10 RUSSIA & UKRAINE / Deally bored 🪖
“If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after a meeting with European leaders in Paris, “we need to move on.” To where, Ukrainians wondered? And why? Was his devil-may-care diplomacy a hardball negotiating tactic or simply a reluctance to engage with the fine print in an age of soundbites? Appearing on Fox News, the Trump admin’s Special Envoy to the Middle East gave the impression he’d rather be catching up on The White Lotus rather than dull old world affairs. “I mean, it’s just a lot of detail attached to it,” Steve Witkoff moaned about Russia’s terms for a ceasefire. “We’re not going to continue to fly all over the world and do meeting after meeting after meeting if no progress is being made,” Rubio added – something the Kremlin is probably counting on.
09 GAZA & ISRAEL / Deaf wish 🙉
Hamas declined Israel’s offer of a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for 10 of 59 still-unaccounted-for hostages, saying it wanted instead to hand over all those remaining in return for an end to the war and the release of Palestinian prisoners. “Netanyahu and his government use partial agreements as a cover for their political agenda… even if the price is sacrificing all his prisoners [hostages],” Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said. Unfortunately for Bibi, a fair proportion of Israelis tend to agree, with 120,000 (including ex-service personnel) signing a petition calling for an immediate end to the bombardment. But given that finance minister Bezalel Smotrich promised “to open the gates of hell” on Hamas, is the far-right admin even listening anymore?
08 CHINA & US / Chain reaction 📱
As the White House continues with its toothpaste-back-in-tube policy of trying to isolate Beijing – some tariffs now run to 245% – what happens to the bits and pieces behind some of America’s most fêted products? “NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’,” Trump Truthed, seemingly reneging on his earlier Apple-core exemptions with a promise to investigate “semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN”. Even though Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick painted a picture that doesn’t exactly scream MAGA (the “millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones – that kind of thing is going to come to America”), analysts said that ‘designed in California, made in Idaho’ still looks a long way off.
07 SOUTHEAST ASIA / Trading places ™️
Where will all those Chinese goods go, now that trade with the US is off the cards? To the neighbourhood’s less protectionist cousins, basically, with computers and gadgets dashing Thailand’s hopes of becoming a regional laptop supplier, and Lego having second thoughts about moulding square heads in Vietnam. While a flood of cheap product is a win for local consumers, it’s not such good news for local manufacturers – but how does a smaller country negotiate with one that’s 1.4bn-people strong? As for the man across the Pacific who started it all? Not his problem.
06 UK / Body shock ♀️
The Supreme Court said the legal definition of a woman was determined by biology not identity, while taking pains to point out the ruling was not “a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another”. It came after women’s rights activists disagreed with the Scottish gov’s argument that anyone with a gender protection certificate should be entitled to sex-based protections; boss judge Lord Hodge stated that transgender people were still protected under the Equality Act.
05 CAR / Spread betting 🪖
Despite Russian mercenary lot Wagner all but vanishing in Africa after leader Yevgeny Prigozhin perished in that freak plane crash, it’s thriving in Bangui: after repelling a rebel takeover and saving the landlocked country from death and destruction in 2021, Russian even became the country’s third language. But some worry the group’s presence will help spread a malign influence across the region.
04 THAILAND / Volume control 📣
The tourism authority developed an AI bot to teach Israeli tourists how to behave: tips include showing less flesh and keeping convos down to a dull roar. “This bot is part of a larger campaign, along with pamphlets that will be distributed at Chabad houses and on flights to Thailand,” Ziv Erdman, the Thais’ man in Tel Aviv, said.
03 HUNGARY / Pride slide 🌈
In keeping with the rest of the 18th century, parliament amended the constitution to allow the government to ban LGBTQ+ events. Thanks to very 21st-century facial recognition tools, anyone who attends Budapest Pride can now be fined up to $546.
02 US / Rash advance 💸
The Walter Bloomberg account on X caused $2.5trn worth of market moves after slapdash traders assumed it belonged to the financial news giant of the same name.
01 UK / Off their own bat 🦸
The Met Police went undercover as Batman and Robin to catch scammers in London.
Make-it-into-a-tea-towel of the week: duty bound 🧾
Lesotho gets it in the neck:
Number of the week: bring on the bling 🥇
560
Tonnes of gold jewellery bought by Indians last year.
Quote of the week: who said…? 🎤
“TOO LATE AND WRONG”
(a) Donald Trump on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s rate policy.
(b) Charli XCX on Katy Perry’s space-based butterfly setlist.
(c) The Village People’s Jim Newman on Donald Trump’s ‘YMCA’ dancing.
Find the answer here.
Stat of the week: bubble trouble 🍾
2 to 1
Sales of Prosecco compared to champagne.
Image of the week: fabric of society 🇲🇽
One of ‘The New Aztecs’, a National Magazine Award-winning series shot by Kike Arnal in Mexico City:
