RIYADMEDIA

Pope Francis condemned Iran’s execution of protesters for the first time on Monday in his traditional New Year’s address to diplomats, and said the war in Ukraine was “a crime against God and humanity.”

The pontiff made his remarks in a speech to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, his overview at the start of the new year which has come to be known informally as his “state of the world” address.

His eight-page speech in Italian, read to representatives of most of the 183 countries accredited to the Vatican, ran the gamut of all the world’s conflict areas, including those in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

He repeated his condemnation of abortion, appealing “particularly to those having political responsibilities, to strive to safeguard the rights of those who are weakest,” and he again warned of threat of a nuclear conflict.

However, the main novelty of the speech in the Vatican’s Hall of Benedictions was his breaking of silence on the nationwide unrest in Iran since the death last September of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody.

“The right to life is also threatened in those places where the death penalty continues to be imposed, as is the case in these days in Iran, following the recent demonstrations demanding greater respect for the dignity of women,” he said.

Four protesters have been executed in connection with the wave of popular protests in the Islamic Republic.

“The death penalty cannot be employed for a purported state justice, since it does not constitute a deterrent nor render justice to victims, but only fuels the thirst for vengeance,” Francis said.

He then repeated an appeal for an end to capital punishment worldwide, saying it is “always inadmissible since it attacks the inviolability and the dignity of the person.”

Francis said many countries were paying lip service to commitments they had made to respect human rights and he called for respect for women, saying they were still widely being deemed second-glass citizens, subjected to violence and abuse.

“It is unacceptable that part of a people should be excluded from education, as is happening to Afghan women,” he said.

Francis spoke of the “war in Ukraine, with its wake of death and destruction, with its attacks on civil infrastructures that cause lives to be lost not only from gunfire and acts of violence, but also from hunger and freezing cold.”

He then immediately quoted from a Vatican constitution, saying “every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and humanity which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation.”

Referring to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, he said: “Sadly, today too, the nuclear threat is raised, and the world once more feels fear and anguish.”

The pope repeated his appeal for a total ban on nuclear weapons, saying even their possession for reasons of deterrence is “immoral.”
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A Prague court on Monday acquitted former Prime Minister Andrej Babis of fraud charges in a $2 million case involving European Union subsidies.     

A prosecutor requested a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of $440,000 for the populist billionaire. The prosecution still can appeal.     

Babis pleaded not guilty and repeatedly said the charges against him were politically motivated.     

He wasn’t present at Prague’s Municipal Court on Monday. His former associate, Jana Nagyova, who signed the subsidy request, was also acquitted.     

The ruling is a boost for Babis just days before the first round of the Czech presidential election.     

Babis is considered a front-runner in Friday’s election, along with retired army general Petr Pavel, former chairman of NATO’s military committee, and former university rector Danuse Nerudova. 
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a weeklong trip Monday to strengthen military ties with Europe and Britain and bring into focus the Japan-U.S. alliance at a summit in Washington, as Japan breaks from its postwar restraint to take on more offensive roles with an eye toward China.

Kishida’s talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday will highlight his five-nation tour that also takes him to France, Italy, Britain and Canada — some of the Group of Seven nations Japan has stepped up defense ties with in recent years. His first stop is Paris on Monday evening.

Kishida said his summit with Biden will underscore the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance and how the two countries can work more closely under Japan’s new security and defense strategies.

Japan in December adopted key security and defense reforms, including a counterstrike capability that makes a break from the country’s exclusively self-defense-only postwar principle. Japan says the current deployment of missile interceptors is insufficient to defend it from rapid weapons advancement in China and North Korea.

Kishida said he will explain to Biden the new strategy, under which Japan is also reinforcing defenses on its southwestern islands close to Taiwan, including Yonaguni and Ishigaki, where new bases are being constructed.

“Will will discuss further strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance, and how we work together to achieve a fee and open Indo-Pacific,” Kishida told a NHK national television talk show Sunday, referring to a vision of national and economic security cooperation the two countries promote to counter China’s growing military and economic influence.

Under the new strategies, Japan plans to start deploying in 2026 long-range cruise missiles that can reach potential targets in China, nearly double its defense budget within five years to a NATO standard of about 2% of GDP from the current 1%, and improve cyberspace and intelligence capabilities.

The idea is to do as much as possible in a short time as some experts see growing risks that Chinese President Xi Jinping may take action against self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

Japan’s new strategy has been well received by the Biden administration and some members of the Congress. Experts say it would also widen cooperation with their main regional partners Australia and possibly South Korea.

“This is an opportunity to rethink and update the structure and the mechanisms of the alliance to reflect a much more capable partner that’s coming,” said Christopher Johnstone, senior adviser and Japan chair for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said, however, that Japan’s focus on the strike capability and budget is a welcome but “a daunting agenda” that will require a lot of cooperation with the United States.

Paving the way for the summit, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will fly to Washington to meet their American counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, respectively, on Wednesday, followed by separate defense ministers’ talks on Thursday.

The Biden administration, which also adopted its security strategy in October, expects Japan to assist in the supply and storage of fuel and munitions in case of a Taiwan emergency, experts say. Japan and the United States are also reportedly considering establishing a joint command.

During the talks at the White House, the two leaders are also expected to discuss China, North Korea’s nuclear and missile development as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine, Japanese officials said.

Cooperation in the area of supply chain and economic security will be also on the table. Last week, Japanese Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo discussed in Washington the importance to work together to promote and protect critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors, and export controls to address competitiveness and security concerns.

During his trip, Kishida will seek to further strengthen bilateral military ties with four other countries, Japanese officials say.

Japan’s joint development and production of its F-X next-generation fighter jet with Britain and Italy for a planned deployment in 2035 will be a top agenda item during his visits in Rome and London on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Japan and Britain have also been discussing a Reciprocal Access Agreement that would remove obstacles to holding joint military exercises in either country. Besides the Japan-U.S. security treaty that allows U.S. troops to station in Japan, Tokyo has a similar agreement only with Australia, and Britain would be second.

During his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Kishida is expected to share concern over China’s growing activity in the South Pacific and confirm stepping up joint military exercise between the two sides.
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Turkey, which has for months blocked NATO membership bids by Sweden and Finland, has made some demands that Sweden cannot accept, Sweden’s prime minister said on Sunday.

“Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we can’t, that we don’t want to, give it,” Ulf Kristersson said during a security conference also attended by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

“We are convinced that Turkey will make a decision, we just don’t know when,” he said, adding that it will depend on internal politics inside Turkey as well as “Sweden’s capacity to show its seriousness.”

Sweden and Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the U.S.-led defense alliance in response to Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine.

But Turkey has refused to approve their bid until the two countries take steps, including joining Turkey’s fight against banned Kurdish militants.

Most of Turkey’s demands have involved Sweden because of its more robust ties with the Kurdish diaspora.

Finland’s foreign minister said that the country would join NATO at the same time as its neighbor.

“Finland is not in such a rush to join NATO that we can’t wait until Sweden gets the green light,” Pekka Haavisto, told reporters at Sunday’s conference.

NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said he expects both countries will be able to join the military alliance as early as this year, while admitting the decision depends on the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments. 

Among the 30 NATO members, only Hungary and Turkey have yet to green-light the two Nordic applications.

But Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said parliament will soon approve both Finland and Sweden’s accession bids, leaving Turkey the main holdout.

“I expect (that accession will take place in 2023), but I will not guarantee the exact date, because it is of course a sovereign decision of the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments, (which) have not yet ratified the agreement,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with AFP.

Finland and Sweden “are clearly committed to long-term cooperation with Turkey,” and “the time has come to finalize the accession process and to ratify the accession protocol,” he added.

In late December, Turkey praised Sweden for responding to its security concerns but stressed more was needed to win Ankara’s full backing for Stockholm’s stalled NATO membership bid.
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Ukrainian soldiers, family and mourners gathered in frigid weather in Kyiv Sunday to pay tribute to a soldier killed fighting against Russian forces in Bakhmut, the strategic city under siege on the eastern front.

An open casket, outdoor service was held in Kyiv’s Independence Square for Maj. Oleh Yurchenko who was killed in Bakhmut Jan. 2. Fellow soldiers carried the coffin while others knelt on the ground. A bugle played and later a male quartet sang solemn hymns as an Orthodox priest conducted the service attended by about 200 people.

Yurchenko, 45, nicknamed “Happy,” volunteered for the army after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began Feb. 24. He had been the head of security for TIU Canada, an energy company operating in Ukraine, according to a Facebook post.

Yurchenko was well-known as a Ukrainian patriot as he had been a participant in pro-democracy demonstrations in 2004-2005 and later in 2014 which ousted Viktor Yanukovych as president. Kyiv’s Independence Square was the center of both demonstrations, so it was fitting as the site for the religious ceremony for Yurchenko.

“He was the best Ukrainian, a kind father, a very responsible person,” said Yurii Zhukovskyi, a Ukrainian soldier. “It is a very heavy loss, because these are the best people in Ukraine, and they are dying. It is a great pity. And no matter how many enemies are killed, we are sorry for (the death of) one such person.”

Another fellow soldier, Ruslan Boyko, praised Yurchenko’s positive outlook.

“He was a very brave, very cheerful person who always tried to help everyone, to be ahead in any situation,” Boiko said. He said that Yurchenko was always ready “to take on more responsibility, more tasks and protect everyone as much as possible.”

Olesia Yurchenko, the fallen soldier’s 22-year-old daughter and eldest child, said the family is grieving his death but trying to live by his principles.

“It is about everyone cherishing their virtues: hard work, kindness, honesty, loyalty to their country, their family,” she said. “Because this is what my father taught me. Not to give up, not to retreat.”

She said that her father “always said that we still have to build the country … build Ukraine.”
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Climate activists pledged Sunday to defend a tiny village in western Germany from being bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby coal mine that has become a battleground between the government and environmental campaigners.

Hundreds of people from across Germany gathered for protest training and a subsequent demonstration in the hamlet of Luetzerath, which lies west of Cologne next to the vast Garzweiler coal mine.

The open-cast mine, which provides a large share of the lignite — a soft, brownish coal — burned at nearby power plants, is scheduled to close by 2030 under a deal agreed last year between the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and utility company RWE.

The company says it needs the coal to ensure Germany’s energy security, which has come under strain following the cut in gas supplies from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.

But environmental groups have blasted the agreement, saying it will still result in hundreds of millions of tons of coal being extracted and burned. They argue that this would release vast amounts of greenhouse gas and make it impossible for Germany to meet its commitments under the 2015 Paris climate accord.

“[We] will fight for every tree, for every house, for every meter in this village,” said Luka Scott, a spokesperson for the alliance of groups organizing protests. “Because whoever attacks Luetzerath, attacks our future.”

Prominent campaigners have rallied support to defend the village from destruction, citing the impact that climate change is already having on Germany and beyond.

German news agency dpa reported that some activists have erected barricades and other defensive measures to prevent Luetzerath from being razed. Last week, protesters briefly clashed with police at the site.

The village and surrounding areas belong to RWE and the last farmer residing there sold his property to the company in 2022 after losing a court case against his eviction. Since then, only a handful of activists have remained, some living in self-built tree houses or caravans.

Police have said no clearance will take place before Jan. 10.
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Police in Armenia Sunday detained 65 protesters near a Russian military base demanding Moscow intervene to dismantle what they say is a crippling blockade by Azerbaijan of an ethnic Armenian enclave, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.

It said around 200 protesters, gathered outside the base in the northern town of Gyumri, were demanding that Russian peacekeepers unblock the sole road – the Lachin Corridor — which links Armenia and the predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since Dec. 12, people identifying themselves as environmental activists from Azerbaijan have partially blocked the road, letting only limited traffic through. Azerbaijan says their action does not amount to a full blockade, but ethnic Armenian officials in Nagorno-Karabakh officials say food, medicine and fuel are running desperately short as a result.

The corridor, which allows supplies from Armenia to reach the 120,000 ethnic Armenians who control the mountainous region, has been policed by Russian peacekeepers since 2020.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenian, and it broke away from Baku’s control in a war in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the Soviet Union was disintegrating.

In 2020, Azerbaijan retook territory in and around the enclave after a second war that ended in a Russian-brokered cease-fire, and peacekeepers deployed along the Lachin corridor, which became the only route into and out of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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NATO’s mission in Kosovo, KFOR, has declined a Serbian government request to send up to 1,000 police and army personnel to Kosovo after clashes between Serbs and the Kosovo authorities, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

Serbia’s former province of Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following the 1998-1999 war during which NATO bombed rump-Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.

“They (KFOR) replied they consider that there is no need for the return of the Serbian army to Kosovo … citing the United Nations resolution approving their mandate in Kosovo,” Serbia’s Vucic said in an interview with the private Pink television.

Last month, for the first time since the end of the war, Serbia requested to deploy troops in Kosovo in response to clashes between Kosovo authorities and Serbs in the northern region where they constitute a majority.

The U. N. Security Council resolution says Serbia may be allowed, if approved by KFOR, to station its personnel at border crossings, Orthodox Christian religious sites and areas with Serb majorities.

Vucic criticized KFOR for informing Serbia of its decision on the eve of the Christian Orthodox Christmas, after Kosovo police arrested an off-duty soldier suspected of shooting and wounding two young Serbs near the southern town of Shterpce.

Police said both victims, aged 11 and 21, were taken to hospital and their injuries were not life threatening.

Kosovo authorities condemned the incident, which has inflamed tensions.

On Sunday, a few thousands Serbs protested peacefully in Shterpce against what they called “violence against Serbs.”

Goran Rakic, the head of the Serb List, which is the main Serb party in Kosovo, accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of trying to drive out Serbs.

“His goal is to create such conditions so that Serbs leave their homes,” Rakic told the crowd. “My message is that we must not surrender.”

Serbian media reported that another young man was allegedly attacked and beaten up by a group of Albanians early on Saturday, while media in Pristina reported that a Kosovo bus going to Germany through Serbia was attacked and its windscreen broken with rocks late that same day.

International organizations condemned the attacks, expected to deepen mistrust between majority ethnic Albanians and around 100,000 ethnic Serbs that live in Kosovo. Half of them live in the north and most refuse to recognize Kosovo’s independence.
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Briain’s defense ministry said Sunday in an intelligence update about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia seems undecided about where the greatest threat from Ukraine lies.

In the update, posted on Twitter, the ministry said, “The way Russia has worked on improving defenses suggests commanders are highly likely pre-occupied with the potential for major Ukrainian offensive action in two sectors: either in northern Luhansk Oblast, or in Zaporizhzhia. A major Ukrainian breakthrough in Zaporizhzhia would seriously challenge the viability of Russia’s ‘land bridge’ linking Russia’s Rostov region and Crimea; Ukrainian success in Luhansk would further undermine Russia’s professed war aim of liberating’ the Donbas.

“Deciding which of these threats to prioritize countering,” the report said, is “likely one of the central dilemmas for Russian operational planners.”

Shelling rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Saturday, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of a 36-hour cease-fire to observe eastern Orthodox Christmas.

Artillery fire could be heard on both sides of the front line in Bakhmut, where Russian forces have concentrated much of their firepower trying to push west toward Kramatorsk.

What was once a city of 70,000 people is now a city mostly abandoned, its reduced population kept alive by volunteers who help maintain invincibility centers, which are often tents set up to offer electricity, internet service, heat, water and medicine.

“When we visited another invincibility point yesterday for 15-20 minutes, a rocket hit us. It damaged a volunteer vehicle, killed one person, and injured four,” Vasyl Lieslin, a humanitarian volunteer wearing a helmet and a flak jacket, told Reuters reporters on the ground.

“Volunteers were injured, and one local Bakhmut volunteer lost a limb and was evacuated. I hope that people were in their protective gear, but the situation is unclear. We know they were seriously injured,” Lieslin said.

Olha, who would not give her surname, scoffed at Putin’s empty gesture of any Christmas respite from Russia’s onslaught.

“I think they’re tricking us, it’s pretty obvious to me,” she said.

“What else can I tell you? If someone makes a promise, that someone must fulfill it. Promises are made to be kept. I just don’t understand, what do they need?” she said to Reuters reporters.

Russia shelled dozens of places along the front line during the cease-fire, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said. Russia said it was only returning fire when fired upon.

Bakhmut’s underground

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which is fighting alongside regular Russian army troops in the battle of Bakhmut, said on Telegram he wanted to capture the small town because it contained “underground cities” that can hold troops and tanks.

“The cherry on the cake is the system of Soledar and Bakhmut mines, which is actually a network of underground cities. It not only [has the ability to hold] a big group of people at a depth of 80-100 meters, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also move about,” Prigozhin said on Telegram.

Prigozhin, who likely would see his political influence in Moscow boosted if Bakhmut fell to Russia given Wagner’s role in the fighting there, said stockpiles of weapons had been stored in the underground complexes since World War I.

His comments were a reference to vast salt and other mines in the area, which contain more than 100 miles of tunnels and a vast underground room that has hosted football matches and classical music concerts in more peaceful times.

Prigozhin, also called Bakhmut “a serious logistics center” with unique defensive fortifications.

Russia’s heavy losses over a five-month effort to advance in Bakhmut has led some Western military analysts to say that any Russian victory there, if it happens, would be pyrrhic.
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The public can now visit the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI in the grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica.

The pontiff was buried Jan. 5 immediately following a funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Benedict’s tomb lies in the grottoes under the basilica’s main floor.

The Vatican announced Saturday that the public could visit the tomb starting Sunday morning.

Benedict had lived since 2013 as pope emeritus, following his retirement from the papacy, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years. He died Dec. 31 at the age of 95, in the Vatican monastery where he spent his last years.

On Thursday, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, imparted a final blessing after Benedict’s body, contained inside three coffins — the cypress one displayed in the square during the funeral presided over by Pope Francis, a zinc one and an outer one hewn from oak — were lowered into a space in the floor.

The remains were placed in the former tomb of Benedict’s predecessor, St. John Paul II. John Paul’s remains were moved up to a chapel on the main floor of the basilica following his 2011 beatification.

Some 50,000 people attended Benedict’s funeral, following three days of the body’s lying in state in the basilica, an event which drew nearly 200,000 viewers.

The name of Benedict, the Catholic church’s 265th pontiff, was engraved on a white marble slab, the Vatican said.

The Vatican didn’t say whether Pope Francis had privately visited the completed tomb of Benedict before public viewing was permitted or might do so at some other time.

On Sunday morning, Francis was leading a ceremony for the baptism of 13 babies in the Sistine Chapel. The chapel, frescoed by Michelangelo, is the traditional setting for the baptisms, an event which closes out the Vatican’s year-end ceremonies. 
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Mild weather has left many regions of Europe that would normally be blanketed in snow at this time of year bare, and winter sports resorts are fearing for the future.

Many are using snow machines to make artificial pistes or ‘snow runs’ leaving thin white lines snaking through otherwise green and brown landscapes.

In the Swiss village of Adelboden, organizers of Saturday’s ski World Cup race grappled with above-freezing temperatures to ensure athletes could compete in the popular event while spectators basked in the blazing sunshine.

Experts say this season’s lack of snow offers a glimpse of winters to come, as global temperatures keep rising due to human-caused climate change.

The impact is likely to be felt far beyond the regional tourist industry. Winter snow in European mountains such as the Alps is an important natural water store for parts of a continent that’s already suffering regular droughts the rest of the year.
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As artillery boomed outside and fighter jets flew overhead, Orthodox Christians in a battered eastern Ukrainian town held a Christmas service in a basement shelter Saturday, vowing not to let war ruin the holiday.

Nearly all the congregants and all but one choir singer had already fled Chasiv Yar for safer territory, leaving just nine people to attend the service in a residential building that partially collapsed from shelling in November.

“Christ was born in a cave. You and I are also in a cave,” priest Oleg Kruchinin told the group, gesturing to the basement lined with exposed wires and pipes and lit with an exposed bulb.

“This probably has a special meaning: Do not lose heart, do not give up… Because the Lord was born in a cave, and we also celebrate Christmas in cramped conditions.”

Chasiv Yar is situated 10 kilometers south of Bakhmut, the hottest point on the front line, and has lived under the constant threat of bombardment for many weeks.

For the first nine months of the war, the town’s Orthodox Christians worshipped in a white-brick church with golden domes, even though the building had no underground shelter.

But two weeks ago, a missile landed in the churchyard and shattered its windows, forcing them to relocate.

“One of our parishioners lives in this house, and now, since her apartment is partially destroyed, she lives in the basement, and she called us here,” explained Olga Kruchinina, the priest’s wife.

The church has done what it can to brighten the space, placing a tiny Christmas tree atop a wooden cupboard, hanging white and red tapestries and wrapping tree branches around one pipe like a garland.

Kruchinina said she was proud of the effort, even as she whipped out her mobile phone to show pictures of the larger, more lavishly decorated trees that stood in the church entrance a year ago.

“For us, everything is going well,” she said.

“When I think about the military guys I know, they are in much worse conditions.”

‘Unusual’ holiday

During the two-hour service, worshippers did their best to tune out the war, flinching only once in response to artillery fire.

Lighting beeswax candles, they lined up to give confession and receive communion as the strong smell of incense filled the low-ceilinged rooms.

The choir, formerly 15 strong, featured just one member: 62-year-old Zinaida Artyukhina, who led the group in psalms that often became solo performances.

“Normally I sing the alto part, so it was difficult to lead,” she said afterward.

“It’s unusual here. Today is my first time here in the basement,” she added.

“Thank God that we gathered at all.”

In his remarks, Priest Kruchinin compared the plight of those who have fled Chasiv Yar to that of Jesus, whose family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod.

“Today, many of our parishioners also evacuated. But everyone prays today with us wherever they are, where the Lord saved them from bombs and shells,” he said.

“And we hope that just as the Holy Family returned to their Jerusalem, in the same way our parishioners will return to their Chasiv Yar.”

In the meantime, the church hopes to keep the basement open to worshippers like Nina Popova, 77, who walks 3 kilometers to the building every day to read hymns — even when the temperature falls well below zero, as it did Saturday.

“We will serve as long as there is an opportunity,” said Kruchinina.

“If this becomes point ‘zero’ (on the front line), then of course we will not serve. But we don’t want it to turn out like this.”
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Thousands of Kurds from around France and Europe marched through Paris Saturday to show their anger over the unresolved murders of three Kurdish female activists in the French capital 10 years ago.

The marchers are also mourning three people killed outside a Kurdish cultural center in Paris two weeks ago in what prosecutors called a racist attack.

Kurdish activists from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium arrived in buses escorted by police and joined fellow Kurds from France in a peaceful march through northeast Paris. The demonstration was timed to mark the 10th anniversary of the killings of Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez on Jan. 9, 2013.

Cansiz was a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, which Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist group.

Kurdish activists suspect the Turkish intelligence service was involved in the killings. The suspected attacker, a Turkish citizen, died in French custody before the case reached trial. Turkish officials suggested at the time that the killings may have been part of an internal feud among Kurdish activists or an attempt to derail peace talks.

Marchers carried banners bearing the victims’ portraits, as well as flags for the PKK, which is banned in Turkey.

Berfin Celebm, a 26-year-old who came from Amsterdam for the march, accused Turkey of involvement in both the 2013 and 2022 attacks.

“I want to support my struggle and I want to support Kurdish women,” she told The Associated Press.

While most marchers were Kurdish, the crowd also included left-wing French activists and some ethnic Turks.

“Today we are here to support our Kurdish friends because I am Turkish myself, and it is very important, because what is happening with the Kurdish people can happen to us as well tomorrow,” said Ibrahim Halac, a Turkish man living in Paris.

Organizers sought to keep the crowd contained. Paris police were on alert Saturday after skirmishes at Kurdish gatherings in the past, notably in response to last month’s shooting.

After the December 23 attack, the suspected assailant told investigators he had a “pathological” hatred of non-European foreigners, according to prosecutors. He was handed preliminary charges of racially motivated murder, though Kurdish activists suspect the attack was politically driven.

Turkey summoned France’s ambassador last week over what it called propaganda by Kurdish activists in France after the shooting.

The PKK has waged a separatist insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey’s army has battled Kurdish militants affiliated with the PKK in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq, and recently launched a series of strikes against Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.
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In response to the hanging of two Iranian protesters, a German lawmaker of Iranian descent has demanded that Germany expel the ambassadors of the Islamic Republic.

Earlier Saturday, Iran executed Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini by hanging. They had been convicted of killing a member of the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary in Iran.

“Let me express my condolences to the parents of the executed youth who are really grieving these days. The news this morning really stunned us, and we don’t know what to say,” said Sepehr Amiri, a member of the Christian Democratic Union party and a representative in the parliament of the German state of Lower Saxony.

In Germany, more than 100 politicians sponsor political prisoners in Iran.

The lawmakers’ sponsorship means they use their political heft in communicating with Iranian ambassadors, other politicians and human rights organizations in bringing attention to the plight of individual Iranian prisoners.

The hope is that the attention given to the prisoners will prevent Iranian judges from handing down harsh sentences, including the death penalty, in trials that are often not open to the public.

Politicians in other countries, such as Canada, Britain, France and Sweden, also sponsor Iranian political prisoners.

After the two protesters were executed Saturday, Amiri underscored that more needs to be done.

“As I said a few weeks ago, I am sure that political sponsorship is indeed a very good lever, because it disseminates information, and people outside Iran can know what is happening in Iran,” he told Voice of America’s Persian News Network.

“But the lives of the detainees remain in danger. We must take more drastic measures, including deporting those who work for the Islamic Republic of Iran, and closing all Iranian consulates in Germany,” he told VOA.

Last month, Amnesty International said Iran is seeking the death penalty for at least 26 protesters after what it said were sham trials.

The violent suppression of peaceful protests by Iranians, and the issuance and execution of death sentences by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran have drawn a wave of global condemnations.

Many Iranian protesters do not consider the imposition of sanctions against high-ranking political officials of the Iranian government to be enough, and they have demanded the closure of the representative offices and embassies of the Islamic Republic and the expulsion of all its ambassadors from Western countries.
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The U.N. human rights office has called on the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to drop criminal charges against Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ales Bialiatski and to immediately free him from detention. 

Belarusian Laureate Ales Bialiatski went on trial Thursday in the capital, Minsk, on charges that human rights activists widely view as bogus.  If found guilty, he faces up to 12 years in jail.

Two other representatives of his organization, the Viasna Human Rights Center, also are on trial and could face lengthy prison sentences.  U.N. human rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence says his office has serious concerns about the conduct of their trial.

“The trio are among hundreds detained after a violent crackdown on anti-government protests back in 2020,” said Laurence. “We call for the charges against them to be dropped and their immediate release from detention.”  

Bialiatski jointly won the 2022 Nobel peace prize along with Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.  Bialiatski did not attend the award ceremony in October because he was in prison.

Laurence says Bialiatski and his colleagues are being held on charges of financing protests against the government and of violating public order.

“I am not a lawyer, so I cannot go into the technical detail of the laws itself under which they have been charged,” said Laurence. “Suffice to say that we consider these to be arbitrary arrests, constitute arbitrary detention.  And that the charges are simply politically motivated.” 

Laurence notes the human rights office, and the special procedures unit are closely following the case.  He says concerns about widespread, gross violations in Belarus have been raised at the Human Rights Council and the U.N. General Assembly.
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A senior State Department official is leading a U.S. delegation to three Western Balkan nations in the coming days following weeks of ethnic tensions in the region.

Counselor of the United States Department of State Derek Chollet and the U.S. delegation will be traveling to Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia.

The border between Kosovo and Serbia is open again after roadblocks by protesting Serbs led authorities to close border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia, as authorities worried the tensions could turn violent.

Chollet told VOA Serbian on Thursday that his visit next week comes at a key moment.

“The last few weeks has, unfortunately, seen a rise in tensions between Kosovo and Serbia. In the last 48 hours we’ve seen barricades come down, we’ve seen the border crossings reopened between Kosovo and Serbia. That’s good news,” he said.

Since 2011, Serbia and Kosovo have been part of an EU-facilitated dialogue whose purpose is the normalization of relations. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 – which was never recognized by the Serbian authorities.

The European Union facilitated dialogue between the two sides last year, but the talks frequently ended up deadlocked.

Chollet said he wants to focus on talking about the future of Kosovo and Serbia as well as the normalization proposal laid about by the EU.

In the recent months, American and European officials were engaged in speeding up the dialogue regarding the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. The European Union has presented a proposal, but Chollet declined to provide details.

“I think sometimes in any negotiation, some of those details are best left behind closed doors until they’re ready. But we think the EU has laid out a viable path. Again, it’s going to be hard, and it’s going to require a lot of work, tough decisions, and courage by leaders to put aside differences and to do what’s in the best interests of their country. We want to help them achieve that goal,” Chollet said.

He also said that the U.S. continues to prioritize the 2013 Brussels Agreement that calls for forming the association of Serbian municipalities.

“We’ve been very clear about this. We believe that this is a commitment that’s been made and should be set up. But there are many other issues, both sides have obligations here we’d like to see them move forward,” said Chollet.

The Association of Serbian municipalities is a planned association of municipalities with a Serb majority population in Kosovo. It should have an overview of the areas of economic development, education, health, urban and rural planning.

Kosovo authorities are opposed to its creation citing it is unconstitutional and pushed by the Serbian government from Belgrade.

Yet, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti praised the European proposal for an agreement between the two countries, saying it includes universal principles, such “as territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence, equality, rule of law, democracy, [and] self-determination” that he said would make an agreement sustainable.

But he told VOA Albanian Service that Belgrade has not signaled that it is ready to accept it.

“To mask the rejection of this proposal they resigned from the institutions in Kosovo north of the Ibar (river) and with these barricades on one side they wanted to territorialize the issue … and on the other hand they wanted to stifle the political pluralism of the Serbian community.”

The prime minister said the agreement on the Association of Serbian Municipalities has not passed the test of Kosovo’s Constitutional Court.
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The Islamist Taliban joined British critics Friday to denounce Prince Harry for admitting to being responsible for the killing of 25 people in Afghanistan while serving as a military helicopter pilot there.

The British prince made the disclosures in his upcoming memoir, Spare, claiming the army had trained him to view members of the then-insurgent Taliban not “as people” but instead as “chess pieces” to be removed from the board.

Taliban foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi slammed Harry’s revelations.

“The western occupation of Afghanistan is truly an odious moment in human history and comments by Prince Harry is a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupation forces whom murdered innocents without any accountability,” Balkhi told VOA in written comments.

“Some of the recent reports highlighting the scale of murder by foreign airpower and raids including by UK forces is what Prince Harry also participated in,” Balkhi said.

Harry is quoted as saying that the death of the 25 people “wasn’t a statistic that filled me with pride but nor did it leave me ashamed.”

The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex said he killed the insurgents during his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2012, when he conducted six combat missions as an Apache helicopter co-pilot.

“Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return. Among the killers of Afghans, not many have your decency to reveal their conscience and confess to their war crimes,” tweeted Anas Haqqani, a central Taliban leader.

Harry also came under fire from British media and former army officers for what they denounced as irresponsible disclosures by the prince, fearing they could endanger his personal security and expose British soldiers serving overseas to revenge attacks by Taliban sympathizers.

“Love you #PrinceHarry but you need to shut up!” Ben McBean, a former Royal Marine who served with Harry in Afghanistan, tweeted Thursday. “Makes you wonder the people he’s hanging around with. If it was good people, somebody by now would have told him to stop.” 

Harry’s autobiography is scheduled for publication in Britain on January 10. It showed up on bookshelves in Barcelona, Spain, on January 5. 

More than 240,000 people, most of them civilians, died as a direct result of the war in Afghanistan since the U.S. invaded the country to topple the Taliban in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S.

The U.S. and its NATO allies lost the lives of 3,586 soldiers, including 2,442 Americans, according to figures released by the Brown University’s Costs of War project in 2021.

“I don’t expect that the [International Criminal Court] will summon you or the human rights activists will condemn you, because they are deaf and blind for you. But hopefully these atrocities will be remembered in the history of humanity,” Haqqani wrote.

Haqqani is the younger brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister in the interim Taliban administration.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021 from the then internationally backed government as the United States-led western troops withdrew from the country after 20 years of war with the insurgents.

The Taliban themselves were accused of committing war crimes while waging insurgent attacks against foreign forces and their Afghan partners.

The elder Haqqani led and trained a large group of militants, plotting high-profile attacks in support of Taliban insurgents and killing hundreds of people, including foreign nationals.

“The Haqqanis killed some Americans, yes. But they killed vastly more Afghans—the same people, with the same humanity, that he’s lecturing Harry about,” tweeted Jonathan Schroden who directs the U.S.-based Countering Threats and Challenges Program at the CNA Corporation.

The U.S. still lists the so-called Haqqani Network of militants as a global terrorist organization and carries a multimillion-dollar bounty for information leading to the arrest of its head, the current Taliban interior minister.

The Islamist rulers have rolled back the human rights of Afghans and placed restrictions on women’s access to public life, as well as education since taking control of Afghanistan.

The Taliban have reintroduced their strict interpretation of Islamic law or Shariah to govern Afghanistan, regularly carrying out public flogging of alleged criminals, including women, in defiance of global calls for halting the punishment. The group also staged its public execution of a convicted murder last month, triggering a global outrage.

The Taliban have rejected calls for reversing bans on women and other polices, effectively deterring the international community from formally granting legitimacy to the de facto rulers in Kabul.
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United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tuerk has warned about what he sees as the “systematic countering of women’s rights and gender equality” around the world.

In an exclusive interview Wednesday with Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, Tuerk said he was very concerned about the “backsliding and the pushbacks” he has seen against women recently, particularly on social media.

“We see it in social media, for example, where misogynistic, sexist comments seem to be allowed in a way, and thriving, which is very concerning,” he said.

Tuerk cited Afghanistan and the ruling Taliban as the “worst of the worst,” and called their repression of women “unparalleled.” Last month, the Taliban banned women from working in nongovernmental organizations and had previously reneged on promises to allow women and girls to receive university and secondary education.

The human rights chief called on the international community to “act in utmost solidarity with the women and the girls of Afghanistan, and we need to make sure that this cannot be the norm in the future.”

Tuerk has also sought to visit Iran, where protests have rocked the country since September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody after she allegedly violated the country’s strict dress code for women. He said the Iranian authorities had yet to respond to his request.

Tuerk said if he is allowed to go, he would again call for a repeal of “discriminatory practices against women and girls” and raise the subject of the authorities’ brutal crackdown on the protests. He expressed particular alarm at the use of the death penalty in connection with the protests.

He said, the death penalty “must absolutely not be used in this type of context under any circumstances.”

Oslo-based monitor Iran Human Rights says nearly 500 people have been killed in the crackdown, while thousands have been arrested.

Beyond the systematic actions taken by states, Tuerk called for a “global consensus” on how to address misinformation and hate speech, how to counter it on social platforms, how to make sure they act responsibly and “don’t add fuel to the fire, to conflict situations … or the backlash that we saw on gender issues.”

Overall, the U.N. human rights chief interpreted these acts of misogyny as “a last attempt by patriarchy to show its force,” against a worldwide movement toward the empowerment of women and gender equity.

He said, “They cannot prevent the new world from giving birth, and I’m very, very confident that this will be a thing of the past because patriarchy is not for the future. It’s something that has to be put into the history books.”

Information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
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In early December, Ukrainian officials said they estimated 10,000 to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. We visited Lviv to meet with some of the families that have lost loved ones in the war. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Camera: Yuriy Dankevych
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“Militias from the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) were formally integrated into the Russian armed forces on 31 December 2022,” Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday in its update on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, posted on Twitter.

Luhansk and Donetsk are both internationally recognized as being part of Ukraine.

However, Russia “claims the LNR and DNR as intrinsic parts of the Russian Federation following the fixed accession referendums of September 2022,” the ministry said.  In addition, Russia “has discreetly controlled both since 2014, creating DNR’s 1st Army Corps and LNR’s 2nd Army Corps and supporting them with Russian military officers.”

“The status and identities of the DNR and LNR likely remain divisive within the Russian system.  Even before the February 2022 invasion, these territories represented a significant drain on Russian finances,” the British Defense Ministry said.  “Now the Kremlin has overtly committed to supporting them, they will likely constitute a large political, diplomatic and financial cost for Russia which will last well beyond the current phase of the conflict.”

Meanwhile, the United States will send 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine as part of a new round of military aid to Kyiv, two defense officials tell VOA.

The Bradleys will come with hundreds of TOW anti-tank guided missiles and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to a government document shared with VOA before an official announcement expected Friday.

U.S. President Joe Biden first announced that Bradleys would be included in the new package, a statement the Pentagon confirmed later Thursday.

“It’s not a tank, but it’s a tank killer,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters. “It will provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s already-impressive armored capabilities, and we’re confident that it will aid them on the battlefield.”

Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Bradleys are “a significant improvement compared to what the U.S. has already provided.”

“The Bradley Fighting Vehicle will help infantry forces accompany fast-moving armored forces, providing the infantry additional protection, agility and firepower,” Bowman said.

Germany and France also are sending armored vehicles, the two countries announced this week.

In addition, Germany will match the U.S. in sending Ukraine a Patriot missile battery for defense, the White House said Thursday. Training to use the Patriots, which former officials say will take months to complete, is still being finalized.

“We’re exploring a variety of options, to include potential training here in the U.S., overseas or a combination of both,” Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon.

The Patriot is the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to date to help repel Russian aerial attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday thanked France for its AMX-10 RC armored fighting vehicles, which are built around a powerful turret-mounted GIAT 105mm gun, while also calling on allies to provide heavier weapons.

“There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western tanks,” Zelenskyy said.

Asked last month why the U.S. had not yet supplied Ukraine with the American-made M1A1 Abrams tanks, Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper told VOA the U.S. prioritized the supply of armored personnel carriers like Humvees that Ukraine could use “right now,” along with helping refurbish Soviet-type tanks that Ukrainians are already familiar with and could be “deployed immediately.”

“Something like a Western-style tank would take a much longer time period, not just to train on, but a much more complex and challenging maintenance and sustainment system,” she said in an exclusive interview. “[It’s] not something that could happen in the immediate future.”

Pressed on Thursday about possibly sending M1A1 Abrams, Ryder added, “We’re going to keep all options on the table.”

Orthodox Christmas cease-fire

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour cease-fire in his war against Ukraine over the Orthodox Christmas holiday.

He ordered Russian troops to stop attacks for a day and a half on its neighboring country starting at noon Friday, the Kremlin said. Many Orthodox Christians, including those living in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6 and 7.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a supporter of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, called on Thursday for both sides of the war in Ukraine to observe a Christmas truce. But the Kyiv government dismissed it as “hypocrisy” and a cynical trap, and Ryder also expressed skepticism.

“While Russia seems to be pretty good at exporting violence, they don’t seem to be pretty good at exporting the truth. And so we’ll see,” Ryder said in response to a question from VOA.

In an order, Putin said, “Proceeding from the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the areas of hostilities, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease-fire and allow them to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukraine’s president, characterized the Russian Orthodox Church as a “war propagandist” that had incited the “mass murder” of Ukrainians and the militarization of Russia.

Separately Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Putin that negotiations to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be supported by a unilateral cease-fire.

Erdogan’s office said he and Putin spoke by phone and that peace talks should include a “vision for a fair solution.”
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France announced it will send light tanks to Ukraine, a French official said on Wednesday after a phone call between the two countries’ leaders.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that France would send light AMX-10 RC armored combat vehicles — a light tank model the French military has used since the 1980s but is being phased out — to help its war effort against Russia, the official said.

“The president [Macron] wanted to increase … aid” to Ukraine by delivering the AMX-10 RC light tanks, a Macron aide told reporters on condition of anonymity after the call. “It is the first time that Western-designed tanks are supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces.”

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy thanked France, adding that Ukraine needed other allies to also provide heavier weapons.

“This is something that sends a clear signal to all our partners. There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western tanks,” he said.

France did not say how many of the combat vehicles would be given to Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden also said Wednesday that the U.S. is considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine.

While traveling in Kentucky, Biden was asked by reporters whether the U.S. was considering providing Ukraine with the Bradley, “a lightly armored, fully tracked transport vehicle that provides cross-country mobility, mounted firepower and protection from artillery and small-arms fire.”

The president said “yes,” without offering further comment.

Nearly 11 months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, saying the pro-Western country needed to be “demilitarized” and “de-Nazified.” The United States and Western allies have criticized the military action and are providing financial and military aid while also leveling multiple rounds of sanctions against Russia.

France has provided Kyiv with state-of-the-art artillery, armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft missiles and air-defense systems. And the U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than 2,000 combat vehicles, including 477 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles and more than 1,200 Humvees, The Associated Press reported.

In December, Biden also announced the U.S. would for the first time send Ukraine a Patriot missile battery, the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to help repel Russian aerial attacks.

Russia’s Putin dismissed the announcement of the weapons system, saying they were old and Russia’s missile systems would shoot them down.

“The Patriot air defense is outdated. An antidote will always be found. … Russia will knock down the Patriot system,” he said at the time.

Also Wednesday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby discussed the fighting in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, calling it “bloody” and “vicious.”

“The fighting there in the Donbas has been quite intense in recent weeks, and it’s pretty clear to us, and certainly clear to the Ukrainians, that the Russians continue to flow manpower in to try to tip the balance there, particularly in the Donetsk area,” Kirby said.

“Though winter is upon us, the fighting has not stopped and the fighting in the east has been particularly intense in the last several weeks,” he added. “And I think we need to expect that that kind of fighting will continue for quite some time.”

Earlier this week, Ukraine struck Russian military barracks in the Russian-held eastern Ukrainian town of Makiivka. At least 89 Russian soldiers were killed, and Moscow sought to blame the soldiers’ use of mobile phones for giving away their location, allowing for the strike.

Britain’s defense ministry also said Wednesday that the attack may have been exacerbated by Russia storing ammunition close to where Russian troops were staying.

“Given the extent of the damage, there is a realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike, creating secondary explosions,” the ministry tweeted in its latest daily assessment.

The British defense ministry added that Russia had a history of unsafe ammunition storage before it launched its invasion of Ukraine, “but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate.”

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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The deadliest Ukrainian strike on Russian troops reported so far has reignited criticism of Moscow’s mobilization drive and laid bare a lack of trust in officials almost a year into the offensive.

The Russian army announced 89 soldiers were killed when Kyiv struck a temporary base in the Russian-occupied town of Makiivka with U.S.-supplied rockets just after midnight at New Year’s, while Ukraine put the toll in the hundreds.

Widespread reports of many recently mobilized men being among the dead stirred some anger after months of discontent over the chaotic draft.

There were also rare displays of public grief in Russia, with some frustration toward the army, whose actions in Ukraine are shrouded in secrecy.

Usually, officials would rush to blame the West and Ukraine.

But this time, for many pro-Kremlin commentators, the culprit was closer to home: the army leadership.

Many questioned if 89 was the real death toll, as reports spread on social media that ammunition was stored near where the soldiers slept.

The army blamed the troops themselves, saying the devastating strike likely came after they used their cell phones despite a ban.

But, in a rare move, the army also promised to punish its own officials for mistakes after an investigation.

Placing the blame on the troops caused some anger.

“Well of course. It is not the commander who gave the order to place personnel in the school building that is to blame,” Moscow lawmaker Andrei Medvedev said on Telegram. “But just a simple fighter with a phone, apparently, is to blame for the tragedy.”

‘Something is not going to plan’

Russia has introduced harsh laws against “discrediting the army” since sending troops to Ukraine, de facto banning criticism of its offensive.

And sociologist Denis Volkov said such deadly strikes have little short-term impact on the mood of Russians as state media had not been dedicating much airtime to Russian losses.

After authorities declared an end to the draft in late October, Volkov said “apathy has risen considerably” in Russian society.

He did, however, say that a series of defeats and withdrawals in Ukraine has led to a feeling among some Russians “that something is not going to plan.”

“People notice and it does influence the feeling that not everything is as rainbowlike as is portrayed or as they would like it to be,” Volkov said.

“But still, the majority think that everything is fine and that we need to continue (the offensive).”

‘I am shocked’

Yet in the Samara region, where some of the soldiers were known to have been from, the strikes led to public vigils that have been rare since Russia President Vladimir Putin launched the offensive.

Concern quickly spread on the social media pages of relatives of soldiers from Samara, calling for a thorough investigation.

“It is not cellphones and their owners that are to blame, but the banal negligence of the commanders, who I am sure did not even try to resettle the personnel,” read one social media post.

“I am shocked the commanders did not warn of the dangers,” one woman wrote on the same page.

Some questioned why authorities needed a mobilization in the first place.

Others were divided over whether the cellphones led to the devastation.

A group of activists in Samara have also called for army officials to be punished and for names of the dead to be made public.

“This is a big tragedy for the Samara region,” the group wrote on social media.

“It is important to remember, these were mobilized (people), not professional soldiers.”
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Britain’s Prince Harry says his older brother and heir to the throne Prince William knocked him to the floor during a 2019 argument over Harry’s American wife, Meghan, in his much-awaited memoir, which went on sale days early in Spain on Thursday.

In his book Spare, Harry also discloses how the brothers, the sons of King Charles, had begged their father not to marry his second wife, Camilla, now Queen Consort, and that he had taken cocaine as a teenager.

The book was due to be published on January 10, but The Guardian newspaper printed leaked extracts overnight, and Reuters and other media have been able to obtain Spanish-language versions that went on sale early in Spain.

Details of its contents also come as ITV released a clip of an upcoming interview with Harry in which he said he could not commit to attending his father’s coronation in May and defended his decision to speak out.

Revelations

Harry’s memoir gives a personal account of his struggles dealing with the death of his mother Princess Diana, his time in the military — when he said he killed 25 Taliban insurgents while serving in Afghanistan — and his conflicts with the press.

But the most striking revelations concern the relationship with his family, something that has hung like a shadow over the British royals since he and Meghan stepped down from official duties in 2020 to move to California to forge a new life.

As is usual for the royal family, spokespeople for King Charles and Prince William have declined to comment.

Harry, 38, wrote in his memoir that his brawl with William, 40, took place in 2019 at his then London home after his brother had called Meghan “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive.”

“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” Harry wrote.

“I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”

William then challenged his younger brother to hit back, but Harry said he refused. William later returned to the scene, “looking regretful, and apologized,” Harry wrote, with his brother asking him not to tell Meghan that he had “attacked” him.

William and Harry were once seen as very close after the death of their mother in a Paris car crash in 1997. But the brothers have fallen out since Harry married Meghan, a former actress, in 2018 and the couple then quit their royal role.

In another section of the book, Harry refers to his first meeting with Camilla, whom Diana had blamed for the breakup of her marriage. Harry says he and William had approved of Camilla but asked their father not to marry her.

“Despite the fact that Willy and I asked him not to do it, my father went ahead,” Harry wrote. “Despite the bitterness and sadness we felt in closing another loop in the history of our mother, we understood this was irrelevant.”

Stinging criticism

Since their exit from royal life, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as Harry and Meghan are officially known, have delivered stinging criticism of the Windsors and the British monarchy, which has included accusations of racism that William himself has dismissed.

Last month, Harry and Meghan’s six-part Netflix documentary, which attracted record audiences, aired with renewed accusations, including that William had screamed at Harry during a crisis summit to discuss his future.

The main criticism from Harry and Meghan is that royal aides not only refused to hit back at hostile, inaccurate press coverage but were complicit in leaking negative stories to protect other royals, most notably William.

“I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better,” Harry said in Thursday’s ITV clip.

Asked why he was invading the privacy of his family, something he had railed against, he replied: “That will be the accusation from the people that don’t understand or don’t want to believe that my family have been briefing the press.”

The title of his book Spare comes from an oft-cited quote in British aristocratic circles about the need for an heir, and a spare.

Harry says Charles reputedly said to Diana on the day he was born: “Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare — my work is done.”

How much the disclosures will resonate with the public is unclear. A YouGov poll this week found 65% of those surveyed were “not interested at all” in his upcoming book, while another found greater sympathy among respondents for William and his wife, Kate, than for Harry and Meghan.

Charles himself is still hoping for a reconciliation with his son, unnamed sources told newspapers this week.

In its leaked extracts, The Guardian says the king had stood between his two sons during a difficult meeting at Windsor Castle following the April 2021 funeral for their grandfather Prince Philip, the late Queen Elizabeth’s husband.

“Please, boys,” Harry quoted his father as saying. “Don’t make my final years a misery.”
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The corruption scandal at the European Parliament deepened this week as officials said they would seek to lift immunity on two more lawmakers accused of taking bribes from Qatar.

The Gulf state has warned that the investigation could impact economic ties between Europe and Qatar, a key emerging supplier of energy to the EU as it tries to reduce reliance on Russia.

Andrea Cozzolino, an Italian member of the European Parliament, and his Belgian colleague, Marc Tarabella, are the latest suspects in a corruption scandal that has rocked Brussels. Both men deny taking bribes from Qatar.

Following a yearlong investigation, Belgian police last month raided offices and homes linked to current and former members of the European Parliament. They discovered around $1.6 million in cash.

Police said nearly $158,000 was discovered inside the home of Greek MEP Eva Kaili, one of 14 vice presidents of the parliament. She is accused of taking bribes from Qatar.

“The purpose of the bribery was to favor this Gulf country in the economic, financial and political decisions of the European Parliament,” Eric van Duyse, a spokesperson for the Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, told reporters December 13.

Qatar links

The European Parliament voted last month to strip Kaili of her role as vice president.

In November, following a visit to Qatar ahead of its hosting of the FIFA World Cup, Kaili spoke strongly in favor of the Gulf state during a debate with other European lawmakers, accusing its critics of hypocrisy.

“Today the World Cup in Qatar is a proof actually of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historical transformation of the country, with reforms that inspired the Arab world. I alone said that Qatar is a front-runner in labor rights,” Kaili said November 21.

“[Qatar] committed to a vision by choice and they opened to the world. Still, some here are calling to discriminate [against] them — they bully them and they accuse everyone that talks to them or engages [with them] of corruption. But still they take their gas,” she added.

Kaili’s partner, Francesco Giorgi, an Italian parliamentary assistant, is also accused of involvement in the bribery allegations. It’s reported that police found $789,000 in his hotel room, stashed in a suitcase. Both Kaili and Giorgi deny the accusations and are being held in custody pending the investigation.

An Italian former member of the European Parliament, Pier Antonio Panzeri, and an Italian lobbyist named as Niccolo Figa-Talamanca are also being investigated by Belgian police. They also deny the accusations.

Visa deal

There are growing demands for recent policy decisions on Qatar to be re-examined in the wake of the bribery allegations, said Andre Wolf of the Berlin-based Centre for European Policy, an expert on EU-Qatar relations.

“In the last couple of months, there was a legislative procedure regarding the liberalization of visas for citizens of Qatar to Europe, to the EU, and apparently [Qatar] tried to exert influence on the decision-making regarding this legislation,” Wolf told VOA. “This legislation has already been passed. It has been suspended now as a consequence of the ongoing investigation.”

Qatar denies trying to bribe EU officials. It has warned that relations with Europe are at risk.

Gas shortage

Germany and Belgium are among European nations that have signed deals to buy Qatari liquified natural gas, or LNG, as the bloc tries to wean itself off Russian energy in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, the Qatari mission to the EU said last month, “The decision to impose such a discriminatory restriction that limits dialogue and cooperation on Qatar before the legal process has ended will negatively affect regional and global security cooperation, as well as discussions around global energy.”

Analyst Wolf said the timing of the scandal was delicate. “Qatar, with its developed infrastructure and its relative proximity to Europe, will be an important player and will be ever more important for overall gas imports to Europe,” he said.

World Cup

Wolf added that Qatar was angered by European criticism of its human rights and equality laws during its hosting of last month’s World Cup.

“It also affected, I think, some rather deeply rooted issues related to culture and religion, which should better not be blended with the World Cup or other political issues. But I think the bilateral relations can overcome this period because it’s in both their interests to cooperate,” he told VOA.

The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, warned last month that the criminal proceedings were damaging trust in the EU. “Trust that has taken years to build but only moments to destroy will need to be rebuilt, and this work starts now,” Metsola said.
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