BUCHAREST — Romanians vote on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that may give a shot at victory to hard-right politician George Simion, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, admires Donald Trump and wants to emulate Giorgia Meloni’s Italy.

Outgoing two-term president Klaus Iohannis, 65, had cemented Romania’s strong pro-western stance but was accused of not doing enough to fight corruption.

Voting starts at 0500 GMT and ends at 1900 GMT with exit polls to follow immediately. The second round is scheduled for December 8 while a parliamentary election is also due next Sunday.

Voting by Romanians abroad, who can influence the result and where Simion is popular, began on Friday. Simion voted in Rome.

Opinion surveys show leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, 56, leader of Romania’s largest party, the Social Democrats, will make it into the run-off vote with Simion, 38, of the Alliance for Uniting Romanians the likely runner-up.

Analysts expect Ciolacu to win the second round against Simion, appealing to moderates and touting his experience running Romania during a war next door, but do not rule out a switch-up amid frustration with the high cost of living.

They also say the prospects of a Ciolacu-Simion run-off vote could mobilize center-right voters in favor of Elena Lasconi, leader of center-right opposition Save Romania Union.

Simion has cast the election as a choice between an entrenched political class beholden to foreign interests in Brussels and himself, an outsider who will defend Romania’s economy and sovereignty. Romania has the EU’s largest share of people at risk of poverty.

“We take as a model the right-wing government formed in Italy,” Simion told foreign media earlier this week.

Since Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, Romania has enabled the export of millions of tons of grain through its Black Sea port of Constanta and provided military aid, including the donation of a Patriot air defense battery.

“Romania has been for Ukraine unconditionally and it will remain so,” Ciolacu told television channel Antena3.

Senate speaker Nicolae Ciuca, leader of the Liberal Party that is currently in a strained ruling coalition with Ciolacu’s party was trailing behind Lasconi, surveys showed.

“The outcome is still very difficult to predict due to the high concentration of candidates and the splitting of the center-right vote,” said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University.

Most candidates, he said, have campaigned on conservative messages such as protecting family values.

“Mainstream party candidates have a very catch-all message, on the one hand the nation, the army, religion and so on. On the other hand, we see a commitment to Europe, although it is seen more as a revenue source than an inspiration for values.”

Romania’s president, limited to two five-year terms, has a semi-executive role which includes heading the armed forces and chairing the supreme defense council that decides on military aid.

The president represents the country at EU and NATO summits and appoints the prime minister, chief judges, prosecutors and secret service heads. 
…

your ad here

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — United Nations climate talks adopted a deal to inject at least $300 billion annually in humanity’s fight against climate change, aimed at helping poor nations cope with the ravages of global warming in tense negotiations in the city where industry first tapped oil.

The $300 billion will go to developing countries who need the cash to wean themselves off the coal, oil and gas that causes the globe to overheat, adapt to future warming, and pay for the damage caused by climate change’s extreme weather. It’s not near the full amount of $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, but it’s three times a deal of $100 billion a year from 2009 that is expiring. Some delegations said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that more money flows in the future.

It was not quite the agreement by consensus that these meetings usually operate with and developing nations were livid about being ignored.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev gaveled the deal into acceptance before any nation had a chance to speak.

When they did, they blasted him for being unfair to them, the deal for not being enough, and the world’s rich nations for being too stingy.

“It’s a paltry sum,” India negotiator Chandni Raina said, repeatedly saying how India objected to rousing cheers. “I’m sorry to say we cannot accept it.”

She told The Associated Press that she has lost faith in the United Nations system.

Nations express discontent

A long line of nations agreed with India and piled on, with Nigeria’s Nkiruka Maduekwe, CEO of the National Council on Climate Change, calling the deal an insult and a joke.

“I’m disappointed. It’s definitely below the benchmark that we have been fighting for for so long,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey, of the Panama delegation. He noted that a few changes, including the inclusion of the words “at least” before the number $300 billion and an opportunity for revision by 2030, helped push them to the finish line.

“Our heart goes out to all those nations that feel like they were walked over,” he said.

The final package pushed through “does not speak or reflect or inspire confidence and trust that we will come out of this grave problem of climate change,” India’s Raina said.

“We absolutely object to the unfair means followed for adoption,” Raina said. “We are extremely hurt by this action by the president and the secretariat.”

Speaking for nearly 50 of the poorest nations of the world, Evans Davie Njewa of Malawi was more mild, expressing what he called reservations with the deal.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a post on X that he hoped for a “more ambitious outcome.” But he said the agreement “provides a base on which to build.”

Some see deal as relief

There were somewhat satisfied parties, with European Union’s Wopke Hoekstra calling it a new era of climate funding, working hard to help the most vulnerable. But activists in the plenary hall could be heard coughing over Hoekstra’s speech in an attempt to disrupt it.

Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s environment minister, called the agreement “a huge relief.”

“It was not certain. This was tough,” he said. “Because it’s a time of division, of war, of (a) multilateral system having real difficulties, the fact that we could get it through in these difficult circumstances is really important.”

U.N. Climate Change’s Executive Secretary Simon Stiell called the deal an “insurance policy for humanity,” adding that like insurance, “it only works if the premiums are paid in full, and on time.”

The deal is seen as a step toward helping countries on the receiving end create more ambitious targets to limit or cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that are due early next year. It’s part of the plan to keep cutting pollution with new targets every five years, which the world agreed to at the U.N. talks in Paris in 2015.

The Paris agreement set the system of regular ratcheting up climate fighting ambition as away to keep warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The world is already at 1.3 degrees Celsius and carbon emissions keep rising.

Hope more cash will follow

Countries also anticipate that this deal will send signals that help drive funding from other sources, like multilateral development banks and private sources. That was always part of the discussion at these talks — rich countries didn’t think it was realistic to only rely on public funding sources — but poor countries worried that if the money came in loans instead of grants, it would send them sliding further backward into debt that they already struggle with.

“The $300 billion goal is not enough, but is an important down payment toward a safer, more equitable future,” said World Resources Institute President Ani Dasgupta. “This deal gets us off the starting block. Now the race is on to raise much more climate finance from a range of public and private sources, putting the whole financial system to work behind developing countries’ transitions.”

And even though it’s far from the needed $1.3 trillion, it’s more than the $250 billion that was on the table in an earlier draft of the text, which outraged many countries and led to a period of frustration and stalling over the final hours of the summit.

Other deals agreed at COP29

The several different texts adopted early Sunday morning included a vague but not specific reference to last year’s Global Stocktake approved in Dubai. Last year there was a battle about first-of-its-kind language on getting rid of the oil, coal and natural gas, but instead it called for a transition away from fossil fuels. The latest talks only referred to the Dubai deal, but did not explicitly repeat the call for a transition away from fossil fuels.

Countries also agreed on the adoption of Article 6, creating markets to trade carbon pollution rights, an idea that was set up as part of the Paris Agreement to help nations work together to reduce climate-causing pollution. Part of that was a system of carbon credits, allowing nations to put planet-warming gasses in the air if they offset emissions elsewhere. Backers said a U.N.-backed market could generate up to an additional $250 billion a year in climate financial aid.

Despite its approval, carbon markets remain a contentious plan because many experts say the new rules adopted don’t prevent misuse, don’t work and give big polluters an excuse to continue spewing emissions.

“What they’ve done essentially is undermine the mandate to try to reach 1.5,” said Tamara Gilbertson, climate justice program coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network. Greenpeace’s An Lambrechts, called it a “climate scam” with many loopholes.

With this deal wrapped up as crews dismantle the temporary venue, many have eyes on next year’s climate talks in Belem, Brazil.
…

your ad here

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — Wealthy countries raised their offer of climate finance to $300 billion a year at COP29 on Saturday, raising hopes of a deal with developing nations that had dismissed an earlier proposal as insufficient to address the impacts of global warming. 

The United Nations climate summit had been scheduled to finish on Friday but ran into an extra day as negotiators from nearly 200 countries — who must adopt the deal by consensus — tried to reach agreement on the contentious funding plan for the next decade. 

The two-week conference cut to the heart of the global debate over the financial responsibility of rich industrialized countries, whose historical use of fossil fuels caused the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions, to compensate for the damage wrought by climate change. 

Negotiators from several developing countries and island nations aired frustration over a U.N. process they said was not rising to the challenge of global warming and temporarily walked out of talks on Saturday afternoon. 

It was unclear if they would ultimately accept the proposed figure of $300 billion a year by 2035. 

Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad said he was optimistic. “When it comes to money it’s always controversial, but we are expecting a deal tonight,” he told Reuters. 

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev asked country delegations to overcome their differences: “I ask you to now step up your engagement with one another to bridge the remaining divide,” he said in a plenary speech. 

Developing countries had dismissed as insufficient a previous proposal, drafted by the Azerbaijan host on Friday, that would have seen the United States, Europe and other developed countries lead $250 billion in annual funding. 

Past failures to meet climate finance obligations have also made developing countries mistrustful of new promises. 

Five sources with knowledge of the closed-door discussions said the EU had agreed it could accept the higher number of $300 billion a year. Two of the sources said the United States, Australia and Britain also were on board. 

A European Commission spokesperson and an Australian government spokesperson both declined to comment on the negotiations. The U.S. delegation and the UK energy ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

The new goal is intended to replace developed countries’ previous commitment to provide $100 billion in climate finance for poorer nations per year by 2020. That goal was met two years late, in 2022, and expires in 2025. 

Representatives from the least developed countries and small island nations blocs walked out of a negotiating room in frustration at one point on Saturday afternoon, but said they remained committed to finding a deal. 

“We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be inclusive,” the Alliance of Small Island States said in a statement. 

In a sign of some progress, countries agreed Saturday evening on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits that proponents say will mobilize billions of dollars into new projects to help fight global warming.  

Push for $390 billion

Marina Silva, Brazil’s minister of the environment and climate change, has said that the Amazon rainforest nation — which is set to host next year’s summit — was pushing for $390 billion annually from developed countries by 2035. 

“After the difficult experience that we’re having here in Baku, we need to reach some result, some outcome which is minimally acceptable in line with the emergency we are facing,” she said on Saturday in a speech to the summit. 

Negotiators have worked throughout the two-week summit to address other critical questions on the finance target, including who is asked to contribute and how much of the funding is on a grant basis, rather than provided as loans. 

The roster of countries required to contribute — about two dozen industrialized countries, including the U.S., European nations and Canada — dates back to a list decided during U.N. climate talks in 1992. 

European governments have demanded others join them in paying in, including China, the world’s second-biggest economy, and oil-rich Gulf states. 

Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory this month cast a cloud over the Baku talks. Trump, who takes office in January, has promised to again remove the U.S. from international climate cooperation, so negotiators from other wealthy nations expect that under his administration the world’s largest economy will not pay into the climate finance goal. 

A broader goal of raising $1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 — which would include funding from all public and private sources and which economists say matches the sum needed — was included in the draft deal published on Friday. 
…

your ad here

Business owners in the Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi wanted to find a way to say thank you to the thousands of members of the military who have spent years fighting Russia’s invasion. Over 60 businesses joined to start the “Khmelnytskyi Grateful” platform. Tetiana Kukurika has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Sergiy Rybchynski
…

your ad here

KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukraine has lost more than 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counterassaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said.

The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed some 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared 2½ years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometers; now, of course, this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said. “Now we control approximately 800 square kilometers. We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate.”

The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II and caught Moscow unprepared.

With the thrust into Kursk, Kyiv aimed to stem Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, force Russia to pull back forces gradually advancing in the east and give Kyiv extra leverage in any peace negotiations.

But Russian forces are still steadily advancing in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian General Staff source reiterated that about 11,000 North Korean troops had arrived in the Kursk region in support of Russia, but that the bulk of their forces was still finalizing their training.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Kyiv’s freshest assessment of the state of play in the Kursk region. Reuters could not independently verify the figures or descriptions given. Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean forces in Kursk.

Ukraine’s armed forces chief said on November 11 that its beleaguered forces were not just battling crack Russian reinforcements in Kursk but also scrambling to reinforce two besieged fronts in eastern Ukraine and bracing for an infantry assault in the south.

Threatening Russian advance

The General Staff source said the Kurakhove region was the most threatening for Kyiv now as Russian forces were advancing there at 200 to 300 meters a day and had managed to break through in some areas with armored vehicles backed by anti-drone defenses.

The town of Kurakhove is a stepping stone toward the critical logistical hub of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. Overall Russia has about 575,000 troops fighting in Ukraine, the Ukrainian General Staff source said, and is aiming to increase its forces up to around 690,000.

Russia does not disclose numbers involved in its fighting, and Reuters could not independently verify those figures.

Ukraine’s strategy

As Ukraine fights a bigger and better-equipped enemy, Kyiv has sought to disrupt Russian logistics and supply chains by hitting Russian weapons and ammunition depots, airfields and other military targets well inside Russia.

Ukraine gained a freer hand to do so earlier this month after, according to sources familiar with the matter, U.S. President Joe Biden dropped his opposition to Kyiv firing U.S.-supplied missiles at targets deep inside Russia in response to North Korea’s entry into the war.

Last week Ukraine fired U.S. ATACMS and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia. One of the ATACMS targets was an arms depot about 110 kilometers inside Russia.

Moscow vowed to respond to what it sees as an escalation by Ukraine’s Western supporters. On Thursday, Russia launched a new medium-range ballistic missile into the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, in a likely warning to NATO.

Ukrainian officials are holding talks with the United States and Britain regarding new air defense systems capable of protecting Ukrainian cities and civilians from the new longer-range aerial threats.

The Ukrainian General Staff source said the military had also implemented measures to bolster air defenses over the capital, Kyiv, and planned similar steps for the city of Sumy in the north and Kharkiv in the northeast, both near front lines.

Russia now occupies a fifth of Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin has said he wants Kyiv to drop ambitions to join the NATO military alliance and retreat from four Ukrainian regions that he partially holds, demands Kyiv has rejected as tantamount to capitulation.
…

your ad here

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — Russia has included the territories it occupies in Ukraine in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, drawing protests from Ukrainian officials and activists at the COP29 climate summit this week.

The move by Moscow comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin eyes potential peace negotiations with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump that could decide the fate of vast swathes of territory.

“We see that Russia is using international platforms to legalize their actions, to legalize their occupation of our territory,” Ukrainian Deputy Environment Minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters.

She said Ukraine is in touch with officials from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, the U.N.’s main climate body, to ask it to resolve the dispute. Officials representing the Russian Foreign Ministry and the UNFCCC did not respond to requests for comment sent on Thursday.

At issue is Russia’s National Inventory Report of greenhouse gas emissions for 2022, which Moscow submitted to the UNFCCC on November 8. In the submission, reviewed by Reuters, Russia said it could provide data for only 85 out of 89 of its territories “due to the absence of baseline data on land use for the territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, annexed in September 2022.”

Russia had already included emissions from Ukraine’s Crimea region, annexed in 2014, in its last few reporting submissions to the UNFCCC. It also included Crimea’s land development plans in a report to the U.N. Global Biodiversity Framework in 2020.

Ukrainian Environment Minister Svitlana Grynchuk raised the issue in a speech to delegates at the COP29 summit earlier this week, saying Russia’s reporting on Ukraine territories undermines the integrity of global climate efforts.

Yukhymchuk told Reuters this concern is based on the risk of double-counting of emissions over territories that together exceed the size of Portugal and Azerbaijan.

“It will bring us to a point that we do not achieve any of our goals if we don’t have proper reporting under the Paris Agreement,” she said.

Nikki Reisch, director of the Center for International Environmental Law’s Climate and Energy Program, said the dispute reflected how geopolitical turmoil was diverting the world’s attention from the work of fighting global warming.

“I think that is a sign of the times,” Reisch said. “We’re living amidst rampant conflicts, and that is certainly infecting these talks.”

Christina Voigt, a law professor at the University of Oslo, said Russia’s reporting on Ukraine emissions violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and could be illegal.

“Claiming emissions is perhaps not illegal — but claiming emissions as if they were from their own territory, while they are in fact generated on another country’s territory, is a unilateral declaration in violation of the international legal status of that territory,” Voigt said.

She said Russia’s claim of the annexed lands’ emissions could become even more problematic if Moscow eventually claims emissions reductions on these lands and offers them as offset credits to carbon markets.

“This would indeed be an illegal appropriation of a good belonging to the other state,” she said.
…

your ad here

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will travel to Italy over the weekend to attend a meeting of the Group of Seven major democracies next week, the State Department said on Friday, amid rising tensions in the war in Ukraine.

G7 leaders last Saturday reiterated a pledge to keep imposing severe costs on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine through sanctions, export controls and other measures, and vowed to support Kyiv for as long as it takes.

The State Department said Blinken would discuss issues including “conflicts in the Middle East, Russia’s war against Ukraine, Indo-Pacific security, and the ongoing crises in both Haiti and Sudan” at the gathering in Italy.

During his November 23-27 trip, Blinken also plans to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican following the G7 talks, it said in a statement.

Italy holds the 2024 rotating presidency of the G7, which also includes the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Britain.  
…

your ad here

Sydney — The United States expects that thousands of North Korean troops massing in Russia will “soon” enter combat against Ukraine, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Saturday.

About 10,000 North Korean soldiers were believed to be based in the Russian border region of Kursk, Austin said, where they were being “integrated into the Russian formations.”

“Based upon what they’ve been trained on, the way they’ve been integrated into the Russian formations, I fully expect to see them engaged in combat soon,” Austin told reporters during a stopover in the Pacific nation of Fiji.

Austin said he had “not seen significant reporting” of North Korean troops being “actively engaged in combat” to date.

South Korean government officials and a research group on Thursday said Russia has provided Pyongyang with oil, anti-air missiles and economic help in exchange for the troops Washington and Seoul have accused it of sending.

Kyiv has warned that Moscow, alongside the North Korean soldiers, has now amassed a 50,000-strong force to wrest back parts of the border region seized by Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine claimed swathes of Kursk in August during a lightning offensive even as its troops were thinly stretched in the Donetsk region, which has borne the brunt of nearly three years of fighting. 
…

your ad here

European allies in the Baltic region are investigating how two fiber optic data cables were severed earlier this week — with suspicion falling on a Chinese vessel in the area. Germany has said the incident was clearly sabotage. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Western nations have warned of a sharp increase in so-called hybrid attacks by adversaries on key infrastructure.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
…

your ad here

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia had indeed launched an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile into Ukraine on November 21. She told reporters that Washington “was notified through nuclear threat reduction channels shortly before the launch.” 

See the full story here.
…

your ad here

dublin — Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor sexually assaulted a woman at a party in Dublin in 2018 and must pay her nearly 250,000 euros ($259,950) in damages, a jury decided on Friday.

The jury of eight women and four men reached its verdict in the civil trial at Ireland’s high court after six hours and 10 minutes of deliberation.

The plaintiff, Nikita Hand, alleged that McGregor sexually assaulted her on Dec. 9, 2018, and that another man, James Lawrence, did the same, the court heard during two weeks of evidence.

The jury found that Lawrence did not assault Hand. McGregor left the court without commenting.

McGregor, 36, denied the allegation and said he had “fully consensual sex” with Hand. He also denied causing bruising to the plaintiff.

Hand’s lawyer told the jury that when she was referred to a sexual assault treatment unit the day after the alleged assault, a doctor was so concerned that he directed that photographs be taken of her injuries.

Hand said that she and a friend made contact with McGregor, whom she knew, after a work Christmas party. She said they were driven by McGregor to a party in a penthouse room of a south Dublin hotel where drugs and alcohol were consumed.

She said McGregor took her to a bedroom in the penthouse and sexually assaulted her. Hand’s lawyer, John Gordon, said Hand was on anti-depressants, and “full of drugs” at the time of the alleged assault.

Speaking outside the court, Hand said she was overwhelmed by the support she had received and that she felt vindicated.

“I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be, speak up,” she said.
…

your ad here

NEW YORK — This time last year, American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was in a Russian prison, jailed on bogus charges.

On Thursday night, free from her ordeal, she accepted a prestigious press freedom award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, in New York.

“This is a very emotional moment for me. It means so much,” Kurmasheva told VOA shortly before receiving her award. “I will take this opportunity to address the whole world to repeat again that journalism is not a crime and all journalists who are behind bars today should be released at once.”

A dual U.S.-Russian national who works at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, Kurmasheva was jailed in Russia for more than nine months on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

During her acceptance speech, Kurmasheva recounted her experience in prison. “I tried not to look up as the snow was falling because I couldn’t bear seeing the many layers of barbed wire between me and the sky,” she said.

Kurmasheva, American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and other political prisoners were released from Russia this August in a historic prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.

“It’s an awesome responsibility to be a beacon of light, and my story is an example of the price that can be paid for reporting the truth,” Kurmasheva said Thursday night.

Kurmasheva is among four journalists CPJ honored with its annual International Press Freedom Awards. The others are Quimy de Leon from Guatemala, Samira Sabou from Niger and Shrouq Al Aila from Gaza.

The awardees come from different parts of the globe, but a common thread is how they have encountered efforts to criminalize journalism, said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

“That’s something that we see increasingly across the world, is the use and abuse of laws to punish journalists for speaking truth to power,” Ginsberg told VOA.

During her acceptance speech, Kurmasheva highlighted her RFE/RL colleagues who are still jailed on charges that are widely viewed as retaliatory.

Journalists Ihar Losik and Andrey Kuznechyk are jailed in Belarus; Vladyslav Yesypenko is jailed in Russia-occupied Crimea; and Farid Mehralizada is jailed in Azerbaijan. RFE/RL rejects the charges against all of them as false.

“My colleagues are not just statistics. Like me, they’re real human beings with families who miss and love them,” Kurmasheva said.

Like Kurmasheva, de Leon and Sabou know all too well the costs that can come with doing their jobs.

Sabou, an investigative journalist, has faced years of legal harassment over her coverage of governance issues in Niger. The reporter has been jailed on multiple occasions, but she still reports.

“What would the world be without the microphones, cameras and pens of journalists?” Sabou said during her acceptance speech.

Late last month, Sabou told VOA that she plans to use the platform from the award to help improve conditions for journalists in her home country.

“It’s a prize for press freedom, so what we plan to do with it is to work justly to improve the press freedom environment,” she said.

De Leon has also faced legal threats and other forms of harassment over her reporting, which focuses on environmental issues and human rights in Guatemala.

“We have taken risks to tell the stories emerging from our realities and to seek truth, even when it means challenging power,” she said Thursday night.

The black-tie gala was hosted this year by John Oliver, who hosts the Emmy-winning satirical news show “Last Week Tonight.”

During his opening remarks, Oliver noted that press freedom experts predict the First Amendment will be under threat in the United States during President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

“It looks like we are going to be called on to defend journalists and media freedom right here in the United States,” Oliver said.

In Ginsberg’s remarks, she said CPJ will defend journalists wherever they are under threat. “In this moment, we will not be bullied. We will not deviate from our mission, not shrink from the challenges we face, including and especially here in the U.S.,” she said.

Not all of the awardees were able to attend. Al Aila, the Palestinian journalist, was unable to leave Gaza because of the Israel-Hamas war.

The war is the deadliest conflict on record for journalists, according to CPJ data. As of Thursday, at least 137 journalists and media workers were killed in the conflict, including 129 Palestinians, two Israelis and six Lebanese.

“Not only has it been impossible for international journalists to get into Gaza, but increasingly, almost impossible for journalists or anyone else to get out of Gaza,” Ginsberg told VOA. “We are thinking of [Al Aila] and all journalists who are working under unimaginable conditions currently in Gaza.”

Al Aila took charge of the independent production company Ain Media after her husband Roshdi Sarraj, who co-founded the company, was killed in the war.

On Thursday night, CPJ also honored the late Christophe Deloire, former head of Reporters Without Borders, with its annual Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award. A longtime press freedom advocate, Deloire died in June from cancer.

“To everyone who carries on this legacy — here in the room tonight, and around the world — thank you. This award is for Christophe, for it is also for you,” Deloire’s wife, Perrine Daubas, said in her speech. “Because this fight, now more than ever, is ours.”
…

your ad here

KYIV, UKRAINE — A Russian drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed two people and injured 12 on Friday morning, regional authorities said.

Twelve apartment buildings, five private residences, a store and three cars were damaged after three drones attacked the city around 5 a.m. (0300 GMT), the national police said.

Volodymyr Artiukh, Sumy regional governor, said Russian forces had equipped drones with shrapnel for the attack on a densely populated area of the city.

“This weapon is used… exclusively (to kill) people,” Artiukh said, pointing to scars on a damaged building. “Not for a facility, but in order to destroy more people.”

The video posted by Sumy regional military administration following the attack showed damaged cars and buildings with blown-out windows.

Russia has pummeled the region and its critical infrastructure in deadly attacks over the past weeks.

An overnight drone attack on Tuesday on the small town of Hlukhiv in the region killed 12 people, including a child.

On Sunday evening, a missile attack on Sumy killed 11 and injured 89 more people, in addition to leaving the region’s administrative center without power.
…

your ad here

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Russia gave North Korea anti-air missiles in exchange for deploying troops to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Seoul’s top security adviser said Friday.

The United States and South Korea have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine, with experts saying Kim Jong Un was eager to gain advanced technology, and battle experience for his troops, in return.

Asked what Seoul believes Pyongyang has received for the troops, top security advisor Shin Won-sik said: “It has been identified that equipment and anti-aircraft missiles aimed at reinforcing Pyonyang’s vulnerable air defense system have been delivered to North Korea.”

Speaking to local broadcaster SBS, Shin added that North Korea has received “various forms of economic support” and “following the failure (launch) on May 27, North Korea has been working on satellite-related technology.”

Experts have previously said that in return for the troops, North Korea was likely aiming to acquire military technology, ranging from surveillance satellites to submarines, as well as possible security guarantees from Moscow.

North Korean leader Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a strategic partnership treaty in June, during the Kremlin chief’s visit.

It obligates both states to provide military assistance “without delay” in the case of an attack on the other and to cooperate internationally to oppose Western sanctions.

Putin hailed the deal as a “breakthrough document.”

Experts say Pyongyang could be using Ukraine as a means of realigning foreign policy.

By sending soldiers, North Korea is positioning itself within the Russian war economy as a supplier of weapons, military support and labor — potentially bypassing its traditional ally, neighbor and main trading partner, China, according to analysts.

Russia can also provide North Korea access to its vast natural resources, such as oil and gas, they say.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui recently visited Moscow and said her country would “stand firmly by our Russian comrades until victory day.”

She called Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine a “sacred struggle” and said Pyongyang believed in Putin’s “wise leadership.”

North Korea and Russia are under rafts of UN sanctions — Kim for his nuclear weapons program, and Moscow for the Ukraine war.

When asked publicly about the deployment of North Korean troops last month, Putin deflected the question to criticize the West’s support of Ukraine.

North Korea said last month that any troop deployment to Russia would be “an act conforming with the regulations of international law,” but stopped short of confirming that it had sent soldiers.

North Korea’s deployment of troops has led to a shift in tone from Seoul, which has resisted calls to send lethal weapons to Kyiv but recently indicated it might change its long-standing policy.
…

your ad here

VIENNA — The United Nations atomic watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on Thursday again ordering Iran to urgently improve cooperation with the agency and requesting a “comprehensive” report aimed at pressuring Iran into fresh nuclear talks. 

Britain, France, Germany and the United States, which proposed the resolution, dismissed as insufficient and insincere a last-minute Iranian move to cap its stock of uranium that is close to weapons-grade. Diplomats said Iran’s move was conditional on scrapping the resolution. 

Iran tends to bristle at such resolutions and has said it would respond in kind to this one. After previous criticism at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board, it has stepped up its nuclear activities and reduced IAEA oversight. 

China, Russia and Burkina Faso voted against the text, diplomats in the meeting said. Nineteen countries voted in favor and 12 abstained. 

Standoffs

The IAEA and Iran have long been locked in standoffs on a range of issues, including Tehran’s failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites, its barring last year of most of the agency’s top uranium-enrichment experts on the Iran inspection team, and its refusal to expand IAEA monitoring. 

The resolution seen by Reuters repeated wording from a November 2022 resolution that it was “essential and urgent” for Iran to explain the uranium traces and let the IAEA take samples as necessary. The resolution in June of this year did the same. 

The new text asked the IAEA to issue “a comprehensive and updated assessment on the possible presence or use of undeclared nuclear material in connection with past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program, including a full account of Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA on these issues.” 

Western powers hope that report, due by spring 2025, will pressure Iran into negotiations on fresh restrictions on its nuclear activities, albeit less far-reaching ones than in a 2015 deal with major powers that unraveled after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018. 

With Trump set to return to office in January and Iran having taken its uranium enrichment far beyond the deal’s limits, it is far from clear whether Trump would back negotiations aimed at setting new limits before those of the 2015 deal are lifted on “termination day” in October of next year. 

If no new limits are agreed before then, the report could be used to strengthen the case for so-called “snapback,” a process under the 2015 deal where the issue is sent to the U.N. Security Council and sanctions lifted under the deal can be re-imposed.  

Iranian reaction

Last week IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited Tehran, hoping to persuade new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is seen as relatively moderate, to improve Iran’s cooperation with the agency.

Grossi formally reported to member states on Tuesday that “the possibility of Iran not further expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 was discussed” in his meetings with Iranian officials, and that the IAEA had verified Iran had “begun implementation of preparatory measures.” 

Iran already has enough material enriched to that level — close to the roughly 90% purity that is weapons grade — for four nuclear weapons if enriched further, according to an IAEA yardstick. It has enough material enriched to lower levels for more bombs, but Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. 

Grossi said on Wednesday he had asked Iran to cap that stock of 60% material and Iran had accepted his request.  

He said at a news conference that day that it was “a concrete step in the right direction,” suggesting that he felt a resolution could undermine that progress. 

With the resolution passed, Iran is likely to respond. 

Moments after the vote, Iranian state media cited a joint statement by the foreign ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran saying Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami has issued orders for measures like activating various new and advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium. 

“If there is a resolution, it [Iran] will either increase its activities or reduce the agency’s access,” a senior diplomat said before the vote. 
…

your ad here

VIENNA, AUSTRIA — Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s next foreign policy chief, is already sending signals that she will take a tough stance on Russia and China and be an advocate for a strong alliance between Europe and America.

Kallas spoke to the European Parliament for the first time in her new role at a hearing on November 12, where she stressed that the EU will be steadfast in its commitment to support Ukraine against Russian aggression.

She begins her five-year term as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on December 1.

The former Estonian prime minister warned that Russia, Iran, North Korea and — more covertly — China want to change the rules-based world order. She called on the EU to respond to this threat alongside its closest allies and partners “without losing an inch of who we are.”

Elze Pinelyte, an expert at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) with a focus on Sino-EU relations, told VOA Mandarin that Kallas’ policies “remain firmly supporting Ukraine’s victory.”

In response to worries that the incoming Trump administration may reduce U.S. support for Ukraine, Kallas stressed that the United States’ strategic interests in China are inseparable from the outcome of the war on Ukraine.

“If the U.S. is worried about China and other actors, they should also be worried about how we respond to Russia against Ukraine,” Kallas said during the November 12 hearing.

Ivan U. Kłyszcz, a researcher at the Estonian International Defense and Security Center, told VOA Mandarin, that Kallas “reflects the view that Europe needs to do more for its own defense and security, and this is not inconsistent with NATO and the European and American alliance.”

As for whether the second Trump administration will change Brussels’ considerations, he said, “there are still too many unknowns.”

Tougher policy toward China

Kallas’ tough stance toward China was first seen during her tenure as prime minister of Estonia, when her government advocated that Estonia’s China policy should be promoted within the framework of EU-China relations.

In 2022, Estonia announced its withdrawal from the Beijing-led “Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries,” the so-called “16+1” mechanism.

After the European Parliament elections this year, Kallas was nominated as the candidate for new foreign policy chief. She then resigned as prime minister of Estonia.

Some experts say Kallas will take a tougher policy toward China than her predecessor Josep Borrell.

Pinelyte agreed and added that Kallas likely will “seek support to limit China’s ability to fight Russia’s war.”

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has condemned Beijing’s support for Moscow. Kallas said that without China’s support, “Russia cannot maintain the war with the same intensity.”

China should face “a higher cost” for supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine, Kallas said, hinting at more deterrent sanctions.

In October, Kallas wrote to the European Parliament that during her tenure as EU high representative on foreign policy, she would be committed to countering Russia’s “imperialist dream” and China’s “unfair competition.”

A trade dispute between the EU and China over products such as electric vehicles has lasted for more than a year, and negotiations are still ongoing. The EU said China’s large subsidies for electric vehicles constitute unfair competition.

Unpredictable alliance

It is not clear whether the Trump administration will continue to provide security guarantees and support to Ukraine, and whether it will impose higher tariffs on the European Union.

Given the United States’ greater focus on the Indo-Pacific region and its strategic competition with China, many European leaders are calling on the EU to reduce its security dependence on the United States.

Pinelyte at EESC said “Kallas seems to have taken office at a time when the idea of an alliance with the United States is outdated.”

Abigael Vasselier, director of policy and European affairs at the German Mercator Institute for China Studies, told VOA that the EU needs to avoid the state of panic it fell into with the first Trump administration.

Instead, she said, it must seek to coordinate with the second Trump administration, including “making recommendations” on China issues.

“The EU needs to be prepared because the Trump and Biden administrations will have completely different approaches to China,” she said.
…

your ad here

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Russia’s use of a fast, powerful new missile to attack the city of Dnipro on Thursday, calling it a “nuclear adventure” and a stark escalation in the war.

The attack has ignited fears of a dangerous new phase in the war. In a nationwide address, Russian President Vladimir Putin later confirmed the use of a medium-range ballistic missile in the strike.

Zelenskyy pointed to the strike as a sign of Moscow’s broader strategy, stating, “It is obvious that Putin is using Ukraine as a testing ground for weapons that threaten the world.”

His remarks underscored the growing alarm in Kyiv over the deployment of advanced Russian missile systems against civilian targets.

In his address, Putin framed the use of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile as a routine test within the conflict.

“The Russian Federation tested a medium-range ballistic missile, known as Oreshnik, during its operation in Ukraine,” he said.

While he offered few technical details, analysts said the use of the missile and Putin’s acknowledgment appears intended to showcase Russia’s military capabilities to NATO and the United States.

Putin’s announcement marks the first time Russia has openly acknowledged using such a missile during the war.

In Washington, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the missile used was based on Russia’s RS 26 rubes intercontinental ballistic missile model.” In terms of notifications to the United States, the United States was pre notified briefly before the launch through Nuclear Risk Reduction channels,” she said.

Strategic escalation

Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine’s former ambassador to the U.S., described the attack as a “new stage” in Russia’s aggression. Speaking to VOA, he emphasized that the strike was not just a challenge to Ukraine but also to its Western allies.

“This isn’t just about Ukraine,” Chaly said. “It’s a challenge to the European security system and the United States. Moscow is signaling its readiness to escalate dramatically to influence the West.”

He said that the response to the attack “must be clear, united, and decisive — anything less risks emboldening Russia and jeopardizing global security.”

Western leaders quickly condemned the strike. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer labeled it “reckless and dangerous,” while EU foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano described it as a “qualitative escalation” in Russia’s tactics.

Dnipro attack

The missile targeted industrial facilities in Dnipro, injuring two people and causing significant damage. Ukrainian officials initially suggested the use of an ICBM, or intercontinental ballistic missile, citing the weapon’s speed and trajectory. Some analysts, including those in the U.S., believed it was more likely a medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile, consistent with Putin’s confirmation.

Dnipro residents, accustomed to regular air-raid sirens and missile attacks, reported that this strike felt uniquely different.

Oleksiy Poltorazky, a local resident, recounted: “We’ve learned to recognize the sounds of different missile types. This one was different — it hit almost immediately after the siren. Many here believe it was a ballistic missile because there was no usual warning sound.”

The speed and power of the strike left many shaken.

Poltorazky, however, remained resolute. “There’s no panic, no apocalypse as everyone says. We have to live through this, raise our kids, protect our families and work. We have to fight and do everything possible for our country,” he told VOA.

George Barros, an expert on the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War, told VOA that Ukrainians should try not to overreact to the attack.

“It seems that the Russians targeted the city with an R-26 IRBM,” Barros said, referring to a Soviet-era intermediate-range missile. “The main thing is to not panic. There’s no reason to think that Putin’s likelihood to use a nuclear weapon or a weapon of mass destruction is any higher than at other points in the war.

“This is not the first time that Russia has used nuclear-capable weapon systems against Ukraine,” he said. “Russia regularly uses Iskander nuclear-capable weapons, and this appears to be a signaling effort designed to deter further Western support for Ukraine.”

Strategic ambiguity

While Putin confirmed the missile test, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova provided limited details about the strike. Zakharova was reportedly instructed not to address the attack at all during a Thursday press conference.

The calculated reticence deepens global unease, as Moscow oscillates between overt warnings and veiled threats, said some analysts, suggesting the ambiguity is part of a broader strategy to keep Western nations uncertain about Russia’s next moves.
…

your ad here

The U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday a new set of sanctions targeting Russia’s financial sector and its ability to fund its war with Ukraine, hitting Gazprombank as well as many other internationally connected financial institutions, entities and individuals.

In a statement posted to its website, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the sanctions designate Gazprombank — Russia’s largest remaining unsanctioned bank — plus more than 50 other Russian banks, more than 40 Russian securities registrars and 15 Russian finance officials.

The Treasury department said Gazprombank is a conduit for Russia to purchase military equipment for its war against Ukraine and the Russian government also uses the bank to pay its soldiers.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Britain have previously sanctioned Gazprombank.

The sanctions mean that all property and interests of the institutions, entities or individuals targeted by the sanctions are blocked.

In the statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary said the sanctions “will further diminish and degrade Russia’s war machine. This sweeping action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade U.S. sanctions and fund and equip its military.”

In a statement posted to the White House website, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the new sanctions are part of a pledge made by President Joe Biden in September to provide additional assistance and actions to “help Ukraine as it continues to resist Russia’s aggression.”

The Biden administration is expected to step up assistance to Ukraine before the president leaves office. President-elect Donald Trump and leading Republicans have suggested they will reduce funding for Ukraine once Trump takes office on January 20.
…

your ad here