World

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler will on Wednesday take another step out of his international isolation by paying his first visit to Turkey since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

The talks in Ankara between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan come one month before US President Joe Biden visits Riyadh for a regional summit focused on the energy crunch caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Erdogan’s decision to revive ties with one of his biggest rivals is also driven in large part by economics and trade.

Turks’ living standards are imploding one year before a general election that poses one of the biggest challenges of Erdogan’s mercurial two-decade rule.

Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted government released scant details of the gruesome murder that deeply embarrassed the Saudi crown prince.

But it is now drumming up investment and central bank assistance from the very countries it opposed on ideological grounds in the wake of the Arab Spring revolts.

“I think this is probably one of the most significant visits to Ankara by a foreign leader in almost a decade,” said The Washington Institute’s Turkey specialist Soner Cagaptay.

“Erdogan is all about Erdogan. He’s all about winning elections and I think he has decided to kind of swallow his pride.”

The Turkish leader is scheduled to receive the crown prince at his presidential palace and then host him at a private dinner.

No press conference or signing ceremony is planned.

Analysts believe Prince Mohammed will be looking to see if he can win broader backing ahead of a possible new nuclear agreement between world powers and the Saudis’ arch-nemesis Iran.

“There is increased confidence (in Riyadh) that Ankara could be more useful in the current geopolitical environment,” the Eurasia Group said in a research note.

– ‘You should be ashamed’ –

Turkey’s rapprochement with the Saudis began with an Istanbul court decision in April to break off the trial in absentia of 26 suspects accused of links to Khashoggi’s killing and to transfer the case to Riyadh.

US intelligence officials have determined that Prince Mohammed approved the plot against Khashoggi — which Riyadh denies.

The court’s decision drew strong protests from Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.

But it paved the way for a politically sensitive visit to Saudi Arabia by Erdogan just three weeks later.

The kingdom’s state media ended up releasing a picture of Erdogan hugging the crown prince that created a furore in Turkey.

“He gets off the plane and hugs the killers,” fumed Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan’s likely chief rival in the presidential race.

“You should be ashamed.”

Ankara expects the mending of fences between the two Sunni powers to help prop up the Turkish economy at a crucial stage of Erdogan’s rule.

A Turkish official said the sides will discuss a range of issues that include cooperation between banks and support for small and medium-size businesses.

– Lack of trust –

Erdogan’s unconventional economic approach has set off an inflationary spiral that has seen consumer prices almost double in the past year.

Analysts believe the resulting drop in Erdogan’s public approval and depletion of state reserves means the Turkish leader can ill afford to maintain his hostile stance toward petrodollar-rich Gulf states.

Turkey’s problems with the Saudis began when Ankara refused to accept Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood from power in Cairo in 2013.

The Saudis and other Arab kingdoms viewed the Brotherhood as an existential threat.

Those rivalries intensified after Turkey tried to break the nearly four-year blockade the Saudis and their allies imposed on Qatar in 2017.

Analysts believe that Washington is watching this gradual return of regional calm with an approving nod.

“Encouraged by the United States, this rapprochement is relaxing tensions and building diplomacy across the region,” said the US-based Middle East Institute’s Turkish scholar Gonul Tol.

But Tol questioned whether Prince Mohammed was prepared to fully trust Erdogan.

The crown prince “will not easily forget the attitude adopted by Turkey after the Khashoggi affair,” she said.

A powerful earthquake struck a remote border region of Afghanistan overnight killing at least 920 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said Wednesday, with the toll expected to rise as rescuers dig through collapsed dwellings.

The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged terrain of the east, where people already live hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover in August.

The death toll has climbed steadily all day as news of casualties filtered in from hard-to-reach areas in the mountains, and the country’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, warned it would likely rise further.

“So far the information we have is that at least 920 people have been martyred and 600 injured,” Sharafuddin Muslim, the deputy minister for disaster management, told a press conference in the capital, Kabul.

Earlier, a tribal leader from Paktika province — one of the hardest hit areas — said survivors and rescuers were scrambling to help those affected.

“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” Yaqub Manzor told AFP by telephone.

Photographs and video clips posted on social media showed scores of badly damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.

Some footage showed local residents loading victims into a military helicopter.

– Offers of help –

Even before the Taliban takeover Afghanistan’s emergency response teams were stretched to deal with the natural disasters that frequently struck the country.

But with only a handful of airworthy planes and helicopters, an immediate response is often limited.

“The government is working within its capabilities,” tweeted Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official.

“We hope that the International Community & aid agencies will also help our people in this dire situation.”

The United Nations and European Union were quick to offer help.

“Inter-agency assessment teams have already been deployed to a number of affected areas,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afghanistan tweeted.

Tomas Niklasson, EU special envoy for Afghanistan, tweeted: “The EU is monitoring the situation and stands ready to coordinate and provide EU emergency assistance to people and communities affected.”

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes — especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Scores of people were killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas in the western province of Badghis, damaging hundreds of buildings.

In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

From the Vatican City, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims of the latest quake.

“I express my closeness with the injured and those who were affected,” the 85-year-old pontiff said at the end of his weekly audience.

The latest earthquake came at a time when Afghanistan is battling a severe humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the country.

Aid agencies and the United Nations say Afghanistan needs billions of dollars this year to tackle the crisis.

Aid agencies have particularly stressed the need for greater disaster preparedness in Afghanistan, which remains extremely susceptible to recurring earthquakes, floods and landslides.

The quake was felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, 480 kilometres (300 miles) from the epicentre, according to responses posted on the USGS and European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) websites.

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

– Russia neighbour Lithuania has ‘ironclad’ support: US  – 

The United States says its commitment to defend Russia neighbour and fellow NATO member Lithuania in the event of attack is “ironclad.”

“We stand by our NATO allies and we stand by Lithuania,” State Department spokesman Ned Price says, reiterating that an attack on the country would, under NATO rules, be considered “an attack on all” members of the alliance.

EU member Lithuania, which serves as a conduit for goods travelling between the Russian mainland to its east and Russia’s Baltic Sea outpost of Kaliningrad to its west has drawn Moscow’s ire by banning rail convoys of goods targeted by EU sanctions.

Moscow has threatened “serious” repercussions.

– Eastern city suffers ‘massive shelling’ –

A Ukrainian official says Russian forces are “massively” shelling the eastern city of Lysychansk, one of two sister cities in the Lugansk region that are pivotal in the battle for Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas.

“They are just destroying everything there,” Lugansk governor Sergiy Gaiday says. In a later statement, he says residents are being evacuated.

Lysychansk lies just across the Donets river from the ruined city of Severodonetsk, where the last remaining Ukrainian troops are holding out at a chemical plant while waiting for more heavy weapons to try to stall the Russians’ advance.

Gaiday describes the situation in Severodonetsk as “hell” but assures: “Our boys are holding their positions and will continue to hold on as long as necessary.”

– Fifteen killed in Kharkiv region: governor –

Fifteeen people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed by shelling Tuesday in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where Russian forces have stepped up their attacks a month after being routed from the city’s northern outskirts.

“Fifteen people died and 16 were wounded. Such are the terrible consequences of Russian daytime shelling in the Kharkiv region,” Kharkiv governor Oleg Synegubov says.

The deaths took place in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest, as well as Chuguiv, a town 30 kilometres (18 miles) to the southeast and Zolochiv, 40 kilometres to the north.

– Threats to captured Americans ‘appalling’: US –

The US expresses outrage after President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman suggests that two Americans captured while fighting for Ukraine could face execution.

“It’s appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine,” John Kirby, a White House spokesman, says.

He was reacting to an NBC News interview with Dmitry Peskov, in which he accused Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh of being mercenaries and refused to rule out the possibility of them facing the death penalty.

Two British men and one Moroccan man were sentenced to death earlier this month by Moscow-backed separatists in southeast Ukraine for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.

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Equities and oil prices tumbled Wednesday after a brief respite from last week’s painful rout across world markets, with recession fears continuing to build as central banks hike interest rates to combat decades-high inflation.

While Asia, Wall Street and Europe all enjoyed healthy gains on Tuesday, analysts warned the downbeat mood on trading floors means the selling is unlikely to end any time soon.

Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell’s two-day testimony to Congress this week will be pored over for an idea about officials’ plans for fighting runaway prices, which are being fanned by supply chain snarls, China’s lockdowns and the war in Ukraine.

Most observers expect them to hike rates by three-quarters of a point several more times this year, having announced such a move this month — the sharpest lift in almost 30 years.

However, while many believe the Fed’s front-loaded tightening drive is needed — allowing it to begin cutting sooner as price rises settle back — there is a building consensus that the world’s top economy is heading for a contraction next year.

“The Fed has entered into a policy cocktail that we would describe as hammer time,” Gene Tannuzzo, at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, told Bloomberg Television.

“You have to be planning defensively at this point. There are a lot of questions on all risk assets.”

In Asian trade, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Manila, Taipei, Jakarta and Bangkok were all deep in the red.

London followed suit, dropping more than one percent after official data showed UK inflation had reached a fresh 40-year high. Paris and Frankfurt were also sharply lower.

– Crude prices hammered –

Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management said that while the selling from last week had abated, traders continued to fret over a recession and the prospect of more rate hikes, adding that the Fed could be more compelled to respond if oil prices surge again and push up inflation further.

“One cause of the market malaise could be the thought of business confidence catching down to consumer confidence; hence the risk in equities is for an earnings downgrade,” he wrote in a note.

“We could see that play out in the context of weaker University of Michigan sentiment on Friday, which could lead investors to conclude US consumers will start tightening their purse strings.

“Indeed, an extremely powerful equity market sell signal.”

Oil prices were feeling the heat from recessionary fears, with both main contracts tanking more than five percent at one point on demand worries caused by any recession, despite China’s reopening moves, the US holiday driving season and tight supplies. 

Still, Goldman Sachs said that with demand still outpacing supplies, the market remains tight.

“Investors should remember that Fed-induced slowdowns are simply a short-term abatement of the symptom, inflation, and not a cure for the problem, underinvestment,” it added.

Bets on the Fed’s rate hikes and the Bank of Japan’s refusal to move from its policy of ultra-low rates continue to pile pressure on the yen, which is sitting at a 24-year low around 136 to the dollar.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s comment that it “is up to the central bank” how to maintain its easy money policy added to pressure on the country’s currency, though famed economist Nouriel Roubini said he expects Tokyo to take action if the yen hits 140.

“If you go well above 140, the BoJ will have to change policy and the first change in policy is going to be yield curve control,” he said referring to a policy of keeping long-term rates artificially at a chosen level.

“So I think another 10 percent fall in the yen will imply a change in policy,” he told Bloomberg Television at the Qatar Economic Forum.

– Key figures at around 0810 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 at 26,149.55 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.6 percent at 21,008.34 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.2 percent at 3,267.20 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.3 percent at 7,060.45

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 5.3 percent at $103.77 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 4.8 percent at $109.17 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0506 from $1.0535 late Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2191 from $1.2273

Euro/pound: UP at 86.18 pence from 85.80 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 136.29 yen from 136.64 yen

New York – Dow: UP 2.2 percent at 30,530.25 (close)

Israeli lawmakers were holding a first vote Wednesday on a government bill to dissolve parliament and call an early election, after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said his eight-party coalition was no longer tenable.

The government has said it wants to fast-track the bill but the opposition led by ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu will attempt to block its passage in a bid to form a replacement government without the need for what would be Israel’s fifth election in less than four years.

If the government’s dissolution bill passes Wednesday’s preliminary vote, it must then clear a separate committee vote and three further votes in the full parliament. 

If it passes all those hurdles, the election is expected to be called for October 25, Israeli media reported.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would take charge as prime minister of a caretaker government, in accordance with a power-sharing deal he reached with Bennett after 2021 elections, when the pair forged an alliance of ideological rivals united in their desire to oust Netanyahu. 

Netanyahu has cheered the coalition’s collapse and vowed to form a new right-wing government, with or without fresh elections.

His Likud party has been courting potential defectors from coalition ranks to give him the parliamentary majority he needs for a snap return to power.

Those being wooed include religious nationalists from within Bennett’s own Yamina party and hawks from Justice Minister Gideon Saar’s New Hope party. 

“Until the dissolution law is finalised there’s still the option of an alternate government, a government headed by Netanyahu,” Likud lawmaker Miri Regev told army radio. 

A powerful earthquake struck a remote border region of Afghanistan overnight killing at least 255 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said Wednesday, with the toll expected to rise as rescuers dig through collapsed dwellings.

The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged terrain of the east, where people already live hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover in August.

“According to the information, the number of earthquake victims so far in the provinces of Paktika and Khost has reached 255 dead and 500 injured,” tweeted government spokesman Mohammad Naeem.

Earlier, another spokesman told AFP many houses were damaged and people still trapped inside.

Yaqub Manzor, a tribal leader from Paktika province, said survivors were mobilising to help those affected.

“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” he told AFP by telephone.

Photographs and video clips posted on social media showed badly damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.

Some footage showed local residents loading victims into a military helicopter.

Even before the Taliban takeover Afghanistan’s emergency response teams were stretched to deal with the natural disasters that frequently struck the country.

But with only a handful of airworthy planes and helicopters, an immediate response is often limited.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes — especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. 

Scores of people were killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas in the western province of Badghis, damaging hundreds of buildings.

In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

The latest earthquake came at a time when Afghanistan is battling a severe humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the country.

Aid agencies and the United Nations say Afghanistan needs billions of dollars this year to tackle the crisis.

Aid agencies have particularly stressed the need for greater disaster preparedness in Afghanistan, which remains extremely susceptible to recurring earthquakes, floods and landslides.