👋 اسلام عليكم*
Welcome to Tuesday, where President Emmanuel Macron says he doesn’t rule out the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine, Joe Biden has hopes for a Gaza ceasefire as early as next Monday and tractors roll into Madrid. Meanwhile, Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj investigates Israel’s targeting of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza who it accuses of being Hamas agents.
[*Ssalamū ‘lekum - Darija, Morocco]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Swedish daily newspaper Göteborgs-Posten dedicates its front page to the arrival of Sweden as 32nd member of NATO, following the green light of the Hungarian parliament on Monday, after 18 months of delay. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called it “a historic day.”
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Hamas calls Biden’s comments on ceasefire “premature”: U.S. President Joe Biden said he hopes a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza can be reached by Monday for the start of Muslim holy month of Ramadan, though Hamas officials responded that his comments were “premature” as there are still “big gaps that need to be bridged.”
• Russia jails veteran rights activist Orlov for 2-1/2 years: A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced top human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov to two years and six months in prison for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. Orlov, 70, has served for more than two decades as one of the leaders of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial human rights organization. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that sending troops to Ukraine wasn’t “in the interests” of Western countries, after French President Emmanuel Macron said he wasn’t ruling out this option.
• Biden and Trump face test in Michigan primary: U.S. voters will make their way to the polls in Michigan on Tuesday in a presidential primary that is expected to test Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s potential to win key groups of voters for the general election in the critical swing state.
• Pakistan court indicts jailed ex-PM Imran Khan on graft charges: Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his third wife Bushra Bibi were indicted by a Pakistani court on Tuesday for allegedly receiving land as a bribe during his premiership, adding new charges to a string of convictions against Khan. The former leader, in jail since August 2023, has already been convicted in four cases with sentences of as much as 14 years in prison, but has denied the allegations.
• Senegal's Macky Sall announces amnesty bill to end poll-linked turmoil: Senegal's embattled President Macky Sall has proposed a general amnesty for political protesters arrested since 2021 during fresh talks to set a new date for presidential polls he’d deferred earlier this month, which sparked deadly clashes. According to some rights groups, more than 1,000 people have been arrested since 2021 amid the power struggle between Sall and opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. Sall reiterated his commitment to leave office before his mandate ends in April, and said elections will be held before the rainy season begins around July. Read more in this article Senegal's "Constitutional Coup" — Is Democracy In Africa A Lost Cause?, translated from French to English.
• New Zealand to repeal world-first tobacco ban, Cuban cigars exports boom: New Zealand is set to scrap the world’s first smoking ban passed under former prime minister Jacinda Arden’s government. Associate health minister Casey Costello said the government was still committed to reducing smoking but that it would take “a different regulatory approach.” Meanwhile, international sales of Cuban cigars have registered a 31% increase last year, representing a turnover of $721 million in 2023, as global demand rises for luxury products. Read more about how anti-smoking laws are changing around the world here.
• Tiny fish drops the bass: Scientists in Berlin have discovered that a 12-millimeter-long fish is able to make sounds reaching 140 decibels — the equivalent of a gunshot. The Danionella cerebrum, which could be using an organ called “swim bladder” as a drumming form of social communication, may be the loudest fish for its size yet found.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
758,631
The number of babies born in Japan in 2023 has been tallied at 758,631, which is 5.1% less than the previous year, preliminary government data showed. Japan's top government spokesperson said there will be “unprecedented steps” in order to cope with the declining birthrate. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida refers to this trend as “the gravest crisis” in the country.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Free press or Hamas agent? Inside Israel's campaign targeting Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza
Following the strike that hit Al Jazeera journalists Ismail Abu Omar and Ahmed Matar, posts spread on social media platforms calling Abu Omar a “terrorist” affiliated with Hamas. At the same time, a campaign by Israel's Foreign Ministry and military promoted the same allegations, reports Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj.
📺 Abu Omar and Matar were the latest journalists to be hit by Israeli airstrikes in the war. As of mid-February, 77 journalists had been killed in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Once Al Jazeera began airing footage on its channels and social media accounts about the journalists professional careers and giving details of the attack, Israeli social media accounts rushed to circulate a counter-narrative. This counter-narrative sought to justify the direct bombing of the journalists in an area designated by the Israeli military as a safe zone.
💥 The area was hit by Israel's warplanes and drones the same day the attack against Al Jazeera journalists took place. Video footage aired by Al Jazeera shows that, just before he was hit and injured, Abu Omar spotted a drone flying over the area. Since the attack, Abu Omar has undergone three surgeries and is in “very critical" condition, according to Dr. Mohammed al-Far, head of an American medical delegation treating injured in Rafah hospitals.
📱 A video has circulated of Abu Omar on October 7, coinciding with Hamas fighters crossing the Gaza border. At the time, Abu Omar was covering the Hamas attack through his social media accounts. Israeli social media accounts reused the video and repeatedly published it, claiming that he was a “terrorist” participating in the Hamas attack. Accounts promoting this type of posts included those of former Israeli soldiers and others whose activity showed that they were likely working in a machine to promote and amplify the Israeli narrative about the war in Gaza.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📣 VERBATIM
“We're close."
— “My hope is by next Monday we'll have a ceasefire,” U.S. President Joe Biden stated, after some progress was reached in ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel representatives. Israeli hostages should be released in the next few days. Talking about the possible ceasefire to reporters in New York City, Biden said that “we’re not done yet, but we’re close.”
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• Putin, Trump, Netanyahu: When Pure Narcissism Triggers Global Catastrophe — LES ECHOS
• Forty-Five Years On, Why The West Continues To Tolerate Iran's Criminal Regime — KAYHAN-LONDON
• Society Of The Snow, Moral Decay: What The Netflix Oscar Hopeful Says About Today's Values — ETHIC
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet and Agnese Tonghini
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