ATHENS, Greece: A small cargo ship with about 400 migrants on board that suffered engine problems in the eastern Mediterranean Sea miles off the island of Crete is being towed to a safe anchorage in Greece, the Greek coast guard said Friday.
A coast guard statement said the Turkish-flagged freighter was located by a Greek search and rescue vessel east of Crete. Greek authorities had earlier been informed that the cargo ship was crippled and in need of assistance.
There was no indication that anybody on board was in ill health. The nationalities of the passengers and crew were unknown.
“Right now, the important thing is to get the ship to a safe anchorage,” an official with knowledge of the operation told The Associated Press. The official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, said later that the vessel remained east of Crete and by nightfall there had still been no decision on where it would be taken.
A photograph posted by the coast guard showed scores of people, apparently mostly men, standing in groups on the deck of a small, battered-looking freighter with what appeared to be the name “Vatha” painted on her bows.
The coast guard said the ship had set off from Turkey and had been heading for Italy, where smuggling rings frequently send migrants by sea — particularly after Greece toughened border policing and maritime patrols over the past 18 months.
Usually they use yachts, and a large vessel capable of carrying several hundred people would mark a shift in tactics by smugglers.
The coast guard said that because of the number of people on the ship it was “one of the biggest search and rescue operations carried out in the eastern Mediterranean.”
The last time a vessel carrying several hundred migrants was located in Greece was in late 2014, again off Crete. The 77-meter (250-foot) Baris cargo ship ran into trouble in international waters with nearly 600 people on board and was towed by a Greek naval frigate to the Cretan port of Ierapetra.
The passengers, mostly Syrians, told officials they had paid smugglers $2,000 to $6,000 for a passage from Turkey to Italy on the aging rust bucket.
A couple more cargo ships were also located around the same time heading for Italy. But the use of vessels that size eased soon afterwards, as by then smugglers were offering a cheaper and quicker — though by no means safer — way into the European Union.
Crammed into flimsy dinghies, almost a million people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa crossed from the Turkish coast to the Greek islands, seeking to proceed through Greece to more prosperous EU countries.
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Greece: Crippled ship with 400 migrants heads for safe port
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Greece: Crippled ship with 400 migrants heads for safe port
- Turkish-flagged freighter was located by a Greek search and rescue vessel east of Crete
- There was no indication that anybody on board was in ill health
Pentagon foresees ‘more limited’ role in deterring North Korea
- South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops in combined defense against North Korea’s military threat
- In recent years, US officials have signaled a desire to make US forces in South Korea more flexible
The Pentagon foresees a “more limited” role in deterring North Korea, with South Korea taking primary responsibility for the task, according to a policy document released on Friday, a move that could lead to a reduction of US forces on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops in combined defense against North Korea’s military threat and Seoul has raised its defense budget by 7.5 percent for this year.
“South Korea is capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited US support,” the Pentagon said in the 25-page National Defense Strategy document that guides its policies.
“This shift in the balance of responsibility is consistent with America’s interest in updating US force posture on the Korean Peninsula.”
In recent years, US officials have signaled a desire to make US forces in South Korea more flexible, to potentially operate outside the Korean Peninsula in response to a broader range of threats, such as in defending Taiwan and checking China’s growing military reach.
South Korea has resisted the idea of shifting the role of US troops, but has worked to grow its defense capabilities in the past 20 years, with the goal of being able to take on the wartime command of combined US and South Korean forces. South Korea has 450,000 troops.
The Pentagon’s top policy official, Elbridge Colby, is due to travel to Asia next week and is expected to visit South Korea, a US official said.
The wide-ranging document, which each new administration publishes, said the Pentagon’s priority was defending the homeland. In the Indo-Pacific region, the document said, the Pentagon was focused on ensuring that China could not dominate the United States or US allies.
“This does not require regime change or some other existential struggle. Rather, a decent peace, on terms favorable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under, is possible,” the document said, without mentioning Taiwan by name.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
The Pentagon document is based on US President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy, published last year, which said the United States will reassert its dominance in the Western Hemisphere, build military strength in the Indo-Pacific, and possibly reassess its relationship with Europe.
Iran seeks to rebuild military
President Trump said on Thursday the United States has an “armada” heading toward Iran but that he hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.
The deployments to the Middle East expand the options available to Trump, both to better defend US forces in the region at a moment of high tension and to take any additional military action after striking Iranian nuclear sites in June.
The Pentagon document said that while Iran had suffered setbacks in recent months, it was aiming to rebuild its military, with Tehran leaving open the possibility that it could “try again to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Even with US troops heading to the region, the document said Israel was a “model ally” and could be further empowered to defend itself. The United States has had a sometimes strained relationship with Israel over its war in Gaza.
US to remain engaged in Europe
Trump’s National Security Strategy from last year drew an outcry from Europeans after it said that Europe faced “civilizational erasure” and may one day lose its status as a reliable US ally.
The Trump administration is putting pressure on Kyiv to reach a peace deal in the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede its entire eastern industrial area of Donbas before it stops fighting.
The Pentagon’s strategy document was more measured on European allies, saying that while the United States would remain engaged in Europe it would prioritize defending the United States and deterring China.
It said that Russia would remain a “persistent but manageable” threat for NATO’s eastern members, and that the Pentagon would provide Trump with options to “guarantee US military and commercial access to key terrain” in different parts of the world, including in Greenland.
Trump said earlier this week he had secured total and permanent US access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China.
South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops in combined defense against North Korea’s military threat and Seoul has raised its defense budget by 7.5 percent for this year.
“South Korea is capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited US support,” the Pentagon said in the 25-page National Defense Strategy document that guides its policies.
“This shift in the balance of responsibility is consistent with America’s interest in updating US force posture on the Korean Peninsula.”
In recent years, US officials have signaled a desire to make US forces in South Korea more flexible, to potentially operate outside the Korean Peninsula in response to a broader range of threats, such as in defending Taiwan and checking China’s growing military reach.
South Korea has resisted the idea of shifting the role of US troops, but has worked to grow its defense capabilities in the past 20 years, with the goal of being able to take on the wartime command of combined US and South Korean forces. South Korea has 450,000 troops.
The Pentagon’s top policy official, Elbridge Colby, is due to travel to Asia next week and is expected to visit South Korea, a US official said.
The wide-ranging document, which each new administration publishes, said the Pentagon’s priority was defending the homeland. In the Indo-Pacific region, the document said, the Pentagon was focused on ensuring that China could not dominate the United States or US allies.
“This does not require regime change or some other existential struggle. Rather, a decent peace, on terms favorable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under, is possible,” the document said, without mentioning Taiwan by name.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
The Pentagon document is based on US President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy, published last year, which said the United States will reassert its dominance in the Western Hemisphere, build military strength in the Indo-Pacific, and possibly reassess its relationship with Europe.
Iran seeks to rebuild military
President Trump said on Thursday the United States has an “armada” heading toward Iran but that he hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.
The deployments to the Middle East expand the options available to Trump, both to better defend US forces in the region at a moment of high tension and to take any additional military action after striking Iranian nuclear sites in June.
The Pentagon document said that while Iran had suffered setbacks in recent months, it was aiming to rebuild its military, with Tehran leaving open the possibility that it could “try again to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Even with US troops heading to the region, the document said Israel was a “model ally” and could be further empowered to defend itself. The United States has had a sometimes strained relationship with Israel over its war in Gaza.
US to remain engaged in Europe
Trump’s National Security Strategy from last year drew an outcry from Europeans after it said that Europe faced “civilizational erasure” and may one day lose its status as a reliable US ally.
The Trump administration is putting pressure on Kyiv to reach a peace deal in the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede its entire eastern industrial area of Donbas before it stops fighting.
The Pentagon’s strategy document was more measured on European allies, saying that while the United States would remain engaged in Europe it would prioritize defending the United States and deterring China.
It said that Russia would remain a “persistent but manageable” threat for NATO’s eastern members, and that the Pentagon would provide Trump with options to “guarantee US military and commercial access to key terrain” in different parts of the world, including in Greenland.
Trump said earlier this week he had secured total and permanent US access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China.
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