It’s Wednesday, May 7. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Does Bernie Sanders have the answers to the Democrats’ problems? Who is the real Mohsen Mahdawi? And what did Donald Trump say when Mark Carney told him Canada is not for sale in the Oval Office yesterday? All that and more coming up.
But first: How a falsehood about Gaza became accepted as fact.
Samantha Power, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced in April 2024 that a famine had begun in Gaza. As evidence, Power cited a report by “an independent, United Nations–affiliated monitoring system, called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Global Initiative (IPC),” writes Michael Ames in The Free Press.
As Ames reveals in his story for us today, there was a serious problem with Power’s statement: Neither the IPC nor the specific report she cites ever actually declared a famine in Gaza.
Ames is a careful reporter, with extensive published work in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and other outlets. He did the digging into how this myth—which originated with Hamas—became accepted as fact across large parts of the American media. Ames writes that in the past 20 years, the IPC has confirmed only four famines: one in Somalia, one in Sudan, and two in South Sudan.
“The famine storyline in Gaza is like the proverbial bell that cannot be unrung,” writes Ames. “So many unthinkable tragedies have occurred since Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023, but a famine in Gaza isn’t one of them.”
I urge you to read Ames’ whole report.
—Adam Rubenstein
Bernie Sanders and his millennial sidekick are barnstorming through Trump country, packing arenas to rail against Trump, Musk, and Big Tech in their “Fighting the Oligarchy” tour. But is their brand of left-wing populism the answer to the Democrats’ woes? We sent Olivia Reingold to investigate.
The manufacture of cutting-edge semiconductor chips is arguably the most important industry in the global economy. Which is why the U.S. has sanctioned Chinese tech firms in the field—and everyone seems to agree these sanctions have been a success. But an ominous new development suggests that conventional wisdom has it all wrong.
Mohsen Mahdawi, the pro-Palestinian international student at Columbia detained by the Trump administration, has presented himself as a blameless advocate for peace since his release from custody last week. And much of the media coverage about him has struck a sympathetic tone. But court filings, a police report, and posts on social media tell a very different—and more troubling—story.
India says it has conducted nine air strikes on Pakistan, two weeks after a militant attack left 26 dead in Kashmir. “We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” India’s defense ministry said. Pakistan’s army spokesman said that at least eight people were killed in the strikes, which India says targeted camps used by terrorist groups.
Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s center-right party the Christian Democratic Union, won the parliamentary vote to become chancellor. Merz failed to win on the first ballot—the first chancellor in postwar Germany to do so—but secured support for his government on the second attempt.
Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada who triumphed in last week’s general election, met with Trump Tuesday in the Oval Office in his first official visit to the U.S. Trump and Carney—who oriented his campaign around Trump’s broadsides against Canada—focused their discussion on trade policy. Carney praised Trump for his “relentless focus on the American worker.” In response to Carney saying that Canada is “not for sale,” Trump said to Carney, “Never say never.”
After a missile fired by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen hit Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, Israel retaliated by striking Yemen’s main airport—along with other key Yemeni infrastructure—after issuing a warning and evacuation order to civilians. The Houthis have also been the target of a U.S. bombing campaign in recent months, but Trump said Tuesday the U.S. would stop the strikes. The Houthis “don’t want to fight anymore,” he said.
Thirty-five congressional Democrats joined Republicans in voting to kill off California’s ban on gas-powered cars that was set to take effect by 2035. In a stunning blow to environmentalists, the Democrats who killed the bill cited Trump’s gains among working-class voters, with Democratic Rep. Lou Correa stating, “I’m listening to my constituents who are saying, ‘don’t kill us.’ ”
A string of high-end restaurants in Washington, D.C., were raided by ICE last night. Agents—some in plain clothes—requested to see forms verifying the employment eligibility of workers. Chef Geoff’s, one of the restaurants investigated by ICE, is owned by the husband of CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell.
Protests have erupted in China as Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports have started to impact their economy. At least 16 million jobs across China are at risk due to President Trump’s 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports, according to one analysis from Goldman Sachs.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the elimination of the roles of around 100 generals and admirals in an effort to streamline bureaucracy and cut back a “redundant force structure.” The move accords with Hegseth’s broader aim of boosting enlisted ranks and slashing higher-ups. Veteran and Democrat senator Jack Reed criticized the move, saying it wouldn’t create efficiency in the military but “could cripple” it.
The FDA named Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and (most importantly) a Free Press contributor, as the next head of its Center for Biologics and Research, placing him in charge of vaccine regulation. Prasad was a noted critic of vaccine mandates during the Covid pandemic. Read Prasad’s writing for The Free Press, including an op-ed about his new boss, RFK Jr.
The papal conclave, in which a new pope will be selected, begins today. A total of 133 cardinals (108 of whom were selected by Francis) have assembled in Vatican City for the days-long deliberation and vote. One cardinal said that he expected the world’s Catholics to have a new pope by Friday: “If on Friday night, the pope is not elected, it will be that something unexpected has happened.”
Quillette:
"In an interview on the Khodorkovsky Live YouTube channel, expatriate Russian political scientist Vladimir Pastukhov, a visiting fellow at St Anthony’s College, Oxford, used a striking metaphor to describe Trump’s first hundred days: 'It’s like a stove with many pots on it boiling simultaneously, all of them making a lot of noise and producing a lot of steam—but nobody can tell what’s cooking in any one of them.'
Small Modular Reactor being built in Texas:
https://edireland.substack.com/p/the-first-smr-small-modular-reactor