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☆ Senegal, one of Africa's bastions of stability, faces its gravest threat of unrest in decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

DAKAR, Senegal - June 2, 2023: Supporters of jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko protest in the Senegalese capital following his two-year sentencing for "corrupting the youth." The criminal conviction of a populist opposition leader in Senegal has triggered widespread unrest that threatens the West African country's long-established political stability. "The African Union and ECOWAS should use their influence to press Senegalese authorities to end their repression of protests and critics." The underlying roots of the unrest are both political and socio-economic, according to analysts at African specialist intelligence company Pangea-Risk. Consumer price inflation has slowed since late 2022, but hovers at around 9%, with food prices up more than 11% year-on-year.

Persons: Ousmane Sonko, Kaneza Nantulya, Antonio Guterres, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Kaneza, Sonko, Macky, Sall Organizations: Human Rights Watch, United Nations, Economic, West African States, ECOWAS, African Union Locations: DAKAR, Senegal, Africa

The warnings came as U.S. and EU envoys concluded visits to Kosovo and Serbia to calm tensions that flared into violence last week, wounding dozens of NATO peace-keeping soldiers and Serb protesters in northern Kosovo. He and the EU's Miroslav Lajcak did not elaborate on what other consequences Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's ethnic Albanian-dominated government might face if it did not accede to their demands. "I don't think that these things are resolved with pressure and by mentioning consequences and even sanctions," Kurti told reporters on Wednesday. "We have challenges with EU and U.S. envoys but our bilateral relations with the EU and U.S. are excellent." Lajcak said on Monday that the envoys presented proposals to Kurti to de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo, adding they had a "long, honest, difficult discussion".

Persons: Balkans Gabriel Escobar, Escobar, Miroslav Lajcak, Albin Kurti's, Kurti, Lajcak, Vjosa Osmani, Peter Stano, Lajacak, Josep Borrell, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Kosovo’s, Kosovo PM, European Union, Kosovo, NATO, U.S, EU, United, Reuters, Washington, Europe, Thomson Locations: PRISTINA, BRUSSELS, United States, Kosovo, Serbia, Balkans, Belgrade, U.S, EU

Late last month a Chinese fighter jet flew in front of a U.S. warplane over the South China Sea, drawing a rebuke from the United States. China regards the United States as an outsider interfering in a region in which it sees itself as a force for peace and stability. The United States says such patrols defend the right of all countries to sail in international waters. Some analysts say Chinese military commanders have been encouraged to act more assertively against foreign military ships and planes. And that's when the United States would eventually take the necessary measures to reduce the risk."

Persons: Xi Jinping, ”, Jennifer Parker, Derek Grossman, China's, Tong Zhao, Nancy Pelosi's, Michael Martina, Martin Pollard, Yew Lun Tian, Laurie Chen, Don Durfee, Gerry Doyle Organizations: U.S, People's Liberation Army Navy, PLAN, PLA, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, RAND Corporation, Communist Party, Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, Pentagon, ., Reuters, Washington, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, BEIJING, Chinese, U.S, Taiwan Strait, South China, United States, China, CHINA, Beijing, Asia, Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hainan

☆ Wild video of a Chinese fighter jet intercepting a US plane shows China getting reckless and confrontational, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China startled the US by conducting a risky intercept of a spy plane over the South China Sea. China's longstanding claims over the South China Sea, through what is known as the nine-dash line, are not recognized by the international community — including other countries that border that waterway. A string of artificial islands in the South China Sea serves to extend China's military capability far into these waters, and is strongly opposed by the US. "I think defense departments should be talking to each other on a routine basis or should have open channels for communication," he said. "I don't think we are at the point where the US or China think that there's nothing to lose," he said.

Persons: —, Defense Lloyd Austin, Jonathan Ward, Lloyd Austin, it's, Ward, Dr Zeno Leoni, Leoni, Nancy Pelosi's, Ali Wyne, there's Organizations: Service, Defense, Atlas Organization, Pacific Command, US, King's College, South China, Austin, Eurasia Group, AP, China's Ministry of Defense Locations: China, South China, Singapore, Hainan, South, United States, Chinese, France, Ukraine, Taiwan, Beijing, Washington, Russia, China's

Relations between the superpowers are increasingly acrimonious, with friction over issues from Taiwan and China's military activity in the South China Sea to U.S. efforts to hold back China's semiconductor industry. China's leaders, by contrast, have been slow to establish military contacts and quick to shut them down during periods of diplomatic tension. This has frustrated the United States. Then there is China's view of how military talks fit into the broader U.S.-China relationship. From that perspective, military talks are something to bargain with.

Persons: Lloyd Austin, China's, ", Ely Ratner, National Defense Li Shangfu, Li, Zhu Feng, Zhu, Jacob Stokes, Yun Sun, ”, Daniel Russel, William Burns, it’s, Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart, David Brunnstrom, Michael Martina, Yew Lun Tian, Martina Pollard, Laurie Chen, Don Durfee, Alistair Bell Organizations: Pentagon . U.S . Defense, U.S . Army, U.S, National Defense, School of International Studies, Nanjing University, Center, New, New American Security, Stimson, East Asia, Obama, Asia Society Policy Institute, CIA, Washington, Pentagon, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, BEIJING, Singapore, Beijing, United States, China, Taiwan, South, U.S, Austin, New American, East Asia, Washington, Ukraine, States, East, Hainan

[1/2] An Italian member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) looks on while standing guard in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen TeofilovskiBULBOACA, Moldova, June 1 (Reuters) - The presidents of Serbia and Kosovo insisted on Thursday they want to defuse a violent crisis in northern Kosovo but showed little sign of backing down from their opposing positions. Violence flared on Monday after Kosovo authorities, backed by special police units, installed ethnic Albanian mayors in offices in northern municipalities. But he said Kosovo authorities should withdraw "alleged mayors" from the north and declared the Kosovo special police units were there illegally. Vucic said he did not even know who was coming to the summit from Kosovo.

Persons: Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic, Vjosa Osmani, Osmani, Vucic, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Albin Kurti, Macron, Scholz, Jens Stoltenberg, Andrew Gray, Fatos Bytyci, Ivana Sekularac, Sabine Siebold, John Irish, Daria Sito, Edmund Blair Organizations: NATO, Kosovo Force, REUTERS, Kosovo, European, Political, Thomson Locations: Italian, Leposavic, Kosovo, BULBOACA, Moldova, Serbia, Belgrade, Moldovan, European Union, United States, Oslo

The approval, by 283 votes to 155, comes after Indigenous groups blocked a highway and burned tires to protest the measures earlier on Tuesday. Outside Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, demonstrators blocked a major motorway with flaming tires and used bows and arrows to confront police, who dispersed them with tear gas. Indigenous groups from across the country planned a week of protests outside Congress in the capital Brasilia. Lula legally recognized six Indigenous territories last month. Reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia and Leonardo Benassatto in Sao Paulo; Editing by Brad Haynes, Cynthia Osterman and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bill, Marco, Amanda Perobelli, Jair Bolsonaro, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro, Lula, Anthony Boadle, Leonardo Benassatto, Brad Haynes, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: SAO PAULO, REUTERS, Supreme, Sao Paulo, Thomson Locations: BRASILIA, SAO, Sao Paulo, Brazil's, Brasilia, Guarani, Brazil, Sao, Lincoln

☆ Kosovo tensions: Why did ethnic Serbs attack NATO peacekeepers?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Dozens of NATO peacekeepers were injured after they were attacked by ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo, during protests over the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors. More than a decade on, these municipalities have not been created, leaving disputes over the degree of autonomy for Kosovo’s Serbs to fester. Valdrin Xhemaj/ReutersFearing potential violence, Kosovo’s central election commission changed plans to put voting booths in local schools, instead setting up mobile huts patrolled by NATO peacekeepers. Of these, more than 16,000 are ethnic Serbs – with only around 500 ethnic Albanians. The peacekeeping mission said that it had increased its presence in northern Kosovo after the newly elected ethnically Albanian mayors took office in majority Kosovo Serb areas.

☆ In the Market: Amid the calm, the Fed brews the next storm
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Paritosh Bansal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Earlier this month, Chairman Jay Powell said the Fed's monetary policy and financial stability tools were "working well together," allowing it to support banks and pursue price stability. But several people in the market believe not only is the regional banking sector still under stress, multiple other risks to financial stability also remain. Tighter monetary policy could well cause them to blow up or worsen the impact of other shocks, such as debt ceiling negotiations. "The Fed has no desire to conduct monetary policy through financial crises," said Wendy Edelberg, director of The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. In its most recent financial stability report earlier this month, the Fed listed several areas of concern, including life insurance and some types of bond and loan funds.

☆ Serbian president to meet U.S., Russia, China, EU ambassadors after clashes erupt
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers clash with local Kosovo Serb protesters at the entrance of the municipality office, in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Laura HasaniMay 30 (Reuters) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will meet on Tuesday with the ambassadors of the United States, Russia, China, Britain and the head of the European Union mission, the president's office said late on Monday, after new clashes erupted in northern Kosovo. Afterwards, he will conduct separate meetings with the ambassadors of Finland, Russia and China. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell late on Monday condemned the clashes, calling the violence against NATO peacekeepers "absolutely unacceptable" and urging immediate dialogue. "The EU urges Kosovo authorities and the protesters to immediately and unconditionally de-escalate the situation,” Borrell said on Twitter.

☆ It’s Not Just the Debt Ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Jeff Sommer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

These include:The potential for economic drag from the more restrictive fiscal policy that House Republicans are demanding from President Biden as a prerequisite for an increase in the debt ceiling. Oddly, the debt ceiling crisis provided temporary relief for many of the nation’s banks, economists for Moody’s Investor Service found in a recent study. “The debt ceiling impasse has been a tailwind for the banks,” Jill Cetina, associate managing director for Moody’s, said in an interview. But once the debt ceiling is lifted and the Treasury begins to raise money by selling large quantities of bonds, those purchases by investors in the open market will drain money from banks. “This may not be what you would expect, but the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis will be a headwind for banks,” she said.

☆ A sunspot four times the size of Earth is visible right now — here's how to see it without a telescope
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A sunspot four times the size of the Earth is crossing the sun right now. "A giant sunspot is crossing the sun's disk, and I could see it clearly with solar glasses," said Yeom, per spaceweather.com, adding: "Caution! The sun is gearing up to a peak of activityA video of the sun taken on May 18 shows a powerful solar flare being released. SDO/NASAExperts have been keeping a watchful eye on this particular sunspot, called AR3310, while it is facing the Earth. As this one rolled around the side of the sun, it let off a substantial solar flare, a giant explosion that sends energy, light, and high-speed particles into space.

☆ Tensions Flare Inside The Messenger, a Fledgling News Site
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Benjamin Mullin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a statement, The Messenger said that the site is still in an early testing phase. “We have delivered hundreds of pieces of great journalism and have exceeded our traffic goals,” the statement said. On some occasions over the last week, The Messenger published two versions of the same story, with editors unaware of what their co-workers were working on. Those tensions reached a boiling point earlier in the week after one of The Messenger’s news teams assigned a story that had already been assigned by an editor on another team. Mr. Zimmerman admonished editors in a group chat on the messaging platform Slack that they needed to use an online form to coordinate their story assignments.

☆ Tensions Flare in Georgia as Direct Flights Resume With Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As passengers on the first direct flight from Russia to Georgia in more than three years disembarked on Friday, they were met by protesters cursing their arrival. Your country is an occupier!” echoed through the arrivals hall at Tbilisi International Airport. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, and it wields military control over 20 percent of its territory. Graffiti that says “Russians go home” is commonplace in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. A determination to join NATO is enshrined in the former Soviet republic’s Constitution.

☆ An Automaker Has a Stark Warning for the U.K. Car Industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Stanley Reed | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A distress flare has gone up from the beleaguered British car manufacturing industry. The company implied that it might shut down its two plants in Britain, where it employs more than 5,000 people. manufacturing becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close,” the company warned in a five-page document published this week. These words resonated across the country on Wednesday, partly because Stellantis plans to play an important role in the electrification of the British auto industry. Stellantis is already the largest producer in Britain of the popular Vauxhall commercial vans.

☆ How the U.S. and South Africa ended up in a dispute over Russian gunrunning allegations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON, D.C - Sep. 16, 2022: U.S. President Joe Biden meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (L) in the Oval Office of the White House. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty ImagesRelations between the U.S. and South Africa frayed last week, when U.S. South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), released a rather different interpretation of the conversation in its readout. RICHARDS BAY, South Africa - Feb. 22, 2023: Russian military frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" docked at the port in Richards Bay on February 22, 2023. South Africa drew criticism from the U.S. and Europe for holding 10 days of joint naval exercises with Russia and China.

☆ Powerful solar flare that erupted from a sunspot three times the size of the Earth caused widespread radio blackouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A powerful solar flare exploded on Tuesday, caused by a sunspot three times the size of the Earth. There have been a series of recent space weather events as the sun enters a period of peak activity. A video of the sun taken on May 18 shows a powerful solar flare being released. As the sun becomes more active, it is exhibiting more frequent solar events like solar flares and coronal mass ejections. An X-class solar flare was spotted in March causing radio blackouts in parts of southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to Israel's calculations at work in dealing with Hamas in Gaza. "The gap between Hamas and Islamic Jihad is rooted in the fact that Hamas has a political programme and governing authority, whereas the Jihad has neither," he said. However, Israeli officials say Islamic Jihad would not be able to fire rockets without approval from Hamas. An Islamic Jihad official offered a similar line. "That's why they (Hamas) focus their attacks in the West Bank," the regional diplomat said.

☆ We come, we take pictures, we leave: Gaza’s grim routine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ben Wedeman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Gaza City, Gaza CNN —“Journalists come, take pictures and go home!” shouted Bilal Nabhan, his voice hoarse, his eyes bloodshot. Nabhan was a day worker, every day venturing out to earn enough money to feed his wife and four children. Three times in the last three years there have been flare ups between militants in Gaza and Israel. As a young producer and later correspondent based first in Amman then in Cairo, I was a regular traveler to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Now I come once a year for the annual flare up between Gaza militants in Israel.

Pepe, a coin inspired by an anthropomorphized frog popular in internet memes, leapt nearly 7,000% in the 17 days after its April 16 launch, hitting a market value of $1.8 billion by May 5, according to data tracker CoinGecko. "It's almost like, if the market is not moving up fast enough, traders find these smaller tokens to trade with." Since its launch in April, the token linked to Pepe the frog has raced up the list of meme coins in terms of market value. Binance says on its website that pepe has "no utility" or "value support mechanism". The centralized listings also opened the door for derivative trading for pepe, with leveraged exposures and volatility pushing Ethereum transaction fees higher, Devens said.

☆ Opinion: The surprising antidote to burnout
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Opinion Tess Taylor | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Community feels good. Activism feels good. Cultivating feels good. Sometimes we go out and work in community because we want to alter and renew our sense of what is possible. Last year, author Laura Vanderkam wrote in The New York Times that quitting is not the answer to burnout.

On Sunday the IDF said Islamic Jihad had launched nearly 1,500 rockets towards Israel between Wednesday and Saturday. A rocket launched from Gaza killed a Palestinian man working in Israel and seriously wounded another, Israel medical authorities said. In a separate incident, clashes also took place on Saturday morning in the occupied West Bank and at least two Palestinian men were killed, Palestinian officials said. The latest flare-up began on Tuesday, with the IDF launching strikes on Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group it accuses of planning attacks against Israel. It is the third conflict in as many years between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Hamas, the largest armed group in the enclave, and Islamic Jihad, the second largest.

Islamic Jihad also confirmed the agreement. Israel launched the latest round of airstrikes in the early hours of Tuesday, announcing that it was targeting Islamic Jihad commanders who had planned attacks in Israel. During the five days of the campaign, Israel killed six senior Islamic Jihad commanders and destroyed a number of military installations. At least 10 civilians, including women and children, were also killed in Gaza during the fighting, and two people - an Israeli woman and a Palestinian labourer - were killed by Palestinian rocket fire in Israel. Islamic Jihad spurns coexistence with Israel and preaches its destruction.

The U.S. debt crisis is a headache for Japan, which is this year's G7 chair and the world's biggest holder of U.S. debt. Five more countries were invited to the outreach including Brazil, India and Indonesia - but not China - although emerging nations' debt problems will feature high on the agenda. On the other hand, Tokyo is courting China to join a creditor nations' meeting it initiated to resolve Sri Lanka's debt. "The agenda of talks show how G7 is becoming increasingly politicized in nature, with an emphasis on countering China." The International Monetary Fund last month trimmed its 2023 global growth outlook and warned a severe flare-up of financial system turmoil could slash output to near recessionary levels.

☆ Israeli forces kill 2 Islamic Jihad gunmen in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, May 10 (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed two Palestinians who opened fire on them in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the army said, and the Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the slain men as members. The shooting in Qabatiya, near the flashpoint town of Jenin, came as both sides braced for a flare-up after Israel carried out surprise air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday that killed three Islamic Jihad leaders and 10 civilians. The army said the two Palestinians fired on troops from a car and were shot dead. An assault rifle was recovered from the vehicle, it said, adding that there were no Israeli casualties. More than 100 Palestinians, most of them gunmen but some of them civilians including children, have been killed by Israeli forces this year.

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