Netherlands with 40 other OSCE countries ask probe into Russia's POW treatment
"By invoking this so-called 'Moscow Mechanism', the Netherlands and partnering countries contribute to truth-finding and accountability for Russian war crimes in Ukraine", he said, without specifing which other countries had joined the request.
The OSCE is an organization of 57 countries that includes former Cold War foes the United States and Russia as well as various countries in Europe, Central Asia and North America.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv attack injures five, Trump and Starmer to discuss ‘applying pressure' on Putin
A Russian air attack on Kyiv has injured at least five people and damaged a residential building, the head of the Ukrainian capital's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on Monday via Telegram. British prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Donald Trump are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine when they meet in Scotland on Monday. Downing Street said the talks would include 'applying pressure' on Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the invasion. The two leaders have built a rapport on the world stage despite their differing political backgrounds, with Trump praising Starmer for doing a 'very good job' in office ahead of their talks on Monday, which will focus on the Middle East and trade. It comes after Trump announced a tariffs deal between the US and the European Union after meeting European commission president Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry on Sunday. Von der Leyen called on Sunday for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to uphold independent anti-corruption bodies, with the Ukrainian president signalling legislation to that effect could be adopted within days. 'Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path,' von der Leyen said on X after a call with Zelenskyy. 'It must build on these solid foundations and preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine's rule of law.' After a rare outburst of public criticism, Zelenskyy on Thursday submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies – reversing course on an earlier bill aimed at stripping their autonomy. 'I thanked the European commission for the provided expertise,' Zelenskyy said on X after his Sunday call with von der Leyen. 'We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week.' Von der Leyen also promised continued support for Ukraine on its path to EU membership. Russia scaled down the festivities on Sunday honouring its navy, citing security concerns amid continuing Ukrainian drone attacks. Russian authorities cancelled the parades of warships in St Petersburg, in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic and in the far-eastern port of Vladivostok that are usually held to mark the annual Navy Day celebrations. Asked about the reason for the cancellation in St Petersburg even as Putin arrived in his home city to visit the navy headquarters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that 'it's linked to the overall situation, security reasons, which are above all else'. The Russian defence ministry said air defences downed 99 Ukrainian drones in several regions overnight. Later in the day, it said another 51 drones were shot down near St Petersburg. A man was killed and three other people injured by drone fragments in the region around St Petersburg, according to local authorities. On the trip to St Petersburg, Putin vowed to build more warships and intensify the navy's training, adding: 'The navy's strike power and combat capability will rise to a qualitatively new level.' French president Emmanuel Macron had a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday and said later on X that he reaffirmed France's support for Kyiv and vowed to raise pressure on Moscow to force it to 'agree to a ceasefire that paves the way for talks leading to a solid and lasting peace, with full European involvement'.
Reuters
36 minutes ago
- Reuters
US, China to launch new talks on tariff truce extension, easing path for Trump-Xi meeting
STOCKHOLM, July 28 (Reuters) - Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials will resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to try to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world's top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months and keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from U.S. duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. The Stockholm talks come hot on the heels of Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15% tariff on most EU goods exports to the U.S., including autos. The bloc will also buy $750 billion worth of American energy and make $600 billion worth of U.S. investments in coming years. No similar breakthrough is expected in the U.S.-China talks but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and facilitate planning for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. Trump's administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China within weeks, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products. "We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters on Sunday before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck their tariff deal. Previous U.S.-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia's (NVDA.O), opens new tab H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include U.S. complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that U.S. national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. "Geneva and London were really just about trying to get the relationship back on track so that they could, at some point, actually negotiate about the issues which animate the disagreement between the countries in the first place," said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I'd be surprised if there is an early harvest on some of these things but an extension of the ceasefire for another 90 days seems to be the most likely outcome," Kennedy said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already flagged a deadline extension and has said he wants China to rebalance its economy away from exports to more domestic consumption -- a decades-long goal for U.S. policymakers. Analysts say the U.S.-China negotiations are far more complex than those with other Asian countries and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on U.S. industries. In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in late October. Trump has said he will decide soon on a landmark trip to China, and a new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail planning. Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy in Beijing, said that a Trump-Xi summit would be an opportunity for the U.S. to lower the 20% tariffs on Chinese goods related to fentanyl. In exchange, he said the Chinese side could make good on its 2020 pledge to increase purchases of U.S. farm products and other goods. "The future prospect of the heads of state summit is very beneficial to the negotiations because everyone wants to reach an agreement or pave the way in advance," Sun said. Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered U.S. tariffs totaling 55% on most goods and further easing of U.S. high-tech export controls, analysts said. Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Great British Railways ‘risks repeating the mistakes of the past'
The government's state-owned framework for the railways risks 'morphing into the ghost of British Rail' unless ministers find ways to boost competition and develop fresh income streams, a new report warns. Concerned that Great British Railways is about to 'repeat the mistakes of the past', the study urges ministers to drop their 'profound and misguided hostility to open access rail competition' and seek ways to cut annual subsidies. It finds that, with railway revenue at only at 89.1 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, thanks to working from home and a drop in season ticket sales, the taxpayer is spending £12.5 billion a year in subsidy. That is despite the sector accounting for only 2 per cent of all journeys taken by the public. Tony Lodge: How to make Great British Railways a success The report, Rail's Last Chance, is from the Centre for Policy Studies think tank. Its author, Tony Lodge, outlines a four-point plan to get the industry back on track. 'It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Great British Railways is a solution looking for a problem — prioritising the nationalisation of the railways over their effective and efficient operation,' he says. His study follows a damning report last month from the management consultancy Arthur D Little, which found that Britain is embarking on a new era of nationalised railways, including taking back control of private franchised train operators, with no coherent strategy. It quoted one senior rail executive saying the railway was stuck with the Albert Einstein maxim that 'the definition of madness is to do the same things and expect a different outcome'. Lodge is particularly critical of the government's antipathy to open access rail operators, which run without government contracts or public subsidy. After heavy pressure from the transport department, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) blocked applications earlier this month for new services from Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, FirstGroup's Lumo and the Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway Company citing 'insufficient capacity on the west coast main line southern section'. Calling for a minimum of 10 per cent open access on intercity routes by 2030, Lodge argues that they deliver 'better services, more routes, faster trains and cheaper tickets', while lifting the performance of the incumbent operator. He cites the east coast main line, where Hull Trains, Lumo and Grand Central compete with the state-backed LNER. He says quarterly data shows that LNER has grown passenger numbers by 28 per cent since 2019, while on the west coast the monopoly operator Avanti is 'still struggling to get passengers back' to pre-Covid levels. • Alistair Osborne: Great Bolshevik Railways going the wrong way Pointing to the 'enormous missed opportunities for the rail estate to generate wider ancillary income', Lodge's second recommendation is for ministers to examine the potential for property, retail and green energy income across 'the rail sector's 52,000 hectares'. He says there is scope to develop 34 sites for solar energy — enough to power at least 140,000 homes — and room for health hubs at stations. Thirdly, he calls for the ORR to 'retain its independent regulatory powers' to scrutinise Great British Railways, saying it 'should not be able to mark its own homework'. His final plea is not just for an 'easy, cheap and user friendly' ticketing app but one that also offers such things as a 'rail miles loyalty scheme'. British Rail was the name for the monolithic state-owned railway business until 1997 by which time the industry had been broken up and part privatised.
