The town of Secaucus in the eastern U.S. state of New Jersey is stepping up to help the people of Ukraine. For VOA, Iryna Solomko spoke with the town’s mayor, Michael Gonelli, about the effort. Anna Rice narrates her story.
…

“In the last three days, pro-Russian forces have made tactical advances towards the center of the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast,” Britain’s defense ministry said in an intelligence update posted to Twitter on Friday about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Elements of 2nd Army Corps, the pro-Russia militia of the Luhansk region, likely advanced into the villages of Opytine and lvangrad to the south of the town,” the update said. “There have been few, if any, other settlements seized by regular Russian or separatist forces since early July.”

“However,” the report said, “forces led by the private military company Wagner Group have achieved some localized gains in the Donbas: Wagner likely remains heavily involved in the Bakhmut fighting.”

“Russia likely views seizing Bakhmut as a preliminary to advancing on the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk urban area which is the most significant population center of Donetsk Oblast held by Ukraine,” the intelligence update said.

While Russia continues to pursue “offensive operations in central Donbas and is, very slowly, making progress,” the update said, the Russian campaign is “undermined by the Ukrainian pressure against its northern and southern flanks, and by severe shortages of munitions and manpower.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Thursday, “Russia is sending thousands of its mobilized men to the front. They have no significant military training, but their command does not need it at all. They expect that the mobilized Russians will be able to survive in the war for at least a few weeks, then they will die, and then new ones will be sent to the front. But during this time, such use by Russian generals of their people as ‘cannon fodder’ makes it possible to create additional pressure on our defenders.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would “create a special tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine and ensure the operation of a special compensation mechanism so that Russia will bear responsibility for this war at the cost of its assets.”

He said, “Terror must be responded with force at all levels: on the battlefield, with sanctions, and legally.”
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Thursday for the fourth time in as many months. The frequent meetings and close ties are fueling concerns among Turkey’s Western allies that Ankara is circumventing sanctions against Russia.

The latest encounter was in Astana on the sidelines of the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

Speaking to reporters after his meeting, Erdogan said he wants to build on the success of the United Nations-brokered deal that allows Ukrainian grain blockaded by Russian naval forces to enter world markets.

Erdogan said Turkey is determined to strengthen and continue the grain exports under the Istanbul agreement and the transfer of Russian grain and fertilizer to less developed countries via Turkey.

Ankara played a pivotal role in assisting the United Nations in brokering the grain deal between Ukraine and Russia, known as the Istanbul agreement. Putin on Thursday criticized the deal’s implementation, claiming countries in need are not benefiting from the agreement.

The deal comes up for renewal next month.

Galip Dalay of London’s Chatham House said the Ukrainian grain deal is seen as a vindication by Erdogan of his policy of maintaining close ties with Putin.

“The role Turkey can play is very much contingent upon having a working relationship with Russia,” he said. “The Ukrainian grain deal is one of them. Turkey can play a more humanitarian role down the road or a more diplomatic role. All of them require Turkey to have some sort of functional relationship with Moscow as well.”

Stressing the need to maintain close ties with Moscow, Ankara refuses to enforce western sanctions against Russia. The European Union, in a report this week, strongly criticized Ankara for not enforcing sanctions and warned that European companies could use Turkey to circumvent the restrictions.

Washington has also voiced concern. Such complaints are likely to grow with Putin on Thursday repeating a suggestion to use Turkey as a hub for distributing Russian gas that was originally intended for Europe.

Erdogan has not commented on the proposal.

Senior strategist Timothy Ash of Bluebay Asset Management said Putin is seeking to create divisions among his western adversaries and is finding a willing partner in Erdogan.

“For Putin, the relationship with Turkey is important (because) it’s about dividing Europe,” he said. “Turkey is a key NATO member. The more he can pull Erdogan and Turkey away from the West, that’s all the better. For Erdogan, he’s got elections due by June of next year, and he’s got a very difficult balance of payments issue. And he thinks by helping Russia getting around sanctions, he thinks Turkey can earn key balance of payment receipts, and that will help.”

Ankara denies it is sanction-busting. But observers say Erdogan is walking an increasingly fine line by looking to keep close ties with Russia, knowing at the same time that his dealings with Moscow could trigger retaliation from the U.S. and Europe in the form of secondary sanctions.
…

Europe faces a higher-than-usual chance of a cold blast of weather before the end of the year, but the winter overall is likely to be warmer than average, the continent’s long-range weather forecaster said Thursday.

Temperatures this winter will be crucial for homeowners worried about the record cost of heating their homes, and for European policymakers seeking to avoid energy rationing because of reductions in Russian gas supplies.

“We see the winter as being warmer than usual,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service that produces seasonal forecasts for the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

“Nevertheless, there is a still a significant chance of a block situation, which can lead to cold temperatures and low wind over Europe,” he told AFP as the service issued a monthly update to its forecasts.

A so-called block or blocking pattern in the winter can bring stable, often wind-free weather accompanied by freezing temperatures.

“This was looking more likely in November, but there now looks like a pronounced probability of a cold outbreak in December,” Buontempo added.

The ECMWF produces weather modelling with data from a range of national weather services around Europe.

Its forecasts are based on indicators such as ocean and atmospheric temperatures, as well as wind speeds in the stratosphere, but do not have the accuracy of short-range reports.

The models provide the “best information possible, to give a hint, to guide our decisions,” Buontempo said.

The European winter was expected to be warmer than usual because of the La Nina global weather phenomenon, which is related to cooling surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

“We know that in a La Nina year, the latter part of the European winter tends to favor westerly winds, so warm and wet,” Buontempo said.

The agency will update its winter season forecast next month when it will have greater confidence because “all the drivers for the winter will be more active,” he said.

Independent energy experts expect Europe to be able to withstand Russia’s gas cuts this winter, providing temperatures stay in line with or above the long-term average.

Governments have almost filled their strategic gas reserves and consumers are being urged to reduce their consumption.

The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based energy consultancy, believes that temperatures about 10% below average over the winter would put strain on the European gas system.

It has also said a late cold spell, when gas stocks are expected to be low, could be the “Achilles heel of European gas supply security.” 
…

A failed engine and high waves were to blame for the fatal shipwreck that killed at least 18 Europe-bound migrants off the coast of Greece last week, one survivor tells VOA.

Speaking to VOA Somali by phone, Mustafa Farah, a survivor from Somalia in his 20s, said about 50 migrants were traveling on an overloaded boat that departed Izmir, a city on Turkey’s Aegean coast, the evening of October 5, bound for Greece.

“As we traveled under cover of night, strong winds swept the Aegean Sea, and the tragedy started to appear when the engine of the boat … failed,” he said. “We floated for hours in the sea. The waves were too high. About three meters,” Farah said.

According to Farah’s account, late that same night, the flimsy rubber raft crashed on a rocky tip of Greek shores and disintegrated just a few hundred meters off the coast of Lesbos, on the easternmost rim of Greece.

“By late Wednesday, the same night we set out from Turkey, the vessel was swept into a rocky inlet and the tragedy happened,” Farah said.

The sinking sparked a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefights pulled the shipwreck victims to safety up steep cliffs.

Some survivors and the dead bodies of the Somali migrants were taken to Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos.

Farah said one boy and 17 women died in the accident. He said another 30 people, including 13 men and 17 women, survived.

Hamza Mohamed Ismail, a Somali refugee in Mytilene who saw the migrant bodies, speaking to the VOA Somali service, gave slightly different totals, saying a 14-year-old Somali boy and 20 women were among the dead.

Ismail says the survivors he saw, most of them young women, were in a full state of shock and could not immediately talk about what happened.

The Associated Press reported that the coast guard on Greece’s eastern island of Lesbos said the bodies of 16 young African women, a man, and a boy were recovered after a dinghy carrying about 40 people sank.

Coast guard officials added that 25 people were rescued by late Thursday.

In a separate incident, another boat packed with migrants sank off the Greek coast the evening of October 5, killing several other migrants. Dozens of people from that boat remain missing.

The sinkings are the deadliest in recent years and the tragedies add to rising tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey over the safety of migrants at sea, with Athens accusing its neighbor of failing to stop smugglers active on its shoreline and even using migrants to apply political pressure on the European Union.

Turkey denies the allegations and has publicly accused Greece of carrying out reckless summary deportations, known as pushbacks.

Most migrants who reach Greece travel from nearby Turkey, but smugglers have changed routes — often taking greater risks — in recent months to avoid heavily patrolled waters around eastern Greek islands near the Turkish coastline.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece of “turning the Aegean Sea into a graveyard.”
…

Anti-government protests are continuing across Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. She had been arrested by Iran’s morality police for ‘unsuitable attire’. Where might the protests lead – and how should the West respond? Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
…

A new report finds half of all countries globally lack early warning systems that could save lives by alerting communities of impending disasters, including typhoons, droughts, and heatwaves. The joint report by the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, or UNDRR, and the World Meteorological Organization is being released to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Extreme weather is increasing in frequency and intensity. The United Nations estimates up to 3.6 billion people live in areas that are highly vulnerable to climate change and related disasters. It says the number of recorded disasters has increased by a factor of five, driven in part by human-induced climate change and more extreme, unpredictable weather events.

The UNDRR predicts 560 disasters will take place annually by the year 2030. It warns the number of droughts will increase by 30 percent and the number of scorching heatwaves will triple by 2030.

Loretta Hieber Girardet is UNDRR’s chief of the risk knowledge, monitoring and capacity development branch. She says the best ways for communities to protect themselves and to adapt to climate change is to scale up early warning systems. Yet, she notes only half of the world has functioning systems in place.

“This means that one out of three people globally, primarily in small island developing states and least developed countries and six out of every 10 persons in Africa lack access to effective early warning systems,” Girardet said. “This is unacceptable.”

She says lack of early warning leads to loss of lives and livelihoods and unnecessary damage to assets. She says new data show disaster-related deaths are eight times higher in countries with limited early warning coverage than in those that have comprehensive systems in place.

“And yet we know that early warnings by only 24 hours can cut the ensuing damage by 30 percent…A climate-related hazard does not have to translate into a disaster,” Girardet said. “It becomes a disaster because communities are not prepared and because the vulnerabilities and exposures of that community has not been mitigated.”

Many early warning systems cover only one type of hazard, like floods or cyclones. However, given the many extreme, unpredictable climate-change-related events, the United Nations urges countries to invest in multi-hazard early warning systems. Such systems, it notes, can address several climate-induced disasters that may occur simultaneously.
…

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the other small ex-Soviet republics watch the advancing Ukrainian army with hope, but also with concern. The fear that Russia could one day fall on them is palpable and has led to the mobilization of civil society, such as – in Estonia – with volunteer groups like the Estonian Defense League. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in Tallinn
…

The international community sent a clear message to Moscow on Wednesday, declaring the country’s so-called referendums and attempted annexation of parts of Ukraine illegal and invalid under international law.

In its strongest show of support for Ukraine since Moscow’s February 24 invasion, the U.N. General Assembly voted 143-5, adopting a resolution condemning and rejecting Russia’s move to annex Ukrainian territory. Thirty-five countries abstained, but those votes do not count toward the two-thirds majority needed for adoption.

Voting with Russia were Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Nicaragua.

In a tweet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the states for their support in what he called a “historic UNGA resolution.”

Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told reporters that the outcome of the vote “was amazing.”

“I think that the countries made the right choice — to defend the principles of the U.N. Charter and to follow the Charter,” he said.

Despite concerns that international support for Ukraine might be waning after nearly eight months of war that have exacerbated global food, energy and inflation crises, the General Assembly’s vote demonstrated that the international community is still largely united in its stance against Russia’s war.

Previous votes

Wednesday’s vote surpassed the support for a March 2 assembly resolution condemning Russia’s invasion and calling for it to end. That resolution drew the support of 141 members. Only five voted against, including Russia and its allies Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea.

By comparison, a similar resolution in 2014 that condemned and rejected Russia’s attempted annexation of the autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in Ukraine received 100 votes supporting the resolution, 11 against and 58 abstentions.

Wednesday’s daylong meeting was the continuation of a special emergency session opened on Monday to discuss Russia’s so-called referendums and attempted annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the country’s south.

While the General Assembly’s vote is not legally binding, it carries the moral weight of the international community.

“And today’s vote has a practical effect. It means that in the eyes of the world and the United Nations, Ukraine’s borders remain the same,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters after the vote. “Kherson is Ukraine. Zaporizhzhia is Ukraine. Donetsk is Ukraine. Luhansk is Ukraine. And Ukraine remains Ukraine.”

Take a stance

During the debate, Russia’s ambassador painted the vote as politicized and provocative and warned it could hurt efforts at peace.

“By introducing this draft, Western states are pursuing their own geopolitical goals and are once again trying to use the members of the General Assembly as bit players,” Vassily Nebenzia said.

France’s envoy, Nicolas de Riviere, said the question the General Assembly was considering was one that concerned everyone: “Do we want to defend the principles of the United Nations Charter?”

The United States urged members to send Moscow a clear message.

“The only way to bring peace is to stop this aggression. To demand accountability. To stand together with conviction. To show what we will not tolerate,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Most nations reiterated their support for the U.N. Charter, Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.

“Some of the most passionate and important statements today were made by small countries far away from Ukraine expressing the concerns of every continent and every country in this General Assembly Hall about the fears of what Russia is doing,” EU Ambassador Olof Skoog said after the debate.

Support for Russia

The debate began on Monday, and it wasn’t until the 34th speaker took the floor on Wednesday that Moscow found a friendly voice in the assembly.

“We recognize that the referenda were conducted in accordance with the U.N. Charter and international law, which stipulate the principles of the equal rights and self-determination of people,” North Korean Ambassador Kim Song said.

Syria’s envoy also defended Russia, a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad.

Ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh said the West was taking a “hostile, provocative approach” to Russia with its vote in the assembly. He painted Moscow as the victim of fake news when all it is trying to do is protect “their own people” in parts of Ukraine.

But Canada’s envoy dismissed such claims.

“As Russia makes claims of Russophobia — sort of like the kid who kills his parents and then goes to the court and says, ‘Help me out, I’m an orphan,’ there is no Russophobia,” Ambassador Bob Rae said. “Its own soldiers, its own artillery, its own tanks, its own warplanes, its own missiles are flattening Russian-speaking cities and towns and abusing Russian-speaking populations in eastern Ukraine.”

Russia is part of the BRICS bloc, which includes Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

Brazil voted for the resolution, while China, India and South Africa abstained.

“We have always believed that any action taken by the General Assembly should be conducive to the de-escalation of the situation, should be conducive to the early resumption of dialogue and should be conducive to the promotion of a political solution to this crisis,” China’s Deputy Ambassador Geng Shuang said.

South African envoy Mathu Joyini said the resolution should have focused on “concrete proposals to end the war.”

Notably absent from the debate was Iran, which has sold Moscow drones for its war effort. It did not cast a vote on the resolution.

Saudi Arabia, along with Russia last week, led oil-producing bloc OPEC+ to decide to cut oil production targets by 2 million barrels a day starting in November. The move will go into effect as winter temperatures set in across the Northern Hemisphere and will help drive up energy prices, helping to fund President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

But Saudi Arabia voted for the resolution, condemning Moscow, as did fellow OPEC member the United Arab Emirates, whose president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was in Moscow on Tuesday and met with Putin.
…

Ekaterina Fomina lived her whole life in Moscow. And although the investigative journalist studied for a year abroad, leaving Russia was never her plan.

But when Moscow invaded Ukraine, the pressure on Fomina and her news outlet, iStories, ratcheted up.

IStories, which is registered outside Russia, was designated a foreign agent in 2021. But in March, she and her team learned that just a few days before the war, Russian authorities had also declared their media outlet an “undesirable organization.”

The media team’s reaction was unanimous. They needed to leave.

Fomina is one of hundreds to have fled increased repression on media as Russia tightly controls coverage of the war, including imposing hefty sentences for “false news” of the conflict.

Galina Arapova, a senior media lawyer and director at the nonprofit Mass Media Defence Centre, says at least 12 journalists are currently facing charges in Russia related to their war coverage.

Arapova, who also left Russia, believes Moscow’s aim with such legal actions “is not necessarily to jail everyone but certainly to intimidate.” And in many ways, the Russian authorities succeeded: entire editorial teams have left.

The European Fund for Journalism in Exile this year has assisted 21 media organizations and their teams — around 400 people in all — to settle in eight European countries.

Reporting on Russia from exile

But even from exile, journalists like Fomina continue to investigate.

Before joining iStories in 2020, Fomina worked for the renowned Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta, traveling to the provinces and poorer cities.

“I have always considered my strong side [is] that I can talk with ordinary Russians,” she said.

When she first left Russia, Fomina was uneasy about her media outlet being labeled a “foreign agent” and “undesirable.” But that soon changed.

“Bucha became the turning point for me,” she told VOA. “I understood that the enemies of the people, the criminals, extremists and some unwanted elements of society are not us.”

The United Nations has called for an independent inquiry into the atrocities carried out in the Ukrainian town of Bucha in March. Researchers from Human Rights Watch who visited the city a few days after Russian soldiers retreated found evidence of torture and extrajudicial killings.

Now, Fomina said, “I don’t care how the Russian Federation labels me, because I know that the Russian government and authorities are the real terrorists and enemies of the people, not us.”

Mikhail Rubin, deputy editor-in-chief of the investigative media outlet Proekt (The Project) holds a similar view.

Rubin weathered years of threats over Proekt’s coverage of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle before leaving in 2021.

His media outlet was declared undesirable, and Russia named Rubin a foreign agent.

The designation means Rubin must provide detailed financial reports and add a warning to all social media posts that says the content is produced by a foreign agent — requirements that Rubin finds humiliating.

But when Russia invaded Ukraine, he stopped complying.

“[The war] put things in perspective. It became clear that there was no way back. The evil became clear,” Rubin said. “At some point, I understood that nothing would change in my life. I do not care what criminal cases will be open against me in Russia.”

Still, Rubin concedes the authorities succeeded at some level, saying, “They wanted to force [me] out, and they did.”

Danger before the war began

Pressure on Rubin’s team, however, had been ramping up before the war.

Proekt made a name for itself with high-profile investigations of corruption, and high-ranking officials had warned Rubin that what he was doing was dangerous.

Then, Proekt looked into Putin’s illegitimate daughter.

“This was an interference in [Putin’s] private life, which is prohibited,” Rubin told VOA.

As Proekt continued to investigate high-level officials, it became clear that the journalists would no longer be able to work in Russia.

Police raided Rubin’s apartment in June 2021 and placed his passport in front of the journalist.

“This was the last thing they did. I think they gave me a hint,” Rubin said.

On July 15, 2021, authorities designated Proekt an undesirable organization.

“The next morning, I was already in the airplane,” Rubin said.

The team moved to Georgia.

Rubin is quick to praise the country that hosted him for a year, but he says even there, life was hard.

“For those who do not like Russians, you are Russian. For those who like Russians, you are a member of the opposition. But I am not an oppositional figure. I am a journalist. In the end, everyone is not happy with you,” Rubin said.

In late August, Rubin left for the United States after being accepted as a fellow at The George Washington University in Washington. He continues investigating stories from Russia, but says it is a challenge to stay connected with sources.

Russian organizations and individuals seen to cooperate with undesirable organizations may be subject to administrative and criminal charges. And what counts as cooperation is not clear.

The devil is in the details, Arapova said.

Arapova, who has twice been labeled a foreign agent, says the laws are purposely vague.

“The laws are being changed to be applicable to anyone whenever needed. In our country, laws are interpreted ambiguously. The scope of laws is wide, and the terms are obscure. This deprives us, lawyers, of the opportunity to help our clients,” Arapova told VOA.

Russians reaching out

Even with those difficulties, Rubin — who was once a Kremlin pool reporter — says at least outside of Russia, journalists can work.

Proekt has covered chaos in the military, the Kremlin’s control of most public opinion polls inside Russia and details of the medical teams who accompany Putin — all from exile.

Fomina has also not let exile stop her.

“The least we can do now for Ukraine, considering that the country of my citizenship began the war, is to investigate all crimes that our fellow citizens committed,” she said.

The results of that reporting, including assignments inside Ukraine to investigate atrocities, have been surprising. A Russian soldier confessed to a war crime in a phone interview with Fomina.

After she reported on events in the Ukraine village of Andriivka, other soldiers contacted iStories saying they wanted to speak out.

“No one ‘heard’ them in the country,” Fomina said.

People can be persecuted for speaking with media labeled undesirable, but Russians are reaching out to the team.

Fomina plans to keep reporting on Ukraine, telling VOA, “I did not doubt that I needed to go and look for all those who committed evil deeds, those who killed, raped [and] bit-by-bit put together the puzzle.”

This story originated in VOA’s Russian Service.
…

Turkey’s government recently proposed legislation that would criminalize the spreading of misinformation on social media. The move is drawing national and international criticism.

Turkey’s so-called disinformation bill drew condemnation from a European legal watchdog that warned the law would threaten freedom of expression and independent journalism ahead of next year’s elections.  

The warning is in a report compiled by the Venice Commission, which advises the Council of Europe. Herdis Kjerulf Throgeirsdottir, vice president of the Venice Commission, says the law would have far-reaching negative effects. 

“Our main concern is the chilling effect that this will have on the political debate in Turkey as this draft law will apply to everyone. Secondly, the heavy sanctions of one to three years’ imprisonment of those found guilty of disseminating false or misleading information will lead to widespread self-censorship, which is already struggling in a hostile environment,” Throgeirsdottir said. 

Rights groups already rank Turkey among the world’s biggest jailers of journalists, a charge Ankara denies.  

The Turkish government has in recent years introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at controlling social media. But critics say the latest proposed 40-article law is the most severe.  

Yaman Akdeniz of Turkey’s Freedom of Expression Association says social media threatens the government’s control of media in general. 

“Social media usage in Turkey is high, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook or other social media platforms,” Akdeniz said. “Turkish people predominantly rely on social media to obtain information because we cannot any longer obtain information from newspapers in Turkey or even TV channels because the majority of these channels and newspapers are controlled by the government.” 

The government argues the proposed legislation is similar to social media controls in other European countries.  

Throgeirsdottir says such comparisons are false. 

“The inspiration from these countries is not relevant because they do not criminalize false information. Although they may apply to internet service providers or online platforms to remove illegal content, this is not a valid comparison,” Throgeirsdottir said.

Parliamentary and presidential elections are due in Turkey next year. With the ruling parties and president lagging in the polls, tightening its control on the media is vital for the government, says journalist Hikmet Adai of the Turkish news portal Bianet. 

He said elections are coming in June 2023, and with the economic crisis ongoing, the government doesn’t want this bad news to be disseminated, especially for the world to see the scale of the crisis. This proposed law, he says, represents the heaviest censorship in Turkish press history, so it will definitely affect journalism.

The proposed legislation is currently under discussion in parliament and could become law as early as the end of this month. 

 
…

The White House rolled out a long-delayed national security strategy on Wednesday that seeks to contain China’s rise while reemphasizing the importance of working with allies to tackle challenges confronting democratic nations.

The 48-page document, which was delayed by the Ukraine crisis, includes no major shifts in thinking and introduces no major new doctrines for Biden’s foreign policy. Instead, the document highlights the White House view that U.S. leadership is the key to overcoming global threats such as climate change and the rise of authoritarian regimes.

Even after the Russian invasion, China represents the most consequential challenge to the global order, it states. The U.S. must win the economic arms race with the superpower if it hopes to retain its influence across the world, it says.

“The People’s Republic of China harbors the intention and, increasingly, the capacity to reshape the international order in favor of one that tilts the global playing field to its benefit, even as the United States remains committed to managing the competition between our countries responsibly,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a preview of the policy on Wednesday.

Sullivan said the U.S. must manage the relationship with China while dealing with a set of transnational challenges that are affecting people everywhere, including climate change, food insecurity, communicable diseases, terrorism, the energy transition, and inflation.

Biden has yet to resolve some key foreign policy debates, including tariffs on Chinese goods established by his predecessor Donald Trump that cost U.S. importers billions, and faces new ones brought into high relief by Russia’s actions, including fraying relations with long-time ally Saudi Arabia and India’s reliance on Russian energy.

Sullivan echoed Biden’s comments from earlier in the week that the U.S. is “reevaluating” its relationship with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced last week that it would cut its oil production target over U.S. objections.

The administration is supposed to send the strategy to Congress at the same time it submits its proposed budget. That happened on March 28.

Sullivan said the Ukraine crisis did delay but did not “fundamentally alter” Biden’s approach to foreign policy. However, it did serve as a real-world example of the policy in action, he said.

“I do believe that it presents in living color the key elements of our approach – the emphasis on ally, the importance of strengthening the hand and the democratic world, standing up for fellow democracies and for democratic values.”
…

Bosnia-Herzegovina moved a small step closer to the European Union on Wednesday with the EU’s executive advising member states to grant it candidate member status despite continuing criticism of the way the Balkan nation is run.

The advice had been hotly anticipated in ethnically-divided Bosnia, which is lagging several other Balkan nations in being granted candidate status to become a member of the prosperous European club of 27 nations.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi told a European Parliament committee during the presentation of the annual enlargement report that the executive “recommends that candidate status be granted” by the member states, pending a slew of commitments for fundamental reform. 

The Commission can only advise which nations should become EU candidates, and all member states must agree unanimously on such a step. Varhelyi said he hoped the member states would make a quick move, possibly as early as December, since the geopolitical changes in the region spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine, made speed essential.

Still, once a country becomes a candidate, it can still take years, sometimes many years, before membership to the club becomes a reality.

Varhelyi warned Bosnian political leaders to move swiftly on badly-needed reforms.

“We are doing this for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But it also comes with high expectations. It is for the elites to turn this into reality,” Varhelyi said.

He said to become a candidate the Bosnian leaders needed reforms on issues ranging from the judiciary, to battling corruption and pushing through constitutional and electoral changes. Little progress on those issues has been made in recent years.

Even early this week amid widespread reports of fraud in Bosnia’s recent general election, the country’s top electoral body announced it will conduct a recount in the race to become the next Bosnian Serb president, a ballot that was allegedly rigged by a staunchly pro-Russian leader. 

The Commission made several non-encouraging assessments in other sectors too, outlining limited or no progress in reforms of public administration, the judiciary and the fight against corruption and organized crime. To be a candidate, a nation does not have to meet all criteria, but must show a commitment to do so.

Several Balkan countries and Turkey have been waiting around two decades to join and sometimes progress has been held up by objections from single EU member country.

Ankara applied for membership in 1987, received candidate status in 1999, and had to wait until 2005 to start talks for actual entry. It is still extremely far from membership. 
…

China is looking at the experience of the war in Ukraine to develop “hybrid warfare” strategies against Taiwan including using drones and psychological pressure, a senior Taiwanese security official said on Wednesday.

Taiwan has been carefully studying the lessons of the Ukraine war to inform how it may react should China, which views the democratically ruled island as its own territory, ever makes good on threats to use force to enforce its sovereignty claim.

China mounted military exercises around Taiwan in August to express its anger at a visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and it has maintained its military activities since then, though at a scaled-back pace.

Speaking in parliament, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong said China was also paying attention to what was happening in Ukraine.

“This year, the communist military has borrowed from the experience of the Russia-Ukraine war to develop ‘hybrid warfare’ against Taiwan and strengthen its combat training and preparation against strong enemies,” he told lawmakers.

“Grey-Zone” warfare

After the military drills in August, China expanded its “grey zone” and hybrid activities against Taiwan, especially with the use of drones that have flown both near Taiwan-controlled islands off China’s coast and into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, Chen said.

Taiwan says China’s “grey-zone” warfare campaign involves irregular tactics to exhaust a foe without resorting to open combat, like frequently flying into Taiwan’s air defense zone and forcing Taiwan’s air force to scramble.

China has released images of Taiwan’s military online to “slander” it and attack the government, he said, referring to video that circulated on Chinese social media in August of Taiwanese soldiers on offshore islands taken by drones.

These activities “highlight that the Chinese communists have increased their cognitive warfare, grey zone activities, and other hybrid methods, which have constituted a new form of threat to national security,” Chen added.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has blamed Taiwan for the increase in tensions, saying it is “colluding” with foreign forces against Beijing to promote the island’s formal independence.

Taiwan strengthens defense

Taiwan is bolstering its defenses in the face of the stepped-up China activity, and navy commander Chiang Cheng-kuo said that includes a new generation of destroyer given that its fleet of 26 main warships was on average 20 to 30 years old.

“We’re planning for the capital ships, but the tonnage is yet to be decided,” he told the same parliament session.

Chen said China’s military threats had coalesced support from the United States and its allies for Taiwan to ensure what happened to Ukraine would not be repeated across the Taiwan Strait.

This will enhance Taiwan’s ability to deal with China and deter “their plots to attack Taiwan,” he said.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”
…

Top U.S. cyber officials are warning that now is no time for governments or private sector companies to let down their guard and assume Russia’s struggles on the battlefield in Ukraine will carry over into the Kremlin’s efforts in cyberspace. 

Instead, they say the recent denial of service attacks targeting the public websites of major U.S. airports – and claimed by the Russian hacker group Killnet – could be “the leading edge of other types of attacks.” 

“We are not at a place where we should be putting our shields down,” Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told an audience in Washington late Tuesday. 

“We should remain very concerned, very vigilant about potential attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure,” she said. The Russians are very unpredictable. Their back is up against the wall.” 

The United States and its Western allies have been bracing for potentially large-scale, destructive cyberattacks on key industries and critical infrastructure by Russia or Russian-linked actors since before Russian forces invaded Ukraine in late February.  

“Companies of any size and of all sizes would be foolish not to be preparing right now,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in the weeks before the invasion. “It’s not hypothetical. … I am absolutely concerned.” 

Moscow has consistently denied involvement in offensive cyberattacks, including some that targeted Ukraine on the eve of the Russian invasion. And aside from the recent denial of service attacks, which CISA’s Easterly described as “a nuisance,” there has not been much evidence of any attempted or successful Russian or Russian-linked cyberattacks against targets outside Ukraine. 

Instead, it appears Russia has focused most of its cyber efforts on Ukraine itself. 

A report by the U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Check Point Software, issued last month, found that since February, cyberattacks on Ukrainian government and military websites “more than doubled, increasing by a staggering 112%.”

Other researchers have pointed to Russia’s ongoing use of cyberspace to peddle disinformation, some of it designed to try to weaken the resolve of countries that so far have remained steadfast in their support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials, however, have repeatedly warned that a new wave of Russian cyberattacks is coming, with the targets likely to include Ukraine’s energy and financial sectors. 

“The risk of new attacks remains very high,” Volodymyr Kondrashov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection, said in a statement late last month.

But U.S. officials Tuesday praised Ukraine, saying its cybersecurity efforts have kept Russia off-balance. 

“Credit to the Ukrainians in terms of what they’ve been able to do to harden their networks, to understand what is going on, to be able to be a step ahead of what the Russians are doing,” U.S. Cyber Command’s General Paul Nakasone said. “We have learned a tremendous amount.” 

Still, Nakasone and CISA’s Easterly said their private-sector partners have detected an increase in scanning of critical systems by cyber actors potentially tied to Russia.   

“We need to ensure that we are prepared for threats, for incursions against our critical infrastructure whether it’s state-supported actors, criminally aligned ransomware groups or even the cascading attacks, with attacks in Ukraine … could bleed over the U.S.,” Easterly said. 

There are also ongoing concerns that Russia will try to launch some sort of cyberattack aimed at disrupting next month’s U.S. midterm elections. 

But while the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has seen indications of Russian-linked influence operations, the U.S. says the voting systems themselves are safe. 

“We are seeing no significant indications of attacks that are being planned right now,” Nakasone said. “But this is, again, for us a matter of vigilance.”
…

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthiest nations say they will support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” following Russia’s major missile strikes in early October. White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara reports.
…

The head of Britain’s cyber intelligence agency on Tuesday accused China of trying to “rewrite the rules of international security,” saying Beijing is using its economic and technological clout to clamp down at home and exert control abroad. 

Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, said that despite war raging in Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing’s growing power is the “national security issue that will define our future.” 

In a rare public speech to the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Fleming alleged that Beijing’s communist authorities want to “gain strategic advantage by shaping the world’s technology ecosystems.” 

“When it comes to technology, the politically motivated actions of the Chinese state is an increasingly urgent problem we must acknowledge and address,” Fleming said. “That’s because it’s changing the definition of national security into a much broader concept. Technology has become not just an area for opportunity, for competition and for collaboration, it’s become a battleground for control, for values and for influence.” 

He argued that the one-party system in Beijing seeks to control China’s population and sees other countries “as either potential adversaries or potential client states, to be threatened, bribed or coerced.” 

Relations between Britain and China have grown increasingly frosty in recent years, with U.K. officials accusing Beijing of economic subterfuge and human rights abuses. 

British spies have given increasingly negative assessments of Beijing’s influence and intentions. Last year the head of the MI6 overseas intelligence agency, Richard Moore, called China one of the biggest threats to Britain and its allies. 

In 2020, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson followed the United States in banning Chinese tech firm Huawei as a security risk, ordering it to be stripped out of the U.K.’s 5G telecoms network by 2027. 

Fleming warned that China is seeking to fragment the infrastructure of the internet to exert greater control. He also said China is seeking to use digital currencies used by central banks to snoop on users’ transactions and as a way of avoiding future international sanctions of the sort imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. 

Fleming argued that China’s BeiDou satellite system — an alternative to the widely used GPS navigation technology — could contain “a powerful anti-satellite capability, with a doctrine of denying other nations access to space in the event of a conflict.” 

Fleming warned that the world is approaching a “sliding doors” moment in history — a reference to the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow film in which a woman’s fate hinges on a seemingly trivial moment. 

He called on Western firms and researchers to toughen intellectual property protections and for democratic countries to develop alternatives that can prevent developing nations from “mortgaging the future by buying into the Chinese vision for technology.” 

He said the world’s democracies can’t afford to fall behind in cutting-edge fields such as quantum computing, and warned of a potential weakness over semiconductors, the critical chips used in everyday electronics. Taiwan — which China regards as a breakaway province to be reclaimed by force if necessary — is a world leader in their production. 

“Events in the Taiwan Straits — any risk to that vital supply chain — have the potential to directly impact the resilience of the U.K. and global future growth,” Fleming said. 

Fleming also addressed the war in Ukraine, saying Russia is running short of weapons and Ukraine’s “courageous action on the battlefield and in cyberspace is turning the tide.” 

“Russia’s forces are exhausted,” he said. “The use of prisoners as reinforcements, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation.” 

GCHQ, formally known as the Government Communications Headquarters, is one of Britain’s three main intelligence agencies, alongside MI5 and MI6. It did not disclose the sources of its intelligence on China and Russia. 
…

The Rosetta Stone stars in a new exhibition opening Thursday at the British Museum marking one of the most significant dates in Egyptology — 200 years after a French scholar finally cracked its code and deciphered hieroglyphs.

The exhibition comes at a time the British Museum is under pressure from some Egyptologists to hand the Rosetta Stone back to Cairo as British institutions are beginning to return to other countries artifacts looted during the colonial era.

Once seen as magical symbols unrelated to spoken language, Egyptian hieroglyphs were swathed in mystery for centuries until philologist Jean-Francois Champollion decoded their meaning in 1822.

French troops had discovered the stone in the walls of an Egyptian fort in 1799 and gave it to British forces as part of a surrender agreement. The British Museum has displayed it since 1802.

The basalt slab dating from 196 BC was so crucial because it has inscriptions of identical meaning in three languages: hieroglyphs, an ancient Egyptian vernacular script called Demotic and Ancient Greek, which provided the translation key.

“We decided because the Rosetta Stone was such an important key to that decipherment that we will do this properly: with an exhibition that also features our star objects,” said Ilona Regulski, curator of Egyptian written culture at the museum. “It’s a wonderful moment to celebrate.”

Yet the anniversary exhibition is controversial to some.

Egyptian archaeologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass recently released a petition for the return of the stone and other foreign-held treasures he considers “stolen.”

The British Museum told AFP that Egypt has never made a formal request for the Rosetta Stone’s return.

‘Muddied legacy’

Regulski added that it was a “universal object” and “it doesn’t really matter where it is, as long as it’s available to people.”

Activists from a group called Culture Unstained protested in the museum Tuesday, calling for Cairo to release political prisoners including British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, and criticizing sponsorship by BP oil giant.

The exhibition, “Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt” tracks hieroglyphs’ fall into obscurity after Egyptians switched to other forms of script.

It explores the rich discoveries about life in ancient Egypt that came from unlocking the symbols.

“For the first time in 3,000 years, Ancient Egyptians spoke directly to us,” the museum’s director, Hartwig Fischer, said.

The exhibition does acknowledge attempts by non-Europeans to grasp the symbols but focuses on the race between Western scholars to crack the code.

“Our travelers … went to Egypt and were amazed by all these intriguing picture-like signs on the temple walls,” said Regulski.

This led to their “interpretation as magical signs, as secret knowledge, the idea that if you would be able to decipher hieroglyphs, you will understand the meaning of everything.”

Champollion was the first to fully grasp the logic of hieroglyphs, outdoing an English rival, Thomas Young, who was in correspondence with him.

The exhibition suggests the French scholar has a “muddied legacy,” however, and “often relied on the work of others,” including Young.

It also depicts the more bizarre side of Egyptology, including special events where enthusiasts unwrapped a mummified body and took lengths of bandages home as souvenirs.
…

Energy infrastructure will become more vulnerable to extreme weather such as heatwaves and hurricanes, the World Meteorological Organization warned on Tuesday, with a senior official saying that climate change poses as big a threat to global energy security as the war in Ukraine.

This year was illustrative of what the WMO says are the challenges ahead, with hot weather and drought hampering power production in parts of Europe and China. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” has led to deep cuts to European energy supplies, with possible power rationing and blackouts ahead.

“I think that if we don’t do anything, if we don’t make our energy system more resilient to climate change, there will be as big a disruption in the energy system as the war,” Roberta Boscolo, WMO climate and energy lead told Reuters as the U.N. agency launched a major report on energy.

To meet the challenges, she said “huge” investment was needed to prepare for and adapt to that scenario, such as retrofitting dams to match new rainfall patterns and shoring up plants against storm surge. A WMO document showed that more than a third of all nuclear plants are found at sea level and said some will be threatened as they rise.

Overall, the WMO said in its report that countries are behind in their renewable power pledges, saying they have so far committed to building less than half of the capacity needed by 2030 to reach the Paris accord goals.

However, the WMO secretary-general said that he expects the Ukraine war to accelerate the transition to renewables, despite greater short-term reliance on fossil fuels such as coal.

.”..It’s speeding up this green transition,” Petteri Taalas said at an earlier press conference. “From a climate perspective, the war in Ukraine may be seen as a blessing.”

Taalas said countries should also consider making “certain compromises” to meet global emissions targets such as embracing nuclear power despite misgivings about waste.
…

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says missile attacks by Russia’s armed forces against civilian targets and infrastructure across several cities in Ukraine Monday could amount to war crimes. 

The U.N. reports Russian attacks on nearly a dozen cities including Kyiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia, have killed at least 20 civilians and injured more than 100.  

U.N. monitors say the series of attacks appears to have been coordinated. They say the location and timing of the strikes when people were commuting to work and taking children to school is particularly shocking.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said critical civilian infrastructure, including at least 12 energy facilities, were targeted. She noted some of these facilities may be indispensable for the survival of the civilian population just ahead of the cold winter months.

“We have seen the story of elderly people trapped in their homes. People with disabilities were also unable to flee. I mean, this is unconscionable,” she said. “We have to stress that intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives, amounts to a war crime.”   

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the missile attacks were in retaliation for what he called a terrorist blast that destroyed parts of a bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

Shamdasani said Russian-targeted attacks have destroyed or damaged many residential buildings and key power stations. She warned that the lack of a steady supply of energy to stave off the winter cold will likely put the lives of particularly vulnerable people at risk.

“We urge the Russian Federation to refrain from further escalation, and to take all feasible measures to prevent civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure,” she said.   

Shamdasani noted that the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine will keep tabs on the evolution of the war in Ukraine. She saaid the mission will continue to corroborate civilian casualties resulting from these attacks and document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law throughout the country.
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to address the leaders of the Group of Seven nations during a virtual meeting Tuesday that follows a series of deadly Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s capital and other cities located across the country.

Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine “cannot be intimidated,” and rather than instill fear, Russia’s attacks made “the whole world take notice.”

“We will do everything to strengthen our armed forces,” Zelenskyy said. “We will make the battlefield more painful for the enemy.”

The Ukrainian leader tweeted after a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden that air defense was his top priority, and that he was looking to the United States for leadership on a “tough stance” from the G-7 as it considers its response to Russia’s attacks.

Biden and Western allies were quick to condemn the attacks and vowed to continue to send military aid to Ukraine’s forces to help fend off Moscow’s invasion, now in its eighth month.

A White House statement said Biden told Zelenskyy the United States would provide advanced air defense systems.

Biden said in a statement earlier Monday that Russia’s latest missile launches “once again demonstrate the utter brutality of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal war on the Ukrainian people.

“These attacks only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” he said. “Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom.”

Russian attack includes 84 missiles, 24 drones    

Putin called Monday’s missile attack a “massive strike” against Ukraine in response to the recent destructive attack on the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland.

The Ukrainian military said Russia launched a barrage of 84 cruise missiles and 24 drones, hitting at least 14 areas of the country, and killing at least 14 people. Most of the attacks on Kyiv hit the center of the city, killing at least six people there and wounding 12 others in populated areas, including parks and tourist sites.

The attacks also caused a blackout in much of the country, with hundreds of thousands of people without power Monday night.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “shocked and appalled by the vicious attacks on Ukrainian cities. Putin’s Russia has again shown the world what it stands for: brutality and terror.”

Putin told a meeting of his security council that the strikes targeted Ukraine’s energy, military and communications infrastructure, and that they were in response to an attack Saturday on a bridge linking Russia to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow illegally seized in 2014.

“It is obvious that the Ukrainian secret services ordered, organized and carried out the terrorist attack aimed at destroying Russia’s critical civilian infrastructure,” Putin said.

Aside from Kyiv, explosions were also reported in the western city of Lviv, the southeast city of Dnipro and the eastern city of Kharkiv. Ukraine’s military said it shot down 56 of the Russian aerial targets.

“Unacceptable escalation”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply shocked” by the Russian attacks, his spokesman said. “This constitutes another unacceptable escalation of the war and, as always, civilians are paying the highest price,” the spokesman added. Guterres later talked with Zelenskyy, saying they agreed that the world must react to Russia’s attack as soon as possible.

Ukraine has strongly suggested its security agents carried out the truck bomb attack on the bridge but has not publicly claimed responsibility. The bridge has been a major supply route for Russian operations in southern Ukraine.

Putin said any continued “terrorist attacks” by Ukraine on Russia would be met with a “tough and proportionate” response.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba contended the bridge attack did not provoke Putin “to unleash missile terror.”

“Russia had been constantly hitting Ukraine with missiles before the bridge, too,” Kuleba tweeted. “Putin is desperate because of battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to change the pace of war in his favor.”

Kyiv was last attacked in June. Once under pressure from advancing Russian forces, Kyiv had been relatively calm for months as fighting raged in eastern and southern Ukraine.

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

A third cruise ship was hired by World Cup organizers in Qatar on Monday to operate as a soccer fan hotel docked in Doha Port to add much-needed rooms for the tournament.

Geneva-based MSC Cruises announced the agreement only six weeks before the World Cup is scheduled to start on Nov. 20. The 1,075-cabin MSC Opera will be available from Nov. 19 to Dec. 19.

Prices for the Opera were listed Monday on MSC’s website starting from $470 per person per night during the group stage, with a minimum two-night stay.

Qatar does not have the hotel capacity for all teams, workers, volunteers and fans at the World Cup and is creating camping and cabin sites, hiring cruise ships and encouraging fans to stay in neighboring countries and fly in for games.

MSC previously signed a deal with the Qatari government in 2019 to provide two ships with about 4,000 cabins as floating hotels to help house the expected 1.2 million international visitors.

The high-end flagship MSC World Europa is starting work at the World Cup after being built in France.

Prices on the cruise ships fall during the tournament when half the teams go home. During the round of 16 and quarterfinals, the cheapest rooms on MSC Opera cost $320, then $220 during the final week.

Basic rates include breakfast on board with an option to pay a $87 daily supplement for all meals.

Alcohol is expected to be available on board with MSC offering wine and draft beer.

Qatar is a Muslim-majority country that typically limits the consumption of alcohol to luxury hotels but has eased its rules for FIFA’s commercial partners, including the corporate hospitality provider at stadiums and World Cup sponsor AB InBev, the brewer of Budweiser.

The MSC Opera had its maiden voyage in 2004 and had an eventful sailing season three years ago.

In March 2019, passengers suspected of smuggling 18 kilograms (40 pounds) of cocaine hidden in bowls and packets of snacks were arrested when the ship docked at the Portuguese island of Madeira after sailing from the Caribbean.

Three months later, the Opera collided with a tourist boat and its dock in Venice, Italy.

Cruise ships were discussed ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as a potential solution to a shortage of hotel rooms in Rio de Janeiro. They were ultimately not hired by organizers, with only seven of the 64 games held in the city.

However, the United States basketball teams did stay on a cruise ship docked in Rio at the 2016 Olympics. A second ship was used as a hotel for Olympic stakeholders.
…

The U.N. refugee agency will have to make “severe cuts” unless it gets extra funding soon, its chief said on Monday, warning cuts could lead to more malnutrition and child marriages as well as unrest in some of the world’s poorest regions. 

The war in Ukraine has sent millions fleeing, and there are now more than 100 million people forcibly displaced in the world. This, along with an ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, floods in Pakistan, and violence in Cameroon, has caused the budget of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to balloon to a record of almost $11 billion. 

“I regret to inform you that for the first time during my tenure, I’m worried about UNHCR’s financial situation,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a speech to member countries’ representatives in Geneva after being reappointed as head of the agency last month.   

“If we do not receive at least an additional $700 million, especially for our most underfunded operations, between now and the end of this year, we will be forced to make severe cuts with negative and sometimes dramatic consequences for refugees and host communities,” he added. 

The United States is by far the agency’s biggest donor, contributing over $2 billion so far this year. 

Now, 12 of the agency’s programs are funded at 50% or less, a spokesperson said. Asked which of them might be cut, the spokesperson expressed concerns about parts of the Middle East, including Yemen, and Ethiopia. 

“We fear the consequences (of cuts) will be far reaching — from increasing malnutrition rates to rising risks of increasing gender-based violence, child marriage, labor exploitation, increased tensions and unrest within local communities over resource scarcity, and so on,” the spokesperson said. 

In the same sweeping speech in Geneva, Grandi also said he was worried about the impact of cold weather during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter on some 6.2 million people internally displaced in Ukraine. 

“I share the government’s concerns about the looming winter,” he said, adding that the elderly and disabled were especially vulnerable. 
…

Ukraine appealed to the international community Monday to condemn Russia’s deadly missile strikes on its capital and several other cities, and to reject Moscow’s attempt to annex four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine.

“A trail of blood is left behind the Russian delegation when it enters the General Assembly, and the hall is filled up with the smell of smoldering human flesh,” Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told a special meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

Kyslytsya said at least 84 missiles and two dozen drones had been launched at cities across Ukraine, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

“Energy facilities, residential buildings, schools and universities, museums and crossroads in the city centers were among the targets that the Russian Defense Ministry later declared legitimate,” he said. “The entire world has once again seen the true face of the terrorist state that kills our people.”

Monday’s special emergency session was convened to discuss Russia’s so-called referendums and attempted annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the country’s south. But it was overshadowed by the airstrikes that rained down on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, which had been quiet since June.

Of the 20 countries that spoke, all but Russia condemned the latest attacks, some noting they could rise to war crimes.

Moscow’s envoy said Monday’s strikes were in response to Saturday’s bombing of the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland.

“We warned that this will not be conducted with impunity,” Vassily Nebenzia said. “When you do these acts of sabotage, when you kill those who are unfavorable to you, the Kyiv regime is on the same level with the most outrageous terrorist organizations.”

Ukraine has strongly suggested its security agents carried out the truck bomb attack on the bridge but has not publicly claimed responsibility.

Of the Kremlin’s “referendums” and “annexation,” Nebenzia said an “absolute majority” in the four regions supported the idea of joining Russia.

“In the east and south of Ukraine, peaceful civilians are dying, and the people in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia know that very well. And that’s why they decided to opt for the future with Russia,” Nebenzia said. “I call upon you to respect their choice.”

The General Assembly debate will resume again Wednesday morning, and another 45 countries have requested to take the floor. Among them, a few Russian allies, including Belarus, North Korea and Syria. Of Russia’s friends in the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), only China has signaled it will address the assembly.

African nations are notably absent from the debate, with only the Democratic Republic of Congo so far planning to take the floor.

The United States will speak at the end of the debate. Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that no country of principle could be unmoved by the horrors Russia is inflicting on Ukraine.

“The international community has a responsibility to make clear that President [Vladimir] Putin’s actions are completely unacceptable,” he said. “Now is the time to speak out in support for Ukraine. It is not the time for abstentions, placating words or equivocations under claims of neutrality. The core principles of the U.N. Charter are at stake.”

The debate will culminate with the 193-nation assembly being asked to vote on a resolution put forward by Ukraine and the European Union condemning and rejecting Russia’s move to annex Ukrainian territory.

“Russia is putting global peace and security at risk,” EU envoy Silvio Gonzato said. “If we do not condemn the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine today, then we condone similar blatant attacks on any and all of our countries tomorrow.”

Russia’s ambassador tried but failed repeated procedural maneuvers to turn what will be a public, recorded vote into a secret ballot.
…