Flagship

India plane crash kills all but one passenger

A London-bound Air India jet crashed just after takeoff Thursday, killing all but one of the 242 people on board. The crash in the western city of Ahmedabad also killed dozens of people on the ground, after the plane struck a medical college. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident “heartbreaking beyond words.” One passenger, a British national visiting family in India, survived, the airline confirmed. It’s not immediately clear what caused the Boeing plane to descend shortly after taking off; Indian authorities have launched an investigation. The crash brings the American aviation giant under fresh scrutiny: Boeing has been in “recovery mode” for years after several other high-profile incidents and crashes involving its planes, naming a new CEO in August.

US tensions flare over immigration

The Trump administration sent conflicting signals about its immigration crackdown, amid growing legal and political scrutiny over the deportation effort. US President Donald Trump suggested “changes are coming” to immigration enforcement, citing business leaders’ concerns over raids targeting “impossible to replace” agricultural and hotel workers — even as Trump’s border czar told Semafor that US employers would be targeted as part of the deportation effort. Tensions remained high in California as a federal judge considered the state’s lawsuit aiming to block Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to quell protests, while a Democratic senator was forcibly removed in handcuffs from a Homeland Security press conference. Nationwide anti-Trump protests are planned for Saturday — the same day as a military parade in Washington.

Iran vows to boost enrichment

Iran vowed to build a new uranium enrichment facility, moments after a United Nations watchdog on Thursday declared Tehran is not complying with its nuclear obligations. The censure, the first such resolution against Iran in 20 years, comes amid heightened tensions over the country’s nuclear capabilities and rising threats of military action in the region. US officials reportedly believe Israel is weighing a strike on Iran that could trigger a massive retaliation from Tehran. The chance of an Israeli strike “has never been higher — but it’s quite a bit lower than most people believe,” one expert told Bloomberg: As long as the US is negotiating with Iran, an attack would be “inconceivable.”

China demands info for minerals

China has demanded sensitive information from some Western companies in exchange for rare earths, the firms said, after Beijing agreed to ease export restrictions on the critical minerals. China dominates the world’s supply and production of rare earths, and its requests for data underscore the country’s outsize influence on global supply chains. Despite security concerns, many companies see securing magnets and minerals from China as their priority, the Financial Times reported. That leverage reflects Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s strategy of “playing a longer game” in the trade war with the US, one China expert said, while President Donald Trump seemed content to champion quick wins.

One year makes big difference for G7

This year’s G7 meeting in Canada will look very different from the last summit. Of the seven leaders of the world’s largest industrialized democracies who met in Italy last year, five have since been ousted. This year’s gathering brings together newer and, broadly, more popular leaders, but US President Donald Trump’s reelection has also caused fresh divisions: His tariffs and warmer posture toward Moscow will almost certainly overshadow the confab, especially in discussions over sanctions against Russia. Given the “visible seams in Western unity, this month’s gathering in Canada might have a lower bar,” one expert wrote. “It could be judged a success merely if leaders stand in line and smile for the traditional ‘family photo.’”

More Ukraine aid from Germany

Germany’s defense secretary pledged nearly 2 billion euros in additional military aid for Ukraine, while his US counterpart previewed cuts in assistance. The German funds will help finance long-range munitions, but Berlin did not agree to deliver the Taurus cruise missiles that Ukraine had asked for. Kyiv’s European allies are under pressure as Washington rows back its support: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week that the Pentagon’s upcoming budget would reduce assistance for Ukraine. The funding cuts run counter to US President Donald Trump’s stated goal of peace, the Institute for the Study of War argued. Russia believes it can “sustain creeping, incremental advances on the battlefield longer… than the West is willing to support Ukraine.”

‘Fake’ McDonald’s lobbies Putin

Russia’s knockoff McDonald’s really doesn’t want the real Golden Arches to make a comeback. The CEO of Vkusno i tochka — a burger chain that took over many Russian McDonald’s locations after the US company left the country in 2022, replicating its logo and menu — recently lobbied Russian President Vladimir Putin to block Western companies from returning and buying their franchises back, the Financial Times reported. The businessman behind the joint is part of an emerging industrial Russian class that has thrived during the war due to the lack of foreign competition. Putin previously seemed open to Western companies after US President Donald Trump pledged stronger economic ties, but the Kremlin has taken a protectionist turn as Ukraine peace talks have languished.

The media industry has spent the last decade talking about its own decline — but where is it actually headed? This week on Mixed Signals, Ben kicks off a special three-part crossover with Peter Kafka of Channels and Brian Morrissey of The Rebooting. In part one of the conversation, the three discuss the future of media bundles, why everyone seems to be canceling and re-subscribing to streaming services, and whether Substack’s business model is sustainable. They also discuss solo ad sales, misplaced cable nostalgia, and whether journalism is better, or just lonelier, outside of institutions.

Listen to the latest episode of Mixed Signals now.

When girls and boys diverge in math

A major new study has identified the moment girls tend to fall behind boys in math. Teenage boys outperform girls on math tests worldwide and men are more likely to pursue math-related careers, but the reason for this gap remains unclear. Researchers studied 3 million French children, finding that there was no math gap between boys and girls upon starting school, but they had diverged considerably just a year later. Age was also ruled out as a factor, as children showed the gap after a year of school even if they were born days apart from those just entering education. The researchers said the results indicate environmental, rather than innate, factors cause the gap, which could include negative stereotyping about girls and math.

AI stock picker outperforms

An artificial intelligence bot trained to pick stocks outperformed human investors by 600%, according to a new study. Researchers fed the AI market data from 1980 to 1990, and then simulated the next 30 years, giving the AI publicly available information from the time, and comparing its performance to real investors. The AI tended to use relatively simple variables, such as firm size and trading volume, but then it applied complex algorithms to squeeze as much predictive value as it could. The results were so striking that the team sat on them for a year “trying to find where we’d done something wrong.” An AI would likely not outperform real investors today, however, as they also have access to more sophisticated tools, including AI.

World’s ‘richest wreck’ found