Robert Fico in pericolo di vita, Zelensky rinvia i viaggi all'estero 🗞️ Rassegna del 16/05/2024

Israele

(Al Jazeera) Israel’s war on Gaza live: Many casualties feared after strike on Gaza City

• Many casualties are feared after reports of an Israeli attack on an internet access point in central Gaza City.
• Fierce gun battles rage in northern Gaza’s Jabalia and southern Rafah as Israeli military incursions intensify against Palestinian armed groups. Hamas and Israel’s army both claim significant enemy casualties.
• At least 82 Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours, the highest death toll in a single day in many weeks, during relentless Israeli air attacks.
• More than 450,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah city with another 100,000 evacuating the north as Israel’s military launches new attacks.

Ucraina

(REUTERS) Zelenskyy postpones travel abroad as Russian troops enter Ukraine border town

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy postponed all his foreign trips [Spain and Portugal were on the list of countries Zelenskyy was set to visit] as the battlefield situation continued to deteriorate on Wednesday and Kyiv said fighting raged in the northeastern border town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region.
• The capture of the town, 5 km (3 miles) from the border, would be Russia's most significant gain since it launched an incursion into the region on Friday, opening a new front in its invasion and forcing Kyiv to rush in reinforcements.
• The assault keeps Ukraine's forces, also holding the 1,000 km (600 mile) front line in east and south, off balance ahead of what Zelenskyy has said could be a big Russian offensive in the coming weeks. Moscow has been slowly making ground in the east for months.
• The deteriorating situation in Kharkiv region coincided with a visit to Kyiv by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said the U.S. was aiming to ensure the speedy delivery of much needed weapons to battlefield.

(Kyiv Independent) Blinken: Washington has not encouraged Ukraine to strike inside Russia with US weapons, but decision up to Kyiv

• Ukraine "has to make decisions for itself" when deciding how to use U.S.-supplied weapons that could strike targets inside Russian territory, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on May 15.
• Speaking in Kyiv during a press conference, Blinken was asked about recent Ukrainian complaints that a Washington ban meant Ukraine was unable to attack Russian forces as they were building up before crossing the border into Kharkiv Oblast.
• "We've not enabled or encouraged strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately, Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it's going to conduct this war," he said.

Europa

Slovacchia:

(REUTERS) Slovak PM Fico in life-threatening condition after assassination attempt, government says + (Associated Press) Slovakia’s prime minister wounded in shooting + (The Telegraph) Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico in life-threatening condition after assassination attempt

• Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suffered life-threatening injuries when he was shot and wounded in an attempted assassination on Wednesday, the government office said. Fico was rushed to hospital in the central city of Handlova after holding a government meeting there, and was being transported by helicopter to the city of Banska Bystrica for urgent treatment, it said.
• A Reuters witness heard several shots fired after the meeting in Handlova northeast of the capital Bratislava. Police detained a man and security officials pushed someone into a car and drove off, the witness said.
• Mr Fico’s suspected attacker has been named in the media as Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old man from Levice, a town in western Slovakia. He is alleged to have owned the gun used in the shooting legally and is under arrest. 
• Slovakia’s major opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, canceled a planned protest against a controversial government plan to overhaul public broadcasting that they say would give the government full control of public radio and television.
• Condemnations of political violence quickly came from leaders across Europe, although no motive for the attack was immediately apparent: “Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.

Germania:

(Bloomberg) Russia Accused of Using German Anti-War Protests for Propaganda

• Russian military intelligence has worked to exploit fringe peace demonstrations in Germany as part of a broader operation aiming to influence public opinion in the country and undermine support for Ukraine, according to European government officials familiar with the matter and documents seen by Bloomberg News.
• One organization targeted by the Russian GRU’s psychological operations unit 54777 is Alternative Kinder Zukunft (AKiZ) and its “Children of War” photo project, said the officials [...]
• The small campaigning organization is led by Oksana Walter, who has in the past rejected criticism that it aligns with pro-Russian propaganda. [...] In addition to publishing content about the protests and the war, AKiZ uses its website and TikTok channel to post about Covid-19 vaccines and Russian language lessons for children. Its website has also promoted short films “dedicated to the memory of child victims” it says were killed by Ukrainian operations in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
• While most of AKiZ’s peace demonstrations haven’t gained much traction in the German press, they’ve been covered by several Russian propaganda outlets, including ANNA News, an agency that the European officials said is affiliated with Russia’s GRU military intelligence.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

USA:

(Associated Press) Biden and Trump agree on presidential debates on June 27 and in September

• President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday agreed to hold two campaign debates in June and September — the first on June 27 hosted by CNN — setting the stage for the first presidential face-off in just weeks.
• The quick agreement on the timetable to meet followed the Democrat’s announcement that he will not participate in fall presidential debates sponsored by the nonpartisan commission that has organized them for more than three decades. 
• Still, the two sides appeared to be hold significant differences on key questions of how to organize the debates, including agreeing on moderators and rules — some of the very questions that prompted the formation of the Commission on Presidential Debates in 1987.
• CNN said that the debate would be held in its Atlanta studios and that “no audience will be present.” [as recently as Wednesday morning, Trump expressed his desire for a large live audience]. It said moderators and other details would be announced later [...]

America Latina

Nicaragua-USA:

(Bloomberg) US Sanctions Nicaraguan Government in Bid to Stem Migrant Flow

• President Joe Biden’s administration is placing visa restrictions on hundreds of members of Nicaragua’s government and sanctioning three entities based in the country, part of an effort to tamp down on a historic surge of illegal immigration that has become a political flashpoint.
• The moves are intended to punish Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government [...] Officials said Ortega’s government is profiting off migrants by selling them visas that require them to leave the country in 96 hours after arriving at local airports.
• A policy alert will also encourage airlines to take steps to identify routes that can be used for smuggling and to report concerning activity to US Customs and Border Protection, among other suggestions.
• The US visa restrictions will hit more than 250 members of the government [...] Two of the entities being sanctioned by the US Treasury Department are gold companies and the third is a training center for the Russian ministry of internal affairs in Managua, the official added. US agencies will also issue travel alerts and warn transportation providers of the ways in which smugglers are trying to facilitate illegal migration.

Medio Oriente

Giordania:

(REUTERS) Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom caught in Iran-Israel shadow war

• Jordan has foiled a suspected Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the U.S.-allied kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage, according to two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the matter.
• The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan that has links to the military wing of Palestinian group Hamas, the people told Reuters. The cache was seized when members of the cell, Jordanians of Palestinian descent, were arrested in late March, they said.
• In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas said it had "no ties to any acts targeting Jordan" and that it only sought to target Israel.
• The sources didn't specify what weapons were seized in the March raid, though said in recent months security services have thwarted numerous attempts by Iran and its allied groups to smuggle in arms including Claymore mines, C4 and Semtex explosives, Kalashnikov rifles and 107mm Katyusha rockets.
• Most of the clandestine flow of arms into the country has been bound for the neighbouring Israeli-occupied West Bank Palestinian territory, according to the Jordanian sources. However, some of the weapons - including those seized in March - were intended for use in Jordan by the Brotherhood cell allied to Hamas militants, they said.
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