The UN has adopted a cease-fire resolution for Gaza
The United Nations Security Council yesterday approved a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan, which is two weeks away. The vote broke a five-month deadlock during which the US vetoed many calls to end the war, while the humanitarian toll of Israel’s military offensive mounted. The resolution was approved with 14 votes in favor. The US stayed away, which allowed it to pass.
The resolution calls for the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages, but does not make demands for a ceasefire conditional on the release of hostages — one of Israel’s stated objections to the measure. It remained unclear whether Israel or Hamas would heed the resolution’s call for a cessation of hostilities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the US for allowing the resolution to pass, saying the abstention “harms the war effort as well as the effort to free the hostages.” The Israeli leader said he would cancel a planned high-level delegation to Washington. President Biden had asked the meeting to discuss alternatives to a planned Israeli attack on Rafah, which US officials said would cause a humanitarian disaster.
On the ground, The Israeli military said its forces had surrounded a hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza while continuing to raid Al-Shifa hospital in the north for an eighth day.
Trump trial date
Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal will begin on April 15, after a judge denied the former president’s bid to further delay it. The ruling makes it certain that Trump will be the first former US president to stand trial. It may also be the only trial he faces before the election.
Separately, in Trump’s fraud case, a judge reduced his bond to $175 million, while he appealed the $454 million judgment against him. The decision was a critical and unexpected victory for the former president. If the court rejected his request, and if he then failed to obtain the half-billion-dollar bond he would need, Trump could have lost control of his bank accounts and even some of his real estate.
Trump has 10 days to secure the new bond, which should be doable, according to two people familiar with his finances. Trump’s new social media company, which has boosted his net worth by billions, will begin public trading today.
The US and the UK accused China of piracy
The US yesterday imposed sanctions on Chinese hackers accused of working as a front for Beijing’s top spy agency. The US said the hackers were part of a broad effort to plant malware on US power grids, water systems and other critical infrastructure. US intelligence agencies have warned in recent months that the malware appeared to be intended for use if the US comes to Taiwan’s aid.
The British government yesterday blamed China for cyber attacks that compromised the electoral records of tens of millions of people and announced sanctions against two people and a company involved in the attacks. The government disclosed the attacks last year but did not identify those behind them.
My colleague Amelia Nirenberg went to Iceland to see the northern lights. To tourists, it can seem like the northern lights dance across the Icelandic sky every night. But as she pounded the pavement with her starry eyes, she found that light can be elusive.
Principles of conversation
ARTS AND IDEAS
A touching portrait of a devastated Ukraine
Alexei Ratmansky’s new dance for New York City Ballet, “Solitude,” is a reaction to the horrors of the war in Ukraine.
Ratmansky grew up in Kiev, and his piece offers a chilling view of the war, avoiding sentimentality. It was inspired by a photo of a father kneeling next to the body of his 13-year-old son after he was killed by a Russian airstrike at a bus stop in Kharkiv. That sadness, our reviewer wrote in February, is evident from the start in this “heartbreaking” work. Watch a segment of it, performed by Joseph Gordon.
