XI WARNS BIDEN AGAINST ‘PLAYING WITH FIRE’ OVER TAIWAN

Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned against playing with fire over Taiwan in a call with U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday, highlighting Beijing's concerns about a possible visit to the Chinese-claimed island by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Those who play with fire will perish by it," China's foreign ministry quoted Xi as telling Biden in their fifth call as leaders. "It is hoped that the U.S. will be clear-eyed about this."

Xi said Washington should abide by the "one-China principle" and stressed that China firmly opposes Taiwanese independence and outside interference.

Biden told Xi U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed and that Washington strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the White House said.

Following the call, Taiwan thanked Biden for his support and said it would continue to deepen its security partnership with the United States, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The White House said the long-scheduled call was part of the administration's efforts to deepen lines of communication with China and "responsibly manage our differences."

It has been particularly anxious to lower the temperature on Taiwan.

A visit by the House speaker would be a dramatic, though not unprecedented, show of U.S. support for the island, and some analysts worry such a move at a time of fraught U.S. ties with Beijing could spur a major crisis and even unintended clashes.

A senior U.S. official said Biden and Xi had discussed the possibility of holding a first face-to-face meeting as leaders and directed their teams to look into this.

CHINA SAYS MASSIVE LOANS DID NOT LEAD TO SRI LANKAN CRISIS.

China on Thursday defended its massive infrastructure ventures and investments in crisis-hit Sri Lanka and said that they have “boosted’ its economic development, amid criticism from the US of Beijing’s unproductive projects and opaque loan deals among the reasons for the country’s bankruptcy. “The China-Sri Lanka practical cooperation has always been led by Sri Lanka with scientific planning and thorough verification with no strings attached,” spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

“Chinese projects have boosted Sri Lanka’s economic development, and brought tangible benefits to the Sri Lankan people,” he said while responding to a question on the criticism of China’s projects and policies towards Sri Lanka by USAID administrator Samantha Power. Speaking in New Delhi on Wednesday, Power said India reacted swiftly to help Sri Lanka tide over its economic crisis, but calls to China went unanswered. She said China became one of Sri Lanka’s “biggest creditors” offering often “opaque loan” deals at high interest rates.

Refuting her claims, Zhao said “there are multiple components to Sri Lanka’ s foreign debt, where China-related debts take far less share than the international capital market and multilateral development banks. ” “Besides. . . China provides Sri Lanka almost preferential loans with low-interest rates and long terms,” he said.

He also sought to blame US policies, including interest rate hikes, unilateral sanctions and massive stimulus policies, saying they had seriously impacted many developing countries like Sri Lanka.

US ECONOMY SHRINKS AGAIN SPARKING RECESSION FEARS

The US economy has shrunk for the second quarter in a row, a milestone that in many countries would be considered an economic recession.

That is not the case in the US, which uses additional data to make that call.

But the contraction, at an annual rate of 0.9% in the three months to July, has drawn widespread attention as worries about the economy grow.

Prices for groceries, petrol and other basics are rising at the fastest pace since 1981.

As the US central bank raises borrowing costs quickly to try to cool the economy and ease price pressures, fears are rising that a recession is coming - if it has not officially started already.

Faced with sinking public confidence, US President Joe Biden has tried to make the case that the economy remains sound, noting that the unemployment rate remains at a low 3.6% and hiring has remained strong.

"If you look at our job market, consumer spending, business investment - we see signs of economic progress," Mr Biden said Thursday, noting the historic post-pandemic gains the US experienced last year. "There's no doubt we expect growth to be slower than last year .... That's consistent with a transition to stable, steady growth and lower inflation."

This week, ahead of the data from the Commerce Department, he told reporters that the economy was "not going to be in a recession". That prompted his opponents in the Republican party to accuse the White House of trying to redefine the term.

"White House recession 'rebrand' won't reduce Americans' suffering," they said.

PAK RS FREEFALL CONTINUES, CLOSES AT 240 VS DOLLAR

Islamabad : The unending political chaos in Pakistan has been blamed for the country’s economic woes as value of local currency sank to its alltime low, closing at Rs 240 against the U S dollar in the interbank trade on Thursday. According to State Bank of Pakistan, the rupee closed at 239. 94, down 3. 92, or 1. 63%. The Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), however, said that the rupee lost 4. 48, or 1. 89% in the last 24 hours. It had closed at 236. 02 on Wednesday. In currency markets, Pakistani rupee was trading at over 240 against the dollar.

Finance minister Miftah Ismail has been assuring investors that pressure on local currency will soon end but it sank nearly 8% in one week as the country’s forex reserves stood below $10 billio n with inflation at its highest in over a decade.

Currency dealers blame the ongoing political and financial uncertainty in the country and lack of action by the incumbent government to halt the rupee’s freefall. “The country’s political situation is bad but the government and political parties appear to be unconcern ed. They are only concerned with saving their governments,” Zafar Paracha, secretary general of currency dealers association, was quoted by local media as saying. According to Paracha, the ratings agencies have downgraded Pakistan’s outlook while the tranche expected to be released by the IMF had reportedly been delayed. Since the ouster of the previous Imran Khan go vernment in April this year, the value of rupee has fallen by over 28%

SWING VOTERS GIVE SUNAK AN EDGE OVER RIVAL TRUSS: SURVEY

London : Former UK finance minister Rishi Sunak has an edge over his rival, foreign secretary Liz Truss, in the race to be elected the next Conservative Party leader an d UK PM among swing voters, a new survey revealed on Thursday.

The British-Indian former FM, who has been trailing behind Truss among the hardcore Tory members who will vote for their f avourite in postal ballots from next week, is favoured among voters who had voted Conservative for the first time in the 2019 general election. “While there is little to separate the two leadership candidates among for example those who currently intend to vote (Opposition) Labour (minus 59 for Sunak, minus 62 for Truss) or those who voted Conservative in 2019 (0 and +3 r espectively), the crucial difference between Truss and Sunak comes among swing voters,” YouGov said in a statement. “Net favourability among those who voted Conservative in 2019 but now tell us they plan to vote Labour stands at minus 25 for Sunak and minus 45 for Truss. Equally, scores among those who voted Labour in 2017 but Conservative in 2019 register at minus 6 for Sunak and minus 1 9 for Truss,” it said. Sunak also does “slightly better” among those who voted Conservative in 2019 but who now told the survey that they do not know how they would vote in an election being held today. Among this group, Sunak sits at minus 12, whereas Truss stands at minus 16. PM Boris Johnson by comparison is at minus 22, while (Labour leader) Keir Starmer is all the way down at minus 59,” it said.

The study of 4,946 adults, carried out between July 10 and 24, suggests Sunak has an overall net favourability score at minus 30 while Truss has minus 32. Overall, the survey suggests both candidates are unpopular with the public as a whole but more p opular than Johnson.

6 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 1971 WAR CRIMES IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal on Thursday sentenced six members of the infamous paramilitary force ‘Razakar Bahini’ to death for collaborating with the Pakistani Army for “crimes against humanity” during the 1971 Liberation War.

The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Mohammad Shahinur Islam delivered the verdict.

“They shall be hanged by neck until their death,” Justice Islam pronounced, with five of the convicts faced the trial in person, while one convict was tried in absentia.

The six accused include Amjad Hossain Howladar, Sahar Ali Sardar, Atiyar Rahman, Motachim Billah, Kamal Uddin Goldar, and Nazrul Islam. Of them, Nazrul Islam is absconding.

The tribunal officials said the six convicted were members of the “Razakar Bahini,” an East Pakistani paramilitary force affiliated to the Pakistan Army.

All the six hailed from southwestern Khulna district, and carried out atrocities such as mass killings, arsons and tortures, the tribunal said.

Defence counsels said they planned to challenge the verdict at the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court after consultations with their clients.

The Sheikh Hasina government had set up the war crimes tribunal in 2010.

UNSC CONDEMNS MYANMAR EXECUTIONS

The UN Security Council has condemned the Myanmar junta’s execution of four prisoners, drawing praise on Thursday from a shadow government of ousted Myanmar lawmakers.

In a rare consensus on the post-coup crisis, the Security Council on Wednesday released a statement condemning the executions — Myanmar’s first in decades — and calling for the immediate release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The members of the Security Council condemned the Myanmar military’s execution of Opposition activists over the weekend,” the Council said.

“They recalled the Secretary-General’s statement of July 25, 2022 and echoed his call for the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners.”

The statement was endorsed by Russia and China — the junta’s two major allies that have previously shielded it at the UN — as well as neighbouring India.

“Welcome UNSC condemning execution of democracy activists”, said the “National Unity Government” (NUG) on a verified Twitter account.

RUSSIA STEPS UP STRIKES ON KYIV AMID COUNTERATTACKS

Russian forces launched a missile attack on the Kyiv area for the first time in weeks on Thursday and pounded the northern Chernihiv region as well, in what Ukraine said was revenge for standing up to the Kremlin.

Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, announced a counteroffensive to take back the occupied Kherson region in the country’s south, territory seized by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces early in the war.

Russia attacked the Kyiv region with six missiles launched from the Black Sea, hitting a military unit in the village of Liutizh on the outskirts of the capital, according to Oleksii Hromov, a senior official with Ukraine’s General Staff.

He said that the attack ruined one building and damaged two others, and that Ukrainian forces also shot down one of the missiles in the town of Bucha.

Fifteen people were wounded in the Russian strikes, five of them civilians, Kyiv Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said.

“Russia, with the help of missiles, is mounting revenge for the widespread popular resistance, which the Ukrainians were able to organise precisely because of their statehood,” Mr. Kuleba said.

FACEBOOK FAILS TO BLOCK HATE SPEECH: REPORT

Facebook is letting violent hate speech slip through its controls in Kenya as it has in other countries, according to a new report from the nonprofit groups Global Witness and Foxglove.

It was the third such test of Facebook’s ability to detect hateful language — either via artificial intelligence or human moderators.

The ads, which the groups submitted both in English and in Swahili, spoke of beheadings, rape and bloodshed. They compared people to donkeys and goats. Some also included profanity and grammatical errors. The Swahili language ads easily made it through Facebook’s detection systems and were approved for publication.

US SENATE PASSES RESOLUTION SEEKING TO LABEL RUSSIA TERRORISM SPONSOR

The US Senate unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution on Wednesday calling on secretary of state Antony Blinken to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism for actions in Chechnya, Geo rgia, Syria and Ukraine that resulted “in the deaths of countless innocent men, women and children. ” A similar measure had been introduced in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to support its passage. However, the p ower to designate a state sponsor of terrorism resides with the state department. Nevertheless, the Senate’s approval puts more congressional pressure on the Biden administration to add Russia to a list of state sponsors of terrorism that includes Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria. “Armed forces of the Russian Federation have committed numerous summary executions against innocent civilians. . . ,” the S enate bill reads.

NO PRISONER-SWAP DEAL WITH US YET: RUSSIA

Russia said on Thursday that negotiations with the US on exchanging prisoners are ongoing but there is no deal to swap detained US basketball star Brittney Griner for jailed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “so far there are no agreements in this area”.Foreign ministry spokeswoman indicated that talks had been going on for some time.US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Thursday that US had made Russia a “serious offer” to secure the release of Griner and former US marine Paul Whelan.

MACRON HOSTS SAUDI CROWN PRINCE IN PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday, part of increased Western efforts to court the major oil-producing nation amid the war in Ukraine and faltering talks to revive a nuclear deal with Iran.

French Opposition figures and human rights groups have criticised Mr. Macron’s decision to invite to dinner at the Elysee Palace a man Western leaders believe ordered the murder in 2018 of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The visit to Paris by the de facto Saudi ruler, widely known as MBS, comes two weeks after he held talks in Saudi Arabia with U.S. President Joe Biden. The West is keen to reset relations with the oil giant as it seeks to counter the rising regional influence of Iran, Russia and China.

“The rehabilitation of the murderous Prince will be justified in France as in the U.S. by arguments of realpolitik. But it’s actually bargaining that predominates, let’s face it,” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said on Twitter ahead of Prince Mohammed’s visit.

KIM THREATENS TO USE NUKES IN CONFLICTS

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned he’s ready to use nuclear weapons in potential military conflicts with the U.S. and South Korea, state media reported on Thursday, as he unleashed fiery rhetoric against rivals he says are pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.

Mr. Kim’s speech to war veterans on the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War was apparently meant to boost internal unity in the impoverished country amid pandemic-related economic difficulties. While Mr. Kim has increasingly threatened his rivals with nuclear weapons, it’s unlikely that he would use them first against the superior militaries of the U. S. and its allies, observers say. “Our armed forces are completely prepared to respond to any crisis, and our country’s nuclear war deterrent is also ready to mobilise its absolute power dutifully, exactly and swiftly in accordance with its mission,” Mr. Kim said in Wednesday’s speech, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

He accused the U.S. of “demonising” North Korea to justify its hostile policies. Mr. Kim said regular U. S.-South Korea military drills that he claimed target the North highlight U. S. “double standards” and “gangster-like” aspects because it brands North Korea’s routine military activities — an apparent reference to its missile tests — as provocations or threats.

JAPANESE LAWMAKERS VISIT TAIWAN

A group of Japanese lawmakers, including two former Defence Ministers, met with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday in a rare high-level visit to discuss regional security.

The delegation, led by former Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said it wanted to reach a pact with Taiwan on defence issues and prepare for any potential conflict in the region, while also seeking to prevent conflict from breaking out.

“We need to think ahead about what kind of situations could happen, what kind of agreements we should prepare, and what kind of armaments we could use,” he said. “We need to work together to reach consensus on this ahead of anything that could happen.”

“We will continue to deepen our ties with Japan and other democratic partners to uphold the Indo-Pacific’s peace and stability,” Ms. Tsai said.

LIKELY TO REMAIN ON ISS UNTIL 2028: MOSCOW

Russian space officials told their US counterparts that Moscow expects to remain on the International Space Station at least until their own outpost in orbit is built in 2028, Kathy Lueders, Nasa’s space operations chief said.“We’re not getting any indication at any working level that anything’s changed,” Lueders said.