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Tensions Rise in Northern Kosovo as Local Serbs Block Roads; Serbia Puts Army on Alert

Protesting Serbs in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo erected new barricades on Tuesday, hours after Serbia said it had put its army on the highest combat alert following weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.

Serbia’s defense ministry said in a statement late on Monday that in response to the latest events in the region and its belief that Kosovo was preparing to attack Serbs and forcefully remove the barricades, President Aleksandar Vucic had ordered Serbia’s army and police to be put on the highest alert.

“There is no reason to panic, but there is reason to be concerned,” Serbia’s defense minister Milos Vucevic told RTS television late on Monday.

Since December 10, Serbs in northern Kosovo have erected multiple roadblocks in and around Mitrovica and exchanged fire with police after the arrest of a former Serb policeman for allegedly assaulting serving police officers during a previous protest.

Around 50,000 Serbs live in the northern part of Albanian-majority Kosovo and refuse to recognize the Pristina government or the state. They see Belgrade as their capital and are backed by Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

“Kosovo cannot engage in dialogue with criminal gangs and freedom of movement should be restored. There should not be barricades on any road,” the Kosovan government said in a statement on Monday.

It added police had the capacity and readiness to act but were waiting for NATO’s KFOR Kosovo peace-keeping force, which maintains a neutral role, to respond to their request to remove the barricades.

“We urge all sides to help enable security and freedom of movement in Kosovo, and prevent misleading narratives from affecting the dialogue process,” KFOR said in a statement.

In Mitrovica on Tuesday morning trucks were parked to block the road linking the Serb-majority part of the town with the Albanian-majority part.

The local Serbs are demanding the release of the arrested officer and have other demands before they remove the barricades.

Ethnic Serb mayors in northern municipalities, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, resigned last month in protest over a Kosovo government decision to replace Serbian-issued car license plates with ones issued by Pristina.

 

Russia Places Bellingcat Journalist on Wanted List

Russia on Monday placed a senior journalist with the Bellingcat investigative website on a wanted list, following his extensive reporting on Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev’s name was added to a list of wanted people on Russia’s interior ministry website.

The ministry did not specify the crime for which he is wanted.

But the RIA Novosti news agency quoted a source as saying that a criminal case had been opened against Grozev for “spreading fakes about the Russian army” — legislation adopted after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February.

Russia’s FSB domestic security agency had accused Grozev of helping Ukrainian intelligence.

Grozev is Bellingcat’s chief Russia investigator and has led investigations into the poisoning of opposition politician Alexey Navalny.

This year he has focused on Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.

Moscow branded Bellingcat as an “undesirable” organization in July, saying it posed a security threat to the country.

Bellingcat already had been branded a “foreign agent” in Russia last year.

Since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February, Bellingcat has largely focused on using open-source material and social media to document alleged Russian war crimes.

Iran Slams Britain After Protest ‘Network’ Arrested

Iran on Monday blasted Britain’s “non-constructive role” a day after the Islamic republic announced the arrest of a U.K.-linked “network” involved in the three months of protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death.

Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Iranian Kurdish Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.

Tehran generally calls the protests “riots” and accuses its foreign foes, including Britain, of stoking the unrest.

State news agency IRNA reported Sunday the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the country’s south had arrested seven people, including dual nationals, who had operated “under the direct guidance of elements from Britain.”

Asked about their arrest during a Monday news conference, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said, “some countries, especially [Britain], had a non-constructive role in relation to the recent developments in Iran.”

“Their role was quite provocative in inciting extremism and riots,” Kanani said of the foreign nations.

The group, which IRNA described as an “organized network,” had been “leading subversive conspiracies, especially during the recent riots,” the report quoted a Guard statement as saying.

The seven arrested in Kerman province “have been involved in planning, leading and producing content as well as field actions in the recent riots,” it added.

Some of them are “dual nationals who were trying to escape from the country,” the statement said without elaborating.

Iran’s judiciary said last month that 40 foreigners, including dual nationals, had been arrested in the unrest.

The foreign ministry’s Kanani said Monday that “during the recent riots, several citizens of European countries have been arrested with varying degrees of involvement in the riots.”

“Consular and political information has been given to their respective countries,” he added. “The role of the citizens of a certain number of countries, especially European and western European countries … is quite clear and proved.”

A number of Westerners, including dual nationals, had already been in custody in Iran before the protests broke out in September.

Western governments have accused Tehran of employing a “hostage-taking” policy aimed at extracting concessions or securing the release of Iranians held abroad.

Kurds Hold March of Mourning After Paris Shooting Kills 3

Members of France’s Kurdish community and others held a silent march Monday to honor three people killed in a shooting at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris that prosecutors say was motivated by racism.

Turkey summoned France’s ambassador Monday over what it called “black propaganda” by Kurdish activists after the shooting. Some have marched in Paris with flags of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or suggested that Turkey was linked to the shooting.

A 69-year-old Frenchman was handed preliminary charges Monday of racially motivated murder and weapons violations over Friday’s shooting, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The suspect told investigators that he had wanted to kill migrants or foreigners and then had planned to kill himself, and said he had a “pathological” hatred of non-European foreigners, according to prosecutors.

He was briefly put in psychiatric care but then returned to ordinary police custody. The suspect’s name hasn’t been officially released, though he is identified by French media as William K.

The shooting shocked and infuriated the Kurdish community in France, which organized the silent march on Monday. Demonstrators marched from the site of Friday’s shooting to the location where three female Kurdish activists were found shot dead in 2013.

“Every day we ask ourselves when someone will shoot at us again. Ten years ago, we were attacked in the heart of Paris, and 10 years later again,” said Dagan Dogan, a 22-year-old Kurd at Monday’s march. “Why there was nothing done to protect us?”

The solemn march ended calmly. Skirmishes broke out in the neighborhood where the killings took place on Friday, and again on the sidelines of a mostly peaceful Kurdish-led demonstration on Saturday.

Prosecutors say the suspect had a clear racist motive for the shooting.

Anti-racism activists and left-wing politicians have linked it to a climate of hate speech online and anti-immigrant, xenophobic rhetoric by far-right figures. The French government has reported a rise in race- or religion-related crimes and violations in recent years.

French authorities have called Friday’s attack an isolated incident, but some Kurdish activists in Paris think it was politically driven.

Turkey summoned French Ambassador Herve Magro on Monday to relay unease over what it called black propaganda being waged against Turkey by Kurdish militant groups following the attack, the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkey “expects France to act prudently over the incident and not to allow the (banned PKK) terrorist organization to advance its sneaky agenda,” Anadolu reported.

The PKK has waged an armed separatist insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 for independence, which has more recently morphed into demands for greater autonomy. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced many, with a significant number of ethnic Kurds and alleged PKK supporters migrating to European countries.

Turkey’s army has battled Kurdish militants affiliated with the PKK in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq, and recently launched a series of strikes against Syrian Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terror group, but Turkey accuses some European countries of leniency toward alleged PKK members. That frustration has been the main reason behind Turkey’s continued delay of NATO membership for Sweden and Finland.

Ukraine FM Aims for February Peace Summit

Ukraine’s foreign minister said Monday that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war. 

But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that Russia could only be invited to such a summit if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first. 

Kuleba also said he was “absolutely satisfied” with the results of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S. last week, and he revealed that the U.S. government had made a special plan to get the Patriot missile battery ready to be operational in the country in less than six months. Usually, the training takes up to a year. 

Kuleba said during the interview at the Foreign Ministry that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023, adding that diplomacy always plays an important role. 

“Every war ends in a diplomatic way,” he said. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.” 

Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like to have a peace summit by the end of February. 

“The United Nations could be the best venue for holding this summit, because this is not about making a favor to a certain country,” he said. “This is really about bringing everyone on board.” 

On December 12, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine planned to initiate a summit to implement the Ukrainian peace formula in 2023. 

At the Group of 20 summit in Bali in November, Zelenskyy presented a 10-point peace formula that includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine. 

Asked about whether they would invite Russia to the summit, he said that Moscow would first need to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court. 

“They can only be invited to this step in this way,” Kuleba said. 

About Guterres’ role, Kuleba said: “He has proven himself to be an efficient mediator and an efficient negotiator, and most importantly, as a man of principle and integrity. So, we would welcome his active participation.” 

The foreign minister again downplayed comments by Russian authorities that they are ready for talks. 

“They regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite,” he said. 

In comments released Sunday on Russian state television, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that his country is ready for talks to end the war in Ukraine but suggested that the Ukrainians are the ones refusing to take that step. Despite Putin’s comments, Moscow’s forces have kept attacking Ukraine — a sign that peace isn’t imminent. 

Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S. was his first foreign trip since the war started February 24. Kuleba praised Washington’s efforts and underlined the significance of the visit. 

“This shows how both the United States are important for Ukraine, but also how Ukraine is important for the United States,” said Kuleba, who was part of the delegation to the U.S. 

Ukraine secured a new $1.8 billion military aid package, including a Patriot missile battery, during the trip. 

Kuleba said that the move “opens the door for other countries to do the same.” 

He said that the U.S. government developed a program for the missile battery to complete the training faster than usual “without any damage to the quality of the use of this weapon on the battlefield.” 

While Kuleba didn’t mention a specific time frame, he said only that it will be “very much less than six months.” And he added that the training will be done “outside” Ukraine. 

During Russia’s ground and air war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through Twitter posts or meetings with friendly foreign officials. 

On Monday, Ukraine called on U.N. member states to deprive Russia of its status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and to exclude it from the world body. Kuleba said they have long “prepared for this step to uncover the fraud and deprive Russia of its status.” 

The Foreign Ministry says that Russian never went through the legal procedure for acquiring membership and took the place of the USSR at the U.N. Security Council after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

“This is the beginning of an uphill battle, but we will fight, because nothing is impossible,” he told the AP. 

 

NATO Probing Shooting Incident in Tense Northern Kosovo

NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo said Monday they were investigating a shooting incident in a tense northern region, urging calm as Serbia’s top military officials inspected their troops on the border with Kosovo in a show of combat readiness.

The incident on Sunday evening took place in Zubin Potok, a town in northern Kosovo where local ethnic Serbs have been manning road barricades for the past two weeks and where tensions have been running high between the two former wartime foes.

The peacekeepers, known as KFOR, said the incident happened near one of their patrols, involving unknown people. A statement said no one was injured, and “we are working to establish all the facts.”

Serbia’s defense minister and the army’s chief of staff traveled to the border with Kosovo, praising the combat readiness of Serbian troops and their firepower, including howitzers and other military hardware. Serbia, which has been armed through Russian donations and military purchases, has been threatening force against its former province for a long time.

Kosovo remains a potential flashpoint in the Balkans years after the 1998-99 war that ended with NATO intervention. Serbia doesn’t recognize the 2008 declaration of independence of its former province, while Western efforts to mediate a solution so far have failed.

“It is important for all involved to avoid any rhetoric or actions that can cause tensions and escalate the situation,” KFOR said in a statement. “We expect all actors to refrain from provocative shows of force and to seek the best solution to ensure the safety and security of all communities.”

Fears of violence have soared since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The United States and most European Union countries have recognized Kosovo’s independence, while Serbia has relied on Russia and China in its bid to maintain a claim on the province.

Tensions in Kosovo have risen further in recent weeks and months over several issues amid international efforts to step up mediation efforts. Most recently, ethnic Serbs in the north put up roadblocks in protest of an arrest of a former Serb police officer.

Serbs in the north previously had walked out of Kosovo’s institutions, claiming harassment by Kosovo authorities. Belgrade repeatedly has warned it would protect local Serbs “with all means” if they are attacked.

Kosovo’s government has asked NATO troops — which deployed in 1999 after the trans-Atlantic alliance bombed Serbia into leaving Kosovo — to remove the Serb roadblocks. Prime Minister Albin Kurti, KFOR commander Major General Angelo Michele Ristuccia and Lars-Gunnar Wigermark, who heads an EU law and order mission, met on Monday to discuss the situation, KFOR said on Twitter.

Kurti’s office said that “the common conclusion from this meeting is that freedom of movement should be restored and that there should be no barricades on any road.”

Serbia on Sunday held a top-level meeting after the shooting incident, with the army chief of staff later heading to the southern town of Raska, near Kosovo, where Serbian army troops are located. Local media carried a video with shots and shouts heard, but not showing clearly what happened at one of the barricades.

General Milan Mojsilovic told local media that the army received “clear and precise” directions from Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic. Mojsilovic described the situation as “serious,” adding that it requires the “presence of the Serbian army along the administrative line” with Kosovo, state RTS television reported.

Serbian army vehicles could be seen on the roads in the area on Monday, and the Balkan nation’s defense minister also arrived. Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic, Mojsilovic and other senior army officers discussed the security situation during a meeting in Raska, a defense ministry statement said.

Serbia has asked KFOR to deploy up to 1,000 of its troops in the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, to protect Kosovo Serbs from alleged harassment by ethnic Albanians, who are the majority in the country. The request so far hasn’t been granted.

Adding to the tensions, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije was denied entry into Kosovo at a border crossing on Monday, after saying he would like to deliver a peace message for Serbian Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated on January 7.

Kyiv’s Botanical Garden Struggles to Save Its Tropical Plants Amid Russian Attacks

In the lush greenhouses of Kyiv’s National Botanical Garden, staff are struggling to save a decades-old collection of tropical plants after months of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid led to electricity outages, threatening the garden’s heating supply.

“These collections cannot be restored. This is not a greenhouse with cucumbers and tomatoes… The loss of this collection would be a great national loss for Ukraine,” said Lyudmyla Buiun, responsible for tropical and subtropical plants.

“Plants cannot be told… ‘please endure, because today it is -15 degrees (Celsius).’ It is impossible,” she said, pointing out signs of cold damage on some plants.

The plants would face a serious crisis if the temperature in the greenhouse dropped below 15 degrees Celsius, she added.

Finding ways to maintain a tropical climate in a freezing Kyiv hit by frequent power outages, is very difficult, and garden workers are now preemptively heating the greenhouses by burning firewood, although smoke poses a risk to plants.

They would usually create heat by burning wood in electric ovens. However, the frequent power cuts disrupt the heating cycle and it takes hours to restart the ovens, boiler room operator Yurii Nai said.

The garden’s administration has now connected to Kyiv’s central heating system to have a backup, but fears further missile strikes on the power grid.

Police: No One Believed Missing in Austrian Avalanche

Police said Monday they believe no one is missing after a Christmas Day avalanche that swept across a ski trail near the town of Zuers in western Austria. 

First responders initially assumed as many as 10 people could be buried based on cell phone video from a witness showing the group near the avalanche that covered 500 meters (yards) of the trail near the 2,700-meter Trittkopf mountain, police in the Vorarlberg region said in a statement. 

One partly buried man was recovered with serious injuries and 200 rescuers were deployed to search the snow mass for more.  

It turned out that several of the people in the video had escaped and skied on down the mountain into the valley without reporting their involvement, and it took hours to track everyone down, police said. Three persons suffered minor injuries. A search was continuing Monday to make sure, but police said that “according to the current state of information, it can be assumed that no further persons are missing.” 

The avalanche followed days of heavy snow, followed by warm weather on Christmas Day, and the mountain rescue service had rated the avalanche danger as high. The head of tourism in the Zuers and Lech am Arlberg region, Hermann Fercher, said that the avalanche occurred even though explosives had been set off in that area to reduce the risk, the dpa news agency reported. Police said they would be investigating how the accident came about.  

Belarus Says Russia-Deployed Iskander Missile Systems Ready for Use

The Iskander tactical missile systems and the S-400 air defense systems that Russia has deployed to Belarus are fully prepared to perform their intended tasks, a senior Belarusian defense ministry official said on Sunday.   

“Our servicemen, crews have fully completed their training in the joint combat training centers of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,” Leonid Kasinsky, head of the Main Directorate of Ideology at the ministry, said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.   

“These types of weapons (Iskander and S-400 systems) are on combat duty today and they are fully prepared to perform tasks for their intended purpose.”   

It is not clear how many of the Iskander systems, which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, have been deployed to Belarus after Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that Moscow would supply Minsk with them and the air defense systems.   

The news comes amidst Moscow’s increasing pressure on Minsk to aid its invasion of Ukraine, now in its 10 month and with no end in sight.   

Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in February, and there has been a growing flurry of Russian and Belarusian military activity in recent months.   

The Iskander-M, a mobile guided missile system code named “SS-26 Stone” by NATO, replaced the Soviet “Scud.” Its two guided missiles have a range of up to 500 kilometers (300 miles) and can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.   

That range reaches deep into neighbors of Belarus: Ukraine and NATO member Poland, which has very strained relations with Minsk.   

The S-400 system is a Russian mobile, surface-to-air missile (SAM) interception system capable of engaging aircraft, UAVs, cruise missiles, and has a terminal ballistic missile defense capability.   

Kasinsky also said the country’s military aircraft have been converted to carry “special aviation ammunition.” 

Dutch King Says Slavery Apology Start of ‘Long Journey’

Dutch King Willem-Alexander welcomed the government’s apology for the Netherlands’ role in 250 years of slavery in his Christmas address on Sunday, saying it was the “start of a long journey.”    

Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday officially apologized for the Dutch state’s involvement in slavery in its former colonies, calling it a “crime against humanity.”    

“Nobody today bears responsibility for the inhumane acts that were inflicted on the lives of men, women and children,” Willem-Alexander said from the palace of Huis ten Bosch in The Hague.    

“But by honestly facing our shared past and recognizing the crime against humanity that is slavery, we lay the ground for a shared future — a future in which we stand against all modern forms of discrimination, exploitation and injustice,” the king said. “The apology offered by the government is the start of a long journey.”   

The Netherlands funded its “Golden Age” of empire and culture in the 16th and 17th centuries by shipping around 600,000 Africans as part of the slave trade, mostly to South America and the Caribbean.   

The Dutch government says several major commemorative events will be held from next year and has announced a $212 million fund for social initiatives. 

Willem-Alexander promised that the topic would retain the royal family’s attention during the commemorative year and that they would remain “involved.”    

But Rutte’s move went against the wishes of some slavery commemoration organizations who wanted the apology to be offered on July 1, 2023.  

Descendants of Dutch slavery will then celebrate 150 years of liberation from slavery in an annual celebration called “Keti Koti” (Breaking the Chains) in Suriname.   

The leaders of the Caribbean island Sint Maarten and Suriname in South America regretted the lack of dialogue from the Netherlands over the apology.   

Some former Dutch colonies have demanded compensation for slavery and criticized the government for not offering concrete actions. 

North Macedonia Takes Emergency Antipollution Steps

North Macedonia’s government said it’s imposing emergency measures in the country’s capital, Skopje, and three other cities in order to protect people from severely high levels of air pollution.

No sports events will be staged Sunday or on any day with high air pollution levels, and other outdoor activities will be curtailed. Starting Monday, construction work will be limited to a six-hour period, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The government has recommended companies excuse pregnant women and people over age 60 from work.

The government also said it would reduce the use of its official vehicles by half and ordered the health and welfare ministries to provide shelter for homeless people and boost emergency services and home visits to people with chronic illnesses.

The measures were announced Saturday after days of lobbying by environmental groups asking the government to act. The new rules coincided with an announcement by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, ranking North Macedonia’s capital as the third-most polluted city in the world for Saturday after Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek and Lahore, Pakistan. The levels of toxic PM10 and PM 2.5 particles in the air measured by IQAir in Skopje were about 28 times higher than the safety threshold established by the World Health Organization.

PM10 particles are particles smaller than 10 micrometers, or 10 one-millionths of a meter that are so-called coarse particles that can irritate the eyes, nose and throat. PM2.5 particles can lodge deeper into the lungs, enter the bloodstream and are considered more dangerous.

North Macedonia has been one of Europe’s most polluted countries for years. Health authorities estimate that more than 3,000 people in this country of just over 2 million die each year as a result of air pollution, which is mostly a result of the heavy use of household wood-burning stoves during cold winters, an aging car fleet and the practice in some areas of garbage disposal by incineration.

The recent spike in energy prices has further boosted wood-burning stove use.

Iran Says Western Claims Show ‘Effectiveness’ of Its Drones

Iran’s top general has said that Western claims its drones are being used by Russia against Ukraine show the ‘effectiveness’ of Tehran’s unmanned aerial vehicles, Iranian media reported Sunday.

Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones to carry out attacks against Ukraine in the monthslong conflict, causing significant damage to civilian and energy infrastructure.

In response, Western nations have sanctioned several Iranian firms and military generals, including the chief of the staff of Iran’s armed forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri.

Tehran had repeatedly denied supplying weapons “to be used” in the war in Ukraine but admitted in early November that it had sent drones to Russia before the invasion began in February.

“Today’s atmosphere-creating by the world of arrogance (a reference for the United States and its allies) regarding the use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war, is part of the enemy’s psychological warfare,” Bagheri said, according to Tasnim news agency.

“Apart from the fact that many of these claims may be false, this, in fact, shows the effectiveness, importance and high rank of the Islamic republic in the field of drones.” 

The United States and Israel, Iran’s arch foes, accuse Tehran of dispatching fleets of drones to its proxies in the Middle East, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, the regime of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. 

Iran started developing drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in the 1980s during its eight-year war with neighboring Iraq.

Bagheri said that Iran will continue to develop UAVs.

“The country’s armed forces will continue to grow and develop their drones… we will cooperate with other countries on drones,” he was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

“Our drone systems are at a high ranking in the world in terms of accuracy, durability and continuity of operation and mission execution, and they perform various missions,” he added.

Austria Avalanche Leaves up to 10 Missing, Reports Say

An avalanche left up to 10 people missing in western Austria on Sunday, according to media reports.

About 200 rescue workers were searching for people feared buried under the snow near the town of Zuers, reports said.

The avalanche occurred at around 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) on the 2,700-meter (nearly 9,000-foot) high Trittkopf mountain between Zuers and Lech am Arlberg, and the cascading snow reached as far as nearby ski trails.

The avalanche followed days of snow in the high alpine region and unseasonably warm weather on Christmas Day, the Austria Press Agency reported, citing local police. The local mountain rescue service had rated the avalanche danger as “high.”

Officials said one person could be recovered quickly. Searchlights were set up on the snow mass to continue the search after darkness fell, and dogs were being used to try to find the missing.

The search would continue “all night if we have to,” Lech-Zuers tourism director Hermann Fercher said during an interview on ORF Austrian public television.

Prosecutors: Paris Shooting Suspect Wanted to Kill Migrants 

The man suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris ahead of Christmas weekend told investigators that he had set out that morning aiming to kill migrants or foreigners and then himself, according to prosecutors.

The 69-year-old man killed three people outside a Kurdish cultural center Friday and wounded three others and was then disarmed and subdued by one of the injured victims, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Sunday.

He was detained at the scene and transferred Saturday to psychiatric care. His name hasn’t been released. If he is released from psychiatric care, he faces potential charges of racially motivated murder, attempted murder and arms violations.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement Sunday that the suspect told investigators that a 2016 burglary at his home marked a turning point for him, sparking what he called a “hatred toward foreigners that became completely pathological.”

The shooting in a bustling Parisian neighborhood shook and angered the Kurdish community and stirred up concerns about hate crimes at a time when far-right voices have gained prominence in France and around Europe.

The suspect told investigators that the morning of the shooting, he took his weapon first to the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with the aim of killing foreigners but changed his mind, the prosecutor’s statement said. He then went to the Kurdish center in Paris, which is near his parents’ home.

He opened fire on one woman and two men there, then entered a Kurdish-run hair salon across the street and fired on three men. One of the wounded men in the hair salon managed to stop him and hold him until police arrived, the prosecutor’s statement said.

He told investigators he didn’t know his victims and described all “non-European foreigners” as his enemies, the statement said.

Two of the injured were still hospitalized Sunday with leg injuries.

Investigators are studying his computer and phone, but haven’t found any confirmed links to extremist ideology, the statement said.

On Saturday, members of France’s Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined together in a demonstration of mourning and anger. The gathering was largely peaceful, with marchers holding portraits of the victims.

Some youths threw objects and set a few cars and garbage bins on fire, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. A spokesperson for the Kurdish Democratic Council in France said the violence began after some people drove by waving a Turkish flag. Some of the marchers carried flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

In 2013, three women Kurdish activists, including Sakine Cansiz, a PKK founder, were found shot dead at a Kurdish center in Paris.

Turkey’s army has long been battling against Kurdish militants affiliated with the banned PKK in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq. Turkey’s military also recently launched a series of strikes from the air and with artillery against Syrian Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terror group, but Turkey accuses some European countries of leniency toward alleged PKK members. That frustration has been the main reason behind Turkey’s continued delay of Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Sunday the violence in the Paris protests was a result of lenience toward the PKK.

“The snake France fed is now biting them. Everyone should now see the real face of this terror organization,” Akar said.

Four Killed in Spain After Bus Plunges Into River 

Four people died after a bus plunged into a river overnight while crossing a bridge in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region, officials said Sunday. 

The accident occurred on Saturday night near Vigo and the border with Portugal. The regional La Voz de Galicia newspaper said the bus was carrying people visiting their loved ones jailed in Monterroso in central Galicia.  

The emergency services said two corpses had been recovered while two others, including the bus driver, had been rescued and taken to hospital. 

Spain’s Civil Guard later said two more bodies were found on Sunday. A woman’s body was recovered but a man’s corpse was yet to be retrieved. 

“There could have been more people inside the bus,” the emergency services had said on Twitter and posted a photo of the vehicle in turbulent waters. 

Rescue operations had to be suspended overnight due to bad weather but resumed Sunday morning. 

The accident took place “at a spot with a steep gradient,” making access difficult, said a Civil Guard spokesman in the city of Pontevedra, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the site of the accident. 

The Civil Guard said the bus driver had tested negative for alcohol. 

At Christmas, Pope Urges End to ‘Senseless’ Ukraine War 

Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for an end to the “senseless” war in Ukraine, in his traditional Christmas message from St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.   

The 86-year-old also warned the 10-month-old conflict was aggravating food shortages around the world, urging an end to the use of “food as a weapon.” 

The head of the Catholic Church addressed thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square, some of them holding Ukrainian flags, before delivering the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing (“to the city and the world”)

 He has repeatedly called for peace ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, condemning the war but seeking to maintain a delicate dialogue with Moscow.   

In his address from the central balcony of St Peter’s, he recalled “our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes.”  

“May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to assist all those who are suffering, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war!”   

“Tragically, we prefer to heed other counsels, dictated by worldly ways of thinking”, he added, recalling “with sorrow” that “the icy winds of war continue to buffet humanity.”  

“Our time is experiencing a grave famine of peace also in other regions and other theatres of this third world war,” he said.   

He referenced numerous countries in difficulty this Christmas, whether due to conflict or another crisis, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lebanon and Haiti.   

For the first time, he also called for “reconciliation” in Iran, rocked by women-led protests for the past three months.   

The pope also urged those celebrating Christmas to remember all those “who go hungry while huge amounts of food daily go to waste and resources are being spent on weapons.”  

“The war in Ukraine has further aggravated this situation, putting entire peoples at risk of famine, especially in Afghanistan and in the countries of the Horn of Africa,” he said.   

“We know that every war causes hunger and exploits food as a weapon, hindering its distribution to people already suffering.    

“On this day, let us learn from the Prince of Peace [Jesus Christ] and, starting with those who hold political responsibilities, commit ourselves to making food solely an instrument of peace.” 

  

Duma Prepares Higher Taxation for Russians Who Left Country, Speaker Says

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Duma, said the Russian lower house of parliament was preparing a law to introduce higher taxation for people who have left the country, as many have since the war in Ukraine began in February.

“It is right to cancel preferences for those who have left the Russian Federation and to introduce an increased tax rate for them,” Volodin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“We are working on appropriate changes to the legislation.”

The number of Russians who have left since the start of the war is unclear.

By early October, some local media had reported that as many as 700,000 had fled following the September announcement of a mobilization drive to call up as many as 300,000 to fight. The government rejected that figure at the time.

Russia’s 13% personal income tax is deducted automatically by domestic employers.

Russians working abroad who are Russian tax residents must pay the tax independently, according to the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

“It’s completely understandable why they fled,” Volodin said. “Those who realized that they had made a mistake have already returned. The rest should understand: the vast majority of society does not support their act and believes that they betrayed their country, relatives and friends.”

China’s Foreign Minister Signals Deeper Ties With Russia

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended his country’s position on the war in Ukraine on Sunday and signaled that China would deepen ties with Russia in the coming year.

Wang, speaking by video to a conference in the Chinese capital, also blamed America for the deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies, saying that China has “firmly rejected the United States’ erroneous China policy.”

China has pushed back against Western pressure on trade, technology, human rights and its claims to a broad swath of the western Pacific, accusing the U.S. of bullying. Its refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and join others in imposing sanctions on Russia has further frayed ties and fueled an emerging divide with much of Europe.

Wang said that China would “deepen strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia. Warships from the two countries held joint naval drills in the East China Sea last week.

“With regard to the Ukraine crisis, we have consistently upheld the fundamental principles of objectivity and impartiality, without favoring one side or the other, or adding fuel to the fire, still less seeking selfish gains from the situation,” Wang said, according to an official text of his remarks.

Even as China has found common ground with Russia as both come under Western pressure, its economic future remains tied to American and European markets and technology. Leader Xi Jinping is pushing Chinese industry to become more self-sufficient, but Wang acknowledged that experience has shown “that China and the United States cannot decouple or sever supply chains.”

He said that China would strive to bring relations with the U.S. back on course, saying they had plunged because “the United States has stubbornly continued to see China as its primary competitor and engage in blatant blockade, suppression and provocation against China.”

Wang and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked by phone late last week. The State Department said that Blinken discussed the need to manage the U.S.-China relationship responsibly and raised concerns about Russia’s war against Ukraine and the threats it poses to global security and economic stability.

Wang accused the U.S. of “unilateral bullying” and said that China would continue to play a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis in its own way, a Chinese foreign ministry statement said.

Zelenskyy: Ukraine Will Create Its Own Christmas Miracle

Ukrainians will create their own miracle this Christmas by showing they remain unbowed despite Russian attacks that have plunged millions into darkness, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a defiant message on Saturday.

Speaking 10 months to the day since Russian launched a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions more, Zelenskyy said that while freedom came at a high price, slavery would cost even more.

“We endured at the beginning of the war,” he said. “We endured attacks, threats, nuclear blackmail, terror, missile strikes. Let’s endure this winter because we know what we are fighting for.”

Relentless Russian missile and drone attacks since October have caused massive damage to the country’s energy infrastructure, regularly leaving major cities without water and heat.

Zelenskyy made his remarks in a video address to Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas in December. Most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and mark the occasion in early January.

“Even in total darkness – we will find each other – to hug each other tightly,” he said. “And if there is no heat, we will give a big hug to warm each other.”

“We will smile and be happy. As always. The difference is one. We will not wait for a miracle. After all, we create it ourselves.”

The clip, which lasted just less than nine minutes, was filmed outside at night with just a few white lights and a Christmas tree in the background.

Zelenskyy noted Ukrainian troops were fighting battles in the eastern Donbas region while others were in exile both home and abroad, having fled the Russians.

“We have been resisting them for more than three hundred days and eight years,” he said, a reference to Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea. “And will we allow them to achieve what they want?”

Maxi Jazz, of UK Dance Music Band Faithless, Dies at 65

Maxi Jazz, the lead singer of the British electronic band Faithless, has died at the age of 65, the group announced Saturday.

The musician and DJ, whose real name was Maxwell Fraser, passed away at his home in south London, according to the dance music act behind 1990s hits including Insomnia and God is a DJ.

No details were given for the cause of his death.

“We are heartbroken to say Maxi Jazz died peacefully in his sleep last night,” Faithless tweeted, paying tribute to one of its legendary 1995 founding members.

“He was a man who changed our lives in so many ways. He gave proper meaning and a message to our music,” they said. “He was a lovely human being with time for everyone and wisdom that was both profound and accessible.”

Faithless first emerged in the mid-1990s, earning widespread recognition and critical acclaim with their album Insomnia.

They were seen as pioneers of the emerging dance music genre at the time.

The group, whose other core members included Rollo and Sister Bliss, went on to release six more studio albums as well as several compilation albums during their decades-spanning collaboration.

The most recent release was 2020’s All Blessed.

Jazz, who also fronted a band of musicians named Maxi Jazz & The E-Type Boys, will be best remembered for Faithless’ earlier tracks, including the 2001 club classic We Come 1.

The band was also renowned for its live performances and headlined some of the biggest festivals in the world, including on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage in 2002.

Sister Bliss paid tribute to her bandmate by sharing a black and white photo of him on Twitter.

“Sending love to all of you who shared our musical journey,” she wrote in the post. 

Jazz, who hailed from Brixton in south London, was a lifelong supporter of Premier League football team Crystal Palace and was made an associate director of the club in 2012.

Its official Twitter account described him as a “legendary musician” and said the team would walk out to a Faithless track on Monday, a public holiday known as Boxing Day in the U.K., in tribute. 

Pope on Christmas Eve: Remember the War Weary, Poor

Pope Francis on Saturday led the world’s Catholics into Christmas, saying in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts that the level of greed and hunger for power was such that some wanted to “consume even their neighbors.”

Francis, celebrating the 10th Christmas of his pontificate, presided at a solemn Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. It was the first with a capacity crowd of about 7,000 following several years of restricted attendance because of COVID.

About 4,000 more people participated outside in St. Peter’s Square on a relatively warm night.

As has been the case for the past several months, a knee ailment prevented Francis from standing for long periods, delegating a cardinal to be the main celebrant at the altar of the largest church in Christendom.

Sitting to the side of the altar for most of the Mass, he wove his homily around the theme of greed and consumption on various levels, asking people to look beyond the consumerism that has “packaged” the feast, rediscover its meaning, and remember those suffering from war and poverty.

“Men and women in our world, in their hunger for wealth and power, consume even their neighbors, their brothers and sisters,” he said. “How many wars have we seen! And in how many places, even today, are human dignity and freedom treated with contempt!”

Since Russia invaded it neighbor in February, Francis has spoken out against the war at nearly every public event, at least twice a week, denouncing what he has called atrocities and unprovoked aggression.

He did not specifically mention Ukraine on Saturday night.

“As always, the principal victims of this human greed are the weak and the vulnerable,” he said, denouncing “a world ravenous for money, power and pleasure.”

“I think above all of the children devoured by war, poverty and injustice,” he said, also mentioning “unborn, poor and forgotten children.”

Drawing a parallel between the infant Jesus born in a manger and the poverty of today, the pope said: “In the manger of rejection and discomfort, God makes himself present. He comes there because there we see the problem of our humanity: the indifference produced by the greedy rush to possess and consume.”

Earlier this month, the pope urged people to spend less on Christmas celebrations and gifts and send the difference to Ukrainians to help them get through the winter.

The pope marked his 86th birthday last week and, apart from the knee ailment, appears to be in overall good health.

On Sunday, he is to deliver his twice-year “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to tens of thousands of people in the square below.

Russian Shelling in Kherson Kills at Least 10, Injures Dozens

At least 10 people were killed and 55 were injured by Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson on Saturday.

One of the rockets landed next to a supermarket in downtown Kherson, Yuriy Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of Kherson Oblast Council, said in a Telegram post. According to Ukraine’s Interior ministry, 66 cars were on fire after the shelling.

Russia is “killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram Saturday.

Photos of the strike — burning cars and what appeared to be corpses — were on the president’s Telegram account.

“Social networks will most likely mark these photos as ‘sensitive content,'” Zelenskyy wrote. “But this is not sensitive content — it is the real life of Ukraine and Ukrainians.”

A pro-Moscow official responded by accusing Ukraine of launching the attack in order to blame Russia.

In a tweet, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the shelling of downtown Kherson “is not only another war crime, but also revenge on its residents who resisted the occupation and proved to the whole world that Kherson is Ukraine.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged families in Europe, North America, and beyond to “spare a thought for Ukraine … which is fighting evil right now.”

In a video address Saturday evening, Zelenskyy said this Christmas there are no festivities in Ukraine.

“Dinner at the family table cannot be so tasty and warm. There may be empty chairs around it. And our houses and streets can’t be so bright,” he said.

But he added the path of the Ukrainian people is illuminated by faith and patience.

“We endured attacks, threats, nuclear blackmail, terror, missile strikes. Let’s endure this winter because we know what we are fighting for,” he said.

Also Saturday, two people were killed and five people were wounded in the Donetsk region, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Munitions shortage

Earlier Saturday, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia is facing a munitions shortage in its invasion of Ukraine.

The ministry said in an intelligence update Saturday that, “Despite the easing of its immediate personnel shortages, a shortage of munitions highly likely remains the key limiting factor on Russian offensive operations.”

“Russia has likely limited its long-range missile strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure to around once a week due to the limited availability of cruise missiles,” the ministry said. “Similarly, Russia is unlikely to have increased its stockpile of artillery munitions enough to enable large-scale offensive operations.”

The British Defense Ministry said the munitions shortage made Russia vulnerable.

“A vulnerability of Russia’s current operational design is that even just sustaining defensive operations along its lengthy front line requires a significant daily expenditure of shells and rockets,” it said.

U.S. aid package

The U.S. House of Representatives Friday approved a $45 billion aid package for Ukraine. The measure, part of a $1.66 trillion government funding bill that passed the Senate a day earlier, will now go to U.S. President Joe Biden for signing into law. This package follows U.S. aid worth about $50 billion sent to Ukraine previously this year.

The move comes after Zelenskyy’s wartime visit to Washington this week.

Upon his return to Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces “are working toward victory” despite Russia’s relentless artillery, rocket and mortar fire and airstrikes on Ukraine.

“We will overcome everything,” Zelenskyy pledged on Telegram. “We are coming back from Washington with … something that will really help.”

The U.S. promised Patriot missiles, something Zelenskyy has long sought to help counter Russian airstrikes, which have destroyed cities, towns and villages and knocked out power and water supplies across the country over the past three months.

Saturday marked 10 months since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Zelenskyy thanked Biden and the U.S. Congress for supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

U.S. officials say, however, that the single Patriot battery that Biden promised to supply to Ukraine will not change the course of the war.

Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze contributed to this report. Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and the Agence France-Presse.

22 Killed in Russian Nursing Home Fire, Electrical Problems Suspected

A fire ripped through an old people’s home in Russia’s Siberia region, killing 22 people and investigators are eyeing whether improper use of electrical equipment was to blame, news agencies said Saturday.

The blaze in the city of Kemerovo broke out Friday night and gutted the second floor of the building, which was not officially registered as a home for the elderly. It was out by the early hours when rescuers finished combing the rubble, state media and emergency services said.

Russia’s ministry for emergency situations said a group of senior officials had flown to Kemerovo, 3,600 km east of Moscow, and noted there were several possible causes for the blaze.

“One of them is a violation of the rules for the operation of electrical equipment,” the RIA news agency cited a ministry statement as saying.

RIA, citing city authorities, had earlier said breaches of fire safety regulations could have been to blame.

Many homes for the elderly operate without authorization in Russia, officials said, meaning they were considered private property and not subject to inspections.

Kemerovo saw one of the deadliest fires in Russia in recent times when a blaze swept through the upper floors of the “Winter Cherry” shopping center in 2018, killing 64 people.

France’s Kurds Protest after Paris Killings

Representatives of France’s Kurdish community gathered in central Paris Saturday for a demonstration to demand answers in the killing of three Kurds in the French capital they say has exposed the community’s vulnerability.

A gunman carried out the killings at a Kurdish cultural center and nearby cafe Friday in a busy part of Paris’ 10th district.

Police arrested a 69-year-old man, who authorities said had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a sabre attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.

After an angry crowd clashed with police Friday afternoon, the Kurdish democratic council in France (CDK-F) called on its website and social media channels for a gathering at midday (1100 GMT) Saturday at Republic Square, a traditional venue for demonstrations in the city.

Several hundred people gathered in the square, with many holding flags.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Friday that possible racist motives would be part of the investigation, but Kurdish representatives said it should be considered a terror attack.

“We know that we are under threat, Kurds in general, Kurdish activists and militants. France owes us protection,” Berivan Firat, a spokesperson for the CDK-F told BFM TV.

Friday’s murders caused particular dismay in the Kurdish community as it prepared to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the killings of three Kurdish women in Paris.

“The Kurdish community is afraid. It was already traumatized by the triple murder (in 2013). It needs answers, support and consideration,” David Andic, a lawyer representing the CDK-F told reporters Friday.

Paris’ police chief was due to meet members of the Kurdish community Saturday morning ahead of the afternoon protest.