Good morning. We're covering tensions between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, and an Arab vision for the Gaza Strip. Plus: The writers who influenced Jane Austen.
Trump and Zelensky traded blows in an escalating feudPresident Trump yesterday called Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a "dictator" who had taken money from the U.S. to go to war with Russia. In a social media post littered with falsehoods, Trump didn't mention President Vladimir Putin, or that Russia had seized some Ukrainian territory in 2014 before its full-scale invasion in 2022. Trump also suggested that the future security of Ukraine would not be an American problem. "This War is far more important to Europe than it is to us," he wrote on Truth Social. "We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation." The feud began after White House and Kremlin officials in Saudi Arabia began peace talks that excluded Ukraine. After that meeting on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Ukraine had started the war. Afterward, Zelensky said Trump had been "caught in a web of disinformation." E.U.: Leaders met yesterday for a second emergency meeting seeking to recalibrate relations with the U.S. as Trump moved closer to Russia. Reactions: Russians are hoping that a return to normalcy is near now that Washington and Moscow are moving to reset their relationship. In Ukraine, many are becoming disillusioned with the Trump administration. Trump's claims: Here's a breakdown of recent falsehoods he has made about Ukraine.
Arab leaders are working on a proposal for Gaza's futureEnvoys from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are set to meet in Saudi Arabia tomorrow, and again in Cairo next month, to begin fleshing out a postwar plan for Gaza. According to their vision, Arab countries would help fund and oversee the reconstruction of the enclave while keeping residents in place and preserving the possibility of a Palestinian state. But the obstacles to these ideas are as old as the ideas themselves — Israeli leaders oppose postwar plans that would pave the way to Palestinian sovereignty, and Arab leaders will support only a framework that at least nominally forges a path toward Palestinian statehood. What's next: Egypt is likely to propose a committee of Palestinian technocrats and community leaders, all unaffiliated with Hamas, who could run Gaza after the war, according to two Arab diplomats and two Western officials. Hostages: Israelis are waiting anxiously for the expected release tomorrow of the bodies of four captives held by Hamas. Israel: A military prosecutor charged five reservist soldiers with abuse of a Palestinian detainee.
Rumors swirl about the pope's healthPope Francis has been hospitalized since Friday, and on Tuesday he was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs, according to the Vatican. But a dearth of official information has sent the rumor mill into overdrive, particularly given the Vatican's past record of obfuscation and opaqueness. Since Francis, 88, was hospitalized, the Vatican press office has issued two decidedly spare updates a day. An update last night said that Francis' blood tests had showed "slight improvement, particularly in inflammatory indices." The Vatican has said he is being given cortisone antibiotic therapy for a polymicrobial infection. Quotable: "Even if they put out two official bulletins a day, with clear information," said Fabio Marchese Ragona, a Vatican correspondent, "there would still be people who say: 'No, look, what the Vatican is saying is a lie. The truth is that he's already dead.'"
Cambodia's national museum is facing a problem: About 300 stolen artifacts have been returned over the past six years, and space is getting a little cramped. Expansion and renovations are challenges, but so is designing galleries for sacred objects. Some Cambodian visitors don't see the pieces as cultural curiosities or works of art, but as divinities that hold their ancestors' souls. For them, this is more of a temple than a museum. Lives lived: Dickson Despommier, a microbiologist who proposed that cities should grow food in high-rises, popularizing the term "vertical farming," died earlier this month at 84.
The writers who influenced 'Pride and Prejudice'Was Jane Austen simply better than her peers? This was the assumption of Rebecca Romney, a rare books dealer, who had thought that Austen's rare spot in the canon must rest at least partly on the relative inferiority of other female writers of her time. On reading the novelist Frances Burney, however, Romney realized how many writers had not just influenced Austen but were great in their own right. In "Jane Austen's Bookshelf," she sets out to "investigate" a group of overlooked female writers — in the process giving glimpses into her own story. "In spite of my supposed professional curiosity, I realized I had missed something," she writes. "And it stung." Read more about the book. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
Cook: Here are 10 ways to transform a store-bought rotisserie chicken into a healthy dinner. Watch: "Pedro Páramo" is one of this month's best under-the-radar streaming picks. Listen: Our critic made a playlist inspired by Lucy Sante's latest book. Consider: It is safe to eat runny yolks? We asked experts. Compete: How many hidden book titles can you find in this puzzle? 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. See you tomorrow. — Natasha Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
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