Accordo Hamas-Israele più vicino? Arresti per frode da $40m in Ucraina 🗞️ Rassegna del 30/01/2024

Israele

(AP) US sees signs of progress on deal to release hostages, bring temporary pause to Israel-Hamas war

• U.S. negotiators are making progress on a potential agreement under which Israel would pause military operations against Hamas in Gaza for two months in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages [...], according to two senior administration officials.
• The officials [...] said Saturday that emerging terms of the yet-to-be sealed deal would play out over two phases. In the first phase, fighting would stop to allow for the remaining women, elderly and wounded hostages to be released by Hamas. Israel and Hamas would then aim to work out details during the first 30 days of the pause for a second phase in which Israeli soldiers and civilian men would be released. 
• The emerging deal also calls for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
• The White House and CIA have yet to publicly confirm Burns’ meeting in France and administration officials have been guarded that a deal can quickly be brokered.

(Politico) UN chief pleads for Palestinian relief funding amid allegations of Hamas aid

• United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday pleaded with donor countries to keep the U.N.’s Palestinian relief agency financially afloat after some governments [Gran Bretagna, Germania, Italia, Paesi Bassi, Svizzera, Finlandia, Stati Uniti, Australia e Canada] suspended funding amid allegations that some agency staff aided the Hamas attacks on Israel last October. The agency’s current funding will not carry it through next month, Guterres said.
• At the same time, Guterres said he was “horrified” by the accusations. The U.N. is “taking swift action” to investigate the allegations by the Israeli intelligence services, he said. [...]
• Guterres said that nine of the 12 people implicated in the allegations have been fired; one is confirmed dead; and the identity of two others is still being “clarified,” according to the statement

(Reuters) EU reviews funding for UN Palestinian agency after Israeli allegations

• Several countries, including EU members Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Finland, paused funding for UNRWA after allegations by Israel that 12 of its 13,000 staff in Gaza were involved
• No additional funding for the organisation is currently foreseen until the end of February, the commission said.

Ucraina

(The Guardian) Ukraine’s security service arrests five people accused of $40m arms fraud

• Ukraine’s SBU security service has arrested five people who allegedly tried to steal nearly $40 million [€36,4 million] that was supposed to be used to buy shells for the country’s military in its war against Russia.
• The SBU [...] arrested two senior officials from the ministry of defence. They had allegedly conspired with the chief executive of a little-known arms firm, Lviv Arsenal, over a contract for 100,000 mortar shells. [...] All face up to 12 years in prison.
• The ministry paid the amount in full in August of last year. The firm failed to deliver any shells and instead diverted some of the cash to a bank account in the Balkans, it was claimed. [...]
• The arrests came as Russia carried out overnight drone and missile attacks on four regions of Ukraine. [...] The air force said that civilian sites and “critical infrastructure” were attacked in central Poltava, eastern Donetsk, southeastern Zaporizhzhia and central Dnipropetrovsk.

(Reuters) World Court to rule on jurisdiction in Russia-Ukraine genocide case

• The United Nations' highest court will rule on Friday whether it will hear a case in which Ukraine has accused Russia of violating international law by saying its invasion was launched to stop an alleged genocide
• Kyiv says Russia is breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by saying the invasion was justified to stop an alleged genocide of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine
• Ukraine says there was no risk of genocide in eastern Ukraine, where it had been fighting Russian-backed forces since 2014. Moscow has said Ukraine is using the case as a roundabout way to get a ruling on the overall legality of Russia's military action

Russia

(Kyiv Independent) FT: Russia's proposed gas pipeline to China hindered by construction delays

• A planned gas pipeline connecting Russia's Yamal Peninsula through Mongolia to China faces construction delays, Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene said [...]
• Oyun-Erdene said that China and Russia have not yet agreed on some of the crucial details of the planned 3,550-kilometer pipeline.
• Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the construction schedule would be finalized after a forthcoming contract with the Chinese side but did not specify a timeline.

Europa

Francia:

(Reuters) French PM considers more help for farmers as protests persist

(Reuters) France drops plan to decrease farmers' diesel discount but protests to continue

• After two weeks of protests that have spread across France, with irate farmers on Friday blocking a major highway out of Paris, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a series of measures to ease financial and administrative pressure on farmers.
• He said a plan to phase out state support on diesel would be scrapped, red tape simplified and an appeal lodged with the European Union for a waiver on bloc-wide rules on fallow land.
• The French government may give further help to the country's farmers, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday, after agricultural leaders said nationwide protests to demand better pay and living conditions would continue.
• The FNSEA, France's biggest farmers' union, has said it will continue protests and other unions have threatened roadblocks around Paris and the Rungis wholesale food market near the capital.

Macedonia del Nord:

(Reuters) North Macedonia elects Albanian as caretaker PM

• North Macedonia's parliament elected Talat Xhaferi to head a caretaker government on Sunday, the first time an Albanian has held the position, and he will lead the country until general elections scheduled for early May take place.
• Xhaferi served as the speaker in parliament before he was nominated by the ruling government coalition to become prime minister. The current government's main task is to secure fair and free elections.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

USA:

(Reuters) Three US troops killed, up to 34 injured in Jordan drone strike linked to Iran

• Three U.S. service members were killed and dozens may be wounded after an unmanned aerial drone attack on U.S. forces stationed in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border. [...]
• "While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq," Biden said in a statement.
• At least 34 personnel were evaluated for possible traumatic brain injury [...]
• The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization of hardline Iran-backed militant groups, claimed attacks on three bases, including one on the Jordan-Syria border.

(Reuters) Pentagon chief vows 'all necessary actions' after US troop deaths in Jordan

• "The president and I will not tolerate attacks on U.S. forces and we will take all necessary actions to defend the U.S. and our troops," Austin added at the start of meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Pentagon.
• White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Biden was weighing his options for responding. "We are not seeking a war with Iran," he said.
• Two officials said a U.S. drone was approaching the base around the same time the attack drone was incoming. One of the officials said the attack drone was also flying low, factors that may have contributed to it being missed by base defenses

(CNN) Biden administration tells Congress it intends to sell Turkey F-16s after Erdogan approved Sweden’s NATO membership

• The Biden administration told Congress it intends to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed off on Sweden’s accession to NATO on Thursday [...]
• The State Department sent the formal notification about the proposed $23 billion sale to Congress on Friday after Turkey’s instruments of ratification were formally deposited at the department. The State Department also sent Congress a formal notification of its intent to sell $8.6 billion worth of F-35s to Greece. Congress is expected to approve both sales.

Asia e Pacifico

Iran e Pakistan:

(Reuters) Pakistan, Iran to expand security cooperation, move on from missile strikes

• The two countries agreed to fight terrorism in their respective areas and establish a system of consultations at the level of the foreign ministers to oversee progress across sectors
• Relations between the two countries had soured after the missile strikes, with Pakistan recalling its ambassador to Tehran and not allowing his counterpart to return to Islamabad, as well as cancelling all high-level diplomatic and trade engagements.

Africa

Niger / Mali / Burkina Faso:

(Reuters) Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso want to quit ECOWAS regional block

• Three West African junta-led states Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso said on Sunday they are immediately leaving the ECOWAS, a regional economic bloc that has been urging them to return to democratic rule.
• Since the coups, [...] they have hardened their rhetoric against the bloc and accused it of being influenced by external powers. The three countries have also cut military and cooperation ties with former colonial master France, and turned to Russia for security support.
• According to the bloc's treaty, member states wishing to withdraw must give a written one-year notice. It is unclear for now if the three states have done so. The treaty say they must continue to abide by its provisions during the year-long period.