Druze

Syrian forces accused of 'executions' in Druze area as Israel launches strikes

tariff

Trump says Indonesia to face 19% tariff under trade deal

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • India basically is working along that same line," Trump told reporters Tuesday, referring to market access.
  • President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in a lower US tariff on the country's goods than earlier threatened, alongside better market access.
  • India basically is working along that same line," Trump told reporters Tuesday, referring to market access.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in a lower US tariff on the country's goods than earlier threatened, alongside better market access.
"Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, saying that he worked with the country's president directly.
He later told reporters that Indonesia was "giving us access" and that goods from the Southeast Asian country would face a 19 percent tariff.
Trump did not elaborate on the improved access that he had touted, although he stressed that Indonesia is "very strong on copper" and other materials.
The Trump administration has been under pressure to finalize trade pacts after promising a flurry of deals, as countries sought negotiations with Washington to avoid Trump's tariff threats.
But the US president has so far only unveiled deals with Britain and Vietnam, alongside an agreement to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China.
Last week, Trump renewed his threat of a 32 percent levy on Indonesian goods, saying in a letter to the country's leadership that this level would take effect August 1.
It remains unclear when the lower tariff level announced Tuesday will take effect for Indonesia.
"We have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced. India basically is working along that same line," Trump told reporters Tuesday, referring to market access.
Indonesia's former vice minister for foreign affairs Dino Patti Djalal told a Foreign Policy event Tuesday that government insiders had indicated they were happy with the new deal.

Tariffs drive

Trump in April imposed a 10 percent tariff on almost all trading partners, while announcing plans to eventually hike this level for dozens of economies, including the European Union and Indonesia.
But days before the steeper duties were due to take effect, he pushed the deadline back from July 9 to August 1. This marked his second postponement of the elevated levies.
Instead, since early last week, Trump has been sending letters to partners, setting out the tariff levels they would face come August.
To date, Trump has sent more than 20 such letters including to the EU, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
Canada and Mexico, both countries that were not originally targeted in Trump's "reciprocal" tariff push in April, also received similar documents outlining updated tariffs for their products.
But existing exemptions covering goods entering the United States under a North American trade pact are expected to remain in place, a US official earlier said.
Trump has unveiled blanket tariffs on trading partners in part to address what his administration deems as unfair practices that hurt American businesses.
Analysts have warned that without trade agreements, Americans could conclude that Trump's strategy to reshape US trading ties with the world has not worked.
"In the public's mind, the tariffs are the pain, and the agreements will be the gain. If there are no agreements, people will conclude his strategy was flawed," William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told AFP.
bys/bjt

Druze

Syrian forces accused of 'executions' in Druze area as Israel launches strikes

  • Forces from the "defence and interior ministries carried out field executions of 12 civilians after storming the Radwan family guest house in the city of Sweida", the Observatory said.
  • Syrian authorities were accused on Tuesday of carrying out summary executions of civilians in the predominantly Druze province of Sweida, where Israel said it had launched strikes against government forces in defence of the religious minority.
  • Forces from the "defence and interior ministries carried out field executions of 12 civilians after storming the Radwan family guest house in the city of Sweida", the Observatory said.
Syrian authorities were accused on Tuesday of carrying out summary executions of civilians in the predominantly Druze province of Sweida, where Israel said it had launched strikes against government forces in defence of the religious minority.
Damascus had deployed troops to the area after clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes killed more than 100 people.
Israel announced its strikes shortly after Syria's defence minister declared a ceasefire in Sweida city, which government forces entered in the morning.
Damascus slammed the Israeli strikes, warning it had a "legitimate right to defend its land and its people".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday that Syrian government forces and their allies had executed 19 people in and around Sweida.
Forces from the "defence and interior ministries carried out field executions of 12 civilians after storming the Radwan family guest house in the city of Sweida", the Observatory said.
Armed groups affiliated with the government were also responsible for executing four Druze civilians at another guest house in Sweida province, as well as gunning down three siblings north of Sweida city in front of their mother, according to the monitor.
While most Druze religious leaders had said they supported the government's deployment, at least one senior figure urged armed resistance, having previously called for "international protection".
Neighbouring Israel, which has its own Druze minority, has sought to portray itself as a defender of the community, while also warning the Syrian government against maintaining any military presence south of Damascus, which Israel considers a security threat.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz announced strikes Tuesday on "regime forces and weaponry" that they said were intended for use against the Druze.
"We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria," the pair said in a joint statement.
Shortly after, the Israeli military said it had begun hitting military vehicles in the area. Syrian state media also reported strikes.
Syria's Islamist-led government, which on Saturday sent an emissary to Azerbaijan for a first face-to-face meeting with an Israeli official, condemned "in the strongest terms the treacherous Israeli aggression" on Tuesday.
The attacks killed a number of security personnel, the foreign ministry said, as well as "several innocent civilians".
US special envoy Tom Barrack -- whose government is closely allied with Israel and has been trying to reboot ties with Syria -- called the violence "worrisome".
Washington was seeking "a peaceful, inclusive outcome for Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government and Israeli forces", he added.

'Complete ceasefire'

Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra declared just before midday (0900 GMT) Tuesday "a complete ceasefire" in Sweida city after talks with local representatives.
"We will respond only to sources of fire and deal with any targeting by outlaw groups," he added in a post on X.
Druze representatives gathered at the residence of key leader Sheikh Youssef Jarbouh to discuss implementing the ceasefire, a source close to the participants said.
The sound of gunfire subsided after the announcement, and government troops were seen waving the Syrian flag atop a roundabout, AFP correspondents reported.
They had earlier reported clashes as government forces entered Sweida.
Though most Druze spiritual leaders had supported the deployment, the influential Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri called in a statement for "resisting this brutal campaign by all available means".
A curfew was to be imposed on the southern city in a bid to halt the violence, which erupted between Druze and Bedouin fighters at the weekend and has since spread across Sweida province.
Government forces said they intervened to separate the two sides, but they ended up taking control of several Druze areas around Sweida, an AFP correspondent reported.
The Observatory had earlier reported 116 people killed in clashes since they erupted on Sunday -- 64 Druze, 34 government fighters and 18 Bedouin.
The defence ministry has reported 18 deaths among the ranks of the armed forces.

'Not against the state'

The fighting underscores the challenges facing interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war.
Following deadly clashes between the Druze and government forces in April and May, community leaders reached an agreement with Damascus under which Druze fighters had been providing security in the province.
Amal, a 46-year-old resident, said she feared a repeat of massacres in Syria's northwest in March that saw more than 1,700 mostly Alawite civilians killed, allegedly by groups affiliated with the government.
"We are not against the state, but we are against surrendering our weapons without a state that treats everyone the same," she said.
The violence began on Sunday when Bedouin gunmen abducted a Druze vegetable vendor on the highway to Damascus, prompting retaliatory kidnappings.
The Observatory said members of Bedouin tribes, who are Sunni Muslims, had sided with security forces during earlier confrontations with the Druze.
mam/at/smw/ami

budget

French PM proposes cutting national holidays to cut debt

BY ANNE RENAUT AND JURGEN HECKER

  • Bayrou said France had to borrow each month to pay pensions and the salaries of civil servants, a state of affairs he called "a curse with no way out".
  • Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Tuesday he wanted to reduce the number of public holidays in France as part of a bid to tackle what he called the "curse" of his country's debt.
  • Bayrou said France had to borrow each month to pay pensions and the salaries of civil servants, a state of affairs he called "a curse with no way out".
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Tuesday he wanted to reduce the number of public holidays in France as part of a bid to tackle what he called the "curse" of his country's debt.
Presenting 2026 budget proposals, Bayrou said two out of France's 11 national holidays could go, suggesting Easter Monday and May 8, a day that commemorates the end of World War II in Europe.
Such a measure would bring France into line with Germany's nine national holidays -- although federal states can add their own -- and take it well below Italy's 12 days.
After years of overspending, France is on notice to control its public deficit and cut its sprawling debt, as required under EU rules.
Bayrou said France had to borrow each month to pay pensions and the salaries of civil servants, a state of affairs he called "a curse with no way out".
Losing two public holidays, meanwhile, would add "several billions of euros" to the state's coffers, Bayrou said.
But the proposed measure sparked an immediate protest from Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right National Rally.

Holiday protests

He said abolishing two holidays, "especially ones as filled with meaning as Easter Monday and May 8 is a direct attack on our history, our roots and on labour in France".
The party's parliamentary leader, Marine Le Pen, warned that "if Francois Bayrou does not revise his plan, we will vote for a no-confidence motion". 
Leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon of the France Unbowed party called for Bayrou's resignation, saying "these injustices cannot be tolerated any longer".
His party colleague Mathilde Panot accused Bayrou of starting "a social war".
Bayrou had said previously that France's budgetary position needed to be improved by 40 billion euros ($46.5 billion) next year.
But this figure has risen after President Emmanuel Macron said at the weekend he wanted 3.5 billion euros of extra military spending next year because of rising international tensions. France has a defence budget of 50.5 billion euros for 2025.
Bayrou said the budget deficit would be cut to 4.6 percent next year, from an estimated 5.4 percent this year, and would fall below the three percent required by EU rules by 2029.
To achieve this, other measures would include a general freeze on spending increases  -- including on pensions and health -- except for debt servicing and the defence sector, Bayrou said.
"We have become addicted to public spending," Bayrou said. "We are at a critical juncture in our history".

Remember Greece

The prime minister even held up Greece as a cautionary tale, an EU member whose spiralling debt and deficits pushed it to the brink of dropping out of the eurozone after the 2008 financial crisis.
"We must never forget the story of Greece," he said.
France's debt stands at 114 percent of GDP -- compared to 60 percent allowed under EU rules -- the biggest debt mountain in the EU after Greece and Italy.
The government hopes to cut the number of civil servants by 3,000 next year, and close down "unproductive agencies working on behalf of the state", the premier said.
Bayrou said wealthy residents would be made to contribute to the financial effort.
"The nation's effort must be equitable," Bayrou said. "We will ask little of those who have little, and more of those who have more."
burs-jh/tw/gv

politics

Trump UN envoy pick chastised for discussing bombing on Signal

  • Waltz vowed to press for reforms at the United Nations, accusing it of "anti-Semitism" and "radical politicization" for criticisms of Israel and the United States, even though the United States is the organization's largest funder.
  • President Donald Trump's former national security advisor Mike Waltz on Tuesday defiantly defended his use of a group chat to discuss military plans as he faced accusations of lying during a hearing to be US ambassador to the United Nations.
  • Waltz vowed to press for reforms at the United Nations, accusing it of "anti-Semitism" and "radical politicization" for criticisms of Israel and the United States, even though the United States is the organization's largest funder.
President Donald Trump's former national security advisor Mike Waltz on Tuesday defiantly defended his use of a group chat to discuss military plans as he faced accusations of lying during a hearing to be US ambassador to the United Nations.
The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine said in March that Waltz had mistakenly added him to a chat among top US officials on commercial messaging app Signal about the imminent US bombing of Yemen.
Senator Cory Booker of the rival Democratic Party accused Waltz of deliberately maligning the journalist by falsely saying that he infiltrated the group.
"I've seen you not only fail to stand up, but lie," Booker told Waltz.
"I have nothing but deep disappointment in what I consider a failure of leadership on your part," Booker told Waltz.
Waltz pointed to guidance under former president Joe Biden that allowed the use of Signal, which is encrypted, and said the White House has not taken disciplinary action.
"The use of Signal was not only authorized, it's still authorized and highly recommended," Waltz said, while insisting the chat did not exchange "classified" information.
Senator Chris Coons, another Democrat, was incredulous over his explanation and voiced alarm that the White House has not taken any corrective action.
"You were sharing details about an upcoming airstrike -- the time of launch and the potential targets. I mean, this was demonstrably sensitive information."
Waltz, a former congressman and special forces officer, survived  little more than three months as national security advisor before Trump on May 1 replaced him with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is juggling both jobs.
Waltz did not deny he has kept taking his salary, saying he was not "fired" and still served as "an advisor."
Senator Jacky Rosen, raising the salary issue, contrasted Waltz's actions with his vow to "root out  waste and unnecessary overhead at the UN."
Trump has aggressively cut US assistance overseas and pulled the United States out of several UN-backed bodies.
Waltz vowed to press for reforms at the United Nations, accusing it of "anti-Semitism" and "radical politicization" for criticisms of Israel and the United States, even though the United States is the organization's largest funder.
The United Nations, he said, has "drifted from its core mission of peacemaking."
"The UN's overall revenue has quadrupled in the last 20 years, yet I would argue we have not seen a quadrupling of world peace," Waltz said.
sct/ksb

conflict

Divided EU leaves action against Israel on Gaza 'on table'

BY MAX DELANY

  • But the splits within the bloc mean that it has struggled to have a major impact on the war in Gaza and Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar had predicted confidently that the bloc wouldn't take any further action on Monday.
  • EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday said the bloc was leaving the door open to action against Israel over the war in Gaza if the humanitarian situation does not improve.
  • But the splits within the bloc mean that it has struggled to have a major impact on the war in Gaza and Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar had predicted confidently that the bloc wouldn't take any further action on Monday.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday said the bloc was leaving the door open to action against Israel over the war in Gaza if the humanitarian situation does not improve.
Kallas has put forward 10 potential options after Israel was found to have breached a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights grounds.
The measures range from suspending the entire accord or curbing trade ties to sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.
Despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over how to tackle Israel and there was no critical mass for taking any of the moves at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
"We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act if Israel does not live up to its pledges," Kallas told journalists.
"The aim is not to punish Israel. The aim is to really improve the situation in Gaza."
That comes after Kallas on Thursday announced a deal with Israel to open more entry points and allow in more food.
Gaza's two million residents face dire humanitarian conditions as Israel has severely limited aid during its war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"We see some positive signs when it comes to opening border crossings, we see some positive signs of them reconstructing the electricity lines, providing water, also more trucks of humanitarian aid coming in," Kallas said Monday.
But she said the situation in Gaza remained "catastrophic". 
"Of course, we need to see more in order to see real improvement for the people on the ground," she said. 

'Use our leverage'

Irish minister Thomas Byrne, whose country has been one of the toughest in the EU on Israel, said Kallas had committed to updating member states every two weeks on the progress of humanitarian access to Gaza.
"So far, we haven't really seen the implementation of it, maybe some very small actions, but there's still slaughter going on," he said.
"So we need to see action and we need to use our leverage."
While the EU appears unable to take further moves against Israel, just getting to this stage has been a considerable step.
The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza following the collapse of a ceasefire in March.
Until then, deep divisions between countries backing Israel and those more favourable to the Palestinians had hamstrung any move.
But the splits within the bloc mean that it has struggled to have a major impact on the war in Gaza and Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar had predicted confidently that the bloc wouldn't take any further action on Monday.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of 251 people taken hostage by Hamas, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry says that at least 58,386 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign. The UN considers those figures reliable.
Israel and Hamas have been in indirect talks for two weeks over a new ceasefire deal, but talks appear to be deadlocked. 
del/ec/gv

diplomacy

Thousands of Afghans win UK asylum after huge data breach

BY JO BIDDLE

  • The previous Conservative government put in place a secret programme in April 2024 to help those "judged to be at the highest risk of reprisals by the Taliban", he said.
  • Thousands of Afghans who worked with the UK and their families were brought to Britain in a secret programme after a 2022 data breach put their lives at risk, the British government revealed on Tuesday.
  • The previous Conservative government put in place a secret programme in April 2024 to help those "judged to be at the highest risk of reprisals by the Taliban", he said.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with the UK and their families were brought to Britain in a secret programme after a 2022 data breach put their lives at risk, the British government revealed on Tuesday.
Defence Minister John Healey unveiled the scheme to parliament after the UK High Court on Tuesday lifted a super-gag order banning any reports of the events.
In February 2022, a spreadsheet containing the names and details of almost 19,000 Afghans who had asked to be relocated to Britain was accidentally leaked by a UK official just six months after Taliban fighters seized Kabul, Healey said.
"This was a serious departmental error," Healey said, adding: "Lives may have been at stake."
The previous Conservative government put in place a secret programme in April 2024 to help those "judged to be at the highest risk of reprisals by the Taliban", he said.
Some 900 Afghans and 3,600 family members have now been brought to Britain or are in transit under the programme known as the Afghan Response Route, at a cost of around £400 million ($535 million), Healey said. 
Applications from 600 more people have also been accepted, bringing the estimated total cost of the scheme to £850 million.
They are among some 36,000 Afghans who have been accepted by Britain under different schemes since the August 2021 fall of Kabul.
As Labour's opposition defence spokesman, Healey was briefed on the scheme in December 2023 but the Conservative government asked a court to impose a "super-injunction" banning any mention of it in parliament or by the press.
When Labour came to power in July 2024, the scheme was in full swing but Healey said he had been "deeply uncomfortable to be constrained from reporting" to parliament. 
"Ministers decided not to tell parliamentarians at an earlier stage about the data incident, as the widespread publicity would increase the risk of the Taliban obtaining the dataset," he explained.

'No retribution'

Healey set up a review of the scheme when he became defence minister in the new Labour government. 
This concluded there was "very little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution".
The Afghan Response Route has now been closed, the minister said, apologising for the data breach which "should never have happened". 
He estimated the total cost of relocating people from Afghanistan to Britain at between £5.5 billion to £6 billion.
Conservative party defence spokesman James Cartlidge also apologised for the leak which happened under the previous Tory government. 
But he defended the decision to keep it secret, saying the aim had been to avoid "an error by an official of the British state leading to torture or even murder of persons in the dataset at the hands of what remains a brutal Taliban regime".
Healey said all those brought to the UK from Afghanistan had been accounted for in the country's immigration figures. 
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to cut the number of migrants arriving in Britain.
In 2023, the UK defence ministry was fined £350,000 by a data watchdog for disclosing personal information of 265 Afghans seeking to flee Taliban fighters in the chaotic fall of Kabul two years earlier.
Britain's Afghanistan evacuation plan was widely criticised, with the government accused by MPs of "systemic failures of leadership, planning and preparation".
Hundreds of Afghans eligible for relocation were left behind, many with their lives potentially at risk after details of staff and job applicants were left at the abandoned British embassy in Kabul.
jkb/pdh/gil

trial

Prosecutor asks Brazil's Supreme Court to find Bolsonaro guilty of coup

  • Prosecutors say Bolsonaro tried to overturn his 2022 loss in a plot that only failed because the military did not side with him.
  • A prosecutor asked Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday to find ex-president Jair Bolsonaro guilty of plotting a coup, in closing arguments after a trial that saw US President Donald Trump try to intervene on behalf of his right-wing ally.
  • Prosecutors say Bolsonaro tried to overturn his 2022 loss in a plot that only failed because the military did not side with him.
A prosecutor asked Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday to find ex-president Jair Bolsonaro guilty of plotting a coup, in closing arguments after a trial that saw US President Donald Trump try to intervene on behalf of his right-wing ally.
Bolsonaro is accused of seeking to overturn the 2022 election won by his left-wing opponent, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The prosecution told the court that former army officer Bolsonaro and seven others were guilty of participating in "armed criminal association" and had sought to "violently overthrow the democratic order."
The case now goes to Justice Alexandre de Moraes. If found guilty, Bolsonaro and his co-defendants could face up to 40 years in prison.
Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019-2023 before Lula replaced him, says he is the victim of a political persecution.
Prosecutors say Bolsonaro tried to overturn his 2022 loss in a plot that only failed because the military did not side with him.
Violent supporters then rioted, rampaging through government buildings in the capital Brasilia in scenes that echoed the assault on the US Capitol by Trump's supporters after the Republican lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
The trial has attracted attention from Trump, who returned to power in the 2024 election and continues to claim -- despite this being rejected repeatedly by the courts -- that he won in 2020.
Trump has repeatedly called on social media for Bolsonaro's trial to be stopped, accusing the authorities in Brazil of mounting a "witch hunt" and a "disgrace."
On July 9, he took his campaign to extraordinary new levels by announcing plans to tariff Brazilian imports to the United States at 50 percent.
Unlike the tariffs Trump is slapping on countries around much of the world, including top US allies, the measures against Brazil -- which are set to take effect August 1 -- were announced in openly political terms.
Trump cited "Brazil's insidious attacks on Free Elections" among other issues, warning of further escalation if the country retaliated -- something Lula indicated would happen.
On Friday, Trump reiterated his claim that Bolsonaro was being unfairly treated.
"They're treating President Bolsonaro very unfairly," Trump told reporters, calling him "a good man."
"I know the honest ones, and I know the crooked ones," he added.
Lula has hit back at Trump's "interference," insisting that "no one is above the law." 
jss/sms/bgs

Ukraine

Rome, Navalny widow blast Italy invite for pro-Kremlin maestro

BY ALICE RITCHIE

  • Gergiev has stood by Putin's policies for more than two decades and performed propaganda concerts in honour of Russian military victories in the past. 
  • Italy's culture minister joined the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday in condemning an invitation for maestro Valery Gergiev to perform near Naples, saying it risked being propaganda for Moscow.
  • Gergiev has stood by Putin's policies for more than two decades and performed propaganda concerts in honour of Russian military victories in the past. 
Italy's culture minister joined the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday in condemning an invitation for maestro Valery Gergiev to perform near Naples, saying it risked being propaganda for Moscow.
Russian conductor Gergiev, a personal friend of President Vladimir Putin who has since December 2023 led Moscow's world famous Bolshoi Theatre, has been shunned by the West since the start of the Ukraine war for failing to denounce Russia's invasion.
But he has been invited to conduct what organisers described as an "unforgettable symphony concert" on July 27 at the former royal palace of Reggia di Caserta, near Naples in southern Italy.
Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation has called for the concert to be cancelled and his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, pressed the case in an editorial on Tuesday in Italian daily La Repubblica.
"Any attempt to turn a blind eye to who Valery Gergiev is when he's not conducting and to pretend that this is merely a cultural event with no political dimension... is pure hypocrisy," she wrote.
Just hours later, Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli issued a statement warning the concert "risks sending the wrong message".
"Ukraine is an invaded nation and Gergiev's concert could transform a high-level... musical event into a platform for Russian propaganda," he said.
"For me, this would be deplorable."

Stand-in for Putin

Giuli is a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government, which has strongly backed Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
He noted the concert was part of a programme of events promoted and paid for by the region of Campania.  
Campania regional leader Vincenzo De Luca, from the centre-left Democratic Party, has defended the concert, saying that "culture is a tool to keep dialogue open".
On social media on Friday, he noted an Israeli conductor was also on the programme, adding: "We don't ask those men of culture to answer for the political choices of those who lead their respective countries."
He repeated his position on Tuesday, condemning Putin's actions in Ukraine but saying that refusing to engage in dialogue "only serves to fuel the rivers of hatred".
But Navalnaya, whose husband died in an Artic penal colony last year in what she and his supporters say was a killing on Putin's orders, was scathing.
"As Putin's cultural ambassador, Valery Gergiev implements Russia's soft power policy. One of his current goals is to normalise the war and Putin's regime," she wrote.
She described the Caserta concert as a "test balloon" for boosting Putin's image in Europe and noted it was being praised by Russian authorities.
"Forgive me, but if the Kremlin is happy with you in 2025, then you are definitely doing something wrong," she wrote.
Other members of the Democratic Party have called for the concert to be cancelled, as have other cultural figures outside Italy.
Peter Gelb, general manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera and a staunch supporter of Ukraine, told AFP that Gergiev "is no less than an artistic stand-in for Putin".
He added: "There can be no 'cultural exchange' with mass murderers and kidnappers of children, which is the current modus operandi of the Russian regime."
Gergiev has stood by Putin's policies for more than two decades and performed propaganda concerts in honour of Russian military victories in the past. 
In one of his most criticised moves, Gergiev conducted a concert in the ruins of Syria's Palmyra after Moscow's intervention in the country on the side of dictator Bashar al-Assad.
He also conducted a triumphant concert in Georgia's Tskhinvali region after the Russian invasion in 2008, just a few metres (feet) from a detention centre where Georgian civilians were being held.  
bur-ar/ide/gil

investments

Las Vegas Sands makes $8 bn Singapore bet with resort expansion

  • Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, said that when the new project is completed, the US firm would have invested "more than US$15 billion" in Singapore since it started operations there in 2010.
  • Casino operator Las Vegas Sands broke ground Tuesday on a new $8 billion project to expand its iconic Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore, in a major bet on the city-state's tourism market.
  • Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, said that when the new project is completed, the US firm would have invested "more than US$15 billion" in Singapore since it started operations there in 2010.
Casino operator Las Vegas Sands broke ground Tuesday on a new $8 billion project to expand its iconic Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore, in a major bet on the city-state's tourism market.
The new complex is expected to open in 2031, pending government approval, and will include a 55-storey hotel tower with 570 luxury suites, a 15,000-seat arena, a casino, and space for exhibitions and conferences, the company said.
Called IR2 for now, the new Sands project will be located adjacent to its existing resort, which opened 15 years ago in Singapore's Marina Bay financial district.
"When completed, the expansion will refresh our skyline," said Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who led the groundbreaking ceremony.
Marina Bay Sands consists of three 57-storey hotel towers supporting an elongated boat-like structure perched on top -- a favourite backdrop for tourists which also houses one of Singapore's two casinos.
Las Vegas Sands co-founder Miriam Adelson, the wife of late billionaire Sheldon, thanked Singapore and the country's leaders for trusting the company.
"You took a chance on us... we took a chance on you," she said.
Singapore has banked on man-made attractions to help lure tourists, including Southeast Asia's only Universal Studios theme park, a garden with massive artificial trees, a cavernous glass-encased flower dome, a world-class zoo and wildlife parks.
It also hosts a Formula One night race on the city's streets, and last year the country was Taylor Swift's only Southeast Asian stop for her Eras tour.
More than 16 million international visitors came to Singapore last year, up 21 percent from 2023.
Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, said that when the new project is completed, the US firm would have invested "more than US$15 billion" in Singapore since it started operations there in 2010.
"This speaks volumes of our confidence in this region, and the potential that we continue to see in Singapore," he said.
mba/jfx

diplomacy

Thousands of Afghans and families brought to UK after data breach: minister

  • The previous Conservative government put in place a secret programme to help those "judged to be at the highest risk of reprisals by the Taliban", he said.
  • Thousands of Afghans who worked with the UK government and their families were brought to Britain in a secret programme after a 2022 data breach put their lives at risk, a minister revealed Tuesday.
  • The previous Conservative government put in place a secret programme to help those "judged to be at the highest risk of reprisals by the Taliban", he said.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with the UK government and their families were brought to Britain in a secret programme after a 2022 data breach put their lives at risk, a minister revealed Tuesday.
Defence Minister John Healey unveiled the scheme to parliament after the UK High Court on Tuesday lifted a super-gag order banning reports of the events.
In February 2022 a spreadsheet containing the names and details of almost 19,000 Afghans who had asked to be relocated to Britain was accidentally leaked by a UK official just six months after the Taliban seized Kabul, Healey said.
"This was a serious departmental error," Healey said, adding "lives may have been at stake".
The previous Conservative government put in place a secret programme to help those "judged to be at the highest risk of reprisals by the Taliban", he said.
Some 900 Afghans and 3,600 family members have now been brought to Britain or are in transit under the programme known as the Afghan Response Route at a cost of around £400 million, Healey said. 
They are among some 36,000 Afghans who have been accepted by Britain under different schemes since the August 2021 fall of Kabul.
As Labour's opposition defence spokesman Healey was briefed on the scheme in December 2023, but the Conservative government asked a court to impose a "super-injunction" banning any mention of it in parliament or by the press.
When Labour came to power in July 2024, the scheme was in full swing, but Healey said he had been "deeply uncomfortable to be constrained from reporting to this House". 
"Ministers decided not to tell parliamentarians at an earlier stage about the data incident, as the widespread publicity would increase the risk of the Taliban obtaining the dataset," he added.
Healey set up a review of the scheme on becoming defence minister in the new Labour government. This concluded there was "very little intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution".
The Afghan Response Route has now been closed, the minister said, apologising for the data breach which "should never have happened." 
jkb/har/tw

conflict

UN demands justice in any Ukraine peace talks, as civilian deaths spike

BY ROBIN MILLARD

  • "Work on a lasting peace, in line with international law, must intensify -- a peace that ensures accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law."
  • The United Nations insisted on Tuesday that any peace talks on Russia's war in Ukraine must include full accountability for the conflict's litany of violations, following the deadliest month for civilians since May 2022.
  • "Work on a lasting peace, in line with international law, must intensify -- a peace that ensures accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law."
The United Nations insisted on Tuesday that any peace talks on Russia's war in Ukraine must include full accountability for the conflict's litany of violations, following the deadliest month for civilians since May 2022.
The call from UN rights chief Volker Turk came the day after US President Donald Trump told Moscow to end the war within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions.
Trump also laid out plans for infusions of weaponry for Kyiv via NATO.
In recent weeks, Trump has shown increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Moscow stepping up attacks rather than stopping them.
"An immediate ceasefire is needed now to end this unbearable suffering," Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for Turk's office, told a media briefing.
"Work on a lasting peace, in line with international law, must intensify -- a peace that ensures accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law."
Rather than being sidelined or overlooked, "any move towards ceasefire, towards peace -- accountability must be at its heart", she added.

Surging civilian casualties

Throssell said Turk wanted any negotiations to focus in the immediate term on ending attacks that affect civilians and protecting the rights of people in occupied territory.
They should also seek to return forcibly transferred or deported children, establish humanitarian corridors across the line of control and an bring end to the torture and ill treatment of prisoners of war and other detainees, she said.
Russia launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Moscow has unleashed record waves of drone and missile attacks over the past few weeks, with the number of Ukrainian civilians killed or wounded in June hitting a three-year high, according to UN figures, with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured.
"July has brought no respite for civilians in Ukraine," said Throssell.
So far this month at least 139 civilians have reportedly been killed and 791 wounded, she said, citing the "intense and successive waves of missile and drone strikes" launched by Russian forces.
"Intense and sustained attacks using explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas are likely to have indiscriminate impacts and as such raise serious concerns as to their compliance with international humanitarian law," said Throssell.
The UN human rights office has so far been able to verify and document at least 13,580 civilians killed and 34,115 wounded since the Russian invasion began but acknowledges that the full figures will be far higher.

Attacks on healthcare

Meanwhile Jarno Habicht, the World Health Organization's representative in Ukraine, said civilian casualties "almost doubled" in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the first.
He said the WHO had recorded 2,504 attacks on healthcare since the start of the war, involving 212 deaths and 768 injuries. 
The WHO records attacks but does not attribute blame as it is not a criminal investigations body.
"That means that healthcare is not a safe place for the patients and healthcare workers -- and it's a violation of humanitarian law," said Habicht.
He also sounded an alarm on "problem" behaviours growing during the war -- heavy drinking among adults, and new tobacco products used by youths.
rjm/nl/gil

Yemen

German court rejects Yemenis' claim over US strikes

BY SARAH MARIA BRECH

  • But the Constitutional Court on Tuesday ultimately ruled that Berlin is not required to take action against such attacks, which were not judged to be in breach of international law.
  • Germany's highest court on Tuesday threw out a case brought by two Yemenis seeking to sue Berlin over the role of the US Ramstein airbase in a 2012 drone attack, ending a years-long legal saga.
  • But the Constitutional Court on Tuesday ultimately ruled that Berlin is not required to take action against such attacks, which were not judged to be in breach of international law.
Germany's highest court on Tuesday threw out a case brought by two Yemenis seeking to sue Berlin over the role of the US Ramstein airbase in a 2012 drone attack, ending a years-long legal saga.
Plaintiffs Ahmed and Khalid bin Ali Jaber first brought their case to court in 2014 after losing members of their family in the strike on the village of Khashamir.
The case has since been through several German courts. But the Constitutional Court on Tuesday ultimately ruled that Berlin is not required to take action against such attacks, which were not judged to be in breach of international law.
Washington has for years launched drone strikes targeting suspected Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen, an impoverished country that has been torn by fierce fighting between its beleaguered Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed rebels.
The two Yemeni men, supported by the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), had argued that Germany was partly responsible for the attack because the strike was aided by signals relayed via the Ramstein base in western Germany.
"Without the data that flows through Ramstein, the US cannot fly its combat drones in Yemen," the group said.
The ECCHR's Andreas Schueller argued that "the German government must put an end to the use of this base -- otherwise the government is making itself complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians". 

'Complaint unfounded'

The court found that Germany "does have a general duty to protect fundamental human rights and the core norms of international humanitarian law, even in cases involving foreign countries". 
However, in order for this duty to be binding, there must be "a serious risk of systematic violation of applicable international law".
"Measured against these standards, the constitutional complaint is unfounded," the court said.
The ECCHR said the ruling had "failed to send a strong signal" and meant that "instead, individual legal protection remains a theoretical possibility without practical consequences".
However, Schueller said the verdict "leaves the door open for future cases". 
"Violations of international law can be subject to judicial review, even if the court imposes high hurdles. This is an important statement by the Constitutional Court in these times," he said.

'Margin of discretion'

According to the ECCHR, the two Yemeni men were having dinner ahead of the wedding of a male family member in 2012 when they heard the buzz of a drone and then the boom of missile attacks that claimed multiple lives.
Their case against Germany was initially thrown out, before the higher administrative court in Muenster ruled in their favour in 2019.
However, the government appealed and a higher court overturned the decision in 2020, arguing that German diplomatic efforts were enough to ensure Washington was adhering to international law.
In a statement shared by the ECCHR, the two men called the ruling "dangerous and disturbing".
"(It) suggests countries that provide assistance to the US assassination programme bear no responsibility when civilians are killed. Our hearts are broken, and our faith in international law is shaken," they said.
The German government welcomed the ruling, which it said showed that Berlin had "a wide margin of discretion in assessing whether the actions of third states comply with international law".
"According to the ruling, the government has no fundamental duty to protect foreigners abroad who are affected by military action by third states if, in the government's assessment, these attacks are within the bounds of what is permissible under international law," the defence and foreign ministries said in a statement.
bur-fec/fz/jm

conflict

Russia suggests Trump is emboldening Ukraine, delaying peace

  • Denmark and the Netherlands on Tuesday said they were looking to participate in Trump's plan for Europe to buy American weapons for Ukraine. 
  • The Kremlin warned Tuesday that US President Donald Trump's pledge of more weapons for Kyiv and threat of sanctions targeting Russian trading partners could embolden Ukraine and further delay already stalled peace efforts.
  • Denmark and the Netherlands on Tuesday said they were looking to participate in Trump's plan for Europe to buy American weapons for Ukraine. 
The Kremlin warned Tuesday that US President Donald Trump's pledge of more weapons for Kyiv and threat of sanctions targeting Russian trading partners could embolden Ukraine and further delay already stalled peace efforts.
Trump a day earlier gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal with Ukraine, voicing fresh frustration with Moscow as he laid out an arrangement with NATO to supply Kyiv with new military aid sponsored by the alliance's members.
The Republican forced Moscow and Kyiv to open peace talks to end the conflict, now in its fourth year, but Russia has rejected calls for a ceasefire and launched a record number of drones and missiles at Ukraine in recent months.
Moscow said it needed more time to respond fully to Trump's statement, but hinted it did not appear conducive to successful negotiations.
"It seems that such a decision made in Washington and in NATO countries and directly in Brussels will be perceived by Kyiv not as a signal for peace but for the continuation of the war," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"President Trump's statement is very serious. We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington," he told reporters in Moscow's first reaction to the comments.
Trump warned that if no deal was concluded, he would slap severe tariffs on Russia's remaining trade partners in a bid to impede Moscow's ability to finance its military offensive.
Pumped up by huge state spending on soldiers and weapons, as well as by redirecting vital energy exports to the likes of China and India, Russia's economy has so far defied Western hopes sanctions would push it into a deep recession.
- Weapons deal - 
Two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine, held in Turkey in recent months, have made no progress towards ending the fighting and yielded only large-scale prisoner exchanges.
Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia launched its offensive, with millions forced to flee their homes in eastern and southern Ukraine, which has been decimated by aerial attacks and ground assaults.
Putin has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire and his negotiators have demanded Ukraine shun all Western military support, and pull out of four regions in its east and south that Moscow claims to have annexed.
Kyiv and the West have rejected them as a call for Ukraine's de-facto capitulation.
Peskov said Russia was open to another round of talks and was "waiting for proposals from the Ukrainian side on the timing."
Kyiv has called it "pointless" to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation.
Denmark and the Netherlands on Tuesday said they were looking to participate in Trump's plan for Europe to buy American weapons for Ukraine. 
Under the scheme, some of NATO's European members would pay Washington for the weapons, including vital Patriot air defence systems, which would then be shipped to Ukraine.
The United States has been Kyiv's most important military backer since Russia launched its offensive in 2022, but Trump's erratic policy on whether to support Ukraine and his attempts to engage Putin have spooked Europe and Kyiv.

'Game of chess'

In Moscow, residents dismissed Trump's statement as little more than politics.
"It's a game of chess," Svetlana, an aviation engineer said.
"There will still be negotiations... (Trump) gave 50 days, and then there will be more... We are waiting for the next move of our president," the 47-year-old said.
Russia has pummelled Ukrainian cities with regular aerial attacks in recent weeks as its troops advance slowly across the battlefield in the east and south.
Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the east were hopeful but cautious following Trump's promise of air defences and weapons.
"I don't believe him. There have been too many promises that haven't been kept," said one soldier with the call-sign "Shah."
Others were worried it might be too little too late.
"Of course it's good, but at the same time, time has been lost. Those Patriots could have been sent sooner and could have helped a lot," another fighter called "Master" told AFP.
"If there is even the slightest chance to improve the situation for us and worsen it for them, then that's already positive," Ruslan, a 29-year-old soldier, said.
bur/jm

Poland

Astronauts from US, India, Poland, Hungary on SpaceX capsule return to Earth

  • Also aboard were pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
  • A SpaceX capsule carrying astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary and the United States splashed down off the California coast Tuesday, completing Axiom Mission 4 and capping 20 days in space.
  • Also aboard were pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
A SpaceX capsule carrying astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary and the United States splashed down off the California coast Tuesday, completing Axiom Mission 4 and capping 20 days in space.
The Ax-4 crew undocked from the International Space Station at 7:15 am EST on Monday (1115 GMT) for a 22.5-hour journey, landing in the Pacific Ocean at around 5:31 am EST (0931 GMT) on Tuesday.
The capsule performed its de-orbit burn before descending toward Earth, deploying drogue and main parachutes ahead of splashdown.
"Thanks for the great ride. ... happy to be back," Commander Peggy Whitson, an Axiom employee and former NASA astronaut, said after the splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.
Also aboard were pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Axiom Space is a private company that organizes missions to the International Space Station, flying both wealthy individuals and, as in this case, astronauts sponsored by their governments. 
For the non-American trio, the mission marked a return to crewed spaceflight for their respective nations after decades-long absences.
They launched from Kennedy Space Center on June 25 for what turned out to be a two-and-a-half-week mission, during which they conducted around 60 scientific experiments.
For rising space power India, the flight served as a key stepping stone toward its first independent crewed mission, scheduled for 2027 under the Gaganyaan ("sky craft") program.
Shukla held a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in what was widely viewed as a significant soft power moment. He recounted sharing the sweet dish gajar ka halwa with his crewmates aboard the station.
This will be only SpaceX's second crew recovery in the Pacific Ocean. 
The first occurred in April with the return of the Fram-2 mission. SpaceX has since shifted permanently to West Coast splashdowns, citing incidents where debris from Dragon's trunk survived atmospheric reentry and crashed back to Earth.
ia-cdl/lb

conflict

Ukraine covers frontline roads with anti-drone nets

BY FLORENT VERGNES

  • Since early July, the town of Dobropillia, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the front line, has become a target for Russian FPV drone attacks.
  • A ravaged car with its engine destroyed and doors riddled with shrapnel lay on the side of the road near Dobropillia, a sleepy town not far from the front line in eastern Ukraine.
  • Since early July, the town of Dobropillia, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the front line, has become a target for Russian FPV drone attacks.
A ravaged car with its engine destroyed and doors riddled with shrapnel lay on the side of the road near Dobropillia, a sleepy town not far from the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Hit by a small, remote-controlled drone, the mangled chassis was a stark reminder of why Ukraine is hurrying to mount netting over supply routes behind the sprawling front line to thwart Russian aerial attacks.
As Russia's invasion grinds through its fourth year, Moscow and Kyiv are both menacing each other's armies with swarms of cheap drones, easily found on the market and rigged with deadly explosives.
AFP reporters saw Ukrainian soldiers installing green nets on four-metre (13-foot) poles spanning kilometres (miles) of road in the eastern Donetsk region, where some of the war's most intense fighting has taken place. 
"When a drone hits the net, it short-circuits and it cannot target vehicles," said 27-year-old engineering brigade commander Denis, working under the blazing sun.

Threat from above

"We are shifting into a so-called drone war," Denis told AFP.
FPV (first-person view) drones have already seriously wounded a few of his men. Some are armed with shotguns to shoot them down.
The Russian army has also been deploying nets. 
"We weave nets like spiders! For extremely dangerous birds without feathers," the Russian defence ministry quoted a soldier with the call sign "Ares" as saying in April.
An earlier article by pro-Kremlin media outlet Izvestia also showed soldiers mounting netting close to the front.

Everyone is in danger

Drones are also a worry for towns and cities.
Since early July, the town of Dobropillia, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the front line, has become a target for Russian FPV drone attacks.
During a recent visit to the civilian hub -- where some 28,000 people lived before the war -- AFP journalists saw residents on the streets rush for cover in shops when a drone began buzzing overhead.
When the high-pitched whirring had died down and the threat disappeared, one woman exiting a shelter picked up her shopping bags and glanced upwards, returning to her routine.
Every day, victims come to the small town's hospital. According to the hospital's director, Vadym Babkov, the enemy FPVs "spare neither medical workers nor civilians".
As the roads "are not yet 100-percent covered" by nets, his ambulances have to take long detours, reducing the patients' chances of survival, the 60-year-old said.
"We are all under threat," Babkov added.
In Russia's Belgorod border region, which frequently comes under Ukrainian fire, authorities have retrofitted ambulances with metal anti-drone cages -- a technology once reserved for tanks and personnel carrier vehicles.

New habits

"Civilians have got used to it," Denis told AFP. 
Olga, a waitress in a small cafe and mini-market in Dobropillia, has devised her own way to cope with the constant drone threat.
"When I drive and feel that a drone is going to attack me, I open all the windows to avoid glass shards hitting me," the 45-year-old told AFP.
The atmosphere in the town had become "frightening", Olga said.
The shop next to Olga's was recently hit by an FPV drone, leaving its owner in a coma.
"Now we jump at every gust of wind," Olga said.
"The day has passed -- thank God. The night has passed and we wake up with all our arms and legs intact -- thank God."
Despite the roads constantly coming under attack, Olga still receives products to sell in her small cafe, since suppliers take detours along routes away from the front.
But she doesn't know for how long. 
"Everything hangs in the air now," she said. We're living day by day."
fv-asy/cad/gil

diplomacy

China's Xi vows greater support for Russia as meets Lavrov

BY PETER CATTERALL

  • Meeting Lavrov in the Chinese capital, Xi said the two countries should "strengthen mutual support on multilateral forums", according to state news agency Xinhua.
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russia's top diplomat on Tuesday that their countries should "strengthen mutual support", state media said, as foreign ministers gathered in Beijing for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation talks.
  • Meeting Lavrov in the Chinese capital, Xi said the two countries should "strengthen mutual support on multilateral forums", according to state news agency Xinhua.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russia's top diplomat on Tuesday that their countries should "strengthen mutual support", state media said, as foreign ministers gathered in Beijing for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation talks.
Beijing has long sought to present the SCO as a counterweight to Western-led power blocs such as NATO and has pushed for greater collaboration between its 10 members.
Top diplomats from the grouping have arrived in Beijing for a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, including Russia's Sergei Lavrov, India's Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Iran's Abbas Araghchi.
Meeting Lavrov in the Chinese capital, Xi said the two countries should "strengthen mutual support on multilateral forums", according to state news agency Xinhua.
Beijing and Moscow should work to "unite countries of the global South and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction", Xi said, according to Xinhua.
Russia's foreign ministry said in an earlier statement that "a number of issues of bilateral political contacts at the highest and high levels were discussed".
They included preparations for President Vladimir Putin's visit to China to join a SCO summit and World War II anniversary celebrations.
Russia's TASS news agency reported that Xi met Lavrov after the Chinese president held a "general meeting" with SCO foreign ministers.

Trump's tariff threat

The meeting and pledges of support came just hours after US President Donald Trump warned Russia that he will impose "very severe" tariffs against Moscow's remaining trade partners if it doesn't resolve its war in Ukraine within 50 days.
China, a diplomatic and economic ally of Moscow, in response said "coercion" by the United States would not resolve the conflict.
"China firmly opposes all illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction. There are no winners in a tariff war, and coercion and pressure will not solve problems," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
Lavrov met Sunday with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to discuss Ukraine and relations with the United States.
The Russian foreign minister arrived in China following a visit to North Korea, where he received assurances of support in its conflict with Ukraine.
Beijing claims to be neutral in the war but it has never denounced Russia's more than three-year military campaign, nor called for it to withdraw its troops.
Many of Ukraine's allies believe that Beijing has provided support to Moscow.
China regularly calls for an end to the fighting, while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.
Xi noted Tuesday that "political mutual trust among member states has deepened", according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The SCO "has successfully explored a path of regional cooperation that aligns with the trends of the times and meets the needs of all parties, setting a model for a new type of international relations," Xi said.
bur-pfc-oho/rsc

conflict

Trump gives Russia 50 days to make Ukraine deal

BY DANNY KEMP IN WASHINGTON WITH VICTORIA LUKOVENKO IN KYIV AND FLORENT VERGNES IN EASTERN UKRAINE

  • - Growing frustration - Trump attempted a rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term, having campaigned on a pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
  • US President Donald Trump told Russia on Monday to end its war in Ukraine within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions, as he laid out plans for infusions of weaponry for Kyiv via NATO. Trump said he was "very, very unhappy" with Vladimir Putin, underlining his insistence that his patience had finally snapped with the Russian leader's refusal to end the deadly conflict.
  • - Growing frustration - Trump attempted a rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term, having campaigned on a pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
US President Donald Trump told Russia on Monday to end its war in Ukraine within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions, as he laid out plans for infusions of weaponry for Kyiv via NATO.
Trump said he was "very, very unhappy" with Vladimir Putin, underlining his insistence that his patience had finally snapped with the Russian leader's refusal to end the deadly conflict.
"We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The Republican added that they would be "secondary tariffs" that target Russia's remaining trade partners -- seeking to impede Moscow's ability to survive already sweeping Western sanctions.
Russia's top trading partner last year was China, accounting for about 34 percent, followed distantly by India, Turkey and Belarus, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service.
Trump and Rutte also unveiled a deal under which the NATO military alliance would buy billions of dollars of arms from the United States -- including Patriot anti-missile batteries -- and send them to Ukraine.
"This is really big," said Rutte, as he touted a deal aimed at easing Trump's long-held complaints that the United States is paying more than European and NATO allies to aid Ukraine.
Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Britain were among the buyers helping Ukraine, added the NATO chief.
"If I was Vladimir Putin today and heard you speaking... I would reconsider that I should take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously," said Rutte.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had spoken with Trump and was "grateful" for the arms deal.
In a BBC interview published Tuesday, Trump expressed disappointment with Putin.  
"I'm disappointed in him, but I'm not done with him," the US president said.
When asked if he trusted the Russian leader, Trump replied: "I trust almost no one."

 Growing frustration

Trump attempted a rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term, having campaigned on a pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
His pivot towards Putin sparked fears in Kyiv that he was about to sell out Ukraine, especially after he and his team berated Zelensky in the Oval Office in February.
But in recent weeks, Trump has shown increasing frustration with Putin, as Russian has stepped up attacks rather than halting them.
Trump said his wife Melania had helped change his thinking about Putin.
"I go home, I tell the First Lady, 'you know, I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation,'" Trump said. "And she said, 'Oh really? Another city was just hit.'"
He added of Putin: "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy."
Washington has also U-turned on pausing some arms deliveries to Kyiv.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would play a "decisive role" in the new weapons plan.
But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Trump's sanctions deadline was too far into the future. "Fifty days is a very long time if we see that they are killing innocent civilians every day," she said.
Beijing opposed what it called attempts at "coercion", including "all illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction."
"Coercion and pressure will not solve problems," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday.

'Better late than never'

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who are pushing a bipartisan bill on Russia secondary sanctions, praised Trump's "powerful" ultimatum to Russia.
Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg arrived in Kyiv on Monday for what Zelensky called a "productive meeting."
One Ukrainian soldier deployed in the war-scarred east of the country, who identified himself by his call sign Grizzly, welcomed Trump's promise of fresh air defense systems. 
"Better late than never," the 29-year-old told AFP.
Russian forces meanwhile said on Monday they had captured new territory in eastern Ukraine with the seizure of one village in the Donetsk region and another in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Its forces also killed at least three civilians in the eastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions on Monday, Ukrainian officials said.
In Kyiv, Zelensky also proposed a major political shake-up, recommending economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko take over as prime minister, and appointing incumbent Prime Minister Denys Shmygal as defense minister.
burs/cdl/lb

climate

Indigenous Australians lose landmark climate court case against government

  • Australia's Federal Court found the government was not obliged to shield the Torres Strait Islands from climate change.
  • Indigenous Australians living on a string of climate-threatened islands on Tuesday lost a landmark court bid to hold the government responsible for lacklustre emissions targets.
  • Australia's Federal Court found the government was not obliged to shield the Torres Strait Islands from climate change.
Indigenous Australians living on a string of climate-threatened islands on Tuesday lost a landmark court bid to hold the government responsible for lacklustre emissions targets.
Scattered through the warm waters off Australia's northernmost tip, the sparsely populated Torres Strait Islands are threatened by seas rising much faster than the global average. 
Torres Strait elders have spent the past four years fighting through the courts to prove the government failed to protect them through meaningful climate action.
Australia's Federal Court found the government was not obliged to shield the Torres Strait Islands from climate change.
"I thought that the decision would be in our favour, and I'm in shock," said Torres Strait Islander Paul Kabai, who helped to bring the case. 
"What do any of us say to our families now?"
Fellow plaintiff Pabai Pabai said: "My heart is broken for my family and my community."
Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney criticised the government for setting emissions targets between 2015 and 2021 that failed to consider the "best available science".
But these targets would have had little impact on global temperature rise, he found. 
"Any additional greenhouse gases that might have been released by Australia as a result of low emissions targets would have caused no more than an almost immeasurable increase in global average temperatures," Wigney said.
Australia's previous conservative government sought to cut emissions by around 26 percent before 2030.
The incumbent left-leaning government in 2022 adopted new plans to slash emissions by 40 percent before the end of the decade, and reach net zero by 2050.

'Climate refugees'

Fewer than 5,000 people live in the Torres Strait, a collection of about 274 mud islands and coral cays wedged between Australia's mainland and Papua New Guinea.
Lawyers for traditional land owners from Boigu and Saibai -- among the worst-impacted islands -- asked the court to order the government "to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will prevent Torres Strait Islanders from becoming climate refugees". 
Sea levels in some parts of the archipelago are rising almost three times faster than the global average, according to official figures. 
Rising tides have washed away graves, eaten through huge chunks of exposed coastline, and poisoned once-fertile soils with salt.
The lawsuit argued some islands would soon become uninhabitable if global temperatures rose more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The World Meteorological Organization has warned this threshold could be breached before the end of the decade.
While Australia's emissions pale in comparison to the likes of China and the United States, the fossil fuel powerhouse is one of the largest coal exporters in the world.
sft/djw/mtp

politics

Hong Kong leader backs same-sex couples' rights bill

  • In 2023, the court unanimously defined marriage as "confined to opposite-sex couples" -- a stance Lee reiterated on Tuesday.
  • Hong Kong leader John Lee threw his weight behind a bill recognising limited rights for same-sex couples on Tuesday, despite fears that opposition from pro-Beijing parties could sink it. 
  • In 2023, the court unanimously defined marriage as "confined to opposite-sex couples" -- a stance Lee reiterated on Tuesday.
Hong Kong leader John Lee threw his weight behind a bill recognising limited rights for same-sex couples on Tuesday, despite fears that opposition from pro-Beijing parties could sink it. 
Lee's administration proposed legislation this month to recognise some rights for same-sex partners whose marriages are registered abroad.
Despite LGBTQ activists arguing it does not go far enough, the proposal drew near-universal criticism from the pro-Beijing politicians that dominate Hong Kong's legislature. 
The clash pitted Lee against conservative lawmakers from his own camp and led some to fear the proposal might be pulled. 
The city's top court ordered Hong Kong's government to create an "alternative framework" for LGBTQ couples when it quashed a bid to recognise same-sex marriage in 2023. 
Lee said on Tuesday the government "must not act in violation" of the Court of Final Appeal's judgement. 
"Otherwise, it will be against the rule of law... Violating the rule of law will mean serious consequences," he told reporters.
The government will respect the legislature's final decision, he added.
In 2023, the court unanimously defined marriage as "confined to opposite-sex couples" -- a stance Lee reiterated on Tuesday.
LGBTQ activists say the bill -- which only covers "rights related to medical matters" and "right to handle after-death arrangements" -- fails to satisfy the court's framework requirements.
China is not among the countries around the world that have legalised marriage equality since the Netherlands became the first to do so in 2001. 
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China with its own legislature and a mini-constitution that guarantees a "high degree of autonomy".
Pro-Beijing firebrand lawmaker Junius Ho earlier floated the idea of asking Beijing's top legislature to overrule Hong Kong's apex court to "protect traditional family values".
Support for same-sex marriage in Hong Kong has grown over the past decade and hit 60 percent, according to a 2023 survey.
hol/reb/rsc

Beyonce

Unreleased Beyonce music stolen from car in Atlanta

  • Atlanta Police said in an online statement that a warrant had been issued for an unnamed suspect's arrest, but that the suspect remained at large.
  • Computer drives containing unreleased music by US superstar Beyonce and plans related to her concerts were stolen last week in Atlanta, police said Monday, with a suspect still at large.
  • Atlanta Police said in an online statement that a warrant had been issued for an unnamed suspect's arrest, but that the suspect remained at large.
Computer drives containing unreleased music by US superstar Beyonce and plans related to her concerts were stolen last week in Atlanta, police said Monday, with a suspect still at large.
The items were stolen from a rental car used by Beyonce's choreographer and a dancer on July 8, two days before the pop icon kicked off the Atlanta leg of her "Cowboy Carter" tour, a police incident report said.
Choreographer Christopher Grant, 37, told police that he returned to the car to find its rear-window smashed and their luggage stolen.
Inside were multiple jump drives that "contained water marked music, some un-released music, footage plans for the show, and past and future set list (sic)," the report said.
Also missing were an Apple MacBook, headphones and several items of luxury clothing.
Police investigated an area where the MacBook and headphones had pinged their location, but the report did not mention any items being recovered.
Atlanta Police said in an online statement that a warrant had been issued for an unnamed suspect's arrest, but that the suspect remained at large.
The "Cowboy Carter" tour kicked off in April after the global superstar took home her first "Album of the Year" Grammy for the 2024 album.
The sweeping country-themed work saw Beyonce stake out musical territory in a different genre from much of her previous discography.
The ambitious, historically rooted album also aimed to elevate and showcase the work of other Black artists in country music, whose rich contributions the industry has repeatedly sidelined.
As her stadium tour to promote the album winds down, Beyonce ended her four-night stint in Atlanta on Monday, with two final performances set for late July in Las Vegas.
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