World

WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives on Saturday approved a giant aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and a bill threatening to ban TikTok.

Here is a breakdown of the $95 billion package, which now moves to the Senate, where it could be taken up as early as Tuesday.

The majority of funds in the package, nearly $61 billion, are earmarked for Ukraine's war effort against the Russian invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pleading for this money for months, warning that "if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war".

Washington is Kyiv's main military supporter, but Congress has not passed a major aid package for its ally since December 2022 due to partisan squabbling.

The bill passed Saturday would provide nearly $14 billion to train, equip and finance the needs of the Ukrainian army.

Ukraine would also receive $10 billion in "forgivable loans" for vital economic and budgetary support, including for the energy and infrastructure sectors.

The idea of a loan, rather than a grant, was suggested by former president Donald Trump, who believes the United States should stop handing out money without any payback. A "forgivable loan" can be partly or fully forgiven or deferred under certain conditions.

A large chunk of this money will also go to replenishing US military stockpiles.

The bill also authorises the US president to confiscate and sell Russian assets in order to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, an idea that is also gaining traction with other G7 countries.

 Israel 

The United States' historic ally Israel will receive $13 billion in military assistance as it fights Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

These funds will be used in particular to strengthen Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.

More than $9 billion will be spent to address “the dire need for humanitarian assistance for Gaza as well as other vulnerable populations around the world”.

The measure, however, would prohibit any direct US funding of the UN crisis-hit Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA). Israel has accused some of the agency employees in Gaza of involvement in the shocking October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, which triggered the war.

Taiwan, TikTok 

The bill would provide some $8 billion to counter China through investment in submarine infrastructure and boosting competition with Chinese projects in developing countries.

The bill also earmarks several billion dollars in weapons funding for Taiwan, a self-ruled island that is claimed by China.

Another bill passed Saturday would force TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a nationwide ban in the United States.

American officials have voiced alarm over the popularity of TikTok with young people, alleging that it is subservient to Beijing and a conduit to spread propaganda, claims denied by the company and Beijing.

SYDNEY — China’s foreign minister on Saturday accused Western powers in the AUKUS security pact of provoking division and risking nuclear proliferation in the South Pacific.

On a weekend visit to strengthen Beijing’s ties with Papua New Guinea, Foreign Minister Wang Yi lashed out at AUKUS, which provides for the United States and Britain to equip Australia with nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines.

The three-way AUKUS agreement “runs counter” to a South Pacific treaty banning nuclear weapons in the region, he told a news conference in Port Moresby.

AUKUS also “raises serious nuclear proliferation risks”, the Chinese foreign minister told reporters after meeting with his Papua New Guinea counterpart Justin Tkatchenko.

In recent years, Beijing has tried to chip away at US and Australian influence across the South Pacific, including in Papua New Guinea. 

The Pacific Islands, while small in population, are replete with natural resources and sit at a geostrategic crossroads that could prove strategically vital in any military dispute over Taiwan. 

Australia is by far Papua New Guinea’s largest donor, but Chinese firms have made solid inroads into markets in the impoverished but resource-rich nation.

The Chinese foreign minister seized on a recent announcement by the AUKUS nations that they are considering cooperating with Japan on military technology.

Under the AUKUS agreement, the partners plan to develop advanced warfighting capabilities such as artificial intelligence, undersea drones and hypersonic missiles. 

“The recent attempts to draw more countries to join in such an initiative of stoking confrontation between blocs and provoking division are totally inconsistent with the urgent needs of the island countries,” the foreign minister said.

Wang took a thinly veiled swipe at Australian and US relations with Solomon Islands, which held elections on Wednesday.

The Solomons’ incumbent prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has embraced China while his main challengers view Beijing’s growing influence with a mix of scepticism and alarm.

A new government has yet to be agreed among elected MPs.

“We believe that the people of Solomon Islands have the wisdom and ability to determine the future of their country. Island nations belong to their people,” Wang said.

“They are not the backyard of any big country,” Wang said — an allusion to historic perceptions that Australia considered the South Pacific to be its backyard.

State-backed Chinese news outlets have pushed reports that the United States might orchestrate riots to block Sogavare from returning to power. 

US Ambassador to the Solomons Ann Marie Yastischock has said such rumours are “blatantly misleading”. 

Papua New Guinea’s foreign minister welcomed the Chinese minister, saying they had “reached some understanding” in their talks.

“PNG values China as an important bilateral partner,” he said.

Wang is scheduled to have breakfast with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape on Sunday, wrapping up a three-nation tour of Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea that began April 18.

JAKARTA — The threat from an Indonesian volcano that has erupted more than half a dozen times this week is not over, the archipelago’s top volcanology official told AFP, as the crater belched another ash tower on Saturday.

Mount Ruang, located in Indonesia’s outermost region of North Sulawesi province, started erupting late Tuesday, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands on islands near the stratovolcano and closure of the nearest international airport.

The volcano erupted again before midnight Friday and again on Saturday afternoon, spewing an ash column 250 metres above its peak, the latest of a wave of volcanic activity, the volcanology agency said.

That forced the country’s volcanology agency to warn that major eruptions could still take place, despite the crater calming since it stirred a spectacular mix of lava, ash and lightning earlier in the week, raining down molten rocks on nearby villages.

“With volcanic earthquakes recorded, this crisis is not over yet,” agency head Hendra Gunawan told AFP.

“It indicates magmatic fluid supply is still moving from the depth to the surface. So it’s not surprising if eruptions still occur.”

The volcano, with a peak 725 metres above sea level, is currently the only one of Indonesia’s more than 100 volcanos at the highest alert level of a four-tiered system.

Authorities have kept a six-kilometre exclusion zone around the volcano. More than 6,000 residents of neighbouring Tagulandang island, home to around 20,000 people, were evacuated outside the exclusion zone, a local official said on Friday.

Authorities previously estimated more than 11,000 people would need to be evacuated because of the volcanology agency’s warning of volcanic rocks, hot clouds and lava flows. 

Residents were advised to wear masks to avoid respiratory problems, the agency said in a statement.

The stratovolcano’s latest activity also prompted authorities to extend the closure of Sam Ratulangi international airport in the provincial capital of Manado, more than 100 kilometres away.

The airport, initially set to reopen Saturday, will remain closed until Sunday as volcanic ash from Mount Ruang was detected around it, Ambar Suryoko, head of the Manado region airport authority, said in a statement.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

COPENHAGEN — A huge fire on Tuesday devastated Copenhagen’s 17th-century former stock exchange, toppling the historic building’s landmark spire in front of horrified witnesses.

The 54-metre spire disappeared into flames at the Borsen building, which had been undergoing renovation, an AFP journalist saw.

“This is our Notre-Dame! This is a national treasure,” emotional local resident, 45-year-old Elisabeth Moltke, told AFP as she watched the blaze.

“A lot of old Danish paintings, originals are in there. I’ve been in there several times and it’s a magnificent building so it makes me feel very emotional.”

The fire started at around 7:30 am local time (05:30 GMT) under the red-brick building’s copper roof, emergency services told reporters, as more than a hundred firefighters were dispatched to the scene. 

The spire snapped and crashed down onto the street below. Dramatic photographs showed orange flames and huge plumes of black smoke billowing from the rooftop.

Fire trucks surrounded the building, covered in scaffolding and wrapped in tarp and which today houses the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

It lies just a stone’s throw from the country’s Parliament and seat of government Christiansborg.

Hard to reach 

“It’s a copper roof, and it’s simply impossible to get under that roof, so the fire has plenty of time to build intensity,” Jakob Vedsted Andersen, director of emergency services, told news agency Ritzau, adding that the fire had spread down into the building.

The Borsen building, commissioned by King Christian IV and built between 1619 and 1640, is one of Copenhagen’s oldest and best known landmarks.

Housing a vast art collection, it was being renovated to celebrate its 400th anniversary.

“Terrifying images from Borsen this morning. 400 years of Danish cultural heritage going up in flames,” Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The images recalled the disaster at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, almost five years ago to the day it was gutted by a fire.

Onlookers could not hold back tears as they watched the devastation.

“I’m lost for words... It’s a 400-year-old building that has survived all the other fires that burned Copenhagen down to the ground,” said Carsten Lundberg, an employee at the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a dreadful loss,” Lundberg told AFP adding that what was inside were “things that you cannot put a price on... Priceless paintings, statues...”

Rushing to save art 

Engel-Schmidt said he had been moved to see employees, rescue workers and residents working to “rescue art treasures and iconic paintings from the burning building”.

Images from the scene showed several people rescuing works of art, including a painting of the building.

Forces from the Danish military were also called to the scene, in particular to try to evacuate artworks.

“We are currently working hard to save our historical art from Borsen,” the Chamber of Commerce said in a post to X.

Police said they had blocked off parts of the city centre as part of the fire-fighting efforts.

SEOUL — The US ambassador to the United Nations visited the heavily-fortified border between North and South Korea on Tuesday, urging Pyongyang to return to talks as global enforcement of UN sanctions stumbles.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield arrived in South Korea on Sunday on a trip aimed at keeping up pressure on the nuclear-armed North after Russia last month used its UN veto to effectively end UN monitoring of violations of the raft of sanctions on Kim Jong-un’s regime.

Experts have said the shift was a significant victory for Kim, who has recently ramped up ties with Moscow including, Washington and Seoul have claimed, sending Russia weapons for use in Ukraine.

“The United States harbours no, no hostile intent towards the DPRK,” Thomas-Greenfield said at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, referring to the North by the acronym of its official name.

“We have held the doors open for meaningful diplomacy and we remain open to dialogue, real, productive dialogue without preconditions,” she said.

“All the DPRK [has] to do is say yes and show up to the table,” she added.

Washington and Seoul have condemned Moscow for its move at the United Nations, calling it “irresponsible”.

Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin in September last year, with Pyongyang’s leader declaring Moscow ties his country’s “number one priority”.

Seoul has since claimed that the North has sent 7,000 containers of arms to Russia.

“This is clearly a concern of ours,” Thomas-Greenfield said, when asked about North Korea-Russia ties.

“It is certainly the reason we’re seeing Russia protect the DPRK in the council vetoing the 1718 Panel of Experts resolution, blocking efforts to hold the DPRK accountable for numerous violations of resolutions in the council,” she said.

This year, Kim has declared Washington’s security ally Seoul his country’s “principal enemy”, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement.

Pyongyang has also been making efforts to strengthen ties with its most important ally, Beijing. Last week, it received a visit from China’s third highest-ranking official and called the bilateral relationship an “eternal friendship”.

“We urge Russia and China to reverse course and once again to urge Pyongyang to choose diplomacy and come to the negotiating table,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

The DMZ has been a regular stop for US presidents visiting the South.

Former president Donald Trump and Kim in 2019 had an impromptu meeting in the DMZ — after Trump issued an invitation on Twitter the day before — though the meeting did not yield any significant breakthroughs.

South Korea’s former president Moon Jae-in and Kim held two of their three summits in 2018 at Panmunjom, a “truce village” within the DMZ.

Moon’s diplomacy efforts however ultimately failed to denuclearise the North.