Flagship

Hamas OKs deal, Israel strikes Rafah

Israel began its long-planned military operation in Rafah on Monday, striking the city where Gazans had earlier celebrated Hamas’ agreement to a ceasefire proposal that Israeli officials then dismissed as unacceptable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would send a delegation to discuss the Qatar and Egypt-brokered proposal that suggested a permanent end to the war, which Israel opposes. Thousands of Israeli protesters took to the streets urging Netanyahu to accept the deal for the release of hostages held by Hamas. A grandson of one hostage held a sign outside Netanyahu’s house that read, “Rafah, not at the expense of my grandfather.”

Xi visit tests EU unity

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will aim to split Europe over Russia and trade during his visit to the continent. China has long played “divide-and-conquer” with European leaders, The Wall Street Journal wrote, and Xi’s itinerary is ripe with opportunities: He will mark the 25th anniversary of NATO’s bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia, a sore spot in US-Sino relations, and meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has embraced Chinese investments and resisted EU aid to Ukraine. But French President Emmanuel Macron, who the Journal noted has often played into Xi’s hands, is casting a united front; he invited European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a vocal Beijing critic, to join his meeting with Xi in Paris.

Likely Modi win boosts stock market

Indian stocks are surging during the country’s weekslong general election, buoyed by confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be reelected and boost the economy. The country’s benchmark stock index neared a record high late last week, and India’s state-run companies could generate their highest returns in more than a decade. Modi has pledged to expand India’s industrial output and lure foreign electric vehicle and semiconductor firms, campaigning on a goal of making India a “developed country” by 2047. But one economist called it a “pie in the sky" idea that would require 8% economic growth every year for the next quarter century.

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US tightens Russia sanctions

Toughened US sanctions on Russian financial institutions are hampering Moscow’s trade, even with its own allies. “The logical endpoint of this is turning Russia into Iran,” one investor told the Financial Times, referring to the crippling sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program. Kyiv has its own financial challenges: International lenders who told Ukraine it could suspend all debt payments over Russia’s 2022 invasion are readying to press for it to at least pay interest in exchange for some debt forgiveness, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Russia uses Kant to justify war

Russia’s latest justification for its invasion of Ukraine: a 300-year-old German philosopher. The Kremlin used a four-day meeting in Kaliningrad of hundreds of international scholars of Immanuel Kant to try to weaken support for NATO, according to a joint investigation in The Insider. The conference sessions, like one that purportedly focused on Kant’s “legacy for contemporary international relations,” instead served as a forum for participants to blame the war in Ukraine on NATO, the report found. Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who will be sworn in for his fifth term Tuesday, has sometimes quoted Kant in his hourslong speeches.

Italian mobs turn to tax evasion

The Italian mafia is pivoting away from murder. Italy is flush with nearly €200 billion from the European Union’s post-COVID stimulus spending, luring mobsters into a multi-billion “low-risk, low-key” white-collar crime world of tax evasion and financial fraud, Reuters reported. Godfathers are now averse to having blood on their hands, and mob-related killings in Italy in 2022 were down to 17, compared to 700 in 1991. The ‘Ndrangheta, the country’s biggest organized crime group, “is no longer involved in extortion rackets, but in insolvencies and bankruptcies,” Milan’s magistrate said.

MrBeast drops talent company

MrBeast, the world’s biggest YouTuber, is parting ways with the talent management company that propelled him to digital stardom, reflecting content creators’ growing power in entertainment. The 25-year-old superstar, Jimmy Donaldson, is looking to exert more personal control over his business that rakes in more than $600 million in annual revenue, Semafor’s Max Tani reported. Donaldson’s meteoric rise to one of the highest-earning digital creators parallels the success of his Dallas-based talent company Night Media, which capitalized on its most famous client to draw in investors and build businesses “around a new generation of digital celebrities,” Tani wrote. The creator economy could roughly double in size to half a trillion dollars by 2027, a Goldman Sachs analyst predicted last year.

Columbia cancels graduation ceremony

Columbia University in New York canceled its main commencement ceremony Monday, citing “insurmountable” security concerns over weekslong pro-Palestine protests on its campus. Across the US, more than 2,000 people have been arrested at protests, forcing some universities to downsize their ceremonies or move them off-campus. It’s déjà vu for many students whose high school graduation ceremonies were canceled because of the pandemic. One Northwestern University senior reflected on the “consistent history-making experiences we’ve had.” Despite the unrest threatening their second shot at celebrations, she told Axios that “it feels special for students to be able to use our voices in this kind of way. It’s bigger than graduating college.”

Synthetic embryos used on cows

US researchers are trying to create cows with stem cells, a feat that would “shake our notion of what life even is,” MIT Technology Review wrote. Scientists in Florida created “synthetic embryos” — which involve no eggs, sperm, or conception — and transferred them into cows’ uteruses. Biologists have previously discovered that stem cells can form embryo-like structures, including synthetic human embryos, raising ethical questions. Using them to create a live animal remains uncharted territory, and may not ultimately work because of the differences between lab-made embryos and real ones. “I would love to see this become cloning 2.0,” said one of the veterinarians involved in the research. “It’s like Star Wars with cows.”

Swiss Army knife goes bladeless

The Swiss Army knife’s maker is taking blades out of some versions because of globally tightening weapons regulations. Manufacturer Victorinox will instead add tools for cyclists, its CEO told Swiss newspaper Blick. “In some markets, the blade creates an image of a weapon,” he said, referencing laws in Europe and Asia limiting the length of knives that can be carried in public, or requiring they only be used for work or outdoor activities. Last year, a man in Japan was reportedly fined 9,900 yen (about $65) for carrying a Swiss Army knife, after a court ruled that it amounted to a dangerous object.

May 7:

• The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest begins in Malmö, Sweden.
• Disney releases its second-quarter earnings and Toyota releases its 2024 full-year report.
• Indians vote in the third phase of the national general election.

The original watercolor featured on the cover of the first book in the Harry Potter series is expected to become the franchise’s most expensive item sold at auction. The painting by then 23-year-old Thomas Taylor graced the first-edition covers of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997 and was republished for the book’s 25-year anniversary. It could fetch anywhere between $400,000 and $600,000 at the Sotheby’s New York auction in June, after previously being sold for $107,000 at a London auction in 2001.

• NYT’s Joe Kahn: ‘The newsroom is not a safe space.’
• Ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has a new mission in LA.
• Russia orders nuclear weapons drills to deter the West.