Monday Briefing: Cease-fire talks stall

Plus, Xi Jinping's trip to Europe.

View in browser|nytimes.com May 6, 2024 By Natasha Frost Good morning — it's great to be back. We're covering negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and Xi Jinping's trip to Europe. Plus: Myanmar's rebels get creative with drones. Palestinians at the site of an Israeli strike in Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday. Hatem Khaled/Reuters Cease-fire talks in Cairo faltered Negotiations between Israel and Hamas stalled again, meaning more uncertainty for the families of Israeli hostages and no quick reprieve for Palestinians in Gaza. Mediators struggled to bridge the remaining gaps, and a Hamas delegation left the talks, officials said. The main dispute was over the duration of a cease-fire, with Hamas demanding a permanent one and Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing openness to only a temporary halt in fighting. Hamas blamed the lack of progress on Netanyahu, who has vowed to stage a ground offensive in Rafah, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, with or without an agreement. Israel and the U.S. contend that Hamas has been holding up a deal. Netanyahu said yesterday that ending the war would allow Hamas to rebuild its military capabilities and threaten communities throughout Israel. Other updates: Trading fire: Rockets from Hamas killed three Israeli soldiers and critically wounded three others. Israel's military said it had responded with airstrikes and closed a main aid corridor into Gaza. Al Jazeera: Israel's cabinet voted to close the Israeli operations of the Qatar-based news outlet for at least 45 days. Netanyahu has called the network a "Hamas mouthpiece." Medical aid: Four children from Gaza who were injured or malnourished were flown to the U.S. for treatment. Xi Jinping, China's leader, was met by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at Orly airport outside Paris. Stephane De Sakutin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Xi Jinping's trip to Europe Xi Jinping, China's leader, arrived in France yesterday on his first trip to Europe in five years. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, will host a state dinner for him tonight. The E.U. Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will join their talks in Paris. Xi will also visit Serbia and Hungary. The three European nations are all, to varying degrees, embracing China's push for a new global order — a world freed of American dominance, where Europe's bonds with the U.S. are looser, though not untethered. Xi's visit is likely to be seen as a none-too-subtle effort to divide Western allies. What's next: Xi's arrival in Serbia tomorrow coincides with the 25th anniversary of NATO's mistaken bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. The Chinese government has continued to commemorate the strike, using it as an occasion to denounce what it sees as Western hypocrisy and bullying. Families and friends of missing Ukrainian service members called for the return of loved ones in March in Kyiv. Nicole Tung for The New York Times Ukraine struggles to name its dead Two years into the war in Ukraine, families, lawyers and rights groups say that the Ukrainian military is simply overloaded with casualties and unable to account for thousands of the dead. Some of the missing soldiers have been captured by Russian troops, but others may be dead and unidentified, lying in morgues as the government works through the backlog. Trench fighting often leaves bodies abandoned in great numbers in buffer areas, making it harder to get a clear picture of the war's toll. By the numbers: In February, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, put the number of soldiers killed at 31,000, and Kyiv has said that about half again as many are missing. (U.S. estimates are far higher, suggesting that by last August, 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died.) ADVERTISEMENT MORE TOP NEWS Audra Melton for The New York Times The Kentucky Derby: A long-shot named Mystik Dan won the horse race. See photos of the race (and the hats). Panama: Voters elected José Raúl Mulino, a former public security minister, as their next president, culminating a tumultuous election cycle. Mexico: Three bodies found in Baja California last week have been identified as those of missing tourists from Australia and the U.S., the authorities said. Britain: In local elections late last week, Labour triumphed and Sadiq Khan was re-elected as mayor of London as voters punished the Conservative Party. Bahrain: More than 1,500 prisoners were freed in a mass pardon last month. Taiwan: Pulling out of a treaty with Russia in 2019 has allowed the U.S. to develop a covert weapon that could be used to stop a Chinese invasion force. Niger: Months after a coup, the deposed president is still imprisoned in his residence without his phone or his lawyers, trusted allies said. Venice Biennale: For years, activists and politicians have led discussions about whether looted artifacts should be returned home. Now, artists are entering the fray. War trophy: The descendants of a Congolese leader whose skull was taken by Belgian colonial invaders in the late 19th century want his remains returned from Brussels. Bribery case: Prosecutors have accused a Texas Democrat of acting as a foreign agent for Azerbaijan, which has spent millions lobbying Washington. Protests Alex Welsh for The New York Times U.C.L.A.: The college said it had created a new safety position after violent clashes over the war in Gaza closed the campus for days. City College of New York: The university, known as the "Harvard of the proletariat," called on the police to end protests on campus, which came as a shock to some. Art Institute of Chicago: The police forcibly dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment at the museum and arrested dozens of protesters. Elsewhere: Campus demonstrations have now spread to universities in other countries. Here's how the world sees the U.S. protests. Opinion Maureen Dowd describes a Donald Trump triptych: who he was, who he is and who he would be. This week, Nicholas Kristof gives his column space over to an image that captures the loss in Gaza. The U.S. needs a new approach in Africa, writes Cameron Hudson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Ethan Zuckerman, a professor of public policy, loves Facebook. That's why he's suing Meta. MORNING READ Adam Ferguson for The New York Times Cheaply made, haphazardly assembled drones are key to the rebel fight in Myanmar against the military junta. Resistance forces are getting creative with instructions crowdsourced online, parts ordered from China and wires repurposed from drones used for agriculture — even as the electricity sputters off. The drones have changed the course of the fight, helping the rebels capture outposts just by hovering and spooking soldiers into fleeing. Lives lived: Bernard Hill, a British actor who incarnated stoic masculine leadership in "Titanic" and the "Lord of the Rings" franchise, died at age 79. CONVERSATION STARTERS When a good dog goes bad: Should President Biden have considered euthanizing Commander, his unpredictable — and bite-prone — German shepherd? Love after labor: Retirement is a stage that many couples eagerly anticipate. But that doesn't mean it comes without its challenges. Nationalism, normalized: As anti-immigration parties with fascist roots become mainstream, just how dangerous is Europe's rising far right? ADVERTISEMENT SPORTS NEWS Gustavo Pantano/NurPhoto, via Getty Images League One bound: How Tom Brady's Birmingham City suffered relegation. Challengers: Could Zendaya's tennis husband hack the ATP Challenger Tour? The Premier League: The race to decide this year's English soccer champion has captivated fans. But it's not just an English story. See photos here. Formula 1's greatest designer: The race to sign Adrian Newey in 2025. ARTS AND IDEAS Christopher Gregory for The New York Times From Bauhaus to fun house In the 1960s, the American artist Frank Stella, who died on Saturday at age 87, helped spawn the Minimalist movement with his unremitting Black Paintings. But he was also its best-known defector: In the late 1970s, he pursued extravagant deep space and baroque curves as fanatically as he had once eschewed them. Stella did not see art as a route to improving society or combating injustice. "If artists want to do something useful," he said, "they can be social workers or politicians. Or they can join the U.S. Army. Art does not do what a social worker does. No abstract image is going to help anyone." Read our obituary. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS Christopher Testani for The New York Times Cook: For a meatless Monday dinner, make portobello mushroom smash burgers. Listen: Our critic writes that Dua Lipa's album "Radical Optimism" is "nonstop ear candy." Read: "A Body Made of Glass" is a history of hypochondria for those who fret over coughs. Travel: The Buenos Aires neighborhood of Chacarita has Art Deco houses, cobblestone streets and decadent churros. Move: Find the best time of day to work out. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. Thanks for starting your day with The New York Times. — Natasha P.S. The writer Scaachi Koul tells of how the TV show "Indian Idol" helped her mother get through cancer. Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Morning Briefing: Europe Edition from The New York Times. To stop receiving Morning Briefing: Europe Edition, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018