Guatemalan and Salvadorian forces arrive in Haiti to join fight against violent gangs
#News #Haiti #Guatemala #ElSalvador
A group of security forces from Guatemala and El Salvador arrived in Haiti on Friday to reinforce a multinational mission tasked with tackling the country’s rampant gang violence, the Haitian National Police announced.
The 75 Guatemalan and eight Salvadoran troops were greeted on the tarmac of the international airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, by a host of high-ranking officials, video released by the police shows.
The officials included the leader of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council Leslie Voltaire, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, and the United States Ambassador to Haiti Dennis Hankins.
The troops will join the foreign police force known as the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission — a US and United Nations-backed initiative working with the Haitian police to restore security on the island amid an ongoing battle with the violent gangs.
In a statement, Normil Rameau, the acting director general of the National Police, said a “marriage” of the police with the people of Haiti remains “the most effective way to facilitate the total restoration of security and the establishment of lasting peace.”
Haiti has been ravaged by intensifying gang violence, which the government has struggled to contain in the aftermath of President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in 2021. The island nation has also grappled with natural disasters and a worsening hunger crisis.
The UN Security Council approved the launch of the MSS in 2023 after repeated pleas for international support from Haiti’s government. The mission received the support of the United States, which offered to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and resources.
However, the mission has not been without trouble. It is helmed by hundreds of Kenyan police officers, but their deployment was repeatedly delayed before eventually arriving in June last year. The officers then did not receive pay for months after their arrival.
Violence has continued to plague the country despite the mission’s presence. In November, the US civil aviation regulator grounded all flights to Haiti for weeks, after three jets from US-based airlines were struck by bullets while flying over Port-au-Prince. In a separate incident in October, gangs targeted US Embassy vehicles with gunfire, later prompting the evacuation of 20 embassy staffers.
Godfrey Otunge, the commander of the Kenyan troops in the MSS, welcomed the Guatemalan and Salvadorian soldiers on Friday while praising their partnership with the Haitian government.
“We don’t take it for granted. We have a prime minister who is also our friend,” Otunge said, according to the police video.
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Army general during battle: *gets killed. Soldiers fighting the battle:
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Macron says Ukraine is an 'existential' fight for Europe as he makes two-day state visit to Portugal
French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day state visit to Portugal to strengthen bilateral ties and encourage European unity as the fate of Ukraine remains uncertain under an increasingly critical Trump administration.
French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day state visit to Portugal on Thursday where he was greeted by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.
Macron and his wife Brigitte received a welcoming ceremony outside the Jeronimos Monastery in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Macron was later welcomed by his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa after the ceremony.
The French president’s trip to Portugal looks to boost bilateral ties between Paris and Lisbon and deepen European unity in a period of uncertainty.
European leaders have been urging for increased unity and cooperation after a dramatic shift in Washington’s foreign policy following the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
#Macron #Ukraine #Europe
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Ireland plans to buy first fighter jets in 50 years
Ireland’s planned purchase of combat jets and the development of a long-overdue national radar system mark a historic turning point in the country’s approach to air defence, ending decades of reliance on the United Kingdom to protect Irish skies.
Since 1998, when the Irish Air Corps disbanded its Light Strike Squadron, which operated aging French Fouga CM170 Magister jets, Ireland has had no combat jets. The country also lacks a primary radar system. Without these capabilities, a “secret bilateral pact” has seen the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) tasked with intercepting and responding to aerial threats in Irish airspace.
According to former Irish Air Corps head General Ralph James, this reliance on a foreign power, coupled with Ireland’s lack of radar coverage, has made the country “probably the most vulnerable” in Europe. Speaking at the Slándáil 2020 security summit, James warned that neutrality alone was not a defence strategy, stressing that Ireland must be able to deny its airspace to both sides in any future conflict.
#Ireland #News #AeroTime
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China vows to ‘fight till the end’ as Trump escalates trade war
China has vowed to “fight till the end” after US President Donald Trump escalated his trade war by doubling tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20%.
Beijing hit back at Trump’s levies by imposing retaliatory tariffs of up to 15% on selected American goods, expanding export controls to a dozen US firms and filing a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization. It also sent a stern warning to the Trump administration: Chinese people will never bow to “hegemony or bullying.”
“Pressure, coercion and threats are not the right ways to engage with China. Trying to exert maximum pressure on China is a miscalculation and a mistake,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, told a regular news briefing Tuesday afternoon. “If the US insists on waging a tariff war, trade war, or any other kind of war, China will fight till the end.”
The barrage of retaliatory measures and fiery exchanges came as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to hold a major political gathering designed to project confidence in his country’s ability to stay the course and weather external headwinds.
As thousands of delegates convene in the Chinese capital for the country’s “two sessions” annual meeting, Xi and his officials are set to use the highly choreographed spectacle to broadcast China as a major power steadily advancing its tech prowess and global rise.
That escalating rivalry between the two powers will be in the spotlight on Wednesday morning in Beijing, when Trump’s first address to Congress will roughly coincide with a state-of-the-union-like speech delivered by China’s No. 2 official Li Qiang at the opening meeting of the National’s People Congress (NPC), which rubber-stamps decisions already made behind closed doors.
There, Li is expected to announce China’s yearly targets for economic growth and military spending — and lay out how Beijing plans to continue its economic growth and transformation into a technological powerhouse in the face of mounting pressure from the United States.
Despite the challenges, analysts aren’t bracing for any major policy surprises or U-turns from the roughly weeklong meetings of both the NPC and the country’s top advisory body. True decision-making power lies with the Chinese Communist Party, whose authority cannot be challenged in the country – and Xi, the party’s most powerful leader in decades.
The increased tariffs — and the threat of more economic and tech controls to come — are casting a long shadow over China’s two sessions, which observers will also be watching for signs on how Beijing will continue to address its rumbling economic difficulties at home.
And signs point to Beijing staying the course on its leader’s strategies to bolster innovation, industry and self-sufficiency to steel itself against frictions ahead: all while projecting that, in China, it’s business as usual.
We must “face difficulties head-on and strengthen confidence” amid growing external challenges, the Communist Party journal Qiushi quoted Xi as saying in an article released Friday that’s meant to set the tone for the gathering.
#CNN
#China #Asia #US #Trump
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Canada is caught in a ‘double trade war’ — and one premier is urging Ottawa to drop its fight against China
OTTAWA — On top of threatened U.S. tariffs, China has brought down another hammer on many Canadian farm and seafood exports, hitting them with a “double trade war” that industry leaders say will slam Canadian producers.
In response, B.C. Premier David Eby called on Ottawa to drop its tariff fight against China, saying Canada got nothing out of trying to align trade policy with the United States last fall ahead of President Donald Trump’s election.
Eby, who stepped up measures against the United States along with Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday, said the government of Canada should offer a concession in the trade dispute it has with China.
#TheStar #News
#Canda
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