washington — Media groups have welcomed the life sentence handed to a French jihadi linked to the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack.

A French court last week found Peter Cherif guilty of “belonging to a criminal organization” in connection to his work with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, according to AFP.

Cherif, 42, is suspected of training Chérif Kouachi, one of the people who carried out a deadly attack on staff at the French satirical magazine on Jan. 7, 2015.

“This is a very important verdict on the global level,” Pavol Szalai, of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, told VOA. “It shows that not only the justice for assassination of media professionals can be served, but that it can also go beyond the sentencing of the direct perpetrators.”

Szalai told VOA that Cherif was in the “middle of the chain of command” in planning the attacks.

In the trial, prosecutors called Cherif a “jihadist through and through” and a “cornerstone of planning” for the attacks.

Cherif was not charged with complicity in the Charlie Hebdo attack. Instead, prosecutors used a broader terrorism claim, according to AFP.

“I feel like I’ve taken part in a rigged match,” Nabil El Ouchikli, Cherif’s defense lawyer, was cited as saying.

The decision to sentence Cherif to life in prison was made “in view of the seriousness of the acts,” the president of the court said at the sentencing.

Eight members of Charlie Hebdo’s editorial staff, along with a former journalist visiting their office, a maintenance worker, a police officer and a police bodyguard died in the attack.

Kouachi and his brother stormed an editorial meeting and opened fire on the media outlet’s Paris office. It was the largest massacre of media professionals in France since World War II, according to Szalai.

The assailants were killed during a gunfight with police on January 9.

The 2015 attack stemmed from “religious intolerance” of journalists and Charlie Hebdo’s work, Szalai said.

Attila Mong, from the Committee to Protect Journalists, said that all perpetrators, no matter their level of involvement, should be brought to justice.

“This latest verdict sends an important message to violent extremists that they will not have the last word and their attempts to silence free speech will not prevail,” Mong told VOA in an email.

More than 1,600 journalists have been killed since 1993, according to the UNESCO observatory of killed journalists. However, only one in 10 of such cases result in a conviction.

Although Szalai called France’s verdict “good news for press freedom,” he said in most cases of slain journalists they have yet to secure justice. Many times, an intermediary is punished but those higher up in the chain of command are not, he told VOA.

He cited the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia, an anti-corruption reporter murdered seven years ago in Malta.

In that case, several people have been charged but there has yet to be a trial for the alleged mastermind.

Similarly, after the 2018 Slovakia murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancée, those who carried out the attack are in prison but the suspected mastermind has been acquitted twice. The second acquittal is still awaiting a Supreme Court appeal.

“In none of those cases has complete justice been served,” Szalai said.
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Tirana, Albania — Opposition forces in Albania on Monday were holding a nationwide protest in the country’s capital demanding that the government be replaced by a technocratic caretaker Cabinet before next year’s parliamentary election.

The conservative opposition accuses the leftist government of manipulating earlier voting and of usurping powers, including that of the judiciary.

The Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha has been holding protests at the parliament in the last week after one of their colleagues was convicted of slander and imprisoned, which they considered as being politically motivated.

Ervin Salianji in 2018 demanded the resignation of the then interior minister over allegations of his brother’s illegal activity that later proved to be fabricated. Salianji, who began serving a one-year sentence more than a week ago, has appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court.

The Democrats are asking for a Cabinet made up of technocrats and blaming Prime Minister Edi Rama of the governing leftist Socialist Party of manipulating earlier voting. They have long accused Rama’s Socialists of usurping power, including the judiciary, and have staged violent protests against the government since 2013.

The Democrats also call for Berisha’s release from house arrest which he was put under during an investigation of alleged corruption.

The opposition has called for civil disobedience, starting the protest with a gathering in front of the main government building, where there will be no speeches, and then extending it by blocking traffic at Tirana’s main intersections.

A vehicle tire was burned in front of the presidential office, not far from the main government offices.

Hundreds of police officers, equipped with anti-gas masks, have taken up positions to protect the government’s main institutions. Police have said that traffic is blocked on many streets in downtown Tirana.

The U.S. Embassy in Tirana has warned its citizens to stay away from the protest.

Albania holds a parliamentary election next year.

The European Union and the United States have urged the opposition to resume dialogue with the government, saying violence won’t help the country integrate into the 27-nation bloc.

In 2020, the EU decided to launch full membership negotiations with Albania, and later this month Tirana will start discussions with the bloc on how it aligns with the rule of law, functioning of democratic institutions and the fight against corruption.
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MOSCOW — A Russian court on Monday sentenced a 72-year-old American in a closed trial to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. 

Prosecutors said Stephen Hubbard signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and he fought alongside them until being captured two months later. 

He was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a general-security prison. Prosecutors had called for a sentence of seven years in a maximum-security prison. 

Hubbard, from the state of Michigan, is the first American known to have been convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in the Ukrainian conflict. 

The charges carried a potential sentence of 15 years, but prosecutors asked that his age be taken into account along with his admission of guilt, Russian news reports said. 

Arrests of Americans have become increasingly common in Russia in recent years. Concern has risen that Russia could be targeting U.S. nationals for arrest to use later as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the U.S. and Europe. 

Also on Monday, a court in the city of Voronezh sentenced American Robert Gilman to seven years and 1 month for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for another assault. 

According to Russian news reports, Gilman was arrested in 2022 for causing a disturbance while intoxicated on a passenger train and then assaulted a police officer while in custody. He is serving a 3 1/2-year sentence on that charge. 

Last year, he assaulted a prison inspector during a cell check, then hit an official of the Investigative Committee, resulting in the new sentence, state news agency RIA-Novosti said. 

The U.S. and Russia in August completed their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people, many months of negotiations and concessions from other European countries, which released Russians in their custody as part of the exchange. Several U.S. citizens remain behind bars in Russia following the swap. 
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London — A record 973 migrants crossed the Channel on small boats on the same day in which four died while attempting the journey from France to England, U.K. Home Office figures showed Sunday.

The figure for Saturday is the highest single-day number of migrants making the cross-Channel journey this year, surpassing the previous high of 882 set on June 18.  

On the same day, a two-year-old boy and three adults died after overloaded boats got into trouble during the dangerous crossing attempted by several thousand every year.

The tragedies bring the number of migrants who have died attempting Channel crossings this year to 51, according to Jacques Billant, France’s prefect for the Pas-de-Calais region.  

Over 26,600 migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats in 2024 according to U.K. Home Office figures.

Saturday’s deaths were likely caused due to the victims being crushed in overloaded dinghies, according to authorities and prosecutors.

U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Saturday that it was “appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel.”  

“Criminal smuggler gangs continue to organize these dangerous boat crossings,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“The gangs do not care if people live or die — this is a terrible trade in lives.”

Keir Starmer’s new Labour government has been at pains to reduce cross-Channel arrivals in small boats, a key issue in this year’s general election in July.

The government has repeatedly pledged to “smash the gangs” of people smugglers who organize the perilous journeys.
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Kyiv, Ukraine — Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on a surprise visit to Kyiv on Sunday that his country will invest 400 million euros ($440 million) in advanced drone development with Ukraine and deliver more F-16s in the coming months. 

More than 2-1/2 years since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Ukraine is fighting to thwart Russia’s troops as they inch forward in the east and attack critical infrastructure ahead of the winter months. 

“The war, of course, is intensifying every day, and Ukraine is setting up more brigades who all need support, who all need military equipment. We need to have this continuous flow of support,” Brekelmans told Reuters in Kyiv. 

The drone action plan will combine Ukraine’s innovation and Dutch knowledge to improve technology used on the battlefield, he said. 

“We will focus on different types of drones, so both surveillance drones, more defensive drones, but also the attack drones, because we see that Ukraine needs those more offensive drones also to target military facilities,” Brekelmans said. 

Around half of the investment will be spent in the Netherlands, while the rest will be split between Ukraine and other countries, he added. 

If the developed drones are successful, more funding will be available to scale up production, according to the defense minister. 

The Netherlands has pledged 10 billion euros ($11 billion) in military support for Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion and spent around 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) so far. 

Air defense 

After visiting the city of Kharkiv, pummeled by Russian glide bombs Saturday,  

Brekelmans said attacking military targets in Russia was the only way to defend the city. 

Ukraine has asked its partners to give it permission to use their weapons to strike targets deep in Russia and provide it with more air defenses. 

The Netherlands has contributed to its air defense support by driving international partners to supply Ukraine with F-16 jets and pledging 24 of them. 

The first batch of planes from the Netherlands is already operating in Ukrainian airspace, according to the minister, while the others will be delivered “in the upcoming months and maybe beginning of next year.” 

The country is also delivering reserve parts, ammunition and fuel for jets as it seeks to expand pilot training opportunities through meeting with partner countries and private sector players like Lockheed Martin to keep jets operational, he said. 

The Netherlands has also announced a plan to assemble a Patriot air-defense system for Ukraine relying on parts from different countries, but Brekelmans said it had struggled to source some parts. 

He said Ukraine was already using one Dutch-supplied Patriot radar and “three launchers are going to be delivered very soon.” 
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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Rescue teams from Bosnia’s neighbors and European Union countries on Sunday were joining efforts to clear the rubble and find people still missing from floods and landslides that devastated parts of the Balkan country.

Bosnia sought EU help after a heavy rainstorm overnight on Friday left entire areas under water and debris destroyed roads and bridges, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens.

Officials said that at least 10 people are still unaccounted for, many of them in the village of Donja Jablanica, in southern Bosnia, which was almost completely buried in rocks and rubble from a quarry on a hill above.

Residents there have said they heard a thundering rumble and saw houses disappear before their eyes.

Luigi Soreca, who heads the EU mission in Bosnia, said on X that the EU stands with Bosnia and that teams are arriving to help. Bosnia is a candidate country for membership in the 27-nation bloc.

Authorities said Croatian rescuers have already arrived while a team from Serbia is expected to be deployed in the afternoon, followed by a Slovenian team with dogs. Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Czechia and Turkey have also offered help, a government statement said.

Sunday is the date of a local election in Bosnia. Election authorities have postponed voting in the flood-hit regions, but the flooding has overshadowed the vote across the country.

Ismeta Bucalovic, a resident of Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, said, “We are all overwhelmed by these flooding events. We all think only about that.”

Impoverished and ethnically divided, Bosnia has struggled to recover after the brutal war in 1992-95. The country is plagued by political bickering and corruption, stalling its EU bid.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday announced he will appoint 21 new cardinals of the global Catholic Church, in an unexpected push to influence the powerful group of churchmen that will one day choose his successor.

The ceremony to install the new appointees, known as a consistory, will be held on December 8, the 87-year-old pope announced during his weekly noon-time prayer with pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square.

It will be the tenth consistory called by the pope since his election 11 years ago as the first pontiff from Latin America.

Although popes may choose to appoint cardinals at any time, Francis’s decision to make new appointments now comes as something of a surprise.

As of the pope’s announcement there were 122 cardinals under 80 and able to vote in a future conclave. Church law technically limits the number of such cardinals to 120, but recent popes have frequently gone above that number.

Two of the cardinals currently able to vote in a conclave will age out by the end of the year. A further 13 will cross the threshold through the end of 2025.

All cardinals, regardless of their age, are allowed to take part in pre-conclave meetings, known as General Congregations, giving them a say in the type of person they think the younger cardinals should choose.

Cardinals rank second only to the pope in the Church hierarchy and serve as his closest advisers. Due to their historical power and influence, they are still called the princes of the Church, although Francis has told them not to live like royalty and to be close to the poor.
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rome — Blocking a road to protest inaction against climate change could soon be punishable with prison in Italy as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government cracks down on demonstrations, even peaceful ones.

A new security law passed by MPs and facing final scrutiny in the Senate has been dubbed the “anti-Gandhi” law — after pacifist Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi — by critics for taking aim at demonstrations by people ranging from prisoners to climate activists.

It is specifically aimed at protests of two major infrastructure projects — a high-speed, cross-border Turin-Lyon railway to France and a mooted bridge over the Strait of Messina to Sicily — both championed by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

Salvini, who also has responsibility for transport and infrastructure, is a defender of the combustion engine and crusades against “climate terrorism,” particularly the young members of the Last Generation, a climate group known for headline-grabbing protests.

Under the new law, blocking a road outside the authorized route of a demonstration could be punishable by up to two years in prison, up from the current penalty of a fine between 1,000 and 4,000 euros ($1,100 to $4,393).

Critics see it as a deliberate attempt to silence dissent by Italy’s most right-wing government since the end of World War II.

But Salvini, head of the far-right League party, rejected accusations of a “police state,” insisting: “Good people have nothing to fear.”

Ideological madness

Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party took office in October 2022 after an election victory fueled by anti-immigration, nationalist and populist rhetoric, forming a coalition with the League and the right-wing Forza Italia party.

The government has since passed numerous laws and measures designed to please their right-wing base, from legislation limiting the activities of charities that rescue migrants at sea to reinforcing an existing ban on surrogacy and clamping down on juvenile crime.

With the security law, “the government wants to charm the part of society that continues to vote mainly for far-right parties,” many of them older people “who are much less sensitive to issues of civil rights, the labor crisis and climate change,” said Anna Bonalume, a journalist who closely follows Salvini.

Opposition parties are up in arms.

“We have never faced such an attack on democratic civilization such as that brought by the Meloni government,” Giuseppe De Marzo, national coordinator of the Even Numbers Network of civil society groups, told AFP at a recent protest of the bill outside parliament.

The opposition Five Star Movement condemned it as a “deeply oppressive measure that has the explicit intention of intimidating… political and social dissent.”

The bill also plans to lift a ban on jailing pregnant women or those with a child under one year old, and to penalize prisoners who protest their conditions.

Italy is ranked the sixth-worst European country for prison overcrowding, with 109 inmates for every 100 places, according to the Council of Europe.

But the law would make it an offense to demonstrate in a prison, even through “passive resistance,” such as disobeying an order.

On the flip side, the legislation proposes the filming of police interrogations.

“The security bill is a real attack on democracy and the rule of law,” said the Green and Left Alliance.

The secretary-general of the center-left More Europe, MP Riccardo Magi, called it “ideological madness.”
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ULM, Germany — The Ulmer Münster in southern Germany is the world’s tallest church. For now, anyway.

The Gothic-style Lutheran church’s reign — begun in May 31, 1890 — could end in 2025, when La Sagrada Familia Basilica’s “Tower of Jesus Christ” in Spain is set to be completed. At an eventual 172.5 meters high, the Catholic basilica in Barcelona should inch out the Ulmer Münster by a mere 11 meters.

But La Sagrada Familia ‘s construction has taken 142 years and counting. The ultimate completion could come in 2026, 100 years since the death of the original Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí. Ironically, when the basilica reaches its final height, it will be thanks to a 17-meter cross that was made by a German company.

Still, the Ulmer Münster’s lead pastor isn’t upset.

“I don’t find it all that fascinating that it is the highest church tower in the world,” Dean Torsten Krannich told The Associated Press. “The church also lifts my heart up to God. This is simply a wonderful church that invites you to pray and be thankful.”

After all, Ulm will always have Albert Einstein. The physicist was born there in 1879 and lived in Ulm for the first 15 months of his life. His extended family remained, and he returned and climbed the church’s tower in 1923.

In addition to a stained glass window inside the Ulmer Münster that features Einstein and other famous scientists, the head of communications for Ulm’s tourism board is quick to point out that the rest of the city has “a very high density of art and culture.”

“We can inspire the guests who come here even when we no longer have the highest church in the world, but only have the second-highest,” Dirk Homburg said.

The Ulmer Münster’s history dates to 1377, when Ulm’s citizens decided to demolish their old parish church. Located outside the city gates, it could be a perilous trek for congregants during the frequent wars of the Middle Ages. The residents chose to finance the building of a new one in the city’s center themselves, and planned for it to have the highest spire in the world.

Construction paused in 1543 when, in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the city’s leaders decided to stop the work amid political and economic turbulence. Building resumed in 1844 and by May 31, 1890, the church was complete.

Reaching a record 161.5 meters high, the Ulmer Münster was built deliberately to be taller than the Cologne Cathedral in northwest Germany — which topped out at 157.2 meters in 1880.

Although Ulm was destroyed by a World War II bombing raid in 1944, the church itself remained upright. But the Ulmer Münster’s age, as well as weather impacts and some 1 million annual visitors, mean that construction and restoration occur constantly amid tourism and religious services.

For example, visitors can currently climb 560 stairs to the viewing platform at 102 meters. The platform at 143 meters — 768 stairs — is closed due to stairwell repairs.

Krannich said it remains special regardless.

“Whether the tower is now 5 meters higher or 5 meters lower, it doesn’t matter to the quality of this church,” he said.

Ursula Heckler, a two-time visitor to the church, said she initially journeyed to Ulm in 2019 because she, like many others who trek there, knew it was the world’s tallest. She doesn’t plan to visit La Sagrada Familia when it takes over.

Christos Kalokerinos, a native Ulmer, is unruffled by the looming loss of status.

“There are so many other nice things about the Münster that it’s not really relevant,” he said. “I think most people think that way, too. But of course it was also great to brag a bit about the fact that we have the highest church tower — because many, many people don’t necessarily know Ulm that way.”

Indeed, there are few indications of the record in the city. The gift shop inside the church just has a fake fireplace labeled “the world’s tallest church,” and the only reference in a tourism store across the street appeared to be a postcard stacking the church’s height up against the Great Pyramid of Giza, Big Ben and the Statue of Liberty. All are shorter than the Ulmer Münster.

Apparently the region’s residents, known as Swabians, “prefer understatement.”

“They don’t want to tell everyone that they’re the greatest,” Krannich said. “Not everyone needs to know. It’s enough if we know it.”

But next year?

“We’re going to involve Albert Einstein a bit more in our marketing,” Homburg said.
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budapest, hungary — Thousands of protesters gathered outside the headquarters of Hungary’s public media corporation Saturday to demonstrate against what they say is an entrenched propaganda network operated by the nationalist government at taxpayer expense. 

The protest was organized by Hungary’s most prominent opposition figure, Peter Magyar, and his upstart TISZA party, which has emerged in recent months as the most serious political challenge for Prime Minister Viktor Orban since he took power nearly 15 years ago. 

Magyar, whose party received nearly 30% of the vote in European Union elections this summer and is polling within a few points of the governing Fidesz party, has been outspoken about what he sees as the damage Orban’s “propaganda factory” has done to Hungary’s democracy. 

“What is happening here in Hungary in 2024, and calling itself ‘public service’ media, is a global scandal,” Magyar told the crowd in Budapest on Saturday. “Enough of the nastiness, enough of the lies, enough of the propaganda. Our patience has run out. The time for confrontation has come.” 

Observers say press freedom under threat

Both Hungarian and international observers have long warned that press freedom in the Central European country was under threat, and that Orban’s party has used media buyouts by government-connected business tycoons to build a pro-government media empire. 

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders estimates that such buyouts have given Orban’s party control of some 80% of Hungary’s media market resources. In 2021, the group put Orban on its list of media “predators,” the first EU leader to earn the distinction. 

On Saturday, Balazs Tompe, a protester who traveled several hours to attend the demonstration, called the state media headquarters a “factory of lies.” 

“The propaganda goes out at such a level and is so unbalanced that it’s blood boiling, and I think we need to raise our voices,” he said. “It’s nonsense that only government propaganda comes out in the media that is financed by the taxpayers.” 

‘Public only hears from one side’

A retired teacher from southern Hungary, Agnes Gera, said dissenting voices were censored from the public media, limiting Hungarians’ access to information about political alternatives. 

“It’s very burdensome and unfortunate that the system works this way where the public only hears from one side and don’t even know about the other side,” she said. 

Magyar demanded the resignation of the public media director, and echoed complaints from many opposition politicians that they are not provided the opportunity to appear on public television to communicate with voters. 

He called his supporters to another demonstration on October 23, a national holiday commemorating Hungary’s failed revolution against Soviet domination in 1956.  
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paris — Several people, including a child, died while trying to cross the English Channel from France to England, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Saturday. 

Attempts to cross the channel in small, overloaded boats are frequent despite strong currents in what is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. 

“Smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will step up the fight against these mafias that organize these deadly crossings,” Retailleau said on social media platform X. 

Fourteen people were on the boat. One was flown by helicopter to a hospital after a search and rescue operation was conducted Saturday morning, local maritime authorities said. 

The incident was the latest in a series this year, including one last month in which 12 migrants died when their boat capsized in the channel. 
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beijing — The European Commission’s decision to press ahead with tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles threatens to undermine decades of cooperation between China and the EU, and endangers climate-change goals, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

On Friday, the EU said it would push forward with hefty tariffs on China-made EVs, even after the bloc’s largest economy Germany rejected them. The dispute is its biggest trade row with Beijing in a decade.

State-run Xinhua said the move revealed a “deep-seated protectionist impulse.”

“Instead of fostering co-operation, these tariffs risk sparking a trade conflict that could harm not only China-EU relations but also Europe’s own ambition for a green transition,” it said.

“The path forward is clear: Protectionist tariffs must be abandoned in favor of continued negotiations.”

European imports of Chinese-made EVs have soared in recent years, raising concerns among some domestic EV producers that they could suffer significant losses from a wave of cheap Chinese electric vehicles.

The proposed duties on EVs built in China of up to 45% would cost carmakers billions of extra dollars to bring cars into the bloc and are set to be imposed from next month for five years.

The Commission, which oversees the bloc’s trade policy, has said the tariffs would counter what it sees as unfair Chinese subsidies after a yearlong anti-subsidy investigation. It said on Friday, however, that it would continue talks with Beijing.

A possible compromise could be to set minimum sales prices.

China’s Commerce Ministry has expressed strong opposition to the planned tariffs, calling them “unfair, non-compliant and unreasonable.” It has launched a challenge to them at the World Trade Organization.

In what has been seen as retaliatory moves, Beijing this year launched probes into imports of EU brandy, dairy and pork products.

The U.S. imposes a 100% duty on imported Chinese EVs.
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Mozelos, Portugal — Portugal, the world’s leading cork producer, is finding new uses for the material, from footwear to furniture, as demand for wine bottle stoppers wanes.

Producers highlight the environmentally friendly properties of cork, which is lightweight, recyclable, waterproof and fire-resistant, to encourage its use in diverse settings.

Cork is obtained by stripping the bark of cork oak trees every nine years in a careful process that allows the tree to regenerate and grow, making the industry naturally sustainable.

The material has “a negative carbon footprint because it comes from a tree that captures CO2 day and night”, Antonio Rios de Amorim, the CEO of the world’s largest cork producer Corticeira Amorim, told AFP.

The push to diversify comes as global sales of wine decline, reducing demand for cork wine stoppers which have long faced competition from cheaper plastic stoppers and screw tops.

“Periods of slowdown must be used to question what we do,” said Amorim, whose ancestors founded Corticeira Amorim 154 years ago in the northern village of Mozelos, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of second city Porto.

Booster rockets, metro seats

Thanks to cork’s cell-like structure, the material is elastic and highly impermeable, making it suitable to make shoes as well as ties, pants and other clothes.

Furniture designers are also increasingly drawn to the material.

British designer Tom Dixon has called it a “dream material” and put out a range of dark cork furniture that includes tables, stools and shelves using cork from Portugal.

The Lisbon metro in 2020 replaced the fabric lining on all seats of its train fleet with cork, an easier to maintain material.

Builders have been drawn to the material because of its unique thermal insulation and sound absorption properties.

Cork is also finding its way into space. It is used in thermal protection coating on booster rockets because of its resistance “to strong variations in temperature”, said Amorim.

Making wine bottle stoppers, however, remains the main activity for Portugal’s cork industry, which employs around 8,000 people.

Corticeira Amorim makes some six billion cork wine bottle stoppers per year, almost all of them for export mainly to Chile, France and the United States.

It accounts for 70 percent of the global market share for cork stoppers and posted sales of 985 million euros (one billion dollars) in 2023, slightly lower than in the previous year.

Traditional methods

Cork is made from the bark of the cork oak (Quercus suber) found in countries of the Mediterranean basin.

Portugal is home to about a third of the world’s total area dedicated to this tree — more than any other country — and accounts for nearly half the world’s supply of cork.

There are also plantations in France, Spain, Italy. Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

In the province of Ribatejo around 80 kilometers east of Lisbon, cork oaks stretch as far as the eye can see.

The bark is removed from the tree in summer using traditional methods handed down from generation to generation.

It is a highly precise technique “that takes several years to learn”, said Nelson Ferreira, a 43-year-old cork bark harvester, adding he takes great care not to damage the tree.

The bark is then taken to Corticeira Amorim’s factories in the north of Portugal where it is steam-treated, cut into smaller pieces and then fed into machines that punch out stoppers.

The preservation of cork oaks is crucial for Portugal, which has made them a protected species since it takes an average of 40 years for a tree to start producing cork that can be used by cork makers.
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milan — Ticket prices for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics range from 30 euros (U.S. $33) for men’s and women’s preliminary hockey games all the way up to nearly 3,000 euros ($3,300) for the most costly seats at the closing ceremony inside Verona’s Arena, a large Roman amphitheater. 

The most expensive sports event is the men’s hockey final with prices ranging from 450 to 1,400 euros ($500 to $1,545). 

Local organizers announced Thursday that more than 20% of the tickets for the games in February, 2026, are available for under 40 euros ($44) and more than half are priced at under 100 euros ($110). 

Anyone interested in attending should register on the official ticketing platform to enter a draw that will allocate specific time slots for purchasing tickets in the first phase of sales. 

Ticket prices for the Winter Paralympics in March, 2026, start at 10 euros ($11) for children under 14, with more than 200,000 tickets — about 90% of the total — available for less than ($40) euros each. 

It’s not necessary to register for a draw for Paralympics tickets, which will go on sale in March, 2025. 

Starting in April, 2025, both Olympic and Paralympic tickets will be available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis, with no need to register in advance. 

The 2026 Games will be held across a large swath of northern Italy, with ice sports in Milan, Alpine skiing in Bormio and Cortina, snowboard and freestyle in Livigno, Nordic sports in Val di Fiemme and biathlon in Anterselva. 

Questions remain whether the sliding center in Cortina will be completed in time or if bobsled, luge and skeleton events will be moved to another track in Austria (Igls), Switzerland (St. Moritz) or New York (Lake Placid). 
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moscow — A court in Minsk sentenced a dozen individuals to prison terms of between two  and 25 years Friday for helping commit what Belarus has called an “act of terrorism” at a military airfield outside the capital last year. 

A group of Belarusian anti-government activists said in February 2023 that they had blown up a sophisticated Russian military surveillance aircraft in a drone attack at the base. 

Russia and Belarus dismissed the assertion as fake, with Belarusian state television publishing footage showing what it said was the undamaged Beriev A-50 surveillance craft. 

About a week later, Minsk said it had detained a “terrorist” and more than 20 accomplices over attempted sabotage at the airfield. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, alleged at the time that Ukrainian security services and the U.S. Central Intelligence agency were behind the operation. He said the aircraft had suffered only superficial damage in the attack, which was carried out using a “small drone,” the Belta news agency reported. 

On Friday, Belarus’ general prosecutor’s office said the Minsk City Court had sentenced 12 individuals after finding them guilty of terrorism, extremism and other serious crimes. 

The main defendant, Ukrainian national Nikolai Shvets, was sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison. Shvets, who gave an interview to Belarusian state television last April in which he detailed how he planned the attack, was released in a prisoner exchange with Ukraine in June, according to Belarusian rights group Viasna. 

It was not clear how many of the others were sentenced in absentia. 
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london — With an escalating war in the Middle East, uncertainty over Western military aid for Ukraine, and the U.S. presidential election looming next month, new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has no time to settle in.

The former Dutch prime minister was appointed to the role at a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, where he told delegates that “there can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” and affirmed that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.”

On Thursday, Rutte was welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Kyiv.

Zelenskyy wasted no time in relaying his demands.

“We have discussed the most urgent needs of our troops, the weapons and the recruitment to the brigades,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference alongside Rutte on Thursday. “We will have more time today to discuss more details on how to strengthen Ukraine’s positions on the front so that we can exert more pressure on Russia in order to support just and realistic diplomacy. That is why we need sufficient quantity and quality of weapons, including long-range weapons, the decision on which, in my opinion, our Western partners are delaying,” he told reporters.

Ukraine wants to use Western long-range missiles on targets inside Russia. The U.S. and other allies are holding back, fearing escalation with Moscow.

NATO’s new secretary-general made his position clear.

“Ukraine obviously has the right to defend itself and international law is on the side of Ukraine, meaning that this right does not end at the border. Russia is pursuing this illegal war … targeting Russian fighter jets and missiles before they can be used against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure can help save lives,” Rutte told reporters.

Ukraine’s president was asked whether he feared the world was forgetting about his country, amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

“I wish that Ukraine is not forgotten,” Zelenskyy said. “And the best way to show this is by giving particular weapons, by giving particular permissions. And help to shoot down hostile drones — by the way, the same Iranian rockets and drones — to shoot them down the same way as they are shot down in the sky of Israel. Do the same over the skies of Ukraine.”

Rutte is a longtime ally of Ukraine, noted analyst Armida van Rij, a senior research fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House.

“While he was prime minister of the Netherlands, he was very supportive of Ukraine. He’s the one who signed off on the F-16s [fighter jets] deal for Ukraine as well. So, there is that history of support,” van Rij told VOA.

However, Rutte is facing headwinds as he tries to boost military support for Ukraine among NATO allies.

Next month, U.S. voters will choose a new president: Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. Rutte said he would work with whoever is elected — but neither outcome will be straightforward, said van Rij.

“There is a real risk for Ukraine that Trump may try to force Ukraine’s hand and force Ukraine to capitulate to Russia, which would be terrible for European security. That’s the first challenge. But the second challenge is even if Vice President Harris were to win the U.S. elections, she may still face a divided Congress and she may still struggle to pass aid packages in support for Ukraine through Congress.”

Either scenario would require European NATO allies to step up their military aid.

“And there again, there’s challenges because many countries have depleted their stocks. They’ve given as much as they feel comfortable with at this point. What I would like to see is to think through some of the practical ways in which we can advance EU and NATO collaborations specifically on this issue of developing a European defense industrial base,” van Rij told VOA.

There are fears in Europe that a victory for Trump could upend the United States’ relationship with NATO.

“Like [former NATO Secretary-General Jens] Stoltenberg, Rutte is known as a ‘Trump whisperer.’ He is one of the few European politicians who developed a good working relationship with Donald Trump. However, a potential second Trump term could prove much more disruptive, with less U.S. aid to Ukraine, more concessions to Russia and further questioning of the value of NATO,” said Oana Lungescu, a distinguished fellow at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and a former NATO spokesperson, in an email to VOA.

The Kremlin said this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin knew Rutte well from his time as Dutch prime minister.

“At that time there were hopes of building good pragmatic relations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a phone call Tuesday. “But we know what followed — the Netherlands adopted a rather defiant attitude to fully exclude all contacts with Russia. So, we don’t think that anything new or significant will happen with the policy of the [NATO] alliance,” Peskov said.

Meanwhile, Rutte takes the helm of NATO as it faces an increasingly assertive China.

“On Ukraine, everyone’s very much on the same line. On China, there’s still some allies saying, ‘We’re not sure we need to quite go into the Indo-Pacific theater.’ In a scenario where U.S. resources and capabilities are drawn elsewhere, i.e., the Indo-Pacific, Europeans have to be able to fend for themselves — including look after Ukraine in the current short-term scenario,” van Rij told VOA.

Rutte said another priority would be to strengthen NATO’s partnerships with allies outside the alliance in an interconnected world.

His primary focus must be on keeping NATO members safe, said Lungescu of RUSI.

“As NATO secretary-general, Rutte must take the lead in arguing for more defense spending across the alliance,” Lungescu said. “He should make a strong case not just about figures and percentages, but about the concrete capabilities that are needed to keep NATO nations safe in a dangerous world.”
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