International

European Union’s (EU) body observing climate change announced July as the hottest-ever month on Earth Tuesday, weeks after scientists suggested human activities behind global climate deterioration, raising concerns over the future. It said: “Marked by heatwaves and fires all around the world, the previous month was 0.33 degrees Celsius higher than the record set in July 2019 when the average temperature was 16.63C (32 Fahrenheit).” “It has not been this warm, combining observational records and paleoclimate records, for the last 120,000 years,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Burgess added: “The global average temperature for July 2023 is confirmed to be the highest on record for any month — the month is estimated to have been around 1.5 degrees warmer than the average for 1850 to 1900.” The service stated that this July was 0.72C warmer than the 1991-2020 average for the month. 

the Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia has launched electronic visas (e-visas) for a dozen countries, including Pakistan, making it easier for people from these nations to visit Saudi Arabia. The Saudi General Aviation Authority (GACA) officially announced that it has implemented a new method for issuing e-visas that employ QR codes. The system is now operational in 12 Saudi embassies – Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Philippines, Indonesia, and Egypt.

In July 2023, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited three African countries, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe, to pursue three main objectives. First, to bypass US sanctions at a time of a stalemate in nuclear talks with Washington. Second, Raisi wished to expand Iranian ideological influence on the African continent and to gather political support for Iranian positions in international organizations. Lastly, these visits aimed to demonstrate that the conservative faction inside the Iranian establishment is focusing on fostering ties with non-aligned countries. This was, indeed, the first visit of an Iranian president to the African continent since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit 11 years ago. The African continent was less of a priority for Iranian foreign policy decision-makers during the 2013-2021 tenure of the moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Iran’s presence in Africa is an ideological, economic and security issue. Indeed, in the vision of the Iranian revolutionary political elite since 1979, relations with countries from the Global South are to be understood not only within the framework of the Khomeinist ideological tenet of anti-imperialism but also in the context of exporting the Iranian politico-religious model. This ambition requires interfering in the internal affairs of African states to carry out missionary activities, but also to build networks of non-state actors, such as religious actors, cultural associations, front-companies and drug networks. The aim behind this Iranian desire to assert power in Africa is to target the “enemies” of Iran, including regional rivals and global foes, especially the US. A new aspect apparent during Raisi’s recent visit to Africa was the search for new markets for Iranian military exports, such as drones and unsophisticated weapons systems. The official Iranian diplomatic stance sets very ambitious objectives for mutual Iranian-African cooperation. Nevertheless, difficulties are apparent in carrying out economic cooperation projects, and tensions often emerge in relation to Iran’s ideological and security activities on the African continent. For instance, Iran-Zimbabwe bilateral trade amounted to less than $5 million in 2021 and during the recent visit 12 memorandums of understanding were signed without any details regarding the future Iranian investments in the country. Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa greeted Raisi after the Iranian president’s plane landed at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare and referred to him as “my brother.” Despite this apparent warmth, the economic rationality of the visit became a topic of debate inside Iran given the lack of economic complementary between the two countries. Overall, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it expects trade with African countries to increase to more than $2 billion in 2023, up from an estimated figure of between $500 million and $1 billion in 2021 and 2022. The official Iranian objective of increasing trade with the continent to $5 billion is extremely insignificant and inferior to the UAE’s $50 billion and Turkiye’s $35 billion trade with Africa, which has a $600 billion global trade. Saudi Arabia’s financial investments in the continent are in line with its aim of becoming a global investment powerhouse, as outlined in its Vision 2030 policy framework. The Kingdom’s growing financial footprint in the continent, especially in West Africa, was expressed on Nov. 15, 2022, when Guinean President Mamady Doumbouya met the CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad. The healthy discussions led to a memorandum of understanding, with the Saudi fund agreeing to provide $8 million for a water project in the country and build 140 wells. On Oct. 17, 2022, the Kingdom signed several major deals with South Africa to develop the country’s emerging hydrogen industry, as well as other renewable sources. In total, the deals totalled around $15 billion in Saudi investments. Only a week before the October deals, the fund also agreed to provide $5 million for solar-powered street lights in the Central African Republic. What GCC investments and others indicate is that despite reconciliation with Iran, there is room for competition in other theaters, especially in resource-rich Africa, which has been a strategic sphere of contest among global powers for centuries. A present example is the scenario unfolding in Niger that has exposed France’s entrenched economic interests and dependence on the country, particularly for importing uranium. The difference today is that global powers are facing competition in Africa from rising powers with vast financial outlays such as the GCC, especially Saudi Arabia. The unlikelihood of a rapid settlement of the nuclear issue in 2023 because of the war in Ukraine and the complications facing the Biden administration in reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will prevent a real deepening of Iranian economic cooperation with African countries. On the other hand, a security escalation between Tehran and Washington could lead the former to use its African networks of influence to challenge the US presence by targeting US diplomatic facilities on the continent. Moreover, with Iranian military support for Russia’s armed forces — delivery of drones and artillery ammunition, in particular — and its refusal to diplomatically condemn the Russian war in Ukraine, Tehran is also exposing itself to accelerated marginalization on the international scene. Finally, the weakening of Russia’s international economic influence, a consequence of its desire to enter confrontation with Washington, could certainly contribute to the emergence of a post-Western international order by pushing Moscow to seek alternatives to its dependence on the US financial system. This hope of the leaders of the Islamic Republic and some African leaders nevertheless risks coming up against economic limits that will hinder their ideological objective. The aim of maintaining a degree of balance between Russia and the West in the war in Ukraine through the emergence of a new form of neutrality or non-alignment risks not being a sufficient condition for Iranian-African rapprochement which will take place under the aegis of Moscow over the next few years. On the contrary, the proximity with Iran weakened by decades of economic sanctions is likely to burden the economic development of the African states that choose to bet on Iranian influence instead of the West.

From 25 – 27 July 2023, H.E. Ms. Busadee Santipitaks, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, accompanied by H.E. Mr. Chairat Sirivat, Ambassador attached to the Ministry, and H.E. Ms. Lada Phumas, Ambassador of Thailand to Malaysia, led a delegation comprised of ambassadors, chargés d’affaires a.i., and diplomats from 10 Muslim countries, namely Malaysia, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Indonesia, Türkiye, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Qatar, in a visit to Thailand’s southern border provinces. The visit aimed at providing the diplomatic corps with information regarding the situation on the ground and the Royal Thai Government’s policy in the administration and development of Thailand’s southern border provinces. At the same time, the visit also served as an opportunity for the foreign representatives to gain first-hand experience and information of the unique multiculturalism in these provinces, as well as to learn about the area’s potentials in fields of education, economic and industry development, culture, and tourism. During the 3-day trip, the diplomatic corps received briefings and paid visits to a number of agencies, organisations, and important sites in the provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat, which reflected various aspects of Thailand’s three southernmost provinces. Such aspects include (1) overall government policy and administration: briefings at the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center and the Yala City Municipality; (2) education: visit to the TK Park Yala, discussion with alumni graduated from Muslim countries, briefing by the Centre for Propelling Education in the Southern Border Provinces, visit to the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) – Pattani Campus; (3) economic: visits to the Pattani Industrial Estate, the Halal Spa in PSU Pattani Campus; (4) environment: visit to the Ban Ton Tan Community Forest in Narathiwat; and (5) culture/tourism: visits to the Krue Se Mosque, the Barahom Community, the Kueda Chino Neighbourhood, the Pattani Central Mosque in Pattani, the Islamic Cultural Heritage Museum and the Al-Quran Learning Centre in Narathiwat.

The couple had talked frankly in the past about difficulties in their relationship and in recent years were seen less often together in public. Trudeau, 51, and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 48, were married in May 2005 and have three children, aged 15, 14 and nine. On their anniversary in 2020, he described her as “my rock, my partner, and my best friend.” For Trudeau, there are also painful historical parallels. His father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, separated from his wife, Margaret, in 1977, when he was in office. The development is one of the biggest personal crises for Trudeau since he became prime minister in 2015, especially since he often stresses the importance of family life. The couple made the announcement a week after Trudeau unveiled a massive cabinet shuffle in a bid to boost the fortunes of his Liberal Party, which is trailing in the polls. Aides said he was determined to lead the Liberals into the next election, which must be held by October 2025. “Sophie and I would like to share the fact that after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate,” Trudeau said on Instagram. Gregoire Trudeau posted an almost identical message on her own Instagram account. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp said Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, one of Trudeau’s closest allies, would brief members of the cabinet later on Wednesday. The CBC also said Trudeau was likely to speak publicly about the separation this week. Trudeau’s office said the two had signed a legal agreement, stressing that the couple would focus on raising their children. The family will go on vacation together next week. Gregoire Trudeau will be moving into separate accommodation in Ottawa but plans to spend plenty of time with the children in Rideau Cottage, the prime minister’s official residence, to ensure they have as normal an upbringing as possible, said a source familiar with the situation. The source, who requested anonymity because of the extreme sensitivity of the situation, said the couple would have joint custody of the children.

Thailand, the world’s second largest exporter of rice, is encouraging its farmers to plant less of the crop in a bid to save water — a move that could roil rice markets further following India’s export ban. Thailand is facing a spate of low rainfall. In an effort to conserve water for consumption, the Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) has called on the country’s farmers to turn to “planting crops that use less water [which] can be harvested quickly.” “The cumulative rainfall is about 40% less than normal, which is at high risk of water shortage,” secretary-general of the ONWR, Surasri Kidtimonton, said in a statement released by Thailand’s National Water Administration. Kidtimonton said the country’s water management needs to “focus on water for consumption,” as well as “water for cultivation mainly for perennial crops.” Perennial crops are crops that grow back after harvest and need not be replanted every year, unlike annual crops. Rice is categorized as an annual crop. For every kilogram of rough rice grown, an average of 2,500 liters of water is needed. In comparison, alternative crops like millets require between 650 to 1,200 liters of water for the same amount harvested. Just last month, India banned exports of non-basmati white rice, a move aimed at ensuring “adequate availability” in domestic markets, the government said. India is the world’s leading rice exporter and accounts for 40% of global rice trade, and the ban is expected to affect millions. “Global rice price will have the potential to increase further in the event that rice production in Thailand decreases significantly year on year,” Rabobank’s senior analyst Oscar Tjakra told CNBC. However, it still remains to be seen whether Thai farmers will follow the directive, said Tjakra. “Thai farmers might still choose to plant rice on the back of the current high global rice export prices environment,” he said. Rice prices are already hovering at decade highs, in part due to tighter supplies when the staple became an attractive alternative as prices of other major grains surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Since 2012, China has invested billions of dollars into protecting people from flooding, including by building cities like sponges. The idea is to use a mix of green and gray infrastructure to soak up heavy rainfall, and then slowly release it into rivers and reservoirs. But recent high-profile weather events have called into question the effectiveness of the strategy against the wild changes in precipitation fueled by climate change. At least 20 people have been killed since Saturday as torrential rain brings catastrophic flooding to parts of northern China, with the death toll expected to keep climbing.

The January 6th attack on the capitol was “fuelled by lies”, said special counsel Jack Smith at his brief news conference. Donald Trump’s lies. Throughout the 45 detailed pages of this indictment that theme of dishonesty is repeated again and again. It talks about “prolific lies about election fraud” and says “these claims were false and the defendant knew that they were false”. This will clearly be a key theme when this trial gets to court. Whether it leads to a conviction is unclear – some legal experts have said this is not the strongest case. But these charges are, in my view, the most serious and potentially the most consequential that Donald Trump has yet faced. Not least because they relate to things that happened whilst he was still president. The case in New York, which was brought in March, is about allegations that he committed business fraud to conceal hush money to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, before he was president. The federal case relating to the classified documents Mr Trump kept at his Mar a Lago residence details events that happened after he left office. But these latest charges – that he conspired to attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election – revolve around things that happened when Donald Trump still inhabited the White House. He is alleged to have repeatedly lied to the American people whilst he was their president. There is also a real-world impact laid out in this indictment which we have not seen in the other cases. Everyone saw the violence that engulfed the US Capitol on January 2021 and although Mr Smith stopped short of charging Mr Trump with inciting that mob, the prosecutor was clear in his statement to reporters where he sees the link. Some US commentators have introduced another reason why they think these charges are the most serious. They see in Mr Trump’s alleged conduct a threat to the ideals that underpin the bedrock of the country. Not since the nation’s founding has any president “voted out of office been accused of plotting to hold onto power in an elaborate scheme of deception and intimidation that would lead to violence in the halls of Congress,” writes Peter Baker in the New York Times. He goes on: “As serious as hush money and classified documents may be, this third indictment in four months gets to the heart of the matter, the issue that will define the future of American democracy.” Mr Smith also made a similar point in the indictment, that Mr Trump created “an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and eroded public faith in the administration of the election”. But will any of this matter to voters? All over America I have met countless numbers of Trump supporters who appear to sincerely believe that Donald Trump really did get more votes than Joe Biden and was cheated out of office. That is one of the tenets of faith that solidifies his bedrock of support. How will these people react when they hear detailed evidence that Donald Trump knew there was no evidence of electoral fraud? That he was told again and again, by his trusted inner circle, that he had lost the election? Can their faith withstand the weight of the evidence the prosecution will bring to court? Jack Smith says he is pressing for a speedy trial. So it could well be taking place right in the middle of the next presidential election. And Mr Trump is still the clear frontrunner to become the Republican party’s presidential candidate. So voters – and not just Trump’s base but moderate Republicans, independents and crucial swing voters – will hear detailed allegation of Mr Trump’s “dishonesty, fraud and deceit” whilst being asked to vote him back into office. It is such a cliché to describe events involving Donald Trump as “unprecedented”. But what other word is there is to describe the prospect of a US presidential candidate running a re-election campaign at the same time as being prosecuted for attempting to subvert the results of the last election?

Traffic was lighter than usual on Wednesday and some streets were deserted in the Gurugram business hub south of the Indian capital New Delhi as authorities said the death toll from two days of Hindu-Muslim clashes in the region had mounted to seven. The violence erupted during a religious procession by Hindus in the Muslim-dominated Nuh district on Monday, resulting in the deaths of four people, including two police personnel, and approximately 60 others were injured. By Wednesday morning, two more civilians had succumbed to injuries, officials said. The unrest spread to neighbouring Gurugram on Monday night and continued through Tuesday, with a mosque being set on fire and its scholar killed, and several shops and eateries vandalised or torched. “The conspirators [behind the clashes in Nuh] are being continuously identified. A total of 116 people have been arrested so far,” Manohar Lal Khattar, the chief minister of Haryana state, where Gurugram is located, said on Wednesday. Gurugram hosts dozens of multinational companies, including Google, Deloitte and American Express, in a district about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the nearest violence. It was not immediately known whether they were open or if staff had come to work. While schools in most of the area were permitted to reopen from Wednesday, several institutions opted to suspend physical classes and move online amid concerns for safety. Police officials, however, said the situation was “normal” and all educational institutions and offices were operating as usual. However, orders banning the congregation of four or more people in public remained in force. Security forces were also on alert for planned protests by Hindu nationalist groups, including in the capital. “Additional forces have been deployed in the district and we are closely monitoring the situation,” said Subhash Boken, a spokesperson for Gurugram Police. In 2020, more than 50 people were killed in religious clashes in northeastern Delhi, the worst sectarian violence in the capital in decades. The trigger for the riots was a citizenship law introduced by the government the previous year that critics have said marginalises Muslims.