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German chancellor says that he underscored need for continued support for Kyiv during US visit ; Trump says Ukraine is ‘very high’ on his priority list. What we know on day 1,470
German chancellor Friedrich Merz, in Washington for talks with Donald Trump, said he stressed that Ukraine should not have to accept further territorial concessions during his conversation with the US president. He said he also underscored the need for continued support for Ukraine, which last week marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. “We all want to see this war coming to an end as soon as possible. But Ukraine has to preserve its territory and their security interests,” Merz said at the start of his third visit to the Oval Office. He told reporters he thought Trump had understood the point after he showed him a map of the war-torn country.
Trump assured Merz that negotiating a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine remained “very high” on his priority list, and said he believed the US had plenty of munitions to fight Iran and sell them to Europe for use in Ukraine.
Merz also urged Trump to put pressure on Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. “Russia is playing for time here, and in doing so is also acting against the will of the American president. In today’s talks, I called for increasing the pressure on Moscow,” the German chancellor told reporters. The US, Russia and Ukraine are taking part in trilateral talks aimed at securing a peace deal. Merz however said only a pact supported by Europe could be lasting. “We are not prepared to accept an agreement that is negotiated over our heads,” he said.
A suspected Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker seized by Belgium is being held on a €10m ($12m) bond, after inspections revealed infractions, Brussels said on Tuesday. The Ethera, which Belgium alleges is part of a flotilla of ageing vessels Moscow uses to avoid western sanctions, was seized by Belgian special forces in the North Sea on Sunday. Investigations carried out after it was brought to the port of Zeebrugge confirmed it had been sailing under a false Guinean flag, the Belgian government said. In total inspectors found 45 infractions, including technical defects, leading to the ship being impounded, it added. The tanker’s Russian captain and its 20-strong crew were ordered to remain on board. “The ship will only leave the port once it is compliant and the deposit has been paid,” said Belgium’s mobility minister Jean-Luc Crucke. Russia has previously described the seizure of its tankers and other vessels carrying its cargoes as acts of piracy.
The US has deployed a low-cost combat drone in Iran modelled on the Iranian Shahed, as the it pushes to accelerate weapons programs in the wake of the Ukraine war. The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone was deployed just eight months after its Pentagon unveiling. Defense officials said the compressed timeline reflected lessons learned from observing drone warfare in Ukraine, where both sides have employed thousands of low-cost unmanned systems.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the Druzhba pipeline, which is at the centre of a dispute with Hungary and Slovakia and has held up approval of a €90bn EU loan to Kyiv. A commission spokesperson said the two leaders had discussed the matter during a call but could not share any details of the conversation. Earlier von der Leyen said on X that they had discussed topics including the loan, sanctions on Russia and “the wider impact of the developments in the Middle East on energy prices, on energy security and on availability of badly needed defence materials”.
Continue reading...While I do not speak for the Australian-Iranian diaspora as a whole, I am gravely concerned for what this attack will cost in innocent lives
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One evening in Tehran in 1980, my grandfather got an anonymous tip that the Islamic Republic of Iran wanted him dead.
That night, he, my grandmother and my 15-year-old mother fled their native Iran on a last-minute flight to Heathrow with the help of a forged passport. With two tightly packed suitcases, they made it out. Eventually, my grandfather’s ingenuity allowed them to immigrate to Australia after three years spent in asylum-seeking purgatory in London. Together, my family built a fresh life in Sydney. We survived.
Continue reading...HAVANA (ANP/AFP) - Justitie in Cuba klaagt zes bemanningsleden aan van een Amerikaanse speedboot, die vorige week door de Cubaanse kustwacht werd onderschept tijdens een vuurgevecht. Dat meldt het Openbaar Ministerie in een verklaring.
De in de VS woonachtige Cubaanse verdachten worden ervan beschuldigd een boot vol wapens te hebben geladen en richting Cuba te zijn gevaren in de hoop de regering in Havana te destabiliseren. Na de Cubaanse revolutie in 1959 waren dergelijke infiltratiepogingen door gewapende commando's uit Zuid-Florida niet ongebruikelijk.
De kustwacht schoot vier andere personen aan boord van de boot dood. De boot kwam op 25 februari tot op één zeemijl van de kust van het Caribische eiland. Ten minste twee van de opvarenden van de speedboot waren Amerikaanse staatsburgers, van wie er één om het leven kwam.
De Amerikaanse regering wil regimeverandering in Cuba bewerkstelligen. Na de val van president Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, Cuba's belangrijkste olieleverancier, legden de VS het eiland een energieblokkade op.
MUSCAT (ANP) - Het KLM-toestel KL9896 met de eerste te repatriëren Nederlanders is van het vliegveld van Muscat in Oman opgestegen.
De verwachte aankomsttijd op Schiphol is 08.15 uur Nederlandse tijd.
Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Tom Berendsen zei dinsdag dat 83 Nederlanders zullen worden teruggevlogen. Vermoedelijk zitten er in het Midden-Oosten nog duizenden Nederlanders vast door de oorlog in Iran.
Berendsen roept mensen op om niet "lukraak" rond te gaan reizen in de hoop een vlucht terug te vinden. Het gaat er volgens hem om mensen op een veilige manier bij het vliegtuig te krijgen. Gestrande reizigers wordt aangeraden zich te melden bij Buitenlandse Zaken of een ambassade.
Inmiddels zijn ook enkele commerciële vluchten uit het Midden-Oosten vertrokken.
The eight-week Extended Stable release schedule for enterprise customers and Chromium embedders will not change. Chromebooks will also have "extended release options": "Our priority is a seamless experience, so the latest Chrome releases will roll out to Chromebooks after dedicated platform testing. We are adapting these channels for the new two-week browser cycle and we will share more details soon regarding milestone updates for managed devices."
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banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:
Shodoshima Olive Park 小豆島オリーブ公園
Nishimura, Shodo Island, Kagawa Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan
日本四国香川県小豆島西村
The white windmills create a strikingly beautiful contrast with the blue of the Seto Inland Sea, reminiscent of the Aegean Sea.
They were built in 1992 as a symbol of friendship between Shodoshima and Milos Island in Greece, which has a sister island relationship with Shodoshima.
Source: www.olive-pk.jp/map/windmill.html