NATO Signs $1.2bn Artillery Shell Deal

 

The push to refill stocks and ramp up output comes as doubts swirl over future support for Ukraine from key backer the United States.

NATO on Tuesday signed contracts worth $1.2 billion to acquire over 200,000   155-millimetre artillery shells in the face of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.

Members of the Western military alliance have drained their stocks sending shipments of heavy ammunition to help Ukraine’s forces battle Russia in a brutal war of attrition.

The latest deals — signed with French firm Nexter and Germany’s Junghans Microtec — are estimated by officials to cover around 220,000 shells and deliveries to NATO members will start at the end of 2025.

“It is important that our allies refill their own stocks as we continue to support Ukraine,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

The US-led alliance last year launched a plan to bolster defence production and has since inked joint procurement contracts for ammunition worth some $10 billion.

Those include a deal to buy up to 1,000 European-produced Patriot air defence missiles that was signed last month.

The European Union has also launched its own efforts to increase defence production, but the 27-nation bloc is falling far short of a target of supplying Kyiv one million artillery shells by March.

The push to refill stocks and ramp up output comes as doubts swirl over future support for Ukraine from key backer the United States.

Stoltenberg insisted that Kyiv’s supporters “will support Ukraine with the systems and the weapons and ammunition they need to prevail as a sovereign, independent country.”

He said the alliance for now did not “see any direct or imminent threat against any NATO ally” from Russia and had stepped up its eastern defences to dissuade Moscow from any aggression.

Health Ministry In Hamas-Run Gaza Says War Death Toll At 25,490

 

The latest toll included 195 fatalities in the past 24 hours

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday at least 25,490 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory in the war between militants and Israel.

The latest toll included 195 fatalities in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while at least 63,354 people had been wounded since the war erupted on October 7.

Strike On Busy Market Kills 25 People In Russian-Held Donetsk

Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of a sharp escalation in attacks on civilian areas in the past two months.

A strike on a crowded market in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine left at least 25 people dead and 20 wounded on Sunday, Moscow-backed officials said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of a sharp escalation in attacks on civilian areas in the past two months.

Shattered storefronts and broken glass could be seen in videos shared by Russian state media, along with what appeared to be bodies lying on the ground nearby.

“At the moment, information about 25 dead has been confirmed. At least 20 more people have been injured,” said Denis Pushilin, head of the region’s Russian-controlled administration.

He blamed Ukraine for the strike, calling it a “horrific” attack on a civilian area.

Ukraine did not immediately comment, and AFP was not able to immediately verify the circumstances of the attack.

Officials said the strike hit a southwestern suburb of the city, less than 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the eastern front.

‘People screamed’

Local resident Tatiana said she heard an incoming projectile overhead, and hid under her market stall.

“I saw smoke, people screamed, a woman was crying,” she told a local media outlet.

“Where is there anything military here? It’s just a market,” another resident named Tatiana told the same outlet. “This is one of the strongest blows in recent times,” she said.

The toll marks one of the deadliest in Donetsk since Moscow launched full-scale hostilities against Ukraine in February 2022.

Donetsk, occupied by Russia and its proxy forces since 2014, has been repeatedly targeted by what Moscow has called indiscriminate Ukrainian shelling.

Moscow called Sunday’s attack a “barbaric terrorist attack” that showed the need for its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

“Security threats and acts of terrorism should not be committed from the territory of Ukraine,” its foreign ministry said.

Gas terminal ablaze

News of the attack came as Russia reported another blaze on its energy infrastructure, this time at a gas terminal in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga.

Kyiv earlier this week claimed responsibility for two attacks on oil depots in Russia, including one in the same Leningrad region where Ust-Luga is located.

Operator Novatek said there were no victims and the fire was “currently localised” at the site, some 110 kilometres (70 miles) west of St Petersburg near the Estonian border.

Novatek said the fire was caused by an “external factor”, without providing any further detail.

Ukraine, which has targeted Russian oil and gas infrastructure throughout the almost two-year conflict, did not immediately comment on the incident.

“No casualties as a result of a fire at Novatek’s terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. Personnel were evacuated,” Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad Oblast, said.

He shared a photo showing firefighters spraying water on a large fire at the terminal.

The RIA-Novosti news agency said a 100 cubic metre container was ablaze.

The Ust-Luga complex processes natural gas condensate into naphtha, jet fuel and ship fuel components, according to Novatek’s website.

Biden Calls Netanyahu, Says Palestinian State Still Possible

 

Biden and Netanyahu, who have a complicated relationship stretching back some 40 years, last spoke on December 23 and the silence between them since has led to repeated questions about a rift.

US President Joe Biden said Friday it was still possible Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could agree to some form of Palestinian state, after the two leaders spoke for the first time in nearly a month amid tensions over the Gaza war.

Their call came a day after Netanyahu said he opposes allowing Palestinian sovereignty in the wake of the conflict with Hamas, deepening Israeli divisions with key backer Washington over the conduct of Israel’s offensive and what comes next.

But Biden said after the call that it was not impossible Netanyahu might come round to some form of so-called two-state solution, mooted for decades as a way to end tensions in the Middle East, despite the Israeli premier’s comments.

“There are a number of types of two-state solutions. There’s a number of countries that are members of the UN that… don’t have their own militaries,” Biden told reporters after an event at the White House.

“And so, I think there’s ways in which this could work.”

Asked what Netanyahu was open to, Biden replied: “I’ll let you know.”

Biden and Netanyahu, who have a complicated relationship stretching back some 40 years, last spoke on December 23 and the silence between them since has led to repeated questions about a rift.

Netanyahu has pledged to destroy Hamas and demilitarize Gaza following the October 7 attacks on Israel, and is increasingly resistant to US pressure for a plan that includes any form of Palestinian statehood that could threaten his country.

The Israeli premier said on Thursday that his country “must have security control over all the territory west of the Jordan (River)” and that he had made this clear to Israel’s “American friends”.

“This is a necessary condition, and it conflicts with the idea of (Palestinian) sovereignty,” Netanyahu said in public remarks.

 ‘Promise and possibility’

The White House said earlier that Biden had pushed the issue with Netanyahu when they spoke, but said the call had not been in direct response to the Israeli’s comments.

“The president still believes in the promise and the possibility of a two-state solution” for both Israelis and Palestinians, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The call also discussed US hostages still among those held captive by Hamas since the October 7 attack on Israel, he added.

Biden and Netanyahu have often been at loggerheads in the past, with the Democratic US president last year pressing the right-wing Israeli premier over controversial judicial reforms.

But Biden has stood firmly behind Israel since October 7, even travelling to the country after the attacks, where he publicly embraced Netanyahu and pledged full US support.

Fresh tensions have emerged since then however as the toll of the Israeli offensive on Gaza has mounted, with Biden warning that Israel could lose support by “indiscriminate bombing” and pushing for a two-state solution.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week said Israel would not get “genuine security” without a “pathway to a Palestinian state.”

The October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. Militants also seized about 250 hostages, around 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza.

Israel’s relentless air and ground offensive has killed at least 24,762 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Five Dead As Israeli Strike Hits Residential Building In Damascus

The targeted neighbourhood is known to be a high-security zone home to leaders of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and pro-Iran Palestinian factions.

An Israeli strike on Damascus killed five people in a building where “Iran-aligned leaders” were meeting on Saturday, a war monitor said, as regional tensions soar over the Israel-Hamas war.

“An Israeli missile strike targeted a four-storey building, killing five people… and destroying the whole building where Iran-aligned leaders were meeting,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The British-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria said the targeted neighbourhood is known to be a high-security zone home to leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and pro-Iran Palestinian factions.

“They were for sure targeting senior members” of those groups, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

The mid-morning strike, which caused a large plume of smoke to billow into the sky, was also reported by Syrian state media.

“An attack targeted a residential building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood in Damascus, resulting from an Israeli aggression,” the official SANA news agency reported. It did not say if there were any casualties.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the destroyed building was cordoned off with ambulances, firefighters and Syrian Arab Red Crescent rescue teams all present at the site.

Civil defence were busy searching for survivors under the rubble of the totally collapsed building, he said.

The Mazzeh area is also home to the United Nations’ headquarters, embassies and restaurants.

“I heard the explosion clearly in the western Mazzeh area, and I saw a large cloud of smoke,” a resident told AFP.

“The sound was similar to a missile explosion, and minutes later I heard the sound of ambulances,” he added.

Hundreds of Israeli strikes

During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces as well as Syrian army positions.

But it has intensified attacks since the war between Israel and Hamas, which like Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement is an ally of Iran, began on October 7.

In December, an Israeli air strike killed a senior general with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the military force said.

Razi Moussavi was the most senior commander of the Guards’ foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, to be killed outside Iran since a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020 killed the Force’s commander, Qasem Soleimani.

In the same month, air strikes in eastern Syria, “likely” carried out by Israel, killed at least 23 pro-Iran fighters, the Observatory said at the time, reporting four more dead in the country’s north.

Recent months have also seen regular cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch foe Iran, which backs President Bashar al-Assad’s government, to expand its presence there.

Since 2011, Syria has endured a bloody conflict that has claimed over half a million lives and displaced several million people and plunged.

Source: AFP

Salah Ruled Out Of Two AFCON Games As Senegal, Cape Verde Reach Last 16

The 31-year-old came off late in the first half of the Pharaohs' 2-2 draw with Ghana on Thursday.

Record seven-time champions Egypt were dealt a major blow on Friday as captain Mohamed Salah was ruled out of two Africa Cup of Nations games with a hamstring injury, while holders Senegal and Cape Verde qualified for the last 16.

The Egyptian Football Association confirmed in a statement that Liverpool star Salah would not be able to return for his country unless they reach the quarter-finals at the tournament.

The 31-year-old came off late in the first half of the Pharaohs’ 2-2 draw with Ghana on Thursday.

He will therefore sit out Monday’s final group game against Cape Verde and any last-16 tie that would follow that.

After drawing their opening two games, Egypt need to beat Cape Verde to be guaranteed of advancing in second place in Group B.

That would tee up a last-16 tie in San-Pedro on January 28, while they could also potentially qualify as one of the best third-placed teams.

Salah will therefore only feature again at the competition if Egypt make it to a quarter-final on February 2 or 3.

Senegal, who beat Salah’s Egypt on penalties in the final of the last AFCON, clinched a spot in the next round with one group game to spare thanks to a 3-1 win over Cameroon in Yamoussoukro.

Ismaila Sarr of Marseille put the reigning champions ahead early on and later set up Habib Diallo to make it 2-0.

Jean-Charles Castelletto pulled one back, but Senegal were not to be denied a convincing victory and talisman Sadio Mane put the outcome beyond doubt late on.

Senegal have a maximum six points after two Group C matches, while Cameroon have only one and their hopes of advancing to the last 16 are in the balance.

“I remember that in 2017 we lost to Cameroon in the quarter-finals, so during this match we did everything to win,” said Marseille forward Sarr.

Bebe stunner

Later on in Group C Guinea, again missing star striker Serhou Guirassy, beat Gambia 1-0 at the same venue thanks to Aguibou Camara’s second-half goal.

The result leaves Guinea second in the section on four points, meaning they need just a draw against Senegal in their next match to guarantee qualification for the last 16, while a victory will see them progress as group winners.

Cameroon and Gambia will meet each other next and can both hope to at least progress as one of the four best third-placed sides.

Earlier, Cape Verde became the first team to qualify for the last 16 thanks to a convincing 3-0 win over Mozambique in Abidjan.

Former Manchester United forward Bebe set the Atlantic Ocean island nation on their way with a remarkable first-half free-kick from 40 metres at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium.

Captain Ryan Mendes doubled their lead just after half-time and Kevin Pina wrapped up the win with a stunning strike midway through the second half.

Cape Verde’s biggest ever AFCON victory leaves them on six points from two games and means they are now certain to top Group B, after they beat Ghana 2-1 in their opening game.

“I don’t know how far we can go. Now we are into the last 16 and we just need to keep working as we have been,” said Mendes.

“We know it won’t be easy but we believe in ourselves and in our work.”

Cape Verde already know they will stay in Abidjan for a last-16 tie against a third-placed team on January 29.

Mozambique, appearing at their fifth Cup of Nations, have still never won a match in 14 attempts at the tournament.

 Tanzania sack coach

Meanwhile, Tanzania fired coach Adel Amrouche after he was banned for eight matches and fined $10,000 over comments about Morocco, a Confederation of African Football (CAF) official told AFP.

His dismissal was confirmed by the Tanzanian Football Federation with Hemed Suleiman promoted from assistant coach to caretaker boss for the rest of their AFCON campaign.

The Group F outsiders lost 3-0 to Morocco on Wednesday and still have to play Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Before Amrouche was axed, a CAF official said “(the organisation) has suspended the coach for eight matches after comments he made about Moroccan officials in a TV interview”.

Algeria-born Amrouche alleged Moroccan officials within CAF decide who referees matches involving the senior men’s national team, and at what time they kick off.

Davos Free-Trade Champions Fret Over War, Climate

 

Before Hamas's attack on Israel in October, the World Trade Organization had forecast global trade growth of 3.3 per cent, an improvement from 0.8 per cent in 2023.

After COVID and the war in Ukraine, free-trade boosters in Davos fretted over a new bout of turmoil in global supply chains due to rising geopolitical frictions.

The Israel-Hamas conflict, Yemeni rebels attacking ships in the Red Sea and tensions over Taiwan weighed on political and business elites at the five-day meeting of the World Economic Forum, which wrapped up Friday.

“There are geopolitical dynamics that are on our minds with respect to obviously the potential disruption of supply chains,” Francesco Ceccato, CEO of Barclays Europe, told AFP on the sidelines of the WEF.

“We thought we had normalised those after Covid. Clearly, that’s a little bit more precarious after … what is happening every day in the Red Sea,” he said.

Before Hamas’s attack on Israel in October, the World Trade Organization had forecast global trade growth of 3.3 per cent, an improvement from 0.8 per cent in 2023.

But WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the forum this week that she was now “less optimistic” about world trade in 2024 due to “worsening geopolitical tensions”.

She added, however, that it would be “much better than what we saw in 2023. Unless a major war breaks out, then all bets are off.”

– Disruptions for ‘few months’ –

 The Red Sea route carries about 12 per cent of global maritime trade, but the attacks have prompted many companies to take a massive and costly detour around the southern tip of Africa.

Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen say they are targetting Israel-linked ships in protest over the war in Gaza.

US and UK military forces have launched a series of strikes against rebel sites in Yemen.

The Huthis have “changed global trade and global shipping costs,” said Karen Harris, an economist at the consulting firm Bain & Co.

Vincent Clerc, the CEO of Danish shipping giant Maersk, said the conflict will probably disrupt supply chains “for a few months at least. Hopefully less, but it could be also longer because it’s so unpredictable”.

Automakers Tesla and Volvo were forced to temporarily suspend some production in Europe due to a shortage of parts.

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, told the Davos conference that shipments of liquefied natural gas “will be affected” by the Red Sea tensions.

 

-Taiwan tensions

 

There are concerns along other major trade routes.

Taiwan’s presidential election last weekend renewed US-China tensions over the democratic island, which China considers a part of its territory that must be brought back under its control, by force if necessary.

Speaking in Davos, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recalled that a huge amount of commerce flows through the Taiwan Strait.

“If that were to be disrupted, it would affect the entire planet. And it’s about the last thing we need, especially coming back from Covid,” Blinken said.

Taiwan itself is a major producer of semiconductors, the microchips that are vital for a range of products from smartphones to cars.

“Any disruption in the flow of that product is going to be, again, a watch item or a concern,” Ceccato said.

 

– Green and tech trade spats –

 

Microchips are already at the heart of a trade spat between Washington and Beijing as the United States has tightened export curbs on the technology over national security concerns.

China is also squabbling with the European Union over the bloc’s probe into Chinese electric car subsidies.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang took the podium on Wednesday to slam “discriminatory” trade measures on green and tech trade.

Europe is also concerned about the huge subsidies for clean technologies in the United States under the Inflation Reduction Act.

But German Finance Minister Christian Lindner warned the EU against following in the Americans’ footsteps.

“We have to avoid a subsidy race,” Lindner told Friday’s panel.

 

 Panama drought

 

On top of geopolitical tensions, climate change has also played tricks on global trade.

A drought and water shortages linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon reduced ship traffic through the Panama Canal.

“We have more sources of disruptions,” said Tobias Meyer, CEO of German logistics group DHL.

“It’s more likely that two, three, four of these events somehow accumulate. And that leads then in the system of transport to certain bottlenecks,” he said.

Harris said each disruption “simply reinforces the return on investment for near-shoring, re-shoring” — the act of bringing production home or closer instead of relying on factories across the world.