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An American warship was “aggressively approached” by a Russian Navy ship in the North Arabian Sea, the U.S. Navy said Friday.Navy Cmdr. Josh Frey, spokesman for U.S. 5th Fleet, said that the USS Farragut was conducting routine operations Thursday and sounded five short blasts to warn the Russian ship of a possible collision. He said the USS Farragut, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, asked the Russian ship to change course and the ship initially refused but ultimately moved away.Even though the Russian ship moved away, Frey said the delay in shifting course “increased the risk of collision.”
 
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The Trump administration is banning charter flights to Cuban cities besides Havana in a new tightening of U.S. restrictions on the island.In October, the administration banned commercial flights to cities outside the capital.The State Department said in a press release Friday that charter operators would have 60 days to wind down their flights to Santiago, Holguin and seven other cities across the island, and put a new restriction on the number of charter flights to Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport.”Today’s action will further restrict the Cuban regime’s ability to obtain revenue, which it uses to finance its ongoing repression of the Cuban people and its unconscionable support for dictator Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the statement.The new restriction leaves both leisure travelers and Cuban-Americans without an easy way to travel to destinations outside the Cuban capital. Driving from Havana to eastern Cuba can take more than 12 hours on poorly maintained and often dangerous roads.
 
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As allegations swirl and denials clash over what caused the fatal crash of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran this week, Ukraine’s president is caught in the middle. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday appealed to Western countries to present evidence for their claims a day earlier that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the plane, killing all 176 people on board. If that made Zelenskiy sound uninformed amid strident claims from all sides, he also appeared to be following an astute strategy for damage control. Ukraine knows all too well how an air catastrophe can stir up a maelstrom of rumors and disinformation. The plane crash Wednesday near Tehran is the third time in 20 years that Ukraine has been linked to the violent destruction of a civilian plane, allegedly or demonstrably due to a missile strike. In each case, denials, unfounded speculation and political posturing clouded the search for the truth. FILE – Viacheslav Filev, general director of Russia’s Sibir airlines, shows a perforated seat of the crashed Tupolev TU-154 plane, in a hangar of Adler airport, Oct. 6, 2001.The first disaster was on October 4, 2001, when a Russian airliner disappeared over the Black Sea en route from Israel carrying 78 people. Coming just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, speculation on the cause initially focused on terrorism. Claim of missile strikeWithin a day, U.S. officials said the plane likely was hit accidentally by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile fired during military exercises. Both Ukraine and Russia initially rejected that claim. But the rejection by Russian President Vladimir Putin was based on what he had been told by Ukraine — at that time a Russian ally — and Ukraine several weeks later acknowledged that it was at fault. The incident and Ukraine’s denials and incorrect claims were a significant embarrassment to the country, which fired its air defense chief and paid more than $15 million in compensation to victims’ families. The next disaster killed far more people and sparked far more contention, pitting Ukraine against Russia with competing claims of responsibility. FILE – In this July 23, 2014, photo, a piece of the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 lies in the village of Petropavlivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine.A Malaysian Airlines jet was shot down on July 17, 2014, over eastern Ukraine where Ukrainian forces were at war with Russian-backed separatists. All 298 people aboard died. Although much suspicion initially fell on the separatists, bolstered by a reported claim by a rebel commander that a Ukrainian plane was shot down at the same time, Russian officials and Russian news media quickly launched an array of competing theories. One of them focused on a man who supposedly was a Spanish air traffic controller at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport who said on Twitter that his radar screen had spotted two Ukrainian military jets near the Malaysian plane shortly before it went down. That dovetailed with an alleged theory that Ukrainian forces had mistaken the airliner for one carrying Putin. The most vividly gruesome of the reports was a claim that the Malaysian plane had been filled with corpses before takeoff, then sent to its doom. On-the-ground investigative work to establish what happened was obstructed by the rebels, who did not give investigators full access to the crash site for days. Experts later abandoned the on-site work for several weeks because of concerns about their safety. Confirmation comesNearly a year later, Russian arms maker Almaz-Antey confirmed that the plane had been shot down by a Soviet-designed surface-to-air missile, but claimed that particular model was used only by the Ukrainian military. Investigations led by the Netherlands — the flight originated in Amsterdam and more than half the victims were Dutch — concluded that the plane was shot down from rebel-controlled territory and that the mobile missile launcher used had been brought into Ukraine from Russia on the day of the attack. Russia and the rebels continue to deny involvement in the downing. A trial is scheduled to start in March in the Netherlands of four suspects — three Russians and one Ukrainian — in the MH-17 downing, although none is expected to be handed over to face the court. FILE – Security officers and Red Crescent workers are seen at the site where a Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after takeoff from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020.The Iran crash this week took place amid fears of imminent war between the United States and Iran after a U.S. drone strike killed an Iranian military mastermind and Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes. Zelenskiy and Ukraine may be facing a similarly sensitive and obstinate government to the country — Russia — confronted over the 2014 downing. Although Ukrainian investigators are in Iran, they have not yet been able to go to the crash site. Iran is promising cooperation but still rejects reports that one of its missiles hit the plane. Caution from MoscowRussia, which has close relations with Iran, appears to be taking a cautious stance. Russian officials have refrained from commenting on the claims that Iran was responsible, and pro-Kremlin lawmakers have been divided on the issue. There are no grounds for making vociferous statements at this stage,'' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday.It is important to allow specialists to analyze the situation and make conclusions. Starting some kind of game is, at the very least, indecent.” The catastrophe is a complex stew for Zelenskiy, who took office less than eight months ago with no prior political experience. His call for evidence in the plane crash and avoidance of strong claims could be the hesitancy of a novice, but it has so far prevented a smoldering crisis from bursting into open flames. 
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France made it clear Friday that it does not want to be shackled to the tight deadline British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking to impose for the upcoming free trade talks between Britain and the European Union.Johnson has said discussions about the future must be completed by the end of 2020 and that there is ample time to agree to a wide-ranging deal.France’s EU minister was skeptical and said it could take three times longer.FILE – Member of parliament Amelie de Montchalin attends a government session at the National Assembly in Paris, France, Oct. 24, 2017.Amelie de Montchalin said EU member states would bide their time even if that risks causing a chaotic no-deal transition at the end of the year.”If Boris Johnson says it must end in 11 months from now and we need 15, 24 or 36 months, the 27 will take their time,” she said.It has already taken the U.K. more than 3 1/2 years to leave the EU following its June 2016 Brexit referendum.Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on Jan. 31, at which point it enters a standstill period whereby it remains within the European single market and customs union until the end of 2020. After Brexit day, official discussions are set to begin on the future relationship between Britain and the EU — since the Brexit vote in June 2016, discussions have only centered on aspects related to the divorce, such as citizens’ rights and Britain’s financial liability.Forging a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and a third country usually takes years, not months, and Johnson’s timeline is viewed as unrealistic across the bloc.The European Commission has said it might be possible to tackle some selected items in 2020, such as fishing rights, but that comprehensive discussions from trade to security would need longer.French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week that in light of Johnson’s insistence that negotiations on the future have to be over by the year’s end, Britain will need to show “flexibility in line with that ambitious schedule.”Following EU rulesEU officials have also warned that negotiations will be made harder by the British government’s insistence that it won’t agree to keep EU rules and standards as they develop. Johnson has said he wants Britain to be free to diverge from EU regulations in order to strike new trade deals around the world. The EU has responded by pointing out that good access to the bloc’s single market, the world’s biggest, only comes if Britain agrees to maintain a level playing field on such issues as environmental standards and workers rights.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson poses with a sledgehammer, after hammering a “Get Brexit Done” sign into the yard of a supporter, in South Benfleet, Britain, Dec. 11, 2019.If there is no deal when the U.K. transition deadline ends at the start of 2021, then Britain would leave the EU’s economic arrangements with no deal, a development that would see tariffs and other impediments slapped on trade and potentially sink the British economy into recession.Britain and the EU will have to strike deals on everything from trade in goods and services to fishing, aviation, medicines and security. The EU has said both sides would suffer — but that Britain would suffer more given the relative importance of the EU economy to the size of the British economy.”It is a major arm twisting game,” de Montchalin said.Northern IrelandWithout doubt, the most difficult issue during the Brexit divorce discussions was how to maintain a free and open border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the EU. That issue was complicated further by the fact there had been no functioning devolved administration in Northern Ireland for three years.However, the looming Brexit date appears to have given new urgency to attempts to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly and executives. Political parties there were considering Friday a draft deal from the British and Irish governments to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive.The two governments urged the main pro-British and Irish nationalist parties to accept the deal. Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people have been without a functioning administration since the power-sharing government collapsed in January 2017.
 
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Queen Elizabeth II has moved quickly to take control of the crisis surrounding the decision by Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to distance themselves from the royal family, ordering royal courtiers to find a future role for the pair within days.Officials representing the most senior members of the family — the monarch, her son Prince Charles, grandson Prince William, and Prince Harry and Meghan — were meeting to sort out a workable solution for the couple within the royal family.In the meantime, Meghan has returned to Canada, where she and Harry spent the Christmas holidays, instead of with other royals at the queen’s estate in Sandringham, England. The former actress has longstanding ties to the country, having lived in Toronto while filming the TV show “Suits.”The talks come after the royal pair released a “personal message”  Wednesday evening that said they were stepping back from being senior members of Britain’s royal family, aimed to become financially independent and would “balance” their time between the U.K. and North America.FILE – Newspapers are seen for sale in London, Jan. 9, 2020.Harry and Meghan faced a barrage of criticism from the British press over their decision.The couple has long complained of intrusive media coverage and accused some British media commentators of racism. They slammed the country’s long-standing arrangements for royal media coverage and insisted that from now on they prefer to communicate directly with the public through social media.The monarch and other members of the family were said to be “hurt” by the announcement because they weren’t informed about the communique before it was released. News of the talks followed.The latest developments reveal more divisions within the British monarchy, which was rocked in November by Prince Andrew’s disastrous television interview about his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew, the queen’s second son, has stepped away from royal duties and patronages after being accused by a woman who says she was an Epstein trafficking victim who slept with the prince.Personal assetsHarry, 35, is Elizabeth’s grandson and sixth in line to the British throne, behind his father, brother and his brother’s three children. The former British Army officer is one of the royal family’s most popular members and has spent his entire life in the public eye.Before marrying the prince in a wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 38-year-old Meghan was a star of the TV legal drama “Suits.” The couple’s son Archie was born in May 2019.The couple’s statement on Wednesday left many questions unanswered — such as what they plan to do and how they will earn private income without tarnishing the royal image. At the moment, they are largely funded by Harry’s father, Prince Charles, through income from his vast Duchy of Cornwall estate.They said they plan to cut ties to the taxpayer support given each year to the queen for official use, which currently covers 5% of the costs of running their office.Harry and Meghan also have considerable assets of their own. Harry inherited an estimated 7 million pounds ($9.1 million) from his late mother, Princess Diana, as well as money from his great-grandmother. Meghan has money from a successful acting career.
 
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Ten years ago, Herlande Mitile was left disabled by the massive earthquake that devastated Haiti. Today, she uses a wheelchair jury-rigged with a piece of string, which means she cannot go far.Result: she is trapped in her village outside Port-au-Prince. It was meant to be a model for reconstruction of the country after the disaster.Instead, the 36-year-old Mitile — who once worked in the capital — is dependent on her neighbors to survive.”The doctor told me that if I went to physical therapy, I might walk again, but you have to go into the city for that. You need money for public transport and I don’t have any,” she explained.”That’s how I have become even more handicapped than I was to begin with,” added Mitile, who has metal plates screwed into her hip and spine.Before January 12, 2010, she did not know a thing about earthquakes or the damage they can do.But on that Tuesday, more than 200,000 Haitians were killed by the roaring temblor, many of them crushed to death when substandard concrete buildings crumbled on top of them.Mitile was rescued from the debris eight days after the 7.0-magnitude quake. She was alive, but gravely injured.A girl walks in Croix des Bouquets, 12.9kms (8 miles) to the northeast of Port-au-Prince, on Dec. 30, 2019.Potemkin villageAfter months in a makeshift camp, hundreds of which dotted the Port-au-Prince landscape after the tragedy, Mitile and her two daughters ended up in Village Lumane Casimir.Named for one of Haiti’s greatest singers, the community – about 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside Port-au-Prince – was created by the government, which offered lodging there to about 50 people disabled in the quake.The government had hoped it would be an example or urban development for an impoverished country mired in corruption, and which to this day has scant real estate records.The community was to have 3,000 quake-resistant homes, a market, an industrial area, police and fire stations, a school and a pharmacy.On paper, it was a dream community. But the plans never came to fruition.Like hundreds of other construction sites during the decade when the Petrocaribe program was running, the village was abandoned in 2014 with more than half the buildings undone.Scandal and corruption The ambitious project died in the swirling Petrocaribe corruption controversy that sparked an eruption of public anger in 2018 — anger that remains to this day.Since the middle of that year, the public has regularly demonstrated in Haiti calling for more transparency in how the funds from Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program were handled.The scheme had allowed struggling Haiti to buy petroleum products more cheaply and on credit, but it was plagued by allegations of misuse of aid money allocated by Caracas.The financial upheaval that resulted from the scandal doomed the village project, and the public administrative office on site to collect rent closed, creating a sort of real estate loophole.So people kept coming to the complex, because all of a sudden, it was a great deal.”I came to live here because rent had become too high in my old neighborhood,” explained William Saint-Pierre, who simply squatted in one vacant house.Saint-Pierre pays no rent for his two-room dwelling, and doesn’t pay any taxes on his off-book drinks business.But he also likes the safety of the village with its neatly arranged, brightly colored homes.”In the cities after five or six o’clock, you have to stay inside, and doors have iron gates. Look around us — at my little wooden door, at homes without a security wall,” Saint-Pierre said.”I’m getting too old to hear gunshots at all hours of the day and night,” added the 62-year-old.
 Boulva Verly, 34, tends to his son Woodyna Verly, 3, at their in Croix des Bouquets, 12.9kms (8 miles) to the northeast of Port-au-Prince, on Jan. 2, 2020.Isolation Despite some benefits, including the absence of gang violence, Village Lumane Casimir is nevertheless geographically isolated and without any officials to run it.That puts its most vulnerable residents at even higher risk.Mitile cannot get around so she cannot find a job. She gets no public assistance. So she has to rely on handouts from neighbors.”Sometimes, I’ve wanted to die,” she admits, once her daughters aged 12 and 16 are out of earshot.”When my neighbors cook, they call my little one and tell her to come get a bowl for me,” she says, tapping nervously on her damaged wheelchair.”Before January 12 (the quake), we got by, but now, I’m worse than a baby.”In the village, which is effectively run by the residents themselves, those still suffering from injuries sustained in the quake and those who came seeking a better life say they feel forgotten by the government.”If we had to wait for them to make good on their promises, we would be dead,” Mitile says.”There is no government. I am my own government.” 
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Northern Ireland’s main political parties are meeting Friday to decide whether to accept a deal to restore the Belfast-based government that collapsed three years ago.
    
Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people have been without a functioning administration since the power-sharing government fell apart in January 2017 over a botched green-energy project. The rift soon widened to broader cultural and political issues separating Northern Ireland’s British unionists and Irish nationalists, who shared power in the government.
    
After several days of intense talks, the British and Irish governments late Thursday published a draft proposal to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive.
    
The U.K.’s Northern Ireland Secretary, Julian Smith, said the political parties had not agreed to all of it, but he was asking the assembly’s speaker to reconvene the legislature Friday in hope politicians would back the deal.
   
 “Now is decision time,” he said. “We have had three years of talks and there is finally a good deal on the table that all parties can support.”
    
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney also urged acceptance, saying it was time “politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents.”
    
“Forget the language of win or lose. This is a deal filled with compromises,” he said.
    
Initial signs were encouraging. The main pro-British group, the Democratic Unionist Party, said it was not a perfect deal, but could be supported.
    
“On balance we believe there is a basis upon which the assembly and executive can be re-established in a fair and balanced way,” said DUP leader Arlene Foster.
    
Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, the DUP’s former government partner, said its ruling council would meet Friday afternoon to decide whether to support the deal.
    
Previous attempts to restore power-sharing between Sinn Fein and the DUP and have come to nothing. But the U.K.’s looming departure from the European Union, due on Jan. 31, has given new urgency to attempts to restore the government. Northern Ireland has the U.K.’s only border with an EU member country, and Brexit will challenge the status of the currently invisible frontier, potentially pushing Northern Ireland into a closer embrace with its southern member, the Republic of Ireland. Both of the two main parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein, want a say on what happens next.
    
Northern Ireland also faced a Jan. 13 deadline to restore the government or face new elections for the assembly that could see Sinn Fein and the DUP lose ground to less intransigent parties.
    
The deal includes promises of financial support from the U.K. for big infrastructure projects if the government is restored, as well as proposals to deal with contentious issues such as the status of the Irish language.
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Iran has invited the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. accident investigation agency, to participate in the probe of the Ukrainian Boeing commercial jetliner that crashed near Tehran earlier this week.The NTSB said in a statement Thursday it had received “formal notification” about the crash from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran and is sending “an accredited representative to the investigation of the crash.”Iran has also invited Boeing, the U.S. manufacturer of the plane, to be a part of the investigation team.It is not, however, immediately clear what level of participation the two U.S. entities would have in the investigation because of the U.S. sanctions placed on Iran and the heightened tensions between the two countries.Ukraine is also taking part in the investigation.A color-infrared view shows the area where an Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after takeoff from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Maxar’s WorldView-2 satellite image taken Jan. 9, 2020.The latest development comes as U.S. President Donald Trump publicly voiced suspicion that Iran may have accidentally shot down the Ukrainian airliner.“Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side,” said Trump of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. “Some people say it was mechanical. Personally, I don’t think that’s even a question.”Ballistic missile attackThe crash occurred just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers in response to last week’s U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.Iranian officials have maintained the Boeing 737-800, at an altitude of 2,400 meters, suffered a catastrophic engine failure early Wednesday, local time. All 176 people on the plane bound for Kyiv died, including 63 Canadians.Mourners attend a vigil at University of Toronto student housing for the victims of a Ukrainian passenger jet, which crashed in Iran, in this still image taken from a video, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jan. 8, 2020.Government sources have told VOA that U.S. officials have examined satellite data and imagery leading them to believe the airliner, just after taking off from Tehran, was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile after being targeted accidentally.A U.S. official confirmed to VOA that he is confident the plane was shot down by Iran.“At some point they’ll release the black box. Ideally, they’ll get it to Boeing,” Trump added in remarks to reporters in the White House Roosevelt Room Thursday.Video of the aircraft shows it breaking up in the air in a fireball over Iran.The head of Iran’s of Civil Aviation Organization denies the plane could have been hit by a missile.“Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane and such rumors are illogical,” ISNA quoted Ali Abedzadeh as saying.The New York Times posted video on its website late Thursday that the newspaper identified as “verified video showing the moment a Ukrainian airliner was hit in Iran.” The Times said the video, provided by Maxar Technologies, appeared to show a missile hitting a plane, which did not explode immediately. The Times said the aircraft turned back “toward the airport ablaze before it exploded.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the press, Jan. 9, 2020, in Ottawa, Canada. He said Canada had intelligence from multiple sources indicating that a Ukrainian airliner that crashed near Tehran was mistakenly shot down by Iran.Canada and UkraineThe governments of Ukraine and Canada are not accepting the initial assessment by Iran that the cause of the crash appeared to be a mechanical issue.Citing what he called “intelligence from multiple sources,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that “the intelligence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.”Trudeau added, “This may well have been unintentional.”Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, expressed solidarity with Canada.“We, Ukrainians, share the pain that Canadians feel, and the stories that we see on television there are just as heartbreaking to us as the stories about our flight attendants and our pilots that we see on Ukrainian television,” Shevchenko told VOA’s Ukraine service Thursday. “We just feel that we have to walk through this pain together.”Asked if Trudeau’s announcement would hinder the investigation, Shevchenko said he wouldn’t speculate.“I wouldn’t speculate on the reasons of the crash either,” he said, “but I would say that it is in the everyone’s interest, including Iran, to have very good, transparent and genuine investigation into this tragedy. I think that truth and only truth is something that can get us moving forward.”Flowers and candles are placed in front of the portraits of the flight crew of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed in Iran, at a memorial at the Boryspil International airport outside Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 8, 2020.Sixty-three of the crash victims were from Canada, which has more than 200,000 citizens of Iranian descent. It is also popular with Iranian students.“I’m glad that Prime Minister Trudeau is taking this so seriously, but I was saddened and angry that the evidence points to an Iranian missile being responsible for the crash,” Avideh Montmaen-Far, president of the Council of Iranian Canadians, told VOA’s Persian service.“I hope Canada and other international experts will be involved in order to ensure the investigation is thorough, because families of the victims deserve truth and closure,” she said.Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, said there were several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.“A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main [theories], as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash,” he told reporters.Britain urges full investigationIn Britain, government officials told reporters it is looking into “very concerning” reports the plane had been struck by a surface-to-air missile.Following a phone call Thursday between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the British government said there needs to be “a full, credible and transparent investigation in what happened.” But British officials added that they did not think the downing of the jet was intentional.The global security risk company IHS Markit issued a briefing Thursday claiming that the UIA flight was hit by an SA-15 missile fired by a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.Security officers and Red Crescent workers are seen at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after takeoff from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020.Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister said his government has sent a team of experts who are on the ground in Iran, working with their Iranian counterparts to sift through the crash debris for evidence of the cause.“Our priority is that all the pieces of information should be collected and preserved,” Sergiy Kyslytsya told a small group of reporters in New York. “On the black boxes, there are rules and they should be followed, and I am looking forward to the full cooperation of Iran — it is in their best interest.”He discouraged speculation and conspiracy theories, saying they would hurt the families of the victims.“My other concern is that the international protocols, conventions and regulations should be duly implemented when it comes to the investigation,” Kyslytsya said. Investigators in Iran said the voice and data recorders from the Boeing 737 aircraft, built in 2016, were recovered from the crash site on the outskirts of the Iranian capital, but that the so-called black boxes were damaged and some data had been lost.The Convention on International Civil Aviation, to which Iran is a signatory, does not require Tehran to hand over the data recorders to the NTSB or Boeing, Andriy Guck, a Ukraine-based attorney and aviation expert, said.“There is a duty to investigate,” Guck told VOA’s Ukrainian Service in a phone conversation. “Iran can decide to investigate the black boxes by itself or transfer them to a foreign laboratory. But if the Iranians do not allow anyone else to participate in the examination of the boxes, it will raise doubts about their investigation.”VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb, VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer, Jamie Dettmer, Michael Lipin of VOA Persian, and Tatiana Vorozhko of VOA’s Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.
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Eastern Libyan forces led by Khalifa Haftar are rejecting Turkey and Russia’s call for a cease-fire starting Sunday.Haftar’s Libyan National Army issued a statement Thursday, saying it appreciates their effort to “seek peace and stability,” but it will continue the war against “terrorist groups,” meaning the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.That Tripoli-based government, led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, said it welcomes the truce along with “the resumption of the political process and the elimination of the specter of war.”FILE – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before his departure from Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Aug. 27, 2019.Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a joint statement earlier this week that “seeking a military solution to the ongoing conflict in Libya only causes further suffering and deepens the divisions among Libyans. The worsening situation in Libya is undermining the security and stability of Libya’s wider neighborhood, the entire Mediterranean region, as well as the African continent.”Rival governments led by Haftar and Sarraj are battling for control of Libya. Haftar’s forces seized the key Mediterranean port city of Sirte earlier this week, but the fight for the capital, Tripoli, has been stalled since April with hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the middle.Russia supports Haftar’s forces while Turkey has begun deploying troops to Libya to back Sarraj.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is warning all sides against letting Libya become a “second Syria,” as he called for an arms embargo and a political settlement.
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Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has accused the government of Nicolás Maduro of trying to bribe lawmakers to vote against his re-election as National Assembly president in an effort to put Maduro loyalists in the parliament and gain control of Venezuela’s last democratic institution.  Guaidó, who last year declared himself Venezuela’s interim president, made the comments in an exclusive interview with VOA. Alvaro Algarra and Adriana Nunez in Caracas contributed to this report by VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit.
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U.S. and Canadian officials say there is evidence suggesting that an Iranian missile downed the Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran on Wednesday. Media reports are rife with speculation about the cause of the crash, with a mechanical error all but ruled out. Iranian authorities are in possession of data recorders from the plane that can help determine the cause of the crash that killed more than 80 Iranian citizens. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of France on Thursday as a record-breaking strike continued over proposed pension reforms — and with the government and unions still deadlocked over a compromise.Demonstrators packed the Place de la Republic in central Paris ahead of the march, waiving banners, listening to rock music and snacking on grilled sausage. Unions estimated this protest was the biggest since strike action began more than a month ago.  Demonstrators against the government’s pension reforms at the Place de la Republique in Paris, Jan. 9, 2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)“We are here because the whole country is against these … pension reforms.”Lawyer Pascale Korn joined other members of the Paris bar decked out in their traditional black gowns. She benefits from a private pension system, but fears proposed reforms will force lawyers like herself to pay much more into the general public pension fund.  “They are just trying to break everything we have in France,” Korn said.This is France’s longest strike since 1968. At issue for these angry protesters: government plans to overhaul the pension system, bumping up official retirement two years to 64 and reconciling myriad special plans into a single universal point-based system.  Members of the Force Ouvriere union, among those fighting the government’s proposed pension overhaul, Jan. 9,2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)In a new year’s address, President Emmanuel Macron called for a quick compromise to end the standoff between unions and the government, but so far that hasn’t happened.  For high school English teacher Karine Grosset Grange, the pension overhaul is the last straw in Macon’s broader set of reforms.  “They are destroying the system of health care, they are destroying all the social system that we have benefited from since 1945,” Grosset Grange said. “I don’t want a society where … only a few get a lot and the rest get we don’t know. This is not what our society was based on.”The strikes have shuttered schools, blocked oil refineries and seriously disrupted rail and public transport, choking Paris streets with cars, bikes and scooters as commuters find alternatives to get to work. While recent polls show most French believe the strike is justified, many now want it to stop.  One of the lawyers joining Thursday’s demonstration against pension reforms in Paris, Jan. 9, 2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)A few blocks from the Place de la Republic, chocolate salesman Pierre Maerten said he had seen a major drop in business since the strikes began last month. He walks 2½ hours most mornings to get to work.  Maerten thinks the strikers are basically taking people hostage and there are other ways to protest. He also believes the pension reforms are necessary to pay for France’s increasingly aging and longer-living population.   Other European countries have reformed their pension systems, Maerten said, without so much fuss. He believes the French have forgotten all the benefits they do have.The demonstration was good for the sausage grilling business in Paris, Jan. 9, 2020. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)  
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to travel to Moscow Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting will likely focus on the Iran crisis, with both Germany and Russia calling for de-escalation following the U.S. targeted killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the retaliatory airstrikes by Tehran on Western military bases in Iraq. The Ukraine conflict is also on the agenda, alongside the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline running from Russia to Germany, amid strong opposition from the United States.  Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyGermany’s Merkel Heads to Moscow Amid Heightened Global TensionsPutin will host Merkel shortly after returning from a trip to the Middle East this week. The Russian president made a rare trip to Damascus, Syria Tuesday, only his second visit since Russia intervened in 2015 to aid President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war. Iran and its proxies have also provided significant support to Assad’s forces.With its growing entanglement in Middle Eastern affairs, Russia is trying to avert the outbreak of a new conflict in Iran, says analyst Andrew Foxall of policy analyst group The Henry Jackson Society.“Iran presents President Putin with the opportunity to present himself as a peacemaker rather than a ‘peace-breaker,’” Foxall says. “And in that sense his interests are very firmly aligned with Chancellor Merkel as they both believe in the JCPOA (the 2015 Iran nuclear deal); they both believe that discussion and debate are far more preferable than the conflict and confrontation that is currently taking place between Tehran and Washington.”Europe and Russia are trying to keep the JCPOA alive. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018, and says the agreement is effectively dead.“
The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognize this reality,” President Trump said Wednesday. “They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal.”
The U.S. and Germany also disagree sharply on Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline under construction from Russia to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. Washington has imposed sanctions on companies involved in the project, to the dismay of Berlin and Moscow.  “Nord Stream 2 is designed to drive a single-source gas artery deep into Europe, and a stake through the heart of European stability and security,” then-U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said during a trip to Lithuania in October. “It would increase Russia’s leverage over Europe’s foreign policy and Europe’s vulnerability to a supply disruption,” he added.
Ukraine is the traditional hub for the transit of Russian gas to Europe and risks losing valuable transit fees. The project has strategic as well as economic value for Russia, argues analyst Foxall.“What Russia has sought to do over the past few years, if not longer, is drive a wedge in the transatlantic relationship using any tool or instrument that it can identify and Nord Stream 2 does provide Russia with precisely that sort of tool. Nord Stream 2 will undoubtedly be discussed in Moscow and will provide an opportunity for both Merkel and Putin to re-commit themselves to the project and again to argue that it does not undermine European energy security,” Foxall told VOA.The EU imposed sanctions on Russia following the 2014 forceful annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine. Some European states, including Italy and Hungary, are pushing for an end to the sanctions. “If he is going to find a weak link from the European Union, it seems to me unlikely that that will be Germany and Chancellor Merkel, who has been at the forefront of arguing for those sanctions,” notes Foxall.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has taken a different line with Moscow to the more hawkish approach of his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, agreeing to a series of prisoner exchanges in recent weeks. Germany’s Merkel has offered strong support and Europe hopes it may be the first step in a wider deal to end the Ukraine conflict.With tensions higher than at any time since the Cold War, her meeting with Putin will be watched closely for any hint of change in East-West relations.
 
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to travel to Moscow Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting will likely focus on the Iran crisis – with both Germany and Russia calling for de-escalation between Washington and Tehran. The Ukraine conflict is also on the agenda, alongside the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which is facing strong opposition from the United States. Henry Ridgwell reports on what will likely be a tense meeting in Moscow 
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Norway says it will take 600 asylum-seekers recently evacuated to Rwanda from Libyan detention centers as the Scandinavian country wants to stop the sometimes deadly smuggling of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea.“For me it is important to send a signal that we will not back smuggling routes and cynical backers, but instead bring in people with protection needs in organized form,” Justice and Immigration Minister Joaran Kallmyr said in a statement emailed Thursday to The Associated Press.“Therefore, the government has decided to collect 600 quota refugees from Libya, out of 800 in total, from the transit reception in Rwanda in 2020,” he added. Many of the asylum-seekers are from Horn of Africa nations.Since the 2015 massive influx of migrants to Europe authorities, especially the European Union, have been trying to stop refugees and other migrants from crossing the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe. Thousands of people have died at sea. Many set off from Libya’s coast.As part of an agreement signed between Rwanda, the African Union and the United Nations refugee agency in September, the East African country hosts a camp for people who have been evacuated from often chaotic, overcrowded detention centers in Libya. About 800 are currently staying at an emergency transit center in Rwanda’s Bugesera district.So far Norway and Sweden have offered to take some of them, according to Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, who said Wednesday that Sweden has taken in seven.
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Iranian investigators said Thursday the crew of a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s airport had tried to turn back, and that the pilot made no radio communications about any problems.The initial report from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization also cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft as saying the Ukraine International Airlines plane was on fire before it hit the ground.FILE – Debris from a Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed after taking off from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, is seen on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared Thursday a day of mourning for the 167 passengers and nine crew members who died when the plane bound for Kyiv crashed early Wednesday.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said the dead included 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians along with Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and Britons.The flag over the Canadian parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff Wednesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the entire country was “shocked and saddened” at one of its worst losses of life in a single day in years.Trudeau said 138 of the passengers had planned to fly on from Kyiv to Toronto, many of them Iranian students hoping to return to school after a winter break with their families in Iran. He promised to work for a thorough investigation of the crash.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered his condolences, through a spokesman, to the families of the victims and the various countries from which they came.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also issued a statement of condolence and said Washington is prepared to offer Ukraine “all possible assistance.” He said the U.S. also calls for “complete cooperation with any investigation” into the cause of the crash.In this photo from the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, the plane carrying Ukrainian experts prepares to depart for Tehran at Borispil international airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 8, 2020.Data recorders foundIranian investigators said the voice and data recorders from the Boeing 737 aircraft were recovered from the crash site, a swathe of farmland on the outskirts of the Iranian capital.Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency quoted the head of the nation’s civil aviation agency as saying he did not know which country would get the black boxes for analysis, but that Iran would not hand them over to U.S.-based Boeing, the aircraft’s manufacturer.The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board typically participates in investigations of overseas air crashes when a U.S. airline or plane manufacturer is involved. But given the heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, and the fact that the two sides have no diplomatic relations, it was uncertain whether the NTSB would be involved in the investigation of the UIA crash.In a statement sent to VOA Ukrainian, the NTSB said it was “monitoring developments surrounding the crash of UIA flight 752” and was “following its standard procedures” for international aviation accident investigations.“As part of its usual procedures, the NTSB is working with the State Department and other agencies to determine the best course of action,” it said.“The U.S. has not participated in an accident investigation in Iran since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. So it is very unlikely that the NTSB will be involved,” said Madhu Unnikrishnan, editor of U.S. airline news service Skift Airline Weekly in a VOA Ukrainian interview.WATCH: Ukraine, Canada Demand Thorough Investigation of Boeing Crash in IranSorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Ukraine International Airlines company President Yevhen Dykhne attends a briefing at Boryspil international airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff in Iran.Ukraine International Airline President Yevhen Dykhne said, “It was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew.”The jet was built in 2016. It was a Boeing 737-800 model, a commonly used commercial jet with a single-aisle cabin that is flown by airlines throughout the world. It is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following two deadly crashes.Tatiana Vorozhko of VOA’s Ukrainian Service and Michael Lipin of VOA Persian contributed to this report.
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Ukrainian officials have suspended flights to and from Iran until it is determined what caused its Boeing 737-800 passenger jet to crash shortly after taking off from Tehran’s international airport early Wednesday.  All 176 people on board were killed. Iranian authorities say they have located the black boxes from the aircraft, which contain the flight data and could help determine the cause of the crash.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
 
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The Russian and Turkish presidents are calling for a cease-fire starting Sunday in Libya, where rival governments have been battling for power.”Seeking a military solution to the ongoing conflict in Libya only causes further suffering and deepens the divisions among Libyans,” Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a joint statement Wednesday in Istanbul.”The worsening situation in Libya is undermining the security and stability of Libya’s wider neighborhood, the entire Mediterranean region, as well as the African continent,” the statement said.They said illegal migration, weapons trafficking and terrorism are just some of the problems aggravated by the fighting in Libya.Turkey has begun deploying troops to Libya to help the Western-backed government in Tripoli.Meanwhile, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj met with European Union officials in Brussels Wednesday while his rival for power, General Khalifa Haftar, held talks in Italy with his ally, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned all sides against letting Libya become a “second Syria,” as he called for an arms embargo and a political settlement.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint call for restraint by Washington and Tehran. The declaration made Wednesday in Istanbul is the latest sign of deepening regional cooperation by the leaders, symbolized by the inauguration of a Russian-Turkish gas pipeline.  “We are deeply concerned about the escalation of the tension between the U.S. and Iran, as well as its negative repercussions on Iraq,” read a joint statement by Putin and Erdogan.  The statement criticized last week’s killing of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by an American drone as “an act undermining security and stability in the region.” Criticism also was aimed at Tehran for Wednesday’s missile strike against a U.S. military base in Iraq.”We believe that exchange of attacks and use of force by any party do not contribute to finding solutions to the complex problems in the Middle East, but rather would lead to a new cycle of instability and would eventually damage everyone’s interests,” the statement said.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, second right, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, center, and others symbolically open a valve during a ceremony in Istanbul for the inauguration of the TurkStream pipeline, Jan. 8, 2020.Erdogan, addressing an inauguration ceremony of a gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey, criticized Solemani’s killing.” Nobody has the right to throw the entire region, especially Iraq, into a ring of fire for the sake of his or her own interests,” said Erdogan.The Turkish president pledged to work to defuse tensions. “We will use all the means available to prevent our region from bursting into tears and bloodshed,” he said.”Our purpose is to de-escalate and to let common sense prevail again. At this critical moment where the war drums play, we want to de-escalate tension by using all the diplomatic channels,” Erdogan added.Erdogan said he had spoken to regional leaders and would dispatch Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Baghdad on Thursday.Putin and Erdogan held more than an hour of talks before attending the inauguration ceremony of the Turk Stream gas pipeline. The pipeline delivers Russian gas to Istanbul’s 15 million inhabitants, as well as Europe. Erdogan described the pipeline as a “beacon” of Turkish-Russian cooperation.Turk Stream is the target of American sanctions, as part of broader economic measures aimed at Moscow. Ankara’s deepening cooperation with Moscow is causing concerns among Turkey’s western allies.Professor Mesut Casin is a foreign policy advisor for the Turkey President Erdogan. (Dorian Jones/VOA)Senior Russian ministers and military officials accompanied Putin in his visit to Istanbul. “I am surprised Putin brought so many high-ranking officials from foreign ministry to the military for such a ceremony. This is a message to Washington and Turkey’s western allies,” said Professor Mesut Casin, a foreign affairs adviser to Erdogan.Wednesday’s talks appear to have secured a diplomatic breakthrough, with Putin and Erdogan calling for a cease-fire in the Libyan civil war.”I would like to emphasize the call that Presidents Putin and Erdogan addressed to all the Libyan sides — to immediately stop fighting, starting from 00:00 on Jan. 12,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Wednesday in a joint press conference in Istanbul with Cavusoglu.”We have been especially working with our Russian partners to achieve a cease-fire in Libya,” Cavusoglu added.Cavusoglu said the cease-fire is aimed at helping to secure the success of a planned meeting in Berlin later this month to resolve the Libyan conflict.Moscow and Ankara are backing rival sides in the Libyan civil war. Erdogan sent military forces on Sunday to support the internationally recognized Government of National Accord in Tripoli.Russian mercenaries of the Kremlin-linked Wagner group are fighting with General Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are laying siege to Tripoli.Former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende says “a cease-fire is important for Turkey, as it does not want to be drawn into a war in Libya.” (Dorian Jones/VOA)Former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende says The cease-fire call is seen as a diplomatic win for Erdogan, who was expected to lobby Putin to support such a move. “A cease-fire is important for Turkey, as it does not want to be drawn into a war in Libya,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende. “Its deployment of forces to Libya is to secure a cease-fire. Otherwise, this becomes a risky operation, given the distances involved.”Supporting a significant force in a combat zone nearly 2,000 kilometers way is widely seen as posing a significant challenge for the Turkish military’s logistic capabilities.But with Haftar forces at the gates of Tripoli and having powerful backers other than Russia, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, it remains unclear whether the cease-fire call will be heeded.Truckloads of civilians flee a Syrian military offensive in Idlib province on the main road near Hazano, Syria, Dec. 24, 2019.Syria also was on the agenda for Putin and Erdogan, and in particular, the future of Idlib. The Syria province on Turkey’s border is the last stronghold of rebels, with about 3 million people trapped in the enclave.Erdogan is lobbying Putin to end a Syrian regime offensive backed by Russian jets in Idlib. The joint statement issued after Wednesday’s talks, however, appears to fall short of Turkish hopes, with no specific call for a cease-fire, other than a call for “calm.””Turkey is concerned about a new mass migration of hundreds of thousands of people from over the border [from Idlib], but it appears Putin has not given anything,” said Casin.  
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Outgoing Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said Wednesday that his government had not agreed to receive Mexicans who sought asylum in the U.S. 
 
Morales, whose presidency ends next week, said he had told U.S. officials that the issue would have to be negotiated with his successor. 
 
“It’s more than clear, in the agreement it only lays out Salvadorans and Hondurans,” Morales said. “The United States has talked about the possibility of including Mexican nationals, but that they have to discuss it with the next government. In the last visit we made to the White House with President [Donald] Trump we were clear saying that that negotiation had to be done with the new government.” Aggressive U.S. move
 
The U.S. government moved aggressively last year to curb the number of asylum seekers arriving at its southwest border. The majority came from Central America. The U.S. began making many of those requesting asylum wait out their cases in Mexico. Then it forged agreements with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that would allow it to send some asylum seekers there. The U.S. government argued that migrants should request asylum in the first country they entered, not wait until they arrived at the U.S. border. FILE – Migrants from Honduras and El Salvador wait after being sent back to Guatemala from the United States, at Casa del Migrante shelter in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Dec. 3, 2019.To date, the U.S. has sent 94 asylum seekers from El Salvador and Honduras to Guatemala. Only six of them decided to seek asylum there while the rest returned to their countries. 
 
Mexicans do not pass through any other countries to arrive at the U.S. border. But in recent days, guidance was sent to U.S. asylum officials that said Mexicans would now be included under the bilateral agreement with Guatemala. 
 
Pedro Brolo, who has been designated foreign affairs minister by President-elect Alejandro Giammattei, and his spokeswoman did not immediately answer requests for comment. Talks on expansion
 
On December 19, Morales’ interior minister, Enrique Degenhart, suggested that talks were underway to expand the program to Mexicans because it had yielded such strong results with Central Americans. 
 
Mexico has expressed its unhappiness with the plan. Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero said via Twitter on Tuesday that “it would be an action contrary to international law and the bilateral relationship.” 
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European Union foreign ministers meet later this week on the escalating crisis between Iran and the United States, but EU executives already have set the tone, calling Wednesday for dialogue and salvaging the Iran nuclear deal. Speaking from Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the use of weapons in the Middle East must stop. “We are called upon to do everything possible to rekindle talks,” she said. “There cannot be enough of that.”
 
In many ways, Europe is caught in the crossfire of the mounting tensions. It has condemned Iran’s missile attacks in Iraq, and offered cautious support of the U.S. strike that killed top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani — but it also urged restraint on both sides.   
As part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, experts say, Europeans are worried about the fallout. Germany is moving troops out of Iraq. At the same time, the Europeans strongly support the Iran nuclear agreement that President Donald Trump withdrew from two years ago, and are urging Iran to stick to it.  
 
“I think they [Europeans] are stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East program director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “On the one hand, they do not want to create transatlantic divisions, whatever their frustrations with President Trump. And they also have significant issues with the way Iran has conducted itself in the region.”Europe has many reasons for concern, said Iran expert Guillaume Xavier-Bender of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. It is a lot closer to the Middle East than the United States, making it more vulnerable to potential missile strikes and other effects of any widening conflict — from a resurgent Islamic State, to impacts on its trade and oil imports.  
 
“Europeans have no interest in anything that would continue the escalation in the region, that’s why its priority is de-escalation,” Xavier-Bender said.In response, the European Union is offering what some analysts say is critical — diplomacy and mediation.  
 
“Europeans have been on the phone since this last week with everyone in the region — with the U.S., with Iran, with Israel, with Saudi Arabia — saying ‘calm things down.’ Even with the Chinese and the Russians,” Xavier-Bender said.
 
One example of the EU’s potential mediation came this week. Washington denied Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif a visa to attend a U.N. meeting, while the EU, by contrast, invited him for talks in Brussels. So far, it’s unclear when that will happen.
 
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A man convicted of shooting a U.S. Border Patrol agent nine years ago in a case that exposed a botched federal gun operation known as Fast and Furious'' was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. U.S. District Judge David C. Bury sentenced Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes to the mandatory life sentence after hearing tearful statements from the sisters of Brian Terry, the agent who was fatally shot while on a mission in Arizona on December 14, 2010. Osorio-Arellanes is one of seven defendants who were charged in the slaying of Terry. Osorio-Arellanes was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges last year after being extradited from Mexico in 2018. Terry's death exposed theFast and Furiousoperation, in which U.S. federal agents allowed criminals to buy firearms with the intention of tracking them to criminal organizations. But the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lost track of most of the guns, including two found at scene of Terry's death. The Obama administration was heavily criticized for the operation. Former Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt by Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to the sting. Terry, 40, was part of a four-man team in an elite Border Patrol unit staking out the southern Arizona desert on a mission to findrip-off“ crew members who rob drug smugglers. They encountered a group and identified themselves as police. The men refused to stop, prompting an agent to fire bean bags at them. They responded by firing AK-47-type assault rifles. Terry was struck in the back and died soon afterward. Five of the seven men charged in Terry’s killing are serving prison sentences after pleading guilty or being convicted. Only one, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, has not been tried. He was arrested in October 2017. 
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The foreign ministers of Europe’s four leading powers met in Brussels Tuesday to try to find a way to ease growing tensions in the Middle East just hours before Iranian missiles struck two military bases housing U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.As Washington and Tehran continued to trade barbs in the wake of the U.S. slaying of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, told reporters, “What we are looking to do is is to de-escalate tensions with Iran.” But when Raab and his colleagues exited their meeting, they weren’t any clearer about what steps to take to defuse the most dangerous confrontation between the U.S. and Iran in four decades.On Friday, foreign ministers from all 28 European Union countries will gather in the Belgian capital to thrash out a common strategy, but with a little more hope than before — the televised remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday have offered the chance, they say, that confrontation between the U.S. and Iran can be defused and an all-out war averted.They just hope Iran will grasp the opportunity and refrain from any more military action.Coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, in the city of Kerman, Iran, Jan. 7, 2020.For European leaders, it has been an emotional roller coaster week. The U.S. drone strike Friday that killed Qassem Soleimani came with no warning from Washington. They were scolded by U.S. officials Sunday for not being more forthright in support.Their gloom only deepened Tuesday when Iranian ballistic missiles slammed overnight into the Iraqi military bases.And their anxiety increased when Iran’s supreme leader outlined his war aim — to get the United States to withdraw from the Middle East. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to suggest that the missile attack, which he dubbed “a slap in the face” for America, would just be the start, saying “military action like this is not sufficient.”But the lack of any immediate military response by Washington to Iran’s ballistic missile barrage — as well as President Trump’s remarks Wednesday — have given them hope that the immediate crisis hasn’t reached the point of no return. That is as long as Iran refrains from further military attacks on U.S. bases.President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops, Jan. 8, 2020.“We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe,” President Trump said in his address from the White House. Noting that only minimal damage was sustained at the bases, Trump continued: “Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.” He said Iran should work with the United States on “shared priorities,” such as the fight against the Islamic State terror group.In Europe, President Trump’s comments were being taken as a sign that he now wants to pursue a diplomatic path, offering the possibility that negotiation can stop the slide into all-out war.Relief though was mixed with alarm at the U.S. President’s insistence that the 2015 nuclear deal was now dead and a replacement needs to be negotiated. There was also puzzlement at Trump’s talk about additional sanctions being imposed on Iran, with analysts questioning what more can be sanctioned? Now the ball appears in Iran’s court, say EU officials. “Trump offered an olive branch and a warning. He’ll impose new sanctions and they must stop their aggression, but he held out the prospect of negotiating a new nuclear deal, and he signaled clearly the U.S. was not seeking to launch a war with Tehran — or change the regime. Let’s hope they grasp the olive branch,” said a British official.One hopeful sign came from influential Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who suggested the crisis is now over following what he termed de-escalation rhetoric from Iran and the U.S.. He urged Iranian-backed militia groups to refrain from further attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces. Sadr has positioned himself as an Iraqi nationalist, and isn’t in the ‘Iranian camp,’ but he is well-equipped to read Tehran and what it intends.William Patey, a former British envoy to Iran, told Britain’s Sky News that the crisis may be entering “a de-escalatory phase,” thanks to the fact that there were no U.S. casualties from the Iranian missile barrage.European leaders have felt like bystanders since the crisis started.An image grab from video obtained from the state-run Iran Press news agency allegedly shows rockets launched by Iran against U.S. military bases in in Iraq, Jan. 8, 2020.In the first 24 hours after the drone strike that killed Soleimani, America’s European allies were slow to express support for the U.S., reflecting a continuing rift in transatlantic views that has only widened since May 2018, when the Trump administration walked away from a landmark international nuclear deal with Tehran struck when then-U.S. President Barack Obama was in office.The Europeans have preferred to approach the Iranians with carrots and incentives to try to get Tehran to show restraint; the Trump administration has favored the stick, arguing carrots have not worked.It wasn’t until Sunday that the key European leaders, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, managed to craft a joint statement, urging restraint by both sides, but criticizing Iran for malign behavior.They failed to endorse explicitly Soleimani’s killing, but Johnson is widely credited by diplomats as having been crucial in persuading his counterparts to toughen the statement and to express clear criticism of Iran. Since then, European governments have sought to catch up with the fast-moving events — a key aim being to try to stop the final unraveling of the international nuclear deal they have remained committed to, despite the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement.That hope appeared to have been dashed Tuesday when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out a return to negotiations over the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers. Iran announced Sunday that it would no longer respect limits on uranium enrichment imposed by the deal, although it left the door ajar by saying it would continue to allow international inspections of facilities to ensure it wasn’t building a nuclear bomb.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks about Iran, Jan. 7, 2020, at the State Department in Washington.European diplomats say their leaders took notice of the frustration expressed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Saturday at the lack initially of support by the Europeans for the drone strike. “Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wish that they could be,” Pompeo told Fox News. “The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well,” he added.After those remarks, the Europeans appeared to recalibrate, becoming more forthright in condemning Tehran for provocations and malign behavior in the region and for its support of terrorist groups. At a two-hour emergency NATO meeting Monday, no European envoy present questioned American briefers on the strategic thinking behind the drone strike, say officials who were present.By Tuesday, Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, was openly critical of Iran, telling a packed House of Commons that taking out Soleimani was a defensive measure aimed at protecting U.S. lives. He accused the government in Tehran of “nefarious use of proxies, providing practical military support to the murderous Assad regime in Syria,” and stoking conflict in Yemen. Soleimani, he said, was “one of the foremost architects and enablers of Iran’s malign activities.”The shift in language — from near silence to tepid support to criticism of Tehran — is calculated, says a senior European diplomat. “Partly the calculation has been that questioning the prudence of the drone strike would likely diminish what little influence we have with the Trump administration,” he told VOA.Speaking on condition of anonymity, he added, “Another factor is that we all recognize Soleimani was a terror master, and now we have been placed in a position by the Trump administration where we have to pick a side. In those circumstances, it is clear who we have to choose.”Just hours before Trump spoke from the White House, Prime Minister Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that General Soleimani had supplied “improvised explosive devices to terrorists, which I’m afraid killed and maimed British troops.” He added, “That man had the blood of British troops on his hands.”Now the ball appears in Iran’s court, say EU officials. “Trump offered an olive branch and a warning. He’ll impose new sanctions and they must stop their aggression, but he held out the prospect of negotiating a new nuclear deal, and he signaled clearly the U.S. was not seeking to launch a war with Tehran — or change the regime. Let’s hope they grasp the olive branch,” said a British official.  
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He was the leader on the world stage, visiting troops stationed in a far-flung war zone for the holidays, shoring up alliances and economic deals in the Mideast, requesting a meeting with the German chancellor in his capital, portraying himself and his country as reliable partners in an increasingly uncertain world.Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a busy week, stepping into the aftermath of the American drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Putin’s visit Tuesday to Syria was emblematic of a reality that has been playing out in recent months: The U.S. strategic position in the Middle East is a mystery to many of its allies, and Russia is more than ready to fill any vacuum.
The shift has, in many ways, left U.S. allies in a bind — or turning to Russia themselves in search of a partner.Putin was the first world leader French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with just after learning about the drone strike on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, is traveling to the Kremlin to discuss the crisis in the Mideast.Canada, Denmark and Germany moved their troops in Iraq to safety, as did NATO, which has forces stationed there as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group. There was no sign that any had been warned by the Trump administration of the drone strike. Coalition activities froze, and NATO’s secretary-general described the killing as “a U.S. decision. It is not a decision taken by either the global coalition nor NATO. But all allies are concerned about Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region.”
The base targeted in northern Iraq was filled with coalition troops.
Putin offered an alternative to perceived chaos.
“Unfortunately, the situation in the region we are in tends to escalate. But Turkey and Russia are demonstrating different examples — examples of cooperation for the sake of our nations and all of Europe,” he said Wednesday in Turkey.
Israel, which has criticized the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, has been quiet about the drone strike aside from a brief statement of praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seemingly disinclined to escalate an already volatile situation between its closest ally and its sworn enemy. Trump’s first face to face meeting with an ally came Monday with the Saudi deputy defense minister, Khalid bin Salman. But he didn’t confirm it until a day later, after the prince revealed it in a tweet.
 
“We discussed Trade, Military, Oil Prices, Security, and Stability in the Middle East!” Trump tweeted.
The American president spoke by phone with Macron on Sunday and with Merkel on Tuesday.
Putin’s travel plans have continued apace. His visit to Russian troops for the Orthodox Christmas came unannounced, as was his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who owes his continued rule to a combination of Russian and Iranian intervention. The message was unmistakable.
 
“Even NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, always ready to play along with the U.S., found it necessary to distance himself from the killing of the Iranian general by saying that the U.S. made this decision without NATO’s involvement. So Washington’s attempts to ex post facto shore up their European allies failed,” Alexei Pushkov, lawmaker in Russia’s upper house of parliament, wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
He added, “It’s emblematic that right in the middle of a pre-war crisis around Iran Merkel is heading to talks with Putin and not Trump. There is no point in talks with Trump.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper refused to say whether Trump had warned allies before the strike: “I’m not going to get into the details of our consultations.”
 
Stoltenberg said several U.S. briefers explained the “rationale” behind the Trump administration’s decision to kill Soleimani, but he declined to provide details or timing.
Trump campaigned on an “America First” policy and long has said he wants to reduce U.S. involvement in foreign wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But his decision to bomb pro-Iranian militias and then to kill Iran’s best-known general in a missile strike outside Baghdad’s airport caught Middle Eastern and European allies unaware and confused. Since then, the U.S. also has given off conflicting signals on its intentions to exit Iraq even while it deploys more troops immediately for protection against a possible Iranian response.
Amelie de Montchalin, a top French diplomat, told lawmakers Wednesday that France’s solidarity was based solely on the international coalition against the Islamic State group.
“This was a decision made by the United States without consulting France for national security reasons, and it’s therefore an American initiative and it’s their sole responsibility,” Montchalin said.
      
The administration has held up Soleimani’s death as a master stroke that eliminated a region-wide troublemaker and saved American lives. Trump insisted that the United States would leave Iraq eventually, but that the Iraqi people wanted American soldiers to remain: “At some point we want to get out but this isn’t the right point.”
Putin’s trip to Turkey was planned a month ago, even if its timing this week was fortuitous. And his visit to Damascus was simply a continuation of the Kremlin’s growing reach in the Mideast and the diminishing sway of the United States, said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. Merkel’s trip to the Kremlin was scheduled late last month, but Iran has always been the main topic on the agenda.
“Putin doesn’t need to do much. He’s just watching. Everything you’ve seen for the past year or so, since December 2018 when Trump first announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, everything has gone the Kremlin’s way. There’s not much to do, there’s nothing to activate. The Russian policy in that region has been to talk to everybody, to capitalize on an American vacuum,” Pierini said.
The December 2018 announcement was widely criticized as an American abandonment of its Kurdish allies, who fought alongside U.S. forces against the Islamic State group in northeast Syria.
After U.S. forces withdrew, Turkey launched an offensive and the Kurds turned to Russia and the Syrian government for protection. It was a Russian deal with Turkey that ended the invasion. What little presence the U.S. military retains in Syria depends heavily upon logistical support from its bases in Iraq, and the outgoing Iraqi prime minister said Tuesday that American forces must leave.
 “We have no exit but this,” said Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, “otherwise we are speeding toward confrontation.”     
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