LONDON — It was quite the journey for such tiny froglets: traveling thousands of miles from the forests of southern Chile to London, carried and brooded inside their fathers’ vocal sacs for safety.

London Zoo said Monday that 33 endangered Darwin’s frogs, named after scientist Charles Darwin, who discovered the species, were born in their new home as part of a rescue mission to save the species from extinction.

Known populations of Darwin’s frogs have suffered a 90% decline within a year since a deadly disease known as chytrid fungus arrived in 2023 in their habitat, the Parque Tantauco forests in southern Chile. The fungus has affected hundreds of amphibian species around the world.

The creatures have a unique reproductive strategy: after the females lay eggs, the male frogs protect and rear the tiny tadpoles inside their distensible vocal sacs for them to develop in safety.

A team of conservationists traveled to Chile’s forests in October in search of healthy Darwin’s frogs free of the infectious disease. They collected 52 frogs, which were then placed in climate-controlled boxes for a 11,265-kilometer ride by boat, car and plane to their new home in London.

Of the group, 11 male frogs — each measuring under 3 centimeters — carried 33 tadpoles that were born at the zoo.

“We knew we were embarking on something special — the clock was ticking, and we needed to act quickly if we were going to save these frogs,” said Ben Tapley, curator of amphibians at London Zoo.

He said the successful parent-rearing of the froglets was a “powerful symbol of hope for the species.”

The frogs are now kept in pairs inside dozens of glass tanks filled with moss and with temperatures that mimic their natural habitat. Keepers said the zoo will set up a breeding program for them, and any frogs they breed may later be reintroduced into the wild.

Andres Valenzuela-Sanchez, a researcher at ZSL, the conservation charity behind London Zoo, said the project will ensure the species has a fighting chance of recovery.

“These frogs are not only vital for the future of their species but also help us better understand how we can combat chytrid fungus and safeguard other amphibians globally,” he said.
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Multiple earthquakes are rattling Santorini, a volcanic island in Greece, prompting authorities to dispatch rescuers with tents, a sniffer dog and drones, and to shut schools on four islands.

Residents have been warned to avoid indoor gatherings, check escape routes, stay away from cliffs and to drain swimming pools to reduce potential structural damage to buildings in the event of a large earthquake.

Greece lies in a highly seismically active part of the world, and earthquakes are frequent. The vast majority cause no injuries and little or no damage, but the country has also seen deadly quakes. Earthquakes can’t be predicted, but authorities are taking measures as a precaution.

Santorini, one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations, took its present crescent shape following a massive volcanic eruption in antiquity. Now, millions of visitors each year come to see its dramatic scenery of whitewashed houses and blue-domed churches clinging to the cliff along the flooded caldera, or volcanic crater.

Last week, scientists said they had noticed increased volcanic activity in the caldera but say this isn’t linked to the earthquakes.

Here’s a look at the current situation:

What’s going on?

About 200 quakes with magnitudes between 3 and 4.9 were registered from Saturday to Monday afternoon between Santorini and the nearby island of Amorgos, authorities said.

Seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos said on Greece’s ERT television that the seismic activity began on Jan. 24, but intensified Saturday, with increasing frequency and magnitudes.

The fault line producing the current earthquakes runs for about 120 kilometers (75 miles), but only the southern part between Santorini and Amorgos has been activated. The earthquakes have epicenters beneath the seabed, roughly 30-40 kilometers (18-25 miles) from any of the islands. Scientists say this is good news, as an epicenter beneath land could potentially be more destructive. But a large quake could also trigger a tsunami, so authorities have warned people to stay away from coastal areas and head inland if they feel a significant earthquake.

So far, there has been no damage or injuries reported, although some rockslides have occurred.

Could the earthquakes trigger a volcanic eruption?

Santorini lies along the Hellenic Volcanic Arc, which stretches from the Peloponnese in southern Greece through the Cycladic islands.

Last Wednesday, Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry announced monitoring sensors had picked up “mild seismic-volcanic activity” inside the island’s caldera. Similar volcanic activity had been recorded in 2011, when it lasted for 14 months and ended without any major issues.

Another volcano — a submarine one called Kolumbo — lies about 8 kilometers (5 miles) northeast of Santorini, nearer to the epicenter of the current earthquakes.

But seismologists say the quakes aren’t related to the volcanoes.

A meeting between government officials and scientists determined that seismic activity within Santorini’s caldera “remains at the same low levels as in recent days,” the Civil Protection Ministry said Monday, but that it was “particularly increased” between Santorini and Amorgos.

What worries authorities?

Scientists are still trying to determine definitively whether the multiple quakes are foreshocks — smaller earthquakes before a major temblor. Papadopoulos said that there was a “high probability” they are.

Santorini’s main villages are built along the rim of the volcano’s caldera — producing the dramatic scenery of cascading whitewashed houses and sunset viewpoints that make the island so popular but also raising concerns in the event of a major earthquake. The sheer cliffs also make some areas prone to rockslides.

What precautions are being taken?

Authorities sent a team of rescuers with a sniffer dog and drones to Santorini, where they set up tents in a basketball court next to the island’s main hospital as a staging area. Push alerts have been sent to cellphones warning people to stay away from areas where rockslides could occur and banning access to some coastal areas.

Residents and hotels have been asked to drain swimming pools, as the water movement in a major quake could destabilize buildings. People have been told to avoid old buildings and check for exit routes when in built-up areas.

Schools on Santorini, as well as the nearby islands of Anafi, Amorgos and Ios, will remain shut all week.

What’s the history?

The fault line that has been activated was the site of Greece’s largest quake in the last century: a 7.7 magnitude temblor dubbed the Amorgos earthquake that struck in 1956, triggering a roughly 20-meter (65-foot) tsunami, causing significant damage in Amorgos and Santorini and killing more than 50 people.

Santorini is also the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. Known as the Minoan eruption, it occurred around 1,600 B.C. and destroyed much of the formerly round island, giving Santorini its current shape. The eruption is believed to have contributed to the decline of the ancient Minoan civilization.

Although it’s still an active volcano, the last notable eruption occurred in 1950.
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BANGKOK — A journalist who covers environmental issues from Cambodia has been banned from entering the country where he has been based for the past five years.

British reporter Gerry Flynn told VOA that immigration officials denied his re-entry to Cambodia on Jan. 5, when he tried to return after a vacation in Thailand.

The journalist went public with the incident Monday.

“It’s not just a professional blow, but very personal, too,” Flynn told VOA by phone. “We’ve all seen in the last five years, press freedom [has] deteriorated there.”

Flynn, 33, is staff writer at Mongabay, a news website that reports on environmental issues worldwide. He has spent five years reporting from Siem Reap in Cambodia’s northwest, covering environmental and governance issues.

The first sign of a possible problem came on January 2, when Flynn says he was stopped at the Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport prior to departing Cambodia.

Authorities told Flynn that one of the documents in his visa applications was fake. But, the reporter said, he was allowed to embark on his trip to visit Moo Deng, a baby endangered pygmy hippopotamus that has become a worldwide tourist attraction in Thailand.

When he returned three days later, Flynn said he was questioned again.

“This time they didn’t mess around. They were just straight away saying that my visa had been acquired fraudulently. They couldn’t tell me which document was supposed to be incorrect or fake,” he said. “The only thing they would tell me is that I’d been placed on the blacklist on November 25, 2024.”

Immigration officials told Flynn he was banned indefinitely and would not be able to return to Cambodia. Denied entry, the journalist traveled back to Thailand.

Flynn has a one-year Type E business visa, valid through February 2025, and a valid work permit issued by Cambodia’s labor ministry. His press accreditation expired January 1, but he had applied to renew the pass.

His news outlet, Mongabay, has said that it believes the action is retaliatory.

Flynn recently featured as a contributor to a France24 documentary, “Real carbon, false credits? Investigating mass deforestation in Cambodia”.

The documentary focuses on carbon-offset projects in the Cardamom Mountains. After it aired on November 22, Cambodia’s government labeled the findings “fake news.”

Two other contributors were detained a day after it aired, but later released, according to Mongabay.

Neither Cambodia’s government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor its press communications division replied to VOA’s emails requesting comment.

Mongabay on Monday said Cambodian authorities have not provided further information to Flynn about his case or his options to appeal.

In a statement, Mongabay said that Cambodia claims Flynn had applied for a visa to work as an electrician. But Mongabay said Flynn has “consistently held a valid government-issued press pass … in Cambodia.”

“For more than five years, Flynn has reported from Cambodia, and despite the increasing hostility towards journalists, it’s a country that he’s grown to love,” the statement said. “As such, it’s both a professional and personal blow to be uprooted from the country Flynn has called home in what appears to be direct retaliation for his journalistic work.”

International media watchdogs have condemned Cambodia’s action.

“The immigration entry ban on journalist Gerry Flynn shows just how far Cambodian authorities are willing to go to suppress independent reporting on the country’s environmental catastrophe,” Shawn Crispin, the senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalist, told VOA by email.

Crispin noted that Flynn has reported on deforestation in Cambodia, adding, “His expose journalism no doubt made people in powerful positions who profit from the illegal trade very uncomfortable.”

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, told VOA, “Cambodia is working overtime to wipe out what’s left of media freedom in the country.”

Reporting or campaigning about environmental issues in Cambodia can be risky.

Local journalist Chhoeung Chheng died from his injuries after being shot in Siem Reap province in December while investigating deforestation.

In July, 10 members of Cambodian environmental activist group Mother Nature were sentenced from six to eight years in prison for conspiring against the state.

The group had been investigating waste pollution in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Sap River. Mother Nature had campaigned against the destruction of natural resources throughout Cambodia and corruption.

Overall, Cambodia has a poor record for press freedom. It ranks 151 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media scene.

Reporters Without Borders, which compiles the index, describes a “legacy of repression against the independent media.”

In November, an investigative journalist who helped expose the existence of massive scam centers in Cambodia announced that he was quitting.

The journalist, Mech Dara, was detained for 30 days and charged with incitement, which carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.

Two other local reporters who investigated mistreatment of workers at a scam center were detained in late January, according to watchdogs.

Flynn, who is the president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia, said that until recently Cambodia “refrained from going after foreign journalists.”

“All journalists, whether foreign or Cambodian all face varying levels of harassment in the field. I know some who were arbitrarily detained while working,” he said.

According to a quarterly review report from the Cambodian Journalist Alliance, more than a dozen journalists were legally or physically harassed between July and September of 2024.

Reflecting on his case, Flynn said, “I think the biggest annoyance is it has eaten the whole month, when in reality that month should have been spent continuing to report on important issues in Cambodia.”

“For me it’s obviously a setback but it is not going to stop either myself or others from reporting on issues related to the environment,” Flynn added. “I don’t think silencing journalists is going to prevent people from seeing the problems that are happening.”
…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has renewed its call for the United States to reverse its decision to withdraw from the U.N. health agency, warning of potential global health consequences and budget concerns.

In his opening remarks at an executive board meeting on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told attendees the health agency regrets the U.S. decision and hopes Washington will reconsider.

“We would welcome constructive dialogue to preserve and strengthen the historic relationship between WHO and the USA that helped bring significant impacts like the eradication of smallpox,” Tedros said, according to a WHO transcript of his speech.

Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order announcing his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO.

According to financing data from the WHO, the U.S. contributed an estimated $988 million between January and November of 2024, marking approximately 14% of the WHO’s $6.9 billion budget.

A document presented at a WHO budget meeting last week and obtained by The Associated Press said that U.S. funding “provides the backbone of many of WHO’s large-scale emergency operations.”

This funding has been aimed toward combatting disease globally. For example, U.S. funding covers 95% of the WHO’s tuberculosis in Europe, along with 60% of the agency’s TB efforts in Africa, the Western Pacific, and headquarters in Geneva.

In addition, as a result of U.S. withdrawal, the WHO’s responses in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan were at risk along with its polio-eradication and HIV programs, the document said.

President Trump’s executive order cited four key reasons for Washington’s withdrawal.

It said the WHO organization mishandled global health projects such as COVID-19 and failed to implement reform programs.

It also said the WHO organization failed to “demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” and “continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.”

In his call for the U.S. to reconsider its position Tedros said the WHO has implemented its deepest and most wide-ranging reforms over the past seven years. Those reforms, he said in his remarks, have “touched every part of our work: our strategy, operating model, processes, partnerships, financing, workforce and culture.”

In the health agency’s defense, he added that the WHO has implemented reforms focused on addressing financing imbalances, responded appropriately to the COVID-19 crisis and has been impartial existing to serve the needs of all countries and peoples.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

London — World Health Organization member states will discuss cutting part of its budget by $400 million in light of President Trump’s move to withdraw the United States, its biggest government funder, from the agency, a document released on Monday showed.

Opening the agency’s annual executive board meeting, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also defended the agency’s work and recent reforms and reiterated a call for the U.S. to reconsider its exit and enter into dialog with the WHO about further change.

“We would welcome suggestions from the United States, and all member states, for how we can serve you and the people of the world better,” he said.

The budget cut will be discussed at the Feb. 3-11 Geneva meeting, during which member state representatives will discuss the agency’s funding and work for the 2026-2027 period.

The executive board proposes cutting the base programs section of the budget from a proposed $5.3 billion to $4.9 billion, according to a document released on Monday. That is part of the wider $7.5 billion budget for 2026-2027 that was originally proposed, including money for polio eradication and tackling emergencies.

“With the departure of the biggest financial contributor, the budget could not be ‘business as usual,'” the document reads. The U.S. is the WHO’s biggest government donor, contributing around 18% of its overall funding. The WHO has already separately taken some cost-cutting steps after the U.S. move.

However, some board representatives also wanted to send a message that the WHO would preserve its strategic direction despite the challenges, the document adds.

The $4.9 billion is roughly the same as the base program budget for the previous period, 2024-2025.

Trump moved to exit the WHO on his first day in office two weeks ago. The process will take one year under U.S. law.
…

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Monday decried the deaths of children in global conflicts, telling a Vatican summit that “nothing is worth the life of a child.”

Francis, who has been critical of both Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the ongoing violence of the Russia-Ukraine war, did not specify a conflict in his remarks.

“What we have tragically seen almost every day in recent times, namely children dying beneath bombs … is unacceptable,” said the pontiff. “To kill children is to deny the future.”

The Vatican, shaken in recent decades by child sexual abuse scandals in countries across the world, invited a range of global leaders on Monday for a one-day conference to discuss children’s rights.

Queen Rania of Jordan, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, and former Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri were among the speakers.

Francis ramped up his criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in recent months, before the January ceasefire agreement. A few weeks ago, he called the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave “very serious and shameful.”

In Monday’s speech, he also decried the number of children displaced by global conflicts, which the United Nations estimates at some 38 million.

“We are here today to say that we do not want this to become the new normal,” said the pope. “We refuse to get used to it.”

Francis, who has been sharply critical of U.S. President Donald Trump’s clampdown on immigration, also mentioned undocumented children at the U.S.-Mexico border.

He said they were the “first victims of that exodus of despair and hope made by the thousands of people coming from the South towards the United States of America.”
…

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders gather on Monday to discuss how to bolster the continent’s defenses against Russia and how to handle U.S. President Donald Trump after his decision to impose tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.

At a royal palace-turned-conference center in Brussels, the leaders of the EU’s 27 nations will also lunch with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and dine with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, has billed the one-day gathering as a “retreat” devoted to defense policy rather than a formal summit, aiming for an open discussion without any official declaration or decisions.

The first session focuses on geopolitics and relations with the United States, meaning Trump’s sweeping weekend move on tariffs is certain to come up – particularly as EU officials fear they may soon face similar measures.

Trump, who began his second term as president on Jan. 20, will also be a major factor in the talks on defense, as he has demanded that European nations spend much more on their own protection and rely less on the United States via the NATO security alliance.

Trump’s call for EU member Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States – and his refusal to rule out military action or economic pressure to force Copenhagen’s hand – has also added strains to trans-Atlantic ties.

The EU leaders are expected to discuss what military capabilities they need in the coming years, how they could be funded and how they might cooperate more through joint projects.

“Europe needs to assume greater responsibility for its own defense,” Costa said in a letter to the leaders. “It needs to become more resilient, more efficient, more autonomous and a more reliable security and defense actor.”

Finding funding

The funding discussion will be especially tough, according to diplomats, as many European countries have little room in their public finances for big spending hikes.

Some countries, such as the Baltic states and France, advocate joint EU borrowing to spend on defense. But Germany and the Netherlands are staunchly opposed.

One compromise could be to borrow to finance loans rather than grants for defense projects, according to some diplomats.

European countries have ramped up defense spending in recent years, particularly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which brought war to the EU’s borders.

But many EU leaders have said they will need to spend even more. Trump has said NATO’s European members should spend 5% of GDP on defense – a figure no member of the alliance including the United States currently reaches.

Last year, EU countries spent an average of 1.9% of GDP on defense – about $334.48 billion, according to EU estimates.

That is a 30% increase from 2021, according to the EU. But it also masks wide divergences among EU countries.

Poland and the Baltic states are among the biggest defense spenders in GDP terms, with Warsaw leading the pack at more than 4.1%, according to NATO estimates. But some of the EU’s biggest economies such as Italy and Spain spend much less – about 1.5% and 1.3% respectively.
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MADRID — Spain’s former football chief Luis Rubiales goes on trial on Monday over the forced kiss he gave star forward Jenni Hermoso with the player scheduled to take the stand.

The 47-year-old provoked worldwide outrage after he cupped Hermoso’s head and gave her an unsolicited kiss after Spain beat England to win the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia.

Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison for Rubiales, one year for sexual assault for the forced kiss and 18 months for allegedly coercing Hermoso, 34, to downplay the incident.

The kiss was given “unexpectedly and without the consent or acceptance of the player,” prosecutors wrote in their indictment.

“Constant and repeated pressure was exerted directly on the player Jennifer Hermoso and through her family and friends with the aim of justifying and publicly approving the kiss that Luis Rubiales gave her against her will,” it added.

The highly anticipated trial gets underway at the National Court in San Fernando de Henares near Madrid at 10 a.m. and is expected to run until Feb. 19.

Rubiales is scheduled to take the stand on Feb. 12. He has called the kiss an innocuous “peck between friends celebrating” and denied any coercion.

Among the accused alongside Rubiales are ex-women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda and two former federation officials, Ruben Rivera and Albert Luque.

They also stand accused of trying to coerce Hermoso with prosecutors seeking 18 months’ jail against them.

Historic success overshadowed

The scandal that rocked Spanish football and wrecked Rubiales’ career broke on Aug. 20, 2023, moments after the women’s national team had clinched World Cup glory in Sydney.

As Hermoso joined her teammates in collecting their winner’s medals, Rubiales clasped her head and kissed her on the lips before letting her go with two slaps on the back.

The act unleashed a public outcry at what critics deemed an abuse of power. A recent reform of the Spanish criminal code classifies a non-consensual kiss as sexual assault.

Rubiales, who was already under investigation for alleged corruption in his role as federation head, finally gave into pressure and stepped down in September 2023, two days after the start of a probe over the kiss. He had been federation chief since 2018.

In a recent Netflix documentary titled “Se acabo” (“It’s over”), which looks back at the players’ anger after the scandal overshadowed their historic success, Hermoso revealed she cried following the kiss.

Hermoso, the all-time top scorer for the national women’s team who now plays in Mexico, said in the documentary that the federation demanded she appear in a video where she would claim Rubiales’ kiss “was nothing, it was… joy, euphoria.”
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Rome — Milena Bernabo, awarded one of Italy’s top civilian honors for saving three children from the Nazis during World War II, died Sunday aged 96, local authorities said. 

Bernabo was awarded the gold medal for civil merit for saving her young neighbors during the August 1944 massacre of Sant’Anna di Stazzema, in Tuscany, in which 560 people died.  

Then aged 16, Bernabo had been led together with fellow villagers into an outhouse and targeted by German machine gun fire. 

Bernabo was wounded, according to the citation. 

But she managed to escape with Mario, five, and 10-year-olds Mauro and Lina, from the building as it was set on fire. 

The trio she saved were present to see Bernabo receive the valor award at a ceremony in the central city of Lucca in 2005. 

Officials at the time hailed her bravery as an example of many Italians’ “silent resistance” to Nazi occupation during the latter part of World War II. 

“Throughout her life she was an ambassador of peace, reminding the young people she encountered of the Nazi-Fascist massacre of Sant’Anna di Stazzema,” the office of the mayor of Stazzema, Maurizio Verona, told AFP in an emai 

“Milena remembered with the hope that those who listened would understand that Fascism and Nazism were absolute evils of the last century and that the institutions and their representatives would work to build a better future.” 

Two other women from Sant’Anna were awarded the same honor — Cesira Pardini, who died in 2022, and Genny Bibolotti Marsili, who died the day of the massacre. 

They were all “heroines,” Mayor Verona told the ANSA news agency, hailing Bernabo’s strength and determination to keep the memory of what happened alive.           
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Berlin — Tens of thousands took to the streets across Germany during the weekend to protest the center-right leader and front-runner in a Feb. 25 election for sending to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that received the backing of a far-right party. 

Angry protesters in Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Leipzig said that Friedrich Merz and his Christian Democrats broke Germany’s unwritten post-Nazi promise by all democratic parties to never pass any rule or resolution in parliament with the support of far-right, nationalist parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD). 

Merz on Wednesday proposed a nonbinding motion in parliament calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders. The measure squeaked through thanks to AfD’s support. 

Merz was determined to show commitment of his center-right Union bloc, which also includes the Bavaria-only CSU party, to cutting irregular migration after a deadly knife attack last month by a rejected asylum-seeker. 

However, on Friday, the German parliament narrowly rejected a bill calling for tougher rules on migration that risked becoming the first draft legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party. Nonetheless, it has become a focus of a controversy about the attitude toward the far right of the front-runner in the upcoming election. 

Merz has been accused by protesters and politicians on the left of breaking a taboo and endangering mainstream parties’ “firewall” against AfD. He insists his position is unchanged and that he didn’t and won’t work with the party. 

Hundreds of protesters temporarily blocked offices of the Christian Democrats in different cities, and Sunday afternoon up to 20,000 came together for a big rally in Berlin. 

In Cologne, people protested on 350 boats on the Rhine, German news agency dpa reported. The boats lined up in front of the city’s skyline with its famous cathedral with protesters holding up banners with slogans such as “No racism” and “For democracy and diversity.” 

Polls show the center-right Union, which put forward the migration proposal and bill, leading with around 30% support, while AfD is second with about 20%, and the Social Democrats and Greens further down. 

Merz appears to hope that he will gain support by making the Union look decisive in forcing a tougher approach to migration, while blunting the appeal of the anti-immigration AfD and making the governing parties — which say they already have done much to tackle the issue — look out of touch with Germans’ concerns. 

The 12-year-old AfD first entered the national parliament in 2017, benefiting from then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision two years earlier to allow large numbers of migrants into the country. 

A year ago, hundreds of thousands also protested in weeks-long rallies all over Germany against the rise of the far-right and purported plans to deport millions of immigrants, including some holding German passports. 
…

ATHENS — A series of earthquakes near the Greek island of Santorini has led authorities to shut down schools, dispatch rescue teams with sniffer dogs and send instructions to residents including a request to drain their swimming pools. 

Even though earthquake experts say the more than 200 tremors that have hit the area since early Friday are not related to the volcano in Santorini, which once produced one of the biggest eruptions in human history, locals are on edge. 

The strongest earthquake recorded was magnitude 4.6 at 3:55 p.m. Sunday, at a depth of 14 kilometers, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said. A few tremors of over magnitude 4 and dozens of magnitude 3 have followed. There were no reports of damage or casualties. 

Earthquake experts and officials from the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and the fire service have been meeting daily and decided to close schools Monday on the island of Santorini as well as nearby Amorgos, Anafi and Ios. 

After Sunday’s meeting, they also advised residents and hotel owners in Santorini to drain their swimming pools over concerns that large volumes of water could destabilize buildings in case of a strong quake. 

Another meeting was scheduled Sunday evening at the prime minister’s office with the chief of Greece’s armed forces and other officials. 

The fire service sent a contingent of rescuers including a sniffer dog on Saturday, and dispatched more forces Sunday, as a precaution. The rescuers have pitched tents in open fields. 

Island residents have been advised to avoid large open-air events and to move about the islands mindful of rockfalls. All four islands have steep cliffs and, in the case of Santorini, a large part of the main town is built on a cliffside. 

Experts said it was impossible to predict whether the seismic activity could lead to a stronger tremor, but added that the area could potentially produce a 6-magnitude quake. 

Mild earthquakes have also been recorded in Santorini’s volcano caldera, which is mostly undersea, since September. The strongest one with magnitude 3.8 occurred on Jan. 25. Since then, seismic activity inside the volcano has subsided, experts say. 

The Santorini volcano eruption at about 1600 B.C. devastated the island, buried a town, and caused massive earthquakes and flooding that impacted the island of Crete and as far as Egypt. Experts estimate that up to 41.3 cubic kilometers of rocks were ejected and 9-meter tsunamis hit Crete. 

In the 1990s, the Santorini volcano was designated one of 16 volcanoes around the world that need to be monitored because of past massive eruptions and proximity to dense population areas. 
…

ISTANBUL — Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Jordan will come together to fight the remnants of the Islamic State group, a move the Turkish foreign minister says would allow the United States to cut ties with Kurdish militants in Syria. 

Washington’s decadelong relationship with Kurdish-led forces in Syria is opposed by Turkey. Ankara says the People’s Defense Units, or YPG, are tied to another Kurdish group listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union. 

The YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, has played a central role in fighting IS alongside American special forces and now guards thousands of IS prisoners in northeast Syria. 

“The basic problem is that the YPG has been guarding Daesh inmates and keeping them in prison … they’re not doing anything else,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Sunday, using the Arabic term for IS. 

“So Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Jordan need to come together to fight Daesh. We are capable of doing that and God willing this is the step we will be taking as four countries in the near future. We have already done the preliminary talks for that process.” 

Fidan, who was speaking at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that the new Syrian government had indicated it will take responsibility for IS prisoners. 

Turkey wants U.S. President Donald Trump to step back from supporting the Kurdish fighters, who Ankara regards as terrorists due to their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged war against Turkey since 1984. 

“We hope that President Trump will make the right decision and right this wrong … it is an open wound that needs to be closed as soon as possible,” Fidan added. 

Since Syrian rebels launched an offensive to take the country in November, Turkish-backed fighters have targeted Kurdish forces, taking a number of towns. Meanwhile, the Turkish military has maintained pressure on Kurdish fighters in both Syria and northern Iraq. On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said Turkish troops killed 23 “PKK/YPG terrorists” in northern Syria without providing further details. 

Ankara has called for the Syrian Democratic Forces to be purged of elements linked to the PKK and be absorbed into a future Syrian military. 

The U.S. currently has around 2,000 troops in northeast Syria. During his first term in office, Trump said he would withdraw all American forces from Syria, which triggered a Turkish offensive against the YPG in 2019. 

His seemingly warm relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led to speculation that Trump will again seek to remove the U.S. military presence. 
…

KYIV — Competing claims emerged over a deadly attack on a boarding school in Sudzha, a city in Russia’s Kursk region that has been under Ukrainian control for five months, with Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of carrying out the strike.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Saturday night that four people were killed and a further four seriously wounded in the strike, with 84 people rescued by Ukrainian servicemen from the rubble of the building. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow had bombed the boarding school where civilians were sheltering and preparing to evacuate.

The General Staff said those in need of additional medical assistance were evacuated to medical facilities in Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed in the early hours of Sunday that it was Ukrainian forces that had launched a missile strike on the school, saying that the missiles were launched from Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Poltava on Saturday rose to 14, including two children, local officials said Sunday. Seventeen people were injured in the attack on the five-story building, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

Moscow sent 55 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, 40 drones were destroyed during the overnight attacks. A further 13 drones were “lost”, likely having been electronically jammed.

Two people were wounded in a drone attack in the Kharkiv region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Sunday.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said that five Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight in five regions of western Russia: three over the Kursk region, and one each over the Belgorod and Bryansk regions.

A man was killed in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
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LONDON — Britain will become the first country to introduce laws against AI tools used to generate sexual abuse images, the government announced Saturday.

The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualized images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison, interior minister Yvette Cooper revealed.

It will also be illegal to possess AI “pedophile manuals” which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, punishable by up to three years in prison.

“We know that sick predators’ activities online often lead to them carrying out the most horrific abuse in person,” said Cooper.

The new laws are “designed to keep our children safe online as technologies evolve. It is vital that we tackle child sexual abuse online as well as offline,” she added.

“Children will be protected from the growing threat of predators generating AI images and from online sexual abuse as the U.K. becomes the first country in the world to create new AI sexual abuse offences,” said a government statement.

AI tools are being used to generate child sexual abuse images by “nudeifying” real life images of children or by “stitching the faces of other children onto existing images,” said the government.

The new laws will also criminalize “predators who run websites designed for other pedophiles to share vile child sexual abuse content or advice on how to groom children,” punishable by up to ten years in prison, said the government.

The measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned of the growing number of sexual abuse AI images of children being produced.

Over a 30-day period in 2024, IWF analysts identified 3,512 AI child abuse images on a single dark web site.

The number of the most serious category of images also rose by 10% in a year, it found.
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NOVI SAD, SERBIA — Serbia’s students led a mass protest and blocked bridges over the River Danube in the northern city of Novi Sad on Saturday, drawing tens of thousands into the streets to express their anger with the country’s populist leadership and to call for change. 

Saturday marked three months since a huge concrete canopy at Novi Sad’s main railway station collapsed, killing 15 people. The crash on November 1 sparked a wide anti-corruption movement and months of student-led street protests. 

Many in Serbia believe that the collapse was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies. 

Critics believe graft led to a sloppy job during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations. The issue has come to symbolize a wider discontent over the rule of law in Serbia. 

Tens of thousands of people converged on Novi Sad for the blockades, dubbed “Three Months — Three Bridges.” One of the blockades is set to extend until Sunday. 

As the blockades started, entire bridges and the streets around them were flooded with people, while many more stood on the riverbanks below. Self-appointed student guards had to control the number of people walking on the bridges for security reasons. 

“After long time we can feel positive energy in the air, on the streets, among people,” said Slavica Nikolic, a resident. 

“When I talk to people, it feels like the hope has woken up,” she said. “We remember well some uglier times. This is finally some sort of new hope, that something good is going to happen in this country.” 

Roads into the city were clogged with cars ahead of the rally as people tried to reach Novi Sad from Belgrade and other Serbian cities. 

Tractors rolled through the city streets as farmers drove in front of three separate student columns heading toward the three bridges and thousands of residents cheered them along the way. Many carried Serbian flags in the crowd or banners reading “Three months” or “We are defending freedom.” 

University students have taken a leading role in the protests that have developed into the most serious challenge in years to the country’s powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic. 

Vucic has accused students and other protesters of working for foreign intelligence services to oust him from power, while at the same time offering concessions and talks and issuing veiled threats by saying that his supporters’ “patience is running out.” 

“Today we offer talks and today we offer dialogue,” Vucic said Saturday. “The second someone thinks that they will use violence to seize power, the state will act like a state, just like everywhere else in the world.” 

Persistent demonstrations forced the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic earlier this week and various concessions from the populist government as it seeks to quell growing resistance. 

Thousands of people came out Friday evening to welcome hundreds of students from Belgrade who had walked for two days to join the bridge blockades. 

Apart from Novi Sad and Belgrade, daily protests and traffic blockades have been held throughout Serbia, often marred by incidents, including drivers ramming cars into protesters. 

One such incident happened in Belgrade on Friday, leaving two women injured after a driver knocked them down. 

Along the way on their 80-kilometer (50-mile) journey to Novi Sad on Thursday and Friday, the students from Belgrade were greeted by cheering citizens who honked their car horns or came out of their homes to offer food and drinks. 

Hundreds more on bicycles and motorcycles headed separately toward Novi Sad on Friday and Saturday while Belgrade’s taxi drivers said they would come and give the marchers a lift home Sunday. 
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis tripped while entering the Vatican auditorium for an audience Saturday after the handle of his walking stick snapped, but he avoided falling. 

The 88-year-old pope often must use a wheelchair or a cane because of bad knees and has fallen twice in the past two months. 

After Saturday’s slight stumble, two aides helped him to his chair on the stage and the audience proceeded without incident. After he recovered someone in the audience shouted “Viva il Papa” and the audience applauded. 

Earlier in January, Francis fell and hurt his right arm. It wasn’t broken, but a sling was put on as a precaution. 

On December 7, the pope whacked his chin on his nightstand in an apparent fall that resulted in a bad bruise. 

The pontiff has long battled health problems including bouts of bronchitis. He uses a walker or cane when moving around his apartment in the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel. 

Speculation about Francis’ health is a constant in Vatican circles, especially after Pope Benedict XVI broke 600 years of tradition and resigned from the papacy in 2013. Benedict’s aides have attributed the decision to a nighttime fall that he suffered during a 2012 trip to Mexico, after which he determined he couldn’t keep up with the globe-trotting demands of the papacy. 

Francis has said that he has no plans to resign anytime soon, even if Benedict “opened the door” to the possibility. In his autobiography “Hope” released this month, Francis said that he hadn’t considered resigning even when he had major intestinal surgery. 
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SHENGJIN, ALBANIA — An Italian navy ship on Saturday took migrants to Italy from asylum processing centers in Albania following a court decision in Rome. It was the third failed attempt by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to process migrants in the non-EU country.

A coast guard ship took 43 migrants from the port of Shengjin, 66 kilometers northwest of the capital, Tirana. They were among the 49 men who were transferred to Albania on an Italian naval ship Tuesday. Six were returned the same day for being minors or deemed vulnerable.

Italian media reported the men were from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia.

An Italian appeals court in Rome on Friday refused to approve the speedy expulsion of 43 asylum-seekers detained in Albania since Tuesday under a controversial migration deal to move the proceedings beyond European Union borders.

The court referred the case to the European Court of Justice, in Luxembourg, which is expected to issue a ruling on Feb. 25 related to the previous cases, in which the series of lower court rulings have opened a fissure between the Meloni government and the Italian judicial system.

In October and November, judges similarly refused to approve the expulsion of much smaller groups of migrants, seeking clarity from the European court on which countries were safe for repatriation of people whose asylum claims are rejected.

Italy last year signed a five-year agreement to process up to 3,000 migrants a month beyond EU borders as part of Meloni’s program to combat illegal migration to Italy, which is the first landfall for tens of thousands of migrants who make the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean Sea.

While the agreement has raised concerns among human rights activists, European partners have expressed interest in the project.

In the first four weeks of this year, 3,704 migrants arrived in Italy, almost three times as many as in the same period last year. In the whole of last year, 66,317 migrants arrived in Italy, a drop of 58% from the previous year. The largest nationality was Bangladeshis, followed by Syrians, Tunisians and Egyptians, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
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KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia said on Saturday it had captured a village flanking the eastern flashpoint city of Toretsk in Ukraine as Kyiv said four people had died in overnight Russian strikes.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops seized the village of Krymske in the northeastern suburbs of Toretsk, located in the eastern Donetsk region and the scene of intense fighting in recent months.

The Russian army is slowly but steadily advancing in Donetsk, despite heavy human and material losses.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian troops in the region said there was intense fighting in urban areas of Toretsk and Chasiv Yar, a strategically important military hub on the front line.

DeepState, a group of Ukrainian military analysts, says Russian forces have been in the center of the two contested cities for months.

4 killed in Russian strikes

Overnight, at least four people died in Russian strikes on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

Ukrainian authorities had issued air raid alerts for the entire country just before 7 a.m. Saturday, warning of missile and drone threats in several regions.

Ukrainian emergency services said on Telegram a “missile strike on a residential building” in Poltava had killed at least three people and wounded at least 13, three of them seriously.

They published images showing firefighters searching through the smoldering ruins of a building.

‘Russian terror’

In Kharkiv, a Russian drone shot down by air defense fell on a residential area, killing a woman and injuring four other people, regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its overnight strikes had hit gas and energy infrastructure that supply Ukraine’s “military-industrial complexes.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks showed his country needed more defense systems to protect itself from “Russian terror.”

He said, “Last night, Russia attacked our cities using various types of weapons: missiles, attack drones, air bombs.

“Every air defense system, every anti-missile is a lifesaver. It is very important that our partners act … and increase pressure on Russia, ” Zelenskyy said, adding that damage had been reported in six regions — Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.

2 killed in Ukrainian attack

Earlier this week, Ukraine launched a major drone attack on western Russia, killing a child and his mother and setting a refinery on fire.

The full Russian invasion of its neighbor enters its fourth year this month.

U.S. President Donald Trump said during his election campaign he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office on Jan. 20. He has been critical of the amount Washington has spent arming Ukraine and has also threatened to impose additional sanctions on Russia.
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The Arctic is one of the coldest and least populated regions on Earth, much of it covered by ice. But in recent years it has become one of the most important sites of geopolitical tensions — and a key focus of American policy.

Despite its inhospitability, land north of the Arctic Circle has long been inhabited by Indigenous people like the Inuit, Sami and Yukaghir and today includes territories belonging to eight countries: Canada, Russia, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the United States.

In 1996, these countries formed the Arctic Council — a forum that includes all eight countries as member states along with representatives from Indigenous groups. But while the Arctic was once envisioned as a neutral zone where research and conservation could promote deeper international cooperation, multiple developments since then have turned it into a site of competition.

The number one issue facing the Arctic is climate change. Since the 1990s, Arctic sea ice has declined by 7.6 trillion metric tons, with the rate of loss increasing by 57%. Besides contributing to rising sea levels, the loss of ice also reduces global solar reflection. This creates a feedback loop as the darker ocean water absorbs more heat, causing more ice to melt, adversely affecting global weather patterns.

The melting of Arctic ice also directly affects local wildlife, with polar bear populations projected to decline by two-thirds in the next quarter-century as they lose their hunting grounds.

But where some see environmental disaster, others see opportunity. The melting ice is making Arctic trade routes more navigable, providing shorter distances for transoceanic shipping than current lanes using the Suez and Panama canals. Furthermore, increased navigability is expanding potential for exploration and extraction of natural resources.

The Arctic region is estimated to hold over 20% of the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves, with over 400 oil and gas fields already discovered. Both the seabed and offshore areas also hold vast quantities of minerals ranging from staple commodities like iron, gold, nickel and zinc to rare earth metals such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are used in electronics and battery technology. Even traditional subsistence activity may be greatly altered and expanded as global warming leads fish stocks to migrate north and more coastal land becomes available for agriculture.

Yet economic opportunities in the Arctic are emerging at a time of increased geopolitical tensions, as countries scramble to secure resources, stake territorial claims and develop facilities.

With 53% of the Arctic coastline under its control, Russia has the largest presence in the region in terms of civilian ports like Murmansk and Arkhangelsk as well as multiple airfields and military bases along its northern border. More recently, Russia has moved to expand its claims to the Arctic seabed at the same time that its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has led other members of the Arctic Council to suspend cooperation with Moscow.

While land jurisdiction in the Arctic is largely settled aside from a few small disputes, maritime claims are much more complex. Control over Arctic waters is generally governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which defines multiple types of territorial waters where a nation may have the right to restrict the activity of foreign vessels. These range from internal waters that are considered part of a nation’s sovereign territory to exclusive economic zones where foreign ships may travel freely but cannot extract resources.

Although the United States played a formative role in negotiating the treaty and abides by most of its provisions, it remains one of the few countries that has not formally acceded to it because of concerns about limitations it places on seabed mining.

Even among UNCLOS signatories, however, boundary definitions can vary. While Canada considers parts of the Northwest Passage to lie within its territorial waters, for example, most other nations including the United States consider it to be an international strait where foreign ships may transit.

Similarly, Russia has claimed parts of the Northeast Passage along its northern coastline as internal waters, moving to restrict the right of passage in areas where it was previously allowed.

Given these disputes, the Transpolar Sea Route through the center of the Arctic Ocean, which lies fully in international waters, will become more attractive as polar ice continues to thaw.

The increasing importance of the Arctic has attracted the attention of other powers without Arctic territory. Several of these states have been admitted as observers in the Arctic Council, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea. China, which is also an observer, has unilaterally declared itself as a “near-Arctic state” and has expanded both research and commercial activity in the region by partnering with Russia as well as investing in infrastructure in Norway, Iceland and Greenland.

China’s increased presence in the Arctic alongside Russia’s more aggressive posture have been among the reasons cited for U.S. President Donald Trump’s insistence on annexing or buying Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. While Greenland already contains a U.S. military base on its northwest coast, the discussion is likely to result in a further militarization of the territory, even under Denmark.

Satellites are also expected to play a major role in exerting control within the Arctic, given the importance of observation and monitoring in remote areas with poor communications infrastructure.

What was once considered a frozen frontier with little to offer is quickly becoming one of the most contested regions on Earth. And as the planet heats up, competition in the Arctic will as well.
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INDJIJA, Serbia — Hundreds of striking students marched through the Serbian countryside Friday as they took their anti-graft protest toward the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to blockade three bridges over the River Danube this weekend. 

The bridge blockade planned for Saturday will mark three months since a huge concrete construction at the railway station collapsed in Novi said on Nov. 1, leaving 15 people dead. 

What started two months ago as a protest against suspected corruption in construction contracts has developed into the most serious challenge in years to the country’s powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic. 

Meanwhile in Belgrade, a driver rammed a car into a silent protest Friday, injuring two women who work as doctors at a nearby psychiatric institution. Media reports say both hit the pavement with their heads and are being examined. 

The incident, the third of its kind in weeks, happened in downtown Belgrade during 15 minutes of silence observed daily throughout Serbia at around noon when the canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad. 

Pro-government thugs have repeatedly attacked the protesters, many of them students, twice ramming cars into demonstrations. Two people were seriously injured in the previous attacks. 

Along the way to Novi Sad on Friday, the students were greeted by cheering citizens who honked their car horns or came out of their homes to offer food and drinks. 

When they reached the town of Indjija on Thursday, roughly halfway along their 80-kilometer route, the students were welcomed with fireworks and cheers from residents. 

Although most of them spent the night out in the open in a soccer field, the freezing temperatures did not dampen their desire for major changes in the corruption-ridden Balkan state. 

Nevena Vecerinac, a student, said she hoped the protesters’ demands that include the punishment of all those responsible for the rail station tragedy will be fulfilled. 

“We will make it to Novi Sad,” she said. “Yesterday’s walk was easy. It’s cold now, but we can make it. We all have the same goal.” 

“We need support from all people. With this energy and mood, I hope we can do it, otherwise there will be no brighter future,” said Luka Arsenovic, another student marcher. 

Many in Serbia believe that the collapse of the overhang at the train station was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies. Critics believe graft led to a sloppy job during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations. 

Monthslong demonstrations have already forced the resignation of Serbia’s prime minister Milos Vucevic this week, along with various concessions from authorities which were ignored by the protesters who say that is not enough. 

Vucic and other officials have shifted from accusing the students of working with foreign powers to oust him, to offering concessions or issuing veiled threats. 

The strength and determination of the protesters have caught many by surprise in a country where hundreds of thousands of young people have emigrated, looking for opportunities elsewhere. 
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ATHENS — Three Greek opposition parties vowed Friday to challenge the country’s center-right government with a censure motion over its handling of a deadly rail disaster nearly two years ago.

The pledge was prompted by mounting public anger over delays in the inquiry and allegations of a cover-up that the government strongly denies.

Fifty-seven people were killed — including college students returning from a holiday — when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train on Feb. 28, 2023, near Tempe in northern Greece.

On Sunday, relatives of those killed led protests in dozens of cities, directed at the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Apart from rallies held in Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities, protests were also organized by Greek communities in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels and other European cities.

Sokratis Famellos, leader of the left-wing Syriza party, said outside parliament that he sided with two other opposition parties, Pasok and the New Left, to seek a no-confidence vote.

“A joint initiative by progressive parties for a censure motion is necessary today. The evidence is there, and society demands accountability,” Famellos said Friday.

Although a censure motion is unlikely to pose a direct threat to the government, it could help forge bonds in Greece’s fractured opposition. Lawmakers from the three parties confirmed they were involved in discussions to agree on the timing of the motion.

Investigations have faced delays, with critics accusing authorities of obstructing justice. While some railway officials have been charged, no senior political figures have been held accountable, further intensifying public scrutiny.

Speaking to ministers at a Cabinet meeting, Mitsotakis vowed to overcome the “turbulence” facing the government.

“This difficult week comes to a close under the shadow of the Tempe tragedy,” he said in a televised address. “We are now entering the final stage of investigations into this deeply painful national trauma.”

The controversy overshadowed an ongoing parliamentary process to elect a new president. A government-backed candidate, Constantine Tassoulas, failed to win the cross-party support needed to secure the presidency in a second round of voting in parliament Friday.

The 65-year-old former speaker of the assembly is expected to win in later rounds scheduled next month when the threshold is lowered.
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