Zurich, Switzerland — Police have stepped up security measures at Jewish sites in Zurich following a serious knife attack on an orthodox Jewish man in the Swiss city overnight, local police said Sunday.

Police said they had taken action after a 15-year-old Swiss youth was arrested for inflicting “life-threatening” injuries on the 50-year-old Jewish man in central Zurich on Saturday night.

A Zurich police statement said it was not clear what sparked the attack, but that investigations were “explicitly including the possibility of a crime motivated by antisemitism.”

The extra security was put in place for “specific locations with a Jewish connection,” police said, following discussions with local Jewish organizations. They gave no further details.

Jonathan Kreutner, general secretary of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), told Swiss television that physical attacks on Jewish people in the country were rare.

“A case like this is really a new dimension,” he said.

Concern about the risk of antisemitic behavior in Switzerland has grown since the terror attacks by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on Oct. 7 and the subsequent campaign against the Islamist group by the Israeli government in Gaza.

Last month, the SIG raised concern about attitudes to Jewish people after local media reported police had opened an investigation into a sign in Hebrew displayed by a business in Davos which declared Jews were barred from renting ski gear.
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Frankfurt, Germany — Germany’s defense minister said Sunday Russia was conducting an “information war” aimed at creating divisions within Germany, his first reaction to the publication in Russia of an audio recording of a meeting of senior German military officials.

Russian media published a 38-minute recording of a call Friday — in which German officers were heard discussing weapons for Ukraine and a potential strike by Kyiv on a bridge in Crimea — prompting Russian officials to demand an explanation.

On Saturday, Germany called it an apparent act of eavesdropping and said it was investigating.

“The incident is much more than just the interception and publication of a conversation … It is part of an information war that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is waging,” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Sunday.

“It is a hybrid disinformation attack. It is about division. It is about undermining our unity.”

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied accusations of spreading false or misleading information when faced with allegations from other countries.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said on social media Friday, “We demand an explanation from Germany,” without detailing its concerns.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin has not responded to an emailed request for comment.

Participants in the call discussed the possible delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has publicly so far firmly rejected. They also talked about the training of Ukrainian soldiers, and possible military targets.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke to journalists on Saturday about “cunning plans of the Bundeswehr (German armed forces), which became apparent due to the publication of this audio recording. This is a blatant self-exposure.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said Sunday the recording indicated that Berlin was preparing to fight Moscow.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put many of the nation’s most at-risk patients in even greater danger, especially young cancer patients. But a Ukrainian charity working with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the U.S. is helping some Ukrainian kids receive care around the world. Iryna Shynkarenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Viacheslav Filiushkin.
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Germany admits to leaked details of a military meeting outlining future munitions and battle plans for Ukraine. Russia calls Germany its “age-old” rival that is again its “sworn” enemy. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story.
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LANGKAWI, Malaysia — An airplane carrying Norway’s King Harald V departed Malaysia on Sunday, a day after he was implanted with a pacemaker.   

Europe’s oldest reigning monarch was hospitalized for an infection during a private vacation on the northern resort island of Langkawi, the royal house said Tuesday.   

He underwent surgery at the Sultanah Maliha Hospital on Saturday to implant a temporary pacemaker due to a low heart rate, according to the royal house.   

Norwegian media outlets said Harald traveled to Malaysia with his wife, Queen Sonja, to celebrate his 87th birthday.   

A Scandinavian Airlines medical evacuation plane, which took off from Oslo on Thursday, arrived in Langkawi on Friday. The Boeing 737-700 aircraft has previously been used as a flying ambulance.   

According to Flightradar24, the same plane departed from Langkawi on Sunday headed for Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, from where it is scheduled to travel onward to Norway.   

The Norwegian royal house confirmed Sunday that the monarch has left Malaysia and the plane is expected to arrive in Oslo early Monday.   

“Upon arrival in Norway, His Majesty will be admitted to the [Oslo] hospital Rikshospitalet,” the royal palace said, adding that Harald would remain on sick leave for the next two weeks, during which Crown Prince Haakon will assume the monarch’s duties.   

According to Norwegian news agency NTB, which cited information from Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the king’s transport back to Norway will cost an estimated 2 million Norwegian kroner ($190,000), which will be taken from the defense budget.   

The aging Norwegian monarch has suffered from frail health over the past few years, and has been admitted to a hospital for treatment on numerous occasions. Harald, who has been seen using crutches, had an operation to replace a heart valve in October 2020 after being hospitalized with breathing difficulties.   

Harald has repeatedly said he has no plans to abdicate, unlike his second cousin Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who stepped down earlier this year.   

Harald’s duties as Norway’s head of state are ceremonial and he holds no political power. He ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Olav, in 1991. 
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WARSAW, Poland — German authorities said Saturday they were conducting an investigation after an audio recording in which German military officers purportedly discussed support for Ukraine, including the potential use of Taurus missiles, was published in Russia. 

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was in Rome on Saturday, called it a “very serious matter” and said that German authorities were working to clarify the matter “very carefully, very intensively and very quickly.” His comments were carried by Germany’s dpa news agency. 

In the 38-minute recording, military officers discuss the question of how the Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Ukraine. A debate has been taking place in Germany over whether to supply the missiles as Ukraine faced setbacks on the battlefield after two years of war, and with military aid from the United States being held up in Congress. 

Earlier this week, Scholz said he remains reluctant to send the Taurus missiles to Ukraine, pointing to a risk of Germany becoming directly involved in the war. His hesitancy is a source of friction in his three-party coalition and annoyed Germany’s conservative opposition. 

But in the purported audio recording, German officers discuss the theoretical possibility of the missiles being used in Ukraine. 

Germany’s Ministry of Defense said it was investigating whether communications within the air force were intercepted by Russia. In a statement carried by dpa, it said: “According to our assessment, a conversation within the air force was intercepted. We cannot currently say with certainty whether changes have been made to the recorded or written version that is circulating on social media.” 

Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state-funded TV channel RT, posted the audio on social media. 

“In this (…) recording, high-ranking Bundeswehr officers discuss how they will bomb (attention!) the Crimean bridge,” she wrote on the Telegram messaging app, adding that the conversation took place on February 19. Within the conversation, she said, one of the officers mentioned a planned trip to Ukraine on February 21 to coordinate strikes on Russian targets. 

Germany is now the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States and is further stepping up its support this year. But Scholz has stalled for months on Ukraine’s desire for Taurus missiles, which have a range of up to 500 kilometers (311 miles) and could in theory be used against targets far into Russian territory. 

The chancellor has long emphasized his determination to help Ukraine without escalating the war and drawing in Germany and NATO, stressing that no German soldiers will go to Ukraine. 

“We will not send European soldiers to Ukraine. We don’t want a war between Russia and NATO. And we will do all we can to prevent it,” Scholz told a meeting of the Party of European Socialists in Rome on Saturday. 

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the future deployment of Western troops on the ground in Ukraine was not “ruled out,” a suggestion quickly dismissed by Germany, Poland and other allied countries. 
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helsinki — King Harald V of Norway was implanted with a temporary pacemaker Saturday at a hospital in Malaysia’s resort island of Langkawi, where Europe’s oldest monarch was being treated for an infection during a vacation this week, the Norwegian royal house said. 

“The pacemaker was implanted due to a low heart rate,” the Royal House of Norway said in a brief statement, adding that the procedure conducted at Hospital Sultanah Maliha was successful. 

Following the operation, Harald, 87, would likely be transported back to Norway “within the next couple of days,” the statement said. 

“His Majesty is doing well under the circumstances but still requires rest. The procedure will make the return back home safer,” Bjorn Bendz, the king’s personal physician, said as quoted by the royal palace in Oslo. 

The royal house said Tuesday that Harald, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, was hospitalized after he fell ill during a vacation in Langkawi. Norwegian media outlets said Harald traveled to the Malaysian resort island to celebrate his 87th birthday. 

Two days before his birthday last week, Norwegian news agency NTB reported that the king was undertaking a private trip abroad with his wife Queen Sonja, without specifying the destination or dates. 

A Scandinavian Airlines medical evacuation plane, which took off from Oslo Thursday arrived in Langkawi on Friday. Norwegian authorities haven’t confirmed yet whether the Boeing 737-700 aircraft, which has previously been used as a flying ambulance, will pick up King Harald. 

The Norwegian government arranges the transport, and the Norwegian Armed Forces are responsible for the practical arrangements for the king’s return trip, according to the royal house. 

The aging Norwegian monarch has suffered from frail health over the past few years and has been admitted to a hospital for treatment on numerous occasions. Harald, who has been seen using crutches, had an operation to replace a heart valve in October 2020 after being hospitalized with breathing difficulties. 

Harald has repeatedly said he has no plans to abdicate, unlike his second cousin, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who stepped down earlier this year. The heir to the Norwegian throne, Crown Prince Haakon, has — as a rule — stepped in and taken over his father’s duties while he’s been hospitalized. 

Harald’s duties as Norway’s head of state are ceremonial and he holds no political power. He ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Olav, in 1991. 

The country’s first native-born king since the 14th century, he married a commoner as a prince and won hearts in his egalitarian country by leading the mourning in 2011 for the victims of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik. 
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ANTALYA, TURKEY — Armenia is ready to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan if Baku shows the same political will and is keen to make progress on normalizing relations with Turkey, a senior Armenian official said on Saturday. 

Yerevan and Baku said in December they wanted to reach a peace deal after decades of being at odds, but no agreement has been signed yet. 

The most divisive issue has long been the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan. Baku’s forces recaptured the mountainous area in September after years of ethnic Armenian control, prompting most of its ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. 

Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan said Armenia had the political will for a normalization of relations with Azerbaijan based on principles previously agreed upon by the two sides. 

“This is an issue of political will and leadership,” he told Reuters in an interview during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey. 

He said Yerevan had shown the political will needed, including at talks on Friday between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Baku’s main backer. 

“Now, if the Azerbaijani side is really interested in having peace, we just need to agree to put the agreed principles by the leaders [on paper] and sign it,” he said. 

Among outstanding issues is the lack of agreement over their shared border, with each side holding small areas surrounded by the other’s territory. 

Kostanyan said the two sides needed to recognize each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and drew attention to Yerevan’s “Crossroads for Peace” plan for an opening in communication lines in the region to help regional stability. 

There was no immediate comment from Baku in his remarks. 

Turkey-Armenia ties 

NATO member Turkey has deepened political and military ties with Azerbaijan in recent years but has also been working to revive ties with Armenia after decades of animosity after severing diplomatic and commercial ties in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during a war Baku was fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Kostanyan said Armenia wanted a full normalization of ties with Turkey, including the opening of their shared border and establishment of diplomatic relations. 

“The establishment of diplomatic relations is basically communications between two states,” he said. “Of course, reconciliation between two nations can take longer, but we need to have diplomatic relations, which will help us and help our people.” 

He said Yerevan had done the work needed to open borders with Turkey, including infrastructure repairs, and was awaiting on Ankara’s response. 

Turkey and Armenia are at odds primarily over the 1.5 million people Yerevan says were killed in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to modern Turkey. 

Armenia says this constitutes genocide. Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I, but it contests the figures and denies it was systematic. 
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WASHINGTON — French journalist Antoine Galindo, who was detained for a week in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, was released Thursday ahead of his scheduled second appearance in court Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.

Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, told VOA that Galindo, a reporter for Paris-based news site Africa Intelligence, left for France immediately after his release.

“Unfortunately, the local politician whom he was interviewing when he was arrested remained in jail and appeared in court today,” Quintal said.

Galindo was arrested February 22 while interviewing Bate Urgessa, a political officer for the opposition party, the Oromo Liberation Front, and they were both charged with “conspiracy to create chaos.”

Two days later, Galindo was brought before a judge who granted a one-week investigation period for police “to search the journalist’s mobile phone and apprehend other ‘suspects’ who were ‘complicit.’ ”

Sources who attended Friday’s hearing and asked to remain anonymous because of fear for their safety told VOA that police told the court that Galindo was released on bail and asked for an additional five days of investigation.

However, Quintal said, “If he was released on bail, he would not have been allowed out of the country,” adding that French diplomatic efforts may have helped gain Galindo’s early release.

CPJ Africa program coordinator Muthoki Mumo said in a statement, “His unjust detention was a stark reminder of the danger of practicing journalism in today’s Ethiopia.”

“Ethiopian authorities must now release all journalists — eight others, at least — who have suffered months of imprisonment under very difficult conditions,” Mumo said, adding that the government should also allow international journalists to report without fear of retaliation.

Stressing that Galindo’s arrest showed there was no press freedom in Ethiopia under the current government, Quintal sought to use the momentum of his release to draw international attention and advocate for the release of all Ethiopian journalists in prison.

Quintal said, “You can’t have one standard for a foreign journalist and another for a local. The vast majority of journalists in jail in Africa are actually local journalists.”

According to CPJ, Ethiopia is the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa with at least eight journalists behind bars. Four of them were arrested since the declaration of a state of emergency in August 2023, Quintal said, and they were never formally charged.

Galindo, 36, traveled to Addis Ababa to cover an African Union summit and other political news, according to his employer. The publication added he had a journalist visa and the proper accreditation from the government’s Media Authority.
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Under a heavy police presence, thousands of supporters of Alexey Navalny bid farewell to the prominent Russian opposition leader outside his funeral Friday in Moscow. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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washington — Beijing is unlikely to help Washington disrupt military cooperation between North Korea and Russia because China sees that move as undermining itself while bolstering U.S. goals in Europe and Asia, analysts said.

“Given U.S. policy in Asia and Washington’s ongoing effort to contain Chinese power in the region, Beijing has no reason to assist the U.S., even indirectly, on one of its most top foreign policy priorities – a Russian defeat in Ukraine,” said Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities.

“For China, North Korea is not a problem to be solved but rather a card to play in its competition with Washington,” continued DePetris in an email to VOA on Tuesday.

The U.S. has turned to China to help rein in North Korea’s threatening missile activities that have now extended beyond East Asia into Europe, where Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on for the third year.

North Korean missiles have killed and injured civilians in the Ukrainian cities of Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Donetsk and Kharkiv since December, the Security Service of Ukraine said on February 22.

The following day, the State Department announced that its senior official for North Korea, Jung Pak, held talks with China’s special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, Liu Xiaoming.

The two discussed North Korea’s “increasing destabilizing and escalatory behavior and its deepening military cooperation with Russia” on February 21 via videoconferencing, said the U.S. statement.

The U.S. said North Korea has sent more than 10,000 containers of weapons to Russia since September as it announced a sanctions package targeting Moscow on February 23.

The Pak-Xiaoming talks followed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s discussion of North Korea with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on February 16.

In response to last week’s talks, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Wednesday via email that “China has no intention to interfere with the cooperation between two sovereign countries” of North Korea and Russia. He called the two nations “China’s friendly neighbors.”

Pengyu continued, “We hope the U.S. will play a positive and constructive role in maintaining peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.”

North Korea seemingly has been accelerating arms transfers to replenish weapons that Russia needs to fight Ukraine since its leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September. Kim, in return, was seeking Russia’s technology to enhance his weapons.

Susan Thornton, a senior fellow at Yale University’s Paul Tsai China Center who served as acting assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs during the Trump administration, said Beijing might be willing to persuade Moscow to break its ties with Pyongyang once the war in Ukraine is over.

But even then, “China will not be eager to help” if its “relations with the U.S. are still deteriorating,” she said via email on Tuesday.

China views North Korea, which straddles its border, as a buffer zone countering the U.S. and its military bases with 28,500 troops in South Korea. Beijing prefers that Pyongyang maintain stability to continue serving that role.

China has been providing economic aid to sustain heavily sanctioned and isolated North Korea since the 1990s.

Although Beijing is “very uncomfortable” losing leverage over Pyongyang as Moscow now provides alternative sources of food and fuel, that apparent loss is offset by benefits Beijing gains from Moscow’s reliance on China’s economy, said Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center’s Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy Project.

Russia has faced heavy sanctions since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

“China has been an economic life raft for Russia, boosting its energy ties, filling Russian markets with its autos and consumer goods,” said Manning. Beijing will not change its stance on Pyongyang-Moscow ties as it generally continues “to coordinate much of its foreign policy with Russia where it opposes U.S. policy,” he said via email on Wednesday.

However, Michael Swaine, senior research fellow at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said, “Working strenuously with Moscow and Pyongyang to oppose the U.S. poses certain risks for Beijing.”

Swaine said via email on Wednesday that “Right now, it wants to maintain workable relations with Washington, not worsen them. Beijing faces serious domestic problems that demand a relatively stable external environment.”
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washington — Civil liberties declined globally for the 18th consecutive year in 2023, with conflict and flawed elections the biggest factors, a new report has found.  

Political rights and civil liberties deteriorated for more than one-fifth of the population, the non-profit group Freedom House found. And only one-fifth of the 210 countries and territories the research group analyzed was found to be “free.” 

Released on Thursday, the Freedom in the World report assesses political rights and civil liberties, then ranks countries or territories as “free,” “partly free,” or “not free.”  

Researchers looked at issues including how effectively governments work, political pluralism, freedom of expression, religious freedom, and whether marginalized groups are given full rights.  

Much of the decline in 2023 is attributed to cases of election manipulation, according to report co-author Cathryn Grothe. The report found electoral issues in almost half of the countries designated as being in decline.  

“While the findings of the report are certainly grim, they are coming at an especially important moment in time,” said Grothe, noting 2024 will be a critical year with national elections scheduled in about 40 countries.  

Report finds manipulation, intimidation

Grothe told VOA her group’s research found widespread election manipulation and intimidation before, during and after elections.  

She noted that “billions of people around the world are going to be heading to the polls.”  

The report highlighted Cambodia, Guatemala, Poland, Turkey and Zimbabwe as places that experienced attempts to control, hinder or interfere with elections. 

And in Ecuador, Nigeria, and Taiwan, elections were disrupted by either violence or interference by foreign regimes.  

In Guatemala, however, attempts to block a peaceful transfer of power failed. Bernardo Arevalo assumed office in early 2024 after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that Congress must accept his inauguration, despite its previous refusal to acknowledge elected members.  

Group watches US races

The United States — which Freedom House ranks as free — is among the countries holding significant elections.  

Grothe said that Freedom House is paying attention to issues in the U.S., including congressional dysfunction such as delayed appropriations bills and internal disputes over the speakership of the House of Representatives.  

Freedom House is also watching closely for intimidation and threats of violence as tools of political influence in the U.S, especially during the last few months before the election.  

Reports of threats against elected officials and local election administrators have “proliferated “in recent years, Grothe said. 

“When a democracy such as the U.S., those with kind of large influence on the world stage grow weaker internally, it makes it a lot more difficult to counter this kind of global authoritarianism,” said Grothe. “It makes it very imperative that we at home in the United States need to address our own domestic shortcomings.” 

The Freedom House report includes several recommendations, including calls for governments and other actors in civil society to “immediately” and “publicly” condemn manipulation efforts, coups and refusals to honor electoral outcomes.

“Democracies need to commit to free and fair elections, both at home and need to stand up for the same abroad,” said Grothe. 

The biggest decline in freedom was registered in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory which sparked conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. 

The region saw an overall 40-point reduction. The decline follows a mass displacement of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians amid fighting in September 2023. 

The second-largest point reduction came in Niger, where military forces ousted the government in July 2023.  

Conflict resulted in major declines in other areas too. Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to affect basic rights for those in occupied parts of Ukraine and brings a rise in repression inside Russia. The report also notes the effect on civilians of the Israel-Hamas conflict and Myanmar military rule. 

Other countries saw improvements. Fiji gained seven points due to a “smooth” transfer of power after elections in 2022. And Nepal is recognized in the report for amendments to its Citizenship Act, which allowed 400,000 stateless people born in the country to receive citizenship.  

While the past year faced obstacles, Grothe said there are “beacons of hope” in the countries pushing back against those declines.  

“It’s important to remember that people in every sort of political environment, from the most-free countries to the most repressive, are continuing to fight to uphold their rights, their dignity and this offers some kind of level of hope even in these very kind of discouraging times.” 

She added that the report should serve as a reminder of the stakes for democracy and as a call to reverse the decline of global freedoms.  
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France is poised to become the first country to inscribe the freedom for women to have abortions in its constitution. Lawmakers from the Senate and lower house will meet at Versailles Palace on March 4 for a final vote on the measure. Lisa Bryant reports.
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A lunar landing more than 50 years in the making is a partial success. Plus, the U.S. says Russia may launch a nuclear weapon into orbit. The Kremlin calls it spin. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union took a major step in ending its standoff with member state Poland on Thursday by announcing it will begin releasing billions of euros to it that were frozen over the previous government’s policies that the bloc said amounted to widespread backsliding on fundamental democratic principles.

The move is an important reward for Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has sought relentlessly since taking office in December to overturn measures imposed by the previous conservative government. Beyond its political significance, it opens the way for up to 135 billion euros ($145 billion) in EU aid to go to Poland over the coming few years.

The decision cements a sea change in relations. Both sides had openly clashed after the stridently nationalist Law and Justice party came to power in 2015 and implemented reforms that critics said placed Poland’s judiciary under political control. The EU threatened to suspend Poland’s EU voting rights and also blocked its access to EU funds.

“Today is a landmark day for Poland,” said EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis. “Thanks to its efforts to restore the rule of law, we are now able to unlock access” to a slew of funds that help EU nations recover from the COVID-19 crisis and help their economies rise to the standards of wealthier member nations.

Under complicated EU bookkeeping rules, Poland could receive over the next weeks the first 600 million euros ($650 million) in real cash from a 75 billion euro ($80 billion) aid pot that had been blocked. More funds will be transferred once Poland sends in outstanding paperwork from projects. A 6.3 billion euro ($6.8 billion) disbursement from a 60 billion euro ($65 billion) program to boost the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic downturn should also be released soon.

Tusk’s election victory last October was essential in achieving the change. The Commission has now acknowledged that sufficient efforts to resolve the issues have been made for it to start releasing the funds. If there is no full follow-through by Poland, restrictive measures could be reimposed.

EU Vice President Vera Jourova showed confidence in Tusk’s policies, saying, “Today we turn a page on the rule of law issues with Poland as we recognize the important strides made by the government.”

Poland’s pro-European coalition of three center-left parties led by Tusk won parliamentary elections on Oct. 15 and took over in December, succeeding the Law and Justice party that had ruled for eight years and introduced changes to the justice system, reproductive rights and the media that put Poland increasingly on a collision course with the EU.

The breakthrough in the standoff came after Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar presented an “action plan” to European officials which outlined draft legislation. EU officials also stressed that some of the proposals in the Polish plan can’t become law without the approval of President Andrzej Duda, who is a staunch ally of the Law and Justice party. His term runs until 2025.

Despite such domestic political challenges, the EU decided there was enough positive legal thrust to start releasing the funds.

The money will be coming from the EU’s Next Generation fund meant to help the bloc’s members recover from the COVID-19 pandemic downturn and also from a cohesion fund that supports infrastructure development.
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OSLO, Norway — One person died and five were injured when a helicopter crash-landed in the ocean off western Norway, police said on Thursday, leading to a temporary halt in transport to and from the country’s offshore oil and gas platforms.

The Sikorsky S-92 aircraft operated by Bristow Norway was on a search and rescue training mission on Wednesday when the accident occurred, officials have said.

The six crew members were all hoisted from the sea by rescue workers, but one was later declared dead in hospital, police said in a statement.

One of the surviving crew members was in a critical condition on Thursday and one was severely injured while the remaining three suffered lighter injuries, the hospital treating them said in an update on social media platform X.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

“We have sent crash inspectors to Stavanger and Bergen to investigate the accident,” Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority head William Bertheussen told Reuters.

The two cities are the busiest hubs for Norway’s extensive oil and gas industry, which produces around 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Bristow Group said in a statement it was fully cooperating with authorities responding to the incident and that the company was collecting relevant information.

Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky, which manufactured the helicopter, said on Wednesday that safety was its top priority and that it stood ready to support the investigation.

Energy group Equinor said the helicopter was a search and rescue aircraft normally serving platforms at the company’s Oseberg oil and gas field in the North Sea.

“We have confidence both in the type of helicopter and in the operators,” Equinor CEO Anders Opedal told public broadcaster NRK.

Still, Equinor halted all regular helicopter flights to its oil and gas platforms in Norway out of consideration for those affected and to get an overview of the situation.

“The company aims to get the helicopters back to normal operation quickly and is now making the necessary preparations to achieve this safely,” the company said in a statement.
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London — Prince Harry was not improperly stripped of his publicly funded security detail during visits to Britain after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the U.S., a London judge ruled Wednesday.

Justice Peter Lane said in the High Court that the decision to provide security to Harry on a case-by-case basis was not unlawful, irrational or unjustified.

The Duke of Sussex claimed he and his family were endangered when visiting the U.K. because of hostility toward him and his wife on social media and relentless hounding by news media.

His lawyer argued that the government group that evaluated Harry’s security needs acted irrationally and failed to follow its own policies that should have required a risk analysis of the duke’s safety.

A government lawyer said Harry had been treated fairly and was still provided protection on some visits, citing a security detail that guarded him in June 2021 when he was chased by photographers after attending an event with seriously ill children at Kew Gardens in west London.

The committee that made the decision to reject his security request considered the wider impact that the “tragic death” of his mother, the late Princess Diana, had on the nation, and in making its decision gave greater weight to the “likely significant public upset were a successful attack” on her son to happen, attorney James Eadie said. 

Harry, 39, the younger son of King Charles III, has broken ranks with royal family tradition in his willingness to go to court to challenge both the government and take on tabloids in his effort to hold publishers accountable for hounding him throughout his life.

The lawsuit was one of six cases Harry has brought in the High Court. Three were related to his security arrangements and three have been against tabloid publishers for allegedly hacking phones and using private investigators to snoop on his life for news stories.

In his first case to go to trial, Harry won a big victory last year against the publisher of the Daily Mirror over phone hacking allegations, winning a judgment in court and ultimately settling remaining allegations that were due to go to trial. While the settlement was undisclosed, he was to be reimbursed for all his legal fees and was due to receive an interim payment of 400,000 pounds ($505,000).

He recently withdrew a libel case against the Daily Mail over an article that said he tried to hide his efforts to continue receiving government-funded security. Harry dropped the case after a judge ruled he was more likely to lose at trial because the publisher could show that statements issued on his behalf were misleading and that the February 2022 article reflected an “honest opinion” and wasn’t libelous.

Harry failed to persuade a different judge last year that he should be able to privately pay for London’s police force to guard him when he comes to town. A judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued that officers shouldn’t be used as “private bodyguards for the wealthy.” 
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