US vows funds to boost Manila defences amid China disputes

The US yesterday pledged funding of $500mn for the Philippines’ military and coast guard in a big show of support for Manila as it faces Chinese actions in disputed waters in the South China Sea.Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met their Philippine counterparts in Manila to reaffirm Washington’s unwavering commitment to its oldest treaty ally in Asia.“This level of funding is unprecedented, and it sends a clear message of support for the Philippines, from the Biden-Harris administration, the US Congress and the American people,” Austin said in joint press conference following security talks.Ahead of their meetings, Blinken and Austin met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr who has moved the Philippines closer to Washington since he replaced Rodrigo Duterte, who was openly hostile to the Americans and pursued warmer ties with China during his six-year term.“I’m always very happy that these communication lines are very open so that all the things that we are doing together...are continuously examined and re-examined so we are agile in terms of our responses,” Marcos said.The Philippines has competing claims with China in the waters to its west also known as the South China Sea. China claims 90% of the sea as its sovereign territory.Violence broke out after a Filipino sailor lost a finger in a June 17 mission to resupply troops stationed at a contested shoal after what Manila described as “intentional-high speed ramming” by the Chinese coast guard.Manila reached a provisional arrangement with China for resupply missions this month to ease tensions and manage differences, but the two sides appear at odds over the details of the deal, which has not been made public.Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said in the same news conference his country agreed to an “exchange of information” under its arrangement with China.Blinken said the US shares the Philippines’ concerns about “escalatory” actions China has taken in the South China Sea.Blinken also reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to the defend the Philippines against an armed attack on its vessels, aircraft and soldiers in the waterway.A 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague found that China’s claims had no basis under international law. The case was brought by the Philippines and China rejects the court ruling.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687637/international/us-vows-funds-to-boost-manila-defences-amid-china-disputes

French climber summits Pakistan’s K2 in record time

French climber Benjamin Vedrines summited Pakistan’s K2 in record time on Sunday, his team told AFP, reaching the top of the world’s second-highest mountain in just under 11 hours.The 32-year-old specialist in high-speed ascents — made without the aid of oxygen — left K2 base camp just after midnight on Saturday and reached the summit 10 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds later.The ascent slashes by more than half the previous record for climbing K2 without the aid of bottled oxygen, completed in 23 hours by fellow Frenchman Benoit Chamoux in 1986.Vedrines attempted the summit in 2022 but was forced to turn back after suffering from hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the blood caused by thin air at high altitudes.“I took my revenge on this mountain,” Vedrines said in a voice message shared with AFP. “But above all I wanted to reconcile with it by doing things with maturity.”“It was very symbolic for me because I was returning in my footsteps to where I experienced those very unique moments,” he said.“I really enjoyed seeing the same sections again, but with lucidity this time.” Standing at 8,611 metres on the Pakistan-China border, K2 is 238 metres shorter than Everest but is considered more technically challenging — earning it the nickname “Savage Mountain”.Elite climbers regard the mountain, which was first scaled in 1954, as a quintessential achievement, and often attempt to set records on its jagged slopes. Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjin Sherpa conquered K2 a year ago, capping a record for the fastest summit of all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre mountains.The pair completed the feat in three months and one day. Tenjin was killed in an avalanche less than three months later as he guided another climber on Mount Shishapangma in Tibet.In January 2021, a 10-man team from Nepal became the first to summit K2 in winter as temperatures plunged to minus 65 degrees Celsius. The mountain regularly claims the lives of elite climbers. Rescue prospects seemed remote yesterday for two feted Japanese climbers who fell from K2’s western face at the weekend. Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima had been using the same “alpine style” of climbing as Vedrines, which relies on a minimum of fixed ropes, when they plunged from above 7,000 metres.A helicopter spotted the motionless pair but was forced to abort a rescue attempt and their sponsor, clothing brand Ishii Sports, said yesterday they were on “steep terrain that is difficult to reach”. Rescue attempts are still being discussed and no organisation has yet declared the men dead. Successful evacuations from K2 after mishaps are rare. A successful climb up K2’s western face has been achieved only once, in 2007.Vedrines is considered one of France’s pre-eminent climbers and set a speed record climbing Pakistan’s Broad Peak in 2022 before descending by paraglider.He reached the top of the 8,051-metre mountain, not far from K2, in seven hours and 28 minutes.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687577/international/french-climber-summits-pakistans-k2-in-record-time

Children among eight stabbed in UK attack

A knife attack in northern England yesterday wounded at least eight people, reportedly including children, emergency services said.Police said armed officers detained a man and seized a knife after being called to a property in Southport, near Liverpool in northwest England.“There are a number of reported casualties,” police said in a statement.The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said it had “treated eight patients with stab injuries who have been taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby hospital.”Alder Hey Children’s Hospital said: “We can confirm that the trust has declared a major incident.”Local business owner Colin Parry, one of the people who called police, told the domestic Press Association news agency that he believed several “young girls” had been stabbed.Bare Varathan, who owns a local shop, told PA he saw “seven to 10 kids” who were “injured, bleeding”, adding that he saw they had been stabbed.Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident “horrendous and deeply shocking,” adding on X, formerly called Twitter, that “my thoughts are with all those affected”.Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she was “deeply concerned” about the “very serious incident” in Southport.The area where the incident took place is located in a quiet, leafy neighbourhood of residential streets.Some residents who were allowed to come out from the police cordon sealing it off looked visibly shocked, according to a journalist at the scene.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687573/international/children-among-eight-stabbed-in-uk-attack

Quad foreign ministers decry dangerous S China Sea actions

Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the US yesterday said they were seriously concerned about intimidating and dangerous manoeuvres in the South China Sea and pledged to bolster maritime security in the region.The joint statement came after talks between the so-called ‘Quad’ countries in Tokyo, attended by Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan’s Yoko Kamikawa and Antony Blinken from the US.In security talks between the US and Japan on Sunday, the two allies labelled China the “greatest strategic challenge” facing the region.“We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the ministers said in the statement, which did not directly mention China.They also expressed serious concern about the militarisation of disputed features and coercive and intimidating manoeuvres in the South China Sea, including dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels.Asked about the statement at a regular news briefing yesterday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the Quad was “artificially creating tension, inciting confrontation and containing the development of other countries”.Chinese vessels have repeatedly clashed with Philippine ships seeking to resupply its troops on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in recent months, although the two countries in July reached a provisional agreement that aims to ease tensions.The Quad group said they were working on a series of initiatives to maintain “the free and open maritime order” including helping partners improve domain awareness via satellite data, training and capacity building. They also announced a plan to set up a new maritime legal dialogue.“We are charting a course for a more secure and open Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean region by bolstering maritime security,” Blinken said in remarks to reporters after the meeting.“In practical terms what does this mean? It means strengthening the capacity of partners across the region to know what’s happening in their own waters,” he added.He said the US would continue to work with its partners to ensure freedom of navigation and the unimpeded flow of lawful maritime commerce.The US announced plans on Sunday for a major revamp of its military command in Japan. It was among several measures announced by the allies to address what they said was an “evolving security environment”, noting various threats from China including its muscular maritime activities.“Uncertainty surrounding the international order as well as the international situation has been increasing with Russia continuing its aggression in Ukraine, attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea,” Japan’s Kamikawa said after the talks.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687572/international/quad-foreign-ministers-decry-dangerous-s-china-sea-actions

Maduro re-elected as Venezuela's President with 51.20 percent of votes

Venezuela's National Electoral Council announced on Monday, that current President Nicolas Maduro won the country's presidential elections.Maduro was re-elected after winning 51.20 percent of the vote, besting the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) candidate Edmundo Gonzlez Urrutia, who gained more than 44 percent, according to a statement by the National Electoral Council (CNE).President Maduro's campaign said, 'Thank you. It was a victory for everyone. It was a victory that will help us build the future, and of course, we will have to wait for the results.'This marks the third term for the current Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro. Polling stations opened yesterday, Sunday, in Venezuela to allow Venezuelan citizens to cast their votes in a tense presidential election.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687550/international/uslatin-america/maduro-re-elected-as-venezuelas-president-with-5120-percentof-votes

Putin warns US to be ready for the consequences if it deploys missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirmed its intention to deploy missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe.The United States said on July 10 that it would start deploying long-range missiles in Germany from 2026 in preparation for a longer-term deployment that will include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and developmental hypersonic weapons.In a speech to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria and India to mark Russian navy day in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg, Putin warned the United States that it risked triggering a Cold War-style missile crisis with the move.“The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes,” Putin said.“If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,” Putin said, adding that now in Russia “the development of a number of such systems is in the final stages”.“We will take mirror measures in deploying them, taking into account the actions of the US, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world,” the Russian president warned.Such missiles, which can travel between 500 and 5,500km, were the subject of an arms control treaty signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987.But both Washington and Moscow withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, each accusing the other of violations.Russia subsequently said it would not restart production of such missiles as long as the United States did not deploy missiles abroad.In early July, Washington and Berlin announced that the “episodic deployments” of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, to Germany would begin in 2026.Putin said that “important Russian administrative and military sites” would fall within the range of such missiles that “could in the future be equipped with nuclear warheads, such that our territories would be within around 10 minutes” of a strike being launched.The Russian president also mentioned that the US has deployed Typhon mid-range missile systems in Denmark and the Philippines in recent exercises.Russian and US diplomats say their diplomatic relations are worse even that during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and both Moscow and Washington have urged de-escalation while both have made steps towards escalation.Putin said that the United States was stoking tensions and had transferred Typhon missile systems to Denmark and the Philippines, and compared the US plans to the Nato decision to deploy Pershing II launchers in Western Europe in 1979.The Soviet leadership, including General Secretary Yuri Andropov, feared Pershing II deployments were part of an elaborate US-led plan to decapitate the Soviet Union by taking out its political and military leadership.“This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of American medium-range Pershing missiles in Europe,” Putin said.The Pershing II, designed to deliver a variable yield nuclear warhead, was deployed to West Germany in 1983.In 1983, the ailing Andropov and the KGB interpreted a series of US moves including the Pershing II deployment and a major Nato exercise as signs the West was about to launch a pre-emptive strike on the Soviet Union.Putin repeated an earlier warning that Russia could resume production of intermediate and shorter range nuclear-capable missiles and then consider where to deploy them after the United States brought similar missiles to Europe and Asia.US missiles continued to be stationed through the reunification of Germany and into the 1990s.But following the end of the Cold War, the United States significantly reduced the numbers of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded.The Kremlin had already warned in mid July that the proposed US deployment would mean that European capitals would become a target for Russian missiles.“We are taking steady steps towards the Cold War. All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687527/international/putin-warns-us-to-be-ready-for-the-consequences-if-it-deploys-missiles

Jordan’s Umm al-Jimal added to Unesco heritage list

Jordan’s Umm al-Jimal village has been added to Unesco’s World Heritage List, in a move hailed yesterday by the country’s tourism and antiquities minister as a “great achievement”.Unesco, which is hosting a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, said on X on Friday that the earliest structures uncovered at Umm al-Jimal date back to the first century CE, “when the area formed part of the Nabataean Kingdom.” It added that inscriptions in “Greek, Nabataean, Safaitic, Latin and Arabic uncovered on the site... sheds light on the changes in its inhabitants’ religious beliefs”.The village is near the Jordanian-Syrian border, 86 kilometres north of the capital Amman, and is known as “the black oasis” due to the prevalence of black volcanic rock in the area.Jordan’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Makram al-Qaisi said in a press conference yesterday that the inclusion of Umm al-Jimal on the World Heritage List is a “great achievement we should be proud of”. He said the ministry hoped to invite local and international investors to the site and “present Umm al-Jimal as an attractive tourist destination”.The name Umm al-Jimal comes from the use of camels as part of trade caravans in the village.The village was first settled by the Nabataean peoples in the first century CE and later occupied by the Romans, becoming an important agricultural and commercial village. Umm al-Jimal is the seventh historical site in Jordan to be added to Unesco’s World Heritage List, along with Petra, Quseir Amra, Umm al-Rasas, Wadi Rum, Mughatas and Salt. Tourism contributes between 12 and 14% of GDP in the kingdom, whose 10mn inhabitants rely heavily on the sector. Qaisi said Jordan welcomed more than 6mn tourists in 2023, bringing in $7bn.But tourism has started to feel the effects of the war raging in nearby Gaza. Qaisi said the kingdom saw a 4.9% drop in tourism revenue so far in 2024, and a 7.9% drop in visitors.Most tourists come from Europe, the US and Canada, followed by Asia Pacific countries.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687523/international/jordans-umm-al-jimal-added-to-unesco-heritage-list

Nigeria courts convict 125 insurgents in mass trial

Nigerian courts convicted 125 Boko Haram militants and financiers of a series of terrorism-related offences in a mass trial this week, the attorney-general’s office said.A Boko Haram insurgency has killed thousands of people and displaced millions since it began in 2009, creating a humanitarian crisis in northeastern Nigeria and putting pressure on the government to bring the conflict to an end.Kamarudeen Ogundele, the spokesman of the Attorney-General’s office, said in a statement late on Friday that “they were convicted of charges bordering on terrorism, terrorism financing, rendering material support, and cases relating to International Criminal Courts (ICC) criminality”.The last mass trials of Boko Haram suspects took place between 2017 and 2018, where 163 people were convicted and 887 set free. Ogundele added that from the previous convictions, 400 defendants who had completed their sentences were moved to a rehabilitation centre known as Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe State, northeast Nigeria “for rehabilitation, deradicalisation and subsequent reintegration”.Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, an attack that sparked outrage and gave rise to the global “#Bring Back Our Girls” campaign, though more than half of the girls have returned, many as mothers of multiple children.The breakdown of the latest convictions showed that 85 people were convicted for terrorism financing, 22 for ICC related crimes, while the rest were convictedfor terrorism.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687447/international/nigeria-courts-convict-125-insurgents-in-mass-trial

Climate change ‘causing change in rainfall, fiercer typhoons’

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published yesterday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year’s most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227kph. On China’s eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world’s land area had seen a rise in “precipitation variability” or wider swings between wet and dry weather. Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.“(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods,” said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study. “This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods.”Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behaviour of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful. “I believe higher water vapour in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena,” Sherwood said. Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years. While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan’s Nagoya University.“In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favourable condition for tropical cyclone development,” she said. In its “blue paper” on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.Thousands evacuated as record rains pound JapanRecord heavy rain forced the evacuation of thousands of people across parts of northern Japan and killed at least two, as rivers burst their banks washing away bridges and cars, officials and media reports said yesterday.A rescuer is among the dead after the downpours in Yamagata and Akita prefectures on the main island of Honshu. Two other people, including another rescuer, are missing.In Yamagata, where two rivers burst their banks, one police officer in his 20s who had been searching for a missing person was found “submerged” and later confirmed dead, a local police spokesman said.Another police officer also tasked with a search operation, remains unaccounted for, the spokesman said.In northern Akita region, one body was also found, media reports said, with police trying to ascertain whether it was that of an 86-year-old man earlier reported missing.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687420/international/climate-change-causing-change-in-rainfall-fiercer-typhoons

Philippines racing to clean oil spill to avoid ‘catastrophe’

The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday raced to offload 1.4mn litres of industrial fuel oil from a sunken tanker and prevent an “environmental catastrophe” in Manila Bay.One crew member died when the MT Terra Nova sank in rough seas nearly 7km off Limay municipality early Thursday after setting out for the central city of Iloilo.An oil slick stretching several kilometres was detected in the waterway, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.Coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said yesterday the spill was “minimal” and that it appeared to be diesel fuel used to power the tanker and not the industrial fuel oil cargo.“No oil has been leaking from the tank itself, so we’re racing against time to siphon the oil so we can avoid the environmental catastrophe,” Balilo said.The coast guard has set a target of seven days to offload the cargo and prevent what Balilo warned would be the worst oil spill in Philippine history if it were to leak.Journalists at the Port of Limay in Bataan province watched coast guard personnel load oil dispersant and a suction skimmer onto a boat to be used against the slick.Balilo said oil spill containment booms had also been deployed in preparation “for the worst case scenario” of the industrial fuel oil leaking before it could be offloaded.Once the weather improved, coast guard divers would inspect the position of the tanker so the “siphoning operation” could get under way, he said.The coast guard met with representatives of the MT Terra Nova’s owner and a contracted salvage company yesterday to discuss the timeline.“There’s nothing to be worried about for now, but we should not be complacent,” Balilo said.The incident happened as heavy rains fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.After setting out late Wednesday, the captain decided to abort the journey to Iloilo due to rough seas.Balilo said investigators were seeking to verify testimony from the crew that the vessel was damaged as it tried to turn back and had to be towed by another ship.Somehow the tow line was cut and the MT Terra Nova “lost control” in the large waves and went down, he said.“We will see if there were protocols violated or if there was a lapse in decision-making,” Balilo said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687418/international/philippines-racing-to-clean-oil-spill-to-avoid-catastrophe

India’s strategic railway bridge closes the gap to Kashmir

Soaring high across a gorge in the rugged Himalayas, a newly finished bridge will soon help India entrench control of Kashmir and meet a rising strategic threat from China.

The Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest of its kind in the world, has been hailed as a feat of engineering linking the Kashmir valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time.

But its completion has sparked concern among some in the territory, home to a permanent garrison of more than 500,000 soldiers.

India’s military brass say the strategic benefits of the bridge to New Delhi cannot be understated.

“The train to Kashmir will be pivotal in peace and in wartime,” general Deependra Singh Hooda, a retired former chief of India’s northern military command, said.

The new bridge “will facilitate the movement of army personnel coming and going in larger numbers than was previously possible”, said Noor Ahmad Baba, a politics professor at the Central University of Kashmir.

But, as well as soldiers, the bridge will “facilitate movement” of ordinary people and goods, he said. That has prompted unease among some in Kashmir who believe easier access will bring a surge of outsiders coming to buy land and settle.

Previously tight rules on land ownership were lifted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government cancelled Kashmir’s partial autonomy in 2019.

India Railways calls the $24mn bridge “arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history”.

It is hoped to boost economic development and trade, cutting the cost of moving goods.

But Hooda, the retired general, said the bridge’s most important consequence would be revolutionising logistics in Ladakh, the icy region bordering China.

India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia, and their 3,500km shared frontier has been a perennial source of tension.

Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands. “Everything from a needle to the biggest military equipment... has to be sent by road and stocked up in Ladakh for six months every year before the roads close for winter,” Hooda said.

Now all that can be transported by train, easing what Indian military experts call the “world’s biggest military logistics exercise” - supplying Ladakh through snowbound passes.

The project will buttress several other road tunnel projects under way that will connect Kashmir and Ladakh, not far from India’s frontiers with China and Pakistan.

The 1,315-metre-long steel and concrete bridge connects two mountains with an arch 359 metres above the cool waters of the Chenab River.

Trains are ready to run and only await an expected ribbon cutting from Modi.

The 272km railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army’s northern command, and runs through the region’s capital Srinagar.

It terminates a kilometre higher in altitude in Baramulla, a gateway trade town near the Line of Control with Pakistan.

When the road is open, it is twice the distance and takes a day of driving.

The railway cost an estimated $3.9bn and has been an immense undertaking, with construction beginning nearly three decades ago.

While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe bridge in China.

Describing India’s new bridge as a “marvel”, its deputy chief designer R R Mallick, said the experience of designing and building was a great learning experience for the engineers.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687366/international/indias-strategic-railway-bridge-closes-the-gap-to-kashmir