Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire after weeks of indirect negotiations brokered by the US, Qatar, and Egypt.

The three-phase agreement announced yesterday in Qatar and set to be approved by Israel’s government today, starts with a ceasefire, and intends to eventually achieve a lasting truce. However, a vote on the deal by the Israeli cabinet has been delayed after PM Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement, which Hamas denies.

If approved, the deal’s six-week first phase is expected to begin on Sunday:

• Hamas is to start releasing 33 of the over 100 (living and presumed dead) Israeli hostages still held in the enclave, prioritizing Americans, women, children, and civilians older than fifty. In return, Israel has to release 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.
• Gazan civilians are to be allowed to move between the Northern and Southern parts of the enclave, enabling them to return to their homes. Israel is to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, and its troops are to withdraw into a 1-kilometer buffer zone in the Northern part of the territory.

Sixteen days in, Israel and Hamas are meant to start negotiating the subsequent phases of the deal aimed at ending the war permanently. The second phase is designed to include the release of the remaining living hostages and Israeli forces leaving Gaza entirely, while the third would involve an exchange of bodies of deceased hostages and prisoners, and the beginning of efforts to rebuild Gaza.

Ending 15 months of bloodshed

Fighting has been ongoing since Hamas militants attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 civilians and soldiers, and taking 250 Israelis hostage. Over 100 hostages have since been freed, and dozens are believed to have died in captivity.

Israel responded by unleashing a destructive military campaign in Gaza that displaced 90% of the area’s population and killed over 46,600 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties, but says that most of the dead are women, children, or the elderly.

For the historic record…the diplomatic breakthrough culminates months of ceasefire efforts by the Biden Administration, and more recently, the incoming Trump team. President-elect Donald Trump warned Hamas that “all hell will break out” if Israeli hostages weren’t freed before he takes office, while reportedly aggressively pushing Israel to shake on a deal behind the scenes. Both presidents claimed credit for the deal.—SK

Big banks’ business is booming. Big banks kicked off earnings season strong, with America’s biggest bank, JPMorgan, posting its—and any US bank’s—largest ever full-year profit of $58 billion. Its Q4 profits also jumped 50% compared to the year before. Meanwhile, Q4 profits at Goldman Sachs shot up 105%, and Citi and Wells Fargo also reported strong results for the quarter, which saw companies get optimistic about the economy thanks to rising employment numbers and an expectation that Donald Trump’s incoming administration will be business-friendly. Reporting today: Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.

Biden says farewell. President Joe Biden gave a speech from behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office yesterday, looking to define his legacy as he departs from office. The president, who has been in politics for half a century, touted his record of protecting democracy, stressing its importance and warning against oligarchy and “a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country.”

The DOT really wants your plane to land on time. The Department of Transportation slapped Southwest Airlines with a lawsuit yesterday accusing the budget carrier of operating chronically late flights because of unrealistic scheduling. Southwest said that it was "disappointed" by the suit, touting its record of not cancelling flights. The DOT also announced a $650,000 fine for Frontier Airlines over late arrivals. This looks like part of a larger crackdown since the department recently issued its first-ever fine against JetBlue over similar allegations.—AR

Candy Corn is officially an enemy of the state. The US Food and Drug Administration banned Red 3, a dye often used to color candy and other foods (and ingestible drugs like cough syrup) over its link to cancer in male lab rats.

The dye—also known as erythrosine or FD&C Red No. 3—is used primarily to give products a bright red coloring and has been allowed in US food and drink production for the last 50 years. Items like the very apparent Ring Pops and Dubble Bubble gumballs contain Red 3, as do less vibrant treats such as Nesquik’s strawberry low-fat milk and MorningStar Farms’ veggie bacon strips.

The fight against Red 3 was a long one. In 1990, the FDA decided the dye couldn’t be used to make cosmetics or topical drugs due to its potentially carcinogenic properties. Citing fear of a potential lawsuit striking it down, the department didn’t extend the ban to consumables, saying the lab rat research didn’t show the dye caused cancer in humans.

Anti-dye advocates shifted public sentiment. California was the first to ban the dye in 2023. Tennessee, Arkansas, and Indiana have all since filed proposals to limit the dye’s use. Food manufacturers will have until 2027 to make the change, but a number of them saw the writing on the wall and have already replaced Red 3 in products with beet juice, carmine, and other natural products.—MM

Last name Lawsuit, first name Filed: Aubrey Drake Graham is taking Universal Music Group to court over its promotion of Kendrick Lamar’s magnum opus diss track, “Not Like Us,” which he alleged threatened his life and reputation in a complaint submitted yesterday.

The lawsuit doesn’t name Lamar. This is between Drake and UMG, which represents both rappers. Drake’s suit argues that:

• UMG defamed his character and opened him up to harassment by promoting “Not Like Us,” which refers to Drake and his crew as “certified pedophiles.” Drake’s filing reasoned that UMG wouldn’t be working with him if it believed that allegation was true.
• The shooting of a security guard at Drake’s Toronto home may have been the result of the location being featured on the track’s cover art.
• UMG wanted to devalue Drake’s “music and brand” to get the upper hand in upcoming contract renegotiations.

Drake submitted similar pre-lawsuit petitions in state court against UMG and Spotify in November, but withdrew them Tuesday before filing against UMG in federal court. He’s also accusing UMG of striking backdoor deals with music streamers, influencers, and radio stations to boost “Not Like Us.”

UMG’s response: “[Drake] now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music,” a spokesperson said yesterday, calling the lawsuit “illogical.”—ML

Getting an MBA from an elite program might not provide quite the fast track to a summer house in a desirable zip code that it once did. Twenty-three percent of MBAs who walked the stage at Harvard’s graduation in May were still looking for a job three months later—up from 20% the year before and 10% in 2022—the Wall Street Journal reports. And it’s not just MBAs who went to school just outside Boston who are struggling to secure work: More than 12 top-tier business schools, Wharton and Stanford among them, had worse job placement success last year “than any other in recent memory,” per WSJ.

The schools still believe their graduates have an edge, and most do eventually end up with high-paying employment. But the schools like to emphasize how quickly, often using the three-month hiring stats to woo potential students who may be weighing whether the grad program is worth it. The recent grads’ struggles may also reflect a broader cool-down in the white collar job market, even as US employment numbers overall soar.—AR