GABORONE, BOTSWANA — Botswana has been added as a second center, in addition to Belgium, to verify the origin of rough diamonds meant for export to the Group of Seven leading industrialized countries, the nation’s presidency announced Thursday.

African producers had complained that making Belgium the sole verification center led to disruptions in the global diamond supply chain, as the G7 moved to stop the flow of gems mined in Russia.

A statement by the office of the president said Botswana was granted permission to set up a verification center following “intensive” discussions with the G7 Diamond Technical Team.

The announcement comes as President Duma Boko and Minister of Minerals Bogolo Kenewendo returned Thursday from a diamond conference in Brussels.

Kenewendo told state television it is logical to grant Botswana, the world’s second-largest producer of diamonds, the right to certify rough stones.

She said that Botswana has a track record in verification and certification, together with other countries under the Kimberley Process.

The Kimberley Process is a trade regime that certifies rough diamond exports entering the global market, but it has been criticized for failing to do enough to keep out diamonds from conflict zones.

Diamond-producing countries such as Angola and Namibia should be recognized verifiers because they have prepared through the Kimberley Process, Kenewendo said.

To sanction Russian diamonds, the G7, at the start of the year, proposed that all stones destined for export to their member countries be routed through Antwerp, Belgium, to verify their origin.

African producers, led by Botswana, protested, saying the move caused disruptions to the global supply chain due to delays and added costs.

Belgian-based diamond industry researcher Hans Merket said the addition of Botswana as a verification center will allow more flexibility.

“Botswana appears to be something of a test case with the G7 Diamond Technical Team already explicitly referencing Namibia and Angola as potential future certification nodes,” Merket said.

“By diversifying the certification points, this approach could establish a more balanced and inclusive framework for the G7 certification scheme aligning more closely with the global dynamics of the global supply chain,” he said.

“Moreover, it can also help pave the way for stricter controls and higher ethical standards in the diamond sector, particularly as the Kimberley Process certification scheme faces increasing criticism for its declining credibility and leniency,” Merket said.

Jaff Bamenjo, coordinator of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, said more African diamond producers should be added as verification centers because the addition of only Botswana will not resolve supply chain disruptions.

“African diamond producing countries are suffering from a problem they did not create,” Bamenjo said.

Botswana’s export certification center is expected to be operational early next year.
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TBILISI, GEORGIA — Georgia’s ruling party said on Thursday that the country would suspend talks on European Union accession until 2028, while also refusing budgetary grants from Brussels, effectively halting its application to join the bloc, a long-standing national goal.

In response, thousands of pro-EU protesters blocked streets in the capital, while the country’s figurehead president accused the government of declaring war on its own people with the move.

The Georgian Dream governing bloc accused the EU of “a cascade of insults,” saying in a statement it was using the prospect of accession talks to blackmail the country and to “organize a revolution in the country.”

As a result, it said, “We have decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028. Also, we refuse any budgetary grant from the European Union until the end of 2028.”

The South Caucasus country of 3.7 million has the aim of EU accession written into its constitution and has traditionally been among the most pro-Western of the Soviet Union’s successor states.

Georgia’s relations with Brussels have deteriorated sharply in recent months amid EU allegations of authoritarianism and pro-Russian tendencies. The EU had already said that Georgia’s application is frozen.

Georgian Dream says that it is not pro-Russian and that it is committed to democracy and integration with the West.

It says it wants to join the EU eventually but has repeatedly engaged in diplomatic feuds with Brussels in recent years while deepening ties with neighboring Russia.

There was no immediate formal comment from the EU on Georgian Dream’s statement. But an EU official said the impact of Thursday’s move was huge, adding that the government was doing what the EU had feared and had hoped it would not.

Opinion polls show that around 80% of Georgians support EU membership, and the bloc’s flag flies alongside the national flag outside virtually all government buildings in the country.

Georgia’s pro-Western opposition reacted to Georgian Dream’s announcement with fury, while several thousand protesters massed outside parliament and the ruling party’s headquarters, blocking roads. Local media reported that protests erupted in several provincial cities.

Giorgi Vashadze, a prominent opposition leader, wrote on Facebook: “the self-proclaimed, illegitimate government has already legally signed the betrayal of Georgia and the Georgian people.”

President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of Georgian Dream whose powers are mostly ceremonial, said the ruling party had “declared not peace, but war against its own people, its past and future.”

Zourabichvili’s term ends in December, and Georgian Dream has nominated a former lawmaker with hard-line anti-Western views to replace her.

The opposition says that an October election, in which official results gave the Georgian Dream bloc almost 54% of the vote, was fraudulent and have refused to take their seats. Western countries have called for a probe into alleged violations.

Georgian Dream and the country’s election commission say the election was free and fair.

Earlier on Thursday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists that EU membership might harm Georgia’s economy, as it would require Tbilisi to cancel visa-free agreements and trade deals with other countries.

The EU gave Georgia candidate status in December 2023 but has said that a raft of laws passed by Georgian Dream since, including curbs on “foreign agents” and LGBTQ rights, are authoritarian, Russian-inspired and obstacles to EU membership.

Foreign and domestic critics of Georgian Dream say the party, which is seen as dominated by its billionaire founder, ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is steering Georgia back toward Moscow, from which it gained independence in 1991.

Russia and Georgia have had no formal diplomatic relations since a five-day war in 2008 but have had a limited rapprochement recently, with Moscow lifting a ban on flights to Georgia and scrapping a stringent visa regime for Georgians working in Russia.

Opinion polls show most Georgians dislike Russia, which continues to back two breakaway Georgian regions and defeated Tbilisi in the 2008 war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking on Thursday on a visit to Kazakhstan, praised the “courage and character” he said Georgian authorities had shown in passing the law on foreign agents, which domestic critics have likened to Russian legislation.
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Russian drones and missiles pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure Thursday, cutting off power to more than 1 million people across the country, Ukrainian authorities said.

“As of now, 523,000 subscribers in the Lviv region are without electricity,” regional head Maksym Kozytsky said on social media. The region, in the western part of the country, borders Poland.

Directly north of the Lviv region, 215,000 customers lost power in the region of Volyn, and in the neighboring Rivne region, governor Oleksandr Koval said 280,000 consumers were without power.

“Energy infrastructure is once again targeted by the enemy’s massive strike,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook.

Ukrenergo, the national electrical grid operator, introduced emergency power cuts amid the attack, Galushchenko said.

Officials told Reuters that several nuclear power units were disconnected from the network during the attacks.

Private power company DTEK said the power cuts impacted Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.

Some regional officials said water service also was affected by the airstrikes.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said in a Telegram post that Russia had stockpiled missiles to strike Ukrainian infrastructure and wage war against civilians during the cold season, The Associated Press reported.

Information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters was used in the report. 
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CHISINAU, MOLDOVA — The termination of Russian gas supplies to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdniestria after January 1, 2025, is a “very realistic” scenario, Energy Minister Victor Parlicov said on Wednesday after talks with Russia’s Gazprom. 

Parliсov spoke with the head of Gazprom on Monday to discuss alternate routes to supply Transdniestria if transit through Ukraine stops. 

The current gas-transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia ends on December 31 and Ukraine has said it will not extend it. The unrecognized, Russian-backed Transdniestria region depends heavily on Russian natural gas supplied via Ukraine. 

Parliсov told a press conference in Chisinau that Gazprom was ready to supply gas to Transdniestria via the current route, but that it was up to Moldova and Ukraine to agree on transit. 

“From discussions with my Ukrainian colleagues, I understand that if there is a decision to continue transit, it may be taken at the last moment,” Parlicov said. 

Moldova receives about 2 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia through Ukraine and since 2022, Transdniestria and Chisinau have agreed that all Russian gas received by Moldova will go to the breakaway region. 

Transdniestria has a large power plant fueled by Russian gas and Chisinau, in turn, buys electricity from the region at a relatively low fixed price. 

Parlicov, speaking later on Moldovan TV8 television, said he felt during his talks in St. Petersburg that Russia was less forthright in its commitment to supporting Transdniestria, which it has backed since the collapse of Soviet rule in the 1990s. 

“This is already not a taboo subject like it was before,” he said. 

As an example, he said, Transdniestria’s steel mill, a key exporter, had been left virtually unable to operate after a Russian attack on a power substation in southern Ukraine. 

He acknowledged that if gas supplies were cut to Transdniestria, the region would need financial help to survive and avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. 

Possible alternative 

Moldova has said that if Ukraine ends the transit of Russian gas, an alternative for Transdniestria could be gas supplied by the TurkStream pipeline to Turkey and then through Bulgaria and Romania. 

However, Parlicov told the briefing that Gazprom in the talks had linked continued deliveries via alternate routes to its demands that Moldova pay a debt on past supplies, which according to Russian calculations stands at $709 million. 

Moldova has said its debt is $8.6 million. 

“We believe that it’s incorrect to link the debt problems with supplies (to Transdniestria),” Parliсov said. 

He said that supplies via both Ukraine and alternative routes could stop on January 1 and then Chisinau would need international support to pay for gas from other sources. 

Gazprom has not commented on the meeting with Moldova’s minister. 
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BERLIN — Russia’s acts of sabotage against Western targets may eventually prompt NATO to consider invoking the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service said on Wednesday.

Speaking at an event of the DGAP think tank in Berlin on Wednesday, Bundesnachrichtendienst chief Bruno Kahl said he expected Moscow to further step up its hybrid warfare.

“The extensive use of hybrid measures by Russia increases the risk that NATO will eventually consider invoking its Article 5 mutual defense clause,” he noted. “At the same time, the increasing ramp up of the Russian military potential means a direct military confrontation with NATO becomes one possible option for the Kremlin.”

Under Article 5, if a NATO member comes under attack, the other members of the alliance are obliged to help it respond.

NATO and Western intelligence services have warned that Russia is behind a growing number of hostile activities across the Euro-Atlantic area, ranging from repeated cyberattacks to Moscow-linked arson — all of which Russia denies.

Kahl said Russia’s military would likely be capable of attacking NATO by the end of the decade, adding that Moscow’s war on Ukraine meant that it had battle-proven troops under its command, raising the threat emanating from its conventional forces, while it also mastered modern drone warfare.

According to the assessment of his experts, high-ranking officials in the Russian defense ministry doubt whether NATO’s Article 5 including U.S. protective measures for Europe would actually be invoked in case of an emergency, the intel chief said.

“We don’t have any indication yet that Russia intends to go to war, but if such sentiments gain the upper hand in the government in Moscow, then the risk for a military confrontation will grow over the coming years.”

Should Russia attack one or several NATO allies, it would not do so to grab massive swaths of land, Kahl said, but rather to test red lines set by the West with the aim of defeating Western unity and NATO as a defensive alliance.

“In Russia’s view, this goal would be reached if Article 5 were to remain without effect in case of a Russian attack,” he said.

“To meet this target, you don’t need to send tank armies westwards, it is enough to dispatch little green men to the Baltics to protect allegedly threatened Russian minorities or adjust borders on Svalbard.”
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Russia’s demographic crisis is deepening, with the nation projected to lose up to half of its population by the end of this century. In response, Moscow is stepping up its war on Western-style liberal influence with a law that fines anyone who promotes a childless lifestyle. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina.
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THE HAGUE — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor asked judges on Wednesday to issue an arrest warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime for crimes committed against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who took power from elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup in 2021, is accused of crimes against humanity for the deportation and persecution of the Rohingya.

Nearly a million people were forced into neighboring Bangladesh to escape what has been called an ethnic cleansing campaign involving mass rapes, killings and the torching of homes.

From a refugee camp in Bangladesh, the court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, said in a statement that he intends to request more warrants for Myanmar’s leaders soon.

“In doing so, we will be demonstrating, together with all of our partners, that the Rohingya have not been forgotten. That they, like all people around the world, are entitled to the protection of the law,” the British barrister said.

The allegations stem from a counterinsurgency campaign that Myanmar’s military began in August 2017 in response to an insurgent attack. Hlaing, who heads the Myanmar Defense Services, is said to have directed the armed forces of Myanmar, known as the Tatmadaw, as well as national police to attack Rohingya civilians.

Khan was in Bangladesh where he met with members of the displaced Rohingya population.

Myanmar does not belong to the global court, but Bangladesh does. In 2018 judges at the court ruled the prosecutor could look into crimes which were “completed” on the territory of a member state, such as forcible deportation.

In 2019, Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, formally requested to open an investigation into the situation and judges gave the green light for investigations into “any crime, including any future crime” committed at least partly in Bangladesh or another court member state and linked to the Rohingya.

The move paved the way for Khan to pursue crimes beyond forcing men, women and children over the border and into refugee camps.

The request comes days after a powerful rebel group seized a key trading town in northeastern Myanmar on the Chinese border, taking control of a lucrative rare earth mining hub in another setback for the military-led government.

The military seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021, triggering intensified fighting with long-established armed militias organized by Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups in its border regions which have struggled for decades for more autonomy.

In 2022, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, advanced a separate case against Myanmar brought by Gambia alleging the Southeast Asian nation is responsible for genocide against the Rohingya. Five European countries and Canada have asked the court to back Gambia in the proceedings.
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Former Russian federal and local parliament deputies who broke away from Russian President Vladimir Putin and turned against the Kremlin are gathered for a meeting in Warsaw. Former Russian State Duma member Gennady Gudkov told VOA Russian that Russian exiles need to create efficient media outlets to oppose Kremlin propaganda and reach Russian-speaking populations inside and outside of Russia.

See the full story here.

 
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Floods swept through parts of Britain on Sunday as residents woke to flooded homes and streets as Storm Bert battered Britain. 

Floods in the small Welsh town of Pontypridd, near Cardiff, left residents battling high water levels and volunteering in groups to help clear water from their homes and streets using an assortment of buckets. 

Emergency workers rescued a dog while local resident Victor fled the town with his partner and pet cat ‘Cookie’ after moving their valuables to the upper floor of the home, planning on returning once waters subside. 

In West Yorkshire’s small town of Hebden Bridge, fire fighters planned to return a major road back into use as they spent the morning using pumps to remove the floodwaters off the road and back into the local river. 

Storm Bert brought snow, rain and strong winds on Saturday (November 23), killing one person and closing several railway lines, bridges and roads. 

A man in his 60s died after a tree fell on a car on the A34 highway in southern England, local police said. 

Met Office Chief Meteorologist Jason Kelly termed the storm a “multi-hazard event,” saying it was expected to bring snow, rain and wind to Britain for most of the weekend. 
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paris — When Jean-Charles de Castelbajac watched as Notre Dame cathedral burned in April 2019, he felt compelled to act. 

Returning home, the French fashion designer began sketching ideas, imagining the monument’s reconstruction. 

So, when the Paris Archbishop’s emissary approached him to design the liturgical garments for the cathedral’s reopening next month, Castelbajac — a believer with personal roots with the church — felt the moment transcended mere coincidence. 

“It’s bigger than a job. It’s a bit mysterious … mysterious,” Castelbajac said, his eyes brimming with wonder as he previewed some of the 2,000 colorful pieces for 700 celebrants at his Paris home. “It’s a calling. To be called like that is synchronicity.” 

This duty, as he calls it, led to a collection of work crafted in collaboration with the esteemed artisans of 19M studio. The garments, often in thick off-white Scottish wool gabardine, blend his signature eye-popping pop-art aesthetic with a reverence for the cathedral’s centuries-old legacy with medieval touches.

The unorthodox designs are fun, modern — and perhaps shockingly minimalist. 

They undoubtedly break with the richly embellished styles associated with the cathedral’s near-900-year-old liturgical garb. At their center is a large gold cross, accented by debris fragments of vivid color-blocked red, blue, yellow, and green velvet. 

“It’s something that is exploded that reconstructs itself,” Castelbajac said, likening the dissipated shards coming together to the cathedral’s own rebirth. 

The commission was not subject to an open call. Instead, Castelbajac was handpicked by the Catholic leadership, due to his history of designing for the church. 

In 1997, he created the rainbow-colored robes worn by Pope John Paul II for World Youth Day in Paris, garments later enshrined in Notre Dame’s treasury as a relic. That connection carried a special weight during the fire. 

“As I watched the fire, I was thinking, ‘Are the relics burning? Are the relics safe?’ So my link was not just material. It’s really a strong spiritual link,” he said. 

For Castelbajac, 74, the memory of those two hours in 2019 spent watching the fire with his wife amid people praying on their knees still evokes both grief and determination. 

“It was not Notre Dame burning. It was hope burning. It was spirituality burning. It was such an intense moment … I was thinking, what can I do?” he said. 

The vestments, which will be worn in liturgies permanently — forever, as Castelbajac put it — carry a sense of continuity with his past work. The designs are a variation on the pontiff’s robes, infused with Castelbajac’s signature aesthetic: bright, almost childlike hues that evoke optimism. 

Color defines career

Castelbajac’s fascination with color began as a child in a military boarding school in Normandy, an experience he recalled as stifling and gray. “It was the absolute loneliness. It was colorless,” he said. 

For the young boy, color became a lifeline. 

“Color was like my teddy bear, my transitional element in a world of conflict. Each morning, there was the stained glass in the church and the coats of arms in the refectory that filled my world with primary colors,” he explained. 

This obsession would define his career, earning him a reputation as a provocateur in the fashion world. 

Castelbajac’s creations have dressed pop culture royalty for decades: Madonna in her teddy bear coat, Beyonce in sequins, Rihanna in a Donald Duck costume. Collaborating with Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, he fused art and fashion into a playground of exuberance. 

Cathedral’s vestments reflect hope

While his designs have graced runways and music icons, Castelbajac’s work for Notre Dame strikes a different, more personal chord. 

The playful vestments might raise eyebrows among traditional Catholics, but he has no doubt about the faith Notre Dame’s leadership placed in him. “Maybe I have the trust of the archbishop,” he mused, reflecting on the “carte blanche” he said he received for his designs. 

This combination produced a modern-looking body of work that reflects the unity, hope, and rebirth symbolized by Notre Dame itself—just like the phoenix-like rooster gleaming like fire atop the newly constructed spire. 

When the cathedral reopens on the weekend of December 7-8, Castelbajac hopes the vestments will be viewed by the world as a testament to renewal and the “power of color” to heal and inspire. 
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BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — As nerves frayed and the clock ticked, negotiators from rich and poor nations were huddled in one room Saturday during overtime United Nations climate talks to try to hash out an elusive deal on money for developing countries to curb and adapt to climate change.

But the rough draft of a proposal circulating in that room was getting soundly rejected, especially by African nations and small island states, according to messages relayed from inside. Then a group of negotiators from the Least Developed Countries bloc and the Alliance of Small Island States walked out because they didn’t want to engage with the rough draft.

The “current deal is unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do,” said Evans Njewa, chair of the LDC group. When asked if the walkout was a protest, Colombia Environment Minister Susana Mohamed told The Associated Press: “I would call this dissatisfaction, [we are] highly dissatisfied.”

With tensions high, climate activists heckled United States climate envoy John Podesta as he left the meeting room. They accused the U.S. of not paying its fair share and having “a legacy of burning up the planet.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250 billion annually by 2035, more than double the previous goal of $100 billion set 15 years ago but far short of the annual $1 trillion-plus that experts say is needed. The rough draft discussed on Saturday was for $300 billion in climate finance, sources told AP.

Accusations of a war of attrition

Developing countries accused the rich of trying to get their way — and a small financial aid package — via a war of attrition. And small island nations, particularly vulnerable to climate change’s worsening impacts, accused the host country presidency of ignoring them for the entire two weeks.

After bidding one of his suitcase-lugging delegation colleagues goodbye and watching the contingent of about 20 enter the meeting room for the European Union, Panama chief negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez had enough.

“Every minute that passes we are going to just keep getting weaker and weaker and weaker. They don’t have that issue. They have massive delegations,” Gomez said. “This is what they always do. They break us at the last minute. You know, they push it and push it and push it until our negotiators leave. Until we’re tired, until we’re delusional from not eating, from not sleeping.”

With developing nations’ ministers and delegation chiefs having to catch flights home, desperation sets in, according to Power Shift Africa’s Mohamed Adow. “The risk is if developing countries don’t hold the line, they will likely be forced to compromise and accept a goal that doesn’t add up to get the job done,” he said.

Teresa Anderson, the global lead on climate justice at Action Aid, said that to get a deal, “the presidency has to put something far better on the table.”

“The U.S. in particular, and rich countries, need to do far more to show that they’re willing for real money to come forward,” she said. “And if they don’t, then LDCs [Least Developed Countries] are unlikely to find that there’s anything here for them.”

Climate cash deal is still elusive

Developing nations are seeking $1.3 trillion to help adapt to droughts, floods, rising seas and extreme heat, pay for losses and damages caused by extreme weather, and transition their energy systems away from planet-warming fossil fuels and toward clean energy. Wealthy nations are obligated to pay vulnerable countries under an agreement reached at these talks in Paris in 2015.

Panama’s Monterrey Gomez said even the higher $300 billion figure that was discussed on Saturday is “still crumbs.”

“Is that even half of what we put forth?” he asked.

Monterrey Gomez said the developing world has since asked for a finance deal of $500 billion up to 2030 — a shortened timeframe than the 2035 date. “We’re still yet to hear reaction from the developed side,” he said.

On Saturday morning, Irish Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said it’s not just about the number in the final deal, but “how do you get to $1.3 trillion.”

Ryan said that any number reached at the COP will have to be supplemented with other sources of finance, for example through a market for carbon emissions where polluters would pay to offset the carbon they spew.

The amount in any deal reached at COP negotiations — often considered a “core” — will then be mobilized or leveraged for greater climate spending. But much of that means loans for countries already drowning in debt.

Anger and frustration over state of negotiations

Alden Meyer of the climate think tank E3G said it’s still up in the air whether a deal on finance will come out of Baku at all.

“It is still not out of the question that there could be an inability to close the gap on the finance issue,” he said.

Ali Mohamed, chair of the African Group of Negotiators, said the bloc is “prepared to reach agreement here in Baku … but we are not prepared to accept things that cross our red lines.”

Despite the fractures between nations, several still held out hopes for the talks. “We remain optimistic,” said Nabeel Munir of Pakistan, who chairs one of the talks’ standing negotiating committees.

The Alliance of Small Island States said in a statement that it wants to continue to engage in the talks, as long as the process is inclusive. “If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement,” the statement said.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will travel to Italy over the weekend to attend a meeting of the Group of Seven major democracies next week, the State Department said on Friday, amid rising tensions in the war in Ukraine.

G7 leaders last Saturday reiterated a pledge to keep imposing severe costs on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine through sanctions, export controls and other measures, and vowed to support Kyiv for as long as it takes.

The State Department said Blinken would discuss issues including “conflicts in the Middle East, Russia’s war against Ukraine, Indo-Pacific security, and the ongoing crises in both Haiti and Sudan” at the gathering in Italy.

During his November 23-27 trip, Blinken also plans to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican following the G7 talks, it said in a statement.

Italy holds the 2024 rotating presidency of the G7, which also includes the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Britain.  
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