Spanish soccer player Jenni Hermoso has formally accused Luis Rubiales, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, of sexual assault for an unwanted kiss after the Women’s World Cup final, the national prosecutor’s office announced Wednesday.

In late August, FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, issued Rubiales a 90-day suspension “pending the disciplinary proceedings opened” against him. The entire World Cup-winning team has refused to compete until Rubiales is ousted. Spanish politicians and some of the nation’s most famous soccer clubs and players have also denounced his conduct.

Rubiales, who says he has no plans to step down, maintains that the kiss was consensual and that he is the victim of a libelous political crusade.

Rafael del Amo, vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federal, and two other federation officials have resigned in protest. On Tuesday, Jorge Vilda was fired as coach of the women’s soccer team.

Some information is from The Associated Press.
…

Yuriy Fedorenko got his call sign Achilles for bravery and independence. Before the war, he was working full time as a Kyiv city council deputy; today, he is fighting against Russian forces in Donbas as commander of an attack drone squadron. Anna Kosstutschenko has his story. VOA footage by Pavel Suhodolskiy
…

Britain said Wednesday it will declare Russia’s Wagner mercenary group a terrorist organization.

The government said it would introduce an order in parliament that if approved would make it illegal to be a member of or support the group.  The order would also allow the government to seize Wagner’s assets.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said Wagner “has been involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders. Its operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa are a threat to global security.”

Wagner was involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine, and in June its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin carried out a brief rebellion against the Russian military. 

Prigozhin was reported killed in a plane crash last month.

Britain had previously sanctioned Wagner and Prigozhin.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters
…

Talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ended without an agreement to restart a deal under which Russia provided safe passage to ships moving grain across the Black Sea, including ships leaving from Ukrainian ports.

The deal, struck last year, was meant to safeguard the supply of agricultural commodities from Ukraine and Russia to global markets, where they account for a large percentage of the supply of wheat, corn, sunflower oil and other staple foods. Russia is waging war against Ukraine, including attacks on its Black Sea ports, making the region hazardous for shipping.

While it was in place, starting in July 2022, the deal allowed more than 1,000 vessels carrying 32.9 million metric tons of grain to transit the Black Sea safely. Russia announced this July that it would not renew the arrangement, causing an immediate halt to grain shipments.

Cutting off shipments from Ukraine threatens to worsen a global food crisis that has seen the price of staple foodstuffs soar, making it difficult for people in many developing countries to feed themselves, and straining the aid budgets of global relief agencies.

Putin’s demands

Speaking at a press conference in the Russian city of Sochi, where he and Erdogan met on Monday, Putin said Russia would only return to the deal if the West fulfilled what he said were its obligations under the agreement, including a promise to lift any sanctions on the export of Russian food and fertilizers. He said that sanctions remain in place that are keeping Russian agricultural exports from making it to global markets.

The large number of economic penalties imposed on Russia by Western countries because of its invasion of Ukraine do not include sanctions on food and fertilizer exports. However, other sanctions, including the severing of Russian banks from the global payments system and a refusal to allow Western companies to insure Russian ships, have sharply curtailed grain exports.

Putin has described this situation as a Western violation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

“We are not against this deal. We are ready to immediately return to it as soon as the promises made to us are fulfilled. That’s all,” Putin said. “So far, no obligations toward Russia have been fulfilled.”

The U.S. and other Western countries deny Putin’s claim that they have failed to live up to the terms of the deal. When Russia announced its decision to back out in July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement that read, in part, “Despite Russia’s claims, the U.N. has facilitated record Russian exports of food, coordinating with the private sector and with the U.S., E.U., and U.K. to clarify any concerns raised by Russia. As we have consistently made clear, no G7 sanctions are in place on Russian food and fertilizer exports. Russia unfortunately does not contribute to the World Food Program, and its exports focus on higher income countries, not the world’s poorest.”

Erdogan optimistic

Erdogan, who helped broker the original deal in 2022, said he still believes it is possible to restart the agreement.

“We believe that we will reach a solution that will meet the expectations in a short time,” he told reporters at the news conference on Monday.

The Turkish leader also called on Ukraine to moderate its approach to the agreement.

“Ukraine needs to especially soften its approaches in order for it to be possible for joint steps to be taken with Russia,” Erdogan said.

He did not specify the kind of changes in Ukraine’s approach he was recommending.

Also on Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed Erdogan’s comments, saying that Kyiv is willing to talk but would not bow to what he described as Russian blackmail.

He told reporters that if Ukraine makes concessions to Russia now, the Kremlin will only demand further concessions in the future.

Argument over impact

Both Russia and the Western countries demanding a restart of the grain deal use data from the U.N.-affiliated Black Sea Grain Initiative-Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul to support their version of the deal’s importance.

Russian officials dispute Western claims that Putin is weaponizing food and disproportionately affecting poor countries, arguing that the United Nations’ own data shows that 80% of grain exports that shipped while the deal was in place went to the world’s high-income and upper-middle-income nations. Western officials point to data from the same source, showing that 57% of the grain went to developing countries.

The discrepancy is largely explained by the fact that the U.N. classifies China as both a developing nation and an upper-middle-income nation. Grain shipments to China accounted for 24% of the shipments allowed under the deal.

Relief agencies clear

Among aid organizations around the world, there is little dispute that the impact of the suspension of the deal will be extremely negative for the global poor, both by pushing prices paid by end-consumers higher in the near term and by reducing supply in the longer term.

An analysis by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, published after Russia withdrew from the deal, warned that in addition to making existing grain more expensive to ship and thus more costly for global consumers, the high transportation costs will reduce farmers’ income, making them likely to plant less grain in the future.

“The reduced production also poses risks for global markets. With global grain stocks at low levels and little rebuilding this current year, prices will remain volatile and responsive to potential production shortfalls,” the group found. “Thus, a diminished Ukraine leaves a smaller buffer if major global producers fall short.”
…

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has sharply constricted the space for free expression in recent years, but some independent pollsters who fled the country have not abandoned their work.

They are still trying to track Russian public opinion on key topics, including the war in Ukraine, providing a rare window into how the Russian public views the war’s dramatic turns over the last 18 months.

Voice of America’s Russian Service contacted one of these researchers — Elena Koneva — about how she and her team approach their work phoning people in Russia and asking for their opinions.

“Analysts have learned to deal with and avoid authoritarian pressure,” said Koneva, founder of independent research agency ExtremeScan.

“For example, when we ask people about support for the war, we give the option to evade the answer: ‘Do you support, do not support, find it difficult to answer or do not want to answer this question?’ The new position — ‘I don’t want to answer this question’ — is almost a protest.”

She said researchers believe that people who disagree with the war often answer this way. One participant said, “Thank you for the opportunity not to testify against myself.”

Galina Zapryanova, senior regional editor for the Gallup World Poll, told VOA that polling in Russia ” has indeed become more challenging since 2022, but it is not impossible.”

In a written response to questions, she said that despite the self-censorship, pollsters “can usually have higher confidence in the reliability of poll findings that show some fluctuation over time.”

“Even if the baseline result may be affected by self-censorship … shifts in the trend over time show that people are willing to report changes in opinion,” she wrote. “Trended data can also be very informative about the direction of changes in public opinion even if the magnitude is exaggerated.”

At first glance, the Koneva group’s most recent polls from Russia continue to show broad public support for the war.

Sixteen months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the majority of respondents still support the war, and only 20% say they are against.

Overall, researchers say they have tracked just a 9% fall in support for the war last year.

The number of respondents who say Russia should “cease hostilities while maintaining the occupied territories” has more than doubled since last summer, from 11% to 28%.

Core supporters

Koneva said her research group has focused on examining the opinions of the core audience that supports Russia’s war in Ukraine.

She said after people express general support for the war, researchers use more questions to better understand how they view the war and its impact on their lives.

“For example, a person says, ‘I support,’ but then researchers will follow up with questions to determine if they are ready to go to war, ready to donate to the Russian army or expect benefits from a possible victory,” Koneva explained.

Because researchers have watched as censorship and repression grow, they see people’s answers on two levels: those who generally declare support, and those who follow up that declaration with real support for specific political decisions.

As a result, researchers estimate that the core group of war supporters numbers around 30% to 35% of the total number of survey respondents.

These are the convinced supporters of the war. If researchers exclude this group and also exclude the 20% of Russians who admit they oppose the war, that leaves about half of the country’s population who researchers say support the war only at the “declarative level.”

‘Declarative supporters’

Koneva said researchers found that people in this group, the largest single segment of the population, have contradictory attitudes toward the war, consisting of narratives from both sides of the conflict.

Oleg Zhuravlev, a researcher at the Public Sociology Laboratory, another independent research center operating remotely, has done more in-depth interviews with this group of Russians to understand how their opinions have shifted from the first days of the war to now.

He said for many people in this group, opinions changed in June 2022 when many realized the conflict was becoming protracted and not the fast military operation initially promised.

“The feeling of the inevitability of war from the life of Russians, the feeling that the war is now with us, and we are with this life, caused the emergence of new meanings of war,” Zhuravlev said.

“So, many of our informants began to reason as follows: Maybe this war is immoral, but it was inevitable, which means that it remains to wish good luck to our side in this conflict,” he said.

Koneva saw similar patterns in her data among this group as their opinions shifted.

“After the inspiration of some and the anger of others, it is clear that the war is real, and it is for a long time. Fatigue and apathy set in,” she said, as people adjusted to panic-buying, high inflation and unemployment, and the departure of foreign businesses.

Some 38% of respondents reported the war “has reduced their options or ruined their plans.” Among them, 14% of respondents reported a job loss, 36% a decrease in income and 56% reported spending more savings on food.

What events affect public opinion?

Throughout the war, researchers have been trying to understand what factors would reduce public support in Russia.

Koneva said initially, when Russians heard about the damage and losses suffered by Ukrainians, Russian people looked more critically at the reason the Ukrainians were suffering.

“But Russian propaganda finds an “antidote” to any truth,” Koneva said. “In the minds of most Russians, the horror of the town of Bucha [where Russian forces carried out mass killings of civilians] has been supplanted by incredible disinformation about the staging of terrible events.”

Koneva said that in June 2023, respondents were asked to send “virtual telegrams to ordinary Ukrainian citizens.”

The most popular responses, a third of all telegrams, were expressions of sympathy, support and “calls to be patient until Russia releases them,” and a “reminder of the brotherhood of the two peoples.”

Koneva also studied how public opinion shifted after Moscow announced a mobilization campaign in September 2022 that resulted in the conscription of certain people.

Even then, the support rate decreased by only a few percentage points, from 58% to 52%. But it recovered to 57% after three weeks in mid-October 2022.

And when it comes to Russian war casualties, Koneva said the losses have been successfully covered up by the country’s strict censorship measures.

“The Russians do not understand the real numbers of losses. … The media gives only authorized information, and the [country at large] ‘absorbs’ losses,” she explained.

Koneva said public opinion in Russia increasingly seems resigned to a longer-term war.
…

2022 saw the highest number of casualties from cluster bombs since 2008, the year most of the world banned them, according to an annual report from the Cluster Munition Coalition, or CMC, released Tuesday. Civilians represent 95% of the victims.

Cluster bombs killed or wounded 1,172 people in 2022, mostly non-combatants, a nearly eightfold increase from 2021. That casualty number was 890 in Ukraine alone. Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Laos, Azerbaijan, Myanmar, and Yemen also recorded casualties.

According to the report, children accounted for 71% of casualties from unexploded remnants, often mistaking the small, shiny fragments for playthings.

Cluster bombs scatter explosives across wide swaths of land. Some submunitions initially fail to detonate, so unseen bomblets can linger in terrain like landmines, killing and disabling civilians years after a conflict has ended. Once an area has been contaminated, countryside used for agriculture becomes unworkable; routes where humanitarian aid could be delivered become impassable.

Loren Persi, who helped edit the report, emphasized the need “for improved access to rehabilitation services [particularly in remote war-torn areas].” 

Today, 124 nations recognize a global ban on cluster bombs. As per the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, those countries have committed to restoring contaminated lands, dismantling the last of their stockpiles, and assisting victims.

“All countries that have not banned these weapons must do so immediately,” said Tamar Gabelnick, director of the CMC, referring to some of the biggest players in geopolitics, like the U.S. and Russia.

Since February 2022, Russia has repeatedly peppered Ukraine with cluster bombs. Ukraine has used cluster bombs, too, albeit to a lesser extent. In July, the U.S. began transferring an unknown load of stockpiled 155mm artillery-delivered cluster bombs to Kyiv. At least 21 government leaders and dignitaries from around the world have condemned that decision, including some who support Ukraine’s war effort.

“It’s unconscionable that civilians are still dying and being wounded from cluster munitions 15 years after these weapons were prohibited,” said Mary Wareham from Human Rights Watch at a press conference in Geneva.

Activists like Wareham are worried that a resurgence in cluster bombs could diminish global support for the 2008 ban, permanently shifting how wars play out for the worse. 
…

The Spanish soccer federation fired women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda on Tuesday, less than three weeks after his team won the Women’s World Cup title and amid the controversy involving suspended federation president Luis Rubiales.

The coach was among those who applauded Rubiales when he refused to resign despite facing widespread criticism for kissing player Jenni Hermoso on the lips without her consent during the title celebrations in Sydney last month.

Rubiales, who also grabbed his crotch in a lewd victory gesture after the final, has been provisionally suspended by FIFA and is facing a Spanish government case against him for the conduct that prompted a storm of criticism and led to widespread calls for his resignation.

Vilda later said Rubiales’ behavior was improper. Men’s coach Luis de la Fuente also applauded Rubiales’ diatribe against what he called “false feminists,” and apologized on Friday for having clapped in what he described an “inexcusable human error.”

The captains of Spain’s men’s national team on Monday condemned Rubiales’ “unacceptable behavior” in a show of support for the Women’s World Cup-winning team.

Vilda was at the helm at the World Cup even though some players rebelled against him less than a year ago in a crisis that put his job in jeopardy. Fifteen players stepped away from the national team for their mental health, demanding a more professional environment. Only three returned to the squad that won the World Cup.

Vilda was heavily backed by Rubiales throughout the process.

The president currently in charge of the Spanish soccer federation, Pedro Rocha, released a letter on Tuesday apologizing to the soccer world and to society in general for Rubiales’ behavior.

Rocha said the federation had the responsibility to ask for “the most sincere apologies to the soccer world as a whole,” as well as to soccer institutions, fans, players — especially of the women’s national team — “for the totally unacceptable behavior of its highest representative.”

“In no way his behavior represents the values of Spanish society as a whole, its institutions, its representatives, its athletes and the Spanish sports leaders,” Rocha wrote.
…

Two executives of a Swedish oil exploration and production company went on trial Tuesday in Stockholm for securing the company’s operations in Sudan through their alleged complicity in war crimes 20 years ago.

Swedish prosecutors claim that former Lundin Oil chairman Ian Lundin and the company’s former CEO, Alex Schneiter, supported the Sudanese government of former dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in an April 2019 popular uprising.

The two executives are accused of creating “the necessary conditions for the subsidiary’s operations by conducting warfare in a way that entailed the Sudanese military and regime-allied militia systematically attacking civilians or at least carrying out systematic attacks in violation of the principles of distinction and proportionality,” the prosecutors said.

Lundin told reporters at the Stockholm District Court that the accusations were “completely false.”

“We look forward to defending ourselves in court,” he said.

The trial is expected to run until early 2026.

A 1983-2005 civil war between the Muslim-dominated north and Christian south tore Sudan apart. A separate conflict in Darfur, the war-scarred region of western Sudan, began in 2003. Thousands of people were killed and nearly 200,000 displaced.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 to become the world’s youngest nation.

Swedish prosecutors said the Sudanese government conducted offensive military operations in the Block 5A oil field and its vicinity in southern Sudan between May 1999 and March 2003 to gain control of areas for oil prospecting and to create the necessary conditions for oil extraction, the prosecution said.

During the military operations, severe violations of international humanitarian law were committed, it said.

In a statement, the prosecution said Lundin and Schneiter “participated in the conclusion” of an agreement involving a right to search for and extract oil in a larger area in southern Sudan “in exchange for the payment of fees and a share in future profits.”

Lundin was the operator of a consortium of companies exploring Block 5A, including Malaysia’s Petronas Carigali Overseas, OMV (Sudan) Exploration GmbH of Austria, and the Sudanese state-owned oil company Sudapet Ltd.

The prosecution wants the executives barred from conducting business activities for 10 years and the Swedish company fined 3 million kronor ($272,250). They also want 1.4 billion kronor ($127 million) confiscated from Lundin Oil because of economic benefits that were achieved from the alleged crimes.

In Sweden, the maximum penalty for complicity in war crimes is a life prison sentence, which generally means a minimum of 20 to 25 years. Prosecutors typically request the punishment they want for a conviction at the end of trials.
…

U.S., British and European Union officials are planning to jointly press the United Arab Emirates this week to halt shipments of goods to Russia that could help Moscow in its war against Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing U.S. and European officials.

A UAE official, in response to Reuters’ request for comment, said the country “strictly abides by UN sanctions and has clear and robust processes in place to deal with sanctioned entities.”

The UAE “is continuously monitoring the export of dual-use products,” which have both civilian and military applications, under its export control legal framework, the official added.

Officials from Washington and European capitals were visiting the UAE from Monday as part of a collective global push to keep computer chips, electronic components and other so-called dual-use products out of Russian hands, the WSJ report said.

The UAE, a member of the OPEC+ oil alliance that includes Russia, has maintained good ties with Moscow despite Western pressure to help to isolate Russia over the invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022. It has not matched global sanctions imposed on Moscow.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment when asked about the WSJ report.

The UAE official added the UAE remained in close dialogue with international partners including the U.S. and European Union about the conflict in Ukraine and its implications for the global economy.

“UAE banks, under the supervision of the Central Bank and other relevant authorities, monitor compliance with sanctions imposed on Russia to prevent violations of international law,” the UAE official said.
…

Clashes erupted in an immigrant neighborhood in Sweden’s third largest city after an anti-Muslim protester set fire to a copy of the Quran, police said Monday.

Police in Malmo said they were pelted with rocks and dozens of cars were set on fire, including in an underground garage, and described the events that started Sunday and lasted overnight as “a violent riot.”

The clashes started after an anti-Islam activist, Salwan Momika, burned a copy of the Quran on Sunday and an angry mob tried to stop him, police said. At least three people were detained, they said.

Early Monday, a crowd of mainly young people set fire to tires and debris and some threw electric scooters, bicycles and barriers in Malmo’s Rosengard neighborhood, which has seen similar clashes in the past. Several banners condemned the Quran burning.

“I understand that a public gathering like this arouses strong emotions, but we cannot tolerate disturbances and violent expressions like those we saw on Sunday afternoon,” senior police officer Petra Stenkula said.

“It is extremely regrettable to once again see violence and vandalism at Rosengard,” she said.

“Regardless of the reason behind these riots, the car fires, the harassment, violence against police officers … regardless of the reason, I think that all Swedes find this completely unacceptable,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a news conference.

In the past months, Momika, a refugee from Iraq, has desecrated copies of the Quran in a series of anti-Islam protests mostly in Stockholm. Swedish police have allowed his actions, citing freedom of speech.

The Quran burnings have sparked angry protests in Muslim countries, attacks on Swedish diplomatic missions and threats from Islamic extremists. Muslim leaders in Sweden have called on the government to find ways to stop the Quran burnings.

Sweden dropped its last blasphemy laws in the 1970s and the government has said it has no intention to reintroduce them.

However, the government has announced an investigation into the possibility of enabling police to reject permits for demonstrations over national security concerns.
…

A longtime aide to President Joe Biden who is a senior adviser in Vice President Kamala Harris’ office is Biden’s choice to represent the United States at the United Nations agency devoted to education, science and culture.

The U.S. recently rejoined the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after a five-year hiatus initiated by Biden’s immediate predecessor in the White House, Donald Trump.

The Democratic president’s choice to become the U.S. permanent representative to the Paris-based UNESCO, with the rank of ambassador, is longtime aide Courtney O’Donnell, according to a White House official, who spoke Monday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the nomination before a formal announcement.

O’Donnell currently wears two hats: She’s a senior adviser in Harris’ office and acting chief of staff for Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, and lends her expertise to a range of national and global issues, including gender equity and countering prejudice against Jews, a top issue for Emhoff, who is Jewish.

O’Donnell also was communications director for Jill Biden when she was second lady during Joe Biden’s vice presidency in the Obama administration. O’Donnell helped Jill Biden raise awareness and support for U.S. military families and promote community colleges.

She has extensive experience in developing global partnerships, public affairs and strategic communications, having held senior roles in two presidential administrations, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, national political campaigns and the private sector, according to her official bio.

O’Donnell most recently oversaw global partnerships at Airbnb.

Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain said O’Donnell is trusted by colleagues worldwide.

“This is a fantastic pick, and she will do a fantastic job at UNESCO,” he said in a statement.

Cathy Russell worked with O’Donnell in the second lady’s office and said she is skilled at developing global partnerships, creating social impact campaigns and providing strategic counsel on a range of issues.

“Everyone who knows Courtney knows she is committed to the value of global engagement and strengthening American leadership around the world,” Russell said.

The Senate must vote on O’Donnell’s nomination.

The first lady attended a ceremony in late July at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where the U.S. flag was raised to mark Washington’s official reentry into the U.N. agency after the absence initiated by Trump, a Republican. She spoke about the importance of American leadership in preserving cultural heritage and empowering education and science across the globe.

The United States announced its intention to rejoin UNESCO in June, and the organization’s 193 member states voted in July to approve the U.S. reentry. The ceremony formally signified the U.S. becoming the 194th member — and flag proprietor — at the agency.

The U.S. decision to return was based mainly on concerns that China has filled a leadership gap since Washington withdrew, underscoring the broader geopolitical dynamics at play, particularly the growing influence of China in international institutions.

The U.S. exit from UNESCO in 2017 cited an alleged anti-Israel bias within the organization. The decision followed a 2011 move by UNESCO to include Palestine as a member state, which led the U.S. and Israel to cease financing the agency. The U.S. withdrawal became official in 2018.
…

A group of Afghan women are staging a hunger strike in Cologne to protest “gender apartheid” in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, one of them told AFP on Monday.

“Today the women of Afghanistan don’t have school, university, cars, restaurants, everything is banned,” Zarmina Paryani told AFP.

The activist is one of five sisters who fled to Germany in 2022 after being arrested by the Taliban for protesting in Afghanistan.

Another of the sisters, Tamana Paryani, is also taking part in the strike, which is due to last for 12 days.

Tamana Paryani posted a picture on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing a banner reading “Afghanistan should be recognized as a country where gender apartheid exists.”

The Taliban “arrest, torture and kill political and human rights activists every day … but the world is silent,” Zarmina Paryani said.

Sixteen women began the strike in the major city in western Germany four days ago, but there were only three remaining on Monday, she said.

Since returning to power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed a strict interpretation of Islam, with women bearing the brunt of laws the United Nations has labeled “gender apartheid.”

Women and girls have been banned from attending high school and university as well as barred from visiting parks, fairs and gymnasiums.

They have also mostly been blocked from working for U.N. agencies or NGOs, with thousands fired from government jobs or paid to stay at home.
…

Sweden on Monday said a Swedish citizen in his 30s was arbitrarily detained in Iran last year and called for his immediate release.

The Swedish government didn’t identify the man, but The New York Times said he was Johan Floderus, a Swede who had been working for the European Union’s diplomatic corps.

Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper said Floderus was arrested on a private trip to Iran for possible use by Tehran as a bargaining chip in efforts to seek concessions from the West.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, told the semi-official Fars news agency that he had no information on the case.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry said the man was detained in Iran in April last year but declined to give details.

“The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Sweden in Tehran are working very intensively on the case and are maintaining close contact with the EU,” the ministry said in an email.

“The Swedish citizen has been arbitrarily deprived of his freedom and should therefore be released immediately. This has been conveyed to the Iranian authorities,” it said. “To avoid complicating our efforts and for reasons of secrecy, we cannot go into any more detail at present.”

The New York Times said Floderus had held several positions in the European Union’s civil service, including in the European External Action Service.

In Brussels, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano declined to confirm the name or other details but said the commission was aware of the case and was working closely on it with Sweden.

“This case also needs to be seen in a context of the worrying trend of Iran arbitrarily detaining EU nationals, or EU dual-Iranian nationals, for political reasons,” Stano said.

On July 30 last year, Iran’s intelligence ministry said its agents had arrested a Swedish citizen for spying. It did not identify the man but said he was arrested before leaving Iran after several visits to the country.

The Iranians said the man had been in touch with several European and non-European suspects in Iran, and had visited Israel, Iran’s foe, before visiting Iran. The statement accused Sweden of proxy-spying for Israel.

Relations between Stockholm and Tehran have been tense in recent years.

Iran recalled its ambassador from Sweden last year after a Swedish court convicted Iranian citizen Hamid Noury of war crimes and murder during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and sentenced him to life in prison.

The Stockholm District Court said that Noury took part in severe atrocities in July-August 1988 while working as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison outside the Iranian city of Karaj. Noury, who was arrested in November 2019 when he arrived in Stockholm on a tourist trip, has appealed the ruling.
…

Russia has likely proposed that North Korea participate in three-way naval exercises with China, according to a lawmaker who attended a closed-door briefing with the director of South Korea’s top spy agency Monday.

The briefing came days after Russia’s ambassador to North Korea, Alexander Matsegora, told Russian media that including North Korea in joint military drills between Russia and China “seems appropriate.” Matsegora added it was his own point of view and that he wasn’t aware of any preparations, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.

According to lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, when South Korean National Intelligence Service Director Kim Kyou-hyun was asked about the possibility of such drills, he said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu likely proposed holding trilateral naval exercises with North Korea and China while meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in July.

Kim invited Shoigu to a major military parade in Pyongyang in July while vowing to expand military cooperation with Moscow, which U.S. officials say could involve North Korean supplies of artillery and other ammunition as Russian President Vladimir Putin reaches out to other countries for support in his war against Ukraine. Last week, the White House said Kim and Putin exchanged letters as Moscow looked to Pyongyang for more munitions.

Amid deepening nuclear tensions with Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, Kim has been trying to boost the visibility of his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing as he seeks to break out of diplomatic isolation and have Pyongyang be a part of a united front against the United States.

Diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington has stalled since 2019 over disagreements over the crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the North’s faltered steps to wind down its nuclear weapons and missiles program.

In the briefing, Kim Kyou-hyun also said that North Korea’s recent testing activities suggest its warplanes were highly reliant on its tactical nuclear systems as its aims to achieve swift victory over the South if war breaks out, as its otherwise ill-equipped military would struggle to handle a prolonged war, according to lawmaker Yoo.

Kim has used the international focus on Russia’s war on Ukraine to dial up his weapons demonstrations, which have included more than 100 missile launches since the start of 2022. Kim’s testing spree has been punctuated by verbal threats of preemptive nuclear attacks against South Korea and other rivals if the North perceives its leadership as under threat.
…

A guitar expert and two journalists have launched a global hunt for a missing bass guitar owned by Paul McCartney, bidding to solve what they brand “the greatest mystery in rock and roll.”

The trio of lifelong Beatles fans are searching for McCartney’s original Höfner bass — last seen in London in 1969 — in order to reunite the instrument with the former Fab Four frontman.

McCartney played the instrument throughout the 1960s, including at Hamburg’s Top Ten Club, at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and on early Beatles recordings at London’s Abbey Road studios.

“This is the search for the most important bass in history — Paul McCartney’s original Höfner,” the search party says on a website (thelostbass.com) newly-created for the endeavor.

“This is the bass you hear on ‘Love Me Do’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘Twist and Shout’. The bass that powered Beatlemania — and shaped the sound of the modern world.”

McCartney bought the left-handed Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass for around £30 — about £550 ($585) today — in Hamburg in 1961, during The Beatles’ four-month residency at the Top Ten Club.

It disappeared without a trace nearly eight years later in January 1969 when the band were recording the “Get Back/Let It Be” sessions in central London.

By then its appearance was unique — after being overhauled in 1964, including with a complete respray in a three-part dark sunburst polyurethane finish — and it had become McCartney’s back-up bass.

‘Give something back’

The team now hunting for the guitar say it has not been seen since, but that “numerous theories and false sightings have occurred over the years.”

Appealing for fresh tips on its whereabouts, they insist their mission is “a search, not an investigation”, noting all information will be treated confidentially.

“With a little help from our friends — from fans and musicians to collectors and music shops — we can get the bass back to where it once belonged,” the trio stated on the website.

“Paul McCartney has given us so much over the last 62 years. The Lost Bass project is our chance to give something back.”

Nick Wass, a semi-retired former marketing manager and electric guitar developer for Höfner who co-wrote the definitive book on the Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass, is spearheading the search.

“It was played in Hamburg, at The Cavern Club, at Abbey Road. Isn’t that enough alone to get this bass back?” he added.

“I know, because I talked with him about it, that Paul would be so happy — thrilled — if this bass could get back to him.”

Wass is joined by journalist husband and wife team Scott and Naomi Jones.

The trio said other previously lost guitars have been found.

John Lennon’s Gibson J-160E — which he used to write “I Want To Hold Your Hand” — disappeared during The Beatles’ Christmas Show in 1963.

It resurfaced half a century later, and then sold at auction for $2.4 million.
…

One of the world’s biggest auto shows opened in Munich on Monday, with Tesla ending a 10-year absence to jostle for the spotlight with Chinese rivals as the race for electric dominance heats up.  

Chancellor Olaf Scholz will officially inaugurate the IAA mobility show, held in Germany every two years, on Tuesday.  

But carmakers used Monday’s press preview as an early chance to show off some of the new models that will be hitting the road soon.  

The industry-wide shift towards electric vehicles will be front and center at this week’s fair, with Chinese carmakers out in force as they eye the European market.  

U.S. electric car pioneer Tesla, owned by Elon Musk, will return to the IAA for the first time since 2013 and is expected to unveil a revamped version of its mass-market Model 3.  

That Tesla, usually a holdout at such events, is coming to Munich shows it is taking the growing competition seriously, said Jan Burgard from the Berylls automotive consulting group.  

“The electric car market with its many new players will be divvied up over the next few years and people want to know: who is offering what?” Burgard told the Handelsblatt financial daily.  

Having captured an increasingly large part of the prized Chinese market, Chinese upstarts are now hoping to win over European customers with cheaper electric cars.  

Chinese manufacturers are starting “their assault on Europe with the IAA”, said industry analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer from the Center Automotive Research in Germany.  

Muted European presence

Chinese groups benefit from lower production costs, allowing them to offer cut-throat prices at a time when entry-level EVs are still a rarity.  

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius said it was necessary for European firms to stay competitive in the face of stiff competition.  

“Don’t make it worse. Don’t start a debate that we should work less hours at the same pay, those types of things. That would be going the wrong direction,” Kallenius told reporters at the IAA on Sunday.  

Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume meanwhile said he was “impressed” by the speed at which China had advanced its electric car technology.

He added that it was “crucial” for VW to succeed in China’s domestic EV market — where it is currently lagging far behind China’s BYD and Tesla.  

“The more electric cars we have, the more we can benefit from economies of scale,” Blume said.

In all, 41% of exhibitors at the industry fair have their headquarters in China, including brands such as BYD, Leapmotor and Geely.  

Contrary to the Asian onslaught, participation from European carmakers at the IAA will be muted.  

Germany’s homegrown champions Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz will be joined by Renault from France, but the 14-brand Stellantis Group will only be represented by Opel.  

BMW presented its “Neue Klasse” (New Class) generation of electric cars in Munich on Saturday, a series of six vehicles that will be manufactured from 2025.  

European automakers are investing heavily in the switch towards zero-emission driving as the European Union aims to end the sale of polluting combustion engine cars by 2035.  

The historic transition comes at a challenging time.  

While the supply chain problems caused by the pandemic have eased, surging energy prices in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine and a weaker global economy are weighing on European manufacturers.

Although car sales in the EU have steadily improved over the last 12 months, they remain around 20 percent below their pre-pandemic levels as inflation and higher interest rates dampen appetites for new vehicles.  

Climate protests

Some 700,000 visitors are expected to attend this week’s IAA.  

Climate groups have vowed to stage protests, including acts of “civil disobedience” aimed at disrupting the fair.   

On Monday morning, Greenpeace activists submerged three cars in a small lake outside the convention center.   

“The car industry continues to rely on too many cars, that are too big and too heavy. It’s sinking the planet with that business model,” Greenpeace spokeswoman Marissa Reiserer told AFP.
…

About 5,000 people gathered in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Sunday to protest a new type of identity card to be introduced later this month, police said.

Carrying Greek flags and banners, the protesters rallied at the city’s iconic White Tower, a waterfront former fortification, chanting slogans and the national anthem. They played a speech by the late former head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, who had warned of the enemies of the Greek people.

Later, they marched through the city center before dispersing without incident.

The machine-readable cards will replace the type of ID currently issued and will contain the same information, such as name, parents’ name, address and height. The only extra information, blood type, is optional.

But the cards have inspired conspiracy theories, and some people assert the new IDs contain chips that will allow authorities to pinpoint cardholders’ locations or even control their minds. The majority of the IDs’ opponents are deeply religious.

An exasperated Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a recent cabinet meeting that the IDs will not contain “any chips or cameras or listening devices.”

The protesters’ religious connections pose a problem for the Church of Greece, some of whose bishops encourage the protests. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens, who has none of the fiery rhetoric of his predecessor, Christodoulos, has said the Church’s Holy Synod will issue a statement about the IDs in a few days and has counseled “judiciousness and prudence.”

Another protest rally is scheduled to take place in the capital Athens next weekend.

The new IDs, which conform to an EU-wide standard, will become obligatory by August 2026.
…

The first production co-directed by Iranian and Israeli filmmakers had to be shot in secret to prevent possible interference by Tehran, directors Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv told Reuters Sunday.

“Tatami,” a tense thriller centered on a world judo championship, got its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the weekend, receiving a standing ovation.

The film takes place over the course of the single day of competition as an Iranian judoka champion, played by Farsi-speaking U.S. actress Arienne Mandi, is ordered to fake an injury to avoid a possible match-up with an Israeli competitor.

Amir Ebrahimi and Nattiv shot the movie in Georgia, a country Iranians can easily visit. They stayed in separate hotels, spoke English and did not let on that they were making such a politically charged film.

“I knew there are many Iranians there, so we were trying to keep it calm and secret,” said Amir Ebrahimi, who is an award-winning actress and stars in the film, playing the judoka’s increasingly terrified trainer.

“We were undercover. We knew it was a dangerous thing,” said Nattiv, whose previous movie “Golda” premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Iran does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and has banned its athletes from competing against Israelis.

In an incident that inspired “Tatami,” the International Judo Federation in 2021 gave Iran a four-year ban for pressuring one of its fighters not to face an Israeli.

Claustrophobic

Amir Ebrahimi, who won the best actress award in Cannes in 2022 for “Holy Spider,” fled Iran in 2008 for fear of imprisonment and lashings after a private video of her was leaked.

She said she had to take time to think through the possible consequences before accepting Nattiv’s offer to make the film.

“What I have learnt about the Iranian government is that as long as you are afraid, they can arrest you, they can kill you, they can make trouble around you. But as long as you are not afraid … it is going to be fine,” she said.

The film was shot in black and white, using a tight, 4:3 format, like for old television programs.

“These women are living in a black and white world. There are no colors. The box is the claustrophobic world they live in. That is the one thing they want to break. They want their freedom,” Nattiv said.

Children growing up in Iran were made to fear Israel as an implacable enemy, Amir Ebrahimi said – something Nattiv said was also happening in his own homeland, with Iran portrayed as an existential threat.

Nattiv revealed he had helped Amir Ebrahimi pay a clandestine visit to Israel, something that Tehran absolutely forbids for its citizens.

“I loved it. We could be from the same nation, the same family, we are the same,” said Amir Ebrahimi.
…

Israel’s prime minister floated the idea Sunday of building infrastructure projects such as a fiber optic cable linking countries in Asia and the Arabian Peninsula with Europe through Israel and Cyprus.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s “quite confident” such an infrastructure “corridor” linking Asia to Europe through Israel and Cyprus is feasible.

He said such projects could happen if Israel normalizes relations with other countries in the region. The 2020 U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and the Biden administration is trying to establish official ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“An example and the most obvious one is a fiber optic connection. That’s the shortest route. It’s the safest route. It’s the most economic route,” Netanyahu said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

The Israeli leader’s pitch is itself an extension of proposed energy links with Cyprus and Greece as part of growing collaboration on energy in the wake of discoveries of significant natural gas deposits in the economic zones of both Israel and Cyprus.

Netanyahu repeated that he and Christodoulides are looking to follow through on plans for a 2,000-megawatt undersea electricity cable known as the EurAsia Interconnector connecting Israel with Cyprus and Greece that aims to act as an energy supply back-up for both Israel and Cyprus.

“You want to be connected to other sources of power that can allow a more optimal use of power or give you power when there is a failure in your own country,” Netanyahu said. “That is something that we’re discussing seriously, and we hope to achieve.”

Another energy link involves a Cypriot proposal to build a pipeline that would convey offshore natural gas from both Israel and Cyprus to the east Mediterranean island nation where it would be fuel for electricity generators or potentially be liquefied for export by ship.

Christodoulides said given Europe’s need for energy diversification considering Russia’s war in Ukraine, Cyprus and Israel are looking to developing “a reliable energy corridor” linking the East Mediterranean basin to Europe through projects including gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plants.

Netanyahu said his government fully backs a European decision to create a regional firefighting hub in Cyprus from which aircraft and other technology could be dispatched to help put out fires in neighboring countries.

“The climate isn’t going to get cooler. It’s going to get hotter. And with, you know, with the heating up of our region and the globe, firefighting becomes a really important thing. We can — I think we can — do it better together,” the Israeli leader said.

Talks between Christodoulides and Netanyahu precede a trilateral meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday.

Since 2016 such meetings between the leaders of the three countries have become a staple of what they said are burgeoning ties that Netanyahu described as “a deep friendship, both personal, but also between our nations” that is “real” and “long overdue.”
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Vladimir Putin on Monday, hoping to persuade the Russian leader to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal that Moscow broke off from in July.

Here are some key things to know and what’s at stake:

Where will the talks be held?

The meeting in Sochi on Russia’s southern coast comes after weeks of speculation about when and where the two leaders might meet. Erdogan previously said that Putin would travel to Turkey in August.

Why did Russia leave the grain deal?

The Kremlin refused to renew the grain agreement six weeks ago. The deal — brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022 — had allowed nearly 33 million metric tons (36 million tons) of grain and other commodities to leave three Ukrainian ports safely despite Russia’s war.

However, Russia pulled out after claiming that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored.

Moscow complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade, even though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.

Why is Turkey a broker?

Since Putin withdrew from the initiative, Erdogan has repeatedly pledged to renew arrangements that helped avoid a food crisis in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other goods that developing nations rely on.

The Turkish president has maintained close ties to Putin during the 18-month war in Ukraine. Turkey hasn’t joined Western sanctions against Russia following its invasion, emerging as a main trading partner and logistical hub for Russia’s overseas trade.

NATO member Turkey, however, has also supported Ukraine, sending arms, meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and backing Kyiv’s bid to join NATO.

Russia-Turkey ties haven’t always been rosy

Erdogan angered Moscow in July when he allowed five Ukrainian commanders to return home. The soldiers had been captured by Russia and handed over to Turkey on condition they remain there for the duration of the war.

Putin and Erdogan — both authoritarian leaders who have been in power for more than two decades — are said to have a close rapport, fostered in the wake of a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016 when Putin was the first major leader to offer his support.

Traditional rivals Turkey and Russia grew closer over the following years as trade levels rose and they embarked on joint projects such as the TurkStream gas pipeline and Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Ankara’s relations with Moscow have frequently alarmed its Western allies. The 2019 acquisition of Russian-made air defense missiles led to Washington kicking Turkey off the U.S.-led F-35 stealth fighter program.

Russia-Turkey relations in fields such as energy, defense, diplomacy, tourism and trade have flourished despite the countries being on opposing sides in conflicts in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. Since Erdogan’s reelection in May, Putin has faced domestic challenges that may make him appear a less reliable partner, most notably the short-lived armed rebellion declared by late mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in June.

What are Russia’s demands?

The Sochi summit follows talks between the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers Thursday, during which Russia handed over a list of actions that the West would have to take for Ukraine’s Black Sea exports to resume.

Erdogan has indicated sympathy with Putin’s position. In July, he said Putin had “certain expectations from Western countries” over the Black Sea deal and that it was “crucial for these countries to take action in this regard.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “concrete proposals” aimed at getting Russian exports to global markets and allowing the resumption of the Black Sea initiative. But Lavrov said Moscow wasn’t satisfied with the letter.

Describing Turkey’s “intense” efforts to revive the agreement, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said it was a “process that tries to better understand Russia’s position and requests, and to meet them.”

He added: “There are many issues ranging from financial transactions to insurance.”
…

Swedish police on Sunday arrested two people and detained around 10 people after a violent riot broke out at a protest involving a burning of the Quran, police said.

The protest was organized by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, whose protests — which have included public desecrations of the Muslim holy book — have sparked outrage across the Middle East.

Sunday’s protest was held in a square in the southern city of Malmo, which has a large immigrant population, and according to public broadcaster SVT around 200 people had showed up to watch.

“Some onlookers have shown upset feelings, after the organizer burned writings,” police said in a statement.

“The mood was at times heated,” the statement said, adding that a “violent riot” occurred at 1:45 pm (1145 GMT).

According to police, the event had ended after the organizer left but a group of people remained at the scene.

About 10 people were detained for disturbing the public order and another two were arrested, suspected of violent rioting.

Local media reported that some onlookers threw rocks at Momika, and video from the scene showed some trying to break through the cordon before being stopped by police.

In another video a man could be scene trying to stop the police car that transported Momika from the location by getting in front of it.

Through a series of demonstrations, Momika has sparked anger directed at Sweden and diplomatic tensions between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries.

The Swedish government has condemned the desecrations of the Quran while noting the country’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

Swedish envoys have also been summoned in a slew of Middle Eastern nations. 

In mid-August, Sweden’s intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level to four on a scale of five, noting that Sweden had “gone from being considered a legitimate target for terrorist attacks to being considered a prioritized target.”

Sweden also decided to beef up border controls in early August.

In late August, neighboring Denmark — which has also seen a string of public desecrations of the Quran — said it plans to ban Quran burnings.

Sweden has meanwhile vowed to explore legal means of stopping protests involving the burning of texts in certain circumstances.
…