Day: April 24, 2023

Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy Nathaniel C. Fick will travel to San Francisco, California from April 24 to 27, 2023 to speak at the RSA Conference; Takasaki, Japan from April 28 to 30 to head the U.S. delegation to the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers’ Meeting; and Tokyo, Japan, on May 1 to lead the U.S. interagency delegation at the 8th U.S.-Japan Cyber Dialogue.

At the RSA Conference, an annual cybersecurity conference in its 32nd year, Ambassador Fick will be joined by Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Cyberspace Security Liesyl Franz. They will discuss the Administration’s recently released National Cybersecurity Strategy and efforts to implement an affirmative vision for a secure cyberspace that achieves our collective aspirations through engagement with our allies and partners to build a defensible, resilient, and values-aligned digital ecosystem.

Ambassador Fick will then travel to Japan to represent the United States at the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers’ Meeting, where he will review opportunities and challenges for the G7 to develop shared approaches to the digitalization of society. These will include a focus on cross-border data flows and data free flow with trust, secure and resilient digital infrastructure, emerging technologies, responsible artificial intelligence, multistakeholder Internet governance, digital and Internet freedom, and digital competition. He will also highlight U.S. support for Ukraine’s connectivity and cybersecurity in the face of Russia’s war of aggression.

At the 8th U.S.-Japan Cyber Dialogue, Ambassador Fick will lead the U.S. interagency delegation, while Ambassador in charge of International Security and Cyber Policy and Deputy Director-General in the Foreign Policy Bureau Ishizuki Hideo will lead the Japanese interagency delegation. The two sides will discuss U.S.-Japan cooperation on cyber issues, including domestic cyber policy, cooperation in regional and international affairs, and bilateral operational cybersecurity cooperation.

Follow the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy on Twitter @StateCDP.

Source: EMM/ U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Five people were wounded in a car-ramming near Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market on Monday afternoon, police and medics said, Trend reports citing The Times of Israel.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said its medics treated five people at the scene on the corner of Agrippas and Ki’ach streets, including a man in his 60s in serious condition.

A woman in her 30s was listed in moderate condition, and three others were listed in good condition, including a 50-year-old man and two men aged 25. The five were taken to Shaare Zedek and Hadassah Ein Kerem hospitals in Jerusalem.

Graphic amateur video footage showed an armed civilian shooting into the car’s window as a wounded man lay on the hood of the vehicle. Several other victims were seen strewn across the street.

“A citizen who witnessed the incident and was near the scene, shot and neutralized the terrorist, and later he was declared dead at the scene,” police said in a statement, calling the ramming a terror attack.

The Palestinian driver was identified as 39-year-old Khatem Najma, a father of five from East Jerusalem’s Beit Safafa neighborhood. He had no known prior security offenses, but was known to have mental heath issues.

The attack occurred outside the Mahane Yehuda outdoor market, or shuk, a popular area normally crowded with shoppers, especially ahead of a holiday, when many stores close.

Source: Trend News Agency

New footage of the checkpoint set up by Azerbaijani authorities on the border with Armenia, at the beginning of the Lachin-Khankendi road, has been published on social media, Trend reports.

In order to prevent the transportation of manpower, ammunition, mines, as well as other military equipment from Armenia for illegal Armenian armed groups on the territory of Azerbaijan, and as an adequate response to the unilateral establishment of a checkpoint by Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan on April 22 at the entrance to the Lachin-Khankendi road contrary to the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, on April 23 at 12:00, the units of the State Border Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan set up a border checkpoint in its sovereign territories, on the border with Armenia, at the beginning of the Lachin-Khankendi road.

Source: Trend News Agency

Azerbaijani fighters have claimed a clutch of 14 medals at the European Cadets, Youth and Junior Sambo Championships held in the city of Haifa, Israel. The Azerbaijani sambo wrestlers bagged three silvers, and eleven bronze medals.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency

The United States is preparing to send a large number of additional troops to its military base in Djibouti in case of an eventual emergency evacuation from Sudan of American citizens, Al Jazeera reported. Forces commanded by two previously allied leaders of Sudan's ruling council began a violent power struggle last weekend that has so far killed more than 330 people, tipping a nation reliant on food aid into what the United Nations calls a humanitarian catastrophe. 'We are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it,' the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday. Djibouti, a tiny nation of about one million people, has become essential to US operations in Africa and the Middle East. The US secured a 10-year lease for the base in 2014 and pays $63m annually. White House spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden ordered the pre-positioning of military forces to be ready, adding he was closely following developments. Kirby said there are no indications Americans are being targeted but it was a dangerous situation in Sudan. The best thing that can happen is for the two sides to lay down arms, abide by a ceasefire, and let humanitarian aid get to the people in Khartoum, he added. The State Department previously told US citizens in Sudan to remain sheltered in place indoors. Washington does not provide numbers of US citizens living in or travelling to a particular country. The US embassy in Khartoum also issued a statement on Thursday saying because of the security situation and closure of the airport, 'it is not currently safe to undertake a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens'. The fiercest battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been around Khartoum, one of Africa's largest urban areas, and in Darfur, still scarred by a brutal conflict that ended three years ago. Sudan's military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, heads a ruling council installed after the 2021 military coup and the 2019 removal of veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Paramilitary leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, who analysts say may command more than 100,000 fighters, was his deputy on the council. The latest violence was triggered by disagreement over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government. Both sides accuse the other of thwarting the transition. A group of four countries known as the Quad - the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia - have pushed international efforts to find a political solution in Sudan, along with the United Nations, the African Union and the African trade bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Thousands of civilians have fled Khartoum and large numbers of people have also crossed into Chad to flee fighting in Darfur. The United Nations refugee agency told Al Jazeera the 'vast majority' of those who had crossed the border into Chad were women and children.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency