JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier Thursday after acquiring the former Italian vessel to strengthen its maritime defenses and disaster response.
The Italian flag on the former ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi was replaced with the Indonesian flag on the carrier renamed the KRI Sriwijaya-100 as part of its official transfer at the ceremony held at Tanjung Priok seaport in North Jakarta.
"The ship, which previously served in the Italian Navy, now bears the name KRI Sriwijaya-100, flying the red-and-white flag as a symbol of sovereignty and service to Indonesia,” navy spokesperson Tunggul, who uses one name, said in a statement.
The carrier, which Italy retired in 2024, arrived at the Indonesian seaport last week after a 25-day journey passing through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
It has the capacity for short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft and helicopters. Unlike major naval powers, Indonesia will use the vessel as a mobile command and support hub for helicopters, drones and maritime operations across the archipelago.
President Prabowo Subianto earlier said the ship would help fight forest and peatland fires that regularly blanket parts of Southeast Asia with hazardous haze.
Italy agreed in March to give the carrier to Indonesia in a move aimed at boosting Italy’s broader defense engagement with the Southeast Asian country. Italy is seeking deals on submarines and aircraft, and gifting the carrier to Indonesia also saves it the cost of decommissioning the ship.
Indonesia is the second country in Southeast Asia with an aircraft carrier. Thailand’s HTMS Chakri Naruebet was commissioned in 1997 after being procured from Spain.
Indonesian Navy personnel salute as the Giuseppe Garibaldi, a former Italian Navy aircraft carrier, arrives at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
BURTON-ON-TRENT, England (AP) — England would be making a mistake by trying to replicate Spain’s successful style of play in a bid to win major tournaments, winger Anthony Gordon said ahead of Saturday’s match between the European giants.
Gordon is well-placed to discuss the qualities of Spain’s World Cup-winning players, given he now trains daily with many of them — like Rodri, Lamine Yamal, Pedri and more — following his offseason move to La Liga champion Barcelona.
“They’re definitely built different,” Gordon said. “So I’m not sure we can ever get that.”
Long-held doubts over England’s ability to end the men’s team’s long wait to win a European Championship or World Cup returned over the summer when England squandered a lead — earned by a goal from Gordon — by conceding two late goals to lose 2-1 to Argentina in the World Cup semifinals.
Speaking at England’s training base this week, Gordon said he might never get over the defeat that has prompted questions over whether England’s players have the quality to control these high-pressure games like the Spanish can. That’s because England became ultra-defensive after taking the lead — Gordon was replaced by a defender, Ezri Konsa, in a telling substitution by coach Thomas Tuchel — and allowed Argentina to seize the initiative in the final half-hour.
So, Gordon was asked, couldn’t England just be more like Spain?
“I think culturally, it’s not just that tournament or that game where we couldn’t control a game,” he said, referring to the Argentina loss. “England, as a nation, we don’t have that strength like the Spanish, where we control games like they do. It’s not in us.
“It’s not in the English DNA,” Gordon added, “and it’s probably something I’ve only realized to that extent from playing in Spain now. Because I think we, as English players, are educated the same way as the Spanish players. We know how to keep possession but it’s the decision-making of certain players in Spain, which it’s just not a natural thing. I even look at some of the decisions they take on the ball sometimes and think, ‘I’m not sure how you’ve seen that.’”
Gordon believes England might have to pursue its own course, rather than trying to imitate Spain.
“We can definitely get better,” he said, “or maybe go the other way and really play to our strengths, which is to play physical, play direct football, and on the counter-attack.”
Spain's trip to play England at Wembley Stadium is its first match as world champion and marks the start of the teams' Nations League campaign.
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England's Anthony Gordon during a training session in Burton-upon-Trent, England, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)
