Updates from Cyprus
The Cyprus Department of Meteorology has issued an orange warning for extreme high temperature on Sunday.
In a press release it says that maximum temperatures are expected to rise to around 44 degrees Celsius over inland areas and around 33 degrees Celsius over the higher mountainous areas.
The warning is valid from 12:00 until 18:00.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
A discussion between a senior journalist and a former minister on a private television program in Lebanon turned into a fistfight.
Simon Abou Fadel, one of Lebanon’s senior journalists, and Wiam Wahab, a former environment minister, on Thursday, were the guests of political talk show, It’s About Time, on the Beirut-based MTV television channel.
During the discussion, an initial verbal spat between Fadel and Wahab escalated into a serious fistfight.
The brawl did not stop despite the intervention of security in the studio, and continued outside the television building.
According to footage circulating on social media, Lebanese soldiers intervened to take control of the situation.
Source: Anadolu Agency
The wildfire raging in Attica, Greece, where a Cypriot team of the Department of Forests is operating, is under control, and the situation remains unchanged, member of the Cypriot mission Stavros Mouchlis, told CNA adding that they are mostly dealing with the flare-ups.
“It’s the same situation, unchanged, high temperatures, small flare-ups” he said, noting that the aircraft are dealing with any flare-ups.
“We are protecting, controlling, patrolling and dealing with flare-ups,” he said.
The mission operates in the area of Corinth, Mandras, Dervenochoria and has not been asked to contribute elsewhere for now.
It is recalled that Cyprus has sent two Air Tractor type aircraft, with a crew of four, and seven more staff for ground support, following a decision by President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides. The assistance to Greece is provided through the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union.
The Cypriot mission is operating from the Tatoi airbase in the Dervenochoria area together with two Israeli and two Australian aircraft of the same type.
The air means unit of the Department of Forests joined rescEU in mid-June 2023. RescEU has been created within the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, with the aim of creating additional units for response, with EU co-financing. The Civil Defence is the contact unit of the mechanism in Cyprus.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
Former US President Donald Trump said Friday he would require the death penalty for “anyone caught trafficking children across our border” if he is elected back to the White House next year.
In a campaign video, Trump said that under his leadership, the US did “more than any administration in history to combat human trafficking and to end modern day slavery.”
“When I am back in the White House, I will immediately end the Biden border nightmare that traffickers are using to exploit vulnerable women and children,” Trump said in the video, vowing also to wage war on cartels.
The former president, who is seeking another term in the 2024 race, said he would put an end to child trafficking “by returning all trafficked children to their families in their home countries without delay,” by invoking Title 42, a public health order he introduced during his tenure that allowed officials to turn away migrants on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
“I will urge Congress to ensure that anyone caught trafficking children across our border receives the death penalty immediately,” he added.
Source: Anadolu Agency
US Senator Bob Menendez has announced the introduction of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that will extend the time required to renew the lifting of the arms embargo on the Republic of Cyprus.
Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) reports that after the complete lifting of the embargo and the fulfillment of all obligations on the part of Cyprus, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate explained that this is a logical step that will allow for a longer-term planning with the aim of better coordinating the cooperation between Washington and Nicosia in the field of security.
According to the existing legislation, the President assigned the US State Department to certify every year that Cyprus continues to fulfill all the conditions included in the East Med Act in order to renew the lifting of the embargo (annual waver).
If the amendment is adopted in the final text, this would mean that the decision to lift the embargo will be renewed every three years.
‘I was proud to see my bipartisan Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act pass into law a few years ago, paving the way for the provision of defense articles vital to bolstering the defense of Cyprus,’ said Chairman Menendez.
‘As Cyprus has met the requirements to receive such defense articles, this amendment will allow for longer term planning, and ultimately improve security coordination between the United States and the Republic of Cyprus and hopefully other regional allies and partners in the future’ he added.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said Friday that it summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Abu Dhabi to protest recent decisions permitting burnings of the Muslim holy book in the Nordic country.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Charge D’Affaires at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden to the UAE, and handed her an official note of protest against the repeated attacks and abuses on copies of the Holy Quran committed by extremists in the Kingdom of Sweden,” the Foreign Ministry of UAE said in a statement on Friday.
The UAE expressed its strong condemnation of the Swedish government’s decision to allow such acts to continue, highlighting that it reflects a “disregard for international responsibilities and a lack of respect for social values.”
It also stressed the importance of “monitoring and addressing hate speech and expressions of racism that negatively impact peace and security.”
The Ministry furthermore expressed its rejection of the use of freedom of expression as justification for such heinous acts,” it said.
Early Thursday morning, a crowd of Iraqis stormed Sweden’s Embassy in Baghdad and set it ablaze in protest against the June 28 burning of a copy of the Quran last month by Salwan Momika, an Iraq-born man who now lives in Sweden.
Sweden’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on its embassy in Baghdad, calling it a “serious violation” of the Vienna Convention.
Following the storming of Stockholm’s diplomatic mission, Momika again desecrated a copy of the Quran, stepping on it and the Iraqi flag in front of Iraq’s embassy in Sweden.
Source: Anadolu Agency
DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed the European Stability Mechanism’s (ESM) Long-Term Issuer Rating at AAA and Short-Term Issuer Rating at R-1 (high).
In a press release, it said that the trend on both ratings is Stable.
In addition, it confirmed the European Financial Stability Facility’s (EFSF) Long-Term Issuer Rating at AAA and Short-Term Issuer Rating at R-1 (high). The trend on both ratings is also Stable.
DBRS Morningstar notes that the strong increase in inflationary pressures and the subsequent tightening of monetary conditions have weighed on private consumption and particularly housing investment.
Furthermore, it says that the increases in policy rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) have been accompanied by a moderate divergence in financing costs for Euro area governments, the extent of which, however, has so far been clearly below the levels seen during the crisis years 2011 and 2012.
“DBRS Morningstar will monitor potential divergences in economic, fiscal and debt positions across European countries, particularly if they were to lead to lower cohesion. Perceptions of greater divergences may give rise to further Euroscepticism and could bring new challenges to additional European integration” it notes.
Noting that ESM is an essential tool of Euro Area policymakers for fostering cohesion it says that it expects the commitment of European policymakers towards the Monetary Union and economic cohesion in EU economies to remain very high.
This commitment was exemplified in the past by substantial support measures during the Euro area sovereign debt crisis about a decade ago and the COVID-19 pandemic, it continues.
DBRS Morningstar says it continues to assess the commitment of core guarantors to support the EFSF as very strong.
“The EFSF has been an integral part of a broader policy response to the Euro area sovereign debt crisis about a decade ago, and an illustration of the commitment of member states to preserve the Monetary Union”.
Given the importance of the mandate of the EFSF, DBRS Morningstar continues to believe that its guarantors are highly likely to meet their obligations and provide support to the institution in a stress scenario.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
France and Germany on Friday vowed to strengthen their cross-border cooperation, the French Foreign Ministry announced.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock took up a visit to eastern France and western Germany, according to a statement.
The ministers went to a water treatment and stocking plant in Steinfeld, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, operating under the German-French project PAWENA, which is funded by the European Union, Colonna said in a tweet.
They also signed an agreement about apprenticeship training for the youth in the neighboring towns of Scheibenhardt and Lauterbourg.
“Mobilized with @ABaerbock to serve our youth, we signed an important French-German agreement to encourage our students’ mobility on both sides of the border,” Colonna tweeted.
Source: Anadolu Agency
The fire raging in Attica, Greece, where a Cypriot team of the Department of Forests is operating, is under control, member of the Cypriot mission Stavros Mouchlis, told CNA.
He noted however that both today and tomorrow all air and ground forces will be on alert due to the extremely high temperatures that prevail.
In the wider area of Dervenochoria, where the Cypriot mission operates, “the situation is under control”, he said, adding though that fires are always unpredictable.
Asked if there is need for them to offer assistance in the island of Rhodes, where there is another large-scale fire, he said that this will depend on the local authorities, adding that the Cypriot team has already expressed its readiness and is willing to go to Rhodes if necessary.
“We are waiting for the authorities here to give us guidelines,” he said.
Cyprus sent two Air Tractor type aircraft, with a crew of four, and seven more staff for ground support, following a decision by President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides. The assistance to Greece is provided through the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union.
It is noted that the Cypriot mission is operating from the Tatoi airbase in the Dervenochoria area together with two Israeli and two Australian aircraft of the same type.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
Ethiopia and China have agreed to further scale up multifaceted cooperation at bilateral, regional and multilateral venues.
In a statement, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said the Chinese foreign affairs chief, Wang Yi, on Friday arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa where he held talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the country’s Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen.
Wang and Abiy discussed the strategic cooperation between both countries as well as regional peace.
‘I received through him the message of President Xi Jinping. Ethiopia remains committed to enhancing its strategic cooperation with China,’ the Ethiopian premier tweeted after the meeting.
The visit of Wang, the director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, to Africa comes as Beijing seeks to bolster its presence on the continent and he is the second-highest-ranking official from China to pay a visit to the continent in 2023.
Wang is expected to visit several African nations, including Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, ahead of the BRICS meeting in South Africa.
South Africa is the current chair of the BRICS – a group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – to challenge the US dominance in Africa.
Source: Anadolu Agency