Author: Mirits

RIO DE JANEIRO — With just two months remaining in President Joe Biden’s administration, the United States is ramping up financial, military and diplomatic support for Kyiv’s effort to defend itself against Russian aggression. At the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Biden and leaders of 20 of the world’s largest economies are meeting, U.S. officials are pushing for the “strongest possible” language on Ukraine, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told VOA during a briefing Monday. Western diplomats have renewed their push for stronger criticism on Moscow following Russia’s weekend airstrike, its largest on Ukrainian territory in months. They’ve also warned that increased Russian war efforts could have a destabilizing effect beyond Europe. Earlier this month, the U.S. and Ukraine announced that North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to help Moscow reclaim territory seized by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region. However, the final leaders’ statement did not include the language the U.S. pushed for. It highlights human suffering and the negative impacts of the war in Ukraine to the global economy without any condemnation to Russia. On Gaza, it called for cease-fire in Gaza and in Lebanon and commitment to the two-state solution, without mentioning Israel’s right to defend itself. Finer acknowledges that finding a consensus on global conflicts is elusive given the diversity of the G20. In addition to mostly like-minded countries of the G7, the G20 also includes Russia, China and nations of the Global South. Ever since the G20 summit in Bali in 2022 — held months after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine — the global grouping has faced challenges hammering out a response to the conflict. Long-range missiles authorized The U.S. has been surging its military assistance to Kyiv. It is also authorizing Ukraine to use American-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia, according to media reports quoting officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Finer declined to confirm but said it is “consistent” with the U.S. approach of tailoring its response to meet developments on the ground to “allow the Ukrainians to continue to defend their territory and their sovereignty.” On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that if true, authorization for Kyiv to strike inside Russia with U.S. long-range missiles, “will mark a qualitatively new round of tensions and level of Washington’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict.” Last week in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to reassure European … “Cracks emerge in G20 consensus over Ukraine as US ramps up aid” →

London — As the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan enters its final days, there are growing frustrations over the apparent lack of progress toward securing a deal on climate finance, which is seen as a crucial step in reducing emissions and limiting global warming. Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s COP29 president, called on delegates to show more urgency. “People have told me that they are concerned about the state of the negotiations,” Babayev told delegates Monday. “It’s time for them to move faster. This week we will welcome ministers from around the world as the negotiations reach their final stage. “Politicians have the power to reach a fair and ambitious deal. They must deliver on this responsibility. They must engage immediately and constructively,” he said. Climate finance Money is at the center of the COP29 negotiations — or, in COP terms, climate finance. Who will pay for poorer countries to adapt to climate change and transition away from fossil fuels — and how much will it cost? It’s hoped that the COP29 meeting will set an ambitious new funding target. Most estimates put the cost of climate finance in excess of $1 trillion every year. It’s reported that many richer nations are reluctant to agree to such an amount. The current target of $100 billion annually, agreed in 2009, was met only in 2022. ‘Failed promises’ Bolivia’s representative at COP29, Diego Balanza — who chairs a negotiating bloc of developing nations — accused richer nations of a decade of failed promises. “Our countries are suffering the impacts of climate change due largely to the historical emissions of developed countries. For us as developing countries, our people’s lives, their very survival and their livelihoods, are at stake,” Balanza told delegates in Baku. He added that most of the climate finance so far has been provided through loans, not grants, which “has adverse implications for the macroeconomic stability of developing countries.” Slow pace Many observers have criticized the slow pace of negotiations in Baku. Mohamed Adow, director of the campaign group Power Shift Africa, accused the Azerbaijani hosts of a lack of direction. “This has been one of the worst COPs — at least, one of the worst first weeks of COPs — that I have attended in the last 15 years,” Adow told VOA. “There has been very limited progress on climate finance and even on the rules around carbon markets and how … “Slow progress on climate finance fuels anger as COP29 winds down” →

As the COP29 climate summit enters the final stretch in Azerbaijan, there are growing frustrations over the apparent lack of progress toward securing a deal on climate finance – seen as a crucial step in reducing emissions and limiting global warming. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

As the war in Ukraine entered its 1,000th day Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine stating that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation supported by a nuclear power is considered a joint attack and could trigger a nuclear response. The proclamation came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use long-range weapons from the U.S. to attack military targets in Russia. When Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked if the revised doctrine was issued in response to the U.S. authorization, he said it was put forth “in a timely manner” and that Putin wanted it updated to be “in line with the current situation,” the Associated Press reported. The doctrine states nuclear weapons could be used in case of a massive air attack involving ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and other flying vehicles. It says an attack against Russia by a nonnuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation.” It doesn’t specify whether such an attack would definitely be met with a nuclear response. Peskov the aim of the updated policy was to make potential enemies understand the inevitability of retaliation for an attack on Russia or its allies. It also states that Russia could use nuclear weapons if another country attacks ally Belarus. 1,000 days of fighting Both Russia and Ukraine issued statements about the 1,000th day of the war, both vowing that they would continue fighting against each other. The Kremlin said Western support for Kyiv would have no impact on the military campaign. “The military operation against Kyiv continues,” Peskov said, adding that Western aid “cannot affect the outcome of our operation. It continues, and will be completed.” Ukraine, meanwhile, said it would continue to resist the Russian invasion. “Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Attack on Russian weapons depot There was no word if long-range U.S. weapons were used in Ukraine’s strike against a large weapons depot near the Russian town of Karachev in the Bryansk region more than 110 miles from the border with Ukraine. Reuters reported that Ukraine often uses domestically produced drones to hit targets deep inside Russia, and in an announcement on Tuesday, the military did not specify … “Russia broadens conditions for using nuclear weapons “ →

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuania’s Navy said on Tuesday it had increased monitoring of its waters after an undersea communications cable connecting the country with Sweden had been damaged. An assessment is now being carried out along with allies, a spokesperson for the Lithuanian armed forces told Reuters. The cable was one of two fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea which were severed in recent days, raising suspicions of sabotage by bad actors, countries and companies involved said on Monday. A spokesperson for Arelion, the owner and operator of the communications cable, told Reuters on Tuesday that the link between Lithuania and Sweden was “fully out” but that the reason remained unclear. …

NEW YORK — Arthur Frommer, whose “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” guidebooks revolutionized leisure travel by convincing average Americans to take budget vacations abroad, has died. He was 95. Frommer died from complications of pneumonia, his daughter Pauline Frommer said Monday. “My father opened up the world to so many people,” she said. “He believed deeply that travel could be an enlightening activity and one that did not require a big budget.” Frommer began writing about travel while serving in the U.S. Army in Europe in the 1950s. When a guidebook he wrote for American soldiers overseas sold out, he launched what became one of the travel industry’s best-known brands, self-publishing “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” in 1957. “It struck a chord and became an immediate best-seller,” he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the book’s debut. The Frommer’s brand, led today by his daughter Pauline, remains one of the best-known names in the travel industry, with guidebooks to destinations around the world, an influential social media presence, podcasts and a radio show. Frommer’s philosophy — stay in inns and budget hotels instead of five-star hotels, sightsee on your own using public transportation, eat with locals in small cafes instead of fancy restaurants — changed the way Americans traveled in the mid- to late 20th century. He said budget travel was preferable to luxury travel “because it leads to a more authentic experience.” That message encouraged average people, not just the wealthy, to vacation abroad. It didn’t hurt that his books hit the market as the rise of jet travel made getting to Europe easier than crossing the Atlantic by ship. The books became so popular that there was a time when you couldn’t visit a place like the Eiffel Tower without spotting Frommer’s guidebooks in the hands of every other American tourist. Frommer’s advice also became so standard that it’s hard to remember how radical it seemed in the days before discount flights and backpacks. “It was really pioneering stuff,” Tony Wheeler, founder of the Lonely Planet guidebook company, said in an interview in 2013. Before Frommer, Wheeler said, you could find guidebooks “that would tell you everything about the church or the temple ruin. But the idea that you wanted to eat somewhere and find a hotel or get from A to B — well, I’ve got a … “Arthur Frommer, travel guide innovator, has died at 95” →

Russia vetoed a United Nation resolution Monday calling for an immediate cease-fire between Sudan’s warring parties and the delivery of humanitarian aid to millions of Sudanese. Russia was the only Security Council member that voted against the cease-fire resolution. China, Russia’s ally, supported the resolution, drafted by the United Kingdom and Sierra Leone. Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the council that Moscow vetoed the resolution because Sudan’s government should be “solely” responsible for what happens in Sudan. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, “It is shocking that Russia has vetoed an effort to save lives, though perhaps it shouldn’t be.” She added, “For months, Russia has obstructed and obfuscated, standing in the way of council action to address the catastrophic situation in Sudan and playing … both sides of the conflict, to advance its own political objectives at the expense of Sudanese lives.” British Foreign Minister David Lammy said, “One country stood in the way of the council speaking with one voice. One country is the blocker. One country is the enemy of peace. This Russian veto is a disgrace, and it shows to the world yet again, Russia’s true colors.” Polyanskiy accused the Security Council of operating under a double standard, pointing to the council’s failure to rein in Israel with what he said are violations of humanitarian law in Gaza. War broke out between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, in the capital, Khartoum, just before the country was set to transition to civilian rule. The violence has spread to other regions around the country. Eleven million people in Sudan have been displaced and half of the country’s population, an estimated 25 million people, are struggling with crisis-level food insecurity, according to the United Nations. Famine was confirmed in August in the northern part of Sudan’s Darfur region. Some information in this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. …

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Young people who attend the U.N. climate talks have a lot to be angry about. They’ve lost loved ones and months of school. They’ve lost homes and family farms and connections to their families’ native lands. They haven’t lost hope, though. Not yet. “It has become so tiring for me to be just a poster child,” said Marinel Ubaldo, who by age 16 had watched two back-to-back supersized typhoons destroy entire communities in her native Philippines. Missing a chunk of high school in the aftermath, because there was no school to go back to, was a wake-up call. Now 27, COP29 will be her sixth time attending the summit where leaders negotiate the future she will inherit. “I guess I’m very pessimistic, but I’m going to be positive that this COP could actually bring more clarity,” she said. Her pessimism isn’t unwarranted. Fewer leaders were in attendance this year, with a backdrop of uncertainty as political will on climate unravels in major countries like the U.S. and Germany. While many passionate youths want to protest, this will be the third straight COP in an authoritarian country with tighter controls on protests and speech.  And for many of the young people hardest hit by climate extremes, it’s simply difficult and expensive to get to the conference. “We have this constant challenge of having sometimes the youth forums with spaces at the margins of the decision-maker spaces,” said Felipe Paullier, assistant secretary-general for youth affairs in the U.N. youth office. That’s why the U.N. has been working to institutionalize the role of youth in the climate talks, he said. And climate change has a disproportionate impact on children around the world. Their growing bodies have a harder time handling extreme heat, which also causes an uptick in premature births and childhood malnutrition, said Kitty van der Heijden, UNICEF assistant secretary-general. “We are simply not doing good enough for children in this world. We are failing children,” she said. All that means young people are feeling the burden of speaking up about climate change more than ever. And many of those who come to COP, and even some of the ones who don’t, said they feel tired — weighed down by the knowledge that year after year, they show up to speak and don’t have a lot to show for it. This was the third year in a row that Earth’s … “Youths at UN climate talks push through anger to fight for hope” →

Russia has been buying artillery shells and missiles from North Korea, buying drones and ballistic missiles from Iran and strengthening ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan to sustain its war in Ukraine. All three governments are under U.N. embargoes that prohibit arms trade and financial dealings with the countries to curtail weapons proliferation and human rights abuses. Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has also provided diplomatic support to Iran and North Korea, including by vetoing sanctions.   Iran Iran has supplied Moscow with more than 2,000 Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones and 18 Mohajer-6 drones since Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia extensively used the Iranian drones to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and civilian targets, and to deplete Kyiv’s air defense systems. Ukraine said in September that Russia had deployed more than 8,060 Iranian-designed drones since the beginning of the full-fledged war. This number includes both Iranian-made drones and drones manufactured in a factory in the Russian republic of Tatarstan using Iranian parts and technology. Additionally, Iran has helped replenish Russia’s munitions, providing hundreds of ballistic missiles in 2024.   Russia has reportedly pledged to supply Iran with Su-35 fighter jets and advanced air defense systems. Some Russian technology, such as the Yak-130 aircraft for training Su-35 pilots, has already reached Iran, though the extent remains unclear.   Iran also provides propaganda support to Russia aligning the top government officials’ rhetoric and the news media language with the Kremlin’s Ukraine narratives. For example, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described on multiple occasions Russia’s aggression as a “defensive act” against an imperialistic West and NATO.  U.N. sanctions on Iran, led by the U.S. and supported by the European Union, target Tehran’s nuclear program, arms trade and financial systems. The restrictions are designed to curb Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region and beyond. Russia’s engagement in arms trade not only contravenes restrictions on arms exports but also boosts Iran’s military industry.  North Korea Since September 2023, North Korea has reportedly supplied Russia with up to 5 million artillery shells, a substantial figure given Russia’s annual production capacity of only 2 million to 3 million shells. Russia also deployed in Ukraine North Korean KN-23/24 ballistic missiles, though their failure rate is reportedly high.  Apart from weapons trade, Russia supports North Korea diplomatically – for example, in international forums and by opposing U.N. sanctions on its oil imports … “Russia increases arms trade with UN-embargoed nations to feed Ukraine war” →

Athens, Greece — Greece will make an early repayment of 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in bailout-era debt in 2025, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a banking conference in Athens on Monday, describing the move as a signal of the country’s fiscal recovery. “This … underscores our confidence in public finances and reflects our commitment to fiscal discipline,” Mitsotakis said. Finance Ministry officials say they plan to reduce debt through primary surpluses, loan repayments and combating tax evasion. Greece has rebounded from a 10-year financial crisis that forced it to borrow tens of billions of euros from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund. But Mitsotakis’ center-right government, elected for a second term in 2023, is struggling to address a cost of living crisis that has sapped Greeks’ spending power. Despite the lack of any substantial challenge from opposition parties, the high cost of living has nibbled away at the government’s approval ratings and triggered union anger. The country’s two main private and public sector unions have called a general strike for Wednesday that will keep island ferries in port and disrupt other forms of transport and public services.  A protest march will be held in central Athens on Wednesday morning. The GSEE main private sector union Monday accused the government of “refusing to take any meaningful measures that would secure workers dignified living conditions.” “The cost of living is sky-high and our salaries rock-bottom, (while) high housing costs have left young people in a tragic position,” GSEE chairman Yiannis Panagopoulos said. According to EU forecasts, Greece’s economy is expected to grow 2.1% in 2024 and maintain a broadly similar course over the following two years. Unemployment, now below 10%, is expected to keep declining, while inflation is projected at 3% this year.  …

tbilisi, georgia — Demonstrators in Georgia’s capital have set up tents on a central thoroughfare and vowed Monday to stay around the clock to demand new parliamentary elections in the country. The October 26 election kept the governing Georgian Dream party in power, but opponents say the vote was rigged with Russia’s assistance. Many Georgians viewed the election as a referendum on the country’s effort to join the European Union. Several large protests have been held since then. President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results, declared on Monday that she would appeal the vote results to the Constitutional Court. Zourabichvili, who holds a mostly ceremonial position, has said Georgia has fallen victim to pressure from Moscow against joining the EU. Critics have accused Georgian Dream, established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights. On Sunday, demonstrators closed an avenue leading into the center of Tbilisi. Nika Melia, leader of Coalition for Change, one of the opposition groups, voiced hope that the protests around the clock will mark “the beginning of the intense, strong protest movement that will finish with the fall of Ivanishvili’s regime.” The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June after the country’s parliament passed a law requiring organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government. The Central Election Commission said Georgian Dream won about 54% of the vote in October. Its leaders have rejected opposition claims of vote fraud. European election observers said the election took place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence. …

Russian opposition members in exile took to the streets of Berlin Sunday to demand a pullout of Russian troops from Ukraine and the resignation of President Vladimir Putin in a protest that would have been impossible in Russia due to police and judicial pressure on opposition movements. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in Berlin. …

warsaw, poland — Poland’s health authorities on Monday urged polio vaccinations for children after the virus was detected in Warsaw’s sewage during regular tests this month. The state Main Sanitary Inspectorate in a statement said the presence of the virus does not necessarily mean people have been sick, but those who have not been vaccinated against polio could be at risk. The vaccinations are free in Poland for people under 19. New measures also include more intensive testing of Warsaw’s sewage, renewing the vaccination stocks and updating the list of children still unvaccinated. Polio is most often spread by contact with waste from an infected person or, less frequently, through contaminated water or food. The polio virus mostly affects children under 5. Most people infected don’t have symptoms, but in severe cases, polio can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis within hours, according to the World Health Organization. It estimates that 1 in 200 polio cases results in permanent paralysis, usually of the legs. Poland’s inspectorate said about 86% of the country’s 3-year-olds have been vaccinated against polio and that vaccinating at least 95% of children can prevent the spread of the virus. Poland has seen the rise of anti-vaccination movements among some parents, which has worried health officials. The statement said Poland’s last case of polio was in 1984. …

The Kremlin accused U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday of escalating hostility over Moscow’s nearly three-year-long war on Ukraine with his marked policy shift to allow Kyiv to use Washington-supplied, long-range missiles to strike inside Russia. The decision by Biden, who is leaving office in two months, marks a “new spiral of tensions and a qualitatively new situation from the point of view of the U.S.’s engagement in the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not comment publicly, but Peskov referred journalists to a Putin statement in September, in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would significantly raise the stakes in the conflict. It would change “the very nature of the conflict dramatically,” Putin said at the time. “This will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia.” Peskov claimed that Western countries supplying long-range weapons also provide targeting services to Kyiv. “This fundamentally changes the modality of their involvement in the conflict,” Peskov said. Until now, the United States had allowed Ukraine to deploy shorter-range American weapons, like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems the U.S. donated in the first months of the war, to hit Russian targets over the border from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. The range of these rockets was around 80 kilometers, but the Biden decision will allow the use of Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, rockets that can reach targets at a distance of up to about 300 kilometers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had lobbied Washington for months to be allowed to use the longer-range rockets against military targets deep inside Russia, contending they were needed to hit rocket arsenals and other weaponry being stored by Russia before their use targeting Ukraine’s cities and electrical grids. Biden, until now, had resisted allowing use of the longer-range missiles for fear it would escalate the war and tensions with the U.S.-led NATO military alliance. But North Korea’s deployment of troops to fight alongside Moscow’s forces alarmed Washington. The U.S. says the new missiles could first be used against Russian and North Korean forces trying to retake the Kursk region in southern Russia, which Ukraine captured in a surprise attack in August and still holds. ATACMS are long-range guided missiles produced by U.S. aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin. The missiles carry a 227-kilogram fragmentation warhead and are tough to intercept due … “Kremlin says Biden’s missile decision escalates tensions in war with Ukraine” →

The Holocaust Museum LA recently installed a new exhibit on its roof: a German-made freight car that was used to deport Jews across Nazi-occupied Europe to the Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin, Poland. From Los Angeles, Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …

London — Britain on Monday imposed sanctions against Iran’s national airline and shipping carrier, measures it said were taken in response to Iran’s transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia.  The state-owned Iran Air and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) will face an asset freeze for their role in supplying weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield against Ukraine, Britain said.  “Iran’s attempts to undermine global security are dangerous and unacceptable,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. “We reiterate our call on Iran to cease its support for Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.”  The sanctions will further restrict Iran Air’s direct commercial air services to and from the U.K.  Britain also sanctioned the Russian cargo ship PORT OLYA-3 for its role in transporting military supplies to Russia, it said.  …

AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands’ foreign minister, whose ministry oversees export restrictions on top computer chip equipment maker ASML, said on Monday that China-Russia trade was “directly affecting” European security.  NATO views China as a “decisive enabler” of Russia in its war against Ukraine, given that Chinese firms are selling goods that end up as components in Russian weapons, including drones, Caspar Veldkamp said before a meeting with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels.  “I raised this twice with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and I think as Europeans we should all do this, because this is something that China should be realizing: it is directly affecting European security,” Veldkamp said.  In cooperation with the United States, the Dutch government has rolled out a series of progressively tighter export restrictions preventing ASML from shipping its most advanced technology to Chinese chipmakers.  ASML dominates the market for lithography tools, which are essential for making the circuitry of computer chips.  Despite the restrictions, China has still been the largest market for ASML and other top U.S. and Japanese equipment makers over the past year and a half, as Chinese firms expand capacity to make older chips not covered by restrictions, but still adequate for many military purposes.   ASML tool sales to Chinese firms reached a record $2.94 billion in the third quarter, though the company forecasts a decline in 2025.  Veldkamp said he would discuss what to do about Chinese support for Russia with other EU foreign ministers on Monday.  “We are discussing anything regarding foreign assistance to Russia in its war in Ukraine, be it Iran, be it North Korea, be it China,” he said.  …

A Russian attack on Ukraine’s northeast city of Sumy killed 11 people and injured at least 89, Ukrainian officials said. “Sunday evening for the city of Sumy became hell, a tragedy that Russia brought to our land,” military administrator Volodymyr Artyukh said in a post on the Telegram messaging channel. Sumy regional prosecutors said the attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions and 13 buildings. The attack followed a massive Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s power infrastructure earlier in the day, as well as news reports that the United States granted clearance for Ukraine to use long-range U.S. weapons to hit military targets in Russia. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country and its allies should focus on “really forcing Russia to end the war.” “Today marked one of the largest and most dangerous Russian attacks in the entire war – 210 drones and missiles launched simultaneously – including hypersonic and aeroballistic ones,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. Zelenskyy has long been lobbying for permission to use the Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia. He said in his address that negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin is not an effective strategy to end the war. “This is the answer to all those who wanted to achieve something with Putin through conversations, phone calls, hugs – appeasement. Today, this ‘dove of peace’ sent us yet another barrage of ‘Kinzhal’ and ‘Kalibr’ missiles. That’s his diplomacy. His language is treachery,” Zelenskyy said. Long-range capabilities President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia, easing limitations on the longer range weapons as Russia deploys up to 12,000 North Korean troops to reinforce its war, according to a U.S. official and three other people familiar with the matter, the Associated Press reported. In recent weeks, Putin has positioned troops – including those from North Korea – along the northern border of Ukraine in a push to regain territory. Biden had been opposed to any escalation of the war in Ukraine, and Putin has said Moscow could provide long-range weapons for others to hit Western targets if NATO allies allow Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory. But Zelenskyy has argued that the restriction on long-range weapons has hampered Ukraine’s defense against Russian attacks. Long-range capabilities, he said, are a key component of Ukraine’s victory plan. “Today, there’s … “Russian attack on Ukraine’s Sumy kills 11, injures 89, officials say” →

LONDON — Britain will seek backing from other United Nations Security Council members on Monday for its demand that Sudan’s warring parties stop hostilities and allow deliveries of aid, the British foreign ministry said. With London holding the rotating presidency of the council, British foreign minister David Lammy is due to chair a vote on a UK/Sierra Leone-proposed draft resolution, which also calls for the protection of civilians. Lammy will say “the UK will never let Sudan be forgotten” and announce a doubling of Britain’s aid to $285 million, according to a statement from his ministry. A power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out in April 2023 ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, killing thousands and triggering the world’s largest displacement crisis. The ministry said Lammy would also criticize restrictions by Israel on humanitarian aid in Gaza and call for an immediate ceasefire along with the release of all hostages. On the war in Ukraine, he was due to say that Britain “will keep standing with Ukraine until reality dawns in Moscow.” He was due to speak to media with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. …

The Baltic states have committed to continue providing financial and material support to Ukraine’s fight against Russia in 2025. Part of that support is coming from the Latvian-led Drone Coalition. Vladislav Andrejevs has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Video editing by Sergii Dogotar. …

Tbilisi, Georgia — Opposition protesters in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia on Sunday refused to cede control of key government buildings seized during rallies earlier in the week during which at least 14 people were injured in clashes with police. Demonstrators stormed the buildings Friday to protest new measures allowing Russians to buy property in the seaside region. Protesters on Sunday continued to demand the ouster of self-styled Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania, and one prominent politician vowed that the opposition would form a rival government if he refuses to step down. “If our demands for the president’s resignation are not met, we will have to form a temporary government to ensure the normal functioning of state bodies,” Temur Gulia told his supporters, according to local agencies. Bzhania, who is backed by Russia, signaled Sunday that he was prepared to step aside temporarily and hold early elections, even as he continued to slam the demonstrations as “an attempted coup d’etat.” Opponents of the property agreement say it will drive up prices of apartments and boost Moscow’s dominance in the region. On Saturday, Bzhania announced that he would only agree to a snap election if demonstrators vacated the region’s parliament building. But crowds that gathered in the Abkhazian capital, Sukhumi, rejected the deal and opposition leaders said they would only accept Bzhania’s unconditional resignation. Meanwhile, protesters on Sunday began dismantling the security barriers around the government complex in Sukhumi. One prominent opposition figure called the metal barriers a symbol of the authorities being out of touch. “This barrier shows that the government has decided to fence itself off from its people,” Adgur Ardzinba said, according to local media. Most of Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in fighting that ended in 1993, and Georgia lost control of the rest of the territory in the short war with Russia in 2008. Russia recognizes Abkhazia as an independent country, but many Abkhazians are concerned that the region of about 245,000 people is a client state of Moscow. Abkhazia’s mountains and Black Sea beaches make it a popular destination for Russian tourists and the demand for holiday homes could be strong. At least 14 people were injured Friday when opposition protesters clashed with police, Russian state agencies reported. Lawmakers had gathered at the region’s parliament building to discuss ratifying measures allowing Russian citizens to buy property in the breakaway state. However, the session was postponed as demonstrators … “Protesters in separatist Georgian region occupy government buildings, call for leader’s ouster” →

Baku, Azerbaiijan — A new set of global carbon credit trade market standards has been agreed to during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, or COP29, following years of deadlock. Some analysts say that under the guidelines, a bigger number of entities could join a more regulated voluntary carbon credit trading system to reduce emissions. Known as Article 6.4, delegates agreed on the rules for establishing a system that allows trade in carbon credit between individual countries and companies, under the supervision of a centralized U.N. body. These include how to validate, verify and issue credits.  Another option, known as Article 6.2, allows countries to set their own terms to trade carbon credits bilaterally. Countries weren’t able to agree on the standards for either option before COP29. Under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, countries have committed to green goals, including slashing carbon emissions.  The new deal could “reduce the cost of implementing national climate plans by $250 billion per year by enabling cooperation across borders,” the COP29 presidency said in a statement, which hailed the outcome as a “game-changing tool to direct resources to the developing world.” Controversial move The agreement is more a recognition from countries of the new rules, but negotiations are still ongoing and details are still being worked out so they are not fixed, according to Je-liang Liou, researcher at the Chung-Hua Institute for Economic Research in Taiwan.  “In the previous COP, the supervisory body usually drafted a bill for countries to discuss and decide if they approve it or not. But this year, the body of Article 6.4 approved their own draft before COP29 started so it became more of a situation for countries to give their votes,” Liou explained to VOA. The hasty process drew ire from some countries’ negotiators, including Tuvalu’s. It said that “adopting decisions without prior consultations by the governing bodies does not reflect the Paris Agreement’s party-driven process,” according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development.   Some climate advocates also said the agreement isn’t a success, as regulations have been an issue for voluntary carbon credit trading in the past.  “We should be very concerned in the Global South, especially if we don’t have sufficient safeguards in place to protect against the possibility of land grabs, human rights abuses, threats to subsistence … “New global carbon trade rules adopted at UN climate summit expand inclusion, draw ire” →

Russia launched a massive airstrike campaign against neighboring Ukraine on Sunday. Local officials say several people died and the power system suffered “severe damage.” VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

Berlin — Prominent Russian opposition figures led a march of at least 1,000 people in central Berlin Sunday, criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine and calling for democracy in Russia. Behind a banner that read “No Putin. No War,” the protesters were led by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, as well as Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were freed from Russian detention in a high-profile prisoner exchange this summer. Shouting “Russia without Putin” and other chants in Russian, the demonstrators held up signs with a wide array of messages on a red background, including “Putin = War” and “Putin is a murderer” in German. Some marched with the flags of Russia or Ukraine, as well as a white-blue-white flag used by some Russian opposition groups. Organizers said the march began near Potsdamer Platz and went through the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie and was expected to end outside the Russian Embassy. “The march demands the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the trial of Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, and the release of all political prisoners in Russia,” the protesters said in a statement. Yashin, in a statement before the demonstration, said demonstrators were “using the freedom we have here in Berlin to show the world: A peaceful, free, and civilized Russia exists.” Navalnaya, Yashin and Kara-Murza have all billed Sunday’s rally as a show of unity at a time when recent rounds of acrimony have roiled the anti-war camp. Russia’s exiled anti-war opposition has so far largely failed to speak with one voice and present a clear plan of action. The landmark East-West prisoner swap in August freed key dissidents and promised to reinvigorate a movement unmoored by the death in prison of Navalny, a charismatic anti-corruption campaigner and arch-Kremlin foe. Instead, tensions have spiked in recent months, as Navalny’s allies and other prominent dissidents swapped accusations that appeared to dash any hopes of a united anti-Kremlin front. Many opposition-minded Russians have voiced deep frustration with the infighting, and with what some view as efforts by rivaling groups to discredit and wrest influence from one another. …

Rome — Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year.   It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been “immoral” and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.   The book, by Hernán Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world.” It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope’s 2025 jubilee. Francis’ yearlong jubilee is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year.   “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope said in excerpts published Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.    “We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added.   Last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and set off a firestorm by using words that Vatican diplomats usually avoid: “terrorism” and, according to the Palestinians, “genocide.”   Francis spoke at the time about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting was announced.   The pontiff, who last week also met with a delegation of Israeli hostages who were released and their families pressing the campaign to bring the remaining captives home had editorial control over the upcoming book.   The war started when the militant Hamas group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 as hostages and taking them back to Gaza, where dozens still remain.   Israel’s subsequent yearlong military campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children.   The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has triggered several legal cases at international courts in The Hague involving requests for arrest warrants as well as accusations and denials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.   In the new book, Francis also speaks … “Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute ‘genocide’ “ →

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile’s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday. In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove his theory — that the South Sea Islands were settled by seafarers from South America. He brought 5,600 objects back from Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. This is the third time objects taken by him are being returned. Many have been stored and displayed at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway’s capital, and some were given back in 1986 and others 2006. The return has been a collaboration between the museum, Chile and Rapa Nui’s local authorities. “My grandfather would have been proud of what we are about to achieve,” said Liv Heyerdahl, head of the museum and the explorer’s granddaughter. She told the Norwegian news agency NTB that the objects were brought to Norway “with a promise that they would one day be returned.” Among those that are being returned this time around are human remains called Ivi Tepuna and sculpted stones. A nine-person delegation had traveled to Norway this week to collect the items. Four of them spent the night at the Oslo museum, alongside the remains as part of a ritual ceremony to take back the spirits of the remains. “First one must awaken the spirits, and then speak to them in our original language. Food is then prepared to eat a meal with them, where the smell of the food goes to the spirits,” a member of the delegation, Laura Tarita Rapu Alarcón, told NTB. “It is important that those who own the culture are involved in the process,” Liv Heyerdahl was quoted as saying by NTB. “Of course these remains should be returned, and it feels right because they belong to the Rapa Nui.” In 2019, an agreement was signed in Santiago, Chile, during a visit by Norway’s King Harald. However, the COVID-19 pandemic stopped all activities in 2020, the museum said. Harald met with the Rapa Nui delegation on Tuesday. A book about Thor Heyerdahl’s voyage — he died in 2002 at the age of 87 — has become an international bestseller, and his film of the journey won an Academy … “Norway’s Kon-Tiki Museum returns artifacts to Chile’s remote Easter Island” →