Notre Dame kept Christmas going even during two world wars — a beacon of hope amid the bloodshed.Yet an accidental fire in peacetime  finally stopped the Paris cathedral from celebrating Midnight Mass this year, for the first time in over two centuries.As the lights stay dim in the once-invincible 855-year-old landmark, officials are trying hard to focus on the immediate task of keeping burned out Notre Dame ‘s spirit alive in exile through service, song and prayer.It has decamped its rector, famed statue, liturgy and Christmas celebrations to a new temporary home pending the restoration works, just under a mile away, at another Gothic church in Paris called Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois.And there it will remain, as works slowly progress to rebuild the cathedral after the April 15 fire destroyed its lead roof and spire  and was moments away from engulfing its two stone towers.“This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will be no midnight Mass (at Notre Dame),” cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet told The Associated Press.There was even a Christmas service amid the carnage of World War I, Chauvet noted, “because the canons were there and the canons had to celebrate somewhere,” referring to the cathedral’s clergy. During World War II, when Paris was under Nazi occupation, “there was no problem.” He said that to his knowledge, it was only closed for Christmas in the period after 1789, when the anti-Catholic French revolutionaries turned the monument into “a temple of reason.”Christmas-in-exile at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois this year will be a history-making moment.“We have the opportunity to celebrate the Mass outside the walls, so to speak… but with some indicators that Notre Dame is connected to us,” Chauvet said.Those indicators include a wooden liturgical platform that has been constructed in the Saint-Germain church to resemble Notre Dame’s own. A service will be led at midnight on Dec. 24 by Chauvet to a crowd of faithful, including many who would normally worship in the cathedral, accompanied by song from some of Notre Dame’s now-itinerant choir.The cathedral’s iconic Gothic sculpture “The Virgin of Paris,” from which some say Notre Dame owes its name, is also on display in the new annex.The 14th-century masterpiece, which measures around two meters (six feet) and depicts Mary and baby Jesus, has come to embody the officials’ message of hope following the fire.“It’s a miraculous virgin. Why? Because at the time of the fire, the vault of the cathedral completely crashed. There were stones everywhere, but she was spared. She could have naturally received the vault on her head and have been completely crushed,” Chauvet said.He recalled the moment on the night of the fire when he discovered it was saved, as he was holding hands with French President Emmanuel Macron on the cathedral’s forecourt. Around midnight as the flames subsided, they were finally let inside to look. Chauvet pointed and exclaimed to Macron: “Look at the Virgin, she is there!”He said later that Notre Dame’s workmen on the ground implored him to not remove the statue from the cathedral, saying that during the restoration “we need it. She protects us.”Chauvet said having it nearby for Christmas is comforting.“She lived very much in Notre Dame. She watched the pilgrims, all the 35,000 visitors a day … It keeps us going,” Chauvet said.Another reason for hope: Since November, after months in the dark, the facade of the cathedral is being lit up after dusk for the first time since the fire. Tourists over the festive period can now see the famed gargoyles and stone statues at night in their full illuminated splendor from the adjacent bridges, although the forecourt is still closed.Cathedral officials carefully chose Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois as the new temporary home because of its proximity to Notre Dame, just next to the Louvre, allowing ease of movement for clerics who lived near the cathedral. Also, because of its prestigious history.It was once a royal church that boasted among its faithful French kings, in the days when they lived in the nearby Louvre Palace. The kings, Chauvet explained, would simply cross the esplanade to come and attend Mass.Since September, the church has been welcoming the cathedral’s flock each Sunday.Though Notre Dame has moved liturgically to a new home, Notre Dame will always remain Paris’ cathedral so long as the bishop’s physical chair, or “cathedra” doesn’t move.Derived from the Greek word for “seat,” a cathedral’s entire identity technically boils down to the presence of a chair.“The cathedra is at the cathedral and so it remains Notre Dame Cathedral, which is the cathedral in the heart of Paris,” Chauvet said.
It is not only the faithful who have been displaced since April’s blaze.Notre Dame was home to a vibrant 160-strong choir-school, which provided singers for each of the cathedral’s some 1,000 annual services. Midnight Mass at Christmas was always a special event in the year: One of the rare times the entire choir sung together and used the cathedral’s famed acoustics to their fullest.Instead of disbanding, this now-homeless chorus of singers, ranging in age from 6 to 30, has too honed an upbeat message and decided to continue on in a divided form. Different sections of the choir put on concerts in churches, such as Saint-Eustache and Saint-Sulpice, in Paris and beyond. On Christmas Eve, its members will sing at various yuletide events, including at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, as well as, bizarrely, at the Russian Circus.But don’t mention the term choir-in-exile to one of the choir’s directors, Henri Chalet.“I’d rather use beyond the walls'...Exile’ brings it back to sadness. Obviously, there is a lot of sadness and desolation for us to no longer be in our second home. But there is also a lot of hope because it is only a phase,” Chalet said.In the grand scheme of things, five or six years of restoration for an 855-year-old cathedral “is nothing at all,” Chalet reasoned.  Macron declared in the days after the blaze it would take a mere five years to restore the cathedral — a timeline many experts deem unrealistic.Notre Dame choir singer Mathilde Ortscheidt, 29, left a little more space for melancholy as she regretted her absence at last year’s Midnight Mass.“To think that I was ill last Christmas…thinking that I would go again this year with no problem!” she said.On the first rehearsal she attended after the blaze, she said she “felt such a pain and such sadness” because the cathedral was where she began as a singer.For the singers, the unique acoustics produced by the cathedral’s massive dimensions are sorely missed.“When we balanced it right, it was the most beautiful feeling of just hearing it resonate through this enormous space,” Ortscheidt said.Despite having “to walk around a lot now,” people have got used to the choir’s new lifestyle, she said, and it was just a matter of time before there will be song in the cathedral once again.In the meantime, “the important thing for us is that we keep on singing and doing the music. That’s what brings us together.”
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British prosecutors said on Friday they had decided to charge the wife of a U.S. diplomat over a fatal car crash in England and to seek her extradition, a decision that “disappointed” Washington.Harry Dunn, 19, died after his motorcycle was in a collision with a car driven by Sacoolas near RAF Croughton, an air force base in the English county of Northamptonshire that is used by the U.S. military.Anne Sacoolas, 42, was given diplomatic immunity and left Britain shortly after the accident, setting off a dispute between London and Washington over whether she should return to face investigation.Charlotte Charles, mother of Harry Dunn, who died after his motorbike was involved in an August 2019 accident in Britain with Anne Sacoolas, wife of an American diplomat, speaks at a news conference, Oct. 14, 2019.Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday it would charge Sacoolas with causing death by dangerous driving and had started legal proceedings.But it said it was up to the Home Office (interior ministry) to decide whether to seek Sacoolas’ extradition formally through diplomatic channels.”The Director of Public Prosecutions has met with Harry Dunn’s family to explain the basis of the decision we have made following a thorough review of the evidence available,” the CPS said in a statement.The U.S. State department expressed its disappointment.”We are disappointed by today’s announcement and fear that it will not bring a resolution closer,” a State Department spokesperson said.”The United States has been clear that, at the time the accident occurred, and for the duration of her stay in the UK, the driver in this case had status that conferred diplomatic immunities.”Dunn’s case gained international prominence when his parents met U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in October, an occasion he described as “beautiful” but “sad.”Trump hoped to persuade them meet Sacoolas, who was in the building at the same time, but they declined. They want Sacoolas to return to Britain to face police questioning about the crash.Sacoolas initially cooperated with local police after the crash, but later said she had diplomatic immunity.The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The maximum jail sentence in Britain for causing death by dangerous driving is 14 years.Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, broke down in tears after finding out charges had been brought, saying it meant she had kept a promise to her son to get him justice.”We had no idea it was going to be this hard and it would take this long, but we really do feel it is a huge step towards that promise to Harry,” she told reporters.Edward Grange, a partner at the criminal law firm Corker Binning, said Sacoolas could voluntarily attend a hearing in Britain and that if she failed to appear, it could lead to an extradition request.”The prospect of an extradition request succeeding remains to be seen, particularly in light of comment from the Trump Administration that it is very reluctant to allow its citizens to be tried abroad,” he said.
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Britain’s Prince Philip, the 98-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, was taken to a hospital Friday as a precaution for treatment of an existing condition, Buckingham Palace said. 
 
Philip, whose official title is the Duke of Edinburgh, traveled from the royal family’s Sandringham home in Norfolk, eastern England, to King Edward VII Hospital in London for observation and treatment, the palace said in a statement. 
 
“The admission is a precautionary measure, on the advice of His Royal Highness’ Doctor,” it said. 
 
A royal source said it was not an emergency admission and that the prince was able to walk into the hospital. He was expected to stay there for a few days. 
 
Philip, who has been at his wife’s side throughout her record-breaking 67 years on the throne, retired from public life in August 2017, although he has occasionally appeared at official engagements since. 
 
He has not been seen in public since the wedding of Elizabeth’s first cousin once removed, Gabriella Windsor, in May at Windsor Castle, local media reported. Queen’s schedule unaffected
 
The 93-year-old queen carried out the official opening of Parliament on Thursday and Philip’s illness did not disrupt her plans as she was pictured arriving in Norfolk on Friday before heading to Sandringham, where the royal family traditionally gathers for Christmas. 
 
Philip, outspoken, irascible and intensely private, and with a reputation for brusque comments and occasional gaffes, has needed hospital treatment several times in recent years. 
 
In 2011, he spent Christmas in a hospital after an operation to clear a blocked artery in his heart, and he missed the end of celebrations to mark his wife’s 60th year on the throne in 2012 after being hospitalized with a bladder infection. 
 
The Greek-born former naval officer then underwent “an exploratory operation following abdominal investigations” in 2013. 
 
He was admitted to a hospital in 2017 for treatment for an infection, also arising from a pre-existing condition, and last year he had hip replacement surgery that required a 10-day stay. Traffic accidentIn January this year, he escaped unhurt when his Land Rover flipped over after a collision with another car near the Sandringham estate. He then had to give up his driving license after police gave him a warning for driving without wearing a seat belt two days later. 
 
Elizabeth has described Philip, whom she married at London’s Westminster Abbey in 1947, as her “strength and stay” during her long reign. The couple, whose relationship has been dramatized in the popular Netflix TV program The Crown, celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary in November. 
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Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro lashed out at journalists on Friday, saying one had a homosexual’s “face” in a remark that was promptly mocked by the president’s critics.A visibly upset Bolsonaro accused the press of bias against him and his son, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro. Prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro are investigating allegations the younger Bolsonaro hired employees with no duties while he was a state legislator. Another investigation is probing whether those “phantom” workers kicked back part of their salaries to then be laundered through a chocolate shop he co-owns.In a video posted to Facebook, the younger Bolsonaro has delivered a lengthy denial of all wrongdoing.FILE – Flavio Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro, is seen behind him at the transition government building in Brasilia, Nov. 27, 2018.The drone of accusations has been a thorn in the side of President Bolsonaro, who was elected on an anti-crime platform to purge the political class of corruption. He has routinely attacked the credibility of mainstream media, particularly targeting the goliath Globo, for unfair coverage.At a routine morning meeting with journalists in the capital, the president complained that media have accused him of being a racist and committing crimes against the environment. Then he told one reporter, “Your face looks an awful lot like a homosexual’s, but that’s no reason to accuse you of being a homosexual.”The comment was met with laughs from his aides and supporters standing nearby.Meanwhile some politicians, journalists and other Brazilians turned to social media, posting selfies with the caption “awfully homosexual face.” Jean Wyllys, an openly gay former lawmaker who often clashed Bolsonaro when the two served in Congress, was an early participant of the online movement.”‘An awfully homosexual face.’ With pride!” Wyllys, now a professor at Harvard University’s Afro-Latin American Research Institute, wrote on his Twitter feed.History of offensive rhetoric Bolsonaro has a history of making derogatory remarks about women, gay people and racial minorities, including on last year’s campaign trail. Such offensive rhetoric has diminished since he took office at the beginning of this year.Asked at the morning briefing whether he had proof that a suspicious deposit into his wife’s bank account was merely repayment of a debt, Bolsonaro instructed the journalist, “Ask your mother if she gave your dad a receipt,” prompting a cheer from his supporters. He then asked whether the reporter had a receipt for his shoes. “No, you don’t have it!” he concluded.Bolsonaro also complained that details of a sealed investigation have consistently leaked to the press. “Is the process under seal or not? Answer! Answer, damn it!” he said, and then accused Rio’s prosecutors’ office of having a “direct line” to Globo’s news channel.In a statement published Friday, Globo said that while it took pride in delivering breaking news to its audience, it had not been the first publication to reveal information on the prosecutors’ investigations into Sen. Bolsonaro.
 
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As Venezuelans head to the polls next month, top U.S. officials are pressing for free elections for the National Assembly and the presidency, saying the vote is crucial to the country emerging from its deep political crisis.U.S. officials also are urging authorities to “unconditionally release” all persons being detained for political reasons.Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s 2018 reelection is considered to be illegitimate by many nations in the Western Hemisphere. The United States and more than 50 other countries now recognize National Assembly leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.On Jan. 5, the Venezuelan National Assembly will vote on its president for 2020. Guaido is seeking reelection, a year after declaring himself to be the country’s interim leader.FILE – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognized as the country’s rightful interim ruler, gestures as he speaks during an extraordinary session of Venezuela’s National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 17, 2019.U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams sounded hopeful Friday that opposition leader Guaido will win.”I think that at least as of now, he has the votes to be reelected,” said Abrams during a press briefing at the State Department.Allegations of briberyThe U.S. envoy said the Maduro government is “using a combination of threats, arrests and bribes up to 500,000 dollars per vote” to stop the reelection but “it’s not widespread enough to change the outcome.”U.S. officials took note that Russia and China, Maduro’s major supporters, have not offered any investment or loans to Venezuela in the last six months.”I think it’s striking that they don’t seem to be willing to give him another dime because they know it will be stolen or wasted. I think they know the regime is going to go,” said Abrams.A recent U.N. report painted a grim picture of Venezuela as a dysfunctional society. Citing data, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said thousands of people continue to flee the country as its political, economic and human rights crises deepen.Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Jorge Valero, disputed the report’s findings, saying there is no humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
 
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The presidents of Belarus and Russia met Friday to discuss deeper economic ties between the two close allies amid mounting concerns in Minsk that Moscow ultimately wants to subdue its neighbor.The meeting in St. Petersburg is the second encounter between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko this month.Greeting Lukashenko at the start of Friday’s talks, Putin said some progress on resolving outstanding issues has been made.But Russia’s Economics Minister Maxim Oreshkin said after the talks that the parties have failed to resolve the key differences over oil and gas.Demonstrators protest closer integration with Russia, which protesters fear could erode the post-Soviet independence of Belarus, in downtown in Minsk, Belarus, Dec. 20, 2019.The negotiations have triggered opposition rallies in Belarus, where many fear that closer ties with Russia could weaken Belarus’ independence. Another protest is scheduled for Friday evening.Putin, who marks two decades in power later this month, remained coy about his political future after his current term ends in 2024.He dodged a question Thursday if he could potentially extend his rule by shifting into a new governing position to become the head of a union between Russia and Belarus.Russia and Belarus signed a union agreement in 1997 that envisaged close political, economic and military ties, but stopped short of forming a single nation.Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for more than a quarter-century with little tolerance for dissent, relies on cheap Russian energy and loans to shore up his country’s Soviet-style economy.Russian pressureThe Kremlin has recently raised pressure on Belarus, increasing energy prices and cutting subsidies. Russian officials say Minsk should accept closer economic integration if it wants to benefit from lower energy prices.In an apparent bid to win concessions, Lukashenko on Friday emphasized Belarus’ role as Russia’s military ally and security partner, an argument he has used repeatedly in the past to get more subsidies from Moscow.”We have created a single defense space and our security agencies gave worked in close contact,” Lukashenko told Putin at the start of their talks.But the Russian president has signaled that such tactics won’t work. He argued that Belarus can’t get Russia’s domestic prices for its oil and gas unless it agrees to closely coordinate economic and financial policies and create interstate structures.”It’s a huge work, and it can be done only if there is a political will shared by both sides,” Putin said at his annual news conference Thursday.
 
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British lawmakers gave preliminary approval Friday to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill, clearing the way for the U.K. to leave the European Union next month.The House of Commons voted 358-234 for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.It will receive more scrutiny and possible amendment next month, and also has to be approved by Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords. But Johnson’s commanding Conservative majority in Parliament means it is almost certain to become law in January. Britain will then leave the EU on Jan. 31.Johnson said Friday that passing the bill would end the “acrimony and anguish” that has consumed the country since it voted in 2016 to leave the EU. Opponents argue that leaving the EU will only trigger more uncertainty over Britain’s future trade relations with the bloc.Friday’s vote was a moment of triumph for Johnson, who won a commanding parliamentary majority in last week’s general election on a promise to end more than three years of political gridlock and lead Britain out of the European Union on Jan. 31.Lawmakers await the result of the vote on The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill in the House of Commons in London, Dec. 20, 2019.’Move forward together’The U.K.’s departure will open a new phase of Brexit, as Britain and the EU race to strike new relationships for trade, security and host of other areas by the end of 2020.Johnson, however, painted Friday’s vote as a moment of closure. Opening debate on the bill he said, optimistically, that after Jan. 31, “Brexit will be done, it will be over.””The sorry story of the last 3 1/2 years will be at an end and we will be able to move forward together,” he said.”This is a time when we move on and discard the old labels of ‘leave’ and ‘remain,'” Johnson added. “Now is the time to act together as one reinvigorated nation.”Britain voted narrowly to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum. But previous attempts by Johnson and his predecessor, Theresa May, to pass a Brexit deal through the U.K. Parliament foundered as lawmakers objected to sections of the agreement and demanded a bigger say in the process. Johnson’s election victory finally gives him the power to get his way.”The election has produced a result: We will leave the EU at the end of January,” acknowledged pro-EU Liberal Democrat legislator Wera Hobhouse. “The battle to stop Brexit is over.”Johnson: No more delaysThe bill commits Britain to leaving the EU on Jan. 31 and to concluding trade talks with the bloc by the end of 2020. Trade experts and EU officials say striking a free trade deal within 11 months will be a struggle, but Johnson insists he won’t agree to any more delays, The Brexit bill has been amended to bar ministers from agreeing to extend the transition period with the EU.That has set off alarm bells among businesses, who fear that means the country will face a “no-deal” Brexit at the start of 2021. Economists say that would disrupt trade with the EU — Britain’s biggest trading partner — and plunge the U.K. into recession.Johnson said Friday he was confident of striking a “deep, special and democratically accountable partnership with those nations we are proud to call our closest friends” by the Brexit deadline.He said extending the transition period would just prolong Brexit “acrimony and anguish … a torture that came to resemble Lucy snatching away Charlie Brown’s football.”For all Johnson’s talk of “getting Brexit done” on Jan. 31, details of Britain’s negotiating stance — and even who will lead the trade talks — remain unknown.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center right, and opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn walk through the Commons Members Lobby, during the state opening of Parliament, in London, Dec. 19, 2019.Changes to Brexit bill Armed with his 80-seat majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, Johnson has stripped out parts of the Brexit bill that gave lawmakers a role in negotiating a future trade deal with the EU and required ministers to provide regular updates to Parliament. The clauses were added earlier in the year in an attempt to win opposition lawmakers’ support for the Brexit bill — backing that Johnson no longer needs.A promise that workers’ rights will not be eroded after Brexit has also been removed from the bill, although the Conservative government says it will enshrine employment rights in separate legislation.Opposition Labour Party lawmaker Hilary Benn said Johnson’s bill was “a gamble with our nation’s economy.””If he fails, the cliff-edge of a no-deal Brexit becomes in just 12 months’ time,” he said.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his 203 lawmakers would oppose the Brexit bill because of “the reckless direction in which the government and the prime minister are determined to take our country.””There is a better and fairer way for this country to leave the European Union,” he said.Even without opposition votes, the bill is expected to complete its passage through Parliament in January, in time for Britain to leave the 28-nation bloc on Jan. 31.The divorce deal also needs to be ratified by the European Parliament. European Parliament vice president Pedro Silva Pereira said officials expect that to happen by Jan. 29.Very little will change immediately after Brexit. Britain will remain an EU member in all but name during the 11-month transition period that ends in December 2020.
 
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European parties to the Iran nuclear deal are likely to trigger a dispute resolution process in January to force Tehran to rollback violations, but would stop short of rushing to restore U.N. sanctions that would kill off the accord, diplomats said.Iran has criticized Britain, France and Germany for failing to salvage the 2015 pact by shielding Tehran’s economy from U.S. sanctions, reimposed since last year when Washington exited the agreement between Iran and six major powers.The deal’s objective was to extend the time Iran would need to accumulate enough fissile material for an atom bomb, if it sought one —  something sometimes referred to as “breakout time” — to about a year from 2-3 months. The Europeans are alarmed Tehran’s latest moves will start eating into that time.Washington wants to force Iran to negotiate a broader deal that includes its nuclear activities, ballistic missile program and regional influence.In reaction to Washington’s “maximum pressure”, Iran, a longtime U.S. foe, has gradually reduced its commitments under the deal, including resuming enriching uranium at its underground Fordow plant and rapidly accelerating enrichment with advanced centrifuge machines also banned by the deal.On Jan. 6 Iran will further distance itself from compliance with the deal, according to Iranian officials, to amplify its warnings about the dire consequences of renewing U.N. sanctions.Six European and Western diplomats said the so-called E3 of Britain, France and Germany had agreed in principle to begin the process, although they would still wait to see how significant Iran’s latest steps were before taking a final decision.”Launching the process aims to resolve the problematic issues and save the deal,” said a European diplomatic source.”It’s not automatic that U.N sanctions will follow. If we decided to do that (reimpose U.N. sanctions) it would mean that we have decided to put the final nail in the coffin.”Under the terms of the 2015 deal, if any party believes another is not upholding their commitments they can refer the issue to a Joint Commission comprising Iran, Russia, China, the three European powers, and the European Union.They then have 15 days to resolve their differences, but can choose to extend the period by consensus between all the parties.However, if it is not extended the process escalates and can ultimately lead to the reimposition of sanctions that were in place under previous U.N. resolutions – known as a “snapback” —  unless the U.N. Security Council decided otherwise.Diplomats said that unless Iran’s upcoming violations crossed an unacceptable threshold, the Europeans would focus on extending the process rather than pushing towards sanctions. It is unclear what the breaking point for the European powers is.US snapback? “This is not a step we want to take but Iran’s actions are leaving us little option other than to respond within the parameters of the agreement,” Britain’s envoy to the U.N. Karen Pierce said.”Should we be forced down the path of triggering the DRM (mechanism) we would do so in order to find a diplomatic way forward with the aim of protecting the agreement.”Three diplomats said the E3, in particular France, were lobbying Russia and China to get them on board to show unity between the five, even though Moscow and Beijing oppose launching the process for now.A senior Iranian official involved in nuclear talks said Iran had been informed the E3 wanted to launch the mechanism.”If they do it, Iran will act accordingly. If they want to save this deal, they have to keep their promises, otherwise Iran will take further steps,” he said, adding that the Europeans were being bullied by the United States.The Europeans could also back down should Iran not act in January. They are hoping the first transaction as part of a humanitarian trade channel they have been working on for more than a year could be a small carrot to convince Tehran to reassess its position.Coinciding with the European move, the U.S. State Department issued a legal reasoning seen by Reuters that concluded that the United States can trigger the “snapback” provisions of the nuclear deal despite having pulled out of the agreement, a stance that could increase pressure on the Europeans to do so.”There isn’t a direct link between the two (the European move and the U.S. legal reasoning), but we have always made it clear we want the Europeans to return to sanctions,” a U.S. official said. “That continues to be the case.”
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British lawmakers are set to hold their first major vote on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill Friday. It is all but certain to be approved by the country’s new Conservative-dominated Parliament.The vote to approve the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in principle will set Britain on course to leave the European Union as scheduled on Jan. 31. That was the key campaign promise of Johnson, who won a commanding parliamentary majority in last week’s U.K. general election.Previous attempts to pass a Brexit deal through the U.K. Parliament foundered as lawmakers objected to sections of the agreement and demanded a bigger say in the process. But Johnson’s victory gives him the power to get his way.The bill commits Britain to leaving the EU on Jan. 31 and to concluding trade talks with the bloc by the end of 2020. Trade experts and EU officials say striking a free trade deal within 11 months will be a struggle, but Johnson insists he won’t agree to any more delays, and the bill has been amended to bar ministers from agreeing to extend the transition period with the EU.That has set off alarm bells among businesses, who fear that means the country will face a “no-deal” Brexit at the start of 2021.Johnson has stripped out parts of the bill which gave lawmakers a role in negotiating a future trade deal with the EU and required ministers to provide regular updates to Parliament. The clauses were added earlier in the year in an attempt to win opposition lawmakers’ support — backing that Johnson no longer needs.A promise that workers’ rights will not be eroded after Brexit has also been removed, though the government says it will enshrine employment rights in separate legislation.The bill is expected to complete its passage through Parliament in January, in time for Britain to leave the 28-nation bloc on Jan. 31.The divorce deal also needs to be ratified by the European Parliament. European Parliament vice president Pedro Silva Pereira said officials expect that to happen by Jan. 29.Very little will change immediately after Brexit. Britain will remain an EU member in all but name during the 11-month transition period that ends in December 2020.
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The Vatican office responsible for processing clergy sex abuse complaints has seen a record 1,000 cases reported from around the world this year, including from countries it had not heard from before — suggesting that the worst may be yet to come in a crisis that has plagued the Catholic Church.Nearly two decades after the Vatican assumed responsibility for reviewing all cases of abuse, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is today overwhelmed, struggling with a skeleton staff that hasn’t grown at pace to meet the four-fold increase in the number of cases arriving in 2019 compared to a decade ago.“I know cloning is against Catholic teaching, but if I could actually clone my officials and have them work three shifts a day or work seven days a week,” they might make the necessary headway, said Monsignor John Kennedy, the head of the congregation’s discipline section, which processes the cases.“We’re effectively seeing a tsunami of cases at the moment, particularly from countries where we never heard from (before),” Kennedy said, referring to allegations of abuse that occurred for the most part years or decades ago. Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Italy and Poland have joined the U.S. among the countries with the most cases arriving at the congregation, known as the CDF.Kennedy spoke to The Associated Press and allowed an AP photographer and video journalists into the CDF’s inner chambers — the first time in the tribunal’s history that visual news media have been given access. Even the Vatican’s most secretive institution now feels the need to show some transparency as the church hierarchy seeks to rebuild trust with rank-and-file Catholics who have grown disillusioned with decades of clergy abuse and cover-up.Pope Francis took a step towards showing greater transparency with his decision this week to abolish the so-called “pontifical secret” that governs the processing of abuse cases to increase cooperation with civil law enforcement.But the CDF’s struggles remain, and are emblematic of the overall dysfunction of the church’s in-house legal system, which relies on bishops and religious superiors, some with no legal experience or qualified canon lawyers on staff, to investigate allegations of sexual abuse that even the most seasoned criminal prosecutors have difficulty parsing. The system itself is built on an inherent conflict of interest, with a bishop asked to weigh the claim of an unknown alleged victim against the word of a priest who he considers a spiritual son.Despite promises of “zero tolerance” and accountability, the adoption of new laws and the creation of expert commissions, the Vatican finds itself still struggling to reckon with the problem of predator priests — a scourge that first erupted publicly in Ireland and Australia in the 1990s, the U.S. in 2002, parts of Europe beginning in 2010 and Latin America last year.“I suppose if I weren’t a priest and if I had a child who were abused, I’d probably stop going to Mass,” said Kennedy, who saw first-hand how the church in his native Ireland lost its credibility over the abuse scandal.“I’d probably stop having anything to do with the church because I’d say, ’Well, if you can’t look after children, well, why should I believe you?”But he said the Vatican was committed to fighting abuse and just needed more time to process the cases. “We’re going to look at it forensically and guarantee that the just outcome will be given,” he said in an interview.“It’s not about winning people back, because faith is something that is very personal,” he added. “But at least we give people the opportunity to say, ‘Well, maybe give the church a second chance to hear the message.’”___Located in a mustard-colored palazzo just inside the Vatican gates, the CDF serves as the central processing center for abuse cases as well as an appeals court for accused priests under the church’s canon law, a parallel legal system to civil law enforcement that dispenses ecclesial justice.In the past, when the CDF was known as the Holy Office or the Sacred Roman and Universal Inquisition, such church punishments involved burnings at the stake for heretics and publishing lists of banned books that the faithful were forbidden to read.Today, CDF justice tends more toward ordering errant priests to prayer, penance and prohibition from celebrating Mass in public. In fact the worst punishment handed down by the church’s canon law, even for serial child rapists, is essentially being fired, or dismissed from the clerical state.While priests sometimes consider defrockings to be equivalent to a death sentence, such seemingly minor sanctions for such heinous crimes have long outraged victims, whose lives are forever scarred by their abuse. But recourse to church justice is sometimes all the victims have, given the statutes of limitations for pursuing criminal charges or civil litigation have often long since passed by the time a survivor comes to terms with the trauma and decides to report the abuse to authorities — usually to prevent further harm.’’I wanted to make sure that this priest does not have access to any children,” said Paul Peloquin, a Catholic clinical psychologist and abuse survivor who reported his abuser to the archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1990.By then, church authorities had known for decades that the Rev. Earl Bierman groped young boys, and they had sent him off for therapy. But his bishops kept putting him back in ministry, where he is believed to have abused upwards of 70 children. A Kentucky jury convicted him in 1993 and sentenced him to 20 years in prison, where he died in 2005.Peloquin, however, never received a reply to his initial complaint to his bishop.“It just made me angry,” said Peloquin, who now counsels victims from a faith-based perspective that emphasizes forgiveness in healing. “It seemed like they would have called me up right away and said, ‘Let’s hear about what you’ve got to say.’”Because of cases like his, where the bishop ignored the victim, protected the pedophile and placed the church’s reputation above all else, the CDF under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2001 persuaded Pope John Paul II to centralize the process.The aim was to crack down on abusers and provide bishops and religious superiors with needed guidance to punish the priests rather than move them around from parish to parish, where they could abuse again. At no time has the Vatican ever mandated superiors report abusers to police, though it has insisted they cooperate with civil reporting laws.The 2001 revision calls for bishops and religious superiors who receive an allegation to conduct a preliminary investigation, which in the U.S. is often done with the help of a lay review board.If the bishop finds the claim has a semblance of truth, he sends the documentation to the CDF which tells the bishop how to proceed: via a full-blown canonical trial, a more expedited “administrative” procedure, or something else, including having the CDF itself take over the investigation.Over the ensuing months and years, the bishop continues the investigation in consultation with the CDF. Eventually the bishop reaches a verdict and a sanction, up to and including dismissal from the clerical state, or laicization.If the priest accepts the penalty, the case ends there. If he appeals, the case comes to the CDF for a final decision.From 2004 to 2014 — roughly the years of Benedict’s papacy with a year on each bookend — some 848 priests were defrocked around the world and another 2,572 were sanctioned to lesser penalties, according to Vatican statistics.The Vatican hasn’t published updated statistics since then, but Benedict’s get-tough defrocking approach has seemingly gone unmatched by Francis. The Jesuit pope appears more swayed by arguments that the church and society are better served if abusers remain in the priesthood, albeit out of active ministry with young people, so they are at least under surveillance by their superiors and not able to have access to children in other jobsThe appeals are decided in an ivory damask-walled conference room on the first floor of the Palazzo Sant’Uffizio, the CDF headquarters a stones’ throw from St. Peter’s Square.The room is dominated by a massive wooden crucifix on the wall that faces St. Peter’s Basilica, and, in each corner of the room, a closed-circuit TV camera peering down on CDF staff.The cameras record the debates on DVDs for the CDF’s own archives and in case the pope ever wants to see what transpired.It is wretched work, reading through case files filled with text messages of priests grooming their victims, psychological evaluations of pedophiles, and heart-numbing letters from men and women who were violated as children and are finally coming to terms with their traumas.“There are times when I am pouring over cases that I want to get up and scream, that I want to pack up my things and leave the office and not come back,” Kennedy told Catholic journalists in the U.S. earlier this year.Nearly 20 years after the CDF assumed responsibility for the cases, it has processed 6,000 abuse cases, and at one point Francis lamented that it had a backlog of 2,000. But the CDF now must cope with the globalization of the scandal that in 2001 seemed to be largely confined to the English-speaking world.Today, the CDF counts just 17 officials, with occasional help from other CDF staff, plus the superiors. Kennedy said he was planning to bring in a Brazilian, Polish and bilingual American canonist to help offset the expected departures of current CDF staff and to process cases from countries that are only now having a reckoning with abuse.But there are still countries the CDF has never heard from — a scenario that suggests “either that they’re all saints or we don’t know about them yet,” Kennedy told AP.The implication is that victims are still cowed, and bishops are still covering up cases. A new Vatican law mandates all abuse and cover-up be reported to church officials, but there is no automatic penalty if anyone fails to do so.Not even in the U.S., which has the most stringent reporting mechanisms in place, is there any way to ensure that bishops are forwarding allegations to the CDF as required.“There has never been independent review of diocesan compliance with that law,” said the Rev. James Connell, a canon lawyer who represents abuse survivors.___Walk into the Pontifical Gregorian University library, climb up the spiral staircase to the legal stacks and you’ll find volume after volume of “Decisiones Seu Sententiae” — the Latin-language legal decisions from one of the Holy See’s main tribunals, the Roman Rota.The tomes contain hundreds of decrees of petitions to nullify Catholic marriages from around the world — the Vatican-stamped paperwork Catholics need to remarry in the church after divorcing.But there is no such jurisprudence published for the Vatican’s other main tribunal, the CDF. None of those rulings are ever published. And that is because until this past week, abuse cases were covered by the highest form of confidentiality in the church, the so-called “pontifical secret.”St. John Paul II decreed that abuse cases would be kept under such tight secrecy in 2001, and defenders argued it was the best way to protect the privacy of the victim, the reputation of the accused and the integrity of the process.Critics said the pontifical secret was used to keep the scandal hidden, prevent police from acquiring internal documentation and silence victims. The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a scathing denunciation of the secrecy in 2014, and victims long complained how it retraumatized them:Many were held to secrecy for decades by their abusers, only to have the church re-traumatize them by imposing secrecy on them when they finally found the courage to report the crime.In announcing the abolition of the highest confidentiality in abuse cases, the Vatican said the reform would facilitate cooperation with civil law enforcement, since bishops would no longer be able to hide behind the pontifical secret to withhold documents.The argument was striking, given that it amounted to an explicit admission that bishops had used the pontifical secret as an excuse to refuse cooperation when prosecutors, police or civil authorities demanded internal paperwork.In more academic terms, the lack of published CDF jurisprudence means no bishop or religious superior has case law to refer to when he receives a new allegation that one of his priests has raped a child: He can’t read up on how the Vatican or his brother bishops have handled a similar set of facts in the past, since none of the cases are published.No seminarian studying canon law can cite case studies in preparing his thesis about how the Catholic Church has responded to the abuse scandal. No academic, journalist, victim or ordinary Catholic has any real idea how the Catholic Church has adjudicated these cases in any systematic way.The Rev. D.G. Astigueta, a Jesuit canonist at the Gregorian, has said such institutional secrecy surrounding abuse case harms the development and practice of the church’s own law.“Canonical science doesn’t only grow and develop from a reflection by experts or the production of new laws, but also by jurisprudence, the way of interpreting the law by judges and lawyers,” he told a 2017 conference.He called for greater transparency by the CDF so that today’s canon lawyers, especially those studying in Rome, could have easy access to case files and thus have “teaching based not just on theory but practice.”He is not alone. For the past several years, Vatican-affiliated universities in Rome have hosted conferences on seeking a new equilibrium between the need to protect the integrity of the investigation while looking out in particular for the needs of the victims.Three of the official speakers at Francis’ big sex abuse summit in February called for a reform of the pontifical secret, and the Vatican’s leading sex crimes investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, was the primary driver behind the reform.In another change to church law this year, Francis decreed that victims cannot be silenced, and have the right to learn the outcomes of their cases. But they are still largely kept out of the process, after making an initial complaint.“They are that person who has been harmed. And it would seem to be natural justice that they should know what is being done what is being said in their absence,” said Marie Collins, an Irish survivor who quit Francis’ child protection commission in frustration in part over what she said was the CDF’s intransigence and obsession with secrecy.And the length of time the cases take benefits no one, she added.The CDF is due to soon publish a step-by-step guidebook for bishops and religious superiors to refer to so they can process cases, and two researchers are currently hard at work in Kennedy’s office, entering case details into a database so the CDF can generate a statistical analysis of the cases it has processed over the past two decades.Kennedy said he needs more funding to complete the project, and said more transparency could be possible down the line.“I think eventually we will get to the point of publishing jurisprudence, like the way the Roman Rota does,” he said. The aim would be to redact names and revealing details, but show “the broad parameters of what it is that we do.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference with journalists on Thursday — a more than four-hour freewheeling event highlighted by swipes at the push to impeach President Donald Trump and suggestions that an adjustment to Russia’s constitution could extend to Putin’s hold on power when his current term ends in 2024.  The annual press conference, now in its 15th year, long ago morphed into an exercise that paints Putin as the indispensable leader of the nation. The Russian leader was as comfortable reeling off the wages of doctors in far-flung Russian regions as he was discussing key global events.     This year’s event came a day after congressional Democrats voted to impeach President Donald Trump — the third time in U.S. history an American leader was formally sanctioned by Congress.There was intense interest in what Putin might say about a process that has put allegations of Russian election interference — and unproven conspiracies of meddling by neighboring Ukraine in U.S. politics — under the microscope in Washington.   Yet when prompted, Putin appeared to echo White House talking points, arguing the impeachment process was a sham launched by Democrats for “completely fabricated reasons.””This is nothing but a continuation of an internal political struggle, with the party that lost the election, the Democratic Party, trying to reach its goal by different means,” Putin said.  The Democrats tried to overturn the 2016 U.S. election results with an investigation into Russian meddling, he added. Having failed at that, “it’s now Ukraine’s turn,” the Russian leader said.   Addressing another key issue in U.S.-Russian relations, Putin reiterated his calls for the immediate extension of New START, the sole remaining agreement limiting nuclear weapons, and the subject of recent negotiations between Moscow and Washington earlier this month.   People watch a broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual end-of-year news conference, in a library in Kaliningrad, Russia, Dec. 19, 2019.”We are ready until the end of the year to extend the existing agreement, the New START treaty,” said Putin. “But thus far, there has been no answer to any of our suggestions. And without a New START treaty, there is nothing to curb an arms race. And that, in my opinion, is bad.”Bread and butterOn the domestic front, Putin faced questions ranging from concerns over climate change in Russia’s North, long-simmering anger over the disposal of trash from Russia’s major urban centers, breakdowns in health care, declining salaries and demographics, as well as criticism over laws that do little to protect Russian women from domestic violence, among other issues.   The government was aware of the problems, argued Putin, while acknowledging that more work was needed.   The press conference is a rare occasion — some would argue a once-in-a-lifetime lottery — for Russian journalists to inform Putin of issues that he seemingly would fix if he was aware of them.What were his plans to tackle lower doctor wages in the Urals? The prohibitively expensive flights from the Far East? Blatant police corruption and abuse? What would he do to protect Russian athletes smeared by doping scandals?   With domestic problems piling up, a Bulgarian journalist launched into a prayer for the Russian leader. It was met with scattered applause.  Ukraine impassePutin also assessed recent talks aimed at ending the five-year war between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in east Ukraine’s Donbass region that has killed over 13,000 people.FILE – Members of the Donbass self-defense battalion attend a ceremony to swear an oath to be included in a reserve battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine near Kyiv, June 23, 2014.The Russian leader acknowledged some progress with newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but he still blamed Kyiv for failing to engage in direct talks with rebels under the stalled Minsk peace accords negotiated with European powers.  “Direct dialogue on Donbass is needed,” said Putin. “You can’t solve the problem by force.”Yet the Russian leader again refused to concede — despite well-documented evidence — that Russian mercenaries and army regulars had played a role in the uprising.”There are few Germans and French fighting there,” said Putin, noting their numbers weren’t significant enough to alter the battle terrain.Beyond Putin?But the domestic headline of the day was Putin’s hint — seemingly out of the blue — that an adjustment to constitutional term limits may be needed to keep qualified politicians in office.  “One thing that could be changed about these terms is removing the clause on successive terms,” he said, when asked about increasing political competition in Russia by the state RIA-Novosti News Service.  “Your humble servant served two terms consecutively, then left his post, but with the constitutional right to return to the post of president again, because these two terms were not successive,” added Putin.  “Some of our political analysts and public figures are troubled by this. Well, maybe it could be removed.”The comment was widely interpreted as a key signal of Putin’s possible intentions when his current term ends in 2024 after nearly a quarter-century in power.  A deadly attackDespite the event’s tradition as the key year-end news event in Russia, Putin’s performance was later upstaged by a deadly armed assault on the main building of the Federal Security Services (FSB), the former KGB headquarters in downtown Moscow where Putin briefly headed operations in the late 1990s.The attack coincided with celebrations marking Russia’s intelligence services, commonly known by Russians as Chekist’s Day.   Putin, himself a career KGB officer in the Soviet Union, was celebrating Chekist’s Day at the Kremlin when the attack occurred.  According to the FSB, one agent was killed and five others wounded after an armed gunman opened fire inside the compound. Witness video from the scene showed pedestrians fleeing the scene as shots rang out.  The Interfax news agency quoted FSB sources as saying the shooter was later “neutralized.”   An investigation into the motive and timing of the attack was under way.  
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Canada’s minister of health, Patty Hajdu, on Thursday proposed banning promotion and advertising of vaping products in public spaces, convenience stores and online, in an effort to curb youth use of e-cigarettes.Hajdu also announced new mandatory health warnings on vaping product packaging.The proposed regulations come amid growing fears surrounding vaping’s safety and mounting evidence that youth vaping is on the rise both among people who once smoked and those who had not.FILE – Canada’s Minister of Health Patty Hajdu speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Dec. 10, 2019.While e-cigarettes are marketed as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes and a means to help smokers quit, health officials are concerned they are getting a new generation hooked on nicotine.The number of Canadian teens who said they had vaped in the past month doubled from 10% to 20% between 2017-’18 and 2018-’19, according to the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey.”The latest statistics … are alarming,” Hajdu said in a news release. “We are working with experts and all Canadians to find ways to prevent youth from vaping. The new measures announced today will help, but there is more to do.”In an interview with the CBC public broadcaster, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the measures a “first step.””There’s a lot more information to gather,” he said. “We are very worried about the reports of the extremely negative impacts of vaping.”A U.S. study released earlier this week found that e-cigarette use significantly increases the risk of developing chronic lung conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
 
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A jailed Catalan separatist leader was entitled to immunity as a member of the European Parliament, the EU’s highest court ruled on Thursday.Oriol Junqueras was sentenced to 13 years in prison in October for his role in a 2017 Catalan independence referendum that was deemed illegal by Spanish courts. He was elected an MEP while in prison awaiting the verdict and has not been able to take up his seat.The EU court ruled anyone elected to the European Parliament “enjoys immunities” to travel and take part in parliamentary sessions and an MEP cannot be subject to detention or legal proceedings because of views expressed or votes cast.The immunity does not, however, apply to an MEP who has committed an offense. The Spanish Supreme Court, which had referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), must now decide how to comply with the verdict.Junqueras’ lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde told reporters the ruling should push Spain’s Supreme Court to overturn his client’s conviction and grant his immediate release from jail.”I believe that, one way or another, the State Attorney must accept we are right,” he said at a news conference outside the prison where Junqueras is being held.The ruling could jeopardize efforts by Spain’s Socialists to court Junqueras’ Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) party, whose support they need to form a government and break a political deadlock after two inconclusive elections this year.ERC’s parliamentary spokesperson Marta Vilalta said the party would not return to negotiations until the Socialists and the state attorney react to the verdict.”What they do and say is very important to show that indeed they are abandoning … the path of repression and are seriously embracing the political path,” she said.The acting government said the state attorney would analyze the ruling and present findings in the coming days and that it wanted “a new phase of dialog, negotiations and agreement” on Catalonia.The EU court did not examine Junqueras’ criminal case and sentencing. The ruling only responds to the Supreme Court’s questions on the impact of Junqueras being elected as a European lawmaker, a CJEU source said.If Spanish authorities had wanted to prevent Junqueras from traveling to the European Parliament, they would have had to request the Parliament waive his immunity, the ruling said.Other Catalan leadersTwo other Catalan politicians won European Parliament seats in May but fears of returning to Spain, where they face arrest warrants, prevented them from collecting their MEP credentials. Carles Puigdemont and Antoni Comin are both living in self-imposed exile in Belgium.”Today European justice did more to resolve the (Catalan) conflict than two years of repression by Spanish governments and the shameful silence of the European institutions,” Puigdemont said at a news conference in Brussels.He described Spain’s continuing imprisonment of Junqueras after today’s ruling as a “kidnapping.”Separately, a Barcelona court ruled the pro-independence president of Catalonia’s regional government, Quim Torra, should be barred from holding public office for 18 months after he refused to remove symbols of support for jailed separatists from public buildings during April’s election campaign. Torra said he would appeal.
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The son of Russian spies who was born in Canada and was stripped of his citizenship after his parents were arrested for espionage in the United States is a Canadian national, the country’s top court ruled  Thursday.
Canada’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld an earlier federal court ruling that said a 2014 administrative decision to strip Alexander Vavilov of his citizenship was unreasonable. Vavilov was born in Canada in 1994, as was his brother, Timothy, four years earlier.
“The judges said that Mr. Vavilov was a Canadian citizen,” according to the ruling.
The hit TV series The Americans was based partly on the story of Vavilov’s family. His parents came to Canada in the 1980s under deep cover and assumed names, with the mission to immerse themselves in Western society. The family later moved to Boston, where Vavilov’s parents were arrested in 2010 and charged with spying.
Vavilov’s parents returned to Russia in a spy swap. Both brothers were also sent to Russia. Alexander said he had no idea that his parents were spies until they were arrested.
Children born in Canada normally automatically become Canadian citizens, but the country’s Registrar of Citizenship said Alexander was an exception because his parents had been like diplomats — representatives or employees of a foreign government.
The Supreme Court upheld a previous federal appeals court ruling saying that Vavilov’s parents did not enjoy the “privileges and immunities” of diplomats and so the exception could not be applied to their son.
Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova used the aliases Donald Heathfield and Tracey Ann Foley — names lifted from two Canadian children who had died in infancy. They later admitted their real names to U.S. authorities.
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Police on Thursday arrested more than 300 suspected members of the ‘Ndrangheta criminal organization in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Bulgaria in a major mafia crackdown.In Italy alone, 2,500 officers participated in raids that also targeted property valued at 15 million euros ($16.7 million), focusing on the Calabrian town of Vibo Valentina, but extending through much of the country.The arrested included a former lawmaker, an ex-regional official, a mayor in Calabria, a political party official and a Carabinieri commander previously assigned to the Calabrian capital.The suspects were being held on suspicion of extortion, murder money-laundering and belonging to a Mafia organization.”It is the biggest operation since the maxi-trial of Palermo,” anti-Mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told the news agency ANSA. He referred to a trial against the Sicilian mafia that lasted from 1986 to early 1992 that led to the convictions of more than 300 people, considered the most significant trial ever against the Sicilian Mafia.”We have completely disrupted the clans of Vibo province, but Italian regions were involved from the Alps to Sicily,” Gratteri saidThe Calabrian `Ndrangheta has increasingly eclipsed the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in power and wealth, infiltrating all sectors of Italian economic and political life. From Calabria, it has spread its tentacles to northern Italy, where it migrated in the 1970s and 1980s, to Germany, and as far away as Canada and Australia.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is warning of another refugee exodus from Syria as government forces there conduct airstrikes against rebel targets in Idlib province. With Russian forces backing the assault, Ankara and Moscow face a looming threat to their recent warming ties.”Now, there are 50,000 people coming to our lands from Idlib. We already host 4 million people, and now, an additional 50,000 are coming. Maybe this figure will increase even further,” Erdogan said Thursday at the Kuala Lumpur summit of Muslim world leaders in Malaysia.Erdogan gave no details on whether any of the refugees had reached the Turkish border. Idlib province is the last main rebel-controlled area in Syria. Around 3 million people are believed trapped in the enclave that borders Turkey.The latest refugee exodus was triggered by the intense bombardment by Damascus, backed by Russian air power. Turkish officials say that around 200,000 refugees in Idlib are camped close to Turkey’s border, after escaping a previous Syrian government assault.”This [Idlib] crisis is not only the problem of Turkey, but it’s also the security problem of the European Union,” said Mesut Casin, a foreign policy adviser to Erdogan.A Syrian man comforts another on the rubble of a building after a reported Russian airstrike on a popular market in the village of Balyun in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, Dec, 7, 2019.Erdogan also renewed his criticism of the international community. “We spent over $40 billion. There is neither serious support from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees nor does the European Union fulfill the promises it gave. No one is keeping their word,” he said.Analysts say Erdogan is desperate to avoid another refugee exodus into Turkey. “He has faced the consequences of keeping so many refugees in Turkey,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc, of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.”The result was the loss of major urban centers in recent local elections, including Istanbul. Many advisers and analysts link the loss to hosting refugees,” he added.Guvenc warns a new wave of refugees could well be passed on to Europe. “Erdogan holds the threat of opening up borders to Europe. Like a sword of Damocles over the EU, he is repeatedly warning this,” said Guvenc.  Local media reports from Idlib suggest the latest offensive by Damascus could just be preparation for a major offensive to retake the enclave. “Pressure on Idlib, it makes for an explosive cocktail for everybody,” said political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Athens University. “Greece is already struggling with the steady flow of refugees coming from neighboring Turkey.”FILE – Syrian refugees are seen in a commercial district in Istanbul. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing growing domestic pressure over the presence in Turkey of over three and half million Syrian refugees. (Dorian Jones/VOA)A Damascus-led offensive would likely also put Ankara and Moscow on a collision course. Last year, Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin hammered out an agreement that guaranteed Idlib’s protection.  While Erdogan is a strong backer of the Syrian rebels and Putin of the Damascus government, the two men have increasingly cooperated in seeking to resolve Syria’s civil war.  
 
Such cooperation has fostered more extensive improvement in Turkish-Russian relations, much to the alarm of Turkey’s NATO allies.Analysts point out that given Erdogan’s strained relations with his traditional Western allies over myriad differences, a deepening relationship with Moscow makes tactical sense.  Ultimately, however, regional policy differences are predicted to be increasingly difficult to manage. “In the long run, Turkish and Russian Middle East policies do not converge, because of their two different interpretations of the situation,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.”In Idlib, Putin is committed to supporting [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad’s reclaim of control of all of the Syrian territory. For Erdogan, he is determined to defend the rebel enclave. Something will have to give,” he added.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, May 17, 2018.Some analysts suggest that Putin uses the threat of an offensive in Idlib as leverage on Ankara. The looming crisis over Idlib comes as Ankara and Moscow are facing a new dispute over Libya.Ankara appeared to have taken Moscow by surprise when Erdogan signed a security agreement last month in Istanbul with Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the Presidential Council of Libya’s Government of National Accord, or GNA. Sarraj is Libya’s internationally recognized prime minister.Under the agreement, the Tripoli-based government can invite Turkish forces to deploy in Libya. According to local media reports, Ankara is preparing a rapid action force for possible deployment.Erdogan said he was reacting to the presence of what he called “Russian Wagner mercenaries,” which are fighting for General Khalifa Haftar, the de facto leader of a rival government in eastern Libya. The Wagner Group is a private security force run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close links to the Kremlin.”I wish that the matter of Haftar would not create a new Syria in our relations with Russia,” Erdogan said in a television interview earlier this month. The two governments in Libya have been at war with each other as they jockey for power. Haftar is seeking to overthrow the GNA.Unverified reports from Libya claim the GNA has already requested Turkish military assistance. Ankara has so far not commented on the reports. Libya has been riven by turmoil and division since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Ankara is set to dispatch a diplomatic delegation to Moscow to discuss differences over Libya.Bagci says ties with Moscow “may not become sustainable” if Turkey insists on sending troops to Libya.”The party, I think, that will eventually have to step back is Turkey. Moscow has too much leverage over Turkey,” he added. 
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“I’m buying dollars, I’m buying euros,” Roly, 28, whispers furtively to tourists outside a hotel in Havana.Roly, who declined to disclose his last name for fear of reprisals, works as a “mule”, traveling abroad to buy goods to sell back in Communist-run Cuba where the black market booms due to shortages and high prices in the state-run economy.But like many Cubans, he says that he is struggling to acquire the hard currency he needs as it has become near impossible in recent weeks to obtain it legally at the country’s banks and exchange houses.Analysts say the recent elusiveness of hard currency is likely due to a deteriorating economic situation and increased demand as the government steps up moves to end Cuba’s labyrinthine dual currency system.Among those affected are Cubans who want to protect themselves from any kind of possible depreciation this complex process could entail by parking their savings in hard currency and those, like Roly, wanting to travel abroad.Neither of Cuba’s two currencies – the peso or the dollar-equivalent convertible peso (CUC) – are legal tender outside the island, where all financial institutions are state-run.”There’s been no money available at the banks or exchange houses for weeks, you have to look elsewhere,” said Roly. “I’ve spent half a day on the streets under the sun and I haven’t managed to buy a single dollar.”Cuba’s foreign exchange earnings have declined in recent years in tandem with the economic woes of its ally Venezuela and a tightening of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo under President Donald Trump, including increased restrictions on U.S. travel.Several countries such as Brazil, Bolivia and Ecuador have also ended over the past year contracts under which they hired thousands of Cuban doctors from the state. Such service exports make up most of Cuba’s hard currency earnings.In October, Cuba opened around a dozen stores selling appliances, car parts and other items for dollars, with a bank card. Economists said this should help authorities rake in some hard currency and stem capital flight through the activity of mules such as Roly.Some say establishing the “dollar stores” could also be a sign the government is bringing back the greenback to stabilize the economy during elimination of the dual currency system, at least during a transition phase.”The economy is already being dollarized, even if no-one says it” said Cuban economist Omar Everleny. “That the CUC has started to lose value…is a reality”.Cuba’s two currencies have circulated on the island at multiple exchange rates ever since the decline of Cuba’s former benefactor the Soviet Union as part of a strategy to open up the economy while shielding local industry and citizens.But the system has for years been deemed more damaging than beneficial to the economy and the government is expected to eliminate the CUC over the next year.In November, it banned its export and import. Passengers catching flights abroad have to now exchange their CUCs before passing through customs and purchase goods on the other side in tradeable currency.”For the last few weeks, they’ve not allowed us to sell hard currency, neither dollars or euros, because there’s no money,” said Miriam Gonzalez, 55, a cashier at an exchange house.”They are sending all the hard currency received here to the airport.”Even those with accounts in hard currency at Cuban banks have struggled to get their money out, sometimes having to wait for weeks, much to their frustration.”You just can’t trust our country’s banks,” said one client, who declined to give her name after attempting to withdraw 500 euros someone had transferred her from Spain. Her bank instead put her on a waiting list.”There’s no money available at the moment … it’s disrespectful.” 
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy named Volodymyr Yelchenko, 60, his envoy to Washington on Thursday. In choosing the soft-spoken but seasoned diplomat, he is putting his faith in Yelchenko to steer relations with the administration of President Donald Trump at a sensitive time.
 
Ukraine’s new envoy to Washington is no stranger to difficult situations, but he may face some of his biggest professional challenges yet, as he takes up his post in a city politically divided over whether Trump abused the power of his office by withholding military aid to Ukraine for personal political gain.
 
Yelchenko has been Kyiv’s ambassador to the United Nations since December 2015. His tenure included a two-year rotating seat on the powerful U.N. Security Council from 2016-17.
 
He came to New York at the height of the crisis in eastern Ukraine, after Russia annexed Crimea and fomented an armed separatist insurgency in the country’s east.
 
Yelchenko, though calm and even-tempered in public, did not shrink from confrontation with his legendary Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, at numerous Security Council meetings on the crisis.
 
“Ambassador Yelchenko was quiet one-on-one, but there was nothing shy about him when he represented his country in the Security Council,” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wrote of him in her recent book, “With All Due Respect.” She described the Ukrainian envoy as “a genuinely kind man,” and one of Washington’s “best friends” on the Security Council.FILE – Then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks with Ukraine’s envoy to the U.N. Volodymyr Yelchenko before a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters, in New York, Feb. 28, 2017.The Ukrainian diplomat recognized early on the value of public praise in the Trump administration, regularly complimenting Ambassador Haley on Twitter.
 
He also was never reluctant to engage with the international press corps who cover the United Nations.
 
This is Yelchenko’s second stint as U.N. ambassador, having previously held the post from 1997 to 2000. He also was Ukraine’s deputy minister for foreign affairs from 2000-2001.
 
While some might consider Washington in its current political climate a potential “hot seat” for any Ukrainian envoy, Yelchenko is a veteran of difficult postings, having been Kyiv’s ambassador to Moscow from July 2010 until December 2015.
 
Some of his former Security Council counterparts describe him as “a very talented and principled diplomat,” “extremely professional and true to the facts,” a “tough negotiator,” and having a “great sense of humor.” They express confidence he will be successful in Washington.
 
Additionally, Yelchenko has a lighter side. He is passionate about progressive and heavy metal rock music and often uses his Twitter feed to mention some of his favorite bands.Sent from Viber https://t.co/lP75IEQDt3pic.twitter.com/aAQ6XY5Jdp— Volodymyr Yelchenko (@YelchenkoUN) December 12, 2019  
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Queen Elizabeth II formally opened a new session of Britain’s Parliament on Thursday with a speech laying out Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans to use his commanding majority to take the U.K. out of the European Union and shake up the country’s public services.Johnson’s Conservative Party won an 80-strong majority in the 650-seat House of Commons last week on a pledge to “get Brexit done” by leaving the European Union on Jan. 31, and a broad promise to end years of public spending austerity.Now Johnson has to turn his election pledges into political reality.The Queen’s Speech — written by the government but read out by the monarch from atop a golden throne in the House of Lords — rattled through several dozen bills that the government plans to pass in the coming year.The first will be Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill, the law needed to make Brexit a reality. It must become law before Jan. 31 if Johnson is to stick to his timetable, and the government plans to hold the first significant vote on it Friday.The bill commits Britain to leaving the EU on Jan. 31 and to concluding trade talks with the bloc by the end of 2020. Johnson insists he won’t agree to any more delays — a vow that has set off alarm bells among businesses, who fear that means the country will face a “no-deal” Brexit at the start of 2021.Trade experts and EU officials say striking a free trade deal within 11 months will be a struggle. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday called the timetable “extremely challenging.”The government also plans to pass several other Brexit-related measures, including a new immigration system that will be introduced after Brexit, when EU citizens will lose the automatic right to live and work in the U.K., and new structures for agriculture and fishing.Johnson also promised “an ambitious program of domestic reform,” including a law committing the government to spend more on the National Health Service, which has struggled to keep up with growing demand during a decade-long funding squeeze by previous Conservative governments.There were tough-sounding announcements on law and order, including longer sentences for people convicted of terrorist offenses and other serious crimes.Several of the measures are likely to prove contentious. The government plans to set up a “Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission” that could lead to reform of the Supreme Court. The court angered the government by ruling in September that Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament was illegal.Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Britain’s Prince Charles walk through the Royal Gallery before ahead of the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament ceremony at the Palace of Westminster in London, Britain, Dec. 19, 2019.The government also intends to pass a law protecting military veterans from “vexatious” prosecutions. The question of whether veterans who served decades ago in Northern Ireland should be open to war crimes prosecution is hugely controversial.Johnson also promised to lessen regional inequality and bring greater unity to the United Kingdom, which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But Brexit is making that more difficult. Scotland voted to remain in the EU in Britain’s 2016 referendum, and last week most Scottish seats in Parliament were won by the Scottish National Party, which opposes Brexit and wants Scotland to become independent of the U.K.SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says that means Scotland should be able to hold a vote on independence, an option Scots rejected in a 2014 referendum that was billed as a “once in a generation” event.Sturgeon said Thursday she had formally written to the prime minister requesting the power to hold a new independence vote.”The alternative is a future that we have rejected being imposed upon us,” Sturgeon said in Edinburgh. “Scotland made it very clear last week it does not want a Tory government led by Boris Johnson taking us out of the European Union.”Johnson has said he will refuse, and the two sides look set for a slow-burning constitutional showdown.The Queen’s Speech was the centerpiece of the State Opening of Parliament, a blend of politics and pageantry that usually takes place about once a year. Britain saw its last state opening just two months ago, soon after Johnson took over as prime minister from Theresa May through a Conservative Party leadership contest and shortly before the early election that returned him to power.The pomp was toned down for the queen’s second visit this year. There were still officials with titles like Black Rod, scarlet-clad yeomen of the guard and lords in ermine-trimmed robes. But the 93-year-old monarch was driven from Buckingham Palace to Parliament in a car, rather than a horse-drawn carriage, and wore a pale blue dress and matching hat rather than robes and a diamond-studded crown.Johnson will make his mark on the government more decisively in the new year. He’s expected to shake up his Cabinet and merge or even eliminate some ministries — all under the guiding eye of chief adviser Dominic Cummings, a self-styled political disruptor.Johnson will also have to wait to see how Brexit affects the U.K. economy. A downturn could hamper the government’s plans to spend more on public services.Thursday’s speech will give the British public some idea of what drives Johnson, a politician whose core beliefs remain a mystery, even to his allies.He sometimes acts like a Donald Trump-style populist — dubbing his administration a “People’s Government” and banning his ministers from attending the elitist World Economic Forum next month in Davos, Switzerland. But he also claims to be a socially liberal “one nation” Tory who welcomes immigration and wants Britain to be a leader in tackling climate change.Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Conservative prime ministers from Margaret Thatcher to Theresa May all took office promising, like Johnson, to “heal the nation” and tackle social injustice.”But actually in the end they don’t want to spend too much money, they don’t want to raise taxes too high, they don’t want to regulate the economy — and actually nothing much happens,” he said. “So don’t hold your breath.” 
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A British man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to U.S. charges alleging that he and co-conspirators in an international hacking group called The Dark Overlord stole data from health care and accounting companies in Missouri, Illinois and Georgia and threatened to release the information unless they paid ransom.Nathan Francis Wyatt, 38, was charged in federal court in St. Louis with conspiracy, two counts of aggravated identity theft and three counts of threatening to damage a protected computer, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. His court appearance came after he lost an 11-month fight to avoid being extradited from Britain to the U.S.The indictment does not name the companies that were allegedly attacked but said they include a health care provider in Farmington, Missouri; a medical records company in Swansea, Illinois; an accounting business in St. Louis; a health care provider in Athens, Georgia; and a health care provider with several locations in Missouri.The indictment also does not name the co-conspirators or provide any details on them.Wyatt’s attorney, federal public defender Kayla Williams, did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.The conspiracy charge alleges that Wyatt and his co-conspirators remotely accessed the companies’ computers to obtain personal and sensitive information, then sought to sell the records on criminal forums and marketplaces. Prosecutors said the group used email and telephones to threaten the companies unless they paid ransom in bitcoin or wire transfers.The crimes occurred between June 10 and July 26, 2016.The indictment says the defendants sent threatening text messages to the daughter of one of the owners of the Farmington company, at one point asking, “Did your daddy tell you he refused to pay us when we stole his company files?” and threatening to release thousands of patient files, including hers.The hackers also threatened to call the public accountants’ clients “one by one” unless the company paid, the indictment alleges.They also are accused of stealing money from the PayPal account of another health care provider, demanding $75,000 in bitcoin from a third health care company, and extorting money from another health care company.Prosecutors have asked that Wyatt be kept in jail until trial. He has a fiance and three children in England, but no ties to St. Louis or the United States, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.The Dark Overlord claimed credit in April 2017 for the release of stolen episodes of the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black.”
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A year after the United Nation’s General Assembly adopted the Global Refugee Compact to deal with the world refugees crisis, world leaders gathered in Geneva to weigh the progress made, and pledged more than $3 billion to support refugees and about 50,000 resettlement communities.U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the Global Forum on Refugees divvied up the responsibility for dealing with the 25.9 million refugees who have fled war and persecution, mainly exiled in poor neighboring countries.In addition to the $3 billion, Grandi said Germany, which has hosted hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, pledged about $1.9 billion. The Inter-American Development Bank pledged $1 billion to communities hosting refugees in Latin America. The World Bank also increased its funding for projects supporting refugees by 10%, to $2.2 billion.At the end of 2018, nearly 71 million people were living in forced displacement due to war, violence and persecution, including the nearly 26 million who had fled to other countries as refugees.The meeting this week in Geneva stressed the need to share the economic and societal burden of nearly 80% of the world’s refugees living in poor and developing countries.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country hosts a large amount of the world’s refugees, criticized wealthy nations for setting “tiny” refugee quotas and for not providing adequate financial support to Ankara.Turkey hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, about 3.7 million, following by Pakistan, with 1.4 million registered refugees.”We cannot go into a world in which responsibility-sharing means some states keep all the refugees and some states pay all the money. We cannot do that, that is why we have resettlement, why we have different types of partnerships,” Grandi said Wednesday at the close of the two-day meeting.Rising tide of refugeesThe number of people fleeing their homeland has been surging. According to a new report by the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of global migrants has increased from 150 million, to 272 million, in the past 20 years.Contributing to these burgeoning numbers are the reasons why large numbers of people are being forced out of their homes, Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, said.”People are being forced out for reasons — whether it’s gangs, whether it’s civil war, whether it’s a state collapse, whether it’s environmental degradation — things that a normal person would decide to flee from,” Selee said.Along with the challenge of dealing with accommodating large amounts of refugees is the issue of who to let in. Countries are facing the question of who is a refugee and who isn’t. Some cases are clear cut, such as Turkey with the Syrians who are fleeing a brutal civil war; or Colombia with the Venezuelans fleeing their country’s revolution and subsequent economic meltdown.But there are other cases, such as in Europe and the United States at the southern border with Mexico, in which they are trying to figure out who should be returned to their home country, and who actually has a legitimate claim for asylum or refugee protection.”And, so some people say, OK, we’ll call all these people refugees. Then people say, let’s not expand the definition but at least accept that these people are forced migrants that aren’t leaving by choice,” Selee said. “They’re leaving because something has pushed them out. And there’s a recognition that we need to offer some protection to those people, whether or not we call them refugees.”Mass migrationAnother challenge facing host countries is the issue of mass flows of migrants, and the perception of migrants’ impact on communities.Dany Bahar of the Brookings Institution said when you think of a refugee crisis today, you think about a huge inflow of people that come to a country in a very short period of time.Bahar said economists who have been researching the effect of migration have found the perception people had — about how massive inflows of migrants and refugees have negative impacts on the local labor markets — is not really backed by research.”When refugees are allowed to work, that helps a country that is receiving them to become more productive, to grow etc. When the country has the ability to integrate these refugees by allowing them to be part of society, take part in the public sector, health system and education systems, that is of course positive for everybody,” Behar said.Lebanon has anestimated population is 5.9 million, with nearly 1.5 million Syrian refugees. This makes it the country with the highest number of refugees per capita – with one refugee for every four nationals, according to the UN.
 These numbers have placed an enormous strain on the country’s already fragile economy, society and politics.”So in the case of Turkey and Lebanon receiving a lot of Syrian refugees, or in the case of Colombia receiving a lot of Venezuelan refugees, or Ethiopia receiving Eritrean and Sudanese refugees — these are countries that, to begin with, are lagging behind in terms of their infrastructure,”  Behar said.He said that is why international financing is so important, not only for humanitarian reasons to help people, but to get the services they need by sending financial aid to allow host countries to invest in infrastructure and capital, so that they can integrate these refugees.All in all, more than 770 pledges were made at this week’s forum for financial support as well as improving refugee access to employment, education, electricity, infrastructure and promises of more resettlement spots for the most vulnerable.Katherine Ahn and VOA Persian contributed to this report
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The first-ever Global Refugee Forum has ended with more than 770 pledges worth billions of dollars in financial, technical, material, legal and other assistance in support of millions of refugees and the communities that host them. The biggest single contribution came from the World Bank, which pledged $2.2 billion. This was matched by pledges of more than $3 billion dollars in additional resources by states and $250 million from private corporations.However, the total value of the pledges made at the forum will not be known for some time. This is because many of the contributions come in the form of projects run by corporations, aid agencies, civic, faith-based and other organizations. Many involve beneficial projects for refugees by creating jobs and livelihoods, enhancing employment for women, educational opportunities for children, pro bono legal services and the like.UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi says everything will be quickly analyzed and monitored.“It is difficult to add up the different type of contributions, but…we want to monitor the implementation of these pledges altogether and we want to measure impact as soon as possible. We have developed with states a set of indicators that will give us progressively a sense of how much the pledges made around this forum have an impact,” Grandi said. More than 3,000 people, including heads of state, U.N. leaders, senior officials from international institutions, development organizations, and the private sector attended the forum.About 80 refugees from 22 countries living in 30 countries of exile also participated. Their presence, testimonies and stories of suffering and endurance put a human face on the cold statistics that accompany refugee numbers.The aim of the three-day meeting was to generate new approaches and long-term commitments in support of the world’s 25 million refugees. Grandi says the burden of caring for these refugees falls mainly on the poor countries. He says the forum pushed the message that this responsibility must be shared by the rich countries.“We cannot go to a world in which responsibility sharing means some states keep all the refugees and some states pay all the money. We cannot do that. That is why we have resettlement. That is why we have different types of partnership. That is why asylum has to remain in reality in all parts of the world, including in the rich countries,” Grandi said.Grandi says the success of this forum will be measured by the number of pledges that are kept and implemented. He says he believes the enthusiasm and creativity shown by the participants augurs well. He says this has all the makings for a successful outcome. He notes a second Global Refugee Forum will take place in four years time.
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Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists failed Wednesday to agree on a prisoner exchange and troop pullback after several hours of tense talks on the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the separatist rebels met in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to discuss conditions for an all for all'' prisoner swap. This followed the reaching of a tentative agreement during Ukraine peace talks in Paris last week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who met with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany on December 9, had hailed the prospective exchange as a key result of the Paris talks. He said he expected all 72 Ukrainian prisoners held by the separatists to return home before year's end. But Olga Kobtseva, a rebel representative in the so-called Contact Group in Minsk, said Wednesday's talks failed to produce an agreement. She cited Ukraine's refusal to absolve the rebels in its custody of criminal charges as the main stumbling block. On top of that, the parties were unable to confirm the numbers and verify the lists of prisoners to be swapped. Another rebel envoy, Vladislav Dainego, said the parties also failed to agree on the areas where Ukrainian forces and the rebels would pull back from the front line to help maintain a lasting cease-fire. We proposed some areas, but the Ukrainian side [roposed nothing,“ Dainego said. Previous pullbackUkraine and the rebels had pulled back troops and weapons in several areas to help pave the way for the Paris talks, and the four leaders agreed last week that the disengagement would continue in a few other sectors of the front line. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko in televised comments voiced regret that the talks failed to produce an agreement. He wouldn’t elaborate on details of the talks. The fighting in eastern Ukraine that flared up in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea has killed more than 14,000 and ravaged Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland. A 2015 peace deal in Minsk brokered by France and Germany helped reduce the scope of hostilities, but Ukrainian forces and the rebels have continued to exchange artillery salvos and gunfire. During the talks in Paris, Zelenskiy, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced their adherence to the 2015 deal and agreed to revive the peace process. However, they made no progress on central issues — a timeline for holding local elections in eastern Ukraine and control of the borders in the rebel-held region. The Minsk deal envisaged that Ukraine can regain control over the border with Russia in the separatist-held regions only after they are granted broad self-rule and hold local elections. The agreement was a diplomatic coup for Russia, ensuring that the rebel regions get broad authority and resources to survive on their own without cross-border support. Zelenskiy pushed for tweaking the timeline laid out in the accord so that Ukraine gets control of its border first before local elections are held, but Putin insisted that the 2015 deal should be implemented without revisions. 
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Five Japanese fishing vessels were seized Wednesday by Russia in the country’s far east — the latest in a series of incidents over fishing rights that lay bare a larger Russo-Japanese territorial dispute dating back to the end of World War II.  The Japanese ships were fishing for octopus when they were overtaken by Russian border patrol investigating claims of illegal poaching in Russian waters, said Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga in comments on Wednesday.FILE – Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, speaks during a press conference at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Sept. 11, 2019.”This is unacceptable,” added Suga in a press conference in Tokyo. “The government is strongly demanding, from a humanitarian perspective, the early release of the crew and ships.”Back in Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova confirmed the incident had taken place a day earlier and insisted Japan had repeatedly — and once again —  violated maritime law concerning natural resources.”Unfortunately, what you say, happened,” said Zakharova in addressing the issue when pressed by journalists.   She also insisted the Japanese fishermen were being given all necessary food, clothing, and medical aid while in custody.  Past is prologueAt the real heart of the issue: a lingering dispute over four small islands the Soviet Union seized from Japan at the end of World War II, which have kept Moscow and Tokyo — formally, at least — at war all these years.Japan insists the four Russian-held islands, which it calls the Northern Territories, must be returned.  FILE – A Russian vessel is seen off the coast of the Southern Kuril island of Shikotan, Sept. 14, 2015. The Southern Kurils are referred to in Japan as the Northern Territories.Russia, which refers to the islands as the Southern Kurils, insists the islands are legitimate spoils of war back from the days when Japan was part the World War II Axis powers, along with Nazi Germany.  Despite decades of negotiations, increased cultural exchanges, and occasional hints at a breakthrough, the island dispute has kept any peace treaty from ever being signed.Both sides insist the islands are theirs. So, too, do their populations.  New century, new bargain?  The latest push for a compromise came from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who unexpectedly announced at a Far Eastern economic forum in 2018 that he was eager to sign a deal “without preconditions” within a matter of months.  The gesture set off a new flurry of diplomatic activity by both sides that ultimately stalled on a key Russian demand: that Japan recognize Russia’s right to the territory before Russia would gift back to Japan two of the smaller islands.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend a news conference at the G-20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. Equally vexing are Russia’s concerns over post-war Japan’s longstanding alliance with the United States. Despite Japanese assurances, the Kremlin has called the mere possibility of an American military on the islands a non-starter for negotiations.  Then there is public opinion. A 2018 Russian poll by the respected Levada Center found 74% of Russians were against handing over any of the territory.Yet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated he sees a deal on the islands as central to his political legacy as the country’s longest-serving leader.   Also of interest, say observers, are the generational ambitions at play.  Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, also had come tantalizingly close to reaching a deal with the Soviets over the island issue during his own tenure as prime minister from 1957-60.Despite the continued impasse, both Moscow and Tokyo insist discussions will continue.   Indeed, even as the news spread of Russia’s seizure of the Japanese ships, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi was in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that begin Thursday.     Their primary topic of discussion? A peace deal long awaited, and — if history is a lesson — perhaps out of reach for a bit longer.  
 
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