On September 14, Russia announced that it was exiling two American diplomats accused of working with a Russian national accused of collaborating with a foreign power.
In September, Moscow expelled American diplomats. (Image credits: Reuters)
Weeks after Moscow ordered two Americans to leave, the United States also expelled two Russian diplomats as ties between the two nations continue to deteriorate, the US State Department said on Friday. The move was taken in response to Russia’s expulsion of the two US diplomats for contact with a former employee who had been accused of collecting sensitive information. The US called the allegations baseless.
“In response to the Russian Federation’s specious expulsion of two US Embassy Moscow diplomats, the State Department reciprocated by declaring persona non grata two Russian Embassy officials operating in the United States,” a State Department spokesman said, as quoted by news agency Reuters.
The US said it will not tolerate the Russian government’s habit of harassing American diplomats and the unacceptable actions against its Embassy personnel in Moscow will have consequences.
“The Department will not tolerate the Russian government’s pattern of harassment of our diplomats,” the spokesman said, adding that “unacceptable actions against our Embassy personnel in Moscow will have consequences.”
Russia’s RIA news agency quoted an unnamed source in the Russian foreign ministry as confirming the expulsion, calling it groundless and saying Washington had used Moscow’s Sept. 14 expulsion of two U.S. diplomats “caught red-handed engaging in spying activities” as a pretext.
“We are not interested in escalation, but if such hostile actions continue, as always, we will respond firmly and decisively,” RIA quoted the source.
Canada is moving its diplomats posted in India to Singapore and Malaysia ahead of India’s October 10 deadline, according to reports. Sources say the Canadian side tried to negotiate with India but was unsuccessful.
After Justin Trudeau alleged the involvement of Indian agencies in the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, New Delhi asked Ottawa to pull out 41 of its diplomats to bring parity in numbers. CNN-News18 reported this earlier.
According to government sources, India now wants Canada to recall more than two dozen diplomats from its mission in New Delhi.
Museum photos show the marble head of the goddess Athena knocked off its pedestal onto the floor, and a statue of a pagan deity shattered into fragments.
Pic: AP
An American tourist has been arrested after allegedly smashing two second-century Roman statues at the Israel Museum – with his lawyer claiming he was experiencing a mental disorder called “Jerusalem syndrome”.
Israeli police have said initial questioning suggests the Jewish-American suspect destroyed the statues in Jerusalem because he considered them to be “idolatrous and contrary to the Torah”.
The Torah is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
Museum photos show the marble head of the goddess Athena knocked off its pedestal onto the floor and a statue of a pagan deity shattered into fragments.
The damaged statues were being restored, museum staff said.
Nick Kaufam, the suspect’s lawyer, has denied the man acted out of religious fanaticism.
Instead, Mr Kaufman said the 40-year-old tourist was suffering from a mental disorder that psychiatrists have labelled “Jerusalem syndrome”.
The condition – a form of disorientation believed to be induced by the religious magnetism of the city, which is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims – is said to cause foreign pilgrims to believe they are figures from the Bible.
Pic: AP
The defendant has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Officials did not release his name due to a gagging order.
The vandalism late on Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel’s priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.
In a burial plot next to a field outside the remote Ukrainian hamlet of Hroza, residents removed undergrowth and cleared away litter to make space for more graves.
Working quietly, it was something to distract them from the horror of what happened the day before.
As dozens of people gathered in the local cafe for a meal to honour a soldier who died in the war against Russia, a missile struck, killing at least 52 people.
It was one of the most deadly attacks during 20 months of fighting, and one that has devastated the tiny, tight-knit community.
Shock is giving way to grief, as well as questions about how the Russians could have known about the gathering in what some Hroza residents say was a deliberate attack.
Among those killed was Olya, 36, who is survived by three children. Her husband died too.
Her father, Valeriy Kozyr, was at the cemetery preparing to bury her and his son-in-law.
“It would have been better if I had died,” he said quietly as he wept. “Oh God, you cannot punish me like this. To leave the father and take the children!”
Wiping tears from his face, the 61-year-old explained that he must now work out how to care for his three grand-children aged 10, 15 and 17. Kozyr wants to bury Olya and her husband side-by-side in a single grave.
He told Reuters he was not in the cafe on Thursday because he worked night shifts as a security guard, and so was spared.
Nearby, three brothers were readying a plot in which to bury their parents, both killed in what President Volodymr Zelenskiy has called a deliberate Russian assault on civilians.
Moscow denies targeting civilians in its full-scale invasion, a position it repeated on Friday in response to the Hroza strike. Thousands have been killed in a bombing campaign that has hit apartment blocks and restaurants as well as power stations, bridges and grain silos.
One brother began to dig while another picked up discarded plastic bottles.
“We lost 18 people on one street, where our parents lived,” said the third, 41-year-old Yevhen Pyrozhok. “On one side, the neighbours are gone, and on the other side a woman is gone.”
The men said they did not know when they would be able to have the funeral because their parents’ bodies were still being examined by investigators in Kharkiv, the closest big city in northeastern Ukraine.
Valeriy Kozyr, 61, cries as he sits next to graves after losing his daughter and other relatives in a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, at a cemetery outside the village of Hroza, Kharkiv region, Ukraine October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter Acquire Licensing Rights
Not all of the victims have been identified. Regional police investigator Serhiy Bolvinov told reporters late on Thursday that authorities would have to use DNA to identify some of the victims, because their remains were beyond recognition.
“Corpses lay there in that yard, and nobody could identify them,” said Valentyna Kozienko, 73, speaking near her home close to the site.
‘HALF THE VILLAGE GONE’
As darkness fell on Thursday, dazed emergency crews carried bodies placed in white bags on to the back of a pickup truck. A local man knelt down and wept as he lay his hand on the remains of a loved one before they too, were taken away.
Local resident Oleksandr Mukhovatyi said he lost his mother, brother and sister-in-law.
“Someone betrayed us. The attack was precise, it all landed in the coffee shop.”
On Friday, rescue workers continued to sift through the rubble of the flattened cafe and nearby shop, while diggers pushed away debris.
On a low table set up a few metres (yards) away, members of the emergency services and local community laid flowers and lit candles in small coloured jars to commemorate the dead.
Russian President Vladimir Putin observes exercises held by Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, as he takes part in a video link in Moscow, Russia, on Oct 26, 2022. (Photo: Sputnik/Alexei Babushkin/Kremlin via REUTERS)
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (Oct 5) held out the possibility that Russia could resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than three decades and might withdraw its ratification of a landmark nuclear test ban treaty.
Putin, the ultimate decision maker in the world’s biggest nuclear power, also said Moscow had successfully tested a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile – the Burevestnik – whose capabilities he has called unmatched.
The Kremlin chief said there was no need to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine however, as any attack on Russia would provoke a split-second response with hundreds of nuclear missiles that no enemy could survive.
“Do we need to change this? And why? Everything can be changed but I just don’t see the need for it,” Putin said of the nuclear doctrine – the Kremlin policy setting out the circumstances when Russia might use its weapons.
The existence of the Russian state was not under threat, he added. “I think no person of sound mind and clear memory would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia,” Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
“I hear calls to start testing nuclear weapons, to return to testing,” Putin added, referring to suggestions from hardline political scientists and commentators who say such a move could send a powerful message to Moscow’s enemies in the West.
NUCLEAR TEST?
He noted that the United States had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty but not ratified it while Russia had signed and ratified it.
“I am not ready to say whether we really need to conduct tests or not, but it is possible theoretically to behave in the same way as the United States,” Putin said.
“But this is a question for the deputies of the State Duma (lower house of parliament). Theoretically, it is possible to withdraw this ratification. That would be enough,” he said.
He was answering a question from hardline Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov who wants a tougher nuclear stance. Karaganov asked if Putin should lower the nuclear threshold to sober up Russia’s “insolent” partners.
Inside Russia, some have called for Putin to detonate a nuclear bomb to show the West that Moscow’s patience over its support for Ukraine and apparent unwillingness to negotiate is wearing thin.
Most recently, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of state-funded broadcaster RT, suggested that Russia should detonate a nuclear bomb over Siberia.
In the five decades between 1945 and the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, more than 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out, 1,032 of them by the United States and 715 of them by the Soviet Union, according to the United Nations.
The Soviet Union last tested in 1990. The United States last in 1992.
A resumption in nuclear tests by Russia, the United States or both would be profoundly destabilising at a time when tensions between the two countries are greater than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
In February, Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the New START treaty that limits the number of nuclear weapons each side can deploy.
Putin said on Thursday that Russia had almost finished work on its new generation of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads.
Soccer Football – World Cup – Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay – October 4, 2023 General view inside Estadio Centenario after it was announced that it will host the opening matches of the Morocco, Portugal and Spain World Cup in 2030 to mark the tournament’s centenary hosted for the first time in the stadium in 1930…. Acquire Licensing Rights
A day after Morocco and Spain were nominated as joint hosts of the 2030 World Cup – along with Portugal – there were signs of friction, with both countries laying claim to being the venue for the final.
Spain’s Sports Minister Miquel Iceta on Thursday on Onda Cero radio said that although “you can’t count your chickens before they hatch”, he expected the final to be held in Spain.
But Fouzi Lekjaa, head of Morocco’s football federation, said that the goal was for the final to be in Casablanca.
He hoped to see the country’s efforts “crowned – god willing – with celebrations in Casablanca stadium at a historic final,” he said on Radio Mars.
In a surprise announcement a year earlier than planned, FIFA allocated the 2030 World Cup to Morocco, Spain and Portugal on Wednesday and said Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will host three matches to mark the tournament’s centenary.
Argentina also weighed in, with government officials and the local football federation on Thursday saying the country would “go for more” games than the single opening match it has been allocated.
Relations between Spain and Morocco have for decades been marked by disputes over migration and territory.
There have been regular diplomatic crises over Spain’s enclaves in Africa and the arrival of thousands of illegal migrants in Spain each year through Morocco.
Ties improved last year after Madrid moved closer to Morocco’s policy on Western Sahara, a disputed territory that Rabat claims as its own but where the Algeria-backed Polisario Front is seeking independence.
Arindam Bagchi responded to US envoy Eric Garcetti citing the Kashmir visit of US diplomats from Delhi for G-20 meetings, saying the two situations are not equivalent
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi (ANI)
India said on Thursday it has conveyed to the US its concerns over a recent visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) by the US ambassador to Islamabad and urged the world community to respect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Donald Blome, the US ambassador to Pakistan, made a multi-day visit to Gilgit-Baltistan last month. He toured different parts of the strategic region that India says is part of undivided Jammu and Kashmir, and met several officials, including a minister and the deputy speaker of the local assembly.
Asked about Blome’s visit to Gilgit-Baltistan at a regular media briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “We have raised our concerns about that visit by the US ambassador to Pakistan with the US side.”
He added, “Our position on the status of the entire union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, that being an integral part of India, is well known. We would urge the international community to respect our sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
When Eric Garcetti, the US envoy to India, was asked by Indian reporters to comment on Blome’s visit, he had said that the Kashmir issue can only be resolved by New Delhi and Islamabad. However, Garcetti had also pointed out that Blome had visited PoK in the past and that a US delegation had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir for G20-related meetings.
Russian President Vladimir Putin observes exercises held by Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, as he takes part in a video link in Moscow, Russia, on Oct 26, 2022. (Photo: Sputnik/Alexei Babushkin/Kremlin via REUTERS)
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (Oct 5) held out the possibility that Russia could resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than three decades and might withdraw its ratification of a landmark nuclear test ban treaty.
Putin, the ultimate decision maker in the world’s biggest nuclear power, also said Moscow had successfully tested a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile – the Burevestnik – whose capabilities he has called unmatched.
The Kremlin chief said there was no need to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine however, as any attack on Russia would provoke a split-second response with hundreds of nuclear missiles that no enemy could survive.
“Do we need to change this? And why? Everything can be changed but I just don’t see the need for it,” Putin said of the nuclear doctrine – the Kremlin policy setting out the circumstances when Russia might use its weapons.
The existence of the Russian state was not under threat, he added. “I think no person of sound mind and clear memory would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia,” Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
“I hear calls to start testing nuclear weapons, to return to testing,” Putin added, referring to suggestions from hardline political scientists and commentators who say such a move could send a powerful message to Moscow’s enemies in the West.
NUCLEAR TEST?
He noted that the United States had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty but not ratified it while Russia had signed and ratified it.
“I am not ready to say whether we really need to conduct tests or not, but it is possible theoretically to behave in the same way as the United States,” Putin said.
“But this is a question for the deputies of the State Duma (lower house of parliament). Theoretically, it is possible to withdraw this ratification. That would be enough,” he said.
He was answering a question from hardline Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov who wants a tougher nuclear stance. Karaganov asked if Putin should lower the nuclear threshold to sober up Russia’s “insolent” partners.
Inside Russia, some have called for Putin to detonate a nuclear bomb to show the West that Moscow’s patience over its support for Ukraine and apparent unwillingness to negotiate is wearing thin.
Most recently, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of state-funded broadcaster RT, suggested that Russia should detonate a nuclear bomb over Siberia.
In the five decades between 1945 and the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, more than 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out, 1,032 of them by the United States and 715 of them by the Soviet Union, according to the United Nations.
The Soviet Union last tested in 1990. The United States last in 1992.
A resumption in nuclear tests by Russia, the United States or both would be profoundly destabilising at a time when tensions between the two countries are greater than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
In February, Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the New START treaty that limits the number of nuclear weapons each side can deploy.
Putin said on Thursday that Russia had almost finished work on its new generation of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of “creating enemies” of countries that were unwilling to “blindly follow” the western elites.
Putin said that the Indian leadership was acting in the interest of the nation | Photo: Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that the Indian leadership was “acting independently in the interest of the nation” as he accused the West of forcing countries to “blindly follow” them.
While speaking at the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Putin said, “They (the West) are trying to create an enemy out of everyone who is unwilling to blindly follow the western elites. Anyone is at risk, including the People’s Republic of China, and at a certain point, India could become that. The Indian leadership is acting independently in the interest of its nation.”
Putin further said, “They also make an enemy out of the Arab world. They do this selectively. They tried to paint the image of Muslims as hostile.”
Earlier as well, Vladimir Putin had praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership, referring to him as a “very wise man” while speaking at another event.
The move comes amid warnings of ammunition shortages in Ukraine – though it does raise legal questions.
The seizure from Iran. Pic: US Department of Justice
The United States has sent over a million rounds of ammunition it seized from an Iranian ship last December to Ukraine.
Officials at the Pentagon have confirmed to Sky News the transfer of 1.1 million rounds of 7.62mm small arms ammunition to Ukraine took place on Monday this week.
The ammunition, standard rounds for Soviet-era Kalashnikov assault rifles and their derivatives used by the Ukrainian military, are understood to have been stored at US military facilities in the Middle East.
The move will help to alleviate an increasingly critical shortage of ammunition available to Ukraine as it continues its counteroffensive against Russia.
According to a statement released by the US military’s Central Command in Tampa, Florida, the rounds were seized by the US Navy in December when it intercepted a vessel in the Persian Gulf.
“These munitions were originally seized by US Central Command naval forces from the transiting stateless dhow Marwan 1, 9 December, 2022,” the statement said.
“The munitions were being transferred from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [Iranian military] to the Houthis in Yemen in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216.”
The move raises legal questions because United Nations regulations require nations to destroy or store seized weapons.
US officials are using civil forfeiture tools to give them what they believe is the legal authority to make the transfers.
A Defence Department spokesperson told Sky News: “This forfeiture action is a product of the US government’s coordinated effort to enforce US sanctions against… the Iranian regime. On 20 July, 2023, a final order of forfeiture was issued by a US District Court.”
The spokesperson added: “Iran’s transfer of lethal aid to militant groups in Yemen violates United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2216 and international law and fuels regional instability. US support, in contrast, is provided in accordance with international law and to a recognised government defending its sovereign territory.”
Citing ‘secret UK intel report’, Daily Mail says 21 Aug incident involved 22 officers, 7 officer cadets, 9 petty officers & 17 sailors aboard submarine ‘093-417’. China has denied incident.
Representational Image of a submarine | Reuters
As many as 55 Chinese sailors are feared dead as their nuclear submarine got caught in a trap meant for American and allied submarines in the Yellow Sea way back in August, according to a report published Tuesday in the UK’s Daily Mail.
The report, which said, “The onboard oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure”, came weeks after the Chinese military denied such an incident after several social media handles posted about it.
Drawing from what was described as “secret UK report” based on defence intelligence, the Daily Mail claimed the 21 August incident involved 22 officers, seven officer cadets, nine petty officers and 17 sailors aboard the Chinese PLA Navy Submarine, ‘093-417’.
‘Our understanding is death caused by hypoxia due to a system fault on the submarine. The submarine hit a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese Navy to trap US and allied submarines,” it quoted the report as saying.
Legions of Afghans have migrated to neighbouring Pakistan over decades of conflict during the Soviet invasion, the following civil war and the U.S.-led occupation
And 600,000 have arrived since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021 and imposed their austere version of Islamic law. Image for representation purpose only. File | Photo Credit: AP
Pakistan’s plan to evict hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants is “unacceptable”, Taliban authorities said Wednesday, denying allegations by Islamabad its citizens were responsible for a string of suicide attacks there.
Around 1.3 million Afghans are registered refugees in Pakistan and 880,000 more have legal status to remain, according to the latest United Nations figures.
But caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said Tuesday a further 1.7 million Afghans were in Pakistan illegally, giving a November 1 deadline to return home or face deportation.
The order comes as Pakistan grapples with a rise in attacks the government blames on militants operating from Afghanistan, a charge Kabul routinely denies.
“The behaviour of Pakistan against Afghan refugees is unacceptable,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on social media site X.
“Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan’s security problems. As long as they leave Pakistan voluntarily, that country should tolerate them.”
Bugti claimed Afghan nationals were responsible for 14 of 24 suicide attacks in Pakistan since January.
“We deny all these claims because Afghans have migrated to other countries for their safety, their security,” said Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
“It’s natural when someone migrates to another country for his safety, he would never want insecurity there,” he told AFP.
Legions of Afghans have migrated to neighbouring Pakistan over decades of conflict during the Soviet invasion, the following civil war and the U.S.-led occupation.
And 600,000 have arrived since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021 and imposed their austere version of Islamic law.
55 Chinese sailors are feared dead after nuclear submarine ‘gets caught in a trap intended to snare British and US vessels in the Yellow Sea’
• Twenty-two officers were among the 55 reported to have died in the Yellow Sea
• China denies it happened – and apparently refused international assistance
Fifty-five Chinese sailors are feared dead after their nuclear submarine apparently got caught in a trap intended to ensnare British sub-surface vessels in the Yellow Sea.
According to a secret UK report the seamen died following a catastrophic failure of the submarine’s oxygen systems which poisoned the crew.
The captain of the Chinese PLA Navy submarine ‘093-417’ is understood to be among the deceased, as were 21 other officers.
Officially, China has denied the incident took place. It also appears Beijing refused to request international assistance for its stricken submarine.
The UK report into the fatal mission reads: ‘Intelligence reports that on 21st of August there was an onboard accident whilst carrying out a mission in the Yellow Sea.
‘Incident happened at 08.12 local resulting in the death of 55 crew members: 22 officers, 7 officer cadets, 9 petty officers, 17 sailors. Dead include the captain Colonel Xue Yong-Peng.
‘Our understanding is death caused by hypoxia due to a system fault on the submarine. The submarine hit a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese Navy to trap US and allied submarines.
‘This resulted in systems failures that took six hours to repair and surface the vessel. The onboard oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure.’
As yet there is no independent confirmation of the suspected loss of the Chinese submarine in the public domain.
Beijing has dismissed open source speculation about the incident as ‘completely false’ while Taiwan has also denied internet reports.
Mail Plus approached the Royal Navy to discuss the details contained in the UK report but official sources declined to comment or offer guidance.
The UK report, which is based on defence intelligence, is held at a high classification.
President Joe Biden is talking with China about putting a stop to fentanyl entering the US. AP/ Susan Walsh
Team Biden is thinking of lifting some sanctions against China to get President Xi Jinping to reopen talks on efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl, which has been flooding over the US border at alarming rates.
Hello? If President Joe Biden simply shut the border, he could stop a great deal of it — without the need to lift any sanctions.
In 2020, former President Donald Trump slapped the penalties on the Chinese Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science over allegations it was participating in a mass surveillance campaign against Uyghur Muslims.
Yet China has not changed its appalling behavior toward Uyghurs one bit since then.
Lifting any sanctions is a sell-out.
Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Texas has seized “more than enough” of the drug “to kill all Americans,” more than 422 million doses since 2021.
A record number of Americans — more than 109,000 — died of drug overdoses in 2022, and fentanyl was the primary cause.
Per the Drug Enforcement Administration, the supply of the deadly drug comes mainly from across the southern border; the chemicals used by Mexican cartels to produce it come from (you guessed it) China.
And consider: Though border patrol agents are seizing record amounts of fentanyl, there’s plenty more getting through — along with the thousands of migrants crossing illegally every day.
Instead of lifting sanctions on China just to start talks on getting its help with the drug (which it can’t be trusted to provide even if it agrees to provide it), Team Biden should be threatening even more sanctions if China refuses stop pushing it.
And it should be moving to close points of entry so it won’t even need China’s help stopping the inflow.
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, U.S. July 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
U.S. President Joe Biden met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House on Thursday, vowing to deepen economic ties and strengthen cooperation on challenges posed by China, but skirted differences over LGTBQ rights.
Italy’s first woman prime minister came to power last October and is staking out an assertive role abroad as she plans the upcoming Italian presidency of the Group of 7 (G7) nations in 2024.
Meloni and her right-wing coalition have staked out positions on abortion and LGBTQ rights sharply at odds with those of Biden, a Democrat who used last year’s Italian election results as an occasion to warn fellow liberals about dangers facing the world’s democracies.
On Thursday, Biden welcomed Meloni and said they had “become friends.” Meloni later told reporters that she had a clear preference for Republicans, but that would not stop her from having “a great relationship” with Biden.
She said the two leaders discussed Italy’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but Washington’s approach was not to dictate Italy’s policy on China. No one asked her about LGBTQ rights, she said.
“Our relations are strong,” Meloni said at the start of the Oval Office meeting with Biden. “They cross governments and remain solid regardless of their political colors. We know who our friends are in times that are tough.”
Meloni also used her first trip to Washington to spend some time on Capitol Hill, where her meetings included a visit with Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Rome and Washington both emphasized the trip as an opportunity to reaffirm a strong partnership between the countries, including over the billions of dollars in military and other aid the West has provided Ukraine in its grinding war against Russia since 2022.
During a small portion of the meeting open to reporters, Biden complimented Italy on what he said was its strong stance on Ukraine. Meloni said she was proud that Italy has helped defend international law.
Washington hopes the West’s alliance against Russia’s Ukraine invasion will help deter China from changing the status quo in Democratically ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, and the broader Pacific.
The two leaders emphasized areas of cooperation and unity in a joint statement issued after the meeting, vowing to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes and to strengthening dialogue on the “opportunities and challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China.”
Russia’s defence minister accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to a defence exhibition that featured the North’s banned ballistic missiles as the neighbours pledged to boost ties, North Korean state media reported on Thursday.
[1/9] North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visit an exhibition of armed equipment on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency on July 27, 2023. KCNA via REUTERSThe Russian minister, Sergei Shoigu, and a Chinese delegation including a Politburo member arrived in North Korea this week for the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War celebrated in North Korea as “Victory Day”.
The missiles were banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions adopted with Russian and Chinese support but this week they provided a striking backdrop for a show of solidarity by three countries united by their rivalry with the U.S.
Shoigu is making the first visit by a Russian defence minister to North Korea since the fall of the Soviet Union.
For North Korea, the arrival of the Russian and Chinese delegations marks its first major opening up to the world since the coronavirus pandemic.
Shoigu gave Kim a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean media reported.
Kim thanked Putin for sending the military delegation led by Shoigu, saying the visit had deepened the “strategic and traditional” relations between North Korea and Russia.
“(Kim) expressed his views on the issues of mutual concern in the struggle to safeguard the sovereignty, development and interests of the two countries from the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the imperialists and to realize international justice and peace,” North Korean media said.
“He repeatedly expressed belief that the Russian army and people would achieve big successes in the struggle for building a powerful country,” it said.
KCNA did not refer to the war in Ukraine but North Korea’s defence minister, Kang Sun Nam, was reported as saying North Korea fully supported Russia’s “battle for justice” and to protect its sovereignty.
Kim led Shoigu on a tour of an exhibition of new weapons and military equipment, KCNA said.
State media photographs showed Kim and his guests at a display of some of the North’s ballistic missiles in multi-axle transporter launchers. Another image showed what analysts said appeared to be a new drone.
One analyst said Shoigu’s inspection of the North Korean missiles visit suggested Russian acceptance of North Korea’s nuclear programme.
“We’ve come a long way from when North Korea would avoid showing off its nuclear capabilities when senior foreign dignitaries from Russia and China were in town,” said Ankit Panda of the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, calling the tour “remarkable”.
“The personal tour for Shoigu – and Shoigu’s willingness to be photographed with Kim in the course of this tour – is evidence that Moscow is complacent with North Korea’s ongoing nuclear modernization,” he said.
Kim also met Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Li Hongzhong for talks and was handed a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean media reported.
The visit by Li’s delegation showed Xi’s commitment to “attach great importance to the DPRK-China friendship,” Kim was quoted as saying by the North’s KCNA state news agency, referring to the North the initial of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
‘NO SECRET’
The Russian visit raises the prospect of more open support for North Korea, especially with Russia isolated by the West over is invasion of Ukraine, analysts said.
“While Russia has kept its official military cooperation with the North Korea limited, any veritable rupture in the so-called post-Cold War order may see Russia more willing to openly violate sanctions, especially given their relatively lax attitude to the shifts in North Korea’s nuclear status last year,” said Anthony Rinna, a specialist in Korea-Russia relations at the Sino-NK think tank.
[1/3] Police stand guard near the Iraqi embassy ahead of a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden July 20, 2023. REUTERS/Supantha Mukherjee//File PhotoSweden is the target of a disinformation campaign by “Russia-backed actors” intended to hurt the image of the NATO-candidate country by implying it supported recent burnings of the Koran, its Minister for Civil Defence said on Wednesday.
Sweden’s bid to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put it in the international spotlight, while a number of demonstrations at which protesters have burned copies of the Muslim holy book have angered Muslims around the world.
“Sweden is the target of a disinformation campaign supported by state and state-like actors with the aim of damaging Swedish interests and … Swedish citizens,” the minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, told reporters at a press conference.
“We can see how Russia-backed actors are amplifying incorrect statements such as that the Swedish state is behind the desecration of holy scriptures,” he said.
“That is, naturally, completely false,” Bohlin said, adding that such state actors tried to “create division and weaken Sweden’s international standing.”
There was no immediate reply from the Russian embassy in Stockholm to a request for comment about the minister’s remarks.
Swedish Premier Ulf Kristersson also commented on the topic in a post, saying he wanted to correct a common misunderstanding.
“The Swedish state does not issue permissions to burn copies of the Koran. However, the police issue permits for public gatherings – a right that is enshrined in Sweden’s constitution,” Kristersson wrote on Facebook.
He said Sweden had no tradition of burning books just because it was legal.
“The state guarantees the right to freedom of expression, but does not thereby stand behind any political messages,” he wrote.
Mikael Ostlund, a spokesman for Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency, said Russia was using the Koran burnings as opportunities to promote its agenda in the media.
“Obviously, one such ambition from Russia’s side is to be able to complicate our joining NATO.”
Protests have raged across Iran and Iraq after Denmark and Sweden allowed the burning of the Koran under rules protecting free speech.
Supporters of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) group take part in a protest denouncing the burning in Sweden of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, in al-Jadiriyah area near Baghdad’s Green Zone.(AFP)
Two protesters set fire to a copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, in front of the Iraqi embassy in the Danish capital on Monday, risking a further deterioration of relations between the two countries.
Protests have raged across Iran and Iraq after Denmark and Sweden allowed the burning of the Koran under rules protecting free speech. Protesters in Iraq set alight the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday.
The two protesters were from a group that calls itself “Danish Patriots”, which held a similar demonstration last week and livestreamed the events on Facebook.
Several thousand Iraqis demonstrated in Baghdad on Saturday over the burnings in the two Nordic countries, in a gathering called by ruling Iraqi parties and armed groups, many close to Iran.
Anju entered Pakistan legally through the Wagah Border in Punjab. (Representational Image/PTI)
In another cross-border story, a married Indian woman crossed Pakistan to meet her friend who she met on Facebook and allegedly fell in love with.
Anju, 34, born in Uttar Pradesh, but living in Rajasthan’s Alwar travelled to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the invitation of her 29-year-old friend Nasrulla.
She is currently in the Upper Dir district in Pakistan’s KPK, and is under the scanner of authorities for entering the country, sources told News18.
This comes at the helm of Pakistani citizen Seema Haider crossing the border to enter India, after she met an Indian man on an online game.
However unlike Haider, Anju has entered Pakistan legally through the Wagah border, sources added.
#BreakingNews | Rajasthani girl travels to Pakistan to meet a Pakistani man Amid Seema Haider story
Anju was initially under Pakistan police custody but was released after her travel documents were verified by the district police.
Anju’s friend Nasrulla works in the medical field and the two started talking online a few months back.
She is visiting the Islamic country for a month, and has not gone there to marry his friend.
An officer at Dir police station said Anju and her friend were released after her documents were cleared by senior police officer Mushtaq Khab and Scouts Major.
On the Indian side, a team of Rajasthan police reached her house in Bhiwadi to enquire about her after media reports.
According to her husband, Anju left home on Thursday saying that she is going to Jaipur, but later the family got to know that she was in Pakistan.
“Anju’s husband said that she left home on Thursday. She had a valid passport,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Bhiwadi Sujit Shankar told news agency PTI.
The couple together have two children, a 15-year-old girl and a six-year-old son. There has been no complaint registered from her family as of now.
According to her husband, he did not know that she was talking to anyone online.
THE STORY OF SEEMA HAIDER
There are similarities between the stories of Anju and Seema Ghulam Haider, a Pakistani mother of four, who sneaked into India to live with Sachin Meena, a Hindu man she got in touch with while playing PUBG in 2019.
Haider remained in headlines as she faces investigation by security agencies over spy allegations and her renewed efforts to stay in India.
She is currently out of detention after the ATS investigation and maintains that she is not a spy and wants to remain in India.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana//File Photo
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that while Ukraine has recaptured half the territory that Russia initially seized in its invasion, Kyiv faced “a very hard fight” to win back more.
“It’s already taken back about 50% of what was initially seized,” Blinken said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
“These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough,” he said, adding: “It will not play out over the next week or two. We’re still looking I think at several months.”
Late last month, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was quoted as saying that the counteroffensive’s progress against Russian forces was “slower than desired.”
Ukraine has recaptured some villages in the south and territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east, but has not had a major breakthrough against heavily defended Russian lines.
When asked if Ukraine will get U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, Blinken said he believed it would. “And the important focus is on making sure that when they do, they’re properly trained, they’re able to maintain the planes, and use them in a smart way.”
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has expressed concern about Russian and Chinese military cooperation in Asia, saying the security situation in Europe could not be separated from that in the Indo-Pacific region since Moscow’s full-scale inva…
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed concern Saturday about Russian and Chinese military cooperation in Asia and said the security situation in Europe could not be separated from that in the Indo-Pacific region since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a meeting of European and Indo-Pacific foreign ministers in Sweden, Hayashi said Russia’s war in Ukraine had “shaken the very foundation of the international order” and must face a united response by the international community.
“Otherwise, similar challenges will arise in other regions and the existing order which has underpinned our peace and prosperity could be fundamentally overturned,” Hayashi said.
Japan firmly backs Ukraine in the war but China says it remains neutral while declaring a ”no limits” relationship with Moscow and blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking the conflict. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in March at the same time as Chinese President Xi Jinping met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Hayashi accused Beijing of “continuing and intensifying its unilateral attempts” to change the status quo in the East and South China seas by force and increasing its military activities around Taiwan.
“In addition, China and Russia are strengthening their military collaboration, including joint flights of their bombers and joint naval exercises in the vicinity of Japan,” Hayahshi said.
China, which claims most of the South China Sea as well as Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea, says it has the right to defend its sovereignty and development interests.
Hayashi also warned that North Korea was “escalating provocations” in the region by conducting ballistic missile launches “with a frequency and in a manner that are unprecedented.”
He joined dozens of ministers from the European Union and the Indo-Pacific region for the meeting just north of the Swedish capital. China was not invited to the talks.
“Since the aggression of Russia to Ukraine, the security situation here in Europe and the security situation in the Pacific are not separable,” Hayashi said as he arrived.
An aerial view of the new US embassy complex in Beirut under construction. (Credit: US embassy in Beirut via Twitter) US Embassy in Beirut/Twitter
A massive new US embassy complex in Lebanon is causing controversy for its sheer size and opulence in a country where nearly 80% of the population is under the poverty line.
Located some 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) from the center of Beirut and built on the site of the current embassy, the US’ new compound in Lebanon looks like a city of its own.
Sprawling over a 43-acre site, the complex in the Beirut suburb of Awkar is almost two-and-a-half times the size of the land the White House sits on and more than 21 soccer fields.
Many Lebanese on Twitter questioned why the US needs such a large embassy in their capital. Lebanon is smaller than Connecticut and has a population of just six million. Few American tourists go to the country as the State Department has placed it on the third highest travel advisory level, but it does have a sizeable population of Lebanese American residents.
“Did the US move to Lebanon??” tweeted Sandy, a social media activist.
“Maybe you’ll have enough room to work on all those pending visa applications,” tweeted Abed A. Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, responding to the grandiosity of the new complex.
Computer-generated images published by the embassy show an ultra-modern compound, hosting multi-story buildings with high glass windows, recreational areas, and a swimming pool surrounded by greenery and views of the Lebanese capital. The compound includes a chancery, representational and staff housing, facilities for the community and associated support facilities, according to the project’s website.
From the pandemic to the 2020 Beirut blast, Lebanon has been assailed by a number of crises that have left its economy in ruins. Many Lebanese are unable to afford basic commodities, including food, medicine and electricity.
“Let them eat concrete,” another user tweeted.
Plans for the embassy complex were announced in 2015 and it is reported to have cost $1 billion.
