Sudanese military says rival paramilitary forces, backed by Libya's Haftar forces, attacked border posts
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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Travelling to Trump's US is a low-level trauma – here's what Africans can do about it
Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. This week, I reflect on the increasing difficulty of travel and immigration for many from the African continent, and how one country is plotting a smoother path. I have just come back from holiday, and I'm still not used to how different travel is when not using an African passport. My British citizenship, which I acquired about five years ago, has transformed not only my ability to travel at short notice but it has eliminated overnight the intense stress and bureaucratic hurdles involved in applying for visas on my Sudanese passport. It is difficult to explain just how different the lives of those with 'powerful' passports are to those without. It is an entirely parallel existence. Gaining permission to travel to many destinations is often a lengthy, expensive and sickeningly uncertain process. A tourist visa to the UK can cost up to £1,000, in addition to the fee for private processing centres that handle much of Europe's visa applications abroad. And then there is the paperwork: bank statements, employment letters, academic records, certified proof of ownership of assets, and birth and marriage certificates if one is travelling to visit family. This is a non-exhaustive list. For a recent visa application for a family member, I submitted 32 documents. It may sound dramatic but such processes instil a sort of low-level trauma, after submitting to the violation of what feels like a bureaucratic cavity search. And all fees, whatever the decision, are non-refundable. Processing times are in the hands of the visa gods – it once took more than six months for me to receive a US visa. By the time it arrived, the meeting I needed to attend for work had passed by a comically long time. Separation and severed relationships It's not only travel for work or holiday that is hindered by such high barriers to entry. Relationships suffer. It is simply a feature of the world now that many families in the Black diaspora sprawl across continents. Last month Trump restricted entry to the US to nationals from 20 countries, half of which are in Africa. The decision is even crueler when you consider that it applies to countries such as Sudan, whose civil war has prompted many to seek refuge with family abroad. That is not just a political act of limiting immigration, it is a deeply personal one that severs connections between families, friends and partners. Family members of refugees from those countries have also been banned, so they can't visit relatives who have already managed to emigrate. The International Rescue Committee warned the decision could have 'far-reaching impacts on the lives of many American families, including refugees, asylees and green card holders, seeking to be reunified with their loved ones'. A global raising of barriers The fallout of this Trump order is colossal. There are students who are unable to graduate. Spouses unable to join their partners. Children separated from their parents. It's a severe policy, but shades of it exist elsewhere by other means. The UK recently terminated the rights of foreign care workers and most international students to bring their children and partners to the country. And even for those who simply want to have their family visit them, access is closed to all except those who can clear the high financial hurdles and meet the significant burdens of proof to show that either they can afford to maintain their visitors or that they will return to their home countries. Sign up to The Long Wave Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world after newsletter promotion It was 10 years before I – someone with fairly stable employment and a higher-education qualification – satisfied the Home Office's requirements and could finally invite my mother to visit. I broke down when I saw her face at arrivals, realising how hard it had been for both of us; the fact that she had not seen the life I had built as an adult. Compare this draconian measure to some countries in the Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia, that have an actual visa category, low-cost and swiftly processed, for parental visits and residency. A new African model But as some countries shut down, others are opening up. This month, Kenya removed visa requirements for almost all African citizens wanting to visit. Here, finally, there is the sort of regional solidarity that mirrors that of the EU and other western countries. Since it boosts African tourism and makes Kenya an inviting destination for people to gather at short notice for professional or festive reasons, it's a smart move. But it also sends an important signal to a continent embattled by visa restrictions and divided across borders set by colonial rule. We are not just liabilities, people to be judged on how many resources they might take from a country once allowed in. We are also tourists, friends, relatives, entrepreneurs and, above all, Africans who have the right to meet and mingle without the terror, and yes, contempt, of a suspicious visa process. If the African diaspora is being separated abroad, there is at least now a path to the option that some of us may reunite at home. To receive the complete version of The Long Wave in your inbox every Wednesday, please subscribe here.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
India to resume issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens
India will resume granting tourist visas to Chinese nationals from Thursday in a new step to normalise Delhi's ties with Beijing, officials announced on Wednesday. The diplomatic restoration of tourist visas comes after a gap of five years due to degradation of ties between India and China following a 2020 military clash between their troops along the disputed Himalayan border. The embassy of India in China issued a statement on Wednesday and said that Chinese citizens can apply for a tourist visa to India after completing an online application, scheduling an appointment and personally submitting their passport and other important documents needed to obtain a visa. These documents can be submitted to the Indian visa application centres in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong province. 'Please be informed that all passport withdrawal requests for applications submitted in the India Visa Application Centre in Beijing must be accompanied by a passport withdrawal letter,' the embassy statement said. The statement was also shared on the embassy's social media platform Weibo. Indian Armed Forces and People's Liberation Army soldiers clashed in the Himalayan region's Galwan Valley in June 2020. At least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in the neighbours' first deadly military confrontation since 1975. Both armies came to blows and engaged in a physical clash over China's two tents and observation towers that India said were built on its side of the de-facto border, and which its troops set on fire after they were discovered by a patrol. About 900 soldiers of both sides were involved in the hand-to-hand combat that followed, when they beat each other with rocks and wooden sticks embedded with nails. The skirmish caused Indo-China ties to plummet to their lowest in decades as New Delhi and Beijing took steps to pause their bilateral engagements and trade. New Delhi heightened scrutiny of investments from China, banned popular Chinese mobile apps, and cut direct passenger air routes to China. According to India's defence minister Rajnath Singh, the military stand-off showed China's disregard for a two-way pact between both the countries. China suspended visas to Indian citizens and other foreigners around the same time due to the Covid-19 pandemic but lifted those restrictions in 2022, when it resumed issuing visas for students and business travellers. Tourist visas for Indian nationals remained restricted until March this year, when both countries agreed to resume direct air service. However, both Asian giants have taken steps to improve their relations in the past one year, with India and China holding several high-level talks between the top leaders – Chinese president Xi Jinping and prime minister Narendra Modi. The two met in Russia in October. In July this year, India's foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart that both countries must resolve border friction, pull back troops and avoid "restrictive trade measures" to normalise their relationship. Beijing has acknowledged Delhi's latest positive move, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun. "China is ready to maintain communication and consultation with India and constantly improve the level of personal exchanges between the two countries," he said.
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Spy cockroaches and AI robots: Germany plots the future of warfare
MUNICH/BERLIN/FRANKFURT, July 23 (Reuters) - For Gundbert Scherf - the co-founder of Germany's Helsing, Europe's most valuable defence start-up - Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Scherf had to fight hard to attract investment after starting his company - which produces military strike drones and battlefield AI - four years ago. Now, that's the least of his problems. The Munich-based company more than doubled its valuation to $12 billion at a fundraising last month. "Europe this year, for the first time in decades, is spending more on defense technology acquisition, opens new tab than the U.S.," said Scherf. The former partner at McKinsey & Company says Europe may be on the cusp of a transformation in defence innovation akin to the Manhattan Project - the scientific push that saw the U.S. rapidly develop nuclear weapons during World War Two. "Europe is now coming to terms with defense." Reuters spoke to two dozens executives, investors and policymakers to examine how Germany - Europe's largest economy - aims to play a central role in the rearming the continent. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government views AI and start-up technology as key to its defence plans and is slashing bureaucracy to connect startups directly to the upper echelons of its military, the sources told Reuters. Shaped by the trauma of Nazi militarism and a strong postwar pacifist ethos, Germany long maintained a relatively small and cautious defence sector, sheltered by U.S. security guarantees. Germany's business model, shaped by a deep aversion to risk, has also favoured incremental improvements over disruptive innovation. No more. With U.S. military support now more uncertain, Germany - one of the biggest backers of Ukraine - plans to nearly triple its regular defence budget to around 162 billion euros ($175 billion) per year by 2029. Much of that money will go into reinventing the nature of warfare, the sources said. Helsing is part of a wave of German defence start-ups developing cutting-edge technology, from tank-like AI robots and unmanned mini-submarines to battle-ready spy cockroaches. "We want to help give Europe its spine back," said Scherf. Some of these smaller firms are now advising the government alongside established firms - so-called primes such as Rheinmetall ( opens new tab and Hensoldt ( opens new tab - that have less incentive to focus primarily on innovation, given their long backlogs for conventional systems, one of the sources said. A new draft procurement law, expected to be approved by Merz's cabinet on Wednesday, aims to reduce hurdles for cash-strapped start-ups to join tenders by enabling advance payment to these firms, according to a version dated June 25, reviewed by Reuters. The law would also entitle authorities to limit tenders to bidders inside the European Union. Marc Wietfeld, CEO and founder of autonomous robots maker ARX Robotics, said a recent meeting with German defence minister Boris Pistorius hammered home how deep the rethink in Berlin goes. "He told me: 'Money is no longer an excuse - it's there now'. That was a turning point," he said. Since Donald Trump's return to the political stage and his renewed questioning of America's commitment to NATO, Germany has committed to meet the alliance's new target of 3.5% of GDP on defense spending by 2029 - faster than most European allies. Officials in Berlin have emphasized the need to foster a European defence industry rather than rely on U.S. companies. But the hurdles towards scaling up industry champions in Germany - and Europe more broadly - are considerable. Unlike in the United States, the market is fragmented in Europe. Each country has its own set of procurement standards to fulfill contracts. The United States, the world's top military spender, already has an established stable of defence giants, like Lockheed Martin and RTX, and an advantage in key areas, including satellite technology, fighter jets and precise-guided munitions. Washington also began boosting defence tech startups in 2015 - including Shield AI, drone maker Anduril and software company Palantir - by awarding them parts of military contracts. European startups until recently languished with little government support. But an analysis by Aviation Week in May showed Europe's 19 top defence spenders - including Turkey and Ukraine - were projected to spend 180.1 billion this year on military procurement compared, to 175.6 billion for the United States. Washington's overall military spending will remain higher. Hans Christoph Atzpodien, head of Germany's security and defence sector association BDSV, said one challenge was that the military's procurement system was geared toward established suppliers and not well suited to the fast pace that new technologies require. Germany's defence ministry said in a statement it was taking steps to accelerate procurement and to better integrate startups in order to make new technologies quickly available to the Bundeswehr. Annette Lehnigk-Emden, head of the armed forces' powerful procurement agency, highlighted drones and AI as emerging fields that Germany needs to develop. "The changes they're bringing to the battlefield are as revolutionary as the introduction of the machine gun, tank, or airplane," she told Reuters. Sven Weizenegger, who heads up the Cyber Innovation hub, the Bundeswehr's innovation accelerator, said the war in Ukraine was also changing social attitudes, removing a stigma towards working in the defence sector. "Germany has developed a whole new openness towards the issue of security since the invasion," he said. Weizenegger said he was receiving 20-30 Linkedin requests a day, compared to maybe 2-3 weekly back in 2020, with ideas for defence technology to develop. Some of the ideas under development feel akin to science fiction – like Swarm Biotactics' cyborg cockroaches that are equipped with specialised miniature backpacks that enable real-time data collection via cameras for example. Electrical stimuli should allow humans to control the insects' movements remotely. The aim is for them to provide surveillance information in hostile environments - for example information about enemy positions. "Our bio-robots - based on living insects - are equipped with neural stimulation, sensors, and secure communication modules," said CEO Stefan Wilhelm. "They can be steered individually or operate autonomously in swarms. In the first half of the 20th century, German scientists pioneered many military technologies that became global standards, from ballistic missiles to jet aircraft and guided weapons. But following its defeat in World War II, Germany was demilitarized and its scientific talent was dispersed. Wernher von Braun, who invented the first ballistic missile for the Nazis, was one of hundreds of German scientists and engineers transported to the United States in the wake of World War II, where he later worked at NASA and developed the rocket that took Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. In recent decades, defence innovation has been a powerful driver of economic progress. Tech like the internet, GPS, semiconductors and jet engines originated in military research programs before transforming civilian life. Hit by high energy prices, a slowdown in demand for its exports and competition from China, Germany's $4.75 trillion economy contracted over the last two years. Expanding military research could provide an economic fillip. "We just need to get to this mindset: a strong defense industrial base means a strong economy and innovation on steroids," said Markus Federle, managing partner at defence-focused investment firm Tholus Capital. Risk aversion among European investors had in the past disadvantaged startups, which struggled to get the capital they need to survive the 'valley of death' – the critical early stage when costs are high and sales low. But a boost in defence spending by European governments following Russia's invasion of Ukraine has investors looking for opportunities. Europe now boasts three start-ups with a unicorn valuation of more than $1 billion: Helsing, German drone maker Quantum Systems, and Portugal's Tekever, which also manufactures drones. "There's a lot of pressure now on Germany being the lead nation of the European defense," said Sven Kruck, Quantum's chief strategy officer. Germany has become Ukraine's second-biggest military backer after the United States. Orders that might once have taken years to approve now take months and European startups have had the opportunity to test their products quickly in the field, several sources said. Venture capital funding of European defence tech hit $1 billion in 2024, up from a modest $373 million in 2022, and is expected to surge even more this year. "Society has recognized that we have to defend our democracies," said Christian Saller, general partner at HV Capital, an investor in both ARX and Quantum Systems. Venture capital funding has grown faster in Germany than elsewhere, according to a data analysis by Dealroom for Reuters. German defence startups have received $1.4 billion in the last five years from investors, followed by UK, the data shows. Jack Wang, partner at venture capital firm Project A, said many German defence startups - rooted in the country's engineering prowess - are good at integrating established components into scalable systems. "Quality of talent in Europe is extremely high, but as a whole, there's no better country, no better talent that we've seen other than in Germany," he said. Weakness in Germany's automotive industry means there is production capacity to spare, including in the Mittelstand: the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that form the backbone of Germany's economy. Stefan Thumann, CEO of Bavarian startup Donaustahl, which produces loitering munitions, said he receives 3 to 5 applications daily from workers at automotive companies. "The startups just need the brains to do the engineering and prototyping," he said. "And the German Mittelstand will be their muscles." ($1 = 0.8560 euros)
