Volunteers in Ukraine are putting together holiday gift packages for the country’s estimated 700,000 men and women serving in the military, including the tens of thousands serving on the front line. Correspondent Lesia Bakalets met with some of those volunteers in Kyiv. Camera: Evgenii Shynkar.
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Category: European Union
European Union news. The place name Euros was first used by the ancient Greeks to refer to their northernmost province, which bears the same name today. The principal river there – Euros (today’s Maritsa) – flows through the fertile valleys of Thrace, which itself was also called Europe, before the term meant the continent
EU Agrees New Rules on Hosting Migrants, Seeks to Cut Numbers
Brussels — The European Union reached agreement early on Wednesday on new rules designed to share out the cost and work of hosting migrants more evenly and to limit the numbers of people coming in.
Representatives of the European Parliament and of EU governments reached an accord after all-night talks on EU laws collectively called the New Pact on Migration and Asylum that should take effect next year.
The laws cover screening irregular migrants when they arrive in the European Union, procedures for handling asylum applications, rules on determining which EU country is responsible for handling applications and ways to handle crises.
Migrant arrivals in the European Union are way down from the 2015 peak of more than 1 million, but have steadily crept up from a 2020 low to 255,000 in the year to November, with more than half crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy or Malta.
Previous efforts to share out the responsibility of hosting migrants have foundered because eastern EU members in particular were unwilling to take in people who had arrived in Greece, Italy and other countries.
Under the new system, countries not at the border will have a choice between accepting refugees or paying into an EU fund.
The screening system envisaged will seek to distinguish between those in need of international protection and others who are not.
People whose asylum applications have a low chance of success, such as those from India, Tunisia or Turkey, can be prevented from entering the EU and detained at the border, as can people seen as representing a threat to security.
Refugee rights groups have said it will create what amounts to prison camps at the EU’s borders.
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Turkey Links Sweden’s NATO Bid to US Approving F-16 Jet Sales and Canada Lifting Arms Embargo
ankara, turkey — Ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership by Turkey’s parliament hinges on the U.S. Congress’ approval of Turkey’s request to purchase F-16 fighter jets, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, calling on the two legislatures to act “simultaneously.”
In comments reported on Tuesday, Erdogan also said Canada and other NATO allies must lift arms embargoes imposed on Turkey.
“Positive developments from the United States regarding the F-16 issue and Canada keeping its promises will accelerate our parliament’s positive view on [Sweden’s membership],” Erdogan said. “All of these are linked.”
He made the comments late Monday while returning from a visit to Hungary. Hungary and Turkey are the only two NATO members not to have formally approved Sweden’s bid to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance.
Erdogan’s comments were reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency.
He told reporters that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan raised the issue of a simultaneous approval by Turkey’s parliament and the U.S. Congress during discussions this week with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“If we operate this simultaneously, we will have the opportunity to pass this through the parliament much more easily,” Erdogan quoted Fidan as telling Blinken.
Erdogan submitted a protocol on Sweden’s admission to parliament in October, but the ratification process stalled.
The Turkish leader has since linked the matter to Congress approving Turkey’s request to purchase 40 F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernize its existing fleet.
Turkey has delayed ratification of Sweden’s membership for more than a year. Ankara accuses the country of not taking Turkey’s security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara considers to be security threats.
The delays have frustrated other NATO allies, who were swift to accept Sweden and Finland into the alliance after the neighboring countries dropped their long-standing military neutrality following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Hungary has said the country would not be the last to approve accession, though the ruling Fidesz Party, which holds a constitutional majority in Hungary’s parliament, has refused to hold a vote on the matter.
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N. Korea’s ‘Reckless’ Missile Launches Need ‘Robust’ Global Response: G7
Berlin — World powers said Tuesday that the international community needed a firm and unified response to North Korea’s “reckless” nuclear build-up and missile launches.
G7 foreign ministers said in a statement after the launch of Pyongyang’s most powerful ballistic missile that “North Korea’s repeated reckless actions must be met with a swift, united and robust international response, particularly by the United Nations Security Council”.
North Korea on Monday test-fired its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile with the potential to reach the United States.
North Korea said that its leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch and warned Washington, which has solidified ties with South Korea, against making any “wrong decision”.
The Security Council has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programs since it first conducted a nuclear test in 2006.
But China, North Korea’s closest partner, and Russia — which both wield veto power at the Security Council — have opposed a further tightening of sanctions.
In the latest move to bolster three-way cooperation, Japan, South Korea and the United States on Tuesday activated a system to share real-time data on North Korean launches, which was agreed at a summit among the three countries’ leaders in August.
The United States also said that one of its envoys handling North Korea spoke by telephone Tuesday with counterparts from Japan and South Korea and agreed that the launch “undermined peace and stability in the region and the world”.
In a statement, the US State Department said that the allies sought “full implementation” of Security Council resolutions and also urged a “return to diplomatic engagement” by North Korea, which has shown little interest in talks with US President Joe Biden’s administration.
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Finland Signs Defense Deal with US, Temporarily Shuts Border with Russia
Finland entered into a defense cooperation agreement with the United States on Monday, allowing the U.S. military access to Finnish national security facilities. In the past month, Finland closed its border with Russia, accusing the Kremlin of sending migrants in an act of “hybrid warfare.” Eastern Europe chief Myroslava Gongadze visited the Finnish-Russian border and has this story. (Camera and Produced by: Daniil Batushchak)
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West Accuses Iran of Illegally Testing Missiles, Sending Russia Drones
UNITED NATIONS — The Western powers in the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran accused Tehran on Monday of developing and testing ballistic missiles, transferring hundreds of drones to Russia, and enriching uranium to an unprecedented 60% level for a country without a nuclear weapons program — all in violation of a U.N. resolution endorsing the deal.
Iran and its ally, Russia, dismissed the charges by Britain, France and Germany, strongly supported by the United States, which pulled out of the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018.
The six-party agreement was aimed at ensuring that Iran could not develop atomic weapons. Under the accord, Tehran agreed to limit enrichment of uranium to levels necessary for the peaceful use of nuclear power in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
The sharp exchanges came at the Security Council’s semi-annual meeting on the implementation of its resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal.
Both Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Iravani and Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia blamed the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA, Western sanctions and an “anti-Iran” stance for the current standoff.
Iravani said Iran is allowed to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and Nebenzia rejected alleged evidence that it was using Iranian drones in Ukraine.
Then-President Donald Trump said when unilaterally pulling out of the accord in 2018 that he would negotiate a stronger deal, but that didn’t happen. Iran began breaking the terms a year later and its 60% enrichment is near weapons-grade levels, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
Formal talks to try to find a roadmap to restart the JCPOA collapsed in August 2022.
At Monday’s council meeting, U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo stressed that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres still considers the JCPOA “the best available option to ensure that the Iranian nuclear program remains exclusively peaceful.”
She urged Iran to reverse course, as did the three European countries who issued a joint statement quoting the IAEA as saying Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium now stand at 22 times the JCPOA limit.
“There is no credible civilian justification for the state of Iran’s nuclear program,” the UK, France and Germany said. “The current trajectory only brings Iran closer to weapons-related capabilities.”
The Europeans and U.S. Minister Counselor John Kelley stressed that they would use all means to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
As for the future, Kelley told the council: “Iran should take actions to build international confidence and de-escalate tensions and not continue nuclear provocations that pose grave proliferation risks.”
“The United States is fully committed to resolving the international community’s concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program through diplomacy,” he said. “Unfortunately, Iran’s actions suggest this goal is not its priority.”
Iran’s Iravani said Tehran “has persistently worked toward the JCPOA revival” and “stands prepared to resume the full implementation of its commitment on the JCPOA once it is revived.” That requires the U.S. and all other parties to fully implement their obligations as well as “genuine political attentiveness,” he said.
And Nebenzia said: “The Russian Federation is firmly convinced that there is no alternative to the JCPOA.”
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Berlin Zoo Sends First Giant Pandas Born in Germany to China
BERLIN — The Berlin Zoo has sent the first giant pandas born in Germany to China, dispatching the 4-year-olds on a journey that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pit and Paule, who also are known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang und Meng Yuan, departed from Berlin on Saturday aboard an Air China cargo jet and have now arrived at their new home, the Chengdu Panda Base, the zoo said Monday.
“Pit and Paule coped well with the flight,” said Andreas Pauly, the zoo’s head of animal health, who accompanied the panda brothers to China. “When the bamboo is right, pandas are usually very relaxed. It was the same on the flight.”
The pair will now spend 30 days in quarantine at the panda base.
The young pandas were a star attraction in Berlin since their birth in 2019, but their return to China was contractually agreed from the start.
While China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot for decades as part of a policy of “panda diplomacy,” the country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms.
Pit and Paule’s parents, Jiao Qing and Meng Meng, arrived in Berlin in 2017. They are expected to remain in the German capital for another nine years.
When the young pandas turned 4 in August, the zoo said the animals would soon travel to China — a trip that it said generally happens when the animals are 2 or 3 but was delayed by the pandemic.
Giant pandas have difficulty breeding, and births are particularly welcomed.
There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.
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France Urges Lebanese Leaders to Work on Bringing Calm Along Border With Israel
BEIRUT — France’s foreign minister urged Lebanese leaders on Monday to work on reducing tensions along the border with Israel, warning that the Israel-Hamas war could still spread to other parts of the region.
Catherine Colonna’s visit to Lebanon came a day after she visited Israel, where she called for an “immediate truce” aimed at releasing more hostages, getting larger amounts of aid into Gaza and moving toward “the beginning of a political solution.”
While she was in Beirut, Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group exchanged fire with Israeli troops along the tense frontier, which has seen violent exchanges since October 8 — a day after the Palestinian militant Hamas group attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
In Beirut, Colonna held talks with Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri about the situation on Lebanon’s southern border. Officials from France, once Lebanon’s colonial ruler, have visited Lebanon over the past two months, urging for calm. For the past few years, Lebanon has been in the grips of the worst economic crisis in its modern history, which has significantly destabilized the country.
Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite militant group, are bitter enemies that last fought a war in summer 2006. Israel estimates that Hezbollah has around 150,000 rockets and missiles on Lebanese soil aimed at Israel.
During the meeting with Colonna, Mikati called on Israel to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war, saying Israel should abide by it, according to a statement released by his office. He was apparently referring to almost daily violations of Lebanese airspace by Israel’s air force.
The resolution also states the border area in southern Lebanon must be “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons” other than Lebanese government forces and U.N. peacekeepers. Under the resolution, Hezbollah should not have a military presence in the border region.
A day after the Hamas-Israel war started, Hezbollah fighters have been attacking Israeli posts along the Lebanon-Israel border. Israeli tanks, artillery and air force have been also striking areas on the Lebanese side of the border.
“The dangers of the conflict spreading are still high,” Colonna said, adding that she came to Lebanon to urge all parties to avoid expanding the conflict.
“I am very worried. … Escalation must stop,” she said.
On Friday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a visit to Israel that a “negotiated outcome” is the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel, where tens of thousands of its civilians have been evacuated from Israeli towns and villages along the border with Lebanon. Some have said they have no plans to return home as long as Hezbollah fighters are across the border in Lebanon.
Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s state news agency said an Israeli drone fired a missile at a building close to where the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter was being held in a southern border village, without inflicting any casualties. On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed three Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon; more than 100 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since October 8.
In Monday’s strike, the missile hit the roof of a building about 40 meters from a square where the funeral of Hezbollah fighter Hassan Maan Surour was underway in the border village of Aita al-Shaab, the state-run National News Agency said.
Hezbollah claimed it targeted one of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense systems batteries in northern Israel, while the Israeli military said its fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah targets on Monday, including infrastructure, a launch post and a military site.
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Pope Approves Blessings for Same-Sex Couples if the Rituals Don’t Resemble Marriage
Rome — Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it.
The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn’t confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage.
The new document repeats that rationale and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union, using set rituals or even with the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.
But it says requests for such blessings should not be denied full stop. It offers an extensive definition of the term “blessing” in Scripture to insist that people seeking a transcendent relationship with God and looking for his love and mercy should not be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” as a precondition for receiving it.
“Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God,” the document said. “The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures openness to the transcendence, mercy, and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live.”
He added: “It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered.”
The Vatican holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between man and woman. As a result, it has long opposed same-sex marriage.
And in 2021, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the church couldn’t bless the unions of two men or two women because “God cannot bless sin.”
That document created an outcry, one it appeared even Francis was blindsided by even though he had technically approved its publication. Soon after it was published, he removed the official responsible for it and set about laying the groundwork for a reversal.
In the new document, the Vatican said the church must shy away from “doctrinal or disciplinary schemes, especially when they lead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying.”
It stressed that people in “irregular” unions — gay or straight — are in a state of sin. But it said that shouldn’t deprive them of God’s love or mercy.
“Thus, when people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it,” the document said.
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Internally Displaced Ukrainian Women Find Housing, Stay Hopeful
A mother of three, a boarding school teacher, and a successful supply manager — three Ukrainian women who became internally displaced after Russia invaded Ukraine. Anna Kosstutschenko met with the women, who have found a temporary home in Odesa. Camera and video editing by Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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Britain Calls for Jimmy Lai’s Release as Hong Kong Trial Begins
London — Britain called for Hong Kong to release Jimmy Lai ahead of the trial of the leading China critic and media tycoon on charges he colluded with foreign forces, including the United States.
David Cameron, who became foreign minister in November, toughened Britain’s stance on Sunday by explicitly calling for the release of British national Lai, who faces possible life imprisonment.
Lai’s long-awaited national security trial opens in Hong Kong on Monday, with foreign envoys and others saying it is a key test for the city’s judicial independence and freedoms under the sweeping national security law imposed by China in 2020.
Lai, 76, the founder of now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and one of the most prominent Hong Kong critics of China’s Communist Party leadership, has pleaded not guilty to all charges he faces in the new trial.
His son Sebastien Lai, who has met with Cameron to discuss the case, previously criticised Britain for being “incredibly weak” in standing up for his father.
“As a prominent and outspoken journalist and publisher, Jimmy Lai has been targeted in a clear attempt to stop the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and association,” Cameron said in a statement.
“I call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their prosecution and release Jimmy Lai.”
Cameron said Hong Kong’s National Security Law was a “clear breach” of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which returned Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule more than 25 years ago under a deal guaranteeing a high degree of autonomy, including freedom of speech, under a “one country, two systems” formula.
“(The national security law) has damaged Hong Kong, with rights and freedoms significantly eroded,” Cameron said.
“I urge the Chinese authorities to repeal the National Security Law and end the prosecution of all individuals charged under it,” he added.
China has in the past responded to similar criticism by accusing Britain of acting with a colonial mindset.
your ad herePutin Vows to Make Russia ‘Self-Sufficient’ in Fifth Term
Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Sunday to make Russia “sovereign and self-sufficient” in the face of the West, in his first campaign speech before a March vote to extend his long rule until at least 2030.
Putin will stand for a fifth Kremlin term in an election with no real opposition that will come just over two years since he launched the seismic Ukraine offensive.
The 71-year-old came to power in 2000, with a whole generation in Russia unable to remember life without him.
The vote will likely prolong his rule until at least 2030 and give him the possibility to stay in the Kremlin until 2036.
“We must remember and never forget and tell our children: Russia will be either a sovereign, self-sufficient state, or it will not be there at all,” Putin said during a congress of the ruling United Russia party.
Putin has said that he will make “sovereignty” — a loosely defined term — one of the key aims of his fifth term in the Kremlin.
“We will only make decisions ourselves without foreign advice from abroad,” Putin told United Russia members.
“Russia cannot — like some countries — give away its sovereignty for some sausage and become someone’s satellite,” he said, using a common Russian expression.
The United Russia party backed Putin’s candidacy unanimously, with party leaders and public figures making adoring speeches lending him support.
The party is headed by Dmitry Medvedev, who switched roles with Putin in 2008 to serve as president, before Putin returned to the Kremlin.
Medvedev has become one of the most hawkish figures in Russia during the Ukraine campaign.
The 2024 election will come as Moscow’s Ukraine campaign drags on for another winter, costing a high number of deaths on both sides, with criticism of the military operation banned in Russia.
Russia has said it is withstanding Western economic pressure.
Putin accused Western countries of wanting to “sow internal troubles” in Russia.
“But such tactics did not work,” he said.
The longtime Kremlin leader said, “we still have a lot to do for the interests of Russia” and that the country faced “historic tasks.”
United Russia leaders and pro-Kremlin figures made speeches in support of Putin.
“There is not a single doubt that Putin should be leader in the hardest circumstances for our country,” Medvedev said, calling Western countries “dangerous and cynical enemies.”
A special forces commander of Ramzan Kadyrov’s brutal regime in Chechnya — Apti Alaudinov — said: “God gave us a leader.”
“We Russians, do not see ourselves without him,” he said.
The vote will take place amid a huge crackdown on dissent in Russia.
Putin’s main political opponent, Alexey Navalny, is serving a 19-year prison sentence.
His allies sounded the alarm last week, saying they have not had any contact with him for ten days, believing he was moved to another prison.
His team says this was done to coincide with Putin’s campaign.
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Ukraine Inches Closer to EU Membership
Ukraine moves closer to joining the European Union as leaders agree to start membership talks. But money to sustain its war effort against invading Russia hit a familiar roadblock with an ally of Russia’s president in the EU. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi the story.
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Researchers Cite Western Progress in Curbing Electronics Transfers to Russian-Iranian Drone Facility
Washington — U.S. and Ukrainian researchers say Western nations are making progress in trying to curb illicit transfers of Western electronic components to a Russian facility suspected of making Iranian-designed attack drones, but that more needs to be done.
The White House released a U.S. intelligence finding June 8 asserting Russia was receiving Iranian materials needed to build an attack drone manufacturing plant in its Alabuga special economic zone.
Russia has said it relies on its own resources in using drones to attack Ukraine; Iran has acknowledged supplying drones to Russia but only before Moscow’s February 2022 Ukraine invasion. Neither Russia’s Washington embassy nor Iran’s U.N. mission in New York responded to questions about the Alabuga plant emailed by VOA Thursday.
The researchers pointed to the U.S. Commerce Department’s December 6 placement of 11 Russian companies on its list of entities requiring a license for items subject to export controls. Commerce officials cited the companies’ association with the suspected Alabuga drone facility. Commerce expanded the items subject to U.S. export controls in February to include semiconductors and other drone components used by Russian and Iranian entities on the Entity List.
David Albright, president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, one of the researchers interviewed by VOA in recent weeks, said he “commends” Commerce for sanctioning the 11 Russian companies and considers the move a sign of progress.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, a Ukrainian sanctions researcher serving as an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, also welcomed the U.S. move.
“We are happy that the U.S. government is taking actions aimed at thwarting certain Russian facilities, including Alabuga, and thus making an impact on Russia’s military industry,” Vlasiuk told VOA in a Thursday phone call.
Vlasiuk and Albright said the Biden administration should go further, though.
The administration has not sanctioned JSC Alabuga, the plant’s owner, although several of its apparent subsidiaries were added to the Commerce list December 6.
Albright said the U.S. Treasury and State departments should sanction JSC Alabuga and associated companies to discourage foreign businesses from dealing with them, calling such designations “long overdue.”
Vlasiuk said Ukraine also would like to see the United States sanction JSC Alabuga and other companies that Kyiv has identified as engaged in Russia’s drone industry.
Asked by VOA for the U.S. position on sanctioning JSC Alabuga, Commerce said November 28 it “does not comment on potential deliberations related to Entity List actions.”
The statement added that “continuing to respond to Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine remains a high priority for the department” and listed several U.S. actions taken to crack down on illicit networks for sending chips and other items to Russia.
The State Department referred VOA questions about Alabuga to Commerce, while the Treasury Department did not respond to a November 25 VOA email about Alabuga.
Albright also pointed to the interest of several European governments in using his institute’s research on the Alabuga plant to try to disrupt its access to electronic components made by companies headquartered in their territories. His research is based on documents apparently leaked from Alabuga to The Washington Post, which first reported their existence in August.
Albright’s institute has reported that the documents appear authentic and describe Alabuga supply-chain procurement, production capabilities, and plans for manufacturing Russian-branded copies of Iran’s Shahed 136 attack drone.
While more than half of the electronics on the assembly list for Alabuga’s Shahed 136 drones are made by U.S. companies, according to Albright’s review of the documents, some of the rest come from four Europe-based companies, his institute has said. Those include Switzerland-based TE Connectivity and u-blox, Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors, and STMicroelectronics, which is headquartered in Switzerland and has manufacturing plants in the Netherlands.
“Switzerland and the Netherlands certainly are interested in the information we have to offer,” Albright said.
Vlasiuk also credited the two European nations for working with Ukraine on the issue.
“We are in constant communication with the Dutch government on sanctions and they have been very helpful and proactive,” Vlasuk said. “As for the Swiss, it has been a little harder, but we also are in contact and they mostly are adopting the sanctions of the EU, which is good.”
In response to VOA questions about Alabuga and Albright’s research, the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry said it is a “priority” to prevent the circumvention of sanctions designed to make it as difficult as possible for Russia to continue waging war on Ukraine.
“To that end, we undertake many actions with international partners, both visible and invisible. The ministry cannot comment on contacts with individual companies or organizations,” it said.
The Swiss government provided no comment after VOA emailed its Washington embassy last month to request one.
Albright and Vlasiuk said Western electronics makers also must do more to stop their parts from ending up in Alabuga’s drones.
“In the electronics industry, companies send off millions of components to distributors who could care less about the end user,” Albright said. “So electronics manufacturers need to rapidly work with distributors on policies promoting due diligence. Manufacturers need to say we are just not going to make sales of these critical items unless we really know who the end user is.”
Vlasiuk said Ukraine is unhappy with finding Western parts in attack drones launched by Russia and with how the manufacturers explain the phenomenon. “They say, ‘we are not supplying anything officially to Russia,’ Of course they do not. So I think that they could have tightened their compliance and know-your-customer procedures,” Vlasiuk said.
In a Saturday statement sent to VOA, a spokesperson for Swiss company u-blox said the use of its products in embargoed countries’ weapons systems is a “clear breach” of conditions of sale for its customers and distributors. “We investigate any infringement of this policy very thoroughly and will take legal action in case of infringement,” the spokesperson said.
Asked about Alabuga, u-blox said it is in regular contact with government officials and several NGO representatives.
Regarding how u-blox parts were found in drones used by Russia, the spokesperson said there are several likely explanations, including that the components were purchased before sanctions were in place, that they were part of excess inventory sold by customers to brokers in countries not sanctioning Russia and then shipped into Russia, that they were smuggled into Russia, or that they were removed from products such e-scooters, e-bikes, cars and construction machines and put into Russian drones.
Dutch company NXP Semiconductors also sent VOA a statement on Friday, saying it is “committed” to complying with the law and “working diligently to ensure its products are not improperly diverted to embargoed countries including Russia, Iran and Belarus for use in weapons and other systems for which they were not designed or intended.”
“Our team is in ongoing contact with regulators around the world on this issue, working within an industry-wide effort to prevent illegal chip diversion,” the company added, referring to an initiative of the Semiconductor Industry Association, of which it is a member.
TE Connectivity and STMicroelectronics did not respond to VOA requests for comment emailed on Friday.
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In Pivotal Moment, Notre Dame Cathedral Spire Gets Golden Rooster Weathervane
Paris — Notre Dame Cathedral got its rooster back Saturday, in a pivotal moment for the Paris landmark’s restoration.
The installation by a crane of a new golden rooster, reimagined as a dramatic phoenix with licking, flamed feathers, goes beyond being just a weathervane atop the cathedral spire. It symbolizes resilience amid destruction after the devastating April 2019 fire — as restoration officials also revealed an anti-fire misting system is being kitted out under the cathedral’s roof.
Chief architect Philippe Villeneuve, who designed this new rooster, stated that the original rooster’s survival signified a ray of light in the catastrophe.
“That there was hope, that not everything was lost. The beauty of the [old] battered rooster … expressed the cry of the cathedral suffering in flames,” Villeneuve said. He described the new work of art, approximately half a meter long and gleaming in the December sun behind Notre Dame Cathedral, as his “phoenix.”
Villeneuve elaborated on the new rooster’s significance, saying: “Since [the fire] we have worked on this rooster [the] successor, which sees the flame carried to the top of the cathedral as it was before, more than 96 meters from the ground. … It is a fire of resurrection.”
In lighthearted comments, the architect said that the process of design was so intense he might have to speak to his “therapist” about it.
Before ascending to its perch, the rooster — a French emblem of vigilance and Christ’s resurrection — was blessed by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich in a square behind the monument. The rooster — or “coq” in French — is an emotive national emblem for the French because of the word’s semantics — the Latin gallus meaning Gaul and gallus simultaneously meaning rooster.
Ulrich placed sacred relics in a hole inside the rooster’s breast, including fragments of Christ’s Crown of Thorns and remains of St. Denis and St. Genevieve, infusing the sculpture with religious importance.
The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dame’s most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly removed after the fire broke out. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christ’s head during the crucifixion. A sealed tube was also placed in the sculpture containing a list the names of nearly 2,000 individuals who contributed to the cathedral’s reconstruction, underscoring the collective effort behind the works.
Amid the rooster benediction ceremony, Notre Dame’s new restoration chief, Philippe Jost, also detailed pioneering measures taken to safeguard the iconic cathedral against future fires — in rare comments to the press.
“We have deployed a range of fire protection devices, some of which are very innovative in a cathedral, including a misting system in the attics, where the oak frame and in the spire are located,” Jost said. “And this is a first for a cathedral in France.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, who last week visited the site to mark a one-year countdown to its re-opening, announced that the original rooster will be displayed in a new museum at the Hôtel-Dieu. This move, along with plans to invite Pope Francis for the cathedral’s reopening next year, highlights Notre Dame’s significance in French history and culture.
The rooster’s installation, crowning a spire reconstructed from Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s 19th-century design, is a poignant reminder of its medieval origins as a symbol of hope and faith.
Its longstanding association with the French nation since the Renaissance further adds to its historical and cultural significance, marking a new chapter of renewal and hope for Notre Dame and the French people.
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Portugal’s Socialists Pick Young New Leader for March Election
LISBON, Portugal — Portugal’s Socialist Party (PS) on Saturday elected Pedro Nuno Santos to lead them in a March 10 snap parliamentary election, following Antonio Costa’s resignation as prime minister and party leader last month amid a corruption investigation.
The 46-year-old former infrastructure minister beat acting Interior Minister Jose Luis Carneiro, who was seen as a more moderate candidate, with 62% of the vote to become the PS secretary-general.Nuno Santos, who has described himself as “a cobbler’s grandson, son of a businessman,” is from the left wing of the center-left party and is known for successfully coordinating support in parliament for a previous government with the far-left in 2015-19.
Costa, in power since 2015, resigned on November 7 over an investigation into alleged illegalities in his government’s handling of green energy projects. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has called a snap election for March 10.
Nuno Santos had himself resigned in late 2022 in a scandal around a large severance payout by state-owned airline TAP, which he oversaw as infrastructure minister. Although the scandal dented his popularity, analysts have long seen him as Costa’s successor.
Nuno Santos eulogized Costa in his victory speech, praising the strong economic growth of the past few years, financial stability and a significant reduction of public debt.
“We want to build Portugal where nobody is excluded or forgotten,” he said as he advocated a strong welfare state, adding though: “We do not want the state to replace companies, we want companies as partners.”
His main rival in the upcoming general election is Luis Montenegro, 50, of the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), who has promised tax cuts in a bid to secure a majority and said he expected the implosion of the majority Socialist administration to play into his hands.
Most opinion polls put the PS neck and neck with the PSD, and many analysts fear a post-election quagmire and a potential strengthening of the role of the populist, anti-establishment party Chega.
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Moldovan President Hails Adoption of Defense Strategy, Cites Russia as Threat
chisinau, moldova — Moldovan President Maia Sandu hailed the adoption by parliament Saturday of a new defense strategy — calling for anchoring Moldova alongside its Western allies — and identifying Russia as a threat to the former Soviet state.
Sandu posted on Facebook two days after the European Union agreed to open talks on extending its membership with both Moldova and neighboring Ukraine — more than 21 months into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sandu has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accused Moscow of plotting a coup to oust her. She said the new security strategy outlined the “main threats” facing Moldova and how to “effectively counter” them. “There are two principal threats to our national security — the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation against our country as a whole and deep-rooted corruption in Moldova,” she wrote.
Members of Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity hold a majority in Moldova’s parliament, which on Friday adopted the strategy focusing on closer ties with the EU, Romania, the United States and NATO.
But Moldova is to retain the “neutral” status set down in its constitution and, unlike Ukraine, is not seeking NATO membership.
The document said the new strategy was “vital in the current geopolitical context to limit the risks facing Moldova.”
“It is clear that the Russian Federation in the near future will not abandon its hostile actions against Moldova,” the document read. “We must therefore learn to live in conditions of a protracted, high-intensity hybrid war.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the document as “Russophobic,” saying Moscow had always respected Moldova’s interests.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov derided the EU’s decision to launch membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, saying neither country met the bloc’s criteria for membership.
The Moldovan Foreign Ministry’s press secretary, Igor Zaharov, said Peskov’s comments were a clear indication that Moldova was drawing clear of Moscow’s sphere of influence.
“We are decisively moving along the European path,” Zaharov told Radio Moldova. “This naturally makes the Russian political class unhappy or even indignant, but we have chosen this path and ask outside forces to stay out of our internal decisions.”
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Cardinal Sentenced to 5½ Years in Vatican Fraud Trial
VATICAN CITY — A Vatican court Saturday sentenced a once powerful Italian cardinal to five years and six months in jail for financial crimes at the end of a historic trial.
Angelo Becciu, 75, a former adviser to Pope Francis who was once considered a papal contender himself, was the most senior clergyman in the Catholic Church to face a Vatican criminal court.
He and nine other defendants, including financiers, lawyers and ex-Vatican employees, were on trial for accusations of financial crimes focused on an opaque London property deal.
Court President Giuseppe Pignatone read out the verdict Saturday, with Becciu accused of embezzlement, abuse of office and witness tampering.
His lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said they respected the sentence but would “certainly” appeal. He was also handed a fine of 8,000 euros ($8,727).
At the heart of the trial is the 350 million euro ($380 million) purchase of a luxury property in London, as part of an investment that began in 2014 and ended up costing the Vatican tens of millions of euros.
A test of Francis’ reforms
The trial, which began in July 2021, has shone a light on the Holy See’s murky finances, which Francis has sought to clean up since taking the helm of the Catholic Church in March 2013.
It is also a test of his reforms.
Just weeks before the trial, Francis gave the Vatican’s civilian courts the power to try cardinals and bishops, where previously they were judged by a court presided over by cardinals.
Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi had requested seven years and three months in jail for Becciu and between almost four and 13 years for the others.
Becciu had always strongly protested his innocence, denouncing the accusations against him as “totally unfounded” and insisting he never took a cent.
For its part, the Holy See viewed itself as “an offended party” and has asked through Secretary of State Pietro Parolin for the court to “punish all crimes.”
Four Vatican entities are civil parties. They had requested compensation from the defendants, including 177 million euros ($193 Million) for moral and reputational damage.
Since the trial opened, there have been more than 80 hearings in the dedicated room within the Vatican Museums, where a portrait of a smiling Pope Francis hangs on the wall.
The process had been mired by procedural wrangling, with defense lawyers complaining about a lack of access to key evidence.
Once high ranking
Becciu, a globe-trotting former Vatican diplomat, has been a near constant presence in the courtroom.
He was number two in the Secretariat of State, the Vatican department that works most closely with the pope, from 2011 to 2018.
He was moved to lead the department that deals with the creation of saints, before abruptly resigning in September 2020, after being informed of an investigation against him.
Initially, he told the trial, this was about a probe into 125,000 euros of Vatican money he donated to a charity in his native Sardinia, which prosecutors claim benefited his brother, who ran the organization.
But he was later drawn into investigations into the purchase and sale of the property on London’s Sloane Avenue — resulting in losses that, according to the Vatican, dipped into resources intended for charitable causes.
When the trial opened, prosecutors painted a picture of risky investments with little or no oversight and double-dealing by outside consultants and insiders.
Among the defendants are two brokers involved in the London deal, Gianluigi Torzi and Raffaele Mincione, as well as Enrico Crasso, a former Vatican investment manager, and former Vatican employee Fabrizio Tirabassi.
Becciu is also accused over payments made to a Sardinian woman, Cecilia Marogna — who is also on trial — which he claims were to help negotiate the release of a Colombian nun kidnapped in Mali.
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