Flagship

Netanyahu defiant after Israel protests

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained defiant Monday amid mounting international and domestic pressure to secure a ceasefire agreement to release Israeli hostages in Gaza. The killings of six hostages held by Hamas spurred protests and labor strikes in Israel on Monday, in one of the most significant demonstrations of public outrage against Netanyahu since the war began. US President Joe Biden also rebuked him for not doing enough to secure a deal, while the UK said it would suspend 30 arms export licenses to Israel over humanitarian concerns. Netanyahu dismissed the criticism, saying ceding to pressure would send the wrong message to Hamas. But a Jerusalem Post editorial warned that the hostage deaths have pushed the Israeli public “to say ‘enough is enough.’”

Brazil targets Starlink after X ban

Brazil’s regulators on Monday threatened to revoke the license of Elon Musk’s Starlink for disobeying a Supreme Court ruling ordering all internet providers to shut down Musk’s platform X. The move heightened the ongoing showdown between Musk and the country’s judiciary. Some Brazilians have criticized the court’s moves as overreach, while others praised the attempts to curb Musk’s powers. The tech billionaire “talks and acts as if he is more powerful than any government…because, in certain respects, that is true,” the Financial Times’ chief foreign affairs columnist argued. But Musk’s power coupled with his unpredictability make him “an unguided geopolitical missile, whose whims can reshape world affairs.”

VW mulls German plant closures

Volkswagen is weighing its first-ever factory closures in Germany, an unprecedented move in the face of heightened competition. The automaker is also reconsidering its pledge not to cut jobs until 2029, setting the stage for a major labor dispute that would be a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ fragile government, Bloomberg reported. Germany is “falling further behind in terms of competitiveness,” VW’s CEO said Monday, citing a tough economic environment and new players in Europe. The company predicted in March that sales would slow this year amid competition from Chinese EV makers. The German automaker is especially vulnerable since China accounts for about a third of its sales, Reuters reported.

Harris opposes US steel sale

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Monday opposed the sale of US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel during a rally in Pittsburgh. Her position lines up with President Joe Biden’s pro-union stance and shows Harris’ loyalty to Biden and his policies, the Associated Press wrote. But some union activists “worry that Harris’ ties to corporate leaders may temper her pro-labor commitments,” Bloomberg reported: Wall Street mega-donors contributed millions to her campaign after Biden quit the race, Semafor previously reported. Harris also lacks Biden’s decades-long relationships with unions, and one of the country’s largest unions said it’s holding off on endorsing a candidate as Harris hasn’t met its leaders yet.

Pope begins 12-day Asia trip

Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania on Monday, marking one of the longest papal foreign visits in history. Some are concerned about the 87-year-old Catholic leader’s health during the grueling itinerary that includes Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. But the pope is intent on highlighting climate change threats in those regions and to emphasize that the Church is “no longer a Eurocentric or Western institution,” CNN’s Vatican correspondent wrote, reflecting the institution’s major tilt to Asia during his pontificate. Francis has often chosen to visit Asian countries that have put him on China’s doorstep, The New York Times argued, and this trip is another opportunity to “talk to countries he can’t go to,” an academic said.

Putin visits Mongolia

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia Monday, his first visit to a member country of the International Criminal Court since it ordered his arrest last year. Ukraine called on Mongolia to detain him, but “there is no risk of Putin’s arrest,” a political consultant close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg, noting that Ulaanbaatar would have given guarantees ahead of the trip. Mongolia’s balancing act of maintaining ties with its powerful neighbors, Russia and China, while seeking closer relations with the US, has become more difficult since the war in Ukraine, particularly as 95% of Mongolian fuel comes from Russia. Ulaanbaatar “cannot endanger its own population by poking the bear to its north,” argued a Foreign Policy Research Institute associate.

Artist Gao Zhen detained in China

The Chinese artist Gao Zhen, famous for his works critiquing the Cultural Revolution, was detained in China last week, his brother and artistic partner Gao Qiang told The New York Times Monday. The duo’s provocative work — including a bronze statue that depicted a remorseful Mao Zedong on his knees — could be in violation of a 2021 law that made the slander of Chinese heroes and martyrs punishable by up to three years in prison. Gao Qiang told the Times that Beijing has increasingly become more fearful of protest art, as evident by the 2011 detainment of Ai Weiwei — the country’s most famous dissident artist. Gao Zhen’s arrest shows that “now, the space for freedom in China has shrunk a lot compared to then,” his brother said.

Economic crisis hurts Cairo nightlife

Egypt’s government ordered stores in Cairo to close at night, upturning the nocturnal city’s life. Summer in the capital is usually so hot that Cairo is “practically still waking up” by 10 p.m., The New York Times’ North Africa correspondent wrote. But an economic crunch has left the government short of funds for natural gas, and to save electricity, it ordered restaurants to shut by midnight and stores by 10 p.m. Many in cramped central Cairo face a dilemma: If you shop during the day, “you’ll boil yourself,” one Cairene said. “But we end up having to roast, because the stores close early.” It is taking its toll: “Egypt is a graveyard,” a tailor said. “Everybody is dead on the inside.”

The Titanic is slowly decaying

A new expedition to the Titanic, two miles below the surface of the Atlantic, revealed the extent of the wreck’s slow decay. Notably, the railing along the ship’s bow depicted in the famous fictional scene with Jack and Rose in the 1998 movie has collapsed to the sea bed. The ship, which sank 112 years ago, is being eaten by microbes that are slowly destroying the structure. Earlier dives showed the state rooms and officers’ quarters on the starboard side had collapsed. “How long is the Titanic going to be there?” one of the expedition’s organizers told the BBC. “We just don’t know but we’re watching it in real time.”

Russian ‘spy’ whale found dead

A white beluga whale who was accused of being a Russian spy was found dead off Norway. Hvaldimir, as the famous whale was nicknamed, was spotted in the Baltic Sea five years ago, wearing a GoPro camera attached to a harness labeled “Equipment of St Petersburg,” in waters unusually far south for belugas and not far from a Russian naval base. Russia has a history of training marine mammals, including dolphins, for military purposes, the BBC reported, although it has never admitted as much. Hvaldimir appears to have died of natural causes, according to an organization that tracked him around the seas, and there is no basis to rumors that he was pushed out of a window on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s orders.

September 3:

• Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim attends the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
• Filmmaker Tim Burton is honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
• EU and South American negotiators meet in Brasilia to conclude an EU-Mercosur trade deal.

A ballet written by the Wu Tang Clan’s RZA was released as an album. A Ballet Through Mud was inspired by a journal of lyrics the rapper wrote as a schoolboy, some fantastical, some about “first experiences with love, alcohol, drugs.” The ballet’s characters are named after different musical scales, and the score, like Wu Tang’s music, is inspired by Eastern philosophy: “Mud is known to be dirty,” RZA told NPR, “but out of the mud grows the lotus.” He eventually abandoned his teenage lyrics, but used them to inspire new music, which became the ballet first performed with the Colorado Symphony in 2023.

• Senegal urged to avoid opaque oil contract renegotiations.
• White US egg donors paid up to eight times more than Black donors, study finds.
• China threatens to sanction Japan over chip sale restrictions.