Major allies sent Israel a warning
Israel’s threats to drastically escalate the war in Gaza and its blockade of humanitarian aid to the population, which is already at risk of famine, have drawn the sharpest condemnation yet from some of its allies since the conflict began 19 months ago.
Britain said yesterday that it was suspending talks with Israel on expanding a free-trade agreement. The day before, Britain, France and Canada demanded that Israel stop its “wholly disproportionate” escalation and made clear that its conduct of the war, the high death toll and the abysmal humanitarian conditions in Gaza were pushing the limits of what allies would tolerate.
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the three countries warned in a rare public reprimand.
Response: Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the allies had handed Hamas “a huge prize” and accused them of encouraging a repeat of the militants’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which started the war.
A warning: A senior U.N. humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC yesterday that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die in the next 48 hours unless aid was allowed in. But the U.N. later appeared to walk back his remarks.
Ukrainians brace for a longer war
Since his two-hour phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday, President Trump has seemed to step back from trying to end the war in Ukraine. Many Ukrainians take that to mean the fighting will rage on with no end in sight.
Few in Ukraine thought the recent diplomatic efforts had any chance of success unless the Trump administration put pressure on Moscow. “America and Russia are playing a dirty and bloody game,” said Liliia Zambrovska, a pharmacist in Dnipro. But Ukraine will fight on, she added, “because our future belongs to us alone.”
Analysis: Putin held firm against pressure to agree to an immediate cease-fire. But that victory could undermine, or at least delay, his broader goal of normalizing relations with the U.S. Trump has said that a renewal of economic ties would come after peace was achieved in Ukraine, not before.
Sanctions: The E.U. expanded its sanctions on Russia to include the country’s fleet of covert oil tankers. European officials said more such measures were on the way.
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| President Trump promised to emulate Israel’s Iron Dome system while campaigning for the White House last year. Eric Lee/The New York Times |
Trump announced plans for a missile shield
President Trump unveiled plans for his “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, predicting that the ambitious plan to expand the U.S. air defense system would be completed by the end of his term.
The system, inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome, is meant to be capable of intercepting rockets and missiles, but experts say the plan faces logistical and financial hurdles. The U.S. is more than 400 times the size of Israel.
By the numbers: Trump has said the project’s cost would be $175 billion, though one Congressional Budget Office estimate puts it as high as $542 billion. The president said that $25 billion would come from his domestic policy bill, which has yet to pass Congress, and that Canada had expressed interest in taking part and might contribute.
More U.S. news:
| Trump met with Republicans in Congress to try to overcome divisions over his wide-ranging bill to cut taxes and spending.A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to maintain custody of migrants on a deportation flight that lawyers said was headed to South Sudan.Tagging along on Trump’s trip to the Gulf region last week, Elon Musk cut lucrative deals. Separately, the tech mogul said he planned to spend “a lot less” on future elections.Joe Biden’s office pushed back on speculation that there had been a coverup of his cancer diagnosis.U.S. health officials said they might require additional research before approving this year’s Covid vaccines for healthy Americans younger than 65. |
| MORE TOP NEWS |
| South Africa: During a visit to the White House today, President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to challenge Trump’s decision to take in Afrikaners as refugees. Syria: E.U. foreign ministers agreed to lift the remaining economic sanctions on the nation in a bid to bolster its stability. Spain: A network outage knocked out emergency lines in much of the country for several hours. |
| Africa: Trump’s slashing of foreign aid creates an uncertain future for large infrastructure projects financed by the U.S. U.K.: A second man was charged in connection with fires at properties and a car linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trade: Britain’s new deals with the E.U. and U.S. are limited, reflecting its diminished post-Brexit position, our London bureau chief writes. |
| Qatar: Art Basel plans to tap into the Gulf’s enormous wealth with an art fair in Doha next year. France: A marble bust of Jim Morrison was taken in 1988 from his grave at Père-Lachaise, the Paris cemetery. The police have found it. |
| Art: Three ancient works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection that are believed to have been looted are back in Iraq. Health: Microplastics are everywhere. We asked scientists how to minimize exposure. |
| SPORTS NEWS |
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| Ryan Pierse/Getty Images |
| Formula 1: Twenty-four races, the Thailand Grand Prix and everything else coming up in the sport. Tennis: The top-ranked British players have called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to provide greater investment in the sport. N.F.L.: As one of the most successful coaches ever, Bill Belichick was always in control. Now, his 24-year-old girlfriend has upended his life and his reputation. Soccer: Gary Lineker’s refusal to stop expressing his political views made his position with the BBC “untenable,” a columnist for The Athletic writes. |
| MORNING READ |
What do teenagers know? Plenty, it turns out. My colleagues at The Learning Network invited young people from around the world to explain how to perform any task, then picked 10 winning submissions. (See the full list of winners.)
In this essay, Preyahathai Aroonvanichporn, a 16-year-old from Thailand, tells readers how to bargain like a local in Bangkok’s street markets.
| CONVERSATION STARTERS |
| Let it grow: Drawing inspiration from Vincent van Gogh, the New York Botanical Garden unleashed a colorful explosion of 18,000 sunflowers and other plants. Luck of the Irish: For a $6.70 raffle ticket, this house in County Leitrim could be yours. The search for God: A poet went looking for faith. He found it somewhere unexpected. Nazi hunter: My colleague’s father prosecuted history’s crimes. Then he died in one. Read his story. |
| ARTS AND IDEAS |
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| Kate Green/Getty Images |
A story collection won the International Booker Prize
“Heart Lamp,” a collection of stories about Indian Muslim women’s daily struggles with bothersome husbands, mothers and religious leaders, won the International Booker Prize, the major award for fiction translated into English.
Written by Banu Mushtaq and translated from the original Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi — the two women are pictured above, with Mushtaq at left — “Heart Lamp” is the first story collection to win the prize. Max Porter, the chair of the judging panel, praised Bhasthi for filling the translation with Indian phrases and ways of speaking that give the stories “an extraordinary vibrancy.”
The choice was a surprise, said my colleague Alex Marshall, who covers European culture: “It’s rare enough for publishers to want to issue a short story collection, let alone for judges to want to anoint one the year’s best book.”
| RECOMMENDATIONS |
Bake: This is not your average chocolate chip cookie.
