EGN NEWS DESK
Cease-fire talks in Cairo faltered
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas stalled once more, that means extra uncertainty for the households of Israeli hostages and no fast reprieve for Palestinians in Gaza. Mediators struggled to bridge the remaining gaps, and a Hamas delegation left the talks, officers stated.
The foremost dispute was over the length of a cease-fire, with Hamas demanding a everlasting one and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing openness to solely a brief halt in combating.
Hamas blamed the dearth of progress on Netanyahu, who has vowed to stage a floor offensive in Rafah, the place about 1,000,000 Palestinians have been sheltering, with or with out an settlement. Israel and the U.S. contend that Hamas has been holding up a deal. Netanyahu stated yesterday that ending the conflict would permit Hamas to rebuild its army capabilities and threaten communities all through Israel.
Xi Jinping’s journey to Europe
Xi Jinping, China’s chief, arrived in France yesterday on his first journey to Europe in 5 years. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, will host a state dinner for him tonight. The E.U. Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will be a part of their talks in Paris.
Xi can even go to Serbia and Hungary. The three European nations are all, to various levels, embracing China’s push for a brand new international order — a world freed of American dominance, the place Europe’s bonds with the U.S. are looser, although not untethered. Xi’s go to is more likely to be seen as a none-too-subtle effort to divide Western allies.
What’s subsequent: Xi’s arrival in Serbia tomorrow coincides with the twenty fifth anniversary of NATO’s mistaken bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. The Chinese authorities has continued to commemorate the strike, utilizing it as an event to denounce what it sees as Western hypocrisy and bullying.
Ukraine struggles to call its dead
Two years into the conflict in Ukraine, households, attorneys and rights teams say that the Ukrainian army is solely overloaded with casualties and unable to account for hundreds of the dead.
Some of the lacking troopers have been captured by Russian troops, however others could also be dead and unidentified, mendacity in morgues as the federal government works by means of the backlog. Trench combating typically leaves our bodies deserted in nice numbers in buffer areas, making it tougher to get a transparent image of the conflict’s toll.
By the numbers: In February, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, put the variety of troopers killed at 31,000, and Kyiv has stated that about half once more as many are lacking. (U.S. estimates are far larger, suggesting that by final August, 70,000 Ukrainian troopers had died.)
MORE TOP NEWS
Cheaply made, haphazardly assembled drones are key to the insurgent struggle in Myanmar in opposition to the army junta. Resistance forces are getting inventive with directions crowdsourced on-line, components ordered from China and wires repurposed from drones used for agriculture — even because the electrical energy sputters off.
The drones have modified the course of the struggle, serving to the rebels seize outposts simply by hovering and spooking troopers into fleeing.
Lives lived: Bernard Hill, a British actor who incarnated stoic masculine management in “Titanic” and the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, died at age 79.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
SPORTS NEWS
The Premier League: The race to determine this yr’s English soccer champion has captivated followers. But it’s not simply an English story. See pictures right here.
Formula 1’s best designer: The race to signal Adrian Newey in 2025.
ARTS AND IDEAS
From Bauhaus to enjoyable home
In the Sixties, the American artist Frank Stella, who died on Saturday at age 87, helped spawn the Minimalist motion together with his unremitting Black Paintings. But he was additionally its best-known defector: In the late Seventies, he pursued extravagant deep house and baroque curves as fanatically as he had as soon as eschewed them.
Stella didn’t see artwork as a path to enhancing society or combating injustice. “If artists need to do one thing helpful,” he stated, “they are often social staff or politicians. Or they will be a part of the U.S. Army. Art doesn’t do what a social employee does. No summary picture goes to assist anybody.” Read our obituary.
That’s it for at the moment’s briefing. Thanks for beginning your day with The New York Times. — Natasha
P.S. The author Scaachi Koul tells of how the TV present “Indian Idol” helped her mom get by means of most cancers.
Reach Natasha and the crew at [email protected].
