Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont and four former ministers turned themselves in Sunday in Brussels, following Spain’s issuance of a warrant for their arrests.

Puigdemont had said Saturday he intended to cooperate with officials in Brussels, where he fled last week, tweeting, “We are prepared to fully cooperate with Belgian justice following the European arrest warrant issued by Spain.”

A Spanish judge issued the warrant for Puigdemont a day after she jailed nine members of the region’s separatist government pending possible charges over last week’s declaration of independence. One person was later granted bail.

The National Court judge filed the request with the Belgian prosecutor to detain Puigdemont and his four aides, and issued separate European search and arrest warrants to alert Interpol in case they fled Belgium.

Belgian federal prosecutors said they had received the arrest warrant and could question Puigdemont in coming days.

Puigdemont and the four others were being sought on charges that included rebellion, sedition and embezzlement as a result of a Spanish investigation into their roles in pushing for secession for Catalonia.
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The former leader of Spain’s Catalonia region said Saturday that he would cooperate with Belgian officials following Spanish authorities’ issuance of a European warrant for his arrest.

Carles Puigdemont said in a tweet: “We are prepared to fully cooperate with Belgian justice following the European arrest warrant issued by Spain.”

A Spanish judge issued the warrant for Puigdemont a day after she jailed nine members of the region’s separatist government pending possible charges over last week’s declaration of independence. One person was later granted bail.

Puigdemont, who was thought to be in Belgium, didn’t specify his current location, though he and several aides fled to Brussels last week after Spanish authorities removed them from office.

The National Court judge filed the request with the Belgian prosecutor to detain Puigdemont and his four aides, and issued separate European search and arrest warrants to alert Interpol in case they fled Belgium.

Belgian federal prosecutors said they had received the arrest warrant and could question Puigdemont in coming days.

Puigdemont’s Belgian attorney did not answer calls requesting comment, but had said that his client would fight extradition to Spain without seeking political asylum.

Puigdemont and the four others were being sought on charges that included rebellion, sedition and embezzlement as a result of a Spanish investigation into their roles in pushing for secession for Catalonia.
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Russia is not currently cooperating with the United States on discussions about North Korea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reportedly told the Russian RIA news agency.

“There is no cooperation so far. Only periodic exchanges of views,” Peskov said, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are likely to meet during an Asian economic forum next week.

If the two leaders do meet, Peskov said there is a “great probability” they would discuss the situation in North Korea.

Trump and Putin will be in the Philippines to attend the East Asia Summit, in addition to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting.

Ahead of Trump’s visit, two supersonic aircraft conducted a bombing exercise over the Korean Peninsula as a show of force against North Korea. The B-1B bombers were escorted on the simulated drills Thursday by two South Korean fighter jets, according to an official with that country’s military.

North Korean state TV denounced the exercise as a “surprise nuclear strike drill” and said “gangster-like U.S. imperialists” were attempting to provoke a nuclear war.

The increased tensions on the Korean peninsula come as North Korea has, in recent months, tested nuclear bombs, missiles that could potentially reach the U.S. mainland and launched multiple missiles over Japan.

 
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A Spanish judge on Friday issued an international arrest warrant for Catalonia’s ousted president, a day after she jailed members of the region’s separatist government pending possible charges over last week’s declaration of independence.

The national court judge issued the warrant for Carles Puigdemont in response to a request from state prosecutors.

Puigdemont flew to Brussels earlier this week with a handful of his deposed ministers after Spanish authorities removed him and his cabinet from office for pushing ahead with the declaration, despite repeated warnings that it was illegal.

Puigdemont’s Belgian attorney said he would fight extradition without seeking political asylum.

The ousted president told Belgian state broadcaster RTBF he would turn himself in to Belgian authorities, “but not to Spanish justice.”

He said he would run for re-election and, if need be, run his campaign from Belgium, where he remained in hiding.

Puigdemont told RBTF Friday that he was “ready to be the candidate” in the election, scheduled for late December.

“We can run a campaign anywhere because we’re in a globalized world,” he said.

The beleaguered president was due to appear at Spain’s National Court on Thursday to answer questions in a rebellion case brought by Spanish prosecutors, but he did not show up.

The judge jailed nine former members of Catalonia’s separatist government on Wednesday, while they were being investigated on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement connected to their push for achieving the region’s independence from Spain.

She later granted one of them bail at $58,300.

In an earlier address from Brussels broadcast by Catalan regional television TV3, Puigdemont called for the release of “the legitimate government of Catalonia” as hundreds of people gathered outside the Catalan parliament also calling for them to be freed.

“As the legitimate president of Catalonia, I demand the release of the members of my cabinet,” he said. “I demand respect for all political options, and I demand the end of the political repression.”

Puigdemont said the imprisonment of former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras and eight members of his cabinet was an attack on democracy and not compatible with a “Europe in the 21st century.”

Meanwhile, data released Friday showed that unemployment rose sharply in Catalonia in October, more than anywhere else in Spain, as companies fled in the midst of the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
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Rescuers pulled 700 boat migrants to safety in the Mediterranean and found 23 bodies during one operation on Friday, an Italian coastguard spokesman said, the second loss of multiple lives recorded in the area so far this week.

After around three years of mass arrivals, the number of migrants reaching Italy has fallen sharply since July, when Rome struck a deal with Libya to block what had become a busy route for people smugglers.

A Spanish ship deployed in the European Union’s Operation Sophia naval mission recovered the dead, along with 64 survivors, from a sinking rubber boat, the mission said on its Facebook page.

“A tough day in the Central Mediterranean Sea,” the Facebook post said, adding the rescues had started in the early morning.

Six rescue operations were carried out in total on Friday, the spokesman said, making it one of the busiest days for rescues in recent months. Seven people were found dead and 900 saved on Wednesday.

The Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti was heading for the southern port of Reggio Calabria with 764 rescued migrants on board, the ANSA news agency said in a report confirmed by the coast guard spokesman.

Diciotti was also carrying eight dead bodies, ANSA said. It was not clear if they had been among those recovered by the Spanish ship.

Those rescued were originally from Sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Libya, Bangladesh, Algeria, Egypt, Nepal, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, ANSA said.

In the Aegean Sea on Friday, three people drowned, six were known to be missing and scores of others were rescued while trying to reach Greece.

 
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In the days of communist Albania’s near-total isolation, Saimir Maloku used his technical know-how to gain illicit glimpses of the outside world. Unluckily for him, as he and his father watched forbidden Italian television, the regime was watching him.

Maloku was jailed for nine years in 1976 after the secret police bugged his home. Four decades on, he can visit a unique Tirana museum and see for himself the kind of listening devices that betrayed him.

At the Museum of Surveillance, created in the former headquarters of the feared Sigurimi security service, Albanians can now inspect some of the spying paraphernalia used by dictator Enver Hoxha’s totalitarian state as well as the files kept on many of them.

“Until now nothing had been done to show how Albanians were spied upon and kept in check, so this is a good step to illustrate the history of spying we were the victims of,” Maloku, now 71, told Reuters.

Visiting the museum, Maloku told the story of how he had wanted to help his paralyzed father by broadening his television viewing beyond the drab daily four hours of Albanian state broadcasts.

‘Opened a window’

An electronic engineer, he built a device he called “the can” to convert UHF signals from Italy’s RAI television so they could be viewed on an Albanian set.

“The can opened a window into the West for the Albanians. I made them free of charge for my friends, but later learned some of them had denounced me,” Maloku said.

The Sigurimi planted a listening device in a wall to gather evidence against him.

The same model of device — once attached to a broomstick to spy on the Italian Embassy in Tirana — is on display in another museum depicting the work of the communist-era Interior Ministry.

In the age of the smartphone, both Maloku’s and the Sigurimi’s electronic gizmos now look quaintly crude. But they did their jobs, and Maloku went to prison for devising his, convicted of hostile “agitation and propaganda.” He remembers singing Rolling Stones and Beatles songs in his underground cell to preserve his sanity.

Before the collapse of Albanian communism in 1990, the building that now houses the Museum of Surveillance was known as the “House of Leaves” — a pun referring to both its ivy-clad walls and the “leaves” of secret police files kept on citizens.

During World War II it was used by the Gestapo of the occupying Nazi forces.
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A Spanish judge is considering whether to issue an international arrest warrant for Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont over the region’s contested independence drive.

Puigdemont flew to Brussels with four members of his cabinet this week after Spanish authorities removed him and the 13-member Cabinet from office for pushing ahead with secession.

If an arrest warrant is issued, Puigdemont will fight extradition without seeking political asylum, according to his Belgian lawyer.

Puigdemont had been due to appear at Spain’s National Court on Thursday to answer questions in a rebellion case brought by Spanish prosecutors, but he did not show up.

The judge jailed nine former members of Catalonia’s separatist government on Wednesday, while they are investigated on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement connected to their push for the region’s independence from Spain.

She later granted one of them bail at $58,300.

In a short address from Brussels broadcast by Catalan regional television TV3, Puigdemont called for the release of “the legitimate government of Catalonia” as hundreds of people gathered outside the Catalan parliament also calling for them to be freed.

“As the legitimate president of Catalonia, I demand the release of the members of my cabinet. I demand respect for all political options and I demand the end of the political repression,” he said.

Puigdemont said the imprisonment of former Catalan Vice-President Oriol Junqueras and 8 members of his cabinet was an attack on democracy and not compatible with a “Europe in the 21st century.”

Meanwhile, data released Friday showed that unemployment rose sharply in Catalonia in October, more than anywhere else in Spain as companies fled in the midst of the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
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The resignation of Britain’s defense secretary amid a growing sexual harassment scandal is a sign the U.K.’s corridors of power are not always a comfortable place for women.

As allegations of impropriety and abuse spread to more politicians and officials, many women are expressing hope this will be a tipping point in transforming Britain’s macho political culture. Some men, though, worry they are being unfairly tainted by allegations of sexism.

​Political system challenged

Michael Fallon, a dependable lieutenant to Prime Minister Theresa May, quit as defense secretary late Wednesday, saying his past behavior “may have fallen below the high standards” expected. Fallon had apologized after a newspaper reported that he had repeatedly touched a journalist’s knee at a function in 2002, and reports suggested more allegations about him might emerge.

Fallon’s resignation is an unwelcome challenge for May, who is struggling to keep her fractious government united as Britain heads for the European Union exit. She replaced Fallon on Thursday with Gavin Williamson, the former Conservative chief whip.

It’s also a challenge to the British political system.

Multiple sexual-harassment claims against British politicians have emerged since the scandal around movie mogul Harvey Weinstein emboldened people in many industries, including politics, to speak up about improper behavior by powerful individuals who control their future job prospects.

In a new allegation, a 27-year-old woman told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that Labour Party lawmaker Kelvin Hopkins inappropriately touched her at a university event in 2014. Labour said it had suspended Hopkins after receiving allegations and was investigating.

​Intense and insular place

Britain’s Parliament is an intense and insular place, where politicians and parties employ large numbers of young and ambitious staff. The building, full of long corridors, dark crannies and cheap bars, is the perfect stage for liaisons, intrigue — and worse.

“Where you have lots of young individuals, be they men or women, with very little in terms of employment protection, it seems like the perfect environment for abuse,” said Victoria Honeyman, a lecturer in politics at the University of Leeds.

She said the allegations so far were likely “the tip of the iceberg.”

“I think there will be an awful lot of very, very worried individuals across the political spectrum,” she said.

For decades, Parliament was famous for a rowdy, male-dominated culture of hard drinking, boozy debates and midnight votes.

History of scandal

British politics also has a long history of sex scandals: The “Profumo affair” involving a government minister, a model and a Soviet attache helped bring down the Conservative government in 1963. Prime Minister John Major’s early-1990s government was debilitated by regular reports of embarrassing affairs.

Parliament’s raucous atmosphere was dealt a blow several years ago with a move to more “family friendly” hours, with sittings starting earlier in the morning and ending earlier in the evening. One of the building’s many bars has been turned into a nursery for the children of legislators and staff.

The number of female lawmakers has risen, though they are still outnumbered by men. When Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first female prime minister in 1979, 3 percent of lawmakers were women. The figure rose to 22 percent by 2010, and to 32 percent this year.

In addition to a woman as prime minister, Scotland has a female leader in First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and women lead the Scottish Conservatives, the Welsh party Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.

Yet many women in politics say there is much further to go.

Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, said the stories emerging from the worlds of entertainment, media and politics “demonstrate an epidemic of sexual harassment which is absolutely about power — a massive, endemic imbalance of power.”

Fears of more to come

May has summoned party leaders to a meeting next week to discuss how to deal with harassment claims, amid worries there is more to come.

The No. 2 in May’s Cabinet, Damian Green, is being investigated by officials over an allegation he made inappropriate advances to a Conservative activist. Labour is investigating claims by a young activist that the party discouraged her from reporting that she was raped at a party conference.

A leaked document dubbed the “spreadsheet of shame” compiled by Conservative Party aides lists allegations about 36 lawmakers. The information ranges from gossipy claims of consensual affairs to allegations such as “handsy with women at parties” and “paid a woman to be quiet.”

Some of those named on the list have come forward to deny wrongdoing and suggest they are victims of a witch hunt.

Conservative lawmaker Dominic Raab said the document contained a false allegation that he had taken out an injunction against a woman, and accused those publishing untrue claims of “harassment and intimidation.”

As claim and counterclaim flew, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson called for major action, saying politicians are going to “need some pretty big shovels for the Augean stable” that must be cleaned.

“The house clearing that is about to happen needs to happen, and we can never go back to where we were before,” she said.
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Poland plans to bar Ukrainians with “anti-Polish views,” its foreign minister said on Thursday, emphasizing the nationalist credentials of his ruling party that often talks of the “historic wrongs” inflicted on Poles by their neighbors.

Witold Waszczykowski said the policy was a reaction to disrespect shown at a Polish cemetery in the western city of Lviv, which was part of Poland before World War II.

The foreign ministry said lion sculptures at the cemetery’s entrances that hold shields inscribed with the Polish phrases “Always faithful” and “To you, Poland” had been covered up with boxes.

Waszczykowski said Ukrainians who express anti-Polish sentiments or make it difficult to maintain ageing Polish symbols in Ukraine would be refused visas. He did not say how the policy would be applied in practice.

“At the moment, we are launching procedures that will not allow people with extremely anti-Polish views to come to Poland … Those who demonstrate and use administrative instruments against Poland will also bear the consequences,” Waszczykowski told state-run TVP1 television.

Poland is home to between 1.5 million and 2 million Ukrainians who left their country seeking jobs after the 2014 Maidan uprising and conflict with pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine plunged their economy into recession.

Despite Poland’s support for an independent Ukraine that can stand up to Russia, tensions over the countries’ troubled shared history have risen since the Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in Poland two years ago.

Poland last year passed a resolution that declared the World War Two-era killing of tens of thousands of Poles by units in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) “genocide.” Ukraine rejects that label, saying the killings were tragic and calling for reconciliation and forgiveness.

Waszczykowski said Poland’s sympathy for Ukraine’s struggles with Russia must not push “historical issues” into the background.

“It cannot be that geopolitics, that the Russian aggression will be an excuse and that for years we will not settle the issues that divide us,” Waszczykowski said.
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Ankara is anticipating who will succeed Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, following his announcement he plans to quit. Relations between Ankara and Iraqi Kurds, once close allies, collapsed after Barzani held an independence referendum. But Ankara could be eyeing his nephew as an ideal successor.

Turkey made little secret of its pleasure at Sunday’s announcement by Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani that he is planning to step down. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Barzani for holding an independence referendum, which Ankara feared could fuel similar secessionist demands among its own restive Kurdish minority.

At his weekly news conference, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin made clear Ankara was already looking to who will lead Iraqi Kurds going forward.

“A new tableau appears when the term of office of Masoud Barzani is not extended and there will be a transfer of his duties to Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani,” Kalin said.

Nechirvan Barzani, a nephew of outgoing President Masoud Barzani, is widely seen as by Turkey as the ideal future leader. Being a regular visitor to Ankara, Nechirvan has developed close ties with Erdogan. The Iraqi Kurdish prime minister’s coolness towards the independence referendum will likely enhance his credentials in Ankara.

His close ties with Turkey reportedly extend to significant personal business investments. Analysts say he is also seen by Turkey’s political leaders as sympathetic to its calls for more help in its war against the Kurdish rebel group PKK, which is has many bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen established Turkey’s consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan. He said while Nechirvan Barzani is viewed as the ideal new leader of Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey is being careful not to be seen to be interfering in the succession process.

“We know that Mr. Nechirvan Barzani’s relations with Ankara are best when compared to other political figures in Iraqi Kurdistan,” he said. “So that would be seen as a welcome development [by Ankara], although judging by the statement of Mr. [Mevlut] Cavusolgu, who is the foreign minister of Turkey, the official position of Ankara is that this is the internal political affairs of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, so Ankara will not have an official reaction to this development.”

Despite Nechirvan Barzani’s close ties with Ankara, the Turkish president has refused to meet him along with the rest of the Iraqi Kurdish leadership for several months, a result of the collapse in relations between the once-close allies.

But Turkish presidential spokesman Kalin said a future request by the Iraqi Kurdish prime minister would now be considered, but will hinge on unspecified conditions being met by the Iraqi Kurds.Ankara is demanding the Iraqi Kurdish leadership annul the result of October’s referendum vote, in which 93 percent of Kurds voted in favor of independence.
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A Spanish judge Thursday ordered nine former leaders from Catalonia jailed while they are investigated on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement connected to their push for the region’s independence from Spain.

The judge later granted one of them bail at $58,300.

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was not among those who appeared in court in Madrid. A state prosecutor has called for an international arrest warrant to be issued for Puigdemont as he did not abide by a court order to appear. Puigdemont, along with four members of his former Cabinet, have been in Brussels for a week.

Puigdemont has dismissed the charges against him as politically motivated and said he would only return to Spain if he receives a guarantee that the legal process will be impartial and fair.

Prosecutors have filed charges against 14 Catalan leaders, including Puigdemont and his deputy, Oriol Junqueras.

Spain’s central government moved to take control of Catalonia last week and disbanded the regional parliament in response to an October 1 independence referendum and subsequent declaration of independence by Catalan lawmakers.

Catalonia itself is divided on the secession issue. Those who participated in the referendum opted for independence, but the opposition boycotted the vote, while the Madrid government also declared it illegal.

Last week’s move to strip Catalonia of its autonomy included setting up new elections in the region for December. 

 
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Britain’s defense secretary has become the first Cabinet casualty of a burgeoning sex harassment scandal roiling the country’s Parliament and threatening Prime Minister Theresa May’s highly fragile minority Conservative government, already riven over Brexit.

Michael Fallon resigned Wednesday after allegations that he’d repeatedly put his hand on the knee of a female political journalist during a party conference.  His resignation came as he was preparing for a scheduled meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Amid claims he had behaved inappropriately towards other women journalists, Britain’s 65-year-old defense secretary said he had fallen below the high standards required of his position.

Several other ministers are under investigation, including May’s deputy, Damian Green, who’s accused of making inappropriate sexual advances towards a journalist, and Mark Garnier, the international trade minister, who demanded his secretary buy sex toys for him and repeatedly made sexual remarks about her publicly.

Garnier has dismissed the incidents as “good-humored high jinks” and “amusing conversation,” but apparently that has not satisfied May, who has declined to express her confidence in him.

Two other ministers have denied allegations of sexual harassment, and in Britain’s House of Commons there is a swirl of rumors circulating about more ministers amid a torrent of misconduct allegations that started to flow after harassment and rape accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Allegations of sexual abuse have included a charge of rape by an activist against a senior lawmaker in the opposition Labour Party.  Researchers and aides in the House of Commons have been keeping a list of serial “sex pests” in the ranks of the country’s lawmakers that include nearly 50 names.  

The list, portions of which are spreading across social media sites, includes seven Cabinet ministers, 14 junior ministers and eight former ministers.

“The culture has changed over the years and what might have been acceptable 10 or 15 years ago is clearly not acceptable now,” Fallon told the BBC Wednesday.  “Parliament now has to look at itself and the prime minister has made very clear that conduct needs to be improved and we need to protect the staff of Westminster,” he added.

Government officials admit they are concerned other Cabinet ministers could be forced to resign over past conduct, not only embarrassing May but risking the longevity of her government, which is engulfed by sharp divisions over Brexit and economic policy that threaten to tear apart the Conservative Party.

May has been able to just about contain, partly thanks to her deputy Damian Green, the internecine rifts by balancing her Cabinet between so-called “hard Brexiters,” who want a clean break from the European Union, and those who want to maintain close links with the economic bloc or not to exit at all.  

“The fall of Michael Fallon is a mighty blow to Theresa May.  Her rickety government has just lost one of its old reliables,” argued veteran political commentator Polly Toynbee.  She added, “What an irony it would be if another good old British parliamentary sex scandal brought down this government” rather than Brexit.

May’s minority government is dependent on the votes of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Unionists.  But their votes might not be sufficient if there are not only departures from her Cabinet, but also resignations from the House of Commons, thinning out Conservative ranks in the Parliament, and triggering an early election.   

Fallon’s downfall shocked Conservative lawmakers Thursday.  A solid politician, they had thought the first casualty would be among the more colorful characters of the Cabinet, most likely the foreign secretary and leading Brexiter Boris Johnson, who has long been dogged by controversy over highly public affairs and the fathering of a child outside his marriage.

Some lawmakers included on the list compiled by House of Commons researchers and aides have reacted angrily, complaining the definition of sexual misconduct being used is far too broad.  Some lawmakers have been included in the list, nicknamed by Britain’s tabloid press “the dirty dossier,” because they had affairs with staff even though the relationships were consensual.

But many of the misconduct allegations include abuse, harassment and coercion.

Earlier this week, former Cabinet minister Stephen Crabb, who last year ran for the party leadership, apologized for sexting a 19-year-old woman after he interviewed her for a job.  Crabb resigned from the Cabinet last year following reports of a similar incident.

The House of Commons has long been notorious for sexual misadventures and misconduct and has had difficulty, despite the dramatic increase in the number of female lawmakers in recent years, from shaking off its reputation and habits as an “old boys club” where female staff have been considered prey and can come under pressure to agree to sexual favors to get jobs or keep them.

Women lawmakers, backed by some of their male counterparts, have long campaigned for the introduction of a tough disciplinary mechanism and a “grievance procedure” that is transparent and not convoluted as the current one to protect staff and deter misconduct.
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Britain’s Defense Minister Michael Fallon has resigned after allegations of inappropriate behavior emerged.

Fallon said in a resignation letter to Prime Minister Theresa May that his “previous conduct … may have fallen below the high standards that we require of the Armed Forces.”

May accepted the resignation Wednesday, saying she appreciated “the characteristically serious manner” in which Fallon had considered his position.

The sexual harassment and assault allegations brought against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein have emboldened women in several countries to speak out about their experiences.

In Britain, it has produced soul-searching about the growing number of reports of sexual harassment and abuse in politics. May has called a meeting of party leaders to discuss how to deal with the topic.

Fallon apologized this week for putting his hand on the knee of a journalist, Julia Hartley-Brewer, in 2002, but he was not being investigated over the incident.

Hartley-Brewer said she was “incredibly shocked” by Fallon’s resignation and did not think his decision was based solely on the 2002 incident.

“I’m assuming there are more allegations to come,” she told Sky News. “I doubt very much it’s because of my knee.”
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Dismissed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Wednesday he would ignore a court order to return to Spain to answer charges over the region’s push for independence, but he could testify from Belgium.

If Puigdemont fails to answer Thursday’s High Court summons, an arrest warrant could be issued that would make it virtually impossible for him to stand in a snap regional election called by the Spanish government for Dec. 21.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Puigdemont and his government on Friday, hours after the Catalan parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence in a vote boycotted by the opposition and declared illegal by Spanish courts.

On Monday, Spain’s state prosecutor filed charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds against Puigdemont for defying the central government by holding an referendum on secession on Oct. 1 and proclaiming  independence.

Puigdemont traveled to Belgium at the weekend with other members of the dismissed Catalan administration and hired a lawyer.

“Those summonses are part of proceedings that lack any legal basis and only seek to punish ideas. This is a political trial,” Puigdemont said in a statement signed by “the legitimate government of Catalonia.”

The High Court summoned Puigdemont and 13 other former members of the Catalan government to testify in Madrid on Thursday and Friday on the prosecutor’s charges.

A judge will then decide whether those called to testify should go to jail pending an investigation that could take several years and potentially lead to a trial. The judge might also grant them conditional bail or order them to surrender

their passports.

If Puigdemont and his associates did not turn up, the judge would be more likely to order them jailed as a flight risk.

The courts have also told the Catalan secessionist leaders to deposit 6.2 million euros ($7.2 million) by Friday to cover potential liabilities.

“Off to Prison?”

Three former Catalan government advisors returned to Spain from Belgium late on Tuesday and were greeted at Barcelona’s international airport by a small crowd chanting “off to prison.”

Puigdemont said on Tuesday he would only go back to Spain when given unspecified “guarantees” by the Spanish government.

He said he accepted the election called by Rajoy for December and Madrid said he was welcome to stand, though the legal proceedings might prevent that.

Uncertainty over how the crisis will play out has prompted more than 1,800 Catalonia-based companies to move their legal headquarters out of the region and the government to lower its national economic forecasts for next year.

On Wednesday, rating agency Moody’s said the declaration of independence and the suspension of self rule were credit negative for the region and the country, and that associated uncertainty would damage sentiment and consumer spending.

Moody’s raised Spain’s credit rating to Baa2 in 2014 as the country emerged from a prolonged economic slump.

On Tuesday, Moody’s affirmed Catalonia’s long-term issuer and debt ratings of Ba3, saying the government’s reinforced control compensated for the increased risks, in particular the region’s rapidly deteriorating business climate.
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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Tehran and Moscow must step up cooperation to isolate the United States and help stabilize the Middle East, state TV reported.

Iran and Russia are the main allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the United States, Turkey and most Arab states support rebel groups fighting to overthrow him.

Putin met Iranian political leaders in an effort to nurture a warming relationship strengthened since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened recently to abandon the international nuclear deal with Iran reached in 2015.

“Our cooperation can isolate America … The failure of U.S.-backed terrorists in Syria cannot be denied but Americans continue their plots,” Khamenei told Putin, according to Iranian state television.

Since Russia’s military intervention in Syria’s war in 2015, and with stepped-up Iranian military assistance, Assad has taken back large amounts of territory from rebels as well as swaths of central and eastern Syria from Islamic State militants.

Moscow is now trying to build on that success with a new diplomatic initiative, including a congress of Syria’s rival parties it plans in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on November 18, though a major opposition bloc has refused to take part.

Pragmatist Iranian President Hassan Rouhani echoed Khamenei, saying Iran and Russia together could tackle “regional terrorism” – an allusion to Sunni Muslim armed groups hostile to Iran, Assad and many other Arab states.

“Our cooperation has helped the fight against terrorism in the region…. Together we can establish regional peace and security,” Rouhani said in a televised joint press conference with Putin and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, who took part in a three-way summit in Tehran.

Rapprochement

The rapprochement between Iran and Russia is worrying for both Saudi Arabia, Shi’ite Muslim Tehran’s main Sunni rival for dominance in the Middle East, and the United States. Putin praised cooperation with Iran as “very productive.”

“We are managing to coordinate our positions on the Syrian issue,” Putin said.

Moscow is also an important ally for Iran in its renewed confrontation with the United States, where Trump broke ranks with major allies on October 13 by de-certifying Tehran’s nuclear deal with six world powers including Washington under his predecessor Barack Obama.

Trump has called the agreement “the worst deal ever negotiated” and branded Iran a “terrorist nation” for involvement in conflicts in the Middle East.

“We oppose any unilateral change in the multilateral nuclear deal,” Putin told Khamenei, Iranian state TV reported.

Russia has criticized Trump’s disavowal of the nuclear agreement, which has opened a 60-day window for the U.S. Congress to act to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran. These were lifted under the 2015 accord in return for Tehran curbing nuclear activity of potential use in developing an atomic bomb.

“This is a very important visit [by Putin]…. It shows the determination of Tehran and Moscow to deepen their strategic alliance …, which will shape the future of the Middle East,” an Iranian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“Both Russia and Iran are under American pressure…. Tehran has no other choice but to rely on Moscow to ease the U.S. pressure,” said the official.

Another Iranian official said Trump’s hawkish Iran policy had united the Islamic Republic’s often feuding leadership – split into hardline conservative, pragmatist and reformist factions – in alignment with Russia.

During Putin’s visit, Russian oil producer Rosneft and the National Iranian Oil Company agreed an outline deal to work on a number of “strategic” projects in Iran together worth up to $30 billion.

The deal appeared to dovetail with Putin’s strategy to reassert Russian political and economic influence in the Middle East that faded after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

 
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Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont agreed Tuesday to a snap election called by Spain’s central government when it took control of the region to stop it breaking away, but he said the fight for independence would go on.

Below are several scenarios of what could happen in the next few days.

Courts

Puigdemont and his sacked cabinet have been ordered to testify before the Spanish High Court on Thursday and Friday after charges of rebellion, sedition and breach of trust were filed against them.

Under Spain’s legal system, a judge will then decide whether Puigdemont should go to jail pending an investigation that can sometimes take up to several years — and a potential trial.

Puigdemont traveled to Brussels after the Catalan regional parliament issued a unilateral declaration of independence on Friday, and it was not immediately clear whether he would heed the call to appear before the court.

He had said earlier Tuesday he would return to Spain only when given unspecified “guarantees” by the Spanish government.

The same charges have been drawn up against the Catalan parliament’s speaker, Carme Forcadell, and other senior lawmakers but, given they have parliamentary immunity, they will testify before the Supreme Court, which is in charge of handling cases relating to lawmakers or members of the government.

Prosecutors have asked the courts to order Catalan secessionist leaders to deposit 6.2 million euros to cover potential liabilities but they have not sought preventive jail against them.

This could change, however, if Puigdemont and his associates did not show up at the High Court as the judge could deem them to be a flight risk and jail them.

Elections

It is not clear whether a snap regional election will resolve the crisis.

Two recent opinion polls showed support for independence may have started to wane.

But an official regional survey published Tuesday showed some 48.7 percent of Catalans believe the region should be independent, up from 41.1 percent in June and the highest since December 2014.

Based on 1,338 interviews, the Centre d’Estudis d’Opinio poll was the first survey released since the independence declaration though the bulk of it was taken before then, between Oct. 16 and Oct. 29.

Other opinion polls have also shown Catalonia is almost evenly split between pro- and anti-independence supporters.

One key thing to watch will be if pro-independence parties run on a joint ticket or on separate platforms. If they ran separately, they could find it more difficult to reach a parliamentary majority.

They must say whether they intend to run together before Nov. 7, and then put forward their candidates by Nov. 18.

Direct rule

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Catalonia’s government — including Puigdemont and his deputy Oriol Junqueras — and assumed direct control over the region. Central government ministries assumed the powers of the Catalan administration until a regional election takes place on Dec. 21.

That unprecedented step was implemented smoothly and calls for civil disobedience were widely disregarded.
…

A top Ukrainian official says Russia should provide U.S. investigators with access to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after his rule was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan revolution of 2014.

Dmitry Shymkiv, the deputy head of the administration of President Petro Poroshenko, said access to Yanukovych could prove vital to an understanding of the work done for Ukraine by indicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Shymkiv, whose role is similar to that of deputy chief of staff in the United States, spoke to VOA in response to comments made Tuesday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Washington should further investigate Ukrainian links to Manafort.

Kyiv “has information” about the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Lavrov told a news briefing, according to reports by Russian news outlet RIA.

U.S. investigators probing Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election — which Moscow denies having made — charged Manafort and a business associate on Monday with conspiracy to launder money and other crimes. The charges, some going back more than a decade, center on Manafort’s work in Ukraine, specifically for Yanukovych’s pro-Russian Party of Regions.

Yanukovych, who fled to Crimea just before it was annexed by Russian forces in February 2014, was not seen again until he held a news conference three weeks later in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Ukrainian TV channel TSN has reported that Yanukovych lives in the Rostov region, although Russian officials have never confirmed this.

“We need to understand … how all of the [ties between Manafort and top Ukrainian officials] took place,” said Shymkiv, secretary of the National Reform Council to the president of Ukraine and deputy head of Poroshenko’s administration.

Russia, however, has not cooperated with a Ukrainian government arrest warrant for Yanukovych, who stands accused of the “mass murder of peaceful citizens” during the uprising against his administration. Similarly, Shymkiv suggested in a Skype interview with VOA’s Ukrainian service, Russian officials would be unlikely to accommodate a U.S. request for Yanukovych to testify in the Manafort trial.

“I believe Yanukovych should be interrogated by the U.S. government, but I don’t think the Russians would let the Americans do that,” he said, laughing. “But it is absolutely a valid claim, because Yanukovych was the leader of Ukraine’s oligarchical structure, the leader of the corrupted vertical that was built in Ukraine since his rise to power in 2012 and up to the 2013 revolution of dignity.”

Watch: Ukraine, Russia urge US to expand Manafort probe

In his remarks Monday, Lavrov suggested that the charges over Manafort’s work for Ukraine indicated that the U.S. investigators had so far been unable to make a case against Russia, which has been the main focus of the probe headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

“He has been working for several months. Accused two former Trump campaign managers of what they were doing on behalf of Yanukovych. Even though they were looking for a Russian trace,” Lavrov said, according to the Russian news outlet Sputnik International.

Lavrov also hinted at a Ukrainian role in last year’s U.S. presidential election, saying Ukrainian officials “can say a lot about their position toward the candidates during the 2016 presidential campaign.”

Shymkiv said U.S. investigators should explore whether Manafort was connected to the confiscation of revenue from some Ukrainian businesses while he was serving as a consultant to Yanukovych’s party.

“There was very aggressive behavior toward Ukrainian business people, and there was a strong extraction of money from different industries, so [Yanukovych] should be interrogated in this case, or at least be a subject of the case, because Paul Manafort was hired by the Party of Regions, which represented Mr. Yanukovych,” said Shymkiv.

Ukraine focus on lobbying

Asked for his reaction to the Manafort indictment, Shymkiv, who is tasked with overseeing post-Maidan reforms under Poroshenko’s administration, said that while U.S. news coverage has been dominated by the money-laundering and tax-evasion charges, Ukrainians are focused on U.S.-based lobbying groups in the employ of various Ukrainian politicians.

“[The Manafort trial] puts a significant light on a lot of lobbying activities in the U.S. from international governments or some political forces,” he said. “We’ve seen many Ukrainian politicians hiring lobbyists for different activities — creating, for example, fake hearings in the Congress.

“We appreciate American journalists who investigated it and showed how fake it is. But it is important that through the interrogation of Manafort by U.S. law enforcement agencies, we might get some additional insight into corruption practices, or other similar activities, which were happening in Ukraine during the Yanukovych regime,” Shymkiv added. “This can help Ukrainian law enforcement agencies build stronger cases on convicting some Ukrainian individuals.”

Ukrainian prosecutors, he noted, are willing to remain in touch with U.S. Justice Department officials.

“As this Manafort case evolves, there will be more stories and more disclosures taking place,” he said.

Manafort, who served as Trump’s campaign manager for about two months in the summer of 2016, was forced to resign after reports surfaced about his financial relationship with Yanukovych.

This story originated in VOA’s Ukrainian service.
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Britain is accelerating preparations for “all eventualities” when it leaves the European Union, but both sides are hopeful an agreement on stepping up talks to unravel more than 40 years of partnership will be sealed soon.

With only 17 months remaining until Britain’s expected departure, the slow pace of talks has increased the possibility that London will leave without a deal, alarming business leaders who say time is running out for them to make investment decisions.

British and EU negotiators met in Brussels on Tuesday to try to agree a schedule for further divorce talks, with an initial proposal from the bloc to hold three more rounds before the end of the year not winning instant approval from London.

The pressure has spurred the British government to step up its Brexit plans, employing thousands more workers and spending millions to make sure customs posts, laws and systems work on day one of Brexit, even without a deal on a future relationship.

At a meeting with her ministers Tuesday, Prime Minister Theresa May was updated on plans for the tax and customs authority to add 3,000 to 5,000 workers next year and for spending of 500 million pounds ($660.45 million) for Brexit.

Domestic preparations

“Alongside the negotiations in Brussels, it is crucial that we are putting our own domestic preparations in place so that we are ready at the point that we leave the EU,” May’s spokesman told reporters.

“The preparatory work has seen a significant acceleration in recent months. Departments are preparing detailed delivery plans for each of the around 300 programs underway across government.”

May wants to silence critics in her ruling Conservative Party who are pressing her to walk away from talks, which have faltered over how much Britain should pay to leave the bloc.

Brexit campaigners are demanding that Britain leave with no deal if the talks do not move on beyond a discussion of the divorce settlement on a so-called Brexit bill, EU citizens rights and the border with EU member Ireland by December.

Brexit minister David Davis said Tuesday that he thought Britain would agree on some kind of basic deal with the European Union, even in the “very improbable” eventuality that they failed to agree on a trade deal.

Better tone

In a sign that an improved tone between the two sides, struck at a summit earlier this month, was continuing, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier reaffirmed his message in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, that he was ready to “speed up negotiations.”

May’s government has also long said it would welcome an acceleration in the talks. But the sides have yet to agree on how to do that following a top-level meeting in Brussels on October 19-20.

Barnier has proposed three rounds — one that did not take place last week, and two more in the weeks starting November 16 and December 4. London prefers continuous talks.

“We are ready to accelerate, but we must have something to talk about,” said an EU official.

This was what Britain’s Oliver Robbins and Barnier’s deputy, Sabine Weyand, were seeking to agree on in Brussels on Tuesday.

Before leaving the EU, May faces a struggle to get parliamentary support for a law to sever political, financial and legal ties with the bloc — the EU Withdrawal Bill, for which lawmakers have proposed hundreds of amendments.

Asked whether May was preparing to offer a concession over a final vote on any deal struck with the EU, her spokesman said there was “lots of speculation in relation to Brexit.”

“We’ve always said that we’ll do whatever is necessary,” he said.
…

Refugee advocates are calling attention to the poor treatment of refugees and migrants trapped on Greece’s islands, while in the mainland’s most notorious camp, conditions are equally grim.

November is expected to bring about the closure of Derveni, the only camp on mainland Greece where refugees and migrants are still living in tents, within the confines of a stripped-out factory on an industrial site near the northern city of Thessaloniki.

The end of Derveni — if it does happen — would come amid efforts to shift from crisis mode to a long term approach as the Greek state consolidates efforts to manage a new population of more than 50,000 people, many of whom Greek officials fear are likely to stay for years rather than months.

Amid an upturn in refugee arrivals into Greece and criticism of the state’s handling of the situation, Derveni’s beleaguered residents remain deeply uncertain about the future.

For some, the ‘End of the World’

“I’d thought things would get better but when I came here and experienced this. It felt like the end of the world,” said Jemal, a camp resident who asked to be identified by a name other than his real one.

Having fled his home in east Africa after speaking out against corruption. He remains too afraid to make his country of origin public. He crossed the Aegean on a dinghy from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesvos and spent four months there sleeping in a tent.

Around 13,500 migrants and refugees are currently stuck on the group of Greek islands that also include Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros.

They face possible deportation as they await the result of asylum applications more than a year and a half since an EU-Turkey deal promised, among other things, to return those whose applications were rejected back to Turkey, which in turn and in exchange for EU financial assistance would send “approved” refugees staying within its border on to European Union nations.

The general situation and poor living conditions in camps have provoked widespread criticism among humanitarian organizations, including a group of 19 that sent an open letter to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprias on October 23. The letter called on the Greek government to end its policy of keeping refugees and migrants contained on the islands and demanded that the government immediately transfer them to the mainland in order “to meet their protection needs.”

Jamal’s new reality on the mainland, however, was worse.

“I want to have a normal life, but here life is not normal,” he said.

Tough Conditions

Derveni was among the camps used by the government early last summer after the dispersal of thousands from an ad-hoc camp created at the crossing point into Macedonia when the country closed its borders.

More than 200 people are now in the camp, with some having arrived unregistered and on foot having taken the land route from Turkey into northern Greece, and others, like Jemal, transferred there from the Greek islands by the state.

In recent weeks, these transfers have stopped, though pressure to get refugees off the islands is once again growing with around 6,000 refugees arriving from Turkey last month — a sharp upturn on previous months.

In Derveni, with temperatures sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter and with volunteers denied access to the camp, despondence has spread. Drug use, thefts, and fighting have become a part of camp life.

“People come here and they have stress, they have problems, and they feel angry,” said Mohammed, an Iranian who was transferred to the camp from the Greek Island of Samos. He requested his surname not be used, as is common among many refugees who often fear that revealing their true identity might jeopardize their chances for asylum or the security of their families back home.

Meanwhile a source who recently accessed the camp warned about the safety conditions, telling VOA “If you had a fire in one tent, in ten minutes the whole warehouse would burn.”

“It’s not a place I’d wish on my worst enemy,” they added.

Yet to Close

Derveni is notorious among many humanitarian workers in Greece.

Liene Veide is a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, the UN’s refugee body, which has spoken out against relocating people from the islands to Derveni.

The camp was “not an appropriate place for any human being to live in, especially not long term,” said Veide.

Still, some turn up of their own accord, desperate for a place to live.

Ifigenia Anastasiadi, who until recently worked for a major NGO on the site, said the camp had become a “dump hole” for those whose nationalities meant they are less likely to be granted asylum.

In her time working there, Anastasiadi said she encountered a number of highly vulnerable residents, including those tortured in the countries they had fled.

Set to shut?

Gianluca Rocco, Greece’s chief of mission to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which along with the Greek army oversees Derveni, said improvements had not been made because the camp had been expected to close sooner.“We were told many times the camp would be closing,” said Rocco, “and sometimes when you’re trying to close a camp it creates a situation where you don’t want to get into investing in something that will close.”

Greek migration policy minister Giannis Mouzalas pledged the camp would shut by the end of last year before pushing the date back again, to May of 2017.

The ministry for migration policy has not responded to requests for comment.

UNHCR officials told VOA Derveni is among five camps in northern Greece to be closed by the end of November. Eight others closed earlier this year.

Rocco asserted that plans to close the camp were far more definite this time, he adding it was very late to begin efforts to equip Derveni for winter.

Around 100 Derveni residents are vulnerable enough to fit the criteria to be moved into apartments, and some have already been moved as part of a wider UNHCR scheme.

The rest, meanwhile, are expected to be shifted to new camps in the coming weeks. After that, the future remains uncertain, especially for those who arrived on foot.

Having left the islands to be confronted with equally bad conditions in Derveni, Jemal remains cynical about the prospects of the camp shutdown and any potential benefits for him.

“I’m not expecting anything,” he said, “I’ve been disappointed by promises before, so why would I expect anything from anyone?”
…

Official figures show that the robust economic recovery across the 19-country eurozone persisted during the third quarter, helping unemployment fall to a near 9-year low.

Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, said Tuesday that the eurozone economy grew by 0.6 percent during the July to September period. Though that’s slightly down on the stellar 0.7 percent tick recorded in the second quarter, it’s modestly higher than expectations for a 0.5 percent rise.

Separately, Eurostat said unemployment fell to 8.9 percent in September from 9.0 percent the previous month. That’s the lowest rate since January 2009.

Elsewhere, Eurostat said annual inflation in the eurozone dipped to 1.4 percent in October from 1.5 percent as the core rate, which strips out volatile items, surprisingly fell to 0.9 percent from 1.1 percent.

 
…

Ousted Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont is expected to make a public appearance Tuesday in Brussels, a day after he traveled there while Spanish prosecutors announced plans to seek sedition, rebellion and embezzlement charges against Catalan leaders.

Belgian lawyer Paul Bekaert told VRT television Monday Puigdemont was in Brussels and had appointed him as his lawyer.

“He is not in Belgium to specifically ask for political asylum. That is not decided yet,” Bekaert said.

Watch: Catalan leaders flee to Belgium

Chief prosecutor Jose Manuel Maza said Monday he would seek to charge the leaders of Catalonia who led a push to secede from Spain. It is up to a court to decide whether to move forward with the charges, which could bring lengthy jail terms, including up to 30 years for rebellion.

Catalonia held a referendum October 1 on the question of whether the autonomous region should break away from Spain. The government in Madrid rejected the secession push, and after Catalan lawmakers declared independence last week, the central government asserted control over the region and dissolved the local parliament.

New elections are set for December, and Catalonia’s separatist party announced it would field candidates.
…

When real estate mogul Donald Trump was running for the U.S. presidency, a young foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, attempted to arrange a meeting between Russian government officials and the Trump campaign. Trump, in an interview at the time, described Papadopoulos as “an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy.”

The would-be Trump-Russia meeting never occurred. But on Monday, however, special counsel Robert Mueller disclosed that Papadopoulos pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the timing and importance of his contacts with “an overseas professor.” He understood this person to have “substantial connections” to Russian officials that had “dirt” on Trump’s election challenger, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and to communications with “a certain female Russian national” believed to be a niece of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Papadopoulos, according to his guilty plea to a criminal information, told FBI agents in a January 27 interview that his contacts with the London professor came before he joined the Trump campaign and that his contacts with the Russian woman were casual and inconsequential, both of which prosecutors said were lies.

The prosecution’s statement of the case against Papadopoulos said he “made numerous false statements and omitted material facts” about his contacts with the professor and the Russian woman and a connection with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

U.S. Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Papadopoulos guilty plea “is just the latest in a series of undisclosed contacts, misleading public statements, potentially compromising information, and highly questionable actions from the time of the Trump campaign that together, remain a cause for deep concern and continued investigation.”

Papadopoulos graduated in 2009 from DePaul University in Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in political science and government, then earned a master’s degree from University College London and the London School of Economics. He later worked for the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank, from 2011 to 2015 before joining the unsuccessful Republican presidential campaign of Dr. Ben Carson, whom Trump later named as his housing secretary.

After Trump took office, Papadopoulos worked as an independent oil, gas and policy consultant.

With his guilty plea, Papadopoulos faces up to five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, but his sentence could be substantially less if he testifies about his contacts with Trump campaign officials that are described in the statement of his actions.

WATCH: What is an indictment?
…

A journalist became the second woman to enter Russia’s presidential race, saying on Monday she wanted to use the election to campaign for the rights of single mothers and children.

The presidential election takes place in March next year.

President Vladimir Putin is expected to stand and win, but has yet to confirm his plans.

Some opposition activists believe the Kremlin’s aim is to crown the field with candidates designed to distract and entertain in order to boost turnout and divide the liberal opposition.

The Kremlin denies that, saying anyone who meets the legal criteria to run can take part.

On Monday, mother-of-two Ekaterina Gordon, 37, who has worked as a TV and radio talk show host, said she was putting herself forward as an independent presidential candidate.

She said she had never voted, but had become disillusioned by both the liberal opposition and pro-Kremlin politicians.

“I understood that everyone is fed from the same trough,” Gordon said in an online video.

“There are many populist themes… But there is one reality — we are a country of single mothers, and no one gives a damn about them.”

She said she had not agreed her candidacy with the Kremlin and had experience of the kind of problems Russian woman faced due to her ownership of a law firm.

Another female candidate, Russian TV personality Ksenia Sobchak, said earlier this month she planned to run for president, offering liberal voters unhappy with Putin’s rule someone to back, though she, like Gordon, has little prospect of winning.

Post-Soviet Russia has never had a female president.

Kremlin critic and opposition leader Alexei Navalny wants to run too, but Russia’s central election commission has declared him ineligible due to a suspended prison sentence, which he says was politically-motivated.
…

The future of Turkey’s 11,000-year-old wine-making tradition is in question as the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to enforce restrictions on production, sale, and advertising of wine in line with his party’s vision of steering Turkey – with its historically western tastes – in the direction of conservative Islam. Jason Godman filed this WebVid.
…

Hundreds of women took to the streets of Paris and 10 other French cities to protest against sexual harassment in the wake of the scandal surrounding Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

In Paris, women gathered in Republic Square, waving signs bearing the #metoo hashtag used by tens of thousands of women to share personal stories of harassment and assault.

Similar gatherings were also held in Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille, among other cities.

As the #metoo campaign erupted across the United States, a similar campaign unfolded across France under the hashtag  #balancetonporc or #squealonyourpig. As in America, French women have begun naming and shaming their attackers.

Since it started, several prominent figures have been targeted in French assault claims, including a lawmaker in President Emmanuel Macron’s party, a judge on France’s equivalent of reality show “America’s Got Talent” and Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan, a leading lecturer in Islamic studies.

French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski, who is wanted in the U.S. for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in the 1970s, has also been hit with new abuse claims.

The avalanche of accusations was unleashed weeks ago when The New York Times and The New Yorker published reports of women accusing Weinstein of rape and sexual harassment going back decades. Among the accusers were some of Hollywood’s most prominent actresses, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette.
…

An air of calm settled over Barcelona after hundreds of thousands of Catalans attended a rally Sunday for Spanish unity.  The atmosphere of the rally was peaceful, as police helicopters monitored from above.

Amid a forest of Spanish national flags and chants of “Viva Espana,” protesters called for the jailing of Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who on Friday issued a declaration of independence shortly before the Spanish government stripped Catalonia of its autonomy.  

But the calm that followed the rally in the Catalan capital attended by an estimated 300,000 people had the quality of the stillness before a storm.  Few are ready to hazard a prediction of how events in Catalonia may unfold in the coming days in a confrontation that has seen intransigence from both sides.

How Madrid starts imposing direct rule Monday on its restive northeast region, and how separatists respond, will determine the next phase in the month-long cat-and-mouse standoff between the politicians in Madrid and Catalan secessionists.  Both appear to be banking on the other side tiring like a bull played by a matador.

But fears are growing the perilous confrontation, at times visceral and seamed with past historical grievances including from the era of Gen. Francisco Franco, will degenerate into violence, despite the separatists’ determination to remain non-violent and Madrid’s eagerness not to repeat the national police violence that accompanied an October 1 independence referendum.

Olive branch

Despite the sacking of Puigdemont by Madrid among a raft of direct-rule measures announced Friday, including the dissolving of the regional parliament, Spanish ministers offered an olive branch Sunday by suggesting the Catalan leader is not barred from continuing in politics and even welcomed the idea of him taking part in regional elections Madrid has called for December 21.

“If Puigdemont takes part in these elections, he can exercise [his] democratic opposition,” said government spokesman Íñigo Méndez de Vigo.  That suggests the implacable deputy Spanish prime minister, María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría Antón, a 46-year-old former prosecutor who is charged with overseeing direct rule, is not planning to kick off by arresting Catalan separatist leaders, a move some analysts say would be inflammatory, if it is tried.

Nonetheless, there will be several flash-points in the coming week that could push the confrontation, the worst political crisis to roil Spain since a failed military coup in 1981, down paths neither Madrid nor the secessionists want or could control, say analysts.  They worry the type of clashes seen on October 1, when the national police and Civil Guard tried to distort the referendum, will be seen when Madrid decides  to enforce direct-rule by closing down Catalonia’s parliament and regional government.  “I really will be amazed if we don’t see more of that, sadly,” said Sally Ann-Kitts, a lecturer in Hispanic studies at Britain’s University of Bristol.

“All sides seem to be living in Wonderland,” according to John Carlin, who was fired from his job at the Spanish newspaper El País earlier this month over an article he wrote highly critical of the Spanish government for its response to the independence referendum.

In an article for the London Sunday Times, Carlin argued the biggest risk may come if the idea takes hold “among highly energized independence-seeking youth that they have been the victims of a Franquista coup d’état.”

Another risk is that provocateurs on either side, violent anarchists or hardline Spanish nationalists take advantage of the mess Catalonia is in and organize an incident to provoke a reaction from their opponents.  On Friday young Spanish nationalists attacked a Catalan radio station.

Rival administrations

As things stand, Catalans will wake up Monday to two rival administrations in their region claiming legitimacy, the Puigdemont-led regional government and an emergency authority staffed by Spanish civil servants and led by Sáenz de Santamaría.  On Saturday, Puigdemont defied the fact that he was formally dismissed by the Spanish government and urged Catalans to “defend” the new republic in a televised address.

Separatist leaders and their supporters appear determined to wear Madrid down much as a matador does with a bull by obstructing and resisting the orders issued by Madrid. “The only answer we have is self-defense – institutional self-defense and civil self-defense.  I hope Catalans won’t be intimidated by Madrid,” says Abel Escriba, a pro-independence political scientist.

Madrid is banking on Catalonia’s 200,000 public employees and the executives of public companies in the region accepting direct-rule and ignoring the instructions of the Puigdemont-led regional government.  Public employee, teacher and firefighter unions have proclaimed their members will ignore Madrid’s instruction.

“We are going to ask them to be professional and to continue to provide services for their citizens,” a Spanish official told VOA last week.  The strategy is to be as light-touch as possible as the region is steered to the snap elections in December, which the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is gambling will go against the separatists.

A poll published by El Pais Saturday suggested a small majority of Catalans (52 percent to 43 percent) favor the dissolution of the regional parliament and the holding of the early elections.  Fifty-five percent of Catalan respondents opposed the declaration of independence, with 41 percent in favor of secession.

 
…

Iceland’s ruling Independence Party took the largest share of the vote in the island nation’s parliamentary election but faces difficult negotiations to form a new government after populist candidates showed unexpected strength.

A record eight parties won seats in Saturday’s vote as the 2008 global financial crisis continues to roil the island’s politics.

Despite topping the poll, the Independence Party saw its support dip to 25 percent. The three-party governing coalition lost a total of 12 seats, leaving it 11 seats shy of a majority in parliament, known as the Althingi. The opposition Left Green Movement finished second with 17 percent, despite predictions it could win the election.

“Everyone lost,” said political analyst Gunnar Smari Egilsson said. “The current opposition gained no seats while the ruling coalition lost 12 seats. Populists alone triumphed.”

The upstart Center Party and People’s Party both exceeded expectations, winning 11 percent and 7 percent of the vote, respectively, with promises to work for the average Icelander. That proved appealing at a time when many working-class people feel they’ve been left behind by the island’s tourism boom.

Iceland became a poster-child for the global financial meltdown in 2008, when its debt-laden banks collapsed. That triggered political as well as economic chaos on this North Atlantic island of 330,000 people, with around 40 percent of the sitting members of parliament losing their seats in each election since the crisis. The current government, which had been in power only a year, collapsed in September amid allegations that the prime minister’s father backed an effort to help the job prospects of a convicted pedophile.

Voters took to social media Sunday to lament the country’s third government in four years — though some joked that the position of prime minister was probably the most unstable job in the gig economy.

Tourism has bolstered Iceland’s economy in recent years, largely because of the publicity surrounding the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. While ash spewed into the air by the eruption initially stranded millions of travelers worldwide, tourists later flocked to the island to see its pristine glaciers, fjords and the Northern Lights.

Despite that growth, many Icelanders fear the financial crisis is not yet over. On social media, debate centered on those still struggling after the “hrunid,” or the collapse.

Egilsson — the former editor-in-chief of Frettabladid, Iceland’s largest daily — said left-wing parties missed an opportunity this weekend to defeat the “most unpopular government in history.”

“The left focused on middle-class politics, which did not resonate with the vast number of people excluded from the current economic boom,” Egilsson said.

The populists promised change and cash.

The People’s Party, founded by Inga Saeland, a former contestant on “The X Factor,” capitalized on anger and frustration over corruption. Although she has been criticized for Islamophobic statements and critical remarks about refugees, Saeland sidestepped immigration questions during the campaign.

The Center Party, meanwhile, promised to give a windfall to “every Icelander” by distributing shares in government-owned banks to the public.

That put the party over the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats in the Althingi, even though party founder Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was ousted as prime minister only last year after documents leaked as part of the Panama Papers showed his wife held an account in an offshore tax haven.

On election night, spirits were high among Center Party supporters who gathered in Reykjavik, the capital. The predominantly middle-aged men attending the celebration reflected the party’s electoral base.

Tour guide Magnus Kjartansson said he voted for Center because he supported Gunnlaugsson and believes the media has smeared the former prime minister.

“He is going to solve issues the rest of them are not brave enough to tackle,” he said.

 
…

The political landscape of Iceland has changed, according to preliminary results from Saturday’s election.

The Independence Party, which has won almost every election since independence from Denmark in 1944, is losing its center-right grip thanks to two scandals. Stepping in to that void are left-leaning parties.

Part of the current ruling coalition, the Independence Party, won 26 percent of the vote, down 3 percentage points from last year.

The main opposition Left Green Movement came in second with 17 percent of the vote.

The newly formed Center Party of former Prime Minister David Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson was third with 11 percent of the ballots. Gunnlaugsson was forced out of office last year when his name was found in the Panama Papers scandal that exposed worldwide tax evasion networks.

Katrin Jakobsdottir, leader of the Left Green Movement, told Reuters she is not ruling out working with the new Center Party. 

“Nothing is out of the picture, but our first choice is to work with the parties on the left,” she said. “We’d hoped that the opposition would get a majority, but that is unclear now.”

Talks to form a ruling coalition government are expected to last for several months.

Current Iceland Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, a member of the Independence Party, called the election last month after a member of the three-party center-right coalition resigned over a controversy about granting clemency to a child molester.

The clemency scandal coupled with the Panama Papers scandal led to the collapse of the government, prompting the second snap parliamentary election in a year.

Iceland has recovered spectacularly from the 2008 financial crisis, which forced the country into near bankruptcy. But the scandals have fueled anger and distrust among voters, who are increasingly concerned about inequality and immigration threatening one of the world’s most homogeneous countries.

Iceland’s 63-member parliament is one of the oldest in the world.
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Hundreds of people have attended an opposition-organized anticorruption rally in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.

The protest Saturday was organized by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) — an umbrella group of Azerbaijani opposition forces, under the slogan “No To Robbery.”

Activists from the Popular Front Party, People’s Democratic Party, National Statehood Party, Musavat Party youth organization, Muslim Union, and NIDA movement attended the rally.

The rally held in the Mehsul stadium in Baku’s Yasamal district was approved by the city authorities. Police said the protest was attended by an estimated 1,000 people, although opposition activists say the number was higher.

Protesters chanted slogans like “End to corruption” and “Freedom for political prisoners!”

Police cordoned off the area around the stadium as part of increased security measures.

No incidents were reported, and the rally ended peacefully, police said.

The opposition, as well as Western governments and international human rights groups, have criticized Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government for persistently persecuting independent media outlets, journalists, and opposition politicians and activists.

Aliyev, who has ruled the oil-rich South Caucasus country of nearly 10 million people since shortly before his father’s death in 2003, has shrugged off the criticism, and the authorities deny that there are political prisoners in the country.

Recent international corruption investigations have also found that Aliyev’s family makes frequent use of offshore companies to hide its wealth and mask the ways it gains shares in Azerbaijan’s most lucrative businesses.

During the rally, Ali Karimli, the leader of the Popular Front Party, which is part of the NCDF, denounced government corruption. He said the government doesn’t use oil revenues effeciently, and high-level corruption deprives Azerbaijanis from benefiting from oil billions.

Human rights activist Oktay Gulaliyev told the rally that freedom of speech was under threat in the country.

“Access to independent, critical Internet sites has been blocked,” Gulaliyev said. “There are more than 160 [political] prisoners in the country, and up to 20 of them are journalists and bloggers.”

The rally came after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) earlier this month voiced concerns over Azerbaijan’s “unprecedented crackdown on human rights” as well as checks and balances, and the functioning of justice in the country.

PACE on October 11 passed a resolution blasting “the reported prosecution and detention of leaders of NGOs, human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, and bloggers,” although some of them were released last year.

PACE cited cases of “torture and inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest, in police custody, and in prisons, and the lack of effective investigations, violations of the right to a fair trial, and violations of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.”

The resolution also called on Azerbaijani authorities to “begin real and meaningful reforms” to remove the obstacles to the work of journalists and rights defenders.
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Hundreds of people attended on October 28 an opposition-organized anticorruption rally in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. The protest was organized by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) — an umbrella group of Azerbaijani opposition forces, under the slogan “No To Robbery.” Protesters chanted slogans like “End to Corruption” and “Freedom for Political Prisoners!” (RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service)
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