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Tag: War and unrest

  • U.S. World Cup team pelted with political questions in tense press conference ahead of crucial Iran game

    U.S. World Cup team pelted with political questions in tense press conference ahead of crucial Iran game

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    USA’s midfielder Tyler Adams (R) and coach Gregg Berhalter give a press conference at the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha on November 28, 2022, on the eve of the Qatar 2022 World Cup football match between Iran and USA.

    Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images

    The U.S. men’s soccer team faces its make-or-break World Cup match Tuesday night against Iran. If it wins, it advances to the next stage – and if it loses, it’s heading home.

    But despite needing to focus on the most important game this team of players has ever faced, the lead-up has been fraught with political drama. On Monday, Team USA’s players sat through a surreal and politically-charged press conference, during which they were bombarded with questions and criticism of their country.

    In response to months of violent crackdowns on anti-government protests in Iran, the U.S. Soccer Federation over the weekend briefly made an alteration in its social media posts, showing the Iranian flag without its emblem of the Islamic Republic. The change, the federation said, was made for 24 hours to show support for women protesting for their rights in Iran.

    Iranian media reacted swiftly, with state media agency Tasnim calling for the U.S. team to be kicked out of the tournament.

    Iran’s flag was changed to its current version in 1980, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution ushered in a theocracy led by conservative Muslim clerics. The U.S. and Iran have been ideological foes with severed diplomatic ties since then.

    While many Iranians and activists supportive of the protesters welcomed the U.S. Soccer Federation’s move, saying they associate the Islamic Republic’s emblem with oppression and torture, Iran’s state media slammed it, accusing the U.S. of hypocrisy and grilling the team’s players with political questions during the Monday press event.

    A reporter from Iran’s state-controlled Press TV criticized U.S. team captain Tyler Adams for mispronouncing Iran, and asked him how he felt about representing a country that the reporter described as being rife with racial discrimination. Adams is mixed race.

    “Are you okay to be representing your country that has so much discrimination against Black people in its own borders?” the Press TV reporter asked.

    “My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country,” Adams responded. “That being said, there’s discrimination everywhere you go … in the U.S. we’re continuing to make progress every single day … as long as you make progress that’s the most important thing.”

    USA leave a team huddle led by Tyler Adams of USA during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and USA at Al Bayt Stadium on November 25, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar.

    Simon M Bruty | Anychance | Getty Images

    Another Iranian state media reporter asked U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter: “What percentage of the world’s population will be happy if Iran wins this match [versus the U.S. team]?”

    Berhalter replied, “For us it’s a soccer game against a good team — it’s not much more than that.” 

    The coach and players seemed intent on avoiding getting into political topics and keeping the discussion on the game, but their efforts were repeatedly ignored. 

    Iranian coach Carlos Queiroz similarly has tried to keep his comments soccer-focused, despite pointed questions from reporters from various nations, including one on whether the flag drama would serve as motivation for his team.

    “If after 42 years in this game as a coach, I still believe I can win games with those mental games, I think I’ve learned nothing about the game,” Queiroz, a Portuguese national, said. “This is not the case.”

    Players quizzed on U.S. military policy

    The political questions continued, however, even going as far as geopolitics and the U.S. military.

    One of the Iranian reporters asked Berhalter: “Sport is something that should bring nations closer together and you are a sportsperson. Why is it that you should not ask your government to take away its military fleet from the Persian Gulf?”

    The U.S. team coach replied: “I agree, sport is something that should bring countries together… you get to compete as brothers.”

    Ahmad Nourollahi of Iran in action during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and IR Iran at Khalifa International Stadium on November 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.

    Richard Sellers | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    Berhalter was also asked about the U.S.’s strict laws on visas for Iranian nationals, to which he replied: “I don’t know enough about politics, I’m a soccer coach. I’m not well versed on international politics so I can’t comment on that.”

    U.S. team apologizes for Iranian flag change, says it was oblivious

    The U.S. team’s coach also apologized for the Iranian flag change, saying that he and his players had no role in the decision and knew nothing about it.

    “Sometimes things are out of our control,” Berhalter said. “We’re not focused on those outside things and all we can do is apologize on behalf of the players and the staff, but it’s not something that we were a part of.”

    “We had no idea what U.S. Soccer put out. The staff, the players, we had no idea. For us our focus is on this match … Of course our thoughts are with the Iranian people, the whole country, and everyone,” he added.

    Protesters gather to demonstrate against the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran on September 23, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.

    Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    U.S. defender Tim Ream said during the conference, “We support women’s rights, and what we’re doing as a team is supporting that while also trying to prepare for the biggest game that this squad has had to date.”

    Protests have taken place all over Iran since mid-September, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman, was arrested for allegedly breaking Iran’s strict rules on wearing the hijab, the Islamic head covering for women. 

    A picture obtained by AFP outside Iran on September 21, 2022, shows Iranian demonstrators burning a rubbish bin in the capital Tehran during a protest for Mahsa Amini, days after she died in police custody. –

    – | Afp | Getty Images

    Many Iran analysts are calling the uprising the biggest challenge to the Islamic Republic in decades. Ahead of its first World Cup match on Nov. 21, which was against England, the Iranian team refused to sing their national anthem, standing in stoic silence instead. The team did sing the anthem for their second match on Nov. 25, but reports have emerged that they were forced to do so under threat.

    Positive words

    The coaches of both teams made references to the last time the U.S. and Iran competed on a World Cup stage, which was in 1998 in France. Iran beat the U.S. 2-1 in a tough game that was dubbed at the time “the mother of all football matches.” The coaches each complimented the other team’s performance. 

    Iran’s team coach, Queiroz, also said positive things about the U.S. squad’s performance so far in Qatar, where it tied with both Wales and England. He said that the American team had made a “jump from soccer to football.”

    “We play a very, very good team, very well organized with the same dream and same goal in mind,” Queiroz said.

    Iran players line up for the national anthem prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and IR Iran at Khalifa International Stadium on November 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.

    Julian Finney | Getty Images

    “I hope tomorrow my boys will be able to put together their heads, their souls, their skills and the will to win. I hope that they will get the result that gives us a passport for the second round.”

    Berhalter similarly praised the Iranian team’s 1998 performance. “Iran wanted to win the game with everything — they played really committed, really focused from the first whistle. For us to win the game tomorrow that’s going to have to be the mindset of our group … We don’t want to make the mistakes of the past.”

    As for Tuesday’s match, Berhalter said: “We win or we’re out of the World Cup. Anytime you’re in a World Cup and you get to go into the last group game in control of your own destiny, that’s a pretty good thing.”

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  • India, US armies hold exercises close to China border

    India, US armies hold exercises close to China border

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    AULI, India — Indian and U.S. troops on Tuesday participated in a high-altitude training exercise in a cold, mountainous terrain near India’s disputed border with China, at a time both countries are trying to manage rising tensions with Beijing.

    During the exercise, Indian soldiers were dropped from helicopters to flush out gunmen from a house in a demonstration of unarmed combat skills. Other drills involved sniffer dogs and unmanned bomb-disposing vehicles, and trained kites were deployed to destroy small enemy drones.

    “Overall, it has been a great learning experience. There has been sharing of best practices between both the armies,” said Brig. Pankaj Verma of the Indian Army.

    The annual drills took part around Auli, a hill station in the northern state of Uttarakhand. The U.S. troops came from the 2nd Brigade of the 11th Airborne Division, and their Indian counterparts were members of the army’s Assam Regiment.

    India’s Defence Ministry has said the exercise will focus on surveillance, mountain-warfare skills, casualty evacuation and combat medical aid in adverse terrain and climatic conditions. It will also include humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and operations related to peacekeeping, it said.

    The “Yudh Abhyas” exercise has alternated between the U.S. and India since it began in the early 2000s. It was held in Alaska last year.

    Earlier editions had taken place elsewhere in northern India, but this year’s exercise is being held only about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Line of Actual Control, a disputed border that separates Chinese and Indian-held territories.

    India and China fought a war along the border in 1962. The latest dispute flared in June 2020, when at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in a brawl in the Ladakh region. It led to the two countries stationing tens of thousands of soldiers backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets along the Line of Actual Control.

    Some Indian and Chinese soldiers have pulled back from a key friction point but tensions between the two countries have persisted.

    The exercise also reflects the strengthening defense ties between India and the U.S. They have steadily ramped up their military relationship and signed a string of defense deals and deepened military cooperation. In recent years, relations have been driven by a convergence of interests to counter China.

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  • Palestinians say 3 men killed by Israeli fire in West Bank

    Palestinians say 3 men killed by Israeli fire in West Bank

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    JERUSALEM — Three Palestinian men were killed by Israeli fire during separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday.

    They were the latest deadly incidents in a mounting surge of Israeli-Palestinian violence and soaring tensions, less than a week after a bombing in Jerusalem killed two Israelis.

    The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that clashes erupted between Israeli forces and residents north of the city of Hebron in the West Bank.

    The Israeli military said soldiers shot at Palestinians who hurled rocks and improvised explosive devices at the forces operating in the town. The army said the Palestinians also shot at the troops, and two army vehicles got stuck due to mechanical issues.

    The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man killed near Hebron as Mufid Khalil, 44, and said at least eight other people were wounded by live fire in the incident.

    In a separate incident, two brothers identified by Wafa as Jawad and Dhafr Rimawi, 22 and 21, were killed by Israeli fire during clashes with troops near the village of Kafr Ein, west of Ramallah in the northern West Bank early Tuesday.

    The Israeli military said troops operating in the village came under attack from suspects throwing rocks and firebombs, and soldiers responded with live fire. It said it was reviewing the incident.

    Later on Tuesday, a Palestinian driver rammed his car into an Israeli pedestrian near a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem in what the army said was a deliberate attack. Paramedics said they treated a 20-year-old woman for serious injuries. Police said officers pursued and shot the driver. The driver’s condition was unknown.

    Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been surging for months amid nightly Israeli raids in the West Bank, prompted by a spate of deadly attacks against Israelis that killed 19 people in the spring.

    More than 138 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, making it the deadliest year since 2006. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli army incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

    In a new report, the army described a fragile situation in the West Bank, where it has carried out nearly nightly arrest raids since March. It said it has mobilized thousands of troops and arrested some 2,500 Palestinians and confiscated around 250 weapons since March

    Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.

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  • Israeli filmmaker comments on Kashmir film stoke controversy

    Israeli filmmaker comments on Kashmir film stoke controversy

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    NEW DELHI — Israel’s envoy to India on Tuesday denounced a filmmaker from his country after he called a blockbuster Bollywood film on disputed Kashmir a “propaganda” and “vulgar movie” at a film festival, stoking a debate about recent history that fuels the ongoing conflict.

    Naor Gilon, Israel’s ambassador to India, said he was “extremely hurt” by comments made by filmmaker Nadav Lapid in which he said the movie “The Kashmir Files” was unworthy of being screened at the highly acclaimed International Film Festival of India. The event, organized by the Indian government in western Goa state, ended Monday.

    “The Kashmir Files” was released in March to a roaring success and is largely set in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, when attacks and threats by militants led to the migration of most Kashmiri Hindus from the Muslim-majority disputed region. Many film critics and Kashmiri Muslims have called the film hateful propaganda, while its fans and proponents, including India’s many federal government ministers, see it as essential viewing of the plight of Kashmiri Hindus, locally called Pandits.

    Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim the territory in full. In 1989, tens of thousands of mostly Kashmiri Muslims rose up against Indian rule, leading to a protracted armed conflict in the region.

    On Tuesday, Gilon tweeted at Lapid, saying: “YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED.”

    “I’m no film expert but I do know that it’s insensitive and presumptuous to speak about historic events before deeply studying them and which are an open wound in India because many of the involved are still around and still paying a price,” Gilon tweeted. He also accused Lapid of inflicting damage on the growing relationship between India and Israel.

    The festival jury has distanced itself from Lapid’s remarks and called them his “personal opinion.” An internationally acclaimed director, Lapid’s movies “Synonyms” and “Ahad’s Knee” have won awards at major festivals.

    At the time of its release, “The Kashmir Files” was endorsed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and promoted by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party by offering it tax breaks in some states governed by it.

    The film, however, set off heated debates. Its supporters praised it for speaking the truth about Kashmiri Hindus, while critics said the film was aimed to stoke anti-Muslim sentiments at a time when calls for violence against India’s minority Muslims have increased.

    Nonetheless, the film was a blockbuster. Made on a budget of $2 million, it has earned more than $43 million so far, making it one of India’s highest-grossing films this year.

    The filmmakers of “The Kashmir Files” have repeatedly said it exposes what they call the “genocide” inflicted on the region’s Hindus and likened it to Hollywood’s ″Schindler’s List″ that tells the story of the Holocaust. But many critics, including some of Bollywood’s top directors, have called it divisive, full of factual inaccuracies and provocative.

    Hindus lived mostly peacefully alongside Muslims for centuries across the Himalayan region of Kashmir. In the late 1980s, when Kashmir turned into a battleground, attacks and threats by militants led to the departure of most Kashmiri Hindus, who identified with India’s rule, Many believed that the rebellion was also aimed at wiping them out. It reduced the Hindus from an estimated 200,000 to a tiny minority of about 5,000 in the Kashmir Valley.

    Most of the region’s Muslims, long resentful of Indian rule, deny that Hindus were systematically targeted, and say India helped them to move out in order to cast Kashmir’s freedom struggle as Islamic extremism.

    According to official data, over 200 Kashmiri Hindus were killed in the last three decades of the region’s conflict. Some Hindu groups put the number much higher.

    Tensions in Kashmir returned in 2019, when India’s Hindu nationalist government stripped the region’s semi-autonomy, split it into two federal territories administered by New Delhi and imposed a clampdown on free speech accompanied by widespread arrests. Kashmir has since witnessed a spate of targeted killings, including that of Hindus. Police blame anti-India rebels for the killings.

    On Tuesday, “The Kashmir Files” actor Anupam Kher, who plays a protagonist, called the criticism of the film “preplanned.”

    “If the Holocaust is right, then the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits is also right,” Kher said in a video posted on Twitter.

    “The Kashmir Files” is directed by Vivek Agnihotri, whose previous film “The Tashkent Files” alleged a conspiracy in the death of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The film was heavily criticized for presenting unproven conspiracy theories as facts.

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  • NATO ministers meet to drum up more aid, arms for Ukraine

    NATO ministers meet to drum up more aid, arms for Ukraine

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    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his NATO counterparts are gathering in Romania to drum up urgently needed support for Ukraine, including deliveries of electrical components for the war-torn country’s devastated power transmission network

    BUCHAREST, Romania — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his NATO counterparts are gathering in Romania on Tuesday to drum up urgently needed support for Ukraine, including deliveries of electrical components for the war-torn country’s devastated power transmission network.

    Ukraine’s grid has been battered countrywide since early October by targeted Russian strikes, in what U.S. officials call a Russian campaign to weaponize the coming winter cold.

    Ahead of the meeting, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is trying to use winter as a weapon of war against Ukraine” and that NATO’s allies and Ukraine “need to be prepared for more attacks.”

    The meeting in the capital Bucharest is likely to see NATO make fresh pledges of nonlethal support to Ukraine: fuel, generators, medical supplies, winter equipment and drone-jamming devices. Blinken will announce substantial U.S. aid for Ukraine’s energy grid, U.S. officials said

    Individual allies are also likely to announce fresh supplies of military equipment for Ukraine — chiefly the air defense systems that Kyiv so desperately seeks to protect its skies — but NATO, as an organization, will not, to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

    The ministers, along with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, will also look further afield.

    “Over the longer term we will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment to modern NATO standards, doctrine and training,” Stoltenberg said on Friday.

    ———

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • 14 years later, NATO is set to renew its vow to Ukraine

    14 years later, NATO is set to renew its vow to Ukraine

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    BUCHAREST — NATO returns on Tuesday to the scene of one of its most controversial decisions, intent on repeating its vow that Ukraine — now suffering through the 10th month of a war against Russia — will join the world’s biggest military alliance one day.

    NATO foreign ministers will gather for two days at the Palace of the Parliament in the Romanian capital Bucharest. It was there in April 2008 that U.S. President George W. Bush persuaded his allies to open NATO’s door to Ukraine and Georgia, over vehement Russian objections.

    “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO,” the leaders said in a statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was at the summit, described this as “a direct threat” to Russia’s security.

    About four months later, Russian forces invaded Georgia.

    Some experts describe the decision in Bucharest as a massive error that left Russia feeling cornered by a seemingly ever-expanding NATO. NATO counters that it doesn’t pressgang countries into joining, and that some requested membership to seek protection from Russia — as Finland and Sweden are doing now.

    More than 14 years on, NATO will pledge this week to support Ukraine long-term as it defends itself against Russian aerial, missile and ground attacks — many of which have struck power grids and other civilian infrastructure, depriving millions of people of electricity and heating.

    In a press conference Monday in Bucharest after a meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg highlighted the importance of investing in defense “as we face our greatest security crisis in a generation.”

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

    Stoltenberg noted Russia’s recent bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, saying Putin “is trying to use winter as a weapon of war against Ukraine” and that “we need to be prepared for more attacks.”

    North Macedonia and Montenegro have joined the U.S.-led alliance in recent years. With this, Stoltenberg said last week before travelling to Bucharest, “we have demonstrated that NATO’s door is open and that it is for NATO allies and aspirant countries to decide on membership. This is also the message to Ukraine.”

    This gathering in Bucharest is likely to see NATO make fresh pledges of non-lethal support to Ukraine: fuel, electricity generators, medical supplies, winter equipment and drone jamming devices.

    Individual allies are also likely to announce fresh supplies of military equipment for Ukraine — chiefly the air defense systems that Kyiv so desperately seeks to protect its skies. NATO as an organization will not offer such supplies, to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

    But the ministers, along with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, will also look further afield.

    “Over the longer term we will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment to modern NATO standards, doctrine and training,” Stoltenberg said last week. This will not only improve Ukraine’s armed forces and help them to better integrate, it will also meet some of the conditions for membership.

    That said, Ukraine will not join NATO anytime soon. With the Crimean Peninsula annexed, and Russian troops and pro-Moscow separatists holding parts of the south and east, it’s not clear what Ukraine’s borders would even look like.

    Many of the 30 allies believe the focus now must be uniquely on defeating Russia.

    “What we have seen in the last months is that President Putin made a big strategic mistake,” Stoltenberg said. “He underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian armed forces, and the Ukrainian political leadership.”

    But even as economic pressure — high electricity and gas prices, plus inflation, all exacerbated by the war — mounts on many allies, Stoltenberg would not press Ukraine to enter into peace talks, and indeed NATO and European diplomats say that Putin does not appear willing to come to the table.

    “The war will end at some stage at the negotiating table,” Stoltenberg said Monday. “But the outcome of those negotiations are totally dependent on the situation on the battlefield,” adding “it would be a tragedy for (the) Ukrainian people if President Putin wins.”

    The foreign ministers of Bosnia, Georgia and Moldova — three partners that NATO says are under increasing Russian pressure — will also be in Bucharest. Stoltenberg said NATO would “take further steps to help them protect their independence, and strengthen their ability to defend themselves.

    ———

    Cook reported from Brussels.

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  • Pakistan Taliban ends cease-fire with govt, vows new attacks

    Pakistan Taliban ends cease-fire with govt, vows new attacks

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    ISLAMABAD — The Pakistani Taliban on Monday ended a monthslong cease-fire with the government in Islamabad, ordering its fighters to resume attacks across the country, where scores of deadly attacks have been blamed on the insurgent group.

    In a statement, the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan said it decided to end the 5-month-old cease-fire after Pakistan’s army stepped up operations against them in former northwestern tribal areas and elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.

    Pakistan and the TTP had agreed to an indefinite cease-fire in May after talks in Afghanistan’s capital.

    There was no immediate comment from the government or the military.

    The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but are allies of the Afghanistan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan more than a year ago as the U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan emboldened TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.

    Monday’s announcement was a setback to efforts made by the Afghan Taliban since earlier this year to facilitate a peace agreement aimed at ending the violence. The latest development comes months after the Afghan Taliban started hosting negotiations in the capital Kabul between the TTP and representatives from the Pakistan government and security forces.

    It also comes a day before Pakistan’s outgoing army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa — who had approved the controversial cease-fire with TTP in May — is to retire after completing his six-year extended term.

    Bajwa will hand over command of the military to the newly appointed army chief Gen. Asim Munir at a ceremony in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday amid tight security because of fears of violence.

    Gen. Bajwa during his tenure carried out a series of military operations against TTP before agreeing to the peace talks with the militant, who have waged an insurgency in Pakistan for 14 years. The TTP has been fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic laws in the country, the release of their members who are in government custody, and a reduction of Pakistan’s military presence in the country’s former tribal regions.

    During the talks, Pakistan had asked TTP to disband.

    Pakistan also wanted the insurgents to accept its constitution and sever all ties with the Islamic State group, another Sunni militant group with a regional affiliate that is active in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    However, both sides apparently stuck to their positions since the peace talks began.

    In a separate statement, the TTP claimed that it targeted a vehicle carrying Pakistani troops in the district of North Waziristan near the Afghan border, causing casualties. There was no confirmation of the attack from the military and the statement did not provide details.

    The Pakistani Taliban have for years used Afghanistan’s rugged border regions for hideouts and for staging cross-border attacks into Pakistan.

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  • Today in History: November 28, deadly Cocoanut Grove fire

    Today in History: November 28, deadly Cocoanut Grove fire

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    Today in History

    Today is Monday, Nov. 28, the 332nd day of 2022. There are 33 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Nov. 28, 1942, fire engulfed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, killing 492 people in the deadliest nightclub blaze ever. (The cause of the rapidly spreading fire, which began in the basement, is in dispute; one theory is that a busboy accidentally ignited an artificial palm tree while using a lighted match to fix a light bulb.)

    On this date:

    In 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait that now bears his name.

    In 1919, American-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of the British Parliament.

    In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began conferring in Tehran during World War II.

    In 1961, Ernie Davis of Syracuse University became the first African-American to be named winner of the Heisman Trophy.

    In 1964, the United States launched the space probe Mariner 4 on a course toward Mars, which it flew past in July 1965, sending back pictures of the red planet.

    In 1979, an Air New Zealand DC-10 en route to the South Pole crashed into a mountain in Antarctica, killing all 257 people aboard.

    In 1990, Margaret Thatcher resigned as British prime minister during an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, who then conferred the premiership on John Major.

    In 1994, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was slain in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate. Sixties war protester Jerry Rubin died in Los Angeles, two weeks after being hit by a car; he was 56.

    In 2001, Enron Corp., once the world’s largest energy trader, collapsed after would-be rescuer Dynegy Inc. backed out of an $8.4 billion takeover deal. (Enron filed for bankruptcy protection four days later.)

    In 2016, the first commercial flight from the United States to Havana in more than 50 years arrived in Cuba as the island began week-long memorial services for Fidel Castro.

    In 2018, Democrats overwhelmingly nominated Nancy Pelosi to become House speaker when Democrats took control of the House in January.

    In 2020, Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out a lower court’s order preventing the state from certifying dozens of contests on its Nov. 3 election ballot; it was the latest lawsuit filed by Republicans attempting to undo President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the battleground state. Sarah Fuller became the first woman to participate in a Power Five conference football game when she kicked off for Vanderbilt to start the second half at Missouri.

    Ten years ago: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said his state would need nearly $37 billion to recover and rebuild from Superstorm Sandy and that the state would seek federal aid to cover most of the expenses.

    Five years ago: A Libyan militant was convicted in federal court in Washington of terrorism charges stemming from the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, but the jury found Ahmed Abu Khattala not guilty of murder. (Khattala was sentenced the following June to 22 years in prison.) Jay-Z led the 2018 Grammy Award nominations as the top four categories were heavily dominated by rap and R&B artists.

    One year ago: The Netherlands confirmed 13 cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, while Australia and Canada each found two. Israel barred entry to all foreign nationals as countries around the world scrambled to slow the spread of the new variant. Lee Elder, who broke down racial barriers as the first Black golfer to play in the Masters, died in Escondido, California; he was 87. Carrie Meek, one of the first Black Floridians elected to Congress since Reconstruction, died at her Miami home at 95. Virgil Abloh, a leading designer whose groundbreaking fusions of streetwear and high couture made him one of the most celebrated tastemakers in fashion and beyond, died of cancer at 41.

    Today’s Birthdays: Recording executive Berry Gordy Jr. is 93. Former Democratic Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado is 86. Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is 85. Singer-songwriter Bruce Channel is 82. Singer Randy Newman is 79. CBS News correspondent Susan Spencer is 76. Movie director Joe Dante is 75. Former “Late Show” orchestra leader Paul Shaffer is 73. Actor Ed Harris is 72. Former NASA astronaut Barbara Morgan is 71. Actor S. Epatha (eh-PAY’-thah) Merkerson is 70. Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is 69. Country singer Kristine Arnold (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 66. Actor Judd Nelson is 63. Movie director Alfonso Cuaron (kwahr-OHN’) is 61. Rock musician Matt Cameron is 60. Actor Jane Sibbett is 60. Comedian Jon Stewart is 60. Actor Garcelle Beauvais (gar-SEHL’ boh-VAY’) is 56. Actor/comedian Stephnie (cq) Weir is 55. R&B singer Dawn Robinson is 54. Actor Gina Tognoni is 49. Hip-hop musician apl.de.ap (Black Eyed Peas) is 48. Actor Malcolm Goodwin is 47. Actor Ryan Kwanten is 46. Actor Aimee Garcia is 44. Rapper Chamillionaire is 43. Actor Daniel Henney is 43. Rock musician Rostam Batmanglij (baht-man-GLEESH’) is 39. Rock singer-keyboardist Tyler Glenn (Neon Trees) is 39. Actor Mary Elizabeth Winstead is 38. R&B singer Trey Songz is 38. NHL goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (marhk-ahn-dray FLOOR’-ee) is 38. Actor Scarlett Pomers is 34. Actor-rapper Bryshere Gray is 29.

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  • China prepares to send new 3-person crew to space station

    China prepares to send new 3-person crew to space station

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    BEIJING — Final preparations were being made Monday to send a new three-person crew to China‘s space station as it nears completion amid intensifying competition with the United States.

    The China Manned Space Agency said the Shenzhou-15 mission will take off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert at 11:08 p.m. Tuesday night.

    The six-month mission, commanded by Fei Junlong and crewed by Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, will be the last “in the construction phase of China’s space station,” agency official Ji Qiming told reporters Monday.

    Fei, 57, is a veteran of the 2005 four-day Shenzhou-6 mission which was the second in which China sent a human into space. Deng and Zhang are flying in space for the first time.

    The station’s third and final module docked with the station earlier this month, one of the last steps in a more than decade-long effort to maintain a constant crewed presence in orbit.

    The astronauts will overlap briefly onboard the station, named Tiangong, with the previous crew, who arrived in early June for a six-month stay.

    Tiangong has room to accommodate six astronauts at a time. Previous missions to the space station have taken about 13 hours from liftoff to docking.

    Next year, China plans to launch the Xuntian space telescope, which, while not part of Tiangong, will orbit in sequence with the station and can dock occasionally with it for maintenance.

    No other future additions to the space station have been publicly announced.

    The permanent Chinese station will weigh about 66 tons — a fraction of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 465 tons.

    With a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, Tiangong could one day find itself the only space station still running if the International Space Station adheres to its 30-year operating plan.

    China’s crewed space program is officially three decades old this year, but it truly got underway in 2003, when China became only the third country after the U.S. and Russia to put a human into space using its own resources.

    The program is run by the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, and has proceeded methodically and almost entirely without outside support. The U.S. excluded China from the International Space Station because of its program’s military ties.

    China has also chalked up successes with uncrewed missions, and its lunar exploration program generated media buzz last year when its Yutu 2 rover sent back pictures of what was described by some as a “mystery hut” but was most likely only a rock. The rover is the first to be placed on the little-explored far side of the moon.

    China’s Chang’e 5 probe returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s in December 2000 and another Chinese rover is searching for evidence of life on Mars. Officials are also considering a crewed mission to the moon.

    No timeline has been offered for a crewed lunar mission, even as NASA presses ahead with its Artemis lunar exploration program that aims to send four astronauts around the moon in 2024 and land humans there as early as 2025.

    China’s space program has also drawn controversy. Beijing brushed off complaints that it has allowed rocket stages to fall to Earth uncontrolled after NASA accused it of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris” when parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.

    China’s increasing space capabilities also feature in the latest Pentagon defense strategy.

    “In addition to expanding its conventional forces, the PLA is rapidly advancing and integrating its space, counterspace, cyber, electronic, and informational warfare capabilities to support its holistic approach to joint warfare,” the strategy said.

    The U.S. and China are at odds on a range of issues, especially self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing threatens to annex with force. China responded to a September visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by firing missiles over the island, holding wargames in surrounding waters and staging a simulated blockade, something that could trigger an American military response.

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  • Australia reduces national terrorism threat to ‘possible’

    Australia reduces national terrorism threat to ‘possible’

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    CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s terrorism threat level has been downgraded from “probable” to “possible” for the first time since 2014, the head of the main domestic spy agency said Monday.

    The defeat of the Islamic State group in battle in the Middle East and an ineffective al-Qaida propaganda machine failing to connect with Western youth has resulted in fewer extremists in Australia, Australian Security Intelligence Organization Director-General Mike Burgess said.

    “This does not mean the threat is extinguished,” Burgess said.

    “It remains plausible that someone will die at the hands of a terrorist in Australia within the next 12 months,” he added.

    However, there have been increases in radical nationalism and right-wing extremist ideology in Australia in the past couple of years, Burgess said.

    “Individuals are still fantasizing about killing other Australians, still spouting their hateful ideologies in chat rooms, still honing their capabilities by researching bomb-making and training with weapons,” Burgess said.

    There have been 11 terrorist attacks and another 21 plots have been disrupted since the threat assessment was elevated from “possible” to “probable” in 2014, he said. Half of the foiled plots were in the first two years of the upgraded risk when the Islamic State group was more prominent.

    There have also been 153 terrorism-related charges stemming from 79 counterterrorism operations in Australia since 2014.

    Burgess warned it was almost guaranteed that the threat level will increase again. But this would not necessarily be the result of a terrorist attack, with the overall security assessment taking into account individuals acting alone, he said.

    People are being radicalized online at an extreme pace, sometimes in as short as weeks or months, he said.

    But there are fewer groups planning months- or years-long sophisticated terrorist attacks with the aim of maximum destruction, he said.

    More than 50 people convicted of terrorist offenses are also due for release in the future, but only a small number will be freed by 2025, Burgess said.

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  • Al-Shabab extremist group attacks hotel in Somali capital

    Al-Shabab extremist group attacks hotel in Somali capital

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    MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali security forces were attempting to flush out armed assailants from a hotel in the Somali capital, a police spokesman said Sunday, after the extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. There has been no immediate word of any casualties.

    Al-Shabab said in a broadcast on its own radio frequency Sunday that said its fighters attacked the hotel Villa Rose, which has a restaurant popular with government and security officials.

    Scores of people were rescued from the hotel and security forces have launched an operation to remove the assailants, police spokesman Sadik Dodishe told state media.

    Abdi Hassan, a government worker who lives near the hotel, told the Associated Press that he believes several government officials were inside the hotel when the attack started. Some were seen jumping the perimeter wall to safety while others were rescued, he said.

    The hotel isn’t far from the presidential palace in central Mogadishu, where a blast was heard, followed by gunfire.

    Such militant attacks are common in Mogadishu and other parts of the Horn of Africa nation.

    The latest attack comes amid a new, high-profile offensive by the Somali government against al-Shabab, which still controls large parts of central and southern Somalia.

    Extremist fighters loyal to the group have responded by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade support for the government offensive, and attacks on public places frequented by government officials and others persist.

    Hotels and restaurants are frequently targeted, as are military bases for government troops and foreign peacekeepers.

    Last month at least 120 people were killed in two car bombings at a busy junction in Mogadishu. Al-Shabab, which doesn’t usually claim responsibility when its assaults result in a high civilian death toll, carried out that attack, the deadliest since a similar attack at the same spot killed more than 500 five years ago.

    Al-Shabab opposes Somalia’s federal government, which is backed by African Union peacekeepers, and seeks to take power and enforce a strict version of Sharia law.

    The United States has described al-Shabab as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations and targeted it with scores of airstrikes in recent years. Hundreds of U.S. military personnel have returned to the country after former president Donald Trump withdrew them.

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  • Hospital: 2nd Israeli, wounded in Jerusalem blasts, dies

    Hospital: 2nd Israeli, wounded in Jerusalem blasts, dies

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    JERUSALEM — An Israeli man died Saturday from wounds he sustained in twin blasts that hit Jerusalem earlier this week, bringing to two the number of dead in the explosions that Israeli police blamed on Palestinians.

    Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem announced that Tadesse Teshome Ben Madeh had died. He was critically wounded in one of the blasts at the city’s bus stops.

    “The trauma and intensive care teams of Shaare Zedek fought for his life, but unfortunately his injury was very fatal,” the hospital said.

    The first explosion occurred near a typically crowded bus stop on the edge of the city. The second went off about half an hour later in Ramot, a settlement in the city’s north. One of the blasts immediately killed Aryeh Schupak, 15, a dual Israeli-Canadian national who was heading to a Jewish seminary when the blast went off.

    The blasts wounded about 18 Israelis, three of them seriously.

    While Palestinians have carried out stabbings, car rammings and shootings in recent years, bombing attacks have been very rare since the end of a Palestinian uprising nearly two decades ago.

    No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem explosions.

    Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been surging for months, amid nightly Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank prompted by a spate of deadly attacks against Israelis that killed 19 people in the spring.

    More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, making 2022 the deadliest year since 2006. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli army incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

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  • Civilians escape Kherson after Russian strikes on freed city

    Civilians escape Kherson after Russian strikes on freed city

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    KHERSON, Ukraine — Fleeing shelling, civilians on Saturday streamed out of the southern Ukrainian city whose recapture they had celebrated just weeks earlier as the country remembered a Stalin-era famine and sought to ensure that Russia’s war in Ukraine doesn’t deprive others worldwide of its vital food exports.

    A line of trucks, vans and cars, some towing trailers or ferrying out pets and other belongings, stretched a kilometer or more on the outskirts of the city of Kherson.

    Days of intensive shelling by Russian forces prompted a bittersweet exodus: Many civilians were happy that their city had been won back, but lamented that they couldn’t stay.

    “It is sad that we are leaving our home,” said Yevhen Yankov, as a van he was in inched forward. “Now we are free, but we have to leave, because there is shelling, and there are dead among the population.”

    Poking her head out from the back, Svitlana Romanivna added: “We went through real hell. Our neighborhood was burning, it was a nightmare. Everything was in flames.”

    Emilie Fourrey, emergency project coordinator for aid group Doctors Without Borders in Ukraine, said an evacuation of 400 patients of Kherson’s psychiatric hospital, which is situated near both an electrical plant and the frontline, had begun on Thursday and was set to continue in the coming days.

    Kherson was one of many cities in recent days to face a blistering onslaught of Russian artillery fire and drone attacks, with the shelling especially intense there. Elsewhere, the barrage largely targeted infrastructure, though civilian casualties were reported. Repair crews across the country were scrambling Saturday to restore heat, electricity and water services that were blasted into disrepair.

    Russia has ratcheted up its attacks on critical infrastructure after suffering battlefield setbacks. A prominent Russian nationalist said Saturday the Russian military doesn’t have enough doctors, in what was a rare public admission of problems within the military.

    In the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy oversaw a busy day of diplomacy, welcoming several European Union leaders for meetings and hosting an “International Summit on Food Security” to discuss food security and agricultural exports from the country.

    The prime ministers of Belgium, Poland and Lithuania and the president of Hungary were on hand, and many others participated by video.

    Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine — despite its own financial straits — has allocated 900 million hryvna ($24 million) to purchase corn for countries including Yemen, Sudan, Kenya and Nigeria.

    Zelenskyy said Ukraine was working to get its grain on ships and to countries that need it.

    “Our goal is ambitious and specific – to save at least 5 million people from hunger,” Zelenskyy said.

    The reminder about food supplies was timely: Ukrainians were marking the 90th anniversary of the start of the “Holodomor,” or Great Famine, which killed more than 3 million people over two years as the Soviet government under dictator Josef Stalin confiscated food and grain supplies and deported many Ukrainians.

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz marked the commemoration by drawing parallels with the impact of the war on Ukraine on world markets. Exports from Ukraine have resumed under a U.N.-brokered deal but have still been far short of pre-war levels, driving up global prices.

    “Today, we stand united in stating that hunger must never again be used as a weapon,” Scholz said in a video message. “That is why we cannot tolerate what we are witnessing: The worst global food crisis in years with abhorrent consequences for millions of people – from Afghanistan to Madagascar, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa.”

    He said Germany, with the U.N.’s World Food Program, will provide an additional 15 million euros for further grain shipments from Ukraine.

    Scholz spokes as a cross-party group of lawmakers in Germany are seeking to pass a parliamentary resolution next week that would recognize the 1930s famine as “genocide.”

    Last year Ukraine and Russia provided around 30% of the world’s exported wheat and barley, 20% of its corn, and over 50% of its sunflower oil, the U.N. has said.

    In a post on the Telegram social network on Saturday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said more than 3,000 specialists for a local utility continued to work “around the clock” and had succeeded in restoring heat to more than more than 90% of residential buildings. While about one-quarter of Kyiv residents remained without electricity, he said water serviced had been returned to all in the city.

    The scramble to restore power came as Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo met Saturday with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

    “This might be a difficult winter,” he said, alluding to Belgium’s contributions of generators, and support for schools and hospitals in Ukraine, as well as military aid such as “fuel, machine guns, propelled artillery and so on.”

    “And by standing here, we hope that we provide you hope and resilience in fighting through this difficult period.”

    ———

    Keaten reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

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  • Russia rains missiles on recaptured Ukrainian city

    Russia rains missiles on recaptured Ukrainian city

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    KHERSON, Ukraine — Natalia Kristenko’s dead body lay covered in a blanket in the doorway of her apartment building for hours overnight. City workers were at first too overwhelmed to retrieve her as they responded to a deadly barrage of attacks that shook Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson.

    The 62-year-old had walked outside her home with her husband Thursday evening after drinking tea when the building was struck. Kristenko was killed instantly from a wound to the head. Her husband died hours later in the hospital from internal bleeding.

    “Russians took the two most precious people from me,” their bereft daughter, Lilia Kristenko, 38, said, clutching her cat inside her coat as she watched on in horror Friday as responders finally arrived to transport her mother to the morgue.

    “They lived so well, they lived differently,” she told The Associated Press. “But they died in one day.”

    A barrage of missiles struck the recently liberated city of Kherson for the second day Friday in a marked escalation of attacks since Russia withdrew from the city two weeks ago.

    The city was shelled 17 times before midday Thursday, and strikes continued into the evening, killing at least four people and injuring 10, according to Kherson’s military administration. Soldiers in the region had warned that Kherson would face intensified strikes as Russian troops dig in across the Dnieper River.

    Scores of people were injured in the strikes that hit residential and commercial buildings, lighting some on fire, blowing ash into the air and littering the streets with shattered glass. The attacks wrought destruction on some residential neighborhoods not previously hit in the war that has just entered its tenth month.

    After Kristenko’s parents were hit, she tried to call an ambulance but there was no phone network, she said. Her 66-year-old father was clutching his stomach wound and screaming “it hurts so much I’m doing to die,” she said. He eventually was taken by ambulance to the hospital but died during surgery.

    On Friday morning people sifted through what little remained of their destroyed houses and shops. Containers of food lined the floor of a shattered meat store, while across the street customers lined up at a coffee shop where residents said four people died the night before.

    “I don’t even know what to say, it was unexpected,” said Diana Samsonova, who works at the coffee shop, which remained open throughout Russia’s occupation and has no plans to close despite the attacks.

    The violence is compounding what’s become a dire humanitarian crisis. As Russians retreated, they destroyed key infrastructure, leaving people with little water and electricity. People have become so desperate they’re finding some salvation amid the wreckage.

    Outside an apartment building that was badly damaged, residents filled buckets with water that pooled on the ground. Workers at the morgue used puddles to clean their bloody hands.

    Valerii Parkhomenko had just parked his car and gone into a coffee shop when a rocket destroyed his vehicle.

    “We were all crouching on the floor inside,” he said, showing the ash on his hands. “I feel awful, my car is destroyed, I need this car for work to feed my family,” he said.

    Outside shelled apartment buildings residents picked up debris and frantically searched for relatives while paramedics helped the injured.

    “I think it’s so bad and I think all countries need to do something about this because it’s not normal,” said Ivan Mashkarynets, a man in his early 20s who was at home with his mother when the apartment block next to him was struck.

    “There’s no army, there’s no soldiers. There are just people living here and they’re (still) firing,” he said.

    The government has said it will help people evacuate if they want to, but many say they have no place to go.

    “There is no work (elsewhere), there is no work here,” said Ihor Novak as he stood on a street examining the aftermath of the shelling. “For now, the Ukrainian army is here and with them we hope it will be safer.”

    ———

    Associated Press writer Mstyslav Chernov in Kherson contributed reporting.

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  • Europe scrambles to help Ukraine keep the heat and lights on

    Europe scrambles to help Ukraine keep the heat and lights on

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    KYIV, Ukraine — European officials are scrambling to help Ukraine stay warm and keep functioning through the bitter winter months, pledging Friday to send more support that will mitigate the Russian military’s efforts to turn off the heat and lights.

    Nine months after Russia invaded its neighbor, the Kremlin’s forces have zeroed in on Ukraine’s power grid and other critical civilian infrastructure in a bid to tighten the screw on Kyiv. Officials estimate that around 50% of Ukraine’s energy facilities have been damaged in the recent strikes.

    France is sending 100 high-powered generators to Ukraine to help people get through the coming months, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Friday.

    She said Russia is “weaponizing” winter and plunging Ukraine’s civilian population into hardship.

    British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, arriving Friday in Kyiv for an unannounced visit, said a promised air-defense package, which Britain valued at 50 million pounds ($60 million), would help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s bombardments.

    “Words are not enough. Words won’t keep the lights on this winter. Words won’t defend against Russian missiles,” Cleverly said in a tweet about the military aid.

    The package includes radar and other technology to counter the Iran-supplied exploding drones that Russia has used against Ukrainian targets, especially the power grid. It comes on top of a delivery of more than 1,000 anti-air missiles that Britain announced earlier this month.

    “As winter sets in, Russia is continuing to try and break Ukrainian resolve through its brutal attacks on civilians, hospitals and energy infrastructure,” Cleverly said.

    His visit came a day after European officials launched a scheme called “Generators of Hope,” which calls on more than 200 cities across the continent to donate power generators and electricity transformers.

    The generators are intended to help keep essential Ukrainian facilities running, providing power to hospitals, schools and water pumping stations, among other infrastructure.

    Generators may provide only a tiny amount of the energy that Ukraine will need during the cold and dark winter months.

    But the comfort and relief they provide is already evident, as winter begins in earnest and power outages occur regularly. The whine and rumble of generators is becoming commonplace, allowing stores that have them to stay open and Ukraine’s ubiquitous coffee shops to keep serving hot drinks that maintain a semblance of normality.

    Ukrainian authorities are opening thousands of so-called “points of invincibility” — heated and powered spaces offering hot meals, electricity and internet connections. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said late Thursday that almost 4,400 such spaces have opened across most of the country.

    He scoffed at Moscow’s attempts to intimidate Ukrainian civilians, saying that was the Russian military’s only option after a string of battlefield setbacks. “Either energy terror, or artillery terror, or missile terror — that’s all that Russia has dwindled to under its current leaders,” Zelenskyy said.

    Elsewhere, Ukrainian officials and energy workers continued their push to restore supplies after a nationwide barrage Wednesday left tens of millions without power and water.

    Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said Friday morning that heating was back on in a third of the capital’s households, but that half of its population still lacked electricity.

    Writing on Telegram, Klitschko added that authorities hoped to provide all consumers in Kyiv with electricity for a period of three hours on Friday, following a pre-set schedule.

    As of Friday morning in Kharkiv, all residents of Ukraine’s second-largest city had had their electricity supplies restored, but more than 100,000 in the outlying region continued to see interruptions, the regional governor said.

    In the south, authorities in the city of Mykolayiv said that running water was set to start flowing again after supplies were cut off by Russian strikes on Thursday.

    ———

    Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • EU official: Kosovo, Serbia reach a deal on vehicle plates

    EU official: Kosovo, Serbia reach a deal on vehicle plates

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    PRISTINA, Kosovo — The European Union’s top diplomat on Wednesday said Kosovo and Serbia have reached a deal on a dispute over vehicle number plates, defusing rising tensions between the two Western Balkan neighbors.

    EU high representative Josep Borrell posted in his social media page that Kosovo’s and Serbia’s negotiators “have agreed to avoid further escalation and to fully concentrate on the proposal on normalization of their relations.” Serbia will stop issuing license plates with Kosovo cities’ denominations and Kosovo would cease further actions on the re-registration of vehicles.

    Talks will continue on the subsequent steps.

    Earlier this week Borrell had failed to convince Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to reach a deal, further raising concerns about the escalating tensions between the former war foes.

    Kurti blamed Borrell for focusing solely on the license plates instead of the full normalization of ties between the neighbors.

    Vucic said Kurti was responsible for the failure of the meeting.

    The EU-backed Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, which is aimed at normalizing relations between the neighbors and former foes in the Western Balkans, has been at a virtual standstill for years. The EU warned Serbia and Kosovo last week that they are on the edge of a precipice and must resolve their dispute or face the prospect of a return to their violent past.

    Long-simmering tensions between Serbia and its former province mounted again in recent weeks over the Kosovo government’s decision to ban Serbian-issued license plates, matching Serbia’s earlier ban on Kosovo license plates.

    Under the ban, about 6,300 ethnic Serbs owning cars with number plates deemed to be illegal in Kosovo were to be warned until Monday, which was postponed with 48 hours after U.S. embassy’s intervention. Then Kosovo authorities would fine them for the following two months. Until April 21 they would only be permitted to drive with temporary local plates and not allowed to drive after that date.

    On Nov. 5, Serb lawmakers, prosecutors and police officers in Kosovo’s northern Mitrovica region resigned over the move.

    The issue of Kosovo’s independence sparked a 1998-99 war in which about 13,000 people died. Serbia launched a brutal crackdown to curb a separatist rebellion by the territory’s ethnic Albanians. NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to end the war.

    Kosovo unilaterally broke away from Serbia in 2008. The Serbian government, with support from China and Russia, has refused to acknowledge Kosovo’s statehood. The United States and most of its European allies recognize Kosovo as an independent country.

    NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the NATO-led mission in Kosovo, known as KFOR, “remains vigilant.”

    ———

    Llazar Semini reported in Tirana, Albania.

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  • Kurdish forces preparing to repel Turkish ground invasion

    Kurdish forces preparing to repel Turkish ground invasion

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    QAMISHLI, Syria — The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria said his group is prepared to repel a ground invasion by Turkey.

    SDF head Mazloum Abdi told the The Associated Press that his group has been preparing for another such attack since Turkey launched a ground offensive in area in 2019 and “we believe that we have reached a level where we can foil any new attack. At least the Turks will not be able to occupy more of our areas and there will be a great battle.”

    He added, “If Turkey attacks any region, the war will spread to all regions…and everyone will be hurt by that.”

    Turkey has carried out a barrage of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in recent days, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the militant groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.

    On Wednesday, Turkey’s military struck infrastructure facilities in northeast Syria, including a telecommunication tower and oil and gas fields, according to SDF spokesman Farhad Shami. He added that one of the strikes hit near Jerkin prison near Qamishli where scores of members of the Islamic State group are held. Another strike destroyed a school in the village of Kuran near border town of Kobani, Shami said.

    The strikes came a day after shelling the town of Azaz, which is controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing five people and wounding five others. The shelling came from positions of the SDF and Syrian government forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor.

    On Wednesday, the bodies of three people killed in Azaz were brought to the northwestern province of Idlib for burial. Local officials in the area said that the dead were displaced by Syria’s 11-year conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

    Following the weekend’s airstrikes from Turkey, Turkish officials said that suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets Monday across the border into Turkey, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others. Abdi denied that SDF had struck inside Turkish territory.

    Turkey has threatened to escalate from airstrikes to a ground invasion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, “We have been on top of the terrorists for the past few days with our planes, artillery and drones. As soon as possible, we will root out all of them together with our tanks and soldiers.”

    Erdogan added that the measures were for “the safety of our own country, our own citizens. It is our most legitimate right to go where this security is ensured.”

    Turkey’s allies have attempted to dissuade such measures. Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that Turkey should “show a certain restraint” in order to prevent an escalation in Syria and expressed hope that “it will be possible to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from excessive use of force on Syrian territory.”

    Mazloum called on Moscow and Damascus, as well as on the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria, with which the SDF is allied, to take a stronger stance to prevent a Turkish ground invasion, warning that such an action could harm attempts to combat a resurgence of IS.

    The Turkish airstrikes, which have killed a number of Syrian army soldiers operating in the same area as the SDF forces, have also threatened to upset a nascent rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara. The two have been on been on opposing sides in Syria’s civil war but in recent months have launched low-level talks.

    ————

    Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut and Ghaith Alsayed in Idlib, Syria contributed to this report.

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  • Turkey hints new Syria offensive; Russia urges restraint

    Turkey hints new Syria offensive; Russia urges restraint

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    ANKARA — Turkey’s president again hinted at a possible new ground offensive in Syria against Kurdish militants on Tuesday, as Syrian forces denounced new airstrikes and Russia urged restraint and called on Ankara to avoid an escalation.

    Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that Turkey should “show a certain restraint” in order to prevent an escalation in Syria, where tensions heightened over the weekend after Turkish airstrikes killed and wounded a number of Syrian soldiers.

    Lavrentyev — whose country is a strong ally of the Syrian government — expressed hope that “it will be possible to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from excessive use of force on Syrian territory.”

    Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces later said fresh Turkish airstrikes on Tuesday struck a base the group shares with the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State group. The base is just outside the town of Qamishli, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Turkish border. Two SDF fighters were killed and three were wounded, the group said.

    Turkey carried out airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq over the weekend, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the militant groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.

    The airstrikes also hit several Syrian army positions in three provinces along the border with Turkey, and killed and wounded a number of Syrian soldiers, Syrian officials said.

    “We will, of course, call on our Turkish colleagues to show a certain restraint in order to prevent an escalation of tension, and an escalation of tension not only in the north, but also in the entire territory of Syria,” Lavrentyev was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agencies in the Kazakh capital, Astana, ahead of talks on Syria.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey’s actions would not be limited to aerial strikes, suggesting a possible new incursion — a position he reiterated on Tuesday.

    “We have been on top of the terrorists for the past few days with our planes, artillery and drones,” Erdogan said. “As soon as possible, we will root out all of them together with our tanks and soldiers.”

    Erdogan continued: “From now on, there is only one measure for us. There is only one border. (And that is) the safety of our own country, our own citizens. It is our most legitimate right to go where this security is ensured.”

    Turkey has launched three major incursions into northern Syria since 2016 and already controls some Syrian territory in the north.

    Following the weekend’s airstrikes from Turkey, suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets Monday across the border into Turkey, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others, according to Turkish officials. Three more rockets were fired on Tuesday, but caused no damage or injuries, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

    While Kurdish-led forces in Syria have not claimed responsibility for the attacks, the SDF on Monday vowed to respond to Turkish airstrikes “effectively and efficiently at the right time and place.”

    The Turkish warplanes attacked bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG on Saturday night and on Sunday. Turkish officials claimed that 89 targets were destroyed and many militants were killed.

    A Syria war monitoring group said 35 people were killed in Turkish airstrikes over the weekend — 18 Kurdish fighters, 16 Syrian government soldiers and a journalist.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Moscow views Turkey’s security concerns “with understanding and respect” but also urges Ankara to “refrain from steps that could lead to a serious destabilization of the situation in general.”

    “It can come back as a boomerang,” Peskov said.

    Also Tuesday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser reiterated during a joint news conference with her Turkish counterpart that Berlin stands with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, but said Turkey’s response to attacks must be “proportionate” and mindful of civilian populations.

    Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, however, defended Turkey’s actions.

    “They want to establish a terror state around us, we cannot allow that. It is our duty to protect our borders and our nation,” he said.

    Turkey’s defense minister meanwhile, renewed a call for the United States and other nations not to back the Syrian Kurdish militia group, YPG, which Turkey regards as an extension of the PKK.

    “We express at every level that ‘PKK equals YPG’ to all our interlocutors, especially the United States, and constantly demand that all support to terrorists be cut,” Hulusi Akar told a parliamentary committee.

    Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terror group, but disagree on the status of the YPG. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG has been allied with the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

    ——

    AP reporters Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

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  • US and Chinese defense chiefs meet amid strained relations

    US and Chinese defense chiefs meet amid strained relations

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    SIEM REAP, Cambodia — The defense chiefs of the United States and China held talks Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Cambodia to discuss strained bilateral relations and regional and global security issues, U.S. and Chinese officials said.

    It was the second face-to-face meeting in six months between U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin II and Gen. Wei Fenghe, China’s minister of national defense. It came just over a week after a meeting in Indonesia between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping which was widely seen as an effort to ease tensions between the two superpowers over trade and China’s claim to Taiwan.

    Austin and Wei are in Siem Reap, Cambodia, attending a meeting of defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asia Nations and other major countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

    Already-tense relations between Washington and Beijing soured even more in August when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, which is independently governed but claimed by China. The United States, Taiwan’s most important ally, mantains a longstanding “one China” policy, which recognizes the government in Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei, and “strategic ambiguity” over whether the U.S. would respond militarily if the island were attacked.

    Biden said after meeting Xi that when it comes to China, the U.S. will “compete vigorously, but I’m not looking for conflict.”

    Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Austin assured Wei of Biden’s commitment to the “one China” policy.

    Austin “underscored his opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo” and called on China to refrain from destabilizing actions toward Taiwan, Ryder said in a statement.

    He also urged continuing talks on “reducing strategic risk, improving crisis communications, and enhancing operational safety,” noting concerns over “dangerous behavior” by Chinese military aircraft “that increases the risk of an accident.”

    In a news conference, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Senior Col. Tan Kefei described Tuesday’s talks “as a concrete measure to implement the important consensus reached between Xi and Biden.”

    He said the meeting was “of great significance” for bringing China-U.S. relations “back to the track of healthy and stable development.”

    But an official statement issued by China’s Defense Ministry quoted Wei as saying, “The responsibility for the current situation facing China-U.S. relations is on the U.S. side, not on the Chinese side.”

    Wei said the issue of Taiwan was a “red line” over which China would brook no foreign interference. China’s military “has the backbone, the determination, the confidence and the ability to resolutely safeguard the unity of the motherland,” Wei said.

    The Defense Ministry statement said the two sides also exchanged views over the South China Sea, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, without giving details. The U.S. statement said Austin discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine and noted that both Washington and Beijing “oppose the use of nuclear weapons or threats to use them.”

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  • US VP Harris flying to Philippine island near disputed sea

    US VP Harris flying to Philippine island near disputed sea

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    PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is flying to a western Philippines island province at the edge of the South China Sea on Tuesday to amplify America’s support to its treaty ally and underline U.S. interest in freedom of navigation in the disputed waters, where it has repeatedly chastised China for belligerent actions.

    A new confrontation erupted in the contested waterway ahead of her visit when the Philippine navy alleged a Chinese coast guard vessel had forcibly seized Chinese rocket debris as Filipino sailors were towing it to their island.

    The long-seething territorial conflicts involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have long been regarded as an Asian flashpoint and a delicate fault line in the U.S.-China rivalry in the region.

    In talks with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila on Monday, Harris reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to defend the Philippines under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, which obligates the allies to help defend any side which comes under attack.

    “An armed attack on the Philippines armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke U.S. Mutual Defense commitments,” Harris told Marcos Jr. “And that is an unwavering commitment that we have to the Philippines.”

    Marcos Jr. thanked Harris, saying that with the upheavals in the region and beyond, “this partnership becomes even more important.”

    In Palawan’s main city of Puerto Princesa, Harris would visit a small fishing community called Tagburos and discuss with impoverished villagers the impact of illegal fishing on their livelihood and promote responsible fishing.

    The Philippine coast guard said it would welcome Harris on board one of its biggest patrol ships, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, at a seaport in Puerto Princesa, where she is scheduled to deliver a speech to underscore the importance of international law, freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce in the South China Sea.

    She would announce an additional aid of $7.5 million to Philippine maritime law enforcement agencies to boost their capacity to counter illegal fishing, carry out sea surveillance and help in search and rescue efforts, including in the South China Sea, according to a statement issued by the vice president’s office.

    The Philippine coast guard would also get additional U.S. help to upgrade its vessel traffic management system for better safety at sea. The Philippines is also now receiving real-time surveillance data to be able to detect and counter illicit activities at sea in a project by the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, an informal strategic bloc that involves the U.S., India, Japan and Australia, according to Harris’s office said.

    While the U.S. lays no claims to the strategic waterway, where an estimated $5 trillion in global trade transits each year, it has said that freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea is in America’s national interest.

    In March, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino told The Associated Press that China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby.

    Aquilino spoke with AP onboard a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft that flew near Chinese-held island bases in the South China Sea. During the patrol, the P-8A Poseidon plane was repeatedly warned by Chinese radio callers that it illegally entered what they said was China’s territory and ordered the plane to move away.

    In Sunday’s incident in the Spratlys, the most hotly contested area of the South China Sea, Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, commander of the Philippine military’s Western Command, said a Chinese coast guard ship twice blocked a civilian boat manned by Philippine navy personnel before seizing the debris it was towing off Thitu island.

    China denied there was a forcible seizure and said the debris, which it confirmed was from a recent Chinese rocket launch, was handed over by Philippine forces after a “friendly consultation.”

    Chinese coast guard ships have blocked Philippine supply boats delivering supplies to Filipino forces in the disputed waters in the past but seizing objects in the possession of another nation’s military constitutes a more brazen act.

    China has warned Washington not to meddle in what it calls a purely Asian dispute and has said that U.S. Navy and Air Force patrols and combat exercises in the disputed waters were militarizing the South China Sea.

    In July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims on historical grounds in the South China Sea.

    China has rejected the 2016 decision by an arbitration tribunal set up in The Hague under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea after the Philippine government complained about China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed waters. Beijing did not participate in the arbitration, rejected its ruling as a sham and continues to defy it.

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