Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell in Kyiv. Reuters
Some of Europe’s top diplomats gathered in Kyiv on Monday in a display of support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion as signs emerge of political strain in Europe and the United States over the 19-month-old war.
A pro-Russian candidate won an election in Slovakia and the US Congress has left Ukraine war aid out of its spending Bill.
European Union foreign ministers converged on the Ukrainian capital for an unannounced informal meeting that officials said would review the bloc’s support for Ukraine and discuss Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposed peace formula.
EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell said the foreign ministers’ first joint meeting outside EU borders signalled that the 27-nation bloc’s support is “unwavering”, and underscored the European Union’s commitment to Ukraine.
The United States, the EU and the United Kingdom have provided massive military and financial support to Ukraine, enabling it to stand up to Kremlin’s attack.
The assistance is crucial for Ukraine’s weakened economy and has so far been open-ended.
But uncertainty has set in over how long Kyiv’s allies will keep sending it aid worth billions of dollars (euros).
A North Korean flag flutters on top of the 160-metre tall tower at North Korea’s propaganda village of Gijungdong, in this picture taken from Tae Sung freedom village near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, September 30, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File… Acquire Licensing Rights
North Korea on Monday denounced the U.N. atomic watchdog for joining a U.S.-led pressure campaign and “cooking up” a resolution over its nuclear programmes, calling the agency a “paid trumpeter” for Washington.
An unnamed spokesman of Pyongyang’s Ministry of Nuclear Power Industry released a statement criticising a resolution adopted on Friday at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general conference that calls for the North to curb its nuclear programmes.
The spokesman described the resolution as a “result of conspiracy” by the United States and its allies, saying North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state has already become “irreversible.”
“Such farce of the hostile forces is a revelation of their sinister intention to cover up their criminal acts of seriously threatening the international nuclear non-proliferation system and justify their hostile policy toward the DPRK,” he said, according to state media KCNA.
President Joe Biden has vowed continued US support for Ukraine, after further military funding was excluded from a last-minute congressional budget deal.
The temporary measure, pushed through to avert a government shutdown, did not include $6bn (£4.92bn) in military aid for Kyiv – a top White House priority.
Hardline Republicans oppose further military aid, with many openly opposing Mr Biden’s approach to the war.
But on Sunday Mr Biden said Ukraine could “count on” US support.
“We cannot, under any circumstances, allow US support to Ukraine to be interrupted,” Mr Biden said.
“I can reassure [Ukraine] we’ll get there, that we’re going to get it done,” he said on restoring funding for the war. “I want to assure our American allies… that you can count on our support, we will not walk away.”
The US has already supplied some $46bn (£37bn) in military aid to Ukraine since Russian launched its full scale invasion in February 2022.
President Biden has requested another $24bn (£19bn).
And in recent months the US has sent state of the art equipment to Kyiv – including long-range missiles and Abrams tanks. It comes as Kyiv’s forces continue to launch a slow moving counter-offensive in the south of the country.
But Saturday’s temporary budget agreement – which will fund the US federal government for 45 days – stripped out continued military funding for the time being.
Senior Senate leaders from both parties released a joint statement signalling their intention to “ensure the US government continues to provide” support to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
But the move – which came just nine days after President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Washington to plead for further support – reflects increasing opposition from hard-right Republicans in the House of Representatives to the war in recent months.
Republicans control the House of Representatives, with Democrats enjoying a wafer-thin majority in the Senate. Both need to approve legislation on the budget before it is signed into law.
Florida congressman Matt Gaetz told reporters on Saturday that funding “already authorised out of this Congress is somewhere between more than enough and way too much”.
And Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor-Green said far too much aid had already been allocated to Kyiv, saying “Ukraine is not the 51st state”.
Their approach provoked a furious reaction from Democratic Party senators.
“I can’t believe people are going to walk away from Ukraine at this moment in time,” Senator Mark Warner said.
Despite the row, officials in Kyiv have sought to frame this new 45-day funding agreement in the US as an “opportunity” for its diplomats to secure longer-term support. It’s more like an unwanted deadline.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry says the “flow of US aid won’t change” with $3bn of humanitarian and military support set to still arrive, but it concedes “ongoing programmes” might be affected.
But one Ukrainian MP, Oleksi Goncharenko, admitted that the suspended funding was causing concern in Kyiv.
“The vote in US Congress is disturbing. The US said they would be with Ukraine as long as it takes and now see how support of Ukraine is excluded from the stop-gap deal. This is the sign of alarm, not only for Ukraine, but for Europe, too,” he told the BBC.
Ukraine says it will fight on, even though there is concern about Western fatigue with the war
This political turmoil is one of several symptoms of Western fatigue. The growing scepticism from some Republicans and the recent election victory for a populist, pro-Moscow party in Slovakia are concerning for both Ukraine and the European Union.
Under the new arrangement, British soldiers are being placed under NATO’s command “if needed, to address the current situation”. They will form part of the KFOR peacekeeping force, which consists of about 4,500 troops from about 27 NATO and partner countries.
NATO is beefing up its presence in Kosovo with UK troops, amid concerns about a build-up of Serbian forces along the border.
Hundreds of soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment have now been made available to a peacekeeping force.
Tensions rose last weekend after a deadly siege at a monastery in northern Kosovo, with masked gunmen and local police engaging in a standoff.
The assailants barricaded themselves inside with priests and visiting pilgrims – and an officer was killed along with three of the gunmen in a 12-hour shootout.
It one of the worst incidents since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, with the White House National Security Council claiming it was a “well-coordinated and planned” attack.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti has accused Serbia of orchestrating the attack – allegations that have been denied.
Mr Kurti has welcomed NATO’s decision and claims last Sunday’s attack suggests Serbia, which doesn’t recognise Kosovo’s sovereignty, wants to destabilise the country with Russia’s help.
He said: “They are in search of a time machine. They want to turn the clock back by 30 years. But that is not going to happen.”
US officials are monitoring a large deployment of Serbian troops along the border with Kosovo, with Mr Murti claiming “they have a lot of military equipment” from Russia and China.
Under the new arrangement, British troops are being placed under NATO’s command “if needed, to address the current situation”.
The incident comes months after the Indian High Commission in London was attacked by pro-Khalistani forces. The United Kingdom has assured of necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of the Indian High Commission in London and its staff. “Let me be very clear about this. This is not an Indian problem in the UK. Whenever there is radicalisation in the UK of UK citizens, this is a British problem. And so any attempt to radicalise any UK citizen in any direction will be dealt with by the British government,” British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said.
A group of Khalistan radicals stopped Indian high commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami from entering a gurdwara in Scotland on Friday. The Indian diplomat was stopped outside Glasgow Gurdwara on Albert Drive. Vikram Doraiswami reportedly had a meeting planned with the gurdwara committee.
The incident comes months after the Indian High Commission in London was attacked by pro-Khalistani forces. The United Kingdom has assured of necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of the Indian High Commission in London and its staff.
“Let me be very clear about this. This is not an Indian problem in the UK. Whenever there is radicalisation in the UK of UK citizens, this is a British problem. And so any attempt to radicalise any UK citizen in any direction will be dealt with by the British government,” British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said.
“Let me be very clear about this. This is not an Indian problem in the UK. Whenever there is radicalisation in the UK of UK citizens, this is a British problem. And so any attempt to radicalise any UK citizen in any direction will be dealt with by the British government,” he said.
In March, India reacted angrily after pro-Khalistan elements attacked the Indian High Commission in London and pulled down the national flag from a pole at the front of the building.
A group of radical Sikh activists in the UK prevented the Indian High Commissioner, Vikram Doraiswami, from entering a Gurdwara in Scotland.
While the UK has acknowledged India’s concerns over Khalistan radicals in that country, Canada continues to provide safe havens to these anti-nationals.
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that “agents of Delhi” were involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who is also a Canadian citizen. India has outrightly rejected the claims, calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’.
Russia may join China in banning Japanese seafood imports after Japan released treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, and Moscow is seeking talks with Japan, a Russian regulator said on Tuesday.
Japan started releasing the water from the plant into the ocean last month, drawing strong criticism from China. In retaliation, China imposed a blanket ban on all aquatic imports from Japan.
Russian food safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor on Tuesday said it had discussed Japanese food exports with its Chinese counterparts. Russia is one of the biggest marine product suppliers to China and is seeking to increase its market share.
“Taking into account the possible risks of radiation contamination of products, Rosselkhoznadzor is considering the possibility of joining with Chinese restrictions on supplies of fish products from Japan,” Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement. “The final decision will be made after negotiations with the Japanese side.”
So far this year, Russia has imported 118 tonnes of Japanese seafood, the regulator said.
Rosselkhoznadzor said it had sent a letter to Japan on the need to hold talks and requesting information on Japan’s radiological testing of exported fish products by Oct. 16, including tritium.
Japan will scrutinise Tuesday’s announcement by Russia, the top Japanese government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday.
It was during the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month that the Modi Government first started promoting ‘Bharat’ as the name of the country in the international forums.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Credit: PTI Photo
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Tuesday took its promotion of ‘Bharat’ as the name of the country to the United Nations with the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar commencing his address to the General Assembly of the international organisation with a ‘Namaste from Bharat’ greeting.
He concluded his 18-minute-long speech at the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations by defining “India that is Bharat” as “a civilizational policy” that embraced “modernity” and brought “both tradition and technology equally confidently to the table”.
It was during the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month that the Modi Government first started promoting “Bharat” as the name of the country in the international forums. An invitation for a dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan was sent to the G20 delegates and other guests with the host being mentioned as “President of Bharat”. It prompted the Congress and the other opposition parties to allege that the BJP-led government was trying to drop India from the name of the country. They called it a move by the Modi Government in response to the opposition parties naming their alliance as I.N.D.I.A.
When Modi chaired the G20 summit on September 9 and 10, the plaque in front of him also read “Prime Minister Bharat”.
Just a few days before the Conservative Party conference, the home secretary set out how she thought the global asylum system should be changed. The address was made to a US think tank as Ms Braverman visited Washington DC.
The United Nations’ refugee agency and Sir Elton John have rebuked the home secretary after she claimed the current asylum system is no longer fit for purpose.
Suella Braverman called for a reform of the “outdated” international system in a speech in Washington DC.
She branded the number of displaced people in the world as an “epoch-defining challenge”, and said being gay or a woman should not be enough to gain asylum.
The senior cabinet minister – whose speech was signed off by Number 10 – called for reform of the 1951 UN Human Rights Convention, which forms the basis of the asylum system.
The UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, responded to Ms Braverman’s speech by saying the convention “remains as relevant today as when it was adopted in providing an indispensable framework for addressing those challenges, based on international co-operation”.
Sir Elton said Ms Braverman risked “further legitimising hate and violence” against LGBT+ people.
The UN agency added: “The need is not for reform, or more restrictive interpretation, but for stronger and more consistent application of the convention and its underlying principle of responsibility sharing.
“An appropriate response to the increase in arrivals and to the UK’s current asylum backlog would include strengthening and expediting decision-making procedures.
“This would accelerate the integration of those found to be refugees and facilitate the swift return of those who have no legal basis to stay.
“UNHCR has presented the UK government with concrete and actionable proposals in this regard and continues to support constructive, ongoing efforts to clear the current asylum backlog.”
A vocal critic of the Pakistani military and Inter-Services Intelligence, Karima Baloch was granted asylum in Canada after being slapped with terrorism charges in Pakistan. (News18)
Canada’s support to Khalistani sympathiser Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the subsequent row with India over his killing has not only irked the latter but also the Baloch Human Rights Council of Canada (BHRC) which questioned the “lack of action” in the kidnapping and alleged murder of exiled Baloch human rights activist Karima Baloch in 2020.
Accusing Trudeau of playing politics and ignoring the death of Baloch, the BHRC, in a letter to the Canadian PM, noted that there had been “perceived inconsistencies” in his government’s response to the “mysterious death of Balochistan rights activist and protected individual, Karima Baloch, in December 2020, in Toronto”.
Claiming that there was a “stark contrast” with the Canadian government’s actions on the pro-Khalistan leader, the letter said that Trudeau’s “conspicuous silence regarding the high-profile, unexplained death of Karima Baloch stands in stark contrast to his impassioned speeches in the House of Commons and extensive media coverage concerning the shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada”.
WHO WAS KARIMA BALOCH?
A Balochistan rights activist, Karima Baloch was fighting for the rights of the Balochistan people with the Pakistan government.
She was the first chair of the Baloch Students Organization (BSO-Azad), a political students’ body, and was known for raising the cause of forced disappearances among Baloch activists.
A vocal critic of the Pakistani military and Inter-Services Intelligence, Baloch was granted asylum in Canada after being slapped with terrorism charges in Pakistan.
In 2020, after going missing, Baloch was found dead in a river in Sweden, becoming the second Baloch activist to have died in exile that year.
WHAT HER FAMILY SAID
As cops ruled out foul play, Baloch’s husband Hammal Haider, also a Pakistani activist living in exile, had said: “I can’t believe that it’s an act of suicide. She was a strong lady and she left home in a good mood.”
He had added: “We can’t rule out foul play as she has been under threats. She left Pakistan as her home was raided more than twice. Her uncle was killed. She was threatened to leave activism and political activities but she did not and fled to Canada.”
CANADA’S RESPONSE
Unlike Nijjar’s case, where Trudeau did not shy away from escalating diplomatic tensions, Baloch’s death was brushed under the carpet and Canadian police ruled the death as “non-criminal” despite allegations of foul play.
“The circumstances have been investigated and officers have determined this to be a non-criminal death and no foul play is suspected,” said Toronto’s police department in a short statement.
THE NIJJAR ROW
Tensions flared between India and Canada following Trudeau’s explosive allegations of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on his country’s soil on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.
India angrily rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case. “Of course, there are credible allegations that we need to take extremely seriously as Canadians and indeed as a world,” Trudeau asserted when asked if the evidence suggested by him was extensive in the matter.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said that he was “not surprised” with Trudeau’s “outrageous and unsubstantiated” allegations linking India’s role behind Nijjar’s killing.
Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India Ali Sabry
Sri Lanka has come out in support of India amid the latter’s ongoing row with Canada, saying that terrorists have found “safe haven” in Ottawa and that Trudeau made “outrageous” allegations about India’s role without providing any solid evidence.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, in an interview with news agency ANI, said that he was “not surprised” with Trudeau’s “outrageous and unsubstantiated” allegations linking India’s role behind the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
“Some of the terrorists have found safe haven in Canada. The Canadian PM has this way of just coming out with some outrageous allegations without any supporting proof. The same thing they did for Sri Lanka, a terrible, total lie about saying that Sri Lanka had a genocide. Everybody knows there was no genocide in our country,” said the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister.
He also said that Trudeau’s ‘genocide’ comment on Sri Lanka has negatively affected the relations between the two countries and asked the Canadian PM to refrain from interfering in the matters of a sovereign country.
“I don’t think anyone should poke their nose into other countries and tell as to how we should govern our country. We love our country more than anyone else. That’s why we are in our country… We have to look after our region. We need to work together. That’s how we can create a peaceful environment. We should not be dictated by anyone else as to how we should conduct our affairs,” he told ANI.
In May, Trudeau announced that the Canadian Parliament has marked May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, which was sharply rebuked by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry for “politically-motivated statement for domestic political consumption”.
We support India on this matter: Sri Lankan envoy
Meanwhile, outgoing Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India came out in India’s defence in the matter, saying that Colombo supports New Delhi’s “firm and direct” response to the Canadian PM’s remarks.
In a press conference, Milinda Moragoda said, “I think India’s response has been inequitable and also firm and direct. And I think as far as we are concerned, we support India on that. Having said that, also, in my lifetime now, I’m 60 years old, 40 years of my life, we have spent facing various forms of terrorism in Sri Lanka. I have lost many friends, and colleagues to terrorism.”
He further said that the people of Sri Lanka have a zero tolerance for terrorist activities as its people have suffered to terrorism for a very long time.
India-Canada row
Tensions between India and Canada reached a boiling point after Trudeau alleged India’s role in the fatal shooting of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep S Nijjar, the chief of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). Nijar, a designated terrorist in India, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.
India angrily rejected the Canadian PM’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to a similar move by Ottawa. India also temporarily suspended visa services for Canadian nationals in view of “security threats” and called for a reduction of Canadian diplomats in New Delhi.
Ukraine’s special forces claimed on Monday that Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia’s most senior naval officers, was killed in a missile strike on Sevastopol.
A top Russian admiral has appeared in a video call – a day after Ukrainian special forces claimed he had been killed in a missile strike.
Admiral Viktor Sokolov – the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia’s most senior naval officers – was reportedly killed in last week’s strike on the naval port of Sevastopol, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond when asked by news agencies to confirm or deny if Mr Sokolov had been killed.
However, the ministry released a video on Tuesday appearing to show Mr Sokolov attending a conference with other top Russian military officials via video link.
Mr Sokolov was not seen speaking in the footage of the conference – led by Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
It is not clear when the footage was filmed, though Russia’s defence ministry claimed the meeting took place on Tuesday.
Ukraine special forces said on Telegram: “Since the Russians were urgently forced to publish a response with Sokolov allegedly alive, our units are clarifying the information.”
In the video, Mr Shoigu said more than 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in September and that more than 2,700 weapons, including seven American Bradley fighting vehicles, had been destroyed.
Both Russia and Ukraine have at times exaggerated enemy losses in the war, while also saying little about their own losses.
On Monday, Ukraine’s special forces claimed they had killed Mr Sokolov and 33 other officers in last week’s missile attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.
“After the strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Ukraine’s special forces said on the Telegram messaging app.
To most of the world, the Indian government’s response to Canada’s charge that it may have sponsored the murder of a Sikh activist in British Columbia must be befuddling. India has strenuously denied the charges, for which Canada provided no evidence publicly as yet.
But the Indian government has also gone further and blasted Canada for supposedly hosting a “nexus of terrorism,” serving as a “safe haven” for extremism and organised crime, and much else. Indian investigators have even released a list of what they call “terror-gangster networks” based in Canada. This is all absurdly detached from Canada’s popular image as a polite and welcoming multicultural utopia.
India’s rage is misplaced and hardly serves to endear the country to those appalled by the idea that it may have had a Canadian citizen killed. Still, it does reflect widespread sentiment — in India and beyond — that many countries in the West have long paid insufficient attention to the overseas activism of the immigrant communities they host.
That will no longer be possible. Even small, liberal countries such as Canada, Australia, and Sweden must now contend with the consequences of diaspora politics.
Sweden, for example, faced a particularly pernicious dilemma when Turkey blocked its entry into NATO on the grounds that it hosted Kurdish separatists. The Swedish government had to balance Turkey’s concerns and its own urgent security needs against its constitutional commitments to free speech and dissent.
Of course, peaceful political expression must be defended. And countries with a reputation for taking in refugees and asylum seekers, such as Canada and Sweden, will naturally host many more dissenters than elsewhere.
The problem is when, as sometimes happens in communities still focused on the disputes they left behind, dissent slides into extremism. How long can governments ignore political radicals merely because they are confining their activities to their old homes, not their new ones?
Members of United Hindu Front organisation shout slogans as they hold banners during a rally along a street in New Delhi on September 24, 2023, to condemn Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer believed to be based in Canada designated as a Khalistani terrorist by the Indian authorities (Image: AFP)
Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair has called Canada’s relationship with India “important”, and said his country will continue to pursue partnerships like the Indo-Pacific strategy while the investigation of the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar continues.
Canada had been seeking deeper trade, defence, and immigration ties with India before the “credible intelligence,” as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it, was first raised with Canadian officials, Global News reported.
In an interview aired on Sunday on The West Block, Blair suggested Canada will continue to pursue those partnerships while the investigation into allegations continues.
WHAT BLAIR SAID?
“We understand that this can be, and has proven to be, a challenging issue with respect to our relationship with India,” he was quoted as saying by Global News.
“But at the same time, we have a responsibility to defend the law, defend our citizens, and at the same time make sure that we conduct a thorough investigation and get to the truth,” he said.
If the allegations are proven true, Blair said “there is a very significant concern that Canada will have with respect to the violation of our sovereignty in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
The Minister further noted that the Indo-Pacific strategy was still a critical one for Canada and has led to an increased military presence in the region and commitments for further patrol capabilities.
Notably, the Indo-Pacific strategy commits USD 492.9 million over five years toward those military priorities, out of a total of nearly USD 2.3 billion over the same period.
INDIA-CANADA DIPLOMATIC ISSUE
Tensions flared between India and Canada following Trudeau’s explosive allegations of Indian agents’ “potential” involvement in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Nijjar on his country’s soil on June 18 in British Columbia.
India had designated 45-year-old Nijjar, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), as a terrorist in 2020.
India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
On Thursday, India asked Canada to come down hard on terrorists and anti-India elements operating from its soil and suspended visa services for Canadians, as escalating tensions between the two nations over the killing of Nijjar pushed their ties to an all-time low. It also accused Canada of being a safe haven for terrorists.
India also asked Canada to downsize its diplomatic staff in the country, arguing that there should be parity in strength and rank equivalence in the mutual diplomatic presence. The size of Canadian diplomatic staff in India is larger than what New Delhi has in Canada.
Meanwhile, the United Hindu Front on Sunday held a protest against the Canadian PM at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, expressing their disapproval of Trudeau’s alleged support and protection of anti-India Khalistanis.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in New York, also took a veiled dig at Canada. Speaking at a ministerial session titled ‘South Rising: Partnerships, Institutions and Ideas’ hosted by the Observer Research Foundation, Jaishankar said that it is still a world of “double standards” and those countries which are occupying positions of influence are resisting the pressure to change.
“In the name of the market, a lot of things are done, like in the name of freedom, a lot of things are done,” he said, hinting at Trudeau’s statements defending pro-Khalistan activities in Canada by citing freedom of speech.
In Canada, however, posters calling for the killing of Indian diplomats at a Gurdwara in Surrey were taken down after local authorities intervened amid Ottawa’s plummeting ties with India. According to sources, the Surrey Gurdwara was asked to remove the posters calling for the killing of three Indian diplomats after authorities realised the magnitude of the issue and the optics of such messaging originating from Canadian soil.
INDIA MULLS TO CANCEL OCI CARDS OF KHALISTANI TERRORISTS
After the National Investigation Agency (NIA) confiscated the properties of Canada-based ‘designated individual terrorist’ Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, it is learnt that the government has asked the investigative agencies to identify the properties of other terrorists wanted in India sitting abroad.
Sources privy to the matter said that the government has asked the agencies to identify the properties of the terrorists settled abroad.
The Philippines on Sunday accused China’s coast guard of installing a “floating barrier” in a disputed area of the South China Sea, saying it prevented Filipinos from entering and fishing in the area.
Manila’s coast guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources “strongly condemn” China’s installation of the barrier in part of the Scarborough Shoal, Commodore Jay Tarriela, a coast guard spokesperson, posted on the X social media platform, formerly Twitter.
The barrier blocking fishermen from the shoal was depriving them of their fishing and livelihood activities, he said.
“The (Philippine Coast Guard) will continue to work closely with all concerned government agencies to address these challenges, uphold our maritime rights and protect our maritime domains,” Tarriela said.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Chinese Coast Guard boats close to the floating barrier are pictured on September 20, 2023, near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, in this handout image released by the Philippine Coast Guard on September 24, 2023. Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via REUTERS
China claims 90% of the South China Sea, overlapping with the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. Beijing seized the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 and forced fishermen from the Philippines to travel further for smaller catches.
Beijing allowed Filipino fishermen to return to the uninhabited shoal when bilateral relations were improving markedly under then-President Rodrigo Duterte. But tension has mounted again since his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, took office last year.
Canada’s defence minister Bill Blair on Sunday termed the relationship with India as “important” and said that his country will continue to pursue partnerships like the Indo-Pacific strategy.
Tensions heightened between the two countries following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia.
India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.
Canada will continue to pursue those partnerships while the investigation into allegations continues, calling the relationship with India “important”, said Blair in an interview aired on Sunday on The West Block by Global News.
“We understand that this can be, and has proven to be, a challenging issue with respect to our relationship with India,” he was quoted as saying by Global News. “But at the same time, we have a responsibility to defend the law, defend our citizens, and at the same time make sure that we conduct a thorough investigation and get to the truth.”
New Delhi expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
In 2020, India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist.
Blair also said that if the allegations are proven true then “there is a very significant concern that Canada will have with respect to the violation of our sovereignty in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
An undated photo shows rice paddies where rare earth processing factory is planned near Nam Xe mine in Lai Chau province in Vietnam. REUTERS
Vietnam plans to restart its biggest rare-earths mine next year with a Western-backed project that could rival the world’s largest, according to two companies involved, as part of a broader push to dent China’s dominance in a sector that helps power advanced technologies.
The move would be a step toward the Southeast Asian country’s aim of building up a rare-earths supply chain, including developing its capacity to refine ores into metals used in magnets for electric vehicles, smartphones and wind turbines.
As an initial step, Vietnam’s government intends to launch tenders for multiple blocks of its Dong Pao mine before the year’s end, said Tessa Kutscher, an executive at Australia’s Blackstone Minerals Ltd (BSX.AX), which plans to bid for at least one concession. She cited unpublished information from Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which did not respond to requests for comment.
The auction’s timing could change but the government plans to restart the mine next year, said Luu Anh Tuan, chairman of Vietnam Rare Earth JSC (VTRE), the country’s main refiner and Blackstone’s partner in the project.
The proposed restart of Dong Pao – whose timeline, scale and degree of foreign financial support have not been reported previously – comes as many nations fret about their vulnerability to supply disruptions due to China’s stranglehold on strategic minerals and its disputes with the U.S. and its allies. Beijing this year imposed export curbs on minor metals used in semiconductors, which an influential Chinese policy adviser warned was “just a start”.
Vietnam has the second-largest rare-earth deposits, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But they have remained largely untapped, with investment discouraged by low prices that are effectively set by China because of its near-monopoly on the global market. Visiting Hanoi this month to upgrade bilateral relations, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an agreement to boost Vietnam’s ability to lure investors for its rare-earth reserves.
In interviews with Reuters, 12 industry executives, investors, analysts and foreign officials described plans for Vietnam, including investments they said showed how talk of derisking supply chains to reduce reliance on China is translating into action. Some acknowledged the difficulties of forging a rare-earths hub but said the gambit could make Vietnam a viable player while assuaging strategic worries, even if China remained dominant.
Kutscher said Blackstone’s investment in the project would be worth around $100 million if it wins. She added that the company was talking to potential clients, including electric car makers VinFast and Rivian (RIVN.O), about possible contracts with set prices that would shield suppliers from fluctuations and guarantee buyers a secure supply chain.
Sealing such deals would address a hurdle faced by developers in Vietnam. In recent years, Japanese investors Toyota Tsusho and Sojitz abandoned projects at Dong Pao after China ramped up supply, pummelling prices. The Japanese firms did not respond to requests for comment.
Yet despite the focus on derisking, it is unclear whether clients would be ready to pay a premium for Vietnam, said Dylan Kelly, of investment firm Terra Capital, noting the market in general was opaque.
Asked about VinFast’s potential involvement, a spokesperson for parent company Vingroup said the group’s entity in charge of raw-material procurement, VinES, had no current plans with Blackstone involving rare earths. He did not address subsequent questions about VinFast specifically.
Rivian did not reply to a request for comment.
RIVALLING MOUNTAIN PASS
Effective exploitation of Dong Pao – which has sat dormant for at least seven years, according to an official at state-controlled miner Lavreco, which owns a concession – would propel Vietnam into the top league of rare-earths producers.
But refining rare earths is complex, and China controls many processing technologies. Dong Pao’s estimated deposits also need to be reassessed with modern methods, according to Blackstone.
Reuters Graphics
Still, rare earths at Dong Pao are relatively easy to access and are mostly concentrated in bastnaesite ores, according to the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology.
These are typically rich in cerium, used in flat screens, and lanthanides, such as praseodymium and neodymium, which go into magnets.
Tuan said VTRE hoped to win a concession that would allow it to extract about 10,000 metric tons of rare-earth oxide (REO) equivalent a year, roughly one-third of the mine’s expected annual output. Production could start around the end of 2024, he said.
That would put Dong Pao’s output slightly below that of California’s Mountain Pass, one of the world’s largest mines, which produced 43,000 metric tons of REO equivalent in 2022, according to the USGS.
Vietnam also plans to develop additional mines. In July, Hanoi set a target to produce up to 60,000 tons of REO equivalent a year by 2030. China set a domestic quota of 210,000 tons last year.
Those goals would see Vietnam producing 5% to 15% of China’s projected output by the decade’s end, said David Merriman, a research analyst at consultancy Project Blue, who expects China to increase production over that period.
Vietnam’s targets were “ambitious, though they are not entirely out of the question”, he said.
U.S. ENCOURAGEMENT
The U.S. agreed during Biden’s visit to help Vietnam better map its rare-earths resources and “attract quality investment”, according to a White House fact sheet, a move that could encourage U.S. investors to bid for Vietnam’s new concessions.
Reuters could not determine whether concrete plans involving U.S. investors exist at this stage. Officials at the U.S. embassy in Hanoi, the White House and Department of Commerce did not reply to requests for comment.
But recent U.S. attempts to gain a foothold in the Vietnamese industry did not succeed, said John Rockhold, a consultant to the rare-earths sector and president of the Hanoi chapter of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, adding that one such plan involving VTRE collapsed this year.
That plan would have involved the shipment to the U.S. of rare earths refined by VTRE and possible future investment in Vietnam of $200 million, according to a non-public report for unspecified U.S. investors seen by Reuters.
VTRE confirmed the shipment deal had foundered.
Instead, VTRE in April announced a deal to supply 100 metric tons of rare-earth oxides this year to Australian Strategic Materials (ASM.AX). ASM declined to comment on Dong Pao’s exploitation.
Blackstone, which is a partner in that deal, operates a nickel mine in Vietnam and has determined that its processing facility in the country could handle ore from Dong Pao, according to a company statement.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier looks at the investigations into the Chinese spy balloon that traversed across the continental U.S. in February and other objects that were shot down after on ‘Special Report.’
Canadian Jewish organizations and social media critics are slamming the Canadian Parliament for giving a man who fought for the Nazis a standing ovation during an event featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the country.
“FSWC is appalled that Canada’s Parliament gave a standing ovation to a Ukrainian veteran who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War implicated in the mass murder of Jews and others. An apology and explanation is owed,” the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Canadian nonprofit dedicated to educating people on the Holocaust, wrote on X, previously known as Twitter.
Video and photos show the Canadian Parliament erupted into cheers on Friday during Zelenskyy’s visit to the country’s capital of Ottawa, when Canadian lawmakers also honored Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant who fought for the First Ukrainian Division, according to the Toronto Star. That division was also known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, which fought for the Nazis as its paramilitary arm under the Schutzstaffel organization, according to the outlet.
“The fact that a veteran who served in a Nazi military unit was invited to and given a standing ovation in Parliament is shocking. At a time of rising antisemitism and Holocaust distortion, it is incredibly disturbing to see Canada’s Parliament rise to applaud an individual who was a member of a unit in the Waffen-SS, a Nazi military branch responsible for the murder of Jews and others and that was declared a criminal organization during the Nuremberg Trials,” the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center continued in their statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recognize Yaroslav Hunka, who was in attendance and fought with the First Ukrainian Division in World War II before later immigrating to Canada, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP) (AP )
Social media commenters have joined the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center in condemning the Canadian House for celebrating Hunka, who some called a “literal Nazi” and “monster.”
Canadian columnist Joe Warmington called for a “full apology” “for celebrating a Second World War Nazi in the House of Commons,” in an op-ed published Sunday in the Toronto Sun.
Local Canadian outlets said the Associated Press identified the 98-year-old in a photo caption as a veteran of the “First Ukrainian Division in World War II,” and noted other outlets described the man as a Ukrainian immigrant to Canada who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.
The Soviet Union played a pivotal role in defeating Nazi Germany, including during the Battle of Stalingrad, which marked a turning point in the war. The U.S. Department of State outlines on its website that “without the remarkable efforts of the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, the United States and Great Britain would have been hard pressed to score a decisive military victory over Nazi Germany.”
Economically dominant countries leverage production capabilities, weaponizing them and creating double standards, says S Jaishankar.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. (PTI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that economically dominant countries are leveraging production capabilities and those who have institutional influence have weaponized these capabilities. He also cited an example of Covid-19 and stressed that it is still a world of double standards.
Addressing an event ‘South Rising: Partnerships, Institutions and Ideas’ here on Saturday, Jaishankar said, “There is a growing sentiment in the world, and the Global South in a way embodies it. But there’s also political resistance. Those occupying positions of influence are resisting pressure to change.”
“They will mouth the right things, but the reality is still today, it’s a world very much of double standards,” he said as quoted by ANI.
Speaking about the Global South and India’s G20 Presidency, the minister highlighted how India was ‘the voice of the Global South’ and how it steered the global conversation back to global growth and development issues.
“To get the G20, to talk about what the world wanted to talk about, that was the real problem with the G20. Our Prime Minister put it very well, he said first let’s talk to the people who are not going to be on the table. We were the voice of the Global South,” said Jaishankar.
“The Global South is an expression, in a way, of a certain solidarity and generosity and sort of a sharing spirit community. I think if you’re part of the Global South, you know it,” he added.
In his Europe’s mindset comment from last year, where he said that “Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems”, EAM Jaishankar said that “particular statement had a particular context” while also listing five big problems which is troubling the entire world, ANI reported.
Russia’s foreign minister glosses over Ukraine, accuses Western allies of neo-colonialism at the UN General Assembly.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference after addressing the UN General Assembly [Eduardo Munoz/Reuters]Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the West an “empire of lies” and accused it of adopting a neo-colonial mindset in its overtures to the Global South to win backing for Ukraine in the war.
Speaking after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at UN headquarters in New York, where Ukraine and its Western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv as it fights against Russia’s invasion, Lavrov said a “global majority” was being duped by the West.
“The US and its subordinated collective continue to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims,” Lavrov said.
“They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centred rules.”
James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic correspondent, said Lavrov’s speech was part of a “tour around the world of Russia’s views” that contained no real mention of Ukraine and few indications of Moscow’s plan one year into the conflict.
During a news conference following the speech, the foreign minister dismissed a 10-point proposal put forward by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative.
“It is completely not feasible,” he said of the peace blueprint promoted by Kyiv. “It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this, but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”
He also said the UN proposal would not fly because the West did not deliver on its promises to Moscow, including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system.
Prachanda’s assurances to Xi, covered widely by the Chinese press, were in contrast to speculation he would ask Beijing to build the BRI projects in Nepal under a grant mechanism, which would allay fears that the project will push Nepal into a debt trap.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda
Nepal will continue to actively participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has said, laying to rest speculation that he would push Beijing for measures to safeguard Nepal from falling into a debt trap.
Prachanda, who flew to Hangzhou from New York to witness the inaugural session of the Asian Games, has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that his government will further promote the Trans-Himalayan network as it will “greatly assist” Nepal’s national economic development. The Trans-Himalayan network, an economic corridor between Nepal and China, is part of the BRI.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada wasn’t looking to escalate tensions, but asked India on Tuesday, Sept. 19, to take the killing of a Sikh activist seriously after India called accusations that the Indian government may have been involved absurd.(Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Information shared by members of an intelligence-sharing alliance was part of what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used to make public allegations of the Indian government’s possible involvement in the assassination of a Sikh Canadian, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said.
“There was shared intelligence among ‘Five Eyes’ partners that helped lead Canada to (make) the statements that the prime minister made,” U.S. Ambassador David Cohen told Canadian CTV News network.
CTV News released some of Cohen’s comments late Friday, and the network said that it would air the full interview with the U.S. envoy on Sunday. No further details were released about the shared intelligence.
On Thursday, a Canadian official told The Associated Press that the allegation of India’s involvement in the killing is based on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, including intelligence provided by a major ally — without saying which one.
The “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance is made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The relationship between Canada and India reached its lowest point in recent history when Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist, in June in a Vancouver suburb. Both countries have expelled some top diplomats.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk during Xi’s visit in Pyongyang, North Korea in this picture released by by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 21, 2019. KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to promote cooperative relations with China in a letter to President Xi Jinping, the North’s state media KCNA reported on Sunday.
The letter was in response to congratulations Xi sent for the North’s founding anniversary this month where the Chinese president had expressed his willingness to strengthen strategic communication and working-level cooperation.
“I believe … the DPRK-China friendly and cooperative relations would steadily develop in conformity with the requirements of the new era and the desire of the two peoples in the future,” Kim said in the letter sent on Thursday.
Pope Francis holds a news conference as he returns to the Vatican following his apostolic journey to Hungary, aboard the plane, April 30, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Pope Francis suggested on Saturday that some countries were “playing games” with Ukraine by first providing weapons and then considering backing out of their commitments.
Francis made his comments aboard the plane returning from a trip to the French port city of Marseilles. He was responding to a reporter’s question about whether he was frustrated that his efforts to bring about peace had not succeeded. He has sent an envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing to meet with leaders there.
He said he did feel “some frustration” and then began talking randomly about the arms industry and the war.
“It seems to me that the interests in this war are not just those related to the Ukrainian-Russian problem but to the sale of weapons, the commerce of weapons,” he said.
“We should not play games with the martyrdom of this people. We have to help them resolve things … I see now that some countries are moving backwards, not wanting to give (Ukraine) arms. A process is starting in which the martyr certainly will be the Ukrainian people and that is an ugly thing,” he said.
Asked for a clarification, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope was not taking a stand on whether countries should continue to send weapons to Ukraine or stop sending them.
“It was a reflection on the consequences of the arms industry: the pope, with a paradox, was saying that those who traffic in weapons never pay the consequences of their choices but leave them to be paid by people, like the Ukrainians, who have been martyred,” Bruni said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Canada, where he will be guaranteed a warmer reception than he received during yesterday’s Washington visit. The Ukrainian president assured US politicians Kyiv is “winning” – but some sections of Congress are battling against more funding for the war effort.
Pic: https://www.aljazeera.com/
The three major powers have all built new facilities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear test sites, according to CNN.
Satellite images obtained by the broadcaster appear to show expansions at the nuclear sites in recent years.
No evidence suggests any are preparing for imminent nuclear tests.
The sites are in China’s western region of Xinjiang, Russia’s Arctic Ocean archipelago, and America’s Nevada desert.
The images show new tunnels, roads and storage facilities, as well as increased vehicle traffic in and out of the sites.
Jeffrey Lewis, an adjunct professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, there are really a lot of hints that we’re seeing that suggest Russia, China and the United States might resume nuclear testing.
The allegation of India’s involvement in the killing of a Sikh Canadian is based on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, including intelligence provided by a major ally, a Canadian official told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The official said the communications involved Indian officials and Indian diplomats in Canada and that some of the intelligence was provided by a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to Canada.
The official did not say which ally provided intelligence or give details of what was contained in the communications or how they were obtained. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported the intelligence.
The revelation came as India stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens and told Canada to reduce its diplomatic staff as the rift widened over allegations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of suspected Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist.
Ties between the two countries have plunged to their lowest point in years after Trudeau told Parliament Monday there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the assassination on Canadian soil.
Nijjar, a plumber who was born in India and became a Canadian citizen in 2007, had been wanted by India for years before he was gunned down in June outside the temple he led in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver.
Speaking Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trudeau acknowledged the complicated diplomatic situation.
“The decision to share these allegations on the floor of the House of Commons was not done lightly,” he said. “There is no question that India is a country of growing importance and a country that we need to continue to work with.”
“We are not looking to provoke or cause problems but we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians.”
The bombshell allegation set off an international tit-for-tat, with each country expelling a diplomat. India called the allegations “absurd.”
Canada has yet to provide public evidence to back Trudeau’s allegations, and Canada’s U.N. ambassador, Bob Rae, indicated that might not come soon.
“This is very early days,” Rae told reporters Thursday, saying that while facts will emerge, they must “come out in the course of the pursuit of justice.”
“That’s what we call the rule of law in Canada,” he said.
Meanwhile, the company that processes Indian visas in Canada announced services had been suspended. Canadians are among the top travelers to India, with 277,000 Canadian tourists visiting the country in 2022, according to India’s Bureau of Immigration.
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi blamed the visa suspension, which includes visas issued in third countries, on safety issues.
Warsaw, one of Kyiv’s top allies since the Russian invasion began, took the surprise decision amid a row over Ukrainian grain.
People attend an event for the anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence Day in Warsaw, Poland, August 24, 2023 [Kacper Pempel/Reuters]“I can’t believe the friendship is over.”
That is what Maryna Vasilevskaya, a Ukrainian woman of Polish origin, told Al Jazeera with a heavy sigh on Thursday after learning that Warsaw halted arms supply to Kyiv – and may cut aid to a million Ukrainian refugees it hosts.
Poland has supplied hundreds of Soviet-era tanks and 14 Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in its time of need amid Russia’s invasion, served as a major transit hub for weapons from other Western nations, and provided its military bases for training Ukrainian servicemen.
It has also spent billions of euros on other forms of aid from the construction of temporary houses for refugees to donating medical supplies and power generators.
Vasilevskaya and her children were among the most vulnerable and desperate recipients of Poland’s aid – as well as its overwhelming, heart-melting moral support.
Her paternal grandparents were ethnic Poles, and she spent four months in the eastern Polish city of Krakow with her daughters aged five and eight last year after fleeing the Russian onslaught.
She returned to Kyiv in August because her husband Vladislav had a medical emergency and her eldest daughter Darya missed her schoolmates.
But despite the latest tensions, Vasilevskaya says she remains “eternally grateful” to Polish authorities and public.
She arrived in Krakow in mid-March 2022 on a slow overnight train jam-packed with crying children and frightened, disoriented grownups, but Poles welcomed them all like “dearest friends”.
“They helped us any way they could with everything, absolutely everything, from food and clothes to lodging and healthcare,” the 34-year-old, who works in marketing, recalled with tears in her eyes.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ our dislike to each other is finally over.’”
Poland once conquered huge swaths of Kyivan Rus, a medieval Eastern European confederation of principalities that spawned what is Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
It also was a conduit of Western influences from philosophy to visual arts, but its efforts to convert its Orthodox Christian subjects in what is now Ukraine to Roman Catholicism met resistance that partly paved the way to Moscow’s takeover.
Representatives from 34 states and 7 institutions were given the floor on the day of the summit; all the G-20 governments will be asked to commit to presenting, by 2025, more ambitious economy-wide Nationally Determined Contributions
Delegates attend the U.N. Climate Ambition Summit on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 20, 2023. | Photo Credit: AFP
The Climate Ambition Summit (CAS) in New York, as part of the United Nations General Assembly, that concluded on September 21, was marked by the absence of major economies whose actions significantly influence the future of global emissions.
China, United States and India — who collectively account for about 42% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are the top three emitters in that order — were all absent from the CAS that was designed, according to the U.N., to “showcase leaders who are “movers and doers”… and have credible actions, policies and plans to keep the 1.5°C degree goal of the Paris Agreement alive and deliver climate justice to those on the front lines of the climate crisis.”
Sullivan said that India is not Russia and is different from China, in response to a question on why the United States is giving a “free pass” on Beijing and Delhi on Russian aggression
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. (AFP Photo)
Washington is in touch with Delhi on Canada’s allegations over Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing, and there can be no “special exemption” for actions like “these” as the US will defend its basic principles, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said on Thursday.
Addressing a White House press briefing, Sullivan reaffirmed that the US was deeply concerned about Canada’s allegations, supported its investigation and wanted perpetrators to be brought to justice.
Asked whether President Joe Biden intended to speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the issue, and whether it could drive a “wedge” between India and the US, Sullivan said that he wouldn’t get into private diplomatic conversations but “this issue had been discussed at the highest levels”.
“It is a matter of concern for us. It is something we take seriously. It’s something we will keep working on, and we will do that regardless of the country. There is not some special exemption you get for actions like this. Regardless of the country, we will stand up and defend our basic principles. And we will also consult closely with allies like Canada as they pursue their law enforcement and diplomatic process,” Sullivan said.
In a different context, when asked why the US was giving a pass to India despite its position on Russian aggression, the fact that it had made “a deal with 18 countries to not use dollars” for trade, was on a “watchlist for intellectual property theft”, and was a part of Brics, Sullivan said, “Where we have concerns with India, whether it comes to issues related to the very watchlist that you are describing or otherwise, we make those concerns clear. And we defend US interests, as we do with every country in the world.”
It was a moment the diplomatic world was watching for — but didn’t get.
In the end, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov avoided staring each other down Wednesday across the U.N. Security Council’s famous horseshoe-shaped table. Zelenskyy left before Lavrov arrived.
The near-miss was somewhat to be expected. Yet the moment still spoke to the U.N.’s role as a venue where warring nations can unleash their ire through words instead of weapons. The choreography also underscored the world body’s reputation as a place where adversaries sometimes literally talk past each other.
Zelenskyy denounced Russia as “a terrorist state” while Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia sat facing him near the other end of the table’s arc. As Zelenskyy launched into his remarks, the Russian looked at his phone, then tucked the device away.
Zelenskyy left before Lavrov’s arrival, which came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was accusing Russia of having “shredded” key provisions of the U.N. Charter.
Lavrov, in turn, reiterated his country’s claims that Kyiv has oppressed Russian speakers in eastern areas, violating the U.N. charter and getting a pass on it from the U.S. and other western countries. Across the table was Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, his eyes on his phone during at least parts of Lavrov’s remarks. (Blinken, for his part, took handwritten notes.)
If there was no finger-pointing face-off, the atmosphere was decidedly prickly.
Before Zelenskyy’s arrival, Nebenzia objected to a speaking order that put the Ukrainian president before the council’s members, including Russia. (Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, the meeting chair, retorted: “You stop the war, and President Zelenskyy will not take the floor.”)
Zelenskyy had been in the same room, but hardly eye to eye, with a Russian diplomat during the Ukrainian leader’s speech Tuesday in the vast hall of the U.N. General Assembly, which this week is holding its annual meeting of top-level leaders. (Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky later said, wryly, that he’d been focusing on his phone and “didn’t notice” Zelenskyy’s address.) Before that, Zelenskyy last encountered a Russian official at a 2019 meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
One of Ukraine’s staunchest allies, Poland, has announced it will no longer supply weapons to the country as a diplomatic dispute over grain escalates.
The nation’s prime minister said it would instead focus on arming itself with more modern weapons.
The move comes as tensions between the two nations rise.
On Tuesday, Poland summoned Ukraine’s ambassador over comments made by President Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN.
He said some nations had feigned solidarity with Ukraine, which Warsaw denounced as “unjustified concerning Poland, which has supported Ukraine since the first days of the war”.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, announced the decision to no longer supply Ukraine with weapons in a televised address on Wednesday after a day of rapidly escalating tensions between the two countries over grain imports.
The grain dispute began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine all but closed the main Black Sea shipping lanes and forced Ukraine to find alternative overland routes.
That in turn led to large quantities of grain ending up in central Europe.
Consequently, the European Union temporarily banned imports of grain into five countries; Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to protect local farmers, who feared Ukrainian grain was driving down the prices locally.
The ban ended on 15 September and the EU chose not to renew it, but Hungary, Slovakia and Poland decided to keep on implementing it.
The European Commission has repeatedly stated that it is not up to individual EU members to make trade policy for the bloc.
Earlier this week, Ukraine filed lawsuits to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against those countries over the bans, which it said were a violation of international obligations.
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said that “it is crucially important for us to prove that individual member states cannot ban imports of Ukrainian goods”.
But Poland said they would keep the ban in place, and a “complaint before the WTO doesn’t impress us”.
It was to be Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy’s first in-person appearance at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Moscow’s invasion of his country when Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia objected to him taking the floor at the start of the meeting.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, serving as president of the tense session, responded with a gibe at Moscow, which has long said the invasion does not amount to a war but was a mere “special military operation”.
“I want to assure our Russian colleagues and everyone here that this is not a special operation by the Albanian presidency,” Rama, known for a piercing sense of humor, said to muted laughter across the room.
“There is a solution for this,” Rama continued, addressing Nebenzia directly: “If you agree, you stop the war and President Zelenskiy will not take the floor.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the United Nations Security Council during a ministerial level meeting of the Security Council on the crisis in Ukraine at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 20, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar Acquire Licensing Rights
Nebenzia did not agree. He went on to say the session was a show and criticized Rama for what he said was making politically charged statements rather than acting as a neutral guardian of procedure.
After the session, Zelenskiy thanked Rama on social media, saying the Albanian, who is both an artist and former basketball player, “showed the world how to correctly handle Russia, its lies, and its hypocrisy.”
In seeking to justify its invasion, Moscow has said Ukraine’s ambitions to integrate with the West – including NATO – pose a threat to Russia’s national security, an assertion that Kyiv and its allies deny as a baseless pretext to attack.
When given the floor after the back-and-forth, Zelenskiy asked Russia be stripped of its veto right as one of five permanent members of the post-World War Two U.N. Security Council as punishment for attacking Ukraine.
“Every day we get closer,” said Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of his country’s relationship with Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (not pictured) meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 7, 2023. (photo credit: BANDAR ALGALOUD/COURTESY OF SAUDI ROYAL COURT/REUTERS)
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a US television interview that his country was moving steadily closer to normalizing relations with Israel and also warned that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, “we have to get one.”
“Every day we get closer,” the crown prince told Fox News in wide-ranging remarks broadcast on Wednesday, when asked to characterize talks aimed at long-time foes Israel and Saudi Arabia reaching a landmark agreement to open diplomatic relations.
שימו לב: בן סלמאן אומר בריאיון לפוקס כי מתקיים משא ומתן טוב בעניין הנורמליזציה. אומר שזאת יוזמה של ביידן ואומר כי בסעודיה מקווים שזה יגיע למקום שזה יקל על החיים של הפלסטינים. בן סלמאן הכחיש את הדיווחים על הקפאת השיחות: “זה לא נכון”. ד”ש לאילאף
The conservative US network’s interview with the crown prince, widely known as MbS, comes as President Joe Biden’s administration presses ahead with an effort to broker historic ties between the two regional powerhouses, Washington’s top Middle East allies.
The normalization talks are the centerpiece of complex negotiations that also include discussions of US security guarantees and civilian nuclear help that Riyadh has sought, as well as possible Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important. We need to solve that part,” MbS, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, said when asked what it would take to get a normalization agreement. “And we have a good negotiations strategy til now.”
Canadian diplomat is ordered to leave hours after Ottawa expelled Indian diplomat over the killing of a Sikh separatist.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) reads a joint statement as his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau looks on at Hyderabad House in New Delhi [File: Adnan Abidi/Reuters]A senior Canadian diplomat has been ordered to leave India within five days, the Indian foreign ministry said, hours after Ottawa expelled an Indian diplomat in an escalating rift over the killing of a Sikh separatist earlier this year.
New Delhi’s decision reflected its “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The duelling expulsions come as relations between Canada and India are tense. Trade talks have been derailed and Canada just cancelled a trade mission to India that was planned later this year.
Protests by pro-Sikh independence groups in Canada have angered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Ottawa on Monday said it was “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a cultural centre in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.
Nijjar was reportedly organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of this death.
India dismissed the Canadian accusation as “absurd and motivated” and urged it to instead take legal action against anti-Indian elements operating from its soil.
Sikh separatist movement
Last year, the Indian authorities announced a cash reward for information leading to Nijjar’s arrest, accusing him of involvement in an alleged attack on a Hindu priest in India.
The Sikh independence movement, commonly referred to as the Khalistan movement, is banned in India, where officials see it and affiliated groups as a national security threat. But the movement still has some support in northern India, as well as countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, which are home to a sizable Sikh diaspora.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the parliament on Monday he brought up Nijjar’s killing with Modi at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in New Delhi last week. He said he told Modi that any Indian government involvement would be unacceptable and that he asked for cooperation in the investigation.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he said. “In the strongest possible terms, I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter.”
On Tuesday, the MEA released a statement dismissing the allegation and saying Trudeau had made similar allegations to Modi.
“Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement said, referring to the proposed autonomous Sikh homeland.
Smoke rises from the shipyard that was reportedly hit by Ukrainian missile attack in Sevastopol, Crimea, in this still image from video taken September 13, 2023. REUTERS TV via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
Ukraine said on Thursday it attacked two Russian patrol ships and destroyed a sophisticated air defence system in the west of occupied Crimea, ramping up its strikes to challenge Moscow’s dominance in the Black Sea region.
The attacks come a day after Kyiv said it seriously damaged a Russian submarine and landing ship undergoing repairs in a missile strike on a shipyard in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to visit North Korea, stoking U.S. concerns that a revived Moscow-Pyongyang axis could bolster Russia’s military in Ukraine and provide Kim sensitive missile technology.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny ?osmodrome in the Amur Oblast of the Far East Region, Russia, September 13, 2023 in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
The invite was made during a summit in eastern Russia at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and helping North Korea’s satellite programme.
Calling each other “comrades”, the two leaders toasted their friendship on Wednesday with Russian wine after the 70-year-old Putin showed Kim, 39, around Russia’s most modern space launch facility and they held talks alongside their defence ministers.
“At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time,” KCNA said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin “gratefully” accepted the invite and that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would travel to Pyongyang in October. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin has rarely travelled abroad.
For the United States and allies, the burgeoning friendship between Kim and Putin is a concern. Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made.
Both Russia and North Korea have denied those claims, but promised to deepen defence cooperation. During a visit to North Korea in July, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown banned ballistic missiles by Kim.
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday the Biden administration “won’t hesitate” to impose additional sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they conclude any new arms deals.
On Thursday, the top national security officials of the United States, South Korea and Japan discussed the Putin-Kim meeting in a call.
A White House statement said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and counterparts Takeo Akiba of Japan and Cho Tae-yong of South Korea noted that any North Korean arms exports to Russia “would directly violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself voted to adopt.”
South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) said on Thursday North Korea and Russia would “pay a price” if they violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Kim is due on Thursday to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to inspect Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, Putin said.
A report has said that Pakistan has continued to “expand its nuclear arsenal with more warheads” even as its citizens suffer through a cash-strapped economy.
Pakistan continues to expand its nuclear arsenal with more warheads even as the nation’s citizens suffer in a broken economy amid cash woes, reveals a report | Image: X/AP
Despite its dire economic circumstances, cash-strapped Pakistan continues to pursue its ambitions of expanding its nuclear arsenal. A recent research report by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists raises alarms about this development, stating, “Pakistan continues to gradually expand its nuclear arsenal with more warheads, more delivery systems, and a growing fissile material production industry.”
Pakistan, a nation grappling with a severe economic downturn, is facing widespread protests driven by soaring fuel prices and exorbitant power bills. The situation has reached a critical point, with petrol prices reaching an all-time high of PKR 300 per litre, and many cities experiencing prolonged power outages.
Desperate for financial relief, Pakistan sought assistance from China and Gulf nations on multiple occasions. However, in a significant turn of events, Pakistan reluctantly agreed to stringent conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a bailout.
Airplane is seen in front of Chinese and Taiwanese flags in this illustration, August 6, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Taiwan’s defence ministry said it spotted 28 Chinese air force planes in its air defence zone on Wednesday morning, part of what Taipei calls regular harassment by Beijing amid heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
Democratically-governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has complained in recent years of stepped-up Chinese military activities near the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said that beginning at around 6 a.m. (2200 GMT Tuesday), Chinese warplanes, including J-10 fighters, had flown into the southwestern corner of the island’s air defence identification zone, or ADIZ.
Some of the Chinese aircraft crossed the Bashi Channel to carry out drills with the Chinese aircraft carrier the Shandong in the Pacific, the ministry added.
China’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan’s forces monitored the situation, including sending up its own air force planes and activating air defence systems, the ministry added, using the normal phrasing for its response to such Chinese incursions.
A Chinese naval formation led by the Shandong entered the western Pacific for training, Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday.
Japan’s defence ministry later said its Maritime Self-Defense Force had spotted the Shandong and five accompanying Chinese navy vessels, including two frigates and two missile destroyers, around 650 km south (400 miles) off Japan’s southwestern Miyako island on Wednesday morning.
The summit serves as a powerful testament to India’s growing prominence on the global stage, with some experts suggesting that only India could have achieved such a comprehensive consensus.
One of the noteworthy outcomes of the G20 summit was the formal admission of the African Union (AU) into the group, elevating it to the status of a permanent member alongside the European Union.
India pulled off the G20 Summit 2023 with perfection and garnered much praise from diplomats worldwide, who complimented Prime Minister Modi for the country’s impactful presidency. Not only did India facilitate a consensus among the divided bloc, but it also laid the groundwork for deeper future collaboration. The summit serves as a powerful testament to India’s growing prominence on the global stage, with some experts suggesting that only India could have achieved such a comprehensive consensus.
India, known for its positive relations with both Western nations and Russia, judiciously leveraged its unique position for the greater global good. The summit produced a consensus document and addressed various critical issues, including the overhaul of institutions like the World Bank. Here are five key takeaways from the G20 Summit in New Delhi that showcased India’s commending leadership:
Passing the buck! African Union’s formal admission
One of the noteworthy outcomes of the G20 summit was the formal admission of the African Union (AU) into the group, elevating it to the status of a permanent member alongside the European Union. Previously, only South Africa was a member of the G20. This move aimed to enhance the representation of the Global South within the G20, reducing the dominance of G7 countries.
The Global Biofuel Alliance
Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially inaugurated the Global Biofuels Alliance during the G20 Summit in New Delhi. The formation of the GBA has been in progress for a considerable period and holds a central role in India’s G20 presidency agenda. This alliance is designed to promote international collaboration, advance the adoption of sustainable biofuels, foster global biofuels trade, and provide technical support for national biofuel initiatives.
India, the United States, and Brazil took the lead in championing the Global Biofuel Alliance, and it launches with nine founding members, namely, India, the US, Brazil, Argentina, Bangladesh, Italy, Mauritius, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, Canada and Singapore are participating as observer countries. To date, 19 countries and 12 international organizations have expressed their commitment to join the GBA.
Softer Stance on Ukraine Conflict
The G20 nations reached an agreement emphasizing that states should not acquire territory through the use of force. While the suffering of the people of Ukraine was acknowledged, the declaration notably avoided direct criticism of Russia for its role in the conflict. This marked a shift from the G20’s stance in the previous year when it condemned Russia for the war and called for its withdrawal from Ukraine. Diplomats reasoned that an outright condemnation by Russia was unlikely, but the agreement signaled a commitment from all member states to refrain from territorial aggression.
India-Middle East-Europe Corridor
Leaders from the United States, India, and Saudi Arabia announced plans to establish rail and port connections between the Middle East, South Asia, and eventually Europe. This initiative, which also gathered praise from US President Joe Biden, aims to provide an alternative to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure projects and strengthen ties between these regions. However, details about financing and timelines for the project remain undisclosed.
China is Kim and Putin’s biggest trade partner and most powerful political patron, and has influence that could prevent North Korean munitions being used in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un raise glasses in a toast during their meeting in the far-eastern Russian port of Vladivostok in 2019 [File: KCNA via AFP]China is the key to restraining a potential arms deal between Moscow and Pyongyang, an expert on North Korean military and politics has said as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Kim Jong Un appear poised to meet for talks in Russia’s Far East.
Kim arrived onboard his armoured train at the Russian border on Tuesday morning, crossing the frontier at Russia’s Khasan city en route to the meeting where the Russian leader is expected to seek access to stockpiles of North Korean ammunition, which Moscow badly needs to feed its war in Ukraine.
The two leaders find themselves in changed circumstances since they last met in 2019, said Fyodor Tertitskiy, a historian of North Korea and leading researcher at Kookmin University’s Institute for Korean Studies in South Korea’s capital Seoul.
Both leaders have items to trade, advantages to gain and pressures at home that might encourage them to align their strategic interests more closely when they meet in Russia.
However, any agreement will be an “alliance of convenience” and one in which China – being the largest trading partner as well as Moscow and Pyongyang’s most powerful political patron – will tacitly have great influence in deciding the outcome, Tertitskiy said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Khasan, Russia, September 12, 2023, in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency on September 13, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his visit to Russia shows the “strategic importance” of the two countries’ ties, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday ahead of an expected summit with President Vladimir Putin.
The meeting, which could be as early as Wednesday, is being watched apprehensively by Washington and allies, who suspect the two leaders will discuss military cooperation and could agree on a deal to trade arms and defence technology.
Hours ahead of the anticipated summit, North Korea launched at least two ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military and Japan’s coast guard said. Details on the type of missiles were not yet released.
The Japanese government said a second missile was launched and both fell outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Kim arrived in Russia by private train on Tuesday in the Russian Far East accompanied by top defence industry and military aides, and was welcomed by an honour guard and senior Russian and regional officials, KCNA said.
“Kim Jong Un said that his visit to the Russian Federation … is a clear manifestation of the stand of the WPK and the government of the DPRK prioritising the strategic importance of DPRK-Russia relations,” the KCNA report said.
The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, while the WPK is the Workers’ Party of Korea, the country’s ruling party.
U.S. officials have said arms talks between Russia and North Korea were actively advancing, and Washington and allies have expressed concern that Kim and Putin would discuss providing Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine.
The Chinese delegation stayed at Delhi’s Taj Palace hotel where they demanded private internet connection which was declined, a report said.
The Chinese delegates stayed at Taj Palace hotel in New Delhi during the two-day G-20 summit. (Hindustan Times)
The five-star hotel in New Delhi where the Chinese delegation stayed for G-20 found itself flummoxed managing the situation as strange events took place one after another. A report by the Times of India claimed the bags that the delegates carried were of unusual dimensions raising suspicion. The hotel staff were however told to clear them as they belonged to the category of diplomatic baggage, but a staff member reported ‘suspicious equipment’ inside the bag and that started a 12-hour drama, the TOI report said. The Chinese delegates stayed at Delhi’s Taj Palace hotel.
According to the report, the hotel authorities wanted to pass the bag through the scanner to be certain of the content inside, but apparently, the Chinese side resisted that. The Indian security team did not yield to the resistance of the Chinese side. They stood outside the room where the suspicious object was found as the Chinese side deliberated what to do with the bag. After 12 hours, the report said, it was decided that the bag would be sent to the embassy. The equipment remained a mystery as the bag moved to the embassy.
This was not the only strange thing the Chinese delegation did. They demanded a private network refusing the use the hotel’s internet connection. The demand was declined by the hotel.
The United Nations estimates some 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake, with most of the destruction and deaths in the High Atlas Mountains, where homes folded in on themselves and left residents trapped underneath the ruins.
Rescuers are battling to reach remote mountain towns devastated by the earthquake in Morocco, as the number of confirmed deaths from the disaster neared 2,900.
Search teams from the UK, Spain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were joining efforts to help find people buried under debris.
The United Nations estimates some 300,000 people were affected by Friday night’s magnitude 6.8 quake, which was made more dangerous by its relatively shallow depth.
Most of the destruction and deaths were in Al Haouz province in the High Atlas Mountains, where homes folded in on themselves and left residents trapped underneath the ruins.
Much of the quake zone is in hard-to-reach areas and roads have been blocked by rocks, making it hard for rescuers to access the worst-hit locations.
Authorities have not yet issued any estimates for the number of people missing.
The UK has sent a 60-person search team with four dogs, medical staff, listening devices and concrete-cutting gear.
The European Union said it was releasing an initial €1m (£858,000) to non-governmental aid organisations in Morocco.
A search worker stands among rubble in Talat N’yaaqoub, Morocco
Survivors spend three nights sleeping outside
Aftershocks have hit the quake zone, leading those left homeless to spend three nights sleeping on the streets of Marrakech or under makeshift canopies in devastated towns.
Survivors struggling to find shelter and supplies have criticised the government’s response, accusing it of being slow.
The army said it was reinforcing search-and-rescue teams, providing drinking water and distributing food, tents and blankets.
The Biden administration has cleared the way for the release of five American citizens detained in Iran by issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions. In addition, as part of the deal, the administration has agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the United States.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanctions waivers late last week, a month after U.S. and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place. Congress was not informed of the waiver decision until Monday, according to the notification, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
The outlines of the deal had been previously announced and the waiver was expected. But the notification marked the first time the administration said it was releasing five Iranian prisoners as part of the deal. The prisoners have not been named.
The waiver drew criticism of President Joe Biden from Republicans and others who say the deal will boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. troops and Mideast allies.
On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said “it’s ridiculous for US to be blackmailed into paying $6B for hostages which will help indirectly finance the number 1 foreign policy of Iran: terrorism.” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas accused Biden of “paying ransom to the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism.”
Another Iran hawk, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the waivers were a sign the administration was secretly pursuing a broader deal with Iran to include more than the release of the detainees.
“Today’s news confirms there has already been a side deal including a $6 billion ransom and the release of Iranian operatives,” Cruz said in a statement.
The White House pushed back on all criticism of the waiver decision, saying it was only a “procedural step” aimed at fulfilling the tentative agreement reached with Iran in August.
“What is being pursued here is an arrangement wherein we secure the release of 5 wrongfully held Americans,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council. “This remains a sensitive and ongoing process. While this is a step in the process, no individuals have been or will be released into U.S. custody this week.”
The waiver means that European, Middle Eastern and Asian banks will not run afoul of U.S. sanctions in converting the money frozen in South Korea and transferring it to Qatar’s central bank, where it will be held for Iran to use for the purchase of humanitarian goods.
The transfer of the $6 billion was the critical element in the prisoner release deal, which saw four of the five American detainees transferred from Iranian jails into house arrest last month. The fifth detainee had already been under house arrest.
Due to numerous U.S. sanctions on foreign banks that engage in transactions aimed at benefitting Iran, several European countries had balked at participating in the transfer. Blinken’s waiver is aimed at easing their concerns about any risk of U.S. sanctions.
People familiar with negotiations said they expect the detainees will be released as early as next week.
I’ll just follow my orders here. Staff, is there anybody that hasn’t spoken yet? I ain’t calling on you, Joe Biden said during the presser. (Reuters file)
While addressing media in Vietnam following the G20 Summit, US President Joe Biden, in response to a question about why he hasn’t spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping, joked, “I tell you what, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go to bed.”
China and Russia’s respective presidents, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin did not attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
“I’ll just follow my orders here. Staff, is there anybody that hasn’t spoken yet? I ain’t calling on you,” Joe Biden said during the presser.
Biden also noted he does not want to “contain” China, as the two powers face deepening divisions on trade, security and rights.
The US President said he had met Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in New Delhi and discussed “stability”. The meeting, however, was not announced by the White House.
“One of the things that are going on now is China is beginning to change some of the rules of the game, in terms of trade and other issues,” Biden stated.
Kim Jong Un left Pyongyang on Sunday afternoon for Russia via his private train, state media KCNA reports; declassified intelligence shows that Russia targeted a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles last month, Rishi Sunak has revealed.
Pic: @primamedia via AP
Possible sighting of Kim Jong Un’s train in Russian Far East
A picture has emerged of a train resembling one previously used by Kim Jong Un travelling through Russia.
The screenshot, from a video released by Russian Telegram channel Prima Media, shows a green train with yellow trimmings steaming near Khasan, some 127 km (79 miles) south of Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
G20 Summit in Delhi hailed as a success by US (AP)
G20 Leaders’ Summit wrapped up with enthusiasm in Delhi under India’s presidency, the United States lauded it as an ‘absolute success.’
In a briefing on September 11, the US State Department’s official spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told reporters, “We absolutely believe it was a success. The G20 is a big organisation. Russia is a member of the G20. China is a member of the G20.”
The “use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible,” the G20 nations stated on September 9 in a New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration in the context of the Ukraine war.
The New Delhi Declaration reaffirmed that the G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation, and the member countries acknowledged that the G20 is not the platform for geopolitical and security issues, although these issues can have consequences for the global economy.
The G20 member countries called on all nations to respect core principles of international law. These principles include upholding territorial integrity, sovereignty, following international humanitarian laws, and supporting the multilateral system that helps maintain global peace and stability.
Abhay Thakur, Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur, Eenam Gambhi, and Ashish Sinha from the Ministry of External Affairs played pivotal roles in bringing the world leaders on the same page at G20. These diplomats faced a daunting challenge, enduring 200 hours of gruelling negotiations, resulting in the G20 Delhi Declaration.
4 Diplomats, 200 Hours Of Non-Stop Negotiations And Historic G20 Delhi Declaration
India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant, commends the tireless efforts of four dedicated diplomats who spearheaded the monumental task of securing 100% consensus among global leaders. These diplomats faced a daunting challenge, enduring 200 hours of gruelling negotiations, resulting in the G20 Delhi Declaration.
Behind closed doors, the Indian diplomatic team engaged in 300 bilateral meetings and circulated 15 draft proposals concerning the Ukraine conflict, a contentious issue among world leaders. The unwavering dedication of Indian foreign service diplomats bore fruit as consensus was achieved. Abhay Thakur, Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur, Eenam Gambhi, and Ashish Sinha from the Ministry of External Affairs played pivotal roles in bringing the world leaders on the same page at G20.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he held his highest level talks with Chinese leadership in months, adding that Beijing’s economic wobbles would not lead it to invade Taiwan.
Biden said he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s No.2, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, at the annual G20 summit in New Delhi. The talks were the highest level meeting between the two powers in nearly 10 months since Biden and Xi spoke at last year’s G20 in Indonesia.
U.S. President Joe Biden attends Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment event on the day of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, September 9, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Acquire Licensing Rights
Li, who took became premier in March, attended the gathering of world leaders in place of Xi. The two leaders were not expected to hold talks at the G20 but unscripted encounters at summits are common.
“My team, my staff still meets with President Xi’s people and his cabinet,” Biden told reporters. “I met with his No.2 person in India today.”
He added: “We talked about stability,” and the Southern Hemisphere. “It wasn’t confrontational at all.”
The White House on Sunday said Biden had met with a Chinese leader at the summit.
The two super powers have been trying to thaw frosty relations this year after a spat over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over U.S. territory, while fears of an economic slowdown have gripped Beijing.
Speaking at a press conference in Vietnam, Biden touted the U.S. economy as the “strongest” globally. He told reporters that China’s growth was slowing due to a weak global economy as well as Chinese policies but did not specify which policies.
Biden called China’s economic situation a “crisis,” citing issues in the real estate sector and high youth unemployment.
“One of the major economic tenets of his plan isn’t working at all right now,” Biden said of Xi, without elaborating. “I’m not happy for that, but it’s not working.”
Biden added: “He has his hands full right now.”
The Democratic president is headed into a 2024 re-election campaign where his own handling of the economy and inflation has become a central concern for voters.
The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annualised rate last quarter. Central bankers have sharply raised interest rates to bring inflation back down to target levels.
Rishi Sunak met China’s premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit after two men were arrested amid reports a parliamentary researcher spied for China. Mr Sunak said interference in UK parliamentary democracy was “obviously unacceptable”.
Rishi Sunak has confronted China’s premier about Chinese interference in the UK’s parliamentary democracy.
It comes after two men were arrested under the Official Secrets Act amid reports a parliamentary researcher spied for China.
The researcher, who is in his 20s, is understood to have had links to security minister Tom Tugendhat, foreign affairs committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns and other senior Tory MPs.
Mr Sunak met Chinese premier Li Qiang, who is attending the G20 summit in India in place of President Xi Jinping, on the fringes of the gathering’s final session on Sunday morning.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Sunak said he raised his “very strong concern” about interference with parliamentary democracy, which he said was “obviously unacceptable”.
It was the “right approach” to talk face-to-face with China’s premier, he said.
“Where there are areas of disagreement… I’d rather be in the room directly expressing my concerns, and that’s what I did today.”
The arrests were made in March and first revealed by The Sunday Times.
Mr Sunak has been clear China is an “epoch-defining” challenge, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
He defended security in parliament, saying a “rigorous approach is taken” in terms of who is given a parliamentary pass.
Asked if there are weaknesses in the security system that need addressing, he said: “I don’t think you should rule anything out.”
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, which oversees espionage-related offences, are investigating.
Mr Chalk said the investigation must “play through” and police and security services are taking this “seriously”.
“Whatever lessons need to be learned by the parliamentary authorities I’m sure will be learned,” he said.
Shoeless Joe dons slippers and a scarf to pay tribute to Gandhi as he wraps up G20 India trip: Summit addressed Ukraine war but didn’t slap Russia, while Biden shook hands with Saudi Crown Prince MBS
• President Joe Biden paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi Sunday in New Delhi, opting to walk to the Raj Ghat memorial in slippers as opposed to bare feet
• It was his last piece of official business at the G20
• He’s headed to Vietnam next
President Joe Biden opted for slippers while other leaders went barefoot to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi Sunday morning at the Raj Ghat memorial in New Delhi – his last official piece of business at the G20.
Biden got out of the Beast and gabbed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who presented the U.S. president with a matching scarf.
The president and the other world leaders then took their positions at wreaths on the perimeter of a yellow and orange square floral display that surrounded the eternal flame.
Biden was captured animatedly chatting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before all the leaders participated in a moment of silence.
Biden will head to Vietnam for meetings and a press conference later Sunday.
This year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit produced a joint declaration that included wording on the Ukraine war that even Russia, another G20 member, signed off on.
That’s because it does’t specifically label Russia as an aggressor, though it does say that the ‘use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.’
On Saturday, the G20 also officially welcomed the African Union to the table, with Modi making the announcement at the top of the meeting.
Additionally, the U.S. and leaders of India, Europe, and the Middle East announced a project that would establish rail, shipping, and tech corridors meant to link regional economies with the prospect of bringing more stability to the turbulent Middle East.
That announcement brought Biden face-to-face with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after the White House played coy about whether the two leaders would have an official bilateral meeting at the G20.
The U.S. and Saudi are working toward a so-called ‘mega-deal’ that could lead to Saudi and Israel normalizing relations.
It would be a historic breakthrough for Mideast peace.
Earlier in the day, Rishi Sunak visited the Akshardham Temple in Delhi with his wife Akshata Murty and offered prayers.
A user shared the photo and called it “lovely” and “adorable”.
New Delhi: A picture of Rishi Sunak, down on one knee, speaking to his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi is getting a lot of attention on the internet.
The picture, in internet speak, is viral.
A user on X, formerly twitter, shared the photo and captioned it, “Big man don’t have ego! Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of UK sat down on the floor to match the comfort – in a tetatete with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. #G20”
Big man don't have ego! Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of UK sat down on the floor to match the comfort – in a tetatete with with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. #G20pic.twitter.com/6oAbzuskbd
Brazilian president says Russian leader will be invited to the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, left, shakes hands with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, on May 14, 2010 [File: Alexei Druzhinin/Ria Novosti via Reuters]Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not be arrested in Brazil if he attends the Group of 20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Lula, speaking to the Firstpost news show at the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Delhi on Saturday, said Putin would be invited to next year’s event.
He added that he himself planned to attend a BRICS bloc of developing nations meeting due in Russia before the Rio meeting.
“I believe that Putin can go easily to Brazil,” Lula said. “What I can say to you is that if I’m president of Brazil, and he comes to Brazil, there’s no way he will be arrested.”
The statement comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Russia has denied its forces have engaged in war crimes or forcibly taken Ukrainian children.
Putin has repeatedly skipped international gatherings and was not present at the G20 get-together in Delhi, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Brazil is a signatory to the Rome Statute which led to the founding of the ICC.
Lula’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Saturday, the G20 nations adopted a consensus declaration that avoided condemning Russia for the war in Ukraine but called on all states not to use force to grab territory.
The consensus came as a surprise as the G20 is deeply divided over the war in Ukraine, with Western nations earlier pushing for strong condemnation of Russia in the Leaders’ Declaration, while others demanded a focus on broader economic issues.
Italy PM Meloni told the Chinese Premier that Italy plans to withdraw from Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative
Italian PM Meloni spoke to the Chinese premier during the G20 summit in Delhi
Giorgia Meloni privately signalled to Chinese Premier Li Qiang that Italy is planning to exit from an investment pact that has become a test of her nation’s relations with the US.
During a meeting on Saturday on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in India, Meloni told Li that Italy plans to withdraw from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative while still looking to maintain friendly relations with Beijing, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named. Italy officially signed up for the pact in 2019.
The Italian prime minister has been taking her time before deciding how to communicate her government’s decision to exit from the global infrastructure pact, fearing trade retaliation.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday secured deals with Vietnam on semiconductors and minerals as the strategic Southeast Asian nation lifted Washington to Hanoi’s highest diplomatic status alongside China and Russia.
The U.S. has been pushing for the upgrade for months as it sees the manufacturing dynamo as a key country in its strategy to secure global supply chains from China-related risks.
A half-century after a lengthy and brutal Cold War-era conflict, Biden arrived in Hanoi to a ceremony organised by the ruling Communist Party that included school children waving American flags and honour guards carrying bayoneted rifles.
Biden noted the strides that had been taken toward improved ties.
“We can trace a 50-year arc of progress between our nations, from conflict to normalization, to this new elevated status,” he said.
The partnership with Vietnam is part of the Biden administration’s push “to demonstrate to our our Indo-Pacific partners and to the world, the United States is a Pacific nation and we’re not going anywhere,” Biden told reporters after the meeting in Hanoi.
Turkish President Erdogan supports India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and proposes a rotational membership system.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (HT Photo)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backed India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and proposed a ‘rotational’ membership mechanism. Addressing the media after the G20 Summit on Sunday, the senior politician noted that the world was ‘larger than five’. The remarks came mere hours after US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for a reformed UNSC with India as a permanent member.
“A country like India being there on the UN Security Council, we would be proud. But as you now, the world is bigger than larger than five. And when we say the world is larger than five, what we mean is that it’s not only about the US, UK, France, China and Russia…What we say is all of them, we should only have permanent members,” Erdogan said.
He also called for a ‘rotational system’ that would see all 195 member countries potentially becoming a member.
New Delhi Declaration drops references to Ukraine war, which was a sticking point for China and Russia
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hand with Chinese Premier Li Qiang upon his arrival at Bharat Mandapam convention centre for the G-20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9, 2023. | Photo Credit: AP
China, which had strongly opposed in the negotiations leading up to the G-20 Summit any direct references to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, finally backed the New Delhi Declaration and reaffirmed its recent calls for the grouping to stay away from “geopolitics”.
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk gets in a Tesla car as he leaves a hotel in Beijing, China May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Elon Musk said he refused a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink satellite network in Crimea’s port city of Sevastopol last year to aid an attack on Russia’s fleet there, saying he feared complicity in a “major” act of war.
The billionaire businessman made the comment on his social media platform X after CNN cited a excerpt from a new biography of Musk that says he ordered the Starlink network turned off near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt the Ukrainian sneak attack.
In the post on X – formerly known as Twitter – late on Thursday, Musk said he had no choice but to reject an emergency request from Ukraine “to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol.” He did not give the date of the request and the excerpt did not specify it.
“The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor,” Musk wrote. “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
Russia, which seized the strategic Crimea peninsula in 2014, bases its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol and has used the fleet in a de factor blockade of Ukrainian ports since its full-scale invasion in 2022.
The Russian fleet fires cruise missiles at Ukrainian civilian targets, and Kyiv has launched attacks on Russian ships using maritime drones.
According to CNN, Walter Isaacson’s new biography “Elon Musk,” to be released by Simon & Schuster on Tuesday, says that when Ukrainian explosive-laden submarine drones last year approached the Russian fleet, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly.”
It said Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites back on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack with nuclear weapons.
CNN said that according to the biography, this was based on Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials and his fears of a “mini-Pearl Harbor.”
In August, a Russian warship was seriously damaged in a Ukrainian naval drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea navy base at Novorossiysk, the first time the Ukrainian navy has projected its power so far from the country’s shores.
SpaceX, through private donations and under a separate contract with a U.S. foreign aid agency, has been providing Ukrainians and the country’s military with Starlink internet service, a fast-growing network of more than 4,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, since the beginning of the war in 2022.
Musk posted on X that agreeing to Kyiv’s “emergency request” to activate Starlink “all the way to Sevastopol”, would have meant SpaceX would be “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation”.
Elon Musk. Pic: AP
Elon Musk has sparked a backlash as he admitted his Starlink satellite communications network was not activated near the Crimean coast – effectively thwarting a sneak attack by Ukrainian forces on Russian ships.
Ukrainian officials have reacted furiously to claims in a new biography of the tech billionaire which reportedly says the secret order meant Ukrainian submarine drones strapped with explosives “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” as they approached the Russian fleet last year.
An aide to Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, responded to the claims and said the decision effectively allowed the Russian warships “to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities”.
“Sometimes a mistake is much more than just a mistake,” Mr Podolyak wrote.
The source was CNN referencing Walter Isaacson's biography.
Thank you for clarifying the facts, and glad to see Starlink was not activated in such a contentious territory.
But for Musk, the decision to not activate the service was a way of keeping Starlink out of the conflict and avoiding catastrophe.
Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter, overnight, that agreeing to Kyiv’s “emergency request” to activate Starlink “all the way to Sevastopol”, would have meant SpaceX would be “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation”.
“The Starlink regions in question were not activated. SpaceX did not deactivate anything,” he said.
“Both sides should agree to a truce. Every day that passes, more Ukrainian and Russian youth die to gain and lose small pieces of land, with borders barely changing. This is not worth their lives.”
It comes following excerpts published by CNN, from Walter Isaacson’s soon-to-be-released biography of Musk, in which the billionaire is said to believe Starlink “was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes”.”
And that Musk wanted to avoid what he called “a mini-Pearl Harbour”.
After Russia disrupted Ukraine’s communications systems just before its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Musk agreed to provide Ukraine with millions of dollars of SpaceX-made Starlink satellite terminals, which became crucial to Ukraine’s military operations.
A record stock-market valuation and surging foreign inflows make for a great backdrop as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks to tout India’s growing prominence to world leaders at this weekend’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi.
looks to tout India’s growing prominence to world leaders at this weekend’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi.
Boosted by one of the world’s fastest growing economies, solid corporate earnings and an unprecedented retail investing boom, the nation’s equity benchmark is also approaching an all-time high.
His first visit to the country as prime minister is being described as an “historic moment” – but a post-Brexit trade deal with the country is still some way off.
Rishi Sunak will urge Narendra Modi to use his influence to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine, as he embarks on his first visit to India as the UK’s premier.
The British prime minister will be meeting his Indian counterpart for one-to-one talks at the G20 summit, which he hopes will also smooth the way for a post-Brexit trade deal in the coming months.
But Downing Street has made clear there will be no changes to UK immigration policy as part of the deal – although short-term business visas will be up for discussion.
The Russian invasion – which India has refused to condemn – threatens to overshadow the summit of the world’s wealthiest countries, which is being hosted in New Delhi for the first time.
As Mr Sunak set off for the trip, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “We will use every opportunity to show our support for Ukraine and further foster global support as well.
“India has a vital role to play as the world’s largest democracy in calling out Russia’s assault on human rights and indeed democracy itself.
“We will use meetings with Modi or elsewhere to encourage them to use that influence to bring an end to Putin’s brutal invasion.”
Trade deal
Hopes of securing a trade deal between the UK and India during this trip – which would be the biggest agreement post-Brexit – have faded, but there are hopes of a later breakthrough.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson had promised a deal would be done by Diwali of 2022, but the autumn festival came and went, and significant issues in the negotiations remained.
However, government insiders are cautiously optimistic that the talks, now in their 12th round, are nearing the end, and a deal could be done later this year, with political will on both sides.
Mr Sunak is understood to be planning a second trip to India towards the end of the year. His spokesman said they did not have a firm deadline but it was expected the free trade agreement will be discussed with Mr Modi at this summit.
“The prime minister is committed to concluding an FTA [Free Trade Agreement] with India, which delivers for the British people, and this focus on delivering will run through all his engagement at the G20,” the spokesman said.
Among those sticking points is understood to be the issue of visas, with India said to be seeking assurances on student and business visas.
Days ahead of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi made a brief visit to Indonesia to attend the India-Asean Summit and East Asia Summit.
PM Modi received a ceremonial welcome at the Jakarta International Airport with traditional Indonesian dance. (Narendra Modi/Twitter)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a warm welcome from the Indian diaspora upon reaching Indonesia’s Jakarta early on Thursday morning for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-India summit.
As per a video posted by news agency PTI, Modi met the diaspora members who received the Prime Minister with flowers and Indian flags. The PM was also seen briefly interacting with several people of the Indian diaspora in Jakarta. He was also seen fixing one of the children’s headgear. Diaspora members also clicked selfies with Modi.
Days ahead of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi made a brief visit to Indonesia to attend the India-Asean Summit and East Asia Summit.
PM Modi received a ceremonial welcome at the Jakarta International Airport with traditional Indonesian dance.
“He (PM Modi) is such a big leader but he is so down to earth, he shook hands with all of us and gave time to each one of us”, a member of Indian diaspora told news agency ANI.
Upon reaching Jakarta, Modi tweeted in Indonesian, “Landed in Jakarta. Looking forward to ASEAN related meetings and working with various leaders for a better planet.”
Modi left for Indonesia on Wednesday night and will be returning to New Delhi late in the evening on Thursday. Indonesia, the current chair of Asean summit, made several adjustments to the schedule for both its summits to facilitate Modi’s early return.
Ukraine has made important progress in its counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday during a visit overshadowed by a Russian attack that killed at least 17 people.
Police officers and rescuers carry the body of a person killed by a Russian military strike in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, September 6, 2023. Press service of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack, which hit a crowded market in the eastern front-line town of Kostiantynivka, which is close to the devastated city of Bakhmut. He said a child was among the dead, and officials said at least 32 people were hurt.
“This Russian evil must be defeated as soon as possible,” Zelenskiy said, describing it as a deliberate attack on a “peaceful city”. Aides posted video footage showing an explosion after what sounded like a missile approaching, and people scurrying for cover or falling to the ground.
Russia did not immediately comment on the attack, and has denied deliberately targeting civilians in its more than 18-month-old invasion, which has shattered towns and cities and killed thousands of civilians.
Blinken, the first top U.S. official to visit Kyiv since the counteroffensive began in early June, announced a new package of U.S. wartime assistance worth more than $1 billion, including support for Ukraine’s air defences.
“In the ongoing counteroffensive, progress has accelerated in the past few weeks. This new assistance will help sustain it and build further momentum,” Blinken told reporters at a news conference with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Blinken earlier described the progress as important and “very, very encouraging”.
U.S. media reports have cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying the Ukrainian counteroffensive has been too slow and hindered by poor tactics – criticism that angered Ukrainian officials and prompted Kuleba to tell critics to “shut up”.
Ukraine has retaken more than a dozen villages and small settlements in its offensive. But its push into Russian-held territory has been slowed by minefields and trenches.
U.S. officials have not publicly criticised Ukraine’s military tactics, and last week said they had seen progress in the southeast.
The new U.S. aid would include HIMARS missile launch systems, Javelin antitank weapons, Abrams tanks and other weapons systems, White House press secretary Larine Jean-Pierre said. The Pentagon said it would also send depleted uranium ammunition.
Asked about Blinken’s visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peso said Moscow believed Washington planned to continue funding Ukraine’s military “to wage this war to the last Ukrainian”.
He said U.S. aid to Kyiv would not affect the course of what he called Russia’s special military operation.
LONG-RANGE MISSILES
Ukraine’s Kuleba said he and Blinken had discussed the U.S. providing ATACMS long-range missiles and he hoped for a positive decision, adding that arming Ukraine was protecting the world from Moscow’s aggression.
The European Union condemned the Russian attack on the market in Kostiantynivka – which took place on the second day of Blinken’s visit to Kyiv – calling it “heinous and barbaric” and said those behind it would be held to account.
When the shells hit, pharmacy employee Diana Khodak saw a flash and shouted to colleagues to lie on the floor. “I heard things falling over, then everything was covered in smoke and fire started,” she said.
Two injured women were brought to the pharmacy, one carried by a soldier. She had a bone protruding from an open leg fracture. “She was very pale. She remained conscious but in shock while she was given first aid,” Khodak told Reuters.
Insiders say that Russian despot Vladimir Putin is desperately hoping a change of power in the White House could lead to the US pulling support for the war in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin is pinning his hopes on a Trump election victory next year followed by the US lowering support for Ukraine , western officials believe.
The Kremlin believes that if Donald Trump regains the White House he could dump US backing for Kyiv and weaken resolve against Russia ’s invasion. Even though Russia has been hit by a string of military losses, culminating in a slow withdrawal from Ukraine, it will be the biggest and possibly most deluded gamble of Putin’s war.
On Wednesday western officials confirmed that Ukraine’s counter-offensive was slower than had been hoped but said, even so, that Russian troops were being driven back. One official said: “I think that it’s slower progress than we would have anticipated a couple of months ago. That’s not a criticism of Ukraine.
For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US .
Officials say Putin is hoping for a Trump win in the next election ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“If we obsess about how many hundreds of metres Ukraine has achieved today that becomes a metric for what is a substantial war that challenges euro-Atlantic security.
“One that has been a catastrophic failure for Russia because it has failed on all of its broader strategic objectives and military objectives. NATO is much stronger, Ukraine has got a bright future.
Vladimir Putin with Yevgeny Prigozhin before the head of the Wagner paramilitary group died in a plane crash ( Image: SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
“Putin thinks he has time. I think if you’re Putin you are basically gambling that Donald Trump wins the next election. But that is a long way away.”
The official added that Russia slowing down Ukraine’s advance does not point towards a major problem for Ukraine and its western allies. And he highlighted the fact that a recent Wagner Group attempt by leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to launch an uprising indicated a failing Russia.
Arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing, a U.S. official said on Tuesday and warned leader Kim Jong Un that his country would pay a price for supplying Russia with weapons to use in Ukraine.
Providing weapons to Russia “is not going to reflect well on North Korea and they will pay a price for this in the international community,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House.
The Kremlin said earlier on Tuesday it had “nothing to say” about statements by U.S. officials that Kim planned to travel to Russia this month to meet President Vladimir Putin and discuss weapons supplies to Moscow.
Kim expects discussions about weapons to continue, Sullivan said, including at leader level and “perhaps even in person”.
“We have continued to squeeze Russia’s defense industrial base,” Sullivan said, and Moscow is now “looking to whatever source they can find” for goods like ammunition.
“We will continue to call on North Korea to abide by its public commitments not to supply weapons to Russia that will end up killing Ukrainians,” Sullivan said.
On Monday, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Kim and Putin could be planning to meet, and the New York Times cited unnamed U.S. and allied officials as saying Kim plans to travel to Russia as soon as next week to meet Putin.
Asked if he could confirm the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, I can’t. There’s nothing to say.”
As Russia’s isolation over its war in Ukraine has grown, it has seen increasing value in North Korea, according to political analysts. For North Korea’s part, relations with Russia have not always been as warm as they were at the height of the Soviet Union, but now the country is reaping clear benefits from Moscow’s need for friends.
MOSCOW-PYONGYANG DEFENSE COOPERATION
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, April 25, 2019. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
A North Korean defense ministry official in November said Pyongyang has “never had ‘arms dealings’ with Russia” and has “no plan to do so in the future.”
Moscow and Pyongyang have promised to boost defense cooperation.
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who visited Pyongyang in July to attend weapons displays that included North Korea’s banned ballistic missiles, said on Monday the two countries are discussing the possibility of joint military exercises.
“Just as you can tell a person by their friends, you can tell a country by the company it keeps,” said Keir Giles, Senior Consulting Fellow with Chatham House’s Russia & Eurasia Programme. “In Russia’s case, that company now consists largely of fellow rogue states.”
The trip would be Kim’s first visit abroad in more than four years and the first since the coronavirus pandemic.
While he made more trips abroad than his father as leader, Kim’s travel is often shrouded in secrecy and heavy security. Unlike his father who was said to be averse to flying, Kim has flown his personal Russian-made jet for some of his trips but U.S. officials told the New York Times that he may take an armored train across the land border North Korea shares with Russia.
File Photo: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron speak during a meeting of the European Political Community at Mimi Castle in Bulboaca, Moldova June 1, 2023. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters Photo
Like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, President Emmanuel Macron of France too has spoken to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine over the phone – days before travelling to New Delhi to attend the G20 summit, which has come under the long shadow of Russia’s military aggression against the East European nation.
Zelenskyy posted on a social media platform that he and Macron had a phone call on Sunday and discussed France’s military support for Ukraine. Macron also promised Zelenskyy that France would play an active role in promoting the peace formula proposed by Ukraine to end Russia’s war.
Macron will travel to New Delhi this week to attend the G20 summit, which will be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is the third G20 leader to dial Zelenskyy just before attending the summit of the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently had phone calls with the president of Ukraine.
Apart from the heads of states and heads of governments of the 19 G20 nations and the European Union, India has also invited the leaders of nine other nations to the summit.
The Modi government, however, resisted pressure from the West and did not include the president of Ukraine in the list of “special invitees”, ostensibly to avoid annoying Russia, which shares a “special and privileged strategic partnership” with India.
Zelenskyy had addressed the G20 leaders through video-link during the intergovernmental forum’s 17th summit, which had been held at Bali in Indonesia in November of 2022. He had presented his peace formula during his address to the summit, which Russian President Vladimir Putin had not attended.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said after talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday that it would soon be possible to revive the grain deal that the United Nations says helped to ease a food crisis by getting Ukrainian grain to market.
Russia quit the deal in July – a year after it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey – complaining that its own food and fertiliser exports faced serious obstacles.
Erdogan, who previously played a significant role in convincing Putin to stick with the deal, and the United Nations are both trying to get Putin to return to the deal.
“As Turkey, we believe that we will reach a solution that will meet the expectations in a short time,” Erdogan said in the Black Sea resort of Sochi after his first face to face meeting with Putin since 2022.
Erdogan said that Russia’s expectations were well-known to all and that the shortcomings should be eliminated, adding that Turkey and the United Nations had worked on a new package of suggestions to ease Russian concerns.
Erdogan said Ukraine should soften its negotiating position against Russia in talks over reviving the deal and export more grain to Africa rather than Europe.
“Ukraine needs to especially soften its approaches in order for it to be possible for joint steps to be taken with Russia,” he told reporters.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, speaking later on Ukrainian television, said Kyiv would not alter its stand, but would take note of Turkey’s account of the Sochi talks.
“We should not continue to be hostages to Russian blackmail, where Russia creates problems and then invites everyone to solve them,” Kuleba said.
“It is clear that we will stand in defence of all principled positions, especially regarding sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation.”
Standing beside Erdogan, Putin restated Russia’s position that it could return to the deal but only if the West stopped restricting Russian agricultural exports from reaching global markets. A separate memorandum agreed with the United Nations calls for conditions to facilitate Russia’s food and fertiliser exports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting in Sochi, Russia, September 4, 2023. Sputnik/Sergei Guneev/Pool via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
REVIVING THE GRAIN DEAL
“We will be ready to consider the possibility of reviving the grain deal and I told Mr President about this again today – we will do this as soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products are fully implemented,” Putin said.
He said Western claims that Russia had stoked a food crisis by suspending participation in the grain deal were incorrect as prices did not rise on its exit from the deal.
“There is no physical shortage of food,” Putin said.
While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia exported record amounts of wheat last year, Moscow and agricultural exporters say restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have hindered shipments.
“The West continues to block the supply of grain and fertilisers from the Russian Federation to world markets,” Putin said, adding that the West had “cheated” Russia over the deal because rich countries got more than 70% of the grain exported under the deal.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s key agricultural producers, and major players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets.
Putin said Russia expected a grain harvest of 130 million tonnes this year of which 60 million tonnes could be exported.
The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations underscored that the situation in Manipur was peaceful and stable and the Indian government was committed to taking requisite steps to maintain peace and stability.
A candle march to pay tribute to those killed in Manipur violence. Credit: PTI File Photo
India has strongly rejected comments by UN experts on Manipur, terming them “unwarranted, presumptive and misleading” and asserting that situation in the Northeast state is peaceful.
In the note verbale issued on Monday to the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Indian mission underscored that the situation in Manipur was peaceful and stable and the Indian government was committed to taking requisite steps to maintain peace and stability.
“The Government is also committed to protecting the human rights of the people of India, including the people of Manipur,” it said.
“The Permanent Mission of India completely rejects the news release as it is not only unwarranted, presumptive and misleading but also betrays a complete lack of understanding on the situation in Manipur and the steps taken by Government of India to address it,” said the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva.
North Korea has previously denied having any “arms dealings” with Russia, however, the US has imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between the two countries.
Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, pictured together in 2019
Kim Jong Un could travel to Russia to meet president Vladimir Putin, according to a US official.
The North Korean leader could make the trip as early as this month, according to the unnamed source, with the port city of Vladivostok, near to the border between the two countries, believed to be a possible meeting point.
It comes as the US claims the Kremlin is attempting to acquire military equipment for its war in Ukraine.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Monday that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu had travelled to North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang last month.
It is believed Mr Shoigu attempted to persuade North Korea – one of the most militarised countries in the world – to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.
Ms Watson said: “We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia.”
She added that the US is urging North Korea “to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia”.
It comes after Mr Shoigu also said on Monday that Russia and North Korea may hold joint war games.
“Why not, these are our neighbours,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Mr Shoigu as saying.
“There’s an old Russian saying: ‘You don’t choose your neighbours, and it’s better to live with your neighbours in peace and harmony’.”
When asked about the possibility of joint exercises between the two countries, he said they were “of course” being discussed, the agency said.
North Korea has previously denied having any “arms dealings” with Russia, however, the US has imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between the two countries.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he plans to replace the current defence minister with Rustem Umerov; two people are injured after Russia launched a drone attack on the Odesa region; Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev says efforts are under way to beef up army.
Sacked defence minister could be next UK ambassador
With rumours circulating that Oleksii Reznikov could be tipped as the next ambassador to the UK, his association with the war effort may not be over, said international correspondent John Sparks.
But the end of his career in the defence ministry has not been a “complete surprise” to people in Ukraine, given his department’s association with corruption allegations, he said.
Though he has not been implicated personally, accusations of the ministry have included weapon systems not turning up at the department, and overpayments for eggs and winter coats.
“There is talk in Kyiv that perhaps he might become the next ambassador to the UK,” said Sparks.
“This well known face will still be associated with the war effort but his career as minister of defence is now over.”
Nonetheless, Mr Reznikov has received plaudits for negotiating billions of dollars worth of Western equipment and overseeing the transition of the army from a “post-Soviet” organisation to something “far more dynamic and non-hierarchical”, Sparks said.
A key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, the Kerch Bridge has come under repeated attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion
A picture taken from a video shows an explosion near Bakhmut. Twitter
Russia’s defence ministry said early on Saturday that its forces destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones being used in an attempt to attack a key bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea, forcing its temporary closure for a third time in less than a year.
One naval drone was destroyed late on Friday and two others early on Saturday morning, according to Russia’s defence ministry. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.
A key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, the Kerch Bridge has come under repeated attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
An explosion in October, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, left three people dead. A further attack on the bridge in July, killing a couple and seriously wounding their daughter, left a span of the roadway hanging perilously.
Experts are seeing Italy’s exit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a major jolt for China’s ambitions to extend its infrastructural capabilities to Western Europe and also see it as a major embarrassment for President Xi Jinping, especially at a time when the initiative has turned 10 years old.
Notably, Italy was the only one among the G7 industrial economies that became part of China’s BRI. (Image Credits: Reuters/TOI)
Hours before landing in Beijing, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Saturday that trade between Italy and China has not improved as expected since Rome joined Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) four years ago. Speculation has been going around that the Italians are not happy about the future prospects of the deal.
Reaffirming this, Tajani remarked, “The Silk Road did not bring the results we expected,” at the European House Ambrosetti economic forum shortly before leaving on a trip to China. Experts are seeing Tajani’s remarks as Italians slowly distancing themselves from the Chinese’s BRI ambitions.
Notably, Italy was the first major country in Western Europe and the only one among the G7 industrial economies that became part of China’s BRI. “We will have to evaluate, and the parliament will have to decide whether or not to renew our participation,” said the Foreign Minister, while the chances of Italy renewing the BRI deal with China are highly skimmed, reported news agency Reuters.
U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they meet on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia, November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he was disappointed that Chinese President Xi Jinping was not attending the summit of G20 leaders in India, but added that he was going to “get to see him.”
“I am disappointed … but I am going to get to see him,” Biden told reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, without elaborating.
Biden will visit India from Sept. 7-10 for a summit of the Group of 20 nations, followed by a trip to Vietnam as his administration seeks to strengthen U.S. relations in Asia.
Xi is likely to skip the summit and Chinese Premier Li Qiang is expected to represent Beijing at the meeting in New Delhi, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
Asked if he was looking forward to his trip, Biden said, “Yes, I am.”
“I want a little more … coordination. I think they both (India and Vietnam) want much closer relations with the United States and that can be very helpful,” Biden said.
Protesters rally outside a French military base, calling for the ambassador and about 1,500 soldiers to leave.
A protester holds a t-shirt reading ‘France Must Go’ as supporters of Niger’s military rulers demand withdrawal of French army. [AFP]Thousands of people have rallied in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, demanding that France withdraw its ambassador and troops from the West African country as its new military rulers have accused the former colonial power of “interference”.
The protesters gathered near a military base housing French soldiers on Saturday after a call by several civic organisations hostile to the French military presence. They held up banners proclaiming, “French army, leave our country.”
Niger’s military government, which seized power on July 26, has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of using divisive rhetoric in his comments about the coup and seeking to impose a neocolonial relationship with its former colony.
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Niamey, said demonstrators expressing frustration about there still being French presence in the country were beginning to take matters into their own hands.
According to security personnel, the protest was scheduled to begin about 3pm (14:00 GMT) but thousands of demonstrators had already gathered by 10am (09:00 GMT), taking police and security forces by surprise.
Russia’s diplomats were once a key part of President Putin’s foreign policy strategy. But that has all changed.
In the years leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, diplomats lost their authority, their role reduced to echoing the Kremlin’s aggressive rhetoric.
BBC Russian asks former diplomats, as well as ex-Kremlin and White House insiders, how Russian diplomacy broke down.
In October 2021, US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland went to a meeting at the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow. The man across the table was Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who Ms Nuland had known for decades and always got along with.
Mr Rybakov’s American counterparts saw him as a practical, calm negotiator – someone they could talk to even as the two countries’ relationship frayed.
This time, things were different.
Mr Ryabkov read Moscow’s official position from a piece of paper and resisted Ms Nuland’s attempts to start a discussion. Ms Nuland was shocked, according to two people who discussed the incident with her.
She described Mr Ryabkov and one of his colleagues as “robots with papers”, the people said (the State Department declined to comment on the incident).
And outside the negotiating room, Russian diplomats were using increasingly undiplomatic language.
American diplomat Victoria Nuland was said to be shocked by Russian diplomats who were “talking like robots”
“We spit on Western sanctions.”
“Let me speak. Otherwise, you will really hear what Russian Grad missiles are capable of.”
“Morons” – preceded by an expletive.
These are all quotes from people in positions of authority at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recent years.
How did we get here?
A new Cold War
It might be hard to imagine now, but Mr Putin himself told the BBC back in 2000 that “Russia is ready to co-operate with Nato… right up to joining the alliance”.
“I cannot imagine my country isolated from Europe,” he added.
Back then, early in his presidency, Mr Putin was eager to build ties with the West, a former senior Kremlin official told the BBC.
Russian diplomats were a key part of Mr Putin’s team, helping resolve territorial disputes with China and Norway, leading talks on deeper co-operation with European countries, and ensuring a peaceful transition after a revolution in Georgia.
But as Mr Putin became more powerful and experienced, he became increasingly convinced he had all the answers and that diplomats were unnecessary, says Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, who is living in exile in Berlin.
Prigozhin and Putin: How a long friendship turned ugly
The first signal that a new Cold War was beginning came in 2007 with a speech Mr Putin made to the Munich Security Conference.
In a 30-minute diatribe, he accused Western countries of attempting to build a unipolar world. Russia’s diplomats followed his lead. A year later, when Russia invaded Georgia, Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly swore at his UK counterpart, David Miliband, asking: “Who are you to lecture me?”
Western officials still thought it was worth trying to work with Russia. In 2009, Mr Lavrov and the then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed a giant red “reset button” in relations, and the two countries seemed to be building co-operation – especially on security issues.
But it soon became obvious to US officials that their Russian counterparts were simply parroting Mr Putin’s growing anti-Western views, says Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor to former US President Barack Obama.
Ben Rhodes (L), deputy national security advisor to President Obama, says Putin increasingly ignored his own foreign ministry
Mr Rhodes recalls President Obama having breakfast with Mr Putin in 2009, accompanied by a folk orchestra. He says Mr Putin was more interested in presenting his view of the world than discussing co-operation and that the Russian leader blamed Mr Obama’s predecessor, George W Bush, for betraying Russia.
As the Arab Spring, the US involvement in Libya, and the Russian street protests unfolded in 2011 and 2012, Mr Putin decided that diplomacy wouldn’t get him anywhere, Mr Rhodes says.
“On certain issues – Ukraine in particular – I did not get the sense that [diplomats] had much influence at all,” says Mr Rhodes.
As an example, when Mr Lavrov, the foreign minister, was appointed nearly 20 years ago he had an “international perspective and his own position”, a former senior Kremlin official told the BBC.
The Kremlin used to consult him even when it knew he might have a different view to Mr Putin, says Mr Gabuev.
But when troops were sent into Ukraine in 2022, Mr Lavrov only found out a few hours before the war began, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Putin was said to be more interested in expressing his world views to Obama in 2009 than discussing co-operation
Andrei Kelin, Moscow’s ambassador to the UK, rejects the idea that Russian diplomats have lost their influence. He has worked on relations with Western countries throughout his diplomatic career.
In an interview with the BBC, he refused to concede that either Moscow or individual diplomats bear any responsibility for the collapse of relations with the West.
“We are not the ones doing the destroying,” he said. “We have problems with the Kyiv regime. There is nothing we can do about it.”
He says war in Ukraine is “a continuation of diplomacy by other means”.
Diplomacy as a spectacle
As foreign policy officials became less and less influential, they turned their attention back to Russia. Maria Zakharova, who became the ministry’s spokesperson in 2015, is a symbol of this new chapter.
“Before her, diplomats behaved like diplomats, speaking in refined expressions,” says former foreign ministry official Boris Bondarev, who resigned in protest over the war.
But with Ms Zakharova’s arrival, foreign ministry briefings became a spectacle. Ms Zakharova often yelled at reporters who asked her difficult questions and responded to criticism from other countries with insults.
Spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry Maria Zakharova is known for “theatrical” press briefings
Her diplomatic colleagues were going the same way. Mr Bondarev, who used to work for Moscow’s mission to the UN in Geneva, recalls one meeting where Russia blocked all proposed initiatives, prompting colleagues from Switzerland to complain.
“We said to them: ‘Well, what’s the problem? We are a great power, and you are just Switzerland!’
“That’s [Russian] diplomacy for you,” he says.
This approach was aimed at impressing Russians back home, says Mr Gabuev, the foreign policy analyst.
But an even more crucial target audience for diplomats is their own bosses, according to Mr Bondarev. Official telegrams sent to Moscow after foreign meetings are focussed on how passionately diplomats defended the country’s interests, he explains.
A typical message, according to him, would be something like: “We really gave them a hard time! We heroically defended Russian interests, and the Westerners couldn’t do anything and backed down!”
If everyone writes about “putting Westerners in their place” and you write that you “achieved consensus”, you will be looked at with disdain, he says.
While many leaders have requested bilaterals with India, PM Modi as a host is hard-pressed for time and restricted by the travel schedules of the visitors.
PM Modi with US President BIden and French President Macron during the G-20 summit in Bali in 2022.
Pressed for time and organization of the G-20 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with US President Biden on Friday eve and with French President Emmanuel Macron after the completion of the high-level engagement on Sunday.
It is understood that PM Modi is inclined to host dinner and lunch for his two close friends respectively but the program schedule is dependent on President Biden’s arrival schedule on Friday and the departure of President Macron to Dhaka on Sunday after the completion of the G-20 summit. While President Biden will be offered dinner on Friday but it depends on jet-lag, President Macron is inclined to have lunch with PM Modi on Sunday afternoon along with bilateral talks.
It is learnt that PM Modi will also have plans to hold bilateral talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the two haven’t had proper bilateral conversation for some months.
PM Modi with Bangladesh Prime MInister Sheikh Hasina.
While the Ukraine war and its impact on the global economy will be the political conversation during the G-20 summit, PM Modi’s priority focus will be to use the gathering to focus on the global south and put a priority tag on the 17 sustainable development goals as a 2021 UN report had shown that the global pandemic played havoc with them. The UN report indicated that in addition to four million deaths at the time of the report, between 119-124 million people were pushed into poverty and chronic hunger, and the equivalent of 255 million jobs were lost during the disease which had origins in Wuhan in China.
PM Modi wants the G-20 to focus especially on Africa as it was the worst hit among the global south by the pandemic and it is for that very reason he wants Africa to be given a permanent invite to the G-20 summit. While financial commitments of the developed nations are still awaited for climate change challenges, PM Modi is expected to promote green development understanding and green goals to protect the future from climate-related disasters. In this context, PM Modi will pitch for millets to be the answer for global food security as the grain has the ability to survive in tough climatic conditions and high temperatures.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the Pukjung Machine Complex and a major munitions factory in an undisclosed location in North Korea in this picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and obtained by Reuters on Sep 3, 2023. (Photo: KCNA via REUTERS)
North Korea conducted a simulated “tactical nuclear attack” drill early on Saturday (Sep 2) that included two long-range cruise missiles carrying mock nuclear warheads, in response to allied exercises by the US and South Korea, state media reported on Sunday.
The KCNA news agency said the drill was carried out to “warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger” as Pyongyang again vowed to bolster military deterrence against Washington and Seoul.
The two cruise missiles carrying mock nuclear warheads were fired towards the West Sea of the peninsula and flew 1,500km at a preset altitude of 150m.
A separate statement said Kim visited Pukjung Machine Complex, which produces marine engines, and a major munitions factory to stress the importance of strengthening Pyongyang’s naval forces.
“He affirmed that a future plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the WPK (Worker’s Party of Korea) would set forth an important modernization of the complex and the development direction of the shipbuilding industry,” the KCNA statement said.
The statement did not specify the date of his visit.
The latest missile test came just after the joint annual summertime exercises between South Korea and the US, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, came to a close on Thursday after an 11-day run, featuring air drills with B-1B bombers.
The prime minister is committed to “making any deal with the Saudis possible, even at the price of toppling his own government,” HaModia reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday denied ultra-Orthodox reports he was preparing for the collapse of his government in return for a US-backed normalization deal with Saudi Arabia.
According to a report published in the Agudat Yisrael-affiliated haredi paper HaModia on Friday morning, Netanyahu had resigned to the fact that “his political career is nearing an end.”
Netanyahu, in accordance with White House officials, will receive the long-awaited Saudi normalization deal and plea bargain for his criminal trials for his resignation, with the understanding being that he “does not have the capacity to manage the country in Israel’s current political state,” as per the report.
Lavrov, who has served as President Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister since 2004, is due to represent Russia at the Sept. 9-10 meetof the Group of 20 countries.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov(AP)
Russia will block the final declaration of this month’s G20 summit unless it reflects Moscow’s position on Ukraine and other crises, leaving participants to issue a non-binding or partial communique, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
Lavrov, who has served as President Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister since 2004, is due to represent Russia at the Sept. 9-10 meeting of the Group of 20 leading industrialised and developing countries in New Delhi.
Putin is not known to have travelled abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March on suspicion of war crimes in Ukraine.
“There will be no general declaration on behalf of all members if our position is not reflected,” Lavrov told students at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
The Kremlin casts the Ukraine war, which began when Russia invaded in February 2022, as an existential battle with an arrogant West that Putin says wants to dismantle Russia and take control of its vast natural resources.
On Monday, China released a “standard map”, which showed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as parts of Chinese territory. The distorted map also incorporated China’s claims over Taiwan and a large part of the South China Sea.
The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam on Thursday joined India to reject the latest “standard map” released by China that shows other countries’ territories as its own.
In a strongly worded statement, the Philippine government said, “This latest attempt to legitimise China’s purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
Notably, the map includes the nine-dash line, now a 10-dash line, that supposedly shows China’s boundaries in the South China Sea.
“(The 2016 Arbitral Award) categorically stated that ‘maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the ‘nine-dash line’ are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China’s maritime entitlements under the Convention,” Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza was quoted as saying by the official Philippine News Agency.
“The Philippines, therefore, calls on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award,” she further stated.
Meanwhile, Malaysia, whose maritime areas have been covered in the Chinese map, said it will send a “protest note” to China over the latter’s claims on the South China Sea.
Mostafa Rajai (right) shakes hands with Maksim Svirsky at the World Masters Championship in Poland
An Iranian weightlifter has been given a lifetime ban by Iran’s weightlifting federation after talking to and shaking hands with an Israeli participant at the World Masters Championship.
Mostafa Rajai won silver at the event and was snapped on the podium standing next to the Israeli bronze medallist.
Iran’s top weightlifting body later banned him from all sports facilities in the country for life.
Iran’s authorities ban athletes from direct competition with Israelis.
As a result, Iranian sportspersons often resort to various methods including throwing games or feigning injury to avoid match-ups.
Rajai, 40, was draped in his country’s national flag as he stood next to Israeli athlete Maksim Svirsky on Saturday.
The two were at a non-professional competition for “legends” of weightlifting in Wieliczka, Poland.
Rajai had previously represented Iran at the 2015 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Thailand and is a former member of the Iranian national team.
State news agency Irna reported that he had “crossed the red lines of the Islamic republic”.
The White House says Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un exchanged letters about working together.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un pose for a photo prior to their talks in Vladivostok, Russia, on April 25, 2019. | Pool Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko
New U.S. intelligence shows North Korea and Russia are “actively advancing” high-level talks for additional weapons and other materials to assist Moscow’s brutal war in Ukraine, the Biden administration disclosed on Wednesday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently traveled to North Korea to try to secure additional artillery ammunition, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. Since that visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their cooperation.
Also after Shoigu’s visit, another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-up discussions about potential arms deals between the two nations, Kirby said. Under the potential agreements, North Korea would ship Russia “significant quantities and multiple types” of weapons for use in Ukraine, he said.
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The potential deals also include the provision of raw materials that could help boost Russia’s military manufacturing capability, Kirby said.
“Any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would directly violate a number of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Kirby said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s official name. “We’re continuing to monitor this situation closely. And we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.”
The alleged arms talks come as Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine drags on with no end in sight. A Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed to make major breakthroughs, despite ample military support from the West. Both Russia and Ukraine are burning through ammunition and seeking any edge they can in a bid to gain a permanent upper hand.
The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kirby declined to describe how the United States had obtained the information, citing the importance of protecting sources and methods used. Still, it was the latest example of the Biden administration publicly disclosing intelligence in a bid to stay ahead of Moscow as it has pursued its war on Ukraine.
Kirby said the fact that Putin was approaching a country like North Korea, one of the most isolated on the planet, was a sign of Putin’s desperation, even as he acknowledged it was not clear how long Russia would continue to wage war.
Indian-American origin, Vivek Ramaswamy is moving ahead in the US presidential race as one of the frontrunners in the Republican field. Ramaswamy is directly competing against former US President Donald Trump, although he has expressed admiration for his policies. The presidential hopeful said that the US is economically dependent on China today, favouring a stricter foreign policy. Indian-American presidential aspirant said a stronger US-India relationship can help America declare economic independence from China.#vivekramaswamy #ramaswamy #hindu #donaldtrump #kamalaharris
China and Russia say they have a ‘friendship without limits’
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to make a trip to China this fall in what will be his first trip outside of Russian or allied territory since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Putin’s regime is preparing for him to appear at China’s Belt and Road Forum in October, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. He has remained primarily within Russia or countries formerly held by the Soviet Union since the court issued its warrant in March, though he has also visited Iran.
The Russian leader has missed a number of notable international events in the months since the warrant was issued, including last week’s BRICS summit in South Africa, a meeting of the China-Russia-led economic bloc.
Putin’s trip to China will come months after Chinese President Xi Jinping made his own visit to Moscow in March. The two countries have declared themselves friends, and China has refused Western calls to urge Putin to end his war in Ukraine.
Putin has had an eventful few months since his last meeting with Xi, including suppressing a rebellion from the Wagner mercenary group earlier this summer. The Wagner group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died mysteriously in a plane crash last week after being exiled to Belarus.
U.S. officials say Putin likely ordered Prigozhin’s assassination despite publicly repairing ties with him.
During Xi’s March visit to Moscow, the two leaders declared their countries to have a “friendship without limits.” The countries remain aligned in pushing back against Western leadership across the globe.
An explosive new report Meta released Tuesday exposed covert misinformation operations from China and Russia targeting the United States, as well as specific organizations like The Washington Post and NATO.
By releasing the so-called standard map of China, Beijing wants to teach India a lesson for rejecting normalization of ties until border issues are sorted out.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping.
On the eve of India hosting the G20 summit in New Delhi, China released a so-called “standard map” coopting parts of eastern Ladakh as per the rejected 1959 line and Arunachal Pradesh in the Middle Kingdom apart from Taiwan and the South China Sea.
This cartographic expansion by Beijing duly amplified by Chinese propaganda through social media was immediately rebutted and rejected by the Modi government as Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and parts of Aksai Chin were occupied by Mao’s China in the 1950s even before the disastrous 1962 war. While India was signing the Panchsheel Agreement in 1954, China was building a highway linking occupied Tibet with occupied Sinkiang (called Xinjiang) through Aksai Chin with the then government rather oblivious to the facts.
The timing of the release of the map by China clearly has ominous portends as it poses serious questions on whether President Xi Jinping is inclined to attend the G20 summit in the Indian capital or has other plans. We are told that China releases the standard map every year but it is the first time that India has lodged a serious protest with Beijing, rejecting the territorial claims of the Middle Kingdom.
The larger question is why did Beijing release the so-called standard map and get it amplified by its propaganda media through social media platforms ? The answer lies in the recently concluded BRICS summit in Johannesburg, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a brief interaction with President Xi Jinping at the leaders’ lounge of the summit. It is understood that China wanted a bilateral meeting with India on the sidelines of the summit and push for normalization of ties without conceding an inch on the pending problems of Depsang Bulge and Demchok in Eastern Ladakh. Given the schedule restraints of PM Modi, the formal meeting between the two leaders could not take place and was limited to a brief interaction only. Even during the brief interaction, PM Modi raised his concerns over the border issue, clearly indicating that the road to normalization of ties goes through disengagement and de-escalation on the East Ladakh border and resolution of the remaining two friction points.
Portraits of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, and Dmitry Utkin, group commander, are seen at a makeshift memorial in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia on Aug 27, 2023. (File Photo: Reuters/Anastasia Makarycheva)
Russia has informed Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet that killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin under international rules “at the moment”, the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Tuesday (Aug 29).
Prigozhin, two top lieutenants of his Wagner Group and four bodyguards were among 10 people who died when the Embraer Legacy 600 crashed north of Moscow last week.
He died two months to the day after staging a brief mutiny against the Russian defence establishment that posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule since he rose to power in 1999.
Brazil’s Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), in the interests of improving aviation safety, had said it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were invited and the probe held under international rules.
Russia’s aviation authority was not obligated to say yes to CENIPA, but some former investigators said it should, as the US and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of being behind the Aug 23 crash of the Embraer Legacy 600, which has a good safety record.
The Kremlin denies any involvement. Prigozhin was publicly critical of Moscow’s prosecution of its invasion of Ukraine. The Wagner mercenaries fought battles there on Russia’s side.
According to the Montreal-based United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the flight from Moscow with a destination of St Petersburg was domestic, so it is not subject to international rules known throughout the industry by its legal name “Annex 13”.
He was addressing the B20 summit held by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in the run-up to the G20 summit in New Delhi.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addresses a session on ‘Role of Global South in Emerging World 2.0’ at the B20 Summit India 2023, in New Delhi, Sunday
The G20 cannot deliver on its core mandate of promoting economic growth if the concerns of the ‘Global South’ are not addressed, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday, with the Russia-Ukraine conflict overshadowing the summit of the intergovernmental forum to be held in New Delhi next month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. With the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and the rest of the West wanting Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine high on the agenda, India has been worried over the possibility of the conflict overshadowing its own priority for the conclave – becoming the voice of the ‘Global South’ and raising the concerns of the developing nations in the premier forum for international economic cooperation.
The external affairs minister was addressing the B20 summit held by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in the run-up to the G20 summit in New Delhi. He noted that the ‘Global South’ had largely been reduced to being a consumer rather than a producer and had not been able to reap the full benefits of economic change.
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers poses for a photograph as he arrives to attend a G20 finance ministers’ and Central Bank governors’ meeting at Gandhinagar, India, July 18, 2023. REUTERS/Amit Dave Acquire Licensing Rights
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Sunday the government was closely watching China amid “concerning” signs of economic weakness that could weigh on Australia’s economy.
“I share the pretty substantial concerns that people have voiced about the Chinese economy,” Chalmers told Sky News television.
“It is concerning to see the weakness, the softness, in the recent weeks and months in the Chinese economy because it has obvious implications for us here in Australia.”
Recovery in China, the world’s second-largest economy, has sputtered due to a worsening property slump, weak consumer spending and tumbling credit growth, prompting the authorities to slash interest and promise further support while analysts downgrade growth forecasts.
China is the top trading partner for raw-materials exporter Australia, with annual trade of A$285 billion, although Canberra has urged exporters to become less reliant on China amid diplomatic tensions.
“In China they’re dealing with slower growth, they’ve got deflation, there are concerns in their property sector and to some extent in their banking sector, their exports have slowed as well, Chalmers said. “Our concerns for China in particular is something that we’re monitoring very closely.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, was listed as a passenger on a private jet which crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP/File)
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday said he warned Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin twice to keep an eye out for threats to his life.
Speaking to Belta, Belarus-owned news agency, Lukashenko said that the first time he warned was soon after the Wagner’s forces foiled a bid to march on Moscow to mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The first time was when I phoned him and negotiations (were taking) place while they were marching on Moscow,” Lukashenko said.
Lukashenko told Belta that he told Putin’s former caterer: “Yevgeny, do you understand that you will doom your people and will perish yourself?”
Prigozhin reportedly said: “I will die then, damn it!”
Lukashenko said the second time he warned Prigozhin during a meeting between him, Prigozhin and Dmitriy Utkin, a long-term lieutenant of Prigozhin.
Russian state media outlets this week showed footage of a private plane crashing into a field northwest of Moscow while en route to St. Petersburg. The plane was purportedly carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose private army has been instrumental in the ongoing 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war.
‘The US should also have a stronger strategic relationship with India, including even a military relationship in the Andaman Sea’
Vivek Ramaswamy File image
A stronger relationship with India would help the US declare its “independence” from China, Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy believes and has called for stronger strategic ties with New Delhi, including a military relationship in the Andaman Sea.
At 38, Ramaswamy is the youngest Republican presidential candidate ever. He is currently on a two-day swing to the crucial State of Iowa. On January 15, Iowa would kick off the 2024 Republican presidential primary season.
“A stronger US-India relationship could help the US declare independence from China. The US is economically dependent on China today, but with a stronger relationship with India, it becomes easier to declare independence from that Chinese relationship,” Ramaswamy told PTI in an interview.
A second-generation Indian-American, Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 and led the largest biotech IPOs of 2015 and 2016, eventually culminating in successful clinical trials in multiple disease areas that led to FDA-approved products, according to his bio.
“The US should also have a stronger strategic relationship with India, including even a military relationship in the Andaman Sea. Knowing that India, if necessary, could block the Malacca Strait where actually China gets most of its Middle Eastern oil supplies. So, these are areas for real improvement in the US-India relationship.
“I think that would be good for the US and that’s exactly why I would lead accordingly,” Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur-turned-politician, said in response to a question.
His polling numbers have gone up after the maiden presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 23.
On the firing line of most of the Republican presidential nominees, in particular former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former vice president Mike Pence and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; Ramaswamy has suddenly gone up the ladder in polling numbers and in many polls, he is placed second after former president Donald Trump.
In his first interaction with the Indian media, Ramaswamy appeared to be a strong supporter of the growing India-US relationship, which has been a hallmark of multiple presidential administrations across the political aisle since the start of the Bill Clinton Administration.
“I think he (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) has been a good leader for India, and I look forward to working with him on building the US-India relationship further,” Ramaswamy said in response to a question.
During the first Republican presidential debate, his fellow Indian-American challenger Haley told him that he had no foreign policy experience. But Ramaswamy has developed his own vision of America’s foreign policy.
“The major challenge of US foreign policy is that we’re not protecting the homeland. We’re fighting wars that don’t advance American interests while leaving the homeland actually vulnerable. So I think it’s a mistake for the US to continue engagement in Ukraine. That doesn’t advance US national interest,” he said.
“To the contrary, I think it actually is going to impede US credibility on the global stage. The US needs to focus on Communist China. That’s the top threat abroad. And protecting the homeland has to be the top priority at home with actual defence capabilities of the border,” he argued.
A number of anti-French rallies have been held in Niger in recent weeks
Niger’s coup leaders have given the French ambassador 48 hours to leave the country as bilateral ties continue to deteriorate rapidly.
The junta said Sylvain Itte had refused to respond to an invitation to meet Niger’s foreign minister.
France, a former colonial power, said the “putschists have no authority” to order such an expulsion.
Paris opposes July’s coup, saying that ousted President Mohammed Bazoum must be returned to office.
Friday’s announcement was made by Niger’s foreign minister installed by the junta.
This follows a series of statements and demonstrations hostile towards France.
The French foreign ministry responded by saying that it had “taken note of the putschists”, the AFP news agency reported.
“The putschists do not have the authority to make this request, the ambassador’s approval coming solely from the legitimate elected Nigerien authorities,” the ministry added.
REUTERS
Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani, Niger’s coup leader, last week pledged to return the West African nation to civilian rule within three years.
He made the announcement after meeting mediators from the West African regional bloc Ecowas in the capital, Niamey.
Ecowas has threatened military action to reverse last month’s overthrow of President Bazoum if talks fail.
The junta head said that Niger did not want a war, but would defend itself against any foreign intervention.
“If an attack were to be undertaken against us, it will not be the walk in the park some people seem to think,” he warned.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Greece after his three-day visit to South Africa.
PM Modi reaches Greece ( Image Source : PTI )
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached the ancient city of Athens in Greece on Friday on the invitation of his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the European country in 40 years. Modi’s trip to Greece comes after his three-day visit to South Africa’s Johannesburg to attend the 15th BRICS Summit. “From South Africa, I will travel to Athens, Greece on 25 August 2023 at the invitation of H.E. Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece. This will be my first visit to this ancient land,” Modi said in his departure statement on Tuesday.
“Contacts between our two civilizations stretch back over two millennia. In modern times, our ties have been strengthened by shared values of democracy, rule of law and pluralism. Cooperation in diverse sectors such as trade and investment, defence, and cultural and people-to-people contacts have been bringing our two countries closer,” he added.
“I look forward to my visit to Greece opening a new chapter in our multifacted relationship,” Modi said as he left for the first leg of his visit.
India’s Ambassador to Greece, Rudrendra Tandon also looked forward to Modi’s visit saying it will give a new “impetus” to their close bilateral relationship.
A view shows portraits of Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner group commander Dmitry Utkin at a makeshift memorial in Moscow, Russia August 24, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer Acquire Licensing Rights
A group of Russian militants who fight on the Ukrainian side called on the Wagner Group of mercenaries to switch sides and join their ranks to revenge the deaths of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and their commander Dmitry Utkin.
Russian air authorities have said Prigozhin, Utkin and eight other people were on a private plane that crashed with no survivors north of Moscow on Wednesday.
“You are facing a serious choice now – you can stand in a stall of Russia’s defence ministry and serve as watchdogs for executors of your commanders or take revenge,” commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) Denis Kapustin said in a video address published late on Thursday.
“To take revenge you need to switch to Ukraine’s side,” the commander said.
The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries staged a mutiny against Russian military commanders in which they took control of a southern city, Rostov, and advanced towards Moscow before turning around 200 kilometers far from the capital.
Russia has opened an investigation into the crash, but its outcome is unlikely to shake a widespread belief that Prigozhin was killed as an act of vengeance for staging the mutiny.
Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform joked about leaving the US to live with Putin in a “gold domed suite” after his bond was set at $200,000 following his indictment for alleged election interference in Georgia.
Donald Trump has once again raised the issue of high tax by India. (AFP)
Donald Trump sparked a row on Monday after he said he would leave the United States and go live in a ‘gold-domed suite’ with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The former US President’s statement came after his bond was set at $200,000 following his indictment for allegedly scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
“The failed District Attorney of Fulton County (Atlanta), Fani Willis, insisted on a $200,000 Bond from me. I assume, therefore, that she thought I was a “flight” risk – I’d fly far away, maybe to Russia, Russia, Russia, share a gold domed suite with Vladimir, never to be seen or heard from again,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Would I be able to take my very “understated” airplane with the gold TRUMP affixed for all to see. Probably not, I’d be much better off flying commercial – I’m sure nobody would recognize me!”, he added.
Though Trump’s post was understood as a joke, witnesses or victims in the case assumed he was trying to provoke the court to see how much he could get away with, the Huffington Post reported.
President of China Xi Jinping attends the plenary session during the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Image: Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping said that all nations should write and uphold international rules based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and not by those who have the “strongest muscles or the loudest of voice”.
The Chinese President’s statements will spark reactions from observers as China faces accusations of encroaching on territories of its neighbours on its western and eastern side. It also claims that it will reunify Taiwan with the motherland by force if necessary.
“International rules must be written and upheld jointly by all countries based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter rather than dictated by those with strongest muscles or the loudest of voice,” Xi Jinping said while addressing the open plenary session of the 15th BRICS Summit.
“BRICS countries should practise true multilateralism, stick to solidarity and oppose division,” Xi Jinping further added.
Xi Jinping said that BRICS nations must focus on championing the spirit of inclusiveness and promote peaceful coexistence and harmony between civilisations. “We should respect all modernisation paths that each country chooses on its own and oppose ideological rivalry, systemic confrontation and clash of civilisations,” Xi Jinping said.
FILE – A Taiwanese soldier holds a Taiwan national flag near a group of soldiers with red markings on their helmets to play the role of an enemy during the annual Han Kuang military exercises simulating an attack on an airfield at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Northern Taiwan, July 26, 2023. The Biden administration has approved a new $500 million arms sale to Taiwan as it ramps up military assistance to the island despite fervent objections from China. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)
The Biden administration has approved a $500 million arms sale to Taiwan as it ramps up military assistance to the island despite fervent objections from China.
The State Department said Wednesday it had signed off on the sale of infrared search tracking systems along with related equipment for advanced F-16 fighter jets. The sale includes the infrared systems as well as test support and equipment, computer software and spare parts, it said.
Although the deal is modest in comparison to previous weapons sales, the move is likely to draw fierce criticism from Beijing, which regards self-governing Taiwan as a renegade province and refuses to rule out the use of force to reunify it with the mainland.
“This proposed sale serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,” the State Department said in a statement.
“The proposed sale will improve the recipient’s capability to meet current and future threats by contributing to the recipient’s abilities to defend its airspace, provide regional security, and increase interoperability with the United States through its F-16 program,” it said.
The announcement came just hours after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen renewed a pledge to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense as she visited a war memorial from the last time Taiwan and China battled. Tsai, visited the outlying islands of Kinmen where the conflict was fought 65 years ago, commemorated those who died.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took multiple shots at the West on the opening day of an economic summit in South Africa, using a prerecorded speech that was aired on giant screens Tuesday to rail at what he called “illegitimate sanctions” on his country and threaten to cut off Ukraine’s grain exports permanently.
Putin, the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant related to the war in Ukraine, did not travel to Johannesburg for the summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies. Instead, he plans to participate remotely in the three-day meeting of the bloc that encompasses Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
His 17-minute speech recorded in advance centered on the war in Ukraine and Russia’s relationship with the West — even though South African officials had said East-West frictions should not dominate the first in-person BRICS summit since before the COVID-19 pandemic and hoped to guide the conversation away from the deteriorating geopolitical climate.
Sitting at a desk with a white notebook in front of him and a Russian flag behind, Putin said a wartime deal to facilitate Ukrainian grain shipments that is critical for the world’s food supply would not resume until his conditions — the easing of restrictions on Russian food and agricultural products — are met.
The West’s attempts to punish and isolate Russia financially for sending troops into Ukraine are an “illegitimate sanctions practice and illegal freezing of assets of sovereign states, which essentially amounts to them trampling upon all the basic norms and rules of free trade,” the Russian leader asserted.
Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July and stepped up drone and missile attacks on the city of Odesa in southern Ukraine, home to one of the ports the controlled passage agreement covered.
The initiative was credited with helping reduce soaring prices of wheat, vegetable oil and other global food commodities. Putin maintained that even with Russian exports of grain and fertilizer being “deliberately obstructed,” his country has “the capacity to replace Ukraine in grain, both commercially and in free aid to needy countries,” according to an official translation of his speech at the summit.
The United States and other Western nations have not directly targeted Russian agricultural exports, but moves to restrict Russia’s access to international financial payment systems under some sanctions have made it difficult for the country to get food, fertilizer and other products to market.
Students are seen in a classroom at the Lhasa Nagqu Second Senior High School in the Tibetan regional capital Lhasa during a government-organized media tour in June 2021 (File Photo: AFP/Hector Retamal)
The United States said on Tuesday (Aug 22) it was imposing visa sanctions on Chinese officials pursuing “forced assimilation” of children in Tibet, where UN experts say one million children have been separated from their families.
In the latest of a series of US moves on Beijing despite a resumption of high-level dialogue, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would restrict visas to Chinese officials behind the policy of state boarding schools.
“These coercive policies seek to eliminate Tibet’s distinct linguistic, cultural and religious traditions among younger generations of Tibetans,” Blinken said in a statement.
“We urge PRC authorities to end the coercion of Tibetan children into government-run boarding schools and to cease repressive assimilation policies, both in Tibet and throughout other parts of the PRC,” he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
The United States since 2021 has accused China of waging genocide in another region, Xinjiang, through what US officials, rights groups and witnesses say is a vast network of forced labour camps. China denies the charge.
A State Department spokesperson said the new restrictions would apply to current and former officials involved in education policy in Tibet but did not give further details, citing US confidentiality laws on visa records.
The United States separately imposed sanctions in December on two top-ranking Chinese officials, Wu Yingjie and Zhang Hongbo, over what Washington said were widespread human rights violations in Tibet.
President Biden and G20 partners will discuss a range of joint efforts to tackle global issues.
US President Joe Biden will travel to India from September 7 to 10 to attend the G-20 Leaders’ Summit, the White House said on Tuesday.
President Biden and G20 partners will discuss a range of joint efforts to tackle global issues, including on the clean energy transition and combatting climate change, mitigating the economic and social impacts of the Ukraine conflict, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Increasing the capacity of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, to better fight poverty, including by addressing global challenges will also be discussed, the official added.
While in New Delhi, President Biden will also commend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership of the G20 and reaffirm the US commitment to the G20 as the premier forum of economic cooperation, including by hosting it in 2026, Jean-Pierre added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a crowd in Denmark on Monday that promised deliveries of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets had made him confident Ukraine could end Russia’s invasion.
Denmark and the Netherlands on Sunday announced they would supply the first F-16s to Ukraine, with the initial six due to be delivered around New Year. Washington had approved the delivery of the jets ahead of Zelenskiy’s trip to Copenhagen.
“Today we are confident that Russia will lose this war,” Zelenskiy told thousands of people who gathered outside the Danish parliament to hear his speech.
Russia warned earlier that supplying the jets to Ukraine would only escalate the war, which has dragged on for almost 18 months. Russian forces are occupying almost a fifth of Ukraine’s territory and Kyiv is battling hard to push them out.
“The fact that Denmark has now decided to donate 19 F-16 aircraft to Ukraine leads to an escalation of the conflict,” Russian ambassador Vladimir Barbin said in a statement cited by the Ritzau news agency.
“By hiding behind a premise that Ukraine itself must determine the conditions for peace, Denmark seeks with its actions and words to leave Ukraine with no other choice but to continue the military confrontation with Russia,” he said.
The Ukrainian military said the jet was vital to the success of its counteroffensive, which has proceeded slowly since its launch in early June, as it would prevent Russian fighter jets attacking advancing forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sit in a F-16 fighter jet at Skrydstrup Airbase in Vojens, Denmark, August 20, 2023. Ritzau Scanpix/Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS/File Photo
“Superiority in the air is key to success on the ground,” air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat was quoted as saying by Ukrainian media.
Danish Defence Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said Ukraine may only use the donated F-16s within its own territory.
The town’s officials had made their proposal to Buckingham Palace just six days after the Queen died last September – in the hope of paying tribute to her “exceptional life”.
Elizabeth II Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport has been approved by King Charles
An airport in France is being named after Queen Elizabeth.
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport is getting rebranded after King Charles gave his approval for the transport hub to add “Elizabeth II” at the start.
Officials in the town of Le Touquet say this is a recognition of its status as “the most British of French resorts”.
They had made their proposal to Buckingham Palace just six days after the Queen died last September – in the hope of paying tribute to her “exceptional life”.
Queen Elizabeth II, when she was a princess, with her uncle, Edward VIII, when he was Prince Edward, during a visit to Balmoral in 1933. Pic: AP
A date for the inauguration is yet to be set.
The airport was designed in the 1930s – and by the 1950s it had become a “strong link” between France and the UK.
According to the town hall, the Queen’s uncle Edward VIII used to travel over to enjoy horseback riding and sand yachting, and his niece would sometimes accompany him.
While it currently doesn’t offer scheduled flights to passengers – with the airport mainly used by private jets – officials hope to welcome tourist planes from across the Channel in future.
