in Europe] is gradually returning,” Deutsche Bank’s chief economist wrote in a note to clients, adding that the continent “has a strategic window to strengthen both its economic resilience and geopolitical standing.”

LA imposes curfew

Authorities in Los Angeles carried out mass arrests after the mayor imposed a curfew on parts of the city amid widening protests against the US government’s immigration crackdown. Activists have also gathered in New York, Chicago, and other major US cities to protest against the White House’s aggressive round-up of migrants. The crackdown has led to a diplomatic spat with Mexico: President Claudia Sheinbaum said that accusations from the US homeland security secretary that she had encouraged the demonstrations in LA were “absolutely false.” Regardless, far-right pundits have seized on her comments, with Charlie Kirk, a commentator close to senior Trump administration figures, saying she represented “a bigger threat to America than Vladimir Putin.”

US rolling out AI in government

The US government is moving to increase its use of artificial intelligence. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary outlined plans to use AI tools to speed up drug approvals, saying it could give “a first-pass review” of applications that can reach 500,000 pages long, and reduce delays from years to weeks. The FDA recently released an internal chatbot, Elsa, and launched “the first AI-assisted scientific review pilot,” Makary said. Separately, Washington will launch a website called ai.gov, 404 Media reported: Leaked code suggested it will “[push] AI tools into agencies across government.” But skepticism abounds. Elsa is “far from transformative,” The New York Times reported, and one recent government report was full of apparently AI-fabricated references.

Meta ups AI bets

Meta took a stake in a major artificial intelligence data firm, making one of its biggest ever deals as it fights to catch up with rivals in the AI race. The $14.9 billion deal to give Meta a 49% stake in Scale AI comes as Mark Zuckerberg ups his bets on the technology: He is reportedly building a team of high-caliber engineers in order to develop artificial general intelligence, a level of the technology that would exceed human capabilities. Zuckerberg may face hurdles: The deal for Scale appears structured to evade antitrust scrutiny by not taking a majority stake, but US regulators “don’t exactly have a lot of affection for Meta,” The information noted.

Poland faces confidence vote

Poland’s pro-EU coalition government faces a confidence vote after the shock victory of a populist candidate in last month’s presidential election shook the ruling party. Prime Minister Donald Tusk is expected to comfortably win the motion, by which he intends to show that he “is still the boss,” Politico said: His coalition partners have been squabbling over who is to blame for incoming President Karol Nawrocki’s election triumph, and a recent poll showed nearly half of voters believe Tusk should resign. Tusk’s program will be heavily curtailed: Nawrocki has the power to veto or delay legislation, and has been more circumspect about supporting Ukraine, telling a Hungarian outlet that he was against Kyiv’s entry into the European Union.

S. Africa hit by cold weather

Seven people died and a bus carrying schoolchildren was swept away in South Africa after a severe cold front brought floods and snowfall across the country. Rescue efforts for the bus were suspended overnight, although three children have already been found alive; it remains unclear how many children were on board. Utility company Eskom said power was out in several provinces, with the cold front expected to persist through the week. Outages caused by the hostile weather could further kneecap Africa’s biggest economy: Manufacturing output declined more than 6% in April compared to the same month in 2024, a steep drop that followed a 1.2% fall in March, Reuters reported.

On the ground at Cannes — starting next Monday, the Semafor Media team will launch a free pop-up Cannes newsletter, your ultimate guide to navigating the panels, parties, and yachts on the Côte d’Azur. Get the scoop on key moments, influential people, and big ideas of the festival. Whether you’re attending or just curious about the deals and connections being made, Semafor Cannes is your go-to resource.

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Pollution protects from warming

India’s severe pollution may be protecting it from global warming. South Asia has warmed far less than the rest of the world in the last 40 years, at just 0.09°C a decade compared to a global average of 0.3°C. One possible explanation is that the region’s high levels of aerosol pollution reflect or absorb sunlight; aerosols are believed to have reduced worldwide warming by about 0.4°C, and falling levels of pollution are behind the recent warming acceleration. India desperately needs to reduce pollution, which killed an estimated 2.6 million people in South Asia in 2021 alone. But doing so will also raise the region’s already high temperatures: “If India chokes less,” noted The Economist, “it will fry more.”

Nuclear regulation’s flaws

Nuclear power is more expensive than it needs to be because of a flawed understanding of the actual risks of radiation, a tech writer argued. The rules governing reactors are based on the theory that because large doses of radiation are very dangerous small doses are likely somewhat harmful. Nuclear stations are required to keep radiation “as low as reasonably achievable,” forcing them to reinvest efficiency gains to reduce radiation further, and meaning that the energy source can never become cheaper. But, argued Alex Chalmers in Works in Progress, evidence does not support the notion that all radiation is dangerous: The body can easily repair damage from low doses, and modern reactors emit little more radiation than a banana.

Surprise Turner heads to auction

A painting that sold for $700 last year and was later discovered to be a JMW Turner is expected to fetch $400,000 in an upcoming auction. The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol was attributed to a lesser-known 18th-century British artist. But when it was restored following its sale in 2024, Turner’s signature was discovered. It is one of the Romantic’s earliest known works, painted in 1793 when he was just 17; it was mentioned in his obituaries, then lost for 150 years thanks to cataloging mistakes. Turner is considered Britain’s “greatest and most influential artist,” The Guardian noted. This year sees a series of exhibitions and events to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth.

• Argentine President Javier Milei is due to give a speech in Israel’s Parliament, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• French President Emmanuel Macron is due to appear on a panel with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the VivaTech conference in Paris.
• Wood Mackenzie’s Gas and LNG conference continues in London, with leaders from Shell and BP among those attending.

The number of galaxies included in a huge searchable catalog of data from the James Webb Space Telescope. The 1.5-terabyte release is “the largest view deep into the universe ever,” according to the COSMOS program behind the JWST. The telescope scanned a small area — 0.54 square degrees, only about three times the area of the moon in the night sky — but in incredible detail. Users can search galaxies by structure, by distance, or by how fast they are travelling away from us, among other options.

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. The British thriller writer, and former fighter pilot, died Monday at the age of 86. His 18 novels sold more than 70 million copies: Anyone who has ever stayed in a holiday cottage in the UK will have found at least one on the bookshelf there. His first and best known was The Day of the Jackal, about a plot to kill Charles de Gaulle: Lee Child, the author of Reacher and someone who knows a thing or two about action novels, called it a “game-changing thriller, one of the most significant of all time.” Buy The Day of the Jackal from your local bookstore.

Brad Schneider has a vision for how moderate Democrats can help their party climb out of the wilderness, reported Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller.

“Elon Musk has a reputation: He wanted to move fast and break things,” Schneider told Semafor from his Capitol office on Monday. “The New Dems are looking to move fast and fix things.”