NEWS-BRIEFING-AM_EDITORIAL

19 March, 2024

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. Ahead a new round of talks about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Qatar, the US has warned Israel about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In Haiti, where several hospitals in Port-au-Prince struggle to function due to gang violence, Will Grant meets women giving birth at a time of heightened crisis. We're also diving into the controversy surrounding deep-sea mining, and ascending an Italian mountain to rescue three climbers.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

US warns Israel on Gaza suffering

US President Joe Biden sits next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The American and Israeli leaders held their first phone call in a month on Monday. Credit: Getty Images

US President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an offensive in Rafah would be a "mistake", the latest warning over the city in southern Gaza hosting an estimated one million refugees. Top US officials have become increasingly vocal over the safety of civilians in Gaza. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken delivered some of his strongest comments so far on the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling on Israel to provide for a population that is suffering "severe levels of acute food insecurity". He is due to travel to the Middle East this week, as an Israeli delegation meets Qatari and Egyptian negotiators in Doha to discuss the latest proposal for a truce with Hamas. That group suffered a new loss, as deputy military leader Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli strike last week, according to the US.

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Hamas leaders: Marwan Issa was one of Israel's most-wanted men.

Getting aid into Gaza: Here are the various routes in operation.

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Facing Hezbollah: As exchanges of fire across Israel's northern border with Lebanon intensify, Mark Lowen looks at whether clashes between the two forces might escalate into a new conflict.

WORLD HEADLINES

Asbestos ban: The US has announced measures to prohibit the use of white asbestos, a cancer-causing material that several other developed nations outlawed decades ago.

Evergrande: The struggling Chinese real estate giant and its founder, Hui Ka Yan, have been accused of inflating revenues by $78bn (£61.6bn) in the two years leading up to the company's default.

Muhammad Syed: An Afghan refugee faces life in prison after being convicted of murder in one of three fatal ambush-style shootings of Muslim men in the US state of New Mexico two years ago.

South Sudan: Schools have been ordered to close in the country due to a heatwave that could see temperatures soaring to an exceptional 45C (113F).

Saying 'I do': Marriage rates in China have gone up for the first time in nine years.

AT THE SCENE

Cap-Haitien, Haiti

Giving birth in a country in crisis

To escape the violence in Port-au-Prince, where bullet-ridden bodies lie on the streets of even relatively wealthy areas, some pregnant women are making the 120 mile (193km)-journey to the northern city of Cap-Haitien to deliver their babies.

Will Grant, Mexico, Central America and Cuba correspondent

We visited the maternity ward of Cap Haitien's public hospital. The first cries of Baby Woodley, just a day old, were the same as those of children born anywhere: for food and for comfort. But as most children born there, she will grow up to find that such essentials are far from guaranteed in Haiti. Lying in an adjacent bed, Markinson Joseph was recovering from giving birth two days ago to a baby boy. Through an interpreter, she told me that she would get her baby out of the country altogether if she got the chance. "But me and my husband don't have the money to flee," she said.

Keep reading

Going home: Dozens of US citizens were evacuated from Haiti on a charter plane to Miami on Sunday.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Drama over deep-sea mining for metal

A portion of the ocean floor filled with potato-sized lumps that contain substances like coppet and cobalt.

Potato-sized lumps on the seabed contain crucial battery minerals including copper and cobalt. Credit: Rov-Team Kiel 6000, Geomar

Over tens of millions of years, lumps of metals known as polymetallic nodules have formed in parts of the deep ocean. This unexploited but lucrative treasure trove is at the centre of a long-running battle between mining companies and environmental campaigners. What's at stake.

A Parisian building surrounded by a blooming garden

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Superb suburbs

Olympic visitors this summer might want to stay outside of Paris.

Here's why

And finally...

Three climbers were rescued after getting 2,300m (7,500ft) up Italy's Monte Mondolè on Saturday morning. Footage of the successful operation is not for the faint of heart, but it does involve some gorgeous snowy mountain landscape.

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– Sofia

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