☕ Attack at Lady Gaga concert stopped

Good morning!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! What was originally a holiday to mark a Mexican military victory is now best known as a celebration of Mexican culture worldwide, and nowhere more so than here in the US.

In recent decades, it has become a significant day for beer sales - we’re expected to spend over $700 million on alcohol today, more than on the Super Bowl and St Patrick’s Day.

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Some headlines from this morning:

• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has promised retaliation against both the Houthis and Iran after a Houthi missile detonated near Israel’s busiest airport. Four were injured, and operations at Ben Gurion International Airport were suspended after the missile detonated. The Houthis claimed the attack was retaliation against an Israeli expansion of military operations in Gaza. Earlier this morning, Israel’s government approved a new Gaza plan that will see an expansion of its ground offensive in the territory.

• President Trump has directed the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to “reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ (sic).” The prison, located 2 miles from California’s coast, closed in 1963 due to prohibitive operational costs. The president said the island will serve as "a symbol of law and order," harkening back to times when the U.S. did not “hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals”. The Bureau of Prisons has said it will comply with all presidential orders.

• Veteran investor Warren Buffett has confirmed he will step down as CEO of investment group Berkshire Hathaway, worth $1.6 trillion. The 94-year-old announced at the company's annual meeting in Nebraska that Vice-Chairman Greg Abel will succeed him as CEO. Buffett told the 40,000 attendees he plans to give away more than 99% of his $162 billion fortune. The business magnate began buying shares in Berkshire Hathaway in 1962, when it was a textile manufacturer. Under his leadership over the past 60 years, the company has grown into one of the world's largest investment firms, with successful early investments in Apple and Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD.

• President Trump has told NBC he will not seek another presidential term, diffusing concerns that he would try to exploit constitutional loopholes to secure a third term. As recently as last month, the President expressed interest in a third term, saying he was “not joking” and that he had people looking into ways around the 22nd Amendment, which explicitly prohibits three-term presidents. Refuting the reports that he would seek a third term, President Trump highlighted JD Vance and Marco Rubio as up-and-coming Republican presidential candidates.

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The Rio de Janeiro police department has announced it stopped a planned bombing at a Lady Gaga concert over the weekend.

The U.S. singer performed for more than two million people at a free concert on Copacana Beach on Saturday night (local time).

In a post to X, the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro (PCERJ) said an unnamed group sought to recruit teenagers to set off homemade explosives at the concert, targeting the LGBTQIA+ community.

A man and a 17-year-old boy have been arrested.

Operation

According to the Brazilian Government, police launched ‘Operation Fake Monster’ after a tipoff from the state of Rio de Janeiro’s cyber-safety authority.

The Government said police “dismantled” an online network, which “promoted the radicalisation of adolescents [and] the dissemination of hate crimes”.

More than a dozen raids were carried out around the country in the lead-up to the concert, which a government official said “prevent[ed] symbolic violence from migrating to reality”.

Police allege the network planned to set off explosives at the concert “to hit the LGBTQIA+ public”.

“The plan was treated as a ‘collective challenge’, to gain notoriety on social networks,” police said.

Gaga, who is openly bisexual, has been particularly popular in the LGBTQIA+ community throughout her career.

Lady Gaga

In a statement to U.S. media, Gaga’s team said they learned of the attempted bombing from news reports.

“Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police... regarding any potential risks. [We] worked closely with law enforcement... and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place,” a spokesperson said.

In a separate statement, Gaga thanked the attendees, but did not mention the incident.

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Prince Harry has lost a court appeal to restore his police protection in the UK.

When he left official duties in the Royal Family and moved to the US, the country's Parliament removed his high-level security detail.

In an interview with the BBC, Harry said the legal proceedings were a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up” and questioned whether the Government “want[s] to keep [his family] safe”.

Prince Harry

Harry, the Duke of Sussex and fifth in line to the British Throne, married his partner Meghan Markle in 2018.

In 2020, the pair announced they were stopping official royal duties and moving out of the UK because they “were not being protected by the institution.”

In response to their leaving their positions, the UK Government decided Harry and Meghan would not receive the “same degree” of police protection.

Lawsuit

Harry initially launched a case against the UK Government in 2021, which failed last year. He appealed this outcome.

Harry’s lawyers argued that his current security arrangements were inadequate, citing incidents such as an al-Qaeda call for his assassination and a paparazzi chase in New York in 2023.

The Government’s lawyers have argued that Harry is sometimes provided with security, citing the protection he received at an event in June 2021.

Update

On Friday, three judges at England’s Court of Appeals rejected Harry’s case.

Justice Geoffrey Vos said the Government’s original decision to offer Harry security protection during his visits to the UK on a “case-by-case basis” was made with “good reason,” because he was “not in a [similar] position to certain other VIPs for whom protection is provided”.

The judges concluded they “could not say the Duke's sense of grievance translated into a legal argument for a challenge.”

It means Harry and his family will not be provided the level of protection given to other members of the Royal Family.

In a statement, Harry said the decision “comes from the same institutions that preyed upon my mother, that openly campaigned for the removal of our security, and that continue to incite hatred towards me, my wife and even our children”.