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An aerial view shows protesters holding a sign depicting handmaidens from "The Handmaid's Tale" with the words "Never Surrender" as they demonstrate against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv.

REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg

Israel’s judicial reforms: Here we go again

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Israel’s main cities for the 17th consecutive weekend on Saturday to protest government plans to overhaul the judiciary. Meanwhile, smaller crowds rallied in favor of the reforms in Jerusalem ahead of Monday’s opening session of the Knesset (parliament), which will resume its debate over the divisive bill after a two-month pause ordered by PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.

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Luisa Vieira

Israel’s political crisis, explained

What happened, exactly?

Since taking office last December, the far-right coalition led by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu had been trying to get legislation passed that would give the executive full control of the supreme court’s composition and allow the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) to overturn supreme court rulings with a simple majority.

While many of the reform’s proponents are motivated by a desire to check what they’ve long viewed as an overly activist, liberal, and anti-democratic judiciary, Bibi himself primarily saw it as a means to stay out of prison and in power.

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An aerial view of Israelis protesting in Tel Aviv as PM Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist coalition government presses on with its judicial overhaul.

REUTERS/Oren Alon

A night out on Tel Aviv’s Democracy Boulevard

I headed out Saturday night into the arid Tel Aviv night. Not knowing where I wanted to end, I followed the flapping sea of blue and white.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with local officials in Sevastopol, Crimea March 18, 2023.

Sputnik/Russian Presidential Press Office/Kremlin via REUTERS

What We’re Watching: Putin in Mariupol, Xi in Moscow, Israeli-Palestinian talks, Trump fearing arrest, Kosovo-Serbia agreement

A defiant Putin heads to Mariupol

Vladimir Putin visited the port city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, two days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for both him and Russia’s children’s commissioner for the mass abduction of at least 1,400 Ukrainian children. The court claims that some Ukrainian orphans have been forcibly resettled with Russian families, while others were sent to “re-education camps” in Russia with their parents' consent but have not been returned.

This is the closest Putin has gotten to the front lines since the war began in Feb. 2022. The strategic city of Mariupol, which became a symbol of Ukraine’s protracted struggle after Russian forces started pounding the city at the start of the war, was taken last May in a brutal offensive that killed at least 20,000 people.

Putin’s Mariupol visit came a day after his stop in Crimea, where he marked the ninth anniversary of Russia's annexation of the territory — and both publicized visits likely served as symbolic shows of defiance against both the ICC and the West.

While Putin is unlikely to be in the dock anytime soon, the ICC warrant is a major geopolitical blow for the Kremlin. It increases Putin's physical isolation – Germany, for example, has already said he’ll be arrested if he visits -- and it's less than ideal for him to be labeled a war criminal as he tries to keep nonaligned countries onside.

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People hold Israeli flags during a demonstration in Tel Avis against PM Benjamin Netanyahu's plans for judicial overhaul.

REUTERS/Nir Elias

What We're Watching: Israel's mega-protest, Iran-Saudi détente, BBC own goal

Israel on the brink

Half a million demonstrators took to the streets Saturday night in what was billed as the biggest protest in Israel’s history to blast PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s controversial plan to overhaul the judiciary, which many see as a threat to democracy. That was a huge turnout for the 9-million-strong country that has seen 10 weeks of protests, with dismay over the reforms cutting across large segments of Israeli society, from the tech sector to army reservists.

The situation is quickly spiraling for Bibi. The country faces a constitutional crisis if parts of the civil service and security forces refuse to obey government orders. (On Saturday, heads turned when Tel Aviv police chief Amichai Eshed joined the rally in uniform. He's been making waves since National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir fired him for not cracking down hard enough on the protesters, although his dismissal was later overruled by the attorney general.)

All of this is happening as Israel tries to get a handle on a recent spike in violence in the Palestinian territories. The PM’s far-right coalition, meanwhile, may not survive a backtrack on the reforms. Can Bibi hold on?

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Emergency workers extinguish fire in vehicles at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia?s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 9, 2023.

REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

What We’re Watching: Russian air strikes, South African economic squeeze, day of resistance in Israel

Russia pummels Ukraine

On Thursday, Russia launched a wave of early-morning air strikes with missiles and Iranian-made drones on Ukrainian cities, its worst attack targeting civilians in a month. At least six people died, and almost half of Kyiv residents were left without electricity. Meanwhile, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe's largest — was knocked offlinefor the sixth time and is now operating on diesel power. It's unclear why Moscow did this or has waited so long, but perhaps the Russians are running so low on weapons and ammo that it's much harder to carry out coordinated attacks. For their part, Ukrainians living in urban areas have become so accustomed to the barrages that they are hardly intimidated, which is the whole point for Vladimir Putin. On the battlefield, Russia is still struggling to conquer Bakhmut, a key town in eastern Ukraine, amid an ongoing rift between the Russian military and top mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin.

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British PM Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shake hands at Windsor Guildhall, Britain, February 27, 2023.

Dan Kitwood/Pool via REUTERS

What We’re Watching: Post-Brexit trade, West Bank chaos, Nigeria’s vote count, Teddies for Turkey

A historic post-Brexit breakthrough

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a plan on Monday they say will finally resolve the complex problem of post-Brexit trade involving Northern Ireland. In the coming days, skeptics (and opponents) of the deal within Sunak’s Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland will read the proposal closely to decide whether to approve it. The deal is intended to ease the flow of trade between Britain and Northern Ireland, some of which will flow across the UK’s border with the Republic of Ireland and into the EU. The deal creates two lanes for trade: a faster-flowing green lane for goods transiting only between Britain and Northern Ireland and a red lane with more rigorous customs checks for goods bound for the EU. The two biggest (of many) issues that will now be debated in Britain’s parliament: How to determine which lane each shipment of goods will travel through and what role the European Court of Justice will play in resolving trade disputes that involve Northern Ireland. Sunak appears to believe that his plan will pass parliament, but the scale of this important political victory for the embattled PM will depend on how much opposition from his own party and the DUP force him to rely on the opposition Labour Party for the votes needed to get it done. Sunak was in Belfast on Tuesday to sell the deal to the DUP.

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Thousands of Israeli protesters rally against PM Benjamin Netanyahu's new government in Tel Aviv.

Gili Yaari via Reuters Connect

What We’re Watching: Israel’s mass anti-corruption protests, Sweden’s NATO own goal, Germany's mixed signals

Israelis protest proposed judiciary changes

Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba on Saturday to protest judicial changes proposed by PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s new government, the country’s most right-wing coalition to date. While demonstrations have been underway for weeks, more than 100,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv in the biggest rally yet to oppose the proposed reforms that they fear will weaken the High Court of Justice’s power and independence. Bibi’s government feels the judiciary is biased against it and interfering with its ability to govern, and the PM is vowing to push through the reforms despite the outcry. On Sunday, meanwhile, Bibi finally dismissed key ally Aryeh Deri as interior and health minister, days after the high court ruled he was ineligible to hold a senior cabinet post due to a previous criminal conviction. Deri is head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, some of whose members had threatened to turn away from Bibi's wobbly government if the PM fired their boss. Just weeks in, this is another sign that Bibi is going to have a hell of a time keeping his coalition together.

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