The Russian mercenary Wagner Group said on Tuesday it was fighting “heavy, bloody battles” for control of the town of Soledar as part of Russia’s months-long offensive to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

“On the western outskirts of Soledar there are heavy bloody battles. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are honourably defending the territory of Soledar,” Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on social media.

The Kremlin-linked businessman, who has been hit with Western sanctions, also dismissed allegations that Ukrainian forces were deserting front lines en masse in Soledar.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves. The Ukrainian army is bravely fighting for Bakhmut and Soledar. Reports of their mass desertion are not true,” Prigozhin said, cited by his press office on Telegram.

Soledar is around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the war-battered city of Bakhmut, which has become the focus of fighting in recent months.

The capture of Bakhmut – a city with a pre-war population of 70,000 – is now one of Moscow’s main military objectives almost a year into its Ukraine mission.

A Russian proxy official in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said on Tuesday on Russian state television that Soledar was “very close to liberation” by Moscow’s forces.

He admitted that this came “at a very high price” and said Ukrainian forces were “still resisting”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his late night address on Monday that his troops were withstanding “new and even tougher assaults” on Soledar.

He said the town had been flattened by the fighting. “Everything is completely destroyed,” he said.

Source: France 24

Spanish police have broken up a criminal group that smuggled over 5,000 tonnes of hazardous electronic waste from Spain’s Canary Islands to several African countries, authorities said Tuesday.

Police arrested 43 people suspected of having illegally shipped 331 containers of used electronics to Africa over the past two years, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The network allegedly forged customs documents for the exported waste to make it seem that the containers held second-hand goods, in an operation valued at over 1.5 million euros.

Most of the trash was sent to Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal.

Africa has become a major dumping ground for discarded electronics from around the world, known as e-waste.

This is often burned to extract minerals such as aluminium and copper that can fetch a high value when resold.

Electronic devices and vehicle parts can contain cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic and other substances that can harm the environment or human health when they are not properly handled.

Source: AFP

Five people died after a bus plunged into a river overnight while crossing a bridge in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region, officials said Sunday.

The accident took place on Saturday night near the city of Vigo and the border with Portugal. The regional La Voz de Galicia newspaper said the bus was carrying people visiting their loved ones in jail in Monterroso in central Galicia.

Two people, including the bus driver in his 60s, were rescued and taken to hospital.

The emergency services recovered two corpses a few hours after the accident before finding three more bodies later on Sunday, a spokesman for the Civil Guard said.

Officials believe there were either eight or nine passengers onboard.

The authorities said a motorist first raised the alarm after noticing a safety rail on the bridge had been damaged. Rescuers then received a call from the bus, which helped them find the wreckage.

Rescue operations had to be suspended overnight due to bad weather but resumed at dawn with the help of mountain rescue units and a helicopter.

The accident took place “at a spot with a steep gradient”, making access difficult, said a Civil Guard spokesman in the city of Pontevedra, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the site of the accident.

Authorities said rescue operations were also complicated by the heavy rain during the night, causing the level of the Lerez river, where the bus fell, to rise sharply.

They said the cause of the accident was not yet known but that the poor weather could have played a role.

‘Tragedy’

“We do not yet know the causes with certainty” but “it is true that the weather conditions were very bad that night”, said Alfonso Rueda, the president of the Galicia region.

Rueda later posted pictures of his visit to the site of the accident on social media “to encourage and thank the security and emergency responders for their professionalism and commitment”.

“They have been there from the first minute in difficult conditions. My condolences to the relatives of the victims,” he wrote on Twitter.

The Civil Guard said the bus driver had tested negative for alcohol and drugs.

Local officials said one of those killed was a young Peruvian woman living in Galicia working with elderly people. The other victims were Spanish.

The mayor of Cerdedo-Cotobade municipality, Jorge Cubela, described the accident as a “tragedy” and hailed the “professionalism” of rescue workers deployed to the scene.

Source: AFP

King Charles III has hailed the “heartfelt solidarity” of people across the recession-hit UK struggling with a worsening cost of living crisis, in his first Christmas Day message as monarch.

Addressing the country from the Windsor Castle chapel where his mother, Elizabeth II, was interred in September, the 74-year-old also thanked people for the “love and sympathy” expressed following her death.

Standing aside a sparkling Christmas tree, the sovereign noted in the annual pre-recorded royal message — broadcast at 1500 GMT — that it is a “particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones”.

He then turned to the impact of the country’s growing economic woes, as decades-high inflation eats into earnings and escalates strikes over pay across the public and private sectors.

“I particularly want to pay tribute to all those wonderfully kind people who so generously give food or donations, or… their time, to support those around them in greatest need,” Charles said, dressed in a blue suit.

“Our churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and gurdwaras have once again united in feeding the hungry, providing love and support throughout the year.”

The king also commended charities for their “extraordinary work in the most difficult circumstances”.

He added: “Such heartfelt solidarity is the most inspiring expression of loving our neighbour as our self.”

Charles ascended to the throne when Elizabeth died on September 8 after a record-breaking seven-decade reign.

He also took over as head of state of 14 Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

‘Compassion’

His coronation will take place on May 6 next year, with Buckingham Palace vowing to reflect the monarchy’s historic traditions and its modern role.

In his inaugural Christmas message, Charles said both he and his late mother shared “a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others”.

“This is the essence of our community and the very foundation of our society,” he added, praising public sector workers from the armed forces to emergency responders to teachers.

In a return to tradition for Britain’s royals — interrupted by the pandemic — they gathered for Christmas Day this year at Sandringham, their private winter retreat in eastern England.

Charles and Queen Consort Camilla, 75, were joined by Prince William and wife Kate — and their children Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte — at a local church service.

Disgraced Prince Andrew, who has been sidelined over his links to the late US paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and claims of sex with a minor, was also among the royals who greeted well-wishers outside.

However, US-based Prince Harry and wife Meghan were notable absentees, as their ongoing feud with the family shows little sign of abating.

The couple risked deepening the rift — which first became public when they sensationally quit royal life in early 2020 — by airing various grievances in a six-part Netflix docuseries this month.

It follows a series of other broadsides they have launched against the royal family since relocating to California, with more set to come.

Harry will publish a contentious memoir — named “Spare” — within weeks.

Source:  AFP

An emergency debate took place in the European Parliament on Tuesday in the wake of explosive claims that Qatar has bribed EU lawmakers and officials. It’s being described as the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the EU.

Greek MEP Eva Kaili and three others are due to appear in court on Wednesday having been charged with accepting bribes.

Belgian police have now raided at least twenty properties in Brussels and have seized more than seven hundred and fifty thousand euro in cash. Qatar denies it has bribed EU officials. Legislators are calling for a Committee of Inquiry into the scandal and for an Ethics Commission to be established.

In addition to Eva Kaili, several lawmakers have stepped down from senior roles in the parliament raising suspicion that the scandal is bigger than first thought.

The EU’s foreign policy is very inconsistent. Many are now asking if cases of suspected corrupt interference extend beyond Qatar.

For example, often based on ambiguous claims, the EU routinely targets Iran. At the same time entirely unambiguous atrocities are committed by the likes of Saudi Arabia and Israel but zero action is taken against those countries.

Source: Presstv

Belgian police arrested a European Parliament vice-president and four others in connection with an investigation into corruption implicating World Cup hosts Qatar, the prosecutors office said Friday.

Officers arrested Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili hours after four other suspects had been detained for questioning. All four were either Italian citizens or originally came from Italy, a source close to the case told AFP.

Kaili is the partner of one of the four, a parliamentary assistant with the European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group, said the source.

Following reports of Kaili’s arrest, the president of the Greek socialists (PASOK) Nikos Androulakis announced on Twitter that she had been expelled from the party.

A statement issued earlier by Belgian prosecutors mentioned a Gulf country in connection with an investigation into corruption and money laundering, but did not name it. And while it said a former MEP was among those arrested, it did not identify him.

But Belgian press reports said the country concerned was Qatar, and named the former MEP as Italy’s Pier-Antonio Panzeri, who served as a socialist in the parliament between 2004 and 2019.

600,000 euros seized

Belgium’s federal prosecutor announced the earlier arrests after a series of raids at 16 addresses raids in the capital Brussels.

“Today’s searches have enabled investigators to recover about 600,000 euros in cash,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

“Computer equipment and mobile phones were also seized. These elements will be analysed as part of the investigations.”

Investigators “suspected a Gulf country (of influencing) the economic and political decisions of the European parliament”, the statement added.

It alleged this was done “by paying large sums of money or offering large gifts to” influential figures in the European parliament.

A source close to the case confirmed press reports that the investigation was into suspected attempts by Qatar to corrupt an Italian Socialist former MEP, who Belgian outlets Le Soir and Knack named as Panzeri.

‘Recognised and respected’

Kaili, 44, is a former television presenter and currently one of the European Parliament’s 14 vice presidents. In November, shortly before the World Cup started, she met Qatar’s Labour Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri.

In a video statement posted on Twitter by the Qatar News Agency she said: “I believe the World Cup for Arabs has been a great tool for… political transformation and reforms…”.

The European Parliament “recognised and respected” Qatar’s progress in labour reforms, she added.

She made similar comments during a speech at the European Parliament later in November, accusing some MEPs of “bullying” Qatar and accusing them of corruption.

Panzeri, 67, currently heads a Brussels-based human rights organisation called Fight Impunity.

According to the reports, the secretary general of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Italian Luca Visentini, was also among those arrested. The ITUC said it was “aware” of the media reports, but had no further comment to make at present.

Corruption accusations

The alleged bribery comes as World Cup host Qatar has made a major push to improve its image in the face of criticism over its record on worker protections and human rights.

Interviewed by AFP on Monday, Visentini welcomed progress made by Qatar on worker rights, but insisted “pressure” needed to be maintained once the football tournament finishes.

Migrant workers make up more than 2.5 million of Qatar’s 2.9 million population and labour conditions have been strongly criticised — particularly in the lead-up to the World Cup.

Doha has implemented reforms to its migrant labour system, but critics insist more work needs to be done to make sure the changes have an impact.

Qatar’s World Cup has also been dogged by accusations of corruption surrounding the FIFA members’ vote to award the tournament to the energy-rich Gulf state.

Belgium’s France Soir newspaper pointed out that Friday’s police raids came on the United Nations-designated International Anti-Corruption Day.

Source: AFP

In the early hours of December 8th, a protest broke out within Terminal B at Brussels Airport (BRU). The protest consisted of a crowd of upset Brussels Airlines passengers. The passengers had departed on a flight only to be turned back around. Once at the airport, they were informed they would not be able to continue their journey. This angered many passengers to the point they attempted to block operations in the terminal.

Diverted flight

On December 7th, at approximately 11:30 UTC, Brussels Airlines flight SN369 departed BRU. The flight was bound for Cameroon’s Douala International Airport (DLA). Roughly 30 minutes into the flight at flight level 310 over Southern France, the pilots decided to turn back to BRU after noticing a technical malfunction aboard the aircraft. The aircraft in question was an Airbus A330 registered OO-SFX. Upon nearing BRU, the pilots were instructed to enter a holding pattern. The aircraft remained in this holding pattern for nearly three hours before landing at BRU at approximately 15:35 UTC.

Displeased customers

The passengers of flight SN369 remained inside Terminal B through the night, waiting to reboard the airplane once it had been fixed. Unfortunately for these passengers, no news of reboarding ever came. Eventually, they were given notice that the aircraft would not be able to complete the journey and that the flight was canceled. The airline informed the passengers that they would not provide another aircraft to complete this journey. It also informed passengers that the subsequent flight to DLA was fully booked and they would not be allowed to board that flight either.

At this point, passengers who were already upset became furious at the news that they were stranded in the terminal. The airline has been working to reroute passengers to their final destinations on other flights. Regardless of these efforts, many passengers decided to protest against the airline, and organized a sit-down protest in the terminal Thursday morning. This wall of humans completely disrupted airport operations within the terminal. Many protesters were shouting “Travel” in French throughout the protest. Airport police have been continuously working to de-escalate the situation.

A Spokesperson for BRU, Nathalie Piérard, stated the following concerning the situation,

“On Wednesday evening, a Brussels Airlines aircraft (an Airbus A330 registered OO-SFX) destination Cameroon was forced to return to Brussels Airport due to a technical problem. As a result, the aircraft could no longer return to Douala and the news was not well received by some passengers in the transit zone.

“When the passengers discovered that they couldn’t continue their journey on Thursday morning because the flight was fully booked and that they are not allowed to leave the transit area, they decided to block the access of pier B to all passengers.”

It is not yet clear if the protest has dissipated or not. Simple Flying has reached out to Brussels Airlines concerning the flight diversion and subsequent protest. This article will be updated once more information has been released.

Source: Simplyfying.com

German authorities on Wednesday detained 25 members and supporters of a far-right group that the prosecutor’s office said were preparing a violent overthrow of the state, with some members suspected of plotting an armed attack on the parliament.

One active soldier and several reservists are among those being investigated, a spokesperson for the military intelligence service told Reuters. The active soldier is a member of the Special Forces Command, it said.

A former parliamentary lawmaker from the far-right Alternative For Germany (AfD) who serves as a judge in Berlin was also among those detained, along with a former member of a German royal family.

Investigators suspect individual members of the group had concrete plans to storm the Bundestag lower house of parliament in Berlin with a small armed group, the prosecutor’s office said.

One of the suspects, identified as Heinrich XIII P. R. under Germany’s privacy law, had reached out to representatives of Russia, whom the group saw as its central contact for establishing its new order, the office said. It said there was no evidence the representatives had reacted positively to the request.

Heinrich, who comes from the royal House of Reuss, which had ruled over parts of eastern Germany, was seen as the designated leader in the group’s future state while another suspect, Ruediger v. P., was the head of the military arm, the office said.

The House of Reuss had previously distanced itself from Heinrich, calling him a confused man who pursued conspiracy theories, according to local media. The house did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Prosecutors said the raids were conducted by more than 3,000 police officials and security forces across 11 German federal states. Suspects were arrested in the German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Thuringia as well as in Austria and Italy, said the office.

The suspects are accused of preparing, since the end of November 2021 at the latest, to carry out actions based on their ideology, according to the office. These actions include procuring equipment, recruiting new members and holding shooting lessons, it added.

The focus of the recruitment efforts were primarily members of the military and police officers, the office said.

The group was aware its plan would involve deaths, the office said, adding that its members considered this scenario to be a “necessary intermediate step” towards overarching system change.

The group’s ideology is in the same vein as the far-right Reichsbuerger movement and QAnon conspiracy theorists who share the deep conviction that Germany is ruled by a “Deep State”, the office. It did not name the suspected group.

Members of the Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) do not recognise modern-day Germany as a legitimate state, and insist the former, far larger “Deutsche Reich” still exists despite Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War Two.

The BAMAD said it had worked with the prosecutors on their investigation and shared information with the domestic intelligence service and federal criminal investigators in the run up to Wednesday’s raids.

The detained suspects will appear before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice on Wednesday and Thursday who will issue the arrest warrants and decide on their pre-trial detention.

(Source: Reuters)

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy sought to convince a Paris court to overturn his March 2021 conviction for bribery and influence-peddling in an appeal hearing that started on Monday.

The initial trial saw Sarkozy sentenced to three years in prison, two of them suspended, in a stunning fall from grace for a man who served as president from 2007 to 2012 but is now facing a string of judicial investigations and trials.

The 2021 ruling found that Sarkozy, 67, had tried to bribe a judge after leaving office, and to peddle influence in exchange for confidential information about an investigation into his 2007 campaign finances.

“I’m here to defend my honour, which has been violated. I’m here to convince the court that I did nothing,” Sarkozy, a tremor in his voice, told the appeals court on Monday.

“The words are strong: corruption, influence peddling. I am a former president of the republic, I have never corrupted anyone,” said Sarkozy, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

“Am I a serious offender because I’m calling…my lawyer and friend?” he said, referring to phone tapping of conversations with his lawyer, who was also found convicted, that were critical in the original trial.

The 2021 ruling said: “The actions Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy is guilty of are particularly serious, having been committed by a former President of the Republic who was responsible for preserving justice’s independence.”

“He took advantage of his status and the relationships he had formed,” Judge Christine Mee said at the time.

The appeal suspended the execution of Sarkozy’s sentence in the original trial. He would have probably not gone to jail anyway as the judge signalled she was open to ordering him to wear an electronic tag.

The appeal trial, which is scheduled to last until Dec. 16, will review both the verdict and the sentence.

The only other president of France’s 64-year-old Fifth Republic to be convicted by a court was Sarkozy’s conservative predecessor, the late Jacques Chirac, who was found guilty of corruption in 2011.

Source: REUTERS

French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis held nearly an hour of private talks on Monday, part of Macron’s trip to Italy to attend an international conference.

Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, arrived at the Vatican and was greeted with an honour guard of Swiss Guards in the San Damaso courtyard before taking an elevator to the official papal study in the Apostolic Palace.

Francis, 85, was using a walking stick due to a painful knee, but looked cheerful as he chatted with Macron and posed for photographs with the French leader and his wife.

The two leaders then discussed “the conflict in Ukraine, with special attention to the humanitarian situation”, the Vatican said in a statement. “Particular consideration was given to the region of the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Africa,” it said. The Vatican said their private talks lasted 55 minutes.

Macron was escorted through ornate papal palace corridors by Swiss Guards, on his third visit to the Vatican since becoming president.

He gave Francis a 1796 first edition French-language copy of German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s “Perpetual Peace”.

He previously met Francis at the Vatican in June 2018 and less than a year ago, in November 2021.

Macron is in Italy to attend an international conference organised by Italy’s Sant’Egidio Community, a worldwide peace and charity group.

He and the pope will jointly close the conference at a special ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome on Tuesday.

Opening the conference on Rome’s outskirts on Sunday, Macron said he believed there was a chance for peace in Ukraine, even as Russia warned the conflict could escalate.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)