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Zelenskyy Speaks before Canadian Parliament to Shore up Support for Ukraine

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center right, greet supporters after a rally at the Fort York Armory in Toronto on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center right, greet supporters after a rally at the Fort York Armory in Toronto on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (The Canadian Press via AP)
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Zelenskyy Speaks before Canadian Parliament to Shore up Support for Ukraine

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center right, greet supporters after a rally at the Fort York Armory in Toronto on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center right, greet supporters after a rally at the Fort York Armory in Toronto on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (The Canadian Press via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Canada on Friday to stay with his country to victory as he went to the Canadian Parliament seeking to bolster support from Western allies for Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion.

Zelenskyy flew into Canada's capital late on Thursday after meetings with President Joe Biden and lawmakers in Washington. He spoke at the United Nations' annual meeting on Wednesday.

"Moscow must lose once and for all. And it will lose,” Zelenskyy said during his address in Parliament.

Zelenskyy said Canada has always been on the “bright side of history” in fighting previous wars and said it has helped saved thousands of lives in this war with aid. He also thanked Canadians for financial support and for making Ukrainians fleeing war feel at home in Canada.

Zelenskyy repeatedly thanked Canada and received a number of standing ovations from dignitaries and parliamentarians.

Zelenskyy linked the suffering of Ukrainians now to the 1930s genocide caused by Stalin, when the Soviet leader was blamed for creating a man-made famine in Ukraine believed to have killed more than 3 million people. He noted that it was in Edmonton, Canada, where the world's first monument was erected in 1993 to commemorate the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide.

He expressed hope that a monument would one day be raised in Canada to Ukraine’s victory over Russia's invasion, “maybe in Edmonton.”

“I have a lot of warm words and thanks from Ukraine to you,” Zelenskyy said in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office before his speech. “You have helped us on the battlefield, financially and with humanitarian aid. ... Stay with us to our victory."

It is Zelenskyy’s first visit to Canada since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He previously addressed the Canadian Parliament virtually after the war started.

Trudeau called the visit an opportunity to show Zelenskyy “how strongly and unequivocally we stand with Ukraine" and announced an additional $650 million Canadian ($482 million) over three years for 50 armored vehicles that will be built in Canada.

“We are shifting our approach to provide multiyear assistance to ensure Ukraine has the predictable support it needs for long term support,” Trudeau said at a news conference.

Trudeau said Canada has provided nearly $9 billion Canadian (US$6.7 billion) in military, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine since the war began.

Zelenskyy and Trudeau also attended a rally in Toronto with the local Ukrainian community late Friday.

“I'm happy to be here with my wife, the first lady. Three days together, the first time from the beginning of full-scale war,” Zelenskyy said.

Canada is home to about 1.4 million people of Ukrainian descent, close to 4% of the population.

More than 175,000 Ukrainians have come to Canada since the war started and an additional 700,000 have received approval to come as part of an initiative that supports temporary relocation of those fleeing the war. The initiative allows for an open work permit for three years with pathways to permanent residency and citizenship.

Zelenskyy is facing questions in Washington about the flow of American dollars that for 19 months has helped keep his troops in the fight against Russian forces. A hard-right flank of Republicans, led by Donald Trump, Biden’s chief rival in the 2024 race for the White House, is increasingly opposed to sending more money overseas.

“We are grateful to the United States and, with all due respect to our allies, the United States provides the largest share of assistance. And the assistance our soldiers on the battlefield really need,” Zelenskyy said at an earlier news conference.

He also faces challenges in Europe as well as cracks in what had been a largely united Western alliance behind Ukraine. Late Wednesday, Poland’s prime minister said his country is no longer sending arms to Ukraine, a comment that appeared aimed at pressuring Kyiv and put Poland’s status as a major source of military equipment in doubt as a trade dispute between the neighboring states escalates.

Ukrainian troops are struggling to take back territory that Russia gained over the past year. Their progress in the next month or so before the rains come and the ground turns to mud could be critical in rousing additional global support over the winter.

The Group of 7 industrial nations in July promised to reach individual agreements with Ukraine to provide long-term military help.

"Considering the reluctance of many Republicans in US Congress to further support Ukraine and the tensions between Ukraine and some of its key allies like Poland, Canada is seen as a reliable supporter of Ukraine so Zelenskyy will be in friendly territory during his visit to Canada,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

“A key fact to keep in mind here is that 4% of Canadians are of Ukrainian descent, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.”

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World

EU: Pace of Executions in Iran is Appalling

Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)
Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)
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EU: Pace of Executions in Iran is Appalling

Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)
Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)

The European Union (EU) on Friday described the current pace of executions in Iran as “appalling”, reiterating its firm and principled opposition to the use of capital punishment at all times and in all circumstances.
“There are credible reports that a minor, Hamidreza Azari, and a protester, Milad Zohrevand, were executed in Iran on November 24 and 23 respectively,” the Arab World Press quoted the EU statement.
“The current pace of executions in Iran, at least 600 since January, is appalling,” added the statement.
“The European Union reiterates its firm and principled opposition to the use of capital punishment at all times and in all circumstances. The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.”
Iranian authorities executed a Kurdish man jailed for almost 14 years in a case linked to a Muslim cleric's killing in 2008, rights groups said, decrying unjust proceedings, according to Iran International.
Ayoub Karimi, 33, was arrested in 2019 on the capital charge of "corruption on earth" in a case involving six other Kurdish men who also received the death penalty.
Amnesty International had issued warnings in recent days, highlighting the imminent danger of Karimi's execution and urging authorities to cancel the sentence.
Karimi was hanged along with six other men, who had received sentences in unrelated cases, in Ghezel Hesar prison in the Tehran suburb of Karaj, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said.
Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The execution of Ayoub Karimi, based on coerced confessions and without a fair trial, like the execution of other political prisoners, is a crime.”
The execution was confirmed by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency and France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network.
Amnesty International said in a statement at the time that the trial was "grossly unfair," pointing to forced confessions under torture.
The remaining five defendants are still incarcerated and face the imminent threat of execution, according to human rights watchdogs.
The rate of executions in Iran has been rising sharply, particularly in the wake of widespread protests that swept across the country last year following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.
This month it has executed Milad Zohrevand, a man in his 20s in a case related to the protests, as well as 17-year-old youth Hamidreza Azari on murder charges as well as dozens of others.

World

House Expels New York Rep. George Santos. It's Just the Sixth Expulsion in the Chamber's History

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is surrounded by journalists as he leaves the US Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel him from the House of Representatives on December 01, 2023 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is surrounded by journalists as he leaves the US Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel him from the House of Representatives on December 01, 2023 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP
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House Expels New York Rep. George Santos. It's Just the Sixth Expulsion in the Chamber's History

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is surrounded by journalists as he leaves the US Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel him from the House of Representatives on December 01, 2023 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is surrounded by journalists as he leaves the US Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel him from the House of Representatives on December 01, 2023 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP

The House voted on Friday to expel Republican Rep. George Santos of New York after a blistering ethics report on his conduct heightened lawmakers' concerns about the scandal-plagued freshman. Santos became just the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues, and the third since the Civil War.
The vote to expel was 311-114, easily clearing the two-thirds majority required. House Republican leaders opposed removing Santos, whose departure leaves them with a razor-thin majority, but in the end 105 GOP lawmakers sided with nearly all Democrats to expel him, Reuters said.
The expulsion marked the final congressional chapter in a spectacular fall from grace for Santos. Celebrated as an up-and-comer after he flipped a district from Democrats last year, Santos' life story began to unravel before he was even sworn into office. Reports emerged that he had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree, among other things.
Then, in May, Santos was indicted by federal prosecutors on multiple charges, turning his presence in the House into a growing distraction and embarrassment to the party.
Santos joins a short list of lawmakers expelled from the House, and for reasons uniquely his own. Of the previous expulsions in the House, three were for siding with the Confederacy during the Civil War. The remaining two occurred after the lawmakers were convicted of crimes in federal court, the most recent in 2002.
Seeking to remain in office, Santos had appealed to colleagues to let the court process play out. He warned of the precedent they would set by expelling a member not yet convicted of a crime.
“This will haunt them in the future,” Santos told lawmakers on Thursday evening as they debated his removal.
As it became clear Friday that he would be expelled, Santos appeared resigned to his fate. He placed his overcoat over his shoulders and shook hands with conservative members who voted against his expulsion. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who voted against expelling Santos, was solemn as he announced the result of the vote and declared the New York seat vacant.
Outside the Capitol, trailed by a crush of reporters and cameras, he quickly ducked inside a vehicle and left.
Santos' fellow Republicans from New York were front and center in the effort to boot him. Among them were fellow freshmen who serve in key swing districts and had helped the GOP take the House majority. They sought to generate as much political distance as they could from Santos, whose lies about his past made him a pariah in the House before he even took the oath of office.
Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, whose district is next to Santos', led the debate for expulsion and argued that voters would welcome lawmakers holding themselves to a high standard. Another New York Republican, Rep. Nick Langworthy, said Santos had only himself to blame.
“Every precedent under the sun has been broken by George Santos,” Langworthy said. “Has there ever been anyone here that’s made up a whole life?”
Santos had survived two previous expulsion attempts, but a scathing House Ethics Committee report released the week before the Thanksgiving holiday appeared to turn colleagues decisively against him.
After eight months of work, Ethics Committee investigators said they had found “overwhelming evidence” that Santos had broken the law and exploited his public position for his own profit.
“It’s a solemn day," said the chairman of the ethics panel, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss. "I mean no one wants to have to remove a member from Congress. But the allegations against him, the evidence was overwhelming.”
Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the Ethics Committee, reminded members that the decision approving the investigators’ findings was unanimous.
“Mr. Santos is not a victim," Wild said. "He is a perpetrator of a massive fraud on his constituents and the American people.”
Santos' troubles are far from over, as he faces trial next year in New York. Federal prosecutors in a 23-count indictment have accused him of duping donors, stealing from his campaign and lying to Congress.
The indictment alleges specifically that Santos stole the identities of campaign donors and then used their credit cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. He then wired some of the money to his personal bank account and used the rest to pad his campaign coffers, prosecutors say. Santos has pleaded not guilty,
Santos’ expulsion narrows the GOP’s majority to 221-213 and Democrats will have a good opportunity to fill the vacancy. Shortly after the vote, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said she’s prepared to call a special election for the seat, likely in mid-to-late February under a timeframe set by state law.
“When you look at his lack of ethics and the fact that, you know, he has not served the people of our state, particularly New York 3 where he resides, it’s been an abysmal run for him,” Hochul said Friday.
The special election will kick off a hotly contested year of congressional races in New York as Democrats look to flip a handful of seats in the state and retake control of the House. The field of candidates for Santos’ seat is already crowded and includes former US Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who represented the district before an unsuccessful run for governor last year.
Now that he has been removed from office, Santos' congressional office will remain operational under the management of the Clerk of the House. No additional staff can be hired, but the current staff can stay on and perform constituent casework. They will be unable to undertake any legislative activity, such as the drafting of bills.
Santos, for his part, hasn't lost all the privileges afforded to former members. He will still be permitted to walk onto the House floor and fraternize with members.
According to House rules, any former lawmaker can maintain their floor privileges unless they are a lobbyist, foreign agent, have a direct interest in the bill being considered at the time, or have been convicted of a crime in relation to their election or service.

World

South Korea Confirms First Spy Satellite in Orbit

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket minutes before the launch of the Korea 425 Mission. SPACEX/AFP
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket minutes before the launch of the Korea 425 Mission. SPACEX/AFP
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South Korea Confirms First Spy Satellite in Orbit

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket minutes before the launch of the Korea 425 Mission. SPACEX/AFP
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket minutes before the launch of the Korea 425 Mission. SPACEX/AFP

South Korea confirmed Saturday its first military spy satellite had reached orbit after a successful SpaceX rocket launch and that communication was established with ground control.
Seoul's reconnaissance satellite, carried by one of Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, intensifies a space race on the Korean peninsula after the North launched its own first military eye in the sky last week.
South Korea's defense ministry said Saturday its satellite reached orbit soon after the "KOREA"-emblazoned SpaceX rocket lifted off from the Vandenberg US Space Force Base in California at 10:19 am local time (1819 GMT) Friday.
"The satellite was launched 0319 Seoul time and was successfully separated from the projectile 11 minutes later and put into a targeted orbital trajectory," the ministry said in a statement.
"We have confirmed its communications with the ground command."
Reaching orbit means that South Korea now has its first domestically built spy satellite to monitor nuclear-armed North Korea.
Seoul plans to launch four additional spy satellites by the end of 2025 to bolster its reconnaissance capacity over the North.
Set to orbit between 400 and 600 kilometers (250 to 370 miles) above Earth, the South's satellite is capable of detecting an object as small as 30 centimeters (11.8 inches), according to the Yonhap news agency.
"Considering resolution and its capacity for Earth observation... our satellite technology ranks in the top five globally," a defense ministry official said, as quoted by Yonhap.
The launch comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang successfully put its own spy satellite into orbit.
"Until now, South Korea has relied heavily on US-run spy satellites" when it comes to monitoring the North, Choi Gi-il, professor of military studies at Sangji University, told AFP.
While the South has "succeeded in the launch of a military communications satellite, it has taken much longer for a reconnaissance satellite due to higher technological hurdles", he said.
Following the North's successful launch of its spy satellite, Choi said, "the South Korean government needs to demonstrate it can also pull this off".
'Destroy' US spy satellites
The nuclear-armed North's launch drew international condemnation which the North Korean leader's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called "absurd", declaring that her country would never relinquish its space program.
North Korea is barred by successive rounds of UN resolutions from tests using ballistic technology, and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and the development of ballistic missiles.
On Saturday, Pyongyang threatened to "destroy" US spy satellites if Washington "tries to violate the legitimate territory" of North Korea, referring to its satellite program.
If the United States attempts to breach its space rights "by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly", said a spokesperson of the North's defense ministry in a statement carried by state-run KCNA, "the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defense to undermine or destroy the viability of the US spy satellites".
Experts have said putting a working reconnaissance satellite into orbit would improve North Korea's intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict.
Since last week's launch, the North has claimed its new satellite has already provided images of major US and South Korean military sites.
It has not yet disclosed any of the satellite imagery it claims to possess.
The North's launch of "Malligyong-1" was Pyongyang's third attempt at putting such a satellite in orbit, after two failures in May and August.
Seoul has said the North received technical help from Moscow, in return for supplying weapons for use in Russia's war with Ukraine.

World

NATO Chief Tells Türkiye’s Erdogan That ‘The Time Has Come’ to Let Sweden Join the Alliance

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to The Associated Press at the COP28 UN Climate Summit, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to The Associated Press at the COP28 UN Climate Summit, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)
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NATO Chief Tells Türkiye’s Erdogan That ‘The Time Has Come’ to Let Sweden Join the Alliance

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to The Associated Press at the COP28 UN Climate Summit, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to The Associated Press at the COP28 UN Climate Summit, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he has told Türkiye’s president that “the time has come” to let Sweden become a member of the military alliance.

Türkiye and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not yet formally approved Sweden’s accession bid.

Stoltenberg told The Associated Press that he urged Türkiye to finalize the process as he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

“I met with President Erdogan this morning and I reiterated my message that the time has come to finalize the accession process for Sweden,” he said.

Türkiye has delayed ratification for more than a year, accusing Sweden of not taking Türkiye’s security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara considers to be security threats.

An apparent breakthrough happened at a NATO summit in July when Erdogan said he would submit accession documents to Parliament, but a debate on the matter in the foreign affairs committee was adjourned last month without a decision.

Stoltenberg couldn’t say when he expected the ratification process to be completed.

“I’m not able to give an exact date, but I welcome the fact that just a few weeks ago President Erdogan submitted the papers for ratification to the Turkish Parliament,” the NATO leader said. “My message in the meeting today was, of course, that now the time has come to ensure that the Parliament finalizes its deliberations and concludes the ratification of Sweden as a formal NATO member.”

Sweden and neighboring Finland decided to drop their long-standing policy of non-alignment and apply for NATO membership following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. Finland joined NATO in April. New members must be approved by all existing members of the alliance.

World

US Issues Fresh Sanctions over Shipment of Russian Oil above Price Cap

A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. (Reuters)
A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. (Reuters)
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US Issues Fresh Sanctions over Shipment of Russian Oil above Price Cap

A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. (Reuters)
A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. (Reuters)

The United States on Friday imposed additional sanctions related to the price cap on Russian oil, targeting three entities and three oil tankers as Washington seeks to close loopholes in the mechanism designed to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

The US Treasury Department in a statement accused those targeted on Friday of using price cap coalition services while carrying Russian crude oil above the agreed price cap.

It marks Washington's latest sanctions action cracking down on the shipment of oil above the Russian price cap as the United States seeks to enforce the punitive measures it has imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, which has killed or wounded tens of thousands and reduced cities to rubble.

"Enforcement of the price cap on Russian oil is a top priority for the United States and our Coalition partners," Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement.

"By targeting these companies and their ships, we are upholding the dual goals of the price cap by restricting Russia’s profits from oil while promoting stable global energy markets."

The Treasury Department on Friday also issued a general license authorizing limited safety and environmental transactions involving those targeted, including transactions necessary for the safe docking and anchoring of the blocked vessels, until Feb. 29.

World

US to Impose Visa Bans Soon on Israeli Extremist Settlers

FILE PHOTO: A man stands near damaged objects after an Israeli settlers' attack near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man stands near damaged objects after an Israeli settlers' attack near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta/File Photo
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US to Impose Visa Bans Soon on Israeli Extremist Settlers

FILE PHOTO: A man stands near damaged objects after an Israeli settlers' attack near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man stands near damaged objects after an Israeli settlers' attack near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta/File Photo

The Biden administration has informed Israel that Washington will impose visa bans in the next few weeks on Israeli extremist settlers engaged in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, a senior State Department official said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have let them know that the United States will take its own action against an undisclosed number of individuals.
The West Bank, among the territories where Palestinians seek statehood, has experienced a surge of violence in recent months amid expanding Jewish settlements and a nearly decade-old impasse in US-sponsored peacemaking.
The violence, at a more-than-15-year high this year, surged further after Israel hurtled into a new war in the separate enclave of Gaza in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas unleashing the deadliest day in Israel's history on Oct. 7.
The United States has repeatedly expressed its concern over the rising violence in the West Bank, saying it must stop. US President Joe Biden, in a Nov. 18 Washington Post opinion piece threatened to take action against the perpetrators.
"I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable. The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank," Biden wrote.
The State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Washington wants Israel to prosecute the perpetrators but has yet to see such a step.
The visa bans could come in the next few weeks, Reuters quoted the official as saying.
Daily settler attacks have more than doubled, UN figures show, since Hamas, which controls the coastal enclave of Gaza to Israel's southwest, killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 240 hostage. Israel has since bombed and invaded Gaza, killing more than 15,000 people.

World

Russia Says Advancing on All Fronts in Ukraine

Members of Ukraine's National Guard Omega Special Purpose unit fire a mortar toward Russian troops in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 8, 2023. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS
Members of Ukraine's National Guard Omega Special Purpose unit fire a mortar toward Russian troops in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 8, 2023. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS
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Russia Says Advancing on All Fronts in Ukraine

Members of Ukraine's National Guard Omega Special Purpose unit fire a mortar toward Russian troops in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 8, 2023. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS
Members of Ukraine's National Guard Omega Special Purpose unit fire a mortar toward Russian troops in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 8, 2023. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday that the Russian military was advancing in all directions in Ukraine, the state news agency RIA reported.

Shoigu also said that Russia would hold naval drills, called Ocean-2024, next year.

The Ukrainian military shot down 18 out of 25 attack drones launched by Russia in its latest overnight strike, authorities said.

Kyiv's air force also reported destroying one out of two cruise missiles that had been launched.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the attack, which officials said was launched from southwestern Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea and was aimed primarily at eastern and southern Ukraine.

World

US, Partners Target NKorea with Sanctions after Satellite Launch

HANDOUT - 30 November 2023, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean state news agency (KCNA) on 1 December 2023 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his daughter attending a ceremony as they visit the Korean People's Army's 1st Army Division Flight Regiment to commemorate the Air Force Day. Photo: -/kcna/dpa
HANDOUT - 30 November 2023, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean state news agency (KCNA) on 1 December 2023 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his daughter attending a ceremony as they visit the Korean People's Army's 1st Army Division Flight Regiment to commemorate the Air Force Day. Photo: -/kcna/dpa
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US, Partners Target NKorea with Sanctions after Satellite Launch

HANDOUT - 30 November 2023, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean state news agency (KCNA) on 1 December 2023 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his daughter attending a ceremony as they visit the Korean People's Army's 1st Army Division Flight Regiment to commemorate the Air Force Day. Photo: -/kcna/dpa
HANDOUT - 30 November 2023, North Korea: A picture released by the North Korean state news agency (KCNA) on 1 December 2023 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his daughter attending a ceremony as they visit the Korean People's Army's 1st Army Division Flight Regiment to commemorate the Air Force Day. Photo: -/kcna/dpa

The United States on Thursday targeted North Korea with fresh sanctions after its launch of a spy satellite last week, designating foreign-based agents it accused of facilitating sanctions evasion to gather revenue and technology for its weapons of mass destruction program.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said it also applied sanctions to cyber espionage group Kimsuky, accusing it of gathering intelligence to support North Korea's strategic and nuclear ambitions.

Thursday's action, taken in coordination with Australia, Japan and Korea, comes after North Korea last week successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite, which it has said was designed to monitor US and South Korean military movements.

"Today's actions by the United States, Australia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea reflect our collective commitment to contesting Pyongyang's illicit and destabilizing activities," Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.

"We will remain focused on targeting these key nodes in the DPRK's illicit revenue generation and weapons proliferation," Nelson added, calling North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

South Korea's foreign ministry said on Friday that it had blacklisted 11 North Koreans for involvement in the country's satellite and ballistic missile development, banning them from any financial transactions.

The list includes senior officials from the National Aerospace Technology Administration, which oversaw the satellite launch, and the munitions industry department.

Since the launch of the satellite, North Korea said that its leader, Kim Jong Un, has reviewed spy satellite photos of the White House, Pentagon and US aircraft carriers at the naval base of Norfolk. Its state media has also reported that the satellite photographed cities and military bases in South Korea, Guam, and Italy, in addition to Washington.

Kim has called for his military to be ready to respond to any "provocation" by the enemy, state media said on Friday, after Pyongyang vowed to deploy stronger armed forces and new weapons along its border with the South.

Visiting North Korea's air force command on Thursday to the branch's airmen day, Kim rolled out guidelines to improve the military's combat posture and increase "its capabilities to fight a war to the full," news agency KCNA reported.
"He set forth operational and tactical policies ... so as to counter any military provocation and threat of the enemy immediately and powerfully," KCNA said.
That stop was followed by a visit to a fighter wing, where pilots staged a demonstration flight, it said.
Photographs released by state media showed Kim and his daughter, both dressed in long leather jackets, watching the show.
Kim praised the air force for being "fully prepared to perfectly carry out their air combat missions under any unfavorable situation," KCNA said.

World

Do Not Ignore Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions, Warns Grossi

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi holds a press conference on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi holds a press conference on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
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Do Not Ignore Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions, Warns Grossi

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi holds a press conference on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi holds a press conference on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has urged world powers to relaunch talks with Iran and not lose sight of the risks posed by its stockpiling of enriched uranium while attention has turned to the war between Israel and Hamas.

“There needs to be some recreation of a system of dialogue with Iran,” Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Financial Times.

“People may not be looking at [Iran’s nuclear ambitions], but the problem exists.”

The war has upended efforts by the US government to de-escalate tensions with Iran as it sought to contain the nuclear crisis.

In September, the US and Iran completed an exchange of prisoners after months of negotiations and Washington unfroze $6 billion of Iranian oil funds held in South Korea.

Alongside the prisoner swap deal, Tehran and Washington agreed to de-escalatory measures that some hoped could lay a platform for more talks on reducing Iran’s nuclear activity.

Grossi said talks with Iran might require a new framework, rather than an attempt to revive the 2015 accord — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — that has floundered since the US abandoned it in 2018 under former president Donald Trump.

“Trying to put [a nuclear deal] back into the JCPOA box wouldn’t work,” Grossi said. “You can still call it a JCPOA but it should be a JCPOA 2.0 or something because you have to adapt.”

He also said the situation surrounding Iran’s nuclear program was “very uncertain” and urged nations to “sit down and re-engage.”

Iran has ramped up its nuclear activity since 2019 in response to the US exit from the JCPOA and the imposition of crippling sanctions on it. It is enriching uranium at its highest-ever level, although Tehran has denied wanting nuclear arms.

Tehran’s stockpiling of uranium enriched to nearly weapons-grade was continuing, although it had slowed in recent months, Grossi added.

Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, close to weapons grade, grew nearly 7 kg from mid-August to the end of October, the latest IAEA reports showed, when it had been increasing at a pace of 15 kg or more previously.

US officials say Iran has the capacity to produce enough fissile material required to develop a nuclear weapon in about two weeks.

Grossi said other obstacles to the pursuit of nuclear talks with Iran included domestic distractions, pointing to “the political situation in individual countries” that was preventing some from fully engaging, without naming who he was referring to.

Iran will hold parliamentary elections in March, while the US is due to hold a presidential election at the end of next year.

“We’re not asking for people to put pressure on Iran but to engage with us,” Grossi said. “For this thing to succeed there must be a minimum level of consensus in the international community.”

World

US Says Helping Prepare Ukraine for Expected Russia Winter Attack

Rescues work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Novohrodivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine November 30, 2023. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk region/Handout via REUTERS
Rescues work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Novohrodivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine November 30, 2023. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk region/Handout via REUTERS
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US Says Helping Prepare Ukraine for Expected Russia Winter Attack

Rescues work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Novohrodivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine November 30, 2023. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk region/Handout via REUTERS
Rescues work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Novohrodivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine November 30, 2023. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk region/Handout via REUTERS

The US has been working with Ukraine to prepare for Russia's expected winter attack, including helping to provide equipment and supplies to keep people from losing heat and electricity, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

Kirby said the US expects Russia will try to destroy Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure this winter.

US President Joe Biden asked Congress last month to approve $106 billion in national security funding, including aid for Ukraine as it battles the Russian invasion, support for Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and money for additional security at the US border with Mexico.

Russian missiles tore through apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, local officials said Thursday, killing at least two people and burying families under rubble as the Kremlin’s forces continued to pound the fiercely contested area with long-range weapons.
Russian military units simultaneously launched six S-300 missiles toward the Donetsk region during the night, according to Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko. Another two were fired separately in the same area, the Ukrainian air force said.
The simultaneous missile strikes hit three Donetsk cities — Pokrovsk, Novohrodivka and Myrnohrad, Klymenko said. The cities lie 25-40 kilometers (15-25 miles) from the front line.
The battlefield has seen few major changes in recent months. A Ukrainian counteroffensive that started in June dented deep Russian defenses in some areas but has failed to change the complexion of the 22-month war.
Moscow has held firm in most of the areas it occupies while using the long-range weapons to inflict damage on Ukraine, including civilian areas.
Emergency workers pulled the body of a 62-year-old man from the wreckage of a destroyed multi-story building in Novohrodivka. Another death was reported in the same city by Ukraine’s Emergency Service. Four more people may be under the rubble, including a child, authorities said.
In Pokrovsk, the strikes destroyed a multi-story building, nine houses, a police office and cars. Emergency crews helped rescue a man with a 6-month-old baby, covered in blood, in his hands, officials said.
The head of the city administration, Serhii Dobriak, said it was fourth time Pokrovsk came under attack in the past month.
“They are striking the city center, the houses,” he said. “They are just destroying the civilian population.”
He urged people to evacuate because “the intensity of strikes is increasing.”
All three of the targeted cities are close to Avdiivka, a city where a fierce battle has taken place in recent months.
Avdiivka is a gateway to parts of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control.
Ukrainian officials said recently that Russian forces have ramped up attacks in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to gain ground near Avdiivka and around Bakhmut, another key front-line city.
In southern Ukraine, Russian forces shelled residential areas in the Kherson region, damaging critical infrastructure and a school, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. One person was killed, the office said.
Ambulance paramedics came under fire in the village of Kindiika, where a doctor was wounded on Wednesday evening, according to the president's office. In Darivka, another Kherson region village, four people were injured as 10 houses, a hospital and a kindergarten were damaged during the night, the office said.
Zelenskyy on Thursday visited troops in Kupiansk, an area of fighting in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
“I know that every day you are losing your close people, your war buddies,” he told soldiers, according to a video posted on his Telegram channel. “You should know that everyone is aware that this is the highest price. That’s why I ask you to take care of yourselves.”
It was the Ukrainian leader's second straight day of touring battle areas across the country. On Wednesday he visited cities in southern Ukraine.
He has frequently made such visits during the war as he tries to keep up morale.