Flagship

France to recognize Palestinian state

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would recognize the state of Palestine, becoming the first G7 nation to do so. “The urgency today is to end the war in Gaza and for the civilian population to be rescued,” Macron wrote on X. The surprise decision “enraged” Israeli officials — Israel’s prime minister said the state would become “a launchpad to annihilate Israel” — while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was “reckless.” Meanwhile US and Israeli negotiators left Gaza peace talks held in Qatar after accusing Hamas of not “acting in good faith.” But the international mood is shifting away from the US and Israeli position as famine-like conditions grip Gaza.

Paramount merger sparks stars’ anger

US regulators approved an $8.4 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance, after Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit with President Donald Trump. Paramount also canceled The Late Show last week, shortly after host Stephen Colbert called the settlement a “big, fat bribe.” It’s not the only Paramount show to be critical of the merger: South Park celebrated a new $1.5 billion deal by releasing an episode depicting Trump in bed with Satan and mocking the network for capitulating to his demands. Some of Paramount’s “biggest stars are openly hostile to both it and the president,” WIRED noted, which may be a problem: Skydance’s owner is a Trump ally and the Federal Communications Commission chair is a Trump appointee.

Zimbabwe malaria deaths up after cuts

Malaria deaths in Zimbabwe have tripled since last year, which the government said was partly because of US aid cuts. In 2024, USAID disbursed $270 million in Zimbabwe, but has now been shut down. The cuts led to a shortfall of 600,000 mosquito nets, among other things. The country was on course to eliminate malaria by 2030, The Guardian reported, with just 45 deaths last year, thanks to a surveillance program introduced in 2020: In Manicaland province, cases fell from 145,775 that year to 8,035 in 2024. But Manicaland has recorded 27,212 already this year, and the country has seen 143 deaths. Malaria kills around 600,000 people a year worldwide, mostly African children under five.

Cuts leave millions hungry in Nigeria

Nigeria is facing “an unprecedented hunger crisis” following cuts to USAID on which humanitarian programs relied. As many as 31 million people face acute food insecurity, “equivalent to the entire population of Texas going hungry,” the UN food agency’s regional head told the Associated Press. Governments and humanitarian organizations across Africa had in recent decades become reliant on US aid to provide food and health care to millions of people, with the sudden cut leaving many scrambling to respond: Nigeria’s financing appeal is just 21% funded. “We are seeing massive gaps in all countries,” a Doctors Without Borders official told DW. “The consequences are catastrophic.”

Inequality threatens Argentina ‘miracle’

Argentine President Javier Milei’s radical economic agenda threatens to further increase the country’s soaring inequality. Milei has overseen a remarkable turnaround of the economy — which economic historian Niall Ferguson called a “man-made miracle” — with growth rising and hyperinflation cooling. Meanwhile his austerity agenda has led to the first budget surplus in 14 years. However, “two contrasting realities are emerging,” Bloomberg wrote. The artificially strong peso needed to tame inflation has disproportionately benefited the wealthy, who can travel abroad and buy expensive goods. But subsidy cuts have made domestic consumption more expensive, with 60% of Argentines anticipating making fewer purchases in the coming months. Milei will hope to contain economic pessimism with legislative elections due in October.

Nvidia repairs reveal China smuggling

Demand is booming in China for repair work on Nvidia chips that should not exist in the country at all. Exporting Nvidia’s high-end artificial intelligence chips to China is forbidden, but a dozen or so companies offer repair services, Reuters reported. The news demonstrates the level of smuggling of Nvidia chipsets, with the government and military among the customers. More positively, perhaps, from the West’s perspective, it reveals that China’s efforts to reach technological parity with Nvidia, the world’s top chip design company, remain some way off: The H100 and A100 chips which the repair shops are fixing are some years old, but remain in high demand despite the availability of domestically manufactured Huawei alternatives.

Scott Galloway has built a modern media empire, and he’s quickly becoming a leading voice for young men on the left. This week, Ben and Max talk to the Pivot co-host about how he turned a career in marketing into a new kind of media stardom, how much money his podcasts make, and why he’s so vocal about masculinity. They also talk about whether podcasts will become the new target for political campaigns and which Democrats are calling him up in anticipation of the 2028 election.

Listen to the latest episode of Mixed Signals now.

Thailand, Cambodia ‘move toward war’

Border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia could “move toward war,” said the Thai acting prime minister. At least 16 people have died, while 100,000 have been displaced. The border has been contentious for decades, but tensions grew recently after Cambodian leader Hun Sen leaked a call with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, in which Shinawatra called the former “uncle.” The Shinawatra family is powerful — four members have been Thai leaders — and has a longstanding relationship with Hun Sen. Opponents have accused them of putting Cambodia’s interests above Thailand. Why Hun Sen “decided to burn this friendship” is a mystery, the BBC reported, but it has inflamed tensions and driven up the risk of a war in Southeast Asia.

Europe’s air-con dilemma

Longer, harsher summer heat waves are softening Europe’s resistance to air conditioning. Many Europeans have long regarded AC as a luxury, but higher temperatures before the August break exposed vulnerabilities across the continent: Heat waves contributed to 1,100 deaths from mid-May to mid-July, up 10 times from the same period last year. Meanwhile more than 1,000 French schools were forced to close at least partially. Some in Europe — the fastest-warming continent — remain skeptical, worried about the cost of electricity bills and the toll on the environment, but others want to move forward: “We must move away from this poverty mindset on reducing energy usage,” a British MP told The Wall Street Journal.

Age verification begins in UK

The UK’s internet users will have to prove their age to use adult websites from today, including some major social media sites. Credit card checks, facial age estimation technology, and online ID services could be used to prove users’ age, and tech giants including Meta, Reddit, and X will deploy artificial intelligence-based systems that estimate age from users’ previous activity: Regulators said they would assess their effectiveness from next week. Campaigners warned of privacy issues, although an age-verification company told the BBC that the firms which will provide these services don’t retain data or know what users have accessed. Not everyone is reassured: Google searches for “VPN,” “virtual private networks” which hide a user’s location, more than doubled overnight.