The project was also designed with rigorous environmental and social safeguards and includes a Livelihood Restoration Programme and Resettlement Action Plan, which provides new community infrastructure, including a school and recreational areas.
Sebzor is also the first globally certified project under the Hydropower Sustainability Standard, achieving Gold Certification in March 2023 – cementing its leadership in environmental, social, and governance development.
“This project demonstrates what is possible when local leadership aligns with international cooperation to achieve transformative impact,” says Daler Juma, Tajikistan’s Minister of Energy and Water Resources.
Strengthening the regional grid: Substations and transmission lines
Two additional milestones were celebrated during the inauguration ceremony: the commissioning of the EU-funded 35/110 kV Vomar Substation and PATRIP Foundation-financed 53km Khorog-Vomar Transmission Line; and the ground-breaking ceremony for the EU-funded 35/110 kV Qozideh Substation and 42km Vomar-Voznavd Transmission Line.
These investments in grid infrastructure will significantly improve power quality, reduce technical losses, and enhance climate resilience in a region prone to seasonal access challenges.
“Building reliable, modern energy systems in border regions is vital for fostering stability and shared prosperity,” said Alexander Bohr, Chairman of the PATRIP Foundation. “We are pleased to contribute to infrastructure that will bring long-term benefit to these remote border communities.”
“Today’s launch reflects the European Union’s strong and continued commitment to climate resilience, inclusive development, and energy access,” said Ambassador Raimundas Karoblis, Head of the EU Delegation to Tajikistan. “Together with our partners, we are proud to invest in infrastructure that empowers communities.”
Pakistan and China celebrate unbreakable military bond – Daily Times
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UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1 (APP):Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad hosted a largely attended reception to mark the end of Pakistan’s presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of July.
Heads of diplomatic missions accredited to the United Nations, senior U.N. officials, prominent citizens and senior journalists attended the event held on Thursday.
Pakistan’s former’s UN Ambassador, Munir Akram, also attended the reception.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar thanked his counterparts and guests for attending the reception and for their cooperation during Pakistan’s presidency of the Council.
He also thanked former Ambassador Akram, a well known figure at the U.N., for his presence at the gathering.
During its presidency, besides other agenda items, Pakistan organized two signature events — an high-level open debate on “Promoting International Peace and Security through Multilateralism and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes”. At the end of the debate, the 15-member Council unanimously adopted a Pakistan-sponsored resolution calling on member-states to take measures for the effective implementation of the Council’s resolutions for peaceful settlement of disputes.
The other signature event was a high-level briefing of the Security Council focusing on enhancing cooperation between the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) following which a presidential statement was issued.
Pakistan also presided over the quarterly open debate of the Council on the “Situation in the Middle East including the Palestinian Question”.
The high-level events were presided over by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar.
Pakistan began its current two-year term as a non-permanent member in January 2025 and will serve through the end of 2026.
Death, starvation, displacement and destruction continue to engulf Gaza as the summer of long horrors unfolds. The announced ten-hour ‘tactical pauses’ from Israeli military operations in certain parts of the Strip are wholly inadequate to address the scale of the crisis. What is urgently needed is a permanent ceasefire and unrestricted access for international humanitarian agencies. The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) therefore asks the international community: if not now, when will it be time to act? States have a legal and moral duty to halt what is rapidly becoming the defining atrocity of our time.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, already catastrophic, is deteriorating at an alarming pace. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is baselessly denying the existence of a starvation crisis, clear and consistent evidence from independent and neutral humanitarian agencies confirms that starvation is intensifying across the territory. Among others, the World Health Organization has reported a surge in malnutrition-related deaths in July and warned that one out of five children under five in Gaza City is now acutely malnourished. Famine remains an imminent threat across the territory. Critical infrastructure and services are nearing total collapse. Life in Gaza is being extinguished day by day and the minimal flow of aid reaching the Strip falls far short of meeting the overwhelming humanitarian need. Moreover, trying to access food and essential supplies continues to be a life-threatening exercise. According to the United Nations, as of 13 July, in the preceding six weeks, 875 people have been killed in desperate attempts to receive lifesaving aid. The resumption of airdrops of aid on Sunday 27 July 2025 is providing a minimal and negligible amount of supplies. As humanitarian experts have repeatedly warned, airdrops are dangerous, ineffective and undignified to people on the ground. They cannot serve as a substitute for safe land routes.
The IBAHRI has already condemned the deliberate starvation of Gaza’s population as an inhuman method of warfare and grave breach of international law. The May 2025 outsourcing of humanitarian aid delivery to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a private entity working in partnership with a private security firm, Safe Reach Solutions – also runs contrary to Israel’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions. According to international humanitarian law, aid in occupied territories must be provided by entities that offer the institutional safeguards of neutrality, independence and impartiality. A mechanism like the GHF, dominated by private actors with political affiliations and close ties to the occupying power, cannot meet these standards. Israeli unverified claims that aid is being diverted by Hamas have recently been debunked by a US Agency for International Development analysis, and in no way justify bypassing international humanitarian norms.
On top of that, there are the ongoing attacks on homes, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, as well as systematic attempts to forcibly displace the population of Gaza. Currently, Israeli evacuation orders and inaccessible military zones cover 88 per cent of Gaza. Nearly 70 per cent of all buildings, including 92 per cent of all housing units, have been destroyed or damaged. The announced Israeli plan to relocate the remaining approximately two million Palestinians into a so-called ‘humanitarian city’ on the ruins of Rafah is not just untenable – it reveals a longer-term goal of mass deportation of the Palestinian population outside the Strip, leading to ethnic cleansing.
As in all conflicts, the children suffer most. On 16 July, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council: ‘Over the past 21 months of war, more than 17,000 children have reportedly been killed and 33,000 injured in Gaza. An average of 28 children have been killed each day – the equivalent of an entire classroom. Consider that for a moment. A whole classroom of children killed, every day for nearly two years.’
All these military actions constitute violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention (the ‘Convention’). The Convention clearly prohibits the destruction of private property, except when rendered absolutely necessary by military operations (Article 53), and protects hospitals from attack unless they are used to commit acts harmful to the enemy (Articles 18 and 19). The permanent displacement of the population is strictly prohibited (Article 49). Violations of these provisions are considered grave breaches of the Convention, amounting to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In addition, the Convention imposes positive obligations on Israel as the occupying power to ensure that food and medical supplies are available to the population in Gaza, as well as to maintain medical services and public health infrastructure in the occupied territory (Articles 55 and 56).
The IBAHRI utterly condemns the atrocities committed on 7 October 2023 and Hamas’ continued refusal to release all the hostages. However, the scale and nature of Israel’s subsequent military operations go far beyond what can be considered a legitimate response. Heinous war crimes have become everyday tools in a sustained campaign of annihilation that has been widely recognised by legal experts and observers as amounting to genocide. The cumulative impact is the systematic eradication of any chance of Palestinian life in Gaza, an outcome that aligns with statements made by senior Israeli officials about the objectives of the military campaign. This is occurring alongside Israeli government’s plans for a de facto annexation of further territories in the West Bank through reintroduction of the E1 settlement plan. The proposed construction plan would dramatically increase the number of illegal Israeli settlements and nearly bisect the West Bank, further jeopardising any possibility for Palestine to have an adequate contiguous piece of land to create a state.
The IBAHRI strongly reiterates its urgent call for an end to hostilities, a permanent ceasefire and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. An international protection force must be deployed to enable an independent Palestinian administration in Gaza to be brought to life in safety and security. Israel must immediately remove all obstacles to the delivery of food, medicine and aid from neutral international agencies. Israeli military forces are urged to abide by international humanitarian law and comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice. In calling for a ceasefire, the IBAHRI also urges Hamas to release all remaining Israeli hostages without delay.
The international community – and all those with leverage over Israel – must act now. Political and economic pressure must be applied immediately to end the ongoing carnage and prevent further loss of civilian life. This includes the immediate recognition of the State of Palestine, the suspension of all arms exports and military cooperation with Israel and the activation of all bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to compel an end to this genocidal campaign.
Mark Stephens CBE, IBAHRI Co-Chair Hina Jilani, IBAHRI Co-Chair Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, IBAHRI Director
ENDS
Contact: IBAHRI@int-bar.org
Notes to the reader:
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), established in 1995 under Founding Honorary President Nelson Mandela, is an autonomous entity working to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.
Find the IBAHRI on social media here:
The International Bar Association (IBA), the global voice of the legal profession, is the foremost organisation for international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Established in 1947, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, with the aim of protecting and promoting the rule of law globally, the IBA was born out of the conviction that an organisation made up of the world’s bar associations could contribute to global stability and peace through the administration of justice.
Find the IBA on social media here:
Website page link for this news release: Short link: https://tinyurl.com/2rrz9cka Full link: https://www.ibanet.org/As-a-summer-of-horrors-unfolds-in-Gaza-IBAHRI-asks-the-international-community-if-not-now-when-will-it-be-time-to-act
Welcome to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime.
The US president signed an executive order on Thursday imposing reciprocal tariffs from 10% to 41% on US imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations. Rates were set at 25% for India, 20% for Taiwan and 30% for South Africa ahead of Trump’s self-imposed deadline of 1 August for striking trade deals with countries worldwide.
He extended the deadline for a tariff agreement with Mexico by another 90 days.
Brazil’s tariff rate was set at 10%, but a previous order signed by Trump placed a 40% tariff on some Brazilian goods, to punish the country for prosecuting its former president Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup attempt after the 2022 election.
Cargo containers line a shipping terminal at the port of Oakland, California, on Thursday. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
In other key news:
Canadian imports will face tariffs of 35%, not the current 25%, the White House announced. Trump had threatened on Wednesday that Ottawa’s move to recognise a Palestinian state would make agreeing a trade deal “very hard”.
Some of the world’s poorest and most war-torn countries were hit with punitive rates, including Syria, which faces a levy of 41%; Laos and Myanmar with rates of 40%; Libya with a rate of 30%; Iraq with 35% and Sri Lanka with 20%. Switzerland faces a rate of 39%. The rates are set to go into effect in seven days, according to the order.
Thailand’s finance minister said on Friday that a 19% tariff rate had been agreed – significantly lower than the 36% level announced in April and better aligned with other countries in the region. Vietnam and Indonesia reportedly negotiated tariffs of 20% and 19% respectively.
China faces a separate deadline for its higher tariffs of 12 August, with an extension to the truce agreed in principle but yet to be approved by the White House.
By 31 July just eight countries or economic blocs had reached formal agreements with the White House: the UK, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Pakistan and the EU. – With Helen Livingstone, Lisa O’Carroll and agencies
Key events
Trump’s tariffs are a huge blow to global commerce, warns Atakan Bakiskan, US economist at Berenberg bank.
Bakiskan’s verdict is that that the situation is bad, but could have been even worse, explaining:
The tariffs distort competition between companies that produce in the US to serve the US market relative to those that produce abroad. But many European, Japanese and South Korean-based producers compete more against each other than against US-based producers in the US market.
As they all face a 15% levy, the competition between them is distorted by less than would have been the case if Trump had imposed widely different country-specific US tariffs against these key advanced economies.
The US trade war has been hampering UK and eurozone manufacturers, new data shows.
The latest poll of purchasing managers at British factories, just released, highlights that new orders at UK manufacturers fell in July.
Data provider S&P Global says:
New export orders have now decreased throughout the past three-and-a-half years, with the latest decline reflecting global tariff uncertainties, ongoing administrative issues postBrexit and rising competition.
There were reports of lower demand from North America, mainland Europe, the Middle East, India and mainland China.
A survey of eurozone factories, also released this morning, found that their supply chains remained strained in July, with delivery times lengthening.
Dr. Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at HamburgCommercialBank, explains:
“Given the fragility of the recovery, it is not demand that is causing customers to wait longer for their goods. Volatile U.S. tariff policies and uncertainty stemming from geopolitical tensions may play a key role here. We expect that companies will continue to face sudden supply chain disruptions for the foreseeable future.”
Capital Economics: New US tariff regime still not the end of the story
President Trump’s latest flurry of tariffs implies that the US effective tariff rate will rise to about 18%, from 2.3% last year, reports StephenBrown, deputy chief North America economist at City consultancy Capital Economics.
Brown told clients this morning:
That is a little higher than we assumed and so presents modest downside risks to our forecast for global GDP growth and a small upside risk to our US inflation forecast.
That said, this is unlikely to be the final word, as it still seems likely that some other countries will reach their own deals with the US, while there is a chance that the US courts will eventually strike down these tariffs.
Lisa O’Carroll
The headline 15% tariff rate applying to most EU goods is better than most countries as it is not in addition, or stacked on top of, a pre-existing tariff, say experts.
That was the snap analysis of Donald Trump’s tariff list by DavidHenig, director at the European Centre for International Political Economy.
He posted on social media:
“New US tariffs dropped. Don’t be Switzerland. Do be the EU that uniquely got a concession on tariff stacking, which should but won’t silence the doomsters with no actual trade policy or geopolitical knowledge.”
Basically the UK and the EU got the best deals from Trump. Now who predicted that? But wondering whether that shows even for this administration, experience of dealing with the US matters.
The EU says its pre-Trump average tariff was 4.8%, arguing therefore, that the 15%, is closer to others who have secured a 10% baseline tariff.
The UK’s 10% tariff is stacked on top of the average most favoured nation tariff rate of 3.8% that applied before Trump was elected, bringing the post-Trump average to 13.8% tariff.
By contrast the EU’s 15% is inclusive of the pre-Trump MFN of 4.8%.
The US stock market is set to fall when trading begins in New York in five and a half hours.
The futures market indictates that the S&P 500 – the broad index of US stocks – is on track to fall around 0.85%.
The futures contract for the tech-focused Nasdaq index is down 0.87%, while the DowJonesIndustrialAverage (which tracks 30 large US companies) futures is down 0.9%.
Shares in Watches of Switzerland, the London-listed timepiece retailer, have fallen by over 5% after Donald Trump hit Swiss imports to the US with a 39% tariff.
Traders will be calculating that Watches of Switzerland will either suffer weaker US sales (American customers will pay the tariff, so its prices will be less competitive), or be forced to cut its prices in response (hitting its profits).
Lisa O’Carroll
The Falkland Islands is the only trading partner apart from the UK that is specified in the White House list as having a 10% tariff rate on its exports to the US.
It is one of 14 British overseas territories and its top export to the US is non-fillet frozen fish.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, it sold just under $26m (£19.6m) of the fish to the US in 2023, accounting for 96% of its $27.4m sales to the US in 2023.
The order states that goods imported from every nation on Earth will be subject to a 10% tariff except for goods from the 92 countries listed in an annex that are subject to higher tariff rates.
Australia, which is not listed in the annex, said it assumed that its tariff was 10%.
South Africa’s rand hits two-month low after US sets 30% tariff
South Africa’s financial markets have been rattled by Trump’s decision to impose a 30% tariff on its exports to the US.
South Africa’s JSEFTSE all share index has fallen by 1.2% in morning trading, with ‘consumer cyclicals’ the worst-performing sector.
The South African rand is on the backfoot this morning too. It dipped to a two-month low of 18.24 against the US dollar, its lowest level since mid-May.
European stock markets fall
Stock markets across Europe have dropped, after Donald Trump intensified his trade war last night.
Germany’s DAX index has dropped by 1.1% at the start of trading in Frankfurt, while France’s CAC fell by almost 1% and Spain’s IBEX lost 0.6% – even though Europe reached a trade deal with the US at the start of this week.
That, and the 0.5% drop on the London stock market (see here), shows concerns that Trump’s tariffs will weigh on the global economy, weakening trade growth.
FTSE 100 opens lower
London’s stock market has opened in the red, as the City digests Donald Trump’s swathe of tariffs on trading partners.
The FTSE100 index of blue-chip shares has dropped by over 0.5%, down 50 points at 9082 points.
That’s a fairly mild drop, taking the ‘Footsie’ away from the record high set yesterday, following the modest losses in Asia-Pacific markets earlier.
TonySycamore, market analyst at IG, explains:
Market reactions to the newly announced tariffs, have been relatively subdued, largely due to recent trade agreements with the EU, Japan, and South Korea + others that have mitigated their impact.
Mexico’s 90-day tariff reprieve and positive progress on US-China trade talks, as noted by President Trump, further softened the blow.
In the currency markets, the Swiss franc has dipped against the US dollar after Donald Trump imposed a 39% tariff on imports from Switzerland.
The Swiss franc is down 0.15% at 0.813 per dollar.
US president Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing reciprocal tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations, shortly after extending the deadline for a tariff deal with Mexico by another 90 days.
The order listed higher import duty rates that would start in seven days for 69 trading partners as the original deadline of 12.01am EDT (4.01am GMT) on Friday approached.
The Guardian has a searchable table of the countries and the reciprocal tariffs they face.
The rates, which range from 41% for Syria to 10% for the UK, can be found in the table below.
Morning opening: Death toll in Kyiv rises to 26 as Ukraine calls for UN security council meeting
Jakub Krupa
The death tollfrom Thursday’s Russian attack on Kyivhas risen to 26 with over 150 injured, making it one of the deadliest attacks on the capital since the start of the full-scale war in 2022.
People tread on the rubble outside an apartment block in the Holosiivskyi district damaged by the Russian missile and drone attack, Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Ukrinform/Shutterstock
Responding to the attack, Ukraine called for an emergency meeting of the UN security council this afternoon as it seeks to unite its allies and ramp up pressure on Russia to end the war.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the meeting, scheduled for afternoon European time, will be a platform for countries to make it clear where they stand.
“Putin rejects peace efforts and wants to prolong his war. And the world has the necessary strength to stop him – by united pressure and principled position in favor of a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire,” he said.
Andriy Yermak, the most senior aide to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, did not mince his words reacting to the news this morning as he spoke of “Russian murderers.”
US president Donald Trump, who recently set a new deadline for Russia to end the invasion until 8 August, told journalists that it was “disgusting what they are doing.”
“We’re going to put sanctions. I don’t know that sanctions bother him,” the US president said, referring to Putin.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who currently is in Israel, will be told to visit Russia next, he added.
Elsewhere, I will be keeping an eye on the latest on the EU-US trade, after Trump signed his executive order, but delayed the effects of sanctions by a week, until 7 August. You can follow market reactions on our business blog, too.
I will bring you all key updates from across Europe here.
It’s Friday, 1 August 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Deadly Beijing floods expose gaps in readiness – Daily Times
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