Zelensky landed in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah for the unannounced trip and was greeted by Saudi officials including the national security adviser and ambassador to Kyiv, the official Saudi Press Agency said. No details on his itinerary were immediately available.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, works closely with Moscow on oil policy and has touted its ties to both Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, positioning itself as a possible mediator in the war.
Zelensky has travelled the world in recent weeks to rally support and attendance for a peace summit scheduled to take place in Switzerland at the weekend. He has toured not only traditional allies in the European Union but also countries in the Middle East and Asia that have closer relations with Russia.
Earlier this month, the Ukrainian leader visited Singapore, the Philippines and Qatar.
Representatives from around 90 countries are expected to gather in Switzerland to discuss Kyiv’s plan to end the war. Zelensky has convinced many officials to attend after in-person visits.
Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed whether it will take part in the summit, diplomats in the Gulf region said last week.
As Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Kyiv said a Russian strike on his hometown of Kryvyi Rig killed eight people and wounded two dozen more.
Curious onlookers, fishermen and police lined the Malecon seafront boulevard under grey skies to welcome the ships as they passed the 400-year-old Morro castle at the harbour’s entrance.
Cuba — a long-time ally of Russia — saluted the ships’ arrival with cannon fire from the harbour, while Russian diplomats waved small Russian flags and took selfies as the vessels passed the harbour’s historic fortresses.
The Admiral Gorshkov frigate, and later the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, half submerged with its crew on deck, were accompanied by a tugboat and fuel ship that had arrived earlier in the morning.
The four Russian vessels sailed to Cuba on Wednesday after conducting “high-precision missile weapons” training in the Atlantic Ocean, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday. The submarine and frigate carry Zircon hypersonic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles and Onyx anti-ship missiles, the ministry said.
Cuba said last week that the visit was standard practice by naval vessels from countries friendly to Havana. The communist-run government’s foreign ministry said the fleet carried no nuclear weapons, something echoed by US officials.
The US has been monitoring the Russian vessels as they skirted the nearby Florida coast, but has said they pose no threat. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday such naval exercises were routine.
“We have seen this kind of thing before and we expect to see this kind of thing again, and I’m not going to read into it any particular motives,” Sullivan said. He added that there was no evidence of Russia transferring any missiles to Cuba, but the US would remain vigilant. “We do not expect anything like that to occur.”
Havana is just 100 miles from Key West, Florida, home to a US Naval Air Station. The timing of the visit — as the Biden administration ponders how far to go in helping defend Ukraine against Russia — suggests more than “standard practice,” said William Leogrande, a professor at American University.
“The visiting Russian warships are Putin’s way of reminding Biden that Moscow can challenge Washington in its own sphere of influence,” Leogrande said.
The stopover coincides with Cuba’s worst social and economic crisis in decades, with shortages of everything from food, medicine and fuel and growing discontent on the streets.
“This […] has echoes of the Cold War, but unlike the first Cold War, the Cubans are drawn to Moscow not by ideological affinity but by economic necessity,” Leogrande said.
History looms large in Cuba, especially when it comes to Russia and its predecessor the Soviet Union. The Cuban missile crisis erupted in 1962 when the Soviet Union responded to a US missile deployment in Turkiye by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, sparking a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
The two countries are once again strengthening ties.
He told the BBC’s Nick Robinson that Labour had “signed up” to £18bn of cuts planned by the Conservatives – a claim denied by Sir Keir Starmer’s party.
Mr Swinney said higher tax rates, like those in Scotland where anyone earning above £28,850 pays more than elsewhere in the UK, would close that fiscal gap.
He urged Scottish voters to back the SNP because it was “crystal clear” Labour would win in England and his party would best protect Scotland’s interests at Westminster.
The £18bn figure quoted by Mr Swinney is a reference to work by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
IFS research economist Bee Boileau has described it as a “fair assessment” of the kind of cuts some UK government departments might face each year by the end of the next parliament – although she added there was some uncertainty about their precise scale.
Mr Swinney accused Labour of “not being open with people” about the financial pressures that were coming down the line.
Asked what he would do if he were prime minister, he said: “I would replicate the tax changes we’ve made in Scotland in the rest of the UK and that would essentially address the £18bn fiscal gap.”
In Scotland people earning below £28,850 pay slightly less tax than the rest of the UK but above that figure they pay increasingly more.
Mr Swinney said those who paid the extra tax benefited from things such as free university tuition and free prescriptions as a result.
Responding to Mr Swinney’s claims about Labour being committed to Tory cuts, Shadow Scotland Secretary Ian Murray insisted “there will be no austerity under Labour”.
He said Labour would “deliver economic stability, treat public finances with respect and give public services a badly needed funding boost”.
Mr Murray added: “We will raise specific taxes for those with the broadest shoulders to put an immediate injection of cash into public services, and grow our economy to put our country’s finances on a sustainable footing in the long-term.”
Until a few weeks ago, Mr Swinney had stepped back from frontline politics but the resignation of Humza Yousaf propelled him from the backbenches at Holyrood into the top job in Scottish politics.
An SNP stalwart, he first held office when the SNP came to power 17 years ago.
During the interview he was shown a photo of him with Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond, and was described as one of the “three musketeers of the SNP”.
Mr Swinney first held office when the SNP came into power 17 years ago
He was asked if he really represented the change of political leadership that a recent poll suggested many voters were seeking.
“I think what the people are saying is that they’re concerned about the issues that affect their lives, about the cost of living, about the challenges of their public services, about the implications of Brexit, for example,” he said.
Mr Swinney accepted his party had gone through a “tough time” with three leaders in two years, a police investigation into party funds and criticism of its record on education and the NHS.
“That’s why I’m here. I’m here to sort it out, to strengthen the SNP and to build the trust with the electorate – and that’s exactly what I’m doing,” he said.
Mr Swinney was challenged on his pursuit of Scottish independence which some analysis suggests could intensify the austerity he has warned against.
The IFS – the same organisation whose figures he has used to attack Labour – has predicted an independent Scotland would have to impose bigger spending cuts or tax rises in its first decade
The SNP leader replied that an independent Scotland would have “more flexibility and manoeuverability to improve our economic performance”.
He also restated his position that a simple majority of MPs in Scotland would be a mandate to open “immediate negotiations to bring about independence”.
But he said “everyone accepts” the “best way to go about this” is through a second independence referendum.
The SNP leader was also pressed on an apparent softening of his party’s position on granting new oil an gas drilling licences in the North Sea.
It is a power reserved to Westminster and Labour has proposed a ban on granting new licences.
One of his predecessors as first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, described the granting of a licence for the Rosebank field by the Conservatives as the “greatest act of environmental vandalism of her lifetime”.
But Mr Swinney said new applications should be considered on a “case-by-case” basis and assessed to see if they were compatible with climate change objectives.
While not ruling out support for some new licences, he criticised the scale of Conservative backing for further exploration.
“The prime minister has basically said he will license 100 new projects. I think that is utterly irresponsible,” he said.
“That is climate denier status of the first order.”
At the same time he said he was not prepared to allow the oil sector in north east Scotland be devastated in the manner of Scottish heavy industry when Margaret Thatcher was in power in the 1980s.
Mr Swinney was also asked about the amount of effort and time that had been spent on legislation making it easier for people to change gender.
A new law was passed at the Scottish Parliament but blocked by the UK government on grounds that it impacted on the UK-wide equality legislation, a position later upheld by the courts.
Mr Swinney said it was up to the incoming government to decide if it would maintain its opposition to the Scottish legislation.
“We’ve got to be absolutely focused making sure that we protect the rights of women and girls as we wrestle with all theses issues,” he said.
But he said the “great challenges” facing the transgender community also have to be understood.
At least 11 terrorists, involved in the martyrdom of seven army men, have been killed during an intelligence-based operation in the Lakki Marwat district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Tuesday.
In a statement, the military’s media wing said that the IBO was carried out in response to the recent Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion that claimed the lives of seven brave soldiers to bring the perpetrators of the heinous act to justice.
The martyred soldiers included Captain Muhammad Faraz Ilyas and Subedar Major Muhammad Nazir.
During the conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location, as a result of which eleven terrorists were successfully neutralised while multiple terrorist hideouts were also busted.
A sanitisation operation is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area as the security forces are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country, it concluded.
Last month, security forces conducted a series of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province from May 26 to 27 and neutralised 23 terrorists.
On May 26, an IBO was conducted in the general area of Hassan Khel, Peshawar district, where six terrorists were gunned down by the security forces and multiple hideouts were busted.
On May 27, in another operation conducted in the Tank district, 10 terrorists were killed after troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location.
The third engagement occurred in the general area of Bagh, Khyber district, wherein, the security forces killed seven terrorists and injured two terrorists.
A large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was also recovered from the killed terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as the innocent civilians, the ISPR said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Tuesday that a high-powered delegation from China would soon visit Pakistan after his “successful” trip to Beijing as the South Asian nation seeks economic support from its brotherly nation.
“A high-powered Chinese delegation will be visiting Pakistan soon,” PM Shehbaz said while briefing the federal cabinet members on his recently concluded five-day trip to China.
Shedding light on his trip, the premier revealed that the Chinese side, on multiple occasions, raised their concerns. However, he reassured that the government prioritised the security issue at every step whether it be discussions at government-to-government or government-to-business or other high-level forums.
Terming the visit “successful”, the prime minister lauded the cabinet members for their efforts and for the fruitful trip to the neighbouring country.
The PM, who landed in China on June 5 last week, held several delegation-level talks with Beijing and met Chinese leadership, including President Xi Jinping, during his trip.
The two sides, as per the joint statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), agreed to continue to work together in various domains including regional peace and stability and development.
During the trip, Pakistan reaffirmed its resolve to improve the security situation and take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of Chinese citizens and projects in the country.
Condemning the deadly Dasu suicide attack, wherein five Chinese nationals lost their lives, both sides reiterated their commitment to fight against terrorism and work together with the international community to tackle the terror threat.
Furthermore, Islamabad and Beijing termed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a key aspect of the latter’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and also agreed to explore ways to further strengthen the bilateral relations via sharing of experience in governance along with synergised development strategies.
Moreover, China also reaffirmed its support for Pakistan with regards to its sovereignty, national independence and territorial integrity.
Austria will hold a parliamentary election on September 29, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Tuesday, with the Alpine nation’s far-right FPOe party ahead in the polls.
On Sunday, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPOe) won the country’s EU elections, the first time it has won a nationwide ballot.
The anti-immigrant FPOe is also expected to win September’s vote, leading the polls with an estimated 26 to 31 percent of the vote.
The date of the election will be approved by the cabinet on Wednesday.
“Tomorrow’s meeting of the Council of Ministers will set 29 September as the date for the national elections”, Nehammer wrote on X.
Following Sunday’s election, in which his ruling conservative People’s Party (OeVP) came second with 24.5 percent, Nehammer said he had heard the voters’ message.
He added he would seek to address their concerns ahead of the national vote, including cracking down on illegal migration.
A win in September would put the FPOe — which was founded in the 1950s by former Nazis — in pole position to form a government.
But experts say it might prove difficult for the FPOe to find partners to form a majority to govern, as a record number of parties are expected to make it into parliament.
For the first time in Austria, it could take a coalition of three parties to form a majority government.
The FPOe has been part of a ruling coalition several times but has never governed.
After a slump in popularity in 2019, the party has since bounced back, having seized on discontent over the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, as well as soaring inflation and migration.
The OeVP currently governs Austria in a coalition with the Greens.
But their approval ratings have plummeted, with the conservatives polling at about 21 percent.
The coalition has repeatedly clashed over economic interests and climate policy.
In 2019, the previous government coalition between the conservatives — then led by chancellor Sebastian Kurz — and the FPOe collapsed in a spectacular corruption scandal.
But Kurz was re-elected and formed a new government in 2020, this time with the Greens, before stepping down in 2021 amid further graft allegations.
Nehammer succeeded Kurz as chancellor shortly afterwards.
G7 host Italy published its programme and guest list for the leaders’ summit in Puglia this week, with talks on Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine kicking off the event.
Against a backdrop of rising global tensions, the June 13-15 summit will see leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations, including US President Joe Biden, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Japanese premier Fumio Kishida, gather at the luxury southern Italian resort of Borgo Egnazia.
Other guests, from Pope Francis to Indian premier Narendra Modi, have been invited by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to round out the exclusive event, but they will not participate in official G7 discussions.
From Africa are due to arrive Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Tunisia’s Kais Saied, Kenyan President William Ruto and Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, the president of Mauritania.
Africa, climate change and development are the topics of the opening session of the G7 on Thursday. They will be followed by a session devoted to the Middle East and then talks on Ukraine — considered the top focus of the summit — before an official dinner.
The guest list published Tuesday also includes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Argentine President Javier Milei and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from Brazil — which holds the rotating presidency of the G20.
Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan also plans to attend, as does Jordanian King Abdullah II, according to the list.
Italian diplomatic sources had suggested Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would attend, but his name did not appear on Tuesday’s list.
From the G7 nations Britain, Germany and Canada come Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, respectively.
Friday’s programme will feature talks on migration, the Indo-Pacific and economic security, followed by a discussion on artificial intelligence attended by Pope Francis.
The summit is expected to wrap up by 7:00 pm local time (1700 GMT) Friday, with a final press conference from Meloni on Saturday afternoon.
First Minister John Swinney accused Labour and the Conservatives of “not being straight with voters” about £18bn of spending cuts.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said there will be “unequivocally no austerity under a Labour government”.
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said his party will further cut National Insurance.
The party leaders were questioned by members of the public on a wide range of issues during a BBC Scotland Debate Night leaders’ special in Glasgow.
In a heated exchange on what their parties would do to help working class families navigate the cost-of-living crisis, SNP leader John Swinney said the economic research group the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned of £18bn of public spending cuts which would follow the election of either a Conservative or Labour government.
He said neither party is being honest with the public and accused Labour of “signing up” to cuts “by accepting the fiscal constraints of the Tories”.
Mr Swinney said there is a “fixed sum” of money available to the Scottish government but said “tough decisions” by ministers at Holyrood to increase taxes had made more cash available for services.
He said his party had helped working class families by introducing the Scottish Child Payment and scrapping school meal debt.
“That is the reality people are facing in this election – austerity from the Tories or austerity from the Labour Party,” he said.
Mr Sarwar told him: “Read my lips. No austerity under Labour.”
He said there would be “unequivocally” no austerity under a UK Labour government and said his party would “make work pay” by ensuring pay rose for more than 200,000 people in Scotland.
The Scottish Labour leader hit out at the UK Conservative government for the “carnage the Conservatives have imposed on this country and the state of the public finances”.
Mr Sarwar went on to say that the election was a chance to oust the Tories from power.
Both the SNP and the Conservatives oppose Labour’s plans for a windfall tax on the energy industry.
Douglas Ross warned it could lead to the loss of 100,000 jobs, a claim which has also been made by the SNP.
BBC Verify has previously concluded this claim was misleading.
Mr Ross said his party would help tackle the cost-of-living crisis by cutting national insurance by a further 2p, a policy announced in the Conservative manifesto on Tuesday.
The co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Lorna Slater, said the rich had “made off like bandits” during the pandemic, and reaffirmed her party’s commitment to taxing the “super-wealthy”, which she classified as those with over £3.4m worth of assets.
The Greens also back a windfall tax on oil and gas giants.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said his party would “immediately reverse” the two-child cap on benefits and invest in public services to grow the economy by helping people – such as the 175,000 Scots
On the topic of the NHS, John Swinney said the health service is under “acute pressure” as a consequence of increased demand and a falling population due to Brexit.
He said Labour would invest less in the NHS during their first year in power than the Conservatives.
“That shows you that the Labour Party is not committed to delivering the type of investment to end austerity which is what is required in this country,” he said.
Mr Sarwar said his party will put an immediate injection of cash into the NHS by closing the non-dom tax loophole to fund 160,000 appointments in Scotland every year.
Mr Cole-Hamilton complained it was “hard” for people to get GP appointments.
He said Scotland is dealing with a “mental health crisis” and his party would fix this by trebling the digital services tax which is paid by social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram and using the funds generated to improve mental health care.
Ms Slater blamed the problem on the “tiny packet of money” the Scottish government receives from Westminster in the form of the block grant.
She said this forced government ministers to make “impossible” decisions on how the money should be spent.
The leaders were also quizzed on the topic of Scottish independence.
Mr Swinney said: “People in this country have a democratic right to decide if they wish to be independent.”
And he said even if the SNP lost in the election the party would continue to make the case for leaving the UK.
“The SNP is a party which believes in Scottish independence. If we accept a continuation of the UK Government in Scotland we are signing up to more austerity,” he said.
Ms Slater pressed Mr Sarwar to commit a Labour government to allow another referendum.
“You said it yourself, it’s for the people of Scotland to decide, so will you respect our democratic mandate and allow us a referendum on independence?” she asked.
Mr Sarwar said he did not support independence but understood why some Scots did.
Mr Ross said there had been a “decade of division” in Scotland since the independence referendum in 2014.
He insisted independence was “the obsession of the nationalists”, adding: “It’s not the NHS, not the education system, it’s not carers.
“It’s going to be independence above everything else and Scotland will suffer as a result of that. We can do so much better.”
Mr Cole-Hamilton added the independence debate has “been holding us back” and is not what people on the doorsteps are asking about.
He said issues such as the economy and health are “crying out for ministerial attention but are being starved of that because of the constitutional debate that has gripped our politics for so long.”
Modi was sworn in on Sunday at a ceremony attended by leaders from Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. However, China and Pakistan were not present.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered a brief congratulations to his counterpart on his re-election, almost a week after the results came in.
“Felicitations to Narendra Modi on taking oath as the prime minister of India,” he posted on X, in the first official comments from Pakistan.
Former PM and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif also congratulated the Indian premier. “Your party’s success in recent elections reflects the confidence of the people in your leadership,” Nawaz said in a post on X.
“Let us replace hate with hope and seize the opportunity to shape the destiny of the two billion people of South Asia,” he added.
Hours later, PM Modi responded to the two, thanking PM Shehbaz for his “good wishes”.
To Nawaz, he said: “Appreciate your message Nawaz Sharif. The people of India have always stood for peace, security and progressive ideas. Advancing the well-being and security of our people shall always remain our priority.”
Nawaz had attended the ceremony when Modi became the prime minister for the first time in 2014, a complete rarity in the history of the nuclear-armed nations.
But the neighbours currently have minimal relations and ties have worsened during a decade under Modi, who has ramped up his Hindu nationalist agenda.
Pakistan suspended bilateral trade and downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi in 2019, after Modi revoked the limited autonomy of Indian-held Kashmir in a move widely celebrated across India.
But analysts say Pakistan, a sixth of the size of India, has few levers to pull.
Modi’s “election campaign pivoted around anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan rhetoric”, Zahid Hussain, an opinion writer and author, said in a Dawnop-ed last week.
“Modi’s campaign narrative made it absolutely clear that under his dispensation, the Muslims will be politically disempowered, economically marginalised, and deprived of their constitutional rights,” he said following the vote.
ISLAMABAD: US Chargé d’Affaires Andrew J Schofer on Monday emphasised the crucial role of higher education institutes in driving Pakistan’s economic development.
“Higher education institutions have an essential role to play in Pakistan’s development. When universities deliver equitable education, provide youth with employment-ready skills, and lead in applied research and innovation, both individuals and society prosper,” Chargé d’affaires Schofer said in his opening remarks while addressing the three-day International Summit on Higher Education.
Schofer inaugurated the three-day event in Islamabad alongside Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HECP) Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, and professors from the University of Utah.
The USAID-funded summit brings together over 180 Pakistani and American university leaders and faculty to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and build partnerships to improve the quality of higher education and student employability.
The summit is part of USAID’s $19 million Higher Education System Strengthening Activity that supports 16 Pakistani public universities to improve higher education management, market-relevant instruction, and student support services.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed appreciated this robust partnership between the University of Utah and Pakistani universities to exchange ideas and share innovations across borders.
