Eastern Libyan forces led by Khalifa Haftar are rejecting Turkey and Russia’s call for a cease-fire starting Sunday.Haftar’s Libyan National Army issued a statement Thursday, saying it appreciates their effort to “seek peace and stability,” but it will continue the war against “terrorist groups,” meaning the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.That Tripoli-based government, led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, said it welcomes the truce along with “the resumption of the political process and the elimination of the specter of war.”FILE – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before his departure from Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Aug. 27, 2019.Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a joint statement earlier this week that “seeking a military solution to the ongoing conflict in Libya only causes further suffering and deepens the divisions among Libyans. The worsening situation in Libya is undermining the security and stability of Libya’s wider neighborhood, the entire Mediterranean region, as well as the African continent.”Rival governments led by Haftar and Sarraj are battling for control of Libya. Haftar’s forces seized the key Mediterranean port city of Sirte earlier this week, but the fight for the capital, Tripoli, has been stalled since April with hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the middle.Russia supports Haftar’s forces while Turkey has begun deploying troops to Libya to back Sarraj.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is warning all sides against letting Libya become a “second Syria,” as he called for an arms embargo and a political settlement.
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Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of France on Thursday as a record-breaking strike continued over proposed pension reforms — and with the government and unions still deadlocked over a compromise.Demonstrators packed the Place de la Republic in central Paris ahead of the march, waiving banners, listening to rock music and snacking on grilled sausage. Unions estimated this protest was the biggest since strike action began more than a month ago.  Demonstrators against the government’s pension reforms at the Place de la Republique in Paris, Jan. 9, 2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)“We are here because the whole country is against these … pension reforms.”Lawyer Pascale Korn joined other members of the Paris bar decked out in their traditional black gowns. She benefits from a private pension system, but fears proposed reforms will force lawyers like herself to pay much more into the general public pension fund.  “They are just trying to break everything we have in France,” Korn said.This is France’s longest strike since 1968. At issue for these angry protesters: government plans to overhaul the pension system, bumping up official retirement two years to 64 and reconciling myriad special plans into a single universal point-based system.  Members of the Force Ouvriere union, among those fighting the government’s proposed pension overhaul, Jan. 9,2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)In a new year’s address, President Emmanuel Macron called for a quick compromise to end the standoff between unions and the government, but so far that hasn’t happened.  For high school English teacher Karine Grosset Grange, the pension overhaul is the last straw in Macon’s broader set of reforms.  “They are destroying the system of health care, they are destroying all the social system that we have benefited from since 1945,” Grosset Grange said. “I don’t want a society where … only a few get a lot and the rest get we don’t know. This is not what our society was based on.”The strikes have shuttered schools, blocked oil refineries and seriously disrupted rail and public transport, choking Paris streets with cars, bikes and scooters as commuters find alternatives to get to work. While recent polls show most French believe the strike is justified, many now want it to stop.  One of the lawyers joining Thursday’s demonstration against pension reforms in Paris, Jan. 9, 2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)A few blocks from the Place de la Republic, chocolate salesman Pierre Maerten said he had seen a major drop in business since the strikes began last month. He walks 2½ hours most mornings to get to work.  Maerten thinks the strikers are basically taking people hostage and there are other ways to protest. He also believes the pension reforms are necessary to pay for France’s increasingly aging and longer-living population.   Other European countries have reformed their pension systems, Maerten said, without so much fuss. He believes the French have forgotten all the benefits they do have.The demonstration was good for the sausage grilling business in Paris, Jan. 9, 2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)  
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to travel to Moscow Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting will likely focus on the Iran crisis, with both Germany and Russia calling for de-escalation following the U.S. targeted killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the retaliatory airstrikes by Tehran on Western military bases in Iraq. The Ukraine conflict is also on the agenda, alongside the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline running from Russia to Germany, amid strong opposition from the United States.  Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyGermany’s Merkel Heads to Moscow Amid Heightened Global TensionsPutin will host Merkel shortly after returning from a trip to the Middle East this week. The Russian president made a rare trip to Damascus, Syria Tuesday, only his second visit since Russia intervened in 2015 to aid President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war. Iran and its proxies have also provided significant support to Assad’s forces.With its growing entanglement in Middle Eastern affairs, Russia is trying to avert the outbreak of a new conflict in Iran, says analyst Andrew Foxall of policy analyst group The Henry Jackson Society.“Iran presents President Putin with the opportunity to present himself as a peacemaker rather than a ‘peace-breaker,’” Foxall says. “And in that sense his interests are very firmly aligned with Chancellor Merkel as they both believe in the JCPOA (the 2015 Iran nuclear deal); they both believe that discussion and debate are far more preferable than the conflict and confrontation that is currently taking place between Tehran and Washington.”Europe and Russia are trying to keep the JCPOA alive. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018, and says the agreement is effectively dead.“
The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognize this reality,” President Trump said Wednesday. “They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal.”
The U.S. and Germany also disagree sharply on Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline under construction from Russia to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. Washington has imposed sanctions on companies involved in the project, to the dismay of Berlin and Moscow.  “Nord Stream 2 is designed to drive a single-source gas artery deep into Europe, and a stake through the heart of European stability and security,” then-U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said during a trip to Lithuania in October. “It would increase Russia’s leverage over Europe’s foreign policy and Europe’s vulnerability to a supply disruption,” he added.
Ukraine is the traditional hub for the transit of Russian gas to Europe and risks losing valuable transit fees. The project has strategic as well as economic value for Russia, argues analyst Foxall.“What Russia has sought to do over the past few years, if not longer, is drive a wedge in the transatlantic relationship using any tool or instrument that it can identify and Nord Stream 2 does provide Russia with precisely that sort of tool. Nord Stream 2 will undoubtedly be discussed in Moscow and will provide an opportunity for both Merkel and Putin to re-commit themselves to the project and again to argue that it does not undermine European energy security,” Foxall told VOA.The EU imposed sanctions on Russia following the 2014 forceful annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine. Some European states, including Italy and Hungary, are pushing for an end to the sanctions. “If he is going to find a weak link from the European Union, it seems to me unlikely that that will be Germany and Chancellor Merkel, who has been at the forefront of arguing for those sanctions,” notes Foxall.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has taken a different line with Moscow to the more hawkish approach of his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, agreeing to a series of prisoner exchanges in recent weeks. Germany’s Merkel has offered strong support and Europe hopes it may be the first step in a wider deal to end the Ukraine conflict.With tensions higher than at any time since the Cold War, her meeting with Putin will be watched closely for any hint of change in East-West relations.
 
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to travel to Moscow Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting will likely focus on the Iran crisis – with both Germany and Russia calling for de-escalation between Washington and Tehran. The Ukraine conflict is also on the agenda, alongside the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which is facing strong opposition from the United States. Henry Ridgwell reports on what will likely be a tense meeting in Moscow 
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Norway says it will take 600 asylum-seekers recently evacuated to Rwanda from Libyan detention centers as the Scandinavian country wants to stop the sometimes deadly smuggling of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea.“For me it is important to send a signal that we will not back smuggling routes and cynical backers, but instead bring in people with protection needs in organized form,” Justice and Immigration Minister Joaran Kallmyr said in a statement emailed Thursday to The Associated Press.“Therefore, the government has decided to collect 600 quota refugees from Libya, out of 800 in total, from the transit reception in Rwanda in 2020,” he added. Many of the asylum-seekers are from Horn of Africa nations.Since the 2015 massive influx of migrants to Europe authorities, especially the European Union, have been trying to stop refugees and other migrants from crossing the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe. Thousands of people have died at sea. Many set off from Libya’s coast.As part of an agreement signed between Rwanda, the African Union and the United Nations refugee agency in September, the East African country hosts a camp for people who have been evacuated from often chaotic, overcrowded detention centers in Libya. About 800 are currently staying at an emergency transit center in Rwanda’s Bugesera district.So far Norway and Sweden have offered to take some of them, according to Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, who said Wednesday that Sweden has taken in seven.
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Ukrainian officials have suspended flights to and from Iran until it is determined what caused its Boeing 737-800 passenger jet to crash shortly after taking off from Tehran’s international airport early Wednesday.  All 176 people on board were killed. Iranian authorities say they have located the black boxes from the aircraft, which contain the flight data and could help determine the cause of the crash.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
 
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The Russian and Turkish presidents are calling for a cease-fire starting Sunday in Libya, where rival governments have been battling for power.”Seeking a military solution to the ongoing conflict in Libya only causes further suffering and deepens the divisions among Libyans,” Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a joint statement Wednesday in Istanbul.”The worsening situation in Libya is undermining the security and stability of Libya’s wider neighborhood, the entire Mediterranean region, as well as the African continent,” the statement said.They said illegal migration, weapons trafficking and terrorism are just some of the problems aggravated by the fighting in Libya.Turkey has begun deploying troops to Libya to help the Western-backed government in Tripoli.Meanwhile, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj met with European Union officials in Brussels Wednesday while his rival for power, General Khalifa Haftar, held talks in Italy with his ally, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned all sides against letting Libya become a “second Syria,” as he called for an arms embargo and a political settlement.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint call for restraint by Washington and Tehran. The declaration made Wednesday in Istanbul is the latest sign of deepening regional cooperation by the leaders, symbolized by the inauguration of a Russian-Turkish gas pipeline.  “We are deeply concerned about the escalation of the tension between the U.S. and Iran, as well as its negative repercussions on Iraq,” read a joint statement by Putin and Erdogan.  The statement criticized last week’s killing of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by an American drone as “an act undermining security and stability in the region.” Criticism also was aimed at Tehran for Wednesday’s missile strike against a U.S. military base in Iraq.”We believe that exchange of attacks and use of force by any party do not contribute to finding solutions to the complex problems in the Middle East, but rather would lead to a new cycle of instability and would eventually damage everyone’s interests,” the statement said.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, second right, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, center, and others symbolically open a valve during a ceremony in Istanbul for the inauguration of the TurkStream pipeline, Jan. 8, 2020.Erdogan, addressing an inauguration ceremony of a gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey, criticized Solemani’s killing.” Nobody has the right to throw the entire region, especially Iraq, into a ring of fire for the sake of his or her own interests,” said Erdogan.The Turkish president pledged to work to defuse tensions. “We will use all the means available to prevent our region from bursting into tears and bloodshed,” he said.”Our purpose is to de-escalate and to let common sense prevail again. At this critical moment where the war drums play, we want to de-escalate tension by using all the diplomatic channels,” Erdogan added.Erdogan said he had spoken to regional leaders and would dispatch Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Baghdad on Thursday.Putin and Erdogan held more than an hour of talks before attending the inauguration ceremony of the Turk Stream gas pipeline. The pipeline delivers Russian gas to Istanbul’s 15 million inhabitants, as well as Europe. Erdogan described the pipeline as a “beacon” of Turkish-Russian cooperation.Turk Stream is the target of American sanctions, as part of broader economic measures aimed at Moscow. Ankara’s deepening cooperation with Moscow is causing concerns among Turkey’s western allies.Professor Mesut Casin is a foreign policy advisor for the Turkey President Erdogan. (Dorian Jones/VOA)Senior Russian ministers and military officials accompanied Putin in his visit to Istanbul. “I am surprised Putin brought so many high-ranking officials from foreign ministry to the military for such a ceremony. This is a message to Washington and Turkey’s western allies,” said Professor Mesut Casin, a foreign affairs adviser to Erdogan.Wednesday’s talks appear to have secured a diplomatic breakthrough, with Putin and Erdogan calling for a cease-fire in the Libyan civil war.”I would like to emphasize the call that Presidents Putin and Erdogan addressed to all the Libyan sides — to immediately stop fighting, starting from 00:00 on Jan. 12,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Wednesday in a joint press conference in Istanbul with Cavusoglu.”We have been especially working with our Russian partners to achieve a cease-fire in Libya,” Cavusoglu added.Cavusoglu said the cease-fire is aimed at helping to secure the success of a planned meeting in Berlin later this month to resolve the Libyan conflict.Moscow and Ankara are backing rival sides in the Libyan civil war. Erdogan sent military forces on Sunday to support the internationally recognized Government of National Accord in Tripoli.Russian mercenaries of the Kremlin-linked Wagner group are fighting with General Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are laying siege to Tripoli.Former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende says “a cease-fire is important for Turkey, as it does not want to be drawn into a war in Libya.” (Dorian Jones/VOA)Former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende says The cease-fire call is seen as a diplomatic win for Erdogan, who was expected to lobby Putin to support such a move. “A cease-fire is important for Turkey, as it does not want to be drawn into a war in Libya,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende. “Its deployment of forces to Libya is to secure a cease-fire. Otherwise, this becomes a risky operation, given the distances involved.”Supporting a significant force in a combat zone nearly 2,000 kilometers way is widely seen as posing a significant challenge for the Turkish military’s logistic capabilities.But with Haftar forces at the gates of Tripoli and having powerful backers other than Russia, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, it remains unclear whether the cease-fire call will be heeded.Truckloads of civilians flee a Syrian military offensive in Idlib province on the main road near Hazano, Syria, Dec. 24, 2019.Syria also was on the agenda for Putin and Erdogan, and in particular, the future of Idlib. The Syria province on Turkey’s border is the last stronghold of rebels, with about 3 million people trapped in the enclave.Erdogan is lobbying Putin to end a Syrian regime offensive backed by Russian jets in Idlib. The joint statement issued after Wednesday’s talks, however, appears to fall short of Turkish hopes, with no specific call for a cease-fire, other than a call for “calm.””Turkey is concerned about a new mass migration of hundreds of thousands of people from over the border [from Idlib], but it appears Putin has not given anything,” said Casin.  
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European Union foreign ministers meet later this week on the escalating crisis between Iran and the United States, but EU executives already have set the tone, calling Wednesday for dialogue and salvaging the Iran nuclear deal. Speaking from Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the use of weapons in the Middle East must stop. “We are called upon to do everything possible to rekindle talks,” she said. “There cannot be enough of that.”
 
In many ways, Europe is caught in the crossfire of the mounting tensions. It has condemned Iran’s missile attacks in Iraq, and offered cautious support of the U.S. strike that killed top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani — but it also urged restraint on both sides.   
As part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, experts say, Europeans are worried about the fallout. Germany is moving troops out of Iraq. At the same time, the Europeans strongly support the Iran nuclear agreement that President Donald Trump withdrew from two years ago, and are urging Iran to stick to it.  
 
“I think they [Europeans] are stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East program director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “On the one hand, they do not want to create transatlantic divisions, whatever their frustrations with President Trump. And they also have significant issues with the way Iran has conducted itself in the region.”Europe has many reasons for concern, said Iran expert Guillaume Xavier-Bender of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. It is a lot closer to the Middle East than the United States, making it more vulnerable to potential missile strikes and other effects of any widening conflict — from a resurgent Islamic State, to impacts on its trade and oil imports.  
 
“Europeans have no interest in anything that would continue the escalation in the region, that’s why its priority is de-escalation,” Xavier-Bender said.In response, the European Union is offering what some analysts say is critical — diplomacy and mediation.  
 
“Europeans have been on the phone since this last week with everyone in the region — with the U.S., with Iran, with Israel, with Saudi Arabia — saying ‘calm things down.’ Even with the Chinese and the Russians,” Xavier-Bender said.
 
One example of the EU’s potential mediation came this week. Washington denied Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif a visa to attend a U.N. meeting, while the EU, by contrast, invited him for talks in Brussels. So far, it’s unclear when that will happen.
 
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The foreign ministers of Europe’s four leading powers met in Brussels Tuesday to try to find a way to ease growing tensions in the Middle East just hours before Iranian missiles struck two military bases housing U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.As Washington and Tehran continued to trade barbs in the wake of the U.S. slaying of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, told reporters, “What we are looking to do is is to de-escalate tensions with Iran.” But when Raab and his colleagues exited their meeting, they weren’t any clearer about what steps to take to defuse the most dangerous confrontation between the U.S. and Iran in four decades.On Friday, foreign ministers from all 28 European Union countries will gather in the Belgian capital to thrash out a common strategy, but with a little more hope than before — the televised remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday have offered the chance, they say, that confrontation between the U.S. and Iran can be defused and an all-out war averted.They just hope Iran will grasp the opportunity and refrain from any more military action.Coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, in the city of Kerman, Iran, Jan. 7, 2020.For European leaders, it has been an emotional roller coaster week. The U.S. drone strike Friday that killed Qassem Soleimani came with no warning from Washington. They were scolded by U.S. officials Sunday for not being more forthright in support.Their gloom only deepened Tuesday when Iranian ballistic missiles slammed overnight into the Iraqi military bases.And their anxiety increased when Iran’s supreme leader outlined his war aim — to get the United States to withdraw from the Middle East. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to suggest that the missile attack, which he dubbed “a slap in the face” for America, would just be the start, saying “military action like this is not sufficient.”But the lack of any immediate military response by Washington to Iran’s ballistic missile barrage — as well as President Trump’s remarks Wednesday — have given them hope that the immediate crisis hasn’t reached the point of no return. That is as long as Iran refrains from further military attacks on U.S. bases.President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops, Jan. 8, 2020.“We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe,” President Trump said in his address from the White House. Noting that only minimal damage was sustained at the bases, Trump continued: “Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.” He said Iran should work with the United States on “shared priorities,” such as the fight against the Islamic State terror group.In Europe, President Trump’s comments were being taken as a sign that he now wants to pursue a diplomatic path, offering the possibility that negotiation can stop the slide into all-out war.Relief though was mixed with alarm at the U.S. President’s insistence that the 2015 nuclear deal was now dead and a replacement needs to be negotiated. There was also puzzlement at Trump’s talk about additional sanctions being imposed on Iran, with analysts questioning what more can be sanctioned? Now the ball appears in Iran’s court, say EU officials. “Trump offered an olive branch and a warning. He’ll impose new sanctions and they must stop their aggression, but he held out the prospect of negotiating a new nuclear deal, and he signaled clearly the U.S. was not seeking to launch a war with Tehran — or change the regime. Let’s hope they grasp the olive branch,” said a British official.One hopeful sign came from influential Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who suggested the crisis is now over following what he termed de-escalation rhetoric from Iran and the U.S.. He urged Iranian-backed militia groups to refrain from further attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces. Sadr has positioned himself as an Iraqi nationalist, and isn’t in the ‘Iranian camp,’ but he is well-equipped to read Tehran and what it intends.William Patey, a former British envoy to Iran, told Britain’s Sky News that the crisis may be entering “a de-escalatory phase,” thanks to the fact that there were no U.S. casualties from the Iranian missile barrage.European leaders have felt like bystanders since the crisis started.An image grab from video obtained from the state-run Iran Press news agency allegedly shows rockets launched by Iran against U.S. military bases in in Iraq, Jan. 8, 2020.In the first 24 hours after the drone strike that killed Soleimani, America’s European allies were slow to express support for the U.S., reflecting a continuing rift in transatlantic views that has only widened since May 2018, when the Trump administration walked away from a landmark international nuclear deal with Tehran struck when then-U.S. President Barack Obama was in office.The Europeans have preferred to approach the Iranians with carrots and incentives to try to get Tehran to show restraint; the Trump administration has favored the stick, arguing carrots have not worked.It wasn’t until Sunday that the key European leaders, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, managed to craft a joint statement, urging restraint by both sides, but criticizing Iran for malign behavior.They failed to endorse explicitly Soleimani’s killing, but Johnson is widely credited by diplomats as having been crucial in persuading his counterparts to toughen the statement and to express clear criticism of Iran. Since then, European governments have sought to catch up with the fast-moving events — a key aim being to try to stop the final unraveling of the international nuclear deal they have remained committed to, despite the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement.That hope appeared to have been dashed Tuesday when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out a return to negotiations over the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers. Iran announced Sunday that it would no longer respect limits on uranium enrichment imposed by the deal, although it left the door ajar by saying it would continue to allow international inspections of facilities to ensure it wasn’t building a nuclear bomb.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks about Iran, Jan. 7, 2020, at the State Department in Washington.European diplomats say their leaders took notice of the frustration expressed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Saturday at the lack initially of support by the Europeans for the drone strike. “Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wish that they could be,” Pompeo told Fox News. “The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well,” he added.After those remarks, the Europeans appeared to recalibrate, becoming more forthright in condemning Tehran for provocations and malign behavior in the region and for its support of terrorist groups. At a two-hour emergency NATO meeting Monday, no European envoy present questioned American briefers on the strategic thinking behind the drone strike, say officials who were present.By Tuesday, Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, was openly critical of Iran, telling a packed House of Commons that taking out Soleimani was a defensive measure aimed at protecting U.S. lives. He accused the government in Tehran of “nefarious use of proxies, providing practical military support to the murderous Assad regime in Syria,” and stoking conflict in Yemen. Soleimani, he said, was “one of the foremost architects and enablers of Iran’s malign activities.”The shift in language — from near silence to tepid support to criticism of Tehran — is calculated, says a senior European diplomat. “Partly the calculation has been that questioning the prudence of the drone strike would likely diminish what little influence we have with the Trump administration,” he told VOA.Speaking on condition of anonymity, he added, “Another factor is that we all recognize Soleimani was a terror master, and now we have been placed in a position by the Trump administration where we have to pick a side. In those circumstances, it is clear who we have to choose.”Just hours before Trump spoke from the White House, Prime Minister Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that General Soleimani had supplied “improvised explosive devices to terrorists, which I’m afraid killed and maimed British troops.” He added, “That man had the blood of British troops on his hands.”Now the ball appears in Iran’s court, say EU officials. “Trump offered an olive branch and a warning. He’ll impose new sanctions and they must stop their aggression, but he held out the prospect of negotiating a new nuclear deal, and he signaled clearly the U.S. was not seeking to launch a war with Tehran — or change the regime. Let’s hope they grasp the olive branch,” said a British official.  
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He was the leader on the world stage, visiting troops stationed in a far-flung war zone for the holidays, shoring up alliances and economic deals in the Mideast, requesting a meeting with the German chancellor in his capital, portraying himself and his country as reliable partners in an increasingly uncertain world.Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a busy week, stepping into the aftermath of the American drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Putin’s visit Tuesday to Syria was emblematic of a reality that has been playing out in recent months: The U.S. strategic position in the Middle East is a mystery to many of its allies, and Russia is more than ready to fill any vacuum.
The shift has, in many ways, left U.S. allies in a bind — or turning to Russia themselves in search of a partner.Putin was the first world leader French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with just after learning about the drone strike on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, is traveling to the Kremlin to discuss the crisis in the Mideast.Canada, Denmark and Germany moved their troops in Iraq to safety, as did NATO, which has forces stationed there as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group. There was no sign that any had been warned by the Trump administration of the drone strike. Coalition activities froze, and NATO’s secretary-general described the killing as “a U.S. decision. It is not a decision taken by either the global coalition nor NATO. But all allies are concerned about Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region.”
The base targeted in northern Iraq was filled with coalition troops.
Putin offered an alternative to perceived chaos.
“Unfortunately, the situation in the region we are in tends to escalate. But Turkey and Russia are demonstrating different examples — examples of cooperation for the sake of our nations and all of Europe,” he said Wednesday in Turkey.
Israel, which has criticized the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, has been quiet about the drone strike aside from a brief statement of praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seemingly disinclined to escalate an already volatile situation between its closest ally and its sworn enemy. Trump’s first face to face meeting with an ally came Monday with the Saudi deputy defense minister, Khalid bin Salman. But he didn’t confirm it until a day later, after the prince revealed it in a tweet.
 
“We discussed Trade, Military, Oil Prices, Security, and Stability in the Middle East!” Trump tweeted.
The American president spoke by phone with Macron on Sunday and with Merkel on Tuesday.
Putin’s travel plans have continued apace. His visit to Russian troops for the Orthodox Christmas came unannounced, as was his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who owes his continued rule to a combination of Russian and Iranian intervention. The message was unmistakable.
 
“Even NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, always ready to play along with the U.S., found it necessary to distance himself from the killing of the Iranian general by saying that the U.S. made this decision without NATO’s involvement. So Washington’s attempts to ex post facto shore up their European allies failed,” Alexei Pushkov, lawmaker in Russia’s upper house of parliament, wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
He added, “It’s emblematic that right in the middle of a pre-war crisis around Iran Merkel is heading to talks with Putin and not Trump. There is no point in talks with Trump.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper refused to say whether Trump had warned allies before the strike: “I’m not going to get into the details of our consultations.”
 
Stoltenberg said several U.S. briefers explained the “rationale” behind the Trump administration’s decision to kill Soleimani, but he declined to provide details or timing.
Trump campaigned on an “America First” policy and long has said he wants to reduce U.S. involvement in foreign wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But his decision to bomb pro-Iranian militias and then to kill Iran’s best-known general in a missile strike outside Baghdad’s airport caught Middle Eastern and European allies unaware and confused. Since then, the U.S. also has given off conflicting signals on its intentions to exit Iraq even while it deploys more troops immediately for protection against a possible Iranian response.
Amelie de Montchalin, a top French diplomat, told lawmakers Wednesday that France’s solidarity was based solely on the international coalition against the Islamic State group.
“This was a decision made by the United States without consulting France for national security reasons, and it’s therefore an American initiative and it’s their sole responsibility,” Montchalin said.
      
The administration has held up Soleimani’s death as a master stroke that eliminated a region-wide troublemaker and saved American lives. Trump insisted that the United States would leave Iraq eventually, but that the Iraqi people wanted American soldiers to remain: “At some point we want to get out but this isn’t the right point.”
Putin’s trip to Turkey was planned a month ago, even if its timing this week was fortuitous. And his visit to Damascus was simply a continuation of the Kremlin’s growing reach in the Mideast and the diminishing sway of the United States, said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. Merkel’s trip to the Kremlin was scheduled late last month, but Iran has always been the main topic on the agenda.
“Putin doesn’t need to do much. He’s just watching. Everything you’ve seen for the past year or so, since December 2018 when Trump first announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, everything has gone the Kremlin’s way. There’s not much to do, there’s nothing to activate. The Russian policy in that region has been to talk to everybody, to capitalize on an American vacuum,” Pierini said.
The December 2018 announcement was widely criticized as an American abandonment of its Kurdish allies, who fought alongside U.S. forces against the Islamic State group in northeast Syria.
After U.S. forces withdrew, Turkey launched an offensive and the Kurds turned to Russia and the Syrian government for protection. It was a Russian deal with Turkey that ended the invasion. What little presence the U.S. military retains in Syria depends heavily upon logistical support from its bases in Iraq, and the outgoing Iraqi prime minister said Tuesday that American forces must leave.
 “We have no exit but this,” said Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, “otherwise we are speeding toward confrontation.”     
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President Donald Trump is viewed negatively by the public in many countries, but the image of the U.S. itself is generally favorable, according to a survey published on Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.Sixty-four percent of those surveyed outside the US said they do not have confidence in Trump to do the right thing in foreign affairs, while just 29 percent expressed confidence in the U.S. leader.The survey looked at public opinion in 33 nations and was conducted among 37,000 people between May and October 2019.Trump is viewed particularly poorly in Western Europe, Pew said.Only 13 percent of those polled in Germany said they had confidence in Trump, 18 percent in Sweden, 20 percent in France, 21 percent in Spain, 25 percent in the Netherlands and Greece and 32 percent in Britain.In Russia, 20 percent said they have confidence in the U.S. president to do the right thing in world affairs.In Mexico, 89 percent do not have confidence in Trump, Pew said.In some countries, the public did express support for Trump: India (56 percent), Nigeria (58 percent), Kenya (65 percent), Israel (71 percent) and the Philippines (77 percent).There was overall disapproval, however, of some of Trump’s signature foreign policy initiatives.Researchers used the median — the middle value in any list of numbers — to summarize non-U.S. opinion on Trump’s performance.A median of 68 percent opposed his imposition of tariffs, 66 percent opposed the withdrawal from climate change agreements and 60 percent were against the U.S.-Mexico border wall.Trump’s direct negotiations with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un met with 41 percent support and 36 percent disapproval.Pew also asked respondents for their views on other world leaders.Germany’s Angela Merkel received top marks with 46 percent expressing confidence in her leadership, followed by France’s Emmanuel Macron (41 percent), Russia’s Vladimir Putin (33 percent) and China’s Xi Jinping (28 percent).Overall attitudes towards the United States, however, were favorable, Pew said.The most positive reviews in Europe came from Poland, where 79 percent said they have a favorable attitude towards the United States, followed by Lithuania (70 percent) and Hungary (66 percent).The lowest ratings for the United States in Europe came from the Netherlands (46 percent), Sweden (45 percent) and Germany (39 percent).  
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The president of the European Commission warned Britain on Wednesday that it won’t get the “highest quality access” to the European Union’s market after Brexit unless it makes major concessions.
               
In a friendly but frank message to the U.K., Ursula von der Leyen said negotiating a new U.K.-EU trade deal will be tough. She also said the end-of-2020 deadline that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed on negotiations makes it basically impossible'' to strike a comprehensive new agreement in time.
               
Von der Leyen, who  took over as head of the EU's executive branch on Dec. 1, is visiting Johnson at 10 Downing Street in London later Wednesday for the first time since the British leader's election victory last month.
               
Johnson's Conservatives won a substantial parliamentary majority in Britain's Dec. 12 election, giving him the power to end more than three years of wrangling over Brexit and take the U.K. out of the EU on Jan. 31. It will be the first nation to ever leave the bloc.
               
Britain's departure will be followed by a transition period in which the U.K.-EU relationship will remain largely unchanged while the two sides negotiate a new trade arrangement.
               
Johnson says the U.K. is seeking a free trade deal, but doesn't want to agree to keep EU rules and standards. Britain wants to be free to diverge from EU regulations in order to strike new trade deals around the world.
               
Downing St. said when Johnson meets von der Leyen, he “will likely underline that the upcoming negotiations will be based on an ambitious FTA (free trade agreement), not on alignment.”
               
That could cause problems. Speaking at the London School of Economics before her meeting with Johnson, von der Leyen warned that “without a level playing field on environment, labor, taxation and state aid, you cannot have the highest quality access to the world's largest single market.”
               With every choice comes a consequence. With every decision comes a trade-off,she warned.
               
International trade agreements typically take years to complete, but Johnson has ruled out extending the post-Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020, although  the EU has offered to prolong it until 2022.  Downing Street said Wednesday thatboth British and EU citizens rightly expect negotiations on an ambitious free trade agreement to conclude on time.”
               
Von der Leyen said the time frame was “very, very tight” and made it basically impossible'' to negotiate anything but a skeleton deal.
              
 “The more divergence there is, the more distant the partnership has to be,” she said. “And without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership. We will have to prioritize.”
               
The German EU chief who studied in Britain in the 1970s and has proclaimed herself a friend and fan of Britain, did have some encouraging words for Johnson. She said the bloc was ready to strike a tariff-free and quota-free trade deal with Britain, anda partnership that goes well beyond trade and is unprecedented in scope.”
               
She said the new relationship could encompass “everything from climate action to data protection, fisheries to energy, transport to space, financial services to security. And we are ready to work day and night to get as much of this done within the time frame we have.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there were no survivors from a Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed Wednesday shortly after taking off from Iran’s capital.
The flight was bound for Kyiv, and Ukraine’s prime minister said it was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members.One of the engines of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage.Ukraine International Airlines President Yevhen Dykhne said at a briefing that the plane was one of the best the airline had, “with an amazing, reliable crew.”The airline is indefinitely suspending flights to Tehran following Wednesday’s crash.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said the dead included 82 people Iran, 63 from Canada, 11 from Ukraine, 10 from Sweden, four from Afghanistan, and three each from Germany and Britain.
He said Ukraine expresses its condolences and is continuing to investigate the crash.
The plane’s manufacturer, Boeing, said it is aware of reports of the crash and is gathering more information.
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A Ukrainian commercial jet crashed shortly after taking off from an airport in Iran’s capital on Wednesday killing everyone on board.
Iranian state media reported the plane was carrying 170 passengers and crew, and quoted emergency officials and the head of Iran’s Red Crescent saying there were no survivors.One of the engines of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage.Authorities are investigating what caused the plane to go down.  The state media reports said mechanical issues were the suspected cause, but there has been no official confirmation.
The plane’s manufacturer, Boeing, said it is aware of reports of the crash and is gathering more information.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Istanbul Wednesday to inaugurate a new gas pipeline between the two countries. Energy cooperation is the foundation of a growing rapprochement between Russia and Turkey, which is a NATO member. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, during the visit the Russian and Turkish leaders are expected to address growing differences in their bilateral relationship, on issues ranging from Syria to Libya.
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Poland’s president said Tuesday that he won’t attend a commemoration in Israel to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp because he is not allowed to speak at the forum, in contrast to the presidents of Russia and Germany.President Andrzej Duda is not on the list of speakers for the Jan. 23 World Holocaust Forum at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.Duda has voiced concerns about recent remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin that imply that Poland was partly responsible for World War II.The war officially started in Sept. 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Soon after, the Soviet Union annexed parts of eastern Poland as part of a non-aggression pact signed with Nazi Germany.
 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Syria on Tuesday and met with officials including President Bashar Assad, Syrian state media and a Kremlin spokesman reported.Putin’s visit is the second to the war-torn country, where his troops have been fighting alongside Syrian government forces since 2015.The visit comes amid heightened tensions between Iran — a key Syrian ally — and the United States, following the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike in neighboring Iraq.Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death has sparked calls across Iran for revenge against America.U.S. troops are based in eastern Syria, making the country a potential site of conflict with Iran.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin visited the Russian command post in Damascus and met President Bashar Assad there. The two leaders were presented with military reports on the situation in different regions of Syria.In his conversation with Assad, Putin said that “a huge distance has been covered in terms of restoring Syria’s statehood and territorial integrity,” Peskov said.State news agency SANA gave no further details about Putin’s visit only saying that he met with Assad in a Russian military base in the capital.The last time Putin visited Syria was in 2017 when he declared that mission for Russian troops has been accomplished. Russia has been a main backer of Assad and has tipped the balance of power in his favor over the past four years with government forces now in control in most of the country.Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 has left more than 400,000 people dead.Last week U.S. warplanes attacked bases of Iran-backed Iraqi fighters in western Iraq and eastern Syria killing 25 and wounding dozens others.The U.S. government warned ships of an unspecified threat from Iran across all the Mideast’s waterways, crucial routes for global energy supplies.Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force launched a drill with 52 fighter jets in Utah, just days after President Donald Trump threatened to hit 52 sites in Iran. 
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Charlie Hebdo’s editor hasn’t gone out by himself since Jan. 7, 2015. The widow of one of the satirical newspaper’s cartoonists can’t bear to pull down a note her husband stuck to the door that morning: “Have a good day, darling. See you in a bit.”France on Tuesday commemorated the fifth anniversary of the extremist attack on Charlie Hebdo that killed nine of its editorial staff, a guard, a visitor to the building and a patrol officer in the street outside. The killers were a pair of French brothers, supporters of al-Qaida who claimed the attack was revenge for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Two days later, an accomplice who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group seized hostages inside a kosher supermarket. In all, 17 people died before near-simultaneous police raids killed the three gunmen. The trial of a network of people accused in the plot begins this May.
Riss, the editor, who goes by his pen name, was wounded in the attack and lives to this day under constant police protection.
“I’m here. We’re here. Charlie Hebdo is still here. Still standing and just as determined,” he told France Info radio on Tuesday ahead of a somber memorial service at the site of the first attack. “We never stopped laughing because that’s part of life.”
Maryse Wolinski, whose husband Georges stuck a note to the door before he left for the editorial meeting that morning, keeps it up along with dozens of his drawings. She is still in mourning.
“It’s not because five years have passed that I’m not going to be angry anymore. I want to express that during the trial. Talk to these people, why they did that. I think it’ll be better after the trial. I hope so,” she told RMC television.Charlie Hebdo’s latest issue is dedicated to freedom of expression, five years after the death of most of its editorial staff.   
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The film “Joker” has topped the nominations for the British Academy film awards announced Tuesday.
                   
The movie about the origins of the comic book villain received 11 BAFTA nominations including best film, best actor for Joaquin Phoenix, and best director.
                   
Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic “The Irishman” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” were close behind with 10 nominations, including best picture, and Sam Mendes’ war film “1917” also earned a best picture nomination two days after winning that award at the Golden Globes.
                   
The Korean film “Parasite” also is on the best picture list.
                   
In addition to Phoenix, best actor contenders include Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Driver, Taron Egerton and Jonathan Pryce.
                   
The best actress will be chosen from Scarlett Johansson, Saoirse Ronan, Charlize Theron, Renee Zellweger and Margot Robbie.
                   
The awards will be announced at a gala event hosted by Graham Norton on Feb. 2.
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Britain’s Prince Charles will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz becoming the most senior British royal to visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories later this month.Charles will attend the World Holocaust Forum on Jan 23 in Jerusalem, his office said on Monday, to honor the victims of the Holocaust. Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland was the largest Nazi death camp in World War II.
Charles will then travel to the Palestinian Territories.FILE – Britain’s Prince William pays respects during a ceremony at the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Israel, June 26, 2018.
Prince William and his wife Kate became the first British royals to visit the area in an official capacity in 2018.
En route to the Middle East, Charles will stop off at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to deliver a keynote address to launch the Sustainable Markets Council, designed to
find ways to decarbonize the global economy. 
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French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to reach a “quick compromise” in talks this week with worker unions as nationwide protests and strikes rage on against the government’s plans to overhaul the pension system.
                   
During a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Macron insisted that the new system must be financially sustainable, according to government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye.
                   
Talks between the prime minister and worker unions are to resume Tuesday, including on the financing of the retirement system. Macron also said that people doing physically demanding or dangerous work should be allowed to retire early.
                   
“We want to end this crisis rapidly,” Ndiaye said.
                   
The government plans to formally present the bill by the end of the month ahead of a debate in parliament, so that the law can be voted on this summer.
                   
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told France Inter radio that “a compromise has never been so close.”
                   
Yet several unions called for nationwide protests on Thursday and Saturday. The hard-left union CGT union also called for workers to disrupt the country’s oil depots and refineries later this week.
                   
The national rail company, SNCF, said train traffic was improving Monday across the country, with 8 out of 10 high-speed trains running.
                   
Yet the Paris metro was still severely disrupted, with most of lines open only for a limited amount of time and several stations closed.
                   
In his televised New Year’s address, Macron vowed to carry out the overhaul of the pension system.
                   
Macron wants to unify France’s 42 different pension schemes, some of which grant early retirement, into a single one. Plans include raising the eligibility age for full pensions from 62 to 64, the most criticized measure.
                   
Macron says the new system will be fairer and financially sustainable.
                   
Unions fear it will make people work longer for lower pensions. Recent polls show a majority of French people still support the protest movement.
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Croatia’s ruling conservatives said Monday they will analyze why their candidate lost a presidential election to a leftist challenger in order to prevent this from happening again at the upcoming parliamentary vote later this year.”The aim of the analysis and its conclusions is for us to come out stronger and not repeat at the parliamentary election whatever turned out to be a flaw or a mistake during this campaign,” said Davor Bozinovic, the interior minister and a senior member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, party. “We are not looking for culprits, but reasons why.”
The conservative party’s candidate, outgoing President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, was beaten Sunday by liberal opposition challenger and former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic.Zoran Milanovic, the liberal opposition candidate, addresses supporters after his headquarters claimed victory in a presidential elections in Zagreb, Croatia, Jan. 5, 2020.Milanovic won 53% of votes while Grabar Kitarovic had 47%. Croatia’s state election authorities on Monday formally confirmed Milanovic’s victory.
The loss of the presidency is seen as a major blow for the ruling party, which has been a dominant political force in Croatia since the country’s 1991 independence from Yugoslavia. It also marks a rare triumph of a leftist politician vying for a top post in populist-dominated Central Europe.
Sunday’s vote was held just days after Croatia’s conservative government took over the European Union’s rotating presidency for the first time since joining the bloc in 2013. Croatia will preside over Britain’s divorce from the EU and the start of post-Brexit talks.
Croatia is deeply divided among the conservatives and the left.
The voting on Sunday also resulted in around 4.3% invalid ballots, suggesting discontent with mainstream politics, particularly on the right, analysts say.
Most of the invalid ballots are believed to belong to the right-wing supporters of singer Miroslav Skoro, who won nearly a quarter of ballots in the first round on Dec. 22. He refused to support any of the front-runners in Sunday’s runoff.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, a moderate who has sought to position the HDZ at the center-right of the political specter, said it was an “enormous number” for Croatian elections.
Plenkovic said he will cooperate with the new president “in accordance with the constitution and the law.”
“We will do all we can so that HDZ win again at the parliamentary election,” said Plenkovic.
      
The 53-year-old Milanovic was Croatia’s prime minister until early 2016. During his term, Croatia approved EU membership in a referendum and brought some liberal reforms — including boosting rights of same-sex couples — in the staunchly Catholic nation.
A veteran politician, Milanovic was known for a sometimes populist style and fiery temperament. He reinvented himself for the presidential vote as a calm, mature leader who has learned from his own mistakes and is ready to respond with wisdom to any challenges.
Support for Grabar Kitarovic has ebbed following a series of gaffes in the election campaign. The 51-year-old had a career in diplomacy and in NATO before becoming Croatia’s first female president in 2015. Going into the runoff, Grabar Kitarovic tried to evoke Croatia’s unity during the 1991-95 war in a bid to attract far-right votes.
Though an EU member, Croatia still has corruption problems and economic woes — issues that haven’t been resolved since its devastating 1991-95 war to break free of the Serb-led Yugoslav federation.  
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Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers plunged into the icy waters of rivers and lakes across Bulgaria on Monday to retrieve crucifixes tossed by priests in Epiphany ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ.
By tradition, the person who retrieves the wooden cross will be freed from evil spirits and will be healthy throughout the year. After the cross is fished out, the priest sprinkles believers with water using a bunch of basil.
The religious holiday of Epiphany is also celebrated in some Western Christian churches as Three Kings Day, which marks the visit of the Magi, or three wise men, to the baby Jesus, and closes out the Christmas season.Pope Francis leaves at the end of an Epiphany Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Jan. 6, 2020.At the Vatican, Pope Francis urged the faithful to reject “the god of money” as well as consumerism, pleasure, success and self. In his Epiphany homily Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis encouraged people to focus on serving others, not themselves.
He urged the faithful to concentrate on the essentials by getting rid of what he calls “useless things and addictions” that numb hearts and confuse minds. Francis said believers should aid those suffering on life’s margins, saying Jesus is present in those people.
In Milan, city officials served a hotel lunch to 200 homeless people to mark the day.
In the sleepy mountain city of Kalofer in central Bulgaria, dozens of men dressed in traditional white embroidered shirts waded into the icy Tundzha River on Monday waving national flags and singing folk songs.
Led by the town’s mayor, inspired by bass drums and bagpipes and fortified by homemade plum brandy, they performed a slow “mazhko horo,” or men’s dance, stomping on the rocky riverbed.
Braving sub-zero temperatures, the men danced for nearly half an hour, up to their waists in the freezing water, pushing away chunks of ice floating on the river.
The town of Kalofer has applied to the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO for this traditional ritual to be inscribed as part of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”
 Greek Orthodox faithful Nikolaos Solis, a pilgrim from Agrinio, Greece, retrieves a wooden crucifix as he swims in the Golden Horn during the Epiphany ceremony in Istanbul, Jan. 6, 2020.In Istanbul, more than a dozen Orthodox men jumped into the frigid waters of the Golden Horn amid heavy rains in a ceremony led by Patriarch Bartholomew I.
Nikolaos Solis from Agrinio in Greece retrieved the wooden cross, the fourth time he has done so. Another Greek man lost consciousness and had to be pulled out of the frigid water and taken to an ambulance.
The Patriarchate in Istanbul is considered the heart of the Orthodox world and dates back to the Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottomans conquered the city in 1453.
Epiphany marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas, but not all Orthodox Christian churches celebrate it on the same day.
While the Orthodox Christian churches in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania celebrate the feast on Jan. 6, Orthodox Churches in Russia, Ukraine and Serbia follow the Julian calendar, according to which Epiphany is celebrated on Jan. 19, as their Christmas falls on Jan. 7.    
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