Foreign minister wants ‘conversation’ about closing UK military sites following lack of warning of impending attack on RAF Akrotiri
Cyprus’s foreign minister has said there are “questions” about the future of the UK’s military bases on the island after the drone strike last Sunday.
The attack on RAF Akrotiri, suspected to have been launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon, caused minimal damage and did not result in casualties.
Continue reading...Deputy prime minister says while jets currently only shooting down missiles, there is legal basis for them to do more
Hello and welcome to the UK politics blog.
Royal Air Force jets could legally strike Iranian missile sites being used to attack British interests in the Middle East, David Lammy has said this morning.
It is entirely legal to protect our people and protect our staff, and therefore all operational capability is available to us in those circumstances.
It is my understanding that that would be legal.
The UK is sending four additional Typhoon jets to Qatar, as well as Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities being sent to Cyprus, Keir Starmer said in a press conference yesterday. He said the US has been allowed to use British airfields to carry out defensive missions and that HMS Dragon is heading for the Mediterranean.
Kemi Badenoch has said the UK should take offensive action against Iran after UK bases were attacked. “We need to do what we can to stop the ability for these attacks to take place,” the Tory leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Shabana Mahmood put herself on a collision course with Labour MPs after announcing a set of changes to the immigration system that one backbencher said mimicked Donald Trump and another claimed would lead to a Windrush-style scandal. The home secretary announced her plans on Thursday, including an end to permanent refugee status and the removal of government support from asylum seekers who are deemed not to need it or who break the law.
A small number of asylum seekers whose claims are rejected will be offered an “increased incentive payment” of £10,000 per person and up to £40,000 per family to leave Britain under a pilot scheme, Mahmood said. The home secretary said the government would seek to echo reforms introduced in Denmark, where she said there had been “great success” in using incentives.
The husband of a Labour MP and two other men have been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of spying for China. David Taylor, who is married to the Scottish Labour MP Joani Reid, is accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
Nigel Farage has described May’s Senedd elections as a “referendum” on Keir Starmer, as Reform UK gears up to battle Plaid Cymru for the chance to end a century of Labour dominance in Wales. Launching Reform’s election manifesto in Newport on Thursday alongside the party’s newly appointed Welsh leader, Dan Thomas, Farage said: “It’s a Welsh election, but I’m afraid, whether you like it or not, it doubles up as a referendum on Keir Starmer’s premiership.”
Continue reading...Lawmakers will outlaw use of 31 meat-related names as part of efforts to help livestock farmers in food supply markets
EU lawmakers have agreed to ban meaty names such as steak and bacon for vegetarian and vegan foods, but “veggie burgers” and “meat-free sausages” will remain on the table.
Negotiators from the European parliament and EU council of ministers found a recipe for compromise on rules for food names on Thursday, although critics said they were creating needless complexity.
Continue reading...Prime minister’s initial refusal to help US could constrain Britain’s ability to protect its nationals in the Gulf and reassure allies
Britain knew that the US was considering attacking Iran from the moment Donald Trump told protesters that “help is coming” in the middle of January. It was obvious to the world that the White House was serious when the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group was sent to the Arabian Sea in late January.
But as Trump gradually built up his “massive armada”, reinforcing it with a second carrier strike group in mid-February, UK deployments were constrained and limited even though there was a recognition that it was likely allies and bases with British soldiers would be attacked in an Iranian retaliation.
Continue reading...Two more drones intercepted on Monday, authorities say, in what appears to be sustained targeting of base
A one-way attack drone – said to have been launched by Lebanon’s Hezbollah – struck the UK’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus at about midnight on Sunday, prompting a partial evacuation of the military facility.
Two more drones were successfully intercepted on Monday morning, the Cypriot authorities said, as part of what appears to be a sustained targeting of the base on the third day of the war in the Middle East.
Continue reading...Veteran leftwinger Tufan Erhürman wins after campaign on reviving stalled talks to reunify island
Turkish Cypriots have handed the pro-European leftwing leader Tufan Erhürman a resounding victory in a presidential poll likely to inject renewed vigour into the deadlocked peace process on Cyprus.
Erhürman, 55, who campaigned on reviving stalled UN-brokered talks to reunify the island, defeated the incumbent nationalist, Ersin Tatar, by nearly 27 percentage points – a landslide win that surprised even his most ardent supporters.
Continue reading...Afzal Khan had said visit to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus was in personal capacity but resigned after furore
Cyprus has welcomed the resignation of the UK’s trade envoy to Turkey, Afzal Khan, saying it sends “a resounding message” amid widespread criticism of the Labour MP’s recent visit to the island’s breakaway Turkish-occupied north.
Khan had defended his trip on 8 August in a letter to the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, claiming it was conducted “in a personal capacity during the parliamentary recess”.
Continue reading...High temperatures and strong winds fan fires between Istanbul and Ankara forcing evacuation of several villages
A wildfire killed at least 10 forest workers and rescuers on Wednesday who were battling to douse the flames near Eskişehir in western Turkey, authorities said.
The agriculture minister, İbrahim Yumakli, said the fire killed five forest workers and five rescuers. Local lawmaker Nebi Hatipoğlu and news website BirGün had earlier said 11 had died.
Continue reading...Man allegedly surveilled RAF Akrotiri and was planning imminent terrorist attack, according to reports
A British man has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and terrorism offences in Cyprus.
He allegedly surveilled the RAF Akrotiri base on the island and is suspected of having links with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, local media reported.
Continue reading...Turkish president at odds with thousands of Turkish Cypriots who object to his attempts to undermine their secular way of life
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has warned protesters in breakaway northern Cyprus not “to sow seeds of hatred” amid mounting discord over Ankara’s perceived attempts to Islamise one of the world’s most secular Muslim societies.
In a whirlwind visit to the Turkish-occupied territory on Saturday the leader had tough words for Turkish Cypriots who have stepped up demonstrations against policies he openly endorses, not least a controversial law allowing headscarves to be worn in schools.
Continue reading...Court highlights shortcomings in 2019 police investigation amid ‘certain biases concerning women in Cyprus’
A British woman who alleges she was gang-raped in Ayia Napa has won a “monumental victory” over Cypriot authorities after the European court of human rights (ECHR) ruled they did not properly investigate the case.
The woman, who was 18 and on holiday at the time, told Cypriot police in July 2019 that she had been raped in a hotel room by several Israeli males.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Continue reading...Greek Cypriot Costa Koushiappis to be removed from UK even though his application is pending with Home Office
An EU citizen caught up in a Home Office backlog of applications for post-Brexit residency status is to be deported by Border Force officials in Scotland.
Costa Koushiappis, 39, who is Greek Cypriot, has been told to show up at Edinburgh airport at 7am on Friday to be forcibly put on a flight to Amsterdam just weeks after he received an email from the Home Office to say it could take a further 24 months to process his application for status.
Continue reading...Lawyers predict more claims after ‘perfect win’ for two Syrian asylum seekers pushed back to Lebanon
A ruling by the European court of human rights ordering authorities in Cyprus to pay damages to two Syrian refugees found to have been prevented from applying for asylum has been welcomed as a “perfect” victory by campaigners.
Lawyers said Tuesday’s judgment would encourage others to follow suit, including an ever-growing group of asylum seekers stranded in the UN-patrolled buffer zone of the war-split country.
Continue reading...A pro-Palestine rally will take place in Hyde Park from 1pm today, after NSW police previously attempted to stop it from happening in federal court. Follow the day’s news live
Australians arrive in Cyprus after being evacuated from Lebanon
Some images are coming through of Australian citizens, residents and their families arriving at Larnaca airport in Cyprus after being evacuated from Beirut yesterday.
This is a tragedy that has been playing out in the Middle East. It is obviously difficult. It is obviously complex.
That is a patent lie, and it’s an intentional lie, and it’s a lie intended to create division within Australian politics and from there, within Australian society.
Continue reading...The country, which has more 300 days of sunshine a year, has embraced rooftop systems that harness the sun’s energy
The Thriamvos company truck pulls up at noon outside the four-storey building in the heart of Nicosia.
It’s the third rooftop installation of a solar-powered water heating system that Petros Mihali and his assistant, Soteris, have made in the Cypriot capital since their working day began at 7am.
Continue reading...Greek Cypriots in south wake to air raid sirens reminiscent of invasion while Turkish-occupied north celebrates
Cyprus has marked the landmark anniversary of 50 years of ethnic division amid markedly contrasting scenes: mourning in the south and celebration in the north.
At 5.20am Greek Cypriots in the internationally recognised south awoke to air raid sirens reminding them of the arrival of thousands of invading Turkish troops on the eastern Mediterranean island five decades ago. In the Turkish-occupied north, the milestone event was cause for joy, with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, flying in to attend a military parade and fly-past commemorating the “peace operation”.
Continue reading...Officials say Cyprus is ‘pillar of peace’ amid shock at warning it could become a target for Lebanese group
Cypriots have reacted with shock after threats from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that Cyprus could become a target if it allows Israel to use its territory in any conflict between the two sides, who diplomats fear are on the brink of a fully fledged war.
Despite the EU expressing unreserved support for its easternmost member, it was clear on Thursday that the Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s warning had set off alarm bells in Nicosia where officials insisted the island republic remained a “pillar of peace” in an otherwise volatile region.
Continue reading...Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warns of ‘war without rules’ if Israel launches full-scale invasion against Lebanese militia
The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against the Lebanese militia, as he threatened that Cyprus could become a target if it allowed Israel to use its territory in any conflict.
Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defence cooperation agreement which has seen the countries conduct joint exercises.
Continue reading...Pallets with 50% more supplies than first boat, Open Arms, being loaded in Cyprus
The charity sending food aid to Gaza on a ship travelling across the Mediterranean from Cyprus is loading a second boat with supplies, which it hopes will set off in the coming days.
Pallets containing 300 tonnes of food aid – 50% more than the first shipment – are expected to be screened and loaded by the end of Thursday, but there is no indication yet when it will leave the port of Larnaca.
Continue reading...Charity ship seen sailing out of Larnaca towing barge containing 200 tonnes of flour, rice and protein
An aid ship that has been docked in Cyprus for close to a month has finally set sail for Gaza, taking almost 200 tonnes of aid in a pilot project to open a new sea route for aid to a population on the brink of famine.
A video showed the Open Arms boat departing the Mediterranean island’s southern port of Larnaca at an unknown time early on Tuesday. Government officials in Cyprus had said the exact timing of the vessel’s departure would not be released for security reasons.
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