VEDOMOSTI (RUSSIA): Израиль и ХАМАС возобновили переговоры о перемирии. Перспектива договориться остается крайне низкой. Нетаньяху пока невыгодно прекращать конфликт: важно его затянуть, но при этом не допустить дальнейшей эскалации ситуации в регионе. В случае заключения сделки оппозиция может обвинить Нетаньяху в предательстве и он рискует потерять пост премьер-министра. Во-первых, израильская армия не выполнила до конца поставленные задачи по разгрому ХАМАСа. После вывода израильских военных из палестинского анклава пустующие районы наверняка будут вновь заняты боевиками ХАМАСа и давление с юга на Израиль продолжится. Во-вторых, освобождена меньшая часть заложников.
ARAB NEWS (SAUDI ARABIA): Hamas said early on Tuesday Israel’s proposal that it received from Qatari and Egyptian mediators did not meet any of the demands of Palestinian factions. However, the group added in a statement it would study the proposal, which it described as “intransigent”, and deliver its response to the mediators.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA): CIA Director William Burns presented a new proposal here to help advance a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the six-month war in Gaza and release remaining hostages. Under the plan Hamas would release 40 of the more than 100 captives still held in Gaza in return for the release from Israeli prisons of 900 Palestinian prisoners — including 100 convicted of terrorism charges — over the course of a six-week cease-fire in Gaza, Arab mediators said.
THE JERUSALEM POST (ISRAEL): Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that Israel would “be punished” for its air strike in Damascus that killed seven Iranian military officers last week, including two senior commanders. He spoke in Damascus on Monday as he inaugurated a new site for Iranian consular services in the Syrian capital, in a building near the previous consulate flattened in an Israeli airstrike last week. Until now, Tehran has avoided directly entering the fray in the Gaza war, while supporting allies’ attacks on Israeli and US targets.
TEHRAN TIMES (IRAN): In a press conference commemorating National Nuclear Technology Day, Mohammad Eslami, the Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, discussed the organization's achievements while vowing that Iran will not cave in to external pressure. “Others don’t want us to advance our nuclear industry on our own. They have been causing disturbance to demotivate us,” Eslami said, adding that Iran’s nuclear technology will continue to be a source of honor for the country. Eslami unveiled plans for the expansion of Iran’s nuclear power plants, announcing that new plants will be built in Bushehr, Khuzestan, and Makran.
THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA): Yellen sees “more work to do” as China talks end with no breakthrough. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was warmly received in Beijing, but it was evident that the level of trust between the U.S. and China did not run deep.
THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE): Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on April 9 that Beijing would “strengthen strategic cooperation” with Moscow, as he met his counterpart for talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in China for a two-day official visit on April 8, with the two countries looking to further solidify diplomatic ties as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.
THE MAINICHI SHIMBUN (JAPAN): Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left for Washington on Monday, becoming Japan’s first leader to make a state visit to the United States in nine years and underscoring the increasing importance of the alliance between the two countries. Kishida is expected to reaffirm with Biden the significance of Japan-U.S. cooperation in various areas ranging from security and state-of-the-art technologies to the strengthening of supply chains, the officials said. “I would like to confirm that Japan and the United States have built a more solid relationship, and it will be an important opportunity to convey this message to the world,” Kishida told reporters before his departure from Tokyo.
THE WASHINGTON POST (USA): The leaders of the United States and Japan this week will commit to modernizing their military alliance, with the aim of eventually creating a truly operational hub for the most consequential defense partnership in the Pacific. They will also outline a vision for an integrated air defense network that links Japanese, Australian and U.S. sensors, so each country can have a full picture of airborne threats in the region. And they will announce that a Japanese astronaut will become the first non-American on a NASA mission to the moon. China’s growing aggressiveness in the region has brought Japan and the Philippines closer to the United States as their security interests converge. In the past year and a half, Japan has made significant reforms to its national security and defense strategies and has committed to buying U.S. Tomahawk missiles and building its own counterstrike capability. The Philippines has granted the U.S. military access to more bases on its islands.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA (RUSSIA): В Японии опасаются возвращения Трампа в Белый дом. Президент США Джозеф Байден примет 10 апреля в Вашингтоне премьер-министра Японии Фумио Кисиду. Главная задача гостя – укрепить военные и экономические связи с союзником. Как отмечают японские СМИ, это не символический саммит. Стороны намерены обновить совместную стратегию по отношению к России, Китаю и КНДР. Но подоплека переговоров состоит в том, чтобы застраховаться от рисков, связанных с выборами в Америке.
GLOBAL TIMES (CHINA): The defense ministers of the US, UK and Australia will reportedly begin to talk about broadening the AUKUS military alliance, with Japan emerging as the leading candidate for inclusion. However, analysts warned that such an alarming move marks the pact further turning into an “Asian NATO,” raising concerns over heightened militarism in Japan and potential destabilization in the region. The expansion of AUKUS would be on “pillar two,” which commits the members to jointly developing quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. Japan is seen as the first candidate to join in the pact.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES (USA): House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner accused his GOP colleagues on Sunday of succumbing to Russian propaganda on the war against Ukraine. The Ohio Republican echoed the position of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, who recently said that “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”
THE TIMES (GB): Cameron meets Trump in push for Ukraine aid. The foreign secretary has met Donald Trump in Florida as part of a charm offensive designed to win backing among Republicans who are resisting extra military aid for Ukraine. Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton was at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s vast estate.
THE HILL (USA): Congress’s return complicated by internal politics, overseas events. Congress is back in session this week, but what lawmakers can accomplish will be complicated by internal politics and events overseas. The House is increasingly chaotic, as Republicans juggle a razor-thin majority and lawmakers struggle to find consensus on issues from spending to international aid.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES (INDIA): Rupiahs 11 tn investment: Modi govt’s mega plan for world-class Indian Railways. Indian Railways is gearing up for a transformative 100-day plan post-Lok Sabha polls 2024, focusing on passenger-friendly measures. The plan includes a 24-hour ticket refund scheme, a comprehensive “super app” for passengers, and the launch of the final stretch of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramula Rail Link project. Sleeper versions of Vande Bharat trains are in the works, along with the introduction of India’s first vertical lift railway bridge and plans to expedite the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
THE GUARDIAN (GB): The world’s biggest economies have continued to finance the expansion of fossil fuels in poor countries to the tune of billions of dollars, despite their commitments on the climate. The G20 group of developed and developing economies, and the multilateral development banks they fund, put $142bn (£112bn) into fossil fuel developments overseas from 2020 to 2022, according to estimates compiled by the campaigning groups Oil Change International (OCI) and Friends of the Earth US. Canada, Japan and South Korea were the biggest sources of such finance in the three years studied, and gas received more funding than either coal or oil.
DAILY SABAH (TURKEY): Istanbul Airport will have its entire electricity needs met by a solar energy plant that is slated to be launched by the end of the year, according to its operator, IGA. IGA will have invested around 212 million euros in the project, which will spread over an approximately 3 million square meter area in the central province of Eskişehir. The plant will have 439,000 solar panels installed, boasting a total capacity of 199.32 megawatts.
O GLOBO (BRASIL): Eclipse fará EUA perderem o equivalente a 30 reatores nucleares em geração de energia. Fenômeno que acontece nesta segunda-feira escurecerá uma longa faixa da América do Norte e deixar painéis solares às escuras bem no horário de pico de geração.
LE MONDE (FRANCE): Les douze derniers mois ont été les plus chauds jamais enregistrés sur la planète. Le mois de mars 2024 a été le dixième mois d’affilée à enregistrer une température moyenne plus élevée qu’un mois de mars normal, selon le service changement climatique (C3S) de l’observatoire européen Copernicus.
POLITICO (USA): The European Union and the United States have to coordinate on semiconductor subsidies to ensure “what we have built up [in Europe] is not being just bluntly duplicated in the U.S.,” Luc van den Hove, CEO of Belgian-based chips research powerhouse Imec, the world’s leading microchips research center, has said. Both sides are splashing billions in public funds to boost their footprint in the global semiconductor value chain and reshore manufacturing activities, under the European Chips Act and U.S. Chips Act, worth €43 billion and $52 billion respectively.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (HONG KNG. CHINA): China draws up $69 billion in credit backing to fund next-generation tech. China’s central bank will incentivise the extension of credit for tech-focused companies and equipment renovations – goals named as a top priority by economic policymakers for the coming year.
FINANCIAL TIMES (GB): Taiwanese groups consider overseas headquarters to hedge against Chinese attack. Global efforts to secure supply chains put pressure on contractors to establish “alternative command system abroad.”
LE FIGARO (FRANCE): Les résultats de la nouvelle étude sur les jeunes et la lecture du Centre national du livre (CNL), que révèle Le Figaro, sont préoccupants. Les 16-19 ans consacrent 1h25 par semaine à la lecture contre 5h10 par jour sur les écrans. “On ne peut plus inverser la tendance, on ne peut que la corriger,” déplore Régine Hatchondo, présidente du CNL. Dans cette étude on découvre l'ampleur du problème. Le diagnostic se résume à un seul mot: écran. “Il y a eu une utopie Internet, on s'est laissé éblouir,” explique Régine Hatchondo. Et d’ajouter: “Il y a désormais un enfermement addictif avec le numérique. On peut parler de drogue, et en cela, de nouvelle guerre de l'opium.”