Britain and the European Union finally agreed to a free trade deal Thursday, just days before the Brexit transition period comes to an end. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the deal is yet to be ratified – and there could be more surprises ahead.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell 
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Pope Francis celebrated a low-key Christmas Eve Mass made somber by the coronavirus pandemic and said people should feel obliged to help the needy because Jesus himself was born a poor outcast.The Mass was celebrated Thursday in a rear section of St. Peter’s Basilica with fewer than 100 participants and only small number of cardinals and bishops. It is usually held in the main section of the basilica and attended by up to 10,000 people, including the diplomatic corps representing nearly 200 countries.Everyone except the pope and the small choir wore a mask during the Mass, which began two hours earlier than usual so that even the limited number of people who attended could return home by a 10 p.m. curfew.”The Son of God was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God,” Francis said in his homily.Francis said Christmas should make everyone reflect on “our injustice towards so many of our brothers and sisters” instead of pursuing “our endless desire for possessions” and ephemeral pleasures.”God came among us in poverty and need, to tell us that in serving the poor, we will show our love for him,” said the 84-year-old pope, celebrating the eighth Christmas of his pontificate.In his Christmas messages, Francis promised to visit Lebanon and South Sudan as soon as he could.The pope traditionally mentions countries in his Christmas Day message, but he singled out those two nations with Christmas Eve messages because of difficulties each has faced this year.”I am deeply troubled to see the suffering and anguish that has sapped the native resilience and resourcefulness of the Land of the Cedars,” Francis said, referring to Lebanon, which has been struggling with a deep economic crisis and the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion on Aug. 4 that killed about 200 people.In a separate message written jointly with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, and Church of Scotland moderator Martin Fair, the three church leaders committed to making a previously delayed trip to majority Christian South Sudan “as things return to normalcy.”He is scheduled to visit Iraq March 5-8.On Friday, the pope will read his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message from a hall inside the Vatican instead of from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Square, an event that usually attracts tens of thousands of people.Italians are under a nationwide lockdown for much of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Non-essential shops will be shut between Dec. 24-27, Dec. 31-Jan. 3 and Jan. 5-6. On these days, people are allowed to travel only for work, health or emergency reasons.The restrictions mean people will not be able to go to St. Peter’s Square or the basilica. All papal events between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6 are taking place indoors with little or no public participation and being livestreamed on the internet and broadcast on television.
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For the first time since a fire that nearly destroyed it, the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris played host to a Christmas Eve choral concert, an annual tradition in France.In a concession to the fact that the Gothic cathedral is still being rebuilt, the choristers wore construction hard hats and boiler suits, and there was no audience.The concert was recorded at the cathedral earlier this month and was broadcast on French television just before midnight Thursday.The choristers performed classical pieces by composers Mozart and Schubert, but also a more light-hearted repertoire, including Jingle Bells.”It was very moving,” said cellist Gautier Capucon, describing the experience of recording the concert. Along with an organist, he provided the musical accompaniment for the choir.”It was the first time we had all been back at Notre Dame cathedral since the fire, so it was a moment full of emotion,” he said in an interview with television station franceinfo.The cathedral, a landmark of Gothic architecture dating to the 13th century and a major tourist attraction, caught fire on April 15, 2019. The blaze destroyed the spire and roof.French President Emmanuel Macron undertook to restore the cathedral within five years.But to date, most work on the site has focused on making the building safe, including clearing up toxic lead from the roof and spire that melted in the fire.In the meantime, Notre-Dame is closed to the public and masses are canceled.In April this year, seven people were allowed to attend a religious ceremony in the cathedral to mark Good Friday, when Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.
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Mexico became the first Latin American country Thursday to launch a COVID-19 vaccination initiative, offering hope to a nation that has lost some 120,000 people to the pandemic. Maria Irene Ramirez, the 59-year-old head nurse at the intensive care unit at Mexico City’s Ruben Lenero hospital, was the first to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in keeping with the country’s strategy to focus first on health care workers. “This is the best gift that I could have received in 2020,” Ramirez said after being inoculated in a ceremony broadcast by national media. Chile will immediately start inoculations of health care workers after receiving the first 10,000 doses of a 10-million dose order of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on Thursday, officials said. Also on Thursday, Costa Rica was preparing to vaccinate two senior citizens in a home near San Jose with the vaccine, while Argentina received about 300,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. The first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrives at the Juan Santamaria International Airport, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Alajuela, Costa Rica, Dec. 23, 2020.In the USThe United States is about to complete its second week of vaccinations with about 1 million inoculations, mainly among health care workers and elderly residents of nursing homes. The numbers, however, are far short of the goal set by Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to mass produce millions of doses of vaccines, to inoculate 20 million Americans by the end of the year.   U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui has warned that it would take longer to administer the doses.  “The commitment that we can make is to make vaccine doses available,” Slaoui said during a press call. “How fast the ramp-up of immunizations, the shots in arms, is happening is slower than we thought it would be.” The Trump administration has reached a deal worth $2 billion to secure an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which would boost the nation’s supply to 200 million doses by mid-July 2021. With surges throughout the U.S. leading to 327,000 COVID-19 deaths and 18.5 million coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, the speed with which immunizations can be administered becomes increasingly important.Intensive Care Unit Nurse Merlin Pambuan, 66, is cheered by hospital staff as she walks out of the hospital where she spent eight months with COVID-19, at Dignity Health – St. Mary Medical Center, in Long Beach, California, Dec. 21, 2020. California became the first U.S. state Thursday to record 2 million coronavirus cases. The grim Christmas Eve milestone was reached as the state was under a strict stay-at-home order and hospitals were overwhelmed with the largest number of infections since the pandemic began more than nine months ago. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease. Sinovac vaccineBrazilian researchers said Wednesday the coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese drug maker Sinovac Biotech was found to be more than 50% effective in a late-stage clinical trial.   But officials at the state-run research institute Butantan say they are withholding the results of the trial at Sinovac’s request, raising issues once again about the lack of transparency involving the vaccine’s development.   Tests of the Sinovac vaccine, dubbed CoronaVac, were halted last month after an “adverse, serious event” involving a volunteer participant in late October.   Sinovac is one of many drug makers around the world that have been racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.7 million people out of more than 79 million confirmed infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.   New variantChina on Thursday became the latest country to suspend all travel with Britain after the discovery of a new and more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus. The new variant has swept through southern Britain in recent weeks, prompting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose more restrictive lockdown measures in some parts of the country ahead of Christmas Day.   
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Aside from the occasional miniature tree and paper chains hung from cabs, there was little festive cheer for the thousands of truckers stuck on an old airfield in southeast England on Christmas Eve.Several thousand cargo trucks have been trapped for days around the southern English port of Dover since France closed borders with Britain in a bid to stop the spread of a new coronavirus strain.Army personnel were going from truck to truck, conducting rapid coronavirus tests that give results in 40 minutes as part of measures to try to start up travel again.Pawel, 34, a driver from Poland, had just been tested and said his plan was to go to Folkestone 42 kilometers (26 miles) away, take the Eurotunnel and go home to his family.”It’s impossible,” he told AFP of his three days at the Manston airfield, on the outskirts of Ramsgate, where many trucks have been parked while the travel crisis is sorted out.”I’ve no words to describe what we’re feeling here. All of our families are waiting for us. Heartbreaking.”He said drivers were furious with France for shutting their borders in response to the emergence of a new, potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus. On his way back, he said, he will retaliate by not stopping there “for the food, for petrol, for anything.””Ninety percent of people here are also not going to stop in France,” he said.French officers give a COVID-19 test to a trucker at Dover, England, Dec. 24, 2020. Some freight from Britain and passengers with negative virus tests have begun arriving in France, after France relaxed a two-day blockade over a virus variant.Hot food and hornsOn the airfield, a cold December wind blew in from the Channel.The poorly lit site, run by the Department of Transport with the help of the armed forces, was a bewildering maze of trucks.Drivers were hoping to get to ports after spending days going nowhere but said it was unclear which ferries would run to clear the backlog, both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.At one point, they sounded their horns together in frustration.There were free catering vans offering items ranging from burgers to Thai food. Some said they were unhappy about the food, but others said it was plentiful, with volunteer groups bringing around hot fare, including from the Polish community.”That was very nice. We were so thankful for this,” Pawel said.There were also mobile toilets that seemed clean, though drivers complained they were full.”We got stuck. It’s been three days,” said Valery, 37, a driver from Kyiv, who had not been tested yet.”They herded us in here and told us to stay. We need to get home already. Maybe we will make it for New Year’s?”There are no facilities, no showers, nothing,” he complained.Long waitOther drivers said there were showers, but it was a long walk to find them.Radko Ivanov, 56, from Bulgaria, angrily asked troops to be tested and complained that other drivers in smaller trucks were maneuvering to jump the queue.”The situation is terrible,” he said, complaining of a lack of organization. “I must guess what I got to do.”As of lunchtime on Christmas Eve, there were still 3,200 trucks at the site and at least 1,800 drivers had been tested, according to the armed forces.Altogether, 320 military personnel were conducting tests at Manston, at the port of Dover and on the M20 motorway.At Manston there were three army units including a deployment of engineers from nearby Maidstone.Two Sikh volunteer groups were distributing food in the evening on the M20, where many other stranded drivers were parked.
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When Britons voted in 2016 to leave the European Union after 47 years of membership, Brexiters said striking a free trade deal with the Eu would be simple and “one of the easiest in human history.” It didn’t turn out that way. But Thursday, after four years of talks marked by fractiousness and ill-temper and amid accusations of bullying, delusions and bad faith, there was some holiday cheer after London and Brussels finally struck a deal that will limit the economic damage both Britons and Europeans would have suffered in the absence of any agreement.  Both sides compromised and moved away from frequently emphasized ‘red lines’ to reach the deal. Britain formally exited the EU last January but had a year-long transition period allowing for free trade and free movement of people to continue uninterrupted until December 31. Pro-Brexit headline writers immediately announced “Merry Brexmas” and praised Prime Minister Boris Johnson for delivering what he said he would. “The war is over,” beamed Nigel Farage, Brexit Party leader.  He added: “It’s not perfect, but goodness me, it’s still progress.”  The pound rallied modestly on the news of the deal, but then slipped back.Johnson proclaimed the deal, with an estimated overall value of $900 billion, the biggest trade agreement ever signed by the EU. “Everything that the British public was promised during the 2016 referendum and in the general election last year is delivered by this deal,” a Downing Street official said. Using similar language to what Brexiters promised more than four years ago during the Brexit referendum campaign, he added: “We have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and our fishing waters.” 
 
Johnson tweeted a photograph of himself in Downing Street with two thumbs up. “The deal is done,” he announced.The deal is done. pic.twitter.com/zzhvxOSeWz— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 24, 2020Later at a press conference in London Johnson appeared triumphant, saying: “We have taken back our laws and destiny.” He added the deal will “protect jobs across this country” by allowing goods to be sold “without tariffs and quotas” in the EU. He said Britain will now control every “jot and tittle of our regulations.” 
 
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dubbed the deal “fair and balanced,” as she announced, with obvious relief at a press conference in Brussels, “we have finally reached a deal.”European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are seen on a computer screen while giving live a statement on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 24, 2020.She said the EU and Britain also will cooperate when it comes to climate action and security. She said the negotiations had been a “long and winding road” but added, “we have a good deal to show for it.” Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said he was happy the clock is “no longer ticking.” He added that today is a “day of relief” but one tinged by “some sadness.” British politicians who opposed Brexit said they were relieved a deal had been struck, but they warned Britain would be losing a lot from exiting the bloc.  Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, tweeted: “Before the spin starts, it’s worth remembering that Brexit is happening against Scotland’s will. And there is no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us. It’s time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation.” Before the spin starts, it’s worth remembering that Brexit is happening against Scotland’s will. And there is no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us. It’s time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation.— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost gives a thumb up as he arrives at the British Embassy during negotiations, in Brussels, Dec. 24, 2020.For days both sides had indicated they were on the verge of a breakthrough. And starting Saturday, diplomats were telling reporters a deal was “imminent.” An announcement had been planned for Wednesday, and then early Thursday morning, only for hours to pass and diplomats to say some tweaks in the 2,000-page agreement were still necessary. The delay in announcing a deal in the past 24 hours was mainly because of fishing quota numbers when it emerged the European Commission had been using out of date figures to calculate the reduction in the amount of fish stocks that EU fishermen will be permitted to catch in British waters as part of the trade deal. The deal gives British exporters “zero-tariff, zero-quota” access to Europe’s Single Market. Any future disputes between Britain and the EU will not be adjudicated by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), a key point for Brexiters, who said if the ECJ policed the agreement it would undermine British sovereignty.  FILE – Trucks queue to embark aboard the freight shuttle at Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais, France, Dec. 16, 2020.But British firms will have curtailed rights to sell services to the EU after January, affecting the banking and insurance sectors. Service industries account for 80 percent of total British economic output. Some international banks likely will shift more of their operations to EU countries because of the deal, analysts say. Beginning in January there also will be additional customs checks on food, chemicals and medicines exported to the EU by Britain, which will add red tape and costs for British firms, likely reducing their price competitiveness, say analysts. FILE – Fishing boats are moored adjacent to the South Pier of Bridlington Harbour fishing port in Bridlington, north east England, Dec. 11, 2020.On fishing in British waters, Britain made major concessions allowing the EU fishing industry to give up only 25 percent of its current quota, a change that will be phased in over the next five and a half years, meaning that the EU fishing catch in British waters will decline 4.5 per cent annually. Even though politicians breathed a sigh of collective relief on both sides of the English Channel, the “deal is far from the deep and ambitious relationship” both sides said they were aiming for shortly after the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to Sally Jones, a trade expert at Ernst & Young, an Anglo-American multinational professional services consultancy. The hugely complex deal now will be pored over by trade lawyers and businesses. The agreement runs to more than 1,000 pages, plus hundreds of pages of annexes that cover future arrangements for trade, security and fishing, as well as scientific cooperation and regulatory alignment The biggest sticking points in the haggling during the last few years between London and Brussels have been over regulatory alignment and fishing. Both sides were at loggerheads over shared regulatory rules, competition and safety standards, workers’ rights and environment laws and restraints on state subsidies to private businesses.  Europeans were determined to ensure British firms did not secure an unfair competitive edge over EU rivals. Lower standards and watered-down regulations mean lower costs and lower prices for finished goods. FILE – British Union flag waves in front of the Elizabeth Tower at Houses of Parliament containing the bell know as “Big Ben” in central London, March 29, 2017.The British Parliament will have to ratify the deal, but it already has recessed for Christmas. British lawmakers are likely to be recalled on December 30 to approve the last-minute agreement. 
 An EU official told Reuters news agency a provisional application of the deal will need to be approved by member states because there’s not enough time for the EU Parliament to ratify the agreement before the December 31 deadline, when Britain’s transition period.  
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Latin America received its first doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, with a shipment landing in Mexico City.Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard was on hand when the flight carrying the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine landed from Belgium.”Today is the beginning of the end of that pandemic,” Ebrard said.Mexico is scheduled to receive 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Officials on Wednesday did not say how large the shipment was, however, but said they planned to begin vaccinating health workers in Mexico City and Saltillo, in Mexico’s north, on Thursday.Other Latin American countries are expecting vaccine shipments or, as Argentina did on Wednesday, approving vaccines for use in their countries.Also Wednesday, researchers found that people who had contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, were much less likely to test positive again. Those people who developed antibodies were “at much lower risk” to get the disease again, and could remain virus free for up to six months or longer, the two studies found.Dr. Ned Sharpless, director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, which conducted one of the studies, told the Associated Press that people who develop antibodies from natural infections develop “the same kind of protection you’d get from an effective vaccine. … It’s very, very rare” to get reinfected.The National Cancer Institute study involved more than 3 million people who had antibody tests. The NCI study found that only 0.3% of those who had antibodies later tested positive for the coronavirus, compared with 3% who lacked such antibodies, the AP reported.The second study, published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, involved a much smaller group. It followed 12,500 health workers, 1,265 of whom had coronavirus antibodies at the start. The study found that only two health workers tested positive in the following six months, and neither person developed symptoms, AP reported.U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, Operation Warp Speed chief operating officer, said Wednesday that the U.S. government would distribute nearly 4.7 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines next week.By the end of the first week of January, Perna said, about 20 million vaccine doses will have been delivered throughout the United States.U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui warned, however, that it would take longer to administer the doses.”The commitment that we can make is to make vaccine doses available,” Slaoui said during a press call. “How fast the ramp-up of immunizations, the shots in arms, is happening is slower than we thought it would be.”Public data show that health care workers in the United States have received about 1 million shots so far, a small fraction of the total shipped. U.S. officials said there was a lag in vaccination data of several days, however.Chile’s Santiago international airport is employing sniffer dogs in detecting travelers with COVID-19.A team of golden retrievers and Labradors wear green “biodector” jackets adorned with red crosses.Passengers will be required to wipe their necks and wrists with gauze pads. Once placed in glass containers, the dogs, who have been trained to detect the coronavirus, will give a sniff.Dogs are being used in airports in the United Arab Emirates and Finland. A recent study found dogs can identify individuals who have COVID-19 with 85% to 100% accuracy.Chile’s Carabinero police trained the dogs.
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Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, is outraged about a statement issued Tuesday by three Democratic U.S. congressmen calling for a “Haitian-led transition back to democratic order.”“It is really disturbing,” Edmond told VOA on Wednesday in an exclusive interview. “It saddens us to see democratic officials call for a transitional government. We don’t think that going through a transition again will help Haiti.”Haiti has had eight provisional governments since the departure of Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1986.The joint statement issued by Representatives Andy Levin, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Gregory Meeks, incoming chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Albio Sires, chair of the Western Hemisphere civilian security and trade subcommittee, says they are watching events unfold in Haiti with “growing concern.”“Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is pursuing an increasingly authoritarian course of action, issuing a series of recent decrees that include creating an extraconstitutional domestic ‘intelligence’ force,” the statement said. “His latest actions are reminiscent of past anti-democratic abuses the Haitian people have endured, including the run-up to the Duvalier dictatorship. We will not stand idly by while Haiti devolves into chaos.”’Limit the decrees’Jon Piechowski, U.S. deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, echoed that concern in an exclusive interview with VOA Creole earlier this week.“We are asking the government of Haiti to limit the decrees and only issue them to prepare the legislative elections or address issues pertaining to the well-being, health, security [of the Haitian people] until a new Parliament is installed and can address constitutional matters,” Piechowski said.Moise has been ruling by decree since January 2020 because Parliament is out of session. The terms of two-thirds of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate expired months before the pandemic hit the Caribbean nation in March.In their statement, Levin, Meeks and Sires said they would work with the incoming Biden administration and international partners to develop a multilateral strategy to address those concerns and hold accountable Haitian officials who violate the people’s human rights.The lawmakers said they would develop a U.S. policy that “prioritizes the rights and aspirations of the Haitian people and supports a credible, Haitian-led transition back to democratic order.”Meeting expectedEdmond told VOA he immediately reached out to the congressmen and intends to meet with them in the new year.“I am looking forward to talking with them in January,” he said.Haiti has faced increased pressure from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Organization of American States and the United Nations to hold elections as soon as technically possible.Pompeo Calls on Haiti to Hold ‘Overdue’ Legislative ElectionsA newly created electoral council is charged with organizing elections, but it faces pushback from Haiti’s oppositionBut the ambassador said the January 2021 timeframe suggested by the U.S. was not feasible because the Moise government believes an overhaul of the current constitution is necessary first and plans to hold a referendum on that in early 2021.“I think we have already met them in the middle,” Edmond told VOA. “We have agreed to elections. President Moise has done his job in naming an electoral council. We are working on possible calendars to submit now.”Pressed on a precise date for elections, Edmond said the Moise administration did not want to give a date it could not realistically uphold. He said an election schedule was in the works and would be made public early next year.As for the Provisional Electoral Council, Edmond told VOA that members were working with Haiti’s international partners “to make sure the election is fair. We understand this is the path to go.”But Haiti’s opposition has criticized the Moise government for unilaterally naming members of the council without seeking its input and has vowed not to participate in any elections organized by the administration. The opposition urged Moise to step down February 7, 2021. He responded that his five-year term would end on February 7, 2022.Concern about human rightsWith regard to the human rights concerns expressed by both Republicans and Democrats, Edmond said the Moise government shared those concerns.“What is going on in those slums [La Saline, Village de Dieux] is gang battles for turf control,” Edmond said. “What happened in La Saline, the government condemned it several times. There is a legal process going on. An investigative judge was appointed on this issue — he is working on it. We need to be very patient and make sure that these victims receive justice, because we understand that these crimes cannot remain unpunished. But the executive [branch] cannot interfere in the judicial process.”During the La Saline massacre in November 2018, armed gangs killed at least 71 people, raped numerous women and destroyed the homes of hundreds of residents. U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly called on Haiti’s government to bring those responsible to justice.The ambassador said the Moise administration had also prioritized training for the national police force, which has been under fire for human rights violations.Reflecting on 2020 and his mission to reinforce bilateral relations, Edmond, who previously served as Haiti’s foreign minister, said that “it has been a pleasure to work with the Trump administration, and we are looking forward to working with the Biden administration.”But at the end of the day, “Haiti will always handle its foreign policy considering its [own] interests,” he said.
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Stella Tennant, the aristocratic British model who was a muse to designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace, died suddenly at the age of 50, her family said Wednesday. Tennant, the granddaughter of a duke, rose to fame in the 1990s while walking the runway for Versace, Alexander McQueen and other designers. FILE – Model Stella Tennant poses during a photocall before Chanel Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2018 fashion collection presented in Paris, Jan. 23, 2018.In a statement, her family said: “It is with great sadness we announce the sudden death of Stella Tennant on Dec. 22.”  “Stella was a wonderful woman and an inspiration to us all. She will be greatly missed,” it said.  The family asked for privacy and said arrangements for a memorial service would be announced later. They did not disclose her cause of death.  Police Scotland said officers were called to an address in the Scottish Borders town of Duns on Tuesday following the sudden death of a 50-year-old woman. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.  The granddaughter of the 11th Duke of Devonshire Andrew Cavendish and his wife Deborah Mitford of a glamorous, unconventional aristocratic family, Tennant was one of the leading British models of the 1990s. Late in the decade, Lagerfeld announced her as the new face of Chanel, with an exclusive modeling contract, and she became a muse to the designer. Fashion house Versace paid tribute to Tennant on Twitter, saying: “Versace is mourning the death of Stella Tennant. Stella was Gianni Versace’s muse for many years and friend of the family. We will miss you forever, Stella. Rest in peace.”  Donatella Versace posted a photo of Tennant on Instagram in a tribute to the model.”Stella, I cannot believe you are gone,” she wrote. “You have left us way too soon. We met when you were at the beginning of your career. I cherish every moment we spent together. Ciao. Rest in peace.” FILE – Italian designer Gianfranco Ferre, right, acknowledges applause on the catwalk with top model Stella Tennant, in Milan, March 2, 2003.Stella McCartney said she was “speechless” after hearing the news.”What sad, horrific news to end this already shocking year!” McCartney wrote in a post on Instagram that included a photo of her and Tennant. “Rest in peace, you inspiring woman. Your soul and inner beauty exceeded the external perfection, Stella.” Tennant also appeared in advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Hermes and Burberry.  In 1999, Tennant married French photographer David Lasnet. She is survived by him and their four children. “From the first time I met Stella I was completely blown away,” fashion designer Marc Jacobs said on social media. “Her beauty, style and body language combined with her manners, kindness, sense of humor and personality were like no other. … My condolences to David and her family. What a terrible, heartbreaking loss.” 
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Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona did not consume alcohol or illicit narcotics in the days before his death, an autopsy released on Wednesday said.Maradona, who died in November at age 60, had taken seven different medicines to treat depression, anxiety and other ailments but “there was no presence of [illegal] drugs,” a judicial official told Reuters.The autopsy, which was based on blood and urine samples and was released by the Buenos Aires Scientific Police, said Maradona had problems with his kidneys, heart and lungs.Investigators are looking into various facets of his death, which rocked Argentina and the wider footballing world, and they have not ruled out wrongful death.The more detailed autopsy confirmed the results of one carried out immediately after his death that said the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player died from “acute pulmonary edema secondary to exacerbated chronic heart failure with dilated cardiomyopathy.”In an angry broadside at her father’s critics, Maradona’s daughter Gianinna said the autopsy showed “a result compatible with cirrhosis of the liver.”The charismatic 1986 World Cup winner, regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, had battled alcohol and drug addiction for much of his life.A judge last week ruled that Maradona’s body could not be exhumed or cremated in case DNA is needed at a later date for use in paternity or other cases.Maradona has five recognized children and six with filiation requests. They are part of a complex inheritance process under way in Argentina.
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European Union and British negotiators are nearing a trade deal as Britain’s New Year’s Day exit from the 27-nation bloc approaches, EU officials said Wednesday.Two officials said negotiators are working to resolve as early as midnight Wednesday a fishing rights issue in British waters in hopes of avoiding a messy economic break between the two sides.One of the sources, who asked to remain unidentified because the talks were still ongoing, said talks had entered the final phase. “I expect to see some white smoke tonight,” the official said.Since formally leaving the EU on January 31, Britain immediately entered an 11-month economic transition period, giving negotiators time to reach a free trade deal to ease its exit from the Single Market and the Customs Union at the end of this year.EU, UK Each Demand Concessions as Post-Brexit Talks StallSources from each side said that unless the other backed down on access to UK waters, Britain would leave the single market at midnight December 31 without a deal on cross-channel commerceNegotiators are attempting to reach a deal that ensures the annual trade of goods between the two sides worth nearly $1 trillion remains exempt from tariffs and quotas. Britain is calling for quotas for EU vessels in British waters, and sources from both sides have reported progress in the talks.An EU diplomat said negotiators previously reached a compromise over EU concerns that Britain would weaken the bloc’s social, environmental and state aid rules to gain an unfair advantage with its exports to the EU. Britain maintained that EU rules would have undercut its sovereignty.It is unclear how trade between the two sides would take place if they fail to meet the January 1 deadline.
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The U.S. departments of Treasury and State on Wednesday announced sanctions and visa restrictions on dozens of Belarusian citizens and several entities for their alleged roles in what the U.S. calls a fraudulent Aug. 9 election and the violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters that followed.
 
“The election included a myriad of irregularities that made it neither free nor fair, including barring opposition candidates, denying access to poll observers, and certifying inaccurate vote tallies,” the Treasury Department said in a news release.
 
Treasury officials accused leaders of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding Republican Referenda — led by Chairwoman Lidziya Yarmoshina, Deputy Chairperson Vadzim Ipatau, and Secretary Alena Dmukhayla — of fraud. All three had already been sanctioned Oct. 2. 
 
The U.S. department also says Deputy Minister of the Interior and Chief of the Criminal Police Henadz Arkadzievich Kazakevich “was responsible for the actions of the Criminal Police in their role of carrying out previously sanctioned Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s policy of violently cracking down on pro-democracy protests in Belarus.”
 
The Minsk Special Purpose Police Unit, the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Minsk City Executive Committee, and KGB Alpha, an elite unit of Belarus’s secret services, are all being sanctioned for their roles in the violent crackdowns, Treasury said.
 
“The Belarusian people continually seek to peacefully exercise their basic democratic rights, and the state repeatedly responds with violent crackdowns,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a press release. “This action, in conjunction with those taken previously by the United States and our international partners, continue to hold accountable the individuals and organizations carrying out these unacceptable actions.”
 
After Treasury’s announcement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced more sanctions via Twitter.
 
“This morning, I imposed visa restrictions on 39 individuals and @USTreasury sanctioned additional officials and entities for their roles in the fraudulent August 9th election and the violent crackdown in Belarus. The Belarusian people deserve free and fair elections.”
 
Earlier this month, Belarusian security forces detained dozens of people across the country as street protests calling on authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko to resign continued.
 
Demonstrators have gathered in Minsk and other Belarusian cities in nearly continuous protests since the disputed presidential election in August.
 
The Aug. 9 vote gave Lukashenko a sixth presidential term, but the opposition believes candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the real winner of the election and is calling for the strongman’s resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.
 
Today’s sanctions come just six days after the European Union unveiled fresh sanctions against dozens of Belarusians, including Deputy Prime Minister Anatoli Sivak, and the head of state television.
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A Turkish court has convicted journalist Can Dundar on espionage and terror-related charges for a news report.
The court in Istanbul on Wednesday found Dundar guilty of “obtaining secret documents for espionage” and “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization without being a member,” sentencing him to a total of 27 1/2 years in prison. Dundar’s lawyers did not attend the hearing in protest, saying the proceedings violated the rules of fair trial and impartiality.  
Dundar, the former editor-in-chief of opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, was on trial for a 2015 story accusing Turkey’s intelligence service of illegally sending weapons to Syria. Dundar fled to Germany in 2016 and was being tried in absentia.  
The story included a 2014 video that showed men in police uniforms and civilian clothing unscrewing bolts to open the trucks and unpacking boxes. Later images show trucks full of mortar rounds. The Associated Press cannot confirm the authenticity of the video.
The news report claimed that the Turkish intelligence service and Turkey’s president did not allow the prosecutor to begin an investigation into arms smuggling.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was infuriated by the publication, filing criminal charges against Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul. Erdogan said the trucks carried aid to Turkmen groups in Syria and that Dundar would “pay a high price.”  
Turkey later interfered directly in the Syrian civil war, launching four cross-border operations.  
Dundar is accused of aiding the network of U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, who the government says masterminded Turkey’s 2016 failed coup. The prosecutor who ordered the trucks stopped and others, including military officers, have been charged with links to Gulen. Gulen denies the allegations and remains in Pennsylvania.  
Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency reported that the court thought Dundar’s news report aimed to present Turkey as a “country that supports terror” domestically and internationally. The court said that perception helped Gulen’s network, which also used the story in its own publications.  
Dundar and Gul were arrested in 2015 and spent three months in pre-trial detention. In 2016, a court convicted them to five to six years in prison for “obtaining and revealing secret documents to be used for espionage.” Dundar was attacked outside the courthouse on the same day as the verdict but was uninjured.
After Dundar appealed the conviction, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the sentences in 2018 and ordered a retrial with harsher sentences. The retrial began in 2019.
Dundar’s property in Turkey is in the process of being seized.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey at 154 out of 180 countries in its 2020 Press Freedom Index.
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Police in Canada have declared the death of a dissident Pakistani human rights activist a “non-criminal” incident. 
  
Thirty-seven-year-old Karima Mehrab, also known as Karima Baloch from Pakistan’s troubled Baluchistan province, was found dead Monday, a day after she went missing in Toronto’s downtown area.  
  
“The circumstances have been investigated and officers have determined this to be a non-criminal death and no foul play is suspected. We have updated the family,” a Toronto Police statement said.  The Toronto Police Service is aware of heightened community and media interest surrounding a missing person investigation.
Earlier today, we confirmed a 37-year-old woman was sadly located deceased on Monday, December 21, 2020.
— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) December 23, 2020Baloch had been living in Canada since fleeing Baluchistan in 2015, where she campaigned for the province’s separation from Pakistan and was reportedly charged with terrorism. 
 
Her death sparked speculation of the involvement of Pakistani intelligence operatives, charges officials in Islamabad rejected as “ridiculous” and an attempt to malign Pakistan.  
  
Baloch’s husband, Hammal Haider, told media she went on a walk on Toronto’s Center Island and never returned. 
 
“I can’t believe that it’s an act of suicide,” he told the Guardian newspaper. “She was a strong lady and she left home in a good mood. We can’t rule out foul play as she has been under threats. She left Pakistan as her home was raided more than twice,” Haider said.  
  
Baluchistan has long been home to insurgent separatist movements and often experiences deadly attacks on Pakistani security forces blamed on the separatists. 
  
The Pakistani military said on Tuesday an “intelligence-based operation” against a suspected militant hideout in the province’s Awaran region triggered a shootout with “terrorists,” killing 10 of them.  It added that the slain men were behind a recent deadly attack on a security convoy in the area.  
 
Pakistan alleges Baluch separatists are being supported and funded by rival India, charges New Delhi denies.   
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Russia has sent 300 military instructors to the Central African Republic at the request of the country’s leadership to help counter a surge in rebel violence ahead of Sunday’s election, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.Officials and a security source in the Central African capital Bangui said earlier on Monday that Rwanda and Russia had dispatched troops and supplies.The 300 Russian instructors coming at the request of Bangui authorities are to provide training to the national army.They could bolster security forces and over 12,000 United Nations peacekeepers as armed rebel groups, some of whom fought one another in the country’s prolonged conflict, have formed an alliance and are threatening to march on the capital.”We are carefully following the unfolding situation in the Central African Republic,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. “We are seriously concerned that the events of recent days have led to a sharp deterioration in the security situation in this country.”The mineral-rich but deeply impoverished country has struggled to regain stability since 2013 when then-President Francois Bozize was ousted by a rebellion of mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.Alleged human rights abuses by the Seleka sparked reprisals from the mostly Christian Anti-balaka militia, plunging the landlocked country into a spiral of tit-for-tat violence.Clashes surged in the days after the country’s highest court barred Bozize from running in Sunday’s election.President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s government has accused Bozize of plotting a coup.Some political parties have called for the election to be postponed due to the spate of violence, while the International Crisis Group think tank urged neighboring heads of state on Tuesday to help Bozize and Touadera strike a deal and calm the situation to ensure the election can proceed.The United Nations mission in Central African Republic and the government insist that the vote will go ahead.Security and diplomatic sources said on Tuesday a rebel group had seized control of Bambari, a trading hub around 380 kilometers (235 miles) east of the capital. The government could not be reached for comment.Mankeur Ndiaye, the U.N. envoy in Central African Republic, told a news conference on Tuesday the security situation was relatively calm, and measures were in place to secure the vote.”If the elections don’t hold … we risk entering a period of uncontrolled instability,” Ndiaye said.
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Top European Union officials say the bloc must invest more heavily in Mediterranean countries to be able to compete with China. Beijing has financed or purchased key infrastructure in the region as part of its so-called Belt and Road Initiative. More in this report by Alfonso Beato in Barcelona, narrated by Henry Ridgwell.Camera: Alfonso Beato   Produced by: Rod James  
 
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The number of journalists murdered for their work doubled in 2020, as criminal gangs and militant groups sought to silence reporting with violence, a new report says.  At least 30 journalists were killed between January 1 and December 15, including 21 who were murdered, and others who were killed in crossfire or while on assignments, the report by press freedom organization the FILE – Afghan journalist Rahmatullah Nikzad poses for a photograph in Kabul, July 29, 2019. He was killed Dec. 21, 2020.Rahmatullah Nikzad, who was head of a local press union, is the fifth journalist to be killed in Afghanistan in the past two months. The attacks also claimed the life of Elyas Dayee, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Afghan service.  Cartels, criminal groups and militants in democratic but violent countries account for the doubling of murders in 2020, CPJ found.   Two of the deadliest countries — Mexico and the Philippines — have protection mechanisms in place that are supposed to improve journalist safety.  A failure to secure prosecutions in journalist killings adds to the problem, said Courtney Radsch, advocacy director at CPJ.  “Nobody is typically held accountable, and there are not meaningful investigations into a lot of these murders,” Radsch said. “It just sends a signal that reporters are expendable, and you don’t really need to worry because no one’s going to hold you accountable.” FILE – People hold posters of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, near the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, marking the two-year anniversary of his death, Oct. 2, 2020.“We need people to be brave enough to continue exposing corruption, exposing crime,” he said.  The United States has introduced legislation that will hold countries that commit rights abuses against journalists accountable via sanctions and restrictions on foreign aid.  The Jamal Khashoggi Press Freedom Accountability Act was named in honor of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Khashoggi who was killed in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul. “We must ensure that journalists in the United States and around the world are able to do their jobs without fear of harm,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who proposed the bill with her Democratic colleague Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.  “It is unacceptable to suppress, imprison and violently target the press, and the Jamal Khashoggi Act would ensure that the United States holds foreign governments who attempt to do so accountable.”  
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Thousands of people have poured into the Armenian capital’s main square as the opposition continues its campaign to pressure Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to quit over last month’s cease-fire deal with Azerbaijan.
 
The protesters gathered in Republic Square on Tuesday and chanted slogans such as, “Nikol, traitor” as riot police guarded the prime minister’s offices nearby.
 
Another group of demonstrators walked into another building that houses several government ministries and briefly scuffled with security forces there, while a major highway was reportedly blocked by opposition supporters in the afternoon.
 
Leaders of a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties have vowed to hold daily demonstrations until Pashinyan agrees to hand over power to a “transitional” government tasked with organizing snap parliamentary elections within a year.Vazgen Manukian, who has been nominated by the opposition National Salvation Movement to head such a government, urged Armenian armed forces and police to stop carrying out Pashinyan’s orders and “join the people.”
 
“Switch to our side so that we solve the issue today,” Manukian told the crowd on Republic Square.
 
Pashinyan earlier on Tuesday made clear that he has no intention to leave office and portrayed the anti-government protests as a revolt by the country’s “elites” who had lost their “privileges” when he swept to power amid nationwide protests in 2018.
 
The prime minister has come under fire since agreeing to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that took effect on November 10, ending six weeks of fierce fighting in and around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
His opponents want him to quit over what they say was his disastrous handling of the conflict that handed Azerbaijan swaths of territory that ethnic Armenians had controlled since the 1990s.
 
They also say Pashinyan is not capable of dealing with the new security challenges Armenia is facing.
 
Calls for his resignation have been backed by President Armen Sarkisian, the head of Armenia’s Apostolic Church Catholicos Karekin II, as well as other prominent public figures in the country and the Armenian diaspora. 
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A Pakistani human rights activist who had been missing for days has been found dead in Toronto.
 
Karima Baloch, 37, who had been living in exile in Canada for five years, campaigned for human rights in the troubled region of Balochistan.  
 
Baloch left Pakistan in 2015 after she was charged with terrorism, the BBC reported.  
 
Balochistan has long been home to insurgent separatist movements.
 
Before coming to Canada, she was the first female leader of the Baloch Students’ Organization, which is now banned, the BBC reported.  
 
Toronto police said she went missing on Sunday. No cause of death has been announced.
 
Baloch’s husband, Hammal Haider, told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper that she went on a walk on Toronto’s Center Island and never returned.
 
“I can’t believe that it’s an act of suicide,” he told the newspaper. “She was a strong lady and she left home in a good mood. We can’t rule out foul play as she has been under threats. She left Pakistan as her home was raided more than twice. Her uncle was killed. She was threatened to leave activism and political activities, but she did not and fled to Canada.”
 
Her friend, Lateef Johar Baloch, told the BBC Baloch had recently received anonymous threats that someone would “teach her a lesson.”
 
Baloch’s sister, Mahganj Baloch, called the death a “tragedy for the family” and for the Baloch national movement.  
 
The Balochistan National Movement announced a 40-day mourning period upon learning of Baloch’s death.
 
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The head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, the country’s national public health organization, says it is likely the variant of the coronavirus recently identified in Britain has already made its way to Germany.Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Berlin, Lothar Wieler said that while he has not heard of any actual case in Germany, he said they know the strain was first found in Britain in September and has since been discovered in the Netherlands and Denmark. He said that means the likelihood of it being in Germany already but undiscovered, is probably “very, very high.”The discovery of the new variant has prompted many nations to ban air travel from Britain. On Monday, officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) said that while there may be evidence the variant spreads more quickly, there is no evidence it is severer or deadlier.  WHO officials said virus variations are common, and the best way to prevent them is to prevent transmissions.Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of BioNTech, co-creator of the first coronavirus vaccine approved for use in Europe, said, “Scientifically, it is highly likely” that the immune response created by their vaccine also can deal with the new variant. But he cautioned the new variant has nine mutations and they do not know for sure if the vaccine will also provide protection against it.The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the continent’s drug regulator, gave initial approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Monday, and Europe Union officials say they expect vaccinations to begin December 27.  Wieler said the EMA approval of the vaccine is good news, but the shots will not change the overall situation for a very long time. He urged people to continue limiting contacts with others as the virus continues to spread in the country.
 
 
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FIFA has filed a criminal complaint against former president Sepp Blatter over the finances of its loss-making soccer museum in Zurich. Soccer’s governing body said on Tuesday it suspected “criminal mismanagement by FIFA’s former management and companies appointed by them” to work on the museum — long seen as a pet project of Blatter’s — in a renovated and rented city center building. The FIFA World Football Museum opened in 2016 after $140 million of soccer money was spent refurbishing the 1970s office building to also include 34 rental apartments. It was meant to open around May 2015, when Blatter won a fifth presidential election, but was delayed until after he left office amid pressure from American and Swiss investigations of international soccer officials. FILE – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter talks to the media as he arrives before a commemoration service for the former coach of the Swiss national soccer team Koebi Kuhn at the Grossmuenster church in Zurich, Dec. 13, 2019.Blatter committed FIFA to a rental contract with the building’s owner, insurance firm Swiss Life, that requires paying $360 million through 2045 at above market rates, soccer’s world body said. FIFA said its criminal complaint following an external audit of the project was delivered by hand to canton (state) prosecutors in Zurich.  “That audit revealed a wide range of suspicious circumstances and management failures, some of which may be criminal in nature and which therefore need to be properly investigated by the relevant authorities,” FIFA deputy secretary general for administration Alasdair Bell said in a statement. The Zurich prosecution office acknowledged receiving the complaint without giving more details. Blatter’s lawyer, Lorenz Erni, said in a statement: “The allegations are baseless and are vehemently denied.”  Blatter risks investigation at local level while already a suspect in two criminal proceedings opened by federal prosecutors into how he spent FIFA’s money as president. Those investigations involve FIFA paying $2 million to former UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011 and $1 million to the Trinidad and Tobago soccer body — effectively to disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner — weeks before the Caribbean islands’ general election in 2010.  “Given the massive costs associated with this museum, as well as the general way of working of the previous FIFA management, a forensic audit was conducted in order to find out what really happened here,” Bell said. The museum has made a loss each year including $50 million in 2016 that included one-off costs, FIFA said then in its financial report. The  most recent FIFA accounts for 2019 show almost $3.5 million revenue from the FIFA World Football Museum and $6.3 million costs for “investment and expenses.” There was a record 161,700 visitors at the Zurich building last year. In the 2018 accounts, museum revenue was almost $4 million against $12 million in spending. The FIFA museum was identified closely with Blatter from the time it was announced in April 2012.  His executive committee had already approved 180 million Swiss francs ($203 million) for what was being called “Project Libero,” and forecast to attract 300,000 visitors each year. “It is high time that world football had a meeting place for its millions of fans,” Blatter said then of a museum originally to be built underground next to FIFA’s headquarters on a wooded hillside above the city. One year later, the museum plan changed to a FIFA-funded renovation of a modernist building owned by Swiss Life. FIFA said in a 2013 news release it signed a 40-year rental of “Haus zur Enge.” The museum would “occupy the second basement level through to the first floor” with office space and apartments on the upper levels to the ninth story.  “The FIFA museum project is a stroke of luck for Zurich and is a perfect fit for Swiss Life’s investment policy,” the insurance firm’s chairman, Rolf Dörig, said in the FIFA statement. In a statement on Tuesday, Swiss Life said “we consider this a matter for FIFA. Therefore, we have no further comment.” When the museum formally opened on Feb. 28, 2016 it was a first public duty for the new FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, who had been elected two days earlier.  Blatter did not attend the ceremony and had begun serving a ban from soccer by FIFA’s ethics committee after Swiss authorities revealed the Platini payment in September 2015. The ban expires next October when Blatter will be 85.  FIFA said on Tuesday its files on the museum project will be sent to ethics investigators. The complaint filed against Blatter is the latest act in a busy year in criminal investigations linked to FIFA’s past and present presidents. At least four criminal complaints were filed anonymously against Infantino and Switzerland’s attorney general, Michael Lauber, about three meetings they had in 2016 and 2017. Lauber was forced from office in the fallout including misleading a committee overseeing his work. A special prosecutor appointed by Switzerland’s parliament to examine the meetings opened a case against Infantino in July. Potential charges include inciting Lauber to abuse his public office.  Blatter spoke this month with the special prosecutor, Stefan Keller. Keller also recommended this month that federal prosecutors investigate Infantino for using a private jet on FIFA business in 2017. He could not open his own case because his remit is limited to matters involving Lauber.  FIFA said two weeks ago that Keller’s “malicious and defamatory” statement “borders on character assassination.”  
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