The German government wants to temporarily ease visa restrictions for survivors of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria who have close family ties to Germany if they are facing homelessness or were injured. 

“It’s about helping in times of need. We want to make it possible for Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring close relatives from the disaster region,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser tweeted late Saturday. 

“They can find shelter with us and receive medical treatment,” Faeser said. “With regular visas, which are issued quickly and are valid for three months.” 

However, not all the requirements of a regular visa procedure are being waived. Applicants must still be able to present a valid passport — likely to be an obstacle for people who fled collapsing buildings. 

Several million people in Germany have Turkish roots because, more than 60 years ago, West Germany recruited “guest workers” from Turkey and elsewhere to help the country advance economically. 

More recently, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees came to Germany looking for safety from the brutal civil war back home. 

Turkish and Syrian immigrants in Germany have been collecting aid, sending donations and worrying for their relatives back home. Calls to allow them to take in close family members from the devastated regions had been growing for days. 

The German government said it would ease the normally very strict and bureaucratic visa conditions quickly, adding that the foreign ministry had already both increased its staff in Turkey and redeployed capacity at visa acceptance centers there. 

Earthquake victims who wish to seek refuge in Germany and want to apply for a three-month visa need to prove that they have close family members in Germany who have German citizenship or a permanent right of residence, German news agency dpa reported. 

The German host family member must submit a declaration promising to pay for the living expenses and subsequent departure of the person taken in. 
…

There is no bigger cheerleader of awards season than Richard E. Grant. 

He brings joy to the red carpet, snapping selfies with stars and posting congratulations to nominees on social media. 

Now this enthusiasm has been tapped to host the EE BAFTA Film Awards on February 19 at the Royal Festival Hall. 

“I’m an unabashed fan of movies and of talent and always have been. I’ve never been disingenuous or, you know, blasé about that,” he says. “I probably have to restrain myself from permanently taking selfies with every nominee and winner coming up on the stage.” 

“From that point of view, I am the right fit for the job, hopefully,” he says. 

Grant also knows how it feels to participate in awards season and sit, nervously, waiting for that career changing envelope to be opened. He was nominated as supporting actor at both the BAFTAs and Oscars in 2019 for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” 

And he’s aware that, as a working actor, hosting has its challenges. 

“Traditionally if you’re a comedian, your role is very clear to roast the audience. Whereas I’m an actor and, you know, even though I’m the vast vintage that I am now, I still want to work and collaborate with directors and actors and writers for the remainder of my breathing days. So roasting them is not really an option and not something that I want to do.” 

When asked if there will be any humor in the ceremony — Grant has jokes. 

“No, it’s going to be very, very serious. There’ll be no jokes and it will be … it’ll be brutally earnest,” he says, laughing. 

Rebel Wilson got mixed reviews for her joke heavy turn as the BAFTA ceremony emcee last March, which at one point involved a cake of Benedict Cumberbatch’s face. 

This year, “All Quiet on the Western Front” leads the nominees with 14. “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” both have 10 nominations. 

As you’d expect, Grant knows quite a few of the nominees, having worked with EE Rising Star nominees Naomi Ackie and Daryl McCormack, plus Bill Nighy, Cate Blanchett and most of the “Banshees” cast. 

But there will be big changes at the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony this year. 

After six years of walking up the red carpeted steps into the Royal Albert Hall, nominees will be attending an event held beside the River Thames on London’s Southbank at the Royal Festival Hall. 

Also, for the first time, the last 30 minutes of the show will be broadcast live on BBC One, as BAFTA moves towards the idea of a fully live ceremony. 

“In an age where everything can be paused or fast forwarded or, you know, watched on at a later time, the thing of it being live gives it a kind of frisson and excitement and also the possibility that something can go fantastically well or really badly. And that’s always a good thing,” Grant says. 

British rapper Lil Simz will be performing at the ceremony and both the prince and princess of Wales will be in the audience, as he is president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 

Grant, currently working with script writers on what he’ll be saying on stage, claims he’s more excited than nervous, adding he’ll probably be “levitating” on the big day. 

“It is absolutely genuine,” he says of his boundless enthusiasm, “and it’s to the annoyance of some people.” 

“Just surviving in show-business because it is, you know — for what it looks like from the outside — it is a profession that is has an enormous amount of rejection in built into it. So when people are recognized or succeed at what they’re doing and do it so brilliantly — I’m a great champion of that,” Grant said. 
…

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards flooded the streets of Madrid on Sunday for the largest protest yet against the regional government’s management of the capital city’s health care services. 

More than 250,000 people rallied in the city center, according to the central Spanish government. Organizers claimed the crowd was bigger by several hundred thousand. Many protest participants carried homemade signs with messages in Spanish like, “The right to health is a human right. Defend the health service.” 

Health worker associations led the demonstration, which was backed by left-wing parties, unions and normal citizens concerned with what they see as the dismantling of the public health care system by the Madrid region’s conservative-led government. 

These groups have taken to the streets on a regular basis in recent months, and their movement is gathering strength. 

Madrid’s regional chief, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, alleges the protests are motivated by the political interests of left-wing rivals ahead of May regional elections across most of Spain. 

Health care workers claim that Díaz Ayuso’s administration spends the least amount per capita on primary health care of any Spanish region even though it has the highest per capita income. They say that for every two euros spent on health care in Madrid, one ends up in the private sector. 

Critics of her administration say that produces long waits for patients and overworked doctors and nurses. 

Spain has a hybrid health care system, but the public sector is larger than the private one and is considered a basic pillar of the state. It is run by Spain’s regions. 

 
…

Thousands of opponents of Iran’s ruling authorities rallied for a second day in Paris on Sunday to pressure European Union states to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization in response to a crackdown in the country.

Tehran has been engaged in a violent crackdown on protesters since September, including carrying out executions, and it has detained dozens of European nationals. The EU has become increasingly critical of its actions.

Ties between EU members and Tehran have also deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive talks on Iran’s nuclear program have stalled and the country has transferred drones to Russia to help it in its war against Ukraine.

Sunday’s rally in Paris, organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and which followed a similar rally on Saturday by European-based Iranians, aimed to highlight the IRGC’s role in cracking down on protesters, but also its activities outside Iran.

“This will be a revolution… The youth know there is no future under this regime. They say they are better off dying in the streets than living in this country with this regime,” said Ela Zabihi, a university lecturer in London.

Widespread anti-government demonstrations erupted in Iran in September after the death of young Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by morality police for allegedly flouting the strict dress code imposed on women.

While some EU member states and the European parliament have pushed for the IRGC to be listed, others have been more cautious fearing that it could lead to a complete break in ties with Iran, harming any chance of reviving nuclear talks and jeopardizing any hope of getting their nationals released.

Designating the IRGC as a terrorist group would mean that it would become a criminal offense to belong to the group, attend its meetings and carry its logo in public.

Set up after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shi’ite clerical ruling system, the Guards have great sway in the country, controlling swathes of the economy and armed forces and put in charge of Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

“The IRGC must be added to the list of designated terrorist organizations by the European Union,” Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the NCRI told the rally of several thousand people.

“The valiant youth have the right to defend themselves against the IRGC, covert agents, and the barrage of bullets that pierce their eyes, heads, and hearts.”

The People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran is the main component of NCRI. The group, also known by its Persian name Mujahideen-e-Khalq, was once listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union but not since 2012.

Tehran has long called for a crackdown on the NCRI in Paris, Riyadh and Washington. The group, whose level of support is unclear, is regularly criticized in state media.
…

Turkey is targeting 134 contractors and others for alleged shoddy and illegal construction methods even as rescuers retrieve more bodies from collapsed buildings after a pair of earthquakes last week killed more than 33,000 people and injured another 92,000.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag has vowed to punish anyone responsible for the collapse of thousands of buildings as the quakes last Monday devastated large portions of southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. He said Sunday that to date three people had been arrested pending trial, seven people detained and seven others barred from leaving the country.

Even as authorities assessed responsibility for the collapsed buildings, thousands of rescue workers, against long odds, continued their search for survivors, and a handful of people were found alive. Thermal cameras were used to probe the piles of concrete and metal, while rescuers demanded silence so that they could hear any voices of the trapped.

A pregnant woman was rescued Sunday 157 hours after the quakes in the hard-hit province of Hatay, state-broadcaster TRT said.

HaberTurk television broadcast the live rescue of a 6-year-old boy removed from the debris of his home in Adiyaman. The child was wrapped in a space blanket and put into an ambulance. An exhausted rescuer removed his surgical mask and took deep breaths as a group of women could be heard crying in joy.

Prosecutors have begun gathering samples of buildings for evidence of the materials that were used in their construction. The quakes were powerful, but victims and technical experts are blaming bad construction — and lax enforcement of building codes — for worsening the devastation.

Two contractors reportedly attempting to leave the country for Georgia were detained by authorities Sunday at Istanbul Airport. The contractors were held responsible for the alleged shoddy construction of several collapsed buildings in Adiyaman, the private DHA news agency and other media reported.

One of the arrested contractors, Yavuz Karakus, told reporters, “My conscience is clear. I built 44 buildings. Four of them were demolished. I did everything according to the rules,” DHA reported.

Two more people were arrested in Gaziantep province suspected of having cut down columns to make extra room in a building that collapsed, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

A day earlier, Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced the planned establishment of “Earthquake Crimes Investigation” bureaus. The bureaus would gather evidence, identify contractors and others behind the construction of the collapsed buildings to determine if violations occurred. Turkey has building codes, but they are rarely enforced.

Eyup Muhcu, president of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, told The Associated Press that many of the buildings that fell were built with inferior materials and methods, without regard for Turkey’s construction codes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday that the earthquake was the “disaster of the century.

David Alexander, a professor of emergency planning at University College London told the AP, “This is a disaster caused by shoddy construction, not by an earthquake.”

Suzan van der Lee, a seismologist and professor at Northwestern University, told VOA Turkish’s Ozlem Tinaz, “Earthquakes like this are going to happen… we just don’t know when. So, the best thing to do is to be as prepared as possible, buildings that are as safe as possible and know exactly what to do when you feel the ground shake.”

The VOA Turkish Service contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press.
…

Moldova’s former interior minister, Dorin Recean, is expected to be approved as the country’s new prime minister by parliament as soon as this week, following the February 10 resignation of Natalia Gavrilita.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu nominated Recean to the post after Gavrilita stepped down after a year-and-a-half in office. Recean is Sandu’s defense and security adviser.

Recean, 48, who served as interior minister from 2012 to 2015, will have 15 days to form a new government to present to parliament for a confidence vote. Moldova’s ruling party, the Party of Action and Solidarity, has a 63 percent majority of parliamentary seats.

The deputy speaker of the parliament, Mihai Popșoi, told VOA that Moldova’s leadership would like to have a transition that is as smooth as possible, given the security situation in the region.

Artur Maja, the secretary general of the PAS, said the change in the government had been planned for a long time.

“It is a planned and controlled transition from a pro-European government to another,” Maja told VOA. “The main objectives of the new government are strengthening the security sector, reviving the economy, and building resilience in the face of the brutal war of Russia against Ukraine.”

The new team, he said, led by the Recean “will continue to focus on the EU accession, necessary reforms on the national level, and our country’s increased contribution to the regional security.”

Iulian Groza, executive director of the Moldova-based Institute for European Policies and Reforms, said, “Last year, there were several discussions not only with the public but across the political spectrum about the need to re-energizing the government.”

“Gavrilita’s government has done a tremendous job in terms of managing the crisis that Moldova was hit with, the economic and energy crisis, and of course, the impact of the Russian war against Ukraine. The government managed to start some systemic reforms,” Groza told VOA; however, he emphasized the changes were needed, and the Moldovan leadership was looking for the right time to go ahead with the replacement.

President Sandu thanked former Prime Minister Gavrilita on Friday for her “enormous sacrifice and efforts to lead the country in a time of so many crises.”

She added, “I know we need unity and a lot of work to get through the difficult period we are facing. The difficulties of 2022 postponed some of our plans, but they did not stop us.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of last year had a tremendous impact on Moldova. Gavrilita said that no one expected her government “would have to manage so many crises caused by Russian aggression in Ukraine.”

“I took over the government with an anti-corruption, pro-development and pro-European mandate,” Gavrilita said. “We were immediately faced with energy blackmail, and those who did this hoped we would give in.”

A member of the Moldovan parliament, Sinchevici Eugeniu, told VOA that the change in the Moldovan government Friday reflects the need for fresh defense measures in the country.

“We need to put a big focus on security in our government, which was one of the factors that motivated us to change the government,” Eugeniu said, pointing to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent comments on state-owned Russian news network TASS that the actions of Western nations could soon turn Moldova into the “next Ukraine.”

The country is focused on maintaining order internally, especially at a time when Russia is trying to destabilize Moldova,” Eugeniu said.

He added that Russia “can destabilize situation from inside. They have a lot of Russian agents undercover as representatives of different, especially pro-Russian political structures in Moldova, and they are now putting a lot of money for the destabilization from inside.”

Recean told his colleagues that as prime minister, his main focus would be to introduce “order and discipline” in Moldova’s institutions, breathe new life into the economy, and ensure peace and stability.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Moldovan pro-Western leadership has been working to establish closer ties with its Western partners. Last June, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of about 2.6 million people, was granted European Union candidate status on the same day as Ukraine.

Ukraine’s ability to defend itself is particularly important for Moldova. “As long as Ukraine stands strong, we stand with them, and we want to encourage other countries to help Ukraine as much as possible,” said Eugeniu.
…

When war broke out in Ukraine, Aydin Sisman’s relatives there fled to the ancient city of Antakya, in a southeastern corner of Turkey that borders Syria.

They may have escaped one disaster, but another found them in their new home.

They were staying with Sisman’s Ukrainian mother-in-law when their building collapsed last Monday as a 7.8 magnitude earthquake leveled much of Antakya and ravaged the region in what some in Turkey are calling the disaster of the century.

“We have Ukrainian guests who fled the war, and they are also lying inside. We have had no contact.” said Sisman, whose Turkish father-in-law also was trapped under the rubble of the 10-year-old apartment building.

As rescuers dig through heaps of rubble, Sisman appeared to have lost hope.

Millions of refugees, like Sisman’s relatives, have found a haven in Turkey, escaping from wars and local conflicts from countries as close as Syria to as far afield as Afghanistan.

There are at least 3.6 million Syrians who have fled their homeland’s war since 2011, arriving in trickles or en masse, sometimes overrunning the border, to seek safety from punishing bombardments, chemical attacks and starvation. Over 300,000 others have come to escape their own conflicts and hardships, according to the United Nations.

For them, the earthquake was just the latest tragedy — one that many are still too shocked to comprehend.

“This is the greatest disaster we have seen, and we have seen a lot,” said Yehia Sayed Ali, 25, a university student whose family moved to Antakya six years ago to escape Syria’s war at its peak.

His mother, two cousins and another relative all died in the earthquake. On Saturday, he sat outside his demolished two-story building waiting for rescuers to help him dig out their bodies.

“Not a single Syrian family has not lost a relative, a dear one” in this earthquake, said Ahmad Abu Shaar, who ran a shelter for Syrian refugees in Antakya that is now a pile of rubble.

Abu Shaar said people are searching for loved ones and many have refused to leave Antakya even though the quake has left the city with no inhabitable structures, no electricity, water or heating. Many are sleeping on the streets or in the shadows of broken buildings.

“The people are still living in shock. No one could have imagined this,” Abu Shaar said.

Certainly not Sisman, who flew from Qatar to Turkey with his wife to help find his in-laws and their Ukrainian relatives.

“Right now, my mother-in-law and father-in-law are inside. They’re under rubble … There were no rescue teams. I went up by myself, took a look, and walked around. I saw bodies and we pulled them out from under the rubble. Some without heads,” he said.

Construction workers sifting through the debris told Sisman that although the top of the building was solid, the garage and foundations were not as strong.

“When those collapsed, that’s when the building was flattened,” a shaken Sisman said. He appeared to have accepted his relatives were not coming out alive.

Overwhelmed by the trauma, Abdulqader Barakat stood desperately pleading for international aid to help rescue his children trapped under concrete in Antakya.

“There are four. We took two out and two are still [inside] for hours. We hear their voices and they are reacting. We need [rescue] squads,” he said.

At the Syrian shelter, Mohammed Aloolo sat in a circle surrounded by his children who escaped the building that swayed and finally folded like an accordion.

He came to Antakya in May from a refugee camp along the Turkish-Syrian border. He had survived artillery shelling and fighting in his hometown in Syria’s central Hama province, but he called his survival in the earthquake a miracle.

Other relatives were not so lucky. Two nieces and their families remain under the debris, he said, holding back tears.

“I wish this on no one. Nothing I can say that would describe this,” Aloolo said.

Scenes of despair and mourning can be found across the region that only a few days earlier was a peaceful refuge for those fleeing war and conflict.

At a cemetery in the town of Elbistan, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Antakya, a Syrian family wept and prayed as it buried one of its own. Naziha Al-Ahmad, a mother of four, was pulled dead from the rubble of their new home. Two of her daughters were seriously injured, including one who lost her toes.

“My wife was good, very good. Affectionate, kind, a good wife, God bless her soul,” said Ahmad Al-Ahmad. “Neighbours died, and we died with them.”

Graves are quickly filling up.

At the Turkish and Syria border, people transferred body bags into a truck waiting to take the remains to Syria for burial in their homeland. They included the body of Khaled Qazqouz’s 5-year-old niece, Tasneem Qazqouz.

Tasneem and her father both died when the quake wracked the border town of Kirikhan.

“We took her out from under the destruction, from under the rocks. The whole building fell,” Qazqouz said. “We worked for three days to get her out.”

Qazqouz signed his niece’s name on the body bag before sending her off to the truck heading for Syria.

He prayed as he let her go.

“Say hi to your dad and give him my wishes. Say hi to your grandfather and your uncle and everyone,” he cried. “Between the destruction and the rubble, we have nothing now. Life has become so difficult.”

 
…

Greece’s foreign minister visited Turkey on Sunday in a show of support after the country was hit by a devastating earthquake last Monday, despite a longstanding rivalry between the two NATO countries.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was met with a warm embrace by his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, according to footage on state-run ERT TV, before they boarded helicopters to quake-hit regions.

His arrival marks the first visit by a European minister to Turkey since the earthquake.

“I would like to convey to the Turkish leadership and the Turkish people the warmest condolences of the Mitsotakis government and the entire Greek people for the losses after the two devastating earthquakes,” Dendias said during a press conference with Cavusoglu in Antakya, referring to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“This is showing the solidarity of Greek people with Turkey and the Turkish population. Greece was one of the first countries to call and propose help to Turkey after the earthquake,” Cavusoglu added.

‘Dialogue’

Greece and Turkey have a history of rivalry going back centuries, but it has been exacerbated by territorial and energy disputes — and more recently by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bombastic threats of invasion.

But the two neighbors, which lie on seismic fault lines, also have a tradition of helping each other in natural disasters.

Cavusoglu recalled mutual aid when quakes struck Turkey and Greece in 1999, when he said at the time that “We don’t have to wait for another earthquake for developing our relations.”

“I said this as a simple citizen back then, but I think the same today as Turkey’s foreign minister,” he said. “I hope we will make efforts for finding a solution to our disagreements with dialogue in a sincere way.”

Dendias also said that “We do not need to wait for natural disasters to improve our relations”, while adding that Greece’s effort to help Turkey would continue.

The Greek government has so far sent 80 tons of medical and first aid equipment as well as rescuers that along with other European rescuers have saved 205 people, Dendias said.

 
…

The British Defense Ministry said Sunday that over the past two weeks, Russia has likely suffered its highest rate of casualties since the first week of the invasion of Ukraine, nearly one year ago.

The ministry’s observation is based on Ukrainian data saying that the mean average of Russian casualties over the last seven days was 824 per day, representing more than four times the average reported for June and July.  The ministry said the statistics are based on “likely accurate” Ukrainian data.

The uptick in Russian casualties, the ministry said, is “likely due” to several factors, including lack of trained personnel, coordination and resources at the front.

The U.K. intelligence update, posted on Twitter, also said Ukraine continues to experience a high attrition rate.

Russia’s war against Ukraine could continue indefinitely, predicted the leader of the Russian paramilitary organization, Wagner Group. In a video interview, Yevgeny Prigozhin said late Friday it could take 18 months to two years for Russia to take full control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas.

Prigozhin then said the war could extend for three years if Moscow decides to capture broader territories east of the Dnieper River.

The British Defense Ministry said Saturday that data from the Russian Federal Penal Service suggested a drop-off in the rate of prisoner recruitment by the paramilitary group since December 2022. It said news of the “harsh realities” of service in Wagner in Ukraine has probably “filtered through to inmates and reduced the number of volunteers.” 

The British ministry also said Russia is now facing a “difficult choice” of whether to continue “to deplete its forces, scale back objectives, or conduct a further form of mobilization.”

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported Saturday that Moscow is strengthening its grouping of troops near Lyman and Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk oblast, and Russian forces are continuing to focus their key efforts on offensive operations in the directions of Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Novopavlivsk in Ukraine’s east and northeast.

‘Mixed picture’

In a briefing Friday at the Center for a New American Security, Celeste Wallander, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said Russia’s military overall “is a mixed picture.” She said as Russia continues to suffer losses in Ukraine, it is also applying lessons learned tactically, operationally, and somewhat strategically to adapt.

“We’re seeing some of those play out in how Russia’s conducting, for example, the operations right now in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine,” she said.

Wallander emphasized that Russia has “a deep bench of personnel” it can draw upon, and she said Russia “will remain a militarily capable adversary that we have to right size our plans, our operations and our capabilities to cope with.”

She expressed confidence that “Russia will not achieve its strategic or even its operational objectives, and we are confident that the Ukrainian armed forces are up to the task of defending its country.”

The White House announced Friday that U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Feb. 20 to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Eastern European allies.

Coming just before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Biden’s visit “will make it very clear that the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.

The announcement came after Russia’s heavy shelling Friday, targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure and caused new power outages.

Additional weaponry 

The attacks on Ukraine on Friday renewed calls for more weapons aid to Ukraine. European Council President Charles Michel said the missile barrage constituted war crimes.

Western countries that have provided Ukraine with arms have so far refused to send fighter jets or long-range weapons capable of striking deep inside Russia. In an interview with Ani Chkhikvadze of VOA’s Georgian Service, senior presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that negotiations are underway “not only on long-range weapons but also about aviation and not only for fighter jets.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, he heard from several European Union leaders at the EU summit that they were ready to provide aircraft, hinting at what would be one of the biggest shifts yet in Western support for Ukraine.

However, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda expressed doubt Saturday about whether his country would be able to supply Ukraine with the fighter jets Zelenskyy says are needed to win the war with Russia.  Speaking exclusively to BBC, Duda said sending F-16 aircraft would be a “very serious decision” that is “not easy to take.”

VOA’s Eastern European Division Chief Myroslava Gongadze in Kyiv, Ukraine, VOA’s National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin in Washington, and Ani Chkhikvadze of VOA Georgian Service contributed to this report.

Some information came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
…

Visitors to one of Florence’s most iconic monuments — the Baptistry of San Giovanni, opposite the city’s Duomo — are getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see its ceiling mosaics up close thanks to an innovative approach to a planned restoration effort.

Rather than limit the public’s access during the six-year cleaning of the vault, officials built a scaffolding platform for the art restorers that will also allow small numbers of visitors to see the ceiling mosaics at eye level.

“We had to turn this occasion into an opportunity to make it even more accessible and usable by the public through special routes that would bring visitors into direct contact with the mosaics,” Samuele Caciagli, the architect in charge of the restoration site, said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Caciagli called the new scaffolding tour of the baptistry vault “a unique opportunity that is unlikely to be repeated in the coming decades.”

The scaffolding platform sprouts like a mushroom from the floor of the baptistry and reaches a height of 32 meters (105 feet) from the ground. Visits are set to start Feb. 24 and must be reserved in advance.

The octagonal-shaped baptistry is one of the most visible monuments of Florence. Its exterior features an alternating geometric pattern of white Carrara and green Prato marble and three great bronze doors depicting biblical scenes.

Inside, however, are spectacular mosaic scenes of The Last Judgment and John the Baptist dating from the 13th century and created using some 10 million pieces of stone and glass over 1,000 square meters of dome and wall.

The six-year restoration project is the first in over a century. It initially involves conducting studies on the current state of the mosaics to determine what needs to be done. The expected work includes addressing any water damage to the mortar , removing decades of grime and reaffixing the stones to prevent them from detaching.

“(This first phase) is a bit like the diagnosis of a patient: a whole series of diagnostic investigations are carried out to understand what pathologies of degradation are present on the mosaic material but also on the whole attachment package that holds this mosaic material to the structure behind it,” Beatrice Agostini, who is in charge of the restoration work, said.

The Baptistry of San Giovanni and its mosaics have undergone previous restorations over the centuries, many of them inefficient or even damaging to the structure. During one botched effort in 1819, an entire section of mosaics detached. Persistent water damage from roof leaks did not get resolved until 2014-2015.

Roberto Nardi, director of the Archaeological Conservation Center, the private company managing the restoration, said the planned work wouldn’t introduce any material that is foreign to the original types of stone and mortar used centuries ago.

“It is a mix of science, technology, experience and tradition,” he said.

The origins of the baptistry are something of a mystery. Some believe it was once a pagan temple, though the current structure dates from the 4th or 5th centuries.
…

In a small coal-mining town on Ukraine’s eastern front line, a fight for strategic superiority is being waged in a battlefield steeped with symbolism as the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears.

The town of Vuhledar, meaning “gift of coal,” has emerged as a critical hot spot in the fight for the Donetsk province that would give both sides — the Ukrainian forces who hold the urban center, and the Russians positioned in the suburbs — a tactical upper hand in the greater battle for the Donbas region.

Located on an elevated plane that is one of the few high-terrain spots in the area, its capture would be an important step in Russia’s plans to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines. Securing Vuhledar would give Ukraine a potential launching pad for future counter-offensives south.

Then there is the symbolic weight: Vuhledar is close to the administrative border of the Donetsk province, and winning it would play into Russia’s greater aim of controlling the region as a whole.

“The center of gravity of the Russian military effort is in Donetsk, and Vuhledar is basically the southern flank of that,” said Gustav Gressel, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relation’s Berlin office.

Population drops from 14,000 to about 300

The grinding fight to win the area has cost Russia manpower and weapons, as Ukrainians continue to hold up defensive lines. Russia sends battalion-sized scout groups to probe Ukrainian lines and shoot artillery toward their positions with an eye to pushing north toward the critical N15 highway, a key supply route.

In remarks this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian troops were advancing “with success” in Vuhledar. Meanwhile, a British defense intelligence briefing said Russia’s aim was to capture unoccupied areas of Ukrainian-held Donetsk, but it was unlikely to build up the forces required to change the outcome of the war.

Vuhledar’s pre-war population of 14,000 has dwindled to about 300. The majority of the town’s residents worked in the coal mine and nearby factories before the war.

Olha Kyseliova, who was recently evacuated, worked in a brick factory before the fighting upended her life.

Russian forces ramped up attacks beginning on January 24, residents said. That day, a missile tore through Kyseliova’s nine-story building. She was sheltering in the basement with her three children and emerged to find a gaping hole through the roof of her third-floor apartment.

That was the moment she decided she had to leave her hometown.

“I cried the entire way out, I didn’t want to leave,” she said.

Town tactically important

Three Ukrainian brigades are positioned in Vuhledar and on the outskirts of the town. The Associated Press spoke to five commanders in units from all three, who provided only their first names in keeping with Ukraine’s military policy. Russia’s 155 Marine infantry troops are positioned just 4 kilometers away in Vuhledar’s suburbs.

For both sides, the town is tactically important.

“It’s one of the main logistics points of the Donbas region, and also one of the main points of elevation,” said Maksym, the deputy commander of a Ukrainian marine infantry battalion. “By capturing Vuhledar, Russians can easily occupy the entire Donetsk region.”

Seizing Vuhledar would enable Russia to push forward and threaten Ukrainian supply lines feeding into the fierce Marinka front line to the north, said Gressel of the European Council on Foreign Relations. For Ukraine, Vuhledar would be a launching pad for future counter-offensives toward Mariupol and Berdiansk.

From their perch in the town, Ukrainian forces can see into Russian lines and have so far been able to repel Russian attempts to encircle Vuhledar. Columns of Russian tanks and armored vehicles transporting infantrymen continuously assault and attempt to break Ukrainian defenses. Aviation, rockets and artillery target the town.

“But with our fighters and anti-tank equipment their attempts have not been successful,” said Maksym, the Ukrainian deputy commander. “The situation is strained but controlled.”

Russians losing infantry to mines

Similar to other front lines along the east, the Russians are losing scores of infantrymen in an attempt to tire and weaken Ukrainian defensive lines. Serhii, the commander of a Ukrainian intelligence unit, said he saw Russian soldiers sent straight through fields mined by the Ukrainians following Russia’s capture of the village of Pavlivka, south of Vuhledar, in November.

“They de-mine our fields by using their own people,” he said.

Ukrainian commanders said some of their units are suffering from dire ammunition shortages.

That view was not shared across brigades, suggesting some are better supplied than others. Taras, the commander of a mortar unit, said his forces were suffering very serious shortages. Faced with orders to target an enemy position, he said, “I have just two or three rounds of ammunition to do it. It’s nothing.”

Two commanders of a brigade inside Vuhledar reported the Russians hurled gas-laden projectiles that caused severe disorientation for hours and burning of the throat and skin. Higher-ranking commanders did not comment on the type of gas used and said an investigation was ongoing.

“They are probing and testing us across the eastern front line, including in Vuhledar,” said Oleksandr, a commander who was recently rotated out of the town. “They are trying to find our points of weakness.”

For now, Russia’s activities around Vuhledar are not “operationally significant,” said Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia analyst with the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War. More combat power is required to execute breakthroughs that would achieve the stated aim of the Russian invasion — the capture of the entire Donetsk province.

Even in the event of victory in Vuhledar, Russia would still need a lot of combat power to push north. Three months after capturing the village of Pavlivka in November, Russian forces have yet to make breakthroughs in Vuhledar, which is only 4 kilometers — a six-minute drive — away.
…

Tens of thousands of teachers took to Lisbon’s streets Saturday in one of the biggest protests in Portugal in recent years as the Socialist government faces a wave of discontent over the cost-of-living crisis.

“(We) have been badly treated for a long time,” said Portuguese language teacher Maria Coelho, 55, as she held a banner reading “Respect” at the protest organized by the FENPROF union.

“We are here today, and we will be here for many more to come,” she added.

The union said it expected more than 100,000 people to take part in the protest. No police estimate of attendance was immediately available.

It was the third time in less than a month that teachers and school workers have held mass demonstrations in Portugal.

Teachers on the lowest pay scale make around 1,100 euros ($1,174.25) per month but even teachers in higher bands typically earn less than 2,000 euros. They also want the government to speed up career progression.

“I feel robbed every day of my life,” said special needs teacher Albertina Baltazar. “(We want) respect for our profession.”

Education Minister Joao Costa said negotiations with teachers’ unions were ongoing and that they hoped to reach an agreement soon.

A year after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa won a majority in parliament, he is facing a slump in popularity and street protests not just by teachers but by other professionals.

Portugal is one of Western Europe’s poorest countries, with government data showing more than 50% of workers earned less than 1,000 euros per month last year. The minimum wage is 760 euros per month.

Portugal’s biggest umbrella union, the CGTP, held several protests and strikes across the country Thursday against rising prices and urged the government to increase workers’ pay.

Nurses have also been striking due to lack of career advancement and doctors are expected to walk out for two days next month.

On Feb. 25, the movement “Fair Life” is encouraging people to protest in Lisbon over the cost-of-living crisis. Inflation is close to three-decade highs.

House prices in Portugal rose 18.7% in 2022, the biggest increase in three decades, and rents have also increased significantly.

“If we are persistent and if we do not abandon the fight, I’m convinced the government will really have to listen to us,” said Carlos Faria, a 47-year-old primary school teacher.
…

An uncrewed Russian supply ship docked at the International Space Station has lost cabin pressure, the Russian space corporation reported Saturday, saying the incident doesn’t pose any danger to the station’s crew.

Roscosmos said the hatch between the station and the Progress MS-21 had been locked so the loss of pressure didn’t affect the orbiting outpost.

“The temperature and pressure on board the station are within norms and there is no danger to health and safety of the crew,” it said in a statement.

The space corporation didn’t say what may have caused the cargo ship to lose pressure.

Roscosmos noted that the cargo ship had already been loaded with waste before its scheduled disposal. The craft is set to be undocked from the station and deorbit to burn in the atmosphere Feb. 18.

The announcement came shortly after a new Russian cargo ship docked smoothly at the station Saturday. The Progress MS-22 delivered almost 3 tons of food, water and fuel along with scientific equipment for the crew.

Roscosmos said that the loss of pressure in the Progress MS-21 didn’t affect the docking of the new cargo ship and “will have no impact on the future station program.”

The depressurization of the cargo craft follows an incident in December with the Soyuz crew capsule, which was hit by a tiny meteoroid that left a small hole in the exterior radiator and sent coolant spewing into space.

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio were supposed to use the capsule to return to Earth in March, but Russian space officials decided that higher temperatures resulting from the coolant leak could make it dangerous to use.

They decided to launch a new Soyuz capsule February 20 so the crew would have a lifeboat in the event of an emergency. But since it will travel in automatic mode to expedite the launch, a replacement crew will now have to wait until late summer or fall when another capsule is ready. It means that Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will have to stay several extra months at the station, possibly pushing their mission to close to a year.

NASA took part in all the discussions and agreed with the plan.

Besides Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio, the space station is home to NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Russian Anna Kikina, and Japan’s Koichi Wakata. The four rode up on a SpaceX capsule last October.
…

British police said Saturday that 15 people, including a 13-year-old child, had been arrested after a protest by crowds outside a hotel housing asylum seekers turned violent, causing injuries and a police van being set on fire.

Offenders threw missiles including lit fireworks at police officers following an initially peaceful protest and counter-protest Friday evening in Knowsley near Liverpool in northwest England, police said.

Knowsley Council said the protests occurred outside the Suites Hotel, which has been providing refuge to asylum seekers since January last year under a British government contract.

One officer and two members of the public received slight injuries, police said, adding that a total of 13 men and two women had been arrested.

“A number of individuals who turned up at the Suites Hotel last night were intent on using a planned protest to carry out violent and despicable behavior,” Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said.

Some individuals turned up armed with hammers and fireworks to “cause as much trouble as they could,” she added.

Rumors and misinformation had circulated on social media ahead of Friday’s violence following an incident on February 6 in Knowsley in which a man made inappropriate advances toward a teenage girl, Kennedy said.

“We know that those involved in the violent activity last night used this as an excuse to commit violence and intimidate members of the public,” she said, adding an investigation into the incident involving the teenage girl was ongoing.

As the number of migrants crossing the English Channel to reach Britain rises, the government has been using hotels across the country as temporary accommodation while it processes their applications for asylum.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on illegal migration one of his government’s top priorities and is planning new legislation to address the issue.

Migrants arriving on small boats have become a major political issue, particularly in working-class areas in the north and central England, where they are blamed for making it harder for people to find work and stretching public services.

Police said they would enforce a dispersal order in the area around the Suites Hotel for two days and extra officers will carry out high visibility policing to prevent further incidents.
…

Rescue crews on Saturday pulled more survivors, including entire families, from toppled buildings despite diminishing hopes as the death toll of the enormous quake that struck a border region of Turkey and Syria five days ago surpassed 25,000.

Dramatic rescues were being broadcast on Turkish television, including the rescue of the Narli family in central Kahramanmaras 133 hours after the 7.8-magnitude temblor struck Monday. First, 12-year-old Nehir Naz Narli was saved, then both of her parents.

That followed the rescue earlier in the day of a family of five from a mound of debris in the hard-hit town of Nurdagi, in Gaziantep province, TV network HaberTurk reported. Rescuers cheered and chanted, “God is Great!” as the last family member, the father, was lifted to safety.

Turkish President Recep Tayypi Erdogan, on a tour of quake-stricken cities, raised the death toll in Turkey to 21,848, which pushed the total number of dead across the region, including government and rebel-held parts of Syria, to 25,401.

Erdogan said a disaster of this scope is rare, affecting an area so large that is home to so many people. He referred to it as the “disaster of the century” and said it had affected an area 500 kilometers in diameter that is home to 13.5 million people in Turkey and an unknown number in Syria.

“In some parts of our settlements close to the fault line, we can say that almost no stone was left standing,” he said earlier Saturday from Diyarbakir.

Still, the day brought one astonishing rescue after another, numbering more than a dozen.

Melisa Ulku, a woman in her 20s, was extricated from the rubble in Elbistan in the 132th hour since the quake, following the rescue of another person at the same site in the same hour. Ahead of her rescue, police announced that people shouldn’t cheer or clap in order to not interfere with other rescue efforts nearby. She was covered in a thermal blanket on a stretcher. Rescuers were hugging. Some shouted “God is great!”

Just an hour earlier, a 3-year-old girl and her father were pulled from debris in the town of Islahiye, also in Gaziantep province, and soon after a 7-year-old girl was rescued in the province of Hatay.

The rescues brought shimmers of joy amid overwhelming devastation days after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake and a powerful aftershock hours later caused thousands of buildings to collapse, killing more than 25,000, injuring another 80,000 and leaving millions homeless.

Not everything ended so well. Rescuers reached a 13-year-old girl inside the debris of a collapsed building in Hatay province early Saturday and intubated her. But she died before the medical teams could amputate a limb and free her from the rubble, Hurriyet newspaper reported.

Even though experts say trapped people can live for a week or more, the odds of finding more survivors were quickly waning amid freezing temperatures. Rescuers were shifting to thermal cameras to help identify life amid the rubble, a sign that any remaining survivors could be too weak to call for help.

As aid continued to arrive, a 99-member group from the Indian Army’s medical assistance team began treating the injured in a temporary field hospital in the southern city of Iskenderun, where a main hospital was demolished.

One man, Sukru Canbulat, was wheeled into the hospital in a wheelchair, his left leg badly injured with deep bruising, contusions and lacerations.

Wincing in pain, he said he had been rescued from his collapsed apartment building in the nearby city of Antakya within hours of the quake on Monday. But after receiving basic first aid, he was released without getting proper treatment for his injuries. 

″I buried (everyone that I lost), then I came here,’’ Canbulat said, counting his dead relatives: “My daughter is dead, my sibling died, my aunt and her daughter died, and the wife of her son” who was 8 ½ months pregnant.

A large makeshift graveyard was under construction on the outskirts of Antakya on Saturday. Backhoes and bulldozers dug pits in the field on the northeastern edge of the city as trucks and ambulances loaded with black body bags arrived continuously. Soldiers directing traffic on the busy adjacent road warned motorists not to take photographs.

The hundreds of graves, spaced no more than 3 feet (a meter) apart, were marked with simple wooden planks set vertically in the ground.

A worker with Turkey’s Ministry of Religious Affairs who did not wish to be identified because of orders not to share information with the media said that around 800 bodies were brought the cemetery on Friday, its first day of operation. By midday on Saturday, he said, as many as 2,000 had been buried.

“People who are coming out from the rubble now, it’s a miracle if they survive. Most of the people that come out now are dead, and they come here,” he said.

Temperatures remained below freezing across the large region, and many people have no shelter. The Turkish government has distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but is still struggling to reach many people in need.

The disaster compounded suffering in a region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war, which has displaced millions of people within the country and left them dependent on aid. The fighting sent millions more to seek refuge in Turkey.

The conflict has isolated many areas of Syria and complicated efforts to get aid in. The United Nations said the first earthquake-related aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwestern Syria on Friday, the day after an aid shipment planned before the disaster arrived.

The U.N. refugee agency estimated that as many as 5.3 million people have been left homeless in Syria.

President Bashar Assad and his wife have visited injured quake victims in a hospital in the coastal city of Latakia, a base of support for the Syrian leader.

Syrian state TV said Assad and his wife Asma on Saturday morning visited Duha Nurallah, 60, and her son Ibrahim Zakariya, 22, who were pulled out of rubble the night before in the nearby coastal town of Jableh.

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, bringing with him 35 tons of medical equipment, state news agency SANA reported. He said another plane carrying an additional 30 tons of medical equipment will arrive in the coming days.

The opposition Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said Saturday that it “is almost impossible to find people alive.”

The total death toll in Syria’s northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166 many of them women and children. The total dead in Syria was 3,553, while in Turkey, officials counted 21,043 dead through Saturday.
…

Two German aid organizations suspended rescue operations in quake-hit Turkey on Saturday, citing security problems and reports of clashes between groups of people and gunfire.

The German International Search and Rescue (ISAR) and Germany’s Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) said they would resume their work as soon as Turkish civil protection agency AFAD classifies the situation as safe.

“You can see that sadness is slowly giving way to anger.

We will therefore remain in the joint camp with the THW for the time being,” ISAR Operations Manager Steven Bayer told Reuters, adding however that the organizations would be immediately ready to help if there are any indications of survivors.

Turkish authorities have not reported clashes in the quake-hit region, but President Tayyip Erdogan commented on the general security situation on Saturday, noting that a state of emergency had been declared and that there had been some looting.

“It means that, from now on, the people who are involved in looting or kidnapping should know that the state’s firm hand is on their backs,” he said during a visit to the region.

The Austrian Forces Disaster Relief Unit (AFDRU) – also briefly suspended operations on Saturday and then resumed, with Defense Ministry spokesperson Michael Bauer tweeting that the Turkish army had taken over protection of the AFDRU contingent.

Some 82 rescue workers from Austria’s armed forces have been in Antakya, Turkey, since February 7 and their specialists have freed nine people from the rubble.

Switzerland said it was closely monitoring the security situation in Hatay and that the security measures have been increased accordingly.  

Switzerland has sent 87 specialists and 8 dogs to help in the rescue operation, and have so far recovered 11 people, including two babies since arrived on Tuesday. An extra team of 12 was sent on Friday.
…

Australia is sending emergency services personnel to earthquake-hit regions in Turkey. The group of 72 includes fire and rescue specialists, mostly from New South Wales state. Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey and neighboring Syria has killed an estimated 24,000 people and injured many more.

Time is running out for rescuers trying to reach victims trapped in freezing conditions under rubble following Monday’s earthquake in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria.

Australia is the latest country to send specialist search and rescue teams as well as medical staff and engineers. It is also sending 22 metric tons of emergency equipment, including first aid supplies, cameras, and underground listening equipment to allow them to search for survivors. The United States, China and India have also sent disaster response teams.

In a statement Friday, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said she extended her country’s “condolences to families and communities that have lost loved ones, and those whose lives and livelihoods have been affected.”

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.  Friday that the country is eager to help.

“I would like to think that by Australia playing a role, we might be able to save a few more lives,” Watt said. “Obviously with every day that goes by, it becomes less and less likely that there will be survivors, but these are really highly trained expert personnel from Australia, and I am really proud that Australia is playing a role, and I really thank those emergency personnel for being willing to go and do it.”

Several Australian citizens are reported missing in the earthquake zone.  At least two have been killed.  

Community groups and aid organizations in Australia, including Muslim charities and mosques, have set up fundraising campaigns to help victims of the earthquake that has left millions homeless in Turkey and Syria.

The government has committed $7 million in aid that will be distributed through the Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies. 
…

When Enrique Vera opens the door to his workshop, an array of gleaming gold and silver matadors’ jackets shine in the sun.

“It is little bit like a cave full of treasure,” he says.

Vera painstakingly fashions the brilliant trajes de luces (suits of lights) which are worn by bullfighters when they face half-ton bulls in the ring.

One of only seven sastres (bullfighting tailors) in the world, he used to be a matador. But he swapped the sword used to kill the bull for a needle and followed a family tradition to become a tailor.

The iconic status of the matador’s suit has meant it has passed from the bullring to mainstream popular culture.

Vera and his mother, Nati, also a seamstress, were called on to make matadors suits for films and the catwalk, working with Pink Panther star Peter Sellers, designer John Paul Gaultier and the late ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

From the moment a matador steps through the door into Vera’s office in Seville, southern Spain, it sets in motion an intricate process of measuring, sewing, ironing, and finally fitting the suits which can cost as much as $6,000 each.

Meticulous process

Vera’s team of 15 specialist seamstresses spend a-month-and-a-half making each suit, which is made to measure. Up to 300 drawings are made before a suit is finished.

The golden, blue or red jackets, trousers and capotes de paseo — the huge cape which the bullfighter carries when he emerges into the ring — are filled with rhinestones, beads and gold or silver thread.

One essential quality is all Vera’s suits must withstand bloodstains — from the bull or the matador.

“It is like drawing a work of art. You must capture the vision of the bullfighter for his suit, then make it a reality. It must be like a second skin,” Vera says in an office filled with photographs of famous bullfighters wearing his creations.

Ancient art dying?

But as attitudes toward bullfighting change in Spain, confecting these suits, whose design has remained the same for the past 150 years, is an art in decline.

Some Spaniards consider bullfighting to be an essential part of the culture, while others say it is a cruel spectacle.

In recent years, the number of bullfights has declined partly because of the pandemic, but also because Spaniards have a raft of different ways to amuse themselves and the animal rights movement is on the rise.

“The problem is that we have changed the concept of animals to humanize them. There is no one more environmentally conscious than breeders of fighting bulls,” Vera told VOA.

“The bulls spend three or four years living free. They are not being slaughtered for meat. But there are plenty of bullfights in Spain, Latin America, and France.”

He was not so sure, however, about his own job.

“There are less sastres because it takes a lot of time. The older ones are retiring and not being replaced,” he admitted. He hopes his 14-year-old son will follow him into the trade.

Polls show less support for bullfighting in recent years.

Some 46.7% of Spaniards were in favor of prohibiting bullfighting, while 18.6% backed the tradition and 34.7% had no opinion, according to a 2020 survey for Electomania, a polling company.

The number of bullfights fell from 1,553 in 2017 compared to 824 in 2021, according to government figures. Only 8% of the population attended bullfights in 2018-2019, compared to 45% who said they went to the theater or 70.3% who said they spent spare time reading.

The first bullfight in Spain was held in 711 A.D. in honor of King Alfonso VIII. Originally, the pastime was reserved for the nobility and took place on horseback. The present version of bullfighting started in Ronda at the start of the 19th century.

A bill to end bullfighting in France failed last year after a member of parliament withdrew the proposed legislation. Portugal allows fights where the bull does not die.

In Latin America, the tradition has been banned in some Mexican states, but is still legal in Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Tradition breaking

Paco Ramos, who runs trajesdeluces.com, which sells second-hand suits of lights, fears a younger generation of tailors may not emerge to replace the likes of Vera.

“For younger people it takes too long to make each suit and is too much work. But for now, there are not many tailors and there is enough demand,” he told VOA.

However, he was confident there was no chance bullfighting would be banned any time soon.

In 2013, the then conservative government introduced a law which declared bullfighting part of the national heritage which should be protected throughout Spain, effectively preventing any attempts to ban the practice.

Animal rights groups are planning to challenge the legal protection of bullfighting by introducing a bill through a people’s petition.

Marta Esteban, president of Torture Is Not Culture, an animal rights collective, told VOA she believed that public opinion was behind banning bullfighting.

“There is no doubt that it is coming to an end, but governments are not willing to give it a coup de grace,” she said.

Aldara Arias de Saavedra, a tour guide who grew up within the shadow of La Maestranza bullring in Seville, has never been to a bullfight.

“I can understand why some people like it. My father did. But it is not for me. You have to kind of grow up with it to be into it. It is like football, I suppose,” she told VOA.

Walk around the narrow streets near the bullring and there is a mini-economy which depends on this pastime, from bars to restaurants to those selling souvenirs like fake suits of lights.

“I think down here in the south, not everyone will go to bulls, but it is so associated with the big ferias and smaller ones in villages that it is not going to be banned soon,” said Marcos Alvarez, a cinematographer.

 
…

VOA Mandarin White House Correspondent Paris Huang speaks with John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, on U.S.-China relations, as well as the latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Camera – David Krupin, Mino Dargakis
…

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, who has called for the creation of an ad hoc international tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russian aggression in Ukraine, has registered 65,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces.

Vsevolod Knyazev, the head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court, calls it a necessary step — one that should also target Russian leaders who ordered the invasion.

“Putin will not come to the court voluntarily, and Russia will not pay voluntarily,” Knyazev tells VOA’s Ukrainian Service.

The following has been edited for length and clarity:

VOA: Ukraine is an EU candidate country. Judicial reform is considered to be an important step on the way to EU membership. How would you assess the progress in unveiling this reform?

Head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Vsevolod Knyazev: Indeed, the tasks No. 1 and 2 on the list of European commission’s requirement for Ukraine’s EU integration are about the judicial reform. These are the most important issues for our EU partners. The first one is about the constitutional court reform that is underway. Ukraine has already adopted the legislation on the competitive selection to the judges. However, the Venice Commission has criticized the legislation. According to the bill that was signed into law, the advisory group consists of three Ukrainian and three international members, and the Venice Commission urges Ukraine to increase the number of the members representing the international community to four. If we are pursuing European integration, we shall start doing everything for our key institutions to meet European standards.

The second issue is the judicial system reform, creation of the High Council of Justice and High Qualification Commission for Judges [to approve the composition of the courts and rid them of dishonest judges]. We have already made progress here. This shall become a key element in completing the key task for us and the whole of Ukraine, which is fighting against corruption and forming a strong democratic and powerful country.

VOA: The Prosecutor General office of Ukraine registered at least 65,000 cases of war crimes allegedly committed by Russian soldiers. While Ukrainian and international courts are investigating those, there is so far no institution to investigate and prosecute the Russian leaders for the crime of aggression. Prosecutor General Kostin during his visit to Washington called on the world to create a special ad-hoc international tribunal. What is your take on such an initiative?

Knyazev: The International Criminal Court and this special tribunal shall be addressing the case against highest political and military elites [in Russia]. I fully support the idea of creating a special ad-hoc international tribunal. The international community—all the countries of the world—shall say “no” to leaders of countries that committed aggression or are intending to commit aggression. They shall be held responsible for the crime of aggression. There is no such mechanism today. Creation of such an ad-hoc international tribunal is not only important for Ukraine, there shall be some preventative mechanism. One of the goals of prosecution is prevention.

VOA: You mentioned the harm that Russia has done to Ukraine during this war of aggression. Will Ukrainian courts be addressing the issue of Russian reparations for Ukraine?

Knyazev: This is being discussed domestically in Ukraine and internationally. There are different thoughts on the mechanism through which Ukrainian citizens can get compensations for the harm done by Russia. It looks like Canada and the United States have advanced the most in this direction. Both countries have adopted the legislation, allowing to seize assets of the Russian oligarchs and then to use these funds to compensate for the harm done by Russia in Ukraine. We have a good example of that in the U.S. Putin will not come to the court voluntarily, and Russia will not pay voluntarily. The only option is to seize all these assets located abroad. These are big assets of both Putin and those oligarchs who help him wage an aggressive war. And then these assets will be used to repay the damage to Ukraine.

VOA: A Supreme Court ruling from April 14, 2022, states that Ukrainian victims of Russia’s invasion can sue Russia for the damage despite its sovereign immunity. Where does the decision stand in the balance between sovereignty and human rights?

Knyazev: Well, it’s a very interesting question and a question of a great discussion inside and outside of Ukraine, because it shows that the current system of international law is not ideal. [As it now stands], one state can begin a war of aggression …. and then the victim of the war [is expected to] just respect the immunity of the [aggressor]. Our courts think that if one state starts an aggressive war, it should not expect the victim to respect that immunity. That’s why [the] Supreme Court introduced a new doctrine in this part of international law.

And even now in Ukraine, we are preparing to adopt … amendments to international law to make it possible to recover losses using the Russian assets and funds which are [recovered] inside Ukraine.

VOA: Under international law President Vladimir Putin and Russian leadership are immune and cannot be tried in Ukrainian court. Do you agree with this interpretation, and is the Supreme Court of Ukraine planning on taking this up in the future?

Knyazev: I think a very important thing is that those criminals from Russian leadership like Putin and his ministers and generals should be condemned by international bodies—should be condemned by international society to prevent starting an aggressive war in the future. The case of Putin and his highest leadership should be adjudicated by the ICC or the special international tribunal to show the world community that starting the aggressive war in modern Europe by the leadership of any country would be impossible in the future and will be punished.

This interview originated in VOA’s Ukrainian Service.
…

A group of 35 countries, including the United States, Germany and Australia, will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the 2024 Olympics, the Lithuanian sports minister said on Friday, deepening uncertainty over the Paris Games.

The move cranks up the pressure on an International Olympic Committee (IOC) desperate to avoid the sporting event being torn asunder by the bloody conflict unfolding in Ukraine.

“We are going in the direction that we would not need a boycott because all countries are unanimous,” Jurgita Siugzdiniene said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the online meeting attended by 35 ministers to discuss the call for the ban, pointing out 228 Ukrainian athletes and coaches died as a result of the Russian aggression.

“If there’s an Olympics sport with killings and missile strikes, you know which national team would take the first place,” he told the ministers. “Terror and Olympism are two opposites, they cannot be combined.”

British sports minister Lucy Frazer said on Twitter that the meeting was very productive.

“I made the UK’s position very clear: As long as Putin continues his barbaric war, Russia and Belarus must not be represented at the Olympics,” she wrote.

Assistant Secretary of State Lee Satterfield, who leads the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, also participated in the meeting.

“The Assistant Secretary outlined that the United States will continue to join a vast community of nations in our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine and hold the Russian Federation accountable for its brutal and barbaric war against Ukraine, as well as the complicit Lukashenka regime in Belarus,” a U.S. Department of State spokesperson said.

“We will continue to consult with our independent National Olympic Committee the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee — on next steps and look forward to greater clarity by the IOC on their proposed policy toward Russia and Belarus.”

With war raging in Ukraine, the Baltic States, Nordic countries and Poland had called on international sports bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Olympics.

Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia on Friday morning as Ukrainian officials said a long-awaited Russian offensive was under way in the east.

“We know that 70% of Russian athletes are soldiers. I consider it unacceptable that such people participate in the Olympic Games in the current situation, when fair play obviously means nothing to them,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said after meeting the heads of the Czech Olympic committee and the national sports agency.

Boycott threatened

Ukraine has threatened to boycott the games if Russian and Belarusian athletes compete, and Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk has said Russians will win “medals of blood, deaths and tears” if allowed to take part.

Such threats have revived memories of boycotts in the 1970s and 1980s during the Cold War era that still haunt the global Olympic body today, and it has called on Ukraine to drop them.

However, Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk said that a boycott was not on the table for now.

“It’s not time to talk about a boycott yet,” he told a news conference, saying there were other ways of pressuring the IOC that could be explored first.

Most participants, he said, had been in favor of an absolute exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

“Most voices — with the exception of Greece, France, Japan—were exactly in this tone,” he said, adding that creating a team of refugees that would include Russian and Belarusian dissidents could be a compromise solution.

Neutrality

The IOC has opened the door for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals, stating that a boycott would violate the Olympic Charter and that its inclusion of Russians and Belarusians is based on a United Nations resolution against discrimination within the Olympic movement.

Norwegian Minister of Culture and Equality Anette Trettebergstuen also said it was “far too early” to think about a boycott, but added that it was “strange and provocative” for the IOC to consider allowing Russian athletes to compete.

“In a Russian context, there is no difference between sport and politics, and any sports performance is pure propaganda,” Trettebergstuen told Norwegian newspaper VG. “Saying the athletes should be able to compete as neutrals … Neutrality is not possible. It’s a dead end.”

Some 18 months before the competition is due to start, the IOC is desperate to calm the waters so as not to jeopardize the Games’ message of global peace and deliver a huge hit to income.

While Anne Hidalgo, mayor of host city Paris, said Russian athletes should not take part, Paris 2024 organizers, who last week said they would abide by the IOC’s decision on who would take part in the Games, declined to comment.

The Russian sports ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment. An IOC spokesperson said they would not comment “on interpretations from individual participants of a meeting whose overall content is unknown.”
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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

More Than 22,000 Dead in Earthquakes 

Two devastating earthquakes, one a 7.8 magnitude and the other a 7.5 magnitude, struck parts of Turkey and Syria in the early hours of Monday, as many families slept. The tremors were felt in the region and as far away as Greenland. Four days after the earthquakes, hope was fading for finding many survivors. The United Nations was focused on the relief response, particularly to Syria, where millions in the war-torn country were already in need before the disaster. 

First UN Aid Convoy Reaches Quake-hit Northern Syria 

Guterres Bleak on State of World

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday that the world needed to wake up and take urgent action to change the trajectory of conflicts and geopolitical divisions, the climate crisis and economic inequality. He told the General Assembly, “We need a course correction,” as he laid out his priorities for the year. 

UN Chief: World Needs ‘Wake-Up Call’

Somalia Still at Risk of Famine

The U.N. resident coordinator for Somalia said there was still a “strong possibility” of famine in Somalia this year if the spring rains underperformed. The organization appealed for $2.6 billion this year to assist 7.6 million of the most vulnerable Somalis who are facing acute hunger from conflict, high food prices and unprecedented drought.

UN Appeals for $2.6 Billion to Ease Hunger Crisis in Somalia 

US Antisemitism Campaign Comes to UN

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff urged the international community Thursday to speak out against antisemitism and called out those who do not, saying silence is not an option. “This moment requires bold collective action and urgency, not just concepts,” Emhoff, the husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, told a gathering at the United Nations.

US Second Gentleman Calls for ‘Bold Collective Action’ to Curb Antisemitism 

In Brief

—  U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said 17.6 million people needed humanitarian assistance in Ukraine — nearly 40% of the population. Griffiths told the Security Council on Monday that the U.N. and its agencies had provided 15.8 million people with assistance, including more than 1.3 million people in areas outside Kyiv’s control. But he called for better and more frequent access, especially to areas under Russia’s military control, where he said it had become increasingly unpredictable and impeded.

— The U.N. children’s agency estimated that 1 million children were out of school in Haiti because of social unrest, insecurity, the high costs of education and lack of educational services. UNICEF said Thursday that armed violence against schools, including shooting, ransacking, looting and kidnappings, was nine times higher than in the past year. Gangs control more than a third of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are terrorizing the population. In October, the government requested that the U.N. Security Council authorize the immediate deployment of an international specialized armed force to help stop the armed groups, but the raising of the troops and leadership for the mission has been slow. Haiti’s gangs are seeking to exploit the political vacuum left by the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

— The World Health Organization said Thursday that Africa was witnessing a rapid rise in cholera as cases surge globally. They noted that cases recorded on the continent in January alone had already risen by more than 30% of the total cases in 2022. WHO said an estimated 26,000 cases and 660 deaths had been reported as of the end of January in 10 countries.

—  On Sunday, a helicopter that was part of the peacekeeping mission in eastern DR Congo was shot down while traveling in North Kivu province. One South African peacekeeper was killed, and another was severely injured. The crew managed to land the helicopter in Goma. The incident was under investigation.

— The U.N. condemned last weekend’s decision by Mali’s junta to declare the U.N. human rights representative, Guillaume Ngefa, persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours. A U.N. spokesperson said the doctrine of “persona non grata” was not applicable to U.N. personnel and Mali’s move violated its obligations under the U.N. Charter regarding the privileges and immunities of the U.N. and its personnel.

Quote of Note

“It’s a crisis on top of a crisis.” – U.N. resident coordinator for Syria El-Mostafa Benlamlih, briefing reporters on Wednesday, speaking of the 10.9 million Syrians affected by Monday’s earthquakes in a country where 15.3 million already needed humanitarian assistance because of more than a decade of civil war.

Next Week

As the devastation from Monday’s earthquakes becomes clearer, the U.N. will be focused on working to gain access to victims in parts of Syria beyond government control. If the Damascus government refuses, the Security Council will likely take up the issue. 
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At the start of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian journalist Petro Shevchenko left his job and headed to the front lines to fight for his country. Seven months later, VOA caught up with him as he came home to spend some time with his family. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story.
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