Flagship

Israel allows more aid to Gaza

Israel agreed to allow increased aid deliveries to Gaza following a U.S. rebuke over its conduct in the conflict. Israeli authorities said the move would be “temporary” but it nevertheless offers much-needed respite for the enclave, which has suffered what humanitarian officials described as famine-like conditions as the war nears its seventh month. The apparent expansion of aid came with no end in sight for the fighting: Haaretz and Reuters separately cited a foreign diplomat and a Hamas leader downplaying the possibility of any short-term truce. Israeli police were braced, meanwhile, for huge numbers of worshippers expected for the final Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, regarded by Muslims as the third-holiest site in Islam.

How AI is used in war

Two recent reports spotlighted the increasing role of artificial intelligence in war. Chinese planners are exploring using AI for missile guidance, target detection, and maintenance, and the country’s forces are developing AI-guided autonomous vehicles, though for now officials see the technology as augmenting rather than supplanting human capabilities, an analyst wrote for the Center for European Policy Analysis. On the battlefield, the Israeli outlet 972 reported, citing a half-dozen Israeli intelligence officers, that the country’s armed forces have used an AI-based program called Lavender to identify individuals for targeting during the war in Gaza. According to 972, Lavender sits alongside another platform, Gospel, that focuses on buildings and structures. The Israeli military denied the allegations.

Yellen warns of Chinese subsidies

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned China of the growing global risks of its excess manufacturing capacity and industrial subsidies, at the beginning of a four-day visit to the country. Yellen’s remarks spotlight how U.S. and Chinese economic orthodoxy have shifted. She was once a proponent of Chinese exports to the U.S. but, like much of Washington, has changed her outlook: “People like me grew up with the view: If people send you cheap goods, you should send a thank-you note,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “I would never ever again say, ‘Send a thank-you note’.” China, too, has changed, with an increasing focus on “central planning and an obsession with security,” The Economist argued.

US outpaces peers

U.S. economic growth is far outpacing that of other Western nations, a divergence that is at least partly explained by rising immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. Recent research shows that the millions of new entrants into the U.S. labor market have lifted payrolls and helped keep consumer prices stable while contributing around a fifth of post-pandemic economic growth, Semafor’s Jordan Weissmann wrote. Meanwhile, growth across Western Europe has flatlined, and as the continent ages, it will have to find a way to increase immigration if it wants to maintain living standards. “The choice is not so much between more immigration and less immigration, but rather a lot of immigration now or a lot later,” economist Tyler Cowen wrote in Bloomberg.

The ‘Global South’ problem

Western attention towards “Global South” countries — though a welcome shift from years prior when developing countries were ignored — risks flattening wildly different states into an unwieldy group that ultimately hampers diplomacy: That’s the case put forward by the head of the International Crisis Group. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Comfort Ero warned that U.S. and European capitals can “end up simplifying or ignoring countries’ individual concerns,” ultimately believing that major “Global South” nations such as India or Brazil represented an effective proxy for broader regions and groups. “The recent spike in chatter about the global South has at least done the service of highlighting mounting problems faced by countries beyond the West,” Ero wrote. “But the terminology problem remains.”

Boluarte survives impeachment efforts

Peru’s President Dina Boluarte survived two impeachment attempts over her possession of a collection of Rolex watches, the provenance of which she has yet to explain. Although flaunting jewelry is hardly an anomaly in Latin American politics — a Mexican state governor was recently pictured with a watch valued at around $200,000 — the impeachment attempts underscore Boluarte’s plummeting approval ratings, which stand at single-digits. Political instability in Peru in turn has shaken the economy and fuelled a historic wave of migration and a rapid rise in informal employment. “Unsurprisingly, few Peruvians are optimistic,” the Financial Times’ Latin America editor said.

Wagner refocuses on Africa

Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary outfit, has shifted its focus back to Africa after a year-long hiatus during which it concentrated on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The organization — founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who challenged the Kremlin in a brief mutiny last year before dying in a plane crash — has been active in Africa since at least 2017, where it has been accused of helping prop-up authoritarian regimes in exchange for economic and mining concessions. An estimate last year revealed the group made as much as $250 million from such contracts. Under the current recruitment drive, Wagner is offering new hires almost four times the Russian median salary, Meduza reported.

Xavier Becerra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; Raj Shah, President, Rockefeller Foundation; Andrew Steer, President & CEO, Bezos Earth Fund; Gargee Ghosh, President, Global Policy & Advocacy, Gates Foundation; Jay Shambaugh, Undersecretary for International Affairs, Treasury Department and Ani Dasgupta, President & CEO at World Resources Institute will join the Rising Global Middle Class Session at the 2024 World Economy Summit to discuss the debt burden developing countries are facing today and how governments and private sector players can foster economic growth to create greater opportunities.

April 18 | 9 a.m.-12 p.m. ET | Washington, D.C.

Saudi to host WTA Finals

Saudi Arabia agreed a deal with womens’ tennis to host one of the sport’s biggest tournaments for the coming years. The WTA said the agreement would support “significant change being made within the region,” and noted that the deal ensured that female athletes would receive higher prizes, comparable to those offered in men’s tennis. The announcement attracted criticism over Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women and sexual minorities which, though improved in recent years, remains poor. Views within tennis are far from universal: Legends Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert argued in January that matches in the kingdom would represent “a significant step backward,” but Ons Jabeur — currently ranked sixth in the WTA — has said she would be “very excited” to play there.

South Korea’s violin-making star

Ayoung An, a South Korean luthier, has become the latest rising star in the violin-making world. An, who studied at the Chicago School of Violin Making, works out of a small shop in the northern Italian town of Cremona, home to history’s most famous violin maker, Antonio Stradivari. Heir to “the father of the violin’s” methods, An has become an established fixture in Cremona, where her violins — which take about two months to make — sell for as much as $18,500. “I can make a violin in three weeks, but I don’t want to,” she told The New York Times. “This object is very precious to the person purchasing it.”

Germany reconsiders Sunday rest

German politicians are considering changing laws restricting Sunday opening hours for shops after a court barred a fully automated supermarket chain from operating throughout the week. Germany has enshrined Sunday rest in its constitution for over a century and in December, a court in the region of Hesse ordered the Tegut chain to close its automated stores on Sundays. The decision was down to both historic and contemporary reasons: Judges pointed to the principle’s Christian origin, while a union argued the new stores would have knock-on effects for workers in traditional stores. Hesse’s coalition government is now exploring alternative rules, and hopes to bring compromise legislation forward next month.

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• Ukraine’s prime minister meets with Lithuanian leaders in Vilnius.
• The former head of Guatemala’s army is set to stand trial for a genocide in connection with the deaths of an estimated 200,000 Indigenous people during the country’s civil war.
• A field on the outskirts of London planted with over 500,000 tulips opens to the public.

Each Friday, we’ll tell you what a great bookstore suggests you read.

Dhaka’s Bookworm Bangladesh recommends Paolo Coelho’s Maktub. The store describes it as “filled with timeless stories of reflection and discovery.” Buy it from your local bookstore.

An audio retelling of George Orwell’s 1984 — released to mark the 40th anniversary of its protagonist’s initial diary entry — showcases the medium’s surging ambition. The audiobook features Andrew Garfield and Andrew Scott as Winston Smith and his torturer O’Brien, respectively, while Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo voices Julia and Tom Hardy plays Big Brother. It is among a number of major releases by Amazon’s Audible, including a version of David Copperfield directed by Sam Mendes and Oliver Twist starring Brian Cox. “Audiobooks didn’t used to be like this,” The Times of London’s Arts Commissioning Editor wrote.

• Despite the AI safety hype, a new study finds little research on the topic.
• Why Nigeria’s currency is rebounding against the dollar.
• The PR industry isn’t ready to crack down on greenwashing.