U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Turkey on Monday to stop holding up support for a NATO defense plan for the Baltics and Poland, as Ankara presses the alliance to support its fight against U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia in Syria.In an interview with Reuters ahead of the NATO summit, Esper warned Ankara that “not everybody sees the threats that they see” and added he would not support labeling the YPG as terrorists to break the impasse.He called on Ankara to focus on the larger challenges facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”The message to Turkey … is we need to move forward on these response plans and it can’t be held up by their own particular concerns,” Esper said as he flew to London.”Alliance unity, alliance readiness, means that you focus on the bigger issues — the bigger issue being the readiness of the (NATO) alliance. And not everybody’s willing to sign up to their agenda. Not everybody sees the threats that they see.”NATO envoys need formal approval by all 29 members for the plan to improve the defense of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia against any threat from neighboring Russia.The dispute, as NATO prepares to hold its 70th anniversary summit, is a sign of deep divisions between Ankara and Washington over everything from the war in Syria to Turkey’s growing defense relationship with Russia.Turkey wants NATO to formally recognize the YPG militia, the main component of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as terrorists and is infuriated that its allies have given the militia support.Ankara has blamed Washington for the current impasse, saying it was caused by the U.S. withdrawal of support from a separate defense plan for Turkey, covering any possible attack from the south where it borders Syria.Asked whether Washington might agree to branding the YPG as terrorists in order to break the deadlock, Esper said: “I wouldn’t support that.””We’re going to stick to our positions, and I think NATO will as well,” Esper said.The issue is the latest source of friction between the NATO allies, which have also been at loggerheads over Turkey’s purchase of advanced Russian air defenses, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO defenses and pose a threat to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter jets.Washington said in July it was removing Turkey from the F-35 program and has warned of possible U.S. sanctions.Two U.S. senators pressed the Trump administration on Monday to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of the Russian missile defense system and said the failure to do so sent a “terrible signal.” 
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Russia is to set up a new online site for its national encyclopedia after President Vladimir Putin said Wikipedia was unreliable and should be replaced.The move will ensure people can find “reliable information that is constantly updated on the basis of scientifically verified sources of knowledge,” a government resolution said.Putin last month proposed replacing the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia Wikipedia with an electronic version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia – the successor to the Soviet Union’s main encyclopedia.”This, at any rate, would be reliable information offered in a modern form,” Putin said then.In 2015, Russia briefly blocked the Russian-language version of Wikipedia for an article containing information on cannabis under legislation banning sites with drug-related material.Moscow has also introduced tougher online controls over the Russian segment of the internet so that it can keep on functioning even if cut off from foreign infrastructure.The Great Russian Encyclopedia is already available in a basic electronic format.The new online portal will cost about 2 billion rubles ($31 million), Sergei Kravets, an editor for the Great Russian Encyclopedia was quoted as saying on Nov. 21 by TASS news agency.The government will also set up a national research and education center for the Great Russian Encyclopedia, the resolution, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, said. 
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Six people have been indicted over the killing of moderate Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic in January 2018, the state prosecutor’s office said on Monday.Ivanovic was gunned down in front of his party office in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, in an area mainly inhabited by Kosovo’s Serb minority.The prosecution said three suspects were already in custody and international arrest warrants were issued for three others, including the two who allegedly ordered the killing.The defendants include a woman who worked as an administrator in Ivanovic’s office who is accused of helping the killers and police officers accused of hiding evidence, according to the prosecution.In its statement, the prosecutor’s office did not reveal ethnicity of those indicted, but a local prosecutor who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said all those indicted were Serbs.More than a decade since Kosovo proclaimed independence, around 40,000 to 50,000 Serbs in northern Kosovo refuse to recognize Pristina institutions and see Belgrade as their capital.Relations between Serbia and Kosovo remain strained, as Belgrade refuses to recognize the independence of its former province and, with its ally Russia, is blocking Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations. 
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Hungary’s president on Monday nominated a Budapest judge to head the country’s powerful judiciary office for the next nine years, amid concerns that nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban might be encroaching on judicial independence.President Janos Ader, a key Orban ally, proposed Gyorgy Barna Senyei, who is in charge of civil economic litigation in Hungary’s capital, to head the National Office of the Judiciary, Ader said in a posting on parliament’s website.The office decides the appointment of judges and oversees the operation of the courts.Orban has solidified his grip over most walks of Hungarian life in the past decade, leading to clashes with Western nations over the rule of law.FILE – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is seen after speaking at the National Museum in Prague, Czech Republic, Nov. 17, 2019.However, despite an overhaul in 2011 which triggered a conflict with the European Union at the time, the judiciary has remained one of the most independent bodies in Hungary.Checks and balances warningThe National Office of the Judiciary had been led by Tunde Hando, the wife of a ruling party lawmaker, until last month when she was appointed to the Constitutional Court. Orban’s critics say that court, once Hungary’s top arbiter of law, has been weakened since Orban’s Fidesz party started to appoint its members.Hando frequently clashed with the self-governing panel of judges, the National Judicial Council, which accused her of abusing her power over the appointment of new judges. Hando rejected the allegations.In April, the European Association of Judges (EAJ) visited Budapest and said in a report that Hando was in effect neutralizing the panel that was supposed to oversee her work.In a July 8 recommendation, the Council of the European Union also warned that “checks and balances, which are crucial to ensuring judicial independence, are seen to be under further pressure within the ordinary courts system. The National Judicial Council faces increasing challenges in counter-balancing the powers of the President of the National Office for the Judiciary.”Orban responseOrban has rejected allegations that his government has eroded checks and balances. He says the mandate he has received through democratic elections empowers Fidesz to change laws and appoint people to key positions.Last month, Hungary’s chief prosecutor Peter Polt, an Orban loyalist, was reappointed for a second nine-year term.Hungary and Poland’s ruling nationalist party have tightened control over the media, academics, courts and advocacy groups, spurring the European Parliament to launch an Article 7 legal process against both the EU countries.
 
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview Monday that he didn’t speak with President Donald Trump “from the position of a quid pro quo” last summer. Zelenskiy says, “That’s not my thing. . I don’t want us to look like beggars.”Trump later claimed Zelenskiy had said Trump had done nothing wrong. But Zelenskiy didn’t go that far.The Ukrainian leader spoke to Time ahead of the first round of expected peace talks with Russia Dec. 9 in Paris — the two countries have been embroiled in war along the Ukraine border for the past five years.Zelenskiy, a former comedian turned politician, has been in office for barely six months and his conversations with Trump are the topic of intense scrutiny in the U.S., with their July 25 phone call at the center of the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump.Zelenskiy was asked whether there was a connection between Trump’s decision to block military assistance to Ukraine and the two investigations he asked Zelenskiy to do. One was on possible meddling by Ukraine in the 2016 elections, the other was about the family of Democratic rival, Joe Biden.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 25, 2019.“Look I never talked to the president from the position of a quid pro quo,” Zelenskiy said. “But you have to understand. We’re at war. If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo.”Trump later told reporters as he departed Monday for London for the NATO summit that Zelenskiy’s comments should be “case closed,” mischaracterizing the interview by saying that Zelenskiy had come out and said “very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.”Zelenskiy also said when leaders like Trump call his country corrupt, it sends a concerning message.“Everyone hears that signal,” he said. “Investments, banks, stakeholders, companies, American, European, companies that have international capital in Ukraine, it’s a signal to them that says, Be careful, don't invest.' Or,Get out of there.”’When asked whether he had any trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin going into the peace talks next week, he said: “I don’t trust anyone at all.”“Politics is not an exact science,” Zelenskiy said.
 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed legislation allowing individuals to be labeled foreign agents, drawing criticism from rights groups that say the move will further restrict media freedoms in the country.An initial foreign agent law was adopted by Russia in 2012, giving authorities the power to label non-governmental organizations and human rights groups as foreign agents – a term that carries a negative Soviet-era connotations.But the expansion of the definition of foreign agent to include private individuals now raises fresh concerns about the ability of independent journalists and bloggers to operate in the country.Several rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, had called for the initiative to be dropped as it was being approved by lawmakers.Under the law, all material published by an individual who receives funds from abroad will be labeled as having been distributed by a foreign agent. The law also says that any individual who distributes foreign media could be labeled a foreign agent.Rights groups and other organizations designated by the Russian justice ministry as foreign agents can be subjected to spot checks and face bureaucratic scrutiny.Russian law also requires so-called foreign agents to submit regular reports on their funding, objectives, how they spend their money and who their managers are. 
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Amazon said Monday it has removed “Christmas ornaments” and other merchandise bearing the images of Auschwitz that had been available on its online site.Amazon said in a statement that “all sellers must follow our selling guidelines” and that those who do not will be removed.The move comes after the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum on Sunday appealed to Amazon to remove the merchandise, which also included an Auschwitz bottle opener and a Birkenau “massacre” mouse pad.It said that, “Selling ‘Christmas ornaments’ with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful.”Many others on Twitter voiced outrage.On Monday, the state memorial said it was still calling on another online outlet, Wish Shopping, to stop selling the products.Nazi Germany killed 1.1 million people at the death camp, most of them Jews, during its occupation of Poland during World War II. 
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When Usman Khan left prison last December after serving half of a 16-year sentence for his part in a plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange, and for planning to establish a terror training camp in Pakistan, he was thought to be making good progress towards being de-radicalized and was seen as a poster boy for Britain’s rehabilitation programs.Cambridge University, which ran one of the programs Khan attended, was even considering offering him a place to study.But now following 28-year-old’s dramatic knife attack Friday on London Bridge during a university-sponsored justice event, which left two people dead and three seriously injured, the early release of convicted terrorists, as well as de-radicalization programs, are coming under immediate scrutiny amid accusations that militants are gaming the rehabilitation system and hoodwinking authorities.Some criminal justice experts say Khan played the rehabilitation system cleverly to secure his release and to lull his probation officers into allowing him to travel unsupervised from his home in the English county of Staffordshire to London for the justice event, where he killed two rehabilitation tutors, 25-year-old Jack Merritt and 23-year-old Saskia Jones.“Despite the monitoring he was subjected to, he was able to convince everyone he was well on the way to being a reformed character,” according to Harry Fletcher, a criminal justice expert and campaigner for victims’ rights. Khan’s attack wasn’t opportunistic, but deliberately planned, say British counter-terror officials.With fears mounting that other recently freed terrorists may also be playing the system, a crackdown has been launched that’s likely to see a large number of them returned to prison. One of Khan’s close associates, 34-year-old Nazam Hussain, who was freed from jail the same day as the London Bridge killer, was re-arrested Sunday on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.At least 74 freed terrorists are being vetted again, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said in a broadcast interview Sunday that they all needed to be “properly invigilated so as to make sure there is no threat to the public.”Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, right, and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan take part in a vigil in memory of the attack victims, at Guildhall Yard in London, Dec. 2, 2019.Freed terrorists are required to follow a strict set of rules, including not using the Internet, not associating with former accomplices, observing a curfew and attending only approved mosques. They are required to wear electronic ankle tags so their movements can be monitored. Khan wore one during Friday’s attack which unfolded at a conference near London Bridge sponsored by Cambridge University’s “Learning Together” program, which aims to help assist in the rehabilitation of violent offenders.An election issueThe London Bridge attack, which ended after the knife-wielding Khan was confronted by conference attendees, including former offenders, and staff and shot dead by police, is dominating election campaigning with Johnson quick to go on the attack and blame previous Labour governments for the system of early release for convicted terrorists.Johnson says violent offenders “must serve every day of their sentence, with no exceptions.” He added: “If you are convicted of a serious terrorist offense, there should be a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 years – and some should never be released.”Labour politicians have hit back, saying it is recent Conservative spending cuts that are to blame and have called for a full investigation into Khan’s prison sentence and subsequent release. And Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the main opposition Labour party, says convicted terrorists should “not necessarily” automatically serve their full prison sentences. “I think it depends on the circumstances and it depends on the sentence but crucially depends on what they’ve done in prison,” Corbyn said.But amid the political party wrangling, criminal justice professionals and lawmakers who have built up expertise on de-radicalization say knee-jerk reactions and politicization of the challenge will not help improve rehabilitation programs or answer difficult questions surrounding their effectiveness and whether a militant can be de-radicalized.Police officers patrol the scene in central London, Dec. 1, 2019, after a knife attack on London Bridge.Programs’ efficacy in questionSome prison experts have warned for months about a lack of rigor with the programs but have also raised concerns about the resources being devoted to de-radicalization, arguing much more money needs to be spent. Among them, former top prosecutor Nazir Afzal, who says Friday’s terror incident could have been avoided.“What makes me angry is that for some years we have been talking to the government, not just me but many others, about these de-radicalization programs. These programs are delivered by well-meaning people on a shoe-string and are under-resourced and involve the ticking of boxes, but no ticked box has saved anybody’s life,” he says.Others say more fundamental thinking needs to be done and it is not just a question of resources. “Our judicial system isn’t able to cope. We try to rehabilitate but the two people who were killed were people who were trying to help to give this person a second life and yet he wanted to kill. We need to better understand the mindset of somebody like that,” Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative lawmaker and former army officer, told Sky News.Former prison governor, Ian Acheson, who in 2015 led an independent review of how Islamist militants are handled by the country’s prisons and probation system, says the entire system is deeply flawed, marked sometimes by naïveté and a “toxic combination of arrogance, defensiveness and ineptitude.” He complained in his report that the “screening tools to detect and programs to tackle radicalized behavior were rudimentary in-house creations with former terrorist offenders telling us how easy courses were to ‘game.’”  He argues Britain’s criminal justice system is “unsuited to managing the risk of religious extremists with a martyrdom complex coming from a moral universe far away from the professionals responsible for their management.”But writing in The Times newspaper, Acheson said “it would be a shame — possibly counterproductive — to go for the punitive response that the public will understandably demand. Few terrorists will be locked up forever and we need to ensure that those released have a chance to recant their hateful beliefs and join society again.” 
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What does Brexit have to do with Vietnam? It seems a strange question, but there are several ways that Britain’s planned divorce from the European Union would be likely to affect the Southeast Asian nation.These effects can be put in three broad categories. First, Vietnam has finished negotiating a trade agreement with the EU, but Brussels appears too preoccupied to ratify the agreement until it has tied up Brexit once and for all. Second, if Britain is out of the EU, then some European products would become more expensive, so British consumers would look for cheaper alternatives, such as from Vietnam. And third, Britain has been looking for new trade agreements to join if it is no longer in the EU bloc, and that includes joining a major agreement already signed by Vietnam.That agreement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, formerly known as the TPP, includes nations around the Asia Pacific and used to include the United States until President Donald Trump pulled the country out in 2017. When Britain first suggested the idea of joining the TPP, in 2018, it was met with a lot of raised eyebrows — Britain is not a Pacific power, after all. However, the idea subsequently received support from Japan, the TPP member with the biggest gross domestic product, which said it would welcome Britain with open arms. Vietnam is the TPP member with the lowest GDP per capita.It makes sense that Vietnam would want to do more trade with Britain, Frederick Burke, who is the managing partner of Baker & McKenzie, a law firm in Ho Chi Minh City, said at a company conference last month.“It’s a good market, it’s a good opportunity,” he said.Brexit would mean that some European products would no longer have preferential access to the British market, so Vietnam could step in and compete with those products. For instance some British business interests in Vietnam believe Vietnamese tennis shoes and garments would become competitive against Romanian products, Burke said.“The UK is not the same as the American economy but it’s about a third of that, and so it’s very substantial, second biggest economy in Europe,” he said. “So it’s a very good opportunity for Vietnam.”Finally, the third impact may not be quite as favorable to Vietnam. Efforts to finalize the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, or EVFTA, have dragged on for years. The same can be said of Brexit, which was approved in a British referendum in 2016 but has yet to happen. Brussels is far more preoccupied with Brexit than with the Vietnam agreement, so it appears that Hanoi will have to wait.Most recently, analysts expected the vote on the pact with Vietnam to happen this coming January — then again, Brexit has also been pushed to the same month. And if Brexit does not end up taking place in January, it does not look like the Vietnam vote will take place either.“Things could be delayed eventually with the delay of the Brexit, which has been extended to the end of January,” Alain Cany, who is the country chairman of Jardine Matheson Vietnam, a conglomerate that covers areas from restaurants to engineering, as well as a former chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, said. “So it [EVFTA ratification] might be postponed.”
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An Irish citizen, who converted to Islam, traveled to Syria to join Islamic State and ended up marrying a British militant, has been arrested on arrival at Dublin airport Sunday.Lisa Smith, 38, who served in the Irish Defense Forces before going to Syria, had been deported from Turkey with her 2-year-old daughter.”On her arrival in Dublin, Lisa Smith was met by An Garda Síochána,” Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said, using the Irish name for the national police force.  “This is a sensitive case and I want to reassure people that all relevant state agencies are closely involved.”Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney told Irish national broadcaster RTE that officials had been trying to repatriate Smith since learning of her presence in a refugee camp in March. He said the primary concern was for the toddler who is an Irish citizen because of her mother’s nationality. The child is now with Smith’s relatives in Dundalk.Authorities plan to question Smith extensively before deciding on what action to take. She has denied fighting for IS or training female soldiers for the militancy.Many European countries and the United States have resisted bringing back their citizens who joined Islamic State. 
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Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told the nation Sunday night that he would resign in January, following pressure from angry citizens for the truth about the 2017 car bombing that killed an anti-corruption journalist.In a televised message, Muscat said he had informed Malta’s president that he will quit as leader of the governing Labor Party on Jan. 12 and that “in the days after I will resign as prime minister.”Hours earlier, nearly 20,000 Maltese protested outside a courthouse in the capital, Valletta, demanding that he step down in the largest such turnout of nearly daily protests in recent weeks.“As prime minister, I promised two years ago that justice would be done in the case of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia,” Muscat said, beginning his speech, adding that “today I am here to tell you that I kept my word.”But the slain reporter’s family contended Muscat’s departure won’t satisfy those in the nation who are determined that corruption and cronyism between politicians and business figures be rooted out.“People will be out in the streets again tomorrow,” tweeted one of her sons, Matthew Caruana Galizia, who is also a journalist.Muscat contended that “justice is being done.”He noted that in addition to three people arrested soon after the bombing for carrying out the actual attack, now there is “someone accused of being the principal person behind this killing.”A photo shows a TV set broadcasting an address to the nation by Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, in Valetta, Malta, Dec. 1, 2019.Muscat was referring to prominent Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech, who on Saturday night, was arraigned on charges of alleged complicity in the killing and of allegedly organizing and financing the bombing. Fenech entered pleas of innocence.Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri was allegedly linked to the killing. Schembri was among government members targeted by Caruana Galizia’s investigative reporting. Schembri, who resigned last week, was arrested in the probe but later released. He denies wrongdoing.The prime minister said the investigation continues.The slain reporter had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles on the European Union nation, an attractive financial haven for many investors.Among her targets were those in Muscat’s political inner circle, including those in his Cabinet. Caruana Galizia was the subject of lawsuits by some of her subjects, including in government. While many celebrated her as an anti-corruption champion, some on the island whose dealings she exposed scorned her work.“I reiterate my deepest regret that a person, who, with all her positive and negative qualities and contribution toward the democracy of our country, was killed in such a brutal way,” Muscat said.“The sensations of genuine sadness and anger for this murder are justified. And I will never accept that someone conveys a signal that in any way he or she is justifying this murder,” the prime minister said.Muscat used his speech to praise his tenure’s achievements, including strong economic growth and civil rights, including legalized marriage and adoption for same-sex couples.Referring to the reporter’s slaying, the prime minister said, “This case cannot define everything that our country is and what we have accomplished together.”The political opposition seized on the resentment toward the government tangible in the protests.“Muscat does not understand the anger of the people,” said Adrian Delia, leader of the opposition Nationalist Party. Nor does he understand “political responsibility,” Delia contended.FILE – People look at the makeshift memorial to assassinated anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on the Great Siege Monument after the police blocked off access to it, in Valletta, Malta, April 22, 2018.“He did not understand that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder took place because of the sluggishness of our institutions,” Delia said after Muscat’s speech.European Parliament lawmakers are due to visit Malta in coming days, amid concerns about the functioning of rule of law on the Mediterranean island nation.Muscat struck a defensive note, saying, “Our institutions are strong, and they function.”Labor has a comfortable majority in Parliament, indicating that a new party leader could become premier without the need for a national election. That could thwart the opposition conservative party’s hopes to rule the nation.Muscat, first elected as prime minister in 2013, is serving his second term.Fenech had requested immunity from prosecution promising to reveal information about government officials. His bid for immunity was rejected first by Muscat on his own and later by Muscat’s Cabinet.Participants in Sunday’s protest carried photos of the slain journalist as well as placards with the last words she wrote on her blog shortly before getting into her car, which was blown up near her home. “The situation is desperate,” she had written referring to what she unearthed with her digging into suspected widespread corruption in Malta’s political and business circles. On the placards, protesters added the word “still” before “desperate.”Affixed to the courthouse gates were copies of a photo of Schembri posing the alleged middleman was unclear where and when the photo was taken.The alleged go-between, Melvin Theuma recently was granted immunity from the prosecution in exchange for giving details on who was behind the bombing.Also angering Muscat’s opponents was the reinstatement on Sunday of Chris Cardona as economy minister. Cardona had suspended himself last week after being questioned by the police investigating the murder. Like Schembri, Cardona has always insisted he is extraneous to the case.
 
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A passenger bus plunged off a bridge onto a frozen river in Siberia on Sunday, killing 19 of the more than 40 people on board, authorities said.A tire on the bus burst as it was crossing the bridge over the Kuenga river in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.The vehicle, which was traveling from Sretensk to Chita and carried 40 passengers, skidded off the road and onto the ice.”Nineteen people died and 21 received various injuries,” the office of the governor of the Zabaikalsky region said in a statement.Two preschool-aged children were reportedly among the dead.National television broadcast footage of the mangled wreckage of the bus, which lay upside down on the snow-covered ice surrounded by ambulances and fire engines.Nineteen people including a 12-year-old girl were hospitalized.More than 70 people and two helicopters with medics were involved in the rescue operation, officials said.Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told his deputy Tatyana Golikova to do everything to help the families of the victims, the government said.”The head of government expressed condolences to the families of those who died,” the government said in a statement.The Investigative Committee, which probes serious incidents, said it had opened a criminal inquiry into a possible violation of traffic safety rules.The head of the powerful Investigative Committee, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, demanded a “detailed investigation” into the deadly accident.Officials said the driver — who died in the crash — had years of experience.Local authorities launched a crowd-funding campaign to help the victims and their families.Road accidents are common in Russia, often due to alcohol, the poor state of roads and failure to observe traffic rules.However, the number of road deaths has gone down in recent years, to around 20,000 per year.  
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President Donald Trump is heading to London this week to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Leaders Meeting. Forged at the start of the Cold War, NATO is celebrating its 70th anniversary and the summit is designed to affirm the strength of the alliance. But European leaders are bracing for Trump ahead of the meeting as they continue to question Washington’s commitment to NATO. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report from London. 
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The devastating impact of global warming that threatens humanity is a pushback from Nature under assault, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned Sunday ahead of a key climate conference.”For many decades the human species has been at war with the planet, and now the planet is fighting back,” he said, decrying the “utterly inadequate” efforts of the world’s major economies to curb carbon pollution. “We must stop our war against nature, and science tells us we can do it.”Guterres flagged a U.N. report to be released in a few days confirming the last five years are the warmest on record, with 2019 likely to be the second hottest ever.”Climate-related disasters are becoming more frequent, more deadly, more destructive,” he said on the eve of the 196-nation COP25 climate change talks in Madrid.Every year, air pollution associated with climate change kills seven million people, he noted, adding that human health and food security are at risk.The U.N. chief’s comments were clearly aimed at the handful of countries responsible for more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions, though he did not call them out by name.President Donald Trump has set in motion the process that would see the United States withdraw from the Paris deal by the end of the year, and other major emitters — China, India, Russia and Brazil — have given scant indication that they will deepen their commitments.Guterres singled out the European Union as playing a constructive role, saying the 28-nation bloc could help lead the way towards a net-zero global economy by 2050.The Paris Agreement calls for capping global warming at under two degrees Celsius, and 1.5C if feasible.But current national pledges — if carried out — would see global temperatures rise by at least 3C, a recipe for human misery, according to scientists.Despite growing public pressure, the 12-day negotiating session is likely to remain technical in nature, focused on finalizing the “rulebook” for the Paris Agreement, which becomes operation at the end of next year.Climate change is no longer a long-term problem, Guterres said.”We are confronted now with a global climate crisis and the point of no return is no longer over the horizon — it is in sight and hurtling towards us.” 
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Congolese dancing and singing enlivened St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, as Pope Francis celebrated a special mass for Catholics from the violence-wracked African nation and denounced arms suppliers for helping to fuel the conflict.
The whoops of joy and the chorus of rhythmically-swaying Congolese approaching the altar with symbolic gifts at the mass’ offertory section made for vivid contrast with the solemnity of most religious ceremonies at the Vatican basilica.
Francis decided to celebrate the mass to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic Congolese Community in Rome.
The mass was conducted using a special rite approved by the Vatican in 1988 entitled the “Congolese Missal for the dioceses of Zaire,” the former name of Congo. The Vatican noted that Popes Paul VI and John Paul II had encouraged, as the Vatican put it, “opening the liturgy to the cultural values of the people” of Congo.
In his homily, Francis prayed that conflict cease, noting that peace was “gravely threatened in the east of the country.” He decried weapon suppliers, lamenting “conflicts fed by those enriching themselves with arms.”
Recently, rebels in eastern Congo have targeted Ebola response workers, compounding difficulties in containing the outbreak.
Francis noted that many in the pews Sunday had left their homes and loved ones to come to Italy in search of a better life. In an apparent reference to hostility by many Italians to arriving refugees and migrants, the pope said: “The church is the house of God. Here, then, always feel at home.”
Francis’ expressed desires to visit Congo as well as South Sudan have so far been thwarted by persistent violence in those countries. He recently said he hoped to visit South Sudan in 2020 if conditions permit a pilgrimage.
At Mass’ end, a Congolese nun, Sister Rita Mboshu Kongo praised Francis for showing “fatherly attention and a great openness for the churches that are on the peripheries” and for his “constant worry” about migrants, the poor and others on society’s margins.
The nun decried what she called “total silence on the global lev to the killings of some six million Congolese people in the last 20 years” in conflict and turmoil.
Some of the Congolese faithful in the basilica “don’t know where their relatives are, don’t know if they are alive or dead,” Sister Mboshu Kongo told the pope.    
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Environment ministers and experts from nearly 200 countries meet in Madrid Monday for annual United Nations climate talks. Presided by Chile and hosted by Spain, the so-called Cop 25 follows a raft of alarming studies — and real-life evidence — of climate change’s potentially catastrophic fallout. From the Spanish capital, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA this might be the last year the U.S. is part of the talks.
 
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Representatives of nearly 200 countries begin annual climate talks in Madrid Monday, shadowed by alarming evidence of a deepening climate crisis and the looming exit of the United States from a global pact to fight it.A pair of grim United Nations reports published in recent days underscore the scope and real-life impact of insufficient climate action — underscored by global protests Friday in the latest show of people power.“Climate change is becoming real in ways people hadn’t imagined earlier,” said Simon Buckle, climate change head at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). “Maybe they were thinking the impacts would be a long way in the future. They’re not; they’re here.”Presided over by Chile, which bowed out of hosting the meeting after social unrest at home, this latest meeting — known by its acronym COP 25 — aims to finalize rules for implementing the 2015 Paris climate pact.Environmentalists hope it will also set the stage for countries to beef up their greenhouse gas-cutting commitments at next year’s conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow.WATCH: 195 Nations Meet in Madrid for Climate Talks
195 Nations Meet in Madrid for Climate Talks video player.
FILE – Bundled up against cool temperatures, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks to several thousand people at a climate strike rally, Oct. 11, 2019, in Denver. The rally was staged in Denver’s Civic Center Park.Hitting homePeople have also taken to the streets in record numbers this past year, demanding climate action. Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion are becoming household names, while clean energy use is growing rapidly on the back of plummeting costs.“We’re seeing increased attention to this crisis,” Waskow, of WRI, said. “People are seeing ways in which hurricanes, floods and droughts are really affecting them. They’re waking up to that and need to see change.”Environmentalists point to other positive signals. Last month, the European Investment Bank announced it would no longer finance fossil fuel projects by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, new EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a “Green Deal” plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions regionally by 2050.To be effective, governments must craft climate policies that focus on broader social well-being, Buckle, of OECD, said.“We’ve got to stop thinking that this is an environmental problem,” he said. “This is a fundamental problem for our whole way of development.”So far this year, dozens of countries have promised more ambitious commitments to cutting greenhouse gases. But together, they account for only a small share of global emissions.“We really need the big players to do their part,” Waskow said. “This is really where the rubber is going to meet the road.”
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Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael party failed to win any of the four by-elections held to fill parliamentary vacancies Saturday, a blow ahead of a general election he plans to hold in the next six months.The governing center-right party had held one of the seats left empty after four lawmakers successfully ran for European elections in May. Its main rival Fianna Fail captured two of the seats, a gain of one, while left-wing Sinn Fein and the Green Party added a lawmaker each in the 158-seat Irish parliament.The Fine Gael-led minority government has ruled through a cooperation deal with Fianna Fail that they extended last year as the uncertainty created by Britain’s protracted exit from the European Union kept either side from calling an election.Both have identified the second quarter of 2020 as their preferred date to go to the polls again and, with the two dominant parties of Irish politics closely matched in most opinion polls, whoever edges it will likely lead another minority government.A boost for rivalsWhile a gain was good news for center-right Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein’s win in one of two Dublin contests was also a welcome boost for Ireland’s third-largest party whose political ascent suffered a major setback at local elections in May. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail both refuse to govern with Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), meaning the resurgent Greens could decide whether Varadkar or Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin heads up the next minority administration if little divides their parties.The Green Party’s first-ever by-election win followed a strong showing at European and local polls in May, part of a growing trend for environmental parties around many parts of Europe with climate change becoming a top concern.Not a fatal day“All round it’s probably not a good day for the government but not fatal, governments do tend to lose these by-elections but it does call into question the wisdom of having four by-elections possibly just a few months before a general election, because the momentum is with other parties now,” said Theresa Reidy, a politics lecturer at University College Cork.“In a general election, though, we will still be looking at Leo Varadkar versus Micheal Martin for who will be Taoiseach (prime minister).”
 
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Apple says it will reevaluate how it identifies “disputed borders” after receiving criticism for displaying Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia on maps and weather apps for Russian users. 
 
Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Reuters on Friday that the U.S. technology giant was “taking a deeper look at how we handle disputed borders.” 
 
Muller said Apple made the change for Russian users because of a new law that went into effect inside Russia and that it had not made any changes to its maps outside the country. Review of law
 
“We review international law as well as relevant U.S. and other domestic laws before making a determination in labeling on our maps and make changes if required by law,” she told Reuters. 
 
Muller added that Apple “may make changes in the future as a result” of its reevaluation of the policy, without being specific. 
 
Russian and Ukrainian embassies in the United States did not immediately return requests for comment. 
 
When using the apps from the United States, Ukraine, and in parts of Europe, no international borders are shown around the peninsula. 
 
After the reports surfaced of the appearance of Crimea as part of Russia, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington told RFE/RL that it had sent a letter to Apple explaining the situation in Crimea and demanding that it correct the peninsula’s designation. 
 
It also said on Twitter that “let’s all remind Apple that #CrimeaIsUkraine and it is under Russian occupation — not its sovereignty.” 
 
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko tweeted, “Apple, please, please, stick to high-tech and entertainment. Global politics is not your strong side.” Applause from Russia
 
Vasily Piskarev, who chairs the Russian State Duma’s Committee on Security and Corruption Control, welcomed Apple’s move, saying, “They have brought [their services] in line with Russian law.” 
 
“The error with displaying Crimean cities on the weather app has been eliminated,” Piskarev told reporters. 
 
Competitor Google Maps has designated Crimea differently over the years depending on the user’s location, listing it as Russian for Russian users and Ukrainian for most others. 
 
“We make every effort to objectively depict the disputed regions, and where we have local versions of Google Maps, we follow local legislation when displaying names and borders,” a Google spokesperson told Tech Crunch magazine. Troops entered in 2014
 
Russia took control of Crimea in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. 
 
Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. 
 
The international community does not recognize Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, and the United States and European Union have slapped sanctions on Russia over its actions against Ukraine. 
 Reuters and the Crimea Desk of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian service contributed to this report. 
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Maltese prosecutors on Saturday charged a prominent local businessman as being an accomplice to the murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a 2017 car bombing on Malta. 
 
Yorgen Fenech, a Maltese hotelier and director of the Maltese power company, was also charged in the evening courtroom hearing with being an accomplice to causing the explosion that killed the 53-year-old reporter as she drove near her home. 
 
Magistrate Audrey Demicoli asked Fenech to enter pleas. He replied that he was pleading innocent, and he was remanded in custody. MaltaThe reporter’s family has alleged that Fenech has ties to close associates of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, including his recently resigned chief of staff. 
 
It wasn’t immediately clear if Muscat might resign amid increasing calls by citizens on the island, including Caruana Galizia’s family, for him to step down. Muscat, in power since 2013, has said he will speak after the investigative case is complete. 
 
“What we now expect is the prime minister to leave office and to leave Parliament,” Corinne Vella, one of the slain reporter’s sisters, told The Malta Independent after the arraignment of Fenech. Investigations urgedVella also called for Muscat as well as his former chief of staff, Keith Schembri. to be “properly investigated” for their “possible involvement in Daphne’s assassination.” 
 
Schembri quit his government post a few days earlier. He had been taken into custody for questioning but was later released. 
 
Two of Muscat’s ministers also were questioned and have resigned. They, along with Schembri, have said they are innocent of wrongdoing. 
 
Caruana Galizia wrote shortly before her death that corruption was everywhere in political and business circles in the tiny EU nation. 
An alleged go-between in the bombing has received immunity from prosecution for alerting authorities to Fenech’s purported involvement. 
 
Three men have been in jail as the alleged bombers, but no trial date for them has been set. 
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Climate activists protested at open-pit coal mines in eastern Germany, pouring onto the premises to urge the government to immediately halt the use of coal to produce electricity.The news agency dpa reported that police estimated more than 2,000 people took part Saturday at sites near Cottbus and Leipzig and that some of the demonstrators scuffled with police. Three officers were reported slightly injured at the Janschwaelde mine near Cottbus. The mine operators, Leag und Mibrag, filed police reports asking for an investigation and possible charges.Burning coal releases carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed by scientists for global warming. The German government plans to end the use of coal by 2038 and spend 40 billion euros ($44 billion) on assistance for the affected mining regions.
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The search and rescue operation for earthquake survivors in Albania has ended, Prime Minister Edi Rama said Saturday.The small town of Thumane, experienced the highest death toll from Tuesday’s quake with 26 people killed, six of whom belonged to one family, and all but one under age 30. They were buried Friday.In the port city of Durres – 30 kilometers west of the capital, Tirana — the quake killed 24.  One person also died in Kurbin.In all, 51 people died, including seven children. Nine-hundred were injured.  More than 5,000 people are without shelter; and 1,200 buildings were destroyed in the 6.4-magnitude quake and the aftershocks that followed.  
 Relatives surround some of the coffins during the funeral of six members of the Cara family, killed during an earthquake that shook Albania, in Thumane, Albania, Nov. 29, 2019.Seismologist Rexhep Koci told VOA that while there is the likelihood for more aftershocks, but they would be weaker.Neighboring countries provide assistanceThe European Union sent crews to help with search and rescue immediately following the quake and now the Albanian government has asked for experts to help assess the damage.
 Volunteers distribute food at a makeshift camp in Durres, after an earthquake shook Albania, November 29, 2019.EU Ambassador to Albania Luigi Soreca said Friday that the European Union and its member states are standing with Albania and working nonstop to provide assistance “in this very difficult moment.”
 
“It is a week of deep sorrow and tragedy for Albania,” Soreca said in a statement. “Our heartfelt condolences go once again to the Albanian people and especially to the families, friends and communities of those who have lost their lives.”More than 200 military troops from Albania, Kosovo, Italy, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, France, Turkey, Switzerland, Romania, North Macedonia, the EU and the United States, participated in the search and rescue operation.People spontaneously came from Kosovo, operating mobile kitchens, gathering donations and opening their homes. About 500 homeless Albanians are staying in a camp set up by Kosovo’s government in the city of Prizren. On Friday alone, individuals and businesses from Kosovo delivered 100 tons of much needed necessities.Remembering victimsTirana residents turned out in the city center to honor the victims, placing candles in a makeshift memorial near the statue of Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg.
Vigil for quake victims in Tirana, Nov 29 video player.
Embed” />Copy LinkVigil for quake victims in TiranaThe state of emergency declared Wednesday for Durres and Thumane was extended to the heavily damaged town of Lac. Prime Minister Rama said he made the decision after opposition leader Lulzim Basha suggested it. Rama appeared to put on hold the acrimony often on display between the two political rivals.“In this case, our concerns and ideas converge,” Rama said, inviting the opposition to participate in the Committee for Earthquake Relief.
 
For Rama, the tragedy hit close to home as his office confirmed that among the dead was his son Gregor’s fiance, Kristi Reci, whose entire family — both parents and her brother — died in Durres.A rescue dog is seen on a collapsed building in Durres, after an earthquake shook Albania, November 29, 2019.Physician Shkelqime Ladi said doctors are on hand to help with immediate needs.
 
“We are focusing more on the psychological aspect of the affected. Their psychological state is aggravated,” she told VOA in Lac.
 
The earthquake struck two days before Albania’s 107th independence day. There was no celebration, but a show of solidarity gave solemnity to the day.
 
Albanian President Ilir Meta and Prime Minister Rama, who have been fighting bitterly over political matters, appeared together in Vlora Thursday.Independence Day coincided this year with the U.S. Thanksgiving Day, and many Albanian Americans rallied to collect donations, holding several fundraisers to help one of the poorest countries in Europe.
 
“I am so heartbroken for my people back home, for those who have lost lives and loved ones,” New York City Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj, an Albanian American, told VOA.
 
Marko Kepi, of the Albanian American organization Albanian Roots, organized a fundraiser that raised close to $1 million in less than a day.
 
“This fundraiser is simply to help those who have lost their homes and to help those families who lost their loved ones, do whatever we can so they can have some sort of peace of mind, that they are not alone, they have support and they are not going to be left out in the street,” he said.Armand Mero reported from Tirana, Ilirian Agolli reported from Durres, Pellumb Sulo reported from Lac.  
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people convicted of terrorism offenses should not be allowed out of prison early after it was revealed the London Bridge attacker was released from jail last year before the end of his sentence.Wearing a fake suicide vest and wielding knives, Usman Khan went on the rampage on Friday afternoon at a conference on criminal rehabilitation beside London Bridge.“I think that the practice of automatic, early release where you cut a sentence in half and let really serious, violent offenders out early simply isn’t working, and you’ve some very good evidence of how that isn’t working, I am afraid, with this case,” Johnson said on Saturday.
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British security officials said police are not looking for any more suspects in the stabbing attack in London Friday that killed two people and left three victims in the hospital.London police were called to Fishmongers’ Hall, at the north end of London Bridge, in the early afternoon where Cambridge University was holding a symposium on prisoner rehabilitation entitled “Learning Together.”The BBC reports that the suspect, 28-year-old Usman Khan, who had been convicted in 2012 on terrorism offenses and was released on probation in December 2018, attended the event and began his blitz inside the building before moving onto London Bridge, where he was confronted and killed after stabbing several people.Police say the knife-welding Khan was wearing a fake suicide device when he began his attack.A number of civilians apparently fought Khan, tackling him and snatching the knife away from him.Amateur video posted on Twitter shows police converging on the London Bridge struggle and an individual being dragged off by police. Police then shot Khan dead at close range.A police officer patrols the site of the deadly stabbings at London Bridge, in London, Nov. 30, 2019.Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu of London’s Metropolitan Police told reporters the incident has been deemed a terrorist attack.British media, citing unnamed government sources, said Khan had links to Islamic extremist groups. Officials would not confirm the information. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, however, said: “It is a mistake to allow serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early, and it is very important that we get out of that habit.”He tweeted earlier that anyone responsible for the attack will be “hunted down and will be brought to justice.”London Mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the incident. Speaking outside Scotland Yard, the mayor appealed to Londoners to remain united in the face of terrorism. He said, “Those who seek to attack us and divide us will never succeed.”The mayor also praised the “breathtaking heroism” of the civilians and the first responders who ran toward danger “not knowing what confronted them,” calling them “the very best of our humanity.”
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