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"Israel to open Gaza aid routes after Biden-Netanyahu call."

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Russ Roberts (https://trendsingeopolitics.blogspot.com).

Daily News Brief April 5, 2024

Top of the Agenda

Israel to Increase Aid Access to Gaza After Biden-Netanyahu Call

Israel will open (BBC) a gate and a port into the Gaza Strip for humanitarian deliveries as well as allow more aid from Jordan to come through a separate border crossing, the government said. The announcement comes after U.S. President Joe Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding humanitarian access and the protection of civilians in Gaza during a phone call yesterday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed (AP) Israel’s expansion of aid routes but said today that they could be insufficient to meet U.S. demands for dramatic improvements in humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Global scrutiny of the situation in Gaza rose after Israeli air strikes killed seven aid workers on Monday. Israel’s military has called the killings “a grave mistake” due to an identification error and dismissed two officers (Reuters). Yesterday, Biden also urged Netanyahu to reach a deal for an immediate cease-fire and hostage exchange in Gaza “without delay,” the White House said.

Analysis “What to make of Biden’s call on [Netanyahu] for an ‘immediate cease-fire’? It is accompanied by a call on Netanyahu to loosen his demands of Hamas to achieve an agreement for a hostage exchange. It is not the usual call for a ‘pause’ or a time-limited cease-fire. Biden wants a cease-fire now,” CFR expert Martin Indyk posts.   “Even though the United States’ influence is limited, it does exist. After half a year of nearly steadfast support, it’s time for the Biden administration to firmly push Israel in the direction it should go anyway,” Georgetown University’s Daniel Byman writes for Foreign Affairs. Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.

Pacific Rim

China, Thailand Agree to Cooperate on Space Exploration

The memorandums of understanding signed today commit (Reuters) the countries to work jointly on lunar research stations and personnel training, China’s space agency said. Beijing aims to land humans on the moon by 2030. Russia/South Korea: Russia summoned (Yonhap) South Korea’s ambassador today to protest sanctions that Seoul imposed on Tuesday. The sanctions targeted Russians involved in helping North Korean tech workers travel abroad and in shipping military supplies between Pyongyang and Moscow.

South and Central Asia

Guardian: Indian Government Ordered Nearly Twenty Killings in Pakistan Since 2020

Indian intelligence services have stepped up operations against suspected terrorists on foreign soil as they have ordered the killings of almost twenty people in Pakistan in recent years, unnamed Indian and Pakistani intelligence sources told The Guardian. India’s foreign ministry called the allegations “false and malicious anti-India propaganda.”   Myanmar: Opposition forces claimed (BBC) a rare mass drone attack on Myanmar’s capital, Nay Pyi Taw, yesterday. The military government said that it shot down seven drones and there were no casualties. The Center for Preventive Action tracks the civil war in Myanmar.

Middle East and North Africa

Separatist Group in Iran Claims Responsibility for Attacks That Left Twenty-Eight Dead

The Baluch group known as Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility (NYT) for grenade and gun attacks in two cities that killed ten Iranian security officers and eighteen militants, Iran’s interior ministry said yesterday. The violence began on Wednesday and raged until midday Thursday as gunmen attempted to take over military bases of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. This Backgrounder by CFR’s Kali Robinson unpacks the role of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The World Next Week CFR’s Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins discuss the thirtieth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, the U.S.-Japan-Philippines summit in Washington, ABBA’s Eurovision legacy fifty years after its win, and more. Listen

Sub-Saharan Africa

New Senegalese President to Oversee Audit of Oil, Mining Deals

The review will ensure (Bloomberg) that Senegalese firms are benefiting from ongoing agreements in the gas, mining, and oil sector, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said in a speech yesterday. He added that the country remains open to foreign investment. The audit signals that Faye could seek to tip control of this major industry in Senegal’s favor to help grow the economy.    Ethiopia/Somalia: Somalia ordered the expulsion (VOA) of Ethiopia’s ambassador and the closure of two Ethiopian consulates after the semiautonomous state of Puntland announced a cooperation deal with Ethiopia earlier this week. Tensions have been high between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu since Ethiopia inked plans for a port with Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland earlier this year. This Backgrounder by Claire Klobucista and CFR’s Mariel Ferragamo explains the Somaliland port deal controversy.

Europe

EU Crime Agency Flags Criminal Networks Within Bloc

More than eight hundred criminal networks are operating in the European Union (EU), 86 percent of which are able to (AP) infiltrate the legal economy, EU crime agency Europol said in a new report today. Many of the networks are involved in moving drugs to Europe. The agency will share the data with national law enforcement agencies to help target criminals. Turkey: Ankara halted (Bloomberg) its participation in a treaty limiting conventional military equipment in Europe. Countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom had already done the same after Russia withdrew from the treaty last year.

Americas

Venezuela Invites Election Monitors Ahead of July 28 Vote

Caracas has invited (Bloomberg) organizations such as the EU, Carter Center, and United Nations to oversee its presidential election, Venezuela’s foreign minister said yesterday. Venezuelan authorities’ decision to block opposition candidates from registering to be on the ballot prompted broad regional criticism last week. Peru: The country’s congress rejected (Reuters) the opening of an impeachment process against President Dina Boluarte Zegarra yesterday over a probe into Boluarte’s acquisition of luxury jewelry and bank deposits of “unknown origin.” She has denied any wrongdoing.

United States

Political Group Ends Effort to Nominate Third-Party Presidential Candidate

The political organization No Labels said it would “stand down” (NPR) after efforts to identify a centrist candidate to run against presumptive presidential nominees Joe Biden and Donald Trump did not yield a credible option.

Friday Editor’s Pick El Faro follows the rise of the Salvadoran national women’s soccer team and their remarkable success in a country where the odds are stacked against women in most other ways.

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