German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Moscow on Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas traveled to the Russian capital for discussions about international hot spots such as Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Ukraine. Merkel met with Putin in the afternoon. Earlier in the week, the German leader’s spokesman described Russia as “indispensable when it comes to solving political conflicts” due to its status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.”Russia is an important player on the world stage, and as a permanent member of the (U.N.) Security Council it’s also indispensable when it comes to solving political conflicts,” Steffen Seibert, the chancellor’s spokesman, said earlier in the week while previewing the visit.Germany is currently a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Germany and Russia are among the world powers that have been trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran after the United States withdrew from the agreement unilaterally in 2018.
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Italy’s premier was to meet with the U.N.-recognized Libyan prime minister on Saturday, days after Italy botched an attempt to broker a truce to end the latest fighting in Libya.The Italian government was forced to backtrack Wednesday when it announced that Premier Giuseppe Conte would meet with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj in Rome hours after Conte hosted Serraj’s rival, Gen. Khalifa Haftar.While the Haftar meeting took place at the premier’s palace in Rome, Serraj decided to snub Conte by travelling from Brussels directly back to Tripoli.Conte’s office confirmed the Serraj meeting Saturday and listed a subsequent briefing.Haftar’s eastern-based forces have launched a fresh offensive against Sarraj’s U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, sparking a flurry of diplomatic efforts to try to contain the crisis in the North African nation.The east-based government, backed by Haftar’s forces, is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The western, Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy.The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.On Wednesday, Turkey and Russia called for a Jan. 12 cease-fire after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Istanbul.Serraj has welcomed the cease-fire, but a spokesman for Haftar’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, Ahmed al-Mosmari, said the group’s battalions would still try to take control of Tripoli from what he called “terrorist groups.”Both Russia and Turkey have been accused of exacerbating the conflict in Libya by giving military aid to its warring parties.
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European Union foreign ministers Friday called for an urgent de-escalation of spiraling violence in the Middle East and Libya, saying the region cannot afford another war — and they reiterating their commitment to the Iran nuclear deal.Speaking to reporters after emergency talks in Brussels, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell issued a grim warning.“The region cannot afford another war, and we call for an urgent de-escalation and maximum restraint to every part,” he said.He said the uptick in regional violence risks jeopardizing years of effort to stabilize Iraq. The Europeans among others fear a resurgent Islamic State as one fallout.The Brussels meeting capped an eventful week, with Iran responding to Washington’s deadly strike in Iraq on top commander Qassem Soleimani with missile attacks on two bases in Iraq. For its part, Iraq has demanded the U.S. to withdraw its troops from the country.FILE – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, right shakes hands with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan near Moscow, Aug. 27, 2019. Their two nations have called for a cease-fire in Libya.Libya cease-fireIn North Africa, conflict in Libya has also notched up. Russia and Turkey have called for a cease-fire to begin Sunday. Borrell said the EU was prepared to help monitor it.The violence is also testing European diplomacy and the EU’s new executive arm, which hopes to assert greater EU influence internationally.Borrell said the bloc was committed to salvaging the Iran nuclear agreement, rejecting President Donald Trump’s call for Europe to follow his lead in abandoning the deal. He called on Iran to return to compliance.“Without the JCPOA, today Iran would be a nuclear power,” he said. “Thanks to this deal, Iran is not a nuclear power.”Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said without the deal, Iran could have nuclear weapons in a year or two. Tehran claims its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.
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An American warship was “aggressively approached” by a Russian Navy ship in the North Arabian Sea, the U.S. Navy said Friday.Navy Cmdr. Josh Frey, spokesman for U.S. 5th Fleet, said that the USS Farragut was conducting routine operations Thursday and sounded five short blasts to warn the Russian ship of a possible collision. He said the USS Farragut, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, asked the Russian ship to change course and the ship initially refused but ultimately moved away.Even though the Russian ship moved away, Frey said the delay in shifting course “increased the risk of collision.”
 
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As allegations swirl and denials clash over what caused the fatal crash of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran this week, Ukraine’s president is caught in the middle. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday appealed to Western countries to present evidence for their claims a day earlier that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the plane, killing all 176 people on board. If that made Zelenskiy sound uninformed amid strident claims from all sides, he also appeared to be following an astute strategy for damage control. Ukraine knows all too well how an air catastrophe can stir up a maelstrom of rumors and disinformation. The plane crash Wednesday near Tehran is the third time in 20 years that Ukraine has been linked to the violent destruction of a civilian plane, allegedly or demonstrably due to a missile strike. In each case, denials, unfounded speculation and political posturing clouded the search for the truth. FILE – Viacheslav Filev, general director of Russia’s Sibir airlines, shows a perforated seat of the crashed Tupolev TU-154 plane, in a hangar of Adler airport, Oct. 6, 2001.The first disaster was on October 4, 2001, when a Russian airliner disappeared over the Black Sea en route from Israel carrying 78 people. Coming just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, speculation on the cause initially focused on terrorism. Claim of missile strikeWithin a day, U.S. officials said the plane likely was hit accidentally by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile fired during military exercises. Both Ukraine and Russia initially rejected that claim. But the rejection by Russian President Vladimir Putin was based on what he had been told by Ukraine — at that time a Russian ally — and Ukraine several weeks later acknowledged that it was at fault. The incident and Ukraine’s denials and incorrect claims were a significant embarrassment to the country, which fired its air defense chief and paid more than $15 million in compensation to victims’ families. The next disaster killed far more people and sparked far more contention, pitting Ukraine against Russia with competing claims of responsibility. FILE – In this July 23, 2014, photo, a piece of the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 lies in the village of Petropavlivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine.A Malaysian Airlines jet was shot down on July 17, 2014, over eastern Ukraine where Ukrainian forces were at war with Russian-backed separatists. All 298 people aboard died. Although much suspicion initially fell on the separatists, bolstered by a reported claim by a rebel commander that a Ukrainian plane was shot down at the same time, Russian officials and Russian news media quickly launched an array of competing theories. One of them focused on a man who supposedly was a Spanish air traffic controller at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport who said on Twitter that his radar screen had spotted two Ukrainian military jets near the Malaysian plane shortly before it went down. That dovetailed with an alleged theory that Ukrainian forces had mistaken the airliner for one carrying Putin. The most vividly gruesome of the reports was a claim that the Malaysian plane had been filled with corpses before takeoff, then sent to its doom. On-the-ground investigative work to establish what happened was obstructed by the rebels, who did not give investigators full access to the crash site for days. Experts later abandoned the on-site work for several weeks because of concerns about their safety. Confirmation comesNearly a year later, Russian arms maker Almaz-Antey confirmed that the plane had been shot down by a Soviet-designed surface-to-air missile, but claimed that particular model was used only by the Ukrainian military. Investigations led by the Netherlands — the flight originated in Amsterdam and more than half the victims were Dutch — concluded that the plane was shot down from rebel-controlled territory and that the mobile missile launcher used had been brought into Ukraine from Russia on the day of the attack. Russia and the rebels continue to deny involvement in the downing. A trial is scheduled to start in March in the Netherlands of four suspects — three Russians and one Ukrainian — in the MH-17 downing, although none is expected to be handed over to face the court. FILE – Security officers and Red Crescent workers are seen at the site where a Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after takeoff from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020.The Iran crash this week took place amid fears of imminent war between the United States and Iran after a U.S. drone strike killed an Iranian military mastermind and Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes. Zelenskiy and Ukraine may be facing a similarly sensitive and obstinate government to the country — Russia — confronted over the 2014 downing. Although Ukrainian investigators are in Iran, they have not yet been able to go to the crash site. Iran is promising cooperation but still rejects reports that one of its missiles hit the plane. Caution from MoscowRussia, which has close relations with Iran, appears to be taking a cautious stance. Russian officials have refrained from commenting on the claims that Iran was responsible, and pro-Kremlin lawmakers have been divided on the issue. There are no grounds for making vociferous statements at this stage,'' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday.It is important to allow specialists to analyze the situation and make conclusions. Starting some kind of game is, at the very least, indecent.” The catastrophe is a complex stew for Zelenskiy, who took office less than eight months ago with no prior political experience. His call for evidence in the plane crash and avoidance of strong claims could be the hesitancy of a novice, but it has so far prevented a smoldering crisis from bursting into open flames. 
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France made it clear Friday that it does not want to be shackled to the tight deadline British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking to impose for the upcoming free trade talks between Britain and the European Union.Johnson has said discussions about the future must be completed by the end of 2020 and that there is ample time to agree to a wide-ranging deal.France’s EU minister was skeptical and said it could take three times longer.FILE – Member of parliament Amelie de Montchalin attends a government session at the National Assembly in Paris, France, Oct. 24, 2017.Amelie de Montchalin said EU member states would bide their time even if that risks causing a chaotic no-deal transition at the end of the year.”If Boris Johnson says it must end in 11 months from now and we need 15, 24 or 36 months, the 27 will take their time,” she said.It has already taken the U.K. more than 3 1/2 years to leave the EU following its June 2016 Brexit referendum.Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on Jan. 31, at which point it enters a standstill period whereby it remains within the European single market and customs union until the end of 2020. After Brexit day, official discussions are set to begin on the future relationship between Britain and the EU — since the Brexit vote in June 2016, discussions have only centered on aspects related to the divorce, such as citizens’ rights and Britain’s financial liability.Forging a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and a third country usually takes years, not months, and Johnson’s timeline is viewed as unrealistic across the bloc.The European Commission has said it might be possible to tackle some selected items in 2020, such as fishing rights, but that comprehensive discussions from trade to security would need longer.French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week that in light of Johnson’s insistence that negotiations on the future have to be over by the year’s end, Britain will need to show “flexibility in line with that ambitious schedule.”Following EU rulesEU officials have also warned that negotiations will be made harder by the British government’s insistence that it won’t agree to keep EU rules and standards as they develop. Johnson has said he wants Britain to be free to diverge from EU regulations in order to strike new trade deals around the world. The EU has responded by pointing out that good access to the bloc’s single market, the world’s biggest, only comes if Britain agrees to maintain a level playing field on such issues as environmental standards and workers rights.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson poses with a sledgehammer, after hammering a “Get Brexit Done” sign into the yard of a supporter, in South Benfleet, Britain, Dec. 11, 2019.If there is no deal when the U.K. transition deadline ends at the start of 2021, then Britain would leave the EU’s economic arrangements with no deal, a development that would see tariffs and other impediments slapped on trade and potentially sink the British economy into recession.Britain and the EU will have to strike deals on everything from trade in goods and services to fishing, aviation, medicines and security. The EU has said both sides would suffer — but that Britain would suffer more given the relative importance of the EU economy to the size of the British economy.”It is a major arm twisting game,” de Montchalin said.Northern IrelandWithout doubt, the most difficult issue during the Brexit divorce discussions was how to maintain a free and open border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the EU. That issue was complicated further by the fact there had been no functioning devolved administration in Northern Ireland for three years.However, the looming Brexit date appears to have given new urgency to attempts to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly and executives. Political parties there were considering Friday a draft deal from the British and Irish governments to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive.The two governments urged the main pro-British and Irish nationalist parties to accept the deal. Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people have been without a functioning administration since the power-sharing government collapsed in January 2017.
 
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Queen Elizabeth II has moved quickly to take control of the crisis surrounding the decision by Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to distance themselves from the royal family, ordering royal courtiers to find a future role for the pair within days.Officials representing the most senior members of the family — the monarch, her son Prince Charles, grandson Prince William, and Prince Harry and Meghan — were meeting to sort out a workable solution for the couple within the royal family.In the meantime, Meghan has returned to Canada, where she and Harry spent the Christmas holidays, instead of with other royals at the queen’s estate in Sandringham, England. The former actress has longstanding ties to the country, having lived in Toronto while filming the TV show “Suits.”The talks come after the royal pair released a “personal message”  Wednesday evening that said they were stepping back from being senior members of Britain’s royal family, aimed to become financially independent and would “balance” their time between the U.K. and North America.FILE – Newspapers are seen for sale in London, Jan. 9, 2020.Harry and Meghan faced a barrage of criticism from the British press over their decision.The couple has long complained of intrusive media coverage and accused some British media commentators of racism. They slammed the country’s long-standing arrangements for royal media coverage and insisted that from now on they prefer to communicate directly with the public through social media.The monarch and other members of the family were said to be “hurt” by the announcement because they weren’t informed about the communique before it was released. News of the talks followed.The latest developments reveal more divisions within the British monarchy, which was rocked in November by Prince Andrew’s disastrous television interview about his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew, the queen’s second son, has stepped away from royal duties and patronages after being accused by a woman who says she was an Epstein trafficking victim who slept with the prince.Personal assetsHarry, 35, is Elizabeth’s grandson and sixth in line to the British throne, behind his father, brother and his brother’s three children. The former British Army officer is one of the royal family’s most popular members and has spent his entire life in the public eye.Before marrying the prince in a wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 38-year-old Meghan was a star of the TV legal drama “Suits.” The couple’s son Archie was born in May 2019.The couple’s statement on Wednesday left many questions unanswered — such as what they plan to do and how they will earn private income without tarnishing the royal image. At the moment, they are largely funded by Harry’s father, Prince Charles, through income from his vast Duchy of Cornwall estate.They said they plan to cut ties to the taxpayer support given each year to the queen for official use, which currently covers 5% of the costs of running their office.Harry and Meghan also have considerable assets of their own. Harry inherited an estimated 7 million pounds ($9.1 million) from his late mother, Princess Diana, as well as money from his great-grandmother. Meghan has money from a successful acting career.
 
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Northern Ireland’s main political parties are meeting Friday to decide whether to accept a deal to restore the Belfast-based government that collapsed three years ago.
    
Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people have been without a functioning administration since the power-sharing government fell apart in January 2017 over a botched green-energy project. The rift soon widened to broader cultural and political issues separating Northern Ireland’s British unionists and Irish nationalists, who shared power in the government.
    
After several days of intense talks, the British and Irish governments late Thursday published a draft proposal to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive.
    
The U.K.’s Northern Ireland Secretary, Julian Smith, said the political parties had not agreed to all of it, but he was asking the assembly’s speaker to reconvene the legislature Friday in hope politicians would back the deal.
   
 “Now is decision time,” he said. “We have had three years of talks and there is finally a good deal on the table that all parties can support.”
    
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney also urged acceptance, saying it was time “politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents.”
    
“Forget the language of win or lose. This is a deal filled with compromises,” he said.
    
Initial signs were encouraging. The main pro-British group, the Democratic Unionist Party, said it was not a perfect deal, but could be supported.
    
“On balance we believe there is a basis upon which the assembly and executive can be re-established in a fair and balanced way,” said DUP leader Arlene Foster.
    
Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, the DUP’s former government partner, said its ruling council would meet Friday afternoon to decide whether to support the deal.
    
Previous attempts to restore power-sharing between Sinn Fein and the DUP and have come to nothing. But the U.K.’s looming departure from the European Union, due on Jan. 31, has given new urgency to attempts to restore the government. Northern Ireland has the U.K.’s only border with an EU member country, and Brexit will challenge the status of the currently invisible frontier, potentially pushing Northern Ireland into a closer embrace with its southern member, the Republic of Ireland. Both of the two main parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein, want a say on what happens next.
    
Northern Ireland also faced a Jan. 13 deadline to restore the government or face new elections for the assembly that could see Sinn Fein and the DUP lose ground to less intransigent parties.
    
The deal includes promises of financial support from the U.K. for big infrastructure projects if the government is restored, as well as proposals to deal with contentious issues such as the status of the Irish language.
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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 is visiting Istanbul Wednesday, where he will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bilateral relations have dramatically improved much to Ankara’s western allies’ concern, but escalating regional differences threaten to sour those bilateral ties.Putin is officially going to Istanbul to inaugurate a key new gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey.The Turk Stream pipeline will supply Istanbul with Russian gas.  “This ceremony tomorrow will mark a new beginning of Russian gas supply increasing to Turkey and European markets,” says Mehmet Ogutcu, head of the London Energy Club.Turkey, as a market and transit country for Russian energy, is widely seen as the bedrock of deepening bilateral ties.Former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende says personal chemistry can facilitate efforts to resolve escalating tensions. (Dorian Jones/VOA)”Cooperation in the field of energy is high on the agenda of Turkish Russian agenda,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende, who is now an energy expert. “It’s important because we are not oil-rich or gas-rich, and we are quite dependent on gas and oil.”While energy cooperation continues to deepen, there are rising bilateral tensions.  Turkey is facing a new Syrian refugee crisis, because of a Russian-backed offensive by Damascus forces, against the rebels’ last enclave in the Idlib province.”We are seeing signs of friction over Syria, the Idlib situation is quite worrisome, and Russia is bombing there, and there is a huge exodus of people fleeing toward the Turkish border,” said Ogutcu. “If you have another 250,000 refugees crashing the border and coming, that will have serious domestic implications for Erdogan, as well.”With Turkey already hosting more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees, there is growing Turkish public discontent. A series of recent local election setbacks suffered by Erdogan’s ruling AKP Party is widely blamed on a toxic combination of a slowing economy and anger over the ongoing presence of refugees.More than 3 million people are trapped in Idlib, and analysts suggest it will top the agenda of Erdogan’s talks with Putin.Truckloads of civilians flee a Syrian military offensive in Idlib province on the main road near Hazano, Syria, Dec. 24, 2019.”Idlib is the biggest issue,” concurs Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University “Idlib will remain an unresolved conflict between Russia and Turkey. Idlib is a big threat to Turkey; there is a real fear of a huge wave of refugees.”The Libyan civil war is another potential flashpoint. Erdogan is sending soldiers in support of the Tripoli-based government, which is fighting forces of General Khalifa Haftar backed by Russian mercenaries linked to the Kremlin.”It looks like General Haftar gets a very strong push by forces supported by Putin. So it seems the regime supported by Turkey is losing,” said Ogutcu.”So Erdogan will be looking for common ground so that Turkey, Russia, Algeria, Tunisia can work together. But I am not sure Putin is ready for that. It’s going to be a hard bargain.”The widely reported personal chemistry between Erdogan and Putin has overcome previous policy differences. Experts say that chemistry likely will be called upon again in the latest escalating rivalries.”The two leaders, they get together very often. They seem to get along very well,” said Rende. “So it’s important to try to maintain a dialogue aimed at narrowing the differences and trying to find a common denominator in the interests of the people of the region and the interests of Syria as a whole.”Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyThe dynamics of the Putin-Erdogan relationship are increasingly surrounded in a veil of secrecy.”There is good personal chemistry between Erdogan and Putin. But we don’t really know what they are discussing. It’s not a normal state-to-state relationship. It’s more a personal relationship at the highest level,” said Rende.”When they meet, it’s usually only with their closest aides present or just a translator,” he added. “I don’t think the establishment, at least on the Turkish side, is involved in what is discussed between the two leaders. But there is an imbalance in favor of Russia in relations. The relationship is not of equals. It’s not balanced; it cannot be long-lived, and both sides have to understand that.”Analysts point out, at least in the short term, there appear strong incentives for both Ankara and Moscow side to continue working together. However, escalating tensions over conflicting regional interests are likely to continue to challenge bilateral relations.Istanbul is in the grip of a winter storm that kept a visiting Russian cruiser at sea. For Erdogan and Putin, they will be hoping such weather is not a harbinger for their talks Wednesday.
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