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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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Brexit Day, with its mixed emotions, exposed how wide the rift with the European Union remains and how difficult it will be to bridge the gap now that Britain has left the trading bloc.Much of the media focus has been on the likely commercial and political repercussions for Britain. The economic shock could be severe, depending on how quickly Britain can strike free trade deals with the United States and China.But the now 27-member EU will also be wounded.With Britain gone, EU federalists will have less restraining them in their push for a deeper political union among the remaining member states. That, in turn, could reignite euroskepticism and trigger another populist backlash, especially in central European states, which are the most skeptical of federalism and the most determined to preserve nation-state rights, analysts say.On the economic front, much rests with how trade negotiations unfold in the next few months between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brussels.”The problem is objectively that there will be some losses and damages, no doubt, on both sides,” said Donald Tusk, former European Council president.Speaking to the BBC Sunday, Tusk said there was no wish to punish Britain for exiting, and he does not expect either side will want to intentionally harm the other.”This is a process of only damage control,” he said.But few doubt there will be damage. There seems to be no love lost between London and Brussels. The rhetorical exchanges across the English Channel in recent days have been toxic in content and tone.FILE – Brexit supporters wave Union flags during Brexit celebrations in central London, Jan. 31, 2020.Johnson and his ministers unleashed a series of combative statements, triggering equally bellicose responses from European leaders who appeared to be encouraging Scotland to break away from Britain.  As a way of emphasizing Britain’s new status as an “independent state,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab ordered British diplomats to spurn their erstwhile EU colleagues at international conferences and not sit next to them at gatherings.Former British senior diplomat John Kerr predicted Sunday that the negotiations on Britain’s future relationship with the EU, which will formally start on March 3, will quickly become “nasty and (objectionable) rebarbative.”  Johnson wants to agree to the terms of Britain’s future relationship with the bloc, modeled on the EU’s free trade agreement with Canada, by the time a transitional period ends in December.Johnson said if negotiations don’t go Britain’s way, he would be happy with a looser and distant relationship with the EU, and trade with the continent solely on World Trade Organization terms.That would mean the imposition of high trade barriers, costly tariffs and time-consuming customs checks on goods traded between the EU and Britain.  On Monday, Johnson outlined his “red lines,” saying he isn’t prepared to align with the EU’s regulatory rules, while at the same time, he said he wants tariff-free trade.”There is no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policies, subsidies, social protection, the environment or anything similar any more than the EU should be obliged to accept UK rules,” Johnson said.But European officials say that would give Britain better terms than it enjoyed as an EU member state and give British manufacturers and farmers a competitive edge over their continental rivals by lowering production costs and making their goods cheaper.If Britain departs from EU rules just on industrial emissions and pollution, it could save British industry about $5 billion dollars a year, reducing the price of its goods.  FILE – People celebrate Britain leaving the EU on Brexit Day at Parliament Square in London, Jan. 31, 2020.Johnson also rejected calls by European leaders for EU trawlers to continue to have access to British fishing waters in exchange for a deal allowing Britain’s financial institutions unfettered access to the continent. And he is threatening a tariff war with the EU, warning that if no satisfactory trade deal is struck by year’s end, Britain will impose high tariffs on goods from the continent, such as cars, cheese and wine.In an open letter published in The Times newspaper on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized that Johnson’s demands won’t be accepted.”Ease of access to the European market will depend on the degree to which the European Union’s rules are accepted,” he wrote.Few observers believe anything but a bare-bones trade agreement will be negotiated by year’s end, leaving both Britain and the EU with economic damage.Britain would be worse off, and the gloomiest forecasts have as much as 8% of its GDP lost as a result of a no-trade Brexit deal. A Canada-style deal could shrink the British economy by nearly 5% by 2035, according to the British government’s own analysis.But the impact is also going to be painful for the EU.A study last year by the University of Leuven in the Netherlands suggested close to 2 million jobs could be lost on the continent because of tariffs and trade barriers, if there is just a bare-bones deal. The EU risks a 1.5 percent fall in its collective GDP.For Europe, the economic pain would be spread across member states, although four countries would suffer the most.FILE – A projection appears on a wall in Ramsgate, southern England, on Brexit Day, Jan. 31, 2020.Nearly 14% of Ireland’s exports, mainly dairy and meat, go directly to Britain. Germany exports a wide variety of industrial products to Britain, including pharmaceuticals, chemical and petroleum products, and almost 800,000 cars a year. The Netherlands also enjoys significant trade with Britain. Meanwhile, France could see around 140,000 jobs lost with the country’s fishing industry hit hard, if French trawlers are blocked from British waters.An economic hit would be most unwelcome on the continent, where economic growth has already slowed almost to zero. The prospect of further economic disruption isn’t going to help in forthcoming haggling over the EU’s institutional budget. Brexit means the EU has to make up an estimated $12 billion shortfall in lost British contributions, and some cash-strapped governments are unhappy with the money they already have to contribute and want curbs on EU spending.Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, nicknamed the Frugal Four, are all pressing for a reduced EU budget. Berlin is determined to see that German taxpayers aren’t forced to take on the financial burden created by Brexit’s impact on the EU budget.And there’s growing alarm among member states that Britain’s departure will embolden EU federalists, who want to accelerate the bloc’s political integration. Britain had long been an opponent of a deeper political union.With Britain gone, Macron has already served notice of his plans for greater federalism, saying the EU “must understand the reasons” for Brexit “and learn lessons from it.”“It is a historic alarm signal which must resound in each of our countries, be heard by all of Europe and make us think,” Macron said.The lesson he draws is that “Europe needs new momentum.” His recipe is “more Europe, not less.”Macron is also championing a defense union separate from NATO.Later this year, the EU will hold a “Future of Europe” conference where divisions, as much as unity, could be on display, with central European states and Italy, which are already clashing with Brussels on migration policy and rule of law issues, resisting the “more Europe” formula.”Many EU member governments are wary of anything that might weaken NATO,” said Giles Merritt of the Friends of Europe research group, and author of “Slippery Slope: Brexit and Europe’s Troubled Future.”“Poland and the three other “Visegrad” countries of central Europe, along with the three Baltic republics, have ineradicable memories of their treatment at the hands of the Kremlin during the Cold War,” he said.Besides Poland, Visegrad countries include the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania comprise the Baltics. 
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Nearly 50 lawmakers who advocate for their regions to become independent from Spain boycotted Monday’s ceremonial opening of the nation’s legislative season over the presence of the royal family.
    
The representatives of five parties from the Catalonia, Basque Country and Galicia regions, all in northern Spain, say that the figure of the king is “anachronistic” and that it should be rooted out of Spanish politics.
    
Their symbolic gesture of not attending the first session of the national parliament since a new left-wing government was sworn in last month exposes the difficulties that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces in the coming months.
    
His coalition with the far-left United We Can (Podemos) party will need votes from the separatist parties to pass the nation’s 2020 spending plan and any significant legislation. Sanchez’s Socialists have been supportive of King Felipe VI and the former monarch, King Emerit Juan Carlos I.
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Turkey hit targets in northern Syria, responding to shelling by Syrian government forces that killed at least four Turkish soldiers, the Turkish president said Monday. A Syrian war monitor said six Syrian troops were also killed.
   
The exchange, which came hours after a large Turkish military convoy entered the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, is likely to further increase tensions between the two neighboring countries as such direct clashes have been rare.
   
Earlier, Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said the Turkish forces were sent to Idlib as reinforcement and were attacked there despite prior notification of their coordinates to the local authorities. It said Turkish forces responded to the attack, destroying targets. Along with four killed, nine Turkish troops were wounded.
   
Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Ukraine, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish artillery hit some 46 targets. Erdogan said Turkish warplanes were also involved and claimed that there were between 30 and 35 casualties on the Syrian side but offered no evidence.
   
“Those who test Turkey’s determination with such vile attacks will understand their mistake,” Erdogan said. He said Russia was told that Ankara would not stand for any “situation where we are prevented” from responding to Syrian assaults.
   
“It is not possible for us to remain silent when our soldiers are being martyred,” Erdogan said.
   
The Russian military said its air force took control later Monday over the airspace in Idlib’s de-escalation zone, after Turkish troops were attacked. The Russian military’s Reconciliation Center in Syria said in a statement that the airspace “is constantly being monitored by Russia’s air forces.”
   
Monday’s exchange occurred near the Syrian flashpoint town of Saraqeb, according to the the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group.
   
It comes amid a Syrian government offensive into the country’s last rebel stronghold, located in Idlib and parts of the nearby Aleppo region. Turkish troops are deployed in some of those rebel-held areas to monitor an earlier cease-fire that was agreed to but that has since collapsed.
   
Relations between Turkey and Syria have deteriorated sharply since Syria’s civil war began in 2011. Syria accuses Turkey of undermining its security by allowing thousands of foreign fighters to come battle the Syrian army. Idlib province is currently dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants.
   
With Russian backing, the Syria government has been on the offensive since December to capture and reopen a strategic highway held by the rebels since 2012. The offensive ignored a cease-fire deal brokered late last year between Russia and Turkey. The deal has since collapsed.
   
Syrian government forces captured the key Idlib town of Maaret al-Numan from the rebels last Wednesday, and have now set their sights on Saraqeb. The strategic highway passes through both towns.
   
The province of Idlib is home to some 3 million people, many of them displaced from other parts of Syria in earlier bouts of violence. The United Nations has estimated that about 390,000 Syrians have been displaced there over the past two months _ 315,000 in December and 75,000 in January.
   
Turkey already hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees, and the current wave of violence in Idlib has raised concerns of a new surge in displaced civilians fleeing toward the Turkish border.
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Official negotiations have not yet begun over their future relationship – but tensions are building between Britain and the European Union following the Britain’s official exit from the bloc Friday. Brussels says Britain will have to commit to aligning with EU standards in order to get a free trade deal, but London has insisted it will not do so. As Henry Ridgwell reports, official talks aren’t due to get under way for at least another month, leaving precious little time to negotiate a new deal.
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Within hours of Britain’s official exit from the European Union Jan. 31, tensions simmered between London and Brussels over their future relationship.Britain left the bloc at 11 p.m. London time Friday and immediately entered a transition period, where most rules and regulations remain the same. That period is set to end Dec. 31, and Britain has insisted it will not ask for an extension, leaving just 11 months to negotiate and ratify a free trade agreement. Early indications suggest the talks will be difficult, with big differences in the positions of both sides.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that Britain will have to commit to aligning with EU standards in order to get a free trade deal.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019.“One thing we feel very strongly in the EU is that if we are going to have tariff-free, quota-free trade with the UK, which is essentially what we have with Canada on almost everything, then that needs to come with a level playing field. We, for example would have very strong views on fair competition and state aid,” Varadkar said in a BBC interview Sunday.British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab insisted the UK will not follow EU regulations.“We are taking back control of our laws,” Raab told Sky News Sunday. “So we’re not going to have high alignment with the EU, legislative alignment with their rules, but we’ll want to co-operate and we expect the EU to follow through on their commitment to a Canada-style free trade agreement.”The EU’s free trade deal with Canada eliminates most tariffs on the buying and selling of goods, but does not cover services, which makes up around 80% of Britain’s GDP.The economic arguments were forgotten Friday evening as hundreds of pro-Brexit supporters gathered in central London. A Brexit “countdown clock” was projected onto Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence at No. 10 Downing St. Friday. Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party addressed the crowd: “We should celebrate the fact that freed from the constraints of the European Union, we once again will be able to find our place in the world,” Farage told hundreds of supporters gathered in the rain in Parliament Square.Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage celebrates during a rally in London, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020.Finding that place may not be so simple.“Many people believe that Brexit having gone through 3½ years of debate about what kind of Brexit they have, and whether to have it, (that) it’s all sorted, it’s all done. It isn’t done at all,” said Charlie Ries, international vice president of the RAND Corp. and a former U.S. ambassador. “In fact, the actual dimensions of the new relationship between the UK and the EU is just starting.”Early indications suggest Europe will demand access to British fishing waters and guarantees that Britain won’t undercut the EU’s labor and environmental standards, in return for access to the EU Single Market. Britain has rejected any such deal.The hard line from Westminster is putting the United Kingdom itself under increasing strain, with Scotland, which voted by a margin of 62% to remain in the EU in 2016, demanding a vote on independence so it can try to rejoin the bloc.Across Britain, the divisions wrought by Brexit will not be easily healed. Meanwhile tensions are already building in what looks likely to be stormy year ahead.
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British police shot and killed a man they say wore a fake explosive device and stabbed two people in London Sunday.Lucy D’Orsi, police deputy assistant commissioner, said police responded quickly to what they said was a “terrorist incident” and they believe it is tied to Islamic extremism, but she gave no other details. Bell Reberio-Addy, a member of Parliament who represents Streatham, said the attacker had been under surveillance “for some time.”A male stabbing victim suffered what is described as life-threatening wounds while the second victim, a woman, was also injured. A third person was slightly injured, apparently by flying glass. D’Orsi said there was no further danger to the public.Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his thoughts are with the injured as he thanked police and emergency workers. Johnson also said that in light of this attack and one in December, the government would introduce “fundamental changes” to how people convicted of terrorism are treated.London Mayor Sadiq Khan said “Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life. Here in London, we will never let them succeed.”Sunday’s incident took place on a busy street in south London’s Streatham neighborhood.Witnesses report seeing police chasing a suspect down the neighborhood’s main shopping district, yelling for him to stop. They opened fire and shot him three times when he ignored them. Police determined that the explosive device he wore was a fake.Police have not yet publicly identified him or spoke of an exact motive other than saying it was terrorism. 
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Monday outline a hardline stance in post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union, arguing Britain does not need to follow various EU rules to strike a trade deal.In a keynote speech detailing his vision for the country’s future, days after its historic departure from the bloc following nearly half a century of membership, Johnson is to say he will seek a “pragmatic agreement.”The British premier will note London has been told in earlier divorce talks with Brussels that it has the option of an ambitious trade deal, “which opens up markets and avoids the full panoply of EU regulation.””There is no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, the environment, or anything similar,” Johnson is set to say, according to excerpts of the address released by his Downing Street office.”The UK will maintain the highest standards in these areas — better, in many respects, than those of the EU — without the compulsion of a treaty and it is vital to stress this now,” he will add.Johnson also insists that if that type of agreement, similar to one the EU recently struck with Canada, is not possible then Britain would opt for a less comprehensive trade deal.”The choice is emphatically not ‘deal or no-deal,'” he will say.But in a sign of the potentially fraught nature of the high-stakes talks, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged London on Sunday to “tone down” what he called “nationalistic rhetoric”.Britain should avoid repeating the past mistake of insisting on “rigid red lines” which “makes it hard to come to an agreement,” he said.’Infuriated’Late on Friday, Britain ended almost half a century of often reluctant membership of the European Union, an organization set up to forge unity among nations after the horrors of World War II.Upon leaving, the UK immediately entered an 11-month transition period agreed as part of the divorce, during which there will be little change in practical terms.Britons will be able to work in the EU and trade freely — and vice versa — until Dec. 31, although the UK will no longer be represented in the bloc’s institutions.Legally however, Britain is out, and attention is now turning to what may prove to be grueling talks with Brussels this year to hammer out all aspects of the future partnership.Johnson, a polarizing figure accused of glossing over the complexity of leaving the EU, is in a rush to seal an agreement.He has vowed not to extend the transition phase, giving himself just 11 months to find consensus on everything from fishing to finance — not enough time, according to his critics.EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who will set out the bloc’s negotiating positions also in a speech in Brussels on Monday, has warned that some items will have to be a priority.He wants handshakes on fisheries, internal and external security and, above all, trade in goods.France reminded Britain on Sunday that the UK exports most of its fish production to European Union countries, highlighting a potential bargaining chip in coming post-Brexit talks about fishing rights that promise to be thorny.But the bloc is also said to fear being undercut on their own doorstep if Britain’s does not commit to following its regulatory framework.’New era’British newspapers reported Sunday that the government is readying for a bruising battle, and unwilling to offer many of the compromises set to be demanded by the EU.The euroskeptic Sunday Telegraph said Johnson was “privately infuriated” at perceived EU attempts “to frustrate a comprehensive free trade deal”.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab acknowledged there was “a bit of frustration” in London that “commitments” seen as already agreed in the initial Brexit divorce deal were not being “lived up to.”London is also now free to strike trade agreements around the world, including with the United States, whose President Donald Trump is an enthusiastic Brexit supporter.One of his top envoys on Friday hailed an “exciting new era.”At a special Brexit day ministers’ meeting in northeast England, Johnson discussed an aim to get 80 percent of Britain’s commerce covered by trade agreements within three years, a spokesman said.Raab said Sunday that he would embark on a tour of Asia and Australia next week, a trip encompassing Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.The Foreign Office declined to release further details.The Sunday Telegraph reported that a trade deal is earmarked to be agreed with Japan by Christmas, followed by more agreements with Australia and New Zealand in mid-2021. 
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John and Laura Hunter live in southern California and over the past few years they’ve been heading out into the desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to make sure people making the trek to the U.S. from South and Central America have what it takes to stay alive during their passage. But not everyone agrees with the help the migrants are getting. Genia Dulot has the story. 
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A man was shot and killed by police in London Sunday after a stabbing incident that authorities said could be terrorism related.”A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related,” the London Metropolitan police wrote on Twitter Sunday.#INCIDENT A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related. Please follow @metpoliceuk for updates— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 2, 2020Police confirmed that the man had been killed and currently “believe” that there are two injured victims.London mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed in a statement that he was in touch with police and following the situation closely.”Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life – here in London we will never let them succeed,” he wrote.My statement on today’s incident in Streatham. pic.twitter.com/x7rWASs1Xs— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) February 2, 2020In November, Usman Khan stabbed five people on the London Bridge before he was shot dead by police. Two of the victims later died of their wounds. The stabbing was declared a terrorist incident.
 
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Venezuela’s Juan Guaido told a large crowd of cheering expatriates in Miami on Saturday that he will soon make his return to Caracas from an international tour, bringing with him the “world’s backing” to oust President Nicolas Maduro. “We have a plan. We have a strategy,” Guaido said. “We’re not alone, and we’re going to restore democracy.” The opposition leader bent on unseating the socialist president, however, presented few details for executing this plan upon returning, saying additional sanctions are “the only strategy” available. Guaido’s visit to Miami rounds out a two-week world tour that took him first to Colombia, then across Europe and Canada, where he held meetings with a list of world leaders. He delivered a message that Venezuelans are pressing for freedom from a “dictator,” but they need help. A key meeting absent from Guaido’s trip was with his most important ally, President Donald Trump, who earlier in the day tweeted a picture of himself golfing at his Florida Mar-a-Lago club, saying he was “Getting a little exercise.” Meeting with president?When asked about a possible meeting with Trump, Guaido said, “Stay tuned,” but he also said he was already preparing his return to Venezuela. An estimated 3,500 people crowded into a Miami convention center to hear Guaido, the most promising opposition political figure to surface in years with the chance of ending two decades of rule launched by the late President Hugo Chavez. Guaido urged the crowd to remain unified and to resist, despite living away from Venezuela. “All options are on the table, but also under the table,” Guaido said. “There are things that are not talked about. All necessary actions will be used to finally liberate Venezuela.” Venezuela was once an energy powerhouse with the world’s largest oil reserves, but crude production has plummeted over the last two decades, which critics blame on corruption and mismanagement. Today, an estimated 4.5 million Venezuelans have emigrated from the country of 30 million, leaving behind crumbling infrastructure, broken hospitals, power failures and gasoline shortages with mile-long lines at filling stations across much of the South American nation. Guaido, 36, rose a year ago to prominence, named leader of the opposition-led National Assembly. In this position he claimed presidential powers, vowing to oust Maduro and reverse the political and social crisis. He won backing from the U.S. and nearly 60 nations that considered Maduro’s 2018 election a fraud and blamed his socialist policies for the crisis that’s driving mass migration and threatening the region’s stability. Maduro holds onMaduro, however, has maintained power with firm backing of the military and key foreign allies, including China, Cuba and Turkey. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to visit Caracas in the coming days. Before the rally, Guaido met with James Story, charge d’ affaires for the Venezuela Affairs Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. The opposition leader also mingled with Venezuelans who have fled their homeland for the United States over the last two decades. Many at the rally wore baseball hats with bright yellow, blue and red, representing the colors of Venezuela’s flag. When Guaido stepped on stage, they cheered and held up their phones for photos. “We want him to tell us what’s going to happen,” said Gloria Bejaramo, 65, who traveled from Venezuela to South Florida to visit a daughter. “I’ve always supported him, and everyone is looking for a way out of this situation to achieve democracy.”  
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American fast-food icon McDonald’s Friday marked 30 years since it first opened its doors in Moscow, an occasion with deep resonance here since the transition from the communist Soviet Union.Yet, marring the celebration were city authorities’ concerns over an outbreak of the coronavirus in neighboring China.   
The restaurant had marketed a day of Soviet-era pricing, with hamburgers costing their original 1990 3 ruble price tag, but canceled the event amid government fears a Soviet-era line would pose a health hazard.   Coupons were issued instead for the thousands who arrived anyway.   Pushkin Square McDonald’s, Jan. 31, 2020, the 30th anniversary of the fast-food restaurant in Russia. (C. Maynes/VOA)Burgers of ChangeThe McDonald’s ‘Golden Arches’ first lit up on Moscow’s Pushkin Square to great fanfare on January 31, 1990.An estimated 38,000 Soviets lined up for hours for what they might have heard of but never tasted, a McDonald’s hamburger. “All I remember is we waited a long time,” Elena Nikolaevna, 78, a former factory worker who came to attend the 30th anniversary celebrations, said. “I felt like I was eating America itself,”  Andrey, 53, said, recalling his first bite, a month after the initial opening.  “The lines were huge,” he said.    The Moscow launch set company records at the time, with the most customers ever served in one day.   The event was intrinsically linked to Russians’ desire for Western-style market reforms under former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of perestroika, or restructuring.  First introduced in 1986, perestroika brought new openness to Soviet society, but provided few quick paths toward repairing the USSR’s deeply flawed command economy.The scene on Pushkin Square seemed to lay bare those contradictions; while shortages of basic necessities were common in Soviet stores, McDonald’s — almost magically — never ran out of food.The secret was that the company had negotiated to set up a private manufacturing plant within the Soviet Union — unheard of at the time — while importing 80% of whatever else was needed.  It was effective but far from perfect: the company operated at a loss. There were problems from the Soviet customer’s point of view too, as an average meal cost more than a half day’s wages.Calling McCanadaThere was also an open secret about this symbol of America being introduced into the Soviet Union — it was actually Canadian.The CEO of McDonald’s Canada, American-Canadian citizen George Cohen, first latched onto the idea of opening a McDonald’s in the Soviet Union after bringing Soviet representatives to a McDonald’s during the 1976 Montreal Olympics.The Soviets liked the food and, even more, they admired the service.   Moscow was gearing up to host its own 1980 Summer Games and looking for ways to feed foreign tourists something quick, familiar, and tasty while maintaining their pride.   “Being a Canadian company was giving a neutral touch to the whole setup,” Marc Carena, the current CEO of McDonald’s Russia, told VOA.  Cold War politics, including the U.S. decision to  boycott the 1980 games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, ultimately scuttled the deal.Yet, a few years and hundreds of hours of negotiations later, Gorbachev endorsed the Golden Arches as part of his push for change.  “McDonald’s was more than the opening of a simple restaurant,” Carena said,  “It came to symbolize the entire opening of the USSR to the West.”Service with a SmileWatching archival videos, available on YouTube, is like entering a time warp regarding relations between Moscow and Washington then. “They say the West is bad, but I like this food,” says a young customer interviewed at the 1990 opening. “We were interested in another life and what it looked like,” Georgi, a retired army veteran, told VOA.“McDonald’s just made the world just feel wider. That’s not the case now,” he said.  In theory, he was referring to  the current poor state of U.S.-Russian relations, although in reality, he had just finished a Big Mac.McDonald’s’ most lasting Russian legacy may lie in the Western-style services the company pioneered here.After placing a single advertisement in the leading Moskovsky Komsomolets daily, the company fielded 30,000 applications.  Just over 600 finalists were chosen.   “I remember waiting for the bus and looking at the McDonald’s sign and crying,” said Svetlana Polyakova, who was hired to flip hamburgers.“I thought I’d made it,” added Polyakova, now the company’s Russia public relations director.   Those chosen were young and energetic, and had little or no experience.  That was the point.  McDonald’s employees, by design, had none of the bad habits associated with the grim unfriendly service of Soviet cafes, Anna Patrunina, one of the original cashiers but now vice president of operations, said. “Anna Patrunina, one of the original 1990 hires and now VP of Operations of McDonald’s Russia, Jan. 31, 2020. (C. Maynes/VOA)We were asked, can you smile for eight hours straight? We all said yes, of course,” she told VOA,  “but it turns out it’s harder than you think.”Smiling was a warmth easily extended in Soviet home but was not part of public life.  It was foreign.  It was weird.  It was American.New Times, New RulesToday, good service in Russia is common, and so, too, is McDonald’s.The company now has more than 700 stores across the country and 98% of the company’s supplies are now sourced locally.”We’re a Russian company and we always were a Russian company,” according to Carena, a Swiss national and the only foreigner on staff.  Not everyone is happy, though. “I don’t like their fast food. I never have,” said Elchin, 58, a businessman who moved to Moscow from Baku, Azerbaijan, 30 years ago, adding he preferred home-cooked meals. “Ukrainian borscht, Russian dumplings, Armenian barbecue … now that’s food to savor,” he said.   “Nothing against the U.S. but I love the classics,” he said.
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A Spanish charity boat with 363 rescued migrants aboard is appealing to be allowed to dock at a port so it can let passengers disembark after several days in the Mediterranean Sea. Gerard Canals, head of the Open Arms mission, on Saturday also expressed concern that food could run out. He said there was about 30 kilos (66 pounds) of rice aboard, enough to last about two more days. In a separate tweet, Open Arms said the migrants were crowded together on the bridge of the rescue boat. The migrants were taken aboard Open Arms in five separate rescues from distressed boats launched by Libya-based human traffickers over the past few days. After no permission came from Malta for a safe port, Canals said, the rescue group is hoping Italy will allow it to dock. In the past few months Italy has allowed such charity ships to disembark rescued migrants at its ports on condition that other European Union nations agree to take some of the asylum-seekers. Several EU nations have done so, making good on pledges to share the migrant burden at a conference in Malta a few months ago. During Italy’s previous government, which included the anti-migrant League, then-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini triggered repeated standoffs at sea when he refused port permission to private rescue ships. In some cases, the rescuers were left in limbo for days or forced to sail as far as Spain to disembark migrants. 
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