Category: General

A group of about 100 soldiers from the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries has moved towards the Belarusian city of Grodno, near the Polish border, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday.

‘This is certainly a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory,’ Morawiecki said in Gliwice, southwestern Poland. ‘Now the situation is even more dangerous.’

The Wagner troops – who have been in Poland since a short-lived revolt last month against Russia – could disguise themselves as Belarusian border guards and help illegal immigrants get into Poland or else impersonate immigrants illegally crossing the border, the premier added.

The Polish government and European Commission have both accused Minsk of orchestrating the passage of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa through the Belarusian border with Poland since 2021 as a way of destabilizing the Polish state and deepening tensions within Poland and between Warsaw and Brussels.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he would punish Poland after Warsaw accused him of rigging his widely disputed 2020 reelection as well as clamping down on the 300,000-strong Polish community in Belarus, most of whom live in the border Grodno area.

Putin reportedly moved short-range nuclear weapons near the border area this month.

Residents of the Polish town of Terespol, 250 kilometers (150 miles) south along the Polish-Belarusian border, reportedly hear regular shooting and see military helicopters overhead after Wagner mercenaries last week arrived in Brest, the Belarusian town just over the border.

Reports of the numbers of Wagner troops in Belarus vary from 2,000 to 5,000.

Lukashenko promised to keep them in central Belarus, but reports indicate that units of the Belarusian Special Operations Forces are training with the Wagner Group at the Brest military range, near the village of Pryluki, only 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) from the Bug River, which marks part of the border.

Poland is moving over 1,000 troops to the towns of Biala Podlaska and Kolno in the east, near Belarus, and 500 police to beef up security at the border.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A joint visit of President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar to the anthropological laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus is underway.

Tatar arrived first at the Committee’s premises at 9 am, accompanied by former T/C negotiator Ergn Olgun, where he was welcomed by the members of CMP. He was followed about 20 minutes later by President Christodoulides who was accompanied by the Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis, while the negotiator of the G/C side, Menelaos Menelaou, was also present.

The two leaders were expected to first have a brief meeting with the members of the CMP and then to be given a tour of the workshop and be briefed on the work of the committee by the scientific staff.

Asked whether the two leaders would have a private meeting, UN sources said it would be up to them and that they would be able do so.

They added that a communiqué from is expected to be issued by the representative of the UN Good Offices mission in Cyprus at the conclusion of the visit.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides underlined the importance of preserving the memory of the Turkish occupied territories, especially in a period of intensiv processes aimed at the resumption of talks, at the inauguration of Zodia Park on Thursday in Geri.

In his address, President Christodoulides referred to the role of such projects and assured residents and the local authority that they will have the support of the Government, making special reference to the problems related to the industrial zone.

The President noted that the park has a dual role, since apart from being a place of recreation and bringing the residents together, it refers by its name “to the currently occupied Zodia and keeps its memory alive, especially in a period of intensive processes that we hope will lead to the resumption of talks.”

He said that the naming of the park helps to preserve the memory of the children born after 1974 and the new generation, stressing that “if we forget our goals we will certainly not seek to achieve them, we will certainly not work for the resolution of the Cyprus problem.”

He went on to say that parks are a vital space for the well-being of citizens and provide a valuable breath of fresh air in our daily lives, a place where we can escape from stress and connect with nature, adding that the State must actively support such actions.

President Christodoulides identified bureaucracy as a major challenge in the promotion of projects. “I believe that through the reform of local government, the implementation of which is a major challenge for all of us, we will be able to address such challenges,” he said.

He added that important projects have been carried out that have upgraded Geri, having transformed it into ‘a modern municipality with all the necessary, functional infrastructure”, citing as examples the flood control works, modern bus stops, the lighting of the avenues and the upgrading of the road network of both the municipality and the industrial zone of Geri, in conjunction with the two new parks.

“Knowing that there is already planning for the implementation of new improvement projects, I want to assure you that the State will be by your side,” said President Christodoulides, addressing the Mayor of Geri. He also said that the Government has already put in place actions towards the creation of the Industrial Zone, and that he is aware of the need to build a stadium.

He also expressed hope that on the issue of the Pyroi-Athienou road, which concerns the Geri area, the Government will soon be able to announce results “in the direction we all want”.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Cypriot government has briefed a US high ranking official over the actions taken with regards to implementation of sanctions imposed by the US government on Cypriot persons and entities associated with sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

Erik Woodhouse, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Division for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions, who is visiting Cyprus, met on Thursday with Deputy Minister to the President Irene Pikis and Marilena Raouna, director of Diplomatic office of the President of the Republic.

During the meeting, which took place in the context of the cooperation between the two countries, Piki and Raouna briefed the US official over the actions taken by the Cypriot government, following instructions by the President of the Republic, which lie within the implementation of a decision of the Council of Ministers over the strict implementation of the sanctions imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, a press release issued by the Presidency said.

‘The two Cypriot officials, briefed over the government plans in connection with the matter, given the government’s determination to proceed with the full implementation of sanctions imposed both on legal as well natural persons,’ the press release added.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Kenya said Thursday that its digital platform e-Citizen, responsible for government services and housing citizens’ sensitive personal data, suffered a cyberattack Thursday.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo, who confirmed the attack at a press briefing in Nairobi, said the authorities were working to restore the crucial government services.

The hacking occurred on Thursday and was accompanied by a claim of responsibility from a Sudanese hacking group called “Anonymous Sudan.”

The group suggested that their actions were in retaliation for Kenya’s alleged interference in Sudan’s internal affairs, noting that it was in response to Kenya’s alleged “statements casting doubts on the sovereignty of the Sudanese government.”

Kenya’s e-Citizen portal is a vital platform for registering and managing personal data including passports, identity cards, driver’s licenses, permits and business registration.

Owalo confirmed the cyberattack as being carried out by the group, asserting that no data was compromised or lost during the incident, which impacted several services.

The Kenyan government has assured the public that it is taking immediate measures to address the security breach and strengthen the portal’s defenses against future cyber threats.

According to an ICT Ministry statement, the temporary disruption was caused by a cyberattack on the platform utilizing a technique known as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that due to the challenges facing the e-Citizen platform, it has resorted to issuing visas to all foreigners traveling to Kenya on arrival.

“Travelers will be issued visas upon arrival at all entry points to Kenya. The government also wishes to advise all airlines to onboard travelers destined to Kenya.”

According to the government, the e-Citizen online portal provides access to over 5,000 services from more than 100 ministries, counties, departments and agencies.

Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and Kenya Railways were among the companies that declared service disruptions due to the cyberattack.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The United States-led coalition in Syria violated Syrian airspace eight times over the past day, a senior Russian military official said Thursday.

Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, the head of the Russian military’s Reconciliation Center in Syria, said that all of the violations occurred in the Al-Tanf region in Homs governorate, which serves as a passage for international air routes.

“Eight violations of Syrian airspace by three pairs of F-16 fighter jets, one pair of Rafale fighter jets and one pair of coalition Typhoon fighter jets were recorded in the area of Al-Tanf,” Gurinov said.

In addition, drones of the international anti-terrorist coalition led by the US violated deconfliction protocols 15 times over the past day, he noted.

“The US continues to misinform the global society regarding illegal flights of their unmanned aerial vehicles in Syrian airspace, accusing Russia of ‘dangerous rapprochements,'” he said.

All dangerous situations in Syrian skies are provoked by coalition aircraft flying in violation of Syrian airspace and deconfliction protocols, Gurinov stressed.

Source: Anadolu Agency

At least six people were killed and 23 others injured when an explosive device planted in a motorcycle near a taxi detonated in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, said a report.

Citing an Interior Ministry statement, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that the bombing occurred in the Sayeda Zainab neighborhood.

Police and relevant authorities were dispatched to the scene, according to the statement.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former US President Donald Trump is facing additional charges related to an investigation into his handling of classified government documents after the special counsel, Jack Smith, filed a new indictment Thursday

According to the charges, it is alleged that Trump was involved in a scheme to delete surveillance footage.

In addition, a newly charged defendant, identified as a property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, reportedly informed another employee that “the boss” wanted the server deleted.

Carlos De Oliveira, who was a maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago, was charged on Thursday, NBC News reported.

The superseding indictment includes three new serious charges against Trump.

Those involve attempting to alter or destroy evidence, inducing someone else to do so, and a new count under the Espionage Act, The New York Times reported.

Following the new charges, the Trump campaign said in a statement that the move intends to harass the former president.

“This is nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass President Trump and those around him,” it said.

The White House denies any involvement in the special counsel’s probes of Trump.

Source: Anadolu Agency

President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar called on all those who have information on the fate of the missing persons to provide it to the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, after their joint visit to CMP’s anthropological laboratory, on Friday.

The two leaders also praised the work of the Committee, which they described as very important, and expressed their common conviction that the work of the CMP, as a purely humanitarian issue, should remain unaffected by political processes.

In his statements after the meeting, President Christodoulides said that he was doing everything possible on the issue of the resumption of talks and expressed the hope that there would be more to be announced soon, “perhaps by the end of September.”

On his part, Tatar reiterated his demand for “sovereign equality” recognition of the illegal regime in the Turkish occupied areas before any talks process could proceed.

President Christodoulides responded to Tatar’s statement saying that he is very well aware of his position but he is not going to enter into any discussion regarding the resumption of the talks out of respect to the relatives of the missing.

‘We are here for a purely humanitarian issue. We need first of all to respect the relatives of the missing persons, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. So I’m not going to enter in any discussion regarding the resumption of the talks. I’m doing whatever is possible, whatever is necessary and I hope that soon, by the end of September if this is possible, to have something to announce,’ he said.

The President noted that all the relatives of the missing persons are expecting to see a positive outcome of this meeting and that they both sent today a message through their common statement and that himself is there ‘to send much more positive messages to the Cypriot people.’

President Christodoulides said that the CMP and the scientists are doing excellent work adding that their commitment is for both communities to work together to encourage more people to give information. ‘And I hope that it will be possible to meet again and let’s hope that through a new meeting we will have a positive outcome,’ he said.

In other statements earlier, right after they met with the scientists the President said that Tatar is very sensitive about the issue having in mind that his father was a member of the CMP for 21 years. He said that they are there to send messages to Greek Cypriots an Turkish Cypriots “to work together and to give us information.”

‘We need to speed up the excellent work that the CMP and the scientists are doing in order to finish with this issue,” he noted adding that too many years have passed for the relatives. “I’m sure all of you understand the pain. So I’m here-and we discussed a bit with Ersin- to examine any other way in order to have more teams that the CMP can use in order to speed up the process on the humanitarian issue,” President Christodoulides said. “It will enhance more our cooperation and will send also messages to the Cypriot people about the need to work together’, he added.

Asked if more excavations will be carried out, the President said they told their members (in CMP) to consider some ideas that could speed up the process.

Replying to another question about a reconciliation committee, he said that this committee could be a way (forward) . ‘I raised the issue before, we can examine the possibility, if it supports the excellent work of the CMP,’ the President said.

President Christodoulides spoke about the financial aspect which is also very important.

‘That’s why I mentioned before that they (the CMP) need to have more teams because it is a pity to have information but not have enough teams in order to proceed. So these issues are going to be discussed between our two members (in CMP) and I’m sure that they will have some suggestions that myself and Ersin are going to decide on,’ he said.

The Turkish Cypriot leader said that they are here to express appreciation for the work the CMP and the scientists are doing here and expressed hope there will be further work to locate more remains in order to bring a relief to the families.

‘We very much want to do our best so the pain of the families is reduced,’ he said, adding that this is a humanitarian issue, “something that is outside of politics therefore whatever we can do to improve the discovery of missing persons is something that we owe to the families, we owe to humanity and we will do our best.’

Tatar said that they both encourage people who know about sites to come forward and give information.

Commenting on President Christodoulides’ statement about a possible new meeting he reiterated his position about “reaffirming our sovereign equality and equal international status.”

In other statements after they met with the scientists Tatar said that they are impressed with the progress of the science adding that they are doing an excellent job and hoped they can find more remains. He said that they were informed there are 42 cases of missing persons in the world and CMP, in world rankings, is one of the best. He said that this was an opportunity for him to thank all these people for their work ‘but as Nikos said we encourage people to share information, before they die.’

He said that his father was member of the CMP for 21 years and today he wanted to thank the Committee and the third person (from the UN) who met his father and this year is retiring.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Since 1974, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown. A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.

According to statistical data published on the CMP website by June 30, 2023, of 1510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 741 were identified and 769 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 292 were identified and 200 are still missing.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Deputy Government Spokesperson, Doxa Komodromou, attended events organised by the Cypriot expatriate community in Australia condemning the tragic anniversaries of the coup d’ état and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, representing the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides. Komodromou, who was the keynote speaker in anti-occupation events in Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney, was accompanied by the High and Deputy High Commissioner Antonis Sammoutis and Stavros Nicolaou respectively. The events took place between July 14th and July 24th. During her visit to Adelaide, she visited the largest museum in the area accompanied by Member of Parliament and Minister of Art and Small Family Business, Andrea Michaels, who is of Cypriot origin. She also met with Senior Advisor to Senator Simon Birmingham, member of the Cyprus-Australia Friendship Group of the Federal Parliament. At an event dedicated to Cyprus that took place at the “House of Cyprus”, Komodromou had a meeting with MP John Paul Langbroek, Shadow Minister for Communities, Disability Services and Multiculturalism, as well as Judge, Anthi Filippidou. Turkish troops invaded Cyprus on July 20, 1974, five days after the legal government of the late Archbishop Makarios III was toppled by a military coup, engineered by the military junta then ruling Greece. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Source: Cyprus News Agency