washington — While the Belarusian government continues a long-running clampdown on use of the Belarusian language, exiled news outlets are leading the fight to keep their language — and cultural identity — alive.

Although Belarusian has been the country’s official language since Belarus declared independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, there has been an ongoing process of Russification since President Alexander Lukashenko came to power in 1994. 

That process has only accelerated since 2020 when Lukashenko — seen by some to be a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin — declared victory in an election that was widely viewed as fraudulent. Since then, the Belarusian government has grown increasingly hostile toward Belarusian as the language has become more and more associated with resistance toward Lukashenko’s rule. 

As Minsk continues to grow closer to Moscow, Belarusian media outlets that left the country following the 2020 elections see it as their duty to help keep the Belarusian language alive through their reporting, multiple media leaders told VOA. 

“It’s a strategic move to preserve the language, to preserve the culture, which is being actively attacked,” said Natalia Belikova, head of international cooperation at Press Club Belarus in Poland’s capital Warsaw. 

Belarusian not illegal, but unwelcome

Speaking Belarusian isn’t illegal in Belarus, but the government has long made clear its preference for Russian, which has been the other official language in Belarus since 1995. Belarusian is more similar to Ukrainian than Russian.

Instead of outlawing Belarusian entirely, the government has taken steps like targeting Belarusian-language newspapers and bookstores. Classes in school are more often taught in Russian, and there aren’t any universities where Belarusian is the primary language. Government officials tend to speak Russian, and government documents are often in Russian, too. 

“The presence of Belarusian language is vividly vanishing,” Belikova said. “‘Upsetting’ is probably a milder word for this. It’s really devastating.”

A 2019 census found that around 60% of the population consider Belarusian their native language, but only about 28% use the language at home. 

Still, since Belarusian isn’t banned, speaking it is one of the few remaining ways for people to safely signal their political beliefs and opposition to Lukashenko, multiple journalists said. 

However, multiple analysts said doing so in public is likely to draw negative attention from authorities because the language is so closely associated with the resistance. 

“Formally, it’s safe. It’s OK to speak Belarusian in Belarus. But in practice, well, it’s not safe,” Pavel Sviardlou, editor-in-chief of European Radio for Belarus, told VOA from Warsaw. 

The Belarusian foreign ministry did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

As the Belarusian government works to suppress the Belarusian language in favor of Russian, leaders from prominent exiled outlets like European Radio for Belarus, Nasha Niva and Zerkalo say their outlets are prioritizing coverage in the Belarusian language.

In the case of Nasha Niva, one of the oldest Belarusian newspapers, the outlet’s mission has long been to popularize the Belarusian language, culture and history, according to the newspaper’s director Nastassia Rouda. That mission has become more important since the contested 2020 election, after which hundreds of journalists fled the country to escape harassment and censorship. 

“Who, if not us? This is the question,” Rouda told VOA from Lithuania. 

Nasha Niva’s primary language is Belarusian, but the outlet also translates everything into Russian. European Radio for Belarus operates similarly. 

“This is a chance to, for example, listen to Belarusian every day, to read in Belarusian every day. And, of course, to feel that the language is not dead,” Sviardlou said.

The fight to preserve the Belarusian language goes hand in hand with the more obvious role that exiled media play — ensuring people still inside Belarus can access independent news about what’s happening. 

“Only media like us, who are working from exile right now, can give some truthful information about the political situation. No one inside can do this,” Nasha Niva’s Rouda said. 

Although Belarusian authorities block access to independent news sites, Belarusians still access them with circumvention tools like virtual private networks, or VPNs. 

Despite the risks and the fact that the government spent about 50 million euros ($55 million) on propaganda in 2023 alone, it’s clear that many people inside Belarus, which has a population of about 9 million, still regularly access banned news sites. 

The five biggest sites had over 17 million visits in December 2023, according to a 2024 JX Fund report. The news outlet Zerkalo, for instance, receives about 3 million unique visitors each month, with about 60% of them located inside Belarus, according to a 2024 Press Club Belarus report. 

Zerkalo is the successor outlet of Tut.by, which was the largest independent news site in Belarus until authorities shut it down in 2021. 

As the Belarus government grows ever closer with Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, exiled Belarusian media view their efforts as critical to maintaining a distinct Belarusian identity. The stakes are high, according to Aliaksandra Pushkina, a board member of Zerkalo.

“If we lose our culture, our language, we really will be a part of Russia,” she told VOA  from Austria. 

While exiled outlets are prioritizing Belarusian language coverage, Belarusian propaganda outlets inside the country primarily use Russian, according to Sviardlou. 

“They don’t even try to work in Belarusian because they understand that no one will listen to them,” he said. 

He asserted that Belarusian has taken on a different meaning, saying, “It is a language of truth.”
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stavanger, norway — Wars, a refugee crisis, famine and artificial intelligence could all be recognized when Nobel Prize announcements begin next week under a shroud of violence.

The prize week coincides with the October 7 anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, which began a year of bloodshed and war across the Middle East.

The literature and science prizes could be immune. But the peace prize, which recognizes efforts to end conflict, will be awarded in an atmosphere of ratcheting international violence — if awarded at all.

“I look at the world and see so much conflict, hostility and confrontation, I wonder if this is the year the Nobel Peace Prize should be withheld,” said Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

As well as events roiling the Middle East, Smith cites the war in Sudan and risk of famine there, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and his institute’s research showing that global military spending is increasing at its fastest pace since World War II.

“It could go to some groups which are making heroic efforts but are marginalized,” Smith said. “But the trend is in the wrong direction. Perhaps it would be right to draw attention to that by withholding the peace prize this year.”

Withholding the Nobel Peace is not new. It has been suspended 19 times in the past, including during the world wars. The last time it was not awarded was in 1972.

However, Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, says withdrawal would be a mistake in 2024, saying the prize is “arguably more important as a way to promote and recognize important work for peace.”

Civil grassroot groups, and international organizations with missions to mitigate violence in the Middle East could be recognized.

Nominees are kept secret for 50 years, but nominators often publicize their picks. Academics at the Free University Amsterdam said they have nominated the Middle East-based organizations EcoPeace, Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun for peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

Urdal believes it’s possible the committee could consider the Sudan Emergency Response Rooms, a group of grassroots initiatives providing aid to stricken Sudanese facing famine and buffeted by the country’s brutal civil war.

The announcements begin Monday with the physiology or medicine prize, followed on subsequent days by the physics, chemistry, literature and peace awards.

The Peace Prize announcement will be made on Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, while all the others will be announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. The prize in economics will be announced the following week on October 14.

New technology, possibly artificial intelligence, could be recognized in one or more of the categories.

Critics of AI warn the rise of autonomous weapons shows the new technology could mean additional peace-shattering misery for many people. Yet AI has also enabled scientific breakthroughs that are tipped for recognition in other categories.

David Pendlebury, head of research analysis at Clarivate’s Institute for Scientific Information, says scientists from Google Deepmind, the AI lab, could be among those under consideration for the chemistry prize.

The company’s artificial intelligence, AlphaFold, “accurately predicts the structure of proteins,” he said. It is already widely used in several fields, including medicine, where it could one day be used to develop a breakthrough drug.

Pendlebury spearheads Clarivate’s list of scientists whose papers are among the world’s most cited, and whose work it says are ripe for Nobel recognition.

“AI will increasingly be a part of the panoply of tools that researchers use,” Pendlebury said. He said he would be extremely surprised if a discovery “firmly anchored in AI” did not win Nobel prizes in the next 10 years.
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Kiseljak, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Heavy rains that flooded towns and touched off landslides left at least 14 people dead in Bosnia on Friday, authorities said.

Jablanica, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Sarajevo, appeared to bear the brunt of the 24 hours of downpours, which cut it off from the outside world.

Photos on local media from the Jablanica region showed mudslides coming up to roofs of houses and a mosque with only its minaret sticking out.

“For now, the bodies of 14 people have been found” in the region of Jablanica, spokesman Darko Jukan told AFP, adding that the toll was likely to rise.

Jablanica “cannot be entered or exited at the moment”, a mountain rescue service said of the town of around 4,000 people.

A number of people from the area were reported missing, the authorities said while some injured were evacuated with a helicopter from the European Union peacekeeping force (EUFOR).

At mid-Friday the situation was the most critical in the village of Donja Jablanica that remained cut off, the spokesman said.

Several roads and bridges in the region collapsed, he said.

In Kiseljak, some 20 kilometers west of Sarajevo, houses, gardens and cars were under water, an AFP journalist reported.

A large part of Bosnia’s population is at risk due to heavy floods and landslides, the federal civil protection administration said in a statement.

Firefighters, police and utility companies were working in the affected areas, but more help is needed to mitigate the consequences of storms and rainfall, the federal civil protection administration warned.

Prime Minister of Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat half Nermin Niksic wrote on social media platform X that the situation was “very serious as many citizens are still trapped in their houses.

In neighboring Croatia, weather authorities issued a warning for the northern Adriatic coast, Istria peninsula and central part of the country due to the heavy rains.

In a statement, it said that urban flooding and interruption of traffic, communications, electricity and water supply were expected.

Scientist warn that climate change worsens the impact of extreme weather events.

Torrential rains and strong winds have led to widespread flooding in central and eastern Europe last month, killing at least 24 people and devastating towns and villages.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Two Swedish teenagers were jailed Thursday in pretrial detention in connection with two predawn explosions in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen a day earlier. Prosecutors said investigators were establishing “whether the motive could be a terror attack.”

No one was injured in the blasts on early Wednesday in a neighborhood with several foreign diplomatic missions, although the nearby Jewish school was closed following the explosions.

The pair, who cannot be identified under a court order, were ordered held for 27 days. They faced preliminary charges of possessing illegal weapons and carrying five hand grenades. Two of the grenades blew up when the suspects threw them at a house near the embassy, prosecutor Soren Harbo said.

“This was pretty close to the Israeli Embassy,” Harbo said before Thursday’s court hearing. The explosions caused damage to a roof terrace of a nearby house. The diplomatic mission was not harmed.

Thursday’s hearing was held behind closed doors after the preliminary charges were read. Reporting from inside the court room, Danish broadcaster DR said the teenagers, ages 16 and 19, are suspected of acting “in association and together with prior agreement with one or more perpetrators.”

Both denied the charges, local media reported.

The two suspects were arrested Wednesday shortly before noon on a train at Copenhagen’s central station. Danish media ran photos of a man in a white hazmat suit being taken away by police on a train platform at the station. A third suspect, age 19, who had been arrested near the embassy, has been released, police said Thursday.

In Denmark, the charges are one step short of formal charges and allow authorities to keep criminal suspects in custody during an investigation.

Separately, shots were fired late Tuesday at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. No one was injured. No arrests have been made.

The Danish domestic security service, known by its acronym PET, said that “Swedish authorities have assessed that at least one specific act directed at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, which was carried out by young criminals in Sweden, has links to Iran.”

In May the Swedish domestic security agency SAPO accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish people. The announcement came after the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm was sealed off in late January after what was then described as “a dangerous object” was found on the grounds of the diplomatic mission. Swedish media said the object was a hand grenade.

In a statement, PET said, “If we have a state actor who gets young criminals to carry out actions aimed at Jewish targets in our neighboring country, then we can be concerned that this will also happen in Denmark.”

In Stockholm, the operative of Sweden’s domestic security agency SAPO, Fredrik Hallstrom, said, “The latest incident at the Israeli Embassy is not classified as a terrorist crime at the moment.”

His counterpart at the Swedish police’s National Operations Department, Johan Olsson, told the same press conference that the charges were of “aggravated weapons offenses, causing danger or other serious illegal threats and damage.”
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vienna — Thousands of people protested in Austria’s capital, Vienna, on Thursday against a possible return to power for the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), which topped national elections on Sunday.

The FPOe won almost 29% of the vote in Sunday’s general election, ahead of the conservative People’s Party (OeVP) with just over 26%.

“The Austrian Freedom Party is a danger because it has already said that it wants to govern in the image of Hungary’s Viktor Orban,” said student Rihab Toumi, 26, referring to the nationalist leader of Austria’s neighboring country.

Although the FPOe topped the polls, there is no guarantee that its radical leader, Herbert Kickl, will be given a chance to form a government since no other party is willing to work with him.

“This result was a shock, and we cannot let a party that drifts so far to the right garner so much support without saying anything,” said social worker Marianne, 53, who declined to share her surname.

Organizers said there were 15,000 to 17,000 protesters in central Vienna who marched toward parliament. Demonstrators held up placards that said, “Let’s defend democracy,” “No alliances with Putin’s friends,” and other anti-FPOe slogans.

Kickl has criticized European Union sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Demonstrators intend to march every Thursday, having similarly done so after the far-right formed part of short-lived coalition governments in 2000 and 2017.
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Vienna — The European Union is set to vote Friday on a massive tariff increase on Chinese electric vehicles that Germany fears could spark a trade war with Beijing.

Reuters reported Wednesday that the measure already has enough votes to pass, with support from France, Greece, Italy and Poland, whose populations make up 39% of the EU. At least 65% of the EU’s population must vote against the tariff plan to stop it.

Regardless, analysts say, continued negotiations will be needed on China’s subsidies to its EV industry.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin called Chinese subsidies “unbearable.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday said talks with China must continue, and he indicated Germany might abstain from the vote.

“More trade with more partners from more countries — that’s what sensible risk management looks like in an uncertain world,” Scholz said, as reported by Reuters.

“That’s why negotiations with China on electric vehicles must continue and why we must finally tackle the areas where cheap Chinese imports are harming our economy, for example steel,” he said.

Bloomberg reported that Germany expected a significant number of EU states to abstain from voting on the tariffs.

German automakers are against tariffs, fearing that retaliation from Beijing could impact access to China, their largest market.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Wednesday “A trade war with China would do us more harm than good for a key European industry and a crucial sector in Germany.”

If the vote passes, it could see tariffs on Chinese EVs as high as 45%.

Beijing has hinted that it could retaliate with tariffs on German and Italian vehicles and on European agricultural products such as dairy, pork and French brandy.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao visited Europe in late September and met with officials and businesspeople in charge of foreign trade and commerce in the EU, Belgium, Germany, Italy and other auto-manufacturing countries to lobby the EU to abandon the tariffs.

During the negotiations, the Chinese side proposed to set a minimum import price, but the European side refused.

The vote was pushed from September 25 to Friday to allow time for more consultation between the two sides.

Analysts believe the EU may make some compromises due to the complex interests within the EU.

Ja Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told VOA, “Because the EU is made up of many national entities with cross-cutting interests, these may lead to the vetoing of tougher action, much the same way ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is ineffective in the face of PRC (People’s Republic of China) pressure.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said during a visit to Beijing in early September that he would urge the European Commission to reconsider raising tariffs on China’s EVs.

Francesco Sisci, an Italian Sinologist, told VOA that the centrifugal forces of member states and political parties within the EU are too strong to make difficult decisions.

In the past, the EU “was ruled by a solid majority centered around People’s parties and Social-Democratic parties and a triangle made of Germany, France and Italy, Sisci said. “Both these two architectures are now partially shattered.”

“The People’s parties and Social-Democratic parties have still a majority but a thin one,” he said. “Italy, with a right leaning government, didn’t vote for the present President of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and it is dragging its feet on many EU policies.”

“Germany and France have governments at home that are under siege from new rightist parties,” he added.

Sisci told VOA Mandarin that Germany’s car industry “is dependent on the sales in the Chinese market and yet risks being squeezed out of all markets because of the Chinese EV competition. There are no good or clear alternatives.”

Although China’s EVs have a price advantage in the European market, Chinese businesspeople working in the automotive industry there are more cautious.

Yang is a Chinese businessman in Austria who does automobile maintenance, annual inspection and second-hand car trading. He did not give his full name because of privacy concerns.

Yang said that because of Europe’s economic downturn, consumers there are careful with their money and will not easily replace their gasoline-powered vehicles with all-electric vehicles.

“Many European consumers choose hybrid electric vehicles,” Yang said, talking about his own business. “This year’s data report shows that the sales of all-electric vehicles have decreased by one-third, while hybrid electric vehicles have increased.”

He said tariffs will certainly affect the price of Chinese electric vehicles in Europe, but European consumers are more concerned about other factors such as the life and endurance of the car.

“All-electric vehicles may not be a big market in Europe,” he said.

The EU’s vote comes after a probe into China’s subsidies for the industry and 100% tariff hikes on Chinese EV imports to the U.S. and Canada.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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London — A surge in support for far-right parties in Europe is driving calls for a toughening of migration laws, while also raising questions over the future of military aid to Ukraine.

Austria’s Freedom Party, which was founded by former Nazis after World War II, is the latest European far-right party to score a shocking win, taking just under 29% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, ahead of the second-place People’s Party with 26.3%.

‘Fortress Austria’

The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, campaigned on a platform of ending migration by creating what it called “Fortress Austria,” carrying out the “remigration of uninvited foreigners” and suspending the right to asylum. The party also opposes military aid for Ukraine and wants to end sanctions on Russia.

Kickl successfully appealed to voters’ frustrations over recent years, said Austrian pollster and political analyst, Peter Hajek.

“Elections are won in those four and a half years before, by taking a position which is clearly distinguishable and good from the point of view of the target audiences,” Hajek told The Associated Press. “And quite simply that’s what the Freedom Party managed to do with two big topics: on the one hand migration, and on the other — still — the coronavirus.”

Far-right success

Far-right, anti-immigration parties have won parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in 2023, Italy and Hungary in 2022, a state election in Germany in last month and the European parliamentary elections in France in June.

Hans Kundnani, an adjunct professor at New York University and the author of the book Eurowhiteness, said centrist parties in Europe are alarmed by the rise of the far right.

“Another election in Europe, another far right success. The response of the center-right in Europe to that has been to say we have to get even tougher on immigration. The center right has increasingly been mimicking far right parties, especially far right ideas on these questions around identity and immigration and Islam,” Kundnani told VOA.

EU summit

Immigration is likely to top the agenda at an EU summit on October 17, as European leaders from across the political spectrum have called for a toughening of asylum laws amid growing domestic political pressures.

“A shift in the EU towards thinking much more in terms of a ‘Fortress Europe’ — that’s building a wall essentially around the EU,” Kundnani said.

The hardening of attitudes marks a sharp turnaround from 2015 when more than 1 million irregular migrants entered the EU, many of them destined for Germany. In 2023, the number had fallen by 75%, to 280,000 people.

The 27-member bloc has agreed to a new pact on asylum and migration, due to come into force in 2026. It’s unlikely to calm Europe’s debate on immigration any time soon, according to Raphael Bossong, a migration expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“This package that has been agreed upon is about 10 laws. Multiple investments are needed across 27 member states, and an implementation plan with 10 sectors of implementation,” he told VOA. “So it’s a lot of stuff. And to get that into place to really work as a system, as it’s intended, is — even in two years — highly ambitious.”

Ukraine

While strong opposition to immigration unites Europe’s far-right parties, they are divided over support for Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Austria’s Freedom Party, the Alternative for Germany party and Hungary’s Fidesz party under Viktor Orban all oppose military aid for Kyiv and want to end sanctions on Moscow.

Yet other European far-right parties, such as the ruling Brothers of Italy party under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Poland’s Law and Justice party — which was in power until last year — are strongly pro-Ukrainian.

The issue is clouding European politics, argues analyst Hans Kundnani of New York University.

“Precisely what divides these two groups of far-right parties to a large extent is the question of Russia and Ukraine,” Kundnani said. “If you’re on the far right but you’re pro-Ukrainian, then I think a lot of European centrists have no problem with that. And they’re willing to turn a blind eye to almost anything else that these far-right parties do, especially on questions like immigration.”

Much of European Union foreign policy, including aid for Ukraine, requires a unanimous vote from all 27 members, making it easy for individual governments to veto EU decisions. Hungary’s Viktor Orban has repeatedly blocked EU aid packages for Ukraine.

Coalition talks

Despite its shocking victory, Austria’s Freedom Party is still well short of a majority. Rival parties are refusing to join them in government and could form their own coalition. The tactic has been used by other more centrist parties in Europe to keep the far-right from power — with mixed results, said Kundnani.

“They form these incoherent coalitions in response to the rise of the far right,” he told VOA. “Those coalitions then aren’t really able to do very much or offer citizens very much, which further empowers the far right. So it just gets worse and worse.”
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Europe looks set to toughen migration laws amid a surge in support for far-right parties across the continent. Austria’s Freedom Party – which campaigned on a platform of ending migration and opposing military aid for Ukraine – finished first in Sunday’s election, although its rivals have said they will refuse to enter a coalition. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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TALLINN, Estonia — Four Russian journalists went on trial in Moscow on Wednesday after being accused of working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, which was designated by authorities as an extremist organization in 2021.

Antonina Favorskaya, Artyom Kriger, Sergey Karelin and Konstantin Gabov were arrested earlier this year and charged with involvement with an extremist group, a criminal offense punishable by up to six years in prison. All four have rejected the charges.

The trial, which is being held behind closed doors, is the latest step in the Kremlin’s unrelenting crackdown on dissent that has reached unprecedented levels after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin with criminal and misdemeanor charges, jailing hundreds and prompting thousands to leave the country, fearing prosecution.

The four journalists were accused of working with Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which was designated as extremist and outlawed by the Russian authorities in 2021. That designation has been widely seen as politically motivated.

Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. In February, Navalny died in a remote Arctic prison while serving a 19-year sentence on a number of charges, including running an extremist group, which he had rejected as politically driven.

Favorskaya and Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that covers protests and political trials. Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters. Karelin is a freelance video journalist who has done work for Western media outlets, including The Associated Press.

As they were led into the courtroom on Wednesday, a crowd of supporters greeted them with applause. In the courtroom, the four smiled at their loved ones from a glass defendant’s cage.

Addressing reporters from behind the glass, Kriger cast the case against him and his fellow journalists as a cautionary tale and urged journalists still in Russia to leave the country: “It is not a joke. Any person can be charged with anything.”

Favorskaya, in turn, spoke about hope: “Everything that is happening now, the darkness that surrounds us, it is not forever, and we will definitely see the country that Alexei [Navalny] dreamed of, we will definitely live in a country where rights and freedoms will be [respected] and journalists and other people will not be jailed for their views.”

Shortly after the hearing began, the judge ordered that the proceedings be held behind closed doors upon a request from the prosecution, even though the defense objected to it.
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Israel’s campaign against Hamas in the aftermath of the October 7 attack has seen Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the forefront of condemning Israel. However, analysts say Turkey is becoming increasingly sidelined from efforts to end the crisis in a region where Erdogan once sought to play a leading role. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Copenhagen — Police in Denmark and Sweden said on Wednesday they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals that took place amid spiraling Middle East tensions.

In Denmark, police said three Swedish nationals had been arrested after two blasts were reported in the “immediate proximity” of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen early Wednesday.

Swedish police said the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm had been targeted in a shooting on Tuesday just before 6 p.m.

No injuries were reported from the incidents, but both came amid heightened international fears as Iran fired missiles at Israel, which has vowed to respond to the attack.

“Two explosions occurred at 3:20 a.m. at the Israeli Embassy. It is our preliminary assessment that it was due to two hand grenades,” Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen police said at a press conference.

He added that three Swedes between the ages of 15 and 20 had been arrested.

The police officer explained that one suspect was arrested shortly after the incident near the crime scene and that the other two had been arrested later.

Police said in an earlier statement that two suspects had been arrested on a train at Copenhagen Central Station.

“It’s too early to say if there is a link” between the blasts and the Israeli Embassy, Danish police spokesperson Jakob Hansen said of the Copenhagen incidents.

By midmorning, the area in Copenhagen was cordoned off and police were working at the scene, an AFP correspondent observed.

Denmark’s intelligence service, PET, said it was monitoring events “closely” and assisting the police investigation.

“We are also in dialogue with the Israeli embassy about security, and are constantly assessing the scale of the security measures already implemented in relation to a number of Jewish locations,” PET said in a statement to AFP.

Writing on X, Israeli Ambassador to Denmark David Akov said he was “shocked by the appalling incident near the embassy a few hours ago.”

Swedish police said in a statement that information indicated the Israeli Embassy building had been hit by shots on Tuesday evening.

“We’ve made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel’s Embassy, but we don’t want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation,” Rebecca Landberg, Stockholm police press officer, told AFP.

Landberg added that an investigation had been opened into an aggravated weapons offense, endangerment of others and unlawful threats.

Police had made no arrests, but Landberg said police were actively gathering and analyzing material from the many surveillance cameras in the area.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported.

In February, police found a grenade in the Israeli Embassy compound grounds, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.

In May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli Embassy, which prompted Sweden to boost security around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.
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Vatican City, Holy See — Pope Francis opened the second phase of his big Catholic reform project Wednesday, with widespread calls for women to take up more positions of responsibility in the church topping the agenda but ordained ministry still ruled out. 

Francis presided over an opening Mass in St. Peter’s Square with the 368 bishops and laypeople who will meet behind closed doors for the next three weeks to discuss the future of the church and how to make it more responsive to the needs of Catholics today. 

Several of the most contentious issues are officially off the table, after they encountered resistance and objections during the first session of the synod, or meeting, last year. They include ministering to LGBTQ+ Catholics and allowing women to serve as deacons. 

Francis has entrusted these topics to 10 study groups that are working in parallel to the synod, raising questions about what exactly will come out of the gathering when it concludes Oct. 26 with a final set of proposals for Francis to consider. 

Francis launched the reform process in 2021 to put in practice his goal of creating a church that is more inclusive, humble and welcoming, where ordinary Catholics have a greater say in decision making than the all-male priestly hierarchy. 

The process, and the two-year canvassing of rank-and-file Catholics that informed it, sparked both hopes and fears that real change was afoot. 

In his marching orders Wednesday, Francis urged delegates to leave aside their long-held and self-interested positions and truly listen to one another to “give life to something new.” 

“Otherwise, we will end up locking ourselves into dialogues among the deaf, where participants seek to advance their own causes or agendas without listening to others and, above all, without listening to the voice of the Lord,” he said in his homily. 

The first phase of the synod process ended last year by concluding it was “urgent” to guarantee fuller participation by women in church governance positions, and calling for theological and pastoral research to continue about allowing women to be deacons. 

Deacons perform many of the same functions as priests, such as presiding over baptisms, weddings and funerals, but they cannot celebrate Mass. 

Advocates say allowing women to be deacons would help offset the Catholic priest shortage and address longstanding complaints that women have a second-class status in the church: barred from the priesthood yet responsible for the lion’s share of the work educating the young, caring for the sick and passing the faith onto next generations. 

Opponents say ordaining women to the deaconate would signal the start of a slippery slope toward ordaining women to the priesthood. The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood for men, saying Christ chose only men as his 12 apostles. 

Francis has repeatedly reaffirmed the all-male priesthood and as recently as this weekend sharply criticized “obtuse” agitators pressing for a female diaconate. After a contentious visit to Belgium where he was challenged by female students, Francis said such calls were an attempt to “make women masculine.” 

His arguments have outraged proponents of women’s ordination, who have organized a series of events outside the synod this month in Rome to press their case. 

“It’s so insulting to keep on saying that the only valid role that will get the approval of this pope is to be nurturing, is to be a mother, while you can be nurturing and mothering and be a priest,” said Miriam Duignan, a trustee at the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. 

“He is putting a spiritual stamp of approval on sexism,” she said at a prayer event this week co-organized by the Women’s Ordination Conference. “It is so irresponsible and dangerous for him to constantly criticize, belittle, dismiss and demonize women who are just saying ‘Stop lying. Stop hiding and stop trying to relegate us to second-class citizenship.'” 

While ordained ministry for women is out of the question, a host of other proposals are being discussed, including calls for women to have greater positions of responsibility in seminaries and sit as judges on canonical courts that decide everything from marriage annulments to priest discipline cases. 

There are 368 members of the synod, including 272 bishops and 96 non-bishops. In all, 85 women are participating, including 54 with the right to vote. 

In addition to delegates who were selected by their respective bishops conferences, Francis named a few members himself to participate, including two bishops from mainland China, many of his closest cardinal advisers and the exiled Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez. 

Also on the list of pontifically nominated members is the retired prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, who has been critical of the synod process and Francis’ pontificate as a whole. 

In an essay this week on German Catholic site kath.net, Mueller took particular aim at the penitential liturgy that Francis celebrated Tuesday during which he begged forgiveness for a host of sins as a way to atone for the church’s transgressions before the start of the meeting. 

Mueller blasted what he called “newly invented sins” -– including sins against the synod itself and the sin “of using doctrine as stones to be hurled,” a reference to how conservatives have criticized Francis’ reform efforts as undermining traditional church doctrine. 

Mueller said such a laundry list of invented sins “reads like a checklist of woke and gender ideology, somewhat laboriously disguised as Christianity.” 

Non-bishop members named by the pope include the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit who runs an LGBTQ+ outreach ministry. Martin has a sympathetic ear in both Francis, who approved same-sex blessings unilaterally after the first session of the synod ended, and the Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, who is one of the “spiritual assistants” for the synod. 

In an essay this week in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Radcliffe argued strongly for even doubters in the church to recognize the good in LGBTQ+ Catholics and their relationships, and why the church ought to welcome them. 

“The acceptance of gay people is seen in some parts of the church as evidence of Western decadence,” he wrote. “But the church must fight for the lives and dignity of gay people, still liable to capital punishment in 10 countries and criminal prosecution in 70. They have the right to live,” he said. 

At the same time, those opposed to a pastoral approach to gays have gifts the Western church should appreciate, including a deep sense of the divine life in all of creation, he said. 

“The Body of Christ needs all our gifts,” he concluded. 
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish police said on Wednesday they were investigating two blasts in the vicinity of Israel’s embassy in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen.

“No one has been injured, and we are carrying out initial investigations at the scene,” Copenhagen police said on social media platform X.

“A possible connection to the Israeli embassy, located in the area, is being investigated,” they said.

A large area was cordoned off amid heavy police presence, according to local media reports.

Investigators were seen wearing coverall suits as they combed the scene for evidence, tabloid B.T. reported.

The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

Police said they will give an update on the investigation in the hours ahead.
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