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Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead.
1. The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appears to be holding after a brief war that reverberated worldwide.
In total, the Israeli military killed 248 Palestinians in Gaza, including 66 children, according to officials there, and thousands have been displaced during the 11 days of fighting. The rocket attacks launched by Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, killed 12 people in Israel, including two children.
2. Maternity wards are shuttering in Italy. Ghost cities are appearing in China. Hundreds of thousands of properties in Germany have been leveled and the land turned into parks.
A planet with fewer people could ease pressure on resources, slow climate change and reduce burdens for women. But the data also points to changes that are hard to fathom: Fewer workers could upend the ways societies are organized and our ideas about family and nation.
3. One year ago Tuesday, George Floyd went to buy a pack of cigarettes. The world hasn’t been the same since.
4. The number of global deaths from the coronavirus is probably two to three times higher than the official data, the World Health Organization said. Above, São Paulo, Brazil.
5. The Biden administration set aside $4 billion to help minority farmers. White farmers say they are being unfairly excluded.
The tension has plunged Shade Lewis, above in La Grange, Mo., and other farmers of color into a new culture war over race, money and power in American farming. The payment plans have drawn thousands of enraged comments on farm forums. Some rural residents have rallied around a new slogan: All Farmers Matter.
For generations, Black farmers have struggled financially, and last year, they received little help from the Trump administration’s farm bailouts. On Friday, the U.S.D.A. said that it would begin making loan forgiveness payments in June to thousands of minority farmers as part of the relief program.
6. Russia faces a new security threat from climate change in the Arctic. Some are calling it the beginnings of a Very Cold War.
Nowhere on Earth has climate change been so pronounced as in the polar regions. As the sea ice melts, Russia is deploying more soldiers and equipment to the Far North, becoming essentially the first military to act on the strategic implications of climate change for the region. One expert called the big melt Russia’s strategic “worst nightmare.”
The drastic reductions in sea ice are opening up the Arctic to ships during the summer months and exposing Russia to new security threats. Of the five nations with significant Arctic coastline — Canada, Denmark (in Greenland), Norway, Russia and the U.S. — Russia has by far the longest.
7. “We just want to say to the whole Europe, to the whole world, rock ‘n’ roll never dies!”
That’s Damiano David, the lead singer of Maneskin after winning the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night. With their song “Zitti E Buoni,” Maneskin beat 25 other acts from across Europe to bring the title home for Italy. France came in second, and Switzerland came in third.
The contest was the first major global cultural event to be held in person since the coronavirus pandemic hit last year. Other contenders included a folk-techno act from Ukraine, a feminist Russian pop star and an Icelandic disco band. Here’s what we learned from the grand final.
8. The N.B.A. playoffs are underway. The scariest teams aren’t at the top.
In the Western Conference, neither of the two top seeds — the Jazz or the Suns — is favored to escape the conference with the defending-champion Lakers and the Clippers lurking. In the Eastern Conference, the Nets are finally at full strength, and the Bucks and the 76ers are revamped. Here’s a preview of the matchups.
And the Knicks — the Knicks! — finally have a seat at the table. No one is more excited about that than their long-suffering fans. They play the Hawks tonight at 7 Eastern.
But the toughest playoff matchup may be with the opponent the N.B.A. has been facing for 14 months: the coronavirus.
9. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
The pandemic, for all its woes, brought new customs and tastes. In nearly 20 states, to-go cocktails that were allowed under Covid-era rules are now here to stay. And breweries and beverage companies have invented new summer drinks, including hops-infused seltzers, hard seltzer smoothies and Popsicle-inspired beer.
All Eric Asimov, our wine critic, wants is a great summer beer. He prefers pilsners for a pronounced hop character that is dry and floral, or Kölsch, which is a little mellower. Gose, a wheat beer, is also a good bet. A beer on a summer day, “outside in the shade of a big old oak tree, with friends and an occasional breeze,” is exactly what’s needed right now, Asimov writes.
