LONDON: London and Berlin on Wednesday hailed a “milestone” in military cooperation, as they signed a new defense pact that would see German submarine-hunting planes operate from British bases and counter threats from Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Europe’s two biggest defense spenders said the Trinity House Agreement, signed by defense ministers John Healey and Boris Pistorius, would strengthen NATO’s “European pillar” at a time of increased threat from the east.
An eye-catching part of the deal is the prospect of German Boeing P-8 aircraft patrolling the skies of the North Atlantic from a base in northern Scotland.
Another will see German arms giant Rheinmetall open a UK factory making artillery gun barrels, using British steel.
Healey told a joint news conference that European allies needed to take on more responsibility for European security “and this is the driving force behind our NATO-first UK defense strategy.
“We share the same threats: war in Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, growing Russian aggression. We share the same values: democracy, individual freedom, rule of law,” he said.
Pistorius added that it was “our responsibility in Europe to strengthen the European angle, the European pillar of NATO.
“The US will shift their focus more to the Indo Pacific... so it is only a matter a question of, ‘will they do much less in Europe because of that, or only a little bit less?’.
“But anyway, we would have to do more, and this is our task.”
The agreement is the first between the UK and Germany and aims to put previously ad hoc cooperation between the two countries on a more regular footing.
The artillery factory would support more than 400 jobs, while the two countries will undertake joint work to develop deep strike weapons that can travel further with more precision than current systems, including Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
The two armies will train together more often in a bid to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank, with fears for security in Baltic states and Scandinavia because of Russia’s actions against Ukraine.
“The Trinity House Agreement is a milestone moment in our relationship with Germany,” Healey said.
The deal “will be the first pillar” of a “new and wider friendship treaty for us,” he added.
Pistorius said the deal was evidence that “the UK and Germany are moving closer together,” following 14 years of Conservative rule that saw the UK exit the European Union.
“We must not take security in Europe for granted,” he warned.
“Russia is waging war against Ukraine, it is increasing its weapons production immensely and has repeatedly launched hybrid attacks on our partners in Eastern Europe.
“With the Trinity House Agreement, we are showing that the NATO Allies have recognized what these times require,” he added.
But former UK defense minister Ben Wallace said on X that if the deal “is to mean anything then Germany would have agreed with UK requests to send Taurus to Ukraine... otherwise it is pretty hollow and made up of stuff we are already doing or had started.”
Germany is currently refusing to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles with a range of over 500 kilometers (310 miles) over fears that they could hit Russian territory.
UK and Germany sign ‘milestone’ defense deal
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UK and Germany sign ‘milestone’ defense deal
- Europe’s two biggest defense spenders said the Trinity House Agreement would strengthen NATO’s “European pillar” at a time of increased threat from the east
- An eye-catching part of the deal is the prospect of German Boeing P-8 aircraft patrolling the skies of the North Atlantic from a base in northern Scotland
UK travel disrupted as Storm Bert fallout continues
- There were more 200 flood warnings and flood alerts in place across England and Wales
There were more 200 flood warnings and flood alerts in place across England and Wales, while trains from London to the southwest were canceled and rail services in central England were severely disrupted.
“Do not attempt to travel on any route today,” Great Western Railway, whose trains connect London to Bristol and Cornwall, said on X.
Amongst those killed during the storm include a dog walker who in North Wales, and a man who died when a tree hit his car in southern England.
Major roads in Northamptonshire and Bristol were closed, while fallen trees on rail lines cut off services between London and Stansted Airport, Britain’s fourth busiest hub.
The disruption comes after Storm Bert hit Britain late on Friday, bringing snow, rain and strong winds.
The Met Office kept a warning for strong winds in place for northern Scotland on Monday and said the storm would clear from that part of the country early on Tuesday.
DHL cargo plane crashes into a house in Lithuania, killing at least 1
- The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a “DHL cargo plane
VILNIUS: A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house Monday morning near the Lithuanian capital, killing at least one person.
Lithuanian’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said two people had been taken to the hospital after the crash, and one was later pronounced dead. LRT said the aircraft smashed into a two-story home near the airport.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a “DHL cargo plane flying from Leipzig, Germany, to Vilnius Airport.”
It posted on the social platform X that city services including a fire truck were on site.
DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The DHL aircraft was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. The carrier could not be immediately reached.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that’s not unusual for cargo flights.
UN chief slams land mine threat days after US decision to supply Ukraine
- The outgoing US administration is aiming to give Ukraine an upper hand before President-elect Donald Trump enters office
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the mines ‘very important’ to halting Russian attacks
SIEM REAP, Cambodia: The UN Secretary-General on Monday slammed the “renewed threat” of anti-personnel land mines, days after the United States said it would supply the weapons to Ukrainian forces battling Russia’s invasion.
In remarks sent to a conference in Cambodia to review progress on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, UN chief Antonio Guterres hailed the work of clearing and destroying land mines across the world.
“But the threat remains. This includes the renewed use of anti-personnel mines by some of the Parties to the Convention, as well as some Parties falling behind in their commitments to destroy these weapons,” he said in the statement.
He called on the 164 signatories — which include Ukraine but not Russia or the United States — to “meet their obligations and ensure compliance to the Convention.”
Guterres’ remarks were delivered by UN Under-Secretary General Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana.
AFP has contacted her office and a spokesman for Guterres to ask if the remarks were directed specifically at Ukraine.
The Ukrainian team at the conference did not respond to AFP questions about the US land mine supplies.
Washington’s announcement last week that it would send anti-personnel land mines to Kyiv was immediately criticized by human rights campaigners.
The outgoing US administration is aiming to give Ukraine an upper hand before President-elect Donald Trump enters office.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the mines “very important” to halting Russian attacks.
The conference is being held in Cambodia, which was left one of the most heavily bombed and mined countries in the world after three decades of civil war from the 1960s.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told the conference his country still needs to clear over 1,600 square kilometers (618 square miles) of contaminated land that is affecting the lives of more than one million people.
Around 20,000 people have been killed in Cambodia by land mines and unexploded ordnance since 1979, and twice as many have been injured.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said on Wednesday that at least 5,757 people had been casualties of land mines and explosive remnants of war across the world last year, 1,983 of whom were killed.
Civilians made up 84 percent of all recorded casualties, it said.
Philippine VP Duterte labelled ‘mastermind’ of assassination plot
- Security agencies at the weekend said they would step up their protocols
MANILA: The Philippines justice department on Monday labelled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the country’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena.
Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that President Ferdinand Marcos be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed.
“The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres said at a Monday press briefing.
“The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind will now face legal consequences.”
Speaking to reporters an hour later, Duterte said she planned to respond to the subpoena.
“I will gladly answer the questions they want to ask, but they must answer my questions as well,” she said.
“We’ll just talk there when I get the subpoena.”
In his first public comments on the matter, Marcos earlier in the day vowed to “fight back” in the face of a threat he called “disturbing.”
The Marcos-Duterte alliance that swept to power in 2022 has collapsed spectacularly in the lead-up to next year’s mid-term elections, with both sides trading allegations of drug addiction.
Duterte, who is facing potential impeachment hearings, told reporters early Saturday that she herself was the subject of an assassination plot and had instructed that Marcos be killed should it succeed.
In the expletive-laced press conference, Duterte also singled out first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez as potential targets.
“I said, if I die, don’t stop until you have killed them,” she claimed to have told a security team member regarding the trio.
Hours later, the presidential palace said it was treating the comments as an “active threat.”
“That sort of criminal attempt must not go unchallenged,” Marcos said Monday. “As a democratic country, we need to uphold the law.”
“The vice president is not immune from suit. She can be the subject of any criminal or administrative case,” Andres told reporters, adding the subpoena was in the process of being served.
He added that a manhunt was underway for the “assassin” allegedly engaged by Duterte.
Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, was Marcos’ running mate in the 2022 presidential election that saw their ticket win in a landslide.
She remains his constitutional successor should he be unable to finish his six-year term.
But she is currently facing an investigation in the House of Representatives, led by Romualdez.
Both Romualdez and Duterte are widely expected to run for president in 2028.
Duterte’s Saturday press briefing came shortly after House officials threatened to transfer her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez — being held for contempt — from the lower chamber’s detention center to a correctional facility.
Lopez has been detained since Wednesday, when she was cited for allegedly interfering in a probe into Duterte’s finances.
Duterte stepped down from her cabinet post of education secretary in June as relations between the two families reached breaking point.
Months earlier, her father had accused Marcos of being a “drug addict,” with the president the next day claiming his predecessor’s health was failing due to long-term use of the powerful opioid fentanyl.
Neither have provided any evidence for their allegations.
In October, Duterte said she felt “used” after teaming with Marcos for the 2022 poll.
An average of 140 women and girls were killed by a partner or relative per day in 2023, the UN says
- The agencies reported approximately 51,100 women and girls were killed in 2023
- The rates were highest in Africa and the Americas and lowest in Asia and Europe
UNITED NATIONS: The deadliest place for women is at home and 140 women and girls on average were killed by an intimate partner or family member per day last year, two UN agencies reported Monday.
Globally, an intimate partner or family member was responsible for the deaths of approximately 51,100 women and girls during 2023, an increase from an estimated 48,800 victims in 2022, UN Women and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime said.
The report released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women said the increase was largely the result of more data being available from countries and not more killings.
But the two agencies stressed that “Women and girls everywhere continue to be affected by this extreme form of gender-based violence and no region is excluded.” And they said, “the home is the most dangerous place for women and girls.”
The highest number of intimate partner and family killings was in Africa – with an estimated 21,700 victims in 2023, the report said. Africa also had the highest number of victims relative to the size of its population — 2.9 victims per 100,000 people.
There were also high rates last year in the Americas with 1.6 female victims per 100,000 and in Oceania with 1.5 per 100,000, it said. Rates were significantly lower in Asia at 0.8 victims per 100,000 and Europe at 0.6 per 100,000.
According to the report, the intentional killing of women in the private sphere in Europe and the Americas is largely by intimate partners.
By contrast, the vast majority of male homicides take place outside homes and families, it said.
“Even though men and boys account for the vast majority of homicide victims, women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by lethal violence in the private sphere,” the report said.
“An estimated 80 percent of all homicide victims in 2023 were men while 20 percent were women, but lethal violence within the family takes a much higher toll on women than men, with almost 60 percent of all women who were intentionally killed in 2023 being victims of intimate partner/family member homicide,” it said.
The report said that despite efforts to prevent the killing of women and girls by countries, their killings “remain at alarmingly high levels.”
“They are often the culmination of repeated episodes of gender-based violence, which means they are preventable through timely and effective interventions,” the two agencies said.
