Home Blog Page 189

ASEAN leaders denounce Myanmar violence, discuss U.S.-China rivalries

Diplomat Times
-
0
ASEAN leaders denounce Myanmar violence, discuss U.S.-China rivalries

ASEAN leaders denounce Myanmar violence, discuss U.S.-China rivalries

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia – Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations denounced a weekend attack in Myanmar in a statement, with the country’s prolonged political crisis among the issues confronting ASEAN at the group’s summit that began Wednesday in Indonesia.

The statement was issued as diplomatic sources revealed a secret meeting between Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Myanmar’s military-appointed foreign minister Than Swe on the resort island of Bali last month.

There was no detail about the secret meeting, but Marsudi briefed other ASEAN foreign ministers on Monday that the “gap among all parties concerned in Myanmar is very wide” and that a peaceful solution to the Myanmar crisis may not be seen in the near future.

READ MORE : G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

In the stand-alone statement on Myanmar, ASEAN leaders said they were deeply concerned with the ongoing violence in the country, urging the immediate cessation of the use of force following the attack on a convoy of diplomats from Indonesia and Singapore on an aid mission in eastern Myanmar.

“We condemned the attack and underlined that the perpetrators must be held accountable,” the statement by the leaders of the 10-member group who are meeting in the fishing town of Labuan Bajo read.

Myanmar, an ASEAN member state in which the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, is absent from the two-day summit as host Indonesia has stood by the ASEAN position that the junta should only send a nonpolitical representative, if any.

The convoy carrying humanitarian aid for displaced people in Myanmar’s Shan State was attacked by unknown gunmen, but nobody was injured.

The ASEAN leaders called for an environment that enables the safe and timely delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogues.

They also expressed their support for Indonesia, this year’s chair, to continue its engagement with all stakeholders in Myanmar in order to encourage progress in the implementation of the so-called five-point consensus agreed upon at a special ASEAN summit in April 2021 attended by Myanmar junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

Steps laid out in the consensus include ending the junta’s violence against political opponents and civilian protesters “through concrete, practical and time-bound actions.”

Progress on the implementation of the consensus will be discussed on the second day of the summit, during which some decisions may be made, including on an implementation plan, according to diplomatic sources.

A draft chairman’s statement, seen by Kyodo News, said the leaders are expected to commend “the successful partial delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Myanmar on 7 May 2023, despite the challenging security situation,” referring to the attacks on the convoy.

Other topics discussed by the leaders of ASEAN on Wednesday included efforts to maintain a central role in the region amid increasing rivalry between the United States and China, according to the draft.

Regarding a proposed “code of conduct” agreement in the South China Sea, currently being drawn up by ASEAN and China to help avert confrontation in the region, the leaders are set to welcome “the initiative to expedite the COC negotiation,” according to the draft.

The agreement will include “the proposal to develop guidelines for accelerating the early conclusion of an effective and substantive COC,” it said.

On Wednesday, the leaders adopted a road map for East Timor’s full membership. The tiny country, which achieved formal independence in 2002, currently has ASEAN observer status.

In the road map, it was stipulated that East Timor must “prepare a financial scheme to meet all financial obligations of ASEAN membership” and must have adequate “physical infrastructure and logistics to host meetings and accommodate” ASEAN delegates.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the KYODO NEWS Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

By Christine Tjandraningsih and Puy Kea

G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

Diplomat Times
-
0
G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

G-7 leaders to hold 3 expanded sessions at Hiroshima summit

TOKYO- The Group of Seven leaders are set to hold three outreach sessions with their counterparts from eight guest nations, including India and Brazil, during their meeting in Hiroshima next week, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

The three sessions will be part of a total of nine sessions during the three-day gathering of the G-7 leaders from May 19 in the western Japanese city, the sources said. When the G-7 summit was held in Germany last year, two sessions out of seven were open to guest countries.

Australia, Comoros, the Cook Islands, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam make up the other six invited countries.

The G-7 members have been seeking to strengthen ties with the “Global South,” a term collectively referring to emerging and developing countries in areas such as Asia and Africa.

READ MORE : G-7 Hiroshima Summit ; ministers agree on 5 principles to govern AI Risks

Issues such as China’s intensifying military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and food security are expected to be high on the agenda at the summit.

Most of the Global South countries have tried to avoid taking sides over the Russian war in Ukraine, amid the widening rift between a group of major developed democracies led by the G-7 and the Beijing-Moscow camp.

The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, plus the European Union.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the G-7 summit’s chair, has said it is “essential to cooperate with a range of partners” in dealing with issues of energy, food security and climate change, and he will “work as a bridge” between the G-7 and the Global South.

On the first day of the summit, Japan is arranging for the G-7 leaders to visit the Peace Memorial Park, where they will lay flowers at the cenotaph for atomic-bomb victims, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum before discussions start at a hotel, according to the sources.

They will discuss regional affairs and the global economy on the first day, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expected to join a session online to discuss the war in the Eastern European nation, the sources said.

The second day’s talks will cover economic security, such as beefing up supply chains for semiconductors, as well as food, public health, development assistance, gender issues and climate change, while peace building will be addressed on the third day, according to the sources.

Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, has a signature vision of a world without nuclear weapons and he plans to discuss nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation at a session, the sources added.

The heads of seven international organizations, including the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, have also been invited to the summit.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the KYODO NEWS Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad

Diplomat Times
-
0
Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad

Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad

Diplomat Times (Islamabad)- Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been arrested as he appeared in court in Islamabad to face charges in a corruption case, with scores of security forces in riot gear dragging the high-profile politician into an armoured vehicle.

The arrest of Khan – who was ousted from power last April and has evaded arrest several times since – came hours after he released a video message reiterating his allegations that the country’s powerful military establishment had tried to assassinate him twice.

Khan’s arrest is the latest twist in a political and economic crisis that pits the popular former premier against the military and the government, led by the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who he alleges have conspired to both remove him from power and make threats on his life, charges they deny.

READ MORE : anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

Source : The Guardian

Coronation: Who is Graham Smith? Head of anti-monarchy group

Shasi Kumar
-
0
Coronation: Who is Graham Smith? Head of anti-monarchy group

Coronation: Who is Graham Smith? Head of anti-monarchy group

TN (UK)- THE head of England’s leading republican movement was arrested at an anti-monarchy protest in London on Saturday morning.

Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, was apprehended by police in St Martin’s Lane, Westminster.

Pictures appear to show demonstrators in yellow “Not My King” T-shirts, including Smith, having their details taken by officers.

The group had been walking behind a rental van full of hundreds of placards when they were stopped by police.

READ MORE : anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

Who is Graham Smith?

Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, a British republican pressure group, poses for a photograph outside Buckingham Palace in central London on May 8, 2018. Ben Stansall—AFP via Getty Images

Smith is currently living in London and has been campaigning against the monarchy for more than a decade.

From 2021, he has been chief executive of the leading anti-monarchy group in the UK.

Smith is also an author of the book Abolish the Monarchy: Why We Should and How We Will, published in 2023.

He previously described the actions of the police as “chilling” when it was revealed police had been profiling peaceful republican campaigners.

“We’re expecting at least a thousand people at our protest on Trafalgar Square on May 6,” he said.

“We will be loud, visible and unmissable, directly challenging the coronation and the monarchy.

“We fully expect the police to live up to their assurances that the protest will be allowed to carry on, but these latest actions and previous arrests may well have a chilling effect on what is lawful and peaceful protest.”

What is Republic group ?

Founded in 1983 as an umbrella group of anti-monarchists, Republic is a pressure group calling for an end to the U.K.’s system of constitutional monarchy and to replace the monarch with an elected head of state.

Previously, the group protested the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018.

The latest opinion polls reflect declining support for the monarchy since the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and Charles’ personal approval rating has scarcely matched that of his mother.

Republic campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy and its replacement with an elected head of state.

The group, which claims to have the support of more than 80,000 republicans, was founded in 1983 as a group with only a handful of members.

Republic was officially incorporated as a campaign group in 2006.

They have been responsible for the nationwide campaign “Not My King” – of which placards were detained by the Met Police in London on Saturday morning.

By Laura Pollock, The National.  Editing Shasi Kumar

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the The National and TIME. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

Diplomat Times
-
0
anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

anti-monarchist arrested in UK, they were protesting coronation

The Guardian(UK)- Scotland Yard has been accused of an “incredibly alarming” attack on the right to protest after police used new powers to arrest the head of the leading republican movement and other organisers of an approved demonstration just hours before King Charles III’s coronation.

Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, had been collecting drinks and placards for demonstrators at the main site of the protest on Trafalgar Square two hours before the king was due to arrive at Westminster Abbey when he was stopped along with five others by police on nearby St Martin’s Lane.

The group had been walking behind a rental van containing hundreds of placards when they were approached by the police and searched.

READ MORE : Jill Biden in UK for King Charles’ coronation

Harry Stratton, a director at Republic, who arrived as Smith and the other protest organisers were detained, said: “They were collecting the placards and bringing them over when the police stopped them. The guys asked why and they were told: ‘We will tell you that once we have searched the vehicle.’ That’s when they arrested the six organisers.

“We asked on what grounds they had been arrested but they wouldn’t say. It is a surprise as we had had a number of meetings with the police. They had been making all the right noises.”

Human rights activist Peter Tatchell said the police had reneged on private assurances that the anti-monarchist protest could go ahead unimpeded.

He said: “They have gone back on these promises by arresting the head of Republic, seizing their placards and megaphones, submitting those here to photographic surveillance and constructing a watchtower in front of the demonstration so that the king would not see the protest as he passed by on the way to the palace.”

A wall was also constructed around Trafalgar Square mid-morning that blocked off many late-arriving protesters from joining the demonstration. They instead held a march around the perimeter.

Scotland Yard later said “several” arrests had been made for breach of the peace and conspiracy to cause public disorder, adding that lock-on devices used by protesters to attach themselves to street furniture had been found. The allegation was denied by Republic.

A Met spokesperson said: “We have made a number of arrests in the area of Carlton House Terrace. The individuals have been held on suspicion of breaching the peace. Earlier today we arrested four people in the area of St Martin’s Lane. They were held on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. We seized lock-on devices.

“A further three people were arrested in the area of Wellington Arch. They were held on suspicion of possessing articles to cause criminal damage. There will be further updates.”

Stratton said the organizers of the protest had not possessed lock-on devices. “What would we lock on to? We are just protesting.” He added that one protestor at Trafalgar Square had been taken away by police as he had string on him. “It’s string that was part of his placard, he said. “What was he going to do with that?”

The Met police had tweeted earlier this week that they would have an “extremely low tolerance” of those seeking to “undermine” the day.

Under the new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to “lock on” are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing up to 12 months in prison.

Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, condemned the arrests. “The reports of people being arrested for peacefully protesting the coronation are incredibly alarming. This is something you would expect to see in Moscow, not London. Peaceful protests allow individuals to hold those in power to account, something the UK government seems increasingly averse to.”

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said the human rights group had been concerned about Met statements about its “low tolerance” of protests. He said: “We need to see what details emerge around these incidents but merely being in possession of a megaphone or carrying placards should never be grounds for a police arrest.

Just Stop Oil said that about 13 of their protesters had been arrested on the Mall. A spokesperson for the campaign group said five demonstrators were also arrested at Downing Street and one on Piccadilly.

In one exchange caught on camera, the Just Stop Oil campaigner Ben Larsen, 25, told officers: “You’ve searched me and haven’t found shit.”

A police officer responded: “You need to educate yourself on what peaceful protest is.”

Separately, Animal Rising said a number of their supporters were arrested on Saturday morning while at a training session “miles away from the coronation”. Nathan McGovern, a spokesperson for the campaign group, said: “This is nothing short of a totalitarian crackdown on free speech and all forms of dissent.

“Just Stop Oil, Republic and Animal Rising have experienced the true character of this government’s attitude towards peaceful protest today. We are sleepwalking into fascism and it is every single person’s responsibility to stand up and say ‘No more.’”

Smith’s arrest, at about 7.30am, had come as hundreds of anti-monarchist protesters were gathering at Trafalgar Square with large flags and wearing yellow T-shirts as they looked to catch both the eye of the world’s media and that of a king on his coronation day.

By Daniel Boffey, The Guardian.  Editing Shasi Kumar

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the The Guardian. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

Jill Biden in UK for King Charles’ coronation, visits No. 10

Shasi Kumar
-
0
Jill Biden in UK for King Charles’ coronation, visits No. 10

Jill Biden in UK for King Charles’ coronation, visits No. 10

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden has celebrated the athletic grit of wounded service members with Prince Harry, discussed the value of early childhood education with Princess Kate and sipped tea poured by Queen Elizabeth II.

Now the first lady is back in London for another royal engagement. President Joe Biden has dispatched his wife to represent the United States at Saturday’s coronation of King Charles III, the late queen’s eldest son. No American president has ever attended a British coronation.

While in London, she’s engaging in a bit of soft diplomacy before the big event. Her first stop in Friday’s drizzle was a familiar place: No. 10 Downing St., for her first meeting with Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Murty greeted Biden with an embrace and a kiss on each cheek. “Welcome, welcome!” she said, before turning to shake hands with Finnegan Biden, one of the first lady’s granddaughters.

Afterward, Jill Biden and Murty met at the Downing Street residence with military veterans and their families participating in a health and wellness program.

The sun had come out by the time the pair arrived at the cafeteria at Charles Dickens Primary School in the Borough area of London to meet with students who were wearing golden paper crowns as they participated in coronation-related activities. She told them to “have fun tomorrow.”

The first lady will also visit the U.S. Embassy to greet staff before ending her day at a reception the king is hosting at Buckingham Palace.

On Saturday, Jill Biden will represent the United States at the coronation at Westminster Abbey, seated among several hundred heads of state, royals from other nations and other guests who were invited to watch Charles and his wife, Camilla, be crowned king and queen. Afterward, she will attend a reception hosted by U.S. Ambassador Jane Hartley.

Jill Biden will also mingle at a luncheon Sunday hosted by Sunak and Murty at their Downing Street residence before her flight back to Washington.

President Biden has received some criticism for skipping the coronation, though the White House cites the precedent of a U.S. president never attending for his decision.

But the president and Charles are hardly strangers. They have chatted each other up at global climate events since Biden took office, and during the queen’s funeral last year. They also spoke in April when Biden called to say he was sending the first lady to the coronation, and the president expressed interest in meeting with the king in the United Kingdom at a future date, the White House said at the time.

First ladies often stand in for presidents when they can’t be present.

“I love seeing the first lady as our representative and I would have been thrilled for any first lady to attend,” said Lindsay Reynolds, who was first lady Melania Trump’s White House chief of staff. “I don’t think it is a slight in any way for the president to not be attending.”

Jill Biden was just 2 years old when Charles’ mother, Elizabeth, was crowned in June 1953. The queen held the throne for seven decades until her death last September at age 96.

The first lady tweeted before her flight Thursday that “it’s an honor to represent the United States for this historic moment and celebrate the special relationship between our countries.”

Most modern-era first ladies, including Jill Biden, have engaged with members of the British royal family because the late queen had met every American president since Eisenhower, except for Lyndon Johnson.

Biden was the 13th and final U.S. leader to meet the queen. They saw each other when he visited England in 2021 with his wife to participate in a Group of Seven world leader summit. At the time, the queen also invited the Bidens to have tea with her at Windsor Castle.

Jill Biden told The Associated Press in a telephone interview after the queen’s death that sitting in her living room was like being with one’s grandmother.

“And she said, ‘Let me pour the tea,’ and we said, ‘No, no, let us help,’ and she said ‘Oh, no, no, no, I’ll get this. You sit down,’” the first lady said. “And it was just a very special moment with a very special woman.”

During that trip, she and Prince William’s wife, Kate, met for the first time at a preschool in southwest England where they participated in a roundtable discussion on the role of early childhood education in life outcomes. They also learned about caring for bunny rabbits.

The first lady also has met William’s brother, Prince Harry, several times through their work and support of military veterans. She has joined Harry for the Invictus Games, an athletic competition he founded for wounded or sick military veterans.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Edit Shasi Kumar

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the AP NEWS. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

 

King Charles’s coronation draws apathy, criticism in former colonies

Diplomat Times
-
0
King Charles’s coronation draws apathy, criticism in former colonies

King Charles’s coronation draws apathy, criticism in former colonies

LONDON (AP) — When King Charles III is crowned on Saturday, soldiers carrying flags from the Bahamas, South Africa, Tuvalu and beyond will march alongside British troops in a spectacular military procession in honor of the monarch.

For some, the scene will affirm the ties that bind Britain and its former colonies. But for many others in the Commonwealth, a group of nations mostly made up of places once claimed by the British Empire, Charles’ coronation is seen with apathy at best.

In those countries, the first crowning of a British monarch in 70 years is an occasion to reflect on oppression and colonialism’s bloody past. The displays of pageantry in London will jar especially with growing calls in the Caribbean to sever all ties with the monarchy.

“Interest in British royalty has waned since more Jamaicans are waking to the reality that the survivors of colonialism and the holocaust of slavery are yet to receive reparatory justice,” the Rev. Sean Major-Campbell, an Anglican priest in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, said.

The coronation is “only relevant in so far as it kicks us in the face with the reality that our head of state is simply so by virtue of biology,” Major-Campbell added.

READ MORE : Queen Elizabeth II has died at 96. Here’s what happens next for the throne, currency, and more.

As British sovereign, Charles is also head of state of 14 other countries, though the role is largely ceremonial. These realms, which include Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, represent a minority of the Commonwealth nations: most of the 56 members are republics, even if some still sport the Union Jack on their flags.

Barbados was the most recent Commonwealth country to remove the British monarch as its head of state, replacing Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, with an elected president in 2021. The decision spurred similar republican movements in neighboring Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize.

Rosalea Hamilton, an advocate for changing Jamaica’s constitution to get rid of the royals, said she was organizing a coronation day forum to engage more Jamaicans in the process of political reform.

The timing of the event is meant to “signal to the head of state that the priority is to move away from his leadership, rather than focus on his coronation,” Hamilton said.

Two days ahead of Charles’ crowning, campaigners from 12 Commonwealth countries wrote to the monarch urging him to apologize for the legacies of British colonialism.

Among the signatories was Lidia Thorpe, an Australian senator, who said Thursday that Charles should “begin a process of repairing the damage of colonization, including returning the stolen wealth that has been taken from our people.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who will attend the coronation and join in an oath of allegiance to the king, favors ditching the monarchy, though he has ruled out holding a referendum during his currrent three-year term.

“I want to see an Australian as Australia’s head of state,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Buckingham Palace said last month that Charles supported research into the historical links between Britain’s monarchy and the transatlantic slave trade. The king takes the issue “profoundly seriously,” and academics will be given access to the royal collection and archives, the palace said.

In India, once the jewel of the British Empire, there’s scant media attention and very little interest in the coronation. Some people living in the country’s vast rural hinterlands may not have even heard of King Charles III.

“India has moved on,” and most Indians “have no emotional ties with the royal family,” Pavan K. Varma, a writer and former diplomat, said. Instead, the royals are seen more like amusing celebrities, he said.

And while the country still values its economic and cultural ties with the European country, Varma pointed out that India’s economy has overtaken the U.K.’s.

“Britain has shrunk globally into a medium-sized power,” he said. “This notion needs to be removed, that here is a former colony riveted to the television watching the coronation of Prince Charles. I don’t think this is happening in India.”

Since gaining independence in 1947, India has moved to shed the vestiges of British imperialism. The statue of King George V that used to stand near the India Gate monument in New Delhi was moved in the 1960s to Coronation Park. Once the scene of celebrations honoring Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and George V, the park is now a repository for representations of former monarchs and officials of the British Raj in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led a renewed push to reclaim India’s past and erase “symbols of slavery” from the country’s time under the British crown. His government has scrubbed away colonial-era street names, some laws and even flag symbols.

“I don’t think we should care much about (the royals),” Milind Akhade, a photographer in New Delhi, said. “They enslaved us for so many years.”

In Nairobi, Kenya, motorcycle taxi driver Grahmat Luvisia was similarly dismissive of the idea of following the coronation on TV.

“I will not be interested in watching the news or whatever is happening over there because we have been mistreated back then by those colonizers,” he said.

Herman Manyora, a political analyst and journalism professor at the University of Nairobi, said memories of Britain’s harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s are still raw.

Many Kenyans will not watch the coronation “because of the torture during colonialism, because of the oppression, because of detentions, because of killings, because of the alienation of our land,” Manyora said.

Experts say that despite its flaws, historical baggage and fraying edges, the Commonwealth still holds appeal, especially for poorer nations. Gabon and Togo, which are former French colonies with no colonial links to Britain, became the association’s newest members last year. Most observers believe countries like Jamaica that want an elected head of state are likely to retain their memberships.

“Countries, whether they benefit or not, feel like they need to have this closeness to Britain as an economic entity,” said Kehinde Andrews, a professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University. “As much as there will be still be some dissent — (Charles) is not as popular as his mother — it’s all about the economics.” ___

Myers Jr. reported from Kingston, Jamaica. Pathi reported from New Delhi. AP writers Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa; Khaled Kazziha in Nairobi, Kenya; and Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the AP NEWS. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

Brighton vs Man United: Mac Allister’s late penalty earns Brighton win over United

Diplomat Times
-
0
Brighton vs Man United: Mac Allister’s late penalty earns Brighton win over United

Brighton vs Man United: Mac Allister’s late penalty earns Brighton win over United

When it comes to Alexis Mac Allister’s career highlights, nothing will ever quite compare to winning a World Cup.

Converting a 99th-minute penalty to beat Manchester United in the Premier League won’t be too far down the Argentina midfielder’s list of feats, though.

Mac Allister demonstrated the composure of a world champion by dispatching a penalty into the top corner with virtually the last kick of the game to earn Brighton a 1-0 win over United on Thursday.

In the last of the allotted five minutes of stoppage time, United defender Luke Shaw patted the ball away with his raised hand after a corner was swung in from the right.

The referee awarded the spot kick after being told to look at the incident on the pitchside monitor, and Mac Allister kept his cool.

READ MORE : Suns grind out win in Kevin Durant’s home debut

“Of course, I was a little bit nervous, as always,” said Mac Allister, who was one of Argentina’s unlikely stars in its run to a third World Cup title late last year in Qatar. “It was the last minute, everyone is going to talk about it.

“But I’m happy every time I have the opportunity to score a goal, so really happy for the team.”

Brighton earned partial revenge for its loss to United in a penalty shootout in the FA Cup semifinals 12 days earlier and moved into sixth place, eight points behind fourth-place United having played one game less in the race for Champions League qualification.

United stayed two points behind third-place Newcastle and four points ahead of Liverpool, which has played one more game.

“There is now a real chase,” Shaw said. “People around us are picking up points. But it’s in our hands.”

Shaw said he got a “little nudge” as he jumped to attempt to head away the ball, but accepted “the hand shouldn’t be there.”

“I own up to it, it cost us the game,” the England left back said.

The dramatic end of the match brought back memories of a meeting between Brighton and United at the Amex Stadium in 2020, which was decided by a converted penalty from United’s Bruno Fernandes in the 10th minute of stoppage time.

This time, Brighton was on the right side of a late penalty, scoring its latest-ever goal in the Premier League and the latest ever against United in the competition.

Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi felt a sense of justice after his team’s impressive display at Wembley Stadium last month.

“Both games I think we played better than United,” De Zerbi said.

Just like in their FA Cup meeting, both teams created plenty of chances at the Amex but found the goalkeepers in top form.

Brighton coach Roberto de Zerbi, who lost to United in the FA Cup, was more upbeat than his opposite number as his team close in on the chance to play European football after a stellar campaign in the top flight.

United’s David De Gea made the standout save even if he knew little about it, with Kaoru Mitoma’s early effort striking the face of the Spain goalkeeper to shake him up for a few minutes.

At the other end, Brighton’s Jason Steele produced almost identical saves to deny first Marcus Rashford and then Anthony Martial in the first half before a second half that the hosts edged without ever looking like scoring before Mac Allister’s clinching penalty.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the AP NEWS. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

SCO Summit Goa: Jaishankar welcomed the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries, Pakistan FM Bilawal Bhutto also reaches

Shasi Kumar
-
0
SCO Summit Goa: Jaishankar welcomed the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries, Pakistan FM Bilawal Bhutto also reaches

Jaishankar welcomed the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries, Pakistan FM Bilawal Bhutto also reaches

Diplomat Times(Goa)- The meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers has started on Friday in Panaji, Goa. Prior to the meeting, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar welcomed the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also reached India to attend this meeting.

The Indian Foreign Minister received the Pakistani Foreign Minister ahead of the foreign ministers’ meeting on Friday.

Pakistani Foreign Minister arrived in Goa on Thursday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s meeting. On Thursday evening, a dinner program was organized in honor of the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries. During this, the foreign ministers greeted each other. According to media reports, both the leaders shook hands but its photographs have not been revealed.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India since 2011

Hina Rabbani Khar met her Indian counterpart SM Krishna in Delhi 12 years ago, but circumstances were different then. India and Pakistan were experiencing a limited thaw, and trying to boost trade. Pakistan’s relationship with the US was in a crisis. “The diplomatic moment back then was ripe for attempts at rapprochement. It’s a different story today,” Michael Kugelman of The Wilson Centre, an American think-tank, says.

In his address during the SCO meeting, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar raised the issue of terrorism and indirectly targeted Pakistan.

Jaishankar said that terrorism continues to wreak havoc. We strongly believe that terrorism cannot be justified in any way and it must be stopped. This includes cross-border terrorism and all other forms of terrorism. The basic objective of the SCO meeting is to combat terrorism.

“Focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquility in the border areas,” he tweeted after the meeting.

Jaishankar also said he had a “comprehensive review of bilateral, global and multilateral cooperation” with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

READ MORE : PM Modi Landed in Samarkand to take part in the SCO Summit

S Jaishankar also said that reforms and modernization of SCO were also discussed. India has been demanding for a long time that English be made the third official language of the SCO, to enable more in-depth discussions among the English-speaking member states. India also sought support from member countries in favor of its demand.

ABOUT THE SCO

The Shanghai Five group was created on 26 April 1996 with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions in Shanghai by the heads of states of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

On 24 April 1997 the same countries signed the Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions in a meeting in Moscow, Russia.[6] On 20 May 1997 Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin signed a declaration on a “multipolar world”.

When India become part of SCO ?

Pakistan, India and Iran received observer status at the 2005 SCO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan on 5 July 2005. India and Pakistan became full members of the Shanghai Cooperative Organization in 2017.

SCO Summit Goa 2023 Agenda

Agenda at Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa:

1.Bilateral talks between foreign ministers

2.Preparation for the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State

3.The issue of SCO expansion (granting member status to 🇮🇷Iran and possible acceleration of 🇧🇾 Belarus joining the group)

4. Granting status of #SCO Dialogue Partners to Bahrain, Kuwait, Myanmar, Maldives and UAE

5. Coordinate foreign policies to promote the role of the United Nations 🇺🇳 in ensuring credible global security and sustainable economic growth.

By Shasi Kumar for DT  Writer Dr. Sang Won Park contributed to this report. Some input from BBC 

 

Ukraine denies Russian claim Kyiv sent drones to hit Kremlin

Diplomat Times
-
0
Ukraine denies Russian claim Kyiv sent drones to hit Kremlin

Ukraine denies Russian claim Kyiv sent drones to hit Kremlin

AP (KYIV)- Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early Wednesday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act. The Ukrainian president denied it, saying: “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow.”

Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

There was no independent verification of the purported attack, which Russia authorities said occurred overnight but presented no evidence to support it. Questions also arose as to why it took the Kremlin hours to report the incident and why videos of it also surfaced later in the day.

READ MORE : Ukraine demands emergency UN meeting over Putin nuclear plan

A video posted overnight on a local Moscow news Telegram channel, shot from across the river from the Kremlin, appeared to show smoke rising over the buildings. It wasn’t possible to ascertain its veracity. According to text accompanying the footage, residents of a nearby apartment building reported hearing bangs and seeing smoke around 2:30 a.m.

Another video on social media, which looks to be taken from across Red Square, appears to show the moment a drone explodes in a flash of fire above the roof of the Senate Palace in the Kremlin, near a flagpole flying the Russian tricolor, with debris falling on the roof. It also was not possible to independently verify this footage.

The Kremlin said Russian military and security forces had stopped the drones before they could strike. Nobody was hurt, it added. Its official website said debris from the drones fell on the Kremlin grounds without damage.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on an unannounced visit to Helsinki for talks with the leaders of five Nordic countries, denied any role.

“We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities,” he said at a news conference.

Ukraine presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the claims could provide a pretext for Russia “to justify massive strikes on Ukrainian cities, on the civilian population, on infrastructure facilities.”

The Pentagon is looking into the alleged attacks, according to a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

American intelligence officials also were looking into the Russian claims but had not yet made a determination, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing assessment.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington at a World Press Freedom Day event, said he had seen the reports but “I can’t in any way validate them. We simply don’t know.”

He added: “I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt. So let’s see. We’ll see what the facts are and it’s really hard to comment or speculate on this without really knowing what the facts are.”

The purported drone attack would be a significant escalation in the 14-month conflict, with Ukraine taking the war to the heart of Russian power.

Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, said, “It certainly wasn’t an attempt to assassinate Putin, because he doesn’t sleep in the roof and he probably never sleeps in the Kremlin.”

The Kremlin claimed the attack was planned to disrupt Victory Day, which Russia celebrates in Red Square on May 9 to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Peskov said the parade would go on as scheduled.

Before the news about the alleged attack broke, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a ban on using drones in the Russian capital, with an exception for those launched by authorities. He gave no reason for the ban, saying only it would prevent the “illegal use of drones that can hinder the work of law enforcement.”

Zelenskyy was in Finland seeking greater firepower for his armed forces as they figure out how to dislodge Russian troops from occupied areas of Ukraine.

Both Ukraine and Russia reportedly have experienced ammunition shortages after a winter of long-range shelling and missile strikes. Kyiv has been pressing its allies for more as officials consider when to start driving Russian forces out of Ukrainian territory they occupy.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s counteroffensive is coming “very soon.”

At the same time, Russia plans to continue talks with the U.N. and other parties to an wartime agreement on facilitating Black Sea agricultural shipments, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said ahead of talks on Friday.

Earlier Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed new consultations between Russia and the U.N. on access of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to the world market would be held in Moscow.

Signed in July and renewed twice, the deal freed Ukrainian grain shipments that were held up in the country’s blockaded ports last year. The deal expires May 18 unless Russia agrees to its renewal.

By DAVID RISING, Jari Tanner in Helsinki, and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed.

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the AP NEWS. Diplomat Times holds no responsibility for its content.

1...188189190...210Page 189 of 210

Explore

Countries

Crime & War

More

Others

Follow us

© DT Broadcasting Pvt Ltd formerly known as Diplomat Times Pvt Ltd Registered No: U60200DL2024PTC426518 , Diplomat Times International Co. LTD. (Thailand) Registered No: 0105566195031 | PT Diplomat Times International Broadcasting (Indonesia) 4023120636101176 | Trade Mark 4791109 | All Rights Reserved