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Constantine, the former and last king of Greece who spent decades in exile, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Doctors at the private Hygeia Hospital in Athens confirmed to The Associated Press that Constantine died late Tuesday after treatment in an intensive care unit but had no further details pending an official announcement.

When he rose to the throne as Constantine II 1964 at the age of 23, the youthful monarch who had achieved glory as an Olympic gold medalist in sailing was hugely popular. By the following year he had squandered much of that support with his active involvement in the machinations that brought down the elected Center Union government of Prime Minister George Papandreou.

The episode involving the defection from the ruling party of several lawmakers, still widely known in Greece as the “apostasy,” destabilized the constitutional order and led to a military coup in 1967. Constantine eventually clashed with the military rulers and was forced into exile.

The dictatorship abolished the monarchy in 1973; a referendum after democracy was restored in 1974 dashed any hopes that Constantine had of ever reigning again.

Reduced in the following decades to only fleeting visits to Greece that raised a political and media storm each time, he was able to settle again in his home country in his waning years when opposing his presence no longer held currency as a badge of vigilant republicanism. With minimal nostalgia for the monarchy in Greece, Constantine became a relatively uncontroversial figure.

Constantine was born June 2, 1940, in Athens, to Prince Paul, younger brother to King George II and heir presumptive to the throne, and Princess Frederica of Hanover. His older sister Sophia is the wife of former King Juan Carlos I of Spain. The Greek-born Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh and husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II, was a relative.

The family, which had ruled in Greece from 1863 apart from a 12-year republican interlude in 1922-1935, was descended from Prince Christian, later Christian IX of Denmark, of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gluecksburg branch of the Danish ruling family.

Before Constantine’s first birthday, the royal family was forced to flee Greece during the German invasion in World War II, moving to Alexandria in Egypt, South Africa and back to Alexandria. King George II returned to Greece in 1946, following a disputed referendum, but died a few months later, making Constantine the heir to King Paul I.

Constantine was educated at a boarding school and then attended three military academies as well as Athens Law School classes as preparation for his future role. He also competed in various sports, including sailing and karate, in which he held a black belt.

In 1960, at age 20, he and two other Greek sailors won a gold medal in the Dragon Class — now no longer an Olympic class — at the Rome Olympics. While still a prince, Constantine was elected a member of the International Olympic Committee and became an honorary member for life in 1974.

King Paul I died of cancer on March 6, 1964, and Constantine succeeded him, weeks after the Center Union party had triumphed over the conservatives with 53% of the vote.

The prime minister, George Papandreou, and Constantine initially had a very close relationship, but it soon soured over Constantine’s insistence that control of the armed forces was the monarch’s prerogative.

With many officers toying with the idea of a dictatorship and viewing any non-conservative government as soft on communism, Papandreou wanted to control the ministry of defense and eventually demanded to be appointed defense minister. After an acrimonious exchange of letters with Constantine, Papandreou resigned in July 1965.

Constantine’s insistence on appointing a government composed of centrist defectors that won a narrow parliamentary majority on the third try was hugely unpopular. Many viewed him as being manipulated by his scheming mother, dowager Queen Frederica.

“The people don’t want you, take your mother and go!” became the rallying cry in the protests that rocked Greece in the summer of 1965.

Eventually, Constantine made a truce of sorts with Papandreou and, with his agreement, appointed a government of technocrats and then a conservative-led government to hold an election in May 1967.

But, with the polls heavily favoring the Center Union and with Papandreou’s left-leaning son, Andreas, gaining in popularity, Constantine and his courtiers feared revenge and prepared a coup. They were instead surprised by a coup led by a group of lower-ranking officers who proclaimed a dictatorship on April 21, 1967.

On Dec. 13, 1967, Constantine and his family flew to the northern city of Kavala with the intention of marching on Thessaloniki and setting up a government there. His counter coup, badly managed and infiltrated, collapsed and Constantine was forced to flee to Rome the following day. He would never return as reigning king.

To his final days, Constantine, while accepting that Greece was now a republic, continued to style himself King of Greece and his children as princes and princesses even though Greece no longer recognized titles of nobility.

For most of his years in exile he lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, and was said to be especially close to his second cousin Charles, the Prince of Wales and now King Charles III.

While it took Constantine 14 years to return to his country briefly to bury his mother, Queen Frederica in 1981, his visits increased and, from 2010, made his home there.

He is survived by his wife, the former Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, youngest sister of Queen Margrethe II; five children, Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos; and nine grandchildren.
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French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo doubled down on its ridicule of Iran’s religious rulers on Tuesday, with fresh cartoons of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite protests from Iran and its allies.

“The mullahs aren’t happy. The caricatures of their supreme leader … do not seem to have made them laugh,” the paper’s editor, known as Riss, writes in the latest edition, which hits newsstands on Wednesday.

“Laughing at themselves has never been a strong point of tyrants,” he added.

The paper was hit by a cyberattack after publishing cartoons of Khamenei in last week’s special edition, which marked the anniversary of the 2015 attack on its Paris offices that left 12 dead.

“A digital attack doesn’t leave anyone dead, but it sets the tone. The mullah’s regime feels in such danger that it considers it vital to its existence to hack the website of a French newspaper,” Riss wrote.

“It is an honour in one sense, but above all proves that they feel their power is very fragile.”

There have been months of protests in Iran sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a woman arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.

Iran issued an official warning to France over the “insulting and indecent” cartoons in last week’s Charlie Hebdo.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian movement in Lebanon, also condemned the cartoons, saying Khamenei was not just a ruler but “a religious symbol for tens of millions of believers.”
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A court in Romania’s capital Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said late Tuesday.

Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT, said the court rejected an appeal by Tate against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest from 24 hours to 30 days.

Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, was initially detained on December 29 for 24 hours along with his brother Tristan, who was charged in the same case. Two Romanian women also were taken into custody.

The court late Tuesday rejected all four appeals against a judge’s December 30 decision to grant prosecutors’ request to extend the arrest period. A document explaining the judge’s reasoning said “the possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored,” and that they could “leave Romania and settle in countries that do not allow extradition.”

Tate and the other three defendants arrived at Bucharest’s Court of Appeal in handcuffs Tuesday and were taken away in the afternoon. Eugen Vidineac, a Romanian defense lawyer representing Tate, told journalists after a morning hearing that “all four of the accused have made statements” and that “the lawyers’ pleas were listened to entirely.”

Tate, a former professional kickboxer, is reported to have lived in Romania since 2017, previously was banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. The week of his arrest, he traded insults on Twitter with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.

DIICOT said it had identified six victims in the trafficking case who were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and were sexually exploited by the members of the alleged crime group.

The agency said victims were lured by pretenses of love, and later intimidated, kept under surveillance, and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into performing pornographic acts that were intended to make money for the alleged persecutors.

Prosecutors investigating the case have seized 15 luxury cars, at least seven of which were owned by the Tate brothers, and more than 10 properties or land owned by companies registered to them, DIICOT spokesperson Bolla said.

Bolla said if prosecutors can prove the Tates gained money through human trafficking, the assets “will be taken by the state and [will] cover the expenses of the investigation and damages to the victims.”

After the appeals court upheld the arrest warrant extension, prosecutors can now request detentions of up to 180 days for the four people charged.

Since Tate’s arrest, a series of ambiguous posts have appeared on his Twitter account. Each tweet garners widespread media attention.

One, posted Sunday and accompanied by a Romanian report suggesting he or his brother have required medical care since their arrests, reads: “The Matrix has attacked me. But they misunderstand, you cannot kill an idea. Hard to Kill.”

Another post, from Saturday, reads: “Going to jail when guilty of a crime is the life story of a criminal … going to jail when completely innocent is the story of a hero.”

Hope not Hate, a U.K. advocacy group, said it monitored Tate for years “because of his close links to the far right.” It described the influencer in a report it produced last year as an “extreme misogynist” who holds conspiratorial views.

“Our major concern is that his brand of extreme and sometimes violent misogyny is reaching a young male audience and that he could serve as a gateway to wider far-right politics,” Hope not Hate said in a statement after Tate was banned by Facebook parent company Meta in August.
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French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday unveiled a contentious pension overhaul aimed at raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, which has prompted vigorous criticism and calls for protests from leftist opponents and worker unions. 

Speaking in a news conference in Paris, Borne said the minimum retirement age to be entitled to a full pension will be gradually increased by three months every year, starting this year, in line with a longstanding pledge by President Emmanuel Macron. 

In addition, people will need to have worked for at least 43 years to get a full pension, starting from 2027, she said. 

“Working more will allow future retirees to get higher pensions,” Borne said. 

“By 2030, our system will be financially balanced,” she added. 

Those who started working before the age of 20 will be able to get early retirement, Borne added. Specific categories of workers such as police officers and firefighters will also be able to retire earlier. 

The government argues that French people live longer than they used to and therefore need to work longer to make the pension system financially sustainable. All French workers receive a state pension. 

Center-left and hard-left worker unions unanimously expressed their disapproval of the proposed changes after talks with Borne last week. 

Some are in favor of an increase in payroll contributions paid by employers instead. 

The country’s eight main worker unions are gathering on Tuesday evening to set the date of a first protest day against the pension changes. 

A heated debate at parliament also is to be expected. 

Macron’s centrist alliance lost its parliamentary majority last year — and most opposition parties are opposed to the changes. 

Macron’s lawmakers hope to be able to ally with members of the conservative The Republicans party to pass the measure. Otherwise, the government may use a special power to force the law through parliament without a vote — at the price of much criticism. 

The pension reform is an electoral promise from Macron, who failed to implement a similar measure during his first term. The proposal at that time sparked nationwide strikes and protests, before the COVID-19 crisis led the government to postpone the changes. Macron was reelected for a second term last year. 

France’s Retirement Guidance Council issued a report last year showing that the pension system is expected to have a deficit over the next decade, with the government having to compensate. 

The minimum retirement age applies to people who have worked enough years to qualify. Those who do not fulfil the conditions, like many women who interrupt their career to raise their children and people who did long studies and started their career late, must work until 67 to retire without penalty. 

The average pension this year stands at 1,400 euros per month ($1,500 per month) once taxes are deducted. But that average masks differences across pension schemes depending on professions. 

Over the past three decades, French governments have made numerous changes to the system but each reform has been met with massive demonstrations. 
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Military support for Ukraine and relations with Russia and China are among the key issues as Czech voters prepare to choose a new president Friday, with three candidates neck-and-neck in the polls.

Among them is Andrej Babiš, the billionaire former prime minister who received a boost after he was acquitted of fraud Monday.

Babiš was charged in 2022 for taking his “Stork Nest” farm out of his giant Agrofert holding company, in order to make it eligible for a $2 million European Union subsidy for small companies.

Prague Municipal Court Judge Jan Sott said it had not been proven that his actions constituted a crime. State prosecutors are considering an appeal.

The 68-year-old Babiš described the prosecution as a “political process.” 

“I think it is good news for the whole Czech Republic, for all citizens of the Czech Republic, that we live in the rule of law,” he told reporters following the verdict Monday.

Babiš, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021, is seen as a populist and a political ally of the outgoing president, Miloš Zeman. Babiš has criticized government and European Union policies on issues like migration and support for Ukraine. That has won him support – but also energized his critics.

Rivals

Babiš’ main rivals include Petr Pavel, a retired Czech general, and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee. His campaign slogan is, “Bring order and calm.’”

The third leading candidate is Danuše Nerudová, a former economist and university rector who promises a progressive, pro-European presidency. She would become her country’s first female president if elected.

“Both Petr Pavel and Danuše Nerudová are highly committed to the Czech Republic as a liberal democracy and also to its role in the liberal order more widely,” said Benjamin Tallis, an analyst with the German Council on Foreign Relations.

“That’s really the clear choice facing Czechs. Do they seize the chance to go back towards the liberal democratic mainstream, or is it a time that they would prefer to actually go back to the recent times of the Zeman-Babiš period and more towards this populist nationalist and authoritarian politics?” Tallis told VOA.

Ukraine

The president does not have executive powers; however, analysts say a Babiš victory could make life difficult for the current government under Prime Minister Petr Fiala, which has taken a strongly pro-Ukrainian stance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“In his (Babiš’) view it’s too much support, too much help to Ukraine and also to Ukrainian refugees,” said Lubomír Kopeček, a professor of political science at Masaryk University. “But I don’t think that Babiš would be somebody like Zeman in the past – a pro-Russian and pro-Chinese president. Because his business interests are connected to western and central Europe.”

Velvet divorce

The Czech Republic and Slovakia have just marked the 30-year anniversary of the so-called ‘velvet divorce’ – the peaceful split of Czechoslovakia following the fall of communism. For some voters, the historical resonance is significant, says Tallis.

“Lessons the Czech Republic has learned from history about how to stand up to autocracy, things about what is worthwhile about democracy, about how Ukrainians have revived memories of why freedoms and rights are worth fighting and dying for. What is actually liberty all about and where is the hope of that progressive future?” Tallis told VOA.

If no candidate secures an outright majority in Friday’s election, the top two go through to a second round two weeks later.

According to the Financial Times newspaper, recent surveys indicate the three candidates each have between 20 and 30 percent of the vote, with six other contenders splitting the remaining votes.

Some of the information in this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Czech voters are preparing to choose a new president — with support for Ukraine and relations with Russia and China among the key issues. As Henry Ridgwell reports, three candidates are neck and neck in the polls.
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A mission to launch the first satellites into orbit from Western Europe suffered an “anomaly” Tuesday, Virgin Orbit said.  

The U.S.-based company attempted its first international launch on Monday, using a modified jumbo jet to carry one of its rockets from Cornwall in southwestern England to the Atlantic Ocean where the rocket was released. The rocket was supposed to take nine small satellites for mixed civil and defense use into orbit.  

But about two hours after the plane took off, the company reported that the mission encountered a problem. 

“We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information,” Virgin Orbit said on Twitter.  

Virgin Orbit, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, was founded by British billionaire Richard Branson. It has previously completed four similar launches from California. 

Hundreds gathered for the launch cheered earlier as a repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft, named “Cosmic Girl,” took off from Cornwall late Monday. Around an hour into the flight, the plane released the rocket at around 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters) over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland.  

The plane, piloted by a Royal Air Force pilot, returned to Cornwall after releasing the rocket. 

Some of the satellites are meant for U.K. defense monitoring, while others are for businesses such as those working in navigational technology. One Welsh company is looking to manufacture materials such as electronic components in space.  

U.K. officials had high hopes for the mission. Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the U.K. Space Agency, said Monday it marked a “new era” for his country’s space industry. There was strong market demand for small satellite launches, Annett said, and the U.K. has ambitions to be “the hub of European launches.”  

In the past, satellites produced in the U.K. had to be sent to spaceports in other countries to make their journey into space. 

The mission was a collaboration between the U.K. Space Agency, the Royal Air Force, Virgin Orbit and Cornwall Council.  

The launch was originally planned for late last year, but it was postponed because of technical and regulatory issues. 
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Monday he remained convinced of the need to coordinate weapons deliveries to Ukraine with allies as pressure mounts on Berlin to send Kyiv its Leopard 2 battle tanks.

Germany announced last week it would provide Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles to help repel Russian forces. The announcement came on the same day that the United States pledged Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and a day after a similar announcement from France.

Scholz, who has often underscored the importance of not escalating the conflict in Ukraine or giving Russia a reason to deem it party to the war, said the Western allies had spent “a long time preparing, discussing and organizing this.”

Kyiv has also requested heavier vehicles such as the Leopards, which would represent a significant step up in Western support to Ukraine.

“Germany will not go alone,” he said at an event of his center-left Social Democrat party (SPD) kicking off the campaign for the Berlin state election.

“Germany will always remain united with its friends and allies. … Anything else would be irresponsible in such a dangerous situation.”

Germany has become one of Ukraine’s top military supporters in response to Russia’s invasion after last year overcoming a taboo that is rooted in its bloody 20th century history on sending weapons to conflict zones.

Still, critics say Scholz and his ruling SPD are too slow, waiting for allies to act first instead of assuming Germany’s responsibility as the Western power closest to Ukraine.

The SPD’s junior coalition partners, the Greens and liberal Free Democrats, have been more vocal in their calls to ramp up military support to Ukraine.

Germany cannot rule out the delivery of Leopard tanks, heavier fighting vehicles than the Marders, to support Ukrainian military forces in the future, Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens told German broadcaster ARD.

Britain is considering supplying Ukraine with the British army’s Challenger 2 main battle tank, Sky News reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.
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A modified jumbo jet carrying a Virgin Orbit rocket took off from southwestern England Monday, marking the first attempt to launch satellites into orbit from Western Europe.

Hundreds gathered for the launch cheered as the repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft, named “Cosmic Girl,” took off from Cornwall late Monday. Around an hour into the flight, the plane will release the rocket at 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters) over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland.

The rocket will then take nine small satellites for mixed civil and defense use into orbit, while the plane, piloted by a Royal Air Force pilot, returns to Cornwall.

If successful, the mission will mark the first international launch for Virgin Orbit, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson. The company, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, has already completed four similar launches from California.

In the past, satellites produced in the U.K. had to be sent to spaceports in other countries to make their journey into space.

Some of the satellites are meant for U.K. defense monitoring, while others are for businesses such as those working in navigational technology. One Welsh company is looking to manufacture materials such as electronic components in space.

“This is the start of a new era for the U.K. in terms of launch capabilities,” said Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the U.K. Space Agency. There was strong market demand for small satellite launches, he said, and the U.K. has ambitions to be “the hub of European launches.”

Annett said it was too early to say whether more missions are planned in coming months.

The mission is a collaboration between the U.K. Space Agency, the Royal Air Force, Virgin Orbit and Cornwall Council.

The launch was originally planned for late last year, but it was postponed because of technical and regulatory issues.
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Russian authorities on Monday announced parallel criminal probes against a famous actor critical of the war in Ukraine and a philanthropist who supports the Russian opposition, the latest in a months-long, sweeping crackdown on dissent.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that its chief Alexander Bastrykin ordered the launch of a criminal case against Russian film and theater actor Artur Smolyaninov, who left the country after Moscow’s forces invaded Ukraine and repeatedly spoke out against the war.

According to the statement, Smolyaninov “made a series of statements directed against Russia in an interview to a Western media outlet.” The Investigative Committee didn’t clarify which of Smolyaninov’s actions constituted a criminal offense and what charges it would bring against him.

Smolyaninov’s most recent interview last week sparked outrage among Kremlin supporters. The actor told the Novaya Gazeta Europe that if he had to fight in the war, he would fight “on the side of Ukraine.” He said, “For me, it is on the side of my brothers who were attacked by my other brothers.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday welcomed a probe against Smolyaninov, noting that it is “important that our relevant [law enforcement] bodies think about these remarks.”

The probe against Smolyaninov comes amid increasingly harsh rhetoric about Russians who left the country because of the war.

Lawmakers have suggested seizing the property of those who moved abroad or increasing taxes on those who continue to work remotely for Russian companies. Others have simply condemned them as “traitors.”

Separately, Russia’s Interior Ministry placed prominent philanthropist Boris Zimin on an international most wanted list on fraud charges, officials said Monday. Zimin has funded several Russian independent media outlets as well as projects on imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

Zimin, who reportedly left Russia in 2015, was placed on Russia’s register of people considered as “foreign agents” in September.

Navalny, the Kremlin’s fiercest foe, said that it was Zimin who paid 79,000 euros for his medical evacuation to Berlin in August 2020, when he was poisoned with a nerve agent and lay in a coma in the Siberian city of Omsk.
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Ryan Hendrickson is a retired Green Beret, a special forces unit of the U.S. Army. But today he is in Ukraine, helping to clear mines laid by invading Russian forces and keep soldiers and civilians safe. For VOA, Іa Meurmishvili talked to Hendrickson in this report. Video editor – Anna Rice.
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Five employees of what used to be authoritarian Belarus’s largest independent news outlet went on trial Monday in Minsk, facing several charges including tax evasion and “inciting enmity”, a rights group said.

The outlet Tut.by covered large-scale protests in 2020 that erupted after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a sixth term in office in a contested election.

The new source’s editor-in-chief Marina Zolatova and the its general director Lyudmila Chekina have been in pre-trial detention since May 2021.

Three other defendants in the case left Belarus before the trial started, according to rights group Viasna.

A photo from court published by opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya showed Zolatova and Chekina sitting inside a cage for defendants.

“We must support all journalists who fight for the truth!” Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Twitter on Monday at the start of the closed-door trial.

The media outlet was designated “extremist” in 2021. Some of its employees now work from abroad for a successor publication called Zerkalo.

Zerkalo said in a statement the case against their former colleagues “was fabricated from start to finish and appeared only because the regime is afraid of journalists”.

Following the historic anti-regime protests in 2020, Belarus has sought to wipe out remaining pockets of dissent, jailing journalists, activists and forcing many others into exile.

According to Viasna, there are over 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus.

In a high-profile case last week, Viasna founder Ales Bialiatski, who was co-awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, went on trial in Belarus with several of his associates.

They face between seven and 12 years in prison.

Tsikhanouskaya, who claimed victory in Belarus’s disputed 2020 presidential election, will face trial in absentia on January 17 on charges including high treason and conspiracy to seize power.
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Pope Francis condemned Iran’s execution of protesters for the first time on Monday in his traditional New Year’s address to diplomats, and said the war in Ukraine was “a crime against God and humanity.”

The pontiff made his remarks in a speech to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, his overview at the start of the new year which has come to be known informally as his “state of the world” address.

His eight-page speech in Italian, read to representatives of most of the 183 countries accredited to the Vatican, ran the gamut of all the world’s conflict areas, including those in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

He repeated his condemnation of abortion, appealing “particularly to those having political responsibilities, to strive to safeguard the rights of those who are weakest,” and he again warned of threat of a nuclear conflict.

However, the main novelty of the speech in the Vatican’s Hall of Benedictions was his breaking of silence on the nationwide unrest in Iran since the death last September of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody.

“The right to life is also threatened in those places where the death penalty continues to be imposed, as is the case in these days in Iran, following the recent demonstrations demanding greater respect for the dignity of women,” he said.

Four protesters have been executed in connection with the wave of popular protests in the Islamic Republic.

“The death penalty cannot be employed for a purported state justice, since it does not constitute a deterrent nor render justice to victims, but only fuels the thirst for vengeance,” Francis said.

He then repeated an appeal for an end to capital punishment worldwide, saying it is “always inadmissible since it attacks the inviolability and the dignity of the person.”

Francis said many countries were paying lip service to commitments they had made to respect human rights and he called for respect for women, saying they were still widely being deemed second-glass citizens, subjected to violence and abuse.

“It is unacceptable that part of a people should be excluded from education, as is happening to Afghan women,” he said.

Francis spoke of the “war in Ukraine, with its wake of death and destruction, with its attacks on civil infrastructures that cause lives to be lost not only from gunfire and acts of violence, but also from hunger and freezing cold.”

He then immediately quoted from a Vatican constitution, saying “every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and humanity which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation.”

Referring to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, he said: “Sadly, today too, the nuclear threat is raised, and the world once more feels fear and anguish.”

The pope repeated his appeal for a total ban on nuclear weapons, saying even their possession for reasons of deterrence is “immoral.”
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Ukrainian officials said Monday a Russian missile hit a market in the Kharkiv region, killing one person and wounding several others.

The officials said the missile struck the village of Shevchenkove, located about 75 kilometers from the city of Kharkiv.

“We brutally condemn this act of terror,” Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova tweeted along with a video and photos of a large crater and a building in flames. “The only proper response is more weapons for Ukraine.”

Russia has repeatedly warned against Western military support for Ukraine, saying arms deliveries from the United States and Ukrainian partners in Europe would exacerbate the conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a briefing Monday that more Western weapons deliveries would “deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, drawing a swift vote from an overwhelming majority of the U.N. General Assembly condemning the operation and demanding Russia withdraw its forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that the first week of the year brought no significant change along the frontline, but that heavy fighting continued in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy highlighted the fight for the city of Bakhmut, calling it “one of the bloodiest places on the frontline.” Ukraine’s military said in a statement Monday that Russia had sent reinforcements to the nearby city of Soledar as part of a “desperate attempt” to storm it.

Bakhmut was once a city of 70,000 people. It is now mostly abandoned, its reduced population kept alive by volunteers who help maintain invincibility centers, which are often tents set up to offer electricity, internet service, heat, water and medicine.

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