Politics
Xi, Putin unite in anti-West rhetoric as China seeks bigger regional role
Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin took turns Monday to swipe at the West during a gathering of Eurasian leaders aimed at putting Beijing front and centre of regional relations.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)touts itself as a non-Western style of collaboration between 10 countries in the region and seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.
Xi told leaders, including Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and India´s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that the global situation was becoming more “chaotic and intertwined”.
The Chinese leader also slammed “bullying behaviour” from certain countries — a veiled reference to the United States.
“The security and development tasks facing member states have become even more challenging,” he said in his address in the northern port city of Tianjin.
“With the world undergoing turbulence and transformation, we must continue to follow the Shanghai spirit…and better perform the functions of the organisation.”
Putin used his speech to defend Russia´s Ukraine offensive, blaming the West for triggering the three-and-a-half-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands and devastated much of eastern Ukraine.
“This crisis wasn’t triggered by Russia´s attack on Ukraine, but was a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West,” Putin said.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry urged China to work towards peace during Putin’s visit, saying in a statement from Kyiv they “would welcome a more active role” for Beijing to help find peace “based on respect for the UN Charter”.
Putin, meanwhile, praised Turkey’s mediation efforts in the conflict as he met Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
And Putin later met his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, the Kremlin said, with the pair expected to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.
‘Always insightful’
Earlier, leaders from the 10 countries — China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus — posed for a group photo on a red carpet.
Xi, Putin and Modi were seen chatting, flanked by their translators. Modi and Putin were photographed holding hands and held talks in the afternoon.
Russian state media reported the pair spent nearly an hour talking “face-to-face” in Putin’s armoured presidential car before an official meeting.
“Conversations with him are always insightful,” Modi posted on X alongside a photograph of them travelling in the car.
Before their meeting, Modi praised the “special and privileged strategic partnership” with Moscow and added that India wanted both sides in the Ukraine conflict to “find stable peace”.
‘Mutual trust’
The SCO summit kicked off on Sunday, days before a massive military parade in Beijing to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
The member states signed a declaration on Monday agreeing to strengthen cooperation in sectors such as security and economy, China’s Xinhua news agency said.
Xinhua added that the leaders also admitted Laos as an observer country, or “dialogue partner” — the summit already has 16 observers.
Xi held a flurry of back-to-back meetings with leaders, including Lukashenko — one of Putin’s staunch allies — and Modi, who is on his first visit to China since 2018.
Modi told Xi that India was committed to taking “forward our ties based on mutual trust, dignity and sensitivity”.
The world’s two most populous nations are intense rivals, competing for influence across South Asia, and they fought a deadly border clash in 2020.
A thaw began last October, when Modi met Xi for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.
Their rapprochement deepened as US President Donald Trump pressured both Asian economic giants with trade tariffs.
More than 20 leaders are attending the bloc´s largest meeting since it was founded in 2001.
Many of the assembled dignitaries will be in Beijing on Wednesday to watch the military parade, which will also be attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
A train carrying Kim passed into China early Tuesday, South Korea´s Yonhap news agency reported, citing the North´s state-run radio service.
Huge crowds took to the streets Saturday in all 50 US states to vent their anger over President Donald Trump’s hardline policies at “No Kings” protests that Republicans ridiculed as “Hate America” rallies.
From New York and Washington to smaller cities in Michigan and Trump’s second home in Florida, demonstrations in the eastern half of the United States revved up ahead of similar events due out west.
More than 2,700 protests are planned coast to coast, and organisers say they are expecting millions to attend.
“This is what democracy looks like!” chanted thousands at a protest in Washington near the National Mall, home to the city’s iconic landmarks.
“Hey hey ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go!” said protesters, many of them carrying American flags.
Demonstrators are up in arms over what they see as strongarm tactics since the Republican billionaire returned to the White House in January, including attacks on the media, prosecuting political opponents and a vast immigration crackdown.
A US government shutdown is now in its third week, with the Trump administration firing thousands of federal workers and lawmakers showing little sign they are ready to break the impasse.
Thousands flooded New York’s Times Square, Boston Common and Chicago’s Grant Park.
“I never thought I would live to see the death of my country as a democracy,” 69-year-old retiree Colleen Hoffman told AFP as she marched down Broadway.
“We are in a crisis— the cruelty of this regime, the authoritarianism. I just feel like I cannot sit home and do nothing.”
In New York’s Queens borough, demonstrators carried colorful signs that read “Queens Say No Kings,” and “We protest because we love America and want it back!” while some chanted, “We love our country, we can’t stand Trump!”
In Los Angeles, organizers plan to float a giant balloon of Trump in a diaper. They said they expect 100,000 people to attend.
So far, Trump’s response to Saturday’s events has been muted.
“They’re saying they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he told Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures.”
But his top surrogates were in more fighting form, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling the day of protest the “Hate America rally.”
“You’re going to bring together the Marxists, the Socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat Party,” he told reporters.
Republican lawmaker Tom Emmer also used the “Hate America” phrase and referred to participants as the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party.
‘Country of equals’
Beyond the United States, the “No Kings” movement is even organizing events in Canada, and small protests took place Saturday in Malaga, Spain and Malmo, Sweden.
On Thursday, Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said protesters wanted to convey that “we are a country of equals.”
“We are a country of laws that apply to everyone, of due process and of democracy. We will not be silenced,” she told reporters.
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the Indivisible Project, slammed the Trump administration’s efforts to send the National Guard into US cities and crack down on undocumented migrants.
Trump has ordered National Guard troops into Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis. Planned deployments to Chicago and Portland, Oregon have so far been blocked in the courts.
“It is the classic authoritarian playbook: threaten, smear and lie, scare people into submission,” Greenberg said.
Top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer encouraged demonstrators to let their voices be heard.
“I say to my fellow Americans this No Kings Day: Do not let Donald Trump and Republicans intimidate you into silence. That’s what they want to do. They’re afraid of the truth,” he wrote Saturday on X.
“Speak out, use your voice, and exercise your right to free speech.”
More than seventy Khwarij belonging to Gul Bahadur group, including key Khwariji leader Farman alias Al-Karamah, have been killed during effective precision strikes on terrorist hideouts of Khwariji Gul Bahadur group in the areas of Paktika.
According to credible intelligence sources, these strikes were carried out in the night of 17th of October.
According to security officials, the Khwariji Gul Bahadur group is involved in major and numerous acts of terrorism in Pakistan while infiltrating from Afghanistan.
On October 17, the same group also carried out a failed VBIED attack in Khadi area of North Waziristan, in which three women, two children and a jawan were martyred.
Moreover, other Khwariji leaders Gulab alis Deewana, Rehmani, Adil,Siddiqullah Dawar, Ghazi Maddah Khel, Muqarrab, Qismat Ullah and Fazal-ur-Rehman were also killed in the attacks.
Khwariji Fazal-ur-Rehman is the close relative of Gul Bahadur. Similarly, Khwariji Ashiq Ullah alias Kausar and Younus were also killed in these strikes.
The security officials termed the killing of important Khwarji leaders as a significant and big success
- “All aircraft are safe,” says airport official Masudul Hasan.
- Blaze disrupts both domestic and international flights.
- No immediate information on what caused blaze.
Flights out of Bangladesh’s main airport were delayed or diverted on Saturday after a major fire broke out in the cargo terminal, officials said.
Thirty-six firefighting units are working to douse the flames, Talha Bin Zasim, an officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Media Cell, told Reuters.
Operations at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport were suspended, airport official Masudul Hasan told reporters, adding all aircraft are safe.
There was no immediate information as to what may have caused the blaze.
Both domestic and international flights were affected.
An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Dhaka was diverted to Kolkata, and an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates was sent on to Chittagong.
Meanwhile, a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong was seen circling in the sky after failing to land at Dhaka airport, officials said.
The army, navy, and air force joined the fire service in efforts to bring the blaze under control.
This is the third major fire reported in Bangladesh this week. A fire on Tuesday at a garment factory in Bangladesh and an adjacent chemical warehouse killed at least 16 people and injured others. On Thursday, another fire burned down a garment factory building in an export processing zone in Chittagong.
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