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Libyan held in Germany over suspected Israel embassy plot 

Berlin — A Libyan suspected of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and links to the Islamic State group will appear before a judge on Sunday, German prosecutors said. 

The suspect, identified only as Omar A., was arrested on Saturday evening at his home in Bernau, just outside the German capital, the federal prosecutors’ office said. 

Omar A. was accused of planning a “high-profile attack with firearms” on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, they said. 

As part of his preparations, Omar A. was suspected of having “exchanges with a member of IS in a messenger chat,” said the prosecutors, who described him as a supporter of the group’s ideology. 

In a message on X, Israel’s ambassador to Berlin said, “Muslim anti-Semitism is no longer just hate rhetoric. It leads to and encourages terrorist activities worldwide.” 

Israeli embassies were “on the front line of the diplomatic battlefield,” ambassador Ron Prosor said. 

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said protecting Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany was “of the utmost importance to us.” 

Law enforcement were acting with the “utmost vigilance” to prevent any suspected “Islamist, antisemitic and anti-Israel violence,” Faeser said.   

Foreign tipoff   

Prosecutors said Omar A. would appear on Sunday before a judge who would decide if he should be remanded in custody. 

Authorities said they searched the 28-year-old’s home in Bernau on Saturday. 

They also searched the property near Bonn of another person “not suspected” of involvement in the alleged plan. 

German daily Bild said the flat in the town of Sankt Augustin near Bonn belonged to the suspect’s uncle, who was being treated as a witness. 

German authorities arrested Omar A. after a tipoff from a foreign intelligence agency, Bild said, adding that he had not been on any militant watchlist in Germany. 

Bild said the Libyan man was thought to have entered Germany in November 2022 and to have made a request for asylum the following January, which was rejected in September 2023. 

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s retaliatory onslaught on Gaza, German authorities have increased vigilance about possible Islamist threats and antisemitism. 

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli Consulate and on police. 

In early October, there were explosions near the Israeli Embassy in Denmark and gunfire near its mission in Sweden. 
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Kyiv launches more than 100 drones over Russia as a missile strike on Ukraine injures 17 

KYIV — Russian air defenses shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones Sunday over Russia’s western regions, Moscow officials said, while 17 people were injured in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in a ballistic missile attack. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said 110 drones were destroyed in the overnight barrage against seven Russian regions. Many targeted Russia’s border region of Kursk, where 43 drones were reportedly shot down. 

Social media footage appeared to show air defenses at work over the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, close to a factory producing explosives. 

Local Gov. Gleb Nikitin wrote on social media Sunday that four fire fighters had been injured repelling a drone attack over Dzerzhinsk’s industrial zone, but did not give further details. 

Such large-scale aerial attacks are still relatively rare over Russia 2½  years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

A similar attack at the end of September saw Russia’s Ministry of Defense report the destruction of 125 drones across seven regions. 

Meanwhile, 17 people were injured in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih after the city was hit with two Russian ballistic missiles, officials said Sunday. 

The attack late Saturday evening damaged homes and businesses, said local administration head Oleksandr Vilkul. 

The Ukrainian air force said that Russia launched 49 drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles in total overnight. It said 31 of the drones were shot down over 12 regions, including the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while another 13 disappeared from radar — suggesting they were knocked out by electronic defenses. 

In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched some 800 guided aerial bombs and more than 500 attack drones over Ukraine in the past week alone. 

“Every day, Russia strikes our cities and communities. It is deliberate terror from the enemy against our people,” he said, renewing calls for continued air support from the country’s allies. 

“United in defense, the world can stand against this targeted terror.” 
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Demonstrators in France praise Gisèle Pélicot’s courage in harrowing rape trial

PARIS — Women and men demonstrated together Saturday in Paris and other French cities in support of Gisèle Pélicot and against sexual violence highlighted by the harrowing trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men accused of rapes while she was drugged and unconscious.

The demonstrations outside Paris’ criminal court, in the southeastern city of Lyon and elsewhere underscored how Pélicot’s courage in speaking out about her ordeal is inspiring people in France and beyond, even as they’ve been horrified by the scale and brutality of the abuse she suffered over the course of a decade.

Since the September 2 beginning of the extraordinary trial, during which Pélicot has faced 51 of her alleged rapists, she has been praised for her composure and decision to keep the hearings public — after the court initially suggested that they be held behind closed doors.

“She has decided to make this an emblematic trial,” said Elsa Labouret, one of the Paris demonstrators and a spokesperson for the women’s group “Osez le féminisme!” (Dare to be feminist!)

“Victims don’t have to do what she did. They have a right to have their anonymity protected. It’s not necessarily a duty of any victim. But what she decided to do is very, very important because now we cannot ignore the violence that some men can resort to,” she said.

Demonstrators denounced what they said is laxity from the French justice system toward sexual violence and fears of being raped and assaulted that they said stalk women day-in, day-out.

Placards they held up read: “Shame must change sides,” “Stop the denial,” “Not your punching ball” and “We are all Gisele. Are you all Dominique???”

Dominique Pélicot admitted during the trial that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious in their bed.

He told the court that he also raped Gisèle and that the 50 other men also standing trial understood exactly what they were doing. She has divorced him since his arrest. The trial is expected to run until December.

The defendants range in age from 26 to 74. Many of them deny having raped Gisèle Pélicot, saying her then-husband manipulated them or that they believed she was consenting.

“You can never know who is a rapist or who is a monster. Like, it could be your neighbor, it could be anyone,” said Paris demonstrator Khalil Ndiaye, a student.

“It’s really disgusting somehow to think that it could be people that you know, people that you hang out with every day and, like, they could do things like that.”

He said he regards Gisèle Pélicot as an icon.

“Because in her pain, she decided not to give up and not to just lie down,” he said. “She decided to fight. And we’re all here today because she’s fighting and she’s inspiring us to fight, too.”
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6-time Olympic cycling champion Hoy reveals he has terminal cancer

Britain’s six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy has revealed he has “two to four years” to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer which metastasized to his bones.

The announcement comes after the 48-year-old Scot said in February he was feeling “optimistic and positive” as he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer diagnosed last year.

However, the sprinter, who worked as a pundit with the BBC at last summer’s Paris Games, has now revealed he has known for more than a year that his cancer is incurable.

Despite his illness, Hoy says he remains positive and appreciating life.

“Hand on heart, I’m pretty positive most of the time and I have genuine happiness,” Hoy told The Times.

“This is bigger than the Olympics. It’s bigger than anything. This is about appreciating life and finding joy.”

“As unnatural as it feels, this is nature. You know, we were all born and we all die, and this is just part of the process.”

Hoy wrote a memoir about his life over the past year in which he describes how doctors discovered his cancer after initially finding a tumor in his shoulder.

The father of two also said he had an allergic reaction to his chemotherapy treatment, feeling “completely devastated at the end of it.”

On top of his own treatment, Hoy was dealt another blow when his wife Sarra Kemp was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November.

“But you remind yourself, aren’t I lucky that there is medicine I can take that will fend this off for as long as possible,” an optimistic Hoy said.

“I’m not just saying these words. I’ve learnt to live in the moment, and I have days of genuine joy and happiness.”

“It’s absolutely not denial or self-delusion. It’s about trying to recognize, what do we have control over?

“The fear and anxiety, it all comes from trying to predict the future. But the future is this abstract concept in our minds. None of us know what’s going to happen. The one thing we know is we’ve got a finite time on the planet.”

Hoy was at the vanguard of Britain’s era of domination in track cycling, winning gold medals at the Athens, Beijing and London Olympics. He also claimed 11 world titles during a glittering career.

Until 2021 Hoy was the most successful British Olympian and the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time before being overtaken by fellow Briton Jason Kenny who claimed his seventh Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games.
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German police arrest Libyan suspected of planning attack on Israeli embassy

German police have arrested a Libyan suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group and of having planned an attack on the Israeli embassy, federal prosecutors told Agence France-Presse on Saturday. 

“There is some suggestion he had planned an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, adding that the suspect was also thought to be affiliated with the Islamic State group. 

Bild daily reported that police commandoes had stormed a flat in Bernau, north of Berlin, in the evening and arrested the 28-year-old man. 

The newspaper said German authorities had acted on a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency. 

Israel’s ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, thanked German authorities for “ensuring the security of our embassy” in a message on the social media platform X. 

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, German authorities have increased their vigilance against Islamist militant threats and the resurgence of anti-Semitism, like in many countries around the world. 

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli consulate. 
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Ukraine, Russia report aerial attacks on capital cities

Ukraine’s military deployed air-defense systems late Saturday to repel an aerial assault on Kyiv, according to the capital’s top elected official. 

“Stay in shelters!” Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on the Telegram messaging app, according to Reuters, which was unable to independently confirm the scope of the aerial assault. 

Hours later, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin used the same messaging app to say Russian defense forces had destroyed at least one drone flying towards the capital city.   

According to Reuters, preliminary information indicated reports of damage or casualties where debris fell in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region. 

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the scope of the aerial assault on Kyiv.   

Saturday’s attack on Kyiv follows a visit to the city by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who said a Ukrainian defeat would mean “chaos” for the international order. 

According to Agence France-Presse, Barrot’s speech came hours after Russian forces issued a statement claiming that they’d captured another village in the country’s east. 

Barrot’s visit, aimed at underlining Paris’ unflinching support for Ukraine, comes at the end of a week in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled his “victory plan” to defeat Russia, again calling for beefed-up Western backing. 

“A Russian victory would consecrate the law of the strongest and precipitate the international order towards chaos,” said Barrot, who also warned that recent reports of North Korean regular troops supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, if verified, would constitute a serious escalation of the war.

France’s top diplomat also said Paris was open to the idea of an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, but that talks would continue on the subject with allies. 

Barrot’s stop in Kyiv coincided with the G7 defense ministerial meeting in Naples, Italy, which saw a pledge of “unwavering” support for Ukraine, including vows of military aid, according to a final statement.   

“We underscore our intent to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, including military assistance in the short and long term,” read the group’s final statement following the one-day summit. 

Information in this report is from Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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Iran hosts joint naval drills with Russia, Oman in Indian Ocean

Naval drills hosted by Iran with the participation of Russia and Oman and observed by nine other countries began in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, Iran’s state TV said.

The exercises, dubbed “IMEX 2024,” are aimed at boosting “collective security in the region, expand multilateral cooperation and display the goodwill and capabilities to safeguard peace, friendship and maritime security,” the English-language Press TV said.

Participants would practice tactics to ensure international maritime trade security, protect maritime routes, enhance humanitarian measures and exchange information on rescue and relief operations, it said.

The exercises coincide with heightened tensions in the region as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza rages and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels retaliate by launching attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

In response to regional tensions with the United States, Iran has increased its military cooperation with Russia and China.

In March, Iran, China and Russia held their fifth joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman. Countries observing the current drills include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand.
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Video published by Ukraine purports to show North Korean soldiers in Russia

kyiv, ukraine — A video purporting to show dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues and gear aims to intimidate Ukrainian forces and marks a new chapter in the 2 1/2-year war with the introduction of another country into the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said. 

The video, which was obtained by Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which operates under the Culture and Information Ministry, is said to show North Korean soldiers standing in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen. The Associated Press could not verify the video independently. 

“We received this video from our own sources. We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of the center. 

“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military,” he said. “For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia. Now not only with weapons and shells but also with personnel.” 

The center claims the footage was shot by a Russian soldier in recent days. The location is unknown. 

It comes after the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in local media reports that about 11,000 North Korean infantrymen were currently training in eastern Russia. He predicted they would be ready to join the fighting by November. At least 2,600 would be sent to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August, he was quoted as saying. 

“The emergence of any number of new soldiers is a problem because we will simply need new, additional weapons to destroy them all,” Solovey told AP. “The dissemination of this video is important as a signal to the world community that with two countries officially at war against Ukraine, we will need more support to repel this aggression.” 

The presence of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine, if true, would be another proof of intensified military ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last summer, they signed a strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance. North Korean weapons have already been used in the Ukraine war. 
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North Korean troops in Ukraine would be escalation, France warns

KYIV, UKRAINE — The involvement of North Korean regular troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would be a serious escalation of the war, France and Ukraine’s foreign ministers said at a joint press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.

France’s Jean-Noel Barrot, who was making his first trip to Ukraine since becoming foreign minister in September, is also set to visit the east of the country, where France will finance new two new centers for the protection of children affected by the war, on Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused North Korea on Thursday of deploying officers alongside Russia and of preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow’s war effort, although NATO chief Mark Rutte said there was no evidence of Pyongyang’s presence at this stage.

“It would be serious and push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage,” Barrot said in Kyiv, adding that such a move would signal that Moscow was struggling in the war.

His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, said the risk of escalation from the move was “huge.”

“This is a huge threat of further escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine. There is a big risk of it growing out of its current scale and borders,” he said.

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy presented his victory plan, which he said would enable Ukraine to end the war no later than next year. The first step of this plan was unconditional NATO membership for Ukraine.

France’s foreign minister said that Paris was open to the idea of an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, but that talks would continue on the subject with allies.

“Regarding the invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, we are open to it and it’s a discussion that we are having with our partners,” Barrot said.
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Court halts Italy’s contested migrant centers in Albania

ROME — Human rights groups and some analysts call Italy’s opening this week of migrant processing centers in Albania controversial and illegal. The Italian government is now appealing a court ruling against its flagship project to move migrant facilities offshore.

Italy’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, hailed her country’s deal — signed in November 2023 but enacted this week — with neighboring Albania to process migrant asylum claims there as “courageous,” in remarks this week to Parliament.

Under the five-year deal, up to 3,000 migrants rescued by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month will be transferred to Albania. An initial screening occurs on the ships before the migrants are sent to Albania for further screening.

“Italy has set a good example by signing the Italy-Albania protocol to process a final phase on Albanian territory but under Italian and European jurisdiction,” Meloni said.

Meloni’s government argues that diverting asylum seekers to migrant centers it set up under the agreement in Albania will help fight human trafficking and permit those with a genuine right entry to the European Union.

A special immigration court in Rome ruled on Friday that it was unlawful for the government to send this first batch of 12 Egyptian and Bangladeshi migrants to Albania for processing. The court said they had to be returned to Italy because their countries of origin could not be considered safe if they were repatriated.

Kelly Petillo of the European Council on Foreign Relations told VOA there was political dissension over the controversial issue.

“There is a different push-and-pull factor in domestic legislation, and I expect the same in other countries that will look to implement these agreements,” Petillo said. “After all the political and financial investment that went into implementing this scheme, the result is that the migrants have been returned. So, I have major doubts that the implementation will be successful in any way.

“All these countries are watching and, so far, they cannot see good results.”

Petillo also referred to Britain backing away from its controversial and expensive plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as ultimately unworkable. Italy’s center-left opposition quickly called for an end to the Albania plan, saying the court ruling proves its illegality.

Meloni’s government is undaunted, though, and plans to appeal. She called the court decision “prejudiced,” suggesting she would draft new rules to rectify the issue.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier said the EU could “draw lessons” from Italy’s new migrant processing centers in Albania.

Meeting in Brussels Thursday, many EU leaders agreed to enact urgent and stricter laws to curb irregular migration and speed up migrant returns. They fear the extreme right in Europe is using the contentious migrant issue to gain political ground in elections and see outsourcing the problem as one solution.

However, activists and analysts question the traditional EU values and the legality of such mechanisms.

Elisa DePieri of Amnesty International told VOA that the Italy-Albania plan forces refugees and migrants to face longer sea journeys to Albania, where they face potentially prolonged detention and may experience an end to their right to seek asylum.

“We are very concerned that the whole system rests on automatic detention from the very beginning,” she said. “Automatic detention is arbitrary and unlawful under international law. The default position is for the respect of the right of liberty for the individual and any exception should be validated by a judge on the basis of an individual assessment.”

Davide Colombi, a researcher at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies, speaking to Euronews, pointed to additional legal hurdles.

“This is extremely problematic,” he said. “The right to asylum is a fundamental right that cannot be suspended even in times of legally declared crisis. It is protected under EU law, under international law, which shows that this not a migration issue alone, but it is a broader rule-of-law issue.”
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King’s visit rekindles Australia’s debate on ending ties to the British monarchy

MELBOURNE, Australia — King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Sydney on Friday for the first Australian visit by a reigning monarch in more than a decade, a trip that has rekindled debate about the nation’s constitutional links to Britain.

The Sydney Opera House’s iconic sails were illuminated with images of previous royal visits to welcome the couple, whose six-day trip will be brief by royal standards. Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which led to the scaled-down itinerary.

Charles and Camilla were welcomed in light rain at Sydney Airport by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns and the king’s representative in Australia, Governor-General Sam Mostyln.

Charles is only the second reigning British monarch to visit Australia. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, became the first 70 years ago.

While the welcome has been warm, Australia’s national and state leaders want the royals removed from their constitution.

Monarchists expect the visit will strengthen Australians’ connection to their sovereign. Opponents hope for a rejection of the concept that someone from the other side of the world is Australia’s head of state.

The Australian Republic Movement, which campaigns for an Australian citizen to replace the British monarch as head of state, likens the royal visit to a touring act in the entertainment industry.

The ARM this week launched what it calls a campaign to “Wave Goodbye to Royal Reign with Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour!”

ARM co-chair Esther Anatolitis said royal visits to Australia were “something of a show that comes to town.”

“Unfortunately, it is a reminder that Australia’s head of state isn’t full-time, isn’t Australian. It’s a part-time person based overseas who’s the head of state of numerous places,” Anatolitis told the AP.

“We say to Charles and Camilla: ‘Welcome, we hope you’re enjoying our country and good health and good spirits.’ But we also look forward to this being the final tour of a sitting Australian monarch and that when they come back to visit soon, we look forward to welcoming them as visiting dignitaries,” she added.

Philip Benwell, national chair of the Australian Monarchist League, which campaigns for Australia’s constitutional links to Britain to be maintained, expects reaction to the royal couple will be overwhelmingly positive.

“Something like the royal visit brings the king closer in the minds of people, because we have an absent monarchy,” Benwell told the AP.

“The visit by the king brings it home that Australia is a constitutional monarchy and it has a king,” he added.

Benwell is critical of the premiers of all six states, who have declined invitations to attend a reception for Charles in the national capital, Canberra.

The premiers each explained that they had more pressing engagements on the day such as cabinet meetings and overseas travel.

“It would be virtually incumbent upon the premiers to be in Canberra to meet him and pay their respects,” Benwell said. “To not attend can be considered to be a snub, because this is not a normal visit. This is the first visit of a king ever to Australia.”

Charles was drawn into Australia’s republic debate months before his visit.

The Australian Republic Movement wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the king’s meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.

“Whether Australia becomes a republic is … a matter for the Australian public to decide,” said the letter from Buckingham Palace.

The Associated Press has seen copies of both letters.

Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded as a consequence of disagreement about how a president should be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.

After visiting Sydney and Canberra, which are 250 kilometers, Charles will then travel to Samoa to open the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

When his mother made the last of her 16 journeys to Australia in 2011 at the age of 85, she visited Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne on the east coast before opening the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the west coast city of Perth.

Elizabeth’s first grueling Australian tour at the age of 27 took in scores of far-flung Outback towns; an estimated 75% of the nation’s population turned out to see her.

Australia then had a racially discriminatory policy that favored British immigrants. Immigration policy has been non-discriminatory since 1973.

Anatolitis noted that Australia is far more multicultural now, with most of the population either born overseas or with a overseas-born parent.

“In the ’50s, we didn’t have that global interconnectedness that we have now,” she said. 
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G7 defense summit convenes as conflicts rage

NAPLES, ITALY — G7 defense ministers started talks on Saturday against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting.

Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organized the body’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense, staged in Naples, the southern city that is also home to a NATO base.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto welcomed each of the attendees, including NATO chief Mark Rutte and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

“I believe that our presence today … sends a strong message to those who try to hinder our democratic systems,” Crosetto said as he opened the event.

“The brutal Russian aggressions in Ukraine and the indeed critical situation in the Middle East, combined with the profound instability of sub-Saharan Africa and the increasing tension in the Indo-Pacific region highlight a deteriorated security framework with forecasts for the near future that cannot be positive,” he said.

“Ample space” would be given to discussing the escalating Middle East conflict during the one-day summit, Crosetto said a day earlier in Brussels.

Also on the summit agenda is the war in Ukraine, development and security in Africa and the situation in the Asia-Pacific.

Middle East

The meeting comes two days after Israel announced it killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that triggered the devastating retaliatory war in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar’s death in the Palestinian territory signaled “the beginning of the end” of the war against Hamas, while U.S. President Joe Biden said it opened the door to “a path to peace.”

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was in Lebanon on Friday, where Israel is also at war with Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Speaking in Beirut, Meloni slammed attacks on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon as “unacceptable” after the U.N. force accused Israel of targeting their positions.

Italy has around 1,000 troops in the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which has soldiers from more than 50 countries.

Ukraine

On Ukraine, the ministers will contemplate Kyiv entering a third winter at war, battlefield losses in the east — and the prospect of reduced U.S. military support should Donald Trump be elected to the White House next month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, under mounting pressure from Western allies to forge a winning strategy against Russia, on Thursday presented what he called a victory plan to the European Union and NATO.

Its main thrust is a call for immediate NATO membership, deemed unfeasible by alliance members.

It also demands the ability to strike military targets inside Russia with long-range weapons, and an undefined “nonnuclear strategic deterrence package” on Ukrainian territory.

Under discussion will also likely be reports, based on South Korean intelligence, that North Korea is deploying large numbers of troops to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

NATO was not as yet able to confirm that intelligence, Rutte said on Friday.
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Russia, Ukraine each bring home 95 prisoners of war in swap brokered by UAE

Russia and Ukraine carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war on Friday, each side bringing home 95 prisoners in an agreement in which the United Arab Emirates acted as mediator.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said the returning Russian service members were undergoing medical checks in Belarus, one of Russia’s closest allies in the more than 2-1/2-year-old war.

Video posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram account showed men, some wrapped in the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag, getting off a bus well after dark and being embraced by loved ones.

A Russian military video showed smiling soldiers boarding buses.

“Every time Ukraine rescues its people from Russian captivity, we get closer to the day when freedom will be returned to all who are in Russian captivity,” Zelenskyy wrote.

The president said the freed prisoners had served on various fronts, including some who had defended the port city of Mariupol for nearly three months in 2022.

Ukrainian news reports said the returnees included Ukrainian journalist and rights advocate Maksym Butkevych, convicted by a Russian court of shooting at Russian forces.

The body coordinating the affairs of prisoners of war said 48 of the returnees had been handed sentences by the Russian judicial system.

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, said the release was the 58th since the beginning of the war and brought to 3,767 the total number of prisoners returned home.

A private Russian group that says it looks after the interests of prisoners of war published a list of returnees and said most of them were captured in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged an incursion in August.

In his remarks, Zelenskyy again referred to soldiers in that operation who “replenish the exchange fund,” meaning the capture of Russian prisoners to be used as a bargaining chip in exchanges.

Ukrainian forces remain in Kursk, though Russia’s military says its forces have clawed back some of the captured territory.

A statement from the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, reported by state media, said it was the Gulf state’s ninth instance of mediation in the war. It described the exchange as “a reflection of the cooperative and friendly relations between the UAE and both countries.”

The last known prisoner swap — involving 103 prisoners from each side — took place in September. 
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Biden in Germany for quick visit focused on Middle East, Ukraine

US President Joe Biden met with European counterparts on Friday, in a brief trip to Germany where leaders discussed the war in Ukraine and the widening conflict in the Middle East. White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Berlin.
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Days of torrential rain bring major flooding to central France

paris — France’s prime minister said Friday that firefighters and other rescuers have been involved in about 2,300 operations, some of them lifesaving, in what appears to be the biggest flooding in 40 years in central France.

Michel Barnier visited French authorities’ crisis center in Paris and said there hadn’t been such violent rain in many people’s memory. Over 1,000 people were evacuated. Most of them were able to go home Friday.

Barnier also praised an alert system, used for the first time, that sent text messages urging people in the concerned areas to delay or cancel their planned trips and stay in a safe place.

French weather agency Meteo France said as much as 700 millimeters (27.5 inches) of rain fell in in 48 hours in some local areas in the regions of Ardeche and Lozere.

National railway operator SNCF halted regional trains between the cities of Lyon and Saint-Etienne on Thursday, saying the tracks were impassable. Local train services will remain disrupted for several days, it said.

The massive floods caused serious damage and power outages Friday in parts of France’s mountainous southeast region. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Several French news stations showed cars, cattle and traffic signs being swept away by the floods. The A47, a main highway near Lyon, was temporarily transformed into a giant stream of water and remained closed Friday.

Meteo France lifted its red alert for bad weather Friday morning but still warned of potential heavy rain and floods in southwestern France.

Some information for this story came from Reuters. 
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Ukraine media outlets, businesses targeted with false bomb threats

Emails threatening terror attacks led to the evacuation of hundreds of businesses, media outlets and foreign embassies in Ukraine this week.

Ukrainian national police searched dozens of properties targeted by the threat, including the Kyiv office of VOA sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, according to reports. Police said the searches did not find evidence of explosives.

The country’s Foreign Ministry said that about 60 of its foreign diplomatic missions also received the threatening emails, leading some of them to suspend services.

The email, which appeared linked to an anti-Ukraine Telegram group, mentioned the names of three journalists with RFE/RL’s Schemes investigative news desk.

The journalists recently reported on how Russian intelligence recruits individuals to carry out arson attacks on vehicles belonging to military personnel or conscription center workers.

RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said the network is working with authorities in their investigations.

“We will not be intimidated and stand behind our reporters who will continue to bring news to Ukrainian audiences without fear or favor,” said Capus in a statement.

At least four other media outlets were targeted, including the Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda, Liga.net and the public broadcaster Suspilne.

The Kyiv Independent reported that the email it received claimed that explosives had been planted in their office, as well as at the RFE/RL office and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

“I have planted several explosive devices in your building, and very soon it will explode,” the email read.

A police search of the Kyiv Independent found no evidence of explosives, the media outlet reported.

Police have examined more than 2,000 threatening messages, which they said appear to come from a Russian IP address. A criminal case has been opened for “knowingly false reports of threat to the safety of citizens.”

The messages are described as matching “the style of Russian intelligence services,” a police statement said, adding that Russia is “waging a hybrid war against Ukraine, trying to cause mass panic and exhaust the system of state and law enforcement agencies.”

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the intimidation of RFE/RL’s reporters and called for an investigation.

“Ukrainian authorities must ensure the safety of the journalists and hold the perpetrators to account,” said Gulnoza Said, the CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program coordinator. “Journalists must be able to work safely, without fear of retaliation.”

According to RFE/RL Schemes, the group that claimed responsibility for the alleged planting of explosives has been using social media to spread messages that offer money in exchange for damaging Ukrainian military vehicles.

A spokesperson for the Security Service of Ukraine said Russia was trying to make it look like arson attacks are being carried out by Ukrainians instead of being instigated by Moscow.
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