JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa opened on Thursday a Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting with a call for “cooperation” amid geopolitical tensions and “rising intolerance.”
Top diplomats from the world’s largest economies gathered in Johannesburg for the two-day talks held for the first time in Africa, overshadowed by the absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“It is critical that the principles of the UN Charter, multilateralism and international law should remain at the center of all our endeavours. It should be the glue that keeps us together,” Ramaphosa said.
“Geopolitical tensions, rising intolerance, conflict and war, climate change, pandemics and energy and food insecurity threaten an already fragile global coexistence,” Ramaphosa said.
The G20, a grouping of 19 countries as well as the European Union and the African Union, is deeply divided on key issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to climate change.
World leaders have also been split on how to respond to the dramatic policy shifts from Washington since the return of US President Donald Trump.
“As the G20 we must continue to advocate for diplomatic solutions to conflicts,” Ramaphosa said.
“I think it is important that we should remember that cooperation is our greatest strength,” he added. “Let us seek to find common ground through constructive engagement.”
A curtain-raiser to the G20 summit in November, the meeting was attended by top diplomats including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, his Chinese and Indian counterparts as well as European envoys like France’s Jean-Noel Barrot and Britain’s David Lammy.
But the group’s richest member, the United States, was only represented by Dana Brown, the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Pretoria, after Rubio skipped the meeting amid disputes with the host nation over several policy issues.
Pretoria has in particular come under fire from Washington for leading a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of “genocidal” acts in its Gaza offensive, which Israel has denied.
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent announced on Thursday that he would also not attend the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Cape Town next week.
The first G20 presidency by an African nation was an opportunity for the continent to be “heard on critical global issues, like sustainable development, the digital economy and the shift toward green energy,” Ramaphosa said.
South Africa’s priorities for its presidency of the powerful grouping included finding ways to scale up resilience to climate disasters and improving “debt sustainability” for developing countries.
It also wanted to mobilize finance for a “just energy transition” in which countries most responsible for climate change support those least responsible, he said.
“G20 leaders should secure agreement on increasing the quality and quantity of climate finance flows to developing economy countries.”
South Africa would also champion the harnessing of critical minerals for “green industrialization.”
However, in a sign of the tensions in the grouping, the planned group photograph was canceled as “several countries did not wish to appear next to Lavrov,” members of a delegation told AFP.
South Africa’s agenda for its presidency might be “derailed” by heightened geopolitical tensions, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, Priyal Singh, told AFP ahead of the meeting.
“The elephant in the room is the geopolitical context in which this meeting is taking place,” Singh said.
Rubio’s absence will “distract the focus of the meeting,” warned William Gumede, professor of public management at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
“It sends a symbolic message to Africans: the US is not taking Africa seriously,” he said.
Africa’s first G20 meeting opens with call for ‘cooperation’
https://arab.news/rmu3p
Africa’s first G20 meeting opens with call for ‘cooperation’
- “It is critical that the principles of the UN Charter, multilateralism and international law should remain at the center of all our endeavours,” Ramaphosa said
- “Geopolitical tensions, rising intolerance, conflict and war, climate change, pandemics and energy and food insecurity threaten an already fragile global coexistence“
Putin and Trump exchanged World War Two anniversary greetings via aides, Kremlin says
Russia marked the anniversary on Friday
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump congratulated each other via their aides on the 80th anniversary of the Soviet and allied victory in World War Two over Nazi Germany, the Kremlin said on Friday.
’Through their aides, the Russian president and President Trump exchanged congratulations on the occasion of our common celebration,” Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to Putin, told state TV’s Channel One.
“These were warm words, mutual congratulations on our common great celebration,” Ushakov said.
Russia marked the anniversary on Friday with a military parade on Moscow’s Red Square attended by dozens of world leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping.
The TASS state news agency reported that Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador to Russia, had not been present at the parade.
Weary border residents in Indian-administered Kashmir struggle to survive
- Villagers hid in bunkers, behind rocks and bushes on mountain slopes, many watched their homes being reduced to rubble
- Exchange of heavy fire has destroyed or severely damaged dozens of homes along the border, forcing many to flee
URI, India: Mohammad Naseem says his neighbors laughed when he borrowed money and built a concrete bunker under his home in a village near the disputed Kashmir border.
But this week, when mortar bombs rained in Salamabad, 38 people — men, women, and children — huddled in it as about a dozen shells exploded outside in quick succession.
One of them destroyed Naseem’s home.
“Many of us would have died had we not moved into the bunker,” Naseem, a 34-year-old hotel chef, told AFP.
“We grabbed our children and rushed inside. It got so packed that after some time we felt suffocated, two of our children became unconscious,” he said.
“The children had to be hospitalized after daybreak when the shelling stopped.”
Other villagers hid behind rocks and bushes on the mountain slopes. Some watched their homes being reduced to rubble.
Deadly confrontations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan erupted after New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing an April 22 attack on tourists on the Indian-administered side of the disputed territory, which killed 26 people.
Pakistan denies the charge.
“We took our children out and went up the mountain slope holding them tightly as bombs exploded around us,” Naseer Ahmed Khan, 50, said outside his damaged house on Thursday.
“Our life is worth nothing. At any time, entire families could be wiped out,” Khan said. “Our children are not able to sleep and we cannot have a meal in peace.”
The exchange of heavy fire has destroyed or severely damaged dozens of homes in Uri, about 100 kilometers (66 miles) from the Kashmir capital Srinagar, forcing many to flee to safer areas in towns like Baramulla, about 50 kilometers away.
Sajjad Shafi, a local lawmaker told AFP that about 10 percent of Uri’s population — some 22,000 people — fled since the latest fighting began.
On Friday, many more were fleeing in buses and trucks provided by the government or driving off in their own cars.
“How can we stay here?” Rubina Begum said outside her destroyed home. “The government should lodge us somewhere safe.”
Begum’s daughter, Saima Talib, added: “We have nothing left except the clothes we are wearing.”
Displaced people are struggling to find food and work and many are now sheltering in government buildings in Uri.
Mohammad Lateef Bhat, a road construction worker, said: “I work as a laborer with army’s border roads organization but their work also stopped.”
“This morning I came to the market looking for work but there is nothing,” Bhat said.
Some vegetable sellers briefly set up shop before closing.
Mohammad Bashir was also despondent.
“I came to the market to find some work so I can buy some food for my family (of eight) but there is nothing,” Bashir, 60, said.
The death toll from India and Pakistan’s biggest clashes in decades passed 50 on Friday with each accusing the other of staging drone attacks in waves.
Farooq Ahmed Khan, 35, a bus driver from Sultandhaki village near the border, said “this fighting has made our life miserable.”
Nagni, a rare mixed settlement of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, sits on mountain slopes near the Indian army’s border headquarters in Uri.
Villagers say 35 of the 50 families there have fled.
Badal, a 22-year-old student who only gave his first name, was cleaning up after his sister’s wedding at his freshly painted home.
He showed a crater caused by a mortar bomb that landed a few meters away on the night of the wedding.
“Luckily there was no loss of life but a lot of damage. What we need.. is bunkers, but there are none.”
“This village has always been a target of Pakistani attacks in the past because the (Indian) army headquarters are nearby,” said Sahil Kumar, another Nagni resident.
Locals say they are fed up.
“I say there should be a war just to decide where Kashmir goes,” said Farooq Ahmed Khan, the bus driver.
“I will also go to fight in that war so that this trouble ends for good,” Khan said.
Kyiv’s EU allies endorse tribunal to try Russian leaders
- “Russia’s aggression cannot go unpunished and therefore establishing this tribunal is extremely important,” EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said
- The new tribunal is not expected to be able to try Putin while he is in office
LVIV, Ukraine: Ukraine’s EU allies on Friday endorsed the creation of a tribunal to try Russia’s top leaders over the invasion, as Kyiv pushes for Vladimir Putin himself to be brought to justice.
EU foreign ministers were gathering in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in a symbolic show of support on the same day Russia commemorates the end of World War II with a grand military parade in Moscow.
European efforts to create the tribunal appear to have sped up since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, courting Putin in a bid to end the war and raising fears Moscow could escape justice for good.
“There is no space for impunity. Russia’s aggression cannot go unpunished and therefore establishing this tribunal is extremely important,” EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague has already issued arrest warrants for Putin and other Russian officials for the forced deportation of children and strikes on Ukraine’s energy targets.
But the ICC doesn’t have the jurisdiction to prosecute Russia for the more fundamental decision to launch the invasion in the first place.
However, the new tribunal is not expected to be able to try Putin while he is in office due to a principle of international law that gives immunity to presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers.
“This tribunal is being set up to pass appropriate sentences in the future,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said in Lviv.
He added Kyiv wanted the “inevitable punishment for all,” including the “president of Russia, the prime minister of Russia and the foreign minister of Russia.”
Putin earlier on Friday had evoked Soviet victory over Nazi Germany to rally the country round his three-year offensive at a grand military parade in Moscow in front of key allies, including China’s Xi Jinping.
There are fears in Ukraine that Russian officials may escape justice, especially after Trump initiated a rapprochement with Putin in the hopes of ending the war.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs jury to be seated in hip-hop mogul’s sex trafficking trial
- Combs pleads not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Twelve jurors and six alternates to be chosen
NEW YORK: A jury of 12 New Yorkers is due to be chosen on Friday in the racketeering and sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who could face decades or even life in prison if convicted.
The rapper has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation for prostitution — all felonies.
Over three days this week, the judge overseeing the case questioned nearly 100 prospective jurors on subjects including what they had heard about Combs’ case and any experiences they had had with sexual assault.
With input from defense lawyers and prosecutors, US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan dismissed the jurors he deemed unfit to serve and settled on 45 candidates qualified to serve fairly and impartially.
On Friday, lawyers for each side will take turns striking candidates until a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates is chosen — a chess match with potentially decisive implications in the outcome of the trial.
Combs, a Harlem native who founded the pioneering record label Bad Boy Records and discovered iconic rappers including the Notorious B.I.G., was arrested last September and has been held in a Brooklyn federal lockup since then.
The charges marked the stunning downfall of a titan of the music industry who once held a ceremonial key to the city of New York and was known for throwing lavish parties for A-list celebrities.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney’s office say that for two decades Combs used his business empire to lure women into his orbit with promises of romantic relationships or financial support, then violently coerced them to take part in days-long, drug-fueled sexual performances known as “Freak Offs.”
In court papers, prosecutors allege Combs kept his victims obedient by drugging and blackmailing them. He is accused of kidnapping a person at gunpoint, dropping a Molotov cocktail into a car and hitting, choking and dragging victims in acts of violence dating back to the 1990s.
Combs’ lawyers have said prosecutors are improperly seeking to criminalize Combs’ “swinger lifestyle.” They have signaled they plan to attack the credibility of the alleged victims who will testify by seeking to show they had financial incentives to accuse Combs. They have said the women gave inconsistent accounts of the alleged assaults to investigators.
Subramanian has said the trial will last around eight weeks, with the alternate jurors serving as backups in case jurors are unable to finish. Any verdict must be unanimous.
The trial is expected to feature testimony from three, or possibly four, accusers including Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, a rhythm and blues singer known professionally as Cassie.
Combs faces more than 50 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault, including one by a plaintiff who says he was 10 years old at the time of the alleged attack.
Combs has denied wrongdoing in those cases and claimed his accusers are seeking a payday.
Ukraine says it uncovered a Hungarian espionage network, two suspects arrested
- The activities of the suspected spies were focused on the western Ukraine region of Zakarpattia
- The Hungarian government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has also threatened to bloc EU financial assistance to Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine’s main security agency said Friday it had arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Hungary by gathering intelligence on Ukraine’s military in the west of the country.
In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that two suspects, both former members of the Ukrainian military, had been detained and face charges of treason, which is punishable by life imprisonment. It was the first time in Ukraine’s history that a Hungarian espionage operation had been discovered, the statement said.
The activities of the suspected spies were focused on the western Ukraine region of Zakarpattia, which borders Hungary and is home to a sizeable Hungarian ethnic minority. Budapest and Kyiv have clashed over the rights of Hungarians in Zakarpattia, most of which was part of Hungary until the end of World War I.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó did not directly deny the allegations of a Hungarian espionage cell operating in Ukraine, but suggested that the SBU’s claims could be classified as “anti-Hungarian propaganda.”
“I urge everyone to exercise caution against any news that appears in Ukrainian propaganda,” Szijjártó told a news conference on Friday. “If we get any details or official information, then we can deal with it.”
Hungary, a member of NATO and the European Union, has taken an adversarial approach to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, refusing to supply Kyiv with weaponry or to allow its transfer across Hungarian territory.
The Hungarian government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has also threatened to bloc EU financial assistance to Ukraine, argued against sanctions on Russia and opposed Ukraine’s eventual membership in the EU.
Orbán is widely seen as having the warmest relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin among EU leaders, though he has acknowledged that the war was a result of Russian aggression.
The SBU said both suspected spies were overseen by a career officer of Hungary’s military intelligence, whose identity had also been established. That officer supplied the network with cash and a special device for covert communication to support the operation, and had attempted to recruit other individuals into the network, the SBU said.
The Hungarian Defense Ministry and Military National Security Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
