By: All news worldBdon August 08, 2023/comment : 0Ukraine summit
ancient Red Sea port city Jeddah, stewing in the steamy heat of the world’s hottest summer on record, is not the obvious pick to cool the world’s fiercest conflict, currentlyraging in Ukraine.
Yet, the desert kingdom’s king-in-waiting, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – MBS for short – thinks he can help. Last fall he had a role in the release of Western mercenaries captured by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine. Now he is hosting a summit to discuss peace in the country.
Ukrainian officials say the venue is a boon for them “that completely destroys the narrative of Russia” that Ukraine is only supported by “countries of the collective West.” They expect as many as 40 nations to be represented, including the US and India.
In the days ahead of the summit, the Ukrainians set out their intent. “Our goal in Saudi Arabia is to develop a unified vision of the formula and to work out the possibilities of holding the future Global Peace Summit,” they said, referring to Ukraine’s peace plan.
That Moscow will only “monitor” and not attend risks the summit becoming a desert snowflake, momentarily awesome and inspiring, but blink and it’s gone.
Even so Ukrainian officials are pinning their hopes on it, “to unite the world around Ukraine.” The White House is sending National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
US State Department officials are billing it as “Ukraine in the driver’s seat,” an opportunity to find a “potential diplomatic resolution to the war” and for nations who might otherwise not hear directly from Kyiv to talk face-to-face with Ukrainian officials.
The first session of this series was quietly hosted by the Danes in June, and gathered 15 nations, many from the global south whom to varying degrees are sympathetic to Putin’s argument the war was “necessary,” that NATO forced him to invade Ukraine.
That summit produced no major headlines, nor a discernable drift to Ukraine’s prerequisite for peace that Russian troops exit Ukraine. So what is different this time?
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For one, Saudi Arabia, unlike Denmark, has not overtly taken a side in the war. More significantly MBS has leverage. Like the roads that led to Rome in its day, Saudi Arabia is increasingly at the confluence ofcompeting global interests.
Biden was able to build on their shared diplomatic achievement, a peace deal in Yemen a few months earlier. Xi talked business, and signed memorandums of understanding worth billions of dollars, but unbeknownst to most they were only a few months away from a seismic diplomatic breakthrough.
In spring this year, Saudi Arabia and China announced a confidence-building peace plan with Iran to repair their hostile relationship. So far it has worked. Iran’s proxies in Yemen, the Houthis, have stopped attacking Saudi with Iranian-made ballistic missiles.
The two nations have reopened diplomatic missions in their respective capitals and come fall will likely extend their newfound cooperation into commerce.
What MBS wants most is a stable oil market and stronger trade relations throughout the Gulf. Disagreements in the region alone are dangerous. The war – between oil-rich, nuclear-armed Russia and Ukraine – could be catastrophic.
If he can tame that tiger, he can better plan how to deliver his otherworldly and insanely expensive visions of a future Saudi Arabia diversifying from oil yet employing the country’s huge young population.
His ambition is what drives him every day. In his ideal world, Saudi Arabia would be a dominant geopolitical player.
Part of Biden’s pitch to MBS when they met last year was: Don’t cut oil production, it hurts my citizens at the gas pumps at home, and by the way, helps Russia fund its war in Ukraine by driving up oil prices.
So what did MBS do a few months later? Cut oil production. Saudi officials say they are reading the oil markets correctly and only changed production to suit their own “national interests.”
That point didn’t go down so well in Washington. Yet today the cardinal law of diplomacy would say MBS has potential leverage over Russia. If the Saudi potentate can raise oil prices he could also lower them. Not to say that he will, but he could, and Putin will know that too.
The sort of diplomacy MBS is involved in is reimagining the role of Gulf Arabs. Stakeholders with real clout, not the rivals at each other’s throats of yesteryear.
It’s a work in progress, but he sees where he wants to go and part of that involves one of the Middle East’s thorniest issues: Saudi’s rapprochement with Israel.
On that, Saudi negotiations with the US are underway, and reportedly include domestic energy nuclear power plants, F-35 fighter aircraft and security guarantees for the desert kingdom.
The US wants compromises from the Saudis, and vice versa.
All of this of course is way outside the scope of the Jeddah peace summit and Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine. Yet it shows where there are a lot of pieces in flux, a cornucopia of potential quid pro quos, and growing possibilities of what can be achieved.
Not least, as Ukraine’s biggest backer, US appreciation that Saudi stepped off the diplomatic sidelines to help Zelensky.
There are other areas beyond Iran where China and Saudi interests align, not least their mutual concerns about the risks to their economies of an untamed war escalating out of control on the edge of one of their biggest markets, Europe.
Without China’s economic support, Russia’s economy and its ability to wage war in Ukraine could crumble. To a lesser extent some of the global south nations who may be around the table in Jeddah also help prop up Putin’s war by buying gas, oil and other commodities he can no longer sell in Europe.
It is exactly these countries the Ukrainians most want to impress with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace initiative in Jeddah. Although it was published in December last year they think it has been rubbished by Russian propaganda and hope to reverse the damage.
Only last week Putin ignored his own illegal invasion and blamed Ukraine for a lack of peace when African Union representatives at a Kremlin-sponsored Africa conference in St Petersburg pressed him to seek a ceasefire.
In a typical Kremlinesque inversion of logic and reality, he told them that “in order to start the process an agreement is needed from both sides,” that “a ceasefire is hard to implement when the Ukrainian army is on the offensive.”
Countering Putin’s revisionist lies will likely keep Ukraine’s representatives in Jeddah extremely busy, with officials saying they plan to meet individually and collectively with other delegates about “each point of the [10-point] Peace Formula.”
By: All news worldBdon August 08, 2023/comment : 0
South Korean authorities began a massive operation on Tuesday to relocate nearly 40,000 teenage scouts from around the world, after they were forced to change venues for a 12-day gathering that had become plagued with problems.
The World Scout Jamboree,held on a giant makeshift campsite in Saemangeum on the country’s west coast, was supposed to feature outdoor activities, cultural performances, sustainability workshops and other offerings for the participants, mostly middle and high schoolers.
But complaints about conditions in the camp, as well as an approaching typhoon and extreme heat – the latter of which sickened hundreds of teens – put a dampener on festivities and scouts are now leaving the main venue almost a week ahead of schedule.
More than 1,000 buses carrying 37,000 scouts started leaving the jamboree site on Tuesday, according to Lee Sang-min, the country’s interior and safety minister.
The buses are being escorted by 273 police patrol vehicles and four police helicopters, and the participants will be placed in 128 accommodation locations across the country.
“For the remaining five days, the government continues to operate the jamboree program, and we will support the participants to build the Jamboree experience,” the minister added.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement had announced this “emergency evacuation plan” on Monday, citing the incoming Typhoon Khanun. The typhoon is forecast to hit South Korea on Thursday, with up to 6 inches (150 millimeters) of rainfall expected, according to CNN meteorologists.
The typhoon is only the latest in a series of issues that have dogged the event since its launch on August 1. Within the first week, hundreds of teenagers fell ill at the event due to a sweltering heat wave, with others going to the on-site hospital for issues such as skin rashes, sunburn and bug bites.
On Sunday alone, nearly 1,300 people visited the on-site hospital, according to Kim Hyun-sook, chairman of the jamboree’s organizing committee, and the gender equality and family minister.
Participants play with a ball at the campsite for the 25th World Scout Jamboree in South Korea, on August 4, 2023.
Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
South Korea has issued heat wave warnings across most of the country since late July, with temperatures expected to rise to 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit) in some regions on Monday, according to the Korean Meteorological Agency.
And there were other complaints too, with anxious parents sharing online what their children had been reporting from the campsite – such as not having enough food, sleeping gear or even beds.
Organizers announced a series of new measures on Friday to improve the situation, such as increasing the number of cleaning staff seven-fold to more than 500.
Over the weekend, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered authorities to send air-conditioned buses to the site for additional shelter from the heat, and called for an “all-out effort” to maintain hygiene at the campsite to prevent food poisoning.
But it was too late to assuage concerns from other countries’ leaders and campers’ families overseas. Over the weekend, large contingents of scouts from the United States, Britain and Singapore pulled out of the event, further fueling calls to end the jamboree early.
The US contingent said it would move its campers to the US Army Garrison Humphreys before flying them home on August 25, Reuters reported.
Matt Hyde, chief executive of Scouts UK, said they had already relocated 4,500 members of the British contingent from the jamboree venue to hotel rooms in Seoul.
“The reasons why we have taken that decision is we were concerned about young people and adult volunteer safety,” he said in a video posted to the Scouts UK’s website. He cited what he said was the poor sanitation conditions in the camp, concerns about food and access to medical services, as well as limited measures in place to cope with the “punishingly hot” weather.
“Those four areas gave us concerns about whether young people and adult volunteers were safe,” he added.
Hyde said scout activities would continue over the coming days.
“The people of Seoul have just been incredible… Last night a local football team reached out and offered us 4,000 tickets,” he added.
By: All news worldBdon August 08, 2023/comment : 0
Renowned Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre's son has been charged with murder for killing and dismembering a man in Thailand.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 29, pleaded guilty to the murder of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, 44, in a Thai court on Monday.
Police discovered parts of Arrieta's body at a landfill in the southern island of Koh Phangan last week.
Mr Sancho told Spanish news agency EFE he had been a "hostage"to Arrieta who was obsessed with him.
The YouTube chef went to a Koh Phangan police station last Thursday to report that Arrieta was missing, local media reported. Koh Phangan is a popular beach destination known for its raucous 'full moon' parties.
Mr Sancho filed the report shortly after human remains were discovered by trash collectors that morning, with more discovered the following day at the same location.
Through DNA tests, police determined that the remains were those of Arrieta. Questioned again by police on Friday, Mr Sancho admitted to killing him.
On Sunday, he led police to seven sites, where he allegedly disposed of the victim's dismembered body in plastic bags.
He is currently being held in a prison on the island of Koh Samui as police continue their investigation into the murder, which they allege is premeditated.
Local media reported that investigations showed Mr Sancho had bought, among other things, a knife, rubber gloves and a bottle of cleaning agent last Tuesday, leading them to conclude that he had made plans to kill Arrieta.
Mr Sancho hails from a well-known Spanish acting dynasty. His mother is the actress Silvia Bronchalo, while his grandfather is the late actor Félix Ángel Sancho Gracia
Mr Sancho's family released a statement on Sunday asking for "maximum respect, both for Daniel Sancho himself and for the whole family, in these delicate moments of maximum confusion."
Investigations are ongoing as authorities continue to search for the rest of Arrieta's remains.
By: All news worldBdon August 08, 2023/comment : 0
Firefighters worked to contain the flames in Odemira on Monday
By Christy Cooney in London & Alison Roberts in Lisbon
Firefighters in Portugal are battling to contain wildfires engulfing thousands of hectares amid soaring temperatures.
Around 800 personnel attended a fire near the southern town of Odemira overnight on Monday, with more than 1,400 people having to evacuate.
At least nine firefighters have been injured tackling the fires.
Temperatures in excess of 40C (104F) are expected to hit much of the Iberian peninsula this week.
Three major fires that scorched hundreds of hectares in Spain over the weekend have been brought under control, but weather alerts remain in place across much of the country.
In Portugal, Monday saw a temperature of 46.4C (116F), the hottest of the year so far, recorded in Santarém.
The fire near Odemira began on Saturday and was driven south into the hilly interior of the Algarve, Portugal's main tourism region, by strong winds.
It has so far destroyed some 6,700 hectares (16,600 acres) of land, while a total of 19 villages, four tourist accommodations and a camping site have been evacuated.
The town's mayor, Helder Guerreiro, has said the situation is "critical, difficult, and complex".
In the centre of the country, other major fires prompted the closure of several stretches of motorway, including parts of the A1 between Lisbon and Porto.
Sixteen waterbombing aircraft have been deployed to support firefighting efforts across the two areas.
Authorities have declared more than 120 municipalities across Portugal at maximum risk of wildfires.
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In Spain, fires near the south-western coastal cities of Cadiz and Huelva and in the northern Catalonia region scorched more than 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) in total on Saturday and Sunday.
This week's heatwave will mark the third to hit the Iberian peninsula this summer.
Ruben del Campo of Spain's State Meteorological Agency told Reuters it was being caused by a large mass of hot, dry air from North Africa and would be "generally more intense, more widespread and a little longer-lasting" than the two that hit in July.
Climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires.
The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.
By: All news worldBdon August 08, 2023/comment : 0
The $6.5 million projectshowcased practical tools and policy-making priorities in line with a UN plan to ensure all people on the planet are covered by Early Warning Systems by the end of 2027.
Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological and Early Warning Systems in the Caribbean (CREWS Caribbean)targeted countries that are members of the regional bloc, CARICOM, with the ultimate goal of saving lives and incomes.
CREWS is the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems Initiative, a multilateral fund that supports the world's Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Billion-dollar threat
The project addressed gaps in Early Warning Services which were identified in an assessment of the devastating 2017 Caribbean hurricane season, characterized by high-powered hurricanessuch as Irma and Maria that left a trail of damage, devastation and casualties across 12 territories.
The Caribbean is highly exposed to hurricanes, tropical storms, floods, landslides, and other severe hydrometeorological hazards, and exposure and vulnerabilities vary across the islands.
Each year, the region suffers from over $1.6 billion in damages triggered by natural disasters, according to the World Bank.
“Advances in science and technology make it possible to forecast hazards and disseminate warnings, but more can be done to strengthen understanding of the potential impact of complex hazards so that countries and communities can take appropriate anticipatory action,” WMO said.
Supporting vulnerable communities
Through the project, Caribbean countries were equipped with tools that included the development of a Strategic Roadmap for Advancing Multi-hazard Impact Based Early Warning Systems.
Additionally, model legislation and policies, adapted to national circumstances, were developed in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Other measures included supporting implementation of the Common Alerting Protocol in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Turks and Caicos, and development of the Caribbean Severe Weather Case Database.
The project was led by WMO in collaboration with a World Bank partnership that supports low and middle-income countries to reduce their risks from natural hazards and climate change, and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
It was funded by CREWS, which in June approved funding for a new three-year project to strengthen multi-hazard early warning systems in the region.
The $7 million project is currently in the development phase and is expected to begin in the last quarter of the year.
By: All news worldBdon August 07, 2023/comment : 0
Sweden dump USA out on penalties
The United States’ long reign as Women’s World Cup holders was brought to an end in the most dramatic fashion as they were dumped out on penalties by Sweden, who joined the Netherlands in reaching the quarter-finals on Sunday.
Sweden face Japan in the last eight as the drama just kept coming at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. The Netherlands beat South Africa 2-0 and meet Spain.
Their devastating last-16 defeat after the game ended 0-0 after 120 minutes was the United States’ earliest exit in their Women’s World Cup history and
leaves European champions England now the firm favourites.
The USA have long been the dominant force in international women’s football: they have won the World Cup four times and were chasing an unprecedented third title in a row.
Vlatko Andonovski’s side were the better team against Sweden in Melbourne but they could not beat goalkeeper Zecira Musovic and then lost their nerve in the penalty shootout.
Megan Rapinoe, a two-time World Cup winner who was desperate to end her career with another title, missed her spot-kick before the Swedes sealed the deal 5-4 on sudden-death penalties.
Even then the end was excruciatingly tense. US goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher thought she had saved Lina Hurtig’s kick but VAR ruled it had just crossed the line.
Cue belated pandemonium among the Sweden squad and tears for the Americans who, despite dominating large periods of the game, just never got going at this World Cup.
They were held 1-1 by the Netherlands in the group phase in a rerun of the 2019 final and likewise 0-0 by debutants Portugal, meaning they squeezed into the last 16.
Sweden next face a Japan team who have been the sensation of the tournament so far. The 2011 champions eased into the last eight with a 3-1 win over Norway on Saturday.
England face Nigeria in Brisbane on Monday hoping to avoid another shock, before co-hosts Australia face Denmark in Sydney.
Earlier Sunday, the Netherlands secured their spot in the quarter-finals by ending South Africa’s historic run.
The Dutch, runners-up in 2019, suffered some anxious moments in front of 40,000 fans in Sydney and had goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar to thank for making several big saves in the first half.
Jill Roord scored after nine minutes to put the Dutch on their way against a team that sits 45 places below them in the world rankings and was featuring in the knockout rounds for the first time.
South Africa goalkeeper Kaylin Swart then made a mess of an innocuous Lineth Beerensteyn shot midway through the second half to gift the Dutch a second.
The African champions will be kicking themselves after having numerous chances in the opening 45 minutes, almost all of them falling to their livewire captain Thembi Kgatlana.
‘Daphne saved us a few times and I was happy to lead 1-0 at half-time,’ said Dutch coach Andries Jonker.
‘We did much better in the second half and had much more control of the game.
‘We deserved to score again and in the end deserved to win.’
His team will now return to New Zealand for Friday’s last-eight game in Wellington against Spain, who outclassed Switzerland 5-1 on Saturday.
South Africa coach Desiree Ellis was proud but felt her side should have won.
‘We had a lot of chances, especially in the first half, to kill off the game,’ she said.
‘The chances we created should have put us out of sight.’
By: All news worldBdon August 06, 2023/comment : 0
Palestinian gunman kills Israeli, shot dead in Tel Aviv
A Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli municipal officer in commercial hub Tel Aviv on Saturday, before being fatally shot by another officer, authorities said.
The attack came amid a surge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a day after a 19-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Tel Aviv police said a gunman opened fire at a municipal inspector in the city centre, who according to the Magen David Adom emergency service was taken to hospital ‘in critical condition’ and later pronounced dead.
The Ichilov hospital in the city said Hen Amir, 42, ‘was killed while preventing with his own body a major attack, saving many lives in his death’.
Police earlier said that ‘another municipal inspector responded swiftly’ to the shooting and moved to ‘neutralise the terrorist’.
The Palestinian assailant was taken to the same hospital, where officials later pronounced him dead.
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service identified the gunman as Kamal Abu Bahar, 22, originally from the Jenin area, the site of frequent violence in the northern West Bank.
The Shin Bet claimed Abu Bahar was a sympathiser of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which Israel deems a terrorist organisation.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
A spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the blockaded Gaza Strip, said the attack was ‘a response to the crimes of the occupation and settlers against our people’.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to the ‘vigilance’ of municipal officers which had helped ‘avert a far more serious attack’.
Violence this year linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed at least 208 Palestinians, 28 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on both sides.
They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.
