Israel’s ceasefire with Lebanon makes peace in Gaza ever less likely

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Joe Biden may have revived diplomatic efforts, but after compromising in Lebanon, Netanyahu has even less leeway in Gaza

Joe Biden has revived diplomatic efforts to achieve a truce in Gaza with the hope of building on momentum generated by the newly agreed ceasefire in Lebanon.

There are doubts, however, that such momentum exists outside the Biden administration, which is anxious to use its last few weeks to salvage scraps of diplomatic honour after the bloody past 14 months in the Middle East.

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French Socialists reject Barnier’s overtures, raising odds of a government collapse – POLITICO Europe

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  1. French Socialists reject Barnier’s overtures, raising odds of a government collapse  POLITICO Europe
  2. Over 50% of French people want government to fall, survey finds  Reuters
  3. France’s Budget Crisis Deters Buyers Wary of Further Turmoil  Bloomberg
  4. Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets  The Economist
  5. French markets hit by threat of government collapse  Financial Times
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French sovereign borrowing costs rise to highest premium in 12 years

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Government faces risk of collapse over planned austerity budget

French sovereign borrowing costs have soared to the highest premium since the eurozone debt crisis amid political turmoil as the government faces the risk of collapse over a planned austerity budget.

The gap between French 10-year government bond yields and their German equivalent ballooned to as much as 90 basis points on Wednesday, the widest level in 12 years, while shares listed on the Paris stock exchange also tumbled.

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‘Thank God we are home’: Lebanese return south after ceasefire with Israel

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People are relieved to be home but face having to rebuild lives among destroyed homes and villages

Before the ceasefire had even come into effect, Zeinab and Dina were already driving south. The two sisters had been forced to flee to Tripoli, northern Lebanon, for 64 days – they had counted – and they could not bear another day without seeing home.

“We were laughing and crying at the same time when we heard the news of the ceasefire. We were packing our stuff and still we didn’t believe it was happening, it was like a dream,” said Zeinab, 28, a resident of the town of Zibqeen in south Lebanon.

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Still counting its dead, Hezbollah faces long road to recover from war – Reuters

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  1. Still counting its dead, Hezbollah faces long road to recover from war  Reuters
  2. Lebanon war toll: Thousands dead, Hezbollah arsenal severely depleted - analysis  The Jerusalem Post
  3. Uncovering Hezbollah subterfuge are a post-war priority  Ynetnews
  4. Hezbollah's Road to Recovery: A Nation in Rebuild  Devdiscourse
  5. US envoy Hochstein:: Hezbollah is degraded, what's the point of degrading it further?  Arutz Sheva
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Dominique Pelicot has split personality caused by trauma, defence argues

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Lawyer for man who drugged wife and invited strangers to rape her says she has felt like ‘devil’s advocate’

Dominique Pelicot, the French man on trial for drugging his wife and inviting strangers to rape her, has a split personality caused by the effect of childhood trauma, his defence lawyer has argued.

In her summing up on Wednesday, Béatrice Zavarro told the court in Avignon there were “two Dominiques”, one a man apparently devoted to his family and the other with a “certain perversity”.

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Israeli Forces Keep Striking in Gaza Alongside Cease-Fire in Lebanon – The New York Times

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  1. Israeli Forces Keep Striking in Gaza Alongside Cease-Fire in Lebanon  The New York Times
  2. Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip leave 15 dead, medics say  Reuters
  3. LIVE: Israel intensifies Gaza strikes, imposes curfew on southern Lebanon  Al Jazeera English
  4. Death toll in Gaza from Israel-Hamas war passes 44,000, Palestinian officials say  The Associated Press
  5. Dozens reportedly killed in Israeli strikes on northern Gaza  BBC.com
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A Chinese ship is suspected of sabotaging undersea cables – The Verge

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  1. A Chinese ship is suspected of sabotaging undersea cables  The Verge
  2. Exclusive | Chinese Ship’s Crew Suspected of Deliberately Dragging Anchor for 100 Miles to Cut Baltic Cables  The Wall Street Journal
  3. European officials cry sabotage after two internet cables are cut in the Baltic Sea  CNN
  4. Satellite Image Shows Chinese Ship Suspected of Sabotage in 'NATO Lake'  Newsweek
  5. Displaced Lebanese Return to Their Homes Amid Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire  The Daily Beast
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Russian rouble drops to lowest level against the dollar in 32 months – Al Jazeera English

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  1. Russian rouble drops to lowest level against the dollar in 32 months  Al Jazeera English
  2. Russian Ruble Collapses As Putin's Economy in Trouble  Newsweek
  3. Kremlin tries to reassure panicking Russians over collapsing rouble  The Telegraph
  4. Russia’s rouble plunges to lowest rate since early weeks of Ukraine war  The Guardian
  5. Russian Central Bank Halts Currency Buying Until 2025 as Ruble Slides  The Moscow Times
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Malnourished Baby Who Had ‘Never Known Daylight or Fresh Air’ Kept In Drawer for Years: Prosecutors – TooFab

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  1. Malnourished Baby Who Had 'Never Known Daylight or Fresh Air' Kept In Drawer for Years: Prosecutors  TooFab
  2. Mother Sentenced for Hiding Baby Daughter in Drawer for First 3 Years of Her Life: ‘Extreme Neglect’  PEOPLE
  3. Woman sentenced for hiding malnourished child in bed drawer for years  WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland
  4. Mother who kept three-year-old locked in a drawer jailed for seven years  The Guardian
  5. Mother jailed for hiding baby in drawer for 3 years: 'She hadn’t known daylight or fresh air'  LiveNOW from FOX
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NASA shows off image “acquired by chance” of U.S. military’s abandoned “city under the ice” in Greenland – CBS News

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  1. NASA shows off image "acquired by chance" of U.S. military's abandoned "city under the ice" in Greenland  CBS News
  2. NASA Found a Secret Military Base Buried 100 Feet Deep in Greenland’s Ice Shelf  Yahoo! Voices
  3. New View of the “City Under the Ice”  nasa.gov
  4. 'City under the ice': NASA scientists find abandoned Cold War military base in Greenland  USA TODAY
  5. NASA radar accidentally finds secret Cold War 'city under the ice' in Greenland  Fox Weather
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China releases three US citizens held for years in prisoner swap

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Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung freed after Biden administration forges rare agreement with Beijing

Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China have been released in a prisoner swap, the White House has said, announcing a rare diplomatic agreement with Beijing in the final months of the Biden administration.

The three are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, all of whom had been designated by the US government as wrongfully detained. Swidan had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while Li and Leung were imprisoned on espionage charges.

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Russian Central Bank Halts Currency Buying Until 2025 as Ruble Slides – The Moscow Times

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  1. Russian Central Bank Halts Currency Buying Until 2025 as Ruble Slides  The Moscow Times
  2. Russian Ruble Collapses As Putin's Economy in Trouble  Newsweek
  3. Russia’s rouble plunges to lowest rate since early weeks of Ukraine war  The Guardian
  4. US Sanctions Hit Ruble as Russia’s FX Sources Are Drying Up  Bloomberg
  5. Ruble tumbles as Russia’s war economy comes under increasing strain  POLITICO Europe
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