TODAY’S MIDEAST story

Israel and Hamas meet to talk hostages, Trump’s plan

What happened
Hamas negotiators arrived in Egypt yesterday for indirect negotiations with Israel prompted by President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza war. Hamas accepted the general terms of the plan on Friday, including the release of all remaining hostages, living and dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address Saturday that he hoped to announce the hostages’ release “in the coming days.”

Who said what
These negotiations are “expected to be among the most consequential since the start of the war,” the BBC said, and Hamas’ willingness to “enter the talks without explicit conditions” may be “a recognition of its limited leverage after nearly two years of war.” Netanyahu “took much personal credit” for the emerging plan, The New York Times said, but it was “abundantly clear to Israelis, and to Palestinians and others in the region,” that Trump was “calling the shots.”

“I said, ‘Bibi, this is your chance for victory.’ He was fine with it,” Trump told Axios’ Barak Ravid on Saturday. “He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice.” Trump “doesn’t threaten Netanyahu; he orders him,” Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in yesterday’s Yedioth Ahronoth.

What next?
The “messages from Hamas and Israeli leaders” suggested “both sides were under more pressure than at any point in recent months,” The Washington Post said. But “there remained substantial gaps between their positions and a significant possibility that the fragile détente would break down.” Israel said its negotiators are traveling to Egypt today, and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to join the talks later this week.

TODAY’S INTERNATIONAL Story

Japan poised to get first woman prime minister

What happened
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi (pictured above), a hard-line conservative, as its new leader, putting her on track to become the country’s first woman prime minister later this month. Takaichi, an acolyte of the late former leader Shinzo Abe and admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, beat out four male rivals in the second round of voting in Saturday’s leadership election.

Who said what
Takaichi’s rise “reflects an eagerness for change” in the LDP after a series of losses put her party in the “unusual position of being a minority in both houses of parliament,” The New York Times said. But while she is on the cusp of breaking a major gender barrier, her “own views on women’s rights are complicated.” Takaichi “opposes same-sex marriage and allowing married couples to have separate surnames, an issue that has broad public support in Japan,” Reuters said. But as a “drummer and a fan of heavy metal,” she is “no stranger to creating noise.”

Takaichi “will have to contend with a sluggish economy,” inflation and slow wage growth, the BBC said, and “navigate a challenging U.S.-Japan relationship,” starting with a potential summit with President Donald Trump later this month. But first she “faces an immediate hurdle,” the Times said: She must win enough votes in parliament to become prime minister.

What next?
The LDP needs to add another party to its minority government, The Associated Press said, but Takaichi’s “ultra-conservative politics,” especially her hawkish “revisionism of wartime history and regular visits” to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, have put her “on the verge of losing her party’s long-time coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed dovish centrist Komeito.”

It’s not all bad

The United Nations has added 26 new Biosphere Reserves — protected land and sea areas where conservation is balanced with human activity — to its network, bringing the total to 785 sites across 142 countries. Angola and Iceland are among the six nations receiving their first designation, while the African island nation São Tomé and Principe became the first country to be fully covered by a reserve. Biosphere Reserves now safeguard 5% of the Earth’s landmass, with a global goal of conserving 30% of nature by 2030.

Under the radar

‘Friendflation’: the rising cost of a social life

Can you put a price on friendship? Apparently you can — and it isn’t cheap. Like your electricity bills and grocery trips, “maintaining a friendship is also getting pricey,” Ryan Seacrest said on his On Air podcast. This “friendflation” means if you want to celebrate a friend’s birthday, for example, cakes cost more, as do “dinners, drinks, movies, it’s all up.”

Socializing has “radically evolved” to have a “much bigger price tag,” Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, author of “The Sum of Small Things,” told the Financial Times. Today, the average cost of attending a bachelor or bachelorette party in the U.K. is about $1,000 a person, rising to $1,600 for a trip abroad, according to the insurance company Aviva. A survey last year from BadCredit.org found that Americans in their 20s and 30s spend more than $430 a month just on maintaining friendships.

The soaring cost of socializing can be traced back to the 2008 recession, when “inconspicuous consumption” became popular, pushing consumers toward more “experience-driven” spending rather than showing off costly material goods. The pandemic intensified that cultural shift as people left lockdown determined to live “full lives” and increase their social activity. Social media has played its part, too, with every get-together and vacation on full display online.

Money is still a taboo topic, and the “illusion of equality is integral” to maintaining a friendship, University of Kansas communications studies professor Jeffrey Hall told the FT. Many people won’t speak up when forced to spend and will stretch themselves to attend social events for fear of jeopardizing their relationships in a culture where people are increasingly pressured to “demonstrate their friendship or allegiance” by spending money.

On this day

October 6, 1956

Dr. Albert Sabin announced that his oral polio vaccine was ready for testing. The vaccine was proven safe and effective and eventually supplanted the original polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. Polio immunizations are now administered by injection in the U.S., but some countries still use the oral polio vaccine.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘Nuclear war of shutdowns’

“Nuclear war of shutdowns targets jobs and grants,” USA Today says on Monday’s front page. “As shutdown grips U.S., parties mostly shrug,” says The New York Times. “Parties dig in, await pain from shutdown,” The Wall Street Journal says. “Battle escalates over use of Guard,” The Washington Post says. “Tensions mount in Portland, Chicago,” says The Minnesota Star Tribune. “Illinois Guard to be deployed ‘immediately,’” says the Chicago Tribune. “Oregon, feds trade a flurry of last-minute legal moves,” The Oregonian says. “Get out of Memphis,” says The Commercial Appeal, quoting protesters against a National Guard occupation. “As fear rises, school enrollment falls,” says The Boston Globe.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Life after theft

Nathan Blake thought he was being pranked when police called his parents and said he was dead in Spain, but it turns out the British man was actually the victim of identity theft. After visiting his parents to show proof of life, Blake found out through the British consulate that the person who died had been masquerading as him for years. The man likely stole Blake’s identity when he was vacationing in Barcelona.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Deeya Sonalkar, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.