China says Hegseth is touting a Cold War mentality in calling it a threat

China says Hegseth is touting a Cold War mentality in calling it a threat
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth walks on stage to deliver a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 01 June 2025
Follow

China says Hegseth is touting a Cold War mentality in calling it a threat

China says Hegseth is touting a Cold War mentality in calling it a threat
  • The Chinese foreign ministry said Hegseth had vilified Beijing with defamatory allegations the previous day before at the Shangri-La Dialogue

BEJING: China on Sunday denounced US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for calling the Asian country a threat, accusing him of touting a Cold War mentality as tensions between Washington and Beijing further escalate.
The foreign ministry said Hegseth had vilified Beijing with defamatory allegations the previous day before at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global security conference. The statement also accused the United States of inciting conflict and confrontation in the region.
“Hegseth deliberately ignored the call for peace and development by countries in the region, and instead touted the Cold War mentality for bloc confrontation,” it said, referring to the post-World War II rivalry between the US and the former Soviet Union.
“No country in the world deserves to be called a hegemonic power other than the US itself,” it said, alleging that Washington is also undermining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.
Hegseth said in Singapore on Saturday that Washington will bolster its defenses overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan.
China’s army “is rehearsing for the real deal,” Hegseth said. “We are not going to sugarcoat it — the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.”
The Chinese statement stressed that the Taiwan question is entirely China’s internal affair, saying the US must “never play with fire” with it. It also alleged Washington had deployed offensive weaponry in the South China Sea, was “stoking flames and creating tensions in the Asia-Pacific” and “turning the region into a powder keg.”
In a Facebook post on Saturday, China’s Embassy in Singapore said Hegseth’s speech was “steeped in provocations and instigation.”
The US and China had reached a deal last month to cut US President Donald Trump’s tariffs from 145 percent to 30 percent for 90 days, creating time for negotiators from both sides to reach a more substantive agreement. China also reduced its taxes on US goods from 125 percent to 10 percent.
But it’s uncertain if a trade war truce will last. Trump in a social media post on Friday said he would no longer be “nice” with China when it comes to trade and accused Beijing of breaking an unspecified agreement with the US
Tensions escalated anew after the US said on Wednesday it would start revoking visas for Chinese students studying there.
Separately, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore criticized attempts to link the issue of Taiwan with that of the war in Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron warned of a dangerous double standard in focusing on a potential conflict with China at the cost of abandoning Ukraine.
The embassy made no mention of Macron in its post on Facebook that included a photo showing the French president at the Singapore forum.
“If one tries to denounce ‘double standards’ through the lens of a double standard, the only result we can get is still double standard,” it said.
China, which usually sends its defense minister to the Shangri-La forum, this time sent a lower-level delegation led by Maj. Gen. Hu Gangfeng, the vice president of the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University.


UN experts demand probe into Belarus deaths in custody

UN experts demand probe into Belarus deaths in custody
Updated 11 sec ago
Follow

UN experts demand probe into Belarus deaths in custody

UN experts demand probe into Belarus deaths in custody
“Several individuals identified by human rights defenders as political prisoners have died in custody or shortly after being released,” the UN experts said
The dead included people who took part in protests surrounding the 2020 presidential elections

GENEVA: United Nations experts on Wednesday demanded transparent investigations into the deaths of people detained in Belarus for voicing political dissent.

Ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, Belarus has outlawed all genuine opposition parties and faces accusations of persecuting dissidents.

“Over the past four years, several individuals identified by human rights defenders as political prisoners have died in custody or shortly after being released,” the UN experts said in a joint statement.

They said the dead included people who took part in protests surrounding the 2020 presidential elections, which rights groups and critics said Lukashenko had rigged.

The call for investigations came from Nils Muiznieks, special rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, plus the rapporteurs on freedom of expression, protecting rights while countering terrorism, and on extrajudicial executions.

UN special rapporteurs are independent figures appointed by the Human Rights Council to report in their field of expertise. They do not speak for the United Nations itself.

The experts raised the cases of three individuals who died in custody.

“It is of the utmost importance to thoroughly investigate the alleged instances of ill-treatment and
neglect that resulted in the deaths,” they said, while highlighting the deaths of others designated as political prisoners by human rights defenders.

“There are strong reasons to believe that these individuals lost their lives in retaliation for exercising their civil and political rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

Presenting an annual report to the Human Rights Council, last month Muiznieks said the rights picture in Belarus was “dire” and getting worse.

The eastern European country still holds more than 1,000 political prisoners in its jails, according to Belarusian human rights group Viasna.

“If these figures are even close to being accurate, Belarus probably has the most political prisoners per capita in the world,” said Muiznieks.

Ethiopia arrests 82 suspected members of Daesh group

Ethiopia arrests 82 suspected members of Daesh group
Updated 16 July 2025
Follow

Ethiopia arrests 82 suspected members of Daesh group

Ethiopia arrests 82 suspected members of Daesh group
  • Daesh operatives were trained in neighboring Somali Puntland region
  • Ethiopia is part of AUSSOM combating the Al-Shabab group in Somalia

NAIROBI: More than 80 suspected members of Daesh have been arrested across Ethiopia, state media said, claiming they intended to carry out a “terror mission.”
The 82 individuals were trained in neighboring Somali Puntland region, according to state outlet Fana Media Corporation, which cited a statement from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).
Ethiopia shares a long border with Somalia, which for months has been experiencing a resurgence of attacks by the militant Al-Shabab group.
Fana said late Tuesday the suspected Daesh group members were “identified and arrested,” but did not give any further details.
The suspects “had been recruited for a terror mission,” Fana said, noting the arrests took place in several regions across the country, including capital Addis Ababa.
Somalia and Ethiopia have had tense relations for months after Addis Ababa announced an agreement with the breakaway Somaliland region last year, angering Mogadishu and raising fears of regional destabilization.
Relations between Somalia and Ethiopia have since normalized.
Ethiopia is part of the African Union Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) combating the Al-Shabab group in Somalia.
The AUSSOM mission faces funding difficulties, even as fears of the groups resurgence are stoked by attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.


At least 15 injured in Russian attack targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine

At least 15 injured in Russian attack targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine
Updated 16 July 2025
Follow

At least 15 injured in Russian attack targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine

At least 15 injured in Russian attack targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine
  • Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, during the night
  • “Russia does not change its strategy,” Zelensky said

KYIV: Russian weapons pounded four Ukrainian cities overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure, officials said.

The latest bombardment in Russia’s escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a Sept. 2 deadline set by US President Donald Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the three-year war, under the threat of possible severe Washington sanctions if it doesn’t.

No date has yet been publicly set for a possible third round of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. Two previous rounds delivered no progress apart from prisoner swaps.

Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, during the night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted northeastern Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, Vinnytsia in the west and Odesa in the south.

“Russia does not change its strategy,” Zelensky said. “To effectively counter this terror, we need a systemic strengthening of defense: more air defense, more interceptors, and more resolve so that Russia feels our response.”

Trump on Monday pledged to deliver more weapons to Ukraine, including vital Patriot air defense systems, and threatened to slap additional sanctions on Russia. It was Trump’s toughest stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin since he returned to the White House nearly six months ago.

But some US lawmakers and European government officials expressed misgivings that the 50-day deadline handed Putin the opportunity to capture more Ukrainian territory before any settlement to end the fighting.

Other US ultimatums to Putin in recent months have failed to persuade the Russian leader to stop his invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in the war, many of them along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, and Russian barrages of cities have killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, the United Nations says.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Tuesday that “Putin holds a theory of victory that posits that Russia can achieve its war aims by continuing to make creeping gains on the battlefield indefinitely and outlasting Western support for Ukraine and Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.”

Trump said the US is providing additional weapons for Ukraine but European countries are paying for them. While Ukraine and European officials were relieved at the US commitment after months of hesitation, some hoped Washington might shoulder some of the cost.

“We welcome President Trump’s announcement to send more weapons to Ukraine, although we would like to see the USshare the burden,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday. “If we pay for these weapons, it’s our support.”


Japanese Ambassador Magoshi attends ceremony of solar power system to training and autism centres in Lebanon

Japanese Ambassador Magoshi attends ceremony of solar power system to training and autism centres in Lebanon
Updated 16 July 2025
Follow

Japanese Ambassador Magoshi attends ceremony of solar power system to training and autism centres in Lebanon

Japanese Ambassador Magoshi attends ceremony of solar power system to training and autism centres in Lebanon
  • The initiative was supported through Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Program
  • Al Midan is providing various training opportunities for vulnerable people in Zgharta

BEIRUT: Magoshi Masayuki, Ambassador of Japan to Lebanon, on Tuesday attended the ceremony to hand over a solar power system to the Al Midan training center and the North Autism Center located in Zgharta, North Lebanon.

The initiative was supported through Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Program (GGP).

The ceremony was held in the presence of Rima Frangieh, Founder of Al Midan and NAC; Lamia Yammine, Executive Director of Al Midan, and Former Minister of Labor; Sabine Saad, Executive Director of NAC; Pierro Doueihy, President of the Municipality of Zgharta-Ehden; and Bassam Haykal, President of the Union of Municipalities of Zgharta.

Al Midan is providing various training opportunities for vulnerable people in Zgharta, North Lebanon, while the North Autism Center has been serving youth with autism and other special needs in the region through specialized sessions and learning opportunities.

Given the pivotal roles both centers have played in the region, Japan supported Al Midan with a solar panel system to help address the centers’ pressing need for stable energy supply, which allowed them to increase the number of students and enhance the learning environment.

During the ceremony, Ambassador MAGOSHI highlighted Japan’s recent support for solar power projects across Lebanon in various sectors and emphasized the importance of this initiative.

He also reiterated Japan’s unwavering commitment to supporting Lebanon’s education sector to help Lebanon overcome the ongoing socio-economic challenges.

In return, Rima expressed deep gratitude for the Japanese support, emphasizing the vital role this solar energy system plays in sustaining services at both centers.

She highlighted how the reliable energy supply has already begun to improve the learning conditions for children with special needs and enhance access to essential training programs for the community.

She also reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to creating inclusive and resilient spaces for all.


Europol says pro-Russia hacking group broken up

Europol says pro-Russia hacking group broken up
Updated 16 July 2025
Follow

Europol says pro-Russia hacking group broken up

Europol says pro-Russia hacking group broken up
  • NoName057 was disrupted following raids in 12 countries between July 14 and 17

THE HAGUE: EU anti-crime bodies Europol and Eurojust said Wednesday they had coordinated an international operation to dismantle a pro-Russian hacking group accused of launching thousands of online attacks against Ukraine and its allies.

The network, known as NoName057(16), was disrupted following raids in 12 countries between July 14 and 17, they said.

Germany and Spain led the legal action, while police made arrests in France and Spain.