Koror, Palau — Driving toward the center of Palau’s commercial city of Koror, election yard signs for presidential, senate and house of delegates’ candidates in this tiny island nation’s November elections line the street as waves of the pristinely blue Pacific Ocean lap the shore not far away.

The serenity of the surroundings belies just how high the stakes are in this year’s elections. Palau sits on the front line of competition for geopolitical influence between the United States and China in the Pacific Ocean. And competition between the candidates is tense, leading some to worry about how winners and losers will respond to the results once the votes are cast.

“This election is a very critical one and I just hope everything will end peacefully,” Kaipo Recheungel, a Palauan transportation service operator, told this reporter as we drove past hotels and bars along main street.

Palau has some 16,000 registered voters and elections are scheduled for Nov. 5, the same day millions of American voters will choose their next president. Because Palau is one of the few countries in the world that has official diplomatic relations with Taiwan as well as close ties with the United States, Beijing will be watching the election closely.

“Palau recognizes Taiwan, and it has a strong defense and security relationship with the U.S., so undermining Palau is an extremely high priority for China,” said Cleo Paskal, a nonresident senior fellow for the Indo-Pacific at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in a phone interview with VOA.

Deepening US ties

Palau is one of three Pacific Island nations that receive significant economic support from the U.S. under the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA. Under the agreement, the U.S. provides economic aid worth billions of dollars, while Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia give the U.S. exclusive military access to their land, water and airspace, as well as the right to deny China access to their ports and territorial waters.

Under the leadership of President Surangel Whipps Jr., Palau’s ties with Washington have deepened.

Last month, U.S. lawmakers passed funding for key provisions in COFA for Palau. The U.S. military is also helping to repair a runway on a World War II-era Japanese airfield on the island of Peleliu and installing two radar systems on Palau.

In 2023, Whipps Jr. asked the U.S. to permanently deploy Patriot missile defense batteries to Palau in response to China’s aggressive posture in the Pacific. The proposal was rejected, though, in a resolution passed by Palau’s Senate last November.

Despite the Palauan senate’s rejection of the U.S. missile battery deployment, the country’s House of Delegates approved another joint resolution that supported the idea of establishing a U.S. military base in Palau.

The idea of inviting the U.S. to establish a military base in Palau was first proposed in 2020 by Palau’s former president and Whipp Jr’s brother-in-law, Tommy Remengesau Jr., who is running against Whipps Jr. in the upcoming election.

“Since Palau is small, having the protection of the United States is important because we see what’s happening now in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China,” Whipps Jr., who is running for reelection in November, told VOA at his office in Koror.

“We have reefs and islands that are far away from us, and it could also be easily taken over, just like how the Chinese have invaded what are clearly Philippine reefs,” he said.

Since coming to power in 2021, Whipps Jr. has been critical of China’s aggressive military activities in the Indo-Pacific region, along with what he describes as Beijing’s attempt to “weaponize” tourism against Palau.

“In 2015 and 2016, tourism numbers from China went through the roof, which helped Palau’s economy grow 30%, but since Palau never switched diplomatic recognition [from Taiwan] to China, that number just basically collapsed in the following years,” Whipps Jr. said.

In response, China’s state-run media People’s Daily said in August that the Palauan president’s comments were an attempt to twist the intention behind a travel advisory that China issued in June and an effort to “smear and discredit China.”

Beijing’s crosshairs

In addition to economic pressure, some Palauan officials said the country’s national security is threatened by repeated incursions into its territorial waters by Chinese research vessels; cyberattacks linked to China; the establishment of illegal Chinese scam operations in Palau; and attempts to bribe politicians.

“The cyberattack happened just a day before Palau and the U.S. exchanged diplomatic notes on COFA, so it shows that the adversaries are watching and observing situations in Palau closely,” Jennifer Anson, Palau’s national security coordinator, told VOA at a cafe in downtown Koror.

As China continues to exert pressure on Palau, Whipps Jr. said it’s important for Palau to uphold its “special relationship” with the U.S.

“The U.S. military leaders have told me that when it comes to security and defense, Palau is considered part of the homeland, and given China’s expansionist program that’s destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, [the increased U.S. military presence in Palau] is about deterrence and ensuring that we all continue to live in peace,” he told VOA.

Despite Whipps Jr.’s emphasis on bolstering security ties with the U.S., some Palauan people, including his opponent, Remengesau Jr., say the government needs to be more transparent about the purpose and potential impact of U.S. military expansion in the country.

“The [current] government has fallen short of informing Palauan people about the intended militarization for defense purposes,” Remengesau Jr. told VOA at his home in Palau.

“Our relationship with the U.S. is supported, and we understand and abide by our partnership responsibilities, but we also need to be very clear about our concerns about U.S. militarization in Palau, including how this development will affect Palau’s environment and social fabric, as well as what is this militarization defending us from since we don’t have any enemies,” he added.

Some political observers have echoed Remengesau Jr.’s concern, saying the increased U.S. military presence will “put a target” on Palau and potentially invite further Chinese aggression against the Pacific Island nation.

“Many Palauans think President Whipps Jr.’s slogan that ‘presence is deterrence’ doesn’t make sense because now is not wartime, and they worry about what China might do if the U.S. continues to expand its military presence in Palau,” Kambes Kesolei, editor of one of Palau’s main newspapers Tia Belau, told VOA.

US protection

While some Palauans are concerned about the increased U.S. military presence, others say it’s important for Palau to have U.S. military protection amid intensifying geopolitical competition between Beijing and Washington in the Pacific region.

“Taiwan is a target, and Palau is a target, so I’m appreciative of the U.S. presence here because we are protected by them,” Lucius Malsol, a Palauan tour operator, told VOA at a park in downtown Koror.

Despite the division over the U.S. military presence among Palauan people, some political observers say the outcome of November’s election won’t significantly change Palau’s foreign policy direction.

“A lot of Palauans are in the U.S. military and any politician in a position to make a decision takes all of that into consideration, so I don’t see how Palau could change our foreign policy direction drastically,” said Leilani Reklai, publisher and editor of Palau’s main newspaper Island Times.

However, Reklai and Kesolei agree that Whipps Jr. will continue to deepen Palau’s engagement with the U.S. if he is reelected, while Remengasau Jr. would likely take a more “neutral approach” to relations with Washington.
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MANILA, Philippines — The U.S. Army’s recent deployment of a midrange missile system to the northern Philippines was “incredibly important” and allowed American and Filipino forces to jointly train for the potential usage of such heavy weaponry in Asian archipelago conditions, a U.S. general said Monday. 

The Biden administration has moved to strengthen an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in any possible confrontation over Taiwan and other Asian flashpoints. The Philippines has also worked on shoring up its territorial defenses after its disputes with China started to escalate last year in the increasingly volatile South China Sea. 

China has vehemently opposed the increased deployment of American combat forces to Asia. But it has been particularly alarmed by the U.S. Army’s deployment in April of the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of joint combat exercises in April with Philippine troops. 

“What it does collectively, it provides us the opportunity to understand how to employ that capability — the environmental challenges here are very unique to any other place in the region,” U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, Commanding General of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division, said when asked how the missile system has helped participants in joint combat training in the Philippines. 

“Last year, we also deployed long-range fires capabilities with HIMARS and we were able to move those around with fixed-wing aircraft around the archipelago environment,” Evans told The Associated Press in an interview in Manila, referring to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, the truck-mounted launchers, which fire GPS-guided missiles capable of hitting distant targets. 

“Those are just incredibly important operations because you get to work in the environment, but most importantly, you’re working alongside our partners here in the Philippines to understand how those will be integrated into their operations,” Evans said without elaborating. 

The Typhon missile system was supposed to be flown out of the Philippines last month, but three Philippine security officials told the AP recently that the longtime treaty allies had agreed to keep the missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrence despite China’s expressions of alarm. 

The Philippine officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive U.S. missile deployment publicly. 

Evans flew to Manila to start talks with Philippine army counterparts on holding annual military exercises by the allied forces in the Southeast Asian country next year, particularly the Salaknib drills, which aim to boost the combat-readiness of thousands of American and Filipino troops in increasingly realistic settings. 

“Conceptually, it is scheduled to be a larger, more complex exercise,” Evans said, adding that there could be joint training maneuvers from the jungles in the northern Philippines to former U.S. military bases in the region. 

“We’re also planning on bringing new equipment to train alongside our Filipino army teammates that last year we did not have,” he said without providing details. 

“Our job is to get 1% better each day alongside our Filipino army teammates in terms of readiness,” he said. “Those relationships that are built, the readiness that is developed, should remove any doubt about the importance of our alliances and the work we do here with the Philippine army.” 

Evans and other U.S. Army officials attended a ceremony Sunday marking the anniversary of a historic moment in U.S.-Philippine relations when U.S. Gen. Douglas Macarthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines in October 1944 by wading ashore into the coast of central Leyte province to help lead the liberation of the country from Japanese occupation forces. 

On Monday, Evans and his men laid a wreath in an austere ceremony at the American Cemetery in metropolitan Manila, the largest such U.S. World War II cemetery and memorial in the world. 

The Leyte Gulf ceremony reflected the long history that had bonded American and Filipino forces in war and peace, he said. 

“That trust was built over eight decades,” Evans said.
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TIRANA, Albania — Albania’s left-wing Freedom Party said Monday its leader and former Albanian President Ilir Meta has been arrested on alleged corruption charges.

Meta, 55, was arrested in the capital, Tirana, by officers with the National Investigation Bureau, according to local media. Local television stations showed masked, plainclothes police officers taking Meta from his vehicle after he returned from neighboring Kosovo ahead of holding a news conference.

The party’s secretary-general, Tedi Blushi, called it “a criminal kidnapping.”

There was no immediate comment from the prosecutor’s office.

After meeting Meta at the police department, his lawyer Genc Gjokutaj said the former president is being investigated for alleged corruption, money laundering and hiding personal income and property.

Meta was Albania’s previous president, serving from 2017-2022. He was being investigated for alleged illegal lobbying in the United States years ago. He and his former wife also have been investigated on allegations of hiding their personal property and income.

Meta has been a vocal opponent of the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama, accusing it of running a “kleptocratic regime” and concentrating all legislative, administrative and judiciary powers in Rama’s hands.

Corruption has been post-communist Albania’s Achilles’ heel, strongly affecting the country’s democratic, economic and social development.

Judicial institutions created with the support of the European Union and the United States have launched several investigations into former senior government officials allegedly involved in corruption. Albania seeks EU membership.

Former prime minister and president Sali Berisha, now a lawmaker and leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is also accused of corruption and is under house arrest waiting for the trial.

Soon after Meta’s arrest, Romana Vlahutin, EU ambassador to Tirana when the judicial reform was approved in 2016 and now a European Council official, said on social platform X, “Justice reform in full force! There are no untouchables.”
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Paris — French drugmaker Sanofi’s confirmation that it will sell a controlling stake in its consumer health unit to a U.S. investment fund sparked a new political backlash Monday, stoked by fears the deal marks a loss of sovereignty over key medications.  

Paris “must block the sale” using powers to protect strategic sectors, Manuel Bompard, a senior lawmaker in the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, told the TF1 broadcaster.  

Politicians and unions have torn into Sanofi’s proposed 16-billion-euro ($17.4 billion) deal with U.S. investment fund CD&R for a controlling stake in Opella.  

The subsidiary makes household-name drugs including Doliprane branded paracetamol  whose yellow boxes dominate the French market.  

Under pressure, Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s minority government said it had secured a two-percent stake in Opella for public investment bank Bpifrance and “extremely strong” guarantees against job cuts and offshoring.  

Opella employs over 11,000 workers and operates in 100 countries.  

Sanofi said it is the third-largest business worldwide in the market for over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and supplements.  

CD&R — which has a battery of investments in France — would help build Opella into a “French-headquartered, global consumer healthcare champion,” the pharma giant said in a statement.  

‘Just words’

But with memories of drug shortages during and since the Covid-19 pandemic still raw for many, critics say the defenses are too weak.

A small stake “won’t give the French state a say in strategic decisions” at Opella, said Bompard, whose LFI dominates a left alliance that is the largest opposition group against Barnier and President Emmanuel Macron.  

Thomas Portes, also of the LFI, posted on X that the government had offered “no guarantees, just words.”  

Economy Minister Antoine Armand said a contract between CD&R, Sanofi and the government included maintaining production sites, research and development and Opella’s official headquarters in France, as well as investing at least 70 million euros over five years.  

It covers “keeping up a minimum production volume for Opella’s sensitive products in France,” Armand added, including Doliprane, digestive medication Lanzor and Aspegic branded aspirin.  

There would be financial penalties for closing French production sites, laying off workers or failing to buy from French suppliers.  

That includes Seqens, a company re-establishing production in France of Doliprane’s active ingredient paracetamol.  

“Workers are not at all reassured by the latest developments,” said Johann Nicolas, a CGT union representative at Opella’s Doliprane plant in Lisieux, northern France.  

He added that a picket had throttled production there from around 1.3 million boxes of the drug per day to around 265,000.  

The proposed protections in the deal have also failed to win over even some in the government camp.  

Monday’s guarantees “do not at all indicate a commitment for the long term, whether on investment, supply or jobs,” Charles Rodwell, a lawmaker in Macron’s EPR party who has closely followed the case, told AFP.  

He vowed “painstaking” parliamentary surveillance of government action over the deal including measures to “block” the sale if ministers fall short.

Brand loyalty

Macron said last week that “the government has the instruments needed to protect France” from any unwanted “capital ownership.”  

Emotion over the Opella sales is closely linked to Doliprane.  

Boxes of the non-opioid analgesic against mild to moderate pain and fever often line entire pharmacy walls.  

The drug comes in many doses — from 100 mg for babies to 1,000 mg for adults — and in tablet, capsule, suppository and liquid forms.  

It is so ubiquitous that French people call any paracetamol product Doliprane, even when made by a different manufacturer.  

Sanofi, among the world’s top 12 health care companies, says the planned spinoff is part of a strategy to focus less on over-the-counter medication and more on innovative medicines and vaccines, including for polio, influenza and meningitis.
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Mel Nichols, a 37-year-old bartender in Phoenix, Arizona, takes home anywhere from $30 to $50 an hour with tips included. But the uncertainty of how much she’s going to make on a daily basis is a constant source of stress.

“For every good day, there’s three bad days,” said Nichols, who has been in the service industry since she was a teenager. “You have no security when it comes to knowing how much you’re going to make.”

That uncertainty exists largely because federal labor law allows businesses to pay tipped workers, like food servers, bartenders and bellhops, less than the minimum wage as long as customer tips make up the difference. Voters in Arizona and Massachusetts will decide in November whether it’s good policy to continue to let employers pass some of their labor costs to consumers.

The ballot measures reflect an accelerating debate over the so-called subminimum wage, which advocates say is essential to the sustainability of the service industry and detractors say pushes the cost of labor off employers’ shoulders and leads to the exploitation of workers.

The amount tipped workers make varies by state. Fourteen states pay the federal minimum, or just above $2 an hour for tipped workers and $7 an hour for non-tipped workers.

Arizona employers can pay their tipped workers $3 less hourly than other workers. Under current rates, that means tipped workers’ base pay is $11.35 an hour.

Voters will decide whether to approve a measure backed by state Republicans and the Arizona Restaurant Association to change the minimum for tipped workers to 25% less than the regular minimum wage as long as their pay with tips is $2 above that minimum.

The hourly minimum wage in Arizona is currently $14.35 and increases yearly according to inflation.

Voters in Massachusetts are being asked to eliminate the tiered minimum-wage system.

There, voters will decide on a measure to incrementally increase the state’s tipped worker wage — currently $6.75 per hour — until it meets the regular minimum wage by January 2029. The measure was put forward by One Fair Wage, a not-for-profit that works to end the subminimum wage.

If voters approve the measure, the Bay State would join seven states that currently have a single minimum wage. Michigan will soon join that group after an August state Supreme Court ruling initiated a phase-out of the subminimum wage.

“When you’re not making the money that you should be making to pay your bills, it becomes hard on you,” said James Ford, a longtime Detroit-based hospitality worker. ”[The ruling] makes me think we’re moving forward.”

Other states have wage measures on the ballot. In California, voters will choose whether to raise the hourly minimum wage from $16 to $18 by 2026 in what would be the highest statewide minimum wage in the country. Measures in Alaska and Missouri would gradually raise minimum wages to $15 an hour while also requiring paid sick leave.

In the last two years, Washington, D.C., and Chicago also have started to eliminate the subminimum wage.

Employers must ensure that workers get the full minimum if they don’t make that much with tips. But they don’t always comply with federal labor law. One in 10 restaurants and bars investigated nationally by the U.S. Labor Department between 2010 and 2019 violated a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, resulting in the establishments paying $113.9 million in back wages.

The issue disproportionately affects women, who make up about 47% of the U.S. workforce but nearly 70% of those who work in tipped professions, according to an AP analysis of U.S. Census data.

In Arizona, Republican state Sen. J.D. Mesnard, the sponsor of Proposition 138, said the measure is a win for both businesses and lower-wage workers.

“The employer is protected in the sense that they can preserve this lower base, knowing that there are going to be tips on top of it,” Mesnard said. “The tipped worker is guaranteed to make more than minimum wage, which is more than they’re guaranteed today.”

Nichols doesn’t support it.

“It would reduce my hourly, and anything that reduces my hourly is not something that I want to lean into,” she said. “I don’t believe that business owners need any more cuts in labor costs.”

Proposition 138 was initially put forward as a response to a ballot measure pushed by One Fair Wage that would create a single minimum wage of $18, but the group abandoned the effort after threats of litigation from the restaurant association over how it collected signatures.

Instead, One Fair Wage will focus on trying to pass a wage hike in the Legislature. Democratic State Rep. Mariana Sandoval said she hopes her party in November can flip the Legislature, where Republicans hold a one-seat majority in both chambers.

After working for tips for more than 20 years, server Lindsay Ruck, who works at a restaurant at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, said she’s faced her fair share of belligerent customers. But because their tips make up such a significant part of her pay — approximately $60 an hour — she’s hesitant to stand up to them.

To Ruck, higher base pay — not less — is called for.

“I think that there should be just a single minimum wage and then people should get tipped on top of that,” Ruck said.

The National Restaurant Association and its state affiliates warn of reduced hours, lower employment and menu price hikes if employers can’t rely on tips to pay their workers. That’s why Dan Piacquadio, a co-owner of Harold’s Cave Creek Corral restaurant outside Phoenix, is hoping voters pass Proposition 138.

“This is just a way to protect our current system that’s been there for 20 years and protect restaurant owners, keep restaurants affordable, and most importantly, keep very good pay for all tipped workers,” Piacquadio said.

Between 2012 and 2019, the number of restaurants and people employed at those restaurants grew at a faster clip in the seven states that have a single minimum wage compared to states that pay the federal minimum tipped wage, according to labor economist Sylvia Allegretto.

“We are sitting here in a state that has a $16 minimum wage,” Allegretto said from Oakland, California, where she works at the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research. “No subminimum wage, and we’ve got a thriving restaurant industry.”
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CHISINAU, Moldova — A knife-edge majority of 50.17% voted “yes” in Moldova’s pivotal referendum on joining the European Union, nearly final results showed on Monday, after President Maia Sandu said Sunday’s twin votes had been marred by “unprecedented” outside interference.

The tight finish – with fewer than 1.5% of the ballots still to be counted – is far from a resounding endorsement of the pro-EU path that Sandu has pursued over four years at the helm of the small ex-Soviet republic tugged between Russia and the West.

A presidential election, which took place simultaneously, handed Sandu 42% of the vote while her main rival, former prosecutor-general Alexandr Stoianoglo won 26%, setting up a tightly fought run-off between the two on Nov. 3.

The votes, which took place after a slew of allegations of election meddling, were seen as a test of the southeast European nation’s commitment to join the European Union and escape Moscow’s orbit for good.

The tight referendum result puts Sandu in a weaker position going into the second round since she has championed EU integration.

Moldova began the long process of formal accession talks in June and under Sandu has aimed to join by 2030. Ties with Moscow have deteriorated as Sandu condemned the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and diversified energy supply away from Russia.

Stoianoglo has said that, if he comes to power, he would develop a “balanced” foreign policy involving ties with the EU, Russia, United States and China. He boycotted Sunday’s referendum, calling it a ruse to boost Sandu’s haul at the election.

‘Clear evidence’

In the early hours of Monday, Sandu addressed Moldovan citizens, saying there was “clear evidence” that criminal groups working together with “foreign forces hostile to our national interests” had sought to buy off 300,000 votes.

She said this amounted to “fraud of unprecedented scale”.

“Criminal groups… have attacked our country with tens of millions of euros, lies and propaganda, using the most disgraceful means to keep our citizens and our nation trapped in uncertainty and instability,” she said.

While still waiting for the final results, she said, Moldova would “respond with firm decisions,” without elaborating.

In the run-up to the vote, authorities made repeated statements alleging concerted attempts to meddle in the vote by fugitive tycoon Ilan Shor, who lives in Russia.

Russia, which accuses Sandu’s government of “Russophobia,” denied interfering, while Shor denies wrongdoing.

The police accused Shor, who was sentenced to jail in absentia for fraud and a role in the theft of $1 billion, of trying to pay off a network of at least 130,000 voters to vote “no” and support “our candidate” at the election.

Shor has openly offered on social media to pay Moldovans to convince others to vote in a certain way and said that was a legitimate use of money that he earned.

In the early hours of Monday, he declared Moldovans had voted against the referendum.

“Today I congratulate you; you lost the battle,” he added, addressing Sandu simply as Maia.

Ahead of the vote, authorities took down online resources they said hosted disinformation, announced they had uncovered a program in Russia to train Moldovans to stage mass unrest and opened criminal cases against allies of Shor.

As the early results came in late on Sunday, some 57% of Moldovans initially appeared to have voted “no” in the referendum. As more ballots were counted, the “yes” vote gradually rose, overtaking “no” early on Monday morning.

Political analyst Valeriu Pasha said the “yes” vote had edged ahead only because of unusually high voter turnout among the Moldovan diaspora living abroad, who largely support EU integration.

“With such elections, in which dozens of (percentage points) can be bought, it will be very difficult for us going forward. But we must learn lessons and learn to fight this phenomenon,” he said.
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CANBERRA, Australia — An Indigenous senator told King Charles III that Australia is not his land and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the monarch is not needed as the country’s head of state as the British royal visited Australia’s parliament on Monday.

Indigenous independent Senator Lidia Thorpe was escorted out of a parliamentary reception for the royal couple after shouting that British colonizers have taken Indigenous land and bones.

“You committed genocide against our people,” she shouted. “Give us what you stole from us — our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty.”

King Charles spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while security officials stopped Senator Thorpe from approaching.

“This is not your land. You are not my king,” Thorpe yelled as she was ushered from the hall.

Albanese, who wants the country to become a republic with an Australian head of state, also told the king it was time for his role to end.

“You have shown great respect for Australians, even during times when we have debated the future of our own constitutional arrangements and the nature of our relationship with the Crown,” Albanese said. But, he said, “nothing stands still.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who wants to keep the British king as Australia’s monarch, noted that even supporters of a republic were honored to attend a reception for the Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in the capital Canberra.

“People have had haircuts, people have shined shoes, suits have been pressed and that’s just the republicans,” Dutton quipped.

Australia’s six state government leaders underscored the political divide on the country’s constitutional relationship with Britain by declining invitations to attend the reception. All six would prefer an Australian citizen was Australia’s head of state. They each said they had more pressing engagements on Monday, but monarchists agreed the royals had been snubbed.

Charles used the start of his speech to thank Canberra Indigenous elder Auntie Violet Sheridan for her traditional welcome to the king and queen.

“Let me also say how deeply I appreciated this morning’s moving Welcome to Country ceremony, which offers me the opportunity to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and all First Nations peoples who have loved and cared for this continent for 65,000 years,” Charles said.

“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honor of sharing so generously their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,” Charles added.

Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded to have been the consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.

Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum on the subject during his current three-year term in government. But it is a possibility if his center-left Labor Party is reelected at elections due by May next year.

Charles was drawn into Australia’s republic debate months before his visit.

The Australian Republic Movement, which wants Australia to sever its constitutional ties with Britain, wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the king’s meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.

“Whether Australia becomes a republic is … a matter for the Australian public to decide,” the Buckingham Palace letter said.

Earlier Monday, Charles and Camilla laid wreaths at the Australian War Memorial then shook hands with well-wishers on the second full day of their visit.

The memorial estimated 4,000 people had turned out to see the couple.

Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which has led to a scaled-down itinerary. It is Charles’ 17th trip to Australia and the first since he became king in 2022. It is the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II traveled to the distant nation in 2011.

Charles and Camilla rested the day after their arrival late Friday before making their first public appearance of the trip at a church service in Sydney on Sunday. They then flew to Canberra where they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and a reception at Parliament House.

Before leaving the war memorial, they stopped to greet hundreds of people who gathered under clear skies flying Australian flags. 

On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
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Russian drone attacks injured at least one person in Ukraine’s capital, officials in Kyiv said Monday.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram falling debris from drones shot down by Ukrainian air defenses damaged several residential buildings.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on Telegram that as many as a dozen Russian drones were involved in the attack, but that all of them were destroyed.

Russian drones also targeted Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine. Governor Vitalii Kim said Monday on Telegram that air defenses downed three drones overnight.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Monday it destroyed 18 Ukrainian drones launched in overnight attacks.

Eleven of the drones were shot down over the Rostov region, while another four were destroyed over Bryansk, two over Kursk and one over Oryol.

Officials in Kursk reported there were no casualties and no damage reported from the attacks.
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In February, Canada will host the first-ever winter Invictus Games, an athletic competition for wounded and injured veterans from around the world. This year, 550 athletes from 25 countries will compete in both traditional Invictus Games sports as well as new winter sports. Ukraine will be represented by 35 veterans. Tetiana Kukurika caught up with one of them in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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Thelma Mothershed Wair, one of the nine Black students who integrated a high school in Arkansas’ capital city of Little Rock in 1957 while a mob of white segregationists yelled threats and insults, has died at age 83.

Mothershed Wair died Saturday at a hospital in Little Rock after having complications from multiple sclerosis, her sister, Grace Davis, confirmed Sunday to The Associated Press.

The students who integrated Central High School were known as the Little Rock Nine.

For three weeks in September 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block the Black students from enrolling in Central High, three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated classrooms were unconstitutional. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to escort the students into school on Sept. 25, 1957.

Davis said she was enrolled at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville when her sister and the other students — Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls — integrated Central High School.

“I didn’t think anybody was really going to hurt her because, you know, we’ve had racial incidents in Little Rock over the years,” Davis said of her sister. “People would say things that were mean, but they never really hurt anybody.”

Davis said in the years that followed she and her sister spoke about the experience.

“I think one time somebody put some ink on her skirt or something when she was coming through the hallway. And, of course, there was always name-calling,” Davis said. “But she never really had any physical confrontations with any of the students up there.”

Faubus closed all of the schools in Little Rock in 1958 to try to avoid further integration. Mothershed went out of state to finish her remaining high school classes. The academic credits transferred back to Little Rock, and she ultimately earned her diploma from Central High School.

“She was always a fighter,” Davis said of her sister. “She’s been sick her entire life. She was born with a congenital heart defect and was told at an early age that she would never get out of her teens. So as she approached her 16th birthday, I remember Mother talking about how afraid she was because she thought she was going to die. But she did what she wanted to do. She enjoyed life.”

Mothershed earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Mothershed married Fred Wair in 1965. The couple have one son, Scott; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 2005, and Mothershed Wair moved back to Little Rock, Davis said.

According to the National Park Service, Mothershed Wair worked in the East St. Louis, Illinois, school system for 10 years as a home economics teacher and for 18 years as a counselor for elementary career education before retiring in 1994. She also worked at the Juvenile Detention Center of the St. Clair County Jail in Illinois, and was an instructor of survival skills for women at the American Red Cross.

Each member of the Little Rock Nine was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, and they donated them to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock in 2011.
…

Taipei, Taiwan — A U.S. and a Canadian warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait together Sunday less than a week after China conducted a new round of war games around the island, with Beijing denouncing the mission as “disruptive.”

The U.S. Navy, occasionally accompanied by ships from allied countries, transits the strait around once a month. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, also says the strategic waterway belongs to it.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said Monday that the destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit Sunday “through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”

The transit demonstrated the United States’ and Canada’s commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all countries, it said in a statement.

“The international community’s navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited. The United States rejects any assertion of sovereignty or jurisdiction that is inconsistent with freedoms of navigations, overflight, and other lawful uses of the sea and air,” it said.

China’s Eastern Theater Command said its forces monitored and warned the ships.

“The actions of the United States and Canada caused trouble and are disruptive to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” it added.

China staged war-games last Monday it said were a warning to “separatist acts” and which drew condemnation from the Taiwanese and U.S. governments.

Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
…

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday he was seeking a strong reaction from countries who have acknowledged that North Korea is becoming more involved in Russia’s more than 2-1/2-year-old war against Ukraine.

Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said there was ample satellite and video evidence that North Korea was sending not only equipment to Russia, but also soldiers to be prepared for deployment.

“I am grateful to those leaders and representatives of states who do not close their eyes and speak frankly about this cooperation for the sake of a larger war,” he said. “We expect a normal, honest, strong reaction from our partners on this.”

Zelenskyy said greater North Korean involvement could only be harmful to everyone.

“Unfortunately, instability and threats can significantly increase after North Korea becomes trained for modern warfare,” he said.

“If the world remains silent now and we have to engage soldiers from North Korea on the front line in the same way we have to defend ourselves from (Iranian) Shahed drones, this will certainly benefit no one in the world and only prolong the war.”

North Korea’s actions, he said, meant “in effect yet another country entering the war against Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy last week accused North Korea of deploying officers alongside Russia and preparing to send thousands of troops to help Moscow’s war effort. South Korea’s spy agency said on Friday North Korea had dispatched 1,500 special forces troops to Russia’s Far East for training.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday he could not confirm reports that North Korea has sent troops to Russia ahead of a possible deployment, but said such a move would be concerning, if true. NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Thursday there was no evidence of Pyongyang’s presence at this stage.

The involvement of North Korean regular troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would be a serious escalation of the war, France and Ukraine’s foreign ministers said at a joint press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.
…

Brasilia, Brazil — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday canceled his trip to Russia for the BRICS summit, following medical advice to temporarily avoid long-haul flights after hurting his head in an accident at home.

In a statement, the presidential office said Lula, 78, will now participate in the BRICS meeting via videoconference. He was initially scheduled to depart at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

According to a medical report issued by the Sirio Libanes Hospital in Brasilia, Lula suffered a laceration to the “occipital region” in the back of his head on Saturday.

The report said Lula “was advised to avoid long-distance air travel but is otherwise able to carry out his regular duties.”

The government said in a post on X that Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira has been designated to lead the Brazilian delegation in the BRICS summit, departing later on Sunday.

The diplomatic forum founded 15 years ago by major emerging markets Brazil, Russia, India, China has since expanded to include South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann, president of Lula’s Workers Party, posted on social media that she had spoken with the president and that “he is doing very well, just avoiding a long trip.”
…

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington — Two crew members who were missing following the crash of a fighter jet in mountainous terrain in Washington during a routine training flight have been declared dead, the U.S. Navy said Sunday.

The EA-18G Growler jet from the Electronic Attack Squadron crashed east of Mount Rainier on Tuesday afternoon, according to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Search teams, including a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter, immediately launched from NAS Whidbey Island to try to find the crew and crash site.

Army Special Forces soldiers trained in mountaineering, high-angle rescue and technical communications were brought in to reach the wreckage, which was located Wednesday by an aerial crew resting at about 1,828 meters (6,000 feet) in a remote, steep and heavily wooded area east of Mount Rainier, officials said.

Locating the missing crew members “as quickly and as safely as possible” had been their priority, Capt. David Ganci, commander, Electronic Attack Wing, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Thursday.

The aviators’ names won’t be released until a day after their next of kin have been notified, the Navy wrote in a press release Sunday, adding that search and rescue efforts have shifted into a long-term salvage and recovery operation as the cause of the crash is still being investigated.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” said Cmdr. Timothy Warburton, commanding officer of the aviators’ Electronic Attack Squadron, in the press release.

“Our priority right now is taking care of the families of our fallen aviators. … We are grateful for the ongoing teamwork to safely recover the deceased.” Ganci said they could not identify the missing crew until 24 hours after their families had been notified of their status.

The crash remains under investigation.

The EA-18G Growler is similar to the F/A-18F Super Hornet and includes sophisticated electronic warfare devices. Most of the Growler squadrons are based at Whidbey Island. One squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.

The “Zappers” were recently deployed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The search took place near Mount Rainier, a towering active volcano that is blanketed in snowfields and glaciers year-round.

The first production of the Growler was delivered to Whidbey Island in 2008. In the past 15 years, the Growler has operated around the globe supporting major actions, the Navy said. The plane seats a pilot in front and an electronics operator behind them.

“The EA-18G Growler aircraft we fly represents the most advanced technology in airborne Electronic Attack and stands as the Navy’s first line of defense in hostile environments,” the Navy said on its website. Each aircraft costs about $67 million.

Military aircraft training exercises and travel can be dangerous and sometimes result in crashes, injuries and deaths.

In May, an F-35 fighter jet on its way from Texas to Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles crashed after the pilot stopped to refuel in New Mexico. The pilot was the only person on board in that case and was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Last year, eight U.S. Air Force special Operations Command service members were killed when a CV-22B Osprey aircraft they were flying in crashed off the coast of Japan.
…

BELGRADE — European Union candidate Serbia will continue to refuse to impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine despite Western pressure, Serbia’s leader said after his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

Populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram that he believes the call, what he said was his first in more than two years with the Russian president, will help “further development of relations and trust between Russia and Serbia.”

“We talked as people who have known each other for a long time, as friends, and the ten-minute conversation was marked by a personal note, and we also talked about those who are weak [pro-Western] leaders,” Vucic said.

He did not say whether he would accept an earlier invitation by Putin to attend a BRICS summit of emerging economies, led by Russia and China, in Kazan later this week.

Although formally seeking E.U. membership, traditional Russian Slavic ally Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine though it has reluctantly condemned Moscow’s aggression. Vucic has said that imposing the sanctions wasn’t in Serbia’s national interest.

He said Sunday he expects criticism from the West of his conversation with Putin, but stated that “Serbia is a sovereign country which makes its own decisions.”

He also thanked Russia “for providing sufficient quantities of gas for Serbia at favorable prices.” Serbia was almost completely dependent on the Russian gas but has recently agreed to start to diversify its supplies.

Serbia, which was never part of the Soviet bloc, on Sunday marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of its capital Belgrade from the Nazi World War II occupation, which was accomplished mostly thanks to former Yugoslavia’s communist partisans, but also the Soviet Red Army.

Belgrade’s nationalist authorities marked the liberation date with a display of the pro-Russian sentiment, with thousands marching through Belgrade waving Russian flags and chanting slogans.

At a meeting marking the anniversary, Vucic delivered a speech in the Russian language, which he said is a sign of respect for the Red Army, without which “there would not have been the liberation of Belgrade.”
…

Tehran — Iran summoned the ambassador of Hungary, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, to protest a joint E.U.-Gulf Cooperation Council statement on islands controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, state media reported Sunday. 

The statement, published after the first summit between the two regional blocs on Wednesday, said, “We call on Iran to end its occupation of the three islands of the United Arab Emirates, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, which constitutes a violation of the sovereignty of the UAE and the principles of the Charter of the U.N.” 

The islands located near the Strait of Hormuz, a globally vital shipping lane, have been disputed between the United Arab Emirates and Iran for decades.  

Tehran has controlled the islands since 1971 at the end of British imperial rule over them. 

“The Hungarian ambassador was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry to protest against the repetition of certain baseless claims in the joint declaration from the leaders of the EU and the GCC,” the official IRNA news agency reported.   

The foreign ministry called the EU’s stance “thoughtless, irresponsible and void of any legal basis,” IRNA added.  

On Monday, the European Union accused Tehran of supplying missiles and drones to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine and imposed fresh sanctions on the country. 

In April 2023, Iran appointed an ambassador to the UAE for the first time in nearly eight years as part of improving diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab states. 
…

WARSAW, Poland — The prominent American journalist and historian Anne Applebaum urged continued support for Ukraine as she accepted a prestigious German prize Sunday, arguing that pacifism in the face of aggression is often nothing more than appeasement.

Applebaum made her appeal to an audience in Frankfurt, where she was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She was joined by her husband, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, who like his wife is a strong voice on the international stage for supporting Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s brutal invasion.

“If there is even a small chance that military defeat could help end this horrific cult of violence in Russia, just as military defeat once brought an end to the cult of violence in Germany, we should take it,” Applebaum said.

Many Germans have embraced an ethos of pacifism because of their nation’s aggression under Adolf Hitler during World War II. And many have misgivings now about supplying weapons to Kyiv, fearing Russia and worried that it could cause the war to spread beyond Ukraine’s borders to the rest of Europe.

“Some even call for peace by referring solemnly to the ‘lessons of German history,” Applebaum noted, according to a transcript of her speech published by the prize organization.

“As I am here today accepting a peace prize, this seems the right moment to point out that ‘I want peace’ is not always a moral argument,” Applebaum said. “This is also the right moment to say that the lesson of German history is not that Germans should be pacifists.”

“On the contrary, we have known for nearly a century that a demand for pacifism in the face of an aggressive, advancing dictatorship can simply represent the appeasement and acceptance of that dictatorship.”

She argued that the “real lesson” from German history should be that Germans “have a special responsibility to stand up for freedom and to take risks in doing so.”

The prize, which is endowed with $27,185, was awarded in St. Paul’s Church in Frankfurt — which is considered the birthplace of German parliamentary democracy — at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The prize has been awarded since 1950. It honors individuals who have contributed to turning the idea of peace into reality through literature, science or art. Last year’s prize was awarded to British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie for his perseverance despite enduring decades of threats and violence.

The German news agency dpa reported that Applebaum’s strong support for continuing to arm Ukraine triggered some criticism, citing Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, the head of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, which awards the prize.

Nonetheless she received strong applause for her speech, dpa reported from Frankfurt.

Following pacifism to its logical conclusion, Applebaum argued, would “mean that we should acquiesce to the military conquest of Ukraine, to the cultural destruction of Ukraine, to the construction of concentration camps in Ukraine, to the kidnapping of children in Ukraine.”

Applebaum writes for The Atlantic magazine. She has written books that focus on totalitarianism in Eastern Europe, including “The Gulag,” and “The Iron Curtain” and “Red Famine,” about dictator Joseph Stalin’s war on Ukraine. She recently published “Autocracy, Inc. The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.” In 2004, she was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

The prize jury said Applebaum’s analyses of communist and post-communist systems in the Soviet Union and Russia reveal “the mechanisms by which authoritarians grab hold of power and maintain their control.”

The laudation for Applebaum was delivered by the Russian historian Irina Scherbakova, a founding member of the human rights organization Memorial, which is now banned in Russia and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
…

New York — Manhattan’s famed luxury store row Fifth Avenue is in line for a major makeover.

New York City officials unveiled a plan last week to transform a central portion of the thoroughfare between Bryant Park and Central Park into a more pedestrian-centered boulevard.

They propose doubling the size of sidewalks, reducing traffic lanes from five to three, as well as adding seating areas and hundreds of trees and planters, among other improvements.

The vision is to emulate iconic strolling and shopping boulevards such as the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

“As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of one of the most famous streets in the world, New Yorkers can look forward to a brand-new Fifth Avenue that will return the street to its former glory as a pedestrian boulevard,” Madelyn Wils, interim president of the Fifth Avenue Association, which runs the local business improvement district, said in a statement. “Reversing the century-old trend of putting cars first, this visionary design will transform our overcrowded avenue into a spacious and green corridor for shoppers and workers, visitors and New Yorkers, and everyone on Fifth.”

The plan would cost more than $350 million and be paid through a mix of public and private financing, according to Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and the Future of Fifth Partnership.

Officials said the project represents the avenue’s first major redesign and could pay for itself in less than five years through increased property and sales tax revenue.

But some transit advocates have voiced concerns, saying the plan does not give enough consideration to the needs of the public bus system or the city’s many cyclists.

A public meeting will be held later this month on the plan, and construction could begin in 2028.

Officials say Fifth Avenue is roughly 100 feet wide, with just two 23-foot sidewalks, even though pedestrians make up 70% of all traffic on the corridor.

Some 5,500 pedestrians traverse its blocks on average each hour, a number that swells to 23,000 people an hour during the holidays, officials said.

“People across the globe identify Fifth Avenue as a premier destination for strolling and shopping,” Meera Joshi, the city’s deputy mayor for operations, said in a statement. “But its larger-than-life reputation means that its sidewalks have reached their capacity, hosting more people per hour in peak seasons than Madison Square Garden.”

The Fifth Avenue plan was among other ambitious plans for roadways city officials revealed [last] week.

They also proposed capping stretches of the Cross Bronx Expressway, a major highway that cuts through the borough of the Bronx.

City officials said the proposals would build parks and greenspaces atop the covered highway, helping restore urban neighborhoods hollowed out by the expansion of the national highway system and the development of suburbs.

“This is a historic opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and reconnect communities once again,” Joshi said. 
…

miami, florida — Hurricane Oscar made landfall early Sunday in the southeastern Bahamas and was heading toward Cuba, an island recently beleaguered by a massive power outage.  

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm’s center arrived on Great Inagua island. It is expected to produce a dangerous storm surge that could produce significant coastal flooding there and in other areas of the southeastern Bahamas. Two to four inches of rainfall are expected, with isolated amounts of up to six inches.  

Forecasters said five to 10 inches of rain, and even isolated amounts of up to 15 inches, are expected across eastern Cuba through Tuesday.  

Oscar formed Saturday off the coast of the Bahamas and brushed past the Turks and Caicos islands to the south.  

The National Hurricane Center earlier characterized the storm as “tiny,” but hurricane warnings were in place Sunday for southeastern Bahamas and portions of Cuba.  

The storm’s maximum sustained winds were clocked at 80 mph (130 kph) with higher gusts. Its center was located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) east-northeast of Guantanamo, Cuba. The storm was heading west at 12 mph (19 kph) and was expected to reach Guantanamo or Holguin, Cuba, on Sunday afternoon at hurricane strength.  

The hurricane’s approach comes as Cuba tries to recover from its worst blackout in at least two years, which left millions without power for two days last week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.  

Philippe Papin of the National Hurricane Center said it was somewhat unexpected that Oscar became a hurricane Saturday.  

“Unfortunately the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” Papin said.  

Hours earlier Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico’s southern Caribbean coast. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land. 
…

Berlin — A Libyan suspected of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and links to the Islamic State group will appear before a judge on Sunday, German prosecutors said. 

The suspect, identified only as Omar A., was arrested on Saturday evening at his home in Bernau, just outside the German capital, the federal prosecutors’ office said. 

Omar A. was accused of planning a “high-profile attack with firearms” on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, they said. 

As part of his preparations, Omar A. was suspected of having “exchanges with a member of IS in a messenger chat,” said the prosecutors, who described him as a supporter of the group’s ideology. 

In a message on X, Israel’s ambassador to Berlin said, “Muslim anti-Semitism is no longer just hate rhetoric. It leads to and encourages terrorist activities worldwide.” 

Israeli embassies were “on the front line of the diplomatic battlefield,” ambassador Ron Prosor said. 

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said protecting Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany was “of the utmost importance to us.” 

Law enforcement were acting with the “utmost vigilance” to prevent any suspected “Islamist, antisemitic and anti-Israel violence,” Faeser said.   

Foreign tipoff   

Prosecutors said Omar A. would appear on Sunday before a judge who would decide if he should be remanded in custody. 

Authorities said they searched the 28-year-old’s home in Bernau on Saturday. 

They also searched the property near Bonn of another person “not suspected” of involvement in the alleged plan. 

German daily Bild said the flat in the town of Sankt Augustin near Bonn belonged to the suspect’s uncle, who was being treated as a witness. 

German authorities arrested Omar A. after a tipoff from a foreign intelligence agency, Bild said, adding that he had not been on any militant watchlist in Germany. 

Bild said the Libyan man was thought to have entered Germany in November 2022 and to have made a request for asylum the following January, which was rejected in September 2023. 

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s retaliatory onslaught on Gaza, German authorities have increased vigilance about possible Islamist threats and antisemitism. 

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli Consulate and on police. 

In early October, there were explosions near the Israeli Embassy in Denmark and gunfire near its mission in Sweden. 
…

KYIV — Russian air defenses shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones Sunday over Russia’s western regions, Moscow officials said, while 17 people were injured in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in a ballistic missile attack. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said 110 drones were destroyed in the overnight barrage against seven Russian regions. Many targeted Russia’s border region of Kursk, where 43 drones were reportedly shot down. 

Social media footage appeared to show air defenses at work over the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, close to a factory producing explosives. 

Local Gov. Gleb Nikitin wrote on social media Sunday that four fire fighters had been injured repelling a drone attack over Dzerzhinsk’s industrial zone, but did not give further details. 

Such large-scale aerial attacks are still relatively rare over Russia 2½  years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

A similar attack at the end of September saw Russia’s Ministry of Defense report the destruction of 125 drones across seven regions. 

Meanwhile, 17 people were injured in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih after the city was hit with two Russian ballistic missiles, officials said Sunday. 

The attack late Saturday evening damaged homes and businesses, said local administration head Oleksandr Vilkul. 

The Ukrainian air force said that Russia launched 49 drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles in total overnight. It said 31 of the drones were shot down over 12 regions, including the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while another 13 disappeared from radar — suggesting they were knocked out by electronic defenses. 

In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched some 800 guided aerial bombs and more than 500 attack drones over Ukraine in the past week alone. 

“Every day, Russia strikes our cities and communities. It is deliberate terror from the enemy against our people,” he said, renewing calls for continued air support from the country’s allies. 

“United in defense, the world can stand against this targeted terror.” 
…

MILWAUKEE — Whooping cough is at its highest level in a decade for this time of year, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.

There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That’s the most at this point in the year since 2014, when cases topped 21,800.

The increase is not unexpected — whooping cough peaks every three to five years, health experts said. And the numbers indicate a return to levels before the coronavirus pandemic, when whooping cough and other contagious illnesses plummeted.

Still, the tally has some state health officials concerned, including those in Wisconsin, where there have been about 1,000 cases so far this year, compared to a total of 51 last year.

Nationwide, CDC has reported that kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and vaccine exemptions are at an all-time high. Thursday, it released state figures, showing that about 86% of kindergartners in Wisconsin got the whooping cough vaccine, compared to more than 92% nationally.

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, usually starts out like a cold, with a runny nose and other common symptoms, before turning into a prolonged cough. It is treated with antibiotics. Whooping cough used to be very common until a vaccine was introduced in the 1950s, which is now part of routine childhood vaccinations. It is in a shot along with tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. The combo shot is recommended for adults every 10 years.

“They used to call it the 100-day cough because it literally lasts for 100 days,” said Joyce Knestrick, a family nurse practitioner in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Whooping cough is usually seen mostly in infants and young children, who can develop serious complications. That’s why the vaccine is recommended during pregnancy, to pass along protection to the newborn, and for those who spend a lot of time with infants.

But public health workers say outbreaks this year are hitting older kids and teens. In Pennsylvania, most outbreaks have been in middle school, high school and college settings, an official said. Nearly all the cases in Douglas County, Nebraska, are schoolkids and teens, said Justin Frederick, deputy director of the health department.

That includes his own teenage daughter.

“It’s a horrible disease. She still wakes up — after being treated with her antibiotics — in a panic because she’s coughing so much she can’t breathe,” he said.

It’s important to get tested and treated with antibiotics early, said Dr. Kris Bryant, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky. People exposed to the bacteria can also take antibiotics to stop the spread.

“Pertussis is worth preventing,” Bryant said. “The good news is that we have safe and effective vaccines.”
…

Tens of thousands of students in the Southeast are dealing with school disruptions after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc so severe — on homes, campuses and municipal power and water systems — that some districts have no idea when they will reopen.

While virtual learning helped during the COVID-19 school closures, that has not been an option for this crisis because internet and cellphone service has remained spotty since the storm struck in late September.

In hard-hit western North Carolina, some districts warn students will miss up to a month of school, and others say they can’t yet determine a timeline for returning to classrooms.

“I feel like a month is a lot, but it’s not something that can’t be overcome,” said Marissa Coleman, who has sent her four children to stay with grandparents in Texas because their home in North Carolina’s Buncombe County has no running water. “But if we get further into Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s like, how are they actually going to make this up?”

In mountainous Buncombe County, Helene swept away homes, cut power and destroyed crucial parts of the water system for Asheville, a city of about 94,000 people. The storm decimated remote towns and killed at least 246 people throughout the Appalachians, where massive cleanup efforts have been complicated by washed-out bridges and roads. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.

The Buncombe County School system, which serves over 22,000 students, told families Tuesday on the district’s Facebook page no decision has been made “with regards to start date or length of day” because of a need to repair buildings, restore phone and security systems and redraw bus routes.

Even when schools reopen, educators worry the disruption could have profound effects on students’ learning and emotional well-being.

Children who experience natural disasters are more prone to acute illness and symptoms of depression and anxiety, research shows. The physical and mental health impacts put them at greater risk of learning loss: Absences can undermine achievement, as can the effects of trauma on brain function.

The challenges come amid growing concerns about the impacts of climate change on students. Wildfires have swept through communities, displacing families. Many school systems with inadequate heating or air conditioning have closed during extreme weather or forced students and educators to endure sweltering or frigid temperatures. According to the World Bank, 400 million children lost school days because of “climate-related closures” in 2022.

Days after Helene made landfall, Hurricane Milton roared ashore last week farther south along the same Florida coast as a Category 3 storm. While about half the state’s districts were closed, all of them were planning to reopen by the end of this week.

Schools affected by Helene are trying to provide stability. The Buncombe district has suggested parents trade books with neighbors and friends for their kids. “Have them write, maybe about something they’re looking forward to when school starts again,” the district told parents on social media. “Turn everyday experiences into math problems.”

Cécile Wight, a mother of two in Asheville, said she has been grateful for concern shown by schools including surveys checking on families’ well-being and an elementary school bus driver who took his own car to visit each child on his route.

“That has been huge, just having the emotional support from the school system and from the people we know at the school,” she said.

But uncertainty remains. Wight said her family is able to stay at their home because they have well water, but many other families have yet to return since evacuating. Most of Buncombe’s 45 schools still lacked running water as of Tuesday, meaning they’re unable to meet basic safety and hygiene standards.

Schools have begun exploring whether it would be possible to open without running water, relying on portable bathroom trailers. In a letter to families, Asheville Superintendent Maggie Furman said the district is considering drilling wells at each school so they don’t have to rely on city water.

Coleman said her kids are eager for some kind of normalcy.

“I understand the schools are going to have to take some time to find a way to open safely, and I support that 100%. But I definitely am not in the camp of ‘We need to wait until we get water back, until everything’s normal again to open.’ I just think that’s going to be too long,” Coleman said.

The Tennessee Department of Education is still trying to determine how many schools remain closed since Hurricane Helene and how many took too much damage to reopen.

Echoing the COVID-19 pandemic, several schools in Tennessee have postponed traditions like homecoming games, parades and dances. Many colleges are also granting extensions on application deadlines, officials say, to reduce high school seniors’ stress.

In storm-drenched areas elsewhere, some early education providers may never reopen.

Private child care and preschool centers are particularly vulnerable in the aftermath of a natural disaster, said Militza Mezquita, senior adviser for education in emergencies at Save the Children. Many already operate on thin margins, meaning a temporary closure can easily turn permanent. As for-profit companies, they are also ineligible for many types of disaster aid. A natural disaster can wipe out 10% to 20% of providers, Mezquita said.

“Child care recovery is very critical to the whole recovery ecosystem,” Mezquita said, noting the people essential to recovery — road workers, cleanup crews, doctors and nurses — often have young children that need to be looked after. “If they are not able to adequately get their children in care, they can’t go to work.”

Despite the instability, educators like Heather Smith, who was named North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year in the spring, encourage families to see the lessons storms can provide. Smith brought along her two children, ages 8 and 4, to serve meals at her church.

“Our kids are learning so much every day, whether it’s about adversity, whether it’s about helping a community,” said Smith, who rode out the storm at her home in Waynesville.

Similarly, Wight has been taking her children to volunteer for relief efforts at a school. She said it has helped them feel active and involved in the community.

“If COVID taught us something, it’s that we can make things work. The kids are resilient,” Wight said. “They will eventually catch up on the academic side of things.”
…

NEW YORK — Cher, Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne were among this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, an elite group formally introduced into the music pantheon Saturday at a star-studded concert gala.

Kool & the Gang, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, and Peter Frampton round out the 2024 class of honorees, artists honored at the ceremony held in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the prestigious hall.

Big Mama Thornton, Alexis Korner and John Mayall received special honors for “musical influence,” as Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield received awards for “musical excellence.”

Suzanne de Passe, a trailblazer for women executives in the music business, who was big in Motown, won the night’s award for nonperforming industry professionals.

Dua Lipa kicked off the evening with a performance of Believe, with Cher joining the pop star onstage to finish her 1998 smash hit, which was credited as the first song to use auto-tune technology as an instrument.

“I changed the sound of music forever,” she said in her acceptance speech, less than a year after railing against the hall for not having yet added her to the ballot.

“It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” she quipped Saturday night.

Performers included Kelly Clarkson, Sammy Hagar, Slash and Demi Lovato, who all appeared for Foreigner.

A group of artists including Queen Latifah, De La Soul and Busta Rhymes also performed with the surviving members of the eclectic, pioneering hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest — Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White. 
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