The story of the day on Monday 20 May 2024 with the main news from the 7.30pm radio newspaper. The International Criminal Court prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and three Hamas leaders suspected of committing crimes against humanity. The funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will begin tomorrow in Tabriz. Five days of national mourning have been declared in the country and new presidential elections will be held on June 28. Julian Assange will not be extradited to the United States for the moment. The High Court in London has decided to grant a new opportunity to appeal to the founder of WikiLeaks. Participation in the Vox event and the different tone in the dialogue with Marie Le Pen make it clear how Giorgia Meloni’s European strategy has changed. The seventh day of the Cannes Film Festival
ICC prosecutor requests arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has asked for international arrest warrants to be issued against Israeli Prime Minister Netaniahu, his Defense Minister Gallant and 4 Hamas leaders, including the head of the organization in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniè. The accusation made against them is that of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The request provoked the anger of the Israeli government: “It’s a scandal, Netanyahu said, but that won’t stop us.” A short while ago, US President Biden echoed this, calling the decision shameful due to the equivalence it establishes between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Criticisms were also expressed, with the same reasoning, by Hamas.
Deciding whether to issue these arrest warrants is now up to a panel of 3 judges, who could take weeks or even months to decide.
American security advisor Jake Sullivan said today that the ICC’s decision could jeopardize ceasefire talks. Which, however, are currently already frozen, while the humanitarian situation in the strip is now beyond collapse. Today the United Nations made yet another appeal to Israel to stop ground operations in Rafah. Hundreds of thousands of people have already fled the city, but this in no way protects them from danger.
Iran, five days of national mourning for the death of president Ebraim Raisi
After the discovery this morning of the body of Iranian President Ebraim Raisi, involved in a helicopter crash together with his foreign minister and other members of his entourage, the funeral will begin tomorrow in the city closest to the crash site, Tabriz. Five days of national mourning have been declared in the country and, based on the rules in force in the country, elections have been called for June 28th. For the moment, no one is putting forward alternative hypotheses to those of the accident, but an investigation has been opened. Also on the basis of the results of this investigation, or the version that will be released, it will be understood whether the episode is destined to produce destabilization in the area.
Assange’s extradition to the United States has been postponed
Julian Assange will not be extradited to the United States for the moment. The High Court in London has decided to grant a new opportunity to appeal to the founder of WikiLeaks. In fact, the appeal was deemed well founded: the defense’s appeal is based on the possibility that he will not be given a fair trial in the United States.
Recall that Assange is detained in Great Britain at the request of the United States which accuses him of revealing state secrets and where he could be sentenced to life imprisonment. Today’s decision does not go into the merits but recognizes that the reassurances coming from Washington are not convincing and gives the journalist the possibility to appeal against extradition again.
Giorgia Meloni’s European strategy
(by Michele Migone)
The participation – albeit on video – in the Vox event and the different tone in the dialogue with Marie Le Pen make it clear how Giorgia Meloni’s European strategy has changed. Until a month ago you proposed yourself as a possible crutch of a new Ursula majority. An attention reciprocated by Von Der Layen. That you have often emphasized the relationship with the Italian Prime Minister. But then some conditions changed. The main one: the polls have revealed that after the vote next June, there could be a majority of the People’s Party, Socialists, Liberals and – last but not least – the Greens in the European Parliament which would make resorting to the votes of the conservatives superfluous. Furthermore, the socialists have excluded any alliance with right-wing parties, even those of the group to which Fratelli d’Italia belongs. Significant is the fact that for weeks, Von der Layen has frozen any relationship with Giorgia Meloni. And, to make a virtue of necessity, she has therefore forcefully returned to her ancient shores, as indicated by the participation of the neo-Francoists in Spain in the event. In doing so, Meloni keeps two options open. The first: if the polls were wrong and the Liberals collapsed, as some say, she would come back into play for the election of the president of the commission. Second option: If the polls were correct and the conservatives’ votes were actually superfluous, she – at the head of the government of one of the founding countries – could become the leader of the European Right, also thanks to the new relationship with Marie Le Pen, the probable winner of the European elections in France. From that position, Giorgia Meloni, by coordinating the choice of commissioners to propose with friendly governments, would however also be able to partially influence the policies of the next European government
The seventh day of the Cannes Film Festival
(by Barbara Sorrentini)
Sometimes at festivals it happens that a surprising film arrives, which immediately leaves a strong mark and is unanimously acclaimed for the most important prize. In this edition it is “Emilia Perez” by Jacques Audiard. A director known for his courage in always changing style, already awarded by the Cannes Jury for “The Prophet” in 2009 and with the Palme d’Or for “Dheepan” in 2015, with this new film he is likely to win again. “Emilia Perez” is set in Mexico, in a dark context of unpunished violence against women and in which the boss of a drug cartel asks, or perhaps better said forces Rita, a non-corrupt lawyer, to help him change sex . Thus the tyrannical Manitas becomes Emilia, an honest woman who tries to give justice to missing people, also due to drug trafficking. All this in the form of a musical. Actress Zoe Saldana is Rita, Selena Gomez is Jessi, Manitas’ oblivious wife, and Manitas/Emilia Perez is trans actress Karla Sofia Gascon. The film is performed in Spanish and Jacques Audiard lightly illuminates a dramatic and little-told page of Mexican society.
