Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, threatened a “return to intense fighting” in Gaza unless Hamas releases hostages by midday on Saturday. On Monday the militant group said it would delay the release of three Israeli captives, whom it had agreed to free under its ceasefire deal with Israel. Hamas accused Israel of stopping displaced Palestinians from returning to Gaza.
Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to significantly reduce staff, and hire no more than one person for every four removed. Speaking alongside Elon Musk in the Oval Office, the president said new hiring would have to be approved by DOGE, Mr Musk’s bureaucracy-slashing department. Mr Musk denied that DOGE lacks transparency and claimed that the civil service is rife with fraud.
One civilian was killed and at least three injured after a Russian strike on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities said they shot down six of the seven ballistic missiles and 71 drones launched by Russia, which caused fires and other damage in several districts of the city. The attack came amid fresh hope for negotiations to end the war.
Mr Trump greeted Marc Fogel, an American teacher imprisoned by Russia since 2021, at the White House after the Kremlin released him. Mr Fogel had been charged with carrying medical marijuana. Mike Waltz, America’s national security adviser, negotiated the release and said it showed “we are moving in the right direction” to end the war in Ukraine. America did not say what it promised Russia in return.
CATL, the world’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles, filed an application to list in Hong Kong. The Chinese firm could reportedly raise more than $5bn. Its listing would boost the city’s stockmarket. Last month America’s Defence Department added CATL, which is a big supplier to Tesla, to its list of firms with alleged links to China’s armed forces.
A Chinese rocket launched for its first mission, transporting low-Earth-orbit satellites into space. The Long March 8A rocket is part of China’s strategy to compete against Starlink, a satellite-internet service provided by Mr Musk’s SpaceX that already has around 7,000 satellites in orbit. China has many fewer.
Disney and Goldman Sachs became the latest companies to roll back corporate diversity measures. Disney’s changes include replacing its “diversity and inclusion” criterion in executive-salary reviews with “talent strategy”. Goldman Sachs dropped its pledge to work on IPOs only with companies that have at least two “diverse” board members. Meta and McDonald’s are among the firms that have recently scrapped DEI policies.
Figure of the day: 140%, the increase in the average price of a dozen eggs in America from one year ago. Read the full story.
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