The presence of tanks in the streets of Chile, the resignation of Bolivia’s president Evo Morales and clashes in Ecuador are some of the violent incidents and political turmoil occurring in Latin America over the last few weeks. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit reports on why all of this is happening at the same time. 
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn attacked each other’s policies on Brexit, health care and the economy Tuesday in a televised election debate that likely failed to answer the question troubling many voters: Why should we trust you?The two politicians hammered away at their rival’s weaknesses and sidestepped tricky questions about their own policies in the hourlong encounter, which was the first-ever head-to-head TV debate between a British prime minister and a chief challenger.It was a chance for Corbyn to make up ground in opinion polls that show his Labour Party trailing Johnson’s Conservatives ahead of the Dec. 12 election. For Johnson, the matchup was an opportunity to shake off a wobbly campaign start that has seen the Conservatives thrown on the defensive by candidates’ gaffes and favoritism allegations involving Johnson’s relationship with an American businesswoman while he was London’s mayor.Both play it safeBoth men stuck to safe territory, with Corbyn touting Labour’s plans for big increases in public spending and Johnson trying to keep the focus on his promise to “get Brexit done.”Speaking in front of a live audience at the studios of broadcaster ITV in Salford, in northwest England, the two men traded blows over Britain’s stalled departure from the European Union — the reason the election is being held. The U.K. is due to leave the bloc on Jan. 31, after failing to meet the Oct. 31 deadline to approve a divorce deal.Johnson pushed to hold the election more than two years ahead of schedule in an effort to win a majority in the House of Commons that could pass his departure agreement with the EU. He blamed the opposition for “dither and delay, deadlock and division” and said a Conservative government would “end this national misery” and “break the deadlock.”Corbyn said a Labour government would also settle the Brexit question by negotiating a new divorce deal before holding a new EU membership referendum within six months. A lifelong critic of the EU and lukewarm advocate of Britain’s membership in the bloc, Corbyn did not answer when asked repeatedly by Johnson whether he would support leaving or remaining in a new referendum.New trade deal would take yearsThe Labour leader, meanwhile, slammed Johnson’s claim that he would negotiate a new trade deal with the EU by the end of 2020 as a fantasy, saying such deals usually take years to complete.“You’re not going to get it done in a few months, and you know that perfectly well,” Corbyn said.The Labour leader also repeated his allegation that Johnson planned to offer chunks of Britain’s state-funded health system to American medical firms as part of future trade negotiations with the U.S.Johnson branded that claim “an absolute invention.”All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs in the election. Smaller parties in the race include the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, who want to cancel Brexit; the Scottish National Party, which seeks Scotland’s independence from the U.K.; the anti-EU Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage; and the environmentalist Greens.Two candidates are excludedThe debate featured only two candidates after the High Court in London rejected a legal challenge from the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party over ITV’s decision to exclude their leaders from the debate. The court decided it was a matter of ”editorial judgment” to limit the format to the leaders of Britain’s two largest political parties, one of whom will almost certainly be the country’s next prime minister.Later in the campaign, the leaders of smaller parties will take part alongside Labour and the Conservatives in two seven-way debates, and Corbyn and Johnson are due to square off again in a BBC debate on Dec. 6.The stakes are high for both Johnson and Corbyn as they try to win over a Brexit-weary electorate. Both are trying to overcome a mountain of mistrust.Neither delivered the kind of performance to silence their critics.Johnson — who shelved his customary bluster in favor of a more muted, serious approach — is under fire for failing to deliver on his often-repeated vow that Britain would leave the EU on Oct. 31.He drew derisive laughter from the audience when he urged voters, “Look what I have said I’m going to do as a politician and look what I’ve delivered.”Corbyn, a stolid socialist, is accused by critics of promoting high-tax policies and of failing to clamp down on anti-Semitism within his party. His refusal to say which side he would be on in a Brexit referendum was also met with laughter.Pushed by moderator Julie Etchingham to pledge to tone down the angry rhetoric that has poisoned British politics since the country’s 2016 Brexit referendum, the two men awkwardly agreed and shook handsAwkward momentThere was another awkward moment when they were asked about Prince Andrew’s friendship with American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew gave a televised interview last week in which he denied claims that he had sex with Virginia Giuffre, a woman who says she was trafficked by Epstein as a teenager.Asked if the British monarchy was “fit for purpose,” Corbyn replied, “Needs a bit of improvement.” Johnson said “the institution of the monarchy is beyond reproach.”Both expressed sympathy for Epstein victims — something Prince Andrew failed to do in his interview.Televised debates are a relatively new phenomenon in British elections — the first took place in 2010 — and they have the power to transform campaigns. A confident 2010 appearance by former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg sparked a wave of “Cleggmania” that helped to propel him into the deputy prime minister post in a coalition government with the Conservatives.’Pretty messy’During Britain’s last election in 2017, then-Prime Minister Theresa May refused to take part in any TV debates. The decision reinforced the view that she was a weak campaigner, and the election turned out to be a debacle for her Conservative Party, which lost its majority in Parliament.Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Tuesday’s debate was “a pretty messy score draw, although Corbyn may just have snuck a win in the dying minutes.”“Hardly two men at the top of their game, though,” he said.
…

Bolivian police and military forces used armored vehicles and helicopters to clear access to a major gas plant in the city of El Alto on Tuesday, a show of strength after blockades at the facility had cut off fuel supply to nearby La Paz.Helicopters flew above roads around the Senkata gas plant, operated by state-run YPFB, which were blocked with piles of burning tires, according to a Reuters witness. Protesters are demanding the return of unseated leftist leader Evo Morales.Morales resigned on Nov. 10 amid anti-government demonstrations and rising pressure over vote-rigging allegations after an audit by the Organization of American States (OAS) found serious irregularities in an Oct. 20 election.But Morales supporters have since ramped up protests, calling for caretaker President Jeanine Anez to step down and for Morales to return. Mounting violence in the South American nation has seen 27 people killed in street clashes.In what it said was a bid to restore calm, Bolivia’s congress, controlled by lawmakers from Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS), said on Tuesday it would cancel a contentious vote in the legislature that had been expected to reject Morales’ resignation.The vote would be suspended “to create and contribute to an environment conducive to dialogue and peace,” the Legislative Assembly said in a statement, citing instructions from new Senate head and MAS lawmaker Monica Eva Copa Murga.Eva Copa Murga later told reporters the assembly would prepare legislation to annul the Oct. 20 election and move towards new elections as soon as possible. The two chambers of Congress will convene separately on Wednesday.”We do not want more deaths, we do not want more blood,” she said, flanked by the majority of the MAS party lawmakers, calling on the military and pro-Morales group to demobilize.The country’s human right ombudsman said that three people have been killed in clashes with security forces around Senkata.A woman carries a child as members of the security forces stand guard during a protest in Senkata, El Alto, Bolivia, Nov. 19, 2019.The military said in a statement they had carried out a “peaceful” operation after trying negotiation and dialogue.The MAS party – which itself has been split over how to proceed – holds a majority in the congress and could have voted to reject Morales’ resignation, potentially creating dueling claims on the country’s leadership and raising pressure on Anez.Morales has railed at what he has called a right-wing coup against him and hinted he could return to the country, though he has pledged repeatedly not to run again in a new election. He stepped down after weeks of protests led to allies and eventually the military urging him to go.Desperate to BuyBolivians are feeling the pinch of the turmoil, with fuel shortages mounting and grocery stores short of basic goods as supporters of Morales blockade key transport routes.In the highland capital La Paz, roads have grown quiet as people preserve gasoline, with long queues for food staples.People stand in line to receive chicken as roadblocks have caused a food and fuel crisis, in La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.People lined up with gas canisters next to the Senkata plant on Tuesday. Images showed some fuel trucks moving through the area under a strong military and police presence.”Unfortunately this has been going on for three to four weeks, so people are desperate to buy everything they find,” said Ema Lopez, 81, a retiree in La Paz.Daniel Castro, a 63-year-old worker in the city, blamed Morales for what he called “food terrorism.””This is chaos and you’re seeing this chaos in (La Paz’s) Plaza Villarroel with more than 5,000 people just there to get a chicken,” he said.The country’s hydrocarbons minister, Victor Hugo Zamora, said on Tuesday he was looking to unlock fuel deliveries for La Paz and called on the pro-Morales movements to join talks and allow economic activity to resume.Juan Carlos Huarachi, head of the powerful Bolivian Workers’ Center union and once a staunch Morales backer, called on lawmakers to find a resolution. “Our only priority is to bring peace to the country,” he told reporters.Jorge Quiroga, a former president and Morales critic, said Morales wanted to see Bolivia “burn,” echoing other detractors who say he has continued to stoke unrest from Mexico, which Morales denies.
Violence and Protests Continue in Many Latin American Nations video player.
Embed” />Copy Link
…

Wails filled a church in Haiti’s capital on Tuesday during funeral services for five people killed in anti-government protests that began more than two months ago.Among those killed was 15-year-old Jasmine Pierre, whose father told The Associated Press that she was hit inside their home by a stray bullet when police began firing at protesters.”This really hurts,” said her father, Macene Pierre. “I lost my little girl. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”Hundreds of people attended the funerals for Pierre and four men, three of whom were allegedly shot by police while participating in the protests.The fourth victim, 25-year-old Bernard Vaudreuil, was working as a moto taxi driver when he was shot, said cousin Marie-Ange Laroche.”He was not involved in the turmoil,” she said. “He was just trying to survive.”More than 40 people have been killed and dozens injured in more than two months of demonstrations organized by opposition leaders demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise amid anger over corruption, ballooning inflation and a scarcity of basic goods.Police officers and protesters take cover behind a police truck as shots ring out during a protest to demand the resignation of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Nov. 18, 2019.The protests have shuttered many businesses and schools across the country as Moise continues to urge dialogue after stating he won’t resign.The mourners joined a small group of protesters after church services as some of them jogged down the street with one casket while tires burned around them. Among the mourners was Guerline Jeremie, a mother of two whose husband, Desir Jean Belleville, 34, was killed last week.”We want justice for them,” she said of those who died. “I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do to feed these kids.”The United Nations has said that 3.7 million people in the country of nearly 11 million lack access to enough food amid the political turmoil, and that the number is expected to reach 4 million early next year.  
…

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid defended NATO on Tuesday after French President Emmanuel Macron branded it “brain dead,” saying Estonia felt safe in a military alliance that has been fortifying its eastern flank as a shield against Russia.”NATO is clearly functional,” said Kaljulaid, whose Baltic state was for half a century a Soviet republic under Moscow’s thumb until 1991.”Let’s face it — it (NATO) has a 100% success record. No NATO ally has ever been attacked. So we trust in NATO, yes,” she told Reuters on a visit to Brussels.Macron said earlier this month that European countries could no longer rely on the United States to defend NATO allies and the alliance was experiencing “brain death.”FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2018.His comments questioning the alliance’s main principle of collective defense have prompted soul-searching in European capitals, and is likely to dominate discussions at a NATO summit in Britain next month. U.S. President Donald Trump, who described the 29-nation alliance as “obsolete” when he was president-elect, will attend.’Plan B’Estonia’s three-party coalition was split on the topic Tuesday. Mart Helme, the head of far-right EKRE, the second-largest coalition partner, said Estonia was looking for Plan B for NATO.”We are working also on Plan B, on what Estonia — and not only Estonia, but also other Baltic countries — will do if what Macron said was true,” Interior Minister Helme was quoted as saying by Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.The comments were strongly opposed by other ministers.”Estonian government has never discussed and does not plan to discuss Plan B. These stories are absurd, they undermine unity of NATO and weaken deterrence,” Defense Minister Jüri Luik said in a statement.As evidence NATO was still relevant, Kaljulaid cited its increased engagement in response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and NATO standing by Kyiv in its fight against Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.Ukraine crisisThe Ukraine crisis has dragged European Union-Russia ties to historic lows, with the bloc imposing sanctions on Moscow. The economic curbs are now in place until the end of January 2020 and they require unanimity of all 28 EU states to be extended.But Macron also spoke this month of the need for the EU to rethink its relations with Russia, while stressing the need to remain firm on demanding that Moscow fulfills a peace deal for Ukraine.However, Kaljulaid stressed there were clear limits of that thinking for Estonia.”If you are firm in your dialogue and you keep pointing out that international law needs to be respected, countries’ territorial integrity needs to be respected, and you are having this dialogue to try to remedy the adverse developments, then dialogue is absolutely fine,” she said.”If you’re having dialogue ignoring the facts on the ground then of course we have a problem. And then we’d be against it.”
 
…

Chile faces a “very difficult” season of wildfires because of high temperatures, a persistent drought and an increase in arson, Agriculture Minister Antonio Walker said on Tuesday, adding to the woes of a country damaged by violent socio-economic protests in the past month.Firefighters have found fuel cans near some fires that have already occurred, Walker told a news conference, warning those who were found guilty of arson that they would face new, stiffer fines or up to 20 years imprisonment.Already, approximately 1,000 fires have been registered, principally in the central region around the port of Valparaíso, compared to 491 in the whole of last year, according to figures from the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF).”Very difficult days are coming, we are expecting very high maximum temperatures, also very strong winds. And we have not previously seen the levels of intentionality we are seeing now,” Walker said.The southern hemisphere summer season that runs between December and March could see as many as 120,000 hectares burned, the minister said.Already since July 2019, 6,800 hectares have been affected by wildfires, CONAF figures show, more than half around Valparaíso where some residents have had to evacuate their homes. In the period July 2018 to June 2019, a total of 1,646 hectares were burned.The Chilean government and the private sector have started a $154 million fire prevention and control plan that provides for some 6,000 firefighters and 100 aircraft.Chile is experiencing its biggest political and economic crisis since its return to democracy in 1990 that began with protests against an increase in metro and bus fares and developed into broader calls against social injustice.A Greenpeace spokesman, Mauricio Ceballos, said the wildfires highlighted how vulnerable Chile was to climate change. Chile was to host the COP25 United Nations climate change summit in December but was forced to cancel because of the protests and Madrid is hosting instead.”It’s clear that the environmental decline has turned into a direct threat for citizens and for that reason it’s important to work decisively and at a high level to ensure things don’t get worse,” Ceballos said. 
…

Poland’s prime minister set out plans on Tuesday to strengthen the state’s role in the economy and deepen an overhaul of the justice system that has put Warsaw on a collision course with its European Union partners.Mateusz Morawiecki said the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party would continue increasing welfare spending and the share of Polish capital in domestic companies, underlining its break with the free-market reforms of liberal governments before it.”Neoliberals have fueled a sense of confusion in our value system. Many people were led to believe that the state is a ball and chain,” he said in a policy speech to parliament after an Oct. 13 election that gave PiS four more years in power.”Extremes are not good. We are building a normal state.”Morawiecki spoke repeatedly of a return to “normality,” referring both to PiS’s economic policies and its conservative vision of the traditional family which has won over voters but has been criticized by opponents for encouraging homophobia.He promised new welfare programs to help families with at least three children and the elderly.In separate comments, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said: “Our society… must be based on the Polish family, the family in its traditional sense. A family which takes the form of a relationship between a man and a woman.”Opposition lawmakers criticized PiS’s vision of normality.”The desire for normality means the rule of law and economic prudence, and you break those principles day after day,” said Grzegorz Schetyna, leader of the largest opposition party, Civic Platform.Morawiecki’s government won a vote of confidence in a late-evening session on Tuesday, with 237 deputies out of 454 lending him their support.Concerns over rule of lawSince returning to power in 2015, PiS has introduced changes to how courts are run and altered some of the rules governing the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Court.The European Commission, the EU executive, responded by launching legal action over reforms which it says threaten the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.The European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that it was up to Poland’s Supreme Court to decide on the independence of the Disciplinary Chamber and the National Judiciary Council, offering some criteria on adherence to EU law.Morawiecki gave no details of the next steps PiS plans to take in its reforms of the judiciary. The party says further reforms are intended to make the court system more efficient but opponents say the reforms made so far have politicized it.PiS has said it will keep a balanced budget in 2020, benefiting from one-off revenues and fast economic growth, although some economists say such plans are too ambitious at a time when the European economy is slowing down.
…

One of only four oar makers for Venice’s famed gondoliers, Paolo Brandolisio wades through his ground-floor workshop for the third time in a week of record-breaking floods, despairing of any help from national or local institutions.”If these phenomena continue to repeat themselves, you have to think about how to defend yourself,” he says. “Because the defenses that the politicians have made don’t seem to be nearly enough.”You have to think of yourself,” he repeats.Venetians are fed up with what they see as inadequate responses to the city’s mounting problems: record-breaking flooding, environmental and safety threats from cruise ship traffic, and the burden on services from over-tourism.They feel largely left to their own devices, with ever-fewer Venetians living in the historic part of the city to defend its interests and keep it from becoming mainly a tourist domain.The historic flooding this week — marked by three floods over 1.5 meters (nearly 5 feet) and the highest in 53 years at 1.87 meters (6 feet, 1 inch) — has sharpened calls to create an administration that recognizes the uniqueness of Venice, for both its concentration of treasures and its increasing vulnerability.Flood damage has been estimated at hundreds of millions of euros (dollars), but the true scope will only become clear with time. Architectural masterpieces like St. Mark’s Cathedral still need to be fully inspected and damaged manuscripts from the Music Conservatory library treated by experts — not to mention the personal losses suffered by thousands of residents and businesses.”I feel ashamed,” said Fabio Moretti, the president of Venice’s historic Academy of Fine Arts that was once presided over by Tiepolo and Canova. “These places are left in our custody. They don’t belong to us. They belong to humanity. It is a heritage that needs to be preserved.”Fabio Moretti, president of the Accademia di Belle Arti, Fine Arts Academy, looks out of a window of the academy during an interview with the Associated Press, in Venice, Italy, Nov. 16 2019.’Sick governance’The frustration goes far beyond the failure to complete and activate 78 underwater barriers that were designed to prevent just the kind of damage that Venice has endured this week. With the system not yet completed or even partially tested after 16 years of work and 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) invested, many are skeptical it will even work.”This is a climate emergency. This is sick governance of the city,” said Jane Da Mosto, an environmental scientist and executive director of the NGO “We Are Here Venice,” whose aim it is to keep Venice a living city as opposed to a museum or theme park.Brandolisio, the oar builder, sees systemic lapses in the official response, including the failure of local authorities to organize services immediately for those in need, an absence filled by volunteers. That included both a network of students who helped clear out waterlogged property for those in need and professionals like water-taxi drivers who offered transport during the emergency.For now, he is taking matters into his own hands.To protect his bottega where he not only makes oars but carves ornamental oar posts for gondolas or as sculpture, Brandolisio said he will have to consider raising the floor by at least 20 centimeters and buying a pump — precautions he never previously deemed necessary.”I think I will lose at least two or three weeks of work,” he said. “I will have to dry everything. Lots of things fell into the water, so I need to clean all the tools that can get rusty. I need to take care of wood that got wet, which I can’t use because it cannot be glued.”At the public level, proposals for better administering the city including granting some level of autonomy to Venice, already enjoyed by some Italian regions like Trentino-Alto-Adige with its German-speaking minority, or offering tax breaks to encourage Venice’s repopulation.Paolo Brandolisio stands among his oars in his flooded laboratory, in Venice, Italy, Nov. 17, 2019.Shrinking populationsJust 53,000 people live in the historic part of the city that tourists know as Venice, down by a third from a generation ago and dropping by about 1,000 people a year. The population of the lagoon islands — including glass-making Murano and the Lido beach destination — is just under 30,000, and dwindling too.That means fewer people watching the neighborhood, monitoring for public maintenance issues or neighbors in need. Many leave because of the increased expense or the daily difficulties in living in a city of canals, which can make even a simple errand a minor odyssey.Activists also say local politicians are more beholden to the city’s mainland population, which has jumped to 180,000 people not directly affected, for the most part, by the same issues as the lagoon dwellers.They are pushing for passage of a referendum on Dec. 1 that would give the historic center and islands their own administration, separate from that serving more populous Mestre and the industrial port of Marghera. Those areas were annexed to Venice by the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, and not necessarily a natural fit.”It is precisely because we also have a climate emergency that this kind of thing is more important,” Da Mosto said.”The only thing we can do for the climate is to prepare. That requires appropriate policies and investments and responsible engineering. And because the political context of Venice is so wrong, Venice doesn’t have a chance at the moment.”
 
…

Google’s head of philanthropy says the company is having “a lot of conversations” internally amid worries about the tech giant’s bottomless appetite for consumer data and how it uses its algorithms.
                   
Vice President Jacqueline Fuller wouldn’t comment on specific data privacy controversies dogging Google lately, but says she shares other concerns many have about Big Tech. Cyberbullying. Hate speech amplified online. The impact of artificial intelligence on everything, from jobs to warfare.
                   
“As a consumer myself, as part of the general public, as a mother, it’s very important to understand what am I seeing, what are my children seeing,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press in Paris, where she announced new grant winners Tuesday for projects aimed at teaching digital skills to poor, immigrant, rural or elderly users.
                   
The philanthropic arm she runs, Google.org, is like the company’s conscience, spending $100 million a year on non-profit groups that use technology to try to counteract problems the tech world is accused of creating, abetting or exacerbating.
                  
“Across the world we want to make sure we’re a responsible citizen,” she said.
But can Google’s do-good arm make up for everything else? At least it’s trying, she argues.
                   `
“The company is having a lot of conversations around things like access to information and access to data and making sure there’s no algorithmic bias,” she said.
                  
Public outrage has grown over Google’s use of consumer data and domination of the online search market, with governments stepping up scrutiny of the company.
                   
Just in the past week, nine groups called for the U.S. government to block Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness-gadget maker Fitbit, citing privacy and antitrust concerns. Then Google came under fire for a partnership with U.S. health care system Ascension that the Wall Street Journal says gives the search giant access to thousands of patient health records without doctors’ knowledge. Both companies say the deal is compliant with health-privacy law.
                   
Fuller wouldn’t comment specifically on either case, but said, “We take our users’ trust very seriously.”
                   
She also insisted that the company has a very vibrant discussion'' internally about sexual misconduct, human rights and other problems that have tarnished Google's reputation.
                   
Its philanthropic arm is focused lately on using artificial intelligence to help society, for example by providing better access to health care and more effective emergency services. It's also working on ways to limit the damage of the breakneck developments of AI, notably after employee departures and public pressure over a Pentagon contract pushed the company to pledge it wouldn't use AI in weapons development.
                   
Among projects Google.org is funding are those that help users create and share digital resumes or map job opportunities, as the company tries to figure out “how can we anticipate some of the impacts of AI in an economy, and understand how can we make sure that everyone has access to jobs that are not only interesting now but jobs that are going to be here in the future,” Fuller said.
                   
Google is also holding a competition this year in Europe for projects on “how we can keep children safe,” she said.
                   
Digital literacy is crucial, she said:All of us need to discern what is truthful of what I see online. How do I ask the questions of who is sponsoring this content.”
                   
In Paris, Fuller announced the winners of Google.org’s latest “Impact Challenge,” contests it holds around the world for non-profits using technology for good. Ten groups won grants worth a total of 3 million euros for projects helping the millions of people in France who lack the basic digital skills that are increasingly crucial for everything from paying taxes to finding a job.
                   
Despite its philanthropic efforts, Google’s critics remain legion _ even within the tech universe.
                   
Former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris argues technology is shortening our attention spans and pushing people toward more extreme views. He couldn’t get Google to tackle these problems when he was there, so he quit and is pushing for change through his Center for Human Technologies.
                   
He says companies like Google won’t change voluntarily but that the tech world has undergone a “sea change” in awareness of problems it’s caused, thanks in part to pressure from a frustrated public. 
…

Officials say a protest over election reform erupted on the Caribbean island of Dominica, with more than 200 people fighting police before being dispersed with tear gas.
                   
Assistant Police Commissioner Richmond Valentine says more 200 protesters clashed with police when they tried to march to President Charles Savarin’s home on Monday evening.
                   
Police fired tear gas after protesters removed metal street barriers. No fatalities or major injuries were reported.
                   
The former French and British colony of about 75,000 residents holds elections on Dec. 6. The opposition United Workers’ Party has been pushing the ruling party to enact reforms that could reduce the ruling party’s electoral advantage.
                   
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s government has not enacted the reforms, leading to charges of unfairness.
…

Swedish prosecutors have dropped a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.The probe began when a Swedish woman accused him in 2010 of having unprotected sex with her while she was sleeping, after she repeatedly refused to have unprotected sex with him.Deputy Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson told reporters the case was dropped although prosecutors found the woman’s claim “credible.””My assessment is that all investigative measures that can be taken have been taken,” Persson said. “But… the evidence is not strong enough to file an indictment.”Assange, an Australian citizen, has repeatedly denied the allegation.The statute of limitations in the case was set to expire in August 2020.Tuesday’s decision by Sweden’s prosecution authority follows a June court ruling that Assange should not be detained.Assange was evicted from the Ecuador Embassy in London two months before the June decision after seven years of diplomat refuge.British authorities arrested him immediately and he is now serving a 50-week sentence in a London prison for jumping bail in 2012.Assange, an Australian citizen, has repeatedly denied the 2010 allegation against him.Assange is also battling extradition to the U.S., which says he is facing charges for publishing secret documents. 
…

Two political supporters of U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry secured a potentially lucrative oil and gas exploration deal from the Ukrainian government soon after Perry proposed one of the men as an adviser to the country’s new president.Perry’s efforts to influence Ukraine’s energy policy came earlier this year, just as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s new government was seeking military aid from the United States to defend against Russian aggression and allies of President Donald Trump were ramping up efforts to get the Ukrainians to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.Ukraine awarded the contract to Perry’s supporters little more than a month after the U.S. energy secretary attended Zelenskiy’s May inauguration. In a meeting during that trip, Perry handed the new president a list of people he recommended as energy advisers. One of the four names was his longtime political backer Michael Bleyzer.A week later, Bleyzer and his partner Alex Cranberg submitted a bid to drill for oil and gas at a sprawling government-controlled site called Varvynska. They offered millions of dollars less to the Ukrainian government than their only competitor for the drilling rights, according to internal Ukrainian government documents obtained by The Associated Press. But their newly created joint venture, Ukrainian Energy, was awarded the 50-year contract because a government-appointed commission determined they had greater technical expertise and stronger financial backing, the documents show.Perry likely had outsized influence in Ukraine. Testimony in the impeachment inquiry into Trump shows the energy secretary was one of three key U.S. officials who were negotiating a meeting between Trump and the Ukrainian leader.White House and State Department officials have testified that the president would only meet with Zelenskiy if he committed to launching an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter. In the impeachment inquiry against Trump, the officials have also said that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was being withheld until Zelenskiy publicly announced such an investigation.The sequence of events suggests the Trump administration’s political maneuvering in Ukraine was entwined with the big business of the energy trade.Perry made clear during trips to Kyiv that he was close to Bleyzer, a Ukrainian-American investor and longtime Perry supporter who lives in Houston, and Cranberg, a Republican mega-donor who provided Perry the use of a luxury corporate jet during the energy secretary’s failed 2012 presidential bid.Perry’s spokeswoman said Wednesday that the energy secretary has championed the American energy industry all over the world, including in Ukraine.“What he did not do is advocate for the business interests of any one individual or company,” said Shaylyn Hynes, the press secretary for the Energy Department.Jessica Tillipman, who teaches anti-corruption law at George Washington University, said even if Perry did seek to influence foreign officials to award contracts to his friends, it is likely not illegal.“My gut says it’s no crime,” she said. “It’s just icky.”Zelenskiy’s office did not respond to requests for comment.In a statement to AP, Bleyzer denied that Perry helped his firm get the gas deal.“I believe that Secretary Perry’s conversations with Ukrainian government officials, if they in fact took place, did not play any role in Ukrainian Energy winning its bid,” Bleyzer said Tuesday. He said the process was competitive and transparent and “will hopefully serve as an example of how the Ukrainian energy market can be opened for new investments.”Amy Flakne, a lawyer for Cranberg’s company Aspect Holdings, said Wednesday that Perry and other U.S. officials supported “a fair, competitive process to bring foreign capital and technology to Ukraine’s lagging energy sector.”“Aspect neither sought, nor to our knowledge received, special intervention on its behalf,” Flakne said.‘FREEDOM GAS’As Trump’s energy secretary, Perry has flown around the globe to push for U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, which he calls “Freedom Gas.” He’s made multiple trips to Ukraine and other former Soviet-bloc nations, where shipments of American gas and drilling technology take on strategic importance as a potential alternative to continued dependence on imports from Russia.Ukraine has long suffered from a reputation for political corruption, particularly in its oil and gas sector. In the chaotic days following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the newly independent Ukrainian government sold off many state-owned businesses worth billions to a cadre of well-connected oligarchs who amassed immense fortunes.As Ukraine sought economic and security support from the U.S. and other Western democracies, those countries pressed it to put in place a more open and transparent process for awarding oil and gas exploration rights on state land.At the urging of Western partners, Ukraine’s government created a process requiring that exploration contracts be put out to bid and awarded following review from a selection board appointed by the president’s cabinet of ministers. The board recommends the winners, pending final approval from the ministers.Those Western partners also advised Ukraine to appoint an independent supervisory board at Naftogaz, the state-owned energy company, as a guard against corruption and self-dealing.In February, the Ukrainian government opened up bidding for nine oil and gas blocks encompassing 4,428 square miles (11,469 square kilometers) of land. Ukrainian Energy, the joint venture between Bleyzer’s investment firm SigmaBleyzer and Cranberg’s Aspect Energy, submitted a single bid for the largest block, which covers 1,340 square miles (3,471 square kilometers).Under the contracts, the winning bidder is awarded exclusive rights to extract petroleum for up to 50 years. After the initial costs are recovered, the company and the government split the profits.An internal review of the proposals by the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and Coal Mining obtained by the AP show they were not the highest bidder.The only competing bidder, UkrGasVydobuvannya, known by the acronym UGV, offered more than $60 million for the first phase of the project, compared with $53 million from Bleyzer and Cranberg, the document shows. UGV is Ukraine’s largest domestic gas producer and is a subsidiary of Naftogaz, the state-owned company where Perry sought to replace board members.Despite the lower upfront investment, the selection board gave the Americans higher scores for technical expertise and overall financial resources, according to the document reviewed by AP.Of the nine gas deals awarded on July 1, Bleyzer and Cranberg’s bid was the only one of the winners that didn’t include the participation of a Ukrainian company. UGV won four of the remaining bids.Two members of the board that helped select the bid winners told the AP that the process is designed to be difficult to improperly influence because it is a mix of government representatives and industry experts.Roman Opimakh, a commission member who is the head of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine, said the government was looking for foreign investment, particularly U.S., and the board considered that as a factor. He said it’s an advantage if a company is well-connected in Washington but added that he saw no indication that U.S. officials influenced the process.Perry, who served 14 years as the governor of Texas, has publicly championed the potential of U.S. hydraulic fracturing technology to boost oil and gas production in Ukraine and pressed for the bidding process to be opened up to U.S. companies.At an energy industry roundtable in Kyiv in November 2018, Perry said the potential for oil and gas development in Ukraine is “staggering.” Ukraine, he declared, had a chance to become “the Texas of Europe.”At the same event, which was co-sponsored by the nonprofit U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, Perry plugged Cranberg’s expertise. Both Cranberg and Bleyzer were in the room, along with several American and Ukrainian energy industry officials.“You know, Alex Cranberg, who has been in this business a long time, can attest to this probably as well as anyone sitting around the table, that we have the potential to change the world,” Perry said, according to a transcript released by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.During the same 2018 trip, Perry had a private meeting with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, where they discussed deepening the ties between the two country’s energy industries, according to a U.S. Embassy summary of the meetingRecords suggest Perry has also met regularly with Bleyzer. Visitor logs released by the Energy Department through a public records request show Bleyzer entering through the VIP check-in desk at the building where Perry’s office is at least three times, most recently on May 8.Less than two weeks later, Perry was on a plane to Kyiv to attend the inauguration ceremony for Zelenskiy, who had defeated Poroshenko in an April election. It was during that trip that Perry presented his list of recommended advisers that included Bleyzer and remarked on their long friendship, according to a person in the room who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Attendees left the meeting with the impression that Perry wanted to replace an American representative on the Naftogaz board with someone “reputable in Republican circles,” according to the person who was there.Bleyzer said Tuesday that he had been included in what he described as a brainstorming session with Energy Department officials about creating an informal group knowledgeable about Ukraine’s energy industry to help develop U.S. strategy, but he had no idea his name would be forwarded to the country’s new president.“I was not aware at any time that my name was recommended by Secretary Perry to the Ukrainian government to act in any capacity,” Bleyzer said.Perry’s work in Ukraine places him at the center of the House impeachment inquiry into efforts by Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to press Zelenskiy to open an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings with Burisma, another Ukrainian gas company.Perry, who announced last month that he is resigning by the end of the year, has refused to cooperate with the congressional probe. In an Oct. 4 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Perry said that “as God as my witness” he never discussed Biden or his son in meetings with Ukrainian or U.S. officials.But Perry was at the White House for a key July 10 meeting where senior Ukrainian officials were told continued U.S. support was conditional on Zelenskiy’s government opening investigations into Democrats and Burisma, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an aide on Trump’s National Security Council, testified last month.TEXAS TIESBleyzer and Perry’s ties go back at least a decade. As governor, Perry appointed Bleyzer in 2009 to serve as a member of a Texas state advisory board overseeing state funding to emerging technology ventures. The following year, Bleyzer contributed $30,000 to Perry’s 2010 campaign for Texas governor.The Ukrainian-born Texan cuts a flamboyant figure in the energy world. A 2012 profile in the Houston Chronicle is set in his modernist 15,000-square-foot mansion. In an accompanying photo, he stands next to his wife, a mane of gray hair to his shoulders, on a balcony overlooking a swimming pool.A former engineer at Exxon, Bleyzer was born in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and trained in digital electronics and quantum physics. In 1994, he founded SigmaBleyzer Investment group, a private equity firm that specializes in developing corporate stakes in Eastern Europe. The company says it manages about $1 billion in assets.Bleyzer also has ties to Giuliani. In 2008, Bleyzer’s company hired Giuliani’s former Houston-based law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, to help it acquire and consolidate cable holdings in 16 Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, according to an announcement at the time. The same year, Bleyzer donated $2,300 to Giuliani’s presidential campaign.Bleyzer’s company is the primary funder of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, which promotes the interests of American businesses operating in Ukraine. According to tax records, the business council is run out of the Washington, D.C, offices of its president and CEO, Morgan Williams, who is also listed as the government affairs director for SigmaBleyzer.The council, which sponsors events that feature senior U.S. and Ukrainian government officials, pushes for policy priorities that dovetail with Bleyzer’s business interests — including lobbying to create the very process that opened Ukraine’s state-controlled oil and gas fields to foreign investment, according to the webpage of the state geology service.Days after the government in Ukraine posted the gas blocks for bidding in February, visitor logs show Williams accompanied Bleyzer through the VIP entrance at the Energy Department.On May 28, the day the bids were due in Kyiv, Williams again accompanied Bleyzer, who photos show was sporting a Western-style shirt with a Stars and Stripes pattern, to the offices of Ukraine’s energy ministry to submit their company’s bid.On June 5 — while Bleyzer and Cranberg’s proposal was under review — Williams met with a key Zelenskiy adviser, Oleg Ustenko, and told him that significant expansion of oil and gas production in Ukraine could only be achieved with investments from private companies, including ones from the United States, according to a summary of the meeting posted on the business council’s website.In an apparent dig at the company competing against Bleyzer and Cranberg for the gas deal, Williams also told Ustenko that the “participation of the state monopoly player” undermined the chances of private companies to win, according to the summary.What the council’s media release failed to mention is that, like Williams, Ustenko serves dual roles. In addition to advising the Ukrainian president, the economist is the longtime executive director of The Bleyzer Foundation, a Kyiv-based nonprofit organization founded by Bleyzer in 2001. The group’s website describes its mission as promoting private-sector investment in Ukraine.Less than four weeks later, Ukraine Energy was named the winner of the Varvynska block over the Naftogaz subsidiary.Bleyzer would not say whether he considered it a conflict for his employee to simultaneously be leading the international trade group while also advocating for his private business interests.He said the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council is just one of many organizations that strongly support the participation of foreign companies in the bidding process “as one of the key factors in helping Ukraine achieve its energy independence from Russia.”As with Bleyzer, Cranberg also has longtime ties to Perry.A graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, Cranberg was appointed by Perry in 2011 to serve a six-year term on the state university system’s board of regents. He is a generous political donor, giving more than $3 million since the mid-1980s primarily to Republican candidates and fundraising committees, according to federal and state campaign finance records.In the last 13 months, Cranberg has contributed just over $650,000 to two committees focused on electing Republicans to House seats, $637,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and $258,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He and his wife each gave $50,000 last April to Trump Victory, the joint entity that funds the president’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee.When Perry campaigned for president in 2011, federal disclosures show his campaign paid more than $16,000 to a holding company for a private jet used by Cranberg.Cranberg is also among those who entered through the VIP desk at the Energy Department, logging in with his wife for a visit in April 2018.Last year, his company hired Perry’s former campaign manager, Jeff Miller, as a lobbyist. Miller has been to the Energy Department’s headquarters at least a dozen times since Perry became secretary, according to the visitor logs. He mostly signed in through the VIP entrance.
…

Chile’s president is struggling to bring calm as demonstrators took to the streets again Monday, a month into a potent protest movement that has dramatically altered the political landscape of the South American nation.More protests erupted after President Sebastian Pinera acknowledged late Sunday that excessive force had been used to clamp down on demonstrators with legitimate social demands. He said abuses had been committed and promised no impunity'' for anyone who commits acts of violence.Twenty-six people have died in protests that began last month over an increase in subway fares in Santiago, but mushroomed into wide-ranging complaints about much deeper issues of inequality. Thousands have been injured in clashes with police who fire pellet guns directly at faces, with at least 230 people losing sight in an eye.On Monday, one group of protesters donned eyepatches and rallied outside Chile's supreme court.Thousands of others gathered in a central plaza in Santiago carrying flags and signs demandingjustice,” better pensions and the resignation of Pinera, whose term ends in March 2022. The protest was peaceful until about 300 masked demonstrators began throwing rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.Paolo Abrao, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, added his voice to other human rights defenders who have raised the alarm about the level of force being used against protesters in Chile. He cited concerns about disproportionate use of force, care for victims and the pattern of injuries that has emerged.Chileans are also calling for changes to the education system, health care and an overhaul of the constitution, which was written during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. On Friday, officials announced an agreement charting a course to potentially rewrite the legal principles on which the country is based. A plebiscite to be held in April will ask Chileans if they want to change the constitution and who should draft it.The agreement was supported by most political parties, although Pinera was absent during the signing Friday.”We have all changed — because the social pact cracked, and made its wounds visible,” Pinera said in his television address Sunday night.Pinera, who was elected in 2017 in part due to his proposals for economic growth, has been forced to switch gears and focus on a package of modest social improvements aimed at calming the social unrest. Treasury minister Ignacio Briones recently announced weaker economic growth predictions and forecast that 300,000 jobs will be lost in the coming months.
…

Bolivia’s interim president Jeanine Anez was forced to suspend a trip out of the capital La Paz planned for Monday, a government spokesman said, after a threat on her life by a “criminal group.”Anez, 52, had been due to travel to her native Beni province in northeastern Bolivia but the trip was canceled because of a credible threat, Interior Minister Arturo Murillo said at a news conference in La Paz.Murillo said Venezuelans, Cubans, and Colombians were “involved,” without giving further details. Anez’s government on Friday asked Venezuelan officials to leave the country and accused Cuba of stoking unrest.Both Cuba and Venezuela were close allies of socialist former president Evo Morales, who stepped down last week amid violent protests and accusations of vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 presidential election. An Organization of American States audit found irregularities in the vote.Former Bolivian President Evo Morales waves upon arrival to Mexico City, , Nov. 12, 2019. Mexico granted asylum to Morales, who resigned on Nov. 10 under mounting pressure from the military and the public.Morales fled to Mexico but his supporters have since taken to the streets, sometimes armed with homemade weapons, barricading roads and skirmishing with security forces.A total of 23 people have died in the unrest so far, according to a government human rights institution.The roadblocks have caused a food and fuel crisis, resulting in long lines outside grocery stores in La Paz. A general strike called for Monday appeared by midday to have fallen flat.
Anez, a conservative former senator, took over last Tuesday.She has promised to build bridges with Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) party and hold fresh elections, albeit without the participation of Morales, who ran the country since 2006.But attempts at dialogue with Morales’ supporters have faltered, with both sides trading accusations of fomenting violence.A supporter of former President Evo Morales carries a sign reading in Spanish “Out, Anez. Murderer” referring to interim president Jeanine Anez during a protest in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.Jerjes Justiniano, the newly-appointed presidency minister, said he would be advising Anez to “immediately” call an election by presidential decree, in the absence of an agreement.Murillo said the government would ensure an election was held within the mandated 90-day limit.”We are leaving in days,” he said. “We will have an election. The greatest honor for a Bolivian is to become president of the country but that person must win with votes, not with bullets or boots.”Bolivia’s Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference said that, together with European Union and United Nations representatives, it would seek to bring the national government and opposition parties together for fresh talks on a roadmap for elections on Monday afternoon.”Holding new, transparent and credible elections, is the best way to overcome differences in a democratic and peaceful way,” the Church said. 
…

In her first public appearance since being deported by U.S. authorities who had jailed her for being a Russian agent, Maria Butina was on Monday offered a job by Moscow to defend Russians imprisoned abroad.During an event for the media, Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, offered Butina, 31, a job working for her commission.”I invite you to work in our group defending compatriots abroad. I’m sure together we’ll be able to do a lot of good for people who’ve ended up in tough situations abroad,” Moskalkova said.Butina, who flew back to Russia on Oct. 26 after being deported, did not say whether she would accept the offer made at what she called her first public appearance since she was mobbed by wellwishers in front of the media at the airport on her arrival home.Butina pleaded guilty in December last year to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia by infiltrating a gun rights group and influencing U.S. conservative activists and Republicans, a conviction slammed as ridiculous by Moscow.Russia accused Washington of forcing Butina to confess.The case put strain on relations that were already under pressure from an array of issues including U.S. allegations of Russian election meddling and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.Moscow denies any inteference in U.S. elections.Moskalkova invited Butina to help her commission defend the rights of Russians abroad such as Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot serving 20 years in the United States for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the country.Moskalkova said she also knew that Butina had been offered a job in the State Duma, the Russian lower house of parliament, and urged her to accept that one too.The case of Yaroshenko, who was arrested by U.S. special forces in Liberia in 2010, and others like it have prompted Russia to accuse the United States of hunting its citizens across the world.The United States has accused the Russians in question of specific crimes and sought their extradition and arrest with regard to those crimes.Russia said last week it had lodged a formal diplomatic protest after Israel extradited a Russian man to the United States where he faces a slew of serious cyber crime charges. 
…

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko maintained his hold on power after results published Monday showed not a single opposition candidate had won a seat in a weekend parliamentary election.Lukashenko has governed the former Soviet republic with an iron fist for a quarter of a century and he announced on Sunday he would stand again in the 2020 presidential election.The 65-year-old has given more leeway to the opposition and released political prisoners in recent years in a bid to improve ties with the West after disputes with traditional ally Moscow.But official data on Monday showed, on a 77% turnout, no opposition figure won a seat. At the last election in 2016, two opposition members won seats for the first time in 20 years but neither was allowed to stand again this time around.FILE – Members of a local election commission sort ballots before starting to count votes after the parliamentary election in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 17, 2019.”The (election) result has long been determined. The authorities selected approved candidates. A change of power in Belarus is not possible through elections,” Nikolai Statkevich, a leading opposition figure, told Reuters.Western monitoring agencies have not judged a Belarus election to be free and fair since 1995, and on Monday international observers criticized the lack of a level playing field and questioned whether results were reported honestly.”These elections have demonstrated an overall lack of respect for democratic commitments,” said Margareta Cederfelt, leader of an observer mission from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).”Parliamentary elections are in danger of becoming a formality,” she added.The European Union called the election a “lost opportunity” to conduct a fair vote and urged Minsk to carry out reforms ahead of the presidential election next year.”This will also be key for achieving the full potential of EU-Belarus relations, building on the positive cooperation of the last three years,” it said in a statement.Yauheni Preiherman, director of the Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations, said Sunday’s election result was unlikely to lead to a freeze in ties with the EU because other issues were at stake in the relationship.The EU and Minsk are negotiating an agreement on a simplified visa regime, while Brussels is also pressing Belarus to abolish the death penalty.Lukashenko: ‘Trust me’Lukashenko said on Sunday the Belarusian people could vote him out of office next year if they no longer wanted him.”I have promised that I would not hang on to this seat until my fingers turn blue. Trust me, it’s not really the softest chair,” he told reporters.U.S. and EU sanctions imposed on Belarus over its treatment of political opponents were mostly lifted in 2016 following the release of political prisoners and other reforms.In September, the United States and Belarus announced they would resume ambassadorial relations for the first time since 2008.Relations with Russia suffered after Minsk refused to recognize Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014. Moscow also cut subsidies to Belarus that have long kept the country of 9.5 million in its orbit.
 
…

Colombia on Monday said it would authorize local authorities to adopt exceptional measures to contain protests planned for Thursday, given the government’s wariness over the sort of violent unrest that has swept other Latin American capitals.Student groups and unions called the demonstrations, saying the conservative administration of President Ivan Duque is seeking to impose labor and pension reforms, though Duque has repeatedly denied this in attempts to calm critics.Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutierrez said on Monday that “false motivations for the call to strike” existed and reaffirmed that the government was not planning to increase the retirement age or lower the minimum wage.Local and regional authorities would be able to impose curfews and limits on carrying weapons and the sale of alcoholic drinks “when circumstances merit it,” Gutierrez told reporters.Police would be on maximum alert, she added.In recent weeks, conservative governments in Ecuador and Chile have been shaken by anti-austerity protests. In Bolivia, leftist Evo Morales on Nov. 10 resigned over allegations of vote-tampering after widespread unrest.
 
…

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose to its highest in over a decade this year, government data on Monday showed, confirming a sharp increase under the leadership of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.The data from Brazil’s INPE space research agency, which showed deforestation soaring 29.5% to 9,762 square kilometers for the 12 months through July 2019, sparked an uncharacteristic admission by the government that something needed to be done to stem the tide.It was the worst level of deforestation since 2008, heaping further pressure on the environmental policy of Bolsonaro who favors developing the Amazon region economically.The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and is considered key to the fight against climate change because of the vast amounts of carbon dioxide it absorbs.Risks to the forest drew global concern in August when fires raged through the Amazon, drawing sharp criticism from France’s President Emmanuel Macron.At a briefing to discuss the numbers, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said the rise in deforestation showed the need for a new strategy to combat the illegal logging, mining and land grabbing which he said were to blame.Environmentalists and nongovernmental organizations placed the blame squarely on the government, saying that Bolsonaro’s strong pro-development rhetoric and policies to weaken environmental enforcement are behind the rise in illegal activity.”The Bolsonaro government is responsible for every inch of forest destroyed. This government today is the worst enemy of the Amazon,” said Marcio Astrini, public policy coordinator for Greenpeace, in a statement.Bolsonaro’s office directed Reuters to remarks made by Salles and another official and did not comment further on the issue.In August, Reuters reported Bolsonaro’s government had systematically weakened environmental agency Ibama, grounding a team of elite enforcement commandos and forbidding agents from destroying machinery used to illegally deforest.Brazil’s Climate Observatory, a network of nongovernmental organizations, said the 2019 increase in deforestation was the fastest in percentage terms since the 1990s and the third fastest of all-time.In response to the numbers, Salles vowed to roll out a series of measures to counter the rising deforestation, including stepping up enforcement efforts assisted by high-resolution satellite imaging.The minister said he would meet governors of Amazon states on Wednesday to discuss tactics to counter deforestation.All options are on the table, according to Salles, including mobilizing the military for use in environmental enforcement operations.Government reversalSalles’ recognition that deforestation is indeed on the rise comes after months of the government casting doubt on preliminary monthly data showing destruction was skyrocketing.At multiple press briefings earlier this year, Salles alleged the monthly data was unreliable and contained inconsistencies. He had urged journalists not to report the monthly figures and wait for the annual data, announced Monday.Bolsonaro had accused the INPE space research agency of lying about the monthly data. In a high-profile dispute, then-INPE chief Ricardo Galvao stood by the data and called Bolsonaro “a joke of a 14-year-old boy that is not suitable for a president of Brazil.” Galvao was later fired.The annual figure accounts for seven months under Bolsonaro, but also measures five months under the previous government.It also does not account for destruction after July.Preliminary data for August to October shows deforestation more than doubled compared to the same period a year-prior to 3,704 square kilometers.NGOs say they fear that protections could be weakened further as the government considers allowing commercial agriculture on native reserves, expanding wildcat mining and allowing for illegally occupied land to be “regularized.”Beef prices are also at record highs in Brazil, leading some environmentalists to fear it could fuel land grabbing for cattle ranching – one of the biggest drivers of deforestation.”The coming years could be even worse,” said Carlos Rittl, executive-secretary for Climate Observatory. 
…

Pope Francis on Monday replaced the head of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency amid continuing fallout from a controversial Vatican police raid on the agency’s offices that jeopardized the Holy See’s international financial reputation.Francis thanked Rene Bruelhart for his work as president of the Financial Intelligence Authority as his term ended. The Vatican said the replacement’s name would be released next week.The AIF board had given its full support to AIF’s management after the Oct. 1 raid, which was sparked by a police investigation into a Vatican real estate deal in London.But even with that vote of support, international damage to the Holy See’s reputation was done.AIF works with financial intelligence units around the world in the fight against money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes. Officials expressed alarm that countries could be less willing to share confidential information with AIF in the future if that could so easily end up in the hands of Vatican police.FILE – Rene Bruelhart, president of the Vatican Financial Information Authority, right, and Tommaso Di Ruzza, director of the Vatican Financial Information Authority, talk to the media at the Vatican, April 28, 2016.According to the search warrant, which was seen by The Associated Press, Vatican prosecutors only alleged that the AIF’s actions in the real estate operation were “not clear” and faulted its director, Tommaso Di Ruzza, for being in contact with a London law firm.Prosecutors appeared to have misunderstood that AIF was working with Britain’s financial intelligence unit to try to catch the businessmen who were fleecing the Holy See in the real estate deal.The Vatican’s secretariat of state had put 150 million euros into the luxury apartment building in London’s tony Chelsea neighborhood, only to see tens of millions end up in the pockets of middlemen who were managing the venture.The secretariat of state in 2018 decided to buy the building outright while working with British authorities to nab the middlemen. But internally, the Vatican bank and auditor general’s office raised an alarm with Vatican prosecutors that the buyout looked suspicious, sparking the raids on AIF and the secretariat of state.As a result, the Vatican investigation appears more the result of an internal turf battle — between the Vatican bank on one side, and the secretariat of state and AIF on the other — over the secretariat of state’s sizeable financial assets, which are kept outside the bank and off the Vatican’s balance sheet.The Swiss-born Bruelhart, dubbed the 007 of anti-money laundering efforts by some media, had joined the Vatican in 2012 to help turn around its reputation as a scandal-marred offshore tax haven. Under his leadership, the Vatican won coveted membership in the Egmont Group, which groups financial information agencies from 130 countries to share information in the global fight against money laundering and terror financing.Then-Pope Benedict XVI created AIF in 2010 as part of the Vatican’s push to comply with international norms to fight money laundering.Bruelhart’s departure, coupled with the continued suspension of the AIF’s director di Ruzza, means that the AIF is without a leader going into a crucial period of consultations with Moneyval evaluators ahead of a regularly scheduled on-site visit early next year.
 
…

The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Monday that Iran’s stock of heavy water for reactors has surpassed the limit set under its agreement with world powers.The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that Iran’s heavy water production plant was in operation and that its stock of heavy water reserves was 131.5 tons, above the 130-ton limit.”On 17 November, the Agency verified that the Heavy Water Production Plant (HWPP) was in operation and that Iran’s stock of heavy water was 131.5 metric tonnes,” an IAEA spokesperson said.It was the first time the agency has recorded a volume greater than the level agreed upon as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached in 2015 with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States and the European Union.The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from it in May last year, after which Iran began reducing its commitments in a bid to win concessions from those still party to the accord.Heavy water is not itself radioactive but is used by some nuclear reactors to absorb neutrons from nuclear fission.Heavy water reactors can be used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons as an alternative to enriched uranium.Earlier this month meanwhile, the IAEA reported that uranium particles had been detected at an undeclared site in Iran.The report also confirmed that Iran has ramped up uranium enrichment, in breach of the 2015 deal, feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into previously mothballed enrichment centrifuges at the underground Fordow plant south of Tehran.Since September, Iran has also been producing enriched uranium at a known facility in Natanz.It has exceeded a 300-kilogram limit on stocks of enriched uranium and has breached a uranium enrichment cap of 3.67 percent.At 4.5 percent, the level nonetheless remained well below the more than 90-percent level required for a nuclear warhead.
…

Residents in several Bolivian cities are reporting food and gasoline shortages because of protests by supporters of ousted President Evo Morales, who resigned after a disputed election and nationwide unrest.
                   
Bolivia’s interim government said Monday that its efforts to resupply La Paz face challenges because demonstrators have cut off some transport routes. The new leadership is also struggling to open dialogue with opponents, particularly after the shooting deaths of nine pro-Morales coca growers during a confrontation with security forces on Friday.
                   
Furious over the shootings, backers of Morales demand the resignation of Jeanine Anez, Bolivia’s self-proclaimed interim president. She was a Senate vice president thrust into prominence after the resignations of senior leaders in Morales’ administration.
                   
Bolivian church leaders announced plans for talks on Monday afternoon involving U.N. envoy Jean Arnault. They appealed for the participation of Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism party and said topics will include new elections and calls for a new election panel.
                   
The new hydrocarbons minister, Victor Hugo Zamora, told Bolivia’s ATB television that a gasoline supply convoy is having difficulty reaching the city because of roadblocks and ditches dug by protesters.
                   
Many shops in La Paz are closed and the few that are open are charging double the normal price, said resident Guillermina Chura.
                   
“What are we going to give to our families if things continue this way?” Chura said.
                   
Vendor Ana Gonzales said she had packed up her vegetable stand in the street because she had nothing to sell.
                   
“What am I going to live from?” Gonzales said.
                   
She also said Morales, who is in Mexico after seeking asylum there, should take steps to calm the situation. So far, Morales has remained defiant, condemning the interim government and saying he was ousted in a coup.
                   
Blockades around the major city of Santa Cruz have also disrupted commerce. Producers say fruit and vegetables are rotting on trucks that have been unable to reach markets.
                   
Bolivia’s pro-Morales faction has set up the blockades as part of a concerted effort to destabilize the interim government, said Alberto Bonadona, an economic analyst and professor at the Higher University of San Andres.
                   
A total of at least 23 people have been killed in violence that erupted after a disputed election on Oct. 20, according to the public defender’s office.
                   
Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, claimed victory after the vote, but opponents alleged fraud and massive protests began. An international audit concluded there were election irregularities and Morales resigned Nov. 10 and left for Mexico.
                   
Bolivia’s crisis has exposed racial, ethnic and geographic divides that some thought had been largely overcome after 14 years of Morales’ rule as well as the introduction of a more inclusive constitution.
                   
Analysts say the movement to oust Morales was an urban middle-class revolt against the former president’s efforts to hang onto power.
                   
Morales quit after weeks of protests and a military statement that it was time for him to go. But since his departure, racist discourses and regional rivalries have re-emerged in a nation divided between a wealthier, more European-descended lowland east and a more indigenous, poorer, highland west.
…

During his run for the presidency in 2016, Donald Trump found a surefire method for changing the mood at his political rallies. Whenever he sensed that he was losing the crowd, he told the editorial board of the New York Times, “I just say, We will build the wall!’ and they go nuts.”This week, with impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives dominating the headlines, the border wall may reappear as a distraction for Trump’s staunchest supporters.  Lawmakers have agreed in principle to adopt a stop-gap spending bill to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government on Thursday, with the hope that negotiators from Congress and the administration can use the 30-day reprieve it grants to finalize spending authorizations for the remainder of the fiscal year.A possible sticking point? Funding for the president’s wall.Last year, when Democrats refused to provide $5 billion in wall funding in a budget deal, the result was a 35-day shutdown.So, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on the political talk show Face the Nation on Sunday, and said that she was optimistic that a deal would be reached to avoid a shutdown, the natural follow-up question was whether that meant that Democrats would be providing wall funding.Pelosi replied with a definitive “No.” She went on to suggest that she doesn’t believe that the president is truly committed to the effort.”The President hasn’t built any new wall in a whole term of office,” she said. “I think that his comments about the wall are really an applause line at a rally, but they’re not anything that he’s serious about.”Pelosi’s comments pointed to a central issue with regard to the border wall: widespread confusion about its current status.The first panels of levee border wall are seen at a construction site along the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in Donna, Texas. The new section, with 18-foot tall steel bollards atop a concrete wall, will stretch approximately 8 miles.President Trump asserts that wall construction is moving ahead. In both his Twitter feed and his public remarks, Trump regularly touts the “great progress” being made on constructing the barrier. In September, a Department of Defense spokesperson made a statement to reporters that implied new sections of wall were being built at the rate of a mile per day.However, the reality is somewhat different.On Friday, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters that 78 miles (125 kilometers) of new border wall had already been built. However, under questioning, he acknowledged  it was actually 78 miles of replacement wall for “an existing form of barrier.”However, he added, workers have begun breaking ground in places in the Rio Grande Valley where no barrier currently exists.It may actually be a number of years before the government is able to begin construction on many sections of the proposed wall, according to analysts, because it does not own the land. Hundreds of private individuals hold title to land along the United States’ border with Mexico, and in order to build the wall on their land, the Trump administration would either have to convince them to sell it to the government or use its Eminent Domain authority to take the land without the owners’ consent.Many landowners have expressed unwillingness to sell, either because of opposition to the wall or for other reasons. The Trump administration has indicated that as soon as this week it could begin filing the court documents necessary to take possession of the land from owners who don’t want to give it up.According to reporting by NBC News, the government is considering the use of an expedited process that could avoid lengthy court battles over the land seizures. Success would hinge on convincing the courts that a state of emergency exists that justifies depriving owners the right to contest the seizures in court.”It’s a challenge to go through that process,” Morgan told reporters. However, he added, “I still think we’re on track to get the land we need for 450 miles” (724 kilometers) of new wall construction.Meanwhile, the Trump administration is exploring a novel way of calling public attention to the wall construction. Jared Kushner, a White House adviser and the president’s son-in-law, has reportedly proposed the installation of cameras that would allow the administration to live-stream video from construction sites.The Army Corps of Engineers and the CBP have both objected to the proposal, which is being driven, according to the Washington Post, directly by the president himself. The idea is that a 24-hour-per-day video stream showing construction in progress would silence critics — like Pelosi — who regularly dismiss the wall as more of a publicity stunt than a serious piece of border control policy.The web-cam proposal drew immediate fire from Democrats, who derided it as an election-year stunt for the president’s political benefit. Corey Booker, the New Jersey senator running for the Democratic presidential nomination, co-sponsored a bill to block the use of federal funds for a wall camera.”The only thing more senseless and wasteful than an ineffective border wall is installing a camera to livestream its construction,” he said in a statement.Democratic arguments that the wall is ineffective received further support earlier this month, when multiple news reports confirmed that drug smugglers have been able to breach border walls with the help of a portable reciprocating saw — a power tool available in hardware stores for under $100.
…