America’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is in the Middle East in a last-ditch attempt to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. On Monday Mr Blinken said that an American proposal presented last week to Israel and Hamas is “probably the best, maybe the last opportunity” for a deal that would end the war and secure the release of Israeli hostages. Both sides accept the basic framework of the agreement. It includes a six-week truce in which some of the hostages would be freed, leading to talks on a more permanent ceasefire.

But an actual deal remains elusive. Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, accepted a “bridging proposal” that would lead to a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages. Mr Blinken is waiting for Hamas to also accept. But Hamas is demanding a firmer commitment to a permanent ceasefire. Talks will continue this week in Egypt and Qatar. The decision lies with two hardliners: Mr Netanyahu, and Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar. Each is focused not only on ending the war, but also on his own political fate.

Ukraine’s shock raid in Russia’s Kursk region has boosted morale and shown that Ukrainian forces have developed effective new tactics. But a fortnight after the operation began, progress has slowed and the outlines of a new front line are emerging. Ukraine now appears to be focused on establishing a line of control on the southern bank of the Seim river to the north-west of the town of Sudzha. On Monday Russian officials said Ukraine had struck a third bridge over the river, having destroyed two crossings late last week.

Russia’s response, initially sluggish, is intensifying . The Kursk operation has belatedly forced Russia to divert some troops from the Donbas inside Ukraine. Still, Russian forces are maintaining heavy pressure on Pokrovsk, a strategically important town in the Donetsk region. The war is reaching a dramatic moment. Ukraine hopes to sustain its raid, changing the defeatist narrative about a frozen conflict. Russia wants to crush the incursion and press home its assault elsewhere.

Europe’s construction sector is in a bad way. Interest rates are high, making financing of new projects expensive. Real wages, while growing, are lower than they used to be, making buyers stingy. Although supply disruptions have eased, construction costs are higher than before. The rise of working from home has also dented demand for new office blocks. But the EU’s construction-output data for June, released on Tuesday, surprised with a strong increase, compared with May.

Might this be the start of a recovery? Recent surveys suggested that a decline in output, which started in early 2023, would continue: new orders are falling and the sector is shedding workers. Firms are also pessimistic about future growth, despite some rebound in house prices in countries such as Germany. The latest data notwithstanding, it will probably take time for the recovery in real wages and falling interest rates to boost the construction sector, and help Europe’s economy grow stronger.

Turkey’s central bank has raised interest rates by 41.5 percentage points in little more than a year. Turkey’s annual inflation rate is finally falling, from 71.6% in June to 61.8% in July. The bank hopes that figure will drop to 38% by the end of the year. To meet the target, it cannot afford to make any premature interest-rate cuts. Analysts expect the bank’s monetary policy committee to hold the benchmark borrowing rate at 50% when it meets on Tuesday.

But the struggle against inflation has come at a cost. High deposit rates and interventions by state banks have slowed the Turkish lira’s slide against the dollar. The currency’s depreciation is much lower than consumer-price growth, leading to concerns that it is overvalued. Exporters are pleading with the government to allow the lira to depreciate to regain their competitive edge. Hoteliers are complaining that Turkey is becoming too expensive even for foreigners. Disinflation has its discontents, too.

Bob Menendez’s 18-year career as a senator from New Jersey ends in disgrace on Tuesday, when his resignation takes effect. In July Mr Menendez was convicted of corruption. Prosecutors said the senator took bribes—cash, a Mercedes-Benz, mortgage payments and gold bars—in exchange for advancing the interests of Egypt and Qatar. At the time, he was the chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The indictment, unveiled last autumn, triggered a race for his seat.

When Tammy Murphy, the wife of the state’s Democratic governor, declared her bid for Mr Menendez’s seat, she was promptly backed by local party bosses, whose endorsements give candidates favourable spots on the ballot. But charges of nepotism stuck. The underdog—Andy Kim, a Democratic congressman—defeated Ms Murphy in early local contests. Ms Murphy eventually dropped out of the primary, and the easily abused ballot system was overhauled, too. New Jersey politics is notoriously full of scandal. Mr Menendez’s downfall seems to be forcing a clean-up.