The New York Times - Monday Briefing: Xi visits Europe

May 6, 2024

	By Amelia Nierenberg

Good morning. We’re covering Xi Jinping’s trip to Europe and Israel’s crackdown on Al Jazeera.

Plus, Myanmar’s creative rebel drone units.

A group of mostly men walk down a red carpet from a plane. They are wearing suits. Xi Jinping is in front.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal of France welcomed Xi Jinping, China’s leader, yesterday. Pool photo by Stephane De Sakutin

Xi Jinping traveled to Europe

Xi Jinping, China’s leader, arrived in France yesterday on his first trip to Europe in five years. He will also visit Serbia and Hungary.

The three countries, to varying degrees, are embracing China’s push for a new global order. Xi seems intent on seizing opportunities to loosen the continent’s bonds with the U.S. and forge a world freed of its dominance. The visit is likely to be seen as a none-too-subtle effort by Xi to divide Western allies.

Soon after arriving in Paris, he praised France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, has often made the Gaullist point that Europe “must never be a vassal of the United States.”

The chemistry between Xi and Macron — who visited China just over a year ago, and echoed the Chinese lexicon of a “multipolar” world, freed of “blocs” — appears to lie in a shared view that the postwar order must be replaced. Xi wants to court leaders who are frustrated by U.S. dominance, see China as a counterweight and are eager to bolster economic ties.

Analysis: “Macron is trying to bring a third way in the current global chaos,” said one French expert on relations with China.

What’s next: Tomorrow, Xi heads to Serbia. His arrival coincides with the 25th anniversary of the deadly NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. That mistaken strike, for which the White House apologized, killed three Chinese journalists and ignited protests around the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

The Al Jazeera offices in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Zain Jaafar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Israel shut down Al Jazeera

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said yesterday that his cabinet had voted to shut down the Israeli operations of Al Jazeera. He called the Qatar-based network an “incitement channel.”

Netanyahu accused Al Jazeera, which has long had a tense relationship with Israel, of harming its national security and inciting violence against its soldiers. Israeli officials did not immediately provide examples of content that Israel believed posed a threat.

In a statement in Arabic, Al Jazeera called the decision a “criminal act,” adding that “Israeli’s suppression of the free press to cover up its crimes has not deterred us from performing our duty.” Journalism organizations denounced the closure, which had been under discussion in Israel for weeks, as a blow to press freedom.

Context: A major source of news in the Arab world, Al Jazeera has reported extensively from Gaza and highlighted the suffering of the war.

Other updates:

Negotiations: A group representing families of hostages expressed concerns yesterday that Netanyahu, under pressure from hard-line coalition members, was trying to stall or sabotage a possible deal with Hamas.
Campus protests: They’re spreading from the U.S. to universities in other countries. Here’s how the world sees the U.S. protests.
Hunger: Israel pushed back after a U.N. official said there was a “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza.

A yellow poster that says “Khalistan Referendum.”

Hardeep Singh Nijjar had sought a separate state in India and was viewed as a terrorist by New Delhi. Jackie Dives for The New York Times

Arrests in Canada in the killing of a Sikh leader

The Canadian police said on Friday that three Indian men had been arrested and charged in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist who was fatally shot in Canada last June.

The arrests did little to demystify the killing, which set off a diplomatic clash and led to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s blunt accusation that India had orchestrated the murder. The Canadian police did not present evidence to support his claim, but said that an investigation into India’s role in Nijjar’s death is ongoing.

Stakes: The accusation, if proven, could suggest that India’s external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, is now extending its playbook of working with criminals to carry out operations in Western countries, analysts said.

MORE TOP NEWS

In the foreground, a jockey in black and green clothing rides a horse wearing the No. 3. A second horse, ridden by a jockey in multicolored clothing, is behind them. Crowded viewing stands are in the background.

Brian Hernandez Jr. rode Mystik Dan to victory. Audra Melton for The New York Times

The Kentucky Derby: A long-shot named Mystik Dan won the horse race. See photos of the race, and the hats.
Panama: Voters cast ballots yesterday in the presidential election. But the most prominent player, the former president known as “El loco,” was not on the ballot.
Britain: Voters seem to want a change from 14 years of Conservative rule — the party suffered a stinging setback in local elections late last week.
U.S.: Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who is under fire for killing her dog and boasting about it, suggested that Commander, President Biden’s bite-prone dog, should meet the same fate.
Taiwan: The U.S. pulled out of a treaty with Russia in 2019. That let it develop a covert weapon that could be used to stop a Chinese invasion force.
Liberia: The president moved to create a war crimes court, a culmination of a decades-long effort to bring justice to victims of its bloody civil wars.
China: Investors and consumers are buying gold at a record pace as their confidence in traditional investments like real estate and stocks has faltered.
Australia: The police in Perth fatally shot a 16-year-old on Saturday after he stabbed a man.
Haiti: Depleted police forces are “begging for help,” a U.N. expert said, as they try to hold ruthless gangs at bay.

Russia-Ukraine

Casualties: Families of some Ukrainian soldiers have spent months trying to get official death confirmations. The military, they say, is overloaded with bodies.
Soldiers: Russia’s military is trying to recruit more women, which clashes with Vladimir Putin’s conservative agenda.

MORNING WATCH

An animated GIF of two scenes, one with an elaborate parade float shooting flames, the other with a large crowd in front of an elaborate temple.

People celebrating Mazu, the most widely venerated of folk deities in Taiwan. The New York Times

This year, Taiwan’s major pilgrimages for Mazu — the goddess of the sea — attracted record numbers of participants. Many are younger people who want to keep old traditions alive.

“They’re proud of their culture. They’re proud of being Taiwanese,” Chris Buckley, a Times reporter based in Taipei, explained in a video. “And so what you find is this pilgrimage that might start as a sort of social event or cultural tourism can actually take on a deeper meaning for a good number of the people.”

Lives Lived: Frank Stella moved American art away from Abstract Expressionism and toward cool minimalism. He died at 87. Read about his work.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

The Australia Letter: Damien Cave, our Sydney bureau chief, sees riffs on an Australian restraint toward success — “tall poppy syndrome” — in Peter Weir’s 1989 film “Dead Poets Society.”
“Unfrosted”: Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut is a satirical take on the origin of Pop-Tarts. Read about the real story and test your Pop-Tart knowledge.
The Premier League: The world’s most popular sports league is modern Britain’s greatest cultural export. But it’s not just an English story — its nerve-racking title race was watched across the world. See photos here.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

Rebel drone operators in Karenni State, Myanmar, earlier this year. Adam Ferguson for The New York Times

Rebel fighters rely on cheap drones

Cheaply made, haphazardly assembled drones are key to the rebel fight in Myanmar. Resistance forces are getting creative with instructions crowdsourced online, parts ordered from China and wires repurposed from drones used for agriculture.

All this while their electricity sputters off.

The drones have changed the course of the fight against the military junta, which took power in a 2021 coup. They have helped rebels capture military outposts just by hovering and spooking soldiers into fleeing, and enabled sweeping offensives into junta-controlled territory, targeting police stations and bases.

And the Myanmar fighters are not alone: Cheap consumer drones are changing conflicts from Ukraine and Yemen, to Sudan and Gaza. The world’s outgunned forces are often learning from each other, teaching each other to hack through the default software on commercial drones that could give away their location, or sharing 3-D printing blueprints.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A mushroom smash burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and melted cheese on a sesame seed bun sits on a beige plate.

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Cook: For a Meatless Monday dinner, make portobello mushroom smash burgers.

Listen: Our critic writes that Dua Lipa’s album “Radical Optimism” has “nonstop ear candy.”

Travel: Chacarita is a quirky neighborhood in Buenos Aires with Art Deco houses, cobblestone streets and decadent churros.

Organize: Use better hangers.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

P.S. The writer Scaachi Koul tells of how “Indian Idol” helped her mother get through cancer.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Amelia

Email us at briefing@nytimes.com.

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