Israele

(REUTERS) US, Britain urge Hamas to accept Israeli truce proposal

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged Hamas to swiftly accept an Israeli proposal for a truce in the Gaza war and the release of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.
• Hamas negotiators were expected to meet Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Monday to deliver a response to the phased truce proposal which Israel presented at the weekend.
• "Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel," Blinken said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
• A source briefed on the talks said Israel's proposal entailed a deal for the release of fewer than 40 of the roughly 130 hostages believed to be still held in Gaza in exchange for freeing Palestinians jailed in Israel.

(AP News) Blinken says Israel must still do more to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza

• Speaking at events in Riyadh, Blinken said the best way to ease the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza would be to conclude an elusive cease-fire agreement that would release hostages held by Hamas. And, he said Hamas had been presented with an “extraordinarily generous” offer by Israel that he hoped the group would accept.
• Although talks continue, Hamas has thus far balked at a series of offers negotiated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States and agreed to by Israel, and even without a deal, Blinken said it was critical to improve conditions in Gaza now.
• Blinken’s trip comes amid renewed concerns about the conflict spreading in the Middle East and with once-promising prospects for Israeli-Saudi rapprochement effectively on hold as Israel refuses to consider one of the Saudis’ main conditions for normalized relations: the creation of a Palestinian state.
• Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been warning Israel against a major military operation on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting further north. Israel has not yet launched such an offensive, but Netanyahu has repeatedly said that one will take place, asserting that it is the only way to wipe out Hamas.

Ucraina

(CNN) Russia is making daily tactical gains in eastern Ukraine, as concerns swirl around Ukrainian military reporting

• Russia’s tactical advances are now daily and reflect the new tempo on the battlefield since the fall of the industrial town of Avdiivka in February. (...) The gains are generally modest -– from a few hundred meters of territory to perhaps a kilometer at most – but they are usually taking place in several locations at once.
• Ukraine’s DeepState monitoring group, which updates daily changes in frontline positions, shows Russian forces pushing forward in eight different locations along 20-25 kms of frontline in one 24-hour period.
• With withdrawals and losses accumulating, military bloggers such as Myroshnykov and the DeepState site have both taken aim at official Ukrainian communications, accusing the armed forces of increasingly unrealistic updates from the battlefield.
• Many Western analysts, along with Ukrainian officials, see Russia’s current stepped-up tempo as a precursor to a major offensive attempt later this spring. It is also assumed Moscow wants to take advantage of its significant advantage in ammunition before US supplies – greenlit last week after six months of political stasis – get to the frontlines.
• Ukraine’s other major quantitative weakness, which also helps explain recent battlefield trajectories, is manpower. A new mobilization law comes into effect next month, which is expected to improve conscription processes. But Kyiv has proved highly reluctant to say clearly how many more soldiers it needs, while Moscow keeps increasing numbers.

(AP News) NATO chief chides members as Ukraine’s allies say slow arms deliveries have helped Russia

• Kyiv’s Western partners have repeatedly vowed to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes.” But vital U.S. military help was held up for six months by political differences in Washington, and Europe’s military hardware production has not kept up with demand. Ukraine’s own manufacturing of heavy weapons is only now starting to gain traction.
• Though the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line has shifted little since early in the war, the Kremlin’s forces in recent weeks have edged forward, especially in the Donetsk region, with sheer numbers and massive firepower used to bludgeon defensive positions.
• Russia also continues to launch missiles, drones and bombs at cities across Ukraine. At least four people were killed and 27 injured in a Russian missile strike on residential buildings and “civil infrastructure” in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Monday, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging site.
• NATO chief Stoltenberg, however, said more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine are on the way, including Patriot missile systems to defend against heavy Russian barrages that smash into the power grid and urban areas.

Russia

(Wall Street Journal) Putin Didn’t Directly Order Alexei Navalny’s February Death, U.S. Spy Agencies Find

• Alexei Navalny’s February death in an Arctic penal colony prompted a new wave of sanctions targeting Russia’s economy, upended delicate negotiations to exchange prisoners between Russia and the West, and left Russia’s limited opposition in disarray. Russian President Vladimir Putin might not have planned for it to happen when it did.
• U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Putin likely didn’t order Navalny to be killed at the notoriously brutal prison camp in February, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that deepens the mystery about the circumstances of his death.
• The assessment doesn’t dispute Putin’s culpability for Navalny’s death, but rather finds he probably didn’t order it at that moment. The finding is broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit, the people said. 

Russia - Cina:

(REUTERS) Exclusive: China firms go 'underground' on Russia payments as banks pull back

• An appliance maker in southern China is finding it hard to ship its products to Russia, not because of any problems with the gadgets but because China's big banks are throttling payments for such transactions out of concern over U.S. sanctions.
• To settle payments for its electrical goods, the Guangdong-based company is considering using currency brokers active along China's border with Russia, said the company's founder, Wang, who asked to be identified only by his family name.
• Now the threat of extending these to banks in China - a country Washington blames for "powering" Moscow's war effort - is chilling the finance that lubricates even non-military trade from China to Russia. This is posing a growing problem for small Chinese exporters, said seven trading and banking sources familiar with the situation.
• As China's big banks pull back from financing Russia-related transactions, some Chinese companies are turning to small banks on the border and underground financing channels such as money brokers - even banned cryptocurrency - the sources told Reuters.

Europa

Spagna:
(ASSOCIATED PRESS) Spain’s Prime Minister Sánchez says he’ll continue in office after days of reflection

• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday ended days of speculation about his future by saying he will continue in office “with even more strength.”
• Sánchez shocked his country last Wednesday by taking five days off to think about his future, following the decision by a court to open preliminary proceedings against his wife on corruption allegations.
• Essentially Sánchez had four options: resign, seek a parliamentary vote of confidence, call a new election or remain in office.
• Sánchez blamed the investigation against his wife on online news sites politically aligned with the leading opposition conservative Popular Party and the far-right Vox party that spread what he called “spurious” allegations.

Politica internazionale

Medio Oriente

Afghanistan:

(REUTERS) Taliban's treatment of women under scrutiny at UN rights meeting

• Afghanistan's Taliban face criticism over their human rights record at a U.N. meeting on Monday, with Washington accusing them of systematically depriving women and girls of their human rights. [...], in an awkward first for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the concerned country's current rulers will not be present because they are not recognised by the global body.
• Afghanistan will instead be represented by an ambassador appointed by the previous U.S.-backed government, which the Taliban ousted in 2021.
• In a series of questions compiled in a U.N. document ahead of the review, the United States asked how authorities would hold perpetrators to account for abuses against civilians, "particularly women and girls who are being systematically deprived of their human rights"? It also called for the promotion of the rights of LGBTQ persons, noting an "escalation of threats and abuse" since the Taliban takeover.
• The Taliban say they respect rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law. Since they swept back into power, most girls have been barred from high school and women from universities. The Taliban have also stopped most Afghan female staff from working at aid agencies, closed beauty salons, barred women from parks and curtailed travel for women in the absence of a male guardian.

Afghanistan - Pakistan:

(AP News) Millions of Afghans made Pakistan home to escape war. Now many are hiding to escape deportation

• Some 600,000 Afghans have returned home since last October, when the crackdown began, meaning at least a million remain in Pakistan in hiding. They’ve retreated from public view, abandoning their jobs and rarely leaving their neighbourhoods out of fear they could be next for deportation.
• It’s harder for them to earn money, rent accommodation, buy food or get medical help because they run the risk of getting caught by police or being reported to authorities by Pakistanis.
• Afghans were already under the radar before the crackdown, and rumours abound that Pakistan wants to expel all Afghans, even those with documentation. Pakistan says no such decision has been made.

Asia e Pacifico

Cina:

(REUTERS) China hints at retaliation after Biden signs Taiwan, TikTok legislation

• China hinted on Monday that it could retaliate after U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law legislation to boost Taiwan's defences and seeks to get TikTok's Chinese owner to divest from the social media platform.
• Biden signed the legislation on a military aid package on Wednesday, with most of the money going to Ukraine to help it fend off Russia's invasion and to Israel. He also signed a separate bill tied to the aid legislation that bans TikTok in the United States if its Chinese owner ByteDance fails to divest the app over the next nine months to a year.
• Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian urged the United States not to implement the "negative, China-related" parts of the legislation. "If the United States clings obstinately to its course, China will take resolute and forceful steps to firmly defend its own security and development interests," Lin said, without elaborating.
• The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly demanded arms sales stop.

Georgia:

(Reuters) Georgia's Ivanishvili lashes out at West amid 'foreign agent' bill crisis

• Ivanishvili, who served as Georgia's prime minister from 2012-2013 and remains influential within the ruling Georgian Dream party, said that Georgia and Ukraine had been treated as "cannon fodder" by Western countries, whose intelligence agencies he accused of political interference in the country.
• The bill on foreign agents, which Georgian Dream introduced to parliament earlier this month, has touched off a political crisis in the deeply polarised country, with thousands of anti-bill protesters demonstrating nightly in Tbilisi.
• The EU, which gave Georgia candidate status in December, has said that the draft law is "incompatible" with EU values. Britain, the U.S. and Germany have all criticised the decision to reintroduce the law, which was initially shelved last year after protests.
• Georgia's opposition parties accused the government of forcing civil servants to attend the rally. President Salome Zourabichvili, who opposes the law but whose post is mostly ceremonial, described the pro-government rally on social media site X as "a 'Putintype' action: civil servants 'bused' to Tbilisi to applaud (the)ruling party’s decisions".

Solomon Islands:

(REUTERS) Solomon Islands PM Sogavare won't stand for renomination next week

• Solomon Islands incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said he would not be a candidate when lawmakers vote next week for a new prime minister, and his political party would instead back former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele.
• The two major opposition parties in the Solomon Islands struck a coalition deal on Saturday as they vie with Sogavare's party to form a government after an election delivered no clear winner.
• Last week's election was the first since Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022, inviting Chinese police into the Pacific Islands archipelago and drawing the nation closer to Beijing.
• Sogavare announced he would not be a candidate for prime minister at a televised press conference on Monday evening. Lawmakers are expected to vote on May 8.