Pope plans new migrant transfer to Rome on Cyprus visit

AFP

Pope Francis plans to arrange the transfer of a number of migrants to Rome during his visit to Cyprus next week, Cypriot officials said Friday, in the second such gesture by the pontiff.

Government spokesman Marios Pelekanos told reporters that the pope, making a December 2-4 visit to the island, wants to arrange for an unspecified number of migrants to be relocated.

In 2013, the pope took back to Rome three Syrian families from Greek island of Lesbos, then the main point of entry for migrants into Europe.

He is returning to Lesbos next month when he flies on to Greece after Cyprus.

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“This is an act that proves the solidarity of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to our fellow human beings in need,” Pelekanos said of the pope’s new gesture.

It also “confirms the Vatican recognises the problem facing the Republic of Cyprus today, due to increased migration flows”, Pelekanos said.

He reiterated the eastern Mediterranean island’s call for “a fairer distribution between EU member states to alleviate the problem in the front line countries”

European Union member Cyprus says it has a “migration crisis” and seeks to suspend asylum applications to those entering illegally.

It claims the highest number of first-time asylum applications among all 27 EU members relative to its population of one million.

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The island also accuses Turkey of orchestrating the crisis by allowing migrants to cross over from the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Cyprus has been divided since Turkish troops invaded the north in 1974 after a Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the then ruling junta in Athens.

Migrant flows recorded in Cyprus in 2021 are 38 percent higher than for all of last year.

Cyprus has called for the relocation of asylum seekers to other EU member states and the repatriation of asylum seekers to their countries of origin.

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Hiroshima survivor who embraced Obama dies at 88

The emotional embrace between Barack Obama and Hiroshima survivor Mori—who was eight years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb in 1945—resonated around the world.

According to Asahi Shimbun and other local media, Mori died on Saturday at a hospital in Hiroshima.

Mori, known for his research on the fate of American prisoners of war in Hiroshima, was thrown into a river by the force of the explosion on August 6, 1945, during the atomic bombing of the city.

In a past interview with AFP, ahead of his meeting with Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 2016, Mori recalled the chaos and desperation that followed the blast.

He described how, after emerging from the water, he encountered injured civilians seeking help amid the devastation, an experience that stayed with him throughout his life.

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In 2016, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he paid tribute to the victims of the first atomic bomb used in warfare. During the visit, Mori was visibly moved as he met the president, sharing a brief but powerful moment that symbolized remembrance and reconciliation.

The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the deaths of approximately 140,000 people, including those who succumbed to radiation exposure in the aftermath.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people and contributing to the end of World War II.

International

Colombia seeks ‘total suffocation’ of armed groups with regional support

Colombia is advancing a strategy aimed at the “total suffocation” of illegal armed groups, seeking to corner them in border regions with the support of Ecuador and Venezuela, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said in an interview with AFP.

According to the minister, coordinated pressure from neighboring countries—backed by United States—aims to dismantle criminal networks that use cross-border routes to traffic Colombian cocaine toward North America and Europe.

For decades, armed groups involved in Colombia’s internal conflict have relied on border territories as strategic rear bases to evade military operations and maintain logistical support.

However, Sánchez said that dynamic is beginning to change.

“We expect a total suffocation between both nations so they have no spaces where they can live or feel safe […] to close off any room they might have,” he stated during the interview in Bogotá, less than five months before the end of President Gustavo Petro’s term.

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Regional developments have reinforced this strategy. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Washington has increased its influence in Caracas, where interim leader Delcy Rodríguez has implemented a renewed anti-narcotics policy.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa—a key U.S. ally in the region—has launched a two-week security plan under strict curfews to combat criminal gangs, with U.S. support.

Sánchez argued that these combined efforts leave illegal organizations with fewer escape routes and operational spaces, effectively placing them in a “dead end.”

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.