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In a much-anticipated document released Wednesday, Pope Francis did not accept a proposal to allow the ordination of married men as priests or women as deacons in the Amazon in order to combat the serious clergy shortages in the region.The proposal had been put forward by the majority of bishops attending a synod on the Amazon at the Vatican last year.Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation on the “Beloved Amazon,” made public Wednesday, made no change to the Roman Catholic Church’s centuries-old rule on celibacy. The majority of bishops from the Amazon region had voted at the end of their synod in the Vatican three months ago to allow some married men to be ordained and for women to serve as deacons. But in his document, the pope ignored that proposal.FILE – Pope Francis greets a group of nuns during his weekly general audience, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Jan. 15, 2020.Some groups that advocate for women’s ordination and giving them a greater role in the church criticized the pope’s decision. The Britain-based Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research said in a statement that the pope’s refusal to consider the ordination of women rejects the explicit recommendation of the synod on the Amazon.”Beloved Amazon” was more of a love letter by the Latin American prelate to the Amazonian rain forest and the indigenous people who populate it, according to Cardinal Michael Czerny, the synod secretary.The cardinal said the pope’s love for the region lay at the heart of the pope’s apostolic exhortation. Pope Francis, he added, has “four great dreams” for this region: social, ecological, cultural and pastoral.The pope says the Amazon region is one that “fights for the rights of the poor,” that “preserves its distinctive cultural riches,” that “jealously preserves its overwhelming natural beauty” and where Christian communities may be “capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region.”Francis urged Catholics to “feel outrage” over the exploitation of indigenous people. He also spoke about the “injustice and crime” committed against the people of the Amazon and their land, devastated by illegal mining and extraction industries.In the Roman Catholic Church, only priests can say mass. Due to the acute shortage in the region, the faithful in at least 85% of villages cannot attend regular services and have not for years.The pope said, “Every effort should be made” to give the faithful access to the Eucharist.”This urgent need leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America … to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” he wrote.Pope Francis called on bishops to promote “prayer for priestly vocations.” He also said there was a need for priests who understand Amazon sensibilities.
 
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Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General’s Office in Lviv suspects an underworld criminal and a police major of collusion in the arson of a vehicle belonging to RFE/RL correspondent Halyna Tereshchuk.Iryna Didenko, the lead prosecutor of the Lviv region, signed the charge sheets for the two suspects on Feb. 11.Accused of ordering the torching of the journalist’s car is a 48-year-old former convict, who is known in the criminal world for black-market schemes and stealing fuel at the Lviv railway.Allegedly colluding with him was a 43-year-old National Police major in the Lviv region, who sought the arsonist and paid him for the crime, according to Didenko.The suspects are on a nationwide wanted list.Both would be prosecuted for intentional destruction of or damage to property, which carries a prison sentence of six to 15 years.The journalist, who has worked for RFE/RL since 2000, said at the time of the arson on Jan. 30 that she suspected the attack was linked to her professional activities.Police on Feb. 6 detained a 19-year-old male in Odesa for allegedly setting the reporter’s car on fire. If found guilty, he faces three to 10 years in prison.The case has been jointly investigated by prosecutors and investigators from the Security Service (SBU).The Ukrainian unit of rights group Freedom House has condemned the torching of Tereshchuk’s car, as well as that of Andriy Lukin, an activist in Zaporizhzhya, whose car was also set ablaze on Jan. 29.The group stated that “arson or other methods of destruction of vehicles and property are becoming increasingly used as a means to pressure active people in Ukraine.”It noted that there were 11 cases last year of property belonging to activists being destroyed and “in almost all cases, the perpetrators were not found and punished.” 
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Social media giant Facebook on Wednesday removed two unconnected networks of accounts, pages, and groups “engaging in foreign or government interference,” one originating in Russia and the other one in Iran, both of which have alleged ties to intelligence services.Calling the behavior “coordinated” and “inauthentic,” Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said both operations were acting on “behalf of a government or foreign actor.”The Russian network primarily targeted Ukraine and its neighboring countries, while the Iranian operation focused mainly on the United States.The people behind the groups and accounts “coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action,” the social-media company said.In total, 78 accounts, 11 pages, 29 groups, and four Instagram accounts originating in Russia were removed.Facebook’s investigation “found links to Russian and military intelligence services” within the Russian network.The people behind the network would pose as citizen journalists and tried to contact policymakers, journalists, and other public figures in the region.They would post content in Russian, English, and Ukrainian “about local and political news including public figures in Ukraine, Russian military engagement in Syria, alleged SBU (Ukrainian Security Service) leaks related to ethnic tensions in Crimea and the downing of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014.”Similarly, six Facebook and five Instagram accounts were removed originating in Iran that engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”Some tried contacting public figures and they shared posts on such topics as the U.S. elections, Christianity, U.S.-Iran relations, U.S. immigration policy, and criticism of U.S. policies in the Middle East.About 60 people had followed one or more of the Iran-based Instagram accounts, the media company said. 
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Facebook on Wednesday said it had suspended a network of accounts used by Russian military intelligence to seed false narratives online targeting Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe.”Although the people behind this network attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to Russian military intelligence services,” Facebook said in a statement.Facebook, which has struggled to stop governments and political groups using its platform to spread false or misleading information, regularly announces it has shut down disinformation campaigns from countries including Russia.The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moscow has previously denied Western allegations of political meddling, including findings by U.S. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller that it used social media accounts in an attempt to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential vote.Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said the latest Russian operation used more than 100 accounts on Facebook and its Instagram photo-sharing platform to create fake personas, often posing as journalists in the targeted countries.These accounts then contacted local media and politicians to plant false stories about politically divisive issues, such as corruption allegations, ethnic tensions in the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea and the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014.”We’ve known for a long time that these people look for authentic voices to amplify their narratives,” Gleicher told Reuters. “It is more of a classic intelligence operation, trying to manipulate key individuals to achieve a high impact.”Researchers at social media analytics firm Graphika, who reviewed the accounts before they were suspended by Facebook, said most of the activity dated back to 2016 and 2017, although some accounts were active as recently as this year.The network failed to gather more than a few thousand followers but was able to get articles published in some local media outlets, said Ben Nimmo, Graphika’s head of investigations.The fake journalist personas also conducted interviews with Kremlin critics, tricking them into making unguarded comments and then sharing the messages online, he said.”The operation tried to poison the well of information by using false personas to plant pro-Kremlin and anti-Western narratives online and in local news outlets,” said Nimmo.Facebook said it had also suspended two other groups of accounts, unconnected to the Russian operation. One was linked to a previously-identified Iranian network that has targeted the United States and the other to a PR firm in Vietnam. 
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One patient jumped out of a hospital window to escape her quarantine and another managed to break out by disabling an electronic lock.Two Russian women who were kept in isolation for possible inflection by a new virus say they fled from their hospitals this month because of uncooperative doctors, poor conditions and fear they would become infected. Russian health authorities haven’t commented on their complaints.The incidents occurred amid the outbreak of the virus in China that has already infected more than 40,000 people worldwide. In Russia, only two cases of COVID-19 have been reported. Nevertheless, the authorities took vast measures to prevent the new disease from spreading and hospitalized hundreds of people who returned from China as a precaution.Many of those quarantined in different Russian hospitals complained about dire conditions of isolation rooms and lack of cooperation from doctors, uncertain about quarantine protocols.Both women said their hospital ordeals began after returning from Hainan, a tropical region of China popular with Russian tourists.In a lengthy account on Instagram published Friday, a woman with the screen name of GuzelNeder said her son came down with a cough and a fever of 37.3 C (99.2 F) four days after the family’s return to their home in the city of Samara. She called emergency services, who diagnosed the boy as having a viral respiratory infection and who said the mother and the son must go to a hospital for coronavirus tests.The hospital promised test results within three days, then extended it to five, she said, and meanwhile the boy responded to treatment with medication and an inhalator, she wrote. When she tried to press for results, hospital personnel obstructed her, she said.Meanwhile, she had become concerned about lax procedures in the hospital, saying that some medical personnel came to the isolation area without masks or threw their protective clothing on the floor.Her anxiety soared on the fifth day, when she began to feel badly. She asked her husband to bring her a home pregnancy test, and “after two minutes of wringing my hands in anticipation, it came on the screen — PREGNANT,” she wrote.Her husband argued with the doctor that she and their son should be released because of her condition and concern of infection. The doctor said they had to be held for 14 days even if the virus test came back negative.“My son was hysterical,” she wrote. “There was no exit for us other than to leave the hospital without authorization, through the window,” Guzel said.Police later questioned her at home, but no charges have been reported. “Everyone in my family is alive and healthy, thank god,” she wrote.The other woman, Alla Ilyina, said in an Instagram post she came down with a sore throat several days after returning to St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, from Hainan.Ilyina called emergency services, and medics brought her to a hospital for coronavirus testing, promising to let her go after 24 hours. The next day she was told she tested negative for the virus, but had to remain quarantined for two weeks.“Wild,” Ilyina wrote. “All three tests showed I was completely healthy, so why the hell the quarantine?”Her isolation room was dire, she told the Fontanka newspaper — no books, no shampoo, no Wi-Fi a wastebasket that was never emptied, the door secured by an electronic lock.Frustrated, she figured out how to short-circuit the electronic lock and escaped from the hospital on Friday.Neither the hospital nor police have followed up on her escape, which leads her to believe her health is OK.“If I were sick, they would have swamped me with phone calls,” Fontanka quoted her as saying.On Tuesday evening, Russian media reported that the hospital reported Ilyina’s escape to the police, and that a criminal investigation could be launched into the incident.Both women offered no immediate comment to The Associated Press.Quarantine protocols in relation to the outbreak vary throughout Russia. In some regions, health officials isolate Chinese nationals who have recently returned from China, and in others everyone who reports symptoms resembling those of the new virus are subject to a 14-day quarantine.Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health watchdog, hasn’t responded to a request for comment on whether the women were allowed to leave the hospitals.On Wednesday, the Fontanka newspaper published a video reportedly recorded by other patients quarantined in the same hospital Ilyina fled from. The footage shows two young women in what appears to be a patient room singing “I want to be like Alla (Ilyina)” and a handwritten note saying “Let us out of here, please.”Irina Sidorova, another woman who returned from Hainan on the same flight with Ilyina and was quarantined in the same hospital, confirmed to The Associated Press that isolation rooms there were locked, and patients weren’t able to get out on their own.Sidorova said in a phone interview she was hospitalized only a week after she returned to St. Petersburg. She reiterated Ilyina’s complaints about uncooperative doctors and said she wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital until Feb. 15, despite showing no symptoms and testing negative for the virus.
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Pope Francis, in one of the most significant decisions of his papacy, on Wednesday dismissed a proposal to allow some married men to be ordained in the Amazon region to ease an acute scarcity of priests.The recommendation, put forward by Latin American bishops last year, had alarmed conservatives in the deeply polarized 1.3 billion-member Roman Catholic Church, who feared it could lead to a change in the centuries-old commitment to celibacy among priests.FILE – Pope Francis greets a group of nuns during his weekly general audience, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Jan. 15, 2020.Francis delivered his response in an Apostolic Exhortation, three months after the proposal passed by 128 votes to 41 at a contentious Vatican assembly, or synod, of Roman Catholic bishops.Apostolic Exhortations are used to instruct and encourage the Catholic faithful but do not define Church doctrine.Wednesday’s 32-page document did not even mention the proposal, which was for older married deacons who are proven leaders of remote Catholic communities and have stable families to be ordained as priests.Conservatives balked, fearing that even a circumscribed change would be a slippery slope leading to a married priesthood throughout the Church. They branded a pre-synod working document as heretical.In what some viewed as a strategically timed appeal to Francis not to approve the Amazon proposal, a book published last month by Church conservatives defended the tradition of priestly celibacy.”From the Depths of Our Hearts” was co-authored by Cardinal Robert Sarah and former Pope Benedict, though Francis’ predecessor subsequently disassociated himself from the project.Vatican officials said the pope completed the document on Dec. 27, before the book controversy, and handed it in for translations. They said no changes were made after that. In the Exhortation, the 82-year-old Argentine pope wrote, new ways must be found to encourage more priests to work in the remote region, and allow expanded roles for lay people and permanent deacons, of whom the Amazon needed “many more.”Deacons, like priests, are ordained ministers. They can preach, teach, baptize and run parishes, but they cannot say Mass. Married men can become deacons.Because only priests can say Mass, people in at least 85% of Amazon villages cannot attend the liturgy every week and some cannot do so for years.”This urgent need leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America… to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” he wrote.He used the first three chapters of the document to defend the rights and legacies of indigenous people and the environment in the Amazon, which had to be protected because of its vital role in mitigating global warming.Conservatives feared that if Francis had taken up the proposal, other areas with a shortage of priests would follow, even in developed countries such as Germany, where the issue is being discussed.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is gearing up for the next stage of his campaign to oust President Nicolás Maduro following his return home from a tour abroad that included a meeting with his most important foreign ally — U.S. President Donald Trump.An energized Guaidó told cheering supporters at a public square in the capital of Caracas late Tuesday that he is armed with the backing of the “free world” to finish the job of reclaiming the nation.“Today more than ever we have to make our presence known,” Guaidó said. “This is not the time to go back. It’s time to move forward.”Just hours earlier, Guaido sped through immigration at Venezuela’s main airport outside Caracas without any major incidents. Authorities didn’t stop Guaidó, who left the country in defiance of a travel ban imposed by Maduro’s government.But inside the terminal, a woman threw what appeared to be a soft drink can, dousing Guaidó, who moments later walked from the airport pumping his right hand over his head.And outside, an aggressive crowd of Guaidó critics shouted, “Dirty traitor!” and “Get out!” Some threw traffic cones and others pounded the hood of an SUV that whisked him away.Guaidó backers shouted his name in support: “Guaidó! Guaidó!” A few minor clashes broke out between the two sides.Guaidó launched the trip with the goal of redoubling backing in Washington and Europe for the oppositioin’s effort to remove Maduro. The trip’s high-point for Guaidó came with a meeting inside the Oval Office with Trump, the day after the U.S. president recognized him as the “legitimate president of Venezuela” during his State of the Union address.As leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress, Guaidó rose to prominence a year ago when he claimed presidential powers on the grounds that Maduro’s rule is illegitimate after a fraudulent re-election in 2018. He won backing from the United States and more than 50 other nations, though so far has made no visible dent in Maduro’s hold on power.In addition to his stop in Washington, Guaidó met with European leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Guaido told supporters at Tuesday night’s rally that he is holding back some details of his foreign meetings that he is not able to talk about publicly.“Stay tuned,” he said, teasing the crowd.In public comments abroad, Guaidó urged foreign leaders to increase their support for Venezuelans who are trying to shrug off two decades of socialist rule that have left the country broken, with millions emigrating as public services like water and electricity have become a luxury.Officials in the Trump administration have said they are considering ways to exert more pressure to force out Maduro. On Friday, the administration hit the Venezuelan state-run airline CONVIASA with sanctions.Guaidó urged Venezuelans to remain unified and to take to the streets again to demonstrate their will to end the government that the opposition calls a “dictatorship.” He did not immediately announce any plans for organized protests.For his part, Maduro appeared on state television Tuesday to announce new public buses and expanded routes. He didn’t directly mention Guaidó or the opposition leader’s return.“We’re concentrating our efforts on defending Venezuela,” Maduro said, telling supporters not to be distracted by “idiots” and “traitors.”
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A Russia blogger has gone viral with a video prank that inadvertently goes to the heart of a debate over how much public support for Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoys after 20 years in power and counting.   The discussion was launched after blogger Bashir Dokhov posted a video to Youtube in which he glues a large portrait of the Russian leader on the wall of a Moscow apartment elevator.”I’ll put a camera in the corner, too,” says Dokhov, while setting up the joke. “God forbid someone should steal him.”Putin’s picture remained, but reactions to seeing the Russian leader weren’t kind.  Four-letter words abound as startled Russians enter the lift. “Why is he here?” asks one passenger. “What a nightmare!” exclaims another, who then proceeds to bow before the portrait while laughing as her friend snaps a picture.“It’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to our home,” says yet another resident.  But not to Youtube. The video already has had more than 2 million views and counting after just three days.     Putin’s popularity  Beyond the intended laughs, the video has renewed a long simmering debate in Russia: How popular is Vladimir Putin really?  According to polls, Putin has been Russia’s lone towering figure in politics for most of his 20 years in power —  with popularity ratings any western politician would envy.  State polling agencies find the Russian leader’s support at about 73%. Independent Russian pollsters, such as the respected Levada Center, peg that number a bit lower — at 68%.“The rating is rather stable and went up in 2019,” explains Levada’s Denis Volkov to VOA, noting the Kremlin leader’s numbers fluctuated amid the introduction of an unpopular pension reform the year prior.  Putin’s peak came in 2014, when Russia’s annexation of Crimea from neighboring Ukraine saw Putin’s numbers soar to 86%.Yet dig deeper and the numbers vary.  Putin’s trust and “electoral ratings” — which ask whether you would vote to reelect the president were an election held next week — prompt far less impressive results. Just 33%, according to a 2019 poll.  Case in point that the Kremlin pays attention: Putin announced a slew of reforms during his annual state of the nation speech last month — later installing a new Prime Minister amid promises that the focus of his 4th term in office would be improving Russians lives.The other point of the speech? Constitutional reforms aimed — perhaps — at extending Putin’s influence beyond the end of his current and final term in 2024.  Indeed, Kremlin critics have long argued that even the most scientifically rigorous samples are skewed by a lack of political alternatives, state propaganda, or misleading questions by pollsters.  In that regard, Kremlin opponents saw the elevator stunt as a simple up or down vote on Putin’s performance. A case of reality at last unfiltered.“You watch these types of videos and don’t understand why Putin is still in power. There’s no more myth of 86% support,” tweeted Alexander Golovach, a lawyer affiliated with opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, in referring to Putin’s peak approval rating.A Russian prankster glued a massive portrait of President Vladimir Putin to the inside of a residential elevator. He then placed a camera in the elevator to record people’s reactions pic.twitter.com/EwMradd3yl— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 11, 2020“Ingenious! It’s the best sociological survey of those I know,” wrote one viewer in responding to the video on Youtube. “And probably the most honest!”Yet another factor in the Russian leader’s numbers? Geography.   Surveys show Putin’s support is strongest in the regions where the leader has garnered support with a mix of anti-western rhetoric and traditional conservative values.   Yet critics note those same surveys provide Russians a rare opportunity to reach out to Moscow with problems of more immediate concern. “Why bite the hand that feeds?” the argument goes.  Russia’s urban centers certainly have been ground zero of opposition protests — a sentiment perhaps reflected in the Moscow elevator stunt.  Indeed, the prank’s author insisted his “elevator sample” wasn’t scientific in the least.   In an interview Monday with Echo of Moscow radio, the blogger Bashir Dokhov, admitted he’d simply culled the most entertaining reactions.“There were lots of times when people didn’t react at all,” says Dokhov. “Others just took selfies.”  
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Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is threatening to escalate fighting against Syrian government forces following Monday’s killing of Turkish soldiers. The warning comes in the face of calls for restraint from Moscow, but Erdogan is facing growing domestic pressure for an uncompromising stance.”We have given the necessary response and retaliated in kind, but this is not enough,” Erdogan said Tuesday. The Turkish military claimed to have hit more than 100 targets of Damascus forces Monday.  The strikes were in response to the killing of five Turkish soldiers by artillery from Syrian forces in Idlib province.  Erdogan said Tuesday he would announce what new military steps he will take. He met Monday with his military commanders to discuss the Syrian situation.  In the space of a week, 12 Turkish soldiers have been killed by regime forces in Idlib. The Turkish president is facing growing domestic pressure to hit back.”What are you waiting for? Don’t beat around the bush while Turkish soldiers are being martyred in attacks carried out by soldiers of another state,” Meral Aksener, leader of the IYI Party, said in a meeting of her party’s parliamentary group.”(Syrian leader Bashar al-) Assad is a murderer, a criminal and the source of hostility,” said Devlet Bahceli, the MHP leader and parliamentary coalition partner of Erdogan’s AKP. Bahceli turned up the pressure on Erdogan, calling on Turkish forces to march on Damascus, saying until Assad’s removal, there will be “no peace.””By saying such things, they [Bahceli and Aksener] are cornering Erdogan. They are pressuring him, he may feel compelled into taking steps he doesn’t want,” said international relations teacher Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.Analysts point out Bahceli’s party is increasingly making inroads into Erdogan’s AKP nationalist voter base. “The basis of [Turkish] foreign relations needs to be viewed through the prism of domestic policy,” said analyst Sezer Aydin.Turkish soldiers drink tea in the Syrian province of Idlib, Feb. 10, 2020. Turkey said it hit back at Syrian government forces on Monday, after “intense” Syrian shelling killed five of its soldiers and wounded five others.Erdogan appears to be leaving all options on the table with the Turkish army continuing to ramp up its deployment into Idlib.Ankara set up 12 military observation posts across Idlib as part of the 2018 agreement with Moscow to create a de-escalation zone aimed at ending fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces.  While Moscow backs Damascus and Ankara backs the rebels, the two countries have been cooperating to end the civil war. But the escalating violence in Idlib is putting increasing pressure on that cooperation.Tuesday, Moscow called on Ankara to end its military operations against Damascus and to enforce the 2018 deescalation agreement in Idlib. Russian diplomats accuse Turkish military forces of failing to disarm groups designated as terrorists in Idlib, a charge Ankara denies.On Tuesday, a Russian diplomatic delegation visiting Turkey to seek a solution to Idlib left for home after talks ended in deadlock.Turkish-Russian relations came under further pressure. “We genuinely hope that the [Turkish] government reviews its relations with Russia,” Bahceli said, describing recent diplomatic efforts over Idlib as “nothing but a fairy tale.”Damascus forces backed by Russian airpower are continuing to advance in Idlib. Tuesday saw rebels lose control of the last part of the critical M5 highway, which links Damascus with Aleppo, one of Syria’s main cities.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a joint news conference with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi (not pictured) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Feb. 2, 2020.While tensions between Moscow and Ankara escalate, Washington has been quick to offer support to its NATO ally. “My condolences to the families of the soldiers killed in yesterday’s [Monday’s] attack in Idlib. The ongoing assaults by the Assad regime and Russia must stop,” tweeted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “I’ve sent Jim Jeffrey to Ankara to coordinate steps to respond to this destabilizing attack. We stand by our NATO Ally #Turkey,” he added.U.S. ambassador Jeffrey is the Special Representative for Syrian Engagement and Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Arriving Tuesday in Turkey, Jeffrey said threats were coming from Assad, and he will closely cooperate with “our ally” Turkey and wants to provide “any support possible.”Ankara’s recent rapprochement with Moscow has deeply strained Turkish-U.S. ties, with fears Turkey was abandoning its traditional Western allies.”Washington wishes to put an end to this estrangement,” said Ozel. “If you look at the statements coming from the American authorities and NATO, and they are giving more and more support for Turkey and Turkey’s position and Turkey is edging closer and closer to the United States and its allies in NATO.””Even in Ankara, they finally realize they cannot go so far with Russia, the interests are opposite to one another,” he added. “But Erdogan will not want to confront the Russians as they do have a lot of leverage over Turkey.”   Washington’s strong support of Ankara, analysts say, could strengthen Erdogan’s hand when he speaks by telephone Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a call that analysts say could well determine Erdogan’s course of action in Idlib and broader trajectory of Turkish foreign policy.
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It could have been a scene taken from “The Thick of It,” the internationally acclaimed British comedy series satirizing the inner workings of the British government.The country’s top political reporters, collectively known as the Lobby, were summoned last week to No. 10 Downing Street for a special post-Brexit briefing, but once they had arrived, those considered hostile to Brexit or Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government were excluded.That provoked the fury of the entire Lobby with all reporters walking out in protest. Britain’s main national newspapers reacted in anger — with even pro-Johnson tabloid newspapers criticizing the rare upset of the well-established protocols of parliamentary reporting and the Conservative government’s seeming determination to pick and choose who receives briefings.“Information which should be available on the record, and of a type which was briefed freely in the past, is now being handed out as a favor to selected journalists in the expectation of favorable coverage,” said Adam Boulton, political editor of Sky News. “No. 10 is trying to control the media, and everyone in our democracy should be afraid,” he tweeted.Last week’s spat came just days after Cabinet ministers were told to boycott a flagship BBC morning radio news program, which has a reputation for criticizing government officials. The squabble is being seen as an opening skirmish in what’s likely to turn into a long-running Johnson campaign to try to refashion key British institutions in ways more favorable to the ruling Conservatives, also known as Tories.Dominic Cummings a British political strategist and special adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks into 10 Downing Street in London, July 30, 2019. Prime Minister Johnson and his chief strategic adviser, Dominic Cummings, an iconoclast who’s been likened to Steve Bannon, U.S. President Donald Trump’s onetime firebrand counselor, appear determined to remake the BBC and the civil service, curb what they see as judicial overreach and political activism by judges, sidestep the so-called mainstream media and shake up Britain’s liberal-leaning universities.Not since Britain’s Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, took on public institutions in the 1990s, lambasted reporters as “moaning minnies,” (Note: minny is a carp fish) and described her Cabinet ministers as lacking a backbone, has Britain’s so-called establishment been so nervous — and outraged.The wider war was declared by Cummings in his less than discreet blog last month when he complained about what he dubbed “The Blob,” a reference to the 1988 remake of a Hollywood science fiction movie of the same name in which an amorphous, amoeba-like organism devours everything in its path. Cummings’ “blob” is an eclectic mix of cautious bureaucrats, academics, the mainstream media, judges and the traditional mouthpieces of British business, the Confederation of British Industry, the CBI, and the Institute of Directors.FILE – The sun shines through a European Union flag hanging outside Parliament in London, Oct. 28, 2019.For Cummings and his boss they are reactionary forces, which are pro-European Union, liberal-leaning and far too politically correct — as well as lacking optimism about post-Brexit Britain and Downing Street’s upbeat vision of a “global Britain.”Recently, Cummings called for “weirdos and misfits” to apply for jobs in Downing Street and the government quarter of Whitehall, saying what the new Johnson government needs is “true cognitive diversity” and not “more drivel about ‘identity’ and ‘diversity’ from Oxbridge humanities graduates.”Graduates from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have traditionally dominated the corridors of British power.The Johnson-led and Cummings-advised government is moving quickly to combat the blob. Ministers are talking about decriminalizing non-payment of television licenses, which partly fund the BBC. And they are considering a judicial shake-up which could see Britain’s Supreme Court disbanded. Judges could see more restrictions introduced to hedge in their discretionary powers when sentencing.FILE – A street cleaner clears fall leaves from the front of 10 Downing Street, London, Britain, Nov. 6, 2019.The Downing Street door is being slammed shut on the CBI and the Institute of Directors. None of their officials was invited this month to a keynote Johnson speech outlining his plans for post-Brexit Britain.And when it comes to the mainstream media, the government is copying the Trump White House by using social media sites — from Twitter to YouTube — to promote its governing narrative. On Brexit night, Johnson did not appear on any national television programs to welcome in a new era; instead Downing Street posted a broadcast straight to the internet.Johnson supporters say the British prime minister has no choice but to take on the blob. Allister Heath, editor of The Sunday Telegraph and a prominent Johnson cheerleader, says, “It’s now or never – Boris must beat the Blob or be suffocated by it.” He says the blob exists, “but no longer in small town America: its new home is Whitehall, and it has developed a predilection for gobbling up Tory politicians and advisers.”Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Dec. 12, 2019. Others, though, see the Johnson game plan as having political affinity with the populist shake-up under way in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a champion of what he once dubbed “illiberal democracy,” has taken on his country’s public institutions and battled a not dissimilar cast of foes.Last month, Orban praised Johnson as one of the “the most courageous, the most dynamic” leaders and one of the most likely “to effect change.” A former Johnson aide and influential Conservative commentator, Tim Montgomerie, returned the compliment at two research group events in December and January in Budapest, Hungary, where he praised Orban for “interesting early thinking on the limits of liberalism” and compared the two populist leaders.He said, “Long-term trends in economics and culture” are “changing how people align themselves,” and predicted Johnson’s Britain and Orban’s Hungary would forge a “special relationship.”But not all Johnson supporters are as sanguine and fear the British prime minister may be over-reaching by taking on too many powerful institutions at once. Writing in the business daily City AM, Michael Hayman, a co-founder of Seven Hills, a London-based communication consultancy, warned, “Boris has a war to fight, and he’s going to need all the friends he can get.”
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President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will host the administration’s third state dinner in April, for King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, the White House announced Tuesday.The fancy, black-tie dinner — a diplomatic tool often reserved for America’s staunchest allies — is part of a state visit scheduled for April 21 to celebrate close ties between the two countries, press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.”The visit will celebrate our two countries’ close friendship and shared history, and reaffirm our commitments to stand together to address today’s global challenges,” Grisham said in a statement.King Felipe and Trump met in the Oval Office in June 2018 during a royal tour of the U.S. to mark the 300th anniversaries of the founding of New Orleans and San Antonio, cities with historical ties to Spain.FILE – President Donald Trump, right, speaks while meeting with Spain’s King Felipe VI, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, June 19, 2018.Trump, at the time, praised the “outstanding” relationship between the U.S. and Spain and cited excellent cooperation between them on trade and military defense.”Just about everything you can have,” Trump said. “So we love Spain.”The relationship has weathered a few bumps in the road, however. One area of cooperation has been a long-term agreement that allows the U.S. to use two military bases in Spain. But with Trump threatening Europe with tariffs, it has been suggested that Spain might eventually dangle the base deal as leverage.Spain’s new foreign minister, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, told the Spanish daily El Pais in an interview published Sunday that she wants “to find a meeting point and a balance in which the United States finds things it considers important and Spain too. Obviously, access to the American market for Spanish products is important.”The interview followed a telephone conversation she had with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.Gonzalez Laya has said she plans to visit the U.S. in February.Past relationshipA pre-Iraq war meeting in 2003 in the Azores between President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar represented a new peak for Spain’s standing with the U.S.But the subsequent decision by Aznar’s successor, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq after he took office in 2004 soured ties considerably.Barack Obama’s arrival at the White House saw relations improve, and he and Zapatero were seen as good friends. The relationship has held steady with Trump first hosting former premier Mariano Rajoy in 2017 and preparing to meet new Socialist Premier Minister Pedro Sanchez.The Trump administration’s previous state dinners were for France in April 2018 and Australia in September 2019.
 
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Ukraine’s first and currently only television channel in the Crimean Tatar language says it is on the brink of shutting down operations due to lack of government funding.ATR hasn’t received $2 million that the government allocated for the channel in this year’s state budget, a statement by the channel said on Feb. 10.The channel said it received $610,000 on its account on Dec. 28, but couldn’t access the money because banks were closed that day so it had to return the money, as required by law.A portion of the $2 million that was allocated this year was transferred to ATR’s account, but the channel said the state treasury had blocked access to it.In response, ATR has launched a fundraising campaign and is broadcasting from an empty studio without presenters and guests.ATR is a part of a media holding that is majority-owned by Lenur Islyamov and initially stopped broadcasting in Crimea after the occupying Russian authorities refused to issue a broadcasting license after annexing the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.It resumed broadcasting on June 17, 2015, in Kyiv via satellite throughout Ukraine, including in Crimea, supported mostly with government money.Islyamov said in a statement that without the channel, Ukraine will never get back Crimea.”We know who our focus group is. We know it is the people who support us, those people who know about us, and those who want to return to Crimea with us,” he said. “Without us, we won’t be able to return to Crimea. We are the bridge that is being laid to Crimea.”Due to the financial shortfall, ATR has slashed 90 percent of its own programming, dismissed 45 percent of its staff, reduced news broadcasts, and stopped broadcasting live, Islyamov said.In addition to ATR, a children’s TV channel and a radio channel are part of the holding.Separately in January, Ukraine’s public broadcaster shut down international broadcasting and closed its Crimean Tatar-, Arabic-, and English-language departments. 
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British police said on Tuesday that two more arrests had been made over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in the back of a truck near London last year while investigations indicated they had died of overheating and lack of oxygen.
The victims, who included two 15-year-old boys, were found on an industrial estate in Grays in Essex, about 20 miles (32 km) east of London in October.Mostly from Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in north-central Vietnam, their deaths shone a light on the human smuggling trade.Autopsies had concluded that the provisional cause of death was a combination of hypoxia – oxygen deprivation – and hyperthermia – overheating – in an enclosed space.Essex Police said a 22-year-old man had been arrested in Northern Ireland on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating unlawful immigration. He was now in custody in Essex.Last week, British police along with German authorities detained Gheorghe Nica, 43, who was wanted on a European Arrest Warrant, at Frankfurt Airport.Nica, who lives near Grays, appeared in court on Saturday accused of 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and is due to reappear at London’s Old Bailey court on March 16.”Our teams are continuing to progress hundreds of lines of inquiry and are working with the National Crime Agency and other law enforcement agencies from across the globe to further their lengthy and complex investigation,” Essex Police said.Maurice Robinson, the British driver of the truck who hailed from Northern Ireland, admitted last November plotting to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.British authorities are also trying to extradite Eamonn Harrison, 23, from Ireland on charges of manslaughter, human trafficking and immigration offenses. He is due at Dublin’s High Court on Wednesday.Police have said the Vietnamese victims were found not long after the container arrived in Britain from Zeebrugge in Belgium. The refrigerated unit was picked up at Purfleet dock, not far from Grays, while police believe the truck cab was driven over from Ireland. 
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The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a senior Ukrainian-born Russian official was now in charge of managing Moscow’s relations with Ukraine, a move likely to be seen by some politicians in Kyiv as further evidence of a slight thaw in ties.President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, was now the most senior Kremlin official when it came to Ukraine.Kozak, a lawyer by education, was born in what used to be Soviet Ukraine.Vladislav Surkov, seen as a hardliner by many in Kyiv, had previously overseen Russia’s relations with Ukraine, a role that saw him negotiate and advise Putin on the subject. Peskov said Surkov still worked for the Kremlin, but did not elaborate.Relations between Moscow and Kyiv were derailed after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and Moscow-backed separatists launched an uprising in the Donbas, eastern Ukraine, that has killed more than 13,000 people. Russia denies any role in the conflict.Russia and Ukraine are wrangling over how to implement a peace deal on the Donbas, but major disagreements remain and full normalisation is far off.Under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, there has been some movement however with a peace summit held in Paris in December with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany. That was followed by a large-scale prisoner swap.Zelenskiy on Tuesday appointed a former lawyer called Andriy Yermak as his chief of staff.Yermak, who was involved in negotiating prisoner swaps with Russia, told the Ukraine 24 TV channel on Monday that he had met Kozak and thought he was an improvement over Surkov.”It seems to me that he (Kozak) is more inclined to dialogue. And on the issues on which I spoke with him, I can say that we had constructive communication, without which nothing would be possible of what we have already seen,” Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency cited Yermak as saying. 
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Ireland’s main opposition party Fianna Fail won the most seats in the country’s 160-seat parliament, one more than the outsider, left-wing Sinn Fein, which scored an unprecedented result in Saturday’s general election. Sinn Fein, notorious for its links with the outlawed Irish Republican Army, won nearly 25% of the vote in a tight race with two mainstream parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, the success of an outsider party reflects voter discontent with politics as usual.
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Germany’s closely watched impending decision on whether and to what extent to allow Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, to enter its next generation telecommunications infrastructure may yield a result as early as Tuesday, sources tell VOA.The decision “is imminent,” says Emily Haber, German ambassador to the United States, in answer to a question raised by VOA Monday afternoon concerning the German government’s stance with regard to Huawei.“Any decision we take will factor in the relevance of the trustworthiness of the provider,” Haber added.VOA has since learned from diplomatic sources that “imminent” could mean as early as Tuesday February 11th when German lawmakers convene in Berlin.Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, thinks Germany could end up following Britain’s precedence and reach a compromise solution “between Merkel’s permissive ‘few limits suggestion and the more restrictive line called for by many backbench MPs, led by Norbert Roettgen,” Kirkegaard told VOA.Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is seen as wanting to work with Beijing in order to secure German business interests in China, while Roettgen, also a member of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and chairman of the influential Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, has made  no secret of his mistrust of Huawei.Roettgen pinned his tweet from November 23rd following a CDU vote in which he declared the unanimous vote a huge victory and an unambiguous declaration of where CDU stands on this issue.Unser #Initiativantrag zu #5G wurde beim #cdupt19 einstimmig beschlossen – ein Riesenerfolg! Die Debatte kommt in den #Bundestag. Klare Position der @CDU gegen Einfluss ausländischer Staaten in deutsche kritische Infrastruktur & für eine europäische Lösung! pic.twitter.com/W3uvLAxWJU— Norbert Röttgen (@n_roettgen) November 23, 2019CDU position “against foreign influence in critical German infrastructure” as well as its determination to find a European solution are “clear,” he tweeted, “next comes the parliamentary debate” which could take place Tuesday in Berlin, sources tell VOA.In Kirkegaard’s opinion, Germany could also impose a ceiling on Huawei’s market share and attempt to prevent the company from supplying “core network” components, a measure Britain has recently announced, in spite of Washington’s strong objection.He nonetheless points out that given the 5G technology’s largely “cloud”-based feature, it remains “technically unclear” how core and peripheral distinction could be meaningfully established.Should the German parliament vote Huawei out of Germany’s 5G telecommunications infrastructure, it would be a huge surprise to many, including Kirkegaard. Should it happen, it would constitute a “huge defeat for Merkel,” he says, even as Merkel’s party is thrown into turmoil as her designated successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her decision to step down as chairman of the CDU on Monday.It remains to be seen whether the latest development within the CDU could affect the German parliament’s debate on Huawei.Speaking along with the German ambassador at an event hosted by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies Monday afternoon, Piotr Wilczek, Poland’s ambassador to the United States, said “there’s been a big effort” on the part of all EU countries “to provide Brussels with our positions” on the issue of Huawei.“Now we’re in the process of discussing this in more detail,” Wilczek said, in answer to VOA’s question on his country’s position with regard to Huawei. “Poland and I believe Romania are the only countries that have signed a declaration with the United States, stating just that we’ll be very careful in choosing providers and providers should be very reliable,” he added, without naming any company by name.“This is a very complicated issue … a difficult decision,” he says, “because it’s about the quality of services, of various providers; we know some of them are very much advanced, and some of them are not so much advanced but perhaps more reliable.”Earlier, Norbert Roettgen, the German lawmaker who has openly expressed his concerns about Huawei, stated that when it comes to which providers to be let in, “You don’t just need technical certainty, you need the suppliers to be politically trustworthy, too.” A bill that Roettgen helped draft requires that any company designated as “untrustworthy” be excluded “from both the core and peripheral networks.”Roettgen tweeted on February 8 that the United States and the EU “could team up to counter China’s 5G dominance.”  “We share the same security concerns and should cooperate to expand alternatives.”  He added that “but to do so, we must know that tariffs against Brussels are off the table.  Partners don’t threaten one another,” in a reference to tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would impose on a number of European imports, including on German automobiles.The #USA & EU could team up to counter #China’s #5G dominance. We share the same security concerns & should cooperate to expand 🇪🇺 alternatives. But to do so we must know that tariffs against Brussels are off the table. Partners don’t threaten one another. https://t.co/ZPvZFKWNYq— Norbert Röttgen (@n_roettgen) February 8, 2020Huawei has repeatedly denied that it is beholden to the Chinese government and its political demands. China’s top envoy to Berlin has made it clear that Beijing “will not stand idly by” should Germany’s decision on Huawei turns out to be unfavorable to Beijing. “If Germany were to make a decision that led to Huawei’s exclusion from the German market, there will be consequences,” Wu Ken is quoted as saying. Whichever way Germany decides, its decision likely will have significant impact on the other European Union countries. Political influence aside, the fact that Germany takes up about 30% of the EU’s 5G market is “enough for pan-EU operators to follow its lead,” according to the Peterson Institute’s Kirkegaard.
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Nicaragua’s best-known daily newspaper La Prensa is aiming to expand its page count and possibly re-hire some laid-off newsroom staff after an 18 month government-enforced blockade of newsprint supplies.Nicaraguan customs officials on Thursday agreed to release an impounded shipment of ink and paper after a communications channel between the government and the country’s only remaining national newspaper was reopened.According to news wires, the government’s decision came just days after the Vatican’s top diplomat in Managua intervened on La Prensa’s behalf.The breakthrough came just days after a La Prensa editorial warned that the newspaper’s days may be numbered.“Nicaragua would be the only country in the world that would not have a printed newspaper,” said the storied publication’s editorial board, which has long been an irritant of President Daniel Ortega.2018 seizureLa Presna’s imported newsprint shipments were seized in August 2018, shortly after the paper repeatedly called Ortega a dictator following deadly police crackdowns on a wave of anti-government protests over cuts to social security and calls for his resignation.Ortega’s government labeled the uprising a U.S.-financed coup attempt, and its violent response claimed more than 320 lives.“We have not offered anything in return to the government [for the surprise release of print materials],” said La Prensa Director Jaime Chamorro, whose family bought the publication in 1932, just six years after it was founded.La Presna editor Eduardo Enrique said the seizure forced rationing of newsprint, cutting its standard 36-page daily edition down to eight pages, sacrificing ad revenue and forcing newsroom-wide layoffs.Over the weekend, La Prensa executives said they plan conduct a market study to determine how many pages they can print in light of their economic losses. Enrique, who now leads of newsroom of 25 journalists that produce multiple publications, also said they’re planning to rehire newsroom personnel lost during the blockade, although he did not give a specific number.A storied history“La Prensa used to have a big newsroom with more than 70 journalists,” said Emiliano Chamorro, who was laid off after a 25-year career covering political and religious affairs for La Presna.”It’s the most important newspaper in the country,” he said. “With more than 94 years of history, the newspaper has survived three dictatorships—two of Somoza, and the first one of Daniel Ortega in the 80s.”Nicaraguan government officials did not respond to requests to explain why they retained the materials or what prompted them to free it.Part of broader press clampdownThe violent unrest of 2018 was followed by a severe clampdown on independent media, in which Ortega’s security forces raided news outlets and imprisoned journalists.Since that time, more than 100 journalists have fled the country in the wake of threats, beatings and arbitrary detentions, according to a July 2019 statement by the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. Ortega, whose own family presides over a vast media empire, has repeatedly offered assurances that all Nicaraguans enjoy unrestricted freedom of personal expression.“In Nicaragua there is an absolute freedom of religion and expression,” the president said during a recent presidential speech.Carlos Fernando Chamorro, director of independent newsweekly and TV channel Confidencial, told Voice of America he hopes the released paper and ink will be followed by a return of confiscated news facilities, including his 100% Noticias television newsroom.La Prensa executives say they anticipate printing a full edition in coming weeks, but that they must first assess the quality of the recently released paper, newsprint reel, and plate cylinders.Washington-imposed sanctions on Nicaragua for human rights violations followed the 2018 unrest, which aimed to pressure Managua into easing restrictions on various organizations.According to Reuters, Michael Kozak, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said on Twitter that “the long-overdue decision to release @laprensa’s paper & ink from Nicaraguan customs is a step in the right direction.”Managua-based El Nuevo Diario shut down in September after government officials impounded their newsprint supplies. Leaders of both El Nuevo Diario and La Prensa have accused Ortega’s government of de facto censorship and “economic asphyxiation” for editorials critical of his administration’s response to the 2018 protests.A report by the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation recorded some 420 press violations between April and October 2018. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders ranks Nicaragua 114 out of 180 countries in its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, a 24-point drop from its 2018 ranking.”The persecution of independent media outlets has become much more intense since the political crisis intensified in April 2018,” the report states. “…Although the environment is now extremely violent, non-aligned media outlets cannot afford the bulletproof vests and other protective equipment that their reporters need when covering demonstrations.”This story originated in VOA’s Latin American Division (( https://www.voanoticias.com )). Some information is from Reuters.
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A Belfast couple were on Tuesday set to become the first same-sex couple to get married in Northern Ireland after a change in the law.Robyn Peoples, 26, and Sharni Edwards, 27, were due to wed at 2:00 pm (1400 GMT) in Carrickfergus, near Belfast, after the new legislation came into effect on Monday.It followed campaigning by Amnesty International and partner organizations in the “Love Equality” campaign, which hailed the occasion “a landmark moment for equality in Northern Ireland.””We didn’t set out to make history — we just fell in love,” Edwards said ahead of the nuptials in a statement released by the campaign.”We are so grateful to the thousands of people who marched for our freedoms, to the Love Equality campaign who led the way, and the politicians who voted to change the law.”Without you, our wedding wouldn’t have been possible. We will be forever thankful.”Her soon-to-be wife Peoples added: “While this campaign ends with Sharni and I saying ‘I do,’ it started with people saying ‘no’ to inequality. By standing together, we’ve made history.”British MPs in London passed legislation last July, while Northern Ireland’s devolved government was suspended, to allow gay marriages and same-sex civil partnerships.The move, which brought the province into line with the rest of the UK, was opposed by a group of local lawmakers but they failed in a last-minute bid in October to block its implementation.London spent the intervening months drawing up new regulations to apply to the marriages and partnerships — with the first permitted to happen this week.In the meantime, Northern Ireland’s political parties also agreed to restart power-sharing in Belfast.Activists, British MPs including Northern Ireland Secretary of State Julian Smith, and others will celebrate the occasion at a parliamentary event in London later on Tuesday.Sara Canning, the partner of journalist Lyra McKee who was killed by dissident republicans in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry last year, helped to campaign for the change.”Of course, this historic moment is a little bittersweet. It had been our dream too. Lyra and I should have been an engaged couple now, planning our own wedding day,” she said in the statement.
 
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A storm battered Europe with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains, killing at least seven people and causing severe travel disruptions as it moved eastward across the continent Monday and bore down on Germany.After striking Britain and Ireland on Sunday, the storm moved on, leaving a trail of damage including power cuts for tens of thousands of homes across Europe.A woman and her 15-year-old daughter died in Poland after the storm ripped off the roof of a ski rental equipment building in the mountain resort of Bukowina Tatrzanska and sent it hurtling onto people standing near a ski lift, police said. Three people also were injured in the incident.In Sweden, one man drowned after the boat he and another person were sailing in on the southern lake of Fegen capsized. The victim was washed ashore and later died. The other person is still missing, according to the Aftonbladet daily.Two men, one in the north of Slovenia and another in southern England, also died after their cars were hit by falling trees. And in Germany, a driver died after crashing his truck into a trailer parked by workers clearing storm debris off a highway in the southern state of Hesse.The jib of a crane is seen after it fell onto the roof of Frankfurt Cathedral during a storm, in Frankfurt, Germany, Feb. 10, 2020.Police in the Czech Republic said the storm likely was to blame for a car accident that killed the man driving and injured a woman passenger. Investigators think a tree fell on the car, which skidded off the road and and overturned.The number of Czech households without electricity reached 290,000, according to power company CEZ.Britain, which bore the brunt of the storm on Sunday, was assessing the damage and working to get power restored to 20,000 homes. However, for parts of northern England and Scotland, the respite is set to be brief, with forecasts of blizzards and snow.Many parts of the country were mopping up after a month and a half’s rain fell in just 24 hours in some places and rivers burst their banks. Though 360 flood warnings have been removed as the storm moves on, around 75 remain in place across the country.The River Irwell burst its banks in northwest England, prompting authorities to evacuate residents. And in the Scottish town of Hawick, which borders England, a guest house and bistro collapsed into the raging River Teviot. No one was injured.In another dramatic scene, a driver managed to escape unhurt in the early hours of Monday when a car fell nose-first into a sinkhole in a residential street in the town of Brentwood, east of London. Six properties had to be evacuated due to the unstable ground that is said to have been linked to a partially collapsed sewer. The emergency services made the scene safe just before daybreak.The British government said it was offering financial compensation through its emergency Bellwin scheme. Under the scheme, local authorities dealing with the storm can apply to have certain costs reimbursed.Transport authorities were also working hard to clear up the mess. Network Rail, which runs the country’s rail infrastructure, said thousands of engineers had “battled horrendous conditions” after the storm blew trees, sheds, roofs and even trampolines onto the tracks.Ferries were operating across the English Channel after being closed down on Sunday, though P&O Ferries said in a tweet that further disruptions were possible.Airlines operating to and from U.K. airports were still being affected by the storm, with more than 100 flights canceled.”We’re getting in touch with those affected, and have brought in extra customer teams to help them with a range of options including a full refund or an alternative flight between now and Thursday,” British Airways said in a statement.The storm had largely passed through France by midday, though meteorologists warned that the Mediterranean island of Corsica could later see winds as high as 200 kph (124 mph). Up to 130,000 homes stretching from Brittany, in western France, through Normandy and the northern regions were without power Monday morning.In Germany, utility companies were also scrambling to restore power to some 50,000 homes in northern Bavaria, where a top wind of over 160 kph (100 mph) was recorded. The storm resulted in a record amount of electricity being fed into the German grid from wind turbines, equivalent to almost 44 nuclear power plants.Train travel across Europe’s biggest economy was also severely disrupted, leaving many commuters unable to get to work. Deutsche Bahn said Monday it was slowly resuming long-distance rail services in the north of the country but warned travelers to expect further disruptions. Airlines canceled hundreds of flights from German airports.The storm, which was dubbed Sabine in Germany, also led to school closures in several cities and regions, including North Rhine-Westphalia state, where several people were injured by falling branches and toppling trees. Parts of a construction crane fell onto the roof of Frankfurt Cathedral overnight.Even though there were no reported fatalities in Belgium, the storm had an emotional impact in the central town of Zottegem, where a scenic 150-year-old poplar tree was snapped at its roots, before falling and being pulverized on a country road.The tree had been granted protected status by the Flemish regional government and locals now plan to have a special remembrance service on Friday.”The tree meant so much to everyone,” Stefan Fostier, the driving force behind the initiative, told The Associated Press. “It will be a moment to honor the tree.”
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Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Monday he saw no preparations taking place for a promised summit over the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, adding that he had little hope it would make any progress even if it goes ahead.The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met in Paris in December to discuss the long-running Ukraine crisis and agreed to get together again within four months to keep the dialogue open.FILE – Ukrainian Minister for Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystayko gestures while speaking to the media during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 10, 2020.”I am confident that when leaders say they will meet in April then they will … what I don’t see though is the preparation,” Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko told reporters during a visit to Italy.”Before the December meeting … (preparations) started half a year beforehand. Now we have two months to go and I have not seen anything prepared. Maybe it will be a much faster process than last time and maybe we will make much more progress. I am sorry, but I doubt it.”The conflict in eastern Ukraine that broke out in 2014 has killed more than 13,000 people, left a large swathe of Ukraine de facto controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, and aggravated the deepest east-west rift since the Cold War.The December summit did not produce the sort of breakthrough some had hoped for, such as an agreement on expanding a cease-fire zone, but it did lead to a prisoner exchange deal.Prystaiko welcomed the subsequent large-scale prisoner swap that took place at the end of last year, but noted that more people had died in continued fighting in January 2020 than in the same month a year earlier.”We haven’t managed to achieve a cease-fire. … But even if we have just an exchange of prisoners, that is a good step for Ukrainians,” he said.
 
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The British government said Monday it is seriously studying the feasibility of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, an audacious idea that has been floated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack, said the proposal was being taken seriously and “a range of officials” were studying it.”There is a proper piece of work being undertaken into this idea,” he said. “The PM is ambitious in terms of infrastructure projects.”Johnson has promised to build major new infrastructure to better connect parts of the U.K. in the wake of Britain’s divisive exit from the European Union. He also has vowed to boost regions outside the economically dominant southeast of England.He has mentioned the bridge idea several times, and claimed it would “only cost about 15 billion pounds” ($20 billion).But engineers say spanning the deep and stormy Irish Sea would be difficult. The distance is 12 miles (19 kilometers) at its narrowest; one of the most likely routes for a bridge, between Larne in Northern Ireland and Portpatrick in Scotland, is about 28 miles (45 kilometers).The water is up to 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep and the sea bed holds thousands of unexploded bombs dumped by Britain’s defense ministry after World War II.Johnson has a mixed track record with big projects. As mayor of London between 2008 and 2016 he touted a “Boris Island” airport in the River Thames estuary and a lush “garden bridge” in the middle of the city. Neither was ever built.Ian Firth, a fellow at the Institution of Civil Engineers, said building a Scotland-Northern Ireland bridge had “a huge number of technical challenges” but was probably achievable.”At the end of the day it’s about money,” he said. “Anything is possible if you throw enough money at it.” 
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France on Monday condemned a bid by Iran to put a satellite in space, urging Tehran to abide by international obligations on its controversial ballistic missile program.”France condemns this launch which calls on technologies used for ballistic missiles and, in particular, intercontinental ballistic missiles,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement after Iran said it “successfully” launched a satellite Sunday but failed to put it into orbit.Recalling Iran’s obligations under a 2018 U.N. Security Council resolution, the ministry added: “Iran’s ballistic program hurts regional stability and affects European security. France calls on Iran to fully respect its international obligations in this matter.” 
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A court in the Russian city of Penza has sentenced seven activists from a group known as “Set'” (the Network) to prison terms of between six years and 18 years on terrorism charges that opposition figures have denounced.On Monday, the Privolzhsky district court found the men, aged between 23 and 30 years, guilty of being members of a terrorist group.Some of the defendants were also found guilty of possessing illegal weapons and explosives, and attempted illegal drug sales.The group members were arrested in October 2017 with the Federal Security Service (FSB) accusing them of creating a terrorist group with cells in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza, and Omsk, as well as In neighboring Belarus.Investigators said the group planned to organize a series of explosions in Russia during the presidential election and the World Cup soccer tournament in 2018 “to destabilize the situation” in the country and to organize an armed mutiny.Rights activists have said the case was fabricated. Some of the activists claimed that they were tortured while in custody, but the Investigative Committee rejected the claims.Opposition leader Aleksei Navalny described the sentences as “horrific” in a post on Twitter, saying testimony about an “imaginary terrorist organisation” was “beaten out using torture.””Any minister in the Russian government is 10 times more of a criminal and a threat to society than these guys,” he added.The court called Dmitry Pchelintsev and Ilya Shaursky the group’s leaders and sentenced them to penalties of 18 years and 16 years in prison, respectively.Andrei Chernov was sentenced to 14 years, Maksim Ivankin to 13 years, Mikhail Kulov to 10 years, and Vasily Kuksov to 9 years in prison.Arman Sagynbaev received six years in prison.Before the sentences, Amnesty International called the terror charges “a figment of the Russian security services’ imagination that was fabricated in an attempt to silence these activists.”The London-based human rights watchdog called the case “the latest politically-motivated abuse of the justice system to target young people.”Two other activists initially arrested in the case, Igor Shishkin and Yegor Zorin, made deals with the investigators and testified against the others.Shishkin received 3 1/2 years in prison in January 2019, while the case against Zorin was closed in September 2018.
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Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who has been in exile in Argentina, went to Cuba on Monday for medical treatment, Argentina’s president said.President Alberto Fernandez said that as “nothing impedes him as a political refugee from going to Cuba.”He did not specify what sort of treatment Morales would receive, but the leftist leader has several times turned to Cuba for medical care. In 2017 and 2018, he had surgery there for a nodule on his vocal chords.Morales, who governed Bolivia for nearly 14 years, resigned the presidency in November when the police and army withdrew support after several weeks of demonstrations that erupted over allegations of fraud in the Oct. 20 presidential election. Morales claimed to have won reelection, but the Organization of American States said its audit found serious irregularities in the vote count.
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