Italy reported 261 coronavirus-related deaths Saturday against 459 the day before, the health ministry said.The daily tally of new infections increased by 10,407 from 19,037 the day before, taking the total number of cases since Italy’s epidemic began to 2,010,037. Heath Agency: British Coronavirus Variant Found in Traveler to SwedenHealth Agency official Sara Byfors told a news conference the traveler, who was not identified, had kept isolated after arrival to Sweden and that no further positive cases had so far been detectedItaly Thursday became the eighth country in the world to exceed 2 million officially recorded cases.
 
The number of swab tests carried out in the past day was 81,285 from a previous 152,334, the health ministry said. The first Western country hit by the virus, Italy has reported 70,909 deaths since its outbreak came to light on February 21, the highest toll in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.
 
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 stood at 23,304, down by 98 from the day before.
 
The current number of intensive care patients decreased by two to 2,582, reflecting those who died or were discharged after recovery.
 
When Italy’s second wave of the epidemic was accelerating fast in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.
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The new variant of the coronavirus circulating in Britain has been detected in Sweden after a traveler from Britain fell ill on arrival and tested positive for it, the Swedish Health Agency said on Saturday. Health Agency official Sara Byfors told a news conference the traveler, who was not identified, had kept isolated after arrival to Sweden and that no further positive cases had so far been detected.
 
The new variant is thought to be more transmissible than others currently circulating.
 
Sweden imposed travel restrictions earlier this month on passengers from Britain amid concerns over the variant. Similar measures have been taken by several other countries in the EU and across the world.
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George Blake, who died Saturday in Moscow aged 98, was a British Cold War spy and Soviet double agent who spent half his life in Russia after dramatically escaping jail in London.The last surviving member of a notorious generation of British defectors, Blake was seen as one of the West’s most damaging traitors and claimed to have betrayed hundreds of agents to the KGB.   The bearded spy, however, trod a very different path to becoming a Soviet agent than that taken by the establishment insiders of the infamous Cambridge spy ring: Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Anthony Burgess, all recruited while at the British city’s prestigious university.Born George Behar in the Netherlands in 1922 to a Dutch mother and Egyptian Jewish father, who was a British subject, he led a peripatetic youth that took him through Cairo and into the Dutch World War II resistance before joining Britain’s MI6.  Ex-British Double Agent Says Russian Spies Must Save World

        A former British intelligence officer who once worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union said Russian spies now have "the difficult and critical mission" of saving the world, according to a statement released Friday.

George Blake has lived in Russia since his escape from a British prison in 1966.

Conversion to communism  Blake — a practicing Calvinist Protestant — said he willingly offered to work for the KGB after witnessing the bombing of innocent civilians by U.S. forces during the Korean war, when he spent a harrowing period as a North Korean captive.”I viewed communism as an attempt to create the kingdom of God in this world. The communists were trying to do by action what the church had tried to achieve by prayer,” Blake told one interviewer.”I came to the conclusion I was no longer fighting on the right side.”After returning to London from captivity, Blake’s first major coup for his new handlers was the exposure of a secret tunnel to spy on Soviet communications in East Berlin.At the same time as he was becoming enmeshed ever deeper in his perilous work, handing over troves of secret information to the Russians, he married a woman named Gillian, who knew nothing of his double life, and they went on to have three sons. Soon he moved to Berlin where he claimed to have betrayed all of the “maybe 500, 600” agents operating for the British in Germany. Later Blake repeatedly denied accusations that those he gave up were executed by the Soviet secret police. “I said to them I will only give you this information if you can assure me these people will not be executed,” he said.Escape to the USSR  Eventually, however, the tide turned on the traitor and the net finally closed when information from a turncoat Polish intelligence officer unmasked Blake.Summoned to London for questioning, he admitted that he was a Soviet agent and was sentenced at a closed trial in 1961 to an unprecedented 42 years in prison. But just five years into his sentence in 1966, Blake clambered up a rope ladder and over the wall of London’s high-security Wormwood Scrubs jail to freedom with the help of an Irish petty thief and two anti-nuclear campaigners whom he had met inside. Smuggled by his co-conspirators to the border with East Germany, he walked across the Iron Curtain and turned his back on the West for the last time. In Moscow, Blake was celebrated as a hero with a string of medals and the rank of colonel from the KGB, and a flat in the center of the Soviet capital. He married a Russian woman Ida after his first wife divorced him and had one son with her. Eventually he was also reconciled with his British children.Blake, however, came to realize that communism in Russia did not live up to his hopes and he watched the system — and finally the Soviet Union — disintegrate. Disappointment  “One of the main things, which to me was a disappointment, was that I believed that a new man was born here,” he told The Times newspaper. “I realized very quickly that this was not so. They were just ordinary people like everyone else and that the same human passions, and greed and ambitions, which governed the lives of most people also governed their lives.”In 1990 he published his autobiography entitled “No Other Choice”.Blake lived out the final years in a wooden dacha on the edge of Moscow — with his eyesight and hearing failing, he seemed a relic of another era.While he kept his opinion of the rampant consumerism of modern Russia to himself, on his 90th birthday he was hailed by ex-KGB agent President Vladimir Putin as one of “a constellation of strong and courageous people, brilliant professionals.”In rare interviews, Blake insisted he had no regrets, despite the failure of the system that he dedicated his life to.”I think it is never wrong to give your life to a noble ideal, and to a noble experiment, even if it doesn’t succeed,” he said. 
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France on Saturday received its first batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which were delivered to the Paris hospital pharmacy network.Inoculations are planned to begin in two nursing homes Sunday, the same day the rest of Europe is set to begin vaccinations.France has reported more than 2.6 million COVID-19 infections and over 62,500 deaths. French health officials said they recorded the first case of the new COVID-19 variant that has led to new lockdowns in Britain and global travel restrictions on British residents.The first batch of Pfizer-BioΝTech vaccines also arrived in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on Saturday and is being stored at a military-run facility. The country, like the rest of Europe, will begin injections on Sunday in nine hospitals across the country.On Saturday, Russia approved its main coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, for use in people over 60 years old, Russian media quoted the health ministry as saying.According to Russian official data, the country crossed the 3 million mark of infections on Saturday, with over 29,200 new cases and 560 death in the previous 24 hours.COVID-19 infections in Japan’s capital, Tokyo, recorded a new daily high on Saturday.Japan, like France and some other countries, has also reported cases of the new coronavirus variant. Japan’s health ministry said five people who arrived between Dec. 18 and Dec. 21 tested positive for coronavirus and were sent to quarantine straight from the airports. Officials said further analysis showed they had contracted the new variant of the coronavirus.British authorities have said the new coronavirus variant appears more contagious and may have led to a spike in COVID-19 cases, leading countries around the world to restrict travel from Britain.U.S. authorities announced Thursday that passengers arriving from Britain must test negative for COVID-19 before departure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new requirement is effective beginning Monday.In another development Friday, Pope Francis said in his Christmas message that COVID-19 vaccines must be available to all and called on political and business leaders to “promote cooperation, not competition” in the distribution of them.In Israel, the government announced it would impose its third nationwide lockdown beginning Sunday to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The new restrictions will last for two weeks.Health officials in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian are testing millions of residents after seven new coronavirus cases were reported there in the previous 24 hours. Authorities there have ordered anyone except essential workers to stay home.South Korea, Japan and Indonesia recorded their highest daily increases in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.
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The European Union agreement with Britain on how to handle affairs post-Brexit has been widely celebrated, yet another of the bloc’s tentative deals – that of a comprehensive investment agreement with China – is creating new headaches for European leaders.The negotiations between the EU and China are being closely watched in Washington, as elsewhere.The EU and China are in their seventh year of talks aimed at a comprehensive investment treaty. Last week, reports surfaced that the 27-nation bloc, currently led by Germany, had entered the final stage of negotiations with Beijing, with a goal of concluding the pact by the end of 2020.Those reports have caught the attention of Jake Sullivan, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for national security adviser.“The Biden-Harris administration would welcome early consultations with our European partners on our common concerns about China’s economic practices,” Sullivan said in a tweet on Dec. 21, citing a Reuters story with the headline, “China, EU aim for investment pact by year-end.”The Biden-Harris administration would welcome early consultations with our European partners on our common concerns about China’s economic practices. https://t.co/J4LVEZhEld— Jake Sullivan (@jakejsullivan) December 22, 2020Sullivan’s choice of words – such as “early consultations,” “European partners,” and “common concerns” – has been read by analysts as signaling frustration within the incoming administration that EU leaders are not showing a serious intent to work with the United States.A key message the Biden team has been its commitment to reverse President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine and work more closely with U.S. allies to confront common challenges.“Any agreement now would be a slap in the face to the Biden team given Sullivan’s comment,” Stephen F. Szabo, a senior fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, said in an interview with VOA.“They [the EU] have been critical of the Trump approach of trade wars with both China and the EU simultaneously, arguing that the U.S. needs the EU to have a joint Western approach, something which is essential to a successful Western policy,” Szabo said.“If China splits the West, it can pursue a divide-and-conquer strategy,” he added.Kasper Zeuthen, an EU spokesperson in Washington, told VOA this week that “the EU-China investment talks are intensive. Progress has been achieved in a number of areas. There are still some important outstanding matters and talks are continuing this week. The EU remains committed to the end-of-year deadline for conclusion of the negotiations, provided we have a deal worth having. We will not put speed over substance.”On Friday, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a routine news briefing held in Beijing that China will “conduct negotiations with external parties in accordance with its own pace” while “striving to achieve a comprehensive, balanced, high-quality investment treaty with the EU.”Wang’s remarks reiterated a similar statement released less than 24 hours earlier by China’s Commerce Department.The latest remarks made in Beijing were picked up by news media and China-EU-U.S. watchers.A day after declaring that investment talks with the EU were going smoothly, China suggests otherwise, saying it will conduct the talks “at its own pace” https://t.co/YSlB8N2bK8— Noah Barkin (@noahbarkin) December 25, 2020In the days leading up to the talked-about conclusion of negotiations between the EU and Beijing, a group of EU scholars issued a strongly worded joint statement opposing any such deal.“Why the fast track, the hurry, and the sidestepping of a public debate, why play into China’s hand? What message is Europe, so proud of its deepening integration, so talkative about its open strategic autonomy, so insistent on its respect for values, sending to the rest of the world? Member states should think twice,” urged a large group of prominent scholars specializing in EU-China-U.S. ties.“This has been a year in which China has rescinded its international treaty over Hong Kong. It has been a year during which China clashed on the border with India, engaged in military coercion of Taiwan, and economic coercion against Australia,” the group of French, German, Italian, Czech, Polish, Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Slovakian scholars wrote.“From Beijing’s perspective, having the EU sign an investment treaty after this sequence of events and in the phase of power transition in the U.S., amounts to a strong endorsement of its political trajectory, if not an encouragement to behave more assertively.”One of the signers, Mathieu Duchâtel, an analyst at the French think tank Institut Montaigne, tweeted on Thursday, “What China would have gained strategically: the neutralization of Europe as a values-oriented international player and as a transatlantic partner.”What China would have gained strategically: the neutralization of Europe as a values-oriented international player and as a transatlantic partner. That forced labor in Xinjiang killed this Christmas phase is really a bad scenario for Beijing https://t.co/UJbzbkV748— Mathieu Duchâtel (@mtdtl) December 24, 2020  
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French health officials say the country has recorded its first case of the new COVID-19 variant that has led to new lockdowns in Britain and global travel restrictions on British residents.The French health ministry said a Frenchman who had been living in England and returned to France tested positive for the new variant in the central French city of Tours. It said the man had no symptoms and was isolating in his home.Some other countries have also reported cases of the new variant, including Japan, which announced its first cases Friday. Japan’s health ministry said five people who arrived between Dec. 18 and Dec. 21 tested positive for coronavirus and were sent to quarantine straight from the airports. Officials said further analysis showed they had contracted the new variant of the coronavirus.British authorities have said the new coronavirus variant appears more contagious and may have led to a spike in COVID-19 cases, leading countries around the world to restrict travel from Britain.France banned all passengers and cargo from Britain for two days, leading to major traffic problems around the British port of Dover. British transport minister Grant Shapps said more than 4,500 trucks crossed the Channel on Friday after more troops were deployed to speed up coronavirus testing.Russia announced Friday that travelers from Britain must quarantine for two weeks after entering the country. Russia had previously suspended direct flights from Britain.U.S. authorities announced on Thursday that passengers arriving from Britain must test negative for COVID-19 before departure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new requirement is effective beginning Monday.In another development Friday, Pope Francis said in his Christmas message that COVID-19 vaccines must be available to all and called on political and business leaders to “promote cooperation, not competition” in the distribution of them.A mother and child look at the line of trucks parked up on the M20, part of Operation Stack in Ashford, Kent, England, Dec. 25, 2020.In Israel, the government announced it would impose its third nationwide lockdown beginning Sunday to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The new restrictions will last for two weeks.Health officials in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian are testing millions of residents after seven new coronavirus cases were reported there in the past 24 hours. Authorities there have ordered anyone except essential workers to stay home.South Korea, Japan and Indonesia recorded their highest daily increases in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.In South Korea 70% of the more than 1,200 new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half the country’s 52 million people live.In Japan, with 884 cases reported Friday nationwide, Tokyo had the largest number of infections.Indonesia reported its biggest daily rise in deaths, with 258 fatalities and 7,259 infections, bringing the country’s total numbers to 20,847and 700,097, respectively.
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More than 4,500 lorries, among a huge backlog of trucks stranded for days in the British port of Dover, crossed the Channel on Friday after extra troops were deployed to step up coronavirus testing, a minister said.Ferry services between Dover and the French port of Calais resumed on Thursday, ending a blockade France had imposed for several days following the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in England.British Transport Minister Grant Shapps said on Twitter on Friday that more than 10,000 coronavirus tests had been carried out on lorry drivers and only 24 of them had tested positive.Britain deployed additional troops to help clear the queues of lorries waiting for COVID-19 tests before being allowed to board cross-channel ferries. British media said 800 extra soldiers were sent to support 300 initially deployed.Soldiers checked vehicles and drivers’ documents at the entrance to the port. In one case, French officials, who were in Dover to help clear the backlog, were seen administering a nasal swab to a driver.The French and British governments agreed to end the blockade on Tuesday but the British authorities had said it would take days to clear the long lines of trucks.
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The fast-track ratification of the post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the European Union got underway on Christmas Day as ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 nations started assessing the accord that takes effect in a week.At Friday’s exceptional meeting, the ambassadors were briefed about the details of the draft treaty by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.They are set to reconvene again on Monday and have informed lawmakers at the European Parliament that they intend to take a decision on the preliminary application of the deal within days.While voicing their sadness at the rupture with Britain, EU leaders are relieved that the tortuous aftermath of the Brexit vote had come to a conclusion in Thursday’s agreement about future trade ties.All member states are expected to back the agreement as is the European Parliament, which can only give its consent retrospectively as it can’t reconvene until 2021. British lawmakers have to give their approval, too, and are being summoned next week to vote on the accord.European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier carries a binder of the Brexit trade deal during a special meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, Dec. 25, 2020.Both sides claim the agreement protects their cherished goals.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it gives the U.K. control over its money, borders, laws and fishing grounds. The EU says it protects its single market of around 450 million people and contains safeguards to ensure the U.K. does not unfairly undercut the bloc’s standards.Johnson hailed the agreement as a “new beginning” for the U.K. in its relationship with European neighbors. Opposition leaders, even those who are minded to back it because it’s better than a no-deal scenario, said it adds unnecessary costs on businesses and fails to provide a clear framework for the crucial services sector, which accounts for 80% of the British economy.In a Christmas message, Johnson sought to sell the deal to a weary public after years of Brexit-related wrangling since the U.K. voted narrowly to leave the EU in 2016. Although the U.K. formally left the bloc on Jan. 31, it remains in a transition period tied to EU rules until the end of this year.Without a trade deal, tariffs would have been imposed on trade between the two sides starting Jan. 1. Both sides would have suffered in that scenario, with the British economy taking a bigger hit at least in the near-term, as it is more reliant on trade with the EU than vice versa.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a news conference in Downing Street in London, Dec. 24, 2020.”I have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy post-Christmas lunch moment, and here it is, tidings, glad tidings of great joy, because this is a deal,” Johnson said in his video message, brandishing a sheaf of papers.”A deal to give certainty to business, travelers and all investors in our country from Jan. 1. A deal with our friends and partners in the EU,” he said.Though tariffs and quotas have been avoided, there will be more red tape because as the U.K. is leaving the EU’s frictionless single market and customs union. Firms will have to file forms and customs declarations for the first time in years. There will also be different rules on product labeling as well as checks on agricultural products.Despite those additional costs, many British businesses who export widely across the EU voiced relief that a deal was finally in place as it avoids the potentially cataclysmic imposition of tariffs.”While the deal is not fully comprehensive, it at least provides a foundation to build on in future,” said Laura Cohen, chief executive of the British Ceramic Confederation.One sector that appears to be disappointed is the fishing industry with both sides voicing their discontent at the new arrangements. Arguments over fishing rights were largely behind the delay in reaching an agreement.Under the terms of the deal, the EU will give up a quarter of the quota it catches in U.K. waters, far less than the 80% Britain initially demanded. The system will be phased in over 5 1/2 years, after which quotas will be reassessed.”In the end, it was clear that Boris Johnson wanted an overall trade deal and was willing to sacrifice fishing,” said Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations.The French government, which had fought hard for fishing access, announced aid for its fishing industry to help deal with the smaller quota, but insisted that the deal protects French interests.The president of the French ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, Jean-Marc Puissesseau, said no matter what is in the Brexit trade deal, life for his port will become more difficult because “there will no longer be free movement of merchandise.”Some 10,000 jobs in the Boulogne area are tied to fishing and its seafood-processing industry, he said, and about 70% of the seafood they use comes from British waters.”Without fish, there is no business,” he told The Associated Press.
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A Russian court has sentenced a flamboyant Russian professor who killed and dismembered his student lover to 12 1/2 years in prison after convicting him of her murder.Oleg Sokolov, 64, who was once awarded France’s Order of Legion d’Honneur for his research into military leader Napoleon Bonaparte, was detained in St. Petersburg in November 2019 after being pulled out of the Moika River with a backpack containing the severed body parts of a woman.
Investigators later found the woman’s head in his apartment.
Sokolov later admitted to killing and dismembering his lover, 24-year-old postgraduate student Anastasia Yeshchenko.
State prosecutors had requested a 15-year sentence for Sokolov.
Sokolov, who regularly dressed in Napoleon-era costumes and took part in battle reenactments, said during the hearing that he fully accepted guilt on all charges, but added that he was not sure if the murder was premeditated as, according to him, he killed his lover in state of “temporary insanity.”
The high-profile case was adjourned or postponed several times in recent months for various reasons, including restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
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Russian law enforcement agencies have opened a criminal case against Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer for the outspoken Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and took her in for questioning, the head of the foundation said on December 25.FBK Director Ivan Zhdanov said on Twitter that investigators launched a probe into Sobol for trespassing “with the use of violence or a threat to use it” after she rang the doorbell of an agent who has implicated the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the poisoning of the 44-year-old Kremlin critic.Sobol’s lawyer Vladimir Voronin told the AFP news agency that the opposition lawyer was currently a witness in the probe but added that he expected Sobol to be charged later on December 25.
 
There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.
 
Earlier on December 25, police raided Sobol’s apartment and took away her computers and phones, Navalny’s supporters said.
 
“Lyubov Sobol was taken for questioning to the Investigative Committee. The apartment is being searched,” the foundation said via Twitter on December 25. Любовь Соболь увезли на допрос в Следственный комитет. В квартире проходит обыск.— Навальный LIVE (@navalnylive) December 25, 2020Sobol posted a video on Twitter from inside her apartment before going incommunicado. In the video, her seven-year-old daughter can be heard crying as someone pounds on the front door, demanding it be opened.
 
“They knock on the door and say the police are here. Apparently, the search will be at my home. I’ve never had a personal search before. Well, everything happens for the first time. Apparently, because I recently went to Navalny’s poisoner, ” Sobol says in the video.Separate CCTV image released by Navalny’s allies shows masked men in black uniforms inside Sobol’s Moscow residential building.Sobol was among journalists and political activists who tried to meet with Konstantin Kudryavtsev late in the evening on December 21, the day Navalny published an audio-recording of what appears to be a conversation with Kudryavtsev over the FSB’s role in the poisoning.
 
She was briefly detained at a police station.Sobol’s lawyer said the probe had been launched following a complaint from Kudryavtsev’s mother-in-law.
 Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Trailed for Years Before Poisoning, Report Says An elite Russian intelligence chemical weapons unit tracked opposition figure Alexei Navalny for the past three years, according to investigative website BellingcatNavalny said the Russian authorities’ “hysterical reaction” only proved their guilt.
 
“You call a killer’s doorbell — they break down your door and take you in for questioning,” Navalny wrote on his blog on December 25.
 
Laboratory tests in three separate European countries, confirmed by the global chemical weapons watchdog, established that Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent.
 
Russia has rejected calls for an investigation into the poisoning and denies the involvement of state agents in the case, saying it has yet to be shown any evidence.Navalny is currently in Germany where he is recovering from the poisoning. He has said he plans to return home an undisclosed date.
 
The European Union and Britain have imposed asset freezes and travel bans against six senior Russian officials believed to be responsible for the Navalny poisoning, as well as one entity involved in the program that has produced a group of military-grade nerve agents known as Novichok.
 With reporting by Current Time, Reuters and AFP. 
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Pope Francis has called on the world’s nations to share COVID-19 vaccines, saying that walls of nationalism must not be built in the face of a pandemic that knows no borders. He urged international cooperation so everyone can receive needed health care and vaccines.In his Christmas message to the world, delivered indoors rather than, as customary, the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis said that in these times of darkness and uncertainty due to the pandemic, there are some lights of hope, like the discovery of vaccines against COVID-19. But in order for these lights to shine and bring hope to the entire world, the pope added, they must be made available to all.US Vaccine Rollout’s Next Challenge: Verifying Who is ‘Essential’ Officials want to ensure no one cuts the linePope Francis urged the world’s nations to ensure that vaccines are provided for everyone, especially for the most vulnerable, in all the regions on our planet.“We cannot allow closed nationalisms to prevent us from living like the true human family that we are, the pope said, adding that “we cannot allow the virus of radical individualism to win and make us indifferent to the suffering of others.”The pope focused much of his message Friday on the coronavirus pandemic before turning to the world’s hot spots and nations of concern. He urged the world to work together, irrespective of differences.Pope Urges Help for Poor at Low-key Christmas Eve Mass Curbed by PandemicHe notes that Jesus himself was born a poor outcastThe pope said, “At this moment in history, marked by the ecological crisis and grave economic and social imbalances only worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, it is all the more important for us to acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters.”Pope Francis spoke of the need to be generous, supportive and helpful, especially towards those who are vulnerable, the sick, those unemployed or experiencing hardship due to the economic effects of the pandemic, and women who have suffered domestic violence during these months of lockdown.“In the face of a challenge that knows no borders,” the pope said, “we cannot erect walls. All of us are in the same boat.”In his message, Pope Francis also turned his thoughts to the many children who all over the world, particularly in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, still pay the high price of war.
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his supporters said that police raided the apartment of an associate Friday morning and detained her for questioning.”Today, police came to Lyubov Sobol’s apartment at 7 am,” Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund chairman Ivan Zhdanov said in a tweet.Zhdanov and Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmyash, said that the phone of Sobol was turned off and they did not know anything of her whereabouts.Sobol has announced her plans to run in parliamentary elections next year.Navalny said on Twitter that the police raid was a response to a telephone call he made Monday to a poisoning expert with the FSB. On the call he said he impersonated an official with the Kremlin’s Security Council and got the expert to admit that Navalny was poisoned back in August.According to Navalny, Sobol, a lawyer by training, attempted to speak to the FSB agent, who he named as Konstantin Kudryavtsev.The FSB has denied Navalny’s allegations of poisoning.However, Western governments have said Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent.
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Britain and the European Union finally agreed to a free trade deal Thursday, just days before the Brexit transition period comes to an end. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the deal is yet to be ratified – and there could be more surprises ahead.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell 
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Pope Francis celebrated a low-key Christmas Eve Mass made somber by the coronavirus pandemic and said people should feel obliged to help the needy because Jesus himself was born a poor outcast.The Mass was celebrated Thursday in a rear section of St. Peter’s Basilica with fewer than 100 participants and only small number of cardinals and bishops. It is usually held in the main section of the basilica and attended by up to 10,000 people, including the diplomatic corps representing nearly 200 countries.Everyone except the pope and the small choir wore a mask during the Mass, which began two hours earlier than usual so that even the limited number of people who attended could return home by a 10 p.m. curfew.”The Son of God was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God,” Francis said in his homily.Francis said Christmas should make everyone reflect on “our injustice towards so many of our brothers and sisters” instead of pursuing “our endless desire for possessions” and ephemeral pleasures.”God came among us in poverty and need, to tell us that in serving the poor, we will show our love for him,” said the 84-year-old pope, celebrating the eighth Christmas of his pontificate.In his Christmas messages, Francis promised to visit Lebanon and South Sudan as soon as he could.The pope traditionally mentions countries in his Christmas Day message, but he singled out those two nations with Christmas Eve messages because of difficulties each has faced this year.”I am deeply troubled to see the suffering and anguish that has sapped the native resilience and resourcefulness of the Land of the Cedars,” Francis said, referring to Lebanon, which has been struggling with a deep economic crisis and the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion on Aug. 4 that killed about 200 people.In a separate message written jointly with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, and Church of Scotland moderator Martin Fair, the three church leaders committed to making a previously delayed trip to majority Christian South Sudan “as things return to normalcy.”He is scheduled to visit Iraq March 5-8.On Friday, the pope will read his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message from a hall inside the Vatican instead of from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Square, an event that usually attracts tens of thousands of people.Italians are under a nationwide lockdown for much of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Non-essential shops will be shut between Dec. 24-27, Dec. 31-Jan. 3 and Jan. 5-6. On these days, people are allowed to travel only for work, health or emergency reasons.The restrictions mean people will not be able to go to St. Peter’s Square or the basilica. All papal events between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6 are taking place indoors with little or no public participation and being livestreamed on the internet and broadcast on television.
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For the first time since a fire that nearly destroyed it, the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris played host to a Christmas Eve choral concert, an annual tradition in France.In a concession to the fact that the Gothic cathedral is still being rebuilt, the choristers wore construction hard hats and boiler suits, and there was no audience.The concert was recorded at the cathedral earlier this month and was broadcast on French television just before midnight Thursday.The choristers performed classical pieces by composers Mozart and Schubert, but also a more light-hearted repertoire, including Jingle Bells.”It was very moving,” said cellist Gautier Capucon, describing the experience of recording the concert. Along with an organist, he provided the musical accompaniment for the choir.”It was the first time we had all been back at Notre Dame cathedral since the fire, so it was a moment full of emotion,” he said in an interview with television station franceinfo.The cathedral, a landmark of Gothic architecture dating to the 13th century and a major tourist attraction, caught fire on April 15, 2019. The blaze destroyed the spire and roof.French President Emmanuel Macron undertook to restore the cathedral within five years.But to date, most work on the site has focused on making the building safe, including clearing up toxic lead from the roof and spire that melted in the fire.In the meantime, Notre-Dame is closed to the public and masses are canceled.In April this year, seven people were allowed to attend a religious ceremony in the cathedral to mark Good Friday, when Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.
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Aside from the occasional miniature tree and paper chains hung from cabs, there was little festive cheer for the thousands of truckers stuck on an old airfield in southeast England on Christmas Eve.Several thousand cargo trucks have been trapped for days around the southern English port of Dover since France closed borders with Britain in a bid to stop the spread of a new coronavirus strain.Army personnel were going from truck to truck, conducting rapid coronavirus tests that give results in 40 minutes as part of measures to try to start up travel again.Pawel, 34, a driver from Poland, had just been tested and said his plan was to go to Folkestone 42 kilometers (26 miles) away, take the Eurotunnel and go home to his family.”It’s impossible,” he told AFP of his three days at the Manston airfield, on the outskirts of Ramsgate, where many trucks have been parked while the travel crisis is sorted out.”I’ve no words to describe what we’re feeling here. All of our families are waiting for us. Heartbreaking.”He said drivers were furious with France for shutting their borders in response to the emergence of a new, potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus. On his way back, he said, he will retaliate by not stopping there “for the food, for petrol, for anything.””Ninety percent of people here are also not going to stop in France,” he said.French officers give a COVID-19 test to a trucker at Dover, England, Dec. 24, 2020. Some freight from Britain and passengers with negative virus tests have begun arriving in France, after France relaxed a two-day blockade over a virus variant.Hot food and hornsOn the airfield, a cold December wind blew in from the Channel.The poorly lit site, run by the Department of Transport with the help of the armed forces, was a bewildering maze of trucks.Drivers were hoping to get to ports after spending days going nowhere but said it was unclear which ferries would run to clear the backlog, both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.At one point, they sounded their horns together in frustration.There were free catering vans offering items ranging from burgers to Thai food. Some said they were unhappy about the food, but others said it was plentiful, with volunteer groups bringing around hot fare, including from the Polish community.”That was very nice. We were so thankful for this,” Pawel said.There were also mobile toilets that seemed clean, though drivers complained they were full.”We got stuck. It’s been three days,” said Valery, 37, a driver from Kyiv, who had not been tested yet.”They herded us in here and told us to stay. We need to get home already. Maybe we will make it for New Year’s?”There are no facilities, no showers, nothing,” he complained.Long waitOther drivers said there were showers, but it was a long walk to find them.Radko Ivanov, 56, from Bulgaria, angrily asked troops to be tested and complained that other drivers in smaller trucks were maneuvering to jump the queue.”The situation is terrible,” he said, complaining of a lack of organization. “I must guess what I got to do.”As of lunchtime on Christmas Eve, there were still 3,200 trucks at the site and at least 1,800 drivers had been tested, according to the armed forces.Altogether, 320 military personnel were conducting tests at Manston, at the port of Dover and on the M20 motorway.At Manston there were three army units including a deployment of engineers from nearby Maidstone.Two Sikh volunteer groups were distributing food in the evening on the M20, where many other stranded drivers were parked.
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When Britons voted in 2016 to leave the European Union after 47 years of membership, Brexiters said striking a free trade deal with the Eu would be simple and “one of the easiest in human history.” It didn’t turn out that way. But Thursday, after four years of talks marked by fractiousness and ill-temper and amid accusations of bullying, delusions and bad faith, there was some holiday cheer after London and Brussels finally struck a deal that will limit the economic damage both Britons and Europeans would have suffered in the absence of any agreement.  Both sides compromised and moved away from frequently emphasized ‘red lines’ to reach the deal. Britain formally exited the EU last January but had a year-long transition period allowing for free trade and free movement of people to continue uninterrupted until December 31. Pro-Brexit headline writers immediately announced “Merry Brexmas” and praised Prime Minister Boris Johnson for delivering what he said he would. “The war is over,” beamed Nigel Farage, Brexit Party leader.  He added: “It’s not perfect, but goodness me, it’s still progress.”  The pound rallied modestly on the news of the deal, but then slipped back.Johnson proclaimed the deal, with an estimated overall value of $900 billion, the biggest trade agreement ever signed by the EU. “Everything that the British public was promised during the 2016 referendum and in the general election last year is delivered by this deal,” a Downing Street official said. Using similar language to what Brexiters promised more than four years ago during the Brexit referendum campaign, he added: “We have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and our fishing waters.” 
 
Johnson tweeted a photograph of himself in Downing Street with two thumbs up. “The deal is done,” he announced.The deal is done. pic.twitter.com/zzhvxOSeWz— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 24, 2020Later at a press conference in London Johnson appeared triumphant, saying: “We have taken back our laws and destiny.” He added the deal will “protect jobs across this country” by allowing goods to be sold “without tariffs and quotas” in the EU. He said Britain will now control every “jot and tittle of our regulations.” 
 
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dubbed the deal “fair and balanced,” as she announced, with obvious relief at a press conference in Brussels, “we have finally reached a deal.”European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are seen on a computer screen while giving live a statement on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 24, 2020.She said the EU and Britain also will cooperate when it comes to climate action and security. She said the negotiations had been a “long and winding road” but added, “we have a good deal to show for it.” Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said he was happy the clock is “no longer ticking.” He added that today is a “day of relief” but one tinged by “some sadness.” British politicians who opposed Brexit said they were relieved a deal had been struck, but they warned Britain would be losing a lot from exiting the bloc.  Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, tweeted: “Before the spin starts, it’s worth remembering that Brexit is happening against Scotland’s will. And there is no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us. It’s time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation.” Before the spin starts, it’s worth remembering that Brexit is happening against Scotland’s will. And there is no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us. It’s time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation.— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost gives a thumb up as he arrives at the British Embassy during negotiations, in Brussels, Dec. 24, 2020.For days both sides had indicated they were on the verge of a breakthrough. And starting Saturday, diplomats were telling reporters a deal was “imminent.” An announcement had been planned for Wednesday, and then early Thursday morning, only for hours to pass and diplomats to say some tweaks in the 2,000-page agreement were still necessary. The delay in announcing a deal in the past 24 hours was mainly because of fishing quota numbers when it emerged the European Commission had been using out of date figures to calculate the reduction in the amount of fish stocks that EU fishermen will be permitted to catch in British waters as part of the trade deal. The deal gives British exporters “zero-tariff, zero-quota” access to Europe’s Single Market. Any future disputes between Britain and the EU will not be adjudicated by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), a key point for Brexiters, who said if the ECJ policed the agreement it would undermine British sovereignty.  FILE – Trucks queue to embark aboard the freight shuttle at Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais, France, Dec. 16, 2020.But British firms will have curtailed rights to sell services to the EU after January, affecting the banking and insurance sectors. Service industries account for 80 percent of total British economic output. Some international banks likely will shift more of their operations to EU countries because of the deal, analysts say. Beginning in January there also will be additional customs checks on food, chemicals and medicines exported to the EU by Britain, which will add red tape and costs for British firms, likely reducing their price competitiveness, say analysts. FILE – Fishing boats are moored adjacent to the South Pier of Bridlington Harbour fishing port in Bridlington, north east England, Dec. 11, 2020.On fishing in British waters, Britain made major concessions allowing the EU fishing industry to give up only 25 percent of its current quota, a change that will be phased in over the next five and a half years, meaning that the EU fishing catch in British waters will decline 4.5 per cent annually. Even though politicians breathed a sigh of collective relief on both sides of the English Channel, the “deal is far from the deep and ambitious relationship” both sides said they were aiming for shortly after the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to Sally Jones, a trade expert at Ernst & Young, an Anglo-American multinational professional services consultancy. The hugely complex deal now will be pored over by trade lawyers and businesses. The agreement runs to more than 1,000 pages, plus hundreds of pages of annexes that cover future arrangements for trade, security and fishing, as well as scientific cooperation and regulatory alignment The biggest sticking points in the haggling during the last few years between London and Brussels have been over regulatory alignment and fishing. Both sides were at loggerheads over shared regulatory rules, competition and safety standards, workers’ rights and environment laws and restraints on state subsidies to private businesses.  Europeans were determined to ensure British firms did not secure an unfair competitive edge over EU rivals. Lower standards and watered-down regulations mean lower costs and lower prices for finished goods. FILE – British Union flag waves in front of the Elizabeth Tower at Houses of Parliament containing the bell know as “Big Ben” in central London, March 29, 2017.The British Parliament will have to ratify the deal, but it already has recessed for Christmas. British lawmakers are likely to be recalled on December 30 to approve the last-minute agreement. 
 An EU official told Reuters news agency a provisional application of the deal will need to be approved by member states because there’s not enough time for the EU Parliament to ratify the agreement before the December 31 deadline, when Britain’s transition period.  
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Stella Tennant, the aristocratic British model who was a muse to designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace, died suddenly at the age of 50, her family said Wednesday. Tennant, the granddaughter of a duke, rose to fame in the 1990s while walking the runway for Versace, Alexander McQueen and other designers. FILE – Model Stella Tennant poses during a photocall before Chanel Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2018 fashion collection presented in Paris, Jan. 23, 2018.In a statement, her family said: “It is with great sadness we announce the sudden death of Stella Tennant on Dec. 22.”  “Stella was a wonderful woman and an inspiration to us all. She will be greatly missed,” it said.  The family asked for privacy and said arrangements for a memorial service would be announced later. They did not disclose her cause of death.  Police Scotland said officers were called to an address in the Scottish Borders town of Duns on Tuesday following the sudden death of a 50-year-old woman. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.  The granddaughter of the 11th Duke of Devonshire Andrew Cavendish and his wife Deborah Mitford of a glamorous, unconventional aristocratic family, Tennant was one of the leading British models of the 1990s. Late in the decade, Lagerfeld announced her as the new face of Chanel, with an exclusive modeling contract, and she became a muse to the designer. Fashion house Versace paid tribute to Tennant on Twitter, saying: “Versace is mourning the death of Stella Tennant. Stella was Gianni Versace’s muse for many years and friend of the family. We will miss you forever, Stella. Rest in peace.”  Donatella Versace posted a photo of Tennant on Instagram in a tribute to the model.”Stella, I cannot believe you are gone,” she wrote. “You have left us way too soon. We met when you were at the beginning of your career. I cherish every moment we spent together. Ciao. Rest in peace.” FILE – Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre, right, acknowledges applause on the catwalk with top model Stella Tennant, in Milan, March 2, 2003.Stella McCartney said she was “speechless” after hearing the news.”What sad, horrific news to end this already shocking year!” McCartney wrote in a post on Instagram that included a photo of her and Tennant. “Rest in peace, you inspiring woman. Your soul and inner beauty exceeded the external perfection, Stella.” Tennant also appeared in advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Hermes and Burberry.  In 1999, Tennant married French photographer David Lasnet. She is survived by him and their four children. “From the first time I met Stella I was completely blown away,” fashion designer Marc Jacobs said on social media. “Her beauty, style and body language combined with her manners, kindness, sense of humor and personality were like no other. … My condolences to David and her family. What a terrible, heartbreaking loss.” 
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European Union and British negotiators are nearing a trade deal as Britain’s New Year’s Day exit from the 27-nation bloc approaches, EU officials said Wednesday.Two officials said negotiators are working to resolve as early as midnight Wednesday a fishing rights issue in British waters in hopes of avoiding a messy economic break between the two sides.One of the sources, who asked to remain unidentified because the talks were still ongoing, said talks had entered the final phase. “I expect to see some white smoke tonight,” the official said.Since formally leaving the EU on January 31, Britain immediately entered an 11-month economic transition period, giving negotiators time to reach a free trade deal to ease its exit from the Single Market and the Customs Union at the end of this year.EU, UK Each Demand Concessions as Post-Brexit Talks StallSources from each side said that unless the other backed down on access to UK waters, Britain would leave the single market at midnight December 31 without a deal on cross-channel commerceNegotiators are attempting to reach a deal that ensures the annual trade of goods between the two sides worth nearly $1 trillion remains exempt from tariffs and quotas. Britain is calling for quotas for EU vessels in British waters, and sources from both sides have reported progress in the talks.An EU diplomat said negotiators previously reached a compromise over EU concerns that Britain would weaken the bloc’s social, environmental and state aid rules to gain an unfair advantage with its exports to the EU. Britain maintained that EU rules would have undercut its sovereignty.It is unclear how trade between the two sides would take place if they fail to meet the January 1 deadline.
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The U.S. departments of Treasury and State on Wednesday announced sanctions and visa restrictions on dozens of Belarusian citizens and several entities for their alleged roles in what the U.S. calls a fraudulent Aug. 9 election and the violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters that followed.
 
“The election included a myriad of irregularities that made it neither free nor fair, including barring opposition candidates, denying access to poll observers, and certifying inaccurate vote tallies,” the Treasury Department said in a news release.
 
Treasury officials accused leaders of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding Republican Referenda — led by Chairwoman Lidziya Yarmoshina, Deputy Chairperson Vadzim Ipatau, and Secretary Alena Dmukhayla — of fraud. All three had already been sanctioned Oct. 2. 
 
The U.S. department also says Deputy Minister of the Interior and Chief of the Criminal Police Henadz Arkadzievich Kazakevich “was responsible for the actions of the Criminal Police in their role of carrying out previously sanctioned Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s policy of violently cracking down on pro-democracy protests in Belarus.”
 
The Minsk Special Purpose Police Unit, the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Minsk City Executive Committee, and KGB Alpha, an elite unit of Belarus’s secret services, are all being sanctioned for their roles in the violent crackdowns, Treasury said.
 
“The Belarusian people continually seek to peacefully exercise their basic democratic rights, and the state repeatedly responds with violent crackdowns,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a press release. “This action, in conjunction with those taken previously by the United States and our international partners, continue to hold accountable the individuals and organizations carrying out these unacceptable actions.”
 
After Treasury’s announcement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced more sanctions via Twitter.
 
“This morning, I imposed visa restrictions on 39 individuals and @USTreasury sanctioned additional officials and entities for their roles in the fraudulent August 9th election and the violent crackdown in Belarus. The Belarusian people deserve free and fair elections.”
 
Earlier this month, Belarusian security forces detained dozens of people across the country as street protests calling on authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko to resign continued.
 
Demonstrators have gathered in Minsk and other Belarusian cities in nearly continuous protests since the disputed presidential election in August.
 
The Aug. 9 vote gave Lukashenko a sixth presidential term, but the opposition believes candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the real winner of the election and is calling for the strongman’s resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.
 
Today’s sanctions come just six days after the European Union unveiled fresh sanctions against dozens of Belarusians, including Deputy Prime Minister Anatoli Sivak, and the head of state television.
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A Turkish court has convicted journalist Can Dundar on espionage and terror-related charges for a news report.
The court in Istanbul on Wednesday found Dundar guilty of “obtaining secret documents for espionage” and “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization without being a member,” sentencing him to a total of 27 1/2 years in prison. Dundar’s lawyers did not attend the hearing in protest, saying the proceedings violated the rules of fair trial and impartiality.  
Dundar, the former editor-in-chief of opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, was on trial for a 2015 story accusing Turkey’s intelligence service of illegally sending weapons to Syria. Dundar fled to Germany in 2016 and was being tried in absentia.  
The story included a 2014 video that showed men in police uniforms and civilian clothing unscrewing bolts to open the trucks and unpacking boxes. Later images show trucks full of mortar rounds. The Associated Press cannot confirm the authenticity of the video.
The news report claimed that the Turkish intelligence service and Turkey’s president did not allow the prosecutor to begin an investigation into arms smuggling.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was infuriated by the publication, filing criminal charges against Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul. Erdogan said the trucks carried aid to Turkmen groups in Syria and that Dundar would “pay a high price.”  
Turkey later interfered directly in the Syrian civil war, launching four cross-border operations.  
Dundar is accused of aiding the network of U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, who the government says masterminded Turkey’s 2016 failed coup. The prosecutor who ordered the trucks stopped and others, including military officers, have been charged with links to Gulen. Gulen denies the allegations and remains in Pennsylvania.  
Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency reported that the court thought Dundar’s news report aimed to present Turkey as a “country that supports terror” domestically and internationally. The court said that perception helped Gulen’s network, which also used the story in its own publications.  
Dundar and Gul were arrested in 2015 and spent three months in pre-trial detention. In 2016, a court convicted them to five to six years in prison for “obtaining and revealing secret documents to be used for espionage.” Dundar was attacked outside the courthouse on the same day as the verdict but was uninjured.
After Dundar appealed the conviction, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the sentences in 2018 and ordered a retrial with harsher sentences. The retrial began in 2019.
Dundar’s property in Turkey is in the process of being seized.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey at 154 out of 180 countries in its 2020 Press Freedom Index.
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Police in Canada have declared the death of a dissident Pakistani human rights activist a “non-criminal” incident. 
  
Thirty-seven-year-old Karima Mehrab, also known as Karima Baloch from Pakistan’s troubled Baluchistan province, was found dead Monday, a day after she went missing in Toronto’s downtown area.  
  
“The circumstances have been investigated and officers have determined this to be a non-criminal death and no foul play is suspected. We have updated the family,” a Toronto Police statement said.  The Toronto Police Service is aware of heightened community and media interest surrounding a missing person investigation.
Earlier today, we confirmed a 37-year-old woman was sadly located deceased on Monday, December 21, 2020.
— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) December 23, 2020Baloch had been living in Canada since fleeing Baluchistan in 2015, where she campaigned for the province’s separation from Pakistan and was reportedly charged with terrorism. 
 
Her death sparked speculation of the involvement of Pakistani intelligence operatives, charges officials in Islamabad rejected as “ridiculous” and an attempt to malign Pakistan.  
  
Baloch’s husband, Hammal Haider, told media she went on a walk on Toronto’s Center Island and never returned. 
 
“I can’t believe that it’s an act of suicide,” he told the Guardian newspaper. “She was a strong lady and she left home in a good mood. We can’t rule out foul play as she has been under threats. She left Pakistan as her home was raided more than twice,” Haider said.  
  
Baluchistan has long been home to insurgent separatist movements and often experiences deadly attacks on Pakistani security forces blamed on the separatists. 
  
The Pakistani military said on Tuesday an “intelligence-based operation” against a suspected militant hideout in the province’s Awaran region triggered a shootout with “terrorists,” killing 10 of them.  It added that the slain men were behind a recent deadly attack on a security convoy in the area.  
 
Pakistan alleges Baluch separatists are being supported and funded by rival India, charges New Delhi denies.   
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Russia has sent 300 military instructors to the Central African Republic at the request of the country’s leadership to help counter a surge in rebel violence ahead of Sunday’s election, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.Officials and a security source in the Central African capital Bangui said earlier on Monday that Rwanda and Russia had dispatched troops and supplies.The 300 Russian instructors coming at the request of Bangui authorities are to provide training to the national army.They could bolster security forces and over 12,000 United Nations peacekeepers as armed rebel groups, some of whom fought one another in the country’s prolonged conflict, have formed an alliance and are threatening to march on the capital.”We are carefully following the unfolding situation in the Central African Republic,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. “We are seriously concerned that the events of recent days have led to a sharp deterioration in the security situation in this country.”The mineral-rich but deeply impoverished country has struggled to regain stability since 2013 when then-President Francois Bozize was ousted by a rebellion of mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.Alleged human rights abuses by the Seleka sparked reprisals from the mostly Christian Anti-balaka militia, plunging the landlocked country into a spiral of tit-for-tat violence.Clashes surged in the days after the country’s highest court barred Bozize from running in Sunday’s election.President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s government has accused Bozize of plotting a coup.Some political parties have called for the election to be postponed due to the spate of violence, while the International Crisis Group think tank urged neighboring heads of state on Tuesday to help Bozize and Touadera strike a deal and calm the situation to ensure the election can proceed.The United Nations mission in Central African Republic and the government insist that the vote will go ahead.Security and diplomatic sources said on Tuesday a rebel group had seized control of Bambari, a trading hub around 380 kilometers (235 miles) east of the capital. The government could not be reached for comment.Mankeur Ndiaye, the U.N. envoy in Central African Republic, told a news conference on Tuesday the security situation was relatively calm, and measures were in place to secure the vote.”If the elections don’t hold … we risk entering a period of uncontrolled instability,” Ndiaye said.
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Top European Union officials say the bloc must invest more heavily in Mediterranean countries to be able to compete with China. Beijing has financed or purchased key infrastructure in the region as part of its so-called Belt and Road Initiative. More in this report by Alfonso Beato in Barcelona, narrated by Henry Ridgwell.Camera: Alfonso Beato   Produced by: Rod James  
 
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