Deal UE su alti funzionari; ICJ accusa Shoigu e Gerasimov di crimini di guerra🗞️Rassegna26/06/2024

Israele

(Guardian) Israel’s supreme court has ruled ultra-Orthodox men must be drafted for military service

• The court ruled the state was carrying out “invalid selective enforcement, which represents a serious violation of the rule of law, and the principle according to which all individuals are equal before the law”.
• Mandatory army service for Jewish citizens is a large part of the Israeli national ethos, but longstanding legal compromises have to date exempted ultra-Orthodow, or Haredi, men, who instead continue full-time study of religious texts funded by government stipends.
• The powerful ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) parties, key Netanyahu allies, have often threatened to quit his coalition and force new elections if draft exemptions for their communities were ended. During hearings, government lawyers told the court that forcing ultra-Orthodox men to enlist would “tear Israeli society apart”. 
• The ultra-Orthodox population has grown, the community now makes up 13% of Israel and is projected to become 21% of the population by 2042.

(CNN) Gaza population at risk of famine as it continues to face emergency levels of hunger, report finds

• A high risk of famine persists in Gaza and the situation “remains catastrophic” as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, according to a report released 
• Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The report said. “Only the cessation of hostilities in conjunction with sustained humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip can reduce the risk of a famine occurring in the Gaza Strip.”
• The findings of the report echo testimonies from those on the ground about the dire humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Nearly nine months of Israel’s bombardment and siege have depleted the health care system, battered water infrastructure and created dire conditions for the entire population of more than 2.2 million people.
• Increased Israeli attacks in the southern city of Rafah have triggered mass displacement and an outbreak of infectious diseases in the sprawling tent camps where people cannot access basic sanitation. The report acknowledged there were some improvements to the situation in the north of Gaza, where the IPC warned in March that famine was imminent.

Russia

(Guardian) ICC issues arrest warrants for Russian officials Shoigu and Gerasimov over alleged Ukraine war crimes

• Ex-minister of defence Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, Valery Gerasimov, are accused of the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects and of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects. Announcing the warrants, the court wrote there “are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023
• The Hague issued warrants for their arrest, but they are unlikely to be able to serve them as the pair are in Russia, which is not a party to the ICC and has denounced the court. Ukraine is not a member of the ICC but has given the court jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes committed on its territory since 2022.
• The court has previously issued warrants for the arrest of Vladimir Putin and Russia’s human rights ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova, for their role in the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Europa

UE: 

(POLITICO) Von der Leyen, Costa, Kallas approved for EU top jobs by negotiators

• The six EU leaders negotiating the bloc’s top jobs have agreed that Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, Portugal’s António Costa, and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas should get the most senior positions at the European Commission, European Council and foreign policy service, according to five EU officials.
• The six negotiators are Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (for the European People’s Party), Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (for the socialists), and French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (for the liberals). Meloni was not part of Tuesday’s discussion as a condition set out by the liberals and center-left groups, who had vowed not to back von der Leyen if she struck deals with the Italian leader.
• The next step will be a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday at which the three names will be presented to the heads of state and government for their approval.

(AP) Microsoft breached antitrust rules by bundling Teams with office software, European Union says

• The European Commission said Monday it informed Microsoft of its preliminary view that the U.S. tech giant has been “restricting competition” by bundling Teams with core office productivity applications such as Office 365 and Microsoft 365.
• The commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, said it suspects Microsoft might have granted Teams a “distribution advantage” by not giving customers a choice on whether to have Teams when they purchased the software. The advantage might have been widened by limits on the ability of rival messaging apps to work with Microsoft software.
• The EU enforcer wants the company to sell Office without Teams at a lower price than what it has announced, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, while rivals want clearer interoperability terms and more incentives for users to switch to them.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

Usa:

(NYT) Assange Agrees to Plead Guilty in Exchange for Release, Ending Standoff With U.S.

• Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material in exchange for his release from a British prison, ending his long and bitter standoff with the United States.
• He is expected to be sentenced to about five years, the equivalent of the time he has already served in Britain, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the terms of the agreement.
• Barring last-minute snags, the deal would bring to an end a prolonged battle that began after Mr. Assange became alternately celebrated and reviled for revealing state secrets in the 2010s. Those included material about American military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as confidential cables shared among diplomats. During the 2016 campaign, WikiLeaks released thousands of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, leading to revelations that embarrassed the party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
• In 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Mr. Assange on 18 counts related to WikiLeaks’ dissemination of a broad array of national security documents. If convicted, Mr. Assange could have faced a maximum of 170 years in a federal prison. Until Monday evening, Mr. Assange had been held in Belmarsh, one of Britain’s highest-security prisons, in southeast London.

(Reuters) Exclusive: Trump handed plan to halt US military aid to Kyiv unless it talks peace with Moscow

• Two key advisers to Donald Trump have presented him with a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine - if he wins the Nov. 5 presidential election - that involves telling Ukraine it will only get more U.S. weapons if it enters peace talks. The United States would at the same time warn Moscow that any refusal to negotiate would result in increased U.S. support for Ukraine.
• Under the plan drawn up by Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump's National Security Council during his 2017-2021 presidency, there would be a ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines during peace talks, Fleitz said. They have presented their strategy to Trump, and the Republican presidential candidate responded favorably, Fleitz added.
• The Kremlin said any peace plan proposed by a possible future Trump administration would have to reflect the reality on the ground but that Russian President Vladimir Putin remained open to talks. The White House National Security Council said the Biden administration would not force Ukraine into negotiations with Russia.

Africa

Kenya:

(AlJazeera) Kenya on boil as police fire at anti-tax protesters

• Kenyan police fired live ammunition at hundreds of protesters attempting to breach Parliament House in Nairobi. Hundreds of protesters breached barricades around the Parliament of Kenya and stormed the complex where lawmakers were debating the proposals, as police fired live bullets. Amnesty International said “many were wounded” in the violence. A Reuters correspondent reported seeing at least five dead bodies.
• In scenes reminiscent of the January 6 attack on the United States Congress, protesters were seen trying to break down the doors to key Parliament chambers, stomping on flags and waving banners. Parts of the Parliament House appeared to have been set on fire. Footage on social media showed protesters stomping on furniture, tearing down flags, and breaking windows.
• The finance bill encompasses a wide range of tax reforms and increases. Some of the plans that have most irked Kenyans were the proposals to introduce a 16 percent value-added tax (VAT) on bread, and 25 percent excise duty on raw and refined vegetable cooking oil produced domestically. Protesters say all those taxes will ultimately increase overall costs. They’re also angry that the bill gives Kenya’s revenue authorities powers to enforce tax collection by accessing bank and mobile money accounts.
• Last Tuesday, after the protests started, Parliament announced emergency amendments. In a news conference, the chairperson of the finance committee, Kuria Kimani, announced that lawmakers would roll back the taxes on bread, oil, motor vehicles and financial transactions, including mobile money payments. However, protesters were not placated, and demonstrations continued despite the arrests of more than 200 people on June 18. Many said they wanted the entire bill dropped.