A new school year begins in Russia, the third that is starting with Moscow’s war in Ukraine as a backdrop. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina on what critics say are Russia’s moves to militarize education by introducing new subjects that explain and justify its full-scale assault on Ukraine.
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GENEVA — Police in northern Switzerland said Tuesday that several people have been detained and a criminal case opened in connection with the suspected death of a person in a “suicide capsule.”

The “Sarco” capsule is presumably designed to allow a person sitting in a reclining seat inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and die by suffocation in a few minutes.

Exit International, an assisted suicide group based in the Netherlands, said it is behind the 3D-printed device that cost over $1 million to develop.

Swiss law allows assisted suicide so long as the person takes his or her life with no “external assistance” and those who help the person die do not do so for “any self-serving motive,” according to a government website.

A law firm informed prosecutors in Schaffhausen canton that an assisted suicide involving the Sarco had taken place Monday near a forest cabin in Merishausen, regional police said in a statement. They said that “several people” were taken into custody and that prosecutors opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide.

Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported Tuesday that police had detained one of its photographers who wanted to take pictures of the use of the Sarco. It said Schaffhausen police had indicated the photographer was being held at a police station but declined to give a further explanation.

The newspaper declined to comment further when contacted by the Associated Press. 

In an email, the Dutch Foreign Ministry told the AP that it was in contact with the newspaper and Swiss officials. 

“As always, we cannot interfere in the legal process of another country. At the same time, the Netherlands stands firmly for press freedom. It is very important that journalists worldwide can do their work freely,” it said. 

Exit International, the group behind the Sarco, said in a statement a 64-year-old woman from the U.S. Midwest — it did not specify further — who had suffered from “severe immune compromise” had died Monday afternoon near the German border using the Sarco device.

It said Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort, a Swiss affiliate of Exit International, was the only person present and described her death as “peaceful, fast and dignified.”

Dr. Philip Nitschke, an Australian-born trained doctor behind Exit International, has previously told the AP that his organization received advice from lawyers in Switzerland that the use of the Sarco would be legal in the country.

In the Exit International statement on Tuesday, Nitschke said he was “pleased that the Sarco had performed exactly as it had been designed … to provide an elective, non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person’s choosing.”

The claims of Nitschke and Exit International could not be independently verified.

On Monday, Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider was asked in Swiss parliament about the legal conditions for the use of the Sarco capsule. She suggested its use would not be legal.

“On one hand, it does not fulfill the demands of the product safety law, and as such, must not be brought into circulation,” she said. “On the other hand, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the article on purpose in the chemicals law.”

In July, Swiss newspaper Blick reported that Peter Sticher, a state prosecutor in Schaffhausen, wrote to Exit International’s lawyers saying any operator of the suicide capsule could face criminal proceedings if it was used there — and any conviction could bring up to five years in prison.

Prosecutors in other Swiss regions have also indicated that the use of the suicide capsule could lead to prosecution.

Over the summer, a 54-year-old U.S. woman with multiple health ailments had planned to be the first person to use the device, but those plans were abandoned.

Switzerland is among the only countries in the world where foreigners can travel to legally end their lives and has organizations that are dedicated to helping people kill themselves. But unlike others, including the Netherlands, Switzerland does not allow euthanasia, which involves health care practitioners killing patients with a lethal injection at their request and in specific circumstances.

Some lawmakers in Switzerland have argued that the law is unclear and have sought to close what they call legal loopholes.
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Berlin — Germany’s leading economic institutes have downgraded their forecast for 2024 and now see Europe’s largest economy shrinking by 0.1%, people familiar with the figures from the autumn joint economic forecast told Reuters on Tuesday. 

Germany’s economy was the weakest among its large euro zone peers last year with a 0.3% contraction.  

Even with inflation on a downward trend, consumption remains weak and high energy costs, feeble global orders and high interest rates are still taking their toll.  

The latest economic data paint a gloomy picture. German business morale fell for a fourth straight month in September and by more than expected, a survey showed on Tuesday. 

Data earlier this week showed German business activity contracted in September at the sharpest pace in seven months, putting the economy on track to notch up a second consecutive quarter of falling output. 

The economic institutes have also slashed their forecasts for the coming years, according to the sources. The growth forecast for 2025 has been cut to 0.8% from 1.4%, and for 2026, the institutes envisage growth of 1.3%, the sources said. 

The institutes’ joint economic forecast is due to be published on Thursday, meaning the figures could still change slightly before then. 

The economy ministry incorporates the combined estimates from the institutes — Ifo, DIW, IWH, IfW and RWI — into its own predictions. 

According to its latest forecast, the German government expects the economy to grow 0.3% this year. An update is due in October.  
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STOCKHOLM — Swedish authorities said on Tuesday that Iran hacked into a text messaging service last year and sent thousands of messages urging Swedes to take revenge against Koran burners.  

In 2023, individuals in Sweden on several occasions set fire to Islam’s holy book in public, prompting outrage in the Muslim world and raising fears of attacks by jihadists. 

“The security police is able to establish that a cyber group acted on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out an influence campaign,” the Swedish Security Service said in a statement.  

“The purpose was, among other things, to paint the image of Sweden as an Islamophobic country and create division in society,” it said. 

Sweden last year raised its terrorism alert following the Koran burnings.  

In a separate statement, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said the investigation showed it was the Iranian state via the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that carried out the data breach. 

The Swedish agency said it had identified the individual hackers carrying out the breach but would not press charges.  

“Since the perpetrators are acting for a foreign power, in this case Iran, we make the assessment that the conditions for prosecution abroad or extradition to Sweden are lacking,” it said. 

Iran’s embassy in Stockholm could not immediately be reached for comment. Iran’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment.  
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ROME — Pope Francis has called for the liberation of Myanmar’s detained former leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and offered the Vatican as a safe haven, the pontiff said in a recent conversation with Jesuits in Asia.

“I asked for the Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s release and received her son in Rome. I offered the Vatican to receive her in our territory,” he said in a private conversation during a recent 12-day tour across Southeast Asia.

The 87-year old pontiff visited Myanmar in December 2017.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera published the comments on Tuesday in an article by Father Antonio Spadaro, a Rome-based Jesuit priest who attends the meetings and writes about them afterwards with the pope’s permission.

“The future of the (Myanmar) must be peace based on respect for the dignity and rights of all, on respect for a democratic order that allows everyone to contribute to the common good,” Pope Francis added.

Myanmar’s military government has ramped up killings and arrests in an apparent bid to silence opponents and recruit soldiers in an escalating conflict, a U.N. report said last week.

Suu Kyi, 78, has been detained by the military since it overthrew her government in a 2021 coup. She faces 27 years in prison for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to violations of the telecommunications law, charges she denies. In April she was moved from prison to house arrest.
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Pentagon — The U.S. military is expected to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine this week valued at up to $375 million, the largest aid sent to Kyiv since May.

According to several U.S. officials, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss the package ahead of the announcement, the aid for Kyiv is expected to be announced as soon as Wednesday.

One official told VOA the package is likely to include air-to-ground munitions for F-16 fighter jets, which would allow Ukrainian pilots to operate away from the front lines and Russia’s air defenses. 

The package also includes ammunition for HIMARS, patrol boats and armored vehicles, along with 155mm rounds, 105 mm rounds and TOW missiles, the official added.

The package, which is still being finalized and could change, according to the U.S. officials, is being sent under the presidential drawdown authority that allows the Pentagon to send Ukraine aid directly from its American military stockpiles. 

The Pentagon has more than $5 billion left of the $61 billion in funding for Ukraine that was signed into law by President Joe Biden in April and could expire at the end of this month. The Pentagon says it is working with Congress to roll the remaining funding over to the next U.S. fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The officials tell VOA they are working on contingency plans should Congress not approve the extension before the end of the fiscal year.

The package is expected to be announced as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with President Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris this Friday at the White House. Officials say Zelenskyy will lay out his plan to end the war with Russia and push for restrictions on U.S.-provided missiles to be lifted.

U.S. policy does not allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to fire on targets deep within Russian territory. The White House has expressed concerns that these strikes could draw the United States into direct conflict with Russia.

Earlier this month, Zelenskyy told military allies meeting in Germany that his country needs the long-range capability to strike deep inside Russian territory “so that Russia is motivated to seek peace.”

The U.S. says that Russia has moved most of its aircraft and weapons out of range of Ukraine’s weapons, but Ukrainian officials are still interested in targeting supply lines and command centers closer to its border.

Air Force General James Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa, warned reporters last week that Russia’s military is now bigger and stronger than it was before invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Despite Russian improvements on the battlefield, Ukraine has continued to put chinks in Russia’s armor, shooting down more than 100 Russian aircraft, which is dozens more aircraft than Russia has been able to down on the Ukrainian side, according to Hecker.

“So what we see is the aircraft are kind of staying on their own side of the line, if you will, and when that happens, you have a war like we’re seeing today, with massive attrition, cities just being demolished, a lot of civilian casualties,” he said.

The U.S. and Denmark have been training a small number of Ukrainian pilots on the F-16, but qualified Ukrainian pilots and open training slots have been limited.
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geneva — United Nations investigators are accusing the Belarusian government of Alexander Lukashenko of instilling “a pervasive climate of fear by quashing all avenues of dissent” by systematically oppressing its perceived political opponents.

“Measures of repression and intimidation aimed at suppressing dissent continue unabated in Belarus, particularly in the lead-up to the presidential election scheduled in 2025,” Karinna Moskalenko, chair of the Group of independent Experts told the U.N. human rights council Monday.

Moskalenko presented a searing account of widespread human rights violations, abuse, and horrific cases of cruelty and deprivation in this first oral update of the human rights situation in Belarus by the Expert Group, newly created by the council in March.

She read out a list of abuses committed in Belarus since May 2020, when nationwide protests erupted, following Lukashenko’s decision to seek another term as president.

Among those cited are arbitrary deprivation of the right to life and to liberty, torture and ill-treatment, including sexual and gender-based violence, denial of a fair trial, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

“While sexual and gender-based violence is underreported, there is credible information some women and men in detention have been threatened with rape and subjected to forced nudity and cavity searches,” Moskalenko said.

“We continue to observe a misuse of national security and criminal laws to silence any dissent. Individuals perceived as political opponents continue to be charged and arrested under the criminal code, for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression and association,” she said, adding that “free trial rights are systematically violated.”

The report notes that Belarusians forced into exile continue to be harassed by Lukashenko’s government, that their assets and properties are seized and relatives left behind are intimidated by the authorities.

The group of experts accused the government “for the near-total destruction of civic space and fundamental freedoms,” with most of the opposition either imprisoned or forced into exile since the 2020 elections … creating a chilling effect on any participation in activities “perceived as critical of the government.”

Lukashenko recently pardoned dozens of people who had been convicted for participating in the 2020 protests. While welcoming the announced release, Moskalenko noted that “they represent only a small fraction of those who have been arrested” and urged the government to promptly release “all those arbitrarily detained on politically motivated charges.”

Larysa Belskaya, Belarusia ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva was unimpressed by what she heard and told “the West,” which she claimed was behind the report, “to stop meddling in our domestic affairs.”

She said next year’s presidential election will be the domestic affair of a sovereign state.

“We do not need foreign approval or disapproval regarding the outcome of our peoples’ expression of their will,” she said. “Belarus, like the overwhelming majority of developing countries, does not accept interference in its domestic affairs or pressure or sanctions.”

This set off a spirited debate in the council with Western countries strongly condemning the persecution and intimidation of all segments of Belarusian society. They demanded an end to the government’s repressive policies and urged the immediate release of all political prisoners.

They denounced the Belarusian government’s support of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and called for an end to its complicity in the illegal deportation of Ukranian children by Russia.

Michele Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. human rights council in Geneva, condemned the ongoing repression in Belarus “including the use of torture, arbitrary detention, intimidation, harassment of families of political prisoners and transnational repression of Belarusians.”

On the other hand, Stanislav Kovpak, chief counselor at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Multilateral Human Rights Cooperation deplored “the double standards and biased approach in assessing the situation in Belarus.”

“At the same time, the role of the West is hushed up as is their significant support for the opposition who has emigrated,” he said, criticizing the use of illegal restrictive measures by Western countries against the Belarusian economy … “and the stirring up of anti-government feeling by Western-controlled, biased media.”

He rebuked the group of experts who “worked here in gross violation of the basic principles of impartiality that should underpin the human rights body.”

Addressing the council via videolink, exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she was speaking for the more than 1,400 political prisoners who could not speak for themselves, along with the teachers, doctors and activists behind bars for “speaking the truth and dreaming of freedom.”

“Many of them are held in complete isolation, incommunicado … no letters, no phone calls, no contact with the outside world. My husband Syarhei has been cut off for over a year. I do not know if he is alive,” she said.

Syarhei Tsikhanouski was arrested and imprisoned in 2020 after announcing his plan to challenge Lukashenko for the presidency.
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Moscow — A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Monday in Kazakhstan, ending a record-breaking stay for the Russian pair.

The capsule landed on the Kazakh steppe about 3 1/2 hours after undocking from the ISS in an apparently trouble-free descent. In the last stage of the landing, it descended under a red-and-white parachute at about 7.2 meters per second (16 mph), with small rockets fired in the final seconds to cushion the touchdown.

The astronauts were extracted from the capsule and placed in nearby chairs to help them adjust to gravity, then given medical examinations in a nearby tent.

Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub returned after 374 days aboard the space station; on Friday they broke the record for the longest continuous stay there. Also in the capsule was American Tracy Dyson, who was in the space station for six months.

Eight astronauts remain in the space station, including Americans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have remained long past their scheduled return to Earth.

They arrived in June as the first crew of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule. But their trip was marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks, and the U.S. space agency NASA decided it was too risky to return them on Starliner.

The two astronauts are to ride home with SpaceX next year.
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Brussels, Belgium — Eurozone business activity declined for the first time in seven months in September, as France lost steam after the end of the Paris Olympic Games, a key survey said Monday.  

S&P Global’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) — a key gauge of the overall health of the economy — dropped to 48.9 in September, down from 51 in August. 

Any reading below 50 indicated contraction.    

“The eurozone is heading towards stagnation. After the Olympic effect had temporarily boosted France, the eurozone heavyweight economy, the Composite PMI fell in September to the largest extent in 15 months,” said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.   

“Considering the rapid decline in new orders and the order backlog, it doesn’t take much imagination to foresee a further weakening of the economy.”  

The survey showed that Germany and France, the eurozone’s top two economies, were largely responsible for driving the slump in the 20-country single currency area.  

French private sector output returned to contraction after the shot in the arm from the Olympics, while German business activity dropped the fastest since February.  

The “big decline” in eurozone PMI “suggests that the economy is slowing sharply, that Germany is in recession and that France’s Olympics boost was just a blip”, said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist at London-based research group Capital Economics.  

“With France’s new minority government now planning to tighten fiscal policy significantly, prospects for growth in France look increasingly poor,” he said.  

President Emmanuel Macron named a new government led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier Saturday, 11 weeks after an inconclusive parliamentary election.  

The eurozone PMI data showed the manufacturing sector was down across the board, falling for the eighteenth month in a row.    

“Manufacturing is getting messier by the month,” de la Rubia said.   

“Looking ahead, the sharp drop in new orders and companies’ increasingly bleak outlook for future output suggest that this dry spell is far from over.”  

The decline in business activity could add impetus to calls for the European Central Bank (ECB) to cut its key interest rate again in October.  

The bank for the 20 countries that use the euro cut its deposit rate by a quarter point to 3.50% this month — the second decrease since June.  

The ECB had hiked rates at record pace from mid-2022 to tame surging consumer prices but has started easing the pressure as inflation drifts back down towards its 2% target.  
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis canceled his scheduled appointments for Monday due to a mild flu, the Vatican said in a statement.

The Vatican said the 87-year-old pontiff made the decision as a precautionary measure in view of his planned four-day trip to Luxembourg and Belgium later this week. It gave no further details.

Francis is scheduled to begin the trip, his 46th foreign visit as pope, on Thursday. It comes less than two weeks after he returned from a demanding 12-day, four-country tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Francis now regularly uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain. He has also suffered bouts of ill health in recent years. Earlier this year, he canceled several appointments over what the Vatican variously described as a cold, bronchitis and influenza.

The pope appeared in good form throughout his Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He maintained a packed schedule, headlining more than 40 events, and clocked up a total of nearly 33,000 km.

His trip to Luxembourg and Belgium is expected to highlight the needs of migrants in Europe and to include a meeting with survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy.

Francis’ agenda in Luxembourg and Belgium will be lighter than that of the Southeast Asia and Oceania trip, with the pope scheduled to take part in about a dozen events over four days.
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Mexico City — France has sent a group of special anti-riot police that’s been banned for 65 years to the French Caribbean island of Martinique, where protesters have gathered despite the government barring demonstrations in parts of the island. 

The force arrived this weekend after the local representative of France’s central government in its overseas territory said in a statement that protests were forbidden in the municipalities of Fort-de-France, Le Lamentin, Ducos and Le Robert until Monday. The government also issued a curfew. 

The restrictions came after violent protests broke out on the island last week over the high cost of living, with gunfire injuring at least six police officers and one civilian. Police launched tear gas and government officials said several stores were also looted. 

Officials said the bans were meant “to put an end to the violence and damage committed at gatherings, as well as to the numerous obstacles to daily life and freedom of movement that penalize the entire population, particularly at weekends.” 

But the measure was met by defiance by many on the island, with massive peaceful protests breaking out Saturday night. Videos from local media show crowds of thousands peacefully walking along highways overnight banging on drums and waiving flags. 

As protests wound on without violence, the force of French anti-riot police arrived on the island and were staying at a hotel in Fort-de-France on Sunday. It wasn’t immediately clear how many were sent. 

The elite riot police, known as the Companies for Republican Security, were banned in the French territory following bloody riots in December 1959. The unit had been accused of using disproportionate force against protesters, ending in the deaths of a number of young demonstrators. The force is rarely deployed in French territories in the Caribbean but was called on during riots and strikes in Guadeloupe in 2009. 

Martinique’s leaders requested the forces amid the recent protests in an historic shift for the island, and one met with a sharp rejection by some in the territory. 

Beatrice Bellay, a representative of the socialist party on the island, blasted the move, saying: “Martinique is not in a civil war, it is a social war.” She called for an “open and transparent dialogue” between protesters and the government. 

“This measure … only serves to aggravate tensions and distract attention from the legitimate demands of the people of Martinique,” she wrote in a statement Sunday. 
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Geneva — Switzerland, known for natural beauty like pristine lakes and majestic Alpine peaks, ranks among the world’s richest countries whose plant and animal life is under the greatest threat. Environmentalists were seeking better protections for the country’s biodiversity in a nationwide vote that culminated Sunday.

Final official results showed more than 63% of voters casting ballots had rejected the initiative that aimed to boost public funding to encourage farmers and others to set aside lands and waterways to let the wild develop more, and increase the total area allocated for green spaces that must remain untouched by human development.

The contest was decided by mail-in ballots followed by a morning of in-person voting Sunday.

Factors behind the weakening biodiversity in the country of rivers, lakes, valleys and mountains include intensified agriculture, soil alteration, a fragmentation of the landscape — such as the building of roads and housing that cut through wildlife habitats — and pollution and climate change, proponents of the measure said.

The federal government — parliament and the executive branch — opposed the plan, as did many rural voters and the country’s main right-wing party, according to polls. They called it too costly, saying 600 million Swiss francs (over $700 million) is already spent on biodiversity protection each year, and fear economic development will suffer.

Passage was estimated to cost at least another 400 million francs for national and local governments, the Federal Council estimates. The initiative would also, for example, prohibit the construction of new railway lines through protected dry meadows — even if such meadow is set aside and developed elsewhere, it says.

“Passage of the biodiversity initiative would severely limit (sustainable) energy and food production, restrict the use of forests and rural areas for tourism, and make construction more expensive,” argued the campaign for a “no” vote on its website. “YES to biodiversity, but NO to the extreme biodiversity initiative.”

Proponents, meanwhile, pointed to dwindling natural resources in Switzerland and threats to bees, frogs, birds, mosses and other wildlife. They argued that protected green spaces are “the main capital for tourism” and more of them would support local economies.

“Diversified nature guarantees air purity, drinkable water, pollination, fertility of the soil, and our food supply,” said a committee that backed the idea. “But in Switzerland, biodiversity is suffering. One-third of all our plant and animal species are threatened or have already disappeared.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a think tank that counts 38 mostly rich countries as members, has produced a comparative look at threats to plant and animal life. Switzerland ranks among the top four countries with the highest rates of threatened species in all eight categories of wildlife.

The voting was part of the latest Swiss referendums, which take place four times a year to give voters a direct say in policymaking in the country of around 9 million people. The only other nationwide issue up for consideration this time was a pension reform plan backed by the government.

More than two-thirds of voters turned down the pension reform plan, the final results showed.
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Cognac, France — Frustrated cognac producers in southwestern France are growing increasingly anxious over the looming threat of Chinese tariffs on European brandy, a move industry representatives worry could force French liquor from the Chinese market.

Some 800 protesters riding on tractors and carrying signs gathered in France’s southwestern town of Cognac this week demanding a delay to an upcoming European Union vote to impose duties on Chinese electric vehicles.

This protest — the first since 1998 — comes after Beijing refused to rule out future tariffs following an anti-dumping investigation into brandy imported from the European Union.

The probe was launched months after the EU undertook an investigation into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.

And with the EU set to vote next week on introducing tariffs on Chinese EVs, France’s brandy makers are worried about the consequences that vote could have on their livelihood.  

“The situation is urgent,” said Anthony Brun, the union head for Cognac’s brandy makers, adding that a decision to levy tariffs on Chinese EVs “will jeopardize the entire industry.”

Cognac’s interprofessional association BNIC said it was recently notified that China intends to impose tariffs of around 35% on European brandy, a move seen as targeting France.

This comes despite repeated assurances from Beijing it would not implement provisional tariffs after it found European brandy had been dumped into China, threatening the country’s domestic industry with “substantial damage.”  

“For a year now, we have been warning French and European authorities about this risk and the need to stop this downward spiral,” wrote Brun in a letter addressed to new French Prime Minister Michel Barnier about the tariff threat.

“We are the victims without being in any way responsible. … We have not been listened to,” Brun said, writing on behalf of the cognac union.

In May, French President Emmanuel Macron thanked his Chinese counterpart for not imposing customs duties on French cognac amid the probe, presenting Xi Jinping with bottles of the expensive drink.

But cooperating with Chinese authorities has produced “no results” and incurred millions in costs, said Florent Morillon, head of BNIC.

Tariffs could force French brandy to “disappear from the Chinese market,” which accounts for a quarter of exports, added Morillon.

The threat of losing the Chinese market could be existential for some brandy makers, who count on overseas consumers for up to 60% of their profits.

China imported more brandy than any other spirit in 2022, with most of it coming from France, according to a report by research group Daxue Consulting.

Cognac producers are calling on the EU to postpone its September 25 vote on imposing tariffs on EVs imported from China, fearing China will respond with customs duties on European brandy.

“We have no way out,” said Rodolphe Texier, a member of a farmers’ union in France’s western Charente region.

“If Europe doesn’t follow us, we’re dead,” said Texier, adding he is concerned about widespread repercussions throughout the industry which could impact everyone from distillers to barrel makers to truck drivers.

With more than 4,400 farms and some 85,000 jobs, France’s cognac industry is already in trouble after it saw a 22% drop in sales in 2023 and dramatically reduced new vine planting zones.

France’s brandy makers are not the only ones under pressure, as Beijing launched a probe into EU subsidiaries on some dairy products in August.

Even though a meeting is set “in principle” between BNIC and the prime minister’s office, Florent Morillon told AFP there is a feeling of being “taken hostage” by Paris and Brussels.

“The French and European authorities have decided to sacrifice us,” wrote union head Anthony Brun.

“Never mind our jobs, our weight in the local economy, our contribution to trade, and to France’s image,” he added.
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A business owner in Baltimore, Maryland, who was born in Kyiv has started a charity to help Ukrainian children affected by war.  Andriy Borys has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Viacheslav Filiushkin.
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Kharkiv, Ukraine — A Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv wounded 21 people including three minors, the regional governor said Sunday. 

 

Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram that eight of the victims were hospitalized, two in critical condition, after the strike late Saturday, when dozens of people were asleep in the two multistory buildings that were hit. 

 

Russia has repeatedly targeted Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, near the Russian border in the country’s east that counted 1.4 million inhabitants before Moscow launched its war in February 2022. 

 

Rescue workers used torches to search through the rubble, while one girl shook with sobs and held fast to a corridor wall, too scared to descend the stairs, and calling for her mother, an AFP reporter saw at the scene. 

 

A rescuer took her by the hand, saying, “Everything is OK,” and guided her down to her mother, Oleksandra. 

 

“It has just blown up. It’s terrible in there, the place is a wreck,” she said. 

 

The city’s mayor, Igor Terekhov, said at the site that “As you can see, there are no military here.” 

 

“Every day and every night Kharkiv suffers the hits,” he said. 

 

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the attack showed why his forces needed to use weapons supplied by Western allies to strike deeper into Russian territory, which, so far, they have refused. 

 

“We must reinforce our capabilities to better protect lives and ensure our security,” he said in a statement ahead of a U.S. trip this week, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly and hold talks in Washington.
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berlin — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is predicted to come first in an election in Brandenburg on Sunday, seeking to build on gains in other eastern states this month and beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats in a traditional stronghold.

The AfD became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War II, in Thuringia, on September 1 and just missed first place in Saxony.

It is one of several far-right groups in Europe capitalizing on worries over an economic slowdown, immigration and the Ukraine war — concerns that are particularly strong in formerly Communist-run eastern Germany.

The party, which is unlikely to be able to govern because it is polling short of a majority and other parties would refuse to work with it, is also seeking to gain from discontent over infighting in Scholz’s three-party federal coalition.

“We urgently need a thorough course correction so the country does not go to the dogs,” the AfD’s lead candidate in Brandenburg, Hans-Christoph Berndt, said at a campaign event earlier this month.

An AfD victory in the state election would be a particular embarrassment for the Social Democrats (SPD), which has won elections in Brandenburg and governed the state of 2.5 million people since reunification in 1990.

It would also raise further questions about the suitability of Scholz, the least popular German chancellor on record, to lead the party into next year’s election.

Brandenburg’s popular SPD premier Dietmar Woidke has mostly shunned campaigning with Scholz, who lives in the state’s capital, Potsdam. In an unusual move, Woidke has also criticized the behavior and policies of the ruling coalition.

Instead, he has sought to highlight economic success stories during the five years since the last state election such as the opening of a TeslaTSLA.O factory and Brandenburg airport — which serves Berlin and is now Germany’s third most important aviation hub.

Narrow the gap

In recent weeks, the SPD has managed to narrow the gap with the AfD, opinion polls have shown.

A poll published by pollster Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on Thursday put the AfD on 28% in Brandenburg with the SPD just one point behind on 27%, followed by the conservatives on 14% and the new leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) on 13%.

“My greatest challenge in this legislative period … to not allow right-wing extremists to have anything to say in this country ever again,” Woidke said at a campaign event on Tuesday.

He has threatened to resign if his party comes in behind the AfD. AfD party leader Tino Chrupalla said Scholz should do the same.

“It is high time this government suffer the consequences after this state election,” Chrupalla said.

Both of Scholz’s junior coalition partners, the Free Democrats and the Greens, look set to struggle to win the 5% needed to enter the state parliament, polls show.

At a national level, the three parties in Scholz’s coalition are now collectively polling less than the opposition conservatives although political analysts say much could change before the federal election due in September 2025. 
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