BRUSSELS — European Union leaders agreed Monday to do more to bolster their defenses against Russia and other threats by hiking spending and filling gaps in their military capabilities.

“A lot has been done already but we need to do more. We need to do it better, stronger, faster – and we need to do it together,” Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, said after a one-day summit on defense in Brussels.

However, the leaders left largely unanswered the question of how their planned surge in defense spending would be paid for.

European countries have already ramped up defense spending in recent years, in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a growing view that they cannot rely so much on the United States to protect the continent in years to come.

Their efforts have been fueled by questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to the NATO security alliance and by his demands for European nations to spend more on the continent’s defenses.

The start of the EU summit was overshadowed by Trump declaring at the weekend that he will soon impose tariffs on imports from the EU, having ordered similar measures on goods from Canada and Mexico – which were paused on Monday – and from China.

The EU leaders agreed to focus on filling critical gaps in their defenses such as air and missile defense, missiles, ammunition and military transport, Costa told reporters.

The leaders discussed how such priorities could be funded but did not reach a detailed agreement. The European Commission, however, agreed to look for flexibility in rules it oversees on EU countries’ public finances to make defense spending easier.

“Europe needs, basically, a surge in defense. And for that, our defense industrial base must be strengthened,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after the summit.

“For many, many years, we have under-invested in defense. Thus, there’s a great urgency to increase the defense spending with a big magnitude,” she said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also took part in the Brussels talks.

Spending hike

Last year, EU countries spent an average of 1.9% of GDP on defense, or about $334.5 billion – a 30% increase on 2021, according to EU estimates.

But many EU leaders have said they will need to spend even more. The Commission, the EU’s executive body, has estimated the bloc may need to spend an extra $510 billion over the next decade to fill the critical gaps in European defenses.

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.

Von der Leyen and Costa said the EU had several potential defense-financing options, including national spending, an expanded role for the EU’s European Investment Bank and private capital.

Leaders avoided directly addressing in public the politically sensitive question of whether the EU should issue joint debt to pay for defense spending.

Diplomats say borrowing to finance loans rather than grants for military projects may be a possible compromise.
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A Russian missile attack Tuesday killed at least four people in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, officials said.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram the missile hit the central part of the city of Izyum and also injured 20 people.

Syniehubov said the attack damaged a five-story residential building as well as multiple administrative buildings.

Earlier Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said Russian drone attacks overnight damaged houses and other buildings in multiple regions. 

Ukraine’s military said its air defenses shot down 37 of the 65 drones that Russian forces launched in the attacks, with intercepts taking place in the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Poltava and Sumy regions.

The Sumy Regional Military Administration said the attacks damaged eight houses and a school in the region.

Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram that debris from destroyed drones caused fires at three businesses.

In Kyiv, officials said falling drone debris damaged several schools and a clinic.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday its air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian guided missile over the Sea of Azov.

Rare earth minerals

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he possibly would be interested in continuing U.S. aid to Ukraine in exchange for access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Rare earth minerals like those in Ukraine include lithium and titanium. They are essential for an array of modern high-tech products.

In his daily address Monday, before Trump’s announcement, Ukraine’s president reiterated the country’s need to defend itself against Russia’s ongoing attacks. He said Russia is “focusing primarily” on Ukraine’s energy sector.

“They continue their attacks, constantly adjusting their strikes to the capabilities of our defense, making them more difficult to repel,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“There is a constant rapid evolution of electronic warfare,” the president said and urged Ukraine to “be much faster” in adjusting to the continuous changes.

The supply of air defense systems for Ukraine is another issue for the Eastern European country. Zelenskyy said that the supplies of the systems for Ukraine are “critical and must not stop.”

“We must constantly search worldwide for ways to strengthen defense, increase production of necessary equipment in Ukraine, expand localization of production and obtain licenses from our partners,” the president said. “This is a huge undertaking, and much of Ukraine’s future depends on it.”

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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. 
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