ATHENS, GREECE — Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece and the architect of the country’s joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at age 88, state TV ERT reported. 

Simitis was taken to a hospital in the city of Corinth early Sunday morning from his holiday home west of Athens, unconscious and without a pulse, the hospital’s director was quoted as saying by Greek media. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. 

The government decreed a four-day period of official mourning. Simitis will receive a state funeral. 

Warm tributes appeared, and not just from political allies. 

“I bid farewell to Costas Simitis with sadness and respect. A worthy and noble political opponent,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a Facebook post, also saluting the “good professor and moderate parliamentarian.” 

Another conservative politician, former European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, recalled how he, as mayor of Athens, had cooperated “seamlessly and warmly” with Simitis in organizing the Olympic Games. 

“He served the country with devotion and a sense of duty. … He was steadfast in facing difficult challenges and promoted policies that changed the lives of [many] citizens,” Avramopoulos added. 

Simitis, a co-founder of the Socialist PASOK party in 1974, eventually became the successor to the party’s founding leader, Andreas Papandreou, with whom he had an often contentious relationship that shaped the party’s nature. Simitis was a low-key pragmatist where Papandreou was a charismatic, fiery populist. He was also a committed pro-European, while Papandreou banked on strong opposition to Greece’s joining what was then the European Economic Community in the 1970s, before changing tack once he became prime minister. 

When the profligate first four years of socialist rule, from 1981 to 1985, resulted in a rapidly deteriorating economy, Papandreou elevated Simitis to be finance minister and oversee a tight austerity program. Finances improved, inflation was partly tamed, but Simitis was pushed to resign in 1987 when Papandreou, eyeing an upcoming election, announced a generous wages policy, undermining the goals of the austerity program. 

The socialists returned to power with Papandreou still at the helm in 1993, but he was ailing and finally resigned the premiership in January 1996. A tight two rounds of voting among the socialist lawmakers unexpectedly elevated Simitis to the post of prime minister, a post he held until 2004. 

Simitis considered Greece’s entry into the eurozone, in January 2001, as the signature achievement of his premiership. But he also helped secure the 2004 Olympic Games for Athens and presided over a vast program of infrastructure building, including a brand new airport and two subway lines, to help host the games. He also helped Cyprus join the European Union in 2004. 

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides praised Simitis as an “outstanding leader” who has earned a special place in the history of not only Greece, but also of Cyprus. 

“His calm political voice, far from populism, and his political course of action were based on a longstanding philosophy of modernization and reform,” Christodoulides said in a written statement. 

Simitis’ critics on the right and left did their best to denigrate his legacy, highlighting a dubious debt swap concluded after the country had joined the eurozone as an attempt to massage the debt numbers. 

In the end, it was determined opposition from his own party, including trade union leaders, to pension reform in 2001 that fatally weakened Simitis’ administration. He decided to resign his party post and not contest the 2004 election, five months before the Olympics, rather than face certain defeat to the conservatives. 

George Papandreou, son of the socialist party’s founder, succeeded him as party leader, and in 2008 expelled Simitis from the PASOK parliamentary group after the two men clashed over policies, including Papandreou’s proposal to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. Simitis left parliament in 2009, but not before issuing a prescient warning that financial mismanagement would bring the country under the tutelage of the International Monetary Fund, which would impose harsh austerity. In the end, it was the IMF, jointly with the EU, that imposed a harsh regime on a bankrupt country in 2010. 

Costas Simitis was born on June 23, 1936, the younger son of two politically active parents. His lawyer father Georgios was a member of the left-leaning resistance “government” during the German occupation and his mother, Fani, was an active feminist. 

Simitis studied law at the University of Marburg, in Germany, in the 1950s, and economics and politics at the London School of Economics in the early 1960s. He later taught law at the University of Athens. His elder brother Spiros, who died in 2023, was a noted legal scholar in Germany, specializing in data protection. 

Simitis is survived by his wife of 60 years, Daphne, two daughters and a granddaughter. 

 
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KYIV, UKRAINE — The pro-Russian breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria, left without Russian gas supplies no longer transiting through neighboring Ukraine, faced longer periods of rolling power cuts on Saturday, local authorities said. 

Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe stopped on New Year’s Day after a transit deal expired between the warring countries and Kyiv refused to extend it. 

Transdniestria, a mainly Russian-speaking enclave which has lived side-by-side with Moldova since breaking away from it in the last days of Soviet rule, received gas from Russian giant Gazprom through the pipeline crossing Ukraine. 

The gas was used to operate a thermal plant that provided electricity locally and for much of Moldova under the control of the pro-European central government. 

The region’s self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said rolling power cuts in various districts would be extended to four hours Sunday. 

Hour-long cuts were first imposed Friday evening after heating and hot water supplies were curtailed. The cuts were then extended to three hours on Saturday. 

“Yesterday’s introduction of rolling cuts was a test. And it confirmed that an hour-long break to keep the electrical supply system operating was insufficient,” Krasnoselsky wrote. “The power generated is not covering sharply rising demand.” 

All industries except those producing food have been shut down. The official Telegram news channel of the region’s separatist authorities announced the official closure on Saturday of a steel mill and bakery in the town of Rybnitsa. 

Regional officials announced new measures to help residents, especially the elderly, and warned that overnight temperatures would fall to -10 Celsius (+14 Fahrenheit). Residents were told not to put strain on the region’s mobile phone network. 

Using firewood 

The news channel warned against using heaters in disrepair after two residents died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a stove. Online pictures showed servicemen loading up trucks with firewood for distribution. 

“Don’t put off gathering in firewood,” Krasnoselsky told residents. “It is better to ensure your supply in advance, especially since the weather is favorable so far.” 

Moldova’s government blames Russia for the crisis and has called on Gazprom to ship gas through the TurkStream pipeline and then through Bulgaria and Romania. 

Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew the gas transit deal.  

The Transdniestria power cuts are a problem for Moldova particularly because the enclave is home to a power plant that provides most of the power for government-controlled areas of Moldova at a fixed and low price. 

Prime Minister Dorin Recean said Friday his country faced a security crisis after Transdniestria imposed the rolling blackouts, but he also said the Chisinau government had prepared alternative arrangements, with a mixture of domestic production and electricity imports from Romania.  

Even before the halt of supplies via Ukraine, Gazprom had said it would suspend exports to Moldova on January 1 because of what Russia says are unpaid Moldovan debts of $709 million. Moldova disputes that and put the figure at $8.6 million.  
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WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Florida to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, as the key European leader sought to buttress ties with Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort welcomed Meloni with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, according to videos shared on social media by reporters and others.

Her trip comes days before she is to meet U.S. President Joe Biden during a visit to Rome from Thursday to Jan. 12. Trump defeated Biden in the November election and is preparing his return to the White House.

While no details of their meeting have been disclosed, Meloni had planned to talk with Trump about Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, according to Italian media reports.

Meloni’s office declined to comment on the reports.

She is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump given her conservative credentials and the stability of the right-wing coalition she heads in Italy. She has also forged a close relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who spent more than a quarter-billion dollars to help him win the election.

“This is very exciting. I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the Mar-a-Lago crowd, according to a media pool report. “She’s really taken Europe by storm.”

Trump and Meloni then sat down for a screening of a documentary questioning the criminal investigations and legal scrutiny faced by John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was central to Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

One of the biggest challenges facing Meloni is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran on Dec. 19.

Sala was detained three days after Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.

On Friday, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Italy’s ambassador over Abedini’s detention, Iranian state media reported.

Meloni became the latest in the handful of foreign leaders who have visited Trump in Florida since the Nov. 5 election. He has met with Argentinian President Javier Milei, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 
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VIENNA — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Saturday he will resign in the coming days after talks on forming a new government failed a second time. 

The announcement came after the People’s Party and the Social Democrats on Saturday continued coalition talks a day after the liberal Neos party’s surprise withdrawal from discussions. 

“Unfortunately, I have to tell you today that the negotiations have ended and will not be continued by the People’s Party,” said Nehammer, the conservative party’s leader, in a statement on social media. 

He said that “destructive forces” in the Social Democratic Party have “gained the upper hand” and that the People’s Party will not sign on to a program that it considers to be against economic competitiveness. 

Social democratic leader Andreas Babler said he regretted the People’s Party decision to end the talks. 

“This is not a good decision for our country,” he said. One of the main stumbling blocks had to do with how to repair the “record deficit” left by the previous government, he added. 

“I have offered to Karl Nehammer and the People’s Party to continue negotiating and called on them not to give up,” he told reporters Saturday evening. 

Challenge for next government

The next government in Austria faces the challenge of having to save 18.6 billion euros to 24.8 billion euros, according to the EU Commission. In addition, Austria, which has been in a recession for the past two years, is experiencing rising unemployment, and its budget deficit is currently at 3.7% of Gross Domestic Product — above the EU’s limit of 3%. 

Babler blamed the collapse of the negotiations on “forces within the People’s Party” that were against a coalition with the Social Democrats, while praising Nehammer for his readiness to compromise. 

A coalition between the People’s Party and the Social Democrats was considered shaky from the beginning because the two parties together have a razor-thin one-seat majority in the Austrian parliament. 

It was not immediately clear what would happen next. 

Criticized for creating ‘chaos’

The People’s Party will have to search for a replacement for Nehammer, who has always ruled out the possibility of a coalition with far-right leader Herbert Kickl. But Nehammer’s expected resignation could now prompt the party to rethink its options under new leadership. 

People’s Party officials planned to meet Sunday to discuss choosing a new leader. 

The People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party are close on economic policies as well as other issues such as migration and are already working together in five coalitions on the local level. 

An early election would be another option. But given Austrian election laws, such an election would unlikely take place before May. 

Party leader Herbert Kickl criticized Nehammer, Babler and Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen in a written statement Saturday evening for having created “chaos instead of stability” and said the ball is now in Van der Bellen’s court. 

Van der Bellen is expected to make a statement tomorrow, Austrian’s public broadcaster ORF reports. 
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Russia-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea announced a regional emergency Saturday, as oil was detected on the shores of Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city.

Fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers nearly three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, close to eastern Crimea — about 250 kilometers from Sevastopol, which lies on the southwest of the peninsula.

“Today a regional emergency regime has been declared in Sevastopol,” regional Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev wrote on Telegram.

Oil was found on four beaches in the region and was “promptly eliminated” by local authorities working together with volunteers, Razvozhaev said.

“Let me emphasize: there is no mass pollution of the coastline in Sevastopol,” he wrote.

Razvozhaev’s announcement came after authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region announced a region-wide emergency last week, as the fuel oil continued washing up on the coastline 10 days after one tanker ran aground and the other was left damaged and adrift on December 15.

Krasnodar regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that almost 7,000 people were still working Saturday to clean up the spill.

More than 96,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil have been removed along the region’s shoreline since the original spill, he wrote on Telegram.

On December 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tons in total may have been contaminated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.”

The Kerch Strait, which separates the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula from the Krasnodar region, is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.

It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, described the oil spill last month as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned that bullying in schools prepares students for war rather than peace, in a speech to Catholic educators gathered at the Vatican on Saturday. 

Speaking to about 2,000 Italian educators and parents, Francis stressed his message against bullying, asking the audience to pledge to fight against it both at school and at home. 

The pontiff praised educational efforts at schools to promote peace, noting that “imagining peace” lays the foundations for “a more just and fraternal world” through “every subject taught and through the creativity of children and young people.” 

“But if, at school, you wage war among yourselves or engage in bullying, you are preparing for war, not for peace,” he said 

The pope also called for more dialogue within families, emphasizing that “it is dialogue that makes us grow.”
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NEW YORK — Say hello to the latest dog in the American Kennel Club’s lineup of recognized breeds. Or you might say “hej.”

The Danish-Swedish farmdog — yep, that’s the official name — joined the pack Thursday. The designation makes the breed eligible to compete for many best in show trophies, and it likely augurs more widespread interest in the small, sprightly dogs. The prospect both gladdens and concerns their biggest fans.

“We’re excited about it. We’re looking forward to it,” said Carey Segebart, one of the people who worked to get Danish-Swedish farmdogs recognized by the AKC. She proudly plans to debut one of her own at a dog show this month near her Iowa home.

Still, she thinks increased exposure is “a double-edged sword” for the fleet, versatile pups.

“We don’t want the breed to just explode too quickly,” she said.

Called the farmdog or DSF for short, the breed goes back centuries in parts of what are now Denmark, southern Sweden and some other European countries, according to the Danish-Swedish Farmdog Club of America.

“They’re interesting, fun little dogs,” said Segebart, who has owned them since 2011 and is the club’s incoming president. “They’re essentially up for anything. They succeed at most everything.”

In their original homelands, the dogs’ main job was rodent patrol, but they also would herd a bit, act as watchdogs and play with farmers’ children. Some even performed in circuses, according to the club.

After Denmark and Sweden became more urban and suburban in the 20th century, farmdog fanciers set out to secure the breed’s place in both nations (where “hej” translates to the English “hello”). Kennel clubs there began registering farmdogs in 1987.

In the U.S., many of the just about 350 farmdogs nationwide compete in agility, obedience or other canine sports that are open to all dogs, including mixed breeds.

But until now, farmdogs couldn’t enter the traditional breed-by-breed judging that leads to best in show prizes at events including the prominent Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York. The entry deadline has passed for February’s Westminster show, so farmdogs will have to wait for 2026 there, but they may well appear later this year at two other major, televised shows, the National Dog Show and AKC National Championship.

The Danish-Swedish farmdog is the AKC’s 202nd breed and “a wonderful addition to a family that is able to provide it with the exercise and mental stimulation that it needs,” said the club’s Gina DiNardo.

Too popular for its own good?

The AKC is the United States’ oldest purebred dog registry and essentially a league for many dog competitions. Registration is voluntary, and requirements for breed recognition include at least 300 pedigreed dogs spread through at least 20 states. Some breeds are in other kennel clubs or none at all.

Danish-Swedish farmdog fanciers deliberated for several years before pursuing AKC recognition and the attention that’s likely to come with it, Segebart said. The number of farmdog puppy-seekers has grown substantially over the last decade; each of the few breeders receives multiple inquiries a week, and the typical wait for a puppy is a year or more, she said.

Farmdog folk fear that their appealing, relatively easy-care breed could quickly become too popular for its own good. They’re not the first to worry: Much fur has flown in dogdom over the rise of the French bulldog, which the AKC now ranks as the most popular breed in the country.

Some animal rights activists echo those concerns to argue against dog breeding in general. They say purebred popularity trends divert people from adopting shelter animals, fuel puppy mills and prize dogs’ appearance over their health.

The AKC says it promotes responsibly “breeding for type and function” to produce dogs with at least somewhat predictable traits, whether as basic as size or as specialized as bomb-sniffing skills. The club says it has given over $35 million since 1995 to its canine health research charity.
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Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Nadiya in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region and had shot down eight U.S.-made ATACMS missiles.

Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.

The ministry said its air defense systems had shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Saturday morning, including three over the northern Leningrad region.

St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures on Saturday morning.
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Kyiv, ukraine — Moldova faces a security crisis, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said Friday, after its separatist pro-Moscow Transdniestria region, cut off from supplies of Russian gas, closed factories, restricted central heating and imposed rolling power blackouts. 

Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe were halted on New Year’s Day after a transit agreement between the warring countries expired and Kyiv rejected doing further business with Moscow. 

Recean said government-controlled Moldova would cover its own energy needs with domestic production and imports but noted the separatist Transdniestria region had suffered a painful hit despite its ties with Moscow. 

“By jeopardizing the future of the protectorate it has backed for three decades in an effort to destabilize Moldova, Russia is revealing the inevitable outcome for all its allies – betrayal and isolation,” Recean said in a statement. 

“We treat this as a security crisis aimed at enabling the return of pro-Russian forces to power in Moldova and weaponizing our territory against Ukraine, with whom we share a 1,200 km border.” 

The official Telegram news channel of separatist Transdniestria said rolling power cuts had gone into effect on Friday evening. It listed districts where power would be cut for an hour or more between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. 

“As the Ministry of Economic Development notes, this is in connection with the fact that residents at this time are consuming more power than the system can generate,” the channel said. 

The news channel said a sanatorium, fully heated and with hot water, was sheltering orphans and residents of nursing homes. It accused Moldova’s central government of failing to understand or tackle the difficulties facing the region. 

“Moldovan authorities are completely out of touch with reality and continue to talk about ‘the price of freedom from Russian gas,’ ” the channel said. 

Transdniestria’s residents had already lost hot water and central heating, and all factories except food producers have been forced to stop production. 

The enclave’s self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, had earlier said power cuts were inevitable. He said the region had gas reserves to cover 10 days of limited usage in the north and twice as long in the south. 

Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew the gas transit deal. 

Dispute over arrears 

Russian gas giant Gazprom had separately said on December 28 that it would suspend exports to Moldova on January 1 because of what Russia says are unpaid Moldovan debts of $709 million. Moldova disputes that and has put the figure at $8.6 million. 

The southeast European nation of about 2.5 million people has been in the spotlight since Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine at a time of mounting tensions between Moscow and the West. 

Its pro-European president, Maia Sandu, won a second term in an election last year and has pledged to accelerate reform and consolidate democratization.  

Moldova plans to hold a parliamentary election this summer. 

Mainly Russian-speaking Transdniestria, which split from Moldova in the 1990s, received Russian gas via Ukraine. 

In turn, Moldova used to receive the bulk of its electricity from Transdniestria. But, with Kyiv making clear it would stop gas transit from Russia, the Chisinau government prepared alternative arrangements, with a mixture of domestic production and electricity imports from Romania, Recean said. 

He said the Moldovan government remained committed to helping the enclave. 

“Alternative energy solutions, such as biomass systems, generators, humanitarian aid and essential medical supplies, are ready for delivery should the breakaway leadership accept the support,” the government said in a statement. 

The head of Moldova’s national gas company Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, said Transdniestrian authorities had turned down an offer to help purchase gas from European countries because the enclave believes Russian gas supplies could still be resumed. 

Such purchases would be more costly. Gazprom has long supplied gas to the region without demanding payment.
…

VIENNA — Talks on forming a new three-party government in Austria collapsed Friday as the smallest of the prospective coalition partners pulled the plug on the negotiations.

The talks had dragged on since Austria’s president tasked conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer in October with putting together a new government. That decision came after all other parties refused to work with the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which in September won a national election for the first time.

Nehammer has been trying to assemble a coalition of his Austrian People’s Party with the center-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos party.

Nehammer’s party and the Social Democrats have governed Austria together in the past but have the barest possible majority in the parliament elected in September, with a combined 92 of the 183 seats. That was widely considered too small a cushion, and the two parties sought to bring in Neos.

But Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger said she informed Nehammer, Social Democratic leader Andreas Babler and President Alexander Van der Bellen early Friday that her party “won’t continue” talks on becoming a partner in a new government.

She pointed to the implications of a “budget hole” left by the last government as a major source of difficulty, adding that the election showed a desire for change, but the talks appeared to be going backward rather than forward in recent days.

The next government in Austria faces the challenge of having to save between 18 to 24 billion euros, according to the EU Commission. In addition, Austria’s economy is in decline with rising unemployment and continuing recession.

“There was a repeated ‘no’ to fundamental reforms this week,” Meinl-Reisinger told reporters in Vienna.

Austrian People’s Party general secretary Christian Stocker blamed “backward-looking forces” among the Social Democrats for prompting the collapse of the talks.

Nehammer said in a post on social media Friday evening that he “regretted” the decision by the Neos party to pull out of the coalition talks.

He said that his party continues to be ready to “assume responsibility,” and to implement reforms, especially in the areas of improving economic competitiveness and implementing a clear asylum and migration policy.

“The constructive forces of the political center are called upon to come along on this path with us now,” Nehammer said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the situation could be resolved. The two bigger parties could potentially try to form a government alone or turn to the environmentalist Greens as a prospective third partner.

Nehammer’s often-tense two-party outgoing coalition with the Greens lost its parliamentary majority in the election, though it remains in office as a caretaker administration.

The Freedom Party, which has seen its poll ratings rise since the election, called for Nehammer’s resignation. The far-right party won the parliamentary election in September with 29.2% of the vote but both Nehammer and Babler excluded working with far-right leader Herbert Kickl.

According to the latest opinion polls published in December, the Freedom Party increased its support to between 35% and 37%.

Its general secretary, Michael Schnedlitz, accused the chancellor of refusing to accept his election defeat and said it had long warned against a three-way coalition “on the German model” — a reference to the quarrelsome government in neighboring Germany that collapsed in November. Germany is holding an early election next month.
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PODGORICA, Montenegro — A top-level meeting in Montenegro on Friday looked for ways to curb illegal weapons after a gunman fatally shot 12 people in a second such tragedy in less than three years in the small Balkan country.

An emergency session of Montenegro’s National Security Council is expected to call for a new gun law and urgent actions to confiscate what are believed to be abundant illegal weapons in possession of Montenegro’s 620,000 citizens.

The Adriatic Sea nation has a deeply rooted gun culture. State television broadcaster RTCG reported that Montenegro is sixth in the world when it comes to the number of illegal weapons per capita.

The gunman who killed a dozen people in a shooting rampage in the western town of Cetinje on Wednesday did so with an illegal 9 mm gun. Police have said they found 37 casings at the shooting locations, and more than 80 additional pieces of ammunition in the gunman’s possession.

The 45-year-old man, identified as Aco Martinović, eventually shot himself in the head and died shortly after. He is believed to have snapped after a bar brawl and went home to get his weapon before launching a bloody rampage at several locations late Wednesday afternoon.

Martinović’s victims included seven men, three women — among them his sister — and two children, born in 2011 and 2016. Four more people were seriously wounded and remain hospitalized.

Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović has described Wednesday’s shooting as “one of the biggest tragedies in the history of Montenegro.”

The shooting has fueled concerns about the level of violence in Montenegrin society, which is politically divided. It also raised questions about the readiness of state institutions to tackle the problems, including gun ownership.

Hundreds of people throughout Montenegro lit candles in silence Thursday evening in memory of the victims, while also calling for answers as to why the shooting happened. Many were angry at the authorities for not doing more to prevent such tragedies and protests are being planned for the coming days.

Mira Škorić, a retiree from Podgorica, said that “I can’t believe that we failed so much as a society. We failed as people too.”

In a separate massacre in August 2022, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital located about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the capital, Podgorica.

The shootings “require a serious examination of the responsibility and preparedness of the security system,” the Human Rights Action and Women’s Rights Center groups said in a statement. “What has changed in the security system in Cetinje since 2022?”

Police have said that Martinović’s actions weren’t planned and were impossible to predict and prevent, though he had been convicted in the past of violent behavior and illegal weapons possession and had received psychiatric treatment.

Vesna Pejović, a Cetinje resident who lost her daughter and two grandchildren in the shooting back in 2022, said police had to do more to protect the citizens after the first killing.

“What kind of state and system is this where children are getting killed? Are we at war?” she asked. “Where were the police?”
…

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — The foreign ministers of France and Germany are headed to Damascus on the first official visit to Syria by top diplomats from European Union countries after the fall of former President Bashar Assad, in what the German minister said is a clear signal that a “new beginning” between Europe and Syria is possible.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who began the visit Friday with a meeting with Christian religious leaders in Damascus, said in a statement on the social media platform X that the two countries “want to promote a peaceful and urgent transition in the service of Syrians and for regional stability.”

He and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are expected to meet with Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the Islamist former insurgent group that is now the de facto ruling party in Syria.

Baerbock said there can be a “political new beginning between Europe and Syria” only if the new Syrian society gives all people, regardless of ethnic or religious group, “a place in the political process” as well as rights and protection.

She said those rights should not be undermined by an overly long transition to elections or by “steps toward the Islamification of the justice or education system,” that there should be no acts of revenge against entire groups of the population, and that extremism should have no place.

Since Assad’s ouster in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, Damascus has experienced a flurry of visits from Arab and Western countries that had cut off relations with Assad’s government during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.

However, Western countries have so far not lifted sanctions placed on Syria under Assad or removed the designation of HTS as a terrorist group, although the United States lifted a $10 million bounty it had previously placed on al-Sharaa. 
…

KYIV, UKRAINE — A Russian drone attack towards the Ukrainian capital on Friday killed one person and wounded four in the Kyiv suburbs, local officials said.

Moscow’s forces have escalated their aerial strikes across Ukraine through the first weeks of winter, including a New Year’s Day drone attack targeting central Kyiv that killed two.

“One person killed and four wounded in enemy air attack on Kyiv region,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, the head of the Kyiv region, which surrounds the capital, said on social media on Friday.

He said a truck driver had been killed after he was hit by falling debris from a Russian drone that had been shot down.

Wreckage also fell on a house, wounding three — including a 16-year-old boy and his father.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 93 drones overnight. It said 60 attack drones and 26 decoy-style drones were downed or “lost” — either shot down or disabled by electronic interceptors.

Downed drones also fell on two districts of Kyiv, but there were no injuries, the city mayor said. 
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could be “decisive” in the outcome of the yearslong war between Ukraine and Russia.

“Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukrainian television.

Zelenskyy said Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration later this month.

“His qualities are indeed there,” Zelenskyy said about Trump. “He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin.”

Trump has previously said he would be able to stop the war in Ukraine in one day, but he has never detailed how he would accomplish that.

Zelenskyy’s comments came as the Ukrainian military said it had carried out a high-precision strike Thursday on a Russian command post in Maryino, in Russia’s Kursk region.

“These strikes disrupt the ability of the Russian Federation to conduct terrorism against innocent Ukrainian civilians,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement on Telegram.

Russia’s military said air defense units had downed four Ukrainian missiles in the region. The regional governor said the strikes had damaged a high-rise apartment building and other buildings in a nearby village.

Another post from the Ukrainian military showed a video of what the military said was damage to a Russian base in Ivanivskoye, next to Maryino.

A school, pharmacy and apartment building were among the structures damaged in the strike, Kursk regional Governor Alexander Khinshtein said.

VOA could not immediately verify the reports.

Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia five months ago. Ukrainian forces remain in the Kursk region, but the Russian military says much of the lost territory has been regained.

Meanwhile, Russia said it had attacked energy facilities in Ukraine that support Kyiv’s military-industrial complex.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that over the past 24 hours, it had used its air force, drones, missiles and artillery to target energy facilities, military airfields and Ukrainian military personnel across multiple locations.

VOA could not independently verify that report.

Russian forces have been advancing quickly on the eastern front of Ukraine.

“They are putting pressure on our boys, who are exhausted, and that is a fact. We will do everything to at least stabilize the front in January,” Zelenskyy said in his Thursday interview.

Ukraine’s military said Thursday that it had shot down 47 drones Russian forces launched overnight at areas in central and eastern Ukraine.

Russia used a total of 72 drones in its attacks, the military said.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Odessa and Sumy regions.

Officials in those areas did not immediately report any major damage.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces had destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones, mostly along the Russia-Ukraine border. Intercepts took place in Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Kaluga and Voronezh, it said.

The governors of Bryansk and Kaluga said there were no reports of casualties or damage in their regions.

Thursday’s attacks came a day after Russian forces killed at least two people in Kyiv.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.  
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The Human Rights Association in Turkey announced that three female prisoners had been tortured in Patnos Prison in Agri, and despite some complaints, no investigation has been initiated. The prison administration neither denied nor confirmed the torture to VOA.  

Click here for the full story in Kurdish.

 

 
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The Haitian government on Wednesday celebrated the 221st anniversary of the country’s independence. In his speech, Leslie Voltaire, president of the Presidential Transition Council, called for peace in the country and took the opportunity to ask France to repay the debt of independence and reparations for slavery.

Click here for the full story in Creole.
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LONDON — A worker digging up clay in a southern England limestone quarry noticed unusual bumps that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and nearly 200 tracks that date back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday. 

The extraordinary find made after a team of more than 100 people excavated the Dewars Farm Quarry, in Oxfordshire, in June expands upon previous paleontology work in the area and offers greater insights into the Middle Jurassic period, researchers at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham said. 

“These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited,” said Kirsty Edgar, a micropaleontology professor at the University of Birmingham. 

Four of the sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway show paths taken by gigantic, long-necked, herbivores called sauropods, thought to be Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 18 meters in length. A fifth set belonged to the Megalosaurus, a ferocious 9-meter predator that left a distinctive triple-claw print and was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named two centuries ago. 

An area where the tracks cross raises questions about possible interactions between the carnivores and herbivores. 

“Scientists have known about and been studying Megalosaurus for longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, and yet these recent discoveries prove there is still new evidence of these animals out there, waiting to be found,” said Emma Nicholls, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. 

Nearly 30 years ago, 40 sets of footprints discovered in a limestone quarry in the area were considered one of the world’s most scientifically important dinosaur track sites. But that area is mostly inaccessible now and there’s limited photographic evidence because it predated the use of digital cameras and drones to record the findings. 

The group that worked at the site this summer took more than 20,000 digital images and used drones to create 3-D models of the prints. The trove of documentation will aid future studies and could shed light on the size of the dinosaurs, how they walked and the speed at which they moved. 

“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet squelched in and out,” said Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford museum. “Along with other fossils like burrows, shells and plants we can bring to life the muddy lagoon environment the dinosaurs walked through.” 

The findings will be shown at a new exhibit at the museum and also broadcast on the BBC’s Digging for Britain program next week.
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The Kremlin is using uncertainty following the ouster of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, and the potential loss of Russia’s military toehold in Syria, to accuse the United States of sowing instability in the country. 

On Dec. 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signaled that the end of the Assad regime would push Russia to “make certain adjustments to Russia’s military presence in Syria.” 

Lavrov said the continued deployment of Russian forces and the future of its bases “could be the subject of negotiations with the new Syrian leadership.” 

Particularly of concern to Moscow are the fates of its Tartus naval base and the Hmeimim air base located on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. The naval base established by the Soviet Union during the cold war, and the air base in 2015 as a strategic command post, both served as Russia’s military hubs in the Middle East.  

Amid this backdrop, Russian intelligence is pushing conspiracy theories that the U.S. and allies are planning attacks on those facilities and otherwise seeking to destabilize the country. 

On Dec. 28, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, accused U.S. and British intelligence agencies of “working out plans to stage a series of terrorist attacks on the Russian military facilities in Syria.” 

Those plans, the SVR claimed, without evidence, would involve the use of Islamic State, or IS, militants.  

Russia has long propagated the false narrative that the U.S. sought the ouster of Assad to destabilize the Middle East and control its oil resources. 

Despite Russia’s claim, the U.S. has worked for years to eradicate the IS threat, including with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, in Syria’s northeast.  

The U.S. and SDF defeated IS in its final holdout, Baghuz, near Syria’s Iraqi border, in March 2019. That year, U.S. forces killed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a raid in northwestern Syria.  

The Kurds oversee prisons housing thousands of IS fighters and their families. 

Russian forces, by contrast, regularly targeted armed groups who were fighting IS, and did not prioritize fighting IS terrorists during Moscow’s intervention in Syria. 

On Dec. 19, the U.S. Defense Department announced an additional 1,100 U.S. personnel had been deployed to Syria, bringing the total to 2,000 U.S. troops, to help stabilize the situation in the post-Assad era.  

At the same time, the United States Central Command, CENTCOM, has announced multiple airstrikes against IS targets to prevent the terrorist group from reestablishing foothold in the country.  

One U.S. airstrike on Dec. 19 killed IS leader Abu Yusif and other IS operatives “in an area formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians.” 

“As stated before, the United States — working with allies and partners in the region — will not allow ISIS to take advantage of the current situation in Syria and reconstitute,” CENTCOM Commander, General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a Dec. 20 statement.  

“ISIS has the intent to break out of detention the over 8,000 ISIS operatives currently being held in facilities in Syria. We will aggressively target these leaders and operatives, including those trying to conduct operations external to Syria,” Kurilla said. 

With Assad gone, there are signs Russia is doubtful about its ability to maintain military presence in Syria.  

In recent weeks, Russian cargo planes reportedly carrying military equipment have flown from Syria to eastern Libya, much of which is under the control of Khalifa Haftar, described by France 24 as “Russia’s man” in the country.  

Russia also has reportedly shifted military assets to bases in Mali and Sudan, where Moscow maintains a presence of its African Corps — formerly Wagner — troops.  

Despite efforts to find alternatives, experts say Russia’s potential loss of its bases in Syria could seriously dampen Russia’s ability to project power in the Middle East and throughout Africa. 

On Dec. 30, Al Jazeera reported that Syria’s new government had set up checkpoints around Hmeimim air base. Syrian security forces alleged Russia was harboring Assad loyalists at the facility.  

The rebel fighters who ousted Assad and many locals view Russian troops as occupiers, and they want Moscow to withdraw its military presence, Al Jazeera reported. 

That report described Hmeimim as a “thorn” in the hearts of the Syrian rebels who had recaptured the country earlier that month, citing the destruction Russian airstrikes had subjected them to up until Assad’s last days in power.  

As in Syria, Russia previously accused the U.S. and U.K. of supporting Islamic State – Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, in Afghanistan, despite longtime U.S. efforts to eradicate ISIS-K and its leadership there.  

That allegation fits into the broader conspiracy theory repeatedly spread by Russia and Iran that the U.S. created Islamic State to destabilize the Middle East and serve the foreign policy goals of the U.S. and Israel. 

Throughout the decade of the civil war, Russia framed its support for Assad and military presence in Syria, including the deployment of long-range bombers to Hmeimim air base, as a stabilizing force in the country.  

Contrary to that narrative, Russia indiscriminately attacked civilian targets, particularly hospitals, and allegedly killed tens of thousands of people throughout the course of the Syrian civil war. 
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Rome — Italy’s foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador on Thursday to demand the immediate release of reporter Cecilia Sala, who was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19 while working under a regular journalistic visa.

The ministry said in a statement it had relayed “serious concern” over Sala’s detention and stressed the need for humane treatment and respect for her human rights.  

Italian media have reported that Sala is in solitary confinement in a freezing cold cell with a neon light left on night and day. Her glasses have been confiscated and she has had hardly any contact with the outside world.

The secretary general of the Italian foreign ministry, Riccardo Guariglia, demanded that embassy staff in Tehran should be allowed to visit Sala and provide her with “the comfort items that she has been denied so far”, the ministry said.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Monday that Sala had been arrested for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”. It gave no further information.

Sala was detained three days after an Iranian businessman, Mohammad Abedini, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan.

Iran has denied involvement in the attack, and its foreign ministry was quoted in Iranian media as saying Abedini’s arrest violated international law.

In recent years, Iran’s security forces have arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals, mostly on charges related to espionage and security. Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran denies this.  

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is due to discuss Sala’s case with her foreign and justice ministers later on Thursday, her office said.
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Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 47 drones Russian forces launched overnight at areas in central and eastern Ukraine.

Russia used a total of 72 drones in its attacks, the military said.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Odessa and Sumy regions.

Officials in those areas did not immediately report any major damage.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones, mostly along the Russia-Ukraine border. Intercepts took place in Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Kaluga and Voronezh.

The governors of Bryansk and Kaluga said there were no reports of casualties or damage in their regions.

Thursday’s attacks came a day after Russian forces killed at least two people in Kyiv.

Some information for this story came from Reuters.
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LONDON — Parts of the United Kingdom were flooded Wednesday as heavy rains and powerful winds continued to disrupt New Year’s celebrations.

Several communities in the Manchester area were flooded, with several homes evacuated and cars submerged up to their roofs on roads and in parking lots after nearly a month’s worth of rain fell in two days.

A major incident was declared and mountain rescue teams were called in to help firefighters respond to swamped properties and stranded vehicles, Greater Manchester Police said.

“There’s still probably likely to be further flooding across the course of the day,” Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said. “We are potentially expecting the flood situation to get worse before it gets better.”

Tom Coulthard said the rain started late Tuesday afternoon and poured all night where he lives in Didsbury, south of Manchester, topping river banks and forcing a hotel to be evacuated before dawn. Roads and highways were closed in the area.

“All the local rivers and water courses have sort of filled up and flooded around the area,” said Coulthard, a geography professor at the University of Hull. “That’s really probably a sign of just how our weather is changing, how climate is shifting.”

The deluge and gusts derailed New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations, leading to cancelations in Edinburgh and several other cities. Events planned for New Year’s Day, including nippy outdoor swims and a bathtub boat race, were scrapped.

London, which was able to launch its massive fireworks display on the River Thames in front of Big Ben, had to postpone the start of its New Year’s Day parade and grounded inflatable floats due to the blustery and soggy conditions.

Cheerleaders and members of bands that marched through central London pulled transparent coverings over their bright costumes to take shelter from rain.

Warnings that indicate flooding is expected were issued at one point to more than 150 communities across the U.K., with most being in northern England. Later in the day, dozens of those warnings had been lifted.

Several trains were canceled because of high water around the tracks and some highways were closed.

With temperatures dropping, there were ice warnings until late Thursday morning for Northern Ireland, parts of north Wales, England and Scotland. And a three-day snow warning was issued for the coming weekend for much of England and Scotland.
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PODGORICA, MONTENEGRO — At least 10 people, including two children, were killed and four others were wounded in a shooting on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl in a western Montenegrin city, officials said. The shooter was on the run.

Police identified the attacker as Aco Martinovic, 45. He killed the owner of the bar in the city of Cetinje, the bar owner’s children and his own family members, said Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic at a news conference.

“At this moment, we are focused on arresting him,” Saranovic said.

Police dispatched special troops to search for the attacker in Cetinje, located about 30 kilometers northwest of the capital, Podgorica.

A statement said the man fled the scene armed after opening fire at the bar.

President Jakov Milatovic said he was “shocked and stunned” by the tragedy. “Instead of holiday joy … we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives,” Milatovic said on the social media platform X.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajic went to the hospital where the wounded were being treated and announced three days of mourning.

“This is a terrible tragedy that has affected us all,” Spajic said. “All police teams are out.”

Montenegro, which has about 620,000 people, is known for gun culture, and many people traditionally have weapons.

Wednesday’s attack was the second shooting rampage over the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital. In August 2022, an attacker also killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby in Cetinje.

A report by Radio and Television of Montenegro, the country’s public service broadcaster, which published Martinovic’s photo on its website, said he was known for erratic behavior and had been detained in the past for illegal possession of weapons.

The report said he had gone home to get his gun and returned to the bar, where he had opened fire and killed and wounded several people. He then went to another site where he killed the bar owner’s children and a woman, the report added.

Police appealed to residents to remain calm and stay indoors, ruling out a clash between criminal gangs.
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