Category: European Union

The French government won praise last month for making good on its promise to rebuild the fire-hit Notre Dame cathedral in just five years. But authorities are facing a rockier time when it comes to rebuilding cyclone-hit Mayotte — France’s impoverished overseas territory off the coast of East Africa. Lawmakers this week began fractious hearings about how to speed up reconstruction of Mayotte, where Cyclone Chido last month killed dozens, injured thousands and flattened thousands of buildings, especially in shantytowns. On Sunday, another tropical storm triggered flooding in the archipelago, underscoring the fallout of extreme weather events that are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. French Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville announced that there were only a few injuries and no deaths from the latest storm and that it was time to get back to work. Visiting days after Cyclone Chido, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to swiftly rebuild Mayotte. But reconstructing Mayotte has dug up a raft of grievances and triggered hot political debate. The overseas territory — with an official population of about 320,000 — is the poorest and most underdeveloped department of France. Macron and his centrist government are accused of being too slow in delivering aid and water and restoring power after Cyclone Chido. Many of Mayotte’s residents are not French citizens, but rather undocumented immigrants, many from nearby Comoros. Top French ministers are now talking about cracking down on illegal immigration. So is far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party is the most popular in France. During a visit to the territory earlier this month, Le Pen got an enthusiastic welcome from many Mayotte citizens — who largely voted for her during 2022 presidential elections. She blames the government for poor public services like education — and for undercounting the number of migrants there illegally. …

WARSAW, POLAND — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia on Wednesday of planning acts of sabotage worldwide that included “acts of air terror” against airlines.  Tusk spoke at a news conference in Warsaw alongside Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy.  “I will not go into details, I can only confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of air terror, not only against Poland, but against airlines around the world,” Tusk said.  The Kremlin has dismissed previous Western claims that Russia sponsored acts of sabotage and attacks in Europe.  Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England last year.  The pro-European Union government in Warsaw says that Russia is pursuing acts of hybrid war against Poland and other Western countries in retaliation for their support for Poland’s neighbor Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s full-scale invasion.  The government has accused Russia, and its ally Belarus, of fomenting a migration crisis on the EU’s eastern border with Belarus in order to create chaos and division in the EU.  Last year, Poland’s foreign minister ordered the closure of one of three Russian consulates in the country in response to acts of sabotage, including arson attacks that he said were sponsored by Moscow. …

London — Support appears to be growing in the West to fully seize hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets that were frozen following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, amid speculation that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will try to seek a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv soon after he takes office next week. Nations, including the United States, Canada, Britain, several European Union members states and Japan, froze about $300 billion of assets owned by Russia’s Central Bank after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Some $200 billion of the assets are held in the Euroclear facility in Brussels, with approximately $5 billion frozen in the United States. U.S. media reported Tuesday that outgoing President Joe Biden is making a last-minute push for European allies to fully seize the assets so they can be used as leverage in any future peace negotiations. Some European lawmakers are pushing for the assets to be given to Ukraine, however, to buy weapons and help to rebuild the country. Others fear that seizing the assets would deter investors and destabilize Western currencies. Moscow has said that any seizure of its assets would be illegal and has pledged to retaliate. Ukraine reconstruction Ukraine’s reconstruction costs will reach at least $486 billion over the next decade, according to a February 2024 report by the Ukrainian government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations. Britain holds about $22 billion worth of Russian assets. Lawmakers voted last week in favor of a nonbinding motion to seize the assets and give the money to Kyiv. Member of Parliament Mike Martin, who brought the motion, cited uncertainty over future military aid for Kyiv under Trump. “We do know that he feels differently about Ukraine. He feels differently about the security of Europe, and he feels differently about Russia. So, if we want to shift the dial on Ukraine, especially in the face of a drawdown or potential drawdown in U.S. support, we need to go further and faster, and we need to seize these $300 billions of frozen assets and send them to Ukraine,” Martin told lawmakers. Geopolitical signals “It is not just about actions that lead to practical outcomes. It is also about signals that we send to our geopolitical opponents. … Any potential small amount of financial instability that the G7 countries moving together will create will be miniscule as … “Europe mulls seizing Russia’s billions to aid Ukraine “ →

Support is growing in the West to seize hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets that were frozen following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As Henry Ridgwell reports, European allies fear incoming U.S. President Donald Trump may slash military aid for Kyiv – and some say the Russian assets could make up the shortfall. …

Officials in western Ukraine said Wednesday a Russian missile attack hit critical infrastructure facilities in the Lviv region. Lviv Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said the missile strikes took place in two separate areas, and that there were no casualties. Ukraine’s military issued air alerts for regions across the country Wednesday, while the national power grid operator instituted power cuts in six regions. Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram that Russian forces attacked overnight with drones and missiles, with fragments from destroyed drones damaging two houses. In Dnipropetrovsk, Governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram that Russian attacks included artillery, drones and missiles that damaged an industrial site. Kirovohrad Governor Andriy Raikovich reported on Telegram what he described as a massive Russian drone attack that damaged several residential buildings. Officials in the Rivne region also said Russian missiles targeted the area overnight. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod area and another drone over the Tambov region. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that Ukrainian attacks injured one person, while Tambov Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov reported damage to a house. Some information for this story came from Reuters. …

As Russian President Vladimir Putin and his key ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, organize waves of illegal immigration into the EU as a tool of their hybrid war against the West, Poland has been building a wall on the border with Belarus, shielding itself from current and potentially future Russia’s hostile efforts. The wall, more than 5 meters high, stretches for more than 136 kilometers. However, illegal migrants bused to the border by Russian and Belarusian authorities increasingly use garden ladders to scale the wall and get into Poland. Click here for the full story in Russian. …

The Russian army is strengthening its positions in villages around the key eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk in an attempt to encircle it and lay siege to a vital transport hub linking embattled Donbas with the rest of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have been repelling the Russian attacks so far, but the battle is continuing for every remaining house in the villages surrounding Pokrovsk. Click here for the full story in Russian. …

PARIS — France’s new prime minister, Francois Bayrou, announced Tuesday the renegotiation of a contested plan raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, in a crucial move to seek more stability for his minority government.  In his first address to lawmakers at the National Assembly, Bayrou said: “I’m choosing to put this subject back on the agenda, with the social partners, for a short time and under transparent conditions.”  Bayrou vowed to seek “a new path of reform, without any totems or taboos, not even the retirement age,” as long as the financing for the changes is guaranteed.  President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 unleashed months of mass protests from January to June 2023 that damaged his leadership.  Bayrou also outlined other top priorities, including key budget decisions, one month after he was appointed by Macron.  What is Bayrou proposing?  Bayrou urgently needs to pass a budget bill for 2025. Following the collapse of the previous government, an emergency law has been approved to enable the state to levy taxes from Jan. 1, pay basic expenses and avoid a shutdown.  But only a proper budget would help reduce France’s deficit and allow key expenses such as defense measures needed amid the war in Ukraine or aid promised to angry farmers.  Financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission are pushing France to comply with EU rules limiting debt and keep France’s borrowing costs from spiraling. That would threaten the prosperity of eurozone countries.  France’s deficit is estimated to reach 6% of its gross domestic product in 2024. Bayrou on Tuesday said the government was aiming for a deficit of 5.4% this year, with the goal to reduce it to 3% — in line with EU rules — by 2029.  Can the government be toppled again?  Bayrou’s Cabinet relies on a fragile deal between Macron’s centrist allies and conservatives of The Republicans party who even together have no parliamentary majority.  The previous government was in place for only three months before being brought down by opposition lawmakers from both the left and the far right amid a budget dispute.  To avoid a repetition of that scenario, Bayrou seeks to secure a nonaggression pact with the Socialists so that they wouldn’t support any future move to topple the new government.  The Socialists said they are open to talks on the condition that they would include … “France’s new prime minister announces renegotiation of contested plan to raise retirement age” →

GENEVA — U.S. President Donald Trump will take part virtually in the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos just days after his inauguration, the forum president said Tuesday.  Borge Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister who heads the Geneva-based organization, noted that Trump had twice attended the elite gathering of business, government and other leaders in person during his first term.  “On Thursday afternoon, he will join us digitally, online, live in a dialogue with our participants,” Brende told reporters Tuesday as he presented the five-day program that will start Monday — the day of Trump’s inauguration.  “We think that will be a very special moment,” he added, notably to help learn the administration’s “policy priorities.”  Brende said he didn’t know whether Elon Musk, the multibillionaire who is poised to co-lead Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, would attend, but said the forum expects “additional, high-level representation” from the administration once confirmation processes for Trump’s nominees get underway in the U.S. Senate as early as Monday.  Forum organizers say a record of around 900 business leaders, including from important emerging markets, will take part in the annual meeting this year, which is expected to draw nearly 3,000 participants from over 130 countries.  With climate change, war, global tensions, economic uncertainty and other issues in mind, Brende acknowledged that the 55th annual meeting of the forum will take place “against the most complicated geopolitical backdrop in generations.”  “But still in that fragmented and partly polarized world, there are still areas where we can collaborate and … we have big opportunities and responsibilities to find those areas where there is a possibility to improve the state of the world,” he said. The theme of this year’s edition is “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age” — a nod to the growing importance of technology in the world.  The WEF has long been derided as a gathering of world elites who plot the future at a cushy, snow-bound powwow in the Swiss Alps. Critics often argue the developing world gets less attention than global powers and big business in the West or Gulf states.  Forum managing director Mirek Dusek insisted that the number of businesses from developing countries in the “Global South” was growing, and the attendance of their leaders was “on parity” with the participation of leaders in the developed world.  Ursula Von Der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive commission, plans to … “World Economic Forum says Trump to take part virtually in Davos meeting, days after inauguration” →

LONDON — Britain’s antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it would investigate Google’s search services using its new powers to see how they impact consumers and businesses, including advertisers, news publishers and rival search engines. The Competition and Markets Authority, which has gained new powers to examine big tech, said search was vital for economic growth and it was critical that competition was working well. “Millions of people and businesses relied on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90% of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there,” CMA boss Sarah Cardell said in a statement. “It’s our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal.” The CMA’s move comes after U.S. prosecutors in November argued to a judge that Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data, and search results with rivals, and take a range of other measures to end its monopoly on online search. Google did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. …

HELSINKI — European nations must be prepared to face further incidents in the Baltic Sea following the recent damage to undersea infrastructure, leaders of NATO countries in the region said on Tuesday ahead of a security meeting in Helsinki. Baltic Sea nations are on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and are discussing an increased NATO presence. Some 2,000 ships are crossing the Baltic Sea every day, making it difficult to monitor it all, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said. “Let’s face it, we can’t ensure 100% protection but if we are sending a bold signal then I think that such incidents are going to decrease or even to stop,” Rinkevics told reporters. Finnish police last month seized a tanker carrying Russian oil and said they suspected the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that this and other recent incidents in the Baltic Sea must be assumed to be part of a hybrid strategy that is threatening European countries. “It is important that we come together here now and talk about how we can work together to ensure greater security in the Baltic Sea region,” Scholz said. …

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Ukraine on Tuesday in a show of support for the country in its fight against the Russian invasion that began nearly three years ago. German officials said the visit was aimed at reassuring Ukraine it will continue to receive support, with Pistorius to meet with top Ukrainian officials. The visit comes less than a week before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and the questions about how U.S. policy toward Ukraine might change under the new administration. Officials in multiple Russian regions said Tuesday their areas came under major Ukrainian drone attacks, including in Saratov, where Governor Roman Busargin said there was damage at two industrial enterprises in the neighboring cities of Saratov and Engels. That area is home to a base for Russian bomber planes. Last week, a Ukrainian attack hit an oil depot that serves the base. Oryol Governor Andrei Klychkov said on Telegram that Russian air defenses shot down 17 Ukrainian drones in his region. He reported no damage or casualties from the attacks. Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram 14 drones were destroyed overnight, while officials in Voronezh said several Ukrainian drones were shot down without causing damage. Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it destroyed 58 of 80 drones that Russian forces used to target 11 different regions. The Ukrainian air force reported damage to apartment buildings, commercial buildings and cars in the Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions as a result of falling debris from downed drones. Ukrainian air defenses also destroyed Russian drones over the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Poltava regions, the Ukrainian air force said. Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters   …

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Malaysia said on Tuesday it will encourage sustainability while maintaining the competitiveness of its palm oil industry ahead of the implementation of the European Union’s anti-deforestation law at the end of this year. The EU last month approved a one-year delay to the landmark deforestation law, which bans the importation of palm oil, soy and other goods linked to the destruction of forests. The bill now takes effect from Dec. 30 this year. The law requires companies and traders selling soy, beef, coffee, palm oil and other products in the EU to provide proof their supply chains do not contribute to deforestation. Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s largest exporters of palm oil, have previously complained that the law and implementation rules are discriminatory. Malaysia’s Deputy Plantation and Commodities Minister Chan Foong Hin said it was crucial for the country’s palm oil industry to understand the impact of the EU law so that domestic practices could be adapted and market access maintained. “By aligning our operations with these standards, we bolster our market position and enhance competitiveness,” Chan told an industry conference on Tuesday. Chan said the success of Malaysia’s palm oil industry depended on the adoption of green initiatives, including advanced agriculture technologies, sustainable farming, and new production methods, to help protect the environment while creating new growth opportunities. Speaking at the same conference, Malaysian Palm Oil Board director-general Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said authorities would work with the local industry. “We are looking forward to a better outlook in 2025,” Ahmad Parveez said. “The ministry and agencies will continuously collaborate closely to address environmental concerns while also promoting economic stability and social responsibility within the industry to foster a more sustainable and balanced future.” He said Malaysian palm oil stocks are expected to fall to around 1.6 million metric tons this year, compared with 1.71 million tons in 2024. Production in the world’s second-largest producer in 2025 should come in at 19.5 million tons, marginally higher than the 19.34 million tons in 2024. Palm oil exports are expected to be 17.3 million tons in 2025, up from 16.9 million tons in 2024, Ahmad Parveez added. …

CHISINAU, MOLDOVA — The prime minister of Moldova’s separatist Transniestria region said Monday that the abrupt curtailment of Russian gas supplies that plunged the region into an energy crisis has also shattered both its exports and imports. The cutoff, prompted by Ukraine’s refusal to renew an agreement allowing Russian gas to transit through Ukraine, has led to daily blackouts in the pro-Russian region of some 350,000 people and disruptions in heating and water supplies. Prime Minister Alexander Rozenberg told local media that the New Year cutoff had triggered a 43% decline in imports and a 60% plunge in exports in the region, which split from Moldova in the final days of Soviet rule. “The steepest drop in the volume of export operations … has been registered in the metals sector, in manufacture of machines and in the chemical industry,” he said. “Exports of cement have been completely stopped.” Transniestria depends heavily on assistance from Moscow and its leaders acknowledge that the Russian gas it has long received was provided free of charge as “humanitarian assistance.” The gas cutoff affects operations at a thermal plant that provides electricity both for Transniestria and much of the area controlled by the central Moldovan government. Its operations have been switched to coal, and Ukraine, Moldova’s eastern neighbor, has offered to provide supplies. Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who has spearheaded the country’s drive to join the EU, called a meeting of Moldova’s Supreme Security Council on Tuesday to discuss energy. Both Moldova and Transniestria have proclaimed states of emergency. Much of Transniestria’s industry has been forced to close or obliged to operate at night, when there is less strain on the power grid. Among the factories closed are a cement plant and a steel mill in the town of Rybnita, with the latter accounting for 35% of the region’s budget revenue. The region’s separatist authorities last week said energy savings had enabled them to reduce rolling blackouts from eight hours a day to three by the weekend. But a blackout of five hours had been announced for Monday. Moldova, which denounces Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, says Moscow fomented the crisis and has suggested shipping gas on a route through Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. Russian gas giant Gazprom said it will provide no supplies until Moldova settles arrears it estimates at $709 million, a figure disputed by Moldovan authorities. Transniestria’s leaders say Moldova has done nothing to … “Premier of separatist Moldova region says gas cutoff shattered foreign trade” →

KYIV, UKRAINE — Russian forces are bypassing a key stronghold in eastern Ukraine that they have fought for months to capture and are focusing instead on cutting supply lines to it, a Ukrainian official said Monday. Russian troops are going around the vital logistics hub of Pokrovsk, where a steadfast Ukrainian defense has kept them at bay, and are taking aim at a highway that leads from there to the central Ukraine city of Dnipro, Major Viktor Trehubov, a local Ukrainian army spokesperson, told The Associated Press. That route is crucial for supplies feeding Ukrainian forces in the entire region. Cutting the highway traffic would also severely weaken Pokrovsk. “So far, they have not achieved their goal and [Ukrainian forces] are working to ensure that they do not achieve it in the future — just as they have not been successful in other attempts to bypass the city,” Trehubov said in a WhatsApp message. Ukraine’s army is under severe strain along parts of the approximately 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where Pokrovsk is located. After almost three years of war, Ukrainian units are depleted and are outnumbered by Russian forces. Though its battlefield progress has been slow and costly, momentum in the war is in Russia’s favor and its onslaught has gradually swallowed up towns and villages, especially in Donetsk. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Monday its forces had seized the village of Pishchane. In his daily video address to the nation late Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting around Pokrovsk was “the most intense” in recent days. In separate comments to local media, Trehubov, the army spokesperson, speculated that Russia’s heavy losses of troops and armor in the Donetsk operation had prompted it to alter its strategy. “Now they are acting more cautiously,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin is pressing his advantage ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House next week. Trump says he wants to bring a swift end to the war, though he hasn’t publicized details of his plans. In 2022, Moscow illegally annexed the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, which make up the economically important Donbas industrial area, together with the southeastern provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. But Russian forces don’t fully control any of them. …

Pro-Kremlin Russian media lost millions of readers and viewers in 2024, with some state propaganda outlets having their audiences slashed by up to a third. The main propaganda TV channel, Channel One, has lost a quarter of its viewers since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Experts who spoke to VOA Russian note this has become a steady trend that the Kremlin has so far been unable to reverse, even with larger injections of cash into state-owned media outlets.  Click here for the full story in Russian.  …

NEW YORK — Ryanair is calling on European authorities to limit the sale of alcoholic beverages at airports across the continent, as the Irish airline continues legal action against a passenger who it says caused a costly flight diversion last year. The budget airline is seeking more than 15,000 euros ($15,324) in damages over the April 2024 incident. Ryanair alleges that this passenger’s “inexcusable behavior” on a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote in Spain’s Canary Islands was so disruptive that it forced the aircraft to divert to Porto, Portugal, for safety — where crew members and over 160 other passengers were later delayed overnight. After announcing its civil suit against the passenger last week, Ryanair on Monday shared further information detailing the costs it incurred for excess fuel, lodging, legal fees and more as a result of this diversion. And the airline also suggested a drink limit for airports across the European Union. “It is time that EU authorities take action to limit the sale of alcohol at airports,” Ryanair wrote in a statement. “We fail to understand why passengers at airports are not limited to two alcoholic drinks [using their boarding pass in exactly the same way they limit duty-free sales], as this would result in safer and better passenger behavior on board aircraft, and a safer travel experience for passengers and crews all over Europe.” Ryanair noted that it and other airlines already limit alcohol sales in-flight — but said that passengers can still consume excess alcohol at airports before boarding, particularly during flight delays, without similar restrictions. Aviation agencies have long expressed concern with disruptive, in-flight incidents — particularly those that result in violence against others on board, verbal abuse, harassment or other health hazards like smoking. Although still rare, reports of unruly passengers seen on planes have recently been on the rise. When reached for comment Monday, a spokesperson for European Union Aviation Safety Agency noted that, while the agency could not provide specifics, “both the number and severity of incidents” have increased in Europe since 2020. Worldwide, the International Air Transport Association found that there was one disruptive incident for every 480 flights in 2023 — the latest figures from the trade organization, which used data from more 24,500 reports and 50 operators worldwide. That’s up from one every 568 in 2022. How many of those incidents involved alcohol was not immediately known. But, among efforts … “Ryanair calls for alcoholic drink limit at EU airports amid legal action against unruly passenger” →

Washington — Outgoing President Joe Biden sought to burnish his foreign policy record Monday and said U.S. adversaries are weaker than when he took office four years ago despite global crises that remain unresolved.  A week before handing over to President-elect Donald Trump, Biden in a rare State Department speech touted his administration’s backing for Ukraine against Russia’s 2022 invasion and for Israel’s wars in the Middle East.  Biden said the United States was “winning the worldwide competition” and would not be surpassed economically by China as had been predicted, while Russia and Iran have been weakened by wars without direct U.S. involvement.  “Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker,” Biden said. “We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”  While wars continue to rage in Ukraine and the Middle East, officials hope a deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas can be reached before Biden departs the White House on Jan. 20.  Biden said negotiators were close to reaching a deal that would free hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave to allow a surge of humanitarian aid.  “So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.  Biden has faced criticism for providing Israel with weapons and diplomatic support during its assault on Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.  Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most of its population displaced.  Protesters shouting “war criminal” greeted Biden outside the State Department on Monday, some with signs and some throwing red liquid intended to look like blood.  Biden said he had helped Israel defeat adversaries like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both backed by Iran. The U.S. president also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.  “All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” he added, noting the collapse of the Syrian Assad government. “There’s no question that our actions contributed significantly.”  …

BERLIN — Germany, Poland, Britain, France and Italy will implement as swiftly as possible new NATO targets for weapons and troop numbers which the alliance is about to agree upon, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius pledged on Monday. The chief of NATO’s Military Committee, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, told Reuters earlier that the alliance aims to bring forward the decision on new targets for weapons and troop numbers to this summer. The Western military and political alliance has been under pressure not only in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine but also internally, with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump calling on its members to spend much more on defense. A NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June will also discuss hiking NATO’s existing military spending target of 2% of national GDP, with 3% being floated by some experts as one potential new target. Trump, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20, recently urged a 5% goal. Speaking after a meeting with his four counterparts in the Polish village of Nowa Wies, Pistorius welcomed NATO’s decision to fix the alliance’s new capability targets in June instead of October as originally planned, a move he said was triggered by a German request. “This buys us a lot of time and we can much earlier kick off the implementation,” Pistorius told reporters. At the same time, he rejected Trump’s push to have members raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, arguing this would equal more than 40% of Germany’s total budget. “The crucial question for me is: How fast do we … every single ally, manage to meet NATO’s new capability targets? … How quickly are we fully capable of defending ourselves when we need to be?” Pistorius said. France’s defense minister, Sebastien Lecornu, said military budgets would continue to increase but did not specify a figure for a new NATO target. “The situation is worse than it was during the Cold War. … We can be defeated without being invaded,” he said, referring to cyberattacks. Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said the next meeting of the Group of Five in Paris would discuss how to finance the organization and the development of the arms industry in Europe. “We will coordinate all defense-related activities between our countries. This is a priority. Europe must show its strength. Europe can again be a beacon for the whole world, it just … “Biggest European allies to swiftly implement new NATO targets, Berlin says” →

Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Iranian counterpart this week for the signing of a broad partnership pact between Moscow and Tehran, the Kremlin said Monday. The agreement on “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the countries will be signed during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Moscow on Friday, the Kremlin said. It added that the leaders will discuss plans for expanding trade and cooperation in transport, logistics and humanitarian spheres along with “acute issues on the regional and international agenda.” Ukraine and the West have accused Tehran of providing Moscow with hundreds of exploding drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine and helping launch their production in Russia. The Iranian drone deliveries, which Moscow and Tehran have denied, have allowed for a barrage of long-range drone strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure. Iran, in turn, wants sophisticated Russian weapons like long-range air defense systems and fighter jets to help fend off possible attacks by Israel. Pezeshkian will visit Moscow three days before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to broker a peace deal on Ukraine. …

PARIS — A Frenchman held in Iran since October 2022 on Monday revealed his identity in an audio message broadcast on a French radio station, saying he was becoming increasingly exhausted over his ordeal. Olivier Grondeau, 34, had previously only been identified by his first name and French authorities had not released details of his case.  In an audio message aired on France Inter on Monday, Grondeau fully identified himself and warned that he and the other two French detainees held in Iran were “exhausted.” The other two French nationals currently held in Iran are teacher Cecile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, who were detained in May 2022. They are accused of seeking to stir up labor protests, accusations their families have vehemently denied. “You, who have the power to influence this matter, hear this truth,” he said in the audio message, apparently addressing the French authorities. “Cecile’s strength, Jacques’ strength, Olivier’s strength — it is all running out,” he said. “Your responsibility is called upon to ensure the survival of three human beings,” he said. Grondeau was arrested in Shiraz, in southern Iran, in October 2022, and sentenced to five years in prison for “conspiracy against the Islamic republic,” his mother Therese Grondeau told France Inter. His family rejects the charges, describing Grondeau as a passionate fan of Persian poetry who was traveling to Iran on a tourist visa as part of a world tour. On Friday, France summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest Tehran’s holding of the trio, describing them as “state hostages.” Their “situation is intolerable, with undignified detention conditions that, for some, constitute torture under international law,” the French foreign ministry said. The tensions have come after an Italian journalist, Cecilia Sala, arrested and jailed in Iran since December, was freed and returned to Rome earlier this month. Her swift release — in contrast to the prolonged detention of the French nationals —  was the result of “intense work through diplomatic and intelligence channels” by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, her office said.  Foreign ministries whose nationals have been held by Iran are known to sometimes advise families to keep a low profile and not announce the arrest of their loved ones publicly, in the hope the situation can be resolved behind the scenes.                …

Around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 others injured in Russia’s war in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in a closed briefing Monday. The National Intelligence Service said it had participated in the interrogation of several North Korean troops who were captured by Ukrainian forces. The briefing came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers during fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise offensive in August. Zelenskyy said late Sunday he would send captured North Koreans back to their country if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un organizes a swap for Ukrainian soldiers being held in Russia. The Ukrainian leader said it is “only a matter of time” before Ukraine captures more North Korean soldiers, and that Russia’s military “is dependent on military assistance from North Korea.” Drone attacks Ukraine’s military said Monday it destroyed 78 of the 110 drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks targeting regions across the country. The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said. Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram that falling drone fragments damaged several houses, but did not hurt anyone. Russian shelling in his region injured one person, Kim said Monday. In Sumy, officials said Russian attacks caused a fire at a residential building and injured one person. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it destroyed six Ukrainian drones over the Voronezh region, as well as one drone over Belgorod and another drone over Bryansk. The ministry also said Monday that a Ukrainian drone attack Saturday targeted the TurkStream gas pipeline that is used to send Russian gas to Turkey and Europe. Russian air defenses shot down all of the drones involved in the attack, and there were no casualties, the ministry said. Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters …

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday Kyiv is ready to hand over North Korean soldiers to their leader Kim Jong Un if he can facilitate their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia. “In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” Zelenskyy said on the social media platform X. Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine had captured two North Koreans in Russia’s Kursk region, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the nearly three-year-old war last fall. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia’s ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence. Zelenskyy has said Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses. “Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Zelenskyy said. He posted a short video showing the interrogation of two men who are presented as North Korean soldiers. One of them is lying on a bed with bandaged hands, the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw. One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise. He said he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later. He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but that he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance. Reuters could not verify the video. “One of them (soldiers) expressed a desire to stay in Ukraine, the other to return to Korea,” Zelenskyy said in a televised statement. Zelenskyy said that for North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available and “those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean (language) will be given that opportunity.” Zelenskyy provided no specific details.  …

Niamey, Niger — An Austrian woman has been kidnapped by gunmen in Niger’s Agadez city, residents and the Austrian Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It is the first time a European citizen is known to have been kidnapped in the conflict-hit West African nation since a military junta took power in 2023. The ministry said the Austrian Embassy in Algeria, which is also responsible for Niger, had been informed of the kidnapping of an Austrian woman in Agadez and was in contact with regional authorities on the ground. Residents and local media identified the victim as Eva Gretzmacher and reported she is an aid worker who has lived in Agadez — hundreds of kilometers away from the capital city of Niamey — for more than 20 years. “(She) is well known for her social commitment (and) created a skills center in 2010 that initiated various projects, notably in the fields of education, women’s empowerment, ecology, culture and art,” the online newspaper Air Info Agadez reported. Gretzmacher also supported education programs through her development work and provided assistance to local nongovernment organizations in various sectors, local media said. No group claimed responsibility for her abduction and authorities in Niger did not immediately comment on the incident. Niger has for many years battled a jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, a security crisis that analysts say has worsened since the military toppled the country’s government in July 2023. Despite their promise to restore peace in hot spots, the junta’s capacity to improve Niger’s security has increasingly been questioned amid increasing attacks. Niger was seen as one of the last democratic countries in Africa’s Sahel region that Western nations could partner with to beat back the jihadi insurgency in the vast expanse below the Sahara Desert. The country has severed decadeslong military ties with the West and turned to Russia as a new security partner. …

London — Hundreds of Londoners headed down to the Underground on Sunday afternoon, stripped down to their underwear and travelled around a bit, trying to look as though nothing unusual was going on. As if. This was the Official No Trousers Tube Ride, an annual event with no point other than injecting a little levity into the bleak midwinter. No deep meaning, no bigger motive. The only goal was to be silly, if but for one afternoon. “There’s so much bad, so much not fun going on,” said ringleader Dave Selkirk, a 40-year-old personal trainer. “It’s nice to do something just for the sake of it.” After gathering at the entrance to Chinatown, dozens of clothing anarchists trooped through the icy streets to the Piccadilly Circus Underground station in central London where they boarded their first train. The only hiccup was that the cars were so crowded some people couldn’t shed their trousers. Selfies were taken. Grins were exchanged. The tourists looked puzzled. The first stunt in this vein was held in New York in 2002, the brainchild of local comedian Charlie Todd. His idea was this: Wouldn’t it be funny if someone walked onto a subway train in the middle of winter wearing a hat, gloves, scarf — everything but pants? Or trousers as they’re known in London, pants being synonymous with underpants in Britain. “It would be unusual in New York, although you can see anything on our subway system, but what would really be funny is if at the next stop, a couple of minutes later, when the doors open and additional persons got on, not wearing trousers as well,” Todd told the BBC. “And they act like they don’t know each other, and they act like … it’s no big deal and they just forgot their trousers.” The idea took off, and no pants days have been held all over: in Berlin, Prague, Jerusalem, Warsaw and Washington, D.C., among other cities. London hosted its first big reveal in 2009. “You know, it’s meant to be a bit of harmless fun,” Todd said. “Certainly, we are living in a climate where, you know, people like to have culture war fights. My rule in New York was always the goal of this event is to amuse other people, to give people a laugh. It’s not to be provocative, it’s not to irritate someone. So hopefully the spirit of that … “London subway riders bare their legs in ‘No Trousers Tube Ride’” →

Belgrade, Serbia — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Belgrade on Sunday switched on the lights on their mobile phones and stood in silence for 15 minutes to commemorate victims of a railway station roof collapse for which they blame authorities.  The protest was organized and led by students from Belgrade state university who are demanding that those responsible for the roof collapse are brought to justice.  They blame the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic for corruption and nepotism, which he and the party deny.  Students at state universities in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Nis have been blockading classes for weeks to demand the release of all documents relevant to the renovation of the station, as well as criminal prosecution of officials responsible for the disaster.  Every day they block traffic in front of their faculties for 15 minutes to commemorate the 15 victims.  The concrete awning of the recently renovated roof of Novi Sad station caved in on Nov. 1, killing 14 and injuring three. One of the injured died later.  Opposition leaders and the public have taken to the streets repeatedly, blaming the accident on shoddy construction resulting from government corruption and nepotism.  The ruling coalition denies those charges, and Vucic has said those responsible must be held to account.  “We have been unhappy for years. We came here to express our revolt (with authorities), and to support students,” said Tamara Kovacevic, one of the protesters. …