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Good morning and welcome back to your morning briefing. Here’s what’s we’re covering today:
Gaza ceasefire breaks down
Economists warn of US slowdown
Short sellers make profits on Tesla
‘One of the most important cases in American history’
A two-month ceasefire between Hamas and Israel has collapsed after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised “extensive strikes” against the militant group in the Gaza strip and promised to expand the military operation.
Health authorities in the Hamas-controlled enclave said at least 326 people were killed this morning and another 440 injured in the air strikes. Netanyahu’s office said the strikes were launched in response to the Palestinian militant group’s “repeated refusal to release our hostages” and its rejection of mediators’ proposals in talks to prolong the ceasefire.
Israel’s military urged Gaza residents in the cities of Gaza City and Khan Younis to evacuate shelters close to the border. The new offensive is the most intense military action since the ceasefire was agreed in January. Israel’s campaign against Hamas has killed more than 48,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials. It was a response to Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel which killed 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage.
The first stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas — which involved the return of more than 30 Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Israel’s release of about 1,500 Palestinian prisoners — ended on March 1. There are still believed to be 59 Israeli hostages in captivity, less than half of them are thought to be alive. Read more on the latest developments in Gaza.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
Trump-Putin call: Ahead of talks with his US counterpart today, Russia’s president allowed a group of western investors to offload Russian securities left in limbo by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
UK-US trade: Britain’s trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will hold talks in Washington in a bid to win an exemption from Washington’s tariffs.
German debt brake: Incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz has expressed “confidence” about today’s make-or-break vote in parliament over his plans to unlock up to €1tn.
Chips: Nvidia chief Jensen Huang will address the company’s AI conference in San Jose California, while Lip-Bu Tan takes the helm as Intel’s chief executive.
Back to Earth: US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are expected to return to earth after being stranded on the International Space Station for nine months.
Five more top stories
1. Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and rush to downsize the federal government will slow US economic growth and accelerate inflation, leading academic economists have warned in a survey by the Financial Times. Economists also flagged up concerns about the quality of the country’s economic statistics in the FT-Chicago Booth poll.
2. Hedge fund short sellers have made $16.2bn betting against Tesla’s shares as the value of Elon Musk’s electric car company has halved over the past three months. JPMorgan last week lowered its end-of-year target price for Tesla from $135 to $120, while one hedge fund manager said: “[Musk] is on the wrong side of his buyership. It’s not people with cowboy boots who buy Teslas.”
3. Indonesia’s main stock index fell as much as 7 per cent, to its lowest level since 2021, as concerns mount over weakening consumer spending in south-east Asia’s largest economy and President Prabowo Subianto’s costly spending plans. The Jakarta Composite index is down 14.2 per cent this year and the rupiah has fallen 2 per cent against the dollar. Read more on Indonesia’s struggling economy.
4. Science institutions in Europe and beyond are racing to hire researchers from the US looking to flee the Donald Trump administration’s crackdown on research agencies. Cambridge university is among a clutch of top research institutions seeking to entice experts in fields from biomedicine to artificial intelligence.
5. Google parent Alphabet is in talks to buy cyber security start-up Wiz for about $30bn, setting the stage for the biggest acquisition in the search group’s history, according to people familiar with the matter. Founded by alumni of Israel’s elite cyber intelligence unit in 2020 and now based in the US, Wiz provides cyber security services for the cloud. Read more on what would be one of the biggest deals of the year.
Today’s big read
The courthouse in Mandan, a prairie town of less than 25,000 in North Dakota’s oil country, is hearing a case that has become one of the first judicial showdowns over free speech and protest in the second term of Donald Trump. On trial is the environmental campaign organisation Greenpeace, which is being sued over its role in the Dakota Access pipeline protests by the company that developed the project. “This is one of the most important cases in American history,” said a renowned civil rights lawyer.
We’re also reading . . .
US politics: For now, Trump can do what he wants. The problem is that what he wants is likely to be very damaging to America, writes Gideon Rachman.
European defence: France’s president has opened the debate over using country’s atomic arsenal as a deterrent against Russia if US scales back its presence.
AI ‘brain’: Microsoft has joined forces with a Swiss start-up to deploy a new model that can learn from real-world experiences by simulating mammal brains’ reasoning powers.
Consumer psychology: Sarah O’Connor’s gratitude at finally finding a printer that works tells us something about capitalism, she writes.
Chart of the day
The pound climbed above $1.30 today for the first time since early November, as persistent UK inflation combines with a broad weakening in the dollar to lift sterling. The UK currency has climbed 3 per cent this month against its US counterpart amid worries among investors that President Donald Trump’s stop-start trade war is harming the US economy.
Take a break from the news . . .
A growing number of companies are offering affordable imitations of luxury fragrances known as dupes (or, as the companies who make them call them, “inspired-by perfumes”), taking advantage of a social media-fuelled craze and the accessibility of ecommerce. Annachiara Biondi tested some.
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Source: Economy - ft.com
