World

BERLIN — Germany said on Saturday the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week was a "wake-up call" that demanded new EU sanctions against Russia's "shadow fleet".

The Estlink 2 cable that carries electricity from Finland to Estonia was disconnected from the grid on Wednesday, just over a month after two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic.

"Almost every month, ships are damaging major undersea cables in the Baltic Sea," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement to the Funke media group.

"Crews are leaving anchors in the water, dragging them for kilometres along the seafloor for no apparent reason, and then losing them when pulling them up," she said.

"It's more than difficult to still believe in coincidences. This is an urgent wake-up call for all of us."

Baerbock urged "new European sanctions against the Russian shadow fleet", ships that transport Russian crude and oil products despite embargoes imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The fleet is "a major threat to our environment and security" that is used by Russia "to finance its war of aggression in Ukraine", she said.

Finnish authorities said on Thursday they were investigating the oil tanker, Eagle S, that sailed from a Russian port, as part of a probe into "aggravated sabotage" of the Estlink cable.

NATO will bolster its military presence in the Baltic Sea in response, the Western alliance's secretary general, Mark Rutte, said on Friday.

MADRID — At least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea in 2024, an NGO said Thursday, more than 50 percent more than last year and the most since it began keeping a tally in 2007.

The 58-percent increase includes 1,538 children and 421 women, migrants rights group Caminando Fronteras or Walking Borders said in a report which covers the period from January 1 to December 5, 2024.

It amounts to an average of 30 deaths per day, up from around 18 in 2023.

The group compiles its data from hotlines set up for migrants on vessels in trouble to call for help, families of migrants who went missing and from official rescue statistics.

It blamed the use of flimsy boats and increasingly dangerous routes as well as a lack of resources for rescues for the surge in deaths.

"These figures are evidence of a profound failure of rescue and protection systems. More than 10,400 people dead or missing in a single year is an unacceptable tragedy," the group's founder, Helena Maleno, said in a statement.

The victims were from 28 nations, mostly in Africa, but also from Iraq and Pakistan.

Deadly route

The vast majority of the fatalities -- 9,757 -- took place on the Atlantic migration route from Africa to Spain's Canary Islands, which has received a record number of migrants for the second year in a row.

Seven migrant boats landed in the archipelago on Christmas Day, Spain's maritime rescue service said on social media site X.

At their closest point, the Canaries lie 100 kilometres off the coast of North Africa. The shortest route is between the coastal town of Tarfaya in southern Morocco and the island of Fuerteventura in the Canaries.

The Atlantic route is particularly deadly, with many of the crowded poorly equipped boats unable to cope with the strong ocean currents. Some boats depart African beaches as far as 1,000 kilometres from the Canaries.

To avoid controls, smugglers sometimes take longer, more dangerous journeys, navigating west into the open Atlantic before turning north to the Canaries -- a detour that brings many to the tiny westernmost island of El Hierro, which since last year has experienced an unprecedented surge in arrivals.

The regional government of the Canaries says it is overwhelmed, and in October thousands of people took part in rallies in main cities in the archipelago to demand action to curb the surge in arrivals.

 'Lead to tensions' -

During his Christmas Eve broadcast, Spain's King VI warned that "without proper management" of migration, "it can lead to tensions that erode social cohesion".

"How we are able to deal with immigration --which also requires good coordination with our European partners, as well as with the countries of origin and transit --will say a lot in the future about our principles and the quality of our democracy," he added.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in August went on a tour of West African countries in a bid to boost local efforts to curb illegal migration from Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia, the main departure points for migrant boats headed to the Canary Islands.

Along with Italy and Greece, Spain is one of the three major European gateways for migrant arrivals.

According to the interior ministry, 60,216 migrants entered Spain irregularly between January 1 and December 15 -- a 14.5 per cent increase over the same period last year.

The majority, over 70 percent, landed in the Canaries.

The International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, estimates that since 2014, more than 16,400 migrants have died trying to reach Europe from Africa, a figure that includes those headed to the Canary Islands.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis called Wednesday for "arms to be silenced" around the world in his Christmas address, appealing for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan as he denounced the "extremely grave" humanitarian situation in Gaza.

He used his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" ("to the city and the world") message to the world's 1.4 billion Catholics to call for talks for a just peace in Ukraine as the country was pummelled by 170 Russian missiles and drones on Christmas morning.

"May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine," the 88-year-old pontiff said, his voice strained and breathless. "May there be the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace."

In front of thousands of the faithful gathered in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, also appealed for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the freeing of Israeli hostages held there by Hamas.

"I think of the Christian communities in Israel and Palestine, particularly in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave. May there be a ceasefire, may the hostages be released and aid be given to the people worn out by hunger and by war," he added.

Francis extended his call for a silencing of arms to the whole Middle East and to Sudan, which has been ravaged by a ravaged by 20 months of brutal civil war where millions are under the threat of famine.

"May the Son of the Most High sustain the efforts of the international community to facilitate access to humanitarian aid for the civilian population of Sudan and to initiate new negotiations for a ceasefire," he said.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Azerbaijan held a national day of mourning Thursday after a passenger jet from the flag carrier crashed in Kazakhstan killing 38 people, as experts pointed to apparent shrapnel damage on the wreckage as evidence of a possible missile explosion.

The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea. It crashed Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

An investigation is underway, but some aviation and military experts said the plane may have been accidentally shot by Russian air defence systems as it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported.

Kazakh Senate speaker Maulen Ashimbayev condemned "speculation" about what happened.

He said it was "not possible" to say what may have damaged the plane, he was quoted by Russian news agency TASS as saying.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said: "We need to await the end of the investigation".

But Russian military expert Yury Podolyaka said holes seen in the wreckage of the plane were similar to the damage caused by an "anti-aircraft missile system".

"Everything points to that," he wrote.

Gerard Legauffre, a former expert at France's BEA air accident investigation agency, also said there appeared to be "a lot of shrapnel" damage on the wreckage.

He said the damage was "reminiscent" of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was downed with a surface-to-air missile by Russia-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds before withdrawing the statement.

The airline reported that 67 people were on board the jet -- 62 passengers and five crew members.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said that 38 people had been killed, while the Kazakh emergency situations ministry reported "29 survivors, including three children, have been hospitalised".

Jalil Aliyev, the father of flight attendant Hokume Aliyeva, told AFP that this was supposed to have been her last flight before starting a job as a lawyer for the airline.

"Why did her young life have to end so tragically?" the man said in a trembling voice before hanging up the phone.

Eleven of the injured are in intensive care, the Kazakh health ministry said.

Azerbaijan state news agency Azertac reported that 12 of the survivors were being flown to Azerbaijan.

A plane carrying nine injured Russian nationals, including a child, also arrived at Zhukovsky airport in the Moscow region on Thursday, Russia's emergency situations ministry said.

Day of mourning

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.

Aliyev's office said the president "ordered the prompt initiation of urgent measures to investigate the causes of the disaster".

"I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash... and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," Aliyev said in a social media post on Wednesday.

The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the eastern shore of the sea.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the plane "made an emergency landing" around three kilometres (1.9 miles) from Aktau.

Kazakhstan said the plane was carrying 37 Azerbaijani passengers, six Kazakhs, three Kyrgyz and 16 Russians.

Bloodied survivors

A Kazakh woman told the local branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) she was near where the plane crashed and rushed to the site to help survivors.

"They were covered in blood. They were crying. They were calling for help," said the woman, who gave her name as Elmira.

She said they saved some teenagers.

"I'll never forget their look, full of pain and despair," said Elmira. "A girl pleaded: 'Save my mother, my mother is back there'."

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Aliyev and "expressed his condolences in connection with the crash", his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.

A Russian emergency situations ministry plane was sent to Aktau on Wednesday with medical personnel and other equipment.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also called his Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Russian counterparts to send his "deep condolences", according to CCTV.

SEOUL — South Korea's opposition said Tuesday it would hold back a decision to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo until later in the week.

The opposition Democratic Party earlier said it would introduce an impeachment motion against Han on Tuesday to protest against the interim leader's refusal to sign into law special bills to investigate his impeached predecessor.

"We have decided to exercise patience, taking into account the sentiments of the people, and wait until the 26th (Thursday) to determine whether our demands are met," floor leader Park Chan-dae said.

The party originally set Christmas Eve as the deadline for Han to promulgate two special bills investigating suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law, as well as graft allegations surrounding his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

The conservative leader was stripped of his duties by parliament on December 14 following his brief declaration of martial law 11 days earlier, which plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Yoon is now waiting for a decision by the Consitutional Court, which requires six votes in favour from its nine-member bench in order for the impeachment motion to be passed. Currently three seats are empty, and can be appointed.

But Han, who stepped in to replace Yoon, rejected the opposition's demand at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, insisting on bipartisan agreements for the two bills.

Han's stance "left us no other option but to interpret it as his intention to continue the insurrection by delaying proceedings", Park told a press briefing earlier.

Yoon is currently under investigation by a joint team comprising police, the defence ministry, and anti-corruption investigators.

'Coercive Politics'

On Tuesday, Yoon Jong-kun, the Democratic Party spokesperson told reporters that the impeachment motion against Han had been "unanimously adopted" as the party's official stance.

The reasons for impeachment include not only rejecting the two bills but also "actively participating in and supporting the insurrection" and "attempting to exercise another form of power while the President's authority had not yet formally ended after the insurrection".

The opposition says it needs only a simple majority in the 300-member parliament to impeach Han, as this is the threshold for a cabinet member.

The ruling People Power Party, however, argues that a two-thirds majority is required since Han is currently serving as acting president.

Kweon Seong-dong, leader of the ruling People Power Party, said The Democratic Party's "coercive politics have reached their peak" adding that they are "constantly interfering with the legitimate exercise of the acting president's authority".

"This behaviour is no different from that of gangsters who threaten retaliation if money is not deposited," said Kweon.

MOSCOW — Two crew members are missing after a Russian state-owned cargo ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean after an explosion on board, Russia's foreign ministry said on Telegram on Tuesday.

The Ursa Major sank "after an explosion in the engine room", the ministry's crisis unit said.

The ministry said that out of the 16 Russian crew members, 14 had been rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena and two were missing.

Spain's sea rescue service said in a statement that the ship sent a distress call Monday morning when it was off the coast of southeastern Spain in bad weather, reporting that the ship was listing and a lifeboat had been launched.

Spain sent out a helicopter and rescue boats and took the survivors to port, where they were helped by the Red Cross, the service said.

A Russian warship then arrived and took charge of the rescue operation since the ship was between Spanish and Algerian waters, after which the Ursa Major sunk overnight.

"According to the survivors' account, the cargo ship was carrying empty containers in the hold and two cranes on deck," the Spanish rescue service said.

The Russian foreign ministry said the ship is owned by a subsidiary of Russia's Oboronlogistika, which belongs to the defence ministry and also provides civilian transport and logistics.

A map on Oboronologistika's website shows the company among other things covers a route from Novorossiisk, in southern Russia, to Tartus, Russia's naval base in Syria.

Ukraine's GUR military intelligence said Monday that "Russia has begun transporting some of its weapons and equipment from the port of Tartus to Libya by sea".

There is uncertainty over the future of Russia's bases in Syria after the removal of Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad.

The Ursa Major is listed on MarineTraffic.com as a 124.7-metre long general cargo ship that was sailing from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia's Far East.

Last week Oboronlogistika issued a press release with photos of the ship in port, saying it would transport a particularly large and heavy load: cranes each weighing 380 tonnes and hatch covers for icebreakers each weighing 45 tonnes to the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

It said this was part of "state" efforts to develop ports and the northern sea route via the Arctic.

Delivery by sea is best for such bulky equipment and the company has "great experience" in this, it said.

Agentstvo investigative news site wrote that the hatch covers were for a vaunted new nuclear icebreaker called Lider, designed to break thick ice on the northern sea route.

The accident came after a Russian tanker transporting fuel oil partially sunk in a strait between Moscow-annexed Crimea and southern Russia on December 16, causing a major oil spill.

PANAMA CITY — Panama's president Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday dismissed recent threats made by US President-elect Donald Trump to retake control of the Panama Canal over complaints of "unfair" treatment of American ships.

"Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent areas belongs to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama," Mulino said in a video posted to X.

Mulino's public comments, though never mentioning Trump by name, come a day after the president-elect complained about the canal on his Truth Social platform.

"Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous," he said.

Trump also complained of China's growing influence around the canal, a worrying trend for American interests as US businesses depend on the channel to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

"It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else," Trump said. "We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!"

The Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States in 1914, was returned to the Central American country under a 1977 deal signed by Democratic president Jimmy Carter.

Panama took full control in 1999.

Trump said that if Panama could not ensure "the secure, efficient and reliable operation" of the channel, "then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question."

Mulino rejected Trump's claims in his video message, though he also said he hopes to have "a good and respectful relationship" with the incoming administration.

"The canal has no direct or indirect control from China, nor the European Union, nor the United States or any other power," Mulino said. "As a Panamanian, I reject any manifestation that misrepresents this reality."

Later on Sunday, Trump responded to Mulino's dismissal, writing on Truth Social: "We'll see about that!"