Britain’s democracy is one of the most secure in the world and will remain so, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday in response to a question about a suggestion that there may have been foreign interference in the Brexit vote.

Opposition lawmaker Ben Bradshaw last week urged the government to look into reports by an advocacy group suggesting that the origin of some Brexit campaign funds was unclear.

Bradshaw said in parliament the issue should be investigated “given the widespread concern over foreign and particularly Russian interference in Western democracies.”

At a regular briefing with reporters, May’s spokesman was asked if the prime minister was concerned about the reports. “I am not aware of those concerns,” he said.

“More broadly, as we’ve always said, the UK democratic system is amongst one of the most secure in the world and will continue to be so.”

The Electoral Commission, which regulates political finance in Britain, said in April it was investigating campaign spending by pro-Brexit organization Leave.EU, without giving details.

A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said on Monday that investigation was still going on and it would not provide any further information until it was complete.

 
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The building that houses EU summits, where toxic fumes forced EU leaders to switch venues last week, will be closed for a further week as investigators

seek to resolve the problem.

The fumes leaking from the drains have forced the Europa Building, also known as “The Egg,” to be evacuated twice this month, including before a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.

The new building was opened in January amid controversy over its 321-million-euro ($378 million) price tag.

Staff and meetings will be temporarily transferred to the next door Justus Lipsius building until the issue is resolved.

About 20 catering staff had to go to hospital on October 13 and an unspecified number on Wednesday. An EU official said the Council and Belgian health and safety agencies believe the two incidents were due to the same source.

Reporting by Lily Cusack; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Toby Chopra.
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U.S. and Turkish diplomats continue talks on resolving a dispute over recent visa curbs, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up his rhetoric against Washington. Bilateral relations are set to be further strained by an upcoming court case over Iranian sanction busting involving Turkish citizens.

Erdogan launched a scathing attack Sunday on the country’s Western allies.

He warned Turkey would respect its strategic alliances with its partners as long as those countries respected the law. Ankara has accused some of its NATO partners of conspiring against it and offering sanctuary to people it accuses of being involved in last year’s coup.

Erdogan specifically targeted Washington.

“They say the United States is the cradle of democracy. This can not be true, this can not be democracy,” he said. ” If the United States issues arrest warrants for my 13 bodyguards in a country where I went upon invitation, I am sorry, but I will not say that country is civilized.”

Erdogan’s body guards are accused by U.S. prosecutors of assaulting peaceful protesters outside the Turkish embassy during his visit to Washington in May.

The Turkish president’s scathing attack comes as diplomats from both countries are continuing efforts to resolve the mutual curbing of visas.

Washington imposed visa restrictions following the arrest on terrorism charges of two local employees working at U.S. diplomatic missions in Turkey.

That move saw Ankara retaliating with its own visa restrictions.

The U.S. State Department described the talks Thursday as productive.

Political columnist Semih Idiz of Al Monitor website said Erdogan’s increasingly tough rhetoric against Washington should be viewed in a wider context of the importance of bilateral relations to both sides.

“He [Erdogan] is a master of coming out with bellicose remarks at unexpected and sensitive moments. But we must realize Erdogan was in New York very recently and had a very chummy meeting with Donald Trump who called him a special friend. So Turkey is aware for all the problems it has with America, [it] too it has to tread carefully,” said Idiz.

Observers point out Erdogan’s tough rhetoric is in part motivated by domestic politics. A tough anti American stance plays well with Turkish nationalists Erdogan is courting for 2019 presidential and general elections.

But U.S. Turkish relations could be further strained with an upcoming Iranian sanction busting court case in the United States that involves Turkish-Iranian businessmen Reza Zarrab and senior members of a Turkish State bank.

Political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source partners warns the case can only add to bilateral tensions.

“This upcoming Reza Zarrab case which we [Turkey] consider a big conspiracy of the American deep state, so the possibility of these political shocks tampering off is almost nil,” said Yesilada.

Washington’s ongoing support of Syrian Kurdish militia fighting the Islamic State, also continues to infuriate Ankara who accuse the militia of being, linked to an armed insurgency in Turkey.
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Amid the turmoil in Spain’s separatist-minded Catalonia region, two wealthy Italian regions voted overwhelmingly Sunday for more autonomy from Rome.

Referenda were held in Veneto – the northern region that includes the tourist haven of Venice – and in Lombardy, another northern region with the city of Milan as its main attraction.

The presidents of both regions say more than 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted in favor of more autonomy.

Both referenda are non-binding. But the presidents say the voices of their people give them a strong mandate and more leverage when they open talks with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Leaders of both regions want to keep more tax revue and have a greater say over such matters as education, immigration, security, and the environment.
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Several thousand Maltese citizens rallied Sunday to honor an investigative journalist killed by a car bomb, but the prime minister and opposition leader who were chief targets of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s reporting stayed away from the gathering.

Participants at the rally in Malta’s capital, Valletta, placed flowers at the foot of a memorial to the 53-year-old reporter that sprang up opposite the law court building after her October 16 slaying.  

Some wore T-shirts or carried placards emblazoned with words from Caruana Galizia’s final blog post: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate” in the European Union nation of some 400,000 people.

Police removed a banner describing Malta as a “Mafia state.”

Hundreds of participants later held a sit-in outside police headquarters, demanding the resignation of Malta’s police commissioner. Some hurled tomatoes, cakes and coins against an enlarged photograph of the commissioner spread out on the street.

The homicide of a journalist who devoted her career to exposing wrong-doing in Malta and raised her three sons there united many of the nation’s oft-squabbling politicians, at least for a day.

Caruana Galizia had repeatedly criticized police and judicial officials.

Malta’s two dominant political forces, the ruling Labor and opposition Nationalist parties, participated in the rally which was organized to press demands for justice in her slaying.

Official no-shows

But Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told his Labor party’s radio station a few hours before the event’s start time that he wouldn’t attend because he knew the anti-corruption reporter’s family didn’t want him to be there.

“I know where I should be and where I should not be. I am not a hypocrite and I recognize the signs,” Muscat said, adding that he supported the rally’s goals of call for justice and national unity.

Nationalist leader Adrian Delia also skipped the rally, saying he didn’t want to “stir controversy.”

“Today is not about me, but about the rule of law and democracy,” Delia told reporters.

Muscat and Delia, while fierce political rivals, have another thing in common:  Both brought libel lawsuits against Caruana Galizia. Delia withdrew his pending libel cases last week after her killing.

Caruana Galizia’s family has refused to endorse the government’s offer of a 1 million euro ($1.18 million) reward and full protection to anyone with information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of her killer or killers.

Instead, the family, which includes a son who is an investigative journalist himself, has demanded that Muscat resign. In their quest for a serious and efficient investigation, Caruana Galizia’s husband and children also want Malta’s top police office and attorney general replaced.

“The killers decided to silence her, but they won’t silence her spirit, they won’t silence us,” Christophe Deloire, a French journalist from the journalism advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders, said.  “From us they will not have more than one minute of silence.”

On Sunday morning, all seven national newspapers had their front pages black in Caruana Galizia’s memory. Printed in bold letters against the black backgrounds were the words: “The pen conquers fear.”

‘Crooks everywhere’

Just before her death, Caruana Galizia had posted on her closely followed blog, Running Commentary, that there were ‘crooks everywhere’ in Malta. The island nation has a reputation as a tax haven in the European Union and has attracted companies and money from outside Europe.

The journalist focused her reporting for years on investigating political corruption and scandals, and reported on Maltese mobsters and the island’s drug trafficking. She also wrote about Maltese links to the so-called Panama Papers leaks about offshore financial havens.  

After the rally ended, several hundred participants walked to police headquarters, and sat in the street outside shouting “Shame on you!” and “Resign!”

Malta President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca received a delegation from the Civil Society Network, a non-partisan organization of university professors, businessmen, opinion writers and authors in Malta.

The car bombing was “an attack on all of us, every single one of us,” Coleiro Preca told them. “We need to see how we are going to work together. We need to unite to have the reform that is needed.”
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Slovenia’s incumbent president Borut Pahor won the most votes in Sunday’s election, but not enough to avoid a runoff.

With nearly all the ballots counted, Pahor is expected to finish with 47 percent, while his main challenger, former comedian Marjan Sarec, will win about 25 percent.

Pahor said he expects to win the November 12 runoff as he thanked voters for backing him in Sunday’s first round.

Slovenia is a former Yugoslav republic which has frequently been in the news in the past year as the birthplace of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

The Slovenian presidency is a largely ceremonial office. But the president nominates the prime minister, and presidential opinions greatly influence government policies.

 
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Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced Saturday he would dismiss Catalonia’s separatist government and call for new elections in an attempt to prevent the semi-autonomous region from declaring its independence.

Rajoy made the announcement after an emergency Cabinet meeting to deal with the political crisis caused by secession efforts undertaken by the regional leadership of Catalonia.

Rajoy’s office invoked Article 155 of Spain’s constitution, which gives the government the power to take away some or all of Catalonia’s autonomy. Opposition political parties have agreed to support the imposition of central rule over Catalonia. Rajoy is nearly certain to get the required votes next week from Spain’s upper legislative body, which is ruled by Rajoy’s conservative party.

Carles Puidgemont, Catalonia’s leader, said the prime minister’s move was “the worst attack on institutions and Catalan people” since the era Francisco Franco, and called for a meeting of the Catalan parliament. Franco was Spain’s military dictator from 1939 to his death in 1975.

“Mariano Rajoy has announced a de facto coup d’etat with he goal of ousting a democratically elected government,” said Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell. She said Rajoy’s new move is “an authoritarian blow within a member of the European Union.”

Rajoy said Saturday Puidgemont’s threat to secede “has been unilateral, contrary to the law, and seeking confrontation.”

Barcelona police say 450,000 demonstrators took to the streets in the regional capital Saturday with many waving Catalonia’s red and yellow separatist flag. Some protesters shouted “freedom” and “independence.”

“We are here because the Spanish government made a coup without weapons against the Catalan people and their government institutions,” said Joan Portet, a 58-year-old protester.

Voters in Catalonia voted in favor of independence in the October 1 referendum, but fewer than half of those eligible to cast a ballot took part, with opponents boycotting the process. Rajoy’s government dismissed the referendum as illegal.
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Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, has been released from jail after a 20-day sentence for calling an unauthorized demonstration.

Navalny was arrested on Sept. 29 as he planned to travel to the city of Nizhny Novgorod for a rally that had been given official permission. But a court sentenced him for calling another rally, an unauthorized protest in St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin’s hometown.

Navalny, who plans to run for president against Putin in next March’s election, has repeatedly served jail terms connected to rallies. After his release Sunday, Navalny said on social media that he hopes to attend an evening demonstration in the southern city of Astrakhan.

The anti-corruption campaigner this year twice called for demonstrations nationwide whose size and extent rattled the Kremlin.

 
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Slovenians are voting in a presidential election Sunday that is expected to be an easy re-election for President Borut Pahor, a veteran politician and former model known for his use of social media.

Some 1.7 million voters were choosing among nine presidential candidates, including five women, for the largely ceremonial but influential post. This nation in Central Europe is a member of the European Union and the homeland of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

Slovenia’s presidency holds no executive powers, but the president proposes the prime minister, who runs the government, and the president’s opinion carries weight on important issues.

Pre-election surveys say the 53-year-old Pahor could possibly win a majority of votes and avoid a runoff. His main opponent is Marjan Sarec, a former comedian who is the mayor of the northern town of Kamnik. 

Pahor has been nicknamed Slovenia’s “King of Instagram” for his frequent presence on social media. He walked about 700 kilometers (420 miles) during the presidential campaign, posting photos and short videos all along the way. 

Critics think Pahor has degraded the presidency by turning himself into a celebrity.

Sarec starred in Slovenian satirical shows until he mounted an independent bid for mayor in 2010 and won against an established candidate. The 39-year-old is serving his second term as mayor.

Other presidential candidates include Romana Tomc, a tax expert backed by the conservatives; Ljudmila Novak, a former teacher who leads the New Slovenia Christian-Democrats; and Angelca Likovic, who is promoting Catholic Christian values.

Key topics facing Slovenia include the economy and a border dispute with neighboring Croatia stemming from the 1990s’ breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
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Some 200 people rallied on Saturday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, calling for the resignation of the president who has ruled the former Soviet republic since 1994.

Opposition activists carrying Belarusian and European Union flags urged President Alexander Lukashenko to step down. They criticized some of the laws he recently pushed through, including one forcing citizens to register with the state employment exchange or pay a hefty fine.

“We demand that authorities stop stealing from people – and only Lukashenko’s resignation can change that,” said Mykola Statkevich, a former presidential candidate who spent five years in prison on what was largely viewed as politically motivated charges.

Police allowed the protesters chanting “For shame!” to rally outside the seat of government and KGB headquarters. They did not make any arrests during the protest, but an Associated Press reporter saw at least two people detained afterward.

Lukashenko, who has been described as Europe’s last dictator, in recent years has often allowed Belarusian opposition, fragmented and largely unpopular, to protest unhindered.
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A man with a knife attacked four people in Munich on Saturday and then fled, police said. A suspect was arrested a few hours later, and authorities were working to determine whether he was the assailant.

Police received initial reports of an attack in the Haidhausen area, just east of downtown Munich, at about 8:30 a.m., spokesman Marcus da Gloria Martins said. They determined that a lone attacker apparently had gone after passers-by indiscriminately with a knife.

The assailant attacked six people – five men and one woman – at different sites in the area, with four of them wounded and none seriously, da Gloria Martins said. They mainly had superficial stab wounds and in one case had been hit, he added.

After the attack, police took to Twitter to warn people in the Rosenheimer Platz area to stay indoors and cautioned them to avoid the area around the nearby Ostbahnhof railway station and a park amid conflicting accounts of the direction in which the suspect fled.

Police also issued a description of the suspect, who they said appeared to be about 40 years old and had a black bicycle, gray trousers, a green jacket and a backpack. They decribed him as having a “corpulent figure” and added that he had short blond hair and was unshaven.

About three hours after the stabbing, police arrested a man matching that description who initially tried to evade officers. “We can’t yet confirm whether he is the perpetrator,” da Gloria Martins said.

There was no immediate word on a possible motive.
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Police say a man with a knife has lightly wounded four people in Munich. Officers are looking for the assailant.

Munich police called on people in the Rosenheimer Platz area, located close to the German city’s downtown, to stay inside after the incident Saturday morning.

The perpetrator fled the scene. Police said he appeared to be about 40 years old and had a black bicycle, gray trousers, a green jacket and a backpack.

The police department said on Twitter that officers are looking for the assailant “with all available police forces.”

It said the motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
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The European Union will push to conclude free trade talks with South American bloc Mercosur by the end of the year, leaders said, despite French reservations over the surge of farm imports an agreement would bring.

French President Emmanuel Macron had said he was in no hurry to do a deal with the beef-exporting Mercosur countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and succeeded in pushing trade onto the agenda of an EU leaders summit in Brussels.

“We had a short moment just after midnight to discuss international trade,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference after the leaders met on Friday.

Juncker said Europe had a great opportunity to seal trade deals with countries across the world, while respecting European values and standards and the “reciprocity sought by the French president.”

“We will continue to do everything we can to conclude the negotiations with Mercosur before the end of the year. It’s important. We underestimate the importance of Mercosur for the European Union,” he said.

The European Commission says the savings the EU could make from reduced import tariffs with Mercosur would be three times greater than for deals with Canada and Japan combined.

EU exports to Mercosur from cars to pharmaceuticals are subject to duties of about 4.4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) per year. France, said a Commission source, would be among one of the greatest beneficiaries if these were cut.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he and fellow EU leaders had decided not to slow down the talks and still wanted a deal by the end of the year.

The French president said Europe faced an internal challenge to persuade the public to support to trade deals.

“And an external one which is to have a growth agenda and, at a time when the United States is turning isolationist, to be able to build strategic commercial relationships with several regions of the world.”

France has been concerned that the Commission was rushing towards a deal with Mercosur, while also seeking to open talks with Australia and New Zealand, two other countries that want to expand exports of farm products.

With 10 other countries, it told the Commission last month that Europe first needed to determine how much beef, ethanol and other farm products it can afford to let in under current and future deals.

One of them, Ireland, injected a note of caution on Friday. “A Mercosur deal by Christmas is optimistic,” its Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.

($1 = 0.8472 euros)

Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Andrew Heavens.
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Ankara is facing growing national and international criticism over Wednesday’s arrest of Turkish philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala. Kavala –  a leading member of Turkey’s civic society – was detained Wednesday night at Istanbul airport. According to his lawyer, he is being held at Istanbul’s counterterrorism department.  

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert voiced concern on Thursday.

“It’s just another example, right, of a lot of things taking place, of respected civil society leaders, human rights defenders, journalists  we’ve all followed this story closely  academics, also activists detained in that country,” she said. “The detentions are often made without  very little evidence, very little transparency, and we consider that to be a very alarming trend in that country.”

The European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Kati Piri, wrote on Twitter, “Very disturbing news that Osman Kavala has been detained in Istanbul.” Piri added she would propose the European Parliament launch an urgent call for his release.

The European Union has been voicing growing concern over Turkey’s ongoing crackdown following last year’s coup, which has seen over 60,000 people arrested.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, attending a summit of EU leaders this week, described developments in Turkey as very negative and said she would propose funding to Turkey be curbed.  

Kavala has set up and funded projects to bridge deep social and ethnic divides in Turkey and encourage cultural diversity. Human rights groups nationally and internationally have voiced outrage over his arrest.

Political scientist Cengiz Aktar said Kavala’s arrest is a watershed moment.

“He was one of the main movers and shakers of the Turkish liberal civil society and nothing will be like before since the custody of Osman Kavala,” he said. I think now the Turkish liberal civil society activist will be much move cautious in their actions in Turkey. It actually confirms a very frightening trend whereby the Turkish liberal civil society is targeted if not annihilated.”

Ankara strongly defends the ongoing crackdown, insisting it is facing a continuing threat from conspirators seeking to overthrow the government.

International pressure over the crackdown is likely to grow with the trial beginning Wednesday (Oct. 25) of leading Turkish members of Amnesty International and two European nationals detained at a human rights meeting.
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Slovenia, the Alpine home country of Melania Trump, is holding a presidential election Sunday that incumbent President Borut Pahor — a former fashion model, like the U.S. first lady — is favored to win. Eight other candidates are vying for the largely ceremonial, but still influential head of state post.

Opinion polls show Pahor, a veteran politician who gave up modeling long ago, could win a majority of votes and avoid a runoff election two weeks later.

Below is some background on the race being decided in nature-loving Slovenia:

A president who is king of Instagram

The 53-year-old Pahor started his political career when Slovenia was part of the former Yugoslavia. He served as parliament speaker, a member of the European Parliament, prime minister before he took office as president in December 2012.

Pahor has been nicknamed Slovenia’s “King of Instagram” for his frequent presence on social media. He walked about 700 kilometers (420 miles) during the presidential campaign, posting photos and short videos all along the way. Critics think Pahor has degraded the presidency by turning himself into a “celebrity.”

The competition

Pahor’s main opponent is Marjan Sarec, a former actor and comedian who is the mayor of the northern town of Kamnik. Before becoming a politician himself, Sarec was known for imitating politicians. He starred in Slovenian satirical shows until he mounted an independent bid for mayor in 2010 and won against an established candidate.

Sarec, 39, is currently serving his second term as mayor. He toured Slovenia in a rented bus during his campaign.

Other presidential candidates include Romana Tomc, a tax expert backed by the conservatives; Ljudmila Novak, a former teacher who leads the New Slovenia Christian-Democrats; and Angelca Likovic, who is promoting Catholic Christian values.

What opinion surveys say

Pre-election surveys showed Pahor could win as much as 55 percent of the vote on Sunday, trailed by Sarec with 21 percent. The survey conducted by Ninamedia polling agency has put all other candidates far behind.

Why the vote matters

Slovenia’s presidency holds no executive powers. However, the president proposes the prime minister who runs the government and the office-holder’s opinion carries weight on important issues. Key topics facing Slovenia include the economy, a border dispute with neighboring Croatia stemming from the 1990s’ breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the future of the European Union, the large numbers of migrants and refugees who have reached Europe or are attempting to immigrate.

Election day

Slovenia, which has a population of around 2 million, has about 1.7 million voters. Polling places are set to open Sunday at 0500GMT and close 12 hours later. Initial results are expected a few hours after the polls close.
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The U.N. Children’s Fund warns that more than 320,000 Rohingya refugee children are living in desperate conditions in squalid makeshift settlements in Bangladesh, putting them at risk of disease and vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers.

UNICEF reports that up to 12,000 children a week are fleeing to Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar. In what is the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis, nearly 600,000 Rohingyas have arrived in Cox’s Bazar since the end of August. Almost 60 percent are children.

Heart-breaking report

The UNICEF report graphically describes the fearful existence of these many children. It says they arrive in Bangladesh — painfully thin, malnourished and hungry. After having escaped a near-death experience, the report says the children find themselves living in flimsy shelters. They are reduced to drinking dirty water and having to scrounge for whatever food might be available.

Author and UNICEF senior communications adviser, Simon Ingram, says the chaotic, overcrowded refugee camps are dangerous and challenging for the children.

“People surging in all directions.” he said. “So, for children caught up in that, they are getting lost. … And then in the longer term, it is the sense that these children feel so abandoned. So, completely remote and without a means of finding support or help. And, in a sense, it is no surprise that they must truly see these places as a hell on earth.”

Traumatized children

Ingram said it was particularly painful to see how traumatized the children were from their horrendous experiences in Myanmar.

“Talking to children, hearing their stories and really getting the sense that they had been through something absolutely terrible, absolutely horrific. And, yet, so often the delivery that came across was almost matter of fact. It was almost like they were already shutting it out from their minds,” he said.

UNICEF is calling for an end to the atrocities against civilians in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and for aid agencies to be given unrestricted access to all child victims of violence there.
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European Union leaders pledged more money Thursday to help Italy work with Libya to stem the flow of migrants from North Africa trying to get to Europe.

“We have a real chance of closing the central Mediterranean route,” European Council President Donald Tusk told reporters at a Brussels summit.

Tusk was referring to the extremely dangerous sea crossing between Libya and Italy’s Lampedusa island — the first EU territory the migrants encounter. Thousands have died trying to cross the Mediterranean on unsafe boats or after being left on their own by human smugglers.

Italian officials say the number of migrants leaving Libyan shores has dropped 20 percent in 2017, since Italy began working with Libya to stop the flow. This includes Italy providing more training to the Libyan coast guard to crack down on human smugglers and rescuing migrants stranded at sea.

Italy has been demanding more money and help from the EU for several years.

“Member states so far have committed 175 million euros [$207 million]. This is clearly not enough,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Thursday described Russian interference in U.S. elections as “warfare.”

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia used cyber-enabled means in an attempt to help President Donald Trump win the White House, an allegation the Kremlin has denied.

“We have to be so hard on this and we have to hold them accountable,” Haley said during a panel discussion with former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice held by the George W. Bush Institute in New York on Thursday.

“When a country can come interfere in another country’s elections that is warfare. It really is, because you’re making sure that the democracy shifts from what the people want,” she said. “This is their new weapon of choice and we have to get in front of it.”

Congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating alleged Russian interference in the election, including whether there was any collusion between Trump associates and Moscow. Trump has denied that there was any collusion between his campaign and associates and Russia.
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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called on mayors of three major cities to resign, including the high-profile mayor of the capital, Ankara, the Hurriyet newspaper reported Thursday, in a push to revitalize his ruling party ahead of 2019 elections.

The comments mark Erdogan’s most explicit demand yet for a shake-up of veteran politicians, some of whom are nationally prominent, after voters in many cities rejected an April referendum granting him sweeping power.

While Erdogan narrowly won the referendum to change the constitution and create an executive presidency, voters in 17 of Turkey’s 30 largest cities voted against the change. Since then, Erdogan has spoken of the need for renewal in local government and the ruling AK Party, citing signs of “metal fatigue” within administrations.

“People do not take these offices as independent candidates but as candidates shown by parties. We cannot regard these posts as chairs, which are kept eternally and never abandoned,” the Hurriyet quoted him as telling reporters on his plane back from a trip to Poland this week.

A request had been conveyed for the resignation of the mayor of Balikesir in northwest Turkey, the newspaper quoted him as saying.

“Likewise, this situation was conveyed to (Ankara Mayor) Melih (Gokcek). The same with Bursa,” he was quoted as saying. Bursa is a city in northwest Turkey.

The mayor of Istanbul has resigned in the last month, as has the mayor of Duzce city in northwest Turkey. The mayor of Nigde city in central Turkey, resigned Wednesday.

But Gokcek, who has been Ankara mayor since 1994 and won five consecutive elections, has so far stayed in place, despite widespread speculation that he would step down.

Gokcek has avoided addressing the resignation issue and pointedly steered clear of the subject in public when he made an unexpected visit to the presidential palace this month.

“I presented to my president all the project details of the museum to be built opposite the (presidential) palace. I also gave various information about ongoing municipal projects. … For the public’s information,” he wrote on Twitter.

Gokcek, generally regarded as a staunch Erdogan loyalist, is well known in Turkey for tweets in which he has engaged in spats with journalists and other senior members of the AKP.

In February he suggested the U.S.-based cleric blamed for last year’s failed coup might be plotting an earthquake, with the help of foreign powers, to damage the economy.
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Catalonia’s leader on Thursday threatened to explicitly declare independence if no talks with the central government were offered. Spain then called a special Cabinet session to be held over the weekend to activate measures to take control of Catalonia’s semi-autonomous powers.

Catalan president Carles Puigdemont’s warning came in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy with minutes to spare before the expiration of a deadline set by the central government for him to backtrack on his calls for secession.

“If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonia’s parliament will proceed … with a vote to formally declare independence,” Puigdemont’s letter said.

Cabinet session called

Spain’s government quickly responded with a statement saying it was calling a special Cabinet session for Saturday in which it would trigger the process to activate Article 155 of Spain’s Constitution. It allows for central authorities to take over the semi-autonomous powers of any of the country’s 17 regions, including Catalonia.

The Cabinet meeting will “approve the measures that will be sent to the Senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards,” the statement said.

The measure has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of Gen. Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.

Spain’s government needs to outline what are the exact measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in Spain’s Senate.

The ruling Popular Party’s majority in the top chamber would be enough to approve the measure, but Rajoy has held discussions with opposition leaders to rally further support.

Referendum and violence

Catalans would consider the application of the measure an “invasion” of the region’s self-government, while Spain’s central authorities have portrayed it as an undesired move, yet a necessary one, to restore legality after Puigdemont’s government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the country’s constitution.

More than 40 percent of Catalonia’s 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the illegal Oct. 1 referendum as police used violence to try to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead.Opponents boycotted the vote.

Catalan officials say that hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities say hundreds of police officers were also hurt and the use of force was proportional to the resistance they met.

The separatists declared an overwhelming victory despite the boycott by opponents and on the grounds that it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees such as an independent electoral board.

Spain’s government had said it would be willing to hold off on applying Article 155 if the Catalan separatist leader were to call a snap regional election. But Catalan officials have ruled that out.

The Catalan government’s international affairs director, Raul Romeva, told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that Catalonia’s banned secession referendum gave the region’s separatist government a mandate to declare independence from Spain.
…

Catalonia is one of 17 autonomous areas of Spain, but as home to the country’s second-largest city and 20 percent of its economic output, the region holds special prominence as its leaders seek independence.

History of separatism

— The history of separatism movements in Catalonia stretches back several centuries, including a decision in 1640 to align itself with neighboring France.

— More recently, in moves rejected by the Spanish government, voters in Catalonia approved independence referendums in 2014 and earlier this month, while in 2015 lawmakers approved a roadmap for secession.

— The independence movement gained momentum in the past decade as Spain went through an economic crisis, but polls in the region show support for self-rule declining as the economy rebounds. A vast majority of those who voted in the latest referendum chose for independence, though well under half of eligible voters cast a ballot and polls suggest more Catalans favor remaining in Spain.

Tourism key to region’s economy

— With its Mediterranean coast and the historic city of Barcelona, tourism is a key part of the region’s economy.

— An estimated 18 million foreign tourists visited there last year.

— One in every seven people in Spain live in Catalonia, which has been operating as an autonomous region in its current form since 1979.That structure includes its own president and parliament.

Rich cultural history

— The latest version of its official Statement of Autonomy, issued in 2006, highlights Catalonia as a community “based on respect for individual dignity.”

— “The civil and associative tradition of Catalonia has always underlined the importance of Catalan language and culture, of rights and duties, of knowledge, of education, of social cohesion, of sustainable development and equality of rights, and today, especially, of equality between men and women,” the preamble reads.

Economic powerhouse

— The region is one of the richest in Spain and accounted for about one-fourth of the country’s exports last year.

— There is a large agricultural sector, as well as an automotive industry that includes factories that make cars for Nissan and a division of Volkswagen.

— Catalonia is also home to a large portion of Spain’s pharmaceutical industry, housing major drug makers, biotech firms, medical device manufacturers and research institutions.
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United Nations judges will decide next week on a verdict in the trial of former Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic, who is accused of war crimes stemming from the conflict in the Balkans during the 1990s.

Mladic, dubbed “the butcher of the Balkans,” is the last soldier to face war crimes charges in the court, which was set up to deal with the fallout from the Bosnian war that raged from 1992 through 1995.

Mladic has been charged with 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in leading sniper campaigns in Sarajevo and the killings of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

Prosecutors have asked the International Criminal Tribunal to sentence Mladic to life in prison. Last year, attorney Alan Tieger said anything less than a life sentence would be “an insult to the victims, living and dead, and an affront to justice.”

Mladic’s defense lawyer Dragan Ivetic has accused prosecutors of seeking to make the former general a “symbolic sacrificial lamb for the perceived guilt” of all Serbs during the war.

He called for Mladic to be acquitted on all charges.

 
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The European Union on Wednesday unveiled new measures to help counter deadly low-tech attacks following a spate of killings in major cities by extremists driving vehicles into crowds of people.

The European Commission, which proposes and ensures compliance with EU laws, said the measures aim to better protect major gatherings like concerts or sports events.

They include additional funding and training to improve cooperation between police and private security at malls or concerts.

“Terrorists don’t stand still. They change and adapt their methods. We need to be ready to adapt our response,” EU Security Commissioner Julian King said.

The response, he said, is meant to “build our resilience, to limit terrorist access to the means they use to carry out attacks, and to strengthen international cooperation.”

Brussels also wants to review rules for the sale of bomb-making material to make it harder for extremists to obtain the ingredients, and help investigators tackle encrypted phone or computer data. The Commission didn’t explain exactly how this would be done, though King said EU countries with more experience in tackling encryption should share the know-how.

To help protect public spaces and raise awareness about potential dangers at events, the Commission has earmarked a total of 118.5 million euros ($140 million) in funding for this year and 2018.

It also hopes to boost European police cooperation with Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey, notably to secure the transfer of personal data to combat serious crime.
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Hungarian police say they are carrying out a search at a Church of Scientology center in Budapest.

Police said the search by members of the National Investigation Bureau is related to an investigation into the suspected misuse of personal information and other crimes, but will not be releasing more information because the inquiry was ongoing.

Online publication ripost.hu said over 50 police officers surrounded the church’s Budapest headquarters on one of the Hungarian capital’s busiest roads early Wednesday.

The Church of Scientology is not among the 32 churches officially recognized by Hungary since a widely disputed law on churches and religious matters went into force in 2012.

The church did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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In a rare public speech Tuesday, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency said the terror threat in the country is worse now that it has ever been during his 34-year career.

“It’s clear that we’re contending with an intense UK terrorist threat from Islamist extremists,” MI5 chief Andrew Parker said. “That threat is multi-dimensional, evolving rapidly and operating at a scale and pace we’ve not seen before. But so too is our response.”

Parker said the MI5, also known as he Security Service, has noted a “dramatic upshift” in the threat this year, with a total of 36 people killed in separate attacks in London and Manchester.

“Twenty attacks in the U.K. have been foiled over the past four years. Many more will have been prevented by the early interventions we and the police make,” Parker said.

Last month, a makeshift bomb on the London subway injured at least 30 people. The blast was the fifth major terrorist attack in Britain this year.
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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge say their third child will be due in April.

The royal couple had already revealed that they were having a child, but didn’t previously say which month the child is due. The brief statement released Tuesday by their Kensington Palace office offered no further details.

The former Kate Middleton had announced she was pregnant after missing a royal engagement in September. As with her other two pregnancies, she is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute morning sickness.

She has since appeared in other events, including one Monday in which she danced with a person dressed as the beloved British children’s book character, Paddington Bear.

William and Kate, both 35, already have two children: Prince George, 4, and Princess Charlotte, 2.
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A U.N. report warns gender inequality and the denial of reproductive rights and family planning threatens development goals, weakens national economies and will undermine efforts to eliminate poverty by 2030.

In its annual State of World Population report, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) describes the poorest women in most developing countries as the most powerless members of society.   It says the poorest women have the least access to care during pregnancy and childbirth. And it says the inequality has life-long repercussions for women’s health, ability to get an education and employment.

UNFPA Geneva Office Director Monica Ferro said family planning is not only a human right, but necessary for women’s empowerment.  She said a woman or adolescent who cannot enjoy reproductive rights cannot stay healthy.  She and her family will be locked into lifelong poverty and deprivation.

“Limited access to family planning translates into 89 million unintended pregnancies and 48 million abortions in developing countries annually.  This does not only harm women’s health, but also restricts their ability to join or stay in the paid labor force and move towards financial independence,” Ferro said.

Ferro also expressed regret over the decision by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump not to fund the U.N. Population Fund.  In April, the administration announced it was cutting the U.S. contribution which in 2016 stood at $63 million.  Ferro said that will take a heavy toll on the health and well-being of thousands of impoverished women in developing countries.  

“With previous United States contribution for UNFPA, we were really fighting gender-based violence and reducing maternal deaths, especially in fragile and crisis and disaster-hit countries,” Ferro said.

They include Iraq, Nepal, Sudan, Syria, the Philippines, Ukraine and Yemen.  Ferro added the U.S. contribution helped save the lives of thousands of women during pregnancy and childbirth.  In addition, she said the organization was able to prevent thousands of unwanted pregnancies and provide other crucial family planning services.
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Spain’s high court ordered two top Catalan separatists jailed for alleged sedition while the question of the region’s independence remains unclear.

Prosecutors accuse Jordi Cuixart of the Omnium Cultural movement and Jordi Sanchez of the Catalan National Assembly of provoking violence against police during a pro-independence march last month.

Protesters trapped officers inside a building and destroyed several police cars.

“Spain jails Catalonia’s civil society leaders for organizing peaceful demonstrations,” Catalan President Carles Puigdemont tweeted Monday. “Sadly, we have political prisoners again,” an apparent reference to Francisco Franco’s military dictatorship that ended more than 40 years ago.

The High Court also placed Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero under investigation. The court declined to order him behind bars, but did revoke his passport to keep him from leaving the country.

Meanwhile, Puigdemont has still not said whether he will declare Catalan independence outright after the court and Spanish government declared a pro-independence referendum illegal.

Puigdemont had a Monday deadline to give a simple “yes” or “no” answer to the question whether he will declare independence. So far, he has only called for talks with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the deadline has been pushed to Thursday.

A frustrated Rajoy has said the uncertainty surrounding Catalonia is hurting the Spanish economy. The economic ministry Monday cut its economic growth forecast for 2018 because of the crisis.

Catalonia, Spain’s most prosperous region, is home to 7.5 million people. Its capital, Barcelona, is one of Europe’s major tourist attractions. Catalonia has its own language and distinct culture, and is deeply divided over independence.

The Catalan government said that 90 percent of Catalans voted for independence from Spain in the October 1 referendum. Many opponents of independence boycotted the vote, reducing turnout to around 43 percent.

VOA’s Isabela Cocoli contributed to this report.
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At least three people have been killed as Tropical Storm Ophelia battered Ireland on Monday.

One of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the northeastern Atlantic hit every corner of Ireland with wind speeds of 190 kilometers per hour recorded at the southernmost tip of the country.

Ophelia knocked down trees and power lines, leaving more than 330,000 homes without power.

About 200 flights from Ireland’s two main airports in Dublin and Shannon were canceled. The airports are expected to reopen Tuesday as cleanup begins.

“There are still dangers out there, but the cleanup has started in some areas and the job of getting the country back to work has begun,” the chairman of Ireland’s National Emergency Coordination Group, Sean Hogan, told a news conference.

Schools across Northern Ireland will remain closed Tuesday to “avoid any potential risk to life for children, young people and staff,” the Education Department said.
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Turkey has offered assistance to the Iraqi government in its effort to take control of the city of Kirkuk from Kurdish peshmerga forces.

The offer was made in a statement by the Turkish foreign ministry: “We once again emphasize the importance we attach to the protection of Iraq’s political unity and territorial integrity.”

Ankara strongly backs Baghdad in its opposition to an independence referendum passed last month by Iraqi Kurds. Turkey fears similar secessionist demands from its own large restive Kurdish minority.

“Ankara’s thinking is that if Kirkuk is taken back from Iraqi Kurds, then their dreams of independence are quashed permanently and there would be one less problem in Turkish foreign policy,” said political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.

Kirkuk has approximately 5 percent of world’s oil reserves, and Iraqi Kurds have been exporting around 60,000 barrels a day from the region under its control.

Pro-government Turkish media gloated over reports of the imminent fall of Kirkuk.

“[Kurdish president Masoud] Barzani’s childhood dream shattered,” wrote the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak. Despite Kirkuk’s multi-ethnic population, the identity of many Kurds is linked to their capital. On Monday, Ankara stepped up its pressure on the semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdish region, announcing an air embargo in the latest sanction to protest the referendum vote.

Monday’s foreign office statement also reiterated Kirkuk’s multi-ethnic identity, underlining the importance of the Turkmen population.

“Our relatives, our kinsman, rhetoric re-emerged [for] a while now,” observed former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who established Turkey’s consulate in the Iraqi Kurdish region. “It proves the fact, the oncoming presidential elections which will be held in 2019 effect the foreign policy of Turkey.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing a widely predicted close re-election bid and is courting nationalist voters, many of whom care deeply about Kirkuk and the fate of their Iraqi ethnic kin.

“The nationalists consider Kirkuk and Mosul part of Turkey,” said analyst Yesilada. “Kirkuk city and Kirkuk province, there are up to more than a million Turkmens — more than 50 percent are Sunni and they have close ties to Turkey. This is an important issue for Turkey and, in particular, for [Turkey’s Nationalist Action Party leader] Mr. [Devlet] Bahceli, who is an implicit partner for Mr. Erdogan’s endeavors at home and abroad.”

Last month, Bahceli declared that 5,000 of his party members would go to Kirkuk to protect Turkmen against the city’s then-Kurdish rulers. But analysts warn the threat faced by Turkmen is far from removed, with Baghdad forces set to take back control.

“Baghdad’s policy so far has been to disenfranchise the minorities, which are Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. And this policy, if the Shia or Iraqi army take over Kirkuk, I am fairly sure they will not treat minorities with grace or favor,” Yesilada said.

Baghdad appears sensitive to such concerns.

“The Iraqi government was clever enough to use a Turkmen brigade among the PMU [Iraqi Shia militia force] that claimed Kirkuk province,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Selcen. “And not only the PMU is being used, but also the main duties are on the shoulders of the Iraqi army and Iraqi special forces Golden Division [Sunni military forces] elements.”

But Selcen says Ankara’s offers of military assistance will likely be rejected politically. A planned visit Sunday by Turkish Prime Minster Binali Yildirim was canceled, as was a high-level Turkish minister delegation Monday because of the Iraqi military operation in Kirkuk.

Analysts point out that while Ankara and Baghdad have found common ground on thwarting Iraqi Kurdish independence aspirations, strategic differences remain that potentially could come to the fore over the fate of Iraq’s ethnic Turks.
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