A Belarusian blogger has been sentenced to three years in prison on charge of “insulting” Alexander Lukashenko by writing in a post that the country’s authoritarian ruler was “illegitimate” amid a wave of protests against the results of a presidential election last year that opposition figures say was rigged.

A court in the western town of Shchuchyn pronounced its ruling against Vadzim Ermashuk, also known in his posts on social media as Vadimati, on December 21.

The 36-year-old blogger, who was also charged with desecrating the flag for a post in which he called it a “rag,” rejected the charges and refused to testify in the courtroom or answer questions from the judge.

Ermashuk was initially detained in August of this year and sentenced to several days in jail on hooliganism charges for protesting. He was not released after serving his sentence as prosecutors brought new charges against him for his posts.

Ermashuk is one of dozens in Belarus who have faced trials in recent months as authorities brutally suppress dissent in any form since the disputed presidential election in August 2020.

Rights activists and opposition politicians say the poll was rigged to extend Lukashenko’s 26-year rule. Thousands have been detained during countrywide protests and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people have died during the crackdown.

Many of Belarus’s opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, while Lukashenko has refused to negotiate with the opposition.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenko as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown.
…

In Turkey, Uyghur refugees who fled Chinese detention centers and other alleged rights abuses say they fear the Turkish government is under increased pressure to prosecute or deport activists. But as VOA’s Heather Murdock finds at one school in Istanbul, some Uyghur children say their parents sent them here to find safety, when there was no one to care for them at home.

Camera: Umut Colak
…

Russia expelled two German diplomats on Monday in response to Germany’s expulsion of two Russian diplomats last week. 

The dispute between the two nations started when a German court said last week that Russia had ordered the assassination of a former Chechen militant Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019. 

A German court convicted Russian Vadim Krasikov of murder and sentenced him to life in prison, calling the slaying a “grave breach of German law and the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany.”

After the conviction, Russia called the notion of Russian involvement “absurd.” 

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador to announce the expulsions. 

Russian officials said the move was reciprocal, the German Foreign Ministry said. 

“This move comes as no surprise, but it is completely unwarranted from the federal government’s perspective,” it said in a statement. “Today’s decision by Russia’s foreign ministry puts renewed strain on the relationship.” 

“It was noted that the Russian side categorically rejects unfounded and detached-from-reality accusations that Russian public structures are accessory to this crime,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press. 

 
…

A Russian businessman has been extradited from Switzerland to the United States to face charges of insider trading, the Swiss justice ministry said. 

Vladislav Klyushin, who reportedly owns a media and cybersecurity business called M13 that is linked to the Kremlin, is accused of “involvement in a global scheme to trade on non-public information stolen from U.S. computer networks … between at least in or about January 2018 and September 2020,” according to a press release from the U.S. Justice Department. 

According to the company’s website, its products were used by “the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, federal ministries and departments, regional state executive bodies, commercial companies and public organizations.” 

One of the stocks Klyushin traded using insider information was Tesla, the Justice Department said. 

Russia said the move was another example of Washington going after Russians on the world stage. 

“We are forced to state that we are dealing with another episode in Washington’s ongoing hunt for Russian citizens in third countries,” said Vladimir Khokhlov, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Switzerland, TASS reported. 

Four other Russians are charged in the alleged scheme. 

“The integrity of our nation’s capital markets and of its computer networks are priorities for my office,” acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell said. “Today’s charges show that we, the FBI, and our other law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those who hack, steal and attempt to profit from inside information, wherever they may hide.” 

Some information in this report came from Reuters. 
…

The White House said Monday the United States is ready to start diplomatic talks with Russia through multiple channels, but it made clear that Moscow must address Western concerns about its military buildup along the Ukrainian border.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with his counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the White House saying the U.S. was willing to talk directly with the Kremlin, as well as through the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The White House said Sullivan told Ushakov that “any dialogue must be based on reciprocity and address our concerns about Russia’s actions.”

In a virtual summit two weeks ago, U.S. President Joe Biden warned Putin that the U.S. would impose tough economic sanctions against Russia if it invaded Ukraine. Moscow has amassed tens of thousands of troops along Ukraine’s eastern border, although Washington has indicated that it does not believe Putin has decided to launch an attack on Ukraine.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the Sullivan-Ushakov call.

Last week, Moscow listed security proposals it wanted to negotiate, including a pledge that NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine. Biden has ruled out deploying U.S. ground troops if Russia invades Ukraine, but the U.S. has been shipping arms to Kyiv.

The Pentagon said that the security package includes small arms and ammunition and Javelin missiles, which the U.S. says can be used anywhere in Ukraine but only for self-defense purposes.
…

Russia has not let up with a military build-up along the border with Ukraine since U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a two-hour video conference earlier this month, say Western security sources.

Despite Biden warning in his talks with Putin that Russia would pay a “terrible price” in the event it invades Ukraine, the forward-deployment of hundreds of Russian tanks, howitzers, self-propelled artillery and tens of thousands of troops has not been reversed.

Two days after the presidents talked, motorized infantry units from St. Petersburg were relocated to a camp east of Kursk, 100 kilometers from the Ukraine border, according to Janes, a global open-source intelligence company based in Britain. Twenty-four hours after Biden and Putin spoke, a social-media user posted video showing Buk missile systems and armored vehicles arriving at a train station in the Russian city of Voronezh.

Russian military build-up

Some units positioned within striking distance of Ukraine over the past few weeks and months have come as far away as Siberia and the border with Mongolia, including elements of the 41st Combined Arms Army, say independent military monitors. Units from 1st Guards Tank Army, normally based in the Moscow region, have also been moved in recent weeks.

But U.S. intelligence officials, along with European security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say they do not believe an invasion is imminent. They say some key logistics they would expect to see are not in place yet, including more fuel and ammunition stockpiles. They calculate Russia has anything from 70,000 to 100,000 troops already deployed, but expect a combined force of around 175,000 to be amassed ahead of any incursion, if Putin decides to launch an attack on Ukraine.

European leaders have been maintaining a drumbeat of warnings to Russia. The European Union has also told the Kremlin there will be severe consequences in the event of a further military incursion into Ukraine in a rehash of 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea and Russia used proxy pro-Moscow separatists to seize a large part of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.

Re-positioned Russian units over the past few months have been amassed around Yelnya, Voronezh and Persianovka, all within 100 to 300 kilometers of Ukraine. And elements from the 49th and 58th Armies, which moved from their bases in the Caucasus region to the Crimea earlier this year, have not been returned to their home bases, say Western military officials.

European warnings

On Sunday, Germany’s new defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, dubbed Russia “the aggressor,” adding, “we must exhaust all possibilities to stop an escalation. That also means threats of hard sanctions.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated his call for Western powers to impose “preventive sanctions” on Russia to deter it from aggression.

“There should be powerful, serious preventive sanctions in order to exclude a scenario of [Russian] escalation in any region, because this not only concerns Ukraine,” he said.

But splits persist among Western powers over assessments of Putin’s intentions.

Last week, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi downplayed the risk of Russian military action, citing the video call between Putin and Biden as demonstrating the Kremlin wants to explore diplomacy and isn’t preparing “for action.”

“The fact that there was this call, the fact that Putin sought out Biden by phone shows that he wants to be part of the decision-making process,” Draghi told Italian lawmakers.

Russian security proposal

Italian officials fear the talk about an impending war risks taking on a life of its own, impacting and shaping the behavior of Russia and the United States. They also point to the draft security treaties Russia presented to the U.S. last week as indicating a willingness for further talks.  

The draft treaties outline an expansive set of “security guarantees” the Kremlin is seeking, including a ban on any further expansion eastwards of NATO and a commitment by the alliance to refrain from deploying additional troops to countries that did not already have NATO forces present before 1997, including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states and several other former Soviet republics.

While the United States and its NATO allies have said they are willing to enter talks with Russia, if the Kremlin draws down troop levels along its border with Ukraine, Western diplomats say there are no prospects that the Russian proposals are acceptable in their present form.  

“We are clear that any dialogue with Russia would have to proceed on the basis of reciprocity, address NATO’s concerns about Russia’s actions, be based on the core principles and foundational documents of European security, and take place in consultation with NATO’s European Partners,” NATO said in a statement Friday.

Some observers are skeptical that Putin has any intentions of backing off his maximalist demands and suspect he will continue with what they see as “coercive diplomacy,” using the threat of war to keep the West and Ukraine on tenterhooks.

“Putin is not threatened by NATO expansion,” tweeted Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow.

“Mighty Russia is not threatened by NATO expansion. NATO has never and will never attack Russia. Putin has reinvented this so-called threat to justify his latest coercive diplomacy… and maybe escalated military intervention in Ukraine,” he added.

But Fyodor Lukyanov, a Russian foreign policy expert, says the Kremlin has reached “the point where the long-standing controversy over NATO enlargement must somehow be resolved” and is willing to raise the geo-political stakes with the West until there’s a resolution to its long-standing objection to the Western alliance creeping closer to Russia’s borders.

Putin is determined at the very least to engineer “a radical revision” requiring an acceptance of his red lines, which include the ‘Finlandization’ of Ukraine, a reference to the neutrality Moscow imposed on neighboring Finland after World War II.

Writing in the magazine Russia in Global Affairs, Lukyanov said: “The European idea after the end of the Cold War that any country should just be allowed to do whatever it wants, regardless of its location, is historically new.” And the Kremlin fears Ukraine “moving inexorably toward the West,” he says.
…

Azerbaijan said Sunday it had freed 10 more Armenian soldiers captured last month during fighting between the Caucasus arch foes.

“Azerbaijan, with mediation of the European Union, handed over 10 soldiers of Armenian origin” who had been captured on November 16, the Azeri committee in charge of prisoners of war said in a statement. 

Baku said that the move was a result of a meeting between Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and European Council chief Charles Michel in Brussels on September 14. 

“Warmly welcome Baku’s release of 10 Armenian detainees in follow up to discussions with @azpresident and @NikolPashinyan,” Michel wrote in a tweet on Sunday. “An important humanitarian gesture demonstrating the mutual will to strengthen confidence as discussed in Brussels. EU facilitated transfer to Yerevan.”

Azerbaijan had already handed over 10 prisoners to Yerevan on December 4, following Russia-mediated talks, in the first concrete sign of a decrease in tensions since last month’s fighting, which killed 13 people.

Those were the worst clashes along the shared border since a six-week war last year over Nagorno-Karabakh that claimed more than 6,500 lives.

At the end of that war, Armenia was forced to sign a Russian-brokered accord with Azerbaijan that saw it cede three districts around Karabakh that it had captured in the 1990s.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and around 30,000 people died in the ensuing conflict.
…

Authorities in Russia evacuated 128 coal miners Sunday from a mine in Siberia amid reports of a fire in one of its sections. The news comes weeks after a devastating blast in another Siberian coal mine killed 51 people.

Emergency officials told Russia’s Interfax news agency that a fire occurred in an abandoned mine gallery in the Anatoly Ruban coal mine in the Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia and about 140 miners were being evacuated. A total of 128 miners have been evacuated from the mine, Interfax reported, citing mine operators as saying that 140 miners were supposed to be on shift Sunday, but only 128 miners were working at the time.

None of them needed medical assistance, the report said. 

According to the Siberian Coal Energy Company, which runs the mine, the evacuation was prompted by the “heating of a coal bed” rather than a fire, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported. 

The conflicting reports could not be immediately reconciled. 

The evacuations come just several weeks after an explosion in another mine in Kemerovo — the Listvyazhnaya mine —killed 46 miners and five rescuers and became the deadliest coal mine disaster in Russia since 2010. 

A probe has revealed multiple violations of safety norms at the Listvyazhnaya mine, including tinkering with methane level indicators in an apparent attempt to maintain production despite the dangers of an explosion. Several managers at the mine and local officials have been arrested and jailed. 

In the wake of the tragedy at Listvyazhnaya, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned officials to strictly observe industrial safety regulations. 

Russia has seen several major mine disasters since Soviet times. In 2007, a methane explosion at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the Kemerovo region killed 110 miners. Three years later, two methane blasts and a fire killed 91 people at the Raspadskaya mine in the same Kemerovo region.

In 2016, 36 miners were killed in a series of methane explosions in a coal mine in Russia’s far north.
…

The political crisis engulfing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has deepened with the resignation of a close ally, Brexit minister David Frost, who cited pandemic restrictions and the government’s “direction of travel.”

Frost has been handling Britain’s post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union. Frost voiced his dissatisfaction with the government’s policies in a speech last month, saying he was worried Britain wasn’t taking advantage of its exit from the EU to chart a new course of limited government, lower taxes and reduced regulation.

In his resignation letter Saturday, Frost returned to the same theme, saying, “You know my concerns about the current direction of travel. I hope we will move as fast as possible to where we need to get to: a lightly regulated, low-tax, entrepreneurial economy, at the cutting edge of modern science and economic change.”

He added his frustrations with renewed pandemic curbs, saying, “We also need to learn to live with Covid and I know that is your instinct too. You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again. Sadly, it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and believe you did too. I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”

Frost’s departure bookends seven days of enormous setbacks for Johnson. Last week, Johnson faced one of the most significant parliamentary rebellions in modern British history. More than 100 of his Conservative lawmakers voted against the reimposition of tough pandemic restrictions and the introduction of new ones, including vaccine passports to enter nightclubs and venues hosting large events.

The embattled prime minister was further rocked by a humiliating parliamentary by-election defeat in a seat in the English Midlands that the Conservatives had held continuously since 1832.

The resignation of Frost, a former diplomat who was ennobled last year by Johnson so he could join the Cabinet, will likely embolden the sizable libertarian wing of the party already furious over the British leader’s handling of the pandemic.

Conservative rebels are determined to dissuade Johnson from tightening pandemic restrictions even more. On Sunday it emerged Johnson was coming under mounting pressure from the government’s scientific and medical advisers to follow the Netherlands and order a national lockdown ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Advisers have called for an “immediate” curtailment of indoor mixing of households to combat the quickening pace of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Officials say Johnson has no choice but to consider a range of further measures, ranging from new social distancing rules to a full lockdown, which, if ordered, would be third since the pandemic struck.

Earlier this month, Frost had informed Johnson he was leaving but was persuaded to delay his announcement until January. But Frost’s plan was leaked, forcing him to quit with immediate effect. 

Frost’s departure adds to the disarray in Conservative ranks. Rebellious Conservative lawmakers voiced their worries Sunday about Frost’s resignation. Theresa Villiers, a former Northern Ireland secretary, said it was “very worrying.” Lawmaker Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said it was a “further hammer blow to the PM.”

Conservative insiders say a bid to oust Johnson as party leader, and consequently as prime minister, will unlikely be mounted in the immediate weeks, but some believe he has been “fatally wounded” and Frost’s resignation adds to that perception. It will also complicate in the near term the politics in the Cabinet about what the government should do about rapidly rising coronavirus infections.

The Cabinet is split with some key ministers opposing the reimposition of any more pandemic rules. The opponents include two key ministers, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the foreign secretary, Liz Truss. Both are reported to harbor leadership ambitions.

Even Johnson’s supporters acknowledge he’s now battling the biggest crisis of his tumultuous premiership. But they say Johnson has time to correct his position as the party factions baying for his head are divided about whom they should back to replace him. Johnson loyalists also say that if omicron turns out to be milder than previous variants, he may still weather the storm of the last few weeks.

But many of Johnson’s problems are due to unforced errors that are enraging voters, say his critics. And they see no end in sight while he remains in office to the toxic mix of scandal, government chaos and abrupt policy reversals that are upsetting the electorate.

Vengeful allies of his predecessor in Downing Street, Theresa May, whom he helped to oust, are circling and are keen to topple him. They — as well as the libertarian wing of the party — have seized on last week’s by-election defeat in North Shropshire, which saw a 34 percent swing away from the Conservatives, one of the biggest since the Second World War.

Many voters in North Shropshire said in the days leading up to the ballot that they had been infuriated by recent revelations about lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street last December, at a time the rest of the country was banned from participating in social gatherings and thousands of Britons were prohibited from visiting elderly relatives or family members dying in hospital wards from the COVID-19 disease.

Johnson’s showmanship, once widely seen as an attribute, has also been misfiring as the public mood sours. Last month, a rambling speech at a conference of the country’s top business leaders led to widespread criticism. Johnson lost his notes, had to apologize for losing his way and extensively praised an amusement park, known as Peppa Pig World. He also compared himself to Moses and imitated the noise of an accelerating sports car.
…

Spain’s Catholic Church is to open an investigation into alleged sex abuse of hundreds of children by members of the clergy dating back 80 years that the newspaper El Pais has uncovered, the daily said on Sunday.

The investigation will look into allegations of abuse against 251 priests and some lay people from religious institutions that the paper has uncovered, El Pais said.

The paper has not published in full its findings from a three-year investigation it conducted into the issue, but said its correspondent gave a 385-page dossier to Pope Francis on Dec. 2 while the papal entourage and journalists were flying from Rome to Cyprus.

The number of victims is at least 1,237 but could rise into the thousands, the paper said. The allegations concern 31 religious orders and 31 of the country’s some 70 dioceses. The oldest case dates back to 1942 and the most recent to 2018.

The investigation will be carried out by the Spanish bishops conference, which is headed by Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, the archbishop of Barcelona, according to El Pais.

Officials from the bishops conference were not available for comment on Sunday.

A Vatican spokesman was not immediately available, but the Vatican does not usually comment on the work of national bishops conferences.

In November, Pope Francis thanked journalists for helping to uncover clerical sexual abuse scandals that the Catholic Church originally tried to cover up.
…

“The Netherlands is shutting down again,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday in a televised address. The new measures, beginning Sunday, Rutte said, are because of a “fifth wave” of COVID-19, due to the highly contagious omicron variant.

Under the new rules, all non-essential shops will be closed to at least mid-January. Only two guests will be permitted to visit a household at one time. Four guests, however, will be allowed during the upcoming holidays from Dec. 24-26 and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Schools will be immediately closed until at least Jan. 9.

While the Netherland boasts an 85% inoculation rate of its population, only 9% have received booster shots.

Jaap van Dissel, the chief of the Dutch outbreak management team, said the shutdown will give people time to get their booster jabs and gives hospitals time to prepare for the possible surge in COVID cases.

Other European countries are also moving to reimpose restrictions to contain the variant’s spread.

The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges.

Scientists are warning the British government needs to go further to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed amid the surge. The warning comes after the government reimposed an indoor mask requirement and ordered people to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test when entering night clubs or large venues.

Britain’s Health Security Agency said Friday that 65 patients were hospitalized in England with omicron.

In France, the government said it would start inoculating children ages 5-11 beginning Wednesday. As he declared Friday the omicron variant was spreading like “lightning,” Prime Minister Jean Castex proposed requiring proof of vaccination for those entering public establishments.

The measure, which requires parliamentary approval, has triggered plans for protests Saturday in Paris, where the New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been canceled.

Anti-lockdown protests also are planned for Saturday in Turin, Italy.

Egypt has detected its first three cases of the new variant, according to the country’s health ministry. The ministry said Friday the three infected people were among 26 travelers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport.

The ministry did not say where the three came from, but the Masrawy news outlet reported they were among travelers from South Africa, which announced the discovery of the variant on Nov. 25.

In China, Beijing will maintain its relatively strict containment measures, while the rest of the country will remain flexible. “There is no one-fit-for-all policy” for local governments, a Chinese government said Saturday at a news conference.

China has identified two cases of the omicron variant and has mostly contained the spread of COVID-19 since it was first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

A recent study has found the risk of reinfection with omicron is more than five times higher compared to the delta variant, and it has shown no sign of causing milder symptoms.

“We find no evidence of omicron having different severity from delta,” said the study by Imperial College London. The study noted, however, that data on hospitalizations is still limited.

The study, conducted in England between Nov. 29 and Dec. 11, was based on 333,000 cases of infections involving different variants of the coronavirus.

More than 5.3 million people have died of COVID-19 globally since the coronavirus emerged two years ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Administering vaccines

The center reported more than 8.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide as of midday Saturday, a massive logistical campaign complicated by omicron’s surge.

Several countries are racing to accelerate vaccination campaigns as mounting evidence supports the need for booster doses to combat the omicron variant.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country would send 15 million doses of vaccines to Africa, where infections are surging and vaccination rates are low. Erdogan made the announcement at a summit of African leaders in Istanbul.

“It is disgraceful for humanity that only 6% of Africa’s population has been vaccinated,” Erdogan said.

A vaccine developed in India, Covovax, was granted emergency approval Friday by the World Health Organization. WHO vaccines chief Mariangela Simao said the approval “aims to increase access particularly to lower-income countries.”

In Europe, European Union governments agreed to order more than 180 million doses of a BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine adapted for omicron, the head of the European Commission said Friday.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday the government plans to accelerate booster shots to around 31 million vulnerable people. He also said he spoke Friday with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about oral treatments.

South Africa, which first identified the omicron variant, said Friday it would donate about 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to other African countries next year via a medical supplies platform established by the African Union.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters. 

 
…

A senior member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet resigned Saturday night, adding to a sense of disarray within a government that has faced rebellion from his own lawmakers and voters this week.

Brexit Minister David Frost said in a letter to Johnson that he was stepping down immediately after a newspaper reported that he had planned to leave the post next month.

Frost said the process of leaving the EU would be a long-term job. “That is why we agreed earlier this month that I would move on in January and hand over the baton to others to manage our future relationship with the EU,” he said in his resignation letter.

However, the Mail on Sunday said earlier that he resigned because of growing disillusionment with Johnson’s policies. The newspaper said Frost’s decision was triggered by last week’s introduction of new pandemic restrictions, including a requirement that people show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to enter nightclubs and other crowded venues.

And in his resignation letter, Frost said the U.K. needed to “learn to live with COVID. … You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again. Sadly, it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and believe you did too. I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”

The news follows a stunning defeat for Johnson’s Conservative Party in a by-election Thursday in North Shropshire, a longtime party stronghold. Earlier this week, 99 Conservative lawmakers voted against so-called vaccine passports in the House of Commons, the biggest rebellion in Johnson’s 2 1/2 years as prime minister.

Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, said Johnson isn’t up to the job as the omicron variant drives a spike in coronavirus infections.

“A government in total chaos right when the country faces an uncertain few weeks” Rayner tweeted. “We deserve better than this buffoonery.”

Even some of Johnson’s own party members piled on.

“The prime minister is running out of time and out of friends to deliver on the promises and discipline of a true Conservative government,” tweeted Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen. “Lord Frost has made it clear, 100 Conservative lawmakers have made it clear, but most importantly, so did the people of North Shropshire.”

Frost led talks with the European Union as Johnson’s government sought to re-negotiate terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc.

His resignation comes after the UK recently softened its stance in the talks with the EU over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland. The change of tone from Britain came as a surprise to many because it seemed at odds with the hardline position of the Brexit minister, who was nicknamed “Frosty the No Man.”

Johnson’s government is also under fire over reports that officials held Christmas parties last year when pandemic rules barred such gatherings.

Adding to his problems with the so-called partygate scandal, Johnson’s choice to investigate the claims had to step aside after he also was tied to such parties.

Simon Case, the head of the civil service, stepped aside from the investigation after the Guido Fawkes website reported Friday that his department held two parties in December 2020.

The scandal erupted when a video surfaced showing a mock news conference at which some of Johnson’s staff appeared to make light of a party that violated the pandemic rules. Until that time, the prime minister had steadfastly denied government officials had broken any lockdown rules.

The Times of London newspaper reported Saturday that one of the events held by Case’s department, the Cabinet Office, was listed in digital calendars as “Christmas party!” and was organized by a member of Case’s team.

The Cabinet Office said Friday that the event was a virtual quiz in which a small number of people who had been working together in the same office took part from their desks.

“The Cabinet Secretary played no part in the event but walked through the team’s office on the way to his own office,” the office said in a statement. “No outside guests or other staff were invited or present. This lasted for an hour and drinks and snacks were bought by those attending. He also spoke briefly to staff in the office before leaving.” 
…

Deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said Saturday that security proposals Russia has presented to the United States are an attempt to turn a potential military scenario into a political process.

Russia, which has built up troops near the border with Ukraine, said Friday it wanted a legally binding guarantee that NATO would give up any military activity in eastern Europe and Ukraine.

Grushko was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Moscow was ready for talks “to turn a military or a military-technical scenario of confrontation into a political process which will really strengthen military security.”

 
…

The Dutch government is holding an emergency meeting Saturday with health advisers about the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus before an expected announcement of more lockdown measures to stem its spread.

The government proposed new measures Friday to curb the alarming spread of the new variant, as other European countries are moving to reimpose restrictions to contain the variant’s spread. 

The health experts have recommended the government order a “strict” lockdown, according to Dutch media reports, just days after a partial lockdown closing non-essential businesses was extended through January 14. Primary schools also were closed early for the winter holidays because of high infection rates among children.

The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges.

Scientists are warning the British government needs to go further to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed amid the surge. The warning comes after the government previously reimposed an indoor mask requirement and ordered people to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test when entering night clubs or large venues.

Britain’s Health Security Agency said Friday that 65 patients were hospitalized in England with omicron. 

In France, the government said it would start inoculating children between ages 5 and 11 beginning Wednesday. As he declared Friday the Omicron variant was spreading like “lightning,” Prime Minister Jean Castex proposed requiring proof of vaccination for those entering public establishments. 

The measure, which requires parliamentary approval, has triggered plans for protests Saturday in Paris, where the New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been canceled.

Anti-lockdown protests also are planned for Saturday in Turin, Italy.

Egypt has detected its first three cases of the new variant, according to the country’s health ministry. The ministry said Friday the three infected people were among 26 travelers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport. 

The ministry did not say where the three came from, but the Masrawy news outlet reported they were among travelers from South Africa, which announced the discovery of the variant on November 25.

In China, Beijing will maintain its relatively strict containment measures, while the rest of the country will remain flexible. “There is no one-fit-for-all policy” for local governments, a Chinese government said Saturday at a news conference.

China has identified two cases of the omicron variant and has mostly contained the spread of COVID-19 since it was first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

A recent study has found the risk of reinfection with omicron is more than five times higher compared to the delta variant, and it has shown no sign of causing milder ill effects.

“We find no evidence of omicron having different severity from delta,” said the study by Imperial College London. The study noted, however, that data on hospitalizations is still limited.

The study, conducted in England between November 29 and December 11, was based on 333,000 cases of infections involving different variants of the coronavirus.

More than 5.3 million people have died of COVID-19 globally since the coronavirus emerged two years ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Administering vaccines

The center reported more than 8.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide as of mid-day Saturday, a massive logistical campaign complicated by omicron’s surge.

Several countries are racing to accelerate vaccination campaigns as mounting evidence supports the need for booster doses to combat the omicron variant.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country would send 15 million doses of vaccines to Africa, where infections are surging and vaccination rates are low. Erdogan made the announcement at a summit of African heads in Istanbul.

“It is disgraceful for humanity that only 6% of Africa’s population has been vaccinated,” Erdogan said.

A vaccine developed in India, Covovax, was granted emergency approval Friday by the World Health Organization. WHO vaccines chief Mariangela Simao said the approval “aims to increase access particularly to lower-income countries.”

In Europe, European Union governments agreed to order more than 180 million doses of a BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine adapted for omicron, the head of the European Commission said Friday.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday the government plans to accelerate booster shots to around 31 million vulnerable people. He also said he spoke Friday with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about oral treatments.

South Africa, which first identified the omicron variant, said Friday it would donate about 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to other African countries next year via a medical supplies platform established by the African Union.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Marking International Migrants Day, the United Nations reports hostility and xenophobia are growing against migrants.  It warns the stigmatization and marginalization of migrants amid a raging pandemic is putting many lives at risk.  

U.N. agencies report one seventh of the global population, or one billion people, are on the move. This number includes a record 281 million international migrants, and 84 million people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, and climate change.

Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, Antonio Vitorino, says many migrants embark on dangerous, life-threatening journeys in search of better economic opportunities, others are forced from their homes because of natural and man-made disasters.  

He says many of these vulnerable people fall into the hands of unscrupulous people smugglers operating along migration routes worldwide.  He says COVID-19 has worsened the difficulties migrants encounter.

“Beyond the images of closed borders, separated families and economic instability, the now two-year-old global pandemic has spawned a new wave of anti-migrant sentiment and the increasing instrumentalization of migrants as tools in state policy.  Both are unacceptable,” Vitorino said.

Instead of being a liability, he underlines the invaluable contributions migrants make across the world.  He says migrant workers—nurses, health care workers–have kept millions of people safe from COVID.  He says migrant remittances have provided a lifeline for families made destitute by the pandemic.

“The positive social and economic impact in the countries where they reside, and the 540 billion US dollars remitted last year to communities in lower and middle-income countries are measures of the industry, entrepreneurship and community from which we all benefit,” Vitorino said.  

And, yet he notes too many governments continue to exclude migrants from their pandemic social and economic recovery plans because of their legal status.  

U.N. and international organizations are appealing to governments to grant migrants access to lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines. To do otherwise, they say would pose a threat to the health of all people.
…

The U.S. says its indirect talks with Iran on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal made modest progress in the latest round that ended Friday, but it also says much work remains to be done to prevent what is left of the agreement between Tehran and world powers from quickly falling apart.

In a phone briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official cited two examples of “modest” progress at the talks in Vienna involving the U.S., Iran and five world powers acting as mediators between the two sides.

The first was Iran’s Wednesday agreement to let the International Atomic Energy Agency reinstall cameras that allow U.N. inspectors to observe an Iranian nuclear facility manufacturing advanced centrifuges in the city of Karaj. Those cameras were damaged in June in what Iran called an act of sabotage by its regional rival Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

The second example cited by the U.S. official is a common U.S. and Iranian understanding of a text that will serve as a basis for negotiations on what parts of Iran’s nuclear program may be curbed in return for a lifting of U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

But the U.S. official cautioned against enthusiasm over the text.

“What we have is an agenda of issues to be examined, not a set of solutions to be accepted. There still is a lot of work to do,” the official said.

The U.S. official also said Iran’s recent advances in its nuclear program that the West fears could be weaponized make it more urgent for Tehran to return to the curbs on that program previously agreed to under the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We made some progress, but … at a pace that will not be sufficient to get to where we need to go before Iran’s nuclear advances render the JCPOA a corpse that cannot be revived,” the official said.

Iran, which says its nuclear activities are peaceful, has been exceeding the curbs on its nuclear activities since 2019 in retaliation for the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA a year earlier.

Then-U.S. President Donald Trump quit the JCPOA and unilaterally toughened sanctions on Iran, saying it was a better way to pressure Tehran into stopping malign behavior. Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden, has said a U.S. return to the JCPOA is the better course to prevent Iran from weaponizing its nuclear program, provided that Tehran also returns to honoring the deal.

Earlier Friday, Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister, tweeted that “good progress” had been made in Vienna in Iran’s seventh round of indirect talks with the U.S., following six previous rounds held from April to June.

Bagheri Kani added that Iran “will continue talks after a break of a few days.” There was no word from any of the parties at the talks as to exactly when the talks would resume.

Iran has said its priority in Vienna is securing the lifting of all U.S. sanctions, which have weakened an economy also plagued by government corruption and mismanagement. Tehran has declined to state publicly which nuclear activities it might curb in return.

Washington has said any sanctions relief for Iran should be limited to nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 deal and reinstated later by Trump, rather than sanctions imposed by Trump and Biden in response to Iran’s missile development, arming of regional proxies and poor human rights record.

Before departing Vienna, Bagheri Kani told Iranian state news agency IRNA that Iran had persuaded the three European mediators involved in the talks, U.S. allies Britain, France and Germany, to “accept Iran’s position as a basis for serious and effective negotiations.” 

But the senior State Department official, responding to a question from a VOA Persian reporter in Vienna, said the U.S. does not believe Iran’s position is entirely consistent with the JCPOA.

“It’s hard to even define sometimes what their proposal is, but they certainly have taken positions … that are either beyond or inconsistent with the JCPOA. It is a common view of all of the members of the P5+1 that the only ideas that should be entertained are those that are consistent with the deal that was negotiated in 2015 and 2016.”

The P5+1 refers to the U.S. and the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, France, China and Russia — plus Germany.

The U.S. official expressed hope that Iran would agree to an eighth round of Vienna talks soon.

Iran analyst Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies told VOA that Tehran has grown more confident in its negotiating position in tandem with the United States’ withholding of punitive action against escalating Iranian nuclear activity.

“As Iran explores its escalation options, it is pivotal Washington signals that its patience is not endless,” Taleblu said. “Washington should also beware of overvaluing any prospective Iranian ‘concession’ that does not alter the direction of Iran’s nuclear program but rather is designed to stave off pressure.”

Guita Aryan contributed to this report from Vienna. 
…

The women-only farmers market in Diyarbakir, Turkey, is a unique place. Here, women, many of them divorced or survivors of abuse, can create new lives. But Turkey’s economic troubles are making their lives even more difficult. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has filed this report, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

Producer and camera: Mahmut Bozarslan.
…

Police in Spain, France and Belgium have broken up a drug trafficking ring believed to be smuggling tons of cocaine and hashish by speedboat from Morocco to Europe, the European Union crime agency said Friday.

Spanish police arrested 17 people, including 11 Spaniards and six Moroccans, earlier in the week, Europol said in a statement. The alleged ringleader, a Moroccan suspected of being a major importer of drugs into Europe, was among those arrested.

Spain’s Guardia Civil said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was also involved in the police operation.

The gang members are also accused of laundering their proceeds from drug sales. Police believe they used cash-intensive businesses, including two Barcelona restaurants, and bought property to conceal illicit income.

Authorities seized assets worth more than 6 million euros ($6.8 million), including real estate, cash and luxury goods.

Police suspect the trafficking ring was behind thwarted operations this year to smuggle 4.3 metric tons of hashish and 1.3 metric tons of cocaine into southern Spain.
…

A video chat between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this week consolidates efforts by the two Eurasian powers to face down their mutual rival the United States in 2022, analysts say.

Putin and Xi spoke Wednesday afternoon, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported, marking the 37th time leaders of the two countries have connected since 2013. They pledged more cooperation on safeguarding joint interests, the news agency said, and specifically covered trade, a joint pandemic response and energy cooperation.

“I think this is, quite clearly, they are trying to show they are united on a common issue, and that is the U.S,” Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told VOA.

U.S. officials and other Western leaders have spoken out against the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border and condemned what they consider Chinese military threats against Taiwan. Washington was a Cold War foe of both sides. The U.S. armed forces are today’s strongest, followed by Russia and China.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue of “the buildup” of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border when he visited the UK, December 10-12, for a G-7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting. G-7 ministers said they were “united in our condemnation of Russia’s military build-up and aggressive rhetoric towards Ukraine,” the U.S. Department of State reported on its website.

Putin and Xi likely briefed each other Wednesday on their respective conversations with U.S. President Joe Biden, Koh said. U.S. behavior, he said, gives the duo stronger “strategic convergences.” Xi and Biden met virtually in November, followed by a Biden-Putin encounter last week.

“We have an openly hostile relationship with the United States,” said Vassily Kashin, senior fellow at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, referring to the government in Moscow.

“Each side is interested in weakening the U.S. global leadership, and that is the most important common interest,” he told VOA.

After the summit, Putin’s presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that “both from our side and from the Chinese side, a negative assessment was expressed about the creation of new alliances such as the Indo-Pacific Quad and the American-Anglo-Australian union AUKUS,” Russia’s state media Sputik News reported.

The Quad refers to dialogue involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States. AUKUS is a 3-month-old agreement that will let the United States and the UK help develop Australia’s military technology.

Discussion on Wednesday touched as well on what Xinhua calls “democracy,” a possible reference to the U.S.-led, 110-country Summit for Democracy that excluded China and Russia. In November, both countries’ ambassadors to Washington protested the summit as creating divisions in the world.

Evolution of post-Cold War alliance

School of Business head at Melbourne Institute of Technology, Stuart Orr, told VOA that Sino-Russian relations faded in the 1960s when the two Communist parties split over ideology, and border conflicts followed. The two are taking different courses now, with China more “expansionist.” 

Adding “a sore spot,” Orr said, Russian contractors still help Southeast Asian countries drill in the South China Sea, a waterway that Beijing calls its own.

But China and Russia markedly strengthened political and military relations this year and the two leaders plan to meet in February in Beijing at the Winter Olympics, Xinhua reported.

The border neighbors held a series of military exercises. In October, for example, they carried out naval drills. Russia and China also issued a joint diplomatic statement in the form of an op-ed in November critical of Biden’s Democracy Summit. 

China and Russia also began operating a space weather center this month in Beijing and Moscow. In June, they agreed to extend their 20-year-old Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation by respecting each other’s interests and sovereignty.

On the economic front, manufacturing-intensive China is likely to buy Russian oil, Orr said. Russia was the world’s fourth-largest oil-exporting region last year with proven reserves of 107.8 billion barrels.

He said the pair intends to “share resources,” with any energy deal a relief for China’s power shortages, reported in October.

“I think you probably see a bit of economic underpinning,” Orr said. “It makes a lot of sense for Russia to try to connect their economic prosperity to China and to China’s growth because they’ll become the largest economy. So, if Russia is connecting their economy to them, then that will lift Russia’s economy along with it.”

But ultimately the “aim is political,” he said. “From Russia’s perspective, this is something they like to encourage so they can show the two form a united command-economy front,” Orr said.

 
…

Poland’s parliament passed a media bill on Friday that critics say aims to silence a news channel critical of the government, in an unexpected move that will stoke concern over media freedom and reopen a diplomatic dispute with the United States. 

Critics say the legislation will affect the ability of news channel TVN24, owned by U.S. media company Discovery Inc., to operate because it tightens the rules around foreign ownership of media in Poland. 

The vote sours relations with the U.S., Poland’s most powerful ally, at a time of heightened tension in Eastern Europe over an increasingly assertive Russia. 

Lawmakers had not been scheduled to vote on the bill, but after a committee convened at short notice to discuss the issue, it ended up on the agenda and was voted through in a matter of minutes. 

The passing of the bill at breakneck speed just before the Christmas break is a success for the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party, as whether it could command enough votes to pass the contested legislation had been in question. 

The bill must be now signed by President Andrzej Duda to become law. The president, an ally of the government, has previously said that takeovers of foreign-owned media groups should take place on market terms and not with forced solutions, in a sign he could use his power to veto the bill. 

“The bill … will of course be analyzed by us, and the appropriate decision will be made. I have already talked about the point of view from which I will assess the bill,” Duda told reporters on Friday. 

Bix Aliu, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Warsaw, called on Duda to “protect free speech and business.” 

“The United States is extremely disappointed by today’s passage of the media bill,” Aliu wrote on Twitter. 

Opposition lawmakers said the manner in which the committee was convened was illegal and breached democratic standards. 

Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, deputy head of the committee and a member of the opposition Left grouping, said members had been told to attend by text message 24 minutes before the sitting, when rules state they should be informed three days before. 

Foreign ownership 

TVN24’s parent, TVN, is owned by Discovery via a firm registered in the Netherlands in order to get around a ban on non-European firms owning more than 49% of Polish media companies. The bill passed by parliament on Friday would prevent this workaround. 

The management board of TVN Grupa Discovery called the vote “an unprecedented attack on the free media” and said in a statement that the company was “determined to defend their investments in Poland.” 

Corporate parent Discovery issued a separate statement, saying the parliamentary vote “should alarm any enterprise investing in Poland,” and called on Duda to veto the legislation. 

The Law and Justice party has long argued that foreign media groups have too much influence in Poland, distorting public debate. The party says the bill aims to stop countries such as Russia or China from gaining influence over Polish media. 

Law and Justice lawmaker Joanna Lichocka said in a statement, “The rule limiting non-European capital in the media is in line with European law and is valid in many EU countries. This rule has been in force in Poland for years — the amendment seals it up and makes it impossible to circumvent it.” 

Critics say that moves against foreign media groups seek to limit media freedom and are part of an increasingly authoritarian agenda that has already put Warsaw at loggerheads with Brussels over LGBT rights and over changes to the judiciary that the EU says undermine the independence of courts. 
…

Denmark proposed new lockdown measures Friday to curb the alarming spread of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, as other European countries consider imposing travel and other restrictions to stem the variant’s spread.

The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a news conference the restrictions, which need parliamentary approval, would include crowd limits in stores, the closure of theaters, other entertainment venues and conference centers, and a mandatory mask requirement in most public places.

The Danish government reported 11,559 omicron cases Friday – a sharp increase from a day earlier – and said the new variant, which is more transmissible than earlier variants, now accounts for one-fifth of new cases reported daily.

Ireland and Germany were also considering further restrictions just days before Christmas and other holiday festivities begin in earnest. Earlier this week, France restricted travel to and from Britain, where omicron is surging.

A German Health Ministry spokesperson said the government could announce later Friday that travelers to Germany from Britain would be required to quarantine for two weeks. The restrictions are being considered as German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach predicted Friday the omicron variant would spark a “massive fifth wave” of the pandemic.

Portugal’s health minister warned Friday that omicron cases were doubling every two days and could account for 80% of all new cases by the end of December, much higher than the current rate of about 20%.

The country’s official count Friday was 69 confirmed cases. Portugal has one of the world’s highest rates of vaccination against COVID-19.

In Australia on Friday, authorities hurried to track down hundreds of people who attended a Taylor Swift album release party in Sydney last week. The party has blown into a super-spreader event, propelling new infections that include the omicron variant to a new pandemic high for the second straight day.

In India on Friday, the health ministry reported a total of 101 cases of the omicron variant and that some districts were showing a rise in overall infections.

More than 5.3 million people have died of COVID-19 globally since the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, almost two years ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Vaccines

The center reported more than 8.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide as of mid-day Friday, a massive logistical campaign complicated by omicron’s surge.

Several countries are racing to accelerate vaccination campaigns as mounting evidence supports the need for booster doses to combat the omicron variant.

A vaccine developed in India, Covovax, was granted emergency approval Friday by the World Health Organization. WHO vaccines chief Mariangela Simao said the approval “aims to increase access particularly to lower-income countries.”

In Europe, European Union governments agreed to order more than 180 million doses of a BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine adapted for omicron, the head of the European Commission said.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday the government plans to accelerate booster shots to around 31 million vulnerable people. He also said he spoke Friday with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about oral treatments.

South Africa, which first identified the omicron variant, said Friday it would donate about 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to other African countries next year via a medical supplies platform established by the African Union.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Russia published draft details Friday of a security package it has sent the United States and NATO allies, which calls for restrictions on western military activity in Europe, as well as a halt to expansion by the alliance into eastern Europe.

The security proposal, submitted to the U.S. and its allies earlier this week, also calls for a ban on the deployment of U.S. and Russian warships and aircraft to areas from where they can strike each other’s territory.

Many of the demands, such as a ban on NATO membership for Ukraine, already have been rejected by the U.S. and NATO, who have warned Russia not to invade Ukraine, as tens of thousands of Russian forces remain massed along the border.

Speaking Friday in Brussels, at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged receiving the security proposal, saying any dialogue with Russia also would need to address NATO’s concerns about Russia’s actions and take place in consultation with NATO’s European partners such as Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said NATO allies have also made clear that if Russia would take concrete steps to reduce tensions in the region, they “are prepared to work on strengthening confidence-building measures.”

Following the publishing of the draft proposal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov spoke to reporters in Moscow, and indicated Moscow is ready to negotiate.

Ryabkov told reporters, “We are ready to immediately, even tomorrow—literally tomorrow, on Saturday, December 18—to go for talks with the U.S. in a third country.” He said Russia has suggested Geneva to U.S. officials.

Ryabkov also said Russia’s relations with the U.S. and its NATO allies have approached a “dangerous point,” noting that alliance deployments and drills near Russia have raised “unacceptable” threats to its security.

For its part, the Biden administration this week signaled Moscow will pay a “terrible price” should it invade Ukraine due to what U.S. President Joe Biden has described as devastating sanctions.

“Our objective continues to be to keep this on a diplomatic path and for that to lead to de-escalation,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday.

And U.S. lawmakers have called for the White House to speed up the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, including ship-to-shore missiles, air defense missiles and additional Javelin anti-tank missiles in hopes of staving off a Russian invasion.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday suffered a crushing by-election defeat in a constituency never previously lost by his Conservative Party, a result which raises serious questions about his leadership.

His party won the seat in North Shropshire, central England, by a massive majority in 2019, but that was wiped out by the Liberal Democrats in Thursday’s vote in a result that will intensify the mutinous mood among Conservative MPs.

Johnson, 57, was already reeling after roughly 100 of his MPs rebelled in parliament Tuesday against the government’s introduction of vaccine passes for large events.

The UK leader’s authority has also been clobbered repeatedly in recent weeks by claims of corruption and reports that he and his staff broke coronavirus restrictions last Christmas.

Weeks of bad headlines turned what would normally be a routine victory in the safe rural seat — won by 23,000 votes just two years ago — into a shattering defeat of almost 6,000 votes, while surging virus cases have added to a sense of crisis.

The government reported nearly 89,000 new infections Thursday, the second consecutive record daily tally.

Winning candidate Helen Morgan said that voters had sent a message “loudly and clearly” to Johnson that “the party’s over.”

“Your government, run on lies and bluster will be held accountable. It can and will be defeated,” she vowed.

‘Slap in the face’

Defeat will likely see more MPs filing letters of no-confidence in their leader, which could trigger an internal party vote to remove him.

The same process saw his predecessor Theresa May ousted in mid-2019 after MPs including Johnson voted against her Brexit deal in parliament.

The Liberal Democrats appeared to have been helped by supporters of the main national opposition Labour party lending them their votes.

“I’ll be voting for the Liberal Democrats because I’m so offended by the performance of Johnson,” Martin Hill, 68, who normally votes Labour, told AFP earlier this week.

“It’ll be a tactical vote — I want to give Johnson a slap in the face.”

However, others in the small town of Whitchurch were prepared to overlook the former London mayor’s transgressions.

“I don’t think it’s enough for us to say: ‘Right, we want a new leader now’, because I think Boris has done an excellent job,” said 67-year-old Sue Parkinson, who has voted Conservative for the last two decades.

Gloomy outlook

The atmosphere before the vote was a far cry from May, when the Conservatives swept to an unprecedented by-election victory in the northeast England seat of Hartlepool on the back of a successful vaccine rollout.

But the virus is once more dominating British life and the arrival of the Omicron variant has again deepened the gloom before Christmas, with the prime minister’s authority seen as weakened.

Britain is also suffering spiraling inflation as a result of big borrowing during lockdowns, high energy prices and bottlenecked supply chains. Tax rises also loom from next April.

Johnson — who won voters’ overwhelming backing in 2019 on his promise to “Get Brexit Done” — has been dogged by controversies since early last month.

It began with his unsuccessful attempt to change parliament’s disciplinary rules to spare North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson a suspension after he was found to have breached lobbying rules.

Paterson, who had held the seat since 1997, then quit, forcing Thursday’s by-election.

That crisis, though, was soon eclipsed by reports that Johnson and his staff broke COVID rules last year by holding several parties around Christmas — just as the public were told to cancel their festive plans. 

 
…

Soaring infections in Britain driven in part by the omicron variant of the coronavirus rattled Europe on Thursday, prompting new restrictions and fueling a familiar dread on both sides of the Atlantic about entering a new phase of the pandemic just in time for the holidays. 

Much remains unknown about omicron, but officials increasingly warn that it appears more transmissible than the delta variant, which has already put pressure on hospitals worldwide. With so many questions unanswered, uncertainty reigned over how quickly and how severely to crack down on Christmas travel and year-end parties. 

After the United Kingdom recorded its highest number of confirmed new COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began, France announced Thursday that it would tighten entry rules for those coming from Britain. Hours later, the country set another record, with a further 88,376 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported Thursday, almost 10,000 more than the day before. 

In England, the chief medical officer urged people to limit who they see in the festive period. Pubs and restaurants said many people were heeding that advice by canceling Christmas parties, though there has been much debate about what’s OK to do. In the United States, the White House insisted there was no need for a lockdown, despite signs that omicron was gaining ground there. 

Globally, more than 75 countries have reported confirmed cases of the new variant. In Britain, where omicron cases are doubling every two to three days, omicron was expected to soon replace delta as the dominant strain in the country. The government has accelerated its booster program in response. Authorities in the 27-nation European Union say omicron will be the dominant variant in the bloc by mid-January. 

Omicron traits 

Early data suggest that omicron may be milder but better at evading vaccines, making booster shots more crucial. Experts have urged caution about drawing conclusions too early because hospitalizations lag infections and many variables can contribute to how sick people get. 

Even if omicron proves milder on the whole than delta, it may disarm some of the lifesaving tools available and put immunocompromised and elderly people at particular risk. And if it’s more transmissible, more infections overall raise the risk that more cases will be serious. 

While experts gather the data, some governments rushed to act, while others sought to calm fears that the new variant would land countries back on square one. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted Thursday that the situation in the U.K. is different from last year because of the widespread use of vaccines and the ability to test. 

If people want to attend an event, “the sensible thing to do is to get a test and to make sure that you’re being cautious,” he said. 

“But we’re not saying that we want to cancel stuff. We’re not locking stuff down, and the fastest route back to normality is to get boosted,” he said. 

Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, struck a more cautious note, advising people earlier in the week to limit their social contacts. 

On Thursday, he told a parliamentary committee hearing that the government might have to review measures if vaccines prove less effective than expected against omicron. 

He said that “would be a material change to how ministers viewed the risks going forward.” 

Among those taking the more cautious route was Queen Elizabeth II, who opted to cancel her traditional pre-Christmas family lunch. 

U.S. response 

In the United States, President Joe Biden’s administration said tighter restrictions are not planned. Biden said the omicron variant is not spreading as fast as in Europe because of steps his administration has taken. 

He warned, however, that unvaccinated Americans faced “a winter of severe illness and death.” 

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said that the U.S. was “in a very different and stronger place than we were a year ago.” 

Still, feelings of unease persisted among some Americans. 

Michael Stohl, 32, was relieved when he got the Pfizer vaccine last spring, but the spread of omicron has turned his optimism to dread. 

“Even though I’m fully vaccinated right now, that doesn’t seem to give me any sort of guarantee anymore,” he said. “It just puts this anxiety over you because they tell you the boosters will work, but that’s what they said about the original vaccines. Am I going to have to keep getting vaccinated every couple months?” 

He said he booked an appointment to receive his booster shot Thursday morning. 

Stohl, who works at the concierge desk at an apartment building in downtown Washington, said his family all lives in the city so he isn’t traveling for Christmas. 

He worries about friends and coworkers who will travel, however. 

“I just remember how bad everything was last year, and it’s looking like it might be that bad again,” he said. 

‘European solution’

People in the Netherlands, meanwhile, have been in a partial lockdown since November to curb a delta-driven surge. While infection numbers are now declining, the government this week ordered elementary schools to close for Christmas a week early amid fears of a new rise. Authorities also sped up a booster campaign as caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte cited Britain as an example of how swiftly the variant can spread. 

EU leaders gathering in Brussels for a summit Thursday sought to balance tackling the surge of infections while keeping borders open with common policies throughout the bloc. 

“Let’s try to maintain the European solution,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. “If every country goes it alone again, we’ll be even further from home.” 

But ahead of the meeting, European nations were already acting to rein in the spread. 

Greece and Italy tightened entry requirements for travelers earlier this week, and Portugal decided to keep stricter border controls in place beyond its planned January 9 end. 

France said Thursday that it will slap restrictions on travelers arriving from the U.K. — which is no longer part of the EU — putting limits on reasons for traveling and requiring 48 hours of isolation upon arrival. The new measures will take effect early Saturday. 

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the measures were being imposed “in the face of the extremely rapid spread of the omicron variant in the U.K.” 

The abrupt move comes after weeks of political tensions between France and Britain over fishing rights and how to deal with migration across the English Channel. The French government is desperately trying to avoid a new lockdown that would hurt the economy and cloud President Emmanuel Macron’s expected reelection campaign. 

Waiting outside a Paris train station, Constantin Dobrynin said that he sometimes felt governments overreacted and imposed unnecessary measures. As for omicron, it wasn’t yet clear how serious it would be. 

“So we should be balanced, and we shouldn’t be panicked,” he said. 

Britain said it was not planning reciprocal measures. 

Fearing a raft of canceled parties and a general drop in business at the height of the crucial and lucrative Christmas season, British restaurants and pubs demanded government help Thursday. They said concerns about the new variant have already wiped out 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) in sales over the past 10 days. 

Across London, restaurants that would normally see bustling crowds clinking glasses and tucking into festive meals were reporting droves of cancellations and empty rooms. 

“It’s a complete nightmare. … This week should be the busiest week of the year for hospitality,” said Sally Abé, a chef at the Conrad Hotel in central London. “It’s everywhere, everybody’s canceling, but there’s no support from the government.” 

 
…