
The five things you need to know today:
ISRAEL. PALESTINE. A ceasefire is declared but obstacles await.
UNITED STATES. Biden warns of a tech oligarchy he helped create.
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. As tit-for-tat strikes escalate, the negotiations begin.
GERMANY. A contracting economy gives another boost to the hard right.
CYPRUS. A US weapons deal will anger Turkey.
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ISRAEL. PALESTINE. Jumping the guns
A ceasefire is declared but obstacles await.
Officials confirmed a truce accord Wednesday, with Biden and Trump both claiming credit. Strikes on Gaza intensified. Yemen’s Houthi attacked the USS Truman for a sixth time. Israel said its cabinet would vote on the deal Thursday.
INTELLIGENCE. The ceasefire, which would see Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza over six weeks as hostages and prisoners are exchanged, would not enter into force until Sunday, thus the latest attacks are immaterial. Yet such hostilities bode ill for an implemented deal, let alone a more comprehensive agreement to follow. With Trump’s endorsement, Benjamin Netanyahu will be hard pressed to back down, but if he can pin any failure on Hamas he will.
FOR BUSINESS. Until the agreement is implemented, and is shown to hold, businesses should not get ahead of the news. Israel’s benchmark TA-125 rose 1.26% Wednesday, and could see further runs, but a ceasefire is only one step to the type of solution on Palestine that would see an expansion of the Abraham Accords or a reduced Iranian threat. Holdouts in Netanyahu’s cabinet will know this and will be less afraid of Trump’s reaction, or those of anyone else.
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UNITED STATES. A complex legacy
Biden warns of a tech oligarchy he helped create.
Joe Biden warned of an "oligarchy" and "tech-industrial complex" in his farewell address Wednesday. Donald Trump said he’d establish an “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs. Markets jumped on bank profits and rate cut hopes.
INTELLIGENCE. Biden ends four years with a strong economy but bad polls. Much of his success can be attributed to