Financial Times - James Shotter and Andrew England / US and Europe seek to dissuade Israel from striking back against Iran

• The US and its European allies have stepped up efforts to dissuade Israel from striking back against Iran, as Israel’s military chief vowed to respond to Tehran’s unprecedented attack on the country’s territory. 

• US secretary of state Antony Blinken and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak both said western countries were preparing sanctions on Tehran as they sought to prevent escalation into a full-blown Middle East war. 

• Blinken said Washington was “co-ordinating a diplomatic response to seek to prevent escalation”, while Sunak said the G7 was working on further diplomatic measures against Iran, which is already heavily sanctioned by the west. 

• US President Joe Biden was “certainly not looking for a war with Iran”, John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesperson, said on Monday. “We’re not looking to broaden and deepen this conflict in the region.”

The Guardian - Victoria Bekiempis / Trump in court as first day of New York hush-money trial wraps up
 

• The first day of Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush-money trial came to a close on Monday afternoon with jury selection under way, marking a notable moment in American history: the first criminal trial of a current or former president. 

• Throughout the day, Trump appeared at Manhattan supreme court court in New York City flanked by his lawyers to face 34 felony counts involving a catch-and-kill scheme. 

• Trump had arrived at court for the start of jury selection shortly after 9am. Wearing his usual uniform of a navy suit and crimson tie, Trump spoke in the hallway before entering the courtroom in the morning. 

• “This is an assault on America. Nothing like this has ever happened before, there’s never been anything like it,” Trump told a group of reporters. He called it “political persecution”, “a case that should have never been brought” and “an assault on our country”.

Politico - Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes / Johnson plans separate House votes on Ukraine and Israel this week
 

• Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP lawmakers that he’ll try to pass four measures this week to send aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan — each in separate bills, according to multiple Republicans in the private Monday meeting. 

• A fourth proposed bill, which is still being finalized, would include a package of related measures, including a lend-lease deal for military aid, a ban on TikTok in the U.S. and provisions to sell off assets seized from Russian oligarchs. 

• It's far from certain that Johnson would have the votes to bring the bills to the floor, given the procedural hurdles of Republicans' narrow majority that have vexed the speaker for months. Johnson would need near-unanimous support from his own conference to bring the whole package of bills up for passage, a procedure known as a rules vote, plus prior approval from a Rules Committee stacked with conservatives who may resist based on Ukraine aid. 

• Earlier Monday, hardliners in the House Freedom Caucus released a statement saying they opposed using necessary cash for Israel to "ram through Ukraine aid." And several members of the group declined on Monday night as they left the closed-door meeting to say if they would support bringing the bills to the floor at this point.

   

Bloomberg / China Grows 5.3% in First Quarter But Doubts Remain Over Sustainability
 

• China announced faster-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter – along with some numbers that suggest things are set to get tougher in the rest of the year. 

• Gross domestic product climbed 5.3% in the period, accelerating slightly from the previous quarter and beating estimates. But much of the bounce came in the first two months of the year. In March, growth in retail sales slumped and industrial output decelerated below forecasts, suggesting challenges on the horizon. 

• “Markets may find it hard to be convinced by the strong GDP growth print and difficult to reconcile with the mixed March data,” said Xiaojia Zhi, chief China economist at Credit Agricole. “There could be also concerns that if GDP growth remains above 5% as data suggest, policymakers would be quite comfortable and see no pressure to further ease their policies.” 

• The world’s second-largest economy has struggled to find a firm footing post-pandemic. Manufacturing is holding up, thanks to overseas demand and Beijing’s focus on developing advanced technologies at home. But a prolonged real estate crisis is weighing on confidence and factory prices have been in deflation for more than a year, reflecting anemic domestic demand and excess capacity in some industries.

   

Our opinion reads for today:

Project Syndicate - Dennis Ross / Israel Must End the Gaza War
The Economist / Iranians fear their brittle regime will drag them into war