European Union imports of U.S. soybeans were already rising substantially before a top EU official told President Donald Trump last week that the bloc would buy more.

EU Commission figures released Wednesday show that 37 percent of the bloc’s soybean imports last month were coming from the U.S., compared with 9 percent in July 2017.

Amid a looming trade war over tariffs, Trump and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed on July 25 to start talks intended to achieve “zero tariffs” and “zero subsidies” on non-automotive industrial goods.

The EU also agreed to buy more U.S. soybeans and build more terminals to import liquefied natural gas from the United States.

“The European Union can import more soybeans from the U.S. and this is happening as we speak,” Juncker said.

But a high level EU official said the increase in soybean purchases from the U.S. is due only to economics, as they are cheaper than imports from Brazil and Argentina. The official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said there was no political reason for the increase.

 
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It is now legal to smoke marijuana in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, but there’s a caveat.

At 4:20 p.m. local time on Monday, July 30, the Georgian Constitutional Court legalized marijuana consumption while retaining laws against growing, storing and selling the drug.

In the historic ruling that subverted decades of harshly restrictive drug policies, Georgia’s increasingly liberal constitutional court declared smoking cannabis an act “guaranteed by the right of free self-development,” making it the first former Soviet republic to legalize recreational usage.

For years, the southern Caucasus nation of roughly 3.7 million was home to what many civil activists called a repressive regime of narco-politics, where even casual users faced up to 14 years in prison.

Longtime critics of Georgia’s hardline drug policies said that the laws were being exploited to justify heavy-handed policing tactics within the country’s thriving nightlife scene.

The court said punishing an individual for consuming cannabis would comply with the constitution only if consumption put a third party at risk. The decision was prompted by a lawsuit filed by activists of the libertarian Girchi party.

In a nation with proclaimed Euro-Atlantic aspirations but historically torn between Russia and the West, Girchi supporters called it a victory for liberal values.

“This wasn’t a fight for cannabis. This was a fight for freedom,” former lawmaker Zurab Japaridze said of the case, which was titled Zurab Japaridze and Vakhtang Megrelishvili VS. the Parliament of Georgia.

Japaridze is the 42-year-old Girchi party founder who once planted marijuana seeds in a televised New Year’s Eve event in 2016. Japaridze described the ruling as a “big victory” that was years in the making.

“It is a liberal understanding of the idea of freedom, when a person is free in his/her actions, given it does not pose a risk to others,” Japaridze told Voice of America’s Georgian service. “Nobody can send you to prison or fine you for smoking cannabis.”

Other advocates for liberalized drug policies, such as Akaki Zoidze, chair of Georgia’s parliamentary health care committee, said the ruling goes a step too far.

“Marijuana consumption should be allowed only for medical purposes,” he said at a press conference that followed the ruling. “Our aim was not to make marijuana accessible for everyone, but to reduce the number of drug addicts.”

Leaders of Georgia’s Orthodox Church roundly condemned the ruling as a “traitorous decision.”

“The four judges are making disastrous decisions ignoring the will of 4 million people,” said Archbishop Andria. “That court needs to be abolished.”

The Orthodox Church, which has favored far-right causes and marched against LGBTQ activists in the past, enjoys the highest favorability rating among public institutions, boasting a trustworthiness rating of 76 percent – roughly twice the approval rating of the president’s office and the police – according to a May 2018 poll commissioned by Transparency International Georgia.

That same survey, conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Center, surveyed the attitudes on drug-related issues, finding that 72 percent of respondents said there should be no sentence for using light drugs. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they felt the same way about club drugs such as ecstasy, while 43 percent thought intravenous drug users should not be imprisoned for shooting up.

Forty-five percent of respondents agreed that law enforcement agencies employed the method of planting drugs for detaining targeted individuals.

A lengthy civic discourse

Georgia’s discussion on drug policy liberalization has spanned years, with a draft law including development of rehabilitation programs for drug abusers introduced in parliament just last year.

According to the analysis of drug-related criminal statistics conducted by the Tbilisi-based Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), the “Practice and declared goals do not match.”

Although principal goals of the national strategy for battling drug abuse do not envisage punishing drug users, the report said statistical data indicates drug users were being harshly punished anyway.

“While tens of thousands of people were fined for drug use, according to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2016 only 10 people were arrested for distributing drugs, and only 36 people – in 2017,” says the IDFI report. “Such a vast difference in numbers of people arrested for drug use and drug distribution raises questions regarding the priorities of the drug policy of the country.”

Japaridze, who has campaigned for the easing of drug laws, says the court decision is a turning point, not the final destination.

“From the libertarian standpoint, we think the same rule shall apply to other drugs, we believe it shall be up to an individual to decide what to consume,” he said. “Even if that action is harmful for his own health, the decision is a person’s and shall not belong to a policeman.”

Some say Japaridze’s efforts mask other political intentions, pointing out that he was among the first to announce his run for Georgia’s last directly-elected presidential office.

However, his advocacy for broader drug liberalization and anti-mandatory military service campaigns tend to elicit him more “cursing than popularity,” he said.

His constituency of predominantly 18-29-year-old citizens, who comprise about 20 percent of Georgia’s electorate, are typically inactive voters.

Given Georgia’s geographic location, where even recreational drug users are socially stigmatized, Japaridze says marijuana legalization can be a game-changer.

“We did an analysis comparing [the U.S. state of] Colorado and Georgia. Having calculated the economic impact of legalization, we anticipate it can create approximately a $4 billion economy, with 7-8 percent of annual growth,” Japaridze told VOA in 2017.

In May, thousands rallied for several days in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, to protest allegedly heavy-handed police raids in two popular nightclubs where eight suspected drug dealers were arrested.

(This story originated in VOA’s Georgian Service)

 
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The U.S. Treasury Department said on Tuesday that it had extended the deadline for investors to divest holdings in sanctioned Russian companies EN+, GAZ Group and Rusal to Oct. 23 from Aug. 5.

The U.S. Treasury in April imposed sanctions against billionaire Oleg Deripaska and eight companies in which he is a large shareholder, including aluminum exporter Rusal, in response to what it termed “malign activities” by Russia.

Deripaska has held a controlling interest in En+, which in turn controls Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer outside of China. Automaker GAZ is also part of his business empire.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week that the United States was in productive talks with Rusal to remove it from Washington’s sanctions list.

The company has taken a number of steps, including revamping its board, in the hope of escaping the U.S. blacklist.
…

A change in who gets to use the Eiffel Tower’s elevators has stranded frustrated tourists in long queues at the Paris landmark during a heat wave in the French capital.

Management of the 324-meter (1,063-foot) tower decided this month to dedicate one elevator for those who book tickets in advance and leave only one for those who turn up on the day, rather than both as before.

Sightseers who arrive without tickets have had to join queues that snake all the way around the base of the monument.

Some said they had waited for up to three hours, annoyed that few people were lining up for the other elevator.

Temperatures in the city have hit 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), leaving sweltering adults and children desperate for bottled water in the queue.

“It’s too long!” said Burty Surette, 37, an electrician visiting from Mauritius. “I was expecting the wait to be long but not this long. There should be two elevators for people arriving without tickets. With the number of people that are coming to visit, one is not sufficient.”

Pat Murphy, a 66-year-old retired automotive worker from Ohio, disliked the idea of having to book three months in advance for a particular day.

“You don’t know if it’s going to rain,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Eiffel Tower played down suggestions the new system had caused extra queues, saying there always are large numbers of visitors to the monument, particularly in summer.

Workers at the tower have threatened to strike over what they call the “monstrous” new system. Negotiations are under way between the tower’s management and the CGT union, with a decision expected Wednesday.

“I can understand the workers saying this is insane — people are getting mad … so I’d join them on strike,” Murphy said.

More than 40 million tourists visited Paris last year, the highest on record, with over 6 million going up the Eiffel Tower, the most popular site in the city.
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German farmers intensified calls for around 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) in special aid on Tuesday after crop damage from a drought and heatwave, but Berlin said it would wait for an August harvest report before making a decision.

The president of German farming association DBV, Joachim Rukwied, said drought had caused 1.4 million euros ($1.6 million) of damage to grains crops alone this year.

Poor growing weather, including a heatwave and lack of rain, has damaged crops in France, Germany and the Baltic Sea countries, while a shortage of animal feed is also looming after damage to maize (corn) crops and grass.

“Expensive animal feed will have to be purchased,” Rukwied told German TV channel ZDF.

However, German agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner said on German television that a clearer view of the national picture was needed and the government would await her ministry’s own harvest report in late August.

“Then we will have a real overview of the situation in Germany,” she said, adding that regional state governments could provide local aid if needed.

Indications were that German federal and state governments were in disagreement about whether aid should be paid.

German state and federal agricultural agencies meet on Tuesday to discuss the drought and Kloeckner is due to report to the cabinet on Wednesday.

Kloeckner said later on German radio NDR that harvests were varied among states.

“Farmers themselves do not know how their harvest will turn out,” she said.

Till Backhaus, the farm minister in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, called on the government to declare a state of emergency for farmers, saying a decision in late August would not be fast enough.

French consultancy Strategie Grains expects the German soft wheat crop to fall to 20.7 million tons, from 22.8 million estimated in early July, Reuters reported on July 25. Last year some 24 million tons were harvested in Germany. German grain traders, however, increasingly expect a wheat harvest of under 20 million tons.
…

After the devastation of World War Two, architects in Yugoslavia got to work helping to rebuild the country which straddled the Cold War divide between the East and West. The architecture reflects styles from both sides and the architects’ vision of the future. The Museum of Modern Art in New York examines their work in an exhibit called “Toward a Concrete Utopia.” Ardita Dunellari has the story.
…

On August 1, when face veils are banned in Denmark, Sabina will not be leaving her niqab at home. Instead, she will be defying the law and taking to the street in protest.

In May, the Danish parliament banned the wearing of face veils in public, joining France and some other European countries to uphold what some politicians say are secular and democratic values.

But Sabina, 21, who is studying to be a teacher, has joined forces with other Muslim women who wear the veil to form Kvinder I Dialog (Women in Dialogue) to protest and raise awareness about why women should be allowed to express their identity in that way.

“I won’t take my niqab off. If I must take it off, I want to do it because it is a reflection of my own choice,” she said.

Like the other women interviewed for this article, Sabina did not wish to have her surname published for fear of harassment.

The niqab wearers who plan to protest on August 1 will be joined by non-niqab-wearing Muslim women and also non-Muslim Danes, most of whom plan to wear face coverings at the rally.

“Everybody wants to define what Danish values are,” said Meryem, 20, who was born in Denmark to Turkish parents and has been wearing the niqab since before meeting her husband, who supports her right to wear it but feels life could be easier without.

“I believe that you have to integrate yourself in society, that you should get an education and so forth. But I don’t think wearing a niqab means you can’t engage yourself in Danish values,” said Meryem, who has a place to study molecular medicine at Aarhus University.

Like Sabina, Meryem plans to defy the law, keep her niqab on and protest the ban.

Under the law, police will be able to instruct women to remove their veils or order them to leave public areas. Justice Minister Soren Pape Poulsen said officers would fine them and tell them to go home.

Fines will range from 1,000 Danish crowns ($160) for a first offense to 10,000 crowns for a fourth violation.

“I feel this law legitimizes acts of hatred but, on the other hand, I feel people have become more aware of what is going on. I get more smiles on the street and people are asking me more questions,” said Ayah, 37.

Mathias Vidas Olsen, who makes reproductions of Viking-age jewelry, is supporting the campaign by making special bracelets and giving the proceeds to Kvinder I Dialog.

“I’m not for or against the niqab,” the 29-year-old Copenhagen man said. “I’m for the right of the people to wear whatever they want whether they be a Muslim or a punk.

“I see this as the government reaching in to places they don’t belong and as a cheap hit on an already stigmatized group to score cheap political points,” he said.
…

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Monday he was organizing a conference to look for ways to stabilize Libya, a main departure point for migrants from North Africa trying to reach Europe.

“In agreement with President (Donald) Trump, I’m going to organize a conference on Libya,” Conte told reporters at the White House after meeting with the U.S. president.

“We would like to deal (with) and discuss all of the issues related to the Libyan people, involving all of the stakeholders, actors, protagonists in the whole of the Mediterranean,” said Conte, who took office last month promising a crackdown on immigration.

Italy has told its allies it wants to hold an international conference on Libya this autumn and Conte was eager to get Trump’s blessing for the gathering at their meeting on Monday.

Italy is competing with neighboring France over how best to deal with Libya, which has been wracked by violence for years.

Conte believes a conference in Rome, backed by the United States, will help Rome establish itself as the major interlocutor for Libya’s warring factions.

After their meeting, Conte said Trump had agreed Italy would become “a reference point in Europe and the main interlocutor for the main issues that need to be faced … with particular reference to Libya.”

“We are going to discuss economic aspects, but also social aspects: the need for protection of civil rights; the problem of constitutional process – of issuing and passing laws so as to enable Libya, in particular, to get to democratic elections in a condition of the utmost stability,” Conte said.
…

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of an Australian archbishop convicted in May for covering up child abuse.

An Australian magistrate said Archbishop Philip Wilson had shown no remorse for concealing the crimes of a pedophile priest who had attacked altar boys in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney in the 1970s. The court in the city of Newcastle said the archbishop’s “primary motive” at the time when he was a junior priest was to protect the reputation of the Catholic Church.

He had said he would only resign if his appeal against his conviction for covering up child abuse failed.

His defiant stance had been widely condemned. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was surprised the 67-year-old Catholic cleric had decided not to quit immediately, and urged him to do so.

There was also mounting pressure within the Catholic Church for Wilson to stand down from a position he has held for 18 years.

He is the most senior Catholic in the world to be convicted of concealing child sexual abuse.

He was given a maximum sentence of 12 months in custody, but is likely to avoid jail and serve his time in home detention.

Survivors of clergy abuse also said they were disappointed at the sentence. One had said that if the archbishop did not resign then the Catholic Church would become a “bigger laughing stock than it already is.”

The case is due to return to court on August 14 while Wilson is being assessed for home detention.

 
…

Two-thirds of Britons now think the government will end up with a bad deal when Britain leaves the European Union early next year, and half want the chance to vote on what happens next, Sky News reported on Monday, citing its own poll.

With less than eight months until Britain is due to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to find a proposal to maintain economic ties with the bloc that pleases both sides of her divided party and is acceptable to negotiators in Brussels.

The Sky poll said 65 percent of British voters thought the government would end up with a bad deal – an increase of 15 points from March – and half support a referendum to choose between leaving with a deal, leaving without a deal or staying in the EU. The poll indicated 40 percent opposed such a vote, while 10 percent did not know.

When asked to choose between three options – May’s deal, a no deal or staying in the EU – 48 percent said they would prefer to stay in the EU, 27 percent wanted to leave with no deal and 13 percent would opt for the government’s deal.

Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,466 Sky customers online between July 20 and 23. Data are weighted to the profile of the population.

The shift in public opinion comes as May has stepped up planning for a so called “no-deal” Brexit that would see the world’s fifth largest economy crash out of the EU on March 29, 2019 without a trade agreement.

A separate poll on Friday suggested that the proportion of voters who favor a referendum on the final terms of any Brexit deal had overtaken those who do not for the first time.

May has repeatedly ruled out holding another public vote on Brexit, saying the public spoke at a June 23, 2016, referendum, in which 51.9 percent of the votes cast backed leaving the EU while 48.1 percent backed staying.

Her main opponents in parliament, the Labour Party, are also not advocating a second referendum, meaning that, despite growing support and a vocal campaign for another vote, there is no obvious path for one to take place.

However, the potential for major political upheaval remains, with May’s minority government facing a series of make-or-break moments in the Brexit process over coming months.

She must find a way to strike a deal with the EU, which has already rejected her preferred plan on trade, then sell that deal to her deeply divided Conservative Party, before putting it to a vote in parliament. Failure at any of those three hurdles could cost May her job.

 BAD JOB The Sky poll found 78 percent of voters thought May’s government was doing a bad job of negotiating Brexit, up 23 percentage points from March. Just 10 percent thought the government was doing a good job.

Earlier this month, the government set out in detail for the first time what kind of trading arrangement it wants with the EU after leaving the bloc, triggering a political crisis in which two senior ministers resigned in protest, saying May was watering down Brexit.

Since March, the proportion of those satisfied with May’s performance has fallen to 24 percent, down 17 percentage points, the Sky poll showed.

Voters were split on whether Brexit would be good or bad for the country: 40 percent said it would be good and 51 percent said it would be bad.
…

President Donald Trump will welcome new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the White House Monday.

The two leaders will have a private conversation in the Oval office, followed by an expanded bilateral meeting, with the White House saying the talks are aimed at deepening “cooperation in addressing global conflicts and promoting economic prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic” and at recognizing “the historical and cultural ties between the countries.”

Conte became Italy’s prime minister through a coalition deal reached by two anti-establishment political parties, the League and the Five Star Movement after Italy’s March 4 election.

These two parties garnered most votes, and had leaders who both aspired to become prime minister. As a compromise in forming a joint government, they chose Conte, a soft-spoken law professor with no previous political experience. The move made Conte the leader of Western Europe’s first fully populist government.

Since becoming Italy’s leader, Conte has emerged as Trump’s strongest supporter in Western Europe.

Trump has met Conte twice, at the recent G-7 and NATO summits, but the U.S. leader has already declared him “a really great guy” and said he “will do a great job — the people of Italy have got it right.” The two have at least one thing in common — populist administrations.

The meeting comes at a time of tension between the United States and Europe.

Conte backed Trump’s call in June for Moscow to re-enter the Group of Seven, a proposal flatly rejected at the summit by all the other members of the group of industrialized Western powers. Russia was ousted from the Group of Eight after its annexation of Crimea.

The two right-leaning parties in the Italian coalition government have long sought a re-evaluation of Rome’s relationship with Moscow, including a call for the lifting of EU sanctions. Italy has said European sanctions on Russia also hurt Italian firms. Conte has since said the sanctions should not be dropped quickly.

Trump has expressed support for the Italian government’s high-profile attempts to toughen the European Union’s asylum migration policy. He and Conte hold similar views on the issue of migrants.

The Italian government has said the talks between the two leaders on Monday will focus on the issues in the “Mediterranean, Iraq, Afghanistan” and the intensification of “cooperation between the two countries with the aim of economic growth for both countries.”

Washington wants to ensure Rome will continue its role in Afghanistan, especially after Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta recently said Italy’s troops serving there may have to be reduced.

Libya also is a significant issue of concern for Italy. Conte is likely to seek support from Trump as Rome tries to play a leading role in the rebuilding of Libya. For Italy, Tripoli is an important energy partner. It also wants Libya to be stabilized because of its role as a starting-off point for migrants trying to reach European Union countries.
…

Thousands protested in central Moscow on Sunday against a proposed increase to the retirement age and the crowd chanted slogans critical of President Vladimir Putin whose approval ratings have been dented by the bill.

The rally organized by the opposition Libertarian Party chanted “Putin is a thief” and “away with the tsar,” slogans common at anti-Putin and anti-government protests.

The retirement age proposal is politically sensitive for Putin, who was re-elected in March, because it has prompted a series of protests across Russia since it was announced on June 14, the day Russia played the first match of its soccer World Cup.

Around 90 percent of the population oppose the bill, according to a recent opinion poll, and a petition against it has attracted 3 million signatures online.

More than 6,000 people came to Sunday’s rally some 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the Kremlin, according to White Counter, an NGO that counts participants at rallies using metal detector frames. Police put the number at around 2,500.

People held placards with slogans against the higher retirement age and one read: “stop stealing our future.”

Authorities detained two protest organizers, Vladimir Milov, a former deputy energy minister and now an opposition campaigner, told Reuters.

The proposal to raise the retirement age, to 65 from 60 for men and to 63 from 55 for women, is part of an unpopular budget package designed to shore up government finances that is backed by lawmakers.

Putin, who once promised not to raise the retirement age, has tried to distance himself from the pension plan.

This month he said he did not like any of the proposals. He said Russia could avoid raising the retirement age for years, though a decision would have to be made eventually.

“We have to proceed not from emotions, but from the real assessment of economic conditions and prospects of its development and [the development of] the social sphere,” Putin said.

On Saturday, more than 12,000 rallied on the same street in Moscow, according to the White Counter data.

The changes to the retirement age would be introduced gradually, starting in 2019, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said when presenting the plan. Officials said the measure should help to raise an average pension in Russia, now at around 14,400 roubles ($229.52).
…

Buoyed by the #MeToo Movement, Nuns have begun to free themselves of their fears of speaking out against the abuses they have suffered for years at the hand of their superiors in the church. Cases of abused nuns have emerged in countries all over the world. It does not only involve sexual abuse but also the exploitation of the work of nuns. Nuns are there to clean and cook for the priests, bishops and cardinals they serve and often paid very modestly for their services. There is hardly any recognition for their work. The sisters have a second-class status in the church.

Denouncing abuses is still a huge taboo but the problem is very real and, slowly, victims have begun to overcome their convictions that no one will listen or believe what they say and have started to free themselves of their very heavy burdens. The phenomenon of the sexual abuse of nuns has managed to remain hidden and unspoken for so long because nuns’ felt a sense of shame and guilt. Sexual abuse of nuns in the church is often on women who are fragile and vulnerable. The norm is that victims keep everything to themselves for years and it is more likely that a victim manages to speak out once she has abandoned consecrated life and she has found the strength to start a new life.

The French newspaper Le Parisien recently published the stories of some victims who had left their religious congregation. “It is evidence that the phenomenon is much wider and if the nuns decide to speak freely, a huge scandal can emerge,” said Francois Devaux, president of the association of the victims of abuse in the church. The choice of the victims is certainly not a chance one and the more power they have over the nun the less the victims will speak up and the predators “are safe,” Devaux explained.

In one case reported in Le Parisien, former nun “Christelle,” today a teacher, no longer managed to come close to a priest, to go to confession or even go to Sunday mass. Last fall she filed a report for violence and sexual abuse she suffered in 2010-2011. Her story has all of the typical elements of this type of abuse: vulnerability, manipulation, emotional and spiritual dependence and feelings of guilt.

She suffered under the influence of “Jean,” a priest of her congregation that she had met in 2004. “He had been recommended as a great and saintly preacher,” and become a sort of “spiritual father” and confidant in a context where her relationship with the other nuns, who were all much older, was very tense.

Then in 2007, the relationship changed when he tried to kiss her and seeing her shock said he was sorry and then took his distance from her. “I collapsed as he was my only support”. In 2010 at a moment when she was feeling she had lost her spiritual direction, their relationship improved. “He was always the last person with me, he had an aura and authority, he could help me find my place in the church,” she said. The man’s gestures when they met “were increasingly inappropriate.” “Each time I said no to him but he would continue. He always acted like he was sorry,” she added, “until the day he raped me. He was unable to control himself.

He was perverse. He made me feel guilty. When he tried to kiss me, he said to me that I did not slap him and therefore I wanted it.” “Christelle” felt manipulated at a time she was vulnerable. In 2011, when “Jean” went to work elsewhere the nun managed to tear herself away from that dependence although she felt destroyed. “I thought I would commit suicide,” she said. She managed to come back to life when she left consecrated life and reported the abuse. She learned that her abuser had received a promotion despite her report to the church hierarchy. The case was investigated and “Jean” was banned from working outside of his community.

He has always denied all accusations saying he had “an emotional tie but nothing sexual, that his love was an innocent one which he had to interrupt and she felt wounded.” His superior supported him saying he believed it was “a consensual relationship between two adults.” When “Christelle” filed the report, this same superior contacted her to see if there was a way to find an agreement to resolve the matter. The call was taped.

Last month at a conference of men and women religious of France dedicated to the theme of sexual abuses, Sister Veronique Margron, their president said: “When a religious man abuses a nun, in addition to the physical and extreme psychological damage there is also spiritual violence. The abuser breaks the more intimate part of the faith of a person in her relationship with God.” She urged victims to speak up and “bring their voices out of their tombs.”
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is vowing not to back down to Washington’s demand to release American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who is on trial on terrorism charges. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, threatened “severe sanctions” if Brunson was not released.

“We will not take a step back when faced with sanctions, “Turkish state broadcaster TRT on Sunday quoted Erdogan, “They should not forget that they will lose a sincere partner.”

The Turkish President is currently on a tour of African countries.

Erdogan’s comment coincides with an escalation of anti-U.S. rhetoric. Five pro-government newspapers Sunday all carried the same headline, “We are not tied from our stomachs (by an umbilical cord) to the U.S.”

“Turkey, won’t take a knee before anybody,” said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

Ankara insists Brunson’s detention and trial is a matter for the courts. The American pastor is on trial on charges of supporting conspirators behind the 2016 failed coup attempt and being linked to Kurdish insurgents. Earlier this month a court released Brunson and put him under house arrest after being jailed for nearly two years. However, Washington is demanding the pastor’s immediate release, describing the charges as “baseless.”

The deepening diplomatic dispute between the two NATO allies comes as relations are already straining over a myriad of differences. However, observers say Erdogan’s resolute stance against Washington pressure could be a sign of Ankara’s diplomatic weakness.

“Pastor Brunson himself is not important, but he became an important political asset,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen who served in Washington. “Maybe with the exception of cooperation with the U.S. in Syria, that [the release of Brunson] is all Turkey can offer to the U.S. However, there are so many files so to speak waiting to be solved and the single asset Ankara has, is Brunson.”

Ankara is pressing Washington for the extradition of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed for 2016 failed coup attempt. Gulen denies any role in the coup. Turkey is also lobbying to minimize an expected multi-billion dollar fine by the U.S. Treasury against the Turkish State-owned Halkbank for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Neither Erdogan nor his ministers have so far directly criticized President Trump over the Brunson case. “Turkey saw Trump as a savior,” political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners said. “Trump has a kinship empathy with strong macho leaders, so he got along with Erdogan despite several policy differences.”

Analysts suggest Erdogan is likely to see his best chance of resolving Brunson case through direct talks with Trump. “You have to open the way for more talks, shouting each other is not the way, both sides have to get to their senses and not play to their own crowds,” former Turkish diplomat Selcen said. “But unfortunately both [Trump and Erdogan] are facing elections in the coming months, I don’t know how that will play out.”

The United States in November has Congressional elections, and the release of Brunson is important for evangelical Christians, a vital part of Trump’s Republican Party voting base. Erdogan is already eyeing March municipal elections for Turkey’s main cities and will be reluctant to bow to Washington’s threats.

The escalating dispute over Brunson is threatening to exacerbate other disputes between the two NATO allies. Ankara’s deepening ties with Moscow including the purchase of Russia’s S 400 missile system has caused alarm in Washington, raising questions over Turkey’s commitment to its western allies. Turkish ministers have also ruled out complying with new U.S. sanctions against Iran. Differences between the two sides remain over Syria.

Analysts point out Washington had until now sought to contain the simmering tensions through dialogue. However, the threat of sanctions over Brunson could herald a change in approach towards Ankara.

“They [Ankara] are quite justifiably afraid that stepping back would lead to further concessions in the future,” analyst Yesilada said.

“If [Brunson is released], that happens American pressure will double,” Yesilada continued, “there is the S 400 case, there are three local U.S. consular employees in detention [in Turkey]. Of course Turkey’s flirtation with Russia, the Syrian conflict and most important Turkey’s defiance of Iranian sanctions. If the United States gets what it wants in the Brunson case, then similar methods will be used again.”
…

The U.K. government should increase oversight of social media like Facebook and election campaigns to protect democracy in the digital age, a parliamentary committee has recommended in a scathing report on fake news, data misuse and interference by Russia.

The interim report by the House of Commons’ media committee, to be released Sunday, said democracy is facing a crisis because the combination of data analysis and social media allows campaigns to target voters with messages of hate without their consent.

Tech giants like Facebook, which operate in a largely unregulated environment, are complicit because they haven’t done enough to protect personal information and remove harmful content, the committee said.

“The light of transparency must be allowed to shine on their operations and they must be made responsible, and liable, for the way in which harmful and misleading content is shared on their sites,” committee Chairman Damian Collins said in a statement.

The copy of the study was leaked Friday by Dominic Cummings, director of the official campaign group backing Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Social media companies are under scrutiny worldwide following allegations that political consultant Cambridge Analytica used data from tens of millions of Facebook accounts to profile voters and help U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. The committee is also investigating the impact of fake news distributed via social media sites.

Collins ripped Facebook for allowing Russian agencies to use its platform to spread disinformation and influence elections.

“I believe what we have discovered so far is the tip of the iceberg,” he said, adding that more work needed to be done to expose how fake accounts target people during elections. “The ever-increasing sophistication of these campaigns, which will soon be helped by developments in augmented reality technology, make this an urgent necessity.”

The committee recommended that the British government increase the power of the Information Commissioner’s Office to regulate social media sites, update electoral laws to reflect modern campaign techniques and increase the transparency of political advertising on social media.

Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to address the issue in a so-called White Paper to be released in the fall. She signaled her unease last year, accusing Russia of meddling in elections and planting fake news to sow discord in the West.

The committee began its work in January 2017, interviewing 61 witnesses during 20 hearings that took on an investigatory tone not normally found in such forums in the House of Commons.

The report criticized Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg for failing to appear before the panel and said his stand-ins were “unwilling or unable to give full answers to the committee’s questions.”

One of the committee’s recommendations is that the era of light-touch regulation for social media must end.

Social media companies can no longer avoid oversight by describing themselves as platforms, because they use technology to filter and shape the information users see. Nor are they publishers, since that model traditionally commissions and pays for content.

“We recommend that a new category of tech company is formulated, which tightens tech companies’ liabilities, and which is not necessarily either a ‘platform’ or a ‘publisher,” the report said. “We anticipate that the government will put forward these proposals in its White Paper later this year.”

The committee also said that the Information Commissioner’s Office needed more money so it could hire technical experts to be the “sheriff in the Wild West of the internet.” The funds would come from a levy on the tech companies, much in the same way as the banks pay for the upkeep of the Financial Conduct Authority.

“Our democracy is at risk, and now is the time to act, to protect our shared values and the integrity of our democratic institutions,” the committee said.
…

The U.S. State Department said Saturday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed American pastor Andrew Brunson, who is being detained in Turkey on terrorism and espionage charges.

Details of the conversation were not disclosed, but State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the two diplomats were “committed to continued discussions to resolve the matter and address other issues of common concern.”

Brunson, an evangelical pastor from Black Mountain, North Carolina, was indicted on charges of helping a network led by U.S.-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for a failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in addition to supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The detention of Brunson has strained relations between Turkey and the U.S., both NATO allies. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened sanctions as part of a pressure campaign to free the pastor.

Brunson had been in jail for 21 months before being put under house arrest Wednesday. His transfer came one week after a court inside a prison complex in the western Turkish town of Aliaga ruled to keep Brunson in detention while he is tried. The court dismissed Brunson’s attorney’s request for Brunson to be freed pending the outcome of the trial, which was adjourned until October 12.

Brunson, 50, who denies the charges, could face up to 35 years in prison if convicted. 

Pompeo wrote Wednesday on Twitter that Brunson’s transfer was “long overdue news” but added that the U.S. expected Ankara to do more.

Trump has repeatedly demanded Brunson’s release. The U.S. president has tweeted that Brunson’s detention is “a total disgrace” and added, “He has done nothing wrong, and his family needs him!”

Brunson is among tens of thousands of people Erdogan detained on similar charges during the state of emergency he declared following the failed coup.

The state of emergency ended July 18, but the Turkish legislature passed a new “anti-terror” law Wednesday that gives authorities more power to detain suspects and restore public order.
…

The nun no longer goes to confession regularly, after an Italian priest forced himself on her while she was at her most vulnerable: recounting her sins to him in a university classroom nearly 20 years ago.

At the time, the sister only told her provincial superior and her spiritual director, silenced by the Catholic Church’s culture of secrecy, her vows of obedience and her own fear, repulsion and shame.

“It opened a great wound inside of me,” she told the Associated Press. “I pretended it didn’t happen.”

After decades of silence, the nun is one of a handful worldwide to come forward recently on an issue that the Catholic Church has yet to come to terms with: The sexual abuse of religious sisters by priests and bishops. An AP examination has found that cases have emerged in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, demonstrating that the problem is global and pervasive, thanks to the universal tradition of sisters’ second-class status in the Catholic Church and their ingrained subservience to the men who run it.

Some nuns are now finding their voices, buoyed by the #MeToo movement and the growing recognition that adults can be victims of sexual abuse when there is an imbalance of power in a relationship. The sisters are going public in part because of years of inaction by church leaders, even after major studies on the problem in Africa were reported to the Vatican in the 1990s.

The issue has flared in the wake of scandals over the sexual abuse of children, and recently of adults, including revelations that one of the most prominent American cardinals, Theodore McCarrick, sexually abused and harassed his seminarians.

The extent of the abuse of nuns is unclear, at least outside the Vatican. Victims are reluctant to report the abuse because of well-founded fears they won’t be believed, experts told the AP. Church leaders are reluctant to acknowledge that some priests and bishops simply ignore their vows of celibacy, knowing that their secrets will be kept.

However, this week, about half a dozen sisters in a small religious congregation in Chile went public on national television with their stories of abuse by priests and other nuns — and how their superiors did nothing to stop it. A nun in India recently filed a formal police complaint accusing a bishop of rape, something that would have been unthinkable even a year ago.

Cases in Africa have come up periodically; in 2013, for example, a well-known priest in Uganda wrote a letter to his superiors that mentioned “priests romantically involved with religious sisters” — for which he was promptly suspended from the church until he apologized in May. And the sister in Europe spoke to the AP to help bring the issue to light.

“I am so sad that it took so long for this to come into the open, because there were reports long ago,” Karlijn Demasure, one of the church’s leading experts on clergy sexual abuse and abuse of power, told the AP in an interview. “I hope that now actions will be taken to take care of the victims and put an end to this kind of abuse.”

TAKING VICTIMS SERIOUSLY

The Vatican declined to comment on what measures, if any, it has taken to assess the scope of the problem globally, what it has done to punish offenders and care for the victims. A Vatican official said it is up to local church leaders to sanction priests who sexually abuse sisters, but that often such crimes go unpunished both in civil and canonical courts.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the issue, said only some cases arrive at the Holy See for investigation. It was a reference to the fact that the Catholic Church has no clear measures in place to investigate and punish bishops who themselves abuse or allow abusers to remain in their ranks — a legal loophole that has recently been highlighted by the McCarrick case.

The official said the church has focused much of its attention recently on protecting children, but that vulnerable adults “deserve the same protection.”

“Consecrated women have to be encouraged to speak up when they are molested,” the official told the AP. “Bishops have to be encouraged to take them seriously, and make sure the priests are punished if guilty.”

But being taken seriously is often the toughest obstacle for sisters who are sexually abused, said Demasure, until recently executive director of the church’s Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University, the church’s leading think tank on the issue.

“They (the priests) can always say ‘she wanted it,’” Demasure said. “It is also difficult to get rid of the opinion that it is always the woman who seduces the man, and not vice versa.”

Demasure said many priests in Africa, for example, struggle with celibacy because of traditional and cultural beliefs in the importance of having children. Novices, who are just entering religious life, are particularly vulnerable because they often need a letter from their parish priest to be accepted into certain religious congregations. “And sometimes they have to pay for that,” she said.

And when these women become pregnant?

“Mainly she has an abortion. Even more than once. And he pays for that. A religious sister has no money. A priest, yes,” she said.

There can also be a price for blowing the whistle on the problem.

In 2013, the Rev. Anthony Musaala in Kampala, Uganda wrote what he called an open letter to members of the local Catholic establishment about “numerous cases” of alleged sex liaisons of priests, including with nuns. He charged that it was “an open secret that many Catholic priests and some bishops, in Uganda and elsewhere, no longer live celibate chastity.”

He was sanctioned, even though Ugandan newspapers regularly report cases of priests caught in sex escapades. The topic is even the subject of a popular novel taught in high schools.

In 2012, a priest sued a bishop in western Uganda who had suspended him and ordered him to stop interacting with at least four nuns. The priest, who denied the allegations, lost the suit, and the sisters later withdrew their own suit against the bishop.

Archbishop John Baptist Odama, leader of the local Ugandan conference of bishops, told the AP that unverified or verified allegations against individual priests should not be used to smear the whole church.

“Individual cases may happen, if they are there,” he said Thursday. “Individual cases must be treated as individual cases.”

PRIESTLY ABUSE OF NUNS IS NOT A NEW PROBLEM

Long before the most recent incidents, confidential reports into the problem focused on Africa and AIDS were prepared in the 1990s by members of religious orders for top church officials. In 1994, the late Sr. Maura O’Donohue wrote the most comprehensive study about a six-year, 23-nation survey, in which she learned of 29 nuns who had been impregnated in a single congregation.

Nuns, she reported, were considered “safe” sexual partners for priests who feared they might be infected with HIV if they went to prostitutes or women in the general population.

Four years later, in a report to top religious superiors and Vatican officials, Sr. Marie McDonald said harassment and rape of African sisters by priests is “allegedly common.” Sometimes, when a nun becomes pregnant, the priest insists on an abortion, the report said.

The problem travelled when the sisters were sent to Rome for studies. They “frequently turn to seminarians and priests for help in writing essays. Sexual favors are sometimes the payment they have to make for such help,” the report said.

The reports were never meant to be made public. The U.S. National Catholic Reporter put them online in 2001, exposing the depths of a scandal the church had long sought to keep under wraps. To date, the Vatican hasn’t said what, if anything, it ever did with the information.

Sister Paola Moggi, a member of the Missionary Combonian Sisters — a religious congregation with a significant presence in 16 African countries — said in her experience the African church “had made great strides” since the 1990s, when she did missionary work in Kenya, but the problem has not been eliminated.

“I have found in Africa sisters who are absolutely emancipated and who say what they think to a priest they meet who might ask to have sex with them,” she told the AP.

“I have also found sisters who said ‘Well, you have to understand their needs, and that while we only have a monthly cycle a man has a continuous cycle of sperm’ — verbatim words from the ’90s,” she said.

But the fact that in just a few weeks scandals of priests allegedly molesting sisters have erupted publicly on two other continents — Asia and Latin America — suggests that the problem is not confined to Africa, and that some women are now willing to break the taboo to denounce it publicly.

In India, a sister of the Missionaries of Jesus filed a police report last month alleging a bishop raped her in May 2014 during a visit to the heavily Christian state of Kerala, and that he subsequently sexually abused her around a dozen more times over the following two years, Indian media have reported. The bishop denied the accusation and said the woman was retaliating against him for having taken disciplinary action against her for her own sexual misdeeds.

In Chile, the scandal of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, an order dedicated to health care in the diocese of Talca, erupted at the same time the country’s entire Catholic hierarchy has been under fire for decades of sex abuse and cover-ups. The scandal got so bad that in May, Francis summoned all Chilean bishops to Rome, where they all offered to resign en masse.

The case, exposed by the Chilean state broadcaster, involves accusations of priests fondling and kissing nuns, including while naked, and some religious sisters sexually abusing younger ones. The victims said they told their mother superior, but that she did nothing. Talca’s new temporary bishop has vowed to find justice.

The Vatican is well aware that religious sisters have long been particularly vulnerable to abuse. Perhaps the most sensational account was detailed in the 2013 book “The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio,” based on the archives of the Vatican’s 1860s Inquisition trial of abuse, embezzlement, murder and “false holiness” inside a Roman convent. Once word got out, the Vatican poured the full force of its Inquisition to investigate and punish.

It remains to be seen what the Vatican will do now that more sisters are speaking out.

ONE SISTER’S STORY — AND YEARS OF HURT

The sister who spoke to the AP about her assault in 2000 during confession at a Bologna university clasped her rosary as she recounted the details.

She recalled exactly how she and the priest were seated in two armchairs face-to-face in the university classroom, her eyes cast to the floor. At a certain point, she said, the priest got up from his chair and forced himself on her. Petite but not frail, she was so shocked, she said, that she grabbed him by the shoulders and with all her strength, stood up and pushed him back into his chair.

The nun continued with her confession that day. But the assault — and a subsequent advance by a different priest a year later — eventually led her to stop going to confession with any priest other than her spiritual father, who lives in a different country.

“The place of confession should be a place of salvation, freedom and mercy,” she said. “Because of this experience, confession became a place of sin and abuse of power.”

She recalled at one point a priest in whom she had confided had apologized “on behalf of the church.” But nobody ever took any action against the offender, who was a prominent university professor.

The woman recounted her story to the AP without knowing that at that very moment, a funeral service was being held for the priest who had assaulted her 18 years earlier.

She later said the combination of his death and her decision to speak out lifted a great weight.

“I see it as two freedoms: freedom of the weight for a victim, and freedom of a lie and a violation by the priest,” she said. “I hope this helps other sisters free themselves of this weight.”
…

Not counting certain types of skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the U.S. and worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Now researchers in Europe have come up with a robotic device that may speed detection of cancer tumors, potentially saving thousands of lives. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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Music festivals have gained serious significance for right-wing extremists in their effort to draw more supporters in Germany and across Europe, the country’s domestic intelligence agency told VOA on Friday.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, said it estimated the number of right-wing extremists in Germany at 24,000 in 2017, up from 23,100 in 2016. Over half of them were thought to have no affiliation with organized groups while 4,500 showed allegiance to the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).

Unlike previous years, when a small number of organized music festivals by right-wing members attracted only few participants, they now draw thousands of participants, said Elke Altmuller, a spokesperson for BfV.

“These events are very attractive for young people to bring them into the right-wing extremism scene,” Altmuller said. They are also important for networking and “bring a lot of money to the local right-wing extremism scene,” she added.

According to BfV, the biggest right-wing concert, “Rock Against Foreign Domination,” was held last July in Themar, where 6,000 people gathered, including supporters from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Slovakia.

Videos obtained from the event by police showed dozens of people displaying the Hitler salute and chanting anti-immigrant slogans.

Nazi symbols are illegal in Germany and their display is associated with anti-Semitism and glorification of Nazi crimes.

Despite the surge in the number of supporters, German authorities point to a significant decline in violence by right-wing extremists, from 907 recorded cases in 2016 to 286 in 2017. Most of the attacks targeted accommodation centers for asylum seekers.

According to the BfV spokesperson, the drop in the violence is mainly due to country’s courts imposing long prison sentences against perpetrators and the fading of the anti-asylum debate within the right-wing extremist arena.

“But in general, you have to notice that the decline of violence does not mean there is not any danger of violence by the individual actors in this scene,” Altmuller added.

Debate over immigration

In recent years, Germany has been faced with divisions and fierce debate about the country’s immigration and asylum policies. Far-right leaders blame “the refugee crisis” and “the asylum problem” for security breaches in the country.

In its annual report published Tuesday, the BfV estimated that in 2017 there were over 25,000 “Islamist followers” in the country, with more than 10,000 having links to Salafists.

The report warned that the risk of attacks by lone jihadists and those who returned from fighting in Syria and Iraq remained high in Germany.

“It still has to be expected that there will be members, supporters and sympathizers of extremist and terrorist organizations covertly entering Germany among the migrants,” the report concluded.

The agency’s investigation found that violence committed by extremists in various politically motivated areas in Germany had declined, but the number of potential extremists had gone up.
…

An Armenian court on Friday announced the arrest of former president Robert Kocharyan, whom special investigators had recently charged with usurping power.

Yerevan City Court of General Jurisdiction announced Kocharyan’s detention less than a day after Armenian investigators filed a motion to have him arrested.

One of Kocharyan’s defense lawyers, Aram Orbelyan, refused to give any further details of the arrest, citing the confidentiality of the preliminary investigation. He said his team is preparing a response that will be read at a news conference July 28.

Mikael Harutyunyan, Kocharyan’s former defense chief, has also been charged in the case. It is not known whether he has been arrested.

Kocharyan’s arrest comes three months after a transfer of power in the ex-Soviet country following weeks of mass protests against corruption and cronyism.

Kocharyan served as Armenia’s second president from 1998 to 2008, and investigators have charged him with an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order during post-election events in March 2008 when his ally, Serzh Sarksyan, was elected the next president.

In February-March 2008 the opposition held protest rallies, contesting the results of the election and claiming that their candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, had won the vote.

The protests were dispersed and 10 people were killed in clashes with police. The Constitutional Court upheld the election results.

Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition activist at the time who was imprisoned in June 2009 on charges of fomenting unrest during post-election protests, was elected prime minister by parliament on May 8 this year.

Kocharyan, who just returned from Europe, said the latest charges were politically motivated, but added he was ready to spend time in prison.

“These charges are fiction, fabricated, unjustified and have a political implication,” he told an independent Armenian Yerkir Media TV, adding that he would refuse to testify or cooperate with investigators “because of the trumped up nature of charges.”

However, Kocharyan said, he did not intend to run away.

“I’m going to go sit in prison and fight to the end.”

U.S. reaction

After the deadly clashes, the United States issued a report condemning what it called “arbitrary and unlawful killings.”

On Friday, a State Department spokesperson said: “The United States has consistently urged Armenia’s authorities to conduct a serious, credible and independent investigation into these events. We continue to stress to our Armenian partners the importance of respecting internationally recognized standards that relate to the administration of justice.”

Numerous allies of former presidents Sarksyan and Kocharyan have been involved in a series of unrelated anti-corruption probes launched under Pashinyan’s administration.

In a recent interview with VOA’s Armenian Service, Ararat Mirzoyan, Pashinyan’s deputy prime minister, said none of the anti-corruption probes are politically motivated.

“This is not our fault that the 99 percent of all discoveries deal with people from a certain political party,” he said. “That is the party that has been in power. That is the party that refused to transfer the power. That is the party that used all levers to extend their personal power. There is no intent there, rather just statistics. We said that there will be no political vendetta, and we are confident in that.”

This story originated in VOA’s Armenian Service. Some information is from Reuters.
…

Five of the biggest emerging economies Thursday stood by the multilateral system and vowed to strengthen economic cooperation in the face of U.S. tariff threats and unilateralism.

The heads of the BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — met in Johannesburg for an annual summit dominated by the risk of a U.S.-led trade war, although leaders did not publicly mention President Donald Trump by name.

“We express concern at the spill-over effects of macro-economic policy measures in some major advanced economies,” they said in joint statement.

“We recognize that the multilateral trading system is facing unprecedented challenges. We underscore the importance of an open world economy.”

​Trump tariffs

Trump has said he is ready to impose tariffs on all $500 billion (428 billion euros) of Chinese imports, complaining that China’s trade surplus with the U.S. is the result of unfair currency manipulation.

Trump has slapped levies on goods from China worth tens of billions of dollars, as well as tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU, Canada and Mexico.

Xi and Putin

“We should stay committed to multilateralism,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said on the second day of the talks. “Closer economic cooperation for shared prosperity is the original purpose and priority of BRICS.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had a controversial meeting with Trump last week, echoed the calls for closer ties among BRICS members and for stronger trade within group.

“BRICS has a unique place in the global economy: This is the largest market in the world, the joint GDP is 42 percent of the global GDP and it keeps growing,” Putin said.

“In 2017, the trade with our BRICS countries has grown 30 percent, and we are aiming at further developing this kind of partnership.”

Erdogan attends

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also attending the summit as the current chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and met with Putin on the sidelines Thursday.

“Our bilateral relations are improving certainly,” the Kremlin cited Putin as saying, hailing the two countries’ cooperation on Syria and in economic matters.

Erdogan in turn spoke about “rapidly developing bilateral relations,” according to the Kremlin, which did not elaborate.

The BRICS group, comprising more than 40 percent of the global population, represents some of the biggest emerging economies, but it has struggled to find a unified voice.

​US and EU deal

Analysts say U.S. trade policy could give the group renewed purpose.

In Washington, Trump and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker announced an apparent truce in their trade war after White House talks Wednesday.

The U.S. and the EU will “immediately resolve” their dispute over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs and subsequent EU countermeasures, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed Thursday.

The dollar gained against the euro after the announcement, helping to boost eurozone equities.

The punishing U.S. metals tariffs had angered Washington’s major trading partners, including the EU, and sparked retaliation against important American exports, spooking global stock markets.

Xi arrived in South Africa for the BRICS summit after visiting Senegal and Rwanda as part of a whistle-stop tour to cement relations with African allies.

On Friday, African leaders attending a “BRICS outreach” program will include Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Joao Lourenco of Angola, Macky Sall of Senegal and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
…

Armenian investigators on Thursday charged former President Robert Kocharyan with usurping power and filed a court motion to arrest him, the special investigation service said.

The move comes three months after a power change in the ex-Soviet country following weeks of mass protests against corruption and cronyism.

Kocharyan served as Armenia’s second president from 1998 to 2008 and investigators have charged him with an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order during post-election events in March 2008, when his ally Serzh Sarksyan was elected the next president.

In February-March 2008 the opposition held protest rallies, contesting the results of the election and claiming that their candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, had won the vote.

The protests were dispersed and 10 people were killed in clashes with police. The Constitutional Court upheld the election results.

Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition activist at the time who was imprisoned in June 2009 on charges of fomenting unrest during post-election protests, was elected prime minister by parliament on May 8 this year.

Kocharyan said the latest charges were politically motivated, but added he was ready to spend time in prison.

“These charges are fiction, fabricated, unjustified and have a political implication,” he told an independent Armenian Yerkir Media TV.

Kocharyan also said the most likely development was his arrest, but he did not intend to run away.

“I’m going to go sit in prison and fight to the end.”
…

The Moscow lawyer said to have promised Donald Trump’s presidential campaign dirt on his Democratic opponent worked more closely with senior Russian government officials than she previously let on, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Scores of emails, transcripts and legal documents paint a portrait of Natalia Veselnitskaya as a well-connected attorney who served as a ghostwriter for top Russian government lawyers and received assistance from senior Interior Ministry personnel in a case involving a key client.

The data were obtained through Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s London-based investigative unit, the Dossier Center, that is compiling profiles of Russians it accuses of benefiting from corruption. The data were later shared with journalists at the AP, the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Greek news website Inside Story and others.

The AP was unable to reach Veselnitskaya for comment. Messages from a reporter sent to her phone were marked as “read” but were not returned. A list of questions sent via email went unanswered.

Veselnitskaya has been under scrutiny since it emerged last year that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., met with her in June 2016 after being told by an intermediary that she represented the Russian government and was offering Moscow’s help defeating rival presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

‘Independent’ operator

Veselnitskaya has denied acting on behalf of Russian officialdom when she met with the Trump team, telling Congress that she operates “independently of any government bodies.”

But recent reporting has cast doubt on her story. In an April interview with NBC News, Veselnitskaya acknowledged acting as an “informant” for the Russian government after being confronted with an earlier batch of emails obtained through the Dossier Center.

The new documents reviewed by AP suggest her ties to Russian authorities are close — and they pull the curtain back on her campaign to overturn the sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Russian officials.

The source of the material is murky. Veselnitskaya has previously said that her emails were hacked. Khodorkovsky told AP he couldn’t know where the messages came from, saying his group maintained a series of anonymous digital drop boxes.

The AP worked to authenticate the 200-odd documents, in some cases by verifying the digital signatures carried in email headers. 

In three other cases, individuals named in various email chains confirmed that the messages were genuine. Other correspondence was partially verified by confirming the nonpublic phone numbers or email addresses they held, including some belonging to senior Russian officials and U.S. lobbyists.
…

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, is seeking access to Cameroon to verify what he says are alarming reports of horrific abuse by separatist and government forces in the country’s English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.

The U.N. human rights office said the situation in Cameroon’s English-speaking communities has worsened considerably since protests against what the English-speakers see as structural discrimination started two years ago.

The Anglophones are demanding an end to what they allege is their economic and political marginalization by the country’s Francophone majority.

The High Commissioner’s spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, told VOA what began as protests for greater access to jobs and linguistic equality has gotten out of hand. She said violence by both armed separatists and the government has spiraled out of control.

“The violent separatists, these armed groups are killing people, torching schools, carrying out kidnappings and extortion and all sorts of horrible human rights abuses to try to disrupt the situation,” she said. “The government’s role should be to protect people in such a horrible environment. Instead, the government is employing a heavy-handed response, which is not helping the situation. It is further causing human rights violations.”

United Nations figures show more than 21,000 refugees have fled to neighboring countries, while some 160,000 people are internally displaced by the violence, with many reportedly hiding in forests.

An army spokesman has rejected charges of abuses by the security forces as “rumors.”

Shamdasani said there is a lot of misinformation and propaganda on both sides. She added that the High Commissioner has asked that monitors be allowed to verify allegations of abuse against both security forces and armed separatists.

The government has rejected this request, she said. Consequently, she added that the U.N. human rights office will have to consider other options to keep tabs on the situation, including remote monitoring.
…

The United States is threatening sanctions on Turkey unless a detained American pastor is released.

“If Turkey does not take immediate action to free this innocent man of faith and send him home to America, the United States will impose significant sanctions on Turkey until Pastor Andrew Brunson is free,” said U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday at a religious freedom summit at the State Department.

Andrew Brunson, an evangelical pastor from Black Mountain, North Carolina, has been jailed in Turkey on terrorism and espionage charges.His case has strained relations between Turkey and the U.S., both NATO allies.

“Release pastor Andrew Brunson now, or be prepared to face the consequences,” Pence warned.

Later Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump also weighed in on Twitter tweeting, “The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being. He is suffering greatly. This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!”

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reacted to the warning Thursday, tweeting “No one dictates Turkey. We will never tolerate threats from anybody. Rule of law is for everyone; no exception.”

The exchange comes a day after Brunson was released from a Turkish prison and placed under house arrest while his trial continues.  

“This is a welcome first step. But it is not good enough,” added Pence who spoke with Brunson on Wednesday.  

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told American lawmakers that the release of Brunson from prison is an “indicator of diplomatic progress” but the “work is not done.”

Pompeo said Washington remains “in conversations with Turkey to bring home” the American pastor.

Brunson was indicted on charges of helping a network led by U.S.-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, which Turkey blames for a failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

During the third and final day of the first-ever State Department ministerial to advance religious freedom, Pence and Pompeo also highlighted the plight of religious minorities across the globe.

The U.S. pledged an additional $ 17 million for de-mining efforts in the Ninewa region of Iraq, which is on top of the $90 million Washington provided in 2017.U.S. officials say the funding will help clear mines from areas with large populations of religious minorities who were subject to what Pence called genocide at the hands of Islamic State militants.

The summit has also focused on religious freedom issues in China, Myanmar and Iran.

The global situation “must change,” said Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom.

“In Burma, the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, a religious minority. In Iraq, religious minority groups of Yazidis and Christians victimized by ISIS [Islamic State terror group] are still in dire need of security and assistance. In Turkey, Pastor Andrew Brunson remains wrongfully imprisoned on false charges,” said Brownback on Tuesday during opening remarks of the ministerial.

“In China, a large number of Uighur Muslims are being sent to re-education camps, Tibetan Buddhists face significant restrictions in organizing their own faith and Christian house church leaders are imprisoned.”
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The International Olympic Committee hit back Thursday at the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after its chief accused the IOC of failing to hold Russia accountable for doping in sports.

In a rebuke directed at USADA CEO Travis Tygart, the IOC chastised the US over its struggles in tackling doping in its domestic leagues and for refusing to join the international fight against corruption in sport.

Tygart had in testimony to a US agency that looks at human rights in Europe said that in allowing Russian athletes to take part in the Rio and Pyeongchang Olympic games, the IOC “chose not to stand up for clean athletes and against institutionalized doping.”

“We very much appreciate and welcome moves in the United States to step up the fight against doping and we assume that the very worrying existing challenges with some of the professional leagues in the United States will be addressed as a matter of urgency — especially since this has become extremely obvious again in the last report of USADA,” an IOC spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP.

According to Tygart, the IOC had assembled clear evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia but missed an opportunity to combat “culture of corruption through doping in global sport”.

“When the decisive moment arrived … the IOC failed to lead.”

Replying to the USADA critique, the IOC said it “would kindly invite the United States government to join ‘The International Partnership against Corruption in Sport,'” a global network formed to clean up sports governance, which includes most major sporting powers, except the US.
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Belgian doctors have euthanized three minors in the past two years, according to a report from the nation’s chief euthanasia regulatory body released earlier this month.

The report, produced by Belgium’s Federal Commission for Euthanasia Control and Evaluation, said these three minors were the first to be euthanized since the country’s parliament voted to lift age restrictions on euthanasia in the country, the first such law in the world. Euthanasia for adults has been legal in Belgium since 2002.

“There is no age for suffering,” said Professor Wim Distelmans, chairman of the euthanasia committee. “Fortunately, euthanasia among young people remains very exceptional. Even if it were only one, the law would have been very useful. ”

The minors were 9, 11 and 17 years old, according to the report. Their conditions ranged from muscular dystrophy to brain tumors to cystic fibrosis. The conditions of all three were determined to be terminal, and euthanasia was approved unanimously by the committee.

The report, part of a series released by the committee every two years, examined all euthanasia cases within Belgium from January 2016 to December 2017. The report said 4,337 euthanizations were administered in Belgium during that time. The majority of euthanizations — 2,781 — were for cancer patients. The second leading cause was “poly-pathologies,” ranging from dementia and heart disease to incontinence and hearing loss, with 710 euthanizations listing “poly-pathology” as its primary reason.

Euthanasia cases rising

Since euthanasia was first legalized in Belgium in 2002, the number of deaths from it have steadily increased every year. In 2016, the report found, the number of people who died via euthanasia was 2,028. In 2017, that number jumped to 2,309, nearly a 14 percent increase.

The Netherlands and Belgium are the only two countries in the world that permit the euthanasia of minors. The Netherlands, however, restricts euthanasia to minors above the age of 12.

The 2014 law stipulated that before euthanasia can be considered for a minor, he or she must be suffering from terminal illness, face “unbearable physical suffering” and repeatedly request to die.

“The law says adolescents cannot make important decisions on economic or emotional issues, but suddenly they’ve become able to decide that someone should make them die,” said Andre-Joseph Leonard, head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, following the passage of the 2014 law.

In 2017, a doctor resigned from Belgium’s euthanasia commission, alleging that the committee had euthanized a demented patient who had not formally requested to die. 
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Turkey is expanding its economic and cultural influence over the Balkans, and analysts say the strategy, which targets the region’s large Muslim minorities, is worrying some of its Western allies.

The Balkan region was the center of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. That historical legacy has made the area a priority for Turkey’s ruling AKP under recently re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey’s growing influence was visible at this month’s inauguration ceremony of Erdogan. While Western European leaders stayed away, five heads of state from the Balkans attended.

“Since AKP has this mental construction of re-establishing the Ottoman past, it’s [the Balkan region is] important for them,” said professor Istar Gozaydin, who has studied the Balkans extensively.

“The Balkans as a region, as it has for so many centuries, was under the Ottoman rule and influence. I do see the renaissance of Islamic identity of Turkish influence in the region,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci, an expert on the Balkans at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.

“Turkey is using smart power there culturally, economically and language-wise,” he continued. “When you look to those Turks living in the Balkans, they get more and more under the increasing Turkish influence.”

Some European leaders are already voicing concern. “I don’t want a Balkans that turns toward Turkey or Russia,” French President Emmanuel Macron declared in May. Erdogan quickly shot back, saying the comment was “unbecoming of a statesman.”

The Turkish economy dwarfs those of its Balkan neighbors, and economic muscle is at the forefront of Ankara’s projection of influence. “Turkey is building airports, even investing in several sectors, like in Bulgaria and Romania, from textiles to many others,” Bagci said.

“There is an aggressive economic policy toward the Balkan countries, which cannot compete with Turkey,” Bagci said. “In the Balkans, we have two big countries getting influence. One is Germany and the other one Turkey.”

Trade has helped Ankara overcome past animosities. “These countries, many of them, don’t have automatic access to the EU [European Union], and many of them look to Turkey for trade,” said columnist Semih Idiz of the Al Monitor website.

‘Quite close’

“During the recent Balkan war, Turkey and Serbia were at opposite ends of the fence. They looked at one another with great enmity. Today, we see Serbia and Turkey are quite close, despite differences over Kosovo and Bosnia and things like that. A country like Serbia values its friendship with Turkey, and I think it applies to a certain extent to countries like Croatia, too,” Idiz said. He was referring to the events that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Serbia is now Turkey’s main Balkan trading partner, with $1 billion in commerce.

Reaching out to the Balkans’ large ethnic Turkish population, through the promotion of religion and cultural awareness, is also an essential tool deployed by Ankara.

“They are using religion. They are using diplomacy. Institutions like Tika and Diyanet have been working quite efficiently and hard in the region,” Gozaydin said.

Tika is the Turkish state’s development agency, while the Diyanet administers Turkey’s Islamic affairs nationally and internationally. The two institutions are at the forefront of expanding Turkish influence in the Balkans.

“They work with the authorities in those countries. They try to influence the politics there,” Gozaydin said. “In Bosnia, they are trying, for example, to be influential in the appointment of religious authorities so they can work together.”

Turkey has been funding mosque projects across the Balkans, including two of the region’s largest mosques in Albania and Bulgaria. Turkish cultural foundations also work to promote ethnic Turkish identity.

While Ankara has been successful in projecting its influence, there are signs of growing unease, Gozaydin warned. She said she had met quite a few people in the Balkans, including some authorities, “who were not happy with Turkey trying too hard to have an influence on them. So that was considered to be an interference in their domestic politics.”

‘Grave concern’

Last year, the United States voiced alarm about Ankara’s policy. “The Balkans is an area of grave concern now,” said then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster.

Ankara dismissed such criticism, contending that it was only re-establishing cultural ties that date back centuries and claiming that Russia and other European countries were jockeying for influence in the Balkans. In May, European officials held talks with western Balkan leaders in Bulgaria to reaffirm the “European perspective” of that region.

Given the Balkans’ recent history of ethnic and religious conflict, however, analysts warn of the risk of a nationalist backlash if Ankara does not tread carefully.

“The Turkish minorities, or Muslim minorities, yes, they are always considered as a potential threat by the majority of the Balkan countries,” Bagci said. “The more the Muslim identity gets stronger, the more populist movements in the Balkans, like in Germany and other countries, will increase and get stronger. This is the potential conflict.”
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Hundreds of people on Wednesday attended an emotional funeral service for Hatidza Mehmedovic, who headed a group of women fighting for justice for the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

The somber crowd stood in silence and many cried during a commemoration ceremony and a Muslim religious service held in the eastern Bosnian town that was the site of Europe’s worst carnage since World War II.

Mehmedovic, who headed the Mothers of Srebrenica group comprising women who lost their loved ones in the massacre, was buried later in a village near the town.

The Mothers of Srebrenica have won praise for their struggle to have those responsible for the killings brought to justice.

“Today we are all sad, everyone who knew Hatidza, everyone who knows what the word ‘mother’ means,” said Munira Subasic, another women heading the quest for justice. “She wanted to send the message of peace, message of respect to others. She was seeking only one thing and that was the truth and justice.”

Mehmedovic’s husband, two sons and brother were among some 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed when Bosnian Serbs overran Srebrenica in July 1995.

More than two decades later, experts are still excavating victims’ bodies from hidden mass graves throughout Bosnia.

The U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has sentenced Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, over the Srebrenica massacre and other atrocities of the 1992-95 war.

Although an international court has labeled the Srebrenica killings as genocide, Serbs have never admitted their troops committed the ultimate crime and nationalist politicians have viewed Mladic and Karadzic as heroes.

A Serbian far-right lawmaker, Vjerica Radeta, has sparked outrage this week with a tweet mocking Mehmedovic’s tragedy after her death. The tweet was widely shared on social networks and reported by the media before it was deleted, and Radeta’s Twitter account shut down.

Serbia’s parliament speaker Maja Gojkovic has said Radeta’s position does not reflect that of the assembly.
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Tariffs are set to top the agenda in a meeting Wednesday between U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Juncker is coming to Washington with the hopes the European Union can avoid an all-out trade war by convincing Trump to hold off punitive tariffs on European cars. The potential car tariffs would hurt Germany’s thriving automobile industry and come on top of hefty tariffs that Trump has already imposed on aluminum and steel imports.

But on the eve of the meeting, Trump appeared pessimistic the two sides would come to any agreement after the U.S. leader threatened more tariffs on U.S. trading partners. In a tweet late Tuesday, Trump said both the United States and the European Union should drop all tariffs, barriers and subsidies.

“That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade!” Trump said. “Hope they do it, we are ready — but they won’t!” he added.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. president declared “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners. “Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with tariffs. It’s as simple as that.”

Trump again complained the world uses the United States as a “piggy bank” that everyone likes to rob. 

The European Commission has responded with retaliatory tariffs, but new levies on cars could prompt Europe to take further action.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday Europe won’t cave in to Trump’s threats.

“No one has an interest in having punitive tariffs, because everyone loses in the end,” Maas wrote on Twitter. “Europe will not be threatened by President Trump If we cede once, we will often have to deal with such behavior in the future.”

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan told reporters Tuesday he does not think “the tariff route is the smart way to go.”

Ryan said he understands Trump is seeking “a better deal for Americans” but added the U.S. should instead “work together to reduce trade barriers and trade restrictions between our countries.”
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