Halted Ukraine grain deal, funding shortages rattle UN food aid programs

Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut on Aug. 1, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 02 August 2023
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Halted Ukraine grain deal, funding shortages rattle UN food aid programs

  • “What we have to do now is to look elsewhere (for grain) of course,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program
  • The WFP on Tuesday started reducing monthly cash aid for 120,000 Syrian refugees living in two camps in Jordan citing budget cuts

BEIRUT: A halted landmark grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with donor’s fatigue, is rattling the operations of the United Nations food agency, its deputy executive director said Tuesday.
“What we have to do now is to look elsewhere (for grain) of course,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program told The Associated Press. “We don’t know exactly where the market will land, but there might well be an increase in food prices.”
The WFP on Tuesday started reducing monthly cash aid for 120,000 Syrian refugees living in two camps in Jordan citing budget cuts, a decision that upset both refugees and Jordanian officials. The agency has said it would gradually cut off 50,000 refugees in Jordan from its assistance altogether. The program had initially covered 465,000 refugees.
Syrian refugees in Jordan expressed frustration at the news, as they continue to struggle with finding work and high inflation rates.
“This decision ruined our lives,” Khadija Mahmoud, a Syrian refugee from the Aleppo countryside in Amman and a mother of eight told the AP. “How are we going to pay for the apartment’s rent, the electricity bill, the water bill, how? We don’t have the capacity.”
The WFP announced last week it has only raised $5 billion so far this year, less than half of its objective of between $10 billion and $14 billion. It also said it has reduced its food and cash assistance worldwide in recent months due to what it calls an “unprecedented funding crisis”.
Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which helped secure Ukrainian wheat also impacted the WFP, which this year purchased 80 percent of its wheat supply from the war-torn country.
UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations for years have struggled to reach budgetary requirements due to the global economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war with Ukraine.
In the Middle East, budgetary constraints have impacted assistance for war-torn Syria and neighboring countries hosting millions of refugees while facing economic crises of their own, including Jordan and Lebanon.
In June, WFP announced major cuts in aid to Syria, now in its 13th year of civil war, cutting 2.5 million of the 5.5 million people who rely on the agency for their basic food needs.
“Frankly, it’s difficult to see how they would manage because all our beneficiaries are in dire need of assistance,” Skau said.
In March, then-WFP executive director David Beasley warned that ongoing funding cuts could cause mass migration, destabilized countries, and starvation in the next 12 to 18 months.
“When the most vulnerable at critical levels of food insecurity don’t receive our food assistance, there are only two ways out,” Skau said. “Either they die or they move.”


Activists turn Paris fountain red to denounce Gaza ‘bloodbath’

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Activists turn Paris fountain red to denounce Gaza ‘bloodbath’

PARIS: French activists dyed a Paris fountain red Wednesday to symbolize what they called the “bloodbath” of Palestinians in Gaza.
Activists from Oxfam and Amnesty International poured dye into the Fontaine des Innocents in the heart of the French capital, while others held placards saying “Cease fire” and “Gaza: stop the bloodbath.”
“This operation aims to denounce France’s slow response to an absolute humanitarian emergency facing the people of Gaza today,” the activists, which included the French branch of Greenpeace, said in a joint statement.
“France cannot limit itself to mere verbal condemnations,” said former minister Cecile Duflot, executive director of Oxfam France.
Clemence Lagouardat, who helped coordinate Oxfam’s humanitarian response in Gaza, denounced the Israeli blockade of the besieged territory.
“The people in Gaza need everything, it’s a matter of survival,” she told AFP.
The October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 57 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.
The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation has killed at least 53,977 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.
Israel has now stepped up a renewed campaign to destroy Hamas, drawing international condemnation as aid trickles in following a blockade since early March that has sparked severe food and medical shortages.
“There is a genocide going on and political inaction is becoming a kind of complicity in this genocide,” said Jean-Francois Julliard, head of Greenpeace France.
“We call on (President) Emmanuel Macron to act with courage, clarity and determination to put an end to this bloodshed.”
The activists urged states “with influence over Israel” to press for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, an arms embargo on Israel, the revision of a cooperation agreement between the EU and Israel and other measures.
Macron has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “unacceptable” and “shameful” behavior in blocking aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.
In response Netanyahu has accused Macron of siding with a “murderous Islamist terrorist organization.”

Sweden charges militant over Jordanian pilot burnt to death in Syria

Updated 28 May 2025
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Sweden charges militant over Jordanian pilot burnt to death in Syria

  • The pilot is then locked in a cage that is set on fire, leading to his death, Henrik Olin, the other prosecutor in charge of the case, told reporters
  • The defendant's lawyer, Petra Eklund, told AFP that her client admitted to being present at the scene but disputed the prosecution's version

STOCKHOLM: Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Swedish militant over the 2014 capture and subsequent killing of a Jordanian pilot, who was burned to death in a cage in Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group.
Osama Krayem, 32, was charged with "participating in the brutal execution of a pilot" near the city of Raqqa, prosecutor Reena Devgun told a press conference.
Krayem, who is already serving a 30-year sentence for involvement in the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris, was charged with "serious war crimes and terrorist crimes".
According to prosecutors, who had announced they intended to charge Krayem last week, an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria on December 24, 2014.
The pilot was captured by IS fighters the same day near the central city of Raqqa, and killed sometime before February 3, 2015.
The execution was filmed and a 22-minute video accompanied by a specially composed religious chant was published.
In the video, the victim is seen walking past several masked IS fighters, including Krayem, according to prosecutors.
The pilot is then locked in a cage that is set on fire, leading to his death, Henrik Olin, the other prosecutor in charge of the case, told reporters.
"This bestial murder, in which a prisoner was burned alive in a cage, was staged in a carefully produced video that was broadcast around the world. Its publication marked an unprecedented escalation in the Islamic State group's violent propaganda," Olin said.
Prosecutors have been unable to determine the exact day of the murder, but the investigation has identified the location where it took place.
The defendant's lawyer, Petra Eklund, told AFP that her client admitted to being present at the scene but disputed the prosecution's version.
"He denies the acts for which he is prosecuted," she said.
"He acknowledges having been present at that place during the event but claims not to have acted in the manner described by the prosecutors in the account of the facts."
Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, joined the IS group in Syria in 2014 before returning to Europe.
In June 2022, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in France for helping plan the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed.
The following year, he was given a life sentence in Belgium for participating in the bombings on March 22, 2016, at Brussels' main airport and on the metro system, which killed 32 people.
"Even though this is a person that's already sentenced and is serving very long prison sentences in other countries, we will still charge him and we have an international obligation to do so," Devgun told AFP.
Krayem has been "temporarily handed over to Sweden to participate in the trial", which is scheduled to begin June 4, according to the Swedish Prosecution Authority.
"It is painful for my parents to be confronted with this event again, but we are grateful that the Swedish authorities want to give us justice," Jawdat al-Kasasbeh, the pilot's brother, told broadcaster Sveriges Radio.


Zelensky proposes three-way meeting with Trump, Putin

Updated 28 May 2025
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Zelensky proposes three-way meeting with Trump, Putin

  • Donald Trump has expressed frustration at both Putin and Zelensky for not yet striking a deal to end the war
  • The Ukrainian leader had previously appeared to express frustration at Washington for not having announced fresh sanctions on Moscow

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as he seeks to force Moscow to halt its three-year-long invasion.

Russian President Putin rejected calls to meet Zelensky in Turkiye earlier this month and the Kremlin has said a meeting between the two leaders would only happen after some kind of “agreement” is reached.

The US president has expressed frustration at both Putin and Zelensky for not yet striking a deal to end the war.

The two sides have traded waves of massive aerial attacks in recent weeks, with Ukraine firing almost 300 drones at Russia overnight, the defense ministry in Moscow said.

“If Putin is not comfortable with a bilateral meeting, or if everyone wants it to be a trilateral meeting, I don’t mind. I am ready for any format,” Zelensky said in comments to journalists on Tuesday that were published on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian leader said he was “ready” for a “Trump-Putin-me” meeting, and also urged Washington to hit Moscow with a package of hard-hitting sanctions on its banking and energy sectors.

“We are waiting for sanctions from the United States of America,” Zelensky said.

“Trump confirmed that if Russia does not stop, sanctions will be imposed. We discussed two main aspects with him — energy and the banking system. Will the US be able to impose sanctions on these two sectors? I would very much like that.”

The Ukrainian leader had previously appeared to express frustration at Washington for not having announced fresh sanctions on Moscow after Russia rejected a coordinated Western appeal for an immediate ceasefire.

Trump over the weekend called Putin “crazy” after a massive Russian barrage killed at least 13 people across Ukraine.

And on Tuesday, he went on blasting at the Russian leader.

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

Despite months of US-led diplomacy, the two sides appear no closer to striking a deal to end the three-year-long war, triggered by Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Tens of thousands have been killed, much of east and southern Ukraine has been destroyed, and Moscow’s army now controls around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Hours after Zelensky spoke, Ukraine unleashed one of its largest ever drone barrages on Russia, where officials reported only minimal damage from the attacks.

Moscow’s three major international airports were forced to suspend flights for hours overnight amid the barrage, aviation authorities said.

Ukraine said that Russia launched more than 900 drones in the three days up to Monday. Thirteen civilians were killed in attacks on Sunday, including three children.

On the battlefield, Zelensky said Russia was “amassing” more than 50,000 troops on the front line around the northeastern Sumy border region, where Moscow’s army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Putin has called a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.

Zelensky also said that Ukraine is yet to receive a promised “memorandum” from Russia on its demands for a peace deal.

Ukraine has accused Russia of dragging out the peace process following the first direct talks in more than three years between negotiators from the two sides earlier this month in Istanbul.

Zelensky is due to visit Germany on Wednesday for talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has pledged muscular backing for Kyiv in its fight against Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that details on a second round of negotiations would be announced soon.


US suspends student visa processing in fresh swipe at foreign applicants

Updated 28 May 2025
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US suspends student visa processing in fresh swipe at foreign applicants

  • The government plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said.
  • Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration has moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans

CAMBRIDGE: The US State Department on Tuesday ordered the suspension of student visa processing, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks unprecedented control of the nation’s universities by slashing funding and curbing international enrollment.
It is the latest escalation in the White House’s crackdown on foreign students, which has seen it revoke visas and deport some of those involved in protests against the war in Gaza.
A cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”
The government plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said.
The New York Times reported that the suspension of interviews with visa applicants was temporary.
Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration has moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans.
Japan and Hong Kong have both urged local universities to accept foreign students from US universities in light of the crackdown.
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Wednesday said Beijing urged Washington to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China.”
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students attend US universities, long viewed by many in China as beacons of academic freedom and rigour.
The suspension of visa processing came as Harvard students protested on Tuesday after the government said it intended to cancel all remaining financial contracts, Trump’s latest attempt to force the institution to submit to unprecedented oversight.
A judge issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for Thursday, the same day as the university’s commencement graduation ceremony for which thousands of graduating students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.
The White House, meanwhile, doubled down in its offensive, saying that public money should go to vocational schools that train electricians and plumbers.
“The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society,” Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Tuesday evening. “We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.”
Tuesday’s protest unfolded as news helicopters hovered overhead and graduating students in academic attire and their guests ate finger food at a reception on the lawns of Harvard Square nearby.
“All my international friends and peers and professors and researchers are at risk and (are) threatened with being deported — or their option is to transfer” to another university, said Alice Goyer, who attended the protest wearing a black academic gown.
One history of medicine student from Britain graduating this week who gave his name only as Jack said that the policies pursued by Trump would make US universities less attractive to international students.
“I don’t know if I’d pursue a PhD here, six years is a long time,” he said.
Harvard itself has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump’s measures, which legal experts say are likely to be overturned by the courts.
Separately, alumni plan to file a lawsuit against Trump on June 9, filmmaker Anurima Bhargava told a virtual meeting staged by Crimson Courage, a grassroots alumni group that held a mass webinar to raise awareness and a fighting fund from former students.


The cutting of contracts announced Tuesday — estimated by US media to be worth $100 million — would mark the slashing of business ties between the government and the country’s oldest university.
Amid a broad campaign against seats of learning that Trump accuses of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism, the president has singled out Harvard.
In the last few weeks, the elite educational and research powerhouse has seen billions of dollars in federal grants frozen and millions of dollars of federal contracts torn up.
The university has sued both to block the revocation of its right to recruit and sponsor foreign students, 27 percent of its total roll, as well as to overturn the withdrawal of federal funding.
A legal expert suggested Harvard could file a lawsuit to overturn the latest contract cuts as part of existing legal action.
“The case is so strong that the court system is not going to step to the side and allow this... to go forward,” said Albany Law School professor Ray Brescia.
He said the Trump administration’s assault on Harvard was so flawed that a higher court would likely strike down the campaign if the Trump administration were to challenge it on appeal.
On Monday, Trump nonetheless vowed he would prevail in the increasingly public struggle, claiming that foreign students at Harvard include “radicalized lunatics, troublemakers.”
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Asia boosts weapons buys, Gulf states make inroads as security outlook darkens

Updated 28 May 2025
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Asia boosts weapons buys, Gulf states make inroads as security outlook darkens

  • Southeast Asian nations spend $2.7 billion more on weapons, IISS research says
  • Spike comes even as nations spent an average of 1.5 percent of GDP on defense in 2024

HONG KONG: Spending on weapons and research is spiking among some Asian countries as they respond to a darkening security outlook by broadening their outside industrial partnerships while trying to boost their own defense industries, a new study has found.

The annual Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment released on Wednesday by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said outside industrial help remains vital even as regional nations ultimately aim for self-reliance.

“Recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, coupled with worsening US-China strategic competition and deterioration of the Asia-Pacific security landscape, may lead to a rising tide of defense-industrial partnerships,” it read.

“Competitive security dynamics over simmering flashpoints ... feed into the need to develop military capabilities to address them.”

Spending on defense procurement and research and development rose $2.7 billion between 2022 and 2024, it showed, to reach $10.5 billion among Southeast Asia’s key nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The spike comes even as the nations spent an average of 1.5 percent of GDP on defense in 2024, a figure that has kept relatively constant over the last decade.

The study, released ahead of this weekend’s annual Shangri-La Dialogue defense meeting in Singapore, said Asia-Pacific nations still rely on imports for most key weapons and equipment.

Such items range from submarines and combat aircraft to drones, missiles and advanced electronics for surveillance and intelligence gathering.

The informal Singapore gathering of global defense and military officials is expected to be dominated by uncertainties stemming from the protracted Ukraine conflict, Trump administration security policies and regional tension over Taiwan and the disputed busy waterway of the South China Sea.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are increasingly active and making inroads, the study said, though European companies have a prominent and expanding regional presence, via technology transfer, joint ventures and licensed assembly deals.

The UAE now operates a diversified network of collaborators, such as China’s NORINCO weapons giant and rival India’s Hindustan Aeronautics.

Joint development operations are not always easy, the study said, offering lessons from India’s two-decade collaboration with Russia to produce the BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missile.

While the feared weapon is fielded by India, exports have been hampered by lack of a clear strategy, with deliveries to its first third-party customer, the Philippines, starting only in 2024, the study added.

Closer Russia-China ties could further complicate the weapon’s development, particularly if Moscow chooses to prioritize ties with Beijing to develop a hypersonic version of the missile.