WASHINGTON: Republican US lawmakers on Sunday criticized President Joe Biden for waiting days to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floated over the United States, accusing him of showing weakness toward China and initially trying to keep the breach of US airspace undisclosed.
A US Air Force fighter jet on Saturday shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina, a week after it first entered US airspace near Alaska, triggering a dramatic spying saga that has further strained American-Chinese relations.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday the US military was able to collect “valuable” intelligence by studying the balloon, and that three other Chinese surveillance balloons had transited the United States during Donald Trump’s administration — a disclosure the Republican former president denied.
“We should have shot this balloon down over the Aleutian Islands. We should never have allowed it to transit the entire continental United States,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, referring to the chain of small islands that arc off the coast of mainland Alaska.
Cotton told the “Fox News Sunday” program that he believed Biden had waited to disclose the penetration of US airspace because he wanted to salvage Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned diplomatic trip to Beijing, which ultimately was postponed.
“I think part of it is the president’s reluctance to take any action that would be viewed as provocative or confrontational toward the Chinese communists,” Cotton added.
Biden said on Saturday he issued an order on Wednesday to down the balloon after it crossed into Montana, but the Pentagon had recommended waiting until it could be done over open water to protect civilians from debris crashing to Earth from nearly twice the altitude of commercial air traffic.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said of the Republican criticisms: “they are premature and they are political.”
The Defense Department in the coming week will brief the Senate on the suspected Chinese spy balloon and Chinese surveillance, Schumer told a news conference on Sunday.
NUCLEAR MISSILE SITES
Republican Representative Mike Turner, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said the panel also was set to receive a briefing on the spy balloon this week, though the exact timing has not been determined.
Turner said the balloon traveled unhindered over sensitive US nuclear missile sites, and that he believed China was using it “to gain information on how to defeat the command and control of our nuclear weapons systems and our missile defense systems.”
“The president has allowed this to go across our most sensitive sites and wasn’t even going to tell the American public if you hadn’t broken the story,” Turner told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “There was no attempt to notify Congress, no attempt to put together the Gang of Eight (a bipartisan group of congressional leaders). I think this administration lacks urgency.”
Republican US Senator Marco Rubio, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the ABC News program “This Week” that he would ask administration officials what future preparations have been made to prevent such an incident.
Rubio also said China was trying to send a message that it could enter US airspace, adding that he doubted that the balloon’s debris would be of much intelligence value.
Trump on Sunday disputed Austin’s statement that Chinese government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly three times during his presidency.
“China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did,” Trump wrote on social media.
Speaking on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” show, Trump’s former director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, also denied such balloon incidents.
China on Sunday condemned the US action against what Beijing called an airship used for meteorological and other scientific purposes that had strayed into US airspace “completely accidentally” — claims rejected by US officials.
“China had clearly asked the US to handle this properly in a calm, professional and restrained manner,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “The US had insisted on using force, obviously overreacting.”
Republicans criticize Biden for waiting to shoot down Chinese balloon
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Republicans criticize Biden for waiting to shoot down Chinese balloon
- “China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did,” Trump wrote on social media
Russia says shot dead Ukrainian agent who tried to blow up car
MOSCOW: Russia’s FSB security service said Tuesday it shot dead a Ukrainian agent who attempted to plant explosives under the car of a senior defense industry official.
The suspect, whom it did not name, allegedly worked for Ukraine’s GUR intelligence agency and targeted a “senior employee of a defense enterprise in the Sverdlovsk region,” the FSB said.
He was detained while “placing an improvised explosive device in a hiding place, put up armed resistance and was neutralized by return fire,” the FSB added.
A pistol with ammunition was found at the scene, while law enforcement seized components used for making explosives during a search of his residence, it continued.
There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.
Ukraine has often targeted Russian officials it believes are complicit in the Kremlin’s full-scale military assault on its territory, which began in 2022.
In December 2023, pro-Russian Ukrainian defector Illia Kyva was shot dead near Moscow in an attack claimed by Kyiv’s security services.
Kremlin says Russian army expansion needed to address growing threats on western flank
- Putin on Monday ordered the regular size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Tuesday that an order by President Vladimir Putin to transform Russia’s army into the second largest in the world was needed to address growing threats on Russia’s western borders and instability to the east.
Putin on Monday ordered the regular size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen in a move that would make it the second largest in the world after China’s.
“This is due to the number of threats that exist to our country along the perimeter of our borders,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
“It is caused by the extremely hostile environment on our western borders and instability on our eastern borders. This demands appropriate measures to be taken.”
Climate fund chief targets poor countries
- The GCF’s priority target list includes Algeria, the Central African Republic, Chad, Iraq, Lebanon, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and South Sudan.
- Also on the list is war-torn Somalia, hit by major floods last year and still reeling from its worst drought in decades
PARIS: Green Climate Fund chief Mafalda Duarte is on a mission to help vulnerable nations that have yet to receive a penny from the world’s largest dedicated source of climate finance.
The United Nations’ flagship organization for chanelling climate funding was set up for developing countries worst hit by climate impacts even if they are least responsible for carbon pollution that drives warming.
Money disbursed helps nations to draw down their greenhouse gas emissions, on the one hand, and adapt to storms, droughts and heatwaves made worse by climate change, along with sea level rise, on the other.
The fund, which began doling out grants a decade ago, has identified 19 climate-vulnerable nations that have received no or very limited funding.
“We are deliberately targeting those,” Duarte told AFP in an interview, taking stock of her first year in charge and outlining her ambitions.
The GCF’s priority target list includes Algeria, the Central African Republic, Chad, Iraq, Lebanon, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and South Sudan.
“Our goal is to equip the organization such that it becomes a partner of choice for the most vulnerable... and that it delivers where the funds are most needed,” said the Portuguese development economist.
Also on the list is war-torn Somalia, hit by major floods last year and still reeling from its worst drought in decades.
The GCF has pledged to invest more than $100 million over the next year to help the East African nation unlock investments and develop climate projects.
These include funding off-grid solar energy in rural communities, boosting resilience of the agricultural sector and helping with access to more money in the future.
“We need to adjust our mechanisms to be responsive to this type of country with weak institutional capacity,” she said, insisting on the need for projects to reach isolated populations despite security challenges.
The GCF was first funded by wealthy nations a decade ago as a key component in the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement.
It funnels grants and loans for projects mostly in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean.
But its ambitions have been hindered by limited resources and a cumbersome bureaucracy, making it hard for some of the world’s most at-risk countries to access funding.
How to streamline the process for getting money in a timely manner will be critical issues at November’s COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan.
Duarte aims to triple the GCF’s capital to $50 billion by 2030 — an ambitious goal, but a small fraction of the trillions experts say is needed overall.
Founded in 2010, the fund today has some 250 partners implementing projects on the ground, spanning UN agencies, development banks, government ministries and agencies, the private sector and NGOs.
Another 200 have expressed interest in aligning with the fund.
“If we are able to work with this vast network of partners that are closer to the realities on the ground where investments are happening, we can make a really big difference,” she said.
As of last month, the fund has committed $15 billion to 270 projects.
In the last 12 months, the GCF approved close to $790 million for the world’s poorest countries — a fourfold increase compared to 2022.
But it remains a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed, experts say.
Currently, donor nations decide what contributions they make to the fund.
At COP29, countries are expected to set a new global climate finance goal, though divisions over its size and scope have hampered negotiations.
As discussions enter a critical phase, Duarte has a simple message for governments: “Be bold. We don’t have the luxury of waiting.”
Top opponent of India PM Modi quits after release from jail
- The Supreme Court granted him bail last week on the condition that he refrained from signing official files or visiting his office
- Kejriwal responded by tendering his resignation to seek a fresh mandate from the public in Delhi polls slated for early next year
NEW DELHI: A top political opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi quit as chief minister of the capital Delhi on Tuesday, days after being released on bail in a corruption case.
Arvind Kejriwal, a key leader in an opposition alliance that battled Modi in national elections this year, was detained in March on accusations his city government received kickbacks from allocating liquor licenses.
He is among several opposition figures facing graft probes. His party has described his arrest as a “political conspiracy” orchestrated by Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Supreme Court granted him bail last week on the condition that he refrained from signing official files or visiting his office.
Kejriwal responded by tendering his resignation to seek a fresh mandate from the public in Delhi polls slated for early next year.
The capital’s education minister Atishi, who goes by one name, will replace him in the interim.
“Atishi steps up to lead Delhi until the upcoming elections, carrying the weight of both CM Arvind Kejriwal’s vision and the national capital’s future,” a statement from their Aam Aadmi Party said.
Kejriwal, 56, began his career as a tax collector but quit his civil service job to become a national anti-corruption crusader, bringing him national fame.
Hundreds of cheering supporters greeted him as he left jail on Friday, accusing the government of trying to “break him” by putting him behind bars.
“My resolve is stronger than before,” he said. “God is by my side.”
Kejriwal refused to resign from his position while in custody despite questions over whether his jailing would prevent him from carrying out his official duties.
Atishi, 43, suggested after her nomination that she would still be looking to her predecessor for guidance.
“Delhi only has one chief minister. It is Arvind Kejriwal,” she said.
Kejriwal’s administration was accused of corruption when it liberalized the sale of liquor in the capital three years ago, surrendering a lucrative government stake in the sector.
He is among several prominent Modi opponents to face criminal investigation or trial in recent years.
US think tank Freedom House said this year that the BJP had “increasingly used government institutions to target political opponents.”
Germany pledges winter aid package for Ukraine
- Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s energy network throughout the two-and-a-half year war
- Moscow is also targeting the country’s energy reserves
BERLIN: Germany will provide 100 million euros ($111 million) in aid to help Ukraine through the coming winter as it weathers Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
“Ukraine is facing another winter of war and Putin is waging a brutal war of cold,” the ministry wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Russia is deliberately attacking Ukraine’s heat and energy supply. This is why Germany is providing a further 100 million euros in winter aid for the (Ukrainian) energy supply.”
Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s energy network throughout the two-and-a-half year war, destroying swathes of the country’s infrastructure and causing severe power shortages and blackouts.
Russian forces have recently shifted their focus from shelling energy distribution networks to targeting energy production facilities, which are much more costly and take years to repair or rebuild.
Moscow is also targeting the country’s energy reserves.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal last week laid out plans to repair and protect the country’s power system ahead of the winter, including reinforcing facilities against drone attacks and impacts from missile fragments.
Shmygal said all hospitals and more than 80 percent of schools across the country were equipped with generators, but there was still “an urgent need for another 1,800 high-capacity generators.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in June that Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities had destroyed half of its electricity generation capacity since last winter.
In early September, the EU announced 40 million euros in humanitarian aid for Ukraine to help with repair work, electricity, heating and housing ahead of the coming winter.
