The ceasefire in Gaza
Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza agreed to a ceasefire last night, seems to have held as of this morning. The move is expected to end a three-day conflict that has killed dozens of Palestinians, destroyed buildings and led to the deaths of two key leaders of the Islamic Jihad, second largest army in Gaza.
The fighting began Friday afternoon as Israel launched air strikes to thwart what it sees as an impending attack from Gaza. The fighting has revealed simmering tensions between the Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militia heavily damaged by the fighting, and Hamas, the militia that runs Gaza and has chosen to stay on the sidelines of the conflict.
Israel declined to disclose more details about the truce. However, Islamic Jihad says it has received assurances from Egyptian mediators that Egypt will lobby for the release of two of its top members, Bassem Saadi and Khalil Awawdeh. , who are being held in Israeli prisons.
Strategy: Israel has offered small economic concessions to ordinary Gazans – specifically 14,000 work permits to help improve the Palestinian economy. The approach helped convince Hamas to stay out of this particular conflict and potentially shorten its duration.
International context: Morocco and the UAE – two of the three Arab countries to formalize relations with Israel by 2020 – expressed concern about the violence but avoided criticizing Israel. Only a third country, Bahrain, directly condemned the Israeli attacks.
Missile landed near nuclear plant in Ukraine
Missile landed on the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, posing the latest threat to Europe’s largest nuclear facility. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the attack, and fighting in the southern region has raised fears of a major crash.
Russian forces have controlled the plant since March, using it as a base from which to launch artillery attacks on the Ukrainian town of Nikopol across the Dnipro River over the past month. Saturday’s attack included a salvo of rockets that Ukrainian officials said damaged 47 apartment and residential buildings.
The fighting, along with Russia’s occupation of parts of the plant and the stress of factory workers, prompted Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, to warn last week that “all principles of nuclear safety have been violated.” Safety concerns at Zaporizhzhia have grown since a fire broke out when Russian forces took control.
Text definition: Since invading Ukraine in February, Russia has made it a priority to capture and target critical Ukrainian infrastructure such as power plants, ports, transportation, and agricultural storage and production facilities. .
More from the war in Ukraine:
Historic US climate bill passed by Senate
The Yesterday the US Senate passed the law That would be the most important federal investment in history to combat climate change. Paid for by tax increases, the measure would inject more than $370 billion into climate and energy programs, allowing the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 40% from 2005 levels by the end of the year. this decade.
The final vote count was 51 to 50, according to the party line, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a breakout vote. The bill would provide billions of dollars in rebates for Americans who buy energy-efficient and electrical appliances, as well as tax credits for companies that build new zero-emissions sources of electricity, such as wind turbines and wind turbines. solar panels.
For Democrats, the passage of this measure had a time-limited six-week stretch of significant success, including the final passage of a $280 billion industrial policy bill aimed at enhancing competitiveness. America’s war with China and extend the greatest benefit to veterans in decades. Republicans have denounced the climate law as an excessive federal approach and reckless overspending.
Story: Originally billed as “Building Better Again,” a multi-billion dollar social safety net plan that followed the sequence of the Great Social Law of the 1960s, the Democratic Party collected minimization of the bill in recent months and renamed it the Inflation Reduction Action. Its passage is a major victory for President Biden and his party.
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The public housing project in London, Trellick Tower, built in 1972, has become a symbol of the sadist. Its apartments, located near pricey Notting Hill, were sold soon after they were listed.
Now, residents fear that Trellick’s success has left the tower vulnerable. With a severe shortage of affordable housing in London and valuable real estate occupied by Trellick, it is likely that developers will attempt to build on the site in the future – though the best efforts of its inhabitants.
ARTS AND IDEAS
What should LGBTQ museums be?
Queer Britain, a new museum near King’s Cross station in London, is Britain’s first LGBTQ museum. Alex Marshall reports for The Times.
Queer Britain’s inaugural exhibition seeks to represent the diversity of the gay experience, with items on display including banners from this year’s Trans + Pride parade, rainbow headscarves and wings The door to Oscar Wilde’s cell. Joseph Galliano-Doig, the museum’s director, said: “Too much of the history of LGBTQ+ people is about obliteration. “For us, this is saying: We are here, and our stories deserve to be told.”
In Berlin, the Schwules Museum takes a clear political stance, seeking to recognize gay history as part of collective history, mainstream history and, as one council member put it, “challenge those questionable discourse is dominating the gay community.” The museum is currently hosting an exhibition about Tuntenhaus, a famous gay activist in Berlin.
As they continue to grow, how these museums decide to present LGBTQ history will remain a pressing question. “From the earliest days, history has been a tool for building gay identities,” said Huw Lemmey, co-host of the “Bad Gays” podcast. “Museums are not independent reporters of the past, they are part of an ongoing process of identity formation, so the stakes are high.”
Read more about the goal of gay museums.
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