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Europe Európa
France
Friday, 01/07/2023. Paris time: GMT+2 Poverty, lack of jobs and lack of opportunities are problems that have plagued many of the poorer suburbs surrounding Paris and other French cities for decades despite efforts to improve conditions by multiple French presidents, says following a third night of violence FRANCE 24's international affairs commentator Herbert, at 4:34pm. A 17-year-old victim was shot at point-blank range by a police officer on June 27, Tuesday morning in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. He was driving a Mercedes when he was pulled over for traffic violations. Police initially reported that he was shot after driving his car at police, but this was contradicted by a video that rapidly went viral across social media and was later authenticated. The footage shows the two policemen standing by the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver. A voice is heard saying, "You are going to get a bullet in the head.' The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off before gradually coming to a stop. The incident has sparked nights of violent unrest in the capital and cities across France that have seen protesters clash with police. On Thursday night public buildings were the target of violence throughout France. The country engulfed in a third night of riots with unrest across major cities. Police officers faced new incidents in Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille, including fires and fireworks. Videos on social media showed numerous fires across the country, including a bus depot in a suburb north of Paris and a tram in the eastern city of Lyon. 40 000 police officers were deployed across France - nearly four times the number mobilised on Wednesday - but there were few signs that government appeals to de-escalate the violence would quell the widespread anger. According to Le Figaro newspaper, there have been 421 arrests so far nationwide, more than half of them in the Paris region with the majority between 14 and 18 years old. 667 people were arrested during third night of unrest in France, said Interior Minister Darmanin at 7:45am. 249 police officers and gendarmes were injured on Thursday night amid protests that erupted for the third consecutive night in France, the interior ministry announced. The rioting has escalated. Looting of businesses, shops were seen during third night of violent unrest, protests in France. In the suburb of Drancy, rioters used a truck to force open the entrance to a shopping centre, which was then partly looted and burned. An elementary school and a district office was set on fire in Lille. In the city centre of Marseille, France's second city, a library was vandalised. Scuffles broke out nearby when police used tear gas to disperse a group of 100 to 150 people who allegedly tried to set up barricades. Police fired tear gas grenades during clashes with youths in the tourist hotspot of Le Vieux Port. In Nanterre, 'the working-class town on the western outskirts of Paris", the epicentre of the unrest, residents expect more of the same to come over the weekend, after third night of violent protests. Tensions rose around midnight, with fireworks and explosives set off in the Pablo Picasso district. Protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following a peaceful vigil. In central Paris, a Nike shoe store was broken into, 14 people were arrested, and 16 more were arrested with stolen objects after store windows were smashed along the rue de Rivoli shopping street. Protesters scrawled "Vengeance for Nahel" across buildings and as night set a bank was lit on fire before firefighters put it out and an elite police unit deployed an armoured vehicle. Firefighters in the northern municipality of Roubaix, dashed from blaze to blaze throughout the night, with a hotel near the train station also catching fire, sending its dozen or so residents fleeing into the streets. Multiple public buildings were also targeted in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the Paris metro area. Today at 9:51am French Prime Minister Borne said she had gathered ministers at her office to discuss a third night of "unbearable and inexcusable" rioting. The government was getting an update on the violence and abuses overnight, Borne wrote on Twitter, posting pictures with figures including Interior Minister Darmanin and Justice Minister Dupond-Moretti. At 11:24am she said that the government was considering all options, including declaring a state of emergency, with one priority: restoring order after a third night of unrest across the country. Some right-wing opposition parties have demanded state of emergency being considered. Public transport in Paris was disrupted today after protesters destroyed a dozen buses in a depot in the north of the French capital overnight. There was very significant damage but no one was hurt as the buses were torched after Molotov cocktails were hurled into the depot in Aubervilliers north of the centre of Paris. Today morning some 23 bus lines out of a total of 350 in the city were not working while two tram lines were completely closed and others offered partial service or had major delays. The metro has largely continued working without problem. Services were resuming bit by bit, based on the state of the routes and the local security situation. "Traffic on the bus and tram networks will be very severely disrupted today," the IDFM regional transport authority said on Twitter. Bus and tram services in the Paris region will stop at 9:00pm each evening until further notice, after three nights of violent protests. The early shutdown was for the safety of workers and passengers, following attacks on transport and public infrastructure during the violence. Marseille, France's second-largest city, bans public demonstrations today at 1:12pm and all public transport in Marseille will also stop from 7pm local time today. 875 people were arrested yesterday night during the third night of violent protests in France, the interior ministry has said at 1:15pm. At 4:12pm it said that bus and tram services would be halted nationwide at 9pm from today and sales of large fireworks would be banned, under measures intended to tamp down on violent protests. Regional prefects, who are in charge of security around the country, would also be asked to ban the sale and transport of petrol cans, acids and other inflammable liquids. 4:55pm: The French gendarmerie will use armoured vehicles to suppress riots, Prime Minister Borne said. Additional mobile forces would be deployed along with the vehicles. She was also announcing the cancellation of large-scale events binding personnel and potentially posing risks to public order. France 24's Jacinto talks at 6:30pm about the 'current' crisis in France and 'the repetitive' cycle of 'police violence'. 45,000 police and gendarmerie officers will be deployed throughout the country today evening to suppress riots today night, says Interior Minister Darmanin at 8:32pm, as the country braces for more violence on the streets. On the fourth night of violence in France, by 8pm in Lyon, despite the ban by the Rhône prefecture, the crowd swelled to 1,300 The police responded with tear gas to fireworks mortars fired by hooded demonstrators. The former presidential candidate, leader of France's left-wing political party France Unbowed (La France Insoumise), Mélenchon, in a video released on social networks around 8:55pm insisted on the youngest especially not to touch schools, libraries or gymnasiums, "everything that belongs to us all, our shared property". About 9pm: In the centre of Grenoble, shopfronts were smashed and shops looted by hooded youths. After 9pm clashes broke out between demonstrators and the police in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Lyon, at the start of a rally against police violence that had been banned. After 10pm police in Marseille announced 49 arrests at around 10pm among small, highly mobile groups near the center of the city, some of whom were attempting to loot several thoroughfares. Two police officers were slightly injured. Before 11pm rioters looted a gun store in the centre of Marseille, France's second city, and took away some hunting rifles but no ammunition. One individual was arrested and the store is guarded by police. Around 9pm in Nanterre, presence of quite a few police officers stationed throughout the streets there. Flowers have been laid at the site of youth's killing. 'Relative quiet for the moment' despite bands of young men driving by shouting insults and warnings about violence to come. 9:22pm: Police started clearing protesters from the central Paris square of Place de la Concorde today evening after an impromptu demonstration started amid nationwide unrest. A police station in the Pyrenees city of Pau was hit with a Molotov cocktail. Around 10:30pm a young man died after falling from the roof of the Bruyeres shopping centre, a supermarket being looted by rioters during overnight riots in the suburb of Petit-Quevilly of the northern French city of Rouen. Today at 11:22am President Macron cancelled a media conference scheduled for the second and last day of an EU summit in Brussels and left early to return to France, to go back to Paris. He made no comment to reporters as he left. A total of 492 buildings were damaged, 2,000 vehicles were burned and 3,880 fires were started, according to figures given by President Macron at the start of a crisis meeting. Denouncing the "unacceptable exploitation of a death of an adolescent," he said that additional security forces would be mobilised by the interior ministry to contain nationwide unrest. He also called on social media outlets to remove sensitive rioting content and called on parents to keep teen rioters off the streets today, adding that around a third of the 875 people arrested overnight for rioting were young, or very young. It's the responsibility of parents to keep them at home, Macron told reporters. 'It's not the state's job to act in their place,' he added. Citing TikTok and Snapchat, he said in televised remarks that social media play a significant role in the events of the past few days, help rioters organise themselves but also contributed to "mimicking" behaviour by some young people, who repeated what they saw online and lost track of reality. It sometimes feels like some of them re-live in the streets the video games that have intoxicated them, he said. Today the UK updated its official travel advice to warn citizens planning to visit France about unrest. "Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable. You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place," said the latest advice issued by the foreign ministry. Geneva's cross-border public trams and buses were not running across the Swiss frontier into France today evening following riots. The decision had been made in response to the French restrictions on public transport this evening. The city is surrounded by France on three sides. Many of its public transport lines run across the border into dormitory towns on the other side. Some lines were stopping at the border while three cross-border routes were stopped altogether. The United Nations rights office said today it was concerned by the fatal shooting of a teenager by police that has sparked unrest across France. 'This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement,' spokesperson Shamdasani said. "We also emphasize the importance of peaceful assembly. We call on the authorities to ensure use of force by police to address violent elements in demonstrations always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability.' France rejected UN accusations of racism among its police. "Any accusation of racism or systemic discrimination in the police force in France is totally unfounded," the foreign ministry said. /Videos, photo/ (Source: Frnce24): https://tinyurl.com/yc78ydrp
Poland
1 Jul 2023 Siewiera, head of Poland’s national bureau of security, fears the relocation of Wagner mercenaries to Belarus could see the destabilisation of Central and Eastern Europe, Financial Times reported. (Source: AlJazeera)
Romania
01.07.2023 A Russian plane landed at the Henri Coanda airport in Bucharest today despite EU airspace ban. Romania made an exception for Russian aircraft, the approval was obtained from the National Defense Ministry. A total of 40 personnel at the Russian embassy in Bucharest will leave Romania with their families on the civilian plane. Romania had asked Russia to reduce the number of staff at its embassy in Bucharest on June 8, and that accreditation of some employees would be canceled if the decision is not followed. (Source: Anadolu Agency)
Spain
July 1, 2023 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived in Ukraine today to meet with Zelensky, as his country takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union council. Sánchez tweeted: “I wanted the first act of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the E.U. to be in Ukraine,' as he expressed European solidarity. Zelensky tweeted his appreciation after a joint news conference, thanking Spain "for supporting Ukraine on the way to joining the European Union.' Zelensky told a Spanish broadcaster that Kyiv wants to 'show results' on the battlefield before the next NATO summit, which starts July 11 in Lithuania. In May NATO nations were divided over how quickly Ukraine should be brought into the Western alliance. (Source: TheWashingtonPost)
Európai Bizottság
2023. július 01. 04:39 "Megszegte a magyaroknak tett ígéretét Brüsszel, és most még fizuemelést is kér (Videó). A Bizottság szerint higgyük el: noha a kassza üres, a mi pénzük 'megvan, náluk van'. És majd oda is adják, ha 'jól viselkedünk”. Az uniós tagállamok azonban „fenik a kést”. Teljesen jogosan. (Forrás: Mandiner): https://tinyurl.com/mpj2kw6p
Ugyanott: A magyar kormányfővel a közmédia brüsszeli stúdiójában készített 26 perces video-interjú. Részlet:
"Mi, magyarok, nem tudjuk elfogadni, hogy a rezsi-csökkentést megszüntessék Magyarországon, nem adunk pénzt arra, hogy itt a bürokraták fizetését megemeljék, nem adunk pénzt Ukrajnának addig, többet, amíg meg nem mondják, hogy hová lett az a 70 milliárd, amit korábban adtunk, és teljesen nevetségesnek, abszurdnak, lehetetlennek tartjuk azt a kérést, hogy adjunk oda egy olyan hitelhez kamatnövekmény céljából plusz pénzt, amelyből a nekünk járó összeget soha nem kaptuk meg". /Orbán Viktor
European Commission
1 Jul 2023 European Union leaders have declared they will make long-term commitments to bolster Ukraine’s security, following a summit in Brussels. Belgium’s prime minister said Russia’s frozen assets could provide 3 billion euros ($3.27bn) a year to rebuild Ukraine. Hungary has rejected the European Commission’s plans to grant more money to Ukraine and is not willing to contribute additional funds to finance the EU’s increased debt service costs, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said. (Source: AlJazeera)
Belarus
1 Jul 2023 Belarusian journalist Padabed was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of “aiding extremist activities”. (Source: AlJazeera)
Russia
1 Jul 2023 Putin discussed with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi the situation around Ukraine and how Moscow had resolved an armed mercenary mutiny, the Kremlin and Indian government said. Russia has said it saw no reason to extend the Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine beyond July 17 but assured poor countries that grain exports would continue. “If the Black Sea Initiative ceases to operate, we will provide grain deliveries of a comparable or larger size to the poorest countries at our own expense, free of charge,” Russian foreign minister Lavrov said. The Russian government will increase salaries for military servicemen by 10.5 percent from October 1, a decree published on an official web portal has shown. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov denied that Russia intentionally attacked civilian targets in Ukraine, saying it only targeted military infrastructure or other military targets. Lavrov also said he believed the West wants to freeze the conflict in Ukraine to buy time to send more weapons to Kyiv. In response to a question about the Wagner Group’s aborted mutiny last weekend, Lavrov said his country has always emerged stronger and more resilient from any difficulties. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Zakharova said Ukraine was preparing to commit a “terrorist” attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked media outlets linked to Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary force, newspaper Kommersant reports. Russia introduced a ban on Polish trucks transporting cargo in its territory, with some exceptions. Russia demanded an explanation from Poland over its arrest of Russian citizens, state news agency RIA reported, citing foreign ministry spokeswoman Zakharova. Poland arrested a Russian ice hockey player on suspicion of having spied for Moscow while playing for a Polish club. (Source: AlJazeera)
July 1, 2023 After mutiny, Kremlin looks to unwind holdings tied to Wagner mercenary boss. It has begun dismantling and taking control of Prigozhin’s sprawling empire, which included not only the army-for-hire but also a propaganda media wing and internet troll factories. But handling his operations poses a challenge for the Russian government. Belarusian President Lukashenko said he offered Wagner troops an abandoned military base in Belarus, the country where Prigozhin, the mercenary group’s leader, relocated this week, although he has not made a public appearance there yet. Lukashenko signed a law allowing the ban of media outlets based in countries that he deems unfriendly to Belarus. Satellite imagery captured yesterday showed what could be the rapid construction of a new camp in Belarus to house Wagner forces. Prigozhin represents a structure that is trying to work on the ideological front, on the political front, said Korotkov, a Russian investigative journalist who first uncovered the Wagner Group. 'All this works in a tight ecosystem with other sides of his business.' The Russian military, for instance, relies on Prigozhin’s businesses to feed soldiers fighting in Ukraine and cannot afford disruptions. (Source: TheWashingtonPost)
Ukraine
1 Jul 2023 The World Bank approved a $1.5bn loan to Ukraine to support reconstruction and recovery, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. Human Rights Watch said it uncovered new evidence of indiscriminate use of antipersonnel landmines by Ukrainian forces against Russian troops. The group called on Ukraine to follow through with a commitment to not use the banned weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible. A Russian missile attack on a village school near the front line in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region killed two women and injured six, Ukrainian police said. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said Russia is reducing the number of personnel at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power. Ukrainian prosecutors charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from Ukraine’s Kherson region. Ukraine hopes to use Spain’s rotating EU presidency to try to “gain influence” in Latin America, where several countries have opposed Kyiv’s efforts to retake territory occupied by Russia, President Zelenskyy has told Spanish media. (Source: AlJazeera)
1 Jul 2023 Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans have been slowed by a lack of adequate firepower, from modern fighter jets to ammunition for artillery guns, the country’s military commander-in-chief Zaluzhny has said in an interview with the Washington Post published yesterday. Complaining about the slow deliveries of weapons promised by the West, Zaluzhny said that Kyiv’s Western supporters would not themselves launch an offensive without air superiority, but Ukraine is still awaiting F-16 fighters promised by its allies. 'I do not need 120 planes. A very limited number would be enough,' he told. 'They are needed. Because there is no other way. Because the enemy is using a different generation of aviation,' he said. He also complained he has a fraction of the artillery shells that Russia is firing. Zaluzhny said he is in constant contact with Western partners, like Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman General Milley, who are keenly aware of Ukraine’s needs. 'We have an agreement: 24/7, we’re in touch. So, sometimes I can call up and say, ‘If I don’t get 100,000 shells in a week, 1,000 people will die. Step into my shoes,’' he told. But Milley alone can’t make the decision, and the delays are deadly, Zaluzhny said. 'It’s just that while that decision is being made, in the obvious situation, a lot of people die every day – a lot. Just because no decision has been made yet,' he said. 'Every day, every metre is given by blood,' he said. The Washington, DC-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said yesterday that Zaluzhny responded to a question regarding military equipment losses in battles with Russian forces saying that Ukraine used its tanks and armoured cars in combat and did not save them up for 'parades'. Speaking later yesterday in Washington, Milley said the United States and allies were working hard to supply Ukraine. 'We are giving them as much help as humanly possible,' he said. Milley said the US was still in talks on providing Ukraine with F-16s and ATACMS, precision missiles that could more than double the range Ukraine forces are able to target. He acknowledged that some people had expressed impatience with the pace of the counteroffensive. Milley told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was “advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields … 500 metres a day, 1,000 metres a day, 2,000 metres a day, that kind of thing”. He said he was unsurprised that progress was slower than some people and computers might have predicted. 'War on paper and real war are different. In real war, real people die. Real people are on those front lines and real people are in those vehicles. Real bodies are being shredded by high explosives,' he said. 'What I had said was this is going to take six, eight, 10 weeks, it’s going to be very difficult,' he added. 'It’s going to be very long, and it’s going to be very, very bloody. And no one should have any illusions about any of that.' Yesterday, President Zelenskyy said his forces advanced 'in all directions of our active operations'. Maliar, the country’s deputy defence minister, said Ukraine’s military assessed progress as 'going according to plan', and that the counteroffensive should be evaluated by 'a lot of different military tasks.' Zelenskyy also ordered security to be beefed up at the country’s border with Belarus, where fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner have been offered exile. Zelenskyy said he had been informed yesterday of the situation in Belarus by the Ukrainian intelligence service GUR, foreign intelligence services and border guards. 'By the decision of the Stavka [chief of staff], Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny and General Nayev were instructed to strengthen the northern direction in order to guarantee peace. There are appropriate deadlines,' he said in a video posted on Telegram. Western officials now fear that Wagner forces could destabilise Central and Eastern Europe from the soon-to-be bases in Belarus. The ISW said yesterday that sources report that Wagner will operate three large field camps in Belarus, and media reports have claimed that recruitment centres for the private mercenary force are still open in Russia and accepting new recruits. (Source: AlJazeera)
Vatican
1 Jul 2023 Pope Francis said there is no apparent end in sight to the war in Ukraine as his peace envoy completed three days of talks in Moscow. “The reality of this war, that seems to have no end, demands of everyone a common creative effort to imagine and forge paths of peace,” the pope told a religious delegation from the patriarchate of Constantinople. (Source: AlJazeera)
Asia
Japan
July 1, 2023 Japan said it spotted two Russian Navy ships in the waters near Taiwan and Japan’s Okinawa islands over the last four days, according to its Defense Ministry. Tokyo said last month that repeated Russian military activity near Japanese territory posed a “serious concern” for the country’s national security. (Source: TheWashingtonPost)
North America
Canada
Saturday, (July 1, 2023) Canada is experiencing its worst fire season on record. Right now, a map from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) shows a country spotted red with blazes. Some of the fires active now have been burning for weeks; others are just beginning: In the past 10 hours alone, CIFFC logged three additional fires. These fires aren’t clustered in a single region: Their spread is the northern equivalent of New York and California burning at the same time, with additional fires stretched in between. According to the CIFFC, more than 509 fires are active in Canada, 253 of which are classified as “out of control.” It has burned through a record-breaking 8.2 million hectares so far this year, sending smoke plumes as far as Europe. Despite the best efforts of hundreds of firefighting personnel who have come from all over the world to pitch in, the fires don’t look like they will be winding down anytime soon. Every single fire has its own behavior. Different fires burn at different speeds and for different lengths, depending on where they are located and what is burning. In 2017, Canada’s Elephant Hill fire burned for well over two months. California’s largest fire on record, the August Complex, burned for 87 days, while its second-largest, the Dixie fire, burned for more than 100 days. Fires tend to burn uphill, and may struggle to jump a lake or a river. The area’s topography also changes how accessible it is to firefighters. Remote, hard-to-access areas sometimes call for parachuting firefighting squads, known as smokejumpers. What vegetation is burning, how much, and how dry it is can speed up or slow down fires. Grasslands burn rapidly. A more forested area, with thicker, denser brush, might linger. Most of Canada is classified as boreal forest - chilly, northern forest - and much of the fire is happening in that kind of ecosystem. This type of forest tends to burn at higher intensity and over larger areas because of the kinds of trees and how densely packed they are. Some boreal forests contain peat, which can slow fire - if it’s wet. But if that peat is dry, it can burn underground and spread fires even farther. Weather matters, too. Hot temperatures supercharge fires; the wind spreads them. Snow and rain help dampen flames, sometimes ending fires altogether. Though precipitation doesn’t always put them out entirely: In recent years, zombie fires in the Arctic have quietly smoldered under the snowpack throughout the winter, only to reignite in the following spring. In Canada, the mean duration of a fire that’s more than 1,000 hectares is 23 days - or a little over three weeks, according to Jain, a research scientist at the Canadian Forest Service. A fire that’s more than 10,000 hectares, burns for a mean duration of 39 days. The smoke that’s been descending over America is the cumulative effect of all those burns. Particularly nasty fires can certainly take weeks or months to resolve. For some of these enormous fires would take some huge rain events to completely stop them, MacNab, the head of Wildland Fire Information Systems with Natural Resources Canada, told. Pelletier of SOPFEU, Quebec’s forest-firefighting agency, told that this year, barring many heavy periods of rainfall, the agency expects firefighting operations to last until September. Broadly speaking, Canada’s fire season tends to start waning by the fall. Millions of Americans will have to brace themselves for more extreme smoke days. (Source: msn)
United States
July 1, 2023 In April, President Biden told a group of children that he had 'six grandchildren". 'And I’m crazy about them. And I speak to them every single day. Not a joke.” The story surrounding the president’s grandchild in Arkansas, who is not named in court papers, is a tale of two families, one of them powerful, one of them not. The story is about money, corrosive politics and what it means to have the Biden birthright. There is a 4-year-old girl in rural Arkansas, aware that her paternal grandfather is the president of the United States. She has not met them. Her maternal grandfather, Roberts, described her as whip-smart and funny. In strategy meetings in recent years, aides have been told that the Bidens have six, not seven, grandchildren. A trial planned for mid-July has been averted - Ms. Roberts, 32, the daughter of a rural gun maker said she dropped a request to have the girl’s last name changed from Roberts to Biden. Ms. Roberts graduated with honors from Southside High School in Batesville, played basketball for Arkansas State University. Her father is a 'red-state' gun manufacturer. After graduating, she moved to Washington to study forensic investigation at George Washington University. She never completed the program. Along the way, she met the son of a future president who was sliding into addiction and visiting Washington strip clubs. In mid-2018, Ms. Roberts was working as a personal assistant to Mr. Biden. Shortly after their daughter was born in November 2018, he removed Ms. Roberts and the child from his health insurance. Her public Instagram account tells its own story. She filed a lawsuit in May 2019, and DNA testing that year established that Mr. Biden was the father of the child. In a photo, shared to her account in April 2022, her daughter wore an Air Force One baseball cap. She said she brought her to Washington because not many little girls get to say that their grandfather is the president. Before Thursday’s settlement, Mr. Biden had paid Ms. Roberts upward of $750,000, according to his attorneys, and had sought to reduce his $20,000-a-month child support payment on the grounds that he did not have the money. The parents ended a yearslong court battle over child support on June 29, agreeing that Mr. Biden, 53, who has embarked on a second career as a painter whose pieces have been offered for as much as $500,000 each, would turn over a number of his paintings to his daughter in addition to providing a monthly support payment. The little girl will select the paintings from Mr. Biden, according to court documents. The most recent round kicked off after he struck a deal with the Justice Department to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and accept terms that would allow him to avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge. On top of that, Mr. Biden has been the subject of multiple congressional investigations, and the contents of the laptop he left at a repair shop have been pored over and disseminated by activists, who say his private communications show criminal wrongdoing. 'I’m very proud of my son,” the president told reporters recently. The younger Mr. Biden is recovering from crack cocaine addiction. The Republican pollster Luntz said voters do not care about Hunter’s legal and personal problems as much as they care about other issues, including Ukraine and inflation. (Source: dnyuz)
1 Jul 2023 Former US President Trump, 'a longtime admirer of Russian President Putin', says Putin had been “somewhat weakened” by an aborted Wagner mutiny and that now is the time for Washington to try to broker negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. (Source: AlJazeera)
July 1, 2023 Today, speaking in a lecture at Britain’s Ditchley Foundation, CIA Director Burns reiterated the Biden administration’s insistence that the United States “had and will have no part” in last week’s rebellion by Prigozhin and his Wagner Group. The impact of Prigozhin’s "scathing indictment of the Kremlin’s mendacious rationale' for the Ukraine invasion and the conduct of Russia’s military leadership in the war 'will play out for some time, a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of [President] Putin’s war on his own society and his own regime.' 'Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership' and create a 'once in a generation opportunity' for U.S. intelligence, said Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. 'We’re not letting it go to waste,' Burns said today. Intelligence initiatives have included the unprecedented release of classified information on Putin’s war plans before the invasion and subsequent intelligence sharing with allies and Ukraine, and the use of social media through the Telegram channel “to let Russians know how to contact us safely on the dark web,' he said. 'We had 2.5 million views in the first week, and we’re very much open for business.' The United States has seen an 'increasing need' for cluster munitions, which could help address ammunition shortages in Ukraine, a U.S. official told. The Biden administration is weighing whether to supply Kyiv with cluster bombs. Senior U.S. administration and defense officials have contacted lawmakers to assess their comfort with sending the munitions. The Biden administration has concerns about the optics of the move and the potential for long-term harm to civilians because the munitions can leave behind unexploded bomblets that remain deadly for decades. 'We’ve always said our security assistance would evolve as battlefield conditions have evolved, and that continues to be the case,' the official said. The United States is not among the more than 120 nations that have signed an international convention banning the use, transfer or production of cluster munitions, which international rights groups and other governments have long condemned as inhumane. (Source: TheWashingtonPost)
Saturday(, July 1, 2023) During a secret visit to Ukraine by CIA Director Burns earlier this month, Ukrainian officials revealed an ambitious strategy to retake Russian-occupied territory and open cease-fire negotiations with Moscow by the end of the year. Burns’s trip occurred just before the aborted rebellion by Russian mercenary leader Prigozhin against Russia’s defense establishment. Although the U.S. intelligence community had detected in mid-June that Prigozhin was plotting an armed assault of some kind, those findings were not discussed during the meetings with Zelensky and others, an U.S. official said. Biden administration officials have repeatedly emphasized that Washington and Kyiv had nothing to do with the failed march on Moscow, a rare challenge to Russian President Putin that the United States has characterized as an internal matter. In an effort to reinforce that line, Burns made a phone call to his Russian counterpart, Naryshkin, after the event and underscored that the United States was not involved in any way, the Wall Street Journal reported. 'Director Burns recently traveled to Ukraine, as he has done regularly since the beginning of Russia’s recent aggression more than a year ago,' said a U.S.official. Its purpose was to reaffirm the Biden administration’s commitment to sharing intelligence meant to help Ukraine defend itself, the official added. Publicly, Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration with critics of the pace at which the counteroffensive has played out thus far. But in private, military planners in Kyiv have relayed to Burns and others bullish confidence in their aim to retake substantial territory by the fall; move artillery and missile systems near the boundary line of Russian-controlled Crimea; push further into eastern Ukraine; and then open negotiations with Moscow for the first time since peace talks broke down in March of last year. Whether Ukraine can deliver on those plans, on such a truncated timeline, remains to be seen. Ukraine faces mines and manpower challenges in offensive’s early weeks. Zelensky and his military commanders, facing deeply entrenched Russian forces in occupied parts of Ukraine’s east and south, are under pressure from the Western nations that provided Kyiv with billions of dollars in advanced weaponry and training ahead of the counteroffensive. Ukraine has taken heavy casualties as its troops and armored vehicles navigate thick minefields and fortified trenches across wide-open territory. The challenging terrain has left troops vulnerable to Russian airstrikes and missile attacks. The Zelensky government has pushed hard for the United States and Europe to make firm commitments on Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the European Union - but the U.S. and Western European governments remain cold to the idea, more interested in offering pledges of long-term security assistance instead of the expansion of NATO, which risks a direct conflict with Russia. While U.S. and Ukrainian officials differ on the topic of NATO membership, they say there is broad agreement on Kyiv’s aims for the offensive. 'The U.S. agrees that Ukraine should enter the negotiations from a strong position,' said a senior Ukrainian official. 'The U.S. is satisfied that our command does not do anything stupid, it keeps soldiers and equipment. The support is strong, and it makes our motivation higher.' Still, signs of stress are abundant. Zelensky has acknowledged that the counteroffensive is going 'slower than desired,' and officials have confirmed the destruction of some Western-provided Leopard 2 tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. But Defense Minister Reznikov has dismissed skeptics, saying the “main event” is yet to come. The country’s top military commander, Gen. Zaluzhny, has called for patience, saying the offensive is being 'carried out' as diligently as possible. 'Yes, maybe not as fast as … the observers would like, but that is their problem,' Zaluzhny told The Washington Post this week. While U.S. military leaders want to see Ukraine accelerate its offensive, Zaluzhny has begun venting that the West has not sent ammunition and fighter jets to the battlefield fast enough. Military analysts say Ukraine’s goal of forcing a negotiation is ambitious given Russia’s fortified defenses, but not out of the question. If Ukraine can inflict enough losses on Russian forces and equipment, and interdict the movement of reinforcements, Ukraine may be able to weaken Moscow’s defenses enough to achieve a breakthrough, said Lee, a military analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.'It’s possible they can cut off the land bridge to Crimea, either by seizing the terrain or putting it within range of HIMARS and other artillery, but much depends on the level of attrition,' Lee said. In preparation for the fall, Zelensky and top aides have begun thinking about how Kyiv can force an end to the fighting on terms that are acceptable to Russia and the Ukrainian people. If Ukraine sustains too many losses, its offensive could culminate early, Lee added. (Source: msn)
(Saturday), July 01, 2023 The U.N. expressed concern yesterday that no new ships have been registered since June 26 under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine. Russian President Putin spoke by phone with Indian Prime Minister Modi yesterday. Moscow said Modi expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leadership's decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday. India has yet to condemn ally Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. The call comes after the U.S. and India declared themselves "among the closest partners in the world' last week during a state visit to Washington by Modi. CIA Director Burns held secret meetings in Ukraine in June with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and intelligence officials to discuss Ukraine’s counteroffensive strategy. The clandestine discussions are reported to have occurred before Russian mercenary leader Prigozhin’s thwarted rebellion against Russian President Putin and the Russian defense establishment. Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration in recent days, calling on Washington and the West to provide it more advanced weaponry to help dent Russian defensive positions and allow for Ukrainian troops to retake more territory. They have repeatedly called on the U.S. and its other allies to provide not just tanks and armored vehicles, but cluster munitions, long-range missiles, and modern fighter jets, such as F-16s. Reports of the secret meetings emerged yesterday. Earlier yesterday, Ukraine’s top general Zaluzhny told The Washington Post his forces are in desperate need of ammunition and other advanced weaponry. It “pisses me off,” said Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zaluzhny. 'This is not a show … It's not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every meter is given by blood.' “Without being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all," he added. The failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian troops to make rapid advancements 'is not causing any panic' among top U.S. military officials. 'The United States is confident Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia is making progress despite the lack of any significant break in the Russian lines'. Joint Chief of Staff Chairman General Milley told in Washington yesterday the slow pace of Ukraine’s advance is 'part of the nature of war.' Ukrainian forces are “advancing, steadily, deliberately," Milley said during an appearance at the National Press Club. U.S. officials remain confident Ukraine’s counteroffensive will make headway, even if it takes six to eight weeks before Ukrainian forces see more substantial gains. "It’s going to be very difficult. It’s going to be very long. And it’s going to be very, very bloody and no one should have any illusions about any of that,' he said. Milley also said the U.S. is openly considering providing Ukraine with cluster-munitions - despite concerns by some allies about the nature of the bombs - long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles and even some of its own F-16 fighter jets. 'These things are on the table,' he said. “There's no decision at this point.” A number of humanitarian groups say cluster-munitions have a high rate of failure and often lead to civilian casualties. So far, the U.S. has said it will allow its allies to provide Ukraine with the U.S.-made jets and is training its pilots to fly them. Washington says the focus has been on giving Ukraine systems and weapons it can immediately deploy to the front lines. The U.S. will “continue to monitor Wagner's activities wherever they are around the world, and we're going to continue to hold them properly accountable for the kinds of egregious violent, deadly and illegal conduct ... that they are still capable of conducting,” White House national security spokesperson Kirby told. Ukraine took steps to tighten the defense of its border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia. President Zelenskyy has asked his senior military leadership to strengthen Ukraine’s northern military sector after mercenary leader Prigozhin flew from Russia into exile in Belarus. "The decision … is for Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny and 'North' commander [General] Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction," Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app. Defense Minister Reznikov has said Kyiv’s forces have liberated nine settlements in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, though the main attack is yet to come. (Source: VOANews)
International Atomic Energy Agency
July 1, 2023 There is no visible evidence of 'mines or other explosives' at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said. However, additional access and checks are still required, said Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He added that the agency takes seriously reports that the area has been mined, and he said that mines were previously placed inside and outside the perimeter of the plant, which is occupied by Russian forces. Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and Ukrainian employees have been told to evacuate, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate said yesterday. Last week, Zelensky warned that Russia was planning a 'terrorist act' at the plant. He reiterated that assertion todays. Russia has denied the claims, including in a letter to the United Nations this week, Russian state media reported. (Source: TheWashingtonPost)
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