Gaza: USA presentano risoluzione all’ONU per un cessate il fuoco 🗞️ Rassegna del 22/03/2024

Israele

(Wall Street Journal) U.S. Ratchets Up Pressure on Israel With Proposed Cease-Fire Resolution at U.N.

• America’s top diplomat said the U.S. had submitted a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza tied to the release of hostages, raising the pressure on Israel to pause its five-month-old war with Hamas.
• The draft U.N. resolution is likely to be largely symbolic but represents the most significant public divergence between Washington and Israel since the war began. It could be voted on as soon as this week, according to three U.N. diplomats.
• It is rare for the U.S. to back—let alone put forward—a resolution that Israel would oppose at the U.N., a forum where Washington has traditionally used its Security Council veto to shield Israel from proposals that it opposes. 
• “I think that would send a strong message, a strong signal,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of the draft resolution, in an interview with a Saudi government-owned broadcaster during his sixth visit to the Middle East since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

(Reuters) Gaza ceasefire deal still possible but difficult work remains, Blinken says

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday he believed talks in Qatar could still reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement while Israel attacked Hamas gunmen in the enclave's Al Shifa hospital and evacuated patients.
• In Cairo, Blinken met Arab foreign ministers and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as talks in Qatar centred on a truce of around six weeks that would allow the release of 40 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.
• A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel's spy chief David Barnea would travel to Qatar on Friday to meet mediators.
• In Gaza itself, Israel continued its raid of Al Shifa hospital, the only partially working medical facility in the north of the strip, for a fourth day. Residents said buildings inside the complex were in flames and others reported they saw gunfire and people shot in the complex.
• With hunger worsening in the densely populated enclave, where five months of war have created critical food shortages, the head of the World Health Organization said only opening more border crossings for trucks carrying aid could prevent famine in Gaza.

(Reuters) Israeli forces kill 10 Palestinians in West Bank in 24 hours, WAFA news agency says

• Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, increasing to 10 the number of Palestinians killed in the territory over 24 hours, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
• Since the Gaza war began, Israel has stepped up military raids in the West Bank, where violence had already been surging for over a year. U.N. records show that Israeli forces or settlers have killed hundreds of Palestinians in West Bank clashes since Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

Ucraina

(Associated Press) Russia fires 31 missiles at Kyiv in the first attack in weeks as people scramble for cover in subway

• Russia fired more than two dozen missiles at Kyiv before dawn on Thursday, attacking the Ukrainian capital for the first time in six weeks and sending panicked residents flooding into the relative safety of the subway system in a scene reminiscent of the first weeks of the war.
• Air defenses shot down all 31 of the missiles, though the falling wreckage still damaged apartment buildings and injured 13 people, including a child, officials said.
• Russia launched two ballistic missiles and 29 cruise missiles against the capital, and they arrived at roughly the same time from different directions, Ukrainian authorities said. The attack occurred hours after a visit to Kyiv by President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan.
• The heavy attack on Kyiv came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to “respond in kind” to recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod, which have embarrassed the Kremlin and which Russian officials say have killed civilians. Five people were injured in an attack Thursday on the Belgorod region that damaged homes and a sports stadium, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it stopped 10 rockets over the region.

Russia

(Reuters) Navalny's mother fails with suit alleging improper medical care, ally says

• The mother of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has failed with a lawsuit alleging he had received inadequate medical care in the Arctic penal colony where he died, because he did not make the complaint himself, a Navalny ally said on Thursday.
• Navalny's family and supporters have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having him killed, an accusation the Kremlin has angrily rejected. He had survived a poisoning with a Soviet-era nerve agent in Russia in 2020 and years of harsh treatment in prison, including long spells in solitary confinement.
• Navalny's team later said his death certificate had said he died of natural causes. His mother Lyudmila Navalnaya travelled to the Arctic city of Salekhard, 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Moscow, shortly after his death, where she said investigators refused to release his body from a local morgue until she agreed to bury him without a public funeral.

Europa

Europa:

(Reuters) Europe's pro-nuclear leaders seek atomic energy revival

• Leaders from pro-nuclear European countries and energy experts called for a nuclear energy revival on Thursday at a summit in Brussels, seeking to rebuild the European industry after years of gradual decline.The political push to expand nuclear - a low-carbon energy source - is part of the drive to meet Europe's ambitious climate targets. But it faces headwinds including a lack of investment and cost overruns and delays that have plagued recent projects.
• Nuclear fell out of favour in Europe over safety concerns following Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, which prompted Germany to immediately shut down six nuclear plants and phase out its remaining reactors. The last three were shut down in April 2023. But the need to find alternatives to Russian gas following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the European Union's commitment to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030 has renewed interest in nuclear power.
• However, EU countries remain divided on whether to promote nuclear energy, with two entrenched camps - one led by France that believes nuclear expansion is crucial, and the other including anti-nuclear countries Austria and Germany, who want the focus to stay on renewable sources such as wind and solar. The statement also commits to the construction of new nuclear power plants and the early deployment of advanced reactors, including small modular reactors worldwide while maintaining the highest levels of safety and security.
• Several European countries depend on Russian technology and uranium to supply and maintain their reactors. The United States, too, is looking to revive nuclear. [...] John Podesta, senior advisor to the U.S. President for clean energy [said] that Congress recently approved $2.7 billion to restart an enrichment programme, particularly for advanced fuels such as helium.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

USA:

(Associated Press) Apple has kept an illegal monopoly over smartphones in US, Justice Department says in antitrust suit

• The Justice Department on Thursday announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors and stifles innovation.
• The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone market and uses its control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.”
• The lawsuit — which was also filed with 16 state attorneys general — is the latest example of the Justice Department’s approach to aggressive enforcement of federal antitrust law that officials say is aimed at ensuring a fair and competitive market, even as it has lost some significant anticompetition cases.
• Apple called the lawsuit “wrong on the facts and the law” and said it “will vigorously defend against it.”

(Reuters) US Congress advances $1.2 trillion spending package to avert shutdown

• After days of delay, U.S. congressional leaders unveiled a $1.2 trillion bipartisan spending measure for defense, homeland security and other programs early on Thursday, giving lawmakers less than two days to avert a partial government shutdown.
• The Republican-controlled House of Representatives will vote on the sprawling package on Friday, leaving the Democratic-majority Senate only hours to pass the package of six bills that covers about two-thirds of the $1.66 trillion in discretionary government spending for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.
• Since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1, Congress has had to pass four temporary funding bills to avert government shutdowns because of unresolved battles over spending priorities and the size of annual appropriations.

Medio Oriente

Turchia:

(Reuters) Turkey central bank stuns market with 500-point rate hike to 50%

• Turkey's central bank unexpectedly hiked interest rates by 500 basis points to 50% on Thursday, citing a deteriorating inflation outlook and pledging to tighten even further if it expects the price situation to worsen significantly.
• The hawkish surprise came 10 days before nationwide local elections and was seen by analysts as a signal that the central bank was independent from any political constraints, and determined to tackle inflation that is soaring toward 70%.

Asia e Pacifico

Cina-India:

(Reuters) China firmly opposes US remarks on Arunachal Pradesh, foreign ministry says 

• China strongly opposes the United States saying Arunachal Pradesh is part of India, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday, as tensions simmer over a contested border shared by both countries.
• "Delimitation of China-India boundary has never been completed," said Lin Jian at a regular press briefing when addressing a query on the ongoing tensions around the undemarcated border.
• "The China-India border issue is a matter for China and India, it has nothing to do with the U.S.," Lin said.
• Earlier this week, India's foreign ministry said the northeastern state which shares a border with China will always be an "integral and inalienable part of India".
• The U.S. government said it recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as part of India and "strongly opposes" any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims there, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.
• India and China share a 3,800-km frontier, much of it poorly demarcated. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in clashes in the area in mid-2020.
• Both militaries have fortified positions and deployed troops and equipment there in the last few years, and over the past year both countries have continued to trade barbs over territorial claims despite agreeing to hold talks.

Africa

Somalia:

(Reuters) Somali pirates return, adding to global shipping crisis

• Pirates had been dormant for nearly a decade [...] More than 20 attempted hijackings since November have driven up prices for armed security guards and insurance coverage and raised the spectre of possible ransom payments, according to five industry representatives.
• Two Somali gang members told Reuters they were taking advantage of the distraction provided by Houthi strikes several hundred nautical miles to the north to get back into piracy after lying dormant for nearly a decade.
• 2008-2014 attacks cost the global economy billions of dollars, while the threat is not as serious as it was in 2008-2014, regional officials and industry sources are concerned the problem could escalate.
• The waterways off Somalia include some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Each year, an estimated 20,000 vessels, carrying everything from furniture and apparel to grains and fuel, pass through the Gulf of Aden on their way to and from the Red Sea and Suez Canal, the shortest maritime route between Europe and Asia.