Global

Fatal Floods in the Philippines

Thousands of people in the Philippines were overwhelmed by flooding late last week. At least 51 people died in the floods; 19 others are still missing.

As the floodwaters receded, residents were forced to sweep away thick layers of mud from the floors of their homes. Others saw trees in their yards uprooted or their huts flattened by the heavy rains.

The Northern Mindanao region bore the brunt of the disaster, reporting 25 deaths, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Most of the deaths were from drowning and landslides, and among the missing were fishermen whose boats capsized.

Even after water subsided, more than 8,600 people were still in shelters.

Over 4,500 houses were damaged by the floods, along with roads and bridges, and some areas still struggle with disrupted power and water supply, the disaster management agency said.

Officials said the government are sending food and other essentials, deploying heavy equipment for clearing operations, and providing iron sheets and shelter repair kits. Teams from the capital Manila were sent to assist communities with limited clean water in setting up water filtration systems.

At least 22 cities and municipalities have declared a state of emergency. The move will allow the release of emergency funds and hasten rehabilitation efforts.

A shear line — the point where warm and cold air meet — triggered heavy rains in parts of the country last week, causing the floods, the state weather bureau said.

When asked why he robs banks, bank robber William Sutton supposedly said, “Because that’s where the money is.”

Well, in Denmark, there’s not a lot of money to be found in banks. And so, as the country goes cashless, bank robberies are becoming a thing of the past. There were no holdups of banks in 2022 in the Nordic country.

Criminals have found it no longer pays to walk into bank branches in search of a bag of crisp notes, as falling cash use in society has pushed banks to trim costs by pulling cash services from most branches.

In 2021, Denmark only had one bank robbery, according to data from Finance Denmark, the country’s largest industry group for lenders. That’s down from 222 just two decades ago.

Danes increasingly use cards and payment apps on their smartphones for transactions, causing cash withdrawals to drop by about three-quarters over the last six years, according to central bank data. In total, only about 20 bank branches across Denmark have cash holdings, according to Finance Denmark.

As cash disappeared from banks, robbers started targeting ATMs, with such attacks peaking at 18 in the year 2016. Those have also come down to zero amid better surveillance and technical protection.

Mexican Prison Break

14 allowed 25 inmates to escape. The attack on the jail took place over the weekend when armed intruders broke into the The Jewish Home | JANUARY 5, 2023 prison. The attack is a shadow of the violence in prisons that took place in that same city, which borders the U.S., last year. Just a few months ago, in August, violence between rival gangs in the city left civilians dead. State authorities are investigating the case and looking for the escaped leader of the criminal group Los Mexicles, the federal government said. National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Monday that “there was overpopulation at the prison” and that state authorities could have filed a petition to move excess inmates through a federal program. Ciudad Juarez, which reached infamy in the early 2000s due to high rates of murdered women and for prolonged drug-fueled violence, sits just across the border from Texas. The attack on the prison may have been sparked by an attempt to free gang leader Ernesto Alfredo Pinon, known as “El Neto.” His cartel-linked group was also involved in the August shootings, federal officials said. Extra National Guard forces and the army have been sent to the city to find and capture the escaped inmates. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s government has been criticized for its security strategy, informally known as “abrazos, no balazos” or “hugs, not bullets.”

The government has said its plan has been effective in reducing homicides.

Xi and Putin Meet Again

When China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia declared a “no limits” partnership 10 months ago, the pair projected an aura of strength in a direct challenge to the United States and the West.

As the two leaders met again on Friday via video, they found themselves in positions of weakness, encumbered by geopolitical and economic threats to their informal authoritarian alliance. Both now have little room to maneuver, making the relationship all the more important, albeit also a lot more complicated.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, Putin has been isolated and highly dependent on China to maintain a semblance of diplomatic and financial stability. His needs have intensified in recent months as the Kremlin has suffered setbacks on the battlefield in a war that has killed thousands of civilians and left Russia’s economy vulnerable.

This month, Xi has seen his much-touted coronavirus pandemic strategy unravel and Covid-19 cases explode, marring the image he wants to present to the world as the leader of a superior political system. With the current crisis, he can neither fully throw his weight behind Putin and risk sanctions, nor abandon him and risk losing a key geopolitical ally to counter the West.

They betrayed little shakiness in their situations Friday, pointing in public statements to beefier bilateral trade and growing military cooperation. In a seeming nod to the strains, Xi acknowledged the “complicated and consistently changing international situation,” but said China was ready to improve “strategic collaboration” with Russia, according to a transcript of Xi’s remarks published by state media.

“As long as the two have the U.S. as their shared common threat, the convergence of their interests will outweigh the divergence,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington-based research institute.

Putin used the call on Friday to reaffirm Russia’s ties with China, calling them “a model of cooperation between major powers in the 21st century,” according to a readout by the Kremlin. He invited Xi to visit Moscow in the spring and suggested the two countries could overcome the “unfavorable external situation” together.

“We share the same views on the causes, course and logic of the ongoing transformation of the global geopolitical landscape, in the face of unprecedented pressure and provocations from the West,” Putin said. (© The New York Times)

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Former Pope Benedict Dies

Over the weekend, former Pope Benedict XVI died. He was 95.

Benedict had led the Catholic Church for less than eight years before stepping down in 2013, citing health issues. He

Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery within the walls of the Vatican where he passed away on Saturday. On Thursday, his successor, Pope Francis, will lead his funeral. Until then, the body of Benedict will be lying St. Peter’s Basilica for hordes of faithful to visit the Pope Emeritus.

In his first public comments since news of Pope Benedict’s death broke, Pope Francis called him a gift to the church, describing him as a noble and kind man.

President Joe Biden – only the second Catholic to serve as U.S. president – said Pope Benedict “will be remembered as a renowned theologian, with a lifetime of devotion to the Church, guided by his principles and faith.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Pope Benedict as a “defender of traditional Christian values” in his New Year address to the nation.

Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, Benedict was 78 when, in 2005, he became one of the oldest popes ever elected.

When he was 14 years old, Ratzinger joined the Hitler youth movement after membership became mandatory. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center noted that Ratzinger’s family was anti-Nazi and said that, at the time, most youths were forced to join the Hitler youth movement.

Ratzinger was captured by U.S. soldiers during his time in the army in World War II. After the war, he entered the priesthood.

For much of his papacy, the Catholic Church faced allegations, legal claims, and official reports into decades of child abuse by priests. Earlier this year, the former pope acknowledged that errors had been made in the handling of abuse cases while he was archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982.

Jail for Mask Exemptions

4,000 people with exemptions from wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

The doctor was convicted of “issuing incorrect health certificates” to people from across Germany, most of whom she had never met or examined.

In addition to the prison sentence, she was handed a three-year work ban and ordered to pay 28,000 euros ($29,550), the sum she had received for issuing the medical certificates. Her office assistant was fined 2,700 euros.

“The process is more reminiscent of a sale of certificates than a medical procedure,” the court said in a statement. It noted that the doctor was not faulted for providing certificates to her existing patients.

During the trial, the defendant had argued that wearing masks was harmful to people’s health. She intends to appeal the verdict.

Germany ended requirements to wear masks in many indoor settings last year, although they are still compulsory on long-distance trains, in doctors’ practices, hospitals, nursing homes, and on some regional public transport.

Four people died and three others were seriously injured after two helicopters collided in Queensland, Australia.

The crash took place on Monday afternoon on the Gold Coast, a popular tourist area just south of the state’s capital Brisbane.

“Those two aircraft, when collided, have crash landed on the sandbank just out from Sea World Resort,” Queensland Police Inspector Gary Worrell, a regional duty officer for the southeastern region, said.

Thirteen passengers were aboard the two helicopters.

One of the helicopters from the popular theme park was able to land on the sandbank. Of its six passengers, five suffered minor injuries. The aircraft crashed and landed upside down; four people inside, including the pilot, were killed, while the three other people were critically injured.

For now, it is unclear why the helicopters collided, although it appeared that one aircraft may have been taking off while the other was attempting to land.

Clergymen or Russian Spies?

Andriy Pavlenko, an Orthodox church abbot in eastern Ukraine, seemed to be on a selfless spiritual mission. When war came, he remained with his flock and even visited a hospital to pray with wounded soldiers.

But, in fact, according to court records, Pavlenko was working actively to kill Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian activists, including a priest from a rival Orthodox church in his city, Sievierodonetsk.

“In the north, there are about 500 of them, with a mortar platoon, five armored personnel carriers and three tanks,” Pavlenko wrote to a Russian officer in March as the Russian army was hammering Sievierodonetsk and areas around it with artillery.

“He needs to be killed,” he wrote of the rival priest, according to evidence introduced at his trial in a Ukrainian court, showing he had sent lists to the Russian army of people to round up once the city was occupied. Pavlenko was convicted as a spy this month and then traded with Russia in a prisoner exchange.

His was hardly an isolated case. In the past month, authorities have arrested or publicly identified as suspects more than 30 clergymen and nuns of the Ukrainian arm of the Russian Orthodox Church.

To Ukrainian security services, the Russian-aligned church, one of the country’s two major Orthodox churches, poses a uniquely subversive threat — a widely trusted institution that is not only an incubator of pro-Russia sentiment but is also infiltrated by priests, monks, and nuns who have aided Russia in the war.

Recent months have brought a quick succession of searches of churches and monasteries, and decrees and laws restricting the activity of the Russian-aligned church, confusingly named the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this month asked parliament to ban any church that answers to Russia, although no details have been proposed yet, so it remains unclear how that would work.

The Ukrainian crackdown on the Russian church has elicited howls of protest from the church and the Russian government, which call it an assault on religious freedom.

Early in December, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church called the accusations of collaboration between its clergy and Russia “unproven and groundless.” (© The New York Times)

Soccer Great Pelé Dies

“I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint,” soccer legend Pelé once said. The Brazilian star died this week at the age of 82.

For more than 60 years, the name Pelé has been synonymous with soccer. He played in four World Cups and is the only player in history to win three, but his legacy stretched far beyond his trophy haul and remarkable goal-scoring record.

Brazilian footballer Neymar said Pelé “changed everything.” In a post on Instagram, he wrote: “He turned football into art, into entertainment. He gave a voice to the poor, to black people and especially, he gave visibility to Brazil. Football and Brazil have raised their status thanks to the King!” he added.

Pelé was not always known by just one name. He was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in 1940.

The genesis of the nickname Pelé is unclear, even to the footballer. He once wrote in the British newspaper The Guardian that it likely started with school classmates teasing him for mangling the nickname of another player, Bilé. Whatever the origin, the moniker stuck.

As a child, his first taste of soccer involved playing barefoot with socks and rags rolled up into a ball. He said that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father was a “good football player,” Pelé once said.

“He was famous in Brazil, in Minas Gerais. He was my role model. I always wanted to be like him, but what happened, to this day, only G-d can explain.”

As a teenager, Pelé left home and began training with Santos, scoring his first goal for the club side before his 16th birthday. He would go on to score 619 times over 638 appearances for the club, but it is his feats in the iconic yellow jersey of Brazil for which he is best remembered.

He made his debut at the World Cup at age 17 and scored Brazil’s only goal in the country’s quarterfinal victory against Wales, then netted a hat-trick in the semifinal against France and two in the final against host Sweden.

U.S. Natural Gas Arrives in Germany

The first regular shipment of liquefied natural gas from the United States arrived in Germany on Tuesday, part of a wide-reaching effort to help the country replace energy supplies it previously received from Russia. rived at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, where its shipment of liquefied natural gas will be converted back into gas at a special floating terminal that was inaugurated last month by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Germany has rushed to find a replacement for Russian gas supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The facility in Wilhelmshaven is one of several such terminals being put in place to help avert an energy shortage.

Ukraine Fights Back

In one of their deadliest attacks yet on Russian forces, Ukrainians used American-made rockets to kill dozens — and perhaps hundreds — of Moscow’s troops in a New Year’s Day strike behind the lines, prompting outraged Russian war hawks to accuse their military of lethal incompetence.

The strike by the HIMARS rockets killed 63 Russian soldiers in a building housing them in the occupied city of Makiivka, in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday — an unusual admission for a military that has often refused to acknowledge serious losses. A former Russian paramilitary commander in Ukraine, Igor Girkin, wrote on the Telegram app that “many hundreds” were dead and wounded and that many “remained under the rubble.”

Ukrainian military officials said it appeared that “about 400” Russian troops had been killed, though they did not explicitly say that Ukraine was behind the attack.

None of the claims could be independently verified, but even the lowest number would represent one of the worst Russian losses in a single episode in the war and an embarrassment for President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Pro-war Russian bloggers and some government officials said the debacle was caused by the military’s own repeated and costly mistakes, like garrisoning troops in a dense concentration within range of Ukrainian artillery, placing them in the same building as an ammunition depot, and allowing them to use cellphones, whose signals the Ukrainians can use to zero in on their target.

“Our generals are untrainable in principle,” wrote Girkin.

Some pro-war lawmakers demanded an investigation, and one of them, Sergei