Attacco russo a Poltava uccide 50 persone. Stati Uniti scoprono spia cinese 🗞️ Rassegna del 04/09/2024

Israele

(Reuters) Israeli attacks in Gaza kill 35 Palestinians but pauses allow third day of polio vaccinations

• Among those killed were four women in the southern city of Rafah and eight people near a hospital in Gaza City in the north, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.
• The Israeli military said it killed eight Palestinian gunmen, including a senior Hamas commander who took part in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, at a command centre near the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.
• Nevertheless, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it was ahead of its targets for polio vaccinations in Gaza on Tuesday, day three of a mass campaign, and had inoculated about a quarter of children under 10.
• Diplomatic efforts to secure a permanent ceasefire and release foreign and Israeli hostages held in Gaza and return many Palestinians jailed by Israel have stalled, however.

(Guardian) Benjamin Netanyahu putting his own interests before Israel’s, says Gantz

• Speaking in Tel Aviv at the Israel Bar Association’s annual conference on Tuesday, the centre-right National Unity party leader said Netanyahu had “lost his way” and “sees himself as the state … this is dangerous,”
• Netanyahu has not made regular speeches since 7 October, but gave a televised address on Monday in response to unprecedented protests across Israel in favour of a deal and a general strike prompted by the discovery of six murdered hostages in Gaza. The prime minister ruled out making any “concessions” in the stalled talks or “giving in to pressure” to end the war, which is approaching its 12th month.
• Many Israelis other than Gantz accuse the prime minister of valuing his political survival more than the hostages’ lives: a ceasefire deal could cause Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners to abandon the government, triggering new elections. The longtime leader sees staying in office as the best way of beating a litany of corruption charges. He denies the allegations.
• Meanwhile, the IDF has changed its policy towards the escalating violence in the occupied West Bank, and now considers the territory a “secondary front”, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

(Al Jazeera) Arrests, violence reported in occupied West Bank as Israeli raids persist

• Israel continued its raid on the Jenin refugee camp for a seventh day on Tuesday while carrying out operations across various parts of the territory. Reports say one civilian was killed and dozens arrested, while Palestinian groups said they are fighting with Israeli forces.
• The Associated Press news agency quoted Mohannad Hajj Hussein, a Jenin resident, as saying electricity and water supplies were cut off.
• Footage shared online, and verified by Al Jazeera, shows Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers driving on the streets. According to Wafa, Israeli forces have imposed a curfew on the camp, preventing residents from leaving or entering.

Ucraina

(Reuters) Russian missiles kill 50 in strike on Ukrainian military institute

• At least 50 people were killed and 271 wounded when Russia hit a military institute in Ukraine's central town of Poltava with two ballistic missiles on Tuesday, the war's deadliest single attack this year.
• Ukraine's land forces said military personnel had been killed. They did not specify how many of the victims were from the armed forces, but the attack was a major blow to Kyiv as it tries to bolster its ranks to hold off a more powerful enemy
• "The Russian scum will definitely be held accountable for this strike," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app. He ordered a full and prompt investigation, saying the strike damaged a building of the Military Institute of Communications.
• Russia has intensified its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine two-and-a-half years into the full-scale war. Last week Ukraine was pummelled with the heaviest bombardment to date, and on Monday ballistic and cruise missiles targeted Kyiv causing loud explosions.

(Reuters) Ukraine arms chief, two ministers resign in government shake-up

• The exit of Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska and Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets leaves more than a third of the cabinet vacant after sackings earlier this year.
• "I will continue working in the defence sector but in a different role," Kamyshin, considered a rising star in government, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, confirming his exit.
• David Arakhamia, a senior lawmaker for Zelenskiy's party, said there would be a "major government reset" this week that would see more than half of the ministers change. "Tomorrow a day of sackings awaits us, and a day of appointments the day after," 
• Opposition lawmaker Iryna Herashchenko mocked the state of the cabinet saying: "it's a government without ministers... an intellectual and personnel crisis that the authorities are closing their eyes to". She called for a government of national unity that would end the tight grip on the reins of power held by Zelenskiy's political team.

Europa

Francia:

(Associated Press) A boat with dozens of migrants rips apart in the English Channel off France, killing 12

• Most of the victims were believed to be women, some under 18, and many of the passengers didn’t have life preservers, officials said, with one calling it the deadliest migrant accident in the channel this year.
• Before Tuesday’s accident, at least 30 migrants had died or gone missing while trying to cross to the U.K. this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
• The agency overseeing the rescue operation in the English Channel said the boat got into difficulty off Gris-Nez point between Boulogne-sur-Mer and the port of Calais further north. Sea temperatures off northern France were around 20 degrees C
• Last week, the leaders of France and the U.K. agreed to deepen cooperation on illegal migration in the channel. “We absolutely must — and this is a very important point — re-establish special relations with our British friends,” Darmanin said on Tuesday. He later told the AP that to successfully tackle smuggling networks, immigration legislation between the U.K. and France should be harmonized.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

Stati Uniti:

(Reuters) Linda Sun, ex-aide to NY Governor Hochul, charged with acting as Chinese agent

• Prosecutors said Linda Sun, 41, was arrested on Tuesday and is expected to be presented in court later in the day. Sun's husband Chris Hu also faces criminal charges. 
• While working in state government, Sun allegedly blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from meeting with officials, and allegedly sought to arrange for a high-level New York state official to visit China. In exchange, prosecutors said Chinese government representatives facilitated millions of dollars in transactions for Hu, 40, who had business activities in China.
• Lawyers for Sun and Hu did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sun became Hochul's deputy chief of staff in September 2021, after working in various state agencies. Hochul's office fired Sun in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, a spokesperson for the governor said.

(Reuters) US voters targeted by Chinese influence online, researchers say

• A Chinese social media influence operation is impersonating U.S. voters, denigrating U.S. politicians and pushing divisive messages ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election in the United States, new research by intelligence company Graphika showed. The campaign is part of a known Chinese state-linked effort analysts have dubbed "Spamouflage" or "Dragonbridge," which pushes a mixture of spam and targeted propaganda onto the internet.
• "The key takeaway from this report," said Jack Stubbs, who manages Graphika's research team, is that Spamouflage has "become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and sway U.S. political conversations."
• Spamouflage's messaging does not appear to favor one side of the political spectrum – either Democrats or Republicans – but rather aims to amplify existing criticisms toward American society and government.
• In July, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, released a report on election interference, noting that China was "approaching this U.S. presidential election more cautiously ... and probably does not plan to influence the outcome." However, "we are tracking efforts to influence the U.S. public more broadly."

Medio Oriente

Yemen:

(Associated Press) Salvagers abandon effort to tow burning oil tanker in Red Sea targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

• While a major spill has yet to occur, the incident threatens to become one of the worst yet in the Iranian-backed rebels’ campaign that has disrupted the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. It also has halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen.
• “The private companies responsible for the salvage operation have concluded that the conditions were not met to conduct the towing operation and that it was not safe to proceed,” the EU’s Operation Aspides mission said, without elaborating. “Alternative solutions are now being explored by the private companies.”
• The EU mission did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the announcement. The safety issue could be the fire burning aboard the vessel. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken Tuesday afternoon and analyzed by the AP showed the Sounion still ablaze.
• Meanwhile, there’s the threat of attacks by the Houthis, who on Monday targeted two other oil tankers traveling through the Red Sea. The Houthis have suggested they’ll allow a salvage operation to take place, but critics say the rebels have used the threat of an environmental disaster previously involving another oil tanker off Yemen to extract concessions from the international community

Libano: 

(Al Jazeera) Lebanon’s former central bank chief Riad Salameh arrested

• The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Judge Jamal al-Hajjar, who holds the position of public prosecutor, detained 73-year-old Salameh after interrogating him on Tuesday.
• Salameh was the governor of the central bank, the Banque du Liban, for 30 years. But his final months were marred by allegations of financial crimes including illicit enrichment through public funds by authorities in Lebanon and several other countries.
• He is wanted by authorities in France for alleged financial crimes, with Interpol issuing “red notices” targeting him. Lebanon does not extradite its citizens. He was accused by many in Lebanon of being responsible for the country’s financial crisis since late 2019.