by tyler | Apr 10, 2023 | CNN, europe
At least six people were killed and several others injured in an avalanche that struck the French Alps over the weekend.
Emergency workers were deployed after the incident at the Armancette glacier near Mont Blanc in southeast France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted on Sunday. Rescue work is ongoing.
Clouds of snow rolled down the mountainside, according to video footage shared by Reuters that was tweeted by a nearby ski station, Contamines-Montjoie.
The avalanche occurred at the glacier on Sunday. The conditions on the mountain were described as “not particularly alarming,” with the president of France’s mountain guide union, Dorian Labaeye, telling France Info that he did not know how such a tragedy could have happened in “good conditions.”
The avalanche spread across an area of 1 kilometer by 500 meters, at an altitude of 3,500 meters (11,480 feet), according to a spokesperson for the local authorities of Haute-Savoie, Reuters reported.
The people swept away by the avalanche were backcountry skiing and the identities of the victims are being confirmed.
The mayor of the town of Contamines-Montjoie, Francois Barbier, told Agence France-Presse it was “the most deadly avalanche this season.”
“It is a very big avalanche on a busy route at this time of the year,” Labaeye said, adding, “We have tens of thousands of people doing ski touring at the moment in the Alps. There are usually lots of people on the Easter weekend and conditions are usually pretty stable at this time of year.”
Labaeye said he did not believe there were any other victims. He said the group impacted was equipped with an avalanche detector, shovels, and probes, which he said “facilitates the work of the rescuers.”
French President Emmanuel Macron sent his condolences to the victims and their loved ones.
“At the Armancette glacier in the Alps, an avalanche has caused casualties. We are thinking of them and their families. Our rescue forces have been mobilized to find people still stuck in the snow. Our thoughts are with them too,” Macron tweeted on Sunday.
by tyler | Apr 7, 2023 | CNN, europe
Russian authorities arrested a Chinese LGBTQ blogger Wednesday for allegedly violating a law that bans so-called same-sex “propaganda,” according to Adel Khaydarshin, a lawyer representing the blogger and his partner.
Chinese national Haoyang Xu was found guilty during a hearing Thursday, Khaydarshin said. He’s being held in a temporary detention center for foreigners and faces deportation from Russia, according to a statement from the court that Khaydarshin gave to CNN.
This comes months after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill that expanded an existing ban on so-called LGBTQ “propaganda” in Russia. It made it illegal for anyone to promote same-sex relationships or suggest that non-heterosexual orientations are “normal.”
Xu’s Russian partner, Gela Gogishvili, has also been charged in connection with the same law, Khaydarshin said. But Gogishvili, who faces fines of up to 200,000 Rubles (more than $2,400 USD), has not yet been arrested, according to the lawyer.
The bloggers have regularly documented their life online through social media as a same-sex couple living in Russia.
According to court documents given to CNN by Khaydarshin, Xu was arrested for allegedly posting videos depicting “non-traditional sexual relations” with Gogishvili.
“Namely, being males, they kiss each other, hug, touch each other on various parts of the body, including in the genital area, while the description of the videos contains the following, How does a gay couple sleep? Kiss me all night,” the court document said.
Police said they uncovered the footage during an inspection of the couple’s YouTube account, according to the court document.
They also claimed nearly 1,800 of the account’s 64,900 subscribers were under 18 years of age, the document says.
CNN is unable to independently verify these claims.
Video posted to the couple’s Telegram feed showed police escorting a handcuffed Xu down a staircase. Another image shared on the Telegram feed shows Xu standing beside a police car. The picture’s caption says he was being sent to the temporary detention center for foreign citizens.
Xu has not yet been deported; he has the opportunity to appeal the court’s decision, the lawyer added.
CNN has reached out to the Chinese embassy in Moscow for comment on the arrest.
The law was first adopted in Russia in 2013 and banned the dissemination of LGBTQ-related information to minors. Since then, the law has been expanded multiple times.
Human Rights Watch has described it as an “unabashed example of political homophobia.”
In November 2022, Russia’s upper house of parliament unanimously voted to toughen the controversial law to make it apply to Russians of all ages.
Individuals who spread what the bill called “LGBT propaganda” or attempt to do so, can be fined up to 400,000 rubles (about $5,000 USD). Legal entities can be fined up to 5 million rubles (nearly $62,000 USD). Foreigners can be arrested for up to 15 days or deported, according to the text of the bill.
The law was expanded in December 2022, making it illegal for anyone to promote same-sex relationships or suggest that non-heterosexual orientations are “normal.”
The ban was rubber-stamped by Putin just days after a harsh new “foreign agents” law came into effect, as the Kremlin cracked down on free speech and human rights amid its military operation in Ukraine.
The package of amendments signed by Putin also included heavier penalties for anyone promoting “non-traditional sexual relations and/or preferences,” as well as pedophilia and gender transition. Under the new law, it was banned across the internet, media, books, audiovisual services, cinema and advertising.
by tyler | Apr 7, 2023 | CNN, europe
Russian investigators have formally charged Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich with espionage, Russian state media reported Friday, adding he denied the accusations.
“The FSB investigation charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country. He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia,” an agency representative said, according to state news agency TASS.
The representative declined to comment further, as the journalist’s case was marked “top secret,” according to TASS.
Gershkovich was detained by Russian authorities last week, who accused him of spying, signaling a significant ratcheting of both Moscow’s tensions with the United States and its campaign against foreign news media.
A Moscow court on April 18 will hear an appeal filed by Gershkovich’s lawyers against his arrest, Russian state media said citing the court. The correspondent is currently held in the notorious Leftereovo pre-detention center until May 29.
Gershkovich’s arrest marks the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations by Moscow of spying since the Cold War.
The arrest has been widely condemned by western officials and the Journal vehemently denied the espionage charge against Gershkovich, describing his arrest “a vicious affront to a free press” which “should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world.”
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to release Gershkovich immediately.
“In my own mind, there’s no doubt that he’s being wrongfully detained by Russia, which is exactly what I said to Foreign Minister Lavrov when I spoke to him over the weekend,” Blinken said during a press conference in Brussels. “But I want to make sure that as always, because there is a formal process, that we go through it and we will, and I expect that to be to be completed soon.”
CNN reported on Tuesday that the Biden administration is preparing to officially declare Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia, two US officials told CNN, a move that will trigger new US government resources to work towards his release.
by tyler | Apr 6, 2023 | CNN, europe
A Spanish TV actress has sparked controversy after using a surrogate to fulfil what she says was the final wish of her dead son: to have a child.
Ana Obregón announced the birth in a cover story for Hola! magazine published earlier in April, detailing how she used sperm samples from son Aless, who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 27, to impregnate a surrogate mother.
Obregón – a 68-year-old socialite who is married to Italian aristocrat Alessandro Lequio – has long been a fixture on Spanish television, and is best known for appearing in series such as “A las once en casa.”
Such was the interest in the child in Spain that another magazine, Letras, tracked down the surrogate – a woman of Cuban origin that lives in Florida – and splashed photos of her on its front page.
The story has sparked both legal and ethical debate in Spain, where surrogacy is illegal and sperm samples can only be used to impregnate a widowed partner within 12 months of the donor’s death with their explicit permission.
Obregón told Hola! that the baby, Ana Sandra Lequio Obregón, was born on March 20 in Miami and will have a US passport. She will be registered at the Spanish consulate in Miami before flying home to Spain, added Obregón.
Some have questioned whether Obregón should be able to bring a baby born via a method illegal under Spanish law into the country.
But the actress says she has documents proving that she is legally recognized as the baby’s mother in the United States, and adopting a child born abroad is legal in Spain.
While some experts say the legalities of the situation are unclear, many legal commentators have said she is unlikely to face any legal issues upon returning home.
However the case has also raised moral questions over surrogacy. Spanish law considers the practice “a form of violence against women.”
Others have questioned Obregon’s claim that she was fulfilling her son’s dying wish.
“It seems questionable to me that the wishes of the deceased would have been for his sperm to be used to impregnate an egg in the body of a woman in another country,” said philosophy professor Gonzalo Velasco in an interview with radio station Cadena Ser.
“It seems quite convoluted,” he added, likening the developments to a story by horror author Stephen King or melodramatic Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.
Verónica Fumanal, president of Spain’s Association of Political Communication (ACOP) said the announcement made her think of the dystopian TV series “Black Mirror.”
“She bought herself a grandaughter with sperm from her dead son,” said Fumanal in an interview with Cadena Ser, who questioned the way in which Obregón had publicized the baby’s birth.
“She put a camera in her face and sold the exclusive,” said Fumanal.
Obregón has sought to dampen the controversy, calling the debate in Spain “absurd” because surrogacy is legal in many countries around the world.
Spain is one of many countries where surrogacy is illegal, and in others, such as the United Kingdom, surrogacy is legal but restricted.
These restrictions, in addition to high costs and a shortage of surrogates, encourage UK couples to look for a surrogate abroad, including in the US, where the process is more straightforward.
Obregón told Hola! that surrogacy is “very normalized” in the US and that there is no debate like there is in Spain.
She also revealed how baby Ana fits into her family.
“This girl isn’t my daughter, but my grandaughter,” she told Hola! “She is Aless’ daughter and when she grows up I will tell her that her father was a hero.”
Obregón also said that Aless always wanted a big family, and didn’t rule out repeating the process so that Ana could have a brother or sister.
But next on the agenda is the release of a book which tells the story of the surrogacy, scheduled for publication on April 19.
CNN has contacted representatives of both Ana Obregón and her husband Alessandro Lequio for comment.
by tyler | Apr 4, 2023 | CNN, europe
A Syrian who arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2015 has won a mayoral election in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg.
Ryyan Alshebl, who left his hometown of As Suwayda in Syria eight years ago, ran as an independent in the municipality of Ostelsheim. He won 55.41% of the votes on Sunday, beating two German candidates, Marco Strauss and Mathias Fey.
Locals cheered the 29-year-old when he welcomed his win, a victory he described as “sensational,” German local broadcaster SWR reported Monday.
“Today, Ostelsheim sent an example for broad-mindedness and cosmopolitanism for the whole of Germany,” he said, according to to German public broadcaster ZDF. “That’s not something that can be taken for granted in a conservative, rural area.”
Alshebl’s first call after his victory was to his mother in Syria, who was thrilled with the news, SWR reported.
The Association of Municipalities of Baden-Württemberg said Alshebl is the first man with Syrian roots to run for and win a mayor’s office. He will start his role in June.
Ostelsheim residents have welcomed their incoming mayor. “The fairy tale has come true, and the right man has become our mayor,” Annette Keck, who lives in the village, told SWR.
Strauss, one of his opponents, congratulated Alshebl. “I wish you good luck and at the same time ask for support for Mr. Alshebl, for our shared Ostelsheim,” he said on Facebook.
The state’s Integration Minister Manne Lucha said that Alshebl’s victory showed that diversity is a natural part of Baden-Württemberg. “I would be very pleased if Ryyan Alshebl’s election encourages more people with a migration history to run for political office,” he said.
Not everyone has been so warm to the 29-year-old. ZDF reported the Syrian received hateful comments on the campaign trail.
The young politician went from house to house, promoting his election program, and “the experiences were predominantly positive,” but there was also a minority of far-right fringe voters in Ostelsheim that did not want to accept him due to his Syrian roots, Alshebl told ZDF.
Born to a schoolteacher and agricultural engineer in Syria, Alshebl described his life as carefree until the age of 20, according to his campaign website.
At the time, protests against the Syrian government that began in 2011 soon devolved into chaotic war. The fighting and later rise of ISIS forced 10.6 million people from home by late 2015 – about half of Syria’s pre-war population.
Alshebl faced the dilemma of being drafted for military service with the Syrian army or leaving the country, according to his website.
While many Syrians were displaced internally or fled to countries in the region, others like Alshebl made the dangerous journey to Europe. He was 21 years old at the time, and said he crossed from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos in a rubber dinghy.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had implemented a brief open-door policy in 2015 that saw the country take in about 1.2 million asylum seekers in the following years, including Alshebl.
The move sparked a backlash in Germany and the sudden growth of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the wake of summer 2015.
Once in Germany, Alshebl lived close to Ostelsheim and said at the time he felt “there is only one thing you can do: get back on your feet quickly and start investing in your own future quickly.”
For the last seven years he worked in the administration of Althengstett town hall, in a neighboring town. He drew from his experience, he said in his campaign, and made digital access to to public administration services one of priorities. Flexible childcare and climate protections are also on his agenda.
Alshebl, who is a member of the Green Party and now has German citizenship, pledged during his campaign that once elected as mayor he would move to Ostelsheim.
by tyler | Apr 4, 2023 | CNN, europe
Finland officially became the 31st member of the the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Tuesday, marking a major shift in the security landscape in northeastern Europe that adds some 1,300 kilometers (830 miles) to the alliance’s frontier with Russia.
The Nordic nation’s accession was sealed during a formal ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.
Finland’s acceptance into the US-led security alliance presents a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long sought to undermine NATO, and before invading Ukraine, demanded the bloc refrain from further expansion.
The invasion instead drove non-aligned Finland and Sweden to abandon their neutrality and seek protection within NATO, though Sweden’s attempt to join the bloc has been stalled by alliance members Turkey and Hungary.
On the eve of Tuesday’s ceremony, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg heralded the raising of the Finnish flag for the first time at the alliance’s headquarters in Belgium, saying “it will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole.”
But Russia has warned that further NATO expansion will not bring more stability to Europe, and on Monday said it would scale up forces near Finland if the alliance sent any troops or equipment to the new member country.
“We will strengthen our military capabilities in the west and northwest if NATO members deploy forces and equipment on Finnish territory,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Prior to Tuesday, Russia shared about 1,215 kilometers (755 miles) of land border with five NATO members. Finland’s accession more than doubles NATO’s land border with Russia.
Finland’s NATO membership guarantees the Northern European nation access to the resources of the entire alliance in the event of attack.
It includes the protection offered by NATO’s Article 5 principle, which states that an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members. It’s been a cornerstone of the 30-member alliance since it was founded in 1949 as a counterweight to the Soviet Union.
NATO membership also better integrates Finnish forces in training and planning with NATO allies.
The country is no stranger to working with NATO, with its troops regularly participating in NATO exercises under a partner status.
The Finnish Defense Force also operate some of the same weapons systems as other NATO members, including US-made F/A-18 fighters, German-designed Leopard main battle tanks and K9 howizters used by Norway and Estonia among others.
Helsinki has also signed on the the F-35 stealth fighter program, which will allow its air force to work smoothly with NATO members including the US, UK, Norway, Italy, Canada, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
A November report from the Washington-based Wilson Center lists three key areas where Finland benefits NATO: reserve forces, technology access and artillery forces.
“Finland’s artillery forces are the largest and best-equipped in Western Europe,” the report said.
“With some 1,500 artillery weapons, including 700 Howitzer guns, 700 heavy mortar, and 100 rocket launcher systems, the Finnish artillery has more artillery firepower than the combined militaries of Poland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden can currently muster,” it said.
The Wilson Center report also noted Finland’s strong cyber security record, pointing out the country is home to Nokia, “a major provider of 5G infrastructure,” and one of three major providers of 5G infrastructure the world, along with Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Huawei.
And it said Finland can muster 900,000 reserves who have been trained as conscripts in its armed forces. The wartime strength of Finnish forces is 280,000 troops, it says.
Finland’s accession comes days after Turkey’s parliament voted to ratify the country’s membership, clearing the final hurdle for the country to join NATO and putting an end to months of delays.
Finnish and Swedish public support for joining NATO surged following the invasion of Ukraine. “Everything changed when Russia invaded Ukraine,” outgoing Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said last April. “People’s mindset in Finland, also in Sweden, changed and shifted very dramatically.”
NATO has an open-door policy, meaning that any country can be invited to join if it expresses an interest, as long as it is able and willing to uphold the principles of the alliance’s founding treaty.
However, under the accession rules, any member state can veto a new country from joining.
An overwhelming majority of NATO members welcomed Finland and Sweden’s applications, but two countries – Turkey and Hungary – began to stall the process.
Turkey and Hungary later softened their stance on Finland’s accession, opening the door to its membership in March, while continuing to block Sweden’s membership application.
There is hope for Sweden’s bid, however. On Monday, Stoltenberg said Finland’s accession is “in itself something we should celebrate” but that it was also good for Sweden.
“It makes Sweden more integrated into NATO and makes Sweden even more safer,” Stoltenberg said. “At the same time we celebrate and enjoy that Finland is now a full-fledged member, we should continue work to finalize the Swedish accession process.”
