Editor’s Note: There will be no Daily News Brief tomorrow, December 22. |
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UN Security Council to Hold Fresh Vote on Pause in Gaza Hostilities |
The Security Council will vote today on a resolution calling for a halt in fighting in the Gaza Strip after negotiations seeking to avoid a U.S. veto delayed the vote multiple times. Yesterday’s closed-door negotiations failed to come to a consensus on whether the resolution should call for the United Nations to take over the responsibility of inspecting aid entering Gaza from Israel in addition to the cessation of hostilities, the New York Times reported.
Israel has pushed back against diplomatic efforts to pause or scale down fighting, saying they are detrimental to its war aim of destroying Palestinian militant group Hamas. Yesterday, Israel’s military said it discovered a Hamas command center (AP) under Gaza City and ordered fresh evacuations (AFP) from southern Gaza as a top Hamas official arrived in Egypt to discuss potential truce conditions. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said northern Gaza no longer had (WaPo) any fully functional hospitals.
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“So far, the results of Israel’s campaign have been mixed: Israel has hit Hamas hard, but it is falling short in many areas, inflicting a devastating toll on civilians in Gaza and paying a heavy price in terms of international support,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Daniel Byman writes for Foreign Affairs. “Israel’s leaders are often trying to have it all. Instead, they need to make hard choices about which goals to prioritize and which to downplay.”
“Riyadh is leading a diplomatic effort designed to generate an international narrative that questions the legality of Israeli military aggression, and the U.S. diplomatic cover it is utilizing,” Lancaster University’s Aziz Alghashian writes for Foreign Policy. “Given the nature and complexity of this conflict, there is no single leader who can take charge but rather a few leaders who can influence the situation by using their respective leverage in a harmonized, coordinated process.”
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.
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Taiwan Accuses China of Coercion, Election Interference After Beijing Raises Tariffs on Some Goods |
Ahead of Taiwan’s elections on January 13, China ended tariff cuts (Reuters) on some chemical goods imports, saying that Taiwan violated a trade agreement. Taipei’s government has accused Beijing of trying to interfere in the vote and said the suspension was not in line with international norms.
Japan/South Korea: Tokyo lodged a protest (Kyodo) with Seoul after South Korea’s top court ruled that two Japanese firms must compensate South Korean families for forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule. Disputes over how to handle the issue have strained ties between the countries in recent years, though a March deal sought to repair them.
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Myanmar Junta Committed Suspected War Crimes After Recent Rebel Offensive |
Myanmar’s military should be investigated for war crimes after it unlawfully killed, detained, and stole from civilians in response to a rebel offensive that began in October, Amnesty International said in a new report. The fighting is the most severe since the country’s 2021 coup. For the Asia Unbound blog, CFR expert Joshua Kurlantzick explains how countries should respond to Myanmar’s potential collapse.
Canada/India: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said India’s discourse toward Canada has shifted in tone, and New Delhi is now more open (CBC) to collaborating with Ottawa following the announcement of a U.S. indictment that said the Indian government participated in an assassination plot on U.S. soil. Trudeau had previously accused India of similar activity, which New Delhi denied.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Iranian Journalist Sentenced to Six Months in Prison for Tweet |
Journalist Sara Massoumi and her lawyer said yesterday that she was sentenced (Al-Monitor) to six months in prison and banned from working in media for two years after she tweeted about a woman who died in Tehran in October under disputed circumstances. She was charged with publishing lies and propaganda against the government, Massoumi said.
For the Women Around the World blog, Joan Johnson-Freese and Kathryn Pilgrim explore the role of female journalists in Iran after activist Mahsa Amini’s death.
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UN Pauses Food Aid to War-Torn Sudanese State Due to Fighting |
Clashes in El Gezira state are preventing (Bloomberg) the UN World Food Program from delivering assistance, the agency said. About three hundred thousand people have fled the state since December 15, when fighting between Sudan’s army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces escalated. The International Committee of the Red Cross also pulled out of the state’s capital, Wad Madani, saying it was “turning into another death trap” for civilians.
For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR expert Michelle Gavin discusses how Sudan’s war has become a tragedy of disregard.
Sierra Leone: Authorities lifted a near monthlong nighttime curfew (Bloomberg) that had been in place since a November 27 attack on an army base that the government described as a failed coup. More than two thousand prisoners escaped during the attack; some have since been recaptured.
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Belgian PM Calls China a ‘Sometimes Very Hostile’ Country After Spying Allegations |
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said yesterday that China was “trying to buy influence in order to destabilize [Belgium’s] democracy” (Reuters) following newspaper reports that a far-right lawmaker had been working as a Chinese intelligence asset for at least three years. Frank Creyelman, the accused lawmaker, did not immediately respond (FT) to media questions about his relationship with China.
Denmark/UK: Danish-listed firm Ørsted will move ahead (FT) with plans to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the North Sea after the United Kingdom (UK) pledged increased financial support to wind projects. The project was announced in 2022 but delayed due to funding issues.
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U.S., Venezuela Carry Out Prisoner Swap |
The United States released (NPR) a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the freedom of ten Americans detained in Venezuela and twenty-one Venezuelan prisoners in a Qatar-brokered exchange, the White House said. The deal comes amid an intensification of diplomacy between Washington and Caracas that in recent months has also yielded a pledge by Maduro on conditions for next year’s presidential election and some U.S. sanctions relief.
Argentina: President Javier Milei announced more than three hundred measures (FT) to deregulate the country’s economy and move toward privatization of state-owned companies in an emergency presidential decree yesterday.
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U.S. Sanctions Oil Traders as G7 Moves to Tighten Price Cap on Russian Oil |
The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions (NYT) yesterday on a Russia-owned ship manager in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and UAE- and Hong Kong-based traders whom it said were violating a $60 price cap on Russian oil imposed by Group of Seven (G7) nations in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. G7 countries pledged yesterday that they would step up enforcement of the price cap, which Russia has often circumvented.
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