WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday that China has threatened to impose sanctions on North Korea if it conducts further nuclear tests.
“We know that China is in communications with the regime in Pyongyang,” Tillerson said on Fox News Channel. “They confirmed to us that they had requested the regime conduct no further nuclear test.”
Tillerson said China also told the US that it had informed North Korea “that if they did conduct further nuclear tests, China would be taking sanctions actions on their own.”
Earlier Thursday, the senior US Navy officer overseeing military operations in the Pacific said the crisis with North Korea is at the worst point he’s ever seen, but he declined to compare the situation to the Cuban missile crisis decades ago.
“It’s real,” Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of US Pacific Command, said during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Harris said he has no doubt that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un intends to fulfill his pursuit of a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the United States. The admiral acknowledged there’s uncertainty within US intelligence agencies over how far along North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are. But Harris said it’s not a matter of if but when.
“There is no doubt in my mind,” Harris said.
The Trump administration has declared that all options, including a targeted military strike, are on the table to block North Korea from carrying out threats against the United States and its allies in the region. But a pre-emptive attack isn’t likely, US officials have said, and the administration is pursuing a strategy of putting pressure on Pyongyang with assistance from China, North Korea’s main trading partner and the country’s economic lifeline.
With international support, the Trump administration said Thursday it wants to exert a “burst” of economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea that yields results within months to push the communist government to change course from developing nuclear weapons.
Susan Thornton, the acting top US diplomat for East Asia, said there’s debate about whether Pyongyang is willing to give up its weapons programs. She said the US wants “to test that hypothesis to the maximum extent we can” for a peaceful resolution.
But signaling that military action remains possible, Thornton told an event hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies — the Washington think tank has advocated tougher US policies on Iran and North Korea — that the administration treats North Korea as its primary security challenge and is serious that “all options are on the table.”
“We are not seeking regime change and our preference is to resolve this problem peacefully,” Thornton said, “but we are not leaving anything off the table.”
Tillerson took a similar stand in the Fox News interview Thursday, saying: “We do not seek regime change in North Korea. ... What we are seeking is the same thing China has said they seek — a full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”
In a separate interview with National Public Radio, Tillerson said the US remains open to holding direct negotiations with North Korea.
“But North Korea has to decide they’re ready to talk to us about the about the right agenda, and the right agenda is not simply stopping where they are for a few more months or a few more years and then resuming things,” he said, according to excerpts of an interview that will air Friday morning. “That’s been the agenda for the last 20 years.”
Multi-nation negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear program stalled in 2008. The Obama administration attempted to resurrect them in 2012, but a deal to provide food aid in exchange for a nuclear freeze soon collapsed.
Harris told the committee that the financial sanctions imposed against the North Korean regime by the US and other countries have done nothing to slow North Korea’s quest for weapons of mass destruction. He also said he’s been skeptical of China’s willingness to exert its influence over Pyongyang. But Harris said he’s become “cautiously optimistic” following recent talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“It’s only been a month or so and it’s too early to tell,” Harris said. “I wouldn’t bet my farm on it.”
The House GOP leadership announced late Thursday that it would vote next week on new sanctions against North Korea that would target its shipping industry and those who employ North Korean slave labor abroad.
“The time for waiting on North Korea to get its act together is over. Congress has led the effort to institute tough and far-reaching sanctions against Pyongyang,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
In a show of military might, the US has sent a massive amount of American weaponry to the region. A group of American warships led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is in striking range of North Korea “if the president were to call on it,” Harris told the committee. A US missile defense system called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense is being installed in South Korea.
Harris said he has adequate forces to “fight tonight” against North Korea if that were to become necessary. But the admiral also said he lacks all the attack submarines he needs and has no capable defense against the thousands of artillery pieces North Korea has assembled near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. There are about 28,500 US military personnel serving in South Korea.
Tillerson says China asked North Korea to stop nuclear tests
Tillerson says China asked North Korea to stop nuclear tests
EU and Indonesia announce ‘political agreement’ on trade deal
- European bloc and Southeast Asia’s largest economy have been negotiating since 2016 to agree a deal that is expected to increase trade and investment
BRUSSELS: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday announced a “political agreement” to conclude a long-awaited free trade deal, as US leader Donald Trump upends global commerce.
“We’re living in turbulent times and when economic uncertainty meets geopolitical volatility, partners like us must come closer together. So today we’re taking a big step forward in this partnership,” von der Leyen told journalists in Brussels.
“I am very pleased to report that we have just reached a political agreement on an ambitious Free Trade Agreement.”
The 27-nation European bloc and Southeast Asia’s largest economy have been negotiating since 2016 to agree a deal that is expected to increase trade and investment.
A European Commission statement called Sunday’s agreement a “decisive milestone” toward striking the deal — which is to be concluded in September by EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic and Indonesia’s chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto.
“There’s a lot of untapped potential in our trade relationship. And therefore this agreement comes at the right time, because the new agreement will open new markets,” von der Leyen said.
“It will create more opportunities in key industries, in business activity and agriculture, in automotive and in services.”
Brussels has stepped up efforts to improve ties with key potential partners around the world as Trump threatens a trade war with sweeping tariffs.
“This big and important political agreement on the free trade agreement with Indonesia is today a huge milestone forward, and shows that we’re looking for new markets, open markets,” von der Leyen said.
Prabowo called the announcement in Brussels a “breakthrough.”
“After 10 years of negotiations, we have concluded the agreement to have a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which basically is a free trade agreement,” he said.
The president said “we consider Europe still a very important factor, and we would like to see a very strong Europe.”
But he insisted that “the United States will be always a very important leader in the world.”
The European Union is Indonesia’s fifth-largest trading partner with bilateral trade between them reaching $30.1 billion last year.
Ties had been frayed by a proposed EU import ban on products linked to deforestation that has angered Indonesia because it is a major palm oil exporter.
That legislation has been delayed to the end of this year.
Asian garment industry braces for higher US tariffs
- High tariffs might force companies to shut down or move to countries that offer lower tariff rates
- The US is negotiating a deal with India, while reciprocal tariff for Pakistan hasn’t been announced
Dhaka/Phnom Penh: Across Asia, unions and industry groups are raising alarms over the impact of higher tariffs by the United States on garment workers.
High tariffs might force companies to shut down or move to neighboring countries that offer lower tariff rates, resulting in a loss of jobs, they say.
“The potential loss of jobs will cut the income and ability for workers to sustain their daily lives,” said Ath Thorn, vice president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, which represents 80,000 workers across 40 factories.
Several countries in Asia have gotten notice of new tariff rates imposed by the United States to take effect August 1, after a 90-day pause on tariffs came to an end.
Manufacturing hubs such as Bangladesh and Cambodia will face high tariffs of 35 percent and 36 percent respectively, while neighboring countries are still negotiating with the US government.
US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs through official letters posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, on July 8.
The US is the largest garment export destination for Bangladesh. The country’s exports to the US totaled $8.4 billion last year and of that, garments comprised $7.34 billion.
Also in 2024, Cambodia exported nearly $10 billion worth of goods to the US, which accounted for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s total exports, according to government customs statistics.
More than half of US imports from Cambodia were garments, footwear and travel goods such as luggage and handbags, a sector that makes up nearly half of the country’s export revenue and employs more than 900,000 workers.
Unions and industry groups warn that these workers could be hit hard with job losses if the high tariffs force companies to move to countries under lower tariff rates or shut down altogether.
While Cambodia is looking at a tariff rate reduction from 49 percent in April, anxiety permeates its garment industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people and is one of the developing nation’s key economic pillars.
Meanwhile, the US and Vietnam have struck a trade agreement that set 20 percent tariffs on Vietnamese goods.
With a neighbor next door with a significantly lower tariff, many companies may choose to leave Cambodia, said Yang Sophorn, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions, which represents thousands of women who support their families as garment workers.
The fear is echoed by experts in Bangladesh, which faces a 35 percent tariff.
Selim Raihan, a professor of economics at the Dhaka University, said if tariff rates on Bangladesh’s competitors like India, Indonesia and Vietnam prove to be lower, Bangladesh would face a serious competitive disadvantage.
Such a disadvantage could make supply chain decision-making more difficult and erode the confidence of buyers and investors, Raihan said.
“As production costs rise and profit margins shrink due to the tariff, many garment factories may be forced to scale back operations or shut down entirely,” Raihan said.
In Bangladesh, the 35 percent tariff announced by the US is more than twice the current 15 percent rate on Bangladeshi goods.
“With more than doubling tariff rates, can you imagine how the cost of the products will rise?” asked Mohiuddun Rubel, a former director of Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers’ association BGMEA and now additional managing director at textile maker Denim Expert Ltd.
The question is what happens to the tariffs for main competitor countries like India and Pakistan, said Rubel.
The US is negotiating a trade deal with India, while reciprocal tariff rates for Pakistan have not been announced yet.
OUTSIZED EFFECT ON WOMEN
Potential layoffs within the garment industry will have an outsized effect on women workers, which Sophorn said would cripple entire families.
“If these women lose their jobs because high tariffs force factories to shut, it will not only impact Cambodia’s economy, but now children may not be able to go to school and aging parents may not be able to afford medicine,” Sophorn said.
“The situation for women garment workers is already bad, but it will get worse if these tariffs were to come into effect.”
Many of the women she represents have taken bank loans to support their families and work in the garment industry to pay off their debts.
“If they lose their job, it means they will lose everything,” Sophorn said.
Tariffs would directly affect a sizable chunk of the four million workers in Bangladesh’s garment industry, most of whom are women from low income and rural backgrounds, Raihan said.
Thorn suggested Cambodia continue negotiations to get the tariffs down or find other ways to export more products, generate more income and create more work.
“If not, we will face problems,” he said.
Kabul’s water crisis: How unsustainable foreign aid projects made it worse
- Afghan capital, a city of 6.5 million people, is expected to run out of water by 2030
- Kabul has not had a comprehensive water management plan since 1978
KABUL: As Kabul makes global headlines for being on the brink of running out of water, experts say the crisis stems not only from natural and local causes, but also decades of unsustainable foreign projects and mismanagement of aid.
About one-third of Afghanistan’s population — around 12.5 million people — lack reliable access to water, according to the latest data from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
In the country’s capital, the situation is even worse, with the UN expecting that by 2030 its aquifers could dry up — a projection that has been in international media since last month, as that would make Kabul the first modern city to run out of water.
“Without urgent action, like bringing in surface water from other basins, Kabul risks facing a severe crisis, potentially a ‘Day Zero’ like Cape Town experienced a few years ago,” Obaidullah Rahimi, an Afghan scholar whose doctoral research at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau focuses on urban water management, told Arab News.
“The city’s groundwater can only cover about 44 million cubic meters — enough for just 2 million people at a modest per capita consumption of 50 liters per person per day.”
This means that less than 30 percent of Kabul’s 6.5 million residents have access to the WHO’s basic water requirement to ensure minimum essential needs for health, hygiene, and basic consumption.
Years of excessive and unregulated groundwater extraction, combined with prolonged drought, shrinking rainfall, and the thinning of the Hindu Kush snowpack — the primary natural source for the city’s rivers and aquifers —have pushed Kabul to the edge.
But these problems are not new and have only worsened as they have not been addressed over the two decades, when Afghanistan was occupied by foreign forces following the US invasion in 2001.
Despite the billions of dollars that entered the country in foreign development projects, Kabul’s water management systems were hardly touched.
“A significant portion of this aid was spent on short-term, small-scale projects without considering future impacts on the water balance of the Kabul basin and failed to establish large-scale water conservation infrastructure that could maintain and preserve this balance,” Rahimi said.
Dr. Ahmad Shah Frahmand, a geographic information systems and remote sensing expert specializing in mapping changes in water surface areas, said that also the way the projects were implemented, along with the lack of knowledge transfer, prevented them from having a lasting impact.
“International donors funded networks and pipelines across Kabul, often constructed by foreign contractors with little local involvement. But within just a few years, many of these systems fell into disrepair due to poor construction and a lack of oversight,” he told Arab News.
“One of the biggest failings was the focus on short-term fixes over long-term solutions. Aid money was frequently funneled into demonstration projects — temporary wells, pilot programs, or highly visible installations that offered quick results but little durability. Meanwhile, large-scale infrastructure like dams, reservoirs, and water treatment plants received far less attention and funding.”
According to Frahmand, less than 10 percent of the water sector budget was spent on training and maintaining local staff.
“Without skilled technicians, engineers, and maintenance crews, even well-built systems can crumble. And in Kabul, many already have,” he said.
A report published by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction in 2020 — a year before the withdrawal of American-led forces from Afghanistan — estimated that at least 30 percent of reconstruction aid, or $19 billion, was lost to waste, fraud, and abuse.
Additional audits by the oversight agency suggested the true figure may have been 40 percent due to corruption and mismanagement.
As foreign donors have left the country and international sanctions have been slapped on it since 2021, when the Taliban took over after the US forces withdrew, there are no funds for big infrastructure projects, especially as Afghanistan is already facing several other humanitarian crises.
“In a country desperate for stable infrastructure, these funds could have transformed lives. Instead, many projects stalled, failed, or were quietly abandoned,” Frahmand said, highlighting how urgent redesigning Kabul’s water systems has been, as the city has not seen a comprehensive water management plan since 1978.
“Kabul’s infrastructure was never built for the population it now serves. The existing water supply system, designed decades ago for a much smaller population, can no longer meet basic demand. Millions of Kabul residents now rely on tankers, private vendors, or unsafe wells to access water.”
By 2030, as many as 2 million people could be forced to leave Kabul in search of water, according to projections by the UN refugee agency. Water loss could lead to the extinction of local fish species and a collapse of biodiversity in the region.
“The agricultural sector is already under immense pressure. The Food and Agriculture Organization forecasts a 40 percent drop in crop yields across Kabul province by 2035. For a population already grappling with food insecurity, this decline could tip entire communities into hunger and poverty,” Frahmand said.
“If urgent action is not taken, the coming decade could bring irreversible social, environmental, and economic consequences that reshape the city and the lives of those who remain in it.”
India marks inclusion of 12 Maratha forts on UNESCO World Heritage List
- Forts were once used by the Maratha Empire between the 17th and 19th centuries
- India now ranks 6th globally and 2nd in Asia for the number of World Heritage Sites
NEW DELHI: India’s Maratha Military Landscapes — a network of 12 strategic forts — have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming the country’s 44th site to receive the designation.
The forts were used by the rulers of the Maratha Empire, who held power across parts of central, western and southern India between the late 17th century and the early 19th century.
Marathas rose to prominence after the decline of the Mughal Empire, following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, the last powerful Mughal ruler, who alone had controlled much of India for nearly 50 years.
The proposal to include the Maratha forts on the UNESCO list was submitted by India to the World Heritage Committee in January 2024.
The inscription, which took place during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris on Friday, marked “a significant milestone in the global acknowledgment of India’s rich and diverse cultural heritage,” the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.
The Maratha Military Landscapes of India were nominated under the criteria in recognition of “their exceptional testimony to a living cultural tradition, their architectural and technological significance, and their deep associations with historic events and traditions.”
The fortification network covers 11 forts in the state of Maharashtra — Salher, Shivneri, Lohagad, Khanderi, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala, Vijaydurg, and Sindhudurg — and one, Gingee Fort, in Tamil Nadu.
With the newest addition, India now ranks sixth globally and second in the Asia-Pacific region for the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
“The fact that UNESCO selected 12 forts from the Maratha dynasty as World Heritage Sites is a matter of great pride for the history of the Marathas, Maharashtra and India,” Prof. Santosh Mahadevrao Ghuge, who heads the Department of History at the Fergusson College in Pune, one of the main cities of Maharashtra, told Arab News.
“The war strategy of the Marathas has unique significance in Indian and world history, and forts have an important place in this war strategy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maratha military prowess and the use of forts in warfare enabled the Marathas to defeat the powerful Mughals.”
New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy
- The Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left the port of Syracuse shortly after 12:00 p.m.
- The former Norwegian trawler will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching Gaza’s coast
SYRACUSE, Italy: A Gaza-bound boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid left Sicily on Sunday, over a month after Israel detained and deported people aboard a previous vessel.
The Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left the port of Syracuse shortly after 12:00 p.m. (1000 GMT), an AFP journalist saw, carrying about fifteen activists.
Several dozen people, some holding Palestinian flags and others wearing keffiyeh scarves, gathered at the port to cheer the boat’s departure with cries of “Free Palestine.”
The former Norwegian trawler – loaded with medical supplies, food, children’s equipment and medicine – will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean, covering roughly 1,800 kilometers, in the hope of reaching Gaza’s coast.
In early March, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza amid an impasse in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.
The boat will make a stop at Gallipoli, in southeastern Italy, where two members of the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) are expected to join.
The initiative comes six weeks after the departure of the Madleen, another ship that left Italy for Gaza transporting aid and activists, including Greta Thunberg.
Israel authorities intercepted the Madleen about 185 kilometers west of Gaza’s coast.
“This is a mission for the children in Gaza, to break the humanitarian blockade and to break the summer silence on the genocide,” said Gabrielle Cathala, one of the two France Unbowed party members set to board the boat on July 18.
“I hope we will reach Gaza but if not, it will be yet another violation of international law” by Israel, she added.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 57,882 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military reprisals. The UN considers the figures reliable.
