ISTANBUL: More than 250 people were evacuated overnight as a wildfire raged on the Gallipoli peninsula flanking the Dardanelles Strait, where Turkish firefighters were battling Sunday to quench the blaze, officials said.
The fire began on Saturday in the northwestern province of Canakkale, and spread quickly due to high winds in the hills near the town of Gelibolu, on the shores of the busy shipping strait.
“As a precaution, 251 residents from five villages were relocated to safe areas,” Canakkale governor Omer Toraman wrote on X.
Footage showed the hillsides illuminated by bright flames while huge clouds of smoke poured into the night air.
Toraman said the province, a popular destination for tourists visiting the ancient ruins of Troy, as well as the Gallipoli battleground where thousands of soldiers died in World War I, had suffered “extremely severe drought” over the past year.
AFTER days of negotiations, UN-brokered efforts for agreement on a new plastics treaty collapsed on Friday. The failure of what was meant to be the most important environmental treaty since the Paris Agreement is sad and terrifying, adversely affecting all people and our planet. At the very least, this dismal outcome should spark fresh conversations about plastic production and pollution, including in Pakistan.
The world is now producing 460 million tons of plastic each year (of which only nine per cent is recycled), and the OECD predicts that plastic use will triple by 2060. Calls to cap plastic production were rejected by oil-producing countries that hope to feed the global hunger for plastics (99pc of which are derived from fossil fuels) and reap profits in a world otherwise turning towards renewables and EVs. Other controversial topics included implementation finance for developing countries and more restrictions on the use of chemicals in plastic production.
Pakistan’s climate minister reportedly called for developed economies to stop treating countries like Pakistan as “junkyards” for plastic waste, demanding more green financing for emerging economies and proposing plastic credits.
Pakistan must remain a strong voice at international fora focused on environmental issues and climate change. On the same day the plastics treaty hit an impasse, more than 220 people were killed in flash flooding in KP and Gilgit-Baltistan, the latest climate change-related tragedy in our extremely climate-vulnerable country. Lest the link between a flash flood and the collapse of the plastics treaty remain unclear: fossil fuel consumption in the production of plastics exacerbates global climate change, and the resulting frequency and intensity of climate-related natural disasters.
Pakistan is among the 10 largest producers of plastic waste.
But the climate minister’s indignation masked the reality of the plastic skeletons in the national closet. Pakistan is among the 10 largest producers of plastic waste, generating 2.6m tons of plastic waste each year. As of 2020, we were using 55 billion single-use plastic bags each year. Pakistan also imports up to 80,000 tons of hazardous waste annually.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Pakistan), 86pc of our plastic waste is mismanaged (think landfill leaching toxins into groundwater, burning plastic sullying urban air, beaches littered with plastic bottles, the Indus rushing macro-plastics into the Arabian Sea). Less than 10pc is recycled.
There is also a social cost. Almost half of the waste dumped in the country’s landfills is meant to be sorted by informal waste pickers, who are poorly compensated, exposed to hazardous materials and who often include women and children. Their plight sits alongside the broader societal challenges linked to widespread plastic pollution, including severe health implications (disrupted hormonal and reproductive systems, lung disease, cancer, etc) and disruptions to food systems.
Despite all this and our robust participation in the talks, Pakistan is unlikely to give up plastics any time soon, especially considering the economics. In 2020, there were more than 11,000 plastic processing and manufacturing companies in the country, contributing 15pc to GDP as well as 15pc of national tax revenues that year. More than 500,000 workers are directly employed in the plastics manufacturing sector. And with national plastic demand growing by 15pc each year, one can assume these numbers are increasing.
Rather than posture in the hope of attracting green finance, Pakistan needs to seriously rethink its relationship with plastic. On paper, we are headed in the right direction — we joined the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership in 2022 and launched a National Action Roadmap to Reduce Plastic Pollution this year, which commits to reducing mismanaged waste by over 75pc by 2040.
But in the case of plastic pollution, intentions must be judged by actions. For example, repeated efforts to ban single-use plastic bags have faltered due to weak enforce-
ment, a lack of public awareness on the harms of plastic pollution, the fragmentation of plastic policies and legal frameworks at federal and provincial levels, and the paucity of affordable, practical alternatives (admittedly, more recent bans, such as the one in Islamabad, have met with greater success).
Pakistan should go back to basics, ready for a sustainable approach to plastics. To start, we need an approach to waste collection that is consistently applied across the country, including an expansion of collection services and facilities for sorting and treating waste. Then come plans for recycling, disposal, upcycling, zero waste. Our road to less plastic pollution is long, and sadly strewn with PET packaging, plastic bags and bottles.
The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.
AS Israel’s military onslaught on Gaza intensifies, targeting and assassinating journalists is part of its genocidal campaign. Last week, four Al Jazeera journalists were killed in cold blood, among them Anas al-Sharif, the most prominent face on the global television network who had courageously been reporting on the catastrophic war and famine conditions in Gaza. The journalists were killed in a drone attack on a makeshift media tent outside Al-Shifa hospital. Targeting journalists is a war crime but Israel has acted with impunity and has long shown contempt for international humanitarian law or norms.
The Israeli military has been carrying out deliberate assaults on journalists since its war on Gaza began nearly two years ago. According to the UN, 242 journalists have been killed in that period, which is described as the highest number in any conflict. Israel’s military claimed responsibility for the murder of Anas al-Sharif saying he was a “Hamas terrorist” — a patently false allegation that Al Jazeera vehemently denied. Labelling journalists as militants is a disingenuous tactic Israel has always used. According to the Israeli-Palestinian news outlet ‘+972 magazine’ Israel’s military has a special unit charged with identifying journalists to ‘smear’ as Hamas members and target them.
The killings of journalists sparked global outrage. UN Secretary General António Guterres denounced it and the UN’s Human Rights Office called it a grave breach of international law. Journalists’ bodies and human rights organisations, including Reporters without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists all issued strong condemnations of these extrajudicial murders and called for accountability and international action to stop Israel. There have been worldwide protests over the killings.
Clearly, Israel’s intent is to silence voices and prevent media coverage of the atrocities and war crimes it is committing in Gaza as well as the mass starvation it has subjected Palestinians to. Suppressing the truth is a time-old practice of occupying forces, but it is always in vain. Despite Israel’s ban on the international media from reporting from Gaza, the world knows exactly what’s happening there, thanks to brave local journalists who have risked their lives to report the atrocities. Pictures of starving children have been on television screens across the world and video footage of Israeli soldiers firing on desperate aid-seekers have gone viral on social media. This, in fact, is the most documented genocide in history.
Even though Israel faces global isolation, US backing enables it to continue its genocidal war.
Israel has stepped up both its military offensive and its war on truth ahead of its planned takeover of Gaza City leading to the full occupation of Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his plan for the military capture of Gaza City earlier this month with Israel’s military given the go-ahead to launch an offensive to achieve this objective. This prompted worldwide condemnation with UN officials warning it would lead to “unimaginable suffering” and “another calamity”, which would reverberate across the region. Arab states, Pakistan, the EU and many Western countries denounced the impending move. In an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Aug 10, China, the UK, France, Russia and other members voiced opposition to the plan and called on Israel to reverse its decision. The only exception was the US, which backed Israel.
The shift in global especially Western opinion against Israel is palpable. It is being driven by the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and Israel’s use of starvation as weapon of war. As a BBC correspondent put it, “Starvation appears to be an inflection point for European countries — a moral impetus to drive their divergent diplomacy.” Last week, the foreign ministers of 27 countries, including over 20 European nations, issued a joint statement demanding that Israel allow unhindered aid into Gaza.
More Western nations are moving towards recognition of a Palestinian state. Australia has followed France, Canada and the UK, who announced plans to recognise Palestinian statehood, even though the UK has qualified that by saying it will refrain from doing so if Israel moves towards ending the war. France’s decision is particularly significant as it is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. These announcements are aimed at raising diplomatic pressure on Israel but haven’t been enough to stop it from continuing the war. As of now, 147 of the UN’s 193 member states recognise the state of Palestine.
The US, of course, remains opposed to recognition, saying that would reward Hamas. This echoes Tel Aviv’s stance. The US position on a two-state solution, which it long supported but is now ambivalent on, isolates it from the rest of the international community and bucks the global consensus reflected in several Security Council resolutions. Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador in Israel said in June — and wasn’t contradicted by the administration — that he did not think a sovereign Palestinian state is still a goal of US foreign policy. If this is the case, then it marks a significant shift in American policy under President Donald Trump. Again, it would be in line with Israel’s complete rejection of a Palestinian state and imply backing Netanyahu’s vision of a ‘Greater Israel’, a notion that has recently been condemned by the OIC.
Despite Israel’s growing global isolation, Netanyahu can ignore that as well as violate international law and continue its ethnic cleansing policy because he can count on unwavering US support. Trump’s oft-repeated desire for a Gaza ceasefire rings hollow as he has done nothing to pressure Israel in this direction. Throughout the war, Washington has extended military, diplomatic and financial support to Israel. It has also backed the militarised aid-distribution system Israel set up, which has been rejected by the UN and is widely seen as ‘death traps’; over 1,400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food at these sites.
All this with no real effort to restrain Netanyahu, has given Israel a licence to do whatever it wants in Gaza. The US has also not dissuaded Tel Aviv from its disastrous plan to take over Gaza City and eventually reoccupy the entire Strip. Washington and the self-proclaimed ‘man of peace’ are fully complicit in the catastrophic situation in Gaza. And the world, for all its condemnations and moral outrage, has been unable to mount real pressure on the US to change course.
The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.
The highly anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin concluded without any definitive results. Prior to the meeting, European stock markets were experiencing gains, defence stocks were declining, and the Euro was strengthening.
Additionally, oil and gold prices were also decreasing amid hopes for peace or a potential ceasefire. While both leaders aimed to make their discussions fruitful, but it ended up with a short joint press briefing without any deal.
The pressing question now is whether the US President will take action, especially since Putin has rejected the ceasefire. Before the meeting, Trump had warned of “very severe consequences” for Russia. This raises the possibility of increased arms supply to Ukraine and further restrictions on Russian oil exports.
However, President Trump appears to be adopting a more cautious stance, indicating he might postpone any punitive measures against Russia, having suggested a delay in his plans.
He stated, “There is no deal until there is a deal.” Should the situation remain unchanged, China, as a major oil importer from Russia, stands to gain significantly.
Following the nearly three-hour dialogue and a late joint press conference, the full impact of the Trump-Putin discussions on the financial markets will be somewhat clearer today (Monday).
Nevertheless, the overall sentiment appears positive, indicating that this may not be the final opportunity for the two leaders to meet.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, last week, while the US consumer price index (CPI) fell within expected ranges, the Core CPI, a more reliable indicator of inflation trends, increased unexpectedly from 2.9% to 3.1%. Although it excludes food and energy costs, it still reflects the effects of tariffs, which can ripple through the economy. This may help explain the recent spike in the monthly producer price index (PPI) to its highest level in three years. Current data indicates that inflation expectations could remain elevated due to tariff impacts.
The market has fully factored in a 25 basis point rate cut, although the US administration continues to advocate for a more significant reduction.
It is noteworthy that following the release of US economic figures last week, the expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut have dropped from 94% to 84%. The previous week, those expectations had surged to 100%. Meanwhile, the 10-year US Treasury yields, which were lower earlier in the day, increased by 2.7 basis points to 4.319%, and the 30-year yield rose by 3.8% to 4.921%.
While after the earlier week’s disappointing payroll figures, Trump swiftly nominated E. J. Antoni, considered a conservative economist, as the new head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, aiming to ensure that future data is accurately reported. While Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s term concludes in May 2026.
With a 25 basis point cut already factored in and the outcome of the Trump/Putin meeting still uncertain, the financial markets are likely to experience confusion and indecision regarding their future trajectory. This uncertainty might lead to volatility in gold and oil prices to some extent, particularly because China and India have been major buyers of oil from Russia, which is tied to US tariff policies.
Gold prices might fluctuate significantly, as the easing of prices following the Alaska summit was driven by hopes for a positive outcome that ultimately did not materialize.
Some matters have been resolved, such as the absence of tariffs on Swiss gold bars and a 90-day agreement between the US and China to postpone the ongoing trade conflict.
This week, investors and traders will turn their attention to the Jackson Hole gathering, where central bankers are scheduled to speak. Focus will surely be on Federal Reserve Chairman Powell.
Unless there are any surprises, the speakers are expected to adopt a balanced stance.
Thus, in addition to the Jackson Hole meeting, the market will be monitoring US PMI data and the FOMC minutes closely this week.
WEEKLY OUTLOOK — Aug 18-22
GOLD @ $ 3335.50— Gold should hold a support level between $ 3298-03 if it breaks $ 3312-15 to reach $ 3355-58 levels. A break on the upside could lead to a move towards $ 3378 zones. If it doesn’t hold the support level, it may drop to $ 3288.
EURO @ 1.1698— While it may not be the preferred option, Euro must break above the resistance level of 1.1785 to reach 1.1840. If it cannot move past this resistance, it could decline towards the range of 1.1550-60.
GBP @ 1.3552— Pound Sterling is expected to rise and stabilise around 1.3472, aiming for levels between 1.3635-45. If it breaks through this range, it could reach 1.3690. However, if it drops below the support level, it might fall to around 1.3410.
JPY @ 147.20— The support level at 146.25 should remain intact. USD needs to rise above 148.40 to achieve additional gains, which looks tough. Otherwise, the pair might fall to 145.70.
On August 6, 2025, US President Donald Trump, signed an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 per cent ad valorem tariff on all Indian imports into the US, raising the overall tariffs to 50 per cent.
The White House’s official justification was India’s ongoing purchases of, both direct and indirect, Russian oil, which Washington argues undermines US-led efforts to isolate Moscow over its conflict with Ukraine.
While official justification has targeted the oil trade, the move seems driven by a broader, more punitive aim of pressuring India. The real US concern is not just India’s Russian oil imports, but its growing audacity to pursue foreign policy choices, especially those that challenge US dominance and favour a multipolar world. This indicates that India’s ‘multi-alignment’ strategy is now facing a major stress test.
While it seems ideal to keep many friends and not put all eggs in one basket, the way India has pursued this strategy in today’s sharply divided geopolitical climate has been difficult to sustain by New Delhi. Trump’s recent tariffs and threat of more tariffs as well as Indian response is more so a proof of such an environment.
So far, New Delhi has avoided direct countermeasures like reciprocal tariffs. Rather, soon after the additional tariffs were imposed, India rallied the support of countries equally targeted by Washington’s trade policies. This has brought renewed diplomatic energy into forums like the BRICS and the SCO, both of which offer platforms for collective solidarity and resistance to the US-led world order.
BRICS for instance is seeing a new momentum. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed a BRICS-level discussion to counter Trump’s tariffs. This is because both Brazil and India face 50 per cent tariffs from Washington. President Lula and PM Modi’s phone call, as well as the confirmed state level visit of President Lula to India in early 2026, indicate convergence on subjects beyond trade. This hints towards BRICS potential transformation from an economic bloc to a potential political counterweight to the West.
Analysts have warned that penalising the ‘least anti-US’ BRICS member could prompt India to be even less cautious in its engagement with the bloc and advancing its de-dollarisation agenda. This may also push India closer to China despite longstanding Sino-Indian tensions, they argue.
In light of this, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to China after seven years to attend the SCO meeting is widely read as a signal to Washington’s pressure and India’s impudence to its strategic partner. China too has endorsed India’s position claiming that “India’s sovereignty is non-negotiable” and its foreign policy choices cannot be “manipulated” by other countries, no matter how significant their own ties with India are.
The memory of tariffs and threats may fade, but India’s rallying of the anti-US bloc might continue to prove it to be an unreliable partner
New Delhi and Beijing’s kindling might give a temporary tactical healing to India but it remains unlikely that India and China can find common ground at the SCO forum. India remains opposed to China’s key regional interests such as the BRI, CPEC. This indicates that inching towards China will not cover the foreign policy ditches created due to India’s ‘multi-alignment policy’.
Lastly, despite US strict measures, India is going about business-as-usual with Russia. Amidst all the chaos, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar’s upcoming Moscow visit also underlines New Delhi’s determination to disregard the US measures and reinforced ties with Russia.
Rather, the two sides reportedly are engaged in talks on Russian oil, S-400 missile defence system, and the upcoming Modi-Putin Summit. This indicates a growing Indo-Russia convergence. While Russia can provide political cover and energy resources, it cannot match the US in terms of market access, advanced technology or global clout. This would make it challenging for India to juggling the ties between the US and Russia, and ignore Washington’s measures that easily.
This is because both Washington and New Delhi are relevant in each other’s capitals due to Washington’s assigned role for India as a counterweight to China, and India’s need for advanced defence technologies from the US and the Western partners. However, the recent episode could leave lasting scars and feed into US scepticism about New Delhi as a reliable partner, impacting future deals and negotiations.
For Washington, mistrust towards India deepened after the foiled plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader on US soil was linked to Indian operatives. More recently, New Delhi’s constant refusal of Trump’s role in the ceasefire in the India-Pakistan May 2025 conflict has agitated President Trump. For India, President Trump’s offer to resolve the Jammu & Kashmir dispute and the revival of US-Pakistan relations has had an unsettling effect in New Delhi as this rendered Islamabad strategically relevant in Washington again.
History suggests that India and the US have weathered such storms but this one could be different due to India’s growing defiance and inflexibility. While it remains unsure if India can garner enough support for its agenda at the SCO forum, BRICS could be a potential rally point for India, not because it might offer an alternative to US partnership, but because it provides comparatively more diplomatic leverage due to convergence with Russia and Brazil.
In the near term, the India-US partnership might not collapse due to large stakes but it will operate under another layer of mistrust. The memory of tariffs and threats may fade, but India’s rallying of the anti-US bloc might continue to prove it to be an unreliable partner.
The writer is a research analyst in emerging technologies and international security. She tweets/posts @MaheenShafeeq
An undated image of Iran’s capital Tehran. — AFP/File
Tehran: The streets of Tehran have become a confusing maze for driver Farshad Fooladi amid widespread GPS disruption, still ongoing nearly two months after the end of Iran and Israel’s unprecedented 12-day war.
“For weeks I have been unable to work,” said Fooladi, who uses Iran’s homegrown ride-hailing app Snapp to find customers. “Most of the time was wasted wandering around aimlessly,” the 35-year-old Iranian driver added.
Unprecedented disruption has plagued users of GPS, which stands for Global Positioning System, in Iran since Israel’s surprise attack in mid-June which triggered a deadly 12-day war. Iran’s communications ministry has said the disruptions were necessary for “security and military purposes”, without giving further explanation.
Missiles, drones and rockets often use GPS or other similar technologies, which involve triangulating signals from multiple satellites, to find their targets.
Iran has long employed GPS jamming and spoofing around sensitive military sites but the recent disruptions have been the most sustained and widespread.
It remains unclear how long the measures will last or how much damage they have caused to Iranian businesses.
Ride-hailing apps, delivery platforms, and even basic mapping services like Google Maps and its Iranian equivalent Neshan have buckled under the interference.
In many areas, especially around Tehran, users often spot themselves on the maps hundreds of kilometres away from their actual locations.
“To get around, you either need a sharp memory for routes or already know the city well,” Fooladi said.
But the driver, originally from the western Lorestan province and less familiar with the capital’s winding backstreets, frequently finds himself running into dead ends.
“I only pick up passengers who know the directions, “ he said, adding the strategy had severely cut his income.
In early August, the chief executive of the Neshan mapping app, Javad Amel, said in a video interview that daily disruptions through GPS spoofing had been ongoing for years, especially in Tehran.
But he explained in recent weeks that Neshan’s daily active users “had dropped by 15 percent, while navigation activity on the app fell by 20 percent”.
The continued disruption has heightened fears of a deepening economic crisis among Iranians.
The Islamic republic’s economy is already struggling under the weight of decades of international sanctions and mismanagement, compounded by the revival of US President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign earlier this year.
Nuclear talks with Washington, which began in April, have also stalled since the United States joined its ally Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites in June.
“This war has upended our lives and frozen our future plans,” said Fooladi.
In a report last week, the Khabar Online news agency warned against the disruption of GPS, saying it caused “collateral damage” to the digital economy and public safety, including delays to emergency services.
Former communications minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi argued the disruption was costly and would likely have limited defensive results.
“Drone manufacturers and operators are not stupid either. If the GPS is disrupted and another positioning system replaces it, they will also use the new system,” Jahromi said according to his Telegram channel.
With the significant impact on civilian lives, deputy communications minister Ehsan Chitsaz suggested that Iran could consider alternatives to GPS.
“Disruptions are created by domestic systems on GPS, and this has pushed us toward alternative options such as BeiDou,” he told Iranian daily Ham Mihan in July.
The Chinese satellite system BeiDou, fully operational since 2020, is emerging as a global rival to the US-built and operated GPS.
Chitsaz said Iran was “drafting a program” so some of the country’s location-based services for transport, agriculture could “gradually migrate from GPS to BeiDou”.
He acknowledged disruptions in Iran, coupled with years-long internet restrictions, have damaged businesses and created “social distrust and despair”.
But experts say that replacing GPS would be complex.
“Doing so would require extensive and costly infrastructure changes,” said Amir Rashidi of the US-based Miaan group, adding that Iran is currently “highly vulnerable in cyberspace”.
Many in Iran believe that another confrontation with Israel is on the horizon as Israel and the United States continue to threaten attacks if Iran restarts its nuclear programme, which has been on hold since the war.
“Everything is uncertain, and we can’t plan. The future is unclear,” said Mohammad Hossein Ghanbari, a 32-year-old Snapp driver. “We don’t know whether the war will break out again or what will happen next.”
Trinidad and Tobago pays tribute to the nation’s Afro-descendant community on Emancipation Day, which marks the ending of slavery throughout the British Empire
Augustine Ogbo works as a doctor, treating patients in clinics across the striking Caribbean island of St Lucia.
When he returns to his home in the coastal town of Rodney Bay, he clocks in for his second job – as the owner and solo chef of a Nigerian takeaway.
“Egusi soup and fufu, that’s more popular… they love jollof rice too,” Dr Ogbo says, reeling off a list of his customers’ favourite dishes.
The 29-year-old hails from Nigeria – population 230 million – but crossed the Atlantic for St Lucia – population 180,000 – to train as a doctor in 2016.
He set up his home-based takeaway, named Africana Chops, in 2022, after being incessantly asked by his St Lucian friends for Nigerian fare.
The takeaway is now thriving, Dr Ogbo tells the BBC, and not just because his island customers think the food is tasty.
“They know that we all have the same ancestral origin. So most of the time, they want to get in touch with that,” Dr Ogbo explains, adding that interest in African culture has grown “tremendously” since he arrived almost a decade ago.
St Lucia is not alone in this phenomenon.
Across the Caribbean, the desire to reconnect with the population’sAfrican heritage appears to have strengthened over the past few years.
People across the Caribbean have been expressing African pride through cultural means, such as food, clothing and travel, while governments and institutions from both sides of the Atlantic have been meeting to forge economic ties.
Africa has had a long presence in the Caribbean.
A significant part of the islands’ population descended from enslaved West and Central Africans, who were forcibly transported to the Caribbean by European merchants in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Slavery was abolished in much of the Caribbean during the 1800s, while independence from European powers came the following century.
The descendants of enslaved people retained some African customs, but largely developed their own standalone cultures, which differ from island to island.
In the past, there have been major campaigns to encourage African pride, as Dorbrene O’Marde, who runs the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission, says.
“It was particularly strong in the 1930s or so, and then again in the 1960s – we saw a major outpouring in sync with the [American] black power movement during that period,” he says, talking to the BBC on the island of Antigua.
Mr O’Marde believes the Caribbean is witnessing a renewed, more promising version of such “pan-Africanism” (a term used to describe the idea that people of African descent should be unified).
“It has widened beyond psychological and cultural themes and we are now talking in broader economic terms, such as stronger transportation links between the Caribbean and Africa,” he says.
“We are in a different phase now of pan-Africanism – one that’s not going to wane like before.”
EPA/Shutterstock
The cultural ties are strong but new trends on social media, as well as African musicians going global, have excited a new generation
One thing that separates this wave of African pride from the ones that came before is social media.
Dennis Howard, an entertainment and cultural enterprise lecturer at the University of the West Indies, says a “significant” amount of Jamaicans are connecting with Africa through platforms such as TikTok.
“People are learning more about black history beyond slavery,” he tells the BBC from his home in the Jamaican capital, Kingston.
Mr Howard also points to the global rise of Afrobeats, a musical genre from Nigeria and Ghana.
He feels that in Jamaica specifically, the popularity of Afrobeats is partly down to a desire to reconnect with the continent.
“Through the music videos, [Jamaicans] are seeing certain parts of Africa are similar to Jamaica and are developed. We had a concept of Africa as this place where it is backward and it’s pure dirt road… the music is changing that.”
Asked about the view of some Jamaican commenters online – that islanders do not need to reclaim their African heritage as they have an equally valid, hard-won Jamaican heritage of their own – Mr Howard stresses that the two are not distinct.
“Our whole culture is African, with a little sprinkling of Indian and European and Chinese. But for the most part it is African-derived. It is the most dominant part of our culture,” he says.
Those leaning into their African heritage are not just consuming the culture, but actually getting on flights and exploring the continent first-hand.
The tourism authority in Ghana – once a major departure point for enslaved Africans being shipped to the Caribbean – told the BBC there had been a “notable increase” in holidaymakers from the islands in recent years.
Similarly, Werner Gruner, South Africa’s consul to the Bahamas, says that over the past two or three years, his office has seen a rise in local people travelling to South Africa, Ghana and Kenya.
“I see a lot of interest in safaris and I think people also start to realise that South Africa and other African countries are actually very well developed,” Mr Gruner says.
EPA
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar (second from the right) wore a Nigeria-inspired outfit when she met African dignitaries on Emancipation Day
Even Burkina Faso, an economically struggling country under military rule that is not well known for tourism, is apparently on some people’s buckets lists. Mr O’Marde says some of his countrypeople want to visit the country because of the pan-African leanings of its leader, Ibrahim Traoré.
Getting to the mother continent from the Caribbean can, however, be complicated, with travellers often forced to fly via Europe.
Earlier this year, in a speech in which she referred to herself as a “daughter of Africa”, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley called for the construction of “air and sea bridges” between Africa and the Caribbean.
“Let us make these changes, not just for heads of state, but for ordinary people who wish to trade, travel, and forge a shared future,” she said.
Key institutions like the African Union, African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have been working on the “trade” angle, hosting conferences and setting up memorandums of understanding with their Caribbean counterparts.
Afreximbank says trade between the two regions could jump from around $730m (£540m) to $1.8bn (£1.33bn) by 2028, provided the right conditions are achieved.
But at the moment, Africa and the Caribbean have some of the lowest indicators in the world for transport infrastructure, logistics quality and customs efficiency, according to the World Bank.
In an attempt to reduce trade barriers, the prime minsters of Grenada and the Bahamas this year called for Africa and the Caribbean to launch a shared currency.
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis told delegates at an Afreximbank meeting in Nigeria they should “seriously” consider a single digital currency, while Grenada’s Dickon Mitchell said: “Such a move would symbolically and practically affirm our shared identity not just as trading partners, but as members of a truly global Africa”.
Getting more than 60 countries to coordinate and launch a standard system would be no easy feat, but Mitchell said this must be done if the regions are to “take control of [their] own future”.
Back in St Lucia, Dr Ogbo says his attempts to bring egusi, fufu and jollof to local people are a small but worthy contribution to the strengthening of relations between Africa and the Caribbean.
In June, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed various cooperation agreements with St Lucia during a state visit and Dr Ogbo sees Africana Chops as an extension of that.
“I can say I’m working hand-in-hand with the Nigerian government and even the St Lucian government to promote the African culture,” he says.
The doctor and businessman is now trying to upgrade his food business to a full-fledged restaurant – and he hopes the “cultural exchange” between Africa and the Caribbean also goes from strength to strength.
“It’s awesome!” he says. “I’m really, really excited about that.”
LAHORE: Acting Chinese Consul General in Lahore Cao Ke has said that China and Pakistan as key members of the Global South and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, jointly defend sovereignty and territorial integrity.
This was stated by him at a seminar to mark 80th anniversary of the Chinese victory in World War-II here on Sunday.
The Chinese people, he said, won the great victory of this devastating war and restored Taiwan from the illegal occupation, declaring complete victory in the `World Anti-Fascist War.’
Former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan said that contributions and sacrifices of China in World War II were far greater than those countries that exploited the war’s outcomes and used them to serve their own interests, mostly Western allies.
Former Air Vice Chief Sajid Habib recalled that the city of Lahore had played a role in the independence of China as hundreds of Chinese pilots were trained at the Walton airport and they served in the Chinese War of resistance.
Recalling the remarkable harmony among the nation during the 1965 war, he called for forging unity in the present time, stressing that no leader was above the national interest, an apparent reference to Imran Khan.
Remembering that ‘stage-managed’ Manchurian attack had been used as an excuse by Japan to attack China, former rear admiral N.A. Rizvi said that India too used Pulwama and then Pahalgam incidents as pretexts to wage a war against Pakistan.
PU Pakistan Study Centre Director Prof Dr Amjad Abbas Magsi emphasized that the world must recognize China’s immense sacrifices in WW-II and its role in containing fascism. These sacrifices, he said, helped reshape the world.
PU History and Pak Studies department Chairperson Prof Dr Ruksana Iftikhar and educationist Dr Iftikhar-ul-Haq said that Chinese war of resistance and the recovery of Taiwan were defining moments that left profound lessons and a lasting legacy for China and the world.
FARYAB: Over four decades of war, Afghanistan wielded limited control over five major river basins that flow across its borders into downstream neighbouring nations.
But as Taliban authorities swept to power and tightened their grip on the country, they have pushed for Afghanistan’s water sovereignty, launching infrastructure projects to harness precious resources in the arid territory.
Dams and canals have sparked tensions with neighbouring states, testing the Taliban authorities’ efforts to build strong regional ties, as they remain largely isolated on the global stage since their 2021 takeover.
At the same time, the region is facing the shared impacts of climate change intensifying water scarcity, as temperatures rise and precipitation patterns shift, threatening glaciers and snowpack that feed the country’s rivers.
Here are key points about Afghanistan’s transboundary water challenges:
Central Asian states to the north
Afghanistan is emerging as a new player in often fraught negotiations on the use of the Amu Darya, one of two key rivers crucial for crops in water-stressed Central Asia, where water sharing relies on fragile accords since Soviet times. Central Asian states have expressed concern over the Qosh Tepa mega canal project that could divert up to 21 per cent of the Amu Darya’s total flow to irrigate 560,000 hectares of land across Afghanistan’s arid north, and further deplete the Aral Sea.
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are likely to face the biggest impact, both joined by Kazakhstan in voicing alarm, even as they deepen diplomatic ties with the Taliban authorities — officially recognised so far by only Russia.
“No matter how friendly the tone is now,” water governance expert Mohd Faizee warned, “at some point there will be consequences for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan when the canal starts operating”. Taliban officials have denied that the project will have a major impact on the Amu Darya’s water levels and pledged it will improve food security in a country heavily dependent on climate-vulnerable agriculture and facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
“There is an abundance of water, especially when the Amu Darya floods and glacial meltwater flows into it” in the warmer months, said project manager Sayed Zabihullah Miri, during a visit to the canal works in Faryab province, where diggers carved into a drought-ridden plain dotted with camels and locusts.
Iran to the west
Iran is the only country with which Afghanistan has a formal water sharing treaty, agreed in 1973 over the Helmand river, which traverses Taliban heartland territory, but the accord was never fully implemented.
Longstanding tensions over the river’s resources have spiked over dams in southern Afghanistan, particularly in periods of drought, which are likely to increase as climate shocks hit the region’s water cycle.
Iran, facing pressure in its parched southeastern region, has repeatedly demanded that Afghanistan respect its rights, charging that upstream dams restrict the Helmand’s flow into a border lake.
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Sunday it targeted an energy infrastructure site in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, linked to the Houthi rebels behind repeated attacks on Israel during the Gaza conflict.
A military statement said Israeli forces “struck… deep inside Yemen, targeting an energy infrastructure site that served the Houthi regime” in the area of the rebel-held capital, without naming the site.
The Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV, citing a civil defence source, reported “an aggression targeting the Haziz power station” south of the city. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
A photographer reported significant damage at the site. An employee of the power station said that “two aggressive strikes by the Israeli enemy” hit the site in the early morning, but there were no casualties.
The Houthis have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel, claiming to be acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Most Houthi attacks have been intercepted, but have prompted Israeli air strikes on rebel targets in Yemen.
The military said its latest “strikes were conducted in response to repeated attacks” by the Houthis.
On Sunday afternoon, the Israeli military said it intercepted another missile fired from Yemen, after sirens went off in several regions. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree later claimed the attack for the group, saying they had targeted Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport with a ballistic missile.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X that the Houthis would “pay with compound interest for every attempt to fire at Israel” and that Israel was “imposing an air and sea blockade” on the group. In June, Katz threatened a blockade, without any notable follow up.
Beyond attacks on Israel, the Houthis have also targeted ships they say are Israeli-linked in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden off Yemen.
The Iran-backed group broadened its campaign to target ships tied to the United States and Britain after the two countries began military strikes aimed at securing the waterway in January 2024.
In May, the rebels cemented a ceasefire with the United States that ended weeks of intense US strikes, but vowed to continue targeting Israeli ships.
