Ukraine’s president has asked Pope Francis for help in securing the release of prisoners of war held by Russia and by Russia-backed separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskiy made the request after a meeting Saturday with the pontiff at the Vatican. “[The pope] does everything possible to achieve peace and harmony throughout the world,” Zelenskiy said in a tweet after their meeting. “I asked for help with the release of Ukrainians captured in Donbas, Crimea and Russia,” he said. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March 2014. A month later, fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, and the conflict has since killed more than 13,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. Since being elected in May 2019, Zelenskiy has overseen two major swaps of prisoners with Russia and the separatist fighters it backs in eastern Ukraine. Pope Francis, the 83-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church, has several times voiced hope for an end to the conflict. Francis offered a prayer ahead of the key summit involving Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris in December 2019. The pope also called for peace in eastern Ukraine in his Christmas message. The overwhelming majority of observant Ukrainians are Orthodox Christian; only a small percentage consider themselves Roman Catholic. However, Greek or Eastern Rite Catholics are the second-largest Christian denomination in the country and recognize the pope as their spiritual leader. Medal for ZelenskiyDuring the photo session of the meeting, which was open to reporters, Francis gave Zelenskiy a medal of St. Martin of Tours and said he hoped the saint “will protect your people from war.” Zelenskiy arrived in Italy on Friday, when he met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Talks in Rome were reported to focus on Vitaliy Markiv, a Ukrainian national guardsman sentenced in 2019 by an Italian court to 24 years in prison for his role in the deaths of an Italian photojournalist and his translator during fighting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk in 2014. 
…

Five British nationals including a child have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus at a French mountain village, and health officials said they were checking who else might have been exposed, including at local schools. In total, 11 people, including the five who tested positive, have been hospitalized in southeastern France and were being examined, the French health ministry said  Saturday, adding that none was in serious condition. The group of Britons included holidaymakers and a family currently residing in the Alpine village and ski resort, Les Contamines-Montjoie. They shared neighboring apartments in a chalet and temporarily hosted a British man believed to have contracted the virus at a business congress in Singapore before his short visit to France in late January, the ministry added. Two schools will be shut next week for checks, regional health official Jean-Yves Grall said, after it emerged that the 9-year-old who tested positive had attended lessons and French classes in different establishments. Two other children were also part of the group of 11 now in hospitals in the cities of Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble, and they had been schooled in the area, too, according to Etienne Jacquet, mayor of Les Contamines-Montjoie. Some parents in the village, nestled in the mountains close to the Mont Blanc peak and the Swiss city of Geneva, said Saturday that they had received little information so far and were being cautious. “Our children were meant to go to a concert tonight. We took the decision not to take them to not expose other people,” said Beatrice Louvier, adding that her 10-year-old daughter was in the same classroom as one of the three British children. Peak ski seasonThe cases coincide with one of the busiest periods of the ski season for area resorts, as schools in the Paris region begin midterm holidays. British schools will also be on midterm break later this month. Health officials said they were trying to determine who had come into prolonged and close contact with the British group. Several tourists who had just arrived in Les Contamines-Montjoui brushed off the risks and said they would see through their holidays. “The percentage chance of getting infected is not really high,” said Frenchman Stanislas Des Courtis, who was visiting with his two teenage sons. “The ski area is big, and there are not so many places where [people] can gather here all together.” But local resident Catherine Davout, who helps manage flat rentals in the area, said she had already had several cancellations. Business meeting The new cases emerged after authorities began to retrace the travels of a British man who has been confirmed by Britain to have contracted the virus, French health officials said. They had formed “a cluster, a grouping around one original case,” according to Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, who identified the person as a Briton who had returned from Singapore and stayed in France between January 24 and 28. The French government said Singaporean authorities were looking into a business congress that took place in a hotel there on January 20-23 and was attended by 94 foreigners, including the British man at the center of the Alpine cases. As of Saturday, Singapore had 40 cases of the virus. Of the 11 total cases in France, earlier ones include an 80-year-old Chinese man in a serious condition, while the others have shown signs of improvement, according to medical officials. The epidemic began in Wuhan, China, and the vast majority of cases have been in China. 
…

Syrian government forces captured new areas from insurgents in their efforts to control a key highway in the northwest Saturday, as Turkey sent more reinforcements into the war-torn country, state media and opposition activists said.The weekslong government offensive has created a humanitarian crisis with about 600,000 people fleeing their homes in Syria’s last rebel stronghold since the beginning of December, according to the United Nations.Rebels control much of Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Aleppo region that is home to some 3 million people — many of them displaced from other parts of Syria.The Syrian offensive appears aimed for now at securing a strategic highway in rebel-controlled territory, as opposed to an all-out campaign to retake the entire province, including the city of Idlib, the densely populated provincial capital.“Our aim is to clear the highway and evict terrorists from it,” a Syrian commander on the ground told state TV. He was referring to the M5 highway, which links the capital Damascus with the northern city of Aleppo.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said government forces still have 30 kilometers (18 miles) of the highway to clear before it comes under full control of the army for the first time since 2012.Syrian state TV reported Saturday that government forces captured four villages in Aleppo province near the highway. It added that Syrian troops and demining experts have cleared explosives and mines from the recently captured town of Saraqeb that sits on an intersection where the M5 meets with the M4 highway, linking Syria’s coast with the country’s east.Syrian state media and the Observatory later reported that government forces captured the village of al-Eis and its strategic hill just east of the M5.The new push came as Turkey, a main backer of the opposition, sent more reinforcements into Idlib, according to the Observatory and Idlib-based media activist Taher al-Omar who is embedded with militants.The Observatory said a convoy consisting of 430 vehicles entered Syria since Friday night, raising the number of vehicles that entered Syria since last weekend to well over 1,000.A rare clash on Feb. 3, between Turkish troops and Syrian soldiers left seven Turkish soldiers and a Turkish civilian dead as well as 13 Syrian troops.On Friday, Turkey’s Defense Ministry warned the army would respond “even more forcefully” to any attack on Turkish observation posts in the area, adding: “Our observation posts will continue carrying out duties.”The violence has also raised tensions between Russia and Turkey, which have been working together to secure cease-fires and political talks, despite backing opposite sides of the conflict.
…

Cyborgs, trolls and bots can fill the internet with lies and half-truths. Understanding them is key to learning how misinformation spreads online.As the 2016 election showed, social media is increasingly used to amplify false claims and divide Americans over hot-button issues including race and immigration. Researchers who study misinformation predict it will get worse leading up to this year’s presidential vote. Here’s a guide to understanding the problem:MISINFORMATION VS. DISINFORMATIONPolitical misinformation has been around since before the printing press, but the internet has allowed falsehoods, conspiracy theories and exaggerations to spread faster and farther than ever.Misinformation is defined as any false information, regardless of intent, including honest mistakes or misunderstandings of the facts. Disinformation, on the other hand, typically refers to misinformation created and spread intentionally as a way to confuse or mislead.Misinformation and disinformation can appear in political ads or social media posts. They can include fake news stories or doctored videos. One egregious example of disinformation from last year was a video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that was slowed down to make her sound as if she were slurring her words.Research indicates that false claims spread more easily than accurate ones, possibly because they are crafted to grab attention.Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology analyzed more than 126,000 stories, some true and some false, that were tweeted millions of times from 2006 through the end of 2016. They found that misleading or incorrect stories traveled six times faster — and reached more people.Online misinformation has been blamed for deepening America’s political polarization and contributing to distrust in government. The risks were highlighted in 2016 when Russian trolls created fake accounts to spread and amplify social media posts about controversial issues.WAR OF THE BOTS AND CYBORGSThe disposable foot soldiers in this digital conflict are bots. In the social media context, these autonomous programs can run accounts to spread content without human involvement.Many are harmless, tweeting out random poems or pet photos. But others are up to no good and designed to resemble actual users.One study by researchers at the University of Southern California analyzed election-related tweets sent in September and October 2016 and found that 1 in 5 were sent by a bot. The Pew Research Center concluded in a 2018 study that accounts suspected of being bots are responsible for as many as two-thirds of all tweets that link to popular websites.While flesh-and-blood Twitter users will often post a few times a day, about a variety of subjects, the most obvious bots will tweet hundreds of times a day, day and night, and often only on a specific topic. They are more likely to repost content rather than create something original.And then there’s the cyborg, a kind of hybrid account that combines a bot’s tirelessness with human subtlety. Cyborg accounts are those in which a human periodically takes over a bot account to respond to other users and to post original content. They are more expensive and time consuming to operate, but they don’t give themselves away as robots.“You can get a lot from a bot, but maybe it’s not the best quality,” said Emilio Ferrara, a data science researcher at the University of Southern California who co-wrote the study on Twitter bots. “The problem with cyborgs is they are much harder to catch and detect.”SPOT THE BOTSBots can be hard to spot, even for the best researchers.“We have 12 ways that we spot a bot, and if we hit seven or eight of them we have pretty high confidence,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that studies connections between social media, cybersecurity and government.Nonetheless, Brookie recalled the case of a Twitter account from Brazil that was posting almost constantly — sometimes once per minute — and displayed other bot-like characteristics. And yet, “It was a little grandma, who said, ‘This is me!’”Their prevalence and the difficulty of identifying them has made bots into a kind of digital bogeyman and transformed the term into an insult, used to dismiss other social media users with different opinions.Michael Watsey, a 43-year-old New Jersey man who often tweets his support for President Donald Trump, said he has been repeatedly called a Russian bot by people he argues with online. The accusations prompted Twitter to temporarily suspend his account more than once, forcing him to verify he is a human.“All I’m trying to do is uses my First Amendment right to free speech,” he said. “It’s crazy that it’s come to this.”TROLLS AND SOCK PUPPETSThe word troll once referred to beasts of Scandinavian mythology who hid under bridges and attacked travelers. Now it also refers to people who post online to provoke others, sometimes for their own amusement and sometimes as part of a coordinated campaign.Sock puppets are another oddly named denizen of social media, in this case a type of imposter account. While some users may use anonymous accounts simply to avoid identifying themselves, sock-puppet accounts are used by the owner to attack their critics or praise themselves. In October, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney acknowledged operating a secret Twitter account under the name “Pierre Delecto,” which he used to defend himself against criticism.FAKED VIDEOS: DEEP, CHEAP AND SHALLOWDeepfakes are videos that have been digitally created with artificial intelligence or machine learning to make it appear something happened that did not. They are seen as an emerging threat, as improvements in video editing software make it possible for tricksters to create increasingly realistic footage of, say, former President Barack Obama delivering a speech he never made, in a setting he never visited. They are expensive and difficult to create — especially in a convincing way.Facebook announced last month that it would ban deepfake videos — with exceptions for satire. Beginning in March, Twitter will prohibit doctored videos, photography and audio recordings “likely to cause harm.” Material that is manipulated but isn’t necessarily harmful may get a warning label. And YouTube bans “deceptive uses of manipulated media” that could pose serious risk of harm.By contrast, shallowfakes, cheapfakes or dumbfakes are videos that have been doctored using more basic techniques, such as slowing down or speeding up footage or cutting it.Examples include a doctored video posted by Britain’s Conservative Party before December’s U.K. election that made it seem like a Labour Party official was struggling to respond to a question about Brexit.Because they’re easy and inexpensive to make, cheapfakes can be every bit as dangerous as their fancier cousin, the deepfake.“Deepfakes are getting more realistic and easier to do,” said John Pavlik, a journalism professor at Rutgers University who studies how technology and the internet are changing communication habits. “But you don’t have to have special software to make these simpler ones.”Researchers who study Americans’ changing media habits recommend that people turn to a variety of sources and perspectives for their news, use critical thinking when evaluating information on social media, and think twice about reposting viral claims. Otherwise, they say, misinformation will continue to flow, and users will continue to spread it.“The only solution,” Ferrara said, “is education.” 
…

Ireland began voting in a general election Saturday, with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hoping to secure a new term on the back of Brexit but voters likely to judge him more on his domestic record.Polls opened across the country at 0700 GMT, although a small number of islands off the west coast voted Friday to allow for rough seas that could disrupt the transport of ballots by boat.About 3.3 million people are eligible to vote to elect 159 members of the Dail, the lower chamber of parliament in Dublin.Varadkar’s Fine Gael party has been in power since 2016 but polling suggests they are trailing center-right rivals Fianna Fail and republicans Sinn Fein.On Monday, Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA paramilitary group, were out in front with 25%, Fianna Fail with 23% and Fine Gael with 20%.“This election is wide open,” Varadkar said at his final campaign stop in the western town of Ennis on Friday. “It’s a three horse race, three parties, all within shouting distance of each other.”A ‘Brexit election’Varadkar launched his campaign after successfully helping to broker a deal cushioning Britain’s EU exit, Jan. 31, by avoiding a hard border with British-run Northern Ireland.An open frontier was a key requirement of the 1998 peace agreement that largely ended three decades of violence over British rule in the north, which left more than 3,000 dead.Varadkar has warned voters that Brexit is “not done yet,” as London prepares for talks with Brussels to secure a longer-term trade deal in record time before the end of this year.Failure to do so could present an “existential threat” to the Irish economy, he said.But experts suggest he may have miscalculated the public mood with surveys indicating Brexit was a low concern among the electorate.Issues closer to homeOther parties have hammered Fine Gael over failings in health care, housing and homelessness. Varadkar acknowledged he understood that Friday.“You want us over the next three years to focus on issues like health and housing with the same passion and intensity that we’ve focused on Brexit in the past three years,” he said.Varadkar is Ireland’s first mixed race and openly gay premier who has come to represent a more socially progressive Ireland after years of dominance by the Roman Catholic church.But despite Brexit, and landmark votes to overturn strict abortion laws and introduce same-sex marriage, some predict he could be on his way out.“Varadkar is young, he’s gay, he looks like part of the new Ireland,” Eunan O’Halpin, of Trinity College Dublin, told AFP. “Yet his personal popularity appears to have dipped, and that of his party has dipped very significantly.”NegotiationsPolls close at 2200 GMT and votes start being counted at 0900 GMT Sunday.A three-way race led by left-wing Sinn Fein is a new dynamic for the Republic, where governments have been historically dominated by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.Since 2016 Fianna Fail have propped up Fine Gael in government with a confidence and supply arrangement that could implicate them in the perceived failings of the government.“(Young people) blame the current government and coalition of parties in government for this mess,” said O’Halpin about the housing shortage.Despite its opinion poll lead, Sinn Fein, which wants to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic, is only fielding 42 candidates and cannot form a majority government even if they all win.Both Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin are adamant they will not form a coalition with Mary Lou McDonald’s party.On Friday, Martin said Sinn Fein, which was once led by Gerry Adams, “have not cleaned themselves from their bloody past.”“The only party who can lead an alternative government is Fianna Fail,” he said in his home city of Cork.
…

Photographer  Olivier Toscani made a career out of provocative advertising campaigns for Benetton, the Italian clothing maker famed for its colorful knitwear. But that decades-long relationship has been severed after Toscani outraged relatives of victims in the deadly 2018 Genoa bridge collapse. Toscani told RAI television this week, “Who cares about a bridge collapse?He was responding to a public flap over a photograph of founding members of the Sardines political protest movement alongside key members of the Benetton family, which controls the company that maintained the bridge. The president of the committee to remember the 43 people who died August 14, 2018, in the Morandi Bridge collapse called the remarks “inopportune and confused.'' `'It could be that [Toscani] travels by helicopter and using a bridge is for commoners,'' Egle Possetti said. `'Unfortunately, many Italians travel over bridges every day, and unfortunately some people will remain forever under ‘that bridge,' certainly not due to some stray lightning strike. Forty-three innocent deaths count little for him, but for us they were everything.'' 'Deeply pained'Toscani apologized in an interview with La Repubblica published Thursday.I am sorry. More: I am ashamed to apologize. I am humanly destroyed and deeply pained.” But the damage was done. Benetton said in a statement Thursday that the group “completely disassociates itself from Mr. Toscani’s remarks and acknowledges the impossibility of continuing the professional relationship with its creative director.” It added that chairman Luciano Benetton “and the entire company renew their sincere closeness to the families of the victims and to all those who have been involved in this terrible tragedy.” The Benetton family, as controlling stakeholder in the Autostrade highway company that maintained the Morandi bridge, has been embattled ever since the accident as the government squabbles over whether to revoke its agreement to operate thousands of kilometers of Italian toll highways. So the photo showing the founders of the Sardines movement alongside the Benettons was widely criticized as a misstep by the less than three-month-old group. Since its founding in November, the group has mobilized tens of thousands to protest the growing popularity of right-wing leader Matteo Salvini. The leaders said their appearance in the photo, at the Benetton cultural center Fabrica, had been “naive.” 
…

The European commissioner for human rights urged Moscow Friday to investigate a violent assault on a journalist and a lawyer in Russia’s province of Chechnya.Elena Milashina, from the independent Novaya Gazeta, said she and Marina Dubrovina, a lawyer accompanying her on a trip to Chechnya, were pushed and beaten by a dozen people in the lobby of their hotel late Thursday. Milashina long has exposed human rights violations in Chechnya.The regional branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry in Chechnya said it was looking into the incident.The Kremlin has relied on Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov to keep the North Caucasus region stable after two devastating separatist wars. International rights groups have accused Kadyrov’s feared security forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters.The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović on Friday condemned the assault on the journalist and the lawyer as “the latest of a series of worrying attacks on human rights defenders and critics” in Chechnya.Mijatović noted that “ the climate of hostility against independent civil society activists, human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists in Chechnya is often fomented by virulent and threatening speech of political leaders, including at the highest levels” of the regional leadership.She urged the Russian authorities to “urgently reverse this unacceptable situation and uphold their obligations to ensure that human rights defenders can work safely and freely.” Mijatović emphasized that those responsible for the assault must be punished.
…

The alleged rape of three American women by Afghan migrants is prompting a public examination of Spain’s legal system, with media commentators and politicians debating the veracity of the charges and the competency of Spanish authorities to handle the case appropriately.The Spanish press has delved into intimate details of the case, including speculation that the women – three sisters from the Midwestern state of Ohio aged 18, 20 and 23 — contrived the sexual assault to claim on their travel insurance. Reports have even cited disclosures by hospital examiners that the youngest of the three sisters was a virgin before her encounter with the alleged rapist.The United States, meanwhile, is advising other Americans to take precautions against sexual assault and warning about the legal handling of sexual assault cases in Spain. “U.S. citizen victims of sexual assault in Spain can find it very difficult to navigate the local criminal justice system, which differs significantly from the U.S. system,” said an advisory issued by the U.S. Embassy in Madrid. It specifically warned American female students to “take precautions against sexual assault during their stay in Spain.”FILE – Activists protest in Barcelona, Spain, June 21, 2018. A Spanish court triggered a new wave of outrage Oct. 31, 2019, by acquitting five men of gang rape and instead finding them guilty of a lesser charge of sexual abuse.Spain’s interior ministry says that while the number of rape cases has risen from fewer than 1,000 in 2016 to some 1,400 in 2019, the total remains well below that in most other European countries. Reported sexual assaults in France, by contrast, rose from 16,000 to 52,000 over the same period, according to the French government.A U.S. Embassy official told VOA that most rape cases in Spain go unreported because of the inadequate treatment that victims receive from police, health authorities and the legal system.While 34 sexual assaults against American women were reported during 2019, the official said many more cases go unreported, adding that a major American university with one of the largest exchange programs in Spain received complaints of sexual violence on an average of once per week.The three sisters, all college students, have accused Afghan refugees of violently forcing them into sexual intercourse on New Year’s Eve in the city of Murcia.The accused men, who have been released since their arrest days after the incident, claim the sex acts were consensual. Their lawyer has filed charges of “false accusation” against the women claiming inconsistencies in their police testimonies.U.S. Embassy spokesman Adam Lenert said the way in which rape victims are questioned in Spain is outdated and tends to put the burden of doubt on the victim. The first questions police asked the three women concerned what clothes they wore and whether they had consumed alcohol or drugs before they met their alleged rapists at a bar. They were also asked about travel insurance, which is mandatory for U.S. students in most exchange programs.Those practices persist despite a growing feminist movement, led in some instances by top officials of the ruling Socialist government, which has greatly raised consciousness about sexual violence. “Spain has become highly sensitized on matters concerning rape and sexual harassment,” said news anchor Antonio Jimenez, who led a round-table discussion about the U.S. travel advisory on his nightly talk show on one of Spain’s main television channels.At least two recent gang rape cases triggered mass protests by women’s groups, which have argued for stiffer jail terms for the perpetrators, who have become known as “wolf packs.”Right-wing groups have further politicized the issue, with some conservative leaders blaming the problem on the rising tide of immigrants from Muslim countries. Speaking before the congress two weeks ago, VOX party leader Santiago Abascal criticized the leniency extended to the Afghan rape suspects as an example of how immigrants receive special consideration.Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right party VOX, waves to supporters during a rally in protest against the new coalition government led by Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, at Cibeles Square in Madrid, Spain, Jan. 12, 2020.There is concern that as the case of the three Ohio sisters gets entangled in Spain’s politics and complex legal system, it may become increasingly difficult to get a clear verdict or trial.Defense lawyer Melecio Castaño, said on television that evidence suggests the women and their alleged attackers had a “cordial farewell” on the morning after their encounter and that cell phone records indicate that one of the women subsequently called one of the men.Sources close to the women’s legal counsel say that text messages sent to one of the alleged attackers were placed at the request of police in an effort to locate him.Under Spanish law it’s necessary for the victims to appear before the court in order to “ratify” their charges. The Americans have left Spain and might be hesitant to return due to the way in which they have been treated, U.S. Embassy officials say.
…

A gritty tale set in France’s disenfranchised suburbs, or banlieues, ranks among the finalists for the best foreign language film at Sunday’s Academy Awards in Los Angeles. However, Les Miserables has also unleashed a debate about what has changed in France and what has not.  For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from the Paris suburb of Montfermeil
…

Britain is set for another royal wedding. Buckingham Palace announced Friday that Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter Princess Beatrice will marry in London on May 29.The palace says 31-year-old Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 37, will wed in the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace. The chapel was the location for the wedding of Beatrice’s great-great-great-great grandmother Queen Victoria to Prince Albert in 1840.The queen will host a reception afterwards at Buckingham Palace.
Beatrice, the elder daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, announced her engagement to real estate entrepreneur Mozzi last year. He is a Briton descended from a noble Italian family.The father of the bride quit public royal duties in November amid an outcry over his friendship with the convicted U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in August.An American woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, says she had several sexual encounters with the prince at Epstein’s behest, starting when she was 17. The FBI wants to question the prince as part of its Epstein investigation, but a U.S. prosecutor said last month that Andrew had been uncooperative.The prince denies wrongdoing.Beatrice’s younger sister, Princess Eugenie, married Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle in 2018.
…

Russian authorities have added more than 200 Jehovah’s Witnesses to a register of extremists and terrorists, the organization said in a statement Friday.The latest move in a crackdown on the religious group effectively cuts the believers off from the country’s financial system, because being on list leads to one’s bank accounts being frozen and to severe restrictions on any financial transactions.Russia officially banned Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2017 and declared the group an extremist organization. The Kremlin has actively used vaguely worded extremism laws to crack down on opposition activists and religious minorities.Since then, hundreds of members have been subjected to raids, arrests and prosecution. Twenty-four members of the organization have been convicted, nine of whom have been sentenced to prison, and more than 300 people are currently under criminal investigation.Most of the blacklisted believers have not been convicted yet but are under investigation, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said.Jarrod Lopes, a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses world headquarters in the United States, said Friday that Russian authorities are “vilifying Jehovah’s Witnesses, crippling them from caring for their basic needs.”“Clearly, Russia has effectively reinstated its darkest period of history by relentlessly persecuting Jehovah’s Witnesses, as did its intolerant Soviet predecessors,” Lopes said.Thousands on registerThe register, available on the website of Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s financial intelligence agency, currently contains more than 9,500 names. It doesn’t state a person’s affiliation with an organization. The Associated Press was able to identify at least two dozen Jehovah’s Witnesses on the list.Rosfinmonitoring officials would neither confirm nor deny blacklisting Jehovah’s Witnesses to The Associated Press, saying that they add people to the register based on the information law enforcement provides them.The crackdown on members of the group continues despite a promise by Russian President Vladimir Putin to look into “this complete nonsense.”“Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christians, too, so I don’t quite understand why persecute them,” Putin said at a meeting with the Presidential Council for Human Rights in 2018.
…

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti pledges to abolish the 100% tariffs on Serbian imports, an impediment in normalization efforts between the two countries since 2018.Kurti, who was confirmed as prime minister by the Kosovo Assembly on Monday, said in an interview with Voice of America that the objective of the ruling coalition composed of his party, Vetvendosje (Self-Determination), and the Democratic League of Kosovo, is to introduce “measures of full reciprocity in trade, politics and economy” with Serbia.  This is not about revenge but justice, stated Kurti, adding, “Reciprocity is fairness.  It is a fair approach. It is on the justice record, and I know that in one of his statements. U.S. President Donald Trump has mentioned reciprocity as a value and a concept that is close to his heart. So, international relations in the world today are built on this principle.”Lamenting what he called “numerous unacceptable actions that Serbia has taken towards us,” he described Kosovo’s reactions as defensive measures. “Serbia’s campaign is offensive. Reciprocity is protection, it is defensive, and it is the minimum for some kind of dignity and integrity of our being an independent state.”U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenel speaks after he met with the leader of Vetevendosje, newly nominated prime minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, in Kosovo’s capital Pristina on Jan. 23, 2020.Kosovo authorities have been under relentless pressure from Western allies to remove the tariffs. Trump’s special envoy for Kosovo and Serbia, Richard Grenell, urged the new Kosovo government to drop tariffs.“We expect the tariffs to be dropped immediately,” said Grenell, who is also U.S. ambassador to Germany. “We made clear to all the [Kosovo] party leaders that dropping the tariffs was in the best interest of Kosovo and its economy, and the desire to attract new businesses. And the party leaders agreed,” he said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.European Union-mediated talks between Serbia and Kosovo over normalizing relations stalled after the previous Kosovo government imposed 100% tariffs on Serbian goods to protest efforts by Belgrade to block Kosovo’s accession into international organizations.On Thursday, former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who introduced tariffs in 2018, urged Kurti in an open letter “not to drop the tariffs.”  Haradinaj said that “the 100% tax is imposed as a defensive measure against Serbia’s aggressive policy toward Kosovo and can be revoked with recognition.”Negotiations with Serbia remain one of the main challenges facing the new prime minister and his government.Kurti does not rule out the possibility of reaching an agreement with Serbia this year.“It’s possible, but I cannot foresee such a thing now. Now, I can express my will for dialogue, for open and principled dialogue,” he said.Serbia and its ally Russia do not recognize Kosovo’s independence.Since its declaration of independence, more than 100 countries have recognized Kosovo, including the United States and most EU nations.
…

Britain is letting European Union citizens stay once the country completes its transition out of the EU at the end of 2020. But some are choosing to leave and move back to the continent.Hanneke van der Werf is a Dutch herbalist and garden designer living on the border of Wales and England. Britain has been home for more than 25 years, but she is now preparing to leave.“This country has changed into something unrecognizable. It used to be very liberal, very outward looking, very welcoming and very tolerant,” Werf said. “And I personally was actually attacked the day after the referendum about me not being British, and why I wasn’t going, why I was still even there.”British-born people kept asking her why she had stayed in Britain after the Brexit vote, and those questions hurt.Considering move to EU countryVan der Werf has decided not to move back to the Netherlands but is contemplating a move to one of the southern EU countries.  Britain officially left the European Union on Jan. 31. It is still obliged to adhere to EU laws through the end of 2020 when the transitional period is over.Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly session of Prime Ministers Questions in Parliament in London, Jan. 29, 2020.Speaking on immigration during the December 2019 campaign, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he could “make sure that numbers come down.”While he said that British people are “not hostile to immigration at all,” they want their country to be — in his words — “democratically controlled and that’s what Brexit allows us to do.”Another EU citizen preparing to leave Britain is Carole Convers. As a French student she visited Britain in 1987 and decided to move permanently to the southern English seaside resort of Brighton.  “I’d always seen myself as you know just a normal citizen really, which happened to live in a bit of Europe that wasn’t in the same bit as where I was born,” Convers said. “And that, that feeling went. I went from being a citizen to an uncertain future as a migrant, not knowing what would change for me.”Many decide to stayConvers campaigned with The 3 Million, an NGO that lobbies to protect the rights of EU citizens in Britain.While she initially considered applying for a British passport, she eventually decided against it.The latest figures from Britain’s home office show more than three million EU citizens have applied to stay in the country.  The process is often turning out to be difficult. EU citizens are not given a physical document to prove if their application to stay in the country is successful — and that is causing anxiety among some.  From Brighton to BurgundyConvers resents having to apply to stay in the country she has been living in for so long.After 31 years of living in Brighton, Convers has decided to move back to Burgundy, in east-central France at the end of April with her British partner.  “It’s all a bit uncertain because we’ve got accommodation only for the first few months,” Convers said. “And he doesn’t speak French, so I’ll have to find a job.”Not welcome?More than three million Europeans had moved from the continent to Britain after it joined the EU in 1973. The welcome appears to have worn off.Since British voters approved Brexit in 2016, there has been an increase in reports of xenophobia, racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric — often directed at those coming from Poland.The British Office for National Statistics last year said net migration from the European Union has fallen since 2016.  Those numbers are now at their lowest since 2003. 
…

Lawyers for former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo urged International Criminal Court judges Thursday to lift conditions they imposed on him last year when he was released following his acquittal on crimes against humanity charges.Gbagbo and former youth minister Charles Ble Goude both were cleared early last year of involvement in deadly post-election violence in their West African nation.Prosecutors have appealed the acquittals, urging judges to call a mistrial, but both men were allowed to leave the court’s custody pending the appeal’s outcome. Judges, however, imposed conditions  on their liberty including that they had to turn in their passports, not leave the country hosting them, report weekly to police or the court and not contact witnesses or talk to the media about their case.Dozens of supporters attended Thursday’s hearing, waving to Gbagbo from the public gallery as the case opened. Gbagbo smiled and waved back. It wasn’t immediately clear when the court would decide on whether to free Gbagbo and Ble Goude.FILE – Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo enters the courtroom at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Jan. 15, 2019.Their supporters were hopeful judges would release them.“Today we are expecting something that should have happened long ago. We are not only expecting — we know that its going to happen today. It’s a day for freedom. It is a day to celebrate,” Njoh Fabrice Frisson said outside court.Speaking on behalf of Gbagbo, international law professor Dov Jacobs told judges they didn’t have the right to rein in the ex-president’s liberty.He said that, “in principle no restrictions can be placed on the freedom of a person who has been acquitted. This person should be able to enjoy all his rights, including his civil and political rights.”If judges agree to lift the conditions, it would clear the way for Gbagbo and Ble Goude to return home almost nine years after Gbagbo was ousted from power by force.The possibility of Gbagbo’s return is already escalating political tensions in a presidential election year. In written submissions to the court, Ivory Coast’s government argued that unconditionally freeing Gbagbo — effectively clearing him to return home — could rekindle the very tensions that led to him being put on trial.Ivory Coast’s incumbent leader, Alassane Ouattara, who ultimately prevailed back in 2011, has signaled that he could attempt to serve a third term if Gbagbo were to try and run again. Doing so would involve revising the constitution before October, and the opposition already has warned such a move could lead to widespread social unrest.Gbagbo officially received nearly 46% of the vote in 2010 and maintains a strong base of supporters who allege they have been left out of the reconciliation process in the years since his ouster.Gbagbo’s party, the Ivorian Popular Front, splintered into two factions back in 2014 and has been beset by infighting in recent years. One side has been led by ex-Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who distanced himself politically from Gbagbo after his ouster, while Gbagbo’s wife plays a prominent role in the other faction.Media reports say those differences appear to be on the mend after an apparent meeting between the two men last month in Brussels.Gbagbo’s wife, Simone Gbagbo, 70, was pardoned in August 2018 after serving three years of a 20-year sentence on charges of undermining state security in Ivory Coast. She lives in Abidjan, where she serves as second vice president of the party’s faction known as GOR (the French acronym for Gbagbo or Nothing).ICC judges acquitted Gbagbo and Ble Goude of involvement in violence that left more than 3,000 people dead in the aftermath of disputed 2010 presidential elections. The judges halted their trial at the halfway stage, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case.Prosecution lawyer Reinhold Gallmetzer told the court that if their appeal is accepted and a mistrial declared, prosecutors will seek a retrial.He said the judges shouldn’t reconsider the conditions because the circumstances that led judges to impose them last year haven’t changed.
 
…

FBI Director Chris Wray said Wednesday that Russia is engaged in “information warfare” heading into the 2020 presidential election, though he said law enforcement has not seen ongoing efforts by Russia to target America’s election infrastructure.Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that Russia, just as it did in 2016, is relying on a covert social media campaign aimed at dividing American public opinion and sowing discord. That effort, which involves fictional personas, bots, social media postings and disinformation, may have an election-year uptick but is also a round-the-clock threat that is in some ways harder to combat than an election system hack, Wray said.“Unlike a cyberattack on an election infrastructure, that kind of effort — disinformation — in a world where we have a First Amendment and believe strongly in freedom of expression, the FBI is not going to be in the business of being the truth police and monitoring disinformation online,” Wray said.The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are on alert for election-related cyberactivity like what occurred in 2016, when Russians hacked emails belonging to the Democratic campaign of nominee Hillary Clinton and probed local election systems for vulnerabilities.But, Wray said Wednesday, “I don’t think we’ve seen any ongoing efforts to target election infrastructure like we did in 2016.”His appearance came two days after Democratic presidential caucuses in Iowa were marred by a malfunctioning app that caused a delay in the reporting of results. Though local and federal officials have stressed that the problems weren’t caused by a foreign intrusion, the error played into existing unease surrounding election security and risked amplifying concerns among American about the integrity of the voting process.Even without signs of election system targeting, Wray said Russian efforts to interfere in the election through disinformation had not tapered off since 2016. He said social media had injected “steroids” into those efforts.“They identify an issue that they know that the American people feel passionately about on both sides and then they take both sides and spin them up so they pit us against each other,” Wray said. “And then they combine that with an effort to weaken our confidence in our elections and our democratic institutions, which has been a pernicious and asymmetric way of engaging in … information warfare.”At another point in the hearing, Wray avoided a direct answer when asked if President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr or other administration officials had asked him for investigations into Trump Democratic rival Joe Biden, his son Hunter, or into any members of Congress.The question was posed by Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the committee chairman and one of seven House Democratic managers of the impeachment case. He asked whether Trump had requested FBI investigations into the Bidens, lawmakers or former national security adviser John Bolton — who is due out with a book next month said to undercut a key Trump defense — as possible payback for impeachment.Wray initially said: “I have assured the Congress, and I can assure the Congress today, that the FBI will only open investigations based on the facts, and the law and proper predication.”After Nadler said he assumed that answer meant that neither Trump nor Barr nor other administration officials had requested improper political investigations, Wray tried again: “No one has asked me to open an investigation based on anything other than facts, the law and proper predication.”Trump has sought, without evidence, to implicate the Bidens in the kind of corruption that has long plagued Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father, as vice president, was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Ukraine. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.Wray’s appearance was his first since a Justice Department inspector general report that sharply criticized the FBI’s surveillance of former Trump campaign aide national security Carter Page. The errors produced rare bipartisan calls for changes to the federal government’s surveillance powers.The report identified what it said were significant errors in applications to eavesdrop on Page, including omitting critical information that cut against the FBI’s original premise that Page was a Russian agent — something he has repeatedly denied.After the report was issued, Wray told The Associated Press that the mistakes were “unacceptable and unrepresentative of who we are as an institution.” He repeated that message to lawmakers Wednesday.The then-chief judge of the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes wiretapping of subjects on American soil in national security investigations, responded to the report with an extraordinary public rebuke of the FBI and demanded that the bureau report back on what it was doing to fix the problems.The FBI has laid out a series of changes designed to ensure warrant applications are more closely scrutinized before being submitted for a judge’s approval and that they contain accurate information about the reliability and potential bias of sources whom agents rely on. The Justice Department has also said the surveillance of Page should have ended before it did.Wray bristled at the suggestion from some Republican lawmakers that he did not take the report’s criticism seriously enough.“I’ve been a prosecutor. I’ve been a defense attorney, I’ve been an assistant attorney general, I’ve been an FBI director,” Wray said. “To me, candor to the court is sacrosanct, and I don’t think there’s anybody in the FBI who’s belaboring under the misimpression that I think it’s OK to mislead a court.”
…

British companies have made bigger profits investing in Africa than in any other region of the world, according to a new report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which urges firms to seek profits on the continent rather than seeing it as a place to do charitable work.With 1.2 billion people and eight of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies, the ODI says Africa offers world-beating returns on investment.The report looks at investment by British firms in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Its authors say the “young population, growing middle class, and planned industrial growth make the continent a great place to do business.”In 2019, the rate of return on all inward foreign direct investment in developing African countries was 6.5 percent, higher than the rates in developing Latin America and the Caribbean at 6.2 percent, and also higher than the 6 percent return in developed economies.The report was published as Britain formally left the European Union on January 31. The government repeatedly has said its ambition is to create a “global Britain” with new trading partners beyond the European continent. As part of the effort to court new partners, London hosted the Britain-Africa Investment summit last week.Proactive approach neededRecent data from agency the International Trade Center show France and Germany export more than double the value of goods to Africa than Britain does. London must get proactive post-Brexit, according to Lourenço Sambo, director general of Mozambique’s Investment Promotion Center, who spoke to VOA on the sidelines of the summit.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center, visits the Pavegen stand, a company that converts footsteps into energy, at the Innovation Zone during the UK Africa Investment Summit in London, Jan. 20, 2020.”Nowadays, we very often say, ‘we are not just talking about Africa, we have to talk with Africa,’ Sambo said. “The UK [Britain] has to talk with Africa. If the UK just sits down, the vessel will go, that train will move.”Nigerian entrepreneur Samuel Onwubu said the days when foreign companies could dictate terms to Africa are gone.”UK companies need to come and work with the African business model,” he told VOA.British companies believe they have an edge against their rivals in the field of technology. The UK Space Agency is backing satellite firms that offer services to African farmers, such as PRISE, or Pest Risk Information Service.”It’s taking terabytes of satellite data and sending out text alerts to farmers, which can tell them when pests might become a problem in the future,” explained Chris Castelli, director of programs at the UK Space Agency.Investment in AfricaAfrican entrepreneurs are seeking investment in proprietary technology. Mobihealth is a mobile app that seeks to offer top-level health care access across Africa. Founder Funmi Adewara believes Britain’s expertise in finance could help.”Ninety percent of our doctors are from Western countries, 10 percent from the rest of Africa,” Adewara said. “They provide video consultation, prescriptions, diagnostic tests. We are looking here to connect with people who can help us to scale up our business and take this global.”The secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Mukhisa Kituyi, told VOA in a recent interview that African nations need to work harder to attract investment.”We need to develop this human resource as a contribution to the world’s economy, we need to create the conditions to make Africa the next factory of the world. Then you can say, can Britain step in, just like any other friend of Africa, and offer some of the solution?”Britain says it can offer solutions. Many analysts warn, however, that negotiations over its future relationship with Europe likely will dominate trade talks in the coming months and years.
 
…

The United States has imposed sanctions on a Bulgarian judge who the State Department says is involved in “significant” corruption in the Balkan country. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday in a statement that he was blacklisting Specialized Criminal Court Judge Andon Mitalov because of his involvement in “corrupt acts that undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Bulgaria.” The statement added that Mitalov’s wife, Kornelia Stoykova-Mitalova, and his daughter, Gergana Mitalova, were also given “special designation” status, which bars them from entering the United States. Ex-lawmaker’s award from PutinMitalov raised the ire of many within and outside Bulgaria when he allowed Nikolai Malinov, a former Bulgarian lawmaker who is charged with spying for Russia, to visit Moscow, where he received an award from President Vladimir Putin. “This is the first such designation in Bulgaria and reaffirms the U.S. commitment to combating corruption in Bulgaria and globally,” Pompeo said in the statement. “The United States continues to stand with the people of Bulgaria in their fight against corruption. The State Department will use these authorities to promote accountability for corrupt actors in this region and globally.” FILE – Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Dec. 14, 2018.The U.S. move came a day after Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said he was “withdrawing my confidence” in the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, accusing it of failing to tackle endemic corruption. The country has experienced steady economic growth under Borisov, but his government has also been criticized for slow progress in the fight against corruption and a perceived f   ailure to hold corrupt officials and businessmen accountable. ‘Acute crisis in governance'”This government and administration are leading to the collapse of the state and depriving us of our future as a nation,” Radev, a former air force commander, said in a live televised address. “Today we are witnessing an acute crisis in governance at all levels, a lack of will to reform and fight corruption.” The European Commission has also slammed Bulgaria over its record in the areas of rule of law and white-collar crime. Malinov has said Bulgarian prosecutors have been targeting him because he openly promotes stronger ties with Russia. 
…

Winter is high season for tourism around Lake Baikal in Siberia, but the coronavirus outbreak has curtailed its main source of income: Chinese holidaymakers.They account for more than two-thirds of foreign tourists to the world’s largest freshwater lake, a significant part of the around two million Chinese who visited Russia last year, spending more than any other nation in its first three months.Russia has reported just two cases of the fast-spreading virus, but the flow of Chinese visitors to the lake has dwindled as Moscow and Beijing have imposed travel restrictions to stem its spread.”The number of Chinese tourists has fallen dramatically… There’s much less work now. Business is feeling it very badly,” said Anastasia Nikolayeva, a hotel waitress in Listvyanka, a small lakeside town in the Irkutsk region.Flanked by snow-capped hills and woodlands, Lake Baikal contains about one-fifth of the earth’s unfrozen freshwater reserves. It freezes in winter, offering an array of winter sports from skating, skiing, fishing to hovercrafting.That has helped turn it into a popular Chinese New Year destination. More than 49,000 Chinese visited Irkutsk alone in the first quarter of last year, up from 27,000 in the same period of 2017.A similar rush was expected this month after package tours sold out, but fallout from the coronavirus has left the resort’s wood-paneled chalet hotels largely empty. Restaurants have only a fraction of normal business.”It’s New Year in China and we normally have good tours from China in February… This year – just cancellations,” said Artyom Potashov, director of the Krestovaya hotel complex.Boosting what he calls Russia’s still untapped tourism potential is one of a series of targets mentioned in an economic stimulus package that President Vladimir Putin announced last year.Around one in 15 of the 30 million foreign tourists who visited Russia in 2019 were Chinese, so their role in that hoped-for expansion is a big one.But the coronavirus had nipped that in the bud, dealing a setback to the push to increase visitor flows and, for the time being, tour operators in Listvyanka can only guess how long the restrictions will stay in place.”The date when Chinese tourists will be allowed to travel is not yet clear, so we expect the bookings to be canceled at least until March 1,” Yekaterina Slivina, the head of Irkutsk’s state tourist agency said. 
…

German sportswear company Adidas on Wednesday said it was temporarily shutting a “considerable” number of its stores in China due to the coronavirus outbreak which has killed nearly 500 people and infected thousands.The company said the fast-spreading virus was having a negative impact on its business but added that it could not yet assess to what extent.Adidas has around 12,000 outlets in China, including franchise stores.Adidas saw sales growth slow to 11% in China in the July-September period from 14% in the second quarter.Several retailers have warned that coronavirus is taking its toll, including Nike Inc and Hugo Boss, which have both closed some stores in China.Adidas’s German rival Puma on Wednesday declined to comment on whether coronavirus has hit its business in China.
…

Three men who are members of an Iranian separatist group, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, have been jailed in pre-trial custody in Denmark until Feb. 27, suspected of spying for an unnamed Saudi intelligence service.The three members of the London-based group were arrested Monday in Ringsted, 60 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Copenhagen, for the suspected spying on people and companies over a period of six years from 2012.They appeared before the nearby Roskilde City Court where judge John Larsen on Tuesday ordered the hearing held behind closed doors, meaning no details were made public.Heavily armed police officers with machine guns guarded the courthouse in Roskilde, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Copenhagen. The men who can’t be named under a court ban, pleaded not guilty. The men are facing preliminary charges of espionage under a milder paragraph that could give them up to six years in jail.On Monday, the Saudi ambassador to Denmark, Fahad bin Maayouf Al Ruwaily, was summoned to the Danish foreign ministry.In the same case, another man was arrested Monday in the Netherlands – the historic Dutch city of Delft – for allegedly plotting one or more terror attacks in Iran and for membership of a terrorist organization.
…

An avalanche hit a road in eastern Turkey, burying a snow-clearing vehicle and a minibus, and killing at least five people, an official said Wednesday. Two other people are reported missing.The avalanche occurred late Tuesday near the mountain-surrounded town of Bahcesehir, in Van province, which borders Iran.Gov. Mehmet Emin Bilmez told reporters that the snow-clearing vehicle’s operator and six people inside the minibus survived. Rescuers were searching for the other two passengers, but their efforts were hampered by the weather conditions.The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the operator, Bahattin Karagulle, was trapped beneath the snow for some 25 minutes before he managed to break a window and escape. The agency quoted him as saying that he walked toward a village before he was picked up by a vehicle and managed to seek help.
…

Russia’s government took additional measures to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus across the border from China, with a Kremlin task force announcing a quarantine location for at-risk patients just days after two cases were reported. Both of the infected are Chinese nationals living inside Russia. “We’re all interested in the results of our fight with the new virus being as effective as possible,” President Vladimir Putin said while addressing the global outbreak during a working visit to the city of Cherepovets. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Echo of Moscow news radio that Putin was receiving regular updates from a government working group set up to prevent spread of the disease. “All necessary measures are being taken,“ Peskov said when asked if Putin was satisfied with the task force’s efforts to date. People evacuated The comments came as a Russian Defense Ministry plane evacuated 80 people from the epicenter of the virus in Wuhan, China. A second Russian military plane was reportedly en route late Tuesday to collect the roughly 70 people remaining, a group that, while mostly Russian, included citizens from neighboring Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and Armenia. In Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova announced that those returning would undergo a mandatory two-week precautionary quarantine in Siberia’s Tyumen region. None of the evacuees, Golikova noted, were at this point showing symptoms. Yet an official from a government consumer protection group was also quoted as saying that the Siberian medical facilities would be secured by fencing and patrolled by Russian National Guard, presumably to prevent escapes. “People will live in their own rooms, without leaving them. All measures are necessary for biological safety,” said Svetlana Popova, a doctor with the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare. “Everything will be done according to the rules.”  Russians in Wuhan The Tass news agency quoted Russian Embassy officials as saying 341 Russians were living in Wuhan, suggesting some Russians may not be immediately evacuated. Meanwhile, new Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin — now in his third week on the job after Putin announced a government shake-up last month — announced that foreigners discovered to have the disease would be deported. On Tuesday, Mishustin also postponed a high-profile global economic summit in Sochi until further notice because of the coronavirus. Russia has also announced it would close travel routes in and out of China — with Russian flights now limited solely to the national Aeroflot carrier routes between Moscow and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Flights are limited to a sole terminal in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, providing a lone choke point for health officials to monitor people for coronavirus symptoms. Some Russian charter companies had been offering additional air service routes — at least to Russian passengers. That caused outrage after the private Ural Airlines refused to honor tickets to 70 passengers from Central Asia attempting to board a flight out of Xian, about 800 kilometers from Wuhan, to Yekaterinburg. The company has since ceased offering the service. The RBK daily newspaper also reported the government was considering a ban on export sales of medical masks. Stocks reportedly were low after a run on orders by consumers, since news of the coronavirus broke. Price hikes were also reported amid the deficit. In St. Petersburg, a February 11 performance by a Chinese national opera and dance troupe at the city’s famed Marinsky Theater was postponed until a “more favorable time.”All these measures came atop previous efforts to essentially seal Russia’s 4,300-kilometer-border with China — with a ban on auto and foot traffic, as well as issuance of tourist visas to Chinese tourists introduced by the Kremlin last week. Measures Despite the measures, Russia’s Deputy Health Minister Sergei Krayevoy admitted his ministry had no choice but to hope for the best but prepare for “possible wide spread of the infection.” Health Ministry officials also noted that the coronavirus threat coincided with flu season — a consistently serious risk to global health in any year. Accordingly, two regions — Ulyanovsk and Samara — said they were closing schools and public events until week’s end amid a spike in flu. Officials from both said coronavirus had not factored into the move. 
…

Questions about the future of Turkey’s rapprochement with Russia are growing as fallout continues from Monday’s killing of at least five Turkish soldiers by Russia-backed Syrian government forces.  The rising Russia-Turkey tension over Syria is now seen as offering an opportunity to the United States to improve strained ties with Turkey.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a two-day visit to Ukraine to turn up the pressure on Moscow. During the visit, Erdogan condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and signed a military deal with Kyiv.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, right, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend a joint news conference following their talks in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 3, 2020.”The situation with Russia, the crisis is accelerating, also with this visit to Ukraine, we’ve reached a point where the Russian limits will be less and less, with Turkey,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.”So the Russians are not happy. The Americans seem to be the winner of the day,” added Bagci.Ankara’s deepening relationship with Moscow has caused alarm among Turkey’s NATO allies, especially the U.S.  U.S. sanctions are looming against Turkey for Ankara’s purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, an acquisition that violates U.S. law.  But the incident involving the Turkish military personnel in Syria could open the door to a reset with Washington.U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he holds a news conference at the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2020.”We witnessed before how Erdogan can change his course in foreign policy, it is too early to tell, but we may not have to wait long.” said former senior Turkish ambassador Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington.Despite what happened, Erdogan appeared to step back Tuesday from any rupture with Moscow.”We do not need to engage in a conflict or a serious contradiction with Russia at this stage,” the Turkish president told reporters while returning from Ukraine.”We cannot overlook these [strategic partnerships with Russia]. That is why we will sit down and discuss everything [with Russia]. Not in anger since it would only bring harm,” Erdogan added.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Istanbul, Jan. 8, 2020. Putin and Erdogan are meeting in Istanbul to inaugurate the dual natural gas line, TurkStream, connecting their countries.The Turkish president underlined the importance of Turkey’s energy relationship with Russia. In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Istanbul to attend an opening ceremony with Erdogan of a new Russian gas pipeline to supply Istanbul.Turkey depends on Russia for about half of its gas supplies, while a Russian company is building the country’s first nuclear power station.  Erdogan also reiterated Tuesday the importance of the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, dashing any U.S. hopes that Turkey would not activate the system, which is scheduled for later this year.Erdogan’s relationship with Putin is the driving force behind the country’s rapprochement. “This leader’s diplomacy is the engine in Turkish-Russian relations,” said Selcen.Ankara’s ongoing suspicion of Washington’s intentions in the region also remains a powerful impetus to sustaining Turkish-Russian relations.  “There is a break of trust; Turkey is not trusting with the Americans,” said Bagci. “In many ways, this lack of trust was the architect of Turkey orienting toward Russia.”Washington’s support of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the war against the so-called Islamic State group continues to sour U.S.-Turkish relations, given Ankara designation of the SDF as a terrorist organization linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.”This [support] is perceived as an existential threat to Turkey by Ankara,” said Selcen.President Donald Trump’s decision last year, to withdraw American forces supporting the SDF, opened the door to Turkish forces attacking the militia. Ankara was banking on the U.S. withdrawal marking the end to Washington’s support of the SDF.James Jeffrey, special representative for Syria Engagement, speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Nov. 14, 2019.Ambassador James Jeffrey is the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement and special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. This week, he reaffirmed Washington’s ongoing support for the SDF.”We had a setback temporarily in Syria back in October with the Turkish incursion, but we’re back doing full operations with our local partner, the Syrian Democratic Forces,” Jeffrey said Thursday during a State Department telephone briefing.Washington’s ongoing support of the SDF continues to fuel Ankara fears that ultimately an independent Kurdish state could be created.   “What’s important regarding Syria for Turkey and the Russian Federation is that they keep maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria — while we are not on the same page with the United States,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende.   “We are quite disappointed [with Washington],” he added, “Not only the government but the Turkish people. Because they disregard the vital interests of Turkey, we are against establishing mini-states.”Monday’s death of the Turkish soldiers is seen as a warning of how little leverage Ankara has in its relationship with Moscow.”Right now, Putin knows, we [Turkey] have no intention to go back to the United States. So he has no incentive, no intention to give us even some breadcrumbs, concessions,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. “Because he knows he will get whatever he wants from Turkey. Now we say no to whatever the U.S. says and yes to Russia.”   Until the trust deficit between Ankara and Washington is bridged, efforts to improve ties are predicted to remain tense. Analysts point out Washington still has failed to dispel suspicions of its involvement in a failed military 2016 coup to overthrow Erdogan. Putin was among the first to offer support to Turkey on that violent night.Analysts say Erdogan also is aware of what a dangerous adversary Putin can be.”Erdogan will be careful at the end of the day not to anger Putin because we know when Putin gets angry, we have troubles,” said Bagci.
…

U.N.-sponsored military and security talks aimed at achieving a lasting cease-fire in Libya are underway in Geneva. The negotiations are held as Libya’s warring parties continue to violate a temporary truce agreed to in mid-January.Five high-ranking officers appointed by the Government of National Accord in Libya and five other high-ranking military officers appointed by rebel commander Khalifa Haftar are in attendance. This is the first time ever that high-ranking officers from both sides are getting together to talk peace.U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame says both sides agree on the necessity to turn the truce into a permanent cease-fire. But how they will achieve that, he says, is very much an open question.“That is why these talks in Geneva are meant to listen carefully to the position of the two sides on what are the conditions for them to accept this translation of the truce into a permanent and lasting cease-fire,” Salame said.Haftar, who began a military assault on Tripoli nearly a year ago in April, expected an easy win. Instead, it has turned into a bloody stalemate, claiming more than 2,000 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.Salame says an arms embargo imposed in 2011 by the U.N. Security Council has been incessantly violated since then. The ready availability of weapons, he says, is a source of great concern as it continues to fuel the war.
“We have evidence of new equipment, but also new fighters, non-Libyan fighters, joining the two camps. Therefore, we believe that the arms embargo is being violated by both parties, and therefore, by the countries who are violating [the embargo] as the source of this equipment or the source of these new fighters,” he said.
Salame says the Security Council has been asked to revitalize a sanctions committee to give more teeth to the arms embargo. He says that could give a much-needed boost to peace talks. 
…