BRUSSELS: The EU has made a “historic mistake” that risks destabilising the Balkans, senior officials warned Friday, after a handful of countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron again blocked membership talks for North Macedonia and Albania.
There was widespread frustration and disappointment, particularly among eastern European countries keen to broaden the EU club, at the failure of the 28 leaders to agree to start formal accession negotiations with Skopje and Tirana.
Leaders were deadlocked after some seven hours of heated backroom wrangling at a Brussels summit, with France alone in rejecting North Macedonia but joined by Denmark and the Netherlands in refusing Albania.
“It’s a major historic mistake and I hope it will only be temporary and won’t become engraved in the collective memory as a historic mistake,” European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Johannes Hahn, the European commissioner who has led efforts to push the two countries to reform to fit EU norms, said it had left the bloc’s credibility damaged “not only in the Western Balkans but beyond.”
“This is a matter of extreme disappointment,” he tweeted.
“To refuse acknowledgement of proven progress will have negative consequences, including the risk of destabilization of the Western Balkans, with full impact on the EU.”
North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski urged his people to push on with reform despite the disappointment, while his Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov urged the EU to come clean about its true intentions.
“If there is no more consensus on the European future of the Western Balkans... the citizens deserve to know,” he tweeted.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU leaders would look again at the matter before a summit with Western Balkans leaders in Zagreb early next year.
The summit deadlock came days after EU ministers hit a similar impasse at talks in Luxembourg — following two earlier delays by EU countries on making a decision.
Apart from France, all the other EU states accept that North Macedonia has made enough progress on reforms — including changing its name from Macedonia to appease Greece — to start talks.
But Albania has less support, with the Netherlands and Denmark joining France in voicing serious reservations about its efforts against corruption and organized crime.
Austrian Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein said the summit failure was “extremely regrettable.”
“I have spoken to the two prime ministers to express my great disappointment, and they are also extremely disappointed,” she told reporters in Brussels.
“This is not a good sign for the solidarity of the EU or the stability of the region.”
EU Council President Donald Tusk told reporters he felt “really embarrassed” but urged the two countries not to lose heart, saying he had “absolutely no doubt” they would one day join the bloc.
“Both countries, they passed their exams, I can’t say this about our member states,” Tusk said.
The European Commission has said both countries have done enough to at least begin talks, but Macron now says this should not happen until the whole accession process has been reformed, arguing that it does not work properly.
But diplomats suspect the French are playing tough for domestic political reasons linked to immigration, and there is frustration that Macron appears to be trying to move the goalposts.
“These countries deserve it, they fulfil the criteria, the momentum is right,” said one diplomatic source.
“It’s not fair to change the rules of the game in the middle of the game.”
Another said “there’s no logic to it. It’s incoherent — an excuse.”
After the earlier failure in Luxembourg another diplomat accused France of “repeating the same stupid arguments again and again,” warning Paris would bear “responsibility for the consequences of this.”
Politicians in North Macedonia and Albania have warned that their people’s patience with the EU is not unlimited and repeated rejections risk emboldening nationalist and pro-Russian forces.
Anger over EU’s ‘historic mistake’ on Skopje, Tirana
Anger over EU’s ‘historic mistake’ on Skopje, Tirana
- A handful of countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron again blocked membership talks for North Macedonia and Albania
- EU Council President Donald Tusk told reporters he felt ‘really embarrassed’ but urged the two countries not to lose heart
Taliban say India is a “significant regional partner” after meeting
- India’s foreign ministry said after the Delhi meeting that India was considering engaging in development projects in Afghanistan and looking to boost trade ties
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on Wednesday.
Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that they had discussed expanding relations with Afghanistan and to boost trade through Chabahar Port in Iran, which India has been developing for goods to bypass the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan.
“In line with Afghanistan’s balanced and economy-focused foreign policy, the Islamic Emirate aims to strengthen political and economic ties with India as a significant regional and economic partner,” the statement from Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said late on Wednesday.
India’s foreign ministry said after the Delhi meeting that India was considering engaging in development projects in Afghanistan and looking to boost trade ties.
No foreign government, including India, officially recognizes the Taliban administration.
However, India is one of several countries with a small mission in Kabul to facilitate trade, aid and medical support and has sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Regional players including China and Russia have signalled they are willing to boost trade and investment in Afghanistan.
The Delhi meeting could ruffle Pakistan, which borders both countries and has fought three wars in the past against India.
Pakistan and Afghanistan also have a strained relationship, with Pakistan saying that several militant attacks that have occurred in its country have been launched from Afghan soil — a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.
Earlier this week India’s foreign office told journalists they condemned airstrikes conducted late last year by Pakistan on Afghan soil.
South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol to accept court decision even if it ends presidency, lawyer says
- Yoon has earlier defied the court’s requests to submit legal briefs before the court began its hearing on Dec. 27
- Presidential security guards resisted an initial effort to arrest Yoon last week though he faces another attempt
SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will accept the decision of the Constitutional Court that is trying parliament’s impeachment case against him, even if it decides to remove the suspended leader from office, his lawyer said on Thursday.
“So if the decision is ‘removal’, it cannot but be accepted,” Yoon Kab-keun, the lawyer for Yoon, told a news conference, when asked if Yoon would accept whatever the outcome of trial was
Yoon has earlier defied the court’s requests to submit legal briefs before the court began its hearing on Dec. 27, but his lawyers have said he was willing to appear in person to argue his case.
The suspended president has defied repeated summons in a separate criminal investigation into allegations he masterminded insurrection with his Dec. 3 martial law bid.
Yoon, the lawyer, said the president is currently at his official residence and appeared healthy, amid speculation over the suspended leader’s whereabouts.
Presidential security guards resisted an initial effort to arrest Yoon last week though he faces another attempt after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the embattled leader.
Seok Dong-hyeon, another lawyer advising Yoon, said Yoon viewed the attempts to arrest him as politically motivated and aimed at humiliating him by bringing him out in public wearing handcuffs.
India stampede: Six dead as thousands gather for free pass to visit Hindu temple
- People started queuing from as early as Wednesday for tokens to visit an almost 2,000-year-old temple
HYDERABAD: At least six people were killed and several others injured late on Wednesday in a stampede in southern India after thousands of devotees queued outside one of the most visited Hindu temples to collect tokens for a free visit to the deity.
Authorities had set up counters at a school to issue tokens from Thursday for devotees to visit The Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, popularly known as the Tirupati, in Andhra Pradesh state during Jan. 10-19, a period considered auspicious by the locals, the Indian Express reported.
People started queuing from as early as Wednesday for the tokens to visit the almost 2,000-year-old temple and pushed and jostled leading to the stampede, according to the office of the chief minister of the state.
“Pained by the stampede in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones,” India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X.
A Russian missile attack in southern Ukraine has killed at least 13 civilians, officials say
- Russia has frequently launched aerial attacks on civilian areas during its almost three-year war with Ukraine
- “There is nothing more brutal than aerial bombing of a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer,” Ukraine President Zelensky wrote on Telegram
KYIV: A daytime Russian missile attack on the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 civilians and wounded about 30 others on Wednesday, officials said.
Footage posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram channel shows civilians lying in a city street littered with debris. The post shows them being treated by emergency services and taken away on gurneys.
Russia has frequently launched aerial attacks on civilian areas during the almost three-year war. Thousands of civilians have been killed in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.
Zelensky and regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said Wednesday’s attack killed at least 13 civilians. Minutes before the attack, Fedorov had warned of a threat of high-speed missiles and devastating glide bombs being fired at the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian troops started launching the glide bombs at Zaporizhzhia in the middle of the afternoon, and at least two bombs struck residential buildings in the city, Fedorov said.
He announced that Thursday would be a day of mourning in the region.
“There is nothing more brutal than aerial bombing of a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Zelensky said earlier Wednesday that countries wanting to end the war should offer Ukraine assurances about its future defense. Kyiv officials fear that any ceasefire or peace deal will just give the Kremlin time to rearm and invade again unless it is deterred by military force.
“To be honest, I believe that we have a right to demand serious security guarantees from … the countries that aim for the peace in the world,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky was responding at a news conference in Kyiv to comments the previous day by President-elect Donald Trump that he understood Russia’s opposition to neighboring Ukraine joining NATO.
The United States, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia have stood in the way of Ukraine immediately joining the 32-nation alliance, Zelensky noted. The alliance has said only that the country is on an “irreversible path” to membership.
Earlier, the Ukrainian military said it struck a fuel storage depot deep inside Russia, causing a huge blaze at the facility that supplies an important Russian air base.
Russian officials acknowledged a major drone attack in the area, and said that authorities had set up an emergency command center to fight the fire.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the assault hit the storage facility near Engels, in Russia’s Saratov region, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) east of the Ukrainian border. The depot supplied a nearby airfield used by aircraft that launch missiles across the border into Ukraine, a statement on Facebook said.
Ukraine has been developing its arsenal of domestically produced long-range missiles and drones capable of reaching deep behind the front line as it faces restrictions on the range that its military can fire its Western-supplied missiles into Russia.
The attacks have disrupted Russian logistics in the war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Zelensky said last year that his country has developed a weapon that could hit a target 700 kilometers (400 miles) away. Some Ukrainian drone attacks have hit targets more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away.
The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said that an unspecified industrial plant in Engels sustained damage from the falling drone debris that sparked a fire, but nobody was hurt.
Engels, which has a population of more than 220,000, is on the left bank of the Volga River, and is home to multiple industrial plants. Saratov, a major industrial city of about 900,000, faces Engels across the river.
“The damage to the oil base creates serious logistical problems for the strategic aviation of the Russian occupiers and significantly reduces their ability to strike peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects. To be continued,” the statement from Ukraine’s General Staff said.
Russian authorities restricted flights early Wednesday at the airports of Saratov, Ulyanovsk, Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, in an apparent response to the Ukrainian attack.
The main base of Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers is just outside Engels. It has come under Ukrainian drone attacks since the early stages of the war, forcing the Russian military to relocate most of the bombers to other areas.
Hollywood Hills fire breaks out as deadly wildfires burn out of control across Los Angeles area
- Tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate after three major fires broke out Tuesday amid dangerously high winds
- At least five people had been killed and more than 1,000 structures destroyed so far, including the homes of celebrities
LOS ANGELES: Massive wildfires burning in the Los Angeles area have filled the air with a thick cloud of smoke and ash, prompting air quality adviseries across a vast stretch of Southern California.
Three major fires broke out Tuesday amid dangerously high winds, killing at least five people and destroying more than 1,000 structures. Tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate, many in harrowing conditions.
Fires have burned several celebrities’ homes and force stars including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, to evacuate.
In Altadena where one of the major fires raged, the smoke was so thick a person used a flashlight to see down the street. A dark cloud hovered over downtown Los Angeles and smoky air and ash drifted well beyond the city to communities to the east and south.
Wildfire smoke increases tiny particles in the air known as particulate matter that can be harmful to people’s health. Children, the elderly and people with conditions such as heart and lung disease are more sensitive to the effects.
Dr. Puneet Gupta, the assistant medical director for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said wildfire smoke is known to cause heart attacks and worsen asthma, and that burning homes can also release cyanide and carbon dioxide. He said sickened patients are showing up in emergency rooms when hospitals already are full because of flu season, and some hospitals could also face evacuations due to the fires.
“We have a number of hospitals that are threatened, and if they have to be evacuated, it could become a crisis,” said Gupta, also a spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians. “So that is one of the things that we have to consider.”
US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra raised concerns Wednesday about the smoke’s impact on people’s health in the aftermath of fires that have charred massive amounts of vegetation and buildings.
“That air that’s being spewed is no longer just the kind of smoke that we used to see from wildfires, where it was natural vegetation that was burning,” said Becerra, a former California Attorney General. “Now you got a whole bunch of toxic materials that are getting burned and put into the air.”
What areas are affected?
About 17 million people living across Southern California are covered by smoke and dust adviseries issued for the three wildfires, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
The smoke advisory was expected to last until late Thursday. A dust advisory was also in effect until late Wednesday as gusty winds could kick up ash and dust from prior fires and further worsen air conditions, the district said.
The worst conditions were in the vicinity of the fires with some areas covered in thick, gray smoke. In East Los Angeles, the air quality index hit an unhealthy 173. Good air quality is considered to be 50 or less.
But dozens of miles away, air quality also was deemed unhealthy for sensitive groups including the elderly and young children. Officials in the city of Long Beach about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Los Angeles warned residents to take precautions due to the smoky air, and in coastal Rancho Palos Verdes the air quality index measured 108, which is considered unhealthy for those sensitive to pollution.
Winds from the northwest were expected late Wednesday and Thursday to push air from the regions where fires were still burning toward the south across Los Angeles and Orange counties and east toward San Bernardino County.
People living in areas affected by wildfire smoke should try to stay indoors and keep windows and doors shut to limit their exposure.
They should avoid vigorous physical activity and run air conditioning or an air purifier, and should not use house fans that draw in outside air.
For those who must be outside, a respirator mask can offer some protection, according to air quality regulators.
Stars who lost homes in the wildfires
Cary Elwes and Paris Hilton are among the stars who said Wedesday they had lost homes in the Palisade fire.
The Pacific Palisades neighborhood is a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA.” In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
“Evacuated Malibu so last minute,” wrote Hamill in an Instagram post Tuesday night. “Small fires on both sides of the road as we approached (the Pacific Coast Highway).”
Less than 72 hours before, Hollywood’s highest-wattage stars had convened to walk the Golden Globes’ red carpet, the first major event of the exuberant and, for many, triumphant awards season. The revelry of awards season had quickly been snuffed out, too: Premieres of contenders like “Better Man” and “The Last Showgirl” were canceled, the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations were announced via press release instead of at a live event and weekend events like the AFI Awards were preemptively scrubbed.
The Oscar nominations are also being delayed two days to Jan. 19 and the film academy has extended the voting window to accommodate members affected by the fires.
Elwes, the star of “The Princess Bride” and numerous other films, wrote on Instagram Wednesday that his family was safe but their home had burned in the coastal Palisades fire. “Sadly we did lose our home but we are grateful to have survived this truly devastating fire,” Elwes wrote.
Hilton posted a news video clip on Instagram and said it included footage of her destroyed home in Malibu. “This home was where we built so many precious memories. It’s where Phoenix took his first steps and where we dreamed of building a lifetime of memories with London,” she said, referencing her young children.
“The devastation is unimaginable. To know so many are waking up today without the place they called home is truly heartbreaking,” she wrote.
Jamie Lee Curtis said Wednesday on Instagram that her family is safe, but she suggested her neighborhood and possibly her home is on fire. She said many of her friends lost their homes.
“It’s a terrifying situation and I’m grateful to the firefighters and all of the good Samaritans who are helping people get out of the way of the blaze.”
Other stars who have homes in the area include Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
Many are awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames.
Mandy Moore said her family evacuated too and has since tried to shield her kids from the “immense sadness and worry” that she currently feels.
“So gutted for the destruction and loss,” she posted in her Instagram story. “Don’t know if our place made it.”
Woods posted footage Tuesday of flames burning through bushes and past palm trees on a hill near his home. The towering orange flames billowed among the landscaped yards between the homes.
“Standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in the short video on X. Later, he confirmed he had evacuated and added: “It tests your soul, losing everything at once, I must say.”
