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Africa
Niger
Tuesday, 1 August 2023 Niger coup: Why some people want Russia in and France out? Since General Tchiani overthrew president Bazoum in a coup in Niger on 26 July, there has been a war of words between the military and the West. The demonstrations in favour of Niger's military takeover have often featured Russian flags. Niger hosts a French military base and is the world's seventh biggest producer of uranium. A quarter of the fuel is going to Europe, especially former colonial power France. Mr Bazoum was a staunch ally of the West in the fight against militant Islamists, and was a strong economic partner as well. He entered office in 2021 in Niger's first democratic and peaceful transition of power since independence in 1960. But his government was a target for Islamist militants linked to the islamic state group and al-Qaeda who roam across parts of the Sahara Desert and the semi-arid Sahel just to the south. Under pressure from the Islamists, the armies in both neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, also former French colonies with considerable French interests, seized power in recent years, saying this would help in the fight against jihadists. Like Niger, both these countries previously had significant numbers of French troops helping them but as the Islamist attacks continued, anti-French sentiment rose across the region, with people in all three countries starting to accuse the French of not doing enough to stop them. Once in power, the junta in Mali welcomed Russia's mercenary Wagner Group as they first forced out French troops and then pushed for thousands of UN peacekeepers to leave. Although Islamist attacks have continued in Mali, Burkina Faso's junta has also grown close to Russia and expelled hundreds of French forces. In Niger, anti-French protests were frequently banned by Mr Bazoum's administration. Several civil society groups began escalating anti-French protests in mid-2022, when Mr Bazoum's administration approved the redeployment of France's Barkhane forces to Niger after they had been ordered to leave Mali. Key among them is the M62 movement, formed in August 2022 by a coalition of activists, civil society movements and trade unions. They led calls against the rising cost of living, poor governance and the presence of the French forces. Various planned protests by the group were banned or violently put down by Niger's authorities with its leader Seydou jailed for nine months in April 2023 for "disrupting public order". The M62 appears revitalised in the wake of President Bazoum's removal. Its members were quoted by state TV mobilising mass protests in support of the junta, as well as denouncing sanctions by West African leaders over the coup. It is unclear if the group is linked to the junta known as the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP) or to Russia. But it was the umbrella group organising Sunday's protest, where smaller civil society groups such as the Coordination Committee for the Democratic Struggle (CCLD) Bukata and Youth Action for Niger were also present. Thousands took part in a protest in the capital Niamey on Sunday, 30 July, with some waving Russian flags and even attacking the French embassy. Now this 'movement' is spreading across the country. In the central city of Zinder thousands had taken part in yesterday's protest in support of the military takeover. Niger is home to 24.4 million people where two in every five live in extreme poverty, on less than $2.15 a day. (Source: BBC)
Asia
China
Monday, August 1, 2023 China’s ex-foreign minister has not been seen in public for more than a month. Hours after China’s top legislature convened a special meeting last week to remove foreign minister Qin, photos and mentions of the 57-year-old started disappearing from his former ministry’s website and he does not feature on the website’s list of “former ministers”. Some information reappeared days later. China named veteran diplomat Wang to replace Qin who lasted barely half a year in the role after becoming one of the country’s youngest foreign ministers in December 2022, a position with a five-year tenure. Beijing-based political analyst Wu said he could “almost certainly rule out health as the real reason”. If that was the case, the state could have assigned a deputy to fill in for him. There are precedents for officials disappearing and being scrubbed from the collective memory in China, erasures go back decades. A state-commissioned painting depicting the historic moment when Mao stood on top of Tiananmen Gate to announce the founding of the people’s republic was altered three times between 1955 and 1972 to erase officials that subsequently fell foul of Mao. The foreign ministry removed all online traces to its former chief protocol officer Zhang who was found guilty of corruption and using his position of power to obtain sex in 2016. Industry minister Xiao vanished for nearly a month last year before it was revealed he was being investigated for corruption. How the whole saga reflects on the man that supported his rise, President Xi? Does Qin saga expose the vulnerability of Xi’s one-man politics? Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has put in place a slew of regulations to combat corruption and enforce party discipline in a bid to address corruption in ways that analysts say have consolidated members’ loyalty towards him. Potential candidates' names were decided under Xi’s direct leadership. Qin’s meteoric ascent through the ranks has been partly attributed to his closeness to the president. Qin came to Xi’s attention when he served as chief protocol officer during Xi’s first term, a job that would give him direct access to Xi whenever the latter meets with foreign leaders. Then he was U.S. ambassador and then foreign minister and state councillor in five years - bullet-train speed by China standards. The National People’s Congress Standing Committee that convened on Tuesday did not remove Qin’s other title of State Councillor, a cabinet member who ranks higher than a minister, despite having the power to do so, experts say. Analysts point out that Qin would have gone through a rigorous vetting process to take the role just months ago. Communist Party regulations say leaders are vetted based on their ideologies, work performance and adherence to party discipline, while they also have to declare details about their family, including whether they have lived overseas and what assets they have. A portrait of the former U.S. envoy Qin remained hanging prominently on the wall of the Chinese embassy in Washington on Thursday. (Source: TheAsahiShimbun)
August 1, 2023 China today announced export controls on some drones and drone-related equipment, saying it wanted to safeguard “national security and interests” amid escalating tension with the United States over access to technology. China has a large drone manufacturing industry and exports to several markets, including the United States. The restrictions on equipment, including some drone engines, lasers, communication equipment and anti-drone systems, will take effect on Sept. 1. The controls also affect some consumer drones, and no civilian drones can be exported for military purposes, a ministry spokesperson of the commerce ministry said. Congress in 2019 banned the Pentagon from buying or using drones and components manufactured in China. U.S. lawmakers have said that more than 50% of drones sold in the U.S. are made by Chinese-based company DJI, and they are the most popular drone used by public safety agencies. A German retailer in March 2022 accused DJI of leaking data on Ukrainian military positions to Russia, which the company rejected as “utterly false.” China’s commerce ministry said in April this year that U.S. and Western media were spreading “unfounded accusations” that it was exporting drones to the battlefield in Ukraine, adding the reports were an attempt to “smear” Chinese firms and it would continue to strengthen export controls on drones. 'We have never designed and manufactured products and equipment for military use, nor have we ever marketed or sold our products for use in military conflicts or wars in any country,” the drone maker said. “China’s modest expansion of the scope of its drone control this time is an important measure to demonstrate our stance as a responsible major country, to implement global security initiatives, and maintain world peace,' a spokesperson said. Authorities had notified relevant countries and regions, the spokesperson said. The drone export curbs come after China announced export controls on some metals widely used in chipmaking last month, following moves by the United States to restrict China’s access to key technologies, such as chipmaking equipment. (Source: AsahiShimbun)
August 1, 2023 China said today it has complained to the United States about a weapons aid package to Taiwan. The U.S. unveiled an aid package for Taiwan worth up to $345 million on Friday, July 28, as Congress authorised up to $1 billion worth of weapons aid for the island as a part of the 2023 budget. "The Taiwan issue concerns China's core interests and is a red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations," Tan, spokesperson for China's defence ministry, said. Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. China's People's Liberation Army is paying close attention to the situation in the Taiwan Strait and is always on high alert, Tan said. The United States is Taiwan's most important arms supplier. (Source: Reuters)
Aug 1, 2023 Beijing and nearby cities stepped up rescue efforts today after rains and floods brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri disrupted services and food supplies and claimed 20 lives. Beijing recorded an average of 260mm of rainfall from Saturday, July 29, to early Monday, with the Changping Wangjiayuan Reservoir logging the largest reading at 738.3mm. In Hebei, precipitation from Saturday to Monday at one local weather station totalled more than the amount normally seen over a year and a half, with rainfall amounting to 1,003mm for the three-day period. Precipitation in the county where the station is located averages 605mm a year. Further west in Shanxi, a total of 42,211 people in the province had been relocated as of yesterday. The death toll in Beijing rose to 11 today with 13 people still missing. In nearby Tianjin, where rain has become intermittent, 35,000 people have been evacuated from homes and the local government fortified river banks and stepped up the inspection and repairs of power, water and communications lines. In Hebei province, nine people died and six were missing. China's finance ministry announced it would allocate 110 million yuan ($15 million) for rescue work in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, where rainfall stretched into a fourth day. Rivers have swollen to dangerous levels, prompting Beijing to use a flood storage reservoir for the first time since it was built 25 years ago. As of yesterday night, China's capital city had evacuated more than 52,000 people from their homes. The city government said rainfall over the past few days had surpassed levels seen in July 2012, when Beijing was hit by what was then the strongest storm since the founding of modern China. Nearly 400 flights were cancelled today and hundreds delayed at Beijing's two airports, tracker app Flight Master showed. Food delivery giant Meituan added staff and extended delivery times as orders for vegetables, meat and eggs rose 50% on its app. Doksuri swept through coastal Fujian last week, taking a 14.76 billion yuan ($2.06 billion) direct economic toll on the southeastern province and affecting almost 2.7 million people, with close to 562,000 evacuated from homes and more than 18,000 houses destroyed. Doksuri weakened as it rolled inland and dumped non-stop precipitation in northern cities over a few days. (Source: Reuters)
Persian Gulf
August 1, 2023 An escalating dispute over a gas field in the Persian Gulf poses an early challenge to a Chinese-brokered agreement to reconcile regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia and neighboring Kuwait jointly claim the offshore Al-Durra gas field. Iran says it has rights to the field, which it refers to as Arash. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait agreed last year to jointly develop the gas field. Kuwait said at the time that they aimed to produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 84,000 barrels of liquefied gas per day. Iran denounced the agreement as illegal and said it should be included in any such plans. The two sides held talks in Iran in March but were unable to agree on a border demarcation. Kuwait’s oil minister told last week that his country would commence drilling and production without waiting for a deal. Saudi Arabia has sided with Kuwait, saying the two countries have exclusive ownership of the field, and has called on Iran to return to negotiations. Saudi Arabia and Iran formally restored diplomatic relations in April following a seven-year freeze. They have since reopened embassies and welcomed senior officials on visits. But they continue to back opposite sides in Yemen’s civil war, which is ongoing despite a 15-month cease-fire. Saudi Arabia is also in negotiations with the United States over potentially normalizing relations with Israel, which Iran’s leaders have said should be wiped off the map. It’s unclear whether the dispute over the gas field, which goes back to the 1960s, will escalate beyond rhetoric. But tensions are already high in the Persian Gulf, where the U.S. is building up military forces in response to what it says is Iran’s unlawful seizure of oil tankers and harassment of commercial vessels. (Source: AP)
Philippines
August 1, 2023 The ascension of ‘Bongbong’ Marcos jnr to the presidency of the Philippines has been a game-changer in attracting European investment and pledges to boost security ties, European officials have revealed, noting improvements on human rights in the Philippines. Former president Duterte’s self-proclaimed war on drugs is estimated to have led to the deaths of 12,000 Filipinos, according to Human Rights Watch. In her first visit to the Philippines, European Commission President von der Leyen pledged to restart negotiations on a trade deal. The EU is trying to de-risk Europe’s critical supply lines from any single supplier. Speaking in Manila, Von der Leyen declared that security in the Indo-Pacific was indivisible from security in Europe, where Ukraine is fighting Russia’s invasion. She said the use of force would not be tolerated in Europe or in the Indo-Pacific. 'Challenges to the rules-based order in our interconnected world affect all of us”. 'This is why we are concerned about the rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, because an Indo-Pacific free of the threats of coercion is key to all our stability, to our peace, and to the prosperity of our people', Von der Leyen said. 'We could not choose our neighbours, but we can choose who to do business with, and on what terms,” she said. 'We made a mistake with Russia.' Von der Leyen also pledged to boost the Asian nation’s ability to process its critical minerals and increase data-sharing through satellites and undersea cables. She has stepped up her visits to Asia, having travelled to South Korea, Japan and India on top of her Manila trip. (Source: WAToday)
North America
United States
08/01/23 Did the government confirm aliens exist? Whistleblower Grusch, a former member of the UAP Task Force, claims the Pentagon is covering up a UFO retrieval program. He provided no evidence to support his claims. Grusch, indicated he would be willing to say more in a secure, classified briefing. At the heart of Grusch’s whistleblower complaint is his claim that the government, specifically the Department of Defense, is operating programs to retrieve material from crashes that are extraterrestrial in nature and are keeping those programs secret from the public while also operating without appropriate Congressional oversight. Grusch spoke exclusively to NewsNation regarding his experiences, which he said include the U.S. government recovering the “non-human” pilots of downed craft. Former Navy Commander and pilot Fravor recounted a first-hand experience with the so-called Tic Tac UFO but said he was never briefed on the object or its potential origins. Former Navy pilot Graves, who founded the Americans for Safe Aerospace, also recounted an encounter he had with an object he described as a black sphere floating inside a clear cube. Graves indicated such encounters were extremely common among pilots. There was no evidence presented to support this claim. All three witnesses agreed these unidentified objects constituted a potential national security threat. Only Rep. Gaetz, R.-Fla., said he had seen any evidence of alien life firsthand. Official government bodies, including the White House, Pentagon, and NASA have all stated they have no reason to believe unexplained objects are extraterrestrial in nature. National Security Council Spokesman Kirby said after the hearing there are “no hard and fast” answers to the question but that the administration is taking it seriously. Following Wednesday’s widely-watched Congressional hearing on UAPs and UFOs, the government has not issued any official confirmation of alien life. What was said at the hearing, by witnesses and even a lawmaker, remains unverified. Lawmakers have vowed to push for more investigations into the claims. (Source: TheHill)
Tue 01 Aug, 2023 - 17:13 ET Fitch Ratings has downgraded the United States of America's Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'AA+' from 'AAA'. The Rating Watch Negative was removed and a Stable Outlook assigned. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at 'AAA'.A full list of rating actions is at the end of this rating action commentary. The rating downgrade of the United States reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance relative to 'AA' and 'AAA' rated peers over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions. In Fitch's view, there has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years, including on fiscal and debt matters, notwithstanding the June bipartisan agreement to suspend the debt limit until January 2025. The repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management. In addition, the government lacks a medium-term fiscal framework, unlike most peers, and has a complex budgeting process. These factors, along with several economic shocks as well as tax cuts and new spending initiatives, have contributed to successive debt increases over the last decade. Additionally, there has been only limited progress in tackling medium-term challenges related to rising social security and Medicare costs due to an aging population. /.../ Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action/downgrade: A marked increase in general government debt, for example due to a failure to address medium-term public spending and revenue challenges; A decline in the coherence and credibility of policymaking that undermines the reserve currency status of the U.S. dollar, thus diminishing the government's financing flexibility. Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action/upgrade: Implementation of a fiscal adjustment to address rising mandatory spending or to fund such spending with additional revenues, resulting in a medium-term decline in the general government debt-to-GDP ratio; A sustained reversal of the trend deterioration in governance. /.../ (Source: FitchRatings): https://tinyurl.com/4d9w2dyc
1 August 2023 Conservative Republicans are urging the party to consider possible impeachment proceedings against President Biden. Hunter put his father, Biden, on speakerphone up to 20 times whilespeaking with business associates, a US congressional panel has heard behind closed doors from Hunter's business associate, Archer. He told lawmakers Joe did not discuss business on the calls, according to those at the hearing. Earlier this month, Republicans released an FBI memo with unverified allegations - but no proof - that Joe and Hunter had accepted multi-million dollar bribes from Burisma. Both Archer and Hunter sat on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2014, while Biden was vice-president. Archer's testimony came as he negotiates with the US Department of Justice on when he should report to prison to begin serving his sentence for a 2018 conviction in a conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe. (Source: BBC)
August 1, 2023 The charges facing Trump in the Jan. 6 investigation - Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC (Source: Storage.Courtlistener): https://tinyurl.com/ecnd4ryd
Tue 1 Aug 2023 In January, the US House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the Biden family's domestic and international business dealings and whether these activities compromised US national security. House Republicans allege that Jr. One used his father's status as vice-president under president Obama in an influence-peddling scheme while he was sitting on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Burisma played a central role in former US president Trump's 2019 impeachment over his alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and help him win re-election. This week, Biden Jr.'s former business partner, Archer, testified before the House Committee in a closed-door interview. He said Joe was never directly involved in their financial dealings, though Hunter 'would often put his famous father on speakerphone to impress clients and business associates'. Goldman, who was representing Democrats inside the room, told after the interview that Mr Archer testified that Biden Jr. sold the 'illusion of access' to his father by taking credit for things his father did as vice-president that he had no part in. Biggs, who has co-sponsored legislation to impeach Biden, said Mr Archer's testimony implicated the current US president. He quoted the witness as saying Burisma could not have survived without the "Biden brand". "I think we should do an impeachment inquiry." "Archer talked about the 'big guy' and how Hunter always said, 'We need to talk to my guy,'" Mr Biggs told. Committee chairman Comer added: "Biden was 'the brand' that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family." "When Biden was vice-president of the United States, he joined Hunter's dinners with his foreign business associates in person or by speakerphone over 20 times," he said. Mr Comer's committee previously heard testimony from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers who said their investigation of Junior One was stymied by the US Justice Department - claims that House Republicans view as evidence of political influence to ensure lenient treatment for Biden's son. House Speaker McCarthy has warned that Republicans could begin an impeachment inquiry against Biden if the federal agencies fail to cooperate with oversight committees looking into his administration and family's business dealings. (Source: ABC.Net)
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