PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron and his Djibouti counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh agreed Wednesday to renew the defense partnership between the two countries, following two years of negotiations.
According to a statement from the French presidency, they signed an agreement on “the ambitious reform of the Defense Cooperation Treaty which unites France and Djibouti.”
The accord, signed at Macron’s office, governs the 1,500 French troops based in the small but strategically located East African country.
French troops have recently closed military bases in Mali and Niger following military coups in both countries, but there has never been any question of abandoning Djibouti, France’s largest permanent overseas base.
The country is located opposite Yemen, near an opening to the Red Sea, where a large part of the global trade between Asia and the West passes.
The discussions had been held up by Djibouti’s demands that France greatly increase the rent it pays, according to a source close to the negotiations.
The defense agreement was first signed in 1977 when the former French colony won independence, and was renewed in 2011.
But France only began to pay rent in 2003, following the opening of a US base in the country.
France and Djibouti renew defense partnership
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France and Djibouti renew defense partnership
- Accord, signed at Macron’s office, governs the 1,500 French troops based in the small but strategically located East African country
- Defense agreement was first signed in 1977 when the former French colony won independence, and was renewed in 2011
Central London site revealed for Queen Elizabeth II memorial
The site is close to the ceremonial route of The Mall and to the Buckingham Palace home of her son King Charles III.
It is also near statues of her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
“The memorial is intended to provide not only a fitting monument but also a space for contemplation and community, and will be of an appropriate scale and ambition to match the impact of Queen Elizabeth II on national life, The Commonwealth and indeed the rest of the world,” said the government.
There will be other memorial projects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the queen’s “enduring legacy of service and devotion to our country will never be forgotten.
“The national memorial will be located in St. James’s Park, right in the heart of the capital, providing everyone with a place to honor the Late Queen and connect with the shared history we cherish,” he added.
Sunday marks the two-year anniversary of the death of Elizabeth, who spent a record 70 years and 214 days on the throne.
Mexico arrests alleged drug boss linked to 43 missing students
- Gildardo Lopez Astudillo is an alleged leader of the Guerreros Unidos cartel
- He is accused of being behind the disappearance and suspected murders of the students from Ayotzinapa teachers’ college in 2014
Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, alias “El Gil,” is an alleged leader of the Guerreros Unidos cartel, accused of being behind the disappearance and suspected murders of the students from Ayotzinapa teachers’ college in 2014.
Lopez Astudillo had been arrested in September 2015 in the southern city of Taxco, Guerrero state, about 35 kilometers (21 miles) north of the town of Iguala from where the students vanished.
“Gildardo Lopez Astudillo was detained,” a federal security source with knowledge of the case told reporters Friday, asking for his name not to be used because he was not authorized to speak to media.
Lopez Astudillo had been transferred to the Altiplano maximum security prison in Mexico state, the source said.
He was arrested on charges of “organized crime,” although the investigation could be expanded, the source said.
In September 2014, the 43 students had been traveling to a political demonstration in Mexico City when investigators believe they were kidnapped by the drug cartel in collusion with corrupt police.
The exact circumstances of their disappearance are still unknown, but a truth commission set up by the government has branded the case a “state crime,” saying the military shared responsibility, either directly or through negligence.
Arrests have been made or ordered for dozens of suspects, including military personnel and a former attorney general who led a controversial investigation into the mass disappearance.
The remains of only a few of the victims have been identified.
Lopez Astudillo was released in 2019 — a move condemned by family members of the missing students — after a judge found the evidence against him was obtained illegally.
His arrest comes as relatives are preparing demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the students’ disappearance.
Ukraine says Russia launched 67 drones in overnight attack
- Air defense units were scrambled into action in 11 regions across Ukraine
- Drone debris was found next to the parliament building in the capital Kyiv
KYIV: Ukraine’s air force said on Saturday Russia launched a total of 67 long-range Shahed drones in a mass overnight attack, 58 of which it was able to shoot down.
The air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that air defense units were scrambled into action in 11 regions across Ukraine.
Drone debris was found next to the parliament building in the capital Kyiv, the legislature said in a separate statement it posted on its official Telegram page along with several photographs.
It is rare for a Russian missile or drone to get so far into central Kyiv, as the city is protected by a network of Soviet-era and Western-donated air defense systems.
The hilltop government quarter in the city center is perhaps the best-defended site in Ukraine, as it also houses the offices of the president, cabinet and the central bank.
The pictures on Telegram showed at least four pieces of debris scattered on the ground near the parliament building. One piece lay at the foot of the steps to the building’s main entrance, while another hunk of metal looked riddled with shrapnel.
Reuters correspondents in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, heard a series of explosions shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday, some of which resounded loudly around the city center, waking up its residents.
Since the start of its invasion in February 2022, Moscow has launched thousands of missiles and Shahed drones into Ukraine.
The Iranian-designed drone has been used by Russia since September 2022 as a cheap, more expendable alternative to missiles, which are expensive and harder to manufacture.
The propeller-powered Shahed flies at less than 200km per hour (125 miles per hour) but can be tricky for conventional air defense systems to track because it flies low and emits far less heat than a missile.
Kyiv’s air force said the drones were launched from two border regions in Russia as well as from the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea.
Zelensky meets Meloni in Italy, presses for more arms
- The pair met in Cernobbio, northern Italy, on the margins of the European House-Ambrosetti forum
- Italy has strongly supported Ukraine and has sent weapons to help it defend itself against Russian forces
CERNOBBIO, Italy: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday, her office said, as he presses allies for more weapons in his country’s fight against Russia.
The pair met in Cernobbio, northern Italy, on the margins of the European House-Ambrosetti forum, where Zelensky spoke on Friday and Meloni was due to speak on Saturday.
Italy has strongly supported Ukraine and has sent weapons to help it defend itself against Russian forces, while insisting that these must only be used on Ukrainian soil.
Before heading to Italy, Zelensky had on Friday pressed his case to allies meeting at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Washington unveiled $250 million in new military aid for Ukraine.
He also met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The gatherings came as Moscow’s forces advance in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Thursday that capturing the region was his “primary objective” in the conflict, which has dragged on for two and a half years.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — who upset his European Union counterparts and Zelensky by meeting Putin in Moscow in July — is also attending the three-day Italian forum.
Zelensky rejected Orban’s calls at Cernobbio for a ceasefire, saying that Putin had never respected earlier accords.
Super Typhoon Yagi hits Vietnam after casualties in China’s Hainan
- Yagi, the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024, has already killed at least 16 people in the Philippines
- It tore through China’s southern island of Hainan where it reportedly killed two people and injured dozens
HANOI/HAIPHONG/BEIJING: Super Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, the meteorological agency said, after tearing through China’s southern island of Hainan where it reportedly killed two people and injured dozens.
Yagi, the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024, has already killed at least 16 people in the Philippines, having formed east of the archipelago earlier in the week.
As it hit island districts of north Vietnam around 1300 local time (0600 GMT) on Saturday, it generated winds of up to 160 kph (99 mph) near its center, having lost power from its peak of 234 kph (145 mph) in Hainan a day earlier.
Vietnam’s coastal city of Haiphong, an industrial hub with a population of 2 million that hosts factories from foreign multinationals and local carmaker VinFast, is so far among the hardest hit by the winds.
Parts of the city experienced power outages on Saturday, authorities said.
The wind smashed buildings’ glass windows and broke tree branches, according to a Reuters witness. City streets were deserted as citizens heeded authorities’ calls to stay indoors.
Earlier in Hainan, which has a population of more than 10 million, the storm knocked down trees, flooded roads and cut power to more than 800,000 homes.
AIRPORTS CLOSED
Vietnam evacuated nearly 50,000 people from coastal towns and deployed 450,000 military personnel, the government said.
It also suspended operations for several hours at four airports on Saturday, including Hanoi’s Noi Bai, the busiest in the north, canceling more than 300 flights.
High schools were also closed in 12 northern provinces, including in the capital Hanoi.
Typhoons are becoming stronger, fueled by warmer oceans, amid climate change, scientists say. Last week, Typhoon Shanshan slammed into southwestern Japan, the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.
Yagi is named after the Japanese word for goat and the constellation of Capricornus.
