Month: December 2023

Zambian Foreign Minister Resigns, Cites ‘Malicious’ Business Deal Claims

Posted on by SeeAF

Lusaka, Zambia — Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo resigned Tuesday, the president’s office announced, hours after he was embroiled in a social media frenzy over alleged dealings with a Chinese businessman. 

Kakubo, who had been foreign minister since September 2021, said in a letter he was quitting because of “malicious claims over a business transaction.” 

Earlier, a video showing two people counting wads of cash stacked on a table spread quickly on Zambian social media accounts. 

An image of a signed handwritten note, dated July 8, 2022, was also put online. The note named a Chinese mining firm and a Zambian mining firm and said they had “exchanged $100,000.” 

Though the names of Kakubo and a Mr. Zang were on the note, it was not immediately possible to verify the details. 

President Hakainde Hichilema has accepted Kakubo’s resignation, an official statement said. 

It gave no reason for the resignation but added: “The president acknowledges the commendable work and leadership” of Kakubo in the government. 

Kakubo, 43, quickly followed the announcement by releasing his own letter. 

He said he had resigned “in view of the matter that is currently in the media regarding malicious claims over a business transaction between my private family business and our business partner with whom we still have good relations.” 

He added: “This decision is to ensure that our government is not distracted from continuing to look for solutions for bettering the lives of our people.” 

Kakubo could not be reached for further comment on his resignation or the video. 

Chinese enterprises are heavily involved in the Zambian mining industry, a bedrock of the southern African nation’s economy. China is a major importer of Zambian copper. 

Kakubo, a member of parliament since 2016, said he would remain loyal to the government. And the president’s statement said Hichilema implores the former minister “to continue to serve diligently in his capacity as member of parliament.” 

The Chinese embassy said in 2022 that more than 600 Chinese businesses had invested more than $3 billion in Zambia. 

China has also been a major player in international efforts to restructure Zambia’s foreign debt. Zambia defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2020 as the COVID-19 crisis grew. 
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How Ukrainian Special Forces Secured a Critical Dnipro River Crossing

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KHERSON, UKRAINE — Their first battle plan was outdated the moment the dam crumbled. So the Ukrainian special forces officers spent six months adapting their fight to secure a crossing to the other side of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine.

But it wasn’t enough just to cross the river. They needed backup to hold it. And for that, they needed proof that it could be done. For one of the officers, nicknamed Skif, that meant a Ukrainian flag — and a photo op.

Skif, Ukrainian shorthand for the nomadic Scythian people who founded an empire on what is now Crimea, moves like the camouflaged amphibian that he is: calculating, deliberate, until the time to strike.

He is a Center 73 officer, one of Ukraine’s most elite units of special forces.

Their mission on the more dynamic of the two main fronts in the six-month counteroffensive reflects many of the problems of Ukraine’s broader effort. It’s been one of the few counteroffensive successes for the Ukrainian army.

By late May, the Center 73 men were in place along the river’s edge, some almost within view of the Kakhovka Dam. They were within range of the Russian forces who had controlled the dam and land across the Dnipro since the first days after the February 2022 full-scale invasion. And both sides knew Ukraine’s looming counteroffensive had its sights on control of the river as the key to reclaim the occupied south.

In the operation’s opening days, on June 6, an explosion destroyed the dam, sending a wall of reservoir water downstream and washing out the Ukrainian army positions. An AP investigation found evidence Russia was responsible.

“We were ready to cross. And then the dam blew up,” Skif said.

The water rose 20 meters (66 feet), submerging Skif’s supply lines, the Russian positions and everything else in its path. The race was on: Whose forces could seize the islands when the waters receded, and with them, full control of the Dnipro?

AP joined one of the clandestine units several times over six months along the Dnipro. The frogmen are nocturnal. They transform themselves from nondescript civilians into elite fighters, some in wetsuits and some in boats. In the morning, when their operations end, they’re back to anonymity.

Ukraine created the special services operations in response to Russia’s lightning-fast annexation of Crimea in 2014, a precursor to the widescale invasion of Ukraine eight years later.

“We realized that we were much smaller in terms of number than our enemy,” said Oleksandr Kindratenko, a press officer for Special Operations Forces. “The emphasis was placed on quality. These were supposed to be small groups performing operational or strategic tasks.”

He said they were trained and equipped in part by Europeans, including those from NATO countries, but their own recent battle experience means they are now as much teachers as students.

Skif knew he first had to plan and persuade the generals that if his men could secure a bridgehead, it would be worthwhile to send troops. And that would mean high-risk river missions.

But a lucky thing happened in early autumn. A Russian officer who claimed he’d been opposed to the war since its beginning was sent to the front in Kherson. It was, he later said, every bit as bad as he’d feared.

He contacted Ukrainian intelligence and said he had 11 comrades who felt similarly. The group surrendered together, and Skif ended up taking custody of the Russian officer and his men.

The surrendered Russians told him exactly what he needed to know about their unit on the little island they were now tasked with taking, just outside the village of Krynky.

He was sure he could take the island and more with 20 experienced men. But not without the promise of sufficient backup so Ukrainian regular forces could hold the territory. Fine, his commander said. He’d get the backup — if he returned with footage of his unit in the village hoisting the Ukrainian flag.

And that’s how, in mid-October, a Ukrainian drone carrying the national blue and yellow flag came to fly above Krynky at just the moment Skif and his men made their way to the occupied village across the river. They got their photo op, sent it to the military headquarters and established the bridgehead.

Multiple Ukrainian brigades were sent to hold the position and have been there ever since, including those men from Center 73 still in shape to fight.

But nighttime temperatures are dipping well below freezing, and Ukrainian forces are vastly underequipped compared with the Russians nearby. Holding and advancing in winter is much harder on soldiers’ bodies and their morale.

In recent weeks, Russia has sent waves of glide bombs — essentially enormous munitions retrofitted with gliding apparatus to allow them to be launched from dozens of kilometers away, as well as swarms of grenade-launching drones and Chinese all-terrain vehicles, according to the Institute for the Study of War and the Hudson Institute, two American think tanks analyzing open-source footage from the area.

But Ukrainian forces and Center 73 keep fighting.

“My phone book is a little graveyard,” Skif said one evening, coordinating over the radio with his men on another boat mission. “This is our work. No one knows about it, no one talks about it, and we do it with little reward except to benefit our country.”
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Holiday Spending Up in US, Despite Financial Anxiety, Higher Costs

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New York — Holiday sales rose this year and spending remained resilient during the shopping season even with Americans wrestling with higher prices in some areas and other financial worries, according to the latest measure.

Holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.1%, a slower pace than the 7.6% increase from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards.

This year’s sales are more in line with what is typical during the holiday season, however, after a surge in spending last year during the same period.

“This holiday season, the consumer showed up, spending in a deliberate manner,” said Michelle Meyer, Chief Economist, Mastercard Economics Institute. “The economic backdrop remains favorable with healthy job creation and easing inflation pressures, empowering consumers to seek the goods and experiences they value most.”

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits has remained very low by historical standards and employers are still having a hard time finding enough workers.

Still, sales growth was a bit lower than the 3.7% increase Mastercard SpendingPulse had projected in September. The data released Tuesday excludes the automotive industry and is not adjusted for inflation.

Clothing sales rose 2.4%, though jewelry sales fell 2% and electronics dipped roughly 0.4%. Online sales jumped 6.3 % from a year ago and in-person spending rose a modest 2.2%.

Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic activity, and economists carefully monitor how Americans spend, particularly during the holidays, to gauge how they’re feeling financially.

There had been rising concern leading up to the holiday about the willingness of Americans to spend because of elevated prices for daily necessities at a time that savings have fallen and credit card delinquencies have ticked higher. In response, retailers pushed discounts on holiday merchandise earlier in October compared with a year ago. They also took a cautious approach on how much inventory to order after getting stung with overstuffed warehouses last year.

The latest report on the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge, issued Friday, shows prices are easing. But costs remain still higher at restaurants, car shops and for things such as rent. Americans, however, unexpectedly picked up their spending from October to November as the holiday season kicked off, underscoring their spending power in the face of higher costs.

A broader picture of how Americans spent their money arrives next month when the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, releases its combined two-month statistics based on November-December sales figures from the Commerce Department.

The trade group expects U.S. holiday sales will rise 3% to 4%. That’s lower than last year’s 5.4% growth but again, more consistent with typical holiday spending, which rose 3.6% between 2010 and 2019 before the pandemic skewered numbers.

Industry analysts will dissect the fourth-quarter financial performance from major retailers when they release that data in February.

The big concern: whether shoppers will pull back sharply after they get their bills in January. Nikki Baird, vice president of Aptos, a retail technology firm, noted customers, already weighed down by still high inflation and high interest rates, might pull back more because of the resumption of student loan payments that kicked in October 1.

“I am worried about January,” she said. “I can see a bit of a last hurrah.”
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High Rice Prices Worldwide Likely to Continue Into 2024

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WASHINGTON — Arnong Mungoei has farmed rice in Thailand’s Khon Kaen province for half a century.  

Working land some 500 kilometers northeast of Bangkok never made her rich, but it provided a dependable livelihood.  

But since February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, global geopolitical tensions and weather conditions elsewhere have upended the rice markets and by 2023, worldwide rice prices had exploded.  

Yet Arnong said she made less than she has in years. 

“The mills [that buy rice] don’t increase the price. What can I do? I bring rice there to sell. Whatever they offer us, we have to sell it. We won’t take the rice back because we had to pay for the truck,” said Arnong, 68.

In 2023, the prices of wheat and grains such as oats and corn declined 20% to 30% as stocks were replenished, according to an annual report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

But according to the FAO report, rice prices remained high throughout the year due to a persistent La Niña in March, followed by an El Niño anomaly in June and India imposing restrictions on non-basmati rice in July due after a late monsoon raised fears of a production shortfall.

India’s export control removed 9 million metric tons of grain from the international market and ignited global prices. India is responsible for 40% of global rice supplies after overtaking Thailand as the world’s largest rice exporter in 2011.

The countries most reliant on India’s rice include the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, and Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal in West Africa.

“Rice is tough, because there are just not a lot of other suppliers,” Joseph Glauber, a senior fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, told Bloomberg in November, adding that India’s export-control policy leaves “a big hole to fill.”

 

The World Bank predicted, “Rice prices will remain high into 2024, assuming India maintains its export restrictions. The outlook assumes a moderate-to-strong El Niño.”

The bank’s commodity report published on Oct. 30 said rice prices had reached their highest point in the third quarter of 2023 since the 2007-2008 food crises due to the Hamas-Israel conflict and El Niño.

While India’s controls benefit its own consumers, for the billions elsewhere in Asia and in Africa who depend on a stable rice supply, continued high prices could increase food insecurity. 

In Nigeria, the cost of rice increased 61% from September through November. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast the nation would import 2.1 million metric tons of rice in 2024. 

In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. imposed a price cap Sept. 5 after the cost of rice hit a 14-year high in September. Marcos, who blamed the soaring prices on “smugglers, hoarders and price manipulators,” removed the cap Oct. 13 as concerns over tight supply eased.

Alfie Pulumbarit, national coordinator at MASIPAG, a Philippine-based network of farmers, scientists and nongovernmental organizations working on farmer empowerment, told VOA Thai that rising food prices significantly affected the people in the island nation with “a lot of families now going hungry.”

Citing official information, Pulumbarit said that while it takes a person at least 79 pesos or about $1.50 dollars per day to survive in the Philippines, rice now costs $1.10 dollars per kilogram.

Continued Indian controls coupled with farmers “already leaving rice production in the Philippines” could lead to “a food crisis of epic proportions,” he said.

Climate is one of the key factors in analyses for rice production and price in the coming year.

 

The U.S. National Weather Service forecasts that the Northern Hemisphere, home to major rice producers like China, India, and Southeast Asia nations, will likely be affected by El Niño April through June, right around sowing season for rice across Asia.

An Asian Bank Development analysis recommends that the private sector should assume a bigger role in rice trading to help stabilize domestic production loss in importing countries. It also encourages policymakers to consider more sustainable rice production.

“Rice paddy is responsible for 12% of global methane emissions and 1.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In Asia, rice irrigation consumes more than half of freshwater resources,” according to the analysis.

As the COP 28 meeting at Dubai was concluding, the FAO suggested stakeholders should seek out climate-friendly cultivating techniques ranging from using fertilizers that can reduce methane emission to growing plants that create rhizobacteria, which may promote producing oxygen in soil.

Smanachan Buddhajak contributed to this report.
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Sweden’s NATO Bid Back for Debate by Turkish Parliamentary Committee

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Ankara, Turkey — The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee resumed deliberations Tuesday on Sweden’s bid to join NATO, days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linked the Nordic country’s admission to U.S. approval of Turkey’s request to purchase F-16 fighter jets.

Turkey, a NATO member, lifted its objection to Sweden joining the trans-Atlantic alliance in July but the ratification process has since stalled in parliament. Turkey accuses Sweden of not taking its security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara considers to be security threats.

This month, Erdogan threw up another obstacle by saying openly that Turkey would only ratify Sweden’s NATO membership bid if the U.S. Congress approved Ankara’s request to buy 40 new F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernize its existing fleet. The Turkish leader also called on the two legislatures to act “simultaneously” and said Canada and other NATO allies must lift arms embargoes imposed on Turkey.

The White House has backed the Turkish F-16 request but there is strong opposition in Congress to military sales to Turkey.

The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee had begun discussing Sweden’s membership in NATO last month. The meeting however, was adjourned after legislators from Erdogan’s ruling party submitted a motion for a postponement on grounds that some issues needed more clarification and that negotiations with Sweden had not “matured” enough.

If approved by the committee, Sweden’s bid would then need to be approved by the full assembly.

Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Finland joined the alliance in April, becoming NATO’s 31st member, after Turkey’s parliament ratified the Nordic country’s bid.

NATO requires the unanimous approval of all existing members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary are the only countries that have been holding out. Hungary has stalled Sweden’s bid, alleging that Swedish politicians have told “blatant lies” about the condition of Hungary’s democracy.

The delays have frustrated other NATO allies who were swift to accept Sweden and Finland into the alliance.
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Apple Watch Import Ban Goes Into Effect in US Patent Clash

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Washington — A U.S. import ban on certain Apple smartwatch models came into effect Tuesday, after the Biden administration opted not to veto a ruling on patent infringements.

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) decided in October to ban Apple Watch models over a patented technology for detecting blood-oxygen levels.

Apple contends that the ITC finding was in error and should be reversed, but last week paused its US sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

The order stemmed from a complaint made to the commission in mid-2021 accusing Apple of infringing on medical device maker company Masimo Corp’s “light-based oximetry functionality.”

“After careful consultations, Ambassador (Katherine) Tai decided not to reverse the… determination and the ITC’s decision became final on December 26, 2023,” the president’s executive office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Apple has been steadily ramping up fitness and health features with each generation of its Apple Watch, which dominates the smartwatch category.

In September, Apple released its Apple Watch Series 9, touting increased performance along with features such as the ability to access and log health data.

“Our teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness and safety features,” Apple said when the ITC ban was issued.

“Masimo has wrongly attempted to use the ITC to keep a potentially lifesaving product from millions of US consumers while making way for their own watch that copies Apple.”

In May, a trial of Masimo’s allegations ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Late last year, Apple filed two patent infringement lawsuits accusing Masimo of copying Apple Watch technology.
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LogOn: Satellites, Lasers Help Estimate Snowpack in Drought-Stricken Regions

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For water managers in drought-stricken regions, accurate forecasts of water availability are critically important. Matt Dibble shows how remote sensing technology is helping in the Rocky Mountains in this edition of LogOn.
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Moon Base Moves From Hollywood Screen to Near Reality

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A future moon base is central to the vision of the U.S. space Agency NASA, which hopes to return humans to the moon within two years. It’s part of an international program called Artemis, which is guided by an agreement called the Artemis Accords. As Mike O’Sullivan reports, it’s a future that Hollywood has envisioned.
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Year of Bitter Ukraine Battles Ends in Virtual Stalemate

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A year of bitter battles in Ukraine has left neither the Russian nor Ukrainian side victorious and the front lines virtually at a stalemate. As war fatigue plagues Ukrainian forces and their Western supporters, observers say they foresee a drawn-out war of attrition. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Ukraine’s southern front lines and the capital, Kyiv. Camera: Yan Boechat.
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276 Indians Arrive in India After French Human Trafficking Probe

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VATRY, FRANCE — A charter plane that was grounded in France for a human trafficking investigation arrived in India with 276 Indians aboard early Tuesday, authorities said.

The passengers had been heading to Nicaragua but were instead blocked inside the Vatry Airport for four days in an exceptional holiday ordeal.

The regional administration said that 276 of the original 303 passengers were en route to Mumbai, and that 25 others requested asylum in France.

Those who remained were transferred to a special zone in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for asylum-seekers, it said.

The passengers grounded in France had included a 21-month-old child and several unaccompanied minors.

The remaining two passengers were initially detained as part of a human trafficking investigation but were released Monday after appearing before a judge, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

The judge named them as ‘’assisted witnesses” to the case, a special status under French law that allows time for further investigation and could lead to eventual charges or to the case being dropped.

The Legend Airlines A340 plane stopped Thursday for refueling in Vatry en route from Fujairah airport in the United Arab Emirates for Managua, Nicaragua, and was grounded by police based on an anonymous tip that it could be carrying human trafficking victims.

Prosecutors wouldn’t comment on whether the passengers’ ultimate destination could have been the U.S., which has seen a surge in Indians crossing the Mexico-U.S. border this year.

French authorities are working to determine the aim of the original flight, and opened a judicial inquiry into activities by an organized criminal group helping foreigners enter or stay in a country illegally, the prosecutor’s office said.

It did not specify Monday whether human trafficking — which the U.N. defines as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit” — is still suspected.

The Vatry airport was requisitioned by police for days. Local officials, medics and volunteers installed cots and ensured regular meals and showers for those held inside.

Then it turned into a makeshift courtroom Sunday as judges, lawyers and interpreters filled the terminal to carry out emergency hearings to determine the next steps.

Some lawyers at Sunday’s hearings protested authorities’ handling of the situation and the passengers’ rights, suggesting that police and prosecutors overreacted to the anonymous tip.

The Indian Embassy posted its thanks on X, formerly Twitter, to French officials for ensuring that the Indians could go home. French authorities worked through Christmas Eve and Christmas morning on formalities to allow passengers to leave France, regional prosecutor Annick Browne told The Associated Press.

Foreigners can be held up to four days in a transit zone for police investigations in France, after which a special judge must rule on whether to extend that to eight days.

Legend Airlines lawyer Liliana Bakayoko said some passengers didn’t want to go to India because they had paid for a tourism trip to Nicaragua. The airline has denied any role in possible human trafficking.

The U.S. government has designated Nicaragua as one of several countries deemed as failing to meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking.

Nicaragua has also been used as a migratory springboard for people fleeing poverty or conflict because of relaxed or visa-free entry requirements for some countries. Sometimes charter flights are used for the journey.

 
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160 People in Central Nigeria Reportedly Killed in Bandit Attacks

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The toll marked a sharp rise from the initial figure reported by the army Sunday evening of just 16 dead
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Russian-Backed Union Signs Free Trade Pact With Iran

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MOSCOW — Members of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) have signed a fully-fledged free trade agreement with Iran, Russia’s economy ministry and the EEU said Monday.

The agreement will become permanent and replace a similar temporary pact in force since 2019. The previous deal facilitated mutual trade with Iran and increased it to $6.2 billion in 2022 from $2.4 billion in 2019.

The Eurasian Economic Union comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

Both the region and Iran have taken on additional significance for the Kremlin after Western sanctions over Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine limited Russia’s foreign trade routes and forced it to look for markets outside Europe.

The new deal will eliminate customs duties on almost 90% of goods, while the agreement establishes a preferential regime for almost all trade between Russia and Iran.

Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said the deal would allow Russian business to save around 27 billion rubles ($294 million) each year.
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Holiday Travel Is Mostly Nice, But With Some Naughty Disruptions Again on Southwest Airlines

Posted on by SeeUS

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Landslide in Eastern Congo Kills 4 People, 20 Others Missing 

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KINSHASA — Heavy rains triggered a landslide in eastern Congo overnight that killed at least four people and left at least 20 others missing, a local official said.

The landslide happened late Sunday near the town of Kamituga in the South Kivu province, according to Deputy Mayor Alexandre Ngandu Kamundala.

About 25 people, mostly miners, were sheltering from the rains in a cabin when the landslide struck their shelter, sweeping them into a fast-flowing river below, Kamundala said.

“Five people were narrowly saved and 20 others were swept away by the waters. Four lifeless bodies were found,” Kamundala said. A search and rescue effort is said to be underway to find those who are still missing.

In 2020, at least 50 people in the same town of Kamituga died in a landslide that hit the site of a gold mine in the area.

Deadly accidents are common in Congo’s many unregulated mines, with many going unreported due to their remote locations in hills and forests.
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Biden Signs Order Aimed at Financial Facilitators of Russian Military

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday giving the Treasury Department the authority to target financial institutions that facilitate Russia’s efforts to bolster its defense industry.

The new sanctions authority is meant to gum up the Kremlin’s push to restock the Russian military’s depleted arsenal after 22 months of fighting in Ukraine. Russia has already lost over 13,000 pieces of equipment, including tanks, drones and missile systems, according to a U.S. assessment.

The order also seeks to tighten existing restrictions on diamonds and seafood imported from Russia after a review by U.S. agencies.

“We expect financial institutions will undertake every effort to ensure that they are not witting or unwitting facilitators of circumvention and evasion,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement announcing the order. “And we will not hesitate to use the new tools provided by this authority to take decisive, and surgical, action against financial institutions that facilitate the supply of Russia’s war machine.”

The latest effort to tighten pressure on Russia comes just weeks after Biden and G7 leaders met virtually to discuss support for Ukraine as rancor spreads in Washington over the cost of backing Kyiv in a war that has no end in sight.

The White House has been locked in talks with key lawmakers to approve more money for Ukraine. Biden has proposed $110 billion package of wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other national security priorities. GOP lawmakers have declined to approve the money until the White House agrees to major immigration and U.S.-Mexico border policy changes. The Defense Department says it has nearly run out of available funds for supporting Ukraine’s defense.

The G7 leaders said in a statement following the December 6 meeting that they would work to curtail Russia’s use of the international financial system to further its war in Ukraine and target “Russian military procurement networks and those who help Russia acquire machine tools, equipment and key inputs.”

Russian defense spending rose by almost 75% in the first half of 2023, and Russia is on track for record military spending next year.

“This executive order comes at a critical juncture,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo wrote in a Financial Times op-ed published Friday. “By raising the stakes for banks supporting sensitive trade with Russia and continuing to sanction new front companies and procurement networks, our coalition is pouring sand into the gears of Russia’s military logistics.”
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Storm Brings Strong Winds to Northern Europe, Killing 2 People

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BERLIN — A storm brought heavy rain and strong winds across northern Europe overnight and into Friday, bringing down trees and prompting warnings of flooding on the North Sea coast. A woman in Belgium was fatally injured by a falling Christmas tree, while another tree killed a person in the Netherlands.

The 20-meter (66-foot) Christmas tree collapsed onto three people at a busy market in Oudenaarde in western Belgium late Thursday, killing a 63-year-old woman and injuring two other people. The Christmas market was immediately canceled.

A woman who was struck by a falling tree on Thursday in the eastern Dutch town of Wilp later died of her injuries, her employer said.

Pre-Christmas rail travelers in parts of Germany faced cancelations, delays and diversions. Routes affected included those from Hamburg and Hannover to Frankfurt and Munich.

National railway operator Deutsche Bahn said that falling trees damaged overhead electric wires or blocked tracks largely in northern Germany but also in the central state of Hesse. The situation was improving on Friday afternoon.

In Hamburg, the Elbe River flooded streets around the city’s fish market, with water waist-high in places. Authorities said a storm surge in the port city peaked on Friday morning, reaching 3.3 meters (11 feet) above mean high tide.

Streets around harbors flooded overnight in some Dutch North Sea towns, including Scheveningen, the seaside suburb of The Hague.

The huge Maeslantkering storm barrier that protects Rotterdam from high sea levels automatically closed for the first time because of high water levels — meaning that all six major storm barriers that protect the low-lying Netherlands were closed at the same time. The nation’s water and infrastructure authority said that was also a first. By Friday morning, all six barriers were open again as winds eased.

In the North Sea, the Norwegian cruise ship MS Maud temporarily lost power on Thursday after encountering a rogue wave. Its operator, Hurtigruten Expedition, said in a statement that the 266 guests and 131 crew were uninjured and that the vessel, initially headed for the English port of Tilbury, would be diverted to Bremerhaven, Germany, for disembarkation.

Danish Search and Rescue said the vessel can “maneuver via emergency systems, and it has two civilian support vessels close by.”

On Thursday, high winds grounded flights in parts of the U.K., suspended train services and stopped Scottish ferries. British Airways said air traffic restrictions put in place because of the storm continued to affect flights between Britain and the rest of Europe on Friday.
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How Did America’s Founding Father Celebrate the Holidays?

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Have you ever wondered how the holidays were celebrated in 18th-century America? VOA’s Saqib Ul Islam visits Mount Vernon, the historic home of America’s first president, George Washington. At this historic site, one of the nation’s most visited, holiday traditions from the 1770s are preserved.
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Last French Troops to Leave Niger on Friday

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Niamey, Niger — The last French troops are to withdraw from Niger on Friday, marking an end to more than a decade of French anti-jihadist operations in West Africa’s Sahel region.

The French exit from Niger leaves hundreds of U.S. military personnel, and a number of Italian and German troops, remaining in the country.

France said it would pull out its roughly 1,500 soldiers and pilots from Niger after the former French colony’s new ruling generals demanded they depart following the coup on July 26.

It was the third time in less than 18 months that French troops were sent packing from a country in the Sahel.

They were forced to leave fellow former colonies Mali last year and Burkina Faso earlier this year following military takeovers in those countries too.

All three nations are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, later spreading to Niger and Burkina Faso.

But a string of coups in the region since 2020 have seen relations nosedive with former colonial power France and a pivot towards greater rapprochement with Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron in September announced the withdrawal of all French troops from Niger by the end of the year, with a first contingent leaving in October.

The Nigerien army said last week their departure would be complete by Friday.

Perilous desert routes

Most French troops in Niger are at an air base in the capital, Niamey.

Smaller groups have been deployed alongside Nigerien soldiers to the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaida are believed to operate.

The withdrawal is a complex operation, with road convoys having to drive up to 1,700 kilometers on sometimes perilous desert routes to the French center for Sahel operations in neighboring Chad.

The first French road convoy of troops withdrawing from Niger arrived in neighboring Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, in October, after 10 days on the road.

From Chad, French troops can leave by air with their most sensitive equipment, although most of the rest has to be moved by land and sea.

According to a source close to the matter, some of the French containers carrying equipment will be driven from Chad on to the port of Douala in Cameroon, before they can be ferried back to France by sea.

US, German troops

France’s former ally in Niger, overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum, remains under house arrest.

A U.S. official said in October that Washington was keeping about 1,000 military personnel in Niger but was no longer actively training or assisting Niger forces.

The United States said earlier this month it was ready to resume cooperation with Niger on the condition its military regime committed to a rapid transition to civilian rule.

Niger’s rulers want up to three years for a transition back to a civilian government.

Military leaders in Niamey early this month said they were ending two European Union security and defense missions in the country.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Niger earlier this week to discuss the fate of around 120 German troops based in the country.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in September banded together in a joint defense pact to fight jihadists.

France’s withdrawal from Mali last year left a bitter aftertaste, after the bases it once occupied in Menaka, Gossi and Timbuktu were rapidly taken over by the Wagner Russian paramilitary group.
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