First Lady Jill Biden Tuesday marked the United States’ return to the United Nations’ cultural organization after five years away, amid concerns that its absence has let China take a lead in key areas like artificial intelligence and technology education.

“I was honored to join you today as we raise the flag of the United States, a symbol of our commitment to global collaboration and peace,” Biden said in Paris, as the American flag joined 193 others under the shadow of the city’s major cultural landmark, the Eiffel Tower. “The United States is proud to join as a member state of UNESCO. Madam Director-General, you’ve worked long and hard to help us realize this goal.”

The roots of the withdrawal date back to 2011, when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization gave Palestine full membership as a state. Palestine is not a U.N.-recognized state. That led the Obama administration to freeze U.S. financial contributions to UNESCO – about a fifth of the agency’s budget.

[[https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R42999.html]].

In 2017, the U.S. State Department cited “mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO” as reasons to complete the withdrawal the following year.

The Biden administration now faces a $619 million debt. The Biden administration has asked for $150 million in the 2024 budget.

UNESCO also has designated 1,157 properties around the world as having major cultural significance, including the ancient town of Bethlehem, technically in Israel but classified by UNESCO as being in Palestine.

The prominent American Jewish Committee told VOA they supported the U.S. decision to rejoin UNESCO despite its concerns about what it sees as lack of recognition of Jewish culture and the Jewish state.

“UNESCO is an important agency,” Jason Isaacson, chief policy and political affairs officer for the American Jewish Committee, told VOA. “It’s not perfect. Nor is any other U.N. entity. But it does really important work. And it is a vehicle for soft power, for the exercise of soft power in the United States to not be in that agency meant that other players — competitors, rivals of the United States — could have a seat at the table, could have cultural programs, scientific exchanges, educational programs, in countries all over the world, especially the developing world in places and in ways that the United States could not.”

Recognition of iconic sites

UNESCO’s most famous totems are its world heritage sites, which include monuments that have weathered long stretches of human history. This month, a massive heat wave forced authorities in Athens to close the Acropolis, a massive edifice that has loomed over the Greek capital for three millennia.

Simmering ethnic conflict in Ethiopia in recent years has hampered religious pilgrims’ access to the massive, ancient rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, a mountain town known in the 13th century as ‘New Jerusalem.’

And the COVID pandemic has kept footfalls light on China’s great Great Wall, the massive fortification whose construction began in the 3rd Century B.C. and UNESCO estimates once boasted a total length of 20,000 kilometers.

This year, UNESCO added another entry to its vaunted list: the historic center of the bustling Ukrainian port city of Odesa, a critical port for Ukraine’s agricultural exports.

This month, a Russian airstrike tore through the city, dropping a missile through the roof of its soaring cathedral and shattering the altar.

UNESCO issued a condemnation.

“On this night alone in Odesa, nearly 50 buildings were damaged, 25 of them architectural monuments,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “The historic center. A world heritage site that UNESCO has taken under its protection.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, UNESCO has verified damage to 270 of its designated “cultural sites” in Ukraine.

The heavy responsibility of carrying all this cultural weight is lighter now that the U.S. is back, said UNESCO’s director-general, Audrey Azoulay.

“In these times of division, rifts and existential threats to humanity, we reaffirm here and today our union,” she said. “The star-spangled banner of the United States of America will float in a few moments over the Paris skies.”
…

North Korea is receiving invited delegates from Russia and China this week for the 70th anniversary celebrations of its self-proclaimed “Victory Day,” an exceptional move in light of the ongoing border closures in place since early 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

July 27, 1953, marks the day the signing of a long-negotiated armistice agreement paused the Korean War. North Korea claims the 1950-1953 war was started by the U.S. and South Korea, and that it ultimately clenched victory.  

North Korean state media on Wednesday published images of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arriving at Pyongyang International Airport the night before to be greeted by his North Korean counterpart Kang Sun Nam.  

The “goodwill mission of the Russian army and people will significantly contribute to developing [onto] a high stage the strategic and traditional DPRK-Russia friendly relations … in keeping with the demand of the times,” KCNA said.    

DPRK or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is North Korea’s official name.  

In its statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry characterized the visit as one that will “help strengthen Russian-North Korean military ties and will be an important stage in the development of cooperation between the two countries.”  

Anniversary events are expected to culminate in a large-scale nighttime parade on Thursday, in what is typically an elaborate show of North Korea’s various military hardware developed over the years.  

A parade in February introduced prototypes of the now twice-tested solid-fueled Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, in a grand finale of 16 ICBMs that were rolled out on transporter erector launchers to cap the late-night celebration.      

This week’s high-profile visit by the Russian defense minister carries symbolic significance, with the possibility of Sergei Shoigu meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un being raised.  

Analysts will be watching whether the trip could lead to boosted arms sales between Pyongyang and Moscow.  

Washington previously accused North Korea of sending weapons and workers to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine. Both Moscow and Pyongyang dismissed the charge.      

Meanwhile, China will be represented at the anniversary celebrations by the vice chairman of the Chinese National People’s Congress’ Standing Committee, Li Hongzhong, in a visit scheduled to begin Wednesday.  

“Having a high-level Chinese delegation visit North Korea and mark the occasion [of the 70th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War] shows the high importance both sides attach to our bilateral ties,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning Tuesday.   

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Seoul is watching how Russia and North Korea’s relationship evolves, adding that it hopes the relations moves the peninsula toward peace and stability. 

Washington also voiced hopes that Russia and China will encourage North Korea from “threatening, unlawful behavior,” underlining the potential role they can play in bringing Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.  

“The United States’ point of view on this has been quite consistent, which is that we are open to meeting with Pyongyang without preconditions and we continue to have a commitment for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel. 

On U.S. Army private Travis King, who crossed into North Korea last week through the Joint Security Area at the DMZ, Vedant said he had no new updates. Pyongyang has also yet to make any public comments on the soldier believed to be in its custody.  

Russia and China have both sided with North Korea at several United Nations Security Council meetings convened to condemn North Korea’s ballistic missile tests, outlawed under several UNSC resolutions.  

North Korea has been on a record-setting run of ballistic missile tests since last year. This month alone, it has test fired its latest Hwasong-18 ICBM and launched four short-range ballistic missiles late in the night, local time.   
…

Latest Developments:   

A former U.S. Marine who was freed by Russia last year in a prisoner swap has been injured while fighting for Ukraine against Moscow's forces, the U.S. State Department said. 
Russia's prosecutor-general declared independent TV channel Dozhd to be an undesirable organization, continuing the crackdown on news media and groups regarded as threats to Russia's security. Dozhd, which is often critical of the Kremlin, closed its operations in Russia soon after the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, moving first to Latvia and then to the Netherlands.  
The European Union is considering helping fund the costly transportation of grain out of Ukraine after Russia halted a deal that allowed Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain vital to global food security. 

 

The United States will send Ukraine an additional $400 million in military aid, including air defense missiles, small drones and armored vehicles, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. 

The weapons are being provided through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows for the speedy delivery of defense articles and services from U.S. stocks, sometimes arriving within days of approval. The materiel will come from U.S. excess inventory.

The aid announcement comes at a time when Ukrainian troops are involved in a slow-moving counteroffensive against invading Russian forces.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the assistance is aimed at “strengthening Ukraine’s brave forces on the battlefield” and “helping them retake Ukraine’s sovereign territory.”

“The people of Ukraine continue to bravely defend their country against Russia’s aggression while Russia continues its relentless and vicious attacks that are killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying civil infrastructure,” Blinken said in a statement.

The new aid package includes an array of ammunition, ranging from missiles for Patriot air defense systems and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASMS), Stinger anti-aircraft systems, more ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Stryker armored personnel carriers, and a variety of other missiles and rockets. 

It also will include for the first time U.S.-furnished Black Hornet surveillance drones — tiny nano drones used largely for intelligence-gathering. Ukraine has previously received these drones from other Western allies.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. has provided more than $43 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said their air defenses intercepted Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia fired at Kyiv overnight. It was the sixth drone attack on the capital this month. 

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said no casualties or damage were reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a Russian patrol ship destroyed two Ukrainian sea drones that attacked it in the Black Sea early Tuesday.

Ukrainian officials said Russia used cluster munitions in an attack on Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, late Monday.

Also Tuesday, Russian lawmakers approved a bill extending the upper age limit for the compulsory military draft from 27 to 30, a move that appears aimed at expanding the pool of recruits for the fighting in Ukraine.

The measure was quickly approved by the lower house on Tuesday. It will need to be approved by the upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its staff saw directional anti-personnel mines located on the perimeter of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The IAEA said in a statement late Monday that the mines were seen Sunday “in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers.” The agency said no mines were seen “within the inner site perimeter.”

Russia has controlled the site since the early stages of its invasion of Ukraine. The IAEA has repeatedly warned of the potential for a nuclear catastrophe as it advocated for safety and security measures at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said the agency was told the placement of the mines was a military decision and done in an area controlled by the military.

“But having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff — even if the IAEA’s initial assessment based on its own observations and the plant’s clarifications is that any detonation of these mines should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems,” Grossi said. 

IAEA experts are also continuing to monitor the availability of water to cool the plant’s reactors following the June destruction of the Kakhovka dam that affected a reservoir near the plant, the agency said.

“The site continues to have sufficient water for some months,” the IAEA said.

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

Large areas of the Mediterranean sweltered under an intense summer heat wave on Tuesday, and firefighters battled to put out blazes across the region. 

In Algeria, at least 34 people have died. In Croatia, flames came within 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) of the medieval town of Dubrovnik late on Tuesday. 

Greece has been particularly hard hit, with authorities evacuating more than 20,000 people in recent days from homes and resorts in the south of the holiday island of Rhodes.  

Close to 3,000 tourists had returned home by plane as of Tuesday, according to figures from the Transport Ministry, and tour operators have canceled upcoming trips. 

Two firefighting pilots died when their plane, which had been dropping water, crashed on a hillside close to the town of Karystos on the island of Evia, east of Athens.  

Italy suffered a twin pounding from the elements when severe storms battered the north, killing a woman and a 16-year-old girl scout, while southern regions sweltered. In the south, a bedridden 98-year-old man died when fire swept through his home. 

Fires also swept across Portugal and Spain’s Gran Canaria. 

In the United States, the ocean waters around South Florida soared to typical hot tub levels this week, according to government data. A weather buoy in the waters of Manatee Bay recorded a high of 38.44 degrees Celsius (101.19 degrees Fahrenheit) late Monday afternoon, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. On land, heat warnings were issued for stretches of the desert southwest, in central Texas and north into the Midwest.  

Extreme weather throughout July has caused havoc across the planet, with record temperatures in China, the U.S. and southern Europe sparking forest fires, water shortages and a rise in heat-related hospital admissions. 

Without human-induced climate change, the events this month would have been “extremely rare,” according to a study by World Weather Attribution, a global team of scientists that examines the role played by climate change in extreme weather. 

The heat, with temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), is well in excess of what usually attracts tourists who flock to southern European beaches. 

The high temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean. 

Several dozen firefighters were using aircraft to battle a wildfire that had broken out close to Nice international airport in southern France. 

In north Africa, Algeria was fighting to contain devastating forest fires along its Mediterranean coast in a blaze which has already killed at least 34 people. Fanned by strong winds, fires also forced the closure of two border crossings with neighboring Tunisia. 

Wildfires also broke out in the countryside around Syria’s Mediterranean port city, Latakia, with the authorities using army helicopters to try to put them out. 

Saving the hotel 

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his country was one of those on the front line against climate change, with no easy solution. 

“I will state the obvious: In the face of what the entire planet is facing, especially the Mediterranean, which is a climate change hot spot, there is no magical defense mechanism. If there was, we would have implemented it,” Mitsotakis said. 

The fires will deal a blow to a tourist industry that is a mainstay of the Greek economy. It accounts for 18% of gross domestic product and one in five jobs, with an even greater contribution on islands such as Rhodes. 

 

Lefteris Laoudikos, whose family owns a small hotel in the Rhodes seaside resort town of Kiotari, one of the epicenters of a fire over the weekend, said its 200 guests — mainly from Germany, Britain and Poland — evacuated in rental cars. 

He said his father, cousin and two others were trying to douse the flames using a nearby water tank. 

“My father saved the hotel. I called him, and he didn’t want to leave. He told me, ‘If I leave, there will be no hotel.'” 

‘Silent killer’ 

Scientists have described extreme heat as a “silent killer” taking a heavy toll on the poor, the elderly and those with existing medical conditions.  

Research published this month said as many as 61,000 people may have died in Europe’s sweltering heat waves last summer, suggesting preparedness efforts are falling fatally short. 

The heat has also caused large-scale crop damage and livestock losses, the World Weather Attribution scientists said, with U.S. corn and soybean crops, Mexican cattle, southern European olives, as well as Chinese cotton all severely affected. 

Residents of Milan were surveying the mess after the dramatic overnight storm and winds of over 100 kilometers per hour.  

“It all happened around 4 or 5 a.m. (0200-0300 GMT) this morning. It was very short but very intense. It knocked down several trees … with the wind gusts they took off and broke up,” witness Roberto Solfrizzo, 66, told Reuters. 
…

A jury on Tuesday found six people guilty of terrorist murder for extremist attacks in Brussels in 2016 that killed 32 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group, in Belgium’s deadliest peacetime violence, according to Belgian media.

Among those convicted for their role in the suicide bombings at Brussels’ airport and a subway station was Salah Abdeslam, who already is serving a life sentence without parole in France over his role in attacks that hit Paris cafes, the Bataclan theater and France’s national stadium in 2015.

The verdict was reported by public broadcaster RTBF, newspaper Le Soir and news websites HLN and Nieuwsblad.

The chief judge read out the verdict and explanations by the 12-person jury, who made a clear connection to IS and its extremist ideology. The reading of the verdict was expected to take a few hours. Sentencing will be decided in a separate process, not before September.

In addition to the six people convicted of terrorist murder, four others on trial were acquitted or facing other charges.

The biggest trial in Belgium’s judicial history unfolded over seven months in a special court to address the exceptional case. Survivors and families of victims hoped the trial and verdict would help them work through what happened and find closure.

The morning rush hour attacks on March 22, 2016, at Zavantem Airport and on the Brussels subway’s central commuter line deeply shook the city, which is home to the headquarters of the European Union and NATO and put the country on edge. In addition to the 32 people killed, nearly 900 others were wounded or suffered serious mental trauma.

Jamila Adda, president of the Life4Bruxelles victims’ association, gathered a group of survivors at the special courthouse to hear Tuesday’s verdict. Among them was a man named Frederic, who said the ”atrocious crimes” of March 22 still haunt him.

“We have been waiting for this for seven years, seven years that weighed heavily on the victims. … We are waiting with impatience, and with some anguish” for the verdict, he told The Associated Press. Frederic, among the commuters who survived the attack at the Maelbeek metro station, spoke on condition that his last name not be published to protect his identity as a victim of trauma.

Survivors have supported each other through the proceedings, some coming every day. “It is important to be together, to hear the decision of justice,” Frederic said. And then, they hope “to be able to turn the page.”

The 12 jurors had been deliberating since early July over some 300 questions the court asked them to consider before reaching a verdict. Tuesday’s expected decision will address whether or not each of the suspects is guilty of various charges and may take several hours to be read out.

Eventual sentencing will be decided in a separate process. If convicted, some could face up to 30 years in prison.

Abdeslam was the only survivor among the Islamic State extremists who struck Paris in November 2015 and were part of a Franco-Belgian network that went on to target Brussels four months later. After months on the run following the Paris attacks, Abdeslam was captured in Brussels on March 18, 2016, and his arrest may have prompted other members of the IS cell to rush ahead with attack plans on the Belgian capital.

Also convicted of terrorist murder at the trial in Brussels was Mohamed Abrini, childhood friend of Abdeslam and a Brussels native who walked away from Zaventem airport after his explosives failed to detonate.

Oussama Atar, who has been identified as a possible organizer of the deadly attacks on both Paris and Brussels, was convicted of terrorist murder in absentia. He is believed to have died in the Islamic State group’s final months of fighting in Iraq and Syria.
…

A small group of anti-Islam activists set fire to Qurans in front of the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in Copenhagen on Tuesday after similar protests in Denmark and Sweden over recent weeks that have enraged Muslims. 

Denmark and Sweden have said they deplore the burning of the Islam’s holy book but cannot prevent it under rules protecting free speech. Last week, protesters in Iraq set the Swedish embassy in Baghdad ablaze. 

Tuesday’s demonstration in Copenhagen by a group called “Danish Patriots” followed Quran burnings the group staged on Monday and last week in front of the Iraqi embassy. Two such incidents have taken place in Sweden over the past month. 

Turkey’s foreign ministry on Tuesday strongly condemned the “continuing attacks” on the Quran, adding that Danish authorities allowing these actions means they do not see the “severity” of the results they can have. Turkey on Monday called on Denmark to take necessary measures to prevent this “hate crime” against Islam. 

Bahrain summoned Sweden’s chargé d’affaires and handed her a formal protest letter against allowing the burning of the Koran in Stockholm, the state news agency said on Tuesday citing the foreign ministry. 

Iraq’s foreign ministry on Monday called on authorities of EU countries to “quickly reconsider so-called freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate” in light of the Quran burnings. 

The Egyptian foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires to condemn the desecration of the Qurans. 

Denmark has condemned the burnings as “provocative and shameful acts” but says it does not have the power to block non-violent demonstrators. 

Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Tuesday he had “had a constructive phone call” with Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Husseein on their countries’ relations and the Quran burnings. 

“Repeated DK’s condemnation of these shameful acts carried out by few individuals. Emphasized that all protests must remain peaceful,” he wrote on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. 

“People benefit from an extended freedom of speech when they demonstrate,” University of Copenhagen law Professor Trine Baumbach said of Danish laws. “It does not just include verbal expression. People can express themselves in various ways, such as through the burning of items.” 
…

In Ukraine, even in the face of Russian shelling, some people are staying in cities to rescue pets. Volunteers from Kharkiv are trying to help. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. This video contains images of injured animals that may be disturbing to some viewers. Camera — Pavel Suhodolskiy
…

The fingerprints of climate change are all over the intense heat waves gripping the globe this month, a new study finds. Researchers say the deadly hot spells in the American Southwest and Southern Europe could not have happened without the continuing buildup of warming gases in the air.

These unusually strong heat waves are becoming more common, Tuesday’s study said. The same research found the increase in heat-trapping gases, largely from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas has made another heat wave — the one in China — 50 times more likely with the potential to occur every five years or so.

A stagnant atmosphere, warmed by carbon dioxide and other gases, also made the European heat wave 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter, the one in the United States and Mexico 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer and the one in China one 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) toastier, the study found.

Several climate scientists, using tree rings and other stand-ins for temperature records, say this month’s heat is likely the hottest Earth has been in about 120,000 years, easily the hottest of human civilization.

“Had there been no climate change, such an event would almost never have occurred,” said study lead author Mariam Zachariah, a climate scientist at Imperial College of London. She called heat waves in Europe and North America “virtually impossible” without the increase in heat from the mid-1800s. Statistically, the one in China could have happened without global warming.

Since the advent of industrial-scale burning, the world has warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit), so “they are not rare in today’s climate and the role of climate change is absolutely overwhelming,” said Imperial College climate scientist Friederike Otto, who leads the team of volunteer international scientists at World Weather Attribution who do these studies.

The particularly intense heat waves that Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua and Coahuila are now roasting through are likely to happen about once every 15 years in the current climate, the study said.

But the climate is not stabilized, even at this level. If it warms a few more tenths of a degree, this month’s heat will become even more common, Otto said. Phoenix has had a record-shattering 25 straight days of temperatures at or above 43.3 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit) and more than a week when the nighttime temperature never dropped below 32.2 Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit).

The heat in Spain, Italy, Greece and some Balkan states is likely to reoccur every decade in the current climate, the study said.

Because the weather attribution researchers started their analysis of three simultaneous heat waves on July 17, the results are not yet peer reviewed, which is the gold standard for science. But it used scientifically valid techniques, the team’s research regularly gets published and several outside experts told The Associated Press it makes sense.

The way scientists do these rapid analyses is by comparing observations of current weather in the three regions to repeated computer simulations of “a world that might have been without climate change,” said study co-author Izidine Pinto, a climate scientist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

In Europe and North America, the study doesn’t claim human-caused climate change is the sole cause of the heat waves, but it is a necessary ingredient because natural causes and random chance couldn’t produce this alone.

Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said the study was reasonable, but looks at a broad area of the U.S. Southwest, so it may not be applicable to every single place in the area.

“In the United States, it’s clear that the entire southern tier is going to see the worst of the ever-worsening heat and this summer should be considered a serious wake-up call,” said University of Michigan environment dean Jonathan Overpeck.

With heat waves, “the most important thing is that they kill people and they particularly kill and hurt and destroy lives and livelihoods of those most vulnerable,” Otto said.
…

Greece braced for a new wave of soaring temperatures Tuesday, as wildfires raged on several popular tourist islands, forcing mass evacuations.

In the capital city of Athens the mercury is expected to soar to 41 degrees Celsius, and reach up to 44C in central Greece, according to the national weather forecaster EMY.

Many regions of the country were on “red alert”, meaning there is an extreme risk of dangerous forest fires exacerbated by strong winds.

The very hot weather comes after a weekend of intense heat as thousands of locals and tourists fled forest fires on the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu, with the prime minister warning the heat-battered nation is “at war” with the flames.

Authorities evacuated nearly 2,500 people from the Greek island of Corfu on Monday, after tens of thousands of people had already fled blazes on the island of Rhodes, with many frightened tourists scrambling to get home on evacuation flights.

More than 260 firefighters were still battling flames for an eighth consecutive day on Rhodes, supported by two helicopters and two planes.

Fires were also raging on Greece’s second largest island of Evia, where Greek civil protection authorities issued an overnight evacuation order in one northern locality.

The mercury hit 46.4C in Gythio, in the southern Peloponnese peninsula on Sunday, though it failed to reach the hottest temperature nationally on record of 48C.

“We are at war and are exclusively geared towards the fire front,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament on Monday.

He warned that the country faced “another three difficult days ahead” before high temperatures are forecast to ease.

‘Protect our home’

The severe heatwave in Greece has also been reflected across much of southern Europe and Northern Africa.

In Algeria at least 34 people have died as wildfires raged through residential areas, forcing mass evacuations.

In southeastern France officials Monday issued a fire warning at the highest level in the Bouches-du-Rhone region, warning that the weather conditions make the risk of flames “very high compared to normal summers”.

The exceptional temperatures in Greece have forced key tourist sites such as the Acropolis in Athens to close at the hottest times of the day.

Vassilis Kikilias, Greece’s civil protection minister, said crews had battled over 500 fires around the country for 12 straight days.

The fires are particularly devastating on very touristic islands such as Rhodes and Corfu where the season is in full swing and hotels are often full.

Volunteers had come to the aid of foreign tourists in the north of the island where nearly 200 people are still camped out at a school after being evacuated from the fires on Saturday.

School director Kyriakos Kyriakoulis told AFP that dozens of local volunteers and school staff had come forward to help those stranded.

“I can’t believe they are so nice, they gave so much in every way,” said 69-year-old British tourist Christine Moody, who was spending her first vacation in Greece when the fires hit.

“I am very moved,” she said.

In the village of Vati, in the southeast of the island, local mayor Vassilis Kalabodakis said that the impact on the region was “tragic”.

“The village has been ordered to evacuate but we can’t abandon it,” he said. “We are leading the fight to protect our home”.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said Tuesday that the heatwaves that have hit parts of Europe and North America this month would have been almost impossible without human-caused climate change.
…

Latest Developments:

Between 3,450 and 3,650 Wagner group mercenaries have arrived in Belarus since the group’s short-lived rebellion, a military monitoring group said Monday. The fighters are camped close to Asipovichy, a town 230 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border. The Wagner mercenaries are training Belarusian troops as part of an agreement to end the Wagner revolt brokered by the Belarusian president between the Kremlin and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.





The Russian defense industry says it is now producing more munitions per month than it did in the whole of 2022, the RIA news agency reported.

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its staff saw directional anti-personnel mines located on the perimeter of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The IAEA said in a statement the mines were seen Sunday “in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers.” The agency said no mines were seen “within the inner site perimeter.”

Russia has controlled the site since the early stages of its invasion of Ukraine. The IAEA has repeatedly warned of the potential for a nuclear catastrophe as it advocated for safety and security measures at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said was told the placement of the mines was a military decision and done in an area controlled by the military.

“But having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff — even if the IAEA’s initial assessment based on its own observations and the plant’s clarifications is that any detonation of these mines should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems,” Grossi said.

IAEA experts are also continuing to monitor the availability of water to cool the plants reactors following the June destruction of the Kakhovka dam that affected a reservoir near the plant, the agency said.

“The site continues to have sufficient water for some months,” the IAEA said.

Grain exports

The U.S. Treasury Department said Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson will address how Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative will hurt African states as he makes a visit this week to Kenya and Somalia.

A Treasury spokesperson said Nelson will argue that Russia abandoned the grain deal despite U.S. efforts to facilitate the flow of Russian grain and fertilizer exports.

Russia withdrew from the grain deal last week, arguing it was not benefitting enough from a parallel initiative allowing Russian food and fertilizer exports despite Western sanctions.

“He will highlight the exemptions in U.S. sanctions that have always allowed the continued flow of food and agriculture transactions,” the spokesperson said.

Putin courts African leaders

Nelson’s trip comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to host African leaders in St. Petersburg Thursday and Friday promising them free Russian grain “to replace Ukrainian grain.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Russia to revive the U.N.-brokered grain deal to allow the flow of grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

During his speech at the opening of a three-day food summit in Rome, Guterres said the world’s hungry will be the most adversely affected if the deal is not renewed. “The most vulnerable will pay the highest price,” he said.

Some information was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
…

Lithuania on Monday urged the European Union to use Baltic ports to export Ukrainian grain after Moscow declined to renew a 2022 deal on their safe passage through the Black Sea.

Russia has said it is ready to return to the agreement, which has allowed the export of nearly 33 million tons of grain from Ukrainian ports, if its demands are met “in their totality.”

Moscow says its own deliveries of agricultural products and fertilizers under the deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey were hampered by Western sanctions.

A letter by three Lithuanian ministers to EU commissioners said Baltic ports could “serve as a reliable alternative for transiting Ukrainian products, including cereals.”

The letter, seen by AFP, said Baltic ports could help transport 25 million tons of grain annually.

It also asked the EU to cut red tape on Ukraine’s border with Poland, a member of the bloc.

Last week, Ukraine’s European neighbors urged the EU to extend a grain import ban until the end of the year, amid fears local farmers would be undercut by diverted Ukrainian supplies.

In June, Brussels agreed to allow Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania to restrict imports of grain from Ukraine through September.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up attacks on ports, grain supplies and infrastructure vital to grain exports after refusing to renew the agreement.
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The French president is pressing his country’s interests in the South Pacific this week and trying to make France’s voice heard in a region shaping up as a prime geopolitical battleground for China and the U.S. 

President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia starting Monday comes as French forces take part in massive U.S.-Australian-led military exercises in the region. With troops, citizens and resources spread across its Pacific territories, France wants to protect its interests and project its power alongside like-minded democracies worried about China’s growing assertiveness. 

The most strategically important stop is Thursday in Papua New Guinea, which has seen growing Chinese influence and signed a new security cooperation pact with the U.S. in May. The most populous Pacific Island nation is also negotiating a security treaty with Australia. 

Macron’s office insists the trip is not aimed at pressing an ”anti-China policy,” but at encouraging regional powers to diversify their partnerships beyond Beijing and Washington. He felt the trip was needed because of “new, more intense threats” to security, institutions and the environment in the region, according to an official in Macron’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. 

His chief diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum last week, said “China is a global challenge. It is a challenge for the U.S. as well as for the EU,” adding that “there is kind of a strategic awakening in Europe today” of the need for tougher policy toward China. 

But he insisted that Europe shouldn’t “delegate” its global security needs to the U.S. and should craft its own strategic policies. “If we want to remain relevant in today’s world and to tomorrow’s world as France, as Europeans, we need to be much more robust,” he said. 

Macron’s office says he plans to visit a French patrol ship in the area and offer infrastructure projects and a partnership to save forests and mangroves while ensuring jobs in Papua New Guinea, where France’s TotalEnergies is leading a liquefied natural gas project. 

The French tour is coinciding with trips by some top U.S. officials to the region, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Tonga, New Zealand and Australia this week after a visit to Papua New Guinea in May. 

Macron began Monday in the French archipelago of New Caledonia, trying to rebuild trust after voters rejected a string of independence referendums that exposed entrenched frustrations of native Kanaks and inequalities with the mainland, and divisions over management of the region’s rich nickel reserves. Negotiations are underway for a new status for the territory and its institutions. 

“I am at our compatriots’ side to define the basis of this new path,” Macron said in a televised interview after arriving. 

Coastal erosion and other impacts of climate change top the agenda at each stop on Macron’s trip, in a region replete with islands that see periodic tsunamis and risk disappearing to rising seas, according to his advisers. 

France has been an uninterrupted presence in the region since the 19th century, thanks to its colonial history and continued control over territories that are home to 1.5 million citizens and some 7,000 troops across the Indo-Pacific. 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday signed new legislation which marked the final step in outlawing gender-affirming procedures, a crippling blow to Russia’s already embattled LGBTQ+ community.

The bill, which was approved unanimously by both houses of parliament, bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.

It also annuls marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

The ban is said to stem from the Kremlin’s crusade to protect what it views as the country’s “traditional values.” Lawmakers say the legislation is to safeguard Russia against “Western anti-family ideology,” with some describing gender transitioning as “pure satanism.”

Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on “traditional family values,” supported by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted legislation that banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, Putin pushed through constitutional reform that outlawed same-sex marriage, and last year signed a law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among adults as well.
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An associate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted on extremism charges Monday as the Kremlin continues to crack down on political activists.

Vadim Ostanin, who previously headed Navalny’s office in the southern Siberian city of Barnaul, was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony after being found guilty of organizing an extremist community and belonging to a nonprofit that “infringes on citizens’ rights,” Navalny’s team wrote on social media.

Prosecutors had previously asked for the 46-year-old to be imprisoned for 11 years.

Ostanin was detained in November 2021, several months after Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his regional offices were labeled as “extremist organizations” by the Russian government.

Ostanin’s case is the latest in a string of recent convictions against regional activists linked to Navalny’s work.

Lilia Chanysheva, who headed Navalny’s headquarters in the central Russian city of Ufa, was sentenced to 7½ years in prison on similar charges on June 14. Chanysheva described her case as politically motivated.

Navalny himself is also facing a new trial on extremism charges that could keep him in prison for decades. It is due to begin next week at a maximum-security prison 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow where the 47-year-old politician is already serving time on two different convictions.

Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organized massive anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He initially received a 2½-year prison sentence for a parole violation. Last year, he was sentenced to a nine-year term on fraud and contempt of court charges.

The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His allies said the charges retroactively criminalize all the foundation’s activities since its creation in 2011.

Navalny has rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and has accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life.
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High-profile British radical preacher Anjem Choudary appeared in a London court Monday, charged with leading a terrorist organization.

Choudary, 56, was charged Sunday with three counts under the Terrorism Act: directing a terrorist organization, membership in a banned organization and addressing meetings to encourage support for the organization between June 2022 and this month.

Prosecutors say the charges relate to the group al-Muhajiroun, which was outlawed by the British government in 2010. It has since operated “under many names and guises,” including the Islamic Thinkers Society, prosecutors say.

Choudary is alleged to have provided lectures to the Islamic Thinkers Society.

He was arrested at his home in London on July 17. He was charged alongside with Canadian national Khaled Hussein, 28, who was arrested at Heathrow Airport the same day after arriving on a flight.

Hussein, from Edmonton, Alberta, is charged with membership in a proscribed organization. Prosecutors say he worked with Choudary to provide “a platform” for the group’s views.

Neither man entered a plea during separate hearings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Both were ordered detained until their next hearing at the Central Criminal Court on Aug. 4.

Nick Price, from the Crown Prosecution Service Counter Terrorism Division, said that “criminal proceedings against Mr. Choudary and Mr. Hussein are now active and they each have the right to a fair trial.”
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Substitute Cristiana Girelli’s 87th-minute header gave Italy a 1-0 win over Argentina in their Women’s World Cup opener at Eden Park on Monday, denying the South Americans a first win at the global soccer showpiece.

Veteran striker Girelli, 33, replaced 16-year-old midfielder Giulia Dragoni in the 83rd minute and needed only four minutes to make an impact, beating goalkeeper Vanina Correa with a fine header to seal a hard-fought victory.

Italy plays Sweden in Wellington on Saturday. The two teams are level on points but Sweden holds a slender advantage in Group G, topping the group on number of goals scored thanks to their 2-1 win over South Africa on Sunday.

“When you have a player like Cristiana Girelli on the bench and you see that you can’t actually score … my choice was very simple,” Italy coach Milena Bertolini said.

“She’s a weapon for us. We had a lot of the ball but just couldn’t get it into the net. And so having a player like her on the bench, it’s natural that you ask her to take to the pitch.”

Italy’s Ariana Caruso and Valentina Giacinti both had goals ruled offside in a competitive first half after Argentina nearly made a sensational start to the game, when Mariana Larroquette’s bicycle kick went narrowly wide in the second minute.

After a slow start to the second half, Italy settled into their rhythm and looked more likely to score. Manuela Giuliano’s free kick drifted over the crossbar before Giadda Greggi drew a smart stop from Correa in the 82nd minute.

Goalkeeper Francesca Durante pushed away Argentine midfielder Florencia Bonsegundo’s attempt from a free kick in stoppage time, ensuring a winning start in the tournament for the 2019 quarter-finalists in front of a crowd of 30,889.

Bertolini was vindicated after putting her faith in Dragoni as the teenager impressed on her debut before making way for Girelli, the oldest member of Italy’s squad, who scored her 54th international goal on her 104th appearance.

“Giulia is a talent,” Bertolini said. “She was ready both technically and tactically. I think that she did very well considering her age and also playing in such a big stadium in such a big event.”

Argentina caused plenty of problems for Durante but could not manage a shot on target until Bonsegundo’s free kick in the 94th minute.

They next face South Africa on Friday in Dunedin, with both teams still searching for a first World Cup victory.

“It was a very even match,” Argentina coach German Portanova said. “At times we controlled it and they did not have many opportunities. The result was somewhat unfair. A draw would have been the right score.”
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Human Rights Watch said in a statement Monday that Mali’s armed forces and “apparently” the Wagner Group mercenaries “have summarily executed and forcibly disappeared several dozen civilians in Mali’s cental region since December 2022.”

Mali’s forces and the Wagner Group have also “destroyed and looted civilian property and allegedly tortured detainees in an army camp,” according to HRW.

The rights group said it has interviewed 40 people who know about the incidents, including “20 witnesses of abuses, three family members of victims, two community leaders, five Malian civil society activists, eight representatives of international organizations, and two Sahel political analysts.

HRW said it has also “reviewed a video showing evidence of abuses by Malian soldiers and associated foreign forces.”

Malian Foreign Minister Aodoulaye Diop urged the U.N. Security Council to withdraw the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali or MINUSMA “without delay” due to a confidence crisis between Malian officials and the 15,000 members of MINUSMA.

Malian Foreign Minister Aodoulaye Diop urged the U.N. Security Council to withdraw the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali or MINUSMA “without delay” due to a confidence crisis between Malian officials and the 15,000 members of MINUSMA.

The Security Council has decided to end MINUSMA’s presence in Mali, but its personnel will remain there until December 31.

With the upcoming end to MINUSMA’s presence in Mali, Carine Kaneza Nantulya, HRW deputy Africa director, said, “The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should express their concerns about grave abuses by the Malian armed forces and allied apparent Wagner Group fighters and increase pressure on the Malian authorities to end these violations and hold those responsible to account.”
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Firefighters struggled through the night to contain 82 wildfires across Greece, 64 of which started Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far.

Their efforts were without the help of firefighting planes and helicopters, which do not operate at night.

The most serious fire was on the island of Rhodes. Some 19,000 people had been evacuated from several locations on the island as wildfires burned for a sixth day, Greek authorities said. No further evacuations had been ordered as of Sunday night.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”

Local police said 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels. Six people were briefly treated at a hospital for respiratory problems. A person who fell and broke a leg during a hotel evacuation and a pregnant woman remained hospitalized, the latter in good condition, authorities said.

A number of tourists were waiting to fly back home from Rhodes International Airport.

The package holiday companies TUI and Jet2 canceled flights to Rhodes. But the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport later announced that 14 TUI and Jet2 flights carrying 2,700 passengers would depart from Rhodes airport by 3 a.m. Monday (0000 GMT).

On Saturday and early Sunday, 70,000 passengers traveled through the airport, with some being arrivals, the ministry said. The announcement did not break down the figures by arrivals and departures.

British tourist Kevin Evans was evacuated twice Saturday with his wife and three young children — first from Kiotari to Gennadi, then as the fire approached the island’s capital in the northeast, he told Britain’s PA news agency.

“There were lots of people in Gennadi sent from the hotels — many in just swimsuits having been told to leave everything in the hotel,” he told PA. “As night fell, we could see the fire on the top of the hills in Kiotari. They said all the hotels were on fire.”

Rhodes travel agent Stelios Kotiadis confirmed to the Associated Press that the evacuation was hasty. “There was panic. … The authorities were overwhelmed,” he said.

But, he said, the abandoned hotels “are in much better condition than reported in social media. … They will be ready to reopen very soon if Civil Protection gives the go-ahead.”

Kotiadis said he and other travel agents sent buses to the island’s southeast to pick up evacuated tourists. They had to go the long way around, since the road running down Rhodes’ eastern side was blocked in places.

“There were 80-90 people cramming into 50-seater buses,” he said. He added that 90% of the evacuated tourists are from European countries.

The British ambassador to Greece, Matthew Lodge, said the U.K. government was sending a rapid deployment team to support British nationals on Rhodes.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that personnel had set up a help desk at Rhodes International Airport for visitors who have lost their travel documents.

There are substantial reinforcements from the European Union.

“Over 450 firefighters and seven airplanes from the EU have been operating in Greece as fires sprout across the country,” EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic tweeted early Sunday afternoon.

“I called (Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis) to express our full support for Greece, which is confronted with devastating forest fires and a heavy heat wave due to climate change. Greece is handling this difficult situation with professionalism, putting emphasis on safely evacuating thousands of tourists, and can always count on European solidarity,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Sunday evening.

The weather remained hot in the Mediterranean country on Sunday. A total of 180 locations experienced temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and above. The highest reading, 46.4 C, (115.5 F) was reached at the seaside town of Gytheio in southern Greece.

Of the 64 wildfires that broke out elsewhere in the country Sunday, the most serious was on Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, where authorities told residents of four southern villages to evacuate to the town of Karystos, west of where the fire was advancing.

Central Greece Vice Governor Giorgos Kelaiditis, who was near one of the villages, told state agency ANA-MPA that the situation is difficult:

“The fire may be 2 kilometers away, but the wind is strong, the growth is low, the smoke thick and the air is hard to breathe,” he said.

Northern Evia was devastated by wildfires in August 2021.

Other fires requiring evacuations broke out on the northeast side of the island of Corfu and in the northern Peloponnese, near the town of Aigio. Traffic on the old Athens-Patras national road, running across the coast, has been cut off.

Just before midnight, authorities called for more evacuations from Corfu and the northern Peloponnese. In the case of Corfu, they said the fire was “moving southeast on a broad front” and added that private vessels were on standby to pick up evacuees.

A fire that broke out west of the important archaeological site of Epidaurus, including a famous ancient theater, has been partly contained, the Fire Service said.

A relative respite from the heat Monday, with highs of 38 C (100.4 F) forecast, will be followed by yet more high temperatures starting Tuesday. However, it should get significantly cooler on Thursday, with temperatures in the low- to mid-30s Celsius, the country’s Meteorological Service said Sunday evening.

 
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Latest developments

A previously announced meeting of a new NATO-Ukraine Council, expected to address Black Sea security, has been scheduled for Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.  





Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is capable of replacing Ukrainian grain exports to Africa after Russia left a deal allowing for safe shipments from Ukraine through the Black Sea amid Russia’s invasion. 

 

Russia said Monday that Ukraine attacked Moscow with two drones that were destroyed by Russian air defenses. 

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said two non-residential buildings were damaged, but that there were no reports of casualties. 

Russian news agencies said fragments from a drone were found in the Komsomolsky area, near Russia’s defense ministry. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used part of his nightly address Sunday to decry Russian attacks on the city of Odesa, and in particular its historic center, one of UNESCO’s world heritage sites. 

Zelenskyy vowed to retaliate, saying, “They [Russia] will definitely feel this.” 

“The target of all these missiles is not just cities, villages or people. Their target is humanity and the foundations of our entire European culture,” Zelenskyy said Sunday in his nightly video address. “Last night, a Russian missile — it was an X-22, an anti-ship missile — hit the altar of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Odesa … One of the most valuable cathedrals in Ukraine.”  

Russian airstrikes damaged the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, as the site is also known, early Sunday. 

Father Myroslav, the assistant rector of the cathedral, said there was extensive damage inside.   

“There was a direct hit to the cathedral; it completely damaged three altars,” he said.    

Members of the clergy pulled icons from the rubble inside the cathedral. Mosaics were smashed. A security guard and clergymen were inside when the strike hit, but they survived.      

The destruction of the historic monument has caused outrage and Zelenskyy pledged to restore the historic church. 

UNESCO issued a statement “strongly” condemning the attack. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the strike as a “new war crime.”      

The first and foremost church in the city of Odesa was founded in 1794 during the Russian empire. It was demolished under Stalin in 1936. Its rebuilding commenced in 1999 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and it was consecrated in 2003.   

Blue Shield sites damaged

Separately, “a preliminary assessment in Odesa has revealed damage to several museums inside the World Heritage property, including the Odesa Archaeological Museum, the Odesa Maritime Museum and the Odesa Literature Museum. They had all been marked by UNESCO and local authorities with the Blue Shield, the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention,” the UNESCO statement said.   

Russia’s defense ministry claimed it struck areas that were suspected of being sites of terrorist acts but denied it had struck the cathedral and said the building had probably been hit by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.   

The airstrikes killed two people and wounded at least 19 others, including children.    

 

 

Residents said the missiles hit only residential areas and small businesses.   

Russia has launched a series of attacks on Odesa since Moscow’s exit from a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal that was securing the safe passage of cargo ships through the Black Sea corridor.   

Ukraine counteroffensive  

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN Sunday that while Ukraine’s counteroffensive is going more slowly than originally hoped for, Ukrainian forces had reconquered half the territory that Russia had initially occupied when it invaded.   

“It’s already taken back about 50% of what was initially seized,” Blinken said. “These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough.”  

“It will not play out over the next week or two. We’re still looking I think at several months,” he said, as Ukrainian troops struggled to breach heavily entrenched Russian positions in the country’s south and east.   

Blinken remarked that Russia has failed as far as what it was aiming to achieve when it invaded Ukraine.   

“The objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, its sovereignty, to subsume it into Russia. That failed a long time ago. Now Ukraine is in a battle to get back more of the land that Russia seized from it,” Blinken said.    

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine’s counteroffensive “has failed.”     

While visiting St. Petersburg, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, said Sunday, “There is no counteroffensive.”   

Putin replied: “It exists, but it has failed.”   

Some information was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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When Nouhaila Benzina steps onto the field for Morocco’s first match of the Women’s World Cup against Germany, she will make history — and not just as a player for the first Arab or North African nation ever in the tournament. 

The 25-year-old defender will be the first player to wear the Islamic headscarf at the senior-level Women’s World Cup. She and the Atlas Lionesses face two-time World Cup champions Germany in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday. 

“Girls will look at Benzina (and think) ‘That could be me,'” said Assmaah Helal, a co-founder of the Muslim Women in Sports Network said of the hijab. “Also the policymakers, the decision-makers, the administrators will say, ‘We need to do more in our country to create these accepting and open and inclusive spaces for women and girls to participate in the game.'” 

Benzina, who plays professional club soccer for the Association’s Sports of Forces Armed Royal — the eight-time defending champions in Morocco’s top women’s league — hasn’t yet been made available to speak to reporters here at the Women’s World Cup. In recent weeks, she has shared social media posts from others about the history-making nature of her World Cup appearance. 

“We are honored to be the first Arab country to take part in the Women’s World Cup,” Morocco captain Ghizlane Chebbak said on Sunday, “and we feel that we have to shoulder a big responsibility to give a good image, to show the achievements the Moroccan team has made.” 

A choice

Had Morocco qualified for the Women’s World Cup a decade ago, a player who wanted to wear the hijab during a game might have been forced to choose between that and representing her country. 

In 2007, a referee barred an 11-year-old Canadian girl from wearing a hijab during a club match. When the issue reached FIFA, the sport’s global governing body banned head coverings in competitions it sanctioned, except for coverings that exposed the neck. 

FIFA cited “health and safety” concerns, some related to possible choking, with regulations forbidding “equipment that is dangerous to himself or another player.” 

“That really sent a strong message to Muslim women, particularly those who wear hijabs, (that) we don’t belong,” said Helal, an Australia-based operations manager of Creating Chances and Football United. 

Helal was among the social activists, Muslim athletes, and government and soccer officials who worked to overturn the ban. 

In 2012, FIFA granted the Asian Football Confederation a two-year trial period during which players would be allowed to wear head coverings at international competitions. No senior-level World Cups, men’s or women’s, were scheduled during the trial period. 

In 2014, FIFA lifted its ban on head coverings. Two years later, the under-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan marked the first time Muslim players wore headscarves during an international FIFA event. 

‘Part of our identities’

Maryan Hagi-Hashi, a Melbourne resident who attended Morocco’s public practice session last week, said she is supporting the Atlas Lionesses alongside tournament co-host Australia. She appreciates the representation that the Moroccan team and Benzina provide, she said. 

“There’s a mixture of (Muslim) women that wear hijab and don’t wear a hijab,” Hagi-Hashi said. “I think the world has realized there is diversity.” 

Helal said that since the ban was lifted, she has seen an increase in Muslim girls and women playing soccer, pursuing coaching pathways and leading their own football clubs. 

“I think it’s key to understand that the hijab is an essential part of a Muslim woman, should she choose to wear it,” Helal said. “It’s actually part of our identities.” 
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