China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart

China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart
Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi addresses the "Summit of the Future" in the General Assembly hall at United Nations headquarters in New York City, US. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 24 September 2024
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China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart

China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart
  • Wang acknowledged the strikes, saying China “strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations.”
  • China also urged its citizens to leave Israel on Sunday as tensions with Lebanon grew

BEIJING: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi expressed support for Lebanon and condemned what he termed “indiscriminate attacks against civilians,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Meeting his Lebanese counterpart in New York, Wang said: “We pay close attention to developments in the region, especially the recent explosion of communications equipment in Lebanon, and firmly oppose indiscriminate attacks against civilians.”
Last week, a series of coordinated communications device blasts across Lebanon killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.
And on Monday, Israeli air strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 others in the country, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Wang acknowledged the strikes, saying China “strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations.”
“No matter how the situation changes, we will always stand on the side of justice, on the side of our Arab brothers, including Lebanon,” Wang told Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
“Armed force does not represent truth, and might only undermines peace,” Wang said.
“Countering violence with violence will not solve the problems in the Middle East and will only lead to an even greater humanitarian disaster,” he added.
China also urged its citizens to leave Israel on Sunday as tensions with Lebanon grew.
China has repeatedly called for peace talks to resolve the crisis in Gaza.
In July, the country brokered a “national unity” deal between Hamas, Fatah, and other Palestinian organizations to rule Gaza together after the war.


Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement

Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement
Updated 5 sec ago
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Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement

Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement
  • Mogadishu and Addis Ababa have been at loggerheads over Somaliland region

ADDIS ABABA: The African Union has urged Ethiopia and Somalia to implement “without delay” an agreement aimed at ending tensions between the neighbors over Ethiopia’s access to the sea, calling the deal an “important act.”

The two countries have been at loggerheads since landlocked Ethiopia struck a deal in January with Somalia’s breakaway region Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base.

In return, Somaliland — which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 in a move not recognized by Mogadishu — said Ethiopia would give it formal recognition, although this was never confirmed by Addis Ababa.

Somalia branded the deal a violation of its sovereignty, setting international alarm bells ringing over the risk of renewed conflict in the volatile region.

Following hours of Turkish-brokered talks, Ankara announced late Wednesday that an “historic” agreement had been reached between Somalia and Ethiopia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he believed the agreement would help Ethiopia gain its long-desired access to the sea. Technical talks are set for next year.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had flown into Ankara for the talks following two previous rounds that made little progress.

Speaking in the Turkish capital after the agreement, Mohamud said the neighbors had “mutual interests in cooperating together.”

“We belong to a region where peace and stability is first priority for our people’s lives,” he said.

African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat stressed the “important act” taken by the leaders to find a deal but emphasized the urgency to “implement, without delay, the relevant measures adopted.”

He did not give any indication in the statement, posted on social media platform X, of what measures had been agreed.

East Africa’s regional bloc IGAD (the Intergovernmental Authority on Development) also welcomed the agreement as an “important step.”

It “demonstrates a commitment to resolving bilateral
issues amicably,” IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said.

According to the text of the accord published by Turkiye, the parties agreed “to put aside differences of opinion and contentious issues, and to move resolutely forward in cooperation toward common prosperity.”

They agreed to work closely together on commercial arrangements and bilateral agreements that would ensure Ethiopia’s “reliable, safe and sustainable access” to the sea “under the sovereign authority of the Federal Republic of Somalia.”

To that end, it said they would start technical talks no later than the end of February which would be completed “within four months,” with any differences to be dealt with “through dialogue, where necessary with Turkiye’s support.”

Both top US diplomat Antony Blinken and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate statements, looked ahead to negotiations to finalize the accord.

Blinken said the agreement reaffirms “each country’s sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity.”

Guterres thanked Erdogan for his role and looked forward to “a positive outcome to the process,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

There was no detail in the text published by Turkiye on how the agreement might impact the controversial memorandum of understanding between Somaliland and Ethiopia, which has never been made public.

Ethiopian authorities did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for comment about the future of the agreement with Somaliland.

A source close to the Somaliland government said nothing had changed regarding the agreement with Ethiopia, noting: “Agreeing to work together to resolve their dispute is not the same as walking away from the MOU.”

While Abiy has repeatedly insisted that his country must have coastal access, he told parliament earlier this year that Ethiopia had “no interest in getting involved in a war” over access to the sea.

In response, Mogadishu has strengthened its ties with Egypt, Ethiopia’s longtime rival.

Somalia expelled Ethiopia’s ambassador in April and said Ethiopian troops would be excluded from a new African Union peacekeeping force against Islamist Al-Shabab insurgents that is due to be deployed on January 1.


Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites

Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites
Updated 44 min 31 sec ago
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Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites

Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites
  • Police did not say who they thought had launched the unmanned aerial vehicles.
  • “In recent days, several drone flights have been detected over critical infrastructure in Rhineland-Palatinate state,” a regional police spokesman said

BERLIN: German authorities said Friday that unidentified drones had been spotted flying over sensitive military and industrial sites including the US Ramstein air base.
The reports come after German officials have repeatedly voiced alarm about the threat of Russian spying as the Ukraine war heightens tensions between Moscow and NATO.
However, police did not say who they thought had launched the unmanned aerial vehicles.
“In recent days, several drone flights have been detected over critical infrastructure in Rhineland-Palatinate state,” a regional police spokesman told AFP.
The UAVs were first sighted at German company BASF’s plant in Ludwigshafen, known as the world’s biggest chemicals complex, the spokesman said.
“This was followed in the course of this week by drone overflights over the US air base in Ramstein,” he added.
The drones were detected at dusk and were “larger than the usual commercial hobby drones,” the spokesman said.
Police in Rhineland-Palatinate have set up a special investigative unit to look into the incidents.
There is “no concrete danger to the facilities concerned,” the spokesman said.
The sightings in Ramstein were on December 3 and 4, according to Der Spiegel magazine.
Unidentified drones have also been sighted over facilities belonging to German arms maker Rheinmetall, Der Spiegel reported, citing security services.
A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to AFP that suspicious drones had been spotted near Rheinmetall’s largest ammunition production site at Unterluess, Lower Saxony.
Unidentified drones were also reported in August over the Bruensbuettel industrial area in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the time said the devices were surely “not there to observe the beautiful local landscape, but because there is a chemical park there and a... storage facility for nuclear waste nearby.”
Media reports said officials believed those drones were Russian reconnaissance devices.
However, investigations into the Bruensbuettel sightings have so far shown no indications of espionage, according to a report from the ARD broadcaster on Friday.
German officials have repeatedly raised the alarm in recent months about Russian spying and “hybrid warfare,” including acts of sabotage and disinformation in the campaign toward February general elections.


Top Indian actor arrested after death of fan at film premiere

Top Indian actor arrested after death of fan at film premiere
Updated 13 December 2024
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Top Indian actor arrested after death of fan at film premiere

Top Indian actor arrested after death of fan at film premiere
  • Allu Arjun appeared at the film premiere in the Indian city of Hyderabad on December 4
  • As fans clamoured to meet him, a 39-year-old woman died and her son was critically injured

HYDERABAD: A top movie actor in southern India was arrested on Friday, a week after a woman died and her son was seriously injured in the crush of fans that his surprise appearance at the premiere of his film provoked, police said.
Allu Arjun, prominent in the Telugu film industry, based in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where film stars are revered by die-hard fans, appeared at the film premiere in Hyderabad on Dec. 4.
As fans clamoured to meet him, a 39-year-old woman died and her nine-year-old son was critically injured. Police earlier this week arrested the owner of the theater where the incident took place, and on Friday they arrested Arjun at his residence.
He was granted bail by a local court a few hours after his arrest and he was expected to be released from prison shortly, his counsel said.
Arjun, 41, was named in the initial police complaint, which alleged that his personal security detail had tried to clear the crowd near him, causing the death of the woman who had become breathless, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.
Arjun’s counsel has denied any wrongdoing on his part, and he has publicly apologized for the incident.
Actors in southern India, which has a thriving film industry independent of Bollywood, are larger than life figures, with fan clubs who often build temples to their idols, and bathe their posters in milk during premieres.


Ukraine’s Zelensky to meet European leaders in Brussels on Wednesday

Ukraine’s Zelensky to meet European leaders in Brussels on Wednesday
Updated 13 December 2024
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Ukraine’s Zelensky to meet European leaders in Brussels on Wednesday

Ukraine’s Zelensky to meet European leaders in Brussels on Wednesday
  • Zelensky and some of his European allies have called for European troops to be deployed to Ukraine
  • “It won’t be a meeting that has concrete decisions, but more political to discuss the coming weeks and months,” said a source

BRUSSELS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a meeting with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, NATO and the EU in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss support for his country in its war with Russia, sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.
The meeting comes as European countries face the possibility of the US, Ukraine’s largest source of support, changing its approach to the conflict when Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
Zelensky and some of his European allies have called for European troops to be deployed to Ukraine to act as a deterrent to further military action by Russia after any ceasefire.
“It won’t be a meeting that has concrete decisions, but more political to discuss the coming weeks and months,” said a source familiar with the meeting.
The gathering, hosted by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, will be held on the day leaders were already due to meet for the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels, and involve a joint meeting and several bilateral meetings with Zelensky.


Companies from UK, Italy and Japan to form joint venture for new fighter jet

Companies from UK, Italy and Japan to form joint venture for new fighter jet
Updated 13 December 2024
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Companies from UK, Italy and Japan to form joint venture for new fighter jet

Companies from UK, Italy and Japan to form joint venture for new fighter jet
  • Under the agreement, Britain’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement will each own a third of the new joint venture
  • The headquarters for the Global Combat Air Programme will be the UK

LONDON: The three companies building a next generation fighter jet for the UK, Italy and Japan revealed Friday that they are forming a joint venture to deliver the aircraft.
Under the agreement, Britain’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement will each own a third of the new joint venture, which will be subject to regulatory approvals.
“This agreement is the result of an intensive journey made possible by pooling our mutual and shared experiences,” said Roberto Cingolani, Leonardo’s chief executive.
The headquarters for the Global Combat Air Programme, or GCAP, will be the UK, but operations will take place in each of the partner nations. Under the terms of the agreement, the first chief executive will come from Italy.
“The new business will bring together the significant strengths and expertise of the companies involved to create an innovative organization that will lead the way in developing a next generation combat air system, creating long-term, high value and skilled jobs across the partner nations for decades to come,” said Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems’ chief executive.
The triangular-shaped jets will have supersonic capability and cutting-edge technology. Pilots will be able to use virtual reality in the aircraft’s digital cockpit, with vital information displayed directly in front of them.
The aim is that they will take to the skies by 2035.
Kimito Nakae, president of JAIEC, acknowledged that the way ahead “might not always be simple and straightforward,” but that “through continuing the strong spirit of trilateral cooperation and collaboration that we have fostered up to this point, we will not only deliver the GCAP on time but also at a level that exceeds all of our expectations.”