China, Russia should work together for Middle East peace, Beijing says
Wang Yi said the two countries should push for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear issue, as he met with Russia's Sergei Lavrov in Kuala Lumpur, China's foreign ministry said.
"Peace cannot be achieved through force, and applying pressure won't solve problems," Wang said, adding that dialogue and negotiations were the way out.
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Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump says US will send Patriot systems to Ukraine, hints at new Russia sanctions
President Donald Trump on Sunday said Washington would send Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv and hinted at new sanctions on Russia, once again voicing displeasure with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over Moscow's war in Ukraine. The US president's announcement of the much-needed weapons for Ukraine came after he earlier said he would make a 'major statement... on Russia' on Monday. The announcement could come amid a diplomatic flurry set for Monday, with the US special envoy starting his latest trip to Ukraine and Trump set to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Washington. Moscow's offensive on Ukraine has lasted for more than three years, with attacks intensifying this summer and US-led negotiations so far yielding no results to end the fighting. 'We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,' Trump said Sunday, without specifying how many weapons he would send to Ukraine. 'I haven't agreed on the number yet, but they're going to have some because they do need protection,' he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, as he returned from watching the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey. The White House has U-turned from an announcement earlier this month that it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv, instead announcing a new deal which would involve NATO paying the United States for some of the weapons it sends to Ukraine. 'We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military and they're going to pay us 100 percent for them,' Trump said. 'It'll be business for us,' he added. Rutte's 10:00 am (1400 GMT) Oval Office meeting will be closed to media, and he is slated to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well. Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was 'close to reaching a multi-level agreement on new Patriot systems and missiles for them.' Trump also repeated that he was 'disappointed' in Putin, as he grows increasingly exasperated with the Russian leader. 'Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,' said the disgruntled Trump on Sunday. Last week, Trump accused Putin throwing 'bullshit' at Washington on Ukraine -- openly frustrated with the seeming impasse. When he first returned to the White House in January, Trump insisted he could work with the Russian leader to end the war, holding off on hiking sanctions unlike European allies. But Russia has for months refused a ceasefire proposed by the United States and Kyiv. Trump has repeatedly voiced displeasure with Putin in recent days, and on Sunday hinted he might finally be ready to toughen sanctions as momentum grows for a deterrent package in Congress. When asked about whether he would announce any sanctions against Russia, Trump responded: 'We're going to see what we will see tomorrow, OK?' and repeated plans to meet with Rutte. 'Sledgehammer' Earlier on Sunday, US senators touted a bipartisan bill that would arm Trump with 'sledgehammer' sanctions to use against Russia. The sanctions bill would allow Trump 'to go after Putin's economy, and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine,' Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told broadcaster CBS news. It 'would give President Trump the ability to impose 500 percent tariffs on any country that helps Russia,' said Graham, adding that those could include economies that purchase Russian goods like China, India or Brazil. 'This is truly a sledgehammer available to President Trump to end this war,' said Graham. 'Without a doubt, this is exactly the kind of leverage that can bring peace closer and make sure diplomacy is not empty,' Zelensky said about the proposed bill in an X post. Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal were also due to meet NATO's Rutte on Monday night. Blumenthal told CBS news they would also discuss the legally thorny issue of unlocking frozen Russian assets in Europe and the United States for access by Ukraine. 'The $5 billion that the United States has also could be accessed, and I think it's time to do it,' said Blumenthal.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Hong Kong court hears appeals by jailed democracy campaigners
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court began hearing appeals on Monday from 12 democracy campaigners who were jailed for subversion last year during the city's largest national security were among 45 opposition figures, including some of Hong Kong's best-known democracy activists, who were sentenced in November over a 2020 informal primary election that authorities deemed a subversive including the United States, Britain and the European Union said the case showed how a Beijing-imposed national security law has eroded freedoms and quashed peaceful opposition in Hong 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan are among those contesting their convictions and sentences in hearings that are scheduled to last 10 Chow, a 28-year-old activist who was sentenced to seven years and nine months in jail – the harshest penalty among the dozen – has also lodged an district councilor Michael Pang withdrew his appeal application on Monday morning, leaving a total of 12 of them have already spent more than four years behind International's China director Sarah Brooks said the appeal will be a 'pivotal test' for free expression in the Chinese finance hub.'Only by overturning these convictions can Hong Kong's courts begin to restore the city's global standing as a place where rights are respected and where people are allowed to peacefully express their views without fear of arrest,' Brooks of police officers were deployed outside the West Kowloon court building on Monday morning as people queued to attend the hearing.'They made a sacrifice... I hope they understand that Hongkongers have not forgotten them,' said a public hospital worker in his thirties surnamed Chow.A 66-year-old retiree surnamed Chan said the case made him feel 'helpless,' adding that fewer people were paying attention as court proceedings dragged on.'I don't expect any (positive) outcome, but I still want to support them.'Prosecutors began Monday's session by challenging the acquittal of lawyer Lawrence Lau, one of two people found not guilty in May 2024 from an original group of 47 'overall conduct' showed that he was party to the conspiracy and he should be tried again because the lower court made the wrong factual finding, the prosecution representing himself, replied that the trial court's findings should not be 'casually interfered' with.'… I have never advocated for the resignation of the chief executive, I have never advocated the indiscriminate vetoing of the financial budget,' Lau told the court, referring to core tenets of the alleged has remolded Hong Kong in its authoritarian image after imposing a sweeping national security law in 2020 following months of huge, and sometimes violent, pro-democracy arrested figures from a broad cross-section of the city's opposition in morning raids in 2021, a group later dubbed the 'Hong Kong 47.'The group, aged between 27 and 69, included democratically elected lawmakers and district councilors, as well as unionists, academics and others with political stances ranging from modest reformists to radical were accused of organizing or taking part in an unofficial primary election, which aimed to improve the chances of pro-democracy parties of winning a majority in the activists had hoped to force the government to accede to demands such as universal suffrage by threatening to indiscriminately veto the senior judges handpicked by the government to try security cases said the plan would have caused a 'constitutional crisis.'
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
FM Dar to represent Pakistan at SCO Council of Foreign Ministers today amid regional tensions
ISLAMABAD: Deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, will be leading the Pakistani delegation at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in China today, Monday, the Pakistani foreign ministry said, with member states expected to discuss key regional and global issues at the forum. The meeting comes amid simmering regional tensions, particularly between India and Pakistan, following New Delhi's refusal to sign a recent SCO joint statement over its omission of a deadly April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. The SCO, a trans-regional bloc comprising China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Iran, and Central Asian states, is expected to deliberate on pressing regional and global security, connectivity, and economic issues. Dar is attending the CFM meeting, being held in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on July 14-16, at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry. 'The deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts on the sidelines of the CFM meeting,' it said in a statement on Sunday. The CFM is the third highest forum in the SCO format that focuses on the issues of international relations as well as foreign and security policies of China-backed SCO. Last month, Beijing's bid for enhanced regional leadership suffered a setback when India rejected signing a joint statement put before defense ministers of the SCO, seen by some Western analysts as a regional grouping by China and Russia to counter United States influence in Asia, with New Delhi saying it was pro-Pakistan in not mentioning April's attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for backing the gunmen behind the April 22 killing of 26 people. Islamabad denies the charge. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said the statement diluted India's position on critical issues such as terrorism and regional security, The Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Singh alleged the joint statement 'suited Pakistan's narrative' because it did not include that attack but mentioned militant activities in Balochistan. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of backing separatists in its Balochistan province, allegations that India denies. In May, India and Pakistan exchanged fighter jet, missile, drone and artillery strikes for four days over the Kashmir attack, killing around 70 people on both sides before agreeing to US-brokered ceasefire.
