Anti-government protests erupted again Sunday night in Iran for a second day of demonstrations against the military, which first denied and then admitted it mistakenly shot down a civilian Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 on board.”They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here,” one group of protesters chanted outside a university in Tehran.Videos showed protesters at other locations in the capital and in other Iranian cities.
Black-clad police, wearing protective riot helmets, massed in iconic Azadi Square south of the city center and at other landmarks. The police were equipped with water cannons and batons and brandished paintball guns, potentially to mark protesters to authorities. But there were no immediate reports of any crackdown on the protests.In an emotional speech before parliament, the head of the Revolutionary Guard apologized for the missile attack on the Ukraine International Airlines jet and insisted it was a tragic mistake.FILE – Chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hossein Salami speaks at a ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 21, 2019.”I swear to almighty God that I wished I was on that plane and had crashed with them and burned, but had not witnessed this tragic incident,” said Gen. Hossein Salami. “I have never been this embarrassed in my entire life. Never.”U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran against attacking the demonstrators.”To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,” Trump said on Twitter. “Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!”To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Twitter, expressed “profound regrets” and apologized for the shoot-down of the Ukraine International Airlines jet. But he contended that ‘Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.”U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien rejected Zarif’s claim in an interview on the Fox News Sunday talk show, saying, “First they cover it up,” then claimed the civilian aircraft veered toward a military base. He said Iran needs to investigate the accident, apologize for it, pay compensation to the victims’ families and “make sure it never happens again.”On Saturday in Tehran, protesters gathered near universities and called for the resignation of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and chanted, “Down with liars!” and “Death to dictator!”
VOA’s Persian News Service reported protests also spread to other areas of Iran, including the country’s third-largest city of Isfahan.  Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Iranian students demonstrate following a tribute to the victims of a Ukraine International Airlines crash, in front of Amirkabir University in Tehran, Jan. 11, 2020. Police later dispersed students chanting what were seen as “radical” slogans.Iranian officials told the truth about the circumstances of the crash only after it became apparent that the evidence on the ground from the doomed flight would not allow the Iranians to continue to lie, according to the New York Times newspaper.The plane crashed Wednesday, but Iran did not reveal that it had shot down the aircraft until Saturday.A Ukrainian official told TheNew York Times that its experts had gathered information at the crash site “despite apparent Iranian efforts to complicate the investigation, including by sweeping debris into piles rather than carefully documenting it.” Ukraine says the Kyiv-bound doomed flight took off as usual with no word to the crew about the ballistic missile attack.Oleksiy Danilov, the Ukrainian official heading the crash investigation, told The New York Times that the Iranians could no longer lie about the circumstances of the crash when “Ukrainian investigators found fragments of the top part of the airplane cabin that had been pierced by what appeared to be the shrapnel of a missile warhead.” Also Saturday, Iran briefly detained British Ambassador to Iran Robert Macaire, who was arrested during an anti-government protest in Tehran. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “The arrest of our ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law. “The Iranian government is at a cross-roads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails, or take steps to deescalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards,” Raab said. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus tweeted about the detainment: “This violates the Vienna Convention, which the regime has a notorious history of violating. We call on the regime to formally apologize to the UK for violating his rights and to respect the rights of all diplomats.” The U.S. called on Iran to apologize to Macaire, who was reported to be “safe and well” after being released from custody.VOA’s Extremism Watch Desk and Persian News Network contributed to this report.
…

Britain’s ambassador to Tehran has said he was detained briefly by Iranian authorities as he attended a vigil for the victims of last week’s crash of a Ukrainian passenger jet.Iran’s Mehr news agency said Rob Macaire was arrested on Saturday for his alleged “involvement in provoking suspicious acts” at the gathering in front of Tehran’s Amir Kabir University.People gather for a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Ukraine plane crash, at the gate of Amri Kabir University that some of the victims of the crash were former students of, in Tehran, Jan. 11, 2020.Students held a gathering at the school after Iran said the Ukrainian airliner was downed by mistake by Iranian antiaircraft missiles.In a post to Twitter Sunday, Macaire said he attended the event to pay respects to the victims, and was not attending any demonstration.Thanks for the many goodwill messages. Can confirm I wasn’t taking part in any demonstrations! Went to an event advertised as a vigil for victims of #PS752 tragedy. Normal to want to pay respects- some of victims were British. I left after 5 mins, when some started chanting.— Rob Macaire (@HMATehran) January 12, 2020The British Foreign Ministry called Macaire’s detention “a flagrant violation of international law.””The Iranian government is at a crossroads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails or take steps to deescalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards,” the ministry said.Iranian officials did not immediately make any statement about the incident.More protests were expected later on Sunday, amid building outrage among some Iranians about the downing of the Ukrainian jet.
…

Hundreds of people protested in several cities around Iran on Saturday after the military admitted to mistakenly shooting down a civilian Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 on board. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
…

The Extremism Watch Desk and the Persian News Network contributed to this report.
Iran deployed riot police in Tehran, the capital, on Sunday as authorities braced for another day of protests after the military admitted to mistakenly shooting down a civilian Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 on boardDemonstrations were held in several Iranian cities Saturday, with protesters venting anger after news that Iranian officials lied about the country’s role in the deadly crash.U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran against attacking the demonstrators.”To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,” Trump said on Twitter. “Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!”To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020In Tehran, protesters gathered near universities and called for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and chanted, “Down with liars!” and “Death to dictator!” 
VOA’s Persian news service reported protests also spread to other areas of Iran, including the country’s third-largest city of Isfahan.  Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Iranian students demonstrate following a tribute to the victims of a Ukraine International Airlines crash, in front of Amirkabir University in Tehran, Jan. 11, 2020. Police later dispersed students chanting what were seen as “radical” slogans.Iranian officials told the truth about the circumstances of the crash only after it became apparent that the evidence on the ground from the doomed flight would not allow the Iranians to continue to lie, according to the New York Times newspaper.The plane crashed Wednesday, but Iran did not reveal that it had shot down the aircraft until Saturday.A Ukrainian official told TheNew York Times that its experts had gathered information at the crash site “despite apparent Iranian efforts to complicate the investigation, including by sweeping debris into piles rather than carefully documenting it.” Ukraine says the Kyiv-bound doomed flight took off as usual with no word to the crew about the ballistic missile attack.Oleksiy Danilov, the Ukrainian official heading the crash investigation, told The New York Times that the Iranians could no longer lie about the circumstances of the crash when “Ukrainian investigators found fragments of the top part of the airplane cabin that had been pierced by what appeared to be the shrapnel of a missile warhead.” Also Saturday, Iran briefly detained British Ambassador to Iran Robert Macaire, who was arrested during an anti-government protest in Tehran. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “The arrest of our ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law. “The Iranian government is at a cross-roads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails, or take steps to deescalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards,” Raab said. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus tweeted about the detainment: “This violates the Vienna Convention, which the regime has a notorious history of violating. We call on the regime to formally apologize to the UK for violating his rights and to respect the rights of all diplomats.” The U.S. called on Iran to apologize to Macaire, who was reported to be “safe and well” after being released from custody.
…

“Everything that’s related to war and people trying to kill each other for the sake of land or oil, it’s always stupid,” Danny Gonzalez told Canada CTV News about Iran shooting down a Ukrainian jet that killed all 176 people on board.  Canada is coping with the news that 57 of the victims were Canadians. Many of them were Iranian-Canadians who had gone to Iran for the holidays and were on the first leg of their return home on the Kyiv-bound jet.“They came to Canada for a future; there is no future in Iran,” Mahnuash Jannesar, the co-owner of a combination grocery-restaurant in Edmonton, told The New York Times about her customers who died in the doomed flight. “It’s so sad.”Gonzalez said he started working at a Toronto advertising studio last year on the same day as Alvand Sadeghi, one of the victims. Sadeghi’s wife, sister and 5-year-old niece were also killed in the crash.Mourners attend a vigil in memory of Iranian student Amir Moradi, who was killed in the crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran, at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Jan. 10, 2020.Some Iranian-Canadians are upset that Iran has not expressed any sympathy for the victims’ families. Reza Akbari, in Edmonton, told The New York Times that “the amount of support we’ve seen from Canada versus our motherland is something collectively as Canadians we can be proud of. As an Iranian, I’m sad.”Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps admitted Saturday that it mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian International Airlines flight earlier in the week, just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers. Iran was retaliating for a recent U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani.“That night we had the readiness for all-out war,” IRGC aerospace commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh said on state television. He added that the Revolutionary Guard had asked for commercial flights to be canceled, but the request was denied.Before Iran acknowledged shooting down the jet, some Canadians blamed the U.S. for the disaster.“If [U.S.] President [Donald] Trump hadn’t ordered the drone strike on Soleimani, all this wouldn’t happen, we wouldn’t be here today grieving,” Ardy Gharagozli told CNN in Toronto.Saba Saadat, a biology student at the University of Alberta, was another crash victim. Professor Meghan Riddell, the head of the university’s cell biology lab, told The Times that Saadat “was a Ph.D. disguised as an undergraduate.” Saadat’s sister and mother also died in the crash.“I’ve been trying to put into words how big a tragedy the Ukraine Airlines crash is for Canada,” journalist Muhammad Lila posted on Twitter. “To say it’s huge or massive just isn’t enough.”Iran has invited Canada, Ukraine, the U.S. and France to participate in the investigation of the crash.
…

In the face of mounting evidence, Iran acknowledged Saturday that it had shot down a Ukrainian jetliner by accident this week after it took off in Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard. Once Iran made the admission, after three days of denying it was responsible, the reaction came swiftly, from Iran and around the world. From Iran: General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ aerospace division, said his unit accepted full responsibility for the shootdown. In an address broadcast by state TV, he said that when he learned about the downing of the plane, “I wished I was dead.” Hajizadeh said the missile operator mistook the 737 for a cruise missile and didn’t obtain approval from his superiors because of disruptions in communications. “He had 10 seconds to decide. He could have decided to strike or not to strike and under such circumstances, he took the wrong decision,” Hajizadeh said. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, expressed his “deep sympathy” to the families of the victims and called on the armed forces to “pursue probable shortcomings and guilt in the painful incident.” President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged his country’s responsibility. “Iran is very much saddened by this catastrophic mistake and I, on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, express my deep condolences to the families of victims of this painful catastrophe,” the president said. Rouhani added he had ordered “all relevant bodies to take all necessary actions [to ensure] compensation” to the families of those killed. A leader of Iran’s opposition Green Movement, Mehdi Karroubi, called on Khamenei to step down over the handling of the downed airliner. FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, right, leads a meeting of the emergency response team on the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines plane in Iran, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 9, 2020.From Ukraine: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked the U.S, Britain, Canada and others for information about the crash. He said it “undoubtedly helped” push Iran to acknowledge its responsibility. Zelenskiy said the crash investigation should continue and the “perpetrators” should be brought to justice. “It’s absolutely irresponsible,” Ukraine International Airlines Vice President Ihor Sosnovskiy told reporters. “There must be protection around ordinary people. If they are shooting somewhere from somewhere, they are obliged to close the airport.” From Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded Iran provide “full clarity” on the downing of the plane, which Ottawa said had 57 Canadian citizens aboard. FILE – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference, Jan. 9, 2020, in Ottawa, Ontario.”What Iran has admitted to is very serious. Shooting down a civilian aircraft is horrific. Iran must take full responsibility,” Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa. “Canada will not rest until we get the accountability, justice and closure that the families deserve.” Foreign governments condemned the downing of the plane, with Ukraine demanding compensation. Canada, Ukraine and Britain, however, called Tehran’s admission an important first step. The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters contributed to this report. 
…

Iran’s acknowledgement that it shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing 176 people, raises new challenges for the Islamic Republic both externally amid tensions with the U.S. and internally as it deals with growing discontent from its people. The country did itself no favors by having its air-crash investigators, government officials and diplomats deny for days that a missile downed the flight, though a commander said Saturday that he had raised that possibility to his superiors as early as Wednesday, the day of the crash. While its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard took responsibility, the same commander claimed it warned Tehran to close off its airspace amid fears of U.S. retaliation for Iran’s launch of ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces. That retaliation never came, but the worries proved to be enough to allegedly scare a missile battery into opening fire on the Boeing 737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines. Wider tensions between Iran and the U.S., inflamed after Iran’s top general was killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike January 3, have for the moment calmed. However, President Donald Trump vowed to impose new sanctions on Tehran, and on Friday his administration targeted Iran’s metals industry, a major employer. Meanwhile, thousands of additional U.S. forces remain in the Mideast atop of the network of American bases surrounding Iran, despite Tehran’s demands that the U.S. leave the region. FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump shows a signed memorandum after delivering a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, May 8, 2018.Nuclear dealThat sets the stage for Iran’s further steps away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from in May 2018 over his concerns it didn’t go far enough in restraining Tehran. Iran said after the targeted killing of General Qassem Soleimani that it would no longer abide by any of its limits, while saying U.N. inspectors could continue their work. Further steps could spark an Israeli strike if it feels Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon, something Tehran denies it wants but the West fears could happen. Iran, through Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, has sought to offer legal justifications for its decisions following Soleimani’s death, including missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops that caused no casualties. Now the country must contend with repercussions of its officials’ wrongheaded denials in the days after the plane crash. “There has been no missile launched in that area at that time,” said Hamid Baeidinejad, Iranian ambassador to the United Kingdom, in an interview Friday with Sky News, calling further questions on the allegation “absolutely unacceptable.” Then the story changed early Saturday morning, with Iran’s general staff of its armed forces saying the flight had been “targeted unintentionally due to human error.” Baeidinejad later apologized on Twitter. “In my statement yesterday to the UK media, I conveyed the official findings of responsible authorities in my country that missile could not be fired and hit the Ukrainian plane at that period of time,” he wrote. “I … regret for conveying such wrong findings.” Ultimately, the Guard answers solely to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But Khamenei himself only Saturday acknowledged the missile strike, citing the report by Iran’s conventional armed forces. ‘Sensitive’ spotYet even the army statement itself raises questions, as it said the flight moved “very close to a sensitive military spot” belonging to the Guard. “The altitude and the direction of the flight’s movement were like an enemy target, so the aircraft was targeted unintentionally due to human error,” the statement read. That’s despite the fact that flight data for every Ukraine International Airlines flight out of Tehran since early November show Wednesday’s flight followed a similar altitude and flight path, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24. Planes leaving Imam Khomeini airport routinely take off going west as the Ukrainian flight did. Ukraine International Airlines President Yevhenii Dykhne stands next to a map of Flight PS-752’s departure path at a briefing about the crash of the plane on the outskirts of Tehran, at Boryspil International Airport in Ukraine, Jan. 11, 2020.Nine other flights flew out of the airport early Wednesday morning before the Ukrainian airliner without encountering trouble. The Guard claims it asked Iranian authorities to shut down airspace in Tehran amid the ballistic missile strikes and fears of reprisals, but nothing happened. Analysts have questioned the decision not to close Tehran’s airspace in the days after the shootdown. “The first thing a country should do in case of escalation of the military conflict is to close the sky for civilian flights,” said retired Ukrainian General Ihor Romanenko, a military analyst. “But this entails serious financial losses, fines and forfeits, therefore a cynical approach prevailed in Iran.” The Guard has wide autonomy in Iran. It prides itself on its aggressive posture, whether having tense encounters with the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf or shooting down a U.S. military surveillance drone last summer. Concerns about that aggression saw the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reissue a warning about flying over Iran just days before the shootdown, warning that “misidentification” remained a risk. Service rivalriesThat Iran’s conventional military — long limited in the years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution by purges and obsolete equipment — issued the report shows the rivalries between the services. The Guard’s own position could be challenged, though it maintains a strong grip on Iran’s security and economic sectors. The U.S. did not retaliate the night of the ballistic missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. However, that has not stopped Iranian officials like Zarif and others who sought to try to blame “U.S. adventurism” for Iran shooting down the airplane. That may not fly with the Iranian public, already battered by economic sanctions and openly protesting in recent rallies. Saturday night, hundreds gathered at universities in Tehran to protest the government’s late acknowledgement of the plane being shot down. They demanded officials involved in the missile attack be removed from their positions and tried. Police broke up the demonstrations. 
…

Eleven migrants, including eight children, died Saturday when their vessel sank in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey, state news agency Anadolu reported. The boat sank off Cesme, a popular tourist resort in western Turkey opposite the Greek island of Chios, Anadolu said, adding that eight others were rescued. The nationality of the victims was not yet known. The sinking came hours after another boat sank in the Aegean near the Greek island of Paxi, leaving at least 12 dead. Turkey has taken in around 4 million migrants and refugees, most of them Syrians, and is an important transit country for those fleeing conflicts and seeking to reach Europe, largely via Greece. An agreement reached in March 2016 between Ankara and the European Union succeeded in considerably reducing the number of people arriving on the five islands closest to Turkey. 
…

Britain’s so-called “red-top” tabloid newspapers lost no time pivoting this week from the prospect of war in the Middle East to family wars in Buckingham Palace — their preferred beat and a circulation booster for publications that are flagging in the internet era.“ROYAL BREAK,” screamed the Sun newspaper. “Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quit as senior royals, will become ‘financially independent’ and ‘didn’t tell Queen.’”“Queen ‘hurt’ not to be told about Harry and Meghan quitting royal life,” the Metro blazoned across its front page. The Mirror declared: “Meghan Markle and Harry ‘using fame as bargaining chip to get what they want.’”It reported the queen was “crushed.”Even the country’s supposedly “quality” newspapers waded into a royal mess, one prompted by Prince Harry and his American-born wife, TV actress Meghan Markle, deciding to, in their words, “step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.”Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex and Duchess Meghan of Sussex intend to step back their duties and responsibilities as senior members of the British Royal Family. , Jan. 9, 2020.In their statement the couple did not mention the word “quit,” but they talked instead about continuing “to carry out their duties for Her Majesty The Queen,” while dividing “time between the United Kingdom and North America” — most likely Canada, where Markle lived for several years while shooting the TV soap Suits.They added: “This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.” Aside from charitable work, the pair appear to have business plans, too, and have reportedly retained the American PR company Sunshine Sachs — based in Los Angeles — while filing to register “Sussex Royal” and “Sussex Royal Foundation,” their charitable arm, as UK trademarks.  There’s even talk in the media that Markle intends to re-launch her acting career. And brand experts say the couple could make hundreds of millions of dollars from lucrative merchandising, interviews and marketing.Both The Times and the Daily Telegraph reported that the queen and Prince Charles, Harry’s 71-year-old father, and the heir apparent, were “incandescent” with rage at an announcement that hadn’t been approved by Buckingham Palace.The formal response from the palace was a terse one-sentence statement: “Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.”Few young couples wanting to spin off from the family firm and to set up their own business and establish a distinct brand would face such media outrage. But when you are sixth in line to Britain’s throne it isn’t so easy to navigate an exit — if only a partial and bespoke one.And that’s especially so when you are the son of the late Diana Spencer, the erstwhile wife of Prince Charles. The collapse of the Charles-Diana marriage became ensnared in a media frenzy with the tabloids adding insult to injury as much as they could. Both Charles and Diana, the princess of Wales, and their staffs, were drawn in, leaking against each other to try to manipulate the press coverage of their tumultuous separation and bitter divorce, say royal commentators.Britain’s media smells blood again — and rising sales.Amid the furor there was hardly space to report that Britain’s House of Commons passed Brexit legislation for the country to leave the European Union, an exit that will likely have much longer term and far more serious implications for Britons than the :royal exit.”Even U.S. President Donald Trump commented on the development, telling a Fox News interviewer: “I have such respect for the queen. I don’t think this should be happening.” He added: “I think this is sad.”Britain’s Queen Elizabeth poses, after recording her annual Christmas Day message in Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, Britain, in this undated pool picture released on Dec. 24, 2019.Why all the fuss?Britain’s Economist magazine noted that Harry and Meghan are not a “natural fit” with the stiff House of Windsor.And the palace had become increasingly frustrated with the couple for their non-traditional ways and their chafing at the norms of royal life — including suing British newspapers and openly talking about a breach between Harry and his older brother, Prince William. A TV documentary shot by their friend, British newscaster Tom Bradby, especially set royal teeth on edge, a former palace official, who asked not to be identified, told VOA.In the documentary they spoke about their discontent with their royal lives, and fury at the intrusive and at times hostile media attention. Meghan told Bradby: “I’ve really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I’ve tried, I’ve really tried.  But I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging. The biggest thing that I know is that I never thought this would be easy. But I thought it would be fair. And that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile.”Friends of the couple say they felt forced out, and they note that there was no photograph of Harry and Meghan beside the queen when she gave her traditional Christmas Day address to the nation — there were of Charles and Prince William.None of this has sat well with the rest of the royal family, nicknamed in Britain, “the firm” — nor the tabloids, whose traditional “middle England” readership has expectations about how royals should behave.The couple’s announcement about defining “a progressive new role” for themselves has only widened the rift, say commentators,  prompting fears among palace insiders that an unleashed “brand Sussex” could eclipse Prince Charles and Prince William, with Harry and his wife rivaling the more senior royals for influence.One of the family’s uppermost fears, says the former place official, is “losing control of the various parts of ‘the firm’ — and of Harry and Meghan not appreciating that ‘royals have to act differently from celebrities in order to ensure the standing and longevity of the institution, which relies on pubic goodwill to survive.”
He says there’s also alarm that unleashed, the couple, Meghan especially, could become more outspoken and active politically, which risks blowback on the British monarchy, which in the modern day has endeavored to remain above the political fray fearing abolition otherwise.   
Supporters of the Sussexes retort that the slavish observance of stiff protocols hasn’t shielded the royal family from scandal in the past.The royal family is still absorbing the stepping down in November from public life by Prince Andrew, also known as the Duke of York, and reputedly the favorite son of Queen Elizabeth, over his friendship with the late American billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.But even those sympathetic to the young couple’s desire to have more freedom to define modern roles for themselves accuse the pair of naivete — and of wanting it both ways. The Times said in a measured editorial that alarm bells are ringing because the couple appears to want to mix private and public roles.It noted the couple wants to become financially independent and to conduct their lives without restrictions, while retaining their royal status, and having exclusive use of Frogmore Cottage on a royal estate outside London. They also want to retain their security detail, again at taxpayer expense, and they plan to continue to receive nearly $3 million a year from the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns 53,000 hectares of land and is worth more than $1.5 billion.The Duchy of Cornwall is considered a public asset and, according to an opinion poll, two-thirds of Britons say Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s funding from the estate should stop as they throttle back from their senior royal roles.“If they wish to pursue alternative careers it would be better if they followed the example of some of their cousins and renounced their royal status and gave up all royal duties,” The Times suggested.
…

The French prime minister informed the unions behind a crippling railway strike over pension reform Saturday that he is open to backing down on one of the most controversial proposals: raising the full pension eligibility age to 64.Prime Minister Edouard Philippe wrote to unions one day after the French government and labor representatives engaged in talks that had seemed to end in a stalemate after more than a month of strikes and protests.Women sing against French President Emmanuel Macron during a demonstration Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020 in Paris.Philippe’s letter said that the plan to raise the full pension eligibility age from 62 to 64 – the unions’ major sticking point – was open to negotiation. It was the first time the French government overtly indicated room for movement on the retirement age issue. The overture could signal hope for ending the France’s longest transport strikes in decades.However, Philippe said any compromise was contingent on first finding a way of paying for the pensions system in a country where a record number of people are over age 90.On Saturday, protesters in Paris marched through the streets to denounce the French government’s plans.In scenes that have become all too familiar to Parisians, demonstrators set fire to a kiosk near the Bastille square in the center of the French capital as a minority of demonstrators in the march got rowdy..Police fired tear gas briefly as minor scuffles broke out.Two days earlier, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets nationwide to denounce the government’s pension proposals. The unions planned further actions for next week to keep up the pressure on the government.
…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Moscow on Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas traveled to the Russian capital for discussions about international hot spots such as Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Ukraine. Merkel met with Putin in the afternoon. Earlier in the week, the German leader’s spokesman described Russia as “indispensable when it comes to solving political conflicts” due to its status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.”Russia is an important player on the world stage, and as a permanent member of the (U.N.) Security Council it’s also indispensable when it comes to solving political conflicts,” Steffen Seibert, the chancellor’s spokesman, said earlier in the week while previewing the visit.Germany is currently a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Germany and Russia are among the world powers that have been trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran after the United States withdrew from the agreement unilaterally in 2018.
…

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has admitted it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian jetliner earlier this week.The Guard’s aerospace commander said on state television Saturday, “I take full responsibility and I will obey whatever decision is taken.” He said he “wished” he “were dead” when he learned about the fate of the aircraft.Earlier Saturday, Ukraine’s president had called for a full admission of guilt for the downing of the plane that killed all 176 people aboard.Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he also wanted “a full and open investigation, bringing those responsible to justice, the return of the bodies of the dead, the payment of compensation, official apologies through diplomatic channels.”Zelenskiy said later that Iran has provided enough “photos, videos and other materials” from the crash “to see that the investigation will be carried out objectively and promptly.”FILE – Photographs of student victims of a Ukrainian passenger jet which crashed in Iran are seen during a vigil at University of Toronto student housing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jan. 8, 2020.Ukrainian experts in Iran have received “full cooperation” from Iran and have been given access to the crash site and the plane’s data recorders, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said. He said Ukraine’s team has “access to the recordings of conversations between the dispatchers of the flight control center at the airport in Tehran and our pilots.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has demanded “transparency and justice for the families and loved ones of the victims.”  Many of the passengers were Iranian-Canadians.  “This is a national tragedy, and all Canadians are mourning together.”Iran has admitted that its military made a horrendous miscalculation when it shot down a Ukrainian jetliner earlier this week in the outskirts of Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Twitter Saturday that Iran “deeply regrets this disastrous mistake.”Rouhani added: “Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people. Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake.” Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people.Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake. #PS752— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 11, 2020Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted on Twitter:  “A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster.  Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”Thumbs up for telling the truth. That matters in a world where lies have become the norm.— hope (@setiris) January 11, 2020The Ukrainian International Airlines flight was mistaken for a “hostile target” as it made a turn toward a “sensitive military center” of the Revolutionary Guard,” according to a military statement carried on state media.  “In such a condition, because of human error and in a unintentional way, the flight was hit.”The military said it had been at its “highest level of readiness” amid heightened tensions with the United States.The downing of the Ukrainian International Airlines jetliner, a Boeing 737, happened just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers in response to last week’s U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.Iran had initially denied that it was responsible for the downing of the jet, however, U.S. and Canadian intelligence said they believed Iran shot down the aircraft.Payman Parseyan, a prominent Iranian-Canadian told the Associated Press:  “Iran is responsible for its own military defense equipment.  While it has the right to defend itself, as it should to protect its own people, it should also have the responsibility with that right to make sure their defensive systems aren’t targeting civilian aircraft.”The flight was en route to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, a connection stop for many Iranian-Canadians and Iranian students studying in Canada. There were 57 Canadians among the passengers. 
…

Italy’s premier was to meet with the U.N.-recognized Libyan prime minister on Saturday, days after Italy botched an attempt to broker a truce to end the latest fighting in Libya.The Italian government was forced to backtrack Wednesday when it announced that Premier Giuseppe Conte would meet with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj in Rome hours after Conte hosted Serraj’s rival, Gen. Khalifa Haftar.While the Haftar meeting took place at the premier’s palace in Rome, Serraj decided to snub Conte by travelling from Brussels directly back to Tripoli.Conte’s office confirmed the Serraj meeting Saturday and listed a subsequent briefing.Haftar’s eastern-based forces have launched a fresh offensive against Sarraj’s U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, sparking a flurry of diplomatic efforts to try to contain the crisis in the North African nation.The east-based government, backed by Haftar’s forces, is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The western, Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy.The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.On Wednesday, Turkey and Russia called for a Jan. 12 cease-fire after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Istanbul.Serraj has welcomed the cease-fire, but a spokesman for Haftar’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, Ahmed al-Mosmari, said the group’s battalions would still try to take control of Tripoli from what he called “terrorist groups.”Both Russia and Turkey have been accused of exacerbating the conflict in Libya by giving military aid to its warring parties.
…

El Salvador has passed a new law on internally displaced people that the U.N. refugee agency says will offer a new lease on life for tens of thousands of victims forcibly displaced by gang violence and organized crime.The U.N. refugee agency reports gang violence has forcibly displaced an estimated 71,500 Salvadorans between 2006 and 2016 within their own country.  Over the last few years, the agency reports the malign grip of organized crime in El Salvador and other countries in Central America has sent an increasing number of people fleeing to the United States in search of protection.  UNHCR spokeswoman Liz Throssell tells VOA internal displacement as a result of organized crime and criminal gangs continues to be an extremely serious problem in El Salvador and Honduras.“So, what we are doing is we are welcoming the fact that the Salvadoran authorities are really taking this first step to address the problem of internal displacement,” Throssell said. “I think clearly, if there are efforts to prevent internal displacement, that is also going to have a knock-on effect to external displacement.” These are still early days, as El Salvador’s National Assembly just passed the law on Friday and has yet to be implemented.  The law aims to protect, aid and offer solutions to the tens of thousands of victims of forced displacement.  Under its provisions they would gain access to humanitarian aid and have basic rights restored, including effective access to justice.Throssell says the law could have a lasting positive impact on the lives of the more than 70,000 uprooted by gang violence once it is signed into law by President Nayib Bukele.“The law reflects the growing momentum in Central America and beyond to recognize and respond to the phenomenon of internal displacement,” Throssell said. “In Honduras, where an estimated 247,000 people have been displaced by violence within their own country, the National Congress is considering legislation similar to the law passed in El Salvador.” Throssell says Mexico also recognizes the serious impact of internal displacement and has expressed its commitment to pass similar legislation at the federal level.
…

Iran announced Saturday that its military shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet earlier this week in the outskirts of Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard. It said it was unintentional.The downing of the Ukraine International Airlines flight happened just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers in response to last week’s U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. No one was wounded in the attack on the bases.Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani blamed the tragedy on “threats and bullying” by the United States after the killing of Soleimani. He expressed condolences to families of the victims, and he called for a “full investigation” and the prosecution of those responsible.“A sad day,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted Saturday on Twitter. “Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a statement saying the crash investigation should continue and those responsible should be brought to justice. He said Iran should compensate victims’ families, and he requested “official apologies through diplomatic channels.”Military statementState media carried the military statement. It said the Ukrainian plane was mistaken for a “hostile target” after it turned toward a “sensitive military center” of the Revolutionary Guard. The military was at its “highest level of readiness,” it said, amid the heightened tensions with the United States.“In such a condition, because of human error and in a unintentional way, the flight was hit,” the statement said. It apologized for the disaster and said it would upgrade its systems to prevent future tragedies.It also said those responsible for the strike on the plane would be prosecuted.FILE – Photographs of students who were on a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed in Iran are seen during a vigil at University of Toronto student housing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jan. 8, 2020.The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 57 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. The Canadian government had earlier lower the nation’s death toll from 63.“This is the right step for the Iranian government to admit responsibility, and it gives people a step toward closure with this admission,” said Payman Parseyan, a prominent Iranian-Canadian in western Canada who lost a number of friends in the crash.“I think the investigation would have disclosed it whether they admitted it or not. This will give them an opportunity to save face.”Why flights allowedIran’s acknowledgement of responsibility was likely to renew questions of why authorities did not shut down the country’s main international airport and its airspace after the ballistic missile attack, when they feared U.S. reprisals.It also undermines the credibility of information provided by senior Iranian officials. As recently as Friday, Ali Abedzadeh, the head of the national aviation department, had told reporters “with certainty” that a missile had not caused the crash.Germany’s Lufthansa airline and its subsidiaries have canceled flights to and from Tehran for the next 10 days as a precautionary measure, citing the “unclear security situation for the airspace around Tehran airport.” Other airlines have been making changes to avoid Iranian airspace.Britain’s Foreign Office has advised against all travel to Iran and against all air travel to, from or within the country.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
…

European Union foreign ministers Friday called for an urgent de-escalation of spiraling violence in the Middle East and Libya, saying the region cannot afford another war — and they reiterating their commitment to the Iran nuclear deal.Speaking to reporters after emergency talks in Brussels, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell issued a grim warning.“The region cannot afford another war, and we call for an urgent de-escalation and maximum restraint to every part,” he said.He said the uptick in regional violence risks jeopardizing years of effort to stabilize Iraq. The Europeans among others fear a resurgent Islamic State as one fallout.The Brussels meeting capped an eventful week, with Iran responding to Washington’s deadly strike in Iraq on top commander Qassem Soleimani with missile attacks on two bases in Iraq. For its part, Iraq has demanded the U.S. to withdraw its troops from the country.FILE – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, right shakes hands with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan near Moscow, Aug. 27, 2019. Their two nations have called for a cease-fire in Libya.Libya cease-fireIn North Africa, conflict in Libya has also notched up. Russia and Turkey have called for a cease-fire to begin Sunday. Borrell said the EU was prepared to help monitor it.The violence is also testing European diplomacy and the EU’s new executive arm, which hopes to assert greater EU influence internationally.Borrell said the bloc was committed to salvaging the Iran nuclear agreement, rejecting President Donald Trump’s call for Europe to follow his lead in abandoning the deal. He called on Iran to return to compliance.“Without the JCPOA, today Iran would be a nuclear power,” he said. “Thanks to this deal, Iran is not a nuclear power.”Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said without the deal, Iran could have nuclear weapons in a year or two. Tehran claims its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.
…

The worst had passed, it seemed, and the United States and Iran no longer appeared poised at the edge of war.“All is well!” President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night, days after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s most powerful general, and Iran, after a barrage of missiles, had signaled it was stepping back from further escalation.But 27 seconds before Trump’s tweet, commercial flight trackers had lost contact with a Ukrainian International Airlines jet that had just taken off from Tehran’s main airport. On board were 176 people, including 138 passengers on their way to Canada and at least 63 Canadian citizens and 11 Ukrainians. The plane, which never made a mayday call, slammed moments later into the ground.Everyone on board died. They were students, newlyweds, doctors and parents. The youngest was a 1-year-old girl, Kurdia Molani, who was flying back home with her parents to the Toronto suburb of Ajax.By late Thursday, Western leaders said that Iran had most likely shot down the jetliner with a surface-to-air missile — probably by accident. The loss of so many lives transformed the U.S.-Iran confrontation, which had seemed to conclude with limited bloodshed.Instead, what had begun with a drone attack on Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s motorcade at the Baghdad airport had suddenly rippled outward until dozens of Iranian-Canadians, dozens of Iranian students studying in Canada, were dead.“The community is overwhelmed with mourning and sadness,” said Payman Parseyan, a prominent Iranian-Canadian in western Canada, counting through the names of the friends he had lost. Photographs of student victims of a Ukrainian passenger jet which crashed in Iran are seen during a vigil at University of Toronto student housing in Toronto, Canada Jan. 8, 2020.There was Pedram Mousavi and his wife Mojgan Daneshmand, both of them engineering professors, and their two daughters, Daria and Dorina Mousavi.There was Dr. Shekoufeh Choupannejad, an obstetrician-gynecologist, and her two daughters, Saba and Sara Saadat. It seemed impossible.Some in Canada quickly blamed Trump for the disaster.“This is insane. Sickening. Imagine having a family member on that plane,” said Rob Kent, a 42-year-old Toronto resident.“One man, and only one, is responsible for those deaths. And he will never face consequences for them.”But Parseyan wasn’t so sure.“It takes two to tango,” he said. “It’s not hard to see the downing as a result of the escalation between the two countries. However, Iran is responsible for its own military defense equipment. While it has the right to defend itself, as it should to protect its own people, it should also have the responsibility with that right to make sure their defensive systems aren’t targeting civilian aircraft.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has at times had a rocky relationship with Trump, was careful not to say the U.S. strike was responsible for what happened.“I think it is too soon to be drawing conclusions or assigning blame or responsibility in whatever proportions,” he told reporters.But, he said, an accidental missile strike would compound the grief of so many people.“My thoughts instantly went to how much harder this must make it for those families who are experiencing just a terrible amount of grief right now,” he said.Flowers and tributes are placed outside the Iranian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 10, 2020, with a poster that reads: “Tehran – Kyiv, we’re mourning” for the victims of the Ukrainian plane that crashed on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran.Trudeau met privately with families of some of the victims on Friday.Many in Canada simply struggled to make sense of the disaster.“If something like this happened as an accident, it’s much easier to take in than when you hear that maybe it got shot,” said Nina Saeidpour, a Calgary real estate agent whose friend Kasra Saati was among the victims. “We’re just trying to figure out what happened.”Ukrainian flights out of Tehran are often full of Iranian-Canadians and Iranian students studying in Canada, particularly after the long holiday break. Going back and forth via Kyiv is one of the most affordable routes between the two countries, and avoids stopovers in the United States, which is difficult for most Iranians.At least 17 Canadian universities have confirmed that they lost students, professors or researchers.Until the crash, the killing of Soleimani had seemed to end fairly quietly — at least for the U.S.A stampede at the general’s funeral, jammed with mourners, had left 56 people dead and Iranian missile strikes against Iraqi bases housing American troops had injured no one. Iran appeared to have carefully calibrated the missile attacks to avoid causing further U.S. retaliation, giving early warning to its Iraqi allies to avoid casualties.Iran has “concluded proportionate measures,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted after the missile barrage.Canada is one of America’s oldest and closest allies, but Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto, noted that Trump has said nothing about the dead Canadians.“The unconcern certainly comes across,” he said. “Not a word of sympathy.”By Thursday night, Trump had yet to mention Canada’s tragedy.Instead, in a campaign rally  in Toledo, he told crowds that Soleimani’s killing was “American justice,” while deriding Democrats for questioning his decision to carry out the attack without first consulting Congress.He also noted that America was ready to retaliate if Iran’s missile attacks had caused any casualties.“You have no idea,” he told the cheering crowds. “A lot of people got very lucky.” 
…

An American warship was “aggressively approached” by a Russian Navy ship in the North Arabian Sea, the U.S. Navy said Friday.Navy Cmdr. Josh Frey, spokesman for U.S. 5th Fleet, said that the USS Farragut was conducting routine operations Thursday and sounded five short blasts to warn the Russian ship of a possible collision. He said the USS Farragut, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, asked the Russian ship to change course and the ship initially refused but ultimately moved away.Even though the Russian ship moved away, Frey said the delay in shifting course “increased the risk of collision.”
 
…

The Trump administration is banning charter flights to Cuban cities besides Havana in a new tightening of U.S. restrictions on the island.In October, the administration banned commercial flights to cities outside the capital.The State Department said in a press release Friday that charter operators would have 60 days to wind down their flights to Santiago, Holguin and seven other cities across the island, and put a new restriction on the number of charter flights to Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport.”Today’s action will further restrict the Cuban regime’s ability to obtain revenue, which it uses to finance its ongoing repression of the Cuban people and its unconscionable support for dictator Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the statement.The new restriction leaves both leisure travelers and Cuban-Americans without an easy way to travel to destinations outside the Cuban capital. Driving from Havana to eastern Cuba can take more than 12 hours on poorly maintained and often dangerous roads.
 
…

As allegations swirl and denials clash over what caused the fatal crash of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran this week, Ukraine’s president is caught in the middle. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday appealed to Western countries to present evidence for their claims a day earlier that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the plane, killing all 176 people on board. If that made Zelenskiy sound uninformed amid strident claims from all sides, he also appeared to be following an astute strategy for damage control. Ukraine knows all too well how an air catastrophe can stir up a maelstrom of rumors and disinformation. The plane crash Wednesday near Tehran is the third time in 20 years that Ukraine has been linked to the violent destruction of a civilian plane, allegedly or demonstrably due to a missile strike. In each case, denials, unfounded speculation and political posturing clouded the search for the truth. FILE – Viacheslav Filev, general director of Russia’s Sibir airlines, shows a perforated seat of the crashed Tupolev TU-154 plane, in a hangar of Adler airport, Oct. 6, 2001.The first disaster was on October 4, 2001, when a Russian airliner disappeared over the Black Sea en route from Israel carrying 78 people. Coming just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, speculation on the cause initially focused on terrorism. Claim of missile strikeWithin a day, U.S. officials said the plane likely was hit accidentally by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile fired during military exercises. Both Ukraine and Russia initially rejected that claim. But the rejection by Russian President Vladimir Putin was based on what he had been told by Ukraine — at that time a Russian ally — and Ukraine several weeks later acknowledged that it was at fault. The incident and Ukraine’s denials and incorrect claims were a significant embarrassment to the country, which fired its air defense chief and paid more than $15 million in compensation to victims’ families. The next disaster killed far more people and sparked far more contention, pitting Ukraine against Russia with competing claims of responsibility. FILE – In this July 23, 2014, photo, a piece of the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 lies in the village of Petropavlivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine.A Malaysian Airlines jet was shot down on July 17, 2014, over eastern Ukraine where Ukrainian forces were at war with Russian-backed separatists. All 298 people aboard died. Although much suspicion initially fell on the separatists, bolstered by a reported claim by a rebel commander that a Ukrainian plane was shot down at the same time, Russian officials and Russian news media quickly launched an array of competing theories. One of them focused on a man who supposedly was a Spanish air traffic controller at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport who said on Twitter that his radar screen had spotted two Ukrainian military jets near the Malaysian plane shortly before it went down. That dovetailed with an alleged theory that Ukrainian forces had mistaken the airliner for one carrying Putin. The most vividly gruesome of the reports was a claim that the Malaysian plane had been filled with corpses before takeoff, then sent to its doom. On-the-ground investigative work to establish what happened was obstructed by the rebels, who did not give investigators full access to the crash site for days. Experts later abandoned the on-site work for several weeks because of concerns about their safety. Confirmation comesNearly a year later, Russian arms maker Almaz-Antey confirmed that the plane had been shot down by a Soviet-designed surface-to-air missile, but claimed that particular model was used only by the Ukrainian military. Investigations led by the Netherlands — the flight originated in Amsterdam and more than half the victims were Dutch — concluded that the plane was shot down from rebel-controlled territory and that the mobile missile launcher used had been brought into Ukraine from Russia on the day of the attack. Russia and the rebels continue to deny involvement in the downing. A trial is scheduled to start in March in the Netherlands of four suspects — three Russians and one Ukrainian — in the MH-17 downing, although none is expected to be handed over to face the court. FILE – Security officers and Red Crescent workers are seen at the site where a Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after takeoff from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020.The Iran crash this week took place amid fears of imminent war between the United States and Iran after a U.S. drone strike killed an Iranian military mastermind and Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes. Zelenskiy and Ukraine may be facing a similarly sensitive and obstinate government to the country — Russia — confronted over the 2014 downing. Although Ukrainian investigators are in Iran, they have not yet been able to go to the crash site. Iran is promising cooperation but still rejects reports that one of its missiles hit the plane. Caution from MoscowRussia, which has close relations with Iran, appears to be taking a cautious stance. Russian officials have refrained from commenting on the claims that Iran was responsible, and pro-Kremlin lawmakers have been divided on the issue. There are no grounds for making vociferous statements at this stage,'' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday.It is important to allow specialists to analyze the situation and make conclusions. Starting some kind of game is, at the very least, indecent.” The catastrophe is a complex stew for Zelenskiy, who took office less than eight months ago with no prior political experience. His call for evidence in the plane crash and avoidance of strong claims could be the hesitancy of a novice, but it has so far prevented a smoldering crisis from bursting into open flames. 
…

France made it clear Friday that it does not want to be shackled to the tight deadline British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking to impose for the upcoming free trade talks between Britain and the European Union.Johnson has said discussions about the future must be completed by the end of 2020 and that there is ample time to agree to a wide-ranging deal.France’s EU minister was skeptical and said it could take three times longer.FILE – Member of parliament Amelie de Montchalin attends a government session at the National Assembly in Paris, France, Oct. 24, 2017.Amelie de Montchalin said EU member states would bide their time even if that risks causing a chaotic no-deal transition at the end of the year.”If Boris Johnson says it must end in 11 months from now and we need 15, 24 or 36 months, the 27 will take their time,” she said.It has already taken the U.K. more than 3 1/2 years to leave the EU following its June 2016 Brexit referendum.Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on Jan. 31, at which point it enters a standstill period whereby it remains within the European single market and customs union until the end of 2020. After Brexit day, official discussions are set to begin on the future relationship between Britain and the EU — since the Brexit vote in June 2016, discussions have only centered on aspects related to the divorce, such as citizens’ rights and Britain’s financial liability.Forging a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and a third country usually takes years, not months, and Johnson’s timeline is viewed as unrealistic across the bloc.The European Commission has said it might be possible to tackle some selected items in 2020, such as fishing rights, but that comprehensive discussions from trade to security would need longer.French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week that in light of Johnson’s insistence that negotiations on the future have to be over by the year’s end, Britain will need to show “flexibility in line with that ambitious schedule.”Following EU rulesEU officials have also warned that negotiations will be made harder by the British government’s insistence that it won’t agree to keep EU rules and standards as they develop. Johnson has said he wants Britain to be free to diverge from EU regulations in order to strike new trade deals around the world. The EU has responded by pointing out that good access to the bloc’s single market, the world’s biggest, only comes if Britain agrees to maintain a level playing field on such issues as environmental standards and workers rights.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson poses with a sledgehammer, after hammering a “Get Brexit Done” sign into the yard of a supporter, in South Benfleet, Britain, Dec. 11, 2019.If there is no deal when the U.K. transition deadline ends at the start of 2021, then Britain would leave the EU’s economic arrangements with no deal, a development that would see tariffs and other impediments slapped on trade and potentially sink the British economy into recession.Britain and the EU will have to strike deals on everything from trade in goods and services to fishing, aviation, medicines and security. The EU has said both sides would suffer — but that Britain would suffer more given the relative importance of the EU economy to the size of the British economy.”It is a major arm twisting game,” de Montchalin said.Northern IrelandWithout doubt, the most difficult issue during the Brexit divorce discussions was how to maintain a free and open border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the EU. That issue was complicated further by the fact there had been no functioning devolved administration in Northern Ireland for three years.However, the looming Brexit date appears to have given new urgency to attempts to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly and executives. Political parties there were considering Friday a draft deal from the British and Irish governments to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive.The two governments urged the main pro-British and Irish nationalist parties to accept the deal. Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people have been without a functioning administration since the power-sharing government collapsed in January 2017.
 
…

Queen Elizabeth II has moved quickly to take control of the crisis surrounding the decision by Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to distance themselves from the royal family, ordering royal courtiers to find a future role for the pair within days.Officials representing the most senior members of the family — the monarch, her son Prince Charles, grandson Prince William, and Prince Harry and Meghan — were meeting to sort out a workable solution for the couple within the royal family.In the meantime, Meghan has returned to Canada, where she and Harry spent the Christmas holidays, instead of with other royals at the queen’s estate in Sandringham, England. The former actress has longstanding ties to the country, having lived in Toronto while filming the TV show “Suits.”The talks come after the royal pair released a “personal message”  Wednesday evening that said they were stepping back from being senior members of Britain’s royal family, aimed to become financially independent and would “balance” their time between the U.K. and North America.FILE – Newspapers are seen for sale in London, Jan. 9, 2020.Harry and Meghan faced a barrage of criticism from the British press over their decision.The couple has long complained of intrusive media coverage and accused some British media commentators of racism. They slammed the country’s long-standing arrangements for royal media coverage and insisted that from now on they prefer to communicate directly with the public through social media.The monarch and other members of the family were said to be “hurt” by the announcement because they weren’t informed about the communique before it was released. News of the talks followed.The latest developments reveal more divisions within the British monarchy, which was rocked in November by Prince Andrew’s disastrous television interview about his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew, the queen’s second son, has stepped away from royal duties and patronages after being accused by a woman who says she was an Epstein trafficking victim who slept with the prince.Personal assetsHarry, 35, is Elizabeth’s grandson and sixth in line to the British throne, behind his father, brother and his brother’s three children. The former British Army officer is one of the royal family’s most popular members and has spent his entire life in the public eye.Before marrying the prince in a wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 38-year-old Meghan was a star of the TV legal drama “Suits.” The couple’s son Archie was born in May 2019.The couple’s statement on Wednesday left many questions unanswered — such as what they plan to do and how they will earn private income without tarnishing the royal image. At the moment, they are largely funded by Harry’s father, Prince Charles, through income from his vast Duchy of Cornwall estate.They said they plan to cut ties to the taxpayer support given each year to the queen for official use, which currently covers 5% of the costs of running their office.Harry and Meghan also have considerable assets of their own. Harry inherited an estimated 7 million pounds ($9.1 million) from his late mother, Princess Diana, as well as money from his great-grandmother. Meghan has money from a successful acting career.
 
…

Ten years ago, Herlande Mitile was left disabled by the massive earthquake that devastated Haiti. Today, she uses a wheelchair jury-rigged with a piece of string, which means she cannot go far.Result: she is trapped in her village outside Port-au-Prince. It was meant to be a model for reconstruction of the country after the disaster.Instead, the 36-year-old Mitile — who once worked in the capital — is dependent on her neighbors to survive.”The doctor told me that if I went to physical therapy, I might walk again, but you have to go into the city for that. You need money for public transport and I don’t have any,” she explained.”That’s how I have become even more handicapped than I was to begin with,” added Mitile, who has metal plates screwed into her hip and spine.Before January 12, 2010, she did not know a thing about earthquakes or the damage they can do.But on that Tuesday, more than 200,000 Haitians were killed by the roaring temblor, many of them crushed to death when substandard concrete buildings crumbled on top of them.Mitile was rescued from the debris eight days after the 7.0-magnitude quake. She was alive, but gravely injured.A girl walks in Croix des Bouquets, 12.9kms (8 miles) to the northeast of Port-au-Prince, on Dec. 30, 2019.Potemkin villageAfter months in a makeshift camp, hundreds of which dotted the Port-au-Prince landscape after the tragedy, Mitile and her two daughters ended up in Village Lumane Casimir.Named for one of Haiti’s greatest singers, the community – about 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside Port-au-Prince – was created by the government, which offered lodging there to about 50 people disabled in the quake.The government had hoped it would be an example or urban development for an impoverished country mired in corruption, and which to this day has scant real estate records.The community was to have 3,000 quake-resistant homes, a market, an industrial area, police and fire stations, a school and a pharmacy.On paper, it was a dream community. But the plans never came to fruition.Like hundreds of other construction sites during the decade when the Petrocaribe program was running, the village was abandoned in 2014 with more than half the buildings undone.Scandal and corruption The ambitious project died in the swirling Petrocaribe corruption controversy that sparked an eruption of public anger in 2018 — anger that remains to this day.Since the middle of that year, the public has regularly demonstrated in Haiti calling for more transparency in how the funds from Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program were handled.The scheme had allowed struggling Haiti to buy petroleum products more cheaply and on credit, but it was plagued by allegations of misuse of aid money allocated by Caracas.The financial upheaval that resulted from the scandal doomed the village project, and the public administrative office on site to collect rent closed, creating a sort of real estate loophole.So people kept coming to the complex, because all of a sudden, it was a great deal.”I came to live here because rent had become too high in my old neighborhood,” explained William Saint-Pierre, who simply squatted in one vacant house.Saint-Pierre pays no rent for his two-room dwelling, and doesn’t pay any taxes on his off-book drinks business.But he also likes the safety of the village with its neatly arranged, brightly colored homes.”In the cities after five or six o’clock, you have to stay inside, and doors have iron gates. Look around us — at my little wooden door, at homes without a security wall,” Saint-Pierre said.”I’m getting too old to hear gunshots at all hours of the day and night,” added the 62-year-old.
 Boulva Verly, 34, tends to his son Woodyna Verly, 3, at their in Croix des Bouquets, 12.9kms (8 miles) to the northeast of Port-au-Prince, on Jan. 2, 2020.Isolation Despite some benefits, including the absence of gang violence, Village Lumane Casimir is nevertheless geographically isolated and without any officials to run it.That puts its most vulnerable residents at even higher risk.Mitile cannot get around so she cannot find a job. She gets no public assistance. So she has to rely on handouts from neighbors.”Sometimes, I’ve wanted to die,” she admits, once her daughters aged 12 and 16 are out of earshot.”When my neighbors cook, they call my little one and tell her to come get a bowl for me,” she says, tapping nervously on her damaged wheelchair.”Before January 12 (the quake), we got by, but now, I’m worse than a baby.”In the village, which is effectively run by the residents themselves, those still suffering from injuries sustained in the quake and those who came seeking a better life say they feel forgotten by the government.”If we had to wait for them to make good on their promises, we would be dead,” Mitile says.”There is no government. I am my own government.” 
…

Northern Ireland’s main political parties are meeting Friday to decide whether to accept a deal to restore the Belfast-based government that collapsed three years ago.
    
Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people have been without a functioning administration since the power-sharing government fell apart in January 2017 over a botched green-energy project. The rift soon widened to broader cultural and political issues separating Northern Ireland’s British unionists and Irish nationalists, who shared power in the government.
    
After several days of intense talks, the British and Irish governments late Thursday published a draft proposal to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive.
    
The U.K.’s Northern Ireland Secretary, Julian Smith, said the political parties had not agreed to all of it, but he was asking the assembly’s speaker to reconvene the legislature Friday in hope politicians would back the deal.
   
 “Now is decision time,” he said. “We have had three years of talks and there is finally a good deal on the table that all parties can support.”
    
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney also urged acceptance, saying it was time “politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents.”
    
“Forget the language of win or lose. This is a deal filled with compromises,” he said.
    
Initial signs were encouraging. The main pro-British group, the Democratic Unionist Party, said it was not a perfect deal, but could be supported.
    
“On balance we believe there is a basis upon which the assembly and executive can be re-established in a fair and balanced way,” said DUP leader Arlene Foster.
    
Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, the DUP’s former government partner, said its ruling council would meet Friday afternoon to decide whether to support the deal.
    
Previous attempts to restore power-sharing between Sinn Fein and the DUP and have come to nothing. But the U.K.’s looming departure from the European Union, due on Jan. 31, has given new urgency to attempts to restore the government. Northern Ireland has the U.K.’s only border with an EU member country, and Brexit will challenge the status of the currently invisible frontier, potentially pushing Northern Ireland into a closer embrace with its southern member, the Republic of Ireland. Both of the two main parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein, want a say on what happens next.
    
Northern Ireland also faced a Jan. 13 deadline to restore the government or face new elections for the assembly that could see Sinn Fein and the DUP lose ground to less intransigent parties.
    
The deal includes promises of financial support from the U.K. for big infrastructure projects if the government is restored, as well as proposals to deal with contentious issues such as the status of the Irish language.
…