German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Moscow on Saturday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Monday that the chancellor will discuss “current international questions” with Putin. Those will include Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Ukraine and bilateral issues.Seibert said that “Russia is an important player on the world stage and as a permanent member of the (U.N.) Security Council it’s indispensable when it comes to solving conflicts in the world.” 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 U.S. withdrew from the agreement unilaterally in 2018.Foreign Minister Heiko Maas will accompany Merkel to Moscow, Seibert said.
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Eastern European delicacies like borscht and pierogi have earned their place on American menus, especially in large and culturally-diverse cities. But it’s taken some time for these kinds of dishes to find their way to rural places like North Dakota. But that’s changing thanks to the great grandson of some Ukrainian immigrants. Iryna Matviichuk traveled to North Dakota for this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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Iranians flooded the streets Sunday as the body of Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian general killed in a US drone strike, has been brought back Sunday to Iran for burial. Also Sunday Iran said it will no longer limit itself to the restrictions set forth in 2015 by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying it will continue to work with international nuclear agencies and will return to JCPOA limits “once all sanctions are removed from the country.”  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi tries to make sense of the chaos
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The blowback over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general mounted Sunday as Iran announced it will no longer abide by the limits contained in the 2015 nuclear deal and Iraq’s Parliament called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil.The twin developments could bring Iran closer to building an atomic bomb and enable the Islamic State group to stage a comeback in Iraq, making the Middle East a far more dangerous and unstable place.Iranian state television cited a statement by President Hassan Rouhani’s administration saying the country would not observe limits on fuel enrichment, on the size of its enriched uranium stockpile and on its research and development activities.“The Islamic Republic of Iran no longer faces any limitations in operations,” a state TV broadcaster said.In Iraq, meanwhile, lawmakers voted in favor of a resolution calling for an end to the foreign military presence in the country, including the estimated 5,200 U.S. troops stationed to help battle the Islamic State group. The bill is nonbinding and subject to approval by the Iraqi government but has the backing of the outgoing prime minister.The two decisions capped a day of mass mourning over Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets in the cities of Ahvaz and Mashhad to walk alongside the casket of Soleimani, who was the architect of Iran’s proxy wars across the Mideast and was blamed for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in suicide bombings and other attacks.Iran insisted that it remains open to negotiations with European partners over its nuclear program. And it did not back off from earlier promises that it wouldn’t seek a nuclear weapon.However, the announcement represents the clearest nuclear proliferation threat yet made by Iran since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. It further raises regional tensions, as Iran’s longtime foe Israel has promised never to allow Iran to produce an atomic bomb.Iran did not elaborate on what levels it would immediately reach in its program. Tehran has already broken some of the deal’s limits as part of a step-by-step pressure campaign to get sanctions relief. It has increased its production, begun enriching uranium to 5% and restarted enrichment at an underground facility.While it does not possess uranium enriched to weapons-grade levels of 90%, any push forward narrows the estimated one-year “breakout time” needed for it to have enough material to build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so.The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations watchdog observing Iran’s program, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, Iran said that its cooperation with the IAEA “will continue as before.”Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi earlier told journalists that Soleimani’s killing would prompt Iranian officials to take a bigger step away from the nuclear deal.“In the world of politics, all developments are interconnected,” Mousavi said.In Iraq, where the airstrike has been denounced as a violation of the country’s sovereignty, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said that the government has two choices: End the presence of foreign troops or restrict their mission to training Iraqi forces. He called for the first option.The majority of about 180 legislators present in Parliament voted in favor of the troop-removal resolution. It was backed by most Shiite members of Parliament, who hold a majority of seats. Many Sunni and Kurdish legislators did not show up for the session, apparently because they oppose abolishing the deal.Asked shortly before the vote whether the U.S. would comply with an Iraqi government request for American troops to leave, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not answer directly. But he said the U.S. “is prepared to help the Iraqi people get what it is they deserve and continue our mission there to take down terrorism from ISIS and others in the region.”Amid threats of vengeance from Iran, the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq said Sunday it is putting the battle against IS militants on hold to focus on protecting its own troops and bases.A U.S. pullout could not only cripple the fight against the Islamic State but could also enable Iran to deepen its influence in Iraq, which like Iran is a majority-Shiite country.Soleimani’s killing has escalated the crisis between Tehran and Washington after months of back-and-forth attacks and threats that have put the wider Middle East on edge. Iran has promised “harsh revenge” for the U.S. attack, while Trump has vowed on Twitter that the U.S. will strike back at 52 targets “VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. ”The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia warned Americans “of the heightened risk of missile and drone attacks.” In Lebanon, the leader of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said Soleimani’s killing made U.S. military bases, warships and service members across the region fair game for attacks. A former Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader suggested the Israeli city of Haifa and centers like Tel Aviv could be targeted should the U.S. attack Iran.Iranian state TV estimated that millions of mourners came out in Ahvaz and Mashhad to pay their respects to Soleimani.The casket moved slowly through streets choked with mourners wearing black, beating their chests and carrying posters with Soleimani’s portrait. Demonstrators also carried red Shiite flags, which traditionally symbolize both the spilled blood of someone unjustly killed and a call for vengeance.The processions marked the first time Iran honored a single man with a multi-city ceremony. Not even Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic, received such a processional with his death in 1989. Soleimani on Monday will lie in state at Tehran’s famed Musalla mosque as the revolutionary leader did before him.Soleimani’s remains will go to Tehran and Qom on Monday for public mourning processions. He will be buried in his hometown of Kerman.
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The French general who is overseeing the reconstruction of the fire-devastated Notre Dame Cathedral says the Paris landmark is not saved yet.Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin told French broadcaster CNews on Sunday that “the cathedral is still in a state of peril” after last year’s fire, which destroyed its roof and collapsed its spire as the cathedral was undergoing renovations.”Notre Dame is not saved because … there is an extremely important step ahead, which is to remove the scaffolding that had been built around the spire” before the fire, he said.The rector of Notre Dame, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, told the AP last month that the cathedral is still so fragile there’s a “50% chance” the structure might not be saved, because the scaffolding may fall onto its fragile vaults.A former chief of staff of France’s armed forces, Georgelin was named by French President Emmanuel Macron to lead the reconstruction effort for Notre Dame.He said the actual condition of the cathedral’s vaults is not fully known, which means he could not guarantee that “it won’t fall apart.”Still, Georgelin says “reassuring” observations have been made on the 12th-century cathedral since the April 15 inferno, he said.”So we feel quite confident,” he added.The scaffolding on Notre Dame should be removed by mid-2020 and the restoration work should start next year, he said. 
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Spain’s Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez failed on Sunday in a first attempt to get parliament’s backing to form a government, leaving him two days to secure support to end an eight-month political gridlock.Sanchez has been acting prime minister since a first inconclusive election in April and November did not produce a conclusive result. He needed an absolute majority of at least 176 votes in his favor in the 350-seat house to be confirmed as prime minister but failed to get it.He obtained 166 votes in favor and 165 against, with 18 abstentions, while one lawmaker did not attend.On Tuesday, Sanchez will only need a simple majority – more “yes” than “no” votes. He is likely to get that after securing a commitment from the 13 lawmakers of Catalonia’s largest separatist party, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), to abstain.Earlier this week, Socialist Party leader Sanchez and Pablo Iglesias, head of the far-left party Unidas Podemos, restated their intention to form the first coalition government in Spain’s recent history.The two parties together have 155 seats, short of a majority, so Sanchez is reliant on the votes of small regional parties.In a sign of how close the race could be on Tuesday, a member from the small regional party Coalicion Canaria, Ana Oramas, voted against Sanchez instead of abstaining as her party had agreed on Friday.During Sunday morning’s debate, Sanchez stressed that a Socialist-Podemos coalition would take a progressive approach.Sanchez and Iglesias have said they will push for tax hikes on high-income earners and companies and also intend to roll back a labor reform passed by a previous conservative government.The morning was marked by tension during the speech of Mertxe Aizpurua of pro-independence Basque party EH Bildu.Aizpurua called the conservative and right wing parties People’s Party, Vox and Ciudadanos “Francoists”, a reference to late dictator Francisco Franco, and criticized the Constitution and King Felipe.
She was met with boos and shouts of “murderers”. 
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Austria’s Foreign Ministry is facing a “serious cyberattack,” it said late Saturday, warning another country could be responsible. 
 
“Due to the gravity and nature of the attack, it cannot be excluded that it is a targeted attack by a state actor,” the ministry said in a statement shortly before 11 p.m. (2200 GMT), adding that the attack was ongoing. 
 
“In the past, other European countries have been the target of similar attacks,” the statement continued. 
 
Immediate measures had been taken and a “coordination committee” set up, it said without elaborating. 
 
The attack came as Austria’s Greens on Saturday gave the go-ahead to a coalition with the country’s conservatives at a party congress in Salzburg, removing the last obstacle to the unprecedented alliance. 
 
The German government’s IT network in 2018 was hit by a cyberattack. 
 
Last year, the EU adopted powers to punish those outside the bloc who launch cyberattacks that cripple hospitals and banks, sway elections, or steal company secrets or funds. 
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Bulgarian veterinary authorities say they will cull 24,000 additional pigs amid signs of an outbreak of African swine fever at a pig farm in the northeast part of the country. 
 
The report Friday represented a continuation of an outbreak that was first detected at six breeding farms in the summer and led to the culling of more than 130,000 pigs in August. 
 
The latest outbreak was detected at a farm in the village of Nikola Kozlevo in the region of Shumen, food safety officials said. 
 
Health officials said there were 42 registered outbreaks of African swine fever in the country in 2019. 
 
The disease does not affect humans but is highly contagious among pigs. 
 
In August, industry officials expressed concerns that the virus could hit the nation’s entire pig herd of 500,000 and cause more than $1.1 billion in damage. 
 
The European Commission has set aside about $10 million to help fight the disease. Bulgarian lawmakers have approved legislation for 2020 intended to regulate conditions for raising domestic pigs and enhance biosecurity measures. 
 
This article contains material from Reuters and The Sofia Globe. 
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Oil executives say they have reached agreement to restart Russian crude oil supplies to Belarus following a cutoff over transit fees that occurred Wednesday. 
 
Belarus agreed to abandon a supplier’s premium on the oil that it imports from its much larger neighbor, Belarus state energy firm Belneftekhim said in a statement Saturday. 
 
The deal should allow for continuous operation of Belarusian refineries in January, they said. 
 
“Documents are being drawn up today together with a Russian company to pump the first batch of oil, purchased at a price without premium,” Belneftekhim’s statement said. 
 
The halt in Russian oil supplies left oil bound for Europe unaffected but could have carried a wallop for Belarus, which depends on Russia for more than 80% of its energy. 
 
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Rumas reportedly spoke by telephone earlier Saturday to try to break the impasse. Key transit route
 
Belarus is heavily dependent on Russia for fuel and cash, and it’s a key transit route for Russian energy supplies to Europe. 
 
Russia and Belarus reached a two-month deal on natural gas prices hours before a December 31 deadline, avoiding a gas shutoff at the start of the year. 
 
Minsk has been locked in a disagreement with Moscow over oil transit prices for some time against a backdrop of increasing pressure by President Vladimir Putin on Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenko to deepen integration between the two countries. 
 
Belarusians have protested in recent weeks against closer ties to Russia and perceived secrecy around talks following up on a 1999 agreement on a unified state. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has canceled a visit to Montenegro amid a dispute over a new Montenegrin religious-rights law. 
 
“I decided not to go, and that was agreed with [Serbian Patriarch] Irinej,” Vucic said Saturday at a news conference in Belgrade. “We respect their independence.” 
 
Vucic had been planning to visit Serbian churches in Montenegro on Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated January 7. Montenegrin officials had said the visit would add fuel to the existing tensions in the small Balkan state. 
 
Last month, Montenegro’s parliament passed a law under which religious communities must prove property ownership from before 1918, the year when predominantly Orthodox Christian Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. FILE – Police guard the parliament building in Podgorica, Montenegro, Dec. 26, 2019, during a protest against a then-proposed law regarding religious communities and property.Serbs say the new law will lead to the impounding of Serbian Orthodox Church property in Montenegro. Montenegrin officials have repeatedly denied the claim. 
 
In 2006, Montenegro split from much larger Serbia following a referendum. About one-third of the small Balkan country’s 620,000 citizens declared themselves Serbs and want close ties with Belgrade. 
 
On Saturday, Vucic also accused Montenegrin and unspecified Western officials of launching “a hysteric campaign of lies” when he announced the visit. 
 
He said he canceled it because of possible “clashes” that would “hurt the Serbian people in Montenegro.” Daily protests
 
Led by Orthodox priests and fueled by Serbian state media, daily protests have been staged in Montenegro by thousands of Serbs demanding that the law be annulled. 
 
Serbian ultranationalists have also held protests against Montenegro’s pro-Western government in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. 
 
Thousands of soccer hooligans tried to burn the Montenegrin flag, threw flares and chanted “Set it on fire” during a protest Thursday in front of the Montenegrin Embassy in Belgrade. FILE – The Montenegrin flag at the Montenegrin Embassy is targeted with fireworks by Serbian ultranationalists during a protest against a religious-rights law adopted by Montenegro’s parliament last month, in Belgrade, Serbia, Jan. 2, 2020.Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic called the embassy attack an “uncivilized” act and said it was “stunning” Serbian police did not protect the embassy during the incident, as well as at other recent protests. 
 
Vucic said the embassy was protected and accused Markovic of “telling notorious falsehoods,” though he did not appear to comment on the flag burning itself. 
 
U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro Judy Rising Reinke expressed shock over the attack. 
 
“Shocked at the image of the desecrated #Montenegro flag at the country’s Belgrade Embassy,” she said Friday on Twitter. “Attack on a diplomatic mission is absolutely unacceptable. Difference of opinions must be resolved through dialogue, not violence or acts of vandalism.” Vucic responds
 
In his comments to the press Saturday in Belgrade, Vucic took aim at the U.S. ambassador’s remarks. 
 
“U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro [Judy Rising Reinke] was vocal yesterday, saying she was horrified by the scenes she witnessed in. Right, but [Rising Reinke] is not horrified by what’s happening in Montenegro? She is not horrified when people are getting arrested just for carrying the Serbian flag?” Vucic said. “There are 30% of them there. She is not horrified that the Serbian language is not permitted there? She is not horrified that [the Montenegrin government] is stealing [the Serbian Orthodox] Church property? She is not horrified by any of that.” 
 
The embassy attack in Belgrade followed a basketball game between Serbia’s Red Star and Germany’s Bayern Munich. 
 
Many of those taking part were members of the Serbian soccer fan group known as “delije.” 
 
Members of delije, Serbian for “tough boys,” are known for their close ties with Serbia’s ruling nationalist party and the secret police. 
 
Members of delije were behind attacks against Western embassies in Belgrade in 2008, when the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade was set on fire as police stood close by. The group was protesting against Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia. 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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The United States and its allies have suspended training of Iraqi forces because of the increased threat they face after a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on Friday killed a top Iranian general, the German military said in a letter seen by Reuters. 
 
In the letter to German lawmakers, a senior German officer said U.S. Lieutenant General Pat White had decided to further increase the level of protection for the forces deployed in Iraq under Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), which he commands. 
 
“Thus, the training for the Iraqi security and armed forces throughout Iraq is temporarily suspended,” German Lieutenant General Erich Pfeffer wrote to members of the Bundestag defense and foreign relations committees in the letter, dated January 3. 
 
“The directive is binding for all partner nations involved in OIR at the training sites in Iraq,” he added. 
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Sales of new electric cars in Norway hit a record high last year, sector experts said Friday, reaching 42.4 percent of all nearly-registered cars in 2019, mostly thanks to strong demand for Tesla’s Model 3.Norway, a major oil producer that has pioneered electric mobility, offers a very advantageous tax regime for clean vehicles, making them highly competitive in cost terms against petrol and diesel vehicles.New e-car models arriving on the market should help push their share higher still this year, said OFV, a body which monitors Norway’s car market.In 2019, 60,316 all-electric new cars were sold in Norway out of a total of 142,381, a rise of 30.8 percent from the previous year when the market share of e-cars was 31.2 percent.The Norwegian car importer association said it expects e-cars to take a market share for new cars of 55 to 60 percent in 2020.New models including the Volkswagen ID.3, the Ford Mustang Mach-e, the Polestar 2 and the Peugeot e-208 are expected to boost e-car sales.”Today, in 2020 and in the years to come, a much larger range of cars is coming, with increased autonomy, greater size and in affordable price segments,” said OFV boss Oyvind Solberg Thorsen.U.S. firm Tesla was the biggest single seller of e-cars in Norway last year, with its latest Model 3 alone selling 15,700 units.Bigger goalsNorway’s Electric Vehicle Association called the numbers “very positive” but told AFP it had hoped for e-cars to account for 50 percent of new car sales last year.The association’s secretary-general, Christina Bu, called on the government to maintain tax breaks for electric cars, which have become the topic of much debate in the Scandinavian country.Norway, where electricity is almost exclusively generated by hydropower, has a 2025 target for all new cars to be zero-emission models.Hybrid cars, which run on both thermal and electric energy, accounted for 25.9 percent of the new car market in Norway last year, while petrol and diesel cars accounted for around 16 percent each.
 
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Russia condemned U.S. airstrikes that killed a powerful Iranian commander in neighboring Iraq on Friday local time as a “reckless step” that risked “regional peace and stability” in the Middle East.  The United States killed General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, in a drone strike as he and an entourage left Baghdad’s main airport by car.   Pentagon officials said U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the strike to prevent imminent attacks against American forces in the region.  Yet with Iran’s leadership already vowing a military response, Russia openly questioned the White House’s understanding of the violent forces it had unleashed.”Such actions do not create … find solutions to complex problems in the Middle East. On the contrary, it will lead to a new round of escalation of tensions in the region,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement posted to its website.   In a separate statement, the ministry noted that Soleimani had “faithfully served and defended the national interests of Iran” and expressed condolences to the Iranian people over the commander’s death.The Kremlin’s press service later announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed the attack with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron by phone, with both sides agreeing “this action might seriously escalate tensions in the region.” FILE – A handout picture obtained from the Syrian Kurdish North Press Agency on October 24, 2019 shows Russian military police troops standing next to their armored vehicles in the northeastern Syrian city of Kobane on Oct. 23, 2019.The reaction reflected Russia and Iran’s increasingly close relations — ties forged by a four-year military alliance in Syria, where both Moscow and Tehran have come to the aid of their mutual ally, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.  Several media reports say Soleimani — widely considered the military architect of Iran’s actions in the Middle East — met with President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow in 2016 to personally discuss the Syrian offensive. Both the Iranian and Russian governments denied the meeting ever took place.      Soleimani is on a U.N. travel sanctions list and has been sanctioned by the U.S. since 2005 as a supporter of terrorism.  Observers in Moscow saw little chance of Russia coming to Iran’s aide in the event of a wider military conflict.”There’s nothing Russia can do,” says Alexey Malashenko, a longtime Middle East watcher and head of the Institute of Dialogue and Civilization said in an interview with VOA in Moscow.   “It’s a situation involving Iran, the U.S., and Iraq.” FILE – President Trump holds a proclamation declaring his intention to withdraw from the JCPOA Iran nuclear agreement at the White House, May 8, 2018.Nuclear deals Yet the U.S. strike on Soleimani again puts Iran near the top of a long list of issues causing friction between Moscow and Washington.  The Kremlin already had clashed with the Trump administration over its decision to rip up the Iran nuclear deal —- a denuclearization swap for sanctions relief agreement brokered with Iran by the U.S. Obama administration along with Britain, Russia, Germany, France, and China back in 2015.Russia has found common ground with European powers in denouncing the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the agreement in favor of what the White House touts as a “maximum pressure” campaign that will yield a better deal limiting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.Indeed, Moscow had been working with France and Germany to find ways to maneuver around U.S. sanctions and thereby keep Iran in compliance  — an effort foreign policy experts now concede is all but doomed because of the U.S. attack.  “The last hopes for resolving the problem of the Iran nuclear program have been bombed to shreds,” wrote Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia’s upper chamber, the Federation Council, in a post to Facebook.  “Iran can now push forward its nuclear program, even if it wasn’t planning to,” added Kosachev.  “In that way, this is bigger than just the murder of one important figure.”
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Turkey’s parliament has approved a bill that allows troop deployment in Libya to support the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.Turkish lawmakers passed the bill on Thursday with a 315-184 vote.Most opposition parties voted against the bill.The Libyan government, headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for support as it fends off an offensive by General Khalifa Haftar’s forces to the east of the country, which are backed by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. As VOA’S Zlatica Hoke reports.
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A motion sanctioning the deployment of armed forces to Libya easily passed the Turkish Parliament on Thursday, but the specter of Turkish forces entering the Libyan civil war is triggering alarm and condemnation.Passing with a 325-184 vote, the motion gives Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a one-year mandate to send armed forces in support of Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord.
 
The GNA is currently besieged by Libyan General Khalif Haftar’s military forces, who now control eastern Libya.  
 
Turkish forces becoming involved in the Libya civil war is causing international concern. Following Parliament’s vote, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Erdogan by telephone.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a symposium in Ankara, Turkey, Jan. 2, 2020.”President Trump pointed out that foreign interference is complicating the situation in Libya,” said Hogan Gidley, principal White House deputy press secretary.”Egypt condemns in the strongest terms this step that violates United Nations resolutions,” said an Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement. “The Arab Republic of Egypt also warns of repercussions of any Turkish military intervention in Libya and confirms that this intervention will negatively affect stability in the Mediterranean Sea region.”
 
Cairo is backing Haftar’s military forces, and previously warned it was ready to deploy its own forces if Ankara went ahead with sending soldiers.’Not intervening in Libya’Ankara dismissed concerns over any Libyan military deployment.”Turkey’s agreement with the Libyan government is the best guarantee for security and stability in the Mediterranean. We will, of course, protect our rights and interests in the Mediterranean,” tweeted Fahrettin Altun, Turkey’s director of communications.”Some countries are trying to put their narrow interests above international peace and security in the Mediterranean. Any agreement struck with a group other than the legitimate government in Tripoli will drag the country further into chaos,” Altun added.During debate over the motion, the Turkish government tried to allay international and domestic concerns.
 
“We’re not intervening in Libya. We are just meeting a request for help from the internationally recognized government there,” Emrullah Isler, Erdogan’s envoy to the fractured nation, told parliamentary deputies ahead of Thursday’s vote.’Disastrous call’All of the parliamentary opposition parties opposed the motion.Unal Cevikoz, a lawmaker of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, speaks in Ankara, Turkey, Jan. 2, 2020.”This motion does not speak of ‘national security,’ it speaks only of ‘national interest,’ ” Unal Cevikoz of the main opposition CHP Party said during the feisty debate. “It is a disastrous call by the presidential palace to send our citizens to the deserts of Libya.”Opposition deputies also raised concerns over the broad nature of the motion with little information on the type of Libyan military deployment.Ahead of the vote, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar suggested any military action would be confined to training and providing munitions and weapons. Last year, Ankara sent several armed drones in support of the GNA.   But while Haftar’s forces, backed by Russian mercenaries, are tightening their control around Tripoli, reports by local Turkish media suggest the GNA may be looking to Ankara to deploy a force of as many as 2,000 combat soldiers.Strategic interestsAccording to observers, Erdogan expedited passage of the motion because of the imminent threat faced by the GNA. Erdogan argues that the GNA’s survival is key to Turkey’s strategic interests.Last November, he signed two agreements with the Libyan government. One was a security agreement in which Ankara pledged military support. The second gave Turkey control of a large swath of the eastern Mediterranean between the two countries.  
 
The region is the center of an increasingly bitter rivalry among regional countries for the search of hydrocarbons. Ankara is alarmed at growing cooperation involving rivals Greece, Israel, Egypt and the Greek Cypriots in the search for and exploitation of the region’s energy.”No plan in the region that excludes Turkey has any chance of success,” Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Wednesday.  Gas pipeline
 
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement in Athens committing his country, Greece and the Greek Cypriot government to building a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline.  
 
The pipeline seeks to exclude Turkey from lucrative transit fees in distributing vast gas reserves discovered off the Israeli coast to Europe. But the route of the planned pipeline passes through the Mediterranean Sea under Turkish control in its agreement with the GNA.Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pose for a photo before signing a deal to build a gas pipeline, in Athens, Greece, Jan. 2, 2020.”These agreements with the GNA are of so much strategic importance for Turkey,” said energy expert and former Turkish Ambassador Mithat Rende. “The strategy of Turkey is to protect its legitimate rights in the eastern Mediterranean. The strategy is to have an equitable solution to the matter, because we have overlapping claims. Turkey made it clear after signing these agreements. Turkey is ready to speak with Greece and other authorities.”Turkey’s strategy of coercing its regional rivals to negotiate is widely seen as increasingly dependent on the survival of the GNA. However, Ankara may yet hold off deploying soldiers to Libya.”Passing the motion in Parliament has a strong political message,” Oktay said. “If they [Haftar’s forces] stop their attacks or withdraw, we may see this as appropriate. But if they keep continuing their attacks, the motion gives us a one-year mandate, so we may deploy our soldiers whenever necessary.”Given that Libya is nearly 2,000 kilometers from Turkey, analysts warn any major military deployment into a combat zone carries considerable risk.
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The senior adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who plotted Brexit and steered his boss to last month’s election triumph, is on the lookout for “weirdos and misfits with odd skills” to help bring new ideas to Britain’s government.”We want to improve performance and make me much less important” and within a year largely redundant,” Dominic Cummings said in a post on his blog on Thursday.”We do not have the sort of expertise supporting the PM and ministers that is needed. This must change fast so we can properly serve the public.”Cummings, who has made no secret of his disdain for much of the way Britain’s civil service operates, said he had been lucky to have worked with some fantastic officials in recent months.”But there are also some profound problems at the core of how the British state makes decisions,” he said.Cummings was one of the senior campaigners behind the Vote Leave victory in the 2016 Brexit referendum and was described by former Prime Minister John Major as “political anarchist.”In his blog, Cummings said rapid progress could now be made on long-term problems thanks to the combination of policy upheaval after Brexit, an appetite for risk among some officials in the new government and Johnson’s big majority in parliament.The government was looking to hire data scientists and software developers, economists, policy experts, project managers, communication experts and junior researchers as well as “weirdos and misfits with odd skills,” he said.”We need some true wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling hell hole,” Cummings said.
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The arrest warrant targeting Carles Puigdemont has been suspended by Belgian judicial authorities because of the Catalan separatist leader’s immunity as a European lawmaker, his lawyer said Thursday.Paul Bekaert told The Associated Press that the Belgian judge in charge of the case also suspended the warrant issued against former Catalan cabinet member Toni Comin.The two are wanted in Spain for their role in an illegal 2017 secession bid by the Catalan government and separatist lawmakers. They fled to Belgium after the attempt failed and were elected to the European Parliament in May as representatives of Catalan separatist parties from Spain.Last month the European Union’s top court, the European Court of Justice, overturned a decision preventing Puigdemont and Comin from taking their European Parliament seats. Spain’s state prosecutors’ office, however, asked a Spanish judge to maintain the international arrest warrants for the pair.It was still not clear whether Puigdemont and Comin, whose extradition hearing had already been postponed to Feb. 3, will be allowed to take their seats.”The investigative judge has decided to suspend the procedure of the European warrant following the decision of the European Court of Justice,” Bekaert said. “The European Court has ruled they have immunity.”Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office did not immediately answer a request for comment.”Belgian justice recognizes our immunity and decides to suspend the arrest and extradition warrant!” Puigdemont said in a message posted on Twitter. “But now we are still waiting for the release of (Oriol Junqueras), who has the same immunity as us. Spain must act in the same way as Belgium has done and respect the law.”The ECJ ruled Dec. 19 that Junqueras, a former Catalan regional vice president serving a prison sentence in Spain for his role in Catalonia’s banned independence referendum, had earned the right to immunity when he was elected as a European lawmaker alongside Puigdemont and Comin.Junqueras was sentenced in October to 13 years in prison for sedition. Eleven of his associates were found guilty and eight of them also received prison terms. 
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Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz said Thursday his party’s coalition deal with the Greens, who are set to join the Alpine country’s government for the first time, offers “the best of both worlds” and will allow both partners to keep central election promises.Green leader Werner Kogler, who will become vice chancellor if a convention of his party approves the deal Saturday, said the alliance of once-unlikely political bedfellows could set an example for other European countries.Kurz, 33, is set to return to power after a seven-month hiatus and reclaim the title of the world’s youngest serving head of government from new Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who is 34.The agreement combines pledges of action against climate change and of improved government and administrative transparency — Green priorities — with moves to cut Austrians’ tax burden and with the tough line on migration that Kurz has made a hallmark of his People’s Party.”We didn’t try to negotiate each other down to minimal compromises,” he said. “We deliberately brought together the best of both worlds, and so it is possible both for the Greens to keep their central election promises and for us.”Kurz stressed that migrants rescued in the Mediterranean should be taken to “safe countries of origin, third countries or transit countries, if they are safe.” He insisted that efforts to distribute migrants within Europe have failed.At home, he said, there will be a ban on girls under 14 wearing headscarves in schools.Kurz said the new government will invest in climate protection while preparing an “ecological” tax reform and refraining from running up new debt. Kogler said the new government will put a price on carbon dioxide emissions, among other moves. He said he wants Austria to be carbon-neutral in 2040, 10 years before the European Union’s target.He noted the the prospect of the new coalition having a “role model effect” in Europe and standing for the “reconciliation of ecology and economy, embedding social security.”The new coalition results from a snap September election in which Kurz’s party emerged as by far the biggest in the national legislature and the Greens made strong gains to return to parliament after a two-year absence.The election was triggered by the collapse in May of Kurz’s previous coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party. Kurz pulled the plug following the release of a video showing then-Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache offering favors to a purported Russian investor.Parliament then ousted Kurz in a no-confidence vote. Austria has since been run by a non-partisan interim government under Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein.Beside Kurz and Kogler, the People’s Party will have 10 ministers in the new Cabinet and the Greens three. The Greens will run a ministry responsible for the environment, climate and transport; the justice ministry; and the health and social affairs ministry.Kurz said there will be more women than men in the new team. 
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Kristina Kvien, deputy chief of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Ukraine, has been appointed as the interim charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.In a video posted on Facebook on January 2, Kvien said that the U.S. “policy of strong support for Ukraine remains steady.””Our embassy team will continue to partner closely with the Ukrainian government and civil society and support Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and support reforms that will help Ukraine build its prosperous European future,” Kvien said.Тимчасова повірена у справах США Крістіна Квін?? Наша заступниця глави місії США в Україні, Крістіна Квін, тепер стала Тимчасовою повіреною у справах США. Ось, що вона думає про міцне #ПартнерсвоУкраїнаСША
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?? Kristina Kvien, our Deputy Chief of Mission, is now serving as the Charge d’Affaires, a.i. of U.S. Embassy Kyiv. Hear her thoughts on the strong #USUkrainePartnership!Posted by U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine on Tuesday, December 31, 2019Kvien replaced William Taylor, who stepped aside earlier on January 2 after serving in the post since May 18, 2019.Taylor said good-bye to Ukrainians in a video statement on December 31, saying he was “very optimistic” about Ukraine’s future.Taylor was launched into the forefront of the impeachment hearings against U.S. President Donald Trump in November when he testified that one of his staffers overheard Trump ask U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about “investigations” against Joe Biden, one of the president’s main political rivals.During his testimony, Taylor also criticized Trump’s decision to delay military aid to Ukraine and a White House invitation to Zelenskiy, saying it ran counter to U.S. foreign policy goals in the region and damaged Washington’s relationship with Kyiv.Taylor’s appointment was set to expire in early January but the State Department did not extend his stay.
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Turkey’s parliament on Thursday authorized the deployment of troops to Libya to support the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli battle forces loyal to a rival government that is seeking to capture the capital.Turkish lawmakers voted 325-184 at an emergency session in favor of a one-year mandate allowing the government to dispatch troops amid concerns that Turkish forces could aggravate the conflict in Libya and destabilize the region.The Tripoli-based government of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj has faced an offensive by the rival regime in the east and commander Gen. Khalifa Hifter. The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last month that Sarraj requested the Turkish deployment, after he and Sarraj signed a military deal that allows Ankara to dispatch military experts and personnel to Libya. That deal, along with a separate agreement on maritime boundaries between Turkey and Libya, has drawn ire across the region and beyond.Ankara says the deployment is vital for Turkey to safeguard its interests in Libya and in the eastern Mediterranean, where it finds itself increasingly isolated as Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel have established exclusive economic zones paving the way for oil and gas exploration.”A Libya whose legal government is under threat can spread instability to Turkey,” ruling party legislator Ismet Yilmaz argued in defense of the motion. “Those who shy away from taking steps on grounds that there is a risk will throw our children into a greater danger.”The government has not revealed details about the possible Turkish deployment. The motion allows the government to decide on the scope, amount and timing of any mission by Turkish troops.Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay told state-run Anadolu Agency that Turkey would send “the necessary number (of troops) whenever there is a need.”But he also said Turkey would not dispatch its forces if Libya’s rival government halts its offensive.”If the other side adopts a different stance and says `OK, we are withdrawing, we are backing down,’ then why would we go?” Oktay said.Turkey’s main opposition party, CHP, had said its lawmakers would vote against the motion because the deployment would embroil Turkey in another conflict and make it a party to the further “shedding of Muslim blood.”Before the vote, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called on the government Thursday to work for the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping force in Libya.”Turkey must take the lead for efforts to establish stability in the region and concentrate all diplomatic efforts in that direction,” Kilicdaroglu tweeted.A center-right opposition party also said its legislators would not back the motion.”We cannot throw our soldiers in the line of fire of a civilian war that has nothing to do with our national security,” said Aytun Ciray, a member of the opposition Good Party, said during the parliamentary debate.However, Erdogan’s ruling party is in an alliance with a nationalist party, and the two held sufficient votes for the motion to pass.Fighting around Tripoli escalated in recent weeks after Hifter declared a “final” and decisive battle for the capital. He has the backing of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia, while the Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy. 
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will lead a group of U.S. officials who will attend the World Economic Forum later this month in Davos, Switzerland, the White House said Wednesday.Mnuchin will be joined by officials including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White House senior advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.Also attending will be Keith Krach, a State Department undersecretary for growth, energy and the environment, and Christopher Liddell, a White House deputy chief of staff.Reuters reported Dec. 17 that President Donald Trump planned to attend the annual Davos economic forum, citing a source familiar with the plan. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday that Trump is still expected to attend at this time.In 2019, Trump had to cancel his plans to attend the annual gathering of global economic and world leaders because of a government shutdown. He attended the Davos forum in 2018.The World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort town is scheduled to run Jan. 21-24.Events in Congress could affect the Republican president’s attendance at the event.Trump, who on Dec. 18 became the third American president to be impeached, faces a trial on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress once House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, sends the charges, called articles of impeachment, to the Republican-controlled Senate.A dispute between Pelosi and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell over how the trial will be conducted arose after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives impeached Trump.
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Brexit and EU enlargement will be priorities during Croatia’s six-month presidency of the  bloc, Foreign Minister Goran Grlic Radman said Wednesday.Croatia, the youngest European Union member, has a “lot of work and an important task that we have to do in the best possible way in the interest of all EU members, first of all organization of the relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom,” Grlic Radman said.Britain is due to leave the European Union on Jan. 31 but will remain in a transitional arrangement until the end of the year while negotiators try to thrash out future trade ties.European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen recently expressed concern over whether the EU can conclude a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain by the end-2020 deadline.Another challenge for the Croatia EU presidency will be Western Balkans countries wanting to join the bloc “as there have been different approaches when EU enlargement is concerned,” Grlic Radman told N1 television channel.He spoke from Vienna where he marked the start of his country’s presidency in a ceremony at the embassy there.Despite big expectations by the candidate countries “we will support what is realistic and possible,” he said.”The process of joining EU does not happen in a day; we worked hard to meet all the criteria and standards,” he said.Out of the Western Balkans countries only Serbia and Montenegro are in the process of negotiations while Albania and Northern Macedonia are yet to start  talks. Kosovo and Bosnia meanwhile are seriously lagging behind, the latter due to its complicated post-war political system that blocks reforms needed to become an EU candidate country.Along with Slovenia, who joined in 2004, Croatia is the only country emerging from the former Yugoslavia to have become an EU member. It joined the bloc in 2013.
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Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz struck a coalition deal on Wednesday with the Greens to ensure his return to power and bring the left-wing party into government for the first time, three months after Kurz won a parliamentary election. The deal marked a swing left for Kurz, whose last coalition was with the far-right Freedom Party. It also means Austria will join fellow European Union member states Sweden and Finland in having the Greens in government, albeit in a junior role, at a time of growing calls for urgent action on climate change. After a final round of coalition talks on New Year’s Day and two days of leaks of new Cabinet members’ names, Kurz and his Greens counterpart said they had struck a deal, as widely expected. They held off, however, on providing details of their plans. Those will be presented to the public Thursday. “We have reached an agreement,” Kurz told reporters standing next to Greens leader Werner Kogler. The two will become chancellor and vice chancellor of the new government, and the Greens will control just four of 15 ministries, roughly reflecting their performance in the September 29 election, which Kurz’s People’s Party won with 37.5% of the vote. The Greens came in fourth with 13.9%. “It is possible to reduce the tax burden and to ecologize the tax system,” Kurz said, referring to core campaign pledges of each party and hinting at the deal’s contents. The Greens said they wanted an investment package in environmental measures and to make products that damage the environment more expensive. 
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Venice’s mayor says police are investigating an anti-Semitic attack in which youths punched a left-wing Italian politician in the city’s St. Mark’s Square.Mayor Luigi Brugnaro tweeted Wednesday that fascist-like incidents like the one that happened on New Year’s Eve “won’t be tolerated” in Venice.Arturo Scotto, a former lawmaker, was walking with his wife Tuesday night when eight youths yelled out, “Duce! Duce!” a reference to Italy’s World War II fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The youths then punched Scotto in the nose.Scotto told Italian state TV that a young man who tried to help him was also beaten up. He said the youths also shouted disparaging remarks about Anne Frank, a young Jewish woman who perished in a Nazi death camp.Brugnaro said police are examining surveillance videos to see if the culprits can be identified. Scotto said the attackers wore scarves to hide their faces.Anti-Semitic incidents have been on the rise in Italy, as far-right political groups, including those with neo-fascist roots, gain traction in the country. Mussolini’s regime had propagated anti-Jewish laws in 1938.The head of Rome’s Jewish community, Ruth Dureghello, expressed solidarity with Scotto, saying “one mustn’t give in to any form of anti-Semitism and racism.”
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