Flagship

Israel retrieves hostages’ bodies

Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack, an operation that came as the US pressed for a ceasefire deal between the two sides. Israel agreed to a recent proposal from Washington, but US President Joe Biden said the Palestinian militant group was now “backing away.” Experts hope the fragile potential truce will reduce the likelihood of Iran striking Israel over the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah commanders and thus perhaps unleashing a regional war. In a sign of the continued risk of such a conflict, fighting has recently intensified between Israel and Hezbollah while Palestinian militants claimed to have carried out a rare suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Biden defends legacy, passes torch

US President Joe Biden defended his legacy in an emotional speech as he handed the reins of the Democratic Party to Kamala Harris. Biden touted his record on health care, the US economy, and foreign policy, among other achievements. His legacy, however, remains disputed: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board hit out at his “divisive” policies that it argued further polarized voters despite a vow to reunite the country after Donald Trump’s presidency. Meanwhile, supporters of the president worry that Trump’s potential return to the White House could undo Biden’s efforts. “Despite being a truly transformative President — arguably the best of my lifetime,” the liberal economist Noah Smith wrote, Biden could “be remembered as a doddering, bumbling caretaker.”

Charting the Fed’s path

The US Federal Reserve’s biggest challenge remains how to get interest rates back to a level that neither speeds up nor slows growth and inflation, economics writer Jon Hilsenrath wrote in his latest column for Semafor. Policymakers’ decisions will be a hot topic at this week’s meeting of global central bankers in Jackson Hole, and will have wide-reaching implications, affecting countries and companies globally that borrow or invest in dollars. Getting the Fed’s benchmark rate from a 23-year high of over 5% to around 3% — the so-called neutral rate — could take until 2026, and the bank prefers gradual steps over aggressive ones. Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s “mindset is likely to be to keep calm and carry on,” Hilsenrath wrote.

The US’ China threat

Washington’s rivalry with Beijing is more dangerous than the Cold War ever was, a former US secretary of state argued. Writing in the latest edition of Foreign Affairs, Condoleezza Rice said that while the Cold War was largely fought through proxies, the prospect of direct conflict between the US and China was a real threat given Beijing’s moves in the South China Sea and over Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province. The two powers, meanwhile, have none of the temperature-lowering processes that were available — and used — during the Cold War. “But perhaps the most striking and worrying similarity is that today, as in the previous eras,” she wrote, “the United States is tempted to turn inward.”

Ukraine makes Russia progress

Ukraine trumpeted further progress in its offensive into Kursk as Kyiv pressed for allies to lift restrictions on using long-range weapons against Russia. The surprisingly successful assault — Ukraine claims to hold more than 1,250 square kilometers, or about 500 square miles, of Russian territory — is part of efforts by Kyiv to boost morale, establish a buffer zone, and win a bargaining chip in potential future negotiations to end the war. Yet it has also overturned long-held assumptions about the nature of war, the security expert Phillips P. O’Brien noted: Ukrainian forces “are invading, taking and possibly holding the sovereign soil of a nuclear power — and in doing so they are upending everyone’s way of thinking about nuclear weapons.”

Success in cutting coal reliance

The world’s biggest polluters are making progress, albeit limited, in cutting their reliance on the dirtiest fossil fuel. In China, months of heavy rain have replenished reservoirs and led to a surge in hydroelectric power: Electricity production is up 4.8% year-on-year, but coal-powered generation is down by 5.1%, a Bloomberg columnist noted. The country also recently outlined a new strategy to further curb emissions from coal, and approved a record number of new nuclear power plants. The US, meanwhile, plans to take about 105,000 megawatts of coal-fired power offline by 2035, though that is a downgrade on earlier ambitions because of surging electricity demand after more than a decade of stagnation, The Wall Street Journal reported.

India Supreme Court review over rape

India’s Supreme Court ordered a workplace safety review in the health care sector after a trainee doctor was raped and murdered in a state-run hospital. The shocking case has led to nationwide protests demanding improved protections for health care professionals, and for women more generally: Protesters say women in India face persistent threats of sexual violence despite tougher laws being passed after the 2012 gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus. The latest case points to a deeper issue whereby India has remarkably low rates of female labor force participation — under a third in 2023 — which economists say is in part due to the risks of violence.

Samuel Levine, Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection will join Semafor’s editors to explore how online platforms can play a constructive role in communicating age restrictions for certain goods and services and the responsibilities and strategies of policymakers in effectively regulating social media use among young people.

Judicial strikes in Mexico

Judicial workers in Mexico went on strike to protest an overhaul of the country’s judiciary that would include voting in judges. Experts fear that such elections could lead to interest groups — including Mexico’s powerful drug gangs — controlling courts, Reforma reported. The proposed change could also spook foreign investment at a time when Mexico is benefitting from near-shoring investments, The Wall Street Journal’s Americas opinion columnist argued. “If the reforms go forward, a nation that relies on greater integration with the global economy will go backward. And with it, Mexican hopes of living in peace, freedom and prosperity,” she wrote.

Amex pushes into Africa

American Express is courting business across Africa in a bid to bolster its presence in the continent, the last region on Earth where cash is still king. The moves come as US and European travelers flock to African countries for leisure, including stays at pricey hotels that often have to be paid in cash, Bloomberg reported. Although some nations have made notable strides in digitizing payments, most remain beholden to cash, which experts have long argued holds back economic development and increases the risk of corruption: A recent report found that consumers in Nigeria reach for cash on 55% of their purchases, compared to just 4% in Norway.

Classical music’s struggles

Symphonies and opera houses across the globe are struggling for funding. European authorities have slashed public funding for music companies amid a drop in audience numbers, forcing many to turn to donors to survive. Orchestras across the Atlantic are dipping ever deeper into their endowments in an effort to stem losses. Some have shrunk their offering: The San Francisco Opera whittled down the number of productions from 11 in 2000 to just six this year. The crunch has pushed some to pursue unorthodox funding streams, including charging audiences to play the orchestra’s instruments. “If the band is to play on, classical music will have to break the mould,” the Financial Times wrote.

• Former US President Barack Obama is expected to address the Democratic National Convention.
• Indian and Japanese foreign and defense ministers hold talks in New Delhi.
• Untold: The Murder of Air McNair, a documentary about the NFL quarterback Steve McNair, is released on Netflix.

Episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama that have so far been released, earning their creator Matt Groening a fortune estimated to total around $600 million. He’s still going, with a ninth season of Futurama having launched on Disney+, and the 36th season of The Simpsons airing next month. “There’s no retirement!” Groening told El País. “I love my job. It’s like child’s play. Telling stories, joking and making people laugh is basically the only thing I wanted to do when I grew up.”

Bando Stone and the New World by Childish Gambino. Donald Glover’s musical alter ego has achieved what The Ringer called a “low-key legendary run” but Glover has said the latest album will be his last under his current moniker. Bando Stone is “an eclectic mix of combative rapping… and falsetto crooning,” ultimately totaling “a valedictory survey of everything Gambino has been.” Buy the vinyl or listen to it on Spotify.

• Democrats, finally, move past the Iraq War.
• SEC fines Carl Icahn, triggering multimillion-dollar stock wipeout.
• Kenya is turning teachers into its next big export.