AFP - Squid Business

Japan’s grand tea master Sen Genshitsu dies at 102: reports

Poutine et Trump discuteront de l’Ukraine et de la sécurité internationale lors de leur sommet (Kremlin)

Pakistan establishes new missile force after India conflict, PM says

Pakistan will establish a new military force to supervise its missile capabilities, the prime minister has said, after its worst conflict in decades with South Asian arch-rival India.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the formation of the Rocket Force Command while addressing an Independence Day ceremony in Islamabad attended by senior military officials late on Wednesday.”It will be equipped with modern technology and capable of striking the enemy from all directions,” Sharif said at the ceremony, during which the deadly clash with India in May dominated official speeches and displays.”It will improve our conventional war capabilities,” he said, commending the military for its performance.Pakistan and India fought an intense four-day conflict in May that killed more than 70 people on both sides in missile, drone and artillery fire, the worst clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours since 1999.Pakistan has sophisticated missile capabilities, some of which it deployed in May alongside J-10C Vigorous Dragon and JF-17 Thunder fighter jets.Islamabad is boosting its military capabilities following the conflict, increasing defence spending by 20 percent in the current budget that was passed in June.The government also announced that it was in discussions to acquire 40 new Chinese fighter jets and new air defence systems. “After the recent conflict, the object of course is to further strengthen Pakistan’s military capability and this is a part of that process,” defence analyst Talat Masood, a former general, told AFP.The May conflict was triggered by a deadly attack on tourists in India-administered Kashmir a month earlier that Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan denied the allegation. Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the region in full and have fought two wars and several conflicts over its control.

Water shortages plague Beirut as low rainfall compounds woes

People are buying water by the truckload in Beirut as the state supply faces its worst shortages in years, with the leaky public sector struggling after record-low rainfall and local wells running dry. “State water used to come every other day, now it’s every three days,” said Rima al-Sabaa, 50, rinsing dishes carefully in Burj al-Baranjeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs.Even when the state water is flowing, she noted, very little trickles into her family’s holding tank.Once that runs out, they have to buy trucked-in water — pumped from private springs and wells — but it costs more than $5 for 1,000 litres and lasts just a few days, and its brackishness makes everything rust.In some areas, the price can be twice as high.Like many Lebanese people, Sabaa, who works assisting the elderly, relies on bottled water for drinking. But in a country grappling with a yearslong economic crisis and still reeling from a recent war between Israel and Hezbollah, the costs add up.”Where am I supposed to get the money from?” she asked.Water shortages have long been the norm for much of Lebanon, which acknowledges only around half the population “has regular and sufficient access to public water services”.Surface storage options such as dams are inadequate, according to the country’s national water strategy, while half the state supply is considered “non-revenue water” — lost to leakage and illegal connections.This year, low rainfall has made matters even worse.Mohamad Kanj from the meteorological department told AFP that rainfall for 2024-2025 “is the worst in the 80 years” on record in Lebanon.Climate change is set to exacerbate the county’s water stress, according to the national strategy, while a World Bank statement this year said “climate change may halve (Lebanon’s) dry-season water by 2040”.- Rationing -Energy and Water Minister Joseph Saddi said last week that “the situation is very difficult”.The shortages are felt unevenly across greater Beirut, where tanks clutter rooftops, water trucks clog roads and most people on the ramshackle state grid lack meters.Last month, the government launched a campaign encouraging water conservation, showing dried or depleted springs and lakes around the country.North of the capital, levels were low in parts of the Dbayeh pumping station that should have been gushing with water. “I’ve been here for 33 years and this is the worst crisis we’ve had for the amount of water we’re receiving and can pump” to Beirut, said the station’s Zouhair Azzi.Antoine Zoghbi from the Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Establishment said water rationing in Beirut usually started in October or November, after summer and before the winter rainy season.But this year it has started months early “because we lack 50 percent of the amount of water” required at some springs, he told AFP last month.Rationing began at some wells in June, he said, to reduce the risk of overuse and seawater intrusion.Zoghbi emphasised the need for additional storage, including dams.In January, the World Bank approved more than $250 million in funding to improve water services for greater Beirut and its surroundings.In 2020, it cancelled a loan for a dam south of the capital after environmentalists said it could destroy a biodiversity-rich valley.- Wells -In south Beirut, pensioner Abu Ali Nasreddine, 66, said he had not received state water for many months.”Where they’re sending it, nobody knows,” he said, lamenting that the cost of trucked-in water had also risen.His building used to get water from a local well but it dried up, he added, checking his rooftop tank.Bilal Salhab, 45, who delivers water on a small, rusted truck, said demand had soared, with families placing orders multiple times a week.”The water crisis is very bad,” he said, adding he was struggling to fill his truck because wells had dried up or become salty.In some areas of greater Beirut, wells have long supplemented or even supplanted the state network.But many have become depleted or degraded, wrecking pipes and leaving residents with salty, discoloured water.Nadim Farajalla, chief sustainability officer at the Lebanese American University, said Beirut had ballooned in size and population since the start of the 1975-1990 civil war but water infrastructure had failed to keep up.Many people drilled wells illegally, including at depths that tap into Lebanon’s strategic groundwater reserves, he said, adding that “nobody really knows how many wells there are”.”Coastal aquifers are suffering from seawater intrusion, because we are pumping much more than what’s being recharged,” Farajalla told AFP.As the current shortages bite, rationing and awareness campaigns should have begun earlier, he said, because “we all knew that the surface snow cover and rainfall” were far below average.

Zelensky à Londres, à la veille du sommet Trump-Poutine en Alaska

Le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky a été reçu jeudi matin à Londres par le Premier ministre britannique Keir Starmer, nouvelle démonstration du soutien européen à la veille d’un sommet jugé décisif en Alaska entre Donald Trump et son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine.M. Starmer a chaleureusement accueilli le dirigeant ukrainien sur le perron de Downing Street avec une embrassade et une poignée de main devant les caméras, avant que les deux hommes entrent dans la résidence.M. Zelensky et ses alliés européens ont accentué la pression diplomatique pour mettre fin à la guerre en Ukraine, chaque camp cherchant à affirmer sa position avant la rencontre d’Anchorage.Pression sur le terrain également: répondant à une forte poussée militaire russe ces derniers jours, l’Ukraine a tiré des dizaines de drones dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi près de 500 km à l’intérieur du territoire russe, incendiant une raffinerie et faisant trois blessés près de Volgograd (sud), selon des responsables russes.Donald Trump a dit vouloir “tâter le terrain” en Alaska avec Vladimir Poutine. Il a jugé mercredi que deux issues étaient possibles.Si l’entretien se passe bien, il débouchera “presque immédiatement” sur une rencontre à trois entre le président russe, Volodymyr Zelensky et lui-même, pour mettre un terme à la guerre déclenchée en février 2022 par l’invasion russe.Mais si sa première réunion en personne avec le maître du Kremlin depuis 2019 tourne mal, Donald Trump a assuré qu’il n’y aurait pas de “seconde rencontre” pour mettre fin au plus sanglant conflit en Europe depuis la Seconde guerre mondiale.Piqué à vif par des commentaires de presse présentant la tenue du sommet comme une victoire diplomatique pour Vladimir Poutine, le président américain a assuré que la Russie ferait face à des “conséquences très graves” si elle n’acceptait pas de mettre fin à la guerre, sans toutefois préciser cette menace.MM. Trump et Poutine se rencontreront sur la base militaire d’Elmendorf-Richardson, dont l’importance stratégique a culminé pendant la Guerre froide.Mercredi, dans le centre d’Anchorage, pas de rues bouclées, de quartiers barricadés, ni même de présence policière visible.Rien ne laisse deviner, à première vue, que se prépare un sommet de la plus haute importance.Mais à l’aéroport, les journalistes encombrés de caméras se mêlent aux touristes chargés de cannes à pêche. Les hôtels affichent complets, les loueurs de voiture sont dévalisés.- “Très bon appel” -Jusqu’au bout, chaque partie s’est efforcée de consolider sa position: sur le front pour les Russes, par la voie diplomatique pour Kiev et les Européens.Donald Trump a assuré avoir eu un “très bon appel” mercredi avec le président ukrainien et des dirigeants des pays européens, de l’UE et de l’Otan.M. Zelensky s’était rendu à Berlin pour suivre ces réunions virtuelles, où il a été reçu par le chancelier allemand Friedrich Merz.”Nous espérons que le thème central de la réunion” vendredi sera “un cessez-le-feu immédiat”, avait alors déclaré le dirigeant ukrainien. Keir Starmer, a pour sa part évoqué une chance “réelle” de cessez-le-feu.Vladimir Poutine se rend en Alaska au moment où les forces russes ont gagné beaucoup de terrain en territoire ukrainien.Les troupes russes ont dit avoir conquis plus de 110 km2 supplémentaires au 12 août par rapport à la veille, ce qui n’était plus arrivé depuis fin mai 2024. L’Ukraine a ordonné mercredi l’évacuation de familles dans une dizaine de localités dans l’est du pays.La Russie réclame que l’Ukraine lui cède quatre régions partiellement occupées (Donetsk, Lougansk, Zaporijjia et Kherson), en plus de la Crimée annexée en 2014, et qu’elle renonce aux livraisons d’armes occidentales et à toute adhésion à l’Otan.Pour Kiev, ces exigences sont inacceptables.

Zelensky à Londres, à la veille du sommet Trump-Poutine en Alaska

La Bourse de Paris en légère hausse avant l’inflation américaine côté producteurs

La Bourse de Paris évoluait légèrement dans le vert jeudi, dans l’attente de la publication de l’inflation côté producteurs aux Etats-Unis, scrutée pour anticiper la future politique monétaire de la Fed, la banque centrale américaine.Vers 9H50 (heure de Paris), le CAC 40 prenait 0,35%, à 7.831,93 points, en hausse de 26,53 points. La veille, l’indice vedette parisien avait terminé en hausse de 0,66%.”Les investisseurs cherchent de nouveaux points d’appui”, explique John Plassard, responsable de la stratégie d’investissement chez Cité Gestion Private Bank. La publication attendue pour 12H30 GMT (14H30 à Paris) des prix à la production (PPI) aux Etats-Unis en juillet, mesure de l’inflation du côté des producteurs, “pourrait donner l’impulsion, ou pas”, ajoute-t-il.L’indice des prix côté producteur “sera utile pour déterminer dans quelle mesure les entreprises absorbent les coûts liés aux droits de douane ou les répercutent sur les consommateurs”, relève Neil Wilson, analyste à Saxo Markets.Les acteurs du marché tentent depuis plusieurs semaines d’évaluer les effets des droits de douane instaurés par Donald Trump sur l’évolution des prix dans la première économie mondiale. Une inflation trop forte découragerait la Fed de baisser ses taux pour stimuler l’activité économique. La publication en début de semaine d’un indice des prix côté consommateurs conforme aux attentes pour le mois de juillet les a pour le moment rassurés.Autre point d’attention des marchés: les discussions diplomatiques en cours avant la rencontre historique vendredi en Alaska entre Vladimir Poutine et Donald Trump, afin de négocier sur la guerre en Ukraine.Le dirigeant américain, qui a dit vouloir “tâter le terrain” avec son homologue russe, a estimé mercredi que si l’entretien se passe bien, il débouchera “presque immédiatement” sur une rencontre à trois entre Vladimir Poutine, Volodymyr Zelensky et lui-même. Mais si la réunion tourne mal, Donald Trump a assuré qu’il n’y aurait pas de “seconde rencontre”.”Les marchés européens devraient plutôt rester au point mort dans l’attente de cette rencontre”, estime Andreas Lipkow, analyste indépendant.Côté obligataire, le rendement à dix ans de l’emprunt français atteignait 3,31%, contre 3,33% la veille en clôture. Son équivalent allemand, référence en Europe, atteignait 2,66%, contre 2,68% la veille.Chiffre d’affaires en hausse pour InnelecInnelec (+0,55% à 3,68 euros), grossiste en produits multimédia, a fait état mercredi soir d’un chiffre d’affaires en hausse de 2% à 15,9 millions d’euros au premier trimestre de son exercice décalé 2025/2026, porté par une “reprise progressive de l’activité qui devrait s’amplifier au cours des prochains mois”.

UK PM hosts Zelensky in London on eve of US-Russia summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Thursday in London with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a strong show of support on the eve of a key US-Russia summit from which Kyiv and its European allies have been excluded.Starmer greeted the Ukrainian leader with a warm hug and handshake on the steps of his Downing Street residence, only hours after Zelensky took part in a virtual call with US President Donald Trump. Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet Friday at an air base in Alaska, the first time the Russian leader has been permitted on Western soil since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine which has killed tens of thousands of people.A stepped-up Russian offensive, and the fact Zelensky has not been invited to the Anchorage meeting Friday, have heightened fears that Trump and Putin could strike a deal that forces painful concessions on Ukraine.But Starmer said Wednesday there was now a “viable” chance for a ceasefire in Ukraine after more than three years of fighting.Near the front line Thursday, Ukraine fired dozens of drones at Russia overnight into the early morning, wounding three people and sparking fires including at an oil refinery in the southern city of Volgograd. Kyiv calls the strikes fair retaliation for Moscow’s daily missile and drone barrages on its own civilians.With such high stakes, all sides were pushing hard in the hours before Friday’s meeting.- Three-way meeting? -Zelensky, who has refused to surrender territory to Russia, joined the call from Berlin with Trump, as did European leaders who voiced confidence afterward that the US leader would seek a ceasefire rather than concessions by Kyiv.Trump has sent mixed messages, saying he could quickly organise a three-way summit afterward with both Zelensky and Putin, but also warning of his impatience with Putin.”There may be no second meeting because, if I feel that it’s not appropriate to have it because I didn’t get the answers that we have to have, then we are not going to have a second meeting,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.But Trump added: “If the first one goes okay, we’ll have a quick second one,” involving both Putin and Zelensky.Zelensky, after being berated by Trump at a February meeting in the White House, has publicly supported US diplomacy but has made clear his deep scepticism.”I have told my colleagues — the US president and our European friends — that Putin definitely does not want peace,” Zelensky said.As the war rages on in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky was in Berlin Wednesday joining Chancellor Friedrich Merz on an online call with other European leaders, and the NATO and EU chiefs, to show a united stance against Russia.Starmer on Wednesday said Ukraine’s military backers, the so-called Coalition of the Willing, had drawn up workable military plans in case of a ceasefire but were also ready to add pressure on Russia through sanctions.”For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near… a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer told Wednesday’s meeting of European leaders.”Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the (US) president has put in,” he said.NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte declared: “The ball is now in Putin’s court.”