TBILISI, GEORGIA — Opposition protesters in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia have refused to cede control of key government buildings that demonstrators stormed to protest new measures allowing Russians to buy property in the area.

Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania announced Saturday that he would step down and hold early elections if demonstrators vacated the region’s parliament building. But crowds that gathered in the Abkhazian capital, Sukhumi, rejected the deal, and opposition leaders said they would accept only Bzhania’s unconditional resignation.

“None of us have come here for the sake of seats [in parliament],” former Abkhazian Prime Minister Valery Bganba told the crowd in a video livestreamed on social media. “We came here to save our people, our country.”

At least 14 people were injured Friday when opposition protesters clashed with police, Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti reported.

Lawmakers had gathered at the region’s parliament building to discuss ratifying measures allowing Russian citizens to buy property in the breakaway state. However, the session was postponed because demonstrators broke through the gate to the building’s grounds with a truck and streamed inside. Some threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas.

Most of Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in fighting that ended in 1993, and Georgia lost control of the rest of the territory in a short war with Russia in 2008. Russia recognizes Abkhazia as an independent country, but many Abkhazians are concerned that the region of about 245,000 people is a client state of Moscow.

Opponents of the property agreement say it will drive up prices of apartments and boost Moscow’s dominance in the region. Abkhazia’s mountains and Black Sea beaches make it a popular destination for Russian tourists, and the demand for holiday homes could be strong.

The arrest of five opposition figures at a similar demonstration Monday set off wide protests the next day in which bridges leading to Sukhumi were blocked.
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BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — Hundreds of activists formed a human chain outside one of the main plenary halls at the United Nations climate summit on what is traditionally their biggest protest day during the two-week talks.

The demonstration in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be echoed at sites around the world in a global “day of action” for climate justice that’s become an annual event.

Activists waved flags, snapped their fingers, hummed and mumbled chants, with many covering their mouths with the word “Silenced.”

Demonstrators held up signs calling for more money to be pledged for climate finance, which involves cash for transitioning to clean energy and adapting to climate change. It comes as negotiators at the venue try to hammer out a deal for exactly that — but progress has been slow, and observers say the direction of any agreement is still unclear.

‘Keep fighting’

Lidy Nacpil said protestors like her are “not surprised” about how negotiations are going. But past wins — such as a loss and damage fund that gives developing nations cash after extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change — keep organizers going, said Nacpil, a coordinator with the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development.

“The role we play is to increase the pressure,” she said of the action. “We know we’re not going to get the results that the world needs in this round of negotiations, but at least to bring us many steps closer is our hope, is our aim.

“I think we have no option but to keep fighting. … It’s the instinctive response that anyone, any living being, living creatures will have, which is to fight for life and fight for survival.”

Tasneem Essop said she was inspired by the action, which was challenging to organize. “To be able to pull off something where people feel their own power, exercise their own power and get inspired in this creative way, I’m super excited about this,” she said.

Essop said she’s “not very” optimistic about an outcome on finance but knows next week will be pivotal. “We can’t end up with a bad deal for the peoples of the world, those who are already suffering the impacts of climate change, those who need to adapt to an increasing and escalating crisis,” she said.

“We fight until the end.”

Climate cash

Negotiators at COP29, as the talks are known, are working on a deal that might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to poorer nations. Many are in the Global South and already suffering the costly impact of weather disasters fueled by climate change. Several experts have said $1 trillion or more annually is needed both to compensate for such damages and to pay for a clean-energy transition that most countries can’t afford on their own.

Samir Bejanov, deputy lead negotiator of this year’s climate talks, said in a press conference that the climate finance talks were moving too slowly.

“I want to repeat our strong encouragement to all parties to make as much progress as possible,” he said. “We need everyone to approach the task with urgency and determination.”

Diego Pacheco, a negotiator from Bolivia, said the amount of money on the table for developing countries needs to be “loud and clear.”

“No more speeches but real money,” he said.

Observers also were disappointed at the pace of progress.

“This has been the worst first week of a COP in my 15 years of attending this summit,” said Mohamed Adow, of climate think tank Power Shift Africa. “There’s no clarity on the climate finance goal, the quality of the finance or how it’s going to be made accessible to vulnerable countries.

“I sense a lot of frustration, especially among the developing country blocs here,” he said.

Panama environment minister Juan Carlos Navarro agreed, telling The Associated Press he is “not encouraged” by what he’s seeing at COP29 so far.

“What I see is a lot of talk and very little action,” he said, noting that Panama is among the group of countries least responsible for warming emissions but most vulnerable to the damage caused by climate change-fueled disasters.
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ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Jake Paul beat boxing legend Mike Tyson by unanimous decision to win an intergenerational heavyweight battle in Texas on Friday that failed to live up to its enormous hype.

The bout between the 27-year-old social media influencer-turned-prizefighter Paul and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Tyson was streamed live on Netflix and played out in front of a sold-out crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Those fans were left largely disappointed as Tyson showed his age and was never able to generate any offense against his younger opponent, landing just 18 punches to Paul’s 78.

“First and foremost, Mike Tyson — it’s an honor to be able to fight him,” said Paul. “It was as tough and hard as I thought it would be.”

Tyson, who wore a knee brace, never mounted much of a challenge after being wobbled by some left hands in the third round but did enough defensively to avoid taking any serious damage.

He acknowledged after the contest to fighting through a leg injury.

“Yeah, but I can’t use that as an excuse. If I did, I wouldn’t be in here,” Tyson said. “I knew he was a good fighter. He was prepared, I came to fight. I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself. I’m not one of those guys that live to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”

Tyson, one of the most fearsome heavyweight champions during his heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was in his first professional fight in nearly 20 years. He was noncommittal when asked if he would return to the ring again.

“I don’t know. It depends on the situation,” he said.

Paul (11-1) said he can now fight anyone he wants, possibly even Mexican Canelo Alvarez, after being the main attraction in the mega event that brought out a star-studded crowd and 72,300 fight fans.

“This is the biggest event, over 120 million people on Netflix,” he said. “We crashed the site, the biggest U.S. boxing gate, $20 million, in U.S. history, and everyone is next on the list.”

Taylor beats Serrano

In the co-main event earlier in the evening, Ireland’s Katie Taylor retained her super lightweight title by beating Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano in a controversial unanimous decision after a violent affair.

Serrano came forward throughout the fight, but their heads crashed together hard in the early stages, resulting in a deep cut over Serrano’s right eye. The referee later took a point off Taylor for head butts.

In the end all three judges scored it 95-94 for Taylor, who denied accusations from Serrano’s corner that she was fighting dirty.

Taylor won the pair’s previous meeting, at New York’s Madison Square Garden in April 2022, and said there would be a third meeting.
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MOSCOW — Russian forces have captured the villages of Makarivka and Hryhorivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Makarivka is located to the south of Velyka Novosilka while Hryhorivka, which Moscow calls by its previous name of Leninskoye, is situated to the west of the town of Selydove, captured by Russia last month.

Reuters could not independently verify developments on the battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.  
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CHIPINGE, Zimbabwe — Gertrude Siduna appears to have little appetite for corn farming season. 

Rather than prepare her land in Zimbabwe’s arid southeastern Chipinge district for the crop that has fed her family for generations — and bitter about repeated droughts that have decimated yields — she turns her thoughts to the prices for chilies and techniques for growing them.

“I pick my chilies from the fields and take them to the processing center close to my home. It’s simple,” said Siduna, 49. She’s received about $400 from the drought-resistant crop and plans to grow more. “Chilies are far better than corn.” 

Siduna has been growing chilies for a year since being trained under a climate-smart agriculture program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program was designed to strengthen small-scale farmers’ resilience to climate change-induced droughts, many requiring food assistance from the government or international donors.

But as climate change worsens droughts and floods worldwide, government agencies and local operators have found that aid efforts can still be made more effective and financially sustainable. 

Experts say rich nations like the United States, which have been the biggest contributors of planet-warming emissions historically, have a responsibility to fund humanitarian aid in the countries that are experiencing its effects first and most severely. 

The U.S. is the world’s largest international donor of food aid, reaching over 60 million people in about 70 countries annually with direct contributions of food or via programs to help farmers adapt to extreme weather. USAID plans to mobilize $150 billion for climate-related initiatives, according to the agency’s climate strategy report. 

In Zimbabwe, around 7.7 million people — almost half the country’s population — require food assistance, according to government and U.N. figures. Frequent droughts are decimating people’s ability to feed themselves, a phenomenon worsened by climate change. 

Switching crops

Water-guzzling white corn has been the staple crop of choice for rural farmers in Zimbabwe since its introduction to much of sub-Saharan Africa by the Portuguese in the 17th century. 

But with the threat of drought, some, like Siduna, now think it may be better to buy the staple than grow it. 

“I don’t lack corn meal. I just use my earnings from chilies to buy it from the local shops,” she said. 

Unlike corn or other crops that she has typically grown, chilies do well in the hotter, drier conditions. And, because they end up in stores in the United States, they offer cash rewards. 

“You have to continuously pray for the rain if you grow corn,” said the mother of three. “The crop just can’t stand heat. But chilies can. One is assured of a harvest, and the market is readily available.” 

Other crops such as millets, which are cereals tolerant of poor soils, drought and harsh growing conditions, are also gaining traction under climate resilience programs. 

In Chiredzi, southeast Zimbabwe, Kenias Chikamhi, 54, describes growing corn as “a gamble … whereas with millets you have a good chance of at least getting something.” Millet was the country’s staple before the introduction of maize. 

But not all the corn is gone yet. Zimbabwe’s agriculture ministry says it plans to increase land under maize to 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) by using farming techniques such as digging holes into dry land and mulching to cover the growing crops as well as by planting drought-resilient varieties that can better cope with the lack of rain. 

The country harvested about 700,000 tons of corn this year, 70% down from the season before and far short of the 2 million tons required annually for humans and livestock. 

Solar-powered irrigation

Farming techniques are also changing. 

Another of USAID’s initiatives has seen a community garden in Mutandahwe village, where Siduna lives, irrigated by three small solar panels. The panels pump water from a borehole into storage tanks that are connected to the garden taps by pipes, turning the 1-hectare plot of vegetables like onions, leaf cabbage and cowpeas into an island of lush green. 

Solar-powered community gardens have been spreading across the district and much of the country’s dry areas. 

“We were struggling walking long distances to fetch water from rivers, and right now the rivers are dry,” said Muchaneta Mutowa, secretary of the plot. The plot is shared by 60 members, all growing vegetables they can eat and sell. 

“We now have easy access to reliable water that flows from the taps [and] we don’t pay for the sun,” she said. And money from the sale of vegetables goes a long way to pay for family basics such as school fees. 

Members pay a dollar each into a savings pot that can be used for low-interest loans or minor repair expenses “so that we are not always reliant on the donor,” said Mutohwa. 

Increasing effectiveness

Because USAID’s investments can be so consequential for receiving countries, it’s important they’re done right, said Lora Iannotti, a professor who studies global maternal and youth nutrition at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Richer countries like the U.S. have tended to use direct donations of surplus staple and commodity crops like corn and wheat as a way to benefit their own farmers, according to Iannotti’s research. 

Iannotti has seen advances in food aid with dietary variety in mind but thinks there’s room for improvement. Undernourishment became more prevalent after the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change is making hunger a more pressing issue than ever, with crises that resemble “stuff from 100 years ago,” she said. 

Daniel Maxwell, a professor of food security at Tufts University, thinks countries providing aid also need strategies to address problems “causing the hunger in the first place,” whether that’s climate change, war or other factors. He also thinks countries need a more balanced approach, including projects promoting health, protection from violence or nutrition. 

USAID and the U.S. Department of Agriculture haven’t yet explained how food aid efforts might be changed or altered by the incoming U.S. administration, but the delay on renewing farm legislation does hold up USDA programming, including food aid projects, in a variety of ways, said Alexis Taylor, undersecretary of trade and foreign agricultural affairs at USDA. 

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, released reports finding that USAID and its partner agencies needed to improve the ways they measured the outcomes of their programs. 

USAID says they worked with the GAO to address its recommendations. The GAO has closed six of the eight recommendations, indicating satisfactory response; the others were to be resolved this fall, a spokesperson for USAID said. 

“We are committing a lot of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” said Chelsa Kenney, the GAO’s director for international affairs issues. “It’s important that we’re good stewards of those taxpayer dollars to ensure that the kind of programming that we are providing to these countries is really making a difference.”
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WINCHESTER, England — In the half-light of dusk, Martin Edwards surveys the shadows of the ancient woodland from a high seat and waits. He sits still, watching with his thermal camera.

Even the hares don’t seem to notice the deer stalker until he takes aim. The bang of his rifle pierces the stillness. He’s killed a buck, one of many wild deer roaming this patch of forest in Hampshire, southern England.

Edwards advocates humane deer management: the culling of deer to control their numbers and ensure they don’t overrun forests and farmland in a country where they no longer have natural predators. For these advocates, shooting deer is much more than a sport. It’s a necessity because England’s deer population has gotten out of control.

There are now more deer in England than at any other time in the last 1,000 years, according to the Forestry Commission, the government department looking after England’s public woodland.

That has had a devastating impact on the environment, officials say. Excessive deer foraging damages large areas of woodland including young trees, as well as the habitats of certain birds like robins. Some landowners have lost huge amounts of crops to deer, and overpopulation means that the mammals are more likely to suffer from starvation and disease.

“They will produce more young every year. We’ve got to a point where farmers and foresters are definitely seeing that impact,” said Edwards, pointing to some young hazel shrubs with half-eaten buds. “If there’s too many deer, you will see that they’ve literally eaten all the vegetation up to a certain height.”

Forestry experts and businesses argue that culling the deer — and supplying the meat to consumers — is a double win: It helps rebalance the ecosystem and provides a low-fat, sustainable protein.

While venison — a red meat similar to lean beef but with an earthier flavor — is often perceived as a high-end food in the U.K., one charity sees it as an ideal protein for those who can’t afford to buy other meats.

“Why not utilize that fantastic meat to feed people in need?” said SJ Hunt, chief executive of The Country Food Trust, which distributes meals made with wild venison to food banks.

Pandemic population boom

An estimated 2 million deer now roam England’s forests.

The government says native wild deer play a role in healthy forest ecosystems, but acknowledges that their population needs managing. It provides some funding for solutions such as building deer fences.

But experts like Edwards, a spokesman for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, believe lethal control is the only effective option, especially after deer populations surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic was a boon to deer because hunters, like everyone else, stayed home and the restaurant market — the main outlet for venison in the U.K. — vanished overnight.

“There were no sales of venison and the price was absolutely on the floor,” said Ben Rigby, a leading venison and game meats wholesaler. “The deer had a chance to breed massively.”

Rigby’s company now processes hundreds of deer a week, turning them into diced venison or steaks for restaurants and supermarkets. One challenge, he said, is growing the domestic appetite for venison so it appears on more dinner plates, especially after Brexit put new barriers up for exporting the meat.

“We’re not really a game-eating nation, not like in France or Germany or Scandinavia,” he said. “But the U.K. is becoming more and more aware of it and our trade is growing.”

From the forest to the table

Shooting deer is legal but strictly regulated in England. Stalkers must have a license, use certain kinds of firearms and observe open seasons. They also need a valid reason, such as when a landowner authorizes them to kill the deer when their land is damaged. Hunting deer with packs of dogs is illegal.

Making wild venison more widely available in supermarkets and beyond will motivate more stalkers to cull the deer and ensure the meat doesn’t go to waste, Edwards said.

Forestry England, which manages public forests, is part of that drive. In recent years it supplied some hospitals with 1,000 kilograms of wild venison, which became the basis of pies and casseroles popular with patients and staff, it said.

The approach appears to have been well received, though it has attracted some criticism from animal welfare group PETA, which advocates veganism.

Hunt, the food charity chief, said there’s potential to do much more with the meat, which she described as nutritious and “free-range to the purest form of that definition.”

Her charity distributed hundreds of thousands of pouches of venison Bolognese meals to food banks last year — and people are hungry for more, she said.

She recalled attending one food bank session where the only protein available was canned sardines, canned baked beans and the venison meals.

“There were no eggs. There was no cheese. That’s all that they could do, and people were just saying, ‘Thank you, please bring more (of the venison),” she said. “That’s fantastic, because people realize they’re doing a double positive with helping the environment by utilizing the meat as well.” 
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Protesters stormed the parliament of the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia on Friday and demanded the resignation of its leader over an unpopular investment agreement with Moscow.

The self-styled president of the region, Aslan Bzhania, said he had no intention of stepping down or fleeing. He said talks were proceeding with opposition representatives.

But opposition representatives rejected the president’s statement, and news reports said they had broken off the talks.

Russia said it was following the “crisis situation” with concern and urged its citizens to avoid travel to Abkhazia.

Russia recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, as independent states in 2008 after it defeated Georgia in a five-day war. It maintains troop bases in both regions and props up their economies.

In Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhumi, protesters used a truck to smash through the metal gates surrounding parliament. They then climbed through windows after wrenching off metal bars.

An opposition leader, Temur Gulia, said protesters initially demanded cancellation of the investment agreement, which critics feared would allow wealthy Russians and businesses to buy up property in the lush Black Sea region, pricing out locals.

But now, he said, the protesters wanted to oust the president.

Protesters break into offices

Protesters also broke into presidential administration offices in the same complex as the parliament. Emergency services said at least nine people were taken to the hospital.

Bzhania, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said he and other leaders were “staying in place and will keep on working.”

“I ask you not to give in to panic. I am staying in Abkhazia and will work as I have done,” Bzhania wrote, saying that the first task was to clean up after the unrest.

“At this time, talks are going on with the opposition.”

Opposition activist Akhra Bzhania rejected the statement, telling Reuters the president had “lost his legitimacy. His refusal to resign today does not change anything.”

Talks broken off

The Tass news agency quoted opposition representative Kan Kvarchia as saying all talks had been broken off.

Bzhania’s office later said the president, a former chief of the state security service who became head of state in 2020, was in his coastal home village of Tamysh.

Another opposition leader, Eshsou Kakalia, told Reuters the protesters would not leave the government complex until Bzhania agreed to resign.

The presidential administration said in a statement that authorities were preparing to withdraw the investment agreement.

Olesya Vartanyan, an independent regional expert, said the crisis was the culmination of mounting Russian pressure to get more from Abkhazia in return for its financial support.

“The Russians are paying them — they want something back,” she said in a telephone interview. “There is always this question: ‘Why are we supporting you guys and you’re not even allowing Russian citizens to buy property there?’ ”

If Bzhania fell, he would be the third local leader to be toppled in a similar way since 2008. Vartanyan said Moscow’s usual approach was to allow the periodic crises to play out and then strike deals with whichever leader came next.

“Every single Abkhaz leader after they got recognized by Moscow became sort of a hostage to Moscow,” she said. “When you come to power, you have to be loyal to Moscow and then you have to find a way to cooperate.”

Most of the world recognizes Abkhazia as part of Georgia, from which it broke away during wars in the early 1990s.

The opposition said in a statement that the protests were not against Russian-Abkhazian relations, but charged that Bzhania “has been trying to use these relations for his own selfish interests, manipulating them for the sake of strengthening his regime.”
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AMSTERDAM — Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof saved his governing coalition on Friday despite threats of an exodus by Cabinet members over the right-wing government’s response to violence against Israeli football fans last week.

Junior Finance Minister Nora Achahbar unexpectedly quit the Cabinet on Friday to protest claims by some politicians that Dutch youths of Moroccan descent attacked Israeli fans in Amsterdam around the November 7 match between a Dutch team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Her resignation triggered a crisis Cabinet meeting at which four ministers from her centrist NSC party also threatened to quit. If they had, the coalition would have lost its majority in parliament.

“We have reached the conclusion that we want to remain, as a Cabinet for all people in the Netherlands,” Schoof said at a news conference late on Friday in The Hague.

Last week’s violence was roundly condemned by Israeli and Dutch politicians, with Amsterdam’s mayor saying “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” had attacked Israeli fans.

The city’s police department has said Maccabi fans were chased and beaten by gangs on scooters. Police also said the Israeli fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag.

Achahbar, a former judge and public prosecutor who was born in Morocco, felt comments by several political figures were hurtful and possibly racist, De Volkskrant daily reported.

“Polarization in the recent weeks has had such an effect on me that I no longer can, nor wish to fulfill my position in this cabinet,” Achahbar said in a statement.

Schoof, a former civil servant who does not have a party affiliation, denied any ministers in the Cabinet are racist. Details of the Cabinet discussion were not disclosed.

The coalition is led by the anti-Muslim populist party PVV of Geert Wilders, which finished first in a general election a year ago. The government was installed in July after months of tense negotiations.

Wilders, who is not a Cabinet member, has repeatedly said Dutch youth of Moroccan descent were the main attackers of the Israeli fans, although police have not specified the backgrounds of suspects.

Schoof said on Monday the incidents showed that some youth in the Netherlands with immigrant backgrounds did not share “Dutch core values.” 
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washington — Reports that billionaire Elon Musk has held multiple calls with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, should be investigated by the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies on national security grounds, two senior Democratic senators said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.

Musk, who has been appointed to a senior government role by Republican President-elect Donald Trump, oversees billions of dollars in Pentagon and intelligence community contracts as CEO of aerospace company SpaceX.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Foreign Relations Committee member, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed told U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Pentagon’s inspector general that Musk’s involvement in those SpaceX programs should be probed for potential debarment and exclusion after reports as recent as October of his conversations with Russian officials. Debarment refers to exclusion from certain contracts and privileges.

“These relationships between a well-known U.S. adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder,” the lawmakers said in a joint letter dated Friday.

Several Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for a probe into Musk’s communications with Moscow since a report by The Wall Street Journal last month on the alleged contact, but the letter to the U.S. officials who could launch such an investigation has not been previously reported.

The call by Shaheen and Reed for a federal probe is a long-shot effort as Trump prepares to return to the White House with backing from Musk, who spent over $119 million on Trump’s reelection campaign and was appointed co-head of the president-elect’s forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency.

SpaceX, Musk and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and Justice Department did not immediately respond to similar requests.

Russian contact

Reports of Musk’s contact with Russian officials emerged in 2022, when political scientist Ian Bremmer, president of consulting firm Eurasia Group, said he was told by Musk that he had spoken with Putin about the Ukraine war and Russia’s red line for using nuclear weapons. Musk denied Bremmer’s claim and said he had only spoken to Putin 18 months earlier, about space.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk has had multiple conversations with Russian officials, including Putin and his first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, citing unnamed U.S., European and Russian officials.

Shaheen and Reed said in the letter it was “deeply concerning” that Musk reportedly had conversations with Kiriyenko. He was charged this year with other Russian officials by the U.S. Justice Department for spearheading an AI-powered propaganda campaign on Musk’s social-media platform X and other sites to promote Russian interests and influence voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

Musk has publicly claimed he holds a U.S. security clearance, giving him access to secret information at SpaceX, which holds billions of dollars in Pentagon and NASA launch contracts. The company also has a $1.8 billion intelligence community contract to build a vast spy satellite network, Reuters has reported.

“Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security clearance have the potential to put our security at risk,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia in space have spiked since Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion. Pentagon officials have condemned suspect maneuvers by Russian satellites in orbit and this year accused Russia of developing a space-based nuclear weapon capable of disabling large satellite networks.

Musk’s SpaceX has come to dominate the U.S. space industry and is relied on heavily by NASA and the Pentagon.

The company’s Starlink internet network of nearly 7,000 satellites has made SpaceX the world’s largest satellite operator and a disruptive force in the satellite internet sector, with heavy interest from the Pentagon for military communications. Ukraine’s military relies heavily on Starlink for battlefield connectivity.

The senators sent a separate letter on Friday to U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall saying Musk’s reported conversations raise the need for more competition in the launch and satellite communications industries and to use more companies besides SpaceX for sensitive national security missions.

“Mr. Musk’s reported behavior could pose serious risks to national security, and as CEO of a company with billions of dollars in sensitive defense and intelligence contracts, warrant reconsideration of SpaceX’s outsized role in [the Defense Department’s] commercial space integration,” the lawmakers said.
…

Since 2015, advocates for human rights in Russia have gathered in London every November to present the Magnitsky Human Rights Awards, which honor individuals who have shown great courage in fighting for human rights and opposing corruption. Past honorees have included the likes of Boris Nemtsov, Jamal Khashoggi and Maria Ressa. VOA’s Amy Kellogg has the story.
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to run the Interior Department, as his new Cabinet continues to take shape.

The transition team officially announced the pick Friday, though Trump first announced the selection late Thursday during a dinner at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Additionally, Trump announced Friday that Burgum also will lead a newly created National Energy Council that will be established to help the U.S. achieve “energy dominance” around the globe.

In this role, Burgum will direct a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, the president-elect said.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump wrote.

His new policies will help drive down inflation and win an “arms race” with China over artificial intelligence, Trump said.

Burgum, 68, is the two-term governor of North Dakota. A billionaire former software company executive, he was first elected to the governorship in 2016 and was easily reelected in 2020.

Burgum briefly ran against Trump as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023 before dropping out and enthusiastically throwing his support behind the eventual president-elect. A staunch conservative, Burgum, in his new position, is expected to be a strong ally of Trump’s efforts to open public lands for oil, gas and mineral exploration.

Communications director

The Trump-Vance transition team announced Steven Cheung will return to the Trump White House as communications director. He held the same position for the Trump-Vance 2024 presidential campaign and served in the White House during Trump’s first term as director of strategic response.

Trump has swiftly named an array of political loyalists to key Cabinet positions. They remained vocal supporters during his four years out of office, and most of them are likely to win quick Senate approval after confirmation hearings.

Having won majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, Republicans are set to take full control of the U.S. government by the third week in January.

“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” newly reelected House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda” espoused by Trump.

Trump will be sworn in as the country’s 47th president on January 20, two weeks after the new Congress has been seated.

Trump, 78, campaigned on a sweeping agenda that Democrats will be largely powerless to stop unless joined by a handful of Republican defectors in Congress on any specific issue that would undercut the party’s slim majorities in both chambers.

Republicans will have a 53-47 edge in the Senate, and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect JD Vance in the event of a 50-50 stalemate on any legislative proposal. Republicans have secured at least 218 seats in the 435-member House, pending the outcome of seven undecided elections for two-year terms.

During his bid to win a second, nonconsecutive four-year term, Trump called for the massive deportation of millions of undocumented migrants living in the U.S. to their home countries; an extension and expansion of 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2025; further deregulation of businesses; a curb on climate controls; and prosecution of his political opponents, people he calls “the enemy within.”

Senator John Thune of South Dakota, newly elected by his fellow Republicans as the Senate majority leader, said, “This Republican team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda.”

Trump also has called on Senate Republican leaders to allow him to make “recess appointments,” which could occur when the chamber is not in session and would erase the need for time-consuming and often contentious confirmation hearings.

Controversial picks

Despite the likelihood that most of his nominees will be approved, Trump this week named four who immediately drew disparaging assessments from several Democrats and some Republicans for their perceived lack of credentials.

They are former Representative Matt Gaetz as attorney general; former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat turned Republican, as director of national intelligence; former junior military officer and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary; and former presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The blowback presages tough confirmation fights for the four in the Senate, which reviews the appointments of top-level officials and then votes to confirm them or, on occasion, reject them, forcing the White House to make another choice.

The appointment of Gaetz, 42, could prove particularly problematic, with some senators openly questioning whether he can win a 51-vote majority to assume the government’s top law enforcement position.

Gaetz announced his resignation from the House late Wednesday, when a House ethics committee probe was in the final stages of investigating whether he’d engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. His resignation ended the probe.

The Justice Department Gaetz hopes to lead already had decided not to pursue criminal charges. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing.

Gabbard, 43, has been attacked for her lack of direct experience in intelligence and accused of disseminating pro-Russian disinformation. If confirmed, she would be tasked with overseeing 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. She won over Trump with her switch from being a Democratic House member from Hawaii to changing parties and staunchly advocating for his election.

Critics have assailed Hegseth, 44, a decorated former military officer, as someone who lacks managerial experience in the military or business world. A weekend anchor on Fox News, he has voiced his opinions on military operations, including his opposition to women serving in combat roles. He has lobbied Trump to pardon military service members accused of war crimes.

A descendant of the Kennedy family political dynasty, Kennedy, 70, for years has been one of the country’s most prominent proponents of anti-vaccine views. He has also opposed water fluoridation and suggested the coronavirus could have been deliberately designed to affect some ethnic groups more than others.

On Thursday, Trump also selected former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor; and former Representative Doug Collins to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He named one of his personal criminal defense attorneys, Todd Blanche, to be deputy attorney general, and another of his attorneys, D. John Sauer, to be solicitor general.

Ken Bredemeier and Liam Scott contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press.
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As President-elect Donald Trump gets ready to take office, a carefully coordinated process is under way to transfer power from the outgoing administration to the new one. Experts share their perspectives on how the federal government prepares for this pivotal moment in American democracy. VOA’s Salem Solomon has more. Video editor: Salwa Jaafari
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A German government spokesperson said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz held direct talks via telephone Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which he demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and that Russia show a willingness to negotiate a just and lasting peace.

A statement from German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said Scholz condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and called on Putin to end it and withdraw troops.

The statement said the chancellor reaffirmed Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary. The brief statement did not include a response from Putin.

The spokesperson said Scholz spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before his call with the Russian leader and intended to call him again afterwards. Media reports say that call lasted about an hour.

Reuters news agency reported the Kremlin confirmed the call, which it said had come at Berlin’s request. The news agency reported the Kremlin said Putin told Scholz any agreement to end the war in Ukraine must take Russian security interests into account and reflect “new territorial realities.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said despite deep disagreements, the fact the two leaders had the call at all was “very positive.”

Zelenskyy, however, was not as pleased by the call. In a video address posted to his website Friday, Zelenskyy said that in his opinion, the call is a “Pandora’s box.”

“This is exactly what Putin has wanted for a long time: It is crucial for him to weaken his isolation. Russia’s isolation,” Zelenskyy said. “And to engage in negotiations, ordinary negotiations, that will lead to nothing.”

He said it is what Putin has done for decades. “This allowed Russia to change nothing in its policy, to do nothing substantial, and ultimately it led to this war.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine understands how to act regarding Putin and handle negotiations accordingly.

“And we want to warn everyone: There will be no Minsk-3,” he said, referencing the Minsk agreements, two failed cease-fire deals between Kyiv and Moscow over the status of the eastern Donbas region. “What we need is real peace.”

The call came roughly one week after Scholz’s coalition government fell apart, and he is facing new elections early next year.

Also on Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a state radio interview the European Union must abandon its sanctions against Russia or face economic collapse.

The EU and its western partners have imposed numerous sanctions against Russia and Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many of which target Russia’s energy sector.

Orban, a staunch ally of Putin’s, said in the interview the sanctions on Russia have driven up energy prices and must be reviewed by EU leaders in Brussels. He said the sanctions have failed and as long as they are in place, energy prices will not come down and it will destroy the European economy.

Orban also referenced U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory last week. Referring to Trump as “our comrade in arms,” and “our fellow peace fighter,” he said his victory means minds have to be changed in Brussels — site of EU headquarters.

Orban said they must urge “a pro-peace” turn in the EU, referring to their support for Ukraine.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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GENEVA — Ukraine is heading into its third, most challenging winter since the war started nearly 1,000 days ago because “systematic attacks” by Russia have damaged and destroyed most of the country’s energy infrastructure, a senior U.N. official warned.

“I am told that by now, 65% of Ukraine’s own energy production capacities has been destroyed,” Matthias Schmale, resident and humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, told journalists Friday in Geneva.

“There are a lot of worries that the Russian Federation’s military forces might strike the energy sector again,” he said. “And the real concern is, if they were to target the energy sector again, this could be a tipping point, also a tipping point for further mass movements, both inside the country and outside the country.

“The systematic attacks on energy infrastructure may pose an additional risk in winter, especially for already vulnerable people, as power cuts extend more than a few days in subzero temperatures,” he said. “Deliberately attacking and destroying energy infrastructure that the civilian population depended on is a violation of international humanitarian law and has to stop.”

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said more than 12,000 people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

It said civilian infrastructure has been decimated, with more than 2,000 attacks on health care facilities and 2 million damaged homes. It said almost 40% of the population in Ukraine needs humanitarian assistance.

“There is also a sort of hidden crisis,” Schmale noted. “I think this prolonged war, almost three years in February, has led to widespread trauma and psychological distress, and I think the need for mental health support is very evident. It will take years to help people deal with their traumas.”

The World Health Organization has verified 2,134 attacks on health care targets in Ukraine, killing at least 197 health workers and patients. The agency said attacks on health facilities have “intensified significantly” since December 2023, “occurring on a near-daily basis.”

“The marked increase in attacks on Ukraine’s energy and health infrastructure has led to widespread disruptions to power and water,” said Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson. “The high cost of medicines, treatment and insufficient number of health care workers have emerged as major concerns, including near the front lines.

“In the coming months we anticipate civilians who live near the front lines may experience coronary vascular diseases, mental health issues and dental problems,” she said, noting that the WHO continues to call for humanitarian access to all parts of Ukraine, including Russian-controlled areas.

Resident coordinator Schmale expressed grave concern about the escalating use of drones against the civilian population, many supplied to Russia by North Korea.

“During my many visits to the front lines, civilians have increasingly described to me being targeted,” he said, underscoring that the drones not only cause physical damage but also are being used as a form of “psychological terror.”

“I am very worried, along with many others, that increased use of drones by the armed forces of the Russian Federation will have an increasingly damaging impact on the civilian population,” he said. “The fear of a nuclear fallout because of either a deliberate or accidental hit on a nuclear power plant, such as the one in Zaporizhzhia … would be extremely devastating, and the worst-case scenario.”

OCHA said that U.N. agencies are prioritizing support to people close to the front line, as well as to the thousands who have evacuated in recent weeks and months to help them survive the freezing temperatures that are coming.

It said U.N., international and volunteer organizations have been able to assist 7.2 million people thanks to $1.8 billion received for the humanitarian response in Ukraine. However, another $500 million will be needed to address the emergency needs of 1.8 million people by March.

Schmale underscored the appeal by emphasizing that vulnerable people in high-rise residential buildings in urban areas, the disabled, the elderly and the 3.6 million internally displaced people inside the country are most at risk and in need of help.

He said that helping people to get through this winter “is a race against time,” made more difficult because of waning support from the donor community. While the trend was downward, he expressed hope the international community and humanitarian support from the U.S. would continue under the new leadership.

“They have been by far our biggest individual country supporter at country level,” he said. “The hope is that they understand like the present administration that there are huge humanitarian needs that need to continue to be addressed.

“We must not normalize the war in Ukraine,” he said. “We must continue to support this country to the best of our abilities.”
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STATE DEPARTMENT — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Taiwan’s envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Lin Hsin-I, on Thursday ahead of the bloc’s Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Lima, Peru.

The discussion centered on economic cooperation, as Blinken highlighted in a social media post.

“Met with Lin Hsin-i in Lima. We spoke about our growing economic relationship and our enduring shared commitment to foster an open, dynamic, and peaceful Indo-Pacific,” Blinken wrote on X.

The pull-aside meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes, was not previously announced in Blinken’s official schedule.

“We discussed our important economic cooperation,” Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, who also participated in the meeting, told reporters during a phone briefing late Thursday.

In a readout, Taiwan said that Blinken and Lin exchanged views on strengthening the U.S.-Taiwan partnership and discussed strategies for ensuring regional peace and stability.

Lin, a former vice premier of Taiwan and a senior presidential adviser to President Lai Ching-te, was chosen to represent Taiwan at this year’s APEC leaders meetings in Peru.

On Friday, the White House announced that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s leading advanced semiconductor producer, will receive up to $6.6 billion in CHIPS & Science Act funding. That supports TSMC’s $65 billion investment to build three facilities in Arizona, creating tens of thousands of jobs by the decade’s end.

The White House called it the largest foreign direct investment in a completely new project in U.S. history.

Taiwan’s role in APEC

APEC, an international forum comprising 21 member economies from the Pacific Rim, promotes free trade and economic cooperation across the Asia-Pacific region. Although Taiwan holds full membership in APEC, it faces restrictions due to pressure from China and has to send special envoys instead of its presidents to the annual leaders meetings.

Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, it has never governed Taiwan but continues to view the self-ruled democracy as part of its territory.

Upcoming Biden-Xi talks

Blinken will accompany U.S. President Joe Biden at Saturday’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking the third in-person talks between the two leaders.

Biden is expected to “underscore the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and express his concerns that the PRC’s increased military activities around Taiwan are destabilizing and eroding the status quo,” according to U.S. officials.

On Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian urged Washington to abide by the “one-China principle” and not allow Taiwan President Lai to transit through the United States, urging Washington to take “concrete actions to uphold China-U.S. relations.”

Lin was asked to comment on a Reuters report that Lai plans to stop in Hawaii and maybe Guam on a visit to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific in coming weeks.

The U.S. one-China policy differs from the PRC’s one-China principle, which Washington has said it does not subscribe to.

The U.S. says it remains committed to its long-standing, bipartisan 0ne-China policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances.

Chinese officials have rejected the Taiwan Relations Act, calling the U.S. law governing its relations with Taiwan “illegal and invalid.”
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The Hague, Netherlands — The Dutch government needs “more time” to flesh out a strategy to fight anti-Semitism after last week’s violence between Israeli football fans and locals, the justice minister has said.  

“Because of the terrible events of November 7 and 8 and because I want to promote a fruitful debate in parliament, I have decided to take more time to get a strategy ready,” Justice Minister David van Weel said.  

“The strategy will soon be sent to parliament,” he said in a letter to MPs, published late on Thursday.  

Prime Minister Dick Schoof promised “far-reaching measures” earlier this week.   

He said they would be announced after a cabinet meeting on Friday but this now seems to be postponed.  

The discussions follow violence in the streets of Amsterdam before and after the Europa League match between Dutch giants Ajax and Maccabi on November 7.  

Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said that before the match Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag, attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities.  

They also reportedly booed a minute’s silence during the match for victims of Spain’s recent deadly floods.  

After the game, youths on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” assaults on Maccabi fans, officials said.  

Some social media posts had included calls to “hunt Jews”, according to police.    

Schoof said the attacks amounted to “unadulterated anti-Semitism.”   

‘Pouring oil on the fire’  

The authorities have set aside 4.5 million euros ($4.8 million) for the new strategy, including 1.2 million euros for securing Jewish institutions, Dutch media reported.  

Schoof told parliament on Wednesday the government was looking at “far-reaching measures” to punish anti-Semitic violence.  

This included the possibility of scrapping Dutch nationality for people with dual nationality.  

Police, prosecutors and other law authorities have launched a massive probe into the incidents surrounding the Maccabi-Ajax match, with eight suspects behind bars so far.   

Far-right anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, accused the country’s Muslim community for the unrest.  

He demanded perpetrators be prosecuted “for terrorism, lose their passports and kicked out of the country.”   

But opposition parties condemned Wilders’ language, saying he was “pouring oil on the fire, abusing the genuine fear and pain of one group to stoke hate against another.”  

Many opposition politicians and commentators said that although anti-Semitism was abhorrent, the violence was not one-sided.  

The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza. 
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Valencia, Spain — The head of Spain’s eastern Valencia region admitted Friday to “mistakes” in handing the country’s deadliest flood in decades that killed 216 people there.  

“I’m not going to deny mistakes,” Carlos Mazon told the regional parliament in an address, adding he was “not going to shirk any responsibility.”  

As the head of the regional government “I would like to apologize” to those who “felt” that “the aid did not arrive or was not enough,” he added.  

The October 29 disaster marked the country’s deadliest floods in decades. A total of 224 people were killed nationwide, with 216 of them in Valencia.  

While he spoke, dozens of protesters gathered outside the regional parliament, jeering and chanting slogans demanding his resignation.  

The floods wrecked infrastructure, gutted buildings and submerged fields. The final bill is expected to soar to tens of billions of euros.  

Almost half of the people killed in Spain’s Valencia region during recent floods were 70 years old or older and 26 were foreigners, including two Britons.  

Outrage at the authorities for their perceived mismanagement before and after the floods triggered mass protests on Saturday, the largest in Valencia city which drew 130,000 people.  

Critics have questioned the efficiency of the Valencia region’s alert system during October’s downpour, when in some cases only reached residents’ telephones when floodwater was already gushing through towns.  

Many local residents have also complained that they were left without food and water for days, and had to rely on aid provided by volunteers instead of the government. 
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Kyiv, Ukraine — A massive Russian attack that set apartments alight and knocked out heating to thousands in Ukraine’s southern port city Odesa killed one person and wounded 10 others, authorities said Friday.

The Thursday night strikes on the Black Sea city damaged residential buildings, the heating system, churches and educational institutions, according to Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov, who said it had been “a massive combined enemy strike.”

Trukhanov said early Friday that a 35-year-old woman sleeping near a window at the time of the attack had died.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine confirmed one death and said another 10 people were wounded, including two children.

Fires broke out in several places but were quickly extinguished, while the main heating pipeline was damaged, leaving tens of thousands in the cold as nightly temperatures plunge to freezing.

“More than 40,000 people (as well as) medical and social institutions are without heating,” Trukhanov wrote on Telegram. “Generators and heaters are working in medical institutions.”

The mayor’s office said hot drinks and blankets were being distributed while the pipeline was repaired.

After fleeing during the air raid siren, Odesa resident Oleksandra said she saw pictures of her damaged home.

“When everything happened, we were hiding in a shelter. We saw that this was our house in the photos from the local channels,” she told public broadcaster Suspilne Odesa.

Russia has recently stepped-up aerial attacks on southern Ukraine, damaging civilian vessels and port facilities in the Odesa region, while Kyiv has intensified its attacks on Russian military and energy targets.

Early Friday morning, Ukraine’s air force reported six Tu-95 bombers — which are capable of carrying cruise missiles — heading southeast from a base in Russia.

Moscow’s Ministry of Defense meanwhile announced it had intercepted 51 Ukrainian drones overnight, thwarting an attack that had targeted coastal regions, including over Crimea and the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine is bracing for its toughest winter of war yet, with Moscow having destroyed swathes of its generating capacity and continuing to strike energy sites.

In previous winters, millions of Ukrainians endured regular blackouts and lost heating in sub-zero conditions.

Ukrainian forces are losing ground in the east and concerns are mounting in Kyiv over the future of foreign military aid after the victory of Donald Trump in the United States presidential election.

Kyiv has for months been appealing to its Western allies to provide more air-defense systems to fend off Russian attacks on cities and critical infrastructure.
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U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with leaders of South Korea and Japan Friday to come up with a “coordinated” response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to help Moscow’s war against Ukraine and on Pyongyang’s nuclear threat more broadly, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru.

Pyongyang’s troop deployment is a “significant development,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Lima, Wednesday.

“We are going to treat it with the seriousness with which it deserves to be treated,” he said.

Sullivan said the trilateral summit will allow leaders to prepare for any potential “provocative” move from Pyongyang, including nuclear testing and ballistic missile launches, as the U.S. prepares for a change of administration when Donald Trump takes office in January.

“Transitions have historically been time periods when the DPRK has taken provocative actions,” Sullivan said, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The United States has an “extended deterrence” policy that aims to prevent adversaries from attacking allies, including South Korea and Japan. The policy states Washington will come to their aid if they are attacked, potentially including use of American nuclear capabilities.

No specific announcement on extended deterrence will be announced at a trilateral level in Lima, Sullivan said. However, the trilateral meeting will be an opportunity to “ensure that each of these two bilateral dialogues are working to reinforce one another, and that there aren’t gaps and seams between them.”

The leaders are set to announce establishment of a trilateral secretariat as part of their efforts to “institutionalize” three-way cooperation that began as a series of leaders’ dialogues on economic security, intelligence sharing, and defense policy coordination. The trilateral leaders’ dialogues began in May 2023 on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and then at Camp David in August that year.

The trilateral effort is one of Biden’s signature regional security initiatives to push Seoul and Tokyo to overcome years of animosity and work together to deter common adversaries, North Korea and China.

The leaders are also set to bolster trilateral exercises, Sullivan said.

“We’ve made progress on technology protection, on supply chain diversification, on missile warning and the sharing of data with respect to miswarning in all of those areas,” he said. “We expect to take further steps tomorrow.”

U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries Thursday launched joint exercises in waters south of the Korean peninsula and west of Japan, the final drills under the Biden administration.

During his first term Trump advocated for friendlier ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and pressured Tokyo and Seoul to take on a larger share of U.S. defense burden-sharing.

A day before Trump’s reelection, the U.S. and South Korea a finalized a new agreement for Seoul to pay $1.19 billion in 2026 to support U.S. troops, an 8.3% increase from the previous year. 
…

ROME — The ancient Roman Colosseum will be the venue of gladiator fights — albeit staged — for the first time in two millennia under a $1.5 million sponsorship deal with Airbnb that aims to promote “a more conscious tourism.”

But some visitors to the monument Thursday, as well as housing activists, were skeptical about the value of the arrangement, citing ongoing controversies in many cities over the role of short-term rental platforms in fueling overtourism and limiting affordable housing for residents and students.

Under the deal announced by Airbnb and the Colosseum on Wednesday, the sponsorship by the short-term rental giant will cover the renewal of an educational program inside the ancient Roman amphitheater covering the history of the structure and gladiators.

Eight of the platform’s users and their plus-ones will be able to participate in faux gladiator fights after the Colosseum’s closing time on May 7-8, taking the same underground route used by gladiators in ancient Rome to reach the arena. People can apply for the experience on November 27 at no cost, and the “gladiators” will be chosen by lottery.

The superintendent of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, told The Associated Press that the deal is in conjunction with the release of Ridley Scott’s new film “Gladiators II,” which opened in Italy on Thursday.

Russo characterized the sponsorship arrangement as one of the many such deals to help finance projects at the park.

The Italian fashion brand Tod’s, for example, has funded a multimillion renovation of the Roman monument, including a cleaning, replacing the locking system of arches with new gates and redoing the subterranean areas.

Alberto Campailla, the coordinator of the Nonna Roma nonprofit organization that focuses on housing and food for the poor, called the campaign with Airbnb “a disgrace,” and a form of “touristification.”

Airbnb and other platforms offering short-term rentals “are literally driving people out of not only the city center, but also the outskirts and suburban neighborhoods,” Campailla said.

Tourists from other European cities grappling with overtourism also took issue with the deal.

“It seems to me that the purpose of the Colosseum today is to be a tourist attraction, but not to create an amusement park within it,” said Jaime Montero, a tourist visiting from Madrid. “In the end, tourism eats the essence of the cities, here in Rome, as in other capitals.”

Visiting from Naples, Salvatore Di Matteo saw the deal as “yet another takeover of the territory” by big companies.

“If they start to touch sacred monuments such as the Colosseum here in Rome, it is obviously something that should make us think and is, in any case, a bit worrying,” he said.

The Colosseum is the most important and largest amphitheater constructed by the ancient Romans. Built in the 1st century, it was the center of popular entertainment, hosting hunts and gladiator games, until the 6th century. 
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US President-elect Donald Trump is turning to an old ally to lead the CIA and an outsider some see as a potential disruptor to oversee American intelligence agencies when his second term begins in January. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin has more.
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washington — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his early November election victory.

President Joe Biden has not hosted Erdogan at the White House though the two have met on sidelines of international summits and spoken by phone.

Speaking to journalists accompanying his return from visits to Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, Erdogan expressed his hope for improved U.S. ties, adding, however, that in-person meetings would be needed to achieve that end, and that Ankara needs to wait to see what kind of a Cabinet Trump forms.

The two leaders had a close personal relationship during Trump’s first term in office. However, bilateral relations have also been marked by tough times during that administration. With Trump’s January return to the White House, analysts told VOA that although there may be opportunities for more cooperation in some areas, they don’t expect major changes.

James Jeffrey, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2008 to 2010, sees Ukraine as one area with potential for cooperation.

Referring to Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine, Jeffrey says Turkey could play a role in negotiating a cease-fire, making both sides “well-aligned for a productive relationship.”

Alan Makovsky, a senior fellow for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, also believes Trump’s priority to end the war in Ukraine creates a significant opportunity for Erdogan.

A NATO ally, Turkey has adopted a careful balancing act amid the war in Ukraine, supplying armed drones to Ukraine while maintaining ties with Russia in energy and tourism.

Erdogan, who has maintained good relations with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, has long said neither side is gaining from the war and offered to host and mediate negotiations.

Disagreement over Syria

Disagreements between Turkey and the United States during Trump’s first term included Ankara’s frustration with U.S. support for Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Kurdish militia — People’s Protection Units, known as YPG in northern Syria.

After a phone call with Erdogan on October 6, 2019, Trump unexpectedly announced that the U.S. would withdraw from Syria. Many U.S. military officials, all of whom were caught off guard by the announcement, did not support the idea.

Tension between the allies worsened after Trump on October 9 sent a letter to Erdogan, warning him against a military incursion into Syria.

Following Trump’s withdrawal announcement, Turkey launched a military operation in northern Syria targeting the YPG on October 9.

A cease-fire agreement was reached during then-Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Ankara on October 17.

Now, some in Ankara expect the U.S. may reconsider its presence in northern Syria during Trump’s second term.

Jeffrey, a U.S. envoy for Syria from 2018 to 2020, suggests Trump’s administration may reassess this issue.

“Each time people were able to convince [Trump on Syria, it] was that the troops were serving a set of important purposes. This is one of the most low-cost, high-return military deployments. We are keeping the Islamic State under control. Secondly, we are holding vital terrain, blocking Iranian, Assad and Russian ambitions,” he told VOA.

Washington has long said its SDF partnership is necessary for the enduring defeat of ISIS and countering Iran.

Ankara considers YPG a Syrian offshoot of PKK, which U.S. officials have also designated as a terrorist organization.

Trump nominated Marco Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, for secretary of state. Rubio was one of the strongest opponents of a U.S.-pullout from Syria at the time.

He labeled the decision as “a catastrophic mistake that will have dire consequences far beyond Syria,” urging Trump to reconsider it.

“We’ll have to see how that works out and how Marco Rubio’s views may have changed to accord more with Trump’s or vice versa,” Makovksy said. “But anyone who thought that Trump’s election meant that the U.S. would soon be withdrawing from Syria would certainly have to rethink that view in light of the Rubio appointment. I think that makes it unlikely that we will withdraw from Syria.”

Trump’s nominees for Cabinet positions will require Senate approval before they assume office.

F-35 program

One complicating factor in U.S.-Turkey relations during Trump’s first term was Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, which prompted Washington to remove Ankara from an F-35 joint strike fighter program.

“The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities,” said a White House statement when the system was delivered in July 2019, explaining the U.S. decision to remove Turkey from the project.

The Trump administration in December 2020 sanctioned Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Turkey, which has since requested removal of CAATSA sanctions, has returned to talks with U.S. officials about a possible return to the F-35 program.

Analysts say that while there is a likelihood that CAATSA sanctions might be lifted during Trump’s second term, any solution to the S-400 issue that is not permanent would not be technically acceptable to the U.S. military.

Describing the F-35s as the U.S. military’s largest project since World War II, Jeffrey said, “A permanent solution is that they [the S-400s] go away, they’re sold to somebody else. I would like to have a solution, but technically, I don’t think there is one.’’

Makovsky called Turkey’s return to the F-35 program unlikely in the near term.

“If they completely get rid of the S-400s, really give up possession as the law requires, there could be a reasonable chance for F-35,” he told VOA. “But it will be up to the so-called Four Corners – the chairman and senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service.
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Italy’s flagship policy of holding migrants in detention centers in Albania for processing has hit a legal roadblock – as judges in Rome referred the case to the European Union’s Court of Justice, which could take months or years to make a ruling. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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MADISON, Wisconsin — Enbridge’s contentious plan to reroute an aging pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation moved closer to reality Thursday after the company won its first permits from state regulators.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials announced they have issued construction permits for the Line 5 reroute around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation. The energy company still needs discharge permits from the DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The project has generated fierce opposition. The tribe wants the pipeline off its land, but tribal members and environmentalists maintain rerouting construction will damage the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.

Permits issued with conditions

The DNR issued the construction permits with more than 200 conditions attached. The company must complete the project by November 14, 2027, hire DNR-approved environmental monitors and allow DNR employees to access the site during reasonable hours.

The company also must notify the agency within 24 hours of any permit violations or hazardous material spills affecting wetlands or waterways; can’t discharge any drilling mud into wetlands, waterways or sensitive areas; keep spill response equipment at workspace entry and exit points; and monitor for the introduction and spread in invasive plant species.

Enbridge officials issued a statement praising the approval, calling it a “major step” toward construction that will keep reliable energy flowing to Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region.

Bad River tribal officials warned in their own statement Thursday that the project calls for blasting, drilling and digging trenches that would devastate area wetlands and streams and endanger the tribe’s wild rice beds. The tribe noted that investigations identified water quality violations and three aquifer breaches related to the Line 3 pipeline’s construction in northern Minnesota.

“I’m angry that the DNR has signed off on a half-baked plan that spells disaster for our homeland and our way of life,” Bad River Chairman Robert Blanchard said in the statement. “We will continue sounding the alarm to prevent yet another Enbridge pipeline from endangering our watershed.”

Tribe sues in 2019

Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons (about 87 million liters) of oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. About 19 kilometers (12 miles) of the pipeline run across the Bad River reservation.

The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the pipeline from the reservation, arguing that the 71-year-old line is prone to a catastrophic spill and that land easements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.

Enbridge has proposed a 66-kilometer (41-mile) reroute around the reservation’s southern border.

The company has only about two years to complete the project. U.S. District Judge William Conley last year ordered Enbridge to shut down the portion of pipeline crossing the reservation within three years and pay the tribe more than $5 million for trespassing. An Enbridge appeal is pending in a federal appellate court in Chicago.

Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, filed a lawsuit in 2019 seeking to shut down twin portions of Line 5 that run beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the narrow waterways that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel argued that anchor strikes could rupture the line, resulting in a devastating spill. That lawsuit is still pending in a federal appellate court.

Michigan regulators in December approved the company’s $500 million plan to encase the portion of the pipeline beneath the straits in a tunnel to mitigate risk. The plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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