Global

In a telephone conversation with his Israeli counterpart Gallant, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin promised that an aircraft carrier already on its way to the Middle East would be speeded up. The US is also sending a nuclear submarine with guided missiles - the USS Georgia - to the region. The US aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has been in the region for some time and will soon be joined by the USS Abraham Lincoln, which will carry advanced Joint Strike Fighter jets.

Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD, which stands for 'Build Your Dreams', signed a deal with Türkiye on Monday (8 July) to open a major factory in the country. The move will allow the Chinese to avoid new import tariffs from Brussels.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is in the Chinese capital Beijing. He is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing later today (8 Juli). What exactly they will talk about is not known.

On 2 July, LINKS Europe hosted the second The Hague Conversations on Climate Change, Peace and Security at The Hague Humanity Hub, focusing on the integration of peace into the COP29 agenda. During the meeting, Dr Dennis Sammut provided an update on the state of the debate on mainstreaming peace at COP29 and shared information on the process of the Bonn Contact Group on Climate, Peace and Security ahead of COP29. He said that he hoped that the peace-building community in The Hague will become more interested and contribute to the topic, including in the preparations of the three reports that the Bonn Contact Group was preparing on the themes of food security, water scarcity and land contamination from remnants of war.

In a statement issued on Tuesday (2 July), the European Union "strongly condemned" the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea on 1 July, in further violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Political uncertainty in France and an EU trade dispute with China are casting a shadow over European corporate earnings, investors say, despite forecasts pointing to better corporate results. According to LSEG I/B/E/S equity research, second-quarter earnings for companies in the pan-European STOXX 600 index are expected to rise by 2%, with revenues up 1.7%. This would be the first quarter of growth since early 2023. Investors had been optimistic about Europe's stock markets as the European Central Bank adopted a looser policy and the economic outlook improved. However, French President Emmanuel Macron's unexpected decision to call a general election has raised doubts.

Commerce and trade ministers from the United States, Japan and South Korea pledged on Wednesday (27 June) to work together on strategic issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) security, export controls, clean energy and semiconductor supply chains. "We are redoubling our efforts to work together," said US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo at the start of the meeting in Washington. "As leaders in manufacturing, services, technology and innovation, we must work together not only for the benefit of our countries, but for the security of the world," she added. Raimondo was joined by Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ken Saito, and South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ahn Duk-geun, for this inaugural trilateral meeting, which was agreed by their leaders at a summit in Camp David in August.

Hundreds of pilgrims who died of extreme heat during this year's Hajj were not officially registered with the Saudi authorities (the Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims). As a result, many pilgrims were unable to access basic services such as air-conditioned buses and cooling tents. This situation highlights a growing challenge for Hajj organisers in the face of climate change: the requirement for official permits to access these services raises concerns that unregistered pilgrims may increasingly face life-threatening heat exposure. In addition, the high cost of official Hajj packages is leading some Muslims to seek cheaper, unofficial alternatives that do not include the necessary permits, taking advantage of relaxed restrictions on other types of Saudi visas. The lack of permits for unregistered pilgrims is hampering the provision of services and care, according to Colonel Talal bin Shalhoub, the security spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Interior, in an interview on Saudi al-Arabiya television. Critics argue that all pilgrims should be protected from extreme heat, regardless of their registration status, and claim that authorities have cracked down on unauthorised participants this year.