Hello, and welcome to the inaugural edition of The Overview — a daily roundup of the most important global news of the day. My name is Laura, and I’ll be captaining this ship, docking The Overview in your inbox each weekday afternoon. In addition to the day’s biggest news stories, I’ll be sharing cultural recommendations and other interesting or downright odd stories from around the world. I hope you stick (and click, sorry) around.
The Overview comes to you from Blue Marble — an editorially independent, globally focused project for the next generation produced by a team of globally curious Gen Z and millennial journalists.
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Photo: Patrick Post / AP
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1. US vetoes Gaza cease-fire resolution, while ICJ hears case on Israeli occupation
For the third time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. has vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, saying it would jeopardize negotiations in the region.
The U.S. is drafting its own resolution, which calls for a temporary cease-fire in exchange for the release of all hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 and the lifting of restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Related: How the US has used its power in the UN to support Israel for decades
Also on Tuesday, the International Court of Justice continued its hearings in the historic case brought by the U.N. General Assembly regarding Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Echoing Palestinian representatives’ remarks from yesterday, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands said Palestinians endure “an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against Black people in my country.”
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the legitimacy of the current ICJ discussions, saying the case was “part of the Palestinian attempt to dictate the results of the political agreement without negotiations.”
With more than 50 countries set to present arguments over the course of the next few days, this is the greatest global involvement in a single ICJ case since the court’s founding in 1945.
In late December, South Africa brought a case to the ICJ alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza in its response to the Oct. 7 attacks, in which Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 people hostage.
Israel’s ongoing siege in Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, displaced more than 80% of the population, and left one in six children acutely malnourished.
Read more about the ICJ and the U.N. on Blue Marble:
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2. Protesting farmers in India and Greece plant their feet on pricing
Farmers’ unions in India rejected the government’s proposal for guaranteed minimum pricing on Monday. The proposed pricing was for a group of crops that included dry grains, maize, and cotton.
The farmers say they want price guarantees for all crops and will continue their week-long protest outside of New Delhi on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Greek farmers rode more than 200 tractors to parliament in Athens to demand financial help due to rising production costs, foreign competition, and catastrophic flooding.
The farmers have been negotiating with the government for weeks, but, as with the demonstrating farmers in India, they say the government’s proposals don’t go far enough in meeting their demands.
The Greek protests mirror recent actions in Italy, Spain, and Poland, where farmers say that European Union policies make their products more expensive than imports.
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3. Dublin to ban through-traffic in its city center
Under the Irish capital’s new plan, cars and commercial trucks will only be able to access downtown if that’s their final destination. All other traffic will be rerouted around the city center.
Currently, vehicles merely passing through downtown account for two-thirds of the area’s traffic.
The plan is expected to clear congestion and improve air quality in the downtown core, and create more space for walking, cycling, and public transportation.
While similar plans elsewhere have been met with resistance, the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan 2023, as it’s called, has seen overwhelming support among residents.
Other major European cities, including Amsterdam, Lisbon, Brussels, and Paris, have implemented or are exploring similar plans.
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In other news
- The U.S. will sanction Russia over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. [POLITICO]
- Papua New Guinea is seeking security help from nearby Australia after at least 54 people were killed in an ambush between tribes. [The Guardian]
- Fifty-one people were charged in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on Monday, including his widow, Martine Moïse. [The Hill]
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is making a last-ditch effort in British court to fight extradition to the U.S., where he faces charges for espionage for publishing leaks by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. [The New York Times]
- In related (and utterly fascinating) news: If Assange dies in prison, a Russian artist will destroy an estimated $40 million worth of art by the likes of Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Sarah Lucas. The artwork is in a 32-ton safe rigged to explode by remote control. What’s the over/under on this becoming a “Black Mirror” episode in two years? [The New Yorker]
- How do you say “If we don’t get it, shut it down” in French? Striking workers closed the Eiffel Tower to visitors for the second day in a row on Tuesday. They’re fighting for increased salaries and improved maintenance of the attraction. [France 24]
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Say that again
“It smelled as bad as [what] you’d imagine and I was put off of breathing,” said a resident of Cape Town describing the stench emanating from a docked ship with a whopping 19,000 cows onboard. The cows have been on the ship — heading from Iraq to Brazil — for over two and a half weeks. [BBC]
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‘We should be mediators of this conflict’
Meet organizer Ibrahim Abu Ahmad, who says his Palestinian Israeli background and citizenship gives him a dual perspective on Gaza: “We can look at the world from a Palestinian eye and from an Israeli eye.”
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What we’re listening to
Anyone who knows me knows that I love to make recommendations — whether or not I’m asked. My younger sister can attest to this. Not five minutes into hanging out, I’ll say, “Put on this song, listen to this band,” and she’ll begrudgingly oblige me.
But, lo and behold, the next time we’re together, she’ll be playing said band or song of her own accord. This happened with W.I.T.C.H., a major player in the birth (and recent rebirth) of Zamrock, a genre of music from Zambia that blends African rhythms, funk, and psych rock.
W.I.T.C.H. were active throughout the 1970s, and the group was revived under a different lineup in 2012. They were the first band I saw post-pandemic at my favorite club in Chicago, in 2022, and, well, they rocked. Please enjoy their performance of “Waile” (video below) from the same year.
I hope you like W.I.T.C.H., and I hope that, like my sister, you’ll indulge me these recommendations — not just for music but also movies, books, and recipes from all over the world.
—Laura Adamczyk, staff writer
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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