First Thing: Senior Hamas official says it accepts UN ceasefire resolution

Statement backing hostages-for-ceasefire deal described as ‘hopeful sign’ by US. Plus: Mexico’s anti-avocado militias

Good morning.

A senior Hamas official has said Hamas accepts a UN security council ceasefire resolution that would lead to the release of the remaining hostages taken in the 7 October attack on Israel.

The resolution, adopted on Monday, is the first time the security council has endorsed a comprehensive peace deal to end the Gaza war. Only Russia abstained in the vote.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on his eighth visit to the region since 7 October, said the statement of support from Sami Abu Zuhri for a UN resolution backing the proposal was a “hopeful sign”, but that it was the word of the Palestinian militant group’s leadership in Gaza that would really count.

What does the deal entail? The three-stage deal, proposed by Joe Biden, involves the release of all the remaining hostages, in return for Israel accepting steps towards a permanent ceasefire and the eventual withdrawal of its forces from Gaza – two key Hamas demands. A third phase would involve a major reconstruction effort.

What does Israel think of the deal? Far-right Israeli cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich – on whom Benjamin Netanyahu is now reliant after the resignations of more moderate ministers at the weekend – said he would oppose any deal, calling it “collective suicide”.

Trump will not be charged for waving around classified papers, judge says

The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents ruled on Monday to expunge from the indictment a section describing a time when the former president allegedly waved around a classified document at his Bedminster club in New Jersey.

In a move legal experts describe as unusual, US district judge Aileen Cannon said she would strike the paragraph because Trump was not charged with a crime for the conduct it described and it would be unfairly prejudicial if a jury later saw it at trial. The judge’s ruling is notable in that it could indicate how she will rule on future motions as he attempts to limit the scope of the evidence prosecutors can introduce against him.

In other news …

Four US college instructors from Cornell College in Iowa were stabbed while visiting a public park in China. Details on the extent of the group’s injuries and whether the daytime attack was targeted or random were unclear.

Accession talks with Ukraine to join the European Union will begin at the end of the month, said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.

A British judge stepping down from Hong Kong’s top court has warned that Hong Kong is “slowly becoming a totalitarian state”.

Stat of the day: May sets new global temperature record

The average surface air temperature in May 2024 was 15.91C (60.63F), beating the previous record set in May 2020. It was the 12th consecutive month of record-breaking warmth for each respective month, highlighting an alarming trend in climate change. Sea surface temperatures also hit a new high in May, contributing to the overall global temperature increase.

Don’t miss this: Mexico’s anti-avocado militias

Michoacán, located in south-central Mexico, is the most important avocado-producing region in the world. Nearly a third of the global supply come from this these cool, mountainous highlands. Competition for control of the avocado – and the resources needed to produce it – has led to violence, often at the hands of cartels. The spread of the avocado is a story of greed, ambition, corruption and water shortages, with residents in a number of towns and villages fighting back.

… or this: The drug cartels exploiting Europe’s unwanted children

A Guardian investigation has found that hundreds of unaccompanied child migrants across Europe are being forced to work as soldiers for increasingly powerful drug cartels. The continent’s soaring appetite for cocaine has fuelled the human trafficking of vulnerable African children. Belgian foundation Child Focus recorded 332 “worrying” disappearances of unaccompanied minors in Brussels last year, including a cohort aged 11 and 12.

“With African minors, essentially Moroccan and Algerian, the most important area is the exploitation by OCGs [organised crime groups] involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking,” said Eric Garbar, head of human trafficking and smuggling at the Belgian federal judicial police. “What we have in the EU is an unstoppable low-cost human resource from Africa.”

Climate check: World’s top banks accused of “greenwashing”

A report is accusing five of the world’s biggest banks of “greenwashing” their role in the destruction of the Amazon, operating on environmental and social guidelines that fail to cover more than 70% of the rainforest. The report, produced by the watchdog Stand.earth and the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), alleges that these institutions have provided billions of dollars of finance to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are having an impact on the Amazon.

“The banks try to wash their hands of the blame through vague policies, but must be held accountable for the damage their money is causing to Amazonian Indigenous peoples and the biodiversity of the rainforest,” said Fany Kuiru, the general coordinator of COICA.

Last Thing: Daniel Brühl on ‘Becoming Karl Lagerfeld’

Karl Lagerfeld, the most prolific fashion designer of the 20th and 21st centuries, once declared: “I don’t want to be real in other people’s lives. I want to be an apparition” – and in Hulu’s Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, Daniel Brühl was tasked with capturing just that.

“What I find fascinating in Karl’s life and also in this show is you are in the 70s: sex, drugs and rock’n’roll,” said the actor known for his roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. . “A time of revolution, of sexual liberation – and then there’s that anachronistic element to it because Karl Lagerfeld very often lived in his intellectual realm and in his fantasy and with the money that he had earned was capable of creating these cerebral worlds, these fairytale paradises, especially for the love of his life.”

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