China embarks on world largest hydropower dam

Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced construction had begun on the world's largest hydropower dam, on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau, at an estimated cost of US$170 billion, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Commencement of the hydropower project, China's most ambitious since the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze, was seized by Chinese markets as proof of economic stimulus, sending stock prices and bond yields higher on Monday.

Made up of five cascade hydropower stations with the capacity to produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equal to the amount of electricity consumed by Britain last year, the dam will be located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo. A section of the river tumbles 2,000 metres (6,561 feet) in a span of 50km (31 miles), offering huge hydropower potential.

India and Bangladesh have already raised concerns about its possible impact on the millions of people downstream, while NGOs warned of the risk to one of the richest and most diverse environments on the plateau.

Beijing has said the dam will help meet power demand in Tibet and the rest of China without having a major effect on downstream water supplies or the environment. Operations are expected sometime in the 2030s.

China's CSI Construction & Engineering Index jumped as much as 4% to a seven-month high. Power Construction Corporation of China  and Arcplus Group PLC  surged by their 10% daily limit.

"From an investment perspective, mature hydropower projects offer bond-like dividends," Wang Zhuo, partner of Shanghai Zhuozhu Investment Management said, while cautioning that speculative buying into related stocks would inflate valuations.

The project will drive demand for construction and building materials such as cement and civil explosives, Huatai Securities said in a note to clients.

Shares of Beijing-listed Hunan Wuxin Tunnel Intelligent Equipment Co, which sells tunnel construction equipment, surged 30%. So did shares of Geokang Technologies Co, which makes intelligent monitoring terminals.

Cement maker Xizang Tianlu Co and Tibet GaoZheng Explosive Co, producer of civil explosive materials, both jumped their maximum 10%.

The Chinese premier described the dam as a "project of the century" and said special emphasis "must be placed on ecological conservation to prevent environmental damage," Xinhua said on Saturday.

Government bond yields rose across the board on Monday, with the most-traded 30-year treasury futures falling to five-week lows, as investors interpreted the news as part of China's economic stimulus.

The project, overseen by the newly formed state-owned China Yajiang Group, marks a major boost in public investment to help bolster economic growth as current drivers show signs of faltering.

"Assuming 10 years of construction, the investment/ GDP boost could reach 120 billion yuan (US$16.7 billion) for a single year," said Citi in a note. "The actual economic benefits could go beyond that."

The Three Gorges, which took almost two decades to complete, generated nearly a million jobs, state media reported, though it displaced at least a similar number of people.

Authorities have not indicated how many people would be displaced by the Yarlung Zangbo project.

The Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra River as it leaves Tibet and flows south into India and finally into Bangladesh. NGOs say the dam will irreversibly harm the Tibetan Plateau and hit millions of people downstream.

The chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, said earlier this year that such a colossal dam barely 50km from the border could dry out 80% of the river passing through the Indian state while potentially inundating downstream areas in Arunachal and neighbouring Assam state.

 

Killing of Gazans seeking food

At least 1,054 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to access food aid in Gaza, the United Nations’ human rights office said in a statement Tuesday, reports the Saudi Gazette.

“Palestinians in Gaza are starving to death,” the statement said.

Desperate, hungry people are approaching aid sites run by the controversial Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the statement said, “even though between May 27 and July 21, 1,054 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza while trying to access food.”

The GHF began operating in the Gaza Strip on May 27. Some 766 people were killed in the vicinity of their sites since then, the UN office said, while 288 were killed around aid convoys run by groups including the UN.

CNN has reached to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. In a post on X, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Hamas of shooting civilians trying to collect aid, but did not provide any evidence for this.

“The deaths and the horrendous physical and psychological suffering caused by hunger are the result of Israel’s interference with and militarization of humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” the UN’s statement said.

“The Israeli military must immediately stop shooting at people trying to get food. Firearms must never be used simply to disperse a crowd, even as a warning.”

The UN office called on Israel to allow more humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip and lift its restrictions on the UN and other humanitarian groups in the enclave.

Preparing organizers to oppose Trump policies

According to media reports, progressive advocacy organization Indivisible is launching an ambitious new campaign aimed at training more than one million organizers to oppose the policies of US President Donald Trump and his administration.

Over the next several weeks, Indivisible will be hosting online organizing sessions as part of its One Million Rising initiative, which it describes as "a national effort to train one million people in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation, as well as the basics of community organizing and campaign design."

Indivisible this year has already organized high-profile nationwide protests this year including the "Hands Off" and "No Kings" events that were attended by millions of Americans.

However, it says that its aim with One Million Rising is to go beyond big one-day mobilizations to create more sustained local campaigns throughout the United States that would fight the Trump agenda on a daily basis.

In its message promoting the event, Indivisible emphasizes, "It'll take all of us" to mobilize against the Trump administration and added that this effort "is how we build people power that can't be ignored."

Indivisible held its first One Million Rising session last Wednesday and a recording of the session is available to watch on YouTube.

The next session will be held on Wednesday, July 30 and will focus on "how you can lead a discussion with others and get them on board with taking action in your community" and will also help attendees organize their first "community resistance gathering" in the span of two weeks or less.

The third and final session, scheduled for Wednesday, August 13, will have attendees "on boarded to basic campaign design" where they will "learn how to implement it locally as well as get plugged into our next national campaign work."

Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, recently told publication Axios that Indivisible's new campaign shows that it's entering a second stage in its approach to organizing.

"That outrage is still there, but now it's going to be funneled and channeled into strategies and tactics on how we actually make change in the government," she explained.

"As more and more protests happen, local, state, and federal elected officials will feel uncomfortable maintaining the stance they have."

 

Israeli relentless warmongering and expansionism

A tentative ceasefire appears to be holding in southern Syria after a brutal week marked by deadly clashes and escalating tensions. Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the truce on Saturday, yet the underlying realities on the ground reveal a much deeper and more troubling story.

The clashes, which erupted in the province of Suwayda on July 13, involved armed Druze groups and Bedouin tribes — communities tragically caught in the crossfire of broader regional power struggles.

Under the guise of protecting the Druze minority, Israel launched a series of aggressive and unprovoked strikes across southern Syria and even targeted the capital, Damascus, on Wednesday. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports that the death toll from violence has now tragically surpassed 1,000 people.

This staggering human cost starkly exposes Israel’s relentless warmongering and expansionist ambitions in West Asia. Since its devastating assault on Gaza in October 2023, Israel has escalated its campaign of violence, targeting not only Gaza but also Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. These military actions are part of a calculated strategy to impose Israeli dominance and destabilize entire nations.

Israel justifies its attacks with convenient narratives: defending the Druze minority in Syria, neutralizing Hezbollah in Lebanon, dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, or responding to attacks from Yemen’s Ansarullah. Yet these explanations serve as thin veils masking a pattern of aggressive intervention that violates sovereignty and inflames regional tensions.

Despite the high death toll and widespread suffering, Israel’s military ventures have failed to achieve their stated goals. In Gaza, Israel has killed tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children, yet Hamas remains resilient.

In Lebanon, the Lebanese resistance refuses to bow to Israeli pressure.

Iran has dealt significant blows to Israel in recent confrontations.

Ansarullah movement in Yemen continues to resist Israeli aggression steadfastly.

Israel’s recent strikes in Syria follow the same aggressive pattern. They aim to fragment Syria and extend Israeli control over more territory, escalating a dangerous trend since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December last year.

Although the Syrian government under Ahmed al-Sharaa has so far refrained from direct military confrontation, popular anger against Israel’s occupation is rising sharply.

History shows that Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon in the early 1980s triggered widespread resistance and ultimately costly conflicts for the occupying forces. Syrians today are increasingly ready to form resistance groups and rise up against Israel’s incursions.

While the Syrian government has mainly limited itself to denouncing Israel’s aggression in statements, the growing anti-Israel sentiment among the Syrian population could open a new front of resistance. This serves as a stark reminder that occupation and aggression only sow seeds of conflict and instability.

The world must recognize that Israel’s unchecked military aggression is not about defense—it is a deliberate policy of domination, suffering, and division. The ongoing violence in southern Syria is a tragic symptom of this larger, dangerous strategy that endangers peace across the entire region.

 

Ceasefire in Syria signals Israeli hegemonic agenda

According to the Tehran Times, the newly announced ceasefire between Syria and Israel—brokered in the aftermath of an Israeli military escalation—has thrown into sharp relief the Tel Aviv regime’s relentless pursuit of regional dominance in West Asia.

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the truce on Saturday, following intense Israeli airstrikes across southern Syria and the capital, Damascus, earlier in the week.

Israel claimed the bombings were carried out to “protect” the Druze minority amid spiraling violence in the southern province of Suwayda. However, critics argue this justification is nothing more than a pretext for deeper interference in Syrian affairs.

The clashes that erupted on July 13 between armed Druze groups, Bedouin tribes, and Syrian forces in Suwayda have claimed hundreds of lives.

Following the ceasefire announcement, al-Sharaa accused Israel of deliberately reigniting tensions in the region through its “flagrant aggression,” particularly the bombing of Damascus and the south.

In a statement saturated with militaristic bravado, Netanyahu declared that the ceasefire was achieved “through strength, not through pleas, not through begging.”

His comments underscore Israel’s ongoing strategy of intimidation, rather than diplomacy, in dealing with its neighbors.

While Israel frames its intervention as a humanitarian act, the reality on the ground suggests otherwise.

Netanyahu’s actions reflect a calculated effort to entrench Israeli hegemony in Syria under the guise of minority protection. Despite agreeing to a ceasefire, Israel has retained its grip on the Syrian territories it already occupies—territories widely recognized as being under illegal occupation under international law.

Adding further complexity to the situation, al-Sharaa, whose government maintains strategic ties with Washington, publicly thanked the United States—particularly the administration of President Donald Trump—for its role in brokering the ceasefire.

This acknowledgment raises troubling questions, can Israel’s aggressive campaign be separated from US geopolitical objectives in the region? Is Washington playing the role of silent accomplice while Netanyahu enforces a militarized order through unilateral violence?

The contradiction is glaring. On the one hand, al-Sharaa condemns Israeli aggression; on the other, he expresses gratitude to the very power widely seen as enabling it.

The good cop–bad cop dynamic between the US and Israel is once again on display - Netanyahu leads with force, while Washington follows with diplomatic posturing—both working toward the same endgame.

Israel’s invocation of the Druze issue appears part of a broader strategy scripted by pro-Zionist lobbies to justify the flexing of military might and normalize its presence deep inside Syrian territory.

The ceasefire is not a gesture of peace but a tactical pause—a calculated move in Israel’s long-term project of territorial expansion and political domination in West Asia. 

Past precedents—from Gaza to Lebanon—show that Israeli ceasefires are often little more than instruments of propaganda, soon violated when they no longer serve strategic objectives. Expansionism, militarism, and occupation remain pillars of Israeli policy.

This ceasefire, like others before it, cannot mask the true nature of Tel Aviv’s ambitions. It is a smokescreen, designed to conceal more sinister plans for redrawing the map of West Asia (the Middle East) to Israel’s benefit.

Only sustained unity and strategic cooperation among Muslim and Arab nations can resist this agenda and challenge the forces seeking to destabilize the region under the pretense of peace.

 

House approves US$832 billion defense funding

According to The Hill, House approved legislation early Friday allocating roughly US$832 billion in funding for defense programs for fiscal 2026. The passage came just weeks after Republicans approved a separate US$150 billion plan to advance President Trump’s defense priorities.

The GOP-led chamber approved the bill 221-209, mostly along party lines; five Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and three Republicans opposed it.

The measure marks only the second appropriations bill Republicans have been able to pass for 2026, after GOP appropriators said the effort to pass Trump’s tax and spending cuts megabill dominated the party’s focus over the past few months.

The bill passed Friday would boost funding for active, reserve and National Guard military personnel by US$6.6 billion above current levels, to a total of US$189 billion. It also allows for an increase of 3.8% in basic pay for military personnel, to take effect in January.

It calls for US$174 billion for procurement, up US$6.5 billion from current levels, and would provide US$283 billion for operation and maintenance, a roughly US$7 billion decrease below 2025 levels.

The bill also includes about US$148 billion for research, development, test and evaluation, as well as boosts for Defense Department health programs and overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid programs.

The bill comes after Republicans greenlit additional defense dollars as part of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” earlier this month. 

That plan called for US$25 billion to fund Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense system, with billions more aimed at items such as shipbuilding and the maritime industrial base, munitions and nuclear deterrence. 

Democrats have risen in sharp opposition to the overall defense appropriations plan, which also seeks to codify Trump’s actions targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, advance prohibitions for funding for abortion-related travel, and block funds for gender-affirming surgeries.

PSX benchmark index closes at 138,597 points

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) sustained its bullish momentum throughout the week in anticipation of strong earnings ahead of the start of the result season.

The benchmark index touched its all-time high closing of 138,665 points on Thursday, but closed the week at 138,597 points on Friday July 18, 2025.

The market participation declined, with average daily traded volumes falling by 19.5%WoW to 763 million shares, down from 948 million shares a week ago.

On the macroeconomic front, for the first time in 14 years, Pakistan posted a current account surplus, of US$2.1 billion as against a deficit of US$2.1 billion during the same period last year.

IT exports for FY25 increased by 18%YoY to US$3.8 billion, from US$3.2 billion in FY24.

The LSM index witnessed an increase of 2.3%YoY in May 2025.

As regards sectoral developments, fertilizer offtakes witnessed an improvement for second consecutive month, with urea sales rising by 21%YoY during June 2025.

Auto financing for June 2025 was reported at PKR277 billion, up 1.98%MoM, marking an increase for the seventh consecutive month.

Foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose by US$23 million to US$14.5 billion as of July 17, 2025. Despite this increase PKR depreciated against the greenback closing the week at PKR284.87/US$.

Other major news flow during the week included: 1) Telecom sector welcomed ADB’s call for lower taxes, 2) Pakistan-Afghanistan trade hit US$1.0 billion in 1HCY25, 3) Banking sector deposits rose to PKR35.498 trillion at end June 2025, 4) China expressed it readiness to deepen ties with Pakistan in agriculture, industry and mining, and 5) Cabinet okayed 15% hike in EOBI pensions.

Vanaspati & Allied Industries, Property, Miscellaneous, Fertilizer, and Inv.Banks/ Inv. Cos/ Securities.Cos were amongst the top performing sectors, while Jute, Woollen, Textile Spinning, Engineering, and Leather & Tanneries were among the laggards.

Major selling was recorded by Banks/ DFI with a net sell of US$34.0 million. Individuals absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of US$22.3 million.

The top performing scrips of the week were: PSEL, ABL, JVDC, FFC, and PIBTL, while laggards included: SEARL, KOHC, BNWM, NATF, and INIL.

According to AKD Securities, Pakistan Stock Exchange is anticipated to maintain a positive trend in the coming weeks, driven by expectations of strong corporate earnings.

The benchmark index is anticipated to sustain its upward trajectory, with a target of 165,215 points by end December 2025.

The market will be primarily driven by strong earnings in Fertilizers, sustained ROEs in Banks, and improving cash flow of E&Ps and OMCs, benefiting from falling interest rates and economic stability.

The top picks of the brokerage house include: OGDC, PPL, PSO, FFC, ENGROH, MCB, HBL, FCCL, KOHC, INDU, and SYS.