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Good morning. Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton defended Joe Biden on his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza at last night’s fundraiser that was peppered with protests.
At a star-studded gala held at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, Obama and Clinton backed Biden’s leadership on the Middle East conflict, an area that has triggered dissent within government and fractured the Democratic party. Protesters interrupted the event to criticise US support for Israel.
The turmoil in the Middle East was “one of the most important reasons to elect President Biden”, said Clinton, who repeatedly sought to broker peace in the region during his time in office between 1993 and 2001. Here are the key comments made by the two former US presidents on the night.
Dubbed by the Biden campaign as “the most successful political fundraiser in American history”, the event raised more than $25mn, his team announced ahead of time. But Donald Trump aims to outraise his opponent, and his campaign is expected to bring in $33mn from a blockbuster fundraiser next week in Florida, as he races to narrow the funding gap with Biden.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:
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Economic data: The US reports personal consumption expenditures inflation and goods trade balance data today.
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Good Friday: Financial markets in the US, UK, Germany and elsewhere are closed today.
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Evan Gershkovich: Today marks one year since the Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested by Russia and accused of espionage.
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Turkey: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s candidate for Istanbul mayor and his battle to reclaim the city from the opposition will be the focus of local elections on Sunday.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
Five more top stories
1. Global stock markets have recorded their best first-quarter performance in five years, buoyed by hopes of a soft economic landing in the US and an AI boom. Chip designer Nvidia added more than $1tn in market value during the first three months of the year, equivalent to about one-fifth of the total gain for global stock markets over that period. Here’s a breakdown of how different indices have performed.
2. Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison over his role in the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, after a US judge concluded he had done “enormous harm” by stealing billions of dollars in customer funds to make risky bets.
3. The chief of Lloyd’s of London has said insurers should “just get on with it” and pay out for the Baltimore bridge collapse, rather than wait for years of wrangling over which part of the sector is liable. The global insurance sector is expecting billions of dollars of claims after the Dali container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, in what Lloyd’s boss John Neal said could be the largest marine insurance claim in history.
3. Exclusive: OpenAI has recently met major Hollywood studios to showcase its video generation technology Sora and allay fears the artificial intelligence model will harm the industry. Chief executive Sam Altman and chief operating officer Brad Lightcap gave presentations to executives from industry giants, people with knowledge of the meetings said. Here are the studios the start-up’s leaders visited.
4. Israel’s supreme court has dealt a blow to Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition after it ordered state subsidies to be suspended for many ultraorthodox Jews who attend religious schools instead of doing military service. The interim order came after the court’s ruling that exempting religious students from Israel’s compulsory military service was unconstitutional, a contentious topic that threatens to split the prime minister’s government.
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Israel-Hamas war: The UN’s International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to ensure that more aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza, warning that famine is “setting in” there as the war enters its sixth month.
5. Netflix’s adaptation of the sci-fi classic 3 Body Problem has sparked anger in China. Many Chinese viewers preferred a 2023 Chinese TV adaptation by tech giant Tencent that was set largely in China with predominantly Chinese actors. Here’s why.
News in-depth
When BlackRock’s chief executive Larry Fink this week warned of a looming “retirement crisis”, he not only drew attention to a long-rumbling societal problem but also highlighted a business opportunity that his money manager, its rivals and insurers are all hoping to cultivate. Countries worldwide are struggling to fund old age benefits as longevity increases, but the US has a particularly acute problem, as more than 4.1mn Americans retire annually — or a predicted 11,200 people each day between now and 2027.
We’re also reading . . .
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Moscow attack: A survivor who escaped the concert hall with a bullet in his back tells the FT that the terrifying experience, which lasted minutes, felt like “a whole lifetime”.
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Africa’s middle class: The story of a 32-year-old car driver in Zambia reflects the everyday Sisyphean struggles faced by tens of millions of aspirational Africans, writes David Pilling.
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Falling birth rates: John Burn-Murdoch explains why family-friendly policies have failed to encourage people to have more babies.
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Could ESG better account for a company’s climate governance? Good corporate governance isn’t totally unrelated to environmental concerns, writes Alice Ross, but it would be helpful to have a G that was more related to the E.
Chart of the day
Anyone cracking open an Easter egg this year may notice two things: not only is it a lot more expensive, it’s also smaller. A historic rally in cocoa prices means that chocolate makers are particularly likely to turn to shrinkflation as a way of passing on costs.
Take a break from the news
From hot cross buns to the perfect lamb, five cooks share their secrets to a flawless Easter banquet.
Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm
