FBI Director Chris Wray said Wednesday that Russia is engaged in “information warfare” heading into the 2020 presidential election, though he said law enforcement has not seen ongoing efforts by Russia to target America’s election infrastructure.Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that Russia, just as it did in 2016, is relying on a covert social media campaign aimed at dividing American public opinion and sowing discord. That effort, which involves fictional personas, bots, social media postings and disinformation, may have an election-year uptick but is also a round-the-clock threat that is in some ways harder to combat than an election system hack, Wray said.“Unlike a cyberattack on an election infrastructure, that kind of effort — disinformation — in a world where we have a First Amendment and believe strongly in freedom of expression, the FBI is not going to be in the business of being the truth police and monitoring disinformation online,” Wray said.The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are on alert for election-related cyberactivity like what occurred in 2016, when Russians hacked emails belonging to the Democratic campaign of nominee Hillary Clinton and probed local election systems for vulnerabilities.But, Wray said Wednesday, “I don’t think we’ve seen any ongoing efforts to target election infrastructure like we did in 2016.”His appearance came two days after Democratic presidential caucuses in Iowa were marred by a malfunctioning app that caused a delay in the reporting of results. Though local and federal officials have stressed that the problems weren’t caused by a foreign intrusion, the error played into existing unease surrounding election security and risked amplifying concerns among American about the integrity of the voting process.Even without signs of election system targeting, Wray said Russian efforts to interfere in the election through disinformation had not tapered off since 2016. He said social media had injected “steroids” into those efforts.“They identify an issue that they know that the American people feel passionately about on both sides and then they take both sides and spin them up so they pit us against each other,” Wray said. “And then they combine that with an effort to weaken our confidence in our elections and our democratic institutions, which has been a pernicious and asymmetric way of engaging in … information warfare.”At another point in the hearing, Wray avoided a direct answer when asked if President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr or other administration officials had asked him for investigations into Trump Democratic rival Joe Biden, his son Hunter, or into any members of Congress.The question was posed by Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the committee chairman and one of seven House Democratic managers of the impeachment case. He asked whether Trump had requested FBI investigations into the Bidens, lawmakers or former national security adviser John Bolton — who is due out with a book next month said to undercut a key Trump defense — as possible payback for impeachment.Wray initially said: “I have assured the Congress, and I can assure the Congress today, that the FBI will only open investigations based on the facts, and the law and proper predication.”After Nadler said he assumed that answer meant that neither Trump nor Barr nor other administration officials had requested improper political investigations, Wray tried again: “No one has asked me to open an investigation based on anything other than facts, the law and proper predication.”Trump has sought, without evidence, to implicate the Bidens in the kind of corruption that has long plagued Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father, as vice president, was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Ukraine. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.Wray’s appearance was his first since a Justice Department inspector general report that sharply criticized the FBI’s surveillance of former Trump campaign aide national security Carter Page. The errors produced rare bipartisan calls for changes to the federal government’s surveillance powers.The report identified what it said were significant errors in applications to eavesdrop on Page, including omitting critical information that cut against the FBI’s original premise that Page was a Russian agent — something he has repeatedly denied.After the report was issued, Wray told The Associated Press that the mistakes were “unacceptable and unrepresentative of who we are as an institution.” He repeated that message to lawmakers Wednesday.The then-chief judge of the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes wiretapping of subjects on American soil in national security investigations, responded to the report with an extraordinary public rebuke of the FBI and demanded that the bureau report back on what it was doing to fix the problems.The FBI has laid out a series of changes designed to ensure warrant applications are more closely scrutinized before being submitted for a judge’s approval and that they contain accurate information about the reliability and potential bias of sources whom agents rely on. The Justice Department has also said the surveillance of Page should have ended before it did.Wray bristled at the suggestion from some Republican lawmakers that he did not take the report’s criticism seriously enough.“I’ve been a prosecutor. I’ve been a defense attorney, I’ve been an assistant attorney general, I’ve been an FBI director,” Wray said. “To me, candor to the court is sacrosanct, and I don’t think there’s anybody in the FBI who’s belaboring under the misimpression that I think it’s OK to mislead a court.”
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El Salvador is not ready to receive asylum seekers from the United States and will not accept them until it can offer them the necessary protections and support, Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco said Wednesday.El Salvador is one of three Central American governments that signed bilateral agreements with the U.S. government last year that would allow the U.S. to send asylum seekers from its Southwest border to instead apply for asylum in Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.Guatemala started receiving asylum seekers in November, and Honduras and El Salvador are expected to follow.”We are not going to admit anyone seeking asylum until we as a country have the conditions and technical, financial and human capacity to be able to give these people who are seeking asylum and sent to another country the best treatment,” Hill Tinoco said.The so-called Asylum Cooperation Agreements are among the measures the U.S. government has taken to close the door to asylum seekers arriving at its border with Mexico.Hill Tinoco said her government is at the point of determining the technical team that will meet with their U.S. counterparts to develop a plan of how it could work.
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Canada’s ambassador to China said Wednesday there is a chill in relations between the two countries since Beijing imprisoned two Canadians, but his top priority is winning their release and resetting the relationship.Dominic Barton offered that assessment in testimony before a special House of Commons committee studying the strained relationship between the two countries, which was already tense when he was named to the post last fall.Barton said his main concern is winning the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, both detained by China in December 2018 in what is widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder.Canadian police arrested Meng in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request, and nine days later Kovrig and Spavor were detained by the Chinese and accused of violating China’s national security.Neither Kovrig nor Spavor has seen a lawyer or been permitted visits from their families, while Meng has been released on bail and is living in a luxurious Vancouver home while her extradition hearing plays out.Barton said other priorities include clemency for Canadian Robert Schellenberg, who was given a death sentence in January 2019 after having been previously sentenced to prison for drug smuggling.”The chill is real,” Barton said.He said both sides were shaking with anger during his first diplomatic meeting with Chinese officials.”The first conversation I had was probably one of the most unpleasant conversations I have ever had,” he said.Barton said he has now met with all three imprisoned Canadian men and is impressed with how they are holding up. He said he plans to make further personal visits.”I hope that our efforts will soon bear fruit,” he said, without elaborating. “I am unbelievably inspired by their resilience.”
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British companies have made bigger profits investing in Africa than in any other region of the world, according to a new report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which urges firms to seek profits on the continent rather than seeing it as a place to do charitable work.With 1.2 billion people and eight of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies, the ODI says Africa offers world-beating returns on investment.The report looks at investment by British firms in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Its authors say the “young population, growing middle class, and planned industrial growth make the continent a great place to do business.”In 2019, the rate of return on all inward foreign direct investment in developing African countries was 6.5 percent, higher than the rates in developing Latin America and the Caribbean at 6.2 percent, and also higher than the 6 percent return in developed economies.The report was published as Britain formally left the European Union on January 31. The government repeatedly has said its ambition is to create a “global Britain” with new trading partners beyond the European continent. As part of the effort to court new partners, London hosted the Britain-Africa Investment summit last week.Proactive approach neededRecent data from agency the International Trade Center show France and Germany export more than double the value of goods to Africa than Britain does. London must get proactive post-Brexit, according to Lourenço Sambo, director general of Mozambique’s Investment Promotion Center, who spoke to VOA on the sidelines of the summit.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center, visits the Pavegen stand, a company that converts footsteps into energy, at the Innovation Zone during the UK Africa Investment Summit in London, Jan. 20, 2020.”Nowadays, we very often say, ‘we are not just talking about Africa, we have to talk with Africa,’ Sambo said. “The UK [Britain] has to talk with Africa. If the UK just sits down, the vessel will go, that train will move.”Nigerian entrepreneur Samuel Onwubu said the days when foreign companies could dictate terms to Africa are gone.”UK companies need to come and work with the African business model,” he told VOA.British companies believe they have an edge against their rivals in the field of technology. The UK Space Agency is backing satellite firms that offer services to African farmers, such as PRISE, or Pest Risk Information Service.”It’s taking terabytes of satellite data and sending out text alerts to farmers, which can tell them when pests might become a problem in the future,” explained Chris Castelli, director of programs at the UK Space Agency.Investment in AfricaAfrican entrepreneurs are seeking investment in proprietary technology. Mobihealth is a mobile app that seeks to offer top-level health care access across Africa. Founder Funmi Adewara believes Britain’s expertise in finance could help.”Ninety percent of our doctors are from Western countries, 10 percent from the rest of Africa,” Adewara said. “They provide video consultation, prescriptions, diagnostic tests. We are looking here to connect with people who can help us to scale up our business and take this global.”The secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Mukhisa Kituyi, told VOA in a recent interview that African nations need to work harder to attract investment.”We need to develop this human resource as a contribution to the world’s economy, we need to create the conditions to make Africa the next factory of the world. Then you can say, can Britain step in, just like any other friend of Africa, and offer some of the solution?”Britain says it can offer solutions. Many analysts warn, however, that negotiations over its future relationship with Europe likely will dominate trade talks in the coming months and years.
 
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The United States has imposed sanctions on a Bulgarian judge who the State Department says is involved in “significant” corruption in the Balkan country. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday in a statement that he was blacklisting Specialized Criminal Court Judge Andon Mitalov because of his involvement in “corrupt acts that undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Bulgaria.” The statement added that Mitalov’s wife, Kornelia Stoykova-Mitalova, and his daughter, Gergana Mitalova, were also given “special designation” status, which bars them from entering the United States. Ex-lawmaker’s award from PutinMitalov raised the ire of many within and outside Bulgaria when he allowed Nikolai Malinov, a former Bulgarian lawmaker who is charged with spying for Russia, to visit Moscow, where he received an award from President Vladimir Putin. “This is the first such designation in Bulgaria and reaffirms the U.S. commitment to combating corruption in Bulgaria and globally,” Pompeo said in the statement. “The United States continues to stand with the people of Bulgaria in their fight against corruption. The State Department will use these authorities to promote accountability for corrupt actors in this region and globally.” FILE – Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Dec. 14, 2018.The U.S. move came a day after Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said he was “withdrawing my confidence” in the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, accusing it of failing to tackle endemic corruption. The country has experienced steady economic growth under Borisov, but his government has also been criticized for slow progress in the fight against corruption and a perceived f   ailure to hold corrupt officials and businessmen accountable. ‘Acute crisis in governance'”This government and administration are leading to the collapse of the state and depriving us of our future as a nation,” Radev, a former air force commander, said in a live televised address. “Today we are witnessing an acute crisis in governance at all levels, a lack of will to reform and fight corruption.” The European Commission has also slammed Bulgaria over its record in the areas of rule of law and white-collar crime. Malinov has said Bulgarian prosecutors have been targeting him because he openly promotes stronger ties with Russia. 
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido meets with U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday at the White House as Guaido tries to rekindle his campaign to depose President Nicolas Maduro.In a statement announcing Guaido’s visit, the White House said, “We will continue to work with our partners in the region to confront the illegitimate dictatorship in Venezuela, and will stand alongside the Venezuelan people to ensure a future that is democratic and prosperous.”Guaido’s visit to Washington comes at the end of a world tour that included visits with European and Canadian leaders in an attempt to revive his campaign after an unsuccessful uprising against Maduro last year.The United States and dozens of other countries recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president. Guaido was a guest at President Trump’s State of the Union speech in Washington Tuesday night.Maduro called for direct talks with the U.S. last month, describing them as a “win-win.” Maduro also suggested U.S. oil companies could benefit financially if the U.S. lifted sanctions against Venezuela, including the OPEC member’s state oil company, PDVSA.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with Maduro Friday in Caracas in a show of support for the socialist leader.Russia has criticized the U.S. sanctions as illegal and harmful, while the Guaido-led opposition has urged Washington to increase pressure on Moscow for supporting Venezuela diplomatically, economically and militarily.Maduro won a second term in office in May 2018, and Guaido declared himself interim president eight months later. 
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The United States is calling for international sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his allies to pressure the government to hold free and fair elections this year.
The United States agrees with Venezuelan activists and opposition leaders that nothing except free and fair elections will end the country’s political crisis.  Congressional elections are supposed to take place by the end of the year, but so far, no date has been set.Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido listens as President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 4, 2020.U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Andrew Bremberg says for elections to be credible, they must be open to all parties and candidates, and the independent media must be allowed unrestricted access to cover the event.  He is calling on international partners to support opposition leader Juan Guaido.”We encourage partner nations to implement serious travel and financial sanctions against Maduro and his allies.  We also ask our partners to call on Russia, Cuba and China to cease providing support to Maduro,” he said.Several Venezuelan parliamentarians in exile and other activists have come to the United Nations in Geneva to raise awareness of the plight of the Venezuelan people and to garner U.N. support for free and fair elections.Miguel Pizarro has been an elected member of Venezuela’s National Assembly since 2010.  He was forced to flee the country to Italy last July after being convicted on false charges of conspiracy.He says the U.N. is not toothless.  He says it can effect change and already has done so.  He notes the U.N. human rights council has succeeded in putting the spotlight on the situation of abuse that exists in Venezuela.  Pizarro says U.N. agencies have informed the world about the abysmal humanitarian conditions in the country, which have forced millions of people to flee as refugees.  He tells VOA the United Nations has an important role to play both before and after an election.“If we won an election in Venezuela, we will need observation, multilateral observation, because an election is not only because we know for sure, the day we are able to vote is the last day of the regime in the power.  And that will need a lot of international support to achieve the transition because it will not be an easy peace,” he said.Pizarro says he appreciates the important role played by the U.N. in regard to Venezuela’s humanitarian and refugee crisis.  He says he would like to see the U.N. play a more active role in the political sphere.      
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Winter is high season for tourism around Lake Baikal in Siberia, but the coronavirus outbreak has curtailed its main source of income: Chinese holidaymakers.They account for more than two-thirds of foreign tourists to the world’s largest freshwater lake, a significant part of the around two million Chinese who visited Russia last year, spending more than any other nation in its first three months.Russia has reported just two cases of the fast-spreading virus, but the flow of Chinese visitors to the lake has dwindled as Moscow and Beijing have imposed travel restrictions to stem its spread.”The number of Chinese tourists has fallen dramatically… There’s much less work now. Business is feeling it very badly,” said Anastasia Nikolayeva, a hotel waitress in Listvyanka, a small lakeside town in the Irkutsk region.Flanked by snow-capped hills and woodlands, Lake Baikal contains about one-fifth of the earth’s unfrozen freshwater reserves. It freezes in winter, offering an array of winter sports from skating, skiing, fishing to hovercrafting.That has helped turn it into a popular Chinese New Year destination. More than 49,000 Chinese visited Irkutsk alone in the first quarter of last year, up from 27,000 in the same period of 2017.A similar rush was expected this month after package tours sold out, but fallout from the coronavirus has left the resort’s wood-paneled chalet hotels largely empty. Restaurants have only a fraction of normal business.”It’s New Year in China and we normally have good tours from China in February… This year – just cancellations,” said Artyom Potashov, director of the Krestovaya hotel complex.Boosting what he calls Russia’s still untapped tourism potential is one of a series of targets mentioned in an economic stimulus package that President Vladimir Putin announced last year.Around one in 15 of the 30 million foreign tourists who visited Russia in 2019 were Chinese, so their role in that hoped-for expansion is a big one.But the coronavirus had nipped that in the bud, dealing a setback to the push to increase visitor flows and, for the time being, tour operators in Listvyanka can only guess how long the restrictions will stay in place.”The date when Chinese tourists will be allowed to travel is not yet clear, so we expect the bookings to be canceled at least until March 1,” Yekaterina Slivina, the head of Irkutsk’s state tourist agency said. 
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German sportswear company Adidas on Wednesday said it was temporarily shutting a “considerable” number of its stores in China due to the coronavirus outbreak which has killed nearly 500 people and infected thousands.The company said the fast-spreading virus was having a negative impact on its business but added that it could not yet assess to what extent.Adidas has around 12,000 outlets in China, including franchise stores.Adidas saw sales growth slow to 11% in China in the July-September period from 14% in the second quarter.Several retailers have warned that coronavirus is taking its toll, including Nike Inc and Hugo Boss, which have both closed some stores in China.Adidas’s German rival Puma on Wednesday declined to comment on whether coronavirus has hit its business in China.
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Three men who are members of an Iranian separatist group, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, have been jailed in pre-trial custody in Denmark until Feb. 27, suspected of spying for an unnamed Saudi intelligence service.The three members of the London-based group were arrested Monday in Ringsted, 60 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Copenhagen, for the suspected spying on people and companies over a period of six years from 2012.They appeared before the nearby Roskilde City Court where judge John Larsen on Tuesday ordered the hearing held behind closed doors, meaning no details were made public.Heavily armed police officers with machine guns guarded the courthouse in Roskilde, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Copenhagen. The men who can’t be named under a court ban, pleaded not guilty. The men are facing preliminary charges of espionage under a milder paragraph that could give them up to six years in jail.On Monday, the Saudi ambassador to Denmark, Fahad bin Maayouf Al Ruwaily, was summoned to the Danish foreign ministry.In the same case, another man was arrested Monday in the Netherlands – the historic Dutch city of Delft – for allegedly plotting one or more terror attacks in Iran and for membership of a terrorist organization.
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An avalanche hit a road in eastern Turkey, burying a snow-clearing vehicle and a minibus, and killing at least five people, an official said Wednesday. Two other people are reported missing.The avalanche occurred late Tuesday near the mountain-surrounded town of Bahcesehir, in Van province, which borders Iran.Gov. Mehmet Emin Bilmez told reporters that the snow-clearing vehicle’s operator and six people inside the minibus survived. Rescuers were searching for the other two passengers, but their efforts were hampered by the weather conditions.The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the operator, Bahattin Karagulle, was trapped beneath the snow for some 25 minutes before he managed to break a window and escape. The agency quoted him as saying that he walked toward a village before he was picked up by a vehicle and managed to seek help.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized as the country’s interim president by the United States, was guest at Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday, U.S. media reported.Guaido was invited by Trump to attend the flagship event in Washington in a public show of support for his efforts to dislodge President Nicolas Maduro, CNN and NBC reported.Guaido has defied a travel ban to leave Venezuela and meet with officials abroad as he struggles to maintain momentum in his year-long campaign to oust Maduro.The U.S. quickly recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela after he invoked constitutional powers and named himself interim president in January 2019. More than 50 other countries have also recognized Guaido.Maduro won a new term in 2018 elections that were widely criticized internationally as fraudulent.Trump’s choice of guests for the annual speech to Congress are carefully chosen.Trump also invited a senior border patrol officer, a woman whose brother was murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2018, and former Caracas police chief Ivan Simonovis who spent years in jail under Venezuela’s far-left government.
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Argentina’s Buenos Aires province narrowly averted falling into default on Tuesday, saying it would make a $277 million payment on a 2021 bond after creditors would not grant a last-minute approval to delay it.Provincial governor, Axel Kicillof, said the province would use recently received resources from the local market to make the principal and interest payments on Feb. 5, the end of a 10-day grace period.The province had sought to delay until May 1 a $250 million payment originally due on Jan. 26, but fell short of the consent needed, Kicillof said at a news briefing after an extended deadline expired for bondholders to respond to the proposal.The local government needed approval by holders of more than 75% of the debt, but only obtained more than 50%, Kicillof said, after repeatedly pushing back the deadline for consent and sweetening the offer in hopes of winning approval.”It was a very complex process,” Kicillof said. “We have decided to face … the payment deadline with the province’s own resources, without assistance from the national government.”The last-minute move to avoid default buoyed prices of over-the-counter sovereign bonds, which rose on average 1.8% on Tuesday. The 2021 bond, which had earlier fallen, reversed course to rise 6.5 cents on the dollar.Guzman meets with IMFArgentine Economy Minister Martin Guzman met for two-and-a-half hours with the head of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday to discuss the country’s economic emergency, a statement from the Economy Ministry said.”We also discussed the policies being put in place to resolve Argentina’s sovereign debt crisis in a sustainable way,” the statement quoted Guzman as saying.”We agreed to continue deepening our dialog next week, when a technical mission from the IMF will visit Argentina,” Guzman said, calling Tuesday’s meeting “very constructive.”Buenos Aires, Argentina’s most populous province, faced slipping into default if it could not strike a deal with bondholders or make the full payment before Wednesday.On Monday, the provincial government offered to make an up-front $75 million capital payment on the bond, a conciliatory move to encourage holders of the debt to accept its proposal to delay the rest of the payment until May 1.However, Kicillof said that while many bondholders supported the plan, he criticized one fund which he said held around a quarter of the debt and had requested to be paid the full capital in installments, which he said was not possible.He said the province would begin a process to restructure its foreign currency debt in the coming days.”What we need to do urgently is put in process a program that takes into account both external creditors and the provincial economy of Buenos Aires,” he said.The province, struggling to service its debts amid a wider economic malaise, is seen as a litmus test for larger negotiations to restructure around $100 billion of sovereign payments facing new Peronist President Alberto Fernandez.Argentina swapped $164 million in sovereign bonds due this month for four new instruments maturing in August 2021, the government said on Tuesday, as it responded to a credit crunch by improving its debt profile. 
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Russia’s government took additional measures to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus across the border from China, with a Kremlin task force announcing a quarantine location for at-risk patients just days after two cases were reported. Both of the infected are Chinese nationals living inside Russia. “We’re all interested in the results of our fight with the new virus being as effective as possible,” President Vladimir Putin said while addressing the global outbreak during a working visit to the city of Cherepovets. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Echo of Moscow news radio that Putin was receiving regular updates from a government working group set up to prevent spread of the disease. “All necessary measures are being taken,“ Peskov said when asked if Putin was satisfied with the task force’s efforts to date. People evacuated The comments came as a Russian Defense Ministry plane evacuated 80 people from the epicenter of the virus in Wuhan, China. A second Russian military plane was reportedly en route late Tuesday to collect the roughly 70 people remaining, a group that, while mostly Russian, included citizens from neighboring Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and Armenia. In Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova announced that those returning would undergo a mandatory two-week precautionary quarantine in Siberia’s Tyumen region. None of the evacuees, Golikova noted, were at this point showing symptoms. Yet an official from a government consumer protection group was also quoted as saying that the Siberian medical facilities would be secured by fencing and patrolled by Russian National Guard, presumably to prevent escapes. “People will live in their own rooms, without leaving them. All measures are necessary for biological safety,” said Svetlana Popova, a doctor with the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare. “Everything will be done according to the rules.”  Russians in Wuhan The Tass news agency quoted Russian Embassy officials as saying 341 Russians were living in Wuhan, suggesting some Russians may not be immediately evacuated. Meanwhile, new Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin — now in his third week on the job after Putin announced a government shake-up last month — announced that foreigners discovered to have the disease would be deported. On Tuesday, Mishustin also postponed a high-profile global economic summit in Sochi until further notice because of the coronavirus. Russia has also announced it would close travel routes in and out of China — with Russian flights now limited solely to the national Aeroflot carrier routes between Moscow and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Flights are limited to a sole terminal in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, providing a lone choke point for health officials to monitor people for coronavirus symptoms. Some Russian charter companies had been offering additional air service routes — at least to Russian passengers. That caused outrage after the private Ural Airlines refused to honor tickets to 70 passengers from Central Asia attempting to board a flight out of Xian, about 800 kilometers from Wuhan, to Yekaterinburg. The company has since ceased offering the service. The RBK daily newspaper also reported the government was considering a ban on export sales of medical masks. Stocks reportedly were low after a run on orders by consumers, since news of the coronavirus broke. Price hikes were also reported amid the deficit. In St. Petersburg, a February 11 performance by a Chinese national opera and dance troupe at the city’s famed Marinsky Theater was postponed until a “more favorable time.”All these measures came atop previous efforts to essentially seal Russia’s 4,300-kilometer-border with China — with a ban on auto and foot traffic, as well as issuance of tourist visas to Chinese tourists introduced by the Kremlin last week. Measures Despite the measures, Russia’s Deputy Health Minister Sergei Krayevoy admitted his ministry had no choice but to hope for the best but prepare for “possible wide spread of the infection.” Health Ministry officials also noted that the coronavirus threat coincided with flu season — a consistently serious risk to global health in any year. Accordingly, two regions — Ulyanovsk and Samara — said they were closing schools and public events until week’s end amid a spike in flu. Officials from both said coronavirus had not factored into the move. 
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Questions about the future of Turkey’s rapprochement with Russia are growing as fallout continues from Monday’s killing of at least five Turkish soldiers by Russia-backed Syrian government forces.  The rising Russia-Turkey tension over Syria is now seen as offering an opportunity to the United States to improve strained ties with Turkey.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a two-day visit to Ukraine to turn up the pressure on Moscow. During the visit, Erdogan condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and signed a military deal with Kyiv.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, right, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend a joint news conference following their talks in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 3, 2020.”The situation with Russia, the crisis is accelerating, also with this visit to Ukraine, we’ve reached a point where the Russian limits will be less and less, with Turkey,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.”So the Russians are not happy. The Americans seem to be the winner of the day,” added Bagci.Ankara’s deepening relationship with Moscow has caused alarm among Turkey’s NATO allies, especially the U.S.  U.S. sanctions are looming against Turkey for Ankara’s purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, an acquisition that violates U.S. law.  But the incident involving the Turkish military personnel in Syria could open the door to a reset with Washington.U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he holds a news conference at the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2020.”We witnessed before how Erdogan can change his course in foreign policy, it is too early to tell, but we may not have to wait long.” said former senior Turkish ambassador Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington.Despite what happened, Erdogan appeared to step back Tuesday from any rupture with Moscow.”We do not need to engage in a conflict or a serious contradiction with Russia at this stage,” the Turkish president told reporters while returning from Ukraine.”We cannot overlook these [strategic partnerships with Russia]. That is why we will sit down and discuss everything [with Russia]. Not in anger since it would only bring harm,” Erdogan added.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Istanbul, Jan. 8, 2020. Putin and Erdogan are meeting in Istanbul to inaugurate the dual natural gas line, TurkStream, connecting their countries.The Turkish president underlined the importance of Turkey’s energy relationship with Russia. In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Istanbul to attend an opening ceremony with Erdogan of a new Russian gas pipeline to supply Istanbul.Turkey depends on Russia for about half of its gas supplies, while a Russian company is building the country’s first nuclear power station.  Erdogan also reiterated Tuesday the importance of the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, dashing any U.S. hopes that Turkey would not activate the system, which is scheduled for later this year.Erdogan’s relationship with Putin is the driving force behind the country’s rapprochement. “This leader’s diplomacy is the engine in Turkish-Russian relations,” said Selcen.Ankara’s ongoing suspicion of Washington’s intentions in the region also remains a powerful impetus to sustaining Turkish-Russian relations.  “There is a break of trust; Turkey is not trusting with the Americans,” said Bagci. “In many ways, this lack of trust was the architect of Turkey orienting toward Russia.”Washington’s support of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the war against the so-called Islamic State group continues to sour U.S.-Turkish relations, given Ankara designation of the SDF as a terrorist organization linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.”This [support] is perceived as an existential threat to Turkey by Ankara,” said Selcen.President Donald Trump’s decision last year, to withdraw American forces supporting the SDF, opened the door to Turkish forces attacking the militia. Ankara was banking on the U.S. withdrawal marking the end to Washington’s support of the SDF.James Jeffrey, special representative for Syria Engagement, speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Nov. 14, 2019.Ambassador James Jeffrey is the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement and special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. This week, he reaffirmed Washington’s ongoing support for the SDF.”We had a setback temporarily in Syria back in October with the Turkish incursion, but we’re back doing full operations with our local partner, the Syrian Democratic Forces,” Jeffrey said Thursday during a State Department telephone briefing.Washington’s ongoing support of the SDF continues to fuel Ankara fears that ultimately an independent Kurdish state could be created.   “What’s important regarding Syria for Turkey and the Russian Federation is that they keep maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria — while we are not on the same page with the United States,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende.   “We are quite disappointed [with Washington],” he added, “Not only the government but the Turkish people. Because they disregard the vital interests of Turkey, we are against establishing mini-states.”Monday’s death of the Turkish soldiers is seen as a warning of how little leverage Ankara has in its relationship with Moscow.”Right now, Putin knows, we [Turkey] have no intention to go back to the United States. So he has no incentive, no intention to give us even some breadcrumbs, concessions,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. “Because he knows he will get whatever he wants from Turkey. Now we say no to whatever the U.S. says and yes to Russia.”   Until the trust deficit between Ankara and Washington is bridged, efforts to improve ties are predicted to remain tense. Analysts point out Washington still has failed to dispel suspicions of its involvement in a failed military 2016 coup to overthrow Erdogan. Putin was among the first to offer support to Turkey on that violent night.Analysts say Erdogan also is aware of what a dangerous adversary Putin can be.”Erdogan will be careful at the end of the day not to anger Putin because we know when Putin gets angry, we have troubles,” said Bagci.
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Residents in Mexican town form a militia to combat cartels’ organized crime.  Masked kids of militia members join and train alongside their adult counterparts.
 
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Platinum-selling reggaeton act Gente de Zona were barred from a New Year’s Eve concert in a Miami park. The mayor of Miami declared another Cuban singer persona non grata and her concert in a private club was canceled. Fellow artists Jacob Forever y El Micha were shut out of a July 4 concert in the neighboring South Florida city of Hialeah last year.As President Donald Trump tightens the trade embargo on Cuba, some members of the United States’ largest Cuban-American community are once again taking a hard line on performers from the island who support its communist government or don’t speak out against it.The degree of support for a hard line on Cuba among South Florida’s roughly 1.2 million Cuban-Americans could influence the 2020 presidential election. Partly because of Republican anti-communism, Cuban-Americans have long been an historically GOP-supporting bloc in a swing state with 29 electoral college votes.While some polls in recent years have shown weakening Cuban-American support for the embargo, observers say Trump’s attempts to cut off the government’s income is emboldening activists who want to punish the Cuban government and its supporters in hopes of fueling regime change.One of those activists is Alex Otaola, a 40-year-old Cuban-born YouTube personality who has organized boycotts of figures like Gente de Zona and singer Haila Mompie that have led to de facto bans on their performing in South Florida.FILE – Randy Malcom Martinez and Alexander Delgado of the Cuban duo Gente de Zona perform in Vina del Mar, Chile, Feb. 22, 2018.Gente de Zona earned Otaola’s wrath by praising Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Mompie was blacklisted for praising and kissing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro during a concert in 2010.”These are artists with ties to the Cuban dictatorship, who are used as tools of the dictatorship,” said Otaloa, who emigrated from Cuba in 2003.He said he was offended by artists who support communism at home but make money by performing for Cuban-Americans in South Florida.”Enough of the hypocrisy,” he said.But many Cuban-Americans interviewed by The Associated Press said they disagreed with the cultural hard line.Carlos Nardo, a retiree who arrived in 1970 and has never gone back to the island, said he does not agree with the cancellation of concerts.”It is art, they are artists,” said Nardo. “If you are against them, don’t go to their performances.”Gente de Zona were barred from a concert organized by the Cuban-American singer Pitbull in a public park in Miami after Republican Miami Mayor Francis Suarez spoke out against them.”You have to understand that an artist who declares themselves in favor of communism or gives communism credibility is considered persona non grata,” said Suarez, a Republican. “It’s not about intolerance or censorship, it’s about respect and recognizing the mortifying history of communism, especially in Cuba.”Heavily Cuban Hialeah canceled a July 4 concert by reggaeton artists Jacob Forever, Senorita Dayana y El Micha because they perform in Cuba.’Politics has turned us Cubans small-minded’In 2019, the Miami city council passed a resolution asking Congress to cancel cultural exchanges with Cuba, which had flourished under former President Barack Obama.”We’ve gone back to the Cold War,”said Andy Gomez, a political analyst and former director at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.He said he believed that much of the offensive against Cuban artists was tied to 2020 electoral politics, both national and local.Local politicians “are thinking that those who shout and get passionate about Trump will win votes” in November, he said.Mompie hasn’t spoken out on her ban but her son Haned Mota Mompie said on Instagram that “politics has turned us Cubans small-minded, and turned us against each other.” Gente de Zona didn’t respond to requests for comment by The Associated Press.Cuba’s ambassador to the U.S., Jose Ramon Cabanas, responded to the Gente de Zona ban by tweeting, “Cultural terrorism? Miami politicians ask for Cuban artists to be excluded from a local concert.”Cuban-born South Florida businessman Hugo Cancio brought Cuban singers Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes to Florida venues during the Obama-era detente and was met by street protests, largely from older Cuban-Americans, that didn’t stop the performances.The current bans, which have support from a mix of older and younger Cuban-Americans, “are, to me, an act of total discrimination,” Cancio said.They’re censoring artists, he said, “for the simple fact that the only crime they commit is thinking differently and living in the country of their birth.”
 
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U.N.-sponsored military and security talks aimed at achieving a lasting cease-fire in Libya are underway in Geneva. The negotiations are held as Libya’s warring parties continue to violate a temporary truce agreed to in mid-January.Five high-ranking officers appointed by the Government of National Accord in Libya and five other high-ranking military officers appointed by rebel commander Khalifa Haftar are in attendance. This is the first time ever that high-ranking officers from both sides are getting together to talk peace.U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame says both sides agree on the necessity to turn the truce into a permanent cease-fire. But how they will achieve that, he says, is very much an open question.“That is why these talks in Geneva are meant to listen carefully to the position of the two sides on what are the conditions for them to accept this translation of the truce into a permanent and lasting cease-fire,” Salame said.Haftar, who began a military assault on Tripoli nearly a year ago in April, expected an easy win. Instead, it has turned into a bloody stalemate, claiming more than 2,000 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.Salame says an arms embargo imposed in 2011 by the U.N. Security Council has been incessantly violated since then. The ready availability of weapons, he says, is a source of great concern as it continues to fuel the war.
“We have evidence of new equipment, but also new fighters, non-Libyan fighters, joining the two camps. Therefore, we believe that the arms embargo is being violated by both parties, and therefore, by the countries who are violating [the embargo] as the source of this equipment or the source of these new fighters,” he said.
Salame says the Security Council has been asked to revitalize a sanctions committee to give more teeth to the arms embargo. He says that could give a much-needed boost to peace talks. 
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A regional human rights organization said Tuesday that Venezuela has denied entry to a delegation that sought to review the human rights situation in the crisis-torn country.The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said the delegation would instead meet on the Colombian border with representatives of civic groups.The delegation’s leader, Esperanza Arosemena, posted a picture and message on social media saying the group had been prevented from boarding a Copa Airlines flight to Venezuela in Panama.She said they were informed by the airline that it “received instructions from the Venezuelan regime that we were not authorized to enter the country.”The government of President Nicolas Maduro had previously indicated it would not authorize a visit by the commission, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States.The OAS recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president.Maduro withdrew his government’s diplomats from the organization last year, and its seat was taken over by a representative designated by Guaido.In a statement, the rights commission said the delegation’s visit was organized at the invitation of Gustavo Tarre, Guaido’s representative.
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The World Health Organization is warning that false information circulating on social media about the new coronavirus is hampering efforts to tackle the epidemic.  This fast moving disease so far has infected more than 20,000 people and killed at least 427. The overwhelming number of cases and all but two deaths have occurred in China.Health officials say a disease epidemic is likely to quickly generate an epidemic of information. This is not unusual, they explain, because at the start of an outbreak, a lot is unknown about the nature of the disease and the risks it entails.Unfortunately, they say the search for answers often triggers a lot of misinformation and harmful rumors. Sylvie Briand is the director of WHO’s Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness unit. She says trying to deal with the mass of false information and rumors circulating on social media is challenging.“A few centuries ago, this phenomenon existed as well. But at that time there was no social media and so the information was spreading as well, but much slower than now,” said Briand. “Now, the information is spreading very fast and is amplified immediately in every corner of the world, basically. This speed is very difficult to address in a timely manner.”Travelers arrive at LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal wearing medical masks for protection against the novel coronavirus outbreak on February 2, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.WHO is teaming up with Google, which has launched a new project called SOS Alert. The system allows people to easily access key and correct information about the coronavirus.  It says other social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Tiktok also are taking steps to limit the spread of misinformation.Briand tells VOA that getting the right message out to the public is not always easy.“But I think it is a challenge of the 21st century because we are all beneficiaries of those extremely intense and fast communications, but also we could be the victims of it,” said Briand. “This is why it is very important to characterize the phenomenon and to develop methods to tackle it appropriately.” Briand says confronting false information head on is not censorship. Rather, she says, it is a way of responding to people’s concerns in the best way possible given the evidence that exists at the moment. As evidence and understanding about the new coronavirus grow, she says more and better information will become available.
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Irish regulators have launched separate inquiries into Google and dating app Tinder over how they process user data, in a new round of regulatory scrutiny aimed at tech companies.Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said Tuesday that it decided to look into how Google handles location data after a number of consumer groups across the European Union filed complaints.The commission opened an investigation into Google’s Irish subsidiary to determine whether the U.S. search giant “has a legal basis for processing the location data of its users” and whether it meets transparency obligations under the EU’s strict General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.Google “will cooperate fully with the office of the Data Protection Commission in its inquiry, and continue to work closely with regulators and consumer associations across Europe,” the company said in a statement. “In the last year, we have made a number of product changes to improve the level of user transparency and control over location data.”The regulator is also investigating Tinder after people in Ireland and elsewhere in the EU raised concerns about issues surrounding U.S. parent company Match Group’s “ongoing processing of users’ personal data” related to Tinder, transparency and compliance with GDPR.“Transparency and protecting our users’ personal data is of utmost importance to us,” Match Group said. “We are fully cooperating with the Data Protection Commission, and will continue to abide by GDPR and all applicable laws.”Ireland’s Data Privacy Commission is the lead EU regulator for both companies because their European headquarters are based in Dublin. Under GDPR, regulators can fine companies up to 20 million euros, or 4% of global turnover, whichever is higher, for any breaches as well as require changes to follow the law.The commission now has a total of 23 inquiries into big U.S. tech companies, which also include Facebook and Twitter. It launched a separate investigation of Google last year over personalized online advertising.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that a nationwide vote on constitutional changes he proposed wouldn’t be used to extend his current term in office, but remained tight-lipped about his future political plans.
Kremlin critics have seen Putin’s amendments as part of his efforts to stay at the helm after his current presidential term expires in 2024. The proposed changes, however, don’t make it clear exactly how he could do that.
Asked during a meeting with students and teachers if the vote could be used to directly extend his term in office, Putin said it’s not what he wants.
 
“I didn’t propose that to extend my authority,” Putin said. “The election of the head of state must be held on a competitive basis.”
Observers have speculated that once his term expires Putin could use the amendments to continue calling the shots as head of the State Council or prime minister. The former position, however, is yet to be defined and the latter is clearly subordinate to the presidency, making it unlikely that Putin would want it for himself.
It has remained unclear why the Russian leader is rushing through constitutional changes four years before the end of his term.
Putin, a 67-year-old former KGB officer, who has led Russia for more than 20 years — the longest since Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Putin prefers to keep his plans secret until the final moment.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks as he chairs a meeting on drafting constitutional changes at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Jan. 16, 2020.Putin has argued that the changes in the constitution he proposed in a state-of-the-nation speech on Jan. 15 are intended to boost the powers of parliament and strengthen democracy. But the proposals also maintain and even strengthen presidential powers — something Putin described as a must for Russia.
The Kremlin-controlled lower house quickly approved Putin’s constitutional bill in the first of three required readings last month, and a second reading is set to be held later this month. Lawmakers and a working group created by Putin have already come up with a variety of proposals in addition to what the original draft outlines.
Once lawmakers complete work on the constitutional amendments, they will be put to popular vote. It’s still unclear how it will be organized.
Putin said Tuesday that he wants a nationwide vote as “the highest form of democracy,” adding that it will “make people feel engaged, feel themselves as co-authors of the document.” He noted that he hopes that the work on the constitutional changes could be completed in just over three months.  
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Tehran said Monday that it would stop sharing information with Kyiv about the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner last month, after a Ukrainian TV channel released leaked recordings from Iranian air traffic control.The recordings, which aired on Ukraine’s 1+1 Sunday evening, are of a conversation between two air traffic controllers speaking in Farsi about “the light of a missile” on the plane’s route.Iran denied for days after the plane crash that the jetliner was brought down by one of its missiles.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the recording “proves that the Iranian side knew from the start that our plane was hit by a missile.” Iranian authorities presumably would have had access to these records directly following the crash.On Monday, the head of Iran’s investigation team, Hassan Rezaeifar, said that Tehran would stop coordinating with Ukraine on the investigation.”The technical investigation team of the Ukrainian airline crash, in a strange move, published the secret audio file of the communications of a pilot of a plane that was flying at the same time as the Ukrainian plane,” Rezaifar said, according to semiofficial news agency Mehr.”This action by the Ukrainians led to us not sharing any more evidence with them,” he added.Rezaeifar did not deny that the leaked recordings were authentic.Iran admitted on January 11 to shooting down the Ukraine International Airlines jet shortly after it took off from Tehran three days earlier, saying its forces mistook the plane for an enemy threat hours after they fired missiles at an Iraqi base that houses U.S. troops. The crash of the Boeing 737 killed all 176 people on board, most of them Iranians and Iranian-Canadians who were flying to Kyiv en route to Canada, where many had been studying.  In the three days following the crash, Iranian state media reported that officials blamed it on mechanical problems with the plane. They also cited government denials of Western news reports that said Western intelligence agencies had evidence of Iranian forces downing the jet.
 
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John and Laura Hunter live in southern California and over the past few years they’ve been heading out into the desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to make sure people making the trek to the U.S. from South and Central America have what it takes to stay alive during their passage. But not everyone agrees with the help the migrants are getting. Genia Dulot has the story. 
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