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  • Moscow says Ukrainian rocket strike kills 63 Russian troops

    Moscow says Ukrainian rocket strike kills 63 Russian troops

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    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces fired rockets at a facility in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian soldiers were stationed, killing 63 of them, Russia’s defense ministry said Monday, in one of the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago.

    Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS launch system and two of them were shot down, a defense ministry statement said. It did not say when the strike happened.

    The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

    According to the governor of Russia’s Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, an unspecified number of residents of the region were among those killed and wounded by the strike on the town of Makiivka.

    Russian military bloggers, whose information has largely been reliable during the war, said ammunition stored close to the facility had exploded in the attack and contributed to the high number of casualties.

    Expressing anger at the losses, Daniil Bezsonov, an official with the Russian-appointed administration in Russian-occupied Donetsk, called for the punishment of military officers who ordered a large number of troops to be stationed at the facility.

    The Ukrainian military appeared to acknowledge the attack Monday, with the General Staff confirming that Makiivka was hit on Dec. 31, and saying 10 Russian military vehicles were destroyed or damaged. It added that Russian personnel losses were still being clarified.

    In a claim that could not be independently verified, the Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces had maintained Sunday that some 400 mobilized Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka and about 300 more were wounded. The Russian statement said the strike occurred “in the area of Makiivka” and didn’t mention the vocational school.

    Meanwhile, Russia deployed multiple exploding drones in another nighttime attack on Ukraine, officials said Monday, as the Kremlin signaled no letup in its strategy of using bombardments to target the country’s energy infrastructure and wear down Ukrainian resistance to its invasion.

    The barrage was the latest in a series of relentless year-end attacks, including one that killed three civilians on New Year’s Eve.

    On Monday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 40 drones “headed for Kyiv” overnight. All of them were destroyed, according to air defense forces.

    Klitschko said 22 drones were destroyed over Kyiv, three in the outlying Kyiv region and 15 over neighboring provinces.

    Energy infrastructure facilities were damaged as the result of the attack and an explosion occurred in one city district, the mayor said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether that was caused by drones or other munitions. A wounded 19-year-old man was hospitalized, Klitschko added, and emergency power outages were underway in the capital.

    In the outlying Kyiv region a “critical infrastructure object” and residential buildings were hit, Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said.

    Russia has carried out airstrikes on Ukrainian power and water supplies almost weekly since October.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “energy terrorism” as the aerial bombardments have left many people without heat amid freezing temperatures. Ukrainian officials say Moscow is “weaponizing winter” in its effort to demoralize the Ukrainian resistance.

    Ukraine is using sophisticated Western-supplied weapons to help shoot down Russia’s missiles and drones, as well as send artillery fire into Russian-held areas of the country.

    Moscow’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 has gone awry, putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin as his ground forces struggle to hold ground and advance. He said in his New Year’s address to the nation that 2022 was “a year of difficult, necessary decisions.”

    Putin insists he had no choice but to send troops into Ukraine because it threatened Russia’s security — an assertion condemned by the West, which says Moscow bears full responsibility for the war.

    Russia is currently observing public holidays through Jan. 8.

    Drones, missiles and artillery shells launched by Russian forces also struck areas across Ukraine.

    Five people were wounded in the Monday morning shelling of a Ukraine-controlled area of the southern Kherson region, its Ukrainian Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevich said on Telegram.

    The Russian forces attacked the city of Beryslav, the official said, firing at a local market, likely from a tank. Three of the wounded are in serious condition and are being evacuated to Kherson, Yanushevich said.

    Seven drones were shot down over the southern Mykolaiv region, according to Gov. Vitali Kim, and three more were shot down in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.

    In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a missile was also destroyed, according to Reznichenko. He said that energy infrastructure in the region was being targeted.

    Ukraine’s Air Force Command reported Monday that 39 Iranian-made exploding Shahed drones were shot down overnight, as well as two Russian-made Orlan drones and a X-59 missile.

    “We are staying strong,” the Ukrainian defense ministry tweeted.

    A blistering New Year’s Eve assault killed at least four civilians across the country, Ukrainian authorities reported, and wounded dozens. The fourth victim, a 46-year-old resident of Kyiv, died in a hospital on Monday morning, Klitschko said.

    Multiple blasts rocked the capital and other areas of Ukraine on Saturday and through the night. The strikes came 36 hours after widespread missile attacks Russia launched Thursday to damage energy infrastructure facilities, and the unusually quick follow-up alarmed Ukrainian officials.

    In Russia, a Ukrainian drone hit an energy facility in the Bryansk region that borders with Ukraine, Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz reported on Monday morning. A village was left without power as a result, he said.

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

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  • 65,000 view Benedict XVI’s body lying in state at Vatican

    65,000 view Benedict XVI’s body lying in state at Vatican

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    VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI ’s body, his head resting on a pair of crimson pillows, lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday as tens of thousands queued to pay tribute to the pontiff who shocked the world by retiring a decade ago.

    On the eve of the first of three days of viewing, Italian security officials had said at least 25,000-30,000 people would come on Monday. But by the end of the first day’s viewing, some 65,000 persons had passed by the bier, the Vatican said.

    As daylight broke, 10 white-gloved Papal Gentlemen — lay assistants to pontiffs and papal households — carried the body on a cloth-covered wooden stretcher after its arrival at the basilica to its resting place in front of the main altar under Bernini’s towering bronze canopy.

    A Swiss Guard saluted as Benedict’s body was brought in through a side door after it was transferred in a van from the chapel of the monastery grounds where the increasingly frail, 95-year-old former pontiff died on Saturday morning.

    His longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, and a handful of consecrated laywomen who served in Benedict’s household, followed the van by foot for a few hundred yards in a silent procession toward the basilica. Some of the women stretched out a hand to touch the body with respect.

    Before the rank-and-file faithful were allowed into the basilica, prayers were recited and the basilica’s archpriest, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, sprinkled holy water over the body, and a small cloud of incense was released near the bier. Benedict’s hands were clasped, a rosary around his fingers.

    Just after 9 a.m. (0800 GMT), the doors of the basilica were swung open so the public, some of whom had waited for hours in the pre-dawn damp, could pay their respects to the late pontiff, who retired from the papacy in 2013 — the first pope to do so in 600 years.

    Faithful and curious, the public strode briskly up the center aisle to pass by the bier with its cloth draping after waiting in a line that by midmorning snaked around St. Peter’s Square.

    Benedict’s body was dressed with a miter, the peaked headgear of a bishop, and a red cloak.

    Filippo Tuccio, 35, said he came from Venice on an overnight train to view Benedict’s body.

    “I wanted to pay homage to Benedict because he had a key role in my life and my education,” Tuccio said.

    “When I was young I participated in World Youth Days,″ he said, referring to the jamborees of young faithful held periodically and attended by pontiffs. Tuccio added that he had studied theology, and “his pontificate accompanied me during my university years.”

    “He was very important for me: for what I am, my way of thinking, my values,” Tuccio continued.

    Among those coming to the basilica viewing was Cardinal Walter Kasper, like Benedict, a German theologian. Kasper served as head of the Vatican’s Christian unity office during Benedict’s papacy.

    Benedict left an “important mark” on theology and spirituality, but also on the history of the papacy with his courage to step aside, Kasper told The Associated Press.

    “This resignation wasn’t a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength, a greatness because he saw that he was no longer up to the challenges of being pope,” Kasper said.

    Kasper, who was among the cardinals who elected Benedict to the papacy in 2005, added that the resignation gave “a more human vision to the papacy: that the pope is a man and is dependent on his physical and mental strengths.”

    Public viewing was set for 10 hours on Monday, and 12 hours each on Tuesday and Wednesday before Thursday morning’s funeral, which will be led by Pope Francis, at St. Peter’s Square.

    As Benedict desired, the funeral will marked by simplicity, the Vatican said when announcing the death on Saturday.

    Workers on Monday were setting up an altar in the square for the funeral Mass. Also being arranged were rows of chairs for the faithful who want to attend the funeral. Authorities said they expected about 60,000 to come for the Mass.

    On Monday, the Vatican confirmed widely reported burial plans. In keeping with his wishes, Benedict’s tomb will be in the crypt of the grotto under the basilica that was last used by St. John Paul II, before the saint’s body was moved upstairs into the main basilica ahead of his 2011 beatification, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

    At two sides of the piazza’s colonnade, viewers went through the usual security measures required for tourists entering the basilica — passing through metal detectors and screening bags through an X-ray machine.

    Marina Ferrante, 62, was among them.

    “I think his main legacy was teaching us how to be free,” she said. “He had a special intelligence in saying what was essential in his faith and that was contagious” for other faithful. “The thing I thought when he died was that I would like to be as free as he was.”

    While venturing that the shy, bookworm German churchman and theologian and the current Argentine-born pontiff had different temperaments, Ferrante said: “I believe there’s a continuity between him and Pope Francis and whoever understands the real relationship between them and Christ can see that.”

    An American man who lives in Rome called the opportunity to view the body “an amazing experience.” Mountain Butorac, 47, who is originally from Atlanta, said he arrived 90 minutes before dawn.

    “I loved Benedict, I loved him as a cardinal (Joseph Ratzinger), when he was elected pope and also after he retired,” Butorac said. “I think he was a sort of people’s grandfather living in the Vatican.”

    With an organ and choir’s soft rendition of “Kyrie Eleison” (“Lord, have mercy” in ancient Greek) in the background, ushers moved well-wishers along at a steady clip down the basilica’s center aisle.. Someone left a red rose.

    A few VIPs had a moment before the general public to pay their respects, including Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, the far-right leader who in the past has professed admiration for the conservative leanings of Benedict.

    Italian President Sergio Mattarella also came to view the body. The Vatican has said only two nations’ official delegations — from Italy and from Benedict’s native Germany — were invited formally to the funeral, since the pope emeritus was no longer head of state.

    Sister Regina Brand was among the mourners who came to the square before dawn.

    “He’s a German pope and I am from Germany,” she said. “And I am here to express my gratitude and love, and I want to pray for him and to see him.”

    ___

    Trisha Thomas and Nicole Winfield contributed to this report.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of Pope Benedict XVI: https://apnews.com/hub/pope-benedict-xvi

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  • Macao eases COVID rules, but tourism, casinos yet to rebound

    Macao eases COVID rules, but tourism, casinos yet to rebound

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    MACAO (AP) — Only a few tourists crisscrossed the wavy black and white paving of Macao’s historic Senado Square on a recent weekday and many of the shops were shuttered.

    The gaming hub on China’s south coast near Hong Kong has endured some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls for nearly three years, and a loosening of border restrictions after China rolled back its “zero-COVID” strategy in early December is widely expected to boost its tourism-driven economy.

    But for now, China’s worst wave of infections so far is keeping away the hoards of high rollers who usually fill its casinos. From Dec. 23-27, the city saw a daily average of only 8,300 arrivals, according to police data. That’s just 68% of November’s level. The scene improved on New Year’s Eve with 28,100 visitors entering the city that day, but that’s only 66% of the level a year ago. The daily average was 108,000 in 2019, before the pandemic.

    Last week, China announced it would resume issuing passports for tourism, potentially setting up a flood of Chinese going abroad, but also spicing up competition for Macao.

    Businesses are hoping the Lunar New Year holidays in late January will bring better luck for the territory of 672,000 people, a former Portuguese colony and the only place in China where casinos are legal.

    “Tourists just come here to have a walk instead of shopping,” said Antony Chau, who sells roasted chestnuts on the square known for the European-style buildings that recall its history as a former Portuguese colony. ”They’re just wandering.”

    When the coronavirus hit in 2020, the city’s gambling revenue collapsed 80% to just $7.5 billion from a year earlier. In 2021, the figure recovered to $10.8 billion, but that’s still down 75% from a peak of $45 billion in 2013. Gambling revenues last year was halved to $5.3 billion.

    A rebound could not come a moment too soon for souvenir shop owner Lee Hong-soi.

    He said his business has been even quieter recently than before entry rules were relaxed. Since entry into Macao requires a negative PCR test result before departure, many in mainland China could not visit because they were infected, he said. And now Macao and other parts of China are battling outbreaks.

    “I am running out of strength after enduring for three years,” he said.

    Several hundred meters away, visitors were enjoying an unusual degree of tranquility at the Ruins of St. Paul’s, originally the 17th century Church of Mater Dei.

    Rain Lee, 29, visiting from Hong Kong with her husband, said she was happy not to deal with crowds, but disappointed so many businesses were shuttered.

    “Many shops are gone,” said Lee, a property manager. “I wish it could be like the pre-pandemic days when all stores were open, with many people walking in the streets. It was more vibrant back then.”

    Beijing visitor Xylia Zhang, 36, taking her first trip outside the mainland since the pandemic began, was looking forward to trying her luck in the casinos.

    “It’s quite exciting because I may lose the several hundred dollars (in Chinese yuan) that I budgeted,” she said. “I have been to casinos in Seoul and Las Vegas. But I haven’t experienced that in Chinese-speaking places.”

    The surge of cases in China has prompted some people to go to Macao to get shots of the mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is not available in the mainland, the Chinese business news website Caixin reported last month. Macao’s University Hospital, which provides the service, did not reply to an emailed request for comment and its phone rang unanswered Friday.

    But there has been no sign of a rush of customers, especially not in the casinos.

    Gambling floors at two major casinos were half-empty Wednesday, with just a few small groups of Chinese visitors sitting around slot machines and craps tables, dealers visibly bored with the lack of activity.

    It will take a while for Macao to regain its pre-pandemic pizzazz, said Glenn McCartney, associate professor in integrated resort and tourism management at the University of Macao.

    “(For) tourism, you can’t sort of snap your fingers, and things start to move,” McCartney said.

    But he said Macao’s tourism officials have staged road shows in China during the pandemic, leveraging the scenic city’s location just across the border.

    The Lunar New Year will bring a sense of the potential for a longer term rebound in tourism, he said.

    “That could be the cue.”

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  • Brazil’s Lula sworn in, vows accountability and rebuilding

    Brazil’s Lula sworn in, vows accountability and rebuilding

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    BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president on Sunday, and in his first address expressed optimism about plans to rebuild while pledging that members of outgoing Jair Bolsonaro’s administration will be held to account.

    Lula is assuming office for the third time after thwarting far-right incumbent Bolsonaro’s reelection bid. His return to power marks the culmination of a political comeback that is thrilling supporters and enraging opponents in a fiercely polarized nation.

    “Our message to Brazil is one of hope and reconstruction,” Lula said in a speech in Congress’ Lower House after signing the document that formally instates him as president. “The great edifice of rights, sovereignty and development that this nation built has been systematically demolished in recent years. To re-erect this edifice, we are going to direct all our efforts.”

    Sunday afternoon in Brasilia’s main esplanade, the party was on. Tens of thousands of supporters decked out in the red of Lula’s Workers’ Party cheered after his swearing in.

    They celebrated when the president said he would send a report about the prior administration to all lawmakers and judicial authorities, revoke Bolsonaro’s “criminal decrees” that loosened gun control, and hold the prior administration responsible for its denialism in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “We do not carry any spirit of revenge against those who sought to subjugate the nation to their personal and ideological designs, but we are going to ensure the rule of law,” Lula said, without mentioning Bolsonaro by name. “Those who erred will answer for their errors, with broad rights to their defense within the due legal process.”

    Lula’s presidency is unlikely to be like his previous two mandates, coming after the tightest presidential race in more than three decades in Brazil and resistance to his taking office by some of his opponents, political analysts say.

    The leftist defeated Bolsonaro in the Oct. 30 vote by less than 2 percentage points. For months, Bolsonaro had sown doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic vote and his loyal supporters were loath to accept the loss.

    Many have gathered outside military barracks since, questioning results and pleading with the armed forces to prevent Lula from taking office.

    His most die-hard backers resorted to what some authorities and incoming members of Lula’s administration labeled acts of “terrorism” – which had prompted security concerns about inauguration day events.

    Lula will have to navigate more challenging economic conditions than he enjoyed in his first two terms, when the global commodities boom proved a windfall for Brazil.

    At the time, his administration’s flagship welfare program helped lift tens of millions of impoverished people into the middle class. He left office with a personal approval rating of 83%.

    In the intervening years, Brazil’s economy plunged into two deep recessions — first, during the tenure of his handpicked successor, and then during the pandemic — and ordinary Brazilians suffered greatly.

    Lula has said his priorities are fighting poverty, and investing in education and health. He has also said he will bring illegal deforestation of the Amazon to a halt. He sought support from political moderates to form a broad front and defeat Bolsonaro, then tapped some of them to serve in his Cabinet.

    In his first act as president Sunday, Lula signed a decree to tighten gun control and set a 30-day deadline for the comptroller-general’s office to evaluate various Bolsonaro decrees that placed official information under seal for 100 years. He also signed a decree that guaranteed a monthly stipend for poor families, and reestablished the mostly Norway-financed Amazon fund for sustainable development in the rainforest.

    Claúdio Arantes, a 68-year-old pensioner, carried an old Lula campaign flag on his way to the esplanade. The lifelong Lula supporter attended his 2003 inauguration, and agreed that this time feels different.

    “Back then, he could talk about Brazil being united. Now it is divided and won’t heal soon,” Arantes said. “I trust his intelligence to make this national unity administration work so we never have a Bolsonaro again.”

    Given the nation’s political fault lines, it is highly unlikely Lula ever reattains the popularity he once enjoyed, or even sees his approval rating rise above 50%, said Maurício Santoro, a political science professor at Rio de Janeiro’s State University.

    Furthermore, Santoro said, the credibility of Lula and his Workers’ Party were assailed by a sprawling corruption investigation. Party officials were jailed, including Lula — whose convictions were later annulled on procedural grounds. The Supreme Court then ruled that the judge presiding over the case had colluded with prosecutors to secure a conviction.

    Lula and his supporters have maintained he was railroaded. Others were willing to look past possible malfeasance as a means to unseat Bolsonaro and bring the nation back together.

    “I always wanted to go the inauguration, I didn’t think I would have a chance to see Lula there after he was jailed,” said Tamires Valente, 43, a marketing professional from Brasilia. “I am very emotional, Lula deserves this.”

    But Bolsonaro’s backers refuse to accept someone they view as a criminal returning to the highest office. And with tensions running hot, a series of events has prompted fear that violence could erupt on inauguration day.

    On Dec. 12, dozens of people tried to invade a federal police building in Brasilia, and burned cars and buses in other areas of the city. Then on Christmas Eve, police arrested a 54-year-old man who admitted to making a bomb that was found on a fuel truck headed to Brasilia’s airport.

    He had been camped outside Brasilia’s army headquarters with hundreds of other Bolsonaro supporters since Nov. 12. He told police he was ready for war against communism, and planned the attack with people he had met at the protests, according to excerpts of his deposition released by local media.

    Bolsonaro finally condemned the bomb plot in a Dec. 30 farewell address on social media, hours before flying to the U.S.. His absence on inauguration day marks a break with tradition.

    Instead of Bolsonaro, a group representing diverse segments of society performed the role of presenting Lula with the presidential sash to Lula atop the ramp of the presidential palace. Across the sea of people standing before the palace, supporters stretched a massive Brazilian flag over their heads.

    Speaking to the crowd, Lula listed shortfalls in government funds that will affect the Brazilian people. He said that, according to the transition team’s report on Bolsonaro’s government, textbooks haven’t been printed for public schools, there are insufficient free medications and COVID-19 vaccines, the threat looms of federal universities shutting down, and civil defense authorities cannot work to prevent disasters.

    “Who pays the price for this blackout is, once again, the Brazilian people,” he said, and was promptly met by a chant from the crowd: “No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!”

    ___

    AP writer Diane Jeantet contributed from Rio de Janeiro.

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  • New Year’s 2023 LIVE UPDATES

    New Year’s 2023 LIVE UPDATES

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    Fox News Channel will bring in the New Year with an “All-American New Year” special, hosted by FOX & Friends Weekend’s Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and Pete Hegseth live from the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tenn.

    A number of familiar Fox News faces will help host the celebrations across the U.S. from Times Square in New York City to Key West, Colorado and New Jersey.

    A pre-show special will begin at 9 pm with a “Countdown to All-American New Year” before the special programming starts at 10 pm.

    Russia readies air defenses over Moscow ahead of New Year celebrations

    Russian President Vladimir Putin readied 2,000 soldiers to oversee Moscow’s air defenses to stand “on duty at combat posts on New Year’s Eve.”

    Another 20,000 servicemen were put on “combat duty” to oversee air defenses through the weekend.

    The move comes as Russia itself has increasingly become the target of Ukrainian shelling as Moscow continues to pummel Ukrainian cities amid its “special military operation.”

    Bangkok goes big for New Years Eve

    Bangkok, known for its shrines, street fare and vibrant nightlife in Thailand, went big in celebration of the incoming 2023 new year.

    Colorful fireworks were shot over the sky at 12 pm EST as people celebrated the New Year.

    Kyiv sees deadly New Years Eve amid Russian missile attacks

    Russia fired 20 cruise missiles across Ukraine on New Years Eve, killing one, injuring dozens and forcing civilians to take cover.

    Twelve of the 20 missiles were shot down by Ukraine’s defense forces, but at least one person was killed in Kyiv along with another 16 who were injured. Seven people were also injured in the Khmelnytskyi region, with three in serious condition.

    Philippines celebrate end of 2022 with fireworks

    The Philippines celebrated the end of 2022 with a massive firework display over Milan.

    The city was a display of bright lights and colorful fireworks as Filipinos brought in the New Year at 11:00 am EST.

    Taiwan brings in New Year with firework display

    Taiwan celebrated the New Year at 11 am EST with a large firework display over the Taipei skyline.

    The fireworks were launched from the Taipei 101 building, which is not only the tallest building on the island, but one of the tallest in the world.

    China celebrates New Year holiday on ice

    People in Beijing celebrated the New Year’s Eve holiday by heading to the frozen Shicha Lake for ice skating and other festivities.

    Though the traditional Chinese New Year that celebrates the lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar will not begin until Jan. 22, activities like ice skating and sledding will still be held to celebrate the the New Year in accordance with the Western Georgian calendar.

    Australia celebrates New Year’s

    Australia celebrated the New Year at 8:00 am EST with a spectacular fire work show over the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

    The show Saturday was the first time the city has held its celebrations since 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic took off. COVID restrictions were lifter earlier this year.

    Fox News will present ‘All-American New Year’ special live from Nashville

    Fox News Channel will bid farewell to 2022 and ring in 2023 with an All-American New Year special, hosted by FOX & Friends Weekend’s Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and Pete Hegseth live from the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tenn.

    The show, which starts Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET, will feature a country music performance by multi-platinum artist Brantley Gilbert and a stand-up comedy set by Fox News Radio host Jimmy Failla.

    Leading into the special at 9 p.m. ET will be a pre-show special, Countdown to All-American New Year. That show will be hosted by Outnumbered co-host Emily Compagno, Failla, and Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins.

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  • Despite War, Some Ukrainian Families Reunite For New Year

    Despite War, Some Ukrainian Families Reunite For New Year

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    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — For millions of Ukrainians, many of them under Russian bombardment and grappling with power and water shortages, New Year’s celebrations will be muted as Russia’s 10-month war rumbles on with no end in sight. Explosions rang out across the country as a new wave of russian attacks was reported Saturday.

    But for some families, the new year is nevertheless a chance to reunite, however briefly, after months apart.

    At Kyiv’s central railway station on Saturday morning, Mykyta, still in his uniform, gripped a bouquet of pink roses tightly as he waited on platform 9 for his wife Valeriia to arrive from Poland. He hadn’t seen her in six months.

    “It actually was really tough, you know, to wait so long,” he told The Associated Press after hugging and kissing Valeriia.

    Nearby, another soldier, Vasyl Khomko, 42, joyously met his daughter Yana and wife Galyna who have been living in Slovakia due to the war, but returned to Kyiv to spend New Year’s Eve together.

    The mood contrasted starkly with that from 10 months ago when families were torn apart by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    Ukrainian soldier Vasyl Khomko, 42, hugs his daughter Yana as she arrives at the train station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Khomko’s wife and daughter have been living in Slovakia due to the war but returned to Kyiv to spend New Year’s Eve together. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna)

    Back in February, fathers, husbands and sons had to stay behind as their wives, mothers and daughters boarded trains with small children seeking safety outside the country. Scenes of tearful goodbyes seared television screens and front pages of newspaper across the world.

    But on the last day of the year marked by the brutal war, many returned to the capital to spend New Year’s Eve with their loved ones, despite the ongoing Russian attacks.

    Multiple explosions were heard across the country Saturday, and air defenses were activated in several regions. One of the explosions in Kyiv occurred in a residential area, among the multi-story buildings of Solomianskyi district. One person was killed and three wounded, said the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.

    As Russian attacks continue to target power supplies leaving millions without electricity, no big celebrations are expected and a curfew will be in place as the clock rings in the new year. But for most Ukrainians being together with their families is a luxury.

    Valeriia first sought refuge from the conflict in Spain but later moved to Poland. Asked what their New Year’s Eve plans were, she answered simply: “Just to be together.”

    The couple declined not to share their family name for security reasons as Mykyta has been fighting on the front lines in both southern and eastern Ukraine.

    Dmytro receives Tatyana and their 5-months-old son Volodymyr at the train station as they arrive to spend New Year's together in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna)
    Dmytro receives Tatyana and their 5-months-old son Volodymyr at the train station as they arrive to spend New Year’s together in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna)

    On platform 8, another young couple reunited. University student Arseniia Kolomiiets, 23, has been living in Italy. Despite longing to see her boyfriend Daniel Liashchenko in Kyiv, Kolomiiets was scared of Russian missiles and drone attacks.

    “He was like, ‘Please come! Please come! Please come!’” she recalled. “I decided that (being) scared is one part, but being with beloved ones on the holidays is the most important part. So, I overcome my fear and here I am now.”

    Although they have no electricity at home, Liashchenko said they were looking forward to welcoming 2023 together with his family and their cat.

    In an attempt to ensure residents have light during their celebrations, the regional government of Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa province is planning to limit the work of the most energy-intensive industries on Dec. 31 and Jan 1.

    Regional head Maksym Marchenko made the announcement on Friday via Telegram, and said that power engineers in the province had used all means possible to “eliminate the consequences” of Russia’s barrage of attacks on Ukraine on Thursday and reinstate the power supply.

    In Kyiv, recent attacks have left many on edge, unsure about whether the skies will be peaceful on the last day of the year.

    “We are hoping there will be no surprises today,” said Natalya Kontonenko who had traveled from Finland. It was the first time she had seen her brother Serhii Kontonenko since the full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24. Serhii and other relatives traveled from Mykolaiv to Kyiv to meet Natalya.

    “We are not concerned about the electricity, because we are together and that I think is the most important,” he said.

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  • King Charles salutes late queen, public workers in speech

    King Charles salutes late queen, public workers in speech

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    LONDON (AP) — King Charles III evoked memories Sunday of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as he broadcast his first Christmas message as monarch in a speech that also paid tribute to the “selfless dedication” of Britain’s public service workers, many of whom are in a fight with the government over pay.

    Charles, 74, also empathized in the prerecorded message with people struggling to make ends meet “at a time of great anxiety and hardship.” Like some other parts of the world, the U.K. is wrestling with high inflation that has caused a cost-of-living crisis for many households.

    The king’s first remarks, however, recalled his mother, who died in September at age 96 after 70 years on the throne.

    “Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones,” Charles said. “We feel their absence that every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition.”

    Charles immediately ascended to the throne upon the queen’s death. His coronation ceremony is scheduled for May.

    For his televised Christmas message, he wore a dark blue suit. Unlike Elizabeth, who often sat at a desk to deliver the annual speech, Charles stood by a Christmas tree at St. George’s Chapel, a church on the grounds of Windsor Castle where his mother and his father, Prince Philip, were buried.

    Charles said he shared with his mother “a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others and to shine a light in the world around them.”

    “The essence of our community and the very foundation of our society” can be witnessed in “health and social care professionals and teachers and indeed all those working in public service whose skill and commitment are at the heart of our communities,” the king said.

    Strikes this month by nurses, ambulance crews, teachers, postal workers and train drivers have put pressure on U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government. Opinion polls show a high level of support for the workers, especially nurses. Unions are seeking pay raises in line with inflation, whch stood at 10.7% in November.

    Soaring food and energy prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have created financial strains for many individuals and families.

    Speaking over video footage of food banks and other charity work, Charles expressed sympathy for “those at home finding ways to pay their bills and keep their families fed and warm.”

    Charles also reached out to people of other faiths in the United Kingdom and across the British Commonwealth, saying the meaning of Jesus Christ’s birth crosses “the boundaries of faith and belief.”

    Charles believes the monarchy can help to unite his country’s increasingly diverse ethnic groups and faiths. It is part of his effort to show that the institution still has relevance.

    The six-minute message concluded with an appeal to heed “the everlasting light” which, Charles said, was a key aspect of Elizabeth’s faith in God and belief in people.

    “So whatever faith you have or whether you have none, it is in this life-giving light and with the true humility that lies in our service to others that I believe we can find hope for the future,” he said.

    The king made no reference to the recent clamor over this month’s Netflix documentary series about the acrimonious split from the royal family that accompanied the decision of his son Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan to step back from royal duties and move across the Atlantic Ocean.

    Video footage accompanying the Christmas message showed working members of the royal family at official events. Harry and Meghan didn’t appear, nor did Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his honorary military titles and removed as a working royal over his friendship with the notorious U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

    Andrew did, however, join Charles and other senior royals for a Christmas morning walk to a church located near the family’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk county England.

    The king and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, led family members to a service at St. Mary Magdalene Church. They included Prince William, Charles’ older son and heir to the throne, and William’s wife, Kate, and the couple’s three children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.

    Joining them on the walk was Charles and Andrew’s younger brother, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie.

    After the family entered the church, congregants sang “God Save the King” followed by the Christmas hymn “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

    Sandringham has been the private country home of four generations of British monarchs for more than 160 years, but this was the royal family’s first Christmas there since 2019, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency.

    Elizabeth spent her last two Christmases at Windsor Castle because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowds lined the streets near Sandringham to greet the royal family Sunday for its return to the holiday tradition.

    “It will be in King Charles’ thoughts about his mother, about her legacy. They will be thinking about it over Christmas,” said John Loughrey, 67, who lives in south London and camped out overnight to be first in line. “It’s going to be a sad time and a happy time for them. That’s how it’s got to be.”

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  • Report: 2 missing after Austria avalanche, fewer than feared

    Report: 2 missing after Austria avalanche, fewer than feared

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    FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Rescue workers were searching for two missing people after an avalanche swept across ski trails in western Austria on Sunday, the dpa news agency reported.

    Initially up to 10 people were feared missing based on video from a witness, but eight of those individuals had been identified and were no longer feared buried, dpa reported citing a spokesman of the rescue team.

    About 200 rescue workers were searching the avalanche site near the town of Zuers.

    The avalanche occurred at around 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) on the 2,700-meter (nearly 9,000-foot) high Trittkopf mountain between Zuers and Lech am Arlberg, and the cascading snow reached as far as nearby ski trails.

    The avalanche followed days of snow in the high alpine region and unseasonably warm weather on Christmas Day. The local mountain rescue service had rated the avalanche danger as “high.”

    Officials said one person could be recovered quickly. Searchlights were set up on the snow mass to continue the search after darkness fell, and dogs were being used to try to find the missing.

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  • South Africa marks holidays despite nationwide power cuts

    South Africa marks holidays despite nationwide power cuts

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    JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Christmas lights twinkle, holiday music plays and Johannesburg’s popular Rosebank mall bustles with shoppers.

    Then the lights go out. The shops are pitch dark. “Hold on to your wallets,” calls out a customer to rueful chuckles.

    A long minute later the distant hum of a generator can be heard. The lights and music flicker back on and clerks resume ringing up purchases.

    South Africa’s Christmas 2022 is a start/stop affair, with the country’s nationwide power cuts hitting just about every aspect of the holiday. Businesses and families are coping with rolling outages of electricity totaling seven to 10 hours per day.

    The chugging of diesel generators can be heard at stores and restaurants from posh areas to townships. Patrons know to walk far around them to avoid the noxious fumes.

    The festive calendar of celebrations with family and friends is now a meticulous dance around the daily schedule of power cuts. Holiday baking and video streaming are planned for when there will be power.

    Most South African households now have a ready supply of solar lights, kerosene lamps and candles to keep from being in total darkness.

    South Africa’s state utility, Eskom, has battled to meet the demand for electricity in the continent’s most industrialized economy for more than 10 years but the problem has become acute this year. A major problem is that the power company relies on an array of older coal-fired power plants that experience frequent breakdowns. Adding to the woes is a shortage of skilled technicians and corruption.

    Eskom said this week that it has been forced to enforce its highest level of power cuts so far — Stage 6 — over the holiday period because of breakdowns at eight generating units. This is particularly surprising because there is reduced demand for electricity over the Christmas and New Year period as many factories and mines close during the holidays.

    The power company’s failure to supply adequate electricity has put a damper on economic growth for years. Amid worsening power cuts, the chief of Eskom announced his resignation this month. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s failure to solve the country’s power problems was one of the most pointed criticisms of him last week at the national conference of his ruling party, the African National Congress.

    At the busy Sandton City mall in Johannesburg, many shoppers watched the time so that they could be home in time to cook while they still had power.

    “We have to look at the schedule … and then we can do everything that needs to be cooked. Or we use a gas stove. And we can lay the table outside, do the candlelights and it’s going to be beautiful,” said an optimistic Molalo Mishapo.

    Natasha Singh, visiting Johannesburg from Durban, said she is fortunate not to feel the effects of the power cuts because the hotel where she is staying is equipped with generators.

    “So we’re not feeling it that much at the hotel, fortunately for that,” she said. “But we … switch off and switch on about three or four times a day. That’s a bit hectic.”

    Although 2022 has been a challenging year due to rising prices and continuous power cuts, it’s important for people to celebrate being healthy after living through the COVID-19 pandemic, said Cindy Naidoo.

    “Coming from COVID … it’s a blessing, I think, just to be happy and healthy,” she said. “Forget about the lights and just live.”

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  • Rabuka sworn in as Fiji prime minister after close election

    Rabuka sworn in as Fiji prime minister after close election

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    MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Sitiveni Rabuka was sworn in as Fiji’s prime minister on Saturday, capping a tense week in a fragile Pacific democracy where the former military commander first held office more than two decades ago.

    The 74-year-old won the nomination by one vote over incumbent Frank Bainimarama at a sitting of the Fijian Parliament in Suva.

    Rabuka, the head of the People’s Alliance Party, won after forming a majority coalition with two other parties following last week’s close and contentious election. On Thursday, army and navy personnel were reportedly called in to protect minority groups over threats against them following the Dec. 14 vote.

    During his swearing-in ceremony, Rabuka pledged to “obey, observe, uphold and maintain” the constitution of his nation.

    He said he spoke with Bainimarama, the head of the Fiji First Party who had ruled for almost 16 years, to thank him for his contributions.

    “We appreciate what they have done. Some could have been better. But we have to get in there first to see what they have done and what’s left for us to complete. We have six months of the last budget to run,” he told reporters.

    Fiji has experienced four military coups over the past 35 years, and both Rabuka and Bainimarama have held lead roles in previous moves to oust former Fijian leaders.

    The tripartite coalition had announced on Tuesday its intention to form a government with a combined 29 seats compared to the 26 held by Bainimarama’s party.

    The People’s Alliance Party and affiliated National Federation Party shared 26 seats but were able to form an alliance with the Social Democrat Liberal Party to break the deadlock.

    Bainimarama and Fiji First had refused to concede the election results in the days following the polls.

    A secret ballot of lawmakers on Saturday chose Rabuka 28-27. The result indicated that one member of the new ruling coalition was against the change in prime minister.

    The same ballot split occurred in voting for the roles of house speaker and deputy speaker earlier during a Christmas Eve parliamentary session that lasted three hours.

    Rabuka had said prior to Saturday’s sitting that his pending election would mark “a turning point in Fiji’s modern history.”

    Rabuka, who was also prime minister between 1992 and 1999, instigated two coups in 1987.

    Bainimarama led a coup in 2006 that ousted Laisenia Quarase as prime minister, a role he then assumed until the elevation of Rabuka on Saturday.

    Earlier in Saturday’s parliamentary session, Naiqama Lalabalavu was appointed the new speaker of the house after a secret ballot saw him receive one vote more than Fiji First candidate Epeli Nailatikau, who served as president of Fiji from 2009 to 2015.

    The leaders of Fiji’s closest regional allies welcomed the election of Rabuka.

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described his nation and Fiji as members of the same “family” in a social media post, adding that he looks forward to “strengthening our countries’ relationship even further in 2023.”

    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hailed “our very warm relationship” with Fiji and said she looked forward to working with Rabuka. She also acknowledged Bainimarama’s leadership, saying he had created “an important legacy for Fiji” as a regional leader in several areas including climate change.

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  • Seoul: North Korean hackers stole $1.2B in virtual assets

    Seoul: North Korean hackers stole $1.2B in virtual assets

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    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets in the past five years, more than half of it this year alone, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday.

    Experts and officials say North Korea has turned to crypto hacking and other illicit cyber activities as a source of badly needed foreign currency to support its fragile economy and fund its nuclear program following harsh U.N. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic.

    South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said North Korea’s capacity to steal digital assets is considered among the best in the world because of the country’s focus on cybercrimes since U.N. economic sanctions were toughened in 2017 in response to its nuclear and missile tests.

    The U.N. sanctions imposed in 2016-17 ban key North Korean exports such as coal, textiles and seafood and also led member states to repatriate North Korean overseas workers. Its economy suffered further setbacks after it imposed some of the world’s most draconian restrictions against the pandemic.

    The NIS said state-sponsored North Korean hackers are estimated to have stolen 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in virtual assets around the world since 2017, including about 800 billion won ($626 million) this year alone. It said more than 100 billion won ($78 million) of the total came from South Korea.

    It said North Korean hackers are expected to conduct more cyberattacks next year to steal advanced South Korean technologies and confidential information on South Korean foreign policy and national security.

    Earlier this month, senior diplomats from the United States, South Korea and Japan agreed to increase efforts to curb illegal North Korean cyber activities. In February, a panel of U.N. experts said North Korea was continuing to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms and exchanges.

    Despite its economic difficulties, North Korea has carried out a record number or missile tests this year in what some experts say is an attempt to modernize its arsenal and boost its leverage in future negotiations with its rivals to win sanctions relief and other concessions.

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  • Canadian polar bears near ‘bear capital’ dying at fast rate

    Canadian polar bears near ‘bear capital’ dying at fast rate

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    Polar bears in Canada’s Western Hudson Bay — on the southern edge of the Arctic — are continuing to die in high numbers, a new government survey of the land carnivore has found. Females and bear cubs are having an especially hard time.

    Researchers surveyed Western Hudson Bay — home to Churchill, the town called ‘the Polar Bear Capital of the World,’ — by air in 2021 and estimated there were 618 bears, compared to the 842 in 2016, when they were last surveyed.

    “The actual decline is a lot larger than I would have expected,” said Andrew Derocher, a biology professor at the University of Alberta who has studied Hudson Bay polar bears for nearly four decades. Derocher was not involved in the study.

    Since the 1980s, the number of bears in the region has fallen by nearly 50%, the authors found. The ice essential to their survival is disappearing.

    Polar bears rely on arctic sea ice — frozen ocean water — that shrinks in the summer with warmer temperatures and forms again in the long winter. They use it to hunt, perching near holes in the thick ice to spot seals, their favorite food, coming up for air. But as the Arctic has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the world because of climate change, sea ice is cracking earlier in the year and taking longer to freeze in the fall.

    That has left many polar bears that live across the Arctic with less ice on which to live, hunt and reproduce.

    Polar bears are not only critical predators in the Arctic. For years, before climate change began affecting people around the globe, they were also the best-known face of climate change.

    Researchers said the concentration of deaths in young bears and females in Western Hudson Bay is alarming.

    “Those are the types of bears we’ve always predicted would be affected by changes in the environment,” said Stephen Atkinson, the lead author who has studied polar bears for more than 30 years.

    Young bears need energy to grow and cannot survive long periods without enough food and female bears struggle because they expend so much energy nursing and rearing offspring.

    “It certainly raises issues about the ongoing viability,” Derocher said. “That is the reproductive engine of the population.”

    The capacity for polar bears in the Western Hudson Bay to reproduce will diminish, Atkinson said, “because you simply have fewer young bears that survive and become adults.”

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Greece: EU’s external border is hardening, attitudes are too

    Greece: EU’s external border is hardening, attitudes are too

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    LYKOFI, Greece (AP) — Accompanied by a cloud of mosquitos, Police Capt. Konstantinos Tsolakidis and three other border guards set out on a boat patrol along the Evros River that forms a natural frontier between Greece and Turkey.

    The route takes them through a maze formed by tall reeds, past clusters of flamingos and boat trippers visiting a nature reserve where the river fans out to meet the Mediterranean.

    The Evros — called the Meric River in Turkey — runs through one of the remotest parts of Europe. It’s also becoming one of its most militarized as Greece and the wider European Union work on ways to prevent migrants from entering the country from Turkey.

    In 2023, Greece plans to triple the length of a steel border wall. The five-meter (16-foot) high structure, made with sturdy steel columns, has foundation supports up to 10 meters deep and is topped with razor wire and an anti-grip metal scaling barrier.

    In army-controlled areas on the Greek side of the border, the EU is funding and testing an advanced surveillance network that uses machine-learning software and an array of fixed and mobile cameras and sensors to detect migrants trying to cross the border.

    Critics of the measures argue that Greece is toughening authoritarian policies against migrants and asylum-seekers, operating in the shadows in border areas that are under military control and where outside civilian monitors are denied access. A visit by Associated Press journalists to the Greek-Turkish border area took place under military and police supervision.

    Police and border residents say they are just happy that the wall is working.

    “It’s impossible to penetrate,” says Tsolakidis, who supervises patrols along a southern section of the border. “It’s been built in areas along the Evros where crossings were most frequent. And the deterrence capacity is 100%.”

    In a post-pandemic surge of activity, more than 250,000 migrant crossings have been prevented this year at the land border between Greece and Turkey through late November, according to Greek authorities. During the same period, more than 5,000 people were detained after making it across the river.

    Border guards, who use sniffer dogs, loudspeakers and powerful spotlights on patrols, say multiple incidents involving up to 1,000 migrants aren’t uncommon in a single day during the summer and early fall when water levels along the Evros hit an annual low.

    Small islets, some straddling the midpoint of the river where the border technically lies, seasonally reappear, making crossings easier.

    Completed in 2021, the wall currently spans 27 kilometers (17 miles) in three separate sections but is considered to be effective over an additional 10 kilometers (six miles) because of ground conditions. Authorities plan to add up to another 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the steel barrier to cover most of the 192-kilometer (120-mile) land border.

    When wall building started at the border a decade ago, it was met with heated political debate and public demonstrations backed by left-wing parties and Greek human rights groups.

    Reaction this time around has been muted.

    With little discussion, parliament recently passed an emergency amendment sanctioning the extension, with rules for commercial tenders and cost control safeguards both waived through June 30, 2023.

    A poll published by private Antenna television found that nearly two thirds of Greek voters support tougher measures to control migration, with just 8.1% arguing that policing needs to be relaxed. Backing for the tougher measures was reported across party lines, and includes more than 60% of voters from the left-wing main opposition party — which officially opposes the wall extension.

    The October survey was conducted by the Marc polling company for the private Greek channel.

    At one newly built section of the wall, buds of cotton from nearby farms are caught in the razor wire, while wild goats, cut off from their usual grazing grounds, scour the riverbank for something to eat.

    A few hundred meters westward, 41-year-old farm worker Stavros Lazaridis tosses bales of hay onto a truck. He says the extension can’t come fast enough.

    “Before the wall went up, we had a lot of trouble. More than 200 or 300 (migrants) could cross through the village in a single day. It was out of control,” he said.

    The local police station has retrieved pickup trucks stolen by smugglers in border villages and abandoned near a bus station in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki. Piles of clothes, dumped by migrants traveling with just a small backpack, are often found near highways in the area.

    Border village residents, Lazaridis says, used to be sympathetic to migrants, many of whom are fleeing wars in the Middle East to seek asylum in Europe, but they have grown tired of the nightly disruptions.

    “There are old people who live in these villages, many living by themselves, and they are scared to leave their homes,” he said. “It’s quiet here now, but further north where there’s no (wall). things are still crazy.”

    Polling data suggests residents of other EU frontier states, including Poland and the Baltic nations, have also become more security conscious as threats like Russia’s war in Ukraine draw closer to the bloc’s external borders.

    And a flareup in a spat between Greece and Turkey over maritime boundaries and drilling rights has darkened disputes over migration.

    Greece has made a series of international complaints after border police in October found 92 male migrants, stripped of their clothing, and accused Turkish authorities of deliberately pushing them over the border.

    Turkey has repeatedly accused Greece of carrying out clandestine deportations, known as pushbacks, of potential asylum-seekers, and putting their lives at risk.

    Athens is also under fire from major human rights groups, United Nations and EU refugee agencies, and even a government advisory panel that says hundreds of credible accounts have been gathered suggesting that often-violent pushbacks have been occurring at the Greek-Turkish border for up to 20 years.

    The U.N. and EU agencies are demanding the creation of an independent border monitoring body, a request that Athens has so far failed to act upon.

    Disputes with countries bordering the EU, and the often legitimate security concerns they generate, have reduced attention on migrants in need of international protection and are tempting European governments to adopt hard-line policies, argues Begum Basdas at the Center for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School in Berlin.

    “The militarization of migration is disabling us from seeing the issue as a human rights concern … and what is really worrying me is the creeping in of authoritarianism through migration management in the European Union,” Basdas said.

    “People are not really critical of the securitization or wall building at the borders because they don’t really see the connection between migration and the decay of democratic values in their own environment, in their own rights,” she said.

    “But, you know, those walls are literally being built around us.”

    ___

    Costas Kantouris contributed to this report from Thessaloniki.

    ___

    Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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  • Peru Congress opens door to early elections amid unrest

    Peru Congress opens door to early elections amid unrest

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    LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s Congress tentatively endorsed a plan on Tuesday to hold early elections in an attempt to defuse a national political crisis marked by deadly unrest after lawmakers ousted President Pedro Castillo.

    The proposal, approved by 91 of the legislature’s 130 members, would push up to April 2024 elections for president and congress originally scheduled for 2026. The plan — which seeks to add one article to Peru’s constitution — must be ratified by another two-thirds majority in the next annual legislative session for it to be adopted.

    The measure has the backing of caretaker President Dina Boluarte, who took over from Castillo after the former schoolteacher tried to dissolve Congress on Dec. 7 — a move widely condemned by even his leftist supporters though it touched off deadly nationwide protests that continue. After the failed move, Castillo was swiftly arrested.

    The early elections proposal failed to muster enough votes last week after leftist lawmakers abstained, conditioning their support on the promise of a constitutional assembly to overhaul Peru’s political charter — something that conservatives denounce as putting Peru’s free market economic model at risk. On Tuesday, they dropped that demand.

    “Don’t be blind,” Boluarte said over the weekend, slamming lawmakers for not listening to voters’ demands. “Look at the people and take action in line with what they are asking.”

    But even as Boluarte seeks to restore order, her caretaker government is being buffeted by fellow leftists. Chief among them is Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has sharply critized Peru’s conservative media and business establishment for the classist, sometimes bigoted way it portrayed Castillo during his 17-month presidency.

    On Tuesday, Boluarte’s government expelled Mexico’s ambassador, giving him 72 hours to leave the country, in protest of what it said was López Obrador’s repeated and “unacceptable interference” in Peru’s internal affairs.

    “The statements by the Mexican president are especially grave considering the violence in our country, which is incompatible with the legitimate right of every individual to protest peacefully,” Peru’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

    The Peruvian statement was issued hours after López Obrador’s government said it was granting asylum to Castillo’s family, which took refuge at Mexico’s embassy in Lima and is awaiting safe passage out of the country.

    Castillo, a political novice who lived in a two-story adobe home in the Andean highlands before moving to the presidential palace, eked out a narrow victory in elections last year that rocked Peru’s political establishment and laid bare the deep divisions between residents of the vibrant capital, Lima, and the long-neglected countryside.

    Castillo’s attempts to break a stalemate with hostile lawmakers by trying to dissolve Congress only deepened those tensions. Within hours of his attempted power grab, he was ousted by Congress and jailed facing a criminal investigation, accused of trying to usurp power in violation of the constitution.

    Mexico’s president has reiterated his willingness to grant asylum to Castillo, who was intercepted by protesters and security forces while trying to flee to the Mexican Embassy in Lima after his bid to shutter Congress backfired.

    On Monday, he said that if lawmakers reject early elections and cling to power, and the president stays, then “everything will have to be achieved by force and repression, leading to a great deal of suffering an instability for the people.”

    Boluarte, who has the backing of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration and fluently speaks the native Quechua language of many protesters, has struggled to restore order since Castillo’s arrest.

    In several parts of the country, protesters who voted for her and Castillo’s ticket last year have defied a 30-day state of emergency and taken to the streets to demand her immediate resignation.

    The death toll from the unrest rose to 26 on Monday after security forces firing tear gas dispersed thousands of wildcat miners who cut off the Pan-American Highway at two vital chokepoints for more than a week, forcing truckers to dump spoiled food and fish bound for market. Hundreds have been injured.

    Should lawmakers decide to push up elections, they would in essence be throwing themselves out of work. Under Peru’s constitution, the 130 members of Congress are entitled to serve only a single term.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami and Fabiola Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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  • Iran authorities arrest actress of Oscar-winning movie

    Iran authorities arrest actress of Oscar-winning movie

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    CAIRO (AP) — Iranian authorities arrested one of the country’s most renowned actresses Saturday on charges of spreading falsehoods about nationwide protests that grip the country, state media said.

    The report by IRNA said Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie “The Salesman,” was detained a week after she made a post on Instagram expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the protests.

    The announcement is the latest in a series of celebrity arrests, that have included footballers, actors and influencers, in response to their open display of support for anti-government demonstrations now in their third month

    According to the report published on the state media’s official Telegram channel, Alidoosti was arrested because she did not provide ”any documents in line with her claims.″

    It said that several other Iranian celebrities had also ″been summoned by the judiciary body over publishing provocative content,″ and that some had been arrested. It provided no further details.

    In her post, the 38-year-old actress said: ″His name was Mohsen Shekari. Every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.”

    Shekari was executed Dec. 9 after being charged by an Iranian court with blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a member of the country’s security forces with a machete.

    In November, Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, two other famous Iranian actresses, were arrested by authorities for expressing solidarity with protesters on social media. Voria Ghafouri, an Iranian soccer player, was also arrested last month for ’’insulting the national soccer team and propagandizing against the government.” All three have been released.

    Since September, Alidoosti has openly expressed solidarity with protesters in at least three posts on Instagram. Her account, which had some 8 million followers, has been suspended.

    Last Week, Iran executed a second prisoner, Majidreza Rahnavard, in connection with the protests. Rahnavard’s body was left hanging from a construction crane as a gruesome warning to others. Iranian authorities alleged Rahnavard stabbed two members of its paramilitary force.

    Both Shekari and Rahnavard were executed less than a month after they were charged, underscoring the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences imposed for alleged crimes related to the demonstrations. Activists say at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. Iran is one of the one the world’s top executioners.

    Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the morality police. The protests have since morphed into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy installed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    Alidoosti had previously criticised the Iranian government and its police force before this year’s protests.

    In June 2020, she was given a suspended five-month prison sentence after she criticized the police on Twitter in 2018 for assaulting a woman who had removed her headscarf.

    At least 495 people have been killed in the demonstrations amid a harsh security crackdown, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests since they began. Over 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.

    Other well-known movies Alidoosti has starred in include “The Beautiful City” and “About Elly.”

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  • United Nations Biodiversity Talks In Final Days With Many Issues Unresolved

    United Nations Biodiversity Talks In Final Days With Many Issues Unresolved

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    Negotiators at a United Nations biodiversity conference Saturday have still not resolved most of the key issues around protecting the world’s nature by 2030 and providing tens of billions of dollars to developing countries to fund those efforts.

    The United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP15, is set to wrap up Monday in Montreal and delegates were racing to agree on language in a framework that calls for protecting 30% of global land and marine areas by 2030, a goal known as “30 by 30.” Currently, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas globally are protected.

    They also have to settle on amounts of funding that would go to financing projects to create protected areas and restore marine and other ecosystems. Early draft frameworks called for closing a $700 billion gap in financing by 2030. Most of that would come from reforming subsidies in the agriculture, fisheries and energy sectors but there are also calls for tens of billions of dollars in new funding that would flow from rich to poor nations.

    “From the beginning of the negotiations, we’ve been seeing systematically some countries weakening the ambition. The ambition needs to come back,” Marco Lambertini, the director general of WWF International said, adding that they needed a “clear conservation target” that “sets the world on a clear trajectory towards delivering a nature positive future.”

    The head table gets set to open the high level segment at the COP15 biodiversity conference, in Montreal, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)

    Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault expressed more optimism. Guilbeault told The Associated Press Saturday morning that he has heard “few people talk about red lines” and that means “people are willing to talk. People are willing to negotiate.”

    “I’ve heard a lot of support for ambition from all corners of the world,” Guilbeault said. “Everyone wants to leave here with an ambitious agreement.”

    Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the executive secretary of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, told reporters Saturday afternoon that she was encouraged by the progress especially around committing resources but that a deal had not been reached yet.

    “The negotiating teams have more work to do. They have to turn promises made into plans, ambitions and actions,” she said.

    The ministers and government officials from about 190 countries mostly agree that protecting biodiversity has to be a priority, with many comparing those efforts to climate talks that wrapped up last month in Egypt.

    Climate change coupled with habitat loss, pollution and development have hammered the world’s biodiversity, with one estimate in 2019 warning that a million plant and animal species face extinction within decades — a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than expected. Humans use about 50,000 wild species routinely, and 1 out of 5 people of the world’s 8 billion population depend on those species for food and income, the report said.

    But they are struggling to agree on what that protection looks like and who will pay for it.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a video address at the opening of the high level segment at the COP15 biodiversity conference, in Montreal, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
    Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a video address at the opening of the high level segment at the COP15 biodiversity conference, in Montreal, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)

    The financing has been among the most contentions issues, with delegates from 70 African, South American and Asian countries walking out of negotiations Wednesday. They returned several hours later.

    Brazil, speaking for developing countries, said in a statement that a new funding mechanism dedicated to biodiversity be established and that developed countries provide $100 billion annually in financial grants to emerging economies until 2030.

    “You need a robust and ambitious package on finance that matches the ambition of the Global Biodiversity framework,” Leonardo Cleaver de Athayde, the head of the Brazilian delegation, told the AP.

    “This will cost a lot of money to implement. The targets are extremely ambitious and cost a lot of money,” he continued. “The developing countries will bear a higher burden in implementing it because most biodiversity resources are to be found in developing countries. They need international support.”

    The donor countries — the European Union and 13 countries — responded Friday with a statement promising to increase biodiversity financing. They noted they doubled biodiversity spending from 2010 to 2015 and committed to several billion dollars more in biodiversity funding since then.

    Zac Goldsmith, the U.K.’s minister for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment, acknowledged the focus cannot only be on popular protection measures like the 30 by 30 goal.

    IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR AVAAZ - Actor and activist James Cromwell, third left, called on world leaders to "Stop the Human Asteroid" in the talks at COP15 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. Avaaz activists joined him wearing the faces of leaders who are pushing to remove Indigenous people's language from the text of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. (Graham Hughes/AP Images for Avaaz)
    IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR AVAAZ – Actor and activist James Cromwell, third left, called on world leaders to “Stop the Human Asteroid” in the talks at COP15 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. Avaaz activists joined him wearing the faces of leaders who are pushing to remove Indigenous people’s language from the text of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. (Graham Hughes/AP Images for Avaaz)

    “The 30-by-30 is a headline target, but you can’t deliver 30-by-30 without a whole range of other things being agreed as well,” he said. “We’re not gonna have 30-by-30 without finance. We’re not going to have it unless other countries do as Costa Rica has and break the link between agricultural productivity and land degradation and deforestation. And we’re not gonna be able to do any of these things if we don’t address … subsidies.”

    Even protection targets are still being squabbled over. Many countries believe 30% is an admirable goal but some countries are pushing to water the language down to allow among other things sustainable activities in those areas that conservationists fear could result in destructive logging and mining. Others want language referencing ways to better manage the other 70% of the world that wouldn’t be protected.

    Other disagreements revolve around how best to share the benefits from genetic resources and enshrining the rights of Indigenous groups in any agreement. Some Indigenous groups want direct access to funding and a voice in designating protected areas that impact Indigenous peoples.

    “Any protected areas that affect Indigenous peoples need to have the free prior informed consent of Indigenous peoples, otherwise there will be the same old patters of Indigenous peoples being displaced by protected areas,” Atossa Soltani, the director of global strategy for the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative, an alliance of 30 Indigenous nations in Ecuador and Peru working to working to permanently protect 86 million acres of rainforest, said in an email interview.

    The other challenge is including language — similar to the Paris Agreement on climate change — that creates a stronger system to report and verify the progress countries make. Many point to the failures of the 2010 biodiversity framework, which saw only six of the 20 targets partially met by a 2020 deadline.

    “It’s very important for parties to see what others are doing. It’s important for civil society, people like you to track our progress or sometimes unfortunately lack thereof,” Guilbeault said. “It’s an important tool to help keep our feet to the fire. If it’s effective on climate. We should have it on nature as well.”

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  • India’s visa temples attract devotees aspiring to go abroad

    India’s visa temples attract devotees aspiring to go abroad

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    CHENNAI, India (AP) — Arjun Viswanathan stood on the street, his hands folded, eyes fixed on the idol of the Hindu deity Ganesh.

    On a humid morning, the information technology professional was waiting outside the temple, the size of a small closet – barely enough room for the lone priest to stand and perform puja or rituals for the beloved elephant-headed deity, believed to be the remover of obstacles.

    Viswanathan was among about a dozen visitors, most of them there for the same purpose: To offer prayers so their U.S. visa interviews would go smoothly and successfully. Viswanathan came the day before his interview for an employment visa.

    “I came here to pray for my brother’s U.K. visa 10 years ago and for my wife’s U.S. visa two years ago,” he said. “They were both successful. So I have faith.”

    The Sri Lakshmi Visa Ganapathy Temple is a few miles north of the airport in Chennai (formerly Madras), a bustling metropolis on the Coromandel Coast in southeast India — known for its iconic cuisine, ancient temples and churches, silk saris, classical music, dance and sculptures.

    This “visa temple” has surged in popularity among U.S. visa seekers over the past decade; they can be found in almost any Indian city with a U.S. consulate. They typically gain a following through word of mouth or social media.

    A mile away from the Ganesh temple is the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Navaneetha Krishnan Temple, where an idol of Hanuman – a deity who has a human body and the face of a monkey — is believed to possess the power to secure visas. Also known as “Anjaneya,” this god stands for strength, wisdom and devotion. In this temple, he has earned the monikers “America Anjaneya” and “Visa Anjaneya.”

    The temple’s longtime secretary, G.C. Srinivasan, said it wasn’t until 2016 that this temple became a “visa temple.”

    “It was around that time that a few people who prayed for a visa spread the word around that they were successful, and it’s continued,” he said.

    A month ago, Srinivasan said he met someone who got news of his visa approval even as as he was circumambulating the Anjaneya idol — a common Hindu practice of walking around a sacred object or site.

    On a recent Saturday night, devotees decorated the idol with garlands made of betel leaves. S. Pradeep, who placed a garland on the deity, said he was not there to pray for a visa, but believes in the god’s unique power.

    “He is my favorite god,” he said. “If you genuinely pray – not just for visa – it will come true.”

    At the Ganesh temple, some devotees had success stories to share. Jyothi Bontha said her visa interview at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai went without a hitch, and that she had returned to offer thanks.

    “They barely asked me a couple of questions,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”

    Bontha’s friend, Phani Veeranki, stood nearby, nervously clutching an envelope containing her visa application and supporting documents. Bontha and Veeranki, both computer science students from the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh and childhood friends, are headed to Ohio.

    Both learned about the visa temple on the social media platform Telegram.

    Veeranki said she was anxious because she had a lot riding on her upcoming visa interview.

    “I’m the first person in my family to go the United States,” she said. “My mother is afraid to send me. But I’m excited for the opportunities I’ll have in America.”

    Veeranki then handed over the envelope to the temple’s priest for him to place at the foot of the idol for a blessing.

    “We’ve been hearing about applications being rejected,” she said, her hands still folded in prayer. “I’m really hoping mine gets approved.”

    If she and Bontha make it to Ohio, they want to take a trip to Niagara Falls.

    “I’ve always wanted to see it,” Bontha said.

    Mohanbabu Jagannathan and his wife, Sangeetha, run the temple, which Jagannathan’s grandfather built in 1987. Their house is on a cul-de-sac, which is considered bad luck in several Asian cultures. In Chennai, it is common to find a Ganesh temple outside cul-de-sac homes due to the belief that the deity has the power to ward off evil. At first, only neighbors came to the temple, Jagannathan said.

    “But over the years it started earning a quirky reputation,” he said. “A lot of visa applicants who came to the temple spread the word that they found success after praying here.”

    In 2009, his father, Jagannathan Radhakrishnan, reconstructed the temple and added the word “visa” to the temple’s name. Jagannathan said the success stories are heartwarming; visitors sometimes stop by his home to thank his family for keeping the temple open.

    “I’ve never been bothered by it,” Jagannathan said. “We offer this as a service to the public. It’s a joy to see how happy people are when they come back and tell us they got their visa.”

    His wife said she was touched by the story of a man who came all the way from New Delhi to pray for a visa to see his grandchild after eight years apart. She remembers another time when a woman called her in tears, saying her visa application was rejected.

    “Sure, some don’t get it,” she said. “God only knows why.”

    Padma Kannan brought her daughter, Monisha, who is preparing to pursue a master’s degree in marketing analytics in Clark University. Kannan believes her daughter got her visa because of this powerful deity.

    “I found this temple on Google,” she said. “I was so nervous for her, and so I prayed here.”

    Monisha Kannan said she is not so sure she got her visa because of this temple, but she said she came to support her mom.

    “I’m skeptical,” she said. “I’m just someone who goes with the flow.”

    Her mother takes a more philosophical stance.

    “We pray for our children and things happen easily for them,” she said. “I think when they go through the rigors of life themselves, they will start believing in the power of prayer.”

    Viswanathan said he is not someone “who usually believes in such things.” When his brother got his British visa a decade ago after offering prayers here, Viswanathan chalked it up to coincidence. He became a believer when his wife got her U.S. visa two years ago, he said.

    The day after he visited the temple this time, Viswanathan’s employment visa was approved. He’ll head to New Hampshire in a few months.

    “It’s all about faith,” he said. “If you believe it will happen, it will happen.”

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • China students return home amid fears of COVID-19 spread

    China students return home amid fears of COVID-19 spread

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    BEIJING (AP) — Some Chinese universities say they will allow students to finish the semester from home in hopes of reducing the potential for a bigger COVID-19 outbreak during the January Lunar New Year travel rush.

    It wasn’t clear how many schools were participating, but universities in Shanghai and nearby cities said students would be given the option of returning home early or staying on campus and undergoing testing every 48 hours. The Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 22, is traditionally China’s busiest travel season.

    Universities have had frequent lockdowns in the past three years, occasionally leading to clashes between authorities and students confined to campus or even their dorm rooms.

    With so many people staying home, Beijing’s downtown streets were eerily quiet Tuesday, giving it the feel of a voluntary lockdown. Small lines formed outside fever clinics — which have recently increased from 94 to 303 — and at pharmacies, where cold and flu medications are harder to find.

    Restaurants were mostly closed or empty, as many businesses are having difficulty finding enough staff who haven’t gotten infected. Sanlitun, one of Beijing’s most popular shopping districts, was deserted despite having its anti-COVID fences taken down in recent days.

    Tuesday’s announcements came as China begins relaxing its strict “zero-COVID” policy, allowing people with mild symptoms to stay home rather than be sent to a quarantine center, among other changes that followed widespread protests.

    Starting Tuesday, China stopped tracking some travel, potentially reducing the likelihood people will be forced into quarantine for visiting COVID-19 hot spots. Despite that, China’s international borders remain largely shut and there has been no word on when restrictions will be eased on inbound travelers and Chinese wanting to go overseas.

    The move follows the government’s dramatic announcement last week that it was ending many of the strictest measures, following three years during which it enforced some of the world’s tightest virus restrictions.

    Last month in Beijing and several other cities, protests over the restrictions grew into calls for leader Xi Jinping and the Communist Party to step down — a level of public dissent not seen in decades.

    While met with relief, the relaxation also has sparked concerns about a new wave of infections potentially overwhelming health care resources in some areas.

    Despite a push to boost vaccinations among the elderly, two centers set up in Beijing to administer shots were empty except for medical personnel. Despite fears of a major outbreak, there was little evidence of a surge in patient numbers.

    At the Beixinqiao district vaccination center, 10 nurses waiting to give shots stood in an otherwise empty auditorium. The nurses declined interviews, saying they needed official permission.

    “With the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus as it spreads around the world, our country is coming under increasing pressure, and the epidemic prevention control situation is serious and complicated,” a sign outside the office said.

    “The whole world agrees that getting vaccinated is the most effective way of combating the epidemic. … Please, elderly friends, get vaccinated as quickly and as early as possible!”

    While first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have invested heavily in their medical systems, less-developed cities and the vast rural hinterland have far fewer resources and will likely spell the difference on whether China finds itself overwhelmed.

    Many residents of mainland China have taken to ordering medication from pharmacies in Hong Kong, which has already relaxed many restrictions.

    The government of the semi-autonomous southern city took a further step Tuesday, saying it would remove restrictions for arriving travelers that currently prevent them from dining in restaurants or going to bars for the first three days.

    It would also scrap the use of its contact-tracing app, although vaccine requirements to enter venues like restaurants will remain in place. Those going from Hong Kong to mainland China and Macao will no longer have to take a PCR test at border checkpoints, although they still face several days in quarantine on the mainland side. The new measures take effect Wednesday.

    Hong Kong will gradually reduce PCR testing, including the compulsory screening notices issued to residential buildings, and more rapid test kits will be given out in the community, according to the city’s health minister.

    The easing of controls on the mainland means a sharp drop in obligatory testing from which daily infections numbers are compiled, but cases appear to be rising rapidly, with many people testing themselves at home and staying away from hospitals.

    China reported 7,451 new infections Monday, bringing the nation’s total to 372,763 — more than double the level on Oct. 1. It has recorded 5,235 deaths — compared with 1.1 million in the United States.

    China’s government-supplied figures have not been independently verified and questions have been raised about whether the Communist Party has sought to minimize numbers of cases and deaths.

    The U.S. consulates in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang and the central city of Wuhan will offer only emergency services from Tuesday “in response to increased number of COVID-19 cases,” the State Department said.

    “Mission China makes every effort to ensure full consular services are available to U.S. citizens living in the PRC, but further disruptions are possible,” an emailed message said, using the initials for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

    Xi’s government is still officially committed to stopping virus transmission. But the latest moves suggest the party will tolerate more cases without quarantines or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-COVID” strategy.

    Amid the unpredictable messaging from Beijing, experts warn there still is a chance the party might reverse course and reimpose restrictions if a large-scale outbreak ensues.

    The change in policy comes after protests erupted Nov. 25 after 10 people died in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi. Many questioned whether COVID-19 restrictions impeded rescue efforts. Authorities denied the claims spread online, but demonstrators gave voice to longstanding frustration in cities such as Shanghai that have endured severe lockdowns.

    The party responded with a massive show of force and an unknown number of people were arrested at the protests or in the days following.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Zen Soo and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong and Dake Kang in Beijing contributed.

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  • New Zealand PM Ardern caught name-calling rival on hot mic

    New Zealand PM Ardern caught name-calling rival on hot mic

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    WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was caught on a hot mic Tuesday using a vulgarity against a rival politician in a rare misstep for a leader known for her skill at debating and calm, measured responses.

    After five years as prime minister, Ardern faces a tough election campaign in 2023. Her liberal Labour Party won reelection two years ago in a landslide of historic proportions, but recent polls have put her party behind its conservative rivals.

    The comment came after lawmaker David Seymour, who leads the libertarian ACT party, peppered Ardern with questions about her government’s record for around seven minutes during Parliament’s Question Time, which allows for spirited debate between rival parties.

    As an aside to her deputy Grant Robertson, Ardern said what sounded like, “He’s such an arrogant pr———,” after sitting down. Her words are barely audible on Parliament TV but are just picked up in the background by her desk microphone as House Speaker Adrian Rurawhe talks.

    Ardern’s office said she apologized to Seymour for the comment. When asked by The Associated Press to clarify, Ardern’s office did not dispute the comment. In an interview with the AP, Seymour said she had used those words.

    “I’m absolutely shocked and astonished at her use of language,” Seymour said. “It’s very out of character for Jacinda, and I’ve personally known her for 11 years.”

    He said it was also ironic because his question to the prime minister had been about whether she had ever admitted a mistake as leader and then fixed it. “And she couldn’t give a single example of when she’s admitted she’s wrong and apologized,” Seymour said.

    Seymour said that in her text, Ardern wrote that she “apologized, she shouldn’t have made the comments, and that, as her mom said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it.”

    Seymour, who said he admired some of Ardern’s political skills immensely, said he’d written back to Ardern thanking her for the apology and wishing her a very Merry Christmas.

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  • Witnesses Recount Heartbreaking Last Moments Of Soccer Journalist Grant Wahl

    Witnesses Recount Heartbreaking Last Moments Of Soccer Journalist Grant Wahl

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    “Every once in a while, you hear the keen edge of panic in someone’s voice and know that death and his friends are nearby,” London Sunday Times reporter Josh Glancy chillingly recalled about the sudden death at the World Cup of Grant Wahl, “probably the best known” soccer writer in America.

    Glancy was transfixed at the time, along with a horde of other sports writers, by the edge-of-your-seat Dutch soccer battle against Argentina in Doha, Qatar, early Saturday.

    But then a “panicked voice” called out from the press box, yelling: “We need a medic!” Glancy recounted in the Times Saturday.

    “We all turned around to see a man in terrifying distress just behind us, clearly suffering some form of attack or seizure. We bellowed for a medic,” Glancy wrote.

    Keir Radnedge, a columnist at World Soccer Magazine, also told CNN that colleagues near him began shouting for medical assistance after Wahl, 48, collapsed. Chairs were moved to make space for Wahl so medics could help him, he recalled.

    Medics quickly arrived, and Glancy said he was “momentarily reassured,” hoping it was merely a fleeting seizure, or an allergic reaction to something. But when they began administering CPR, indicating Wahl’s heart had stopped, the entire press box was “gripped with anxiety,” Glancy recounted.

    AL KHOR, QATAR – DECEMBER 10: Flowers and a picture in memory of Grant Wahl, an American sports journalist who passed away whilst reporting on the Argentina and Netherlands match, are placed prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 quarter final match between England and France at Al Bayt Stadium on December 10, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar. (Photo by Hector Vivas – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

    Hector Vivas – FIFA via Getty Images

    A journalist with first aid training and two medics continued to take turns to pump Wahl’s chest, he said. Two New York Times journalists who were on the scene said medics performed chest compressions and other treatment for about 20 minutes before Wahl was taken out of Doha’s Lusail Iconic Stadium.

    Shockingly, there was no defibrillator to use, Glancy said. “Why wasn’t there a defibrillator? That was the question we kept asking each other, as the medics pumped and pumped to no avail,” Glancy wrote.

    Wahl’s friends from different parts of the press box gathered around him. One of them, soccer journalist Guillem Balague, muttered: “This isn’t real.”

    Eventually Wahl, his face covered, was taken away on a stretcher. Just minutes earlier, he’d been laughing and tweeting excitedly about the game.

    “Godspeed, my friend,” Balague tweeted later. “If I get asked what journalism is, I’ll say your name. Your loyalty, sense of humor, affection, your dress code! will never be forgotten,” he added, referring to a rainbow shirt Wahl wore that angered Qatar authorities.

    “You have been taken form us far too early,” Balague added. “There was still so much to write, live and discuss.”

    A cause of death has not yet been determined. Wahl had reportedly complained for days about not feeling well and having trouble sleeping.

    Wahl was a soccer analyst for CBS Sports and a longtime reporter for Sports Illustrated. He was an outspoken critic of Qatar and its oppression of the LGBTQ community. He posed a photo of himself outside the United States’ game against Wales in a rainbow flag T-shirt — for which he was briefly detained. He said his phone was “ripped” from his hands by a guard and he was told to remove his shirt. Same-sex relationships are illegal in Qatar.

    Family, friends, colleagues and sports fans were devastated by Wahl’s death.

    “The entire U.S. soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” said an unsigned statement from the United States Soccer Federation. “His writing and the stories he told will live on.”

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