Russian missile strikes killed three people including a child in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro while a teenager and another person died in attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, officials said Saturday.

Overnight strikes on Dnipro wounded 19 others and damaged multiple buildings, said Sergiy Lysak, the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

A two-story residential building was destroyed, he said.

Images shared by Lysak showed rescuers working in a pile of rubble, while another showed what appeared to be a hospital room with its windows blown out.

“Three people were killed in Dnipro, including a child. Nineteen were injured, four of them children. Eight are hospitalized,” Lysak said.

Separate night attacks on the capital Kyiv and surrounding region left two people dead, including a teenage girl who was killed in a drone strike, according to regional authorities.

Ukrainian cities including Kyiv have been subjected to deadly drone and missile attacks throughout Russia’s invasion.

Kyiv has been asking for more air defenses from its allies ahead of what is likely to be its toughest winter yet, as Moscow ramps up strikes on energy infrastructure. 
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Georgians headed to the polls Saturday in a ballot many citizens see as a make-or-break vote on the opportunity to join the European Union.

The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people has been dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and allegations of a smear campaign. Some Georgians complained of intimidation and being pressured to vote for the ruling party, Georgian Dream, while the opposition accused the party of carrying out a “hybrid war” against its citizens. 

Ahead of the parliamentary election, Bidzina Ivanishvili — a shadowy billionaire who set up Georgian Dream and made his fortune in Russia — vowed again to ban opposition parties should his party win. 

Georgian Dream will hold opposition parties “fully accountable under the full force of the law” for “war crimes” committed against the people of Georgia, Ivanishvili said at a pro-government rally in the capital Tbilisi Wednesday. He did not explain what crimes he believes the opposition has committed. 

Georgians will elect 150 lawmakers from 18 parties. If no party wins the 76 seats required to form a government for a four-year term, the president will invite the largest party to form a coalition.

Many believe the election may be the most crucial vote of their lifetimes; it will determine whether Georgia gets back on track to EU membership or embraces authoritarianism and falls into Russia’s orbit. 

“It’s an existential election,” Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said.

Georgians want “European integration, want to move forward and want policies which will bring us a better, more stable, future,” Qristine Tordia, 29, told The Associated Press shortly after voting in the capital, Tbilisi.

Around 80% of Georgians favor joining the EU according to polls and the country’s constitution obliges its leaders to pursue membership in that bloc and NATO.

But Brussels put Georgia’s bid for entry to the EU on hold indefinitely after the ruling party passed a “Russian law” cracking down on freedom of speech in June. Many Georgians fear the party is dragging the country towards authoritarianism and killing off hopes it could join the EU.

The opposition parties have ignored Zourabichvili’s request to unite into a single party but have signed up to her “charter” to carry out the reforms required by the EU to join. 

Zourabichvili told the AP on Thursday she believed most Georgians would mobilize to vote “despite some instances of intimidation, despite the use of state resources … and the use of financial resources” by the government.

Georgian Dream took out billboards across the country contrasting black-and-white images of destruction in Ukraine with colorful images of life in Georgia alongside the slogan, “Say no to war — choose peace.”

The governing and opposition parties told voters they would pursue EU membership even though laws passed by Georgian Dream have put that hope on hold.

“The EU decided to stop Georgia’s integration process unilaterally,” said Vakhtang Asanidze, who spoke to AP at a pro-government rally in Tbilisi. He said he saw no reason why Georgia could not join the EU in spite of the laws. 

At the EU summit last week, EU leaders said they have “serious concerns regarding the course of action taken by the Georgian government.”

While Georgian Dream has adopted laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on its critics, voters at the pro-government rally said they did not view the election as a choice between Russia or Europe.

“We remember everything about Russia, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” said Latavra Dashniani at the rally, referring to Russia’s occupation of 20% of Georgian territory after the two countries fought a short war in 2008. 

Voting for the ruling party, she said, would ensure Georgia enters Europe “with dignity,” alluding to its conservative values, including opposition to rights for LGBTQ+ people.

Polls opened in the parliamentary election at 8 a.m. local time and will close 12 hours later. 

Georgian Dream stands against three coalitions: the Unity National Movement, the Coalition for Changes Lelo, and Strong Georgia.

The Gakharia for Georgia party, set up by former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia, said it will not go into an alliance with anyone but will support the opposition to form a government. 
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A Kurdish militant group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack on a major state-run defense company in Turkey’s capital, an action that analysts say could complicate prospects for renewed peace talks between the Turkish government and the country’s Kurdish minority.

Two assailants set off explosives and opened fire Wednesday at the aerospace and defense company TUSAS in Ankara, killing five people and wounding 22, Turkey’s interior ministry said.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, said in a statement Friday that the attack on the defense firm was for its role in producing weapons used in attacks against Kurdish civilians.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The Kurdish militant group has engaged in a four-decade armed conflict with the Turkish government for greater Kurdish rights in Turkey.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, designed and assembled by TUSAS, have been instrumental in Turkey’s fight against Kurdish militants.

Wednesday’s attack came a day after Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party and a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suggested the possibility of granting parole to PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, if the Kurdish group laid down its arms.

A peace process between the two sides that started in 2013 collapsed in 2015.

Yerevan Saeed, director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University in Washington, said the attack in Ankara represented a significant strategic blunder for the PKK.

“This incident highlights a concerning lack of strategic vision at this important time,” he told VOA. “While the Turkish government’s initiative to restart peace talks could be seen as a tactical maneuver, the Kurdish armed group must avoid providing the state with any justification to abandon the dialogue, which could in turn diminish international sympathy for the Kurdish cause.”

Shortly after the Ankara attack, Turkey’s military struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria that Turkish officials said belonged to offshoots of the PKK. The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency said Friday that 120 targets had been struck in Iraq and Syria since Wednesday.

Erdogan, on a flight back from the BRICS summit in Russia, told reporters Friday that the perpetrators of the Ankara attack had infiltrated from Syria, and he vowed to continue efforts to combat terrorism.

In Kurdish-controlled Syria, some of the strikes hit power grids and water pump stations, causing outages of water and electricity in several cities in northeast Syria. Reporters for VOA Kurdish in the region visited several sites that had been damaged in the strikes.

Sinan Ciddi, a Turkey expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, said Turkish citizens would demand “a strong military response” from the government for the Ankara bombing.

He told VOA that “the terror attack also reduces the chances for renewed negotiations between Erdogan and the PKK for a peace process.”

‘No military solution’

Amy Austin Holmes, a professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, said in every peace process there are spoilers who want to sabotage it.

“There is no military solution to what is an inherently political and social issue of equal citizenship. President Erdogan and the Kurdish movement both recognize this,” she told VOA. “In order for the dialogue process not to be derailed by the PKK’s attack in Ankara, and Turkey’s bombardment of northern Syria and Iraq, cooler heads need to prevail.”

Henri Barkey, professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, said the PKK-claimed attack made no sense.

“The only thing I can think of is that operations such as this one take months to prepare, so these guys had orders and it was never called off because they may have been under a blanket-of-communication order,” he said.

“This is bad for the PKK given that a process is supposed to start and that they could not prevent it from happening,” he added. “The other half of the explanation is that there may be divisions in the organization and the group in charge of this chose not to stop it.”

But other analysts, like Brussels-based Kurdish affairs researcher Hosheng Ose, believe that regardless of the attack in Ankara and the strikes on Iraq and Syria, there seems to be a decision within the Turkish political establishment to reach a settlement with the country’s Kurds.

“There are elements within both the Turkish state and the PKK that oppose any prospects for peace, but I don’t believe that will have any effect on what the Turkish government wants to achieve,” he told VOA. 

“Turkey is really concerned with the recent developments across the Middle East, and it wants to ensure that no Kurdish group would play a role that could threaten Turkey’s long-term objectives,” said Ose.

This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish Service.
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WASHINGTON — Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of major government contractor SpaceX and a key ally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the last two years, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, confirmed to The Associated Press that Musk and Putin have had contact through calls. The person didn’t provide additional details about the frequency of the calls, when they occurred or their content.

Musk, the world’s richest person who also owns Tesla and the social media platform X, has emerged as a leading voice on the American right. He’s poured millions of dollars into Trump’s presidential bid and turned the platform once known as Twitter into a site popular with Trump supporters, as well as conspiracy theorists, extremists and Russian propagandists.

Musk’s contacts with Putin raise national security questions, given his companies’ work for the government, and highlight concerns about Russian influence in American politics.

Here’s what to know:

What they talked about

Musk and Putin have spoken repeatedly about personal matters, business and geopolitics, The Journal reported Thursday, citing multiple current and former officials in the United States, Europe and Russia.

During one talk, Putin asked Musk not to activate his Starlink satellite system over Taiwan as a favor for Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose ties to Putin have grown closer, The Journal reported. Putin and Xi have met more than 40 times since 2013. 

Russia has denied the conversations took place. In 2022, Musk said he’d spoken to Putin only once, in a call 18 months earlier focused on space.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Friday that it was “not aware of the specifics” of any requests made by Putin on China’s behalf.

There was no immediate response to messages left with X and Tesla seeking Musk’s comment.

What the talks mean for national security

Musk’s relationship with Putin raises national security questions given the billions of dollars in government contracts awarded to SpaceX, a critical partner to NASA and government satellite programs.

Trump also has vowed to give Musk a role in his administration if he wins next month.

The head of any large defense contractor would face similar questions if they held private talks with one of America’s greatest adversaries, said Bradley Bowman, a former West Point assistant professor and Senate national security adviser who now serves as senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based defense think tank.

Bowman said the timing of the calls as reported by The Journal and Musk’s changing views on Ukraine was a “disturbing coincidence.”

“The policy of the U.S. government is to try to isolate Vladimir Putin, and Elon Musk is directly undercutting that,” Bowman said. “What is Putin doing with Musk? Putin is trying to reduce his international isolation and impact American foreign policy.”

The request from Putin on Starlink as a favor to China is also likely to get attention, given U.S. support for Taiwan and concerns about the growing partnership between the Kremlin and Beijing.

Musk, whose Tesla operates Gigafactory Shanghai, has developed a close relationship with China’s top leaders. His remarks about China have been friendly, and he has suggested Taiwan cede some control to Beijing by becoming a special administrative region.

Moscow has growing ties to other American adversaries. The U.S. has accused Russia of sending ballistic missiles to Iran and said North Korea sent troops to Russia, possibly for combat in Ukraine.

On Ukraine, Musk’s views have shifted since he initially supported Kyiv following Russia’s invasion in 2022 and provided it with his Starlink system for communications.

Musk then refused to allow Ukraine in 2023 to use Starlink for a surprise attack on Russian soldiers in Crimea.

He also floated a proposal to end the war that would have required Ukraine to drop its plans for NATO membership and given Russia permanent control of Crimea, which it seized in 2014. The plan infuriated Ukrainian leaders.

One person familiar with the talks between Musk and Putin told The Journal that there is no evidence the contact between Musk and Putin represents a security problem for the U.S.

Asked about Musk’s contacts with Putin, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday that he had no information to share.

The CIA, Pentagon and National Security Agency had no comment. The State Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Musk’s close ties to Trump

Musk recently appeared at a Trump rally, sporting a Make America Great Again hat and delivered an ominous warning that if Trump lost the race, “this will be the last election.”

Last year, Musk mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for aid for his country with a meme and said in February that the U.S. should cut its assistance because Ukraine couldn’t win.

Trump, who has praised Putin’s leadership and criticized the NATO alliance and U.S. aid for Ukraine, has raised questions about what he would be willing to concede if he’s elected in a negotiation over Ukraine’s future.

U.S. intelligence officials and private tech analysts have concluded that Russia is working to covertly support Trump with disinformation and propaganda targeting his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Since he took over X, it has become a leading online source of Russian propaganda and disinformation aimed at Americans.

Trump has faced scrutiny over his own recent contacts with Putin, outlined in a new book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward.

Woodward quoted an unnamed Trump aide who said the former president and Putin may have had as many as seven conversations since Trump lost reelection in 2020.

Before one of the calls, the aide said they were asked to leave Trump’s office to give the two privacy.

The Trump campaign and the Kremlin have denied those calls occurred.

In response to questions about Musk and Putin, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the billionaire “a once-in-a-generation industry leader” whose ideas could benefit “our broken federal bureaucracy.”

“As for Putin, there’s only one candidate in the race that he did not invade another country under, and it’s President Trump,” Leavitt said in a statement. “President Trump has long said that he will re-establish his peace through strength foreign policy to deter Russia’s aggression and end the war in Ukraine.”

Russia confirms one conversation

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday rejected The Journal’s report as “absolutely false information.”

Peskov said Putin and Musk once held a “medium-length phone conversation” prior to 2022 that was “as more of an introductory nature” and that the two talked about “visionary technologies, technological solutions for the future.”

“After that, Musk had no contacts with Putin,” Peskov said, dismissing The Journal’s article as political.

“The election has entered its home stretch, and of course the opponents stop at nothing,” Peskov said. “Remember that a week ago they were saying that Putin allegedly talks to Trump all day long. Now he allegedly talks to Musk all the time. It’s all untrue.”

Ukraine’s military intelligence told the AP that they would “refrain from commenting” about communication between Putin and Musk.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Russia is expected to deploy North Korean soldiers to combat as early as Sunday. 

In a statement posted to his official X social media account, Zelenskyy said the prediction is based on military intelligence he received in a Friday briefing from armed forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. 

Zelenskyy called the move a “clear escalation by Russia,” adding that “the world can clearly see Russia’s true intentions: to continue the war.” 

Calling for a “principled and strong response” from global leaders, Zelenskyy said, “North Korea’s actual involvement in combat should not be met with indifference or uncertain commentary, but with tangible pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang, to uphold the U.N. Charter and to hold them accountable for this escalation.” 

Responding Thursday to a Ukraine intelligence report that the North Korean troops were in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was up to Moscow to decide how they might be deployed, including possibly sending them to fight on the front lines against Ukraine. He did not deny a U.S. claim that North Korea has dispatched some 3,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces. 

On Friday, North Korean state broadcaster KCNA carried a statement by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong Gyu, who would not comment directly on reports of the deployment, but said if there were such a thing, “I think it will be an act conforming with the regulations of international law.” 

Ukraine has argued North Korean participation in the war violates international law; U.S. officials earlier this week called such a deployment a major escalation. But Putin argued the West had escalated the war in Ukraine by sending NATO officers and instructors to help Kyiv defend itself against Russian aggression. 

Meanwhile, in an interview with Russian television Friday, Putin spoke about possible cease-fire negotiations with Ukraine, saying Russia was ready to seek compromises. He said Turkey had presented a number of peace initiatives to both Russia and Ukraine, which he claimed Ukraine has rejected. 

Regarding possible compromises, Putin said: “Any outcome must be in Russia’s favor. … This outcome should be based upon the realities which are taking shape on the battlefield. Without any doubt, we are not going to make any concessions. There will be no exchange [of territory], whatsoever.” 

Putin blamed Ukraine for what he described as “irrational behavior” in negotiations, saying, “It is not possible to build any plans on this basis.” 

Bio lab construction 

In an exclusive report Friday, The Washington Post said satellite images from the past two years have shown substantial construction at a site-restricted military facility northeast of Moscow that was once a major research center for biological weapons.  

The report said the site has a history of experiments that included viruses that cause smallpox, Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers. 

The satellite imagery of the Russian site, called Sergiev Posad-6, shows construction vehicles renovating the Soviet-era laboratory and breaking ground on 10 new buildings, totaling more than 250,000 square feet, with several of them bearing hallmarks of biological labs designed to handle extremely dangerous pathogens. 

The report said there has been no sign such weapons are being used in the Ukraine conflict, but the construction is being closely watched by U.S. intelligence agencies and bioweapons experts. 

Ukraine’s Kyiv Independent reported Friday the apparent deployment of North Korean troops could be at least in part a result of Russia’s losses on the battlefield. 

In a report on its Facebook social media account, the Ukraine General Staff of the armed forces reported Russia has lost 685,910 troops since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. This includes, the general staff report said, 1,630 casualties over a 24-hour period ending Friday. 

Ukraine has closely guarded its battlefield troop casualties, even from Western allies, but a U.S. official in September estimated Ukraine has likely seen an estimated 57,500 troops killed and 250,000 wounded, according to a report by The New York Times. 

Battlefield casualties are difficult to verify, and Russia has made claims that Ukrainian casualties are much higher than those indicated by Ukrainian and U.S. estimates. 

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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washington — North Korea is likely anticipating Russian technical assistance to perfect its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sending its troops to support Russia in the Ukraine war, U.S. experts say.

On Wednesday, the U.S. government confirmed for the first time the presence of at least 3,000 North Korean troops in Russia. Last Friday, South Korea’s intelligence agency said North Korea had sent 1,500 special forces troops to Russia for training and likely deployment for combat in the war in Ukraine.

Seoul has expressed grave concerns about the development.

“North Korea will expect a generous payoff from Moscow in return for its troop contribution,” Hwang Joon-kook, South Korean ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday at a United Nations Security Council Briefing on Ukraine. “It could be either military or financial assistance; it could be nuclear weapons-related technology.”

Weapons upgrades

North Korea has recently been more open about showing its nuclear and missile ambitions. State media outlets last month released photos showing leader Kim Jong Un visiting what they said was a uranium enrichment facility.

The Kim regime has exported dozens of ballistic missiles and more than 18,000 containers of munitions and munitions-related material to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, according to the U.S. State Department.

Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, told VOA Korean on Wednesday that Kim Jong Un is now in a position where he can “leverage Russia to get much more” by deploying his own soldiers to the Ukraine war.

“As they were doing their nuclear tests, they would have discovered that some things didn’t work,” Bennett said. “I think Kim has got a lot of technology he would like to get from Russia.”

Robert Peters, research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, said sending in North Korean troops “could be a token of goodwill on the part of Kim,” and Kim’s expectation would be that “the quid pro quo is Russian technical assistance.”

“The ultimate goal for Kim is a revitalized alliance with Russia that helps North Korea catch up its missile program and its nuclear program with those in the West,” Peters told VOA Korean Tuesday on the phone. “I think that’s part of his game.”

Peters added that Kim could ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide technical assistance for effective miniaturization of nuclear warheads that could go on the tip of intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, targeting the United States.

Sung-Yoon Lee, a fellow with the Wilson Center’s Indo-Pacific Program, told VOA Korean in an email that he believes Russia likely promised “to provide Pyongyang with sensitive nuclear technology like nuclear-powered submarines, military satellites, and ICBM reentry into the earth’s atmosphere” in return for North Korea sending troops to the war in Ukraine.

Economic benefits

Another benefit for North Korea is that its troops might be paid in hard currency that can be exchanged internationally.

“The financial benefits from this initial deployment may seem relatively small, but they are comparatively important for North Korea,” Troy Stangarone, director of the Center for Korean History and Public Policy at Wilson Center, told VOA Korean via email Thursday.

“If Russia is compensating North Korea at the same rate as new Russian recruits, we could expect Pyongyang to earn a little less than $10 million a month from the 3,000 troops that are reported to have already been deployed.”

Stangarone says that amount would be equal to about 40% of North Korea’s legal exports to China over the course of a full year. China is North Korea’s main trading partner, with some studies saying China makes up as much as 95% of North Korea’s total trade.

Robert Abrams, a retired U.S. Army four-star general who served as commander of U.S. Forces Korea from 2018 to 2021, said the deployment of North Korean soldiers will not be a military game changer for Russia. But, he said, it shows “the depth of commitment by Kim Jong Un to be a strategic partner of Russia.”

“Russia is losing 10,000 soldiers about every 10 days, so this deployment of 10,000 North Korean soldiers will not noticeably change the outcome,” Abrams told VOA Korean via email Wednesday.

“However, this deployment of North Korean soldiers has significant symbolism for both North Korea and Russia; this is an obvious outcome of the recent North Korea-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership agreement.”

Putin and Kim signed their partnership treaty in June, vowing to challenge the U.S.-led world order.

The new treaty mandates Russia and North Korea to immediately provide military assistance using all available means if either of them is attacked by a third country.

Putin did not deny the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia during a Thursday press conference at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

“We have never doubted at all that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously,” Putin said. “What and how we will do within the framework of this article [of the agreement] is our business.”
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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday promised support for Bosnia as the troubled Balkan country struggles with reform needed to advance toward membership in the European Union.  

Von der Leyen was in Bosnia as part of a trip this week to aspiring EU member states in the Western Balkans to assure them that EU enlargement remains a priority for the 27-nation bloc. From Bosnia, von der Leyen went on to neighboring Serbia.  

The Western Balkans countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are at different stages in their applications for EU membership. The countries have been frustrated by the slow pace of the process, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has propelled European leaders to push the six to join the bloc.   

Bosnia gained candidate status in 2022 while EU leaders in March agreed in principle to open membership negotiations, though Bosnia must still do a lot of work.  

“We share the same vision for the future, a future where Bosnia-Herzegovina is a full-fledged member of the European Union,” said von der Leyen at a joint press conference with Bosnian Prime Minister Bojana Kristo. “So, I would say, let’s continue working on that. We’ve gone a long way already, we still have a way ahead of us but I am confident that you’ll make it.”  

Last year EU officials offered a 6-billion-euro (about $6.5 billion) growth plan to the Western Balkan countries in an effort to double the region’s economy over the next decade and accelerate their efforts to join the bloc. That aid is contingent on reforms that would bring their economies in line with EU rules.   

The Commission on Wednesday approved the reform agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia following a green light from EU member states. That was a key step to allow payments under the growth plan upon completion of agreed reform steps.   

“The accession process is, as you know, merit-based … we do not look at a rigid data but we look at the merits, the progress that a country is making,” said von der Leyen. “The important thing is that we have an ambitious reform agenda, like the other five Western Balkan countries also have. We stand ready to help you to move forward.”  

Long after a 1992-95 ethnic war that killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless, Bosnia remains ethnically divided and politically deadlocked. An ethnic Serb entity — one of Bosnia’s two equal parts joined by a common government — has sought to gain as much independence as possible.  

Upon arrival in Bosnia, von der Leyen on Thursday first went to Donja Jablanica, a village in central Bosnia that was devastated in recent floods and landslides. The disaster in early October claimed 27 lives and the small village was virtually buried in rocks from a quarry located on a hill above.  

Von der Leyen said the EU is sending an immediate aid package of 20 million euros ($21 million) and will also provide support for reconstruction later on. 
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to deepen defense ties with New Delhi and bring the two countries’ militaries closer, he said on Friday, after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Germany has not traditionally had close defense ties with India, but is now pitching to join the latter’s effort to wean its arms base from decades of dependence on Russia, at a time when the West seeks to counter China’s growing influence.

“Our overall message is clear, we need more co-operation, not less,” Scholz said.

“At our inter-governmental consultations with India, we also want to deepen co-operation in defense and agree to bring our militaries together.”

Scholz, accompanied by most of his cabinet, is leading a high-level delegation to New Delhi, betting that greater access to the vast Indian market can reduce Germany’s reliance on China.

German Thyssenkrupp is one of two bidders to have partnered with Indian firms to build six conventional submarines in India, in a deal estimated to be worth $5 billion.

The Indian Navy is expected to pick between the German company or Spain’s Navantia soon.

New Delhi and Berlin are working on renewable energy projects, Modi said, among many possible investments in transport infrastructure.

“India is completely transforming its physical infrastructure,” Modi told the Asia-Pacific conference of German business in the Indian capital, attended by Scholz.

“Record investments are being made. This offers many possibilities for German and Indo-Pacific region companies.”

In 2022 Germany pledged 10 billion euros to help India achieve its climate goals.

German state lender KfW’s unit DEG, which focuses on the private sector, plans to more than double investment in India to $1 billion over the next few years, focusing on renewable energy and infrastructure, an official, Jochen von Frowein, has said.

India-EU FTA

Scholz reiterated his economy minister’s push for swift progress on talks for a free-trade pact between India and the European Union.

“I am sure that if we work on this together, prime minister, this could happen in months rather than years,” Scholz said.

Earlier, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal warned that India would be unable to strike such a deal if the bloc insisted on getting access to the Asian giant’s dairy industry.

A trade deal could be swiftly reached if sensitivities were respected on both sides, Goyal told the conference, following Thursday’s comments by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck that agriculture was the talks’ “most problematic” area, and suggesting that they first tackle the industrial sector.

Progress has been slow on the talks, initially targeted to be wrapped up by the end of 2023, with India blaming the EU for what it called “irrational” standards, as one reason.
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The Biden administration continues to push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and de-escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In Europe, the administration has revealed intelligence that North Korean troops are being trained in Russia to help its war efforts.

VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara spoke with White House national security communications adviser John Kirby on the latest developments in the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: [U.S.] Secretary [of State] Antony Blinken today warned Israel against a protracted campaign in Lebanon. He warned Israel to avoid civilian casualties, not to endanger U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army. The only way Israel can do that is by operating a targeted campaign. Is it operating a targeted campaign?

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby: We would like to see no civilian casualties and no damage to civilian infrastructure to the maximum extent possible. We have told the Israelis that we don’t support near daily strikes in densely populated areas, and that’s part of the message that [Blinken] delivered when he was there. We believe that there’s still a diplomatic path to be found here to bring this conflict with Hezbollah and Lebanon to a close. That was one of the reasons that Secretary Blinken traveled there.

VOA: Do you support Israeli demands for an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force to include north of the Litani River?

Kirby: I’m not going to get into any specific proposals one way or the other. I don’t think we’re at that point right now. … What we support is de-escalation. What we support is minimization of civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. We also continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself.

VOA: What about Israel’s efforts to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon? How far can you accept the cost of that?

Kirby: Look, they have done an extraordinary amount of work towards already dismantling Hezbollah’s capability, including the killing of [Hassan Nasrallah], their leader. Hezbollah is not Hamas. They are in many ways superior in terms of military capability and resources. So, it’s a different kind of a fight. It’s a different kind of enemy that they face.

And I would remind that even just in the last 24 hours, more than 100 rockets and drones [were] launched by Hezbollah towards Israeli citizens who are just trying to live their lives on that side of the Blue Line, as well. So, it remains a viable threat to the Israeli people, and we’re going to continue to talk to the Israelis about how they go after that threat, because how they do that matters significantly.

VOA: Ten days ago, the administration set a 30-day deadline for Israel to improve Palestinian access to aid. Can you update us on the progress?

Kirby: There has been some progress, and as you heard Secretary Blinken say during his travels, more needs to be done. But there has been an increase of trucks flowing into North Gaza; specifically, the Erez Crossing is back open. We want to see more.

VOA: Israel announced that Mossad chief David Barnea will meet with CIA Director Bill Burns and the Qatari prime minister in Doha. Is there anything about that meeting that you can tell us?

Kirby: Without talking to the CIA director’s travel or meetings, I won’t do that. But you saw the prime minister already announced that there’s another meeting in Doha of negotiators, and we’re grateful to see this progress continue. We’re grateful to see yet another meeting here, and we’re hopeful that now, with Mr. Sinwar gone, Hamas might be more willing to sit down and negotiate in good faith and come up with a solution that gets a cease-fire of at least some duration, and gets those hostages home with their families where they belong, as well as to your earlier question, gives us a pause in the fighting that can help us all work towards a more dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance.

I’m not suggesting that more can’t be done now. Even while Gaza remains an active combat zone, more can be done, more should be done. But if you can end the fighting, then you can definitely make it easier to get humanitarian assistance.

VOA: Does the administration see [Yahya Sinwar’s brother] Mohamed Sinwar as somebody with influence on the negotiations?

Kirby: I think it’s unclear right now where the leadership of Hamas goes, and I would just say that we’re watching this very, very closely, as you might imagine, monitoring it.

Regardless of how Hamas tries to fill the vacuum left by Sinwar, they have an opportunity before them right now to help end this war, to get those hostages home and to do the right thing.

VOA: Let’s move on to North Korea and Russia. [Russian President] Vladimir Putin appears to have implicitly acknowledged what you laid out yesterday, that North Korean troops are in Russia to help their war efforts. How do you see this?

Kirby: We see it the same way as we laid out yesterday. We know that there are at least several thousand North Korean soldiers in three military training bases in eastern Russia. Now, exactly what they’re being trained to do, we don’t know. Whether and how they’ll be deployed in this war against Ukraine, we don’t know that either. But it is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that, I would remind you, Russia themselves signed up to. The procurement of arms and ammunition from North Korea is a violation of U.N. Security Council existing resolutions that Russia signed up to. We’re going to watch this very, very closely.

VOA: What is the geopolitical implication for Kim Jong Un now that he’s willing to send his troops to die for Putin? Are you concerned that in return, Russia could help North Korea improve the reach of their ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] to hit American cities, for example?

Kirby: That’s what we’re watching closely to see. We don’t know exactly what Mr. Kim thinks he’s getting out of this arrangement. And it’s worrisome. As you heard the secretary of defense say the other day, this potential move here by the North Koreans to put soldiers on the ground, literally skin in the game when it comes to fighting Ukraine, is not only going to have implications in Ukraine and on that battlefield, but it’s going to have implications in the Indo-Pacific.

What we don’t know right now is exactly what that looks like. What does Kim think he’s getting out of this? It is possible that there could be some provision by Russia to enhance and improve North Korean military capabilities? Again, that would just further destabilize a very tense region.

VOA: You said these North Korean soldiers are legitimate military targets. But would you consider taking direct military action against them as the head of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Mike Turner, suggested?

Kirby: The United States is not directly involved in combat operations in or around Ukraine. The president has been clear about that. We are providing Ukraine with the kinds of tools, capabilities and weapons that they need to defend themselves. And when we say they’re legitimate military targets, these North Korean soldiers, we mean they would become legitimate military targets of the Ukrainian Armed Forces should they be involved in operations against Ukraine.

VOA: China has said that they have no information on these North Korean troops. Do you believe them?

Kirby: I’ll let the Chinese speak to what they see or they don’t see. What I said yesterday stands today. We’re going to certainly be communicating with our PRC [People’s Republic of China] counterparts about this.

VOA: Last month you also confirmed that Iran transferred shipments of domestic missiles to Russia. Now we have these North Korean troops fighting for Russia. What is your assessment of this trilateral cooperation?

Kirby: Number one, it certainly shows Mr. Putin’s increasing desperation, and quite frankly, his weakness, that he has to reach out to the likes of Kim Jong Un and the supreme leader in Tehran for assistance to fight Ukraine. Clearly, he’s under a lot of military pressure. We know he’s losing 1,200 soldiers a day. He suffered more than 530,000 casualties in the time he’s been fighting in Ukraine. So, he’s clearly under pressure, and he’s not … being honest with the Russian people about what he’s doing and what he’s losing and how bloody and lethal this war has been on his own armed forces.

Number two, I think it certainly speaks to worrisome defense relationships between these countries that are now growing and deepening. They’re worrying not just because of what might be the effects in Ukraine, they’re worrying because of what might be the effects in other parts of the world. You and I were just talking about what Kim Jong Un might be getting out of this. Let’s talk about Iran, because Iran, certainly we know, is interested in advanced aviation capabilities, for instance, from Russia. Now, again, I don’t know that we’ve seen it all consummated yet, but Iran being able to benefit from Russian military technology is also not good for the Middle East region.
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King Charles III told a summit of Commonwealth countries in Samoa on Friday that the past could not be changed as he indirectly acknowledged calls from some of Britain’s former colonies for a reckoning over its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The British royal understood “the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate,” he told leaders in Apia. But Charles stopped short of mentioning financial reparations that some leaders at the event have urged and instead exhorted them to find the “right language” and an understanding of history “to guide us towards making the right choices in future where inequality exists.”

“None of us can change the past but we can commit with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right the inequalities that endure,” said Charles, who is attending his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or CHOGM, as Britain’s head of state.

His remarks at the summit’s official opening ceremony echoed comments a day earlier by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the meeting should avoid becoming mired in the past and “very, very long endless discussions about reparations.” The U.K. leader dismissed calls from Caribbean countries for leaders at the biennial event to explicitly discuss redress for Britain’s role in the slave trade and mention the matter in its final joint statement.

But Britain’s handling of its involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade is seen by many observers as a litmus test for the Commonwealth’s adaptation to a modern-day world, as other European nations and some British institutions have started to own up to their role in the trade.

“I think the time has come for this to be taken seriously,” said Jacqueline McKenzie, a partner at London law firm Leigh Day. “Nobody expects people to pay every single penny for what happened. But I think there needs to be negotiations.”

Such a policy would be costly and divisive at home, McKenzie said.

The U.K. has never formally apologized for its role in the trade, in which millions of African citizens were kidnapped and transported to plantations in the Caribbean and Americas over several centuries, enriching many individuals and companies. Studies estimate Britain would owe between hundreds of millions and trillions of dollars in compensation to descendants of slaves.

The Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis on Thursday said he wanted a “frank” discussion with Starmer about the matter and would seek mention of the reparations issue in the leaders’ final statement at the event. All three candidates to be the next Commonwealth Secretary-General — from Gambia, Ghana and Lesotho — have endorsed policies of reparatory justice for slavery.

Starmer said Thursday in remarks to reporters that the matter would not be on the summit’s agenda. But Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland told The Associated Press in an interview that leaders “will speak about absolutely anything they want to speak about” at an all-day private meeting scheduled for Saturday.

King Charles said in Friday’s speech that nothing would right inequality “more decisively than to champion the principle that our Commonwealth is one of genuine opportunity for all.” The monarch urged leaders to “choose within our Commonwealth family the language of community and respect, and reject the language of division.”

He has expressed “sorrow” over slavery at a CHOGM summit before, in 2022, and last year endorsed a probe into the monarchy’s ties to the industry.

Charles — who is battling cancer — and his wife, Queen Camilla, will return to Britain tomorrow after visiting Samoa and Australia — where his presence prompted a lawmaker’s protest over his country’s colonial legacy.

He acknowledged Friday that the Commonwealth had mattered “a great deal” his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, who was seen as a unifying figure among the body’s at times disparate and divergent states.

The row over reparations threatened to overshadow a summit that Pacific leaders — and the Commonwealth secretariat — hoped would focus squarely on the ruinous effects of climate change.

“We are well past believing it is a problem for the future since it is already undermining the development we have long fought for,” the king said Friday. “This year alone we have seen terrifying storms in the Caribbean, devastating flooding in East Africa and catastrophic wildfires in Canada. Lives, livelihood and human rights are at-risk across the Commonwealth.”

Charles offered “every encouragement for action with unequivocal determination to arrest rising temperatures” by cutting emissions, building resilience, and conserving and restoring nature on land and at sea, he said.

Samoa is the first Pacific Island nation to host the event, and Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa said in a speech Friday that it was “a great opportunity for all to experience our lived reality, especially with climate change,” which was “the greatest threat to the survival and security of our Pacific people.”

Two dozen small island nations are among CHOGM’s 56 member states, among them the world’s most imperiled by rising seas. Her remarks came as the United Nations released a stark new report warning that the world was on pace for significantly more warming than expected without immediate climate action.

The population of the member nations of the 75-year-old Commonwealth organization totals 2.7 billion people.
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A $50 billion loan to Ukraine from the G7 major industrialized nations is moving forward after months of negotiations, with countries announcing their contributions to the package this week. 

The loan package is aimed at providing Ukraine with an economic lifeline from $280 billion worth of Russian assets frozen since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. According to the plan, the loan will be repaid with interest accumulating on the frozen Russian assets rather than confiscating the frozen assets themselves.

This “creative” solution is intended to provide Ukraine with the economic assistance it urgently needs “without burdening American taxpayers,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement, adding that “these loans will support the people of Ukraine as they defend and rebuild their country. And our efforts make it clear: Tyrants will be responsible for the damages they cause.”

“This will really support us,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement thanking allies for the decision.

The United States will contribute $20 billion to the loan, while Canada and Britain announced contributions of $3.7 billion and $2.94 billion, respectively. The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a European Union decision to provide up to $38 billion as part of the loan.

While the details of the loan are still being worked out, donors announced the funding will cover Ukraine’s economic and defense needs. U.S. deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh told reporters if the U.S. Congress approves the loan contribution, the Biden administration plans to allocate half of the $20 billion to support Ukraine’s economy and the other half for defense support.

The United Kingdom’s $2.94 billion is to be used solely for Ukraine’s military, British Defense Minister John Healey announced this week.

“With this decision, Ukraine is confident that it will have money to fully fund the critically important expenditures next year, including wages to teachers, doctors, pensions,” Roman Kachur, alternate executive director for Ukraine at the World Bank, told VOA.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the loan is crucial if Ukraine is to meet its financing needs.

“We have talked with [the] Ukrainian government about the ways to close the financing gap, which has opened up because the war takes longer than everybody expected and therefore more budget financing will be needed,” Alfred Kammer, director of the IMF’s European Department, told VOA.

The fund, which has a four-year program for Ukraine, expects the multiyear financing through the loan will help the country cover a financing gap that now exceeds $150 billion, Kammer added.

Washington economist Anders Aslund called the loan plan “excellent,” posting on X: “Finally, Ukraine is about to get relevant financial support.”

The G7 decision has been criticized for falling short of an outright seizure of the frozen Russian assets.

“I don’t think we should be celebrating this as Ukraine is not going to get the underlying $330bn,” economist Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management said in an email to VOA. Ash blamed “the vested interests in Europe” for blocking a decision to seize the assets. 

The plan to divide funding from the loan between economic and military support worries some observers in Ukraine.

“Previously, the discussion was that the funding will go to fund economic stability. Now, we are under the impression that the funding will also be used for defense support,” Oleksandra Betliy, chief researcher at the Institute of Economic Research in Kyiv, told VOA. “This is fine for the next year, where the budget deficit is $38 billion, but the issue is with the 2026 budget.”

She added that Ukraine’s funding needs will remain high for years to come.

“Even if 2026 will be victorious, we will further need to fund the military for it to be strong, and social payments will be even higher than today,”  she said.

To ensure transparency and accountability, funding from the loan will be distributed via an intermediary fund set up by the World Bank, which according to Singh is “subject to robust accountability and transparency measures.”

Kachur agreed, saying the World Bank’s control over the funding will eliminate any perception of misuse. In addition, according to Ukrainian officials, the money will not be repurposed once it is in the World Bank’s fund.

“Even if there is a change in the political will, this funding will still remain available to Ukraine and will be transferred only to Ukraine,” Kachur said.

The details of the loan package have not yet been finalized. G7 finance ministers plan to discuss the loan on the margins of this week’s annual IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington. 
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kazan, russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin told BRICS leaders on Thursday that the Middle East was on the brink of a full-scale war after a sharp rise in tension between Israel and Iran, though the Kremlin chief also faced calls to end the war in Ukraine.

The BRICS summit, attended by more than 20 leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, has shown the depth of Russia’s relations beyond the Western world.

Much discussion at the summit in the Russian city of Kazan was dedicated to the war in Ukraine and the violence in the Middle East, though there were no sign that anything specific would be done to end either conflict.

“The degree of confrontation between Israel and Iran has sharply increased. All this resembles a chain reaction and puts the entire Middle East on the brink of a full-scale war,” Putin, sitting beside Chinese President Xi Jinping, said.

Xi, speaking after Putin, said that China wanted a political settlement in Ukraine, and suggested joint efforts by Beijing and Brasilia offered the best chance of peace.

“We need to work for an early de-escalation of the situation and pave the way for a political settlement,” Xi said.

On the Middle East, Xi said that there should be a comprehensive cease-fire in Gaza, a halt to the spread of war in Lebanon, and a return to the two-state solution under which states for both Israel and Palestine would be established.

Flames of war

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian criticized international organizations, particularly the United Nations, for failing to end the conflict.

“The flames of war continue to rage in the Gaza Strip and cities of Lebanon, and international institutions, particularly the U.N. Security Council as a driver of international peace and security, lack the necessary effectiveness to extinguish the fire of this crisis,” Pezeshkian told the BRICS.

Putin said that unless Palestinians got their state, they would feel the burden of “historical injustice” and the region would remain in “an atmosphere of permanent crisis with inevitable relapses of large-scale violence.”

In their summit declaration, BRICS leaders called for the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable Palestinian state within the borders of 1967. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attended the summit.

At one of the BRICS+ meetings on Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar sat in for Modi who also missed one of the group photographs. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he could not travel to Russia due to a head injury.

China, which together with India buys about 90% of Russia’s oil, supported more Global South countries joining the BRICS grouping in various formats, Xi said.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who was criticized by Kyiv for attending the meeting in Russia, said peace was needed in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine.

“We need peace in Ukraine,” Guterres told the BRICS+ meeting that was chaired by Putin. “A just peace in line with the U.N. Charter, international law and U.N. General Assembly resolutions.”
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CHISINAU, Moldova — Moldova’s pro-European president said on Thursday that mass bribery had affected a presidential election and a referendum on joining the European Union. However, Maia Sandu vowed to press on with a Nov. 3 runoff vote to win a second term, instead of ordering a new election.

Sandu issued her pledge, saying it was up to the people to determine Moldova’s future, after police said pro-Russian fugitive businessman Ilan Shor had channeled $39 million to voters in September and October.

Moldovan authorities have said the campaign for last Sunday’s dual poll was overshadowed by a massive Russia-linked election-meddling scheme aimed at defeating the pro-Europe side.

“Without the buying of votes, the outcome today would have been different. We would have had a convincing victory in the presidential election and the referendum!” Sandu wrote on social media.

She said she had rejected suggestions of ordering a rerun of the ex-Soviet republic’s election as “no one has the right to deny our citizens a mass, sincere and free expression of their will.”

“Let’s go forward to the second round. We count strictly on our people as has always been the case when the fate of the country was on the line,” she said. It was up to the judiciary to “wake up” and tackle the issue of bribery, she added.

Sandu came in first in the presidential election but failed to secure 50% of votes and now faces a runoff against former prosecutor-general Alexandr Stoianoglo, who is backed by a traditionally pro-Russian party.

Sandu has singled out Russia as one of the biggest threats facing Moldova and made EU integration the cornerstone of her administration.

In the referendum, a surprisingly slim majority compared with opinion polls, 50.46% of voters, supported EU accession.  

The police have accused Shor of an attempt to bribe 130,000 voters. He denies wrongdoing, and the Kremlin has denied interfering. It questioned the vote count, in which votes from Moldovans abroad pushed the “yes” vote over 50%.

Moldova’s police chief, Viorel Cernauteanu, told a briefing on Thursday that Shor used Russia’s Promsvyazbank to transfer $24 million in October, in addition to $15 million channeled in September, to pay off voters.  

During the campaign, Shor openly offered to pay Moldovans to persuade others to vote “no” in the referendum and to support a specific candidate, who he did not name publicly. He launched a bot on the Telegram messaging platform for this means.  

Cernauteanu said the police had blocked 97 chatbots before the vote explaining to people how to use the Promsvyazbank banking app and get the money.  

On Monday, Sandu called the campaign “an unfair fight” and claimed victory in the referendum designed to enshrine Moldova’s EU path in the constitution. She said there was “clear evidence” that criminal groups backed by “foreign forces hostile to our national interests” had aimed to buy off 300,000 votes.

Moscow has denounced the vote as not free. On Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the United States and European Union had meddled in the campaign.
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Paris — A Lebanon donors’ conference in Paris on Thursday has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the war-battered country — but ending the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah that has devastated the country seems unlikely anytime soon.

The pledges rolled in at the Paris conference. Early on, both Germany and France earmarked around $100 million apiece for Lebanon. The funds will support humanitarian aid in the country, where fighting sparked by Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Israel has killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.  

Conference host, French President Emmanuel Macron, said families need shelter, children need nourishment and schooling, the wounded need care. Solutions must be found quickly, he said, especially to avoid further population displacements, which could create new divisions in the country. 

Acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati wanted more.

“What we as Lebanese expect from the international community is the following: solidarity and cease-fire,” he said. “Lebanon calls on the international community to come together and support efforts that will end the ongoing aggressions and enforce an immediate cease-fire.” 

But experts doubt there will be a swift ending to the conflict. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not attend the Paris conference. He was in the Middle East, although Washington sent a lower-level delegation. Israel and Iran were not invited.

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu earlier warned that Lebanon could descend into civil war. 

But analyst Antoine Basbous told Europe 1 radio that the more likely scenario was Lebanon descending into chaos.

Former colonial power France hopes parties in Lebanon will move on electing a new president, after a two-year power gap. 

The Paris meeting additionally aimed to find ways to support the Lebanese army and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, which includes a large number of European troops. Both the army and the peacekeeping mission say they have come under attack by Israel. 
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Strasbourg, France — The EU parliament awarded the bloc’s top rights Sakharov prize on Thursday to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

They won the prestigious award for their fight for democracy under President Nicolas Maduro’s iron-fisted rule.

Machado, 57, played a key role in Venezuela’s presidential election in July. Although the authorities proclaimed Maduro the winner, the opposition believes its candidate Gonzalez Urrutia won.

Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, went into exile in Spain in September.

European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola said the two figures represented “all Venezuelans inside and outside the country fighting to restore freedom and democracy”, as she announced the award in the parliament in Strasbourg, France.

“Edmundo and Maria have continued to fight for the fair, free and peaceful transition of power and have fearlessly upheld those values that millions of Venezuelans and this parliament hold so dear: justice, democracy and the rule of law,” Metsola added.

“This parliament stands with the people of Venezuela and with Maria and Edmundo in their struggle for the democratic future of their country,” Metsola said.

“We are confident that Venezuela and democracy, will ultimately prevail,” she added.

There will be an award ceremony in Strasbourg in December. The winner receives a $54,000 prize.

Machado and Gonzalez Urrutia were named for the award by the center-right European People’s Party, the largest political grouping in the EU parliament.

The two other finalists were jailed Azerbaijani activist Gubad Ibadoghlu — backed by the Greens — and Israeli and Palestinian organizations working together for peace, proposed by the Socialists and Democrats group.

Metsola paid tribute to the finalists, saying they “all are bravely standing up for human rights and for freedom of thought in the face of unimaginable challenges”.

She said that the health of Ibadoghlu — under house arrest — was “currently deteriorating significantly” and called on “Azerbaijani authorities to drop all charges against Doctor Ibadoghlu and lift his travel ban”.

Far-right lawmakers had nominated US tech billionaire Elon Musk as a champion of “free speech”, but their eyebrow-raising choice was not accepted.

Named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, previous recipients of the award include South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

For Machado, it is her second prize in as many months as she won the top European rights prize awarded by the Council of Europe, which is not an EU institution.
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NEW DELHI — While U.S. officials express the view that the BRICS grouping meeting in the Russian city of Kazan is not evolving into a geopolitical rival, analysts say BRICS members are working on issues that could further decouple them from Western influences.

Among the topics discussed between members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are ways to establish an alternative payment system that would not be dependent on the U.S. dollar, a BRICS digital currency and an alternative to Western financial institutions like the International Monetary fund. 

China, Russia and Iran – countries that face severe trade restrictions imposed by the United States – have been particularly keen about advancing BRICS’ stated goals and circumventing what they regard as illegal sanctions.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated at the BRICS meeting that he was equally interested. “We welcome efforts to increase financial integration among BRICS countries. Trade in local currencies and smooth cross-border payments will strengthen our economic cooperation,” Modi said.

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyachaslav Volodin, writing ahead of the two-day meeting on the cloud-based messaging app Telegram, said the BRICS’ priorities reflect the divide between the West and the South. “The time of the hegemony of Washington and Brussels is passing. Countries choose the path of equal dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation in the interests of people, and not to please the US and its minions,” he said.

U.S. officials say they are not concerned.

“We’re not looking at BRICS evolving into some kind of geopolitical rival. That’s not how we look at it … to the U.S. or anyone else,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday at a press briefing.

Meanwhile, India’s Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Wednesday on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting, signaling a thaw in relations between the two sometimes-adversarial nations that some analysts suggest could have geopolitical implications.

Two days before the BRICS meeting, Indian and Chinese officials agreed to resolve the vexing issue of their militaries patrolling along the India-China border. The goal is to ensure that both sides pull back troops from advanced positions in disputed areas and return to the situation that existed before the last border conflict in 2020.

“We welcome the consensus reached on the issues that have arisen in the last 4 years along the border. It should be our priority to ensure there is peace and stability along our border,” Modi told Xi during the initial minutes of the meeting, which was telecast live. Xi responded saying that the rapprochement was “in the fundamental interests of both countries.”

Analysts are trying to gauge what prompted India to seek rapprochement with Beijing when it is closely tied to U.S.-led arrangements meant to counter China’s influence. 

India plays a key role in the United States’ Indo-Pacific strategy and the Washington-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) involving Japan, India, Australia and the United States. China views the QUAD, which regularly holds exercises among the militaries of the four member countries, as a group bent on hurting its interests. 

“Being a part of the QUAD is not helping India, which needs support in countering China’s military challenge in the Himalayan Mountain region. Besides, the U.S. is developing a relationship with Pakistan, which is against India’s interest,” P. Stobdan, former Indian diplomat and author, told VOA. 

The Chinese media quoted Lin Minwang, a professor at the Institute of Strategic Studies and International Security in Fudan University, as saying that India is seeking reconciliation with China because the United States has not supported its efforts to develop its manufacturing sector. 

“India’s policy that aims at decoupling from China has failed to attract meaningful support from the US-led West to help ‘Made in India’ and the country’s modernization and industrialization,” Lin said. “This proves that India can’t profit from being hostile to or decoupling from China, and it is even making it difficult for India to realize its own development,” he added. 

Some experts believe the United States would not be surprised at the turn of events.  

“The U.S. knew all along that India and China would connect at some point. There are strong political and economic reasons for them to engage with each other,” said Manoranjan Mohanty, a China expert based in New Delhi.
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Officials in Ukraine’s capital said Thursday that Russia attacked the region with about a dozen aerial drones overnight.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said Ukraine’s air defenses shot down all of the drones and that there were no reports of casualties or damage.

In the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, Governor Vitalii Kim said on Telegram the military shot down three Russian drones.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed seven Ukrainian aerial drones, including four over the Kursk region and three over the Black Sea.

Officials in Russia’s Bryansk region also reported several drones were shot down there overnight.

North Korean troops

The United States said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops were dispatched to Russia earlier this month and are being trained there, possibly to fight alongside Moscow’s troops in their war against Ukraine.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that what Pyongyang’s soldiers are doing in Russia is “left to be seen.” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. is “working closely with our allies and partners to gain a full understanding of the situation.”

Kirby said the North Korean troops traveled by ship between early October and mid-month from its Wonsan naval port to Vladivostok in Russia. Then, he said, the North Korean troops were dispatched to multiple military training sites in eastern Russia.

“We do not yet know whether these soldiers will enter into combat alongside the Russian military” in Ukraine, but the possibility is “certainly a high concern,” Kirby said.

“We have briefed the Ukrainian government on our understanding of this situation, and we’re certainly consulting closely with other allies, partners and countries in the region on the implications of such a dramatic group move, and on how we might respond,” Kirby said.

“For the time being, we will continue to monitor the situation closely, but let’s be clear: If North Korean soldiers do enter into combat, this development will demonstrate Russia’s growing desperation in its war against Ukraine,” Kirby added.

“Russia is suffering extraordinary casualties on the battlefield every single day, but President [Vladimir] Putin appears intent on continuing this war,” Kirby said.

“If Russia is indeed forced to turn to North Korea for manpower, if we assign a weakness, not strength, it would also demonstrate an unprecedented level of direct military cooperation between Russia and North Korea with security implications in Europe, as well as the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

Kirby said Russia’s cooperation with the North Korean military would violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting the procurement of arms from North Korea and military arms training.

China, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council and a close ally of North Korea, was asked by VOA about its view of the U.S., South Korean, Ukrainian and NATO intelligence confirming the presence of North Korean troops in eastern Russia and the possible implications.

“China’s position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear. We hope that all parties will work for de-escalation and be committed to political settlement,” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu, said in a statement.

Defense chief Austin cited a “strengthened relationship” between Russia and North Korea, noting that North Korea has provided weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

“If they’re co-belligerents, if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf, that is a very, very serious issue, and it will have impacts not only in Europe; it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well,” Austin said.

Austin also highlighted Russian casualties in the war it launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, saying the North Korea development is an indication that Putin “may be in even more trouble than most people realize.”

Austin’s assessment was quickly backed up by NATO officials, who are awaiting additional briefings from South Korea, which went public with its intelligence on the North Korean troop movements last week.

“We are actively consulting within the Alliance on this matter,” NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said, adding, “If these troops are destined to fight in Ukraine, it would mark a significant escalation in North Korea’s support for Russia’s illegal war and yet another sign of Russia’s significant losses on the front lines.”

VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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APIA, SAMOA — The leaders of the Commonwealth group of nations will meet at a welcome banquet in Samoa in the South Pacific on Thursday, with climate change and reparations for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade on the agenda of summit discussions.

Leaders and officials from 56 countries with roots in Britain’s empire, as well as Britain’s King Charles, are in the small island nation and attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which began Monday. The countries’ foreign ministers also began a day of discussions on Thursday.

More than half of the Commonwealth’s members are small states, many of which are low-lying island nations at risk from rising sea levels due to climate change.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said ocean temperatures are rising in the Pacific Islands at three times the rate worldwide, and its population is “uniquely exposed” to the impact of rising sea levels.

“Climate change is an existential threat. It is the number one national security threat. It is the number one economic threat to the peoples of the Pacific and to many members of the Commonwealth,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a news conference after a meeting with counterparts.

A number of African countries, including Zambia, warned the meeting about the escalating impacts of climate change, including the effects on food security, she added.

On Thursday, Charles will be shown the impact of rising sea levels that are forcing people to move inland, a Samoan chief said.

Island leaders are expected to issue a declaration on ocean protection at the summit, with climate change being a central topic of discussion.

Reparations push

Also on the agenda is a push for Britain to pay reparations for transatlantic slavery, a long-standing issue that has recently been gaining momentum worldwide, particularly those part of the Caribbean Community and more recently the African Union.

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer said on Monday the UK will not bring the issue of reparations for historical transatlantic slavery to the table at the summit, but is open to engage with leaders who want to discuss it.

CARICOM has set up a commission to seek reparations from former colonial powers such as the UK, France and Portugal.

Those opposed to paying reparations say countries shouldn’t be held responsible for historical wrongs, while those in favor say the legacy of slavery has resulted in persistent and vast racial inequalities today.

A CARICOM source familiar with the matter told Reuters CHOGM presents an “important opportunity” for dialogue on reparations and the region will be tabling the issue there.

“It is a priority for many of the Commonwealth’s member countries and whenever those affected by atrocities ask to talk, there should always be a willingness to sit down and listen,” said Kingsley Abbott, director of the University of London’s Institute of Commonwealth Studies, who is attending the summit.

From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported by European ships and merchants and sold into slavery. Those who survived the brutal voyage ended up toiling on plantations under inhumane conditions in the Americas, mostly in Brazil and the Caribbean, while others profited from their labor.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the emerging partnership among China, Russia, Iran and North Korea – a bloc being talked about by some in Washington as a new “axis of evil.”

Those worries got a major boost on Wednesday with confirmation by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a trip to Rome that North Korean troops are now present in Russia, presumably preparing to participate in Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

Just days earlier, Russia was a participant in naval drills hosted by Iran. 

China, North Korea and Iran all have supported Russia’s war machine in different ways during its war on Ukraine. Iran has provided missiles and drones. North Korea has sent artillery shells. And China has provided dual-use technology and industrial products, including semiconductors and drone engines.

“We’ve seen the emergence of Axis of Evil back in the late 1930s, 1938, 1939. We saw what the world did at that particular point to come together,” said Republican congressman Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee during an online discussion last month hosted by the Center for a New American Security.

“We find ourselves at that same crossroads today where we have nations that do not believe in the same things that we believe in, do not believe in the rule of law, do not believe in protecting the rights and dignity of human beings.”

In 2002, former U.S. President George W. Bush used the term “axis of evil” in his State of the Union address to describe countries supporting terrorism, such as North Korea, Iran and Iraq. More recently, it is being applied in Washington to describe China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken describes these four countries as revisionist powers. He wrote that a fierce competition to define a new era of international affairs is under way, and a few countries are determined to change the basic principles of the international system.

“While these countries are not an axis, and the administration has been clear that it does not seek bloc confrontation, choices these revisionist powers are making mean we need to act decisively to prevent that outcome,” Blinken wrote in the November/December issue of the publication Foreign Affairs.

Wittman does use the term “Axis of Evil” and said the countries involved are more capable of destabilizing the world than were Nazi Germany and its allies in 1939, especially as they cooperate and share technology at all levels.

“So, as you look at drones that have been taken out in Ukraine, you find Chinese printed circuit boards in there, Chinese systems on board those drones,” Wittman told VOA.

“You also see the arms that are being fired into Ukraine from Russian artillery pieces are being manufactured in North Korea. You see the drones that are being used by Russians in the battle space there are being manufactured by Iran.” 

He also said the new partnership is learning from the Ukrainian war at a rate that keeps pace with the times, gaining capabilities that cannot be achieved in normal testing and development processes in a peaceful environment. 

“The biggest difference in the 2024 Axis of Evil is that at least three of the four countries are in expansionist mode,” wrote Merrill Matthews, resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation earlier this year. “They want much more land and power. And they are coordinating their efforts to benefit each country’s goals. It’s a very dangerous development.”

Matthews told VOA this group is working to create a largely self-sufficient economic zone — out of both necessity and desire — that does not rely on Western economies for survival.

Christopher S. Chivvis, a senior fellow and director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told VOA that China is key to the strength of the four-way relationship.

“If China were not part of this four, it would look like three countries that are highly isolated from the world cooperating with each other. We would have much less to worry about. It’s China’s participation in this grouping that is really has the potential to make it very problematic for the United States,” he said.

Chivvis added that the four countries can use a crisis in one region to launch a war, coordinate actions, or create chaos in another.

For example, Chivvis lays out a more extreme version of this scenario in his recent report — were China to attempt a military operation against Taiwan, Russia might seek to take advantage of the strain on U.S. resources with an even more aggressive military campaign in Ukraine or even with an incursion into NATO territory.

Similarly, a major escalation with Iran in the Middle East that draws in more U.S. naval and air forces could also embolden China to take a more aggressive approach to Taiwan.

“It would be difficult for these four countries to sign a formal treaty that would commit them to doing that kind of thing, but you can see it emerging spontaneously or organically out of a crisis situation,” Chivvis said.

And a crisis in one region can spill over to another part of the world.

“If you look at, for example, the Gulf Arab states, they’re critical energy suppliers to both China and Taiwan,” said Michael Singh, managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“If you look at Iran, Iran has the capabilities we’ve seen through proxies like the Houthis to disrupt international waterways. So, to think that a conflict over Taiwan will be restricted to the Indo-Pacific is, I think at this stage, simply naive and ignoring.”

Blinken describes the relationship among the four countries as “largely transactional,” adding that their cooperation “entails tradeoffs and risks that each may find more distasteful over time.” 

“And yet all four revisionists share an abiding commitment to the overarching objective of challenging the United States and the international system,” Blinken wrote. “That will continue to drive their cooperation, especially as the United States and other countries stand up to their revisionism.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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The president of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has announced the establishment of the Red Family Fund to honor humanitarian aid workers who have died in the line of duty.

Kate Forbes told the organization’s general assembly in Geneva that aid workers find themselves working under “increasingly difficult” conditions that include not only an escalation in conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere but also a decrease in observance of international law.

“Global conflicts have escalated, endangering civilians and our volunteers, making it even more difficult to deliver humanitarian aid,” Forbes said.

So far this year, 30 of the group’s 16 million humanitarian aid workers worldwide have died in the line of duty, she said.

“The surge in violence against humanitarian workers underscores a decline in the adherence to international humanitarian law and poses a direct threat to our mission,” the IFRC president said. She described each loss as a deep wound but said the deaths would not weaken the organization’s “resolve to directly address these crises.”

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the gathering that humanitarian workers find themselves doing their jobs across the globe amid a world shaped by “armed conflicts and political turmoil.”

The Red Family Fund, according to the IFRC’s website, honors volunteers and staff from the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies “who die in the line of duty and provides a mechanism for one-time financial assistance to the families they leave behind.”

“This is a tangible step that demonstrates our commitment to honor those who care for others,” Forbes said. 

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
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