Russian court upholds sentence of jailed US soldier Gordon Black

Russian court upholds sentence of jailed US soldier Gordon Black
US soldier Gordon Black is among a number of Americans held in Russia on a variety of charges. (Reuters)
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Updated 19 August 2024
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Russian court upholds sentence of jailed US soldier Gordon Black

Russian court upholds sentence of jailed US soldier Gordon Black
  • Gordon Black was detained on May 2 in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok after an argument with his girlfriend
  • Black’s defense argued in its appeal that the original verdict was illegal and unfair, and asked for a new trial

A Russian court rejected an appeal of a US soldier who was sentenced in June to nearly four years in a penal colony after being found guilty of stealing $113 from his girlfriend and making threats to kill her, the court said on Monday.
Gordon Black, a 34-year-old US staff sergeant, was detained on May 2 in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok after an argument with his girlfriend, Alexandra Vashchuk, whom he had met while in South Korea.
He pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill Vashchuk but admitted he was partially guilty of taking the money, though out of necessity.
A panel of judges in the Primorsky Krai Court considered Black’s appeal of the verdict from a Vladivostok district court but left it unchanged, the court said in statement in a social media post.
Black’s defense argued in its appeal that the original verdict was illegal and unfair, and asked for a new trial, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported earlier.
According to Black’s defense lawyer, the verdict did not rely on case materials, ignored evidence confirming Black’s innocence, and incorrectly interpreted his actions toward the victim, RIA reported.
Black is among a number of Americans held in Russia on a variety of charges.
Last week, dual Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday after a Russian court found her guilty of treason for donating $51.07 to a charity supporting Ukraine.


France’s Macron to host party leaders in quest for new govt

France’s Macron to host party leaders in quest for new govt
Updated 12 sec ago
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France’s Macron to host party leaders in quest for new govt

France’s Macron to host party leaders in quest for new govt
PARIS: French party leaders will gather at President Emmanuel Macron’s Elysee Palace office Tuesday afternoon in a bid to chart a route toward a new government, days after Prime Minister Michel Barnier was toppled in a confidence vote.
Shutting out the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), the effort to find a way forward comes as caretaker ministers scramble to clarify France’s 2025 finances, after the previous administration fell over its cost-cutting budget plans.
“The aim is to move forward with a deal about a method” to build a new government on the unstable foundations of a hung parliament, people close to Macron said late Monday.
Barnier had been supported by conservative Republicans and Macron’s centrist camp, but the shaky alliance was far short of an overall majority in a National Assembly split three ways with the NFP left alliance and the RN.
It is unclear how leaders could build a broader base of support for any new government.
Most are unwilling to compromise on pet issues such as last year’s unpopular pension reform, or to tarnish their image with voters by compromising ahead of potential new elections next year.
“We will not participate in a government of ‘national interest’ with the Republicans or Macronists or whoever,” Greens party leader Marine Tondelier said Monday — a position mirrored by Republicans chief Laurent Wauqiez.
In a letter late Sunday, Socialist leaders told Macron they were open to “dialogue and pitting points of view against one another” to “find an exit from this deadlock situation that’s harmful to the French public.”
But they added that they would not join a technocratic government or one run by a prime minister from the right, and called for “a true change of political course” on “pensions, purchasing power and tax justice.”


Bringing so many parties together around one table marked progress from Macron’s first attempt to reach consensus after July’s snap election, commentator Guillaume Tabard wrote in conservative daily Le Figaro.
“But if even a minimal deal is to be found ranging from the Republicans to the Communists, it will require an enormous labor of negotiation that will take days or weeks,” he added.
“The promise to quickly replace Barnier, yet again issued with confidence, will once again be betrayed.”
In an apparent acknowledgement that progress will be slow, Macron’s office said that a special budget law to allow the French state to keep functioning would be presented to caretaker ministers Wednesday on its way to parliament.
Its three measures include authorizing the government to continue raising existing taxes until a new budget is passed by MPs, a ministerial source told AFP.
The state and the social security system will also be allowed to continue borrowing on financial markets to avoid any interruption of payments, the source added.

Scholz, Macron prepared to work with Syrian rebels after Assad ouster

Scholz, Macron prepared to work with Syrian rebels after Assad ouster
Updated 28 min 3 sec ago
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Scholz, Macron prepared to work with Syrian rebels after Assad ouster

Scholz, Macron prepared to work with Syrian rebels after Assad ouster
  • The statement came as governments worldwide are scrambling to forge new links with Syria’s leading rebel faction Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emannuel Macron are prepared to work with the Syrian rebel groups who ousted President Bashar Assad on certain conditions, a German government statement after a phone call between the two leaders.
The leaders of the European Union’s two largest powers welcomed the departure of Assad who had caused “terrible suffering to the Syrian people and great damage to his country.” The Syrian leader fled Damascus for Moscow on Sunday, ending more than 50 years of brutal rule by his family.
“(Scholz and Macron) agreed that they were prepared to work together with the new rulers on the basis of fundamental human rights and the protection of ethnic and religious minorities,” according to the German government statement published late on Monday.
The statement came as governments worldwide are scrambling to forge new links with Syria’s leading rebel faction Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a group formerly allied with Al Qaeda and which is designated a terrorist organization by the US, European Union, Turkiye and the UN
Scholz and Macron agreed to work together to strengthen EU engagement in Syria, including support for an inclusive political process in Syria, and would discuss the way forward in close coordination with partners in the Middle East, the statement read.


Mass evacuation of Philippine villages underway after a brief but major volcanic eruption

Mass evacuation of Philippine villages underway after a brief but major volcanic eruption
Updated 10 December 2024
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Mass evacuation of Philippine villages underway after a brief but major volcanic eruption

Mass evacuation of Philippine villages underway after a brief but major volcanic eruption
  • Volcanic ash fell over a wide area, nine flights were canceled or diverted, schools were closed and a nighttime curfew was imposed in the most vulnerable area

MANILA: About 87,000 people were being evacuated in a central Philippine region Tuesday a day after a volcano briefly erupted with a towering ash plume and superhot streams of gas and debris hurtling down its western slopes.
The latest eruption of Mount Kanlaon on central Negros island did not cause any immediate casualties, but the alert level was raised one level, indicating further and more explosive eruptions may occur.
Volcanic ash fell on a wide area, including Antique province, more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) across seawaters west of the volcano, obscuring visibility and posing health risks, Philippine chief volcanologist Teresito Bacolcol and other officials said by telephone.
At least six domestic flights and a flight bound for Singapore were canceled and two local flights were diverted in the region Monday and Tuesday due to Kanlaon’s eruption, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
The mass evacuations were being carried out urgently in towns and villages nearest the western and southern slopes of Kanlaon which were blanketed by its ash, including in La Castellana town in Negros Occidental where nearly 47,000 people have to be evacuated out of a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) danger zone, the Office of Civil Defense said.
More than 6,000 have moved to evacuation centers aside from those who have temporarily transferred to the homes of relatives in La Castellana by Tuesday morning, the town’s mayor, Rhumyla Mangilimutan, told The Associated Press by telephone.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said authorities were ready to provide support to large numbers of displaced villagers and that his social welfare secretary flew early Tuesday to the affected region.
“We are ready to support the families who have been evacuated outside the 6-kilometer danger zone,” Marcos told reporters.
Government scientists were monitoring the air quality due to the risk of contamination from toxic volcanic gases that may require more people to be evacuated from areas affected by Monday’s eruption.
Disaster-response contingents were rapidly establishing evacuation centers and seeking supplies of face masks, food and hygiene packs ahead of the Christmas season, traditionally a peak time for holiday travel and family celebrations in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
Authorities also shut schools and imposed a nighttime curfew in the most vulnerable areas.
The Philippines’ Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the nearly four-minute eruption of Kanlaon volcano on Monday afternoon had caused a pyroclastic density current — a superhot stream of gas, ash, debris and rocks that can incinerate anything in its path.
“It’s a one-time but major eruption,” Bacolcol told the AP, adding that volcanologists were assessing if Monday’s eruption spewed old volcanic debris and rocks clogged in and near the summit crater or was caused by rising magma from underneath.
Few volcanic earthquakes were detected ahead of Monday’s explosion, Bacolcol said.
The alert level around Kanlaon was placed on Monday to the third-highest of a five-step warning system, indicating “magmatic eruption” may have begun and may progress to further explosive eruptions.
The 2,435-meter (7,988-foot) volcano, one of the country’s 24 most-active volcanoes, last erupted in June sending hundreds of villagers to emergency shelters.
In 1996, three hikers were killed near the peak and several others were later rescued when Kanlaon erupted without warning, officials said.
Located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the Philippines is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms a year and is among the countries most prone to natural disasters.


Malaysia PM Anwar deflects questions on house arrest for Najib

Malaysia PM Anwar deflects questions on house arrest for Najib
Updated 10 December 2024
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Malaysia PM Anwar deflects questions on house arrest for Najib

Malaysia PM Anwar deflects questions on house arrest for Najib
  • Najib was prime minister between 2009 and 2018 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in August 2022
  • The sentence however was halved this year by a pardons’ board chaired by former King Al-Sultan Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim refused to answer questions on Tuesday on the existence of a royal decree that would allegedly allow jailed former premier Najib Razak to serve his prison sentence at home.
Najib, who was prime minister between 2009 and 2018, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in August 2022, when Malaysia’s top court upheld his conviction in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.
The sentence however was halved this year by a pardons’ board chaired by former King Al-Sultan Abdullah, shortly before his reign ended in January. Malaysia has a unique system of monarchy where the country’s nine sultans take turns to become king every five years.
Since April, Najib has been pursuing a legal bid to compel the government to confirm the existence of and execute an “addendum order” that he said was issued by the former king alongside the pardons’ board decision, entitling him to serve the remainder of his jail term at home. The former monarch has not commented on the case.
Anwar said in parliament on Tuesday he was unable to answer questions from lawmakers on the document, citing parliamentary rules on matters being decided by courts.
He admitted presenting Najib’s request for a pardon to the king, saying the ex-premier had a right to be heard, but stressed he had not been present when the federal pardons board made its decision to halve Najib’s sentence.
The king and the prime minister sit on the board, although the premier can be represented instead by a federal territories minister.
“Until this case is concluded in court or the king allows for it, we cannot discuss (it),” Anwar said, adding he had referred the matter to the current king, Sultan Ibrahim, for further deliberation.
Malaysia’s Court of Appeal is set to hear Najib’s request on Jan. 6 next year, after an earlier bid was struck down by a lower tribunal in July.
Najib’s son last week filed an affidavit in court, affirming he had received a copy of the addendum from Al-Sultan Abdullah’s royal household, though his lawyers declined to disclose the document’s contents.


Biden is rushing aid to Ukraine. Both sides are digging in. And everyone is bracing for Trump

Biden is rushing aid to Ukraine. Both sides are digging in. And everyone is bracing for Trump
Updated 10 December 2024
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Biden is rushing aid to Ukraine. Both sides are digging in. And everyone is bracing for Trump

Biden is rushing aid to Ukraine. Both sides are digging in. And everyone is bracing for Trump
  • Russia, Ukraine and their global allies are scrambling to put their side in the best possible position for any changes that Trump may bring
  • A Ukrainian military commander says his forces will keep fighting but when the aid runs out, they’ll be destroyed

WASHINGTON: The grinding war between Ukraine and its Russian invaders has escalated ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration, with President Joe Biden rushing out billions of dollars more in military aid before US support for Kyiv’s defenses is thrown into question under the new administration.
Russia, Ukraine and their global allies are scrambling to put their side in the best possible position for any changes that Trump may bring to American policy in the nearly 3-year-old war. The president-elect insisted in recent days that Russia and Ukraine immediately reach a ceasefire and said Ukraine should likely prepare to receive less US military aid.
On the war’s front lines, Ukraine’s forces are mindful of Trump’s fast-approaching presidency and the risk of losing their biggest backer.
If that happens, “those people who are with me, my unit, we are not going to retreat,” a Ukrainian strike-drone company commander, fighting in Russia’s Kursk region with the 47th Brigade, told The Associated Press by phone.
“As long as we have ammunition, as long as we have weapons, as long as we have some means to defeat the enemy, we will fight,” said the commander, who goes by his military call sign, Hummer. He spoke on condition he not be identified by name, citing Ukrainian military rules and security concerns.
“But, when all means run out, you must understand, we will be destroyed very quickly,” he said.
The Biden administration is pushing every available dollar out the door to shore up Ukraine’s defenses before leaving office in six weeks, announcing more than $2 billion in additional support since Trump won the presidential election last month.
The US has sent a total of $62 billion in military aid since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. And more help is on the way.
The administration is on track to disperse the US portion of a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets, before Biden leaves the White House, US officials said. They said the US and Ukraine are in “advanced stages” of discussing terms of the loan and close to executing the $20 billion of the larger loan that the US is backing.
Biden also has eased limits on Ukraine using American longer-range missiles against military targets deeper inside Russia, following months of refusing those appeals over fears of provoking Russia into nuclear war or attacks on the West. He’s also newly allowed Ukraine to employ antipersonnel mines, which are banned by many countries.
Biden and his senior advisers, however, are skeptical that allowing freer use of the longer-range missiles will change the broader trajectory of the war, according to two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
But the administration has at least a measure of confidence that its scramble, combined with continued strong European support, means it will leave office having given Ukraine the tools it needs to sustain its fight against Russia for some time, the officials said.
Enough to hold on, but not enough to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces, according to Ukraine and some of its allies.
Even now, “the Biden administration has been very careful not to run up against the possibility of a defeated Putin or a defeated Russia” for fear of the tumult that could bring, said retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, a former supreme allied commander of NATO. He is critical of Biden’s cautious pace of military support for Ukraine.
Events far from the front lines this past weekend demonstrated the war’s impact on Russia’s military.
In Syria, rebels seized the country’s capital and toppled Russia-allied President Bashar Assad. Russian forces in Syria had propped up Assad for years, but they moved out of the way of the rebels’ assault, unwilling to take losses to defend their ally.
Biden said it was further evidence that US support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was wearing down Russia’s military.
Trump, who has long spoken favorably of Putin and described Zelensky as a “showman” wheedling money from the US, used that moment to call for an immediate ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.
And asked in a TV interview — taped before he met with Zelensky over the weekend in Paris — if Ukraine should prepare for the possibility of reduced aid, Trump said, “Yeah. Probably. Sure.”
Trump’s supporters call that pre-negotiation maneuvering by an avowed deal-maker. His critics say they fear it shows he is in Putin’s sway.
Zelensky said Monday that Russian forces’ retrenchment from outposts worldwide demonstrates that “the entire army of this great pseudo-empire is fighting against the Ukrainian people today.”
“Forcing Putin to end the war requires Ukraine to be strong on the battlefield before it can be strong diplomatically,” Zelensky wrote on social media, repeating near-daily appeals for more longer-range missiles from the US and Europe.
In Kursk, Hummer, the Ukrainian commander, said he notices Russian artillery strikes and shelling easing up since the US and its European allies loosened limits on use of longer-range missiles.
But Moscow has been escalating its offensives in other ways in the past six months, burning through men and materiel in infantry assaults and other attacks far faster than it can replace them, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
In Kursk, that includes Russia sending waves of soldiers on motorcycles and golf carts to storm Ukrainian positions, Hummer said. The Ukrainian drone commander and his comrades defend the ground they have seized from Russia with firearms, tanks and armored vehicles provided by the US and other allies.
Ukraine’s supporters fear that the kind of immediate ceasefire Trump is urging would be mostly on Putin’s terms and allow the Russian leader to resume the war when his military has recovered.
“Putin is sacrificing his own soldiers at a grotesque rate to take whatever territory he can on the assumption that the US will tell Ukraine that US aid is over unless Russia gets to keep what it has taken,” Phillips O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews, wrote on his Substack channel.
Putin’s need for troops led him to bring in North Korean forces. Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use longer-range missiles more broadly in Russia was partly in response, intended to discourage North Korea from deeper involvement in the war, one of the senior administration officials said.
Since 2022, Russia already had been pulling forces and other military assets from Syria, Central Asia and elsewhere to throw into the Ukraine fight, said George Burros, an expert on the Russia-Ukraine conflict at the Institute for the Study of War.
Any combat power that Russia has left in Syria that it could deploy to Ukraine is unlikely to change battlefield momentum, Burros said.
“The Kremlin has prioritized Ukraine as much as it can,” he said.