Hello, readers – happy Tuesday! Today, we’ll be talking about the Middle East, Russia & Ukraine, Macron’s big weekend, controversy at Cannes, FBI investigations, Trump ranting against Harvard, and Neanderthal artwork.

Here’s some good news: Employees at the San Diego Humane Society are wearing bear costumes to tend to a cub that came into the organization's care last month, which is certainly the cutest costume party we’ve ever heard of. Also, Royal Navy sailors found and rescued five orphaned kittens from a shipping container in Bahrain – they have now all been adopted.

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“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” – Dalai Lama

What’s Going On In Gaza?

It’s time for our regularly scheduled update on the war in Gaza. Yesterday, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) executive director Jake Wood resigned, saying that the organization could not fulfill its mission in a way that followed “humanitarian principles.” The U.S.-backed private humanitarian organization was set to distribute aid in Gaza using an Israeli-initiated plan, though the United Nations and traditional aid agencies said they would not cooperate with the group, fearing it breaches international law. 

Meanwhile, IDF strikes killed at least 52 people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including 36 in a school-turned-shelter that was struck as people slept. The international community has been losing patience with Israel lately – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the latest strikes, saying, “Frankly speaking, I no longer understand what the goal of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip is. To harm the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism.” Even President Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel’s plans, told reporters on Sunday he wants to end the war in Gaza “as quickly as possible.” An IDF official told reporters Sunday that in two months, the IDF will occupy 75% of the Gaza Strip.

Want To Know More?

• White House envoy says Hamas' response to ceasefire proposal "unacceptable" (Axios)

• Palestinian official says Hamas agrees to Gaza proposal, Israel dismisses it (Reuters)

• Noem Visits Israel Amid Tensions Between Trump and Netanyahu (NYT, $)

• U.S. citizen arrested in attempted firebombing of U.S. Embassy office in Tel Aviv (Axios)

• World Food Programme director calls food situation in Gaza 'a catastrophe' (Politico)

• Chanting 'Death to Arabs,' Israeli nationalists begin an annual march in Jerusalem (AP)

Puttin’ Putin On Blast

Late Sunday and into yesterday morning, the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched a barrage of 355 drones and nine cruise missiles on dozens of Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv. At least 12 people were killed and dozens were injured in the attacks. The attacks came amid heavy Russian bombardment on several Ukrainian cities on Saturday and as Russia and Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange. Despite the efforts of the international community – including President Trump, who spent over two hours on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week – the two countries are, clearly, no closer to a ceasefire than they were a few weeks ago. 

Speaking of Trump (because we almost always are, unfortunately), he was decidedly displeased by the latest happenings in Ukraine. “I don't know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters Sunday. “I've known him a long time, always gotten along with him but he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all.” Trump went further in a social media post late Sunday, saying Putin “has gone absolutely CRAZY!” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Trump’s reaction on “emotional overload” and thanked him for his efforts to end the war.

Macron Gets Manhandled

• Yesterday, during a visit to Hanoi as part of a large Southeast Asia tour, French President Emmanuel Macron called for closer cooperation between Vietnam and his own government. The visit comes amid worldwide trade tensions, with the U.S. threatening steep tariffs on goods from Europe and slapping 46% tariffs on Vietnamese imports to America. 

• Macron made more headlines during the visit after a viral video promoted by Russian state media and French far-right accounts appeared to show his wife, Brigitte Macron, shoving him in the face as they prepared to get off a plane. Macron told reporters in Hanoi he and his wife were “joking around, as we do quite often,” and a spokesperson called it “a moment of closeness. But that was enough to feed the conspiracy theorists.”

Cannes You Not?

• Iran has summoned French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot after he praised “It Was Just an Accident,” which won the prestigious Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. Barrot said the Iranian film was “a gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime’s oppression.” 

• Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Barrot was summoned over the minister’s “interventionist, irresponsible and instigative allegations.” “Spare us Iranians the lectures. You have no moral authority whatsoever,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X/Twitter. 

• In Iran, film productions need to receive script approval from the government to shoot in public, but dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi refused to do so. Iranian state TV called the film a mixture of “lie and smearing” as well as an “underground” film produced without the required permits in Iran.

More Mixed Nuts

• Iran says it could survive if US nuclear talks end without a deal (Reuters)

• Romania's new president is sworn in as a political crisis eases, but challenges loom (ABC)

• King Charles III's visit to Canada underscores its sovereignty to Trump (AP)

• Venezuela's ruling party claims election win as opposition boycotts poll (BBC)

The Federal Bureau of Investigating Conspiracy Theories

• The FBI is opening (or, rather, re-opening) three investigations. Dan Bongino, the far-right podcaster who was selected as Deputy Director of the FBI this year, announced on X this weekend that the bureau will look into the discovery of a bag of cocaine at the White House in 2023, the pipe bombs that were found at Democratic and Republican party headquarters before the January 6, 2021, riots, and the leak of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

• Bongino said he and FBI Director Kash Patel have been considering “a number of cases of potential public corruption that, understandably, have garnered public interest” and had made a decision “to either re-open, or push additional resources and investigative attention, to these cases.” All of these situations have sparked conspiracy theories that have gained popularity in the right-wing corners of the internet, which Bongino rules.

Eyeing Ivy League Funds

• Yesterday, President Trump took to Truth Social to float a new idea for revenge against his current archnemesis, Harvard University. After blocking $2.2 billion in federal grants, revoking the school’s tax-exempt status, and ending Harvard’s ability to bring in international students, the president has now suggested redistributing $3 billion in grant money from Harvard to trade schools. “What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!,” he said.

• Trump called the school “very antisemitic” in the post, too. “We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country,” Trump added. “Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason!” International students comprise about 27% of the university’s total enrollment.

More Nuts In America

• California Republicans would love Kamala Harris to run for governor (Politico)

• Texas bill requiring Ten Commandments in public schools moves closer to governor's desk (NBC)

• Crypto investor tortured man for weeks for bitcoin password, prosecutors say (WaPo, $)

• Trump EPA drafting a rule that would undo decades of progress on limiting pollution from power plants (CNN)

Rock Look Like Face. Rock Need Nose.

• Though the doodles you jot down on the corner of a page can say a lot about your personality, most of them aren’t earth-shattering. For one Neanderthal, however, a doodle might have changed the way we see an entire group of human beings. While excavating the San Lázaro rock shelter on the outskirts of Segovia in July 2022, a dig team discovered a rock with a red dot on it that looked an awful lot like a face. 

• After about three years of research, scientists say that the most likely explanation is that someone 43,000 years ago saw a rock with indentations that looked like eyes and a mouth, dipped their finger in red pigment, and added a nose to the stone. If that’s the case (and I’m inclined to trust the scientists here), they left behind what is thought to be the world’s oldest complete human fingerprint, on what would appear to be the oldest piece of European portable art.

More Loose Nuts

• These Plants Protect Larvae From Wildfires (NYT, $)

• Renowned Everest guide says using xenon speeds climb and makes it safer, better for environment (AP)

• Four VW execs found guilty in trial that transformed Europe's auto market (TechCrunch)

• Volvo Cars cutting 3,000 jobs to reduce costs (AP)

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