Tentativo di colpo di stato in Bolivia; Scambio prigionieri tra Kyiv-Mosca🗞️Rassegna del 27/06/2024

Israele

(REUTERS) Israeli forces pound north and south Gaza, battle Hamas in Rafah

• Israeli forces pounded several areas across Gaza on Wednesday, and residents reported fierce fighting overnight in Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave.
• Residents said fighting intensified in the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, where tanks were also trying to force their way north amid heavy clashes. The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
• Israel says that it is close to destroying the last remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah, after which it will move to smaller scale operations in the enclave.
• The Israeli military said in a statement its forces killed a Hamas militant who had been involved in the smuggling of weapons through the border between Rafah and Egypt. It said jets struck dozens of militant targets in Rafah overnight, including fighters, military structures and tunnel shafts.
• Later on Wednesday, an Israeli strike killed three Palestinians and wounded others near the northern Jabalia camp, one of the Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps, medics said.

(Associated Press) A Palestinian was shot, beaten and tied to an Israeli army jeep. The army says he posed no threat

• When Mujahid Abadi stepped outside to see if Israeli forces had entered his uncle’s neighborhood, he was shot in the arm and the foot. That was only the start of his ordeal. Hours later, beaten and bloodied, he found himself strapped to the searing hood of an Israeli military jeep driving down a road. The army initially said Abadi was a suspected militant, but later acknowledged he had not posed a threat to Israeli forces and was caught in crossfire with militants.
• Video showing the 24-year-old strapped to the jeep circulated on social media, sparking widespread condemnation, including from the United States. Many said it showed that Israeli soldiers were using him as a human shield — a charge Israel has frequently leveled at Hamas as it battles the group in Gaza.
• The military said it was investigating the incident and that it did not reflect its values. But Palestinians saw it as yet another act of brutality in Israel’s crackdown on the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza.
• Israel has long accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields because the militants operate in dense, residential neighborhoods in Gaza. It blames Hamas for the high death toll in Gaza, where local health officials say over 37,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, without specifying how many were civilians. The Hamas attack that ignited the war killed some 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians.
• Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the military to stop using Palestinians as human shields in 2005, but rights groups have continued to document examples over the years. In 2021, Israeli soldiers operating in the West Bank held an AP photographer against his will in an area where Palestinians were hurling stones and the troops were firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Ucraina

(REUTERS) Russia, Ukraine each return 90 prisoners of war

• Russia and Ukraine each handed back 90 prisoners of war on Tuesday in the latest of several periodic swaps in their 28-month-old conflict, with the United Arab Emirates overseeing the exchange as an intermediary.
• The last exchange took place on May 31, when each side handed over 75 prisoners of war, also with the UAE acting as a go-between. That was the first exchange in nearly four months. Russia said prisoners brought home on Tuesday had faced mortal danger in captivity.
• Ukraine said returnees had included soldiers who had defended the Azovstal steel mill in a three-month siege in 2022 and others taken prisoner when Russian forces briefly seized the defunct Chornobyl nuclear power station.
• The UAE said its action as a go-between had been made possible by maintaining good contacts with both sides.
• The Russian Defence Ministry, in a posting on the Telegram messaging app, said: "As a result of negotiations, 90 Russian prisoners of war who risked death in captivity are being returned from areas under Kyiv's control."

Europa

Francia:

(Associated Press) France bans extreme-right and radical Islamic groups ahead of polarizing elections

• France’s government on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of multiple extreme right and radical Muslim groups, four days before the first round of high-stakes legislative elections that may see a surge in support for political extremes.
• Snap national elections called by pro-business moderate President Emmanuel Macron have plunged the country into a hasty and disorderly electoral race, in which hate speech is becoming a growing concern.
• Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced Wednesday that the government ordered the shutdown of several groups peddling extremist hatred. A series of decrees announcing the shutdown outlined investigations into the groups and said they posed risks of violence. The groups affected include GUD, known for violence and antisemitism. Its members have supported far-right political leader Marine Le Pen in the past.
• Le Pen’s National Rally party is leading all polls ahead of the two-round elections, June 30 and July 7, while Macron’s centrist alliance is lagging far behind. However, the outcome remains highly uncertain due to the complex, two-stage voting system and potential political alliances.
• This is not the first time the French government has moved to dissolve groups it believes infringe on security and human rights, but the pre-election timing of Wednesday’s announcement appeared to send a clear message about extremism.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

USA:

(Bloomberg) Supreme Court Poised to Allow Emergency Abortions in Idaho

• The US Supreme Court is poised to allow abortions in medical emergencies in Idaho, according to a copy of an opinion that was briefly posted on the court’s website.
• The decision would reinstate a lower court order that had ensured hospitals in the state could perform emergency abortions to protect the health of the mother. The posted version indicated the majority will dismiss appeals by Idaho and Republican leaders in the state without resolving the core issues in the case.
• The Supreme Court’s press office said the opinion in the case had not been officially released. “The Court’s Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the Court’s website,” said Patricia McCabe, the court’s public information officer. “The Court’s opinion in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States will be issued in due course.”
• The copy indicates the court is voting 6-3 to lift a stay it previously placed on a federal district court order, with conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissenting.
• Idaho is one of a handful of states that now outlaw abortion except when the mother’s life is in danger. Doctors and hospital administrators say the state’s law has kept them from treating women with serious health risks even if they have no chance to deliver a healthy baby. Patients instead have been forced to wait days for treatment or be rushed out of state.

America Latina

Bolivia:

(REUTERS) Bolivian soldiers surge into presidential palace, raising specter of coup

• Bolivian armed forces took over the capital's central square on Wednesday, and an armored vehicle rammed through the entrance to the presidential palace followed by soldiers, igniting fears of a military coup.
• Bolivian President Luis Arce denounced the "irregular mobilization" of some army units in La Paz and former leader Evo Morales accused a top general of plotting a coup.
• Heavily armed soldiers and armored vehicles were seen gathering in the central square, Plaza Murillo, while a Reuters witness saw an armored vehicle pushing into the presidential palace, which sits on the square, and soldiers rushing in.
• Morales, who has publicly split with Arce although both belong to the same socialist movement, said his supporters would mobilize in support of democracy.
• He accused Zuniga of seeking to stage a coup and announced a general work stoppage including a call to block roadways.

Africa

Kenya:

(Associated Press) Kenya’s president says he won’t sign a finance bill that led protesters to storm the parliament

• Kenya’s president said on Wednesday he won’t sign into law a finance bill proposing new taxes that prompted thousands of protesters to storm the parliament the previous day, leaving several people killed as police opened fire. It was the biggest assault on Kenya’s government in decades.
• The government wanted to raise funds to pay off debt, but Kenyans said the bill would have caused more economic pain as millions struggle to get by. Tuesday’s chaos led authorities to deploy the military, and Kenyan President William Ruto called protesters’ actions “treasonous.”
• He now says the proposed bill caused “widespread dissatisfaction” and that he has listened and “conceded.” It’s a major setback for Ruto, who came to power vowing to help Kenyans cope with rising costs but has seen much of the country — led by its youth — unite in opposition to his latest attempted reforms.
• Kenyans faced the lingering smell of tear gas and military in the streets on Wednesday morning, a day after the protesters’ act of defiance that Ruto had called an “existential” threat. Parliament, city hall and the supreme court were cordoned off.
• At least 22 people were killed, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission said, and police were accused of some shooting deaths. Chairperson Roseline Odede said 50 people were arrested.