Moscow may change the timing for use of its nuclear weapons if threats against Russia increase, the RIA state news agency cited Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Russian lower house’s defense committee, as saying on Sunday.
The former general’s comments follow recent warnings by President Vladimir Putin that Moscow may change its nuclear doctrine, which lays out the conditions in which such weapons could be used.
“If we see that the challenges and threats increase, it means that we can correct something in (the doctrine) regarding the timing of the use of nuclear weapons and the decision to make this use,” the agency quoted Kartapolov as saying.
“But of course, it’s too early to talk about specifics now.”
Russia’s 2020 nuclear doctrine sets out when its president would consider using a nuclear weapon: broadly as a response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or conventional weapons “when the very existence of the state is put under threat.”
Putin has also said Russia could test a nuclear weapon, if necessary, though he saw no need to do so at the present time.
The heightened rhetoric on nuclear weapons comes as both Russian and US diplomats say that Russia’s war in Ukraine, launched against its smaller neighbor in 2022, is in the most dangerous phase yet.
Russian lawmaker warns Moscow may change timing for use of nuclear weapons
https://arab.news/ybg3f
Russian lawmaker warns Moscow may change timing for use of nuclear weapons
- Russia’s 2020 nuclear doctrine sets out when its president would consider using a nuclear weapon
Two detained after attack outside Israeli embassy in Belgrade
- Assailant shot a Serbian police officer in the neck with a crossbow while he was on duty in front of the embassy early Saturday
- The attacker was shot and killed by the officer
BELGRADE: Two men were remanded in custody Sunday in connection with an attack outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade that Serbian authorities called a “targeted terrorist act,” a minister said.
The assailant, whom the police identified as being a “convert” to Islam, shot a Serbian police officer in the neck with a crossbow while he was on duty in front of the embassy early Saturday.
The attacker was shot and killed by the officer.
The assailant, from Mladenovac, near Belgrade, lived in Novi Pazar, a historical and political center of Serbia’s Bosniak Muslim minority, police said.
Authorities said a number of people known to the security services were suspected of being linked to the attack.
“Searches were conducted at several locations in Serbia, dozens of people were questioned,” Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told the state-run RTS broadcaster on Sunday.
The prosecutors will establish whether they were linked with the “targeted terrorist attack,” he added.
Two men were remanded in custody, the minister said.
Security was stepped up to the highest level throughout the country and the police operation was continuing, Dacic added.
“It is an operation against extremists and terrorists, people directly involved in the attack, but... also against those for whom there are indications they might belong to terrorist groups,” he said.
Police have traced the attacker’s movement in Belgrade, where he arrived early Saturday, saying he headed to the synagogue before the attack, but said he was deterred by a high police presence.
After that he proceeded to the Israeli embassy.
“From that it is clear what the main and possible targets were,” Dacic said.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Saturday thanked Serbian authorities for “strong support and cooperation following the attempted terror act.”
“Terrorism cannot be tolerated!” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Israeli ambassador to Serbia, Yahel Vilan, on Sunday visited the wounded officer in a Belgrade hospital.
The 34-year-old policeman underwent an operation to remove an arrow from his neck and was in stable condition, a doctor said.
Serbia has continued arms sales to Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which claimed 1,195 lives, mostly of civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,877 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Delhi airport accident raises concerns over India's infrastructure drive
- About $532 billion in new infrastructure will become operational in the next 2 years in India
- Modernizing infrastructure was key part of PM Modi’s campaign during this year’s election
NEW DELHI: The recent deadly roof collapse at New Delhi's main airport was the latest in a series of construction safety incidents in the country, triggering concerns over India’s multibillion-dollar infrastructure drive.
A portion of a canopy and pillars at a departure terminal in the Indira Gandhi International Airport, one of the country’s busiest, collapsed following heavy rain on Friday morning, killing at least one person and injuring several others.
The collapse also caused a temporary suspension of operations at the airport’s Terminal 1, which is used for domestic flights, impacting the travel plans of thousands of people.
It joins a growing list of infrastructure incidents in India in recent years that have raised questions about the rapid pace of mega-development projects in the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Narayan Moorthy, a Delhi-based architect, blamed it on many factors, including “slipshod work culture,” frequent use of poor-quality materials, “reckless hurry towards the end of projects so that some politician can inaugurate it on a pre-decided and politically significant date,” and lack of maintenance after construction.
“This whole cocktail comes together to result in unmitigated disasters, like the collapsed airport roof in Delhi that killed one hapless soul and injured many others … Similar is the case of the roof of the brand-new Jabalpur airport that thankfully had no human casualties but exposes our systemic rot,” he told Arab News.
“We have much to be ashamed of in the quality of our supposedly ‘world-class’ constructions.”
A day before the Delhi accident, a part of the canopy of Jabalpur airport in Rajasthan collapsed under heavy rains, while on Saturday, a canopy fell down at the passenger pickup area at Rajkot airport in Gujarat.
In the eastern state of Bihar, four bridges also recently collapsed and an $80 billion underpass in Delhi, which was inaugurated just ahead of India’s hosting of the G20 summit last year, has been waterlogged for several days, disrupting traffic in Delhi’s main thoroughfare.
Under Modi’s building spree, about 44.4 trillion rupees ($532 billion) in new infrastructure will become operational over the next two years, according to Bloomberg Economics.
Modi has presided over many ribbon-cutting ceremonies of these projects, as modernizing infrastructure was a key part of his campaign during this year’s national election, when he won a third term as India’s premier. Over the past decade, his government said it has built 80 new airports, upgraded railways and expanded highways by thousands of kilometers.
The projects have been criticized by India’s opposition leaders, with Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Indian National Congress party, among the latest to accuse Modi’s government of corruption following Friday’s incident.
“Corruption and criminal negligence is responsible for the collapse of shoddy infrastructure falling like a deck of cards, in the past 10 years of Modi Govt,” Kharge wrote on X.
Niranjan Sahoo, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, highlighted how infrastructure was “turned into a vote bank ploy” under Modi’s government at an unmatched level.
“While the government might have good intent to build infrastructure at a rapid pace to match the requirements of a growing nation, (it) is done without adequate attention to their up-keeping, reliable maintenance and auditing,” Sahoo told Arab News.
“Never before has the country witnessed a kind of infrastructure blitz largely timed before the elections,” he added. “In a sense, infrastructure fits into populist narratives of taking India to the comity of great powers. However, the recent incidents badly expose India’s ambition and capabilities.”
Prof. A.K. Gosain, a civil engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi said one of the major reasons for infrastructural failures can be traced back to “falling quality” of construction, adding that “there is no accountability at the top,” leaving people at the lower levels as scapegoats whenever problems arise.
Anuj Srivastava, an architect from the School of Planning and Architecture in the Indian capital and a veteran of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army, also highlighted the lack of maintenance and accountability in India’s infrastructure projects and the indifference toward the environment amid a rapidly changing climate.
“The reason for accidents and collapse of infrastructure is the lack of concern for the environment and the haste in planning and executing the project, proving the adage ‘haste makes waste’,” Srivastava told Arab News.
“Infrastructure disaster damages India’s reputation in the world. In the unseemly haste to build ‘world-class infrastructure’ in a hurry and its subsequent collapse, irreparable damage is being caused to India’s reputation.”
Taliban delegation attends UN-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan, with women excluded
- The two-day meeting is the third UN-sponsored gathering on the Afghan crisis in the Qatari capital of Doha
ISLAMABAD: A Taliban delegation on Sunday attended a United Nations-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan after organizers said women would be excluded from the gathering.
The two-day meeting is the third UN-sponsored gathering on the Afghan crisis in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government who leads its delegation, wrote on social media platform X that the delegation met with representatives from countries including Russia, India and Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the meeting.
The Taliban were not invited to the first meeting, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they set unacceptable conditions for attending the second one in February, including demands that Afghan civil society members be excluded from the talks and that the Taliban be treated as the country’s legitimate rulers.
The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as US and NATO forces were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country following two decades of war. No country has officially recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government, and the UN has said recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place.
Mujahid on Saturday in the capital, Kabul, told reporters the delegation was going to Doha “to seek understanding and resolve issues.”
“We urge all countries not to abandon the Afghan people in difficult times, and actively participate in Afghanistan’s reconstruction and economic strengthening,” he said.
He said they would discuss issues including international restrictions imposed on Afghanistan’s financial and banking system, challenges in growing the private sector and government actions against drug trafficking.
Earlier, the United Nations’ top official in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, defended the failure to include Afghan women in the meeting in Doha, insisting that demands for women’s rights are certain to be raised.
Russia claims two more east Ukrainian villages
- Moscow has claimed new villages in the east of Ukraine regularly for weeks, as outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces struggle to hold them back
MOSCOW: Russia on Sunday claimed two more east Ukrainian villages as its forces have had the upper hand over Kyiv on the battlefield for months.
Moscow has claimed new villages in the east of Ukraine regularly for weeks, as outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces struggle to hold them back.
Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had “liberated the settlement” of Novooleksandrivka as the Russian army pushes further westwards into the Donetsk region.
The village — which lies north-west of occupied Ocheretyne — is now the most western point of the region that Moscow holds.
Moscow also said its forces captured the small village of Spirne, further north in the Donetsk region near the border with the neighboring Lugansk region.
Moscow’s Ukraine offensive has dragged on for nearly two and a half years.
Millions of French vote in snap polls as far right eyes power
- The two-round vote could put the far-right in power in France for the first time since the Nazi occupation in World War II
PARIS: French voters turned out in large numbers on Sunday for the first round of high-stakes snap parliamentary elections which could alter France’s trajectory and see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first.
President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation by calling snap polls after the far-right National Rally (RN) party’s strong showing in European Parliament elections this month.
With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year and energy and food prices much higher, support for the anti-immigration and euroskeptic party has surged despite Macron’s pledges to prevent its ascent.
The two-round vote could put the far-right in power in France for the first time since the Nazi occupation in World War II.
Presented with a crucial choice about France’s future, many said they could not stay home, while political observers pointed to the highest voter turnout in decades.
In the southern city of Marseille, Nabil Agueni said he skipped the European elections but voted on Sunday.
“As long as we have a choice, it’s better to go and vote,” the 40-year-old said.
In the southwestern city of Bordeaux, Roxane Lebrun, 40, sounded worried.
“I don’t recognize my country anymore,” she said. “We have to keep fighting for what we believe in and what we want for France.”
Julien Martin, a 38-year-old architect, added: “These are not easy elections, the results are very uncertain, and the repercussions could be serious for society.”
Macron and his wife Brigitte cast their ballots in Le Touquet in northern France, with the 46-year-old president seen taking selfies and mingling with supporters.
As of noon, turnout in mainland France stood at 25.90 percent, an increase from the 18.43 percent recorded in legislative elections in 2022.
“This is the highest level since the 1981 legislative elections,” Mathieu Gallard, research director at the Ipsos polling institute, said on X (formerly Twitter).
According to most polls, the RN party is on course to win the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, parliament’s lower house, although it remains unclear if it will secure an outright majority.
Final opinion polls have given the RN between 35 percent and 37 percent of the vote, compared to 27.5-29 percent for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and 20-21 percent for Macron’s centrist camp.
Mujtaba Rahman, Europe head at Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy, said turnout was key to the outcome of the election.
“The higher the turnout, the more candidates qualify,” he said on X.
He said that the left-wing alliance and Macron’s centrist camp would be able “to make deals to withdraw worst-placed candidates and allow the others a free run against the far right candidate” in the second round of voting.
Polling stations opened across mainland France at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and will close 12 hours later, immediately followed by projections that usually predict the result with a degree of accuracy.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal was set to make a statement on Sunday evening, his team said.
If the RN obtains an absolute majority, party chief Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege with no governing experience, could become prime minister in a tense “cohabitation” with Macron.
Many analysts say that France is facing a hung Assembly, which could lead to deadlock and political instability.
The shape of the new parliament will become clear after the second round on July 7.
Voters in France’s overseas territories had cast ballots earlier in the weekend.
Electors lined up to cast ballots in France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia, where tensions remain high following deadly riots there last month.
“It should be well attended, but I don’t know if everyone will play along and come out to vote,” said nurse Cassandre Cazaux.
Macron’s decision to call the snap vote plunged the country into political turmoil and sparked uncertainty in Europe’s second-biggest economy.
The Paris stock exchange suffered its biggest monthly decline in two years in June, dropping by 6.4 percent, according to figures released on Friday.
In an editorial, French daily Le Monde said it was time to mobilize against the far right.
“Yielding any power to it means nothing less than taking the risk of seeing everything that has been built and conquered over more than two and a half centuries gradually being undone,” it said.
Many have pointed to a spike in hate speech, intolerance and racism during the charged campaign. A video of two RN supporters verbally assaulting a black woman has gone viral in recent days.
Macron has deplored “racism or anti-Semitism.”
Support for Macron’s centrist camp tumbled during the campaign, while left-wing parties put their bickering aside to form the New Popular Front, in a nod to an alliance founded in 1936 to combat fascism.
Analysts say Le Pen’s years-long efforts to clean up the image of a party co-founded by a former Waffen SS member have been paying off.
A defiant Macron has stood by his decision to call the elections, while warning voters that a win by the far right or hard left could spark a “civil war.”
