Several of Prime Minister Netanyahu's actions hint an ulterior motive of delaying a deal. His office denied such allegations, but while Israeli officials assessed that Hamas was close to agreeing to the proposal, Netanyahu started preparing for a military operation in Rafah despite the war cabinet's objection
During last Thursday's war cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed starting the military operation in Rafah as soon as possible, and to carry out preparations for it. He did this despite senior Israeli officials' assessments that Hamas was close to agreeing to release the hostages and a cease-fire, and that such a decision would torpedo the deal.
A source with knowledge on the details said that everyone present at the meeting, including the war cabinet ministers and professionals, objected to Netanyahu's proposal, and it was rejected.
...In the past few days, hostages' relatives, as well as Netanyahu's coalition partners, have criticized his conduct, claiming that he is delaying the negotiations for a deal. On Saturday, after Netanyahu declared – as a "political source" – that the army would launch an operation in Rafah whether or not there would be a deal, Gantz said in response, "I suggest to the 'political sources' and to all decision-makers to wait for official updates, act responsibly and don't get hysterical over political considerations."
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Maybe brain worms are more widespread than we thought… how else to explain the fact that we’re zombie sleepwalking into climate catastrophe?
POSITIVE MESSAGE: We can FIX THAT by VOTING. (And getting climate-positive non-voters to the polls is JOB #1 for this election!)
Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds
...Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit would be met.
...Numerous experts said they had been left feeling hopeless, infuriated and scared by the failure of governments to act despite the clear scientific evidence provided.
“I think we are headed for major societal disruption within the next five years,” said Gretta Pecl, at the University of Tasmania. “[Authorities] will be overwhelmed by extreme event after extreme event, food production will be disrupted. I could not feel greater despair over the future.”
...Younger scientists were more pessimistic, with 52% of respondents under 50 expecting a rise of at least 3C, compared with 38% of those over 50. Female scientists were also more downbeat than male scientists, with 49% thinking global temperature would rise at least 3C, compared with 38%. There was little difference between scientists from different continents.
In battleground states across the country, environmental activists like Dr. Emily Church are canvassing on behalf of an organization called the Environmental Voter Project in an effort to turn out people who care the most about climate change -- but who haven't shown up for past elections.
During a recent effort in Pittsburgh, Church, a biology professor who leads local canvasses for the project, recalled to ABC News how she used to lobby lawmakers directly to take action on climate change, but they told her voters don't care about the issue.
She said she's now trying to prove them wrong.
"The people who prioritize climate and the environment need to show up," Church said. "That's how we're going to get anything done."
..."We've sometimes increased turnout by as much as 1.8 percentage points in general elections, 3.6 points in primaries and 5.7 points in local elections," he said, noting that while 1.8 percentage points might sound small, it could determine an election. Pennsylvania, for example, was only won by President Joe Biden in 2020 by 1.17%.
EU countries have agreed to use an estimated €3bn in profits arising from Russia’s frozen state assets to jointly buy weapons for Ukraine.
The deal struck by the bloc’s 27 ambassadors on Wednesday only targets profits made by Belgium’s central securities depository Euroclear, where about €190bn of Russian central bank assets are held. Western nations immobilised Russia’s state assets abroad in 2022, in response to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The European Commission expects Euroclear to hand over about €3bn a year which will be transferred to the bloc’s funds biannually, with a first payout expected in July. The measure will apply to profits Euroclear starts accruing as of mid-February 2024.
Of that, 90 per cent would be used for buying arms and military equipment for Kyiv’s forces, while the remaining 10 per cent would be used for reconstruction. That split assuages concerns by militarily neutral EU countries Austria, Malta, Cyprus and Ireland who want a share of profits to finance non-military purposes.
In 2023, Georgia found itself in the spotlight due to ongoing large-scale public demonstrations against the introduction of Russian-style laws that threatened to derail the country’s European journey. One such proposal was the now infamous ‘Agents of Foreign Influence’ bill, which the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party was forced to drop due to intense public opposition. Shortly afterwards, Georgia was finally granted EU candidate status.
Now the bill is back under a new guise, as a draft law on the ‘transparency of foreign influence’. Make no mistake about it – it’s the same bill with a fresh coat of paint, despite the GD’s promise to unconditionally withdraw it last year.
Now Georgians are taking to the streets once again. But the struggle is so much more than just trying to get rid of a deeply unpopular legislative proposal. It’s about breaking Georgia free from Russian influence once and for all and finally joining the European family.
...The question to ask is, following Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, can the EU afford to lose yet another European country to Russia simply because it chose a European future? If the answer is a resounding ‘no’ , then the EU has no time to lose – it must act now to help Georgia safeguard its European choice.
...Ben Smith at Semafor was the interviewer, and his questions weren’t exactly an example of journalistic hardball. But at least he did ask, directly, whether Kahn believes it’s crucial for a news organization — which depends on democracy’s survival to function — to do what it can to prevent a would-be dictator from taking control.
Not a chance, said Kahn. Here’s an extended quote:
“To say that the threats of democracy are so great that the media is going to abandon its central role as a source of impartial information to help people vote — that’s essentially saying that the news media should become a propaganda arm for a single candidate, because we prefer that candidate’s agenda. It is true that Biden’s agenda is more in sync with traditional establishment parties and candidates…
“It’s our job to cover the full range of issues that people have. At the moment, democracy is one of them. But it’s not the top one — immigration happens to be the top [of polls], and the economy and inflation is the second. Should we stop covering those things because they’re favorable to Trump and minimize them?”
The last part of that is genuinely shocking to me — apart from the implication that polls are decisive in newsroom decision-making.
...One of the key reasons democracy is not the top issue in polls is that our news media — starting with the New York Times — have refused to take the threats to democracy seriously. Meanwhile, they’ve done stenography for the Republicans’ apocalyptic framing of immigration and inflation, serious issues indeed and needing serious coverage. Regarding inflation, which has slowed dramatically, there is zero context in most coverage; U.S. inflation is much less severe than in other major economies, but you’ll almost never see that in the Times’ (or any other organizations’) articles on the subject.
What are you reading/writing about tonight? Tell us all about it in the comments!
The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, jeremybloom, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) eeff, Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw