WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday discussed a new effort by the US administration and mediators in the Middle East to forge ceasefires to end fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.
Christodoulides leads the European Union nation closest to Gaza. The small Mediterranean island nation has played a critical role in efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza since the war between Hamas and Israel began more than a year ago.
He said that Biden and White House officials briefed him on the latest stepped-up efforts by the US administration and other mediators but declined to offer further details about the discussion.
“The most important, the number one priority of the international community now is to have a ceasefire in the region,” Christodoulides told reporters after his Oval Office talks with Biden.
He added that situation on the ground changes daily but that he was “quite optimistic” that a Lebanon ceasefire deal could emerge in one to two weeks.
Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein will visit Israel on Thursday for talks on possible ceasefires in both Lebanon and Gaza, and on the release of hostages held by Hamas, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. She said CIA Director Bill Burns will head to Egypt on Thursday to discuss those efforts.
A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country’s southern border, according to two US officials familiar with the talks said. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Biden, meanwhile, thanked Cyprus for helping move badly needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and for the Mediterranean nation’s cooperation in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The meeting, the first Oval visit by a Cypriot president since 1996, comes days after US and Cypriot officials announced the countries are launching a strategic dialogue aimed at bolstering security and stability in a crisis-wracked region through initiatives including counterterrorism training of personnel from Middle Eastern countries and fighting sanctions evasion.
The new coordination is just the latest example of Cyprus tightening relations with the US after decades of walking a tightrope between Washington and Moscow. Cyprus has moved closer to the US since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Today we stood against Russia’s vicious onslaught against Ukraine, we launched a strategic dialogue, we increased cooperation across a range of issues, from energy security to artificial intelligence, and we surged humanitarian aid, delivering 8000 metric tons to Gaza,” Biden said.
The US is also funding a center on the island nation under the acronym CYCLOPS that trains personnel from Cyprus and neighboring countries on maritime and cybersecurity as well as counterterrorism techniques.
The Cyprus government has also stepped up coordination with local law enforcement, the US Department of Justice and the FBI to help combat the evasion of sanctions against Russia and other countries.
The FBI is helping train Cypriot police in identifying and prosecuting cases of illegal financing and attempts to evade US, European Union and UN sanctions imposed on any third country.
Last month, Cyprus and the US signed a defense cooperation framework agreement that outlines ways the two countries can enhance their response to regional humanitarian crises and security concerns.
Christodoulides said Cyprus has proven to be a “predictable and reliable partner of the United States in a region of great geopolitical importance.”
Earlier this year, Cyprus helped the US establish a Gaza maritime corridor for the shipborne delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
The $230 million temporary pier project was derided as a boondoggle by critics and was beset by turbulent weather, security threats and sweeping personnel restrictions. The Pentagon pulled the plug on the effort after about four months.
The Biden administration had set a goal of the US sea route and pier providing food to feed 1.5 million people for 90 days. It fell short, bringing in enough to feed about 450,000 people for a month before shutting down, according to a USAID inspector general’s report.
Biden, Cyprus president discuss administration push to win ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon
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Biden, Cyprus president discuss administration push to win ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon
- Christodoulides said he was “quite optimistic” that a Lebanon ceasefire deal could emerge in one to two weeks
Russia accuses Zelensky of making ‘direct threat’ to May 9 events
MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday accused Volodymyr Zelensky of threatening the security of its World War II commemorations on May 9, after the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would not “take responsibility” for ensuring safety on the day.
“He is threatening the physical safety of veterans who will come to parades and celebrations on the holy day,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. “His statement ... is, of course, a direct threat.”
Terminally ill Syrian woman permitted to enter UK after govt U-turn
- Soaad Al-Shawa has been given weeks to live by doctors
- She was initially denied request to see her daughter and son-in-law who fled Syria in 2015
LONDON: A Syrian woman dying of cancer will travel to the UK to see her grandchildren, whom she has never met, after a UK Home Office decision.
Soaad Al-Shawa, who has liver cancer and has been given just weeks to live by doctors, was initially denied a family-reunion request by the UK government, The Guardian reported.
She had asked to travel to Britain to meet up with her daughter Ola Al-Hamwi, son-in-law Mostafa Amonajid, and their three children, aged seven, five and one.
The family fled Syria in 2015 — unable to take Al-Shawa with them — and now reside in Glasgow. Since then. Al-Shawa has only communicated with her grandchildren via video calls.
She received a terminal cancer diagnosis late last year, and her daughter applied for a refugee family reunion in the UK, which was rejected. The family appealed and, in April, an immigration judge agreed to overturn the decision.
However, the UK Home Office later sought permission to appeal the judge’s ruling, in a move that may have taken at least eight months.
Al-Shawa may not have that long to live, with her daughter saying at the time that the decision was “breaking her heart.” Now, the Home Office has told the family’s lawyer it is withdrawing the decision, meaning Al-Shawa can travel to the UK, and that it will also expedite the issuing of a visa for her.
Al-Hamwi hopes that the visa will be processed in Jordan this weekend, and that her husband can travel there to collect her mother. Refugees cannot return to the country they fled from neither Al-Hamwi and Amonajid are able to enter Syria.
Al-Hamwi said: “My mum really perked up when she heard the news and started to eat more. All she wants to do before she dies is to see us and the kids.”
Amonajid said: “I appreciate the Home Office for listening to Ola and me. The kids are so excited they are finally going to meet their grandmother. She will be sleeping in their bedroom and they are fighting over who will sleep next to her.”
The family’s solicitor, Usman Aslam of Mukhtar & Co, said: “We welcome the Home Office decision to withdraw from this case and, moreover, to assist in expediting it.
“We now hope that a daughter and mother can spend whatever time the mother has left together. Refugees are no different from anyone else. They, too, have lives, families and dignity.”
Pakistan test fires ballistic missile as tensions with India spike after Kashmir gun massacre
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan test-fired Saturday a ballistic missile as tensions with India spiked over last week’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region.
The surface-to-surface missile has a range of 450 kilometers (about 280 miles), the Pakistani military said.
The launch of the Abdali Weapon System was aimed at ensuring the “operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters,” including the missile’s advanced navigation system and enhanced manoeuvrability features, according to a statement from the military.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the scientists, engineers and those behind the successful missile test.
Russia declares state of emergency at port after Ukrainian drone attack on Novorossiysk
- There was no immediate comment from Ukraine
MOSCOW: The mayor of the Russian port city of Novorossiysk declared a state of emergency on Saturday after he said a Ukrainian drone attack had damaged residential buildings and injured at least five people, including two children.
Andrei Kravchenko, the mayor, announced his decision on his official Telegram account which showed him inspecting the damage to apartment buildings and giving orders to officials.
Kravchenko said one of the injured people, a woman, was in hospital in a serious situation.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, whose air force said Russia had attacked Ukraine overnight with 183 drones and two ballistic missiles.
US worker safety agency notifies employees of firings
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration sent termination notices late on Friday to employees of a worker health and safety agency that provides research and services for coal miners, firefighters and others, despite appeals by a lawmaker from Trump’s Republican Party to preserve its programs.
Employees of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health received reduction-in-force notices that said the job losses were necessary to reshape the workforce of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a copy of the notices reviewed by Reuters.
Nearly all NIOSH employees were placed on administrative leave in February but around 40 who worked on coal-mining and firefighter safety were asked to return temporarily to work several days ago, the union for the agency’s employees said. At least two of those employees have now been notified of termination.
US Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, had lobbied Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore the programs, including the coal-focused work of its Morgantown, West Virginia, office.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees NIOSH, did not immediately respond to a request for comment after regular business hours. A spokesperson earlier this week said NIOSH’s functions would join the new Administration for a Healthy America, alongside multiple agencies. It was not clear whether any of the terminated employees would be transferred elsewhere.
Reuters reported last month that the halting of NIOSH’s key services ended vital health and safety programs for coal miners, such as mobile health and lung screenings, and a program to relocate miners afflicted with black lung disease to less dusty parts of a mine.
There has been a resurgence of black lung disease in the last decade, including among young coal miners. At the same time, President Donald Trump has led a high-profile campaign to revive coal mining and use, which had been declining in the US.
