The Baltic states have committed to continue providing financial and material support to Ukraine’s fight against Russia in 2025. Part of that support is coming from the Latvian-led Drone Coalition. Vladislav Andrejevs has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Video editing by Sergii Dogotar.
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Author: SeeEU
Protesters in separatist Georgian region occupy government buildings, call for leader’s ouster
Tbilisi, Georgia — Opposition protesters in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia on Sunday refused to cede control of key government buildings seized during rallies earlier in the week during which at least 14 people were injured in clashes with police.
Demonstrators stormed the buildings Friday to protest new measures allowing Russians to buy property in the seaside region.
Protesters on Sunday continued to demand the ouster of self-styled Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania, and one prominent politician vowed that the opposition would form a rival government if he refuses to step down.
“If our demands for the president’s resignation are not met, we will have to form a temporary government to ensure the normal functioning of state bodies,” Temur Gulia told his supporters, according to local agencies.
Bzhania, who is backed by Russia, signaled Sunday that he was prepared to step aside temporarily and hold early elections, even as he continued to slam the demonstrations as “an attempted coup d’etat.”
Opponents of the property agreement say it will drive up prices of apartments and boost Moscow’s dominance in the region.
On Saturday, Bzhania announced that he would only agree to a snap election if demonstrators vacated the region’s parliament building. But crowds that gathered in the Abkhazian capital, Sukhumi, rejected the deal and opposition leaders said they would only accept Bzhania’s unconditional resignation.
Meanwhile, protesters on Sunday began dismantling the security barriers around the government complex in Sukhumi.
One prominent opposition figure called the metal barriers a symbol of the authorities being out of touch.
“This barrier shows that the government has decided to fence itself off from its people,” Adgur Ardzinba said, according to local media.
Most of Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in fighting that ended in 1993, and Georgia lost control of the rest of the territory in the short war with Russia in 2008. Russia recognizes Abkhazia as an independent country, but many Abkhazians are concerned that the region of about 245,000 people is a client state of Moscow.
Abkhazia’s mountains and Black Sea beaches make it a popular destination for Russian tourists and the demand for holiday homes could be strong.
At least 14 people were injured Friday when opposition protesters clashed with police, Russian state agencies reported.
Lawmakers had gathered at the region’s parliament building to discuss ratifying measures allowing Russian citizens to buy property in the breakaway state. However, the session was postponed as demonstrators broke down the gate to the building’s grounds with a truck and streamed inside. Some threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas.
The arrest of five opposition figures at a similar demonstration Monday set off widespread protests the next day in which bridges leading to Sukhumi were blocked.
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New global carbon trade rules adopted at UN climate summit expand inclusion, draw ire
Baku, Azerbaiijan — A new set of global carbon credit trade market standards has been agreed to during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, or COP29, following years of deadlock. Some analysts say that under the guidelines, a bigger number of entities could join a more regulated voluntary carbon credit trading system to reduce emissions.
Known as Article 6.4, delegates agreed on the rules for establishing a system that allows trade in carbon credit between individual countries and companies, under the supervision of a centralized U.N. body. These include how to validate, verify and issue credits.
Another option, known as Article 6.2, allows countries to set their own terms to trade carbon credits bilaterally. Countries weren’t able to agree on the standards for either option before COP29.
Under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, countries have committed to green goals, including slashing carbon emissions.
The new deal could “reduce the cost of implementing national climate plans by $250 billion per year by enabling cooperation across borders,” the COP29 presidency said in a statement, which hailed the outcome as a “game-changing tool to direct resources to the developing world.”
Controversial move
The agreement is more a recognition from countries of the new rules, but negotiations are still ongoing and details are still being worked out so they are not fixed, according to Je-liang Liou, researcher at the Chung-Hua Institute for Economic Research in Taiwan.
“In the previous COP, the supervisory body usually drafted a bill for countries to discuss and decide if they approve it or not. But this year, the body of Article 6.4 approved their own draft before COP29 started so it became more of a situation for countries to give their votes,” Liou explained to VOA.
The hasty process drew ire from some countries’ negotiators, including Tuvalu’s. It said that “adopting decisions without prior consultations by the governing bodies does not reflect the Paris Agreement’s party-driven process,” according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Some climate advocates also said the agreement isn’t a success, as regulations have been an issue for voluntary carbon credit trading in the past.
“We should be very concerned in the Global South, especially if we don’t have sufficient safeguards in place to protect against the possibility of land grabs, human rights abuses, threats to subsistence and forest-based livelihoods, gender and indigenous interests,” Tara Nair van Ryneveld, climate policy coordinator at the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, or SAFCEI, told VOA News.
She cautioned against carbon credit trading as part of “false solutions” that distract from work to be done on phasing out fossil fuels.
Last year, Human Rights Watch found that the carbon offsetting projects that Cambodia’s government agreed to, the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project, violated the rights of the indigenous Chong people. Authorities reportedly made decisions on incorporating villages into a national park two years before consulting the community.
Rights abuses aside, amid the prospect of companies joining in for carbon trading, voluntary carbon offsetting projects from companies were revealed to be ineffective in serving their purpose, according to a 2023 investigation from The Guardian newspaper and trade watchdog Corporate Accountability.
Nearly four in five of the top carbon offset projects are considered “worthless” as they can’t guarantee cutting greenhouse gases, the report found.
Despite the criticisms, Article 6.4 can be a “push toward stronger regulation and accountability” and bolster transparency in climate finance, according to Luca Taschini, director of the Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh.
Expanded inclusion
For non-U.N. member regions like Taiwan that have long been excluded from discussions and the country-to-country trading system, the expanded system under Article 6.4 can be positive news, Liou said. This allows companies to invest in projects, potentially allowing its participation, he added.
“Taiwan isn’t eligible for bilateral carbon credit trading because it’s not a U.N. member party, so it wasn’t able to join in directly to purchase credits from developing countries and fulfill our climate commitment, but Article 6.4, compared to Article 6.2, allows Taiwan a higher chance to trade carbon credits internationally,” he elaborated.
Liou said the expanded carbon credit system – if set up and starts next year – can boost governments’ climate ambitions, amid nations’ looming submission deadline for a new climate plan by February 2025.
Self-ruled Taiwan imports almost all of its energy from other countries. Under its climate goal to source 15 percent of its power from renewables by 2025 and reaching net-zero in 2050, slashing emissions in the medium term can be challenging and carbon trade can be beneficial for the island, according to Liou.
Taschini said that Article 6 allows countries to invest in actions beyond their borders and raise global ambition.
“This is because, even if all NDCs [national determined contributions] are met, we will still fall short of our climate goals,” he explained.
The year’s largest climate conference is set to end November 22.
Some information for this article came from Reuters.
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Russia launches massive airstrike campaign in Ukraine
Russia launched a massive airstrike campaign against neighboring Ukraine on Sunday. Local officials say several people died and the power system suffered “severe damage.” VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Putin critics lead march in Berlin calling for democracy in Russia and end to war in Ukraine
Berlin — Prominent Russian opposition figures led a march of at least 1,000 people in central Berlin Sunday, criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine and calling for democracy in Russia.
Behind a banner that read “No Putin. No War,” the protesters were led by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, as well as Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were freed from Russian detention in a high-profile prisoner exchange this summer.
Shouting “Russia without Putin” and other chants in Russian, the demonstrators held up signs with a wide array of messages on a red background, including “Putin = War” and “Putin is a murderer” in German.
Some marched with the flags of Russia or Ukraine, as well as a white-blue-white flag used by some Russian opposition groups.
Organizers said the march began near Potsdamer Platz and went through the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie and was expected to end outside the Russian Embassy.
“The march demands the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the trial of Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, and the release of all political prisoners in Russia,” the protesters said in a statement.
Yashin, in a statement before the demonstration, said demonstrators were “using the freedom we have here in Berlin to show the world: A peaceful, free, and civilized Russia exists.”
Navalnaya, Yashin and Kara-Murza have all billed Sunday’s rally as a show of unity at a time when recent rounds of acrimony have roiled the anti-war camp.
Russia’s exiled anti-war opposition has so far largely failed to speak with one voice and present a clear plan of action.
The landmark East-West prisoner swap in August freed key dissidents and promised to reinvigorate a movement unmoored by the death in prison of Navalny, a charismatic anti-corruption campaigner and arch-Kremlin foe.
Instead, tensions have spiked in recent months, as Navalny’s allies and other prominent dissidents swapped accusations that appeared to dash any hopes of a united anti-Kremlin front.
Many opposition-minded Russians have voiced deep frustration with the infighting, and with what some view as efforts by rivaling groups to discredit and wrest influence from one another.
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Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute ‘genocide’
Rome — Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year.
It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been “immoral” and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.
The book, by Hernán Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world.” It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope’s 2025 jubilee. Francis’ yearlong jubilee is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope said in excerpts published Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.
“We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added.
Last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and set off a firestorm by using words that Vatican diplomats usually avoid: “terrorism” and, according to the Palestinians, “genocide.”
Francis spoke at the time about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting was announced.
The pontiff, who last week also met with a delegation of Israeli hostages who were released and their families pressing the campaign to bring the remaining captives home had editorial control over the upcoming book.
The war started when the militant Hamas group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 as hostages and taking them back to Gaza, where dozens still remain.
Israel’s subsequent yearlong military campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children.
The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has triggered several legal cases at international courts in The Hague involving requests for arrest warrants as well as accusations and denials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
In the new book, Francis also speaks about migration and the problem of integrating migrants in their host countries.
“Faced with this challenge, no country can be left alone and no one can think of addressing the issue in isolation through more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes approved under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantages,” Francis said.
“On the contrary, just as we see that there is a globalization of indifference, we must respond with the globalization of charity and cooperation,” he added. Francis also mentioned the “still open wound of the war in Ukraine has led thousands of people to abandon their homes, especially during the first months of the conflict.”
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Norway’s Kon-Tiki Museum returns artifacts to Chile’s remote Easter Island
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile’s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday.
In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove his theory — that the South Sea Islands were settled by seafarers from South America.
He brought 5,600 objects back from Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. This is the third time objects taken by him are being returned.
Many have been stored and displayed at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway’s capital, and some were given back in 1986 and others 2006. The return has been a collaboration between the museum, Chile and Rapa Nui’s local authorities.
“My grandfather would have been proud of what we are about to achieve,” said Liv Heyerdahl, head of the museum and the explorer’s granddaughter.
She told the Norwegian news agency NTB that the objects were brought to Norway “with a promise that they would one day be returned.”
Among those that are being returned this time around are human remains called Ivi Tepuna and sculpted stones.
A nine-person delegation had traveled to Norway this week to collect the items. Four of them spent the night at the Oslo museum, alongside the remains as part of a ritual ceremony to take back the spirits of the remains.
“First one must awaken the spirits, and then speak to them in our original language. Food is then prepared to eat a meal with them, where the smell of the food goes to the spirits,” a member of the delegation, Laura Tarita Rapu Alarcón, told NTB.
“It is important that those who own the culture are involved in the process,” Liv Heyerdahl was quoted as saying by NTB. “Of course these remains should be returned, and it feels right because they belong to the Rapa Nui.”
In 2019, an agreement was signed in Santiago, Chile, during a visit by Norway’s King Harald. However, the COVID-19 pandemic stopped all activities in 2020, the museum said. Harald met with the Rapa Nui delegation on Tuesday.
A book about Thor Heyerdahl’s voyage — he died in 2002 at the age of 87 — has become an international bestseller, and his film of the journey won an Academy Award for best documentary in 1951.
Rapa Nui is best known for the hundreds of moai — monolithic human figures carved centuries ago by this remote Pacific island’s Rapanui people.
Covering about 164 square kilometers and home to about 7,700 people, half of them with Rapa Nui ancestry, Easter Island was formed at least 750,000 years ago by volcanic eruptions and is one of the world’s most isolated inhabited islands.
Located 3,700 kilometers from South America, Rapa Nui was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. In 2019, it was officially renamed “Rapa Nui-Easter Island” from its previous name of just Easter Island.
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Russia launches one of its fiercest missile and drone attacks at Ukraine’s infrastructure
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia on Sunday launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, described by officials as the largest over the past months, targeting energy infrastructure and killing civilians.
The attack came as fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine’s power generation capacity ahead of the cold winter.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack across Ukraine. Various types of drones were deployed, he said, including Iranian-made Shaheds as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian defenses shot down 140 air targets, Zelenskyy said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
“The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone attack, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children,” Zelenskyy said.
Two others were killed in the Odesa region, where the attack damaged energy infrastructure and disrupted power and water supplies, said local Gov. Oleh Kiper.
The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, according to the head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration Serhii Popko.
Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts. Ukrainian officials have routinely urged Western allies to bolster the country’s air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs.
Explosions were heard across Ukraine on Sunday, including in capital, Kyiv, the key southern port of Odesa, as well as the country’s west and central regions, according to local reports.
The operational command of Poland’s armed forces wrote on X that Polish and allied aircraft, including fighter jets, have been mobilized in Polish airspace because of the “massive” Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine. The steps were aimed to provide safety in Poland’s border areas, it said.
One person was injured after the roof of a five-story residential building caught fire in Kyiv’s historic center, according to Popko.
A thermal power plant operated by private energy company DTEK was “seriously damaged,” the company said.
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Josep Borrell wraps up tumultuous time as EU’s top diplomat
Brussels — Josep Borrell took a deep breath as the train rumbled across Ukraine at the end of his final visit after five tumultuous years as the EU’s foreign policy chief.
“I feel a certain nostalgia,” the 77-year-old Spaniard said, hunching forward to be heard over the noise of the tracks.
“We’ve been working closely with these people, who are great people, who are fighting for their survival,” he said. “And who knows what’s going to happen with them?”
The job of EU top diplomat has often been seen as thankless — trying to coordinate the sometimes radically opposed positions of 27 countries, each jealously guarding their own foreign policy.
But Borrell’s tenure, wrapping up next month, has thrust him into the center of some of the most consequential events in recent world history.
He has helped steer the bloc’s response to the COVID pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and war in the Middle East.
Ukraine war
It was Moscow’s all-out assault in February 2022 that upended European security and came to dominate his time at the helm.
Borrell, a Socialist former Spanish foreign minister with more than 40 years of political experience, immediately pushed for the EU to pay for weapons deliveries to a country at war, a longstanding red line for the bloc.
“This was a breakthrough in the way we behaved.”
Since then, the EU has spent billions more on arming Ukraine and Russia has been hit by repeated rounds of unprecedented sanctions despite regular obstacles from reluctant EU states such as Hungary.
While the Ukraine crisis has revealed the EU’s willingness to act, the war in Gaza by contrast has been the most painful episode for Borrell.
Since Israel unleashed its devastating offensive after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, the EU has had no influence to curb the suffering, with its member states deeply divided over the conflict.
He said the refusal by member states supportive of Israel to do more has damaged the EU on the global stage.
“My biggest frustration is not being able to make it understood that a violation of international law is a violation of international law, whoever does it,” Borrell said.
‘Break taboos’
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs is constrained by how far member states are willing to go, and a simple statement can take days of wrangling.
Borrell has frequently angered EU capitals by going beyond their agreed positions.
“One has to break taboos,” he said. “Agreed language most of the time says nothing. We agree on saying nothing.”
Critics, and there are plenty in sharp-elbowed Brussels, say Borrell has not helped his case, with numerous gaffes and some tactical missteps.
A low point of his tenure was a disastrous trip to Moscow in early 2021 when he was caught in a diplomatic ambush and failed to push back against Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
But as Moscow’s assault on Ukraine played out, he proved a fast learner, said Gabrielius Landsbergis, foreign minister of Lithuania, one of the Baltic states wary of nearby Russia.
“We witnessed a transformation from Russia-threat agnostic into Russia hawk — who could very well come from the Baltics,” he told AFP.
‘All things pass’
On Borrell’s final trip to Ukraine, he held talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visited a drone factory, and headed to a defensive position near Russia’s border.
“It generates a lot of adrenaline,” he said, to explain how he has kept up with the pace.
Despite the weight on his shoulders, he said there have been moments of joy.
He pointed to the warm welcome he received on his final Ukraine visit, appreciation from some Palestinians and being able to help repatriate hundreds of thousands of Europeans during the pandemic.
As he leaves the stage, the global situation looks perilous, with a new U.S. administration heralding challenges for Europe, Russia advancing in Ukraine and war raging in the Middle East.
Borrell is to be replaced in the job by former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, 47, who is expected to bring a more tightly controlled style.
“She will perform very well, and she will be very happy, and she will suffer less than me,” he said. “I wish her the best.”
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Russia’s Gazprom stops flow of natural gas to Austria, utility says
VIENNA — Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom stopped supplies to Austria early Saturday, according to the Vienna-based utility OMV, after OMV said it would stop payments for the gas following an arbitration award.
The official cutoff of supplies before dawn Saturday came after Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Friday held a hastily called news conference to emphasize that his country has a secure supply of alternative fuel for this winter.
OMV said it would stop paying for Gazprom gas to its Austrian arm to offset a $242 million arbitration award it won from the International Chamber of Commerce over an earlier cutoff of gas to its German subsidiary.
The Austrian utility said in an email that no gas delivery was made from 6 a.m. on Saturday.
OMV said Wednesday it has sufficient stocks to provide gas to its customers in case of a potential disruption by Gazprom and said storage in Austria was more than 90% full.
“Once again Putin is using energy as a weapon,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a post on social media platform X. “He is trying to blackmail Austria & Europe by cutting gas supplies. We are prepared for this and ready for the winter.”
Russia cut off most natural gas supplies to Europe in 2022, citing disputes over payment in rubles, a move European leaders described as energy blackmail over their support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
European governments had to scramble to line up alternative supplies at higher prices, much of it liquefied natural gas brought by ship from the United States and Qatar.
Austria gets the bulk of its natural gas from Russia, as much as 98% in December last year, according to Energy Minister Lenore Gewessler.
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Protesters in Georgia’s separatist region refuse to give up government buildings
TBILISI, GEORGIA — Opposition protesters in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia have refused to cede control of key government buildings that demonstrators stormed to protest new measures allowing Russians to buy property in the area.
Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania announced Saturday that he would step down and hold early elections if demonstrators vacated the region’s parliament building. But crowds that gathered in the Abkhazian capital, Sukhumi, rejected the deal, and opposition leaders said they would accept only Bzhania’s unconditional resignation.
“None of us have come here for the sake of seats [in parliament],” former Abkhazian Prime Minister Valery Bganba told the crowd in a video livestreamed on social media. “We came here to save our people, our country.”
At least 14 people were injured Friday when opposition protesters clashed with police, Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti reported.
Lawmakers had gathered at the region’s parliament building to discuss ratifying measures allowing Russian citizens to buy property in the breakaway state. However, the session was postponed because demonstrators broke through the gate to the building’s grounds with a truck and streamed inside. Some threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas.
Most of Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in fighting that ended in 1993, and Georgia lost control of the rest of the territory in a short war with Russia in 2008. Russia recognizes Abkhazia as an independent country, but many Abkhazians are concerned that the region of about 245,000 people is a client state of Moscow.
Opponents of the property agreement say it will drive up prices of apartments and boost Moscow’s dominance in the region. Abkhazia’s mountains and Black Sea beaches make it a popular destination for Russian tourists, and the demand for holiday homes could be strong.
The arrest of five opposition figures at a similar demonstration Monday set off wide protests the next day in which bridges leading to Sukhumi were blocked.
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Protesters gather at UN climate talks in ‘global day of action’
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — Hundreds of activists formed a human chain outside one of the main plenary halls at the United Nations climate summit on what is traditionally their biggest protest day during the two-week talks.
The demonstration in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be echoed at sites around the world in a global “day of action” for climate justice that’s become an annual event.
Activists waved flags, snapped their fingers, hummed and mumbled chants, with many covering their mouths with the word “Silenced.”
Demonstrators held up signs calling for more money to be pledged for climate finance, which involves cash for transitioning to clean energy and adapting to climate change. It comes as negotiators at the venue try to hammer out a deal for exactly that — but progress has been slow, and observers say the direction of any agreement is still unclear.
‘Keep fighting’
Lidy Nacpil said protestors like her are “not surprised” about how negotiations are going. But past wins — such as a loss and damage fund that gives developing nations cash after extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change — keep organizers going, said Nacpil, a coordinator with the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development.
“The role we play is to increase the pressure,” she said of the action. “We know we’re not going to get the results that the world needs in this round of negotiations, but at least to bring us many steps closer is our hope, is our aim.
“I think we have no option but to keep fighting. … It’s the instinctive response that anyone, any living being, living creatures will have, which is to fight for life and fight for survival.”
Tasneem Essop said she was inspired by the action, which was challenging to organize. “To be able to pull off something where people feel their own power, exercise their own power and get inspired in this creative way, I’m super excited about this,” she said.
Essop said she’s “not very” optimistic about an outcome on finance but knows next week will be pivotal. “We can’t end up with a bad deal for the peoples of the world, those who are already suffering the impacts of climate change, those who need to adapt to an increasing and escalating crisis,” she said.
“We fight until the end.”
Climate cash
Negotiators at COP29, as the talks are known, are working on a deal that might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to poorer nations. Many are in the Global South and already suffering the costly impact of weather disasters fueled by climate change. Several experts have said $1 trillion or more annually is needed both to compensate for such damages and to pay for a clean-energy transition that most countries can’t afford on their own.
Samir Bejanov, deputy lead negotiator of this year’s climate talks, said in a press conference that the climate finance talks were moving too slowly.
“I want to repeat our strong encouragement to all parties to make as much progress as possible,” he said. “We need everyone to approach the task with urgency and determination.”
Diego Pacheco, a negotiator from Bolivia, said the amount of money on the table for developing countries needs to be “loud and clear.”
“No more speeches but real money,” he said.
Observers also were disappointed at the pace of progress.
“This has been the worst first week of a COP in my 15 years of attending this summit,” said Mohamed Adow, of climate think tank Power Shift Africa. “There’s no clarity on the climate finance goal, the quality of the finance or how it’s going to be made accessible to vulnerable countries.
“I sense a lot of frustration, especially among the developing country blocs here,” he said.
Panama environment minister Juan Carlos Navarro agreed, telling The Associated Press he is “not encouraged” by what he’s seeing at COP29 so far.
“What I see is a lot of talk and very little action,” he said, noting that Panama is among the group of countries least responsible for warming emissions but most vulnerable to the damage caused by climate change-fueled disasters.
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Russia captures 2 villages in eastern Ukraine, defense ministry says
MOSCOW — Russian forces have captured the villages of Makarivka and Hryhorivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
Makarivka is located to the south of Velyka Novosilka while Hryhorivka, which Moscow calls by its previous name of Leninskoye, is situated to the west of the town of Selydove, captured by Russia last month.
Reuters could not independently verify developments on the battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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Wild deer population boom has some in England promoting venison to consumers
WINCHESTER, England — In the half-light of dusk, Martin Edwards surveys the shadows of the ancient woodland from a high seat and waits. He sits still, watching with his thermal camera.
Even the hares don’t seem to notice the deer stalker until he takes aim. The bang of his rifle pierces the stillness. He’s killed a buck, one of many wild deer roaming this patch of forest in Hampshire, southern England.
Edwards advocates humane deer management: the culling of deer to control their numbers and ensure they don’t overrun forests and farmland in a country where they no longer have natural predators. For these advocates, shooting deer is much more than a sport. It’s a necessity because England’s deer population has gotten out of control.
There are now more deer in England than at any other time in the last 1,000 years, according to the Forestry Commission, the government department looking after England’s public woodland.
That has had a devastating impact on the environment, officials say. Excessive deer foraging damages large areas of woodland including young trees, as well as the habitats of certain birds like robins. Some landowners have lost huge amounts of crops to deer, and overpopulation means that the mammals are more likely to suffer from starvation and disease.
“They will produce more young every year. We’ve got to a point where farmers and foresters are definitely seeing that impact,” said Edwards, pointing to some young hazel shrubs with half-eaten buds. “If there’s too many deer, you will see that they’ve literally eaten all the vegetation up to a certain height.”
Forestry experts and businesses argue that culling the deer — and supplying the meat to consumers — is a double win: It helps rebalance the ecosystem and provides a low-fat, sustainable protein.
While venison — a red meat similar to lean beef but with an earthier flavor — is often perceived as a high-end food in the U.K., one charity sees it as an ideal protein for those who can’t afford to buy other meats.
“Why not utilize that fantastic meat to feed people in need?” said SJ Hunt, chief executive of The Country Food Trust, which distributes meals made with wild venison to food banks.
Pandemic population boom
An estimated 2 million deer now roam England’s forests.
The government says native wild deer play a role in healthy forest ecosystems, but acknowledges that their population needs managing. It provides some funding for solutions such as building deer fences.
But experts like Edwards, a spokesman for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, believe lethal control is the only effective option, especially after deer populations surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic was a boon to deer because hunters, like everyone else, stayed home and the restaurant market — the main outlet for venison in the U.K. — vanished overnight.
“There were no sales of venison and the price was absolutely on the floor,” said Ben Rigby, a leading venison and game meats wholesaler. “The deer had a chance to breed massively.”
Rigby’s company now processes hundreds of deer a week, turning them into diced venison or steaks for restaurants and supermarkets. One challenge, he said, is growing the domestic appetite for venison so it appears on more dinner plates, especially after Brexit put new barriers up for exporting the meat.
“We’re not really a game-eating nation, not like in France or Germany or Scandinavia,” he said. “But the U.K. is becoming more and more aware of it and our trade is growing.”
From the forest to the table
Shooting deer is legal but strictly regulated in England. Stalkers must have a license, use certain kinds of firearms and observe open seasons. They also need a valid reason, such as when a landowner authorizes them to kill the deer when their land is damaged. Hunting deer with packs of dogs is illegal.
Making wild venison more widely available in supermarkets and beyond will motivate more stalkers to cull the deer and ensure the meat doesn’t go to waste, Edwards said.
Forestry England, which manages public forests, is part of that drive. In recent years it supplied some hospitals with 1,000 kilograms of wild venison, which became the basis of pies and casseroles popular with patients and staff, it said.
The approach appears to have been well received, though it has attracted some criticism from animal welfare group PETA, which advocates veganism.
Hunt, the food charity chief, said there’s potential to do much more with the meat, which she described as nutritious and “free-range to the purest form of that definition.”
Her charity distributed hundreds of thousands of pouches of venison Bolognese meals to food banks last year — and people are hungry for more, she said.
She recalled attending one food bank session where the only protein available was canned sardines, canned baked beans and the venison meals.
“There were no eggs. There was no cheese. That’s all that they could do, and people were just saying, ‘Thank you, please bring more (of the venison),” she said. “That’s fantastic, because people realize they’re doing a double positive with helping the environment by utilizing the meat as well.”
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Protesters demand resignation of leader in Russian-backed breakaway region of Georgia
Protesters stormed the parliament of the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia on Friday and demanded the resignation of its leader over an unpopular investment agreement with Moscow.
The self-styled president of the region, Aslan Bzhania, said he had no intention of stepping down or fleeing. He said talks were proceeding with opposition representatives.
But opposition representatives rejected the president’s statement, and news reports said they had broken off the talks.
Russia said it was following the “crisis situation” with concern and urged its citizens to avoid travel to Abkhazia.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, as independent states in 2008 after it defeated Georgia in a five-day war. It maintains troop bases in both regions and props up their economies.
In Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhumi, protesters used a truck to smash through the metal gates surrounding parliament. They then climbed through windows after wrenching off metal bars.
An opposition leader, Temur Gulia, said protesters initially demanded cancellation of the investment agreement, which critics feared would allow wealthy Russians and businesses to buy up property in the lush Black Sea region, pricing out locals.
But now, he said, the protesters wanted to oust the president.
Protesters break into offices
Protesters also broke into presidential administration offices in the same complex as the parliament. Emergency services said at least nine people were taken to the hospital.
Bzhania, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said he and other leaders were “staying in place and will keep on working.”
“I ask you not to give in to panic. I am staying in Abkhazia and will work as I have done,” Bzhania wrote, saying that the first task was to clean up after the unrest.
“At this time, talks are going on with the opposition.”
Opposition activist Akhra Bzhania rejected the statement, telling Reuters the president had “lost his legitimacy. His refusal to resign today does not change anything.”
Talks broken off
The Tass news agency quoted opposition representative Kan Kvarchia as saying all talks had been broken off.
Bzhania’s office later said the president, a former chief of the state security service who became head of state in 2020, was in his coastal home village of Tamysh.
Another opposition leader, Eshsou Kakalia, told Reuters the protesters would not leave the government complex until Bzhania agreed to resign.
The presidential administration said in a statement that authorities were preparing to withdraw the investment agreement.
Olesya Vartanyan, an independent regional expert, said the crisis was the culmination of mounting Russian pressure to get more from Abkhazia in return for its financial support.
“The Russians are paying them — they want something back,” she said in a telephone interview. “There is always this question: ‘Why are we supporting you guys and you’re not even allowing Russian citizens to buy property there?’ ”
If Bzhania fell, he would be the third local leader to be toppled in a similar way since 2008. Vartanyan said Moscow’s usual approach was to allow the periodic crises to play out and then strike deals with whichever leader came next.
“Every single Abkhaz leader after they got recognized by Moscow became sort of a hostage to Moscow,” she said. “When you come to power, you have to be loyal to Moscow and then you have to find a way to cooperate.”
Most of the world recognizes Abkhazia as part of Georgia, from which it broke away during wars in the early 1990s.
The opposition said in a statement that the protests were not against Russian-Abkhazian relations, but charged that Bzhania “has been trying to use these relations for his own selfish interests, manipulating them for the sake of strengthening his regime.”
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Dutch government survives dispute over Amsterdam violence
AMSTERDAM — Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof saved his governing coalition on Friday despite threats of an exodus by Cabinet members over the right-wing government’s response to violence against Israeli football fans last week.
Junior Finance Minister Nora Achahbar unexpectedly quit the Cabinet on Friday to protest claims by some politicians that Dutch youths of Moroccan descent attacked Israeli fans in Amsterdam around the November 7 match between a Dutch team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Her resignation triggered a crisis Cabinet meeting at which four ministers from her centrist NSC party also threatened to quit. If they had, the coalition would have lost its majority in parliament.
“We have reached the conclusion that we want to remain, as a Cabinet for all people in the Netherlands,” Schoof said at a news conference late on Friday in The Hague.
Last week’s violence was roundly condemned by Israeli and Dutch politicians, with Amsterdam’s mayor saying “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” had attacked Israeli fans.
The city’s police department has said Maccabi fans were chased and beaten by gangs on scooters. Police also said the Israeli fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag.
Achahbar, a former judge and public prosecutor who was born in Morocco, felt comments by several political figures were hurtful and possibly racist, De Volkskrant daily reported.
“Polarization in the recent weeks has had such an effect on me that I no longer can, nor wish to fulfill my position in this cabinet,” Achahbar said in a statement.
Schoof, a former civil servant who does not have a party affiliation, denied any ministers in the Cabinet are racist. Details of the Cabinet discussion were not disclosed.
The coalition is led by the anti-Muslim populist party PVV of Geert Wilders, which finished first in a general election a year ago. The government was installed in July after months of tense negotiations.
Wilders, who is not a Cabinet member, has repeatedly said Dutch youth of Moroccan descent were the main attackers of the Israeli fans, although police have not specified the backgrounds of suspects.
Schoof said on Monday the incidents showed that some youth in the Netherlands with immigrant backgrounds did not share “Dutch core values.”
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Democratic senators ask Pentagon, US officials to probe reports of Musk’s alleged calls with Russia
washington — Reports that billionaire Elon Musk has held multiple calls with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, should be investigated by the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies on national security grounds, two senior Democratic senators said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.
Musk, who has been appointed to a senior government role by Republican President-elect Donald Trump, oversees billions of dollars in Pentagon and intelligence community contracts as CEO of aerospace company SpaceX.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Foreign Relations Committee member, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed told U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Pentagon’s inspector general that Musk’s involvement in those SpaceX programs should be probed for potential debarment and exclusion after reports as recent as October of his conversations with Russian officials. Debarment refers to exclusion from certain contracts and privileges.
“These relationships between a well-known U.S. adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder,” the lawmakers said in a joint letter dated Friday.
Several Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for a probe into Musk’s communications with Moscow since a report by The Wall Street Journal last month on the alleged contact, but the letter to the U.S. officials who could launch such an investigation has not been previously reported.
The call by Shaheen and Reed for a federal probe is a long-shot effort as Trump prepares to return to the White House with backing from Musk, who spent over $119 million on Trump’s reelection campaign and was appointed co-head of the president-elect’s forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency.
SpaceX, Musk and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and Justice Department did not immediately respond to similar requests.
Russian contact
Reports of Musk’s contact with Russian officials emerged in 2022, when political scientist Ian Bremmer, president of consulting firm Eurasia Group, said he was told by Musk that he had spoken with Putin about the Ukraine war and Russia’s red line for using nuclear weapons. Musk denied Bremmer’s claim and said he had only spoken to Putin 18 months earlier, about space.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk has had multiple conversations with Russian officials, including Putin and his first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, citing unnamed U.S., European and Russian officials.
Shaheen and Reed said in the letter it was “deeply concerning” that Musk reportedly had conversations with Kiriyenko. He was charged this year with other Russian officials by the U.S. Justice Department for spearheading an AI-powered propaganda campaign on Musk’s social-media platform X and other sites to promote Russian interests and influence voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
Musk has publicly claimed he holds a U.S. security clearance, giving him access to secret information at SpaceX, which holds billions of dollars in Pentagon and NASA launch contracts. The company also has a $1.8 billion intelligence community contract to build a vast spy satellite network, Reuters has reported.
“Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security clearance have the potential to put our security at risk,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
Tensions between the U.S. and Russia in space have spiked since Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion. Pentagon officials have condemned suspect maneuvers by Russian satellites in orbit and this year accused Russia of developing a space-based nuclear weapon capable of disabling large satellite networks.
Musk’s SpaceX has come to dominate the U.S. space industry and is relied on heavily by NASA and the Pentagon.
The company’s Starlink internet network of nearly 7,000 satellites has made SpaceX the world’s largest satellite operator and a disruptive force in the satellite internet sector, with heavy interest from the Pentagon for military communications. Ukraine’s military relies heavily on Starlink for battlefield connectivity.
The senators sent a separate letter on Friday to U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall saying Musk’s reported conversations raise the need for more competition in the launch and satellite communications industries and to use more companies besides SpaceX for sensitive national security missions.
“Mr. Musk’s reported behavior could pose serious risks to national security, and as CEO of a company with billions of dollars in sensitive defense and intelligence contracts, warrant reconsideration of SpaceX’s outsized role in [the Defense Department’s] commercial space integration,” the lawmakers said.
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London awards ceremony honors victims of Russian oppression
Since 2015, advocates for human rights in Russia have gathered in London every November to present the Magnitsky Human Rights Awards, which honor individuals who have shown great courage in fighting for human rights and opposing corruption. Past honorees have included the likes of Boris Nemtsov, Jamal Khashoggi and Maria Ressa. VOA’s Amy Kellogg has the story.
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Germany’s Scholz speaks with Putin, demands Russia withdraw from Ukraine
A German government spokesperson said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz held direct talks via telephone Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which he demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and that Russia show a willingness to negotiate a just and lasting peace.
A statement from German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said Scholz condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and called on Putin to end it and withdraw troops.
The statement said the chancellor reaffirmed Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary. The brief statement did not include a response from Putin.
The spokesperson said Scholz spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before his call with the Russian leader and intended to call him again afterwards. Media reports say that call lasted about an hour.
Reuters news agency reported the Kremlin confirmed the call, which it said had come at Berlin’s request. The news agency reported the Kremlin said Putin told Scholz any agreement to end the war in Ukraine must take Russian security interests into account and reflect “new territorial realities.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said despite deep disagreements, the fact the two leaders had the call at all was “very positive.”
Zelenskyy, however, was not as pleased by the call. In a video address posted to his website Friday, Zelenskyy said that in his opinion, the call is a “Pandora’s box.”
“This is exactly what Putin has wanted for a long time: It is crucial for him to weaken his isolation. Russia’s isolation,” Zelenskyy said. “And to engage in negotiations, ordinary negotiations, that will lead to nothing.”
He said it is what Putin has done for decades. “This allowed Russia to change nothing in its policy, to do nothing substantial, and ultimately it led to this war.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine understands how to act regarding Putin and handle negotiations accordingly.
“And we want to warn everyone: There will be no Minsk-3,” he said, referencing the Minsk agreements, two failed cease-fire deals between Kyiv and Moscow over the status of the eastern Donbas region. “What we need is real peace.”
The call came roughly one week after Scholz’s coalition government fell apart, and he is facing new elections early next year.
Also on Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a state radio interview the European Union must abandon its sanctions against Russia or face economic collapse.
The EU and its western partners have imposed numerous sanctions against Russia and Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many of which target Russia’s energy sector.
Orban, a staunch ally of Putin’s, said in the interview the sanctions on Russia have driven up energy prices and must be reviewed by EU leaders in Brussels. He said the sanctions have failed and as long as they are in place, energy prices will not come down and it will destroy the European economy.
Orban also referenced U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory last week. Referring to Trump as “our comrade in arms,” and “our fellow peace fighter,” he said his victory means minds have to be changed in Brussels — site of EU headquarters.
Orban said they must urge “a pro-peace” turn in the EU, referring to their support for Ukraine.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Ukrainians face harsh winter as Russian attacks destroy energy infrastructure
GENEVA — Ukraine is heading into its third, most challenging winter since the war started nearly 1,000 days ago because “systematic attacks” by Russia have damaged and destroyed most of the country’s energy infrastructure, a senior U.N. official warned.
“I am told that by now, 65% of Ukraine’s own energy production capacities has been destroyed,” Matthias Schmale, resident and humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, told journalists Friday in Geneva.
“There are a lot of worries that the Russian Federation’s military forces might strike the energy sector again,” he said. “And the real concern is, if they were to target the energy sector again, this could be a tipping point, also a tipping point for further mass movements, both inside the country and outside the country.
“The systematic attacks on energy infrastructure may pose an additional risk in winter, especially for already vulnerable people, as power cuts extend more than a few days in subzero temperatures,” he said. “Deliberately attacking and destroying energy infrastructure that the civilian population depended on is a violation of international humanitarian law and has to stop.”
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said more than 12,000 people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
It said civilian infrastructure has been decimated, with more than 2,000 attacks on health care facilities and 2 million damaged homes. It said almost 40% of the population in Ukraine needs humanitarian assistance.
“There is also a sort of hidden crisis,” Schmale noted. “I think this prolonged war, almost three years in February, has led to widespread trauma and psychological distress, and I think the need for mental health support is very evident. It will take years to help people deal with their traumas.”
The World Health Organization has verified 2,134 attacks on health care targets in Ukraine, killing at least 197 health workers and patients. The agency said attacks on health facilities have “intensified significantly” since December 2023, “occurring on a near-daily basis.”
“The marked increase in attacks on Ukraine’s energy and health infrastructure has led to widespread disruptions to power and water,” said Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson. “The high cost of medicines, treatment and insufficient number of health care workers have emerged as major concerns, including near the front lines.
“In the coming months we anticipate civilians who live near the front lines may experience coronary vascular diseases, mental health issues and dental problems,” she said, noting that the WHO continues to call for humanitarian access to all parts of Ukraine, including Russian-controlled areas.
Resident coordinator Schmale expressed grave concern about the escalating use of drones against the civilian population, many supplied to Russia by North Korea.
“During my many visits to the front lines, civilians have increasingly described to me being targeted,” he said, underscoring that the drones not only cause physical damage but also are being used as a form of “psychological terror.”
“I am very worried, along with many others, that increased use of drones by the armed forces of the Russian Federation will have an increasingly damaging impact on the civilian population,” he said. “The fear of a nuclear fallout because of either a deliberate or accidental hit on a nuclear power plant, such as the one in Zaporizhzhia … would be extremely devastating, and the worst-case scenario.”
OCHA said that U.N. agencies are prioritizing support to people close to the front line, as well as to the thousands who have evacuated in recent weeks and months to help them survive the freezing temperatures that are coming.
It said U.N., international and volunteer organizations have been able to assist 7.2 million people thanks to $1.8 billion received for the humanitarian response in Ukraine. However, another $500 million will be needed to address the emergency needs of 1.8 million people by March.
Schmale underscored the appeal by emphasizing that vulnerable people in high-rise residential buildings in urban areas, the disabled, the elderly and the 3.6 million internally displaced people inside the country are most at risk and in need of help.
He said that helping people to get through this winter “is a race against time,” made more difficult because of waning support from the donor community. While the trend was downward, he expressed hope the international community and humanitarian support from the U.S. would continue under the new leadership.
“They have been by far our biggest individual country supporter at country level,” he said. “The hope is that they understand like the present administration that there are huge humanitarian needs that need to continue to be addressed.
“We must not normalize the war in Ukraine,” he said. “We must continue to support this country to the best of our abilities.”
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Dutch government says needs ‘more time’ for strategy on anti-Semitism
The Hague, Netherlands — The Dutch government needs “more time” to flesh out a strategy to fight anti-Semitism after last week’s violence between Israeli football fans and locals, the justice minister has said.
“Because of the terrible events of November 7 and 8 and because I want to promote a fruitful debate in parliament, I have decided to take more time to get a strategy ready,” Justice Minister David van Weel said.
“The strategy will soon be sent to parliament,” he said in a letter to MPs, published late on Thursday.
Prime Minister Dick Schoof promised “far-reaching measures” earlier this week.
He said they would be announced after a cabinet meeting on Friday but this now seems to be postponed.
The discussions follow violence in the streets of Amsterdam before and after the Europa League match between Dutch giants Ajax and Maccabi on November 7.
Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said that before the match Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag, attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities.
They also reportedly booed a minute’s silence during the match for victims of Spain’s recent deadly floods.
After the game, youths on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” assaults on Maccabi fans, officials said.
Some social media posts had included calls to “hunt Jews”, according to police.
Schoof said the attacks amounted to “unadulterated anti-Semitism.”
‘Pouring oil on the fire’
The authorities have set aside 4.5 million euros ($4.8 million) for the new strategy, including 1.2 million euros for securing Jewish institutions, Dutch media reported.
Schoof told parliament on Wednesday the government was looking at “far-reaching measures” to punish anti-Semitic violence.
This included the possibility of scrapping Dutch nationality for people with dual nationality.
Police, prosecutors and other law authorities have launched a massive probe into the incidents surrounding the Maccabi-Ajax match, with eight suspects behind bars so far.
Far-right anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, accused the country’s Muslim community for the unrest.
He demanded perpetrators be prosecuted “for terrorism, lose their passports and kicked out of the country.”
But opposition parties condemned Wilders’ language, saying he was “pouring oil on the fire, abusing the genuine fear and pain of one group to stoke hate against another.”
Many opposition politicians and commentators said that although anti-Semitism was abhorrent, the violence was not one-sided.
The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza.
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Spanish regional leader admits ‘mistakes’ in handling deadly floods
Valencia, Spain — The head of Spain’s eastern Valencia region admitted Friday to “mistakes” in handing the country’s deadliest flood in decades that killed 216 people there.
“I’m not going to deny mistakes,” Carlos Mazon told the regional parliament in an address, adding he was “not going to shirk any responsibility.”
As the head of the regional government “I would like to apologize” to those who “felt” that “the aid did not arrive or was not enough,” he added.
The October 29 disaster marked the country’s deadliest floods in decades. A total of 224 people were killed nationwide, with 216 of them in Valencia.
While he spoke, dozens of protesters gathered outside the regional parliament, jeering and chanting slogans demanding his resignation.
The floods wrecked infrastructure, gutted buildings and submerged fields. The final bill is expected to soar to tens of billions of euros.
Almost half of the people killed in Spain’s Valencia region during recent floods were 70 years old or older and 26 were foreigners, including two Britons.
Outrage at the authorities for their perceived mismanagement before and after the floods triggered mass protests on Saturday, the largest in Valencia city which drew 130,000 people.
Critics have questioned the efficiency of the Valencia region’s alert system during October’s downpour, when in some cases only reached residents’ telephones when floodwater was already gushing through towns.
Many local residents have also complained that they were left without food and water for days, and had to rely on aid provided by volunteers instead of the government.
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1 dead, thousands without heat after Russian strike on Ukraine port city
Kyiv, Ukraine — A massive Russian attack that set apartments alight and knocked out heating to thousands in Ukraine’s southern port city Odesa killed one person and wounded 10 others, authorities said Friday.
The Thursday night strikes on the Black Sea city damaged residential buildings, the heating system, churches and educational institutions, according to Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov, who said it had been “a massive combined enemy strike.”
Trukhanov said early Friday that a 35-year-old woman sleeping near a window at the time of the attack had died.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine confirmed one death and said another 10 people were wounded, including two children.
Fires broke out in several places but were quickly extinguished, while the main heating pipeline was damaged, leaving tens of thousands in the cold as nightly temperatures plunge to freezing.
“More than 40,000 people (as well as) medical and social institutions are without heating,” Trukhanov wrote on Telegram. “Generators and heaters are working in medical institutions.”
The mayor’s office said hot drinks and blankets were being distributed while the pipeline was repaired.
After fleeing during the air raid siren, Odesa resident Oleksandra said she saw pictures of her damaged home.
“When everything happened, we were hiding in a shelter. We saw that this was our house in the photos from the local channels,” she told public broadcaster Suspilne Odesa.
Russia has recently stepped-up aerial attacks on southern Ukraine, damaging civilian vessels and port facilities in the Odesa region, while Kyiv has intensified its attacks on Russian military and energy targets.
Early Friday morning, Ukraine’s air force reported six Tu-95 bombers — which are capable of carrying cruise missiles — heading southeast from a base in Russia.
Moscow’s Ministry of Defense meanwhile announced it had intercepted 51 Ukrainian drones overnight, thwarting an attack that had targeted coastal regions, including over Crimea and the Sea of Azov.
Ukraine is bracing for its toughest winter of war yet, with Moscow having destroyed swathes of its generating capacity and continuing to strike energy sites.
In previous winters, millions of Ukrainians endured regular blackouts and lost heating in sub-zero conditions.
Ukrainian forces are losing ground in the east and concerns are mounting in Kyiv over the future of foreign military aid after the victory of Donald Trump in the United States presidential election.
Kyiv has for months been appealing to its Western allies to provide more air-defense systems to fend off Russian attacks on cities and critical infrastructure.
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A criticized Airbnb deal will let users play gladiator in Rome’s Colosseum
ROME — The ancient Roman Colosseum will be the venue of gladiator fights — albeit staged — for the first time in two millennia under a $1.5 million sponsorship deal with Airbnb that aims to promote “a more conscious tourism.”
But some visitors to the monument Thursday, as well as housing activists, were skeptical about the value of the arrangement, citing ongoing controversies in many cities over the role of short-term rental platforms in fueling overtourism and limiting affordable housing for residents and students.
Under the deal announced by Airbnb and the Colosseum on Wednesday, the sponsorship by the short-term rental giant will cover the renewal of an educational program inside the ancient Roman amphitheater covering the history of the structure and gladiators.
Eight of the platform’s users and their plus-ones will be able to participate in faux gladiator fights after the Colosseum’s closing time on May 7-8, taking the same underground route used by gladiators in ancient Rome to reach the arena. People can apply for the experience on November 27 at no cost, and the “gladiators” will be chosen by lottery.
The superintendent of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, told The Associated Press that the deal is in conjunction with the release of Ridley Scott’s new film “Gladiators II,” which opened in Italy on Thursday.
Russo characterized the sponsorship arrangement as one of the many such deals to help finance projects at the park.
The Italian fashion brand Tod’s, for example, has funded a multimillion renovation of the Roman monument, including a cleaning, replacing the locking system of arches with new gates and redoing the subterranean areas.
Alberto Campailla, the coordinator of the Nonna Roma nonprofit organization that focuses on housing and food for the poor, called the campaign with Airbnb “a disgrace,” and a form of “touristification.”
Airbnb and other platforms offering short-term rentals “are literally driving people out of not only the city center, but also the outskirts and suburban neighborhoods,” Campailla said.
Tourists from other European cities grappling with overtourism also took issue with the deal.
“It seems to me that the purpose of the Colosseum today is to be a tourist attraction, but not to create an amusement park within it,” said Jaime Montero, a tourist visiting from Madrid. “In the end, tourism eats the essence of the cities, here in Rome, as in other capitals.”
Visiting from Naples, Salvatore Di Matteo saw the deal as “yet another takeover of the territory” by big companies.
“If they start to touch sacred monuments such as the Colosseum here in Rome, it is obviously something that should make us think and is, in any case, a bit worrying,” he said.
The Colosseum is the most important and largest amphitheater constructed by the ancient Romans. Built in the 1st century, it was the center of popular entertainment, hosting hunts and gladiator games, until the 6th century.
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