Daily News Brief

November 8, 2023

Top of the Agenda

Foreign ministers from Group of Seven (G7) countries said at a Tokyo meeting today that they support humanitarian pauses (AFP) in the Israel-Hamas war in order to facilitate aid, civilian movement, and the release of hostages. They also reaffirmed their commitment to support Ukraine’s fight for independence and sovereignty. Ukraine’s foreign minister joined the meeting via video conference. 

Speaking separately to reporters today, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington believes that the post-conflict Gaza Strip should include no forcible displacement (WaPo) of Palestinians, no reoccupation of Gaza, and no attempt to besiege it. Witnesses said that thousands of people fled parts of northern Gaza (Reuters) today after a new Israeli call to evacuate the region. Israeli forces reported fighting in the tunnels home to Hamas’s logistics network; dismantling that network is one of Israel’s primary war aims. Blinken opposed a cease-fire in his comments to the press, saying it would likely allow Hamas the capability to repeat their October 7 attack.

Analysis

“The encirclement this week of Gaza City by Israeli forces is the latest step in their mission to destroy the militant group,” the Financial Times’ John Paul Rathbone and Mehul Srivastava write. “The campaign will stretch Israel’s military resources and expose its troops to the perils of close combat.”

“As long as the West remains staunchly supportive of Ukraine, the Ukrainian armed forces can continue to make progress on the ground, putting more pressure on the Russians to pull back. When there is a substantial shift of fortunes on the battlefield, forcing Putin to give up his mad dreams of conquest, a negotiated solution might finally be possible—but that hasn’t happened yet,” CFR expert Max Boot writes in this In Brief. 

Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.

Europe

The European Commission proposed that Ukraine and Moldova enter talks (AP) for European Union (EU) membership once final conditions have been met. For Kyiv, those conditions include stepping up measures regarding anticorruption, lobbying, and the treatment of minorities.

Portugal: António Costa resigned as prime minister yesterday (FT) after government prosecutors announced the details of an investigation into his office related to several high-profile business ventures. An arrest warrant was issued for his chief of staff, and prosecutors said they were making the infrastructure minister a formal suspect.

Pacific Rim

The Chinese government pledged to “effectively improve” (Reuters) the monitoring and supervision of its methane emissions by 2025 and “significantly improve” them by 2030. China, the world’s biggest methane emitter, announced the plans near the end of a four-day climate meeting with the United States. 

U.S./South Korea: U.S. Secretary of State Blinken begins a visit (Reuters) today to South Korea, which comes as the two countries have increasingly condemned North Korea’s military ties to Russia. With U.S. support, South Korea aims to launch its first spy satellite later this month.

On this episode of Why It Matters, Emily Harding and Edward Lucas discuss spying and the future of spycraft. 

South and Central Asia

Officials today said they would raise pay (NYT) by about 50 percent after violent protests broke out over the weekend over wages as low as $80 per month. The garment industry accounts for more than 80 percent of Bangladesh’s annual exports, and more than half of the sector’s employees are women. 

U.S./Sri Lanka: The United States will lend $553 million (FT) to Sri Lanka to develop a port that will be operated by an Indian firm. A U.S. development finance official said the loan aims to strengthen the position of Washington and its allies in the region amid growing Chinese influence; China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral creditor.

Middle East and North Africa

A group from the self-declared Islamic State attacked pro-government fighters (AP) in eastern Syria overnight, killing at least twenty-one, pro-government media and an opposition war monitor said. Neither Syrian officials nor the Islamic State gave an immediate comment on the attack.

Sub-Saharan Africa

The Sudanese army and rebel fighters agreed to work with the United Nations (AFP) to ensure the delivery of aid, but fell short of agreeing to a cease-fire at the latest round of their talks in Saudi Arabia, Saudi officials said yesterday. Both sides have repeatedly violated past cease-fire attempts; conservative estimates place the death toll at more than ten thousand since the war broke out in April. 

The Center for Preventive Action tracks the power struggle in Sudan. 

Somalia: Flooding yesterday was the most drastic to hit the country in decades, killing twenty-nine people (Reuters) and forcing more than three hundred thousand to flee their homes, Somalia’s disaster management agency said. Soil in Somalia had already been damaged by an unprecedented drought, the area’s worst in forty years.

Americas

This is the second recent attempt to rewrite Chile’s constitution (The Guardian) after a previous version was rejected in a nationwide plebiscite last year. The new draft was written by a more conservative committee and includes language that could block access to abortion. The nationwide vote will occur on December 17. 

Panama: Two people were killed (Reuters) in protests yesterday against the awarding of a copper mining contract that spilled into marches of broader discontent with the government. Schools in Panama have been closed for over a week amid the demonstrations.

United States

In yesterday’s elections, Democrats took full control of the Virginia statehouse and a Democratic governor kept his seat in Kentucky in campaigns that vowed to protect reproductive rights. Abortion rights supporters also won an Ohio ballot measure (AP). 

This article by CFR’s Women and Foreign Policy team compares global abortion laws.

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