Chile’s central bank on Wednesday announced a $4 billion injection to stop a currency slide that saw the peso reach historic lows on two successive days. 
 
The peso fell to 795 to the dollar at the close Wednesday after a previous record low of 783 on Tuesday. 
 
The bank said it had taken the measure to “mitigate eventual tensions” in the financial markets. 
 
It expressed fear that the combination of social unrest and a lack of cash flow at the end of the year would see the currency fall even further. 
 
The foreign currency injection will be done in the form of 30- and 90-day tenders for futures between November 14 and January 9. 
 
The peso’s previous record low was 761 to the dollar in October 2002. 
 
The peso has been hit hard by nearly four weeks of protests against the economic policies of right-wing President Sebastian Pinera. 
 
Pinera has announced a raft of measures to pacify demonstrators angry at social and economic inequality, but many are demanding the president stand down. 
 
The fall in the currency has raised fears that inflation will increase and GDP growth will slow. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House for a second time at what is a low ebb in relations between Washington and Ankara. 
 
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “We understand each other’s country.” 
 
Erdogan recently infuriated U.S. officials when he ignored American warnings not to invade northeastern Syria in an operation targeting Syrian Kurds. 
 
The Turkish leader also upset American defense officials and diplomats with the purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Moscow. The purchase violated the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanction Act (CAATSA), which prohibits major purchases of Russian military hardware. 
 
That also prompted the United States to eject Turkey from its F-35 joint strike fighter program.  FILE – First parts of a Russian S-400 missile defense system are unloaded from a Russian plane near Ankara, Turkey, July 12, 2019.”We’ll be talking about the S-400,” said Trump, when asked by reporters about the defense relationship. “We’ll be talking about the F-35 fighter jet.” 
 
Trump also was asked whether Turkey could possess F-35 jets while owning the Russian missile defense system. 
 
“We’re having a second meeting in a little while,” replied Trump, indicating there might be more to say about it at a joint news conference in the afternoon. 
 
Erdogan recently discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin buying Su-57 and Su-35 fighter jets from Moscow if he is not able to get the American aircraft, according to media reports. 
 
Such a move could endanger Turkey’s membership in the U.S.-led NATO defense alliance. 
 
Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of congressmen sent Trump a letter requesting that he cancel his meeting with the Turkish president because of Erdogan’s “disastrous” actions in Syria and purchase of the S-400 system. 
 
“Given this situation, we believe that now is a particularly inappropriate time for President Erdogan to visit the United States,” the lawmakers wrote.  FILE – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., arrives for a gathering of the House Democratic caucus as Congress returns for the fall session, at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 10, 2019.Just before Erdogan arrived at the White House, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, called it “shameful” for Trump to host Erdogan, accusing the U.S. president of “again turning a blind eye to the actions of foreign leaders who have amassed power and seek to rule as autocrats, subverting democracy in their countries and exploiting divisions and ethnic conflicts to promote their own legitimacy.” In an interview with VOA’s Kurdish service, the spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mustafa Bali, called for the United States not to sacrifice the Kurds, Christians and other ethnic and religious groups in northern Syria for its economic interests. 
 
“President Trump should fulfill his moral obligations and prevent the ethnic cleansing and demographic engineering” carried out by Erdogan “since his forces started the occupation in Syria,” said Bali, who alleged that Turkey has been violating the cease-fire and expanding territory outside the so-called “safe zone.”    
 
Turkey considers the Kurdish forces, allies of the United States in the fight against the Islamic State group inside Syria, to be terrorists.  FILE – In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the Turkey-Syria border, in Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, smoke billows from a fire in Ras al-Ayn, Syria, Oct. 20, 2019, days after the declaration of a cease-fire.In the Oval Office on Wednesday, alongside Erdogan, Trump said “the cease-fire is holding very well. We’ve been speaking to the Kurds and they seem to be very satisfied.” 
 
The discussions between Trump and Erdogan began amid the first day of public testimony in the impeachment inquiry the House is conducting against the U.S. president. 
 
“It’s a witch hunt, it’s a hoax. I’m too busy to watch it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I see they’re using lawyers that are television lawyers. They took some guys off television.” 
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Placido Domingo is scheduled to sing two concert performances in Verdi’s “I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers)” next summer as part of the 100th anniversary Salzburg Festival, which features 221 performances over 44 days and includes seven staged operas.Domingo, who turns 79 in January, was dropped or has withdrawn from all his U.S. performances since reports by The Associated Press in August and September detailed accusations against him of sexual harassment or other inappropriate, sexually charged conduct.He received standing ovations in Salzburg at performances of Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” last August and is welcome back pending investigations by the LA Opera, where he resigned as general director last month, and the American Guild of Musical Artists. Helga Rabl-Stadler, president of the Salzburg Festival, said Domingo was engaged two years ago to sing the baritone role of Guido di Montforte on Aug. 16 and 19. European houses have maintained Domingo’s contracts.”We do not see any reason why we should change our opinion if there are no new facts,” Rabl-Stadler said in a telephone interview, adding the situation could change depending on what is uncovered by the investigations. “We have to follow the rules of our law.”Staged operas, concertsStaged operas announced Wednesday for next summer’s festival include Strauss’ “Elektra,” directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski; Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” directed by Romeo Castellucci and conducted by Teodor Currentzis; Mozart’s “Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute),” directed by Lydia Steier; Puccini’s “Tosca,” directed by Michael Sturminger and starring Anna Netrebko; Luigi Nono’s “Intolleranza 1960,” directed and choreographed by Jan Lauwer;, and Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov,” directed by Johannes Leiacker. Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” with mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli will return after premiering May 29 at the Whitsun Festival.FILE – Actors perform during a dress rehearsal of Guiseppe Verdi’s opera “Macbeth” in Salzburg, July 28, 2011, in preparation for the 91st edition of the Salzburg Festival.The first Salzburg Festival opened Aug. 22, 1920, with a performance of Hofmannsthal’s “Jedermann” on the steps of Salzburg Cathedral. Its first opera, two years later, was “Don Giovanni.” Next summer’s festival runs from July 18 through Aug. 30.”The history of Salzburg Festival is extremely rich. It could be a burden,” said pianist Markus Hinterhauser, who became artistic director in October 2016 and has a contract running until September 2026. “But for me it’s really a very inspiring, very vitalizing thing to look at the history. But looking back needs also to make clear that we are always trying to lead the festival in a new presence.”Concerts include eight programs of Beethoven piano sonatas with Igor Levit; five performances by the Vienna Philharmonic led by Riccardo Muti, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Thielmann, Mariss Jansons and Andris Nelsons; and two performances of the Berlin Philharmonic and new chief conductor Kirill Petrenko. The only U.S. orchestra is the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck.”I’m often asked, is Salzburg here to keep the tradition or is it here to set the trends?” Rabl-Stadler said. “I think both. It’s wonderful to have Mozart in our town, but on the other hand, we have to think how can we explain the topics of works to people nowadays.”
 
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What a difference a year makes.In the months before last year’s presidential election in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro described China as predatory and thumbed his nose at the Chinese government by visiting Taiwan, Beijing’s archrival.Now, as a more pragmatic president, Bolsonaro welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to an international summit that begins Wednesday in Brasilia, the capital.The first item on the agenda for Bolsonaro, a far-right leader who has sometimes tried to hang the communist label on his political rivals in Brazil, is a bilateral meeting with Xi.He received Xi at the foreign relations ministry with smiles and handshakes, and the two signed a handful of memoranda. It’s a sign of how Bolsonaro views China as critical to his ambitions to rejuvenate Brazil’s sluggish economy.“China is an ever greater part of Brazil’s future,” Bolsonaro said in speech after the two leaders met, adding his government will devote due care, respect and consideration to China.Gone is last year’s fiery campaign trail rhetoric about China being a rapacious power intent on exploiting Brazilian resources.China is, after all, Brazil’s biggest trading partner.As China expanded rapidly in the 2000s, eventually becoming the world’s second largest economy, it relied on commodities from producers. Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, shipped soybeans, iron ore and crude to satisfy China’s expanding appetite. Those three products account for more than 80% of Brazil’s exports to China.Bolsonaro said his government wants to diversify exports to China, and welcomed a signal from China’s government that it wants to help Brazil add value to output.Xi’s visit for a meeting of leaders of the BRICS emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — is his first to Brazil since 2014.But his relationship with Bolsonaro already has been blossoming.Just last month, Bolsonaro traveled to Beijing for economic and other accords, including the exemption of Chinese nationals from Brazil visa requirements. Xi received him at his car and they walked side-by-side on a long, red carpet.“Bolsonaro discovered how important China is to Brazil and that he can do business with China. And he’s more or less happy with that,” said Mauricio Santoro, professor of international relations at Rio de Janeiro’s state university.Before he became president, Bolsonaro praised the U.S. and President Donald Trump. He often said China can buy from Brazil, but not buy Brazil itself — rhetoric that continued for a while after he took office Jan. 1.The hostile remarks didn’t last, though.Brazil is dependent on foreign investment, especially from China.Confirmed Chinese investments in Brazil between 2007 and 2018 totaled almost $60 billion, more than any other Latin American country, according to the Brazil-China Business Council, a Brazilian research center.Investments faltered in 2018 ahead of Brazil’s election, part of a broader decline stemming from investor caution.After Bolsonaro won the presidency, he took his first trip abroad to the U.S., then in the midst of a growing trade dispute with China. But Brazil didn’t get caught in the middle.“Brazil has all the reasons to work with both countries and not pick sides,” said Pepe Zhang, associate China director at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. “So far, it’s doing a good job.”In August, amid Western criticism of Brazil’s handling of fires raging in the Amazon, China defended Brazil’s sovereignty over the region. Bolsonaro on Wednesday described China’s support as “a grand gesture that strengthened us a lot.”Xi said China intends to increase trade and investment, and will eye opportunities for cooperation in areas including agriculture, electricity, oil, and infrastructure.“China is willing to work together with Brazil to promote exchange based on equality and mutual trust,” Xi said.As Brazil-Chinese diplomacy advances, there are delicate issues to navigate.The U.S., for example, is pressuring the Brazilian government to exclude Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its auction next year to provide a 5G network.The U.S. State Department says that Huawei poses cybersecurity risks and that it will review the way it shares intelligence about Venezuela with Brazil if Huawei is allowed to provide 5G service.The U.S. and Brazil consider Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to be illegitimate and want him to resign.China, eager for repayment of the billions of dollars in oil-backed loans it extended to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist administration, continues to support his regime.Bolsonaro knows he won’t find common ground with Xi on Venezuela when they meet, and will likely focus on luring more Chinese investment and trade, said Santoro, the international relations professor.Bolsonaro, a fringe lawmaker until his campaign, earned the nickname “Trump of the Tropics” for his rejection of politically correct discourse, and many of his supporters came to see him as a crusader willing to impose morality on a political system rife with corruption and a society suffering from violent crime.One of his main challenges is boosting economic growth, with Brazil headed toward its third year of subdued activity after two years of deep recession. He handed the reins of economic policymaking to a University of Chicago-trained economist who is taking steps to improve business conditions, reduce trade barriers of Brazil’s protected market, and carry out a vast privatization program.Some Brazilians were concerned that Bolsonaro as president would assume a “bipolar vision of the world” and closely align with the U.S. at the expense of China relations, said Jose Pio Borges, president of Cebri, a Brazilian research center that studies China.“Now, after all these reunions and initiatives, it’s clear that Brazil wants to have relationships with everyone,” Borges said.
 
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Bolivia’s newly declared interim president, until now a second-tier lawmaker, faces the challenge of winning recognition, stabilizing the nation and organizing national elections within three months at a time of bloody political disputes that pushed the nation’s first indigenous leader to fly off to self-exile in Mexico after 14 years in power.Bolivian Senator Jeanine Anez gestures after she declared herself as interim President of Bolivia, at the balcony of the Presidential Palace, in La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 12, 2019.Some people took to the streets cheering and waving national flags Tuesday night when Jeanine Anez, who had been second-vice president of the Senate, claimed the presidency after higher ranking successors to the had post resigned. But furious supporters of the ousted Evo Morales responded by trying to force their way to the Congress building in La Paz yelling, “She must quit!”
The constitution gives an interim president 90 days to organize an election, and Anez’s still-disputed accession was an example of the problems she’ll face.
Morales’ backers, who hold a two-thirds majority in Congress, boycotted the session she had called to formalize her accession, preventing a quorum.
Frustrated in that effort, she took power in any case, with no one to swear her in, saying the constitution did not specifically require congressional approval.
“My commitment is to return democracy and tranquility to the country,” she said. “They can never again steal our vote.”
Bolivia’s top constitutional court issued a statement late Tuesday laying out the legal justification for Anez taking the presidency — without mentioning her by name.But other legal experts challenged the legal technicalities that led to her claiming the presidency from such a relatively low-ranking post, saying at least some of the steps required Congress to meet.And the lingering question could affect her ability to govern.”It doesn’t seem likely” that Morales’ party “will accept her as president. So the question of what happens next remains — still quite unclear and extremely worrying,”  said Jennifer Cyr, an associate professor of political science and Latin American studies at the University of Arizona.
Eduardo Gamarra, a Bolivian political scientist at Florida International University, argued that the constitution clearly states that Anez didn’t need a congressional vote to assume the presidency. Even so, “The next two months are going to be extraordinarily difficult for President Anez,” he said.
She will need to arrange formation of a new electoral court, find a non-partisan staff for the electoral tribunal and get Congress to vote on new election. All of it must be done before Jan. 22, when Morales’ current term and everyone else’s was meant to end. And all of it must be done while Morales’ Movement for Socialism party still controls both houses of Congress.
Morales resigned Sunday following the weeks of violent protests fed by allegations of electoral fraud in the Oct. 20 election, which he claimed to have won.Bolivia’s ousted President Evo Morales is welcomed by Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard during his arrival to take asylum in Mexico, in Mexico City, Mexico, Nov. 12, 2019.Morales had accepted an Organization of American States audit reporting widespread irregularities in the vote count and calling for a new election.
But he stepped aside completely when Gen. Williams Kaliman, the armed forces commander, “suggested” he leave — a move that Morales and his backers branded a coup d’etat and his critics called a popular uprising.Bolivia’s first indigenous president arrived in Mexico on Tuesday under a grant of asylum and, just 60 years old, vowed to remain active in politics.
Although Anez met with Gen. Kaliman, it was uncertain how much support she could count on from other power centers.
She immediately tried to set herself apart from Morales. Wearing the presidential sash of office, she greeted supporters at an old presidential palace instead of the modern 26-story presidential office with a heliport that was built by Morales  and that his foes had criticized as one of his excesses.
She also carried a Bible, which had been banned by Morales from the presidential palace after he reformed the constitution and recognized the Andean earth deity Pachamama instead of the Roman Catholic Church.
Morales said on Twitter from Mexico that Anez’s “self-proclamation” was an affront to constitutional government. “Bolivia is suffering an assault on the power of the people,” he wrote.
Even before Anez acted, thousands of his supporters were in the streets of the capital in peaceful demonstrations clamoring for his return. Military fighter jets flew repeatedly over La Paz in a show of force that infuriated Morales loyalists who were blocked by police and soldiers from marching to the main square.
“We’re not afraid!” shouted demonstrators, who believe Morales’ departure was a coup d’etat and an act of discrimination against Bolivia’s indigenous communities.
“Evo was like a father to me. We had a voice, we had rights,” said Maria Apasa, who like Morales is a member of the Aymara indigenous group.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said his country’s diplomats had to scramble to arrange a flight path for the plane because some nations initially closed airspace to it. The plane stopped in Paraguay to refuel instead of Peru, as initially planned.
The one-time llama shepherd from the Bolivian highlands and former coca growers’ union leader helped lift millions out poverty as president, increasing social rights and presiding over stability and high economic growth in South America’s poorest country.
But even many supporters eventually grew weary of his long tenure in power — as well as his insistence in running for a fourth term despite a public referendum that upheld term limits, restrictions thrown out by a top court that critics contend was stacked in his favor.  
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The German parliament’s legal affairs committee on Wednesday ousted its chairman, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany, amid anger over a string of provocative comments.The committee voted 37-6 Wednesday to remove chairman Stephan Brandner, center-left lawmaker Florian Post wrote on Twitter. It is the first time in the parliament’s 70-year history that a committee chairman has been voted out.
Brandner has repeatedly angered lawmakers from other parties over recent months, including with broadsides against opponents and by retweeting a reaction to the killing of two passers-by in a botched attack by a right-wing extremist on a synagogue last month that many considered objectionable.
That was followed by a tweet railing against singer Udo Lindenberg, who is critical of Alternative for Germany, and a decoration Lindenberg received, in which Brandner used the term “Judaslohn” (“blood money”).
Brandner comes from the eastern state of Thuringia, whose regional Alternative for Germany leader, Bjoern Hoecke, is the party’s best-known far-right firebrand.
The general-secretary of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats, Paul Ziemiak, tweeted that Brandner, “Hoecke’s Berlin outpost,” had been “unworthy” as chairman and added that “his anti-Semitism is intolerable.”
Brandner has portrayed himself as a victim of absurd accusations. On Wednesday, he accused other parties of “naked hypocrisy” and declared that “this is not a defeat for us.”
The head of Germany’s main Jewish group, Josef Schuster, said the committee had acted responsibly. Brandner, he said, “was no longer tenable in this office and, in our opinion, actually has no place in parliament.”
Alternative for Germany became the biggest opposition party after the country’s 2017 election.
It has dire relations with other parties. Lawmakers so far have voted down four candidates the party put forward to be parliament’s deputy speaker.
The party also chairs the parliament’s budget and tourism committees. They are symbolically important posts, though the occupants don’t get to change government policy.  
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Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg left North America on a return trip across the Atlantic on Wednesday, hitching a renewable-energy ride with an Australian family aboard their 48-foot (15-meter) catamaran.Thunberg tweeted that they set sail from Virginia after the family answered her urgent appeal for a ride back to Europe, where she hopes to arrive in time for the United Nations climate meeting that was moved to Madrid in early December. They left shortly before 8 a.m. She encouraged followers to track their journey online.Their boat, named La Vagabonde, leaves little to no carbon footprint, using solar panels and hydro-generators for power. It also has a toilet, unlike the boat on which she sailed from the United Kingdom to New York in August. That one had only a bucket.“There are countless people around the world who don’t have access to a toilet,” she said about the upgrade. “It’s not that important. But it’s nice to have.”Thunberg spoke with The Associated Press Tuesday inside the tight confines of the boat’s cabin as it was docked in Hampton, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.The boat’s owners are Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu, an Australian couple who travel the world with their 11-month-old baby, Lenny. The family, which has a large online following, responded to Thunberg’s call on social media for a carbon-free ride to Europe. An expert sailor, Nikki Henderson, also is coming along.The trip could take two to four weeks, in conditions that could be challenging. November is considered offseason for sailing across the Atlantic. As Thunberg spoke Tuesday, the temperature had dipped into the 30s, with sleet turning to light snow.But the 16-year-old, who refuses to fly because of the carbon price of plane travel, didn’t seem bothered.“I’m looking forward to it, just to be able to get away and recap everything and to just be disconnected,” she said.Thunberg’s nearly three-month trip through North America included her impassioned speech before the United Nations. She joined in climate strike rallies and protests from California to Colorado to North Carolina.Thunberg has become a symbol of a growing movement of young climate activists after leading weekly school strikes in Sweden that inspired similar actions in about 100 cities worldwide.She’s also drawn criticism from conservative commentators in the U.S. as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin. But she brushed off the criticism Tuesday, saying that yes, she IS too young to be doing this.“It should be the adults who take that responsibility,” Thunberg said. “But it feels like the adults and the people in power today are not.”When she looks back on her time in the U.S. and Canada, Thunberg said, the things that stick out the most include a glacier in Canada’s Jasper National Park that is destined to disappear “no matter what we do.”A visit to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, where there have been protests over a pipeline, also left an impact.“I was actually quite surprised to see how bad the indigenous people have been treated,” she said. “They are the ones who are being impacted often the most and first by the climate and ecological crisis. And they are also the ones who are at the front line trying to fight it.”She also was surprised at how much she was recognized.“There are always people who come up to me and ask for selfies and so on,” she said. “So, that really gives you an idea of how big the climate movement has reached.”
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Spanish police said Wednesday they have been unable to locate a Venezuelan former spymaster wanted by the United States for extradition on charges of drug trafficking.Police told The Associated Press that its officers have been unable to find Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal.News website El Español reported on Friday that a Spanish court had reversed an earlier ruling throwing out the U.S. arrest warrant and that it had ordered authorities to proceed with the extradition request. A spokesman for the National Court said Wednesday that no decision on the case has been made public at this time.Carvajal’s lawyer, Maria Dolores de Arguelles, said her client couldn’t be considered a fugitive because the defense has not been officially notified of the court ruling granting the extradition, and no court summons or arrest warrant has been issued.Carvajal is free on bail, but his passport has been confiscated and he is not allowed to leave the Madrid region, according to the bail terms. He also needs to sign in at the court every 15 days — the next time is Friday.Anti-drug prosecutors in Spain had appealed a mid-September decision by the National Court rejecting the extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on drug smuggling and other charges.The extradition needs to be cleared by the Spanish Cabinet, which typically holds weekly meetings every Friday. Appeals can be filed before the country’s Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, but that wouldn’t necessarily stop the extradition.The U.S. had been seeking Carvajal’s extradition since the former head of Venezuela’s military intelligence fled to Spain in late March after publicly supporting the opposition’s efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Prosecutors in New York say Carvajal should face trial for “narcoterrorism” as part of a group of Venezuelan officials who were charged with “flooding” the U.S. with drugs.The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ties Carvajal to a 5.6-ton cocaine shipment busted in Mexico in 2006 and accuse him of aiding and protecting Colombian guerrillas.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the White House for talks Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, with the two leaders likely to discuss Turkey’s incursion in northern Syria and its purchase of a Russian air defense system.The agenda for the day released by the White House also includes an afternoon joint news conference.The United States and other NATO allies have expressed concern about Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, saying they do not fit with the alliances defense systems and pose a threat to the U.S. F-35 fighter jet program.  In response, the United States has suspended Turkey’s involvement with the F-35.A senior U.S. official, who spoke to reporters ahead of Erdogan’s visit, said the issue of the missile system is one that Trump “is trying to address head-on” in the talks with Turkey.”As he’s outlined publicly, there’s tremendous upside in this bilateral relationship in economic terms, a key part of which is the F-35 and Turkey’s role and potential role in the F-35 program.  But to get there, we, as allies, need to resolve this issue of the S-400,” the official said.Erdogan spokesman Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter that Turkey has been clear about its reasoning for purchasing the Russian missiles.”Turkey’s need for a missile defense system is urgent. The U.S. must recognize this to prevent the issue from becoming a thorn in our relations. Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program is crucial for our defense partnership,” Altun wrote.A senior U.S. official said another of Trump’s priorities would be the situation in Syria where the United States is chiefly concerned about a potential resurgence of the Islamic State group as well as preventing “humanitarian atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities.”Trump also planned to discuss human rights issues within Turkey as well.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is beefing up patrols by civilian militias across the nation as political rivals call for mass demonstrations against him.Maduro in a national broadcast Tuesday ordered the nation’s 3.2 million militia members to patrol Venezuela’s streets. He gave the command seated between the nation’s top-ranking military leaders.The heightened patrols overlap with a Saturday protest called by opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido, who has led a nearly year-long campaign to oust Maduro with backing from the U.S. and 50 other nations.Guaido has not managed to rally large demonstrations in recent months.However, a wave of political unrest has struck several Latin American nations, and Bolivian socialist leader Evo Morales abruptly resigned Sunday.Maduro says the same “imperialist” forces that undermined Bolivia’s president seek to oust him.
   
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Exiled Bolivian president Evo Morales arrived Tuesday in Mexico, which granted him asylum after he resigned the presidency on Sunday and fled his country.  Mike O’Sullivan reports, Bolivian opposition leaders say they are working to ensure a peaceful transition despite continuing tensions. 
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Hackers demanded about $5 million in bitcoin from Mexico’s Pemex, they told Reuters on Tuesday, saying the state oil firm missed a special discount by not paying immediately after a cyberattack that fouled up the company’s systems.The hack, which Pemex said it detected on Sunday, forced the company to shut down computers across Mexico, freezing systems such as payments, according to five employees and internal emails.Hackers have increasingly targeted companies with malicious programs that can cripple systems overseeing everything from supply chains to manufacturing, removing them only after receiving substantial payments.A ransom note that appeared on Pemex computers seen by Reuters pointed to a darknet website affiliated with “DoppelPaymer,” a type of ransomware.The website demanded 565 bitcoins, or nearly $5 million at current prices, and threatened Pemex with a 48-hour deadline, listing an email address to contact.When Reuters wrote to the email for details, the apparent hackers replied, saying that Pemex had missed a deadline for a “special price,” an apparent reference to the discounts sometimes offered to ransomware victims for early payment. But they said Pemex still had time to meet their bitcoin demand and would not comment further while the new deadline was pending.Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ransom demand.The attack is the latest challenge for Pemex, which is battling to pay down heavy debts, reverse years of declining oil production and avoid downgrades to its credit ratings.Pemex said its storage and distribution facilities were operating normally and that the attack had affected less than 5% of its computers.”Let’s avoid rumors and disinformation,” it said in a statement. A person who works in Pemex’s production and exploration said that division was not affected.There was some confusion about which form of ransomware was used in the attack. One Pemex official said in an internal email the company was targeted by “Ryuk,” a strain of ransomware that experts say typically targets companies with annual revenue between $500 million and $1 billion – far below Pemex’s levels.DoppelPaymer is a relatively new breed of ransomware that cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said was behind recent attacks on Chile’s Agriculture Ministry and the town of Edcouch in Texas.On Tuesday, Pemex was reconnecting unaffected computers to its network using software patches and wiping infected computers clean, said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The company had to communicate with employees via mobile messaging service WhatsApp because employees could not open their emails, said another source, who was also not authorized to speak to reporters.”In finances, all the computers are off, there could eventually be problems with payments,” the person said.Companies taken hostage digitally can suffer catastrophic damage, whether or not they pay ransom.Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro was hit in March by ransomware that spread to 160 sites, eventually forcing parts of the industrial giant to operate via pen and paper.The company refused to pay the ransom. But it said the attack generated up to $71 million in cleanup costs – of which only $3.6 million so far had been paid out by insurance. 
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Colombia’s foreign minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, will move to head the Defense Ministry, President Ivan Duque said on Tuesday, where he will focus on everyday security and the fight against armed groups and drug trafficking.Trujillo will be replaced by Claudia Blum, a former senator and United Nations ambassador, Duque said.Guillermo Botero resigned as defense minister last week in the midst of mounting political pressure over alleged extrajudicial killings and the deaths of eight children in a military bombing.”We are pleased that Carlos Holmes Trujillo will take on this new task,” Duque said in a televised statement. “He will be in charge, of course, of confronting organized armed groups in all national territory.”Trujillo’s experience as mayor of the city of Cali “puts him close to the reality of citizen security,” Duque added.Trujillo, a former education and interior minister and ambassador to the European Union, has devoted much of his term as the country’s top diplomat to denouncing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a dictator and supporter of terrorism.Colombia has repeatedly accused Maduro of offering safe haven to dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group, who refused to demobilize under a 2016 peace deal, and guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN).The fight against those groups would be easier without Maduro as Venezuela’s leader, Trujillo has said.Trujillo will also focus on fighting drug traffickers, destroying illicit cultivations of coca, the base ingredient in cocaine, and increasing drug seizures, Duque said.Blum, a native of Cali and the first woman to serve as president of the Colombian Senate, has “ample experience in political and international affairs,” Duque said on Twitter later on Tuesday.She served as ambassador to the U.N. under former President Alvaro Uribe, Duque’s mentor. 
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Poland’s opposition parties elected their candidate as speaker of the Senate on Tuesday, a small victory that allows them to check the power of the populist right-wing ruling party.Senator Tomasz Grodzki was chosen speaker in a 51-48 vote with one abstention during the first sitting of the new parliament that was elected in October. Grodzki hailed the move as a victory for democracy. Until Tuesday’s vote, it was not certain that the opposition parties would manage to take control of the Senate.For the past four years, the ruling Law and Justice party has put through laws giving it much greater power over the judicial system. The European Union has often expressed its concerns that the party was eroding judicial independence, warning that rule of law in the young democracy was on the line.In many cases, with control of both houses of parliament, the party would rush laws through without allowing opposition lawmakers any say.Now, the Senate will be able to slow down and influence, though not block, the passage of laws. Perhaps more importantly, the Senate has the power to appoint the heads of some key state bodies and the opposition — if it maintains its majority — will be able to block the nominations of some ruling party loyalists.Law and Justice has tried to win over some opposition members in Senate, but has so far failed.Earlier Tuesday, the lower house of parliament, also named its speaker — Elzbieta Witek of Law and Justice.Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, right, outlines his vision of a tolerant Poland based on Roman Catholic values in a speech applauded by the populist ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left, at the gala inauguration of a new four-year term.President Andrzej Duda opened the first day of parliament’s four-year term with a speech that paid homage to Poland’s tradition of being a land of tolerance and a place where many ethnic and religious groups lived for centuries in relative harmony. He also paid tribute to Roman Catholicism and strong family traditions that he credited with preserving the social fabric over a difficult history.The parliamentary election on Oct. 13 gave a second term Law and Justice party, which won nearly 44% of the votes, the highest percentage of any party since Poland returned to democracy 30 years ago.But the election also created some complications for the party and its 70-year-old leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as it continues its plans to reshape the nation.Aside from the loss of the Senate, the ruling party must now contend with the fact that a far-right party, Confederation, got almost 7% of the vote, winning 11 seats in the assembly.Law and Justice had sought to prevent any party arising in parliament to its right. That strategy had led Kaczynski and other leaders to try to appeal to the far right, and they even marched with them on Independence Day in 2018.In another change, a left-wing alliance won 49 seats, after a hiatus of four years, after getting nearly 13% of the vote.
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Venice was hit by the second highest tide recorded in the lagoon city on Tuesday, which flooded its historic basilica and left many of its squares and alleyways deep underwater.Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said he would declare a state of disaster and warned of severe damage.City officials said the tide peaked at 187 cm (6.14 ft) at 10.50 p.m. (2150 GMT), just short of the record 194 cm set in 1966.”The situation is dramatic,” Brugnaro said on Twitter. “We ask the government to help us. The cost will be high. This is the result of climate change.”Saint Mark’s Square was submerged by more than one meter (3.3 ft) of water, while the adjacent Saint Mark’s Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1,200 years.Four of those inundations have now come in the last 20 years, most recently in October 2018. There was no immediate word on any damage inside the Church. In 2018, the administrator said the basilica had aged 20 years in a single day.People walk on a catwalk in the flooded St. Mark’s Square during a period of seasonal high water in Venice, Italy, Nov. 12, 2019.Video on social media showed deep waters flowing like a river along one of Venice’s main thoroughfares, while another showed large waves hammering boats moored alongside the Doge’s Palace and surging over the stone sidewalks.”A high tide of 187 cm is going to leave an indelible wound,” Brugnaro said.Much of Italy has been pummelled by torrential rains in recent days, with wide spreading flooding, especially in the southern heel and toe of the country.In Matera, this year’s European Capital of Culture, rain water cascaded through the streets and inundated the city’s famous cave-dwelling district.Further bad weather is forecast for the coming days. 
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The chief of Bosnia’s border police warned Tuesday that his guards cannot contain the migratory pressure along the country’s eastern border with Serbia and that the situation could easily escalate and put in danger the overall stability of the politically fragile nation.Zoran Galic told The Associated Press in an interview that securing the nation’s entire 1,600-kilometer (995-mile) border along a popular migration route into Europe was like the “work of Sisyphus.” That was a reference to the Greek mythical hero who was condemned for eternity to push a rock up a mountain only to watch it roll all the way down every time he reaches the top.“We are in a constant struggle to deter migrants, but they never quit,” he said.Describing the scale of the problem, he said:  “We encounter women who are eight months pregnant, juvenile children, and we are doing our best to treat them morally, with respect for all international (human rights) conventions.”Since the start of the year, more than 13,000 migrants have arrived in Bosnia, according to Bosnian government statistics. The impoverished country is unable to provide them with appropriate accommodation and many are left without access to hot meals, showers or proper medical care, to the growing consternation of local communities.In this photo taken Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, Bosnian border police officers guard migrants after making the illegal crossing from Serbia by the Drina river, the natural border between Bosnia and Serbia, near eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik, Bosnia…Galic said his border police forces is short 1,000 officers and the modern technology required to secure the borders. He said the country only has one officer per every 30 kilometers (19 miles) of border.Bosnia is located along the so-called Balkan route that migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa take in hopes of reaching western Europe. The route became more popular nearly three years ago after other countries in the region sealed off their borders.Most migrants arrive in Bosnia from Serbia after moving relatively unimpeded across the poorly guarded border between the two countries. From there they walk northwest to Bosnia’s border with the European Union-member Croatia.  The Bosnian border with both Serbia and Croatia is mostly porous, with rivers, mountains and vast tracts of forest.But Croatia has been taking increasingly efficient steps to prevent cross-border movement, so a growing number of desperate migrants remain stuck in Bosnia, one of the poorest and most volatile countries in Europe.Migrants caught by Bosnian border police officers, after making the illegal crossing from Serbia, described to the AP being smuggled across the Drina River by human traffickers.“I am paying crossing river 3,000 euro. Who take the money? It is smuggler, men smuggler,” said a migrant who identified himself only as Waqar, and said he was a 17-year-old Pakistani.Over the past few months, the high influx of migrants has unleashed acrimony among Bosnia’s squabbling nationalist leaders who represent the often-competing interests of the country’s Bosniak, Croat and Serb ethnic communities.Most notably, Bosnian Serb hard-line leader Milorad Dodik, who is a member of Bosnia’s multi-ethnic joint presidency, has blocked efforts to deploy the army to stem the influx of migrants from Serbia.Dodik is also blocking the deployment of the EU’s border protection agency teams along Bosnia’s border with Croatia, using the crisis to promote his Serbian-first attitude, including by refusing to accommodate any migrants in the country’s highly autonomous Serb-run half.Many Bosnians have sympathy for the asylum seekers, with memories of when many of them sought refuge elsewhere.During the war in Bosnia of 1992-95 — the deadliest of the ethnic wars sparked by the breakup of Yugoslavia — more than 100,000 people died, and more than half the population was forced to flee.
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With cries of “Viva Felipe!” and “Viva Espana!” Cubans greeted King Felipe in Old Havana, the first state visit ever by a Spanish monarch to Cuba, Spain’s former colony turned Communist-run nation.Earlier in the day, Felipe and his wife Letizia laid flowers at the monument in Havana to Jose Marti, a symbol of Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain, before meeting with President Miguel Diaz-Canel in the Palace of the Revolution.The king then held closed-door conversations with Diaz-Canel during which they agreed to further develop positive bilateral political and economic relations, according to Cuban state-run media. Spain is Cuba’s third-largest trading partner and one of its top investors.The visit illustrates the normalization of Europe’s relations with Cuba even as the United States doubles down on a decades-old policy of seeking to force the government to reform by tightening its crippling trade embargo.Some Spanish politicians and Cuban dissidents have criticized the trip, saying it legitimizes Cuba’s one-party system at a time of increased repression.Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Spain’s King Felipe review an honor guard during a ceremony at the Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba, Nov. 12, 2019.Yet many locals are grateful for what they see as a sign of support for the Cuban people, struggling with a crisis in the inefficient state-run economy in the wake of a decline of support from ally Venezuela and increased U.S. sanctions.”Spain remains our parent nation and we identify a lot with it, so their visit is very important to us,” said Havana resident Maria Pazos, whose paternal great-grandparents came from Catalonia. “It’s also a reaffirmation that we are not alone, that we have support.”Historic and family bonds have long underpinned Cuban-Spanish relations, sometimes regardless of the political flavor of the moment. Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, for example, whose father was a Spanish immigrant, had surprisingly good relations with former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.The royal visit was timed so the couple could take part in the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Cuban capital by a Spanish conquistador. Havana was once one of the most important cities in the Spanish empire, providing a port for its treasure fleet.Diaz-Canel’s wife Lis Cuesta took Letizia on a tour of Old Havana that has received a facelift since the 1990s and is considered an architectural jewel due to its mix of colonial, Art Deco and neoclassical styles.Felipe later joined Letizia at the cathedral, which previously housed the remains of explorer Christopher Columbus, whose encounter with Cuba in the service of the Spanish crown led to it being colonized by the Spaniards. The remains of Columbus were moved to Spain after Cuba became independent of that country in the 1890s.
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The Voice of America’s Russian serviced produced this documentary about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It looks at Berlin then and today through the eyes of those who were there, including an American soldier, a dissident, a politician, a historian and others.
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Turkey’s October military intervention into Syria is increasingly straining relations with its regional allies and neighbors, but the country is pushing back against mounting criticism of its Syrian incursion.In a recent editorial headlined “A threat against the Turkey-Qatar alliance,” the Daily Sabah, which has close ties to the Turkish government, condemned coverage of Turkey’s Syrian military operation by Qatari-owned news broadcaster Al-Jazeera English. The editorial called for the firing of journalists, warning of long-term consequences to Turkish-Qatar relations.”Although the two countries see eye to eye on many issues, any sustainable partnership must be firmly rooted in mutual interests. Without reciprocity, any relationship is at risk of falling apart,” read last week’s editorial.The Turkish military operation is on pause after agreements were brokered by Washington and Moscow with Ankara.With Turkish relations strained with Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt, Qatar is one of Ankara’s few remaining regional allies.”Turkish-Qatar relations are built on good foundations,” said Mithat Rende, the former Turkish ambassador to Qatar. “But this [Sabah editorial] is probably a warning from the [Turkish] presidency, ‘You should behave. You should show respect.'”  FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, welcomes Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani before their talks in Istanbul, Nov. 26, 2018.Ankara is strongly backing Qatar in an ongoing regional embargo led by Saudi Arabia against the emirate. Last year, Turkey deployed troops to Qatar, a move widely seen to prevent any Saudi military action.Rende says Ankara’s anger with Qatar is more deep-seated than Al-Jazeera broadcasting.”The present Qatari criticism is also probably because of the Arab League heavily criticizing the Turkish intervention, which was a very big disappointment for Ankara,” said Rende. “The Arab League, when they get together, the No. 1 sentiment is Arab nationalism. They do this with border issues and territory issues.”Turkey is a former imperial power in the region, whose Ottoman empire ruled much of the Arab world. That bitter historical legacy, analysts say, continues to color Arab perception of Turkish actions, particularly military ones in the region.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed criticism by the Arab League.The “Arab League is holding meetings against Turkey,” Erdogan said. “One has to ask the members of the Arab League why they do not support the refugees in Turkey, who are mostly Arabs.”FILE – In this June 14, 2015 file photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, thousands of Syrian refugees walk in order to cross into Turkey.Turkey currently hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees. Along with securing Turkey’s border, Erdogan is seeking to create a so-called “safe zone” large enough and secure enough to return up to 2 million Syrians currently living in Turkey to Syria.
 
Arab concerns over Ankara’s military presence in Syria are likely to heighten with Erdogan indicating a long-term military presence.”We won’t quit before the last terrorist leaves the region,” Erdogan told a group of journalists Nov. 8. “This is one dimension of the issue. Secondly, we will not quit before other countries leave. We are in favor of Syria’s unity and solidarity. We never want it disintegrated.”Such comments will also likely cause unease in Tehran. Iran insists that only foreign powers invited by the Damascus government should be present in Syria.”The imperative now is to end the [Turkish] incursion into Syria,” tweeted Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.Erdogan reacted angrily to the Iranian comments.”Some of the statements about the operation have caused serious sadness to me,” Erdogan said last month. “Not [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani himself, but some of his close friends have issued oppositional statements. Mr. Rouhani should have prevented these statements.”Erdogan also pointed out that in the past Ankara helped Iran cope with sanctions imposed by the international community over its nuclear energy program.Analysts suggest that Erdogan’s comment is a thinly veiled warning to Tehran, given that Iran is again facing powerful trade sanctions.But with Ankara giving little sign of any early Syrian withdrawal, and even threatening new military operations, regional diplomatic pressure is only likely to grow.”The issue is how Moscow, Tehran, and [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad try to persuade the further accession of Turkish troops inside Syria,” said International relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “At the end of the day, this is Syrian territory. Turkey no doubt has undertaken a rightful operation for security reasons, but the limits of the security concern will be defined by Assad, Tehran and Moscow.”Erdogan insists he is ready to face down regional pressure and criticism to achieve his ultimate goals in Syria.
 
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Danish police have begun carrying out border checks at Denmark’s crossings with Sweden after a series of shootings and explosions around Copenhagen that Danish authorities say were carried out by people from Sweden.
 
Police spokesman Jens Jespersen told The Associated Press on Tuesday that at checks on the Oresund Bridge between Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmo, officers have “a particular focus on cross-border crime involving explosives, weapons and drugs.” He also says authorities are stopping cars to have “a peak at who is inside.”
 
The controls are also being carried out at ferry ports.
 
They follow 13 explosions in Copenhagen since February. A June shooting in the city killed two Swedish citizens. Also, a shooting Saturday in Malmo killed a 15-year-old boy and critically wounded another teenager.
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Eighteen Turkish students and a lecturer went on trial on Tuesday for taking part in a banned LGBTI Pride event at an Ankara university.The defendants face up to three years in prison if convicted of “unlawful assembly and protest” and “refusing to disperse” in a trial deemed “farcical” by rights groups.One of the 18 students also faces up to two years for insulting a police officer with hand gestures.Homosexuality has been legal throughout modern Turkey’s history, but LGBTI individuals face regular harassment and abuse.The pride event at the prestigious Middle East Technical University has taken place every May since 2011.But university bosses banned this year’s event and police used pepper spray, plastic bullets and tear gas to break it up.Officials from several European embassies, including Denmark, and an opposition lawmaker attended the packed hearing.Lawyers and rights groups urged the court to immediately acquit the defendants.”The ban of the Pride march lacks legal grounds, and these brave students and others who defied it had their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly violated,” Sara Hall of Amnesty International said in a statement.Police did not allow supporters to read a statement outside the courthouse.‘Cannot ban pride’
Defendant Melike Irem Balkan told the court there were “no legal grounds” for banning the event, noting that it has taken place “peacefully” in previous years.Another defendant, Ozgur Mehmet Gur, was defiant, telling the court: “Every step we take is a Pride march. Our existence is a Pride march. You cannot ban the Pride march.”Academic Mehmet Mutlu said he attended the event only “to protect my students from the officers’ violent behavior” and that his detention was “wrong”.The defendants were arrested on the day, but have been free pending trial.The trial was later adjourned to March 12.The Ankara governor’s office banned all LGBTI events in November 2017, saying they could “provoke reactions” in society, but the ruling was overturned by a court in the capital in April.LGBTI events have faced mixed fortunes under the Islamic-rooted government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Istanbul’s Pride march in 2014 was one of the biggest LGBTI events ever seen in the majority Muslim region, but authorities in the city have banned it ever since, and used tear gas to break up the latest event in June.ILGA-Europe, an umbrella organization for LGBTI groups, called for “a thorough and impartial investigation into the excessive use of force” against the Pride marchers.It places Turkey in the bottom three European countries, alongside Armenia and Azerbaijan, for equality laws and policies. 
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