Mar 28 update

Facing mounting pressure, Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, announced that he will delay a proposed judicial overhaul until parliament next meets in a month's time. The pause, he said, comes “from a will to prevent the rift in the nation”. Earlier he reached a deal with his far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who agreed to the delay if the prime minister formed a civil “national guard” in exchange. Tens of thousands took to the streets overnight after Mr Netanyahu sacked the defence minister over his opposition to the reforms.

Three children and three adult staff members died after a female shooter opened fire at a school in Nashville, Tennessee before being killed by police, according to authorities. The private Christian school serves students up to about age 12. So far in 2023 there have been at least 13 deadly school shootings in America; there were 51 last year.

Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s health secretary, will replace Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the Scottish National Party and the country’s first minister. He received 48.2% of the first-preference votes, and 52.1% once second-preference votes were redistributed, narrowly defeating Kate Forbes, the finance minister. Mr Yousaf, a close ally of Ms Sturgeon, vowed to deliver Scottish independence.

Hungary’s parliament voted to ratify Finland’s bid to join NATO, all but clearing the way for the Nordic country’s accession to the alliance. Turkey, the last remaining holdout, said it will ratify Finland’s bid by mid-May. Sweden’s bid to join the alliance is still on ice: Hungary, unhappy that Sweden has criticised Hungary’s authoritarian government, opposes it, as does Turkey, which accuses the country of harbouring Kurdish “terrorists”.

America’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and its boss, Changpeng Zhao, for breaking registration and regulatory requirements. The regulator’s chair said that Binance had been “working actively” to violate regulatory rules “for years”. After the implosion of FTX, another crypto exchange, American regulators have ramped up enforcements against crypto activities.

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, China’s e-commerce giant, made a rare public appearance in mainland China, as the government attempts to restore confidence in a bruised tech sector. After Mr Ma gave a speech criticising China’s financial watchdogs in 2020, the government began a crackdown on the tech industry which included forcing Ant Group, a fintech giant affiliated with Alibaba, to pull its IPO.

Transport workers in Germany began a 24-hour nationwide strike to call for higher wages in the face of climbing inflation. Verdi and EVG, the labour unions leading the strike, represent almost 3m workers combined; millions of commuters could be affected. Union bosses say that a pay rise is “a matter of survival”; employers have so far refused their demands.

Fact of the day: 3.3m, the number of people displaced in Turkey after last month’s devastating earthquakes. Read the full story.

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PHOTO: ALAMY

Investigating America’s bank failures

America is still suffering from the aftershocks of the collapse of a few mid-sized banks earlier this month. But inquiries into what went wrong are beginning even as the banking sector remains shaky. On Tuesday the Senate will hold the first of several hearings about the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which kicked off the turmoil earlier this month. Those testifying will include senior officials from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The contours of the failures are already fairly clear. The banks in question did not recognise the holes in their balance-sheets caused by fast-rising interest rates. When depositors got nervous, they fled en masse in smartphone-enabled bank runs. Fed officials have indicated that they knew the risks and had told the banks to fix their problems. But if so, why could no one help avert the disaster? That is one of the bigger questions for the Senate inquisitors.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

France’s tenth day of turmoil

France is bracing itself for fresh disorder on Tuesday, when protesters return to the streets for their tenth all-day national strike. Demonstrators want to force Emmanuel Macron, the president, to shelve his controversial move to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years. They are furious that Mr Macron used a constitutional provision to push the law through without a direct parliamentary vote (it must still be approved by the constitutional council).

Protests during the last strike, on March 23rd, turned violent. Fires blazed in several cities; uncollected rubbish, newspaper kiosks and other targets were torched. Mr Macron says he will not “give in to violence”. He seems set on riding out the protests, peaceful or otherwise. His minority government has narrowly survived two no-confidence votes. But over three-fifths of the French say they back even tougher resistance on the streets until their demands are met. The country is at an impasse, and the mood is extremely tense.

 

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PHOTO: REX SHUTTERSTOCK

Biden’s accomplishment tour

In February—six months after President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction and CHIPS acts, and 15 months after passing a bipartisan infrastructure law—a poll found that 62% of Americans thought their leader had achieved “not very much” or “little or nothing”. A few days later Mr Biden sought to show otherwise in his state-of-the-union address: “jobs” (mentioned 20 times) and “manufacturing” were major themes.

On Tuesday Mr Biden, who is expected to announce his bid for re-election by summer, will kick off another effort to tout his achievements. During a three-week “Investing in America” tour, administration officials will visit more than 20 states, plugging the electric-vehicle charging ports, fibre-optic cables and power-grid overhauls the president’s legislation has enabled, and the jobs subsequently created.

Yet for many voters the pressing economic priority remains rising prices. In a recent poll just 31% of respondents said the economy is in good shape. Of those who disagreed, nearly 90% cited inflation.

PHOTO: ALAMY

Canada tables a tricky budget

President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa last week was widely lauded as a success for Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister. Mr Trudeau will be hoping that sheen has not rubbed off by Tuesday, when his minority government tables the country’s new budget.

It is a tricky moment. High inflation has left households struggling to make ends meet. America’s Inflation Reduction Act—meant to, in part, accelerate green technologies—now offers hefty incentives to invest south of the border. And NATO has long been pushing Canada, along with all members, to increase its defence spending to 2% of GDP. (In 2021 it spent 1.3%.)

Mr Trudeau’s government will struggle to thread all those needles simultaneously. But it looks like it might try: more money for defence is expected, as are significant subsidies for a Canadian version of America’s IRA. There will also be extra spending on healthcare, an expanded dental-care programme and tax rebates for those on the lowest incomes. Something, though, will have to give: a hefty fiscal deficit looms.

PHOTO: AP

Exploring Beethoven’s DNA

“Who can ever do anything, after Beethoven?” asked Schubert, in despair. Few men left a greater mark on Western classical music than Ludwig van Beethoven. But as well as his sonatas and symphonies, the German maestro left behind some of his wiry hair. From those five locks scientists have now sequenced the composer’s genome.

Their findings, published in Current Biology, a journal, reveal new strands of Beethoven’s life and death. The DNA confirms Beethoven’s roots in western Germany, but finds a mismatch between his legal and biological genealogy, suggesting that someone on his father’s side may have had an extramarital affair.

And although Beethoven’s propensity for chronic illness was already known—he complained of stomach problems—his genomics also displayed a hitherto unknown predisposition for liver disease. This, exacerbated by the composer’s regular drinking and a bout of hepatitis B, is probably what killed him at the age of 56. The study offers a new coda on a remarkable life story.