Vietnam, Russia agree to quickly sign nuclear power plant deal
Photo:
Gavriil Grigorov / AFP
Vietnam and Russia have agreed to quickly negotiate and sign agreements on building nuclear power plants in Vietnam, the two countries said in a joint statement.
"The development of the plants with advanced technology will strictly be compliant with nuclear and radiation safety regulations and for the benefit of socio-economic development," they said in the statement, which was dated Sunday (local time) and followed a visit to Moscow by Vietnamese leader To Lam.
The Southeast Asian nation has restarted plans to develop nuclear power plants that were suspended nearly a decade ago, as part of its efforts to ramp up its power generation capacity to support its fast-growing economy.
The government has previously said it expected the first nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of up to 6.4 gigawatts to be online between 2030 and 2035.
The government said earlier this year it would hold talks with foreign partners about nuclear power projects, including Russia, Japan, South Korea, France and the United States.
Vietnam and Russia have also agreed to boost cooperation in oil and gas industries, including the provision of Russian crude oil and liquefied natural gas to Vietnam, according to the joint statement.
It said Russia and Vietnam will also facilitate the expansion of their energy companies in each other's territories.
- Reuters
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Otago Daily Times
13 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Putting my poor prediction record on the line
"I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we [the US and China] will fight in 2025," wrote General Mike Minihan, head of US Air Mobility Command, in a private memo two years ago. There's still five months to go, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's wrong. Don't take my word for it, because my recent record in these matters is bad. I didn't think Russia's Vladimir Putin was crazy enough to invade Ukraine although I knew he was largely detached from reality, and I was wrong. For a long time I would not use the word "genocide" to describe what Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu was doing in Gaza, and I was wrong again. In my defence, I had not spent quality time with either man and I was reluctant to predict their actions based entirely on other people's estimates of their characters (especially since most of those people didn't know them personally either). I still felt compelled to weigh the pros and cons of the case, on the mistaken assumption facts had some influence on their decisions. The possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is a far greater threat to the peace of the world (such as it is) than the relative sideshows in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine. Aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons on both sides. A few poorly planned displays of "determination" and the US is in a war with China — with the two Koreas and Japan not far behind. China's President Xi Jinping will never rule out using force to "recover" Taiwan, but the story he has set a 2027 deadline for that terrifying gamble is just a Washington think-tank special. He does harp on about it a lot though. Successive American administrations have practised strategic ambiguity (i.e., maybe the US would fight to defend Taiwan and maybe it wouldn't), and the fickle enthusiasms of Donald Trump muddy the waters even further. He is widely seen as a strategic coward (TACO), but he is sufficiently erratic that his response is really incalculable. As for Taiwan, President Lai Ching-te of the cautiously pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) serves up the usual word salad: "The message of history is clear. Today we share the same values and face similar challenges as many of the democracies that participated in the European war [1939-45]." Evasiveness as policy, so as not to rile China. Hou Yu-ih of Taiwan's largest opposition part, the Kuomintang (KMT), is even fuzzier: "The current status quo is that the Taiwan Strait is on the brink of war. So, to maintain close ties with the United States while also making peace with China is the solution to the problem." And although very few ordinary citizens want to be part of China, most people are not bothered by all this. Yes, Taiwan's military is a poorly trained, under-equipped shambles, but the public doesn't seem worried about a Chinese invasion. The United States is willing to sell Taiwan more and better weapons, but some parties don't want to spend the money. So I will risk my reputation as a soothsayer once again and assume both Xi Jinping and Lai Ching-te are rational men. In that case, it is unlikely either man will risk everything on one roll of the dice. Xi will not set the machinery in motion for a sea- and airborne invasion of Taiwan, and Lai will certainly not declare independence for Taiwan. No government of Taiwan, even back in the decades when the KMT (now reformed) was the tyrannical and maniacally anti-communist single ruling party, has ever seriously considered abandoning the sacred fiction that there is only one China including Taiwan. There is just a persistent non-violent dispute over which government is legitimate, Beijing or Taipei. As for Xi, who is effectively president-for-life, he faces no special deadline to claim his prize. "Reunification" is his legacy project, but he has just turned 72 and there's lots of time yet. And always before him is the nightmare example of Putin's three-day "special military operation" to bring Ukraine back under the rule of the Russian "motherland". Above all, there is Taiwan's "silicon shield". The island state manufactures 47% of the world's advanced semiconductor chips, including all of the most advanced ones. Even the United States is one generation behind, and so is China, despite its Deep Seek triumph in producing much cheaper high-performance AIs (on Nvidia chips made in Taiwan). Invade Taiwan and all that is gone. It might be irrational, but even the Trump administration might feel Taiwan is a treasure it must defend come what may. The game is not worth the candle, and Xi will not invade for at least three years. He probably never will. There! I said it! Now we wait and see. — Gwynne Dyer is an independent London journalist.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Thailand and Cambodia agree to hold immediate ceasefire talks
By Shoon Naing , Artorn Pookasook and Susan Heavey , Reuters Cambodian soldiers stand on a military truck with an anti-aircraft gun in Oddar Meanchey province on 26 July, 2025. Photo: TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand had agreed to meet immediately to quickly work out a ceasefire, as he sought to broker peace after three days of fighting along their border. Thailand's acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, thanked Trump and said Thailand "agrees in principle to have a ceasefire in place" but "would like to see sincere intention from the Cambodian side." Phumtham was responding in a Facebook post to a series of social media posts by Trump during a visit to Scotland. Trump said he had spoken to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Phumtham and warned them that he would not make trade deals with either if the border conflict continued. "Both Parties are looking for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace," Trump wrote as he gave a blow-by-blow account of his diplomatic efforts. Phumtham also said he had asked Trump "to convey to the Cambodian side that Thailand wants to convene a bilateral dialogue as soon as possible to bring forth measures and procedures for the ceasefire and the eventual peaceful resolution of the conflict." More than 30 people have been killed and more than 130,000 people displaced in the worst fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in 13 years. Before Trump spoke to the two leaders, clashes on the Thai-Cambodian border persisted into a third day and new flashpoints emerged as both sides said they had acted in self-defense in the border dispute and called on the other to cease fighting and start negotiations. There were clashes early on Saturday, both sides said, in the neighbouring Thai coastal province of Trat and Cambodia's Pursat Province, a new front more than 100km (60 miles) from other conflict points along the long-contested border. The countries have faced off since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish. Troops on both sides of the border were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand's fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse. As of Saturday, Thailand said seven soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed, while Cambodia said five soldiers and eight civilians had been killed. Trump's direct involvement on Saturday followed US calls for restraint on both sides. He said he spoke to each leader and relayed messages back and forth. "They have agreed to immediately meet and quickly work out a Ceasefire and, ultimately, PEACE!," Trump wrote, saying both countries wanted to get back to the "Trading Table." He has sought to reach separate deals with dozens of countries in response to his announcement of wide-ranging tariffs on imports to the US "When all is done, and Peace is at hand, I look forward to concluding our Trading Agreements with both!" Trump said. He offered no details on the ceasefire negotiations he said Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to hold. The White House did not immediately respond to questions on the timing and venue for talks and the Thai and Cambodian embassies in Washington also did not immediately respond. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the chair of the ASEAN regional bloc, said he would continue to push a ceasefire proposal. Cambodia has backed Anwar's plan, while Thailand has said it agreed with it in principle. "There is still some exchange of fire," Anwar said, according to state news agency Bernama. He said he had asked his foreign minister "to liaise with the respective foreign ministries and, if possible, I will continue engaging with them myself - at least to halt the fighting". Thailand's ambassador to the United Nations told a Security Council meeting on Friday that soldiers had been injured by newly planted land mines in Thai territory on two occasions since mid-July - claims Cambodia has strongly denied - and said Cambodia had then launched attacks on Thursday morning. "Thailand urges Cambodia to immediately cease all hostilities and acts of aggression, and resume dialogue in good faith," Cherdchai Chaivaivid told the council in remarks released to media. In a statement on Saturday, Cambodia's defense ministry said Thailand had launched "a deliberate, unprovoked, and unlawful military attack" and was mobilising troops and military equipment on the border. "These deliberate military preparations reveal Thailand's intent to expand its aggression and further violate Cambodia's sovereignty," it said. Cambodia called for the international community to "condemn Thailand's aggression in the strongest terms" and to prevent an expansion of its military activities, while Bangkok reiterated it wanted to resolve the dispute bilaterally. Thailand and Cambodia have bickered for decades over jurisdiction of various undemarcated points along their 817km land border, with ownership of the ancient Hindu temples Ta Moan Thom and the 11th century Preah Vihear central to the disputes. Preah Vihear was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, but tension escalated in 2008 after Cambodia attempted to list it as a UNESCO World Heritage site. That led to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths. Cambodia in June said it had asked the court to resolve its disputes with Thailand, which says it has never recognised the court's jurisdiction and prefers a bilateral approach. - Reuters
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Watch: Russia lifts lid on secretive drone factory as satellite images reveal rapid expansion
By Clare Sebastian, Vasco Cotovio, Allegra Goodwin, Daria Tarasova-Markina , CNN "You know, everything you tell us will be used against you," the interviewer on Russian TV warns Timur Shagivaleev, the man behind one of the country's biggest drone factories. Rather than shy away from discussing details of the plant, Shagivaleev replies with a defiant quote that he attributed to a Soviet World War II hero: "You don't have the right to be afraid." Standing at the Alabuga factory amid rows of the distinctive black, triangular Iranian-designed attack drones (known as "Geran" in Russian), he has every reason to feel emboldened. Satellite imagery shows that construction has sharply accelerated at the site in southern Russia. Dozens of new buildings, including what experts believe to be new dormitories and production facilities, have been rapidly taking shape since the winter snow melted this year. This is believed to be Russia's main attack drone factory, a key part of the Kremlin's escalating drone offensive on Ukrainian cities. To fuel this effort, there's also now evidence that the site is drafting teenagers, not only into drone assembly at Alabuga but also into construction work. Moscow has now chosen to publicise the factory and its contribution to Russia's war effort. Shagivaleev, Alabuga's director general, appeared on the docuseries "Military Acceptance," which aired on the Russian Defence Ministry TV channel Zvezda on 20 July. This was the first official glimpse inside the production facility. The program suggests that Alabuga, which has been churning out Iranian-designed Shahed drones for almost three years, has now fully shifted from being an Iranian franchise to a fully localised production line. A screengrab from the Zvezda documentary, showing inside the drone factory at Alabuga Photo: Zvezda / AFP The expansion is happening so quickly that experts say the site's end goal may be to mass-produce drones for global export. David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, is head of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based think tank that has been tracking Alabuga's expansion since 2022. He told CNN that Moscow's decision to lift the lid on the factory shows "the Russian authorities are feeling more confident about their ability to make drones." "I think it represents that Russia's government is committed to increases in production there, (and) long-term contracts… (that say) we'll buy whatever you produce," he said. Alabuga began producing Shahed drones in 2023, and it now also churns out cheaper versions designed to act as decoys (known as "Gerbera"). The site was already expanding as Russian drone attacks on Ukraine started to ramp up last August. Yet recent satellite images reveal even faster growth over the past few months, as drone strikes on Ukraine have hit record numbers. Photo: Zvezda / AFP Between late 2024 and mid-July this year, satellite imagery shows at least eight new warehouse-like structures at Alabuga, close to the buildings previously identified as Shahed manufacturing facilities. Several are still under construction. Even more strikingly, a CNN analysis of the images and ISIS experts have both identified what appears to be a major expansion in housing for workers at the site. A 12 July image shows at least 104 identical rectangular buildings either fully or partially built, with a similar footprint to existing structures known to be worker dormitories. In images from February, there were only 15 such buildings. The work on the new buildings appears to have begun in earnest in March, as the spring arrived and the snow disappeared. Satellite imagery from 12 July 2025, shows several new warehouses, a dramatic increase in worker dorms and three air defense positions to protect the facility against incoming attacks. Photo: Maxar Technologies / CNN There are also signs that construction has accelerated in recent weeks. More than half of the housing unit construction visible on the 12 July image was not there on 9 June. Stroytrest Alabuga, the company in charge of construction at the site, removed a section of its website detailing plans for a major housing complex called "Europa hostels" in mid-July, but an internal presentation document published on 4 July appears to show the "second stage" of construction underway. CNN has geolocated the drone visuals included in the presentation to Alabuga. Albright's team at ISIS, the US think tank, has assessed that the buildings could accommodate up to 40,000 workers when finished, which he said will represent "a pretty substantial increase in drone production." Alabuga's current production numbers remain a closely held secret. "At one time there was a plan to produce several thousand 'Gerans,'" Shagivaleev said in the Zvezda interview, without specifying the time period. "Now we produce nine times more than originally planned." In December, CNN reported that Alabuga had produced more than 5,700 Shahed drones between January and September 2024, over double the number it produced in the whole of 2023. Photo: Zvezda / AFP The facility was aiming for 10,000 Gerbera decoy drones in 2024, according to Ukrainian defence intelligence sources. Alabuga's ever-expanding production targets have long presented a staffing problem. CNN has previously detailed the practice of recruiting teenagers through the Alabuga Polytech college, as well as African women through a foreign outreach scheme, to satisfy a chronic worker shortage in Russia, exacerbated by its war in Ukraine. Shagivaleev was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2024 in part for his association with "the exploitation of underage students to assemble these UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles or drones)." The Zvezda documentary does not gloss over this. The host refers to the "boys and girls" working in the factory, noting, "they invite schoolchildren here right after the ninth grade, and after college, they call them to the plant." Photo: Zvezda / AFP Children in Russia are typically 15 years old when they finish the ninth grade. There's now evidence Alabuga is bringing these and perhaps other students not only into assembly work but also into construction. On 4 July, a summer camp called "Alabuga Build" officially opened its doors at the site according to posts on its VKontakte account (or VK, Russia's version of Facebook). The tents that the students will be staying in, which were nowhere to be found on satellite imagery from June 9, were on full display as of 12 July. CNN counted more than 100 khaki green tents, like the ones seen in the "Alabuga Build" VK posts, next to warehouses associated with drone production. Drone visuals included in an internal Alabuga presentation and geolocated by CNN show construction well underway on one of the rows of dormitories Photo: Supplied / CNN / Alabuga The camp is organised by the "Russian Student Brigades," which claims to be the largest youth organisation in the country and has drafted in about 2,500 students to build a housing complex called "Mediterranean Park" at Alabuga, according to the Ministry of Education in Russia's Tatarstan region, where Alabuga is located. In one of the clips on the camp's VK page, a young man in a khaki jacket gives an ironic tour of his tent, attempting to make a virtue out of the basic conditions. "Here we have a flat screen plasma TV", he said, showing off a basic white cupboard outside a dark green tent with the number "65" on it. "CDs, DVDs, consoles", he continues, picking up pieces of firewood. The Zvezda documentary suggests Alabuga is now a fully self-sufficient production line. "Aluminium bars come in, engines are made from them; microelectronics are made from electric chips; fuselages are made from carbon fibre and fibreglass - that is, complete localisation," Shagivaleev boasts in the clip. "It is precisely such projects that should become the basis of the technological sovereignty of our country so as not to depend on anyone," added the host. Photo: Zvezda / AFP The images in the program showing Shahed engines being manufactured at Alabuga came as a surprise to several experts whom CNN spoke to. "The Shahed 136 is powered by the copy of an original German design that the Iranians copied," said Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in London. "And that was one big question, whether the Russians can now manufacture their own engines, and at least this documentary seems to imply that they can, which… would mean that they're independent of Iranian components." Albright, the former UN weapons inspector, said it seemed manufacturing - rather than just assembly - at the site was advancing. "Our understanding had been that they may assemble the engine at Alabuga, but they were contracting out for the parts that require a foundry. It (now) looks like they may have some furnaces or a small foundry in Alabuga itself." Albright said Russia could be planning for Alabuga to not only equip the Russian army, but eventually to sell its drones to foreign customers. This suggests the Zvezda documentary is as much an advert aimed at future buyers as a program designed to scare Ukrainians. Drone visuals included in an internal Alabuga presentation and geolocated by CNN show construction well underway on one of the rows of dormitories Photo: Supplied / CNN / Alabuga Other countries are producing their own version of the Shahed, added Hinz, but "Russian ones are up to date when it comes to, for example, electronic counter measures… So I think that would be a huge selling point." Kyiv has also openly suggested Russia may have transferred the technology to produce its version of the Shahed to North Korea, part of a rapidly expanding military partnership with Pyongyang. "The longer this war continues on our territory, the more warfare technologies evolve, and the greater the threat will be to everyone," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in June. "This must be addressed now - not when thousands of upgraded 'Shahed' drones and ballistic missiles begin to threaten Seoul and Tokyo." CNN has reached out to both Alabuga and the Russian defense ministry to ask about the purpose of the expansion at the site, and whether it is transferring the Shahed technology to North Korea. Neither has responded. In June 2025 alone, Russia fired nearly 5,500 Shahed or similar drones at Ukraine, according to a CNN analysis of Ukrainian air force reports. That's 16 times more than in June 2024, and a more than 30 percent increase on the previous month. On 9 July, a record 728 drones were fired at Ukraine in a single night. Photo: Center for Strategic and International Studies / CNN Moscow's escalating air war and the distinctive whine of Shaheds are now forcing Ukrainians out of their beds and into shelters and metro stations on an almost-nightly basis. "When we stay at home, we always hide behind two walls," Oleksandr Krupnyk, a father of three in Kyiv, told CNN. "We put our middle child in the bathtub, the youngest on a beanbag chair in the bathroom, and we lay on a mattress in the hallway… with our eldest." Krupnyk and his family are committed to staying in the country and doing their part, but he admits Russia's drone attacks are a near-permanent disruption to daily life. "Constant lack of sleep slows you down, makes you irritable, and reduces your endurance," he explained, adding that his children are struggling with their studies and beg not to go to school. Zelensky said on Tuesday that: "Putin is off the deep end with this 'Shahed' obsession and terror." The president added that Ukraine was not just pushing for more air defences from its allies, but it would also continue with its own deep strikes on Russian territory, at least three of which have targeted Alabuga, a site with an ever-growing role in this conflict. - CNN
