South Korea, Japan and US conduct air drill as defense chiefs meet
South Korea, Japan and US conduct air drill as defense chiefs meet/node/2607701/world
South Korea, Japan and US conduct air drill as defense chiefs meet
From right: Japan’s General Yoshihide Yoshida, South Korea’s Admiral Kim Myung-soo, and the US’s Gen. Dan Caine during the Trilateral Chiefs of Defense meeting in Seoul on July 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 25 sec ago
Reuters
South Korea, Japan and US conduct air drill as defense chiefs meet
Joint air drill involves a US B-52 strategic bomber and fighter jets of the two US allies over international waters
Updated 25 sec ago
Reuters
SEOUL: South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill on Friday involving a US B-52 strategic bomber and fighter jets of the two US allies over international waters, Yonhap news reported, citing the South’s defense ministry.
The three countries’ defense chiefs also held an annual meeting in Seoul on Friday, where they recognized the importance of close trilateral cooperation in addressing security challenges posed by North Korea, in the Indo-pacific and beyond, the defense ministry said in a statement.
“We’re illuminating a future path together, a path where partnerships can evolve through persistent and regular engagement from building capacity to really sharing responsibility,” US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said in opening remarks before the meeting.
“(North Korea) and China are undergoing an unprecedented military build up with a clear and unambiguous intent to move forward with their own agendas. We need to be mindful of that,” Caine said.
Philippines’ president to discuss tariffs in Trump meeting this month, top diplomat says
First meeting between Trump and Marcos, whose nations have stepped up military engagements significantly of late
The Philippines is concerned over a 20 percent tariff rate announced this week by Donald Trump
Updated 6 sec ago
Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this month, Manila’s top diplomat said on Friday, with an increased trade tariff on one of Washington’s top defense allies set to be discussed. Philippine foreign minister Theresa Lazaro, in an interview during a regional summit in Malaysia, confirmed the arrangement of what will be the first meeting between Trump and Marcos, whose nations have stepped up military engagements significantly of late. “The issue of tariffs will be discussed among others…it’s also very important to us. We have already sent negotiators to discuss this issue,” Lazaro said on Friday. A White House official earlier said the meeting was set for July 22, while the office of Marcos said he will visit the US from July 20-22. The Philippines is concerned over a 20 percent tariff rate announced this week by Trump, which was increased from 17 percent threatened in April, without explanation. The US goods trade deficit with the Philippines widened to $4.9 billion in 2024, a 21.8 percent increase from 2023. The Philippines has said it remains committed to continue negotiations and a delegation will travel to Washington next week to pursue a trade deal. Relations between Manila and Washington have soared under Marcos, who has pivoted closer to the US and allowed American soldiers to expand their presence at Philippine facilities. The former US colony is central to Washington’s efforts to counter China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and toward Taiwan. The United States and the Philippines have a seven-decade old mutual defense treaty and hold dozens of annual exercises, which have included testing of a US Typhon missile system, angering China. Marcos’ overtures of to the US and defiant stand on China have riled Beijing, which has repeatedly accused Manila and Washington of trying to stoke tensions. Lazaro said negotiations on a code of conduct between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China were dragging out and the Philippines would push for talks to finish when it becomes ASEAN chair next year. She said the code must be legally binding. The South China Sea remains a source of friction between China and the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, with ties between Beijing and Manila at their worst in years amid frequent confrontations that have sparked concerns they could spiral into conflict. “It is our view that it should not be taking so long. It is important that we have to deliver,” she said. “So it is incumbent upon all of us, and actually China, to... endeavor to finish the negotiations, the discussions. And that’s supposed to be in 2026.” Lazaro also said a planned election in military-ruled Myanmar, an ASEAN member in the grips of a civil war, would only be acceptable if it were inclusive and peaceful.
The newest way to influence Trump: Nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize/node/2607697/world
The newest way to influence Trump: Nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize
On Wednesday, Israel's PM Netanyahu showed Trump a letter nominating the US president for the Nobel Prize
The mercurial Republican president, who wants to be known as a peacemaker, has long coveted the prestigious award
Pakistan nominated Trump for the peace prize last month but then condemned him a day later after he bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities
Updated 24 min 33 sec ago
AP
WASHINGTON: World leaders, lawmakers and even one Native American tribe are deploying a novel strategy for remaining on good terms with President Donald Trump: Praise his peacemaking efforts and nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
The announcements of nominations are piling up for the mercurial Republican president, who has long coveted the prestigious award. The honor, according to Albert Nobel’s wishes, is given to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Peace prize nominations for Trump date to his first term, but he’s talking more in his second about how he’s helping to end conflicts, how he wants to be known as a peacemaker and how much he wants to be awarded a prize.
Fellow leaders, politicians and others have taken notice. Critics say Trump policies that have sown division in the US and around the world make him unfit for a peace prize and he’s being manipulated with the nominations.
On Monday, as Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington to talk to Trump about Iran and the war in Gaza, the Israeli leader had something else to share with the president as they sat across from each other at a table set for their dinner meeting in the White House Blue Room.
“I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee. It’s nominating you for the peace prize, which is well deserved, and you should get it,” Netanyahu told Trump as he rose from his seat to hand over a copy of the letter.
Trump thanked him. “Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful,” the president said.
A group of African leaders had their turn with Trump a few days after Netanyahu.
The leaders referenced the US role in mediating a recent agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to bring peace after decades of bloody conflict that has killed millions. Representatives from both countries signed the deal in the Oval Office in front of Trump.
“And so he is now bringing peace back to a region where that was never possible so I believe that he does deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. That is my opinion,” said Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Thursday, “President Trump was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize due to his proven record of securing peace around the world.” She added, “Thanks to this President’s leadership, America is respected again, making the entire world safer and more prosperous.”
The Nobel prizes are determined in secret. Nominations can come from a select group of people and organizations, including heads of state or politicians serving at a national level, university professors, directors of foreign policy institutes, past Nobel Prize recipients and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee itself.
Past recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize include former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, both Democrats.
Last month, as Trump announced the Rwanda-Congo deal, he complained that he’d never get a Nobel Peace Prize despite everything he’s done, ranging from the Abraham Accords of his first term, in which Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates normalized relations with Israel, to recently easing renewed tensions between India and Pakistan, among others.
Pakistan nominated Trump for the peace prize last month but then turned around and condemned him a day later after he bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump later worked with Israel and Iran to end their short war.
As a candidate, Trump promised he would end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day in office before saying later as president that he was joking. But solving that conflict, as well as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, has so far eluded Trump.
His supporters, including lawmakers in Congress, are trying to help make Trump’s dream come true.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has called on the Senate to nominate Trump, while Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, asked her social media followers to share her post if they agree with her that he deserves it.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., recently wrote on X that she has now nominated Trump twice and will continue to do so until he is awarded the prize.
“He has done more for world peace than any modern leader,” she wrote.
At least one Native American tribe said it intends to nominate Trump, too.
“No world leader has dedicated more time and effort to promoting global peace than President Donald Trump,” Marshall Pierite, chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, said in a statement.
Trump says Canada to face 35% tariff rate starting August 1
Canada and Mexico are both trying to find ways to satisfy Trump so that the free trade deal uniting the three countries — known as the USMCA — can be put back on track
Updated 10 min 33 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: Canada will face a 35 percent tariff on exports to the United States starting August 1, President Donald Trump said Thursday in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney.
It was the latest of more than 20 such letters issued by Trump since Monday, as he continues to pursue his trade war threats against dozens of economies.
Canada and the US are locked in trade negotiations in hopes to reach a deal by July 21 and the latest threat seemed to put that deadline in jeopardy.
Canada and Mexico are both trying to find ways to satisfy Trump so that the free trade deal uniting the three countries — known as the USMCA — can be put back on track.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced the previous NAFTA accord in July 2020, after Trump successfully pushed for a renegotiation during his first term in office.
It was due to be reviewed by July next year, but Trump accelerated the process by launching his trade wars after he took office in January.
Canadian and Mexican products were initially hard hit by 25 percent US tariffs, with a lower rate for Canadian energy.
Trump targeted both neighbors saying they did not do enough on illegal immigration and the flow of illicit drugs across borders.
But he eventually announced exemptions for goods entering his country under the USMCA, covering large swaths of products. Potash, used as fertilizer, got a lower rate as well.
The letter on Thursday came despite what had been warming relations between Trump and Carney.
The Canadian leader came to the White House on May 6 and had a cordial meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
They met again at the G7 summit last month in Canada, where leaders pushed Trump to back away from his punishing trade war.
French president calls for joint recognition of Palestinian state by France and UK
After talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Emmanuel Macron stresses urgent need for a 2-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Starmer reaffirms his country’s commitment to a just political settlement of the Palestinian issue
Updated 11 July 2025
Arab News
LONDON: French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his country and the UK to jointly recognize Palestinian statehood, describing it as “the only path to peace.”
Speaking during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Macron stressed the urgent need for efforts to advance a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
“I believe in the future of the two-state solution, and in the need to unify our voices in Paris, London and beyond to recognize the State of Palestine and launch this political dynamic that alone can lead to a horizon of peace,” Macron said.
Starmer reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to a just political settlement of the Palestinian issue, and highlighted the importance of international support for the Palestinian people and the need for stability in the region.
Macron concluded on Thursday a three-day state visit to the UK. It was the first such visit by a French statesman since 2008, and the first by an EU leader since Brexit in 2020.
On Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority welcomed comments by Macron during his speech to the British Parliament in which he affirmed the position of France on recognition of a Palestinian state as a way to help ensure stability in the Middle East.
Organizers of an international conference to garner support for Palestinian national independence, planned for mid-June and sponsored by and France, had to postpone the event because of the outbreak on June 13 of war between Iran and Israel.
In recent weeks, several members of Parliament belonging to Starmer’s ruling Labour Party have called on his government to officially recognize a Palestinian state and join with France in doing so.
Russia seizes $50 billion in assets as economy shifts during war in Ukraine, research shows
‘Fortress Russia’ uses host of mechanisms to take major assets
Some domestic businesses also face nationalization, report says
Updated 11 July 2025
Reuters
MOSCOW: Russian authorities have confiscated assets worth some $50 billion over the past three years, underscoring the scale of the transformation into a “fortress Russia” economic model during the war in Ukraine, research showed on Wednesday.
The conflict has been accompanied by a significant transfer of assets as many Western companies fled the Russian market, others’ assets were expropriated and the assets of some major Russian businesses were seized by the state.
In response to what Russia called illegal actions by the West, President Vladimir Putin signed decrees over the past three years allowing the seizure of Western assets, entangling firms ranging from Germany’s Uniper to Danish brewer Carlsberg.
Besides the Western assets, major domestic companies have changed hands on the basis of different legal mechanisms including the need for strategic resources, corruption claims, alleged privatization violations, or poor management.
Moscow law firm NSP (Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners) said that the scale of what it called the “nationalization” amounted to 3.9 trillion roubles over three years, and it listed the companies involved.
The research was first reported by Kommersant, one of Russia’s leading newspapers, which said it illustrated a “fortress Russia” economic model.
The 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union ushered in hopes that Russia could transform into a free-market economy integrated into the global economy, but vast corruption, economic turmoil and organized crime undermined confidence in democratic capitalism through the 1990s.
Putin, in his first eight years in power, supported economic freedoms, targeted some so-called oligarchs and presided over a significant growth of the economy to $1.8 trillion in 2008 from $200 billion in 1999.
In the 2008-2022 period, the economy grew to $2.3 trillion, though Western sanctions hit it hard after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund.
Though the Russian economy has performed better than expected during the war in Ukraine, its nominal dollar size in 2024 was just $2.2 trillion, according to IMF figures, much smaller than China, the European Union or United States.
‘Fortress Russia’
Russian officials say that the Ukraine war — the biggest confrontation with the West since the depths of the Cold War — has demanded extraordinary measures to prevent what they say was a clear Western attempt to sink the Russian economy.
Putin says the exit of Western firms has allowed domestic producers to take their place and that the Western sanctions have forced domestic business to develop. He has called for a “new development model” distinct from “outdated globalization.”
But the wartime economy, geared toward producing weapons and supporting a long conflict with Ukraine, has put the state — and those officials who operate it — in a much more powerful position than private Russian businesses.
Russian prosecutors are now seeking to seize billionaire Konstantin Strukov’s majority stake in major gold producer Uzhuralzoloto (UGC) for the state.
More than a thousand companies — from McDonald’s to Mercedes-Benz — have left Russia since the February 2022 start of Russia’s war in Ukraine by selling, handing the keys to existing managers or simply abandoning their assets.
Others had their assets seized and a sale forced through.
