WORLD BRIEFING: July 21, 2024

A Russian flagged vessel was granted clearance by a UN inspection body to call at a Houthi-controlled port after surreptitiously exporting grain from a western sanctioned terminal in occupied Crimea, an investigation by Bellingcat and Lloyd’s List has found. The bulk carrier, Zafar (IMO: 9720263), switched off its Automated Identification System (AIS) – that allows it to be tracked by shipping services and which commercial vessels are mandated to keep on unless in danger – when it visited the Port of Sevastopol in May this year. Satellite imagery revealed the vessel’s presence at the port. Zafar then switched AIS on after leaving Sevastopol and kept it on for its journey to Yemen, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data. It docked in Djibouti in late June where it was given clearance by the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM). It is not clear if UNVIM knew that the shipment had come from occupied Crimea given Zafar sought to mask the fact it went there. While there is no suggested illegality with this shipment, experts say it creates an awkward situation where a UN mechanism has waved through a grain shipment from occupied Ukrainian territory despite Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the fact that member nations have repeatedly voted against Russia’s actions towards its neighbour.

The Israeli army says it has struck several Houthi targets in western Yemen in response to a drone attack claimed by the rebel group that killed one person in Tel Aviv on Friday. Several "military targets" were hit in the western port city of Hodeidah, the IDF said, adding that the strike was in retaliation for "hundreds of attacks carried out against the state of Israel in recent months." The Houthi-run government in the capital Sanaa said oil storage facilities had been hit, as well as a power plant. The Ministry of Health said that 80 people were wounded in a preliminary toll of the strikes, most of them with severe burns. The Israeli strikes appeared to be the first on Yemeni soil since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, and they threatened to open a new front in the region as Israel battles proxies of Iran - Euronews

Türkiye's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has poured cold water on a UN-backed plan for reunifying Cyprus, reaffirming his support for a two-state deal that Greek Cypriots have dismissed as a non-starter. Speaking at an event in the north to mark the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion that split the island along ethnic lines, Erdoğan ruled out resuming talks based on the Annan Plan which proposed the establishment of a United Republic of Cyprus, a federation of two states. That plan was put to a referendum in 2004 and was approved by 65% of Turkish Cypriots in the north. But more than 75% of the Greek Cypriots in the south rejected it - Euronews

Residents of the Russian city of Krasnodar on July 20 staged a rare public protest to vent their anger over recent power cuts affecting southern Russia. An estimated 200 to 300 people turned out for the protest to demand that the authorities resume the supply of electricity and water. They blocked a street in the north of the city as they voiced complaints about the cuts to services, which they said are becoming more frequent, Russian online media reported. The protesters said that this summer their lights initially were turned off once a week, then three times a week, and now there is no electricity for 12-15 hours a day, the Baza Telegram channel reported. People demand that they be given electricity for at least three hours, the online publication 93.RU reported. - RFE/RL

Members of anti-corruption campaign groups in Georgia say they have been targeted in connection with a new law, pushed through parliament by the government. The “foreign influence” law requires media, civil society groups and nonprofit organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. It also subjects them to intense state scrutiny and imposes steep fines for noncompliance. The government argues the law is needed to curb harmful foreign actors trying to destabilize the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million. Many journalists and activists say its true goal is to stigmatize them and restrict debate before an election scheduled for October. It could also threaten Georgia’s bid to join the European Union. - AP

The Secret Service acknowledged on Saturday that it had turned down requests for additional federal resources sought by former President Donald J. Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination last week, a reversal from earlier statements by the agency denying that such requests had been rebuffed. Almost immediately after a gunman shot at Mr. Trump from a nearby warehouse roof while he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pa., last weekend, the Secret Service faced accusations from Republicans and anonymous law enforcement officials that it had turned down requests for additional agents to secure Mr. Trump’s rallies “There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former president’s team requested additional resources and that those were rebuffed,” Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said last Sunday, the day after the shooting. Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, said on Monday that the accusation that he had issued the denials was “a baseless and irresponsible statement and it is one that is unequivocally false.” - AP