France said Tuesday it is determined to continue fighting terrorism, despite losing 13 of its soldiers during a counterinsurgency operation in Mali. The deaths of the soldiers late Monday represent France’s biggest military loss in three decades. The 13 troops were killed during a counterterrorism combat operation in Mali, when the two helicopters the troops were on slammed into each other.French President Emmanuel Macron announced his deep sadness over their deaths, and France’s National Assembly observed a minute of silence.French Defense Minister Florence Parly described the men as exceptional soldiers and heroes, who fought for liberty until the end. She said support from allies strengthened France, allowing it to continue the fight against terrorism.Forty-one French soldiers have been killed in Mali since France launched its Barkhane counterinsurgency operation against Islamist militants in the Sahel in 2014.The latest deaths draw attention to the roughly 4,500 French troops stationed across West Africa — raising questions about whether they are stretched too thin.France is supporting a so-called G-5 Sahel alliance, grouping five area countries against armed extremist groups. But experts say the militant groups are strengthening. Regional forces and U.N. peacekeepers have come under attack. Some commentators say France does not have enough military support and the G-5 Sahel alliance has yet to achieve even a symbolic victory.
 
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There senior officials in Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government stepped down Tuesday in connection with a probe into the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.Press reports have linked Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, Economy Minister Chris Cardona and Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri to the Caruana Galizia investigation.All three deny any wrongdoing. Their resignations follow the arrest last week of Maltese hotelier and power company director Yorgen Fenech in relation with the case.In her blog, Caruana Galizia wrote boldly about corruption and investigated the affairs of Maltese politicians and business figures, as well as those doing business with the European Union member.Eight months before she was killed by a car bomb in October 2017, Caruana Galizia alleged in her blog that a company called 17 Black Ltd., listed in the Panama Papers, was connected to Maltese politicians. The company belonged to Fenech, the businessman.Economy Minister Cardona said Tuesday he was stepping down pending the investigation and the ongoing proceedings related to Caruana Galizia’s case. He was summoned by police for questioning last Saturday.
Cardona said he had “absolutely no connection with the case,” but added that after police asked for further clarifications, he felt “duty-bound to take this step in the national interest.”Mizzi, the tourism minister, said he was resigning “in the national interest.” He reiterated that he had no business connection with Fenech, and no connection with 17 Black.Prime Minister Muscat himself announced the resignation of his chief of staff Schembri.Asked of the reasons behind Schembri’s decision, Muscat told reporters it was premature to speculate on “whether he is being questioned or what he is being questioned about.” He added, however, that the timing of the resignation was “unfortunate.”Schembri served as Muscat’s chief of staff since 2013.Muscat on Friday described the investigation as “the biggest our country has seen,” but contended that no politicians were tied to the journalist’s murder.Three people were arrested in December 2017 on suspicion of detonating the bomb that killed 53-year-old Caruana Galizia as she drove near her home. The trial has not yet begun, and the mastermind has yet to be identified. 
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Colombian unions and student groups will hold another protest on Wednesday in honor of a teenage demonstrator who died after being injured by a tear gas canister, as President Ivan Duque announced changes to his unpopular tax reform proposal.Other demonstrations are expected to continue on Tuesday, the sixth straight day of protests following a 250,000-person march last week organized by the National Strike Committee.The largely peaceful protests have attracted thousands of marchers to reject economic reforms, police violence and corruption.The committee said in a statement early on Tuesday it would demand “a permanent negotiation” with Duque, but talks lasted only about two hours, with committee leaders demanding Duque meet only with them, sans business leaders or other sectors.The committee has demanded the tax reform, which includes a cut in duties on businesses, be rejected.
Shortly after the meeting, Duque told journalists the proposal will be modified to return value added tax to the poorest 20% of Colombians and lower contributions to healthcare by minimum wage pensioners – half of the retired population – from 12% to 4% over three years. There will also be three days each year without VAT.The proposals will cost some 3.2 trillion pesos ($931 million), the government said.Duque denies supporting rumored economic plans that have galvanized many protesters – including a cut to the minimum wage for young people. Demonstrators have also highlighted what they say is a lack of government action to stop the murder of hundreds of human rights activists and asked Duque to fully implement a 2016 peace deal with leftist rebels.Asked as he left the meeting what the government could do to end protests, Confederation of Colombian Workers president Luis Miguel Morantes told Reuters “it is a negotiation, there will be things that go to a certain point, there will be a fair balance, there will be other things we have to wait for, like changes in laws, it’s very relative.”The committee wanted an “exclusive” dialogue, but the government would like them to form part of national discussions, said official Diego Molano.”They must understand that there are other sectors which also want to debate the issues of employment, who have proposals for young people,” Molano told journalists.The death on Monday of protester Dilan Cruz, 18, is likely to fuel further criticism of the crowd dispersion tactics of the ESMAD riot police, which include tear gas and stun grenades.Cruz, who was injured on Saturday, has become a symbol for many young protesters. On Tuesday mourners were gathering at makeshift shrines outside the hospital where he was treated and the place where he was hit.
The strike committee said it would ask Duque to shut down the ESMAD and “purify” the police.The committee will increase the intensity of the strike on Wednesday “in homage to the symbol of the national strike Dylan Cruz,” the statement said, using a different spelling of Cruz’s first name than that used by his sister and the government.($1 = 3,433.94 Colombian pesos) 
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Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Tuesday asked lawmakers to allow troops back on the streets to defend key public infrastructure, even as a human rights group reported “grave” abuses by security forces over five weeks of sometimes violent riots.The continuing protests in Chile over inequality and a shortfall in some social services have left at least 26 dead and thousands injured. They have also hobbled the capital’s public transport system, once the envy of Latin America, and caused billions in losses for private business.Chilean President Sebastian Pinera arrives to La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 4, 2019.Riots have erupted in countries across Latin America, including Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia in recent weeks as regional unrest has spiraled into violence and demands for broad-based reforms.Pinera sent a bill to Congress Tuesday morning to allow the military to protect transmission lines, electric plants, airports, hospitals and other public infrastructure in order to assure “basic services.”He said the move would “free up the police force … to protect the security of our citizens.”Pinera’s announcement came shortly after international rights group Human Rights Watch said in a report that police had brutally beat protesters, shot teargas cartridges directly at them, and ran over some with official vehicles or motorcycles.”There are hundreds of worrying reports of excessive force on the streets and abuse of detainees,” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, after meeting with Pinera on Tuesday.The group stopped short of alleging the abuses had been systematic, but its conclusions were in line with a report last week by Amnesty International on the seriousness of many violations. More than 200 Chileans have suffered severe eye injuries alone in clashes with police using rubber bullets.Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have recommended an immediate overhaul of police protocols and accountability measures to address the mounting allegations of abuse.Police and military officials have said any cases of alleged abuse are under investigation by civilian courts.New clashesRoadblocks snarled traffic around the Chilean capital Santiago on Tuesday around midday, as protesters set up burning barricades on major streets and highways around the city.Police used water cannons to disperse protesters in front of the La Moneda presidential palace shortly after Pinera’s speech there. Many took to the city’s main boulevard afterward, bringing traffic to a standstill.”This never ends,” Rosa Olarce, a pharmacy worker, told Reuters as she waited for a bus. “We’ll see what comes of it.”Pinera in his speech Tuesday morning ticked off a list of reforms, from boosting the minimum wage to slashing the prices of medicines and public transportation, aimed at quelling the protests.The country’s normally fractious political parties have also agreed to work together on a new constitution.However, protests continue, in smaller numbers but with intense violence at their fringes, driven by mistrust that politicians will keep their promises to bring significant change, and enduring fury over the police handling of demonstrators.
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With U.S.-Turkish relations at their lowest ebb in decades, the future of a critical American air base in Turkey is increasingly in the spotlight.  The vast Incirlik Air Base, located in southern Turkey close to Syria, has been a longstanding symbol of U.S.-Turkish cooperation. At the height of the Cold War, it underscored America’s commitment to its NATO partner against the Soviet Union.”We have to underline the Incirlik is one of the most important bases in the Middle East with the placement of tactical nuclear weapons at the base,” said professor Mesut Casin, a Turkish presidential foreign policy adviser. “This shows Turkey continues to support the value of the NATO organization.”It’s widely reported that the United States retains around 50 nuclear free-fall bombs at the facility. During the Cold War, the weapons were relied on to deter vast Soviet ground forces massed on the Turkish border.However, with Ankara and Washington at loggerheads over a myriad of issues, including Turkey’s deepening ties with Russia and the removal of Turkey from a U.S. jet fighter program, the future of Incirlik is increasingly murky.
The Countering Turkish Aggression Act, a bipartisan bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate, would require the Trump administration to consider alternative bases for “personnel and assets” deployed at Incirlik. The bill comes in response to Ankara’s offensive into Syria against a Kurdish militia, which is an ally in Washington’s war against Islamic State.FILE – A service vehicle with a sign reading ‘Welcome to Incirlik’ is pictured at Incirlik Air Base, near Adana, Turkey, Jan. 21, 2016.House Armed Services Committee member Representative Kendra Horn tweeted last month that she is “deeply concerned that strategic nuclear weapons remain on an air base within Turkish borders.” Horn later removed the tweet.”They (Congress) are talking about removing the nuclear arsenal from Incirlik,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende. “If they (nuclear weapons) are removed, that would be a sign of a huge lack of confidence (by Washington in Ankara).””There would be a trust problem, and relations might unravel if you withdraw the nuclear arsenal from Turkey,” he added. “And you would expect an overreaction from the Turkish side if the U.S. pulls out its nuclear arsenal.””Turkey-U.S. relations cannot continue in this climate of threats,” warns Casin. “Turkey has a long history of being the United States’ best ally in the region. Who is the winner of this present situation, Russia and China.”Analysts warn Moscow will be eager to take advantage of any U.S. reduction in Incirlik.”If the Americans take their nuclear weapons, then I can tell you if they do, then the Turks will take Russian missiles there,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “Then the Russians will have much more free hand to gain Turkey. So the architect of a lost Turkey will be American policy, and the winner will be (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
 
“Turkey is not on the defensive anymore,” he added.” The more the Americans make pressure, the more Turkey will work closely with Russia — this is a historical change in Turkish foreign policy.”Russian President Vladimir Putin has carefully cultivated a relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as relations with Ankara’s traditional western allies deteriorate.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands after their joint news conference following their talks in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Oct. 22, 2019.While Incirlik has been pivotal to U.S. strategic operations, including a significant withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan and Iraq, Ankara’s imposing restrictions on the base’s use in Syrian operations is, analysts say, a point of tension.  Last month’s American operation to kill Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria saw U.S. forces use a base in Iraq instead of the much closer Incirlik, requiring a round trip of many hours.Other allies, too, have expressed frustration about Turkish operational demands. In 2017, Germany removed its forces from Incirlik because of a diplomatic spat with Ankara, relocating to Jordan.American armed forces appear to be already taking steps to diversify their dependence on Incirlik. The U.S. has spent over $150 million in the last two years improving Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, while American bases are reportedly being considered to be established in Turkey’s neighbors, Greece and Cyprus.Observers claim, given Incirlik’s size and location, no base in the region can replace it. But Washington could be calculating that a combination of bases across the region could provide a patchwork alternative to Incirlik.Such efforts are likely to continue, given a continued current downward spiral in U.S.-Turkish relations. However, analysts warn, abandoning Incirlik will not be without consequences.”So American has to choose between losing Turkey or not losing Turkey. At the moment, they are more intending to lose Turkey,” said Bagci. 
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Dresden museum officials say thieves got away with less than initially thought in their robbery of the Green Vault’s collection of 18th century jewels.
Green Vault Director Dirk Syndram told reporters Tuesday the thieves who broke into the museum early Monday seem to have only snatched what they could reach through holes punched with an ax into three display cabinets.
He said the thieves, who haven’t been caught, did take a large diamond broach, a diamond epaulette, and other treasures. Syndram didn’t give a complete list of what was gone and has only said the losses were culturally “priceless.”
Of some 100 dazzling pieces, he said many were left behind, including diamond-encrusted shoe buckles and buttons, the queen’s pearl necklaces, and a diamond-studded sword.  
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Cuba’s foreign minister on Tuesday accused the United States of violating the Vienna Convention and the deal re-establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.Soon after, the United States announced a new sanction on Cuba meant to cut off the island’s supply of petroleum from Venezuela.In two tweets, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said unspecified “illegal actions” by the U.S. Embassy in Havana violated both the international codes of conduct for diplomats and the agreement to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana in 2015.“Illegal actions by #US embassy in #Cuba are interference in the internal affairs of the country and are intended to attack our constitutional order,” Rodríguez tweeted. “They violate the Vienna Convention, the agreement for the re-establishment of relations and Cuban and US laws.”The U.S. Treasury said it was designating the Cuban company Corporacion Panamericana S.A. as a violator of American sanctions on Venezuela. Such designations make it difficult for companies like Panamericana to do business even outside the United States due to third parties’ fears of repercussions for dealing with a sanctioned entity.The Treasury Department said that after the U.S. sanctioned the state-owned oil importer Cubametales, Cuba moved employees and contracts over to Panamericana, which was not yet sanctioned.In one example that occurred over the summer, Cuba shifted its dealings with a North African oil provider from Cubametales to Corporacion Panamericana, the Treasury Department said.A Cubametales official who also worked in a similar position at Corporacion Panamericana negotiated a deal to buy gasoline from a European company, the Treasury statement said.The announcement comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Cuba over Washington’s steadily increasing pressure on the communist government.The U.S. has prohibited cruise travel to Cuba, U.S. flights to cities outside Havana and support for Venezuela oil shipments to the island. The Trump administration says it hopes to cripple the Cuban government’s ability to support Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
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Almost three years into the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump, Germans and Americans continue to have notably different perspectives on the relationship between their two countries, with Americans much more optimistic than their European counterparts, a study said Tuesday.The Pew Research Center and the Koerber-Stiftung foundation said in the joint report that three-quarters of Americans surveyed characterized the relationship with Germany as good, while nearly two-thirds of Germans polled saw relations as bad. Only 2% of Germans said the relationship with the U.S. is very good, compared with 13% of Americans.Despite this disconnect, views have become more positive in Germany over the past year: The share of Germans who said the relationship between the United States and Germany is good rose from 24% in 2018 to 34% this year.The United States had been the Germans’ most important trans-Atlantic partner from the end of World War II through the Cold War. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall three decades ago and German reunification in 1990, Germany began focusing more on its partners in the European Union.The relationship between Germany and the U.S. also took a hit after Trump became president in 2017 and is mirrored in the strained relations of Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Tempers flared this week after Economy Minister Peter Altmaier on a talk show defended the government’s decision not to ban Huawei from competing for contracts to build the country’s 5G mobile networks, instead agreeing that companies must meet strict standards — which still could end up excluding the Chinese firm.Altmaier noted Germany hadn’t boycotted the U.S. after it was revealed the National Security Agency had listened in on Merkel’s phone, and said that Washington also demands that American companies “pass on certain information needed to fight terrorism.”U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell, a Trump appointee, responded that “the recent claims by senior German officials that the United States is equivalent to the Chinese Communist Party are an insult to the thousands of American troops who help ensure Germany’s security.”Despite the tensions under Trump, however, Americans’ view of the bilateral relationship is at its highest point in three years of surveys, rising from 68% in 2017 to 75% this year.Germans were more likely to see the U.S. as an important partner than Americans were to consider Germany as one.Among the Germans polled, 42% said the United States is the most important foreign partner, second only to France, which was deemed most important by 60%.In comparison, only 13% of Americans said Germany is the United States’ most important partner abroad, ranking it fifth after the United Kingdom (36%), China (23%), Canada (20%) and Israel (15%).Nonetheless, U.S. poll respondents ranked improving cooperation with Germany more highly than German respondents did, with about 69%, compared to half of Germans. German respondents placed more importance on greater cooperation with France and Japan: 77% and 69%, respectively.An overwhelming percentage of Americans polled, 85%, said they viewed the U.S. military presence in Germany as very important to American national security, while only 52% of German respondents did. The U.S. currently operates several military bases in Germany, with approximately 35,000 active duty American troops, a legacy of World War II and the continued NATO presence in Europe.The Pew Center interviewed 1,004 people in the U.S. from Sept. 17-22. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.In Germany, the survey of 1,000 people was conducted from Sept. 9-28 by the Kantar agency for Koerber-Stiftung. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
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Ukraine’s president says he has discussed a new contract for natural gas supplies from Russia during a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed the gas deal with Putin during Monday’s phone call. Zelenskiy said Tuesday that the deal is a priority for Ukraine and important for Europe’s energy security.Talks on a replacing a contract expiring this year have dragged, raising fears of disruptions of Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine.Price and debt disputes led to disruptions of Russian gas deliveries to European customers during the winters of 2006 and 2009.Relations between Russia and Ukraine have remained badly strained since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow’s support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
 
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Russia faces a four-year ban from global sporting events, including next year’s Tokyo Olympics, because of a continued failure to cooperate with anti-doping investigators.The ban recommendation made Tuesday by the compliance panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), came after investigators found evidence of a further drug cover-up by Russian officials, who are alleged to have deleted and tampered with positive drugs tests from a database at a Moscow laboratory earlier this year.The executive committee of the anti-doping agency will decide at a meeting in Paris scheduled for December 9 whether to approve the sanction, including stripping Russia of sporting events already awarded to the country “unless it is legally or practically impossible to do so.” Russian government officials would also be barred from attending events for the next four years and the country’s flag wouldn’t be flown at World sporting tournaments for the ban’s period.Russia was banned from sending a team to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea but individual athletes from the country were allowed by the International Olympic Committee to compete, if they passed strenuous doping tests. The new ban recommendation is the latest twist in a saga of state-sponsored doping stretching back to before the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and which is said to rival in its magnitude the extensive and notorious East German drug program of the Cold War years.Flag bearers from various nations attend the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Feb. 25, 2018.The expert panel’s advice would include banning Russia’s team from competing in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but Russia would still be able to host four games from the 2020 European Championship in St Petersburg because it is a regional football tournament and not a World competition.US Anti-Doping Agency head Travis Tygart welcomed the sanctions recommendation saying it “recognized the egregious conduct of Russia toward clean athletes and now let’s all hope the Wada executive committee uses the same resolve to ensure clean athletes are not again sold down the river and actually supports this unfortunate but necessary outcome.”Rusada was initially declared non-compliant in November 2015 after a report by sports lawyer and academic Richard McLaren found widespread evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russian track and field athletics. A subsequent report in 2016 commissioned by WADA accused Russia of operating a state-sponsored doping program for four years across the “vast majority” of summer and winter Olympic sports. Last year the country sport bodies were declared compliant after the release of data from its main Moscow anti-doping laboratory but data handed over in January proved to be “inauthentic” according to investigators.The compliance panel says a forensic review found serious inconsistencies, saying investigators had uncovered “an extremely serious case of non-compliance with the requirement to provide an authentic copy of the Moscow data, with several aggravating features.”More than 2000 samples supplied by the Moscow laboratory had been tampered with, the compliance panel says. The huge scale of Russian doping first came to light in 2015 when Grigory Rodchenkov, who for a decade was Russia’s anti-doping lab chief, fled to the U.S..McLaren’s report confirmed the allegations made by Rodchenkov, concluding that more than a thousand Russian athletes had been doping up  between 2012 and 2015 and that Russian officials, the country’s sports ministry and Russia’s FSB security agency had conspired in a “cover-up that operated on an unprecedented scale.”Russian officials say a four-year ban would be devastating and unfair, pointing to an acknowledgement by the compliance panel that aside from the alleged Moscow laboratory tampering Russian officials are being cooperative. Russian sport official Yuri Ganus told local media it would be a “tragedy,” if Russian athletes faced a suspension.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday ahead of the ban recommendation: “Our sports authorities have been in close contact with WADA and will continue cooperating with the body and international sports community.” He added: “No decisions have been made so far. You know that the Russian Federation provided all necessary information. Let’s wait for results and analyses of reports provided by the Russian side.”In October Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an international forum that Russia was keen to overcome the doping controversies. “We want our athletes to be fully represented in international events where they can demonstrate their talent without any restrictions. We want them to become role models for amateur sports lovers and professionals, first of all for our young generation,” he said.
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A strong earthquake struck the area of Albania’s capital early Tuesday, killing at least six people and injuring hundreds.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was a magnitude 6.4 with an epicenter 30 kilometers northwest of the capital, Tirana.Rescue crews worked to find and free people from damaged and destroyed buildings.A Defense Ministry spokeswoman said the bodies of three people were found in the rubble of an apartment building in the city of Durres.Crews found the bodies of two other people in the remains of a collapsed building in the village of Thumane, while another person died after jumping out of a building in Kurbin.
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Turkish riot police used force to break up a march by thousands of women calling for what they call an “end to impunity” for men guilty of violence against women.Police stopped more than 2,000 from marching up Istikal Street in Istanbul’s main shopping district.Police fired pepper spray at the protesters with some witnesses reporting the use of tear gas and plastic bullets. No casualties or arrests were reported.March organizers say they are tired at what they believe are the relatively light sentences handed out to husbands and boyfriends who murder or abuse women.Women at the front of Monday’s march spread out a banner reading “We cannot tolerate the loss of one more woman.”A Turkish women’s rights group says nearly 380 women have been killed so far this year.A Turkish court recently sentenced a man to life in prison for slashing his ex-wife’s throat in front of their 10 year-old daughter in August.The murder was caught on video and sickened nearly everyone who saw it.
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A Lebanese-born business tycoon says he is donating Hitler’s top hat and other Nazi memorabilia he won at an auction to an Israeli Jewish group to keep the stuff out of the hands of neo-Nazis.Abdallah Chatila, who made his fortune in diamonds and Swiss real estate, paid $660,000 for the items last week.He says he bought the the hat and memorabilia intending to destroy it, but decided it was better to hand it over to the Keren Hayeson-United Israel Appeal.Along with the Nazi dictator’s hat, the items include a silver plated edition of “Mein Kampf,” and a typewriter used by Hitler’s secretary.Although Chatila says some Lebanese are criticizing him for helping the so-called enemy, his act was totally non-political. He said he “wished to buy these objects so that they could not be used for the purpose of neo-Nazi propaganda.”The European Jewish Association, which had originally protested the auction, is now applauding Chatila.”Such a consequence, such an act of selfless generosity to do something that you feel strongly about is the equivalent of finding a precious diamond in an Everest of coal,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin wrote in a letter to Chatila.It is unclear what the Jewish group plans to do with the objects.
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Turkey and the United States are seemingly closer to a collision course as Turkish media report Ankara testing a Russian anti-aircraft weapon system, despite threats of Washington sanctions.Turkish F-16 jets flew low Monday across the Turkish capital, in a two-day exercise reportedly to test the radar system newly acquired Russian S-400 missile system.Ankara’s purchase of the S-400s is a significant point of tension with Washington, which claims the system poses a threat to NATO’s defenses.”There is room for Turkey to come back to the table. They know that to make this work, they need to either destroy or return or somehow get rid of the S-400,” a senior State Department official told reporters at a briefing Wednesday.The official added that sanctions could follow if Ankara went ahead and activated the system.Ankara’s purchase of the S-400 system violated U.S. Congress’s Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).FILE – Military vehicles and equipment, parts of the S-400 air defense systems, are seen on the tarmac, after they were unloaded from a Russian transport aircraft, at Murted military airport in Ankara, July 12, 2019.Despite September’s delivery of the S-400s, Washington appeared to step back, indicating that sanctions would only be imposed if Ankara activated the system.Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar reiterated Ankara’s stance, however, that the S-400 poses no threat to NATO systems.”That’s what we have been saying since the beginning [of the dispute with the [U.S.]. [S-400s] will definitely be a ‘stand-alone’ system. We are not going to integrate this with the NATO systems in any way. It will operate independently,” Akar said Monday.There is mounting frustration in Ankara with Washington over its stance, given President Barack Obama’s failure to sell U.S. Patriot missiles to Turkey.”Russia has missiles, so do Iraq, Iran, Syria. So why doesn’t the U.S. doesn’t give us the patriot missile,” said Professor Mesut Casin, a Turkish presidential foreign policy adviser.”Then we buy Russian S-400, and then you say you are the bad guy, you don’t obey the regulations, NATO principles, you buy Russian missiles.”Congress called ‘anti-Turkish’Monday’s testing of the S-400 radar system is widely seen as a challenge to Washington. Analysts claim it will likely add to calls in Congress to impose CAATSA sanctions and other measures against Turkey.Sweeping new economic and political sanctions against Turkey are currently in Congress awaiting ratification.”Congress is somehow has become so anti-Turkish. We have only a few friends remaining in the Congress,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende. “It so difficult to understand how they become so anti-Turkish so emotional.””CAATSA sanctions are waiting, and they are fundamentally important for the Turkish economy,” warned Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.The Turkish economy is still recovering from a currency crash two years ago, triggered by previous U.S. sanctions.Trump, ErdoganAnkara will likely be looking to President Donald Trump to blunt any new efforts to impose sanctions against Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seen to have built a good relationship with Trump.Earlier this month, Trump hosted Erdogan in the White House for what he called a “wonderful meeting.”FILE – President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the East Room of the White House, Nov. 13, 2019.”Turkish relations is so reduced to these two guys [Erdogan and Trump],” said Aydintasbas. “The entire relationship is built on this relationship and will rely on Trump to restrict Congress’s authority and make those bills go away.”However, Ankara’s test Monday of S-400 components will make it unlikely Washington will end a freeze on the sale of the F-35 jet.Trump blocked the Turkish sale, over concerns the fighter jet’s stealth technology could be compromised by the Russian missile’s advanced radar system.The F-35 sale is set to replace Turkey’s aging fleet of F-16s. Ankara is warning it could turn to Russia’s SU 35 as an alternative.”All should be aware that Turkey will have to look for alternatives if F-35s [fighter jets] cannot be acquired for any reason,” Akar said.Role of RussiaRussian President Vladimir Putin is courting Erdogan in a move widely seen as attempting to undermine NATO.The two presidents are closely cooperating in Syria despite backing rival sides in the Syrian civil war. Bilateral trading ties are also deepening primarily around energy.Analysts point out a large-scale purchase of Russian jets will likely have far-reaching consequences beyond Ankara’s S-400 procurement.Training of Turkish pilots for the SU 35 would be in Moscow, as opposed to decades of U.S. training, while Turkey could find itself excluded from joint air exercises with its NATO partners.Ankara, too, is warning Washington of severe consequences if it has to turn to Moscow to meet its defense requirements.”Turkey will buy Russian aircraft if the F-35 freeze is not lifted,” said Casin. “If this happens, Turkey will not buy any more U.S. combat aircraft. This will be the end of the Turkish-U.S. relationship. I think like this; I am very serious.”Putin is due to meet Erdogan in Turkey in January, an opportunity the Russian president is expected to use to try and confirm the SU 35 sale.
 
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The Danish government has repatriated an 11-month-old boy after his mother, who was linked to the Islamic State terrorist group, was killed in the Syria conflict.The child arrived in Copenhagen on Nov.  21 from Irbil in northern Iraq after a nearly nine-month effort by relatives and the Danish government, authorities say.They also say the child, identified as Bay T, was being held at the Al-Hol refugee camp in northern Syria since March of this year, when his mother died.Baby T’s grandfather, who could not be named, told VOA Somali that the child was now being treated at a hospital for vomiting and diarrhea.”The boy has gone through a lot; he is a child without a mother, without a father, he needs a lot of assistance, and he is in a difficult condition.””He is the son of my late daughter,” said the grandfather during a telephone interview.FILE – An Islamic State flag flies over a building in Syria’s Jarablus as seen from the Turkish town of Karkamis, Turkey, Aug. 1, 2015.The boy’s mother left Denmark in October 2015 to join Islamic State. While in Syria, she met the father of her child, who also joined the terror group. The mother was killed in an airstrike, according to her father. Kurdish fighters rescued the child and brought him to the Al-Hol camp.It is not clear what happened to the boy’s father, who had also joined Islamic State. According to the boy’s grandfather, the family was given conflicting accounts of the child’s father. At one time, the grandfather was told that the father was injured and had lost a leg and a hand. At another time, they also heard that he was killed.The child’s parents were not Danish citizens, according to the relatives. The child’s mother traveled to Denmark in 2002 from Somalia, and went to Syria when she was 19. She was in the process of becoming a naturalized citizen when she traveled to Syria in 2015. It is not known which country the child’s father traveled from before heading to Syria.”The Danish government has immensely helped us trace and bring him over,” said the grandfather.”We traveled to Irbil on Tuesday last week along with my daughter, we brought him back on Thursday,” he said. “I’m in debt to the Danish government, which helped us with everything they could.”In neighboring Germany, a 30-year old mother of three was returned from Syria over the weekend. The mother was only identified as Laura H., from Hesse state, who traveled to Syria in 2016 along with her husband, a U.S. citizen of Somali origin, according to the French news agency. The man was reportedly killed in Syria.Laura H. may not have been the first adult IS member returned to Germany, according to authorities. The families of Somali women and men who went to Syria and have a social media network told VOA Somali that a woman of Somali origin was one of two female IS members returned to Germany in mid-November.A family friend says the Somali woman is in the custody of authorities in Hesse state.VOA Somali service’s Investigative Dossier program has obtained a list of 23 women and 34 children who are now being held at al-Hol camp in Syria. Their families want the Somali government to take them in.
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Britain’s Royal Family is facing its biggest crisis since the 1990s, a decade that was marked by divorce and the death of Princess Diana, according to many royal observers. Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth, has announced that he is stepping back from public duties following a sharp backlash against a recent television interview. The prince was asked about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a U.S. financier and convicted sex offender who killed himself in a New York jail in August. Meanwhile, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have also stepped back from public life after struggling with press intrusion. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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 LONDON — Britain’s royal family is facing its biggest crisis since the 1990s, a decade that was marked by divorce and the death of Princess Diana, according to many royal observers.Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth and eighth in line to the throne, announced last week that he is stepping back from public duties, following a sharp backlash against his remarks in a recent BBC television interview.The prince was asked about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a U.S. financier and convicted sex offender who killed himself in jail in August. Andrew was questioned on why he had stayed at Epstein’s house after his conviction.”I felt that doing it over the telephone was the chicken’s way of doing it, I had to go and see him and talk to him,” Prince Andrew said in the interview.FILE – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew attend at Royal Ascot Day Five at Ascot Racecourse in Britain, June 22, 2019.One of Epstein’s alleged trafficking victims claims she was forced to have sex with the prince, once when she was 17. Andrew has repeatedly denied the accusations and said he is willing to give evidence to U.S. investigators.The prince’s lack of compassion for Epstein’s victims was shocking, says royal analyst Richard Fitzwilliams.”What it showed was someone completely out of touch with his audience, and in my opinion with reality,” Fitzwilliams said. “He had to step back from his royal duties. He had basically become toxic.”Andrew has caused royal embarrassment in the past.”His marriage to Sarah Ferguson — she proved a disaster as a member of the royal family and has been responsible for numerous embarrassments,” Fitzwilliams said.Prince Harry and Meghan MarkleFrom a prince seen as abusing royal privilege, to another struggling with the scrutiny it brings. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have spoken of their dismay at press intrusion and are taking legal action against several newspapers for alleged phone hacking.In a statement issued last month, Harry said my wife has become “one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences — a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.”FILE – Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, hold their baby son in St. George’s Hall at Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, Britain, May 8, 2019.Analyst Fitzwilliams says Harry is particularly hurt given that his mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash as she was being pursued by photographers.”They simply have to accept that there is going to be a certain amount of cooperation with the press and global interest in everything they do because of who they are,” he said.There was more unwelcome scrutiny when the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen’s husband, was involved in a car accident in January.And the royals were drawn into the Brexit crisis in September when the Supreme Court ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had misled the Queen when he asked her to suspend parliament.’Dreadful year’Royal historian Hugo Vickers says all the controversy is putting a strain on the monarch.”I do feel sorry for the queen because she’s nearly 94-years-old, her husband is nearly 99, and it’s rather awful that she’s having to face all these things at this particular time,” Vickers said.Analyst Fitzwilliams says the royal household urgently needs new advisers.”This has been a dreadful year for the monarchy, the worst since the 1990s. But there’s absolutely no reason to believe that that will go on into next year, if the royals get a grip with their advisers and their press officers, and also, if Harry and Meghan can be persuaded that there is a course that will make them happy as members of the royal family,” Fitzwilliams said.The Queen will try to draw a line under a difficult year when she gives her televised Christmas Day speech in a month’s time, an event closely watched by many in Britain.In the same speech in 1992, she famously said that it had been an “annus horribilis”  a Latin phrase meaning a “horrible year.” That year, Prince Andrew separated from his wife Sarah Ferguson, Princess Anne divorced her husband Mark Phillips, and a fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle.It’s likely that 2019 will be remembered as an equally tough year.
 
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Two French citizens were shot dead in Port-au-Prince over the weekend shortly after flying into the Haitian capital to adopt a child, diplomatic and other sources told AFP Monday.An official at the French embassy confirmed that a French couple had been killed, without giving further details of the exact circumstances of their deaths.According to two other sources, however, the couple were from the Ardeche region of southeastern France and had arrived in the Caribbean country to adopt a child.One of the sources said they were killed in an armed robbery that turned deadly.A spokeswoman for the Ardeche department confirmed to AFP that the couple, from the town of Saint-Martin-d’Ardeche, had been given a green light last year to adopt their first child.Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been roiled for two months by protests, which were triggered by fuel shortages but have turned violent and morphed into a broader campaign against President Jovenel Moise.According to UN figures, at least 42 people have been killed and dozens injured during anti-government protests since mid-September.The French foreign ministry recommends visitors “postpone their trip to Haiti until further notice.”  “Demonstrations, accompanied by blockades on the main roads and violent acts (rock throwing, shots…) are very frequent. Violent groups are active and fueling a climate of insecurity,” the foreign ministry warned last month.    
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Mexico’s government will this week send a letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging Congress to approve a new trade deal, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday.Speaking at a regular government news conference alongside various ministers, Lopez Obrador said he was sure that Pelosi and Democratic lawmakers would help Mexico, and that he believed the U.S. Congress would approve the deal before the end of 2019.Nevertheless, deputy foreign minister for North America Jesus Seade, Mexico’s chief negotiator for the USMCA, said he was “pessimistic” that the accord would be approved before 2020.Mexico, which ratified the USMCA earlier this year, is eager for the agreement to be ratified because the country’s exports and foreign direct investment are heavily dependent on its unfettered access to the U.S. marketplace.The USMCA was agreed last year after a lengthy process of negotiation pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 
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Unidentified vandals have painted swastikas on a monument to a prominent Yiddish author in the Ukrainian capital.Moshe Reuven Azman, the chief rabbi of Ukraine, posted pictures Monday of the monument to Sholem Aleichem outside Kyiv’s synagogue with big red swastikas spray-painted on it.Police have opened a probe.In a tweet, Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko denounced the anti-Semitic act as “disgusting, appalling and in need of prompt investigation.”The anti-Semitic act on the Sholom-Aleichem monument in Kyiv is disgusting, appalling and in need of prompt investigation. The perpetrator(s) must be brought to justice.— Vadym Prystaiko (@VPrystaiko) November 25, 2019Israeli Ambassador Joel Lion tweeted that “Ukraine has to wake up,” urging authorities to track down the culprits, bring them to justice and also “educate against hatred.”Another Antisemitic act in the center of #Kyiv, on the statue of the Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem. #Ukaine has to wake up. Find the responsible and bring them to justice. Educate against hatred. Adopt @TheIHRA definition. @MVS_UA@MFA_Ukraine@TheBankova@ADL@WorldJewishCongpic.twitter.com/a20gx2HFMT— Joel Lion (@ambassadorlion) November 25, 2019Ukraine has seen numerous cases of vandalism at Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust memorials across the country. Hateful graffiti has also been painted on synagogues and Jewish institutions across the country.
 
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Transport for London, the city’s transit authority, says it is not renewing the operating license for the ride-hailing giant Uber because of safety and security concerns.Uber says the authority’s decision is “extraordinary and wrong” and the company will appeal the decision.Uber will be allowed to operate in the British capital during the appeal process.Transport for London said in a statement Monday that “A key issue identified was that a change to Uber’s systems allowed unauthorized drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts.  This allowed them to pick up passengers as though they were the booked driver, which occurred in at least 14,000 trips – putting passenger safety and security at risk.  This means all the journeys were uninsured and some passenger journeys took place with unlicensed drivers, one of which had previously had their license revoked by TfL.”Transport for London said it “currently does not have confidence that Uber has a robust system for protecting passenger safety, while managing changes to its app.”Jamie Heyward, Uber’s chief in Northern and Eastern Europe, said the transit authority had found Uber “a fit and proper operator just two months ago, and we continue to go above and beyond.”  He continued, “Over the last two months we have audited every driver in London and further strengthened our processes.”
 
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Uruguay will have to wait a few more days to find out who will emerge as the winner of Sunday’s presidential election.”There was never such a tight ballot,” Jose Arocena, head of the country’s Electoral Court said.  With almost all of the ballots counted, the conservative National Party’s Luis Lacalle Pou, who is 46, has about 30,000 more votes than ruling leftist Broad Front’s Daniel Martinez, who is 62.    Opinion polls since October’s first round had indicated that Pou would comfortably win the run off.  Uruguayan presidents are not allowed to serve consecutive terms, but Broad Front has been at the helm of the country since 2005.Presidential candidate for the ruling party Broad Front Daniel Martinez, right, and Graciela Villar, his running mate, wave to supporters at their headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019.Outgoing president Tabare Vazquez said Uruguay will not fall victim to the turmoil some South American countries are experiencing.  He predicted a smooth transfer of power.  “The people of Uruguay can rest assured that we are going to achieve this,” Vazquez said.Despite the polls predicting that the center-right Pou would win, Jenny Pribble, an associate professor of political science at the University of Richmond in the United States, said Broad Front remains popular.  “Their signature policy initiatives – public health expansion, the creation of a national care system, marriage equality and the legalization of abortion and cannabis – advanced citizen rights and have earned the party a strong following.”  A slowing economy, rising unemployment and crime were the major issues of concern to voters.Results are not expected until the end of the week.
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An exit poll published in Romania on Sunday after the close of voting stations shows incumbent Klaus Iohannis easily winning a second term in the country’s presidential election.Iohannis, a conservative, was facing Social Democratic Party leader Viorica Dancila, a former prime minister, in the runoff vote.An exit poll by the IRES independent think tank showed Iohannis getting 67.1 % of the votes, with 32.9% for Dancila. In the first round two weeks ago, Iohannis won 37.8% and Dancila 22.2%. The exit poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points. Official preliminary results were expected late Sunday.Iohannis has vowed to continue his efforts to fight corruption and strengthen the rule of law in this country of around 19.4 million people.“Romanian won! Modern, European, normal Romania won today,” Iohannis said at the headquarters of the National Liberal Party after the release of the exit poll. “Romanians were the day’s heroes. They went to vote in impressive numbers and this is the most important gain of this day.”“I receive this victory with joy, thankfulness, modesty and with faith in Romania,” said the 60-year-old former mayor of the city of Sibiu, a member of Romania’s ethnic German minority who was a high school physics teacher before entering politics.For her part, speaking after casting her ballot in the morning, Dancila had promised “more involvement, work and commitment to the Romanian people.”Dancila’s government was ousted on Oct. 10 after losing a confidence vote in parliament. It had been embroiled by allegations of corruption and criticized by the European Union for judicial reforms seen as compromising the rule of law and the independence of judges.FILE – Former Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila smiles after exit polls show her as the runner-up in the first round of presidential elections, in Bucharest, Romania, Nov. 10, 2019.Earlier this month, lawmakers backed a minority government led by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban of the National Liberal Party, formerly headed by Iohannis.Iohannis has clashed often with Dancila and her party over the judiciary reforms and other legislation. Opponents and critics worried about the dilution of anti-corruption laws which in the past few years led to the indictment of dozens of Cabinet members, lawmakers and even a Romanian member of the European Parliament.Public outrage has also resulted in frequent, massive anti-corruption protests in Bucharest and other cities.With their shared ideological roots and values, Iohannis and Orban would be expected to work together to boost the anti-graft measures.Though lacking an executive role, Romania’s president has significant decision-making powers, including on matters of national security and foreign policy. Elected for a five-year term, the president can also reject party nominees for prime minister and government nominees for judicial appointments.Romania, a member of the EU since 2007, is plagued by widespread poverty with over 25% of its population living on less than $5.50 a day, according to a World Bank study last year. Recent figures pointed to slowing economic growth, though the annual rate of 3% percent achieved in the third quarter of the year was still among the fastest in Europe.Iohannis rejected Dancila’s offers to hold debates ahead of the runoff vote, but earlier this week he took questions from analysts and journalists at a Bucharest university.Romanians living abroad, estimated to number around 4 million, started casting their votes on Friday at hundreds of polling stations, including in Italy, Britain, France, Australia and the U.S. Romanians abroad also have the option of mailing in their ballots. 
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Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Anez agreed to withdraw the military from protest areas
and repeal a law giving them broad discretion in the use of force as part of a preliminary “pacification” deal struck early on Sunday with protest leaders.
In exchange for the concessions, more than a dozen leaders of indigenous groups, farmers and unions who took part in the talks agreed to order their followers to end their
demonstrations.
The 12-point pact follows the unanimous passage of legislation by Bolivia’s Congress on Saturday to annul contested elections and pave the way for a new vote without former
President Evo Morales, a major breakthrough in the political crisis. Anez signed the bill into law on Sunday.
At least 30 people have died in clashes between protesters and security forces since the Oct. 20 election, which was dogged by allegations of vote-rigging. Most have died since Morales stepped down on Nov. 10.
Social leaders blame the military for the deaths. Anez’s government denies the charge.
“If there’s no need for the army to be in the streets, it won’t be,” Anez said in comments broadcast on state TV at the end of the talks at the presidential palace.
“It’s due to extreme necessity that the army was deployed,” she said. “It wasn’t to abuse anyone or to show power.”
As part of the agreement, military officers will remain on guard at strategic state companies to prevent vandalism. The deal also commits the government to protect social leaders and
lawmakers from persecution, provide compensation for family members of people killed in clashes and free those arrested in protests.
Anti-government protesters lifted road blockades — including one at a natural gas plant where nine people were killed in clashes this week — ahead of the weekend’s talks.
Talks resume on Sunday at 5 p.m. to finalize a bill that Anez said she would send to Congress for passage later in the day. Sunday’s talks will include for the first time Andronico Rodriguez, an influential leader of coca growers who called for protests after Anez took the presidency citing the constitutional line of succession.
“From that moment on there will be pacification, social peace, across the national territory,” said Juan Carlos Huarachi, the head of Bolivia’s largest federation of labor unions, who acted as a mediator in talks. “We’ve advanced 99%.”
Huarachi’s federation of unions once backed Morales but along with the military was key in pushing him to step down after an audit of the election found serious irregularities. 
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