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Turkiye condemns Cyprus-US defense co-operation roadmap

Turkiye condemns Cyprus-US defense co-operation roadmap
The US steps, including last June’s announcement of the launch of a strategic dialogue with Cyprus, are detrimental to the security of the Turkish Cypriot side of the island. (REUTERS)
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Updated 12 September 2024
Reuters
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Turkiye condemns Cyprus-US defense co-operation roadmap

Turkiye condemns Cyprus-US defense co-operation roadmap
  • The US steps, including last June’s announcement of the launch of a strategic dialogue with Cyprus, are detrimental to the security of the Turkish Cypriot side of the island
Updated 12 September 2024
Reuters
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ISTANBUL: Turkiye said it condemned this week’s signing of a roadmap to boost two-way defense co-operation between the United States and the Republic of Cyprus.
The move came amid United Nations efforts to find common ground for the resumption of long-stalled negotiations between the rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on the Mediterranean island, which has been divided for decades.
The US steps, including last June’s announcement of the launch of a strategic dialogue with Cyprus, are detrimental to the security of the Turkish Cypriot side of the island, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
“These steps ... undermine the neutral USA position toward the island of Cyprus and make it more difficult to reach a just, lasting and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus issue,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
On Monday, the United States and the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus signed the co-operation roadmap in Nicosia.
In a joint statement, their defense ministries reaffirmed their commitment to collaborate to tackle international security concerns via the roadmap.
Cyprus was partitioned in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup. Peace talks have been on hold since 2017.
The Turkish Cypriot side administers a breakaway state in the north of Cyprus recognized only by Ankara. It says a resumption of talks hinges on acceptance of its equal sovereignty with the Greek Cypriot government.

Topics: Turkiye Cyprus US

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US soldier dies in non-combat incident in Iraq

US Army soldiers stand outside their armored vehicle on a joint base with the Iraqi army, south of Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 23, 2017.
US Army soldiers stand outside their armored vehicle on a joint base with the Iraqi army, south of Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 23, 2017.
Updated 30 sec ago
AP
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US soldier dies in non-combat incident in Iraq

US Army soldiers stand outside their armored vehicle on a joint base with the Iraqi army, south of Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 23, 2017.
  • In September, the US announced an agreement with the Iraqi government to wrap up the American-led coalition’s military mission against the Daesh group in Iraq by 2025
Updated 30 sec ago
AP

WASHINGTON: A 34-year-old soldier serving with the Indiana National Guard in Iraq has died in a non-combat incident, the Army said Monday.
Capt. Eric Richard Hart, 34, of Indianapolis, Indiana, died Saturday in Iraq, the Army National Guard said in a statement. Hart was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion of Indiana’s 38th Infantry Division in Iraq. His death is under investigation.
While all combat operations have ceased for US forces in Iraq, the US maintains a presence of 2,500 troops to assist the Iraqi military in counter-Daesh operations and training. Those forces have repeatedly come under attack in the 14 months since Hamas attacked Israel, spurring a wider, deadly response from Tel Aviv.
During the last year, Iranian-backed forces have launched one-way attack drones, rockets and missiles at US facilities in Iraq in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
In September, the US announced an agreement with the Iraqi government to wrap up the American-led coalition’s military mission against the Daesh group in Iraq by 2025. US troops have departed some bases that they have long occupied during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.
Washington has had a continuous presence in Iraq since its 2003 invasion. Although all US combat forces left in 2011, thousands of troops returned in 2014 to help the Iraqi government defeat Daesh.
Since the extremist group lost its hold on the territory it once seized, Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of coalition forces, particularly in the wake of a US airstrike in January 2020 that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis outside the Baghdad airport.
Before Monday’s announcement, a total of 4,419 troops had died in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom military campaign, including 3,482 combat deaths and 937 non-combat deaths, according to the latest Defense Department data. A total of 31,993 troops were wounded in action in Iraq.
The Defense Department’s summary does not include all of the forces who returned from war with wounds that surfaced later, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or toxic exposure.

 

Topics: Iraq US Capt. Eric Richard Hart

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Bad weather set to hit UK New Year celebrations

Bad weather set to hit UK New Year celebrations
Updated 31 December 2024
AFP
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Bad weather set to hit UK New Year celebrations

Bad weather set to hit UK New Year celebrations
  • Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party was canceled on public safety grounds
Updated 31 December 2024
AFP

LONDON: Adverse weather on Monday looked set to hit UK New Year festivities, as the organizers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party canceled the event on public safety grounds.
The Edinburgh celebrations, a major tourist draw which last year attracted some 30,000 people, had been due to feature a fireworks display and a concert headlined by Scottish band Texas.
But organizers said it would not be safe to go ahead with preparations for outdoor events scheduled for Monday and New Year’s Eve on Tuesday due to “ongoing high winds and inclement weather.”
Planned New Year fireworks in the holiday resort town of Blackpool in northwestern England were also canceled due to a forecast of high winds, the local council said.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued a rare severe flood warning of “danger to life” for parts of Scotland.
It said a heavy downpour was expected to burst riverbanks in Aviemore in northern Scotland and nearby areas of the Scottish Highlands.
“Due to persistent and heavy rainfall, river levels on the River Spey will rise throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning causing serious flooding,” it said.
“Extensive flooding to properties and businesses is expected in and around Aviemore.”
The UK’s Met Office, meanwhile, said heavy rain and strong winds could be expected in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
Some snow was also forecast for parts of Scotland.
“A series of low-pressure systems will track across the UK over the next couple of days bringing some potentially disruptive weather,” said Met Office meteorologist Steve Willington.
“Almost the entire UK is covered by at least one weather warning” over the coming week, he added.
A Met Office amber warning for rain and snow — the second most severe weather notice, meaning there is a potential risk to life — is in place for Scotland.
A number of less severe yellow warnings for rain, wind and snow were also in place for Scotland and northern England.

Topics: UK

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US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack

US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack
Updated 31 December 2024
AFP
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US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack

US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack
  • Breach accessed Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents
Updated 31 December 2024
AFP

WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department said Monday that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach resulting in access to some of its workstations, according to a letter to Congress seen by AFP.
The incident happened earlier this month, when the actor compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and was able to remotely access the Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents, a Treasury spokesperson added.
Treasury contacted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency after it was alerted of the situation by its provider BeyondTrust, and has been working with law enforcement partners to ascertain the impact.
“The compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline and there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” the department’s spokesperson said.
In its letter to the leadership of the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury said: “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.”
An APT refers to a cyberattack where an intruder establishes and maintains unauthorized access to a target, remaining undetected for a sustained period of time.
The department did not provide further details on what was affected by the breach, but said more information would be released in a supplemental report at a later date.
“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds,” the Treasury spokesperson added.
The official said that the department would continue working to protect the US financial system from threats.
Several countries, notably the United States, have voiced alarm in recent years at what they say is Chinese-government-backed hacking activity targeting their governments, militaries and businesses.
Beijing rejects the allegations, and has previously said that it opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks.
In September, the US Justice Department said it had neutralized a cyber-attack network that affected 200,000 devices worldwide, alleging it was run by hackers backed by the Chinese government.
In February, US authorities also said they had dismantled a network of hackers known as “Volt Typhoon.”
The group was said to be targeting key public sector infrastructure like water treatment plants and transportation systems at the behest of China.
In 2023, tech giant Microsoft said Chinese-based hackers seeking intelligence information breached the email accounts of a number of US government agencies.
The group, Storm-0558, had breached email accounts at approximately 25 organizations and government agencies.
Accounts belonging to the State Department and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were among those hacked in that breach.

Topics: China US

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Argentine judge orders arrest of Nicaragua’s Ortega over human rights violations

Argentine judge orders arrest of Nicaragua’s Ortega over human rights violations
Updated 31 December 2024
AFP
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Argentine judge orders arrest of Nicaragua’s Ortega over human rights violations

Argentine judge orders arrest of Nicaragua’s Ortega over human rights violations
  • The warrant, lawyer Dario Richarte said, also applies to Ortega’s wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo
Updated 31 December 2024
AFP

BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine judge has ordered the arrest of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega over his alleged “systematic violation of human rights,” a lawyer who filed a case against the leader told AFP on Monday.
The warrant, lawyer Dario Richarte said, also applies to Ortega’s wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows for nations to prosecute crimes against humanity outside their country of origin.
Federal Judge Ariel Lijo has also ordered the arrest of a dozen other people linked to Ortega’s rule.
The crimes Ortega and his wife are accused of include murder, forced disappearances, torture and “deportation or forced transfer of population,” Richarte said.
The complaint had been filed in 2022 by a group of prosecutors from the University of Buenos Aires.
Ortega, a 79-year-old ex-guerrilla, has engaged in increasingly authoritarian practices since returning to power in 2007, seizing control of all branches of the state.
His government has targeted critics, shutting down more than 5,000 non-governmental organizations since a crackdown on 2018 protests that the United Nations said left more than 300 people dead.
Most independent and opposition media now operate from abroad.
Around 450 politicians, businesspeople, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists and religious figures have been stripped of their nationality since February 2023 under accusations of “treason.”
Amnesty International’s Americas director Ana Piquer warned earlier this month that nobody in Nicaragua was safe from Ortega’s “repressive machinery.”
“From indigenous leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and anyone seen as a risk to government policies, the authorities continue to consolidate the climate of fear,” she said.

Topics: Argentina

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Appeals court upholds verdict in Trump sexual abuse case

Appeals court upholds verdict in Trump sexual abuse case
Updated 31 December 2024
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Appeals court upholds verdict in Trump sexual abuse case

Appeals court upholds verdict in Trump sexual abuse case
  • Trump was ordered to pay $2 million for sexual abuse and another $3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carrol
Updated 31 December 2024
AFP

NEW YORK: A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury verdict ordering President-elect Donald Trump to pay $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
A New York jury found after a nine-day civil trial last year that the former president had sexually abused Carroll at a Manhattan department store in 1996.
Trump was ordered to pay $2 million for sexual abuse and another $3 million for defaming Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine.
Trump denied the allegations and appealed the verdict on the grounds that two other women who said Trump had sexually assaulted them too should not have been allowed to testify.
The three-judge panel of the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” they said.
“Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
Carroll was awarded $83 million by another jury in a separate case she brought against Trump.
He has appealed that verdict and Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, said the Republican would lodge a further appeal against the $5 million damages awarded in the sexual abuse and defamation case.
“The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate,” Cheung said in a statement.
“They demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” he said.
Two federal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith have been dismissed since he won the November 5 presidential election.
Trump was accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election but Smith dropped the cases under a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Judge Juan Merchan recently rejected a bid by the president-elect to have his conviction thrown out but has postponed sentencing indefinitely.

Topics: Trump Returns

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