Flagship

Israel warned of ‘starvation’ in Gaza

The US warned Israel to avoid a “policy of starvation” as Gaza faces growing food shortages. The United Nations said its aid groups will run out of food in northern Gaza within days if Israel does not allow a sharp increase in aid deliveries, and Washington called on it to do so: The US envoy to the UN said Israel was trying to starve Hamas into submission, and that such a policy was “horrific and unacceptable.” Israel also continued its assault on Lebanon: Almost a quarter of Lebanese people have been ordered to evacuate by Israeli troops. The journalist Kim Ghattas said the country feels it is “being punished” for Hezbollah’s decisions, despite most citizens not supporting the group.

EU gets tough on migration

European Union leaders — due to meet in Brussels today — are increasingly calling for new restrictions on migration into the bloc. Officials are proposing laws to allow deportations, or ways of processing asylum claims outside the EU, in a model similar to the UK’s controversial and abandoned Rwanda deal, Politico reported. Germany is among the loudest supporters of migration control — a remarkable switch, given that it welcomed more than a million mostly Syrian refugees from 2015. “Many Germans personally went to Berlin or Munich train stations to welcome them,” Le Monde noted. No political parties opposed the move and then-Chancellor Angela Merkel took viral selfies with refugees. But the mood has changed, and anti-immigration parties have become a powerful force.

EU, Amazon look to nuclear

The European Union opened the door to backing nuclear power to fight against climate change. Nuclear energy is the subject of a deep divide in EU politics — France relies on its fleet of reactors for electricity, while Germany has moved away from them. EU negotiators agreed ahead of the COP29 climate summit to accelerate “low-emissions technologies,” including nuclear, a symbol of Europe’s shifting approach. Part of the change is a sense that small modular reactors, cheaper and faster to build than traditional plants, are closer than ever to becoming a reality: Amazon became the latest tech company to invest in SMR startups.

China’s clean-tech conundrum

China’s solar-power companies agreed to end a price war that has put many out of business, but also slashed the price of green energy worldwide. Western capitals have complained about what they argue is overcapacity in Chinese clean tech manufacturing — particularly when it comes to solar panels and electric vehicles — with some imposing trade restrictions to protect their own domestic firms. Chinese officials have disputed such characterizations, however, and threatened retaliatory tariffs. One prominent Chinese expert, meanwhile, suggested an alternative response, arguing in the South China Morning Post that the country’s “overcapacity could enable a green Marshall Plan” for poorer nations instead.

Harris and Trump take on critics

The two US presidential contenders both appeared on Fox News — in starkly different scenarios — but analysts largely agreed that neither did enough to break open a neck-and-neck race. Vice President Kamala Harris took part in a combative interview, aiming to win over a slice of the broadcaster’s conservative audience and assuage Democrats’ concerns that she is, as Semafor’s Kadia Goba put it, “fighting a losing battle for public attention.” Ex-President Donald Trump, meanwhile, answered questions from an all-female audience at a town hall, ostensibly to win over voters who have largely been skeptical of him. Yet, as a Washington Post columnist noted, “The women Trump needs to win over didn’t seem to be represented.”

Mexico drug czar jailed by US

A US court sentenced Mexico’s former public security chief to 38 years in prison for accepting bribes from the very drug cartels his office was meant to target. Genaro García Luna was originally arrested in 2019 and ultimately found guilty last year of, among other things, providing intelligence to the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel in exchange for huge sums of money. His is one of a number of high-profile cases over drug trafficking in Mexico taking place in US courts: García Luna was convicted by the same judge as the notorious drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada — arrested this summer — due in the same dock this week.

Dimon targets Africa

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon embarked on a tour of Africa, part of his bank’s efforts to grow its presence on the continent. Dimon will visit Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, telling Reuters that JPMorgan — the largest US bank by assets — plans to begin operations in Kenya and Ivory Coast this year, with a target of adding “a country or two… every couple of years or so.” Major Western lenders have increasingly targeted sub-Saharan African nations, though Dimon himself acknowledged that while expansion on the continent would be beneficial for banks such as his in the long term, the strategy was unlikely to have a significant impact on its bottom line right away.

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Death to the password

The end of the online password may have moved a step closer. The Fast Identity Online Alliance, FIDO, an industry group devoted to internet security, released new tools to help move more websites toward using passkeys — authenticators on your handheld device, which you unlock with your phone’s facial recognition, fingerprint, or PIN — instead of passwords, which it says are insecure and inconvenient. Millions of people forget passwords, reuse them across sites, and have them compromised in data breaches. FIDO published a guide to moving to passkeys. More than 13 billion online accounts already use them, on platforms including Amazon, Microsoft, Nintendo, Google, Apple, TikTok, and PayPal, Gizmodo noted.

West looks to its submarine fleets

The US Navy’s submarine fleet has halved since its Cold War peak, leaving defense analysts concerned that it lacks the numbers to patrol the seas. Of the 68 active US submarines, 20 are in dock for repairs thanks to a maintenance backlog. Ongoing geopolitical crises have made several countries pay attention to their submarine fleets again, Le Monde reported: The Netherlands agreed to buy four Barracuda-class diesel-electric boats from a French manufacturer, while Canada put out a tender for up to 12 new vessels. Canada’s need is particularly great as melting Arctic ice opens up strategic routes through the polar regions, which Russia and China are already moving to exploit.

Prada’s new spacesuits unveiled

Prada and Axiom Space unveiled the new spacesuits that NASA’s astronauts will wear on the moon. The new suits are intended to give astronauts more range of movement than the bulky ones used by earlier generations, while enhancing safety and fitting a wider range of bodies: NASA’s current suits are based on a 40-year-old design. The new versions include onboard health monitoring, cooling systems to maintain safe temperatures, and protective coating on the visor. Axiom Space, the suits’ maker, worked with the luxury fashion house on the materials, but also to provide “an aesthetically pleasing look” for the discerning space traveler, Gizmodo reported.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
• The European Central Bank meets to set interest rates, with analysts and traders expecting a quarter-percentage-point cut.
• US rapper Eminem turns 52.

The increase in the use of leopard print in fashion collections this fall, according to the founder of the fashion search engine Tagwalk. “While the lion may be king of the jungle,” The New York Times’ chief fashion critic wrote, “the leopard, or at least the leopard’s spots, is the king of fashion.” Long a sign of wealth and power, she noted, leopard prints have more recently taken on symbolism for confidence and flamboyance, and see cyclical upswings in their use every few years, typically in autumn and winter collections. As the fashion giant Michael Kors put it, leopard print is “one of those rare fashion exclamation points that is both noticeable and timeless.”

Rembrandt — Hoogstraten: Color and Illusion at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum. The exhibit features the Dutch master’s works alongside pieces by one of his students, Samuel van Hoogstraten. The collection of 60 paintings aims to explore art’s teacher-student relationship, as well as how the artists’ work fits in the 21st century. Buy tickets for the show, which is running through January 2025, or check out the museum’s webjournal.

• Nigeria’s lithium ambition is getting an unexpected boost.
• African crypto startup Yellow Card raises $33 million.
• Forget the median voter. This election is about the marginal voter now.