Ursula von der Leyen rieletta Presidente della Commissione Europea 🗞️ Rassegna del 19/07/2024

Israele

(REUTERS) Israel bombards central Gaza as tanks advance deeper in Rafah

• Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps in the centre of the enclave and struck Gaza City in the north on Thursday, killing at least 21 people, and tanks pushed deeper into Rafah in the south, health officials and residents said.
• A barrage of Israeli airstrikes killed 16 in Zawayda town, Bureij and Nuseirat camps and the overcrowded city of Deir-Al-Balah, the last major urban centre in Gaza not to be invaded by Israeli forces, health officials said.
• In Gaza City in the north, medics said five Palestinians were killed in two separate strikes.
• The Israeli military said in a statement its forces killed two senior Islamic Jihad commanders in two airstrikes in Gaza City, including one whom it said had taken part in the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
• In Rafah, residents said Israeli tanks advanced deeper in the western side of the city and took position on a hilltop there. The Israeli military said forces located several tunnels and killed several gunmen.

(Associated Press) Israel’s Netanyahu makes surprise Gaza visit as far-right politician tours flashpoint Jerusalem site

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise visit to troops in southern Gaza on Thursday, his office said, just days before he was set to give a speech to the U.S. Congress.
• Netanyahu’s visit to the southern city of Rafah was announced hours after Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. Ben Gvir’s move could disrupt sensitive talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in the 9-month-old Israel-Hamas war.
• Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist settler leader, said he went up to the flashpoint site to pray for the return of Israeli hostages “but without a reckless deal, without surrendering.” Israeli negotiators landed in Cairo on Wednesday to keep working on the talks.
• Tensions over the compound have fueled past rounds of violence. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit as a “provocative intrusion” that endangered the fragile status quo regarding the Jerusalem compound, which is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, a holy site and important national symbol.
• The two leaders’ visits came hours after Israel’s parliament overwhelmingly passed a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state. The vote, in an overnight session that lasted into Thursday morning, was largely symbolic and meant to send a message ahead of Netanyahu’s trip to the United States.

Ucraina

(New York Times) Ukraine Loses Hard-Won Position Near Dnipro River in the South

• Ukrainian troops have lost a hard-won position on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, near the southern city of Kherson, after months of bloody fighting to hold on to a piece of land in what some Ukrainian soldiers and military analysts have described as a futile operation.
• The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday night that fighting continued on the eastern bank but that most of the main positions in the village of Krynky, where its troops had gained a foothold, “were destroyed by intense, combined and prolonged enemy fire.” The statement came after several Ukrainian news media outlets reported that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the village, which now lies in ruins.
• The operation to establish a bridgehead on the Russian-controlled eastern bank of the Dnipro had been controversial from the start. Launched last fall, it was seen as an attempt to open a new front in the south that would disrupt Moscow’s logistics and tie down its troops in the area. But military analysts warned that the operation, which consisted of dangerous river crossings, was vulnerable in its logistics and unlikely to lead to rapid breakthroughs.
• Ukrainian gains were limited to small pieces of land near the river, of which Krynky was the most notable.

Russia

(REUTERS) Russia says it may deploy nuclear missiles in response to US weapons in Germany

• Russia does not rule out new deployments of nuclear missiles in response to the planned U.S. stationing of long-range conventional weapons in Germany, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Thursday.
• Interfax news agency cited Ryabkov as saying that the defence of Russia's Kaliningrad region, which is wedged between NATO members Poland and Lithuania, was a particular focus.
• "I am not ruling out any options," the agency said he told reporters in Moscow when asked to comment on the U.S. deployment plans.
• The United States said last week it would start deployment in Germany from 2026 of weapons that will include SM-6, Tomahawk and new hypersonic missiles in order to demonstrate its commitment to NATO and European defence.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow would resume producing short and intermediate-range land-based missiles and decide where to place them if needed. Most of Russia's missile systems are capable of being fitted with either conventional or nuclear warheads.

Europa

UE:

(Associated Press) Ursula von der Leyen reelected to a second 5-year term as European Commission president

• Lawmakers at the European Parliament on Thursday reelected Ursula von der Leyen to a second 5-year term as president of the European Union’s executive commission, giving her a comfortable majority and heading off a possible leadership vacuum.
• Von der Leyen raised both fists in victory as the Parliament President Roberta Metsola read out the result at the legislature. She called her reelection a victory for her backers, lawmakers she called “pro-European, pro-Ukraine (and) pro-rule of law.”
• The reelection ensures leadership continuity for the 27-nation bloc as it wrestles with crises ranging from the war in Ukraine to climate change, migration and housing shortages. Von der Leyen said she and her supporters are working “for a strong Europe,” citing themes of prosperity, security and defense.
• The Greens/European Free Alliance group in the parliament voted for von der Leyen after receiving assurances from her on her commitment to Europe’s climate initiatives, improving social policies including moves to provide affordable housing and to not do deals with the far right.
• A clear majority of 401 lawmakers in the 720-seat legislature voted for the German Christian Democrat after a speech in which she pledged to be a strong leader for Europe in a time of crisis and polarization.

Slovacchia - Ungheria: 

(REUTERS) Slovakia, Hungary say Ukraine has halted Lukoil's Russian oil transit

• Slovakia and Hungary said they have stopped receiving oil from key supplier Lukoil, opens new tab after Ukraine imposed a ban last month on the transit of resources from the Russian energy company via its territory.
• The move highlights the volatile nature of the remaining Russian oil supplies to Europe via the Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline, the last major functioning Russian oil supply route to the continent.
• Slovakian oil transporter Transpetrol said on Thursday that deliveries from Lukoil had stopped but supplies from other Russian exporters were arriving in Slovakia via Ukraine.
• Slovakia's economy ministry said on Thursday that oil deliveries from Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil producer, have stopped flowing to Slovakia via Ukraine following the company's inclusion on a Ukrainian sanctions list.

Politica internazionale

Asia e Pacifico

Cina:

(REUTERS) China says it has halted arms-control talks with US over Taiwan

• China has halted nascent nuclear-arms-control talks with the United States, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, in a protest of Washington's arms sales to the democratically governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.
• The Chinese decision deals a potentially serious setback to global arms-control efforts, with Beijing joining Moscow in refusing to discuss with Washington measures to curb a nuclear-arms race, analysts said.
• Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said repeated U.S. arms sales to Taiwan in recent months had "seriously compromised the political atmosphere for continuing the arms-control consultations."
• Lin said China was willing to maintain communication on international arms control, but that the U.S. "must respect China's core interests and create necessary conditions for dialogue and exchange."

Bangladesh:

(REUTERS) Bangladesh death toll rises to 13 in nationwide anti-quota protests

• Thousands of students armed with sticks and rocks clashed with armed police in Dhaka on Thursday as the Bangladesh authorities cut some mobile internet services to quell anti-quota protests that have killed at least 16 people this week.
• The nationwide agitation, the biggest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected for a fourth time, is fuelled by high unemployment among the youth, with nearly a fifth of the 170 million population out of work or education.
• Protesters are demanding the state stop setting aside 30% of government jobs for families of those who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
• Ten people died in clashes with police on Thursday in Dhaka - the highest toll in a single day so far - including a bus driver whose body was brought to a hospital with a bullet wound to his chest, a rickshaw-puller and three students, officials told Reuters.