Thousands of Iranians were among an estimated 80,000 people who joined in a rally Saturday in Berlin, the largest of several protests in cities around the world showing solidarity with women-led protests in Iran. 

Iranians traveled to Berlin for the protests and were in other demonstrations in Sweden, Italy, France, Switzerland and other European cities, photos show. Protests were also reported in London and Finland. 

An Iranian who lives in the Netherlands and traveled to Berlin to participate in the rally sent a photo to Voice of America. 

Music played, including the song “For Freedom,” which has become a symbol of the nationwide protests of Iranians. And various groups chanted together “Death to the Islamic Republic.”  

“Today, thousands of people are showing their solidarity with courageous women and demonstrators in Iran,” tweeted Germany’s Green Party minister for family affairs, Lisa Paus. “We are by your side,” she noted. 

‘Women, Life, Freedom’

At a rally in New Zealand, Iranians held Iran’s lion and sun flag and chanted the slogan “women of freedom.” 

In Brisbane, Australia, Iranians held a demonstration despite the rain. 

At the Berlin rally, called by a women’s collective, some marchers brandished slogans such as “Women, Life, Freedom” and some waved Kurdish flags. 

“From Zahedan to Tehran, I sacrifice my life for Iran,” human rights activist Fariba Balouch said after giving a speech at the Berlin gathering, referring to Iranian cities swept up in the protests. The crowd responded with “Death to Khamenei,” referring to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Anti-government activists said the Berlin march was the largest ever demonstration against the Islamic Republic by Iranians abroad.  

“I feel very good, because we are here to [say] ‘We are with you, with all Iranian people.’ I am Mahsa Amini’s voice,” said a protester who gave her name as Maru. 

Participants peacefully made their way toward the city center in radiant autumnal sunshine, as police followed their progress from helicopters. 

Protests around Iran

Iran has seen six weeks of growing women-led protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. She was arrested in mid-September by Iran’s morality police and died in their custody three days later. Amini, 22, was arrested for allegedly breaching the country’s strict dress code for women. 

In Iran Saturday, protests were reported in Tehran, where protesters chanted “Death to the dictator” around Tehran’s bazaar, among several cities, and shopkeepers and factory workers went on strike as citizens continue to react angrily to Amini’s death.  

Protests also were reported in Karaj, a suburb of Tehran, and Mashhad. 

In Mashhad, Iran’s second-most populous city, protesters reportedly chanted, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, we are all together” as drivers honked their horns in support. 

The protests are the biggest seen in the Islamic republic for years, harking back to 2019 rallies sparked by rocketing fuel prices. 

The published images from the cities of Sanandaj, Saqqez and Marivan in Kurdistan province, as well as Bukan in the West Azerbaijan province, depict the general strike of workers. 

Young women have led the charge, removing their headscarves, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security forces. 

The Oslo-based, Iran Human Rights group says at least 122 people — including some children — have died in the unrest. 

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. 
…

The Vatican said Saturday it and China had renewed a secret and contested agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in the communist country.

It was the second time the accord, which is still provisional, was extended for another two years since it was first reached in 2018. The latest extension had been widely expected, with Pope Francis foreseeing it in an exclusive interview with Reuters on July 2.

The deal was a bid to ease a longstanding divide across mainland China between an underground flock loyal to the pope and a state-backed official church. For the first time since the 1950s, both sides recognized the pope as supreme leader of the Catholic Church.

Critics, including Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, the former archbishop of Hong Kong, have denounced it as a sell-out to the communist authorities. Zen is currently on trial over the use of a charity fund for pro-democracy protesters and critics have accused the Vatican of not doing enough to defend him in public.

Zen pleaded not guilty.

The Vatican-China deal centers on cooperation over the appointment of bishops, giving the pope the final and decisive say.

Only six new bishops have been appointed since the deal was struck, which its opponents say proves it is not producing the desired effects. They also point to increasing restrictions on religious freedoms in China for Christians and other minorities.

In the July interview with Reuters, the pope acknowledged the deal “is going slowly” but that the Church needed to take the long view in China and that an imperfect dialogue was better than no contact at all.

Francis compared the deal’s opponents to those who criticized Popes John XXII and Paul VI in the 1960s and 1970s over the so-called small steps policy, in which the Vatican struck sometimes uncomfortable deals with Eastern European communist nations to keep the Church alive during the Cold War and limit its persecution there.

Steps toward healing

Official Vatican media ran interviews with two cardinals defending the deal.

Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the accord’s chief architect, said that while the achievements since 2018 “may seem small,” in the context of a conflicted history they were “important steps toward the progressive healing of the wounds inflicted” on the Chinese Church.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a Filipino whose mother is of Chinese descent, said the challenge was to convince authorities that “belonging to the Church does not represent an obstacle to being a good Chinese citizen.”

The Vatican has insisted that the deal is circumscribed to the Church structure in China and is not in itself a precursor to establishing full diplomatic relations with Beijing, which would necessitate the Holy See severing ties with Taiwan.

The Vatican is the last state in Europe to recognize Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, to be taken by force if necessary.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it set great store by the Vatican’s “solemn commitment” that the deal was about religious rather than diplomatic or political matters, adding that it hoped the accord would “help improve China’s growing religious freedom problem.”

The renewal of the Vatican-Beijing deal came as China’s Communist Party wrapped up its twice-a-decade congress on Saturday, approving amendments cementing President Xi Jinping’s iron grip on the party.

Last month, the Vatican tried to arrange a meeting between Xi, 69, and the pope, 85, while both leaders were in Kazakhstan, but China declined.
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Giorgia Meloni, whose political party with neo-fascist roots emerged victorious in recent elections, was sworn in on Saturday as Italy’s first far-right premier since the end of World War II. She is also the first woman to be premier.

Meloni, 45, recited the oath of office before President Sergio Mattarella, who formally asked her to form a government a day earlier. 

Her Brothers of Italy party, which she co-founded in 2012, will rule in coalition with the right-wing League of Matteo Salvini and the conservative Forza Italia party headed by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Those two parties’ popularity has sagged with voters in recent years. 

Meloni recited the ritual oath of office, pledging to be faithful to Italy’s post-war republic and to act “in the exclusive interests of the nation.” The pledge was signed by her and counter-signed by Mattarella, who, in his role as head of state, serves as guarantor of the Constitution, drafted in the years immediately after the end of war, which saw the demise of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Meloni’s 24 ministers followed, similarly swearing in. Five of the ministers are technocrats, not representing any party. Six of them are women. 

In her campaign for the Sept. 25 election, Meloni insisted that national interests prevail over European Union policies should there be conflict. She often railed against EU bureaucracy.

Salvini’s right-wing League party has at times leaned euroskeptic. An admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Salvini has also questioned the wisdom of EU sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, arguing that they hurt Italian business interests more than Russian ones. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sounded an upbeat note in her congratulations tweet to Meloni right after she was sworn in and noted that the Italian was the first woman to hold the premiership.

“I count on and look forward to constructive cooperation with the new government on the challenges we face together,” the EU chief said.

One immediate challenge for Meloni will be ensuring that her country stays solidly aligned with other major nations in the West in helping that country fight off the Russian invaders. 

In the days before she became premier, Meloni resorted to giving an ultimatum to her other main coalition partner, Berlusconi, over his professed sympathy for Putin. 

Berlusconi in remarks to his center-right Forza Italia party lawmakers, delivered what was tantamount to justification for the Russian invasion in February to install what he called a “decent” government in the Ukrainian capital.

After making clear she’d rather not govern than lead a coalition with any partner wavering over continued Italian support for Ukraine, aligned with Europe and NATO – “Italy with us in government will never be the weak link of the West” – Meloni tapped as her foreign minister a longtime Berlusconi stalwart with solid pro-Europe credentials. Antonio Tajani formerly was president of the European Parliament. 

With potential wavering in Parliament by her Russian-sympathizing allies, as well as from former Premier Giuseppe Conte, a populist opposition leader, over continued arms supplies to Ukraine, Meloni appointed one of her party co-founders, Guido Crosetto, as defense minister.

Meloni will lay out her priorities when she pitches for support in Parliament ahead of confidence votes required of new governments. Voting is expected within a few days.

While her government holds a comfortable majority in the legislature, the vote could indicate any cracks in her coalition if any of her partners’ lawmakers, perhaps disgruntled by not getting ministries they wanted for their parties, don’t rally behind her.

Meloni’s government replaces that led by Mario Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief who was appointed by Mattarella in 2021 to lead a pandemic national unity coalition. Meloni was the only major party leader to refuse to join that coalition, insisting governments must be decided by the voters.

In any unusual touch for a country used to male-dominated politics and power, attending the swearing-in ceremony in a sumptuous room of the Quirinal Palace was Meloni’s companion, who is a journalist in Berlusconi’s media empire, and their 6-year-old daughter, Ginevra. 

While Meloni didn’t campaign openly to be Italy’s first woman premier, she has said there would be no doubt that her victory would be clearly breaking through the “glass ceiling” that discourages women’s progress.
…

France, Germany and Britain called Friday for the United Nations to investigate allegations that Russia is using Iranian drones for attacks in Ukraine.

A letter from the French, German and British missions to the U.N. cited “significant open-source evidence, including photographs and video, of Russia deploying Mohajer and Shahed series UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] in Ukraine.”

It says the transfer of such weapons violates U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Both Iran and Russia deny that Tehran is providing Moscow with drones.

Ukraine says Russia has used the drones to carry out so-called kamikaze attacks, in which the aircraft is intentionally crashed into a target.  The strikes have been terrorizing the country, causing casualties and taking out power facilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing Ukrainian intelligence services, has alleged that Russia ordered 2,400 Shahed drones from Iran and then rebranded them as Geran-2 drones — meaning “geranium” in Russian.

The drones pack an explosive charge and can linger over targets before nosediving into them. They are relatively cheap, costing about $20,000.

Some Ukrainians say they fear the drone attacks could become commonplace as Russia tries to avoid depleting its stockpiles of precision long-range missiles.

The United States, Britain and France – all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – have recently said that Iran is violating U.N. Security Council resolution 2231 by providing drones to Russia. The U.N. resolution endorsed the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers.

The U.S. Thursday alleged Iranian military personnel are “on the ground” in Ukraine, assisting the Russian military with drone operations.

“Our understanding is that they [Iranian forces] are on the ground in Crimea, assisting Russian military personnel as they conduct these drone operations in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters.

When asked about Russia denying it uses Iran-made drones, Ryder responded, “It’s obvious that they’re lying” and charged Tehran with “exporting terror, not only in the Middle East region but now also to Ukraine.” 
…

Germany’s announcement that it will take in 1,000 at-risk Afghans with their families from Afghanistan will be challenging, an Afghan lawyer says, because it is becoming increasingly difficult for Afghans to leave Afghanistan.

In a joint statement, the German Foreign and Interior ministries announced the new humanitarian admission program on Monday.

“The plan is to approve around 1,000 Afghans at particular risk, along with their family members from Afghanistan for admittance every month,” said the statement.

“It is going to be very challenging,” said Abdul Subhan Misbah, former deputy head of Afghanistan’s Lawyers Union who has been involved in the efforts to evacuate judges and prosecutors from Afghanistan, adding that “it is not clear who would be included, and it won’t be easy to take people out of Afghanistan that is ruled by the Taliban.”

The German government said that the new program would evacuate at-risk women’s and human rights activists, former government officials, and civil society members. The program also includes those persecuted in Afghanistan because of their gender, sexual orientation, and/or religion.

Misbah said that many employees of the former government and members of civil society want to leave their country.

“Most of the people want to leave,” he said. “What are the criteria based on which people will be admitted? How are they going to help those at risk to get out of Afghanistan? These questions have to be answered.”

Besides the problems they face to get passports and visas, he said, Afghans must travel to a third country because there are no direct flights from Afghanistan to Germany.

“It should be something that the German government has to negotiate with neighboring countries to facilitate the process,” Misbah said.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, Christopher Burger, told VOA that his government is working with the neighboring countries to help with the process.

“We will continue to work through all channels available to us in order to assure safe passage to the people that we want to bring to safety,” he said.

Germany has admitted 26,000 Afghans since Kabul fell and the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

Burger said to implement the new program, German authorities would work with organizations already on the ground and involved in helping at-risk individuals leave the country, but the German government would make the final decision on who is the “most vulnerable and most in need of admission to Germany.”

Local contractors

Burger said the program will continue until October 2025 and does not include 12,000 former German contractors who are “officially granted admission” to Germany but are still in Afghanistan.

“Simply, we are not able to bring people outside the country. They do not have a passport,” Burger said. “We are working with the neighboring countries on achieving that.”

He added that a “larger group” of Afghans had “some sort of association” with German organizations in Afghanistan and “are still in the proceedings to be recognized as former German contracts.”

Axel Steier, the founder of the German-based civil society organization Mission Lifeline, told VOA that his organization runs several safe houses for those who worked with the German government.

He added that these local contractors fear for their lives.

Steier said that “the Taliban want to kill them, and [we are] keeping them into safe houses and waiting for a decision from the German government to take them in.”

Difficult to leave

The German government said that Afghans who have left Afghanistan would not be considered under the new humanitarian admission program.

“So, this is a big issue,” said Steier, adding that many at-risk Afghans left Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power. Most of the individuals are staying in Pakistan, Iran or Tajikistan and are unable to return to Afghanistan.

He added that it is difficult for people to get passports and visas to leave the country.

“And for both, you need a lot of money. Because you can get a passport only if you pay $1,200 to $1,500,” he said. “Also, it is very difficult to get [a] visa for Iran. At the moment, it costs $500.”

“For people who are poor … [and have no] money for stuff like a passport or visa, it is almost impossible to come [to Germany],” Steier said. 
…

EU leaders struggled at a European Council summit in Brussels this week to arrive at a common response to the rising economic and diplomatic power of China, even as Chinese leader Xi Jinping signaled his intention to sustain an aggressive foreign policy during a Communist Party congress in Beijing.

While largely preoccupied by the war in Ukraine, the leaders devoted more than three hours of their two-day summit ending Friday to “a strategic discussion on the European Union’s relations with China,” according to a tweet by the South China Morning Post’s Brussels-based correspondent.

Detailed reports of the discussion have yet to emerge, but the difficulty in bringing all 27 EU members to a common position was foreshadowed at a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers earlier in the week in Luxembourg.

In a brief statement issued at the conclusion of that Foreign Affairs Council meeting, the ministers said the European Council “reconfirmed the validity of the EU’s multifaceted approach on China” and described Beijing as “a partner with whom the EU must engage, a tough competitor and a systemic rival.”

EU sticking to its position

Analysts saw little new in the statement, which sought to bridge “a variety of approaches” by the various member states, according to Filip Sebok, a research fellow with the Prague-based Association for International Affairs.

“Overall, the EU is still sticking to the ‘partner, competitor, rival’ trifecta,” he said in an emailed interview with VOA. Although there is increasing emphasis on the systemic rivalry with China, “we should not expect a departure from the basic definition of the EU policy towards China in [the] short term.”

Charles Parton, a senior fellow at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, said the immediate challenge posed by the war in Ukraine “is obscuring the bigger, longer-term threat of China to [Europe’s] security, prosperity, data and values.”

Nevertheless, Parton thinks attitudes in the EU are slowly changing.

“The question is whether EU countries can tolerate the pain of actions, which are required to match that change of attitudes,” he said.

Parton, whose diplomatic career in the British foreign service included years of advising the EU delegation in Beijing on matters pertaining to China, pointed out the difficulty of bringing so many countries together on a common position.

“As ever, a central issue is whether the 27 can achieve unity of purpose and action,” he said. “A lowest common denominator approach may not be sufficient.”

Certainly, there is concern within the bloc about the intentions of the Chinese leader, who in an address to the party congress Sunday pledged to “resolutely safeguard the security of China’s state power, systems and ideology — and build up security capacity in key areas.”

“We will crack down hard on infiltration, sabotage, subversion and separatist activities by hostile forces,” Xi added in what was widely interpreted as a reference to the United States and its Western allies.

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service told the German parliament on Monday that the consensus among Western intelligence chiefs was that China posed the greatest long-term security and overall challenge.

“When I speak with foreign partners about China, they always say: Russia is the storm, China is climate change. So, we’re going to have to brace for this climate change in the coming years,” Thomas Haldenwang said.

“We must not allow a situation where the Chinese state can influence political events in Germany via critical infrastructures, where opportunities for sabotage are perhaps also opened up, where there’s also the possibility of influencing public opinions,” he warned.

Hamburg port

His warning came amid tension in Berlin over whether China should be allowed to purchase significant stakes in a port in Hamburg, one of Europe’s most important hubs.

German media have reported that Haldenwang’s intelligence service is one of six government agencies that oppose the plan. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former mayor of Hamburg, is said to support the Chinese investment.

Scholz confirmed on the sidelines of the Brussels summit that he would lead a delegation including business executives to visit China in the coming weeks.

Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, expressed her reservation when questioned about Scholz’s travel plans, telling reporters Friday that she favored a whole EU approach and cautioning against deals that could threaten the unity of the bloc.
…

Britain expects China to waive diplomatic immunity for officials if the U.K. police determine there are grounds to charge them for an attack on a Hong Kong protester, a British Foreign Office minister said on Thursday.

A protest against the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress occurred last Sunday outside the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester, a city in the north of England. Video of the incident appears to show Chinese officials dragging a protester, former Hong Kong resident Bob Chan, onto consulate grounds before assaulting him. Chan was hospitalized overnight due to injuries, according to Manchester police.

Manchester police officers patrolling the protest of some 30 to 40 people intervened fearing “for the safety of the man … and removed the victim from the Consulate grounds,” according to a police press release.

The episode was “absolutely unacceptable” as the protests were “peaceful and legal,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told Britain’s Sky News on Thursday. “They were on British soil.”

What happened outside the consulate and on its grounds is now a diplomatic incident when relations between China and the U.K., which turned over control of Hong Kong to Beijing in 1997, are touchy. Hong Kong had been a colony and dependent territory of the British Empire since1841. Since June 2020, when China tightened its authoritarian grip on the once freewheeling Hong Kong, U.K. has issued thousands of British National Overseas (BNO) visas to those born in Hong Kong prior to the handover, citing “China’s failure to live up to its international obligations with respect to Hong Kong.”

Chan, who left Hong Kong in March under a special entry arrangement, is on a BNO visa. He told VOA Cantonese that he was dragged into the consulate. “I was punched and kicked. I have bruises on my face. There was bleeding and swelling. My hair was pulled,” he said on Sunday soon after the incident. “There are many bruises on my neck and back. I feel some pain at my waist.”

Answering an urgent question in the U.K. Parliament on Thursday, Foreign Office Minister Jesse Norman said the government had summoned the Chinese chargé d’affaires of the Chinese embassy in London to demand an explanation, as the Chinese ambassador was not in Britain.

“I’ve instructed our ambassador to deliver a clear message directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing about the depth of concern with the apparent actions by Consulate General staff,” Norman told Parliament.

“Let me be clear that if the police determine there are grounds to charge any officials, we would expect the Chinese Consulate to waive immunity for those officials,” Norman said. “If they do not, then diplomatic consequences will follow.”

Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, told VOA Cantonese that the latest comments by the U.K. were “encouraging.”

“But there’s no way [the People’s Republic of China] is going to waive immunity,” he said. “The most likely outcome for the consul general is therefore now expulsion, and it’s the very minimum we can do to show Hong Kongers that the U.K. is a country that will protect them.”

The Greater Manchester Police are investigating the incident. No arrests have been made. “We are liaising with national policing and diplomatic partners,” the department said.

Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said, “I can assure the public that all viable avenues will be explored to bring to justice anyone we believe is culpable for the scenes we saw outside the Chinese Consulate on Sunday.” 

At a press conference on Wednesday, Chan said the injuries at his waist were the most painful and sitting down causes him pain. He denounced the assault as “barbaric.”Chan also said he lost sleep worrying that the safety of his family may be jeopardized. ”This incident made me worry about my own safety, but it does not mean I won’t protest again,” he said at the press conference. “I like to say that the tougher the oppression, the stronger my will is to stand up, because this is my freedom, and it should not be diminished.”

Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomatic staff enjoy immunity to any form of arrest or detention unless the sending state waived their immunity. While diplomatic premises in the U.K. are part of Britain’s territory, they are “inviolable and may not be entered without the consent of the Ambassador or Head of Mission,” according to the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service.

Zheng Xiyuan, the Chinese consul-general who was seen in video footage pulling Chan’s hair, told Sky News on Wednesday that because Chan was “abusing my country, my leader” he was performing his “duty.”

Zheng wrote the Greater Manchester Police, saying the protesters’ banners featured a “volume of deeply offensive imagery and slogans,” including a picture of the Chinese president with a noose around his neck, according to Sky News.

Zheng said it was an emergency situation and his colleagues’ life had been threatened.

After graduating in the early 1980s from Lanzhou University in Gansu Province, one of the poorest regions in China, Zheng started his career as a canned food factory manager there. He joined the Chinese Foreign Ministry in 1992, and had previous postings in New York, Athens and Mumbai. In an interview in 2004, he spoke of his patriotism, saying that “the fundamental quality of a diplomat is the unreserved loyalty for one’s country.”

Beijing’s newly aggressive diplomats are referred to as “wolf warriors” after a movie of the same name that broke box-office records throughout China with its nationalistic theme.

U.K. Parliament member Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party who was sanctioned by China for criticizing Beijing’s human rights record, called for declaring any consulate individuals involved in the attack “persona non grata” immediately and expelling them.

“The government has the diplomatic power to dismiss them,” he said during the urgent question session of Parliament on Thursday “Whether or not there are criminal proceedings, the fact is we do not want them here in the U.K. and they must go.”

Catherine West, the Labour Party’s shadow minister for Asia and the Pacific, said at Parliament that the U.K. should summon China’s ambassador to communicate a strong message about the importance of peaceful protests in Britain.

“Is it possible for him (British Foreign Secretary) to expel the individual, and then for that individual to apply to return,” she said. “And … at least we would know the government had taken the strongest action possible.”
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The war has changed the lives of millions of Ukrainians, especially women who have lost their loved ones. Karyna Synelnykova and Kateryna Karvatko lost their husbands on Ukraine’s front line in the east, where the men were defending the country from Russian assault. Today they both carry on their husbands’ legacy and adapt to a new life. For VOA, Kyiv reporter Anna Chernikova has their story.
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Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday that Belarussian president Aleksandr Lukashenko’s assertion early this month that thousands of troops from his country and Russia would form a new Group of Forces is unlikely to come to fruition.

Lukashenko had said 70,000 Belarussian troops and as many as 15,000 Russians would make up a new Russian-Belarussian Group of Forces.

The British ministry said in an intelligence update posted on Twitter that despite a video that Belarussian officials have released to show the arrival of Russian troops in Belarus, “it is unlikely that Russia has actually deployed a significant number of extra troops into Belarus.”

The ministry sized up the capability of both Russia and Belarus to round up troops in the Twitter post: “Russia is unlikely to be able to generate combat-ready formations of the claimed size: its forces are committed in Ukraine. The Belarussian military highly likely maintains minimal capability to undertake complex operations.”

The ministry said the announcement of the combined forces of Russia and Belarus was “likely an attempt to demonstrate Russian-Belarussian solidarity and to convince Ukraine to divert forces to guard the northern border.”

Also Friday, the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia experienced a series of explosions, according to a Reuters report. Zaporizhzhia is the home of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant.  The extent of the damage from the blast was not immediately clear.

Meanwhile, Iranian military personnel are “on the ground” in Ukraine, assisting the Russian military with drone operations that have been terrorizing the country and targeting power facilities, the Pentagon said Thursday.

“Our understanding is that they [Iranian forces] are on the ground in Crimea, assisting Russian military personnel as they conduct these drone operations in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters.

When asked about Russia denying it uses Iran-made drones, Ryder responded, “It’s obvious that they’re lying.” Russia seized the Crimea Peninsula in 2014. Since then, it has reopened old Soviet bases and trained troops there.

He added that Russia has turned to countries such as Iran and North Korea for additional ammunition and weapons because its weapons stockpiles, including precision-guided munitions, “are depleting.”

He called out Iran for “exporting terror, not only in the Middle East region but now also to Ukraine.”

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoană condemned Iran’s behavior and called on Tehran to cease its involvement in Russia’s invasion.

“No country should support in any way this kind of barbaric war,” Geoană said during a virtual event held by German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Also Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby blamed Iranian-made drones launched from Crimea for recent attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

“Russia has received dozens of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] so far and will likely continue to receive additional shipments in the future,” Kirby said.

Kherson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday night accused Russia of preparing to blow up a hydropower plant in the Kherson region – an area illegally annexed by Russia and the recent focus of intense fighting.

Zelenskyy aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Russia is mining the Kakhovka dam and the transformers at the power plant, according to Agence France-Presse. Destroying the dam would flood the Dnieper River and halt the advance of Ukrainian troops.

But, Zelenskyy said, it also could destroy the North Crimean canal and cut off a water supply to Crimea.

Kherson is the first major city to be captured by Russia at the beginning of its invasion in late February and the largest one it still holds.

Russian-installed civilian officials have urged residents to flee, and massive evacuations began earlier this week, relocating 15,000 residents from the city and surrounding area as of Thursday, the officials said.

Kherson was one of four regions, along with Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, illegally annexed by Russia. President Vladimir Putin declared martial law in the four regions Wednesday.

Damaged infrastructure

Ukraine restricted power use for the first time Thursday in response to Russian attacks that have damaged parts of the country’s electrical infrastructure. The outage was scheduled so repairs could be made to some of the power plants damaged or destroyed by Russian missiles over the last several days.

Ukraine’s power grid operator said that supply restrictions would be in place from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., and as colder months approach, it may need to take such steps again.

On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council met in a private meeting at the request of the United States, Britain and France to discuss the issue of Russia using Iranian-made drones in its war in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said that in the past week alone, more than 100 Iranian-made drones have slammed into power plants, sewage treatment plants, residential buildings, bridges and other targets in urban areas.

Washington, London and Paris say Tehran’s supplying of these UAVs to Russia is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which allows for transfers of restricted items to or from Iran only when approved on a case-by-case basis by the Security Council. No such approval has been sought.

“We anticipate this will be the first of many conversations at the U.N. on how to hold Iran and Russia accountable for failing to comply with U.N. Security Council-imposed obligations,” said Nate Evans, spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

“As was outlined during today’s meeting, there is ample evidence that Russia is using Iranian-made UAVs in cruel and deliberate attacks against the people of Ukraine, including against civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” he said, adding that the procurement of arms was in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Ukrainian officials have said the UAVs used in waves of attacks during the past week include Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones that carry explosives and crash into their targets.

Iran’s U.N. ambassador told reporters that his government categorically rejects the “unfounded and unsubstantiated claims,” which he said were part of a disinformation campaign against his government.

Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy told reporters that the allegations are “baseless.” He said there have been no arms transfers in violation of the resolution, and no Iranian drones were supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Margaret Besheer, Patsy Widakuswara and Jeff Seldin contributed to this article. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Iranian military personnel are “on the ground” in Ukraine, assisting the Russian military with drone operations that have been terrorizing the country and targeting power facilities, the Pentagon said Thursday.

“Our understanding is that they [Iranian forces] are on the ground in Crimea, assisting Russian military personnel as they conduct these drone operations in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters.

When asked about Russia’s denial that it uses Iran-made drones, Ryder responded, “It’s obvious that they’re lying.”

He added that Russia has turned to countries such as Iran and North Korea for additional ammunition and weapons because its weapons stockpiles, including precision-guided munitions, “are depleting.”

He called out Iran for “exporting terror, not only in the Middle East region but now also to Ukraine.”

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana condemned Iran’s behavior and called on Tehran to cease its involvement in Russia’s invasion.

“No country should support in any way this kind of barbaric war,” Geoana said during a virtual event held by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Also Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby blamed Iranian-made drones launched from Crimea for recent attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

“Russia has received dozens of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] so far and will likely continue to receive additional shipments in the future,” Kirby said.

Ukraine restricted power use on Thursday in response to Russian attacks that have damaged parts of the country’s electrical infrastructure.

In an address late Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged people to conserve energy.

He said the government was working to create “mobile power supply points for critical infrastructure in cities and villages.”

Ukraine’s power grid operator said that supply restrictions would be in place from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., and as colder months approach, it may need to take such steps again.

On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council met privately at the request of the United States, Britain and France to discuss Russia’s use of Iranian-made drones in its war in Ukraine.

Washington, London and Paris say Tehran’s supplying of these UAVs to Russia is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which allows for transfers of restricted items to or from Iran only when approved on a case-by-case basis by the Security Council. No such approval has been sought.

“We had a very clear indication that the drones have been delivered from Iran to Russia and they have been used in Ukraine,” France’s Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere told reporters as he left the meeting. “This is a violation of Resolution 2231.”

“We anticipate this will be the first of many conversations at the U.N. on how to hold Iran and Russia accountable for failing to comply with U.N. Security Council-imposed obligations,” said Nate Evans, spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

“As was outlined during today’s meeting, there is ample evidence that Russia is using Iranian-made UAVs in cruel and deliberate attacks against the people of Ukraine, including against civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” he said, adding that the procurement of arms was in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Ukrainian officials have said the UAVs used in waves of attacks during the past week include Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones that carry explosives and crash into their targets.

Iran’s U.N. ambassador told reporters that his government categorically rejected the “unfounded and unsubstantiated claims,” which he said were part of a disinformation campaign against his government.

“It is disappointing [that] to pursue their political agenda, these states are trying to launch a disinformation campaign against Iran and make misleading interpretation of the Security Council Resolution 2231 in order to wrongly establish a link between their baseless allegation against Iran with this resolution,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said.

Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy told reporters that the allegations were “baseless.” He said that there had been no arms transfers in violation of the resolution and that no Iranian drones had been supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine.

“I would recommend that you do not underestimate the technological capabilities of the Russian drone industry,” Dmitry Polyanskiy said. “I can tell you we know what we do, and we know how to do it.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said that in the past week alone, more than 100 Iranian-made drones have slammed into power plants, sewage treatment plants, residential buildings, bridges and other targets in urban areas.

Margaret Besheer, Patsy Widakuswara and Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday called British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who is stepping down from office after just six weeks of her turbulent tenure, a “good partner” in supporting Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression.

Biden declined to weigh in on her resignation.

“That’s for her to decide,” he told reporters at the White House moments before he boarded presidential helicopter Marine One on his way to Pennsylvania. “But look, she was a good partner on Russia and Ukraine, and the British are going to solve their problem.”

Biden dismissed any potential spillover effects from the political turmoil of the United States’ oldest ally.

“I don’t think they’re that consequential,” he said.

Truss stepped down after her unfunded tax-cutting agenda crashed the British pound, raised borrowing costs and triggered financial market turmoil.

Strong allies

Biden, who had spoken by phone with Truss to discuss Ukraine and met with her in person on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September, had made clear he opposed Truss’s economic plans to cut taxes on the “super wealthy.”

“I disagreed with the policy, but that’s up to Great Britain to make that judgment, not me,” he told reporters last week.

Earlier Thursday, the White House released a statement expressing Biden’s support for the British government and his appreciation for Truss.

“The United States and the United Kingdom are strong allies and enduring friends — and that fact will never change,” the statement said.

Observers agree. Of all the issues that divide the British Conservative Party, they all agree on the centrality of the U.K.’s relationship with the U.S., said David H. Dunn, chair of the department of political science and international studies at the University of Birmingham.

Following Brexit, the Conservative Party became more right wing, with more libertarian members among its ranks, Dunn told VOA.

“This, together with an antipathy towards the EU, makes them even more predisposed to look across the Atlantic for their natural ally rather than across the Channel to Europe,” Dunn said.

The Conservative Party holds a big majority in parliament and need not call a nationwide election for another two years. They are scheduled to elect a new leader by October 28; former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is set to compete for the post against ex-Defense Minister Penny Mordaunt.

Boris Johnson, who was ousted as prime minister in July following mass resignations by his ministers, is also reportedly weighing a comeback.

Whoever emerges as the next prime minister will carry the burden of Britain’s weakness at home, said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House.

“This inevitably means that the new PM will be far more inclined to align itself closely with the U.S., and I would guess, also to sort out a good relationship with Europe,” Vinjamuri told VOA.

Support for Ukraine

Despite the change in leadership, the U.K. will remain a steadfast supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Jason Moyer, program associate for the global Europe program at the Wilson Center.

“The U.K. is the third-largest provider of military and financial support to Ukraine, behind only the United States and the European Union, and is hosting a training program for up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers,” Moyer told VOA.

On Tuesday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Ben Wallace, the U.K.’s secretary of state for defense. The two underscored their commitment to continue providing Ukraine with security assistance.

Observers say that Britain’s next leadership will likely adhere to a more mainstream conservative foreign policy — tough on Russia and China and recognizing that Europe is essential to Britain’s economic success.
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan to turn Turkey into a Russian natural gas hub.

Erdogan, addressing his parliamentary deputies Wednesday, said Turkey had secured a vital opportunity by agreeing to Putin’s plan.

“European countries are currently searching to find where to get natural gas supplies,” he said. “Thank God Turkey does not have such a problem. Hopefully, we will soon become a hub for natural gas.”

Last week, Putin said the gas would be redirected through Turkey from the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea, which were damaged by blasts last month.

Russia already supplies Turkey’s TurkStream pipeline gas under the Black Sea. But the Kremlin admitted the pipeline has limited extra capacity. By the time new capacity has been created, said international relations professor Senem Duzgit of Istanbul’s Sabanci University, Europe will likely have secured alternative supplies.

“I mean, who’s going to buy that energy?” he said, “I mean, realistically speaking, if the Europeans refuse to buy that gas, who’s going to buy it? So who will Turkey be a center for? Right? Who will be the destination of that gas? That’s what I’m just not convinced about.”

Putin’s hub proposal comes as Ankara is seeking to position itself as an alternative to Russian energy for Europe, as Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin underlined Wednesday.

Kalin said, “The offer by Putin is very important. But if Europe is looking for alternatives from Russian gas, there are two places it can find it: through a pipeline from Azerbaijan running through Turkey, and possible Iranian gas in the future, again, using Turkish pipelines.”

Putin appeared to take Ankara by surprise with his gas hub plan. The proposal came as Turkey has faced growing scrutiny from its Western allies over its refusal to enforce sanctions against Russia. Washington and the European Union have warned that Turkey could face secondary sanctions if it violated its measures against Russia.

Ankara denies any wrongdoing, but Putin’s gas proposals come as the West’s patience may be running out, warned Maria Shangina, a specialist on international sanctions at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“The more Turkey explodes this space between legal and illegal activities with Russia, I think there might be a snapping point from the West to impose sanctions,” she said.

But some analysts point out that Erdogan will try to accommodate Putin, given that he is trying to negotiate a cut in the price of Russian gas and a deferral of payments until after next year’s Turkish presidential elections. Erdogan is seeking to cut near triple-digit inflation, as most opinion polls indicate his electoral defeat.
…

British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned Thursday after just 44 days in office, prompted by an economic plan that sent financial markets into a tailspin, led to shake-ups in her Cabinet and divided her ruling Conservative Party.

She is the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. 

In comments delivered at a podium in front of the prime minister’s residence at No. 10 Downing Street in London, Truss said that while she set out a vision for a “low tax, high growth economy,” she recognized she could not deliver the mandate on which she was elected by the Conservative Party.

Truss said she will serve until a replacement is selected. Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative Party’s special parliamentary body, the 1922 Committee, told reporters that party leadership has indicated it could conduct a ballot and conclude an election as early as October 28, and possibly have a new prime minister in place by October 31.

The 1922 Committee is made up of Conservative Party members of parliament and has the power to force a prime minister from within the party to resign. 

Analysts suggest former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, who lost to Truss in the last leadership contest in August, is the leading candidate to replace her.

In an interview, opposition Labor Party leader Keir Starmer referred to the situation in the ruling Conservative — or Tory Party — as a “soap opera” and called for an urgent general election “so the public can make their minds up about this utter chaos.”

In a statement issued by the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Truss for her partnership “on a range of issues, including holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine.” He later reiterated that point to reporters as he left the White House and expressed confidence “the British are going to solve their problem.”

Truss succeeded Boris Johnson in September after he resigned following a series of scandals, including holding gatherings in violation of his government’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed. 

A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827 when he died. 

Given the divisions in the party there is no obvious candidate and any replacement would face a country likely heading into a recession. Leading names are below: 

Rishi Sunak 

Britain’s former finance minister was the most popular candidate among Conservative lawmakers at Westminster in a leadership contest earlier this year but, after getting through to a run-off against Truss, he lost out in a vote involving some 170,000 party members who made the final decision. 

Many members were angry when Sunak quit in July, helping to trigger a rebellion that eventually brought down former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. They also ignored his warning that markets could lose confidence in Britain if Truss delivered her unfunded tax cuts. 

Betting exchange Betfair puts Sunak as the favorite to replace Truss, but those lawmakers who remain loyal to Johnson would most probably oppose that move. 

Sunak is “certain to stand” for the leadership, according to the Telegraph. 

Penny Mordaunt 

A former defense secretary, Mordaunt was a passionate supporter of leaving the European Union who only just missed out on the final two-place run-off in the recent leadership challenge. 

Mordaunt won plaudits for her performance in parliament on Monday, when she defended the government even as it reversed most of its policies. 

One lawmaker has described Mordaunt as having “broad appeal,” referring to her ability to find friends in the various tribes of the party. 

Mordaunt is believed to be in the running to become the next prime minister, Sky News reported. 

Boris Johnson 

Former prime minister Johnson is expected to stand in the Conservative Party leadership contest, the Times reported. 

Johnson, once a journalist, has loomed large over British politics ever since he became London Mayor in 2008. After causing trouble for leaders such as David Cameron and Theresa May, he finally became prime minister in 2019 and went on to win a landslide election victory. 

Johnson was the face of the Brexit vote and won votes in parts of the country that had never voted Conservative before. But he was forced out by a string of scandals. 

Some closest to him say at the moment he is more interested in making money on the speech circuit than returning to frontline politics. 

Jeremy Hunt 

After Truss’s economic program collapsed and she fired her finance minister, she turned to Hunt, a former health and foreign minister, to put things right. 

A series of confident performances on television and in the House of Commons, as he ripped up Truss’s economic manifesto, have already led to some Conservative lawmakers referring to Hunt as the “real prime minister.” 

He has insisted he does not want the top job, despite entering two previous races to become prime minister, including in 2019 when he lost out in the final round to former prime minister Boris Johnson. Hunt does not have the obvious support of a large group of lawmakers in parliament. 

The BBC and other outlets said he was not considering running. 

Kemi Badenoch 

After losing out in the previous leadership contest, where she won support on the right wing of the Conservative party, Badenoch was appointed a cabinet minister by Truss. 

A source close to Badenoch said: “The Party must unite around a new leader who restores trust in politics and delivers good government for the British people. Kemi is in conversations with colleagues about how best to achieve this.” 

The trade secretary, born in London to Nigerian-origin parents, has said Britain has been falsely criticized as oppressive to minorities. She has also opposed gender-neutral toilets as causing a “significant disadvantage” to women. 

Suella Braverman 

Braverman, who resigned less than 24 hours ago as home secretary after criticizing Truss, is “widely expected to stand” to be the leader of the Conservatives, the Guardian reported, adding that an adviser to her declined to say if she plans to run. 

Braverman, born to parents of Indian origin, wants to reduce overall migration into Britain and has said the country has too many low-skilled migrant workers and very high numbers of international students. 

She previously served as a Brexit minister and has advocated for Britain pulling out of the European Court of Human Rights. She was also a leadership contender in the previous contest, winning the backing of prominent anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage. 

Braverman quit as interior minister on Wednesday, saying she had to go after she breached government rules but said in a critical resignation letter that she had concerns over the direction of Truss’s government.  

Ben Wallace 

Britain’s defense secretary is one of the few ministers to have emerged from recent political turmoil with his credibility enhanced. Wallace, a former soldier, was defense minister for both Johnson and Truss, leading Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Popular with party members, he surprised many earlier this year when he said he wouldn’t run for the leadership, saying he wanted to focus on his current job. He told the Times newspaper this week that he still wanted to stay as defense secretary. 

 
…

Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed, brought down by an economic program that sent shockwaves through financial markets last month and divided her Conservative Party.

Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader, having lost the faith of her party.

A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest serving prime minister in British history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827 when he died.

“I recognize though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party,” she said.

Earlier, Conservative Party officials had gathered at Downing Street while a growing number of her own lawmakers called on her to quit.

Appointed on Sept. 6, Truss was forced to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and abandon almost all her economic program after their plans for vast unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and British bonds. Approval ratings for her and her Conservative Party collapsed.

On Wednesday she lost the second of the government’s four most senior ministers, faced laughter as she tried to defend her record to parliament and saw her lawmakers openly quarrel over policy, deepening the sense of chaos at Westminster.

New finance minister Jeremy Hunt is now racing to find tens of billions of pounds of spending cuts to try to reassure investors and rebuild Britain’s fiscal reputation as the economy heads into recession and with inflation at a 40-year high.
…

The European Union agreed Thursday to impose new sanctions on entities supplying Iranian drones to Russia that were used to strike Ukraine.

The Czech presidency of the European Union announced the agreement in a tweet Thursday, saying it came after three days of talks with EU ambassadors and would go into effect Thursday afternoon.

It said the EU was freezing assets of three individuals and one entity “responsible for drone deliveries.”

It added that the EU was also prepared to extend sanctions against four Iranian entities that were previously sanctioned.

Russian forces have intensified their use of airstrikes during the past week that Ukrainian officials have identified as utilizing Iranian-made drones laden with explosives that are crashed into their targets.

Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia and Russia has denied using them in Ukraine. 
…

Ukraine is restricting power use Thursday in response to Russian attacks that damaged parts of the country’s electrical infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged people to conserve energy in an address late Wednesday.

He said the government was working to create “mobile power supply points for critical infrastructure in cities and villages.”

Ukraine’s power grid operator said supply restrictions would be in place from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., and that as colder months approach, it may need to take such steps again in the future.

Drone controversy

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council met Wednesday in a private meeting at the request of the United States, Britain and France to discuss the issue of Russia using Iranian-made drones in its war in Ukraine.

Washington, London and Paris say Tehran’s supplying of these unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which allows for transfers of restricted items to or from Iran only when approved on a case-by-case basis by the Security Council. No such approval has been sought.

“We had a very clear indication that the drones have been delivered from Iran to Russia and they have been used in Ukraine,” France’s ambassador Nicolas de Riviere told reporters as he left the meeting. “This is a violation of Resolution 2231.”

“We anticipate this will be the first of many conversations at the U.N. on how to hold Iran and Russia accountable for failing to comply with U.N. Security Council-imposed obligations,” said Nate Evans, spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

“As was outlined during today’s meeting, there is ample evidence that Russia is using Iranian-made UAVs in cruel and deliberate attacks against the people of Ukraine, including against civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” he added, “in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”

Ukrainian officials have said drones used in waves of attacks during the past week, including on the capital, Kyiv, were Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones that Russia used to carry explosives and crash into their targets.

Iran’s U.N. ambassador told reporters that his government categorically rejects the “unfounded and unsubstantiated claims,” which he said are part of a disinformation campaign against his government.

“It is disappointing to pursue their political agenda, these states are trying to launch a disinformation campaign against Iran and make misleading interpretation of the Security Council Resolution 2231 in order to wrongly establish a link between their baseless allegation against Iran with this resolution,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said.

Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy told reporters that the allegations are “baseless,” there have been no arms transfers in violation of the resolution and no Iranian drones were supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine.

“I would recommend that you do not underestimate the technological capabilities of the Russian drone industry,” Dmitry Polyanskiy said. “I can tell you we know what we do, and we know how to do it.”

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said that in the past week alone, more than 100 Iranian-made drones have slammed into power plants, sewage treatment plants, residential buildings, bridges and other targets in urban areas.

U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this article. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Cattle farmers in Botswana, one of Africa’s top beef exporters to the European Union, have welcomed renewed beef exports to Europe. The move follows a two-month ban that followed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and the culling of thousands of cows.

Botswana officials on Monday said the August outbreak near the border with Zimbabwe has been brought under control, although a ban on cattle from the area remains in place.

Due to tough restrictions, beef exports to the European Union had been suspended because of the outbreak in August.

But farmers like Bathusi Letlhare said they are now relieved following Monday’s announcement of the partial lifting of the ban.

“It is a welcome development because the EU is one of the main markets for our beef,” Letlhare said. “They pay good prices, and this, in turn, benefits farmers a lot. It is always bad when we have an FMD outbreak and the market has to be closed.”

Letlhare added that the frequent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have had an adverse impact on the economy.

“I can say 80 percent of households have livestock, and when FMD breaks out and certain markets are closed, it becomes a big challenge to farmers,” Letlhare said. “Farmers cannot move cattle to markets, and there is no income to farmers, and the whole economy is affected.”

Letlhare felt the impact, too.

“I run a butchery, and for 10 days we were not selling beef,” Letlhare said. “And you can imagine the money we lost.”

Botswana’s acting director of veterinary services Kefentse Motshegwa said strict export requirements will be followed. This includes placing cattle in holdings approved for EU export for a period of 40 days before slaughter.

Beef exports will only be allowed from seven of the country’s 19 agricultural zones.

Andrew Seeletso of the Botswana National Beef Producers Union said although meat from other agricultural zones remained banned, the partial resumption of beef exports is welcome.

“It is better than nothing,” he said. “We are hoping that soon enough, the rest of the country will be allowed to sell beef for the EU market. But overall, we are very excited. It’s a good development, and we support it.”

In September, Botswana partially resumed the beef trade, including live cattle sales to neighboring countries, but there was no export to the EU.

The country enjoys duty- and quota-free access to the European market.
…

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against growing concerns that Republican lawmakers would not keep aid flowing to Ukraine should they retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the November midterm election.

“The United States has provided Ukraine with robust bipartisan support,” she told reporters Wednesday. “We will continue to work with Congress as we have these past several months on these efforts and support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

The United States has authorized more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, with more than $17 billion in security assistance disbursed since the war began in February.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, however, indicated that aid could slow down should the chamber be controlled by Republicans. 

On Tuesday, McCarthy told Punchbowl News that with a recession coming, Americans are not going to write “a blank check” to Ukraine. “They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check,” he said.

Ukrainians, still reeling from Russian drone and missile attacks on their capital, Kyiv, and other cities, leaving much of the country without power, are closely following the U.S. midterm election process, said Olena Shuliak, chairwoman of Ukraine’s ruling Servant of the People Party.

“Our people die every day. Every day, we stand defending democracy in the whole world,” she told VOA Ukrainian. “You can see what is happening daily with the shelling and destruction of our houses and killing of our people — you can’t decrease the support only to increase it.”       

Observers say that with rising isolationist tendencies in the Republican Party, some worry that aid to Ukraine would wane, particularly for humanitarian and economic needs. There is less concern for U.S. security assistance, however, considering Republicans generally support the military industrial complex, said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

“What is the desperate need from Europeans right now in Ukraine and all across the [NATO] eastern flank? It is the need for weapons systems, everything from ammunition to very sophisticated weapon systems like HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems], drones,” Berzina told VOA. “The defense budgets are increasing so significantly in Europe that the increase in defense spending is outpacing what is available on the shelf.” 

In May, Congress voted for more than $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance, with 57 House Republicans voting against the package. 

Focus on China 

Looming recession aside, some Republican lawmakers have signaled that the U.S. should instead focus more on the threat of China’s military buildup. 

“There are a lot of members that want to see more accountability in the Department of Defense and more of a focus on the threats that are out there,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told reporters last month. “China is moving very aggressively to build up a naval fleet, and right now our naval fleet is in decline.”

Berzina said the conflict in Ukraine is a testing ground not only of the West’s technological warfare capabilities but of its commitment to defend a partner against an aggressor. 

The competitive military environment in Ukraine is giving defense companies reason to innovate and invest in weapon technologies, many of which are being tested on the Ukrainian battlefields.

“That’s going to be important should there be a conflict with China in the future,” she said.

China, she added, is also learning from the West’s reaction to Moscow’s expansionist ambitions.

“Any kind of permissibility in Ukraine also has implications,” she said. “How tough is the U.S. going to be when it comes to Taiwan?” 

Some Republican lawmakers have also cited a need for greater oversight of the aid being sent to Ukraine and complained that the U.S. is shouldering more of the financial burden than other NATO members.

Observers say that stopping U.S. support for Ukraine would wipe out Kyiv’s gains on the battlefield and could alter the course of the war. 

“Is it better to have an investment in Ukraine defense right now before you have to defend half of the European continent?” Berzina asked. “So there’s a fiscally conservative argument to stopping it now before the problem becomes so big that the U.S. has to put more money into it in much bigger places.”

Tatiana Koprowicz contributed to this report.
…

The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that it expects carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels to rise again this year, but by much less than in 2021 due to the growth in renewable power and electric cars.

Last year saw a strong rebound in carbon dioxide emissions — the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming — after the global economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The Paris-based IEA said CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are on course to rise by almost 1% in 2022 compared to the previous year. That’s nearly 300 million metric tons of CO2 more than in 2021, when the burning of gas, oil and coal released about 33.5 billion tons of CO2.

“This year’s increase is driven by power generation and by the aviation sector, as air travel rebounds from pandemic lows,” the agency said.

While coal emissions grew 2% as countries that previously imported natural gas from Russia scrambled for other energy sources, this didn’t outweigh the expansion of solar and wind power, which saw a record rise in 2022.

Oil use also increased as pandemic-related restrictions eased, resulting in more people commuting to work and a rise in air travel.

“The rise in global CO2 emissions this year would be much larger — more than tripling to reach close to 1 billion tons — were it not for the major deployments of renewable energy technologies and electric vehicles around the world,” it said.

Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases need to decline drastically in the coming decades to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), the ambitious threshold agreed in the 2015 Paris climate pact. Scientists say there is little room left for maneuver because temperatures have already risen by about 1.2 Celsius (2.2 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times.

A report published Wednesday by the environmental think tank World Resources Institute found countries’ current plans for cutting emissions would see them decline just 7% by 2030 from 2019 levels. The group said emissions would need to drop by 43% over that period to meet the Paris goal.

Stepping up global efforts to reduce emissions will be one of the topics at next month’s United Nations climate meeting in Egypt.
…

The European Parliament (EP) has awarded its 2022 Sakharov Prize to “the brave people of Ukraine” in their battle against Russia’s unprovoked invasion in late February.

The EP said in a statement Wednesday that the award went to “brave Ukrainians, represented by their President [Volodymyr Zelenskyy], elected leaders, and civil society.”

“This award is for those Ukrainians fighting on the ground. For those who have been forced to flee. For those who have lost relatives and friends. For all those who stand up and fight for what they believe in. I know that the brave people of Ukraine will not give up and neither will we,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in the statement.

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

The United States, Britain and France have asked for the U.N. Security Council to discuss the issue of Russia using Iranian drones in the war in Ukraine.

Diplomats said Tuesday the request included asking for a U.N. official to brief the council during a closed-door meeting Wednesday.

Ukrainian officials have said drones used in waves of attacks during the past week, including on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, were Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones that Russia used to carry explosives and crash into their targets.

Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia, and Russian officials have denied using them.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters Tuesday he expects more drone attacks against “many cities in Ukraine.”

Pevkur said Ukraine has managed to shoot down about half of attacking drones, but that it still needs more help. Ukrainian officials have in recent days repeated their calls for allies to provide more air defense aid.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said that in the past week alone, more than 100 self- Iranian-made drones have slammed into power plants, sewage treatment plants, residential buildings, bridges and other targets in urban areas.

Russia’s new commander in Ukraine said Tuesday the situation in the southern Kherson region is “very difficult” as Kyiv forces wage an offensive to retake southern and eastern areas that Moscow illegally annexed last month.

“The situation in this area is difficult. The enemy is deliberately striking infrastructure and residential buildings in Kherson,” Russian air force General Sergei Surovikin told the state-owned Rossiya 24 television news channel.

Surovikin said Russia plans to evacuate civilians ahead of Ukraine’s offensive to reclaim Kherson, one of four regions under Russian control.

He called Tuesday for an “organized, gradual displacement” of civilians from four towns on the Dnipro River, a 2,200-kilometer-long river that bisects Ukraine.

Regional head Vladimir Saldo told The Associated Press on Tuesday that residents of Berislav, Belozersky, Snigiryovsky and Alexandrovsky were to be moved across the Dnipro, away from Russian troops building “large-scale defensive fortifications.”

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

As the cold season starts in landlocked Afghanistan, concerns are mounting about widespread hunger, particularly in the rugged parts of the country where the first snowfall blocks the roads.

This year there is hope that 30,000 metric tons of wheat coming from another war-torn country, Ukraine, will mitigate the hunger for some Afghans. The U.N. says hunger is nearly universal in Afghanistan with 97% of its population now living below the poverty line.

“Despite its own suffering in the face of Russia’s brutal invasion, Ukraine has donated 30,000 metric tons of grain through the WFP to alleviate Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis,” U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, tweeted last month.

The World Food Program says the wheat is being milled into flour in Turkey and will be then shipped to Pakistan from where it will be delivered to Afghanistan by trucks.

A spokesperson for WFP told VOA the aid shipment is funded by the U.S. “It is not a donation from Ukraine,” said the spokesperson, Annabel Symington.

VOA asked the State Department whether the U.S. offered any financial incentive to Ukraine for the wheat. The answer: No.

“The U.S. did not play a role in Ukraine’s decision to donate this 30,000 metric tons of wheat to Afghanistan and commends Ukraine for its generosity despite the trying circumstances imposed upon it by Russia’s unjust invasion,” the State Department spokesperson said.

Ukraine sells

In August, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced it was giving $68 million to the WFP to buy 150,000 metric tons of wheat from Ukraine to feed needy countries in Africa and Asia.

“Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was one of WFP’s top suppliers of grain and the fourth largest commercial exporter of wheat. Opening the Ukrainian market is a vital step forward in our emergency response,” USAID said in the statement.

Under a deal brokered by Turkey, Ukraine has exported more than 6.4 million metric tons of wheat and other food items in the past two months, according to the U.N.

The Ukrainian shipments have gone to different countries in Asia, Africa and Europe, where food prices have gone up markedly since Russia embarked on its war against Ukraine in February.

The U.S. has also provided aid to Ukrainian farmers to improve their agricultural products, such as spraying pesticides by drones.

“USAID is supporting the farmers of Ukraine in their efforts to continue feeding Ukrainians and feeding the world,” said Samantha Power, the USAID administrator, while visiting a farm in Ukraine on October 6.

In addition to humanitarian aid, the U.S. has given more than $17.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, according to figures from the State Department.

Why give credit to Ukraine?

While Ukraine has sold the wheat to WFP, why has the U.S. been praising Ukrainian “generosity” and “donation” rather than claiming credit for its own financial sponsorship of the wheat aid to Afghanistan?

“Ukraine is the source of this food,” James S. Gilmore, a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told VOA. “The goal here is to allow Ukraine to engage in international commerce. And, once that’s permitted, over top of this war, then I do think that the American people who are funding it and financing it ought to be given credit for that.”

Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, said the U.S. might have preferred to give credit to Ukraine in order to blunt Russia’s onslaught.

“At the moment, Russia is on the diplomatic offensive in among many developing nations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, scoring points by saying that the U.S. has been imposing various conditionalities on aid and its double standards, etc. And the U.S. is very keen that Ukraine, with which it is allied, is seen in a more positive light among those developing countries,” de Waal told VOA.
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Viewers of Slovenia’s public broadcaster RTV had an unexpected interruption to the evening news show last month, when journalists entered a studio during a live broadcast to show support for their colleagues.

The protest came after Uros Urbanija, the director of RTV’s TV Slovenia unit, ordered anchor Sasa Krajnc and news editor Vesna Pfeiffer to be reassigned, after Krajnc introduced a segment as being broadcast on the direct instruction of the chief news editor.

The response from RTV’s CEO was swift. In October, he issued letters to all 38 staffers involved, warning they face dismissal if contracts are breached again.

The actions come at a time when the public broadcaster is in the middle of claims of political pressure and editorial interference, with the former ruling center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) gathering momentum to derail a law that the government says will protect RTV.

Media associations and trade unions say the warning letters are troubling.

One letter, viewed by VOA and signed by RTV’s chief executive Andrej Grah Whatmough, states that the employee entered the studio “without authorization.”

By doing so, the employee used the show “for expressing a personal opinion and thus inadmissibly intervened in the program.”

Any future breaches of contract in the next two years may result in termination, the letter said.

VOA has not identified the person addressed in the letter to avoid possible retaliation.

Journalists at RTV and their trade unions say the letters were issued illegally and should be annulled.

Pfeiffer told VOA she was demoted from being editor of a prominent evening show to working on a morning news program. Krajnc has so far not been reassigned.

Media associations, trade unions and academics view the developments as another worrying step for the public broadcaster.

“Nobody who would want to lead a group of journalists effectively could issue such warnings,” Slavko Splichal, a professor of communication at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Social Sciences, told VOA.

Public broadcaster targeted

The academic described the warning as “clear proof that the management of RTV wants to destroy” the public broadcaster, adding, “If they actually fired all those journalists, its TV news program would collapse.”

Splichal until September was a member of RTV’s Program Council, a body that names the broadcaster’s chief executive and endorses production plans.

Splichal told VOA he resigned last month to signal that he disagrees with developments at TV Slovenia.

International rights groups, including the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), are also troubled by the action.

“This situation seriously undermines RTV’s journalistic mission and poses threats to its independence,” IPI Europe advocacy officer Jamie Wiseman told VOA.

Wiseman said the letters “pose further concerns about the actions of management, who have already been accused by editorial staff of axing shows, removing editors, pressuring or reassigning individual journalists, and attempting to engineer a political shift of editorial content.”

Independent and professional reporting is increasingly difficult at TV Slovenia, and will not be possible in the long run, unless the situation is resolved, said senior TV Slovenia news anchor Igor Evgen Bergant.

Bergant was in the studio as an anchor on the day of the protest and has not received a warning.

“These warnings are scandalous, they are an absolute abuse of the … power of the management against people who are fighting for an independent and autonomous medium,” said Bergant.

Whatmough however, dismissed criticism over the letters.

He did not respond to VOA’s request for further comment but in remarks published on RTV, Whatmough said, “Those are not threats. There was simply a violation of our house rules regarding entering the studio.”

Whatmough said the warnings were issued on the initiative of Urbanija, who was appointed in July.

Urbanija was previously a director of the government communication office under former Prime Minister Janez Jansa. During that time his department alleged bias at RTV and temporarily stopped financing for the state press agency STA.

Whatmough himself was named chief executive in 2021 by the Program Council, which is predominantly made up of members nominated by the-then center-right parliament.

Since his arrival at RTV, a number of popular shows were shortened, moved to less prominent channels, or scrapped.

Urbanija and Whatmough both deny pressuring editors and journalists. They say the changes are necessary to improve ratings and the quality of reporting.

Protection plan stalls

Under a law prepared by Slovenia’s new center-left government, parliament would no longer nominate members of RTV’s Program Council.

Currently, parliament nominates 21 out of 29 members.

But former Prime Minister Jansa’s party is challenging that plan with a November referendum.

His SDS party has collected more than 40,000 signatures to force a referendum on the law passed by parliament in July. Demands for a referendum blocked the legislation from being enacted.

Most analysts say they do not believe the referendum — scheduled for next month — will be successful. But it does bring uncertainty.

“Passing the referendum and enacting the bill would help safeguard the broadcaster’s independence and represent a boost for the (ruling coalition’s) media freedom credentials,” said Wiseman.

“The changes enacted under the previous government have left RTV in the most challenging situation in decades,” he said, enabled by “the disproportionate influence of politics on RTV’s governance structure.”

The law is a move in a positive direction but does not necessarily ensure political independence of RTV’s leadership, said the academic Splichal.

The government for instance, will still control the subscription that most households pay for RTV, and which is a main revenue source, Splichal said.

Splichal welcomed the European Commission’s proposal last month of a European Media Freedom Act to safeguard media independence.

The proposal, in part triggered by increased political pressure on media in Slovenia, lays out rules to protect editorial independence and pluralism, including for public-funded outlets.
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