In a one-on-one interview with VOA’s Russian White House correspondent Mykhailo Komadovsky, NSC spokesperson discusses U.S. support for Ukraine and Saudi Arabia, ties between Russia and Iran
…

In 2012, actress Chulpan Khamatova was campaigning for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now based in Latvia, she speaks out against Putin and his war on Ukraine. Anna Rice narrates this story from VOA’s Russian Service.
…

Rising domestic demand is forcing Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to cut back or halt natural gas exports to China, prompting a shakeup of regional energy markets and a rethinking of trade relationships across Central Asia. Meanwhile, American experts have been urging the West to invest in the region’s energy infrastructure, arguing that this kind of support “will create steady partners and balance Chinese and Russian ambitions.”

Residents in Central Asia not only face bitterly cold winters but also endure energy cuts during this season. They blame the government for corruption and lack of accountability, but authorities blame decreasing production and supply bottlenecks.

“Stop exporting, start delivering!” blare many social media debates in Uzbekistan, to which officials respond: “We are not exporting. … This is all we have.”

“We import natural gas in winter to meet domestic needs and export it in summer to return the gas we have received,” said Jurabek Mirzamahmudov, Uzbekistan’s energy minister.

The China-Central Asia pipeline from Turkmenistan carries gas across Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Beijing, the region’s biggest trade partner, mostly buys energy products, including natural gas and oil, from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

In the first quarter of 2022, Turkmenistan, China’s largest gas supplier, delivered $2.87 billion worth, according to official Chinese data. Ashgabat increased gas exports by 53% this year, with October’s cost volume amounting to $8.23 billion.

Kazakhstan, selling $270.6 million worth of gas to China at the beginning of the year, will halt exports, instead using it for domestic consumption. The government has warned that gas prices, currently subsidized by exports, will rise.

Uzbekistan aims to end gas exports in coming years due to rising domestic demand. This year its plan is to export 3.3 billion cubic meters, a notable decrease from 2019, when it sold 12.2 billion cubic meters. China’s General Administration of Customs reported that Uzbekistan exported $132.8 million in gas to China from January to April.

On December 7, Mirzamahmudov confirmed that Uzbekistan had stopped gas exports to China, then 6 million cubic meters a day. “However, our daily domestic demand has gone up to 25 million cubic meters a day,” he said.

Relations with China

Meetings in Tashkent with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua in early December indicated the countries are working toward boosting business and aiming to grow annual trade to $10 billion from about $8 billion.

Official news agency Xinhua highlighted that “Uzbekistan is willing to deepen cooperation with China in such fields as trade, investment, transportation, energy, infrastructure … and advance the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and other connectivity projects to benefit people in the two countries and the region.”

“China wants to engage and invest in Central Asian resources as a bridge towards markets in Europe, towards hydrocarbon resources and politically friendly parts of the Middle East, such as Iran, and increasingly Saudi Arabia and Iraq. … It wants to reshape the international economic order,” said Wesley Hill, one of the authors of a recent report from Washington-based International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), which focused on Central Asia’s energy potential.

In Kazakhstan, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, a vision of building land and sea trade routes from China to other countries through investments and infrastructure. Kazakhstan was also the first country Xi visited since COVID-19 became a public health emergency.

Western interests, Russian ambitions

Beyond China, “Efficient exports of Central Asian resources to potential trading partners requires infrastructure investments, including pipelines and specialized port terminals,” said the ITIC report, since existing ones mostly cross Russia or Iran.

Kazakhstan earns 40% of its revenue from oil, but 80% of the energy exports pass through Russia via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

“Kazakhstan is a responsible actor,” said First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov, who was visiting Washington for the annual Strategic Dialogue earlier this month.

“Over 70% of our oil exports go to the European Union,” he told journalists and experts gathered at George Washington University on December 6. “Kazakh oil exports account for more than 1.5% of global supply.”

As the West intensifies ties with Central Asia, American analysts caution that Russia is likely to weaponize energy, intimidating regional exporters, “hoping to prevent their role as potential suppliers to Europe. Similarly, China could attempt to increase its leverage while Russia is preoccupied in Ukraine and protect its own economic interests.”

Like many reports from U.S. think tanks, the ITIC study also stresses multivector cooperation and regional integration, underlining “these are not in Russian or Chinese interests.”

“Western investment — both government-directed and private — should prioritize the energy infrastructure of states whose resources make them best able to meet current demand: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan,” the ITIC publication says.

“As Russia escalates its bid for hegemony over formerly Soviet states, the strengthening of the Central Asian republics’ energy sectors allows them a pathway to greater autonomy and prosperity … Kazakhstan with oil and uranium, Uzbekistan with natural gas and uranium, and Turkmenistan with natural gas.”

By supporting the region’s energy industry, the ITIC experts urge, “the democratic world will create steady partners and balance Chinese and Russian ambitions.”

Observers in Washington agree, this is a time of economic uncertainty and assertive Russian aggression.

The Carnegie Endowment’s Russia and Eurasia expert, Paul Stronski, said Washington should avoid asking Central Asians to pick sides.

“They are sympathetic to Ukraine and wary of Russia. But Russia is willing to muck around,” he said.

Stronski suggested the U.S. provide security assistance and encourage the region to seek new linkages.

“We and Central Asians don’t want the region to be stuck between Russia and China.”

“Economic engagement is key but largely depends on these countries’ willingness to reform. In Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, specifically, Washington should hold governments accountable for their promises, while providing technical support,” Stronski said.

The ITIC report noted, as energy exporters, Central Asian states must continue “market liberalization and anti-corruption reforms, building confidence that energy and infrastructure projects will not be hindered by grift, needless roadblocks, expropriation, or confiscatory and punitive taxation” and ensure the rule of law to be attractive “safe harbors for foreign investment.”
…

A massive aquarium in Berlin has burst, spilling 1,500 tropical fish and a million liters of water into the complex surrounding the structure and into the street.

About 100 emergency workers responded to the scene early Friday at the DomAquaree building .

Officials say they do not know what caused the Aqua Dom to collapse.

The aquarium was the centerpiece of the Radisson Blu hotel lobby and opened in 2003.

Guests have been moved out of the hotel.
…

Ten people, including five children aged 3 to 15 years, were killed in a fire that broke out Friday morning at a residential building in Vaulx-en-Velin, near the French city of Lyon, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

Darmanin said the cause of the fire was not yet known.

“There are several scenarios and a probe will be opened,” he said, adding he was in touch with President Emmanuel Macron about the incident.

Around 180 firefighters were at the site. The fire was extinguished, Darmanin said, adding he was heading to the site.

The fire occurred in the early hours of Friday morning at a seven-story residential building. A security cordon was set up at the site, the authority of the Rhone area said.
…

Six Chinese diplomatic personnel left Britain this week for their alleged roles in assaulting protesters at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester in October.

British parliamentarians and rights defenders welcomed Wednesday’s development, even as they criticized 10 Downing Street for not acting sooner.

“Six Chinese Consulate officials, including the consul general, are being removed from the U.K., following the disgraceful incident in October,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced Wednesday.

Cleverly added that British authorities requested diplomatic immunity to be waived for the consulate officials so they could be questioned by Manchester police in connection to their roles in the violent incident of October 16.

“We all saw the disturbing footage of the incident outside the Chinese Consulate in Manchester. … We informed the Chinese Embassy of that, and we set a deadline which expired today, making clear that we expected them to take action,” Cleverly said in a taped video message released Wednesday.

Chinese Consul General Zheng Xiyuan and other men from the consulate were captured on camera kicking down banners that had been put up by several dozen protesters. One of the protesters, later identified as Bob Chan, who moved to Britain from Hong Kong, was seen being dragged into the consulate and beaten.

“Due to our fears for the safety of the man, officers intervened and removed the victim [Chan] from the consulate grounds,” Manchester police said later in a statement.

Following Cleverly’s announcement, China’s diplomatic mission in London issued a statement, quoting the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson saying Zheng Xiyuan had “completed his tenure and returned to China upon instruction not long ago.” It further stated that the U.K. government had sided with “those violent rioters … and wrongfully accused the relevant Chinese Consulate members who were actually the victims.”

No footage is readily available that shows the Chinese Consulate staff were victims in the altercation. Meanwhile, Australian media reported that one of the men from the Chinese Consulate in Manchester had engaged in physical violence against Taiwanese diplomats while stationed in Fuji in 2020.

China also denied wrongdoing in that incident.

While Beijing called Zheng’s departure from Britain “a normal rotation” and insisted that “it’s for us to determine the duration of posting of members of Chinese diplomatic and consular missions,” British media cast the forced departure of Zheng and others who would otherwise have been questioned by British police as “fleeing.”

Prominent British lawmakers from the Conservative and Labour parties and human rights activists say Zheng’s and others’ departures should have come much sooner.

“It should never have taken two months and intense and persistent parliamentary pressure to achieve this outcome,” Benedict Rogers, co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, wrote in response to VOA’s request for comment from his home in London.

Rogers said he believed the Chinese personnel should have been “expelled from the U.K. at a much earlier stage, given that the video footage of the incident and the Consul-General’s own admission, in a television interview, of his participation in the incident, provided clear evidence.”

“All that said,” he added, “the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s statement is welcome, and certainly the six PRC diplomats’ removal from the U.K. is absolutely right in the circumstances. They are not welcome here and should not be welcome in any democratic country that upholds basic freedoms and the rule of law.”

Zheng, then-consul general seen in the video in a fancy-looking coat, hat, scarf and face mask, “may have dressed like a gentleman, but he behaved like a gangster and a thug,” Rogers added.

On Thursday, cross-party parliamentarians in Britain urged “no more dither and delay” by British authorities in investigating inappropriate and illegal conduct by Chinese official representatives stationed in Britain.

Declaring the six people persona non grata is a first step, lawmakers from the Conservative and Labour parties said.

Labour Party member Catherine West, who serves as shadow foreign minister for Asia and the Pacific, urged her government to engage with international partners “to prevent similar occurrences from happening in New York, Canberra, Amsterdam or Ottawa.”
…

Russian and NASA engineers were assessing a coolant leak on Thursday from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station that could have been caused by a micrometeorite strike.

Dramatic NASA TV images showed white particles resembling snowflakes streaming out of the rear of the vessel for hours.

The coolant leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday and could potentially impact a return flight to Earth by three crew members.

Leak posed no danger

Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos and the U.S. space agency said the leak on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft did not pose any danger to the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station.

“The crew members aboard the space station are safe, and were not in any danger during the leak,” NASA said.

It said ground teams were evaluating “potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.”

“NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action,” NASA said.

The TASS news agency quoted Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the crewed space flight program for Roscosmos, as saying that the leak could have been caused by a tiny meteorite striking Soyuz MS-22.

“The cause of the leak may be a micrometeorite entering the radiator,” TASS quoted Krikalev as saying. “Possible consequences are changes in the temperature regime.”

“No other changes in the telemetric parameters of either the Soyuz spacecraft or the (ISS) station on the Russian or American segments have been detected,” Krikalev said.

NASA later added that the crew on the station “completed normal operations Thursday, including … configuring tools ahead of a planned US spacewalk on Monday.”

Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the space station in September.

It is scheduled to bring them back to Earth in March and another vessel would have to be sent to the space station if Soyuz MS-22 is unavailable.

Prokopyev and Petelin had been making preparations for a spacewalk on Wednesday when the leak was discovered.

“The crew reported the warning device of the ship’s diagnostic system went off, indicating a pressure drop in the cooling system,” Roscosmos said. “At the moment, all systems of the ISS and the ship are operating normally, the crew is safe.”

NASA said the leak had occurred on the “aft end” of Soyuz MS-22, which is secured to the space station.

International collaboration

There are currently four other astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station in addition to Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin.

NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina were flown to the space station in October aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.

Space has been a rare avenue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the start of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine in February, and ensuing Western sanctions on Russia that shredded ties between the two countries.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.
…

The International Criminal Court on Thursday confirmed the convictions of Dominic Ongwen, a former Ugandan child soldier who rose to be a commander in the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, and upheld his 25-year sentence for rape, murder and child abduction.   

“The appeals chamber rejects all the defense grounds of appeal and unanimously confirms the convictions,” presiding judges Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza said. 

Later the judges also rejected all the grounds of appeal related to the sentencing.   

Led by fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, the LRA terrorized Ugandans for nearly 20 years as it fought the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in northern Uganda and neighboring countries. 

The militia has been largely wiped out. 

Ongwen, now in his mid-40s, was abducted at 9 years old and forced into a life of violence after the group killed his parents. 

The defense had argued that his horrific experiences in the LRA meant he could not be held responsible for his later actions.   

Appeals judges, however, dismissed this and confirmed the lower court’s findings that Ongwen was not under duress and acted independently when he committed the crimes for which he was charged. 

Ongwen is the only LRA suspect to appear before the ICC so far. Kony is still at large despite being the subject of an arrest warrant from the court since 2005. 

In a hearing earlier this year Ongwen told judges he felt as though he was being blamed for all of Kony’s crimes.   

The ICC prosecutor recently said he would seek to start proceedings against Kony and intensify efforts to bring him to trial. 

Prosecutors and lawyers for the more than 4,000 victims participating in the case have asked judges to uphold the conviction and sentence. 

The ICC was established in 2002 to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations. 
…

The European Parliament voted Thursday to suspend all work on legislation linked to Qatar after allegations of corruption involving a parliament vice president rocked the assembly.

Prosecutors suspect the vice president, Eva Kaili, and three other people took bribes from World Cup host Qatar in its alleged bid to influence European Union policymaking.

At a news conference following the vote, Parliament President Roberta Metsola told reporters the criminal proceedings from a probe by Belgian police were damaging for democracy, for Europe, “and for everything that we stand for … trust that has taken years to build.”

She announced the planned implementation of a reform package, to be ready by the first of the year, that would include “the strengthening of the parliament’s whistleblower protection systems, a ban on all unofficial friendship groups, a review of the policing of our code of conduct rules and a complete and in-depth look at how we interact with third countries.” A ban on Qatari representatives’ access to the parliament’s premises is also to be considered.

The European Parliament, one of the European Union’s legislative bodies, said it would suspend all work on legislative files relating to Qatar, notably on visa liberalization, a European Union-Qatar aviation agreement and planned visits, until the allegations have been confirmed or dismissed.

EU lawmakers backed the resolution 541-2 and said they were “appalled” by the alleged corruption, one of the union’s biggest scandals to date.

Belgian investigators searched 19 homes and the offices of the European Parliament, looking into allegations that Qatar paid large bribes to influence the parliament’s policy debates.

A source close to the investigation told the Reuters news agency that $1.6 million was seized in the raids, and that people were arrested on corruption charges, including parliament Vice President Eva Kaili of Greece.

Authorities in Athens on Monday froze Kaili’s assets, and her political party in Greece also suspended the former television news anchor. Both Kaili and Qatar officials have denied any wrongdoing.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Georgia’s imprisoned former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, is likely to stay in detention in the former Soviet republic after his legal bid for medical treatment abroad was delayed on Wednesday.

After Saakashvili called off a hunger strike earlier in the week, his lawyer said Thursday that the former president would eat only food sent to him by his family because he no longer trusted the prison’s food. Saakashvili and his medical team alleged last month that he was being slowly poisoned with heavy metals.

Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader of the ex-Soviet republic between 2004 and 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power, a charge that he and his supporters deny and call politically motivated.

On Wednesday, a Tbilisi court heard some opening arguments from prosecutors before adjourning until December 22, the second weeklong delay of the proceedings. Saakashvili, who is being treated in a Tbilisi clinic, accused the government of denying him the right to trial, but Georgia’s Justice Ministry said that the hospital was simply not equipped for videoconferencing.

“The aim is to kill Mikheil Saakashvili,” the ex-president’s lawyer, Shalva Khachapuridze, told reporters in Tbilisi on Wednesday. The government has denied that Saakashvili’s life is in danger.

Video surveillance

Saakashvili had not been seen for months until Wednesday, when the government released video surveillance from his hospital room in an attempt to prove that he was healthier than his team has claimed.

“The aim is to prove that no one is tortured in Georgia,” Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said.

The video footage is dated from August, October and December this year. The most recent video shows the ex-president using a walker.

Saakashvili’s lawyer said that the government published footage of Saakashvili without his consent and that he would file a complaint against the justice minister and the prison system.

The charges against Saakashvili, as well as his treatment in detention, have prompted concerns among human rights watchdogs and foreign diplomats that the Georgian government’s pursuit of justice risks being seen as political retribution and a source of national division.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told VOA that department officials were closely monitoring the situation.

“Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Georgian government to ensure Mr. Saakashvili’s health is protected and human rights are respected,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to advocate for the authorities to take appropriate steps to ensure his health and welfare, based on the recommendations of the public defender’s medical experts.”

On Wednesday, the European Union parliament voted for a resolution asking Georgia’s president, Salome Zurabishvili, to use her constitutional right to release Saakashvili. The resolution also emphasized the Georgian government’s responsibility for the health and life of the former president.

‘Very near death’

A medical report distributed on November 29 by Saakashvili’s legal team stated that he had been “poisoned” by heavy metals and that his life could be in danger without proper treatment. Saakashvili’s doctors say that his health has worsened significantly since he went to prison in October 2021 and staged repeated hunger strikes.

“He’s [Saakashvili] very near death now because the toxins are continuing to eat on his body; he needs to be transferred to a facility that understands detoxification,” Dr. David Smith, the author of the report, told VOA’s Georgian Service.

Smith could not elaborate on how exactly these toxins appeared in the former president’s body, but he believes this was not done on purpose by the doctors.

“This is speculative, but I think what happened is they didn’t recognize the heavy metal poisoning and they prescribed a whole series of drugs, some of which were counteractive,” he said. “They didn’t know what was happening. Heavy metal poisoning is a difficult diagnosis.”

In a statement to VOA, Georgia’s justice ministry said that they suggested Saakashvili take another toxicology test following the report from his medical team. The results have not been released.
…

The United States imposed new economic sanctions on Russian financial interests Thursday, targeting one of the country’s richest businessmen, Vladimir Potanin, and his family, in the latest effort to pressure Moscow over its war against Ukraine.

Potanin was once Russia’s deputy prime minister, and the U.S. said he has direct ties to President Vladimir Putin. Potanin, 61, controls Interros, an investment holding company the U.S. said has sweeping interests across the Russian economy, including 36% ownership of Nornickel, the world’s largest palladium and refined nickel producer.

The U.S. also blocked Potanin from use of Nirvana, the yacht worth hundreds of millions of dollars that he partially owns. Britain and Canada had previously imposed sanctions against him.

In addition, the U.S. Department of State blacklisted Rosbank, a Russia-based commercial bank it said Potanin acquired earlier this year, along with 17 subsidiaries of Russian VTB, the country’s second largest bank.

Brian Nelson, the Department of the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement, “By sanctioning additional major Russian banks, we continue to deepen Russia’s isolation from global markets.”

He said the U.S. sanctions, “together with actions taken by our international partners, will further inhibit the Putin regime’s ability to fund its horrific war against Ukraine.”

The State Department also imposed sanctions on members of the board of directors of the state-owned Russian Railways, members of the government, including the governor of the Moscow region and their family members.

The sanctions freeze whatever U.S. assets those blacklisted might hold, and generally bar Americans from any financial deals with them.

The newest sanctions follow a lengthy list of sanctions the U.S. and its allies have imposed on Russian oligarchs and other key business leaders since Putin invaded Ukraine last February. But there has been no indication the financial pressures that the individuals might be facing have influenced Putin to curtail Russia’s war effort.

Whatever the sanctions’ effect in Russia may or may not be, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the United States would continue “to impose costs on Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine.”

“Our actions today are a clear message that the United States will not hesitate to continue to use the tools at our disposal to promote an end to, and accountability for, President Putin’s unconscionable war,” Blinken said.
…

German tennis star Boris Becker, 55, has been freed from a British prison, the government said on Thursday, meaning he is now expected to be deported from the country.

In April, Becker, a six-times Grand Slam champion, was jailed for two years and six months by a London court for hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds of assets after he was declared bankrupt.

“Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity,” the Home Office said in a statement while declining to comment directly on Becker’s case.

Becker had previously been convicted of tax evasion in Germany in 2002, for which he received a suspended prison sentence.

The former tennis great had won his first Wimbledon final in 1985 aged 17 becoming the youngest and first unseeded player to claim the men’s singles title.

He went on to win two more Wimbledon titles.

Becker had denied all the charges in relation to the London court proceedings, saying he had cooperated with the bankruptcy proceedings – even offering up his wedding ring – and had relied on his advisers.
…

National Health Service nurses in Britain staged a strike on Thursday, their first ever national walkout, as a bitter dispute with the government over pay increases pressure on already-stretched hospitals at one of the busiest times of year.

An estimated 100,000 nurses will strike at 76 hospitals and health centers, cancelling an estimated 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries in Britain’s state-funded NHS.

Britain is facing a wave of industrial action this winter, with strikes crippling the rail network and postal service, and airports bracing for disruption over Christmas.

Inflation running at more than 10%, trailed by pay offers of around 4%, is stoking tensions between unions and employers.

Of all the strikes though, it will be the sight of nurses on picket lines that will be the stand-out image for many Britons this winter.

“What a tragic day. This is a tragic day for nursing, it is a tragic day for patients, patients in hospitals like this, and it is a tragic day for people of this society and for our NHS,”

Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, said to the BBC on a picket line on Thursday.

The widely admired nursing profession will shut down parts of the NHS, which since its founding in 1948 has developed national treasure status for being free at the point of use, hitting healthcare provision when it is already stretched in winter and with backlogs at record levels due to COVID delays.

Health minister Steve Barclay said it was deeply regrettable that the strike was going ahead.

“I’ve been working across government and with medics outside the public sector to ensure safe staffing levels — but I do remain concerned about the risk that strikes pose to patients,” he said.

Barclay said patients should continue to seek urgent medical care and attend appointments unless they have been told not to.

More Strikes Ahead?

The industrial action by nurses on December 15 and December 20 is unprecedented in the British nursing union’s 106-year history, but the RCN says it has no choice as workers struggle to make ends meet.

Nurses want a 19% pay rise, arguing they have suffered a decade of real-terms cuts and that low pay means staff shortages and unsafe care for patients.

The government has refused to discuss pay, which Cullen said raised the prospect of more strikes.

“Every room I go into with the secretary of state, he tells me he can talk about anything but pay,” she said. “What it is going to do is continue with days like this.”

Outside St. Thomas’ Hospital in central London, Ethnea Vaughan, 50, a practice development nurse from London said she felt nurses had no option but to strike, blaming a government that had ignored their concerns for years.

“Nothing is changing and I’ve been in nursing for 27 years and all I can see is a steady decline in morale,” she told Reuters.

The government in Scotland avoided a nursing strike by holding talks on pay, an outcome that the RCN had hoped for in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

But the government has said it cannot afford to pay more than the 4-5% offered to nurses, which was recommended by an independent body, and that further pay increases would mean taking money away from frontline services.

Some treatment areas will be exempt from strike action the RCN has said, including chemotherapy, dialysis and intensive care.

Polling ahead of the nursing strike showed that a majority of Britons support the action, but once the walk-outs are underway politicians will be closely monitoring public opinion.
…

Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele has been sentenced to 28 years in prison in Iran for a “fabricated series of crimes,” Belgium’s justice minister said on Wednesday, adding the government was doing everything possible to secure his release.

Vandecasteele had been sentenced as retribution for a jail sentence Belgium imposed on an Iranian diplomat last year, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said in the Belgian parliament.

“This is a compatriot who was innocently arrested in February and has been held under inhumane conditions since,” he said.

Belgium has repeatedly said there are no grounds for the detention of Vandecasteele, 41.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

“It’s a disgrace and a tragedy for Olivier and his family,” family spokesman Olivier Van Steirtegem told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. “He is innocent and the victim of a larger, shady international game.”

Swap suspended

Last week, the Belgian constitutional court suspended an agreement between Iran and Belgium that would have made it possible to swap prisoners between the two countries. But Van Quickenborne said the agreement would legally still be relevant for Vandencasteele.

That deal was seen by his family as his only hope. Belgian media suggested he might be swapped for Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian who last year was found guilty of attempted terrorism and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in Belgium in connection with a foiled plot to bomb a 2018 rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a French-based dissident group.

Van Quickenborne said Vandecasteele’s situation was directly linked to the sentencing of Assadi, who worked as a diplomat at the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

Prosecutors said his position was a cover for actions against members of the Iranian opposition in Europe.

Iran dismissed all terrorism charges and called the Paris attack allegations a “false flag” stunt by the NCRI, which it considers a terrorist group.
…

National Health Service nurses in Britain will strike on Thursday in their first-ever national walkout as a bitter dispute with the government over pay ramps up pressure on already-stretched hospitals at one of the busiest times of year.

An estimated 100,000 nurses will strike at 76 hospitals and health centers on Thursday, canceling thousands of non-urgent operations, such as hip replacements, and tens of thousands of outpatient appointments in Britain’s state-funded NHS.

Britain is facing a wave of industrial action this winter, with strikes crippling the rail network and postal service, and airports bracing for disruption over Christmas.

Inflation running at more than 10%, trailed by pay offers of around 4%, is stoking tensions between unions and employers.

Of all the strikes though, it will be the sight of nurses on picket lines that will be the standout image for many Britains this winter.

“It is deeply regrettable some union members are going ahead with strike action,” health minister Steve Barclay said.

“I’ve been working across government and with medics outside the public sector to ensure safe staffing levels — but I do remain concerned about the risk that strikes pose to patients.”

Considered a national treasure

The widely admired nursing profession will shut down parts of the NHS, which since its founding in 1948 has developed national treasure status for being free at the point of use, hitting health care provision when it is already stretched in winter and with backlogs at record levels due to COVID delays

Barclay said patients should continue to seek urgent medical care and attend appointments unless they have been told not to.

The industrial action by nurses on Thursday and December 20 is unprecedented in the British nursing union’s 106-year history, but the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it has no choice as workers struggle to make ends meet.

Nurses want a 19% pay rise, arguing they have suffered a decade of real-terms cuts and that low pay means staff shortages and unsafe care for patients. The government has refused to discuss pay.

The government in Scotland avoided a nursing strike by holding talks on pay, an outcome that the RCN had hoped for in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but Barclay is not budging.

The government has said it cannot afford to pay more than the 4-5% offered to nurses, which was recommended by an independent body, and that further pay increases would mean taking money away from frontline services.

The RCN has accused the government of “belligerence.” It said as late as Tuesday that the strikes could still be stopped if the government was prepared to negotiate.

Some treatments exempt from strike

Some treatment areas will be exempt from strike action the RCN has said, including chemotherapy, dialysis and intensive care.

Polling ahead of the nursing strike showed that a majority of Britains support the action, but once the walkouts are underway, politicians will be closely monitoring public opinion.
…

France and Kylian Mbappe are headed back to the World Cup final for a much anticipated matchup with Lionel Messi after ending Morocco’s historic run at soccer’s biggest tournament.

France defeated Africa’s first ever semifinalist 2-0 Wednesday, with Mbappe playing a part in goals by Theo Hernandez in the fifth minute and then substitute Randal Kolo Muani in the 79th.

France will head into Sunday’s title match against Argentina looking to become the first team to retain the World Cup title since Brazil in 1962. Mbappe has the chance to cement his status as soccer’s new superstar when he comes up against the 35-year-old Messi, who has dominated the game with Cristiano Ronaldo for the past 15 years.

There will be no team from the Arab world in the final of the first World Cup in the Middle East, a prospect that seemed nigh impossible before the tournament.

Yet Morocco did break ground for Africa and generated an outpouring of pride among Arab nations after topping a group containing Croatia and Belgium and eliminating two more European powers — Spain and Portugal — in the knockout stage. They gave France a far-from-easy ride, too.

Hernandez’s goal was the first scored against them by an opposition player in the tournament — the other had been an own-goal — and came amid defensive rearrangement forced by injuries to Morocco’s two best center backs. Nayef Aguerd competed in the warmup but didn’t come out for kickoff, while captain Romain Saiss lasted only 21 minutes before limping off with a hamstring injury.

Mbappe helped to create the goal because his shot deflected off a defender and into the path of Hernandez, who let the ball bounce before driving a downward effort into the net from a tight angle.

Typically a defense-first team, Morocco was forced to come out and play. Roared on by tens of thousands of fans who dominated the 60,000-seat Al Bayt Stadium, the team contained France in the early going.

Jawad El Yamiq hit the post with an overhead kick in the 44th minute and France’s defenders had to make a number of last-ditch tackles in front of their own goal.

Mbappe enjoyed more space as Morocco tired, and after dribbling past two defenders, his deflected shot was tapped in by Kolo Muani, who had been on the field for less than a minute.
…

Representatives of Ukraine have received the European Parliament’s 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on behalf of “the brave people of Ukraine” amid their battle to repel invading Russian forces.

The annual prize, named after the Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in 1988 by the European Parliament to honor individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola opened the ceremony in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday, citing a Sakharov quotation in which he said, “A country which does not respect the rights of its own citizens will not respect the rights of its neighbors.”

“This year, we meet to honor our 2022 Sakharov Prize laureates — the brave people of Ukraine represented by their president, elected leaders and civil society who have already fought hard and sacrificed so much for their freedom and our values,” she said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the ceremony via a video link, saying that “Russia’s terrorist war aims to deprive Europe of Ukraine and freedom,” adding that Ukraine is fighting against Russia’s invasion to prevent similar attacks against Ukraine and Europe in future.

“After Ukraine and all Europeans win, there will be no attempts to again apply a genocidal policy against people both in Ukraine and throughout Europe. We must give, and we will give, a new security architecture for global freedom and international law and order. I believe this is part of our moral duty,” Zelenskyy said, expressing gratitude to the members of the European Parliament for the award and support.

He also called for Europe to help set up a tribunal to ensure justice is served against Russian officials for their “crime of aggression.”

Several Ukrainian nationals represented their country at the ceremony, including a veteran volunteer Yulia “Taira” Payevska; the Mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov; and human rights defender Oleksandra Matviychuk; and others.

The award comes with a prize of $53,240, which will be given to representatives of Ukraine’s civil society.

The 2021 prize was awarded to jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny for his efforts to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. Navalny is currently in prison on charges he says are politically motivated.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters
…

A court in Turkey sentenced the mayor of Istanbul, the country’s most populous city, to two years and seven months in prison Wednesday on charges of insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council.

The court convicted Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and also imposed a political ban that could lead to his removal from office. Imamoglu, who belongs to the main opposition Republican People’s Party, is expected to appeal the verdict.

Critics alleged the mayor’s trial was an attempt to eliminate a key opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in June. Polls indicate a drop in Erdogan’s popularity ratings amid an economic turmoil and inflation at more than 84%.

Imamoglu was elected to lead Istanbul in March 2019. His win was a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. The party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.

The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamoglu also won.

Imamoglu was charged with insulting senior public officials after he described canceling legitimate elections as an act of “foolishness” on Nov. 4, 2019.

The mayor denied insulting members of the electoral council, insisting his words were a response to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu calling him “a fool” and accusing Imamoglu of criticizing Turkey during a visit to the European Parliament.

Thousands gathered in front of the municipal building to denounce the verdict against the popular mayor, shouting “Rights, Law, Justice!” and calling on the government and Erdogan to resign.

“This decision is proof that the rulers of this country have no aim to bring justice and democracy to the country,” Imamoglu said as he addressed the crowd from the top of a bus. “They have stopped fighting honestly and bravely. They are resorting to all kinds of tricks to protect their order.”

Opposition politician Meral Aksener, whose center-right party joined forces with the Republican People’s Party in the 2019 municipal elections, traveled to Istanbul from Ankara in a show of support for the mayor.

“It’s when (governments) are afraid that they oppress and carry out injustices,” she said, standing besides Imamoglu. “A great fear lies behind this decision.”

Aksener recalled that Erdogan had served as Istanbul’s mayor in the 1990s and was unjustly removed from office for reading a poem that the courts deemed to be a violation of Turkey’s secular laws.

“This song won’t end here,” she said, repeating a comment that Erdogan made at the time.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party, cut short a visit to Germany to return to Turkey and lend his support to Imamoglu.

During the trial, the court heard testimony from Imamoglu’s press officer, Murat Ongun, who confirmed that the mayor’s words were in response to Soylu.

“Either before or after this event, or even on May 6 (2019), when the elections were canceled, I did not hear any negative words from Ekrem Imamoglu concerning the (Supreme Electoral Council) members,” the T24 news website quoted Ongun as saying. “All of his statements were made toward political figures.”

But in a video posted on social media, Soylu insisted the mayor’s comments were directed at the electoral council members.

After the 2019 elections, several mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, were removed from office over alleged links to Kurdish militants and replaced by state-appointed trustees.

Dozens of HDP lawmakers and thousands of party members were arrested on terror-related accusations as part of a government crackdown on the party.
…

Helicopters and lifeboats swooped to the English Channel off the coast of Kent in southern England to rescue a small boat that capsized in the freezing water, killing four people, authorities said Wednesday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed in comments before Parliament there was a loss of life but offered no specifics. Home Secretary Suella Braverman was expected to update the House of Commons later Wednesday.

“After a coordinated search and rescue operation led by HM Coastguard, it is with regret that there have been four confirmed deaths as a result of this incident. Investigations are ongoing and we will provide further information in due course,” the government said in a statement. “This is a truly tragic incident.”

The U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency coordinated a rescue operation involving the Royal Navy, border officers, Kent police and the French navy. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution also dispatched boats.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service said it sent help at about 3:40 a.m. local time to help the coast guard.

Thousands of migrants have relied on small boats to cross the Channel in hopes of receiving asylum in the U.K. The British government has been under pressure to stop people from paying smugglers to cross some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in flimsy vessels.

But the number of people who choose to make the dangerous voyage continues to climb. Some 44,000 people made the journey so far this year, compared to 23,000 last year and 8,500 in 2020, according to government figures.

Sunak pledged Tuesday to clear a backlog of asylum-seeker applications and announced new measures aimed at curbing the number of migrants reaching the U.K. by crossing the Channel.

Sunak said he planned to introduce legislation early next year to ensure people who arrive illegally cannot remain in the country.

The prime minister said he was adding hundreds of workers to process asylum claims and to clear the backlog, estimated at more than 143,000 pending applications, by the end of 2023. The extra staff will also focus on the swift removal of Albanian migrants who have arrived via the Channel in increasing numbers, Sunak said.
…

Pope Francis called Wednesday for people to restrain spending ahead of the upcoming Christmas holiday and use the money saved to help the people of Ukraine. 

Speaking during his weekly audience at the Vatican, the pope said, “there is so much suffering in Ukraine” as he advocated for a “humble Christmas.” 

“They are hungry, they are cold, so many die for lack of doctors and nurses,” he said. “Let’s not forget them. Christmas yes, in peace and with the Lord, yes. But with Ukrainians in the heart.” 

Ukraine has experienced repeated Russian airstrikes on its infrastructure in recent months, causing power and water outages. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

The United States is preparing to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine to shoot down incoming Russian missiles, a decision that could be announced as soon as this week, a U.S. defense official and a second U.S. official told VOA on Tuesday.

Both officials spoke on condition that they not be identified because the decision has not yet been formally announced. The decision was first reported by CNN.

Ukraine has asked its Western partners for air defenses, including the U.S.-made Patriot system, as Russia has used its missile arsenal along with newly acquired Iranian drones to target critical civilian infrastructure, including electrical power facilities needed to keep the population warm as temperatures fall.

Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, declined to comment on the Patriot battery transfer, saying he had “nothing to announce at this time.”

“We’ll continue to look at ways that we can best support Ukraine to protect their population and to protect their broader infrastructure to be able to survive these attacks,” Ryder said.

The U.S. has provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in military support, including air defense weapons ranging from Stingers — a surface-to-air missile system light enough to carry — to the larger NASAMS anti-aircraft systems, which can provide air defense against short-to-medium-range targets.

But on Tuesday, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told reporters that Ukraine was still “not able to shoot down ballistic [missiles] by air defense means that we have in our arsenal.”

“Therefore, the most effective method of destroying these missiles is at the launch, where they are,” he added.

Analyst warns of ‘limited return on investment’

NASAMS are designed to protect population centers from air-to-surface threats and can identify and target fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones. NASAMS, however, are not considered effective against ballistic missiles.

Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, a defense analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, acknowledged that Ukraine was “out of the kind of weapon needed” to defend against ballistic missiles but criticized the potential Patriot acquisition.

“Patriot is an extremely complex and expensive system to operate. Each round of Patriot is between $3 [million] and $4 million apiece. That is a very expensive system. It would use up a lot of the money being set aside for them, I think, with a very limited return on investment,” he told VOA.

Montgomery also raised concerns that providing Patriots to Ukraine would drain from the Ukrainian military’s already small batch of NASAMS operators.

Instead, he suggested sending more of the air defense weapons that Ukraine is already receiving and using to great effect, or perhaps providing Ukraine with the Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar (C-RAM) system that the U.S. has used in the Middle East.

“For me, Patriot is not a great answer.,” he said. “More NASAMS, more S-300s, you know, more cowbell.”
…

U.S. prosecutors announced criminal charges on Tuesday against five Russians and two American nationals suspected of operating a network to obtain sensitive U.S. technologies and ammunition for Russia’s military.

The so-called Serniya network was allegedly involved in buying and shipping millions of dollars in military and dual-use technologies from the U.S. to Russia since at least 2017, according to a 16-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

The network was run by two Moscow-based companies that operated under the direction of Russia’s intelligence services: Serniya Engineering and Sertal LLC. The companies were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Three of the seven defendants, including U.S. nationals Alexey Brayman and Vadim Yermolenko and Russian national Vadim Konoshchenok, are in custody, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Konoshchenok, who is suspected of being an officer of the Russian intelligence service FSB, was detained by Estonian authorities last week at the request of the United States and is awaiting extradition, the Justice Department said.

In October and November, he had been stopped at the Estonian-Russian border carrying thousands of U.S.-made bullets used in sniper rifles.

The four other defendants remain at large. They were identified as Yevgeniy Grinin, Aleksey Ippolitov, Boris Livshits and Svetlana Skvortsova.

Top Justice Department and FBI officials announced the charges.

“The Department of Justice and our international partners will not tolerate criminal schemes to bolster the Russian military’s war efforts,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “With three of the defendants now in custody, we have disrupted the procurement network allegedly used by the defendants and Russian intelligence services to smuggle sniper rifle ammunition and sensitive electronic components into Russia.”

Added FBI Director Christopher Wray, “The industries that these illegal transfers could support — quantum computing, hypersonic weapons — pose great danger in the hands of our adversaries.”

The investigation into the network was coordinated by Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement initiative launched in March in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We will continue the steady pace of seizures, indictments and arrests while the Kremlin is shopping for spare parts in North Korea,” Andrew Adams, director of Task Force KleptoCapture, said in a statement.

According to the indictment, Konoshchenok, the suspected FSB officer arrested in Estonia, allegedly shipped or physically smuggled U.S.-origin dual-use electronics, military-grade tactical ammunition and other export-controlled items from the Baltic nation to Russia.

In October, Konoshchenok was stopped at the Estonian border with 35 different types of semiconductors and other electronic components, as well as thousands of U.S.-made 6.5 mm bullets used in military sniper rifles, according to the indictment.

In late November, he was again stopped at the Russian-Estonian border with approximately 20 cases containing thousands of U.S.-origin bullets, including tactical rounds and .338 military sniper rounds, according to the indictment.

The defendants face charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States regarding the enforcement of export controls and economic sanctions; conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA); smuggling; and failure to comply with the Automated Export System relating to the transportation of electronics.

If convicted of bank fraud or bank fraud conspiracy, the defendants face a maximum of 30 years in prison.
…

The United Nations reports Russia has destroyed 50% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, putting millions of people at risk of sickness and death as temperatures continue to plunge.

Regular blackouts and power cuts are affecting just about everyone in Ukraine. The U.N., however, reports the situation is particularly catastrophic for more than 10 million people living near the front line. The U.N. says they are in the greatest need of assistance, and are facing winter without water, heat and electricity.

Jaco Cilliers, the resident representative to Ukraine for the U.N. Development Program, said helping people stay warm during winter will be a central part of the U.N.’s role over the coming months.

“How to keep, for instance, just powers on in the hospitals, in schools, in community centers. Keeping people warm is a matter of life and death at the moment. And it is really a great concern that so many people are vulnerable in the current situation,” Cilliers said. “It is estimated that nearly 18 million people, or 40% of Ukraine’s population, will need some sort of humanitarian aid during these periods of time.”

Cilliers said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the UNDP and World Bank to do a needs and damage assessment of the infrastructure around the energy grid. The initial report is expected to be ready by the end of January, and is to be updated every two months going forward.

In the meantime, Cilliers said the UNDP is providing emergency support and services to help Ukrainians, and is supporting the state emergency services by providing new equipment such as ambulances and generators.

The UNDP representative noted that conditions are particularly desperate for vulnerable people, such as the elderly and those living close to the war zones where water and electricity have been cut off.

“What is being created is — there are both shelters created for people where they can come and get emergency support. They can get blankets. They can get heating equipment. But there are also some places where if they have no electricity, they can come just to stay warm, to get their phone charged, to get basic services that they also need,” Cilliers said.

The World Health Organization reports at least 715 hospitals and health care facilities have come under attack and been destroyed or damaged. Consequently, Cilliers said few facilities are available to treat people with war wounds, or those injured by mines or other unexploded ordnance, or suffering from illness and disease.
…

A French court found seven men and one woman guilty on Tuesday for their roles in a 2016 truck rampage in the southern city of Nice in which 86 people were killed.

Attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was shot dead by police on the spot after causing devastation and chaos on a two-kilometer (1.2 mile) stretch of Nice’s seaside boulevard, where families had been celebrating Bastille Day, France’s national holiday.

The Paris court found Mohamed Ghraieb, the main defendant and a friend of Bouhlel, guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization. He was handed an 18-year prison sentence.

The judges also found Chokri Chafroudand Ramzi Arefa, two other high-profile defendants — who had been accused of helping Bouhlel to obtain weapons and the truck — guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization. They were handed jail sentences of 18 and 12 years respectively.

Five other people were handed sentences of two to eight years.

None of the defendants was accused of taking part in the attack or even of complicity — a decision which survivors said they were struggling with.

Islamic State claimed responsibility a few days after the Nice rampage but offered no proof that the attacker, who had a record of domestic violence and petty crime, had had any direct contact with the group.

The verdict can be appealed.
…