EU proposes Black Sea maritime security hub

EU proposes Black Sea maritime security hub
EU High Representative and Vice President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas gives a press conference about the Black Sea Strategy and Simplification of the External Action Guarantee at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on May 28, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 28 May 2025
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EU proposes Black Sea maritime security hub

EU proposes Black Sea maritime security hub
  • The move comes as European officials warn about a continued threat from Russia
  • The hub will use contributions from Black Sea and EU countries

BRUSSELS: The European Union on Wednesday proposed creating a hub to boost security in the Black Sea by gathering information from multiple countries to monitor the strategically important region more closely.

The move comes as European officials warn about a continued threat from Russia and as concerns deepen across the EU about risks to undersea infrastructure.

The hub would be set up in the short-term and “with a sense of priority due to the Russian war of aggression,” an EU document said.

The hub will use contributions from Black Sea and EU countries and “enhance maritime situational awareness and information sharing on the Black Sea, real-time monitoring from space to seabed, and early warning,” the document said.

The proposal from the European Commission and the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas notes that the hub would include monitoring of submarine cables, offshore installations and gas and wind energy operations.

It would use underwater sensors, remotely piloted vessels and surveillance drones, it added.

Kallas told reporters that the hub could also help monitor the maritime element of a future peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.


Pope Leo XIV urges immediate end to ‘barbarity’ of Gaza war

Pope Leo XIV urges immediate end to ‘barbarity’ of Gaza war
Updated 42 min 51 sec ago
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Pope Leo XIV urges immediate end to ‘barbarity’ of Gaza war

Pope Leo XIV urges immediate end to ‘barbarity’ of Gaza war
  • Pontiff: ‘I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict’

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy: Pope Leo XIV slammed the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza on Sunday and urged against the “indiscriminate use of force,” just days after a deadly strike by Israel’s military on a Catholic church.

“I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” Leo said at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome.

The pope, who spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the morning after Thursday’s strike, spoke of his “deep sorrow” for the attack on the Holy Family Church.

The church was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and including dozens of people with special needs.

Israel expressed “deep sorrow” over the damage and civilian casualties, adding that the military was investigating the strike.

“This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” Leo said on Sunday.

“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,” he added.

The Israeli military on Sunday issued an evacuation order for Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, warning of imminent action against Hamas militants.

Most of Gaza’s population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which is now in its 22nd month.

The pope also expressed his “sympathy” for the plight of “beloved Middle Eastern Christians” and their “sense of being able to do little in the face of this dramatic situation.”


Hong Kong hit by strong winds, heavy rain as Typhoon Wipha skirts past

Hong Kong hit by strong winds, heavy rain as Typhoon Wipha skirts past
Updated 20 July 2025
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Hong Kong hit by strong winds, heavy rain as Typhoon Wipha skirts past

Hong Kong hit by strong winds, heavy rain as Typhoon Wipha skirts past
  • Neighboring casino hub Macau issued its own top-level typhoon warning shortly after noon
  • More than 250 people sought refuge at government-run temporary shelters

HONG KONG: Hong Kong was battered by strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday as Typhoon Wipha skirted along China’s southern coast, with fallen trees and collapsed scaffolding spotted across the city.

Wipha was located around 140 kilometers (87 miles) to Hong Kong’s southwest as of 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), according to the city’s weather observatory.

Hong Kong’s highest tropical cyclone warning, T10, was in effect for around seven hours but was downgraded to the third-highest T8 warning at 4:10 p.m. as Wipha departed the city.

“Gale to storm force southeasterly winds are still affecting parts of the territory occasionally,” the observatory said.

“The intense rainbands of Wipha are persistently affecting the vicinity of Pearl River Estuary.”

Neighboring casino hub Macau issued its own top-level typhoon warning shortly after noon, with authorities suspending all public transportation services.

China’s Hainan and Guangdong provinces were earlier put on high alert, according to state news agency Xinhua.

In Hong Kong, more than 250 people sought refuge at government-run temporary shelters.

Officials said they received more than 450 reports of fallen trees and a handful of flooding reports, including at a main thoroughfare in the Wong Tai Sin district.

A representative from Hong Kong’s Airport Authority earlier said that around 500 flights have been canceled due to the weather, while around 400 flights were scheduled to take off or land later in the day.

Authorities suspended Sunday’s classes at all day schools and daycare centers.

Local trains offered limited services while operations in open sections were suspended.

Wipha also brought heavy rains and flooding to the Philippines, where two people have been reported missing, according to the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Hong Kong last hoisted the T10 warning signal for Super Typhoon Saola in 2023.


Eritrean president warns Ethiopia against waging war

Eritrean president warns Ethiopia against waging war
Updated 20 July 2025
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Eritrean president warns Ethiopia against waging war

Eritrean president warns Ethiopia against waging war
  • At the heart of the current tension, according to the Eritrean government, is landlocked Ethiopia’s long-held desire for a seaport.

NAIROBI: Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has warned neighbor Ethiopia against launching a new war between the bitter foes, with tensions high in the Horn of Africa region.
Eritrea and Ethiopia have had fraught relations since the former declared independence in 1993, with tens of thousands of people killed in a war between the two from 1998 to 2000.
At the heart of the current tension, according to the Eritrean government, is landlocked Ethiopia’s long-held desire for a seaport.
Afwerki, who has ruled Eritrea with an iron fist since independence, warned Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that he would not be able to simply overwhelm his country by weight of numbers — Ethiopia’s population is 130 million, compared to just 3.5 million people living in Eritrea.
“If he thinks he can overwhelm (Eritrean forces) with human wave attack, (he is mistaken),” Afwerki told state television channel Eri-TV.
“Before dragging the people of Ethiopia into unwanted wars or using them for another political agenda, the country’s internal problems must be first addressed and solved,” he said.
He called Abiy’s actions a “reckless” attempt to “divert attention” from domestic problems.
Abiy signed a peace deal with Afwerki shortly after coming to power in 2018, but a violent conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray province from 2020 to 2022 as Eritrea’s forces backed rebels there fighting Ethiopian troops.
At least 600,000 people were killed in the conflict, according to an African Union estimate.
Although a peace deal ended the fighting, Eritrea has maintained a military presence in Tigray and relations between the neighbors have deteriorated.
Abiy has repeatedly said Ethiopia must have access to the sea, but by peaceful means.
Last month, a report by a US monitoring group accused Eritrea of rebuilding its army and destabilising its neighbors.
Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel criticized the report by NGO The Sentry and blamed “the new tension in the region” on Ethiopia.
Eritrea had been under US arms sanctions that were lifted after the 2018 peace deal.
Eritrea is a single-party state which consistently ranks among the worst in the world for rights — in last place for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, and 175th out of 183 for human development in 2022, according to the United Nations.


Tsunami alert after powerful quakes strike off coast of Russia: USGS

Tsunami alert after powerful quakes strike off coast of Russia: USGS
Updated 20 July 2025
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Tsunami alert after powerful quakes strike off coast of Russia: USGS

Tsunami alert after powerful quakes strike off coast of Russia: USGS
  • Earlier 5.0-magnitude and 6.7-magnitude earthquakes did not initially trigger a tsunami alert

MOSCOW: Three powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Russia’s far east on Sunday, triggering a tsunami alert, the US Geological Survey said.
Earlier 5.0-magnitude and 6.7-magnitude earthquakes did not initially trigger a tsunami alert, but were followed by a 7.4-magnitude quake at 0849 GMT, prompting the USGS to warn that “hazardous tsunami waves are possible” within 300 kilometers (186 miles) of the epicenter in the Pacific, off the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.


Russia says it downed 142 Ukrainian drones, including 27 over Moscow region

Russia says it downed 142 Ukrainian drones, including 27 over Moscow region
Updated 20 July 2025
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Russia says it downed 142 Ukrainian drones, including 27 over Moscow region

Russia says it downed 142 Ukrainian drones, including 27 over Moscow region
  • The drones were reportedly shot down over a number of regions in the European part of Russia, as well as over the Black Sea

MOSCOW: Russia’s defense ministry and the mayor of Moscow said it had downed 142 drones overnight, including 27 over the Moscow region.

The drones were reportedly shot down over a number of regions in the European part of Russia, as well as over the Black Sea.

The latest attacks included four drones headed toward the Russian capital, which were downed on Sunday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram around 1000 local time (0700 GMT).

According to Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia, four major airports serving Moscow – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovskiy – were affected, resulting in 134 flights being redirected.

By 1000 Moscow time, only two airports remained closed to air traffic – Vnukovo in the Moscow region and Grabtsevo in the Kaluga region.