Category: 2. World

Vladimir Putin has said any western troops placed in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” for Russian strikes, upping the stakes as Kyiv’s allies scramble to come up with a convincing offer of post-war support to Ukraine.

Speaking a day after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced still-vague plans for a package of support for Ukraine backed by 26 nations, Putin on Friday said any guarantees that involved boots on the ground would violate Moscow’s long-standing objections to Nato troops in Ukraine.

“Therefore, if some troops appear there, especially now, during military operations, we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for destruction,” Putin told an economic forum in Vladivostok.

While there is little sign that Donald Trump’s efforts to forge a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine conflict are any closer to success, European leaders have been trying to draw up security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a future deal.

Thursday’s meeting of 35 leaders in Paris was meant to finalise how the guarantees might look and to ask the US for support in implementing them. But many European countries, including Germany, Spain and Italy, have refused to provide troop commitments.

Even among those who are willing to put boots on the ground, initial suggestions earlier this year of a peacekeeping mission that could police a ceasefire line was quickly scaled back to a “reassurance force” that would be stationed far from the front and provide training rather than combat assistance.

On Thursday, Macron announced that 26 nations had pledged to provide post-war security guarantees to Kyiv, which would include a land, sea and air presence. “The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” Macron said, during a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Élysée Palace in Paris.

Speaking in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod on Friday, Zelenskyy suggested the plans would involve a significant western force stationed in the country. “It is important that we are discussing all this … it will definitely be in the thousands, not just a few,” he said, after meeting the European Council president António Costa.

However, Putin knows that western countries are unwilling to go to war over Ukraine, and his threats on Friday look designed to further spook European capitals on the escalatory dangers of committing troops.

Trump has vacillated over what support the US might provide for such a mission. At a meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders the day before he met Putin in Alaska, he appeared to promise some kind of US involvement but many are still blurry on the details.

On Friday, NBC reported that the US could be willing to take the lead monitoring a demilitarised buffer zone around the frontlines after a ceasefire, with ground troops possibly provided by non-Nato countries.

But all such plans are highly hypothetical and rely on Moscow and Kyiv agreeing to a deal to end the war, which does not currently appear to be close. Trump has set a number of deadlines for progress to be made towards peace but all of them have passed with little result. After meeting in Putin in Alaska last month, Trump said he hoped Putin and Zelenskyy would meet one on one, followed by a three-way meeting.

Zelenskyy has long said he is willing to meet with Putin, but the Kremlin has prevaricated and said the conditions are not yet there for a meeting. On Friday, Putin said it would be “practically impossible” to reach an agreement with Ukraine, rendering a meeting pointless, but claimed he was open to meeting anyway, as long as Zelenskyy travelled to Moscow. “I said: I’m ready, please, come, we will definitely provide working conditions and security, a 100% guarantee,’” he said.

“We are ready for any kind of meetings. But we don’t feel that Putin is ready to end this war,” said Zelenskyy on Friday, without directly addressing whether he would be prepared to travel to Moscow.

A 2019 mission in North Korea, which intended to have Navy SEALs plant an electronic device to intercept communications of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, resulted in an unsuccessful operation that left unarmed North Koreans dead, according to a report from the New York Times on Friday.

The mission, which took place during President Donald Trump’s first term, required the president’s direct approval, the Times reports, and came amid high-level nuclear talks between the US and North Korea.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment. CNN has also reached out to the ​US Special Operations Command and North Korea’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York for comment on the report.

According to the Times, SEAL Team Six’s Red Squadron rehearsed for months for a plan that would require the Navy to slip a nuclear-powered submarine into North Korean waters, alongside two mini-subs of SEALs who would motor along the shore before swimming to the target to install the electronic device.

The SEAL Team Six, which is a secretive US military unit formed in 1980, has worked on a range of secret, dangerous and high-risk missions, including carrying out the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

The Times reports when a North Korean boat, which evidence later suggested were two or three North Korean civilians diving for shellfish, approached in the water during the operation, the SEALs opened fire and killed them. The report also states the Trump administration did not notify key members of Congress.

The relationship between the United States and North Korea, a country that is highly isolated, has been rocky over the years. Trump issued an ultimatum to North Korea in 2017 to not make any more threats against the US or they will “face fire and fury like the world has never seen.” His warning came as US intelligence analysts assessed North Korea had produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead at the time.

Kim and Trump would go on to exchange a series of flatteries and letters in 2018 and 2019 after the significant tensions in 2017. They then would participate in a series of unprecedented summits in 2018 with fulsome declarations of a new friendship but vague pledges of nuclear disarmament.

In 2019, Trump would make history as the first sitting US leader to set foot in the hermit kingdom, when he shook hands with Kim and took 20 steps into North Korea. Biden’s administration, meanwhile, would take a different strategy, CNN reported at the time, focused on shows of strength and unity with South Korea as well as incremental progress toward denuclearization.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The US has ordered the deployment of ten fighter jets to join the fight against drug cartels in the Caribbean, according to two sources briefed on the matter.

The F-35s will bolster the already beefed-up US military presence there, following a pledge by US President Donald Trump to crack down on gangs he says are funnelling drugs to America.

According to Reuters, the 10 jets are being sent to conduct operations against designated narco-terrorist organisations operating in the southern Caribbean – and should arrive in the area by late next week.

They will be based at an airfield in Puerto Rico.

It is a move likely to further inflame tensions in the region as it comes three days after US forces attacked a boat that Trump said was carrying “massive amounts of drugs” from Venezuela, killing 11 people.

The strike appeared to set the stage for a sustained military campaign in Latin America.

During a visit to Ecuador on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “We’re not just going to hunt for drug dealers or their little fast boats and say let’s try to arrest them.

“No…the president has said he wants to wage war on these groups because they’ve been waging war on us for 30 years and no one has responded.”

The US has deployed seven warships and one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks.

US Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.

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The build-up has put pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who Mr Rubio described as “a narcotrafficker”.

“He is a fugitive of US justice,” he added. “He’s not the legitimate leader of Venezuela. We never recognised him. He is an indicted fugitive causing trouble in the region.”

But Mr Maduro, at a rare news conference in Caracas this week, said the United States was “seeking a regime change through military threat”.

US officials have not said what legal justification was used for Tuesday’s air strike on the boat or what drugs were on board.

Israel’s forces have destroyed a high-rise tower in a densely populated part of Gaza City and have warned of further attacks to multi-storey buildings as it intensifies its campaign to seize control of the capital.

On Friday, the Israeli military ordered people in Mushtaha Tower, a 12-storey building located on the western side of Gaza City and surrounded by hundreds of makeshift tents, to evacuate, and later struck the building, claiming it was “Hamas infrastructure” and was used to plan and carry out operations against Israeli forces.

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Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the building was one of the biggest high-rises in the heart of Gaza City.

“Israeli forces hit it with two air strikes – the first was a warning and then it was hit again with another F-16 strike,” she said.

The management of the Mushtaha Tower has denied Israeli claims that the high-rise was being used by Hamas fighters, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. The building’s management said the site was only accessible to displaced people.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, also reporting from Deir el-Balah, said a number of civilians were wounded in the Israeli attack on the 12-storey tower and were transported to al-Shifa Hospital to receive emergency treatment.

“The shock wave of the attack spread over the entire area, triggering chaos. A number of makeshift tents have been affected by the attack, which signals a new phase of the Israeli military campaign,” he said.

‘Gates of hell are opening’

Prior to the attack on the tower, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X that Israel’s military activity in Gaza City is intensifying. He said the “gates of hell are opening now” in Gaza and warned that they will not be closed until Hamas “accepts Israel’s conditions for ending the war – led by the release of all the hostages and disarmament”.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said Israel’s attacks on high-rises in the region are not yet over.

He said another five-storey building is facing Israel’s forced evacuation order.

“This is a building near a gas station and the YMCA, a nonprofit organisation. People are being given a short amount of time to evacuate,” he said.

Military analyst Elijah Magnier told Al Jazeera that Israel is targeting high-rise buildings in Gaza to minimise its potential troop casualties when they advance on the ground, while also spreading “panic and fear” among the civilian population.

“It also has a psychological advantage,” he noted. “Destroying the skyline creates shock, disorientation, fear and panic among civilians” who have “no visibility of the future or when this war will end”.

“This is a preparation to occupy Gaza City,” he said.

‘The operation will continue’

On Friday, an Israeli military spokesperson claimed that Israel controls 40 percent of Gaza City.

“We continue to damage Hamas’s infrastructure. Today we hold 40 percent of the territory of Gaza City,” Israeli Brigadier General Effie Defrin told a news conference, naming the Zeitoun and Sheikh Radwan neighbourhoods. “The operation will continue to expand and intensify in the coming days.”

Israeli forces killed at least 44 people across Gaza on Friday, with at least seven children killed in attacks in Gaza City alone.

Al Jazeera’s Khoudary said Palestinians have begun heading south due to the attacks in Gaza City.

“Tents have been filling up in az-Zawayda, al-Mawasi, Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah,” she said. “Palestinians must either survive by going south or stay in Gaza City – and we do not know what’s going to happen if they stay. There’s fear and desperation here.”

Palestinian and United Nations officials, however, say nowhere is safe in Gaza, including areas Israel designates as humanitarian zones.

Since the start of Israel’s war in October 2023, at least 64,231 people have been killed and 161,583 wounded across Gaza. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and about 200 were taken captive.

Hamas releases video of two hostages

On Friday, Hamas released a video of two Israeli captives seized from a music festival in Israel in October 2023. Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel are two of 48 people still being held by Hamas in Gaza, with 20 thought to be still alive.

The video was edited and featured an exhausted-looking Gilboa-Dalal speaking for around three-and-a-half minutes. He says he is being held in Gaza City along with several other captives and that he is afraid of being killed by Israel’s offensive on the city.

Gilboa-Dalal appears to be in the backseat of a car that is being driven around. As the car passes by buildings, he identifies one as belonging to the Red Cross. At one point, Ohel is also seen.

After the release of the video, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on X urged Israeli negotiators to resume truce talks on a deal to secure the captives.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have also staged weekly demonstrations calling for an end to the war to secure the release of the remaining captives.

Those freed so far were released as a result of diplomatic negotiations mediated by the United States and Arab states, but the last round of talks collapsed in July.

While Hamas has said it would accept the proposal put forward in July that would see the release of some captives in exchange for a temporary ceasefire, Netanyahu has been pushing for an all-or-nothing deal with Hamas in which the group releases all captives and surrenders.

KARACHI: During a two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)’s summit held recently in China, China’s President Xi Jinping announced the Global Governance Initiative (GGI). Economic nationalists and strategists dub the GGI as a new world order. Pakistan can stand to benefit from such regional and global formations, they said while talking to Business Recorder.

Economic strategist and regional expert Dr Mehmoodul Hassan Khan said the ‘Shanghai Spirit’ features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and the pursuit of common development, as the bedrock of regional cooperation of the SCO.

He believes the SCO’s participation in regional e-commerce, digitalization, modernization and social development have been both impressive and indispensable, in stark contrast to the Western style of “carrot and stick” diplomacy, Cold War mentality, conditional economic aid, political compulsion and geostrategic preferential arrangements.

He said it has been an instrumental force for global shared prosperity, a regional economic stabilizer, an industrial stimulator and a champion of peace – qualities that dwarf any Western organization, including North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

According to him, “official statistics show that China’s annual bilateral trade with other SCO member states has surpassed $500 billion while its investment stock in other SCO member states has exceeded $84 billion.“

At the recent Tianjin summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to provide 2 billion yuan ($280 million) in grants to SCO member states within this year.

China will also issue an additional 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in loans to the member banks of the SCO Interbank Consortium over the next three years.

Dr Khan said the SCO stands for economic prosperity, trans-regional connectivity and regional integration and being an important member of it, Pakistan can develop and diversify its macro-economy and its bilateral and trilateral relations with all its member countries.

He said Pakistan’s socio-economic drive, with all the member countries of the SCO from Central Asia, has been immensely increased in terms of trade, investment, industrial cooperation, services exports, energy cooperation, joint ventures, people-to-people contacts and enhanced political and diplomatic understanding with each other.

He said interestingly, Pakistan’s national capacity of fighting against terrorism has been further modernized and sustained because of the regional anti-terrorist structure of the SCO, and formation of trilateral dialogue among Pakistan, China and Afghanistan.

According to reports, Pakistan’s foreign trade, remittances, agricultural exports, and energy cooperation have been rising since its inclusion in the SCO a couple of years back.

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According to reports, the combined GDP of SCO members (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus) has reached about $24.6 trillion, accounting for around 23 percent of global GDP and 42 percent of the global population.

In 2024, the total trade volume between China and other SCO member states amounted to 3.65 trillion yuan ($512.4 billion), 36.3 times the level recorded when the organization was established.

Economically, the SCO is gaining momentum, experts say. Its future prospects are bright, indicating a collective nominal GDP of $70.4 trillion and a GDP in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms of $81.8 trillion for the year 2025.

Analysts also say the GGI will further enhance Pakistan’s economy, industrial productivity and socio-economic integration with other SCO members and the ‘GGI Global Family’ in the days to come.

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After its inclusion in the GGI, Pakistan could be in a better position to receive loans and expertise from all the member countries, especially China, Russia, and other big economies.

It would be the first big “systematic” step towards achieving a “strategic equilibrium” in the working, efficacy and productivity of the international world order, catering to the genuine causes and concerns of developing countries. It would be supportive to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), transforming communities, countries and continents in the world.

Pakistan is passing through difficult times because of the ongoing onslaught of severe floods in the country. A World Bank report has also confirmed that Pakistan is highly vulnerable to natural disasters including earthquakes, landslides, and water scarcity all of which greatly damage the country’s infrastructure and, consequently, negatively affect people’s welfare, Unfortunately, Pakistan has been ranked fifth among nations most affected by extreme weather events driven by climate change.

However, SCO Plus and the GGI could facilitate Pakistan to protect its vested interests of economic security, environment balance, ecological diversity and green transformation. Pakistan is one of the biggest importers of solar panels from China, being part of the SCO.

As Pakistan desires to officially launch the CPEC 2.0, the combination of the SCO and GGI could be immensely beneficial for it. Thus there is an urgent need to form Corridor of Disaster Management, Corridor of Anti-Global Warming and Corridor of the protection of glaciers with the SCO and the GGI, analysts say.

Pakistan is also a staunch supporter of SCO Development Bank which could help its local community and social development.

The flood crisis in south Punjab intensified on Friday as with rivers Chenab and Sutlej breaching embankments and submerging dozens of villages. This flood spell has claimed at least 68 lives across the province as per the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and left scores injured.

River water from the Chenab engulfed large parts of Sher Shah in Multan. Flood waves as high as 12 to 14 feet washed away dozens of settlements. Boats were summoned to evacuate stranded families, who had rushed to their rooftops to escape the flood.

Displaced residents from inundated Basti Khoor have set up camp along the Sikandari canal embankment, where many families are living in the open. Tents are limited, and livestock and household goods are scattered along a one-kilometre stretch near the canal. Rescue and relief teams were yet to reach the site by the time this report was filed.

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Meanwhile, Sutlej River swept through dozens of villages in Vehari and Bahawalpur districts. Hundreds of homes, schools and dispensaries were destroyed.

In Vehari, water levels at Head Islam were reported to be 102,000 cusecs, and over 335,000 cusecs at Head Ganda Singh. Discharge at Head Siphon stood at 93,000 cusecs and at Head Mian Haakim outfall touched nearly 200,000 cusecs. Several protective embankments gave away and Kuttabpur Wagi, Jhoke Fazil, Jhoke Jando, Jhoke Sathu, Kaliya Shah and Hasan Shah villages, among others, were completely submerged.

Design by Ibrahim Yahya 

Similarly in Bahawalpur, the Sutlej caused widespread destruction with over 90% of protective embankments collapsing. The flood water surged into over a 100 villages, as high as 100,000 cusecs at Empress Bridge for instance.

Emergency medical support was rolled out through 26 “clinic-on-wheels” units and a field hospital at Jhangra Sharqi. Livestock vaccination campaigns were launched as well. Some 82 schools were converted into temporary relief camps.

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The district administration said around 42,000 people and nearly 25,000 livestock have been relocated. The floods devastated residential settlements besides thousands of acres of sugarcane, maize, sesame crops and fodder.

According to the PDMA, nearly 4,000 mouzas (pieces of land) have been affected across Punjab, leaving near 3.9 million people impacted. Of these, 1.8 million people are evacuaees. Relief agencies have established as many as 416 relief camps, 356 medical camps and 318 veterinary camps. Over 1.3 million livestock has also been moved to safer ground.

Water levels also remained high at Kot Mithan and Rojhan in Rajanpur district. At the former, water level was recorded at 490,000 cusecs. As per PDMA data, since mid-June at least 183 people have died, 646 injured and 237 houses have been destroyed in monsoon rains and flooding across Punjab. As many as 121 cattle have perished. District data shows heavy losses in Bahawalpur, Muzaffargarh and Vehari.