A report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights finds civilians in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine remain at risk of human rights violations and death  despite an easing of hostilities between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebels in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.The U.N. report welcomes recent diplomatic measures taken by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany to ease the plight of civilians caught in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.  France and Germany mediated a December 9 meeting in Paris between Russia and Ukraine, aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. Some 13,000 civilians have been killed since war broke out in April 2014.The U.N. reports the freedom of movement by civilians has improved. It says they now can move safely across the contact line that separates the warring parties to visit their families.  Despite this positive development, U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore says civilians in the conflict zone remain unprotected and are subject to abuse and gross human rights violations.  Gilmore warns that as long as active hostilities continue, people are at risk of being maimed or killed. She says her office has received reports of killings and extrajudicial executions committed on both sides of the contact line.“We also continued to document cases of arbitrary arrests and detention, of torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainians occurring in government-controlled territory and in territory controlled by the so-called self-proclaimed ‘republics’ as well as in the Russian Federation.”  FILE – A Ukrainian soldier passes by a destroyed Butovka coal mine as he approaches a frontline position in the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, Nov. 9, 2019.The U.N. report also documents violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in March 2014.U.N. monitors say they have received reports that Ukrainians apprehended in Crimea have been deported to Russia, where they have been subjected to torture and denied access to medical care.The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yurii Klymenko, says the report reflecting the situation on the ground is not encouraging. He says the rebels in the Donbass continue to break a cease-fire agreed to in June in Minsk. He says shelling continues causing deaths, injuries and destruction.The ambassador accuses Russia of resorting to fraud and trickery to legitimize its illegal occupation of Crimea, while persecuting and penalizing innocent people living in the occupied territory. Russia annexed Crimea after Moscow declared the region Russian territory. 
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France’s armed forces said Monday it had carried out a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali at the weekend in which it said 40 “terrorists” were killed.On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that French forces had “neutralized” 33 jihadists in the central Malian region of Mopti, in an operation that had started the previous night.In a statement, the French military command said the drone strike happened during a follow-up operation Saturday in which another seven jihadist fighters were killed.As French commandos were searching the combat zone in Ouagadou forest, 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the town of Mopti, “they were attacked by a group of terrorists on motorbikes,” the statement said.A Reaper drone and a French Mirage 2000 patrol opened fire to support the ground troops, it said.”This is the first operational strike by an armed drone,” the statement said, confirming an earlier report published in the specialist blog Le Mamouth.The strike came just two days after the French army announced it had finished testing the remotely-piloted drones for armed operations.It has three drones, based near Niamey, the capital of Niger.The operation at the weekend was in an area controlled by the Katiba Macina, a ruthless Islamist group founded by radical Mopti preacher Amadou Koufa.Two Malian gendarmes who had been held hostage were freed, and French troops seized a number of armed vehicles, motorbikes and weaponry, “delivering a very heavy blow” to the jihadists, according to Monday’s statement.France previously said it had killed 25 jihadists in two operations in the Sahel this month.Last month, 13 French soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash as they hunted jihadists in the north of Mali — the biggest single-day loss for the French military in nearly four decades.France has a 4,500-member force which has been fighting jihadists in the fragile, sprawling Sahel since 2013. Forty-one soldiers have died. 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday took part in a ceremony officially opening a controversial bridge from mainland Russia to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to rail traffic.Kyiv, the United States, and European Union have condemned Russia’s construction of the bridge, calling it a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, with the Western powers imposing sanctions on firms associated with the building of the 19-kilometer long structure.Flanked by local government officials, Putin thanked the workers for their efforts to build “this huge project,” in a ceremony broadcast live on state-run Russian TV.In November, the privately owned Grand Service Express railway company announced that the first train would depart from St. Petersburg for Sevastopol on December 23 and would travel 2,741 kilometers in 43.5 hours.The segment from Moscow to Simferopol — the peninsula’s capital city — is scheduled to depart on December 24 and travel 2,009 kilometers in 33 hours.The bridge cost $3.7 billion to build and is Europe’s longest, surpassing the Vasco de Gama bridge in Portugal.The railway section of the bridge marks its expanded use after Putin opened the connection on May 15, 2018, for vehicle usage.On that day, Putin was shown live on state television at the wheel of a Kamaz truck in a convoy of vehicles that crossed what Russia calls the Crimean Bridge — a symbol of Moscow’s control over the Ukrainian peninsula.Russia’s Federal Road Transport Agency, also known as Rosavtodor, said on December 22 that Putin would take part in the ceremonies on December 23.Crimea is connected to the mainland in Ukraine only, so the bridge is the sole link between the peninsula and Russia.People watch a giant TV screen with Russian President Vladimir Putin, inside, riding a train across a bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula in Taman, Russia, Dec. 23, 2019.Ukraine has condemned the project not only for violating the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but also for its low clearance, which has encumbered maritime shipping traffic for Ukraine.The spokeswoman of then EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at the time said construction of the bridge “constitutes another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia.””The construction of the bridge aims at the further forced integration of the illegally annexed peninsula with Russia and its isolation from Ukraine, of which it remains a part,” an EU spokeswoman said.The U.S. State Department also condemned Russia’s construction of the bridge, saying it was done “without the permission of the government of Ukraine.”“Russia’s construction of the bridge serves as a reminder of Russia’s ongoing willingness to flout international law,” a spokeswoman said in May.Sanctions imposed by the EU and the United States have targeted those involved in the construction, including businessman Arkady Rotenberg, a close Putin ally whose company won construction rights for the bridge.Russia seized and annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The annexation has not been recognized by the world community.Russia has also supported separatist fighters battling Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014. 
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For the first time in more than 200 years, France’s historic Notre Dame Cathedral will be dark and silent for Christmas.The iconic Gothic structure was ravaged in April by a fire that destroyed parts of the roof, the spire and vault.”This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will be no midnight Mass” at Notre Dame, said cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet.Christmas services have been moved a mile away to Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, a church dating back to the 7th century.There has been a Christmas service every year at the UNESCO World Heritage site through France’s sometimes tumultuous history. The only time it was forced to close was during the anti-Catholic revolutionary period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.President Emmanuel Macron has set a timetable of five years to complete repairs on the eight-centuries-old structure.French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the cause of the fire, suggesting that it might have been the fault of a stray cigarette or an electrical malfunction. 
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Croatia’s conservative president trailed her leftist rival in Sunday’s election, but garnered enough votes to force a runoff early next year.With nearly 98% of the votes counted, former prime minister and leader of the Social Democrats Zoran Milanovic was leading with nearly 30% of the vote, followed by President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic with about 27%.Milanovic and Kitarovic will face each other on January 5.Croatia’s presidency is largely ceremonial but retaining the presidency is important to Kitarovic’s ruling Croatian Democratic Union party because the country is set to take over the European Union’s rotating presidency in February.In that capacity, the Croatian leader will oversee Britain’s exit from the bloc and the post-Brexit trade talks that will determine the union’s future.
 
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Holiday travelers across France scrambled for alternatives Sunday as an 18-day-old transport strike over pension reform saw train services slashed yet again.President Emmanuel Macron issued an appeal on Saturday for a truce over the holidays, three days after talks between the government and unions failed to ease the standoff and labor leaders called for further mobilization.Workers at the SNCF and RATP rail and public transport companies have downed tools to protest at the government’s plan to meld France’s 42 pension schemes into a single points-based one, which would see some public employees lose certain privileges.Weeks of travel misery worsened on Sunday, when tens of thousands planned to meet up with family and friends for the Christmas break.Only half of high-speed TGVs and a quarter of inter-city trains were running, and the SNCF urged travellers to cancel or delay planned trips.In the Paris area, commuter trains were down to a trickle, and only two out of 16 metro lines were running on the last shopping Sunday before Christmas.Ten metro lines will open Monday but at reduced frequencies except for the two driverless lines, RATP said, while key commuter trains will run during rush hour but at reduced frequencies.SNCF said two in five TGV trains will operate and international traffic will also be affected.Public support droppingMacron, on a visit to Ivory Coast, urged striking workers to embrace a “spirit of responsibility” and for “collective good sense to triumph.””I believe there are moments in the life of a nation when it is also good to call a truce to respect families and the lives of families,” he said in Abidjan.The Elysee Palace also announced Saturday that Macron would renounce the pension he would be entitled to as former president, and he will not take up a lucrative seat on the Constitutional Council as tradition dictates.In so doing, the former banker, who turned 42 on Saturday, will forgo a total of 19,720 euros ($21,850) a month.A poll by the IFOP agency published Sunday showed public backing for the action dropping by three percentage points, though 51 percent still expressed support or sympathy for the strikers.’It’s unbearable’Jean Garrigues, a historian with the University of Orleans, told AFP this was likely to change over the holidays — cherished family time for the French.”The transport blockage has mostly affected the Parisian region, and we can see that in the coming period, it will also affect people in the rural areas. This will alienate many people from the labor movement,” he said.On Saturday, frustrated traveler Jeffrey Nwutu Ebube was trying to find a way home to Toulouse in the south from the northern port town of Le Havre — some 850 kilometers (530 miles) away.”I’m upset, this strike is unbearable… The government must do something,” he told AFP.The government insists a pension overhaul is necessary to create a fairer, more transparent system.It would do away with schemes that offer early retirement and other advantages to mainly public-sector workers, such as train drivers who can retire as early as 52.While some unions support a single system, almost all reject a new proposed “pivot age” of 64 — beyond the legal retirement age of 62 — for retiring with a full pension.Heavy toll on businessUnions are hoping for a repeat of 1995 when the government backed down on pension reform after three weeks of metro and rail stoppages just before Christmas.The protest is taking a heavy toll on businesses, especially retailers, hotels and restaurants during one of the busiest periods of the year.Industry associations have reported turnover declines of 30 to 60 percent from a year earlier.Stormy weather contributed to travelers’ woes Sunday, dropping trees on railway lines in the south of France, blocking several routes, as violent winds left 110,000 households in the southwest without electricity.   
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UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization reports it is expanding its so-called Qualification Passport program, which enables refugees and vulnerable migrants to continue their studies or get employment in countries of exile. More often than not, refugees and migrants who have had a secondary or tertiary education at home have difficulty applying for higher education or finding work commensurate with their skills in their new countries.  They often lack the certificates proving they have completed their studies.The UNESCO Qualification Passport is a standardized document, which contains information about the person’s qualifications, job experience and language proficiency.   UNESCO assistant director-general for education, Stefania Giannini, says the aim of the program is to help refugees without documents be recognized for their accomplishments by their hosting countries.”If you do not have anything, if you do not have papers, which can demonstrate, you know — you lose part of your life.  You lose part of your competence.  You lose part of your knowledge,” she said. “So, this is for helping refugees.  Then there is the other side of the coin, which is to give hosting countries the opportunity to valorize human capital they have.”Syrian refugee, Anwar Horani, is the first Qualifications Passport holder.  After graduating as a physiotherapist from Albaath University in Homs in 2016, she was forced to flee her country.  She spent a year in Greece without the necessary documents to prove her qualifications.In 2017, she received the European Qualifications Passport, which she presented to officials in Norway, her new country of asylum.  She says this document has changed her life.  “I was able to use this type of documentation to pursue my study in the University of Oslo and achieve a course in international public health.  And after one-and-a-half years from arriving in the country to have like two jobs in two different places in my new host country, Norway.”  The UNESCO program is being piloted in Zambia.  This month, 11 candidates were issued with the first UNESCO Qualified Passports in the presence of the minister of higher education for Zambia.  With this tool, officials say the refugees will be able to recommence their lives in the country.UNESCO says it is planning to start similar piloting programs in Iraq and Colombia.
      
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The lawyer of an Iranian-British woman convicted on spying charges in Iran has asked that she be released after serving half of her sentence, a request that was immediately rejected by the Tehran prosecutors’ office, the state IRNA news agency reported Sunday.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years for allegedly planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while traveling with her young daughter in Iran at the time. She was was arrested in April 2016. Her sentence has been widely criticized and her family has denied all the allegations against her.The report by IRNA quoted her lawyer, Mahmoud Behzadi Rad, as saying that he had submitted a request for what Iran’s judiciary calls “conditional release” — when a convict has served half his or her sentence, the person can apply for such a release and the courts have the power to grant it for “good behavior.”
“According to the law, she is entitled to apply for a conditional release,” the lawyer said.
IRNA did not say why the request was denied. Behzadi Rad said he had applied for a conditional release for another of his clients, prominent Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi who is serving a 10-year sentence. Behzadi Rad is her lawyer, too. The request for her release was also denied, he said.
The lawyer also said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe has had several psychiatric evaluations recently while in prison but did not elaborate on her condition or the state of her health.
In England, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has been leading a campaign to try to win his wife’s release from prison. British officials are also calling for her release.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe went on a 15-day hunger strike in June, to call attention to her plight. In July, she was moved to the mental health ward of Imam Khomeini hospital under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The Free Nazanin Campaign said in a statement at the time that it does not know what treatment she is receiving or how long she is expected to remain in the hospital.
Iran has also detained at least one other Iranian-British national, anthropologist Kameel Ahmady, who has been accused of spying and of links to foreign intelligence agencies.
Iran does not recognize dual nationality for its citizens. 
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has struck a defiant tone, saying the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream gas pipeline projects will be launched despite U.S. sanctions.Quoted by the Interfax news agency on December 22, Lavrov said that Russia planned to respond to the new measures.U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill on December 22 that included legislation imposing sanctions on firms laying pipe for Nord Stream 2, which seeks to double gas capacity along the northern Nord Stream pipeline route to Germany.More sanctions against Russia for its alleged interference in democratic processes abroad as well as its “malign” actions in Syria and aggression against Ukraine —known as the “sanctions bill from hell” — has been approved by a U.S. Senate committee but has not been put to a vote in Congress.In other remarks, Lavrov said Russia was prepared to include the heavy Sarmat missile and the Avangard hypersonic missile if the New START arms treaty with the United States is extended.Russia is also ready to demonstrate the Sarmat missile to the United States, Interfax cited Lavrov as saying on a talk show on Russian state television.
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It took a blaze that nearly destroyed Paris’ most famous cathedral to reveal a gap in global safety regulations for lead, a toxic building material found across many historic cities.After the Notre Dame fire in April spewed dozens of tons of toxic lead-dust into the atmosphere in just a few hours, Paris authorities discovered a problem with the city’s public safety regulations: There was no threshold for them to gauge how dangerous the potentially-deadly pollution was from the dust that settled on the ground.Since then, The Associated Press has found this regulatory gap extends far beyond France. Officials in other historic European capitals such as Rome and London, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization also have no such outdoor lead dust hazard guidelines.The reason, they say, is that although there are lead regulations, no one contemplated a conflagration on a lead-laden building the scale of Notre Dame — whose spire towered nearly 100 meters (330 feet) high.Poisoning from lead dust can cause permanent loss to cognitive ability, seizures, coma, or death — and exposure is of greatest risk to pregnant mothers and to young children, who can easily transfer toxic dust into their mouths.People watch as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019.After 250 tons of lead on Notre Dame’s spire and roof was engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15 and authorities alerted Parisians to an environmental health risk, they were forced to cobble together disparate and incomplete research to set a makeshift safety level in an attempt reassure the public.“When the Notre Dame fire happened, we didn’t have any threshold for what represented dangerous lead levels outdoors,” Anne Souyris, the Paris City Hall deputy mayor in charge of public health, told the AP. “It was a wake-up call … the amount of lead that was burned in Notre Dame was unprecedented.”Officials were surprised to discover that while safety guidelines exist in France for lead levels inside buildings and schools, as well as in paint, soil and air pollution, there were zero hazard guidelines for lead accumulations in public spaces, such as dust on the ground.The inherent danger and the regulatory gap for lead dust became impossible to ignore for French officials as it collected as a toxic film on the cobblestones of Paris’ Ile-de-la-Cite following the fire.“The authorities basically tried to create safety guidelines after the fire by piecing together a mixture of old fragments of data and reports,” Souyris said. “But there was really nothing official … we simply didn’t realize that lead outside might be a problem.”On July 18 — three months after the inferno — Paris’ Regional Health Agency (ARS) said it designated 5,000 micrograms per square meter (4,180 mg per square yard) as a concerning level for lead dust in public spaces. It also acknowledged there was an “absence of regulatory thresholds … regarding the presence of lead in dust deposited on roads.”AP learned from health officials that this figure was compiled by using incomplete data, including a French Culture Ministry report assessing lead levels in Paris monuments.Some media outlets reported that registered levels of lead contamination in locations surrounding the fire-damaged cathedral ranged between 500 and 800 times the official safe levels.But health officials told the AP that Paris still does not have any official regulatory threshold.The World Health Organization told AP it also has no outdoor safety guidelines for lead dust and has no “immediate” intention to create any.An image made available by Gigarama.ru on April 17, 2019 shows an aerial shot of the fire damage to Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France.New legislation for hazard safety in Britain following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire also did not cover lead-dust hazards. The U.K. Environment Ministry told AP it doesn’t “have a specific threshold for unsafe lead dust levels in the U.K. in public places.” It said the hazard focus after Grenfell, an apartment building constructed in the 1970s, “was more on asbestos than lead due to the age of the building.”In the U.S., where many buildings were constructed after lead hazards were widely recognized, the Environmental Protection Agency has no lead dust hazard standards for outdoor public spaces.Lead is ubiquitous in Paris’ 19th-century architecture — in roofs, gilded balconies, floors and terraces — and not just in its most famous cathedral. In 1853, Napoleon III chose Baron Haussmann to carry out a near-total renovation of Parisian boulevards and parks in an era that used lead prolifically — designs that still dominate the city.French officials say there are so few guidelines on lead dust levels because it was not a problem they had to confront until the unprecedented Notre Dame fire.It took four months for the city to complete a deep-clean operation of the sidewalks even as tourists, residents and merchants walked streets around the cathedral daily.Paris City Hall issued a new action plan this fall to address lead — including cleaning and testing in places that host children, increased monitoring of children with high levels of lead in their blood and an independent epidemiological study of lead health impacts in a city that has used the toxic element since the Middle Ages.“Paris is a beautifully preserved city,” Souyris said. “But we realize we have also beautifully preserved its lead.”Experts say Paris’ rare status as a highly conserved historic city makes it a particular danger spot for lead.“Preservation does make Paris unusual,” said Neil M. Donahue, a chemistry professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg. “Incineration of one of the most famous roofs in the world may be especially dramatic, but there is no alchemy in this world. Lead will remain lead forever.”The fire in Paris’ spiritual heart increased awareness among authorities and the public to the dangers of lead.In June, Paris’ Regional Health Agency advised that all pregnant women and children under 7 years old living near the site take a test for lead levels.The agency said 12 children in the surrounding areas tested positive for elevated lead levels in their blood since the fire. None have been hospitalized or prescribed medication, but officials said it was impossible to predict the long-term health consequences of the fire.One child’s lead exposure came from a source other than the cathedral: the lead balcony of his family’s apartment. But it illustrates how the fire awakened Parisians to the dangers of lead. It’s unlikely the child would have been tested at all without the catastrophe.Despite the lead fallout from the fire, experts say tourists should not alter travel plans to one of the most visited cities in the world.But toxic lead dust remains a problem inside the burned-out cathedral, after tons of molten and airborne lead contaminated its interior. The inside clean-up is a delicate and painstaking process, complicated by French President Emmanuel Macron’s five-year timeline for the restoration to be completed — a deadline many experts say is unrealistic.Aline Magnien, director of the Historic Monuments Research Laboratory, recently dispatched her team of scientists to figure out how to remove the toxic lead from inside the 855-year-old UNESCO world heritage site without damaging it.“It’s a race against the clock,” she said. “The lead is a real problem. The cathedral is exceptionally precious. And we don’t have the luxury of time.”
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Many experts say the most remarkable news from the recently held NATO summit in London is that NATO, history’s most lasting and effective alliance, for the first time defined China as a strategic challenge. They contend that Beijing aims to dominate the world’s high-tech industry through its technology giant Huawei, forge a military on par with the United States, and connect the majority of the world’s population under its Belt and Road Initiative. VOA’s Jela de Franceschi talks with two former NATO supreme commanders about the geostrategic risks posed by China
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At the end of a difficult year, Queen Elizabeth has posed for photographs with her son Prince Charles, grandson Prince William and great-grandson Prince George in an apparent message about the continuity of the British royal family.Buckingham Palace released photographs on Saturday of the Queen and the three immediate members of the line of succession as they prepared traditional Christmas puddings.Prince George, 6, is the focus of attention for his older relatives as he stirs pudding mixture in a bowl.The palace said the four generations of royals represented a cross-section of people helped by a charity for serving and former members of the armed forces – the Royal British Legion – which the queen has supported since 1952.The family scene struck a happy note for Queen Elizabeth, 93, after a difficult year.Over the past 12 months, her husband Prince Philip got a police warning for his involvement in a car crash, grandsons Princes William and Harry publicly fell out and her second son Prince Andrew became more entangled in the furor over his links to disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein.On Friday, 98-year-old Philip was taken to hospital for treatment of an existing condition, Buckingham Palace said.
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Eight West African countries Saturday agreed to change the name of their common currency to Eco and severed the CFA franc’s links to former colonial ruler France.
 
The CFA franc was initially pegged to the French franc and has been linked to the euro for about two decades.
 
Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo currently use the currency. All the countries are former French colonies with the exception of Guinea-Bissau.
 
The announcement was made Saturday during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer and France’s former main colony in West Africa.
 
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, speaking in the country’s economic capital Abidjan, announced “three major changes”.
 
These included “a change of name” of the currency, he said, adding that the others would be “stopping holding 50 percent of the reserves in the French Treasury” and the “withdrawal of French governance” in any aspect related to the currency.
 French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan on December 21, 2019, during a three day visit to West Africa.Macron hailed it as a “historic reform”, adding: “The Eco will see the light of day in 2020.”
 
The deal took six months in the making, a French source said.
 
The CFA franc’s value was moored to the euro after its introduction two decades ago, at a fixed rate of 655.96 CFA francs to one euro.
 
The Bank of France holds half of the currency’s total reserves, but France does not make money on its deposits stewardship, annually paying a ceiling interest rate of 0.75 percent to member states.
 
The arrangement guarantees unlimited convertibility of CFA francs into euros and facilitates inter-zone transfers.
 
CFA notes and coins are printed and minted at a Bank of France facility in the southern town of Chamalieres.
 
The CFA franc, created in 1945, was seen by many as a sign of French interference in its former African colonies even after the countries became independent.
 
The Economic Community of West African States regional bloc, known as ECOWAS, earlier Saturday urged members to push on with efforts to establish a common currency, optimistically slated to launch next year.
 
The bloc insists it is aiming to have the Eco in place in 2020, but almost none of the 15 countries in the group currently meet criteria to join.
 
ECOWAS “urges member states to continue efforts to meet the convergence criteria”, commission chief Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said after a summit of regional leaders in the Nigerian capital Abuja.   
 
The key demands for entry are to have a deficit of less than 3 percent of gross domestic product, inflation of 10 percent or under and debts worth less than 70 percent of GDP.
 
Economists say they understand the thinking behind the currency plan but believe it is unrealistic and could even be dangerous for the region’s economies which are dominated by one single country, Nigeria, which accounts for two-thirds of the region’s economic output.
 
Nigeria’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed told AFP “there’s still more work that we need to do individually to meet the convergence criteria”.
 
ECOWAS was set up in 1975 and comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo — representing a total population of around 385 million.
 
Eight of them currently use the CFA franc, moored to the single European currency and  gathered in an organisation called the West African Monetary Union, or WAMU.
 
But the seven other ECOWAS countries have their own currencies, none of them freely convertible.
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Travelers across France scrambled Saturday to begin their Christmas getaways as a strike over a pension overhaul showed no signs of letting up. Trains were canceled, roads were packed and nerves were tested, but hopes of a holiday truce were dashed after talks between the government and union leaders this week failed to ease the standoff.  Train operator SNCF warned that the traffic would be “severely disrupted” over the festive period. 
 
SNCF said its aim to allow 850,000 ticket holders to travel this weekend was being upheld — but only half of its usual services were running. 
 
“I’m upset. This strike is unbearable. … The government must do something,” said Jeffrey Nwutu Ebube, who was in the northern port town of Le Havre trying to find a way back home to the southern city of Toulouse, 850 kilometers (530 miles) away. 
 
Late Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron called on the strikers to embrace a “spirit of responsibility” and for “collective good sense to triumph.” 
 
“I believe there are moments in the life of a nation when it is also good to call a truce to respect families and the lives of families,” he said, speaking in Abdijan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast, where he was on a visit. Options are fewMany stranded travelers have turned to car rental agencies or sharing platforms since the strike began on December 5, but the last-minute surge in demand meant vehicles were hard to come by.  People ride bicycles alongside a traffic jam, in Paris, Dec. 20, 2019. France’s punishing transportation troubles may ease up slightly over Christmas but unions plan renewed strikes and protests in January.”We tried other ways, BlaBlaCar, et cetera, but everything is full, everything is taken,” said Jerome Pelletier, a manager in the textile industry. 
 
Macron wants to forge the country’s 42 separate pension regimes into a single points-based system that the government says will be fairer and more transparent. 
 
It would do away with schemes that offer early retirement and other advantages to mainly public sector workers, not least train drivers who can retire as early as 52. 
 
While some unions support a single system, almost all reject a new “pivot age” of 64 — beyond the legal retirement age of 62 — which workers would have to reach to get a full pension. 1995 strike
 
They are hoping for a repeat of 1995, when the government backed down on pension reform after three weeks of metro and rail stoppages just before Christmas. 
 
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Thursday that talks had made progress and called on unions to lift the strike “so that millions of French can join their families for the end of this year.” 
 
Although the moderate UNSA union agreed, the hardline CGT and Force Ouvrier unions said they would not let up. 
 
This weekend, the last for Christmas shopping, the RATP Paris train operator said metro services would be “heavily reduced” on Sunday with only two driverless metro lines working. 
 
The protest is also taking a heavy toll on businesses, especially retail during one of the busiest periods of the year, with industry associations reporting turnover declines of 30 to 60 percent from a year earlier. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Russia and China on Saturday after the two countries vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on allowing cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria. 
 
“The Russian Federation’s and China’s veto yesterday of a Security Council resolution that allows for humanitarian aid to reach millions of Syrians is shameful,” Pompeo said in a statement. 
 
“To Russia and China, who have chosen to make a political statement by opposing this resolution, you have blood on your hands,” Pompeo said. 
 
The resolution would have extended for one year cross-border aid deliveries from Turkey and Iraq to 4 million Syrian civilians who have been victimized by the Syrian conflict that began in 2011. 
 
The vetoes raised fears that U.N.-funded aid would be prevented from entering the Idlib region and other opposition-controlled areas of Syria unless an alternative deal is reached before the current resolution expires in less than three weeks. 
 
The ongoing assault by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian bombardments have intensified in the jihadist-held Idlib region since December 16, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, the U.N. said. 
 
The U.N. has called for an “immediate de-escalation” in Syria and has warned of other mass displacements if the violence continues. 
 
More than 6 million people have been displaced in Syria since the war began, the world’s largest “internally displaced population,” according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. 
 
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said airstrikes by the Syrian government and Russia on Saturday killed 12 civilians and wounded dozens of others. 
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French forces killed 33 Islamic extremists in central Mali on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said. 
 
He made the announcement on the second day of a three-day trip to West Africa that has been dominated by the growing threat posed by jihadist groups. 
 
Macron tweeted that he was proud of our soldiers who protect us.'' Two Malian gendarmes also were rescued in the operation, he said. 
 
In a speech to the French community living in Ivory Coast, Macron said French troops would continue fighting terrorism in the Sahel region. 
 I want to reiterate my determination to continue this fight. We suffered losses; we also have victories,he said, stressing thehuge success” of Saturday’s operation in the Mopti region of central Mali. 
 
France has about 4,500 military personnel in West and Central Africa, much of which was ruled by France during the colonial era. The operation is France’s largest overseas military mission. 
 
The French led a military operation in 2013 to dislodge Islamic extremists who had seized control of major towns in the north and implemented a harsh version of Islamic law. In the ensuing years, the militants have regrouped and pushed farther into central Mali, where Saturday morning’s operation was carried out. 
 
On Friday evening, Macron met with French military personnel stationed in Ivory Coast, which shares a long border with volatile Mali and Burkina Faso. 
 
Later Saturday, Macron was to meet with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan. Both men will highlight a new training effort being launched. The International Academy to Fight Terrorism will be in charge of training in Ivory Coast some specialized forces from across Africa, Macron said Saturday. 
 
“Then we will collectively be better prepared for the fight against terrorism.” 
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In his four-hour, stage-managed year-end news conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin went out of his way to back U.S. President Donald Trump in the impeachment saga unfolding in Washington.Lambasting American Democrats for what he termed “made-up reasons” to impeach Trump, a Republican, the Russian leader accused them of nursing a grudge over losing the 2016 presidential elections.The impeachment is “just the continuation of the domestic political strife,” Putin said. “Your members of Congress should know better.”Putin added there’s little chance the Republican-controlled Senate will remove Trump from office. He disputed a key article of impeachment against the U.S. president: that Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate a political rival, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat who is competing for his party’s 2020 presidential nomination.”The party which lost the election, the Democratic Party, is trying to achieve results by other means, first by accusing Trump of conspiring with Russia, then it turns out there has been no conspiracy,” Putin said. “This cannot be the basis of impeachment. Now they’ve invented some kind of pressure on Ukraine.”FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands at the beginning of a their bilateral meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018.Agitation of domestic US policyMoscow-based diplomats say Putin’s defense of his American counterpart had the aim of further agitating domestic politics in the United States.”He knows full well his comments, his trolling of Democrats, is adding salt to domestic U.S. political wounds,” a Western diplomat told VOA. “The main foreign-policy aim of the Kremlin is to encourage political divisions in the West.”But Putin’s praise of Trump — and the U.S. leader’s often complimentary remarks about his Russian counterpart — have not helped to improve U.S-Russian relations, widely seen as being at their lowest point since before the Cold War ended.And few analysts and diplomats believe that will change next year, despite the overlapping views the two leaders have often expressed about Europe and NATO, or Trump’s recent suggestion that Russia be readmitted to the exclusive Group of Seven industrialized countries. The group had eight members until 2014, when Russia was disinvited over the annexation of Crimea.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin drives a motorbike during the Babylon’s Shadow bike show camp near in Sevastopol, Crimea, Aug. 10, 2019.Both the Kremlin and the White House have repeatedly expressed a wish to improve relations, most recently during a visit earlier this month to the U.S. capital by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.”We should have a better relationship — the United States and Russia — than we’ve had in the last few years, and we’ve been working on that,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart.CooperationHe noted U.S. and Russian law-enforcement agencies are cooperating on an almost “daily basis” on counterterrorism and counternarcotics. He said both Moscow and Washington agree there are no military solutions to the conflicts raging in Syria or Afghanistan, although they are far apart on how they can be brought to an end.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, shake hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after a media availability at the State Department in Washington, Dec. 10, 2019.For his part, Lavrov said the meetings in Washington have “confirmed that it is useful to talk to each other.” He added, “Talking to each other is always better than not talking to each other.”But both nations’ top diplomats highlighted the gulf between them on a host of issues, from Ukraine to Venezuela to arms control to Iran.And on the issue of Russian meddling in U.S. politics, the two had very different takes. “I was clear it’s unacceptable, and I made our expectations of Russia clear,” Pompeo said. Lavrov denied the Kremlin has interfered at all.With all these overhanging issues — along with what U.S. officials describe as malign Russian activities, including slayings and attempted assassinations on foreign soil of Moscow’s foes — U.S. officials are wary of even attempting a reset with Russia, fearing the effort will be as doomed as the Obama administration’s push to transform relations between the two countries. To do so would raise expectations that likely would be subsequently dashed, leaving both sides worse off and feeling aggrieved, they say.Recently, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, “It would be great if we could get Russia to behave like a more normal country. But you also can’t ignore the last many years of history where Russia has invaded Georgia. It has annexed Crimea. It is occupying parts of Ukraine. It is threatening the Baltic States.”U.S. officials aren’t alone in saying a reset gambit would be unwise. Chatham House analysts James Nixey and Mathieu Boulègue say making grand overtures toward the Kremlin would be repeating the mistakes of other Western leaders, past and present.Criticism for MacronIn a recent commentary for the London-based think tank, they criticized French leader Emmanuel Macron’s calls in September for Russia to be brought back into the Western fold, saying his courtship of Moscow overlooks principles and evidence, and would excuse Russia from any responsibility for the frozen conflicts triggered by the Kremlin around its periphery.President Donald Trump, right, listens as French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at their meeting at Winfield House during the NATO summit, in London, Dec. 3, 2019.”That olive branches have been extended to Vladimir Putin countless times over the past 20 years does not necessarily mean that no more should ever be forthcoming, should a future Kremlin leadership offer any meaningful concession. What it definitely does mean, however, is that the lessons need to be learned as to why they have been rebuffed hitherto: because ‘what Russia wants’ is incompatible with established Western conceptions,” Nixey and Boulègue said.Kremlin insiders also see little hope of any major improvement in relations between Moscow and Washington, although they place the blame for that on U.S. and European governments. Their assessment of future relations between Russia and the West is bleak and reflects, they say, Putin’s own appraisal.”He doesn’t think it is possible,” said an insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity.They blame the sharp slide in relations since the era of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin to the expansion of NATO eastwards to take in the former communist Baltic States. They say the final blow came with the 2013-14 Maidan unrest that led to the ouster of Putin ally Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych. The Kremlin remains adamant that the Maidan agitation was Western-fomented and not a popular uprising.The blaming of the West for the return of Cold War-like enmity, and the sense of pessimism, illustrates how difficult it will be to bridge the rift and suggests Russia’s relations with the U.S. and Europe are likely to remain antagonistic.Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin adviser, says continued antagonism invites serious danger.A so-called “political technologist” for Putin before breaking with the Russian leader in 2012 over his decision to seek a third term as president, Pavlovsky paints a picture of an insecure Kremlin that frequently improvises and bluffs and “has not inherited from the Soviet Union an instinct for understanding risk and how far you can push risks.”He added, “Putin is an improviser. And as with all improvisers, he’s an opportunist.”
 
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The U.N. Human Rights Office warns that Poland’s new law, which makes it easier to fire judges, risks further undermining the independence of the judiciary in that country. The law, which had been proposed by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party, was passed Friday by the country’s lower house of parliament.U.N. officials say the law puts further constraints on the independence of judges by restricting their fundamental rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression.  U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson Rupert Colville says judges should not be politicized and should not bring politics into the court. Nevertheless, he told VOA, just like everybody else, judges have a right to hold their own opinions and seek membership in associations of their choosing.  He noted the new law seriously restricts these activities.“Of course, the overall effect of that is really a very chilling effect on the judiciary. It is so restrictive that it may impact very much on their willingness to get involved in important and legitimate legal arguments and discussions,” he said.  Colville said the law also may prevent judges from fulfilling their legal obligations under European Union law and even from applying EU law properly.  He added it also runs astray of international human rights law.“According to the Human Rights Committee, for example, the requirement of independence in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights refers in particular to the procedure and qualifications for the appointment of judges, guarantees relating to their security of tenure until the mandatory retirement age will expire their term of office,” Colville said.Poland was elected to the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council for a two-year term beginning 2020.  As an incoming member, Colville said Poland is expected to set a high standard of compliance with international human rights law.  He said it is expected to uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world.The new law now goes to the Senate, however, the upper house cannot block the legislation, only delay it.   
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In his four-hour, stage-managed year-end news conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin went out of his way to back U.S. President Donald Trump in the impeachment saga unfolding in Washington.Lambasting American Democrats for what he termed “made-up reasons” to impeach Trump, a Republican, the Russian leader accused them of nursing a grudge over losing the 2016 presidential elections.The impeachment is “just the continuation of the domestic political strife,” Putin said. “Your members of Congress should know better.”Putin added there’s little chance the Republican-controlled Senate will remove Trump from office. He disputed a key article of impeachment against the U.S. president: that Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate a political rival, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat who is competing for his party’s 2020 presidential nomination.”The party which lost the election, the Democratic Party, is trying to achieve results by other means, first by accusing Trump of conspiring with Russia, then it turns out there has been no conspiracy,” Putin said. “This cannot be the basis of impeachment. Now they’ve invented some kind of pressure on Ukraine.”Agitation of domestic US policyMoscow-based diplomats say Putin’s defense of his American counterpart had the aim of further agitating domestic politics in the United States.”He knows full well his comments, his trolling of Democrats, is adding salt to domestic U.S. political wounds,” a Western diplomat told VOA. “The main foreign-policy aim of the Kremlin is to encourage political divisions in the West.”But Putin’s praise of Trump — and the U.S. leader’s often complimentary remarks about his Russian counterpart — have not helped to improve U.S-Russian relations, widely seen as being at their lowest point since before the Cold War ended.And few analysts and diplomats believe that will change next year, despite the overlapping views the two leaders have often expressed about Europe and NATO, or Trump’s recent suggestion that Russia be readmitted to the exclusive Group of Seven industrialized countries. The group had eight members until 2014, when Russia was disinvited over the annexation of Crimea.Russian President Vladimir Putin drives a motorbike during the Babylon’s Shadow bike show camp near in Sevastopol, Crimea, Aug. 10, 2019.Both the Kremlin and the White House have repeatedly expressed a wish to improve relations, most recently during a visit earlier this month to the U.S. capital by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.”We should have a better relationship — the United States and Russia — than we’ve had in the last few years, and we’ve been working on that,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart.CooperationHe noted U.S. and Russian law-enforcement agencies are cooperating on an almost “daily basis” on counterterrorism and counternarcotics. He said both Moscow and Washington agree there are no military solutions to the conflicts raging in Syria or Afghanistan, although they are far apart on how they can be brought to an end.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, shake hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after a media availability at the State Department in Washington, Dec. 10, 2019.For his part, Lavrov said the meetings in Washington have “confirmed that it is useful to talk to each other.” He added, “Talking to each other is always better than not talking to each other.”But both nations’ top diplomats highlighted the gulf between them on a host of issues, from Ukraine to Venezuela to arms control to Iran.And on the issue of Russian meddling in U.S. politics, the two had very different takes. “I was clear it’s unacceptable, and I made our expectations of Russia clear,” Pompeo said. Lavrov denied the Kremlin has interfered at all.With all these overhanging issues — along with what U.S. officials describe as malign Russian activities, including slayings and attempted assassinations on foreign soil of Moscow’s foes — U.S. officials are wary of even attempting a reset with Russia, fearing the effort will be as doomed as the Obama administration’s push to transform relations between the two countries. To do so would raise expectations that likely would be subsequently dashed, leaving both sides worse off and feeling aggrieved, they say.Recently, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, “It would be great if we could get Russia to behave like a more normal country. But you also can’t ignore the last many years of history where Russia has invaded Georgia. It has annexed Crimea. It is occupying parts of Ukraine. It is threatening the Baltic States.”U.S. officials aren’t alone in saying a reset gambit would be unwise. Chatham House analysts James Nixey and Mathieu Boulègue say making grand overtures toward the Kremlin would be repeating the mistakes of other Western leaders, past and present.Criticism for MacronIn a recent commentary for the London-based think tank, they criticized French leader Emmanuel Macron’s calls in September for Russia to be brought back into the Western fold, saying his courtship of Moscow overlooks principles and evidence, and would excuse Russia from any responsibility for the frozen conflicts triggered by the Kremlin around its periphery.President Donald Trump, right, listens as French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at their meeting at Winfield House during the NATO summit, in London, Dec. 3, 2019.”That olive branches have been extended to Vladimir Putin countless times over the past 20 years does not necessarily mean that no more should ever be forthcoming, should a future Kremlin leadership offer any meaningful concession. What it definitely does mean, however, is that the lessons need to be learned as to why they have been rebuffed hitherto: because ‘what Russia wants’ is incompatible with established Western conceptions,” Nixey and Boulègue said.Kremlin insiders also see little hope of any major improvement in relations between Moscow and Washington, although they place the blame for that on U.S. and European governments. Their assessment of future relations between Russia and the West is bleak and reflects, they say, Putin’s own appraisal.”He doesn’t think it is possible,” said an insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity.They blame the sharp slide in relations since the era of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin to the expansion of NATO eastwards to take in the former communist Baltic States. They say the final blow came with the 2013-14 Maidan unrest that led to the ouster of Putin ally Ukraine Presidient Viktor Yanukovych. The Kremlin remains adamant that the Maidan agitation was Western-fomented and not a popular uprising.The blaming of the West for the return of Cold War-like enmity, and the sense of pessimism, illustrates how difficult it will be to bridge the rift and suggests Russia’s relations with the U.S. and Europe are likely to remain antagonistic.Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin adviser, says continued antagonism invites serious danger.A so-called “political technologist” for Putin before breaking with the Russian leader in 2012 over his decision to seek a third term as president, Pavlovsky paints a picture of an insecure Kremlin that frequently improvises and bluffs and “has not inherited from the Soviet Union an instinct for understanding risk and how far you can push risks.”He added, “Putin is an improviser. And as with all improvisers, he’s an opportunist.”
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President Donald Trump on Friday signed off on US sanctions against companies building a Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany that Congress fears will give the Kremlin dangerous leverage over European allies.The sanctions, which are opposed by the European Union, were included in a sprawling defense spending bill Trump signed at a ceremony on Joint Base Andrews, an air force installation outside Washington, DC.They target companies building the nearly $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea with the aim of doubling deliveries of Russian natural gas to Europe’s leading economy, Germany.US lawmakers have warned the pipeline would enrich a hostile Russian government and vastly increase President Vladimir Putin’s influence in Europe at a time of heightened tension across the continent.Both houses of Congress overwhelmingly approved the sanctions, with the Senate voting Tuesday to send the measure to Trump’s desk.Trump, who has been accused by Democratic opponents of being soft on Putin, had little choice but to give his approval.The sanctions were inserted into a much wider $738 billion annual Pentagon funding bill and, given the level of congressional support, a veto would likely have been overturned.The US measures have angered Moscow and the European Union, which says it should be able to decide its own energy policies.Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, discussed the issue during a phone call Friday with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.Pompeo expressed “strong opposition” to the project, Ortagus said in a statement.The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce insisted last week that the pipeline was important for energy security and urged retaliatory sanctions against the United States if the bill passes.The US sanctions target pipe-laying vessels for Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream, a Russia-Turkey pipeline, and include asset freezes and revocation of US visas for the contractors.One major contractor that could be hit is Swiss-based Allseas, which has been hired by Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom to build the offshore section.The power of Gazprom, which is closely integrated with the Russian state, is at the center of concerns about the pipeline in the United States, and also in eastern and central European countries.Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican ally of Trump, said that halting Nord Stream 2 should be a major security priority for the United States and Europe alike.”It’s far better for Europe to be relying on energy from the United States than to be fueling Putin and Russia and dependent on Russia and subject to economic blackmail,” he told the Senate last week.However, Senator Rand Paul, another Republican, voted against the bill, objecting to its bid to “sanction NATO allies and potentially American energy companies.”
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Notre Dame kept Christmas going even during two world wars — a beacon of hope amid the bloodshed.Yet an accidental fire in peacetime  finally stopped the Paris cathedral from celebrating Midnight Mass this year, for the first time in over two centuries.As the lights stay dim in the once-invincible 855-year-old landmark, officials are trying hard to focus on the immediate task of keeping burned out Notre Dame ‘s spirit alive in exile through service, song and prayer.It has decamped its rector, famed statue, liturgy and Christmas celebrations to a new temporary home pending the restoration works, just under a mile away, at another Gothic church in Paris called Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois.And there it will remain, as works slowly progress to rebuild the cathedral after the April 15 fire destroyed its lead roof and spire  and was moments away from engulfing its two stone towers.“This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will be no midnight Mass (at Notre Dame),” cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet told The Associated Press.There was even a Christmas service amid the carnage of World War I, Chauvet noted, “because the canons were there and the canons had to celebrate somewhere,” referring to the cathedral’s clergy. During World War II, when Paris was under Nazi occupation, “there was no problem.” He said that to his knowledge, it was only closed for Christmas in the period after 1789, when the anti-Catholic French revolutionaries turned the monument into “a temple of reason.”Christmas-in-exile at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois this year will be a history-making moment.“We have the opportunity to celebrate the Mass outside the walls, so to speak… but with some indicators that Notre Dame is connected to us,” Chauvet said.Those indicators include a wooden liturgical platform that has been constructed in the Saint-Germain church to resemble Notre Dame’s own. A service will be led at midnight on Dec. 24 by Chauvet to a crowd of faithful, including many who would normally worship in the cathedral, accompanied by song from some of Notre Dame’s now-itinerant choir.The cathedral’s iconic Gothic sculpture “The Virgin of Paris,” from which some say Notre Dame owes its name, is also on display in the new annex.The 14th-century masterpiece, which measures around two meters (six feet) and depicts Mary and baby Jesus, has come to embody the officials’ message of hope following the fire.“It’s a miraculous virgin. Why? Because at the time of the fire, the vault of the cathedral completely crashed. There were stones everywhere, but she was spared. She could have naturally received the vault on her head and have been completely crushed,” Chauvet said.He recalled the moment on the night of the fire when he discovered it was saved, as he was holding hands with French President Emmanuel Macron on the cathedral’s forecourt. Around midnight as the flames subsided, they were finally let inside to look. Chauvet pointed and exclaimed to Macron: “Look at the Virgin, she is there!”He said later that Notre Dame’s workmen on the ground implored him to not remove the statue from the cathedral, saying that during the restoration “we need it. She protects us.”Chauvet said having it nearby for Christmas is comforting.“She lived very much in Notre Dame. She watched the pilgrims, all the 35,000 visitors a day … It keeps us going,” Chauvet said.Another reason for hope: Since November, after months in the dark, the facade of the cathedral is being lit up after dusk for the first time since the fire. Tourists over the festive period can now see the famed gargoyles and stone statues at night in their full illuminated splendor from the adjacent bridges, although the forecourt is still closed.Cathedral officials carefully chose Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois as the new temporary home because of its proximity to Notre Dame, just next to the Louvre, allowing ease of movement for clerics who lived near the cathedral. Also, because of its prestigious history.It was once a royal church that boasted among its faithful French kings, in the days when they lived in the nearby Louvre Palace. The kings, Chauvet explained, would simply cross the esplanade to come and attend Mass.Since September, the church has been welcoming the cathedral’s flock each Sunday.Though Notre Dame has moved liturgically to a new home, Notre Dame will always remain Paris’ cathedral so long as the bishop’s physical chair, or “cathedra” doesn’t move.Derived from the Greek word for “seat,” a cathedral’s entire identity technically boils down to the presence of a chair.“The cathedra is at the cathedral and so it remains Notre Dame Cathedral, which is the cathedral in the heart of Paris,” Chauvet said.
It is not only the faithful who have been displaced since April’s blaze.Notre Dame was home to a vibrant 160-strong choir-school, which provided singers for each of the cathedral’s some 1,000 annual services. Midnight Mass at Christmas was always a special event in the year: One of the rare times the entire choir sung together and used the cathedral’s famed acoustics to their fullest.Instead of disbanding, this now-homeless chorus of singers, ranging in age from 6 to 30, has too honed an upbeat message and decided to continue on in a divided form. Different sections of the choir put on concerts in churches, such as Saint-Eustache and Saint-Sulpice, in Paris and beyond. On Christmas Eve, its members will sing at various yuletide events, including at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, as well as, bizarrely, at the Russian Circus.But don’t mention the term choir-in-exile to one of the choir’s directors, Henri Chalet.“I’d rather use beyond the walls'...Exile’ brings it back to sadness. Obviously, there is a lot of sadness and desolation for us to no longer be in our second home. But there is also a lot of hope because it is only a phase,” Chalet said.In the grand scheme of things, five or six years of restoration for an 855-year-old cathedral “is nothing at all,” Chalet reasoned.  Macron declared in the days after the blaze it would take a mere five years to restore the cathedral — a timeline many experts deem unrealistic.Notre Dame choir singer Mathilde Ortscheidt, 29, left a little more space for melancholy as she regretted her absence at last year’s Midnight Mass.“To think that I was ill last Christmas…thinking that I would go again this year with no problem!” she said.On the first rehearsal she attended after the blaze, she said she “felt such a pain and such sadness” because the cathedral was where she began as a singer.For the singers, the unique acoustics produced by the cathedral’s massive dimensions are sorely missed.“When we balanced it right, it was the most beautiful feeling of just hearing it resonate through this enormous space,” Ortscheidt said.Despite having “to walk around a lot now,” people have got used to the choir’s new lifestyle, she said, and it was just a matter of time before there will be song in the cathedral once again.In the meantime, “the important thing for us is that we keep on singing and doing the music. That’s what brings us together.”
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British prosecutors said on Friday they had decided to charge the wife of a U.S. diplomat over a fatal car crash in England and to seek her extradition, a decision that “disappointed” Washington.Harry Dunn, 19, died after his motorcycle was in a collision with a car driven by Sacoolas near RAF Croughton, an air force base in the English county of Northamptonshire that is used by the U.S. military.Anne Sacoolas, 42, was given diplomatic immunity and left Britain shortly after the accident, setting off a dispute between London and Washington over whether she should return to face investigation.Charlotte Charles, mother of Harry Dunn, who died after his motorbike was involved in an August 2019 accident in Britain with Anne Sacoolas, wife of an American diplomat, speaks at a news conference, Oct. 14, 2019.Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday it would charge Sacoolas with causing death by dangerous driving and had started legal proceedings.But it said it was up to the Home Office (interior ministry) to decide whether to seek Sacoolas’ extradition formally through diplomatic channels.”The Director of Public Prosecutions has met with Harry Dunn’s family to explain the basis of the decision we have made following a thorough review of the evidence available,” the CPS said in a statement.The U.S. State department expressed its disappointment.”We are disappointed by today’s announcement and fear that it will not bring a resolution closer,” a State Department spokesperson said.”The United States has been clear that, at the time the accident occurred, and for the duration of her stay in the UK, the driver in this case had status that conferred diplomatic immunities.”Dunn’s case gained international prominence when his parents met U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in October, an occasion he described as “beautiful” but “sad.”Trump hoped to persuade them meet Sacoolas, who was in the building at the same time, but they declined. They want Sacoolas to return to Britain to face police questioning about the crash.Sacoolas initially cooperated with local police after the crash, but later said she had diplomatic immunity.The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The maximum jail sentence in Britain for causing death by dangerous driving is 14 years.Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, broke down in tears after finding out charges had been brought, saying it meant she had kept a promise to her son to get him justice.”We had no idea it was going to be this hard and it would take this long, but we really do feel it is a huge step towards that promise to Harry,” she told reporters.Edward Grange, a partner at the criminal law firm Corker Binning, said Sacoolas could voluntarily attend a hearing in Britain and that if she failed to appear, it could lead to an extradition request.”The prospect of an extradition request succeeding remains to be seen, particularly in light of comment from the Trump Administration that it is very reluctant to allow its citizens to be tried abroad,” he said.
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Britain’s Prince Philip, the 98-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, was taken to a hospital Friday as a precaution for treatment of an existing condition, Buckingham Palace said. 
 
Philip, whose official title is the Duke of Edinburgh, traveled from the royal family’s Sandringham home in Norfolk, eastern England, to King Edward VII Hospital in London for observation and treatment, the palace said in a statement. 
 
“The admission is a precautionary measure, on the advice of His Royal Highness’ Doctor,” it said. 
 
A royal source said it was not an emergency admission and that the prince was able to walk into the hospital. He was expected to stay there for a few days. 
 
Philip, who has been at his wife’s side throughout her record-breaking 67 years on the throne, retired from public life in August 2017, although he has occasionally appeared at official engagements since. 
 
He has not been seen in public since the wedding of Elizabeth’s first cousin once removed, Gabriella Windsor, in May at Windsor Castle, local media reported. Queen’s schedule unaffected
 
The 93-year-old queen carried out the official opening of Parliament on Thursday and Philip’s illness did not disrupt her plans as she was pictured arriving in Norfolk on Friday before heading to Sandringham, where the royal family traditionally gathers for Christmas. 
 
Philip, outspoken, irascible and intensely private, and with a reputation for brusque comments and occasional gaffes, has needed hospital treatment several times in recent years. 
 
In 2011, he spent Christmas in a hospital after an operation to clear a blocked artery in his heart, and he missed the end of celebrations to mark his wife’s 60th year on the throne in 2012 after being hospitalized with a bladder infection. 
 
The Greek-born former naval officer then underwent “an exploratory operation following abdominal investigations” in 2013. 
 
He was admitted to a hospital in 2017 for treatment for an infection, also arising from a pre-existing condition, and last year he had hip replacement surgery that required a 10-day stay. Traffic accidentIn January this year, he escaped unhurt when his Land Rover flipped over after a collision with another car near the Sandringham estate. He then had to give up his driving license after police gave him a warning for driving without wearing a seat belt two days later. 
 
Elizabeth has described Philip, whom she married at London’s Westminster Abbey in 1947, as her “strength and stay” during her long reign. The couple, whose relationship has been dramatized in the popular Netflix TV program The Crown, celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary in November. 
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The presidents of Belarus and Russia met Friday to discuss deeper economic ties between the two close allies amid mounting concerns in Minsk that Moscow ultimately wants to subdue its neighbor.The meeting in St. Petersburg is the second encounter between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko this month.Greeting Lukashenko at the start of Friday’s talks, Putin said some progress on resolving outstanding issues has been made.But Russia’s Economics Minister Maxim Oreshkin said after the talks that the parties have failed to resolve the key differences over oil and gas.Demonstrators protest closer integration with Russia, which protesters fear could erode the post-Soviet independence of Belarus, in downtown in Minsk, Belarus, Dec. 20, 2019.The negotiations have triggered opposition rallies in Belarus, where many fear that closer ties with Russia could weaken Belarus’ independence. Another protest is scheduled for Friday evening.Putin, who marks two decades in power later this month, remained coy about his political future after his current term ends in 2024.He dodged a question Thursday if he could potentially extend his rule by shifting into a new governing position to become the head of a union between Russia and Belarus.Russia and Belarus signed a union agreement in 1997 that envisaged close political, economic and military ties, but stopped short of forming a single nation.Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for more than a quarter-century with little tolerance for dissent, relies on cheap Russian energy and loans to shore up his country’s Soviet-style economy.Russian pressureThe Kremlin has recently raised pressure on Belarus, increasing energy prices and cutting subsidies. Russian officials say Minsk should accept closer economic integration if it wants to benefit from lower energy prices.In an apparent bid to win concessions, Lukashenko on Friday emphasized Belarus’ role as Russia’s military ally and security partner, an argument he has used repeatedly in the past to get more subsidies from Moscow.”We have created a single defense space and our security agencies gave worked in close contact,” Lukashenko told Putin at the start of their talks.But the Russian president has signaled that such tactics won’t work. He argued that Belarus can’t get Russia’s domestic prices for its oil and gas unless it agrees to closely coordinate economic and financial policies and create interstate structures.”It’s a huge work, and it can be done only if there is a political will shared by both sides,” Putin said at his annual news conference Thursday.
 
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