Ukraine on Wednesday ramped up security at its embassies abroad after Spanish police and government said an employee at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured opening a letter bomb. 

The staff member suffered light injuries and went to hospital under his own steam, police said in a statement. 

Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba has ordered all Ukrainian embassies abroad to “urgently” strengthen their security, according to a statement from Ukraine’s foreign ministry. 

The minister also urged his Spanish counterparts to “take urgent measures to investigate the attack,” the statement said, adding that whoever was behind the attack “will not succeed in intimidating Ukrainian diplomats or stopping their daily work on strengthening Ukraine and countering Russian aggression.” 

The letter, which arrived by ordinary mail and was not scanned, caused “a very small wound on the ring finger of the right hand” of the employee, Mercedes Gonzalez, the Spanish government’s representative in Madrid, told broadcaster Telemadrid. 

Detectives are investigating the incident, aided by forensic and intelligence investigators, Spanish police said. Spain’s High Court will lead the investigation. 

An officer at Ukraine’s embassy to Spain declined to comment. 

The residential area surrounding the embassy in northwestern Madrid has been cordoned off and a bomb disposal unit is deployed at the scene, state broadcaster TVE reported. 

 
…

The humble baguette — the crunchy ambassador for French baking around the world — is being added to the U.N.’s list of intangible cultural heritage as a cherished tradition to be preserved by humanity.

UNESCO experts gathering in Morocco this week decided that the simple French flute — made only of flour, water, salt, and yeast — deserved U.N. recognition, after France’s culture ministry warned of a “continuous decline” in the number of traditional bakeries, with some 400 closing every year over the past half-century.

The U.N. cultural agency’s chief, Audrey Azoulay, said the decision honors more than just bread; it recognizes the “savoir-faire of artisanal bakers” and “a daily ritual.”

“It is important that these craft knowledge and social practices can continue to exist in the future,” added Azoulay, a former French culture minister.

With the bread’s new status, the French government said it planned to create an artisanal baguette day, called the “Open Bakehouse Day,” to connect the French better with their heritage.

Back in France, bakers seemed proud, if unsurprised.

“Of course, it should be on the list because the baguette symbolizes the world. It’s universal,” said Asma Farhat, baker at Julien’s Bakery near Paris’ Champs-Elysee avenue.

“If there’s no baguette, you cant have a proper meal. In the morning you can toast it, for lunch it’s a sandwich, and then it accompanies dinner.”

Despite the decline in traditional bakery numbers, France’s 67 million people still remain voracious baguette consumers — purchased at a variety sales points, including in supermarkets. The problem is, observers say, that they can often be poor in quality.

“It’s very easy to get bad baguette in France. It’s the traditional baguette from the traditional bakery that’s in danger. It’s about quality not quantity,” said one Paris resident, Marine Fourchier, 52.

In January, French supermarket chain Leclerc was criticized by traditional bakers and farmers for its much publicized 29-cent baguette, accused of sacrificing the quality of the famed 65-centimeter (26-inch) loaf. A baguette normally costs just over 90 euro cents (just over $1), seen by some as an index on the health of the French economy.

The baguette is serious business. France’s “Bread Observatory” — a venerable institution that closely follows the fortunes of the flute — notes that the French munch through 320 baguettes of one form or another every second. That’s an average of half a baguette per person per day, and 10 billion every year.

Although it seems like the quintessential French product, the baguette was said to have been invented by Vienna-born baker August Zang in 1839. Zang put in place France’s steam oven, making it possible to produce bread with a brittle crust yet fluffy interior.

The product’s zenith did not come until the 1920s, with the advent of a French law preventing bakers from working before 4 a.m. The baguette’s long, thin shape meant it could be made more quickly than its stodgy cousins, so it was the only bread that bakers could make in time for breakfast.

The “artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread” was inscribed at the Morocco meeting among other global cultural heritage items, including Japan’s Furyu-odori ritual dances, and Cuba’s light rum masters.
…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Wednesday for a special court to prosecute Russian crimes against Ukraine. 

Von der Leyen proposed a court backed by the United Nations “to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression.” 

She also said Russia and Russian oligarchs need to pay for costs to rebuild Ukraine from the damage done by Russian forces since they invaded Ukraine in February. 

“Russia’s horrific crimes will not go unpunished,” von der Leyen said. 

She spoke as NATO foreign ministers met in Romania on the final day of meetings that include discussing the conflict and support for Ukraine. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday Ukraine would one day join the Western military alliance in direct defiance of Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

  

“NATO’s door is open,” Stoltenberg said, renewing a commitment for Ukraine membership first made in 2008 but stalled since then. He noted that North Macedonia and Montenegro recently joined the West’s chief post-World War II military alliance, and that Sweden and Finland also will do so soon.  

  

“Russia does not have a veto” on countries joining, Stoltenberg said. “We stand by that, too, on membership for Ukraine.”  

  

“President Putin cannot deny sovereign nations to make their own sovereign decisions that are not a threat to Russia,” the former Norwegian prime minister said. “I think what he’s afraid of is democracy and freedom, and that’s the main challenge for him.”  

  

But Ukraine will not soon join NATO, which under terms of the alliance’s charter, would likely push the armed forces of the 30-member nations directly onto the battlefield fighting Russian troops. It would be a commitment far beyond the billions of dollars in military and humanitarian assistance the United States and its allies have already sent to the Kyiv government to help Ukrainian fighters defend their country.  

  

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States is sending Kyiv another $53 million to support the purchase of critical electricity grid equipment in the face of weeks-long Russian airstrikes targeting Ukrainian infrastructure to knock out power and water systems as winter weather takes hold in the country.  

  

The top U.S. diplomat said the equipment would be sent to Ukraine on an emergency basis and include distribution transformers, circuit breakers, surge arresters, disconnectors, vehicles and other key equipment.  

   

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters 
…

From the evacuation of Ukrainian journalists in occupied cities to legal support for independent reporters from Russia, a community of organizations is working to keep media safe.

In Ukraine, the February 24 invasion led to an unprecedented level of requests for assistance from the country’s National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.

Before then, the union had “hot spots” with journalists covering conflict in Donbas. But now, says union chair Sergiy Tomilenko, “every media worker in our country [has become] a front-line journalist. And it’s clear that we weren’t ready for that.”

In the past year, the union has worked with journalists, including on evacuations for those in cities occupied by Russian forces and by providing support for those close to the front lines.

The union is also tracking deaths. As of November, the war has killed 43 journalists in Ukraine, including eight who were on assignment. The other journalists lost their lives in shelling or after signing up to the armed forces.

“Of course, we divide those who continue to work as journalists and those who went to war, but we still count our military colleagues who died on the battlefield among these victims, since the only cause of their death is Russian aggression,” Tomilenko told VOA.

“If there had been no Russian invasion, the famous cameraman Viktor Dedov—one of the best, originally from Mariupol— would have been alive. But he died as a civilian under the bombing in his city. And Oleksandr Makhov and other journalists who died defending the country at the front would also be alive,” Tomilenko said.

The union head said that Russian forces tried to intimidate and recruit Ukrainian journalists in occupied cities. They had lists of local journalists, and from the start “a campaign of individual pressure on independent journalists began,” he said.

In some cases, Tomilenko said, troops asked local media to become propagandists, broadcasting pro-Russian material. But, he said, “the vast majority” refused.

The arrival of the troops in occupied regions made life dangerous even for those journalists who had planned to stay. It was simply too “deadly to remain,” Tomilenko said.

But supporting media affected by Putin’s war involves outside help.

The union has been working with the London-based Justice for Journalists Foundation, or JFJ, and other groups to monitor attacks and to offer training.

When it comes to security workshops for reporting in combat zones, the requests “are nonstop,” Maria Ordzhonikidze, director of the JFJ told VOA.

But, she said, “We also help Russian journalists.”

In fact, attacks on Russian media are what led to the creation of the JFJ. It was founded after the killing in 2018 of three Russian journalists who were investigating mercenaries in the Central African Republic.

“In Russia, free journalism has ended, a lot of people tried to leave, many left. And here the role of our foundation is to continue to provide support,” Ordzhonikidze said.

For those journalists, that support often comes in the form of legal training, she said.

Community support

Lana Estemirova, who works with the JFJ, told VOA the foundation’s work supporting media and tackling impunity in attacks has opened up awareness of the scale of the problem.

A lack of justice is close to Estemirova’s heart. Her mother, Natalya Estemirova, a prominent Chechen human rights activist, was abducted and killed in 2009. Natalya Estemirova worked for the Russian human rights organization Memorial, which was banned by the Kremlin and was one of the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

The European Court of Human Rights in 2021 ruled Russia had failed to properly investigate the murder. Work on a new podcast made Lana Estemirova more aware of the global spread of impunity.

“We began to look for interesting journalists from Belarus, Africa, South America to compare situations and find out what unites us all,” said Lana Estemirova. In doing so, she learned of the high rate of attacks on journalists in Mexico, where nearly all cases go unresolved.

More than 15 journalists have been killed in Mexico in 2022, making the country the most deadly place for media outside a war zone.

“When you start talking to journalists from other continents, you realize that there is no border to this problem,” she said

Estemirova believes that those who work in an atmosphere of risk should do so in the knowledge they will have the help and solidarity of their colleagues.

“They believe that they have a mission: the search for truth. It is very important that journalists who are walking along this road – and this is a rather lonely road – have support.”

One way to do that is to publicize the work of journalists persecuted for their investigations.

 

Natalya Zubkova is a journalist in the small Russian town in the Kuzbass region, and she founded the website “News of Kiselyovsk” in 2017.

Zubkova covered issues including education, the environment, authorities and crime. But she also received death threats and was physically attacked.

After four years, the news website closed and Zubkova fled the country.

But her work caught the attention of filmmaker Alina Simone.

New York-based Simone applied for a JFJ grant to make a documentary, “Black Snow,” about how Zubkova tried to tell the world about life in a city of seven coal mines and 90,000 people.

It is a place where mining activity often turns the snow black and where citizen journalism requires remarkable courage.

“Natalya tried to protect the interests of ordinary people with her journalism, and was forced to leave Russia in the end,” said Simone.

She was so impressed by the videos that Zubkova posted on YouTube that she decided to make a story about her Russian colleague.

“I had a very strong sense of camaraderie toward her. When I arrived in Kiselyovsk and Kemerovo, the atmosphere there frankly shocked me,” Simone said. “Everything looked much worse in terms of the attitude toward journalists, activists, and also foreigners. We were under constant surveillance. Our car was followed all the time … Already in August 2019, it was clear to me where everything was going.”

Simone said the community of Russian journalists is under threat.

“These people are deprived of their profession, they are pressured. Often their lives are destroyed. It is very difficult to explain to the West what it means to be a citizen journalist in a region whose governor, Sergei Tsivilyov, has family ties to Vladimir Putin,” Simone said.

But organizations such as the JFJ are working to provide support and assistance to those on the front lines in Ukraine or under threat in Russia.

This article originated in VOA’s Russian service.
…

 As anti-government protests continue in Iran, Tehran is escalating tensions with its neighbors, accusing them of interfering in its domestic affairs. One of those neighbors, Azerbaijan, has Turkey’s support and is pushing back.

Iran has recently carried out military exercises on Azerbaijan’s border and warned Baku not to incite Iran’s significant Azeri minority.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has carried out numerous drone strikes against Kurdish groups based in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, which it accuses of inciting Iran’s Kurdish minority.

Zaur Gasimov, an expert in the region at Bonn University, said the exercises and attacks are part of a systematic policy by Tehran. 

“Iran tries to shift the attention of the Iranian population towards foreign policy, towards conflicts on the border, and towards a polemic with its neighbor countries,” Gasimov said. “The military drills were conducted not only on the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan in the north but also with Iraq and Turkey. So, they are like messages to the region, but they are addressed much more to the local audience.”

But Baku is pushing back against Tehran, carrying out its own military exercises on Iran’s border. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani security forces this month have detained 19 people and accused them of working for Iranian intelligence.

Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute, said Baku is emboldened by its support from Turkey, some of which is enshrined in a common defense agreement.

“Turkey and Azerbaijan [are] brothers, friends,” Bagci said. “And they have this Shusha agreement, which is not binding but important. If Azerbaijan is under attack or in danger, Turkey will come unconditionally to the help of Azerbaijan. Iran is trying to extend its influence, but Turkey is like a barrier stopping Iran’s influence in Azerbaijan.”

Turkish military support was vital to Azerbaijan in 2020, when it decisively defeated Armenian-backed forces in a conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

This month, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev condemned Tehran for its military exercises, pledging to defend his country’s secular state and ethnic Azeris both in Azerbaijan and Iran. Analyst Gasimov said Aliyev’s increasingly assertive stance toward Tehran is a significant change for the region.

“The last three decades, Baku was very cautious in its relationship to the very large Azeri-speaking community in northern Iran,” Gasimov said. “But we have seen the conduct of the military drills on the border to Iran as the reaction to the Iranian military drills by the Azeri side. [At] the same time, new discourse in Baku about the Azeri speakers in Iran were two gestures addressed to the Iranian political class, saying that something has changed in the region.”

In a move analysts say will further anger Tehran, Baku opened an embassy in Israel. The two countries already have close military ties, despite Tehran’s warnings. For now, Ankara has refrained from commenting on the turmoil in Iran, but some analysts warn that silence will be tested if Tehran ratchets up tensions with Baku.
…

Journalists at Slovenia’s public broadcaster RTV have expressed relief at the results of a referendum aimed at protecting them from political interference.

The results show “citizens support us and want a professional, independent and quality public (broadcaster),” Helena Milinkovic, head of the coordination of trade unions of journalists of RTV, told VOA.

Marko Milosavljevic, journalism chair at the University of Ljubljana’s faculty of social sciences, sees the support of the law as a boost for media freedom in Slovenia.

“It enables public RTV to free itself from direct interference of politics and political parties,” Milosavljevic told VOA.

The referendum Sunday centered on reforms proposed by Slovenia’s newly elected government to protect RTV from political interference. More than 62 percent of voters were in favor of the law.

The referendum was requested by the former ruling center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) after the country’s new government in July endorsed changes that would end the practice of parliament nominating members of the RTV program council.

At present, parliament nominates 21 out of 29 members of the program council, a body that names the broadcaster’s chief executive and endorses production plans.

In challenging the reforms, the SDS said the legal changes would impact RTV’s independence because they were aimed solely at replacing the current management.

“Our media space is strongly leaning to the left and does not allow pluralism. RTV as a public broadcaster, which is paid by all, should show diversity and represent all segments of the Slovenian society,” Alenka Jeraj, a SDS member of parliament, told reporters after the referendum result.

“By manipulative statement that politics will be removed from the RTV, the government politics is in fact entering the RTV through a side door,” Jeraj said, adding that she believes the result shows “we are strongly moving away from democratic media standards.”

But most journalists and academics disagree.

Seven international media freedom groups, including the International Press Institute, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, and Reporters Without Borders last week issued a joint statement backing the reform.

“The new system of governance would significantly limit the ability of any government, current or future, to use its parliamentary majority to fill the councils with allies and interfere in the work of public media,” the statement read.

Most analysts say that ruling parties from both sides have pressured the public broadcaster ever since Slovenia’s independence in 1991. But, they say, the interference has never been so intense as when the SDS was in power from 2020 until June this year.

The SDS leadership claimed media bias at the broadcaster, and appointees at RTV made changes that critics say adversely impacted the station’s ability to report.

In 2021, the Program Council appointed Andrej Grah Whatmough as the head of RTV.

A few months later, the director of the broadcaster’s TV branch, Natalija Gorscak, was dismissed and many popular shows, including a weekly political segment, “Studio City,” were cancelled.

In July 2022, Whatmough appointed Uros Urbanija as the new director of the TV branch —a move that sparked protest from staffers and the Association of Journalists of Slovenia.

Urbanija was the director of the government communication office under former Prime Minister Janez Jansa. During that time, his department alleged bias at RTV and temporarily stopped financing for the state news agency STA. [[ 

In October, Whatmough issued letters to 38 staffers, mainly TV journalists, after they entered a studio during a live broadcast to show support for two colleagues they said were under pressure from Urbanija.

In his letter, Whatmough warned that the staff face dismissal if they breach their contract again.

Urbanija and Whatmough have denied any pressure on journalists. Whatmough said in remarks published on RTV that the warnings were issued solely because journalists had violated rules regarding entering the studio.

‘Party politics’

Prime Minister Robert Golob and his ministers welcomed the referendum result.

His center-left government had promised to free RTV of political pressures and adopted the amendments on RTV less than two months after taking power.

“The people clearly showed that they do not want interference of party politics in the managing of RTV Slovenia. Our government had promised (to stop) that, passed the law and this was now confirmed by people,” Minister of Culture Asta Vrecko, who is also in charge of the government’s media policy, told TV Slovenia.

However, Peter Gregorcic, the chair of the RTV’s Program Council, told Radio Slovenia he plans to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on whether the law is in line with the constitution.

He believes it is illegal to replace the management of the broadcaster by amending a law.

Any appeal could further delay the introduction of the law, which is due to come into effect in January.

The management of RTV Slovenia did not directly respond to VOA’s queries regarding the appeal, but referred VOA to a statement that read, “RTV Slovenia will continue to act in line with legislation and in the broadest public interest.” 

Most TV journalists still wary

Most TV Slovenia journalists welcomed the result but are wary of any further delay in implementing the law.

“We are happy and relieved by the referendum result,” Milinkovic, of RTV, told VOA. But, she said, until the legislation takes affect, “We expect pressures on staffers to continue.”

TV Slovenia runs a 24-7 operation and is one of the most popular TV channels in the country. The public broadcaster is financed predominantly by subscriptions that most households in Slovenia are obliged to pay.
…

Squelching through thick mud on Tuesday, Petro, a Ukrainian soldier named dug in not far from Russian positions in the Donbas, recounted matter-of-factly how his unit had to use buckets to clear out water-logged trenches.  

“We’re more or less OK, but it’s bit harder now because of the rain and a light frost. It’s a swamp. It’s dried a bit today,” the 35-year-old said, warming up in a dugout near the trenches. 

“It’s OK, we’re holding up,” he added, laughing. 

Grim conditions 

Heavy rain and falling temperatures are making conditions even grimmer along the front lines, where tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians are facing off as the war, now in its 10th month, grinds into winter. 

Buoyed by the recapture of the southern city of Kherson from Russia this month, Ukraine wants to maintain the initiative on the battlefield even as deteriorating conditions make it harder to maneuver easily and for troops to keep warm. 

At a location in the southern part of the Donbas in southeastern Ukraine, soldiers showed Reuters around muddy positions where they are living. The military said the exact location should not be disclosed. 

Despite the heavy conditions, a Ukrainian tank was easily able to speed down a muddy track before opening fire on a Russian target. 

The Donbas, a heavily industrialized region that is partially occupied by Moscow, comprises the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has declared to be annexed Russian land.  

The region, which includes the destroyed Sea of Azov city of Mariupol and the smaller cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychank, has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. 

Battlefield slowdown  

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Reuters earlier this month that bad winter conditions would give both Kyiv and Moscow’s forces a chance to recuperate. 

“The winter will slow down every activity on the battlefield for all sides. … It’s beneficial for all sides. You will have a rest,” he said in an interview.  

He predicted, though, that Ukraine would come out of the hiatus strong, reinforced by thousands of soldiers being trained in Britain. 

Some military analysts said they expected Ukraine would try to keep up the pressure on Russian forces over the winter to prevent them from digging in and settling. 

The winter weather will likely favor the Ukrainian military, Jack Watling, an analyst at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, wrote on Twitter.  

He said Ukrainian fighting positions tended to be well-kept, dry and warm, and soldiers had warm clothing. 

Newly mobilized Russians, by contrast, did not have the experience or skills to operate for long periods in the field and had not been issued with winter clothing for the most part, Watling said. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called on member allies to pledge more winter aid for Kyiv at a meeting of the military alliance in Bucharest. 
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Italy’s newly elected far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appear to be finding unlikely common ground on issues relating to Africa and migration. The relationship with Meloni is the latest in a list of strong partnerships that Erdogan has been working to build with European far-right leaders. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
…

Belgium’s worst peacetime massacre left 32 dead and hundreds marked for life. Now, six and a half years later, Brussels will host its biggest ever criminal trial. 

Jury selection begins on Wednesday ahead of hearings into the charges against the nine alleged jihadists accused of taking part in the March 2016 suicide bombings. 

The case will be heard in the former headquarters of the NATO military alliance, temporarily converted into a huge high-security court complex. 

Hundreds of witnesses and victims will testify in the months to come, some still hopeful that telling their story will offer them a measure of closure. 

The case will not be the first for 33-year-old Salah Abdeslam, who was convicted in France as a ringleader in the November 13, 2015, Paris attacks that left 130 dead. 

He is serving life without parole in France but faces further charges in Belgium. 

Both sets of attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group and investigators believe they were carried out by the same Belgium-based cell, including Abdeslam.  

The group was planning more violence, allegedly including attacks on the Euro 2016 football cup in France but acted quickly after Abdeslam was arrested on March 18. 

Four days later on March 22, two bombers blew themselves up in Brussels airport and another in a city center metro station near the headquarters of the European Union. 

Alongside those killed, hundreds of travelers and transport staff were maimed and six years on, many victims, relatives and rescuers remain traumatized. 

Five of the nine defendants to appear in the dock have already been convicted in the French trial. A 10th will be tried in absentia because he is believed to have been killed in Syria. 

According to the federal prosecutor’s office, more than 1,000 people have registered as civil plaintiffs to receive a hearing as alleged victims of the crime.   

This makes this trial, scheduled until June 2023 at the former NATO headquarters, the largest ever organized before a Belgian court of assizes.    

“I don’t really expect a lot of answers,” said Sandrine Couturier, who was on the Maelbeek metro platform and plans to come to face the defendants.   

“But I want to confront myself with what human beings are capable of doing. I have to accept that not everyone is good,” the survivor, who suffers from PTSD, told AFP.    

Like many of those who have spoken to reporters, she suffers from memory loss and concentration problems. Many have sought treatment for depression.  

Sebastien Bellin, a former professional basketball player who was due to fly to New York on the morning of March 22, lost the use of a leg in the attack.    

He says today that he feels no hatred. “It would suck the energy I need to rebuild myself,” he says.   

Jury selection in the case is expected to be arduous.  

The court has summoned 1,000 citizens in order to choose among them 12 main jurors with 24 understudies on standby and able to follow daily evidence hearings for months.   

The trial should have begun in October, but there was controversy over the dock, in which the accused were to have been held in individual glass-walled boxes.   

The defendants’ areas were rebuilt as a single, shared space and after Wednesday’s one-day hearing for jury selection, testimony will begin on December 5.   
…

NATO foreign ministers are to meet for two days in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, starting Tuesday to pledge their continuing support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.    

At a news conference Monday, after a meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg asked the alliance to step up its support in the region. 

“Investing in our defense is essential as we face our greatest security crisis in a generation,” he said.   

In response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he said, NATO is reinforcing its presence from the Baltics to the Black Sea region.    

The head of the alliance also said new battlegroups have been set, including one led by France in Romania, while fighter jets from Canada are helping to “keep our skies safe,” and U.S. Patriot missiles are boosting NATO defenses. “We will do what is necessary to protect the defense of all our allies,” he added.    

Stoltenberg also highlighted the support of other partners facing Russian pressure, such as Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova.  

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said the decision reached at the Madrid summit to boost NATO troops and military equipment on the alliance’s eastern flank needs to come into force as soon as possible.    

Stoltenberg reiterated NATO’s commitment to approve membership for Sweden and Finland, which would expand NATO’s eastern flank.    

Stoltenberg said Russia is weaponizing winter by striking Ukraine’s critical power infrastructure and leaving civilians without power, heat or water in freezing temperatures.     

“We cannot let Putin win,” Stoltenberg said. “This would show authoritarian leaders around the world that they can achieve their goals by using military force — and make the world a more dangerous place for all of us. So, it is in our own security interests to support Ukraine.  

“We need to be prepared for more attacks,” the NATO chief added. “That is why NATO has stepped up its support to Ukraine with additional air defense systems, such as … drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.”  

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed his Nordic and Baltic counterparts from Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden in Kyiv.   

“The strongest message from this visit is: Ukraine needs to win this war and therefore … Western support should be stronger; more heavy weaponry without any political caveats, also including long-distance missiles,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Reuters.  

Reinsalu pledged to provide electric generators, warm clothes and food to help Ukrainians cope with the winter. 

The seven Baltic and Nordic nations were the largest delegation to visit Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale war.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russian troops are preparing new strikes and met with senior government officials to discuss what actions to take.  

Ukraine said Monday it had been forced to impose regular emergency blackouts in areas across the country after a setback in its race to repair energy infrastructure hit by Russian missile strikes.     

Power units at several power stations had to conduct emergency shutdowns and the demand for electricity has been rising as snowy winter weather takes hold in the capital and elsewhere, national grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement.  

“Once the causes of the emergency shutdowns are eliminated, the units will return to operation, which will reduce the deficit in the power system and reduce the amount of restrictions for consumers,” it said.  

DTEK, Ukraine’s biggest private electricity producer, said it would reduce the electricity supply by 60% for its consumers in Kyiv, where temperatures are hovering around zero degrees Celsius (32°F).    

“We are doing everything possible to provide power to every customer for 2-3 hours twice a day,” DTEK’s Kyiv branch wrote on Facebook.  

In his nightly video address Monday, Zelenskyy said Russia shelled Kherson and other communities in the region. In one week, Zelenskyy said, Russia “fired 258 times on 30 settlements of our Kherson region.”  

He also said that Russian forces damaged the pumping station that supplied water to Mykolaiv.  

Zelenskyy said the only thing Russian forces are capable of is inflicting devastation on civilians and civilian infrastructure.  

“That is all they leave behind,” he said. Russians “take revenge for the fact that Ukrainians defended themselves from them.”  

Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.  
…

British health authorities have recorded 50 cases of diphtheria this year among recently arrived asylum seekers, including one man who died after falling sick at a crowded migrant center.

The U.K. Health Protection Agency said Monday that the infected people likely caught the disease in their countries of origin or during their journeys to the U.K. It said a similar increase had been seen elsewhere in Europe.

In 2021 there were 11 cases in the U.K., where most people are vaccinated against diphtheria in childhood. The infection affects the nose, throat and sometimes skin and can be fatal if not treated quickly.

The outbreak comes amid criticism of the government over accommodation conditions for people who arrive in the U.K. across the English Channel in small boats. Many have been held for days or weeks at Manston, a disused airport in southeast England serving as a processing center. At one point last month more than 4,000 people were staying at the facility, designed to hold a maximum of 1,600.

Earlier this month a man staying at Manston became sick and later died in hospital. A PCR test for diphtheria was positive, though immigration minister Robert Jenrick said authorities were awaiting post-mortem results to determine the cause of death.

Thousands of migrants from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of crossing the Channel to Britain. There has been a sharp increase in the number of people attempting the journey in dinghies and other small craft as authorities have clamped down on other routes such as stowing away on buses or trucks.

More than 40,000 people have arrived so far this year in Britain after making the hazardous Channel trip, up from 28,000 in all of 2021 and 8,500 in 2020.

In an attempt to deter the crossings, Britain’s government has announced a controversial plan to put people who arrive in small boats on a one-way flight to Rwanda in a bid to break the business model of smuggling gangs.

Critics say the plan is immoral and impractical. It is being challenged in the courts.
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NATO foreign ministers are to meet for two days in Romania’s capital Bucharest starting Tuesday to pledge their continuing support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

At a news conference Monday, after a meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg asked the alliance to step up its support in the region. “Investing in our defense,” he said, “is essential as we face our greatest security crisis in a generation.”

In response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he said, NATO is reinforcing its presence from the Baltics to the Black Sea region.

The head of the alliance also said new battlegroups have been set, including one led by France in Romania, while fighter jets from Canada are helping to “keep our skies safe,” and U.S. Patriot missiles are boosting NATO defenses. “We will do what is necessary to protect the defense of all our allies,” he added.

Stoltenberg also highlighted the support of other partners facing Russian pressure, such as Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia, and Moldova.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said the decision reached at the Madrid summit to boost NATO troops and military equipment on the alliance’s eastern flank needs to come into force as soon as possible.

Stoltenberg reiterated NATO’s commitment to approve membership for Sweden and Finland, which would expand NATO’s eastern flank.

Stoltenberg said Russia is weaponizing winter by striking Ukraine’s critical power infrastructure and leaving civilians without power, heat or water in freezing temperatures.

“We cannot let Putin win,” Stoltenberg said. “This would show authoritarian leaders around the world that they can achieve their goals by using military force — and make the world a more dangerous place for all of us. So, it is in our own security interests to support Ukraine.

“We need to be prepared for more attacks,” the NATO chief added. “That is why NATO has stepped up its support to Ukraine with additional air defense systems, such as … drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed his Nordic and Baltic counterparts from Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden in Kyiv.

“The strongest message from this visit is: Ukraine needs to win this war and therefore … Western support should be stronger; more heavy weaponry without any political caveats, also including long-distance missiles,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Reuters in an interview.

Ukraine said Monday it had been forced to impose regular emergency blackouts in areas across the country after a setback in its race to repair energy infrastructure hit by Russian missile strikes.

Power units at several power stations had to conduct emergency shutdowns and the demand for electricity has been rising as snowy winter weather takes hold in the capital and elsewhere, national grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement.

“Once the causes of the emergency shutdowns are eliminated, the units will return to operation, which will reduce the deficit in the power system and reduce the amount of restrictions for consumers,” it said.

DTEK, Ukraine’s biggest private electricity producer, said it would reduce the electricity supply by 60% for its consumers in Kyiv, where temperatures are hovering around zero degrees Celsius (32°F).

“We are doing everything possible to provide power to every customer for 2-3 hours twice a day,” DTEK’s Kyiv branch wrote on Facebook.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Sunday the coming week could be as difficult as the past week when Russian missile strikes caused widespread damage to the country’s electrical grid.

“We understand that the terrorists are planning new strikes. We know this for a fact,” Zelenskyy said. “And as long as they have missiles, they, unfortunately, will not calm down.”

Russian airstrikes have repeatedly struck key infrastructure targets in Ukraine, knocking out important services as the winter season looms. Russian officials have denied targeting civilians with such strikes.

Continued US support

Newly empowered U.S. Republican lawmakers set to take leadership roles in the House of Representatives in January promised Sunday that Congress would continue to support Ukraine militarily in its fight against Russia but said there would be more scrutiny of the aid before it is shipped to Kyiv’s forces.

Congressmen Michael McCaul of Texas and Mike Turner of Ohio told ABC’s “This Week” program there would be continued bipartisan Republican and Democratic support for Ukraine as Republicans assume a narrow House majority, even though some opposition from both parties has emerged.

Turner, likely the new chairperson of the House Intelligence Committee, said, “We’re going to make sure they get what they need. We will have bipartisan support.”

McCaul, the likely head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “If we give them what they need, they win.”

But McCaul said there would be a difference in considering Ukraine aid from the outgoing Democratic control of the House when Republicans take over.

“The fact is, we are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability,” he said. “We’re not going to write a blank check.”

Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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An exhibition in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir gives viewers an in-depth look at local periodicals and other publications that are more than a century old. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. Videographer: Mahmut Bozarslan
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Russia postponed nuclear weapons talks with the United States set to take place this week in Cairo, the U.S. State Department said on Monday, with neither side giving a reason for the postponement.

Officials from the two countries were scheduled to meet in the Egyptian capital from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6 to discuss resuming inspections under the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, which had been suspended in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Russian side informed the United States that Russia has unilaterally postponed the meeting and stated that it would propose new dates,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said they could not provide further information, but said Washington is “ready to reschedule at the earliest possible date as resuming inspections is a priority for sustaining the treaty as an instrument of stability.”

In response to a question, the Russian foreign ministry confirmed the talks were postponed.

The New START Treaty, which came into force in 2011, caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had played down expectations of a breakthrough, although the talks were a sign that both sides at least wanted to maintain dialog, even though relations are at their lowest level since the Cold War.
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Cameroon and Serbia battled to a 3-3 draw Monday in a goal-filled match at the men’s World Cup in Qatar as they tried to keep alive hopes of advancing past the group stage.

The scoring outburst came after neither side netted a goal in its first game of the tournament, with Serbia falling 2-0 to Brazil and Cameroon losing 1-0 to Switzerland.

Cameroon opened Monday’s scoring with a goal in the 29th minute as Jean-Charles Castelletto tapped the ball in behind the goaltender off a corner kick.

Serbia responded during stoppage time in the first half, netting two goals in quick succession off the head of Strahinja Pavlovic and the foot of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Serbia seized a 3-1 advantage in the 53rd minute as Aleksandar Mitrovic finished off a series of passes in front of Cameroon’s net.

But Cameroon mounted a comeback ten minutes later, striking twice in quick succession to even the score at 3-3.

Vincent Aboubakar snuck behind Serbia’s defense and lifted the ball over goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic.  Three minutes later, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting drove a left-footed shot into the net.

Cameroon closes its Group G schedule with a game Friday against Brazil, while Serbia plays Switzerland.  Both Cameroon and Serbia will need to win in order to have any chance of moving on to the knockout round.

Other games Monday include Brazil against Switzerland, South Korea facing Ghana, and Portugal against Uruguay.
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Austrian railway workers are staging a one-day strike Monday. All train traffic has ground to a halt in what the railway workers’ union says in a warning strike called because of a pay dispute. 

Reports say a million passengers have been impacted by the stoppage.   The strike is also affecting freight lines, regional lines, and long-distance night trains. 

The railway workers union called for the 24-hour strike Sunday, after a fifth round of unproductive negotiations with state-owned rail company OBB.  

The strike began at midnight Monday and will end at midnight Tuesday.  

The union says it is ready to strike again if it cannot come to an agreement with OBB. 

The rail system is expected to be back to normal Tuesday.
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Thousands of Kurds protested on Sunday in the Syrian city of Qamishli against days of deadly Turkish cross-border strikes targeting Kurdish groups in the country’s northeast.

Turkey announced last Sunday it had carried out airstrikes against semi-autonomous Kurdish zones in north and northeastern Syria, and across the border in Iraq. It has also threatened a ground offensive in those areas of Syria.

Demonstrators in Kurdish-controlled Qamishli, in Hasakah province, brandished photos of people killed during recent strikes in the semi-autonomous region, an AFP correspondent said.

“Only the will of the Kurdish people remains,” said protester Siham Sleiman, 49. “It will not be broken, and we remain ready. We will not leave our historic land.”

After a three-day lull, Turkish fighter jets heavily bombed Kurdish-controlled areas north of Aleppo early on Sunday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.

A separate Turkish drone strike killed five Syrian government soldiers near Tal Rifaat, also north of Aleppo, the Observatory added, reporting an exchange of shelling between Kurdish combatants and Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies.

Protesters in Qamishli also chanted in favor of the resistance in “Rojava”— the name Kurds in Syria give to the area they administer.

“The message that we want to convey to the world is that we are victims of eradication,” said Salah el-Dine Hamou, 55. “How long will we continue to die while other countries watch?”

The Turkish strikes come after a November 13 bombing in Istanbul that killed six people and wounded 81. Ankara blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which it and its Western allies consider a terrorist group.

The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey alleges that Syrian Kurdish fighters are the PKK’s allies.

Kurdish groups denied any involvement in the Ankara blast.

Some protesters on Sunday carried Kurdish flags alongside photos of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan — jailed in Turkey since 1999 — and shouted slogans against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish raids have killed at least 63 Kurdish and allied fighters and Syrian regime soldiers, as well as a Kurdish journalist, according to the Observatory, which relies on an extensive network of sources in Syria.

Eight people have been killed in retaliatory artillery fire, three of them across the Turkish border.

Since 2016, Turkey’s military has conducted three offensives mostly targeting Kurdish fighters, and captured territory in northern Syria, which is now held by Ankara-backed proxies.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army in the area, led the battle that dislodged Islamic State group jihadist fighters from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019.
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Britain’s government intends to make $1.2 billion of public funding available for home insulation projects from early next year, widening access to assistance that was previously only available to poorer households.

The government said the proposed scheme would run from early 2023 until March 2026 and would help meet a recent target to reduce energy consumption by 15% by 2030.

“Our new ECO+ scheme will help hundreds of thousands of people across the UK to better insulate their homes to reduce consumption, with the added benefit of saving families hundreds of pounds each year,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in a statement on Monday.

Britain is currently facing its biggest squeeze on living standards on record, according to government forecasters, driven largely by a surge in energy costs since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up natural gas prices across Europe.

Government subsidies for household energy bills are already forecast to cost 25 billion pounds this financial year and 13 billion pounds in 2023/24.

Business and energy secretary Grant Shapps said the insulation program would help make Britain less reliant on imported energy.

Existing insulation subsidies are targeted towards people in social housing or who are on low incomes.

Under the new plan, up to 80% of the subsidies will be available to people who do not qualify for income-based assistance, but whose homes are not energy efficient and fall outside the top bands for local property taxes.

The $1.2 billion of funding comes from a $15.2 billion energy efficiency budget to cover the years up to 2028, which Hunt expanded in a fiscal statement on November 17.

British energy companies suggested a similar scheme in September, and the precise details will be subject to public consultation and parliamentary approval.

Shapps also said the government was launching a $21.7 million public information campaign to encourage the public to draft-proof their homes, turn down radiators in empty rooms, and run boilers at lower temperatures.
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Slovenians in a referendum on Sunday backed a bill to reduce political influence and restore editorial independence to the EU country’s public television.

Media and civil organizations have slammed what they see as biased coverage by RTV Slovenija — the country’s main public broadcaster with more than 2,000 employees. Its current management was appointed by the former conservative government.

The ruling center-left coalition, which won elections in the Alpine country in April, passed the bill to reform RTV shortly after taking power.

It tasks civil society institutions and groups with the supervision of the station and prevents the government and parliament from appointing new managers after every election.

Former Premier Janez Jansa’s Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) had requested the referendum in a last-ditch effort to thwart the bill, after gathering the 40,000 signatures necessary under Slovenian legislation to call the vote.

More than 62% of voters backed the bill, clearing the way for it to take effect, according to data published by the country’s electoral commission. Around 38% voted against it.

During his two years in office between 2020 and 2022, Jansa often slammed critical media reports, including launching personal attacks against journalists.

His SDS replaced most of RTV’s directors and the news program chief editor, resulting in protests over axed shows, reassigned journalists and other moves deemed to interfere with media freedom.

Slovenia’s press freedom rating has slumped from 36th to 54th place, according to a 2022 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report.

“There is damage that cannot be undone… but the editorial autonomy will be ensured” by the bill, Helena Milinkovic, spokeswoman of the television employees’ largest union, told AFP.

She added more than a dozen new journalists, previously working for SDS-linked media, have been hired, while more than 40 journalists and newsroom staff members have quit or retired during the last year.

The Slovenian journalists’ association had urged citizens to back the bill, saying it was the only way to protect the broadcaster from “political abuse and destruction.”

Leading international media organizations, such as the International Press Institute (IPI) and RSF, also backed the bill.

The South East European Media Organization (SEEMO), a regional media watchdog, welcomed the outcome of the referendum.

“SEEMO hopes that RTV Slovenia will work in the future as an independent professional public service media and will be a positive example for many other public services in Europe,” its secretary general Oliver Vujovic told AFP.

After the official results of the referendum are published in January, the bill sets a two-month deadline for the changes to be implemented.
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According to military monitors, Belarus’ authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, is allowing up to 10,000 newly mobilized Russian troops to train in his country and sending Moscow at least 211 pieces of heavy military equipment, including trucks and tanks. Critics, such as exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, talk to VOA about how Lukashenko is trying to help Russia’s battered military. Igor Tsikhanenka has more.
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