Zelenskyy walks back anti-corruption legislation amid protests
Ukraine's Parliament has voted to restore the independence of two key anti-corruption agencies, reversing a controversial law signed by President Zelenskyy. The move follows mass protests and EU pressure over concerns it could block investigations into political allies.
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Al Jazeera
8 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump says US envoy Witkoff to travel to Russia ‘next week'
United States President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Russia next week to continue talks on the war in Ukraine. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said Witkoff would visit, 'I think next week, Wednesday or Thursday.' Responding to questions from reporters on what Russia could do to avoid looming sanctions, the US president replied: 'Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.' Trump has threatened to impose 'very severe tariffs' on Russia if it fails to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine soon. Trump also said that two nuclear submarines he deployed following an online row with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were now 'in the region.' Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military. Trump's latest comments come after he recently described Russia's actions in its war on Ukraine as 'disgusting', after a Russian attack on an apartment block in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, killed 31 people on Thursday. The attack capped off a month of a record 6,297 Russian long-range drone attacks on Ukraine, a 14-fold increase from July 2024. Ukraine is looking forward to receiving a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system, which Trump has promised will be delivered, albeit with funding from Ukraine's European allies, not the Trump administration. Ukraine has also continued to launch its own attacks on Russia, with its most recent attacks on Sunday killing three people across the country and causing a major fire at an oil refinery. A Ukrainian drone attack on Monday morning sparked a fire at a railway station in Russia's Volgograd region, the regional administration said on Telegram. As fighting has continued, Russian and Ukrainian officials have held several meetings in recent months in Istanbul, Turkiye. The latest meeting secured an agreement to exchange 1,200 prisoners, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday. Russia has yet to comment. Witkoff, a real estate magnate and Trump golf partner, has already met with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times in Moscow in his role as a White House special envoy. As a special envoy to the Middle East, he is also Trump's representative in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which saw him visit Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, where he met with the families of captives held in Gaza.
Al Jazeera
12 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,257
Here is how things stand on Monday, August 4: Fighting A Russian attack killed three people in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhia region on Sunday, Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a major fire at an oil depot in Sochi in southern Russia, the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said on Sunday. The fire was extinguished hours later after 120 firefighters were deployed, officials said. Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, briefly halted flights at Sochi's airport during the fire. Ukraine's military says it used drones to target several sites inside Russia, including refineries, an airfield and an electronics plant. The governor of the Voronezh region in southern Russia said four people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack that caused several fires, A Russian attack injured seven people and destroyed dozens of houses and apartments in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said on Telegram early on Sunday. The Ukrainian air force said on Sunday that Russia launched 76 drones and seven missiles against Ukraine. It said 60 drones and one missile were intercepted, but 16 drones and six missiles hit eight different locations across Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defence said its air defence units destroyed 93 Ukrainian drones overnight, including one over the Krasnodar region and 60 over the waters of the Black Sea. It did not specify how many drones were fired in total. Politics and Diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners following negotiations in Istanbul, adding that 'work on the lists [of prisoners to be released] is ongoing'. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Zelenskyy announced he had appointed Anatolii Kryvonozhko as Commander of Ukraine's air force, a role Kryvonozhko has been serving in as Acting Commander for nearly a year. Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine has prepared three new sanctions packages, including sanctions against the captains of Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers. China and Russia began joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan in waters near the Russian port of Vladivostok, China's Ministry of National Defence said in a statement on Sunday. The drills will last for three days. Speaking to a crowd of one million young Catholics on the outskirts of Rome, Pope Leo said: 'We are with the young people of Gaza; we are with the young people of Ukraine.'
Qatar Tribune
13 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Clash between European Union and China over green technology escalates
Agencies Brussels As the world races toward a low-carbon future, the geopolitical undercurrents of climate action are becoming increasingly turbulent. Nowhere is this more evident than in the escalating tensions between the European Union and China, where green technology has become both a symbol of cooperation and a flashpoint of conflict. The recent Financial Times article, 'EU and China stand-off over climate action before Xi and von der Leyen meet,' captures this friction, highlighting how the EU's anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) has provoked a sharp rebuke from Beijing. But beneath the surface of trade disputes lies a deeper story, one that reveals the strategic ambitions of Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to dominate the global green economy while resisting external scrutiny. The EU's investigation into Chinese EV subsidies is not merely a bureaucratic exercise; it is a direct challenge to China's state-led industrial model. For years, Beijing has poured vast subsidies into its clean tech sector, enabling Chinese firms to flood global markets with low-cost solar panels, batteries, and EVs. While this has accelerated the global green transition, it has also raised alarms in Brussels and Washington about unfair competition and strategic dependency. Xi Jinping's government has responded with characteristic defiance. Framing the EU's actions as protectionist and politically motivated, Beijing has warned of retaliatory measures, signalling that it views climate-linked trade disputes as part of a broader Western effort to contain China's rise. This narrative fits neatly into the CCP's domestic messaging, which portrays China as a victim of Western double standards while asserting its right to industrial self-determination. Under Xi, China's green industrial policy is not just about environmental stewardship; it is a pillar of national strategy. The CCP has identified clean technology as a domain where China can leapfrog traditional powers and assert global leadership. This ambition is backed by a sprawling network of state-owned enterprises, subsidies, and regulatory protections that have enabled Chinese firms to dominate key segments of the green supply chain. Rare earths, solar panels, and EV batteries are not just commodities; they are instruments of geopolitical leverage. The EU's dependence on Chinese inputs for its green transition places it in a precarious position. Brussels faces a dilemma: how to enforce fair competition without jeopardizing its own climate goals. Xi's government is acutely aware of this dependency and has not hesitated to exploit it, using export controls and diplomatic pressure to remind Europe of the costs of confrontation. While China has made impressive strides in renewable energy deployment, its climate governance remains tightly controlled by the CCP. Xi's top-down approach to environmental policy, often described as 'authoritarian environmentalism,' prioritizes state control over market mechanisms or civil society engagement. This model allows for rapid mobilization of resources but lacks transparency, accountability, and public participation. Critics argue that this approach enables greenwashing and data manipulation, undermining global trust in China's climate commitments. Moreover, the CCP's suppression of environmental NGOs and independent researchers has stifled domestic scrutiny, making it difficult to assess the true environmental impact of China's industrial policies. In this context, the EU's push for fair competition and regulatory transparency is not just an economic issue; it is a challenge to the CCP's governance model. The EU's decision to launch an anti-subsidy probe marks a turning point in its relationship with China. For years, Brussels pursued a policy of engagement, hoping that economic integration would encourage political convergence. That illusion has faded. The green tech standoff reflects a broader strategic awakening in Europe, where concerns about dependency, coercion, and systemic rivalry are reshaping policy. Yet Europe's position remains constrained by its reliance on Chinese supply chains. The EU's climate ambitions are entangled with its economic vulnerabilities. This interdependence complicates efforts to decouple or diversify, especially in the short term. Xi Jinping understands this dynamic and is likely to use it as a bargaining chip in upcoming negotiations with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Xi's leadership style is defined by calculated brinkmanship, pushing boundaries while avoiding outright rupture. In the climate domain, this means presenting China as an indispensable partner while resisting external pressure for reform. The CCP's strategy is to shape global norms from within, leveraging its market size and technological prowess to dilute Western influence. However, this approach carries risks. If China is perceived as weaponizing green trade or undermining fair competition, it could trigger a backlash that accelerates efforts to diversify supply chains and tighten trade rules. Already, the U.S. and EU are exploring new alliances and regulatory frameworks to counter China's dominance. Xi's challenge is to maintain China's centrality in the green economy without provoking a coalition of resistance. The upcoming meeting between Xi and von der Leyen will be more than a diplomatic formality; it will be a test of whether two interdependent yet adversarial powers can find common ground in the face of mounting tensions. For Xi Jinping and the CCP, the stakes are high. Their vision of green leadership is inseparable from their broader quest for global influence and domestic legitimacy. But if that vision relies on coercion, opacity, and strategic dependency, it may ultimately undermine the very cooperation needed to address the climate crisis. The EU, for its part, must navigate a delicate balance—asserting its values and interests without derailing the green transition. In this high-stakes standoff, the path forward will require not just diplomacy, but a rethinking of how power, policy, and the planet intersect.
