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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Italy’s newly elected far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appear to be finding unlikely common ground on issues relating to Africa and migration. The relationship with Meloni is the latest in a list of strong partnerships that Erdogan has been working to build with European far-right leaders. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Belgium’s worst peacetime massacre left 32 dead and hundreds marked for life. Now, six and a half years later, Brussels will host its biggest ever criminal trial. 

Jury selection begins on Wednesday ahead of hearings into the charges against the nine alleged jihadists accused of taking part in the March 2016 suicide bombings. 

The case will be heard in the former headquarters of the NATO military alliance, temporarily converted into a huge high-security court complex. 

Hundreds of witnesses and victims will testify in the months to come, some still hopeful that telling their story will offer them a measure of closure. 

The case will not be the first for 33-year-old Salah Abdeslam, who was convicted in France as a ringleader in the November 13, 2015, Paris attacks that left 130 dead. 

He is serving life without parole in France but faces further charges in Belgium. 

Both sets of attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group and investigators believe they were carried out by the same Belgium-based cell, including Abdeslam.  

The group was planning more violence, allegedly including attacks on the Euro 2016 football cup in France but acted quickly after Abdeslam was arrested on March 18. 

Four days later on March 22, two bombers blew themselves up in Brussels airport and another in a city center metro station near the headquarters of the European Union. 

Alongside those killed, hundreds of travelers and transport staff were maimed and six years on, many victims, relatives and rescuers remain traumatized. 

Five of the nine defendants to appear in the dock have already been convicted in the French trial. A 10th will be tried in absentia because he is believed to have been killed in Syria. 

According to the federal prosecutor’s office, more than 1,000 people have registered as civil plaintiffs to receive a hearing as alleged victims of the crime.   

This makes this trial, scheduled until June 2023 at the former NATO headquarters, the largest ever organized before a Belgian court of assizes.    

“I don’t really expect a lot of answers,” said Sandrine Couturier, who was on the Maelbeek metro platform and plans to come to face the defendants.   

“But I want to confront myself with what human beings are capable of doing. I have to accept that not everyone is good,” the survivor, who suffers from PTSD, told AFP.    

Like many of those who have spoken to reporters, she suffers from memory loss and concentration problems. Many have sought treatment for depression.  

Sebastien Bellin, a former professional basketball player who was due to fly to New York on the morning of March 22, lost the use of a leg in the attack.    

He says today that he feels no hatred. “It would suck the energy I need to rebuild myself,” he says.   

Jury selection in the case is expected to be arduous.  

The court has summoned 1,000 citizens in order to choose among them 12 main jurors with 24 understudies on standby and able to follow daily evidence hearings for months.   

The trial should have begun in October, but there was controversy over the dock, in which the accused were to have been held in individual glass-walled boxes.   

The defendants’ areas were rebuilt as a single, shared space and after Wednesday’s one-day hearing for jury selection, testimony will begin on December 5.   
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NATO foreign ministers are to meet for two days in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, starting Tuesday to pledge their continuing support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.    

At a news conference Monday, after a meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg asked the alliance to step up its support in the region. 

“Investing in our defense is essential as we face our greatest security crisis in a generation,” he said.   

In response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he said, NATO is reinforcing its presence from the Baltics to the Black Sea region.    

The head of the alliance also said new battlegroups have been set, including one led by France in Romania, while fighter jets from Canada are helping to “keep our skies safe,” and U.S. Patriot missiles are boosting NATO defenses. “We will do what is necessary to protect the defense of all our allies,” he added.    

Stoltenberg also highlighted the support of other partners facing Russian pressure, such as Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova.  

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said the decision reached at the Madrid summit to boost NATO troops and military equipment on the alliance’s eastern flank needs to come into force as soon as possible.    

Stoltenberg reiterated NATO’s commitment to approve membership for Sweden and Finland, which would expand NATO’s eastern flank.    

Stoltenberg said Russia is weaponizing winter by striking Ukraine’s critical power infrastructure and leaving civilians without power, heat or water in freezing temperatures.     

“We cannot let Putin win,” Stoltenberg said. “This would show authoritarian leaders around the world that they can achieve their goals by using military force — and make the world a more dangerous place for all of us. So, it is in our own security interests to support Ukraine.  

“We need to be prepared for more attacks,” the NATO chief added. “That is why NATO has stepped up its support to Ukraine with additional air defense systems, such as … drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.”  

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed his Nordic and Baltic counterparts from Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden in Kyiv.   

“The strongest message from this visit is: Ukraine needs to win this war and therefore … Western support should be stronger; more heavy weaponry without any political caveats, also including long-distance missiles,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Reuters.  

Reinsalu pledged to provide electric generators, warm clothes and food to help Ukrainians cope with the winter. 

The seven Baltic and Nordic nations were the largest delegation to visit Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale war.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russian troops are preparing new strikes and met with senior government officials to discuss what actions to take.  

Ukraine said Monday it had been forced to impose regular emergency blackouts in areas across the country after a setback in its race to repair energy infrastructure hit by Russian missile strikes.     

Power units at several power stations had to conduct emergency shutdowns and the demand for electricity has been rising as snowy winter weather takes hold in the capital and elsewhere, national grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement.  

“Once the causes of the emergency shutdowns are eliminated, the units will return to operation, which will reduce the deficit in the power system and reduce the amount of restrictions for consumers,” it said.  

DTEK, Ukraine’s biggest private electricity producer, said it would reduce the electricity supply by 60% for its consumers in Kyiv, where temperatures are hovering around zero degrees Celsius (32°F).    

“We are doing everything possible to provide power to every customer for 2-3 hours twice a day,” DTEK’s Kyiv branch wrote on Facebook.  

In his nightly video address Monday, Zelenskyy said Russia shelled Kherson and other communities in the region. In one week, Zelenskyy said, Russia “fired 258 times on 30 settlements of our Kherson region.”  

He also said that Russian forces damaged the pumping station that supplied water to Mykolaiv.  

Zelenskyy said the only thing Russian forces are capable of is inflicting devastation on civilians and civilian infrastructure.  

“That is all they leave behind,” he said. Russians “take revenge for the fact that Ukrainians defended themselves from them.”  

Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.  
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NATO foreign ministers are to meet for two days in Romania’s capital Bucharest starting Tuesday to pledge their continuing support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

At a news conference Monday, after a meeting with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg asked the alliance to step up its support in the region. “Investing in our defense,” he said, “is essential as we face our greatest security crisis in a generation.”

In response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he said, NATO is reinforcing its presence from the Baltics to the Black Sea region.

The head of the alliance also said new battlegroups have been set, including one led by France in Romania, while fighter jets from Canada are helping to “keep our skies safe,” and U.S. Patriot missiles are boosting NATO defenses. “We will do what is necessary to protect the defense of all our allies,” he added.

Stoltenberg also highlighted the support of other partners facing Russian pressure, such as Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia, and Moldova.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said the decision reached at the Madrid summit to boost NATO troops and military equipment on the alliance’s eastern flank needs to come into force as soon as possible.

Stoltenberg reiterated NATO’s commitment to approve membership for Sweden and Finland, which would expand NATO’s eastern flank.

Stoltenberg said Russia is weaponizing winter by striking Ukraine’s critical power infrastructure and leaving civilians without power, heat or water in freezing temperatures.

“We cannot let Putin win,” Stoltenberg said. “This would show authoritarian leaders around the world that they can achieve their goals by using military force — and make the world a more dangerous place for all of us. So, it is in our own security interests to support Ukraine.

“We need to be prepared for more attacks,” the NATO chief added. “That is why NATO has stepped up its support to Ukraine with additional air defense systems, such as … drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed his Nordic and Baltic counterparts from Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden in Kyiv.

“The strongest message from this visit is: Ukraine needs to win this war and therefore … Western support should be stronger; more heavy weaponry without any political caveats, also including long-distance missiles,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Reuters in an interview.

Ukraine said Monday it had been forced to impose regular emergency blackouts in areas across the country after a setback in its race to repair energy infrastructure hit by Russian missile strikes.

Power units at several power stations had to conduct emergency shutdowns and the demand for electricity has been rising as snowy winter weather takes hold in the capital and elsewhere, national grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement.

“Once the causes of the emergency shutdowns are eliminated, the units will return to operation, which will reduce the deficit in the power system and reduce the amount of restrictions for consumers,” it said.

DTEK, Ukraine’s biggest private electricity producer, said it would reduce the electricity supply by 60% for its consumers in Kyiv, where temperatures are hovering around zero degrees Celsius (32°F).

“We are doing everything possible to provide power to every customer for 2-3 hours twice a day,” DTEK’s Kyiv branch wrote on Facebook.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Sunday the coming week could be as difficult as the past week when Russian missile strikes caused widespread damage to the country’s electrical grid.

“We understand that the terrorists are planning new strikes. We know this for a fact,” Zelenskyy said. “And as long as they have missiles, they, unfortunately, will not calm down.”

Russian airstrikes have repeatedly struck key infrastructure targets in Ukraine, knocking out important services as the winter season looms. Russian officials have denied targeting civilians with such strikes.

Continued US support

Newly empowered U.S. Republican lawmakers set to take leadership roles in the House of Representatives in January promised Sunday that Congress would continue to support Ukraine militarily in its fight against Russia but said there would be more scrutiny of the aid before it is shipped to Kyiv’s forces.

Congressmen Michael McCaul of Texas and Mike Turner of Ohio told ABC’s “This Week” program there would be continued bipartisan Republican and Democratic support for Ukraine as Republicans assume a narrow House majority, even though some opposition from both parties has emerged.

Turner, likely the new chairperson of the House Intelligence Committee, said, “We’re going to make sure they get what they need. We will have bipartisan support.”

McCaul, the likely head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “If we give them what they need, they win.”

But McCaul said there would be a difference in considering Ukraine aid from the outgoing Democratic control of the House when Republicans take over.

“The fact is, we are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability,” he said. “We’re not going to write a blank check.”

Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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British health authorities have recorded 50 cases of diphtheria this year among recently arrived asylum seekers, including one man who died after falling sick at a crowded migrant center.

The U.K. Health Protection Agency said Monday that the infected people likely caught the disease in their countries of origin or during their journeys to the U.K. It said a similar increase had been seen elsewhere in Europe.

In 2021 there were 11 cases in the U.K., where most people are vaccinated against diphtheria in childhood. The infection affects the nose, throat and sometimes skin and can be fatal if not treated quickly.

The outbreak comes amid criticism of the government over accommodation conditions for people who arrive in the U.K. across the English Channel in small boats. Many have been held for days or weeks at Manston, a disused airport in southeast England serving as a processing center. At one point last month more than 4,000 people were staying at the facility, designed to hold a maximum of 1,600.

Earlier this month a man staying at Manston became sick and later died in hospital. A PCR test for diphtheria was positive, though immigration minister Robert Jenrick said authorities were awaiting post-mortem results to determine the cause of death.

Thousands of migrants from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of crossing the Channel to Britain. There has been a sharp increase in the number of people attempting the journey in dinghies and other small craft as authorities have clamped down on other routes such as stowing away on buses or trucks.

More than 40,000 people have arrived so far this year in Britain after making the hazardous Channel trip, up from 28,000 in all of 2021 and 8,500 in 2020.

In an attempt to deter the crossings, Britain’s government has announced a controversial plan to put people who arrive in small boats on a one-way flight to Rwanda in a bid to break the business model of smuggling gangs.

Critics say the plan is immoral and impractical. It is being challenged in the courts.
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An exhibition in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir gives viewers an in-depth look at local periodicals and other publications that are more than a century old. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. Videographer: Mahmut Bozarslan
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Cameroon and Serbia battled to a 3-3 draw Monday in a goal-filled match at the men’s World Cup in Qatar as they tried to keep alive hopes of advancing past the group stage.

The scoring outburst came after neither side netted a goal in its first game of the tournament, with Serbia falling 2-0 to Brazil and Cameroon losing 1-0 to Switzerland.

Cameroon opened Monday’s scoring with a goal in the 29th minute as Jean-Charles Castelletto tapped the ball in behind the goaltender off a corner kick.

Serbia responded during stoppage time in the first half, netting two goals in quick succession off the head of Strahinja Pavlovic and the foot of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Serbia seized a 3-1 advantage in the 53rd minute as Aleksandar Mitrovic finished off a series of passes in front of Cameroon’s net.

But Cameroon mounted a comeback ten minutes later, striking twice in quick succession to even the score at 3-3.

Vincent Aboubakar snuck behind Serbia’s defense and lifted the ball over goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic.  Three minutes later, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting drove a left-footed shot into the net.

Cameroon closes its Group G schedule with a game Friday against Brazil, while Serbia plays Switzerland.  Both Cameroon and Serbia will need to win in order to have any chance of moving on to the knockout round.

Other games Monday include Brazil against Switzerland, South Korea facing Ghana, and Portugal against Uruguay.
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Austrian railway workers are staging a one-day strike Monday. All train traffic has ground to a halt in what the railway workers’ union says in a warning strike called because of a pay dispute. 

Reports say a million passengers have been impacted by the stoppage.   The strike is also affecting freight lines, regional lines, and long-distance night trains. 

The railway workers union called for the 24-hour strike Sunday, after a fifth round of unproductive negotiations with state-owned rail company OBB.  

The strike began at midnight Monday and will end at midnight Tuesday.  

The union says it is ready to strike again if it cannot come to an agreement with OBB. 

The rail system is expected to be back to normal Tuesday.
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Thousands of Kurds protested on Sunday in the Syrian city of Qamishli against days of deadly Turkish cross-border strikes targeting Kurdish groups in the country’s northeast.

Turkey announced last Sunday it had carried out airstrikes against semi-autonomous Kurdish zones in north and northeastern Syria, and across the border in Iraq. It has also threatened a ground offensive in those areas of Syria.

Demonstrators in Kurdish-controlled Qamishli, in Hasakah province, brandished photos of people killed during recent strikes in the semi-autonomous region, an AFP correspondent said.

“Only the will of the Kurdish people remains,” said protester Siham Sleiman, 49. “It will not be broken, and we remain ready. We will not leave our historic land.”

After a three-day lull, Turkish fighter jets heavily bombed Kurdish-controlled areas north of Aleppo early on Sunday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.

A separate Turkish drone strike killed five Syrian government soldiers near Tal Rifaat, also north of Aleppo, the Observatory added, reporting an exchange of shelling between Kurdish combatants and Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies.

Protesters in Qamishli also chanted in favor of the resistance in “Rojava”— the name Kurds in Syria give to the area they administer.

“The message that we want to convey to the world is that we are victims of eradication,” said Salah el-Dine Hamou, 55. “How long will we continue to die while other countries watch?”

The Turkish strikes come after a November 13 bombing in Istanbul that killed six people and wounded 81. Ankara blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which it and its Western allies consider a terrorist group.

The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey alleges that Syrian Kurdish fighters are the PKK’s allies.

Kurdish groups denied any involvement in the Ankara blast.

Some protesters on Sunday carried Kurdish flags alongside photos of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan — jailed in Turkey since 1999 — and shouted slogans against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish raids have killed at least 63 Kurdish and allied fighters and Syrian regime soldiers, as well as a Kurdish journalist, according to the Observatory, which relies on an extensive network of sources in Syria.

Eight people have been killed in retaliatory artillery fire, three of them across the Turkish border.

Since 2016, Turkey’s military has conducted three offensives mostly targeting Kurdish fighters, and captured territory in northern Syria, which is now held by Ankara-backed proxies.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army in the area, led the battle that dislodged Islamic State group jihadist fighters from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019.
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Britain’s government intends to make $1.2 billion of public funding available for home insulation projects from early next year, widening access to assistance that was previously only available to poorer households.

The government said the proposed scheme would run from early 2023 until March 2026 and would help meet a recent target to reduce energy consumption by 15% by 2030.

“Our new ECO+ scheme will help hundreds of thousands of people across the UK to better insulate their homes to reduce consumption, with the added benefit of saving families hundreds of pounds each year,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in a statement on Monday.

Britain is currently facing its biggest squeeze on living standards on record, according to government forecasters, driven largely by a surge in energy costs since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up natural gas prices across Europe.

Government subsidies for household energy bills are already forecast to cost 25 billion pounds this financial year and 13 billion pounds in 2023/24.

Business and energy secretary Grant Shapps said the insulation program would help make Britain less reliant on imported energy.

Existing insulation subsidies are targeted towards people in social housing or who are on low incomes.

Under the new plan, up to 80% of the subsidies will be available to people who do not qualify for income-based assistance, but whose homes are not energy efficient and fall outside the top bands for local property taxes.

The $1.2 billion of funding comes from a $15.2 billion energy efficiency budget to cover the years up to 2028, which Hunt expanded in a fiscal statement on November 17.

British energy companies suggested a similar scheme in September, and the precise details will be subject to public consultation and parliamentary approval.

Shapps also said the government was launching a $21.7 million public information campaign to encourage the public to draft-proof their homes, turn down radiators in empty rooms, and run boilers at lower temperatures.
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According to military monitors, Belarus’ authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, is allowing up to 10,000 newly mobilized Russian troops to train in his country and sending Moscow at least 211 pieces of heavy military equipment, including trucks and tanks. Critics, such as exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, talk to VOA about how Lukashenko is trying to help Russia’s battered military. Igor Tsikhanenka has more.
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Musician Jon Batiste is on tap to perform at President Joe Biden’s first White House state dinner on Thursday that will highlight long-standing ties between the United States and France and honor President Emmanuel Macron.

“An artist who transcends generations, Jon Batiste’s music inspires and brings people together,” said Vanessa Valdivia, a spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden, whose office is overseeing dinner preparations.

“We’re thrilled to have him perform at the White House for the first state dinner of the Biden-Harris administration,” Valdivia said.

The black-tie dinner for Macron will be part of what is shaping up to be a busy social season at the White House. The Bidens’ granddaughter Naomi Biden was married on the South Lawn earlier this month. And first lady Jill Biden was set on Monday to unveil the White House decorations that will be viewed by thousands of holiday visitors over the next month.

Batiste will be adding White House entertainer to an already long list of roles, including recording artist, bandleader, musical director, film composer, museum creative director and scion of New Orleans musical royalty.

He won five Grammy Awards this year, including for album of the year for “We Are.” During the awards show in April, Batiste ended his dance-filled performance of “Freedom” by jumping up on Billie Eilish’s table.

Batiste, 36, most recently was bandleader and musical director of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” leaving the broadcast after a seven-year run.

Batiste composed music, consulted on and arranged songs for Pixar’s animated film “Soul.” He won a Golden Globe for the music alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails. The trio also earned the Academy Award for best original score. For their work on “Soul,” Batiste, Reznor and Ross won the Grammy for best score soundtrack for visual media.

The Washington Post was first to report that Batiste will perform at the dinner.
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