World Briefing: August 21, 2024
Barack Obama told fellow Democrats in Chicago Tuesday that "the torch has been passed" to Kamala Harris and that the United States was ready for her to become president. Former president Obama, who was greeted with rapturous applause and cheers at the packed arena hosting the party's nominating convention, said Vice President Harris would fight for Americans, and called her November poll rival Donald Trump"dangerous…Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a person who has spent her life fighting for people who need a voice," he said. Obama called Harris "someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you." - France 24
With Obama and his wife, Michelle, headlining night two of the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris left Chicago and traveled north to Wisconsin to address an almost-capacity arena audience and hold a DNC watch party with rally attendees — an obvious snub of the pair, who took their time in reluctantly endorsing her - Reuters
Russia has deployed a regiment of its Aerospace Forces to defend the Kursk region due to a manpower shortage amid Ukraine's ongoing incursion, according to an independent investigative Russian outlet. Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment by email. - Newsweek
Russian authorities claimed Wednesday that their air defense systems had destroyed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight: including 11 over Moscow, two over the Belgorod border region and two in Kursk. “This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow with drones of all time,” Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a Telegram post Wednesday. Some of the drones were destroyed over the city of Podolsk, about 38 kilometers (24 miles) south of the Kremlin, Reuters quoted Sobyanin as saying. - CNN
President Biden approved in March a highly classified nuclear strategic plan for the United States that, for the first time, reorients America’s deterrent strategy to focus on China’s rapid expansion in its nuclear arsenal. The shift comes as the Pentagon believes China’s stockpiles will rival the size and diversity of the United States’ and Russia’s over the next decade. The White House never announced that Mr. Biden had approved the revised strategy, called the “Nuclear Employment Guidance,” which also newly seeks to prepare the United States for possible coordinated nuclear challenges from China, Russia and North Korea. The document, updated every four years or so, is so highly classified that there are no electronic copies, only a small number of hard copies distributed to a few national security officials and Pentagon commanders. - NYT
The bodies of six hostages being held by Hamas have been retrieved from an "underground tunnel route" inside the Gaza Strip, Israel's military has said. A statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Chaim Peri and British-Israeli Nadav Popplewell were recovered from the Khan Younis area on Monday. Five of their deaths had already been announced by Israel, though it was thought Avraham Munder could still be alive. Alexander Dancyg’s son, Mati Dancyg, said on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had chosen to "abandon the hostages in order to survive…Netanyahu chose to sacrifice the hostages. Karma will judge him and he will pay for it, big time," he told Israeli public broadcaster Kan. Government estimates suggest there are 105 hostages remaining in Gaza, 71 of whom are thought to be alive. - BBC
A North Korean has defected to South Korea by crossing the militarised border in the eastern part of the Korean peninsula, with Yonhap news agency reporting that the defector is a soldier. Seoul’s military said on Tuesday it had picked up “one suspected North Korean individual on the eastern front and handed them over to the relevant authorities”. Yonhap news agency reported that the person was a staff sergeant. - Guardian
Azerbaijan formally applied Tuesday to join the BRICS bloc of developing economies, a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit to the oil-rich South Caucasus country to shore up regional ties and secure Moscow’s under-pressure trade routes. The announcement from the foreign ministry in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, comes as the BRICS alliance has seen a major expansion. For over a decade, the bloc included just five nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined in January, and Saudi Arabia has said it’s considering doing so as well. The club already includes some of the world’s biggest oil producers, and accounts for well over a quarter of the world’s GDP. Its members Russia and Iran have had their relations with the West stretched to breaking point over Moscow’s war on Ukraine and Iran’s regional policies. - AP
Billionaire Elon Musk scored a win in his tempestuous relationship with Brussels on Tuesday, securing a lower, individual duty on the cars his company Tesla makes in China and sells to the European Union. The European Commission announced final duties on imports of made-in-China electric vehicles following a probe into unfair Chinese state subsidies. While EV-makers will face duties of up to 36.3 percent, Tesla will only be charged 9 percent after the company secured individual treatment. The tech mogul’s relationship with Brussels could hardly be thornier. Just last week, Musk insulted the EU’s top digital enforcer Thierry Breton, who had warned the X owner about the EU’s rules on promoting hate speech ahead of Musk’s livestreamed conversation with Donald Trump. Within hours, Breton faced accusations of meddling in American politics. - Politico
The Philippines has suggested diplomacy to address the latest ship collisions between Filipino official and civilian vessels and Chinese Coast Guard ships. The US and several other countries issued statements of support for the Philippines, and the US statement in particular caused upset on the PRC side, as they blame the US for encouraging and emboldening the Philippines. The “Jun Sheng 钧声” column of the PLA Daily accused Manila of “bootlicking”, writing that “turning a blind eye to such goodwill and sincerity from China, Manila has kept making provocations, not only violating the interim arrangements agreed upon by both sides on the provision of living supplies to the illegally grounded Philippine vessel at Ren'ai Jiao but also sending vessels and aircraft to intrude into sea areas and airspace around China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea. What's worse, Manila has even gone so far as to willingly act as a pawn for external forces that wish nothing but chaos and tension for the South China Sea. Its bootlicking behavior is condemned by regional countries.”. - Sinocism
