Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are returning to north Gaza, as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The Israelis opened up the Netzarim Corridor – a strip of land that cuts Gaza in two – after resolving a dispute concerning a hostage release overnight. Colombia has reversed its decision to refuse migrants deported from the US, after President Trump responded by threatening an immediate 25% tariff on Colombian goods. The show of diplomatic force comes after Trump held a fiery call with Denmark’s prime minister about Greenland, in which he made it clear he was serious in his determination to take control of the autonomous Danish territory. Almost half of young people in Britain no longer drink alcohol. In a survey of more than 2,000 adults, 43% of 18 to 34-year-olds said they had given up booze altogether, citing reasons including health concerns, religious beliefs and “abstinence influencers”.

In Washington, attention is the new money

There’s nothing new about the problem of money in Washington, says Ezra Klein in The New York Times. For decades, we’ve been warned that America “is or is becoming an oligarchy”. What feels different about the early days of Donald Trump’s second term is that “attention, not cash”, is the form of power that most interests him. Just look at the inauguration: plenty of his merely rich billionaire backers didn’t make the cut. The catbird seats were instead occupied by the leaders of Meta, X, TikTok, Amazon and Google – the “titans of attention”. And it’s not hard to see why.

Despite the best efforts of most involved, there are at least some rules to limit money’s power in politics and track its movements. “The same cannot be said for attention.” If Trump saves TikTok and, in return, TikTok boosts pro-Trump content in the run-up to the 2026 mid-terms, would that be illegal? Possibly. “But would we even know it had happened?” If Musk twiddles the knob on X to steer the conversation towards Donald Trump Jr, say, before the 2028 elections, who will stop him? Everyone thought Musk had overpaid when he bought Twitter for $44bn in 2022. But while X’s revenue is far from justifying that purchase price, it’s now clear he bought something far more valuable. In terms of attention, Musk is now the second-most powerful person in the world, after Trump. You can’t put a price on that.

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