Israele

(REUTERS) Fate of Gaza ceasefire uncertain, Israel vows to continue Rafah operation

• Palestinian militant group Hamas on Monday agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with strikes in Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on a deal.
• The developments in the seven-month-old war came as Israeli forces struck Rafah on Gaza's southern edge from the air and ground and ordered residents to leave parts of the city, which has been a refuge for more than a million displaced Palestinians.
• Hamas said in a brief statement that its chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their proposal for a ceasefire.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said later that Hamas' latest truce proposal falls short of Israel's demands but Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.
• In a statement, Netanyahu's office added that his war cabinet approved continuing an operation in Rafah.

(Al-Jazeera) Hamas accepts Qatari-Egyptian proposal for Gaza ceasefire

• Hamas says it has approved a proposal for a ceasefire in the seven-month Gaza war put forward by mediators Qatar and Egypt although Israel says the proposal falls short of its demands.
• “Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of Hamas movement, conducted a telephone call with the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and with the Egyptian intelligence minister, Mr Abbas Kamel, and informed them of Hamas’s approval of their proposal regarding a ceasefire agreement,” the Palestinian group said in a statement published on its official website on Monday.
• The proposal includes a three-stage truce, each phase lasting 42 days, according to al-Hayya.
• In the first phase, indirect negotiations through mediators would resume on the exchange of captives and prisoners. A withdrawal of some Israeli troops from certain areas would also take place along with the unhindered return of displaced families to their homes and the flow of aid and fuel into Gaza, he said.
• In the second phase, al-Hayya said, there would be a complete and permanent halt to military activity in Gaza.
• The final phase would focus on beginning reconstruction in post-war Gaza, overseen by Egypt, Qatar, and United Nations agencies, he said.

Russia

(REUTERS) Putin orders tactical nuclear weapon drills to deter the West

• Russia said on Monday it would practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.
• Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has repeatedly warned of rising nuclear risks - warnings which the United States says it has to take seriously though U.S. officials say they have seen no change in Russia's nuclear posture.
• Russia says the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of confrontation between nuclear powers by supporting Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory.
• Russia's defence ministry said it would hold military drills including practice for the preparation and deployment for use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. It said the exercises were ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
• Russia and the United States are by far the world's biggest nuclear powers, holding more than 10,600 of the world's 12,100 nuclear warheads. China has the third-largest nuclear arsenal, followed by France and Britain.
• Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, opens new tab, though there is uncertainty about exact figures for such weapons due to a lack of transparency.

(REUTERS) Russia will have to increase its missile arsenal to deter the West, diplomat says

• Russia will have to increase its entire missile arsenal to deter the West as Moscow is now in an open confrontation with the United States and its allies, a Russian diplomat was quoted as saying on Monday.
• Russia has ramped up weapons production and is now forecast by the United States to manufacture this year more artillery than all of NATO's 32 members combined.
• Accordingly, Mashkov [Grigory Mashkov, Russian Ambassador-at-Large] said, it will be necessary to take "further steps to strengthen the country's defense capability, including building up the missile arsenal, in order to discourage any potential enemy from testing Russia's strength."
• Mashkov said Russia was already doing a lot in this area but that more was needed given what he said was the growing threat from the West and the technological advances in most types of missiles, from tactical to inter-continental.
• According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia is set to spend 7.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the military, or more than a third of total government spending, in 2024.

Europa

Francia: 

(ASSOCIATE PRESS) Macron sets trade and Ukraine as top priority as China’s Xi Jinping pays a state visit to France

• China’s President Xi Jinping arrived at the French presidential palace on Monday for a two-day state visit that is expected to focus both on trade disputes and diplomatic efforts to convince Beijing to use its influence to move Russia toward ending the war in Ukraine.
• In Paris, Xi first joined a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meant to address broader EU concerns. Macron said in his introductory remarks the meeting would first address trade issues and how to ensure “fair competition,” then the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
• In a recent speech, he [Macron] denounced trade practices of both China and the United States as shoring up protections and subsidies. At the start of the meeting in Paris, Xi said “the world today has entered a new period of turbulence and change. [...] As two important forces in the world, China and Europe should ... continuously make new contributions to world peace and development,” he said.
• Paris is the first stop on Xi’s European trip, seeking to rebuild relations at a time of global tensions. After France on Monday and Tuesday, he will head to Serbia and Hungary. France hopes the discussions will help convince China to use its leverage with Moscow to ‘’contribute to a resolution of the conflict” in Ukraine, according to a French presidential official. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced plans to visit China this month.
• Macron will press Xi over supplies from Chinese companies supporting the Russian war effort despite EU sanctions, he said. China claims neutrality in the Ukraine conflict. France also wants China to maintain a dialogue with Kyiv, added the official, who was not authorized to be identified according to presidential policy.

(REUTERS) China's Xi backs Macron call for global Olympic truce

• China's President Xi Jingping on Monday called for a global truce during the Olympic Games in Paris this summer after the French president and the head of the European Commission urged him to use his influence on Russia to end its war in Ukraine.
• Suspending armed conflicts under an "Olympic truce" is a longstanding tradition, and Macron has said he would work towards achieving one when Paris hosts the Summer Games from July 26 to Aug. 11 and the Paralympic Games until the end of August.
• French officials hope Xi's endorsement is a sign that he could use his influence to persuade Russia to reach a truce when President Vladimir Putin travels to China later this month.
• Their hope is that a small truce could open the window to broader diplomacy. "We wanted to explain the impact of this conflict on Europe's security and our determination to support Ukraine for as long as necessary," Macron said, adding that Paris was not looking to change the regime in Moscow.
• Macron said he hoped Putin's visit to China would help assess the perspectives for peace. Xi said he supported an international peace conference supported by Russia and Ukraine, appearing to be lukewarm on a peace conference organised by Switzerland on June 16, to which Moscow has not been invited.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

USA:

(POLITICO) Trump again held in contempt for violating gag order

• Justice Juan Merchan gave Donald Trump a stern warning Monday morning that he will end up behind bars if he continues to violate the gag order the judge imposed in Trump’s hush money trial in New York.
• “It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan said as he found Trump had violated the gag for a 10th time.
• Last week, Merchan held Trump in contempt and imposed $1,000 fines for each of nine instances where he found Trump had violated the gag order, which generally prohibits him from publicly commenting on jurors, witnesses or other people involved in the case. (Trump remains free, however, to criticize the judge himself, as well as District Attorney Alvin Bragg.)
• In a written order Monday, the judge again held Trump in contempt for one of four additional statements that prosecutors had claimed were violations. That statement was an attack Trump lodged on the jury in his case on April 22 on a radio show called “Just the News, No Noise.”
• Under the New York criminal contempt law that prosecutors have invoked to penalize Trump's gag order violations, the maximum penalty is $1,000 per violation or 30 days in jail. Trump said he is willing to go to jail.

Asia e Pacifico

India:

(REUTERS) India BJP's election videos targeting Muslims, opposition spark outrage

• Animated videos shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party targeting opposition Congress and the Muslim community have evoked complaints and outrage, as the political climate in India heats up midway through its six-week long election.
• The videos, shared by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on social media platforms Instagram and X over the last ten days, depict the Congress giving disproportionate benefits to India's minority Muslim community, at the cost of certain disadvantaged tribal and Hindu caste groups.
• A set of guidelines mutually adopted by political parties for how they should conduct themselves during the election period prohibit them from creating "mutual hatred" between caste, religious or linguistic groups.
• Modi, the face of the Hindu-nationalist BJP, seeking a rare third consecutive term, had focused his campaign largely on his government's performance on economic growth and welfare benefits.
• But he changed tack after the first phase of voting on April 19 and his campaign speeches have since become more polarising on religious lines, accusing Congress of planning to redistribute the wealth of the majority Hindus among minority Muslims, who he called "infiltrators" who have "more children".