O GLOBO (BRASIL): A invasão sem precedentes à embaixada do México pela polícia equatoriana em Quito gerou rejeição generalizada na comunidade internacional. Após romper relações com Quito, o presidente mexicano, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, antecipou uma denúncia contra Quito na Corte Internacional de Justiça. Entre as repercussões econômicas, as negociações para um tratado de livre comércio entre México e Equador, requisito para que o país sul-americano possa ingressar na Aliança do Pacífico e, assim, ter acesso ao mercado asiático, foram colocadas em “pausa,” informou o Ministério das Relações Exteriores mexicano neste domingo. Os governos de esquerda do Brasil, Colômbia, Venezuela e Chile rejeitaram energicamente a entrada forçada da força pública para capturar o ex-vice-presidente equatoriano Jorge Glas, foragido da Justiça por acusações de corrupção. Apesar da rejeição internacional, o presidente do Equador, Daniel Noboa, “fortaleceu-se na política interna.”
THE JERUSALEM POST (ISRAEL): Iran offers no response to Damascus strike if US secures Gaza ceasefire. Iran informed the US that it would refrain from responding to the airstrike in which senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders were killed in Damascus if a ceasefire in Gaza is reached, Jadeh Iran reported on Sunday. The news outlet cited an anonymous Arab diplomatic source, saying the source spoke to the news outlet two days ago. The source added that “If America succeeds in containing the situation, it will be a great success for the Biden administration and we can build on that.” The report comes as negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal resume between Israel and Hamas in Cairo and as Israel continues preparations for a possible response to the Damascus airstrike that Syria and Iran blamed on Israel.
ARAB NEWS (SAUDI ARABIA): Israeli troops pulled out of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Sunday after months of fierce fighting half a year into the war sparked by the attack against Israel by Hamas militants on October 7. Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the withdrawal was because “Hamas ceased to exist as a military framework” in Khan Younis, just north of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering. He also said the pullout was “to prepare for future missions, including ... in Rafah.” Netanyahu said Israel was “one step away from victory,” but his military chief said “we are far from stopping”.
HAARETZ (ISRAEL): Israeli army pulls out troops from Southern Gaza without meeting its primary objectives. The victory Prime Minister Netanyahu chases is not as close as he describes: IDF soldiers are leaving the southern part of Gaza, Israel isn’t much closer to achieving the aims of the war, and it must now contend with more objections from the West. On Saturday night, the last Israeli soldiers left Khan Yunis. After four months, the military operation in this city, the army’s second largest since the war began, has ended.
KHALEEJ TIMES (UAE): Talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a truce have made “significant progress”, with more negotiations expected in the coming days, Egyptian state-linked outlet Al-Qahera reported Monday. International pressure has mounted on Israel to bring an end to the war, with its main ally the United States last week demanding a ceasefire and hostage release deal along with ramped-up aid deliveries.
ASHARK AL-AWSAT (GB): In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat published on Monday, Lebanese speaker Nabih Berri said that the unprecedented Israeli attacks on Lebanon, mainly the South and the East, come “as part of efforts to lure us to war.” “But we will not be dragged to an open war and we will continue to exercise self-restraint and to absorb the Israeli aggression that reached its peak in the past two days by turning most villages and towns situated south of the Litani river into dilapidated and uninhabitable areas.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA): Biden and Japan’s leader look to bind ties to outlast them both. Hovering over a state visit to Washington is the possibility of a swing in American foreign policy if Donald Trump returns to the White House. Both leaders are in a fight to keep their jobs. With Mr. Biden facing a tight re-election contest with his predecessor and Mr. Kishida’s approval ratings falling to record lows amid a political scandal, the leaders are expected to discuss ways to entrench their countries’ alliance so it remains strong even if they are no longer around to nurture it. The goal is to “create a situation where no one can unbind their ties,” said Narushige Michishita, a professor of international relations at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. The risk of drastic change appears to be much higher on the American side.
IZVESTIA (RUSSIA): Мировые финансовые рынки сильно “потрясло” на этой неделе. Одновременно взлетела нефть до $91 за баррель (максимум за полгода), золото — до $2300 за унцию (исторический максимум), резко снизились котировки фондовых рынков по всему миру, выросли доходности американских государственных облигаций и заметно поднялся “индекс страха”, показывающий волатильность акций и иных активов на рынке. Одновременно такое происходит очень редко. Хотя у каждого из этих скачков и обвалов есть свои причины, их объединяет то, что они произошли на фоне нового роста геополитической напряженности. Таким образом, рынки впервые за долгое время перестали игнорировать сложную международную обстановку.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA): Doubts creep in about a Fed rate cut this year. Traders started the year predicting as many as seven rate cuts. Now, many are betting on one or two — or none.
ASIA TIMES (HONG KONG, CHINA): As Ukraine falters and Russia makes gains, cracks in US-EU relations threaten to break into a full-blown schism. The Ukraine war is often portrayed as driving greater defense consolidation and cooperation among transatlantic partners. But while this may be true in several ways, the conflict has also exposed the divergent interests among those various partners. As Kiev’s ability to maintain the current line of contact appears more tenuous by the day, latent fault lines—mostly drawn on political and economic grounds—in the current security architecture may very well lead to a number of until-now brushed over rifts tearing open in the post-war period. The first major schism can be found in the relationship between the United States and its European allies. It is possible to make the argument—albeit in a rather cynical manner—that forcing Ukraine to keep fighting instead of agreeing to limited concessions at the beginning of the war served to achieve advantageous returns for Washington.
LE MONDE (FRANCE): “L’Europe dispose d’une force de frappe industrielle pour répondre aux besoins des armées, mais ne peut la mettre au service d’une stratégie supranationale inexistante”. La défense relevant de la compétence de chaque pays européen, les coopérations interétatiques sont réduites et cette force est éparpillée.
VEDOMOSTI (RUSSIA): С 4 по 9 апреля министр финансов США Джанет Йеллен совершает свой второй визит в Китай. Первая ее поездка состоялась в июле 2023 г. и, несмотря на, как она выразилась, “теплый прием”, не принесла значительных результатов. На этот раз основной темой стали “избыточные промышленные мощности” Китая, что, по мнению Вашингтона, позволяет ему с помощью нерыночных практик наращивать свою долю на мировых рынках установок для экологически чистой энергии, таких как солнечные панели и ветрогенераторы. Проблему отчасти признают и в Пекине – там согласились вести переговоры на тревожащую американцев тему.
POLITICO (USA): In the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán, the EU faces a new type of Euroskeptic, one who doesn’t want to leave the bloc but shape it. Hungary, in Viktor Orbán’s words, is preparing for war. “We need to go deeper, occupy positions, gather allies and fix the European Union,” the 60-year-old Hungarian prime minister declared in an interview at the end of last year. “It’s not enough to be angry. We need to take over Brussels.” Orbán has long railed against the EU, using it as a scapegoat to rile up populist support and casting his country’s relationship with Brussels as an us-versus-them battle to hammer home a right-wing ideology grounded in nationalism and traditional family values.
LES ECHOS (FRANCE): La Pologne a bien tourné la page de la droite ultraconservatrice. Dimanche, le camp pro-européen au pouvoir a en effet réussi à maintenir son poids politique lors des élections locales. C’était le premier test national depuis les législatives d'octobre, en dépit de la victoire proportionnelle des nationalistes populistes. Le parti conservateur Droit et Justice (PiS) a remporté 33,7% des voix au niveau des assemblées régionales. Contre 31,9% pour la Coalition civique (KO, centre) du Premier ministre Donald Tusk, 13,5% pour la Troisième Voie (chrétien-démocrate) et 6,8% pour la Gauche, ces trois partis formant ensemble le camp pro-européen au pouvoir. L’extrême droite de Konfederacja, le seul allié potentiel du PiS, a bénéficié d’un soutien de 7,5’ % des électeurs.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES (USA): South Koreans head to the polls: President faces mid-term judgment. Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol battles low ratings, ex-rival with new party. Wednesday’s National Assembly elections in South Korea are not just a fight for control of the chamber, but they are also a referendum on conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol. Adding spice, a vicious political fight is being reignited as a former foe returns to the arena against Mr. Yoon. This new third force, combined with the president’s dire approval ratings, may spell grim news for his machine, the People Power Party and for his remaining three years in power. The PPP is already a minority in the unicameral, 300-seat National Assembly, occupying 114 seats while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea holds 156. Analysts expect the PPP’s seats to be further reduced for the next four years after the April 10 results come in. Mr. Yoon has dismayed both Beijing and Pyongyang by seeking to improve relations with fellow U.S. ally Japan — long a difficult political sell for most Koreans with memories of Tokyo’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the peninsula. Mr. Yoon’s bold and unusual policy fueled long-held hopes in Washington for tightened trilateral strategic cooperation with its two allies in Northeast Asia.
NIKKEI (JAPAN): Myanmar military faces humiliating rout on Thai border. Myanmar civil servants and officials of the military regime began evacuating the eastern town of Myawaddy on the Thai-Myanmar border on Sunday night in one of the most significant setbacks for the regime since its takeover on Feb. 1, 2021. More than 600 military personnel including about 140 family members have surrendered to forces led by the Karen National Union since the KNU’s armed wing and People’s Defense Forces in recent weeks increased its attacks on military bases near Myawaddy.
THE TIMES (GB): Growth at a “turning point” as economy gains momentum
Britain has emerged from recession, surveys suggest. The UK looks to have emerged from recession and the economy is generating momentum, with two closely watched surveys revealing that growth has reached a “turning point”. Research by BDO, the consultancy, found that output reached its highest level since May 2022 last month.
GLOBAL TIMES (CHINA): Chinese scientists develop new chipless fiber for human-machine interaction. A research group from Donghua University in Shanghai has developed a new type of smart fiber that can achieve human-machine interaction functions such as luminous display and touch control without relying on chips and batteries.