World in Brief - The Economist Roundup

 

World in Brief

The Economist Roundup

February 16, 2024

Hizbullah, an Iran-backed militia, fired rockets at northern Israel. The attack was launched in response to an Israeli airstrike on Nabatiyeh, a town in southern Lebanon, which killed a leader of Hizbullah, according to the Israeli army. Ten other people were killed in the strikes. Meanwhile Israel’s military entered Nasser hospital, the largest in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza. Thousands of people were sheltering there. Israel said that the bodies of hostages taken on October 7th could be in the facility, according to Reuters.

 

The White House’s national-security spokesperson confirmed that Russia is pursuing an “anti-satellite capability” in space—a development he characterised as “troubling” but not immediately threatening. On Wednesday a high-ranking congressman issued a statement about “a serious national-security threat”, sparking media reports that it was a Russian space-based nuclear weapon that could destroy a large number of satellites, or a nuclear-powered electronic-warfare satellite.

 

Russian missiles struck civilian and infrastructure targets across Ukraine. No damage was reported in Kyiv, the capital. At least six people were killed in other parts of the country, and 18 others were injured. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, and Emmanuel Macron, France's president, announced they would sign “a bilateral security agreement” in Paris. Mr Zelensky will visit Germany on Friday for the Munich Security Conference.

 

Venezuela expelled a local UN human rights agency, giving staff 72 hours to leave the country. In a statement Yván Gil, the foreign minister, accused the agency of having become a “law firm of coup plotters and terrorist groups”. The move follows the arrest on Friday of Rocío San Miguel, a Venezuelan human-rights lawyer. The UN has called for her immediate release.

 

India’s Supreme Court ruled that electoral bonds are unconstitutional because they “violate the right to information”. The funding scheme, which allowed people to make anonymous donations to political parties, was launched by Narendra Modi, the country’s prime minister, in 2018. Mr Modi’s party has received most of its funding through these bonds. The decision may affect his campaign ahead of a national election in May.

 

Kylian Mbappé, the French football prodigy, reportedly told Paris Saint-Germain, his club, that he plans to leave this summer. He has flirted with switching teams before. Al Hilal, a Saudi club, offered him €300m ($330m) last year. In 2021, when Real Madrid came calling, Emmanuel Macron and Nicolas Sarkozy, the current and the former president of France, reportedly appealed to Mr Mbappé to stay in Paris.

Can Europe dump Trump?

The Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of world leaders, defence officials and spy chiefs, begins on Friday. The meeting comes at a crucial juncture for Europe. Russia’s army is pushing Ukrainian forces back in the east of the country. An American aid package for Ukraine is stalled in Congress. And Donald Trump, who could be America’s next president, indicated on Saturday that he would not come to the aid of “delinquent” allies who fell short of NATO’s defence-spending target of 2% of GDP.

European countries are increasingly concerned about how they would defend Ukraine and the continent without America, should Mr Trump win this year’s election. But there was good news on Wednesday, when NATO officials said that they expected 18 or so of 31 allies, up from five in 2016, to reach the spending target this year. That may not be enough to placate Mr Trump.

India’s farmers go on strike

Agriculture across India is expected to grind to a halt today as perhaps millions of farmers go on strike. Planned since December, the strike follows days of protests by farmers—mainly in Punjab and Haryana, the most important agricultural states. This week hundreds marched towards Delhi, the capital, after failed talks with the government. They are demanding price and employment guarantees, among other things. The farmers’ aim is to press the government to fulfil promises it made in 2021, when months of protests forced it to repeal farm-law reforms passed the previous year.

For now, the government seems in no mood to compromise. It has ruled out raising minimum prices for crops and met the marching farmers with barricades and tear gas. But a general election is just weeks away, and two-thirds of Indians rely on agriculture. The farmers may yet win some concessions.

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