NIAMEY, Niger: Niger’s new military ruler lashed out at neighboring countries and the international community in a nationally televised speech Wednesday night, and he called on the population to be ready to defend the nation.
In one of few addresses to the West African country since seizing power from Niger’s democratically elected president a week ago, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani warned against foreign meddling and military intervention against the coup.
“We therefore call on the people of Niger as a whole and their unity to defeat all those who want to inflict unspeakable suffering on our hard-working populations and destabilize our country,” Tchiani said.
Tchiani, who commands Niger’s presidential guard, also promised to create the conditions for a peaceful transition to elections following his ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum.
His speech comes amid rising regional tensions as the West African regional bloc ECOWAS threatens to use military force if Bazoum isn’t released from house arrest and reinstated by Aug. 6. The bloc has imposed severe travel and economic sanctions.
The coup has been strongly condemned by Western countries, many of which saw Niger as the last reliable partner for the West in efforts to battle jihadis linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group in Africa’s Sahel region. Russia and Western countries have been vying for influence in the fight against extremism.
France has 1,500 soldiers in Niger who conduct joint operations with its military, and the United States and other European countries have helped train the nation’s troops.
Tchiani said that Niger is facing difficult times ahead and that the “hostile and radical” attitudes of those who oppose his rule provide no added value. He called the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS illegal, unfair, inhuman and unprecedented.
The fierce rhetoric came as a fourth French military evacuation flight left Niger, after France, Italy and Spain announced evacuations of their citizens and other Europeans in Niamey amid concerns they could become trapped.
Nearly 1,000 people had left on four flights, and a fifth evacuation was underway, France’s ministry of foreign affairs said.
An Italian military aircraft landed in Rome on Wednesday with 99 passengers, including 21 Americans and civilians from other countries, the Italian defense ministry said. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the flights took place with the permission of Niger’s new government.
The State Department on Wednesday ordered what it said was the temporary departure of nonessential embassy staff and some family members from Niger as a precaution. It said its embassy would remain open. Some American citizens already left with the help of the Europeans.
A two-day meeting of defense chiefs of the ECOWAS bloc opened Wednesday in Nigeria’s capital to confer on next steps. Abdel-Fatau Musah, the bloc’s commissioner for political affairs, peace and stability, said the meeting in Abuja would deal with how to “negotiate with the officers in the hostage situation that we find ourselves in the Republic of Niger.”
The sanctions announced by ECOWAS on Sunday included halting energy transactions with Niger, which gets up to 90 percent of its power from neighboring Nigeria, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
On Tuesday, power transmission from Nigeria to Niger was cut off, an official at one of Nigeria’s main electricity companies said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the issue. The official did not clarify how much of Niger’s power the cut represented, but any reduction would further squeeze citizens in the impoverished country of more than 25 million people.
US officials have stayed engaged in trying to roll back the armed takeover, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling Niger’s president late Tuesday to express “continued unwavering support.”
A US pullout from Niger would risk Washington’s longstanding counter-terror investments in the West African country, including a major air base in Agadez that is key to efforts against armed extremists across the Sahara and Sahel. The United States has roughly 1,000 military personnel in Niger and helps train some Nigerien forces.
Leaving Niger would also risk yielding the country to the influence of Russia and its Wagner mercenary group, which already has a significant presence in Mali, Central African Republic and Sudan.
Before sunrise Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside the terminal at Niamey’s airport hoping to leave, after one French evacuation flight was canceled the night before. Some slept on the floor, while others watched television or talked on the phone.
A person who did not want to be named because of fears for personal safety, said they tried to shield their children from what was happening, telling them “just that they’re going home.” The person said they feared reprisal attacks against civilians if Niger’s regional neighbors follow through on threats to intervene militarily.
At a virtual United Nations meeting Tuesday night, the UN special envoy for West Africa and the Sahel said non-military efforts were underway to restore democracy in Niger.
“One week can be more than enough if everybody talks in good faith, if everybody wants to avoid bloodshed,” said the envoy, Leonardo Santos Simao. But, he added, “different member states are preparing themselves to use force if necessary.”
Others in the diplomatic community said military intervention was a real option.
ECOWAS is resolved to use military force because economic and travel sanctions have failed to roll back other coups, said a Western diplomat in Niamey, who did not want to be identified for security reasons.
The M62 Movement, an activist group that has organized pro-Russia and anti-French protests, called for residents in Niamey to mobilize and block the airport until foreign military perssonnel leave the country.
“Any evacuation of Europeans (should be) conditional on the immediate departure of foreign military forces,” Mahaman Sanoussi, the national coordinator for the group, said in a statement.
Niger’s military ruler warns against foreign meddling, urges population to defend the country
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Niger’s military ruler warns against foreign meddling, urges population to defend the country
- The coup has been strongly condemned by Western countries, many of which saw Niger as the last reliable partner for the West in efforts to battle jihadis linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group in Africa’s Sahel region
Ukrainian man arrested over Nord Stream pipeline attacks
- Suspect arrested while holidaying with family on Adriatic coast in Italy
- Explosions on three pipelines in 2022 largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe
BERLIN/MILAN: A Ukrainian man was arrested at a holiday bungalow in Italy on Thursday on suspicion of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, marking a breakthrough in an episode that sharpened tensions between Russia and the West.
Described by both Moscow and the West as an act of sabotage, the explosions largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe, prompting a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and squeezing energy supplies on the continent. No one has taken responsibility for the blasts and Ukraine has denied any role. The arrest comes just as Kyiv is engaged in fraught diplomatic discussions with the United States over how to end the war in Ukraine without giving away major concessions and swathes of its own territory to Russia.
“Politically we are firmly on Ukraine’s side and will continue to do so,” said Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig when asked if the arrest would affect Berlin’s ties to Kyiv. “What is important for me is that Germany is a country of laws and crimes in our jurisdiction are fully investigated.”
An official in the Ukrainian president’s office said he could not comment as it was not clear who had been arrested. The official reiterated Ukraine’s denial of any role in the blasts.
The suspect, identified only as Serhii K. under German privacy laws, was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
He and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany’s northeastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack, it said. The vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen, it added.
Authorities acted on a European arrest warrant for the suspect, who faces charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of important structures.
Carabinieri officers arrested him overnight in San Clemente in the province of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast, where he was supposed to spend a few days with his family.
“Once his presence had been verified, the Carabinieri surrounded the bungalow and launched a raid, during which the man surrendered without resistance,” a statement by the Carabinieri said, adding the suspect was 49 years old.
A police official told Reuters the suspect was arrested because, when providing documents at a hotel check-in, an alert flagging he was wanted popped up at the police headquarters, which dispatched a Carabinieri police patrol.
In September 2022, one of the two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts, along with both lines of Nord Stream 1 that carried Russian gas to Europe.
Moscow, without providing evidence, blamed Western sabotage for the blasts, which cut off most Russian gas supplies to the lucrative European market. The US denied having anything to do with the attacks.
Denmark and Sweden closed their investigations in February 2024, leaving Germany as the only country continuing to pursue the case.
The Washington Post and Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine have previously said the team that carried out the attack was put together by a former Ukrainian intelligence officer, who has denied involvement.
In January 2023, Germany raided a ship that it said may have been used to transport explosives and told the United Nations it believed trained divers could have attached devices to the pipelines at about 70 to 80 meters deep.
The boat, leased in Germany via a Poland-registered company, contained traces of octogen, the same explosive that was found at the underwater blast sites, according to the investigations by Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
German media reported last year that Germany had issued a European arrest warrant against a Ukrainian diving instructor who allegedly was part of the team that blew up the pipelines.
Citing unnamed sources, several outlets reported that German investigators believed the man, last known to have lived in Poland, was one of the divers who planted explosive devices on the pipelines.
Successive Ukrainian governments had seen the pipelines as a symbol of, and vehicle for, Russia’s hold over European energy supplies that Kyiv argued made it hard to act against Moscow ever since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Europe’s deadliest conflict in 80 years, in which analysts say more than 1 million people have been killed or injured.
Sacred staple: Uzbekistan’s timeless tradition of everyday bread
- Bread holds a special position in Uzbek culture and is always handled with respect
- There are dozens of bread varieties, with each province having own flavors, designs
MARGILAN, Fergana Valley: As he pulls freshly baked flatbreads from a massive, scorching hot tandoor, Marufxon Nematov prepares to repeat the same process dozens of times throughout the day, until the last customers arrive at the bakery to buy bread for dinner.
Some round, some flower-shaped with stamped centers and decorative patterns, the loaves are placed in a huge basket. From there, Nematov’s friend arranges them neatly on display, joining the rows of breads from other bakeries along Burhoniddin Marginaniy Street, a busy thoroughfare in Margilan, one of the main cities in Fergana Valley, eastern Uzbekistan.
Every day, they bake 2,000 loaves of non — a circular flatbread with a thin, decorated center and puffy edges — following a routine Nematov has kept for the past 55 years.
“I started working as a baker when I was 10 years old. I’ve learnt the whole process from making the dough to the form and baking,” he said.
“I’ve been doing this since a very young age, and thanks to it I’ve been able to feed my family. This work means a lot to me.”
In Uzbekistan, bread is a staple food, eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. Across the country, dozens of varieties are baked, with each of the 12 provinces adding its own flavor, pattern and signature to centuries-old recipes.
Breads from the Fergana Valley are often dense and hearty, sometimes topped with green onions and decorated with floral or sunburst patterns. In Tashkent, loaves are round and thick, with soft, fluffy interiors, while in Bukhara and Khiva they may be layered or specially embellished for celebrations.
Sometimes bakers who developed their own designs would even stamp their phone numbers on the bread as a personal signature.
In Samarkand, about 600 km from Nematov’s bread shop in Margilan, master baker Gulchera follows a similar practice. But she bakes different kinds of bread, including the famous Samarkand non, which is lighter and airier, with a crisp exterior, marked only with a chekich — a wooden stamp that creates a sunburst pattern and helps the bread bake evenly.
Assisted by her son and granddaughter, she starts work at 4 a.m. before others go to the morning market and start preparing breakfast.
“I like it. I like everything about it. It makes me happy knowing that people will eat this bread,” she said. “We take orders and people come, and knowing that they like my bread, it just makes my day.”
Bread holds a special position in Uzbek culture and is always handled with care. It should not be placed upside down and it is meant to be torn by hand — never cut with a knife — and shared with others.
If an Uzbek notices a crumb on the ground, he or she will gently pick it up, kiss it three times, touch it to their forehead, and place it on a clean surface. Even if they do not consume it, they would treat it with sufficient respect.
While there are many reasons for the special position bread holds in Uzbekistan, including the famines experienced during Soviet rule, this reverence is also connected to Islam.
Prof. Marianne Kamp, a social historian of modern Central Asia at Indiana University, links it to the cultural tradition of the region, which was once a center of Muslim theological, spiritual, and philosophical thought.
“In times that long preceded Russian conquest of Central Asia, there were spiritual tracts (risala) for people who practiced all sorts of trade and craft, from farming to ironworking. One such risala discusses the production of bread — from when wheat is planted, to how it is grown and harvested, milling, making dough, baking,” she told Arab News.
“The risala describes the prayers that should be said and other actions that should be taken along this production route so that the bread would be halal. Thus, it may be a particular aspect of Islamic everyday practice that makes bread special.”
In everyday life, this sense is reinforced by continuity and belonging. The way bread has been baked in Uzbekistan has remained unchanged for generations.
Kimmathon Lazizova, a homemaker from Rishtan in the Fergana Valley, fondly recalled how, as a child, she and her siblings would wait for their mother to take the non out of the tandoor.
“It was so hot, burning our hands. We would pour water or tea into a little cup and dip the hot bread into it and eat. That was the most delicious of all breads,” she said.
That tandoor bread, the simplest non, always has four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast.
“This is how bread was always baked. Our grandmothers, great-grandmothers, they always did it this way. This is how it was long ago, even before the Soviet Union,” Lazizova said. “It has come down to us from ancient times, and we’ll continue to carry it forward.”
UK Ministry of Defence admits 49 breaches of Afghans’ data
- New figures uncovered by BBC raise concerns about lax security culture, lawyers say
- It follows controversy over leak that endangered 19,000 Afghans fleeing Taliban
LONDON: The UK’s Ministry of Defence has admitted that 49 separate data breaches relating to Afghan relocations took place over the past four years, the BBC reported on Thursday.
The breaches occurred within the unit responsible for processing relocation claims from Afghans seeking refuge in the UK.
Of the 49 breaches, four were publicly known, including the massive 2022 leak of a spreadsheet containing the personal details of almost 19,000 people fleeing the Taliban.
That leak led to thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK, a fact that was concealed from the public for years under a gagging order lifted last month.
The latest figure of 49 breaches was revealed to the BBC through the Freedom of Information Act.
Initially, the UK’s information watchdog described the highly controversial 2022 leak as a “one-off occurrence.”
It took place “following a failure to (follow) usual checks, rather than reflecting a wider culture of non-compliance,” the watchdog claimed.
The latest figure raises concerns about a lax security culture among people working on the resettlement scheme, lawyers representing Afghans affected by the breaches said.
The MoD has not disclosed the details of each breach. However, previous incidents that were made public included officials accidentally revealing the personal details of Afghan applicants to third parties.
Barings Law is representing hundreds of Afghans affected by the major 2022 breach. The firm’s head of data protection, Adnan Malik, said: “What began as an isolated incident, which the Ministry of Defence initially sought to keep from public view, has now escalated into a series of catastrophic failings.
“We urge the Ministry of Defence to be fully transparent with both those affected and the wider public. Victims should not be forced to learn the truth through legal action or news reports.”
In the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal, the British government established the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy in April 2021.
The scheme was designed to help at-risk Afghans seek refuge in the UK, specifically those with close ties to the British presence in the country during the war against the Taliban.
ARAP, which closed in July this year, was beset by constant complaints relating to data security.
More than 250 Afghans seeking relocation to Britain were mistakenly copied into an email from the MoD, putting them at risk of revenge attacks by the Taliban, the BBC reported in 2021.
The UK government at the time announced “significant remedial actions” in the wake of the incident, including a new rule that any external email required a “second set of eyes” for review for before being sent.
Yet the breaches continued, including the catastrophic 2022 leak caused by a soldier at Regent’s Park barracks, who sent a spreadsheet with what they believed to be a small number of applicants’ names to trusted Afghan contacts.
Hidden data in the spreadsheet, however, were the names, personal information and family contacts of almost 19,000 people.
Jon Baines, senior data protection specialist at law firm Mishcon de Reya, said the new figures represent a “remarkable number of data security incidents in relation to the ARAP scheme.
“It is difficult to think of any information more sensitive than that which is involved with the scheme, and it baffles me why there were not better security measures in place.”
An MoD spokesperson said: “We take data security extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring that any incidents are dealt with properly, and that we follow our legal duties.”
Saudi student wins silver at international astrophysics olympiad in Mumbai
- Jude Basem Al-Lahyani claims medal at 2025 IOAA
- Event featured more than 300 students from 64 countries
NEW DELHI: A Saudi Arabian student won a silver medal at the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics, which concluded in India’s Mumbai on Thursday.
The IOAA is an annual competition held to recognize talented high-school students from around the world in astronomy and astrophysics through a series of theoretical, practical and experimental tests.
The event was organized this year by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education — a national center of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research — and took place in Mumbai from Aug. 11-21.
A five-member team represented Saudi Arabia at the event, which featured more than 300 students from 64 countries.
“This year's competition was extremely challenging. The exams were long, difficult, and required a high level of intuition and time management. Teams were exceptionally well prepared, making the event even more competitive,” Talal Al-Dawood, supervisor of the astronomy and space program at Mawhiba — the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity — told Arab News after the closing ceremony on Thursday.
“Despite this, our students performed remarkably well. We are incredibly proud to have won our first silver medal, along with two honorable mentions.”
Saudi student Jude Basem Al-Lahyani was awarded the silver, following her bronze medal at the Kingdom’s IOAA debut at the 2024 edition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Her teammates Hussain Hasan Al-Mubarak and Fajr Al-Obaidan obtained honorable mentions this year.
“They were incredibly happy to see the fruits of their hard work and dedication, as the countless hours they spent studying and preparing finally paid off,” Al-Dawood said.
The IOAA was launched in 2007 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Students competing at the IOAA are required to be younger than 20 years old and must tackle three papers across 10 days spanning theory, data analysis and observations.
The Saudi team was trained by Mawhiba — a non-profit endowment dedicated to nurturing young talent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — with support from the Ministry of Education, the Saudi Space Agency, and NEO Space Group.
Al-Dawood said the students were chosen following “highly competitive and rigorous qualification stages” that lasted almost a year, and added: “This year’s achievement will definitely inspire the next generation of the Saudi team.”
Azerbaijan sounds the alarm over shallowing of Caspian Sea
- The Caspian, the world’s largest salt lake, holds significant offshore oil reserves and is bordered by five countries that are all major producers of oil or gas or both: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan
BAKU: Rapid falls in the level of the Caspian Sea are affecting ports and oil shipments and threatening to inflict catastrophic damage on sturgeon and seal populations, according to Azerbaijani officials.
The Caspian, the world’s largest salt lake, holds significant offshore oil reserves and is bordered by five countries that are all major producers of oil or gas or both: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Ecology Minister Rauf Hajjiyev told Reuters that the sea had been getting shallower for decades, but figures showed that the trend was accelerating.
Its level has fallen by 0.93 meters (3 ft) in the past five years, by 1.5 meters in the last 10, and 2.5 meters in the past 30, he said in an interview, estimating the current rate of decline at 20-30 cm per year.
“The retreat of the coastline changes natural conditions, disrupts economic activity and creates new challenges for sustainable development,” said Hajjiyev, who represents Azerbaijan in a joint working group with Russia that met for the first time in April to discuss the problem.
Despite worsening relations between the two countries, according to the protocol signed between the two countries the working group plans to approve a joint program online in September for monitoring and responding to the issue.
Russia links the problem mainly to climate change but Azerbaijan also blames Russia’s construction of dams on the Volga River which provides 80 percent of the water entering the Caspian.
Hajjiyev said the falling water level was already affecting the lives of coastal populations and the work of ports. About 4 million people live on the coast of Azerbaijan, and about 15 million in the Caspian region as a whole.
He said ships are facing increased difficulties when entering and manoeuvring in the port of Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. This is reducing cargo capacity and raising logistics costs, he added.
REDUCED OIL CARGOES
Transportation of oil and oil products through the Dubendi oil terminal, the largest in the Azerbaijani waters of the Caspian Sea, fell to 810,000 tons in the first half of 2025 from 880,000 in the same period of last year, according to Eldar Salakhov, director of the Baku International Sea Port.
He linked the decline to the falling water level, which he said was making it necessary to carry out major dredging work to ensure stable and uninterrupted port operations.
In 2024, more than 250,000 cubic meters of dredging were carried out at the Dubendi oil terminal to ensure that the largest tankers could enter without restrictions, he told Reuters.
In April, the Baku Shipyard finished building a new dredging vessel, the Engineer Soltan Kazimov, which is due to enter service shortly. Salakhov said it would be able to deepen the bottom to 18 meters in order to help maintain the port’s capacity.
THREAT TO FISH AND SEALS
Hajjiyev, the deputy minister, said the retreat of the waters was destroying wetlands, lagoons, and reed beds and threatening the survival of some marine species.
The biggest blow is to sturgeon, prized for their caviar, which are already under threat of extinction. They are losing up to 45 percent of their summer and autumn habitats and being cut off from their traditional spawning grounds in rivers.
Caspian seals are also threatened by the shrinking sea area and disappearance of seasonal ice fields in the north, where they breed, he added.
“With a 5-meter drop in the sea level, seals lose up to 81 percent of their breeding sites, and with a 10-meter drop, they are almost completely deprived of suitable sites,” Hajjiyev said.
