05/07/2025

SATURDAY | JULY 5, 2025

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UN condemns loss of civilian life in Gaza

Russia recognises Taliban govt KABUL: Afghanistan’s government said on Thursday Russia has become the first country to officially recognise its rule, calling it a “brave decision”. The announcement was made after Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov in Kabul. “Now that the process of recognition has started, Russia was ahead of everyone,“ said Amir Khan in a video of the meeting posted on X. Moscow’s special representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told Russia’s state news agency Ria Novosti that the government has “recognised” the Taliban government. Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed the news to the TASS news agency. Russia was the first country to open a business representative office in Kabul after the Taliban takeover, and has announced plans to use Afghanistan as a transit hub for gas heading to Southeast Asia. Only Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates recognised the Taliban during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001. This time, multiple other states, including China and Pakistan, have accepted Taliban ambassadors in their capitals but have not officially recognised the Islamic Emirate. There has been limited but growing engagement with Taliban authorities, particularly from its regional neighbours and also major global players China and Russia. However, its restrictions on women and girls, barring them from education and squeezing them from public life, have been key sticking points for Western nations. – AFP TEHRAN: Iran on Thursday reopened its airspace to domestic, foreign and international transit flights, the Roads and Urban Development Ministry announced, reported Xinhua. The decision was made following the approval of the Civil Aviation Organisation of Iran as well as precise security and safety assessments, given the country’s present circumstances, the ministry said in a statement published on its website. It added that flights have been resumed to and from the Mehrabad International Airport and Imam Khomeini International Airport in the capital Tehran as well as airports in the northern, eastern, western and southern parts of the country, except those in Isfahan and Tabriz. It said airports in Tehran as well as the northern, western and southern parts are operating domestic and foreign flights from 5am to 6pm local time (0130 to 1430 GMT). It said the eastern airspace is open to domestic, foreign and international transit flights around the clock, adding that the airspace in the central and western parts would be open to international passing flights. The ministry said the airports in Isfahan and Tabriz would resume operations immediately after the infrastructure is prepared. – Bernama-Xinhua Iran reopens airspace

The the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) has reported that hundreds of civilians rushing to reach the Israeli-backed GHF sites in militarised zones have been killed or wounded. “They (GHF) do not meet the most basic standards that anyone should want to meet, which is when you are trying to help people, you are not putting them at greater risk,” said Dujarric. Ocha said the space left for civilians to stay in Gaza is “shrinking by the day”. On Wednesday, Israeli authorities issued another displacement order for parts of Gaza City, citing Palestinian rocket fire. Humanitarian partners estimated that 40,000 people were in the area, including a displacement site, a medical point and a neighbourhood that had been spared from any displacement orders since before the ceasefire, said Ocha. The office said since mid-March, when a ceasefire ended, more than 50 such orders have been issued. With the Israeli-militarised zones, this leaves only 15% of the Gaza Strip for civilians to take refuge. The UN Population Fund reported that menstruation has become a nightmare for an estimated 700,000 women in Gaza as alongside food, they need water, soap, menstrual pads and privacy. It said it has supplies ready, almost 170 truckloads, but they are not being allowed into Gaza. Ocha said since last Thursday, nine aid workers from five organisations have been killed, bringing the number of aid workers killed to 107 this year and 479 since the war began, among them 326 UN staff. It said in June, out of nearly 400 required coordination requests, Israeli authorities denied 44% outright while 10% were initially approved but faced impediments, and only a third were fully facilitated. It added that 12% had to be cancelled by organisers due to logistical, operational or security reasons. Out of 16 coordination attempts requested on Thursday, four were denied, hindering humanitarian efforts to relocate medical supplies, remove debris and perform other critical operations, said Ocha. – Bernama-Xinhua UN Office for affairs and harsh confrontation,“ said presidential aide Yury Ushakov. He also said Russia is ready for a third round of talks with Ukraine, adding that Putin and Trump did not discuss the specifics of what topics would be raised. “On the Middle East issue, Putin stressed the importance of resolving all disputes, disagreements and conflict situations exclusively with political and diplomatic means. The sides agreed to maintain contacts in this regard at the level of foreign ministries, defence ministries and presidential aides”, he added. Ushakov said Trump and Putin also agreed to continue their communications. – Reuters

incubators down, ambulances will be unable to reach the injured and sick, and water cannot be purified.” He added that the limited humanitarian operations by the UN and partners would also grind to a halt. The UN has a clear and proven plan, rooted in humanitarian principles, to get vital assistance to civilians safely and at scale wherever they are, he said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) for the past month has operated only four militarised distribution sites in Gaza, as opposed to the traditional UN-led 400 community-located aid hubs. will shut

o ‘People forced to flee with inadequate supplies of shelter, food, medicine and water’

NEW YORK: The killing of civilians trying to get food and in displacement sites in Gaza has shocked United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reported Xinhua. “Guterres is appalled by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Thursday. “Multiple attacks in recent days hitting sites hosting displaced people and people trying to access food have killed and injured scores

of Palestinians. Guterres condemns the loss of civilian life.” In just one day this week, Israeli relocation orders forced nearly 30,000 people to flee, with no safe place to go and inadequate supplies of shelter, food, medicine and water, he said. “With no fuel having entered Gaza in more than 17 weeks, Guterres is concerned that the last lifelines for survival are being cut off. “Without an urgent influx of fuel,

A Palestinian man bathing his son out in the open amid the summer heat in Gaza. – REUTERSPIC

All-night drone attack injures 14 in Ukraine

KYIV: Russia has pummelled Kyiv with drones in an all-night attack, injuring at least 14 people, damaging railway infrastructure and setting buildings and cars on fire throughout the city, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said yesterday. More than eight hours into air raid alerts and just before they were called off at 5am (0200 GMT), Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 12 of the injured were hospitalised. Damage was recorded in six of Kyiv’s 10 districts and falling drone debris set a medical facility on fire in the Holosiivskyi district, he said. The attacks are the latest in a series of Russian air strikes on Kyiv that have intensified in recent weeks

number of passenger trains and causing delays. Kyiv’s military administration head Tymur Tkachenko said many of the targets had been dwellings. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war but thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, most of them Ukrainian. In the phone call with Trump, Putin said Moscow would achieve its goals in the conflict with Ukraine, including the elimination of its root causes, reported Xinhua, citing a Putin aide. “Our president said Russia would achieve its goals, namely to eliminate the well-known root causes that led to the current state of

and included some of the deadliest assaults of the war. US President Donald Trump said a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday resulted in no progress at all on efforts to end the war. A decision by Washington earlier this week to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Ukraine’s state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia, the country’s largest carrier, said on Telegram the attack on Kyiv damaged railway infrastructure in the city, diverting a