The Rafah Crossing was opened in both directions for two days starting March 23 to allow the passage of humanitarian cases. This crossing is specialized for individual movements across borders and was being prepared for the transfer of goods between the two countries.
Egypt and Italy are cooperating for training cadres from African countries on fighting illegal migration. A workshop of a training program was held in the Egyptian Police Academy. The workshop was attended by Tunisia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Senegal, Niger, Morocco, Mali and other African countries along with Spain and France.
US Marine Corps Commander General Robert Neller said on Thursday in Washington, D.C. that the US military must be psychologically prepared for a war with North Korea. Neller said a war on the Korean peninsula would be an extremely bloody affair, but the Marine Corps commandant said of such a hypothetical conflict: “I wasn’t saying it’s going to happen. I hope it doesn’t happen, I don’t want it to happen”.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that the government will provide full support and facilitation to the Japanese companies that are interested to invest in Pakistan. Talking to CEO of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Tadashi Maeda at World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, he hoped that JBIC will support Japanese companies in their investments in Pakistan particularly in the energy sector. He said Pakistan and Japan enjoy a very long and cherished history of economic cooperation that is of immense importance to Pakistan. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said in the last few years Pakistan has made tremendous achievements towards political stability, law and order, energy security, and economic growth. He said we are hoping that these positive indicators will incite Japanese companies and businesses to enhance their ties. The prime minister apprised that there are 84 Japanese companies currently operating in Pakistan and many more are expected to enter Pakistani market at an exponential rate. PM Abbasi invited JBIC to open its operations in Pakistan. CEO JBIC appreciated the economic stability achieved by Pakistan and expressed interest for investments in Energy and Telecom sectors. JBIC has provided funding for Kohat tunnel-I, II and other infrastructure projects.
Pakistan on Wednesday condemned what it said was a US military drone strike inside its territory. The unmanned aircraft’s missiles “targeted an Afghan refugee” camp in northwestern Kurram region, an international news agency reported, citing a statement from the Pakistani foreign office. Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal, in a statement, said such unilateral actions are detrimental to the spirit of cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism. “Such unilateral actions, as that of today, are detrimental to the spirit of cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism”, the statement said. He said Pakistan has continued to emphasize to the United States the importance of sharing actionable intelligence so that appropriate action is taken against terrorists by our forces within our territory. The spokesperson said Pakistan has also been stressing the need for early repatriation of Afghan refugees as their presence in Pakistan helps Afghan terrorists to melt among them. The suspected US drone attack on a house in northwestern Pakistan killed two militants from the Afghan Taliban-allied Haqqani network, two Pakistani security officials said earlier.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said that she does not exclude the possibility of China attacking the self-ruled Island, amid heightened tensions between the two sides including an increasing number of Chinese military exercise near Taiwan. China says the exercises are routine, but that it will not tolerate any attempt by the Island to declare independence. China considers democratic Taiwan to be its sacred territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under Chinese control. Taiwan has been pressing for the United States, its main source of arms, to provide more advanced equipment, but has also been trying to bolster its own weapons programs.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin made it clear on Monday the Kiev government would not respond to proposals from Moscow to take back its defense technologies stranded in Crimea after the peninsula’s reunification with Russia. “We don’t have any dialogue with Russia on the issues regarding Crimea’s status”, he told reporters. “We won’t do anything that could weaken our legal or political position”. In addition, Klimkin said the Ukrainian authorities had not received any official invitations from Russia to come to Crimea and Moscow’s proposals looked like a trick.
One of the most difficult issues in the Grand Coalition talks is the family reunion of refugees. SPD politician Burkhard Lischka made a compromise proposal, but there is still no agreement. Time is short, and before the negotiators of the Union and the SPD are ready to form a government, there are even more big issues until the end of the discussions. Union and SPD have so far found no solution to this point. There is still no agreement, as the news agency DPA learned from the SPD negotiating team. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported that both sides had achieved a breakthrough here: the family reunification for refugees with limited protection status should be suspended. Asylum seekers who receive protection in Germany are allowed to bring their spouses and underage children. On the other hand, recognized underage refugees are allowed to bring their parents with them. While the Union wants to prohibit this group to reunite with family members, the SPD in the election campaign promised to make family reunification possible for refugees.
The security agency and the Israeli police have announced the arrest of two young people during the month of December due to suspected links to ISIS-affiliated terrorists. During the interrogation, the two admitted that they had planned to carry out a terrorist attack on Jews within Israel, having examined the various options available to them, receiving instructions from the ISIS terrorists on how to prepare for this purpose. Rahma and Tasnin have published on the internet material that praises ISIS, as well as material that incites terrorist attacks against Jews; in addition, the interrogation revealed that they planned to go abroad to join the fighting
Mogherini’s Press Office, in response to Gazeta’s request to the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, to comment on the initiative of the Assembly of Kosovo to Repeal the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecution, told that the statement of the Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Nataliya Apostolova, reflects the stance of 28 EU member countries.During a statement, Apostolova has defined extremely dangerous the initiative of the Kosovo Assembly to abrogate the Law. “I am appalled by the initiative of the Kosovo Assembly to abrogate or in any other way put out of force the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecution Office”, said The EU representative while asking the assembly to immediately withdraw this initiative. Apostolova also added that such initiative would jeopardize the common effort made in recent years in the field of the rule of law and justice, and would jeopardize those who defend final impunity.
