Is this the way further and further into the conflict?
"Welcome to Highway 749," says the reporter from the pro-government Israeli News Channel 14. He is traveling with the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and explains how they are expanding a road that will henceforth divide the coastal strip in two.
On the journey in an army vehicle, the reporter describes the view: On the whole way he didn't see a single house that wasn't destroyed.
There is no doubt that the Israeli army will remain here for a very long time.
What does the expansion of this road mean - is it a sign of a renewed occupation of part of the Gaza Strip?
Israel had actually ruled out a new occupation after the start of its military operation in Gaza, which followed the murderous attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced several times that Israel wanted to retain "security control" over the area after the end of the war.
That's why this street.
How long?
That remains unclear.
Likewise, what should happen to the Palestinians who have their homes in the then separated area.
Or rather: had.
With Highway 749, Gaza will become smaller in the area where people can stay.
It is clear that this step, with which Israel is creating facts, at least for the time being, will – at some point – make a political solution to the conflict with the Palestinians even more difficult.
The USA, Israel's closest ally, had also given Israel conditions for Gaza; Foreign Minister Antony Blinken had recently formulated several "Nos", including: no new occupation, no reduction in the size of the area.
It would not be the first time that Israel has ignored its partner's concerns since the war in Gaza began.
More background here: Divide and conquer
A dead Russian deserter and many questions
When the Bundestag meets today to debate, among other things, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which will last for almost two years, and other possible aid, the name Maxim Kuzminov may also be on the minds of one or another member of parliament.
Putin's war has many victims, and he may be one too.
There is evidence to suggest that Kuzminov was found shot to death in the town of Villajoyosa in the Spanish province of Alicante.
The Russian pilot deserted to Ukraine in August last year and took a fully equipped army helicopter with him.
For this, Ukraine paid the 28-year-old almost half a million euros as a reward.
The case provides the perfect template for a Netflix series, but most questions still remain unanswered.
Starting with Villajoyosa – why this city?
My colleague Steffen Lüdke, who is researching the case for us on site in Spain and speaking to investigators, says that you shouldn't exactly go there if you are a Russian deserter - it is full of Russian vacationers and the radio stations play Russian music.
Kuzminov had to know that the Russian state would be looking for him - why was he hiding in a Little Russia?
The young pilot was obviously against the war, at least that's what he said at a press conference after his escape to Ukraine.
There you can see a young man next to Ukrainian officers who is visibly moved and obviously very uncomfortable.
When the war started, Kuzminov says, he asked himself: "Why does my beloved homeland need such a war?"
More background here: Russia calls dead helicopter pilot a “moral corpse”
Quick departures from the “Union of Values”
The “Union of Values” and the AfD obviously have different approaches to the topic of radicalism.
When the AfD was founded in 2013, many initially thought it was radical just because it wanted to get out of the euro.
There was still room for improvement.
Hardly anyone had any idea of “bird shit”, “monument of shame” or “remigration”.
Things are obviously different with the “Union of Values” – just founded as a party at the weekend, the first ones are already leaving because it is apparently not radical enough for them from the start.
This is surprising - which party can say that it is headed by a former president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution who has now himself been targeted by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution?
From now on, party leader Hans-Georg Maaßen has to do without Markus Krall and the former CDU man Max Otte.
There is a recording of Krall in which he says that one should either be allowed to vote or receive state transfers.
Otte became known, among other things, when he ran for Federal President for the AfD in 2022.
The reason for the departures is said to be a dispute over direction: Maaßen had taken the liberty of calling the CDU a “premium partner” and not the AfD, and thus caused a lot of anger.
If it weren't all fundamentally unappetizing, an innocent observer would be inclined to get a bowl of popcorn.
More background here: “Union of Values” founded as a party
Read the current SPIEGEL editorial here
It's enough:
the year-long trial against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is disproportionately cruel and unworthy of a democracy.
Click here for the current daily quiz
Today's starting question: In which year did the February and then the October revolutions occur in Russia?
Winner of the day…
...is Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden.
The 54-year-old has already put his father in trouble several times: drug and alcohol excesses, shady dealings, an accusation of tax evasion, and violation of gun laws.
Donald Trump and the Republicans found it easy to attack his father in the election campaign over his son's crimes; there was even talk of impeachment proceedings.
Biden Junior made himself particularly vulnerable when he held a position on the supervisory board of the Ukrainian energy supplier Burisma while his father was vice president under Barack Obama - and responsible for Ukraine.
An FBI informant claimed that father and son received bribes from the energy company.
First of all, it turned out that the FBI informant was giving out false information.
And now: The Russian secret service is said to have provided him with material for his stories.
The only question is whether this bizarre twist in an already bizarre case, in a heated election campaign atmosphere, even interests Donald Trump's supporters.
You can read more about the topic here: Ex-FBI informant is said to have had contacts with the Russian secret service
The latest reports from the night
Majority for Growth Opportunities Act:
Ampel and Union have been fighting for a billion-dollar growth package for companies for weeks.
There was now a majority in the mediation committee, but the CDU/CSU continued to oppose it.
The Federal Council is now voting again.
"The Office" actor Ewen MacIntosh is dead:
In the cult series "The Office" he impressed as accountant Keith Bishop, who would have preferred to be a DJ: Now Ewen MacIntosh has died at the age of just 50.
Show creator Ricky Gervais paid tribute to the actor.
Putin opponent Nadezhdin fails in his lawsuit against being excluded from the election:
Boris Nadezhdin has defended himself against his exclusion from the presidential election in Russia.
His lawsuit was dismissed.
This leaves Vladimir Putin with no significant challengers in the election.
I would particularly like to recommend this text to you today:
Brexit, poverty, dysfunctional administration
: Economist Abby Innes examined the decline of the United Kingdom - and came to an astonishing thesis.
She compares the neoliberal philosophy that prevailed at the time of Margaret Thatcher with actually existing socialism.
Both ideologies, she argues in her book “Late Soviet Britain,” made the mistake of perceiving people not as people, but as cogs in the wheel of a machine.
My colleague Sascha Zastiral spoke to Innes about what Britain and the Soviet Union have in common.
I wish you a good start to the day.
Your Özlem Topçu, deputy head of Auslandi department