
Cyprus arrests individual on suspicion of terror-related plot, police say
NICOSIA, June 21 (Reuters) - Police in Cyprus have arrested an individual on suspicion of terror-related offences and espionage, authorities said on Saturday.
The individual appeared before a district court on Saturday, which ordered an eight-day detention pending inquiries. No further details would be issued, police said, citing national security.
Cyprus lies very close to the Middle East and has in recent days been used as a transit point for people either leaving or going to the region amid a conflict between regional foes Israel and Iran. Terror-related offences on the island are very rare.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BreakingNews.ie
32 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Kneecap Glastonbury slot ‘not appropriate', says Starmer
UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not think Kneecap's planned Glastonbury Festival performance is 'appropriate'. He made the comments after Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh appeared in court on Wednesday, after being charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah while saying 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah' at a gig in November last year. Advertisement In an interview with The Sun, Sir Keir was asked if he thought the trio should perform at Glastonbury, to which he replied: 'No, I don't, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this. 'This is about the threats that shouldn't be made, I won't say too much because there's a court case on, but I don't think that's appropriate.' It comes after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said she thought the BBC 'should not be showing' Kneecap's performance at the festival next week. Mrs Badenoch said in the X post, which was accompanied by an article from The Times that claimed the BBC had not banned the group: 'The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda. Advertisement 'One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act. 'As a publicly funded platform, the BBC should not be rewarding extremism.' The Tory Leader of the UK opposition has previously called for the group to be banned from Glastonbury, and last year Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK government in Belfast High Court after she tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister. Kneecap took aim at Mrs Badenoch in their latest single, The Recap, released just before their headline set at London's Wide Awake festival in May, with the song mocking the politician's attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party's election loss. Advertisement The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda. One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act. As a publicly funded platform the BBC should not be rewarding extremism. — Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) June 21, 2025 On Wednesday, Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise Ó Caireallain and JJ Ó Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in 'Free Mo Chara' T-shirts. During the proceedings, a prosecutor told the court the 27-year-old is 'well within his rights' to voice his opinions on Israel and Palestine, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, is a 'wholly different thing'. Ó hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on August 20th. Following the hearing, the rapper said: 'For anybody going to Glastonbury, you can see us there at 4pm on the Saturday. Advertisement 'If you can't be there we'll be on the BBC, if anybody watches the BBC. We'll be at Wembley in September. 'But most importantly: free, free Palestine.' The charge came following a counter-terrorism police investigation after the historical gig footage came to light, which also allegedly shows the group calling for the deaths of MPs. In April, Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised'. Advertisement In an initial post in response to the charge, Kneecap said: '14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us. 'We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves, this is political policing, this is a carnival of distraction. 'We are not the story, genocide is, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective? 'To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out. 'Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. 'The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.' Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English and their merchandise. Ireland Kneecap receive rockstar reception after terrorism... Read More Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag. A BBC spokesperson said: 'As the broadcast partner, the BBC will be bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers. 'Whilst the BBC doesn't ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines. Decisions about our output will be made in the lead-up to the festival.'


The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
Israeli-backed group seeks at least $30 million from US for aid distribution in Gaza
A U.S.-led group has asked the Trump administration to step in with an initial $30 million so it can continue its much scrutinized and Israeli-backed aid distribution in Gaza, according to three U.S. officials and the organization's application for the money. That application, obtained by The Associated Press, also offers some of the first financial details about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its work in the territory. The foundation says it has provided millions of meals in southern Gaza since late May to Palestinians as Israel's blockade and military campaign have driven the Gaza to the brink of famine. But the effort has seen near-daily fatal shootings of Palestinians trying to reach the distribution sites. Major humanitarian groups also accuse the foundation of cooperating with Israel's objectives in the 20-month-old war against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles. The group's funding application was submitted to the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to the U.S. officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The application was being processed this week as potentially one of the agency's last acts before the Republican administration absorbs USAID into the State Department as part of deep cuts in foreign assistance. Two of the officials said they were told the administration has decided to award the money. They said the processing was moving forward with little of the review and auditing normally required before Washington makes foreign assistance grants to an organization. In a letter submitted Thursday as part of the application, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation secretary Loik Henderson said his organization 'was grateful for the opportunity to partner with you to sustain and scale life-saving operations in Gaza.' Neither the State Department nor Henderson immediately responded to requests for comment Saturday. Israel says the foundation is the linchpin of a new aid system to wrest control from the United Nations, which Israel alleges has been infiltrated by Hamas, and other humanitarian groups. The foundation's use of fixed sites in southern Gaza is in line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to use aid to concentrate the territory's more than 2 million people in the south, freeing Israel to fight Hamas elsewhere. Aid workers fear it's a step toward another of Netanyahu's public goals, removing Palestinians from Gaza in 'voluntary' migrations that aid groups and human rights organizations say would amount to coerced departures. The U.N. and many leading nonprofit groups accuse the foundation of stepping into aid distribution with little transparency or humanitarian experience, and, crucially, without a commitment to the principles of neutrality and operational independence in war zones. Since the organization started operations, several hundred Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in near-daily shootings as they tried to reach aid sites, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli troops regularly fire heavy barrages toward the crowds in an attempt to control them. The Israeli military has denied firing on civilians. It says it fired warning shots in several instance, and fired directly at a few 'suspects' who ignored warnings and approached its forces. It's unclear who is funding the new operation in Gaza. No donor has come forward. The State Department said this past week that the United States is not funding it. In documents supporting its application, the group said it received nearly $119 million for May operations from 'other government donors,' but gives no details. It expects $38 million from those unspecific government donors for June, in addition to the hoped-for $30 million from the United States. The application shows no funding from private philanthropy or any other source.


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Don't trust two-tier Keir on Palestine Action. He hasn't turned sound
If a mystic with a crystal ball asked you last week to guess which political leader would try to ban a group with 'Palestine' in the name, you'd have plumped for Donald Trump. Turns out, however, it was Keir Starmer. I speak of Palestine Action, the neo-Corbynite clowns who infiltrated RAF Brize Norton on electric scooters to sabotage strategic aircraft. The Government says it will ban them as terrorists for their trouble. Has the Prime Minster finally gone sound? Has he heck. The petulant hoodlums will complain that unlike Hamas and the other groups on the list, they weren't trying to bomb anybody. That argument will probably prevail; the ban must win the support of both MPs and peers before coming into force, so it may never materialise. No, it's all about the headlines. Nigel Farage demanded that Palestine Action be proscribed in the morning and by the afternoon, Starmer had claimed the oxygen for his own. This created the impression that the Government takes our national security seriously, stands against the irritating Gaza radicals and is determined to crack down on treason. No need to vote Reform then, eh? He's a slippery fish, that prime minister. This is the most unprincipled government in living memory and its playbook is always the same. Wrongfoot and gaslight the public while advancing an agenda that nobody has voted for. Mark my words. After this, Starmer's betrayal of Israel will continue apace. Take the child sex gangs. The inquiry was a controlled explosion of a political landmine with senior Labour figures protected by spin. Meanwhile, this was Death Week, with infanticide and geronticide, neither of which were in Labour's manifesto, forced through the Commons. Thus the Government emerges as the shadowy winner while the country and its despairing people have lost. The same pattern can be seen in everything from the economy to immigration and defence. Starmer talks tough, cracks out a little U-turn, then when the heat has passed, pushes on with his agenda, making superficial modifications to throw us off the scent. Last week, for instance, it emerged that our rising defence budget will also fund Heathrow's third runway, reduce food prices and bolster supply chains. The Prime Minister told us he was serious about defending the realm, but he didn't really mean it. The Palestine Action episode is the same. This government is now the most Israelophobic since the Fifties. It has suspended arms export licences while continuing to provide them to the repressive regimes of Qatar, Turkey and Egypt. It has sanctioned objectionable Israeli ministers while leaving far more chauvinistic regional figures untouched. The Tunisian president, for example, demands 'all the land of Palestine' for the Arabs. No two-state solution there. No British sanctions, either. It has presided over crackdowns on free speech and two-tier policing of the Gaza mobs. Just as sensible voters reach the end of their tether, however, Sir Keir throws sand in their eyes on Palestine Action. Now it is the turn of his Corbynite Left to feel the burn. But this is nothing more than an exercise in damage limitation; as always, the pendulum will swing back the other way, only – crucially – not as far as its original position. Thus public rage is subdued while the Overton Window creeps inexorably leftwards. You can feel it, can't you? You know you're being conned but you can't quite put your finger on it. As the months pass, a browbeaten and confused electorate finds the country drifting away beneath its feet, little by little becoming unrecognisable.