UKRAINIAN TANKS ON MOVE
N. Macedonian police find 28 migrants in van, arrest driver
SKOPJE, North Macedonia – Authorities in North Macedonia have detailed 28 mostly Cuban migrants found crammed into a van driven by a suspected member of a migrant smuggling gang, police said Tuesday.
It was the second time in three days that a group of Cubans was intercepted being driven through North Macedonia. In both cases police said the drivers, who were arrested, were Serb citizens, and the migrants had entered the country illegally through Greece.
Police said 25 of the migrants found late Monday were from Cuba, including five minors, and the other three were from India. The van was stopped after a brief chase when the driver ignored police signals to stop near the southern border town of Gevgelija.
Ukrainian defense minister: Our troop buildup is defensive
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Tuesday that the former Soviet republic has “no plans to attack anyone,” and its gathering of troops is purely defensive amid speculations of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine as soon as next month.
In recent weeks, there has been a massive Russian troop buildup near Ukraine’s border which has prompted fears of a possible invasion in Kyiv and the West.
Moscow has denied plans to attack Ukraine and in turn blamed Ukraine’s own military buildup in the east of the country, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting with Russia-backed separatists since 2014. Russian officials alleged that Kyiv might try to reclaim the areas controlled by the rebels by force. Ukrainian officials have denied an intention to do so.
Italian births decline dramatically during pandemic
MILAN – Italian women are having dramatically fewer babies than ever during the pandemic, accentuating one of the world’s lowest birth rates, the Italian statistics agency ISTAT said.
The month of January 2021, 10 months after Italy’s draconian lockdown, marked the lowest birth rate ever – a 13.6% decline over the same month a year earlier, translating to nearly 5,000 fewer births.
ISTAT said after significant drops also in November and December 2020 there was “little doubt about the role of the pandemic” and that the trend appeared to be lasting.
In just over a decade, births have dropped by one third in Italy, with 404,892 babies born in 2020 from 576,659 in 2008. Almost all of the decline is attributed to families with two Italian parents.
EU’S top court boosts the rights of same-sex parents
BRUSSELS – A ruling by the European Union’s top court on Tuesday has boosted the rights of same-sex parents and their children in the 27-nation bloc.
The European Court of Justice said a child with two mothers certified in one EU nation must also be recognized by the other EU members as such.
The ruling was based on a case in Bulgaria, where a local court questioned whether authorities could refuse to register the birth of a Bulgarian citizen born in Spain to married mothers. The lack of such a Bulgarian birth certificate would impede the child’s chances for an identity card and hence, their freedom of movement in the bloc, a cornerstone of EU policy.
“This is a true testament to the EU being a union of equality and we look forward to seeing rainbow families enjoying their right to freedom of movement and other fundamental rights on equal footing to anyone else,” said Arpi Avetisyan of Europe’s LGBTI rights group ILGA.
Vatican fraud trial sees more delay amid procedural errors
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican’s big fraud and embezzlement trial, which opened to great fanfare in July, suffered another delay Tuesday as the tribunal postponed any further decisions until prosecutors finish redoing their investigation of four of the original 10 defendants.
The delay means the trial, which had already been proceeding at a snail’s pace even by Italian standards, won’t get off the ground until mid-february at the earliest. Tribunal president Giuseppe Pignatone said that by then he could “finally, hopefully” unify the two branches and start in earnest.
“We’re in an open construction site,” Pignatone said of the current status. “The key thing is that the trial needs more time before it can open for real.”
After two years of investigation, Vatican prosecutors in July charged 10 people with a host of financial crimes related to the Holy See’s 350 million-euro investment in a London property.
Scientists cautious as erupting Spanish volcano falls quiet
Ukrainian tanks are transported toward the Luhansk region, Ukraine, on Sunday. European Union foreign ministers met Monday to discuss how to thwart the threat of a possible new Russian invasion of Ukraine and what measures to take should Moscow decide to send its troops across the border. ANDRIY DUBCHAK/AP
MADRID – A volcano that has been spewing lava in Spain’s Canary Islands for almost three months fell quiet Tuesday, though scientists warned the lull didn’t necessarily mean the eruption is over.
Scientists recorded no seismic activity from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma island since late Monday, the Canary Islands’ volcanology institute, Involcan, said in a tweet.
“That does not mean the eruption has finished, because in the past this has been followed by a new surge,”