Flagship

Group text shows Europe loathing

Top US officials bemoaned Europe’s “free-loading” in messages sent accidentally to a journalist. The Signal group planning an attack on Houthi fighters in Yemen included the vice president and defense secretary, as well as The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief. Among the officials’ main preoccupations, Politico noted, was “how to make Europe pay for it.” Vice President JD Vance said he hated “bailing Europe out again” to which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied, “I fully share your loathing.” The messages point to a growing transatlantic schism: European powers are “rethinking their dependence on American weapons systems,” The Washington Post noted, while calls are growing to strengthen Europe’s nuclear deterrent, according to The Wall Street Journal.

China courts foreign businesses

Beijing intensified its efforts to court foreign businesses, with China’s premier seeking to reassure giant firms like Apple and Boeing of stability and business-friendly policies. Faced with deflation, elevated unemployment, and sluggish economic growth, officials have turned to private businesses for growth. Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with domestic tech firms earlier this year, and the focus is now shifting to international companies: One analyst told Nikkei that the authorities were “doing all they can to help stabilize expectations.” Officials also released five employees of a US business intelligence firm arrested in 2023 amid a crackdown on foreign consultancies, while Xi himself is expected to meet with foreign business leaders on Friday.

Tesla sales fall in Europe

Tesla’s European sales plummeted in February, with the automaker under pressure from fast-growing Chinese rivals and consumers wary of Elon Musk’s links to US President Donald Trump. Overall sales in 28 European countries were 44% lower last month year-on-year, figures that coincided with the latest evidence of Chinese electric vehicle makers’ ambitions for dominance: Xiaomi today raised $5.5 billion in a share sale aimed at expanding its EV business, while industry behemoth BYD this week said its 2024 sales surpassed $100 billion for the first time. BYD also unveiled technology that it claims can charge EV batteries in five minutes, with the announcements sending its share price skyrocketing.

Samsung co-CEO dies of heart attack

Samsung Electronics’ co-CEO died of a heart attack, amplifying the uncertainty facing the consumer tech giant as it navigates a potential trade war and slumping sales. Han Jong-hee, 63, had been in charge of Samsung’s consumer electronics and mobile devices teams, and was a member of the board. His co-CEO will now take full charge of the company. Samsung is already mired in challenges: It is trailing rivals such as fellow South Korean firm SK Hynix when it comes to semiconductor manufacturing, and is losing ground to Apple in the smartphone market, resulting in Samsung being one of tech’s worst-performing stocks last year, according to Reuters.

Russia’s economic challenges

Russia’s economy faces growing pressure as low oil prices, aging infrastructure, and elevated interest rates bite. Moscow’s central bank has warned the Kremlin that plans by the US and OPEC to ramp up output could deepen a fall in oil prices similar to the price crash which contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Reuters reported, while the bank’s chief is reportedly in officials’ crosshairs. Private firms face additional challenges, with The Bell noting that nationalizations have continued apace, meaning Russia’s “business environment is ever more unpredictable,” while parts of the country are experiencing power-generation issues in part due to the war with Ukraine.

US scrambles for eggs

US authorities are seeking new sources of eggs to address a shortage caused by the spread of bird flu. Nearly 170 million chickens have died in the latest outbreak since 2022, and egg prices leaped 53% in February, driving wider food inflation. Imports of Brazilian eggs, previously only used for pet food, have doubled, and the White House is considering relaxing safety regulations on eggs from chickens raised for meat, according to Reuters. Some states paused welfare policies requiring hens to be cage-free. Eggs’ geopolitical significance may not be obvious, but they are crucial: In 2018, Iranian protests over egg prices led to 21 deaths and “almost sparked a revolution,” Poultry World reported.

Ethiopia flower firms flee

Multinational flower companies are fleeing Ethiopia over fears of worsening conflict in the Amhara region, dealing a blow to one of the country’s biggest exports. The two-year war between Addis Ababa and various militias has fed worries of a wider conflict erupting, with some analysts fearing the restarting of a recent civil war that left hundreds of thousands dead. The closure of flower operations in the key floral industry hub could deal a blow to Ethiopia’s economy at a time of sluggish growth, Semafor reported: Last year, Ethiopia exported upwards of $500 million in flowers, which are one of its biggest sources of foreign currency, key for imports of essential goods.

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Brazil awaits Bolsonaro trial

Brazil’s Supreme Court will today decide whether to open a trial against former President Jair Bolsonaro, a case that could shape the political future of Latin America’s biggest country. Prosecutors allege that Bolsonaro led a coup attempt — including plans to assassinate the current president — after losing his reelection bid in 2022. The rightist former president has said the case amounts to state suppression, and has asked US President Donald Trump to intervene to prevent Brazil sliding into what he describes as a left-wing dictatorship. “American help is very welcome,” Bolsonaro told the Financial Times. Meanwhile his son, a Brazilian lawmaker and a potential presidential contender, said last week he was moving to the US to build support for his family’s movement.

COVID reckoning required

Five years on, the US establishment and media need a “reckoning” over their handling of COVID-19, a prominent science journalist wrote. Kelsey Piper noted in Vox that early media stories — arguing that the flu was more dangerous or laughing at “tech bros” for refusing handshakes — burnt a lot of trust. When deaths mounted and the media began taking COVID seriously, the “abrupt swerve was rarely acknowledged.” Public health officials changed positions on lockdowns, masks, and outdoor gatherings “without much reflection” on why their previous advice was wrong, which damaged credibility. “It’s much easier to lose trust than to gain it,” Piper argued: “Treating people… like they weren’t very smart… did incalculable damage.”

Jolie’s historic art space

Angelina Jolie is hosting an art space in a storied New York building once home to Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Hollywood actress bought 57 Great Jones Street in Lower Manhattan in 2023: After initially trying to turn it into a fashion boutique, she is now running it as Atelier Jolie, a hub for artists who would not be able to afford expensive Manhattan studio space, The New York Times reported. It was owned by Warhol in the 70s and Basquiat used it until his death in 1988, but it has a darker past — it was once home to Paul Kelly, whom a 1912 Times article described as “the most successful and the most influential gangster in New York history.”

• Germany’s 21st Bundestag meets for its inaugural session.
• HSBC hosts its Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong.
• Greece celebrates its independence day.

The number of people who have been displaced from Colombia’s Catatumbo region after clashes between two armed militias restarted. The region, which borders Venezuela, has in recent years become a key drug trafficking route, so controlling it offers a valuable source of income for armed groups. Separately, clashes between the National Liberation Army and dissidents of a once-powerful Marxist guerrilla force have fed fears that Colombia could soon revisit its violent past. “I don’t think I’ll go back [to Catatumbo],” a woman who was forced to leave told La Silla Vacía. “It’s now too different from when I arrived. You didn’t see bullets then.”

Flow, Gints Zilbalodis. This animated movie, made on a shoestring budget by a tiny team in Belgium, France, and Latvia, is spectacular, says Empire magazine: Both huge in scope, with its vast oceans and mysterious temples, and “minimalist: there is zero dialogue, beyond various animal grunts, baked inside a fiercely simple story.” The premise, of a misfit group of animals who must work together to survive, is familiar, but the execution is “extraordinary.” Watch Flow at your local theater.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s play for more control over US banking regulators, including the Federal Reserve, is about to enter a contentious new phase, reported Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller and Rachel Witkowski.

“There are two ways to consolidate federal bank regulation. First, you can change the law,” wrote one financial analyst. “The other way is for one federal entity to assert all the power it has under law.”

“Secretary Bessent has now made it clear that the Trump Administration will open Door Number Two.”