RIYADMEDIA

Saying the world is now more perilous and competitive than at any time since the Cold War, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed Thursday adding nearly $22 billion in new defense spending over the next four years.
Speaking remotely to Parliament while isolating for COVID-19 exposure, Johnson said based on the current international situation and his foreign policy goals, he has decided “the era of cutting our defense budget must end, and it ends now.”
The prime minister said he was making the proposal in the middle of a pandemic, with multiple demands on the economy, because “the defense of the realm and the safety of the British people must come first.”
Johnson told lawmakers the four-year financial package for the Ministry of Defense will pivot Britain’s military toward potential future threats with funding for space and cyber-defense projects, such as an artificial intelligence agency.
He said the spending plan will create jobs, with plans to build at least 13 new ships, “restore Britain’s position as the foremost naval power in Europe” and boost British shipbuilding across the nation.
Main opposition Labor party leader Keir Starmer, both praised the announcement as long overdue, and questioned how Johnson intended to pay for it.
Fearing a change in the British government’s spending priorities, former British prime minister Gordon Brown urged the government not to break its promises on international aid to some of the world’s poorest countries.
More details likely will emerge next week when Treasury chief Rishi Sunak unveils details regarding the country’s spending plans for the coming year.
…

The head of Germany’s disease control agency said Thursday that while the coronavirus infection rate in the country remains serious, there are signs a partial lockdown is working.Germany implemented restrictive measures in early November to curb a nationwide surge in cases, closing bars, restaurants and other leisure venues but keeping schools and shops open.Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Robert Koch Institute chief Lothar Wieler said the number of new infections has since plateaued, with 22,609 reported on Thursday – roughly the same number as a week ago. He said the fact they are not rising is good news but cautioned that it was too early to say if this is a trend.Wieler said the overall number of cases is still too high, and there is a risk that hospitals may become overwhelmed. Wieler, however, also expressed optimism the numbers will start to go down now that they have stabilized.Wieler also said the news this week that at least two potential vaccines are showing better than 90 percent effectiveness was “extremely encouraging.” He said, “I know if the vaccines have an efficacy of more than 90% then they would be great weapons. That’s great.”Wieler said it was unclear how long the restrictions would remain in place. When they were implemented, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the plan was for them to run through November, in hopes the nation would be able to lift some of them in time for the Christmas holiday in December.The Robert Koch Institute reports Germany now has seen a total of 855,916 cases and 13,370 deaths from the infection. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease. 
…

Police in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, clashed Wednesday with protesters calling for President Jovenel Moise to step down amid corruption allegations.Demonstrators set up burning barricades and disrupted traffic.  Police responded by firing teargas at the demonstrators.The Associated Press reports one person was shot in the head as demonstrators attempted to reach an area where the heavily guarded Moise was placing a wreath at the National Mausoleum commemorating the 217th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, when local forces defeated Napoleon’s French expeditionary forces.Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise (R) and First Lady Martine Moise attend celebrations for the 217th anniversary of the Battle of Vertieres, the last major battle of Haitian independence from France, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Nov. 18, 2020.It was not immediately clear who fired the shot.Haitian opposition leader André Michel said, “Haitian people are tired of Jovenel Moïse; he will no longer be able to govern the country.”Demonstrators are venting at Moise, who is leading the impoverished country without the input of a parliament, which was dissolved in January after failed elections in October.Protestors run past burning tires during a march demanding the resignation of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, at the 217th anniversary of the Battle of Vertieres, the last major battle of Haitian independence from France, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.The political situation in Haiti has not helped the country generate donations from the international community, hampering its ability to respond to a lingering economic struggle, including food shortages.
…

Three days after then-Hurricane Iota struck Nicaragua, the storm’s overall toll on Central America is mounting, with more than 30 deaths, and authorities fear there could be more casualties as the search continues for the missing.Iota’s torrential rains caused flooding and landslides forcing more than 200,000 people to flee their homes across Nicaragua and Honduras.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said lingering rain from Iota could trigger more life-threatening floods across Central America through Thursday as the storm moves west toward the Pacific Ocean.The record rainfall is causing flood threats and setting off mudslides in villages from northern Colombia to southern Mexico.Officials in Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, El Salvador and Panama confirmed deaths as a result of Iota, which first hit coastal Nicaragua on Monday, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Eta devastated the same area of the country with flooding and landslides.Eta is blamed for more than 100 deaths across Central America.
…

Peru’s new president, Francisco Sagasti, has a cabinet in place to help him begin stabilizing the government, which has been the target of angry street protests.A day after the liberal centrist became Peru’s third president within a week, Sagasti appointed Violeta Bermúdez, a legal expert, to lead the 18 cabinet ministers sworn in Wednesday.Sagasti, who will serve as interim president until next July, replaced former Congress speaker Manuel Merino, who resigned Sunday after days of street protests ended with the deaths of two people.Merino became president by default after the opposition led Congress impeached popular president Martin Vizcarra over unverified bribery allegations, setting off protests and creating a leadership crisis.Peruvians will head to the polls next April to choose the country’s permanent president.
…

The BBC’s board of directors has approved the appointment of a retired senior judge to lead an independent investigation into the circumstances around a controversial 1995 TV interview with Princess Diana, the broadcaster said Wednesday.The announcement came after Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, made renewed claims this month that BBC journalist Martin Bashir used forged statements and false claims to persuade the late royal to agree to the interview.The investigation will consider if the steps taken by the BBC and Bashir were appropriate and to what extent those actions influenced Diana’s decision to give an interview.John Dyson, a former Supreme Court judge, is “an eminent and highly respected figure who will lead a thorough process,” the BBC said.Charles Spencer alleged that in the weeks leading to the interview 25 years ago, Bashir made false and defamatory claims about senior royals in order to gain his trust and access to his sister.The claims included that Diana’s phone was bugged and that her bodyguard was plotting against her. He claimed that Bashir showed him “false bank statements” purporting to show that two senior royal aides were being paid to keep Diana under surveillance.Apology soughtCharles Spencer has demanded an inquiry and an apology. The BBC carried out an internal investigation when the complaints first surfaced and has said Bashir admitted commissioning mocked-up documents. But the corporation has said that the documents played no part in Diana’s decision to take part in the interview.The broadcaster’s director general, Tim Davie, said the BBC “is determined to get to the truth about these events.”The 1995 interview, in which Diana famously said “there were three of us in this marriage” — referring to Prince Charles’ relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles — was watched by millions of people and sent shock waves through the monarchy.Diana divorced from Charles in 1996 and died in a Paris car crash in 1997 as she was pursued by paparazzi. Charles married Camilla, now the Duchess of Cornwall, in 2005.The BBC said Bashir, 57, who is currently its religion editor, is on medical leave because he is recovering from heart surgery and complications related to contracting COVID-19 earlier this year.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, forced to go into quarantine earlier this week after exposure to the coronavirus, was able Wednesday to participate in his usual spirited debate with lawmakers during question time at parliament. Johnson was hospitalized earlier this year after testing positive.After wishing the prime minister well, and praising him for self-isolating, main opposition Labor Party leader Keir Starmer questioned Johnson about a report from the National Audit Office. It was regarding lucrative government contracts worth billions going to “go between” companies to procure personal protective equipment (PPE) without the proper oversight.  The report said the government awarded 8,600 contracts worth $24 billion between March and the end of July of this year, mostly without a competitive tender process.
 
While the government can make purchases with limited competition in emergencies, the audit office said in its report that companies with links to politicians were fast-tracked and had greater chances of getting a coronavirus contract than other applicants.  Starmer called on Johnson to guarantee that from now on such government contracts will be subject to proper process with full transparency and accountability.Johnson accused Starmer of wanting to score political points by attacking the government on moving too fast to secure the PPE and defended the government’s actions.”I’m proud of what we did to secure huge quantities of PPE during the pandemic, any government would do this,” said Johnson without directly addressing Starmer’s question.Prime Minister Johnson’s Conservative government has been accused of running a “chumocracy” by awarding lucrative contracts and well-paid jobs to people with links to ministers and the governing party — claims the government denies.
 
…

The remnants of Hurricane Iota moved into El Salvador Wednesday, as the storm continues to pound Nicaragua with strong winds and heavy rains even after weakening from a hurricane to a tropical storm.At last report, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said the system was moving to the west of the city of San Salvador and was now a tropical depression. But the remnants of the most powerful storm ever to hit Nicaragua in the month of November are still likely to produce rainfall capable of mudslides and flash floods across portions of Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala through Thursday.A man watches the rising water of the Rio Bermejo in the wake of Hurricane Iota in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Nov. 17, 2020.The storm came ashore late Monday on the northeastern coast of Nicaragua, just kilometers from where Hurricane Eta had struck two weeks earlier. At its strongest, Iota was a Category 5 storm — the top level on the five-level scale that measures a storm’s potential destructiveness.It left scores of communities cut off from the outside world and forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.At least nine people across the region have been killed, including two children who reportedly drowned while trying to cross a flooded river in Nicaragua.Iota was the 30th named storm of the record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which, according to the U.S. National Weather Service, is due to end November 30.  Forecasters are now watching two systems – one in the southern Caribbean and another just south of Bermuda – which each have a 20 percent chance of becoming named storms in the next five days. 
…

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to stop expelling immigrant children who cross the southern border alone, halting a policy that has resulted in thousands of rapid deportations of minors during the coronavirus pandemic.U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction sought by legal groups suing on behalf of children whom the government sought to expel before they could request asylum or other protections under federal law.The Trump administration has expelled at least 8,800 unaccompanied children since March, when it issued an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus as grounds for barring most people crossing the border from remaining in the United States.Border agents have forced many people to return to Mexico right away, while detaining others in holding facilities or hotels, sometimes for days or weeks. Meanwhile, government-funded facilities meant to hold children while they are placed with sponsors have thousands of unused beds.Sullivan’s order bars only the expulsion of children who cross the border unaccompanied by a parent. The government has expelled more than 147,000 people since March, including adults, and parents and children traveling together.”This policy was sending thousands of young children back to danger without any hearing,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. “Like so many other Trump administration policies, it was gratuitously cruel and unlawful.”The Justice Department did not immediately say whether it would appeal. It has appealed another federal judge’s order barring the use of hotels to detain children.The incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden has not directly said whether it will keep trying to expel immigrants under public-health authority. Biden is expected to roll back several Trump administration policies restricting asylum as part of a broader shift on immigration.The Trump administration has argued in court that it must expel children who have recently crossed the border — whether they had authorization or not — to prevent the infection of border agents and others in immigration custody. The emergency declaration was made by Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Justice Department on Oct. 2 cited the judgment of “the nation’s top public health official” in urging Sullivan not to stop the expulsion of children.The Associated Press reported on Oct. 3  that top CDC officials resisted issuing the declaration because it lacked a public health basis, but that Vice President Mike Pence ordered Redfield to move forward anyway.Opponents of the policy accuse the administration of using the pandemic as a pretext to restrict immigration and say agents can safely screen minors for COVID-19 without denying protections under federal anti-trafficking law and a court settlement that governs the treatment of children.U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey recommended on Sept. 25 that Sullivan grant an injunction barring expulsions of children, saying the government was claiming power that was “breathtakingly broad.”Children and parents who have been expelled have reported believing they would be allowed to reunite with family in the U.S., only to instead be deported to their countries of origin.One mother of 12- and 9-year-olds found out her children had been expelled when she received a call from an official in Honduras asking her to send a relative to collect them.The father of a 1-year-old girl alleged that agents told him and his wife to feed the girl ice in case their temperatures were checked before boarding a flight. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has denied using ice as an artificial cooling measure. 
…

Talks between Britain and the European Union over a future trade deal are going to the wire, as the end of the Brexit transition period approaches fast. Henry Ridgwell reports EU leaders meet in Brussels Thursday as the bloc faces urgent budget concerns.Camera: Henry Ridgwell    Produced by: Jason Godman 
…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Georgian leaders Wednesday in Tbilisi where he expressed support for Georgia’s sovereignty and strengthening of democratic institutions. On the latest stop of his multi-nation tour visiting allies in Europe and the Middle East, Pompeo held talks with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, followed by a session with Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani. Gahkaria called U.S.-Georgia relations his country’s “most important partnership” and said Georgia appreciates U.S. support of its territorial integrity.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with civil society leaders in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nov. 18, 2020.Russia has occupied Georgia’s two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia since a brief 2008 war. The State Department said Pompeo’s focus included urging further progress in democratic reforms in Georgia.  At the start of his meeting with Gakharia and Zalkaliani, Pompeo cited the need for free and fair elections, as well as the opportunity for robust debate. From Georgia, Pompeo is due to travel to Israel where he will discuss with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Israel’s recent agreements normalizing relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The rest of the trip includes stops in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 
…

Iota continues to pound Nicaragua with strong winds and heavy rains even after weakening from a hurricane to a tropical storm. As of late Tuesday night, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Iota was carrying maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers an hour on a path towards Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  Forecasters say Tropical Storm Iota will dump between 7 to 20 kilometers of rain on a stretch of Central America from southern Nicaragua to southern Belize overnight, leading to “significant, life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding,” along with mudslides in higher areas. The storm is expected to weaken to a tropical depression through the night before dissipating sometime Wednesday.A woman sits near her house damaged the passing of Hurricane Iota, in Puerto Cabezas, Nov. 18, 2020.Iota made landfall Monday on the northeastern coast of Nicaragua Monday carrying maximum winds of 210 kilometers an hour, then grew in speed to 250 kilometers an hour, becoming a Category 5 storm — the top level on the five-level scale that measures a storm’s potential destructiveness.   The storm left scores of communities cut off from the outside world and forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.  At least eight people across the region have been killed, including two children who reportedly drowned while trying to cross a flooded river in Nicaragua. At least one person died in Providencia island, located in Colombia’s Caribbean archipelago, while another person was killed in Panama’s western Ngabe Bugle indigenous community.Iota is the 30th named storm of this year’s record-setting Atlantic hurricane season.  It struck just south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall on November 3 as a Category 4 storm, triggering flash flooding and landslides over parts of Central America and killing more than 130 people. 
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson triggered anger Monday in Scotland when he called the decision to grant Scotland governing powers “a disaster,” and said he did not support granting the nation any additional powers. The reported comments come as surveys show rising support for a second independence referendum.British media report Johnson made the remarks in a virtual meeting with northern English lawmakers from his Conservative Party. He said granting Scotland self-governing powers – or devolution – introduced by former Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, had been Blair’s “biggest mistake.” Johnson’s office did not deny the comment.Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, proponent of an independence referendum, responded Tuesday to Johnson’s comments via Twitter.“Worth bookmarking these PM comments for the next time Tories (Conservatives) say they’re not a threat to the powers of the Scottish Parliament – or, even more incredibly, that they support devolving more powers. The only way to protect & strengthen (the Scottish parliament) is with independence.”Scots rejected an independence referendum in 2014 by a vote of 55  to 45 percent. But relations have soured following the Brexit vote which Britain supported and Scotland rejected, and by what has been viewed by many Scots as the British government’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.Recent public opinion surveys show a majority of Scots support independence. British Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick sought to defend Johnson’s comments, saying the disaster the prime minister referred to was the rise of nationalism in the form of Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party. 
…

The U.S. Justice Department is dropping its drug trafficking and money laundering case against former Mexican defense secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday. Barr said the department would drop its case so Cienfuegos “may be investigated and, if appropriate, charged, under Mexican law.” Cienfuegos, who was charged in federal court in Brooklyn, was arrested in Los Angeles last month.  Cienfuegos, who led Mexico’s army for six years under ex-President Enrique Peña Nieto, was the highest-ranking former Cabinet official arrested since the top Mexican security official Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested in Texas in 2019. Cienfuegos was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in 2019 and accused of conspiring to participate in an international drug distribution and money laundering scheme. Prosecutors alleged he helped the H-2 cartel smuggle thousands of kilos of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana while he was defense secretary from 2012 to 2018.  Prosecutors said intercepted messages showed Cienfuegos worked to ensure that the military did not take action against the cartel and that operations were initiated against rivals in exchange for bribes. He was also accused of introducing cartel leaders to other corrupt Mexican officials.  In court papers last month, U.S. prosecutors had argued Cienfuegos was a significant flight risk and said he would “likely seek to leverage his connections to high level H-2 Cartel members in Mexico, as well as former high-level corrupt government officials, to assist him in fleeing from U.S. law enforcement and shelter him in Mexico.” Had he been convicted of the charges in the U.S., he would’ve faced at least 10 years in federal prison.  Under Cienfuegos, the Mexican army was accused of frequent human rights abuses, but that was true of both his predecessors and his successor in the post. The worst scandal in Cienfuegos’ tenure involved the 2014 army killings of suspects in a grain warehouse. FILE – Blood is seen on the wall of a building in the Tlatlaya community after 22 people, alleged members of the drug cartel, were killed in a confrontation with soldiers of the Mexican Army, in Tlatlaya, Mexico, June 30, 2014.The June 2014 massacre involved soldiers who killed 22 suspects at the warehouse in the town of Tlatlaya. While some died in an initial shootout with the army patrol — in which one soldier was wounded — a human rights investigation later showed that at least eight and perhaps as many as a dozen suspects were executed after they surrendered. Barr said in a joint statement with Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero that the U.S. Justice Department had made the decision to drop the U.S. case in recognition “of the strong law enforcement partnership between Mexico and the United States, and in the interests of demonstrating our united front against all forms of criminality.”  The Justice Department said it has provided Mexico with evidence collected in the case. 
 
…

People in Central America and the aid agencies lining up to help them are bracing for the potentially catastrophic consequences of Hurricane Iota, just two weeks after Hurricane Eta made landfall in the region, causing death and destruction and affecting nearly five million people.  World Meteorological Organization spokeswoman Claire Nullis said that, for the first time on record, the Atlantic has had two major hurricanes in November — a time of year when the season is normally winding down. Nicaragua, Honduras and other parts of Central America have not recovered from Hurricane Eta, yet are being slammed by Iota, with risks of flooding, mudslides and landslides, Nullis warned.  Honduran soldiers hold a baby as they evacuate residents in anticipation of heavy rains as Hurricane Iota approaches, in Marcovia, Honduras, Nov. 17, 2020.In anticipation of Hurricane Iota, International Red Cross Federation volunteers have been positioning basic relief items in Nicaragua, IFRC spokesman Matthew Cochrane said. In addition, he said, the Red Cross has positioned rescue boats in Honduras, in anticipation of launching major search-and-rescue operations once the storm passes.  The Red Cross also was involved in preventative evacuations over the past few days.   Spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, told VOA it is too soon to know the extent of damage caused by Iota, but said the impact is likely to be worse than that from Hurricane Eta, which is growing in severity.  “For example, Honduras authorities now report that three million people are affected. That is one million more than the figure that they reported last week,” Laerke said. “In Guatemala, we are talking about 900,000 people directly affected by Eta. That is nearly triple the figure from the previous weeks.”   Eta is still a developing emergency made far worse by Hurricane Iota, Laerke said.    
 
…

Germany accused Russia and China on Tuesday of preventing a United Nations Security Council committee from determining whether North Korea has breached a U.N. cap on refined petroleum imports by the isolated Asian state. The Security Council has ratcheted up sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. In 2017, it imposed an annual cap of 500,000 barrels on refined petroleum imports. China and Russia are the only countries to have notified the Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee of refined petroleum exports to Pyongyang, but they did so in tonnes instead of barrels, and the committee has been unable to agree on a conversion rate so it can determine when the cap was reached. “Despite numerous attempts — the issue has been on the agenda for no less than three years — to find an agreement on a conversion rate, Russia and China have been stalling the process,” German U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the sanctions committee, told reporters. “While this shouldn’t be a complicated matter to solve, it has become clear that the two delegations are politicizing this topic,” Heusgen said after raising the issue behind closed doors in a formal Security Council meeting. The Russian and Chinese missions to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For the past three years, the United States and dozens of allies have accused North Korea of breaching the fuel cap through illicit imports and called for an immediate halt to all deliveries. However, Russia and China repeatedly prevented the sanctions committee from issuing such a statement. 
…

Hurricane Iota continued to lash strong winds and rain on northeast Nicaragua on Tuesday after having made landfall late Monday. Iota weakened from a Category 5 to a Category 4 before making landfall, packing winds of 210 kilometers per hour. Iota is now categorized as a tropical storm as it moves to Honduras, according to the National Hurricane Center, which warned that much of Central America must be prepared for possible mudslides through Thursday. Many people hunkered down in shelters, while the Nicaraguan government evacuated thousands of residents in low-lying coastal areas ahead of the storm. One resident in the seaside town of Bilwi, business owner Adán Artola Schultz, told the Associated Press that metal structures banging and buckling in the wind sounded “like bullets.”  Jason Bermudez, a university student from Bilwi, told AP that several houses lost their roofs, with fences and fruit trees knocked down. “(We) will never forget this year,” Bermudez said. According to witnesses and Nicaraguan officials, many roofs were blown off buildings and power lines had fallen, with some reported cuts in phone and internet service. No deaths in Nicaragua were confirmed so far on Tuesday, said Guillermo Gonzalez, head of Nicaragua’s disaster management agency SINAPRED.“The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Iota is making landfall in almost the exact same location that Category 4 Hurricane Eta did a little less than two weeks ago,” the National Hurricane Center said in a statement. Iota came ashore south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall on November 3, also as a Category 4 storm. Hurricane Eta killed more than 130 people, as the heavy rains caused flash flooding and landslides over parts of Central America. 
…

The U.S. Department of Defense said Tuesday an American warship “intercepted and destroyed” an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) target in a test conducted Monday northeast of Hawaii.A destroyer equipped with an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System destroyed the mock long-range missile in flight with an SM-3 Block IIA missile, according to the Defense Department’s Missile Defense Agency.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 37 MBOriginal | 186 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioWATCH: A missile launched from the USS John Finn intercepts and destroys an intercontinental ballistic missile target during a flight test demonstration northeast of Hawaii, Nov. 16, 2020, in this video released by the US Missile Defense Agency.“We have demonstrated that an Aegis BMD-equipped vessel equipped with the SM-3 Block IIA missile can defeat an ICBM-class target,” said Vice Admiral and MDA Director Jon Hill.The Pentagon has previously conducted tests against ICBM targets by launching interceptors from underground silos in the United States. The ship-based approach could bolster the existing U.S. missile defense system if more challenging tests in the future are successful. The success of Monday’s test is especially likely to draw interest from North Korea, whose development of ICBM’s and nuclear weapons is the primary reason the Defense Department has worked to hasten the development of missile defense systems over the past decade.Additionally, China and Russia have voiced concern that the U.S. could use its missile defense capabilities to weaken the deterrent value of their nuclear forces.Carla Babb contributed to this report.
…

Azerbaijan’s Turkish-supported victory over Armenian forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave has provided Ankara an opportunity to expand its influence in the Caucuses at the expense of Russia.  That’s the conclusion of some observers – as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.Camera: VOA
Producer: Rod James
…

Hurricane Iota made landfall along the northeastern coast of Nicaragua late Monday night and flash flooding and landslides are expected across Central America. The National Hurricane Center said Iota struck Nicaragua as a Category 4 storm, with winds of 210 kilometers per hour. Many people hunkered down in shelters while the Nicaraguan government evacuated thousands of residents in low lying coastal areas ahead of the storm. One resident in the seaside town of Bilwi, business owner Business owner Adán Artola Schultz, described the sound of metal structures banging and buckling in the wind as “like bullets” to the Associated Press.  Jason Bermúdez, a university student from Bilwi, told AP a lot of houses have lost their roofs, fences and fruit trees that got knocked down. Bermúdez said “(W)e will never forget this year.” “The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Iota is making landfall in almost the exact same location that category 4 Hurricane Eta did a little less than two weeks ago,” the Hurricane Center said in a statement. Iota came ashore south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall Nov. 3, also as a Category 4 storm. Hurricane Eta killed more than 130 people as the heavy rains caused flash flooding and landslides over parts of Central America. 
…

Francisco Sagasti of Peru’s centrist Purple Party is set to become the country’s third president in the span of a week after most of the Congress voted him chairman of the legislative body.Sagasti became interim president by congressional action Monday because Peru currently has no president or vice president and the head of Congress is the next in line.Peru’s state-run Adina news agency reports once Sagasti rises to leader of the country, Mirtha Vasque, who was chosen Vice Chairwoman, will become head of the Congress.Sagasti will be charged with trying to begin reconciliation in the country following a week of turmoil over the Congressional ouster of popular ex-President Martín Vizcarra.Manuel Merino, who was sworn in as the interim president last Tuesday after his colleagues voted to impeach Vizcarra, abruptly resigned on Sunday, leaving Peru without a leader.Many Peruvians are hopeful Sagasti’s appointment will mark the end to a week of protests, which left two young men dead and dozens of others injured.
…

A British diplomat leaped into a river in southwestern China and rescued a drowning student over the weekend, Britain’s embassy in Beijing and Chinese state media said. Stephen Ellison, the 61-year-old British consul-general in Chongqing, jumped into the water in the municipality on Saturday after spotting the struggling female student, who had fallen in by accident, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. A video of the incident posted on the British embassy’s Twitter account shows a woman drifting facedown in the water as onlookers scream in panic, before the diplomat takes off his shoes, plunges in and swims to her aid. We are all immensely proud of our Chongqing Consul General, Stephen Ellison, who dived into a river on Saturday to rescue a drowning student and swim her to safety. pic.twitter.com/OOgXqsK5oe— UK in China 🇬🇧 (@ukinchina) November 16, 2020 A life preserver is then tossed into the river, enabling people on the bank to drag Ellison and the student to safety. “Thanks to the rescue, the student soon resumed breathing and regained consciousness,” Xinhua said, citing the local authorities, without naming the woman. The British embassy said everyone is “immensely proud” of Ellison. Sino-British ties have been strained in recent months over China’s decision to impose a new national security law to quell pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which London handed back to Beijing in 1997 after 156 years of British rule. China on November 5 barred non-Chinese travelers from countries including Britain from entering amid surging coronavirus cases.  
…

Peru’s political crisis appeared on the verge of resolution Monday as Congress cleared the way for an elder statesman and consensus candidate to become the country’s third president in a week. Jubilant people waved the nation’s red-and-white flag and blared horns on the streets of Peru’s capital as Francisco Sagasti of the centrist Purple Party was selected as the new president of Congress. The 76-year-old engineer has not yet been sworn into office, but as head of Congress he becomes the nation’s chief of state by default. Peru currently has no president or vice president, making him next in line. It will now fall on Sagasti to heal a nation bruised by a week of upheaval.  Peru’s new interim President Francisco Sagasti takes off his mask after he was designated by Congress to lead the nation, in Lima, Peru, Nov. 16, 2020.”What’s at stake is taking a first step toward rebuilding confidence between the people and the state,” said Samuel Rotta, president of the Peruvian chapter of Transparency International. Applause erupted in the legislative palace as Sagasti clinched the required majority vote. A respected academic, he has also spent decades consulting government institutions and held a post at the World Bank. Shortly after the vote, he took an oath to become Congress’ president. “We will do everything possible to return hope to the people and show them they can trust in us,” he said in his first remarks. Many in the Latin American nation are hopeful Sagasti’s appointment will mark the end of a tumultuous week in which thousands took to the streets outraged by Congress’ decision to oust popular ex-President Martín Vizcarra. During the upheaval, two young men died and dozens were injured. Peru also spent more than 24 hours with no designated chief of state. Sagasti could steer the country back toward stability because he is in a position to win the support of both Congress and demonstrators. He and his Purple Party bloc were among 19 of 130 lawmakers to vote against Vizcarra’s removal. That will earn him credibility among protesters who condemned the ouster as a power grab. Unlike Vizcarra, he also has a party in Congress representing him. “Sagasti is someone who inspired confidence among a lot of people,” said Jo-Marie Burt, a senior fellow with the Washington Office on Latin America. “He’s an accidental president — but I wouldn’t say he’s someone without a plan.” Peru has much on the line: The country is in the throes of one of the world’s most lethal coronavirus outbreaks, and political analysts say the constitutional crisis cast the country’s democracy into jeopardy. Deadly protestsThe protests that rocked Peru were unlike any seen in recent years, fueled largely by young people typically apathetic to the country’s notoriously erratic politics. They came a year after a wave of anti-government demonstrations around Latin America demanding better conditions for the poor and working class. FILE – People who are refusing to recognize Peru’s new government gather to protest in Lima, Nov. 14, 2020.Human rights groups accused police of mounting an excessive response to the protests, lashing out at demonstrators with batons, rubber bullets and tear gas. The two protesters who died suffered multiple wounds — Jack Pintado, 22, was shot 11 times, including in the head, and Jordan Sotelo, 24, was hit four times in the chest near his heart, according to authorities.  “People on the streets, in their homes, on their balconies and on social media are very, very upset,” Rotta said. “Peru is a country with high levels of mistrust. Politicians profoundly aggravated that.” Widespread corruptionAt the crux of the unrest are long-simmering tensions over corruption in Peru. Every living former president has been accused or charged — most in the massive Odebrecht graft scandal in which the Brazilian construction giant admitted to doling out millions to politicians in exchange for lucrative public works contracts. Meanwhile, half of Congress is also under investigation for crimes ranging from money laundering to homicide. Vizcarra attracted legions of supporters for his efforts to change that. He dissolved Congress last year, reformed how judges are chosen and tried to get rid of the prosecutorial immunity granted to lawmakers. But he had no party backing him in Congress and sparred with legislators constantly. Lawmakers ousted him using a 19th-century-era clause claiming he showed “permanent moral incapacity.” They accused him of taking more than $630,000 in bribes in exchange for two construction contracts while governor of a small province years ago. Prosecutors are investigating the accusations, but Vizcarra has not been charged. He vehemently denies any wrongdoing. The country’s highest court is currently evaluating whether Congress broke the law in removing him from office — a decision that experts said would not be retroactive but could have implications going forward. Some analysts said the ordeal shows Peru’s political system needs reform so that no one branch of government has outsized power.  FILE – People react after Peru’s interim President Manuel Merino announced his resignation, in Lima, Peru, Nov. 15, 2020.After Vizcarra was removed, then-Congress president Manuel Merino became president. The little-known politician and rice farmer faced daily protests. He promised to keep in place a scheduled presidential election in April. But his conservative Cabinet appointments irked many. He resigned Sunday, just five days after being sworn into office. 
…

U.S. forecasters says Hurricane Iota has strengthened to a “catastrophic” Category 5 storm — the latest in the year such a storm has formed — and is likely to bring catastrophic winds, life-threatening storm surges and torrential rainfall to Central America, still trying to recover from Hurricane Eta.In its latest report, the National Hurricane Center says Iota is about 160 kilometers east-southeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, with maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometers per hour, making it the strongest storm of the 2020 season. It is moving to the west at about 15 kilometers per hour.Forecasters say on its current track, the core of Iota will make landfall within the hurricane warning area in northeastern Nicaragua Monday night, in almost the exact location Hurricane Eta came ashore two weeks ago.That storm killed at least 50 people, destroyed buildings, knocked out power, and led to flooding and landslides.Workers of banana fields evacuate the area in El Progreso, Yoro department, Honduras, on Nov.14, 2020, before the arrival of tropical storm Iota.Iota is the record-breaking 30th named storm of the 2020 season and, along with Eta, marks the first time two major hurricanes have formed in the month of November.It is also the tenth named storm to “rapidly” intensify — that is, strengthen by more than 55.5 kph in a 24-hour period. Meteorologists attribute the effect to warm waters in the southern Caribbean. 
…