Nearly 50 lawmakers who advocate for their regions to become independent from Spain boycotted Monday’s ceremonial opening of the nation’s legislative season over the presence of the royal family.
    
The representatives of five parties from the Catalonia, Basque Country and Galicia regions, all in northern Spain, say that the figure of the king is “anachronistic” and that it should be rooted out of Spanish politics.
    
Their symbolic gesture of not attending the first session of the national parliament since a new left-wing government was sworn in last month exposes the difficulties that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces in the coming months.
    
His coalition with the far-left United We Can (Podemos) party will need votes from the separatist parties to pass the nation’s 2020 spending plan and any significant legislation. Sanchez’s Socialists have been supportive of King Felipe VI and the former monarch, King Emerit Juan Carlos I.
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Turkey hit targets in northern Syria, responding to shelling by Syrian government forces that killed at least four Turkish soldiers, the Turkish president said Monday. A Syrian war monitor said six Syrian troops were also killed.
   
The exchange, which came hours after a large Turkish military convoy entered the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, is likely to further increase tensions between the two neighboring countries as such direct clashes have been rare.
   
Earlier, Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said the Turkish forces were sent to Idlib as reinforcement and were attacked there despite prior notification of their coordinates to the local authorities. It said Turkish forces responded to the attack, destroying targets. Along with four killed, nine Turkish troops were wounded.
   
Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Ukraine, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish artillery hit some 46 targets. Erdogan said Turkish warplanes were also involved and claimed that there were between 30 and 35 casualties on the Syrian side but offered no evidence.
   
“Those who test Turkey’s determination with such vile attacks will understand their mistake,” Erdogan said. He said Russia was told that Ankara would not stand for any “situation where we are prevented” from responding to Syrian assaults.
   
“It is not possible for us to remain silent when our soldiers are being martyred,” Erdogan said.
   
The Russian military said its air force took control later Monday over the airspace in Idlib’s de-escalation zone, after Turkish troops were attacked. The Russian military’s Reconciliation Center in Syria said in a statement that the airspace “is constantly being monitored by Russia’s air forces.”
   
Monday’s exchange occurred near the Syrian flashpoint town of Saraqeb, according to the the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group.
   
It comes amid a Syrian government offensive into the country’s last rebel stronghold, located in Idlib and parts of the nearby Aleppo region. Turkish troops are deployed in some of those rebel-held areas to monitor an earlier cease-fire that was agreed to but that has since collapsed.
   
Relations between Turkey and Syria have deteriorated sharply since Syria’s civil war began in 2011. Syria accuses Turkey of undermining its security by allowing thousands of foreign fighters to come battle the Syrian army. Idlib province is currently dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants.
   
With Russian backing, the Syria government has been on the offensive since December to capture and reopen a strategic highway held by the rebels since 2012. The offensive ignored a cease-fire deal brokered late last year between Russia and Turkey. The deal has since collapsed.
   
Syrian government forces captured the key Idlib town of Maaret al-Numan from the rebels last Wednesday, and have now set their sights on Saraqeb. The strategic highway passes through both towns.
   
The province of Idlib is home to some 3 million people, many of them displaced from other parts of Syria in earlier bouts of violence. The United Nations has estimated that about 390,000 Syrians have been displaced there over the past two months _ 315,000 in December and 75,000 in January.
   
Turkey already hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees, and the current wave of violence in Idlib has raised concerns of a new surge in displaced civilians fleeing toward the Turkish border.
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Official negotiations have not yet begun over their future relationship – but tensions are building between Britain and the European Union following the Britain’s official exit from the bloc Friday. Brussels says Britain will have to commit to aligning with EU standards in order to get a free trade deal, but London has insisted it will not do so. As Henry Ridgwell reports, official talks aren’t due to get under way for at least another month, leaving precious little time to negotiate a new deal.
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Within hours of Britain’s official exit from the European Union Jan. 31, tensions simmered between London and Brussels over their future relationship.Britain left the bloc at 11 p.m. London time Friday and immediately entered a transition period, where most rules and regulations remain the same. That period is set to end Dec. 31, and Britain has insisted it will not ask for an extension, leaving just 11 months to negotiate and ratify a free trade agreement. Early indications suggest the talks will be difficult, with big differences in the positions of both sides.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that Britain will have to commit to aligning with EU standards in order to get a free trade deal.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019.“One thing we feel very strongly in the EU is that if we are going to have tariff-free, quota-free trade with the UK, which is essentially what we have with Canada on almost everything, then that needs to come with a level playing field. We, for example would have very strong views on fair competition and state aid,” Varadkar said in a BBC interview Sunday.British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab insisted the UK will not follow EU regulations.“We are taking back control of our laws,” Raab told Sky News Sunday. “So we’re not going to have high alignment with the EU, legislative alignment with their rules, but we’ll want to co-operate and we expect the EU to follow through on their commitment to a Canada-style free trade agreement.”The EU’s free trade deal with Canada eliminates most tariffs on the buying and selling of goods, but does not cover services, which makes up around 80% of Britain’s GDP.The economic arguments were forgotten Friday evening as hundreds of pro-Brexit supporters gathered in central London. A Brexit “countdown clock” was projected onto Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence at No. 10 Downing St. Friday. Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party addressed the crowd: “We should celebrate the fact that freed from the constraints of the European Union, we once again will be able to find our place in the world,” Farage told hundreds of supporters gathered in the rain in Parliament Square.Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage celebrates during a rally in London, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020.Finding that place may not be so simple.“Many people believe that Brexit having gone through 3½ years of debate about what kind of Brexit they have, and whether to have it, (that) it’s all sorted, it’s all done. It isn’t done at all,” said Charlie Ries, international vice president of the RAND Corp. and a former U.S. ambassador. “In fact, the actual dimensions of the new relationship between the UK and the EU is just starting.”Early indications suggest Europe will demand access to British fishing waters and guarantees that Britain won’t undercut the EU’s labor and environmental standards, in return for access to the EU Single Market. Britain has rejected any such deal.The hard line from Westminster is putting the United Kingdom itself under increasing strain, with Scotland, which voted by a margin of 62% to remain in the EU in 2016, demanding a vote on independence so it can try to rejoin the bloc.Across Britain, the divisions wrought by Brexit will not be easily healed. Meanwhile tensions are already building in what looks likely to be stormy year ahead.
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British police shot and killed a man they say wore a fake explosive device and stabbed two people in London Sunday.Lucy D’Orsi, police deputy assistant commissioner, said police responded quickly to what they said was a “terrorist incident” and they believe it is tied to Islamic extremism, but she gave no other details. Bell Reberio-Addy, a member of Parliament who represents Streatham, said the attacker had been under surveillance “for some time.”A male stabbing victim suffered what is described as life-threatening wounds while the second victim, a woman, was also injured. A third person was slightly injured, apparently by flying glass. D’Orsi said there was no further danger to the public.Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his thoughts are with the injured as he thanked police and emergency workers. Johnson also said that in light of this attack and one in December, the government would introduce “fundamental changes” to how people convicted of terrorism are treated.London Mayor Sadiq Khan said “Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life. Here in London, we will never let them succeed.”Sunday’s incident took place on a busy street in south London’s Streatham neighborhood.Witnesses report seeing police chasing a suspect down the neighborhood’s main shopping district, yelling for him to stop. They opened fire and shot him three times when he ignored them. Police determined that the explosive device he wore was a fake.Police have not yet publicly identified him or spoke of an exact motive other than saying it was terrorism. 
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Monday outline a hardline stance in post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union, arguing Britain does not need to follow various EU rules to strike a trade deal.In a keynote speech detailing his vision for the country’s future, days after its historic departure from the bloc following nearly half a century of membership, Johnson is to say he will seek a “pragmatic agreement.”The British premier will note London has been told in earlier divorce talks with Brussels that it has the option of an ambitious trade deal, “which opens up markets and avoids the full panoply of EU regulation.””There is no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, the environment, or anything similar,” Johnson is set to say, according to excerpts of the address released by his Downing Street office.”The UK will maintain the highest standards in these areas — better, in many respects, than those of the EU — without the compulsion of a treaty and it is vital to stress this now,” he will add.Johnson also insists that if that type of agreement, similar to one the EU recently struck with Canada, is not possible then Britain would opt for a less comprehensive trade deal.”The choice is emphatically not ‘deal or no-deal,'” he will say.But in a sign of the potentially fraught nature of the high-stakes talks, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged London on Sunday to “tone down” what he called “nationalistic rhetoric”.Britain should avoid repeating the past mistake of insisting on “rigid red lines” which “makes it hard to come to an agreement,” he said.’Infuriated’Late on Friday, Britain ended almost half a century of often reluctant membership of the European Union, an organization set up to forge unity among nations after the horrors of World War II.Upon leaving, the UK immediately entered an 11-month transition period agreed as part of the divorce, during which there will be little change in practical terms.Britons will be able to work in the EU and trade freely — and vice versa — until Dec. 31, although the UK will no longer be represented in the bloc’s institutions.Legally however, Britain is out, and attention is now turning to what may prove to be grueling talks with Brussels this year to hammer out all aspects of the future partnership.Johnson, a polarizing figure accused of glossing over the complexity of leaving the EU, is in a rush to seal an agreement.He has vowed not to extend the transition phase, giving himself just 11 months to find consensus on everything from fishing to finance — not enough time, according to his critics.EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who will set out the bloc’s negotiating positions also in a speech in Brussels on Monday, has warned that some items will have to be a priority.He wants handshakes on fisheries, internal and external security and, above all, trade in goods.France reminded Britain on Sunday that the UK exports most of its fish production to European Union countries, highlighting a potential bargaining chip in coming post-Brexit talks about fishing rights that promise to be thorny.But the bloc is also said to fear being undercut on their own doorstep if Britain’s does not commit to following its regulatory framework.’New era’British newspapers reported Sunday that the government is readying for a bruising battle, and unwilling to offer many of the compromises set to be demanded by the EU.The euroskeptic Sunday Telegraph said Johnson was “privately infuriated” at perceived EU attempts “to frustrate a comprehensive free trade deal”.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab acknowledged there was “a bit of frustration” in London that “commitments” seen as already agreed in the initial Brexit divorce deal were not being “lived up to.”London is also now free to strike trade agreements around the world, including with the United States, whose President Donald Trump is an enthusiastic Brexit supporter.One of his top envoys on Friday hailed an “exciting new era.”At a special Brexit day ministers’ meeting in northeast England, Johnson discussed an aim to get 80 percent of Britain’s commerce covered by trade agreements within three years, a spokesman said.Raab said Sunday that he would embark on a tour of Asia and Australia next week, a trip encompassing Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.The Foreign Office declined to release further details.The Sunday Telegraph reported that a trade deal is earmarked to be agreed with Japan by Christmas, followed by more agreements with Australia and New Zealand in mid-2021. 
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John and Laura Hunter live in southern California and over the past few years they’ve been heading out into the desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to make sure people making the trek to the U.S. from South and Central America have what it takes to stay alive during their passage. But not everyone agrees with the help the migrants are getting. Genia Dulot has the story. 
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A man was shot and killed by police in London Sunday after a stabbing incident that authorities said could be terrorism related.”A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related,” the London Metropolitan police wrote on Twitter Sunday.#INCIDENT A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related. Please follow @metpoliceuk for updates— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 2, 2020Police confirmed that the man had been killed and currently “believe” that there are two injured victims.London mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed in a statement that he was in touch with police and following the situation closely.”Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life – here in London we will never let them succeed,” he wrote.My statement on today’s incident in Streatham. pic.twitter.com/x7rWASs1Xs— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) February 2, 2020In November, Usman Khan stabbed five people on the London Bridge before he was shot dead by police. Two of the victims later died of their wounds. The stabbing was declared a terrorist incident.
 
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Venezuela’s Juan Guaido told a large crowd of cheering expatriates in Miami on Saturday that he will soon make his return to Caracas from an international tour, bringing with him the “world’s backing” to oust President Nicolas Maduro. “We have a plan. We have a strategy,” Guaido said. “We’re not alone, and we’re going to restore democracy.” The opposition leader bent on unseating the socialist president, however, presented few details for executing this plan upon returning, saying additional sanctions are “the only strategy” available. Guaido’s visit to Miami rounds out a two-week world tour that took him first to Colombia, then across Europe and Canada, where he held meetings with a list of world leaders. He delivered a message that Venezuelans are pressing for freedom from a “dictator,” but they need help. A key meeting absent from Guaido’s trip was with his most important ally, President Donald Trump, who earlier in the day tweeted a picture of himself golfing at his Florida Mar-a-Lago club, saying he was “Getting a little exercise.” Meeting with president?When asked about a possible meeting with Trump, Guaido said, “Stay tuned,” but he also said he was already preparing his return to Venezuela. An estimated 3,500 people crowded into a Miami convention center to hear Guaido, the most promising opposition political figure to surface in years with the chance of ending two decades of rule launched by the late President Hugo Chavez. Guaido urged the crowd to remain unified and to resist, despite living away from Venezuela. “All options are on the table, but also under the table,” Guaido said. “There are things that are not talked about. All necessary actions will be used to finally liberate Venezuela.” Venezuela was once an energy powerhouse with the world’s largest oil reserves, but crude production has plummeted over the last two decades, which critics blame on corruption and mismanagement. Today, an estimated 4.5 million Venezuelans have emigrated from the country of 30 million, leaving behind crumbling infrastructure, broken hospitals, power failures and gasoline shortages with mile-long lines at filling stations across much of the South American nation. Guaido, 36, rose a year ago to prominence, named leader of the opposition-led National Assembly. In this position he claimed presidential powers, vowing to oust Maduro and reverse the political and social crisis. He won backing from the U.S. and nearly 60 nations that considered Maduro’s 2018 election a fraud and blamed his socialist policies for the crisis that’s driving mass migration and threatening the region’s stability. Maduro holds onMaduro, however, has maintained power with firm backing of the military and key foreign allies, including China, Cuba and Turkey. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to visit Caracas in the coming days. Before the rally, Guaido met with James Story, charge d’ affaires for the Venezuela Affairs Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. The opposition leader also mingled with Venezuelans who have fled their homeland for the United States over the last two decades. Many at the rally wore baseball hats with bright yellow, blue and red, representing the colors of Venezuela’s flag. When Guaido stepped on stage, they cheered and held up their phones for photos. “We want him to tell us what’s going to happen,” said Gloria Bejaramo, 65, who traveled from Venezuela to South Florida to visit a daughter. “I’ve always supported him, and everyone is looking for a way out of this situation to achieve democracy.”  
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American fast-food icon McDonald’s Friday marked 30 years since it first opened its doors in Moscow, an occasion with deep resonance here since the transition from the communist Soviet Union.Yet, marring the celebration were city authorities’ concerns over an outbreak of the coronavirus in neighboring China.   
The restaurant had marketed a day of Soviet-era pricing, with hamburgers costing their original 1990 3 ruble price tag, but canceled the event amid government fears a Soviet-era line would pose a health hazard.   Coupons were issued instead for the thousands who arrived anyway.   Pushkin Square McDonald’s, Jan. 31, 2020, the 30th anniversary of the fast-food restaurant in Russia. (C. Maynes/VOA)Burgers of ChangeThe McDonald’s ‘Golden Arches’ first lit up on Moscow’s Pushkin Square to great fanfare on January 31, 1990.An estimated 38,000 Soviets lined up for hours for what they might have heard of but never tasted, a McDonald’s hamburger. “All I remember is we waited a long time,” Elena Nikolaevna, 78, a former factory worker who came to attend the 30th anniversary celebrations, said. “I felt like I was eating America itself,”  Andrey, 53, said, recalling his first bite, a month after the initial opening.  “The lines were huge,” he said.    The Moscow launch set company records at the time, with the most customers ever served in one day.   The event was intrinsically linked to Russians’ desire for Western-style market reforms under former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of perestroika, or restructuring.  First introduced in 1986, perestroika brought new openness to Soviet society, but provided few quick paths toward repairing the USSR’s deeply flawed command economy.The scene on Pushkin Square seemed to lay bare those contradictions; while shortages of basic necessities were common in Soviet stores, McDonald’s — almost magically — never ran out of food.The secret was that the company had negotiated to set up a private manufacturing plant within the Soviet Union — unheard of at the time — while importing 80% of whatever else was needed.  It was effective but far from perfect: the company operated at a loss. There were problems from the Soviet customer’s point of view too, as an average meal cost more than a half day’s wages.Calling McCanadaThere was also an open secret about this symbol of America being introduced into the Soviet Union — it was actually Canadian.The CEO of McDonald’s Canada, American-Canadian citizen George Cohen, first latched onto the idea of opening a McDonald’s in the Soviet Union after bringing Soviet representatives to a McDonald’s during the 1976 Montreal Olympics.The Soviets liked the food and, even more, they admired the service.   Moscow was gearing up to host its own 1980 Summer Games and looking for ways to feed foreign tourists something quick, familiar, and tasty while maintaining their pride.   “Being a Canadian company was giving a neutral touch to the whole setup,” Marc Carena, the current CEO of McDonald’s Russia, told VOA.  Cold War politics, including the U.S. decision to  boycott the 1980 games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, ultimately scuttled the deal.Yet, a few years and hundreds of hours of negotiations later, Gorbachev endorsed the Golden Arches as part of his push for change.  “McDonald’s was more than the opening of a simple restaurant,” Carena said,  “It came to symbolize the entire opening of the USSR to the West.”Service with a SmileWatching archival videos, available on YouTube, is like entering a time warp regarding relations between Moscow and Washington then. “They say the West is bad, but I like this food,” says a young customer interviewed at the 1990 opening. “We were interested in another life and what it looked like,” Georgi, a retired army veteran, told VOA.“McDonald’s just made the world just feel wider. That’s not the case now,” he said.  In theory, he was referring to  the current poor state of U.S.-Russian relations, although in reality, he had just finished a Big Mac.McDonald’s’ most lasting Russian legacy may lie in the Western-style services the company pioneered here.After placing a single advertisement in the leading Moskovsky Komsomolets daily, the company fielded 30,000 applications.  Just over 600 finalists were chosen.   “I remember waiting for the bus and looking at the McDonald’s sign and crying,” said Svetlana Polyakova, who was hired to flip hamburgers.“I thought I’d made it,” added Polyakova, now the company’s Russia public relations director.   Those chosen were young and energetic, and had little or no experience.  That was the point.  McDonald’s employees, by design, had none of the bad habits associated with the grim unfriendly service of Soviet cafes, Anna Patrunina, one of the original cashiers but now vice president of operations, said. “Anna Patrunina, one of the original 1990 hires and now VP of Operations of McDonald’s Russia, Jan. 31, 2020. (C. Maynes/VOA)We were asked, can you smile for eight hours straight? We all said yes, of course,” she told VOA,  “but it turns out it’s harder than you think.”Smiling was a warmth easily extended in Soviet home but was not part of public life.  It was foreign.  It was weird.  It was American.New Times, New RulesToday, good service in Russia is common, and so, too, is McDonald’s.The company now has more than 700 stores across the country and 98% of the company’s supplies are now sourced locally.”We’re a Russian company and we always were a Russian company,” according to Carena, a Swiss national and the only foreigner on staff.  Not everyone is happy, though. “I don’t like their fast food. I never have,” said Elchin, 58, a businessman who moved to Moscow from Baku, Azerbaijan, 30 years ago, adding he preferred home-cooked meals. “Ukrainian borscht, Russian dumplings, Armenian barbecue … now that’s food to savor,” he said.   “Nothing against the U.S. but I love the classics,” he said.
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A Spanish charity boat with 363 rescued migrants aboard is appealing to be allowed to dock at a port so it can let passengers disembark after several days in the Mediterranean Sea. Gerard Canals, head of the Open Arms mission, on Saturday also expressed concern that food could run out. He said there was about 30 kilos (66 pounds) of rice aboard, enough to last about two more days. In a separate tweet, Open Arms said the migrants were crowded together on the bridge of the rescue boat. The migrants were taken aboard Open Arms in five separate rescues from distressed boats launched by Libya-based human traffickers over the past few days. After no permission came from Malta for a safe port, Canals said, the rescue group is hoping Italy will allow it to dock. In the past few months Italy has allowed such charity ships to disembark rescued migrants at its ports on condition that other European Union nations agree to take some of the asylum-seekers. Several EU nations have done so, making good on pledges to share the migrant burden at a conference in Malta a few months ago. During Italy’s previous government, which included the anti-migrant League, then-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini triggered repeated standoffs at sea when he refused port permission to private rescue ships. In some cases, the rescuers were left in limbo for days or forced to sail as far as Spain to disembark migrants. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that the United States is willing and able to provide Belarus with 100% of its oil and gas, taking a slap at Russia which recently cut off supplies.Pompeo is the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years and arrived in Minsk amid new tensions between Minsk and Moscow over energy. In a meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, Pompeo said he hoped to help provide an opportunity for Belarus to achieve the “sovereignty” and “independence” it seeks.“The United States wants to help Belarus build its own sovereign country,” Pompeo said at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. “Our energy producers stand ready to deliver 100% of the oil you need at competitive prices. We’re the biggest energy producer in the world and all you have to do is call us.”Belarus fears Russia is trying to absorb it and last month began purchasing gas from Norway after Russian supplies were cut off. Last week, Lukashenko accused Russia, the country’s main provider of cheap oil and gas, of stopping supplies “to dissolve Belarus.”Pompeo said the U.S. wants to help fill the vacuum and will continue to boost staffing at its embassy in Minsk, which was severely reduced 12 years ago when the U.S. imposed significant sanctions on the country over human rights abuses. The two countries agreed in September to exchange ambassadors for the first time since 2008. Pompeo said a new U.S. ambassador would be named soon.Noting the recent history of poor relations, Lukashenko lamented the “absolutely groundless misunderstandings of the past authorities” and welcomed Pompeo’s visit.Belarus had been a candidate to be included in the Trump administration’s expanded travel ban that was announced on Friday but avoided it by taking measures to improve security cooperation and potential traveler threat information with the United States.In addition to trying to boost American influence in Belarus, Pompeo urged economic and political reforms as well as improved human rights conditions — a message similar to those he will be bringing to his next stops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan later this weekend. At each stop, Pompeo will warn of attempts by Russia and China to aggressively assert themselves in Europe and Central Asia.Russia stopped supplying oil to Belarus after Dec. 31. The two nations had failed to renegotiate an agreed oil price for this year during drawn-out negotiations on deepening the integration of their economies.Moscow argues that Belarus should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving energy resources at Russia’s domestic prices.This has prompted fears in Belarus that the Kremlin is plotting to form a single state with Belarus to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin in power well past the end of his term in 2024.Lukashenko has repeatedly rejected the idea, saying that Belarus would never become part of Russia.The Russian suspension did not affect oil crossing Belarus to Europe or the supply of natural gas, but had consequences for Belarus, which relies on Russia for more than 80% of its energy needs.Lukashenko has since vowed to find alternative oil suppliers and said Friday that Belarus is currently negotiating additional supplies with the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.In the news conference, Pompeo also said Belarus has made “real progress” in reforms, including on human rights, but that more needs to be done to bring about a lifting of U.S. sanctions. “Further progress in those areas and others is the only path towards lifting U.S. sanctions,” he said.Makei acknowledged that Belarus recognized the necessity of making changes. “Belarus is probably not a most ideal country in this regard, and we do understand that we must implement some reforms in many areas, including the area of human rights — and we are doing this,” he said.Since Lukashenko came to power in 1994, Belarus has suppressed opposition and its human rights record has been widely criticized. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2005 called Belarus “Europe’s last dictatorship.”
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The World Health Organization warns travel bans to limit the spread of the new coronavirus from China could backfire and lead to a worsening of the epidemic worldwide.  Latest reports put the number of confirmed cases at nearly 12,000, including 259 deaths, with most of the cases and all of the deaths occurring in China. A WHO emergency committee declared the coronavirus a global public health threat on Thursday, triggering a series of recommendations aimed at limiting the spread of the deadly disease.  WHO does not recommend any restrictions on travel and trade despite the rapid acceleration of the disease inside China and its steady, but relentless growth worldwide.  More than 100 cases are reported in 22 other countries.  In response, some airlines have stopped flying to mainland China. The United States, which has declared the coronavirus a public health emergency, says it will deny entry to foreigners who recently visited China.  Australia says it will take similar action.WHO spokesman, Christian Lindmeier, says closing borders will not keep out the virus.“As we know from other scenarios, be it Ebola or other cases, whenever people want to travel, they will. And, if the official paths are not open, they will find unofficial paths,” said Lindmeier. “But the only way to control, to check fever, for example, to identify travel history, to try to monitor who is coming across your border and to see whether they have any signs of infection is through official border crossing points.” Lindmeier says states have the sovereign right to take whatever measures they believe are best to protect their citizens.“Yet, the recommendations stay.  And, if travel restrictions are imposed, then we would hope these are as short-lived as possible to try to continue normal flow of life as good as possible,” said Lindmeier. “But of course, increase surveillance and monitoring in order to avoid the spread of the disease.” China is taking draconian measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.   Wuhan city, the epicenter of the disease and 15 other cities have been quarantined, placing an estimated 50 million people under lockdown.Despite these efforts, the virus continues to spread at a rapid pace.
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The car of an RFE/RL Ukrainian service correspondent in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv was set on fire overnight on January 29-30 — an arson attack that Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko said could have been ordered by someone. Halyna Tereshchuk, who has been working for RFE/RL since 2000, said she suspected the attack was linked to her professional activities. “We think the crime was ordered, that somebody hired someone to conduct it,” Herashchenko told RFE/RL, adding that the police were doing “everything to find both the perpetrators and those who ordered the attack.” The National Police in Lviv said earlier in the day that a probe had been launched into the “deliberate destruction of the journalist’s property.” According to witnesses, a masked individual approached the Mitsubishi Colt around midnight, placed something on the windshield of the vehicle, set fire to it and then fled. Second fireThe Ukrainian unit of rights group Freedom House condemned the torching of not only Tereschchuk’s vehicle but also, on the same day, the car of Andriy Lukin, an activist in Zaporizhzhya. “We are outraged by the fires … and call on law enforcement agencies to investigate these incidents effectively,” Freedom House Ukraine said on Facebook. The group stated that “arson or other methods of destruction of vehicles and property are becoming increasingly used as a means to pressure active people in Ukraine.” It noted that there were 11 cases last year of property belonging to activists being destroyed and “in almost all cases, the perpetrators were not found and punished.” 
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France announced its sixth case of the new coronavirus this week and repatriated a planeload of its citizens from the virus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan. But back at home, Chinese and others in the wider East Asian community there say they are becoming targets for discrimination.Just as fast as the coronavirus is spreading, so too seems to be prejudice. In Japan, South Korea and Italy — and now France. This week the French hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus — I Am Not A Virus — was trending on Twitter.  One Chinese man interviewed on France’s BFMTV — his face hidden so he wouldn’t be recognized — described walking out of a Paris gym and being accosted by teenagers, who laughed and said, “There’s coronavirus coming.”  Ethnic Chinese aren’t the only ones being targeted. One account on social media describes a Vietnamese woman being shunned by those around her. Other East Asians say fellow passengers on public transport move away from them, or put scarves in front of their faces.French passengers on buses leave a military air base in Istres, southern France, Jan.31, 2020, after arriving by plane from the virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan.In a television interview, Laetitia Chhiv, head of the Association of Young Chinese in France, said coronavirus was giving expression to latent racism.  It hasn’t helped that a French newspaper, Le Courrier Picard, published the headline “Yellow Alert” on its cover last Sunday, and titled an editorial “A New Yellow Peril.” The newspaper quickly apologized, saying the move was unintentional, but the damage was done.  Interviewed by a colleague, journalist Linh-Lan Dao said she couldn’t believe the Courrier Picard’s title. “We’re in the 21st century,” she said.  All this comes after France reported a surge in racist and xenophobic acts in 2019 — up 130 percent from the previous year. While much of the focus has been on Jews and Muslims, ethnic Chinese have also been targeted in recent years. The government’s line is zero tolerance to discrimination.In 2016, thousands of Chinese staged protests after a Chinese man was killed outside Paris by three men trying to rob his companion’s bag. It wasn’t the first attack — and Chinese anti-violence activist Tamara Lui says it hasn’t been the last.  Lui says the same prejudice behind these past attacks on the Chinese community — because they’re stigmatized as rich and hardworking and therefore good targets to rob — is being seen with coronavirus today.
 
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Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate and peers from other African nations on Friday made an urgent appeal for the world to pay more attention to the continent that stands to suffer the most from global warming despite contributing to it the least.The Fridays For Future movement and activist Greta Thunberg held a news conference with the activists to spotlight the marginalization of African voices a week after The Associated Press cropped Nakate out of a photo at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Nakate, Makenna Muigai of Kenya, Ayakha Melithafa of South Africa and climate scientist Ndoni Mcunu of South Africa pointed out the various challenges both in combating climate change on the booming continent of some 1.2 billion people and in inspiring the world’s response.“African activists are doing so much,” Nakate said. “It gets so frustrating when no one really cares about them.”The AP has apologized and acknowledged mistakes in sending out the cropped photo on Jan. 24 and in how the news organization initially reacted. The AP has said that it will expand diversity training worldwide as a result.Nakate said Friday she was very sad the photo incident occurred but added that “I’m actually very optimistic about this” as it has drawn global attention to climate activists in Africa and the various crises there.Muigai pointed to a recent locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in 70 years, which threatens food security for millions of people in countries including Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia and is moving toward South Sudan and Uganda.Challenges include everything from deforestation to bad energy policies, Muigai said. They also include changes in storm intensity that brought two devastating cyclones to Mozambique a year ago, Mcunu said. And they include the recent drought crisis in South Africa’s Cape Town region, Melithafa said.“The narrative we have is Africans can adapt to this. That is actually not true,” Mcunu said.The warnings have been stark for Africa. No continent will be struck more severely by climate change, the U.N. Environment Program has said.Africa has 15% of the world’s population, yet is likely to “shoulder nearly 50% of the estimated global climate change adaptation costs,” the African Development Bank has said, noting that seven of the 10 countries considered most vulnerable to climate change are in Africa: Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.And yet “to date, energy-related CO₂ emissions in Africa represented around 2% of cumulative global emissions,” the International Energy Agency said last year.In some cases it is difficult to persuade people to care more about climate change because there are so many other pressing everyday issues such as poverty, unemployment and gender-based violence, Melithafa said. “That’s hard for the global north to understand.”Instead people should work to hold more developed countries accountable for producing the bulk of emissions that contribute to global warming, the activists said.“Every individual is needed in the fight against the climate crisis,” Nakate said. “Because climate change is not specific about the kinds of people it affects.”For her part, Thunberg firmly returned the spotlight to the activists from African countries.“I’m not the reason why we’re here,” she said, later adding: “We are fighting for the exact same cause.” And she noted that while whatever she says gets turned into a headline, that is not the case for many others.“The African perspective is always so under-reported,” Thunberg said.Nakate urged the audience to make 2020 the year of action on climate change after young activists in 2019 put the issue squarely at the center of global discussions.It won’t be easy, she noted: “It is the uncomfortable things that will help to save our planet.”
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The Italian government declared a state of emergency Friday and closed all air traffic to and from China. The move came after confirmation that two Chinese tourists tested positive for the coronavirus. The couple are being treated in isolation in a Rome hospital specializing in infectious diseases. A special cabinet meeting held by the Italian government Friday declared a six-month state of emergency and allocated $5.5 million to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Further meetings were planned between the country’s health authorities and the civil defense department to decide what additional measures were needed.Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte confirmed Thursday that a Chinese couple from Wuhan that had been staying in Rome’s Palatino hotel, near the Colosseum, had been admitted to Rome’s Spallanzani Hospital after showing symptoms of coronavirus.  A man passes through the main gate of the Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital, the National Institute for Infectious Diseases, in Rome, Jan. 31, 2020.The prime minister said there is no reason to panic, adding that all measures have been adopted to try to prevent the spread of the disease.  The director of the Spallanzani National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Professor Giuseppe Ippolito, said the Chinese couple were placed in isolation and are “in reasonable condition.”  Health minister Roberto Speranza said the state of emergency status gives the government more powers to deal to deal with the infection, but does not change life for Italians.Speranza also said efforts are being made to retrace the places the Chinese couple visited since arriving in Milan on January 23. The other 18 tourists and the driver who traveled with them on a bus also are being tested and remain under observation.The Palatino Grand Hotel is seen in Rome, Jan. 31, 2020.At the hotel where the couple were staying, their room was immediately sealed off and decontamination was carried out. The hotel has had cancellations, even though the director declared there is no danger for the staff or guests.  Additionally, the Italian government is organizing a special plane to bring back some 80 Italians in Wuhan. It is likely they will be flown back Monday, then will spend two weeks in quarantine.
 
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The United States’ new ambassador to Russia urged Moscow on Thursday to release a former U.S. Marine accused of spying, and said Russian investigators had failed to present credible evidence to back up their case.Days after starting as U.S. ambassador, John Sullivan accused Russian authorities of “shameful treatment” of Paul Whelan, who was detained by security agents in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28, 2018 and accused of espionage.Whelan, 49, denies the charges against him and holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports. At court hearings over the past year, he has said he is being ill treated.The case, in which Whelan be jailed for 20 years if he is found guilty, has strained U.S.-Russian ties that are already under pressure from an array of issues including the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and election-meddling allegations.On Thursday, Sullivan visited Whelan in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. It was one of the ambassador’s first public appearances since he presented his credentials at Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Jan. 21.”It’s time for this nightmare to end, and for Paul to go home,” Sullivan said in comments published by the U.S. embassy on social media.”The case has gone on far too long. Investigators have  shown no evidence – zero. Russian authorities show no credible justification for isolating Paul, and refuse to allow Paul to get proper medical attention. This is shameful treatment.”Russia’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed Whelan’s allegations of ill-treatment and accused him of trying to stir up noise around his case.Moscow says Whelan was caught red-handed with a computer flash drive containing classified information. Whelan says he was set up in a sting operation and had thought the drive, given to him by a Russian acquaintance, contained holiday photos.Previous efforts to secure Whelan’s release, including an appeal in December, have been ignored.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Friday that the Trump administration would not waver in its support for Ukraine and denied charges at the heart of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
Pompeo met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday and denied allegations that vital military aid and a White House visit were conditioned on a probe into former Vice President Joe Biden’s family.
“It’s just simply not the case. We will find the right time, we will find the appropriate opportunity (for the visit),” Pompeo said at a press conference after a meeting with Zelenskiy.
Pompeo is the highest-ranking American official to visit Ukraine since the impeachment process began last year. That process started with revelations about a July 25 phone call between Zelenskiy and Trump.
Zelenskiy said the impeachment had not had a negative effect on U.S.-Ukraine relations and thanked the Trump administration for its financial and military support that impeachment prosecutors say the president withheld in order to extract a personal favor from Ukraine.
Pompeo’s meetings in Kyiv come as t he GOP-majority Senate prepared to vote  on whether to hear witnesses who could shed further light on Trump’s actions toward Ukraine. The vote appeared likely to fail, however, as a key Republican said he would vote against allowing new testimony, boosting odds the Senate will vote to acquit in a matter of days.
A senior U.S. official in the meeting said Pompeo and Zelenskiy mainly discussed investment and infrastructure and that there was no talk of impeachment or corruption investigations. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
At a press conference after the meeting, Pompeo assured Zelenskiy of Washington’s unwavering support.
“The United States understands that Ukraine is an important country. It’s not just the geographic heart of Europe, it’s a bulwark between freedom and authoritarianism in eastern Europe. It’s fields feed the European continent and its pipelines keep Europe warm in the winter,” he said.
Zelenskiy, in turn, expressed hope that the U.S. would more actively participate in resolving a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 14,000 people in the past five years. Zelenskiy also said he still wanted to meet Trump in DC as long it would be productive. “I am ready to go tomorrow,” he said.
In addition to Zelenskiy, Pompeo is meeting Ukraine’s prime, foreign and defense ministers as well as civic leaders, and touring several Ukrainian Orthodox churches.
Trump is accused of obstructing Congress and abuse of office for withholding a White House meeting with Zelenskiy and critical military aid to the country in exchange for an investigation into Biden, a political rival, and his son, Hunter.
Ukraine has been an unwilling star in the impeachment proceedings, eager for good relations with Trump as it depends heavily on U.S. support to defend itself from Russian-backed separatists. Trump, who has still not granted Zelenskiy the White House meeting he craves, has offered that support to some degree. Although the military assistance was put on hold, it was eventually released after a whistleblower complaint brought the July 25 call to light. The Trump administration has also supplied Ukraine with lethal defense equipment, including Javelin anti-tank weapons.
Pompeo has stressed the importance of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship, a sentiment long shared by Republicans and Democrats who see the former Soviet republic as a bulwark against Russian ambitions. But it’s a view that now has partisan overtones, with Democrats arguing that withholding aid from such a critical ally for political purposes is an impeachable offense.
The Senate is to vote on hearing impeachment witnesses later Friday. Democrats want to hear from former national security adviser John Bolton, whose forthcoming book reportedly says that Trump withheld the aid in exchange for a public pledge of a probe into the Bidens. That would back witnesses who testified before the House impeachment inquiry.
Ukraine has been a delicate subject for Pompeo, who last weekend  lashed out at a National Public Radio reporter for asking why he has not publicly defended the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. She was removed from her post after unsubstantiated allegations were made against her by Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani.
Pompeo has been criticized for not publicly supporting Yovanovitch, her now-departed successor as chief of the Kyiv embassy, William Taylor, and other diplomats who testified before House impeachment investigators. Yovanovitch and Taylor have been attacked by Trump supporters and, in some cases, have been accused of disloyalty.
In the NPR interview, Pompeo took umbrage when asked if he owed Yovanovitch an apology, and maintained that he had defended all of his employees. In an angry encounter after the interview, he also questioned if Americans actually cared about Ukraine, according to NPR.
That comment prompted Taylor and Pompeo’s former special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, who also testified to the impeachment panel, to write opinion pieces discussing the importance of the country to U.S. national security and why Pompeo should be explaining its role to Americans as their top diplomat.
Pompeo brushed aside his reported comment, telling reporters aboard his plane that “of course, the American people care about the people of Ukraine” and said his message to American diplomats in Ukraine would be the same he gives to those at other embassies.
“The message is very similar to every embassy that I get a chance to talk to when I travel,” he said. “I almost always meet with the team and tell them how much we love them, appreciate them, appreciate their family members and their sacrifice.”
He said he would “talk about the important work that the United States and Ukraine will continue to do together to fight corruption inside of that country and to ensure that America provides the support that the Ukrainian people need to ensure that they have a free and independent nation.”
Pompeo twice postponed earlier planned trips to Ukraine, most recently in early January when developments with Iran forced him to cancel. Pompeo said he plans to discuss the issue of corruption but demurred when asked if he would specifically raise the Bidens or the energy company Burisma, for which Hunter Biden worked.
“I don’t want to talk about particular individuals. It’s not worth it,” he told reporters. “It’s a long list in Ukraine of corrupt individuals and a long history there. And President Zelenskiy has told us he’s committed to it. The actions he’s taken so far demonstrate that, and I look forward to having a conversation about that with him as well.”
Pompeo traveled to Kyiv  from London, which was the first stop on a trip to Europe and Central Asia that will also take him to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. 
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Surrounded by the millions of monarch butterflies that Mexican environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez fought to protect until his mysterious death, relatives and friends paid tribute to him Thursday.Gomez Gonzalez’s sudden disappearance two weeks ago had sparked an outcry in Mexico, an increasingly violent country where activists are routinely threatened, harmed or killed as a result of their work.Gomez Gonzalez, who worked passionately to protect a Mexican forest where monarch butterflies spend the winter, suffered head trauma as well as drowning, authorities announced Thursday night, potentially adding weight to the fears that he was murdered.Rebeca Valencia Gonzalez holds a picture of her husband, environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez, in their home in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico, Jan. 30, 2020.Even before the announcement, relatives of Gomez Gonzalez speculated his death wasn’t accidental.“Something strange is happening, because they’re finishing off all the activists, the people who are doing something for society,” the dead man’s brother, Amado Gomez, said Thursday at the funeral.Gomez Gonzalez’s body was discovered Wednesday in a holding pond near the mountain forest reserve that he had long protected. Michoacan state prosecutors said that an initial review indicated a drowning and found no signs of trauma, but their latest statement said more detailed autopsy results produced evidence of a head injury.Authorities gave no other information on the injury and did not say how it might have been inflicted. They said an investigation continued.Grinding poverty and gang violence fuel twin threats to the butterfly reserve — illegal logging and encroaching plantations of avocados. The latter is the only legal crop that provides a decent income in this region.Gomez Gonzalez had spent a decade working as an activist, though he became best known for posting mesmerizing videos of the black and orange insects on social media, urging Mexicans to treasure the El Rosario reserve, a world heritage site.Mourners pray around the coffin of environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez at his wake in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico, Jan. 30, 2020. The cause of the anti-logging activist’s death is under investigation.His brother said Gomez Gonzalez, an engineer, was so compelled to do something after the number of butterflies dropped dramatically that he eventually gave up his job to work on projects aimed at protecting them.“This was his passion,” his brother said. “He loved promoting the butterflies, filming them, researching them.”He also worked to persuade about 260 fellow communal land owners that they should replant trees on land cleared for corn plots. By local accounts, he managed to reforest about 150 hectares (370 acres) of previously cleared land.Like other places in the world, increasingly scarce water also plays a role in the conflict. Gomez Gonzalez and other communal land owners had asked the nearby town of Angangueo for payments in return for water they receive from clear mountain streams that survive only because the forests are protected.“A lot of the communal landowners fear that with his death, the forests are finished,” Amado Gomez said.“I would like to ask the authorities to do their job and do more to protect activists like my brother, because lately in Mexico a lot of activists have died,” he said. “With his death, not only my family lost a loved one; but the whole world, and the monarch butterfly and the forests lost, too.”Workers prepare a grave in the cemetery where environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez was to be buried in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico, Jan. 30, 2020.London-based Global Witness counted 15 killings of environmental activists in Mexico in 2017 and 14 in 2018. In an October 2019 report, Amnesty International said that 12 had been killed in the first nine months of that year.Millions of monarchs come to the forests of Michoacan and other nearby areas after making the 3,400-mile (5,500-kilometer) migration from the United States and Canada. 
They need healthy tree cover to protect them from rain and cold weather.Reuters contributed to this report.
 
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Russian authorities Thursday pardoned and released an American-Israeli citizen jailed on drug charges, in a gesture timed with a visit by embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow intended to focus on a new U.S.-backed peace plan for the Middle East.Naama Issachar, 27, a native of New Jersey who had moved to Israel, was serving 7½ years in prison for drug possession after border guards found 9 grams of hash in her bag during a changeover at a Moscow airport on her way from India to Israel.While the case instantly became a cause celebre in Israel — widely seen as an overly harsh sentence for a minor crime — it was only recently that Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled her release was imminent.“Everything will be OK,” Putin told Issachar’s mother, Yaffa, during a sideline meeting in Israel last week to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of a key Nazi death camp in World War II.Yet the timing of Putin’s decision to grant a pardon was riven with political implications.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, walk with Naama Issachar and her mother, Yaffa, after Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Naama a pardon, at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Jan. 30, 2020.Netanyahu visitIssachar’s release comes as Netanyahu is locked in a bitter yearlong struggle to maintain his hold on power while facing charges of criminal corruption. The Israeli leader was formally charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust by prosecutors this week.It also follows the White House’s unveiling of a new peace plan for the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict that U.S. President Donald Trump has controversially billed as “the deal of the century.”Israel’s Netanyahu has enthusiastically endorsed the proposal. The Palestinian leadership has rejected the deal outright.While Putin has yet to personally weigh in on the American proposal, initial reactions in Moscow underscored how the Kremlin is eager to build on its recent rise as a key power broker in Mideast regional politics.“We confirm our readiness to further constructive work towards the collective strengthening of efforts towards a complete resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in underscoring Russia’ delicate balance of alliances throughout the region.Situational leverageFrom the beginning, Issachar was seen as a bargaining chip in a larger political game involving Washington, Moscow and Tel Aviv.Her initial arrest came as Russia was seeking extradition of Aleksei Burkov, an alleged Russian hacker accused of computer fraud by the U.S. government.Israel ultimately chose to turn over Burkov to U.S. authorities last November — a decision that seemed to have soured any chance of Issachar’s early release.Indeed, even among the celebrations of Issachar’s freedom Thursday, questions lingered: What might have prompted the exchange now? What changed? And what had Putin gained?For it was undoubtedly a boon to Netanyahu’s latest reelection bid, with Israelis headed to the polls again March 2 after three previous votes that ended in stalemate.Netanyahu thanked Putin for a “swift” decision to free Issachar. Further underlining the political timing of the pardon, Issachar joined Netanyahu on his government plane back to Israel.“We’re excited to see you. Now we go back home,” Netanyahu told the former prisoner, in a video posted to his official Twitter account.❤️?? pic.twitter.com/58UZwWaje3— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) January 30, 2020Back in Israel, media pundits suggested Netanyahu had secured Issachar’s release by granting Russia ownership of a Jerusalem site of importance to the Russian Orthodox Church, a key base of support for the Russian president.Fueling curiosity, the Kremlin released a statement in which Putin suggested the lead Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem had played a role, passing along a letter from Issachar’s mother.Meanwhile, in Russia, attention focused on the Kremlin leader’s other justifications for Issachar’s release.“She hadn’t even crossed the Russian border,” said Putin, a reference to the fact the small amount of hashish had been discovered while she was in an International airport transit zone.Despite the Kremlin insisting Issachar admit her guilt to gain pardon, the Russian leader seemed to back her lawyers view that no crime had actually been committed.“And so, was it a violation of the law or no?” political commentator Arkady Dubnov asked in a post to Facebook. К вопросу о милосердии президента РФ

https://echo.msk.ru/blog/dubnov/2579662-echo/

Пресс-служба Кремля опубликовала…Posted by Аркадий Дубнов on Thursday, January 30, 2020Meanwhile, there remained little clarity over Putin’s views on President Trump’s grand bargain aimed at settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — the supposed reason for the trip.“In the end, who cares about this small stuff,” joked Matvei Ganapolsky, a commentator on the Echo of Moscow radio.He then stated the obvious.“Issachar needed to be freed, because she had become a drag on Russian-Israeli relations,” Ganapolsky said.
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An important financial operator for the Sinaloa Cartel and two other inmates facing extradition to the United States who escaped from a Mexico City prison were driven out of the penitentiary in a jail transport van, city officials said Thursday.The escape is feeding a debate over a judicial system that critics say is being manipulated to criminals’ advantage. Video of Wednesday’s escape show it occurred at 5:50 a.m. and yet supervisors were not alerted until 8 a.m.Officials in Mexico’s capital say city jails are not the appropriate facilities for high-value prisoners and that judges are allowing inmates to manipulate the system to be transferred to or remain in lower-security lockups.Mexico City Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez said that at the end of the jail’s second shift, when a headcount is supposed to be taken at 7:45 a.m., the report was that nothing was amiss. The alarm was not raised until the next shift came on at 8 a.m.Ulises Lara, spokesman for the capital’s prosecutor’s office, said the preliminary investigation suggested eight jail workers did not follow procedures and thus allowed the escape.Icela Rodriguez said the jail’s director and head of security had been dismissed.FILE – Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City, Mexico, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014.High-value escapeeThe biggest name among the escapees was Victor Manuel Felix Beltran, who was designated by the U.S. Treasury in 2015 under the Kingpin Act. The designation described him as a “high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel trafficker, who operates from Culiacan and Guadalajara.” It noted that he was the son of drug trafficker Victor Felix Felix, who moved cocaine and laundered money for Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.The Mexico City prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Luis Fernando Meza Gonzalez and Yael Osuna Navarro were the other two escapees.Icela Rodriguez said the men’s cells were unlocked and they cut through a bar to drop down to a common area. They used wire cutters to cut through fencing at the top of a wall and drop into an outdoor jail yard. Then they used a ladder to scale a wall, cut through the wire at the top and get into a vehicle on the other side. The vehicle was still within the prison’s security perimeter and when it went through a guarded exit it was not opened as required by procedures.The guards driving the van had orders to transport another prisoner to a hospital and city surveillance cameras show the van driving to the hospital. However, they did not capture the moment in which the prisoners got out of the van, she said.Prisoners pick the prisonThe escape brought renewed attention to the issue of legal maneuvers that prisoners have employed to be in the penitentiary they desire.Felix Beltran entered the jail on Mexico City’s south side on Oct. 28, 2017, and was transferred to the maximum security Altiplano prison in Mexico state six days later, two years after Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped it through a tunnel.But on Nov. 9, 2018, a federal judge ordered that Felix Beltran be returned to Mexico City jail, said Icela Rodriguez.On Thursday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador recognized that the issue of prisoners blocking transfers was a problem.“They need to look at the issue of the appeals,” Lopez Obrador said. “There are hundreds of appeals like this, they don’t want to be moved to other prisons because they dominate inside or have communication with the outside.” He said the judiciary was looking into it.Challenging legal reformsMexico is engaged in a heated debate over whether changes are needed in legal reforms that gave more protections to suspects.Mexican prosecutors have complained the system is too lenient, and leaked copies of proposed reforms included less stringent limits on questionable evidence.But the judicial reforms also allowed inmates to file appeals against being transferred to other prisons, and in recent years authorities have blamed those appeals — and judges who grant them — for prison escapes, and deadly prison riots. Dangerous gang leaders have won court orders for transfers back to medium-security prisons that can’t safely hold them.That was the case in a 2016 riot at a prison in northern Mexico state of Nuevo Leon in which 49 prisoners died.Nuevo Leon Gov. Jaime Rodriguez said judicial reforms have given inmates greater ability to appeal transfer orders that could send them farther from their hometowns. The 2016 riot was alleged sparked by a member of the infamous Zetas drug cartel, Juan Pedro Zaldivar Farias, who had successfully fought to be moved to Topo Chico, and a rival gang leader at the prison had also won a similar appeal against transferring him elsewhere.“Basically this is creating the conflicts in the prisons,” Rodriguez said.Lopez Obrador and other officials have also criticized corruption in the judiciary branch that, along with lenient laws and ill-equipped prosecutors, have contributed to freeing suspects or allowing them to be transferred to less-secure prisons.On Wednesday, the federal judiciary council, an oversight body, announced the 6-month suspension of a federal judge who is being investigated an almost surreal allegations of malfeasance.The council said the judge is accused of employing family members in his court, sexually harassing workers, threatening to kill one who refused to resign, and using court employees to launder money and perform personal services like cooking, cleaning and driving him around.
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An hour’s train ride from the European Union’s headquarters, where the bloc’s British lawmakers and staffers packed up to leave, businesswoman Meriela Masson pondered Brexit during a quick smoke outside her Paris office.Parisian businesswoman Meriela Masson says she hasn’t had time to think of Brexit. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)”Unfortunately, I don’t have time to think of it,” Masson said of Britain’s departure from the EU, which becomes reality at midnight Friday in Brussels. “I don’t follow the news regarding Brexit, so I have no clue what to think about it.”If Britain’s departure from the EU amounts to a political earthquake in Brussels, the aftershock is less intense in other European capitals.Europeans feel sadness, but they are also watching Brexit unfold with “a sort of fatigue,” said analyst Elvire Fabry of the Jacques Delores Institute, a Paris research group.”It was more perceived as a deep political crisis within the U.K., than a real negotiation between the U.K. and EU,” she said, as the protracted talks wound out.  Now, as Europe moves from saying goodbye to Britain to carving out a new and potentially rocky post-Brexit relationship, ordinary Europeans face many unknowns.   Student Adolphine Nsimba exits a Paris M&S food store, one of Britain’s many marks on Europe. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Will fishermen and farmers lose out on a lucrative British market? Will drivers and passengers be stuck in unending customs lines?”I hope it won’t penalize France,” said student Adolphine Nsimba, 25, as she exited an M&S food market in Paris — another sign of Britain’s imprint on Europe, along with craft beer and afternoon tea. “I have friends and family in England, and I don’t want to apply for a visa to go there.”Outside the Gare du Nord station, where London-bound Eurostar trains depart every 30 minutes, truck driver Pierre Weillart voiced similar fears. He spends many workdays moving refrigerated goods by road through the Channel Tunnel to Britain.”We’re worried about customs,” he said. “It could lose a lot of time.”Soul-searchingBrexit is also sparking soul-searching among some Europeans about what is broken in a political and economic union born from the ashes of World War II.”We European decision-makers must realize that if an increasing number of our fellow citizens have turned their back on the European project, it’s for a reason,” said Philippe Lamberts, an EU Greens Party lawmaker from Belgium. “It’s because many believe that too often, policies adopted at the European level have served the few rather than the many.”A Paris kiosok bears a magazine cover bidding farewell to Britain. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Lamberts’ remarks came as the European Parliament voted to formally approve Brexit on Wednesday. As many lamented Britain’s departure from the bloc, euroskeptic parties cheered it on. “Brexit is the victory of the common people against multinational corporations, special interests and other elites,” populist Finns Party lawmaker Laura Huhtasaari said. “The 2020s is the decade where the national state makes the ultimate comeback in Europe.”Euroskeptic parties gained ground during last year’s European Parliament elections. In France, the far-right National Rally party led the overall vote with 23%, ahead of the ruling Centrist Party of President Emmanuel Macron.  A comeback for Europe?Pro-EU parties still won the majority of votes, and overall turnout hit a record high of more than 50%. Promises of a French-style Frexit or Italexit in Italy have faded.Analyst Elvire Fabry of the Jacques Delors Institute, named after a former European Commission president whose photo is to her left, says there is a feeling of fatigue regarding Brexit. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)”All the parties that are really critical toward the EU have changed their strategy a little,” Fabry said. “Instead of calling for a similar move out of the EU, they now want to change the EU from the inside.”Recent polls also show an uptick in citizen support. A 2019 Eurobarometer survey found Europeans view the bloc in a more positive light than at any other point in the last decade.”Brexit is a failure of Britain, not the European Union,” former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.  Others see it as a failure of both.  Fabry, for one, disagrees. She believes Brexit has delivered a powerful and positive message that might prove useful for other tricky negotiations, including with China and the United States.”We happened to see a new kind of cohesion among the Europeans,” she said, describing the unity in Brexit negotiations that member states have not found on issues like immigration and defense. “We were expecting divisions and increasing criticism of the EU — but on the contrary.”
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A U.S. law firm that was hired for $12.5 million by a top official in Nicolas Maduro’s government has decided to dump the controversial Venezuelan client amid a major outcry by critics who accused it of carrying water for a socialist “dictator,” The Associated Press has learned.The AP reported Monday that Foley & Lardner had agreed to represent Maduro’s Inspector General Reinaldo Munoz. Filings with the Justice Department showed Foley & Lardner, which has offices in Washington, in turn paid $2 million to hire influential lobbyist Robert Stryk to help its client ease U.S. sanctions on Maduro’s government and engage the Trump administration in direct talks.Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott immediately decried the move, saying in a letter to the firm that he would urge his Senate colleagues to follow his lead and boycott the firm until it cut ties with the “dangerous dictator.”Three people familiar with the matter said Thursday that Foley was withdrawing from the case. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.Foley’s communications director, Dan Farrell, declined to comment.“I hope the last few days will serve as a lesson to any other lobbying firms, consultants or organizations that if you support Maduro and his gang of thugs I won’t stay quiet,” Scott said in an emailed statement to AP.A senior Venezuelan government official said the reversal wouldn’t discourage the Maduro government from seeking honest dialogue with the Trump administration. The official spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.The outreach by Maduro’s government came as criticism has also been directed at U.S. support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the U.S. and about 60 other nations recognize as Venezuela’s rightful president.A year into the U.S.-backed campaign to oust Maduro, the embattled leader has successfully beaten back a coup attempt, mass protests and punishing U.S. sanctions that have cut off his government’s access to Western banks.Randy Brinson, a conservative activist from Alabama who has teamed up recently with an evangelical Venezuelan pastor to deliver humanitarian aid to the country, said regular Venezuelans would suffer the consequences of possible dialogue with Maduro being stymied.“It is unfortunate that the outreach has become so politicized,” said Brinson.Brinson said he met with Munoz on two occasions recently and considers him an “invaluable” ally in the humanitarian relief effort brokered between the Maduro government and pastor Javier Bertucci, a former presidential candidate.Stryk, a winemaker and former Republican aide who unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Yountville, California, is one of the top lobbyists in Trump’s Washington.A former unpaid Trump campaign adviser on the West Coast, his firm, Sonoran Policy Group, had no reported lobbying from 2013 to 2016 but has billed more than $10.5 million to foreign clients since the start of 2017.Like Venezuela, many of the clients have bruised reputations in Washington or are under U.S. sanctions, such as the governments of Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior, which signed a $5.4 million contract in May 2017.Munoz’s contract with Foley, for a flat fee of $12.5 million, extended until May 10. Stryk’s share of the deal, as a consultant, was $2 million.Foley said in its filing that it received slightly more than $3 million in initial payments on behalf of Munoz from what appear to be two Hong Kong-registered companies. Its work was also to include discussions with officials at the U.S. Treasury Department and other U.S. agencies regarding sanctions against the Maduro government.  
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