Putin urges new arms talks with US to avoid 'chaos'

Yahoo – AFP, Maria ANTONOVA, August 5, 2019

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that without new talks, there was a risk
of an 'uncontrolled arms race' (AFP Photo/Yuri KADOBNOV)

Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday urged the United States to begin new arms talks after the collapse of a Cold War nuclear pact between the two world powers.

Moscow and Washington tore up the Intermediate Range Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty on Friday, triggering fears of a new arms race.

"In order to avoid chaos that has no rules, limits and laws, one needs to once again weigh all possible dangerous consequences and start serious dialogue without any ambiguities," Putin said in a statement.

"We are ready for it."

Moscow has blamed Washington for unilaterally ending the 1987 treaty which was signed by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

The agreement limited the use of conventional and nuclear missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,420 miles).

Washington and NATO accused Russia of developing the new 9M729 missile which they say violates the treaty, but Russia says its range falls short of 500 kilometres

'Risk of uncontrolled arms race'

Putin said Monday that if Russia receives information about US development of new missiles, it "will be forced to begin the full-scale development of similar missiles".

Russia "will not deploy them in relevant regions until American-made missiles are deployed there," Putin said.

Unless there are new talks about strategic security, "this scenario means restarting an uncontrolled arms race," he added.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the weekend that he would like to deploy the new intermediate-range missiles in Asia, but denied that this would spark an arms race as the weapons are not nuclear.

"Right now, we don't have plans to build nuclear-tipped INF range weapons," he said. "So I don't see an arms race happening."

The INF treaty was considered a cornerstone of global arms control architecture, but Washington has long called it obsolete due to non-signatories like China being free to develop their own weapons.

Putin on Monday accused the US of "seriously complicating the situation in the world and creating fundamental risks for all" by pulling out of the treaty.

Washington launched a six-month withdrawal procedure for leaving the treaty in February, and Moscow followed soon after.

Any new treaty to counter the build-up of nuclear missiles would have to include China, US President Donald Trump said last week.

The other key arms deal between Russia and the US is the New START treaty which keeps the nuclear arsenals of both countries well below their Cold War peak.

The deal expires in 2021 and it is likely not to be renewed amid the current chill in US-Russian relations, experts say.

The US and Russia own more than 90 percent of global nuclear stockpiles, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank.

Democratic candidate attacks on Obama legacy rankle party

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, August 3, 2019

Democratic 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden (L) has made his political partnership with
ex-president Barack Obama a centerpiece of his White House campaign, but even
the former vice president has retreated from some Obama-era policies including
deportations (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

Washington (AFP) - Barack Obama slashed US unemployment, protected child migrants and delivered health care to millions. But several 2020 candidates scorched the popular ex-president at their Democratic debate, a strategy that risks alienating voters as the party seeks to regain the White House.

With party divisions over ideology laid bare, progressive rivals to centrist frontrunner Joe Biden challenged the former vice president's record -- and by extension several Obama-era policies on deportation, coal, Afghanistan and health care.

Calling into question the legacy of perhaps the most revered living Democratic leader made for startling viewing at this week's presidential debates, when 20 Democrats took the stage over two nights.

Despite the strategy being a clear play by rivals to undercut Biden, who has made his eight-year partnership with America's first black president a centerpiece of his candidacy, it alarmed Obama loyalists concerned about repelling the very voters who Democrats need to motivate to the ballot box next year.

"To my fellow Democrats: Be wary of attacking the Obama record," Eric Holder, Obama's first attorney general, tweeted Thursday.

"Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained -- for you or the party -- by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President."

As the nation's first black leader, Obama was and remains hugely popular among African Americans.

But he was also deeply concerned about unnerving white middle-class voters, and so faced resentment for not pursuing policies bold enough to close the racial wealth gap.

David Axelrod, a chief Obama campaign strategist, nevertheless argued Thursday that it was a "perilous path" for Democrats to slam Biden's Obama-era policies because that would require attacking Obama, who would win the nomination "in a walk" if he ran today.

Neera Tanden, who directed domestic policy for the Obama campaign and now heads the Center for American Progress think tank, was blunter, likening the approach to "political suicide."

"The GOP didn't attack (president Ronald) Reagan, they built him up for decades," tweeted Tanden, referring to the devotion with which Republicans treat their political hero.

"Dem Candidates who attack Obama are wrong and terrible," she added.

'Lessons of the past' 

The Obama ambush signaled what has become increasingly clear in the era of Trump: the party that seeks to oust him from power has shifted decidedly leftward.

While Obama remains a favorite among Democratic progressives, many are keen not to merely expand the Affordable Care Act -- popularly known as Obamacare -- as Biden is, but replace it with a universal, government-run health care system.

Candidates like liberal senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and even Obama's own housing secretary Julian Castro, suggested Biden was stuck in the past for embracing some Obama policies rather than seeking bold new initiatives.

"It looks like one of us has learned the lessons of the past, and one of us hasn't," Castro memorably snapped at Biden, castigating the frontrunner for not splitting more forcefully from Obama's deportation policy.

Warren expressed frustration with the current health system and touted a shift to a government-led "Medicare for All" plan, and blasted "a corrupt, rigged system" that began before Trump and "that has helped the wealthy and the well-connected, and kicked dirt in the faces of everyone else."

The fusillade against Obama caught the attention of Trump, who gleefully told supporters at a rally Thursday that Democrats "spent more time attacking Barack Obama than they did attacking me, practically."

Biden acknowledged on Thursday in Detroit: "I was a little surprised at how much the incoming was about Barack."

But even Biden himself said he would not raise the deportation rate back to Obama-era levels. And he added that he had opposed Obama's surge of troops in Afghanistan.

Biden could have rallied the party faithful with a more spirited defense of the Obama presidency from the debate stage.

But the lack of such full-throated acclamation suggests the balancing act that many candidates are navigating, especially those further to the left of the former president.

Candidates like Senator Kamala Harris, who clashed with Biden on health care during the debate, was quick to cheer Obama afterwards, perhaps to smooth over concerns that she was attacking the ex-president's legacy.

"I have nothing but praise for president Obama," Harris, who is black, told reporters, noting he was the only recent president to achieve major health reforms.

"My proposal is about taking it to the next step," she said, adding that Obama put Americans "on the path where actually this next step is even possible."

Princess Haya: champion for women's rights

Yahoo – AFP, July 30, 2019

Jordanian royal Princess Haya has long championed causes close to her heart
including youth and education (AFP Photo/Tolga AKMEN)

London (AFP) - An Olympic horse rider and a trailblazer for women's rights, Jordanian royal Princess Haya has long championed causes close to her heart including youth and education.

In a highly unusual move, the half-sister of Jordan's King Abdullah II attended a London court Tuesday where she is locked in a legal battle with her husband the ruler of Dubai.

She applied for a UK forced marriage protection order relating to their children as well as requesting their wardship, in addition to calling for a non-molestation order relating to herself.

The court also heard that her husband Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, has applied to the High Court for the summary return of the children to Dubai.

Haya was reportedly his sixth wife, and the 70-year-old prince is believed to have more than 20 children.

Now aged 45, Haya, the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, married her husband in 2004 and told AFP a year later that she believed Emirati women were "an example of a modern Muslim woman".

"In my work and in our family gatherings I have closely been watching women in the Emirates, and I am in great admiration of them... and I never fail to be amazed at the way in which they combine modernity with Arab and Muslim traditions," she said.

"They are proof to me that an Arab woman can be modern without feeling the need to be Westernised."

The princess was appointed a United Nations messenger of peace in 2007, and was the first Arab and first woman to serve as a Goodwill Ambassador for the World Food Programme (2005-2007).

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum married Princess 

Haya bint al-Hussein in 2004 (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)

She has long championed women's rights, telling Emirates Woman magazine in 2016 that: "Women need to realise their strength."

"So many great women before us and among us have suffered greatly to carve a place for us in modern society that is today better than yesterday and will be better yet tomorrow if women are allowed to achieve their potential," she added.

Passion for horses

Speaking of her husband, she professed: "Every day I am amazed by the things he does. Every single day I thank God that I am lucky enough to be close to him."

She told the magazine that she also enjoyed falconry, shooting and fast cars.

But it was her passion for horses and equestrianism, along with poetry, that united Princess Haya with the Dubai prince.

She headed Jordan's equestrian team before her marriage and remains a keen rider -- something which she has in common with the British royal family, with whom she is reportedly close friends.

Haya became one of the first women athletes to represent her country at an international level, winning a bronze medal at the Pan-Arab Equestrian Games in 1992.

"We share a great passion for horses and equestrian affairs, and that was actually one of the main issues we shared in common when we first met," Haya told AFP in 2005.

A file photo taken on September 5, 2018 shows Jordan's Princess Haya 

bint al-Hussein (AFP Photo/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS)

"As time passed, we soon realised that we also share a passion for poetry and writing as well, for Muslim and Arab history and culture, and for preserving and enhancing our traditions. Much of both of our work is dedicated to this end," she said.

Late last year, Haya also hit the headlines when she invited former UN human rights chief Mary Robinson to meet with Sheikh Mohammed's daughter Latifa, who was captured at sea in March 2018 after trying to flee the UAE.

In a video uploaded to YouTube in March 2018, Latifa, who was then 32, said she was fleeing mistreatment and restrictions imposed by her father's family.

Oxford graduate

Issues relating to youth, as well as health and education, are dear to Haya.

"My work in these sectors is another way to ensure that I am in touch with people at the grassroots level, and this is of utmost importance to me," she said.

Her mother, Queen Alia, was killed in a helicopter crash in February 1977 as she was returning from a visit to a health centre in southern Jordan.

In her mother's memory, Princess Haya set up Tkiyet Um Ali in 2003, the first food aid NGO in the Arab world.

Born and raised in Jordan, Haya was educated in elite British private schools and graduated from St Hilda's College at the University of Oxford with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics.

Princess Haya of Jordan -- embroiled in a bitter legal battle with her husband the ruler of Dubai -- has received support from her brother in the form of a photo on Twitterhttps://t.co/GhS2xMO2oJ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 1 augustus 2019

Report alleges ethical abuses at UN agency for Palestinians

Yahoo – AFP, Joe Dyke, July 29, 2019

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it is cooperating fully
with the investigation into allegations of mismanagement and abuses of authority
at the highest level of the agency (AFP Photo/MOHAMMED ABED)

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - An internal ethics report has alleged mismanagement and abuses of authority at the highest levels of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees even as the organisation faced an unprecedented crisis after US funding cuts.

The allegations included in the confidential report by the agency's ethics department are now being scrutinised by UN investigators.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it is cooperating fully with the investigation and that it cannot comment in detail because the probe is ongoing.

AFP has obtained a copy of the report which describes "credible and corroborated" allegations of serious ethical abuses, including involving UNRWA's top official, Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl.

It says the allegations include senior management engaging in "sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent, and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives."

One senior official named in the report has left the organisation due to "inappropriate behaviour" linked to the investigation, UNRWA said, while another has resigned for what the agency called "personal reasons."

UNRWA said in response to AFP questions that it "is probably among the most scrutinised UN agencies in view of the nature of the conflict and complex and politicised environment it is working in."

"Over the past 18 months, UNRWA has faced immense financial and political pressure, but its entire staff body has steered it, serving 5.4 million Palestine refugees through the most unprecedented financial crisis in its near 70 years of history," it said.

The report was sent to the United Nations secretary general in December and UN investigators have since visited UNRWA's offices in Jerusalem and Amman, collecting information related to the allegations, sources familiar with the matter said.

Krahenbuhl said in a statement to AFP that "if the current investigation... were to present findings that require corrective measures or other management actions, we will not hesitate to take them."

'Nepotism'

UNRWA was set up in the years after more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled their lands during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel.

It provides vital schooling and medical services to millions of impoverished refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

It employs around 30,000 people, mostly Palestinians, and its UN mandate is set to be debated later this year.

The report paints a picture of a small number of mostly foreign senior leaders centralising power and influence while disregarding UN checks and balances.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, Commissioner General for the United Nations Relief and 

Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (AFP Photo/THOMAS COEX)

Krahenbuhl himself is alleged to have been romantically involved with a colleague who was appointed in 2015 to a newly created role of senior advisor to the commissioner-general after an "extreme fast-track" process, the report says.

This enabled her to join him on business class flights across the globe, the report claims.

In 2018 the United States suspended and later cut all funding for UNRWA, causing a financial crisis that threatened to see its schools and hospitals closed.

US President Donald Trump's administration, along with Israel, accuses UNRWA of perpetuating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The agency disputes that and says the services it provides would otherwise not be available to Palestinians.

Trump's Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt said Monday that he was "extremely concerned" about allegations against UNRWA and demanded a full UN probe.

"UNRWA's model is broken/unsustainable & based on an endless expanding # of beneficiaries," he wrote on Twitter.

After the crisis began, Krahenbuhl established a fund-raising unit outside of the traditional mechanisms but it "reportedly raised only modest amounts," the report says.

At the same time, it enabled him to continue travelling with his partner, it says.

Separately, a Krahenbuhl deputy is accused of manipulating the system to find a well-paid job for her husband during the 2018 financial crisis.

Her management style is alleged to have included bullying, cutting those she disliked out of decision-making and avoiding checks and balances, it says.

The deputy left UNRWA last Thursday for what the agency said was "personal reasons".

She could not be reached for comment.

Another senior official is described in the report as bullying staff and acting like a "gangster" and a "thug".

UNRWA said the official was recently "separated from the agency as a result of inappropriate behaviour" linked to the investigation.

He could not be reached for comment.

'Warnings ignored'

A senior UNRWA staffer was fired in early July after what she said was several years of trying to raise ethical concerns.

UNRWA said she was "separated" following a different investigation unrelated to the internal report, calling it a "stand-alone case of misconduct".

She claimed she was fired for retaliation and is appealing.

Documents seen by AFP show multiple times she raised concerns over potential mismanagement, including employees allegedly being promoted beyond their qualifications and supposed nepotism.

She told AFP she met directly with Krahenbuhl, but nothing was done.

"Most of the time it felt like working for a private company not the United Nations where we are supposed to comply with strict rules and regulations", she said.

'It's our America,' reminds Michelle Obama

Yahoo –AFP, 20 July 2019

"What truly makes our country great is its diversity," tweeted former US first lady
Michelle Obama (pictured April 2019), reminding her followers that "it's our America"

Former first lady Michelle Obama added her voice Friday to the Democratic outcry following President Donald Trump's attack on four ethnic minority congresswomen, saying "there's a place for all of us."

"What truly makes our country great is its diversity... Whether we are born here or seek refuge here, there's a place for all of us," Obama tweeted, without mentioning Trump.

"We must remember it's not my America or your America. It's our America."

Trump has come under intense fire after he attacked four first-term Democratic congresswomen known as the "Squad."

In a rare move, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday rebuked Trump for "racist comments" after he said the four should "go back" to their countries of origin if they are not happy in the United States.

But chants of "Send her back!" directed at Somali-born congresswoman Ilhan Omar broke out at Trump's "Make America Great Again" rally in Greenville, North Carolina on Wednesday night.

Trump claimed to reporters in the Oval Office the following day that he was not pleased by the taunts and attempted to cut them short.

Television footage, however, showed he let the chant continue for more than 10 seconds before he resumed speaking.

"Those are incredible people. Those are incredible patriots," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday when asked about the chants.

"She's lucky to be where she is, let me tell you," he added about Omar.

The first-term lawmakers -- all but one of whom, Omar, were born in the United States -- are of Hispanic, Arab, Somali and African-American descent.

Some Republicans have urged Trump to tone down the rhetoric, but the president has made it clear that attacks on the "Squad" will be a centerpiece of his 2020 re-election strategy -- despite the risk of inflaming racial tensions and widening the partisan divide.

Omar responded to the chants by condemning Trump's "racist remarks" and branding him a "fascist."

The president's "nightmare is seeing a Somali immigrant refugee rise to Congress," she told supporters when she returned home to Minnesota Thursday night.

"We are going to continue to be a nightmare to this president, because his policies are a nightmare to us," she said through a megaphone to the cheering crowd at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"What truly makes our country great is its diversity," tweeted former US first lady Michelle Obama (pictured April 2019), reminding her followers that "it's our America"

In rare US criticism, Pence urges Saudis to free blogger Badawi

France24 – AFP, 18 July 2019

US Vice President Mike Pence addresses a ministerial meeting at the State Department
on religious freedom (AFP)

Washington (AFP) - Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday urged Saudi Arabia to free Raif Badawi, a blogger jailed and publicly whipped for insulting Islam, in a rare criticism of the US ally as he vowed to champion religious freedom worldwide.

Speaking to dozens of government ministers who flew in for a conference on religious liberty, Pence offered usual US denunciations of adversaries such as China, Iran and Venezuela.

But Pence also raised the case of Badawi, whose public flogging in a Jeddah square in 2015 prompted an international uproar, as he grouped him with prisoners from Eritrea, Mauritania and Pakistan who he considered as being held for religious expression.

"In Saudi Arabia, blogger Raif Badawi is still in prison for the alleged crime of criticizing Islam through electronic means," Pence said.

"All four of these men have stood in defense of religious liberty, the exercise of their faith, despite unimaginable pressure. And the American people stand with them," Pence said.

"So today the United States of America calls upon the governments of Eritrea, Mauritania, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to respect the rights of conscience of these men and let these men go," Pence said to applause.

President Donald Trump's administration has faced anger from rival Democrats and some fellow Republicans for not doing more to punish Saudi Arabia over last year's killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a writer and US resident who was strangled and dismembered after being lured into the ultraconservative kingdom's Istanbul consulate.

Trump instead has hailed Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and said that human rights concerns should be secondary due to the kingdom's ample purchases of US weapons and shared hostility toward Iran.

Canada, which granted Badawi's wife and three children asylum in 2013, has been particularly outspoken on his case, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling his release a top priority.

Saudi Arabia has reacted with fury to Canada's statements, last year pulling its ambassador and severing trade ties in what was widely seen as a warning to other nations.

Lashed in public

Badawi was arrested under Saudi Arabia's draconian cyber crime law and his website shut down after he blogged his criticism of the "mutawa," the religious police force that enforces the law.

Badawi had also called for peaceful assembly to mark a "day of liberalism," as well the end to the role of religion in politics.

He was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 public lashes.

He was lashed 50 times before the public in Jeddah, with witnesses remarking how he did not cry out. Authorities have repeatedly postponed the rest of his lashes.

In a letter afterward published by German weekly Der Spiegel, Badawi recalled being "surrounded by a cheering crowd who cried incessantly 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest)."

"All this cruel suffering... because I expressed my opinion," he wrote.

Among other cases raised by Pence, he urged Pakistan to free Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer known for his liberal views and accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

Blasphemy is an incendiary issue in Pakistan, where mere allegations of insulting Islam have sparked lynchings, although activists say many cases stem from personal disagreements.

The call to free Hafeez came days before Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Washington on a trip in which he hopes to rebuild an often rocky relationship.

Raising rights with North Korea

The Trump administration has generally played down human rights other than with adversaries. But it has put a high priority on religious freedom, an important issue for Trump's evangelical Christian base.

Pence also pledged to support religious freedom in North Korea -- which advocacy groups say is perhaps the world's most repressive state, with even possession of the Bible banned.

Trump has met three times with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and voiced a fondness for him, with talks focused on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.

"You can be confident, as President Trump continues to pursue the denuclearization of North Korea and a lasting peace, the United States will continue to stand for the freedom of religion of all people of all faiths on the Korean peninsula," Pence said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier called China's mass incarceration of mostly Muslim Uighurs "the stain of the century" and pledged to build a standing global alliance to promote religious freedom.

Press rights group in secret Riyadh mission to urge journalists' release

Yahoo – AFP, Anne CHAON and Stuart WILLIAMS, July 10, 2019

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is among 30 journalists which Reporters Without Borders
(RSF) wants to see released (AFP Photo/TOBIAS SCHWARZ)

Paris (AFP) - French press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) confidentially met top Saudi officials in Riyadh to press for the release of journalists after the murder of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, it revealed Wednesday.

The RSF delegation went to Riyadh in late April and urged Saudi authorities to release 30 journalists who it says are imprisoned in the kingdom for their work.

The group said it was only confirming the visit now after the prospect of pardons did not materialise and as Saudi Arabia prepares to host next year's G20 summit.

"We had a series of meetings from 21-23 April and we could meet officials at a high level," RSF's secretary general Christophe Deloire told AFP.

"It was an unprecedented mission," he added.

Khashoggi, a former royal insider turned dissident, was strangled to death and his body dismembered inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul last year.

Agnes Callamard, a UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, reported "credible evidence" last month that linked the powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to the killing.

"We were able to discuss on each occasion the assassination of Khashoggi and the situation of journalists, without any exception," said Deloire.

He defended the secrecy of the mission, only revealed now at the start of a Global Conference for Media Freedom in London, saying "there needs to be public and non-public pleading".

Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul last year in 

a killing linked by some to crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (AFP Photo/

MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH, OSCAR DEL POZO)

'Saudi did not act'

RSF added in a statement that its delegation led by Deloire had met key Saudi figures usually out of reach for a foreign NGO, including Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and public prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb.

"The mission remained confidential until now as the possibility of pardons during the Ramadan period was discussed -- a point the Saudi government did not act on," RSF said.

RSF said that the release of the journalists would be the only way to clear Riyadh's way to the G20 chairmanship and hosting the annual summit following the assassination of Khashoggi.

The prospect of Mohammed bin Salman -- known as MBS and seen by many as the country's de-facto leader -- greeting world leaders at the next G20 summit has already raised eyebrows.

"Political accountability for Mr Khashoggi will mean that it (the Saudi G20) doesn't happen or it's moved elsewhere, or something is being done to ensure that the political system in the US and in other countries does not become complicit of that international crime," Callamard said in Washington earlier this month.

The communique issued at the end of the G20 summit in Japan last month confirmed that Saudi would host the next summit in 2020.

So far no G20 member has mulled any kind of boycott.

The assassination of Khashoggi further darkened Saudi Arabia's already bleak press freedom credentials.

For the first time, Saudi Arabia dipped into the bottom 10 countries in RSF's 2019 World Press Freedom Index, and is now ranked 172nd out of 180 countries.

Among the 30 that RSF wants released is Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who was jailed for 10 years for insulting Islam and has received 50 lashes of 1,000 to which he was sentenced.

'Back on track': Trump, Xi seal trade war truce

Yahoo – AFP, Hiroshi HIYAMA, Sara HUSSEIN, June 29, 2019

Trump said he was ready for a "historic" deal with China as the leaders kicked off their
meeting and Xi told him "dialogue" was better than confrontation (AFP Photo/
Brendan Smialowski)

Trump said he was ready for a "historic" deal with China as the leaders kicked off their meeting and Xi told him "dialogue" was better than confrontation (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Osaka (Japan) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping struck a trade war truce on Saturday, as Washington vowed to hold off on further tariffs and declared negotiations with China "back on track".

The ceasefire that halts damaging trade frictions came in a hotly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world's top two economies on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Trump hailed the meeting in the Japanese city of Osaka as "excellent".

"We are right back on track," he added.

There was little in the way of concrete details on what was agreed, but Trump confirmed Washington had committed not to impose any new tariffs on Beijing's exports and that the two sides would continue talks.

"We won't be adding an additional tremendous amount of $350 billion left which could be taxed or could be tariffed. We're not doing that, we are going to work with China on where we left off to see if we can make a deal," Trump said at a press conference.

Main developments on the US-China trade row with tariff hikes. US President 

Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping are to hold a meeting on the sidelines of 

the G20. (AFP Photo/Gal ROMA)

"We will be continuing to negotiate."

The outcome was likely to be seen as a win for avoiding any new tariffs.

"The base case scenario was met at G20 and while we are no worse for wear, let's see what the G20 hangover brings," said Stephen Innes, market analyst at Vanguard Markets.

'Down the tubes'

Trump struck a conciliatory tone from his arrival in Japan for the summit, despite saying China's economy was going "down the tubes" before he set out for Osaka.

He said he was ready for a "historic" deal with China as the leaders kicked off their meeting, and Xi told him that dialogue was better than confrontation.

In their final statement, the G20 leaders admitted that "most importantly, trade and geopolitical tensions have intensified," echoing hard-won language from their finance ministers at a meeting earlier this month.

There were few more concrete details about the closed-door discussions but Trump suggested a potentially softer position on the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei, which has been a sticking point in the trade war.

The EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur sealed a blockbuster trade 

deal after 20 years of talks, with EC President Jean-Claude Juncker (2ndR) hailing it 

as a "strong message" in support of "rules-based trade" (AFP Photo/Charly TRIBALLEAU)

He said US companies could sell equipment in cases "where there's no great national security problem" to the firm, which Washington fears poses security risks.

But it was not immediately clear whether the comments marked a material change on Huawei, which has essentially been barred from accessing crucial US technology.

The tete-a-tete between the US and Chinese leaders -- the first since the last G20 in December -- cast a long shadow over this year's gathering in Osaka.

Protectionism and tariffs wars have proved a major headwind for a world economy already buffeted by geopolitical tensions and Brexit.

On Friday, the European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur offered a ray of trade hope by sealing a blockbuster deal after 20 years of talks, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hailing it as a "strong message" in support of "rules-based trade".

'Go much further'

Trade has proved far from the only contentious issue on the summit table, with climate change another major sticking point.

Trade has proved far from the only contentious issue on the table, with climate
change becoming another major sticking point (AFP Photo/Charly TRIBALLEAU)

Negotiations ran into the night, with US opposition proving difficult to overcome.

In the end, a deal of sorts was reached, with 19 members -- minus the United States -- agreeing Saturday to the "irreversibility" of the Paris climate deal and pledging its full implementation.

The language in the final statement after the Osaka summit mirrored that agreed during last year's G20 but this did not satisfy French President Emmanuel Macron who urged leaders to go "much further" on climate change.

Trump has dominated the headlines from the summit, and once again caught observers by surprise by tweeting early Saturday that he was open to meeting North Korea's Kim Jong Un while in South Korea this weekend.

"If Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!," he wrote.

He later said he would be happy to step over the border into North Korea, which would represent an extraordinary move for a US leader after decades of enmity between Washington and Pyongyang.