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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will promise to bring his Brexit deal back to parliament before Christmas when he launches his manifesto Sunday, the cornerstone of his pitch to voters to “get Brexit done.”Voters face a stark choice at the country’s Dec. 12 election: opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist vision, including widespread nationalization and free public services, or Johnson’s drive to deliver Brexit within months and build a “dynamic market economy.”Opinion polls show Johnson’s Conservative Party commands a sizeable lead over the Labour Party, although large numbers of undecided voters means the outcome is not certain.“My early Christmas present to the nation will be to bring the Brexit bill back before the festive break, and get parliament working for the people,” Johnson will say, according to excerpts of his speech that he will make at an event in the West Midlands region of England.Contrasting with LabourContrasting with Labour’s unabashed tax-and-spend approach, Johnson’s manifesto, titled “Get Brexit Done, Unleash Britain’s Potential,” will pledge to freeze income tax, value-added sales tax and social security payments.Johnson will also announce a 3 billion pounds ($3.85 billion) National Skills Fund to retrain workers and an extra 2 billion pounds to fill pot-holes in roads. He will also pledge to maintain the regulatory cap on energy bills.Labour spokesman Andrew Gwynne said Johnson’s plans were “pathetic.”“This is a no hope manifesto, from a party that has nothing to offer the country, after spending 10 years cutting our public services,” Gwynne said.Think tanks like the Institute for Fiscal Studies have raised questions about the credibility of plans to fund investment from both the Conservatives and Labour.Tired of votingHeld after three years of negotiations to leave the European Union, the December election for the first time will show how far Brexit has torn traditional political allegiances apart and will test an electorate increasingly tired of voting.Amid a heated campaign in which the Conservatives have been criticized for disseminating misleading social media posts, Johnson, 55, will say he will “turn the page from the dither, delay and division” of recent years.Labour has said it will negotiate a better Brexit deal with the EU within six months that it will put to the people in a new referendum — one which will also offer the choice of remaining in the bloc.Corbyn has said he would remain neutral in such a vote.“We now know the country can be carbon (neutral) by 2050 and Corbyn neutral by 2020, as the leader of the opposition has decided to duck the biggest issue facing our country today,” Johnson will say.
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Ukrainian officials are warily watching the U.S. impeachment inquiry as they prepare for a crucial four-way negotiation with Russia, France and Germany next month.The meeting of the so-called Normandy Contact Group, set for Dec. 9 in Paris, is aimed at easing the conflict in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists. More than 13,000 people have died in the fighting, which began in April 2014.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has outlined four issues he wants to raise at the meeting — an exchange of prisoners, a ceasefire, a restoration of Ukraine’s control over the Ukraine-Russia border, and holding local elections in rebel-held territories. Ukraine and the separatists have already withdrawn their forces at three sites in Donbas as a precondition for the meeting.Analysts contacted by Voice of America’s Ukrainian Service say the novice leader who came to power promising to bring peace to his country will be hard-pressed to emerge with a deal that doesn’t leave the nation weaker than it is now.FILE – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump face reporters during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sept. 25, 2019.Trump ‘doesn’t care’ about UkraineThe impeachment probe undermines Ukraine’s position because it exposes Trump’s lack of commitment to defending Ukraine, said Mark Simakovsky, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Atlantic Council. U.S. diplomat Gordon Sondland has been quoted in testimony to the inquiry saying that Trump “doesn’t care” about Ukraine.“I think the casualty of this relationship between Trump and Zelenskiy will be that there’ll always be questions about how far the United States and this president are willing to go to support Ukraine,” Simakovsky said.The analyst noted that several U.S. officials with leading roles on Ukraine policy have provided testimony that is embarrassing to the administration and are no doubt being “looked at skeptically” by the president. That will make it hard for them to “have the confidence of the White House” as they seek to implement U.S. policy.David Kramer, a former high-ranking State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said the Republican-led defense of the president in the impeachment probe has hurt Ukraine even further.Ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., left, confers with Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, left, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, during a break in the testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Nov. 13, 2019, during its impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.“The Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee continue to peddle disproven conspiracy theories that paint a very negative picture of Ukraine,” he said.Kramer added that Kyiv will “be under greater pressure from France and Germany to resolve the conflict” in eastern Ukraine, and that the recent resignation of U.S. special envoy Kurt Volker has made the United States less effective in the region.“So, should [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy try to make the best of a bad situation with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or hold out until all Russian forces leave Ukrainian territory? Cutting deals with Putin is likely to be a riskier proposition,” he said.Simakovsky agreed that France and Germany appear to be looking for an excuse to ease sanctions on Russia.“The challenge I think is Ukrainian people being convinced and frustrated with the lack of support from the West. If they are going to be left alone, then they need to accelerate the path toward peace because they have to make some sort of [accommodation] with Russia,” Simakovsly said.Members of the Emergencies Ministry of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic remove mines from the area near the settlement of Petrovskoye (Petrivske) in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Nov. 19, 2019.A win for RussiaNataliya Bugayova, a Russia team lead at the Institute for the Study of War, said Russia is taking advantage of the West’s eagerness to see the war ended.“Russia is exploiting the narrative of both urgency to deliver on peace internally in Ukraine and in Europe,” she said. “Russia is also attempting to use the upcoming Normandy talks to cast itself as a mediator in the conflict where it is a belligerent.”Russia has made no meaningful concessions leading to the summit, Bugayova added.“There is no indication of Russia’s intent to give up control of its forces in Ukraine. In fact, we have seen Russia’s efforts to further integrate its proxies over the past few months,” she said.Michael Carpenter, managing director at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and a former high-ranking Pentagon official in the Obama administration, said there is a risk that the Paris meeting will allow Russia to transfer some responsibility for the conflict to its separatist proxies.The details of any agreement reached in Paris on elections and a special status for the disputed regions will have to be worked out by a Trilateral Contact Group, which is comprised of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Representatives of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics will also be involved.Carpenter said Russia has similarly manipulated an international forum on Georgia, allowing it to “normalize” its relations with that country without making any meaningful progress on the status of the disputed territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.“If the same thing happens in Ukraine, it will set the stage for an unwinnable negotiation with Russia’s proxies that lasts years or even decades,” he said.Elections a sticking pointThe proposal for local elections in eastern Ukraine will be a major sticking point in the Paris talks. Zelenskiy has said elections will be held only after Ukraine regains control over the disputed territory and its border with Russia.There is little chance that Moscow will agree to that, but Bugayova said Zelenskiy cannot afford to give in on the point.“If elections take place under Russia’s influence, whether it’s direct military pressure or the absolute information control that Russia has over the territories, that means that the proxies and somewhat intervention will be legitimized,” she said.“The biggest risk … is that if Russian proxies are legitimized, there is no going back. This is a non-reversible process that can open opportunities for Russia to regain control over Ukraine’s decision-making in the long term.”Kramer is also dubious about possibility of holding successful elections in the east.“How can one conduct an election when more than 1.5 million have been displaced, when Ukraine doesn’t control the territory, and when Russian forces continue to occupy the territory?” he asked.A former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer, said he is skeptical that the Paris talks will produce any settlement that leads to a restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty.“For more than five years, the Kremlin has used a simmering conflict in Donbas to put pressure on Kyiv. The big question is whether Mr. Putin is ready now to change course and seek a mutually acceptable settlement of the conflict that Russia has inflicted on Ukraine.”
 
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Bolivia’s Senate on Saturday unanimously approved a measure calling for new presidential elections that would exclude ousted leader Evo Morales — a key step toward pacifying a nation since an October 20 vote marred by reported irregularities. The measure forbids reelection of anyone who has served the last two terms consecutively as president, effectively ruling out Morales, whose refusal to accept such term limits was a key issue in protests against him. The bill now goes to the lower house, which like the Senate is dominated by Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism party. The measure did not set a date for the vote. ResignationMorales’ claim of victory and a fourth term in the October 20 election prompted massive protests that led him to resign on November 10 at the army’s suggestion. An audit by a team from the Organization of American States found widespread irregularities in that election. After Morales left for asylum in Mexico, his own supporters took to the streets in protest. Officials say at least 32 people have died in demonstrations since the presidential election, which would be annulled by Saturday’s vote. An agreement on elections between Morales’ party and the interim government helped pacify the country. Street blockades were lifted, allowing supplies to reach marketplaces Saturday in areas that had been short of groceries and gas. Senator Oscar Ortiz said the bill calls for updating the electoral rolls and naming a completely new electoral tribunal to oversee the vote. Senators approve a bill on holding new elections in La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 23, 2019.“We have to generate confidence in the population,” said Senator Omar Aguilar, from Morales’ party. Later Saturday, interim President Jeanine Anez rejected a bill presented by Morales’ party that would have prevented the ousted president from being tried for alleged crimes committed during the exercise of his functions to date. “With respect to approving this bill in favor of those who have committed crimes and who now seek impunity, my decision is clear and firm: I will not promulgate this law,” Anez said. The bill remains paralyzed, lawmakers said. On Friday, the interim government accused Morales of terrorism and sedition for purportedly organizing highway blockades intended to prevent food from reaching some cities. Acting Interior Minister Arturo Murillo said the complaint relates to a video in which Morales is supposedly heard in a phone call coordinating the blockades from Mexico. Murillo said Bolivia’s government is seeking a maximum penalty, which is between 15 and 20 years in prison. Morales has said the video is a “montage” by his opponents. 
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Italian coast guards on Saturday said they had rescued 143 migrants off the island of Lampedusa, although around 20 others were apparently missing, according to the survivors. 
 
“The crews of four patrols rescued 143 people who had fallen into the sea” from a 10-meter boat, the coast guard said in a statement. 
 
Two men, an Eritrean and a Libyan, said they had been unable to locate their wives following the rescue. 
 
A search for those missing continued Saturday evening with two planes from Frontex — the border and coast guard agency for the EU’s Schengen area — and the Italian navy flying over the area. 
 
Police were also searching the Lampedusa coast to see if any of the migrants had swum ashore. 
 
Those rescued were taken to Lampedusa, where they disembarked. 
 
Meanwhile, Italy, Germany, France and Malta jointly asked the European Commission to activate a migrant-relocation scheme for 213 migrants on board the Ocean Viking rescue ship, the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry said. 
 
The ministry said “this is the first time this has happened” since the four nations in September signed a pre-agreement for the automatic distribution of rescued migrants in the Mediterranean. 
 
The Ocean Viking, chartered by SOS Mediterranee with Doctors Without Borders, has rescued 215 people in three operations in recent days. One injured man and a pregnant woman had already been taken off the boat. 
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Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Paris on Saturday to demand a national wake-up call and more government investment to prevent deadly domestic violence against women, a problem that President Emmanuel Macron calls France's shame.'' A wave of purple flags and signs snaked from the Place de l'Opera through eastern Paris amid an unprecedented public campaign to decry violence against women — and to honor the 130 women that activists say have been killed in France this year by current or former partners. That's about one every two or three days. While France has a progressive reputation and pushes for women's rights around the world, it has among the highest rates in Europe of domestic violence, in part because of poor police response to reports of abuse. Many of the women killed this year had previously sought help from police. 'Femicide'At Saturday's march — one of the biggest demonstrations this year in Paris — French film and TV stars joined abuse victims and activists calling for an end tofemicide.” Many held banners reading Sick of Rape.'' The protest came on the U.N.'s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and was aimed at pressuring the French government before it unveils new measures Monday to tackle the problem. The measures are expected to include seizing firearms from people suspected of domestic violence and prioritizing police training so they won't brush off women's complaints as a private affair. We live in a culture that finds excuses for assailants,” Alyssa Ahrabare, spokeswoman for activist group Osez le Feminisme (Try feminism), told The Associated Press. She called for better training for people in police stations and hospitals who encounter victims of domestic violence, and more shelters for abused women. Some of Saturday’s marchers want 1 billion euros in government investment, though the funding is expected to fall far short of that. French activists have stepped up efforts this year to call attention to the problem, with an unusual campaign of gluing posters around Paris and other cities every time another woman is killed. The posters honor the women and call for action. Activists also hold protests, lying down on the pavement to represent the slain women. A woman raises her fist as she and thousands of others protest against domestic violence, in Paris, Nov, 23, 2019.A 2014 EU survey of 42,000 women across all 28 member states found that 26% of French respondents said they been abused by a partner since age 15, either physically or sexually. That’s below the global average of 30%, according to UN Women. But it’s above the EU average and the sixth highest among EU countries. Half that number reported experiencing such abuse in Spain, which implemented a series of legal and educational measures in 2004 that slashed its domestic violence rates. Conversations about domestic violence have also ratcheted up in neighboring Germany, where activists are demanding that the term femicide be used to describe such killings. In France, lawyers and victims’ advocates say they’re encouraged by the new national conversation, which they say marks a departure from decades of denial. Women aren’t the only victims of domestic violence, but French officials say they make up the vast majority. ‘This has to stop’Beatrice Donnard, 54, activist with the group NousToutes (All of Us), noted that killings often occur when a couple separates, saying, It's an entire system that needs to be taken down.'' Each woman you talk to — you could ask your mother or your sister — has a story of sexual violence in one way or another. This has to stop. I think men understand that, and there are many of them here with us — welcome!” 
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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, dubbed by critics “Putin on the Nile,” is set to boost his burgeoning relationship with Russia by dispatching his son, Mahmoud, to Moscow as a military attache, independent regional media outlets are reporting.Russian officials say they welcome the prospect of Mahmoud el-Sissi being based in Moscow.  The reassignment would coincide with an open rupture between Cairo and Washington over Egyptian plans to buy advanced Russian warplanes.In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official Thursday threatened the Cairo government with sanctions if Egypt goes ahead with a $2 billion agreement to purchase more than 20 Su-35 fighter jets, a deal the relocated Mahmoud el-Sissi would likely oversee as military attache.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the Trump administration  was still discussing how to address its defense needs with Egypt adding that U.S. officials “have also been very transparent with them in that if they are to acquire a significant Russian platform like the Sukhoi-35 or the Su-35, that puts them at risk towards sanctions.”The United States has provided billions of dollars in economic and military aid to Egypt, a longtime ally, whose military has been operating the U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter. Moving his son to Moscow is seen by Western diplomats here as a signal to Washington by el-Sissi of his intent to go ahead with buying the Su-35s.“He’s playing hardball with Washington,” said a Western diplomat based here, who asked not to identified for this article.According to independent media, Mahmoud el-Sissi’s reassignment, planned for next year, has the added benefit for Egypt’s president of moving his son out of the spotlight in Cairo. His role as a top official in the country’s domestic and foreign intelligence agency, the General Intelligence Service, has prompted turmoil within that agency, as well as growing public criticism of his father for not curbing his son, who has also been drawing allegations of corruption.General Intelligence Service sources told Mada Masr, an Egyptian online newspaper, the reassignment to Moscow is “based on the perception within the president’s inner circle that Mahmoud el-Sissi has failed to properly handle a number of his responsibilities and that his increasingly visible influence in the upper decision-making levels of government is having a negative impact on his father’s image.”Russian President Vladimir Putin has been intensifying his engagement with Middle Eastern and North African leaders, and seeking to rebuild Russian influence in the region, clout that was lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to analysts. Some analysts see the re-engagement as an effort to safeguard established strategic interests.  They cite as an example Russian intervention in Syria, where Moscow has its only Mediterranean naval base and needed to prop up the government of President Bashar al-Assad if it wanted to ensure its continuance.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi pose for a photo prior to talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Oct. 23, 2019.Others say Russia’s renewed assertiveness is being overblown.“Putin’s apparent victories in spreading Russian influence are mirages, some of which have come at a great cost,” according to Rajan Menon, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. “Putin’s gambit in Syria had more to do with safeguarding a long-standing strategic investment that appeared imperiled than with outmaneuvering the United States,” he said in a Foreign Policy magazine commentary.Nonetheless the dispatch of Mahmoud el-Sissi to Moscow is coming at a time of heightened disagreement between Washington and Cairo. Washington has told Cairo that buying the Russian warplanes would place U.S. and NATO military cooperation at risk. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote jointly to the Egyptian leader urging him to reverse the decision to buy Russian jets.Ties between el-Sissi and Putin began warming in 2014, when the Obama administration curtailed military aid to Egypt after the Egyptian army ousted the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi. Cairo’s generals, smarting at Washington’s criticism of the coup that brought el-Sissi to power, talked openly of forging a “strategic realignment” with the Kremlin, evoking Egypt’s Nasser-era alliance with the Soviets.Putin was quick to endorse el-Sissi as Egypt’s president, telling him during a 2014 visit to Moscow, “I wish you luck both from myself personally and from the Russian people.”Putin also gave el-Sissi a black jacket with a red star on it, which el-Sissi wore during the Russian trip. Both men have much in common, coming from modest backgrounds and having gravitated toward the most powerful institutions in their closed societies, the KGB and the Egyptian army. They each rose cautiously up the bureaucratic ladder.Last month, el-Sissi and Putin co-hosted the first Russia-Africa Summit, held at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.  It was the third meeting between the two presidents this year. In October the Egyptian air force’s tactical training center near Cairo hosted joint Russian-Egyptian military exercises dubbed Arrow of Friendship-1. The two countries have held several joint naval and airborne counterterrorism exercises since 2015.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a visit to Cairo this month, “When we are in Egypt we always feel like at home.” The Russian military, he said, “is ready to assist in strengthening Egyptian military forces and defense capabilities.”Shoigu’s delegation included top officials from Russia’s trade ministry, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms exporter, and the deputy director of the Federal Service on Military-Technical Cooperation, prompting speculation among military analysts that Moscow and Cairo may be discussing arms deals other than the Su-35s and weapons systems co-production arrangements.  
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Three police officers were killed in a bomb blast late Friday at a police station in Colombia, after thousands gathered for renewed protests and sporadic looting erupted in the capital of Bogota.A police source told Reuters 10 officers were also injured in the explosion, in the town of Santander de Quilichao in the southwestern province of Cauca, known as a hot spot for drug trafficking and violence.The source did not attribute the bombing to a particular armed group. Police are expected to hold a news conference Saturday morning.Demonstrators gesture during a protest on the second day of a national strike, in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 22, 2019.Massive marchThree people were killed Thursday as more than 250,000 people marched in a national strike to express growing discontent with President Ivan Duque’s government.Their grievances included rumored economic reforms that the president has denied and anger at what protesters call a lack of government action to stop corruption and the murder of human rights activists.Thousands gathered Friday afternoon in Bogota’s Bolivar Plaza for a “cacerolazo” — a traditional Latin American expression of protest in which people bang pots and pans.Anti-government protesters rally in the Bolivar square in downtown Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 22, 2019. Labor unions and student leaders called on Colombians to bang pots and pans Friday evening in another act of protest.“We are here to keep protesting against the Duque government,” said 25-year-old art student Katheryn Martinez, as she clanged a pot with a fork accompanied by her father Arturo, 55.“It’s an inefficient government that kills children and doesn’t acknowledge it,” she said, referring to a recent bombing targeted at rebels that killed eight teenagers and prompted the former defense minister to resign.The crowd, which included families and elderly people, was abruptly dispersed by tear gas, sending protesters running up the steep narrow streets of the historic district.Some protesters regrouped at nearby intersections and continued chanting, while people in other neighborhoods gathered in celebratory cacerolazos, temporarily blocking some roads.A 9 p.m. curfew is in force across Bogota, except for the neighborhoods of Bosa, Kennedy and Ciudad Bolivar, where it began at 8 p.m.Posts on social media and callers into radio stations said neighbors were organizing to protect homes from looters, while officials urged calm.Several supermarkets in the city’s south were looted Friday as protesters, many masked, burned items in the street and blocked roads. Other protesters stole a public bus.Residents hold sticks as they stand in front of their apartment block to guard their homes from possible looting after a curfew was enforced following renewed protests on the second day of a national strike, in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 22, 2019.President promises conversationSome people were taking advantage of the protests to “sow chaos,” Duque said in a televised address Friday evening. “From next week I will start a national conversation that will strengthen the current agenda of social policies,” Duque said.He added that dialogue would “permit us to close social gaps, fight corruption more effectively and build, between all of us, peace with legality.”The three deaths Thursday in Valle del Cauca province were being investigated, Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo told journalists Friday.Deaths, arrestsHe said authorities had confirmed two deaths in Buenaventura and one in Candelaria, adding that a group of people had tried to loot the Viva Buenaventura mall.“As a result of the confrontation between vandals and security forces and in events that are the subject of investigation by the attorney general’s office, two people were killed,” he said.Though the vast majority of Thursday’s marchers participated peacefully, 98 people were arrested, while 122 civilians and 151 members of the security forces were injured, he said.Authorities launched 11 preliminary investigations into security forces’ misconduct, Trujillo added, after social media images of protesters’ rough treatment by police, including one kicked in the face.The protests have coincided with demonstrations elsewhere in Latin America, from anti-austerity marches in Chile, to protests over vote-tampering allegations in Bolivia that led President Evo Morales to resign, and inflamed tensions in Ecuador and crisis-hit Nicaragua.
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In late December, it will be one year since Moscow detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan on espionage charges. During his 11 months in the infamous Lefortovo prison, Whelan has denied the allegations and complained of systematic mistreatment. His family in the U.S. is working to bring the former Marine home. Yulia Savchenko met with Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, in Washington to get the latest on the case.
 
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A group of nine Nicaraguan mothers whose hunger strike became emblematic of protests roiling the Central American country were taken Friday to a hospital in stable condition, according to a doctor treating the group and a Reuters witness.The nine mothers, along with three activists opposed to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, spent nine days locked in a church in the city of Masaya to demand the freedom of their children, whom they consider to be political prisoners.On Friday, the group of protesters and a Catholic priest serving the church were taken to a hospital in the capital by a representative of the Vatican for treatment.“Everyone is in stable health. Some are dehydrated from prolonged fasting and two are under observation for their chronic conditions,” Maria Eugenia Espinoza, a doctor who serves as director of Vivian Pellas Hospital, told reporters.Father Edwin Roman, the priest who joined the mothers, has complained on social media that after the group began their protest, the police cut off electricity and water in the church and prevented locals from assisting them.Nicaragua’s churches have become political battlegrounds in recent weeks amid protests that have been raging for more than a year and a half.Both the Organization of American States and the United Nations raised alarms this week about human rights in Central America’s largest country, as protests have intensified.On Monday, Nicaraguan police arrested 16 anti-government protesters, accusing them of planning to carry out terrorist attacks. Some of their families say they were arrested after bringing water to the mothers in Masaya.
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Colombian President Ivan Duque ordered a curfew in the nation’s capital Friday amid continuing unrest following a massive march Thursday that brought tens of thousands to the streets in a strong message of rejection of his conservative government.The president announced on Twitter that he has requested that Bogota’s mayor enforce a curfew beginning at 9 p.m. across the city of 7 million after police pushed back crowds of protesters banging pots and pans in the storied Plaza Bolivar.“They kicked us out with tear gas,” said Rogelio Martinez, 38, a construction worker. “They didn’t want the people to show their discontent.”Anti-government protesters rally in the Bolivar square in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 22, 2019. Labor unions and student leaders called on Colombians to bang pots and pans Friday evening in another act of protest .Major protest, tide of discontentThe curfew comes one day after an estimated 250,000 people took to the streets in one of the nation’s biggest marches in recent history. While the protest started out peaceful, it ended with scattered clashes between protesters and police. Three people were killed in what authorities described as violent looting incidents overnight.Clashes continued in part of Bogota and in the southwestern city of Cali on Friday as volunteers wiped graffiti off historic buildings and swept up shattered glass.The upheaval comes as Latin America is experiencing a tide of discontent, with massive demonstrations in countries that include Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador where citizens frustrated with their political leaders are taking to the streets.The protests defy easy categorization and it remains unclear if Colombia’s will persist.Workers clear glass from a bus station damaged by anti-government demonstrators, in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 22, 2019. Protesters attacked the station Thursday during a strike to protest everything from economic inequality to violence against social leaders.Hundreds injuredDefense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said that as of Friday morning, 98 people had been detained and 151 police and military officers injured, as well as 122 civilians, most of whom suffered minor injuries and tear gas inhalation.The minister said two individuals were killed in the port city of Buenaventura after police were attacked while responding to looting at a mall. A third died in Candelaria after police said a group looting a supermarket shot at officers.The names and cause of death of those killed were not released.Duque called a special meeting with his ministers Friday but did not immediately respond to protesters’ demand for meeting. In an address after the protest, the president said he had heard the day’s outcry and supported talks with all sectors.“Duque recognizes there is plenty to do,” his defense minister said.Protesters demand dialogueProtest organizers urged Duque to establish a dialogue with indigenous, student and labor groups to discuss potential reforms and criticized him for not directly addressing demonstrator complaints in a late-night address.“If they don’t decide to govern in favor of the majority, the discontent will continue accumulating,” student leader Jose Cardenas said.Recent polling indicates Duque has a 26% approval rating 15 months into his administration as the nation grapples with implementing a complicated peace process with leftist rebels, ongoing violence between illegal armed groups and long-simmering tensions over issues like corruption and inequality.“Colombia is facing a set of complex problems that are as difficult as any in its recent history,” said Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “I think any political leader faced with this array of problems would have a difficult time.” 
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Bolivia’s attorney general said on Friday that his office has opened a probe into former President Evo Morales for alleged sedition and terrorism, related to accusations from the interim government that he has been stirring unrest since resigning.The interior minister earlier filed a criminal complaint against the former socialist leader, based on evidence Morales described as fake.Interim President Jeanine Anez, a former senator and opponent of Morales, has faced a wave of demonstrations by his supporters since taking office in a power vacuum last week.Morales and his vice president stepped down under pressure from security forces and anti-government protesters on Nov. 10, amid reports of irregularities in an Oct. 20 election.Morales fled to Mexico, which has granted him asylum, and says he was toppled in a coup. At least 29 have been killed in clashes with security forces since he resigned.Attorney General Juan Lanchipa said the foreign ministry would ask Mexico to allow Morales to provide his statement as a suspect in the investigation, which is based on a video Interior Minister Arturo Murillo distributed to media this week.In the video, a Bolivian man is shown talking to someone on a speakerphone who appears to be directing plans for road blockades.Murillo said the voice on the speakerphone was that of Morales. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video.Murillo told journalists outside the prosecutors’ office in La Paz on Friday: “The evidence is clear. We’ve presented it.”Morales could not immediately be reached for comment. He said on Twitter that authorities should be investigating the deaths of protesters instead of going after him on the basis of what he called made-up evidence.Blocking roads is a common form of protest in Bolivia and much of South America. Intense blockades by Morales supporters have cut off fuel and food to some cities.Authorities have transported some 1,400 tons of food by plane in less than a week due to blockades, the government said on Friday.Legislation for new electionsThe criminal probe into Morales did not appear to slow efforts by lawmakers in his Movement to Socialism (MAS) party from working with their opponents in Congress to pass legislation to pave the way for new elections.MAS congressman Henry Cabrera, the vice president of the house of deputies, said parliament planned to pass a bill by Saturday afternoon, after a deal was reached among all parties on Friday.”We’re definitely going to approve it,” Cabrera told Reuters. “We’re not going to obstruct anything.” But on the streets Morales’ supporters have continued to push for Anez to resign.On Friday, she made a public plea for demonstrators to end an ongoing blockade at a natural gas plant that supplies La Paz.Eight people died in clashes after the military forcibly cleared access to the plant briefly on Tuesday. Protesters carrying the coffins with some of the dead were dispersed with tear gas on Thursday as they neared the presidential palace.”I ask for reflection from brothers who are carrying out this unnecessary blockade,” Anez said on Friday. “We’re all Bolivians.”Anez reiterated she will only stay in power long enough for new elections. But her critics say her cabinet has overstepped the bounds of a caretaker government by making changes to foreign policy, opening Morales’ former living quarters for journalists to tour, and threatening to punish his allies.In the past week, authorities have alleged that several of Morales’ allies have taken part in criminal activity, including the former culture minister, his former presidency minister, the former vice president’s brother, and the vice president of MAS.A lawyer affiliated with opponents of Morales, Jorge Valda, said he planned to also ask authorities to issue an arrest warrant for Morales’ daughter, Evaliz Morales, for alleged sedition and corruption. She could not be reached for comment.
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Protests continue in Bolivia as human rights organizations raise concerns over reports of the use excessive force by security forces.The popular upheaval began following the disputed election of Oct. 20 which, according to official results, long-time President Evo Morales won with a margin large enough to avoid a run-off. The Organization of American States (OAS) cited a pause in returns as suspicious, and claimed the results as fraudulent.Soon after, protesters took to the streets calling for new elections. Morales, initially defiant, resigned under pressure from the military after agreeing to hold new elections.Accompanied by Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Karen Longaric, interim President Jeanine Anez waves to journalists during a protocol greeting of ambassadors in Bolivia, Nov. 22, 2019.Morales fled to Mexico soon after, and the leaders of his Movement for Socialism (MAS) party in Congress resigned as well. This flurry of departures left opposition Deputy Vice President Jeanine Anez next in line for the Presidency.Anez took the mantle quickly. Soon after her swearing in, she appointed a full Cabinet, notable for its conservative outlook and exclusion of indigenous people.Morales’ left-leaning government has been in power since 2005, and its coalition draws significantly on Bolivia’s indigenous population.In conjunction with the new Cabinet, Anez issued Decree 4078, giving the armed forces amnesty from criminal prosecution for actions taken for the security of the state, drawing concern from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.Human rights groups say Anez’s administration is also looking to chill dissent in other forms. The new minister of government, Arturo Murillo, threatened jail for any person who commits sedition, a broad legal term meant to silence criticism.The targets of the new government extend all the way to the top. According to a release from Human Rights Watch, Murillo threatened to “hunt down” former minister Juan Ramon Quintana.Anez’s incoming Communications Minister Roxana Lizarraga is extending similar threats to journalists.Lizaragga claimed the government is willing to charge journalists, including foreign ones, with similar charges of sedition. In Bolivia, sedition carries up to three years in jail, and foreign journalists would be subject to deportation if convicted.The implications of the decree and government focus on restoring stability’ are already being seen.A soldier guarding the Senkata fuel plant reads from a mobile device, in El Alto, Bolivia, Nov. 22, 2019.The OAS reports that more than 30 protesters have already been killed, with hundreds more injured. Most of the recent deaths and injuries are of Morales’ supporters, who took to the streets after Morales fled to Mexico for asylum.The last deaths came after security forces opened fire on protesters who were blocking access to a fuel depot. Eight were killed, and many more were injured.Protesters have been attempting to deprive the capital, El Alto, of food and fuel.Police on Thursday then dispersed a protest carrying coffins to symbolize the dead with tear gas.These events have led to calls from Amnesty International for full investigations of the deaths. María José Veramendi Villa, South America researcher for Amnesty International, views these developments as “risky signals” for the human rights situation in the country.These threats against human rights and freedom of expression, however, are not new, according to Veramendi.Before his resignation, rights groups say Morales “threatened to fence’ cities where there were demonstrations” about the disputed elections. Morales’ former defense minister, Javier Zavaleta, also “justified the use of dynamite by groups of miners” against the protesters.The U.S. State Department is monitoring the situation, and a spokesperson called on the Bolivian Government to “ensure … the rights of peaceful protesters,” which includes “accountability for any violations” of their rights.Former Bolivian President Evo Morales waves upon arrival to Mexico City, , Nov. 12, 2019. Mexico granted asylum to Morales, who resigned on Nov. 10 under mounting pressure from the military and the public.Interim President Jeanine Anez submitted a bill to the Bolivian Congress to set a date and logistics for a new set of elections. Leaders in the Movement Towards Socialism Party are also supporting new elections, and party leaders told reporters they will not be presenting Evo Morales as a candidate.Morales may complicate the situation. In previous days he has stated an intent to serve out his term, and implied that the Bolivian Congress can annul his resignation.Morales, however, does remain popular among broad swaths of the population. Experts say economic revival lifted many out of extreme poverty, and he has overseen significant development in indigenous majority areas.If he refuses to step aside, there could be far more unrest to come.
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Cuba has publicly laid out the rules governing the extensive, longstanding surveillance and undercover investigation of the island’s 11 million people.A new decree approved by President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Oct. 8 and made public this week says prosecutors can approve eavesdropping and surveillance of any form of communication, without consulting a judge as required in many other Latin American countries. The law also creates official legal roles for informants, undercover investigators and sting operations.The decree is intended to “raise the effectiveness of the prevention of and fight against crime,” according to the declaration in Cuba’s register of new laws and regulations.Cuba has been updating its laws to conform with a new constitution approved in February, which requires legal approval for surveillance.The country’s powerful intelligence and security agencies have for decades maintained widespread surveillance of Cuban society through eavesdropping of all types and networks of informants and undercover agents, but their role has never been so publicly codified.The decree describes a variety of roles: agents of the Interior Ministry authorized to carry out undercover investigations; cooperating witnesses who provide information in exchange for lenient treatment, and sting operations in which illegal goods are allowed to move under police surveillance.The law allows interception of telephone calls, direct recording of voices, shadowing and video recording of suspects and covert access to computer systems.Unlike Cuba, many countries including Mexico, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile and Bolivia require a judge to approve surveillance operations.
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Prince Andrew is scaling back travel and facing an uncertain future as he steps away from the royal role he has embraced for his entire adult life.
                   
The latest blow came Friday afternoon when the board of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announced that it was cutting ties to Andrew, who had been its patron.
                   
The 59-year-old prince has suffered numerous setbacks in the six days since the broadcast of a disastrous TV interview from Buckingham Palace during which he defended his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein died in a New York prison in August in what the New York City medical examiner ruled was a suicide.
                   
The Times newspaper said in an editorial Friday that the debacle demonstrates the need for “urgent reform” of the royal household. The paper urged Andrew’s older brother and heir to the throne, Prince Charles, to take steps to streamline and make the royal family “more modest.”
                   
The disgraced prince scuttled plans for a trip to Bahrain that had been planned to support his Pitch(at)Palace project, according to the British news media, even though he is struggling to keep that enterprise going despite cutting ties to dozens of other charities.
                   
He did go horseback riding with his mother, 93-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, near Windsor Castle on Friday afternoon despite harsh November weather. The monarch has not commented publicly on her son’s troubles.
                   
There was a visceral public backlash to the TV interview _ particularly because Andrew did not express sympathy for Epstein’s young female victims that led politicians to debate the future of the monarchy in a televised debate ahead of the Dec. 12 national election. Shortly after the interview, Andrew announced that he was halting his royal duties “for the foreseeable future.”
                   
Up until now, Andrew, the queen’s third child, had been able to skate away from troublesome questions about his private life and his extravagant lifestyle. His association with Epstein had been known for more than eight years, but it only took him down after he went on TV to discuss it.
                   
Andrew is trying to find a way to keep alive at least one of his projects without relying on the prestige and real estate of the royal family.
                   
Buckingham Palace officials said Andrew would try to maintain Pitch(at)Palace as a non-royal charity that eventually would not be centered at any of the royal palaces. The prince founded the project in 2014 to link up young entrepreneurs with established business people. In the past, idea and product pitches for the program have taken place at St. James’ Palace.
                   
According to its website, Pitch(at)Palace has helped 931 start-up businesses and created nearly 6,000 new jobs. It boasts a 97% survival rate for new companies started by its alumni.
                   
Andrew was expected to remove himself from the many other charities with which he’s been involved over the years, a diverse group that sheds light on his interests and reflects the varied demands made on a senior royal.
                   
Among them have been the Army Officers’ Golfing Society, which promotes golf in the British Army, and the Maimonides Interfaith Foundation, which is devoted to the use of art and dialogue to improve relations between Jews, Muslims and Christians.
                   
The prince also was involved with a group fighting malaria and a charity helping deaf children throughout the Commonwealth, which includes Britain and many of its former colonies.
                   
The Falklands War veteran also was expected to drop his ceremonial role with many military units. In addition, he has resigned as patron of The Outward Bound Trust, an educational charity that helps young people have adventures in the wild with which he had been involved with for decades, and was to step down as chancellor of Huddersfield University, university officials said.
                   
Despite these many embarrassments and the dramatic drop in his work responsibilities, Andrew was not expected to face money pressures, although the details of his financial picture have not been made public.
                   
He has long received financial backing from the queen’s private accounts and there was no indication that this would change. He was likely, however, to close or severely downsize his well-staffed personal office at Buckingham Palace.
                   
When he served as Britain’s international trade envoy, Andrew relied extensively on public funding and was criticized for his deluxe travel style when going overseas on official business. He left that role in 2011, in part because questions were already being asked about his relationship with Epstein, who had already been convicted of sex offenses.
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At least six bodies of Europe-bound migrants were found on Libya’s Mediterranean coast on Friday, while another 90 were intercepted by Libya’s coast guard, the U.N. migration agency said.
                   
Libya has emerged as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe. Most migrants make the perilous journey in ill-equipped and unsafe rubber boats.
                   
The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration tweeted that the bodies washed up on the shores of the Libyan port of al-Khums.
                   
In recent years, the EU has partnered with Libya’s coast guard and other local groups to stem the dangerous sea crossings. Rights groups, however, say those policies leave migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers rife with abuses.
                   
Separately, Libya’s eastern parliament Thursday accused the Italian government of violating the country’s sovereignty by flying a drone near the frontlines of the ongoing war between the Tripoli-based U.N.-backed government and the east-based, self-styled Libyan National Army.
                   
“The Libyan parliament demands that the Italian authorities provide an official explanation to this act of aggression on Libya’s sovereignty,” read the statement issued by the LNA-allied parliament.
                   
In a Wednesday press conference Ahmed al-Mosmari, the LNA spokesman said their forces had shot down an Italian drone near the city of Tarhouna, a town about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Tripoli.
                   
In response, the office of Italy’s Joint Chief of Staffs issued a statement Wednesday affirming that an Italian drone crashed in Libyan territory while it was on a mission to support efforts aimed at stemming migrant sea crossings. The statement added that the plane was following a flight plan that had been communicated in advance to Libyan authorities.
                   
Since 2015, Libya has been divided between two governments, in the east and the west. In April, the LNA launched an offensive to capture Tripoli from the U.N.-backed government. While the LNA enjoys the support of France, Russia and Key Arab countries, the Tripoli-based government is backed by Italy, Turkey and Qatar.
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The lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow the government to label journalists, bloggers, and social media users as foreign agents.
 
The bill, which still needs approval from the Federation Council, the upper chamber, and President Vladimir Putin’s signature to become law, expands on existing “foreign agent” measures already targeting select foreign media and Russian NGOs.The laws have been criticized by human rights groups as highly restrictive but lauded by Kremlin loyalists as essential to protect Russian sovereignty.
 
Under the new expanded version, restrictions would now apply to journalists and individuals working for media organizations designated as foreign agents by Russia’s Justice Ministry.The new measure would require those who work for suspect media outlets to label any published materials as “made by a foreign agent” and personally submit to regular audits and inspections of their work and finances.Employees and contractors with Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and several affiliated partner projects — such as Current Time TV — would appear to be prime targets of the new bill.The U.S. government-funded outlets are currently the only media on the Justice Ministry foreign agent media blacklist created in 2017.The blacklist of foreign agents, seen here in a screenshot from the Russian Justice Ministry’s website, shows Voice of America (1), Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe (7) and Current Time (5) among others.Yet, given the vague wording of the measure, the foreign agent label could also be applied to individuals who distribute suspect media content — a move that could have significant implications for Russia’s blogosphere and social media, both of which are largely considered open platforms for political debate.  How Russian authorities would enforce the foreign agent restrictions against individuals is not yet clear.
 Political overtones
 
The bill’s co-author, the chairman of the State Duma’s Commission on the Investigation of Foreign Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs, Vasily Piskarev, vigorously defended law as a necessity — citing his commission’s findings that accused several foreign and domestic media outlets of interfering in Russia’s regional fall elections.
 
That vote was tarnished by the banning of nearly all opposition candidates from participating in the election — prompting a wave of street protests in Moscow through the summer.  While foreign and independent media covered the events, Russian state broadcasters largely ignored voters’ frustrations.
 
“Russian viewers and readers have the right to know of the foreign roots of these media outlets and where they get their money from,” Piskarev said in comments following Thursday’s vote.“After inclusion on the register, these citizens and media entities can continue their creative activities and continue to publish, provided they fulfill certain conditions,” he added.
 
Piskarev also insisted Russia was merely introducing measures to mirror those faced by Russian journalists elsewhere — an apparent reference to what Russia says is the harassment of its RT America and the network’s journalists working in the United States.
 
RT America was forced to register as a foreign agent with the U.S. Justice Department in 2017, a move that prompted similar measures against American government-funded media.FILE – Vehicles of Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT are seen near the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2018. The potential info-chill to come
 
Rights groups warn the new foreign agents law would cast a much wider chill over Russians’ access to free speech over the airwaves and online.
 
“The new ‘foreign agent’ legislation quite simply is intended to silence critical voices and further limit Russian citizens’ right to access information,” said Hugh Williamson, Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia director, in a statement on the organization’s website.
 
Russia’s daily Kommersant newspaper, a Kremlin-favored publication known for providing light critiques of state policy, noted the vagueness of the law in the face of the Internet sharing culture would mean that nearly “half the country” would risk running afoul of its provisions — including Russians who work in companies with foreign funding or scientists who receive international grants.
 
Russian foreign agents laws were first introduced in 2012 in an effort to end foreign funding of Russian NGOs, a move that civil society advocates said had echoes of Soviet days when they were likened to potential traitors and spies.Indeed, Putin argued at the time that foreign-funded NGOs were less interested in developing civil society and more intent on fomenting revolution for their Western donors.FILE – A man passes by the office of “Memorial” rights group in Moscow, Russia. The building has the words “Foreign Agent (Loves) USA” spray-painted on its facade.Given the choice to identify themselves as foreign agents or face mounting penalties and court ordered fines, many organizations chose to shutter their doors.  The law’s political overtones have again been apparent of late as authorities have used it as a blunt instrument against perceived enemies at home.The Justice Ministry last month said it was adding the Anti-Corruption Foundation, an NGO led by opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, to the foreign agent registry.The move came after the organization — which has long tortured the Kremlin with a series of anti-corruption investigations into government malfeasance — supported a series of pro-democracy protests over the summer that led to the arrest of over 2,000 demonstrators.
 
Russia’s officials justified the decision by saying the organization — which exists on crowdfunded donations from Russian citizens — had received two small wire transfers from abroad.   
 
Then, in early November, Russia’s Supreme Court used the law to rule for the dissolution of For Human Rights, an organization with roots in the Soviet dissident movement that was defending the rights of Russians arrested in police sweeps tied to the summer’s unrest.
 
Speaking on the respected Echo of Moscow radio station, the organization’s founder, 78-year-old Lev Ponomarev, criticized the proposed additions to the foreign agent laws.“It is, likely, the latest nail in the coffin for the human rights movement in Russia — since all human rights organizations are financed by foreign foundations,” he said. 
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A Turkish court on Thursday upheld its conviction of 12 former employees of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper despite a higher court ruling, a lawyer for the newspaper said.The court acquitted a 13th defendant, journalist Kadri Gursel, due to a ruling by the Constitutional Court, Turkey’s highest, said the lawyer, Tora Pekin.In a case that drew global outrage over press freedom under President Tayyip Erdogan, 14 employees of Cumhuriyet – one of the few remaining voices critical of the government – were sentenced in April 2018 to various jail terms on terrorism charges.They were accused of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front militant groups, as well as the network of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says  organized a 2016 failed coup. Gulen denies any involvement.The Cumhuriyet staff have been in and out of jail for the duration of their trials. The 14th defendant, Cumhuriyet accountant Emre Iper, was released last month and his case is still under court review.The Court of Cassation, Turkey’s high court of appeals, had ruled in September for the 13 defendants to be acquitted, with the exception of journalist and politician Ahmet Sik. The court said Sik should be tried for a different crime.The case of the 12 defendants will now be re-evaluated by the Court of Cassation, Pekin said.”With the Court of Cassation ruling (in September), we thought this endless arbitrariness and injustice were ending. But we understood in court today that it wasn’t so,” said Pekin.Since the failed coup, authorities have jailed 77,000 people pending trial, while 150,000, including civil servants, judges, military personnel and others have been sacked or suspended from their jobs. Some 150 media outlets have also been closed.A global press watchdog said on Tuesday more than 120 journalists were still being held in Turkey’s jails, a global record.Turkey’s Western allies have voiced concern over the scale of the crackdown. Rights groups accuse Erdogan of using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday sent a proposal to Congress that seeks to offer greater protection to police and soldiers who kill while on specific operations, known as Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO) missions.The highly divisive bill, which comes amid a sharp rise in killings by police across Brazil, is likely to face stiff opposition from some lawmakers and human rights groups.FILE – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro looks on during a ceremony at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 12, 2019.It would reduce sentences or even provide full judicial protection to officers who kill in situations in which they face “unfair, current or imminent aggression,” either to themselves or another person. Examples of “unfair aggression” would include terrorism, and any “conduct capable of causing death or personal injury,” such as carrying a firearm.The bill is similar to part of an earlier, broader crime-fighting proposal, pushed by Justice Minister Sergio Moro, that also sought to offer greater protection to officers who kill.Nonetheless, Moro’s proposal is currently languishing in Congress, where lawmakers stripped the section offering police more cover, arguing that it could incentivize them to kill more.Speaking about his proposal on Thursday, Bolsonaro said it would represent a “shift” in the fight against violence in Brazil.”We will now depend on lawmakers, congressmen and senators to approve this,” the far-right president said in Brasilia.GLO missionsGLO missions are temporary military operations, created by direct order of the president, to tackle sporadic cases of uncontrollable violence or high-risk situations, such as international summits.So far this year, Brazil has used GLO missions to provide security at the BRICs Summit in Brasilia, in the fight against Amazon rainforest fires, and in the transfer of high-risk prisoners to federal prisons.Bolsonaro, a longtime advocate of preemptive police violence, has said that he would consider ending GLOs if lawmakers do not pass his bill.
 
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The first Honduran asylum-seeker arrived in Guatemala on Thursday from El Paso, Texas, under a controversial U.S. agreement that establishes Guatemala as a safe third country to process people fleeing persecution in their homelands. Guatemalan Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart said the 
Honduran man arrived on a flight from the United States earlier 
in the morning. The Honduran was among Guatemalan deportees flown into the 
Central American country on one of four U.S. deportation flights scheduled on Thursday, Degenhart said. The new effort began after the administration of Republican 
President Donald Trump brokered an agreement with the Guatemalan government in July. The deal allows U.S. immigration officials to force migrants requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for asylum in Guatemala first. Campaign issueTrump has made cracking down on immigration a central issue 
of his 2020 re-election campaign. His administration has worked 
to restrict asylum access in the United States to curb the number of mostly Central American families arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. officials earlier this week said the program initially would be applied at a U.S. Border Patrol station in El Paso. A first phase will target adults from Honduras and El Salvador, and the aim will be to process them within 72 hours, according to the officials and notes taken by one of the officials during a training session of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers. Democrats and pro-migrant groups have opposed the move and 
contend asylum-seekers will face danger in Guatemala, where the 
murder rate is five times that of the United States, according to 2017 data compiled by the World Bank. Guatemalan President-elect Alejandro Giammattei, who takes office in January, has said he will review the agreement. 
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A French court is to rule Thursday on whether to convict a mountain guide of helping migrants enter the country illegally — the latest case that is testing France’s “principle of fraternity” allowing humanitarian aid for irregular migrants.The cases have centered on the Alps, where migrants traverse snowy passes between Italy and France, many ill-equipped for the cold. Each year some die of hypothermia.Pierre Mumber, a 55-year-old ski instructor and member of migrant rights organization Tous Migrants, came across several West African migrants in January 2018 as he hiked through the Montgenèvre pass in search of people needing help.Mumber argues he was giving legal humanitarian assistance. Tous Migrants co-president Michel Rousseau said Mumber was bringing warm clothes and drinks to migrants when he was arrested. Mumber’s lawyer, Philippe Chaudron, has argued that his client helped them on French soil.A court in the city of Gap convicted Mumber earlier this year for “aiding the irregular entry of foreigners,” giving him a three-month suspended sentence. It pointed to the fact that his cell phone signals bounced off the Italian side as evidence that Mumber had illegally helped them cross the border.His lawyer says the prosecutor had insufficient evidence and appealed, and the regional appeals court in Grenoble is handing down its verdict Thursday. Lawyer Chaudon argues that in the Alps, cell phone signals and ski slopes often straddle both sides of the border.“My client is reproached for going back and forth between the two countries, but he is a ski instructor and the slopes of Montgenèvre cross into Italy,” Chaudon told The Associated Press.Between 1,500 and 2,000 migrants tried to illegally cross the border between France and Italy during a three-month period that winter, fueling both humanitarian efforts to help them and calls by nationalist politicians for a crackdown. It’s part of a Europe-wide migrant challenge, since both countries are part of the European Union’s border-free travel zone.The case is one of several that has tested how the French judiciary handles citizens providing aid to migrants since France’s Constitutional Council upheld the “principle of fraternity” in 2018.That ruling came after the high-profile case of farmer Cedric Herrou, who housed some 200 migrants in the Alps’ Roya valley and helped them travel within France. He was convicted in 2017 of helping migrants illegally cross the border.EU rules criminalize those who help migrants without the proper documentation from crossing into or transit through member states, as well as those who house migrants for financial gain. Some countries have more stringent restrictions; Denmark, for instance, has prosecuted hundreds of its citizens for giving migrants food or a lift. Germany and Switzerland have also seen similar court cases.France used to ban individuals from giving migrants free housing or transportation on French soil. The Constitutional Council, however, ruled that France’s motto of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” gives citizens freedom “to assist others for a humanitarian purpose,” even if they are in the country illegally. The decision, codified in French law in September 2018, excludes from punishment any person who helps migrants with a humanitarian goal without compensation.Fewer cases involving migrant assistance have wound up in French courts since then, Chaudon said. Still, prosecutions have continued — particularly in regions along the Italian and Spanish borders.Rousseau of Tous Migrants said lingering ambiguities over what constitutes a “humanitarian goal” and compensation under the law “opens the door to any interpretation.”Lola Schulmann of Amnesty International in France said a court decision to deny Mumber’s appeal could dissuade benevolent citizens who want to save migrants’ lives, particularly as winter sets in.“These people should not find themselves in front of a court; they should be encouraged and celebrated,” she told The AP.
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Ukraine says three captured naval vessels returned by Russia earlier this week were in poor condition and stripped of key components.After inspecting the returned vessels, the chief of Ukraine’s navy, Vice Adm. Ihor Voronchenko, was quoted by Ukraine’s “4th Channel” TV as saying the ships’ return to safe harbor had been hampered by their poor condition.  “They do not move on their own,” the vice admiral said, according to the report.  “The Russians ruined them — even took off the lamps, power outlets and toilets. We will show the whole world the Russian barbarism towards them.”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later inspected the ships upon arrival at the port of Ochakiv and reportedly said repairing them would take three months. The Ukrainian leader also demanded Russia return missing components.Back in Moscow, officials from Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, suggested sabotage.Russia’s RIA-Novosti wire service quoted FSB officials as claiming the ships had been returned in “normal condition, and plumbing equipment in working order.” The FSB also provided what it said was video of the ships in what appeared to be reasonable condition, noting that Ukrainian officials had signed off on the exchange in neutral waters Monday without registering complaints.“If Ukraine managed to ruin the vessels and their bathroom equipment as they crossed the coast of Crimea to Ochakiv, that’s Ukraine’s problem,” said a Russian FSB official, according to a separate report by Russia’s Interfax news service.Russian media reported earlier that the Ukrainian ships had been returned stripped of their guns — a detail that has yet to be confirmed by either side.Misplaced optimism?The return of the vessels had been widely viewed as a trust-building measure ahead of a December summit in Paris aimed at bringing an end to the conflict in the Donbas that has left some 13,000 people dead over the past five years.   Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both indicated they would join French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the event — billed as the latest attempt to jump-start peace negotiations after several previous failed attempts by the so-called “quartet” to end the fighting between Ukraine government forces and Moscow-backed rebels.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits the port of Ochakiv, Nov. 20, 2019, to see the three Ukraine’s naval ships, captured in the Kerch Strait in Nov. 2018 and then returned by Russia.Zelenskiy had signaled the return of the three Ukrainian vessels as the latest in a series of small step measures aimed at normalizing relations with Russia and ending the war in the Donbas.  “Step by step, we’re making peace, seeking diplomatic solutions, and fighting for our Ukraine to be united once again,” wrote Zelenskiy in a post to Twitter just hours before he reviewed the ships’ condition for himself.The ships and their crew were seized by Russia after its border patrol fired on the vessels off the coast of Crimea in November 2018 — arguing the ships had violated what had become Russia’s territorial waters after the Kremlin’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.The incident caused outrage in Kyiv and beyond, with the United States launching a new round of sanctions targeting Russia over its military actions in Ukraine.Moscow portrayed the incident as a ploy by Ukraine’s former president, Petro Poroshenko, to stoke nationalist sentiment ahead of elections he would ultimately lose by a landslide to Zelenskiy.Zelenskiy has made ending the war in east Ukraine a top priority of what he says will be his sole term in office.Among his successes thus far is a negotiated deal with Putin that saw the release of the Ukrainian ships’ 24 crew members as part of a wider prisoner swap last September. 
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Colombian unions and student groups are planning a strike on Thursday, with marches to insist the government maintain minimum wages for young people and the universal right to a pension.At a time of widespread unrest in other Latin American countries, police this week raided activists and a culture magazine ahead of the protest while Colombia’s President Ivan Duque warned his government will not tolerate violence.The president also has repeatedly denied that he plans to propose pension and tax reform laws containing the changes alleged by protesters. He said he immediately rejected the idea of reducing youth salaries when a think tank proposed it.”No reform has been proposed,” Duque told viewers during a rare Facebook Live broadcast this week, adding he does not want to raise the pension age. “It has been said that we want to pay young people less than the minimum wage. That’s also a lie.”Other groups of marchers are expected to participate to protest what they say is a lack of government action to prevent the murder of hundreds of human rights activists, corruption at
universities and other issues.Supporters of the march, which include major unions, allege Duque’s government also wants to make the public pension fund Colpensiones private and differentiate salaries by region.Police raids late on Tuesday drew wide criticism on social media when staff at the Cartel Urbano magazine posted videos showing cops rifling through artwork while staff questioned the
reason for the raid.In Bogota, marchers are set to gather at seven meeting points before converging on the central Bolivar Plaza, home to congress and a block from the presidential palace.Elsewhere in the region, Chile’s conservative government is grappling with anti-austerity marches, the biggest crisis to hit the country since its return to democracy in 1990.Protests in Bolivia over vote-tampering allegations led long-time leftist President Evo Morales to resign earlier this month, and his ouster has inflamed tensions in crisis-hit Nicaragua.Duque this week authorized local authorities to adopt exceptional measures to contain protests if needed, including curfews and limits on carrying weapons and the sale of alcohol. Marchers are also against an announced plan by the government to join state companies under a single holding umbrella, alleging that this will cost jobs and eliminate direct control over public funds.The country’s migration agency has shut land and river border crossings until early Friday morning because of the strike.The agency said it has expelled 24 foreign nationals who were “affecting public order and national security.” 
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Chilean police and soldiers backed by their commanders have carried out “generalized” attacks on people protesting over inequality with the intention of “punishing and harming” them, Amnesty International said in a report published on Thursday.Erika Guevara Rosas, the rights group’s Americas Director, told Reuters that its investigative team sent to the country to weigh allegations of excessive force and rights violations by security forces had found evidence of abuses not normally seen outside troubled Latin American nations like Venezuela, Nicaragua and Honduras.She said they had been “shocked” to find evidence of them in Chile, until recently widely seen as one of the region’s most democratic and stable nations.Amnesty said it had confirmed five deaths at the hands of security forces, as well as credible evidence of protesters being shot at with live ammunition, sexually abused, tortured, beaten, and run over. There was a repeated pattern of abuse that suggested intention, it said.Rosas said police and army personnel had broken international law in the use of live ammunition in crowd control and its own protocols in the liberal use of rubber bullets and tear gas.The police and army did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.Rosas said Chilean President Sebastian Pinera held responsibility by failing to acknowledge the abuses or condemning them swiftly. She said his claim last month that “we are at war” fed “the violent repression we have seen on the streets.””There was an intention to punish people and this came not just from the police and military on the streets but also those under whose command they were,” she said.”If this was punishment of the people who were protesting against government policies then the highest levels of government including Pinera have a responsibility for the human rights violations.”Pinera’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.On Sunday, the president acknowledged there had been “some” excessive use of force, abuse and crime and vowed “no impunity” for police and soldiers found responsible.Chile has seen a month of both peaceful protests and violent riots that started over anger at a hike in public transport fares and broadened to include grievances over low pensions and salaries, the high cost of living, and security force abuses.The unrest has left at least 23 dead, 7,000 detained, over 2,000 demonstrators hospitalized and more than 1,700 police officers injured, according to authorities and rights groups.Over 200 people have been hit in the eyes with tear gas canisters and rubber bullets, doctors have said.Prosecutors are examining more than 2,000 allegations of abuses by security forces, the head of the public prosecutor’s rights division told Reuters last week. 
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A sculptor known for trying to redress history through her art is creating the first statue of real-life women for New York’s Central Park, where the only females so honored until now have been fictional characters.Meredith Bergmann’s vision for the sculpture, chosen from 91 submissions, features three women’s rights pioneers — Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth. While honoring their specific efforts on behalf of women’s suffrage, women’s civil rights and the abolition of slavery, Bergmann hopes her latest work will also make a statement about the need to recognize the contributions ofWax statues at at the Occoquan Workhouse Museum in Lorton, Virginia, show the 1917 force-feeding of suffragist Lucy Burns, an American women’s rights advocate who was on hunger strike. (Photo by Diaa Bekheet).“This monument has a very focused message,” she said in an interview at her studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut. “The fact of the monument itself, that it exists at all, that it will be where it is, is the message.”Of the 23 statues of historical figures in the 840-acre, 166-year-old public park, none honors actual women. There are statues of three female fictional characters: Alice in Wonderland, Mother Goose and William Shakespeare’s Juliet, who appears with Romeo.There had been a moratorium on erecting any new statues in Central Park. But in 2014, a volunteer, nonprofit group called Monumental Women, made up of women’s rights advocates, historians and community leaders, set out to break what they’ve called the “bronze ceiling” and develop a statue depicting real women. With the help of the Girl Scouts, private foundations and others, they raised $1.5 million in private funding for the 14-foot-tall monument, to be located on the park’s famed Literary Walk. It’s scheduled to be unveiled on Aug. 26, 2020, marking the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which enshrined the right for women to vote.“It’s fitting that the first statue of real women in Central Park depicts three New York women who dedicated their lives to fighting for women’s rights,” said Pam Elam, president of Monumental Women, in a written statement last month after the project received approval from a city commission. “This statue conveys the power of women working together to bring about revolutionary change in our society. It invites people to reflect not just on these women and their work for equality and justice, but on all the monumental women who came before us.”Women’s Suffrage MovementTeaser DescriptionThe Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery looks back at the women’s suffrage movement – one of the longest reform movements in U.S. history – with an exhibition called, “Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence.”  Curator Kate Clarke Lemay shows us some of the art and artifacts from that era and how creating visual displays for their cause created a different understanding about women’s freedom and voting rights.  
Reporter:  Julie Taboh, Camera: Adam Greenbaum; Adapted by:  Martin SecrestMidway into the massive and multi-faceted project, Bergmann and her assistants have nearly finished sculpting from foam and clay an imagined scene of the three women having a conversation at a table. Truth is speaking, Anthony is organizing and Stanton is writing, which Bergman describes as the three essential elements of activism.The current design is the result of a long process that involved various changes, including the late addition of Sojourner Truth, an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist who was born into slavery but escaped to freedom in 1826. It originally included Anthony, a writer, lecturer and abolitionist who fought for the rights of women to vote and own property; Stanton, another leading figure in the women’s voting rights movement, and an abolitionist and author; and a scroll with a list of 17 other women involved in the women’s movement from 1848 to 1920.New Zealand Celebrates Women’s Suffrage Anniversary

        New Zealand has marked the 125th anniversary of a historic move to give women the vote. It was the first country in the world to enact suffrage for women.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s third female prime minister said the nation’s 19th century fight for economic independence and equal rights was still continuing.

The gender pay gap in the South Pacific nation is, on average, 10 percent, although for working mothers it is about 17 percent — a pay difference known as the “motherhood penalty.” Women…
Once the sculpting work is done, likely in the coming weeks, Bergmann said molds will be taken and they will eventually be cast in bronze at a foundry in New York. Detailed work will need to be performed, such as making sure the women’s heads are at the right tilt and the ends of the granite base are curved perfectly.It has become a labor of love for Bergmann, albeit a challenging one.“I haven’t had a project on this scale, with this ferocious of a deadline. And it is, it is nerve-wracking. And I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked,” said Bergmann. “All summer, all fall, this is what I’m doing. And it’s thrilling.”
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