Pope Francis on Monday replaced the head of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency amid continuing fallout from a controversial Vatican police raid on the agency’s offices that jeopardized the Holy See’s international financial reputation.Francis thanked Rene Bruelhart for his work as president of the Financial Intelligence Authority as his term ended. The Vatican said the replacement’s name would be released next week.The AIF board had given its full support to AIF’s management after the Oct. 1 raid, which was sparked by a police investigation into a Vatican real estate deal in London.But even with that vote of support, international damage to the Holy See’s reputation was done.AIF works with financial intelligence units around the world in the fight against money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes. Officials expressed alarm that countries could be less willing to share confidential information with AIF in the future if that could so easily end up in the hands of Vatican police.FILE – Rene Bruelhart, president of the Vatican Financial Information Authority, right, and Tommaso Di Ruzza, director of the Vatican Financial Information Authority, talk to the media at the Vatican, April 28, 2016.According to the search warrant, which was seen by The Associated Press, Vatican prosecutors only alleged that the AIF’s actions in the real estate operation were “not clear” and faulted its director, Tommaso Di Ruzza, for being in contact with a London law firm.Prosecutors appeared to have misunderstood that AIF was working with Britain’s financial intelligence unit to try to catch the businessmen who were fleecing the Holy See in the real estate deal.The Vatican’s secretariat of state had put 150 million euros into the luxury apartment building in London’s tony Chelsea neighborhood, only to see tens of millions end up in the pockets of middlemen who were managing the venture.The secretariat of state in 2018 decided to buy the building outright while working with British authorities to nab the middlemen. But internally, the Vatican bank and auditor general’s office raised an alarm with Vatican prosecutors that the buyout looked suspicious, sparking the raids on AIF and the secretariat of state.As a result, the Vatican investigation appears more the result of an internal turf battle — between the Vatican bank on one side, and the secretariat of state and AIF on the other — over the secretariat of state’s sizeable financial assets, which are kept outside the bank and off the Vatican’s balance sheet.The Swiss-born Bruelhart, dubbed the 007 of anti-money laundering efforts by some media, had joined the Vatican in 2012 to help turn around its reputation as a scandal-marred offshore tax haven. Under his leadership, the Vatican won coveted membership in the Egmont Group, which groups financial information agencies from 130 countries to share information in the global fight against money laundering and terror financing.Then-Pope Benedict XVI created AIF in 2010 as part of the Vatican’s push to comply with international norms to fight money laundering.Bruelhart’s departure, coupled with the continued suspension of the AIF’s director di Ruzza, means that the AIF is without a leader going into a crucial period of consultations with Moneyval evaluators ahead of a regularly scheduled on-site visit early next year.
 
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The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Monday that Iran’s stock of heavy water for reactors has surpassed the limit set under its agreement with world powers.The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that Iran’s heavy water production plant was in operation and that its stock of heavy water reserves was 131.5 tons, above the 130-ton limit.”On 17 November, the Agency verified that the Heavy Water Production Plant (HWPP) was in operation and that Iran’s stock of heavy water was 131.5 metric tonnes,” an IAEA spokesperson said.It was the first time the agency has recorded a volume greater than the level agreed upon as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached in 2015 with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States and the European Union.The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from it in May last year, after which Iran began reducing its commitments in a bid to win concessions from those still party to the accord.Heavy water is not itself radioactive but is used by some nuclear reactors to absorb neutrons from nuclear fission.Heavy water reactors can be used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons as an alternative to enriched uranium.Earlier this month meanwhile, the IAEA reported that uranium particles had been detected at an undeclared site in Iran.The report also confirmed that Iran has ramped up uranium enrichment, in breach of the 2015 deal, feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into previously mothballed enrichment centrifuges at the underground Fordow plant south of Tehran.Since September, Iran has also been producing enriched uranium at a known facility in Natanz.It has exceeded a 300-kilogram limit on stocks of enriched uranium and has breached a uranium enrichment cap of 3.67 percent.At 4.5 percent, the level nonetheless remained well below the more than 90-percent level required for a nuclear warhead.
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Riot police in Tbilisi have begun using water cannons and launching volleys of tear gas at protesters who were blocking the entrance to parliament until early elections are called.Hundreds of demonstrators were gathered for a fourth day on Monday to protest parliament’s rejection of constitutional amendments on the transition to a proportional electoral system when riot police moved in.Live broadcasts from the scene showed demonstrators huddled in large groups as they were sprayed with water.The move appeared to have little immediate effect, and soon after clouds of tear gas could be seen wafting through the area and large groups of riot police slowly moved forward on the crowd, forcing many protesters to retreat.The rally “has gone beyond the law,” the Interior Ministry said earlier in the day in a statement.Concern that the protest could spill over into violence has risen among Western diplomats.On November 17, the United States and the European Union called on the Georgian government, political parties, and civil society to engage in a “calm and respectful dialogue” over the snap elections.Changing the system from a mixed system to a proportional one from 2020 was one of the demands of thousands of demonstrators who rallied for weeks in Tbilisi in June and July.The legislature currently has proportional representation for about half of the body’s seats.Opposition parties say the current electoral system unfairly favors the ruling Georgian Dream party.The Georgian Dream party, including its billionaire founder and leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, backed the accelerated reforms, but the measure still failed to pass.That prompted some lawmakers, including Deputy Speaker Tamar Khangoshvili, to resign from the party.Nonetheless, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, who is also the Georgian Dream general secretary, said voters should wait to voice their opinions at the ballot box.”It’s less than a year before an election. Accordingly, we are no longer going to consider any new initiative in connection with the election system. Elections will be held in constitutional terms, with the highest democratic standard and with a high inclusion of society,” he said.”Therefore, we urge opponents to prepare for the elections and not to blame the lack of popular support for the electoral system,” the former international football star added.The EU delegation to Georgia and the U.S. Embassy said in a joint statement on November 17 that they “recognize the deep disappointment of a wide segment of Georgian society at the failure of Parliament to pass the constitutional amendments.”The halting of the transition to proportional elections “has increased mistrust and heightened tensions between the ruling party and other political parties and civil society,” the statement said.The vote has also prompted criticism from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). 
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry says three Ukrainian naval ships that were seized in a shooting confrontation nearly a year ago have been returned.
                   
The two gunboats and a tug were taken by the Russian coast guard on Nov. 25, 2018, as they passed through the Kerch Strait that connects the Black Sea with the Azov Sea, en route to their home port in Mariupol.
                   
The Kerch Strait runs between mainland Russia and Russia-annexed Crimea. Russia claimed the ships violated procedures for transiting the strait.
                   
The Russian coast guard fired shots and seized 24 Ukrainian sailors. The sailors were detained for 10 months and returned home in September as part of a prisoner exchange.
                   
A Russian ministry statement said the ship handover took place Monday but did not give further details.
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Heavy police presence in Athens appeared to have prevented serious clashes Sunday with anarchists and other extreme leftists on the 46th anniversary of a student uprising against the then-ruling Greek military dictatorship.Over 20,000 people made the traditional march from the National Technical University of Athens, site of the 1973 uprising, to the U.S. Embassy on Sunday.Police said about 10,000 people participated in a Communist Party rally and a further 1,000 marched with the formerly ruling leftist Syriza party, both separate from the main march with over 10,000 participants. Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras started the march with Syriza but left before the halfway point.Police say they arrested 28 people in clashes after the march, mostly in the Exarchia neighborhood near the university, and detained a further 13.A recent crackdown by the conservative government on extreme leftist activity in Exarchia, a known anarchist haven and counterculture center, and another nearby university, the Athens University of Economics and Business, had raised fears of possible heavy clashes. More than 5,000 officers were deployed, focused on preventing rioters from occupying the rooftops of apartment buildings and hurling firebombs and rocks into the streets below, as happened two years ago.Police tactics appeared to have worked, and the first six arrests, shortly after the march, were of people who had sneaked firebombs, rocks, gas masks and other paraphernalia onto a rooftop close to Exarchia’s main square.There were reports of police violence, including from a news site reporter who said he was attacked while filming riot police pursuing protesters. He appeared in a video with his face bruised.Clashes with police also took place in the northern city of Thessaloniki, again after marches in which almost 10,000 took part, as well as in other Greek cities.In Thessaloniki, vehicles were set on fire. Police said they detained 14 people in Thessaloniki and 17 in two other Greek cities. They said 2 police officers were injured, but did not specify the city.
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Pope Francis hosted 1,500 poor and needy people for lunch on Sunday at the Vatican. Earlier he celebrated Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica to mark World Day of the Poor.Some 150 round tables were prepared in the large Vatican hall where the pope normally holds his indoor audiences with the faithful during the winter months.  There he hosted lunch for poor people, including migrants and about 50 volunteers who work with the needy.Before lunch was served, the pope thanked all those present and asked God to bless them and their families. The menu for all the pope’s guests was lasagne, chicken with cream of mushroom sauce and potatoes, dessert, fruit and espresso coffee. Elsewhere in Rome, another 1,500 needy people were also served lunch and in many parishes.Earlier on Sunday the pope celebrated a special mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica to raise awareness about the poor in the world. The mass was attended by the poor and the volunteers who later lunched with the pope. During the service, Pope Francis said the poor “facilitate our access to heaven” and described them as “the treasure of the Church.”People wait for Pope Francis arrival for a lunch in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Nov. 17, 2019.Francis encouraged the faithful not to feel annoyed when the poor knock on our doors, but to welcome them and help them as much as possible.”How many elderly, babies, disabled and poor people are considered useless”, the pope said in his homily adding that “we go our way in haste, without worrying that gaps are increasing, that the greed of a few is adding to the poverty of many others.”The pope told the faithful to ask themselves the questions: “Do I help someone who has nothing to give me in return? Do I, as Christian, have at least one poor person as a friend?”The pope, who chose the name Francis after the saint of the poor, has focused his attention on the world’s marginalized since the start of his papacy. 
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A senior official from Britain’s main opposition Labour Party says that leaks from a parliamentary report on Russian interference in British politics raises important questions about the fairness of next month’s general election.An 18-month-long investigation by the British parliament’s cross-party intelligence committee has concluded Russian meddling may have impacted Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, though the panel couldn’t decide how much it affected the vote. The leak of the report’s conclusion, published in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, is adding to pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to publish the full findings of the inquiry before Britons head to the polls on December 12.Emily Thornberry, Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson, said the disclosure that Russian meddling may have distorted the Brexit vote raises questions about how next month’s election can be safeguarded. “If it is correct that our security services have been unable to reach a conclusion about the extent or impact of Russian interference in the 2016 referendum, then it raises serious questions which require serious answers,” she said.If the report is not immediately published by Johnson “people will rightly continue to ask: what is he trying to hide from the British public and why,” she added.Opponents have accused the government of sitting on the report by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), despite the fact that the country’s security services have cleared it for publication. Witnesses who testified to the panel say the report will contain embarrassing disclosures about the funding of the ruling Conservatives by London-based Russian oligarchs tied to the Kremlin or Russian intelligence agencies.FILE – Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, addresses media following pre-inquest review, London, Dec. 13, 2012.The delay in publishing the report could well become the subject of at lest one court action this week, and possibly more. Lawyers acting for the widow of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent and Russian dissident who was murdered with a radioactive isotope in 2006, sent Johnson a letter last week saying she planned to take legal action unless the report’s findings are released in full ahead of the election. An official British inquiry concluded Litvinenko was murdered on the orders of the Kremlin.Marina Litvinenko’s says there’s “profound public interest in the information being disclosed to the public, so they are fully informed of the extent of Russian interference in British politics before they go to the polls on 12 December 2019.”An urgent legal challenge is also being planned to force the government’s hand by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which has written to Downing Street demanding publication. Lawyers for the bureau are planning to ask for a judicial reviewRachel Oldroyd, managing editor of the bureau, said in a statement: “The absolute minimum voters in any democratic election should expect is the knowledge that the previous election was fair and free of outside interference. British voters are being denied that.”Security minister Brandon Lewis told Sky News Sunday that the report couldn’t be published during the election campaign, which officially got underway last week, because of rules which restrict government announcements during the run-up to a general election.“We want to make sure, particularly where national security is involved, we go through that process properly and thoroughly,” he said. “We can’t publish things during the general election … but after the general election that report will be published,” he said.FILE – MP Dominic Grieve, the head of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, is seen at the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester, Britain, Sept. 30, 2019.But critics, including former attorney general Dominic Grieve, who chaired the committee, say the 50-page dossier, which examined the level of Russian infiltration of the higher ranks of British politics as well as allegations of a Kremlin-sponsored influence campaign during the 2016 referendum, was vetted by the country’s security agencies days before the election was called and could have been released before electioneering was in full swing.The report “comments directly on what has been seen as a perceived threat to our democratic processes,” says Grieve. He says members of the committee had expected Johnson to approve publication ahead of the election.“Someone in Downing Street calculated that it was less embarrassing to suppress the intelligence and security committee’s report into Russian interference in the UK than it was to publish it,” according to Oliver Bullough, author of the book “Moneyland: Why Thieves and Crooks Now Rule the World and How to Take It Back.”According to the Sunday Times, the parliamentary panel found that anti-EU, pro-Brexit articles disseminated by Kremlin-controlled outlets in the run-up to the referendum campaign had four times more social media impact than those put out by British Leave campaigns. The report also reportedly criticizes British intelligence agencies for failing to devote sufficient resources to combat Kremlin meddling in British politics.Johnson dismissed claims Friday that he was suppressing the report to save the Conservatives from embarrassment and he defended taking money from Russian oligarchs living in London, saying there’s no evidence of Moscow interference.“All donations to the Conservative Party are properly vetted and properly publicized,” he said during a BBC radio interview. He added: “I think that you’ve got to be very careful before you simply cast aspersions on everybody who comes from a certain country just because of their nationality.”
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Pope Francis has agendas both pastoral and personal for his trip to Asia, where he’ll appeal for global nuclear disarmament at the sites of the atomic bomb and minister to two tiny Catholic communities that have suffered gruesome periods of persecution.Emphasizing the dignity of life is also on Francis’ to-do list for his trip to Thailand and Japan that begins Wednesday, given the scourge of human trafficking in Thailand and Japan’s use of capital punishment and high suicide rate.As a young Jesuit, Francis dreamed of being a missionary in Japan, inspired by the courage of Japan’s Hidden Christians, who braved two centuries of persecution to keep their faith alive.“In some way, this is the fulfilment of his dream,” said the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, editor of AsiaNews, a Vatican-affiliated news service.In Thailand, Francis will also be reunited with his second cousin, Sister Ana Rose Sivori, an Argentine nun who has lived in Thailand since 1966 and will serve as Francis’ official translator there.Here are some highlights of Francis’ pilgrimage, his fourth to Asia and one that could also touch on the Vatican’s delicate relations with China:Asian martyrs and missionariesOne of the highlights of the trip will be Francis’ prayer at the memorial of the 26 Nagasaki Martyrs, who were crucified in 1597 at the start of a two-century wave of anti-Christian persecution by Japanese rulers.Francis’ own Jesuit order had introduced Christianity to Japan with the arrival of St. Francis Xavier on the archipelago in 1549. After converting more than a quarter-million Japanese, missionaries were banned at the start of the 17th century. Japanese Christians were forced to renounce their faith, suffer tortuous deaths or go underground.Francis will greet some descendants of these Hidden Christians, whose story was recounted in the 2016 Martin Scorsese film “Silence.”Francis will also honor Thailand’s World War II-era martyrs, who were victims of anti-Christian persecution by Thais who viewed Christianity as foreign and associated with French colonial powers. Francis will pray at the sanctuary for Thailand’s first martyred priest, Nicolas Bunkerd Kitbamrung, who was beatified in 2000.A banner with portrait of Pope Francis is displayed inside St. Joseph Convent School ahead of Pope’s visit to Thailand, in Bangkok, Nov. 9, 2019.The pope says no nukesFrancis has gone further than any other pope by saying that not only the use, but the mere possession of nuclear weapons is “to be firmly condemned.” Japanese bishops are hoping he goes even further and calls for a ban on nuclear power.Francis will likely repeat his appeal for a total ban on the bomb when he visits Nagasaki and Hiroshima, meets with survivors of the 1945 bombings there as well as victims of the March 11, 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in northern Japan.An offshore magnitude-9 earthquake triggered a tsunami that knocked out power for the cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant, displacing more than 100,000 people and coating the area with radioactive waste. In response, Japanese bishops in 2016 called for the abolition of nuclear power to protect “our common home.”“We can only hope” Francis will speak about nuclear power, given his frequent exhortation to care for the environment, said Nagoya Bishop Michael Goro Matsuura.Minority Catholics and interfaith dialogueCatholics make up just .59 percent of Thailand’s population of 65 million, most of whom are Buddhist. The percentage is even lower in Japan – estimated at .42 percent of the mostly Shinto and Buddhist population of 126 million.As a result, Francis will be stressing interfaith ties and the positive role Catholics can play in mostly Buddhist societies, “especially in the service of the poor, the needy and for peace,” he said in a video message to Thais.The pope on life and deathFrancis has made the fight against human trafficking a cornerstone of his papacy, a message that is likely to resonate in Thailand, which the U.N. considers a key trafficking destination as well as a source of forced labor and sex slaves.In Japan, hopes are high among Catholics that Francis will send a message opposing the death penalty, and perhaps meet with a former boxer and human rights activist held for nearly five decades on death row.Death row inmate Iwao Hakamada (L), flanked by his sister Hideko, is released from Tokyo Detention House in Tokyo, in this photo taken by Kyodo, March 27, 2014.The Vatican confirmed that Iwao Hakamada, who converted to Catholicism while in prison, has been invited to the pope’s Mass in Tokyo, but it’s not clear if he will make it. Hakamada is awaiting a Supreme Court decision after being freed when his verdict was overturned in a lower court.Tomoki Yanagawa, who works at the Jesuit Social Center in Tokyo, said a papal statement about the death penalty would help raise awareness in Japan.“I hope he will speak about the preciousness of life and clearly denounce what trivializes life,” said Yanagawa.Francis changed Catholic teaching last year by declaring the death penalty “inadmissible” in all cases. He has also denounced today’s “throwaway culture” where euthanasia, abortion and suicide are often considered acceptable – a message that could resonate in Japan, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world.Vatican-China relationsWhen Francis travels from Bangkok to Tokyo next Saturday, he’ll fly through Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong airspace – and will send telegrams to their leaders as part of typical papal protocol.That could offer Francis a rare opportunity to address not only the current democracy protests in Hong Kong, but the Vatican’s delicate relations with Beijing. It would be the first such opportunity following last year’s agreement with China over Catholic bishop nominations. The pact aimed to unite China’s Catholics, who are divided between an underground church and an official one.The agreement has been hailed as a milestone by the Vatican, but critics point to continued persecution of underground prelates, including a report last week by AsiaNews that the underground bishop of Mindong was being hounded by Chinese security agents. Monsignor Vincenzo Guo Xijn had stepped aside to allow an official bishop be named as part of the 2018 Vatican deal with China. 
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The owner of a kebab shop targeted in a deadly far-right attack in the German city of Halle last month has gifted the eatery to the two brothers who were working there during the shooting.Siblings Ismet and Rifat Tekin received a framed letter transferring the ownership of the Kiez-Doener to them in a ceremony on Saturday as the restaurant reopened for the first time since the October 9 attack.”I wish my successors much strength in processing the terrible events of October 9, 2019 and hope they have many customers of different cultures and religions,” their former boss Izzet Cagac wrote in the letter, which was accompanied by a key.A 20-year-old customer was shot dead when a gunman opened fire on the kebab shop after earlier trying and failing to storm a synagogue. He also killed a female passer-by.The assailant, a suspected neo-Nazi, was arrested and later admitted that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, fuelling concerns about an increasingly violent far-right scene in Germany.At the reopened kebab shop, a colorful memorial wall paid tribute to the victims and all customers could eat for free over the weekend, local media reported.Der Spiegel weekly praised Cagac’s gift as an act of hope.”In a society increasingly plagued by brutality and hatred, this gesture of solidarity and humanity offers a small ray of light,” it wrote.
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Venetians are bracing for the prospect of another exceptional tide in a season that is setting records.Officials are forecasting a 1.6 meter (5 feet, 2 inch) surge of water Sunday through the lagoon city. That comes after Tuesday’s 1.87-meter flood, the worst in 53 years, followed by high tide of 1.54 meters Friday.Those two events mark the first time since records began in 1872 that two floods topped 1.5 meters in the same year, much less the same week. The city’s mayor says the flooding damage are in “the hundreds of millions” and Italian officials have declared a state of emergency for the area.Tourists with suitcases were rushing to grab the last water taxis to get to the mainland Sunday before service is interrupted in anticipation of the high tide.
 
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Prince Andrew offered a detailed rebuttal Saturday to claims he had sex with a woman who says she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, providing an alibi for one of the alleged encounters and questioning the authenticity of a well-known photograph that shows him posing with the woman.In a rare interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew categorically denied having sex with the woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, saying, “It didn’t happen.”He said he has “no recollection” of ever meeting her and told an interviewer there are “a number of things that are wrong” about Giuffre’s account.Giuffre has said Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew in 2001 when she was 17. She says Epstein flew her around the world on his private planes to have sex with powerful men, and that she had sexual encounters with Andrew in London and New York and in the U.S. Virgin Islands.“I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened,” Andrew said.A request for comment was sent to Giuffre’s representative. Giuffre recently challenged the British royal to speak out, telling reporters in New York, “He knows exactly what he’s done.”“And the answer is nothing,” Andrew told BBC.High-stakes interviewAndrew’s decision to grant the interview was seen in Britain as a high-stakes gamble in a country where the royals don’t normally talk with reporters on subjects beyond their charitable works.The nation’s newspapers, most of which featured photos from the interview along with the pre-released excerpts on their front pages Saturday, speculated that the prince thought he had no other choice after months of tawdry headlines that threatened his ability to continue working as a royal.Disputes photo, other claimsIn the wide-ranging interview, Andrew suggested a photograph Giuffre produced of her posing with Andrew could have been doctored, saying he “can’t be certain” that it actually shows his hand on the woman’s side.He said he was “at a loss to explain” the image, adding he is not given to public displays of affection. He said it also shows him wearing “traveling clothes,” noting he typically wears a suit and tie when he goes out in London, where the photograph purportedly was taken.“I’m afraid to say that I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested,” he said. “If the original was ever produced, then perhaps we might be able to solve it but I can’t.”Confronted with details of Giuffre’s claims, Andrew insisted he was home with his children on one of the nights Giuffre claims they had sex, saying it “couldn’t have happened.” He said he specifically recalled taking his daughter to a party at a Pizza Express that afternoon.Andrew sought to cast doubt on other parts of Giuffre’s account, including her recollection of Andrew sweating on her as they danced in a London night club.Andrew told BBC he has a “peculiar medical condition, which is that I don’t sweat or I didn’t sweat at the time” after suffering an “overdose of adrenaline” after being shot at in the Falklands War, the 1982 conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
“It was almost impossible for me to sweat,” he said.Regrets friendshipAndrew also said he regrets not cutting ties with Epstein after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida under a deal that required him to serve 13 months in jail and register as a sex offender.He saw Epstein following his release from custody in Florida and stayed at his New York mansion for several days. He said he ended his friendship with Epstein during that visit and did not have further contact with him.“It was the wrong decision to go and see him in 2010,” Andrew said. “I kick myself for (it) on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family.”Epstein, who rubbed shoulders with the elite and politically powerful, killed himself this summer while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. He had been accused of sexually abusing dozens of women.Andrew did not rule out cooperating with the ongoing federal investigation in the United States into Epstein’s associates, saying he would follow his lawyers’ advice.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says all Conservative Party candidates in the upcoming election have pledged to back his Brexit deal. “All 635 Conservative candidates standing at this election — every single one of them — has pledged to me that if elected they will vote in Parliament to pass my Brexit deal so we can end the uncertainty and finally leave the EU,” Johnson told London’s Telegraph newspaper in an interview published late on Saturday. “I am offering a pact with the people: If you vote Conservative you can be 100% sure a majority Conservative government will unblock Parliament and get Brexit done,” he said. The December 12 election was called to end three years of disagreement over Brexit that has sapped investors’ faith in the stability of the world’s fifth-largest economy and damaged Britain’s standing since it voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the European Union. Johnson, 55, hopes to win a majority to push through the last-minute Brexit deal he struck with the EU last month after the bloc granted a third delay to the divorce that was originally supposed to take place March 29. Voters in a 2016 referendum narrowly voted in favor of leaving the EU. Johnson’s Conservatives lead Labour by sizable margins, four polls published Saturday show. A YouGov poll showed support for the Conservatives at 45%, the highest level since 2017, compared with Labour at 28%, unchanged. The pro-European Union Liberal Democrats were at 15%, and the Brexit Party was at 4%, unchanged. A separate poll for SavantaComRes also said support for the Conservatives was the highest since 2017, at 41%. Labour’s support was at 33%. The Conservatives have a 16-point lead over Labour, according to an opinion poll published by Opinium Research, and a poll by the Mail on Sunday said Johnson’s party had a 15-point lead over Labour. 
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A federal judge on Saturday ordered that a German citizen arrested on her return to the country on suspicion of being a member of Islamic State should remain in custody, prosecutors said. 
 
Authorities said the suspect, identified only as Nasim A., left Germany for Syria in 2014, married a fighter and moved with him to Iraq. There she was paid to maintain an IS-controlled house and carried a weapon. 
 
She and her husband later moved to Syria, where she also maintained a house, prosecutors said. Kurdish security forces arrested her in early 2019. 
 
The woman was arrested Friday evening in Frankfurt upon her return to Germany. 
 
The judge determined Saturday that she remain in detention because of “suspicion of being a member of a terrorist organization in a foreign country,” prosecutors said. 
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France’s yellow vests staged demonstrations Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of a protest movement for greater economic justice that once captured international headlines.  
 
Demonstrators smashed store windows and bus stops in Paris and set bonfires in some streets. Police and firemen responded with tear gas and water hoses. At least one of the demonstrations was canceled because of the violence. 
 
Demonstrations elsewhere in France were more peaceful. 
 
Protests first exploded over a hike in fuel prices. Roughly a quarter-million people — a diverse slice of French society, including teachers, farmers, retirees and students — took to the streets a year ago. Later, their demands expanded to a range of issues, from action on climate change to support for working-class families.  Protesters attend a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the “yellow vest” movement in Nantes, France, Nov. 16, 2019.French President Emmanuel Macron responded by launching a national citizens debate earlier this year, and he offered concessions like tax cuts and a minimum wage hike.  The demonstrations have cost French businesses and the government hundreds of millions of dollars, but today, ome yellow vests say they’ve gained nothing from protesting. Farid, a government worker, says people are still struggling to make ends meet. Others say they’ve built bonds with fellow protesters. 
 
Recent efforts to revive the movement haven’t gained traction. French protests have certainly not ended — they’ve just gone back to more traditional forms. This week, for example, thousands of hospital workers marched over lack of funds and manpower. But yellow vests may join a broader labor strike next month, which some hope — or fear — may help relaunch the movement. 
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The impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump centers on the question of whether he suspended close to 400 million dollars in U.S. military aid to Ukraine to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate one of his own political opponents. Top U.S. diplomats and other foreign policy experts said any threat to that U.S. security assistance sends the wrong signal, both to Ukraine, and to the stronger power it is fighting on its own soil, Russia. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.
 
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Exceptionally high tidal waters returned to Venice on Friday, prompting the mayor to close the iconic St. Mark’s Square and call for donations to repair the Italian lagoon city just three days after it experienced its worst flooding in 50 years.
                   
The high tide peaked at 1.54 meters (5 feet) above sea level just before noon on Friday, flooding most of the historic center.
                   
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told reporters he was forced to ask police to block off St. Mark’s Square, which was covered in knee-high water. Even as the water started to subside, workers in high boots began removing the platforms used by the public to cross the square without getting wet.
                   
The city saw the second-worst flooding on record late Tuesday when the water level reached 1.87 meters (6 feet, 1 inch) above sea level, prompting the Italian government to declare a state of emergency.
                   
On Thursday, the government also approved 20 million euros in funding to help Venice repair the most urgent damage.
                   
Venice’s mayor said the damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros and blamed climate change for the “dramatic situation” in the historic city. He called for the speedy completion of the city’s long-delayed Moses flood defense project.
                   
He also called for donations from Italy and abroad to help repair the damage caused by the flooding.
                   
“Venice is the pride of all of Italy,” Brugnaro said in a statement Friday. “Venice is everyone’s heritage, unique in the world. Thanks to your help, Venice will shine again.”
                   
The leader of the right-wing opposition League party, Matteo Salvini, visited Venice on Friday morning and also called for a common effort to complete the Moses project, which the Italian government now expects to be completed by 2021.
                   
“We can’t waste time, this city is crying for help,” Salvini said, adding that similar incidents must be avoided.
                   
Tuesday’s devastating floods have reignited a yearslong debate on Moses, a multibillion-euro flood defense project that has been under construction since 2003. The project has not yet been activated, after being delayed a number of times due to corruption scandals, costs overruns and environmentalist opposition over its effects on Venice’s lagoon ecosystem.
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Britain’s ruling Conservatives are banking heavily on the star quality of their leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who’s had an uncanny ability in the past to connect with voters and to cheer them up.He’s struggled on the campaign trail for next month’s highly contentious election, however, and, surprisingly, he hasn’t prospered in several encounters with voters, prompting commentators to query whether the shine has worn off Boris or whether Britons are wearying of his knockabout style.His election earlier this year as leader by the Conservatives, who view themselves as the natural party of government, was partly driven by the idea that the ever-upbeat, mop-haired former London mayor and journalist could secure them a parliamentary majority by casting his political spell, dashing around the fractious country with an invigorating message and cheery rhetoric laden with quips and jokes and endearing gaffes.Hardline anti-European Union Conservatives also saw Johnson as the best bet to break the three-year logjam in Parliament over Britain’s planned and messy departure from the EU, and to be the one to actually “deliver Brexit.”However, the much-vaunted Johnson magic hasn’t so far been the spell-binding force of old in an election that’s the most unpredictable in years, thanks to Brexit, the fracturing of the country’s main parties, and the emergence of new ones.Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has his picture taken with supporters prior to boarding his campaign bus, in Manchester, England, Nov. 15, 2019.Torrential rain hasn’t helped. Midweek, Johnson, dressed as though he were out for a day’s hunting on an aristocratic estate, faced angry voters in the deluged English regions of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, the east Midlands and Lincolnshire, where flood defenses failed once again failed to prevent rivers from breaching their banks and flooding homes and businesses.
Shortly after arriving in the sodden Yorkshire town of Stainforth, as a hundred soldiers were deployed to help shore up the failing flood defenses, one middle-aged woman resident stopped briefly to tell Johnson, “I’m not very happy about talking to you, so, if you don’t mind, I’ll just mope on with what I’m doing.”Pushing her wheelbarrow by bemused soldiers and the startled, mumbling Johnson, she added, “You’ve not helped us … I don’t know what you’re here today for.”A townsman shouted at him, “You’ve took your time, Boris, haven’t you?” Johnson’s sheepish response, “We’ve been on it round the clock,” didn’t assuage the man. The day before Johnson inexplicably announced the flooding wasn’t sufficiently bad to call a “national emergency.”“Campaigning as a maverick challenger and campaigning as the sitting prime minister are two very different things,” a member of his election team acknowledged privately to VOA.Autumn and winter floods have become ever more frequent in England — the consequence of climate change, according to scientists, overdevelopment and neglect of infrastructure by successive governments. Johnson can hardly be blamed that once again the flood defenses failed, ruining homes and endangering businesses. However, the government’s slow response in getting the army to help and Johnson’s late arrival in deluged regions, a day after his main rivals, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn and the Liberal Democrats’ Jo Swinson, had visited, was less than sure-footed.Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn poses for a photo after speaking at a campaign event in Lancaster, England, Nov. 15, 2019.It was especially surprising as Johnson’ electoral strategy is based on pulling off something that evaded his Conservative predecessor, Theresa May, at the last general election less than two years ago — winning over some of the Labour Party’s heartland working-class constituencies in the north of England and the Midlands, which voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum. The Conservatives need to make inroads with these voters  to compensate for the likely loss of pro-EU seats in the south of England and London, where the Liberal Democrats and Labour are likely to do well.  Liberal Democrats would ditch Brexit, Labour would negotiate a new deal and hold a second referendum offering a choice between their exit deal and remaining as a full EU member.An 11th-hour bid by the Conservatives to dissuade Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party from running candidates in Labour’s heartland northern seats, where they’re likely to split the anti-EU vote, failed Thursday, complicating Johnson’s path to victory.Johnson on Thursday was accused of running scared by refusing to meet members of the public during a visit to Somerset, where he was trying to bolster the campaigns of Conservatives, also known as Tories, against strong Liberal Democrat challenges. In the market town of Taunton he was heckled as he visited a school and a scheduled stop-off at a nearby bakery was shelved.On paper, though, Johnson should be able to secure a comfortable parliamentary majority. The Conservatives have a 14% lead over Labour, the country’s main opposition party, which under Jeremy Corbyn has lurched far to the left, and which is running on an aggressive renationalization and tax-the-rich manifesto.Corbyn is also less the firebrand on the campaign trial than he was in the last election, when Labour benefited from a late surge to confound the pollsters and the Conservatives. The Labour leader’s popularity rating in the opinion polls has slumped to a historic minus 48%, 43 points lower than Johnson, who himself has a dismal approval rating of minus 5%. Only Swinson is in positive territory.Leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson reacts as she speaks at a campaign event in London, Britain, Nov. 9, 2019.Nonetheless with a big lead over Labour Johnson looks to be safe. “If current polling and anecdotal evidence from doorstep campaigning is correct, Mr Johnson ought comfortably to secure the majority he seeks on December 12,” notes Jeremy Warner, a commentator for the pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph.However, few pollsters are confident even about their own opinion polls, especially as most were wrong about about the past two elections. Brexit has turned Britain into a politically tumultuous country — old allegiances have been upended, a wide generation gap has been exposed, with younger voters shifting left and older voters shifting right. With the emergence of new political groups and the reinvigoration of the centrist and pro-EU Liberal Democrats there could be some big surprises on election night. The number of variables in play makes it especially hard to predict what will happen.The winter weather also poses a huge danger for the ruling Conservatives — as the flooding demonstrated this week. Governments traditionally have avoided calling elections in the winter — this is the first since 1974, when the sitting Labour government made moderate gains but failed to obtain an overall majority. In the last December election, in 1923, the ruling Conservatives also failed to secure a majority in the House of Commons.The problem for any government is that voters tend to be grumpier in the winter with the darkness and poor weather — a feel-good factor tends to play more favorably for the party in power, but when voters are unhappy they are more likely to punish their rulers, say pollsters.According to Rob Parsons, political editor of the right-leaning Yorkshire Post, the floods “risk washing away Tory hopes of taking the north.”  Another winter-related factor that poses a threat to the Conservatives is the National Health Service, already a key election issue with both the Conservatives and Labour vying with each other over who will spend more on Britain’s hospitals. Lengthy wait times because of winter illnesses such as flu will inevitably be blamed on the government, according to pollsters. 
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The United States is promising not to abandon the fight to eradicate the Islamic State terror group, while pushing its coalition allies to take more responsibility for foreign fighters and rebuilding Iraq and Syria. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed visiting foreign ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS to the State Department Thursday to discuss the way forward, as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
 
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Russia’s security services moved money through Estonia to finance operations overseas, the Baltic country’s finance minister, who is leading a cleanup after a money laundering scandal, told Reuters.Martin Helme said that Estonian authorities are also investigating whether individuals under U.S. sanctions benefited from the movement of money through Estonia, which is undertaking reforms after 200 billion euros ($220 billion) in suspect transactions flowed through Danske Bank’s branch in the country.The Kremlin, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Security Service and Investigative Committee did not reply to emailed requests for comment.”There are two sorts of money that come from Russia. One is stolen money that wants to escape Russia,” Helme said during a telephone interview with Reuters, adding that the remainder was “very closely entangled” with Russia’s security services.Helme, who heads a committee including police and prosecutors tackling money laundering and terrorism financing, said some of the money “has been used by the Russian security services to finance their operations abroad”.Danske Bank was ejected from Estonia, a former Soviet satellite, this year after admitting suspicious money flowed through its branch there between 2007 and 2015.A spokesman for Danske Bank, which has said it had Russian clients in Estonia, declined to comment because of ongoing investigations into its activities.Helme did not specify which Russian entities he was referring to or cite any evidence to support his allegations.
The head of Russia’s Federal Service for Financial Monitoring told President Vladimir Putin this week that Moscow was winning international recognition for its efforts to tackle money laundering.Estonia is investigating money that flowed through the country in recent years and is sharing information with U.S. authorities, Helme said, adding that this included whether people subject to U.S. sanctions were involved.”We are very worried about that,” he said.As in neighboring Latvia, the United States has been the driving force behind the cleanup of banks in the Baltics, many of whom offered a bridge for Russians moving money to the West.Reforms are taking place against the backdrop of Washington’s efforts to diminish Russia’s influence in countries like Estonia, which has historically fraught relations with Moscow and hosts NATO troops to deter any potential incursion.Helme said he had discussed international sanctions during an October meeting in Washington with Marshall Billingslea, the U.S. Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing.Latvian echoThe allegations by Helme echo an earlier warning by a minister in Latvia that Russian citizens, including people subject to U.S. sanctions, had put money in Latvian banks, some of which may have been used for political manipulation.Three senior Latvian officials told Reuters last year that authorities investigated the movement of funds from Russia through a Latvian bank to support an attempted coup in 2016 in Montenegro. A Kremlin spokesman denied any such activity.Helme said Russian authorities had recently visited Estonia, which is home to a large Russian-speaking population and was once governed by Moscow.”They are here to find out what we know and use that information to better conceal their operations,” he said.
The Russian General Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.Russia’s central bank has revoked hundreds of bank licenses in recent years as part of efforts to strengthen the sector and fight money laundering.($1 = 0.9074 euros)
 
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A band of GOP senators rebuffed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s effort to depict anti-Islamic State Kurd forces as terrorists in a contentious Oval Office meeting, as the White House allies took a far harder line against Erdogan than did President Donald Trump.
                   
Participants said Erdogan played a propaganda video for Republican senators attending Wednesday’s meeting, drawing a rebuke from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and others.
                   
Graham said Thursday that he asked Erdogan, “do you want me to get the Kurds to play a video about what your forces have done?”
                   
The lawmakers also told Erdogan that he is risking economic sanctions by going ahead with a new Russian anti-aircraft missile system.
                   
The exchange behind the scenes was far more confrontational than the reception Trump gave Erdogan in public.
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Turkey is willing to purchase U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems but will not agree to disposing of the Russian S-400 system it has already bought, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.Speaking to reporters on board his plane on his way back from a meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, Erdogan said the U.S. president was engaged in “sincere efforts” to resolve disputes between the NATO allies.Turkey took delivery of the Russian S-400 system this year, dismissing warnings from the United States that it poses a threat to NATO security.As a result, Washington suspended Turkish participation in the multinational F-35 fighter jet program.“We told them we can purchase the Patriots too. We regard the proposal to completely remove the S-400s (from Turkey) as meddling in our sovereign rights,” the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Erdogan as saying. “There can be no question of us leaving the S-400s and turning toward the Patriots.”FILE – First parts of a Russian S-400 missile defense system are unloaded from a Russian plane near Ankara, Turkey, July 12, 2019.Erdogan said: “I want both America and Russia to be my friend. All our efforts are geared toward that.”The dispute over the competing air defense systems is one component of the tension between the two countries. Turkey has also come under fire in Washington for its incursion into Syria last month to drive away Syrian Kurdish forces that fought with the U.S. against the Islamic State.Turkey, meanwhile, is angry at the U.S. for supporting the Kurdish forces it views as a threat and for refusing to extradite a Muslim cleric it accuses of fomenting a 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan.Erdogan also told reporters that he had returned a letter that Trump sent on Oct. 9, urging Erdogan restraint over his plans for an offensive in Syria. Trump wrote: “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”Opposition parties had decried the letter as an insult to Turkey, calling on Erdogan to send it back to Trump.Erdogan said Trump did not react when he handed him back the letter. 
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Italy’s government is set to declare a state of emergency in flood-ravaged Venice, to swiftly secure the historic city funds to repair damage from the highest tide in 50 years.
                   
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the flooding as “a blow to the heart of our country.”
                   
He said a cabinet meeting called for Thursday afternoon will declare a state of emergency and approve the first measures aimed at helping the city’s recovery.
                   
Conte spent Wednesday night in Venice, where world-famous monuments, homes and businesses were hit hard by the exceptional flooding. The water reached 1.87 meters above sea level Tuesday, the second-highest level ever recorded in the city.
                   
Venice’s mayor said the damage is estimated at “hundreds of millions of euros.”
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The Dutch-led team investigating the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine has released new phone intercepts that it said includes recordings of Russian military commanders speaking with separatist fighters and a Kremlin official.The intercepts were released on November 14 as part of a new push by the Dutch team, known as the Joint Investigative Team (JIT), seeking new witnesses for the crash of MH17, which killed all 298 people on board.In June, Dutch prosecutors announced that three Russians and one Ukrainian would be put on trial in the Netherlands for their alleged involvement in the incident.In announcing the charges, prosecutors said there was evidence of a direct line of command between Russian officials and separatists who were fighting in eastern Ukraine and had announced the formation of an unrecognized government called the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR).MH17 was flying between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur when it exploded and crashed in territory in eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian fighters on July 17, 2014.The JIT has said that a sophisticated antiaircraft missile system known as a Buk was used in the attack, and that the weapon came from Russia.In a statement accompanying the release of the intercepts, the JIT said it was seeking more witnesses as prosecutors compile more evidence ahead of the trial of the four men, scheduled for March 2020.”Recent analysis of witness statements and other information revealed that Russian influence on the DPR went beyond military support and that the ties between Russian officials and DPR-leaders appear closer,” the team said.”The intensity of Russian influence is relevant to investigating further persons involved in the downing of MH17. That is why today the JIT releases this new appeal for witnesses,” the JIT said.In the intercepts, which were published on YouTube and date from July 2014, according to the JIT, several men can be heard discussing what appears to be a chain of command.In one, which the JIT said was placed at the beginning of July 2014, a man who appears to sound like a commander tells another that “men are coming with a mandate from Shoigu” — a reference to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.In another call dated March 2015, a man whom JIT identified as Leonid Zakharchenko, a military intelligence officer for the separatists, is heard discussing with another man about a third man’s potential legal problems.
The conversation repeatedly mentions the name Surkov — a reference to Vladislav Surkov, a top adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.A spokesperson for the JIT did not immediately answer an e-mail from RFE/RL seeking further comment.Other prominent individuals that JIT said were mentioned in the intercepts include Igor Girkin, a top separatist commander in eastern Ukraine who was among the four charged by Dutch prosecutors, and Sergei Aksyonov, who became the Russian-appointed leader in Crimea after Moscow annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula in March 2014. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met at the White House Wednesday but did not reach resolutions on major irritants to bilateral relations including Turkey’s recent incursion into northern Syria and its purchase of Russian military hardware. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
 
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