President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will host the administration’s third state dinner in April, for King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, the White House announced Tuesday.The fancy, black-tie dinner — a diplomatic tool often reserved for America’s staunchest allies — is part of a state visit scheduled for April 21 to celebrate close ties between the two countries, press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.”The visit will celebrate our two countries’ close friendship and shared history, and reaffirm our commitments to stand together to address today’s global challenges,” Grisham said in a statement.King Felipe and Trump met in the Oval Office in June 2018 during a royal tour of the U.S. to mark the 300th anniversaries of the founding of New Orleans and San Antonio, cities with historical ties to Spain.FILE – President Donald Trump, right, speaks while meeting with Spain’s King Felipe VI, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, June 19, 2018.Trump, at the time, praised the “outstanding” relationship between the U.S. and Spain and cited excellent cooperation between them on trade and military defense.”Just about everything you can have,” Trump said. “So we love Spain.”The relationship has weathered a few bumps in the road, however. One area of cooperation has been a long-term agreement that allows the U.S. to use two military bases in Spain. But with Trump threatening Europe with tariffs, it has been suggested that Spain might eventually dangle the base deal as leverage.Spain’s new foreign minister, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, told the Spanish daily El Pais in an interview published Sunday that she wants “to find a meeting point and a balance in which the United States finds things it considers important and Spain too. Obviously, access to the American market for Spanish products is important.”The interview followed a telephone conversation she had with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.Gonzalez Laya has said she plans to visit the U.S. in February.Past relationshipA pre-Iraq war meeting in 2003 in the Azores between President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar represented a new peak for Spain’s standing with the U.S.But the subsequent decision by Aznar’s successor, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq after he took office in 2004 soured ties considerably.Barack Obama’s arrival at the White House saw relations improve, and he and Zapatero were seen as good friends. The relationship has held steady with Trump first hosting former premier Mariano Rajoy in 2017 and preparing to meet new Socialist Premier Minister Pedro Sanchez.The Trump administration’s previous state dinners were for France in April 2018 and Australia in September 2019.
 
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Ukraine’s first and currently only television channel in the Crimean Tatar language says it is on the brink of shutting down operations due to lack of government funding.ATR hasn’t received $2 million that the government allocated for the channel in this year’s state budget, a statement by the channel said on Feb. 10.The channel said it received $610,000 on its account on Dec. 28, but couldn’t access the money because banks were closed that day so it had to return the money, as required by law.A portion of the $2 million that was allocated this year was transferred to ATR’s account, but the channel said the state treasury had blocked access to it.In response, ATR has launched a fundraising campaign and is broadcasting from an empty studio without presenters and guests.ATR is a part of a media holding that is majority-owned by Lenur Islyamov and initially stopped broadcasting in Crimea after the occupying Russian authorities refused to issue a broadcasting license after annexing the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.It resumed broadcasting on June 17, 2015, in Kyiv via satellite throughout Ukraine, including in Crimea, supported mostly with government money.Islyamov said in a statement that without the channel, Ukraine will never get back Crimea.”We know who our focus group is. We know it is the people who support us, those people who know about us, and those who want to return to Crimea with us,” he said. “Without us, we won’t be able to return to Crimea. We are the bridge that is being laid to Crimea.”Due to the financial shortfall, ATR has slashed 90 percent of its own programming, dismissed 45 percent of its staff, reduced news broadcasts, and stopped broadcasting live, Islyamov said.In addition to ATR, a children’s TV channel and a radio channel are part of the holding.Separately in January, Ukraine’s public broadcaster shut down international broadcasting and closed its Crimean Tatar-, Arabic-, and English-language departments. 
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British police said on Tuesday that two more arrests had been made over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in the back of a truck near London last year while investigations indicated they had died of overheating and lack of oxygen.
The victims, who included two 15-year-old boys, were found on an industrial estate in Grays in Essex, about 20 miles (32 km) east of London in October.Mostly from Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in north-central Vietnam, their deaths shone a light on the human smuggling trade.Autopsies had concluded that the provisional cause of death was a combination of hypoxia – oxygen deprivation – and hyperthermia – overheating – in an enclosed space.Essex Police said a 22-year-old man had been arrested in Northern Ireland on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating unlawful immigration. He was now in custody in Essex.Last week, British police along with German authorities detained Gheorghe Nica, 43, who was wanted on a European Arrest Warrant, at Frankfurt Airport.Nica, who lives near Grays, appeared in court on Saturday accused of 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and is due to reappear at London’s Old Bailey court on March 16.”Our teams are continuing to progress hundreds of lines of inquiry and are working with the National Crime Agency and other law enforcement agencies from across the globe to further their lengthy and complex investigation,” Essex Police said.Maurice Robinson, the British driver of the truck who hailed from Northern Ireland, admitted last November plotting to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.British authorities are also trying to extradite Eamonn Harrison, 23, from Ireland on charges of manslaughter, human trafficking and immigration offenses. He is due at Dublin’s High Court on Wednesday.Police have said the Vietnamese victims were found not long after the container arrived in Britain from Zeebrugge in Belgium. The refrigerated unit was picked up at Purfleet dock, not far from Grays, while police believe the truck cab was driven over from Ireland. 
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The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a senior Ukrainian-born Russian official was now in charge of managing Moscow’s relations with Ukraine, a move likely to be seen by some politicians in Kyiv as further evidence of a slight thaw in ties.President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, was now the most senior Kremlin official when it came to Ukraine.Kozak, a lawyer by education, was born in what used to be Soviet Ukraine.Vladislav Surkov, seen as a hardliner by many in Kyiv, had previously overseen Russia’s relations with Ukraine, a role that saw him negotiate and advise Putin on the subject. Peskov said Surkov still worked for the Kremlin, but did not elaborate.Relations between Moscow and Kyiv were derailed after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and Moscow-backed separatists launched an uprising in the Donbas, eastern Ukraine, that has killed more than 13,000 people. Russia denies any role in the conflict.Russia and Ukraine are wrangling over how to implement a peace deal on the Donbas, but major disagreements remain and full normalisation is far off.Under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, there has been some movement however with a peace summit held in Paris in December with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany. That was followed by a large-scale prisoner swap.Zelenskiy on Tuesday appointed a former lawyer called Andriy Yermak as his chief of staff.Yermak, who was involved in negotiating prisoner swaps with Russia, told the Ukraine 24 TV channel on Monday that he had met Kozak and thought he was an improvement over Surkov.”It seems to me that he (Kozak) is more inclined to dialogue. And on the issues on which I spoke with him, I can say that we had constructive communication, without which nothing would be possible of what we have already seen,” Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency cited Yermak as saying. 
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Ireland’s main opposition party Fianna Fail won the most seats in the country’s 160-seat parliament, one more than the outsider, left-wing Sinn Fein, which scored an unprecedented result in Saturday’s general election. Sinn Fein, notorious for its links with the outlawed Irish Republican Army, won nearly 25% of the vote in a tight race with two mainstream parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, the success of an outsider party reflects voter discontent with politics as usual.
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Germany’s closely watched impending decision on whether and to what extent to allow Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, to enter its next generation telecommunications infrastructure may yield a result as early as Tuesday, sources tell VOA.The decision “is imminent,” says Emily Haber, German ambassador to the United States, in answer to a question raised by VOA Monday afternoon concerning the German government’s stance with regard to Huawei.“Any decision we take will factor in the relevance of the trustworthiness of the provider,” Haber added.VOA has since learned from diplomatic sources that “imminent” could mean as early as Tuesday February 11th when German lawmakers convene in Berlin.Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, thinks Germany could end up following Britain’s precedence and reach a compromise solution “between Merkel’s permissive ‘few limits suggestion and the more restrictive line called for by many backbench MPs, led by Norbert Roettgen,” Kirkegaard told VOA.Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is seen as wanting to work with Beijing in order to secure German business interests in China, while Roettgen, also a member of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and chairman of the influential Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, has made  no secret of his mistrust of Huawei.Roettgen pinned his tweet from November 23rd following a CDU vote in which he declared the unanimous vote a huge victory and an unambiguous declaration of where CDU stands on this issue.Unser #Initiativantrag zu #5G wurde beim #cdupt19 einstimmig beschlossen – ein Riesenerfolg! Die Debatte kommt in den #Bundestag. Klare Position der @CDU gegen Einfluss ausländischer Staaten in deutsche kritische Infrastruktur & für eine europäische Lösung! pic.twitter.com/W3uvLAxWJU— Norbert Röttgen (@n_roettgen) November 23, 2019CDU position “against foreign influence in critical German infrastructure” as well as its determination to find a European solution are “clear,” he tweeted, “next comes the parliamentary debate” which could take place Tuesday in Berlin, sources tell VOA.In Kirkegaard’s opinion, Germany could also impose a ceiling on Huawei’s market share and attempt to prevent the company from supplying “core network” components, a measure Britain has recently announced, in spite of Washington’s strong objection.He nonetheless points out that given the 5G technology’s largely “cloud”-based feature, it remains “technically unclear” how core and peripheral distinction could be meaningfully established.Should the German parliament vote Huawei out of Germany’s 5G telecommunications infrastructure, it would be a huge surprise to many, including Kirkegaard. Should it happen, it would constitute a “huge defeat for Merkel,” he says, even as Merkel’s party is thrown into turmoil as her designated successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her decision to step down as chairman of the CDU on Monday.It remains to be seen whether the latest development within the CDU could affect the German parliament’s debate on Huawei.Speaking along with the German ambassador at an event hosted by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies Monday afternoon, Piotr Wilczek, Poland’s ambassador to the United States, said “there’s been a big effort” on the part of all EU countries “to provide Brussels with our positions” on the issue of Huawei.“Now we’re in the process of discussing this in more detail,” Wilczek said, in answer to VOA’s question on his country’s position with regard to Huawei. “Poland and I believe Romania are the only countries that have signed a declaration with the United States, stating just that we’ll be very careful in choosing providers and providers should be very reliable,” he added, without naming any company by name.“This is a very complicated issue … a difficult decision,” he says, “because it’s about the quality of services, of various providers; we know some of them are very much advanced, and some of them are not so much advanced but perhaps more reliable.”Earlier, Norbert Roettgen, the German lawmaker who has openly expressed his concerns about Huawei, stated that when it comes to which providers to be let in, “You don’t just need technical certainty, you need the suppliers to be politically trustworthy, too.” A bill that Roettgen helped draft requires that any company designated as “untrustworthy” be excluded “from both the core and peripheral networks.”Roettgen tweeted on February 8 that the United States and the EU “could team up to counter China’s 5G dominance.”  “We share the same security concerns and should cooperate to expand alternatives.”  He added that “but to do so, we must know that tariffs against Brussels are off the table.  Partners don’t threaten one another,” in a reference to tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would impose on a number of European imports, including on German automobiles.The #USA & EU could team up to counter #China’s #5G dominance. We share the same security concerns & should cooperate to expand 🇪🇺 alternatives. But to do so we must know that tariffs against Brussels are off the table. Partners don’t threaten one another. https://t.co/ZPvZFKWNYq— Norbert Röttgen (@n_roettgen) February 8, 2020Huawei has repeatedly denied that it is beholden to the Chinese government and its political demands. China’s top envoy to Berlin has made it clear that Beijing “will not stand idly by” should Germany’s decision on Huawei turns out to be unfavorable to Beijing. “If Germany were to make a decision that led to Huawei’s exclusion from the German market, there will be consequences,” Wu Ken is quoted as saying. Whichever way Germany decides, its decision likely will have significant impact on the other European Union countries. Political influence aside, the fact that Germany takes up about 30% of the EU’s 5G market is “enough for pan-EU operators to follow its lead,” according to the Peterson Institute’s Kirkegaard.
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Nicaragua’s best-known daily newspaper La Prensa is aiming to expand its page count and possibly re-hire some laid-off newsroom staff after an 18 month government-enforced blockade of newsprint supplies.Nicaraguan customs officials on Thursday agreed to release an impounded shipment of ink and paper after a communications channel between the government and the country’s only remaining national newspaper was reopened.According to news wires, the government’s decision came just days after the Vatican’s top diplomat in Managua intervened on La Prensa’s behalf.The breakthrough came just days after a La Prensa editorial warned that the newspaper’s days may be numbered.“Nicaragua would be the only country in the world that would not have a printed newspaper,” said the storied publication’s editorial board, which has long been an irritant of President Daniel Ortega.2018 seizureLa Presna’s imported newsprint shipments were seized in August 2018, shortly after the paper repeatedly called Ortega a dictator following deadly police crackdowns on a wave of anti-government protests over cuts to social security and calls for his resignation.Ortega’s government labeled the uprising a U.S.-financed coup attempt, and its violent response claimed more than 320 lives.“We have not offered anything in return to the government [for the surprise release of print materials],” said La Prensa Director Jaime Chamorro, whose family bought the publication in 1932, just six years after it was founded.La Presna editor Eduardo Enrique said the seizure forced rationing of newsprint, cutting its standard 36-page daily edition down to eight pages, sacrificing ad revenue and forcing newsroom-wide layoffs.Over the weekend, La Prensa executives said they plan conduct a market study to determine how many pages they can print in light of their economic losses. Enrique, who now leads of newsroom of 25 journalists that produce multiple publications, also said they’re planning to rehire newsroom personnel lost during the blockade, although he did not give a specific number.A storied history“La Prensa used to have a big newsroom with more than 70 journalists,” said Emiliano Chamorro, who was laid off after a 25-year career covering political and religious affairs for La Presna.”It’s the most important newspaper in the country,” he said. “With more than 94 years of history, the newspaper has survived three dictatorships—two of Somoza, and the first one of Daniel Ortega in the 80s.”Nicaraguan government officials did not respond to requests to explain why they retained the materials or what prompted them to free it.Part of broader press clampdownThe violent unrest of 2018 was followed by a severe clampdown on independent media, in which Ortega’s security forces raided news outlets and imprisoned journalists.Since that time, more than 100 journalists have fled the country in the wake of threats, beatings and arbitrary detentions, according to a July 2019 statement by the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. Ortega, whose own family presides over a vast media empire, has repeatedly offered assurances that all Nicaraguans enjoy unrestricted freedom of personal expression.“In Nicaragua there is an absolute freedom of religion and expression,” the president said during a recent presidential speech.Carlos Fernando Chamorro, director of independent newsweekly and TV channel Confidencial, told Voice of America he hopes the released paper and ink will be followed by a return of confiscated news facilities, including his 100% Noticias television newsroom.La Prensa executives say they anticipate printing a full edition in coming weeks, but that they must first assess the quality of the recently released paper, newsprint reel, and plate cylinders.Washington-imposed sanctions on Nicaragua for human rights violations followed the 2018 unrest, which aimed to pressure Managua into easing restrictions on various organizations.According to Reuters, Michael Kozak, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said on Twitter that “the long-overdue decision to release @laprensa’s paper & ink from Nicaraguan customs is a step in the right direction.”Managua-based El Nuevo Diario shut down in September after government officials impounded their newsprint supplies. Leaders of both El Nuevo Diario and La Prensa have accused Ortega’s government of de facto censorship and “economic asphyxiation” for editorials critical of his administration’s response to the 2018 protests.A report by the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation recorded some 420 press violations between April and October 2018. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders ranks Nicaragua 114 out of 180 countries in its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, a 24-point drop from its 2018 ranking.”The persecution of independent media outlets has become much more intense since the political crisis intensified in April 2018,” the report states. “…Although the environment is now extremely violent, non-aligned media outlets cannot afford the bulletproof vests and other protective equipment that their reporters need when covering demonstrations.”This story originated in VOA’s Latin American Division (( https://www.voanoticias.com )). Some information is from Reuters.
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A Belfast couple were on Tuesday set to become the first same-sex couple to get married in Northern Ireland after a change in the law.Robyn Peoples, 26, and Sharni Edwards, 27, were due to wed at 2:00 pm (1400 GMT) in Carrickfergus, near Belfast, after the new legislation came into effect on Monday.It followed campaigning by Amnesty International and partner organizations in the “Love Equality” campaign, which hailed the occasion “a landmark moment for equality in Northern Ireland.””We didn’t set out to make history — we just fell in love,” Edwards said ahead of the nuptials in a statement released by the campaign.”We are so grateful to the thousands of people who marched for our freedoms, to the Love Equality campaign who led the way, and the politicians who voted to change the law.”Without you, our wedding wouldn’t have been possible. We will be forever thankful.”Her soon-to-be wife Peoples added: “While this campaign ends with Sharni and I saying ‘I do,’ it started with people saying ‘no’ to inequality. By standing together, we’ve made history.”British MPs in London passed legislation last July, while Northern Ireland’s devolved government was suspended, to allow gay marriages and same-sex civil partnerships.The move, which brought the province into line with the rest of the UK, was opposed by a group of local lawmakers but they failed in a last-minute bid in October to block its implementation.London spent the intervening months drawing up new regulations to apply to the marriages and partnerships — with the first permitted to happen this week.In the meantime, Northern Ireland’s political parties also agreed to restart power-sharing in Belfast.Activists, British MPs including Northern Ireland Secretary of State Julian Smith, and others will celebrate the occasion at a parliamentary event in London later on Tuesday.Sara Canning, the partner of journalist Lyra McKee who was killed by dissident republicans in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry last year, helped to campaign for the change.”Of course, this historic moment is a little bittersweet. It had been our dream too. Lyra and I should have been an engaged couple now, planning our own wedding day,” she said in the statement.
 
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A storm battered Europe with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains, killing at least seven people and causing severe travel disruptions as it moved eastward across the continent Monday and bore down on Germany.After striking Britain and Ireland on Sunday, the storm moved on, leaving a trail of damage including power cuts for tens of thousands of homes across Europe.A woman and her 15-year-old daughter died in Poland after the storm ripped off the roof of a ski rental equipment building in the mountain resort of Bukowina Tatrzanska and sent it hurtling onto people standing near a ski lift, police said. Three people also were injured in the incident.In Sweden, one man drowned after the boat he and another person were sailing in on the southern lake of Fegen capsized. The victim was washed ashore and later died. The other person is still missing, according to the Aftonbladet daily.Two men, one in the north of Slovenia and another in southern England, also died after their cars were hit by falling trees. And in Germany, a driver died after crashing his truck into a trailer parked by workers clearing storm debris off a highway in the southern state of Hesse.The jib of a crane is seen after it fell onto the roof of Frankfurt Cathedral during a storm, in Frankfurt, Germany, Feb. 10, 2020.Police in the Czech Republic said the storm likely was to blame for a car accident that killed the man driving and injured a woman passenger. Investigators think a tree fell on the car, which skidded off the road and and overturned.The number of Czech households without electricity reached 290,000, according to power company CEZ.Britain, which bore the brunt of the storm on Sunday, was assessing the damage and working to get power restored to 20,000 homes. However, for parts of northern England and Scotland, the respite is set to be brief, with forecasts of blizzards and snow.Many parts of the country were mopping up after a month and a half’s rain fell in just 24 hours in some places and rivers burst their banks. Though 360 flood warnings have been removed as the storm moves on, around 75 remain in place across the country.The River Irwell burst its banks in northwest England, prompting authorities to evacuate residents. And in the Scottish town of Hawick, which borders England, a guest house and bistro collapsed into the raging River Teviot. No one was injured.In another dramatic scene, a driver managed to escape unhurt in the early hours of Monday when a car fell nose-first into a sinkhole in a residential street in the town of Brentwood, east of London. Six properties had to be evacuated due to the unstable ground that is said to have been linked to a partially collapsed sewer. The emergency services made the scene safe just before daybreak.The British government said it was offering financial compensation through its emergency Bellwin scheme. Under the scheme, local authorities dealing with the storm can apply to have certain costs reimbursed.Transport authorities were also working hard to clear up the mess. Network Rail, which runs the country’s rail infrastructure, said thousands of engineers had “battled horrendous conditions” after the storm blew trees, sheds, roofs and even trampolines onto the tracks.Ferries were operating across the English Channel after being closed down on Sunday, though P&O Ferries said in a tweet that further disruptions were possible.Airlines operating to and from U.K. airports were still being affected by the storm, with more than 100 flights canceled.”We’re getting in touch with those affected, and have brought in extra customer teams to help them with a range of options including a full refund or an alternative flight between now and Thursday,” British Airways said in a statement.The storm had largely passed through France by midday, though meteorologists warned that the Mediterranean island of Corsica could later see winds as high as 200 kph (124 mph). Up to 130,000 homes stretching from Brittany, in western France, through Normandy and the northern regions were without power Monday morning.In Germany, utility companies were also scrambling to restore power to some 50,000 homes in northern Bavaria, where a top wind of over 160 kph (100 mph) was recorded. The storm resulted in a record amount of electricity being fed into the German grid from wind turbines, equivalent to almost 44 nuclear power plants.Train travel across Europe’s biggest economy was also severely disrupted, leaving many commuters unable to get to work. Deutsche Bahn said Monday it was slowly resuming long-distance rail services in the north of the country but warned travelers to expect further disruptions. Airlines canceled hundreds of flights from German airports.The storm, which was dubbed Sabine in Germany, also led to school closures in several cities and regions, including North Rhine-Westphalia state, where several people were injured by falling branches and toppling trees. Parts of a construction crane fell onto the roof of Frankfurt Cathedral overnight.Even though there were no reported fatalities in Belgium, the storm had an emotional impact in the central town of Zottegem, where a scenic 150-year-old poplar tree was snapped at its roots, before falling and being pulverized on a country road.The tree had been granted protected status by the Flemish regional government and locals now plan to have a special remembrance service on Friday.”The tree meant so much to everyone,” Stefan Fostier, the driving force behind the initiative, told The Associated Press. “It will be a moment to honor the tree.”
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Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Monday he saw no preparations taking place for a promised summit over the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, adding that he had little hope it would make any progress even if it goes ahead.The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met in Paris in December to discuss the long-running Ukraine crisis and agreed to get together again within four months to keep the dialogue open.FILE – Ukrainian Minister for Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystayko gestures while speaking to the media during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 10, 2020.”I am confident that when leaders say they will meet in April then they will … what I don’t see though is the preparation,” Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko told reporters during a visit to Italy.”Before the December meeting … (preparations) started half a year beforehand. Now we have two months to go and I have not seen anything prepared. Maybe it will be a much faster process than last time and maybe we will make much more progress. I am sorry, but I doubt it.”The conflict in eastern Ukraine that broke out in 2014 has killed more than 13,000 people, left a large swathe of Ukraine de facto controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, and aggravated the deepest east-west rift since the Cold War.The December summit did not produce the sort of breakthrough some had hoped for, such as an agreement on expanding a cease-fire zone, but it did lead to a prisoner exchange deal.Prystaiko welcomed the subsequent large-scale prisoner swap that took place at the end of last year, but noted that more people had died in continued fighting in January 2020 than in the same month a year earlier.”We haven’t managed to achieve a cease-fire. … But even if we have just an exchange of prisoners, that is a good step for Ukrainians,” he said.
 
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The British government said Monday it is seriously studying the feasibility of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, an audacious idea that has been floated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack, said the proposal was being taken seriously and “a range of officials” were studying it.”There is a proper piece of work being undertaken into this idea,” he said. “The PM is ambitious in terms of infrastructure projects.”Johnson has promised to build major new infrastructure to better connect parts of the U.K. in the wake of Britain’s divisive exit from the European Union. He also has vowed to boost regions outside the economically dominant southeast of England.He has mentioned the bridge idea several times, and claimed it would “only cost about 15 billion pounds” ($20 billion).But engineers say spanning the deep and stormy Irish Sea would be difficult. The distance is 12 miles (19 kilometers) at its narrowest; one of the most likely routes for a bridge, between Larne in Northern Ireland and Portpatrick in Scotland, is about 28 miles (45 kilometers).The water is up to 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep and the sea bed holds thousands of unexploded bombs dumped by Britain’s defense ministry after World War II.Johnson has a mixed track record with big projects. As mayor of London between 2008 and 2016 he touted a “Boris Island” airport in the River Thames estuary and a lush “garden bridge” in the middle of the city. Neither was ever built.Ian Firth, a fellow at the Institution of Civil Engineers, said building a Scotland-Northern Ireland bridge had “a huge number of technical challenges” but was probably achievable.”At the end of the day it’s about money,” he said. “Anything is possible if you throw enough money at it.” 
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France on Monday condemned a bid by Iran to put a satellite in space, urging Tehran to abide by international obligations on its controversial ballistic missile program.”France condemns this launch which calls on technologies used for ballistic missiles and, in particular, intercontinental ballistic missiles,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement after Iran said it “successfully” launched a satellite Sunday but failed to put it into orbit.Recalling Iran’s obligations under a 2018 U.N. Security Council resolution, the ministry added: “Iran’s ballistic program hurts regional stability and affects European security. France calls on Iran to fully respect its international obligations in this matter.” 
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A court in the Russian city of Penza has sentenced seven activists from a group known as “Set'” (the Network) to prison terms of between six years and 18 years on terrorism charges that opposition figures have denounced.On Monday, the Privolzhsky district court found the men, aged between 23 and 30 years, guilty of being members of a terrorist group.Some of the defendants were also found guilty of possessing illegal weapons and explosives, and attempted illegal drug sales.The group members were arrested in October 2017 with the Federal Security Service (FSB) accusing them of creating a terrorist group with cells in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza, and Omsk, as well as In neighboring Belarus.Investigators said the group planned to organize a series of explosions in Russia during the presidential election and the World Cup soccer tournament in 2018 “to destabilize the situation” in the country and to organize an armed mutiny.Rights activists have said the case was fabricated. Some of the activists claimed that they were tortured while in custody, but the Investigative Committee rejected the claims.Opposition leader Aleksei Navalny described the sentences as “horrific” in a post on Twitter, saying testimony about an “imaginary terrorist organisation” was “beaten out using torture.””Any minister in the Russian government is 10 times more of a criminal and a threat to society than these guys,” he added.The court called Dmitry Pchelintsev and Ilya Shaursky the group’s leaders and sentenced them to penalties of 18 years and 16 years in prison, respectively.Andrei Chernov was sentenced to 14 years, Maksim Ivankin to 13 years, Mikhail Kulov to 10 years, and Vasily Kuksov to 9 years in prison.Arman Sagynbaev received six years in prison.Before the sentences, Amnesty International called the terror charges “a figment of the Russian security services’ imagination that was fabricated in an attempt to silence these activists.”The London-based human rights watchdog called the case “the latest politically-motivated abuse of the justice system to target young people.”Two other activists initially arrested in the case, Igor Shishkin and Yegor Zorin, made deals with the investigators and testified against the others.Shishkin received 3 1/2 years in prison in January 2019, while the case against Zorin was closed in September 2018.
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Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who has been in exile in Argentina, went to Cuba on Monday for medical treatment, Argentina’s president said.President Alberto Fernandez said that as “nothing impedes him as a political refugee from going to Cuba.”He did not specify what sort of treatment Morales would receive, but the leftist leader has several times turned to Cuba for medical care. In 2017 and 2018, he had surgery there for a nodule on his vocal chords.Morales, who governed Bolivia for nearly 14 years, resigned the presidency in November when the police and army withdrew support after several weeks of demonstrations that erupted over allegations of fraud in the Oct. 20 presidential election. Morales claimed to have won reelection, but the Organization of American States said its audit found serious irregularities in the vote count.
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Supporters of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele gathered on Sunday to press lawmakers to approve a $109 million loan Bukele wants to bolster his plan to better equip police and soldiers in the fight against crime.Bukele, who on Friday warned lawmakers that citizens have the right to “insurrection,” summoned his supporters to congregate outside the legislative building to drum up support for the loan.The president’s move to pressure lawmakers was backed by defense minister René Merino Monroy and police director Mauricio Arriaza Chicas but was questioned by human rights organizations.Invoking an article of the constitution, Bukele said Thursday that his ministers had called on congress to approve the loan immediately.Statement from the US Ambassador to #ElSalvador asking for all to seek consensus and remain calm-amid reports the military has taken over the legislative assembly: https://t.co/mV2KE066UP— Cindy Saine (@cindysaine) February 9, 2020On Sunday, hundreds of Salvadorans responded to Bukele’s call to demonstrate, waiving banners and blowing whistles as soldiers and police officers stood by to protect them, according to a Reuters witness.”We are here because of the insecurity we have in our country, and the lawmakers do not want to recognize that,” said Adelma Campos, a 43-year-old housewife. “They do not want to work for the people who gave them their votes.”Although the murder rate in El Salvador declined steeply last year, authorities continue to battle gangs that control vast territory in the Central American country.The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in a statement on Sunday called for “dialogue and full respect for democratic institutions to guarantee the rule of law, including the independence of the branches of public power.” 
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Trains, flights and ferries have been cancelled and weather warnings issued across the United Kingdom as a storm with hurricane-force winds up to 80 mph (129 kph) batters the region.
At least 10 rail companies in Britain have sent out “do not travel” warnings, and nearly 20 others have told passengers to expect delays as strong winds on Sunday are expected to damage electrical wires and clutter train tracks with broken tree limbs and other debris.
London’s Heathrow Airport and several airlines decided to consolidate flights Sunday to reduce the number that would be cancelled by heavy winds. British Airways was offering to rebook customers for domestic and European flights out of Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports. Virgin Airlines cancelled some flights.
Storm Ciara, named by the Met Office national weather agency, was also supposed to bring heavy rains, prompting the agency to issue 22 emergency flood warnings and 149 flood watch alerts.
The Humber Bridge near Hull in northern England restricted traffic due to the high winds, banning high-sided trucks and camper vehicles.
High waves in the Irish Sea forced ferry companies to cancel several trips.
A 10-k run in London that was expected to draw 25,000 runners was also cancelled.  
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Argentinian judicial authorities seeking to prosecute officials suspected of covering up Iran’s alleged role in a 1994 Buenos Aires terrorist attack have suffered another setback with the death of a judge who led the legal battle against those officials.Judge Claudio Bonadio, head of Argentina’s No.11 Federal Criminal and Correctional Court, died Tuesday at the age of 64, after undergoing surgery for a brain tumor last year.Bonadio had spent years building a case against Argentinian officials who approved a controversial 2013 memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran. He had gathered evidence alleging the MOU was part of an illicit deal for Buenos Aires to shield Iranian suspects in the 1994 attack from justice in return for securing oil and other economic benefits from Tehran.FILE – People hold up pictures of the victims of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center on the 21st anniversary of the terror attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 17, 2015.The July 18, 1994, suicide car bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association Jewish community center in the Argentine capital killed 85 people. It remains Latin America’s deadliest terrorist attack.In the following years, Argentinian judicial authorities accused Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of carrying out the attack on the order of Iranian officials. Iran and Hezbollah have denied involvement and refused to send any suspects named by Argentina to stand trial there.Bonadio had taken up the investigation of the Argentinian officials who approved the MOU with Iran after an earlier setback in the case: the January 2015 death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.Nisman had initiated the investigation of the MOU approved by then-Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and was hours away from presenting his evidence of a cover-up to the Argentinian Congress when he was found dead in his home of a gunshot to the head. Kirchner said he committed suicide, but a 2017 report by the Argentine National Gendarmerie, a domestic security force, said he had been murdered. Nisman’s death remains an unresolved legal matter in Argentina.Kirchner, who served two terms as president from 2007 to 2015, returned to high office as Argentinian vice president in December, winning election as the running mate of President Alberto Fernández (no relation) after she served two years as a senator.FILE – Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman speaks with journalists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 29, 2013. Picture taken May 29, 2013. Nisman was found dead hours before presenting evidence of a cover-up in the 1994 AMIA bombing.The 2013 MOU with Iran had called for a bilateral commission to conduct a new joint investigation of the AMIA bombing, years after Argentinian judicial authorities had issued arrest warrants and secured Interpol red notices asking for international help in detaining and extraditing the Hezbollah militants and Iranian officials wanted in connection with the attack.Argentinian critics of the MOU, incensed by Nisman’s allegations that it was part of a cover-up, succeeded in getting a court to rule it unconstitutional in 2015 and it was never implemented.Bonadio, who continued Nisman’s work on the MOU case after the prosecutor’s death, had charged Kirchner and her aides with treason and obstruction of justice in 2017. He also had been pursuing multiple corruption cases against the former president in recent years in relation to her presidential tenure.Kirchner consistently has denied wrongdoing and accused the judge of waging a personal vendetta against her.Bonadio had last worked Dec. 30, after which he had taken vacation in January, his secretary Mónica Mica told VOA by phone. Sometime before Dec. 30, he had handed the central part of the MOU case to the No. 8 Criminal Federal Tribunal, judicial official Rodriguez Varela confirmed, also in a VOA phone interview. The tribunal is a body that decides, after analyzing the investigating judge’s evidence, whether to hold a trial and issue a verdict.However, a legal dispute about witness testimony in the MOU case continued into last month, FILE – Argentina’s new President Alberto Fernandez and Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner smile after they take the oath of office at the Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 10, 2019.Bonadio’s death also could embolden plans by Kirchner and President Fernández to reform the computerized lottery system that assigns judges to cases involving political figures.“We were suspicious and wondered why all the cases involving Kirchner ended up in Bonadio’s hands,” Dalbón said. “We believe the process of assigning a case to a judge should be public and transparent. This will be one of the reforms of President Fernández.”Benjamin Gedan, director of the Argentina Project at Washington’s Wilson Center, told VOA Persian the Argentinian judiciary has had long-running problems with political interference and corruption under governments of all political parties.“I think efforts to reform the judiciary are necessary,” Gedan said. “But it’s hard not to think that the motivation is to guarantee impunity for members of the Kirchner/Fernández administration.”It is not clear what impact the judge’s death will have on the new Argentinian government’s approach to bringing the Iranian and Hezbollah suspects in the AMIA bombing to trial.FILE – Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri and his wife, Juliana Awada, react during a rally in support of Macri, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 7, 2019. He lost to opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez.The prior administration of Mauricio Macri, who served as president from 2015 to 2019, had called on Iran to cooperate with Argentina on the issue and had appealed to other countries to detain any suspects who entered their territories.“The new government is seeking to reverse each and every positive step that has been taken to bring a measure of justice to the victims of the AMIA bombing and their families. It would be a travesty of justice for Argentina if these efforts were to succeed,” FDD’s Dershowitz said.“Personally, I am skeptical about the AMIA case,” Dalbón said. “Cases that last longer that 20 years very rarely can reach the truth. Slow justice is not justice.”  This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. It was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Latin America Division.
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Switzerland on Sunday voted strongly in favor of a new law against homophobia in a referendum despite opposition from the populist right wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), according to a projection.The projection published by GFS Bern polling and research group found that 62 percent had voted in favor of the reform, with a margin of error of three percent.The new law will widen existing legislation against discrimination or incitement to hatred on ethnic or religious grounds to include sexual orientation.”This is a historic day,” Mathias Reynard, a lawmaker from the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland who initiated the reform, told Swiss channel RTS 1.”It gives a signal which is magnificent for everyone and for anyone who has been a victim of discrimination,” he said.The change was passed by the Swiss parliament in 2018 but critics, who believe it will end up censoring free speech, had forced a referendum on the issue.Eric Bertinat, an SVP local lawmaker in Geneva, told AFP before the vote that he believed the law was “part of an LGBT plan to slowly move towards same-sex marriage and medically assisted reproduction” for gay couples.Marc Frueh, head of the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), a small party based on Christian values, said after the projection: “I accept defeat.””We will keep a close eye on how the law is implemented by the courts,” he told RTS 1.All of Switzerland’s major parties except the SVP, the biggest political force in parliament, support the law.Rights campaigner Jean-Pierre Sigrist, founder of an association of gay teachers, had said before the referendum that the new law might have stopped him getting beaten up outside a bar in Geneva four decades ago.”And maybe I would not have been laughed at when I went to the police,” the 71-year-old told AFP, adding that he hoped the reform would help to counter a resurgence of intolerance against gay people.Sigrist said he supported freedom of expression, “but not the freedom to say anything at all.”‘No to Special Rights!’Under the new law, homophobic comments made in a family setting or among friends would not be criminalized.But publicly denigrating or discriminating against someone for being gay or inciting hatred against that person in text, speech, images or gestures, would be banned.The government has said it will still be possible to have opinionated debates on issues such as same-sex marriage, and the new law does not ban jokes — however off-color.”Incitement to hatred needs to reach a certain level of intensity in order to be considered criminal in Switzerland,” Alexandre Curchod, a media lawyer, told AFP.But he admitted that there could be exceptions “if it can be shown that, under the cover of artistic production or joking, someone is in fact engaging in incitement.”Gay rights campaigners were divided over the legislation.A group called “No to Special Rights!” is opposed, arguing that the gay community does not need special protection. 
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Argentinian judicial authorities seeking to prosecute officials suspected of covering up Iran’s alleged role in a 1994 Buenos Aires terrorist attack have suffered another setback with the death of a judge who led the legal battle against those officials.Judge Claudio Bonadio, head of Argentina’s No.11 Federal Criminal and Correctional Court, died Tuesday at the age of 64, after undergoing surgery for a brain tumor last year.Bonadio had spent years building a case against Argentinian officials who approved a controversial 2013 memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran. He had gathered evidence alleging the MOU was part of an illicit deal for Buenos Aires to shield Iranian suspects in the 1994 attack from justice in return for securing oil and other economic benefits from Tehran.FILE – People hold up pictures of the victims of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center on the 21st anniversary of the terror attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 17, 2015.The July 18, 1994, suicide car bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association Jewish community center in the Argentine capital killed 85 people. It remains Latin America’s deadliest terrorist attack.In the following years, Argentinian judicial authorities accused Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of carrying out the attack on the order of Iranian officials. Iran and Hezbollah have denied involvement and refused to send any suspects named by Argentina to stand trial there.Bonadio had taken up the investigation of the Argentinian officials who approved the MOU with Iran after an earlier setback in the case: the January 2015 death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.Nisman had initiated the investigation of the MOU approved by then-Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and was hours away from presenting his evidence of a cover-up to the Argentinian Congress when he was found dead in his home of a gunshot to the head. Kirchner said he committed suicide, but a 2017 report by the Argentine National Gendarmerie, a domestic security force, said he had been murdered. Nisman’s death remains an unresolved legal matter in Argentina.Kirchner, who served two terms as president from 2007 to 2015, returned to high office as Argentinian vice president in December, winning election as the running mate of President Alberto Fernández (no relation) after she served two years as a senator.FILE – Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman speaks with journalists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 29, 2013. Picture taken May 29, 2013. Nisman was found dead hours before presenting evidence of a cover-up in the 1994 AMIA bombing.The 2013 MOU with Iran had called for a bilateral commission to conduct a new joint investigation of the AMIA bombing, years after Argentinian judicial authorities had issued arrest warrants and secured Interpol red notices asking for international help in detaining and extraditing the Hezbollah militants and Iranian officials wanted in connection with the attack.Argentinian critics of the MOU, incensed by Nisman’s allegations that it was part of a cover-up, succeeded in getting a court to rule it unconstitutional in 2015 and it was never implemented.Bonadio, who continued Nisman’s work on the MOU case after the prosecutor’s death, had charged Kirchner and her aides with treason and obstruction of justice in 2017. He also had been pursuing multiple corruption cases against the former president in recent years in relation to her presidential tenure.Kirchner consistently has denied wrongdoing and accused the judge of waging a personal vendetta against her.Bonadio had last worked Dec. 30, after which he had taken vacation in January, his secretary Mónica Mica told VOA by phone. Sometime before Dec. 30, he had handed the central part of the MOU case to the No. 8 Criminal Federal Tribunal, judicial official Rodriguez Varela confirmed, also in a VOA phone interview. The tribunal is a body that decides, after analyzing the investigating judge’s evidence, whether to hold a trial and issue a verdict.However, a legal dispute about witness testimony in the MOU case continued into last month, FILE – Argentina’s new President Alberto Fernandez and Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner smile after they take the oath of office at the Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 10, 2019.Bonadio’s death also could embolden plans by Kirchner and President Fernández to reform the computerized lottery system that assigns judges to cases involving political figures.“We were suspicious and wondered why all the cases involving Kirchner ended up in Bonadio’s hands,” Dalbón said. “We believe the process of assigning a case to a judge should be public and transparent. This will be one of the reforms of President Fernández.”Benjamin Gedan, director of the Argentina Project at Washington’s Wilson Center, told VOA Persian the Argentinian judiciary has had long-running problems with political interference and corruption under governments of all political parties.“I think efforts to reform the judiciary are necessary,” Gedan said. “But it’s hard not to think that the motivation is to guarantee impunity for members of the Kirchner/Fernández administration.”It is not clear what impact the judge’s death will have on the new Argentinian government’s approach to bringing the Iranian and Hezbollah suspects in the AMIA bombing to trial.FILE – Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri and his wife, Juliana Awada, react during a rally in support of Macri, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 7, 2019. He lost to opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez.The prior administration of Mauricio Macri, who served as president from 2015 to 2019, had called on Iran to cooperate with Argentina on the issue and had appealed to other countries to detain any suspects who entered their territories.“The new government is seeking to reverse each and every positive step that has been taken to bring a measure of justice to the victims of the AMIA bombing and their families. It would be a travesty of justice for Argentina if these efforts were to succeed,” FDD’s Dershowitz said.“Personally, I am skeptical about the AMIA case,” Dalbón said. “Cases that last longer that 20 years very rarely can reach the truth. Slow justice is not justice.”  This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. It was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Latin America Division.
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Ukraine’s president has asked Pope Francis for help in securing the release of prisoners of war held by Russia and by Russia-backed separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskiy made the request after a meeting Saturday with the pontiff at the Vatican. “[The pope] does everything possible to achieve peace and harmony throughout the world,” Zelenskiy said in a tweet after their meeting. “I asked for help with the release of Ukrainians captured in Donbas, Crimea and Russia,” he said. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March 2014. A month later, fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, and the conflict has since killed more than 13,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. Since being elected in May 2019, Zelenskiy has overseen two major swaps of prisoners with Russia and the separatist fighters it backs in eastern Ukraine. Pope Francis, the 83-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church, has several times voiced hope for an end to the conflict. Francis offered a prayer ahead of the key summit involving Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris in December 2019. The pope also called for peace in eastern Ukraine in his Christmas message. The overwhelming majority of observant Ukrainians are Orthodox Christian; only a small percentage consider themselves Roman Catholic. However, Greek or Eastern Rite Catholics are the second-largest Christian denomination in the country and recognize the pope as their spiritual leader. Medal for ZelenskiyDuring the photo session of the meeting, which was open to reporters, Francis gave Zelenskiy a medal of St. Martin of Tours and said he hoped the saint “will protect your people from war.” Zelenskiy arrived in Italy on Friday, when he met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Talks in Rome were reported to focus on Vitaliy Markiv, a Ukrainian national guardsman sentenced in 2019 by an Italian court to 24 years in prison for his role in the deaths of an Italian photojournalist and his translator during fighting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk in 2014. 
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Five British nationals including a child have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus at a French mountain village, and health officials said they were checking who else might have been exposed, including at local schools. In total, 11 people, including the five who tested positive, have been hospitalized in southeastern France and were being examined, the French health ministry said  Saturday, adding that none was in serious condition. The group of Britons included holidaymakers and a family currently residing in the Alpine village and ski resort, Les Contamines-Montjoie. They shared neighboring apartments in a chalet and temporarily hosted a British man believed to have contracted the virus at a business congress in Singapore before his short visit to France in late January, the ministry added. Two schools will be shut next week for checks, regional health official Jean-Yves Grall said, after it emerged that the 9-year-old who tested positive had attended lessons and French classes in different establishments. Two other children were also part of the group of 11 now in hospitals in the cities of Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble, and they had been schooled in the area, too, according to Etienne Jacquet, mayor of Les Contamines-Montjoie. Some parents in the village, nestled in the mountains close to the Mont Blanc peak and the Swiss city of Geneva, said Saturday that they had received little information so far and were being cautious. “Our children were meant to go to a concert tonight. We took the decision not to take them to not expose other people,” said Beatrice Louvier, adding that her 10-year-old daughter was in the same classroom as one of the three British children. Peak ski seasonThe cases coincide with one of the busiest periods of the ski season for area resorts, as schools in the Paris region begin midterm holidays. British schools will also be on midterm break later this month. Health officials said they were trying to determine who had come into prolonged and close contact with the British group. Several tourists who had just arrived in Les Contamines-Montjoui brushed off the risks and said they would see through their holidays. “The percentage chance of getting infected is not really high,” said Frenchman Stanislas Des Courtis, who was visiting with his two teenage sons. “The ski area is big, and there are not so many places where [people] can gather here all together.” But local resident Catherine Davout, who helps manage flat rentals in the area, said she had already had several cancellations. Business meeting The new cases emerged after authorities began to retrace the travels of a British man who has been confirmed by Britain to have contracted the virus, French health officials said. They had formed “a cluster, a grouping around one original case,” according to Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, who identified the person as a Briton who had returned from Singapore and stayed in France between January 24 and 28. The French government said Singaporean authorities were looking into a business congress that took place in a hotel there on January 20-23 and was attended by 94 foreigners, including the British man at the center of the Alpine cases. As of Saturday, Singapore had 40 cases of the virus. Of the 11 total cases in France, earlier ones include an 80-year-old Chinese man in a serious condition, while the others have shown signs of improvement, according to medical officials. The epidemic began in Wuhan, China, and the vast majority of cases have been in China. 
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Syrian government forces captured new areas from insurgents in their efforts to control a key highway in the northwest Saturday, as Turkey sent more reinforcements into the war-torn country, state media and opposition activists said.The weekslong government offensive has created a humanitarian crisis with about 600,000 people fleeing their homes in Syria’s last rebel stronghold since the beginning of December, according to the United Nations.Rebels control much of Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Aleppo region that is home to some 3 million people — many of them displaced from other parts of Syria.The Syrian offensive appears aimed for now at securing a strategic highway in rebel-controlled territory, as opposed to an all-out campaign to retake the entire province, including the city of Idlib, the densely populated provincial capital.“Our aim is to clear the highway and evict terrorists from it,” a Syrian commander on the ground told state TV. He was referring to the M5 highway, which links the capital Damascus with the northern city of Aleppo.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said government forces still have 30 kilometers (18 miles) of the highway to clear before it comes under full control of the army for the first time since 2012.Syrian state TV reported Saturday that government forces captured four villages in Aleppo province near the highway. It added that Syrian troops and demining experts have cleared explosives and mines from the recently captured town of Saraqeb that sits on an intersection where the M5 meets with the M4 highway, linking Syria’s coast with the country’s east.Syrian state media and the Observatory later reported that government forces captured the village of al-Eis and its strategic hill just east of the M5.The new push came as Turkey, a main backer of the opposition, sent more reinforcements into Idlib, according to the Observatory and Idlib-based media activist Taher al-Omar who is embedded with militants.The Observatory said a convoy consisting of 430 vehicles entered Syria since Friday night, raising the number of vehicles that entered Syria since last weekend to well over 1,000.A rare clash on Feb. 3, between Turkish troops and Syrian soldiers left seven Turkish soldiers and a Turkish civilian dead as well as 13 Syrian troops.On Friday, Turkey’s Defense Ministry warned the army would respond “even more forcefully” to any attack on Turkish observation posts in the area, adding: “Our observation posts will continue carrying out duties.”The violence has also raised tensions between Russia and Turkey, which have been working together to secure cease-fires and political talks, despite backing opposite sides of the conflict.
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