Category: European Union

Athens, Greece — The head of the Albanian Orthodox Church, who was airlifted to a hospital in Athens due to complications from a virus, is in a critical condition, the Evangelismos hospital said Sunday. Archbishop Anastasios, 95, was taken to the Greek capital Friday evening, four days after being admitted to hospital in Tirana with what Church officials called a “seasonal virus.” “His Beatitude’s condition is assessed as critical by the attending physicians,” the medical report from the hospital stated. On Saturday, his condition was assessed as “stable despite his already complicated medical history.” Anastasios is credited with having revived the Orthodox Church in Muslim-majority Albania. He led the Church there for three decades. He was airlifted to Athens on a C-27 Greek air force plane following a request from Greek emergency services, the defense ministry said. Greek public television ERT reported that he was also suffering from gastric bleeding. In November 2020, he was hospitalized in Athens for 12 days with COVID-19. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Sunday afternoon the hospital where Archbishop Anastasios of Albania is being treated and was informed for the ailing archbishop’s health condition. …

Paris — Convoys of farmers set off Sunday to try to block roads around Paris in protest of what they say is unfair competition from overseas and excessive regulation. Farmers from France, the European Union’s biggest agricultural producer, led European-wide protests at the start of 2024, but demonstrations fizzled out as the year went on. However, a move last month by the EU and South American nations in the Mercosur bloc to announce an agreement in principle on a free trade deal has given new impetus to French farmers opposed to the Mercosur deal. French farmers also remain unhappy about regulation which they say is hitting their profits. Farming trade union officials are due to meet French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Jan. 13 to express their concerns. “They don’t understand the level of misery and distress that farmers are going through at the moment,” Amelie Rebiere, vice-president of the Coordination Rurale farming trade union, told BFM TV. Those who back the EU’s Mercosur deal, such as Germany, say it offers a way to reduce reliance on trade with China, and insulates EU nations from the impact of trade tariffs being threatened by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Nevertheless, many European farmers — often led by those from France — have repeatedly protested the EU-Mercosur deal, arguing it would lead to cheap imports of South American commodities, notably beef, that do not meet EU safety standards. …

Russia said Sunday that Ukraine has launched a new counterattack in the western Kursk region aimed at repelling Russian and North Korean troops trying to retake territory that Kyiv’s forces captured last August.  The Russian defense ministry said Kyiv deployed “an assault group consisting of two tanks, a mine clearing vehicle, and twelve armored combat vehicles with paratroops towards Berdin village.”  Moscow said its “artillery and aviation of the North group of (Russian) forces defeated the assault group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” although news accounts said the outcome of the fighting was uncertain.   “Russia is getting what it deserves,” Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said commenting on the recent reports.  The head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, said on Telegram that “defense forces are working” in the area.  “In the Kursk region, the Russians are very worried because they were attacked from several directions, and it was a surprise for them,” he said.  Ukrainian and Western accounts say that Russia has deployed about 11,000 North Korean troops in the Kursk region, although Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.  Ukraine took the land August 6 and has held on since then even as Russia has gained territory in Ukraine’s eastern region and currently holds about a fifth of the country as the war nears the three-year mark next month. If Ukraine can hold on to the Kursk territory, it could give Kyiv a bargaining chip in any eventual peace talks with Russia.  U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he would resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict before he is inaugurated on January 20, but he has not said how and there is no indication of any settlement in the coming days.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses in the Kursk fighting.  “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, in Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops,” Zelenskyy said. “This is significant.”  Zelenskyy provided no specific details. A battalion can vary in size but is generally made up of several hundred troops.  Russian President Vladimir Putin, in response to a question at his marathon annual phone-in last month, said that Russia would force Ukrainian forces out of Kursk but declined to set a date for when this would happen.  On the battlefront … “Russia: Ukraine launches new Kursk region offensive” →

Vienna — Austrian People’s Party on Sunday nominated its General Secretary Christian Stocker as interim leader after the expected resignation of Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Austrian news agency APA reported.  Nehammer announced Saturday he would resign in the next few days after coalition talks with the Social Democrats collapsed.  Stocker, a lawyer and member of the Austrian Parliament, has served as general secretary of the People’s Party since 2022. He is seen as an experienced and calm crisis communicator who has frequently appeared in Austrian media to defend controversial decisions.  It is not clear yet who will become acting chancellor until a new government is formed.  Protected by special police forces, Nehammer walked across the square from the Chancellery toward the president’s office in Vienna.  “What is important for me is that the way of stability and the center can be continued,” he said.  Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen will make a public statement to announce the next steps once the meeting with Nehammer is over.  The 52-year-old Nehammer became chancellor and conservative party leader in 2021, after his predecessor Sebastian Kurz was forced to stand down following allegations of corruption.  In April 2022, Nehammer became the first European leader to visit Moscow and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Before going to Moscow, he also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.  Austria was thrown into political turmoil on Friday after the liberal party NEOS pulled out of coalition talks with the center-left Social Democrats and the conservative People’s Party. On Saturday the two remaining parties, who have a razor-thin majority in Parliament, made another attempt to negotiate and form a government — but this effort also ended in failure after a few hours, with negotiators saying they were unable to agree on how to repair the budget deficit.    …

ATHENS, GREECE — Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece and the architect of the country’s joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at age 88, state TV ERT reported.  Simitis was taken to a hospital in the city of Corinth early Sunday morning from his holiday home west of Athens, unconscious and without a pulse, the hospital’s director was quoted as saying by Greek media. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.  The government decreed a four-day period of official mourning. Simitis will receive a state funeral.  Warm tributes appeared, and not just from political allies.  “I bid farewell to Costas Simitis with sadness and respect. A worthy and noble political opponent,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a Facebook post, also saluting the “good professor and moderate parliamentarian.”  Another conservative politician, former European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, recalled how he, as mayor of Athens, had cooperated “seamlessly and warmly” with Simitis in organizing the Olympic Games.  “He served the country with devotion and a sense of duty. … He was steadfast in facing difficult challenges and promoted policies that changed the lives of [many] citizens,” Avramopoulos added.  Simitis, a co-founder of the Socialist PASOK party in 1974, eventually became the successor to the party’s founding leader, Andreas Papandreou, with whom he had an often contentious relationship that shaped the party’s nature. Simitis was a low-key pragmatist where Papandreou was a charismatic, fiery populist. He was also a committed pro-European, while Papandreou banked on strong opposition to Greece’s joining what was then the European Economic Community in the 1970s, before changing tack once he became prime minister.  When the profligate first four years of socialist rule, from 1981 to 1985, resulted in a rapidly deteriorating economy, Papandreou elevated Simitis to be finance minister and oversee a tight austerity program. Finances improved, inflation was partly tamed, but Simitis was pushed to resign in 1987 when Papandreou, eyeing an upcoming election, announced a generous wages policy, undermining the goals of the austerity program.  The socialists returned to power with Papandreou still at the helm in 1993, but he was ailing and finally resigned the premiership in January 1996. A tight two rounds of voting among the socialist lawmakers unexpectedly elevated Simitis to the post of prime minister, a post he held until 2004.  Simitis considered Greece’s entry into the eurozone, in January 2001, as the signature achievement … “Costas Simitis, former Greek prime minister and socialist leader, dies at 88” →

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Florida to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, as the key European leader sought to buttress ties with Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20. Members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort welcomed Meloni with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, according to videos shared on social media by reporters and others. Her trip comes days before she is to meet U.S. President Joe Biden during a visit to Rome from Thursday to Jan. 12. Trump defeated Biden in the November election and is preparing his return to the White House. While no details of their meeting have been disclosed, Meloni had planned to talk with Trump about Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, according to Italian media reports. Meloni’s office declined to comment on the reports. She is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump given her conservative credentials and the stability of the right-wing coalition she heads in Italy. She has also forged a close relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who spent more than a quarter-billion dollars to help him win the election. “This is very exciting. I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the Mar-a-Lago crowd, according to a media pool report. “She’s really taken Europe by storm.” Trump and Meloni then sat down for a screening of a documentary questioning the criminal investigations and legal scrutiny faced by John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was central to Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. One of the biggest challenges facing Meloni is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran on Dec. 19. Sala was detained three days after Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement in the attack. On Friday, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Italy’s ambassador over Abedini’s detention, Iranian state media reported. Meloni became the latest in the handful of foreign leaders who have visited Trump in Florida since the Nov. 5 election. He has met with Argentinian President Javier Milei, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, and … “Italian Prime Minister Meloni meets with Trump at his Florida resort” →

KYIV, UKRAINE — The pro-Russian breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria, left without Russian gas supplies no longer transiting through neighboring Ukraine, faced longer periods of rolling power cuts on Saturday, local authorities said.  Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe stopped on New Year’s Day after a transit deal expired between the warring countries and Kyiv refused to extend it.  Transdniestria, a mainly Russian-speaking enclave which has lived side-by-side with Moldova since breaking away from it in the last days of Soviet rule, received gas from Russian giant Gazprom through the pipeline crossing Ukraine.  The gas was used to operate a thermal plant that provided electricity locally and for much of Moldova under the control of the pro-European central government.  The region’s self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said rolling power cuts in various districts would be extended to four hours Sunday.  Hour-long cuts were first imposed Friday evening after heating and hot water supplies were curtailed. The cuts were then extended to three hours on Saturday.  “Yesterday’s introduction of rolling cuts was a test. And it confirmed that an hour-long break to keep the electrical supply system operating was insufficient,” Krasnoselsky wrote. “The power generated is not covering sharply rising demand.”  All industries except those producing food have been shut down. The official Telegram news channel of the region’s separatist authorities announced the official closure on Saturday of a steel mill and bakery in the town of Rybnitsa.  Regional officials announced new measures to help residents, especially the elderly, and warned that overnight temperatures would fall to -10 Celsius (+14 Fahrenheit). Residents were told not to put strain on the region’s mobile phone network.  Using firewood  The news channel warned against using heaters in disrepair after two residents died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a stove. Online pictures showed servicemen loading up trucks with firewood for distribution.  “Don’t put off gathering in firewood,” Krasnoselsky told residents. “It is better to ensure your supply in advance, especially since the weather is favorable so far.”  Moldova’s government blames Russia for the crisis and has called on Gazprom to ship gas through the TurkStream pipeline and then through Bulgaria and Romania.  Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew the gas transit deal.   The Transdniestria power cuts are a problem for Moldova particularly because the … “Moldova breakaway region faces extended blackouts after gas cutoff” →

WASHINGTON — An investigation by a U.S. Senate panel has found that troubled investment bank Credit Suisse concealed information during previous inquiries into Nazi-controlled bank accounts during World War II. Tens of thousands of documents discovered during an ongoing examination have provided new proof of the existence of account holders linked to the Nazis, the Senate Budget Committee said in a statement released Saturday. The bank did not reveal the existence of these accounts during previous investigations, notably in the 1990s, the committee said. Credit Suisse, now a subsidiary of investment bank UBS, agreed in 1998 to take part in a $1.25 billion settlement of lawsuits brought by Holocaust survivors, but it has been accused of not being completely open about its past dealings with Nazis. The Senate committee said Saturday that one set of newly discovered files, including 3,600 physical documents and 40,000 microfilms, was found to have a “high relevance rate” of Nazi connections. It said the revelations stem from an interim report by former prosecutor Neil Barofsky, who was fired as an “independent ombudsperson” by the bank in 2022 after being pressed to limit his investigative work. Barofsky was reinstated in the role in 2023 “as a result of the committee’s investigation,” and after UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse. In a letter to the panel released Saturday, Barofsky noted the “extraordinary level of cooperation that Credit Suisse, under the leadership of UBS, has provided” since he rejoined the company. But he said Credit Suisse had yet to share all the information it held. The Barofsky team has discovered, among other things, accounts controlled by high-ranking SS officers, The Wall Street Journal reported. In his letter, Barofsky highlighted “especially noteworthy” discoveries from a Credit Suisse research department. “Numerous client files in the sample are marked with a stamp stating ‘Amerikanische schwarze Liste’ — meaning ‘American Black List’ — a list maintained by the Allies of individuals and companies that were directly financed by, or were known to regularly trade with, Axis powers,” he wrote. “One file bearing this stamp relates to an entity that was involved in selling looted Jewish assets,” he added. Contacted by AFP, UBS said it was committed to providing a complete record of the former Nazi-linked accounts in Credit Suisse’s predecessor banks. It said it would provide Barofsky with all necessary assistance in his work to shed light “on this tragic period.” The Senate panel’s … “US finds more records found linking Credit Suisse, Nazi accounts” →

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will embark on what is expected to be his final overseas trip in office this weekend, traveling to South Korea, Japan and France.  The State Department announced Friday that Blinken would visit Seoul, South Korean, Tokyo and Paris beginning Sunday.  In South Korea, which is in the midst of political turmoil following the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japan, Blinken intends to highlight the expansion of U.S. cooperation with both nations as part of the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy.  That strategy is primarily intended to blunt Chinese ambitions in the region but also to deter the nuclear threat from North Korea. Political developments in South Korea, however, after Yoon declared martial law and was later impeached, have raised questions about the stability of Washington-Seoul relations.  The U.S. has taken a cautious approach to the uncertainty, insisting that the U.S.-South Korea alliance remains intact and iron-clad. Blinken will speak with South Korean officials about how “to build on our critical cooperation on challenges around the world based on our shared values,” the State Department said in a statement.  In Tokyo, Blinken will “review the tremendous progress the U.S.-Japan alliance has made over the past few years,” the statement said. That includes a major arms sales approval announced on Friday under which the U.S. will deliver some $3.64 billion in medium-range missiles, related equipment and training to Japan.  China has repeatedly complained about the potential sale, saying it will affect stability and security in the region, allegations that both Japan and the U.S. reject.  Blinken will wrap up his trip in Paris in meetings with French officials to discuss developments in the Middle East and European security, particularly in Ukraine.  …

VIENNA — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Saturday he will resign in the coming days after talks on forming a new government failed a second time.  The announcement came after the People’s Party and the Social Democrats continued coalition talks a day after the liberal Neos party’s surprise withdrawal from discussions.  “Unfortunately, I have to tell you today that the negotiations have ended and will not be continued by the People’s Party,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer from the conservative People’s Party said in a statement on social media.  He said that “destructive forces” in the Social Democratic Party have “gained the upper hand” and that the People’s Party will not sign on to a program that is against economic competitiveness.  Social democratic leader Andreas Babler said he regretted the decision by the People’s Party to end the negotiations. “This is not a good decision for our country,” he said.  Babler said that one of the main stumbling blocks had to do with how to repair the “record deficit” left by the previous government.  “I have offered to Karl Nehammer and the People’s Party to continue negotiating and called on them not to get up,” he told reporters Saturday evening.  The next government in Austria faces the challenge of having to save between 18 to 24 billion euros, according to the EU Commission. In addition, Austria, which has been in a recession for the past two years, is experiencing rising unemployment and its budget deficit is currently at 3.7% of Gross Domestic Product — above the EU’s limit of 3%.  The talks had dragged on since Austria’s president tasked the conservative chancellor in October with putting together a new government. The request came after all other parties refused to work with the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which in September won a national election for the first time with 29.2% of the vote.  …

Russia-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea announced a regional emergency Saturday, as oil was detected on the shores of Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city. Fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers nearly three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, close to eastern Crimea — about 250 kilometers from Sevastopol, which lies on the southwest of the peninsula. “Today a regional emergency regime has been declared in Sevastopol,” regional Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev wrote on Telegram. Oil was found on four beaches in the region and was “promptly eliminated” by local authorities working together with volunteers, Razvozhaev said. “Let me emphasize: there is no mass pollution of the coastline in Sevastopol,” he wrote. Razvozhaev’s announcement came after authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region announced a region-wide emergency last week, as the fuel oil continued washing up on the coastline 10 days after one tanker ran aground and the other was left damaged and adrift on December 15. Krasnodar regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that almost 7,000 people were still working Saturday to clean up the spill. More than 96,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil have been removed along the region’s shoreline since the original spill, he wrote on Telegram. On December 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tons in total may have been contaminated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.” The Kerch Strait, which separates the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula from the Krasnodar region, is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, described the oil spill last month as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers. …

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned that bullying in schools prepares students for war rather than peace, in a speech to Catholic educators gathered at the Vatican on Saturday.  Speaking to about 2,000 Italian educators and parents, Francis stressed his message against bullying, asking the audience to pledge to fight against it both at school and at home.  The pontiff praised educational efforts at schools to promote peace, noting that “imagining peace” lays the foundations for “a more just and fraternal world” through “every subject taught and through the creativity of children and young people.”  “But if, at school, you wage war among yourselves or engage in bullying, you are preparing for war, not for peace,” he said  The pope also called for more dialogue within families, emphasizing that “it is dialogue that makes us grow.” …

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’s staying “cool” against critical personal comments made by Elon Musk but finds it worrying that the U.S. billionaire makes the effort to get involved in a general election by endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD. Scholz was reacting after Musk, a close ally to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, called the chancellor a “fool” after his coalition government collapsed in November and later backed the AfD in an opinion article he wrote for a major newspaper in Germany. Scholz, head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, or SPD, said in comments published Saturday by the German magazine Stern that there is “nothing new” in criticism by “rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics and do not hold back with their opinions.” “You have to stay cool,” Scholz told Stern. “I find it much more worrying than such insults that Musk is supporting a party like the AfD, which is in parts right-wing extremist, which preaches rapprochement with [President Vladmir] Putin’s Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations,” Scholz said. The AfD is monitored by Germany’s domestic intelligence service on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and has already been recognized as such in some individual German states. Germany will hold an early parliamentary election on Feb. 23 after Scholz’s thee-party coalition collapsed in November in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy. Musk recently caused uproar after backing the AfD in an opinion article for the Welt am Sonntag, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, in protest. “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary. The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. …

Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Nadiya in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region and had shot down eight U.S.-made ATACMS missiles. Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports. The ministry said its air defense systems had shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Saturday morning, including three over the northern Leningrad region. St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures on Saturday morning. …

NEW YORK — Say hello to the latest dog in the American Kennel Club’s lineup of recognized breeds. Or you might say “hej.” The Danish-Swedish farmdog — yep, that’s the official name — joined the pack Thursday. The designation makes the breed eligible to compete for many best in show trophies, and it likely augurs more widespread interest in the small, sprightly dogs. The prospect both gladdens and concerns their biggest fans. “We’re excited about it. We’re looking forward to it,” said Carey Segebart, one of the people who worked to get Danish-Swedish farmdogs recognized by the AKC. She proudly plans to debut one of her own at a dog show this month near her Iowa home. Still, she thinks increased exposure is “a double-edged sword” for the fleet, versatile pups. “We don’t want the breed to just explode too quickly,” she said. Called the farmdog or DSF for short, the breed goes back centuries in parts of what are now Denmark, southern Sweden and some other European countries, according to the Danish-Swedish Farmdog Club of America. “They’re interesting, fun little dogs,” said Segebart, who has owned them since 2011 and is the club’s incoming president. “They’re essentially up for anything. They succeed at most everything.” In their original homelands, the dogs’ main job was rodent patrol, but they also would herd a bit, act as watchdogs and play with farmers’ children. Some even performed in circuses, according to the club. After Denmark and Sweden became more urban and suburban in the 20th century, farmdog fanciers set out to secure the breed’s place in both nations (where “hej” translates to the English “hello”). Kennel clubs there began registering farmdogs in 1987. In the U.S., many of the just about 350 farmdogs nationwide compete in agility, obedience or other canine sports that are open to all dogs, including mixed breeds. But until now, farmdogs couldn’t enter the traditional breed-by-breed judging that leads to best in show prizes at events including the prominent Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York. The entry deadline has passed for February’s Westminster show, so farmdogs will have to wait for 2026 there, but they may well appear later this year at two other major, televised shows, the National Dog Show and AKC National Championship. The Danish-Swedish farmdog is the AKC’s 202nd breed and “a wonderful addition to a family that is able to provide it with … “Danish-Swedish farmdog joins American Kennel Club’s lineup” →

Kyiv, ukraine — Moldova faces a security crisis, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said Friday, after its separatist pro-Moscow Transdniestria region, cut off from supplies of Russian gas, closed factories, restricted central heating and imposed rolling power blackouts.  Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe were halted on New Year’s Day after a transit agreement between the warring countries expired and Kyiv rejected doing further business with Moscow.  Recean said government-controlled Moldova would cover its own energy needs with domestic production and imports but noted the separatist Transdniestria region had suffered a painful hit despite its ties with Moscow.  “By jeopardizing the future of the protectorate it has backed for three decades in an effort to destabilize Moldova, Russia is revealing the inevitable outcome for all its allies – betrayal and isolation,” Recean said in a statement.  “We treat this as a security crisis aimed at enabling the return of pro-Russian forces to power in Moldova and weaponizing our territory against Ukraine, with whom we share a 1,200 km border.”  The official Telegram news channel of separatist Transdniestria said rolling power cuts had gone into effect on Friday evening. It listed districts where power would be cut for an hour or more between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.  “As the Ministry of Economic Development notes, this is in connection with the fact that residents at this time are consuming more power than the system can generate,” the channel said.  The news channel said a sanatorium, fully heated and with hot water, was sheltering orphans and residents of nursing homes. It accused Moldova’s central government of failing to understand or tackle the difficulties facing the region.  “Moldovan authorities are completely out of touch with reality and continue to talk about ‘the price of freedom from Russian gas,’ ” the channel said.  Transdniestria’s residents had already lost hot water and central heating, and all factories except food producers have been forced to stop production.  The enclave’s self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, had earlier said power cuts were inevitable. He said the region had gas reserves to cover 10 days of limited usage in the north and twice as long in the south.  Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew the gas transit deal.  Dispute over arrears  Russian gas giant Gazprom had separately said on December 28 that it would suspend exports … “Moldovan PM warns of security crisis after cutoff of Russian gas “ →

VIENNA — Talks on forming a new three-party government in Austria collapsed Friday as the smallest of the prospective coalition partners pulled the plug on the negotiations. The talks had dragged on since Austria’s president tasked conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer in October with putting together a new government. That decision came after all other parties refused to work with the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which in September won a national election for the first time. Nehammer has been trying to assemble a coalition of his Austrian People’s Party with the center-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos party. Nehammer’s party and the Social Democrats have governed Austria together in the past but have the barest possible majority in the parliament elected in September, with a combined 92 of the 183 seats. That was widely considered too small a cushion, and the two parties sought to bring in Neos. But Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger said she informed Nehammer, Social Democratic leader Andreas Babler and President Alexander Van der Bellen early Friday that her party “won’t continue” talks on becoming a partner in a new government. She pointed to the implications of a “budget hole” left by the last government as a major source of difficulty, adding that the election showed a desire for change, but the talks appeared to be going backward rather than forward in recent days. The next government in Austria faces the challenge of having to save between 18 to 24 billion euros, according to the EU Commission. In addition, Austria’s economy is in decline with rising unemployment and continuing recession. “There was a repeated ‘no’ to fundamental reforms this week,” Meinl-Reisinger told reporters in Vienna. Austrian People’s Party general secretary Christian Stocker blamed “backward-looking forces” among the Social Democrats for prompting the collapse of the talks. Nehammer said in a post on social media Friday evening that he “regretted” the decision by the Neos party to pull out of the coalition talks. He said that his party continues to be ready to “assume responsibility,” and to implement reforms, especially in the areas of improving economic competitiveness and implementing a clear asylum and migration policy. “The constructive forces of the political center are called upon to come along on this path with us now,” Nehammer said. It wasn’t immediately clear how the situation could be resolved. The two bigger parties could potentially try to form a government … “Talks on new 3-party Austrian government collapse as one party leaves” →

PODGORICA, Montenegro — A top-level meeting in Montenegro on Friday looked for ways to curb illegal weapons after a gunman fatally shot 12 people in a second such tragedy in less than three years in the small Balkan country. An emergency session of Montenegro’s National Security Council is expected to call for a new gun law and urgent actions to confiscate what are believed to be abundant illegal weapons in possession of Montenegro’s 620,000 citizens. The Adriatic Sea nation has a deeply rooted gun culture. State television broadcaster RTCG reported that Montenegro is sixth in the world when it comes to the number of illegal weapons per capita. The gunman who killed a dozen people in a shooting rampage in the western town of Cetinje on Wednesday did so with an illegal 9 mm gun. Police have said they found 37 casings at the shooting locations, and more than 80 additional pieces of ammunition in the gunman’s possession. The 45-year-old man, identified as Aco Martinović, eventually shot himself in the head and died shortly after. He is believed to have snapped after a bar brawl and went home to get his weapon before launching a bloody rampage at several locations late Wednesday afternoon. Martinović’s victims included seven men, three women — among them his sister — and two children, born in 2011 and 2016. Four more people were seriously wounded and remain hospitalized. Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović has described Wednesday’s shooting as “one of the biggest tragedies in the history of Montenegro.” The shooting has fueled concerns about the level of violence in Montenegrin society, which is politically divided. It also raised questions about the readiness of state institutions to tackle the problems, including gun ownership. Hundreds of people throughout Montenegro lit candles in silence Thursday evening in memory of the victims, while also calling for answers as to why the shooting happened. Many were angry at the authorities for not doing more to prevent such tragedies and protests are being planned for the coming days. Mira Škorić, a retiree from Podgorica, said that “I can’t believe that we failed so much as a society. We failed as people too.” In a separate massacre in August 2022, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital located about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the capital, … “Montenegro to tackle gun control after mass killing left 12 dead “ →

DUBAI — Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the Italian ambassador on Friday over the detention of an Iranian national wanted by the United States for his alleged role in a deadly drone strike against U.S. forces, Iranian state media reported. The summons came a day after a similar move by Italy over Iran’s arrest of Italian reporter Cecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran on December 19 while working under a journalist visa. An Iranian foreign ministry official “urged Italy to reject America’s hostage policy — which is contrary to international law, particularly human rights — and provide for Mr. [Mohammad] Abedini’s release as soon as possible and prevent damage to bilateral ties,” state media reported. On Thursday, the Iranian embassy in Rome said Sala was being given all the humanitarian care necessary, and for the first time, linked her case to that of Abedini. Iran’s said on Monday that Sala had been arrested for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic.” It gave no further information. Sala was detained three days after Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement in the attack. Abedini is currently being held in prison and a court is due to decide this month whether to grant him house arrest while judges consider the U.S. extradition request. In recent years, Iran’s security forces have arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals, mostly on charges related to espionage and security. Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran denies this.   …

KYIV, UKRAINE — A Russian drone attack towards the Ukrainian capital on Friday killed one person and wounded four in the Kyiv suburbs, local officials said. Moscow’s forces have escalated their aerial strikes across Ukraine through the first weeks of winter, including a New Year’s Day drone attack targeting central Kyiv that killed two. “One person killed and four wounded in enemy air attack on Kyiv region,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, the head of the Kyiv region, which surrounds the capital, said on social media on Friday. He said a truck driver had been killed after he was hit by falling debris from a Russian drone that had been shot down. Wreckage also fell on a house, wounding three — including a 16-year-old boy and his father. The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 93 drones overnight. It said 60 attack drones and 26 decoy-style drones were downed or “lost” — either shot down or disabled by electronic interceptors. Downed drones also fell on two districts of Kyiv, but there were no injuries, the city mayor said.  …

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — The foreign ministers of France and Germany are headed to Damascus on the first official visit to Syria by top diplomats from European Union countries after the fall of former President Bashar Assad, in what the German minister said is a clear signal that a “new beginning” between Europe and Syria is possible. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who began the visit Friday with a meeting with Christian religious leaders in Damascus, said in a statement on the social media platform X that the two countries “want to promote a peaceful and urgent transition in the service of Syrians and for regional stability.” He and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are expected to meet with Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the Islamist former insurgent group that is now the de facto ruling party in Syria. Baerbock said there can be a “political new beginning between Europe and Syria” only if the new Syrian society gives all people, regardless of ethnic or religious group, “a place in the political process” as well as rights and protection. She said those rights should not be undermined by an overly long transition to elections or by “steps toward the Islamification of the justice or education system,” that there should be no acts of revenge against entire groups of the population, and that extremism should have no place. Since Assad’s ouster in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, Damascus has experienced a flurry of visits from Arab and Western countries that had cut off relations with Assad’s government during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war. However, Western countries have so far not lifted sanctions placed on Syria under Assad or removed the designation of HTS as a terrorist group, although the United States lifted a $10 million bounty it had previously placed on al-Sharaa.  …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could be “decisive” in the outcome of the yearslong war between Ukraine and Russia. “Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukrainian television. Zelenskyy said Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration later this month. “His qualities are indeed there,” Zelenskyy said about Trump. “He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin.” Trump has previously said he would be able to stop the war in Ukraine in one day, but he has never detailed how he would accomplish that. Zelenskyy’s comments came as the Ukrainian military said it had carried out a high-precision strike Thursday on a Russian command post in Maryino, in Russia’s Kursk region. “These strikes disrupt the ability of the Russian Federation to conduct terrorism against innocent Ukrainian civilians,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement on Telegram. Russia’s military said air defense units had downed four Ukrainian missiles in the region. The regional governor said the strikes had damaged a high-rise apartment building and other buildings in a nearby village. Another post from the Ukrainian military showed a video of what the military said was damage to a Russian base in Ivanivskoye, next to Maryino. A school, pharmacy and apartment building were among the structures damaged in the strike, Kursk regional Governor Alexander Khinshtein said. VOA could not immediately verify the reports. Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia five months ago. Ukrainian forces remain in the Kursk region, but the Russian military says much of the lost territory has been regained. Meanwhile, Russia said it had attacked energy facilities in Ukraine that support Kyiv’s military-industrial complex. The Russian Defense Ministry said that over the past 24 hours, it had used its air force, drones, missiles and artillery to target energy facilities, military airfields and Ukrainian military personnel across multiple locations. VOA could not independently verify that report. Russian forces have been advancing quickly on the eastern front of Ukraine. “They are putting pressure on our boys, who are exhausted, and that is a fact. We will do everything to at least stabilize the front in January,” Zelenskyy said in his Thursday interview. Ukraine’s military said … “Zelenskyy says Trump could be decisive in stopping war in Ukraine  “ →

The Human Rights Association in Turkey announced that three female prisoners had been tortured in Patnos Prison in Agri, and despite some complaints, no investigation has been initiated. The prison administration neither denied nor confirmed the torture to VOA.   Click here for the full story in Kurdish.     …

The Haitian government on Wednesday celebrated the 221st anniversary of the country’s independence. In his speech, Leslie Voltaire, president of the Presidential Transition Council, called for peace in the country and took the opportunity to ask France to repay the debt of independence and reparations for slavery. Click here for the full story in Creole. …

London — European gas prices reached a 15-month high on Thursday after Ukraine blocked the transit of Russian gas across its territory into the European Union. The Russian state-run firm Gazprom is set to lose more than $5 billion a year following the route’s closure, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “one of Moscow’s biggest defeats.” Kyiv will lose about $800 million in transit fees from Moscow. Despite the rise in gas prices on Thursday, the impact on Europe will likely be limited, said energy analyst Thomas O’Donnell, a global fellow at the Wilson Center based in Berlin. “It was all prepared for. It’s basically all priced in. Of course, there’s winners and losers to a certain point. Certain countries are more dependent on this than others – Slovakia and Hungary, for example, and Austria,” O’Donnell told VOA. “Austria is pretty well prepared. They have alternative supplies lined up from Germany and Italy and others. And Slovakia will not run out of gas. They will have plenty of gas. It’s just that they’ll have to pay more, like everybody else has all along,” he added. Moldova was among the countries most reliant on Russian gas supplied via Ukraine. In the breakaway region of Transnistria, which is controlled by Russian forces, residents lost heating and hot water on Wednesday as authorities urged people to dress warmly and use electric heaters. Ukraine war Ukraine’s Zelenskyy indicated last month that he would not renew a five-year contract to allow the transit of Russian gas across his country, which expired on December 31, explaining that he would no longer give Moscow “the opportunity to earn additional billions on our blood.” Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Europe has since managed to wean itself off Moscow’s gas supplies far more quickly than Russian President Vladimir Putin anticipated, O’Donnell said. “He thought this would force all the European countries that get this gas into a situation where they would capitulate — and they would be unwilling to support Ukraine in the war, and unwilling to show their solidarity. He also thought the war would be over in three or four days. But it just didn’t work,” O’Donnell said. “They’ve lost their entire European market, essentially. The second-largest gas fields in the world in Western Siberia have no outlet now,” he added. “Putin portrays himself as a great Russian nationalist. Well, this great Russian … “Ukraine blocks transit of Russian gas to Europe, prompting price hike “ →

Natural gas prices in Europe have risen since Ukraine ended the flow of Russian gas across its territory into the EU. Moscow once supplied more than a third of Europe’s needs, but the continent has weaned itself off Russian gas following the Kremlin’s ’22 invasion of Ukraine. Henry Ridgwell reports. …