US drone flights in Black Sea risk direct clash with NATO: Russia

Russia said Friday it had observed an increase in US drone flights over the Black Sea and vowed to respond, warning of 'direct confrontation' with NATO.Defence Minister Andrei Belousov had instructed the army 'to submit proposals on measures for an operational response to the provocations', Russia's defence ministry said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685617/international/us-drone-flights-in-black-sea-risk-direct-clash-with-nato-russia

Biden in Georgia for debate with Trump

US President Joe Biden arrived in Georgia yesterday for his first debate of the 2024 election cycle with his predecessor Donald Trump – a high-stakes event for both candidates. Air Force One touched down at a military base about an hour’s drive from the capital Atlanta, where the debate will take place at CNN’s headquarters beginning at 9pm (0100 GMT Friday.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685613/international/biden-in-georgia-for-debate-with-trump

Kenya police face off against protesters day after president’s tax bill climbdown

Kenyan police fired teargas at dozens of protesters in Nairobi and blocked off roads to the presidential palace yesterday as crowds took to the streets again nationwide, even after the president bowed to pressure to withdraw a tax hike bill.Crowds called for President William Ruto to go further and step down in the capital, Mombasa, Kisumu and other centres, though the turnout was well down from the height of the mass rallies sparked by the tax measures over the past week.Ruto withdrew the legislation including new taxes and hikes on Wednesday, a day after at least 23 people were killed in clashes at protests sparked by his plans, and parliament was briefly stormed and set alight. He is grappling with the most serious crisis of his two-year-old presidency as the youth-led protest movement has grown rapidly from online condemnations of the tax hikes into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul.Dropping the bill has also hit plans to reduce the budget deficit and borrowing, as demanded by lenders including the International Monetary Fund. Seven people were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds in the town of Homa Bay in western Kenya yesterday, Citizen TV reported, without going into further detail. Police commander Hassan Barua said he had sent officers to check on the report.In Nairobi, police and soldiers patrolled the streets and blocked access to State House. Police fired teargas to disperse several dozen people who had gathered in the centre of the city. Doctors volunteer group Medics for Kenya said its staff at the Jamia Mosque/Crescent hospital had been hit by teargas, and that it condemned in “the strongest terms possible violence meted out on our volunteer medical teams”.Reuters reporters saw army vehicles on the streets after the government deployed the military to help police. Elsewhere, hundreds of protesters gathered in the port city of Mombasa and in the western city of Kisumu, local television footage showed, although those gatherings appeared peaceful.“We are only coming here so that our voice can be heard, us as Gen Z, us as Kenyans, we are one,” said Berryl Nelima in Mombasa. “So the police should stop killing us, we are just peaceful protesters, we are unarmed.”The protest movement has no formal leadership structure and has largely responded to messages, banners and slogans on social media. Posts yesterday suggested protest supporters were divided on how far to carry the demonstrations.“Let’s not be foolish as we fight for a better Kenya,” Boniface Mwangi, a prominent social justice activist, said in an Instagram post. He voiced support for demonstrations on Thursday but opposed calls to invade State House, the president’s formal offices and residence, a move that he said could spur more violence and be used to justify a crackdown.While some protest supporters said they would not demonstrate on Thursday as the finance bill had been scrapped, others pledged to press on, saying only Ruto’s resignation would satisfy them. “Right now is not about just the finance bill but about #RutoMustGo,” political activist and protester Davis Tafari told Reuters in a text message.“We have to make sure that Ruto and his MPs have resigned and fresh elections are held ... We occupy State House for dignity and justice.”Eli Owuor, 34, from Kibera, an informal settlement and a traditional hotbed of protests, also said he was prepared to join a push on to State House.“We may just need to visit Zakayo today in his house to prove that after parliament we can occupy State House,” he said, using a nickname protesters have given to Ruto that references a biblical tax collector viewed as corrupt.In a speech on Wednesday, Ruto defended his push to raise taxes on items such as bread, cooking oil and diapers, saying it was justified by the need to cut Kenya’s high debt, which has made borrowing difficult and squeezed the currency.But he acknowledged that the public had overwhelmingly rejected the finance bill. He said he would now start a dialogue with Kenyan youth and work on austerity measures, beginning with cuts to the budget of the presidency.The International Monetary Fund, which has been urging the government to cut its deficit to obtain more funding, said it was closely monitoring the situation in Kenya.“We are deeply concerned about the tragic events in Kenya in recent days,” the IMF said in a statement. “Our main goal in supporting Kenya is to help it overcome the difficult economic challenges it faces and improve its economic prospects and the well-being of its people.”Ratings agency Moody’s said the shift in focus to cutting spending rather than boosting revenue will complicate the disbursement of future IMF funding and slow the pace of fiscal consolidation.Analysts at JPMorgan said they had maintained their forecasts for a deficit of 4.5% of GDP in FY2024/2025, but acknowledged the government and IMF targets could be revised in light of recent developments. They said the Central Bank of Kenya was unlikely to begin cutting rates until the final quarter of this year.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685598/international/kenya-police-face-off-against-protesters-day-after-presidents-tax-bill-climbdown

Biden, Trump lock horns in high stakes debate

Joe Biden and Donald Trump were due to square off early today in a crucial US presidential debate that carries enormous stakes for both candidates as they battle for the approval of undecided voters and any slim advantage in their tight race for the White House.Millions of Americans were expected to tune in to the highly anticipated clash – the opening salvo in what promises to be a bruising summer of campaigning in a deeply polarised country still scarred by the chaos and violence that accompanied the 2020 election.The 90-minute televised debate would be the first between a sitting president and a former one.A record 84mn watched Trump’s first debate in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.The debate takes place far earlier than normal – more than four months before the November 5 Election Day.With only two debates this election cycle and national polls showing the pair locked in the tightest of contests, the event at CNN headquarters in Atlanta – starting at 9pm (0100 GMT today, 4am Qatar time) – takes on heightened significance.For many voters, the choice between the 81-year-old Biden, the oldest ever incumbent, and the 78-year-old Trump, now a convicted felon, is an uninspiring one – a dynamic both candidates need to counter as they go head-to-head.For Trump, an instinctive political pugilist, the challenge will be to rein in the aggressive tendencies he unleashed – to his detriment – in their first chaotic debate four years ago.Biden – who arrived in Georgia about six hours before the event – will be desperate to avoid any major gaffes that could underline concerns about his age.He also will focus on his key campaign message that Trump poses an existential threat to US democracy.There is certainly no love lost between the two candidates, and both sides have agreed to a series of debate rules aimed at minimising the prospect of a shouting match.There will be no studio audience, depriving candidates of the momentum that comes from ginning up supporters, and microphones will cut out when a candidate’s speaking time is over.To coincide with the debate, both camps unleashed a series of fresh attack ads, with Trump’s team taking out TV spots accusing Biden of mismanaging the economy and encouraging illegal immigration.In a morning post on his Truth Social platform, Trump argued that Biden was the real threat to democracy, “and a threat to the survival and existence of our country itself”.The Democratic Party, meanwhile, paid for five massive billboards in Atlanta trolling Trump over his legal woes.“Donald, welcome to Atlanta for the first time since becoming a convicted felon. Congrats – or whatever...” the signs said.Trump enjoys a slight advantage in the all-important swing states, but the overall polling looks extremely close in an election likely to be decided by a few photo finishes in a handful of battlegrounds.The latest Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump edging ahead of Biden nationally, 49% to 45%.The rivals both step onstage for the 90-minute debate seeking to allay fears about serious political liabilities.Biden faces the most concern about his mental sharpness, with voters much more likely to bring up his age than Trump’s, despite the Republican being just three years younger.Ahead of the debate, both Trump and Biden have had missteps, stumbling over words or appearing muddled.Trump is also engulfed in controversy over his inflammatory rhetoric, his recent conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, and fears that he would weaponise the presidency to settle personal scores.Two-thirds of voters said in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll that they were concerned violence could follow the election, nearly four years after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.Biden has spent the last week off the radar at the Camp David retreat near Washington, fine-tuning his attack lines in mock debates under real TV lighting.Trump’s preparation has been more relaxed, eschewing dress rehearsals in favour of informal policy roundtables and workshopping debate strategy with rally crowds.Aides have encouraged him to focus on his perceived strength on the economy and crime, while Biden will seek to paint Trump as unhinged and unfit for office.The Trump campaign has repeatedly characterised Biden as feeble and incompetent, but changed tack in recent days following warnings that setting low expectations for the Democratic president would only help him.“We know that Joe Biden, after taking an entire week off, will be ready for this,” senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller told reporters.One of Biden’s biggest vulnerabilities is border security, with Trump promising to combat an influx of undocumented migrants from Mexico with mass deportations and repeatedly bringing up killings by migrants.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685592/international/biden-trump-lock-horns-in-high-stakes-debate

Erdogan accuses West of backing Israeli ‘plans to spread war’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday accused Western powers of backing what he said were Israeli plans to attack Lebanon and “spread war” throughout the region.“Israel is now setting its sights on Lebanon and we see that Western powers behind the scenes are patting Israel on the back and even supporting them,” he told lawmakers from his ruling AKP party.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu’s plans to spread the war to the region will lead to a great disaster,” he said.“It is ... pathetic that states that talk about freedom, human rights and justice are captives of a mentally-ill person like Netanyahu.”His remarks came as concern soared over escalating threats and ongoing cross-border exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fuelling fears it could descend into fully-fledged war.The Lebanon border violence erupted after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel, triggering a massive Israeli retaliatory operation, which is ongoing.Netanyahu has said Israeli forces are now winding up the most intense part of the Gaza war and will redeploy to the northern border, casting the move as defensive.Last week, Israel said its plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”.The Turkish leader’s remarks came two days after Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan warned Greece and Cyprus about getting involved in the ongoing Middle East conflict.Speaking to Haberturk TV late on Monday, Fidan alleged there was “serious militarisation in southern Cyprus” which was being used as a base for “intelligence and military flights” towards Gaza, citing intelligence reports.Turkiye, he said, had warned them against getting involved in the conflict.“When you get involved in the ongoing wars in the Middle East, when you take sides, this fire will come and find you too,” he said.Last week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned Cyprus against opening its airports and bases to Israel “to target Lebanon”, saying it would face retaliation.But the Cypriot government in Nicosia swiftly denied any part in Israel’s Gaza war and said it would not “become involved in any military conflicts”.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685529/international/erdogan-accuses-west-of-backing-israeli-plans-to-spread-war

Kenya president backs down on tax hikes after deadly unrest

Kenyan President William Ruto yesterady withdrew planned tax hikes, bowing to pressure from protesters who had stormed parliament, launched demonstrations across the country and threatened more action this week.The move will be seen as a major victory for a week-old, youth-led protest movement that grew from online condemnations of tax rises into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul, in the most serious crisis of Ruto’s two-year-old presidency. But some demonstrators said on social media that despite Ruto’s climbdown they would go ahead with a rally planned for today, with many reiterating demands that he resign.Ruto announced he would not sign a finance bill including the tax increases, a day after clashes between police and protesters at the assembly and nationwide left at least 23 people dead and scores wounded, according to medics.“Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this finance bill 2024, I concede. And therefore, I will not sign the 2024 finance bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” he said in a televised address with lawmakers, some clapping, seated behind him. Vice-President Rigathi Gachagua asked young people to call off the protests to avoid any further loss of life and destruction of property, and blamed the intelligence services for giving the government poor advice.“There would have been no mayhem, but they slept on the job,” Gachagua said in a speech, calling on the head of the National Intelligence Service to resign. Protesters were defiant, repeating calls for Ruto to step down and vowing further action in the streets.Boniface Mwangi, a prominent social justice activist involved in the protests, called for a “1-million-people march”.“The arrogance is gone, but the lies are still there,” he said on social media platform X. “Yesterday they unleashed goons and police to kill peaceful protesters. That will not stop us.” Other members of the protest movement continued to post on social media using the hashtag #tupatanethursday, or “see you on Thursday” in a mix of Swahili and English.Kalonzo Musyoka, a senior opposition leader and former vice-president, wrote on X that pulling the bill did not go far enough and he called on Ruto to quit.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685527/international/kenya-president-backs-down-on-tax-hikes-after-deadly-unrest

Israel pounds several areas across Gaza

Israeli forces pounded several areas across Gaza on Wednesday, and residents reported fierce fighting overnight in Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave.Residents said fighting intensified in the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, where tanks were also trying to force their way north amid heavy clashes. The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.Since early May, ground fighting has focused on Rafah, abutting Egypt on Gaza's southern edge, where around half of the enclave's 2.3mn people had been sheltering after fleeing other areas. Most have since had to flee again.Medics said two Palestinians were killed in one Israeli missile strike in Rafah.Later on Wednesday, an Israeli strike killed three Palestinians and wounded others near the northern Jabalia camp, one of the Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps, medics said.In Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, tank shells struck an apartment, killing at least five people and wounding others, medics said.The Israeli offensive has so far killed 37,658 people, of them 60 in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said, and has left the tiny, heavily built-up Gaza Strip in ruins.More than eight months into the war, international mediation backed by the US has failed to yield a ceasefire agreement. Hamas says any deal must bring an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting.In the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinians complained of a severe lack of food and soaring prices, and health officials said thousands of children were suffering from malnutrition that has already killed at least 30 since Oct. 7.'There is only flour and canned food, there is nothing else to eat, no vegetables, no meat, and no milk,' said Abu Mustafa, who lives in Gaza City, with his family.Gaza remains at high risk of famine, though delivery of some aid has limited the projected spread of extreme hunger in northern areas, a global monitor said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685520/international/israel-pounds-several-areas-across-gaza

Israel told to avoid war with Hezbollah

The United States is pressing Israel to avoid a major war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah, with top American officials urging a diplomatic solution in order to prevent another Middle East crisis. Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah are exchanging fire on a near-daily basis, and the Israeli army said last week that plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated.” Washington is working to lower the temperature, but those efforts - which come on top of disagreements between the administrations of US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - may further add to tensions between the two leaders.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685495/international/israel-told-to-avoid-war-with-hezbollah

EU launches talks on membership for Ukraine, Moldova

The European Union (EU) yesterday kicked off accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, setting the fragile ex-Soviet states on a long path towards membership that Russia has tried to block.The landmark move signals in particular a vote of confidence in Kyiv’s future at a time when Moscow has momentum on the battlefield almost two and a half years into the Kremlin’s invasion.“Dear friends, today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between Ukraine and the European Union,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said via videolink at the start of the talks.President Volodymyr Zelensky called it a “historic day” as officials from Kyiv and the EU’s 27 member states met in Luxembourg.“We will never be derailed from our path to a united Europe and to our common home of all European nations,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on social media.Ukraine and later Moldova lodged their bids to join the EU in the aftermath of Russia’s assault in February 2022.The opening of the talks marks just the beginning of a protracted process of reforms in Ukraine that is strewn with political obstacles and will likely take many years — and may never lead to membership.Standing in the way along that journey will be not just Russia’s efforts at destabilisation but reticence from doubters inside the EU, most notably Hungary.But European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called the opening of talks “very good news for the people of Ukraine, Moldova, and the entire European Union”.“The path ahead will be challenging but full of opportunities,” she wrote on X yesterday.So far, Ukraine has won plaudits for kickstarting a raft of reforms on curbing graft and political interference, even as war rages.Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna, vowed that Kyiv “will be able to complete everything before 2030” to join the bloc.Russia’s war in Ukraine has reinvigorated a push in the EU to take on new members, after years in which countries particularly in the Western Balkans made little progress on their hopes to join.The EU in December 2023 also granted candidate status to Georgia, another of Russia’s former Soviet neighbours.It likewise approved accession negotiations with Bosnia and has talks ongoing with Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia.The meetings with Ukraine and Moldova yesterday will set off a process of screening of how far laws in the countries already comply with EU standards and how much more work lies ahead.Once that is done the EU then has to begin laying out conditions for negotiations on 35 subjects, ranging from taxation to environmental policy.Stefanishyna said the next step should come in early 2025.EU countries pushed to start the talks now before Hungary — the friendliest country to Russia in the bloc — takes over the EU’s rotating presidency next month.Budapest has been opposed to pressing ahead with Kyiv’s membership bid, arguing that Ukraine was unfairly moving ahead for political reasons.“From what I see here as we speak, they are very far from meeting the accession criteria,” Hungary’s Europe minister Janos Boka said yesterday.Accepting Ukraine — a war-ravaged country of some 40mn people — would be a major step for the EU, and there are calls for the bloc to carry out reforms to streamline how it works before accepting new members.The start of the talks resonates powerfully in Ukraine, as it was a desire for closer ties with the EU that sparked protests back in 2014 that eventually spiralled into the full-blown crisis with Russia.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685479/international/eu-launches-talks-on-membership-for-ukraine-moldova

Minister goes on hunger strike demanding more water for Delhi

A Delhi city minister has started an indefinite hunger strike to demand more drinking water for India’s capital, where taps in some of its poorest neighbourhoods are running nearly dry in the middle of searing heat.“There are 2.8mn people in the city who are aching for just a drop of water,” Delhi Water Minister Atishi said yesterday, the fourth day of her fast. Millions of Indians face water shortages every summer when water demand rises in farms, offices and homes against a limited supply, but a prolonged heatwave this year has worsened the shortfall, including in Delhi and the southern tech hub of Bengaluru.Delhi relies on the Yamuna River that runs through the capital for most of its water needs but the river slows down during dry summer months, causing shortages that lead to protests and calls for better water conservation.Atishi blamed the neighbouring farming state of Haryana for guzzling up a large share of river water. Haryana’s government responded that it was Delhi’s mismanagement that was causing water shortages. Experts said a federal-level review of decades-old water sharing pacts was needed to accommodate population growth. Delhi, a city of 20mn people, is one of the world’s most densely populated capitals, where upscale neighbourhoods and manicured lawns are just a few miles away from unplanned working-class areas and slums.But, in contrast to growing unplanned development over the years, the city’s water allocation from rivers has remained unchanged since 1994, said Depinder Kapur, the director of water programme at think tank Centre for Science and Environment.“What was true 10-15 years ago is not true anymore. So, there is a situation of crisis and it’s a distribution issue,” he said.The Delhi government is working on plans to improve the groundwater table by reviving lakes and storing water overflow from the Yamuna during the seasonal monsoon rains, but officials say the summer shortfall is difficult to tackle by these measures alone.“Water crisis in Delhi is a year-long crisis because extreme temperatures are not going anywhere,” said environmentalist Vimlendu Jha. “Delhi needs a comprehensive water management plan in which Yamuna can’t be the only major source of water.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685412/international/minister-goes-on-hunger-strike-demanding-more-water-for-delhi

Kenya’s Ruto ready for dialogue with protesters

Kenya’s President William Ruto said yesterday that he was ready for “a conversation” with thousands of “peaceful” young anti-tax protesters, prompting new calls from the movement’s organisers to accept their demand to cancel the levies.Organised on social media and led largely by Gen-Z Kenyans who have livestreamed the demonstrations, the protests by thousands of people have caught Ruto’s government off guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies.“I am very proud of our young people...they have stepped forward peaceful and I want to tell them we are going to engage them,” Ruto said in his first public comments on the protests.“We are going to have a conversation so that together we can build a greater nation,” Ruto said during a church service in the Rift Valley town of Nyahururu.His characterisation of the protests as “peaceful” came after rights campaigners reported two deaths following Thursday’s demonstrations in Nairobi.A protest organiser, Hanifa Adan, who told AFP that she was in hiding to avoid arrest, said Ruto needed to “respond publicly” to demands that the proposed hikes be cancelled.“President Ruto can’t claim to support us while his police brutalise peaceful protesters,” she said.“We’re past the talking stage and won’t be silenced. We demand an end to police violence, respect for our constitutional rights, and the freedom to speak up without fear of arrest or harm.” Amnesty International Kenya said yesterday that “in the last 72 hours, protest organisers, content creators, medics and protesters have been profiled, abducted and detained in violation of our laws”.The rights watchdog did not elaborate on the number of detainees, and there was no immediate comment by the police.Thursday’s demonstrations were mostly peaceful, but officers fired tear gas and water cannon throughout the day to disperse protesters near parliament.A Kenya Human Rights Commission official told AFP on Saturday that 21-year-old Evans Kiratu was “hit by a tear gas canister” during the protests and died in hospital. On Friday, a police watchdog said it was investigating allegations that a 29-year-old man was shot by officers in Nairobi after the demonstrations. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said it had “documented the death...allegedly as a result of police shooting” on Thursday. Several organisations, including Amnesty International Kenya, said that at least 200 people were injured in the protests in Nairobi, as thousands of people took to the streets across the country.The protesters have called for a national strike tomorrow.After smaller demonstrations in Nairobi last Tuesday, the cash-strapped government agreed to roll back several tax increases laid out in a new bill.But Ruto’s administration still intends to raise some taxes, saying they are necessary for filling the state coffers and cutting reliance on external borrowing.Kenya has a huge debt mountain whose servicing costs have ballooned because of a fall in the value of the local currency over the last two years, making interest payments on foreign-currency loans more expensive.The tax hikes will pile further pressure on Kenyans struggling with cost of living surges, with well-paid jobs remaining out of reach for young people.Ruto said yesterday that the annual budget included measures to tackle youth unemployment and improve access to higher education. After the government agreed to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership and financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a budget shortfall of 200bn shillings ($1.56bn).

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/685353/international/kenyas-ruto-ready-for-dialogue-with-protesters