Category: 2. World

The United States has accused India of cashing in on discounted Russian oil during the Ukraine war, alleging that New Delhi has been buying crude at knockdown prices and reselling refined products to sanctioning regions, a practice Washington has branded as “arbitrage”.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday that India was “profiteering” from the conflict. “They are just profiteering. They are reselling,” he said.

“This is what I would call the Indian arbitrage — buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product.”

Bessent claimed that the move had lined the pockets of “some of the richest families in India,” alleging they had made “$16 billion in excess profits.”

Asked why Beijing had not faced similar penalties, Bessent intimated that China’s continued imports were viewed as less problematic because it had been a major buyer even before Russia’s invasion.

However, energy expert Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy and a former advisor to President George W Bush, said India’s decision to lean on Russian oil were due to US’ encouragement immediately after the invasion.

According to him, the Biden administration had asked India to buy Russian crude when other buyers walked away, to prevent a dramatic oil price spike that could have hit American motorists hard.

“India played a key role in the price cap sanction mechanism designed by the US and its European allies to ensure Russian oil still flowed while trying to crimp the revenue Moscow earned,” McNally told CNBC.

According to oil market analyst Matt Smith at Kpler, in his comments to CNBC, India buys Russian crude at a discount due to sanctions, refines it into petrol and diesel, and then “sells the product back to regions that have sanctioned Moscow such as Europe.”

India’s imports of Russian oil have soared since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Prior to that, New Delhi imported only a trickle of Russian crude. Now, India purchases 1.5 million barrels per day, making it Russia’s largest client, according to Kpler data.

China is close behind at 1 million barrels per day.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump doubled down by ordering an additional 25% tariff on Indian exports to the United States as punishment for buying Russian oil, a levy set to take effect next week.

Trump is also threatening “secondary tariffs” on Russian oil buyers like India in an effort to force the Kremlin into a negotiated settlement over Ukraine, though China has thus far been spared such measures.

GENEVA:

The United Nations took aim Tuesday at Israel’s months-long block on bringing tents into the Gaza Strip, despite continual displacement orders being issued to civilians in the devastated territory.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said shelter items had been banned from entering Gaza for about five months — a period in which more than 700,000 people had been displaced or re-displaced.

“They may have been provided with a tent, and then they are displaced again and they have no possibility of taking the tent with them,” he told a press briefing in Geneva.

He said Israel had classified tents as “dual use” because they considered tent poles could potentially be used for a military purpose.

He decried “layers of bureaucracy which seem designed not to facilitate fast entry of anything but rather the opposite”.

Israel announced earlier this month that it intended to take over Gaza City and issued another displacement order to residents on Saturday.

Laerke said tents were still not being allowed into the territory.

The UN human rights office meanwhile said the Gaza City takeover plans bore “huge risks for civilians”.

“There are risks of mass displacement and more and more killings and more misery,” said spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan.

He accused Israel of displacing Palestinians to areas where strikes were continuing.

Kheetan said “hundreds of thousands” were being told to go south to Al-Mawasi, which he said was still under bombardment.

He said Palestinians in Al-Mawasi had “little or no access to essential services and supplies, including food, water, electricity and tents”.

Across the Gaza Strip, Kheetan said the risk of starvation was “everywhere”.

On August 1st, the dusty, beloved, and historic Shikarpur, my city of pride and heritage, came alive. In scenes echoed across countries like Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Canada, the U.S., and beyond, children poured into schools after summer vacation, their faces gleaming with joy and anticipation. Rickshaws, motorcycles, and ching-chis buzzed through the lanes of Hathidar, Hazaridar, and Lakhidar, packed with school bags, lunchboxes, and innocent laughter. These radiant faces, brighter than the sun and the fourteenth moon, carried hope, curiosity, and dreams.

Our family’s little ones, Hiba, Hadia, Khadija, Prince Taimur, and Uneza Japani, joined millions across the globe, eager to resume journeys through math, science, literature, and history. Watching children, especially girls in colourful uniforms, rush to their morning assemblies, racing for the national anthem and prayer, was heartwarming. This yearly ritual of returning to school is more than tradition; it is a celebration of life, learning, and the future.

But my heart sinks as thoughts turn to a different land, torn by fire, fear, and hunger: Gaza.

While children worldwide embrace education, Gaza’s children are denied even the right to survive. Once full of life, Gaza now lies in smouldering ruins. Over 2.3 million people, including nearly a million children, remain trapped under brutal siege, bombardment, and starvation. Food, water, electricity, and medicine, basic necessities, have been cut off with deliberate cruelty. The UN has called it a “horror show.” Gaza today is not just a war zone; it is an engineered apocalypse.

Before October 7, 2023, Gaza’s streets, like Shikarpur’s today, buzzed with school preparations, shopping for textbooks, uniforms, pencils, and notebooks. But that Gaza is gone. What remains is the cruel silence of destroyed classrooms, blood-stained blackboards, and the shattered dreams of a generation.

More than 800,000 students have lost access to education. Two academic years and over 300 school days have been obliterated. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Education: 18,243 students killed, 928 teachers slain, 4,452 wounded, and hundreds detained or missing. Over 21,000 children are missing, more than 34,000 injured, with 15,000 permanently disabled, many losing limbs. Thousands of university students have lost their institutions. All of Gaza’s universities have been destroyed. UNRWA-run schools, once safe havens, are now makeshift shelters, and not immune from strikes. More than 6,000 attacks on educational institutions have been carried out.

This is not collateral damage. This is a deliberate war on education, on the minds, identity, and future of a people.

Come Eid or Muharram, bombs and bullets follow them everywhere. While children elsewhere buy Eid clothes and toys, Gaza’s children spend their days under fire, barefoot and hungry, searching for water and bread among rubble. Instead of sweets, they are fed with bullets. Instead of laughter, Gaza echoes with mourning.

The future torchbearers of Gaza have become the targets. Every day, on average, 58 children are killed. Since March 18, 2025, when Israel resumed intensified assaults, over 100 children have been killed or injured daily, reports the UN.

Instead of school bells, they hear air-raid sirens. Instead of reciting verses or equations, they whisper prayers for survival. Many have lost parents, limbs, and hope. They now dwell in bombed shelters and tents, suffering hunger, trauma, disease, and heat. Psychological scars run deep, and the destruction of education ensures generational devastation.

Where are the self-proclaimed defenders of human rights? Where is UNESCO, UNICEF, or Save the Children? Where is the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack? Where is the Safe Schools Declaration?

Why do Gaza’s schools remain targets? Why do shelters become graveyards? Why have repeated visits of U.S. officials to the Middle East, carried out with fanfare to restore peace, failed to stop the massacre of children and the annihilation of education? Gaza deserved urgent action to end this 22-month madness. Only lip service, only rhetoric for Palestinian children. Everything seems tactical, to drop their massacre off the agenda

The Zionist war machine is not simply targeting resistance; it is targeting the very idea of a Palestinian future. This is cowardice of the highest order: to wage war not on armies, but on children and their right to learn.

Children are not combatants. They are innocent seekers of knowledge, bearers of peace, and custodians of tomorrow. The obliteration of Gaza’s education system is a colossal crime against humanity.

No religion, no law, no civilisation can justify this. This war on children and education is not just an attack on Palestine; it is an attack on humanity itself. The holy books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam speak of mercy, justice, and the pursuit of knowledge. How, then, can the torchbearers of these faiths condone such darkness? Let the people of Israel reflect: does education pose a threat, or is it fear of enlightenment that drives this savagery?

Let the global North, the Arab League, the OIC, the EU, and the UN lead the rebuilding of Gaza’s schools. Every bombed classroom must be rebuilt. As schools reopen in Pakistan and across the world, the joyous sights and sounds of eager learners give us hope. But in Gaza, that hope lies buried under ruins. Let us not ignore this monstrous disparity.

This is not just a war on Palestine, it is a war on truth, on light, on the spirit of learning. Education is not a privilege, it is a right. Children are not enemies, they are humanity’s greatest promise. Let the world wake up, before the last candle of knowledge is blown out in Gaza.

Qamer Soomro
The writer is a freelance columnist from Sindh.

A traffic accident in western Afghanistan has killed 73 people, including 17 children, most of whom were on a bus carrying Afghan migrants deported from Iran, a Taliban official confirmed to the BBC.

The bus, en route to Kabul, caught fire on Tuesday night after colliding with a truck and motorcycle in Herat province, said Ahmadullah Mottaqi, the Taliban’s director of information and culture in Herat.

Everyone aboard the bus was killed, as well as two people from the other vehicles, he said.

In recent months Iran has stepped up its deportations of undocumented Afghan migrants who have fled conflict in their homeland.

“All the passengers were migrants who had boarded the vehicle in Islam Qala,” provincial governor spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi told AFP, referring to a town near the Afghanistan–Iran border.

Herat police said the accident happened because of the bus driver’s “excessive speed and negligence”, AFP reported.

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, where roads have been damaged by decades of conflict and driving regulations are not strongly enforced.

Since the 1970s, millions of Afghans have fled to Iran and Pakistan, with major waves during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

This has contributed to growing anti-Afghan sentiment in Iran, with refugees facing systemic discrimination.

Iran had previously given a July deadline for undocumented Afghans to depart voluntarily.

But since a brief war with Israel in June, Iranian authorities have forcibly returned hundreds of thousands of Afghans, alleging national security concerns – though critics say Tehran may simply be looking for scapegoats for its security failures against Israeli attacks.

More than 1.5 million Afghans have left Iran since January, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Some had been in Iran for generations.

Experts warn Afghanistan lacks the capacity to absorb the growing number of nationals forcibly returned to a country under Taliban rule. The country is already struggling with a large influx of returnees from Pakistan, which is also forcing hundreds of thousands of Afghans to leave.

Australia’s government has rejected Benjamin Netanyahu’s incendiary criticism and accused some Israeli politicians of “bigoted” views about Palestinians as the extraordinary political fight between the two nations turns uglier.

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke – whose refusal of a travel visa for the far-right Knesset member Simcha Rothman stoked criticism from Jerusalem – backed in his decision and criticised the Israeli prime minister over the war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israel’s military and bombing campaign.

“Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry,” Burke told Radio National on Wednesday.

“Strength is much better measured by exactly what prime minister Anthony Albanese has done, which is when there’s a decision that we know Israel won’t like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Burke’s comments came the morning after Netanyahu escalated the standoff with Australia and condemned Albanese. On X, Netanyahu’s office wrote: “History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”

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Netanyahu also wrote a letter to Albanese on Monday, accusing the prime minister of pouring “fuel on this antisemitic fire”, and condemning Australia’s recognition of Palestine – which he called “appeasement”. The letter was shared on social media by the Australian Jewish Association, a right-leaning group which had organised Rothman’s planned speaking tour.

Netanyahu’s letter claimed there was “Jew-hatred now stalking [Australian] streets”.

It marks a major ratcheting up of tensions between the two countries, after a tit-for-tat sparked by Australia’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state. Burke’s department this week cancelled Rothman’s visa because of his past comments calling children in Gaza the “enemies” of Israel. Israel then revoked the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority.

Burke confirmed to ABC radio that the decision to cancel Rothman’s visa was in response to his comments about children and aimed to protect Palestinian and Muslim Australians, not because of his calls for the destruction of Hamas – as has been alleged by some conservative media outlets.

“If anyone wanted to come on a public speech tour, and they had those views publicly expressed about Israeli children, I would block the visa,” Burke said.

“I am going to not have a lower bar for the protection of views that are bigoted views against the Palestinian people.”

A fellow minister, Clare O’Neil, called Netanyahu’s comments “disappointing”.

“I think Benjamin Netanyahu is in a bit of a habit of making [such comments],” she said. “This type of diplomacy doesn’t work and that’s why Australia doesn’t engage with it.

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“Our prime minister does us very proud on a global stage. He does it by being respectful. He does it by holding a strong position for our country. We determine our national interest and that is how we’re approaching the conflict in the Middle East.”

The opposition has accused the government of damaging the relationship with Israel, describing it as at an all-time low.

The shadow home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, criticised Labor’s decision to revoke the visa and said that while he did not agree with all of Rothman’s views, the government should not have refused the visa of a Knesset member.

“The government’s failed to recognise what this cancellation would mean,” he told ABC radio. “This wasn’t just any old visa.”

The Liberal backbencher Jane Hume called Burke’s comments “incendiary” and “outrageous”.

“You can understand why [Netanyahu] would feel betrayed by Australia and by Anthony Albanese,” she said.

KARACHI: A consultative workshop on the role of working equines in supporting livelihoods and addressing emerging threats to donkeys, horses and mules was organised by Brooke Pakistan, an animal welfare organisation, at a local hotel on Tuesday.

Besides recognising the role of working equines in sustaining livelihoods of poor and marginalised communities, the workshop also aimed to raise awareness of the ongoing welfare challenges and the emerging threat of the donkey skin trade in Pakistan.

Activist Yusra Askari said that while thinking about animals as pets, people should also think about animals in other roles too and support them.

Speaking about working livestock, Advocacy Manager at Brooke Pakistan, Naeem Abbas, spoke about working equines such as donkeys. “The donkey trade is a global issue,” he said, adding that there are 55.5 million donkeys in the world of which two-thirds used to be in Africa. “Pakistan, meanwhile, has the largest population of donkeys in Asia, which is 4.9 million. “There are some 600 million families in the world taking livelihood support from donkeys. But six million donkeys are also killed annually all over the world,” he pointed out.

Activists highlight role of working equines in supporting livelihoods of the poor

It is “rumoured” widely in Pakistan that donkeys have become part of our food chain, that restaurants are cooking donkey meat instead of beef or mutton. “But that donkey meat you hear of is actually a by-product as donkeys are actually being slaughtered for their skin,” he pointed out.

It was explained that donkey skin is needed for Ejiao production, which is a kind of gelatine used in various eatables. This is a global threat to the donkey population.

Mr Abbas said that the donkey population in Africa has already gone down drastically due to this reason alone, and now the buyers, of which China is a leader, are turning their attention to the donkey population in Pakistan.

“For this purpose, there is also a donkey slaughterhouse working in Gwadar for the last four years,” he informed.

“Sadly, while this is going on, people see donkeys as an unimportant issue. Meanwhile, the donkey trade involves cruelty, as many donkeys’ legs are broken during transportation while being heaped into containers, among other harsh conditions, etc,” he said.

Animal welfare activist and filmmaker Mahera Omar said that while living in a big city such as Karachi, people overlook the fact that the city is not just for humans but animals as well. “Working animals are beasts of burden who work with us and help earn for many families here. But we work them to death,” she said.

She also said that animals such as cows, buffaloes and goats are also bred for their meat or for their milk though these days we are not sure where our meat is actually coming from. She also lamented how humans are taking nature for granted, how they are destroying the lungs of Karachi, which is what the mangroves actually are, how the dune buggies on our beaches are crushing the little crabs and other tiny creatures living under the sand or around the roots of the mangroves. She also pointed out how we are destroying our sea and our coastline by dumping solid waste such as plastic, bottles, Styrofoam, medical waste, footwear, etc.

Mahera also remembered Ardeshir Cowasjee and Lady Constantine and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) which advocated compassion for all animals. “SPCA used to be quite active in Pakistan. We need to revive it. We need to make our city more livable for everyone again. Preventing violence and cruelty to animals should be made a part of our curriculum,” she said.

Rehmat Bibi and Salam Deen, two donkey owners in Sindh, who have eight to nine donkeys working at their brick kiln in Hyderabad, shared their experience of caring for their donkeys. “Earlier, we didn’t realise that leaving our donkeys too long under the sun is very harmful to them. We lost several donkeys that way,” said Salam Deen. “Then we were made aware by activists working with Brooke Pakistan about how to look after our beasts of burden. And we are now spreading awareness about their upkeep among our community,” he added.

Rehmat Bibi said that earlier they could buy a donkey for Rs20,000 to Rs40,000 but now their prices have gone up considerably as the donkey population has decreased. “Donkeys don’t breed as fast as other livestock such as cows, goats or camels. Now if we buy a donkey it costs us one and a half lacs or even more,” she pointed out.

Communication Lead at Brooke Pakistan, Ahmed Omer, and Dr Sher Nawaz from Chitral also spoke.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2025

• Mediators cautious about ‘breakthrough’ as Tel Aviv sticks to demand for release of all hostages
• Israeli forces kill at least 45 people in Gaza, Palestinian death toll hits 62,064
• UN says 265 aid workers slain in this year

JERUSALEM: A day after Hamas accepted a fresh proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, and signalled its readiness for a new round of talks aimed at ending nearly two years of war, Israel said it stood firm on its call for the release of all prisoners in any future Gaza ceasefire deal.

Mediators are awaiting an official Israeli response to the plan, with Qatar expressing guarded optimism for the new proposal, noting that it was “almost identical” to an earlier version previously agreed to by Israel.

But a senior Israeli official told AFP the government’s stance had not changed and demanded the release of all prisoners in any deal.

The two foes have held on-and-off indirect negotiations throughout the war, resulting in two short truces during which Israeli hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, but they have ultimately failed to broker a lasting ceasefire.

Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have mediated the frequent rounds of shuttle diplomacy.

Egypt said Monday that it and Qatar had sent the new proposal to Israel, adding “the ball is now in its court”.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that Hamas had given a “very positive response, and it truly was almost identical to what the Israeli side had previously agreed to”.

“We cannot make any claims that a breakthrough has been made. But we do believe it is a positive point,” he added.

Mounting pressure

According to a report in Egyptian state-linked outlet Al-Qahera News, the latest deal proposes an initial 60-day truce, a partial hostage release, the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners and provisions allowing for the entry of aid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly comment on the plan, but said last week that his country would accept “an agreement in which all the [prisoners] are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war”.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said on social media that his group had “opened the door wide to the possibility of reaching an agreement, but the question remains whether Netanyahu will once again close it, as he has done in the past”.

Hamas’s acceptance of the proposal came as Netanyahu faced increasing pressure at home and abroad to end the war.

Over the weekend, tens of thousands took to the streets in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv to call for an end to the war and a deal to free the remaining priosners still held in Gaza.

The new proposal also comes after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to conquer Gaza City, fanning fears the new offensive will worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the devastated territory.

45 killed

Meanwhile, at least 45 people were killed by Israeli strikes and fire across the territory, the local civil defence agency reported on Tuesday.

A spokesman said the situation was “very dangerous and unbearable” in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods of Gaza City, where he said “artillery shelling continues intermittently”.

The Israeli military declined to comment on specific troop movements, but later claimed that a strike in Khan Yunis overnight targeted a Hamas militant.

Sabra resident Hussein al-Dairi, 44, said “tanks are firing shells and mortars, and drones are firing bullets and missiles” in the neighbourhood.

“We heard on the news that Hamas had agreed to a truce, but the occupation is escalating the war against us, the civilians,” he added.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has claimed the lives of at least 62,064 Palestinians so far, most of them civilians.

383 aid workers killed

A record 383 aid workers were killed last year, the United Nations said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a “shameful indictment” of international apathy, and warning that this year’s toll was equally grim.

The 2024 figure was up 31 per cent on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, “driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.

It said state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings last year, and most of the victims were local staff attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.

Besides those killed, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained.

“Humanitarians must be respected and protected. They can never be targeted,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

“This rule is non-negotiable and is binding on all parties to conflict, always and everywhere. Yet red lines are crossed with impunity,” he said, calling for perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2025

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China later in August, his security chief said on Tuesday during talks with Beijing’s foreign minister in New Delhi.

Modi will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit opening on August 31 in Tianjin, his first visit to China since 2018, Ajit Doval said in public comments at the start of a meeting with Beijing’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Our prime minister will be visiting for the SCO summit,” Doval said, speaking of “new energy” in diplomatic ties. Wang said China “attaches great importance” to Modi’s visit to the SCO summit, according to an official translator.

“History and reality prove once again that a healthy and stable China-India relationship serves the fundamental and long-term interests of both of our countries,” Wang added.

Beijing’s ‘mega dam’ on Yarlung Tsangpo River among points of concern for New Delhi

The Indian premier said late on Tuesday he was “glad to meet” Wang in New Delhi. “Since my meeting with President Xi (Jinping) in Kazan last year, India-China relations have made steady progress guided by respect for each other’s interests and sensitivities,” Modi said in a post on social media platform X.

“I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit,” he said.

“Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity.”

India also raised concerns with Wang about the construction of a mega-dam on a river that runs through Tibet and India and the effect it could have on downstream states, India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The need for utmost transparency in this regard was strongly underlined,” it said.

Beijing approved the project in December on the river — known as Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet and Brahmaputra in India — linking it to China’s carbon neutrality targets and economic goals in the Tibet region.

Once built, the dam could dwarf the record-breaking Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in central China – and have a potentially serious impact on millions of people downstream in India and Bangladesh.

India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia and fought a deadly border clash in 2020.

India is also part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, Australia and Japan, which is seen as a counter to China. However, caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war, they have moved to mend ties.

Wang said during talks on Monday with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, the two countries should “view each other as partners and opportunities, rather than adversaries or threats”.

According to the BBC, the visit to India was “expected to lay the groundwork for Modi’s first visit to China in seven years later this month”.

It quoted Wang as saying that India and China should view each other as “partners” rather than “adversaries or threats”.

The rapprochement between the countries comes in the backdrop of India’s worsening bilateral relationship with the US.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% penalty on Indian imports for buying oil and weapons from Russia, taking total tariffs to 50% – the highest in Asia.

On Monday, White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro wrote a piece in The Financial Times, accusing India of “cosying up to both Russia and China”. “India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” Navarro wrote.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2025