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The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday it was taking joint action with Turkey against a network it said played a key role in money management, transfer and distribution for the Islamic State group operating in Iraq and Syria.

Turkey has frozen the assets of members to the network, who also were added to the U.S. sanctions list, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Those sanctioned included an Iraqi national living illegally in Turkey, Brukan al-Khatuni, his two sons, and two businesses they used to transfer money on behalf оf the Islamic State between Turkey, Iraq and Syria, it said.
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Mourners pour into St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to pay their final respects to the German theologian who made history by retiring and to participate in a rare requiem Mass for a dead pontiff presided over by a living one, The Associated Press reports.
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Pope Francis presided at the funeral of former Pope Benedict on Thursday, delivering a homily comparing his predecessor to Jesus before tens of thousands of mourners in St. Peter’s Square.

To the sound of tolling bells, 12 pallbearers had carried the wooden coffin holding Benedict’s remains out of St. Peter’s Basilica and placed it on the ground before the largest church in Christendom.

Applause broke out across the vast cobbled esplanade,  in a sign of respect for Benedict, a hero to Roman Catholic conservatives who shocked the world by resigning nearly a decade ago.

Francis arrived in the square in a wheelchair. Troubled by a bad knee, the pontiff sat in a chair looking down on the coffin, slightly hunched and glum-faced as choirs sang in Latin.

In his homily read from the same spot, Francis used more than a dozen biblical references and church writings in which he appeared to compare Benedict to Jesus, including his last word before he died on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Francis also referred to Benedict indirectly in paraphrases of other biblical references to Jesus, including “love means being ready to suffer” and that the congregation was “commending our brother into the hands of the father.”

Also referring to Benedict during the Mass concelebrated by 125 cardinals, 200 bishops and about 3,700 priests, Francis spoke of “wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years.”

He mentioned Benedict by name only once, in the last line, saying: “Benedict, faithful friend of the bridegroom, (Jesus) may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!”

Clergy from around the world, a handful of heads of state and thousands of faithful attended the ceremony as the sun slowly broke through the fog.

More than 1,000 Italian security personnel were called up to help safeguard the event, and air space around the tiny Holy See has been closed off for the day. Italy ordered flags around the country be flown at half staff.

Left his mark

People from all over the world, many from Benedict’s native Germany, began arriving the dark of the night to say farewell to Benedict.

“Even though at our age we were just children when he was pope, he left his mark,” Xavier Mora, 24, a Spaniard who is studying for the priesthood in Rome, told Reuters as he approached the square with two other seminarians.

“We have been studying his theology for three years, and even though we did not know him personally, we have great affection and esteem for him,” he said.

About 200,000 people filed past Benedict’s body while it was lying in state until Wednesday evening.

An account of Benedict’s papacy, along with other items, including Vatican coins minted during his reign, was also tucked into the coffin.

The account of his life and papacy, written in Latin, says he “fought with firmness” against sexual abuse by clergy in the church.

While many leading figures have praised Benedict since his death, criticism has also been aired, including by victims of clergy sexual abuse, who have accused him of seeking to protect the church at all costs.

After the funeral ceremony, the coffin will be taken back inside the basilica and encased in zinc before being sealed in a wooden casket.

Because Benedict was no longer a head of state when he died, only two countries, Italy and his native Germany, sent official delegations Thursday.

Francis himself has made clear that he would not hesitate to step down some day if his mental or physical health prevented him from carrying out his duties, but Vatican officials always doubted he could do this while Benedict was still alive.

Even though Benedict largely avoided public appearances in subsequent years, he remained a standard-bearer for Catholic conservatives, who felt alienated by reforms ushered in by Francis, including cracking down on the old Latin Mass.

At his request, Benedict will be buried later Thursday in the underground Vatican grottoes in the niche where first Pope John XXIII and then John Paul II were interred before their remains were transferred to more prominent places in the basilica above.
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Mourners poured into St. Peter’s Square early Thursday for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to pay their final respects to the German theologian who made history by retiring and to participate in a rare requiem Mass for a dead pontiff presided over by a living one.

Thick fog shrouded the Vatican before dawn as police manned metal detectors and barricades and herded well-wishers into the square. Heads of state and royalty, clergy from around the world and thousands of faithful are flocking to the Vatican, despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and official efforts to keep the first funeral for an pope emeritus in modern times low-key.

Many hailed from Benedict’s native Bavaria and donned traditional dress, including boiled wool coats to guard against the morning chill.

“We came to pay homage to Benedict and wanted to be here today to say goodbye,” said Raymond Mainar, who traveled from a small village east of Munich for the funeral. “He was a very good pope.”

The former Joseph Ratzinger, who died December 31 at age 95, is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest theologians and spent his lifetime upholding church doctrine. But he will go down in history for a singular, revolutionary act that changed the future of the papacy: He retired, the first pope in six centuries to do so.

Pope Francis has praised Benedict’s courage to step aside, saying it “opened the door” to other popes doing the same. Francis, for his part, recently said he has already left written instructions outlining the conditions in which he too would resign.

Francis was due to preside over the funeral, which authorities estimated some 100,000 would attend, higher than an original estimate of 60,000, Italian media reported, citing police security plans.

Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, but other heads of state and government took the Vatican up on its offer and come in their “private capacity.” They included several other heads of state, at least four prime ministers and two delegations of royal representatives.

Early Thursday the Vatican released the official history of Benedict’s life, a short document in Latin that was placed in a metal cylinder in his coffin before it was sealed, along with the coins and medallions minted during his papacy and his pallium stoles.

The document gave ample attention to Benedict’s historic resignation and referred to him as “pope emeritus,” citing verbatim the Latin words he uttered on February 11, 2013, when he announced he would retire.

The document, known as a “rogito” or deed, also cited his theological and papal legacy, including his outreach to Anglicans and Jews and his efforts to combat clergy sexual abuse “continually calling the church to conversion, prayer, penance and purification.”

The funeral rite calls for Benedict’s coffin to be carried out from the basilica and placed before the altar as the faithful recite the rosary. The ritual itself is modeled on the code used for dead popes but with some modifications given Benedict was not a reigning pontiff when he died.

After the Mass, Benedict’s cypress coffin was to be placed inside a zinc one, then an outer oak casket before being entombed in the crypt in the grottos underneath St. Peter’s Basilica that once held the tomb of St. John Paul II before it was moved upstairs.

While the ritual is novel, it does have some precedent: In 1802, Pope Pius VII presided over the funeral in St. Peter’s of his predecessor, Pius VI, who had died in exile in France in 1799 as a prisoner of Napoleon.

Some 200,000 paid tribute to Benedict during three days of public viewing in the basilica, with one of the last, Friar Rosario Vitale, spending an hour praying by his body. He said Benedict had given him a special dispensation to begin the process of becoming a priest, which was required because of a physical disability.

“So today I came here to pray on his tomb, on his body and to say ‘thank you’ for my future priesthood, for my ministry,” he said.

Benedict never intended his retirement to last as long as it did — at nearly 10 years it was longer than his eight-year pontificate. And the unprecedented situation of a retired pope living alongside a reigning one prompted calls for protocols to guide future popes emeritus to prevent any confusion about who is really in charge.

During St. John Paul II’s quarter-century as pope, Ratzinger spearheaded a crackdown on dissent as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, taking action against the left-leaning liberation theology that spread in Latin America in the 1970s and against dissenting theologians and nuns who didn’t toe the Vatican’s hard line on matters like sexual morals.

His legacy was marred by the clergy sexual abuse scandal, even though he recognized earlier than most the “filth” of priests who raped children, and actually laid the groundwork for the Holy See to punish them.

As cardinal and pope, he passed sweeping church legislation that resulted in 848 priests being defrocked from 2004-2014, roughly his pontificate with a year on either end. But abuse survivors still held him responsible for the crisis, for failing to sanction any bishop who moved abusers around and identifying him as embodying the clerical system that long protected the institution over victims.

“Any celebration that marks the life of abuse enablers like Benedict must end,” said the main U.S. survivor group SNAP.
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Pope Francis will preside at a funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday for his predecessor, former Pope Benedict, who died Saturday at 95.

More than 60,000 people are expected to attend. There will be official delegations from Italy and Benedict’s native Germany. Other leaders, including the king and queen of Belgium and the queen of Spain, and about 13 heads of state of state or government, will attend in a private capacity. Most countries will be represented by their ambassadors to the Vatican.

Here is a guide to what is expected to happen:

End of lying in state

Since Monday, the body of the emeritus pope has been lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, where more than 160,000 people had filed past to pay their respects as of midday Wednesday.

The viewing is due to end at 7 p.m. local time (1800 GMT). The body will then be placed in a coffin made of cypress wood, along with several papal items such as vestments symbolizing his role as pope and bishop, and coins and medals that were minted during his pontificate. Also included will be a lead tube with a deed in Latin listing the key points in his pontificate.

The cypress coffin will be closed privately in the presence of a few close aides, such as Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who was Benedict’s longtime secretary, and other members of the household where he lived after he resigned the papacy in 2013, the first pope to do so in 600 years.

Procession, prayers and Mass

At 8:45 a.m. local time (0745 GMT) Thursday, ushers known as papal gentlemen will carry the coffin in procession out of the basilica and place it on the steps facing St. Peter’s Square. The faithful will pray the rosary for about 45 minutes.

The funeral Mass presided over by Pope Francis is to start at 9:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT). At first, the pope will sit before the coffin facing the crowd. The Sistine Chapel choir will start its singing with the introductory rites.

The pope will then move to a chair to the side of the altar and preside from there, sitting most of the time because of a knee aliment that impedes him from standing for too long. The celebrant standing at the altar will be Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

Francis will deliver the homily at the Mass, which will be con-celebrated by 120 cardinals, 400 bishops and nearly 4,000 priests.

At the end of the Mass, Francis will recite The Final Commendation and Farewell asking God to “console the Church.”

The liturgy for the funeral Mass is based mostly on that for a pope who dies while reigning, with some minor modifications, particularly in a few prayers and readings.

One prayer will include petitions to God for both Benedict and Francis.

Near the end of the Mass, Francis will sprinkle holy water on the coffin and wave incense around it.

He will say in Latin: “Gracious Father, we commend to your mercy Pope Emeritus Benedict, whom you made successor of Peter and shepherd of the Church, a fearless preacher of your word and a faithful minister of the divine mysteries.”

The choir will then sing in Latin: “May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come and welcome you and take you into the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.”

Private service and burial

The pallbearers will then carry the cypress coffin back into the basilica for a private service in which it will be sealed and wrapped in ribbons.

It will then be placed into a zinc coffin, which will be soldered shut. Both will then go into a larger, wooden coffin.

Benedict will then be buried according to his wishes in the same spot in the crypts under St. Peter’s Basilica where Pope John Paul II was originally interred in 2005 before his body was moved up to a chapel in the basilica in 2011.

The burial will also be a private service. 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate armed with the country’s latest Zircon hypersonic missile on a trans-ocean cruise in a show of force as tensions with the West escalate over the war in Ukraine.

Russia says the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defenses by flying at an astounding 11,265 kilometer per hour.

Here is a glance at the ship and its weapons.

Pride of the Russian navy

Commissioned by the navy in 2018 following long trials, the Admiral Gorshkov is the first ship in the new series of frigates that were designed to replace the aging Soviet-built destroyers as a key strike component of the Russian navy.

Armed with an array of missiles, the ship is 130-meters long and has a crew of about 200.

In 2019, it circled the world oceans on a 35,000-nautical mile journey.

Intensive tests

The Admiral Gorshkov has served as the main testbed for the Zircon, Russia’s latest hypersonic missile.

In recent years, Zircon has undergone a series of tests, including being launched at various practice targets. The military declared the tests successful, and Zircon officially entered service last fall.

Zircon is intended to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines and could be used against both enemy ships and ground targets. It is one of several hypersonic missiles that Russia has developed.

Putin praises Zircon as ‘unique’

Putin has hailed Zircon as a potent weapon capable of penetrating any existing anti-missile defenses by flying nine times faster than the speed of sound at a range of more than 1,000 kilometers.

Putin has emphasized that Zircon gives the Russian military a long-range conventional strike capability, allowing it to strike any enemy targets with precision.

Russia’s hypersonic weapons drive emerged as the U.S. has been working on its own Conventional Prompt Global Strike capability that envisions hitting an adversary’s strategic targets with precision-guided conventional weapons anywhere in the world within one hour.

Putin heralded Zircon as Russia’s answer to that, claiming that the new weapon has no rival, giving Russia a strategic edge.

Months before ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin put the U.S. and its NATO allies on notice when he warned that Russian warships armed with Zircon would give Russia a capability to strike the adversary’s “decision-making centers” within minutes if deployed in neutral waters.

Speaking via video link during Wednesday’s sendoff ceremony, Putin again praised Zircon as a “unique weapon” without an “equivalent for it in any country in the world.”

Other Russian weapons

Russia has commissioned the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles for some of its ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles that constitute part of Russia’s strategic nuclear triad. Putin has hailed Avangard’s ability to maneuver at hypersonic speeds on its approach to target, dodging air defenses.

The Russian military also has deployed the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles on its MiG-31 aircraft and used them during the war in Ukraine to strike some priority targets. Kinzhal reportedly has a range of about 1,500 kilometers.

Patrol duty

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin on Wednesday that the Admiral Gorshkov will patrol the Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea but didn’t give further details.

Shoigu said the Admiral Gorshkov’s crew will focus on “countering the threats to Russia, maintaining regional peace and stability jointly with friendly countries.” He added the crew will practice with hypersonic weapons and long-range cruise missiles “in various conditions.”

Some military experts say a single, hypersonic missile-armed warship is no match for the massive naval forces of the U.S. and its allies.

But others noted that the frigate’s potential deployment close to U.S. shores could be part of Putin’s strategy to up the ante in the Ukrainian conflict.

“This is a message to the West that Russia has nuclear-tipped missiles that can easily pierce any missile defenses,” pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov wrote in a commentary.
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With Russian rockets targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and electrical grid, scientists in the northern city of Sumy, some 330 kilometers east of Kyiv, are hoping to start mass producing solar technology that could help keep the lights on. Olena Adamenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera and video editing by Mykhailo Zaika.
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Iran warned France on Wednesday of consequences after satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Tehran deemed to be insulting. 

The weekly magazine had published dozens of cartoons ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic republic as part of a competition it launched in December in support of the three-month-old protest movement in Iran. 

“The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response,” tweeted Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. 

“We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path,” he added, without spelling out the consequences. 

Later Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned French Ambassador Nicolas Roche. 

“France has no right to insult the sanctities of other Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said. 

“Iran is waiting for the French government’s explanation and compensatory action in condemning the unacceptable behavior of the French publication,” he added. 

Seen by supporters as a champion of freedom of speech and by critics as needlessly provocative, Charlie Hebdo’s style is controversial, even within France. 

But the country was united in grief when in January 2015 it was targeted in a deadly attack by Islamist gunmen who claimed to be avenging the magazine’s decision to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. 

‘Not last word’

The issue in the latest controversy contained a variety of sexual images depicting Khamenei and fellow clerics. Other cartoons pointed to the authorities’ use of capital punishment as a tactic to quell the protests.

“It was a way to show our support for Iranian men and women who risk their lives to defend their freedom against the theocracy that has oppressed them since 1979,” Charlie Hebdo director Laurent Sourisseau, known as Riss, wrote in an editorial. 

All the cartoons published “have the merit of defying the authority that the supposed supreme leader claims to be, as well as the cohort of his servants and other henchmen,” he added. 

Nathalie Loiseau, a French member of the European Parliament and former minister loyal to President Emmanuel Macron, described Iran’s response as an “interference attempt and threat” to Charlie Hebdo.  

“Let it be perfectly clear: The repressive and theocratic regime in Tehran has nothing to teach France,” she said. 

Khamenei, the successor of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is appointed for life. Above day-to-day politics, criticism of him is prohibited inside Iran. 

Khomeini in 1989 famously issued a religious decree, or fatwa, ordering Muslims to kill the British author Salman Rushdie for what he deemed the blasphemous nature of Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. 

Many activists blamed Iran last year when the writer was stabbed at an event in New York, but Tehran denied any link. 

The Iranian regime has been shaken by three months of protests triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women. 

It has responded with a crackdown that Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said has killed at least 476 people in protests, which Iranian officials generally describe as “riots.” 

Charlie Hebdo published the caricatures in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the deadly attack on its Paris office, which left 12 people dead, including some of its best-known cartoonists. 

“Eight years later, religious intolerance has not said its last word,” its director said. “It continues its work in defiance of international protests and respect for the most basic human rights.” 
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The first high-level talks between Turkey and Syria in over a decade held in Moscow last week reflect the common interests of the two nations in limiting the autonomy of Syrian Kurds, experts say. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said more talks are planned for later this month.

Analysts speaking to VOA believe that if the process moves forward, an Erdogan-Assad meeting might be in the works. But they caution Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad might be unwilling to hand Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a political gift before the elections in Turkey, possibly in May.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan met their Syrian counterparts last Wednesday in Moscow. They were joined by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and discussed the “Syrian crisis, the refugee problem and joint efforts against all terror groups on Syrian soil,” according to a statement by the Turkish Ministry of Defense. 

Turkey supported the armed rebels that sought to topple Assad in Syria during the civil war that began in 2011, locking the two countries in bitter animosity for years. 

The first contact between Turkey and Syria since the beginning of the civil war discreetly started between their intelligence services some time ago. Recent talks between the defense ministers underscored Ankara’s effort to engage in dialogue with Damascus, representing a major foreign policy reversal.

Common interests 

Last week’s meeting follows Turkey’s threat to launch another military offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, an action opposed by Russia, the United States and Iran.

The YPG forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State. Turkey sees the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Speaking to journalists before the talks in Moscow, Akar said Ankara had been in contact with Moscow about using Syrian airspace for a possible military operation.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford told VOA that Ankara and Damascus share an interest in limiting the autonomy of the Syrian Kurds in northern Syria, and the talks reflect common security concerns with respect to the YPG.

“I do not discount a coordinated Syrian-Turkish effort against the YPG, particularly in Tel Rifaat or Manbij,” Ford said. “More likely, Ankara hopes Moscow and Damascus can convince the YPG to quit these locales without fighting and allow restoration of full Syrian control backed by Russian forces.” 

Ford is currently a fellow at Yale University and at the Middle East Institute, based in Washington.

He added that despite having difficult relations, the Assad regime and the YPG sometimes cooperate because Assad finds their presence in the northeast “occasionally useful.”

Alan Makovsky, a senior fellow for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, agrees that Turkey’s effort for dialogue with the Syrian government is partly dictated by its YPG concern. He said Erdogan wants to find common ground with Assad to remove the YPG from the border area and repress any Kurdish bid for autonomy.

Election concerns amid refugee problem

Experts speaking to VOA believe that the upcoming Turkish elections represent another significant factor at play.

Turkey hosts more than 4 million Syrian refugees. The government says it’s working on a plan to send 1 million Syrians back to their country on a voluntary basis. The refugee issue has recently been a sensitive one in Turkey’s domestic politics with elections a few months away.

Pointing to the Turkish public’s strong sentiment regarding the refugee issue, Makovsky told VOA that Erdogan hopes he can convince voters that dialogue with Assad will lead to the return of most Syrian refugees. 

Cavusoglu hinted at more talks later this month, possibly at the foreign minister level, with Damascus.

“Russia has come forward with a date, but we’re not available on those days. So, we are working on some other proposals,” he told journalists on Tuesday.

Cavusoglu did not completely rule out the possibility of a meeting between the two presidents before the Turkish elections but said the decision would be up to Erdogan, adding that presidential level talks could be considered after the foreign ministers meet.

Reuters reported last month that Syria opposed the idea of a leaders’ summit with Turkey, saying Damascus believed such a meeting could boost Erdogan ahead of the elections.

Some analysts said there has to be some political progress before the two leaders can meet.

“I would expect an Erdogan-Assad meeting only if Erdogan needed a dramatic step to address the refugee issue, or if Assad was ready to make a major concession, such as guaranteeing safety for returning refugees. Assad is unlikely to hand Erdogan any political gift,” Ford said.

Turkey’s reconciliation effort with Syria continues to dominate the headlines in the Turkish press and public discussion. Experts say recent polls indicate there is a strong desire among Turkish citizens for a dramatic shift in the government’s Syria policy.

Makovsky said recent diplomatic momentum and political logic suggest an Assad-Erdogan agreement by spring. He pointed to a recent survey by Turkish polling company Metropoll that highlighted the domestic political dynamics in Turkey.

“Turks favor talking to Assad by 59-29 [percent], according to the survey. Erdogan could derive some political benefit from a mere photo-op. But Assad probably has no interest in helping Erdogan’s reelection bid. Turkey’s opposition party, CHP, has called for dialogue with Assad and noninterference in Syria since 2011. However, Russia almost certainly does want Erdogan to be reelected, and it’s well-positioned to make Assad agree to meet the Turkish president,” he told VOA. 

US criticism and Russia 

A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department said in a statement sent to VOA’s Turkish Service last week that the U.S. does not support countries “upgrading their relations to rehabilitate the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad” and urged the nations to “carefully consider the atrocities inflicted by the Assad regime on the Syrian people” over the last decade. 

Analysts speaking to VOA say Washington does not want to see the Assad government in Syria being legitimized and emboldened, because it would be a diplomatic and geopolitical success for Russia, from Washington’s perspective.

They also believe the U.S. does not want an agreement between Damascus and Ankara that would enable either the Turkish military or Syrian government forces to “weaken or distract the YPG” from its focus against Islamic State.

Some argue that Russia might be willing to give the green light to a military operation by Turkey in return for dialogue with the Assad government. Makovsky challenges that view, saying Russian opposition to another military action by Turkey appears quite firm.

He said Ankara’s request to purchase F-16 military fighter jets from Washington could be a factor in coming months, noting that foreign arms sales are subject to U.S. congressional approval.

Cavusoglu said he will meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken later this month in Washington to discuss bilateral issues, including Ankara’s F-16 request.

The two recently spoke by phone, and according to the readout provided, Blinken expressed concern over the situation in Syria. 

The State Department confirmed the planned talks in the statement sent to VOA’s Turkish Service but did not provide additional details.  

This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service. Dilge Timocin contributed to this report.

 
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Pope Francis praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s “acute and gentle thought” as he presided over a packed Wednesday general audience in the Vatican, while thousands of people paid tribute to the former pope on the final day of public viewing in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Francis was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in the Paul VI auditorium and shouts of “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope” as he arrived for his weekly catechism appointment with the faithful.

This week’s audience was conducted as tens of thousands of people continued to flock to St. Peter’s to pay their respects to Benedict’s body, lying in state, before the official viewing ends Wednesday evening. From Monday through midday Wednesday, nearly 160,000 people had passed through the basilica, the Vatican said.

“It is my duty to come,” said Małgorzata Nowska, a Polish resident of Rome as she paid her respects Wednesday. She said she wanted to give Benedict “a last hug, a last prayer.”

Francis is due to preside over the late German pope’s funeral on Thursday, an event that is drawing heads of state and royalty despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and Vatican efforts to keep the first Vatican funeral for an emeritus pope in modern times low-key. Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, and the Italian government announced Wednesday that Italian and European Union flags would fly at half-staff on public buildings across the country Thursday.

Francis drew applause when he opened his remarks by giving a shout-out to all those who were outside paying tribute to Benedict, whom he called a “great master of catechesis.”

“His acute and gentle thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us in the encounter with Jesus,” Francis said.

Later Wednesday, Vatican officials were to place Benedict’s body in a cypress coffin — the first of three coffins —along with a brief, written summary of his historic papacy, the coins minted during his pontificate and his pallium stoles.

After the funeral in the piazza, the remains will be carried back into the basilica, where the coffin will placed inside a zinc one, and then finally into another made from oak.

In keeping with Benedict’s wishes, his remains will be placed in the crypt once occupied by the tomb of St. John Paul II in the grottos underneath the basilica. John Paul’s tomb was moved upstairs into the main basilica ahead of his 2011 beatification.

Benedict, who was elected pope in 2005 following John Paul’s death, became the first pope in six centuries years to resign when he announced in 2013 he no longer had the strength to lead the Catholic Church. After Francis was elected pope, Benedict spent his nearly decade-long retirement in a converted monastery in the Vatican Gardens.

“We can’t forget the example that he gave in his resignation, that he more or less said, ‘Look, I’m not in this for the prestige, the power of the office, I’m in it for service, as Jesus taught,'” recalled Cardinal Timothy Dolan, whom Benedict named archbishop of New York in 2009 and cardinal in 2012.

Thursday’s rite takes into account the unusual situation in which a reigning pope will preside over a funeral for a retired one, making important changes to a funeral ritual for popes that is highly codified.

Two key prayers, from the diocese of Rome and the Eastern rite churches, that were recited during John Paul’s funeral, for example, will be omitted because Benedict wasn’t pope when he died and because both branches of the Catholic Church still have a reigning pope as their leader: Francis. 

While the funeral will be novel, it does have some precedent: In 1802, Pope Pius VII presided over the funeral in St. Peter’s of his predecessor, Pius VI, who had died in exile in France in 1799 as a prisoner of Napoleon, the Vatican noted Wednesday.
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Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland got a formal welcome into the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, taking the two-year seats they won unopposed in June. 

In a tradition that Kazakhstan started in 2018, the five countries’ ambassadors installed their national flags Tuesday alongside those of other members outside the council chambers. 

Mozambican Ambassador Pedro Comissário Afonso of Mozambique called it “a historic date” and Swiss Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl said she felt “a deep sense of humility and responsibility” as their countries marked their first-ever terms on U.N.’s most powerful body. Malta joined for a second time, Ecuador a fourth and Japan a record 12th. 

China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are permanent, veto-wielding members of the group. Its 10 other members are elected by the 193-nation General Assembly for staggered, two-year terms. They’re allocated by global regions. 

To many countries, winning a council seat is considered a signature diplomatic accomplishment that can raise a nation’s global profile and afford small countries a bigger voice than they might otherwise have in the major international peace and security issues of the day. 

The council deploys peacekeeping missions, can approve sanctions and speaks out — sometimes — on conflicts and flashpoints, while also surveying such thematic issues as terrorism and arms control. While many matters are perennials on the agenda, council members also can use the platform to spotlight emerging concerns or topics of particular interest to them. 

Countries often campaign for the council for years. Some 60 nations have never had a seat since the group’s formation in 1946. 

The five latest members are replacing India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway. Their terms ended December 31. 

The other current two-year members are Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and United Arab Emirates. 
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Turkey on Tuesday hosted the leaders of Syria’s opposition in a bid to assuage their concern following its overtures to Damascus.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted images of his meeting in Ankara with the opposition Syrian National Council chief Mahmut al-Maslat and other leaders.

The talks came less than a week after the defense chiefs of Turkey and Syria held landmarks negotiations in Moscow, the first such meeting since 2011.

“We reiterated our support to the Syrian opposition and people in accordance with UNSC Resolution 2254,” Cavusoglu said in reference to a 2015 United Nations call for a cease-fire and political settlement in Syria.

Ankara became a sworn enemy of Damascus when it began backing rebel efforts to topple President Bashar al-Assad at the start of the Syrian civil war 12 years ago.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who called Assad a terrorist in 2017 — has opened up to the idea of meeting the Syrian leader.

Erdogan has suggested that the talks between the defense chiefs be followed by a meeting between the foreign ministers that could set up a potential presidential summit.

Cavusoglu said he expects to meet his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, in Moscow in the second half of January.

But Assad’s regime appears cool to Erdogan’s outreach efforts.

Some analysts believe that Assad will not agree to meet Erdogan before Turkey holds a general election, now scheduled for no later than June.

Erdogan’s foreign policy adviser Ibrahim Kalin said it was “too early to say right now” when the two presidents might meet.

“How all of this unfolds depends on the regime’s attitude,” Kalin told NTV television. “Turkey has extended its hand. We do not think that they will leave this hand hanging.”

Erdogan’s hopes for talks with Assad follow calls from Turkey’s main opposition party for Ankara to pull back its troops from Syria and make peace with Damascus.

The opposition is pressing Erdogan to speed up the return of nearly 4 million Syrians who fled the fighting to Turkey.

Anti-refugee sentiments are running high in Turkey ahead of the election, and Erdogan has hardened his once-accepting stance toward people displaced by war.

Kalin confirmed that Ankara was now pressing Damascus “to take steps for the return of refugees and the humane treatment of displaced Syrians.”

The muted reconciliation has alarmed Syrian opposition leaders and supporters who reside mostly in parts of the war-torn country under Ankara’s indirect control.

The United States, Turkey’s NATO ally, made clear its opposition to improving relations with Assad, who last year traveled to the United Arab Emirates in his first trip since the war to another Arab country.

“We do not support countries upgrading their relations or expressing support to rehabilitate the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters when asked about the Moscow meeting.

“We urge states to carefully consider the Assad regime’s atrocious human rights record of the past 12 years as it continues to inflict atrocities on the Syrian people and to deny access to life-saving humanitarian aid,” Price said.
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Drone advances in Ukraine have accelerated a long-anticipated technology trend that could soon bring the world’s first fully autonomous fighting robots to the battlefield, inaugurating a new age of warfare.

The longer the war lasts, the more likely it becomes that drones will be used to identify, select and attack targets without help from humans, according to military analysts, combatants and artificial intelligence researchers.

That would mark a revolution in military technology as profound as the introduction of the machine gun. Ukraine already has semi-autonomous attack drones and counter-drone weapons endowed with AI. Russia also claims to possess AI weaponry, though the claims are unproven. But there are no confirmed instances of a nation putting into combat robots that have killed entirely on their own.

Experts say it may be only a matter of time before either Russia or Ukraine, or both, deploy them. The sense of inevitability extends to activists, who have tried for years to ban killer drones but now believe they must settle for trying to restrict the weapons’ offensive use.

Ukraine’s digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, agrees that fully autonomous killer drones are “a logical and inevitable next step” in weapons development. He said Ukraine has been doing “a lot of R&D in this direction.”

“I think that the potential for this is great in the next six months,” Fedorov told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

Ukrainian Lt. Col. Yaroslav Honchar, co-founder of the combat drone innovation nonprofit Aerorozvidka, said in a recent interview near the front that human war fighters simply cannot process information and make decisions as quickly as machines.

Ukrainian military leaders currently prohibit the use of fully independent lethal weapons, although that could change, he said.

“We have not crossed this line yet – and I say ‘yet’ because I don’t know what will happen in the future,” said Honchar, whose group has spearheaded drone innovation in Ukraine, converting cheap commercial drones into lethal weapons.

Russia could obtain autonomous AI from Iran or elsewhere. The long-range Shahed-136 exploding drones supplied by Iran have crippled Ukrainian power plants and terrorized civilians but are not especially smart. Iran has other drones in its evolving arsenal that it says feature AI.

Without a great deal of trouble, Ukraine could make its semi-autonomous weaponized drones fully independent in order to better survive battlefield jamming, their Western manufacturers say.

Those drones include the U.S.-made Switchblade 600 and the Polish Warmate, which both currently require a human to choose targets over a live video feed. AI finishes the job. The drones, technically known as “loitering munitions,” can hover for minutes over a target, awaiting a clean shot.

“The technology to achieve a fully autonomous mission with Switchblade pretty much exists today,” said Wahid Nawabi, CEO of AeroVironment, its maker. That will require a policy change — to remove the human from the decision-making loop — that he estimates is three years away.

Drones can already recognize targets such as armored vehicles using cataloged images. But there is disagreement over whether the technology is reliable enough to ensure that the machines don’t err and take the lives of noncombatants.

The AP asked the defense ministries of Ukraine and Russia if they have used autonomous weapons offensively – and whether they would agree not to use them if the other side similarly agreed. Neither responded.

If either side were to go on the attack with full AI, it might not even be a first.

An inconclusive U.N. report last year suggested that killer robots debuted in Libya’s internecine conflict in 2020, when Turkish-made Kargu-2 drones in full-automatic mode killed an unspecified number of combatants.

A spokesman for STM, the manufacturer, said the report was based on “speculative, unverified” information and “should not be taken seriously.” He told the AP the Kargu-2 cannot attack a target until the operator tells it to do so.

Honchar thinks Russia, whose attacks on Ukrainian civilians have shown little regard for international law, would have used killer autonomous drones by now if the Kremlin had them.

“I don’t think they’d have any scruples,” agreed Adam Bartosiewicz, vice president of WB Group, which makes the Warmate.

AI is a priority for Russia. President Vladimir Putin said in 2017 that whoever dominates that technology will rule the world. In a December 21 speech, he expressed confidence in the Russian arms industry’s ability to embed AI in war machines, stressing that “the most effective weapons systems are those that operate quickly and practically in an automatic mode.” Russian officials already claim their Lancet drone can operate with full autonomy.

An effort to lay international ground rules for military drones has so far been fruitless. Nine years of informal United Nations talks in Geneva made little headway, with major powers including the United States and Russia opposing a ban. The last session, in December, ended with no new round scheduled.

Toby Walsh, an Australian academic who campaigns against killer robots, hopes to achieve a consensus on some limits, including a ban on systems that use facial recognition and other data to identify or attack individuals or categories of people.

“If we are not careful, they are going to proliferate much more easily than nuclear weapons,” said Walsh, author of Machines Behaving Badly. “If you can get a robot to kill one person, you can get it to kill a thousand.”

Multiple countries, and every branch of the U.S. military, are developing drones that can attack in deadly synchronized swarms, according to Zachary Kallenborn, a George Mason University weapons innovation analyst.

So will future wars become a fight to the last drone?

That’s what Putin predicted in a 2017 televised chat with engineering students: “When one party’s drones are destroyed by drones of another, it will have no other choice but to surrender.”
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Tens of thousands more people paid homage to former Pope Benedict on Tuesday on the second day his body lay in state, and the Vatican announced that his funeral will be similar to that of a reigning pope, including a three coffin burial.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who like Benedict has called for the protection of Europe’s Christian roots, was among some 70,000 people paying their respects at St. Peter’s Basilica, following 65,000 on Monday.

Also among them was Rome resident Loredana Corrao, who said she was a great admirer of Benedict, a towering figure as an academic and a hero to conservatives but also a controversial leader who did not tolerate theological dissent.

“It was a fitting tribute. It was very emotional and moving. I also came yesterday but I had things to say to him and I also came today,” she told Reuters.  

“I am sure that an important part of the Church’s history has closed and now we have to move on without him.” 

Pope Francis has been carrying on his normal workload since Benedict died on Saturday at age 95. He had a regular series of audiences and meetings on Monday and Tuesday and will hold his weekly general audience on Wednesday. 

The death of Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to step down instead of reigning for life, could make any decision to leave office easier on Francis and the Church, which encountered difficulties with having “two popes.” 

Francis will preside at Benedict’s funeral in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday before a crowd that Vatican police say will number in the tens of thousands. 

Three coffins 

Because Benedict was no longer a reigning pontiff when he died, official delegations have been limited to those from Italy and his native Germany. 

Among those expected to attend in a private capacity were the presidents of Poland and Hungary and the monarchs of Spain and Belgium. 

Benedict has been laying in state without any papal regalia, such as a crosier, a silver staff with a crucifix, or a pallium, a band of wool cloth worn around the neck by popes and archdiocesan bishops to signify their roles as shepherds of their flocks. Popes are also bishops of Rome. 

The decision not to have them during the public viewing appeared to have been decided to underscore that he no longer was pope when he died. 

The liturgy for Thursday’s funeral Mass will be based mostly on that for a reigning pope, with some minor modifications, particularly in the prayers, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. 

Palliums will be placed in Benedict’s coffin along with coins and medals minted during his eight years as pope and a sealed lead tube holding a deed written in Latin describing his pontificate — all customary for funerals of popes.  

As is traditional for popes, Benedict’s body will be placed in a cypress coffin which will be carried out of St. Peter’s Basilica and into the square for the funeral. 

Later, as is also traditional, that one will be placed into a zinc coffin and then both will be placed into another coffin made of wood. 

Benedict will be buried according to his wishes in the same spot in the crypts under St. Peter’s Basilica where Pope John Paul II was originally interred in 2005 before his body was moved up to a chapel in the basilica in 2011. 

 
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Zohra stuffs packages of sliced bread, fresh fruit and canned vegetables into her shopping cart — free handouts she once never thought she would need.

Other Parisians patiently wait their turn for the Salvation Army’s weekly food distributions in the French capital: two women from Africa, a middle-aged man from the French Antilles, a young woman who looks like a student. Most are reluctant to talk. In a room nearby, volunteers prepare food packages for the charity’s swelling clientele.

“The prices for everything are rising — rent, electricity, gas telephone,” Zohra said, declining to give her last name. She lost her job at a medical clinic a few months ago. “People can’t live like this.”

Such sentiments are growing across the European Union that greets 2023 with an energy crisis and a war at the bloc’s doorstep for the first time in decades. If Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked sometimes stunning displays of EU unity and power, analysts say, some question how long that will last as winter bites and the price for supporting Kyiv and European values mounts.

“It’s been transformative in so many ways — and in areas in which it’s difficult for the European Union to act quickly,” said Ian Lesser, vice president of the German Marshall Fund and head of the policy institute’s Brussels office, of the Ukraine conflict. “In some of these areas, it acted very quickly — which surprised many people.”

This past year, the EU slapped eight rounds of sanctions against Moscow, earmarked billions of dollars of military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and took in millions of Ukrainian refugees. The war in Ukraine led Europe to end its dependency on cheap Russian energy, pushing the bloc to seek new suppliers and power sources — and to stock up on its all-important gas reserves before the cold sets in.

Still, the conflict in Ukraine has delivered a blow to Europe’s economy and energy security, at least in the short term. It also slowed, as some countries revive coal mines, Brussels’ emissions-cutting goals. The International Monetary Fund and other experts believe the bloc will fall into recession this year. Despite government efforts to cushion the blow, prices and poverty are rising.

“What really shook us is we’re seeing a lot of young people — students who are having a hard time making it to the end of the month,” said Salvation Army spokesperson Samuel Coppens. “Also, single parents and older people with tiny pensions who can’t even afford heat. For them, food is a top priority.”

A recent IFOP poll found that more than half of the French surveyed feared their income wouldn’t cover their monthly expenses. One quarter believed they would need help from charities like the Salvation Army.

“I can go shopping with 50 euros ($53) and my shopping cart is still pretty empty,” said Valerie, a health care worker from Cameroon, who signed up for the Salvation Army’s food distributions a few weeks ago.

“From the start I didn’t like this war,” she added of the Ukraine conflict. “I thought there would be consequences here. Now, I see it is hitting the poorest.”

Even as Europeans send generators to power-crippled Ukraine after Russian strikes on its energy facilities, some are bracing for possible blackouts at home. Germans are squirreling away candles, Finns who own electric cars are asked not to heat them before climbing inside.

In France, normally an electricity exporter, half the country’s nuclear fleet is offline for repairs. Authorities have urged citizens and businesses to lower their thermostats, hoping energy savings will avert possible blackouts.

“My village raised funds for Ukrainians,” said Valerie, a tourist from southern France. “But if there are electricity cuts, it will be very difficult for French and Europeans. It will really impact our daily lives and our morale.”

“At the moment, solidarity is pretty strong” among European citizens, said John Springford, deputy director for the Center for European Reform think-tank. “But if the Ukraine war turns into a complete stalemate, things might get more difficult.”

French energy expert Thierry Bros is more pessimistic, describing a Russian energy war to defeat Ukraine and unravel European unity.

“The fact we are getting less energy, the fact we are getting less rich, that the economy is turning into a recession, could lead to Ukraine fatigue,” Bros added. “European citizens will look out for themselves first.”

Divisions are already showing in other areas.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, with once-close ties to Russia, has suggested EU sanctions against Moscow should be scrapped, and temporarily blocked $19 billion in EU financial aid for Ukraine. The legislation ultimately passed last month.

Poland and Germany have sparred over the placement of a German Patriot missile air defense system, in what some reports suggest underscores larger differences.

EU divisions also exist over Russia’s threat and Europe’s future relationship with Moscow, analysts say. French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent suggestion that the West should consider “security guarantees” for Russia drew sharp pushback from Poland and the Baltic states.

“There is a clear understanding the fight against Russia’s invasion is a fight for their own liberty,” said Sebastien Maillard, head of the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris, describing mindsets in European countries located near Russia. “It’s very obvious for Poland, the Baltic states and the Balkans. It’s not that obvious for the western part of Europe.”

Lesser, of the German Marshall Fund, believes Europe will face another test. To date, U.S. financial and military support for Ukraine has dwarfed the EU’s.

“When it comes to reconstruction in Ukraine, including things that could be done now to support Ukrainian society even before the war ends — I think there’s going to be a much stronger push from the American side for Europe to do more, and spend more,” Lesser said. “Because it can.”
…

Ukraine and the European Union will hold a summit in Kyiv on February 3 to discuss financial and military support, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement on Monday.

Zelenskyy discussed details of the high-level meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in his first phone call of the year, the statement said.

“The parties discussed expected results of the next Ukraine-EU summit to be held on February 3 in Kyiv and agreed to intensify preparatory work,” the statement read.

The leaders talked about the supply of “appropriate” weapons and a new $19 billion financial assistance program to Ukraine, with Zelenskyy pushing for the first tranche to be sent this month, it said.

Last month, the EU cleared the way to giving Ukraine the aid in a so-called “megadeal” that included the adoption of a minimum 15% global corporate tax rate.

The move followed an impassioned plea from Zelenskyy not to let internal disputes within the 27-nation bloc stand in the way of backing Kyiv.
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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s longtime personal secretary has written a tell-all book that his publisher on Monday promised would tell the truth about the “blatant calumnies,” “dark maneuvers,” mysteries and scandals that sullied the reputation of a pontiff best known for his historic resignation.

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein’s Nothing but the Truth: My Life Beside Pope Benedict XVI is being published this month by the Piemme imprint of Italian publishing giant Mondadori, according to a press release.

Benedict died Saturday at age 95 and his body was put on display Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of a Thursday funeral to be celebrated by his successor, Pope Francis.

Gaenswein, a 66-year-old German priest, stood by Benedict’s side for nearly three decades, first as an official working for then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then starting in 2003 as Ratzinger’s personal secretary.

Gaenswein followed his boss to the Apostolic Palace as secretary when Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005. And in one of the most memorable images of Benedict’s final day as pope Feb. 28, 2013, Gaenswein wept as he accompanied Benedict through the frescoed halls of the Vatican, saying goodbye.

He remained Benedict’s gatekeeper, confidant and protector during a decade-long retirement, while also serving until recently as the prefect of Francis’ papal household. It was Gaenswein who performed the anointing of the sick last Wednesday, when Benedict’s health deteriorated, and it was he who called Francis on Saturday to tell him that Benedict had died.

According to Piemme, Gaenswein’s book contains “a personal testimony about the greatness of a mild man, a fine scholar, a cardinal and a pope who made the history of our time.” But it said the book also contained a firsthand account that would correct some “misunderstood” aspects of the pontificate as well as the machinations of the Vatican.

“Today, after the death of the pope emeritus, the time has come for the current prefect of the papal household to tell his own truth about the blatant calumnies and dark maneuvers that have tried in vain to cast shadows on the German pontiff’s magisterium and actions,” the press release said.

Gaenswein’s account would “finally make known the true face of one of the greatest protagonists of recent decades, too often unjustly denigrated by critics as ‘Panzerkardinal’ or ‘God’s Rottweiler,'” it said, referring to some common media nicknames for the German known for his conservative, doctrinaire bent.

Specifically, the publisher said Gaenswein would address the “Vatileaks” scandal, in which Benedict’s own butler leaked his personal correspondence to a journalist, as well as clergy sex abuse scandals and one of the enduring mysteries of the Vatican, the 1983 disappearance of the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee, Emanuela Orlandi.

The book appears to be just part of what is shaping up as a postmortem media blitz by Gaenswein, including the release Monday of excerpts of a lengthy interview he granted Italian state RAI television last month that is to be broadcast Thursday after the funeral.

According to the excerpts published by La Repubblica newspaper, Gaenswein recounted how he tried to dissuade Benedict from resigning after the then-pope told him in late September 2012 that he had made up his mind. That was six months after Benedict took a nighttime fall during a visit to Mexico and determined he no longer could handle the rigors of the job.

“He told me: ‘You can imagine I have thought long and hard about this, I’ve reflected, I’ve prayed, I’ve struggled. And now I’m communicating to you that a decision has been taken, it’s not up for discussion,'” Gaenswein recalled Benedict saying.

Gaenswein also referred to the struggles, scandals and problems Benedict faced during his eight-year pontificate, recalling he had asked for prayers at the start to protect him from the “wolves” who were out to get him. Gaenswein cited in particular the “Vatileaks” betrayal, which resulted in the butler being convicted by the Vatican tribunal, only to be pardoned by the pope two months before his resignation.

“Anyone who thinks there can be a calm papacy has got the wrong profession,” he said.
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Belgium will test wastewater from planes arriving from China for new COVID variants as part of new steps against the spread of the coronavirus as infections in China surge, the government announced Monday. 

“This will be an additional monitoring objective to verify that the data we receive from China is accurate,” Steven Van Gucht of the Sciensano national public health institute told Reuters. 

He said Belgium was aware that some COVID-infected passengers might not use the toilet during their flights, and therefore the new measure was “not meant to track people but to track independently what is happening in China.” 

Belgium is also asking travelers from China to test themselves for COVID-19 if they show symptoms seven days after arriving but will not enforce this measure. 

At a news conference announcing the new measures, Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said that a European Union-wide policy was needed towards China’s COVID surge. 

EU health officials will hold talks Wednesday on a coordinated response. 

Authorities around the world are imposing or considering curbs on travelers from China, including mandatory testing for COVID, as infections there spread following Beijing’s relaxation of “zero-COVID” rules. 

 
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The suspected mastermind behind the removal of a Banksy mural in a Ukrainian town could face up to 12 years in prison if found guilty, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said Monday.

The artwork, depicting a woman in a gas mask and a dressing gown holding a fire extinguisher, was taken off a wall in the town of Hostomel on December 2, according to officials.

The ministry announced on its website that the man it believes orchestrated the operation had been handed a “suspicion notice.”

The artwork by the renowned British artist had been valued at $243,900, the ministry statement said.

“The criminals tried to transport this graffiti with the help of wooden boards and polyethylene,” it said.

“Thanks to the concern of citizens, the police and other security forces managed to arrest the criminals.”

The mural was retrieved.

Banksy confirmed he had painted the mural and six others in places that were hit by heavy fighting after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. 

 
…

Much of the Alps just don’t look right for this time of year. Sparse snowfall with unseasonably warm winter weather in much of Europe is allowing grass to blanket mountaintops across the region where snow might normally be, causing headaches for ski slope operators and aficionados of Alpine white.

Patches of grass, rock and dirt were visible Monday in some of Europe’s skiing meccas — including Innsbruck in Austria, Villars-sur-Ollon and Crans-Montana in Switzerland, Germany’s Lenggries and far beyond. The dearth of snow has revived concerns about temperature upheaval linked to climate change.

On a swath stretching from France to Poland, but with the Alps at the center, many parts of Europe have been enjoying short-sleeve weather. A weather map showed Poland racking up daily highs in the double digits Celsius — or more than 50 Fahrenheit — in recent days.

It’s a sharp contrast to the frigid weather and blizzards in parts of the United States late last month.

Swiss state forecaster MeteoSuisse pointed to some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded this time of year. A weather station in Delemont, in the Jura range on the French border, already hit a record average daily temperature of 18.1 degrees Celsius (nearly 65 Fahrenheit) on the first day of the year, over 2 1/2 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record high for January. Other cities and towns followed suit with records.

MeteoSuisse quipped on its blog: “this turn of the new year could almost make you forget that it’s the height of winter.”

The start to 2023 picked up where many countries had already left off: Last year was the hottest on record in both Switzerland and France. More broadly, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization says the past eight years are on track to be the eight warmest on record. Its final tally on global temperatures for 2022 will be released in mid-January.

Next door in France, national weather agency Meteo France said 2022 ended with some of the warmest weather the country has ever experienced at this time of year — capping an exceptionally warm year that saw temperature records broken and rampant forest fires and drought conditions.

Meteo France says the southern Alps and, in the northern Alps, slopes above 2,200 meters, have seen close to normal snowfalls. But snow is notably lacking at lower altitudes in the northern Alps and across the Pyrenees, it said.

Germany too has seen unusually springlike temperatures, with temperatures as high as 16 degrees Celsius (61 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country on Monday. New Year’s Eve is believed to have been the warmest December 31 since reliable records began. The German Weather Service reported readings of 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) and just above at four weather stations in southern Germany, news agency dpa reported. 
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“Lord, I love you,” are reported to be the last words Pope Emeritus Benedict uttered shortly before his death, according to a report on The Vatican News website.

The retired pope’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, said a nurse was the only person with Benedict at the time.

“I was not there at the moment, but the nurse told me about it shortly afterwards,” Ganswein said. “These were his last comprehensible words, because afterwards he was no longer able to express himself.”

Benedict’s remains will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica from Monday to Wednesday and his funeral will be Thursday.

Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, was the first pope in 600 years to step down from his Vatican post. The retired pope lived behind the Vatican’s walls for almost 10 years.

He was 95 at the time of his death.
…

Surveys by the Pew Research Center show U.S. President Joe Biden is widely trusted and viewed as a strong leader in most countries polled, while confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin has plummeted since his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last year. VOA’s Cindy Saine reports from Washington.
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The faithful are lining up at St. Peter’s Basilica Monday to pay their respects to Pope Benedict where he is lying in state.  

Some had been waiting for hours when the doors were finally opened.  

The 95-year-old retired pontiff died Saturday morning. Benedict was the first pope in 600 years to step down from his Vatican post.  

Filippo Tuccio, 35, told The Associated Press that he came from Venice on an overnight train to view Benedict’s body. 

“He was very important for me: for what I am, my way of thinking, my values. This is why I wanted to say goodbye today,” Tuccio said.  

Benedict’s body, dressed in traditional red liturgical garments with a miter, will lie in state until Wednesday. 

On Thursday, “Pope Francis will become the first pope in modern history to preside as Pope at the funeral of his predecessor,” according to Vatican News website. 

“Lord, I love you,” are reported to be the last words Benedict uttered shortly before his death, Vatican News reported. 

The retired pope’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, said a nurse was the only person with Benedict at the time.  

“I was not there at the moment, but the nurse told me about it shortly afterwards,” Gänswein said. “These were his last comprehensible words, because afterwards he was no longer able to express himself.” 

Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, was 95 at the time of his death.  

Some information in this report came from Reuters. 
…

Germany has warned Iranians living in the country who have been critical of the Iranian government to be careful about traveling to Iran. 

Thomas Haldenwang, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told the Germany Press Agency that for some years the Iranian government has worked to identify critics, and that those people could face serious consequences if they go to Iran. 

Haldenwang also said friends or family members of Iran’s critics face the same threats. 

He highlighted protests in Germany, such as those that brought tens of thousands of people demonstrating against the Iranian government in Berlin in October, as a possible source for Iranian government agencies to try to identify critics. 
…