KHERSON, Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the newly liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine after Russian forces retreated from the strategic hub near the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian presidency distributed images of him singing the national anthem, holding his hand over his chest as the country’s blue and yellow flag was hoisted next to the city’s main administrative building.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denied, however, that the Ukrainian leader’s visit had any impact on the status of the Kherson region, which Moscow formally annexed into Russia at a ceremony last month.
“It’s important to be here,” Zelensky told reporters in the city as his office released images of him meeting Kherson residents and military officials.
“We should speak here... support the people so that they feel that we are not just talking, not just making promises but really returning and really raising our flag,” he added.
Late Sunday, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces found evidence of hundreds of new “war crimes” carried out by Russian occupiers in Kherson.
His subsequent visit came just days after Ukrainian troops entered the city — the Kherson region’s administrative center — after Russia pulled back its forces on Friday.
The takeover by Ukrainian troops is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 hoping for a lightning takeover and to topple the government in days.
But Russian troops failed to capture the capital Kyiv and have since been pushed back from large portions of territory in the south and east.
Ukrainians in the liberated city expressed relief at the end of months of occupation.
“I am extremely happy we’re finally free,” Andriy, 33, a philosophy student, told AFP.
“We have no electricity in the city, no water, no central heating, no mobile signal, no Internet connection — but we have no Russians,” he said.
The city of Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall to Russian forces and the only regional capital Moscow’s troops gained control over.
Its recapture opens a gateway for Ukraine to the entire Kherson region, with access to both the Black Sea in the west and the Sea of Azov in the east.
The region was one of four that the Kremlin announced in September were annexed and part of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to use all available means to defend them from Ukrainian forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday he would not comment on Zelensky’s visit to Kherson but added: “this territory is part of the Russian Federation.”
A self-described partisan in Kherson told AFP after the Russian withdrawal that he and his friends had spent months walking the streets observing the Russians’ every move.
“You watch closely and then come home and write it all down. And then you send the information and hide absolutely everything — phones, papers, clothes, everything,” 19-year-old aspiring musician named Volodymyr Timor said.
“We reported everything — where their equipment and ammunition sites were, where they slept and where they went out drinking,” Timor said.
Ukraine’s forces could then use the coordinates to target strikes during a counteroffensive that has seen Russia cede roughly half the land it seized in the first weeks of war.
“I was scared,” the imposing but soft-spoken guitarist said of the prospect of being caught and possibly killed.
“Believe me, I was very scared.”
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s forces were posting gains in the eastern region of Lugansk, the military and local officials said Monday.
The eastern industrial region has been held by Russian-supported separatists since 2014 but Kyiv’s forces have slowly been clawing back territory there.
“Twelve towns and villages have been liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the occupiers in the Lugansk region,” the regional governor announced on social media without specifying when the towns had been captured.
Zelensky visits Ukraine’s Kherson after Russian retreat
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Zelensky visits Ukraine’s Kherson after Russian retreat
- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denied that the visit had any impact on the status of Kherson
China’s president vows to work with Trump team as he meets Biden in Peru
- “China’s goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship remains unchanged,” Xi said
- Trump has vowed to adopt blanket 60 percent tariffs on US imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of “America First” trade measures
LIMA, Peru: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday vowed to work with the incoming US administration of President-elect Donald Trump as he held his final talks with outgoing President Joe Biden on key conflicts from cybercrime to trade, Taiwan and Russia.
Biden met Xi at a hotel where the Chinese leader was staying, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru, for their first talks in seven months.
“China’s goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship remains unchanged,” following the election, Xi said, acknowledging “ups and downs” between the countries.
“China is ready to work with the new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences,” he added.
Biden told Xi that the two leaders haven’t always agreed but their discussions have been “frank” and “candid.”
The talks come two months before Trump assumes office. He has vowed to adopt blanket 60 percent tariffs on US imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of “America First” trade measures. Beijing opposes those steps. The Republican president-elect also plans to hire several hawkish voices on China in senior roles, including US Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Representative Mike Waltz as national security adviser.
Biden has aimed to lower tensions with China, but Washington is incensed by a recent China-linked hack of the telephone communications of US government and presidential campaign officials, and it is anxious about increasing pressure by Beijing on Taiwan and Chinese support for Russia.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is planning to stop in the US state of Hawaii and maybe Guam on a sensitive visit that is sure to anger Beijing in the coming weeks, Reuters reported on Friday. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s former economy minister Lin Hsin-i met Biden at the summit on Friday and invited him to visit Taiwan in the near future.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic recognition.
Biden also wants China’s help with North Korea, whose deepening ties with Russia and deployment of troops in the war with Ukraine has worried Washington.
China’s economic hit
At the same time, Beijing’s economy is taking a stiff hit from Biden’s steps on trade, including a plan to restrict US investment in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors and export restrictions on high-end computer chips. All of those topics are expected to figure into the talks, US officials said.
China routinely denies US hacking allegations, regards Taiwan as internal matter and has protested American statements on Sino-Russian trade. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment.
“When the two countries treat each other as partner and friend, seek common ground while shelving differences and help each other succeed, our relationship would make considerable progress,” Xi said as he met with Biden, according to a simultaneous translation.
“But if we take each other as rivals or adversary, pursue vicious competition, and seek to hurt each other, we would roil the relationship or even set it back.”
On Wednesday, Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan described the transition as “a time when competitors and adversaries can see possibly opportunity.” Biden is stressing with Xi the “need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the United States and China.”
Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations scholar, said China wants the meeting to ease tensions during the transition period. “China definitely does not want relations with the United States to be thrown into turmoil before Trump formally takes office,” said Shen.
Pacific Rim leaders gathered at the APEC summit are assessing the implications of Trump’s return to power as US president on Jan. 20. The South American summit offers new signs of the challenges to the United States’ power in its own backyard, where China is on a charm offensive.
Xi, who arrived in Lima on Thursday, plans a week-long diplomatic blitz in Latin America that includes a refurbished free-trade agreement with Peru, inaugurating the massive Chancay deep-water port there and being welcomed in Brazil’s capital next week for a state visit. China also announced plans to host the APEC summit in 2026.
China is seeking Latin America’s metal ores, soybeans, and other commodities, but US officials worry they may also be looking for new US-adjacent military and intelligence outposts. Chinese state-backed media has called those accusations a smear.
A US official said Washington’s commitment to the region was strong and that Chinese infrastructure investment overseas has declined in recent years due to domestic challenges and problems with the projects.
But Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said Xi would meet with a good reception in the region.
“Biden’s trip will be overshadowed very clearly by all of the things that Xi Jinping will be up to when he visits APEC,” he said. “When Xi meets with Biden part of his audience is not – it’s not solely the White House or the US government. It’s about American CEOs and continued US investment or trying to renew US investment in China and get rid of the perception that there’s a hostile business environment in China.”
Thousands march in Germany to demand release of Kurd leader
- The protest followed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statements in late October that he wanted to “reach out to our Kurdish brothers”
FRANKFUR, Germany: Thousands of protesters marched in the western German city of Cologne on Saturday to demand the release of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish PKK militant group who was arrested 25 years ago.
Amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK, the demonstrators carried banners bearing the image of the PKK’s founder and historic leader, who has been detained in an island prison off the coast of Istanbul since 1999.
The protest followed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statements in late October that he wanted to “reach out to our Kurdish brothers.”
The head of Turkish nationalist party MHP, Erdogan’s main coalition ally, has invited Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence, to speak before parliament to announce the dissolution of the PKK, raising the possibility of his release.
Cologne police reported no incidents during the march, though they did intervene twice to remove “symbols that could have a link to the PKK.”
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkiye and its Western allies, and showing its symbols is illegal in Germany.
The conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state has caused more than 40,000 deaths since 1984.
Turkiye is the third largest country of origin for asylum seekers in Germany this year, after Syria and Afghanistan, according to the Interior Ministry.
Most of the applicants claim to be ethnic Kurds, according to the German daily FAZ.
Trump defense nominee’s thin CV, tattoos under scrutiny
- Hegseth boasts degrees from elite US universities, including an undergraduate from Princeton and a master’s from Harvard
WASHINGTON: Facing questions about an alleged sexual assault and medieval-themed tattoos linked to extremist groups, Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth would struggle to be confirmed for the job under normal circumstances.
But these are not normal times in Washington.
Hegseth, a Fox News host, was picked by Trump on Tuesday in one of several nominations that wrong-footed even some in his remodeled Republican Party and threw down a challenge to the Senate.
To take up the position as head of the Pentagon to oversee 3.4 million employees, Hegseth will require confirmation from the upper house — and Trump is publicly pressuring lawmakers to show loyalty to his agenda.
Revelations in recent days about the 44-year-old have made his path to power more difficult, including that the thrice-married former soldier was investigated for sexual assault in California in 2017.
No charges were filed over an encounter in a Monterey hotel that saw an unnamed accuser lodge a police report, but the claim has led to questions about the vetting process for the former soldier.
“He was cleared,” his lawyer Timothy Parlatore told NBC News on Friday. “There’s not much more that I can say. It didn’t happen.”
His tattoos have also raised questions, leading to him being stood down by his Army National Guard unit when it was called up for the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2020.
Speaking on a podcast with fellow veteran Shawn Ryan earlier this month, he revealed that one of his fellow soldiers had flagged him as a possible white nationalist because of his body art.
He claimed it was because of the medieval Jerusalem Cross on his chest, but he also has the words “Deus Vult” on his bicep — a phrase meaning “God wills it” that was used by anti-Muslim crusaders in the Middle Ages.
European medieval imagery and slogans have been widely adopted by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in recent years, but Hegseth says his tattoos simply reflect his faith.
“It’s a Christian symbol,” the author of a 2020 book entitled “American Crusade” said of the Jerusalem Cross.
His handling of medieval weaponry has gone viral in recent days after a video re-emerged of him taking part in a televised axe-throwing contest which saw him miss the target and strike a bystander, who narrowly escaped serious injury.
His CV includes combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq and he rose to the rank of major in the National Guard — a lowly status compared to the generals and admirals he would oversee at the Pentagon.
Hegseth boasts degrees from elite US universities, including an undergraduate from Princeton and a master’s from Harvard.
Square-jawed and outspoken, he came to Trump’s attention on the “Fox & Friends Weekend” show that he co-hosts.
“You know the military better than anyone,” Trump told him during an appearance in early June, adding that he often thought about putting him in charge of the Pentagon.
A former Republican operative who vetted Hegseth when Trump was considering him for the more junior veterans affairs secretary in 2016 wrote this week that he remained unqualified and an “empty vessel.”
Lacking major experience in foreign affairs or congressional politics, his only civilian management credential included being CEO of a small non-profit, Justin Higgins, who has since switched to the Democrats, wrote for MSNBC.
“It’s not hard to imagine that he would do and say whatever Trump wants,” he added.
Hegseth’s main policy focus in his books and media appearances is tackling what he calls “woke shit” in the armed forces — and he has expressed support for purging the top brass.
He told Ryan on his podcast that his experiences taught him that “the bigotry we saw on the outside (of the army) should not be tolerated inside the military” but that progressive efforts to tackle racism and sexism had gone too far.
“The army that I enlisted in, that I swore an oath to in 2001 and was commissioned in in 2003 looks a lot different than the army of today because we’re focused on a lot of the wrong things,” he said.
India’s Modi launches diplomatic tour in Nigeria
- Aside from power politics, Modi’s visit will also seek to enhance economic cooperation, with a number of technical agreements to be signed
ABUJA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Nigeria on Saturday as the giants of Asia and of Africa press for a greater role in world affairs.
Nigeria’s capital Abuja was the first stop in a tour that will take the Indian premier on to the G20 summit in Brazil, and to Guyana.
The visit was billed by New Delhi as a meeting of the largest democracy in the world and the largest in Africa, or “natural partners.”
“May this visit deepen the bilateral relationship between our nations,” Modi posted on social media on arrival.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu posted that the visit would expand “the strategic partnership between both countries.”
Modi will talk with Tinubu at his official residence in Abuja on Sunday.
Photos posted on Modi’s account showed him welcomed by Nigerian officials and a cheering crowd from the country’s 60,000-strong Indian community.
The visit comes amid a revived push by both India and Nigeria for permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council.
The five permanent members of the top UN body — the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain — hold a powerful veto.
In recent years, supporters of a more “multipolar” world have pushed for more African, Asian and Latin American countries to be added to the group.
Nigeria’s 220-million-strong population is comfortably the largest in Africa, but in diplomatic strength it is rivalled by South Africa.
If UN members bow to the pressure to give increased representation to an African country, Abuja and Pretoria could end up competing for the place.
India is the world’s most populous nation, its 1.4 billion people representing a sixth of humanity, and a nuclear-armed power.
It has long sought a permanent UN Security Council seat.
India is also a member of the nine-strong BRICs group with Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Nigeria is a BRICs “partner country” but has not been given full membership, with some observers accusing South Africa of holding them up.
Aside from power politics, Modi’s visit will also seek to enhance economic cooperation, with a number of technical agreements to be signed.
Africa has become a theater of competition between the United States, former colonial powers in Europe, Russia, Turkiye and especially China.
India too has made inroads, and ahead of the trip Modi’s office boasted that more than 200 Indian companies had invested $27 billion in Nigerian manufacturing, becoming major employers.
Nigeria is also a destination for Indian development funds, with $100 million in loans and training programs for local workers.
US health officials report 1st case of new form of mpox in a traveler
- Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox
NEW YORK: Health officials said Saturday they have confirmed the first US case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo.
The person had traveled to eastern Africa and was treated in Northern California upon return, according to the California Department of Public Health. Symptoms are improving and the risk to the public is low.
The individual was isolating at home and health workers are reaching out to close contacts as a precaution, the state health department said.
Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox. It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals. Milder symptoms can include fever, chills and body aches. In more serious cases, people can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in Africa that was spread through close contact including through sex. It was widely transmitted in eastern and central Africa. But in cases that were identified in travelers outside of the continent, spread has been very limited, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 3,100 confirmed cases have been reported just since late September, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of them have been in three African countries — Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since then, cases of travelers with the new mpox form have been reported in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.
Health officials earlier this month said the situation in Congo appears to be stabilizing. The Africa CDC has estimated Congo needs at least 3 million mpox vaccines to stop the spread, and another 7 million vaccines for the rest of Africa. The spread is mostly through sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.
The current outbreak is different from the 2022 global outbreak of mpox where gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases.
