Resistance is building in Moscow over buildings — Soviet-era apartment buildings, scheduled to be demolished because authorities say they are in disrepair. They promise the million-plus people displaced will be relocated to new, modern apartments. But many Muscovites are skeptical, spawning protests and feeding suspicions of corruption. More from VOA’s Moscow correspondent Daniel; Schearf.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally extended the state of emergency declared after a failed 2016 military coup, saying the decree will remain in place until the country finds “welfare and peace.”

Erdogan spoke Sunday in Ankara to tens of thousands of his followers and members of his ruling (AK) Justice and Development Party, which convened to re-elect their party co-founder to the post.

The state of emergency permits Erdogan and his Cabinet to issue decrees without parliamentary approval or judicial review.  

Erdogan’s announcement and his return as party chief came four weeks after Turkish voters narrowly approved a national referendum greatly expanding presidential powers.

The April 18 vote created a powerful executive presidency that largely sidelines Turkish lawmakers and the office of prime minister.  Under the constitutional amendments, Erdogan will also set the national budget and appoint judges to the high court and the constitutional court.

Critics, including prominent human rights organizations, have argued the reforms are tantamount to creating an elected dictatorship.  Erdogan and his supporters claim they will create a less cumbersome system of government better able to confront terrorism and a sluggish economy.

Tens of thousands jailed in crackdown

Under emergency rule, more than 47,000 people have been arrested and 100,000 others dismissed from public service for alleged connections to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Erdogan has accused the cleric of fomenting the July 15, 2016, uprising that left more than 260 people dead.  Gulen has denied involvement.

Erdogan’s address comes just days after his visit to the White House, where he sought to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to scrap a U.S.-led military alliance with Syrian Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State extremists in northern Syria.

Erdogan’s efforts appeared unsuccessful.  The Turkish leader also drew sharp U.S. public criticism when, hours after the White House visit, he was shown outside the Turkish embassy in Washington standing by as his bodyguards assaulted protesters opposed to his rule.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the U.S. has expressed its “dismay” to Turkish officials about last week’s clash in which Turkish security personnel apparently attacked demonstrators in Washington.

Tillerson told Fox News Sunday that Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S. has been told that last Tuesday’s violence was “simply unacceptable.”

“There is an ongoing investigation,” he said, adding that he will wait on the outcome of that probe before deciding on a more formal response.

The clash broke out between Turkish security personnel and protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington.

Protesters say they were attacked by Turkish security forces as they demonstrated peacefully. Turkey blamed the clash on the demonstrators, claiming they aggressively provoked people who had gathered to see Erdogan.

VOA’s Turkish service recorded images at the scene that indicated the Turkish security detail suddenly turned on the demonstrators, knocking them to the ground and kicking them until American police pushed the Turks away. The video showed Erdogan standing beside his limousine, watching the brawl.

U.S. officials briefly detained two members of Erdogan’s security detail, but they were soon released, under customary diplomatic protocols granting immunity to aides accompanying a visiting dignitary.

Some U.S. lawmakers have demanded the United States take stronger action, including Republican Senator John McCain, who called for the Turkish ambassador to be expelled.

 
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Germany’s Social Democrats raised pressure on conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, saying if she could not resolve a row with Turkey over access to the Incirlik air base, German troops should move.

Merkel’s defense minister, tacitly admitting the possibility said she had been looking for other locations and hinted that Jordan could be one.

Turkey, which has refused permission for German lawmakers to visit their troops at Incirlik, has said Berlin is free to move its soldiers from the base. That would, however, be a significant snub to a NATO ally.

Already strained bilateral ties have deteriorated further over Incirlik where roughly 250 German soldiers are stationed as part of the coalition against Islamic State militants.

“If Mrs Merkel doesn’t succeed at the NATO summit on Thursday to get Turkey to change course, we need alternative bases,” Thomas Oppermann, head of the SPD parliamentary group told Bild am Sonntag.

The SPD, or Social Democrats, trail Merkel’s conservatives in polls four months before the national election. It is desperate to score points with voters on issues other than social justice, its main focus in the last couple of months which has so far failed to resonate.

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is looking at alternatives, including Jordan and Cyprus, and said on Saturday she had been impressed with a possible base in Jordan but stressed the government had not yet made a decision.

Merkel is vulnerable on relations with Turkey as critics accuse her of cosying up to President Tayyip Erdogan, who last month won sweeping new powers in a referendum, as she needs his help to control the flow of migrants to western Europe.

The SPD, junior partner in Merkel’s right-left coalition, also tried at the weekend to raise its profile on European issues.

Leader Martin Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament, has tried to ally himself with new pro-EU French President Emmanuel Macron and on Saturday said he would model his campaign on the Frenchman’s.

On Sunday he told a rally in Bavaria it was time for a “new German-French initiative for a socially fair Europe of growth.”

A week after a disastrous election defeat in Germany’s most populous state, an Emnid poll showed the gap widening between Merkel’s conservatives, up 1 percentage point at 38 percent, and the SPD, down 1 point at 26 percent.
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The Macedonian Interior Ministry has suspended 16 police officers for their failure to prevent a violent storming of the parliament building by nationalist protesters.

The angry invasion of the parliament on April 27, which included masked men, resulted in dozens of journalists and lawmakers being injured, including Social Democratic Union leader Zoran Zaev.

Zaev is now attempting to form a government and become Macedonia’s prime minister after he received the mandate from President Gjorge Ivanov, who had previously refused to do so.

The attack on parliament came after the appointment of an ethnic Albanian, Talat Xhaferi, as speaker.

The May 20 announcement named 11 police officers, four members of the special police unit, and a senior ministry official as being suspended because they “passively observed a crowd who entered and moved freely within the parliament…and did not help other police officers,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that disciplinary proceedings had also begun against the suspended police.

About 25 percent of Macedonia’s 2 million citizens are ethnic Albanians.

The attack on parliament was seen as a blow for the country’s aspirations to join both NATO and the EU.

Nationalists were upset by demands made by the ethnic Albanian parties that were negotiating to form a government with the Social Democrats, including making Albanian a second state language.

Some material for this report came from AFP and AP.
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Evidence of far-right extremism within the German armed forces is growing following the arrest Friday of four students at a military university in Munich. Police are trying to establish whether they have links to another soldier accused of plotting to frame refugees in a terror attack. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the allegations remain sensitive in a country where the 20th century Nazi history casts a long shadow.
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During President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip, he will meet in Brussels with the other leaders of NATO member states. Some of them are nervous about the president’s commitment to the defense alliance in which the United States has played a central role since NATO’s formation at the start of the Cold War. VOA White House Bureau Chief Correspondent Steve Herman reports.
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The U.S. State Department said a clash in Washington this week in which Turkish security personnel apparently attacked demonstrators was “deeply disturbing.”

A State Department statement Friday promised a “thorough investigation’’ to hold those responsible accountable. Tom Shannon, the acting deputy secretary of state, met Wednesday with Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic to discuss the altercation.

“The State Department has raised its concerns about these events at the highest levels,” the statement said.

Watch: Turkish President Erdogan Watched Violent Clash Near Embassy

The clash broke out Tuesday between Turkish security personnel and protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington.

Protesters say they were attacked by Turkish security forces as they demonstrated peacefully. Turkey blamed the clash on the demonstrators, claiming they aggressively provoked people who had gathered to see Erdogan.

VOA reporters recorded images at the scene that indicated the Turkish security detail suddenly turned on the demonstrators, knocking them to the ground and kicking them until American police pushed the Turks away. The video showed Erdogan standing beside his limousine, watching the brawl.

U.S. officials briefly detained two members of Erdogan’s security detail, but they were soon released, under customary diplomatic protocols granting immunity to aides accompanying a visiting dignitary.

Some U.S. lawmakers have demanded the United States take stronger action.
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Sweden’s top prosecutor says she is dropping an investigation into a rape claim against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after almost seven years.

“Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny has today decided to discontinue the preliminary investigation regarding suspected rape concerning Julian Assange,” the prosecutors office said in a statement.

Assange, 45, took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden to answer questions about sex-crime allegations from two women, which he denies. He has been there ever since, fearing that if he is arrested he might ultimately be extradited to the United States.

Friday’s announcement means Assange is no longer under any investigation in Sweden.

British police said Assange would still be arrested if he leaves the embassy. 

“Westminster Magistrates’ Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Julian Assange following him failing to surrender to the court on the 29 June 2012,” London police said in a statement. “The Metropolitan Police Service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy.”

Reuters contributed to this report.
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Donald Trump begins his maiden international trip as U.S. president Friday, leaving the White House awash in a slew of controversies that has some politicians invoking comparisons to the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon.

“We look forward to getting this whole situation behind us,” Donald Trump told reporters Thursday.

The controversies include the firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey amid allegations Trump wanted Comey to stop investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The president is also facing questions about his ties with Russia during the presidential election and allegations he revealed classified material to Russia’s foreign minister during a meeting in the Oval Office.

The stops include

Stops on the upcoming trip include Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican; places sacred to three of the world’s major religions.

In Saudi Arabia, Trump, who has been outspoken about his mistrust of Muslims and has tried to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., is set to deliver a speech on Islam before a group of Muslim leaders. H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, said the president is hopeful for the emergence of a peaceful vision of Islam.

Controversy precedes the U.S. president on his stop in Israel as well, following Trump’s alleged disclosure of Israeli intelligence to Russian officials.

Meeting with Pope Francis

The U.S. president will also go to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis who has said he will not make any judgments about Trump before meeting him.

Trump will then go to Belgium, where he will meet with NATO members in Brussels before ending his trip in the Sicilian town of Taormina for a G-7 summit.

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir will not attend the Islamic summit with Trump in Saudi Arabia, according to Sudan’s state news agency SUNA.  The agency said “personal reasons” were preventing him from attending, but did not list the reasons.  

Bashir has for years faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed against civilians in Darfur. He has yet to be arrested.
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Emerging from her crushing defeat in France’s presidential contest, far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Thursday she will run for a parliamentary seat in June elections and that her National Front party has “an essential role” in a new political landscape.

Le Pen will run for a seat in a district in her northern stronghold of Henin-Beaumont, a hardscrabble former mining region where she lost a similar bid in 2012. A new failure could jinx her bid to unite the National Front and to make it France’s leading opposition party.

“I cannot imagine not being at the head of my troops in a battle I consider fundamental,” Le Pen said in an interview on the TF1 television station, her first public appearance since her May 7 loss to centrist Emmanuel Macron.

Le Pen announced her candidacy while facing forces of division that could frustrate her new goals. Her popular niece is leaving politics, her disruptive father is back in the ring and her party is in disarray.

At the same time, Macron has upset the political equation, drawing from the left and right to win the presidency and to create his government. The new president now is looking across the political spectrum to obtain a parliamentary majority to support his agenda. 

“We are in reality the only opposition movement,” Le Pen said.

“We will have an essential role to play (and) a role in the recomposing of political life,” she said, reiterating her contention that the left-right divide has been replaced by “globalists, Europeanists and nationalists” like herself.

Le Pen is counting on the 10.6 million votes she received as a presidential candidate to propel her anti-immigration party into parliament in the June 11 and June 18 elections.

The party also hopes to pick up votes from “electoral orphans” unsatisfied with Macron and feeling betrayed by the mainstream right, National Front Secretary-General Nicolas Bay said this week.

The National Front plans to field candidates for each of France’s 577 electoral districts, hoping to block Macron’s movement from obtaining a majority of seats and to secure a strong bloc of its own to counter his new government.

Le Pen dismissed the notion that there were links between her loss and a series of events widely seen as potentially weakening the National Front.

The party recently lost a rising star who served as a unifier on its conservative southern flank. One of the National Front’s two current lawmakers – Le Pen’s niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen –  announced last week that she was leaving politics, at least temporarily.

Enter Jean-Marie Le Pen, who likened his granddaughter’s exit from politics to a “desertion.”

The elder Le Pen, who was expelled from the party he co-founded because of his penchant for making anti-Semitic comments, is backing up to 200 parliamentary candidates through an ultra-conservative alliance, the Union of Patriots.

Some of the five parties represented in the alliance are headed by former National Front militants who, like Jean-Marie Le Pen, were expelled by his daughter in her bid to scrub up the party’s image for the presidential contest.

His own Jeanne Committees will present some 35 of the 200 candidates. The decision smacks of revenge, but the elder Le Pen’s aide denied that was the case.

“This is not meant to cause trouble for the National Front. It is to defend the values that the National Front no longer defends,” the aide, Lorrain de Saint Affrique, said.

The risk that other far-right parties would challenge the National Front “has existed since the National Front decided to exclude Jean-Marie Le Pen,” De Saint Affrique said. “They should have thought of that then.”

The competition from all but obscure parties is not a substantial threat to Le Pen, but mirrors frustrations roiling the National Front, some of which became public following Le Pen’s defeat.

More menacing, her top lieutenant, Florian Philippot suggested after Le Pen’s loss to Macron that he would leave the party if it decided to do away with the goal of leaving the euro currency – a divisive proposal but at the top of Le Pen’s presidential platform.

“I’m not there to keep a post at any price and defend the reverse of my deep convictions,” he said last week on RMC radio.

Le Pen conceded Thursday that the subject of the euro “considerably worried the French” and would be discussed after the parliamentary elections. “We will have to take this into account, reflect,” she said.

She welcomed Philippot’s launching this week of an association, called The Patriots, which could be seen as the budding of a potential rival, like the movement Macron started 13 months ago, En Marche (On the Move).

“The more ideas the better,” she said.
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After his Oscar-nominated film “Leviathan” was deemed “anti-Russian” by Russia’s Minister of Culture, director Andrey Zvyagintsev returned to the Cannes Film Festival with an equally bleak critique of Russian society.

Zvyagintsev was to premiere his fourth film, “Loveless,” on Thursday in Cannes, where “Leviathan” won best screenplay three years ago. That film, which also won a Golden Globe, was made with Russian state funding and prompted Russia’s culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, to refuse any further state financing for what he called Zvyagintsev’s mix of “hopelessness and existential meaninglessness.”

“Loveless” was instead made as an international co-production. The film is ostensibly about a bitterly divorcing couple (Mariana Spivak and Alexey Rozin), whose young son (Matvey Novikov) goes missing. But “Loveless” is also filled with state news reports and other sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant references that – as in “Leviathan” – suggest Russia’s politics has bankrupted its society.

“The Ministry of Culture went to great pains to emphasize how much they disliked ‘Leviathan’ and their desire to avoid the repetition of this kind of mistake in the future,” said producer Alexander Rodnyansky. “After the uproar that ‘Leviathan’ caused in Russia, I made a conscious decision to do this without any state involvement. I decided we didn’t need to embarrass them again and to do the film on our own.”

Grim and controlled, “Loveless” is initially focused on the relationships of its central characters. But Zvyagintsev steadily builds political subtext into the tale that, by the end, moves to the film’s center. State propaganda on Ukraine is heard on the radio and on TV. In one pivotal scene, the mother wears a jogging suit emblazed with “Russia” and the national colors.

Though it didn’t immediately earn the same widespread praise as “Leviathan,” London’s Daily Telegraph praised “Loveless” as “an opaque but pitiless critique on the director’s native Russia.”

Variety wrote: “Zvyagintsev can’t come right out and declare, in bright sharp colors, the full corruption of his society, but he can make a movie like ‘Leviathan,’ which took the spiritual temperature of a middle-class Russia lost in booze and betrayal, and he can make one like ‘Loveless,’ which takes an ominous, reverberating look not at the politics of Russia but at the crisis of empathy at the culture’s core.”

In one unusual exchange Wednesday, a reporter accused Zvyagintsev of proffering his own propaganda.

“Certainly not,” said Zvyagintsev. “If you saw ‘Leviathan’ then you know where I stand vis-a-vis the powers that be. It’s not supposed to be propaganda at all in this episode. You do see these scenes on TV. It’s Russian life, Russian society, Russian anguish at the end of the day. But it’s also universal, not just Russian.”

“Loveless” will be released in Russia by a unit of Sony Pictures and the Walt Disney Co. on June 1. “Leviathan” made $1.5 million at the Russian box office in 2015. Millions, however, watched a copy that leaked online.

On Wednesday, Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film for U.S. distribution.

 
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U.S. officials say they are closely following Ukraine’s order blocking access to a number of Russian websites in the latest round of sanctions over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The U.S. State Department has not taken an official position on the matter. However a U.S. official on background told VOA that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s recent decision to cut access to several popular Russian websites, such as search engine Yandex, for three years, undermines Kyiv’s constitutionally enshrined right to free expression.

Despite Russian-controlled media campaigns that seek to undermine Western media—and the Ukrainian government—with fake stories and false information, “freedom of expression is a key element of every healthy democracy, and it is enshrined in the Ukrainian Constitution.”

“We call on the Ukrainian government to find a way to protect its national interests that does not undermine its constitutional principles,” the official said.

Asked if there was any communication between U.S. and Ukrainian officials prior to Poroshenko’s announcement of the ban, the official said although they could not comment on private diplomatic conversations regarding specific issues, “we have routinely engaged in conversations with the government of Ukraine about the importance of upholding free expression.”

The listed websites were still functioning in Ukraine on Tuesday, and it is unclear how and when the government plans to block them.

The Ukrainian government cited security concerns, saying the ban was imposed partly to protect against companies “whose activities threaten the information and cyber security of Ukraine,” according to a statement released by the Security and Defense Council.

The latest round of sanctions adds Yandex and social media sites Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte to the list of over 400 Russian firms blacklisted by Kyiv since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and consequent pro-Russian separatist uprising in 2014. According to the Reuters news agency, the Kremlin has threatened retaliation.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Ukrainian Service.

 
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday mocked U.S. news reports suggesting President Donald Trump inappropriately shared sensitive intelligence with him about terror threats involving laptops on airplanes.

Without directly confirming the details of their conversation, Lavrov said he didn’t understand what the “secret” was since the U.S. introduced a ban on laptops on airlines from some Middle Eastern countries two months ago.

He joked that some U.S. media were acting like communist newspapers in the former Soviet Union and not offering real news.

“There used to be a joke in the Soviet Union that there was a newspaper, Pravda, so-called Truth, that there was no ‘izvestia’ or news in there,” Lavrov said. “Truly, I get this impression that many U.S. media are working in this vein.”

Lavrov was in Cyprus on Thursday for talks with his Cypriot counterpart.

Asked to comment on the controversy surrounding the reported intelligence-sharing, he said media have reported that “the secret” Trump told him was that “`terrorists’ are capable of stuffing laptops, all kinds of electronic devices, with untraceable explosive materials.”

“As far as I can recall, the Trump administration maybe one month or two months before the Trump administration had an official ban on laptops on airlines from seven Middle Eastern counties and it was connected directly with the terrorist threat,” Lavrov added. “So, if you’re talking about that, I see no secret here.”

The Washington Post reported this week that Trump shared highly classified information with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak about an Islamic State terror threat involving laptop computers on aircraft. Other outlets, including The Associated Press, later confirmed the report.

Trump responded by tweeting that as president, he had authority to disclose whatever he’d like. He did not deny discussing classified information.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is attempting to put a positive spin on his Washington encounter with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, calling it a “new awakening” in bilateral relations.

But behind joint commitments “to work together in the war against terrorism,” reaction has been cool in Turkey, with a recognition that the much-heralded “pivotal” encounter failed to deliver any breakthrough in ongoing points of bilateral tension.

“Trump, Erdogan seek to strengthen ties: White House,” read a less than enthusiastic headline of the pro-Erdogan Turkish Yeni Safak newspaper. 

“It was an important meeting, but to qualify it as pivotal, some long-lasting big-time decisions have to be made. This was no such meeting,” said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar of the Carnegie Institute in Brussels, adding, “On many issues which continue to divide Turkey and the U.S., there does not seem to be a particular convergence.”

Erdogan had pledged to seek to reverse Trump’s decision to arm the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, in its fight against the Islamic State. Ankara accuses the militia of being a terrorist organization affiliated with the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish State.

“Erdogan was hoping to use his much-vaunted persuasive skills in high-level meetings when he met Trump,” noted Atilla Yesilada, a political consultant of Global Source Partners.

But the Turkish president had little opportunity to persuade Trump, with his meeting lasting only a reported 22 minutes. The two leaders’ meeting was followed by a luncheon involving officials from both sides. 

“The fact the initial meeting was so short is another indication that this was essentially a preparatory meeting where many issues on the bilateral relationship were not discussed in depth,” noted analyst Ulgen.

Gulen remains an issue

Erdogan’s calls for the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, too, appears to have made little headway. Ankara blames Gulen for masterminding last July’s failed coup attempt. “Possible steps” were discussed on the issue, wrote Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s top adviser, in a statement. Ankara is also reportedly pressing for Gulen’s detention ahead of extradition hearings.

The failure to make any breakthrough on key issues of dispute was widely predicted, but resolving such disputes may not have been the main purpose of Erdogan’s visit.

“The single most important outcome from the Turkish perspective of this visit was clear — that is, to garner international legitimacy for the referendum results and the Erdogan presidency,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington and Iraq. “Of course the U.S. being sole global power, to have the photograph at the Oval Office was the sole target of Erdogan’s visit. From that perspective, it was a success.”

YPG at status quo

Last month, Erdogan narrowly won a controversial referendum victory extending his powers.  Allegations of vote rigging continue to dog the result, with Trump remaining the only western ally to congratulate Erdogan’s success.

During talks with Erdogan, Trump reportedly did not raise human rights concerns and an ongoing crackdown on dissent, despite more than 60 members of Congress expressing their concern over the deteriorating situation.

The U.S. president also extended support to Ankara’s war against the PKK. “They will have no safe quarter,” Trump said.

“All talk, no walk. That support was already there,” noted former Turkish diplomat Selcen. “Does that entail a green light from Washington for Turkey to carry out similar airstrikes as Ankara did against the YPG? I don’t think so.”

Erdogan has warned that his forces are ready to launch cross-border operations against the Kurdish rebels based in Iraq. Just hours before Erdogan sat down with Trump, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim made a less than thinly veiled warning of military incursions if Washington fails to address Turkish concerns.

Turkish military forces remain massed on both the Syrian and Iraqi borders close to position of the YPG.  Last month, Turkish forces struck YPG targets in Syria and Iraq, in the face of U.S. opposition, with one strike narrowly missing U.S. special forces. “I would expect more of the same. The same tensions will continue,” predicted former diplomat Selcen, “yet at the same time, some sort cooperation will continue concerning Syria and Iraq, as well.”

But such differences with Washington will be tempered by Ankara’s increasingly vulnerable position.

“From Erdogan’s perspective and Ankara’s perspective, the relationship with the U.S. is at a critical importance, at a time when Turkey’s relationships with its other partners in the West have entered a period of acrimony and difficulty. Therefore, the relationship with Washington and the need for a sound relationship with the new U.S. president is now more important than ever,” said analyst Ulgen.
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A man who was sentenced to life in prison for murder and espionage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been freed and has returned to Norway, Norwegian newspaper Verden Gang reported Wednesday.

Joshua French, who has dual British and Norwegian citizenship, was serving a life sentence after he and a fellow Norwegian, Tjostolv Moland, were convicted of murdering their driver in Congo in 2009 and spying for Norway — charges they both denied. They originally were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted.

French and Moland were in Congo researching ideas for an extreme tourism company when they were charged with and found guilty of the murder of Abedi Kasongo. The two men said their car had been ambushed by gunmen and that their driver had been shot.

The men also were charged with espionage because they were carrying military ID cards at the time. The Norwegian government denied that the men were spies.

Moland found dead

In August 2013, Moland was found dead in his prison cell. A Congolese military court found French guilty of strangling Moland, but a Norwegian forensics team assisting French informed the court that Moland had hung himself.

Earlier this year, Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba told Norway’s largest media organization, NRK, that French would be released this year.

French’s mother, Kari Hilde French, wrote on her blog that her son’s health recently has been “very bad,” and that his most recent stint in the hospital had lasted 4½ months.

“Our greatest wish is to get Joshua French home alive before it is too late,” she wrote.
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The Philippine government has told the European Union it will no longer accept development aid from the bloc, putting at risk programs to assist poor and

conflict-hit regions in the country’s south, Europe’s ambassador said on Wednesday.

Ambassador Franz Jessen said the decision to cut aid from the EU, a strong critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drugs war, would mean the loss of about 250 million Euros ($278.73 million) worth of grants mostly allocated to Muslim communities.

Manila’s move comes days after Duterte won billions of dollars in pledges from China after attending the Belt and Road summit in Beijing.

“The Philippine government has informed us they no longer accept new EU grants,” Jessen said without elaborating.

The EU will issue a statement on Thursday, officially announcing the end of its funding agreement with the Philippines.

There was no immediate response from the Philippines’ foreign ministry.

Duterte says European nations don’t understand the extent of the narcotics problem in the Philippines.

Almost 9,000 people, many small-time users and dealers, have been killed in the Philippines since Duterte took office on June 30. Police say about a third of the victims were shot by officers in self-defense during legitimate operations.

The EU has been providing support to Manila’s efforts to end nearly 50 years of Muslim rebellion in a conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, displaced 1 million and stunted growth in one of the country’s resource-rich regions.

It granted the Philippines 130 million euros in development assistance between 2007-2013. In 2015, it pledged 325 million euros over four years to finance projects in Muslim Mindanao after Manila signed a peace deal with rebels in March 2014.

($1 = 0.8969 euros)
…

Donald Trump’s national security adviser says it was “wholly appropriate” for the president to share sensitive national security information with Russia’s ambassador and foreign minister during a meeting last week. That defense comes amid a firestorm of bipartisan criticism in Washington, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports.
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have described their first meeting in Washington as the beginning of a new era in relations. Erdogan’s visit to Washington comes just two weeks after the United States announced it will arm Syrian Kurds to facilitate their advance on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa. Turkey is fiercely opposed to the plan, saying Syrian Kurds are linked to a Kurdish terrorist organization in Turkey. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
…

Supporters and protesters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demonstrated in Lafayette Park outside the White House as U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Erdogan, in Washington on Tuesday.
…

Amnesty International has launched a campaign to highlight what it says is a dramatically worsening situation for human rights activists across the globe. The group hopes its ‘Brave’ campaign will persuade governments to live up to their United Nations treaty commitments on protecting human rights defenders.

Amnesty says attacks on human rights activists across the world have reached a crisis point. Figures from the campaign group Front Line Defenders show 281 people were killed in 2016 for defending human rights, compared to 156 the year before. Guadalupe Marengo, head of Amnesty’s Human Rights Defenders Program, said authorities must take action now.

“In the current context of us versus them, of demonization, of a full frontal attack actually I would say on human rights, it is crucial that we take stock and that we call on the authorities to stop these attacks immediately,” said Marengo.

In Russia, Amnesty says the persecution of human rights activists is accelerating with the ban on non-governmental organizations.

Protests earlier this month marked the anniversary of demonstrations against President Vladimir Putin. Several human rights campaigners have been jailed. Opposition political activist Gennady Gudkov spoke at the protest in Moscow. He said the state’s actions were serving to provoke the opposition and its backers into a tougher resistance, while also showing that the law in Russia is worth nothing.

Amnesty’s Marengo said a copycat effect appears to be taking hold across some countries in the treatment of activists.

“Only in the last week or so, Hungary is trying to have a bill similar to the one that Russia has, where it’s going to be very difficult to form associations and fight for human rights if you’re getting funding from external sources,” said Marengo.

Turkey is accused of an unwarranted clampdown on human rights following last year’s failed coup. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested or fired from their jobs. Ankara claims they are part of a large anti-government plot.

As well as arrests, abductions and killings, Amnesty says human rights defenders across the globe are attacked using online tools. Surveillance tools are used to track activity. Smear campaigns are launched on social media to cultivate hostility.

“They are accused of being terrorists; they are accused of being criminals, they are accused of defending ‘immorality,’” said Marengo.

Amnesty hopes its ‘Brave’ campaign will highlight the worsening situation for many human rights activists worldwide – who it claims are often the last line of defense in a free society.
…

French President Emmanuel Macron spent his first full day in office traveling to Germany, telling Chancellor Angela Merkel he wants to work closely with her to create “deep reforms” to the European Union.

Macron said in Berlin Monday there must be a “less bureaucratic” Europe and that he is ready to change EU treaties if needed.

He also said France will push for economic reforms in the country to bring down unemployment and implement a reform agenda “not because Europe requests it, but because France needs it.”

Macron said he does not favor European countries taking joint responsibility for old debts and that he has never pushed for jointly issued eurobonds. Germany, which has Europe’s largest economy, has always opposed taking direct responsibility for weaker EU countries’ debts.

Merkel told Macron “Europe will only do well if there is a strong France, and I am committed to that.”

The German chancellor said she and Macron agreed to develop a medium-term road map on how to deepen European Union integration. She said Germany would also be willing to change EU treaties if the changes make sense. But the two countries should first work on what they want to reform, she added.

She said the French and German governments would hold a meeting on key issues in July.

The visit to Germany marked Macron’s first foreign trip after his inauguration on Sunday, continuing a tradition of French presidents making their first international trip to Germany.

In his inaugural address, Macron vowed to restore France’s place in Europe and the world.

Macron, a centrist, was elected last week, defeating anti-EU, anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen. The campaign exposed deep splits in France over the country’s role in Europe.
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The Trump administration has tapped the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to be the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, days before President Donald Trump embarks on his first foreign trip.

Trump will nominate Callista Gingrich for the post, two people with direct knowledge of the discussions said Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly before an official announcement.

Trump’s foreign trip this month includes a stop at the Vatican.

Callista Gingrich is president of Gingrich Productions and has produced a number of documentaries, including one about Pope John Paul II.

She also served on the House Committee on Agriculture, where she worked as chief clerk until 2007. She was a key figure in her husband’s 2012 bid for the Republican nomination.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s vision for foreign relations and diplomacy has been starkly different to that promoted by the vastly popular Pope Francis. Francis has spoken of the need for bridges between nations, while Trump has advocated for walls and travel restrictions as a means of national security.

Francis has previously remarked that anyone who wants to build walls to keep migrants out is “not Christian.”

Francis also has called for an end to the use of fossil fuels, while Trump has pledged to cancel payments to U.N. climate change programs and pull out of the Paris climate accord.

But both share a populist appeal and speak with a down-to-earth simplicity that has endeared them to their bases of supporters. And both share a common concern about the plight of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of Islamic militants.

Speaking to reporters while traveling home Saturday from a trip to Portugal, Francis said he would listen respectfully to what Trump has to say when the two meet later this month. Trump will call on Francis mid-way through his first foreign trip, after visiting Saudi Arabia and Israel and before attending a NATO summit in Brussels and a G7 summit in Italy.

“I never make a judgment about a person without hearing him out,” the pope said.

 
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The European Union is pressing Venezuela’s government and opposition groups to resume negotiations toward peacefully resolving the political crisis that has convulsed the country for nearly two months.    

In a statement issued Monday, the EU repeated concerns it had expressed last July seeking “an urgent, constructive and effective dialogue.”

The EU’s current statement calls for “all Venezuelan political actors and institutions to work in a constructive manner” and to “avoid violent acts.” Since early April, at least 38 people have died and many more have been injured in clashes between opponents and backers of President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The EU statement called for investigating “all incidents of violence.”

Dissatisfied Venezuelans have taken to the streets to demand that the socialist Maduro schedule long-delayed elections, release political prisoners and permit the delivery of humanitarian aid. Their demonstrations, and those of Maduro’s backers, have escalated since the government-friendly Venezuelan Supreme Court’s late-March attempt to strip the National Assembly of its legislative powers and since Maduro’s May 1 call for a new constitution.

The EU has a direct stake in the conflict, its statement noted, “with more than 600,000 European citizens” living in Venezuela. The EU said it “reiterates its readiness to cooperate with the Venezuelan authorities” to ensure their safety.

Protests continue

On Monday, responding to a call for a nationwide sit-in, activists again barricaded streets and highways with lawn chairs, tree limbs and garbage.

“I’m here for the full 12 hours” of the sit-in, which started at 7 a.m., human resources worker Anelin Rojas, 30, told Reuters news service while perched cross-legged with a novel in the middle of Caracas’ main highway. “And I’ll be back every day there’s a protest, for as long as is necessary. Unfortunately, we are up against a dictatorship.”

Appeals to troops

Maduro repeatedly has accused the United States of leading an attempt to overthrow his government. He has ordered troops to block opposition marches, using equipment including tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons.  

On Sunday, Maduro opponents sought to win over the troops to their way of thinking.

Dozens of women in black converged on the National Guard’s headquarters in Caracas, in a Mother’s Day appeal to the country’s armed forces to “listen to your mothers” and set aside weapons.

“Today, Venezuelan mothers have come to talk to the soldiers, to the National Guard, at all the barracks in Venezuela,” said former National Assembly lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, according to Reuters. These women are telling soldiers “not to obey orders from the dictatorship, from the dictator who has robbed food and brought blood to his country. Listen to your mothers!”

Separately, the head of the opposition-led National Assembly also urged security forces toward conversation, not combat.

Maduro “is pushing you as an institution to ignore the constitutional order of Venezuela and you have to stop that situation,” Julio Borges, the lawmaker, said at a news conference Sunday.

VOA Spanish Service correspondent Alvaro Algarra contributed to this report from Caracas.
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The worldwide “ransomware” cyberattacks appeared to ease Monday, although thousands more computers, mostly in Asia, were hit as people signed in at work for the first time since the infections spread to 150 countries three days ago.

Health officials in Britain, where surgeries and doctors’ appointments in its national health care system had been severely impacted Friday, were still having problems Monday. But health minister Jeremy Hunt said it was “encouraging” that a second wave of attacks had not materialized.

He said “the level of criminal activity is at the lower end of the range that we had anticipated.”

In the United States, Tom Bossert, a homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, told the ABC television network the global cybersecurity attack is something that “for right now, we’ve got under control.”

But he described the malware that paralyzed 200,000 computers running factories, banks, government agencies, hospitals and transportation systems across the globe as an “extremely serious threat.”

Cybersecurity experts say the unknown hackers behind the “WannaCry” ransomware attacks, who demanded $300 payments to decrypt files locked by the malware, used a vulnerability that came from U.S. government documents leaked online. The attacks exploited known vulnerabilities in older Microsoft computer operating systems.

During the weekend, Microsoft president Brad Smith said the clandestine U.S. National Security Agency had developed the code used in the attack.

Bossert said “criminals,” not the U.S. government, are responsible for the attacks. Experts believe Microsoft’s security patch released in March should protect networks if companies and individual users install it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country had nothing to do with the attack and cited the Microsoft statement blaming the NSA for causing the worldwide cyberattack.

“A genie let out of a bottle of this kind, especially created by secret services, can then cause damage to its authors and creators,” Putin said while attending an international summit in Beijing. He said that while there was “no significant damage” to Russian institutions from the cyberattack, the incident was “worrisome.”

“There is nothing good in this and calls for concern,” he said.

Even though there appeared to be a diminished number of attacks Monday, computer outages still affected segments of life across the globe, especially in Asia, where Friday’s attacks occurred after business hours.

China

China said 29,000 institutions had been affected, along with hundreds of thousands of devices. Japan’s computer emergency response team said 2,000 computers at 600 locations were affected there.

Universities and other educational institutions appeared to be the hardest hit in China. China’s Xinhua News Agency said railway stations, mail delivery, gas stations, hospitals, office buildings, shopping malls and government services also were affected.

Elsewhere, Britain said seven of the 47 trusts that run its national health care system were still affected, with some surgeries and outpatient appointments canceled as a result. In France, auto manufacturer Renault said one of its plants that employs 3,500 workers stayed shut Monday as technicians dealt with the aftermath of the Friday attacks.

Security patches

Computer security experts have assured individual computer users who have kept their operating systems updated that they are relatively safe, but urged companies and governments to make sure they apply security patches or upgrade to newer systems.

They advised those whose networks have been effectively shut down by the ransomware attack not to make the payment demanded, the equivalent of $300, paid in the digital currency bitcoin.

However, the authors of the “WannaCry” ransomware attack told their victims the amount they must pay will double if they do not comply within three days of the original infection, by Monday in most cases. The hackers warned that they will delete all files on infected systems if no payment is received within seven days.

 
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Austria’s junior government coalition partner chose a new leader Sunday and gave him the unprecedented authority he demanded as a condition for leading his party into expected early elections this fall.

Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told reporters that senior officials of his People’s Party agreed to let him choose all ministers of any government he would head, as well as to nominate candidates for parliament that would include party outsiders.

Speaking after a closed meeting, Kurz said that the gathering also agreed to contest at least the next elections under a name change. Instead of the People’s Party, Kurz and other candidates would now run under the “List Sebastian Kurz – the new People’s Party.”

“We have decided to start a movement,” Kurz told reporters.  “We’re going to rely on proven forces from within the People’s Party, but at the same time we’re going to bring new people on board.”

The power grab is significant in a party where provincial governors have historically had an outsize say in running federal affairs, including pushing through ministerial appointments and overriding major policy decisions by the federal leader.

With few exceptions, that has led party heads to resign in frustration in recent decades. The latest, Reinhold Mitterlehner, threw in the towel Wednesday after less than three years as party leader and vice chancellor.

The center-right People’s Party is now a distant third among voters. But Kurz, a telegenic 30-year old, regularly tops political popularity polls.

That is due in part for his embrace of a harder line on immigrants and other positions of the right-wing Freedom Party, which leads in voter support. But he avoids that party’s xenophobic polemics, as he walks the line between keeping People’s Party supporters and attracting Freedom Party backers.

Acceptance of Kurz’s demands reflects recognition by the party’s power-brokers that refusal would mean an almost certain slide in voter support.

The often cantankerous People’s Party-Social Democratic coalition has shown increased signs of fraying over the past months. Still, Social Democratic Chancellor Christian Kern had resisted People’s Party calls to move up elections from next year.

But as People’s Party officials gathered Sunday he told state broadcaster ORF: “I assume that there will certainly be an election this fall.”
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Paris bid leaders want to capitalize on the sense of optimism surrounding new President Emmanuel Macron to beat Los Angeles and secure the Olympic Games in 2024 — not 2028.

With the IOC currently assessing a proposal to award the next two Olympics — one to each city — Paris officials insist the French capital city is the right choice for 2024.

The 39-year-old Macron, France’s youngest-ever president, officially took office on Sunday as the IOC evaluation commission started a three-day visit to Paris.

“Our team has a new member, the new President of France, Emmanuel Macron,” bid leader Tony Estanguet said on Sunday. “He’s been a fantastic supporter of our bid from the beginning. He will be with us all the way to Lima and hopefully beyond.”

Los Angeles and Paris are the only two bidders left for the 2024 Games, which will be awarded in September at a meeting of Olympic leaders in Peru. The race began with five cities, but Rome, Hamburg, Germany, and Budapest, Hungary, all pulled out.

The IOC has four vice presidents looking into the prospect of awarding the 2024 and 2028 Games at the same time in September.

“We have one goal during these few days: to convince you that Paris is the right city, with the right vision, at the right moment,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said. “The right city with world-class venues and accommodation, and the best public transport in the world, ready right now.”

International Olympic Committee members were in Los Angeles earlier this week to meet with the U.S. bid leaders and inspect their planned venues. While Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appeared at least willing to consider hosting the 2028 Olympics if the city isn’t awarded its first choice of 2024, Hidalgo said Paris is set for the earlier edition.

“With financial and political stability and support, we are ready right now,” Hidalgo said. “At the right moment, as the no risk option.”

Patrick Baumann, the chair of the IOC evaluation commission, said Sunday’s discussions with Paris leaders focused solely on their project for 2024.

“Right now we are still in a process where we assess a potential candidacy for 2024,” Baumann told a press conference. “2024-2028 was not a matter of discussion.” 

The French government has pledged one billion euros ($1.1 billion) of support for the Paris bid and Macron is expected to confirm that amount. If Paris is awarded the 2024 Games, the infrastructure budget is expected to total 3 billion euros, with operational costs of 3.2 billion euros.

Paris is also betting on the compactness of its plans to make the difference. According to the bid dossier, 84 percent of the athletes will be able to reach their competition venues in less than 25 minutes, and more than 70 percent of the proposed venues are existing facilities, with a further 25 percent relying on temporary structures.

Paris, which last staged the Olympics in 1924, failed in bids for the 1992, 2008, and 2012 Games.

With the pro-business and pro-EU Macron, Paris bid leaders have a strong supporter. The new president has already thrown his weight behind Paris’ bid, telling IOC President Thomas Bach over the phone of its “expected benefits for all French people.”    

Macron did not attend Sunday’s night gala dinner with IOC members in Paris but invited the evaluation commission on Tuesday to the Elysee Palace before they leave.

Meanwhile, the Paris team added another high-profile figure to their list of backers on Sunday as it unveiled France soccer great Zinedine Zidane as their latest ambassador.

“I was involved in several bids, but this one is really close to our hearts,” said Zidane, who also supported the Qatar bid to host soccer’s 2022 World Cup and was involved in Paris’s 2008 and 2012 failed bids.  

IOC members started their visit with a full day of discussions on Paris’ proposals that will be followed by venue visits on Monday and further meetings on the final day.

“Our friends of Paris 2024 presented us with an exceptional and well detailed bid presentation,” Baumann said. “We have two cities with a wonderful Olympic spirit. It’s difficult to give them less than 10 out of 10.”
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives defeated their center-left rivals in a key state election Sunday in the country’s most populous region.

Exit polls showed Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union with a strong surge of support in North Rhine-Westphalia, the home state and traditional stronghold of her chief rival, Social Democrat Martin Schulz, who is challenging the German leader in the national election in late September.

Schulz conceded Sunday’s loss, saying, “This is a difficult day for the Social Democrats, a difficult day for me personally as well.  I come from the state in which we took a really stinging defeat today.”

He urged his party to focus on the September 24 vote, saying, “We will sharpen our profile further.  We have to as well.”

The exit polls showed the Christian Democrats winning 34.5 percent of the vote in North Rhine-Westphalia, home to 17.9 million people, nearly a quarter of the German population, with the Social Democrats at 30.5 percent.  Other parties trailed far behind the two leaders.

The conservatives’ general-secretary, Peter Tauber, said the Christian Democratic Union “has won the heartland of the Social Democrats.”

 
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Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $124 billion Sunday for his ambitious new Silk Road plan to forge a path of peace, inclusiveness and free trade, and called for the abandonment of old models based on rivalry and diplomatic power games.

China has touted what it formally calls the Belt and Road initiative as a new way to boost global development since Xi unveiled the plan in 2013, aiming to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

China’s most important diplomatic event of the year, the two-day summit offers Xi another chance to bolster China’s global leadership ambitions as U.S. President Donald Trump promotes “America First” and questions existing global free trade initiatives like NAFTA.

Trade and economic development

“We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy,” Xi told the opening of the summit.

Xi said the world must create conditions that promote open development and encourage the building of systems of “fair, reasonable and transparent global trade and investment rules.”

 “Trade is the important engine of economic development,” Xi said.

He said the world must promote the multilateral trade system, the establishment of free trade regions, and the facilitation of free trade.

Big funding boost

Xi pledged a massive funding boost to the new Silk Road, including an extra 100 billion yuan ($14.50 billion) into the existing Silk Road Fund, 380 billion in loans from two policy banks and 60 billion yuan in aid to developing countries and international institutions in new Silk Road countries.

In addition, Xi said China would encourage financial institutions to expand their overseas yuan fund businesses to the tune of 300 billion yuan.

Xi did not give a timeframe for the new loans, aid and funding pledged Sunday. Leaders from 29 countries are attending the forum, which ends Monday.

Western unease

Some Western diplomats have expressed unease about both the summit and the plan as a whole, seeing it as an attempt to promote Chinese influence globally.

China has rejected criticism of the plan and the summit, saying the scheme is open to all, is a win-win, and aimed only at promoting prosperity.

“What we hope to create is a big family of harmonious co-existence,” Xi said, adding pursuit of the initiative will not resort to outdated geopolitical maneuvering.

“China is willing to share its development experience with all countries. We will not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. We will not export our system of society and development model, and even more will not impose our views on others,” Xi said.

“In advancing the Belt and Road, we will not retread the old path of games between foes,” he said. “Instead we will create a new model of cooperation and mutual benefit.”

Xi: Road open to all

Xi said the new Silk Road would be open to all, including Africa and the Americas, which are not situated on the traditional Silk Road.

“No matter if they are from Asia and Europe, or Africa or the Americas, they are all cooperative partners in building the Belt and Road,” he said.

Some of China’s most reliable allies and partners are at the forum, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

There are also several European leaders attending, including the prime ministers of Spain, Italy, Greece and Hungary.
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Former President Mauno Koivisto, who in the 1980s and 1990s guided Finland from the shadow of the crumbling Soviet Union and into the European Union, has died at a hospital in Helsinki. He was 93.

The office of the Finnish presidency announced the death early Saturday. Koivisto’s wife, Tellervo, said earlier this year that he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

The son of a ship’s carpenter, Koivisto, a Social Democrat, served two six-year presidential terms between 1982 and 1994, a tumultuous period that followed the 25-year presidential reign of Urho Kekkonen. He earlier served twice as prime minister, from 1968 to 1970 and 1979 to 1982.

Koivisto is widely credited as president with strengthening the role of parliament, after his nationalist predecessor consolidated much political power within the office of the presidency.

Koivisto is also broadly acknowledged for building strong ties with the last Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, while also establishing rapport with U.S. President George H.W. Bush as Europe began in the late 1980s to witness the beginning of the end of communism. He also maintained strong ties with Bush’s predecessor, Ronald Reagan.

In a statement Saturday, President Sauli Niinisto described Koivisto as a leader in “the generation that took part in wars and [the] following rebuilding, and which guided Finland to the path of current success and well-being.”

In his last interview four years ago, Koivisto was asked by the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper to summarize what he viewed as important in life.

“In life, it is generally wise to trust that everything will go well. It often pays off, even if you wouldn’t have believed” it would, he said.
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