Ukrainian soldiers fire a French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine. PHOTO: AP
PARIS (AP) – France announced more planned deliveries of its Caesar artillery system to Ukraine on Thursday and accelerating weapons manufacturing as it seeks to avoid depleting its own military stocks. “The logic of ceding materiel taken from the armies’ stocks is reaching its end,” the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview with Le Parisien. “From now on, the solution is to directly connect French defence industries with the Ukrainian army.”
France also launched a drive to fund the delivery of 78 Caesar self-propelled 155 millimetres (mm) howitzers to Ukraine this year. Ukraine has already paid for six of the guns itself and France will provide EUR50 million (USD54 million) to deliver 12 more, Lecornu said separately in a speech.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, speaking by video link, said Russian forces are firing five times more artillery shells, even 10 times more in some places, than Ukrainian forces along the front lines and that stronger artillery “is one of our key needs to win this war”.
“Shortage of ammunition, shell hunger, is a very real and pressing problem,” he said.
Lecornu said increased supplies of shells for Ukraine are on their way. From this month, France will supply 3,000 shells for 155mm guns per month at the start of the war and 2,000 per month since last April, Lecornu said.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine. PHOTO: AP
Caesars are among an array of Western-supplied artillery systems that have given Ukrainian gun crews an edge, especially when paired with high-precision munitions, against Russian artillery batteries using older Soviet-designed systems.
Following Russia’s February 24, 2022, attack on Ukraine, France was among countries that quickly released weapons from its own armouries to help shore up Ukrainian defences.
As well as Caesars, France has supplied light tanks, long-range cruise missiles, air defence systems and other hardware, support and military training. Combined, French aid is estimated to be worth billions of euros.
Lecornu said 49 previously delivered Caesars are in operation in Ukraine. Based on battlefield feedback, the system is being improved to enable Ukrainian gunners to better target Russian tanks, the minister said.
More deliveries are promised. French President Emmanuel Macron this week announced plans to supply about 40 additional long-range Storm Shadow missiles and “several hundred bombs”.
He also announced his intention to travel again to Ukraine next month, saying, “We cannot let Russia win”.
BEIRUT (AFP) – At least nine civilians, including two children, were killed yesterday in air strikes on Syria likely to have been carried out by Jordan against drug-traffickers, a monitor and media outlet reported.
The kingdom has tightened controls along its frontier with Syria in recent years and its armed forces occasionally announce operations to foil drug and weapon smuggling attempts from its war-torn neighbour.
“Jordanian warplanes carried out air strikes targeting residential areas and a warehouse in southeastern province of Sweida, killing at least nine people, including two girls and four women,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, describing it as a “massacre”.
The first strike on a house in the village of Urman killed a man, his wife and their two daughters, along with his brother and his wife, said the Britain-based group.
The Suwayda24 news website reported that air strikes “likely to have been carried out by the Jordanian air force” killed at least 10 people in Urman.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said Jordan’s armed forces often carry out deadly strikes on civilian homes “on the pretext of fighting drug trafficking”.
Rayan Maarouf of Suwayda24 said however that the men who were killed, along with family members, were believed to have been drug traffickers.
On January 5, Jordan’s official Al Mamlaka television station said the country’s air force had carried out two raids in Syria “as part of the pursuit of drug-traffickers”.
One of the main drugs being smuggled out of Syria is the amphetamine-like stimulant captagon, for which there is huge demand in the oil-rich Gulf.
WARSAW (AP) – A deputy foreign minister in Poland’s previous right-wing government appeared before prosecutors on Wednesday to hear charges connected to the alleged sale of visas and work permits to migrants for thousands of dollars, anti-corruption officials said.
The cash-for-visas scandal emerged last summer and undermined the tough-on-immigration stance of the ruling Law and Justice party, which went on to lose power in October parliamentary elections. An investigation was launched earlier last year.
The Central Anti-Corruption Bureau said in a statement on Wednesday that it had detained the former deputy foreign minister, who had been in charge of consular affairs and who was identified only as Piotr W because of Polish privacy laws.
He was brought to the city of Lubin where prosecutors presented him with charges of having exceeded his authority in handling ministry documents, influencing the issuing of Polish visas and sharing classified information with an unauthorised person in 2022-23.
A customs agent works with a drug sniffer dog in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. PHOTO: AP
BRUSSELS (AP) – Customs seized 116 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Antwerp in 2023, setting a record for the second year in a row, Belgian authorities said on Wednesday.
Demand for cocaine is growing rapidly across the European Union, and governments blame the drug trade for outbreaks of violence in major port cities like Antwerp, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Marseille in France.
The port of Antwerp has become the main gateway for Latin American cocaine cartels into the continent.
The quantity of cocaine seized in Europe’s second largest seaport rose from 110 tonnes in 2022, Belgian authorities said, adding that Colombia, Ecuador and Panama remain the top origin countries. State Secretary Aukje de Vries, the minister in charge of the customs authorities said the fight against cocaine smuggling “continues to require constant attention and investment”.
In Belgium, federal authorities say drug trafficking is penetrating society rapidly as foreign criminal organisations have built deep roots in the country, bringing along their violent and ruthless operations.
In the past four years, Antwerp has seen dozens of grenade attacks, fires and small bombs, many linked to gangs trying to carve up the thriving cocaine trade.
A customs agent works with a drug sniffer dog in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. PHOTO: AP
ZAGREB (AFP) – Croatian journalists on Thursday condemned proposed legislation that would effectively outlaw the leaking of information from criminal proceedings, saying it was an attempt to silence their sources.
Anyone disclosing the contents of “an investigative or evidentiary action” could be jailed for up to three years, according to new amendments to the country’s penal code.
Parliament began reviewing them on Thursday. The amendments do not explicitly mention journalists but rather focuses on judicial officials, police, lawyers and witnesses.
But Hrvoje Zovko, the head of Croatia’s journalists’ association (HND), told AFP: “These amendments are a brutal aggression against the journalistic profession and public interests.”
The bill would likely reduce information provided by whistleblowers, making reporting on corruption cases and public affairs issues increasingly difficult, he added.
The government has rejected such accusations. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said the bill “addresses the problem of the leaking of information in the non-public phase of criminal proceedings”.
Dean Kapsalis is comforted by his attorney as his sentence is read during a hearing at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts, United States. PHOTO: AP
AP – A man in United States convicted of murder in the 2021 death of a Black man after a racist road rage encounter was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Dean Kapsalis, of Hudson, was convicted by a jury last year of second-degree murder, violation of constitutional rights and other offenses in the killing of Henry Tapia.
Kapsalis and Tapia got into an argument on January 19, 2021. Investigators found that as the argument wound down, Kapsalis shouted a racial slur and then hit Tapia with his pickup as he drove off. Tapia died at a hospital, prosecutors said.
“The murder of Henry Tapia is a senseless tragedy fuelled by hate and anger,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said last year after the conviction.
“The fact that some of the last words Henry Tapia heard were a horrific racial insult meant to intimidate and threaten him based on the colour of his skin is something we cannot tolerate.”
Judge David A Deakin, according to The Boston Globe, called the sentence on Wednesday proportional to the crime. While he took into account the support Kasalis received from friends and family, he noted that “your record reflects essentially a lifelong tendency toward violence”.
Deakin also addressed relatives of Tapia, who left behind a fiancee and children.
“I am well aware that no sentence can give them what they most want, which is to have Mr Tapia back,” Deakin said. “If I could, I wouldn’t do anything other than that”.
Kapsalis argued at trial that Tapia’s death was an accident. His sentencing was delayed by his unsuccessful attempt to reduce his conviction to manslaughter.
Dean Kapsalis is comforted by his attorney as his sentence is read during a hearing at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts, United States. PHOTO: AP
Yanomami Indigenous people at a ward dedicated to Indigenous people at the Santo Antonio Children's Hospital in Boa Vista, Roraima state, Brazil. PHOTO: AFP
BOA VISTA (AFP) – The Yanomami Indigenous group are again facing a severe humanitarian crisis blamed on illegal gold miners, despite Brazil’s president deploying the military to wrest back control of their territory.
A year after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared a state of emergency over the isolated group’s plight, images emerging from their Amazon rainforest reservation remain desolate: severely malnourished children being fed through IV tubes in hospital and their staple food source, fish, decimated by the toxic mercury used in the mines.
At least 308 Yanomami died from January to November 2023, half of them were children under five, according to health officials.
Cases of malaria among the Yanomami increased by 61 per cent last year, and influenza by 640 per cent compared to 2022.
Those bleak figures are a problem for Lula, who came to office in January 2023 vowing to do a far better job protecting Brazil’s Indigenous peoples than far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
One of the veteran leftist’s first actions in office was to deploy the military to expel an estimated 20,000 illegal miners from the Yanomami reservation, a sprawling northern territory bigger than Portugal.
Indigenous leaders and rights activists accuse miners of raping and killing Yanomami inhabitants, poisoning their water with mercury, spreading disease, tearing down virgin rainforest and triggering a food crisis.
Lula ordered the air force to impose a no-fly zone to cut off supplies to the mines, and sent hundreds of police and soldiers to evict the invaders.
Thousands of miners fled as the authorities carried out a total of 400 operations last year, seizing BRL600 million (USD120 million) from criminal groups involved with the mines, according to official figures.
Yanomami Indigenous people at a ward dedicated to Indigenous people at the Santo Antonio Children’s Hospital in Boa Vista, Roraima state, Brazil. PHOTO: AFP
ABOVE & BELOW: Okra, grape and coconut raita will certainly whet appetites with its many colours; and ingredients arranged in a salad bowl.
PHOTO: THE STAR
ANN/THE STAR – Being raised with a consistent abundance of okra from the garden can inspire individuals to delve into cookbooks or, in modern times, explore online recipes to tantalise their taste buds.
While the vegetable thrives in warm and temperate climates, it has gained popularity in various global cuisines, spanning Southeast Asia, India, China, and Western countries.
The long finger-like vegetable with a tapering end and round off-white seeds is mucilaginous and requires some know-how to cook, as too much slime spoils the taste and leaves it looking less than appealing.
So far, I have come across green and red okra but the latter is not as common.
What’s good about okra is its versatility as it can be stir-fried, steamed, boiled, deep-fried, baked or grilled.
When stir-frying sliced okra, it is advisable not to add salt as soon as the vegetable is introduced to a hot pan.
ABOVE & BELOW: Okra, grape and coconut raita will certainly whet appetites with its many colours; and ingredients arranged in a salad bowl. PHOTO: THE STARPHOTO: THE STARIngredients for the okra, grape and coconut raita dish. PHOTO: THE STARABOVE & BELOW: Cut the okra into one-centimetre thick slices; and okra slices mixed with spices. PHOTO: THE STARPHOTO: THE STAR
I prefer stir-frying the okra for a few minutes until it turns a darker shade of green, before adding salt.
When steaming okra, all it takes is approximately a minute for it to change from light to dark green.
For this particular family recipe, toasted coconut instead of fresh coconut is preferred in helping the yoghurt-based dish keep longer in the refrigerator.
I know of families who use fresh grated coconut but there is a tendency for it to go bad.
Most recipes, though, will omit the use of coconut.
Some recipes call for dried chillies in the tempering process but I prefer Thai green chilli or bird’s eye chilli for that touch of heat.
I find using dried chillies tends to change the colour of the oil during tempering, staining the dish with a brownish hue that does not go well with the yellow turmeric shade.
My mother adds fennel seeds during tempering, too, for its sweet, earthy taste.
For extra sweetness, I prefer red grapes instead of sugar.
Here’s a tip regarding the tomato. De-seeding the fruit will keep the dish nice and thick when mixed with yoghurt.
Leave the seeds in and it results in a watery finish.
Finally, I prefer Greek yoghurt but you may use any plain yoghurt of your choice.
OKRA, GRAPE AND COCONUT RAITA
Ingredients
For stir-frying
– Five tablespoons grated coconut (toasted)
– Five tablespoons vegetable oil
– Two teaspoons mustard seeds
– Two teaspoons urad dhal
– One teaspoon fennel seeds
– One sprig curry leaf
– 30 grammes ginger
– Two cloves garlic
– One green Thai chilli
– One teaspoon turmeric powder
– Half teaspoon salt
– 200 grammes green okra
For tossing
– One medium sized tomato
– One red onion
– Two sprigs coriander
– 100 grammes red globe grapes
– One cup Greek yoghurt + half teaspoon salt
Method
In a dry shallow pan on medium heat, toast five tablespoons of grated coconut.
Keep an eye on the coconut and stir to prevent burning.
Once the coconut starts to brown, turn the flame down to low.
It is best to maintain it on a medium to low flame for approximately five minutes until the coconut caramelises to a beautiful golden-brown hue.
Do not fret if there are white bits among the coconut flakes.
Set aside and cool completely for 15 minutes.
Reuse the same shallow pan and on medium heat add five tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Throw in two teaspoons of mustard seeds which need to crackle and splutter in the hot oil.
Next introduce two teaspoons of urad dhal, one teaspoon of fennel seeds and strip one sprig of curry leaf. The curry leaf must sizzle to release its oils.
Stir the herb and spices together until the lentils achieve an even golden shade.
Reduce the heat if the ingredients are browning too fast.
The ginger goes in next, stir for a bit before adding chopped garlic and green Thai chilli.
Once the aromatics are cooked, add one teaspoon turmeric powder and allow it to coat the spice and herb mix.
Add 200 grammes okra and stir-fry for a few minutes until the vegetable turns a darker shade of green.
Once they appear cooked, add in half teaspoon salt, stir again before removing from the flame.
Transfer the okra to a big bowl and let it cool down.
Next, mix the ingredients together.
De-seed one tomato and cut into cubes. Dice the onion into cubes, cut the coriander sprigs into one centimetre length and grapes into bite-sized pieces.
Add the tomatoes, onion, coriander and grapes into the bowl containing the okra.
Next, add yoghurt, half teaspoon salt and toasted coconut.
Mix the ingredients together and serve immediately or keep it in the refrigerator until it is time to eat.
ABOVE & BELOW: A driver’s licence photo of Alrick ‘Shawn’ Barrett, in 2022; and Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan and Criminal Investigations Captain Dalia Simons during a press conference. PHOTO: AP
RICHMOND (AP) – A man fatally shot his estranged wife and three other relatives, including his eight-year-old niece, at a home in suburban Houston, United States over the weekend before killing himself, authorities said on Wednesday.
Alrick ‘Shawn’ Barrett, 46, opened fire at the home just before 7am on Saturday after returning his young child from a visit, Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan said at a news conference. Fagan said that after arriving at the home, Barrett told his estranged wife that he wanted to reunite, but she refused.
Deputies responded to the home after getting a call from a 13-year-old boy, Barrett’s nephew, in the home, Fagan said.
The sheriff’s office said that the 13-year-old and Barrett’s seven-year-old child hid during the shooting and were not harmed. The mother of Barrett’s estranged wife was also in the home and unharmed.
In addition to killing his niece and estranged wife, who was 44, Barrett also killed her 43-year-old brother and 46-year-old sister, according to the sheriff’s office. Fagan said he was not immediately releasing the names of those killed.
Fagan said that some of the family members lived in the home and others were visiting.
ABOVE & BELOW: A driver’s licence photo of Alrick ‘Shawn’ Barrett, in 2022; and Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan and Criminal Investigations Captain Dalia Simons during a press conference. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
A Burberry bag prop from the HBO series ‘Succession’. PHOTO: AP
NEW YORK (AP) – Someday soon, someone will be walking down the street proudly carrying a ludicrously capacious bag, bought for a ludicrously capacious price.
The voluminous Burberry tote is one of the most famous props used on Succession, the famed HBO saga of the Roy family dynasty, and it sold at auction recently for USD18,750.
But that bag, which became notorious when Matthew Macfadyen’s Tom Wambsgans savagely ridiculed it, wasn’t even the priciest item sold from the set of the addictive drama.
No, that was a set of pink index cards containing Roman Roy’s eulogy notes for his father’s funeral – a speech he never gave. Beginning, “My father Logan Roy was a great man”, the four cards represent the tragic failure of Roman (Kieran Culkin) to meet the moment. They have a new life now with someone who paid USD25,000 and hopefully will frame them nicely.
The online auction on behalf of HBO at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, brought in a total of USD627,825 for 236 lots. The results showed not only that people loved the show, says Heritage spokesperson Robert Wilonsky, but also that meaningful objects, and not the show’s high-end “stealth” fashion, clicked most with bidders.
“At the end of the day, it was key moments of the show that resonated with fans,” he said.
A Burberry bag prop from the HBO series ‘Succession’. PHOTO: APABOVE & BELOW: A scorpion paperweight prop; and index cards containing Roman Roy’s (played by Kieran Culkin) eulogy notes for his father’s funeral. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
Props often take a back seat to costumes. After all, there’s no award for “best props” at awards shows, like there is for costumes, notes Succession prop master Monica Jacobs, who joined the show after the pilot episode. But prop departments go to extreme lengths to secure just the right item – even if it only appears for a few seconds. Jacobs shared the origin stories of some of the show’s most iconic props.
DRIED SCORPIONS IN THE OVEN
Why did Tom give wife Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) a paperweight of a dried scorpion encased in resin? Who knows? It certainly illustrated the turbulence of their marriage – and also caused a few turbulent hours in Jacobs’ kitchen at home.
“It turns out you can buy (dead) scorpions pretty easily,” she said, “but they’re small. Getting them large enough was not easy.”
Once she had a bunch – duplicates are always needed – she had to soak them to loosen up the glue so that she could reposition them for maximum effect. She stabilised them with wire and slow-baked them for hours on low heat until they were dry enough to be encased.
All for a brief appearance. And maybe a spot on someone’s desk: a duplicate sold for a cool (and baked) USD10,000.
MOURNFUL WORDS
Roman’s sad, pink notecards with that eulogy never spoken were not the only scribbled words that went for a fortune. On the day Logan died on his private plane, Shiv was the one who spoke to the waiting press.
“You’ll understand I won’t be taking questions,” she said, in part, “but my brothers and I just want to say Logan Roy built a great American family company…”
The words were written in block letters in Snook’s own handwriting. She did the first card and then, for duplicates, her writing was recreated. Likewise, Culkin’s handwriting inspired his pink notecards, Jacobs said. As for Jeremy Strong, who played Kendall, he often preferred to write every copy himself. Shiv’s speech card went for USD17,500.
THAT… BAG
Let’s just say Bridget, the date of Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) at Logan’s birthday party, made an unfortunate accessory choice. Tom, in his worst “human-grease-stain” way, imagined aloud what could be in the “ludicrously capacious” tote: “Flat shoes for the subway? Her lunch pail? … You could take it camping. You could slide it across the floor after a bank job.”
Jacobs explained that finding the perfect bag to match the script was a collaboration between the props and wardrobe departments.
“Everybody brought in a version,” she said. “We had to decide, how big IS this bag, actually?” Also – it needed to be just the right level of high-end, “not enough for the Roy world, but still higher end than I am,” she quipped. Ultimately, costume designer Michelle Matland “had the vision,” Jacobs said.
The winning bidder also got an embroidered Sandro dress.
MAKING THOSE MAGAZINES LOOK REAL
When the Roys appear on the cover of New York magazine, you might think it’s just a matter of slapping together a few pages in the art studio. But no.
It begins with a real issue of the magazine, to get the weight and the size exactly right. Then, not just the cover but inner pages are created too, and carefully incorporated.
“It’s a very delicate process” to make the magazine look authentic, Jacobs says. “We’re very picky about how we do it.” The cover sold for USD10,000.
SOME OF THOSE SAUSAGES WERE REAL
Remember that horrific game, or hazing ritual, that Logan inflicted on his poor executives, forcing them to grunt like an animal and beg for sausages? Some sausages were real, as needed, and some fake. (A group of prop sausages went for USD5,250).
But mostly, food – at weddings, or other gatherings – was not only real but intricate, evocative of the locale, and fun to create, said Jacobs.
“Every cheese board has to be a little different than the last time we did a cheese board,” she said. “We got very creative.”
SAME WITH THE THE CREDIT CARDS
Three lots of Roy family credit cards were auctioned, but they won’t be accepted at your local supermarket. The cards were crafted by a graphic designer, then sent for printing at a special shop in New York, on either plastic or metal.
“The plastic ones are are actually much more durable as props,” said Jacobs. “But,” she added, “with Succession characters it made sense for most of them to be metal.”
Indeed. Kendall’s cards – two American Express Platinums, two Mastercards and one driver’s license – went for USD10,000. – Jocelyn Noveck
