Day: January 10, 2025

Winds were expected to drop Friday around Los Angeles, bolstering a huge firefighting effort at the five major blazes wreaking havoc around America’s second biggest city.

At least ten people have died as infernos ripped through neighborhoods, razing thousands of homes in one of the worst disasters ever to hit California, with one estimate suggesting the bill could hit $150 billion.

As the scale of the damage started to come into focus, individuals grappled with heart-rending ruin.

“I lost everything. My house burned down and I lost everything,” Hester Callul, who reached a shelter after fleeing her Altadena home, told AFP.

As fears of looting and crime grow, California Governor Gavin Newsom deployed the National Guard to bolster law enforcement and soldiers were on the streets, with Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna also imposing a nightime curfew in some areas.

“This curfew will be strictly enforced and is being taken to enhance public safety, protect property and prevent any burglaries or looting in the area that the residents have evacuated,” he said.

Luna said anyone who falls foul of the rule could be jailed, stressing “we are not screwing around with this.”

The five separate fires have so far burned more than 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares), California’ fire agency reported.

‘Death and destruction’

The biggest of the blazes has ripped through over 20,000 acres of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where firefighters said they were starting to get the fire under control.

By Friday morning eight percent of its perimeter was contained — meaning it can’t spread any further in that direction.

The Eaton fire in the Altadena area was three percent checked, with almost 14,000 acres scorched and key infrastructure — including communication towers at Mount Wilson — threatened.

A third fire that exploded Thursday afternoon near Calabasas and the wealthy Hidden Hills enclave, home to celebrities like Kim Kardashian, added to the feeling of encirclement.

“You just feel surrounded,” one woman told a local broadcaster.

But after a massive response to the blaze, including retardant drops from planes and helicopters dumping vast quantities of water, the fire was 35 percent surrounded, firefighters said on Friday.

Some of those forced out of their homes began to return to find scenes of devastation.

Kalen Astoor, a 36-year-old paralegal, said her mother’s home had been spared by the inferno’s seemingly random and chaotic destruction. But many other homes had not.

“The view now is of death and destruction,” she told AFP. “I don’t know if anyone can come back for a while.”

An AFP overflight of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu revealed mile after mile of obliteration.

‘Heartbroken’

“This is crazy… All these homes, gone,” said helicopter pilot Albert Azouz.

On highly coveted Malibu oceanfront plots, skeletal frames of buildings indicated the fire’s power, with many multimillion-dollar mansions vanishing entirely.

Socialite and hotel heiress Paris Hilton was among those whose homes were lost.

“Heartbroken beyond words,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience.

“This home was where we built so many precious memories.”

The fires could be the costliest ever recorded, with AccuWeather estimating total damage and loss between $135 billion and $150 billion.

Beyond the immediate carnage, life for millions of people in the area was disrupted: schools were closed, hundreds of thousands were without power and major events were canceled or, in the case of an NFL playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings, moved elsewhere.

Meteorologist Mike Woofford of the National Weather Center told AFP winds would lessen Friday and Saturday, offering a vital opportunity to firefighters.

“We’re seeing a little bit of a decrease now, but more so this afternoon dropping off, and then not much wind tomorrow, until later in the day,” he said.

“For sure, good news,” he said, but cautioned it remained dry and winds were expected to return.

Wildfires occur naturally, but scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather and changing the dynamics of the blazes.

Two wet years in Southern California have given way to a very dry one, leaving ample fuel dry and primed to burn.

Young homosexual men can train to become Catholic priests in Italy but not if they “support the so-called gay culture”, according to new Church guidelines approved by the Vatican.

While stressing the need for celibacy, the guidelines from the Italian Bishops’ Conference — posted online on Thursday — open the door for gay men to attend seminaries, or divinity schools that train young men to become priests.

But they came with a caveat — that those who flaunt their homosexuality should be barred. 

A section of the 68-page guidelines was specifically directed at “persons with homosexual tendencies who approach seminaries, or who discover such a situation during their training”.

“The Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary and to Holy Orders those who practise homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture,” read the document.

The goal of training priests-to-be is “the ability to accept as a gift, to freely choose and live chastity in celibacy”.

The new guidelines have been approved by the Vatican, the bishops’ conference said in an accompanying statement.

Pope Francis, 88, has throughout his papacy encouraged a more inclusive Church, including for LGBTQ Catholics, even though official church doctrine still states that same-sex acts are “intrinsically disordered”.

In 2013, just weeks after taking office, Francis famously said “if someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?”

In June, however, the pope used a vulgar gay slur in a closed-door meeting with the Italian bishops, according to two Italian newspapers, setting off a minor firestorm. 

The pope had expressed his opposition to gay men entering seminaries, saying there was already too much “frociaggine” in the schools — using an offensive Roman term that translated as “faggotry”.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Friday announced she would not run in the race to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying she wanted to focus on the threat posed by potential US tariffs.

Joly is the second cabinet heavyweight after Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc to cite her official responsibilities as the reason for staying out of the race to become leader of the ruling Liberal Party.

“The reality is I can’t do both,” Joly told reporters ahead of a meeting to discuss retaliatory measures if president-elect Donald Trump goes ahead with a threat to impose tariffs.

“My job is to make sure that we’re ready should (he) decide to go on with his tariffs, and that’s why I took the decision (not to run),” she said.

Trudeau, beset by months of party infighting over poor poll numbers, on Monday said he would quit once the party had chosen a new leader. The winner will be announced on March 9.

The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing sources, said former finance minister Chrystia Freeland and ex-Bank of Canada governor were likely to announce soon they would run.

Polls indicate that whoever wins will not be prime minister for long, given how far behind the Liberals trail the official opposition Conservatives after nine years in office. The next election looks set to take place at some point in May.

Other cabinet members mulling a run include Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, Transport Minister Anita Anand and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, sworn in Friday for a third six-year term after elections he is widely accused of stealing, has been written off many times during a turbulent decade in power.

But the former bus driver has stubbornly clung to the wheel.

With neither the charisma nor the flush oil revenues of his late revolutionary mentor Hugo Chavez, Maduro is accused of increasingly relying on the security forces to retain control.

More than 2,400 people were arrested, 28 killed and about 200 injured in a crackdown on the protests that followed his disputed victory claim in last July’s elections.

The violence echoed previous deadly crackdowns on the opposition in 2014, 2017 and 2019.

His third term could see him remain in power until 2031, a total of 18 years — four more than Chavez.

But he appears more isolated than ever on the international stage.

Only a handful of countries — including perennial allies Russia and Cuba — have recognized his claim to reelection, with the United States and several Latin American neighbors declaring opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia the country’s rightful leader.

Poll struggles 

Tall, with a full mustache and slicked-back graying hair, Maduro’s image is plastered across buildings in Venezuela where he styles himself as an earthy man of the people.

He served as a lawmaker, foreign minister and vice president before being chosen by Chavez as his successor three months before the socialist firebrand died of cancer in 2013.

The choice of Maduro, who lacks Chavez’s rhetorical skills, raised eyebrows in the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

He barely scraped through on his first election in 2013.

But he has fended off crisis after crisis with the help of the military and paramilitaries, even as the economy imploded under the weight of falling oil prices, US sanctions and hyperinflation.

Seven million Venezuelans — a quarter of the population — have voted with their feet and sought a better life abroad since he took office.

Baseball and salsa 

Born in Caracas, Maduro is both a professed Marxist and Christian, and as a teenager played guitar in a rock band.

He is a baseball fan and dances salsa — frequently showing off moves on state TV — with his wife Cilia Flores, a former prosecutor he refers to as “First Combatant.”

He has cast himself as a “worker president,” and it has been claimed he deliberately misspeaks in English so as not to be seen as high-brow.

As president, Maduro has weathered many threats imagined and real — including a failed explosive-laden drone attack in 2018 that wounded several soldiers.

He survived US sanctions imposed over his 2018 re-election, which was also tainted by fraud allegations.

About 50 countries including the United States recognized congress speaker Juan Guaido as interim president but his parallel government later collapsed.

Maduro has been aided by close political and economic ties with China and Russia, which have helped his country stay barely afloat.

To deflect blame for Venezuela’s misery, he has sustained Chavez’s anti-American conspiracy theories, accusing Washington of plotting to kill him and Western nations of ruining the once-thriving economy.

All the while, he has shuttered channels for political dissent, locking up dissidents and challengers with little regard for due process.

Venezuela is under investigation for rights violations by the International Criminal Court.

But he has also shown himself to be adept at realpolitik.

He won an easing of US sanctions and other concessions by agreeing with the opposition to hold democratic elections in 2024.

But he reneged on the conditions and some of the sanctions were snapped back last April.

To boost his omnipresent real-life persona, Maduro has sought to endear himself to a long-suffering population through a popular TV and internet cartoon character in his image.

Super-Bigote (Super-Mustache) is a caped superhero “at war with imperialism.”

A nighttime curfew has been imposed in disaster areas hit by devastating fires that have ruined large parts of Los Angeles, county sheriff Robert Luna said Friday.

“You cannot be in these affected areas. If you are, you are subject to arrest,” he told a press conference. “We’re doing it to protect the structures, the houses that people have left because we ordered them to leave.”

The rule, which will be in effect between 6 pm and 6 am in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fire areas, comes as fears of looting grow, with some residents organizing street patrols and keeping armed watch over their own houses.

“We’re not doing this to inconvenience anybody,” said Luna.

“This curfew will be strictly enforced and is being taken to enhance public safety, protect property and prevent any burglaries or looting in the area that the residents have evacuated.”

Luna said anyone who breaks the curfew could be jailed.

“I’ve given direction that if somebody is caught doing this, they are not going to get cited and released. They’re going to get booked. We are not screwing around with this.”

Make childless women pregnant and earn big money: that was their business pitch. It did work until the gang was busted and three people were arrested from Bihar.

The alleged scam was reported from Kahuara village in Nardiganj subdivision of Nawada district.  

Cyber scamsters ran an ‘All India Pregnant Job Service’, through which they lured prospective customers and then blackmailed them, said the police.

According to the offer, they tempted people with Rs 10 lakh in exchange for making women pregnant, said the police. Even in case of failure, said the police, the customers were promised Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

“Three people have been arrested. They provide ‘All India Pregnant Job Service’ and also run a ‘Playboy Service’. Their MO (Modus Operandi) is that they put advertisements on Facebook. After that many people call them. In the name of registration, these people ask for prospective customers’ PAN Card, Aadhaar card, selfie. They then collect money from the people who fall into the trap of this temptation in the name of registration and booking hotels,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Imran Pervez.

Those arrested have been identified as Prince Raj, Bhola Kumar and Rahul Kumar. 

Six mobile phones have been recovered from the arrested accused through which WhatsApp chats, customers’ photos, audio recordings and bank transaction information have been obtained, said the police officer.

(With inputs from Ashok Priyadarshi)

Barely six months after its forceful rise on the national political horizon, the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), formed by diverse parties united by the sole ideological adhesive—an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sentiment—is now tottering on the verge of disintegration.

The outcome of the general elections, where the alliance fell 60 seats short of the strength acquired by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, provided a significant boost to the combined opposition. The alliance’s strength was enough to counter the Narendra Modi government’s proclivity to pass laws unchallenged. A collective opposition of around 20 parties led to crucial bills—such as those on Waqf properties and One Nation One Election—being referred to parliamentary panels for detailed scrutiny.
However, by 2025, distinct grumbling voices from within the alliance suggested that it was in a state of drift, lacking demonstrable leadership, with the Congress failing to provide coordination. This discontent became more pronounced when a few constituents endorsed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is gearing up for the Delhi Assembly elections on February 5.  

An Implosive System

The drifting state of the alliance, the Congress’s unwillingness to accommodate its partners in the Haryana assembly elections, and its current stance as a challenger to AAP in Delhi, highlight the inherent contradictions within this arrangement. Over the past decade, the AAP has captured the imagination of Delhi’s residents, filling the political space that was once dominated by Congress. The AAP is now on the verge of equalling the Congress’s record of forming a government in Delhi for three consecutive terms. The 15-year run of the Congress between 1998 and 2013 was halted by the rise of the AAP, formed by Arvind Kejriwal and his fellow travellers on an “anti-corruption” bandwagon. The Congress, now desperate to regain some of the ground it lost, is back in the fray.

AAP convenor and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has declared that the party has secured support from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and endorsement from other INDIA allies. Meanwhile, the BJP, hoping to form a government in Delhi after 26 years, is playing up these differences within the INDIA bloc.

Parliament vs. Assemblies

Two clear strands have emerged over the past six months. The combined alliance in Parliament is different from its ability to accommodate constituents in state assembly elections. As the largest party in the alliance, other constituents expect the Congress to be magnanimous, without expecting reciprocity.

On January 9, Kejriwal was emphatic in declaring that the INDIA bloc was non-existent in Delhi, where the contest is primarily between the AAP and the BJP. His comments echoed the sentiments of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, who recently stated that the alliance was meant for Lok Sabha elections. This is part of the RJD’s posturing ahead of the Bihar assembly polls due this autumn. In Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah went a step further, suggesting that the alliance should either define clear contours of engagement in states or disband entirely.

The Congress is under attack as allies mount pressure to hand over the mantle of leadership to another player, unwilling as they are to be led by the Grand Old Party. The voices grew louder after the Congress failed to regain power in Haryana in October, which cost it a significant bargaining chip in the subsequent Maharashtra polls. This setback further eroded the Congress’s ability to provide leadership to the alliance. Signs of unease were evident during the winter session of Parliament.

It is natural for a party with a strong political base in a state to be unwilling to accommodate a weaker partner. During seat-sharing and adjustment talks, the strength that any party brings to the table matters.

Congress Needs To Present A Plan

Parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the AAP, with strong presences in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and Punjab, respectively, will be reluctant to grant any space to an ally with a similar voter base.

The Congress, the only party with a pan-India organisational presence capable of challenging the BJP across the country, must take charge. It needs to present a clear plan to coalition partners, adopting a discerning strategy for Parliament while maintaining flexibility in state politics and managing inherent contradictions. As the Congress prepares to move into its new headquarters in Delhi on January 15, it must shed its baggage and work toward a smooth transition with renewed enthusiasm.

(K.V. Prasad is a senior Delhi-based journalist)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.

Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July’s election by both Venezuela’s electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published.

Venezuela’s opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized as president-elect by several countries including the United States. International election observers said the vote was not democratic.

The months since the election have seen Gonzalez’s flight to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado going into hiding in Venezuela, and the detentions of high-profile opposition figures and protesters.

In the latest in a series of punitive steps, the outgoing Biden administration increased its reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug trafficking charges to $25 million, from a previous $15 million.

It also issued a $25 million reward for Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, as well as new sanctions against eight other officials including the head of state oil company PDVSA Hector Obregon.

The US indicted Maduro and others on narcotics and corruption charges, among others, in 2020. Maduro has rejected the accusations.

The US move coincided with sanctions by Britain and the European Union each targeting 15 officials, including members of the National Electoral Council and the security forces, and Canadian sanctions targeting 14 current and former officials.

The Maduro government has always rejected all sanctions, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to an “economic war” designed to cripple Venezuela.

“The outgoing government of the United States doesn’t know how to take revenge on us,” Maduro said during his inauguration speech, without directly mentioning sanctions.

The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.

Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country’s resilience despite the measures, though they have historically blamed some economic hardships and shortages on sanctions.

OPPOSITION TO SPEAK

Gonzalez, who has been on a whistle-stop tour of the Americas this week, has said he will return to Venezuela to take up the mantle of president, but has given no details.

The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said Gonzalez will be arrested if he returns and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

Opposition leaders Gonzalez and Machado are each expected to speak later on Friday.

Both are being investigated by the attorney general’s office for alleged conspiracy, but only Gonzalez has a public warrant out for his arrest.

Machado’s first public appearance since August at an anti-government march in Caracas on Thursday was marred by a brief detention.

Her Vente Venezuela political movement said guns were fired and Machado was knocked off the motorcycle on which she was leaving the event. She was then held and forced to film several videos, it said.

One video shared on social media and by government officials showed her sitting on a curb and recounting losing her wallet.

The government scoffed at the incident and denied any involvement.

Some 42 people have been detained for political reasons since Tuesday, judicial NGO Foro Penal said.

Maduro was sworn in at the national assembly in Caracas and said he was taking his oath in the name of sixteenth-century Indigenous leader Guaicaipuro and late President Hugo Chavez, his mentor, among others.

“May this new presidential term be a period of peace, of prosperity, of equality and the new democracy,” Maduro said, adding he would convene a commission dedicated to constitutional reform.

“This act is possible because Venezuela is peaceful, in full exercise of its national sovereignty, of its popular sovereignty, of its national independence,” Maduro said.

Some 2,000 invitees from 125 countries attended the inauguration, according to the government.

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, staunch allies of Maduro, attended as did Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament.

ECONOMIC TROUBLES

Venezuela closed its borders and airspace to Colombia for 72 hours starting at 0500 local time (1000 GMT), the foreign ministry in Bogota said in a statement, adding the border on the Colombian side would remain open.

The opposition, non-governmental organizations and international bodies such as the United Nations have for years decried increasing repression of opposition political parties, activists and independent media in Venezuela.

US President-elect Donald Trump has said the country is being run by a dictator.

Meanwhile the government has repeatedly accused the opposition of plotting with foreign governments and agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency to commit acts of sabotage and terrorism.

The government said this week it had detained seven “mercenaries,” including a high-ranking FBI official and a US military official.

Venezuela’s economy has experienced a prolonged crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and the exodus of more than 7 million migrants seeking better opportunities abroad.

Many of Machado’s supporters, among them retired Venezuelans who would like to see their children and grandchildren return to the country, say jobs, inflation and unreliable public services are among their top concerns.

The government, meanwhile, has employed orthodox methods to try to tamp down inflation, to some success. Maduro said this month that the economy grew 9% last year.

About 2,000 people were arrested at protests following the election. The government said this week it has released 1,515 of them.

Gonzalez, 75, said his son-in-law was kidnapped on Tuesday while taking his children to school.

Donald Trump today became the first felon in the White House after a US court upheld his conviction in a hush money case. He has been sentenced to an ‘unconditional discharge’ for covering up unaccounted payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

This means that the President-elect has been found guilty of his charges, but will not face any jail time or penalty because he has been elected President of the United States and will take oath to the country’s highest office on January 20 – a post that brings with itself an impunity of being above the law while in office and beyond.

And so, though the 34 counts of Donald Trump falsifying business records on which he was convicted in May 2024 carried potential jail time, the judge could do little about it, ending up having to spare the President-elect. Should he not have been the president, Donald Trump would have been jailed for a term of four years. Instead he will now return to the White House as President for another four.

ALSO READ | Who Is Stormy Daniels, Porn Star At Center Of Trump’s Criminal Conviction?

Donald Trump did not even attend the session of court in person, choosing to do so virtually, knowing well that he would not be sent to jail.

“This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgement of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land, is an unconditional discharge,” said New York judge Juan Merchan delivering the sentence.

He judge went on to say that “Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances.” With the constitution protecting the highest office in the United States, there was no other option for the judge than to give an “unconditional discharge” to the former president. Any other judgement risked encroaching the Presidential immunity accorded to the country’s highest post.

Even before the sentencing, to avoid the dubious distinction of being the first felon ever in the White House, Donald Trump used all his power and resources in making a last-ditch effort to skirt past it.

Hours before the sentencing, Donald Trump remarked that he believes this entire legal proceeding was actually a “setback for the New York court system”. “It was done to damage my reputation, just so that I may lose the election,” he claimed, adding that it has been a “terrible experience” for him.

During the course of the proceedings however, Donald Trump had to sit and see witness after witness testify against him – of how he had fraudulently covered up illicit payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in an effort to stop her disclosing their tryst ahead of the 2016 presidential election, which he ultimately won.

Donald Trump had tried his best to stop the criminal proceedings against him but had faced a huge setback when the US Supreme Court had ruled that his sentencing could proceed.

Today’s sentencing comes just ten days before Donald Trump returns to the White House for a second term as President of the US.
 

Former First Lady Michelle Obama was noticeably absent from former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. A person familiar with her schedule told Politico that Michelle Obama had a scheduling conflict and is currently in Hawaii, per Politico.

Her office confirmed her absence, with spokesperson Crystal Carson stating, “Former First Lady Michelle Obama is not in attendance at President Carter’s National Funeral Service. Mrs. Obama sends her thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from the remarkable former President”, according to Associated Press.

Notably, Michelle Obama would have been seated next to former President Donald Trump, who instead sat next to her husband, former President Barack Obama. The two chatted for several minutes before the funeral began. Barack Obama, a Democrat, appeared to speak cordially to his Republican successor, as did former Democratic President Bill Clinton and his Republican successor, George W. Bush.

The funeral was a rare joint appearance of the five living presidents, including Obama, Trump, Clinton, George W. Bush, and President Joe Biden. They were joined by their spouses, including former first lady Melania Trump, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former first lady Laura Bush and first lady Jill Biden, except for Michelle Obama. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence and former second lady Karen Pence were also present.

The event brought together prominent leaders from the past and present, along with dignitaries from all branches of the US government and representatives of foreign leaders.

CNN reported that Michelle Obama had been on an “extended vacation” in Hawaii, which conflicted with the funeral schedule. Her spokesperson did not comment on whether she would attend President Trump’s inauguration on January 20. The dignitaries will gather again in Washington for the inauguration, marking another significant event that brings together the nation’s leaders.
 

A stampede at the landmark Umayyad Mosque in Syria’s capital on Friday killed four people, a Damascus health official told state media.

“Damascus Health Director Dr Mohammed Akram Maatouq announced that the final toll from the unfortunate stampede that occurred today in the Great Umayyad Mosque and its surroundings is four dead and 16 injured,” a statement carried by state news agency SANA said.

Earlier, Damascus Governor Maher Marwan had told SANA that the deadly crush took place “during a civilian event at the mosque”.

A photographer who collaborates with AFP and was at the site of the stampede saw large crowds gathered near the mosque because free meals were being handed out.

Ghina, who was at the mosque to attend Friday prayers, said she saw “people carrying an elderly woman with blood dripping from her face”, adding that she appeared dead.

The Al-Watan newspaper said the stampede happened during the distribution of free meals by a social media personality.

A YouTuber called Chef Abu Omar, who has a restaurant in Istanbul, had earlier posted a video of preparations for the distribution of free meals at the Ummayyad Mosque.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had visited the mosque in the morning.

Denmark’s government has proposed purchasing two new Arctic inspection vessels and increasing dog sled patrols to boost its military presence in Greenland, as US President-elect Donald Trump sets his sights on the island, local media reported.

The government has also proposed upgrading the airport in Kangerlussuaq, a former US military base in western Greenland, to accommodate F-35 fighter jets, broadcasters DR and TV2 said on Friday.

Denmark has already set aside $400 million to strengthen surveillance and intelligence in the Arctic and North Atlantic with long-range drones.

Trump this week reiterated his ambition to gain control over Greenland, a semi-autonomous Arctic territory of Denmark that the incoming US president views as crucial to American security.

Denmark, while responsible for Greenland’s security and defence, has limited military capabilities on the vast island. At present, these include four ageing inspection vessels, a Challenger surveillance plane and 12 dog sled patrols, all tasked with monitoring an area four times the size of France.

The tradition of using sled dogs for patrolling Greenland dates back to World War II, with the patrol being a specialized unit of the Royal Danish Navy.

DEFENCE SPENDING TALKS

Following more than a decade of drastic cuts in defence spending, last year Denmark allocated 190 billion Danish crowns ($26 billion) for its military over a ten-year span, some of which will be for the Arctic.

Danish lawmakers began long-delayed talks on Friday on how to apportion those funds, which are being progressively allocated via political agreements. The discussions that commenced on Friday focused on what portion of the budget should be go to Greenland’s defence requirements.

Earlier this week, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he looked forward to informing Trump about Denmark’s “massive” military build-up since his last term as president.

However, Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen acknowledged on Thursday that necessary military investments had been “neglected for many years.”

Poulsen last month said more funds should be allocated towards Denmark’s military presence in the Arctic, although he did not provide specifics.

“The US concerns are real, and there are some very concrete, huge problems in relation to Greenland,” defence analyst and retired navy commander Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen told Reuters.

“The US needs to feel safe in this area, and if Denmark doesn’t do something about this, then they will have to deal with it themselves.”

The US military maintains a permanent presence at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland’s northwest. The strategic location is vital for the US military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, as the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.

On Thursday, the US embassy in Copenhagen stated that there were no plans to increase the US military presence in Greenland.

The Biden administration on Friday imposed its broadest package of sanctions yet targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues in an attempt to give Kyiv and the incoming administration of Donald Trump leverage to reach a deal for peace in Ukraine.

The move is meant to cut Russia’s oil revenues for the war that started in February, 2022, and has killed or wounded tens of thousands and reduced cities to rubble.

The measures are “the most significant sanctions yet against the Russian energy sector, the largest source of revenue for the Kremlin’s war machine,” a senior Biden official told reporters in a call.

The US Treasury slapped sanctions on Russian companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas that explore, produce and sell oil and 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, many of which are in the so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers operated by non-Western companies. They also include networks that trade the petroleum.

Many of those tankers have been used to ship oil to India and China as the price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 has shifted much of Russian oil trade from Europe to Asia. Some of the tankers have shipped both Russian and Iranian oil.

The logic of the sanctions “is to hit every stage of the Russian oil production and distribution chain,” the official said. They should cost Russia billions of dollars per month, if sufficiently enforced, the official said.

The sanctions target oil producers, tankers, intermediaries, traders, and ports.

“There is not a step in the production and distribution chain that’s untouched and that gives us greater confidence that evasion is going to be even more costly for Russia,” the official said.

The measures allow a wind-down period until March 12 for sanctioned entities to finish energy-related transactions. Still, sources in Russian oil trade and Indian refining said the sanctions will cause severe disruption of Russian oil exports to its major buyers India and China.

Gazprom Neft said the sanctions are unjustified and illegitimate and the company will continue to operate.

Global oil prices jumped more than 3% ahead of the Treasury announcement, with Brent crude nearing $80 a barrel, as a document mapping out the sanctions circulated among traders in Europe and Asia.

The sanctions are part of a broader effort, as the Biden administration has furnished Ukraine with about $64 billion in military aid since the invasion. This includes $500 million this week for air defense missiles, air-to-ground munitions and support equipment for fighter jets.

Friday’s move followed U.S. sanctions in November on banks including Gazprombank, Russia’s largest conduit to the global energy business, and earlier in the year on dozens of tankers carrying Russian oil.

The Biden administration believes that November’s sanctions helped push Russia’s ruble to its weakest level since the beginning of the invasion and pushed the Russian central bank to raise its policy rate to a record level of over 20%.

“We expect our direct targeting of the energy sector will aggravate these pressures on the Russian economy that have already pushed up inflation to almost 10% and reinforce a bleak economic outlook for 2025 and beyond,” a second Biden administration official said.

LEVERAGE

Biden aides have briefed Trump’s aides on the sanctions. But a Biden official said it is “entirely” up to Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, on when and on what terms he might lift any Biden-era sanctions. The military aid and the sanctions “provide the next administration a considerable boost to their and Ukraine’s leverage in brokering a just and durable peace,” one of the officials said.

The return of Trump, a Republican, to the White House has sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution to end Moscow’s invasion but also fears in Kyiv that a quick peace could come at a high price for Ukraine.

Advisers to Trump have floated proposals to end the war that would effectively cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future.

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the new sanctions.

Any administration wishing to reverse the new sanctions will have to notify Congress and give Congress the ability to take a vote of disapproval, said one of the Biden officials, who added that a number of Republican members of Congress have urged Biden to impose Friday’s sanctions.