NICOSIA: Cyprus’ defense minister said Wednesday that plans are in motion to build a major naval base on the east Mediterranean island nation’s southern coast capable of hosting large ships from European Union countries and other nations to carry out a variety of missions including humanitarian aid deliveries to the tumultuous Middle East region.
Vasilis Palmas told reporters that Cyprus’ recently elevated geopolitical role as the European Union’s closest member to the Middle East warrants the building of infrastructure that can support policies geared toward the region.
Cyprus has in recent months been the staging ground for the collection and delivery of donated humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Gaza. The aid is being shipped from the Cypriot port of Larnaca to the Palestinian territory after being security screened. Last year, Cyprus served as a waystation for third-country nationals evacuated from Sudan.
Palmas said the construction of the base would “contribute decisively” to policy implementation in the region.
He said Greece is contributing technical know-how to the project, while actual construction will be guided by the findings of an expert study that will be completed in the next few days.
The naval base will be built on an existing naval installation some 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of the coastal town of Limassol, which in 2011 was the site of a huge explosion of 480 tons of seized Iranian gunpowder that killed 13 people, knocked out Cyprus’ main power station and stirred up a political crisis.
Cyprus plans to build a major naval base to play a larger geopolitical role, says defense minister
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Cyprus plans to build a major naval base to play a larger geopolitical role, says defense minister
- Cyprus has in recent months been staging ground for collection and delivery of donated humanitarian aid to Gaza
- Aid is being shipped from the Cypriot port of Larnaca to the Palestinian territory after being security screened
4 people including an army officer were kidnapped in northwest Pakistan
- Local authorities said a video of Khan, showing him in the custody of the Pakistani Taliban, was sent anonymously to his family
- In the video, Khan is seen sitting in front of armed men and urging the government to accept the demands of the Pakistani Taliban
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Suspected militants kidnapped four people, including an army officer who was sitting in a mosque in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban to receive mourners after attending his father's funeral, officials said Thursday.
No one claimed responsibility for Wednesday's kidnapping of Lt. Col. Khalid Khan and three others in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan.
Local authorities said a video of Khan, showing him in the custody of the Pakistani Taliban, was sent anonymously to his family. In the video, Khan is seen sitting in front of armed men and urging the government to accept the demands of the Pakistani Taliban. It was unclear what were their demands.
There was no immediate comment by the military or the government.
A local police official, Ikram Ullah, said efforts were underway to trace and recover the abducted persons: Khan, his two brothers who are also government officers, and one of his nephews.
Though the Pakistani Taliban often targets security forces in the northwest, such kidnappings are rare.
The group, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, have a strong presence in the restive northwest. It is separate from the Afghan Taliban but allied to it, and it has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.
The kidnappings came days after Baloch separatists, who are allies of TTP, shot and killed more than 50 people, including 14 security forces, in one of the deadliest attacks in the southwestern Balochistan province.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif traveled to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, on Thursday where he received a briefing about ongoing operations against insurgents, officials said.
Later, Sharif vowed to eliminate terrorism in televised remarks, saying those “terrorists” who orchestrated the recent attacks in Balochistan are enemies of Pakistan and would be dealt with an iron hand.
Putin to visit ICC member Mongolia
- Kremlin said Putin will travel to neighboring Mongolia on Sept. 3 to mark the ‘85th anniversary of the joint victory of Soviet and Mongolian forces over Japan on the Khalkhin Gol River’
- Putin has reduced his foreign travel since launching a full-scale offensive against Ukraine in Feb. 2022 and limited it even more since the ICC issued the arrest warrant
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will next week visit Mongolia, a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader, the Kremlin said Thursday.
It will be the first time Putin has traveled to a country that has ratified the founding treaty of the ICC, the Rome Statute, since the Hague-based court issued the warrant for him in March 2023 over the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
ICC members are expected to make the arrest if the Russian leader sets foot on their territory.
Mongolia signed the Rome Statute treaty in 2000 and ratified it in 2002.
The Kremlin said Putin will travel to neighboring Mongolia on September 3 to mark the “85th anniversary of the joint victory of Soviet and Mongolian forces over Japanese militarists on the Khalkhin Gol River.”
The battle took place in 1939 during the Japanese occupation of nearby Manchuria.
The Kremlin said Putin and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh will discuss bilateral relations and “exchange views on current international and regional issues.”
The visit will fall a month after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Mongolia as Washington seeks closer ties with the landlocked country.
The Kremlin has called the ICC warrant “absurd.”
Putin has reduced his foreign travel since launching a full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022 and limited it even more since the ICC issued the arrest warrant.
Indonesia, Australia bolster defense ties with ‘historic’ cooperation agreement
- Under new pact, Indonesian and Australian militaries can operate from each other’s countries
- Indonesia and Australia to hold their largest-ever bilateral military drills in November
Jakarta: Indonesia and Australia signed a defense agreement on Thursday, cementing closer ties as Prabowo Subianto prepares to take office as Indonesia’s next president in October.
Subianto, who is serving as defense minister under outgoing President Joko Widodo’s administration, signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles at Indonesia’s National Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java.
The new pact includes provisions allowing Australian and Indonesian defense forces to operate from each other’s countries.
“We have signed this defense cooperation agreement, which is a historic milestone … to increase our cooperation and help each other address various security threats and promote peace and continued stability in the Asia-Pacific region,” Subianto said during a joint press conference.
“This is not a military alliance, but a defense cooperation. This signifies how we want to continue and preserve our strong ties and good friendship. I am determined to make Indonesia-Australia relations even better in the future.”
The signing took place just a little over a week after Subianto’s visit to Canberra, where he and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the conclusion of negotiations to upgrade their cooperation arrangement to a treaty-level agreement.
In 2022, Indonesia was Albanese’s first visit as prime minister. He vowed to strengthen ties with Jakarta and other Southeast Asian nations in the face of growing tensions with China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Subianto has said he will continue Indonesia’s longstanding policy of non-alignment when he takes office.
Relations between the neighboring countries were “as close as they had ever been” during Widodo’s presidency, Marles said, adding that Australia understood Indonesia’s non-alignment policy.
“It is very much in Australia’s interest to have a non-aligned Indonesia as our closest neighbor,” he said.
“The defense cooperation agreement between our two nations is the deepest, the most significant defense agreement in the history of our bilateral relationship … this is an important piece of international architecture.”
The two countries plan to hold their largest-ever bilateral military exercise in November, he said.
“In Mr. Prabowo, Australia sees a great friend and we really appreciate the work that you’ve done as the minister of defense, and obviously we look forward to your impending presidency.”
Bangladesh’s new leadership seeks continued cooperation with Saudi Arabia
- Muhammad Yunus says Kingdom is a ‘very important friend’ of Bangladesh
- Saudi ambassador sees investment opportunities in renewable energy, logistics
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s new leadership seeks continued cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the head of its interim government Prof. Muhammad Yunus said after his first meeting with the Kingdom’s envoy to Dhaka.
Muhammad Yunus, an 84-year-old economics professor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, took charge of Bangladesh on Aug. 8, after the longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina quit and fled the country amid violent protests calling for her ouster.
Soon after the appointment, Yunus’ technocrat cabinet manned by renowned lawyers and economists announced a series of judiciary, civil administration, security and economic reforms to restore the country’s macro-economic stability.
Yunus began to interact with foreign envoys in person this week.
After he met with Saudi Ambassador Essa Al-Duhailan, he said in a statement that Saudi Arabia was a “very important friend of Bangladesh” and that his government was “looking forward to continued cooperation” with the Kingdom.
“Bangladesh is also a good friend for Saudi Arabia. We have mutual understanding on many issues, like climate change and also in areas of investment, manpower,” Al-Duhailan told Arab News on Wednesday evening.
“It’s a new area, a new destination, for Saudi investment. And we are willing to invest here in Bangladesh in renewable energy and also in the logistics.”
The ambassador said that Saudi Arabia enjoyed “excellent relations” with Bangladesh both on the official and the people-to-people level and that he had a very “fruitful” meeting with Yunus.
“His excellency focused on how to extend help to Bangladesh, especially at this crucial junction, and also on energy support,” Al-Duhailan said.
“I asked his excellency to accelerate the procedures and waive all the obstacles in front of Saudi investments and also to attract Saudi capital because I believe that Bangladesh is a green field for investors in general and for Saudi investors in particular.”
Some 3 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia. They are the largest expat group in the Kingdom and also the biggest Bangladeshi community outside Bangladesh.
Official and business exchanges between the countries have been on the rise since March last year when a delegation led by Saudi Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi visited Dhaka.
With several investment agreements signed during the visit, Saudi Arabia entered Bangladesh’s energy, seaport and agriculture industries, while the two nations’ chambers of commerce established the Saudi-Bangladesh Business Council to navigate bilateral commerce ties.
UK seeks to speed up migrant returns
- Advert says the ministry is seeking “to identify appropriate reintegration delivery providers” to help migrants return from the UK to 11 different countries
- Countries are Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe
LONDON: Britain’s Labour government is planning “a major surge” in returns of irregular migrants to countries including Iraq, an official said Thursday, as it tries to clear an asylum backlog.
The interior ministry has posted a contract seeking commercial partners to support the “reintegration” of people with no right to live in the UK in their home countries.
The contract, worth £15 million ($19.7 million) over three years, was published last week and first reported by the Financial Times on Thursday.
The advert says the ministry is seeking “to identify appropriate reintegration delivery providers” to help migrants return from the UK to 11 different countries.
The countries are Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
Contractors will help with provision of food packs, assist the tracing of family members and provide support with accessing job markets among other things, according to the bid notice.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper announced last week that the government aims over the next six months to achieve the highest rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers in five years.
The goal is to remove more than 14,000 people by the end of the year, according to UK media reports.
“The government is planning to deliver a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to remove people with no right to be in the UK and ensure the rules are respected and enforced,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
“Continued international cooperation with partner nations plays a critical role in this, and we will be working closely with a number of countries across the globe as part of the mission to end irregular migration.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected to office early last month, has also pledged to “smash the gangs” of people smugglers bringing irregular migrants to Britain on small boats sailing across the Channel.
More than 20,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing from France on rudimentary vessels so far this year, according to the latest figures.
That is marginally up on last year’s data for the same period, but down on 2022.
Refugee charities have urged the government to create more safe routes to deter people from making the perilous journey.
Official figures released last week showed that almost 119,000 people were waiting for a decision on their asylum application at the end of June 2024.
