WORLD BRIEFING: May 22, 2024
Ukraine's navy claims it has likely destroyed the last of Russia's cruise missile carriers operating out of the crucial Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. In remarks made to Radio Free Europe, Ukraine's navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said the navy was currently trying to verify whether or not it had destroyed the small missile carrier "Tsiklon" on Saturday. If confirmed, it would mean there is no longer a Russian missile carrier based out of the key peninsula, he told the outlet. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and it is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters at Sevastopol. According to KCHF.ru, a Russian site that closely follows news of the Black Sea Fleet, the Tsiklon only entered into service in July. The vessel's launcher enables cruise missile strikes against ground targets at a distance of up to 1,500 miles, it said. Pletenchuk, in his interview with Radio Free Europe, said that the Tsiklon may have been hit in addition to the Russian minesweeper "Kovrovets." - RFE/RL
Food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza are piling up in Egypt because the Rafah crossing remains closed and there has been no aid delivered to a U.N. warehouse from a U.S.-built pier for two days, U.N. officials warned on Monday. Senior U.N. aid official Edem Wosornu said there were insufficient supplies and fuel to provide any meaningful level of support to the people of Gaza as they endure Israel's military onslaught against Hamas militants. “We are running out of words to describe what is happening in Gaza. We have described it as a catastrophe, a nightmare, as hell on earth. It is all of these, and worse," she said. She told the U.N. Security Council that the closure of Rafah crossing from Egypt had stopped the delivery of at least 82,000 metric tonnes of supplies, while access at Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing was limited due to "hostilities, challenging logistical conditions, and complex coordination procedures." - Reuters
China said Tuesday it hoped the International Criminal Court would uphold an “objective” position after a prosecutor requested arrest warrants for leaders from Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Islamist movement Hamas. The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday said he had applied for arrest warrants for alleged war crimes of top Israeli and Hamas leaders over their conflict. Asked on Tuesday about the decision, Beijing said there was “an overwhelming consensus in the international community to immediately stop the war in Gaza and put an end to the humanitarian crisis of the Palestinian people…It is hoped that the ICC will uphold its objective and impartial position and exercise its powers in accordance with the law,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. “The collective punishment of the Palestinian people should not be continued,” he added. - HKFP
The Israeli government will return a camera and broadcasting equipment it had seized from The Associated Press on Tuesday, reversing course hours after it blocked the news organization’s live video of Gaza and faced mounting criticism for interfering with independent journalism. The AP’s live video of Gaza was back up early Wednesday in Israel. The government seized the AP equipment positioned in southern Israel after accusing it of violating a new media law by providing images to the satellite channel Al Jazeera. Israeli officials used the new law on May 5 to close down Qatar-based Al Jazeera within Israel, confiscating its equipment, banning its broadcasts and blocking its websites. After Israel seized the AP equipment, the Biden administration, journalism organizations and an Israeli opposition leader condemned the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pressured it to reverse the decision. - AP
The US has assessed that Russia likely launched a counter space weapon last week that is close to, and capable of attacking, a US government satellite orbiting nearby, US Ambassador Robert Wood said at the UN on Monday. It is not the first time Russia has launched a counter space weapon, which is designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites. But the last time it did so was in 2022, said Wood, who serves as the US alternative representative for Special Political Affairs at the UN. The launch comes at a time the US and its allies are increasingly concerned about Russia’s efforts to develop a nuclear space weapon capable of destroying commercial and government satellites. - CNN
The Indian authorities in the capital have ordered schools to shut early for the summer holiday, after temperatures hit 47.4 deg C with Delhi gripped by a “severe heatwave”. Delhi city officials asked schools to shut with “immediate effect” due to the blistering heat, according to a government order quoted by the Hindustan Times on May 21, cutting short the term by a few days. India’s weather bureau has warned of “severe heatwave conditions” this week, with the mercury reaching the sizzling peak of 47.4 deg C in Delhi’s Najafgarh suburb on May 20, the hottest temperature countrywide. - Singapore Straights Times
A female moose attacked and killed a man who was attempting to photograph her calves, according to Alaskan officials. The moose charged at two men who came too close to her offspring in Homer on Sunday morning, Alaska State Troopers said in a statement. “As they were walking through the brush looking for the moose, that’s when the cow moose attacked,” Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety, told the Associated Press on Monday, adding that the moose, who had recently given birth, attacked the men as they were fleeing. McDaniel identified the deceased victim as Dale Chorman of Homer. The other man, who has not been identified, was not injured in the attack, the AP reported. Chorman, 70, was pronounced dead at the scene. The cow moose has since left the area, officials said, adding that the investigation is ongoing - NYT
