Yellen warns Beijing: Chinese firms aiding Russia face ‘significant consequences’
By David Lawder and Ann Saphir
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said the U.S. government had seen evidence that Chinese firms may be aiding in the flow of equipment to Russia’s war effort despite Western sanctions, and said she had urged China to crack down.
Yellen said she raised the issue during two days of meetings with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, expressing concern that equipment “helpful to Russia’s military” was evading sanctions and getting to Moscow to aid its war against Ukraine.
“I stressed that companies must not provide material support to Russia’s defense industrial sector and that they will face significant consequences if they do,” Yellen told reporters at a news conference in San Francisco.
“We are determined to do all that we can to stem this flow of material that aids Russia in conducting this brutal and illegal war,” Yellen said, warning that any companies aiding Moscow’s war effort could face sanctions.
She said the U.S. government had already imposed sanctions against a number of private firms, including some in China, that were helping Russia get equipment, along with some financial institutions that could be aiding that effort.
She welcomed to China’s Vice Premier yesterday and tweets
I am glad to host Vice Premier He Lifeng for two days of discussions about the U.S.-China economic relationship. We seek to develop deeper and more resilient channels of communication to stabilize the bilateral economic relationship and make progress on economic issues. pic.twitter.com/3fsZGcxEms
“We would like to see China crack down on this, especially when we’re able to provide information,” she said. She gave no further details on the names of the companies involved or He’s reaction.
Yellen stressed the Chinese firms in question were private and said she was not suggesting that this was occurring with knowledge of the Chinese government.
Indian authorities seize $3 million property from Hero MotoCorp’s Munjal
BENGALURU, Nov 10 (Reuters) – India’s financial crime agency has seized property worth about 249.5 million rupees ($3 million) belonging to Hero MotoCorp (HROM.NS) Chairman Pawan Munjal in relation to an ongoing money laundering investigation, the agency said on Friday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it seized three properties in New Delhi, under the country’s provisions of The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
This takes the total value of seizures and attachments in the case to about 500 million rupees, it added.
ED has attached 03 immovable properties located at Delhi worth Rs. 24.95 Crore (approx.) under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 belonging to Pawan Kant Munjal, CMD & Chairman, M/s Hero MotoCorp Ltd in connection with a money laundering investigation. The total value of seizure and…
Hero did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment, while Munjal could not be immediately reached for comment.
Last month, Delhi Police registered a case against Hero and Munjal on allegations of forgery and fraud by Brains Logistics, which provided manpower services to the two-wheeler maker. ($1 = 83.3625 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza
US and India reaffirm security ties as their top diplomats and defense officials hold talks
BY ASHOK SHARMA
NEW DELHI (AP) — India and the U.S. underlined their commitment to boosting security ties Friday as their top diplomats and defense chiefs met to discuss regional security, China and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with their Indian counterparts in New Delhi as part of an Asian trip aimed at showing unity over Russia’s war in Ukraine and preventing differences on the Israel-Hamas war from deepening.
Blinken said the U.S. and India were continuing to “deepen our collaboration on everything from emerging technologies to defense to people-to-people ties” and align diplomacy for “an Indo-Pacific region that’s free, that’s open, that’s prosperous, that’s resilient.”
He said the two sides discussed the crisis in the Middle East and “we appreciate the fact that from day one India has strongly condemned the attacks of Oct. 7. And as our joint statement makes clear, India and the United States stand with Israel against terrorists.”
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the situation in the Middle East was a big concern. While India has condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, it balances its position by calling for talks on “a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders, side-by-side at peace with Israel.”
Blinken met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “reaffirmed their shared vision for close partnership in the Indo-Pacific,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
In New Delhi I discussed with Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi how the U.S. and India are working to promote an open and secure Indo-Pacific region. I look forward to continuing our innovations in technology, clean energy, and space for a brighter future. pic.twitter.com/yCDTBEkOgc
“They emphasized working together to address ongoing crises such as Russia’s war against Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East,” Miller said.
Vinay Mohan Kwatra, India’s top bureaucrat in the foreign ministry, said India’s tense ties with China also were discussed at the official-level talks, but declined to give details.
India’s relationship with China has deteriorated since 2020, when Indian and Chinese troops clashed along their disputed border in the Himalayan Ladakh region, leaving 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead. A standoff involving thousands of soldiers in the eastern Ladakh region continues, despite several rounds of military and diplomatic talks.
Blinken said he also discussed with the Indian side a diplomatic dispute that erupted when Canada alleged that India was involved in the assassination of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
Blinken said that the U.S. wants the two sides to resolve their differences in a cooperative way and urged India to “work with Canada on its investigation.”
The dispute started when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in suburban Vancouver in western Canada. India rejected the accusation.
India and the U.S. have held so-called two-plus-two talks between India’s external affairs and defense ministers and the U.S. secretaries of state and defense since 2018 to discuss issues of concern and strengthen bilateral ties.
Austin and his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh, discussed a roadmap for defense industrial cooperation that will fast-track technology cooperation and co-production of defense systems, India’s defense ministry said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken,left, with Defense Secretary Lioyd Austin, speaks during the so-called “2+2 Dialogue” with Inida’s Foreign Minister Subramanyam J and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh at the foreign ministry in New Delhi, India, Friday, Nov.10,2023. Photo : Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP
“We’re integrating our industrial bases, strengthening our inter-operability, and sharing cutting-edge technology,” Austin said in his opening remarks.
Washington expects India to be a leading security provider in the Indo-Pacific region.
The two sides reached an agreement that will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones.
A joint statement at the conclusion of Blinken and Austin’s visit to New Delhi on Friday said the two sides reaffirmed their roadmap for defense industrial cooperation to strengthen India’s capabilities, enhance its defense production, facilitate technology-sharing, and promote supply chain resilience.
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Associated Press writer Matt Lee contributed to his story.
French President Macron hosts Gaza aid conference and appeals to Israel to protect civilians
BY SYLVIE CORBET
PARIS (AP) — Western and Arab nations, international agencies and nongovernmental groups stressed the urgent need for aid for Gaza civilians at a Paris conference Thursday, held as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory worsens amid Israel’s massive air and ground campaign against Hamas.
The gathering ended a few hours before the White House said Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in Gaza, starting on Thursday.
The French presidency said the participants’ pledges reached over 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in additional funding, stressing that the global amount still remained to be finalized.
French President Emmanuel Macron opened the conference with an appeal for Israel to protect civilians, saying that “all lives have equal worth” and urging for pauses in the fighting to allow deliveries of desperately needed aid.
“In the immediate term, we need to work on protecting civilians,” he said. “To do that, we need a humanitarian pause very quickly and we must work towards a cease-fire.”
The conference brought together officials from over 50 countries, the United Nations and humanitarian organizations as the Gaza Strip is being pounded by Israel in its war against Hamas, sparked by the militants deadly Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel.
Israeli authorities were not invited but have been informed of the talks, Macron’s office said. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the conference.
More than 1.5 million people — or about 70% of Gaza’s population — have fled their homes, and an estimated $1.2 billion is needed to respond to the crisis in Palestinian areas.
Macron said that since the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas “shouldered the responsibility for exposing Palestinians to terrible consequences,” and again defended Israel’s right to defend itself.
“Fighting terrorism can never be carried out without rules. Israel knows that. The trap of terrorism is for all of us the same: giving in to violence and renouncing our values,” he added.
Longer term, Macron said diplomatic work must resume on bringing peace to the Middle East, with a two-state solution. “We must learn from our errors and no longer accept that peace … always be pushed back to later.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, centre, speaks during a meeting with officials from Western and Arab nations, the United Nations and nongovernmental orgnizations at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Thursday, Nov.9,2023. Macron has opened a Gaza aid conference with an appeal for Israel to protect civilians, saying that ” all lives have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism ” can never be carried out without rules.” Photo : Ludovic Marin via AP
Several European countries, the United States and regional powers such as Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf Arab countries attended the conference, as did Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who urged the international community to “put an end to the war.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed that Israel had only allowed limited quantities of humanitarian aid through the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza and urged “the entire international community, and donor countries in particular, to continue supporting the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
“The aid that has already entered Gaza is not enough to meet the needs of the entire population, and the voluntary and deliberate complications imposed by Israel on the delivery of aid only lead to a further deterioration of the situation,” Shoukry said.
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides outlined his plan for a humanitarian sea corridor to Gaza “to provide continued rapid, safe and unhindered flow of humanitarian aid” and said the plan is being discussed “with all parties concerned, including Israel.” The plan provides options for the short, medium and longer term, with aid shipments possibly from the Cyprus port of Larnaca, 370 km (230 miles) from Gaza, he said.
The initiative includes the collection, inspection and storage of humanitarian aid in Cyprus, it’s later transfer by ship possibly from Larnaca port and finally it’s offloading and distribution in Gaza.
French officials said they are also considering evacuating the wounded to hospital ships in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza coast. Paris sent a helicopter carrier, now off Cyprus, and is preparing another with medical capacities on board.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said his country sent a hospital ship that is en route to Cyprus before deploying as close as possible to the conflict zone.
Thursday’s discussions also included financial support for Gaza’s civilians.
Macron announced France will provide an additional 80 million euros ($85 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza civilians, bringing France’s funding to a total of 100 million euros ($107 million) this year.
On Tuesday, the German government said it will provide 20 million euros ($21 million) in new funding, in addition to releasing 71 million euros ($76 million) already earmarked for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
Denmark has decided to increase its humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza by 75 million kroner ($10.7 million), to be channeled via U.N. agencies and the International Red Cross.
European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also attended the conference. The 27-nation bloc is the world’s top aid supplier to the Palestinians. “We have quadrupled the humanitarian support for Gaza and the West Bank, but it’s mostly for Gaza, to 100 million euros ($107 million),” von der Leyen said.
At a news conference following the conference, rights and aid groups urged for an immediate cease-fire, which they said is crucial for them to be able to work in Gaza.
“We’re determined to do everything we can, but if the only thing we get is a day or two without fighting … that won’t be enough,” said Isabelle Defourny, president of Doctors Without Borders France.
Jean-François Corty, vice president of Doctors of the World, said the main challenge “is not so much to mobilize aid as to get it” into Gaza.
“What’s happening in Gaza is a litany of violations of international law … not seen since World War II,” said Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, and denounced “indiscriminate, disproportionate, deliberate attacks.”
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Associated Press writers John Leicester in Le Pecq, France; Geir Moulson in Berlin; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark; Colleen Barry in Milan and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.
8 dead in crash after police chased a suspected human smuggler, Texas officials say
BY ACACIA CORONADO AND ELLIOT SPAGAT
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eight people died Wednesday when the driver of a car suspected of carrying smuggled migrants fled police and smashed into an oncoming vehicle on a South Texas highway.
The crash happened around 6:30 a.m. when the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic tried to outrun deputies from the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office and attempted to pass a semi truck, the state Department of Public Safety said. The Civic collided with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, which caught fire.
Everyone in both vehicles was killed, according to DPS. That includes the 21-year-old driver of the Civic, who was from Houston, and his five passengers. Some of the passengers were from Honduras, department spokesman Christopher Olivarez said in a statement. The two people in the Equinox were from Georgia.
The identities of those killed will be released to their families first, Olivarez said.
It was unclear how fast the vehicles were going, but photos provided by law enforcement show both were mangled and most of the Equinox was burned.
Wednesday’s crash near Batesville — about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio — is the latest deadly vehicle crash involving migrants, marking the highest death toll since 13 people died in a collision in remote Holtville, California, in March 2021.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has tallied 106 deaths in Border Patrol vehicle pursuits from January 2010 to June of this year. Deaths averaged 3.5 a year through 2019 but spiked in 2020, leading officials to develop a new policy for vehicle pursuits with an eye toward increasing safety.
The policy announced in January stops short of prohibiting chases but, according to CBP, “provides a clear framework for weighing the risks of conducting pursuits, such as the dangers they present to the public, against the law enforcement benefit or need.”
Local law enforcement agencies have been involved in fatal crashes as well in recent years. In June 2022, four migrants were killed in a smuggling attempt following a police chase in the South Texas city of Encinal, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Wednesday’s crash.
The Zavala County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
G7 nations urge ‘urgent action’ to help civilians trapped in Gaza, including pauses in the fighting
TOKYO (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies called Wednesday for “urgent action” to help civilians trapped in an increasingly dire situation in Gaza, including pauses in the fighting to allow aid in and people out, in announcing a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
In a statement following two days of intensive talks in Tokyo, the nations sought to balance the need to help Palestinians in the besieged enclave with unequivocal criticism of Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack and support for Israel’s right to self-defense. But the statement adds to pressure on Israel, which previously resisted U.S. calls for a “humanitarian pause.”
“All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers,” said the statement, hammered out by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. “We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages.”
The G7 meeting was, in part, an attempt to contain the worsening humanitarian crisis while also keeping broader differences on Gaza from deepening. It came “at a very intense time for our countries and for the world,” Blinken said in remarks to reporters, adding that “G7 unity is stronger and more important than ever.”
The ministers noted that the G7 is “working intensively to prevent the conflict from escalating further and spreading more widely,” and also using sanctions and other measures “to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out atrocities.” They also condemned “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians,” which they said is “unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace.”
As the diplomats met in downtown Tokyo, a U.N. agency said that thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are fleeing south on foot with only what they can carry after running out of food and water in the north. Israel said its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City, which was home to some 650,000 people before the war and where the Israel military says Hamas has its central command and a vast labyrinth of tunnels. The growing numbers making their way south point to an increasingly desperate situation in and around Gaza’s largest city, which has come under heavy Israeli bombardment.
“All of us want to end this conflict as soon as possible and meanwhile to minimize civilian suffering,” Blinken said. “But, as I discussed with my G7 colleagues, those calling for an immediate cease-fire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring about: Hamas left in place with more than 200 hostages, with a capacity and stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again.”
Looking ahead to after the war, Blinken said, “key elements should include no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. … No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza. We must also ensure no terrorist threats can emanate from the West Bank.”
Besides the monthlong conflict in Gaza, which followed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel in which militants killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took 242 hostage, the G7 envoys dealt with a flurry of other crises, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and China’s growing aggression in territorial disputes with its neighbors. There has also been a push for cooperation to combat pandemics, synthetic opioids, and threats from the misuse of artificial intelligence.
Since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the G7 has held together in defense of the international order that originally emerged after the destruction of World War II. Despite some fraying around the edges, the group has preserved a unified front in condemning and opposing Russia’s invasion.
“Our steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine’s fight for its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity will never waver,” the statement said.
In a later telephone call, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reassured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of continuing support for his country from the G7 and Japan despite the Middle East conflict. Kishida also announced plans to host a Japan-Ukraine economy and reconstruction conference in February.
Separately, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said the G7 foreign ministers “strongly condemned North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches as well as arms transfers from North Korea to Russia, which directly violate relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
There have been some small cracks in the G7 over Gaza, which has inflamed international public opinion. Democracies are not immune from intense passions that have manifested themselves in massive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel demonstrations in G7 capitals and elsewhere.
Last month in the U.N. Security Council, for instance, France voted in favor of a resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza that was vetoed by the United States because it didn’t go far enough in condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel which ignited the war. Britain and Japan abstained in that vote.
Blinken arrived in Tokyo from Turkey, the last stop on a four-day whirlwind tour of the Middle East that began with visits to Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq. From Japan, he will travel to South Korea and then on to India.
Storm Ciarán brings record rainfall to Italy with at least 6 killed. European death toll rises to 14
MILAN (AP) — Record-breaking rain produced floods in a vast swath of Italy’s Tuscany region as Storm Ciarán pushed into the country overnight, trapping residents in their homes, inundating hospitals and overturning cars. At least six people in Italy and one person in Albania were killed on Friday, bringing the storm’s death toll to 14 across Europe this week.
Throughout the day, the storm brought more death and destruction as it moved eastward across the continent. In Albania, police said a motorist died when he lost control while driving a car, which slid and hit barriers. Many roads in the country were flooded, including in the capital, Tirana.
Huge waves pummeled the Adriatic shores of the Balkans, and strong winds uprooted trees and ripped off roofs. Ferries connecting Croatia’s islands with the coastline were halted.
Italian Civil Protection authorities said that 200 millimeters (nearly eight inches) of rain fell in a three-hour period, from the coastal city of Livorno to the inland valley of Mugello, and caused riverbanks to overflow. Video showed at least a dozen cars getting swept away down a flooded road.
Tuscany Gov. Eugenio Giani said that six people died in the storm, which dumped an amount of rainfall not recorded in the last 100 years.
Disaster News posted a video on their twitter/X that cars floating in flood water
Sever floods due to Ciaran strom in the Campi Bisenzio of Tuscany region, Italy 🇮🇹 (02.11.2023)
“There was a wave of water bombs without precedence,” Giani told Italian news channel Sky TG24.
Climate scientists say human-induced climate change has led to heavier rainfall during storms like Ciarán, often resulting in more severe damage.
“If the conditions are different than 20 years ago, it is obvious to everyone,’’ Nello Musumeci, the government’s minister for civil protection, told Sky TG24, noting that weather systems in Italy have become more tropical in nature.
The dead in Tuscany included an 85-year-old man found in the flooded ground floor of his home near the city of Prato, north of Florence, and an 84-woman who died while trying to remove water from her home in the same area, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
The other victims were a couple who had been missing near the town of Vinci and a person in Livorno province. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said Friday evening that the wife of the man whose body was found earlier in the town near Prato also perished.
At least two people were missing Friday in Tuscany, along with an off-duty firefighter reported missing in the mountains of Veneto, north of Venice. Other regions were on high-alert and authorities warned that the storm was heading toward southern Italy.
At least 48,000 utility customers were without electricity, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said. High-speed train service between Florence and Milan as well as along smaller rail lines in Tuscany were affected.
Ciarán left at least seven people dead as it swept across Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany on Thursday. The storm devastated homes, caused travel mayhem and cut power to a vast number of people.
As the storm pushed through, it flooded at least four hospitals, including in Pisa and Mugello. Throughout Tuscany, train lines and highways were disrupted and schools were closed. Hundreds of people were unable to get home, including about 150 stranded in Prato after a train line was suspended Thursday night. Around 40,000 people were without electricity on Friday.
The mayor of Prato expressed shock at the force of the flood that devastated the city overnight. By early Friday, residents were working to clean the damage.
“A blow to the stomach, a pain that brings tears. But even after an evening and night of devastation, we are pulling up our sleeves to clean and bring our city back to normality,’’ Mayor Matteo Biffoni posted on social media.
Florence Mayor Dario Nardella told Sky TG24 that the Arno River, which runs through the center of the city, had reached the first level of alert, with the highest levels forecast for midday. Neither he nor the governor expected the river to overrun its banks.
“The psychological fear is high, considering that tomorrow is the anniversary of the 1966 flood,” Nardella said, recalling a flood that killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of artistic masterpieces and rare books.
1,600 households were without electricity early Friday, the Austria Press Agency reported.
The storm receded in northern France and the Atlantic coast on Friday, but heavy rains continued in some regions as emergency workers cleared away debris from the day before. Meanwhile, Corsica in the Mediterranean faced unusually fierce winds Friday — up to 140 kph (87 mph) — and regions in the Pyrenees in the southwest were under flood warnings.
More than a half-million French households remained without electricity for a second day, mainly in the western region of Brittany. Trains were halted in several areas and many roads remained closed.
French President Emmanuel Macron traveled Friday to storm-ravaged areas of Brittany, and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was traveling to hard-hit areas of Normandy.
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Geir Moulson in Berlin, Angela Charlton in Paris, Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.
Worst floods in decades kill 29 in Somalia, hit towns across East Africa
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – The worst flooding to hit Somalia in decades has killed 29 people and forced more than 300,000 to flee their homes, the National Disaster Management Agency said on Wednesday, following heavy rains that have inundated towns across East Africa.
Authorities have scrambled to rescue thousands of stranded people from the floodwater, which comes on the heels of the region’s worst drought in 40 years.
“What is going on today is the worst for decades. It is worse than even the 1997 floods,” said Hassan Isse, managing director of the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SOMDA).
The death toll and numbers of people displaced were likely to rise further, Isse said, because many people were trapped by floodwaters.
“I do not remember such floods in my life,” said Mohamed Farah, a local elder in Baidoa city, in southwest Somalia. “People keep on evacuating looking for high ground.”
At least 2,400 people have been cut off in Luuq town, where the Jubba River burst its banks, the United Nations has said.
“Luuq is surrounded by the river and floods are threatening us. People keep fleeing out of the town. Some are still trapped. Our shops have been washed away,” said Ahmed Nur, a trader in Luuq.
Floods in neighbouring Kenya have killed at least 15 people and submerged a bridge in Uganda, cutting off a road linking Kampala to oilfields in the northwest, the Kenya Red Cross and Uganda’s road authority said.
The regional deluge was caused by the combined effect of two weather phenomenons, El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole, said Nazanine Moshiri, a climate analyst at the International Crisis Group.
El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole are climate patterns that impact ocean surface temperatures and cause above-average rainfall.
“The impact of the flooding is much worse because the soil is so damaged from an unprecedented recent drought – years of conflict and al Shabaab militia’s presence also makes building flood defences and resilience more complex and costly,” Moshiri said.
Scientists say climate change is causing more intense and more frequent extreme weather events. In response, African leaders have proposed new global taxes and reforms to international financial institutions to help fund climate change action.
Reporting by Abdi Sheikh, Elias Biryabarema and Hereward Holland; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Alex Richardson
NATO freezes a Cold War-era security pact after Russia pulls out, raising questions on arms control
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO member countries that signed a key Cold War-era security treaty froze their participation in the pact on Tuesday just hours after Russia pulled out, raising fresh questions about the future of arms control agreements in Europe.
Many of NATO’s 31 allies are parties to the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near their mutual borders. The CFE was signed in November 1990 as the Soviet bloc was crumbling but was not fully ratified until two years later.
NATO said that Tuesday’s action by its signatory members was required because “a situation whereby Allied State Parties abide by the Treaty, while Russia does not, would be unsustainable.”
Earlier in the day, Moscow said it had finalized its withdrawal from the treaty. The long-expected move, which the Kremlin blamed in part on NATO’s continued expansion closer to Russia’s borders, came after lawmakers in Moscow approved a bill proposed by President Vladimir Putin denouncing the CFE.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said suspending the obligations by Washington and its allies will strengthen NATO’s “deterrence and defense capacity by removing restrictions that impact planning, deployments, and exercises -– restrictions that no longer bind Russia after Moscow’s withdrawal.”
Russia’s actions “further demonstrates Moscow’s continued disregard for arms control,” he added.
The German Foreign Ministry underscored that Berlin and its allies are not pulling out of the treaty. “In the case of a fundamental change in Russia’s behavior, a renewed implementation of the CFE remains possible,” it said.
The ministry said Germany intends to stick to the national limits for weapons systems in the treaty. It criticized Moscow’s withdrawal, saying that “Russia is destroying another pillar of our European security and arms control architecture.”
“Securing a balanced conventional potential of forces in Europe cannot be realized without the involvement of Russia,” it added.
The treaty was one of a number of major arms control treaties involving Russia and the U.S. that has been crippled in recent years.
Last week, Putin signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a move that he said was needed to establish parity with the United States.
In February, with U.S.-Russia tensions running high over Ukraine, Moscow suspended its participation in the New START Treaty, the last arms control pact that remains between the two countries.
Both countries also pulled out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, blaming each other for violations.
The INF Treaty, which was signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, banned the production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,410 miles).
William Alberque, director of Strategy, Technology and Arms Control at The International Institute for Strategic Studies, expressed concern that another arms control treaty is under threat.
“What is needed right now is more transparency, more risk reduction, more what we would call guardrails on competition,” he said. “We basically need to manage the competition so that it doesn’t spiral into crippling arms races.”
When it was signed, the CFE envisaged weapons limits for the Warsaw Pact and NATO, but the Warsaw Pact ceased to exist shortly after it was signed. Unsuccessful attempts were made to renegotiate its conditions.
Russian President Vladmir Putin, right, listens to Russia First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov during their meeting at the Kremlin, in Moscow,Russia, Tuesday,Nov.7,2023. Photo : Gavril Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool/AP
Russia suspended its participation in 2007, and in 2015 announced its intention to completely withdraw.
In February 2022, Putin sent hundreds of thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine, which also shares borders with NATO members that signed the CFE: Poland, Romania and Hungary.
Announcing Moscow’s withdrawal from the treaty had been completed, the Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the U.S. and its allies for the move as well as the West’s allegedly “destructive position” on the treaty.
“We left the door open for a dialogue on ways to restore the viability of conventional arms control in Europe,” it said. “However, our opponents did not take advantage of this opportunity.”
The ministry said that “even the formal preservation” of the treaty has become “unacceptable from the point of view of Russia’s fundamental security interests,” citing developments in Ukraine and NATO’s recent expansion.
NATO said its members remain committed “to reduce military risk, and prevent misperceptions and conflicts.” It said the alliance will continue to “consult on and assess the implications of the current security environment and its impact on the security” of the Euro-Atlantic region.
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Morris reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
Blinken seeks G7 unity on Israel-Hamas war among items on crisis-heavy global agenda
TOKYO (AP) — Fresh from a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shifted his intense diplomacy on the Israel-Hamas war to Asia on Tuesday with an appeal for the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies to forge consensus on how to deal with the crisis.
As he and his G7 counterparts began two days of talks in Japan, Blinken said it was critically important for the group to show unity as it has over Russia’s war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing differences on Gaza from deepening.
“This is a very important moment as well for the G7 to come together in the face of this crisis and to speak, as we do, with one clear voice,” Blinken told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, shortly after talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The devastating monthlong conflict in Gaza and efforts to ease the dire humanitarian impacts of Israel’s response to the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack will be a major focus of the meeting. Yet with the Russia-Ukraine war, fears North Korea may be readying a new nuclear test, and concerns about China’s increasing global assertiveness, it is far from the only crisis on the agenda.
In Tokyo, Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy will be seeking common ground in part to prevent the Gaza war from further destabilizing already shaky security in the broader Middle East and seeking to maintain existing positions on other matters.
An early consensus on Gaza appeared to be building as at least four of the G7 members made statements in favor of strong common stance. And U.S. officials said they were expecting the group to release a communique featuring a common position after the meetings end on Wednesday.
Kishida said “the unity of G7 is needed more than ever with the situation in Israel and Palestine, the situation in Ukraine, and the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region,” his office said in a statement, adding that the prime minister “highly appreciates the leadership and diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration concerning this issue.”
“You have our utmost support,” Kamikawa told Blinken.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that “as G7 countries, we are making clear that Israel has the right and the duty to protect its population and its people in the framework of international law.” She said that she has been discussing with many partners “how we can finally get humanitarian cease-fires off the ground, in terms of time and also geographically.”
Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told a select group of journalists, including The Associated Press, that his government only supports a time and geographically specific “humanitarian pause” and not a wider cease-fire.
“Firstly, we have seen and heard absolutely nothing that makes us believe that Hamas leadership is serious about (a) cease-fire,” he said, adding that a cease-fire would hamper Israel’s ability to defend itself.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, centre, arrives at likura guest house, ahead of G7 ministerial meetings, in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, Nov.7,2023. Photo : Jonathan Ernst/AP
Blinken’s efforts include pushing to significantly expand the amount of humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza, getting Israel to agree to “pauses” in its military operation to allow that assistance to get in and more civilians to get out, beginning planning for a post-conflict governance and security structure in the territory and preventing the war from spreading.
Blinken described all of these as “a work in progress” and acknowledged deep divisions over the pause concept. Israel remains unconvinced and Arab and Muslim nations are demanding an immediate full cease-fire, something the United States opposes. There has also been resistance to discussing Gaza’s future, with the Arab states insisting that the immediate humanitarian crisis must be addressed first.
Securing agreement from G7 members, none of which border or are directly involved in the conflict, may be a slightly less daunting challenge for Blinken.
U.S. Secretary Blinken post on twitter/X today with Japan Prime Minister Kishida
Today I thanked @JPN_PMO Kishida Fumio for his government’s strong leadership of the @G7 during this very difficult year in the in face of unprecedented global challenges. We are grateful to Japan for its pledge to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/LHDRSVI0Zl
Yet some small cracks have emerged over Gaza, which has inflamed international public opinion. Democracies are not immune from intense passions that have manifested themselves in massive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel demonstrations in G7 capitals and elsewhere.
Last month in the U.N. Security Council, France voted in favor of a resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza that was vetoed by the United States because it didn’t go far enough in condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel, which ignited the war. Britain abstained in that vote.
Since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the G7 has held together in defense of the international order that emerged from the destruction of World War II. Despite some fraying around the edges, the group has preserved a unified front in condemning and opposing Russia’s war.
The group similarly has been of one voice in demanding that North Korea halt its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, that China exercise its growing international clout responsibly, and also in calling for cooperative actions to combat pandemics, synthetic opioids, and threats from the misuse of artificial intelligence.
Blinken arrived in Tokyo from Turkey, the last stop on his four-day whirlwind through the Mideast that began with visits to Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq. From Japan, he will travel to South Korea and then on to India.
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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
