DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came out swinging Tuesday against Russian President Vladimir Putin at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos and even had a harsh tone for his allies as war fatigue grows, pressing political and corporate leaders to enforce sanctions, help rebuild his country and advance the peace process.
Zelensky is trying to keep his country’s long and largely stalemated defense against Russia on the minds of political leaders, as Israel’s war with Hamas, which passed the 100-day mark this week, has siphoned off much of the world’s attention and sparked concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East.
“Anyone thinks this is only about us, this is only about Ukraine, they are fundamentally mistaken,” he said in a speech in English at the Swiss ski resort. “Possible directions and even timeline of a new Russian aggression beyond Ukraine become more and more obvious.”
“Putin embodies war” and will not change, he said. While lashing out at Putin for mass deportations, leveling cities and “the terrifying feeling that the war may never end,” he also offered pointed criticism for a world that told him not to escalate tensions ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
“After Feb. 24th, nothing harmed our coalition more than this concept. Every ‘Don’t escalate’ to us, sounded like ‘You will prevail’ to Putin,” Zelensky said.
He thanked allies for each package of sanctions on Moscow but urged them to ensure they work. Russia, for instance, has found workarounds for imports of banned Western products that still appear on shelves.
It is Zelensky’s first trip to Davos since the war began after speaking by video in previous years, and he rushed between meetings with corporate executives and world leaders. Surrounded by a large security contingent, he’s drawn the attention of media and others seeking to meet him.
Conversations with the prime ministers of Qatar and Jordan will bookend the day’s most visible events, with speeches by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan in between.
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani of Qatar said the concentration on the attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi militia — which have spurred retaliatory strikes by the US and Britain — was “focusing on the symptoms and not treating the real issue” of Israel’s war with Hamas.
“We should focus on the main conflict in Gaza. And as soon as it’s defused, I believe everything else will be defused,” he said, adding that a two-state solution was required to end the conflict.
Sheikh Mohammed also warned that a military confrontation “will not contain” the Houthi attacks.
“I think that what we have right now in the region is a recipe of escalation everywhere,” he added.
Li, the Chinese premier, focused on pitching the country as a place to invest, noting that “we are opening wide our embrace.” He said China’s economy is estimated to have grown about 5.2 percent last year, exceeding the target it had set of 5 percent.
China’s economy, for decades a leading engine of global expansion, has struggled since COVID-19 restrictions, with high youth unemployment and the implosion of its overbuilt property market.
Li gave veiled criticism of US restrictions on China’s ability to buy advanced computer chips used in everything from cellphones to washing machines.
“Technology’s achievements should be used to benefit all humankind and it should not be used as a method to limit, to suppress another country,” Li said.
Von der Leyen reiterated that the EU doesn’t want to break from Beijing — one of its most important trade partners — but ease the risks of relying too heavily on it because “we have issues when it comes to access to the market, when it comes to a level playing field, when it comes to economic security.”
She noted China’s export controls on metals used in computer chips, solar cells and more.
For the US, Sullivan said no when The Associated Press asked whether he would meet with China’s delegation as he headed into talks with Zelensky and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Zelensky, once reticent about leaving his country, has recently gone on a whirlwind tour to rally support for Ukraine amid donor fatigue in the West and concerns that former US President Donald Trump — who touted having good relations with Putin — might return to the White House next year following his commanding win Monday in the Iowa caucuses.
Zelensky hopes to parlay the high visibility of the event into a bully pulpit to showcase Ukraine’s pressing needs, and allies will be lining up: Corporate chiefs including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and officials like von der Leyen learned in multiple gatherings what support and investment was needed to help rebuild Ukraine.
“It’s time for us, for Ukrainian companies, for international companies to rebuild (the) Ukrainian economy,” Maxim Timchenko, CEO of Ukrainian energy company DTEK said after the session. “To rely on ourselves. To build a future for Ukraine.”
In her speech, Von der Leyen painted an optimistic view of the war in Ukraine despite the battlefield stalemate. She said Russia has “lost half of its military capabilities,” while Ukraine regained half the ground it had originally lost early in the invasion.
A day earlier, Zelensky stopped in Switzerland’s capital, Bern, where President Viola Amherd pledged her country would work with Ukraine to help organize a “peace summit” for Ukraine.
In his speech at Davos, he invited every leader who respects and international law to join, saying “peace must be the answer.”
The theme of the gathering is “rebuilding trust,” and it comes as that sentiment has been fraying globally: Wars in the Middle East and Europe have increasingly split the world into different camps.
At Davos, Zelensky lashes out at Putin and urges support for Ukraine’s fight
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At Davos, Zelensky lashes out at Putin and urges support for Ukraine’s fight
- Zelensky is trying to keep his country’s long and largely stalemated defense against Russia on the minds of political leaders
- He thanked allies for each package of sanctions on Moscow but urged them to ensure they work
UK police arrest 40 after pro-Palestinian rally
- Individuals were arrested late on Tuesday for offenses including breaching public order conditions, obstructing roads and assaulting emergency workers
London: UK police on Wednesday said that 40 people had been arrested and three officers injured after protesters refused to disperse following a demonstration in London over Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza.
The British capital’s Metropolitan Police Service said the individuals were arrested late on Tuesday for offenses including breaching public order conditions, obstructing roads and assaulting emergency workers.
It said two officers sustained minor injuries after being assaulted while a third, who was struck by a bottle thrown from within the crowd, suffered a “serious facial injury.”
The Met, as the force is widely known, said an investigation was under way to identify who threw the bottle.
Police had approved plans for the early evening protest — organized by a coalition including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign — outside the gates of Downing Street in central London.
But it imposed conditions including that the rally end by 8:00pm.
Up to 10,000 people attended, and the “vast majority” had left by the required time, but a group of around 500 remained to continue protesting, according to police.
“Officers engaged extensively before making a number of arrests for failing to comply with conditions,” the Met said in a statement.
“As they moved in, some in the crowd resisted physically requiring officers to use force to extract those who had been arrested.”
Further arrests followed later in the evening after the remaining demonstrators launched a breakaway march and were eventually corralled outside a train station, the Met said.
Israel’s renewed military operations in Gaza, concentrated on Rafah, have sparked fresh protests in London and other cities around the world.
The British capital has seen frequent marches protesting Israel’s response to the deadly Hamas attack on its territory on October 7, stoking controversy and political debate over how they should be policed.
They have passed off largely peacefully, but police have made arrests at many for various offenses, including anti-Semitic chanting and banners, promoting a proscribed organization and assaults.
Singapore Airlines flight investigation finds sharp altitude drop caused injuries
- One passenger died of a suspected heart attack and dozens were injured after Flight SQ321 encountered extreme turbulence
SINGAPORE: Preliminary findings of an investigation into a Singapore Airlines flight hit by severe turbulence last week showed a rapid change in gravitational force and a 54 meter altitude drop caused injuries, Singapore’s transport ministry said on Wednesday.
One passenger died of a suspected heart attack and dozens were injured after Singapore Airline Flight SQ321, flying from London to Singapore, encountered what the airline described as sudden, extreme turbulence while flying over Myanmar. The ministry said the investigation was ongoing.
The SQ321 London-Singapore flight on a Boeing 777-300ER plane carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew diverted to Bangkok for an emergency landing after the plane was buffeted by turbulence that flung passengers and crew around the cabin, slamming some into the ceiling.
“The aircraft experienced a rapid change in G (gravitational force) ... This likely resulted in the occupants who were not belted up to become airborne,” the ministry said in a statement, citing a report by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau of Singapore.
“The vertical acceleration changed from negative 1.5G to positive 1.5G within 4 seconds. This likely resulted in the occupants who were airborne to fall back down.
“The rapid changes in G over the 4.6 seconds duration resulted in an altitude drop of 178 ft (54 m), from 37,362 ft to 37,184 ft. This sequence of events likely caused the injuries to the crew and passengers,” it said.
The report also said a pilot was heard calling out that the fasten seat belt sign had been switched on.
Aid reaches Papua New Guinea landslide site
- Difficulties getting aid and supplies to the site has stoked a mix of desperation and frustration on the ground
- Full-scale rescue and relief efforts have been severely hampered by the site’s remote location
PORT MORESBY: Supplies of food and medicine began arriving at the scene of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea Wednesday, with aid workers discovering children rendered mute by the shock of the disaster.
Papua New Guinea’s government estimates that as many as 2,000 people may be buried underneath a massive landslide that struck a thriving highland settlement in Enga province in the early hours of May 24.
Only six bodies have so far been pulled from the mountain of churned-up earth after days of frantic digging with makeshift tools.
Difficulties getting aid and supplies to the site — and the speed of the government response — has stoked a mix of desperation and frustration on the ground.
Community leader Miok Michael said that 19 of his “family members and relatives” were missing and feared dead.
“The relief support and donations are slowly reaching the affected site,” said Michael, who recently visited the disaster zone.
“But displaced people are still crying and calling for help. There is no proper house for them to sleep, all their houses were buried.”
With rescue teams abandoning hope of finding survivors under the meters of mud and rubble, the community has started to count the emotional and physical cost.
Mourning locals have started carrying the dead away in immense “haus krai” funeral processions, collective outpourings of love and grief that can last for weeks.
Images showed a group of men carrying a wooden casket down the forested valley on their shoulders as scores of mourners trailed behind them, wailing with despair.
Aid groups fear children will bear the brunt of the catastrophe, estimating that 40 percent of residents in the area are younger than 16.
“What we are hearing is that, because of what they saw and experienced, many of the children have stopped talking,” Justine McMahon from CARE Papua New Guinea said.
Niels Kraaier from UNICEF Papua New Guinea said workers were aware of nine orphaned children.
UNICEF said it had started distributing rudimentary hygiene kits of buckets, jerrycans and soap, while World Vision said food, shelter, blankets and mosquito nets remained immediate needs.
However, full-scale rescue and relief efforts have been severely hampered by the site’s remote location, nearby tribal violence and landslide damage that has severed major road links.
The collapse of bridges along the sealed road to the site has forced lengthy detours for some aid convoys.
Papua New Guinea’s military tried for days to bring heavy earth-moving equipment to the site.
But, with a series of bridges in a state of disrepair or damaged by earlier floods, they have now abandoned that plan and will source equipment from mines and businesses.
That equipment will arrive at the landslide by Thursday at the “latest,” UN migration agency official Serhan Aktoprak said.
Provincial leaders have implored the government to declare a national emergency that would draw attention to their plight and free up resources.
“I am not equipped to deal with this tragedy,” provincial administrator Sandis Tsaka said.
Prime Minister James Marape is yet to visit the remote pocket of Enga province more than five days after the landslide.
He has stayed in the capital Port Moresby, where his government is trying to fend off a no-confidence motion that could sweep it from power.
There are concerns this political manoeuvering has drawn attention away from what could be one of the country’s worst natural disasters.
Marape told parliament on Wednesday that the village of Yambali was “no more.”
“Nature, through a disastrous landslip, submerged or covered the village and from our initial estimation over 2,000 people would have perished in this disaster.”
“In this year, we have had extraordinary rainfall that has caused flooding in river areas, sea level rise in coastal areas, and landslips in a few areas,” Marape said.
Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most disaster-prone regions and landslides are extremely common in its highlands.
Geologists believe recent heavy rain may have contributed to the slide.
“Papua New Guinea sits right on a plate boundary, where these large, rigid parts of the earth plow into each other,” University of Adelaide geologist Alan Collins said.
“This creates mountains, steep slopes and other extreme topography.
“You have these steep slopes located in an area of heavy rainfall, and this can rot the minerals in the rocks, and gradually weaken them.”
The World Bank and others have warned that landslides were likely to increase in Papua New Guinea due to a growing population and uncontrolled land use.
Scientists have also warned that climate change will cause more extreme rainfall across most parts of the world.
China hosts Arab leaders at forum aimed at deepening ties
- Beijing has sought to build closer ties with Arab states in recent years
- Last year it brokered a detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia
BEIJING: China on Wednesday hosts a litany of Arab dignitaries and diplomats ahead of a forum Beijing hopes will deepen ties with the region and present a “common voice” on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Beijing has sought to build closer ties with Arab states in recent years, and last year brokered a detente between Tehran and its long-time foe Saudi Arabia.
It has also historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
And Beijing last month hosted rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah for “in-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation.”
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, as well as a host of other regional leaders and diplomats, are among the delegates attending the forum.
President Xi Jinping is set to deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony on Thursday, Beijing has said, aimed at building “common consensus” between China and Arab states.
Top of the agenda will be the war between Israel and Hamas, which Xi has called for an “international peace conference” to resolve.
China sees a “strategic opportunity to boost its reputation and standing in the Arab world” by framing its efforts to end that conflict against US inaction, Ahmed Aboudouh, an associate fellow with the Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme, said.
“This, in turn, serves Beijing’s focus on undermining the US’s credibility and influence in the region,” he said.
“The longer the war, the easier for China to pursue this objective,” he added.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with counterparts from Yemen and Sudan in Beijing, saying he hoped to “strengthen solidarity and coordination” with the Arab world.
He also raised China’s concerns over disruptive attacks on Red Sea shipping by Iran-backed Houthi forces acting in solidarity with Hamas with his Yemeni counterpart Shayea Mohsen Al-Zindani.
“China calls for an end to the harassment of civilian vessels and to ensure the safety of waterways in the Red Sea,” state news agency Xinhua quoted him as saying.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to face trial for royal insult
- The former prime minister will also be indicted for violating the Computer Crime Act
- Thaksin had been in self-imposed exile since 2008, but returned to Thailand in August last year
BANGKOK: Thai prosecutors said Wednesday former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be indicted for defaming the monarchy, three months after he was freed on parole on other charges.
Thaksin will not yet be indicted because he had filed a request to postpone his original appointment on Wednesday with proof that he has COVID-19, Prayuth Bejraguna, a spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General, said at a news conference.
The attorney general’s office scheduled a new appointment for Thaksin’s indictment on June 18, Prayuth said, adding that Thaksin will also be indicted for violating the Computer Crime Act.
Thaksin had been in self-imposed exile since 2008, but returned to Thailand in August last year to begin serving an eight-year sentence. He was released on parole in February from the hospital in Bangkok where he spent six months serving time for corruption-related offenses.
On his return, he was moved almost immediately from prison to the hospital on grounds of ill health, and about a week after that King Maha Vajiralongkorn reduced his sentence to a single year. Thaksin was granted parole because of his age — he is 74 — and ill health, leaving him free for the remainder of his one-year sentence.
His return was interpreted as part of a political bargain between his Pheu Thai Party and the conservative establishment — longstanding rivals — to stop the progressive Move Forward Party from forming a government following its victory in last year’s general election.
After his return, the attorney general’s office said it had revived an investigation into whether Thaksin almost nine years ago violated the law against defaming the monarch, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Thaksin was originally charged in 2016 with violating the law for remarks he made to journalists when he was in Seoul, South Korea, a year before that, but the investigation could proceed only after he was presented with the charge in person in the hospital in January, officials said. Thaksin had denied the charges and submitted a statement defending himself.
Prosecutor’s spokesperson Prayuth said there is enough evidence for the attorney general to indict Thaksin. He said the prosecutors have already prepared their statement and documents to present to the court next month.
Since his release, Thaksin has maintained a high profile and is believed to be wielding influence in the government led by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. One analyst believes Thaksin’s growing influence has angered the ultra-conservatives and that the indictment is their response.
“It is designed to keep Thaksin under control. This is keeping him on a leash. If he doesn’t behave then this charge can be activated and could land him in jail. This is to curtail his movement and his maneuvers and to remind him, sending him a signal in a way, to know who’s in charge and to know he should not overstep the boundary,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, at professor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.
