English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 23/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2023/english.april23.23.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006 

Click On The Below Link To Join Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group so you get the LCCC Daily A/E Bulletins every day
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام لكروب Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group وذلك لإستلام نشراتي العربية والإنكليزية اليومية بانتظام

Elias Bejjani/Click on the below link to subscribe to my youtube channel
الياس بجاني/اضغط على الرابط في أسفل للإشتراك في موقعي ع اليوتيوب
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOOSioLh1GE3C1hp63Camw
15 آذار/2023

Bible Quotations For today
Jesus Appears to Two Of The Disciples On the Road to Emmaus & Explaines For Them The Scripture
Luke 24/13-35/Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.0 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 22-23/2023
Deported Syrians: Lebanese army takes action against illegal immigration
Former Minister Kheireddine returns to Beirut amid money laundering investigation in Paris
Sami Gemayel: France will realize that the solution does not pass by handing over the country's decision to Hezbollah
Education Ministry plans exam dates amidst uncertain funding
Central inspection authority appointed to supervise public sector employee attendance
Education Ministry plans exam dates amidst uncertain funding
Shifting stance: France says does not have presidential candidate for Lebanon,
MP Abdallah to LBCI: The required solution for Lebanon is a Lebanese settlement

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 22-23/2023
Canadian professor convicted in 1980 Paris synagogue bombing
Hungary’s President Vetoes Bill on Reporting Same-Sex Families
Israelis protest legal changes before nation's 75th birthday
Netanyahu urges US more involvement in ME after Iran-Saudi agreement
Canada Confiscated Russia's Monster Plane and Gave It to Ukraine
Daughter of U.S. citizen jailed by Iran says she has lost confidence in US efforts
Serbian, Hungarian leaders attend military display in Serbia
After Russia bombs own city, explosive found at same site
Russian jets are dropping bombs rejigged with guidance systems that are delivering 'devastating hits' upon Ukrainian lines, report says
Russia responds in kind to mass expulsion of its Berlin diplomats
Japan prepares to shoot down North Korean spy satellite
Fighting in Sudan enters a second week as truce breaks
Army chief Burhan calls for de-escalation, dialogue
US says Khartoum still too unsafe to evacuate embassy
Japan puts military on alert fearing North Korean missile
Italy's Treasury says it freezes assets of Russian fugitive
Australia says discovery of WW2 shipwreck ends 'tragic' maritime chapter
Philippines, China to set up more lines of communication to resolve maritime issues

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 22-23/2023
Biden Administration Still Negotiating a Secret 'Deal' with Iran: As Many Nuclear Weapons as They Like?/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./April 22, 2023
Even Chinese companies are moving supply chains out China to avoid geopolitical risks./Huileng Tan/Business Insider/April 22, 2023
Israel's security chiefs split on supporting Sudan’s Burhan, Hemedti/Ben Caspit/Al Mmonitor/April 22/2023
Israel appeals to China for help tackling Iran’s nuclear threat/James Rothwell/The Telegraph/April 22, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 22-23/2023
Deported Syrians: Lebanese army takes action against illegal immigration
LBCI/April 22, 2023
The Lebanese army has been deporting Syrian nationals who have entered the country illegally for some time now. The army and army intelligence have been implementing these deportations for some time and usually involve groups of 20 to 30 individuals who are handed over to the Syrian army at the Lebanese-Syrian border. However, those deported to the Syrian army are Syrians who have crossed Lebanon illegally without going through official passages. These deportation operations have also targeted individuals involved in activities, mainly posing a threat to security in Lebanon. The Lebanese army has been focusing on raiding areas with repeated security incidents involving Syrian nationals. Once confirmed that these individuals have entered Lebanon illegally and committed criminal acts, the army transports them to the border and hands them over to the Syrian army. In one notable incident at the end of last year, 194 individuals had entered Lebanon intending to migrate illegally through boats. After their ship sank, they were rescued by the Lebanese army and immediately deported to the northern border. Furthermore, the Supreme Defense Council held a meeting on April 24, 2019, during which it called for measures to limit the smuggling operations of people and goods across the country's land borders. In this context, the Social Affairs Minister pointed out that the Supreme Defense Council had made decisions during that session, including the deportation of individuals who enter Lebanon illegally without passing through official border crossings.The international law protects this decision, and Lebanon has the right to defend its territory and people. Also, the matter should not require a political decision or permission from anyone. On the other hand, the Progressive Socialist Party condemned the deportation of many displaced persons in a forced and arbitrary manner and called on military and security institutions to respect human rights principles. Therefore, the party stressed that any step could not be taken except through safe and voluntary return, awaiting a comprehensive political solution.

Former Minister Kheireddine returns to Beirut amid money laundering investigation in Paris
LBCI/April 22, 2023
Marwan Kheireddine, the former Minister and Chairman of the board of directors Al-Mawarid Bank has returned to Beirut from France, where he was being investigated for his alleged involvement in a criminal organization and money laundering. This investigation is part of the French judicial investigation into the assets of the Banque du Liban (BDL) governor, Riad Salameh, in Europe, according to a source familiar with the case who spoke to the French news agency, AFP. Upon Kheireddine's arrival at Beirut International Airport, he was greeted by the head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, Talal Arslan, and a delegation of sheikhs led by the representative of the Unitarian Druze Community, Sheikh Akl, Druze cleric Sheikh Nasreddine al-Gharib, as well as a delegation from the party's leadership and a crowd of people from Hasbaya, Rachaya, Chouf, Aley, and Matn. However, the source told AFP that the charges against Kheireddine include forming a criminal gang with the aim of embezzling public funds by a public employee at the expense of the Lebanese state, breach of trust, and corruption of a public employee.

Sami Gemayel: France will realize that the solution does not pass by handing over the country's decision to Hezbollah
NNA/April 22, 2023
Head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, MP Sami Gemayel, revealed that contacts are still ongoing with a number of parties. Gemayel expressed his hope that he would clarify the party's point of view to officials in France, because he considers that Lebanon needs France's support for it, its sovereignty, independence and free decision, and rejects any dictates to the Lebanese deputies and people and that the people decide their fate, indicating that "Lebanon will not surrender again to Iran or Syria or Hezbollah. "We want the decision to return to the Lebanese, to the Baabda Palace and the Parliament, and we do not want it to be dependent on anyone," he added. Regarding the change in the French position on supporting the leader of the Marada movement, Suleiman Franjieh, after the statement of the French Foreign Ministry, the Kataeb leader said: “I think that the French are realistic and trying to find a solution to the Lebanese dilemma. It contributed to clarifying our point of view. I believe that the French who are keen on Lebanon as a mediator do not impose on us nor decide on our behalf, but rather try to mediate or take the initiative to solve the problem. They will realize that the solution does not go through handing over the state's decision to Hezbollah."Commenting on the French statement that the problem lies in the opposition’s lack of agreement on a candidate and on the possibility of an agreement between the Kataeb, the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement on a presidential approach, and if he met Representative Simon Abi Ramia who is in Paris, he said: “The matter is not on the table and the opposition is coordinating with each other and I do not think that The movement has become in the opposition, this is new to me and I hear it for the first time. As an opposition, we meet among ourselves in the hope that the movement and everyone will join us in the real demand for the liberation of Lebanon and the liberation of its decision. We will communicate with all deputies to convince them of our point of view, as this is our duty in these circumstances. " When asked if he would repeat these positions in a second meeting with the French President's advisor for Near Eastern affairs, Patrick Dorrell, he said: "God willing."

Education Ministry plans exam dates amidst uncertain funding
LBCI/April 22, 2023
Caretaker Education Minister, Abbas Halabi, has confirmed that there will be no cancellation or postponement of the official exams for intermediate brevet and secondary school certificates, despite the repeated strikes in the public sector. The issue will be discussed after the holiday season. The dates for these exams will be announced once the necessary arrangements have been made on the financial, administrative, and educational levels. Financially, the teachers on strike, especially those in secondary schools, are expected to return to teaching after receiving their salary increases. The administration deemed these increases acceptable after adding four salaries for public sector employees on top of the three they already receive. In addition, the remaining balances from projects funded by UNICEF last year will be paid out in dollars as advances. Once these matters are resolved, the Ministry will discuss the exam dates and whether they will be set in late June or early July, as requested by private schools. Moreover, the remaining days of the academic year and the percentage of the curriculum that should be taught will also be considered. The Education Ministry will determine the review materials and whether there will be any optional subjects for students. However, funding for organizing the exams and allowances for those involved remains to be determined. Will the funding also be provided by UNICEF, or will the Ministry seek other resources if insufficient money is in its budget? Will the teachers on strike be satisfied with the significant salary increases and other provided allowances?

Central inspection authority appointed to supervise public sector employee attendance
LBCI/April 22, 2023
The Lebanese government raised the daily transportation allowance for public sector employees to LBP 450,000. It also approved four additional salaries for each employee, provided they do not miss more than 14 days of work per month. The head of the central inspection authority, Judge George Atiyeh, was present at the session at the request of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Therefore, Atiyeh's presence at the session aimed to appoint the central inspection authority to supervise the return of public sector employees to their workplaces and to provide the government with information about those who adhere to the 14-day work requirement and those who do not. This will allow the Finance Ministry to determine who is eligible for the four additional employee salaries.According to LBCI's sources, Judge Atiyeh explained the financial, logistical, and human challenges the central inspection authority might face in carrying out this task.However, Mikati and ministers promised that his demands would be met. As a result, Atiyeh called on the eight general inspectors to hold a meeting next Tuesday to establish the foundations of the plan they will adopt before beginning supervising operations inside public administrations and institutions.
Atiyeh will reportedly ask for the following:
Firstly, enlist additional inspectors from other institutions and administrations, as the number of administrative inspectors in the inspection authority does not exceed 14, and the number of financial inspectors is only seven. This means that the inspection authority cannot carry out the task with only 21 inspectors.
Secondly, secure the necessary funds for the inspectors, as they receive only LBP 200 for transportation allowance per kilometer, according to old decrees. It is unreasonable to expect them to be paid LBP 20,000 for every 100 kilometers using their private cars. Thirdly, cover the operating and logistical expenses by the Cabinet of the central inspection authority's building, including diesel fuel and other expenses. Will the government fulfill its financial and logistical promises to the central inspection authority to enable it to supervise the return of public sector employees to their offices?

Education Ministry plans exam dates amidst uncertain funding
LBCI/April 22, 2023
Caretaker Education Minister, Abbas Halabi, has confirmed that there will be no cancellation or postponement of the official exams for intermediate brevet and secondary school certificates, despite the repeated strikes in the public sector.
The issue will be discussed after the holiday season. The dates for these exams will be announced once the necessary arrangements have been made on the financial, administrative, and educational levels. Financially, the teachers on strike, especially those in secondary schools, are expected to return to teaching after receiving their salary increases. The administration deemed these increases acceptable after adding four salaries for public sector employees on top of the three they already receive. In addition, the remaining balances from projects funded by UNICEF last year will be paid out in dollars as advances.
Once these matters are resolved, the Ministry will discuss the exam dates and whether they will be set in late June or early July, as requested by private schools. Moreover, the remaining days of the academic year and the percentage of the curriculum that should be taught will also be considered. The Education Ministry will determine the review materials and whether there will be any optional subjects for students. However, funding for organizing the exams and allowances for those involved remains to be determined. Will the funding also be provided by UNICEF, or will the Ministry seek other resources if insufficient money is in its budget? Will the teachers on strike be satisfied with the significant salary increases and other provided allowances?

Shifting stance: France says does not have presidential candidate for Lebanon,
LBCI/April 22, 2023
Ambassador Grillo reaffirms France's commitment to Lebanon
So far, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, has not received any invitation to visit Paris. However, there is ongoing communication with the French Ambassador to Beirut, Anne Grillo, and there is no objection on him, but the mechanism for forming the authority is a Lebanese sovereignty issue that must be discussed within the country, according to sources from the Free Patriotic Movement. "The international community can support the authority that is formed by the people internally," the sources added. "Until today, we have not received any invitation," this is how sources from the Lebanese Forces respond to the question of whether there is an invitation for their leader, Samir Geagea, to visit Paris. The same sources indicate that the LF's position is well-known in French decision-making circles, and the French Ambassador is fully aware of it. "I adhere to my position in the presidential file that says no to any confrontational candidate," says the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, to L'Orient Le Jour. He adds, "Sleiman Frangieh and his team have reasons to believe that he has better chances, and France continues to support him for reasons I am trying to understand."

MP Abdallah to LBCI: The required solution for Lebanon is a Lebanese settlement
LBCI/April 22/2023
Member of the Democratic Gathering bloc, MP Bilal Abdallah, stressed the need for a Lebanese presidential settlement that would benefit from the favorable regional developments. On LBCI's "Nharkom Said" TV show, Abdallah pointed out that there is no new information regarding an internal settlement to this day, and there has been no serious response to what they seek to grow an internal settlement, considering that reason and wisdom are absent. However, Abdallah affirmed that no one could impose a president on the Lebanese people, indicating that Lebanon needs to befriend all countries. Most importantly, it needs a Lebanese consensus and a president to rescue them from isolation. He also stated that if a president were imposed on Lebanon, they would not reach a desirable outcome, adding, "I think Saudi Arabia does not intervene regarding candidates and calls for an internal settlement that protects Lebanon's identity." Moreover, Abdallah emphasized that the Democratic Gathering will not stop its initiative and commitment to national responsibility.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 22-23/2023
Canadian professor convicted in 1980 Paris synagogue bombing
PARIS (AP)April 21, 2023
A Paris court convicted a Lebanese-Canadian professor in absentia on terrorism charges Friday and sentenced him to life in prison over a deadly Paris synagogue bombing in 1980 that was for decades one of France's biggest unsolved crimes. The court issued an arrest warrant for suspect Hassan Diab, who lives and teaches in Ottawa, Canada, and denies wrongdoing. He was convicted of terrorist murder for an attack that killed four and wounded 46. For victims, the ruling means justice at last, more than four decades after a bombing described as the first antisemitic terrorist attack in France since World War II.
But for Diab and his supporters, the decision is a shock and a judicial error. His lawyers say he was in Lebanon studying for university exams at the time of the attack and is a victim of mistaken identity, a scapegoat for a justice system determined to find a culprit. French authorities accuse Diab of planting the bomb on a motorbike outside the synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris, where 320 worshipers had gathered to mark the end of a Jewish holiday on the evening of Oct. 3, 1980. Several were children celebrating their bar mitzvahs. Investigators initially suspected far right extremists, before shifting their focus to Palestinian militants. French investigators eventually attributed the attack to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations. But no one ever claimed responsibility. Friday's conviction was a surprise to many even in the court. Among the defense witnesses was a magistrate who investigated the case and testified that there was not enough evidence to convict Diab. His supporters urged Canada not to arrest and extradite Diab, who has already faced years of legal battles in the case. Canada authorized his extradition to France in 2014 as part of the investigation, but after three years in pretrial detention, anti-terrorism judges ordered him freed for lack of evidence. Then an appeals court ruled that he should stand trial on terrorism charges. Diab remained in Canada throughout the trial, which started earlier this month. For those touched by the attack, the trial was a long-awaited opportunity to speak publicly about what happened. Survivors described years of physical and mental trauma. Some said the sound of motorcycles haunted them after that night. Families of those killed mourned lost children or siblings.The head of France's leading Jewish group, CRIF, welcomed the conviction, and urged Canada to arrest Diab. The victims’ attorneys say the long-awaited trial will serve as a deterrent for future terrorist acts and antisemitic sentiments. Prosecutors argued that Diab has been lying to himself for 40 years and is caught up in his denial and escape from reality.Diab’s lawyer, William Bourdon, had pleaded for an acquittal, saying that convicting someone would be “a judicial mistake.’’Amnesty International was among those who called for the court to drop what they call a flawed and baseless case, arguing that it “undermines effective justice for victims.”Some lawyers for the 18 people and six groups that were party to the case acknowledged that it was hard to build a case so many years later, especially without the kind of DNA evidence or cell phone data used in current investigations.

Hungary’s President Vetoes Bill on Reporting Same-Sex Families
(Bloomberg)/Sat, April 22, 2023
Hungary’s president rejected a bill that would enable citizens to report anonymously same-sex families to authorities, a rare rebuke from an otherwise loyal ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The draft law approved by parliament earlier this month would allow people to report those who contest the “constitutionally recognized role of marriage and the family” and those who deny children’s rights “to an identity appropriate to their sex at birth.”President Katalin Novak sent the bill back to parliament for reconsideration, saying that it weakens rather than strengthens constitutional protections. The legislation contains passages that are irrelevant to the original purpose of facilitating the reporting of corruption in line with European Union law, according to Novak’s letter dated Friday. While lawmakers can still override Novak’s veto, her letter contains unusually sharp criticism from a member of Orban’s self-styled “illiberal” leadership. Orban’s government has curbed the rights of the country’s LGBTQ community and effectively barred adoption for same-sex couples. That was one of the reasons why Hungary was cut off from European Union funding. Novak said the bill “cites the protection of constitutional values to introduce vaguely-worded directives whose practical applicability and legal consequences are doubtful,” according to her letter.

Israelis protest legal changes before nation's 75th birthday
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/Sat, April 22, 2023
Tens of thousands of protesters flocked to Tel Aviv and cities across Israel on Saturday to vent their opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government and its divisive plan to overhaul the country's judicial system. The mass protest — which has raged weekly since the start of the year — comes just ahead of Israel's landmark 75th anniversary celebration. The holiday honoring Israel's founding in 1948, typically meant to be a display of national unity, has been marred by one of Israel's gravest crises in its history. Plans by Netanyahu's government to weaken the Supreme Court have outraged Israelis who see it as an assault on their country's system of checks and balances and a threat to its very democracy. “This is not about so-called judicial reform, it’s about democracy,” said Sheila Katz, head of the National Council of Jewish Women, from the rally in central Tel Aviv — a sea of blue-and-white national flags. “In order for your sacred courts to protect the rights of all people, they must remain independent from politics.”Crowds of Israelis held signs marked with 75 for Israel's birthday and banners with the words “Crime Minister” overlaid on Netanyahu's face. The protests have galvanized people across Israeli society. Thousands of officers in elite reserve units of the military have said they will refuse to report for duty. High-tech business leaders and the security establishment have come out against the proposal. Trade unions have called for a general strike. President Biden, the leader of Israel’s most crucial ally, has even publicly rebuffed Netanyahu, telling him that he “cannot continue down this road.” Furious public protests last month brought Israeli cities to a standstill and threatened to shut down the economy, compelling Netanyahu to delay the plan in hopes of finding a compromise. But protesters have been undeterred. Crowds of Israelis chanting “Shame!” have flooded the streets in the weeks after Netanyahu backed down, demanding that the overhaul be scrapped altogether. The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his partners in Israel’s most hardline coalition in its history the final say in appointing the nation’s judges. It would also give parliament, which is controlled by his allies, authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the court’s ability to review laws.

Netanyahu urges US more involvement in ME after Iran-Saudi agreement
News Agencies/April 22/2023
Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered that Saudi Arabia going in the wrong direction by restoring relations with Tehran and asked that Washington expands its involvement in the Middle East. “Those who partner with Iran partner with misery. Look at Lebanon, look at Yemen, look at Syria, look at Iraq,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Hadley Gamble on CNBC last Wednesday. “95% of the problems in the Middle East emanate from Iran," he claimed. After seven years of strained ties, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on March 10 to restore diplomatic relations and reopen missions in respective countries after a series of talks brokered in Beijing, China under the auspices of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. Israelis considered the step an additional diplomatic achievement for Tehran and presented a new set of challenges for the Israeli regime. Israeli officials have expressed deep concerns over the event, while the occupation's media described it as a major blow to the plans of "Tel Aviv" and the United States. "Tel Aviv and Washington in the past years hoped to exploit the rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran in order to establish an Israeli-Arab axis against Iran's efforts to create a nuclear weapon," Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said earlier this month. "The announcement of the agreement, which was achieved with the mediation of China, dealt a severe blow to these hopes."
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud invited Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to visit the kingdom, to which the latter accepted and also invited Bin Salman to make an official visit to Tehran. Adding salt to the Israeli wound, Palestinian media reported earlier that a delegation that includes Hamas political bureau chairman Ismail Haniyeh, the group's foreign affairs chief Khaled Mashal, and officials Mousa Abu Marzook and Khalil al-Hayya, landed in the Saudi city of Jeddah late Monday. Commenting on the matter, Netanyahu said, “I think it has probably a lot more to do with the desire to de-escalate or even eliminate the long-standing conflict in Yemen. I think that Saudi Arabia, the leadership there, has no illusions about who are their adversaries, and who are their friends.”
The geopolitical shifts in the region come as the occupation entity is facing historic internal and external crises represented by political and social rifts within and the establishment of a multi-front bloc by the Axis of Resistance.
Beijing achieved a diplomatic breakthrough in the region after it brokered the Iranian-Saudi rapprochement deal, and in the global arena after it offered to mediate a truce treaty between Ukraine and Russia and proposed a 12-point peace plan. China recently also made its attempts to land an agreement between the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority, a plan with next to minimum chances of success considering that most Palestinians confirm that almost the whole of Palestine is occupied by the entity and the only way out is bringing back all the stolen land. Netanyahu denied awareness of Beijing's initiative on that matter. “I’m not aware of any specific offer of this kind,” he told Gamble. “Look, we respect China, we deal with China a great deal. But we also know we have an indispensable alliance with our great friend the United States.”In the last few weeks, "Tel Aviv's" plans to form an anti-Iran bloc in the region received a critical hit after Arab countries that signed the "Abrahamic Accords" such as the UAE and Bahrain, and which it relied on to fight Tehran, have re-established ties with the Islamic Republic and are on the way to do so with Iran's ally Syria. “We’d like very much to have peace with Saudi Arabia. Because I think it would be another huge quantum leap for peace," the Israeli PM claimed. “We would like to expand the circle of peace to its totality."On the potential of ties with Riyadh, Netanyahu said, “I think the sky’s the limit. And even the sky’s not the limit, because there are many opportunities in space as well.”
US MUST COMMIT
The U.S. has long attempted to mediate a rekindling of Israeli and Saudi ties, which has lingered out of reach as Riyadh seeks a resolution to the statehood of Palestinian territories. A day before the Saudi-Iran announcement, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that Riyadh had requested U.S. security guarantees and help with developing a civilian nuclear program in exchange for clinching an agreement with "Israel". The United States had always backed anti-Iran measures in the region, including supporting ties between the Israeli occupation and Arab regimes in hopes of forming one military black to protect US-Israeli interests and fight Tehran. “The better the relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the better for everybody,” US President Joe Biden said on March 10, commenting on the resumption of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and its impact on "Tel Aviv". Stability and security in the Middle East are “key pillars” of Biden's policy, White House spokesperson Karine-Jean Pierre claimed later that day. “I think that not only Israel but I think in many ways most of the … countries in the Middle East would welcome an American, not merely the American involvement in the Middle East which has been ongoing, but a greater engagement of America in the Middle East,” Netanyahu stressed. “I think it’s very important for the United States to be very clear about its commitment and engagement in the Middle East.”
AMERICANS LOST TRUST IN NETANYAHU
After the Israeli Prime Minister took power, the Biden administration was ready to ditch the "radical nationalists" in power, such as the Israeli Police Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, while holding Netanyahu accountable for all their decisions. Biden appeared to take the Israeli leader at his word when he pledged to walk straight. However, his government continued with its legislative chaos. That said, US Ambassador Tom Nides delivered stark warnings in private. Washington's gloves came off after Netanyahu fired Security Minister Yoav Gallant, referred to as the sanest between the "radical Israeli political arena." Thus, "Israel", the US' one dependable ally, as well as Middle East security, was left in the hands of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, the man who encouraged wiping out the Palestinian West Bank village of Huwara. For the first time, Washington has lost trust in an Israeli leader. The administration is not confident that Netanyahu is making rational decisions and believes that the leader has no control over his government and coalition.
UNITED STATES MIGHT NOT BE THERE FOR 'ISRAEL'
Netanyahu's remarks on Washington come just within a week after former Israeli occupation security advisor Yaakov Amidror considered that war with Iran is increasingly probable, pointing out that "Israel" needs to prepare an attack without the help of the United States. "Iran is more sure of itself. It has managed to sign a number of agreements with Arab states. The world is starting to look different," referring to the agreements signed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to restore diplomatic ties with Iran. "America is not the same America in terms of its presence, and the Iranians see that. The US has much greater problems than the Middle East. The world looks at Israel differently."Amidror's fears were echoed this week by the former chief of the Israeli Military Intelligence (Aman), General Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash, who warned that the United States might not provide "Israel" with weapons in any upcoming war. The General stressed that relations with the US are critical to Israeli national security, warning that these relations are currently at risk due to Netanyahu's judicial reforms. His comments came in reference to the recent rocket launches from Gaza, South Lebanon, and Syria, which all occurred within just a few days, in response to the continued Israeli aggression on Palestinian worshippers performing Ramadan religious practices in the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque. "This is one of the few times that we ask the political echelon to beware of a potential big war," he said. "I can clearly say, based on intelligence information, that the enemies recognize there is a widening rift here. Some of us recognize this," Ze'evi-Farkash added, referring to the internal political and social crises facing the Israeli occupation. --- News Agencies

Canada Confiscated Russia's Monster Plane and Gave It to Ukraine
Sébastien Roblin/Popular Mechanics/April 22, 2023
For over a year, a massive An-124 Ruslan cargo plane has been sitting on the tarmac of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The jet, with serial numbers RA-82078, had landed there on February 27, 2022 carrying a cargo of Covid-19 rapid tests—just four days after Russia launched its massive invasion of Ukraine. That same day, Canada’s transport minister closed Canadian airspace to all Russian-operated aircraft, keeping the An-124 grounded. Following an April 11, 2023 meeting between Ukrainian and Canadian prime ministers Denys Shmyhal and Justin Trudeau, Ottawa now plans to confiscate the plane and give it to Ukraine. This decision was made on the basis of a legal ruling by a Ukraine court that Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency had illegally approved air-worthiness certification for all twelve of Volga Dnepr’s An-124s. Antonov Airlines, a branch of the Ukrainian state-owned company which designed the An-124, will undoubtedly receive the craft. And to add insult to injury, Russia is still on the hook for over $330,000 USD equivalent in parking fees for the over 400 days spent in impoundment. Aptly codenamed Condor by NATO, the 200-ton jet—capable of hefting 150 tons of cargo and roughly 50 tons of fuel—is the reigning T-Rex of heavy lift aviation. It’s the largest operational aircraft in the world, ever since Ukraine’s even larger An-225 cargo jet was destroyed in the battle of Hostomel airport last year. A uniquely upgraded An-124-100-150M was also damaged in the Hostomel fight. Since the early 1990s, these big haulers have been chartered by both civilian and military clients for rapid delivery of heavy, large-volume cargos including railway cars, industrial turbines, helicopters, tanks and, once, even a whale. Antonov Airlines retains a fleet of five An-124-100s which were re-homebased at Halle airport in Leipzig, Germany after the Russian invasion. Upon resuming operations last year, Antonov Airlines anticipated that the aircraft would fly up to 385 more missions, involving 1,270 landings. In August, the An-124s were all renamed after Ukrainian cities that experienced heavy fighting in the war, including Bucha, Irpin, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Ohktyrka, Kherson and Mariupol. Three more Volga-Dnepr An-124s (serial numbers RA-82043, 82045 and 82046) are also under impoundment, gathering dust at Leipzig. Germany’s plans for these impounded aircraft (one of which lacks engines) remain unclear. Besides Antonov and Volga-Dnepr, the craft type is operated by Russia’s military, and one is flown by UAE-based Maximus Airlines.
Flight of the Condor
Ukraine used to be the sole proprietor of the world’s largest aircraft—the 314-ton An-225 Mriya (“Dream”) transport plane, operated by its domestic Antonov Airlines from Hostomel Airport near Kyiv. This was effectively an enlarged An-124 with a different tail, specially built to carry the Soviet Buran space shuttle. When Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 23, Russian paratroopers seized Hostomel in a helicopter landing operation, planning to use it as a launch pad to capture the Ukrainian capital. To their surprise, the Ukrainians counterattacked quickly and vigorously with air and ground forces, preventing additional troops from landing in the area and causing Putin’s attempted snatch-and-grab of Kyiv to collapse in shambles. When Ukrainian troops recaptured Hostomel for good on April 2, they found Mriya in its burn-out hangar, its front section smashed by shelling. The loss of the likely irrecoverable Mriya left it’s smaller—but still ginormous—sister, the Antonov An-124 Ruslan, with the title of largest in the world. The An-124 began development in the 1970s as “Project 400”, a Soviet counterpart to the huge American C-5 Galaxy heavy-haul cargo jet. The An-124 closely resembled the C-5 Galaxy, including its folding nose cone used to facilitate loading and offloading. However, the Soviets brought technical flourishes to the concept, including a computerized fly-by-wire flight controls system and both ground-scanning navigation and weather radars. The primarily aluminum aircraft also incorporated 5% lightweight composite materials, as well as ultra-hard (and ultra-expensive) titanium flooring for the cargo deck. A total of 24 massive wheels on 10 gear-fairings supported the aircraft, each with built in auxiliary power units. Those wheels can be deflated to crouch the jet down for ease of unloading. Propulsion was provided by four Lotarev D-18T turbofan engines—the first fuel-efficient high-bypass engines developed by the Soviet Union—which could also reverse thrust to assist with landing. Ultimately, compared to the C-5, the An-124 boasted 20% more internal volume and 17% higher maximum cargo weight. The massive aircraft could carry up to three main battle tanks, five BMP infantry fighting vehicles, or an entire mini submarine. Its cargo bay even included a 30-ton capacity crane to facilitate loading and unloading.
Unlike the C-5, however, the Ruslan lacked inflight-refueling capability, and its main hold wasn’t fully pressurized to support passengers or paratroopers—though it does have an upper passenger deck with seating for 88 personnel.
Despite making its first flight in December of 1982, followed by an unveiling at the Paris Airshow in 1985, the An-124 wasn’t fully operationally reliable until 1991. Altogether, 53 An-124s were built (including the prototype), with parts for two more left unassembled. Antonov built eighteen of these in Ukraine, while the remainder were built by the Ulyanovsk factory in Russia. Of these aircraft, 22 were built or converted into the civilian An-124-100 aircraft, stripped of military systems and fit with improved D-18T series 3 engines with much longer service lives (18,000 hours). Four An-124s were lost in deadly accidents that claimed 97 lives between them, with a fifth An-124 heavily damaged in a belly landing after losing engine power. Even before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, however, Antonov began arranging international cargo flights in partnership with British company Air Foyle, which included delivering U.S. Patriot missiles during the Persian Gulf War.
This began a trend of the An-124 fleet seemingly ending up providing more transportation services to NATO-member militaries than Russia’s armed forces, particularly during ‘War on Terror’-era operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan. These services included delivering Canadian Leopard 2 tanks for combat in that latter period. The partnership with Air Foyle ended in 2005, and Antonov instead leased twelve An-124s to a consortium with Russia called Volga-Dnepr, while also operating its own Antonov Airlines.
The -100s were gradually modernized, with new avionics allowing downsizing of flight crew from six to four in the -100M submodel. Then, in 2005, Antonov also refit a unique An-124-100-150M aircraft with a D-18T Series 4 engine, boasting 10% increased thrust, in turn and increasing max carrying capacity and range to 150 tons and 9,631 miles, respectively. An-124 cargo missions included transporting the 4th-century Axium obelisk—weighing 160 tons—from Rome back to Ethiopia, the dismantled components of a U.S. Navy EP-3E spy plane that forced landed in China’s Hainan island, a Falcon Heavy rocket, a massive Putzmeister concrete pump airlifted from Germany to Japan to help cool of the melt-down Fukushima reactor, and huge quantities of masks and tests during the peak COVID-19 era. The An-124 also established world records for the heaviest-ever lift—carrying a 187.6-ton German generator to Armenia—and the longest unrefueled flight ever, traversing over 12,520 miles in 25 hours and 30 minutes. The Volga-Dnepr partnership fell apart after Russia’s initial invasions of Ukraine in 2014. However, the airline was able to continue operations in Western countries until sanctions in 2022 grounded 4 of its An-124s. According to an assessor, Russia’s assault on Hostomel caused damages that would require $3 billion and five years to repair. Besides the desolation of the Mriya, it also resulted in the destruction of an An-74 and Ant-26-100 aircraft in Antonov’s fleet, and damaged the unique An-124-100-150M.
The Mriya is unlikely to be restorable—though, given adequate resources, Antonov could attempt to assemble a second never-completed An-225 airframe. That option, however, is estimated to cost roughly $500 million. Russian military An-124s have been active in the war in Ukraine, used to transport Tochka-U and Iskander ballistic missiles for attacks. Ukraine’s now Leipzig-based An-124s also are active. While reportedly prioritizing missions transporting humanitarian and military aid for the Ukrainian government and NATO, they also still fly commercial flights, such as transporting a gas turbine from the UAE to the United Kingdom

Daughter of U.S. citizen jailed by Iran says she has lost confidence in US efforts
MADRID (Reuters)/Sat, April 22, 2023
The daughter of an environmentalist imprisoned by Iran said on Saturday she had lost confidence in U.S. President Joe Biden's efforts to free her father. Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-American who also holds British citizenship, has served five years of a 10-year sentence after being convicted of spying. He was briefly released to house arrest with an electronic tag in March 2022 when two other dual nationals, including British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, were allowed to leave Iran. In July his lawyer was quoted as saying he had been granted bail, but his daughter said he was now back in jail. "I think being told since Biden has taken office that our loved ones are a priority, and then seeing no action - it is hard to hold hope," Tara Tahbaz told Reuters in Madrid while she was visiting from the United States to see relatives. She said her family and the relatives of two other U.S. prisoners in Iran hoped Biden would grant them time to explain their stories at a meeting in Washington scheduled for next month. She said her father, now 67, suffered from prostate cancer and had had COVID-19 three times in jail. The United States has urged Iran to release Tahbaz and two other citizens, Emad Shargi and Siamak Namazi, who are all imprisoned on espionage charges that Washington says are baseless. U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel tweeted on Saturday: "We once again call on Iran to cease unjustly imprisoning foreign nationals for use as political leverage and to release U.S. citizens Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi." Namazi, an oil executive, was jailed for 10 years in 2016 on charges of spying and cooperating with the U.S. government. Shargi was convicted in 2021 and also sentenced to 10 years.

Serbian, Hungarian leaders attend military display in Serbia
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)/Sat, April 22, 2023
The populist leaders of Serbia and Hungary observed a Serbian military exercise Saturday, an event seen as a display of lethal firepower amid the war in Ukraine and tensions in the Balkans. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Serbia on a previously unannounced visit. He was greeted by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who said he was happy “to once again welcome a great friend of Serbia.” “Serbian-Hungarian relations are at the highest level in the history of our countries,” Vucic wrote on Instagram. Both leaders have maintained political and economic ties with Russia despite its aggression in Ukraine. Their relations with Moscow have been a sore spot with other European nations and with the U.S. Although Serbia formally seeks membership in the European Union, Vucic has refused to join international sanctions against Russia or publicly condemn the war in Ukraine. And while Hungary is a member of both the EU and NATO, Orban has criticized war-related sanctions on Moscow. His government also has said it would not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to enter the country despite him being the subject of an international warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Saturday's exercise at a military airport on the outskirts of Belgrade included low passes by Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets and Mil helicopters, as well as a display of a recently delivered Chinese anti-aircraft missile system and drones. Serbia’s military buildup has raised concerns among some of the country’s neighbors, which fear it could threaten the fragile peace in the region that was engulfed in a bloody war in the 1990’s. Vucic said he and Serbian military commanders were watching how the war in Ukraine is being conducted and planning future purchases of military hardware accordingly. “Serbia has never had a stronger army in its history,” Vucic said. The exercise came a day before local elections in a Serb-populated northern region of Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a separate country. The elections on Sunday have triggered ethnic tensions and fears of possible incidents. Many Serbian voters planned to boycott the votes.

After Russia bombs own city, explosive found at same site
The Associated Press/Sat, April 22, 2023
Seventeen apartment buildings were evacuated Saturday in a Russian city near the Ukrainian border after an explosive device was found at the site where a bomb accidentally dropped by a Russian warplane caused a powerful blast this week, authorities said. The bomb blast late Thursday rocked part of Belgorod, leaving a large crater and three people injured. The Russian Defense Ministry quickly acknowledged that a weapon accidentally released by one of its own Su-34 bombers caused the explosion. The ministry said an investigation was underway but did not elaborate on the details of the weapon, which military experts said likely was a powerful 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) bomb. The governor of Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported Saturday that sappers examining the site of Thursday's blast found and decided to detonate what he called an “explosive object” that was “in the immediate vicinity of residential buildings.”The precautionary evacuations ended later in the day, according to Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov. “The bomb was removed from the residential area. Residents are being delivered back to their homes,” Demidov wrote on Telegram. Russian authorities did not say if the detonated device was dropped by accident on Thursday and if so, if it was a remnant of or separate from the bomb that exploded in the city. Belgorod, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the Russia-Ukraine border, has faced regular drone attacks since Russia sent troops into Ukraine last year. Russian authorities have blamed those strikes on the Ukrainian military, which refrained from directly claiming responsibility for the attacks. Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has sent relations with the West into deep freeze, with frequent expulsions of diplomats on both sides. On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that German authorities had “decided on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany.” It said that Moscow would expel German diplomats in response. A ministry statement said that “as a reaction to the hostile actions of Berlin,” Russia decided to “mirror” the expulsions by Germany and “significantly limit” the maximum number of staff at German diplomatic missions in Russia. Germany's Foreign Ministry said it took note of the comments. It said that the German government and Russia had been in contact in recent weeks on “questions regarding the staffing of the respective diplomatic missions" and that a flight on Saturday took place in that context. It didn't elaborate. The German air force said earlier that a Russian plane flew to Berlin with diplomatic clearance on Saturday, but didn't specify who or what was on board. Special clearance is required because the European Union closed its airspace to Russian aircraft shortly after the war in Ukraine started.

Russian jets are dropping bombs rejigged with guidance systems that are delivering 'devastating hits' upon Ukrainian lines, report says
Alia Shoaib/Business Insider/April 22, 2023
Russia is modifying regular bombs to have guidance systems, a report says.
They are a cheap and effective substitute for expensive guided missiles, which Russia's stock of is low. Ukraine has been calling for Western fighter jets in order to counter Russia's bombardment. Russia is modifying simple bombs to equip them with guidance systems, turning them into cheap and effective substitutes for expensive guided missiles. The regular bombs appear to be being converted to smart ones using UMPK (unified module for gliding and guidance) systems, according to Illia Ponomarenko of the Kyiv Independent. Ponomarenko wrote that the upgraded guided or gliding bombs pose "an especially serious threat to Ukraine" that can "deliver devastating hits upon Ukrainian lines and the rear front." This system can be used to equip old Soviet FAB-500М-62 gravity bombs, which Russia has an abundant supply of, with a simple satellite guidance system and "wings," according to the outlet. In March, Russia effectively used the modified bombs to bombard Ukrainian defenses of Avdiivka in Donetsk. The kit costs less than 2 million roubles, around $24,000, to produce, making it far cheaper than missiles and other weapons purchased from overseas, according to Russian media. By comparison, a single Kalibr cruise missile, which Russia had been using widely in its invasion of Ukraine, is worth nearly $6.5 million. The system is similar to the JDAM-ER kits that the US has sent to Ukraine, which converts existing unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions. Although Russia has not admitted to be serially producing the UMPK kits, this would be a convenient alternative to expensive cruise and ballistic missiles, its stock of which is now largely depleted. These munitions can have an effective range of over 50 kilometers, or around 31 miles, according to Ukrainian air force estimates, the Kyiv Independent said. Ukraine's air force estimates that up to 20 guided bomb hits are registered daily all along the front line, carried by Russian Su-34 and Sukhoi Su-35 jets and launched from upper altitudes, according to the paper. In order to combat the Russian bombardment, Ukraine needs to defend against the jets using air defense systems such as the S-300. The recently leaked Pentagon documents warned that Kyiv's stock of S-300 is depleted and could run out in May. Several Patriot missile defense systems arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday, sent from Western allies. Ukraine has also been scrambling to find more ammunition for its air-defense weapons, which have been vital to defend against Russias aircraft. Ukraine has also been calling for its Western allies to send fighter jets to defend against Russia's attacks, as its Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 are outdated and lack modern longer, range air-to-air missiles. Germany this week approved Poland's request to transfer five MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Russia responds in kind to mass expulsion of its Berlin diplomats
MOSCOW (Reuters)/Sat, April 22, 2023
Russia is responding in kind to mass expulsion of its diplomats from Berlin, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. "The German authorities took a decision on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany. We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations," the ministry said. It did not reveal the number of diplomats involved. Relations between Moscow and Berlin, which used to be the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas, have frayed since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and the West responded with sanctions. "As a reaction to the hostile actions of Berlin, the Russian side decided to mirror the expulsion of German diplomats from Russia, as well as to significantly limit the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions in our country," the ministry said. It said Germany's ambassador in Moscow had been notified about the moves on April 5.

Japan prepares to shoot down North Korean spy satellite
The Telegraph/Sat, April 22, 2023
Japan has ordered its military to prepare to shoot down a North Korean spy satellite should it fall within its territory. Yasukazu Hamada, the Japanese defence minister, ordered the Self-Defense Forces to make necessary preparations as he could potentially "order the destruction of ballistic missiles". Preparations included making arrangements to deploy troops to the southern prefecture of Okinawa to "minimise damage should a ballistic missile fall". Placing the satellite into orbit would require a long-range projectile, which North Korea is banned from launching because the United Nations views such exercises as tests of ballistic missile technology. Mr Hamada ordered preparations for the deployment of destroyers equipped with SM-3 missile interceptors, as well as military units in the southern prefecture of Okinawa that can operate Patriot PAC-3 missiles. In 2012 and 2016, North Korea tested ballistic missiles that Pyongyang called satellite launches. Both missiles flew over the Okinawa region. Japanese media reported on Saturday that the defence ministry issued the same preparation orders in 2012. Pyongyang has not provided a launch date, with leader Kim Jong-un only saying the satellite will be sent up "at the planned date". On Tuesday, G7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan demanded North Korea refrain from any further ballistic missile tests following a spate of launches this year. The group of nations also warned Pyongyang against carrying out an expected nuclear weapons test and said there would be a "robust" response if it did not comply. Last week, Pyongyang said it had successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, hailing it as a breakthrough for the country's nuclear counterattack capabilities.

Fighting in Sudan enters a second week as truce breaks
Agence France Presse/Sat, April 22, 2023
Fighting in Sudan's capital entered a second week Saturday as crackling gunfire shattered a temporary truce, the latest battles between forces of rival generals that have already left hundreds dead and thousands wounded. Overnight, the heavy explosions that had previously rocked the city in recent days had subsided, but on Saturday morning, bursts of gunfire resumed. Violence broke out on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The former allies seized power in a 2021 coup but later fell out in a bitter power struggle. The army announced Friday that it had "agreed to a ceasefire for three days" for the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had called for a day earlier. Daglo said in a statement he had "discussed the current crisis" with Guterres, and was "focused on the humanitarian truce, safe passages, and protecting humanitarian workers." Two previous 24-hour ceasefires announced earlier in the week were also ignored. The fighting has seen the RSF -- a force tens of thousands strong, formed from members of the Janjaweed militia that led years of violence in the western Darfur region -- take on the regular army, with neither side seemingly having seized the advantage.
'Stench of blood'
In Khartoum, a city of five million people, the conflict upended the lives of civilians, who have sheltered in terror inside their homes without electricity in baking heat for days.Many civilians have ventured out only to get urgent food supplies or to flee the city. Eid is meant to be spent "with sweets and pastries, with happy children, and people greeting relatives", resident Sami al-Nour told AFP. Instead, there has been "gunfire and the stench of blood all around us." While Khartoum has seen some of the fiercest battles -- with fighters jets launching air strikes, tanks prowling the streets and gunfire in densely populated districts -- violence also exploded across the country. Late Friday, the army accused the RSF of attacks in the capital's twin city of Omdurman where they released "a large number of inmates" from a prison, accusations the group denies. Battles have also raged in Darfur, where Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the city of El Fasher said their medics had been "overwhelmed" by the number of patients with gunshot wounds, many of them children.
Embassies ready for evacuation -
Plans are being made to evacuate foreign nationals, with the United States, South Korea and Japan deploying forces to nearby countries and the European Union weighing a similar move. On Friday, the U.S. State Department said the situation was still too risky for an evacuation of embassy personnel. Later, the RSF said it was ready to "partially" open "all airports" in Sudan to evacuate foreign citizens, although it is not possible to verify which airports they control. The World Health Organization (WHO) said 413 people had been killed and 3,551 wounded in the fighting across Sudan, but the actual death toll is thought to be higher, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals. More than two-thirds of hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring states are now "out of service", the doctors' union said. Others have been looted, and at least four hospitals in North Kordofan state were shelled. The World Food Programme said the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where 15 million people -- one-third of the population -- need aid. Analysts fear countries across the region risk being dragged into the conflict, with the International Crisis Group (IGC) warning urgent steps were needed to stop a descent into "full-blown civil war". Burhan and Daglo's dispute centred on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army, a key condition for a deal aimed at restoring Sudan's democratic transition. The military toppled autocratic president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 following massive protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule. In October 2021, Burhan and Daglo joined forces to oust a civilian government installed after Bashir's downfall, derailing an internationally backed transition to democracy. Daglo now says the coup was a "mistake" that failed to bring about change, while Burhan believes it was "necessary" to include more groups into politics.

Army chief Burhan calls for de-escalation, dialogue
Arab News/April 22, 2023
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s army chief AbdelFattah al-Burhan has called for dialogue to bring peace in Sudan as fighting persisted with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Saturday. In an interview with Al Arabiya TV, al-Burhan said: “The biggest loser in this war is the Sudanese people. We all need to sit as Sudanese and find the right way out to restore hope and life.”He added, “living conditions in Sudan are deteriorating and we share the international community’s concern towards Sudanese citizens.”The fighting between the army and RSF broke out a week ago in Sudan, killing at least 413 people and injuring 3,551, according to the World Health Organization. Earlier on Saturday, al-Burhan said the army is coordinating with countries to help evacuate foreign nationals as sporadic gunfire and air strikes echoed across Khartoum despite promises by warring sides to cease fire for three days on Eid Al-Fitr holidays. Al-Burhan accused the RSF of initiating the attack, reiterating that the army has staged a counteroffensive. He said the RSF has taken civilians as “human shields” through positioning themselves in residential neighborhoods in Khartoum. The RSF, he said, attacked shops, banks and government institutions. So far, the army has gained control over almost all the airports in the country, except for Khartoum International Airport and Nyala airport, al-Burhan said. “Attempts to integrate the RSF into the army has been the reason behind this crisis,” Al-Burhan told Al Arabiya, adding that army insists on achieving the integration. He reaffirmed the army’s commitment to completing the transition to a civilian government. “The army seeks de-escalation and preservation of Sudan’s gains,” he said. Rival RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said he has reaffirmed commitment to the ceasefire during a conversation with France’s foreign minister Catherine Colonna. He said he discussed with the French foreign minister facilitating the evacuation of foreigners.

US says Khartoum still too unsafe to evacuate embassy
Agence France Presse/Sat, April 22, 2023
The U.S. State Department has said that ongoing fighting between military factions in Sudan made it too risky to try to evacuate embassy personnel from Khartoum. The Pentagon has mobilized in the east Africa region to bring out U.S. staff from the Sudan capital. However, "due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and the closure of the airport, it's currently not safe to undertake a U.S. government coordinated evac," said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel. The State Department has sought to gather US staff in one location in the Sudan capital to better protect them from the fighting outside and prepare for an evacuation.
How that would take place is not clear.
On Thursday the Pentagon said it was mustering forces in the region to support an evacuation, presumably to be directed from the US base in Djibouti, more than 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) to the southeast of Khartoum. "We are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan," the Pentagon said in a statement. More than 400 people have been killed after violence erupted Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A lull in the fighting starting Friday, apparently tied to the Eid al-Fitr holiday, raised the possibility that an evacuation could take place over the weekend. "We have made very clear to both sides that any attacks, threats or dangers posed to our diplomats are totally unacceptable," Patel said. Berlin aborted an evacuation attempt for its citizens from Sudan on Wednesday, according to German weekly Der Spiegel. Three military transport planes, which would have carried around 150 German citizens, headed for the country but were made to turn back, according to the magazine. South Korea said Friday it was sending a military aircraft and soldiers to standby for evacuating its nationals at the U.S. base for Djibouti. And Japan said it is preparing to evacuate its nationals from the country. Around 60 Japanese people are in Sudan, including embassy staff, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said. Japan also has a base in Djibouti for the Japanese Self Defense Forces.

Japan puts military on alert fearing North Korean missile
Agence France Presse/April 22, 2023
Japan ordered its military Saturday to prepare to shoot down a North Korean ballistic missile after Pyongyang said this week it was ready to launch its first military spy satellite. Placing the satellite into orbit would require a long-range projectile, which North Korea is banned from launching as the United Nations views such exercises as tests of ballistic missile technology. On Saturday Japanese minister Yasukazu Hamada told the country's Self-Defense Forces "there is a possibility of ordering destructive measures against ballistic missiles and others", according to a statement from the ministry of defence. Hamada instructed troops to "implement measures necessary to limit damage in the event of a ballistic missile falling."He ordered preparations for the deployment of destroyers equipped with SM-3 missile interceptors, as well as military units in the southern prefecture of Okinawa that can operate Patriot PAC-3 missiles. G7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan on Tuesday demanded North Korea refrain from any further ballistic missile tests following a spate of launches this year. The group of rich nations also warned Pyongyang against carrying out an expected nuclear weapons test and said there would be a "robust" response if it did not comply. A week ago Pyongyang said it had successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, hailing it as a breakthrough for the country's nuclear counterattack capabilities.

Italy's Treasury says it freezes assets of Russian fugitive
LBCI/Sat, April 22, 2023
Italy's Treasury said it has frozen the assets held in the country by Russian businessman Artem Uss, who dodged Italian authorities trying to extradite him to the United States and fled to Russia last month. Uss was under house arrest at his home in Basiglio on the outskirts of Milan, but he fled a day after a Milan court agreed to transfer him to the US to face charges of shipping oil from Venezuela in breach of sanctions, and of bank fraud. His electronic tracking tag sent out an alarm when he left the house but he had disappeared by the time police arrived at the villa. In a statement released late on Friday, the Treasury said it had approved a decree freezing assets belonging to Uss in Italy, including a minority stake in a private company, his villa in Basiglio and a bank account containing more than 160,000 euros. Uss told Russia's RIA news agency earlier this month that the US charges against him were politically motivated. His escape has embarrassed the government and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also criticized the initial decision to grant Uss house arrest. Italy's justice minister has begun disciplinary action against three judges who granted the house arrest, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said earlier this week.

Australia says discovery of WW2 shipwreck ends 'tragic' maritime chapter
LBCI/Sat, April 22, 2023
Australia's Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Saturday that the wreck of a Japanese merchant ship, sunk in World War Two with 864 Australian soldiers on board, had been found in the South China Sea, ending a tragic chapter of the country's history. Marles said the SS Montevideo Maru, an unmarked prisoner of war transport vessel missing since being sunk off the Philippines' coast in July 1942, had been discovered northwest of Luzon island. The ship was torpedoed en route from what is now Papua New Guinea to China's Hainan by a US submarine, unaware of the POWs onboard. It is considered Australia's worst maritime disaster. The long-awaited find comes ahead of April 25 commemorations for Anzac Day, a major day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand for their troops killed in all military conflicts. "This brings to an end one of the most tragic chapters in Australia's maritime history," Marles said in a video message. The search for the wreck, found at a depth of more than 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) was led by a maritime archaeology not-for-profit and deep-sea survey specialist, and supported by Australia's Defence department, according to the government. "The absence of a location of the Montevideo Maru has represented unfinished business for the families of those who lost their lives until now," Marles said. More than 1,000 men - POWs and civilians from several countries - are thought to have lost their lives in the tragedy.

Philippines, China to set up more lines of communication to resolve maritime issues
Reuters/April 22/2023
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his foreign secretary met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Saturday with Manila and Beijing pledging to work together to resolve their maritime differences in the South China Sea. Talks between the countries' key officials in Manila mark the latest in a series of high-level meetings of the Philippines with leaders of the United States and China as the two superpowers battle for strategic advantage in the Indo-Pacific. "As to the conflicts, we agreed to establish more lines of communications so that any event that occurs in the West Philippine Sea that involves China and the Philippines can immediately be resolved," Marcos said in a statement. Manila refers to the part of the South China Sea that it claims as the West Philippine Sea. Marcos said Qin's visit was helpful in talking things through and continuing work on growing the relationship between the two neighbours.
Qin and his counterpart, Philippines' Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo, discussed views on strategic and regional issues during bilateral talks that started earlier on Saturday. At the start of the talks, Qin said the two countries needed to work together to continue a tradition of friendship, deepen cooperation and properly resolve differences. Working together would help promote peace and stability of the region and the world, he added. Manalo reaffirmed the Philippines' adherence to the One China Policy, while at the same time expressing concern over the escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait.China's ambassador to the Philippines last week caused a stir when he accused the Southeast Asian nation of "stoking the fire" of regional tensions by offering expanded military base access to the United States, which he accused of interfering. The Philippines this month announced the location of four additional U.S. military bases, three of which are facing north towards Taiwan, which China claims as its own. Manila's foreign minister said relations with Beijing are more than just their differences over the South China Sea, which sees the passage of about $3 trillion worth of ship-borne goods annually and is believed to be rich in minerals and oil-and-gas deposits."These differences should not prevent us from seeking ways of managing them effectively, especially with respect to enjoyment of rights of Filipinos, especially fishermen," Manalo said, adding that their livelihoods are undermined by incidents and actions in the waterway.
Since Marcos took office in June, the Philippines has filed dozens of diplomatic protests at the presence of Chinese fishing vessels and what it calls China's "aggressive actions" in the strategic waterway. Marcos is set to meet U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington in May, days after more than 17,000 Philippine and U.S. soldiers complete their largest ever joint military drills in the Southeast Asian country, drawing criticism from Beijing. ---

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 22-23/2023
لا تزال إدارة بايدن تتفاوض مع إيران على صفقة نووية سرية تترك فيها للملالي إمتلاك الأسلحة النووية التي يشاؤون؟
ماجد رفي زاده/معهد جيتستون/ 22 نيسان 2023
Biden Administration Still Negotiating a Secret 'Deal' with Iran: As Many Nuclear Weapons as They Like?
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./April 22, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/117597/117597/
Nothing seems to stop the Biden administration from wanting to reward the ruling mullahs of Iran with a nuclear deal that will pave the way for the Islamist regime of Iran legally to obtain as many nuclear weapons as it likes, empower the ruling mullahs with billions of dollars, lift sanctions against their theocratic regime, allow them to rejoin the global financial system and enhance their legitimacy on the global stage.
These benefits presumably include further enabling the regime's ruthless expansion throughout the Middle East -- Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and the terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip -- and into Latin America.
"The Americans are keeping their desire to negotiate with the Islamic Republic [to revive the nuclear deal] in secret in the midst of denial and silence". — Independent Persian, February 23, 2023.
In addition, Iran, called by the US Department of State a "top sponsor of state terrorism," has been ratcheting up its presence and terror cells in Latin America while using the continent as a sanctuary.
During the Biden administration, the Iranian regime has also attempted to assassinate US officials on American soil.
Even The Washington Post pointed out that the attempted kidnappings should be a serious warning to the Biden administration: "The message for the Biden administration, which has frequently proclaimed its intention to defend pro-democracy dissidents, is that Iran and other foreign dictatorships won't shrink from launching attacks inside the United States unless deterred..."
Instead, the Biden administration remains silent and evidently still wants to reward the mullahs with the nuclear deal and it continues to see "diplomacy" -- read: appeasement -- as the only path to deal with the Iranian regime.
Nothing.... seems to be deterring the Biden administration from trying to give the Islamist regime of Iran the ultimate gift: unlimited nuclear weapons.
Nothing seems to stop the Biden administration from wanting to reward the ruling mullahs of Iran with a nuclear deal that will pave the way for the Islamist regime of Iran legally to obtain as many nuclear weapons as it likes, empower the ruling mullahs with billions of dollars, lift sanctions against their theocratic regime, allow them to rejoin the global financial system and enhance their legitimacy on the global stage.
These benefits presumably include further enabling the regime's ruthless expansion throughout the Middle East -- Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and the terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip -- and into Latin America.
According to the Independent Persian on February 23:
"Ali Bagheri Keni, the chief nuclear negotiator of the Islamic Republic, emphasized the continuation of negotiations to revive the JCPOA and announced that negotiations are still ongoing [between Iran, the Europeans and the Biden administration] within the framework of the exchange of messages between the two sides, and the parties are exchanging their views... The Americans are keeping their desire to negotiate with the Islamic Republic [to revive the nuclear deal] in secret in the midst of denial and silence".
Here are some the Iranian regime's terrorist actions since the Biden Administration assumed office:
Most recently, the Iranian regime, with a drone strike, killed an American contractor and injured six other US personnel deployed in Syria. On the same day, Iranian-backed groups also launched 10 rockets that targeted coalition forces at the Green Village in northeast Syria.
The Iranian regime, by providing weapons and troops to Russia, is also entrenched in the war on Ukraine. Even the European Union ultimately acknowledged that the Iranian regime was "provid[ing] military support for Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine," via "development and delivery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Russia."
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly noted in a statement:
"These cowardly drone strikes are an act of desperation. By enabling these strikes, these individuals and a manufacturer have caused the people of Ukraine untold suffering."
In addition, Iran, called by the US Department of State a "top sponsor of state terrorism," has been ratcheting up its presence and terror cells in Latin America while using that continent as a sanctuary.
During the Biden administration, the Iranian regime has also attempted to assassinate US officials on American soil. A member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Shahram Poursafi, aka Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, was charged on August 11, 2022 with a terrorist plot to pay an individual in the United States $300,000 to murder former US National Security Advisor John Bolton. According to the US Department of Justice:
"An Iranian national and member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was charged by complaint, unsealed today in the District of Columbia, with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire and with providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot."
The regime also attempted to assassinate former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was reportedly the second target of the Iranian regime. The IRGC member allegedly offered $1 million for Pompeo's murder. In addition, a man armed with an assault rifle showed up at the Brooklyn, NY home of Iranian-American author and human rights activist Masih Alinejad. Last year, she was the target of a kidnapping plot in which she says she would have been killed. There are likely other US citizens on the regime's murder list as well.
"An attempted assassination of a former U.S. Government official on U.S. soil is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated," said Steven M. D'Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office.
These attempts to murder US citizens on American soil by the Iranian regime are unprecedented and deliberate violations of US sovereignty. The Biden Administration, however, as can be seen from the chaos on the US southern border, is not taking the security of the American people seriously. So far, at just that border, the US has seen the entry of 5.5 million illegal migrants; 1.4 million "gotaways," about whom the government knows nothing; 853 people who died trying to enter in just 12 months; fentanyl, originating in China, that has been killing tens of thousands of Americans each year and is now, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "the top cause of death among U.S. adults (ages 18-45)," and continuing to kill Americans "in record numbers." Also seen across America's southern border, are 87,000 children who are unaccounted for and may well have been abducted into child slavery or sex-trafficking.
Even the Washington Post pointed out that Iran's attempted kidnappings on American soil should be a serious warning to the Biden administration:
"The message for the Biden administration, which has frequently proclaimed its intention to defend pro-democracy dissidents, is that Iran and other foreign dictatorships won't shrink from launching attacks inside the United States unless deterred..."
Instead, the Biden administration remains silent and evidently still wants to reward the mullahs with the nuclear deal and it continues to see "diplomacy" -- read: appeasement -- as the only path to deal with the Iranian regime. "I continue to believe, Biden said on July 14, "that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "We continue to believe that ultimately diplomacy is the most effective way to deal with this, but that's not where the focus is."
Nothing, not even the killing and wounding of American citizens, seems to be deterring the Biden administration from trying to give the Islamist regime of Iran the ultimate gift: unlimited nuclear weapons.
* Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19590/negotiating-secret-iran-nuclear-deal

Even Chinese companies are moving supply chains out China to avoid geopolitical risks.
Huileng Tan/Business Insider/April 22, 2023
Here are the 6 places they're heading for instead.
How farmers in New Zealand shear 25,000 sheep in 10 daysScroll back up to restore default view.
Even Chinese manufacturers are shifting parts of their supply chains out of China to manage risks. That's because manufacturers are moving to near where their customers are. Southeast Asia has benefited from the shift. So have Mexico and some European countries. China has been the world's factory for over four decades — but that could be changing soon, as even Chinese firms are moving supply chains out of the country. While Western countries have already been doing this since 2018 after then-President Donald Trump launched a trade war against China, homegrown companies from the manufacturing giant are now following in their footsteps.
To be sure, Chinese manufacturers aren't moving all their production out of the mainland. But a combination of geopolitical risks — such as tensions with the US — and rising costs are pushing them to look for alternatives.
"We already see a lot of China-based manufacturers are actively looking at setting up overseas productions with anticipation of the supply chain challenges and political risks," Shay Luo, a principal at consulting firm Kearney told Insider.
While India — which is set to overtake China as the most populous nation by mid-2023 — is likely to be a key beneficiary of the shift, much of the shuffle is headed to nearby Southeast Asia countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Further away, lower-cost havens nearer key consuming markets — such as Mexico for the US market and Eastern Europe — are also proving popular, Luo said. Here are the six countries these supply chains are moving to:
India and Bangladesh are attractive manufacturing bases due to their vast lands and young populations
South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh are prime candidates for Chinese manufacturers to move to, thanks to their vast lands and young populations. While India is mainly positioning itself as an alternative for international manufacturers who want to diversify away from China, it is also trying to attract Chinese companies targeting the Indian market.
Chinese firms already operating manufacturing facilities in India include smartphone makers Oppo and Vivo, and carmaker SAIC.
Bangladesh, an apparel manufacturing giant, has attracted $770 million worth of foreign direct investment from China — the highest amount among foreign investors, Md Sirazul Islam, the executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, told the Dhaka Tribune media outlet in June 2022.
Setting up manufacturing in Bangladesh was already attractive even before the pandemic and geopolitical tensions intensified because wages in China have been going up. The cost difference is significant — the average monthly salary of a worker in Bangladesh is around $120, less than one-fifth of the $670 a factory worker takes home in the southern-China manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, Mostafiz Uddin, the owner of the Bangladeshi apparel manufacturer Denim Expert, told Insider in December 2022.
As Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, Thailand is an established auto hub
Natawut Lorboon works at the production line of Dunan Metals Thailand Co., Ltd, in the Thai-Chinese Rayong industrial zone in Rayong Province, Thailand, Nov. 8, 2022.
As Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, Thailand has been moving up the value chain in manufacturing and is a production hub for car parts, vehicles, and electronics, with multinationals such as Sony and Sharp setting up shop there.
And Chinese companies aren't too far behind either.
For instance, Chinese companies have relocated parts of their supply chains to Thailand. Companies producing solar panels, such as Shanghai's JinkoSolar, are moving their production to the island nation to take advantage of lower costs and avoid geopolitical tensions, the South China Morning Post reported in July. Chinese car-parts manufacturers are also making their way to Thailand due to pressure from their overseas clients who are now wary of relying too much on China and over geopolitical tensions, Bloomberg reported on April 11, citing car-parts suppliers. One supplier of electric vehicle charging components identified by his family name Wang told Bloomberg he was pushed into setting up a new factory overseas by a European customer.
"It looks like I have no choice. Move out, or lose the business," Wang told the media outlet. Vietnam is witnessing a wave of interest from Chinese solar panel manufacturers. With China's economy reopening after three years of strict COVID-19 restrictions, there has been a flood of Chinese companies setting up shop in Vietnam, Reuters reported on March 16.
"Enquiries from Chinese firms about manufacturing investment in Vietnam grew exponentially in the last quarter of last year," Michael Chan, the senior director of leasing at industrial real estate specialist BW Industrial Development, told Reuters. Chan said the rash of influx is mostly catering to larger peers that are already there. For instance, Vietnam's solar panel industry — dominated by Chinese firms — is attracting ancillary support providers such as plastic molding manufacturers, die-cast makers, and energy storage providers, per Reuters, citing industry sources.
Chinese companies that have moved to Vietnam include Growatt, a Shenzhen-based power storage firm, and Hangzhou First Applied Material, a solar panel component maker.
Mexico is a key manufacturing base in the North American market
Mexico's shaping up to be a prime location for Chinese manufacturers to relocate — particularly since the US is a key consuming market.
"We're increasingly seeing Chinese companies manufacturing finished goods in Mexico to serve their US customers, immunizing themselves against further worsening of the US and China relations," Kearney, the consultancy, said in its 2022 Reshoring Index report published on April 13. "In their wake, second- and third-tier Chinese suppliers are coming to Mexico to continue serving their OEM customers," Kearney added, referring to original equipment manufacturers.
Mexico's Hofusan Industrial Park — which was jointly developed by the Mexican Santos family, and Chinese investors Holley Group and Futong Group — represents how Chinese firms are moving closer to their key consumers by moving to a nearby country. And here are other similar industrial parks being built in Mexico right now, added Kearney.
Chinese companies exporting out of Mexico to the US would also be able to lower freight rates due to increases in energy prices. and skirt high US tariffs slapped on some products from China, per Bloomberg.
Countries like Poland present opportunities for China's foray into Europe, particularly for EVs
Chinese electric vehicles are eyeing the European market.Shan Yuqi/Xinhua via Getty
Chinese car-parts makers that supply to European auto manufacturers are also looking for factory sites overseas.
Minth, a car parts company, which is based in the eastern city of Ningbo, broke ground on a factory in Poland in September 2022.
"We've all seen some recent trend of reverse globalization," Liu Yanchun, Minth's chief operating officer, said at an event in Shanghai in February, per Bloomberg. "We'll have many cards to play, and will never be checkmated," Liu added.
Shenzhen-based electric vehicle maker BYD — backed by legendary investor Warren Buffet — is planning to build its first EV factory in Europe.
We're doing feasibility studies to see our plans for the future," Stella Li, executive vice president at BYD told Bloomberg in February. The EV maker hasn't decided on specific countries, but announced ambitious plans to expand sales across the continent in late 2022.

Israel's security chiefs split on supporting Sudan’s Burhan, Hemedti
Ben Caspit/Al Mmonitor/April 22/2023
Israel is engaged in efforts to de-escalate tensions in Sudan, but its security and diplomatic leaderships are split between the two fighting camps.
The director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Ronen Levy, confirmed Thursday that Jerusalem is involved in international efforts to de-escalate the current conflict in Sudan and is in contact with both fighting camps.
Interviewed by Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Levy said Israel will pursue an end to the current unrest and the normalization of diplomatic relations. "Everyone is making efforts to get Sudan back on track. We are not giving up on normalization. The Americans are involved, and we are assisting vis-a-vis both sides. We are helping to exert direct pressure to bring about calm and an end to the war," he said.
Indeed, despite its domestic turmoil and the deterioration of its international standing, Israel currently finds itself in the role of the responsible adult at least in one arena — the escalating fighting between loyalists of Sudan’s leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the powerful Rapid Support Forces (RFS) militia led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka Hemedti.
The fighting has dashed Israeli hopes to rapidly complete the formal signing of an agreement it reached with Sudan in 2020 on normalizing diplomatic relations with the Muslim nation. While finalizing the agreement appears highly unlikely for the moment, given the fighting, Israel has turned its hand to mediation efforts between the warring sides to help advance the African country’s stalled transition from military rule to democracy.
Israeli-Sudanese ties were tense for many years, on the backdrop of Khartoum’s support of the Palestinian cause and the country’s close relations with Iran. When Khartoum severed its ties with Tehran in 2016, things started to change, and more so, after the toppling of Sudan’s dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
In October 2020, the government in Khartoum agreed to normalize ties with Israel, in the framework of the Abraham Accords Israel had signed earlier with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In February 2023, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen visited Khartoum, meeting with Burhan and other top officials to put the final touches on the deal. Cohen’s visit followed that of a senior Sudanese delegation to Israel the previous week.
Cohen was hoping to finalize the deal there and then, or at least to announce an upcoming ceremony in Washington, but that did not happen. Faced with some objection from within, the Sudanese leadership made it clear that the signing of the agreement was unlikely to happen immediately. Washington had adopted the same approach, clarifying to Jerusalem it would sponsor the finalizing of the deal only when a civilian transition government is in place.
A top Israeli diplomatic official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Israel was still undecided of its role in the conflict. "The problem with Israeli involvement is that we have not quite decided who we support and we are playing a double game, helping both Burhan and Dagalo. Both sides are aware of this and are demanding clarification from us. At this rate, not only will we not be able to reconcile between them, there is a good chance that we will succeed in uniting them against us," the official said.
The official was referring to the two different Israeli government arms engaged in ties with Sudan — the Mossad and the Foreign Ministry. The two leading Israeli officials operating vis-a-vis Khartoum in recent years were then-Mossad Director Yossi Cohen, whose intelligence agency had greatly expanded under his leadership its activities in the giant African country, and Ronen Levy, previously known only by his pseudonym “Maoz” that he used during his service in the Shin Bet security agency, who was until recently a senior official in the National Security Council (NSC). Both men were involved in under-the-radar ties with Sudan for years.
"The director general of the Foreign Ministry is on Burhan's side," a senior Israeli security source explained on condition of anonymity. "The Mossad is more on Hemedti’s side." Hemedti was even invited on a secret visit to Israel, apparently against the advice of Israeli professionals who feared that word of the visit would leak to the other side, which was the dominant authority in Sudan at the time. "When you try to hold both ends of the stick at the same time, you end up getting beaten with it," a senior Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity..
The Mossad has a long history of involvement in Sudan, some of which came to light when it smuggled tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the 1980s through a fictitious resort it established on the shores of the Red Sea in Sudan, from which the immigrants were transported to Israel on giant C-130 military transport planes. Subsequent film depictions of the operation — the Red Sea Diving Resort — painted the Mossad in a complimentary light. In 2009, in the initial days of Israel’s shadow war with Iran, Israeli air and naval forces bombed trucks carrying Iranian-supplied weapons from Sudan’s Red Sea shore through Sudan to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, successfully cutting off that smuggling route, according to foreign media reports.
Sudan’s shift away from the Iran-led Islamic resistance axis to the pragmatic Saudi-led Sunni bloc in 2016 facilitated the warming of relations with Israel, with deep American involvement. Israel hopes its current investment of time and energy in attempts to restore calm between the warring sides will contain the potential damage to this promising strategic relationship with Khartoum.
"Ultimately, it is a quarrel between various associates of Sudan's former President Bashir," a former senior Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. "Civilian rule in Sudan at this stage is clearly a distant dream. Those hurt the most are the Sudanese people, who are fed up with the dictatorship and want stability and democracy. Israel must think about this angle as well, and not act only according to its interest in restoring calm and getting a speedy signature on the appropriate papers."
"The Mossad is more identified with Hemedti's side in light of the fact that it is also the side more identified with the UAE," said the source. The Mossad has excellent ties in the Gulf, especially with the UAE, while the NSC, and now the Foreign Ministry (under Levy), are considered to be working mainly with Burhan. "This split could cause serious damage, but on the other hand, it allows Israel to represent both sides at the same time, to take advantage of these dual ties to calm the situation and try to extinguish the flames."

Israel appeals to China for help tackling Iran’s nuclear threat
James Rothwell/The Telegraph/April 22, 2023
Israel is lobbying China for help in dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme as it seeks to capitalise on Beijing’s new role as a diplomatic power broker in the Middle East.Eli Cohen, the Israeli foreign minister, this week asked his Chinese counterpart to use the country’s “influence” on Tehran to stop it acquiring nuclear weapons, as fears grow that the regime is on the brink of enriching enough uranium for a bomb. The appeal comes as China emerges as a new diplomatic player in the region, having secured a major thaw in tensions between arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran in March.
The Beijing-brokered deal led to Riyadh and Tehran reopening their embassies and resuming flights, and also raised hopes that it might bolster efforts to restore peace in Yemen, where the two countries back opposing sides.
But Israel appears to be hopeful that China’s initial successes could be extended to resolving the nuclear crisis, which could soon escalate into a direct military conflict between Israel and Tehran.
Israel has repeatedly threatened to launch strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear programme, which it regards as an existential threat, unless an urgent diplomatic solution can be found.
It is already suspected of carrying out a number of covert attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, as well as assassinating the programme’s chief scientist.
Dangers of Iranian programme
The UN atomic agency’s revelation in February that Iran is enriching uranium at levels of 84 per cent, just short of the threshold for acquiring a nuclear weapon, has intensified the crisis. “I spoke with the Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, about the danger we see in the Iranian nuclear programme - a danger that is shared by many countries in the region, including countries that have diplomatic relations with Iran,” Mr Cohen said in a statement after their phone call this week. “The international community must act immediately to prevent the Ayatollah regime in Tehran from obtaining nuclear capabilities.”The UN atomic agency’s revelation in February that Iran is enriching uranium at levels of 84 per cent, just short of the threshold for acquiring a nuclear weapon, has intensified the crisis - Iranian Army
The UN atomic agency’s revelation in February that Iran is enriching uranium at levels of 84 per cent, just short of the threshold for acquiring a nuclear weapon, has intensified the crisis - Iranian Army
It was unclear this week whether China had responded positively to that proposal. A statement from the Chinese foreign ministry about the phone call only alluded to how Israel “closely follows the Iranian nuclear issue and expects China to play a positive role”.But it added that the foreign minister had stressed to Mr Cohen in their call that the Iranian-Saudi thaw in relations was a “fine example of resolving differences through dialogue”.The Chinese account of the phone call focused much more on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with China offering to renew peace talks and “implement a two-state solution”.
Diplomatic win possible
A source familiar with Israel and Saudi Arabia’s strategy on Iran said an end to the nuclear programme was an unlikely outcome of any talks, but they suggested that if China brokered a symbolic deal with Iran - such as a commitment to freezing the programme at the current threshold - then this could be sold as a diplomatic win by all three countries. Saudi Arabia and China could use such a deal to burnish their status as rivals to American influence in the Middle East, potentially filling a vacuum left by the Biden administration, which has scaled down its involvement in the region. Separately, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, could claim a foreign policy triumph that may distract his critics from a major, ongoing domestic crisis over his controversial plans to overhaul the country’s legal system. However, Mr Netanyahu’s appetite for reopening peace talks with the Palestinians seems to be limited, at least in public. In an interview with CNBC this week, he insisted he was “not aware of any specific offer of this kind”, referring to China’s remarks. Mr Netanyahu also dismissed speculation that Beijing’s role in the region could eclipse that of Washington, stressing “we have an indispensable alliance with our great friend, the United States”.