Author: Mirits

PARIS — Notre Dame Cathedral, its air thick with the smell of incense, hosted its first Mass on Sunday since the catastrophic fire of 2019, a moment that transcended religious significance to become a powerful symbol of Paris’ resilience. Beneath the glow of traditional chandeliers and modern spotlights, which illuminated its intricately carved stonework, the cathedral emerged reborn, its grandeur restored after five years of reconstruction. For Catholics, it marks the revival of the city’s spiritual heart, a place where faith has been nurtured for centuries. For the world, it signals the rebirth of one of global heritage’s most famous landmarks. The event was both solemn and historic. Archbishop Laurent Ulrich presided over the morning Mass, including the consecration of a new bronze altar. The liturgy was attended by 2,500 people, including French President Emmanuel Macron — enjoying a brief respite from France’s political tumult and economic troubles — clergy, dignitaries and a few lucky members of the public who stood in long lines to enter. Nearly 170 bishops from France and around the world took part, along with one priest from each of the 113 parishes in the Paris diocese, accompanied by worshippers from these communities. Macron, in line with France’s strict division of state and church, did not take communion. Notre Dame’s journey from ruin to resurrection was defined by extraordinary craftsmanship, nearly $1 billion in global donations and a collective, unyielding determination to rebuild. After the Mass, faithful attendees, priests, nuns, and other guests lingered in the cathedral, their awe evident. Many took pictures and selfies in front of the altar, the baptistery, and vibrant rose windows, their joy mingling with reverence. Others knelt to pray at chapels dedicated to saints, savoring a spiritual intimacy many had not experienced since the fire. Later Sunday, the cathedral opened its doors to members of the public who secured reservations last week for the first fully public Mass. The Associated Press learned that tickets for this service were claimed within 25 minutes, underscoring Notre Dame’s enduring appeal. What’s more extraordinary is that this is taking place in a country with a strong emphasis on secularism and a low rate of church attendance. The public watches from a distance Public viewing areas along the Seine on Sunday morning drew hundreds of people who wished to witness the historic moment from afar, although their numbers were likely subdued by rainy and miserably cold … “Notre Dame hosts first Mass since 2019 fire” →

TBILISI, Georgia — Tens of thousands of people joined an 11th straight day of protests in Georgia on Sunday after the governing party moved to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union, while a separate demonstration decried violence against Georgian journalists covering the rallies. Police have been using increasing force in their attempts to curb the demonstrations, which have centered on the parliament building in the capital, Tbilisi. Riot police have used water cannons and tear gas every day to disperse the rallies, beating scores of protesters who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard. At Saturday night’s demonstration, reporter Maka Chikhladze and her colleague from the independent Pirveli TV channel were targeted by a violent mob, Chikhladze told The Associated Press. Chikladze said her colleague managed to capture footage of men dressed in black who were beating demonstrators before they turned on the pair, violently pushing Chikhladze to the ground. She later told AP that her colleague sustained a head injury and had his camera stolen. Chikhladze charged that Georgia’s government was using bands of thugs to deter people from attending anti-government rallies, an allegation denied by representatives of the Georgian Dream party. On Sunday, several hundred media workers marched down Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue before putting up posters of colleagues they say had been assaulted while doing their jobs. “Our colleagues are beaten, injured, some remain in hospital in serious condition,” TV Pirveli anchor Ekaterine Mishveladze told AP. In a separate incident Saturday, AP journalists saw several masked men violently tackle a protester attempting to enter the offices of an opposition party, Ahali. The man, Koba Khabazi, lay slumped on the ground while his attackers repeatedly kicked him. He later showed AP his head injuries. Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in the disputed Oct. 26 election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations. The opposition and the pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and have boycotted parliament sessions. Opposition protests gained new momentum after the Georgian Dream’s decision last Thursday to put the EU accession talks on hold. Riot police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the rallies and beat scores of protesters, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on Rustaveli Avenue. The crackdown has drawn strong condemnation from the United States … “Georgian journalists allege brutal beatings; protests rage against ending EU talks” →

IZIUM, Ukraine — Hopes for victory, a swift end to the war and prayers for their loved ones’ survival or return from Russian captivity are among the wishes scattered throughout letters sent to a volunteer group by Ukrainian children living in front-line areas. While the volunteers, who are named reindeer after the magical beasts that pull Santa’s sleigh, cannot fulfill many of these dreams, they strive to deliver on the simpler ones, such as requests for power banks to help families endure outages, bicycles, books, and even pets. Every winter, the volunteers travel to heavily damaged cities to deliver gifts and ensure that, despite the war, Ukrainian children can celebrate the holiday season just like their peers around the world. This year, the group received 2,310 letters, according to project manager Inna Achkasova from the NGO Ukrainian Frontiers, who launched the St. Nicholas’ Reindeers initiative in 2015. The children’s wishes are published on the project’s website. Donors affectionately known as magicians then choose a letter and buy the requested gift to make that child’s dreams come true. The reindeer then deliver those gifts. “Children are those who have no choice whatsoever. No one asks them whether they want to stay or leave,” says project psychologist Kateryna Shutalova. “What happens to them is never their choice. And this makes them the most vulnerable.” But every child gets only one childhood, even if it’s shaped by war. That’s why, in their letters, the horrors that have impacted their lives coexist with wishes similar to those of children everywhere. “My father is in captivity, and I live with my mother and brother,” one boy wrote in his letter. He continued: “I love playing football and practice it professionally. I want a leather football.” Volunteers sift through all the letters, enduring the tragic stories of each child, to sort and deliver the gifts correctly. Among the writers are children who have lost loved ones to shelling, endured Russian occupation, seen their homes destroyed, have parents serving on the front lines, or were forced to flee to escape the war.  “What struck me wasn’t their wishes but how deeply children feel the need to tell their stories,” Shutalova says. Wearing reindeer antlers, the volunteers set out on their journey on Dec. 6, when Ukraine celebrates St. Nicholas Day. Their journey is expected to last until mid-January. On a frosty morning in Kharkiv, covered by the season’s … “‘Reindeer’ volunteers bring holiday magic to Ukrainian children on front lines” →

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel said his party supports the territorial integrity, democracy, peace, and stability in Syria following the departure of President Bashir al-Assad. Meanwhile, Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party called for the Syrian people to work together to create a democratic constitution to end the civil war in Syria and achieve lasting peace. See the full story here.  …

KYIV — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, shortly after a meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders, claiming Kyiv “would like to make a deal” to end the more than 1,000-day war.  In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Moscow and Kyiv have both lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a war that “should never have started.”  “There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,” he said, as he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to act to bring the fighting to an end.  Trump’s remarks came after a meeting Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that Zelenskyy later described as “constructive”.  Speaking to reporters later that day, Zelenskyy insisted that any peace deal “should be just” for Ukrainians, “so that Russia and Putin or any other aggressors will not have the opportunity to return.”  In a separate social media update Sunday, Zelenskyy asserted that Kyiv has so far lost 43,000 soldiers since Moscow’s all-out invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, while a further 370,000 have been wounded.  Both Russia and Ukraine have been reluctant to publish official casualty figures, but Western officials have said that the past few months of grinding positional warfare in eastern Ukraine have meant record losses for both sides, with tens of thousands killed and wounded each month.  …

LONDON — London’s Royal Albert Hall, the gilded concert venue known for an annual Rule Britannia singalong, is preparing to host a different kind of spectacle: Sumo wrestling. Camera shutters clicked furiously and reporters “Ahhhed” in delight Wednesday as wrestlers Daisuke Kitanowaka and Akira Fukutsuumi demonstrated a sideways stamp and put on an exhibition of heavyweight grappling to promote a tournament scheduled for next October. It marks only the second time an elite five-day tournament will be held outside Japan. The first was in 1991 at the same venue. Organizers are hoping to whip up the kind of excitement that was generated three decades ago, when the deeply ritualistic sport attracted sell-out crowds and a national television audience. “It wasn’t just an event here at the hall,” said James Ainscough, chief executive of the Royal Albert Hall. “It became a national moment. People talked about it in the workplace. You could see kids acting it out each day in playgrounds the length and breadth of the country. So it’s a huge honor and a huge matter of excitement to welcome it back in 2025.” A variety of factors, including a series of sumo wrestling scandals, the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed the sport’s return to London. But organizers believe the time is right because sumo is having a bit of a moment. Two Netflix series have introduced audiences to the intricacies of the sport, which has roots stretching back 1,500 years. Earlier this year, Hanshin Contents Link opened a sumo hall in Osaka, Japan’s third-largest city, that entertains foreign tourists with explanatory exhibitions and actual bouts. Organizers of the London event say they hope to show Japan’s rich culture as well as its traditional sport that pits two huge men clad in very little against each other in a test of strength and technique. On hand Wednesday was the winner of the previous U.K. tournament, Nobuyoshi Hakkaku, nicknamed “bulldog” by British fans in 1991. Now the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, he reminisced about how the only thing that made him really nervous was preparing for a victory speech in English. Japan’s ambassador to the U.K., Hiroshi Suzuki, also made an appearance, a reflection of the event’s importance to the nation. Organizers promised that spectators also would see exhibitions of Kabuki theater and other Japanese traditions. But the main attraction were the wrestlers. Kitanowaka and Fukutsuumi gamely tried … “Sumo wrestlers bring 1,500 years of tradition to London as sport has international moment” →

TBILISI, GEORGIA — Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili said she talked with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron about the parliamentary election last month in her country that she and the opposition say was rigged. “In depth discussion with Presidents Trump & Macron,” Zourabichvili, who was in Paris for the reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral, said on X late on Saturday, underneath a photo showing her, Trump and Macron talking. “Exposed the stolen election and extremely alarming repression against the people of Georgia.” Zourabichvili became the voice of the now weeks-long protest movement following the October vote that gave the ruling Georgian Dream party a win and its subsequent announcement that it was suspending efforts to join the European Union. The leader of Georgia’s main opposition party and several other members have been detained during the protests and on Saturday the opposition said one of its politicians was beaten during a police raid on its offices. Georgian media also reported that a camera crew from pro-opposition Pirveli TV was attacked by masked men while broadcasting from near the protest site. “The Russian regime is back at work tonight in Tbilisi — chasing civilians through the streets as they flee terror, targeting politicians, media, artists,” Zourabichvili said in a separate post on X on Saturday, posting a video showing a group of hooded men with batons beating up several men in a building. Zourabichvili, who has a largely ceremonial role as president, and the opposition have been accusing Georgian Dream of pursuing increasingly authoritarian, anti-Western and pro-Russian policies in the nation of 3.7 million people. The Kremlin has denied that Russia is interfering in the situation in Georgia, which Moscow compared to the 2014 “Maidan” revolution in Ukraine that overthrew a pro-Russian president.  …

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and first lady Jill Biden join dozens of heads of state attending Notre Dame reopening celebrations this weekend, five years after the iconic Paris cathedral narrowly escaped being destroyed in a fire. The events, including two Masses on Sunday, offer a bright spot for France amid political turmoil. Lisa Bryant has more from the French capital. …

SKOPJE, North Macedonia — A political party in North Macedonia on Saturday demanded authorities ban social networks whose content incites violence and self-destructive behavior after several young people were seriously injured in connection with the popular “Superman challenge” on TikTok.  Health authorities said at least 17 students, ages 10 to 17, were brought to hospitals in the capital Skopje and other towns over the past week with broken bones, contusions and bruises. The children were injured after being thrown into the air by their friends to fly like superheroes and get applause on the internet.  The Liberal-Democratic Party, which was part of the left-led coalition that ruled the country from 2016 to earlier in 2024, issued a press statement Saturday strongly condemning “the irresponsible spread of dangerous content on social media, such as the latest TikTok ‘challenge’ known as ‘Superman,’ which has injured six children across (the country) in the past 24 hours.”  “The lack of adequate control over the content of social media allows such ‘games’ to reach the most vulnerable users,” the party statement said. It demanded the “immediate introduction of measures to ban content that incites violence and self-destructive behavior, increase surveillance, and sanction platforms that enable dangerous trends.”  North Macedonia’s education minister Vesna Janevska said students should focus on education, not TikTok challenges.  “The ban on mobile phones in schools will not have an effect. Phones will be available to children in their homes, neighborhoods and other environments,” she said.  Psychologists have warned that the desire to be “in” with the trends on social networks, combined with excessive use of mobile phones, is the main reason for the rise in risky behaviors among children. They urged parents and schools to talk with students.  …

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Donald Trump to Paris on Saturday with a full a dose of presidential pomp, and they held an impromptu meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymr Zelenskyy on a day that mixed pageantry with attention to pressing global problems. U.S. President-elect Trump said when he arrived at the Elysee Palace for a face-to-face meeting with Macron — which soon expanded to include Zelenskyy — that the two would be discussing a world that’s gone “a little crazy.” Trump’s visit to France, part of a global celebration of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral five years after a devastating fire, came as Macron and other European leaders are trying to win Trump’s favor and persuade him to maintain support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. Macron’s office said that would be discussed as well as the wars in the Middle East. As Trump arrived at the official residence of the French president, Macron went out of his way to project an image of close ties, posing for multiple handshakes interspersed with plenty of back-patting. Trump said it was “a great honor” and talked about the “great relationship” they have had. A grand red carpet was rolled in the same way the French welcome sitting American presidents. Before they went inside, Trump said, “It certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now. And we’ll be talking about that.” Zelenskyy arrived at the palace about 45 minutes after Trump. Macron had planned to meet with Zelenskyy, and the French president’s office said the three-way meeting was proposed by Macron and arranged shortly before Trump’s arrival. Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine swiftly but has not specified how, raising concerns in Kyiv about what terms may be laid out for any future negotiations. Macron, who has had an up-and-down relationship with Trump, has made a point of cultivating a relationship since the Republican defeated Democrat Kamala Harris last month. But Macron’s office nonetheless played down the significance of the invitation, saying other politicians not now in office had been invited as well. Trump was invited as president-elect of a “friendly nation,” Macron’s office said, adding, “This is in no way exceptional, we’ve done it before.” The red-carpet treatment, however, was a sign of how eager Macron and other European leaders are to win Trump’s favor even before he takes office. During one … “Macron welcomes Trump to Paris with presidential pomp, joined by Zelenskyy” →

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was seen with a significant bruise on his chin Saturday, but he presided over a ceremony to install new cardinals without apparent problems. A Vatican spokesperson said later Saturday that the bruise was caused by a contusion on Friday morning when Francis hit a nightstand with his chin. The pontiff, who turns 88 later this month, appeared slightly fatigued but carried on as normal with the scheduled ceremony to create 21 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica. Francis has suffered several health problems in recent years and now uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain. In 2017, while on a trip to Colombia, Francis sported a black eye after he hit his head on a support bar when his popemobile stopped short. …

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS — An explosion and fire rocked a neighborhood in the Dutch city of The Hague on Saturday, killing one woman and injuring other people and destroying several apartments, according to authorities. The cause of the disaster is unclear. Mayor Jan van Zanen said investigators are looking into “all possibilities.” Police said they are looking for a car seen leaving the scene. Emergency authorities said four people were rescued from the rubble and taken to a hospital. The mayor said rescuers were no longer looking for survivors but for bodies. He could not specify how many people might still be unaccounted for. Residents of the northeastern neighborhood of Mariahoeve in The Hague heard a huge bang and screams before dawn. One woman told local media that she thought an earthquake had happened. Dutch authorities deployed a specialized urban search and rescue team to the scene, with four dogs trained to find victims. The team was previously used during the devastating earthquake in Turkey in 2023. Soon after the explosion, a line of ambulances could be seen waiting nearby in anticipation of more victims. The spokesperson for the local hospital said that they were on standby to deal with injuries. The mayor called it “an extremely heavy day.” “I had expected a different Saturday,” van Zanen told a news conference. Prime Minister Dick Schoof said in a statement he was shocked by the images of the disaster. “My thoughts go out to the victims, all other people involved and the emergency services who are now working on the scene,” he said. The Dutch royal family expressed similar sentiments. “Our thoughts are with those affected in The Hague after the explosion and fire this morning,” including those “who are afraid of the fate of their loved ones,” King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima said in a statement. …

BERLIN — The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Saturday strongly condemned “the disproportionate use of force” against peaceful protesters and the targeting of the opposition and media representatives in Georgia. Mass protests in Georgia fueled by the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union entered a second week Thursday, with police cracking down on demonstrators with increasing force. In their joint statement, the three foreign ministers called for the immediate release of opposition members. They demanded that “fundamental rights, including freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, must be upheld and protected as per Georgia’s constitution and international commitments.” The ruling Georgian Dream party retained control of parliament in a disputed October 26 election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations. The opposition and the pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and have boycotted parliament sessions. Opposition protests gained new momentum after the Georgian Dream’s decision on November 28 to put the EU accession talks on hold. Riot police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the rallies and beat scores of protesters, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard. Hundreds have been detained and over 100 people have been treated for injuries since the start of the clashes. Fifty more protesters were detained Friday night, Georgian officials said Saturday. Police chased demonstrators through the streets of Tbilisi until the early hours of Saturday and violently detained some of them. The crackdown has drawn a strong condemnation from the United States. Speaking at a ministerial conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday denounced what he described as a brutal “repression of those calling for their country to stay on the path to closer ties with Europe.” On Saturday, Germany, France and Poland called on “Georgian Dream to deescalate tensions and open an inclusive dialogue with all political forces and representatives of civil society.” “We underscore our determination to support the democratic and European aspirations of the Georgian people,” the statement said. …

LONDON — Tens of thousands of people across the U.K. were left without power Saturday morning after Storm Darragh hit the country with strong winds and caused pre-Christmas travel disruptions. The U.K.’s Met Office issued a rare red alert for high winds overnight to Saturday morning, covering parts of Wales and southwest England. The government warned 3 million people living in the area with a siren-like alert on their phones to stay at home Friday night. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the storm posed a “challenging situation.” “About 3 million homes will have had the emergency alert system to their mobile phone. I would just encourage anyone who has had that to follow the advice,” Reynolds told Sky News on Saturday. Darragh, the fourth named storm of the season, is also expected to bring heavy rain through the weekend, with more than 100 flood warnings and alerts in place across the U.K. One man died after a tree fell onto his van during the storm, said police in Lancashire, northwest England. In Wales, the Met Office estimated gusts of up to 150 kph, which knocked out power for over 50,000 people, according to the PA news agency. Power cuts affected 86,000 homes in England, Scotland and Wales, according to the Energy Networks Association. Trains were disrupted or suspended on several routes, including from Glasgow to Edinburgh in Scotland and between Cambridge and Stansted Airport in eastern England. Rail operator CrossCountry put a “do not travel” notice in place for Saturday due to cancellations and severe delays. Network Rail Wales suspended trains on the Welsh northern coast due to a “fallen tree blocking the line,” and several bridges in southern England and Wales were closed for safety reasons. A separate amber warning, which is less serious than the red alert but still poses “potential risk to life and property,” covering a larger stretch of the Britain and Northern Ireland is in place until Saturday night. In Northern Ireland, thousands were left without power, and several bus and train services were suspended or delayed. Christmas markets and sporting events were postponed, including the Merseyside derby between Premier League leaders Liverpool and Everton. In Ireland, which issued an “orange” wind warning, 400,000 people were left without electricity, according to the RTE news agency. Dublin Airport said a “a number of flights scheduled for Saturday morning have been cancelled by airlines” due to the storm. … “Power cuts, train cancellations as Storm Darragh batters UK” →

KYIV, UKRAINE — Denmark has delivered a second batch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday as he traveled to Paris to meet with top politicians and dignitaries. In a message on Telegram, Zelenskyy praised Denmark and lamented a lack of dedication from other allies. “The first batch of planes provided by the Danes are already shooting down Russian missiles: rescuing our people and our infrastructure. Now our air shield is reinforced even further,” he said. “If all partners were so determined, we would have been able to make Russian terror impossible.” The announcement comes as Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region marks a day of mourning for 10 people killed in a Russian attack on Friday. A further 24 people, including two children, were injured when a missile struck a local service station, said regional Governor Ivan Fedorov. Three more people were killed in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. Addressing the attacks, Zelenskyy said that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not seek “real peace.” Putin “only seeks the ability to treat any country this way, with bombs, missiles, and all other forms of violence,” Zelenskyy said. “Only through strength can we resist this. And only through strength can real peace be established.” Zelenskyy is due to meet other world leaders Saturday, including French President Emmanuel Macron, at an event in Paris celebrating the renovation of Notre Dame Cathedral after a devastating fire in 2019. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is among those expected to be in attendance, with European leaders keen to cultivate the incoming leader’s favor to persuade him to maintain support for Ukraine against Russia’s three-year invasion. It’s not clear whether Trump will meet with Zelenskyy. …

TALLINN, Estonia — In the year since Russia’s Supreme Court effectively outlawed any promotion of LGBTQ+ rights, activists say they are experiencing a climate of fear and intimidation in the country. LGBTQ+ rights have been under legal and public pressure for over a decade under President Vladimir Putin, but especially since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Putin has argued the war is a proxy battle with the West, which he says aims to destroy Russia and its “traditional family values.” Putin insists Russia doesn’t discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, but he also decries “perversions that lead to degradation and extinction.” Parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin last year called gender transitioning “pure satanism” that should stay in the U.S. Any public representation of gay and transgender people is banned. Gender-affirming medical care and changing one’s gender in official documents is prohibited. With the Supreme Court’s ruling in November 2023 that found “the international LGBT movement” to be extremist, members of the LGBTQ+ community can be prosecuted and imprisoned for up to six years. As a result, many people like Gela Gogishvili and Haoyang Xu have fled Russia. They lived a happy life in the republic of Tatarstan, where Gogishvili was a pharmacist and Xu was a student from China. They were detained after the Kremlin in December 2022 expanded its ban of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” from minors to adults, effectively outlawing any public endorsement of LGBTQ+ activities. Authorities accused them of spreading “LGBT propaganda” among minors. Gogishvili was fined, while Xu was put in a detention center for migrants pending deportation. They eventually fled abroad separately and are seeking asylum in France. “I’m scared for the queer community in Russia that remains in the country,” Gogishvili said. Targeting nightclubs, rainbow flags and gay tourism Those who remain find themselves pushed into the shadows, marginalized even further and dogged by fear of repression and prison. “Six years, it’s not a joke,” said Olga Baranova, head of the Moscow Community Center for LGBT+ Initiatives. She says activists must decide if what they’re doing is worth that kind of a prison sentence. Just days after the Supreme Court ruling in 2023, the LGBTQ+ community was rattled by news of police raiding gay bars, nightclubs and venues that hosted drag shows in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities. Last spring, the first criminal case on charges of involvement with the “LGBT movement” … “Russian LGBTQ+ activists describe a climate of fear amid new laws, court rulings” →

NEW YORK — Sean McLoughlin wears a lot of hats: YouTuber. Voice actor. Coffee entrepreneur. But McLoughlin, better known by his pseudonym Jacksepticeye, likes to say he would be a therapist if he wasn’t posting video game playthroughs for his nearly 31 million subscribers.  The 34-year-old Irish creator finds that gaming enthusiasts aren’t just drawn by his expressive reactions to the latest action role-playing games; fans also resonate with his candid discussions of mental health. The supportive responses from his niche but passionate following make McLoughlin feel “less alone,” he said, forging the same camaraderie that brought him to online gaming communities as a lonely 20-something living at his family’s remote home.  That shared connection is also central to his annual fundraiser, “Thankmas.” The charity livestream is one of many online specials emerging as a modern spin on the classic telethon. Total donations have increased more than 50% over the last year on Tiltify, a digital platform that integrates giving tools into streams. The spaces are credited for allowing more authentic interactions between nonprofits and young donors — and encouraging benevolence in a corner of the web marked by incendiary rhetoric.  “If you want to do good things, the people are there, and they’ll listen,” McLoughlin said. “They’re already following you for what you do for a reason. So they’ll follow you to help out people as well.”  Follow they have. His streams have raked in more than $26 million, according to partner Tiltify. This year’s goal is to collect $6 million for two nonprofits supporting mental health: Crisis Text Line and Samaritans.  A seven-figure target would have seemed a longshot when McLoughlin entered the space. The initial idea was to hold monthly fundraisers. He hosted seven charitable streams in 2018, Tiltify records show, for causes including pediatric cancer and clean water. The year culminated in the inaugural “Thankmas,” which pulled over a quarter of a million dollars.  But McLoughlin said the pace became “a bit much.” That same year he announced a brief break from YouTube, in part due to unhappiness from the demands he felt for high content volumes. He resolved to focus on one big holiday event at the end of the year, when he said people are “a bit more giving and heartfelt.”  It wasn’t until 2020 that Tiltify CEO Michael Wasserman said the two began working closely to maximize the streams’ reach. McLoughlin reached out, according … “Irish YouTuber moves millions of followers to donate millions for charity” →

PARIS — Notre Dame will formally reopen Saturday, five years after the Paris cathedral was devastated by fire, with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump among world leaders there to celebrate its remarkably rapid restoration. Held up as an example of French creativity and resilience by President Emmanuel Macron, Notre Dame’s renaissance so soon after a 2019 blaze that destroyed its roof and spire comes at a difficult time for the country. The sense of national accomplishment in restoring a beloved symbol of Paris has been undercut by political turmoil that has left France without a proper government and in a budget crisis. Macron is hoping that the first full service inside Notre Dame and the sight of around 40 world leaders in Paris might provide a fleeting sense of pride and unity — as the Paris Olympics did in July and August. The re-opening “is the proof that we know how to do grand things, we know how to do the impossible and the whole world has admired us for it on two occasions this year,” Macron said during a televised address on Thursday, referring to the widely praised Olympics. During a visit with TV cameras last week however, he somewhat undermined the suspense behind the reopening, revealing the cathedral’s freshly scrubbed limestone walls, new furniture and vaulted wooden roof cut from ancient oak trees selected from the finest forests of France. The reconstruction effort has cost around $750 million, financed from donations, with the re-opening achieved within five years despite predictions it could take decades. Workers had to overcome problems with lead pollution, the COVID-19 epidemic, and the general overseeing the project falling to his death while hiking in the Pyrenees last year. Trump show? While the reborn 12th-century architectural masterpiece will be the main focus of public attention on Saturday, TV cameras are also likely to linger on Trump who will be making his first overseas trip since winning reelection to the White House last month. He accepted an invitation from Macron to attend earlier this week, saying the French leader had done “a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so.” U.S. President Joe Biden will be represented by his wife Jill, while Britain’s Prince William and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also be present. Zelenskyy is expected to seek his first face-to-face meeting with Trump who has … “France’s Notre Dame Cathedral reopens 5 years after shocking blaze” →

The iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is reopening Saturday evening, more than five years after a fire destroyed its roof and spire. An invitation-only ceremony will include heads of state and government, with French President Emmanuel Macron delivering a speech before Archbishop Laurent Ulrich formally reopens its doors.   …

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As North Korean troops bolster Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, the U.S. is urging China to rein in its allies’ provocative actions. This comes amid indications that Beijing is increasingly uneasy about the expanding partnership between Russia and North Korea. VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching reports. …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday introduced new long-range Peklo drone missiles being manufactured in a Ukrainian factory, the first batch of which, he said, already has been delivered to the nation’s armed forces. In footage released by his office, Zelenskyy could be seen touring the factory in an undisclosed location alongside Ukraine Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and other officials. In a post to his X social media account, Zelenskyy said the hybrid drone-missile Peklo — which means “hell” in Ukrainian — has a range of 700 kilometers and a speed of 700 kilometers per hour. He said it already has proven its combat effectiveness. Ukrainian officials said the drones are cost-effective and comparable to some Russian-made cruise missiles in terms of performance. “It is crucial that our defenders receive such modern, Ukrainian-made weaponry,” Zelenskyy said in the recording. “Now the task is to continue ramping up its production and deployment.” The announcement comes a day after Ukraine’s Defense Ministry announced plans to supply their armed forces with more than 30,000 long-range attack drones in 2025, with funding supplied by international partners. In a statement, the ministry said the drones operate autonomously and can strike enemy targets with high precision. The ministry made those arrangements in light of U.S President Joe Biden’s term winding down and the uncertainty presented by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Trump has voiced skepticism about continued support and said he would resolve the war before his January 20 inauguration, but did not say how. A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson in a background briefing told reporters that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, at the White House for meetings on Thursday to discuss the future of U.S. support for Ukraine. The spokesperson said the meeting lasted more than an hour with Sullivan focused on Biden’s theory that improving Ukraine’s position in its war against Russia would allow Ukraine to enter negotiations from a position of strength. The spokesperson said Sullivan and Yermak discussed the four-part U.S. strategic support for Ukraine, which involves increased military assistance, economic pressure on Russia through sanctions, addressing Ukraine’s manpower challenges and sustaining support for Ukraine’s economy. To implement the strategy, the spokesperson noted the U.S. will provide Ukraine’s military with hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of additional rockets and hundreds of additional armored vehicles between … “Zelenskyy reveals new medium-range Peklo drone missile” →

According to recent numbers, 120,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died fighting Russia’s invasion. The number of wounded is nearing 200,000. Those who survived — some having lost limbs — face a grueling road to recovery. In Mexico City, a unique program is offering them a lifeline. Karen Sanchez reports. …

BUCHAREST — Romania’s top court annulled the result of the first round of the country’s presidential election on Friday, adding that the entire election process would have to be rerun.  The second round had been scheduled for Sunday, and voting is already underway in polling stations abroad.  Having polled in single digits before the first presidential election round on November 24, Calin Georgescu — who wants to end Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion — surged to a victory that raised questions over how such a surprise had been possible in a European Union and NATO member state.  Documents declassified by Romania’s top security council on Wednesday said the country was a target of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” during the election period.  “The electoral process to elect Romania’s president will be fully re-run, and the government will set a new date and … calendar for the necessary steps,” the court said in a statement.  The second round of the presidential contest that had been set to take place on Sunday would have pitted Georgescu, a far-right, pro-Russian candidate, against pro-EU centrist leader Elena Lasconi.  Far-right parties also performed well in last Sunday’s parliamentary election in Romania, though the ruling Social Democrats emerged as the largest grouping and hope to cobble together a pro-E.U. coalition government.    The court has not called into question the integrity of the parliamentary vote.  …

Moscow — Russia said Friday its forces had captured a village near the embattled supply hub of Pokrovsk and another near the industrial town of Kurakhove, gaining ground in two key areas of the east Ukraine front line.    Moscow has been advancing in east Ukraine for months, pressing its advantage against overstretched and outgunned Ukrainian soldiers.   Russian army units “liberated the settlements” of Sukhi Yaly and Pustynka in the eastern Donetsk region, Moscow’s defense ministry said in a daily briefing.    Sukhi Yaly is about 13 kilometers southwest of Kurakhove, a strategic industrial town on the banks of a reservoir that Moscow is trying to encircle.    Pustynka lies just south of Pokrovsk, an embattled logistics hub at the intersection of rail and road routes supplying Ukrainian troops across the front line.    The nearly three-year conflict has escalated sharply in recent months, with Kyiv deploying U.S. and British-supplied long-range missiles in attacks on Russian soil and Moscow firing an experimental hypersonic weapon at Ukraine in response.    Ukraine has been trying to put itself in as secure a position as possible ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.    The Republican has promised to swiftly end the conflict once in power, raising concerns in Kyiv that Ukraine will be forced to make massive territorial concessions to Moscow.  Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky on Friday, killing three people and seriously wounding three others, the region’s Moscow-appointed governor said.    Images shared by Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, showed what appeared to be bodies lying on a street and outside a building, covered with blankets.    “This morning, Alyoshki was subjected to an inhumane kamikaze drone attack,” Saldo said, using the Russian spelling of the town’s name.    He said the drones targeted an aid distribution point in the town, accusing Kyiv of directing the attack “exclusively at the civilian population.”    “As a result… three people were killed. Three more citizens were seriously injured,” he said.    Kyiv did not immediately comment but denies targeting civilians in Russian-occupied areas of the country.    Oleshky had a population of about 20,000 people before Moscow launched its military assault on Ukraine in February 2022.    It lies in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river.    The river acts as a de facto front line between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s forces, with both sides regularly accusing … “Russia takes villages in key areas of east Ukraine front “ →

The Russian veto blocked a U.N. resolution calling for a halt to hostilities in Sudan, where a civil war has killed at least 66,000, destroyed civil institutions, causing widespread hunger, disease, sexual violence and a refugee crisis with more than 11 million people displaced. …