Global oil supply in June increased by 690,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 99.5 million bpd, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly oil market report on Wednesday.

The IEA said Russia’s resilience despite international sanctions bolstered the world oil supply in June and helped offset outages elsewhere due to operational issues and civil unrest.

"Global output rose in June as a surprising increase from Russia along with higher US and Canadian flows more than offset steep maintenance-related losses from Kazakhstan and smaller declines from other producers," it explained.

The daily crude oil production of the OPEC group increased to 28.74 million bpd (mbpd) in June, with a rise of about 180,000 bpd compared to the previous month.

During this period, OPEC natural gas liquids were recorded as 5.38 mbpd, raising OPEC's total oil production to 34.12 mbpd last month.

Non-OPEC production saw a jump of around 500 million bpd to 65.34 mbpd in June.

"From June through December, world oil production forecast to grow by 1.8 mbpd to reach 101.3 mbpd. Supplies from OPEC+ are expected to rise by just 380,000 bpd over the period, with higher anticipated flows from Libya, Kazakhstan and Gulf producers offset by a deepening decline in Russian output.

"Producers outside the alliance (non-OPEC+) are set to add 1.4 mbpd, with the US dominating the gains," the report said.

The IEA revised its global oil demand estimates for 2022 down to an average of 99.2 mbpd.

"Higher prices and a deteriorating economic environment have started to take their toll on oil demand, but strong power generation use and a recovery in China are providing a partial offset," it said.

"A further 2.1 mbpd gain is expected in 2023, led by a strong growth trajectory in non-OECD countries," it added./aa

UN human rights experts on Wednesday condemned the continued and heightened crackdown on civil society groups, human rights defenders, and media outlets by Russian authorities that has worsened dramatically since the Russia-Ukraine war started on Feb. 24.

The group, which includes UN special rapporteurs, called on the Russian government to stop the clampdown on civic space.

“Over the past decade, we have witnessed a decisive and systematic clampdown on civil society in Russia.” the experts said.

They said the stigmatization of civil society actors and human rights defenders as ‘foreign agents,’ their harassment and imprisonment, and shutdowns of human rights organizations contributed to “an already shrinking space."

The experts also severely restricted the freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

“Since the outset of the invasion of Ukraine, this disturbing trend has deteriorated dramatically,” said the experts.

“As thousands came out to protest peacefully against the war, over 16,000 people, including many human rights defenders, have been detained for participating in or covering peaceful anti-war protests.”

The experts said the police in Russia have reportedly used excessive force against detained protesters and human rights defenders, including humiliating and threatening them.

Those providing legal assistance to protesters have allegedly also been denied access to police stations and courts by law enforcement officials.

More than 60 criminal cases have reportedly been opened for “fake war news,” and at least seven for “discrediting” and “calling for obstruction” of the use of the Russian armed forces, criminalized under amendments to the Criminal Code adopted on March 4.

“This law and other sweeping restrictions on freedom of expression and association in Russia are being used to silence human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society representatives,” the experts said.

Experts

The experts include Mary Lawlor, the special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, the special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and Irene Khan, the special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, along with members of the UN human rights working group.

They said the most independent Russian media outlets have closed down to avoid prosecution or have been blocked along with dozens of foreign media.

Over 20 media outlets stopped operating or suspended their work in the country, including the Nobel Peace Prize-winning newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the last independent TV channel Dozhd, and the radio station Echo of Moscow.

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are also blocked, and Meta has been designated an extremist organization and banned, said the experts.

They said many other companies, including those in the international technology sector, are withdrawing from Russia due to reputational and legal risks.

The closures leave human rights defenders and civil society organizations with little access to the information vital for their work.

“Businesses should be mindful of human rights throughout their operations and try to help Russian human rights defenders and civil society organizations avoid complete isolation,” the experts noted.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​/aa

Vice President Fuat Oktay will marry Presidential Advisor Hümeyra Şahin in the coming days.

According to the Anadolu Agency (AA), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and First Lady Emine Erdoğan were present when the engagement rings were exchanged.

BY: IRFAN RAJA JUL

Recently, several hashtags with anti-Muslim hate-filled comments, outrageous images and scandalous connotations all directed at Mughals and the Turkic Muslim rulers have flooded Twitter over the Taj Mahal. One of the posts incorporated The Aryavarth Express’ front-page image with sensational headlines and a question: “Is the Taj Mahal a Hindu temple?”

What did the Mughals do to India? Did they destroy and loot it? Or did the Mughals forcefully change the Hindu religion? I asked myself so many questions. Did powerful Muslim rulers in Delhi ever demolish Hindu homes? I watched the Bollywood film "Razia Sultan," which illustrates the Muslim justice system. But that was the pre-Narendra Modi (incumbent Indian prime minister) era and now the same people are changing the discourse of history. Despite Muslims making India the richest and most multicultural nation, today Hindu nationalists are eradicating Muslim history.

The Hindutva’s new victim is the symbol of eternal love, a matchless piece of Mughal architecture, included in the Seven Wonders of the World. It is the Taj Mahal, which was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to memorize his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

One after the other, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are trying to find a temple under Muslim monuments or mosques. Now, a BJP leader, Dr. Rajneesh Singh, filed a petition to “open rooms of Taj Mahal to find facts about Hindu idols.”

In the recent past, Hindus destroyed the historic Babri Masjid to build “Ram Temple.” So, what will be the next? And how far can the BJP go to dismantle India’s past history?

India under the Mughals

For centuries, the Karluks, the descendants of legendary Turkish Emperors Oghuz Khan and Timur, continued to rule vast lands stretching from Central Asia to South Asia, alongside the Himalayan and Hindu Kush Mountains and bordering areas of the present-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region in China. The rulers of the Mughal Empire were wealthier than the Safavid dynasty and Ottoman Empires, who shared a common Turkic heritage with them. The Mughals made India their home and unlike other invaders, they did not ransack it, or ruined it, but rather loved it and lived it. A list of books, historic documents, films, literature and art recognized the way Mughals facilitated and celebrated multiculturalism, established, reformed and implemented social and justice systems, and admitted and appointed non-Muslims including Hindus and Sikhs to high ranks in their courts.

Correspondingly, the Bollywood historic and superhit movies "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960) and "Jodha Akbar" (2008) show Mughals' unconditional adoration for India. Not only Mughals but other Muslim rulers of Turkic origin such as Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad (the rulers of Hyderabad from 18th-through-20th-century). Khan was the son-in-law of the Ottoman sultan and the richest man of his times and he donated a record 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds) of gold to the National Defence Fund of India to support the Indian army and its war with China.

India under the British Empire

The day the East India Company was founded India, it was colonized. Since then, the British Empire stole “$45 trillion,” which is “17 times more than the total annual gross domestic product of the U.K. today.” Moreover, a reliable study revealed that “(late U.K. Prime Minister Winston) Churchill’s policies contributed to the 1943 Bengal famine” that cost 5 million lives and occurred not because of “serious draught.” Not only this, the British Empire’s long list of human rights abuses and vicious policies in the subcontinent gave rise to racial discrimination, torture, killings and divided the society based on religious beliefs. These policies ultimately led to “the Great Divide” as recorded in The New Yorker, and “the violent legacy of Indian partition,” which resulted in millions of deaths and displacement of millions of people on both sides.

The end of united India

Exploring and flicking the historic orientations, one could easily find out how the BJP’s hate-filled policies of renaming cities, monuments and buildings of the Muslim era are signs of growing antipathy toward Indian Muslims.

Since Modi came into power, a series of tactical move incidents including Article 370, the Citizens Bill, Muslim house destruction, the building of temples on mosques lands, and demonizing and vilifying Mughal emperors have become the BJP's everyday agenda. Given the intolerant and inhumane policies of the Modi government, the making of a Hindu India project eradicates all positive contributions of Muslim rulers. Today, it’s asked if India is becoming a “Hindu state.” That’s probably true as nowhere in the world except in Israel does the government demolish peaceful protestor houses, destroy mosques, and ban on adhan (the Islamic call for prayers) and wearing the hijab. What will be next? Ever since Modi came into power, the landscape of Indian politics is constantly changing, a secular and democratic India striving to become a “Hindu” only country, an intolerant society that prohibits religious freedom.

Today, a number of historic buildings, forts, palaces, monuments, gardens, mosques and public places are living testimonies of the magnificent period of Mughal architecture, art and lavish lifestyle that brought millions of tourists to India each year. According to a report by India Today, the BJP’s nationwide campaign of “renaming” cities, monuments and historic buildings of the Muslim period is seen as “an attempt to erase history” and to drive away from its “glorious past.” A historic Indian city Allahabad is now renamed “Prayagraj,” while Hindu nationalists are demanding to change the name of Qutab Minar (a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex in India) and Aurangabad (the city named after Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb) to “Sambhajinagar.” Surprisingly in neighboring Pakistan, many cities, hospitals, public places, and schools carry Hindu, Sikh, and Christian notable’s names and no one ever demanded to change it.

Considering the unfolding situation in India, in the coming days and months, the world may witness a genocide against Indian Muslims, which is already happening at a slow pace./Daily Sabah

Government sources said the Cabinet’s subsidies committee does not have on its agenda any recommendation to raise prices of petrol. It added it also has no plans to consider recommendations by international ratings agencies to raise gasoline prices as part of financial reforms to remedy Kuwait’s budget.

Sources said the subsidies committee is supervised by finance ministry and submits recommendations to increase or decrease subsidies in order to maintain prices and prevent hurting consumers and Kuwaitis’ housing needs to build up their allocated plots. Sources said KNPC has affirmed it is able to supply enough fuel to the market at current prices with no affect on its work and the available budget, so there is no need to increase fuel prices, at least in the near future.

But among Gulf states, petrol prices remain the cheapest in Kuwait. Mere years ago, fuel was cheaper than bottled water in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. Now, long lines snake outside gas stations on the eve of price hikes each month. Fuel prices in the major OPEC producer, set in line with global oil price benchmarks, have soared over 70 percent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, accentuating differences with neighboring petrostates that heavily subsidize gasoline.

At about $1.23 a liter after July’s price rise, the unprecedented fuel cost in the UAE remains below the grim records reached in the United States and Britain as the war in Ukraine unleashes the biggest commodity shock in decades. But the region’s citizens have long considered cheap fuel a birthright. In Kuwait’s lavish welfare state, the cost per liter is nearly four times less.

As pressure mounted last week, the UAE and Saudi Arabia allotted a combined $13 billion in social spending for low-income citizens – an option clearly unavailable to the region’s less affluent economies such as Egypt and Lebanon, where the price of bread is surging and hunger is spreading. Still in the UAE, where expats outnumber locals nearly nine to one, fuel price hikes are costliest for legions of workers from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia who power the economy.

Inflation has cut into laborers’ already meager salaries. Other Gulf Arab countries have also curbed state benefits to balance their budgets in recent years. But fearing backlash from angry consumers, none have gone as far as the UAE, where fuel prices are nearly double the average among Gulf Arab states.

The country can get away with this partly because the burden falls on its 9 million expat residents, experts say. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia – a country of 35 million, two-thirds of which are citizens – the government’s fuel price cap has kept inflation under control even as food costs have spiked. The tiny Emirati population benefits from a generous welfare state that helps with everything: Free education, health care and housing, grants for marriage, scholarships to foreign universities and well-paid government jobs.

That contract emerged across the region as states cashed in from the oil boom and distributed some of the bounties to citizens. Last week, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan unveiled plans to double the state’s social support for low-income Emirati families – classified as those who make less than $6,800 a month. The $7.6 billion packages will cover 85 percent of recent fuel price hikes and 75 percent of food inflation, among other things like housing allowances and support for job-seekers. The government portal received so many applications that it crashed.

In Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-biggest oil producer, King Salman announced $5.33 billion in direct cash transfers to citizens “to protect beneficiaries from the effects of global price rises”. But that help will not reach those who need it most. Desperation over the cost of living is growing among the region’s low-paid migrant workers.

Uber drivers and food delivery riders who pay for their own fuel in Dubai say they’re barely breaking even. Riders for two main delivery companies went on strike over their slim salaries in May – defying the UAE’s ban on labor protests. Uber said it would raise fares as much as 11 percent for some trips to account for new gas fees in Dubai, but some drivers say that’s inadequate. – Agencies

While murders and aggressive behavior have increased dramatically in recent times, urgent action is required to study the causes and develop the necessary solutions to protect young people from this devastating scourge, reports Al-Qabas daily. After these dangerous and extraneous crimes in Kuwaiti society sounded alarm bells due to their increase on the one hand, and the changing patterns of their commission on the other hand, security and legal sources warned that “72% of murders, aggressive behavior and thefts are caused by drug addiction.”

Security
While the sources reiterated, that “Kuwait has become a target of the mafia of bringing and smuggling narcotic substances more than ever,” they indicated that abuse and addiction doubled the crimes of murder, bloodshed and extraneous behaviors on our society, revealing that thousands of young people joined the list of addicts in 2021 and 2022, In addition to 21,000 registered years ago. The sources revealed that the relevant security services recorded about 12,000 cases of trafficking, abuse and possession of narcotic substances in the past six years, “at an average of 2,000 cases annually.”

The sources stated that addiction is rampant among adolescents, and new chemical drugs pose a great challenge to its danger, and there are approximately 920 types of toxins that cause psychological imbalance, which has increased the rates of murders and aggressive behavior recently. The sources stated that the Ministry of Interior cannot clap alone, as it plays its role in controlling drugs, but facing this imminent danger requires an integrated plan with the participation of all state agencies. The sources explained the drug mafia’s targeting of Kuwait by the insane rise in their prices, which exceed 10 times those in neighboring countries.

Combat
The sources revealed that the competent security services registered thousands of cases classified under smuggling, trafficking, abuse and possession of narcotic substances recently, and expelled about 1,400 expatriate drug users in the last 18 months. In addition, officials warned that the unprecedented spread of addiction has changed the pattern of crimes, pointing out that the time has come to formulate an integrated plan to address this devastating scourge.

The following steps are necessary to combat drug possession and consumption: Tightening the drug control procedures at the customs; tightening security measures to besiege promoters; an integrated strategy to combat with the participation of state agencies; strengthening the role of the Ministries of Education, Endowments, Information and other bodies; awareness of the importance of family control to protect children and reviving the Supreme National Committee for Narcotics Control.

With the increase in horrific murders in recent years, everyone is searching for the reasons that led to these heinous crimes, especially against relatives. From the reality of the cases before the courts, drugs are the common denominator in most crimes, but the promoters who are caught can return to the practice of drug trafficking. An informed source told Al-Qabas that 80% of the reasons for patent rulings in trafficking and abuse cases are due to the invalidity of the procedures. The source added: The law stipulates that what is built on falsehood is considered void, and therefore if the arrest or seizure procedures are incorrect, the law does not allow to convict the accused.