NEWS

The Home Office has announced £100m in extra funding as part of efforts to crack down on illegal people smuggling in the English Channel.

The money will pay for up to 300 additional National Crime Agency (NCA) officers as well as new technology and equipment.

More than 25,000 people made the journey from France to the UK in small boats before the end of July, a record for this point in the year.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the move would help the UK better “track the [smuggling] gangs and bring them down”. The Conservative Party called it a “desperate grab for headlines which will make no real difference”.

Last month, the government agreed a “one in, one out” pilot scheme with France which aims to deter migrants from crossing the Channel. Under the scheme, some arrivals would be returned to France and in exchange the UK would accept an equivalent number of asylum seekers, subject to security checks.

According to the Home Office, the new £100m will boost border security and strengthen investigations targeting smuggling kingpins who have operations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.

Ms Cooper said gangs had shown a “a ruthless ability to adapt their tactics and maximise their profits, no matter how many lives they put at risk”.

The NCA has 91 ongoing investigations into people-smuggling networks affecting the UK, the agency’s director general of operations Rob Jones said.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having “no serious plan” to tackle the issue.

“The British public deserves real action, not empty slogans and tinkering at the edges,” he said.

Writing in the Daily Express, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said it was an effort to “throw taxpayer money at the illegal immigration crisis and hope it will go away”.

“Another £100 million here or there won’t move the needle. It won’t stop the boats or the gangs,” he added.

Labour and previous Conservative governments have both struggled to reduce the number of people coming to the UK illegally in small boats.

The Conservatives had proposed sending arrivals to Rwanda, but the scheme was delayed by legal challenges. The general election was called before it could be implemented.

One of Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts as prime minister was to scrap the plan, calling it a gimmick.

In another measure, which was revealed on Sunday, people advertising illegal Channel crossings online could face up to five years in prison under a new offence the government plans to introduce.

Assisting illegal immigration to the UK is already a crime, but officials believe the new offence would give police and other agencies more power to disrupt criminal gangs.

It would criminalise the creation of material for publication online which promotes or offers services that facilitate a breach of UK immigration law.

This would include people using social media to advertise fake passports or visas, or the promise of illegal work opportunities in the UK, and as well as jail time could carry a large fine.

Here is how things stand on Monday, August 4:

Fighting

• A Russian attack killed three people in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region on Sunday, Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
• A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a major fire at an oil depot in Sochi in southern Russia, the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said on Sunday. The fire was extinguished hours later after 120 firefighters were deployed, officials said. Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, briefly halted flights at Sochi’s airport during the fire.
• Ukraine’s military says it used drones to target several sites inside Russia, including refineries, an airfield and an electronics plant.
• The governor of the Voronezh region in southern Russia said four people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack that caused several fires,
• A Russian attack injured seven people and destroyed dozens of houses and apartments in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said on Telegram early on Sunday.
• The Ukrainian air force said on Sunday that Russia launched 76 drones and seven missiles against Ukraine. It said 60 drones and one missile were intercepted, but 16 drones and six missiles hit eight different locations across Ukraine.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence said its air defence units destroyed 93 Ukrainian drones overnight, including one over the Krasnodar region and 60 over the waters of the Black Sea. It did not specify how many drones were fired in total.

Politics and Diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners following negotiations in Istanbul, adding that “work on the lists [of prisoners to be released] is ongoing”. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
• Zelenskyy announced he had appointed Anatolii Kryvonozhko as Commander of Ukraine’s air force, a role Kryvonozhko has been serving in as Acting Commander for nearly a year.
• Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine has prepared three new sanctions packages, including sanctions against the captains of Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers.
• China and Russia began joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan in waters near the Russian port of Vladivostok, China’s Ministry of National Defence said in a statement on Sunday. The drills will last for three days.
• Speaking to a crowd of one million young Catholics on the outskirts of Rome, Pope Leo said: “We are with the young people of Gaza; we are with the young people of Ukraine.”

More than 100 people had been involved in the search for workers at the El Teniente copper mine, the world’s largest underground mine.

All five workers trapped at a copper mine in Chile have been found dead, according to a regional prosecutor, after rescue teams cleared more than 24 metres (78 feet) of underground passages that collapsed in a strong earthquake last week.

Prosecutor Aquiles Cubillo of the O’Higgins region said on Sunday that the body of the fifth trapped worker had been found at the El Teniente copper mine.

More than 100 people had been involved in the search for workers at the El Teniente copper mine, the world’s largest underground mine, in Rancagua, about 100km (62 miles) south of Santiago.

“We deeply regret this outcome,” Cubillos said.

The latest death brings the total toll from the accident to six, including one person who died at the time of the incident on Thursday evening.

Chile’s state-owned mining company Codelco discovered the first trapped worker on Saturday and another three on Sunday. It has not yet commented on the final worker.

The miners had been working at a depth of more than 900 metres when the collapse happened, killing one colleague and halting operations at the site. Their exact location had been pinpointed with specialised equipment.

Minister for Mining Aurora Williams announced the temporary cessation of activity at the mine on Saturday.

The mine began operating in the early 1900s and boasts more than 4,500km (some 2,800 miles) of underground tunnels.

Last year, El Teniente produced 356,000 tonnes of copper – nearly 7 percent of the total for Chile.

The cave-in happened after a “seismic event” on Thursday afternoon, of which the origin – natural or caused by drilling – was not yet known, the authorities said on Saturday. The tremor registered a magnitude of 4.2.

“It is one of the biggest events, if not the biggest, that the El Teniente deposit has experienced in decades,” Andres Music, the mine’s general manager, said in a statement.

The search team included several of the rescuers who participated in successfully surfacing 33 miners trapped in a mine for more than two months in the Atacama Desert in 2010, attracting a whirlwind of global media attention.

Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, responsible for nearly a quarter of global supply, with about 5.3 million tonnes in 2024.

Its mining industry is one of the safest on the planet, with a death rate of 0.02 percent last year, according to the National Geology and Mining Service of Chile.

It also lies in the seismically active “Ring of Fire” that surrounds the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

A police report said footage appeared to show Coleman being shoved into a wall, before Richardson threw an item at him.

She was released on Monday following the incident.

Coleman did not want to participate in the investigation and “declined to be a victim”, the police officer’s report reads.

Richardson refused to speak to waiting reporters after her heat in Eugene, instead wishing them a “blessed day”.

Following her arrest, USA Track and Field said it was “aware of the reports” but would “not be commenting on this matter”.

Coleman qualified for Sunday’s men’s 200m final by finishing behind world champion Noah Lyles with a time of 20.20 secs.

At 106-3 on Sunday morning, England were toast, only for Yorkshire’s finest to find individual inspiration to make the unlikely seem probable.

On this ground 20 years ago, another epic series was on a knife edge. On that occasion, it was Kevin Pietersen belting Brett Lee into the stands that secured the Ashes for England. Two decades on and Harry Brook, the modern day spirit of KP, decided attack was the only was to go.

For Joe Root, this Test was always likely to be emotional, a celebration of the life of his mentor Graham Thorpe. How fitting that Root would play with Thorpe-like cool at the home of the great left-hander. Even a heart of stone would have been moved by Root celebrating his hundred by pulling on Thorpe’s trademark headband.

Two contrasting centuries, a tired India attack flogged to all parts. Siraj treading on the boundary rope to reprieve Brook evoked memories of Trent Boult doing the same for Stokes in the 2019 World Cup final – another nerve-shredding Sunday.

When Root and Brook were together, 200 runs to win seemed like a doddle. After they departed, 35 seemed impossible.

India must wonder what they have to do to beat this England team. It was India on the wrong end of a chase of 378 at Edgbaston in 2022, then 371 at Headingley in June.

But something stirred in Siraj, Krishna and Akash Deep. Perhaps it was the beat of the dhol drum that provided the soundtrack to India’s last push.

Brook’s bat went further than the ball when he was caught at mid-off for 111. Bethell looked like what he is – a 21-year-old in his first home Test with only one first-class match since December – in scratching around for five off 31 balls. A wild hack and middle stump removed.

Even the tension got to Root. Play and miss, play and miss, lbw review, edge behind. The Oval came unglued.

It is hard to see how England would have won had the weather not intervened. Smith and Overton, the only Jamies to play Test cricket for England, were left with the task of resisting the touring pacemen and what felt like every Indian in London.

The home side were the happier to scurry to the dressing room. The boos of the crowd when the close was confirmed probably sounded like sweet music.

A man has died after falling from a height at an Oasis concert on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Police said officers and medics at at Wembley Stadium in London responded to reports that a man in his 40s had been injured at 22:19 BST.

The man “was found with injuries consistent with a fall” and was pronounced dead at the scene, a spokesperson for the force said.

Oasis said in a statement they were “shocked and saddened” to hear of the death of a fan.

They added: “Oasis would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person involved.”

The man reportedly fell from an upper tier.

Police said the stadium was busy and they “believe it is likely a number of people witnessed the incident, or may knowingly or unknowingly have caught it on mobile phone video footage”.

The Met has asked anyone who may have information to get in touch via 101.

It added that the investigation would be passed to the Health and Safety Executive in the next few days.

Oasis’s performance was scheduled to begin at 20:15 and end at 22:15, according to timings on Wembley Stadium’s website.

The band began its Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour in July. Saturday’s concert was part of seven sold-out reunion concerts at Wembley Stadium, which has a 90,000-person capacity across three tiers.

Noel and Liam Gallagher are marking the end of an almost 16-year split with their tour.

Wembley Stadium said in a statement that medics, police and the London Ambulance service attended to the injured man.

“Despite their efforts, the fan very sadly died. Our thoughts go out to his family, who have been informed and are being supported by specially trained police officers,” it said.

The stadium added that the Oasis concert on Sunday was going ahead as planned.

The band will next appear in Edinburgh for three gigs on 8, 9 and 12 August and then take their tour to Ireland, Canada, the US and Mexico before returning to Wembley on 27 and 28 September.

Yamashita assumed control of the tournament with a seven-under-par round of 65 on Friday morning and led from that moment on.

She briefly shared top spot with playing partner A Lim Kim early in her final round, but the South Korean’s birdie at the second was quickly followed by consecutive bogeys.

Hull, who propelled herself into contention with a six-under 66 on Saturday, quickly emerged as the main challenger to world number 15 Yamashita.

They both played their first nine holes in three under par, meaning Yamashita reached the turn three shots clear.

Hull refused to relent and continued to attack, closing the gap to one shot until a costly trip to a fairway bunker on the 16th.

A couple of groups further back, Yamashita stayed remarkably composed and was able to limit the damage of her rare errors – superbly saving par with a lengthy putt at the 14th.

With the knowledge that a bogey on the par-five 18th would be enough for victory, there were some nervous moments when Yamashita found the rough with her first two shots – before a safe chip onto the green set up a par that confirmed she would be the third Japanese winner of the Women’s Open.

Speaking via a translator at the trophy presentation, she said: “To win such a historic tournament in front of all these amazing fans is such an incredible feeling.

“To be part of such a moment in history is something very special,” added Yamashita – who collected a winner’s prize of $1.462m (£1.1m).

State media says armed groups violated the truce agreed in the predominantly Druze region.

Druze armed groups have attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in the restive area of Suwayda, killing at least one government soldier and wounding others, as well as shelling several villages in the southern province, according to state-run Ekhbariya TV.

Ekhbariya’s report on Sunday quoted a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where sectarian bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.

In response to the renewed violence, the Syrian government said in a statement that “the media and sectarian mobilisation campaigns led by the rebel gangs in the city have not ceased over the past period”.

It added: “As these gangs failed to thwart the efforts of the Syrian state and its responsibilities towards our people in Suwayda, they resorted to violating the ceasefire agreement by launching treacherous attacks against internal security forces on several fronts and shelling some villages with rockets and mortar shells, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of a number of security personnel.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported four deaths in the latest violence in Suwayda, noting three were government soldiers and one was a local fighter.

Violence in Suwayda erupted on July 13 between Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze factions.

Government forces were sent in to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops, and also bombed the heart of the capital Damascus, under the pretext of protecting the Druze.

The Druze are a minority community in the region with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Suwayda province is predominantly Druze, but is also home to Bedouin tribes, and the communities have had longstanding tensions over land and other resources.

A United States-brokered truce between Israel and Syria was announced in tandem with Syria President Ahmed al-Sharaa declaring a ceasefire in Suwayda after previous failed attempts. The fighting had raged in Suwayda city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to do so.

The Suwayda bloodshed was another blow to al-Sharaa’s fledgling government, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.

Hundreds of Bedouin families were displaced by the fighting in Suwayda and relocated to nearby Deraa.

Israel attacks Syria again

Separately, the Israeli military said on Sunday that it conducted a raid on targets in southern Syria on Saturday.

The army said it seized weapons and questioned several suspects it said were involved in weapons trafficking in the area.

Meanwhile, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by ISIL (ISIS) on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir Az Zor on July 31.

The SDF was the main force allied with the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated ISIL in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swaths of Syria and Iraq.

ISIL has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir Az Zor city was captured by ISIL in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.

On Saturday, Syria’s Defence Ministry said an attack carried out by the SDF in the countryside of the northern city of Manbij injured four army personnel and three civilians.

The ministry described the attack as “irresponsible and for unknown reasons”, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.

United Kingdom’s Lando Norris holds off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri of Australia to win Hungarian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris has held off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy and slash the Australian’s Formula One lead to nine points going into the August break.

Norris completed 39 of the 70 laps on Sunday at the Hungaroring on a single set of hard tyres while Piastri stopped twice and closed a 12-second gap to just 0.6 at the finish with a nail-biting chase to the chequered flag and a near-collision.

George Russell took a distant third, 20 seconds down the road, for Mercedes and his fifth podium of the season.

“I’m dead. I’m dead. It was tough,” gasped Norris, who started in third place – with Piastri second – and then went down to fifth after being squeezed at the start.

“We weren’t really planning on the one stop, but after the first lap, it was kind of our only option to get back into things.

“I didn’t think it would get us the win. I thought it would get us maybe into second.”

The win was Norris’s fifth of the season and third in the past four races to Piastri’s six. It was also McLaren’s seventh one-two in 14 races.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was a frustrated fourth after starting on pole position but losing out with a two-stop strategy and a five-second penalty for erratic driving as Russell challenged.

Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Aston Martin ahead of Sauber’s sixth-placed Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson with Red Bull’s reigning champion, Max Verstappen, and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli completing the top 10 scoring positions.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, an eight-time winner in Hungary, started in 12th place for Ferrari and finished there.

The Briton was lapped by the leaders six laps from the chequered flag.

A Palestinian teenager, shot in the eye by Israeli forces while desperately seeking food for his family near a United States and Israeli-backed GHF site in Gaza, is unlikely to regain sight in his left eye, doctors treating him have said, as the population of the besieged and bombarded enclave suffers from forced starvation.

Fifteen-year-old Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar told Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers kept shooting at him even after he was struck by a bullet, making him think “this was the end” and “death was near”.

Relaying the harrowing chain of events from a hospital bed with a white bandage covering one eye, Abu Jazar said he went to the site around 2am (23:00 GMT).

“It was my first time going to the distribution point,” he said. “I went there because my siblings and I had no food. We couldn’t find anything to eat.”

He says he moved forward with the crowd until he reached al-Muntazah Park in the Gaza City environs about five hours later.

“We were running when they began shooting at us. I was with three others; three of them were hit. As soon as we started running, they opened fire. Then I felt something like electricity shoot through my body. I collapsed to the ground. I felt as though I had been electrocuted … I didn’t know where I was, I just blacked out. When I woke up, I asked people ‘Where am I?’”

Others near Abu Jazar told him he had been shot in the head. “They were still firing. I got scared and started reciting prayers.”

A doctor at the hospital held a phone light near the boy’s wounded eye and asked him if he could see any light. He could not. The doctor diagnosed a perforating eye injury caused by a gunshot wound.

Abu Jazar underwent surgery and said, “I hope my eyesight will return, God willing.”

Hospitals receive bodies of more aid seekers

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on Sunday that 119 bodies, including 15 recovered from under the rubble of destroyed buildings or other places, and 866 wounded Palestinians have arrived at the enclave’s hospitals over the past 24-hour reporting period.

At least 65 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid, and 511 more were wounded.

Israeli forces have routinely fired on Palestinians trying to get food at GHF-run distribution sites in Gaza, and the United Nations reported this week that more than 1,300 aid seekers have been killed since the group began operating in May.

Gaza’s famine and malnutrition crisis has been worsening by the day, with at least 175 people, including 93 children, now confirmed dead from the man-made starvation of Israel’s punishing blockade, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

More than 6,000 Palestinian children are being treated for malnutrition resulting from the blockade, according to the Global Nutrition Cluster, which includes the UN health and food agencies.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, says, “There’s a very, very small amount of trucks coming into Gaza – about maybe 80 to 100 trucks every single day – despite the fact that this “humanitarian pause” was for more aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

“Palestinians are struggling to get a bag of wheat flour. They’re struggling to find a food parcel. And this shows the fact that this pause and all the Israeli claims are not true because on the ground, Palestinians are starving, ” she added.

Khoudary noted that the entire population had been relyiant on UN agencies and other partners to distribute food.

“More Palestinians die every single day due to the forced starvation and malnutrition … Since the blockade started, those distribution points have not been operating, and now nothing’s back to normal. Palestinians are still struggling, and not only that, they’re being killed now for the fact that they’re approaching trucks, the GHF, because they want to eat,” she said.

A compensation scheme for drivers over the mis-selling of car loans could cost as much as £18bn, the financial regulator has said.

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that hidden commissions from lenders to dealers on car loans were not unlawful, meaning millions of motorists will not be able to claim.

However, the judgement left open the possibility of compensation claims for particularly large commissions which the Supreme Court said were unfair.

Following the ruling, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said it will consult on running a payout scheme – estimated to cost between £9bn and £18bn.

It said that “most individuals will probably receive less than £950 in compensation”, with the first payouts expected next year if the scheme goes ahead.

Those who have already complained do not need to do anything, the FCA said, advising those who have yet to complain to contact their car loan provider rather than using a claims management company.

Last week, a prominent Saudi Sheikh, Mohammed Al-Issa, visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation, which signalled the end of the Nazi Holocaust. Although dozens of Muslim scholars have visited the site, where about one million Jews were killed during World War Two, according to the Auschwitz Memorial Centre’s press office, Al-Issa is the most senior Muslim religious leader to do so.

Visiting Auschwitz is not a problem for a Muslim; Islam orders Muslims to reject unjustified killing of any human being, no matter what their faith is. Al-Issa is a senior ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), who apparently cares little for the sanctity of human life, though, and the visit to Auschwitz has very definite political connotations beyond any Islamic context.

By sending Al-Issa to the camp, Bin Salman wanted to show his support for Israel, which exploits the Holocaust for geopolitical colonial purposes. “The Israeli government decided that it alone was permitted to mark the 75th anniversary of the Allied liberation of Auschwitz [in modern day Poland] in 1945,” wrote journalist Richard Silverstein recently when he commented on the gathering of world leaders in Jerusalem for Benjamin Netanyahu’s Holocaust event.

READ: Next up, a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem 

Bin Salman uses Al Issa for such purposes, as if to demonstrate his own Zionist credentials. For example, the head of the Makkah-based Muslim World League is leading rapprochement efforts with Evangelical Christians who are, in the US at least, firm Zionists in their backing for the state of Israel. Al-Issa has called for a Muslim-Christian-Jewish interfaith delegation to travel to Jerusalem in what would, in effect, be a Zionist troika.

Zionism is not a religion, and there are many non-Jewish Zionists who desire or support the establishment of a Jewish state in occupied Palestine. The definition of Zionism does not mention the religion of its supporters, and Israeli writer Sheri Oz, is just one author who insists that non-Jews can be Zionists.

Mohammad Bin Salman and Netanyahu – Cartoon [Tasnimnews.com/Wikipedia]

We should not be shocked, therefore, to see a Zionist Muslim leader in these trying times. It is reasonable to say that Bin Salman’s grandfather and father were Zionists, as close friends of Zionist leaders. Logic suggests that Bin Salman comes from a Zionist dynasty.

This has been evident from his close relationship with Zionists and positive approaches to the Israeli occupation and establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, calling it “[the Jews’] ancestral homeland”. This means that he has no issue with the ethnic cleansing of almost 800,000 Palestinians in 1948, during which thousands were killed and their homes demolished in order to establish the Zionist state of Israel.

“The ‘Jewish state’ claim is how Zionism has tried to mask its intrinsic Apartheid, under the veil of a supposed ‘self-determination of the Jewish people’,” wrote Israeli blogger Jonathan Ofir in Mondoweiss in 2018, “and for the Palestinians it has meant their dispossession.”

As the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Bin Salman has imprisoned dozens of Palestinians, including representatives of Hamas. In doing so he is serving Israel’s interests. Moreover, he has blamed the Palestinians for not making peace with the occupation state. Bin Salman “excoriated the Palestinians for missing key opportunities,” wrote Danial Benjamin in Moment magazine. He pointed out that the prince’s father, King Salman, has played the role of counterweight by saying that Saudi Arabia “permanently stands by Palestine and its people’s right to an independent state with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.”

UN expert: Saudi crown prince behind hack on Amazon CEO 

Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of Israel’s Channel 13 News reported Bin Salman as saying: “In the last several decades the Palestinian leadership has missed one opportunity after the other and rejected all the peace proposals it was given. It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiations table or shut up and stop complaining.” This is reminiscent of the words of the late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, one of the Zionist founders of Israel, that the Palestinians “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

Bin Salman’s Zionism is also very clear in his bold support for US President Donald Trump’s deal of the century, which achieves Zionist goals in Palestine at the expense of Palestinian rights. He participated in the Bahrain conference, the forum where the economic side of the US deal was announced, where he gave “cover to several other Arab countries to attend the event and infuriated the Palestinians.”

US President Donald Trump looks over at Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud as they line up for the family photo during the opening day of Argentina G20 Leaders’ Summit 2018 at Costa Salguero on 30 November 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina [Daniel Jayo/Getty Images]

While discussing the issue of the current Saudi support for Israeli policies and practices in Palestine with a credible Palestinian official last week, he told me that the Palestinians had contacted the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to ask him not to relocate his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. “The Saudis have been putting pressure on us in order to relocate our embassy to Jerusalem,” replied the Brazilian leader. What more evidence of Mohammad Bin Salman’s Zionism do we need?

The founder of Friends of Zion Museum is American Evangelical Christian Mike Evans. He said, after visiting a number of the Gulf States, that, “The leaders [there] are more pro-Israel than a lot of Jews.” This was a specific reference to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, and his counterpart in the UAE, Mohammed Bin Zayed.

“All versions of Zionism lead to the same reactionary end of unbridled expansionism and continued settler colonial genocide of [the] Palestinian people,” Israeli-American writer and photographer Yoav Litvin wrote for Al Jazeera. We may well see an Israeli Embassy opened in Riyadh in the near future, and a Saudi Embassy in Tel Aviv or, more likely, Jerusalem. Is Mohammad Bin Salman a Zionist? There’s no doubt about it.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Joint Sea-2025 exercises begin in waters near Russian port of Vladivostok and will last for three days, China’s Defence Ministry says.

China and Russia have begun joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan as they seek to reinforce their partnership and counterbalance what they see as a United States-led global order.

The Chinese and Russian governments have deepened their ties in recent years, with China providing an economic lifeline to Russia in the face of Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Joint Sea-2025 exercises began in waters near the Russian port of Vladivostok and will last for three days, China’s Ministry of National Defence said in a statement on Sunday.

The two sides will hold “submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defence and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat”.

Four Chinese vessels, including guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, are participating in the exercises, alongside Russian ships, the ministry said.

After the drills, the two countries will conduct naval patrols in “relevant waters of the Pacific”.

China and Russia have carried out annual drills for several years, with the “Joint Sea” exercises beginning in 2012.

Last year’s drills were held along China’s southern coast.

With this year’s drills in the Sea of Japan, in its annual report last month, Japan’s Ministry of Defence warned that China’s growing military cooperation with Russia poses serious security concerns.

“The exercise is defensive in nature and is not directed against other countries,” the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet said earlier this week, according to a report by the US Naval Institute’s online news and analysis portal.

On Friday, the Chinese Defence Ministry said this year’s exercises were aimed at “further deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership” of the two countries.

China has never denounced Russia’s more than three-year war nor called for it to withdraw its troops, and many of Ukraine’s allies, including the US, believe that Beijing has provided support to Moscow.

European leaders asked China last month to use its influence to pressure Russia to end the war, now in its fourth year, but there was no sign that Beijing would do so.

China, however, insists it is a neutral party, regularly calling for an end to the fighting while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.

Officials say the workers were conducting an emergency inspection of sewage pipes when the accident took place.

Four workers have died in Japan after falling into a manhole near Tokyo as they inspected sewage pipes, according to public broadcaster NHK, quoting police.

NHK reported on Sunday that the incident in the city of Gyoda in Saitama Prefecture, north of the Japanese capital, happened on Saturday, as the four men, all in their 50s, and other co-workers were inspecting a sewage pipe.

City officials say the workers were conducting an emergency inspection of sewage pipes that the central government had ordered municipalities to carry out, after a huge road cave-in in January.

Police were quoted by NHK as saying that during the inspection, one of the workers fell down the manhole, followed by three of his co-workers who were trying to save him.

According to police, the manhole is 60cm (24in) in diameter and more than 10 metres (33ft) in depth.

The fire department from the area also confirmed the incident to the AFP news agency.

Video clips published by NHK showed several emergency and rescue personnel near the manhole.

The department said rescuers detected hydrogen sulfide – a gas toxic in high concentrations – coming out of the manhole.

But city officials refused to be drawn on the cause of the initial fall.

“Detailed circumstances leading up to the accident are still unknown, so it’s too early for us to say anything about our responsibility,” a Gyoda city official told AFP, on condition of anonymity.

The four workers were retrieved and taken to hospital, where they were pronounced dead, according to local media reports.

About 10 workers were at the scene of the inspection, ordered to clean the pipes of wastewater and sludge if necessary.

In May, Japanese rescuers recovered the body of a dead 74-year-old truck driver months after he was swallowed by a road collapse in Saitama prefecture.