The International Organization for Migration says there has been a dramatic drop in the number of migrants from West Africa crossing the Sahel region into Niger, on their way to Europe. 

Migration officials attribute the drop in African migration to strong action by the government of Niger against human smuggling networks.  

The International Organization for Migration reports Niger has closed three of six transit houses in the town of Agadez, where migrants often stop on their journey.

IOM Niger Chief of Mission Giuseppe Loprete says migrants used to wait in the houses for smugglers’ vehicles to take them to Algeria or Libya.

“Many vehicles have been withdrawn by the army along the migratory routes.  Smugglers have been arrested,” Loprete said. “So, all this created a context—sent across a message that transiting Agadez is not easy, is not that easy.” 

Loprete tells VOA fewer migrants are arriving and staying in Agadez because of the difficulty in finding smugglers to take them to North Africa.

“Last year, the first six months, we were estimating five to 7,000 migrants transiting per week going to Algeria or Libya,” Loprete said. “Right now, our numbers show that we are 5,500 migrants per month transiting.  So definitely less migrants.” 

While the Agadez route is drying up, Loprate says migration to Europe is not.  He says smugglers are finding alternate, possibly more dangerous routes to transport their human cargo. 

He says Africans desperate to carve out a better life for themselves in Europe continue to risk their lives, making the perilous journey across the Sahel and eventually, across the Sahara Desert.
…

Kosovo’s prime minister has confirmed that the government will try to transform the nation’s security forces into a regular army through constitutional changes to satisfy the country’s international partners.

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said during a visit to Kosovo Security Force headquarters on Thursday that “we should give the constitutional mandate” to the future army.

Haradinaj has been prime minister since September.

President Hashim Thaci bowed to pressure from NATO and the U.S. earlier this year and withdrew legislation aimed at accomplishing the transformation.

The draft law needed only a majority vote in parliament to pass. Constitutional amendments would require backing from lawmakers representing Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs and other minority groups. They say they won’t back the change.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, which Serbia refuses to recognize.

 
…

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said Thursday she “absolutely” supports the public release of all advertisements produced by a Russia-linked organization during the 2016 presidential election.

Sandberg said the company is “working on transparency” following the revelation last month that a group with alleged ties to the Russian government ran $100,000 worth of ads on Facebook promoting “divisive” causes like Black Lives Matter.

“Things happened on our platform that shouldn’t have happened,” she said during the interview with Axios’s Mike Allen.

Later Thursday, Sandberg is set to meet with Congressional investigators who are looking into what role the advertisements which began running in 2015 and continued through this year may have played in the 2016 presidential election.

The $100,000 worth of ads represent a very small fraction of the total $2.3 billion spent by, and on behalf of, President Donald Trump and losing-candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaigns during the election.

Multiple congressional investigations have been launched, seeking to determine what effect alleged Russian meddling may have played in the election.

In addition, Robert Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is conducting a criminal probe, including whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian operatives during the election season. Trump has denied working with the Russians.

Facebook had previously agreed to disclose the thousands of Facebook ads to congress. Sandberg said Thursday she thinks “it’s important that [the investigators] get the whole picture and explain that to the American people.”

In response to the Russian ad buys, Sandberg said Facebook is hiring 4,000 new employees to oversee ads and content. She said the company is also using “machine learning and automation” to target fake accounts that spread fake news.

She defined fake news as “things that are false hoaxes” and said Facebook is working to stamp out the bad information by teaming up with third-party fact checkers and warning users before they share news deemed fake by Facebook.

She said it is important to be cautious when going after fake news because “a lot of what we allow on Facebook is people expressing themselves” and “when you cut off speech for one person, you cut off speech for all people.”

“We don’t check the information posted on Facebook before people post it, and I don’t think people should want us to,” she said.

Hundreds of fake accounts were used to distribute the Russia-linked advertisements, Sandberg said. But had those ads been posted by legitimate users, “we would have let them run,” she said.
…

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a string of energy, military and other deals with Morocco during a North Africa tour.

Medvedev met Wednesday with Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine El Othmani and presided at a signing ceremony for 11 bilateral agreements.

The agreements cover cooperation in areas such as customs, agriculture, the military and culture, as well as energy efficiency and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The disputed Western Sahara region that Morocco annexed in the mid-1970s also was a topic of the talks.

Medvedev is traveling with a large Russian government delegation and Russian business executives. Morocco’s King Mohammed VI hosted a lunch in the prime minister’s honor.

He arrived in Morocco after a visit to Algeria, where he discussed oil prices and energy cooperation.
…

The Italian government on Wednesday won two confidence votes on a fiercely contested electoral law that is likely to penalize the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in next year’s national election.

The proposed voting system is backed by three of the country’s four largest parties, with the center-left government looking to rush it onto the statute books ahead of elections, which are due by May 2018.

Five-Star supporters protested in front of parliament as the Chamber of Deputies approved two confidence motions by a wide margin. A third such vote is scheduled for Thursday ahead of a final ballot in the lower house on the disputed bill.

Unlike the current rules, the new system would allow the formation of multi-party coalitions before the ballot, a factor likely to hurt 5-Star, which is topping most opinion polls and refuses to join alliances.

“They want to take away our right to choose,” said Nicola Zuppa, 45, who said he had paid 175 euros ($200) to travel from Padua in northern Italy to take part in the protest, which drew up to 2,000 people in the heart of Rome.

The use of multiple confidence motions allowed the ruling coalition to truncate discussion on the bill and sidestep dozens of planned secret votes on various amendments. The reform still needs the approval of the upper house Senate.

“If you allow the electoral rules to be changed again so that the scum of the country rises to the top yet again, it will be your children who pay the price,” 5-Star’s founder Beppe Grillo wrote on his blog on Wednesday.

Harmonization

President Sergio Mattarella, the only figure with the power to dissolve parliament, has called for new voting rules because the current system is very different for the upper and lower houses, meaning it could throw up conflicting majorities.

All previous attempts to harmonize the rules have failed, most recently in June when dissident deputies used a secret vote to upend part of the proposed legislation.

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) drafted the latest version, which is supported by right-wing parliamentary rivals Forza Italia (Go Italy!) and the Northern League. Five small parties are also backing the proposed law.

Five-Star estimates that the new rules could cost it up to 50 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and potentially scupper its chances of being the largest group in parliament after the vote.

Mattarella is expected to give the formation that gets the most seats the first crack at forming a government. The PD has denied trying to stymie the 5-Star’s chances.

“No one is preventing (5-Star) from making alliances if they want to,” said Ettore Rosato, the parliamentary party leader of the PD who has put his name to the reform. “If they don’t want to do them, they can continue to be an isolated party.”

Analysts say the new electoral system looks unlikely to throw up a clear parliamentary majority, with opinion polls showing the center-left, center-right and 5-Star splitting the vote three ways.

Such a result could lead to the creation of a grand coalition that would need to span the political divide.

($1 = 0.8452 euros)
…

The European Union will not transfer a final tranche of loans worth 28 million euros ($33 million) to support Moldovan justice reforms as the authorities have not fulfilled the required conditions, the EU delegation to Moldova said Wednesday.

The European Union is the ex-Soviet nation’s largest external donor, but payments have been frozen or repeatedly delayed by slow reform progress and political upheaval.

“The EU has closely observed the reform process and noted that the Moldovan authorities showed insufficient commitment to reforming the justice sector,” the delegation said in an online statement.

“The Moldovan authorities have not fulfilled the EU’s conditions for receiving the last financial transfer under the justice reform program, which amounts to 28 million euros,” it said.

The disbursement of other EU funding, including a 100 million-euro ($117 million) macro-financial assistance package of loans and grants for 2017-18, has also been delayed.

Last week, Prime Minister Pavel Filip said Moldova would not receive any financing under the agreement this year.

New electoral law

The EU has said a basic precondition for the financial assistance is a respect for the democratic process and the rule of law.

Nevertheless, Moldova this year introduced a new electoral law that a pan-European rights body ruled could make the system more susceptible to undue influence by vested interests.

Moldova’s economy grew 4.1 percent last year, recovering from a contraction of 0.4 percent in 2015 due in part to an economic crisis in nearby Russia that hit exports and remittances from Moldovans working there.

The country, Europe’s poorest, has also been rocked by a scandal that saw the equivalent of an eighth of its gross domestic product stolen from three of its largest banks in 2012-14.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have forecast growth of between 4 and 4.5 percent in 2017.
…

The standoff between Spain and Catalonia entered a new phase on Tuesday as Catalonia’s leader delayed by several weeks a formal declaration of independence from Spain.

The current political crisis could now take several paths.

Government response

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called an emergency Cabinet meeting for Wednesday to decide the Spanish government’s response to the declaration. Rajoy had a meeting with his main rival, Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, late on Tuesday.

He could deploy the “nuclear option” — an article of the constitution which enables him to sack the regional government and call an election.            

Before resorting to this option, which has never been used, Rajoy’s government could call a parliamentary vote on whether to try to persuade Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont to abandon the

independence drive.

Rajoy is also scheduled to speak at an extraordinary session of the Spanish parliament at 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT).

Whichever way he turns, Rajoy is likely to face criticism, either for clamping down too fiercely or for not pushing a hard enough line against separatism.

Another possibility is that the judiciary steps in, with the public prosecutor calling Puigdemont and other politicians to Madrid to testify.

Dialogue

A genuine dialogue between the Spanish and Catalan authorities to resolve the standoff remains highly unlikely.

Puigdemont and other regional politicians signed a document on Tuesday proclaiming “full sovereignty” for Catalonia, but it was unclear whether the move had any legal value.

Puigdemont said he was suspending the effects of a declaration of Catalan independence to allow time for dialogue.

But the central government immediately responded that any dialogue would have to take place “within the law” and said Puigdemont did not have the right to demand talks.

Meanwhile, far-left group CUP said the ball was in the Madrid government’s court and Rajoy should be the one taking a step in their direction.

Formal declaration of independence

Tuesday’s declaration was largely symbolic because it was not formally endorsed by the regional parliament.

The anti-capitalist Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), whose influence is disproportionate to its small size, insists a vote should take place, as stated in the Catalan law.

While it has for now maintained its support for the regional government, it said it had set a one-month deadline for talks.

If talks fail to happen, the CUP and another pro-independence party, Junts pel Si, are likely to ask the Catalan parliament to formally endorse Tuesday’s declaration of independence.

This declaration would be immediately blocked by Spain’s constitutional court and force the Spanish government to step up further its legal and political response to the crisis.

Regional election

If talks do not happen and a declaration of independence is not put to a vote in the Catalan parliament, the CUP could withdraw its support, triggering a regional election.

This election could also be called by Puigdemont himself to back up his weakened position or by the Madrid government if it considers Puigdemont and the Catalan authorities have gone too far, for instance if they seek a formal declaration of independence in the regional parliament.

 
…

The United States says it is “very disappointed” by the Turkish government’s arrest of two local staffers of the American Consulate, as diplomatic tensions between the two countries ramp up following the bilateral suspension of all nonimmigrant visa services.

Last week, for the second time this year, Turkish authorities arrested a local staff member of the U.S. diplomatic mission. U.S. Ambassador John Bass later announced a temporary halt to all nonimmigrant visa applications. Turkey retaliated by announcing its own suspension of visa services in the United States.

On Tuesday, the State Department confirmed that Turkish authorities had summoned a third U.S. Embassy staff member over the weekend. That staff member has not been formally arrested.

“These actions are deeply disturbing to us,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said during Tuesday’s briefing.

Nauert also rejected suggestions that Bass had acted unilaterally in suspending visa services in the U.S. Embassy and consulates throughout Turkey.

“Our ambassadors tend to not do things unilaterally,” said Nauert. “This was coordinated with the State Department. It was coordinated with the White House and coordinated with the embassy.”

Officials say U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday. Undersecretary of State Tom Shannon also spoke to his Turkish counterpart prior to the announcement that the U.S. government would suspend nonimmigrant visa services at the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Turkey.

Bass said the suspension of nonimmigration visa service would minimize the number of visitors to U.S. Embassy and consulates in Turkey, while Washington assesses Ankara’s commitment to the security of American diplomatic facilities and personnel.

Erdogan blames U.S. envoy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday blamed Bass for the diplomatic crisis, saying Turkish officials would boycott farewell meetings with Bass, who is due to leave Ankara soon to take up a position in Kabul as U.S. envoy to Afghanistan.

“An ambassador in Ankara taking decisions and saying he is doing so in the name of his government is strange,” said Erdogan.

Erdogan also accused “agents” of infiltrating U.S. missions.

“No state would allow such spies that pose an internal threat,” Erdogan said Tuesday alongside Serbia’s president in Belgrade.

The dispute has plunged already fragile relations between the two NATO allies to a new low after months of tension linked to the conflict in Syria, last year’s failed military coup in Turkey, and U.S. court cases against Turkish officials.

“I think right now the domestic situation is very prone to anti-Americanism, and he [Erdogan] is playing on that,” Gonul Tol, director of the Middle East Institute for Turkish studies, told VOA on Tuesday.

Extradition effort

Relations between Washington and Ankara have been troubled by disputes over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria and Turkey’s unsuccessful request for the extradition of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers were blamed by the Turkish government for last year’s coup attempt.

The Turkish government has rounded up about 200,000 people, accusing them of not only stirring up the coup effort but also supporting the Gulen movement.

U.S. courts have also indicted a Turkish banker and a former minister for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran, as well as 15 of Erdogan’s security guards for attacking peaceful protesters during his visit to Washington in May.

It is “definitely a sign of deteriorating relations,” Daniel Serwer of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies told VOA. “Both sides need to stop escalating and start talking.”

Arrest of consulate employee

Last week, Turkey arrested Metin Topuz, a U.S. consulate employee and a Turkish national, accusing him of having regular communication with alleged leading members of what Turkey has deemed a terrorist network blamed for the failed coup against Erdogan last year.

Washington dismissed the allegations, saying it has been unable to determine why the arrest occurred or what evidence exists against the employee.

“The employee works in an office devoted to strengthening law enforcement cooperation with Turkish authorities and ensuring the security of Americans and Turkish citizens,” said Nauert, questioning Ankara’s motivation for the arrest.

“What’s going on here? What are they trying to accomplish by this behavior toward our locally employed staff?” the State Department spokeswoman asked.

Bass, the U.S. ambassador, said in a video statement on October 9 that the suspension of visa services was not a “visa ban” on Turkish citizens, but a suspension of the consideration of new visa applications.

Turkish applicants told VOA’s Turkish service that upon going to the U.S. Embassy and consulates for their appointments, they were simply given a piece of paper instructing them to call a phone number for more information.

Omer Yavuz came from Bursa to the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul for a visa appointment that was postponed to this week. Instead of having an interview, he was given a piece of paper with a phone number on it.

“I’ve been calling the number several times since this morning but couldn’t reach anyone. No one is giving any complete information. I came here today because I’ve read procedures would continue for approved visa applications. But I don’t know what would happen,” Yavuz said.

He said he probably needed to cancel plans to visit his cousin in Houston.

VOA’s Turkish service and Esha Sarai contributed to this report.
…

The European Union is seeking to reopen its embassy in Libya pending security conditions, officials said on Tuesday, offering further political support for the Tripoli government struggling to establish control.

EU leaders will announce at their summit in Brussels on Oct. 19-20 that they “encourage work underway to rapidly establish a permanent EU presence in Libya”, according to their draft joint statement seen by Reuters.

But the statement makes clear no such move is imminent as it would be conditional on improving the security situation on the ground.

The EU moved its mission to neighboring Tunisia in mid-2014 as security worsened in Libya amid escalating fighting between rival factions since the 2011 fall of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi, ousted by rebels during a NATO bombing campaign.

Of 28 EU states, only Italy, Libya’s former colonial master and still the most influential European state on the ground, has an embassy in the country, where the United Nations has officially recognized the government of Fayez Seraj.

The EU has also engaged increasingly with Seraj, especially as it sought Libya’s help in curbing the flow of African refugees and migrants, hundreds of thousands of whom have been boarding smugglers’ boats on the coast of the lawless state to cross the Mediterranean for Europe.

The bloc has financed, equipped and trained Libya’s border and coast guards, despite rights groups sounding alarm over grave abuses refugees and migrants suffer in Libya.
…

Will the collapse of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and the ending of the terror group’s caliphate make much difference when it comes to the recruitment and radicalization of Europeans or reducing “lone wolf” attacks?

With U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces close to finishing off IS in Raqqa, the terror group’s de facto capital in Syria, the question is becoming more pertinent.  But French and Belgian officials don’t believe the killings will stop in Europe, at least not in the foreseeable future.

Analysts say the caliphate was useful in the marketing of IS and attracting foreign recruits, as well as allowing the group to differentiate itself from rival al-Qaida, which opposed the setting up of an Islamic state and ridiculed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s self-appointment as caliph.  Now one of the only ways for the terror group to remain relevant and to try to continue to outshine its jihadist competitor al-Qaida is to strike the West as frequently as it can, experts say.

Last month, al-Baghdadi broke an 11-month public silence by releasing an audio-tape mocking the United States, calling on jihadists to rally against the Syrian regime and insisting IS “remains” despite its rapid loss of territory.  He echoed the message of the late IS propaganda chief Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, who declared that holding territory mattered less than the will to fight.

But much of al-Baghdadi’s focus was on celebrating attacks on the West, saying, “America, Europe and Russia are living in a state of terror.”

Speaking in August, after IS had been ousted from the Iraqi city of Mosul and as Kurdish-dominated forces started their assault on Raqqa, French President Emmanuel Macron said the fight against Islamic terrorism is France’s “top priority” and would remain so for some time.

French and Belgian officials say IS is highly innovative and despite efforts to reduce the group’s “virtual footprint” it is still able to disseminate propaganda, which it carefully calibrates to better mobilize followers, testing new ideas as it shapes narratives for whatever it considers tactically appropriate.

Researcher Charlie Winter says for IS the media war has always been as important as physical victories in Syria and Iraq.

In a paper for the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, a research center based in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, Winter noted for IS “propaganda production and dissemination is at times considered to be even more important than military jihad.”

He added, “The Islamic State sustainably incites activism, whether from operatives or online volunteers, by venerating information warfare in a manner unparalleled by any other Salafi-Jihadist actor.”

Even with the loss of most of its territory IS can still wage information warfare, recruit and incite.  Winter says, “The international community must be equally as creative and strategic-minded in its approach towards counter-communications.

‘Deadly social model’

The overall problem of radicalization remains the same today as it did before IS’s battlefield defeats, officials and analysts warn.  Former French prime minister Manuel Valls has dubbed radicalization “a deadly social model.”

France isn’t alone in struggling to understand radicalization and to develop effective ways to counter it.  Sixteen years after the 9/11 attacks and Western governments are still unclear about the mechanics of radicalization and why some embrace the radical jihadist vision and do so to the point of staging or participating in murderous attacks.

Sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar, a professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (School for Advanced Studies of Social Sciences) in Paris, worries radicalization is still seen by governments too much as purely a national security challenge.  Governments, he has argued, fail to study enough the long-term effects of stigmatization, social exclusion and delinquency.  The role of the internet and closed social-media groups in forming jihadist allegiances and creating the cult of what he calls the “negative hero” is only just beginning to be understood.

Psychological factors are also crucial.  At a conference in London last year, Khosrokhavar highlighted how a substantial number of jihadist attackers in the West had been diagnosed with depression or other mental illnesses.

But efforts to deepen understanding of radicalization often meet resistance from political leaders, especially when they are facing public clamor to stop terror attacks.  Valls is famous for once saying he was tired of “social, sociological, and cultural excuses” to explain jihad.  “To explain is to excuse,” he said.

France, which since 2015 has been battered by a series of attacks with the loss of over 240 lives, has more than 350 Islamic extremists locked up in French prisons, nearly 6,000 militants are under police surveillance and a further 17,000 classified as potential threats.  Belgium’s numbers aren’t as high, but the relatively small country occupies an outsized role when it comes to European jihadism. Belgium has contributed per capita more fighters to IS and other jihadist groups in the Levant than any other European country.

Both countries have grappled with shaping de-radicalization programs that work. It was only two years ago that France launched efforts to try to stop the radicalization of disaffected youth, much later than several other European nations.  But its efforts have been troubled and a plan to open 13 de-radicalization centers, one in each of France’s 13 regions, has fallen by the wayside after the first experimental center was closed down earlier this year amid arguments over methods.

 
…

Pressure is building on Catalonia’s hardline secessionist leaders, from moderates and business leaders in the restive north-east Spanish region, to pull back from the brink and to refrain from issuing a declaration of independence later on Tuesday.

Carles Puigdemont, the region’s president, and other secessionist leaders have vowed to announce a breakaway state after last week’s controversial plebiscite, which was declared illegal by the government and courts in Madrid.

But an exodus of businesses, including two of Spain’s leading banks, a major telecommunications company and a construction group, as well as a massive weekend protest in Barcelona by 350,000 Catalans opposed to separation, is starting to take its toll among moderates, who are alarmed at the prospects of economic collapse and civil unrest.

They are calling for a pause and for more efforts to open up negotiations with the center-right government of Mariano Rajoy, who is under pressure from his party to maintain a strong line with the secessionists. Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, argued Monday night against declaring independence, saying it would threaten Catalonia’s “social cohesion.”

She called for urgent negotiations, warning that Spain faced its “greatest institutional crisis” since its return to democracy following the death of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975. “We cannot allow ourselves to jeopardize either social cohesion or Catalan institutions,” she said.

She added: “The results of 1 October cannot be used as a guarantee for the declaration of independence. But they do represent an opportunity to open dialogue and international mediation.”

The secessionists’ coalition, Together For Yes, commands only a thin majority in Catalonia’s regional government and it isn’t clear whether a majority will approve an independence declaration. The far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) is urging Puigdemont to honor the result of the disputed referendum, pointing out that under the referendum law the regional parliament passed ahead of the plebiscite, the legislature pledged to do so.

Puigdemont is set to reveal his plans later Tuesday in an address to the regional parliament — his first comments before the legislature since the referendum a week ago that saw an overwhelming majority of Catalans vote for secession. The turnout, though, was under 50 percent and opinion polls have suggested consistently that more Catalans want to stay with Spain than breakaway.

He had originally promised to make a unilateral declaration of independence within 48 hours of a victory for the secessionist campaign, but held off doing so, calling instead for talks with the Madrid government.

But even senior members of Puigdemont’s own more moderate Catalan European Democratic Party are urging caution, including Ramon Tremosa, a member of the European Parliament. He is counseling following Slovenia’s strategy when it broke away from the then Yugoslavia. Slovenia announced secession but suspended implementation pending negotiations with its Yugoslav neighbors and European powers.

“Nobody can recognize internationally an independence that has not been achieved,” he said. “We know from the experience of Slovenia and other countries that this experience may take weeks or months,” he added.

But inching Catalonia closer to breaking away may well invite as firm a response from Madrid as an open declaration of independence. Spanish prime minister Rajoy is expected by analysts to invoke Article 155 of the constitution, which allows the central government to take control of an autonomous region, if it fails to “fulfill the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain.”

Article 155 has never been invoked before and it risks angering even more secessionist Catalans, who are still furious at the Spanish national police’s efforts to disrupt the October 1 referendum, which saw officers raiding polling stations, beating voters and firing rubber bullets at crowds. Thousands of Guardia Civil and national police who were deployed by Madrid to stop the vote have remained in the region.

At the weekend Rajoy warned he would do everything in his power to prevent Catalonia from breaking away. In an interview with Spain’s El País newspaper. “We are going to prevent independence from occurring… I can tell you with absolute frankness that it will not happen,” he said.

Pedro Sánchez, leader of the opposition Socialists, said Monday his party will support the government against any unilateral attempt to dismember the country.

How Catalonia’s own regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, responds in the coming days, either to a declaration of independence or imposition of direct rule, remains unclear. The force was accused of behaving passively when it came to shuttering polling stations with national police unions accusing it of “clear disobedience.”

The force’s commander, Josep Lluís Trapero, is being investigated for sedition by Spain’s national court.

 
…

The leader of Spain’s Catalonia region is due to address members of the regional parliament Tuesday, while the government in Madrid worries Catalan representatives will vote for a unilateral declaration of independence.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont did not reveal ahead of time what his message would be Tuesday.

Political leaders, both domestically and internationally, urged Catalan leaders on Monday to back down to ease growing tensions in the country.

Major speaks out

Barcelona’s mayor was the latest to speak out against a declaration of independence, saying this would put “social cohesion” at risk. Ada Colau called on all sides to de-escalate tensions to solve “the most severe institutional crisis since the re-establishment of democracy in Spain.”

The head of Spain’s main opposition party, Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, also called for Catalan leaders to drop an attempt to declare independence, saying “a universal declaration of independence doesn’t have a place in a state ruled by law.”

Germany and France also weighed in Monday against a split. German Chancellor Angela Merkel “affirmed her backing for the unity of Spain,” but also encouraged dialogue, according to her spokesman.

France said it would not recognize Catalonia if the region declared independence. “This crisis needs to be resolved through dialogue at all levels of Spanish politics,” France’s European affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau said.

Tensions have grown in Spain since last week when Catalonia held a regional vote for independence, an election deemed illegal by Madrid. Police cracked down on the vote, firing rubber bullets and storming crowds to disrupt the voting, leading to hundreds of injuries.

Huge support at the polls

Catalan leaders say 90 percent of those who went to the polls voted to break with Spain. However, opponents of the referendum say the vote did not show the true will of the region because those who want to stay in Spain mainly boycotted the polls.

Police say about 350,000 demonstrators attended an anti-independence protest on Sunday.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters gathered at rallies in Barcelona, Madrid and other Spanish cities to demand dialogue to end the dispute.

Banks, businesses may move

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would not rule out using constitutional powers to take away Catalonia’s autonomous status if the region declares independence.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais published Sunday, Rajoy said that he will consider employing any measure “allowed by the law” to stop the region’s separatists.

The crisis has prompted several major banks and businesses to announce they will move their headquarters out of Catalonia to other parts of Spain so they can be sure they will remain in the European Union common market.

Catalonia, a northeastern region in Spain, has its own language and cultural traditions. It is home to 7.5 million people and accounts for about a fifth of Spain’s economy.
…

NATO is set to launch a new multinational force in Romania on Monday to counter Russia along its eastern flank and to check a growing Russian presence in the Black Sea following the Kremlin’s 2014 seizure of Crimea.

Initially a small force relying on troops from 10 NATO countries including Italy and Canada, as well as Romania, the land, air and sea deployments will complement about 900 U.S. troops already in place.

“Our purpose is peace, not war,” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest. “We are not a threat for Russia. But we need dialogue from a strong position of defense and discouragement.”

Russia accuses NATO of trying to encircle it and threatening stability in Eastern Europe, which NATO denies. Around the Black Sea, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are NATO members while Georgia and Ukraine aspire to join.

The NATO force aims to develop its allied presence in the Black Sea region, rich in oil and gas, without escalating tensions, as it seeks to counter Russia’s own plans to create what military analysts say is a “buffer zone.”

The 2008 Russian operation to put troops in Georgia’s South Ossetia’s region, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and its annexation of Crimea have raised the stakes, with all sides warning of a new, Cold-War style scenario.

Details of the new force size were unclear. Based inland at a base near the southern Romanian city of Craiova, the land component of the force involves a brigade-size multinational NATO force, typically some 3,000 to 4,000 troops, but the contribution of non-Romanian troops is modest.

Aside from Romania, Poland is the biggest troop contributor.

Bulgaria, Italy and Portugal will train regularly with the force in Craiova, and Germany is also expected to contribute.

In addition to existing NATO Black Sea naval patrols, a maritime presence will include more allied visits to Romanian and Bulgarian ports, training and exercises.

NATO air forces will also be limited at first, but Britain is deploying fighter planes to Romania. Canada is already patrolling Romanian air space, along with national pilots. Italy is patrolling Bulgarian air space.

“It sends a signal of NATO’s resolve,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who will visit the troops later Monday, stressing that NATO also had a 40,000-strong response force in case of a conflict.

‘West Berlin’ model

Some Eastern Europeans want NATO’s new ballistic missile defense shield, which includes a site in Romania, to be part of NATO’s eastern posture vis-a-vis Russia.

“The Aegis Ashore system would add another level of deterrence,” said Maciej Kowalski, an analyst at the Polish Casimir Pulaski Foundation, referring to the U.S.-built system. NATO says the system is to intercept any Iranian rockets.

As in the Baltics and Poland, where the U.S.-led alliance has some 4,000 troops, NATO says the relatively light multinational model recalls allied support for West Berlin in the 1950s, when British, French and U.S. forces ensured the Soviet Union could not control all Berlin.

Under NATO’s founding treaty, an attack on one ally is an attack on all, meaning all 28 NATO nations would be required to respond in the case of any potential Russian aggression.

While months in planning, the establishment of the force comes as Russia winds down its biggest war games since 2013.

The Zapad, or West, games were a show of its latest weaponry and its ability to quickly mass soldiers on NATO’s borders.

The enhanced NATO presence in Romania and Bulgaria marks a diplomatic success for Bucharest, which gained greater persuasive power because it is set to reach a NATO goal of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense this year, a priority for U.S. President Donald Trump.

Romania pushed for bigger NATO naval presence on the Black Sea for over a year, but found its neighbor Bulgaria wary of provoking Russia. Turkey only supports limited NATO reinforcements, concerned about breaking international rules limiting the scale of patrols in the Black Sea.

Turkey has played down the extent of Russia’s militarization of Crimea, which NATO says involves a laying of surface-to-air missiles and communications jamming equipment.
…

The Russian Justice Ministry has warned U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that it may impose restrictions on some of the broadcaster’s operations in Russia in response to what Moscow claims is pressure on Russian state-funded outlets in the United States.

The ministry said in a letter dated October 9 that the operations of Current Time television, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with Voice of America, fall under Article 2 of Russian law on NGOs and foreign agents, and that Russia therefore retains the right to impose restrictions on Current Time.

“The activity of your organization may be subjected to restrictions envisioned in the legislation of the Russian Federation,” the statement, signed by ministry official Vladimir Titov, said.

RFE/RL’s Russian Service, known as Radio Svoboda, and Idel Realii, a Russian-language site run by the broadcaster’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, received similar letters.

“Current Time, Radio Svoboda, and Idel Realii are journalistic organizations. We trust we will be able to continue our work,” RFE/RL Vice President and Editor in Chief Nenad Pejic said in a statement in response to the letter.

U.S. law enforcement agencies have been looking into the operations of at least two Russian media outlets — the satellite TV channel RT and the news website Sputnik.

Funded by the Russian government, RT was accused in a U.S. intelligence report of being one of the primary channels through which the Kremlin sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Since then, calls have grown in Washington to force RT and Sputnik to register under a 79-year-old law initially aimed at restricting Nazi propaganda. During the Soviet era, some Russian-language media, including the newspaper Pravda and the wire agency TASS, registered as foreign agents.

Last month, RT chief editor Margarita Simonyan said U.S. officials had ordered the channel to register under the foreign-agent law. The Justice Department has repeatedly declined to comment.
…

British Prime Minister Theresa May urged the European Union on Monday to show “leadership and flexibility” in unblocking Brexit talks, saying the ball is in the bloc’s court.

But the EU lobbed the ball straight back. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the responsibility for progress is “entirely in the U.K. court.”

More than six months have passed since Britain triggered the two-year countdown to its EU exit. A fifth round of divorce negotiations opened Monday in Brussels, with both sides frustrated by the lack of progress.

On Monday May is due to update British lawmakers on developments since her major speech in Florence, Italy, last month. May’s Downing St. office said she will say that “the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic we will receive a positive response.”

In the Florence speech, intended to kick-start the foundering negotiations, May said Britain would be willing to abide by EU rules and pay into its coffers for two years after Brexit in 2019.

She also signaled Britain would pay what it owes to settle financial commitments it has made to the EU, but without naming a figure.

EU leaders called her suggestions positive but asked for more details.

The U.K. is increasingly anxious to move talks on to discussing future trade relations, but so far the EU says there hasn’t been “sufficient progress” on the major divorce terms – the size of the Brexit bill, the status of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and the rights of EU citizens living in Britain and Britons living in other member states.

Schinas, the EU spokesman, said “there has been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings.”

“So the ball is entirely in the U.K. court for the rest to happen,” he said.

Some EU countries are striking a more conciliatory note. Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen has called for compromise, saying “this will never be a 100 percent win for one side or the other side.”

Jensen said the sides “are now on the same page” and “it is rather important we get on to a more close and more speedy process of concluding some of the issues.”

May’s official spokesman, James Chapman, said Britain believed May’s speech in Florence had created “momentum.”

“The response from the EU and its leaders has been constructive,” he said. “But let’s see what happens in the next round of talks.”
…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have reportedly reached a deal with Bavarian conservatives on a refugee cap as both sides look to unite ahead of talks on forming a new government.

Merkel and the head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Horst Seehofer, plan to spell out the details of the deal Monday.

Reports say the number of refugees to be allowed into Germany would be capped at about 200,000 per year. Merkel has, until now, rejected limits. She has said they would violate the country’s constitution which grants anyone facing political persecution the right to seek asylum.

Under the deal, asylum seekers would not be turned away at the border until their cases are heard.

Both parties also agreed to do more to attract immigrants with highly-sought-after labor skills and also up the fight against human traffickers.

Bavaria comprises about 15 percent of Germany’s population. Support from its CSU conservatives is vital as Merkel proceeds with talks on forming a new coalition government with the liberal Greens and pro-business Free Democrats.

Merkel won a fourth term as chancellor in last month’s parliamentary election, but her Christian Democrats failed to win an outright majority.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party won a stunningly-high 94 of 709 seats in the Bundestag and could cause trouble for the moderately conservative Merkel.
…

When Israel’s envoy told UNESCO delegates last July that fixing the plumbing in his toilet was more important than their latest ruling, it highlighted how fractious geopolitics are paralyzing the workings of the agency.

Whoever wins the race to replace Irina Bokova as head of the U.N.’s cultural and education body next week will have to try to restore the relevance of an agency born from the ashes of World War II but increasingly hobbled by regional rivalries and a lack of money.

Its triumphs include designating world heritage sites such as the Galapagos Islands and the historic tombs of Timbuktu — re-built by UNESCO after Islamist militants destroyed them.

But in a sign of how toxic relations have become, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly last month that UNESCO was promoting “fake history.”

Like Israel’s plain-speaking envoy Carmel Shama Hacohen, Netanyahu was referring to UNESCO’s designation of Hebron and the two adjoined shrines at its heart – the Jewish Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Muslim Ibrahimi Mosque – as a “Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger.”

Jews believe the Cave of the Patriarchs is where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives, are buried. Muslims, who, like Christians, also revere Abraham, built the Ibrahimi mosque, also known as the Sanctuary of Abraham, in the 14th century.

Israeli-Palestinian hostilities, though, are only part of a minefield of contentious issues on which the U.N. body has to hand down rulings.

Japan, for example, threatened to withhold its 2016 dues after UNESCO included documents submitted by China on the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in its “Memory of the World” program.

The Paris-based organization, which also promotes global education and supports press freedom, convenes its executive council on Oct. 9 to begin voting on seven candidates.

Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, France, Lebanon, Qatar and Vietnam have put forward candidates. There is no clear frontrunner.

UNESCO’s struggles worsened in 2011, when the United States cancelled its substantial budgetary contribution in protest at a decision to grant the Palestinians full membership. UNESCO has been forced to cut programs and freeze hiring.

“It’s an organization that has been swept away from its mandate to become a sounding board for clashes that happen elsewhere, and that translates into political and financial hijacking,” said a former European UNESCO ambassador.

Drawing Lots

All the candidates have vowed a grassroots overhaul and pledged independence from their home nations.

France and China, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, argue the agency needs “strong leadership, which can only come with the backing of a major power.

Chinese candidate Qian Tang has almost 25 years experience at UNESCO. His bid fits into Beijing’s soft power diplomacy, though Western capitals fret about China controlling an agency that shapes internet and media policy.

Former French culture minister Audrey Azoulay carries the support of France’s new young president, Emmanuel Macron. But the last minute French candidacy has drawn the ire of Arab states, notably Egypt, who believe it should be their turn.

The Arab states face their own political tests. Their three entries underscore their own disunity, something the Egyptian hopeful Moushira Khattab has indicated stymie the Arab bid.

The crisis engulfing Qatar and its Gulf Arab neighbors, who have called Doha a “high-level” sponsor of terrorism, meanwhile may have hurt the chances of former Qatari culture minister Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari.

Voting takes place over a maximum five rounds. If the two finalists are level, they draw lots.
…

The United States has temporarily halted processing of all non-immigrant visa applications in Turkey, according to the embassy in Ankara, with the Turkey government taking reciprocal action.

A U.S. embassy statement Sunday read, “Recent events have forced the United States Government to reassess the commitment of the Government of Turkey to the security of U.S. Mission facilities and personnel.”

The statement did not clarify the reasons for which it is reassessing Turkey’s commitment, nor did it say how long the suspension would last.

The statement added, “In order to minimize the number of visitors to our Embassy and Consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey.”

Hours later, Turkey retaliated by announcing its own suspension of visa services in the U.S., using language that largely replicated the U.S. statement and reasons for the halt.

Last week, Turkey arrested Metin Topuz – a U.S. consulate employee and Turkish national, accusing him of regular communication with alleged leading members of what Turkey has deemed a terrorist network blamed for a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year.

According to Turkey’s government, the so-called Fethullah Terrorist Organization, created by U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, was involved in the attempted coup in which more than 250 people were killed.  Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, denies any involvement.
…

The new U.S. ambassador to Russia said Saturday that restoring Ukrainian sovereignty and bringing North Korea to the negotiating table would be central issues as he works to improve U.S.-Russian relations.

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. said trust is at a low point as many Americans believe Russia wants to undermine U.S. democracy amid investigations into Russian election meddling. “It is no longer a partisan issue at the political level, either,” he said.

Huntsman takes over at a precarious time between the two countries. He said he wants to improve relations, but the first step is returning Ukrainian control within its internationally recognized borders.

“This is an issue not only with the United States, but with Europe, Canada and virtually every other developed country,” Huntsman said.

Cooperative effort

He called North Korea an international threat, not just an American problem, and one that Russia has an interest in addressing. “Acting together, we think the United States and Russia could force the North Korean regime to the negotiating table to find a diplomatic solution,” he said.

Those comments came the same day President Donald Trump tweeted that trying to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs was a waste of time.

Huntsman also touched on defeating the Islamic State group and continuing dialogue on Syria during the remarks delivered in Salt Lake City after he was ceremonially sworn into his new office by his successor, Utah Governor Gary Herbert.

The ceremony requested by Huntsman attracted a hometown audience of heavy-hitters, including Senator Orrin Hatch, Representative Mia Love and the new ambassador’s father, billionaire industrialist Jon Huntsman. The event was not open to the public, and Huntsman did not take questions from reporters.

Huntsman won easy confirmation as U.S. ambassador to Russia last week. He met with President Donald Trump on Friday.

Previous experience

Huntsman has been a U.S. ambassador before, serving as the nation’s top diplomat to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush and ambassador to China under President Barack Obama. Huntsman returned to the U.S. to run for president as a Republican in 2012.

He struck a tough tone during his confirmation hearings amid tensions underscored by a series of expulsions of diplomats and closures of diplomatic missions.

Trump has called Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election a hoax. But Huntsman has said there is no question Moscow interfered.

The former governor had an up-and-down relationship with Trump during last year’s campaign. Huntsman backed him after he became the nominee. But he called for Trump to drop out after a 2005 recording surfaced of Trump making lewd comments about women.

Trump had also criticized Huntsman during his service in Beijing under Obama. But the men buried their differences during Trump’s transition.
…

Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s groundbreaking visit to Russia this week saw billions of dollars signed in investment deals in energy and defense that will deepen ties between Moscow and Riyadh, despite their confrontational past.

But analysts say self-interests and Middle East alliances will hamper the forming of a deeper partnership.

During this first trip to Russia by a Saudi king, the two sides agreed on billions of dollars in projects involving space exploration, nuclear energy and oil, including a $1 billion fund on energy cooperation and a $1 billion fund on high-tech investment.

Even the king’s 1,500-strong entourage, which Bloomberg said booked two luxury hotels just off Moscow’s Red Square for the four-day visit, gave a small boost to Russia’s economy.

Seeking new partners

Despite the U.S. being its major arms supplier, Riyadh also signed deals on manufacture of Kalashnikov arms and a surprise purchase of Russian weapons systems, such as the advanced S-400 missile defense system.

While the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a harder line on Iran, uncertainty in America’s Middle East policy has encouraged Riyadh to forge new partnerships, analysts say.

“Saudi Arabia is looking for allies in its non-easy relations with Iran, while Russia is confronting sanctions and is interested in serious partners,” said Mikhail Subbotin of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of the World Economy and International Relations. “The sanctions made it look for new allies and activate relations with long-standing partners.”

Sunni-led Riyadh wants Moscow to help rein in Shiite-led Tehran’s influence in the Middle East.

Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at the Kremlin, King Salman said security and stability in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East is the most eagerly sought after and essential prerequisite for achieving security and stability in the world.

“This requires that Iran abandon attempts to interfere in the domestic affairs of the states in the region and stop the activity that destabilizes the region,” he said.

Questionable influence over Iran

But it is not clear that Russia has much influence over Iran or any desire to pressure Tehran.

Russia also deals with Iran on oil and last year began delivering less-advanced S-300 missiles to Tehran.

In Syria, Riyadh is on the opposing side to Moscow and Tehran in regards to Damascus. Russia is allied with Iran against militants fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including some backed by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

“In Syria, these two countries have much in common in their fighting against terrorism, but Saudi Arabia is part of a large coalition while Russia supports Assad,” the Russian Academy’s Subbotin said.

Observers noted the Saudi king in his public remarks on Syria to Putin did not mention seeking Assad’s removal from power, an indication that Riyadh’s long-standing position of regime change is no longer its main objective.

“As concerns the Syrian crisis, we are committed to pushing for its resolution in line with the Geneva I decisions and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, to finding a political solution that would guarantee security, stability, and Syria’s unity and territorial integrity,” King Salman said.

Russia’s military intervention in Syria succeeded in turning the tide of defeat away from Assad, analysts say, and demonstrated Moscow’s return to the world stage as a major player in the Middle East.

Crude relations

The plunging price of oil has also led to closer relations between the world’s two biggest oil producers. Mutual concerns of maintaining a stable price on crude, the biggest contributor to both their economies, produced an agreement to limit output.

“We are striving to continue the positive cooperation between our states to achieve stability in the global oil market, which will facilitate global economic growth,” King Salman said Thursday at the Kremlin.

But Russia does not always hold such agreements, as it is guided by its own interests, said Mikhail Krutikhin, an analyst and partner in the Rusenergy consulting company.

“There is a certain formalized agreement dealing with a reduction of oil volume between OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] countries and Russia, as well as some other countries,” Krutikhin said. “Here is a following issue: Russia does not implement its obligations. It increased oil exports, thus not helping to keep the prices at a high level but obstructing that.”

Cheating on agreed oil output caps has dogged OPEC since its founding, because those who break any such deals, whether members or not, stand to benefit more than those who stand by it.

“Russia is guided by its own interests,” Subbotin said. “Sometimes it de facto joined the coalition with OPEC and supported a policy aimed at reducing oil production; sometimes OPEC was reducing the extraction but Russia was increasing it.

“At the current stage, the interests of Russia and those of Saudi Arabia have coincided,” he added.

VOA’s Danila Galperovich contributed to this report.
…

Supporters of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny staged nationwide protests on Saturday to coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 65th birthday, with police making scores of arrests.

Rallies and pickets were held in dozens of Russian cities, including Moscow, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita and Stavropol, with protesters demanding that Navalny be allowed to participate in the country’s March 2018 presidential election.

The Moscow-based OVD-Info, a group that monitors politically motivated arrests, said there had been at least 271 people arrested at protests in 26 cities as of 9 p.m.

No harsh crackdown

There was no harsh crackdown by police as seen in past rallies organized by Navalny. In March, police arrested more than 1,000 demonstrators in Moscow alone during nationwide protests. 

Most of the arrests on October 7 came in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg. Over 1,000 people gathered at Marsovo Polye (the Field of Mars) in the city center and then marched across the city, chanting “Russia without Putin!” and “Putin, retire!” 

OVD-Info said at least 62 people were detained in St. Petersburg, coming after some opposition protesters tried to break through police lines in the city’s main street.

WATCH: Supporters of jailed opposition leader Navalny protest

A large police presence had assembled throughout the city center before the rally.

Earlier in St. Petersburg, Navalny’s campaign coordinator, Mikhail Sosin, and the campaign’s lawyer, Denis Mikhailov, were detained. His campaign coordinators in Perm, Tver and Stavropol were also detained, as well as numerous campaign activists across the country.

Supporters were demanding that Navalny be allowed to participate in the country’s March 2018 presidential election.

Protesters

In Moscow, several hundred people gathered at central Pushkin Square, where protesters had planned to march to the Kremlin but were blocked by police, prompting them to turn back.

The protesters included teenagers holding rubber ducks, a symbol of opposition to the government, after reports that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had a special house for a duck in one of his properties.

Protesters at Pushkin Square chanted “Putin is a thief!” “Happy Birthday!” “We are the authorities!” “Russia without Putin!” and “Free Aleksei Navalny!” 

Heavy rains had hit Moscow, and many demonstrators were drenched. 

Police in Moscow had asked people over loudspeakers to disperse. There were at least 10 police vehicles in the square, although law enforcement officers were unprecedentedly restrained. 

Anton, 20, was holding a “happy birthday” balloon and a wrapped gift box with “pension” written on it. He said he wanted the entire Russian leadership to retire.

“I think you can change the country through street [protests], but if not, at least it’s good fun.”

Nikita Grigoryev, 16, a Moscow schoolboy holding a rubber duck, told RFE/RL: “I’m here to demand the authorities let Aleksei Navalny campaign [for president].”

“I doubt [this protest] will make any difference, but we have to show there are many people unhappy with what’s going on in the country,” he added.

‘We need freedom’

Lyudmila Gurova, 57, a pensioner, told RFE/RL: “We need freedom: freedom of assembly, freedom of identity, freedom to express our views about the country. This is a fascist country, I believe fascism has taken hold. For the last 26 years I have lived in social hell.”

The protests came a day after a Moscow court rejected Navalny’s appeal against a 20-day jail term he was handed after being found in violation of the law for publicly calling for unsanctioned rallies.

The ruling meant that Navalny remained in jail during the protests. Navalny’s election campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, was also sentenced to 20 days in jail on Thursday.

The local governments of numerous cities have not granted permission for the planned demonstrations.

Another wing of the liberal opposition, the Yabloko party, criticized Navalny for organizing the unsanctioned rally and for calling on his supporters to enter “deliberate confrontation with the police, under the batons of the OMON riot police.”

“Such ‘events’ are frankly provocations aimed only at dubiously creating PR for a certain person,” the party said in a statement on its website.

Warnings issued

Ahead of the protests, Russian authorities issued warnings against holding demonstrations without official permission.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on October 3 that “public calls for unsanctioned rallies and meetings are illegal … and therefore organizers of such events will be prosecuted.”

Prosecutors in St. Petersburg said on October 6 that “any attempts to conduct unsanctioned [demonstrations] are a direct violation of the law.”

Navalny had urged Russians to join the demonstrations, being organized in more than 70 cities nationwide, to support “political competition” in the country as he seeks to run in the upcoming presidential election.

“I understand perfectly well that that [the Kremlin] needs me to be locked up as much as possible and particularly on October 7,” Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, quoted him as saying in court.

Navalny’s campaign team called on all “decent people” to participate in the demonstrations.

“Our demands are reasonable, simple and lawful: political competition [and] access to presidential elections for Navalny and other candidates,” it said in an statement on Friday.

It added that authorities should “leave activists, volunteers, monitors and others alone and give them the opportunity to freely participate in election campaigns.”

Critic of Putin

Navalny is a fierce critic of Putin, who has held power as prime minister or president since 1999 and is expected to seek a new six-year term in the March election. Putin is virtually assured of victory as the tightly controlled political system leaves little room for surprises.

A 41-year-old lawyer who has produced numerous reports alleging corruption among key Putin allies, Navalny has opened more than 60 campaign offices and held rallies nationwide since announcing his bid for the Kremlin in December.

Russia’s Central Election Commission, however, said in June that Navalny was ineligible to run for public office because of a financial-crimes conviction in one of two high-profile cases that he says were fabricated by authorities for political reasons.

Two previous nationwide demonstrations spearheaded by Navalny earlier this year led to mass detentions and rattled Russian officials with their substantial youth turnout.

Kremlin opponents and human rights activists say the government frequently violates the constitutional right to free assembly when it withholds permission for demonstrations or places restrictions on where and when they can be held.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, said last month that Russian police were “systematically” interfering with Navalny’s attempts to run for president by raiding his campaign offices, “arbitrarily” detaining campaign volunteers and carrying out “other actions that unjustifiably interfere with campaigning.”

The Kremlin has dismissed Navalny, who finished second in Moscow’s 2013 mayoral election with around 27 percent of the vote, as a convict and a marginal political figure.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian service, Current Time TV, Ekho Mosvky, Fontanka and RIA-Novosti.
…

The U.S. government and an European security organization are calling on Russia to find and prosecute the people who killed a prominent Russian journalist 11 years ago.  

Both the U.S. State Department and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe issued statements Saturday urging Russia to prosecute those responsible for the death of Anna Politkovskaya who was killed in her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006.  

“Ms. Politkovskaya’s reporting brought to light the violation of human rights in Russia and the suffering of victims of the war in the North Caucasus region,” said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokesperson. “The unsolved murders of Ms. Politkovskaya – a dual U.S. – Russian citizen – and other journalists in Russia, as well as threats against journalists exposing more recent abuses in Chechnya, have only worsened an atmosphere of intimidation for the independent press.”

Harlem Desir, OSCE representative on freedom of the media, said, ” It is unacceptable that the masterminds behind (Politkovskaya’s)  and other journalists’ assassination remain at large. This vicious circle of impunity has a continuing effect on the situation of media freedom in  Russia.”

Politkovskaya was internationally renowned for her extensive reports in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper on human rights abuses and corruption in Chechnya and other parts of the Russian Caucasus plagued by a deadly Islamist insurgency. She also was a sharp critic of the Kremlin and its policies in Chechnya, as well as of the republic’s  leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.

The Committee to Protect Journalists named Politkovskaya one of the world’s top press freedom figures in the fall 2006 edition of its magazine, Dangerous Assignments.
…

The Legion of Christ religious order, stained by revelations that its founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered several children, is facing a new credibility scandal: The rector of its diocesan seminary in Rome is leaving the priesthood after admitting he fathered two children of his own.

In a letter released by the Legion on Saturday, the Rev. Oscar Turrion said he fell in love with a woman a few years ago during a time of turmoil in the Legion, fathered a son and, a few months ago, a daughter.

Turrion, 49, had been rector of the Pontifical Maria Matter Eclesiae International College since 2014. The institution is a residence for diocesan seminarians who study at Rome universities. Currently some 107 seminarians live there, most from India, Latin America and Africa, down from about 200 a few years ago.

The issue is particularly delicate because of the international diocesan character of the seminary: Bishops entrusted their seminarians to the Legion to provide them with a wholesome living environment while they complete their studies. 

In a statement, the Legion said it was “conscious of the impact that the negative example” of Turrion’s case had on seminarians and the Christian faithful, and said it was committed to a path of renewal. 

Earlier scandal 

The Vatican took over the Legion in 2010, after revelations that its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women. It ordered up a wholesale reform, but the scandal hurt the Legion’s credibility and stained the legacy of St. John Paul II, who had been a leading Maciel supporter. 

Several priests have since left the order, the number of seminarians has fallen and the Legion has been forced to close some schools and sell off some of its real estate assets.

Legion spokesman the Rev. Aaron Smith declined to provide details of the Turrion case, citing the family’s privacy. He confirmed that the mother of the child was an adult when she conceived the couple’s first child.

Priest apologizes

In his letter, Turrion said he never used Legion funds to provide for his family, relying instead on donations from friends. 

The Legion said Turrion first informed the order of the birth of his daughter in March, at which time he took a leave and a new rector was named. In October, he revealed he had had a son “a few years ago” with the same woman and announced he intended to leave priestly ministry.

In his letter, Turrion said he was at peace and asked for prayers.

“I ask everyone forgiveness for the lack of trust that this implies,” he wrote. “I ask forgiveness for my bad example and the negative witness I have given.”
…

Danish police say divers have found the decapitated head, legs and clothes of a Swedish journalist, who was killed after going on a trip with an inventor on his submarine.

Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen said Saturday that the body parts were found Friday in plastic bags with a knife and heavy metal pieces to make them sink near where Kim Wall’s naked, headless torso was found in August.

Inventor Peter Madsen, who is in pre-trial detention, has said Wall died after being accidentally hit by a heavy hatch in the submarine. But police have said 15 stab wounds were found on the torso found at sea off Copenhagen on Aug. 21. Her arms are still missing. 

The police have charged Danish inventor Peter Madsen with killing Wall, a charge carrying a sentence of five years to and life in prison. He was arrested after his submarine sank and he was rescued.

Wall’s cause of death hasn’t yet been established yet. 

 
…

The investigation into Russian influence on the US elections has renewed attention to the Russian ban on US adoptions – a response to American sanctions about 5 years ago. Donald Trump Jr. said that was the topic when he met with a Russian lawyer during his father’s election campaign. As Svetlana Prudovskaya of VOA’s Russian service reports, the adoption ban has impacted families and children in both countries.
…

Pope Francis on Friday denounced the proliferation of adult and child pornography on the internet and demanded better protections for children online — even as the Vatican confronts its own cross-border child porn investigation involving a top papal envoy.

Francis met with participants of a Catholic Church-backed international conference on fighting child pornography and protecting children in the digital age. He fully backed their proposals to toughen sanctions against those who abuse and exploit children online and improve technological filters to prevent young people from accessing porn online.

Francis said the Catholic Church knew well the “grave error” of trying to conceal the problem of sexual abuse — a reference to the church’s long history of cover-up of priests who have raped and molested children around the world.

He said an international, cross-disciplinary approach was needed to protect children from the dark net and the “corruption of their minds and violence against their bodies.”

Using terms that are certainly new to papal lexicon, Francis denounced “extreme pornography” on the web that adults consume and the increasing use of “sexting” and “sextortion” among the estimated 800 million minors who navigate the internet.

“We would be seriously deluding ourselves were we to think that a society where an abnormal consumption of internet sex is rampant among adults could be capable of effectively protecting minors,” he said.

Vatican scandal

The conference was planned some two years ago, but it unfolded precisely at the time when the Vatican was confronted with a kiddie porn scandal of its own. The Vatican recalled from its embassy in Washington one of its senior diplomats who has been caught up in an international child porn investigation. Canadian police have issued an arrest warrant for Monsignor Carlo Capella, accusing him of accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography during a visit to an Ontario church over Christmas. He is now in the Vatican, where prosecutors have opened an investigation.

The Vatican in 2013 criminalized child porn possession, distribution and production, with sanctions varying from up to two years and a 10,000-euro fine ($11,170) to 12 years and a 250,000-euro fine.

Some U.S. church officials and critics balked at the recall, saying the Vatican should have waived diplomatic immunity and allowed Capella to face charges in the U.S. or Canada. Vatican officials have defended the recall as consistent with common diplomatic practice and suggested that Capella will face a criminal trial in the Vatican if the evidence warrants it.

Participants at the congress offered sobering statistics about the problem: Last year, Interpol identified five child victims of online abuse every day, while the Internet Watch Foundation identified more than 57,000 websites containing child sexual abuse images.

Call to action

The conference, which drew leading researchers in public health, Interpol, the U.N., government representatives as well as executives from Facebook and Microsoft, issued a 13-point call to action that it presented to Francis on Friday.

Their declaration demands that:

Lawmakers and governments improve laws to protect children online and punish perpetrators of child porn production
Technology companies develop better ways to block redistribution of porn and attack the proliferation of child porn images already on the web
Law enforcement agencies improve information sharing and ensure help for young victims of online exploitation
Health professionals enhance training to recognize signs of abuse and increase research into the effects of viewing porn on young minds
Faith leaders, governments and civil society to increase awareness about the problem.

Francis said he wanted each of them to remember that children look to adults, with light in their eyes and trust in their heart, to protect them.

“What are we doing to make sure they are not robbed of this light, to ensure that those eyes will not be darkened and corrupted by what they will find on the internet?”
…

The European Union and India agreed Friday to step up cooperation in countering violent extremism and radicalization, particularly online, and in enhancing maritime security in the Indian Ocean and beyond.

A joint declaration issued at the end of the 14th EU-India Summit said the two sides aim to deal effectively with the threat posed by foreign terrorist groups and terrorist financing.

It said they were also looking forward to a resumption of exercises between EU and Indian naval ships.

The two sides also discussed the crisis involving more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing from violence in Myanmar, and called for a de-escalation of tensions and their voluntary return home in safety and dignity.

The EU delegation was headed by European Council President Donald Tusk, and the Indian side by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a speech, Tusk referred to remaining differences in negotiations between the two sides on an ambitious free trade agreement they have been negotiating since 2007.

The EU has been seeking reduced restrictions on investment in India’s retail, insurance and banking sectors and lower import duties on foreign cars, while India wants more opportunities in Europe for its information technology services and business outsourcing.

“Free and fair trade agreements are not only economically important for our companies and citizens to prosper,” Tusk said. “Above all, they strengthen and defend the rules-based international order and our way of life.”

The free trade agreement is to cover market access in goods, services and public procurement, as well as create a framework for investment protection, intellectual property and competition.

The EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for 13.7 percent of its overall trade, ahead of China and the United States.

The total value of EU-India trade in goods stood at $90 billion in 2016.
…

Human Rights Watch urged Uzbekistan on Thursday to stop new politically motivated arrests at a time when it has been freeing some prominent political prisoners, saying such a “revolving door” cast doubt on its announced reform drive.

In less than two weeks, the Central Asian nation has released two dissidents imprisoned under the previous president, Islam Karimov, while detaining two others.

The releases have been welcomed by the West, but the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the fresh arrests “cast a pall over what would otherwise be a sign of hope.”

Human rights activist Azam Farmonov was freed on Tuesday after 11 years in prison and Solijon Abdurakhmanov, a journalist imprisoned since 2008, was released on Wednesday.

They joined a string of Karimov-era political prisoners set free by his successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took power in the mostly Muslim nation of 32 million people following his autocratic predecessor’s death in September 2016.

Mirziyoyev, who seeks to attract foreign investment to modernize Uzbekistan’s Soviet-style economy, has ordered some 16,000 people struck off a blacklist of potential extremists and dissidents and taken other steps to liberalize the country.

But when one of those dissidents, prominent writer Nurulloh Muhammad Raufkhon, returned from exile last month, he was detained and charged with spreading anti-government propaganda.

The writer was later released but still faces the charges.

Another dissident, Bobomurod Abdullayev, a journalist accused of publishing stories critical of the government on an opposition website, was also arrested and charged last month. He remains in detention.

“The release of Azam Farmonov and Solijon Abdurakhmanov after long years of abuse was positive news, but there should be no revolving door for political arrests,” said Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“President Mirziyoyev should see to it that all political prisoners are released and that all of Uzbekista’s citizens are guaranteed the fundamental right to peacefully express critical opinions.”

In Raufkon’s case, Uzbek police have said that while he may have been struck off the blacklist, the charges against him – leveled in absentia in May – were never dropped and he did not contact authorities about them before returning to Uzbekistan.

Police have not commented on Abdullayev’s status.
…

Women’s rights groups on Thursday denounced police raids on their offices in several Polish cities that resulted in the seizing of documents and computers, a day after women staged anti-government marches to protest the country’s restrictive abortion law.

The raids took place Wednesday in the cities of Warsaw, Gdansk, Lodz and Zielona Gora. They targeted two organizations, the Women’s Rights Center and Baba, which help victims of domestic violence and which also participated in this week’s anti-government protests.

Women’s rights activists said Thursday the loss of files would hamper their work, and accused authorities of trying to intimidate them. Prosecutors denied the accusation, saying the timing of the raids a day after the women’s marches was purely coincidental.

Some fear the ruling Law and Justice party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is following in the footsteps of neighboring Hungary, where non-governmental groups have faced harassment under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“This is an abuse of power because even if there is any suspicion of wrongdoing, an inquiry could be done in a way that doesn’t affect the organizations’ work,” Marta Lempert, the head of the Polish Women’s Strike, which organized this week’s street protests, told The Associated Press.

The women’s groups said they were told by police that prosecutors were looking for evidence in an investigation into suspected wrongdoing in the Justice Ministry under the former government. At the time the Justice Ministry provided funding to the women’s groups.

“We are afraid that this is just a pretext or warning signal to not engage in activities not in line with the ruling party,” The Women’s Rights Center said in a statement.

Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic, who heads the group Baba, said police entered her office in Zielona Gora, western Poland, on Wednesday at 9 a.m. and worked until 6 p.m. removing files.

She told the AP her group has never been aware of any wrongdoing by Justice Ministry officials that her group was in contact with.

She also said she now expects to have problems continuing her projects due to the loss of files, and is also concerned because the documents contained private information on domestic abuse victims who have sought the group’s help.

Jacek Pawlak, a spokesman for prosecutors in Poznan, where the investigation is being led, said the raids were part of an ongoing investigation but would not divulge what the probe was about. He said there was no attempt to harass the women’s organizations.

This week’s street demonstrations came on the first anniversary of a mass “Black Protest” by women dressed in black that stopped a plan in parliament for a total ban on abortion.

Despite that success the women’s rights activists marched to protests the fact that abortion is still illegal in most cases, calling for a liberalization of the law.

 
…

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has visited Belarus, emphasizing plans to bolster military ties with the ex-Soviet nation.

Speaking at the start of Thursday’s talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Maduro said that “cooperation in the military sphere has been very successful and we need to expand it.”

Maduro didn’t elaborate and details of military cooperation aren’t immediately known.

Lukashenko said that Belarus would like to develop cooperation with Venezuela in energy, agriculture and construction.

Belarus, Russia’s neighbor and ally, has exported wheat, fertilizers and medicines to Venezuela.

Maduro’s visit to Belarus comes a day after his trip to Russia, where he met with President Vladimir Putin and thanked him for political and diplomatic support.
…