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Europe leaders to visit US with Zelenskyy

European leaders said they will join Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he meets US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, as they navigate Trump’s alignment with Russia’s position on ending the war. After meeting Vladimir Putin on Friday, Trump backed the Russian president’s preference for a sweeping peace deal, rather than an immediate ceasefire, which analysts say would let Moscow extend its battlefield gains while pressing for territorial concessions from Ukraine. But Kyiv and its European allies see hope in Washington’s proposal to offer Ukraine security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression. For Putin, the talks are less about ending the current conflict and more about clawing back Russia’s lost post-Cold War stature, The New York Times wrote.

Israelis protest in push for hostage deal

Israeli protesters on Sunday demanded the government secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, in one of the country’s largest demonstrations since the start of the war in Gaza. Protesters also announced a nationwide strike, reflecting growing domestic discontent over Israel’s plans to expand the conflict: The military is preparing to occupy Gaza City and move Palestinians out of combat zones. “Israel is as divided now as at any time in its history,” the BBC’s international editor argued. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “presiding over fault lines in Israel that have opened into chasms.” Hamas has reportedly signaled it is open to some concessions in ceasefire talks, but Israel said it is no longer interested in a partial truce.

More federal troops headed to DC

Three Republican-led US states deployed hundreds more National Guard troops to Washington, DC, marking a significant escalation of federal law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital. The ramp-up — which Republicans say is aimed at combating crime — comes even as the White House negotiated a deal with the DC police department to prevent a full federal takeover. Demonstrators took to the streets to protest the deployment and DC’s mayor called it “un-American.” Crime in DC has fallen from its 2023 highs, but even in crime-plagued neighborhoods, residents say they don’t trust Trump’s approach. Officials in Democrat-run cities worry the DC model could become a template for “how cities are policed, cleaned up and run, or ruined,” The Associated Press wrote.

Spain battles raging wildfires

Spain is deploying 500 more soldiers to fight wildfires ravaging the country, as southern Europe faces extreme climate events fueled by heatwaves. Nearly all of Spain on Sunday was under extreme risk of wildfires, which have burned through around 390,000 acres this year — roughly the size of metropolitan London — as oppressive temperatures have also seen blazes break out in Greece, Portugal, and France. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, and scientists have long warned about the worsening severity and scale of climate change-induced extreme weather events. In Spain, which is especially vulnerable, the wildfires have become politicized, Bloomberg reported: The prime minister on Sunday called for a nationwide pact to combat the accelerating climate emergency.

India tax cuts offer Modi political boost

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled sweeping tax reforms that could boost his image in the face of a US trade war, but will strain government revenue, analysts said. The changes are set to make essentials like electronics cheaper; Modi also called on Indians to buy more domestically made goods, echoing calls from his supporters to boycott US products after Washington hiked tariffs on Indian imports. The timing of the overhaul is “purely determined by political exigencies” and could improve Modi’s standing with voters, a communications consultant told Reuters, but the tax cuts will dent government coffers. Modi’s indirect tax system has largely underperformed, a Bloomberg columnist argued, and its reform “would benefit from less politics and more economics.”

China cracks down on overseas tax evasion

China is escalating efforts to collect taxes on investors’ global gains as the country faces fiscal pressure from slowing growth and a beleaguered property sector. Beijing has long lacked the enforcement procedures to crack down on investors who spend at least half the year in China and evade a 20% tax on overseas income. But the country now needs new sources of revenue as it tries to tackle local government debt and roll out stimulus programs. The crackdown, though, is forcing some financiers to rethink their asset and tax strategies, largely over fears that Chinese brokerages will share their information with authorities, the Financial Times reported. Some are switching to American platforms, further denting investor confidence in China.

How engineering fueled China’s rise

The US is hindered by its obsession with a lawyerly society and could learn from China’s embrace of engineering, a new book by a prominent China analyst argues. Washington is effectively a “government of the lawyers, by the lawyers and for the lawyers,” while Beijing is run by engineers, which has helped it vastly expand infrastructure and development, Dan Wang writes in Breakneck. The book explores “both the merits and the madness of China’s engineering state,” the Financial Times wrote, and critiques the US for being bogged down by “a procedure-obsessed political left and a destructive right.” But Wang rejects tired platitudes about US-China competition. “I think all narratives about China are wrong all the time,” he told Bloomberg.

Mark Cuban is everywhere — and famously accessible. But what might be called overexposure in a previous era is now a strength in a fragmented media world, to the point that many people want him to run for US president in 2028. This week, Ben and Max bring on the former Shark Tank “shark” and former majority-owner of the Dallas Mavericks to talk about how he predicted today’s media landscape in 1995, why he hates the media business, and why he thinks AI is the biggest threat to media and politics. They also discuss if he’ll actually run in 2028 and which Democratic candidates have the best shot.

Singapore’s economic plan amid AI risk

Singapore is prioritizing jobs for its citizens as the city-state grapples with risks posed by artificial intelligence and the global trade war. In an annual address Sunday, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong laid out his economic plans for navigating “a more troubled and turbulent world,” saying Singapore would help companies harness AI. The government appears well-positioned to navigate the disruptions fueled by the AI boom: Singapore is known for its preference for top technical talent in the public sector over economic or legal experts, but the bureaucracy now “has to fight hard to keep its people” as more global tech companies like OpenAI open offices there and poach workers, Rest of World reported.

Humanoids not ready for primetime

China is vigorously embracing humanoids, but the robots aren’t close to being truly useful, analysts said. Beijing said it wants to be a world leader in humanoids by 2027, and state media often hypes up advancements in domestic research. At the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Friday, robots squared off in competitions including kickboxing, football, and dance. They also attempted menial tasks like entering a hotel room and throwing away garbage — some missed the trash can. On the soccer pitch, robots frequently fell and had to be carried away. “The state of AI is nowhere near seeing humanoids operating out of uncontrolled environments,” a robotics expert told The Guardian.

Americans err in climate choices