On a bad day, Maria Tikas receives four or five abusive online messages suggesting that she only got her job as a journalist because she offered sexual favors to her bosses.

Some messages include graphic sexual images. Others suggest a woman cannot know anything about covering soccer for Sport, a Spanish daily sports newspaper.

“You have not got any idea (about soccer), get back to the kitchen,” read one of the messages Tikas showed VOA.

Tikas and other female journalists in Spain have gone public about the daily vitriol.

“¡Basta!  Female journalists say enough!” That was the headline over a double-page article in Sport last week, which detailed the experiences of 15 women who cover sports in a country where soccer is like an alternative religion.

The article came out as a new law was going through the Spanish parliament that promises to tackle online sexual abuse for the first time.

Due to come into effect next year, the legislation will class online abuse as sexual violence. Convicted offenders will face fines or even house arrest.

For Tikas, and millions of other women, the law offers hope that people will think twice before sending offensive messages.

“It is not so bad when I report on women’s soccer but it is worse when I write about the men’s game. The typical thing is saying I only got my job because I had sex with the boss. Or they say I should be scrubbing in the kitchen,” she told VOA.

Most of the abuse is online but Tikas says she also gets sexist comments while out working. Some male sports agents – a crucial source for stories — make sexually charged “insinuations,” she said.

However, the 24-year-old journalist insists the abuse does not deter her. 

“No, this does not make me think of giving up journalism. I block these messages. It bothers me more in general that women are still treated like this,” she said.

When the Sport article came out, it prompted a fresh dose of abuse, Tikas said.

“Some said we are always saying we are victims, that we complain too much, that we should not have equality because we are not good enough.”

Legal protection

Spain’s Sexual Freedom draft legislation has been dubbed the “only yes means yes” law because of how it will change the criminal code regarding rape. Unless a person gives express consent to have sex, it will be considered rape. Previously, prosecutors in Spain had to prove there was intimidation or violence.

“I hope that this (law) will mean that Spain has left behind its long history of sexual violence against women,” Spain’s Equality Minister Irene Montero Gil told parliament when she presented the law in June.

The law will also consider it a criminal offence “to address another person with expressions, behavior or propositions of a sexual nature that create an objectively humiliating, hostile or intimidating situation for the victim.”

Montero stressed that harassment is not defined as a man complimenting a woman on her looks, but making lewd sexual remarks.

Digital domestic violence – revenge porn or sextortion, where someone threatens to release private images or materials if the person doesn’t comply with demands for sexual favors or money – will be also considered an offence punishable by fines or community service.

The government is urging social media platforms to adapt strategies to combat domestic violence and is trying to involve social media influencers in this policy.

Laia Bonals, a 23-year-old sports journalist with Ara, a regional newspaper in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, says the law is welcome but not enough.

Like Tikas, Bonals regularly receives messages suggesting she uses sexual favors or that she knows nothing about sport.

“On other occasions, men – athletes or agents – try to flirt with me and treat me like an object instead of someone trying to do my job. This law may help, but it is going to take a lot more to change people’s vision of women journalists,” Bonals, who also put her name to the article in Sport, said.

Encarni Iglesias, of the campaign group Stop Digital Gender Violence, backed the new law but says in practice it may be unworkable.

“This is a way forward, of course, but I think it will be easy for a judge or defense lawyers to throw out these cases because how do you prove someone made the tweet? It is easy to manipulate digital images,” she told VOA.

Tikas believes education –- not the new law –- will stop the abuse.

“I don’t hold out much hope that a law changes things. It will take education to change attitudes toward women in Spain.  We need to change children’s minds,” she said.

Julie Posetti, global director of research at the International Center for Journalists, has studied the effects of online violence on journalism.

“Our research has shown that it is not possible to solve this crisis through a single measure,” she told VOA.

“Legal and legislative protections against online violence are an essential part of any effective response,” Posetti said. “And they need to target not just the perpetrators but also the facilitators and amplifiers of the bulk of gender-based online violence: the social media platforms.”

Posetti was lead author of a recent study by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists that surveyed 901 journalists globally. They found that 73% of respondents had experienced online violence.

Online harassment can seriously affect journalists, said Posetti, adding that she is aware of several cases of journalists being treated for PTSD because of harassment.

“Psychological harm needs to be acknowledged as a serious consequence of online violence facing women journalists,” Posetti said. “(It is) not something that should be diminished and or shrugged off because even less severe attacks can be cumulatively very damaging.” 

 
…

Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday will consider a request to shut down Memorial, the country’s most prominent rights group and a pillar of its civil society.

Founded by Soviet dissidents including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov in 1989, Memorial has built up a huge archive of Soviet-era crimes and campaigned tirelessly for human rights in Russia.

Prosecutors have asked the court to dissolve Memorial International, the group’s central structure, for allegedly violating Russia’s controversial law on “foreign agents.”

The move has sparked widespread outrage, with supporters saying the shuttering of Memorial would mark the end of an era in Russia’s post-Soviet democratization.

It comes in a year that has seen an unprecedented crackdown on opponents of President Vladimir Putin, including the jailing of chief Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny and the banning of his organizations.

By taking the once-unimaginable move to close Memorial, the group’s founders say Russian authorities would be sending a signal to both the West and domestic opponents.

The message, Memorial founding member Irina Shcherbakova told AFP ahead of the hearing, is: “We are doing to civil society here whatever we want. We will put behind bars whoever we want, we will close down whoever we want.”

Thursday’s hearing concerns one of two cases brought this month against the group and is being heard by the Supreme Court because Memorial International is registered as an international body. The ruling will not be open to appeal in a Russian court.

The other case, against the Memorial Human Rights Centre, began in a Moscow court on Tuesday and will continue later this month.

Both Memorial International and the Human Rights Centre are accused of violating rules under their designations as “foreign agents,” a legal label that forces individuals or organizations to disclose sources of funding and tag all their publications with a disclaimer.

Cataloging Soviet atrocities

The Human Rights Centre is facing another charge of defending “extremist and terrorist activities” for publishing lists of imprisoned members of banned political or religious movements.

The “foreign agent” label, laden with Soviet-era connotations of treachery and espionage, has been used against a wide range of rights groups and independent media in recent years.

Memorial has spent decades cataloging atrocities committed in the Soviet Union, especially in the notorious network of prison camps, the gulag.

It has also campaigned for the rights of political prisoners, migrants and other marginalized groups, and highlighted abuses especially in the turbulent North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.

It is a loose structure of locally registered organizations, but the dissolving of its central structure could have a major impact on operations.

Memorial International maintains the group’s extensive archives in Moscow and coordinates dozens of Memorial-linked NGOs in and outside of Russia.

A board member of Memorial International, Oleg Orlov, told AFP the move would greatly complicate the work of the NGO by depriving it of a legal basis to pay employees, receive funds or store archives.

Supporters speak out

United Nations officials, the Council of Europe, international rights groups and Western governments have all warned against the group being disbanded.

Russia’s two surviving Nobel Peace Prize winners — last Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Novaya Gazeta newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov — urged prosecutors to withdraw their claims.

The two said in a joint statement that Memorial was aimed not only at preserving the memory of Soviet-era repression, but at “preventing this from happening now and in the future.”

The Kremlin has said the case is a matter for the courts, though Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, noted that Memorial has “long had issues with observing Russian legislation.” 
…

At least 27 migrants drowned Wednesday after their inflatable dinghy capsized as they tried to cross the English Channel from France.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 34 people were aboard the boat. Two were rescued and one is missing, according to Reuters, in the worst recorded tragedy involving migrants between the two countries.

Without explanation, the Interior Ministry later revised the initial death toll to 27, according to Agence France-Presse. The nationality of the migrants was not immediately clear.

Darmanin said the survivors are suffering from hypothermia.

“It is a catastrophe for France, for Europe, for humanity, to see these people who are at the mercy of smugglers perish at sea,” he said, according to Reuters.

Darmanin said in a tweet that smugglers are responsible.

“The responsibility for this tragedy is above all that of the smugglers, who endanger the lives of men, women and children without any scruples,” he wrote.

French police have arrested four people suspected of some involvement in the drownings and have opened a manslaughter investigation.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex echoed Darmanin’s sentiments.

“My thoughts are with the many missing and injured, victims of criminal smugglers who exploit their distress and injury,” he said, according to the BBC.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on European governments to better address migrant movement across the channel, according to The Washington Post.

“France will not let the Channel become a cemetery,” Macron said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired an emergency meeting Wednesday on the tragedy.

“My thoughts and sympathies are with the victims and their families, and it is an appalling thing that they have suffered. But this disaster underscores how dangerous it is to cross the channel in this way,” he said, according to Reuters.

Johnson added that more needed to be done to break up human-trafficking gangs, which he said were “literally getting away with murder.”

The channel is a common crossing for migrants, who have been increasingly using it to reach Britain from France.

The BBC reported that as of Monday, the number of migrants who have reached the United Kingdom by boat in 2021 was three times greater than the 2020 total. Earlier this month, more than 1,000 migrants arrived in a single day.

The channel is also one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and dinghies can capsize in its strong currents.

French police have succeeded in preventing more crossings in recent years but have only partially mitigated the waves of migrants trying to reach Britain, according to Reuters.

The continued flow of migrants across the channel, and how to address it, has been a source of tension between Britain and France.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
…

Three European countries have broken records for new COVID-19 cases, prompting calls for urgent measures to slow the spread.

Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, all of which have vaccine rates below 60%, hit new highs for infection rates Wednesday.

In the face of surging cases, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or ECDC, shifted its booster policy and is now recommending shots for adults over 40.

“Available evidence emerging from Israel and Britain shows a significant increase in protection against infection and severe disease following a booster dose in all age groups in the short term,” the ECDC said in a report published Wednesday.

“The potential burden of disease in the EU/EEA from the Delta variant will be very high in December and January unless public health measures are applied now in combination with continued efforts to increase vaccine uptake in the total population,” it said in a statement.

Slovakian officials are weighing new lockdowns, and in the Czech Republic, officials may impose vaccine mandates on people over the age of 60 as well as on health care workers. Hungarian officials have argued against lockdowns but are encouraging people to get vaccinated.

Austria has imposed a strict lockdown and plans to make vaccines mandatory by February 1.

Some parts of Germany also are restricting movement in the face of spiking cases.

France, Holland and Italy are all expected to announce new steps to curb the spread later this week.

COVID-19 emerged from China two years ago and has killed 5.4 million globally. 

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

Poland has threatened Belarus with further economic sanctions and the closure of its border to all freight and rail traffic, as thousands of migrants continue to try to cross the frontier. The European Union accuses Belarus of creating a humanitarian crisis by ferrying migrants to the border, in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed over last year’s rigged election.

Facing off across the frontier, Polish border guards filmed this footage Tuesday night, purportedly showing Belarusian security forces next to a section of broken border fence. 

Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday he was ready to escalate the response to what he called a political crisis triggered by Belarus — using innocent people as “human shields.”

“We want to relieve this tension, but if there is an escalation by the other side, the Belarusian side, we are ready to go, unfortunately, up on this ‘escalation ladder.’ For example, [imposing] economic sanctions, border closure, closing border crossings for freight and rail traffic,” he said.

The EU said Tuesday it is preparing emergency legal measures on migrant asylum and return procedures. 

“The aim is to support member states to set up the right processes, to manage irregular arrivals in a swift and orderly way, in line with fundamental rights,” she said. 

Tensions have eased in recent days after Belarus moved some migrants away from the border. Still, hundreds remain stuck in camps in freezing conditions. Several migrants have already died attempting the crossing. 

“To Poland, no have way. To Belarus, no have a way. We can’t go anywhere. We stay here until Europe accepts us,” says Diyar, a migrant from Iraq.

A report from Human Rights Watch, based on interviews with dozens of migrants, details how Belarusian forces cut the razor wire fence to help the migrants cross into Poland,  where they are usually picked up by Polish border guards. 

“They pleaded with the Polish border guards for asylum, for international protection. And if a person does that then it is the responsibility of state authorities to process these claims. Now what the people told me is that none of this happens. Rather, they are being put in vans or cars and then Polish border guards are driving them to specific locations at the border with Belarus where they force them to cross through the fence and go back to the Belarusian side,” says Lydia Gall from Human Rights Watch.

The migrants say they are then held in open air camps on the Belarusian side of the border. 

“They are not provided with food or water, they are quite often violently abused by the border guards, they are extorted for money. They will then march larger groups of people back towards the Polish fence where they will coerce them to go back into Poland. And so that’s when you have these so-called ‘ping-pong’ pushbacks,” says Lydia Gall. 

Poland denies breaking any asylum laws. Belarus also denies its border guards have committed abuses.

Among the latest casualties of the crisis — an unborn child — miscarried by his mother as the family crossed the border. His tiny coffin was buried Tuesday in a Muslim Tatar cemetery close to the border in Poland. 
…

The three parties negotiating to form Germany’s next government will finalize and present their coalition agreement Wednesday, two of the prospective partners said. The deal paves the way for center-left leader Olaf Scholz to replace longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel in the coming weeks.

The center-left Social Democrats have been negotiating with the environmentalist Green party and the pro-business Free Democrats since narrowly winning a national election on Sept. 26. The latter two parties said the agreement will be presented on Wednesday afternoon.

If party members sign off on it, the three-way alliance — which has never yet been tried in a national government — will replace the current “grand coalition” of the country’s traditional big parties. The Social Democrats have served as the junior partner to Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats.

Merkel, who didn’t run for a fifth term, is expected to be succeeded by Scholz, 63, who has been her finance minister and vice chancellor since 2018.

The three would-be governing parties have said they hope parliament will elect Scholz as chancellor in the week beginning Dec. 6. Before that can happen, the coalition deal requires approval from a ballot of the Greens’ membership and from conventions of the other two parties.

News of the deal came as Merkel led what was likely to be her last Cabinet meeting. Scholz presented the 67-year-old, who has led Germany since 2005, with a bouquet of flowers.

The negotiations over the three-way alliance were relatively harmonious and speedy compared to previous coalition talks. But the political transition, with Merkel as a lame-duck caretaker, has hampered Germany’s response to the latest rise in coronavirus cases.

Few details have emerged from the closed-doors talks, including how the parties will divide up the ministerial portfolios. The alliance is a potentially uneasy mixture because it brings together two traditionally left-leaning parties with one, the Free Democrats, that has tended to ally with the center-right.

A preliminary agreement last month indicated that Germany would bring forward its deadline for ending the use of coal-fueled power from 2038 to 2030, while expanding the rollout of renewable energy generation.

At the Free Democrats’ insistence, the prospective partners said they won’t raise taxes or loosen curbs on running up debt, making financing a central issue.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats are currently preoccupied with a leadership contest over who will become their next leader and revive the party’s fortunes after it suffered its worst-ever election result.
…

Sweden’s parliament on Wednesday approved Magdalena Andersson as the country’s first female prime minister, tapping the finance minister who recently became the new leader of the Social Democratic party. 

Andersson was tapped to replace Stefan Lofven as party leader and prime minister, roles he relinquished earlier this year.

The development marked a milestone for Sweden, viewed for decades as one of Europe’s most progressive countries when it comes to gender relations, but which had yet to have a woman in the top political post. Lofven’s government describes itself as feminist, putting equality between women and men at the heart of national and international work.

In a speech to parliament, Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent lawmaker who supported Andersson, noted that Sweden is currently celebrating the 100th anniversary of a decision to introduce universal and equal suffrage in the Scandinavian country.

“If women are only allowed to vote but are never elected to the highest office, democracy is not complete,” said Kakabaveh who is of Iranian Kurdish descent.

“There is something symbolic in this decision,” she added. “Feminism is always about girls and women being complete people who have the same opportunities as men and boys.”

“I was really moved by what she said. She pinpointed exactly what I thought,” Andersson said after her appointment in parliament where she got a standing ovation and a bouquet of red roses.

“I have been elected Sweden’s first female prime minister and know what it means for girls in our country,” Andersson said.

In the 349-seat Riksdag, 117 lawmakers voted yes to Andersson, 174 rejected her appointment while 57 abstained and one lawmaker was absent.

Under the Swedish Constitution, prime ministers can be named and govern as long as a parliamentary majority — a minimum of 175 lawmakers — is not against them.

Lofven has been leading the Swedish government in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed, something expected Friday. Andersson likely will form a two-party, minority government with her Social Democrats and the Green Party.

Andersson, 54, sought to secure the backing of the two smaller parties that supported Sweden’s previous center-left, minority government led by Lofven — the Left Party and the Center Party. Both abstained from voting against Andersson.

After days of talks, Andersson and the Left Party reached a deal to win the latter’s support. The deal focused on pensions, meaning a supplement of up to 1,000 kronor ($111) for about 700,000 pensioners on low incomes.

Sweden’s next general election is scheduled for Sept. 11.
…

The United States and its European allies are planning for “a number of contingencies,” fearing that Moscow’s saber-rattling may be more than tough talk. 

Multiple U.S. officials cited serious concerns Tuesday about what they consistently described as Russia’s “unusual military activity” along its border with Ukraine, as well as Moscow’s harsh rhetoric, insisting that no matter what happens next, Washington’s support for Kyiv is “rock solid.” 

“We have demonstrated that the United States is willing to use a number of tools to address harmful Russian actions, and we will not hesitate from making use of those and other tools in the future,” a senior administration official told VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive subject.

“[We] call on Moscow to de-escalate tensions,” the official added. “A crucial first step is to restore the cease-fire to the low levels of violence reached in July 2020.” 

At the State Department on Tuesday, spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Washington’s consultations with its European partners, and with Ukraine, are ongoing. 

“We are sharing information, we are sharing intelligence,” he said, describing the talks as in-depth. “We are prepared and preparing for a number of contingencies.” 

The comments from the White House and the State Department came just hours after the senior-most U.S. general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, spoke with his Russian counterpart by phone. 

The two generals “discussed several security-related issues of concern,” the Pentagon said in a statement, adding the call was “a continuation of communication between both leaders to ensure risk reduction and operational de-confliction.”   

The Pentagon said, per prior agreement, additional details of the call would be kept private. 

Tuesday’s call between the U.S. and Russia comes after the senior-most U.S. and Ukrainian generals spoke twice within a four-day span to “share perspectives and assessments of the evolving security environment in Eastern Europe.”  

Ukrainian intelligence estimates have put the number of Russian troops along the border at about 90,000.  

U.S. officials have refused to address that figure publicly but called the Russian military buildup along its border with Ukraine worrisome.

“We don’t know what Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin might be planning,” the State Department’s Price told reporters.

“We do know the history and that history is not at all reassuring,” he added, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. 

Price also rebuffed recent Russian criticism of U.S. military drills in the region, saying the U.S. and its allies would continue to stand up the “rules-based international order.” 

Russian TASS news agency quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying Moscow was “witnessing a considerable increase in the U.S. strategic bombers’ activity near the Russian borders.” 

Shoigu also alleged U.S. strategic bombers “practiced employing nuclear weapons against Russia actually simultaneously from the western and eastern directions.” 

A day earlier, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, likewise criticized the U.S., posting on its website that the current situation with Ukraine is comparable to tensions with Georgia prior to the 2008 Russian invasion, noting Georgia paid a high price.  

The U.S. has provided Ukraine with $2.5 billion in security assistance since 2014, including $400 million in 2021 alone. 

Recent deliveries include patrol boats for the Ukrainian navy and 80,000 kilos of ammunition for Ukrainian forces. 

 
…

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday diplomatic efforts with Turkey, middle eastern nations and others have helped ease the situation at the Polish border with Belarus, but he said there are also signs the crisis “will not come to swift end.” 

For weeks, Poland and the European Union have accused the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of “weaponizing” migrants, largely from Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan, by inviting them to enter Belarus and taking them to the Polish border, sometimes by force.

Polish and Euro ((pean Union leaders believe the action is “pay back” by Lukashenko for sanctions the bloc imposed over human rights violations during last year’s Belarus presidential elections. The leader denies the allegations.

But Morawiecki, speaking in Hungary following a meeting with three central European leaders, said discussions he and his government have had with leaders in Turkey, the Middle East and Uzebekistan have reduced the numbers of migrants at the Polish-Belarusian border. 

The Polish prime minister said the migrant numbers are “a lot smaller than at the peak of migrant arrivals around a month ago, or two or three weeks ago. It is very important because it is the first step toward mitigating the crisis started by Belarus.” 

Morawiecki was in Hungary for a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, representing, along with Slovakia, the central European Visegrad Four countries.

Morawiecki said he and his Czech and Hungarian counterparts discussed the situation with Belarus and the two leaders expressed their solidarity with Poland.

The Polish prime minister said, despite the drop in migrant numbers, there are many signs indicating the crisis with Belarus “will not come to a swift end.”

He said that is why Poland and his EU partners have initiated a widespread diplomatic and political campaign within Europe and in the Middle East and Central Asia “to ensure that this crisis does not escalate.”

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

 
…

The top U.S. and Russian generals spoke by phone Tuesday, as tensions along the Russian-Ukrainian border appeared to reach new highs. 

Both Washington and Moscow quickly issued readouts of the call between U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and chief of Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov. 

According to the U.S. statement, the two generals “discussed several security-related issues of concern.” It further said the call was “a continuation of communication between both leaders to ensure risk reduction and operational de-confliction.”

The U.S. statement also said both sides had agreed to keep details of Tuesday’s call private. 

The conversation follows heightened concern about what the U.S. and NATO repeatedly have described as “unusual activity” by Russian forces along Russia’s border with Ukraine and Crimea. 

Ukrainian intelligence estimates have put the number of Russian troops along the border at about 90,000. 

U.S. officials have declined to comment publicly on the intelligence assessments, but a senior administration official told VOA there are “serious concerns about Russian military activities and harsh rhetoric toward Ukraine.” 

Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation, the official said there have been ongoing discussions with Washington’s European partners, with Ukraine and also with Russia. 

“We have demonstrated that the United States is willing to use a number of tools to address harmful Russian actions, and we will not hesitate from making use of those and other tools in the future,” the official added. 

On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, criticized the U.S. on its website and compared the situation with Ukraine to tensions with Georgia prior to the 2008 Russian invasion, noting Georgia paid a high price. 

Other Russian officials also have complained about recent U.S. military exercises with NATO allies. 

Tuesday’s call between the U.S. and Russia comes after the senior-most U.S. and Ukrainian generals spoke twice within a four-day span to “share perspectives and assessments of the evolving security environment in Eastern Europe.” 

 
…

North Macedonia’s chief prosecutor says that 12 children were among the some 45 people who died in a fiery bus crash in Bulgaria early Tuesday morning.

Lubomir Jovevski spoke to reporters as he visited the scene of the accident on a highway in the west of the country.

The cause of the crash was not immediately confirmed, but it appeared that the bus hit a highway guard rail, crashed and caught fire.

The bus was one of four carrying Macedonian tourists home from a trip to the Turkish city of Istanbul. The crash happened at 2 a.m.

Seven survivors were taken to hospitals for treatment.

The bus was one of four traveling together. Officials said an investigation will be launched.

Photos taken shortly after the crash showed the bus engulfed in flames with plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the scene.

Daylight revealed the burned-out bus, its windows all broken, charred and gutted, sitting upright against the median barrier.

Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told reporters at the crash site that he had “never in my life seen something more horrifying.”

“The picture is horrifying, the people who were on the bus are turned to charcoal,” Rashkov said. “It is impossible to say how many they were. There were four buses that traveled together, and it is possible that passengers changed buses during the stops.”

Media in North Macedonia, a country of about 2 million people, reported that police were outside the Skopje offices of a travel company that is believed to have organized the trip to Turkey.

Bulgarian Caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev, who also visited the site of the crash, told reporters it was “a huge tragedy.”

“I take this opportunity to send my condolences to the relatives of the victims,” Yanev said. “Let’s hope we learn lessons from this tragic incident and we can prevent such incidents in the future.”

Bulgarian news agency Novinite said representatives from North Macedonia’s embassy visited a hospital where some of the victims were taken.

Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka wrote online that almost all of those who died in the crash were ethnic Albanians.

North Macedonia’s prime minister, Zoran Zaev, told Bulgarian television channel bTV that he had spoken to one of the bus survivors.

“One of the passengers told me that he was asleep and woke up from an explosion,” Zaev told bTV, adding that the authorities will gather information that is “important for the families of the dead and the survivors.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her condolences to the families and friends of those who died in the “tragic bus accident” and said that “in these terrible times, Europe stands in solidarity with you.”

In 2019, Bulgaria, an EU nation of 7 million, had the second-highest road fatality rate in the 27-nation bloc with 89 people killed per million population, according to European Commission data.
…

A flight carrying more than 100 Afghans arrived Monday in northern Greece. 

According to Greek officials, the group of 119 people included Mohibullah Samim, Afghanistan’s former minister of border and tribal affairs, as well as a lawyer who prosecuted Taliban fighters, women’s rights activists and a female judge. 

The evacuees are expected to remain in Greece until arrangements are made for them to travel on to other countries, including the United States and Canada. 

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August, Greece has flown in about 700 Afghans. 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
…

Amid concerns about the unusual buildup of Russian troops near the Russia-Ukraine border, the Ukrainian minister of defense came to Washington to talk about defense and strategic issues. Ostap Yarysh reports.

Camera: Oleksii Osyka
…

Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said Monday the current surge of COVID-19 cases in the country likely means that over the next three months – by the end of winter – everyone in the country will be “vaccinated, recovered or dead.”

Spahn made the stark comment to reporters in Berlin as he discussed efforts to slow the surging COVID-19 situation in the country. The Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI) on Monday reported more than 30,000 newly confirmed cases in Germany over the past 24 hours, an increase of about 50% compared with a week ago.

RKI reports the national infection rate is just more than 386 per 100,000 people.

Spahn said that is why the government is so urgently telling people to get vaccinated. “Because whoever is not vaccinated will get infected, without protection, in the next months, unless you really take very, very, very good care in every situation.”

Spahn said Germany has as many as 50 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines on hand, available for first and second shots as well as booster shots, which he said was enough for any adult who wants one.

The health minister said he expects the European Union to approve the children’s doses of COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 at the end of the week. He said he expects Germany will receive an initial 2.4 million doses of the children’s doses when the EU begins shipping them December 20, with more doses due after the first of the year.

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

Russia’s troop buildup along the Ukrainian border is drawing alarm from U.S. officials who are warning of a potential new invasion. Ukrainian officials estimate 90,000 Russian troops are now positioned along the border and in Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine.

The issue topped the agenda earlier this month when Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, that Washington was monitoring the situation “very closely.”  

“We’re concerned by reports of unusual Russian military activity,” Blinken said at the State Department.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Ukraine is prepared. He met at the Pentagon last week with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“Our intelligence, American intelligence, United Kingdom intelligence, they do their job. We’ve compared the search and we see the same picture. We’ve been living in this hybrid war with Russia for eight years. So for us, it’s not a surprise,” said Reznikov in an interview with VOA.  

During his meeting with Secretary Austin, Reznikov asked for American support.   

“I want to reassure you, as President (Joe) Biden said to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy: our support for Ukraine’s self-defense, sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering,” said Austin. He also stressed the need to deepen U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation in such areas as Black Sea security, cyber defense, and intelligence sharing.

An attack on Ukraine would likely involve airstrikes, artillery and armor

attacks followed by airborne assaults in the east, amphibious assaults

in Odessa and Mariupul and a smaller incursion through neighboring

Belarus, Ukraine Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told the Military Times newspaper Saturday morning in an exclusive interview.

On Monday, Russia’s spy agency released a statement dismissing allegations that Moscow is planning an invasion.  

Russian news agencies carried the statement accusing Washington of spreading “absolutely false information on the concentration of forces on the territory of our country for the military invasion of Ukraine.”  

Troop movements   

Security analysts are studying satellite images, social media posts and other open sources for information about where the troops are located and what they are planning.   

“A few additional Russian units have deployed closer to the Ukrainian border, most notably about a battalion of what we believe is Russia’s fourth tank division, which is normally based around Moscow,” said Mason Clark, lead Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, in an interview with VOA.

Clark says that according to this data, the current movement of the military equipment is smaller than in spring 2020 but that it is possible U.S. intelligence has more information.  

“U.S. intelligence briefings and warnings to its allies may be based on Russian movements that we are not able to see in the open sources,” says Clark. At the same time, he doesn’t assess that a new Russian offensive would serve Putin’s goal.  

“A major offensive operation would likely impose significant costs,” explains Clark, “… delaying the certification of Nord Stream 2, sparking increased deployments by NATO or other European forces into Ukraine. And it likely would be a fairly high-cost operation. The Ukrainian military of 2021 is not the Ukrainian military of 2014.”

Nord Stream 2 is a pipeline that will link Russia and Germany. Ukraine opposes the project, saying it will increase Europe’s energy reliance on Russia.

Meanwhile, Alexander Vershbow, who served as a NATO deputy secretary-general and U.S. ambassador to Russia, argues that no one can be sure that Putin will act rationally when it comes to Ukraine.

“Putin may feel that he has to take greater risks to prevent Ukraine from succeeding in its efforts to join the West. And so because this is about Mr. Putin, his legacy, and his self-image as the gatherer of Russian lands, he may take action that doesn’t seem entirely logical from our point of view,” Vershbow said in an interview with VOA.

Vershbow said that in addition to seizing new Ukrainian territories, the Kremlin could prepare other scenarios like annexing the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics in occupied eastern Ukraine.

“For example, Putin could declare the Ukrainians as having brought the Minsk negotiations to a dead end and announce that Russia has no choice but to protect the poor Russian citizens in the occupied territories,” says Vershbow.   

The Minsk accord was designed to stop the bloodshed between Russian-backed rebels  and Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine. Since 2014, the war has led to the deaths of around 14,000 people.  

Clark believes that the movement of Russian troops could also create a basis for military operations in the future.

“A lot of Russian troops that should be based near Kazakhstan are now in western Russia, and may pose a longer term threat to either Belarus, Ukraine or any of NATO’s eastern flank at the same time,” he said.  

Experts agree that support from both the United States and Europe at this moment is vital for Ukraine. Defense Minister Reznikov is confident about that support for his country.

“We’re ready”, said Reznikov. “Our military is ready, but we need united help from all [of the] civilized world. We have no time to fear. We need time to be prepared for resilience.”
…

Human rights groups and Western lawmakers are warning that Interpol’s powerful network of global police officers could end up under the sway of authoritarian governments, as the world police agency meets in Istanbul this week to elect new leadership.

Representatives of countries like China and the United Arab Emirates are bidding for top posts in the France-based policing body when its general assembly convenes in Turkey on Tuesday.

Interpol says it refuses to be used for political ends. Critics contend that if these candidates win, instead of hunting down drug smugglers, human traffickers, war crimes suspects and alleged extremists, their countries would use Interpol’s global reach to apprehend exiled dissidents and even political opponents at home.

Two candidates have drawn special criticism: Maj. Gen. Ahmed Naser al-Raisi, inspector general at the UAE’s interior ministry, who is seeking to be elected Interpol’s president for a four-year term; and Hu Binchen, an official at China’s ministry of public security, expected to be up for a vacant spot on Interpol’s executive committee.

A vote is expected Thursday. Interpol’s president and executive committee set policy and direction. They also supervise the body’s secretary-general who handles the day-to-day operations and is its public face. That post is filled by German official Juergen Stock.

Al-Raisi is accused of torture and has criminal complaints against him in five countries, including in France, where Interpol has its headquarters, and in Turkey, where the election is taking place.

And Hu is backed by China’s government, which is suspected to have used the global police agency to hunt down exiled dissidents and of disappearing its citizens.

Appointing Hu could be fraught with peril — including, possibly, for himself. Meng Hongwei of China was elected Interpol president in 2016, only to vanish on a return trip to China two years later. He is now serving a 13½-year jail sentence for corruption, charges that his wife Grace Meng, now living in France with her children under police protection, insisted in an interview with The Associated Press were trumped up and politically motivated.

Al-Raisi, already a member of Interpol’s executive committee, contended in a LinkedIn post Saturday that the UAE prioritizes “the protection of human rights at home and abroad.”

But a recent report by the MENA Rights Group describes routine rights violations by the UAE security system, in which lawyers, journalists and activists have been forcibly disappeared, tortured, arbitrarily detained, and intimidated for peacefully asking for basic rights and freedoms.

Matthew Hedges, a British doctoral student who was imprisoned in the UAE for nearly seven months in 2018 on spying charges, visibly struggled at a news conference in Paris as he described torture and months of being held in solitary confinement with no access to a lawyer.

“I was given a cocktail of medication … to alter my mental state,” Hedges said. “I am still dependent on most of this medication now. I would hear screams coming from other rooms, and there was evidence on the floor of torture, physical torture, beatings.”

Hedges was pardoned by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, but Emirati officials still insist Hedges was spying for Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency, without offering definitive proof to support their claims. He, his family and British diplomats have repeatedly denied the charges.

“There is no way that a country’s police force that is willing to do this to foreign citizens, let alone their own, should be given the honor of holding one of the highest positions at Interpol,” Hedges said.

“Electing al-Raisi, the man responsible for what was happening to me, would be a slap in the face of justice and an embarrassment to other police forces who believe in upholding the rule of law.”

He and fellow Briton Ali Issa Ahmad, a soccer fan who says he was tortured by UAE security agents during the 2019 Asia Cup soccer tournament, have filed a lawsuit against al-Raisi and other Emirati security officials in the U.K. They also filed criminal complaints in Norway, Sweden and in France.

If French prosecutors decide to pursue the case, al-Raisi could be detained and questioned about alleged crimes committed in another country if he enters France or French territory.

Ahmad said he was attacked by plainclothes UAE security agents at a match between Iraq and Qatar in Abu Dhabi. He was wearing a fan T-Shirt with a Qatari flag at a time of bitter diplomatic dispute between Qatar and other Gulf countries.

He said the agents attacked him on the beach, threw him in a car, handcuffed him and put a plastic bag over his head. Using pocketknives, they carved the outlines of the Qatari flag on his chest as they cut out the emblem from his T-shirt, he said. Ahmad was jailed for two weeks and was released only after pleading guilty to the charge of “wasting police time.” Police say he already was hurt when he presented himself to a police station in Sharjah.

Another torture complaint under the principle of universal jurisdiction is pending in France against al-Raisi, filed in June over the alleged torture of prominent Emirati human rights defender and blogger Ahmed Mansoor, currently serving a 10-year sentence for charges of insulting the “status and prestige of the UAE” and its leaders in social media posts.

A major concern for dissidents is potential abuse of the Interpol red notice — the equivalent of putting someone on a global “most-wanted” list, meaning a suspect could be arrested anywhere they travel.

Interpol insists that any country’s request for a red notice is verified for compliance with its constitution, “under which it is strictly forbidden for the organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.” But critics say Interpol has been used in the past by its member governments for political ends, and that this could get worse under new leadership.

Al-Raisi has run a slick campaign for the presidential post, traveling the world to meet lawmakers and government officials and boasting academic degrees from the U.K. and the U.S. and years of experience of policing.

In a opinion piece for the government-run newspaper in Abu Dhabi, al-Raisi said he wants to “modernize and transform” Interpol, drawing on “the UAE’s role as a leader in tech-driven policing and a bridge builder in the international community.”

The UAE, particularly the skyscraper-studded city-state of Dubai, long have been identified as a major money-laundering hub for both criminals and rogue nations. But in recent months, the Emirati police have announced a series of busts targeting suspected international drug dealers and gangsters living there. Residents also note low reported levels of street crime and harassment, likely an effect of residency visas all being tied to employment.

Prominent French human rights lawyer William Bourdon said UAE officials can’t hide behind a facade of modernity and progress.

“Behind the beaches and the palm trees,” he said, “there are people, and they are screaming because they are being tortured.”
…

Belarus does not want confrontation with Poland but wants the European Union to take in 2,000 migrants stranded on its border, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday, after Warsaw warned that tensions over the trapped people could flare up.

The EU accuses Belarus of flying in thousands of people from the Middle East and pushing them to cross into the EU via Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in response to European sanctions.

Minsk denies fomenting the crisis.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned on Sunday that the migrant crisis on the Belarus border may be a prelude to “something much worse”, and Poland’s border guard said Belarusian forces were still ferrying migrants to the frontier.

Lukashenko, as quoted by the state-owned Belta news agency, said he did not want things to escalate.

“We need to get through to the Poles, to every Pole, and show them that we’re not barbarians, that we don’t want confrontation. We don’t need it. Because we understand that if we go too far, war is unavoidable,” he said.

“And that will be a catastrophe. We understand this perfectly well. We don’t want any kind of flare-up.”

Poland has threatened to cut a train link between the two countries if the situation does not improve, and Lukashenko was quoted as saying that threat could backfire.

Rail traffic could be diverted to run through a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in such a scenario, he said.

Last Thursday, the European Commission and Germany publicly rejected a Belarus proposal made that same day that EU countries take in 2,000 of the migrants currently on its territory.

But Lukashenko, according to Belta, said on Monday he must insist Germany take in some migrants, and complained that the EU was not making contact with Minsk on the issue.

“I’m waiting for the EU to answer,” he said. “They don’t even look at it (the problem). And even what she (German Chancellor Angela Merkel) promised me – contacts. They are not even getting in touch.”

Belarus’ plan would also include Minsk sending some 5,000 migrants back home, and Lukashenko said Belarus was preparing a second flight to send migrants home at the end of the month.

Over 400 Iraqis were sent back to Iraq last week, in the first such repatriation flight since August.

Poland says Belarusian forces were still ferrying migrants to the frontier, despite clearing the main migrant camps by the border last week.

A group of around 150 migrants tried to break through the border fence near the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne on Sunday, the Polish Border Guard said on Monday.

“Groups are making such attempts and Belarusian officials are becoming more and more aggressive,” Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for Poland’s security services, wrote on Twitter.

Lithuanian border guard says 70 migrants were prevented from entering on Sunday. Two Ukrainian citizens were arrested on Sunday, in two separate but similar incidents, as they arrived at the border to pick up the migrants, presumably for further Transportation.
…

Ahead of the Christmas holidays, Austria shut its shops, restaurants and festive markets Monday, returning to lockdown in the most dramatic Covid-19 restriction seen in Western Europe for months. 

The decision has prompted a fierce backlash, with tens of thousands taking to the streets, some blaming the government for not doing more to avert the latest coronavirus wave crashing into Europe. 

As they wake up Monday morning, Austria’s 8.9 million people will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise.   

The Alpine nation is also imposing a sweeping vaccine mandate from February 1 — joining the Vatican as the only places in Europe with such a requirement. 

Battling a resurgent pandemic almost two years since Covid-19 first emerged, several countries on the continent have reintroduced curbs, often choosing to ban unvaccinated people from venues like restaurants and bars.   

But not since jabs became widely available has a European Union country had to re-enter a nationwide lockdown.   

Backtracking 

Austria’s decision punctures earlier promises that tough virus restrictions would be a thing of the past. 

Over the summer, then chancellor Sebastian Kurz had declared the pandemic “over.”

But plateauing inoculation rates, record case numbers and a spiraling death toll have forced the government to walk back such bold claims.   

After taking office in October, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg criticized the “shamefully low” vaccine rate — 66 percent compared to France’s 75 percent — and banned the un-jabbed from public spaces. 

When that proved ineffective at squelching the latest round of infections, he announced a nationwide lockdown of 20 days, with an evaluation after 10 days. 

Schools will remain open, although parents have been asked to keep their children at home if possible. Working remotely is also recommended.   

Political analyst Thomas Hofer blamed Schallenberg for maintaining “the fiction” of a successfully contained pandemic for too long.   

“The government didn’t take the warnings of a next wave seriously,” he told AFP.   

“The chaos is evident.”

Frustrations boil over 

While many Austrians spent their weekend ahead of the stay-at-home order enjoying mulled wine or finishing shopping, a crowd of 40,000 marched through Vienna decrying “dictatorship.”  

Andreas Schneider, a 31-year-old from Belgium who works as an economist in the Austrian capital, described the lockdown as a “tragedy”.   

“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, especially now that we have the vaccine,” he said.   

Called to rally by a far-right political party, some protesters wore a yellow star reading “not vaccinated”, mimicking the Star of David Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust. 

Alongside the “worried” citizens are others who “are becoming radicalized”, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Sunday, the same day around 6,000 people protested in the city of Linz. 

Elsewhere in Europe — as infections soar and anti-Covid measures get stricter — frustrations have also erupted into demonstrations, with some marred by clashes with police.   

Over 130 people have been arrested in the Netherlands over three days of unrest sparked by a Covid curfew, and in Brussels on Sunday, officers fired water cannon and tear gas at a protest police said was attended by 35,000. 

In Denmark, around 1,000 demonstrators vented at government plans to reinstate a Covid pass for civil servants.   

“People want to live,” said one of the organizers of the Dutch protests, Joost Eras. “That’s why we’re here.” 
…

Riots broke out in cities across the Netherlands on Sunday, the third night in a row that police clashed with mobs of angry youths who set fires and threw rocks to protest COVID-19 restrictions.

Unrest was reported in locations including Leeuwarden and Groningen in the north, the eastern town of Enschede and Tilburg in the south. In Enschede, where an emergency ordinance was issued, police used batons to try to disperse a crowd, according to video on social media. In Leeuwarden, police vans were pelted with rocks and black-clad groups chanted and set off flares.

Responding to the worst disturbances since a full lockdown led to widespread disorder and more than 500 arrests in January, police said five officers had been injured overnight Saturday and at least 64 people detained in three provinces, including dozens who threw fireworks and fences during a soccer match at Feyenoord Rotterdam’s stadium.

The latest unrest began on Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on a crowd that had swelled to hundreds during a protest that the city’s mayor said had turned into “an orgy of violence.”

Four people believed to have been hit by police bullets remained in hospital on Sunday, a statement by the authorities said.

The protests were sparked by opposition to government plans to restrict use of a national corona pass to people who have either recovered from COVID-19 or have been vaccinated, excluding those with a negative test result.

The Netherlands reimposed some lockdown measures on its 17.5 million population last weekend for an initial three weeks in an effort to slow a resurgence of the virus, but daily infections have remained at their highest levels since the start of the pandemic.

Some youths were also angered by a New Year’s Eve firework ban to avoid added pressure on hospitals that have already been forced to scale back care due to a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Among the most serious confrontations on Saturday night were those in The Hague, where the five officers were hurt, one of them seriously, a police statement said. Police carried out charges on horseback and arrested 19 people, one of them for throwing a rock through the window of a passing ambulance. 
…