News of the World

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ASIA

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Chinese-Russian Alliance

China Sends Xi Jinping’s #2 to Russia as Ukraine Counter-Invasion Rages

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, dictator Xi Jinping’s second-in-command in charge of implementing his policy ideas, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for a visit arriving amid a surprise Ukrainian invasion of uncontested Russian territory that could dramatically change the battlefield landscape in the ongoing invasion.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry depicted the trip as a pre-planned meeting, part of an annual tradition to discuss bilateral relations with top Russian officials, including strongman Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Official government statements did not mention the status of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a topic in Li’s itinerary. Yet the timing coincides with a significant change in the dynamic of that invasion, one that Chinese state media outlets have condemned Ukraine for bringing about.

The Chinese state outlet Xinhua confirmed on Tuesday that Li was in Moscow to “exchange in-depth views on bilateral relations, practical cooperation and key issues of common interest.” The Russian news agency Tass offered a similar report with little detail, other than to say that the Russian government requested the visit and Russian leaders expect to discuss “developing the comprehensive partnership and expanding cooperation in several spheres, including energy and automotive industry.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning similarly described Li’s presence in Moscow on Monday as part of a tradition of annual meetings between the premier and prime minister, describing the current one as the 29th “meeting of the mechanism.”

“Under the strategic guidance of the two presidents, the China-Russia relations have overcome external disturbances and maintained sound and stable growth,” Mao told reporters. The regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government is an important mechanism for delivering on the common understandings between the two presidents and promoting practical cooperation and people-to-people and cultural exchanges in a coordinated way.”

Mao added that Li would travel to Belarus, a Marxist dictatorship that essentially functions as a subordinate of Russia, after departing Moscow.

The Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper, citing regime-approved “experts,” predicted that much of the discussion in Moscow would revolve around the economy, not geopolitical issues.

“The heads of government of China and Russia are more in charge of economic affairs and the implementation of practical cooperation projects,” one such expert, scholar Cui Heng, was quoted as saying.

Both China and Russia are struggling to address languishing economies, though Russia’s has built up significant momentum through oil sales – a blow to Western attempts to sanction Russia’s top industries. Russian officials have avoided the damage sanctions can cause largely by selling oil outside of the European market, to large clients such as China and India.

Chinese Youth Has Unemployment Issues

Youth Unemployment in China Rises to 17.1%, Highest Level This Year

China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Friday released economic data that showed youth unemployment rose to 17.1 percent in July, an increase from 13.2 percent in June and the highest level recorded in 2024 so far.

Voice of America News (VOA) noted the real numbers are probably even worse. Unemployment reports in China are dodgy even by the usual standards of the Communist regime because when youth unemployment hit 21.3 percent in June 2023, the government stopped reporting jobless numbers altogether.

Six months later, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics reluctantly began publishing unemployment figures again — but now the books were blatantly cooked to exclude students entirely. China’s unemployment reports also exclude rural areas, where joblessness is much higher — often twice the rate reported in big cities.

The latest figures showed the unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds was almost triple the rate of 6.5 percent for 25 to 29-year-olds, and well over triple the 5.2 percent general unemployment rate. Another trick the Chinese Communist Party pulled after the June 2023 debacle was splitting the older cohort into two groups, 25-29 and 30-59, when they had formerly been lumped together.

“The new unemployment figures come on the heels of other disappointing economic data from Beijing, including figures showing dampened industrial production, despite recent government measures aimed at boosting growth,” VOA reported.

Real estate sales remain sluggish in China despite a raft of programs introduced in May to revive the property industry. World oil prices slipped last week on news that Chinese consumer demand is still far below pre-pandemic levels, leading to a disappointing June shopping season, normally a sales bonanza for online retailers.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) saw Friday’s unemployment report as a gloomy harbinger of times to come as the largest group of university graduates in China’s history is about to hit the job market.

The poor July jobs report was an embarrassment for Chinese leaders, including Premier Li Qiang, who have been insisting for months that they understand the importance of young people to the job market and would make it their highest priority to keep unemployment down.

China's Latest Floods

Record-High Floods Hit China, Threatening Food Supply

China’s Ministry of Water Resources said on Monday that 25 “significant flood events” have been recorded on major rivers since the beginning of the annual flood season in late July.

This marked the highest number of floods recorded in a single season since China began keeping records in 1998.
Vice Minister of Water Resources Wang Bao’en noted that flood season will continue for several more weeks, but the “critical period” has passed.

The critical period in 2024 saw heavy rainfall in both northern and southern China, plus the massive rainfall event of Typhoon Gaemi, which dumped more than 216 billion cubic meters of rain on the southern part of the country in late July.

Gaemi was only the third most powerful typhoon to strike eastern China in 2024, but it was a massive rainmaker with a prolonged “tail” that lingered over areas that were already saturated from heavy July rain.

Wang said China’s annual rainfall is now about ten percent above its usual average, and river flood warnings are 120 percent more frequent than normal. Flash flooding and landslides struck many small towns, while larger cities experienced disasters such as a highway bridge collapsing in Shaanxi province.

The bridge collapse in Shaanxi dropped two dozen vehicles into a raging river, killing at least 38 people. Flood waters struck the bridge with such force that part of it was bent at a 90-degree angle. The disaster prompted criticism of the Chinese government for building bridges too quickly and cheaply as city populations swelled.

Ministry of Water Resources officials logged 3,683 river flood warnings and 81 mountain flood disaster alerts during the 2024 flooding season. Nearly 5,000 reservoirs were activated to divert flood waters.

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management issued an emergency response alert for the eastern coastal region of Guangdong province and southwest Liaoning province on Monday, as heavy rainstorms threatened to cause more flooding along swollen rivers.
China’s central bank announced that it would disburse $14 billion in loans to support rebuilding in flood-damaged areas. The Ministry of Emergency Management reported more than $10 billion in losses from natural disasters in July, one of the worst months on record.

Vice Premier Liu Guozheng urged local officials and agribusiness leaders to use rebuilding funds to improve disaster prevention and mitigation, drain accumulated floodwater to make farmland viable again, and replant crops in fields that floods destroyed.

Putin in Azerbaijan

Putin Arrives in Azerbaijan After Failing to Protect Armenia – and His Own Border

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan on Sunday for a two-day state visit, looking to bolster Russia’s relationship with the aggressive Islamist power even as relations with Armenia — Russia’s former best friend in the region — deteriorate.

Azerbaijan is on the relatively short list of countries Putin can visit safely, as he faces an outstanding warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges related to his invasion of Ukraine. Azerbaijan is not a signatory to the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), so it has no legal obligation to arrest him.

Putin’s visit comes at a bad moment for Russian military pride, as Ukraine is now almost three weeks into a surprising border incursion that has brought several Russian towns under Kyiv’s control. Armenia already had a very low opinion of Russia’s ability to protect vulnerable borders.

The Armenians are seething because Russia did not lift a finger to prevent Azerbaijan from seizing, and ethnically cleansing, the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in September 2023. Russia deployed “peacekeepers” to the area after brokering a truce in the Armenia-Azerbaijan war of 2020, but they merely stood by and watched as Azeri troops rolled in, then packed up their gear and headed off for the front lines in Ukraine.

Nagorno-Karabakh was rated the most unfree region in the entire world by Freedom House six months after the Azerik conquest. Freedom House noted the Armenian Christian population was already sick, hungry, impoverished, and terrorized from a brutal Azeri blockade before the conquering army rolled in and forced most of them to flee.

In June, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced his country would withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Russia’s regional security bloc. Pashinyan said the CTSO had not “fulfilled its objectives as far as Armenia is concerned” when it allowed Azerbaijan to first isolate, and then conquer, the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In July, Armenia enraged Russia by authorizing a joint military exercise with a small American force. The 11-day exercise, called Operation Eagle Partner, was seen as a landmark in Armenia’s turning away from Russia and toward the Western world.

“The appearance of the Americans in the South Caucasus, we have already seen this repeatedly in various parts of the world, will only fuel the conflict potential persisting in the region, and create new dividing lines,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova fumed in July.

“Western countries are maniacally dragging Armenia into various formats of interaction in Transcaucasia,” she said.
U.S. Under-Secretary of State Uzra Zeye countered that the United States saw no evidence to “indicate that Russia’s military presence contributes to a more peaceful and stable South Caucasus region.”

Putin said on Monday that he wanted to broker a new truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but his visit looked more like a signal that Russia is moving on and seeing other countries after a messy divorce from Armenia.

MIDDLE EAST

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Blinken Leaves Israel Empty-Handed

Antony Blinken Leaves Israel Empty-Handed as Hamas Rejects Biden DNC Ceasefire Deal

Representatives of the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas condemned the terms of an alleged “bridging proposal” to move it towards a ceasefire with Israel on Monday.

Hamas representatives told various media outlets that the provisions U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that day were a “coup against” a previous Hamas-friendly proposal Israel rejected.

Blinken was in Israel on Monday to discuss what he called the “last opportunity” for an end to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ongoing self-defense operations in Gaza, Hamas’s stronghold territory used to launch the unprecedented October 7 attack on the Israeli homeland. Reaching a ceasefire agreement this week would grant President Joe Biden and his political party a major diplomatic victory to tout during the ongoing Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Blinken did not specify why the current talks are the “last opportunity” for a deal. Pressed by reporters on Monday, he offered only that “intervening events come along that may make things even more difficult if not impossible” if the parties wait longer to hash out an agreement.

Biden himself told reporters on Friday he was more optimistic than in recent months that a ceasefire deal was possible, emphasizing, “I think we’ve got a shot.”

Blinken nonetheless appeared optimistic on Monday, confirming that the Israeli government had agreed to the “bridging proposal” and stating, “the next important step is for Hamas to say yes and then, in the coming days, for all of the expert negotiators to get together to work on clear understandings on implementing the agreement.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday night, President Biden told reporters that “Hamas is now backing away” from any agreement, adding that the deal was nonetheless “still in play.”

Hamas representatives told multiple media outlets that Washington had misrepresented how close both sides were to coming to a ceasefire deal and complained that the current terms of an agreement were too favorable to Israel.

“The Israelis have retreated from issues included in Biden’s proposal,” a Hamas spokesman, Osama Hamdan, told the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera on Tuesday. “Netanyahu’s talk about agreeing to an updated proposal indicates that the US administration has failed to convince him to accept the previous agreement.”

Israel Rescues Bodies of Hostages

Israel Retrieves Bodies of 6 Hostages from Hamas Tunnels in Gaza

Israeli forces conducted a daring and difficult operation in the tunnels under Khan Yunis, in Gaza, on Monday night to retrieve the bodies of six hostages who died in Hamas captivity.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet, or Shabak) said in a joint statement:
Overnight (Monday), in a joint IDF and ISA operation, the bodies of the hostages Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Haim Perry were rescued from the Khan Yunis area in the Gaza Strip.

The rescue operation was conducted under the command of the 98th Division and carried out by the Paratroopers Brigade, ‘Yahalom’ Unit, and the 75th Battalion, along with ISA forces.

The operation was enabled by precise intelligence from the ISA, IDF intelligence units, and the IDF Intelligence Directorate Hostage Headquarters.

Following an identification procedure carried out by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police, the IDF Manpower Directorate’s Hostage team, which is responsible for accompanying the families of the hostages, notified their families and communities today. The IDF and ISA send their heartfelt condolences to the families.

The IDF and ISA are continuing to deploy all operational and intelligence means in order to fulfill the supreme national mission of bringing back all the hostages.

At least one of the hostages had appeared alive in a Hamas hostage video in December.

In a statement, Kibbutz Nir Oz noted that Avraham Munder, 79, had been a beloved member of the community. His son, Roee, was murdered by Hamas on October 7, and his wife and grandson were abducted and later released during a truce in November.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged Monday that Israel had accepted the U.S. proposal for a hostage and ceasefire deal, while Hamas had not. There are roughly 109 hostages still in Gaza, about half of whom are believed to be alive.

Hamas & Islamic Jihad's Failed Suicide Bombing

Hamas, Islamic Jihad Claim Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing: Declare More to Come

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations jointly claimed a “suicide mission” in Tel Aviv late Sunday, warning there are more to come on Israeli soil.

The Times of Israel reports the claim of responsibility came hours after the police and the Shin Bet security agency confirmed the blast near a synagogue was an intended terror attack.

The force reported one person — who Israeli media said was the suspected assailant — was killed and another wounded.

The man behind the planned attack was walking down Lehi Road in south Tel Aviv on Sunday evening when the bomb he was carrying in his backpack detonated, killing him instantly and moderately wounding a passerby.

The Times report set out the events immediately before the bomb exploded:

The man behind the planned attack was walking down Lehi Road in south Tel Aviv on Sunday evening when the bomb he was carrying in his backpack detonated, killing him instantly and moderately wounding a passerby.

In the immediate aftermath of the blast, police had also been examining the possibility that it was linked to criminal or gang activity, but on Monday morning the Shin Bet and police said in a joint statement that after an initial investigation, “it can be said that this was a terror attack, with the detonation of a powerful explosive device.”

In its statement, Hamas confirmed it carried out the attack along with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — another Gaza-based terror group — and warned suicide bombings would continue in response to Israeli attacks.

The groups threatened to carry out more such attacks in Israel “as long as the occupation’s massacres, the displacement of civilians and the policy of assassinations continue.”

It occurred shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv to push for a ceasefire in Gaza after more than 10 months of war, triggered by Hamas’s murderous October 7 attack on Israel.