U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Pentagon chief Mark Esper will join hundreds of global leaders in Germany Friday for the three-day Munich Security Conference.Numerous security flashpoints around the world, from Syria, Yemen and Iran to Hong Kong, Ukraine and Libya, add to the growing tension and unease ahead of the summit, which takes place against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak and a global climate emergency.The United States’ large delegation is a sign that the Washington wants to counter accusations that it is disengaging, says analyst Elisabeth Braw of Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, who is attending the annual Munich conference.”As we speak actually the U.S. is beginning its largest military exercise in Europe in a quarter of a century,” noted Braw in an interview with VOA. “And that’s worth remembering when we talk about the U.S. disconnecting or disengaging from Europe.”US-Iran tensionsWashington’s biggest showdown in Munich is likely to be with Iran, which is sending Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to the summit. He and several other world leaders and government ministers will be given around 15 minutes to address the conference, before question and answer sessions. Several bilateral meetings usually take place on the sidelines of the conference, which is seen as a key annual event to sustain dialogue between global strategic rivals.The U.S. killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike earlier this year.  Retaliatory air strikes by Iran on U.S. bases culminated in the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian Airlines passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board.Conference host, former German Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, hopes the conference will offer a lifeline for the Iran nuclear deal that the U.S. withdrew from, with Europe at the forefront of negotiations.FILE – Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference is seen during his closing speech at last year’s Munich Security Conference, in Munich, southern Germany, Feb. 17, 2019.”To stick to it and to expand on it through negotiations on ballistic systems, regional security architecture, the fight against terrorism. Could Iran stop supporting Hezbollah?” Ischinger suggested at a press conference Wednesday ahead of the conference.The killing of Soleimani on Iraqi soil triggered a backlash from Baghdad, and a non-binding vote in the Iraqi parliament to expel the five-thousand U.S. troops in the country.NATO is discussing taking over the training mission for Iraqi forces battling Islamic State – a proposal welcomed by U.S. Secretary of Defense Esper, who spoke to reporters en route to Europe.”To the degree that NATO can offset the U.S. presence, that would over time allow us to bring some forces home,” Esper said.Meanwhile the conflict in Syria continues to destabilize the Middle East region, with Ankara warning of revenge against Damascus for the deaths of Turkish soldiers in clashes this week.The escalating war in Libya is also top of the European agenda, with fears growing of a proxy war as global powers back rival sides in the conflict. The EU fears a spike in migrant arrivals across the Mediterranean. Europe is also pushing for the climate change to top the security agenda at the meeting.There is hope that peace talks may be progressing in Afghanistan, with reports the U.S. and the Taliban could be close to a deal.FILE – Participants are seen during a podium discussion at last year’s Munich Security Conference, in Munich, southern Germany, Feb. 17, 2019.Coronavirus fearsChina’s foreign minister Wang Yi will attend the conference against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and U.S.-led efforts to halt the rise of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei.The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, will update the conference on the global fight against the spread of the coronavirus, which has been officially named as ‘COVID-19’. The WHO recently warned that the global threat from the virus could exceed that of terrorism.Meanwhile Russia’s support for rebel forces in eastern Ukraine continues to stoke tensions with Europe. France recently called for re-engagement with Moscow, and President Emmanuel Macron will attend the Munich Security Conference for the first time. His message will not be universally welcomed, says analyst Braw.”Many central and eastern Europeans would be very concerned if other European countries and the U.S. made overtures towards Russia.”Moscow will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.As global tensions soar, leaders from across the world will be confined to the historic Bayerischer Hof hotel in central Munich, for three days of what will likely be fiery talks.
 
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British Finance Minister Sajid Javid announced his resignation Thursday, a development that came unexpectedly as Prime Minister Boris Johnson reorganizes his Cabinet.Javid’s resignation followed reports of tensions between him and Johnson’s top advisor, Dominic Cummings.His announcement came less than one month before he was scheduled to unveil his first budget and as the government tries to negotiate a new relationship with the European Union by the end of the year.The 50-year-old Javid is a former banker who transitioned into politics, serving first as interior minister.Javid said in his first speech before parliament his experience as a banker prepared him to be a politician because both professions are disliked by the public. 
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France marks the 60th anniversary of nuclear weapons tests that turned it into one of the world’s first nuclear powers.  That was at the height of the Cold War.  But critics claim more than three decades of testing — first in Algeria and later French Polynesia — left many scars, including victims who remain uncompensated. On February 13, 1960, France conducted its first nuclear test in Algeria’s southern Sahara desert. “Hurray for France,” then-French President Charles de Gaulle wrote at the time.  But Jean-Claude Hervieux has other memories. He joined the French testing efforts in Algeria as an electrician. He recalls another nuclear test, in 1962, which didn’t go according to plan.  Radioactive dust and rock escaped from underground. Hervieux and others witnessing the testing ran for cover. Two French ministers were among them. The group showered in military barracks to decontaminate. He laughs because it wasn’t often French ministers are seen in the buff.  A danger sign is seen at a French nuclear test site in In-Ekker, near Ain Meguel in southern Algeria, Feb. 25, 2010.France ended up conducting more than 200 nuclear tests until a later president, Jacques Chirac, ended them in 1996. Most took place in French Polynesia. But 17 took place in Algeria between 1960 and 1966, ending four years after Algeria’s independence from France. “It’s part of the whole issue of decolonization and Algerians in general asking for recognition of colonization crimes,” said Brahim Oumansour, a North Africa analyst at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris. He said that proper recognition and financial compensation for the Algerian tests could cost millions of dollars.  Hervieux spent a decade working on nuclear test sites in Algeria and later French Polynesia. Now 80 and living in France’s Lyon area, he says he’s physically fine — although he used to get some questionable radioactive testing results from the French government.  Roland Desbordes is a former French physicist and spokesman for an independent French atomic safety research group called CRIIRAD. He’s visited the Algerian test sites.  Desbordes said he detected radiation levels in some places that were colossal. Algerian nomads visited the sites to collect material left by the French. He believes the French government should declassify key information about the explosions. But he also blames Algerian authorities for failing to properly seal the desert sites.  France’s nuclear compensation commission, CIVEN, said more than 1,600 claims have been filed under a 2010 French law that finally acknowledged health problems related to the testing.Only about one-third have met compensation criteria that include about two dozen possible radiation-related cancers. Almost all the claims came from France and its overseas territory. Of the 51 claims from Algeria, only one has been compensated.  CIVEN Director Ludovic Gerin said the commission can only judge the Algerian claims it receives. He said the sicknesses described in the few that did come in didn’t match compensation criteria. And he said the commission couldn’t actively go out and search for other victims.
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Political and military leaders from across the world head to Germany for the three-day Munich Security Conference that opens Friday. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Munich, from Iran to Hong Kong, Ukraine to Libya, there is no shortage of security flashpoints — and the conflicts are taking place against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak and a global climate emergency.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading to the Munich Security Conference, Senegal, Angola, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Oman, with security, economic ties and shared values likely to be a common thread at all of the stops.At the Munich Security Conference,  Pompeo and leaders from around the world are likely to discuss the coronavirus, efforts towards ending the violence in Afghanistan, the security situation in Iraq, and the threat posed by Iran.Secretary Pompeo’s stops following the Security Conference in Munich, Germany.The visit will be Pompeo’s first as the chief U.S. diplomat to sub-Saharan Africa, and his first stop there will be Senegal.  A senior State Department officials told reporters the U.S. has 60 years of relations with Senegal and shares strong democratic values with Dakar. “Senegal is an extremely strong security partner for the United States. Especially with the very serious stability, terrorism, conflict problems going on in that region, Senegal is an absolute bulwark.”Senegal’s President Macky Sall leaves after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 15, 2019.The senior State Department official said Senegal exports stability instead of instability, and is a very tolerant society — in many ways a role model for the entire continent. Pompeo is planning to meet with Senegal’s President Macky Sall.U.S. Africa Command says there are currently some 6,000 U.S. military personnel deployed in Africa, but that number could be reduced following a global review the Pentagon is conducting.  Senegal’s President Sall has said a drawdown of U.S. forces would be a mistake, and would be misunderstood by Africans.The Pentagon’s review also comes as U.S. defense and intelligence officials are voicing renewed concerns about the spread of increasingly capable terrorist groups in Africa, warning some have become so powerful it is no longer possible to “degrade” them.A senior State Department official said he would defer to the Defense Department about the review of troop levels, but added:“But I can tell you that from the U.S. State Department’s point of view, an awful lot of the security programs that we conduct in the Sahel are actually paid for by U.S. State Department funds. We absolutely plan to continue those programs.”President of Angola Joao Lourenco attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2019.Angola is the second stop, with senior State Department officials praising President Joao Lourenco for his economic and political reforms, his strong anti-corruption efforts, and his strong regional leadership.Pompeo is expected to offer U.S. support for democratization and anti-corruption efforts that Lourenco has put in place since the departure of former Angolan leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos.From Luanda, Pompeo will travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and will meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Sahle-Work Zewde to discuss joint efforts to promote regional security and to support Ethiopia’s historic political and economic reform agenda.Secretary Pompeo will also meet with African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat and deliver remarks.U.S. competition with China is likely to be an issue, with State Department officials saying they will highlight the advantages of doing business with American companies, which they say are better at creating jobs for Africa’s rapidly growing population of young people.  A senior State Department official said:“Africa’s population will be doubling between now and 2050, and we want to absolutely empower that youth and make sure that they are a force for dynamic growth and economic empowerment and better governance in the world.”Women’s empowerment and removing barriers to equality are also likely to be a focus in all of the stops.FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tarik gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman Jan. 11, 2020.From Addis Ababa, Pompeo will travel to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with senior leaders of the kingdom to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including Iran’s influence in the region, the escalation of violence in Yemen and human rights issues in Saudi Arabia.
His last stop will be Muscat, Oman. The secretary will express his condolences on the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said in person, and will meet with the new sultan, Haitham bin Tarik. A senior State Department official said: “This is an opportunity for the secretary to underscore the United States steadfast partnership with Oman, and our desire to continue our strong bilateral cooperation.”
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In a much-anticipated document released Wednesday, Pope Francis did not accept a proposal to allow the ordination of married men as priests or women as deacons in the Amazon in order to combat the serious clergy shortages in the region.The proposal had been put forward by the majority of bishops attending a synod on the Amazon at the Vatican last year.Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation on the “Beloved Amazon,” made public Wednesday, made no change to the Roman Catholic Church’s centuries-old rule on celibacy. The majority of bishops from the Amazon region had voted at the end of their synod in the Vatican three months ago to allow some married men to be ordained and for women to serve as deacons. But in his document, the pope ignored that proposal.FILE – Pope Francis greets a group of nuns during his weekly general audience, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Jan. 15, 2020.Some groups that advocate for women’s ordination and giving them a greater role in the church criticized the pope’s decision. The Britain-based Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research said in a statement that the pope’s refusal to consider the ordination of women rejects the explicit recommendation of the synod on the Amazon.”Beloved Amazon” was more of a love letter by the Latin American prelate to the Amazonian rain forest and the indigenous people who populate it, according to Cardinal Michael Czerny, the synod secretary.The cardinal said the pope’s love for the region lay at the heart of the pope’s apostolic exhortation. Pope Francis, he added, has “four great dreams” for this region: social, ecological, cultural and pastoral.The pope says the Amazon region is one that “fights for the rights of the poor,” that “preserves its distinctive cultural riches,” that “jealously preserves its overwhelming natural beauty” and where Christian communities may be “capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region.”Francis urged Catholics to “feel outrage” over the exploitation of indigenous people. He also spoke about the “injustice and crime” committed against the people of the Amazon and their land, devastated by illegal mining and extraction industries.In the Roman Catholic Church, only priests can say mass. Due to the acute shortage in the region, the faithful in at least 85% of villages cannot attend regular services and have not for years.The pope said, “Every effort should be made” to give the faithful access to the Eucharist.”This urgent need leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America … to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” he wrote.Pope Francis called on bishops to promote “prayer for priestly vocations.” He also said there was a need for priests who understand Amazon sensibilities.
 
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Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General’s Office in Lviv suspects an underworld criminal and a police major of collusion in the arson of a vehicle belonging to RFE/RL correspondent Halyna Tereshchuk.Iryna Didenko, the lead prosecutor of the Lviv region, signed the charge sheets for the two suspects on Feb. 11.Accused of ordering the torching of the journalist’s car is a 48-year-old former convict, who is known in the criminal world for black-market schemes and stealing fuel at the Lviv railway.Allegedly colluding with him was a 43-year-old National Police major in the Lviv region, who sought the arsonist and paid him for the crime, according to Didenko.The suspects are on a nationwide wanted list.Both would be prosecuted for intentional destruction of or damage to property, which carries a prison sentence of six to 15 years.The journalist, who has worked for RFE/RL since 2000, said at the time of the arson on Jan. 30 that she suspected the attack was linked to her professional activities.Police on Feb. 6 detained a 19-year-old male in Odesa for allegedly setting the reporter’s car on fire. If found guilty, he faces three to 10 years in prison.The case has been jointly investigated by prosecutors and investigators from the Security Service (SBU).The Ukrainian unit of rights group Freedom House has condemned the torching of Tereshchuk’s car, as well as that of Andriy Lukin, an activist in Zaporizhzhya, whose car was also set ablaze on Jan. 29.The group stated that “arson or other methods of destruction of vehicles and property are becoming increasingly used as a means to pressure active people in Ukraine.”It noted that there were 11 cases last year of property belonging to activists being destroyed and “in almost all cases, the perpetrators were not found and punished.” 
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Social media giant Facebook on Wednesday removed two unconnected networks of accounts, pages, and groups “engaging in foreign or government interference,” one originating in Russia and the other one in Iran, both of which have alleged ties to intelligence services.Calling the behavior “coordinated” and “inauthentic,” Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said both operations were acting on “behalf of a government or foreign actor.”The Russian network primarily targeted Ukraine and its neighboring countries, while the Iranian operation focused mainly on the United States.The people behind the groups and accounts “coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action,” the social-media company said.In total, 78 accounts, 11 pages, 29 groups, and four Instagram accounts originating in Russia were removed.Facebook’s investigation “found links to Russian and military intelligence services” within the Russian network.The people behind the network would pose as citizen journalists and tried to contact policymakers, journalists, and other public figures in the region.They would post content in Russian, English, and Ukrainian “about local and political news including public figures in Ukraine, Russian military engagement in Syria, alleged SBU (Ukrainian Security Service) leaks related to ethnic tensions in Crimea and the downing of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014.”Similarly, six Facebook and five Instagram accounts were removed originating in Iran that engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”Some tried contacting public figures and they shared posts on such topics as the U.S. elections, Christianity, U.S.-Iran relations, U.S. immigration policy, and criticism of U.S. policies in the Middle East.About 60 people had followed one or more of the Iran-based Instagram accounts, the media company said. 
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Facebook on Wednesday said it had suspended a network of accounts used by Russian military intelligence to seed false narratives online targeting Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe.”Although the people behind this network attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to Russian military intelligence services,” Facebook said in a statement.Facebook, which has struggled to stop governments and political groups using its platform to spread false or misleading information, regularly announces it has shut down disinformation campaigns from countries including Russia.The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moscow has previously denied Western allegations of political meddling, including findings by U.S. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller that it used social media accounts in an attempt to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential vote.Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said the latest Russian operation used more than 100 accounts on Facebook and its Instagram photo-sharing platform to create fake personas, often posing as journalists in the targeted countries.These accounts then contacted local media and politicians to plant false stories about politically divisive issues, such as corruption allegations, ethnic tensions in the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea and the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014.”We’ve known for a long time that these people look for authentic voices to amplify their narratives,” Gleicher told Reuters. “It is more of a classic intelligence operation, trying to manipulate key individuals to achieve a high impact.”Researchers at social media analytics firm Graphika, who reviewed the accounts before they were suspended by Facebook, said most of the activity dated back to 2016 and 2017, although some accounts were active as recently as this year.The network failed to gather more than a few thousand followers but was able to get articles published in some local media outlets, said Ben Nimmo, Graphika’s head of investigations.The fake journalist personas also conducted interviews with Kremlin critics, tricking them into making unguarded comments and then sharing the messages online, he said.”The operation tried to poison the well of information by using false personas to plant pro-Kremlin and anti-Western narratives online and in local news outlets,” said Nimmo.Facebook said it had also suspended two other groups of accounts, unconnected to the Russian operation. One was linked to a previously-identified Iranian network that has targeted the United States and the other to a PR firm in Vietnam. 
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One patient jumped out of a hospital window to escape her quarantine and another managed to break out by disabling an electronic lock.Two Russian women who were kept in isolation for possible inflection by a new virus say they fled from their hospitals this month because of uncooperative doctors, poor conditions and fear they would become infected. Russian health authorities haven’t commented on their complaints.The incidents occurred amid the outbreak of the virus in China that has already infected more than 40,000 people worldwide. In Russia, only two cases of COVID-19 have been reported. Nevertheless, the authorities took vast measures to prevent the new disease from spreading and hospitalized hundreds of people who returned from China as a precaution.Many of those quarantined in different Russian hospitals complained about dire conditions of isolation rooms and lack of cooperation from doctors, uncertain about quarantine protocols.Both women said their hospital ordeals began after returning from Hainan, a tropical region of China popular with Russian tourists.In a lengthy account on Instagram published Friday, a woman with the screen name of GuzelNeder said her son came down with a cough and a fever of 37.3 C (99.2 F) four days after the family’s return to their home in the city of Samara. She called emergency services, who diagnosed the boy as having a viral respiratory infection and who said the mother and the son must go to a hospital for coronavirus tests.The hospital promised test results within three days, then extended it to five, she said, and meanwhile the boy responded to treatment with medication and an inhalator, she wrote. When she tried to press for results, hospital personnel obstructed her, she said.Meanwhile, she had become concerned about lax procedures in the hospital, saying that some medical personnel came to the isolation area without masks or threw their protective clothing on the floor.Her anxiety soared on the fifth day, when she began to feel badly. She asked her husband to bring her a home pregnancy test, and “after two minutes of wringing my hands in anticipation, it came on the screen — PREGNANT,” she wrote.Her husband argued with the doctor that she and their son should be released because of her condition and concern of infection. The doctor said they had to be held for 14 days even if the virus test came back negative.“My son was hysterical,” she wrote. “There was no exit for us other than to leave the hospital without authorization, through the window,” Guzel said.Police later questioned her at home, but no charges have been reported. “Everyone in my family is alive and healthy, thank god,” she wrote.The other woman, Alla Ilyina, said in an Instagram post she came down with a sore throat several days after returning to St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, from Hainan.Ilyina called emergency services, and medics brought her to a hospital for coronavirus testing, promising to let her go after 24 hours. The next day she was told she tested negative for the virus, but had to remain quarantined for two weeks.“Wild,” Ilyina wrote. “All three tests showed I was completely healthy, so why the hell the quarantine?”Her isolation room was dire, she told the Fontanka newspaper — no books, no shampoo, no Wi-Fi a wastebasket that was never emptied, the door secured by an electronic lock.Frustrated, she figured out how to short-circuit the electronic lock and escaped from the hospital on Friday.Neither the hospital nor police have followed up on her escape, which leads her to believe her health is OK.“If I were sick, they would have swamped me with phone calls,” Fontanka quoted her as saying.On Tuesday evening, Russian media reported that the hospital reported Ilyina’s escape to the police, and that a criminal investigation could be launched into the incident.Both women offered no immediate comment to The Associated Press.Quarantine protocols in relation to the outbreak vary throughout Russia. In some regions, health officials isolate Chinese nationals who have recently returned from China, and in others everyone who reports symptoms resembling those of the new virus are subject to a 14-day quarantine.Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health watchdog, hasn’t responded to a request for comment on whether the women were allowed to leave the hospitals.On Wednesday, the Fontanka newspaper published a video reportedly recorded by other patients quarantined in the same hospital Ilyina fled from. The footage shows two young women in what appears to be a patient room singing “I want to be like Alla (Ilyina)” and a handwritten note saying “Let us out of here, please.”Irina Sidorova, another woman who returned from Hainan on the same flight with Ilyina and was quarantined in the same hospital, confirmed to The Associated Press that isolation rooms there were locked, and patients weren’t able to get out on their own.Sidorova said in a phone interview she was hospitalized only a week after she returned to St. Petersburg. She reiterated Ilyina’s complaints about uncooperative doctors and said she wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital until Feb. 15, despite showing no symptoms and testing negative for the virus.
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Pope Francis, in one of the most significant decisions of his papacy, on Wednesday dismissed a proposal to allow some married men to be ordained in the Amazon region to ease an acute scarcity of priests.The recommendation, put forward by Latin American bishops last year, had alarmed conservatives in the deeply polarized 1.3 billion-member Roman Catholic Church, who feared it could lead to a change in the centuries-old commitment to celibacy among priests.FILE – Pope Francis greets a group of nuns during his weekly general audience, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Jan. 15, 2020.Francis delivered his response in an Apostolic Exhortation, three months after the proposal passed by 128 votes to 41 at a contentious Vatican assembly, or synod, of Roman Catholic bishops.Apostolic Exhortations are used to instruct and encourage the Catholic faithful but do not define Church doctrine.Wednesday’s 32-page document did not even mention the proposal, which was for older married deacons who are proven leaders of remote Catholic communities and have stable families to be ordained as priests.Conservatives balked, fearing that even a circumscribed change would be a slippery slope leading to a married priesthood throughout the Church. They branded a pre-synod working document as heretical.In what some viewed as a strategically timed appeal to Francis not to approve the Amazon proposal, a book published last month by Church conservatives defended the tradition of priestly celibacy.”From the Depths of Our Hearts” was co-authored by Cardinal Robert Sarah and former Pope Benedict, though Francis’ predecessor subsequently disassociated himself from the project.Vatican officials said the pope completed the document on Dec. 27, before the book controversy, and handed it in for translations. They said no changes were made after that. In the Exhortation, the 82-year-old Argentine pope wrote, new ways must be found to encourage more priests to work in the remote region, and allow expanded roles for lay people and permanent deacons, of whom the Amazon needed “many more.”Deacons, like priests, are ordained ministers. They can preach, teach, baptize and run parishes, but they cannot say Mass. Married men can become deacons.Because only priests can say Mass, people in at least 85% of Amazon villages cannot attend the liturgy every week and some cannot do so for years.”This urgent need leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America… to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” he wrote.He used the first three chapters of the document to defend the rights and legacies of indigenous people and the environment in the Amazon, which had to be protected because of its vital role in mitigating global warming.Conservatives feared that if Francis had taken up the proposal, other areas with a shortage of priests would follow, even in developed countries such as Germany, where the issue is being discussed.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is gearing up for the next stage of his campaign to oust President Nicolás Maduro following his return home from a tour abroad that included a meeting with his most important foreign ally — U.S. President Donald Trump.An energized Guaidó told cheering supporters at a public square in the capital of Caracas late Tuesday that he is armed with the backing of the “free world” to finish the job of reclaiming the nation.“Today more than ever we have to make our presence known,” Guaidó said. “This is not the time to go back. It’s time to move forward.”Just hours earlier, Guaido sped through immigration at Venezuela’s main airport outside Caracas without any major incidents. Authorities didn’t stop Guaidó, who left the country in defiance of a travel ban imposed by Maduro’s government.But inside the terminal, a woman threw what appeared to be a soft drink can, dousing Guaidó, who moments later walked from the airport pumping his right hand over his head.And outside, an aggressive crowd of Guaidó critics shouted, “Dirty traitor!” and “Get out!” Some threw traffic cones and others pounded the hood of an SUV that whisked him away.Guaidó backers shouted his name in support: “Guaidó! Guaidó!” A few minor clashes broke out between the two sides.Guaidó launched the trip with the goal of redoubling backing in Washington and Europe for the oppositioin’s effort to remove Maduro. The trip’s high-point for Guaidó came with a meeting inside the Oval Office with Trump, the day after the U.S. president recognized him as the “legitimate president of Venezuela” during his State of the Union address.As leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress, Guaidó rose to prominence a year ago when he claimed presidential powers on the grounds that Maduro’s rule is illegitimate after a fraudulent re-election in 2018. He won backing from the United States and more than 50 other nations, though so far has made no visible dent in Maduro’s hold on power.In addition to his stop in Washington, Guaidó met with European leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Guaido told supporters at Tuesday night’s rally that he is holding back some details of his foreign meetings that he is not able to talk about publicly.“Stay tuned,” he said, teasing the crowd.In public comments abroad, Guaidó urged foreign leaders to increase their support for Venezuelans who are trying to shrug off two decades of socialist rule that have left the country broken, with millions emigrating as public services like water and electricity have become a luxury.Officials in the Trump administration have said they are considering ways to exert more pressure to force out Maduro. On Friday, the administration hit the Venezuelan state-run airline CONVIASA with sanctions.Guaidó urged Venezuelans to remain unified and to take to the streets again to demonstrate their will to end the government that the opposition calls a “dictatorship.” He did not immediately announce any plans for organized protests.For his part, Maduro appeared on state television Tuesday to announce new public buses and expanded routes. He didn’t directly mention Guaidó or the opposition leader’s return.“We’re concentrating our efforts on defending Venezuela,” Maduro said, telling supporters not to be distracted by “idiots” and “traitors.”
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A Russia blogger has gone viral with a video prank that inadvertently goes to the heart of a debate over how much public support for Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoys after 20 years in power and counting.   The discussion was launched after blogger Bashir Dokhov posted a video to Youtube in which he glues a large portrait of the Russian leader on the wall of a Moscow apartment elevator.”I’ll put a camera in the corner, too,” says Dokhov, while setting up the joke. “God forbid someone should steal him.”Putin’s picture remained, but reactions to seeing the Russian leader weren’t kind.  Four-letter words abound as startled Russians enter the lift. “Why is he here?” asks one passenger. “What a nightmare!” exclaims another, who then proceeds to bow before the portrait while laughing as her friend snaps a picture.“It’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to our home,” says yet another resident.  But not to Youtube. The video already has had more than 2 million views and counting after just three days.     Putin’s popularity  Beyond the intended laughs, the video has renewed a long simmering debate in Russia: How popular is Vladimir Putin really?  According to polls, Putin has been Russia’s lone towering figure in politics for most of his 20 years in power —  with popularity ratings any western politician would envy.  State polling agencies find the Russian leader’s support at about 73%. Independent Russian pollsters, such as the respected Levada Center, peg that number a bit lower — at 68%.“The rating is rather stable and went up in 2019,” explains Levada’s Denis Volkov to VOA, noting the Kremlin leader’s numbers fluctuated amid the introduction of an unpopular pension reform the year prior.  Putin’s peak came in 2014, when Russia’s annexation of Crimea from neighboring Ukraine saw Putin’s numbers soar to 86%.Yet dig deeper and the numbers vary.  Putin’s trust and “electoral ratings” — which ask whether you would vote to reelect the president were an election held next week — prompt far less impressive results. Just 33%, according to a 2019 poll.  Case in point that the Kremlin pays attention: Putin announced a slew of reforms during his annual state of the nation speech last month — later installing a new Prime Minister amid promises that the focus of his 4th term in office would be improving Russians lives.The other point of the speech? Constitutional reforms aimed — perhaps — at extending Putin’s influence beyond the end of his current and final term in 2024.  Indeed, Kremlin critics have long argued that even the most scientifically rigorous samples are skewed by a lack of political alternatives, state propaganda, or misleading questions by pollsters.  In that regard, Kremlin opponents saw the elevator stunt as a simple up or down vote on Putin’s performance. A case of reality at last unfiltered.“You watch these types of videos and don’t understand why Putin is still in power. There’s no more myth of 86% support,” tweeted Alexander Golovach, a lawyer affiliated with opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, in referring to Putin’s peak approval rating.A Russian prankster glued a massive portrait of President Vladimir Putin to the inside of a residential elevator. He then placed a camera in the elevator to record people’s reactions pic.twitter.com/EwMradd3yl— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 11, 2020“Ingenious! It’s the best sociological survey of those I know,” wrote one viewer in responding to the video on Youtube. “And probably the most honest!”Yet another factor in the Russian leader’s numbers? Geography.   Surveys show Putin’s support is strongest in the regions where the leader has garnered support with a mix of anti-western rhetoric and traditional conservative values.   Yet critics note those same surveys provide Russians a rare opportunity to reach out to Moscow with problems of more immediate concern. “Why bite the hand that feeds?” the argument goes.  Russia’s urban centers certainly have been ground zero of opposition protests — a sentiment perhaps reflected in the Moscow elevator stunt.  Indeed, the prank’s author insisted his “elevator sample” wasn’t scientific in the least.   In an interview Monday with Echo of Moscow radio, the blogger Bashir Dokhov, admitted he’d simply culled the most entertaining reactions.“There were lots of times when people didn’t react at all,” says Dokhov. “Others just took selfies.”  
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Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is threatening to escalate fighting against Syrian government forces following Monday’s killing of Turkish soldiers. The warning comes in the face of calls for restraint from Moscow, but Erdogan is facing growing domestic pressure for an uncompromising stance.”We have given the necessary response and retaliated in kind, but this is not enough,” Erdogan said Tuesday. The Turkish military claimed to have hit more than 100 targets of Damascus forces Monday.  The strikes were in response to the killing of five Turkish soldiers by artillery from Syrian forces in Idlib province.  Erdogan said Tuesday he would announce what new military steps he will take. He met Monday with his military commanders to discuss the Syrian situation.  In the space of a week, 12 Turkish soldiers have been killed by regime forces in Idlib. The Turkish president is facing growing domestic pressure to hit back.”What are you waiting for? Don’t beat around the bush while Turkish soldiers are being martyred in attacks carried out by soldiers of another state,” Meral Aksener, leader of the IYI Party, said in a meeting of her party’s parliamentary group.”(Syrian leader Bashar al-) Assad is a murderer, a criminal and the source of hostility,” said Devlet Bahceli, the MHP leader and parliamentary coalition partner of Erdogan’s AKP. Bahceli turned up the pressure on Erdogan, calling on Turkish forces to march on Damascus, saying until Assad’s removal, there will be “no peace.””By saying such things, they [Bahceli and Aksener] are cornering Erdogan. They are pressuring him, he may feel compelled into taking steps he doesn’t want,” said international relations teacher Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.Analysts point out Bahceli’s party is increasingly making inroads into Erdogan’s AKP nationalist voter base. “The basis of [Turkish] foreign relations needs to be viewed through the prism of domestic policy,” said analyst Sezer Aydin.Turkish soldiers drink tea in the Syrian province of Idlib, Feb. 10, 2020. Turkey said it hit back at Syrian government forces on Monday, after “intense” Syrian shelling killed five of its soldiers and wounded five others.Erdogan appears to be leaving all options on the table with the Turkish army continuing to ramp up its deployment into Idlib.Ankara set up 12 military observation posts across Idlib as part of the 2018 agreement with Moscow to create a de-escalation zone aimed at ending fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces.  While Moscow backs Damascus and Ankara backs the rebels, the two countries have been cooperating to end the civil war. But the escalating violence in Idlib is putting increasing pressure on that cooperation.Tuesday, Moscow called on Ankara to end its military operations against Damascus and to enforce the 2018 deescalation agreement in Idlib. Russian diplomats accuse Turkish military forces of failing to disarm groups designated as terrorists in Idlib, a charge Ankara denies.On Tuesday, a Russian diplomatic delegation visiting Turkey to seek a solution to Idlib left for home after talks ended in deadlock.Turkish-Russian relations came under further pressure. “We genuinely hope that the [Turkish] government reviews its relations with Russia,” Bahceli said, describing recent diplomatic efforts over Idlib as “nothing but a fairy tale.”Damascus forces backed by Russian airpower are continuing to advance in Idlib. Tuesday saw rebels lose control of the last part of the critical M5 highway, which links Damascus with Aleppo, one of Syria’s main cities.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a joint news conference with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi (not pictured) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Feb. 2, 2020.While tensions between Moscow and Ankara escalate, Washington has been quick to offer support to its NATO ally. “My condolences to the families of the soldiers killed in yesterday’s [Monday’s] attack in Idlib. The ongoing assaults by the Assad regime and Russia must stop,” tweeted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “I’ve sent Jim Jeffrey to Ankara to coordinate steps to respond to this destabilizing attack. We stand by our NATO Ally #Turkey,” he added.U.S. ambassador Jeffrey is the Special Representative for Syrian Engagement and Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Arriving Tuesday in Turkey, Jeffrey said threats were coming from Assad, and he will closely cooperate with “our ally” Turkey and wants to provide “any support possible.”Ankara’s recent rapprochement with Moscow has deeply strained Turkish-U.S. ties, with fears Turkey was abandoning its traditional Western allies.”Washington wishes to put an end to this estrangement,” said Ozel. “If you look at the statements coming from the American authorities and NATO, and they are giving more and more support for Turkey and Turkey’s position and Turkey is edging closer and closer to the United States and its allies in NATO.””Even in Ankara, they finally realize they cannot go so far with Russia, the interests are opposite to one another,” he added. “But Erdogan will not want to confront the Russians as they do have a lot of leverage over Turkey.”   Washington’s strong support of Ankara, analysts say, could strengthen Erdogan’s hand when he speaks by telephone Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a call that analysts say could well determine Erdogan’s course of action in Idlib and broader trajectory of Turkish foreign policy.
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It could have been a scene taken from “The Thick of It,” the internationally acclaimed British comedy series satirizing the inner workings of the British government.The country’s top political reporters, collectively known as the Lobby, were summoned last week to No. 10 Downing Street for a special post-Brexit briefing, but once they had arrived, those considered hostile to Brexit or Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government were excluded.That provoked the fury of the entire Lobby with all reporters walking out in protest. Britain’s main national newspapers reacted in anger — with even pro-Johnson tabloid newspapers criticizing the rare upset of the well-established protocols of parliamentary reporting and the Conservative government’s seeming determination to pick and choose who receives briefings.“Information which should be available on the record, and of a type which was briefed freely in the past, is now being handed out as a favor to selected journalists in the expectation of favorable coverage,” said Adam Boulton, political editor of Sky News. “No. 10 is trying to control the media, and everyone in our democracy should be afraid,” he tweeted.Last week’s spat came just days after Cabinet ministers were told to boycott a flagship BBC morning radio news program, which has a reputation for criticizing government officials. The squabble is being seen as an opening skirmish in what’s likely to turn into a long-running Johnson campaign to try to refashion key British institutions in ways more favorable to the ruling Conservatives, also known as Tories.Dominic Cummings a British political strategist and special adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks into 10 Downing Street in London, July 30, 2019. Prime Minister Johnson and his chief strategic adviser, Dominic Cummings, an iconoclast who’s been likened to Steve Bannon, U.S. President Donald Trump’s onetime firebrand counselor, appear determined to remake the BBC and the civil service, curb what they see as judicial overreach and political activism by judges, sidestep the so-called mainstream media and shake up Britain’s liberal-leaning universities.Not since Britain’s Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, took on public institutions in the 1990s, lambasted reporters as “moaning minnies,” (Note: minny is a carp fish) and described her Cabinet ministers as lacking a backbone, has Britain’s so-called establishment been so nervous — and outraged.The wider war was declared by Cummings in his less than discreet blog last month when he complained about what he dubbed “The Blob,” a reference to the 1988 remake of a Hollywood science fiction movie of the same name in which an amorphous, amoeba-like organism devours everything in its path. Cummings’ “blob” is an eclectic mix of cautious bureaucrats, academics, the mainstream media, judges and the traditional mouthpieces of British business, the Confederation of British Industry, the CBI, and the Institute of Directors.FILE – The sun shines through a European Union flag hanging outside Parliament in London, Oct. 28, 2019.For Cummings and his boss they are reactionary forces, which are pro-European Union, liberal-leaning and far too politically correct — as well as lacking optimism about post-Brexit Britain and Downing Street’s upbeat vision of a “global Britain.”Recently, Cummings called for “weirdos and misfits” to apply for jobs in Downing Street and the government quarter of Whitehall, saying what the new Johnson government needs is “true cognitive diversity” and not “more drivel about ‘identity’ and ‘diversity’ from Oxbridge humanities graduates.”Graduates from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have traditionally dominated the corridors of British power.The Johnson-led and Cummings-advised government is moving quickly to combat the blob. Ministers are talking about decriminalizing non-payment of television licenses, which partly fund the BBC. And they are considering a judicial shake-up which could see Britain’s Supreme Court disbanded. Judges could see more restrictions introduced to hedge in their discretionary powers when sentencing.FILE – A street cleaner clears fall leaves from the front of 10 Downing Street, London, Britain, Nov. 6, 2019.The Downing Street door is being slammed shut on the CBI and the Institute of Directors. None of their officials was invited this month to a keynote Johnson speech outlining his plans for post-Brexit Britain.And when it comes to the mainstream media, the government is copying the Trump White House by using social media sites — from Twitter to YouTube — to promote its governing narrative. On Brexit night, Johnson did not appear on any national television programs to welcome in a new era; instead Downing Street posted a broadcast straight to the internet.Johnson supporters say the British prime minister has no choice but to take on the blob. Allister Heath, editor of The Sunday Telegraph and a prominent Johnson cheerleader, says, “It’s now or never – Boris must beat the Blob or be suffocated by it.” He says the blob exists, “but no longer in small town America: its new home is Whitehall, and it has developed a predilection for gobbling up Tory politicians and advisers.”Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Dec. 12, 2019. Others, though, see the Johnson game plan as having political affinity with the populist shake-up under way in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a champion of what he once dubbed “illiberal democracy,” has taken on his country’s public institutions and battled a not dissimilar cast of foes.Last month, Orban praised Johnson as one of the “the most courageous, the most dynamic” leaders and one of the most likely “to effect change.” A former Johnson aide and influential Conservative commentator, Tim Montgomerie, returned the compliment at two research group events in December and January in Budapest, Hungary, where he praised Orban for “interesting early thinking on the limits of liberalism” and compared the two populist leaders.He said, “Long-term trends in economics and culture” are “changing how people align themselves,” and predicted Johnson’s Britain and Orban’s Hungary would forge a “special relationship.”But not all Johnson supporters are as sanguine and fear the British prime minister may be over-reaching by taking on too many powerful institutions at once. Writing in the business daily City AM, Michael Hayman, a co-founder of Seven Hills, a London-based communication consultancy, warned, “Boris has a war to fight, and he’s going to need all the friends he can get.”
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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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