After three years of relentless war, Ukraine is facing a mental health crisis, with hospitals overwhelmed by soldiers suffering from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Doctors say the hidden wounds could linger for decades. Yan Boechat reports from Lviv in western Ukraine.
…

The Church of England will seek to bring disciplinary proceedings against 10 clerics including former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, it said on Tuesday, implementing recommendations from an abuse report last year. 

The CoE, central to 85 million Anglicans worldwide, has been in crisis over safeguarding the vulnerable since the November report, which said ex-leader Justin Welby had taken insufficient action to stop one of the church’s most prolific serial abusers. Welby eventually stepped down over the findings. 

Eight priests and a former bishop were also listed among those potentially facing disciplinary action in the CoE statement as the CoE concluded its own independent review into all clergy criticized in last year’s report. 

That report found that the late John Smyth, a British lawyer who volunteered at Christian summer camps, subjected more than 100 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” physical and sexual abuse over a 40-year period. 

The potential outcomes of the CoE’s disciplinary process, which is at its first stage, could result in various penalties ranging from a permanent ban from ministry to resignation by consent. 

“We must not forget that at the heart of this case are the survivors and victims who have endured the lifelong effects of the appalling abuse by John Smyth. We are truly sorry,” Alexander Kubeyinje, the CoE’s National Director of Safeguarding, said in the statement. 

“The Church is committed to taking very seriously its response to the findings of the review as well as responding to its recommendations.” 

 
…

Multiple regions of Ukraine came under aerial attack from Russian forces overnight, with officials in Kyiv and Sumy saying Tuesday there were injuries and damage to buildings.

Mykola Kalashnyk, governor of the Kyiv region, said a 44-year-old woman was hospitalized as a result of the attacks, which also damaged several houses.

Officials in Sumy said Ukrainian air defenses shot down seven drones, but that the attacks injured two people and damaged two apartment buildings.

Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said Tuesday on Telegram that the military destroyed 20 drones over his region. Taburets said there were no reports of injuries or damage.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak said air defenses destroyed three Russian drones, while Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said the military shot down seven drones in his region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it shot down 20 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly over the Bryansk region that is located along the Russia-Ukraine border.

Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram there were no injuries from the Ukrainian attack.

Other intercepts took place over the Kursk and Kaluga regions, the Defense Ministry said.

Some information for this story was provided by Reuters
…

President Donald Trump says he’s nearing a deal with Ukraine and Russia to end the war in Ukraine, after a packed day of meetings at the White House with France’s leader, Emmanuel Macron, where he urged Europe to take a bigger role, and Paris pushed for more assurances from Moscow. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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STATE DEPARTMENT — Three years into Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, China is closely monitoring U.S. President Donald Trump’s strategy to end the war, as Beijing calculates its moves to position itself as a strategic partner for Ukraine while maintaining a no‐limits partnership with Russia, according to experts and former officials. 

This week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are set to hold in-person meetings in Washington, following the Feb. 18 direct talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. 

Macron met with Trump Monday morning at the White House for a meeting that lasted nearly two hours. Both leaders participated in a videoconference with other G7 leaders about Ukraine.  

Earlier on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who updated Xi on the Riyadh talks and reaffirmed the “comprehensive strategic partnership” between Russia and China. A Chinese readout said, “China welcomes the positive efforts made by Russia and relevant parties to resolve the crisis.” 

‘Crisis’ but not war 

For three years, Chinese officials have said Beijing will “play a constructive role” in the “political settlement of the crisis,” refraining from using the term “Ukraine war” to describe Russia’s aggression since Feb. 24, 2022. 

Beijing also commended the recent U.S.-Russia talks, during which Ukraine was not present. 

China and Ukraine “established a strategic partnership in 2011. … In recent years, China has been Ukraine’s largest trading partner,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Feb. 15 on the margins of the Munich Security Conference. 

“Regarding the Ukrainian crisis … China has always worked for peace and promoted talks,” Wang said. Notably, the Chinese readout of the meeting made no mention of Ukraine’s sovereignty or territorial integrity. 

On Feb. 20, two days after the U.S.-Russia talks, Wang held in-person discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the G20 ministerial meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Lavrov briefed him on the Riyadh talks. Wang reaffirmed China’s “comprehensive strategic partnership” with Russia. 

Wang said China “supports” all efforts dedicated to peace, including “the recent consensus reached between the United States and Russia” in Riyadh. 

Talks, not negotiations 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Riyadh talks — the first between Washington and Moscow in years — were not negotiations aimed at striking any deal on Ukraine, despite concerns from Ukraine and European countries that they were being sidelined.  

He said the talks were intended to determine whether the Russians were serious about ending the war.  

In a measured tone, Rubio characterized the talks — which lasted for more than four hours — as steps toward establishing “lines of communication” on bilateral issues between the United States and Russia. Among these efforts is the goal of achieving “some normalcy in our missions and their ability to function.” 

Some analysts said Beijing is nervous over a reset of U.S.-Russia ties.   

“While a complete rapprochement might not be in the cards, they’re nervous because if Trump lifts sanctions on Russia, then Moscow’s dependency on China decreases,” Dennis Wilder, who was a top White House China adviser to former U.S. President George W. Bush, told RFE/RL.  

But others warned that the U.S. risked bolstering China’s global information campaign, which portrays Washington as an unreliable ally. 

Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, a defense analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said, “We immediately gave away what leverage we had” and “misattributed who the aggressor was” while rushing into talks with the Russians. 

China, “stumbling into this good news,” certainly gets the benefit, Montgomery said in a recent webinar hosted by FDD.  

“I have no doubt that diplomats from China are whispering in ears around the world about the unreliability of Americans, and unfortunately, this administration is giving them some talking points,” Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the FDD, said during the webinar. 

Experts skeptical 

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson declined to comment on whether China would consider sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine after the conflict ends.

Xi and Putin are scheduled to exchange visits to Moscow and Beijing later this year. The two held a virtual meeting on Jan. 21. Additionally, Xi took a phone call from Putin on the afternoon of Feb. 24. 

Some former U.S. officials are skeptical about the extent to which the Chinese government is genuinely willing to act to stop Russia’s war on Ukraine. They believe China may use the issue as leverage in its dealings with Trump. 

“I think the Chinese will look at the Ukraine issue, and they will offer some help to Trump. They probably won’t do very much, and then they will claim success,” Evan Medeiros, director of Georgetown University’s Asian Studies program, said during a recent podcast with the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program. Medeiros served on the White House National Security Council from 2009 to 2015. 

“Anything that is in their direct material interests, like helping to rebuild Ukraine, they will embrace. But of course, that doesn’t have to do with encouraging Russia to reach a peace deal. That’s about ensuring that Chinese infrastructure companies get lots of big fat contracts,” Medeiros added.   
…

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has ruled the republic since 2007, said he wants to remain in power for life.

VOA Russian spoke to regional experts who believe that despite this being illegal according to Russian laws, Kadyrov will resist stepping down in 2026 when his term ends.

Oleg Orlov from the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial group draws parallels between Kadyrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, both relying on repression to continue their rule.

Click here for the full story in Russian.
…

VOA Russian spoke to independent analyst Jakub Janovsky who documents Russian military equipment losses in the war with Ukraine. He noted that Russia has lost 136 military planes and 151 helicopters in three years of the war, reducing its aviation fleet so Moscow now relies more on long-range missiles and drones.

Janovsky also said Russia has noticeably reduced the use of the heavy military equipment, such as tanks and armored fighting vehicles, on the frontline in Ukraine in the past several months, though the reasons for that are unknown.

Click here for the full story in Russian.

 
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ROME — Pope Francis was resting Monday morning after a quiet night, on the 10th day of his hospitalization for a complex lung infection that has provoked the early stages of kidney failure, the Vatican said.

The one-line statement didn’t say if Francis, 88, had woken up. “The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting,” it said.

Late Sunday, doctors reported that blood tests showed early kidney failure that was nevertheless under control. They said Francis remained in critical condition but that he hadn’t experienced any further respiratory crises since Saturday.

He was receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen and, on Sunday, was alert, responsive and attended Mass. They said his prognosis was guarded.

Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease. They have warned that the main threat facing Francis is sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia.

To date there has been no reference to any onset of sepsis in the medical updates provided by the Vatican, including on Sunday.

Monday marks Francis’ 10th day in the hospital, making this equal to the longest hospitalization of his papacy. He spent 10 days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital in 2021 after he had 33 centimeters of his colon removed.

In New York on Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged what church leaders in Rome weren’t saying publicly: that the Catholic faithful were united “at the bedside of a dying father.”

“As our Holy Father Pope Francis is in very, very fragile health, and probably close to death,” Dolan said in his homily from the pulpit of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, though he later told reporters he hoped and prayed that Francis would “bounce back.”

Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease. His condition has revived speculation about what might happen if he becomes unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, and whether he might resign.
…

MARSEILLE, France — Two projectiles were thrown at the perimeter wall of Russia’s consulate in the southern French port city of Marseille on Monday, one of which exploded, a French security source said.

It was not immediately clear if the projectiles cleared the wall. BFM TV said the projectiles were Molotov cocktails and that they landed in the consulate’s garden.

Russia demanded a full French investigation and said the incident looked like an act of terrorism, state news agency TASS reported.

No one was injured, the security source said. Consulate staff were kept indoors and police set up a security perimeter around the consulate.

The incident in the southern French city took place on the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The explosions on the territory of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille have all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack,” TASS quoted Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
…

UNITED NATIONS — The United States is urging the United Nations General Assembly to back its resolution to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday, oppose any amendments and vote no on a rival text drafted by Ukraine and European allies.

In a diplomatic note sent on Sunday and reviewed by Reuters, the United States described its brief resolution as “a forward-looking resolution focused on one simple idea: ending the war.”

“Through this resolution, Member States can build real momentum towards international peace and security, the maintenance of which is the principal purpose of the United Nations,” it said, asking countries to “vote no on any other resolution or amendments presented” during Monday’s meeting.

The U.S. draft resolution, put forward on Friday, pits it against Ukraine and the European Union, which have for the past month been negotiating with U.N. member states on their own resolution on the war in Ukraine, which repeats the U.N. demand that Russia withdraw its troops and halt hostilities.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly repeatedly backed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders since the war began. The U.S. draft makes no reference to that.

The U.S. text mourns the loss of life during the “Russia-Ukraine conflict,” reiterates that the U.N.’s main purpose is to maintain international peace and security and peacefully settle disputes. It “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”

Proposed amendments

The 15-member Security Council is also set to vote on the same U.S. text later on Monday, diplomats said. A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., Russia, China, Britain or France to be adopted.

The U.S. push for U.N. action comes after President Donald Trump launched a bid to broker an end to the war, sparking a rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and raising concerns among European allies that they could be cut out of peace talks. U.S. and Russian officials met on Tuesday.

The General Assembly is set to vote on several proposed amendments to the U.S. draft resolution.

Russia has proposed amending the U.S. draft to reference addressing the “root causes” of the war. Russia called its 2022 invasion a “special military operation” designed to “denazify” Ukraine and halt an expansion of NATO.

Britain and 24 European Union states have also proposed amendments to the U.S. draft in the General Assembly.

They want to describe the conflict as “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” back Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and implore “just, lasting and comprehensive peace” in line with the U.N. Charter and principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity.

General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight, reflecting a global view on the war. No country holds a veto in the assembly.
…

VATICAN CITY — While the Vatican has detailed laws and rituals to ensure the transfer of power when a pope dies or resigns, they do not apply if he is sick or even unconscious. And there are no specific norms outlining what happens to the leadership of the Catholic Church if a pope becomes totally incapacitated.

As a result, even though Pope Francis remains hospitalized in critical condition with a complex lung infection, he is still pope and very much in charge.

Still, Francis’ hospital stay is raising obvious questions about what happens if he loses consciousness for a prolonged period, or whether he might follow in Pope Benedict XVI’s footsteps and resign if he becomes unable to lead. On Monday, Francis’ hospital stay will hit the 10-day mark, equaling the length of his 2021 hospital stay for surgery to remove 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon.

His age and prolonged illness have revived interest about how papal power is exercised in the Holy See, how it is transferred and under what circumstances. And it points to the legislative loophole that currently exists in what to do if a pope gets so sick that he can’t govern.

The Vatican Curia

Francis may be in charge, but he already delegates the day-to-day running of the Vatican and church to a team of officials who operate whether he is in the Apostolic Palace or not, and whether he is conscious or not.

Chief among them is the secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Other Vatican functions are proceeding normally, including the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year celebrations.

What happens when a pope gets sick?

Canon law does have provisions for when a bishop gets sick and can’t run his diocese, but none for a pope. Canon 412 says a diocese can be declared “impeded” if its bishop — due to “captivity, banishment, exile, or incapacity” — cannot fulfil his pastoral functions. In such cases, the day-to-day running of the diocese shifts to an auxiliary bishop, a vicar general or someone else.

Even though Francis is the bishop of Rome, no explicit provision exists for the pope if he similarly becomes “impeded.” Canon 335 declares simply that when the Holy See is “vacant or entirely impeded,” nothing can be altered in the governance of the church. But it doesn’t say what it means for the Holy See to be “entirely impeded” or what provisions might come into play if it ever were.

In 2021, a team of canon lawyers set out to propose norms to fill that legislative gap. They created a canonical crowd-sourcing initiative to craft a new church law regulating the office of a retired pope as well as norms to apply when a pope is unable to govern, either temporarily or permanently.

The proposed norms explain that, with medical advancements, it’s entirely likely that at some point a pope will be alive but unable to govern. It argues that the church must provide for the declaration of a “totally impeded see” and the transfer of power for the sake of its own unity.

Under the proposed norms, the governance of the universal church would pass to the College of Cardinals. In the case of a temporary impediment, they would name a commission to govern, with periodical medical checks every six months to determine the status of the pope.

“At first, the promoting group was accused of imprudently choosing topics that were too sensitive and controversial,” said one of the coordinators, canon lawyer Geraldina Boni.

But then, “a widespread consensus formed,” she told The Associated Press. Even Francis’ own canon lawyer, Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, acknowledged some sort of norms were necessary if the pope “incurably, then irreversibly, lost consciousness or otherwise the ability to perform human acts.”

“The problem is, who declares that the pope is in a situation where he cannot govern?” he told Italian daily Il Giornale in 2022.

Ghirlanda largely backed the crowd-sourcing initiative’s idea, proposing a committee of medical experts to determine if the pope’s condition is irreversible. If they confirm it is, the Rome-based cardinals would be summoned to declare the pope cannot govern, triggering a conclave.

What about the letters?

Francis confirmed in 2022 that shortly after he was elected pope, he wrote a letter of resignation, to be invoked if he became medically incapacitated. He said he gave it to the then-secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and said he assumed Bertone had delivered it to Parolin’s office when he retired.

The text is not public, and the conditions Francis contemplated for a resignation are unknown. It is also not known if such a letter would be canonically valid. Canon law requires a papal resignation to be “freely and properly manifested” — as was the case when Benedict announced his resignation in 2013.

In 1965, Pope Paul VI wrote letters to the dean of the College of Cardinals hypothesizing that if he were to become seriously ill, the dean and other cardinals should accept his resignation. The letter was never invoked, since Paul lived another 13 years and died on the job.

What happens when a pope dies or resigns?

The only time papal power changes hands is when a pope dies or resigns. At that time, a whole series of rites and rituals comes into play governing the “interregnum” — the period between the end of one pontificate and the election of a new pope.

During that period, known as the “sede vacante,” or “empty See,” the camerlengo, or chamberlain, runs the administration and finances of the Holy See. He certifies the pope’s death, seals the papal apartments and prepares for the pope’s burial before a conclave to elect a new pope. The position is currently held by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the head of the Vatican’s laity office.

The camerlengo has no role or duties if the pope is merely sick or otherwise incapacitated.

Likewise, the dean of the College of Cardinals, who would preside at a papal funeral and organize the conclave, has no additional role if the pope is merely sick. That position is currently held by Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91.

Earlier this month, Francis decided to keep Re on the job even after his five-year term expired, rather than make way for someone new. He also extended the term of the vice-dean, Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 81.
…

Brussels — Estonia has launched a new push to get fellow EU members to agree to seize frozen Russian assets and use them to help Ukraine, dismissing a Russian idea on how the money could be used as part of a peace deal.

The Baltic country has sent a discussion paper on the issue to European Union partners and will raise it at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, officials said.

Some 210 billion euros ($219.62 billion) in Russian assets are immobilized in the EU by sanctions as part of an international crackdown on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, the G7 group of nations – including the EU – agreed to use profits from frozen Russian assets to fund a $50 billion loan for Ukraine. But the assets themselves remain untouched.

“The decision to use the windfall profits was a step in the right direction. I see that the time is ripe now to take the next step,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Reuters.

On Friday, Reuters reported that Moscow could agree to allow Russian assets frozen in Europe to be used for reconstruction in Ukraine but would insist part of the money is spent on the part of the country controlled by its forces.

Tsahkna dismissed that idea.

“Giving Russia some of the assets to use in the occupied areas means accepting Russia’s occupation of some parts of Ukraine,” he said.

The EU has insisted Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be respected in any peace deal.

Several EU countries, including Baltic states and Poland, have said they are ready to consider seizing the assets. But Germany, France, Belgium and the European Central Bank have been wary, warning of legal challenges and undermining the euro as a reserve currency.

Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear holds most of the Russian assets frozen in Europe.

But the issue has resurfaced on the political agenda, particularly as the Trump administration has said it expects Europe to take on a larger share of support for Ukraine.

The Estonian paper, seen by Reuters, tries to address its partners’ concerns. It says asset seizure can be justified under international law, as a countermeasure to Moscow’s war and because “Russia refuses to engage in reparations.”

It also says joint action by the EU and international partners could mitigate any risk to the euro as a reserve currency.
…

Rome, Italy — An American Airlines flight from New York to New Delhi, India, landed safely in Rome on Sunday afternoon after it was diverted due to a security concern , which later proved to be “non-credible,” the airline said. 

American Airlines said Flight 292 “was inspected by law enforcement” after landing at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and “cleared to re-depart.” 

It didn’t clarify the cause of the security concern, but added an inspection was required by protocol before the flight could land in New Delhi. 

“The flight will stay in Rome overnight to allow for required crew rest before continuing to Delhi as soon as possible tomorrow,” the airline said. 

An Associated Press reporter filmed two fighter jets flying over the airport shortly before the unscheduled landing. Fire trucks were visible on the landing strip on one side of the plane after it landed. 

The airport continued to operate normally, a spokesman with Rome’s airport said.
…

Moscow — The Kremlin on Sunday hailed dialogue between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — two “extraordinary” presidents — as “promising,” and vowed it would “never” give up territory seized in eastern Ukraine.

Trump broke with Western policy earlier this month by phoning Putin to discuss how to end the Ukraine conflict — a call hailed by Moscow as ending three years of isolation for the Kremlin leader since he launched his full-scale offensive in February 2022.

Top Russian and U.S. officials then met in Saudi Arabia last week to discuss a “restoration” of ties and start a discussion on a possible Ukraine ceasefire — all without the involvement of Kyiv or Europe.

“This is a dialogue between two extraordinary presidents,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV on Sunday.

“That’s promising,” he added.

“It is important that nothing prevents us from realizing the political will of the two heads of state.”

Trump’s overtures to Moscow have triggered alarm in Kyiv and across Europe.

But it is unclear whether his moves will be able to bring Moscow and Kyiv closer to a truce.

Peskov on Sunday ruled out any territorial concessions as part of a settlement.

“The people decided to join Russia a long time ago,” he said, referring to Moscow-staged votes in eastern Ukraine held amid the offensive that were slammed as bogus by Kyiv, the West and international monitors.

“No one will ever sell off these territories. That’s the most important thing.”

‘God willed it’

Putin said God and fate had entrusted him and his army with “the mission” to defend Russia.

“Fate willed it so, God willed it so, if I may say so. A mission as difficult as it is honorable — defending Russia — has been placed on our and your shoulders together,” he told servicemen who have fought in Ukraine.

Russia was on Sunday marking Defender of the Fatherland Day — a holiday hailing soldiers and veterans — a day before the three-year anniversary of the start of its full-scale offensive.

“Today, at the risk of their lives and with courage, they are resolutely defending their homeland, national interests and Russia’s future,” Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin.

Moscow’s army had overnight launched a record 267 attack drones at Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force said.

Among them, 138 were intercepted by air defense and 119 were “lost.”

Ukraine did not say what happened to the remaining 10 but a separate armed forces statement on Telegram said several regions, Kyiv included, had been “hit.”

AFP journalists in the Ukrainian capital heard air defense systems in operation throughout the night.

‘Inappropriate remarks’

Amid his outreach to Moscow, Trump has also verbally attacked Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy falsely claiming Kyiv started the war and that Zelensky was hugely unpopular at home.

The bitter war of words has threatened to undermine Western support for Kyiv at a critical juncture in the conflict.

Zelenskyy on Sunday called for the Western coalition that has been helping Kyiv fend off the Russian offensive for the last three years to hold strong.

“We must do our best to achieve a lasting and just peace for Ukraine. This is possible with the unity of all partners: we need the strength of the whole of Europe, the strength of America, the strength of all those who want lasting peace,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Moscow has reveled in the spat between Trump and Zelensky.

“Zelenskyy makes inappropriate remarks addressed to the head of state. He does it repeatedly,” Peskov said Sunday.

“No president would tolerate that kind of treatment. So his [Trump’s] reaction is completely quite understandable.”

Scrambling to respond to Trump’s dramatic policy reversal, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington next week to make the case for supporting Ukraine.
…

Moscow — Myanmar and its close ally Russia signed a memorandum on investment cooperation in a special economic zone in Dawei, including construction of a port and an oil refinery, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development said on Sunday.  

The document was signed by the head of the Russian ministry, Maxim Reshetnikov, and Myanmar’s minister for investment and foreign economic relations, Kan Zaw, during a visit of a Russian delegation to the Southeast Asian country.  

“The text of the memorandum contains the basic parameters of several large infrastructure and energy projects that are being implemented jointly with Russian companies in Myanmar,” the Russian ministry cited Reshetnikov as saying in a statement.  

“We are talking about projects to build a port, a coal-fired thermal power plant and an oil refinery.” 

He added that “oil refining is still the most complex element,” and there was no final decision on construction of a refinery. 

“As for the refinery — there is a desire of the Myanmar side to have a refinery. Our companies are still studying the economics of such a project, it is very complicated from the point of view of economic feasibility,” Interfax news agency cited Reshetnikov.  

According to the Russian ministry, the Dawei special economic zone is a 196 square-kilometer project in the Andaman Sea which is planned to house high-tech industrial zones and transport hubs, information technology zones and export processing zones.  

Russia has become Myanmar’s closest ally since the military coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government in February 2021. 

Moscow and Naypyidaw have been discussing a deeper energy cooperation, including Russia’s participation in the construction of a gas pipeline to the Myanmar’s main city Yangon. Russia has also had plans for a nuclear research reactor in the country. 
…

LONDON/PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington next week amid alarm in Europe over U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardening stance toward Ukraine and overtures to Moscow on the three-year conflict.

The leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers, who will be traveling separately, are expected to try to persuade Trump not to rush into a ceasefire deal with Vladimir Putin at any cost, keep Europe involved and discuss military guarantees to Ukraine.

Macron, who is trying to capitalize on a relationship with Trump built during their first presidential terms, has said agreeing to a bad deal that would amount to a capitulation of Ukraine would signal weakness to the United States’ foes, including China and Iran.

“I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President (Putin). It’s not you, it’s not what you’re made of and it’s not in your interests,” he said in an hourlong question and answer session on social media ahead of Monday’s visit to the White House.

The visits come amid a rift between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump described as a “dictator.” That has alarmed Kyiv’s European allies, already reeling from a more aggressive U.S. posture on trade, diplomacy and even domestic European politics.

Philip Golub, a professor in international relations at the American University in Paris, said Trump’s rapid-fire moves in his first weeks in office, as well as the rhetoric from other U.S. officials, had been a major shock for the Europeans.

“They could not have expected that somehow within the United States would emerge this ultra-nationalist coalition of forces that would actually challenge Europe’s voice in world affairs in such a stark and strong way,” he told Reuters.

He said Macron believed he had a “historic role to play” in going to Washington to ensure Europe can weigh in on the ultimate negotiations on Ukraine. “Whether he can actually achieve something, however, in this visit is an entirely different matter,” he added.

Starmer, who has also warned the end of the war cannot be a “temporary pause before Putin attacks again,” will be in Washington on Thursday.

Speaking on a Fox News podcast on Friday, Trump said Macron and Starmer had not “done anything” to end the war. “No meetings with Russia!” he said, although he described Macron as “a friend of mine” and Starmer as “a very nice guy.”

However, the two countries are keen to show Trump they are ready to take on a bigger burden for European security.

Britain and France are firming up ideas with allies for military guarantees for Ukraine and their two leaders will seek to persuade Trump to provide U.S. assurances in any post ceasefire deal, Western officials said.

Their respective militaries began initial planning last summer for the post-war scenario, but the discussions accelerated in November after Trump secured the U.S. presidency, a French military official and two diplomats said.

They have also been supported in putting together an array of options by countries like Denmark and the Baltic states as Europeans discuss what they would be ready to do should there be an accord and peacekeepers required, officials said.

While both Britain and France have ruled out sending troops to Ukraine immediately, the plans, still in concept stage, center around providing air, maritime, land and cyber support that would aim to deter Russia from launching any future attacks, Western officials said.

Air and sea assets could be based in Poland or Romania, restoring safe international air space and ensuring the Black Sea remained safe for international shipping, the official said.

Part of the British and French talks center around the possibility of sending European peacekeepers. While U.S. boots on the ground may not be necessary, deterrence in the form of U.S. medium-range missiles and ultimately nuclear weapons will remain crucial.

The options being discussed would center not on providing troops for the frontline or the 2,000-kilometer border which would remain secured by Ukrainian forces, but further to the West, three European diplomats and the military official said.

Those troops could be tasked with protecting key Ukrainian infrastructure such as ports or nuclear facilities to reassure the Ukrainian population. However, Russia has made it clear it would oppose a European presence in Ukraine.

A French military official said there was little sense in talking numbers at this stage because it would depend on what was finally agreed, what international mandate was given and whether non-European troops would also be involved.

“It’s not about the numbers of troops in Ukraine. It’s the ability to mobilize and the ability to arrange everything into a package of interoperability units,” the French official said.

A Western official said that even 30,000 troops could be on the “high side.” 
…

BERLIN — German voters are choosing a new government in an election Sunday dominated by worries about the yearslong stagnation of Europe’s biggest economy, pressure to curb migration and growing uncertainty over the future of Ukraine and Europe’s alliance with the United States. The center-right opposition is favored to win, while polls point to the strongest result for a far-right party since World War II.

Germany is the most populous country in the 27-nation European Union and a leading member of NATO. It has been Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier, after the U.S. It will be central to shaping the continent’s response to the challenges of the coming years, including the Trump administration’s confrontational foreign and trade policy.

What are Germans voting for?

More than 59 million people in the nation of 84 million are eligible to elect the 630 members of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, who will take their seats under the glass dome of Berlin’s landmark Reichstag building.

Germany’s electoral system rarely produces absolute majorities, and no party looks anywhere near one this time. It’s expected that two or more parties will form a coalition, following potentially difficult negotiations that will take weeks or even months before the Bundestag elects the next chancellor.

This election is taking place seven months before it was originally planned after center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition collapsed in November, three years into a term that was increasingly marred by infighting. There’s widespread discontent and not much enthusiasm for any of the candidates.

Who could take charge?

Center-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s Union bloc has consistently led polls, with 28-32% support in the most recent surveys, and Merz is favored to replace Scholz. Scholz’s Social Democrats have been polling between 14% and 16%, which would be their worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.

The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has been running in second place with around 20% of the vote — well above its previous best of 12.6% in a national election, from 2017 — and has fielded its first candidate for chancellor in Alice Weidel. But other parties say they won’t work with it, a stance often known as the “firewall.”

The environmentalist Greens also are running for the top job, with outgoing Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, but have been polling a little behind Scholz’s party.

Merz has pledged “stability instead of chaos” after Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed following long-running internal arguments, including over how to revitalize the economy.

But it’s unclear whether the conservative leader, if he wins, will be able to put together a stable government that does much better. Merz hopes for a two-party coalition but may end up needing a third partner to form a government.

The realistic candidates to join a Merz government are Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats — who were the smallest partner in Scholz’s collapsed government and may not manage to stay in parliament.

The Free Democrats and another small party are hovering are hovering at around 5% of the vote, the threshold to qualify for seats in parliament. If they do, there may be no majority for a two-party coalition.

What are the main issues?

The contenders have made contrasting proposals to turn around the German economy, which has shrunk for the past two years and hasn’t managed real growth in much longer. That’s going to be a central job for the new government.

Migration moved to the forefront of the campaign in the past month following deadly attacks committed by immigrants.

Merz vowed to bar people from entering the country without proper papers and to step up deportations if he is elected chancellor. He then brought a nonbinding motion calling for many more migrants to be turned back at Germany’s borders. Parliament approved it by a narrow majority thanks to AfD votes — a first in postwar Germany.

Rivals made Merz’s attitude toward AfD, which generated protests, an issue. Scholz accused Merz of “irresponsible gambling” and breaking a taboo. Merz has rejected those accusations, saying that he didn’t and won’t work with AfD. He has repeatedly and categorically said since that his party will “never” do so.

Mainstream parties have vowed to keep up support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. And after the Scholz government reached a NATO target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense, the next administration will have to find a way to keep that going — and likely expand it, in the face of U.S. demands — once a special 100 billion-euro ($105 billion) fund to modernize the military is used up in 2027. 
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STRASBOURG, FRANCE — One person died and two police officers were seriously injured in a knife attack in eastern France on Saturday that occurred during a demonstration, the local prosecutor said.

Three more officers were lightly wounded in the attack in the city of Mulhouse, carried out by a 37-year-old suspect who is on a terror prevention watchlist, prosecutor Nicolas Heitz told AFP.

The list, called FSPRT, compiles data from various authorities on people with the aim of preventing “terrorist” radicalization. It was launched in 2015 following deadly attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices and on a Jewish supermarket.

The suspect attacked local police officers in Mulhouse shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) Saturday afternoon, France’s national antiterror prosecutors’ unit PNAT said in a statement.

A passerby was killed trying to intervene and help police, the prosecutor’s office said.

One of the seriously wounded police officers sustained an injury to the carotid artery, and the other to the thorax, Heitz said.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was expected to travel to the scene of the attack later Saturday.

Police established a security parameter after the attack, which happened shortly before 4 p.m. local time during a demonstration in support of Congo.

According to union sources, the suspect, born in Algeria, has been under judicial supervision and house arrest, and under an expulsion order from France.

“Horror has seized our city,” Mulhouse Mayor Michele Lutz said on Facebook. The incident was being investigated as a terror attack, she said, but “this must obviously still be confirmed by the judiciary.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that the deadly knife attack was “Islamist terrorism,” after France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office confirmed it was investigating the case.

“It is without any doubt an act of Islamist terrorism,” Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the annual French farm show, adding that the interior minister was on his way to Mulhouse.

The suspect has been arrested, the prosecutor’s office said.

Some information in this report is from Reuters.
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PARIS — Mohamed Amra, a French fugitive known as “The Fly,” who was freed by gunmen in a brazen attack against a prison van in May, was arrested in Romania on Saturday, the French interior minister said.

French police had launched a massive manhunt for the fugitive, whose escape resulted in the deaths of two prison guards and was seized upon by right-wing politicians as evidence that France had lost its grip on drug crime.

Three officers were wounded in the attack, which was caught on CCTV and shocked France because of its extraordinary violence.

France had tasked more than 300 investigators with finding Amra and had requested an Interpol red notice, hoping for foreign assistance.

“I congratulate all forces which made Mohamed Amra’s arrest in Romania today possible. A warm thank you to Romania for its decisive cooperation,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X.

Amra is a 30-year-old from northern France, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Police sources said he was involved in drug trafficking and accused of being a major drugs gangland figure.

Amra has a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was 15. He was also suspected of ordering hits while in prison.

At the time of his escape, Amra was facing two fresh charges, one for attempted murder and another for participation in a gangland killing in the southern city of Marseille on the French Riviera, a hub for drug trafficking and gang violence.

But despite the government labelling him “public enemy number one,” and the deployment of massive means, Amra was not captured as quickly as the authorities had hoped.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said he had been convicted of burglary by a court in Evreux on May 10 and was being held at the Val de Reuil prison until his escape on May 14.

He had also been indicted by prosecutors in Marseille for a kidnapping that led to a death, it said.

On Saturday, the government reacted with relief that the chase was over.

“After a manhunt lasting several months, Amra has been arrested, finally!” Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said on X.

President Emmanuel Macron hailed Amra’s capture as “a formidable success.”

Some information in this report is from Agence France-Presse.
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ROME — The Vatican carried on with its Holy Year celebrations without the pope Saturday, as Pope Francis battled pneumonia and a complex respiratory infection that doctors say remains touch-and-go and will keep him hospitalized for at least another week.

Francis slept well overnight, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said in a brief early update Saturday.

But doctors have warned that the main threat facing the 88-year-old Francis would be the onset of sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, the pope’s medical team said in their first in-depth update on the pope’s condition.

“He is not out of danger,” said his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone. “So, like all fragile patients, I say they are always on the golden scale: In other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.”

Francis, who has chronic lung disease, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.

Carbone, who along with Francis’ personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, organized care for him at the Vatican, acknowledged he had insisted on staying at the Vatican to work even after he was sick “because of institutional and private commitments.” He was cared for by a cardiologist and infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being hospitalized.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the biggest threat facing Francis was that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis. Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.

“Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of,” Alfieri told a press conference Friday at Gemelli. “The English say, ‘knock on wood,’ we say ‘touch iron.’ Everyone touch what they want,” he said as he tapped the microphone.

“But this is the real risk in these cases: that these germs pass to the bloodstream.”

“He knows he’s in danger,” Alfieri said. “And he told us to relay that.”

Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering at the Vatican for their special Jubilee weekend. Francis got sick at the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was supposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry in the church that precedes ordination to the priesthood.

In his place, the Holy Year organizer will celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. And for the second weekend in a row, Francis was expected to skip his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he were up to it.

“Look, even though he’s not [physically] here, we know he’s here,” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico who was at the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration. “He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us because our prayers and his go together.”

Beyond that, doctors have said that Francis’ recovery will take time and that, regardless, he will have to live with his chronic respiratory problems back at the Vatican.

“He has to get over this infection, and we all hope he gets over it,” said Alfieri. “But the fact is, all doors are open.”
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