Month: August 2018

David Nosek is buried in a novel, glancing only occasionally at the scrum of tourists strolling by. A few of them pause to examine the old editions, engravings and brightly colored paintings arranged on his green, metal stand. A riverboat cuts lazily across the Seine River below.

Sporting a graying ponytail and tan vest, Nosek looks like a throwback to the bouquinistes of old — the booksellers of Paris who have plied their wares along the banks of the Seine for more than four centuries.

“I like to read, I like old things, and there’s an independence to the business,” he said. “We certainly don’t get into it to get rich.”

Nosek’s business is increasingly facing 21st century threats. Kindles and online dealers are eating into his profits. At other riverside stands, Eiffel Towers and other souvenirs are edging out dusty editions of Honore de Balzac and Victor Hugo — which is why a group of bouquinistes is now on a mission to save the trade’s very identity by getting it added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

“We thought it would be good to have a label which maintains the quality of our products, without sticking to the 400 years of our past,” said Sophie Leleu, one of the bouquinistes involved in the effort. “If we’re on the UNESCO list, we become like the Egyptian pyramids, or the Venetian gondoliers — nobody can remove us.”

But the bid is controversial — even among some bouquinistes. Some fear they will no longer be able to sell the souvenirs that help them survive.

Bigger challenges

In some ways, the bouquinistes’ sliding fortunes mirror broader challenges facing the traditional book industry in capitals like New York and London — although business for some independent sellers is rebounding. In France, where legislation has curbed the onslaught of chain book stores and online retailers, a number of small dealers are also thriving — but not all. Last year, the French publishing industry saw its figures plunge, compared to the previous year.

“There’s an urgency to defend the bouquinistes’ trade,” said Florence Berthout, mayor of Paris’ 5th Arrondissement, and a leading champion of the UNESCO drive. “Every year, every month, counts.”

Berthout’s district is located in the heart of the Latin Quarter, home to the Sorbonne, one of the world’s first universities. The town hall faces the Pantheon, where some of France’s greatest authors and academics are buried. The neighborhood is also home to the majority of Parisian book stores and publishing houses — and most of the city’s bouquinistes.

“There’s nothing more democratic than books,” said Berthout, the daughter of farmers from central France who discovered Shakespeare and Emile Zola, thanks to inexpensive paperbacks her parents bought. “They’re cheap, they’re easy to carry, and unlike computers, they don’t break down.”

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Status would raise the profile of bouquinistes, Berthout says, adding, “We hope there’ll be an uptick in their sales — which will allow them to stick to the heart of their trade, not the cheap souvenirs.”

Making ‘Parisians laugh’

Few believe the bouquinistes will disappear from the city’s landscape altogether. There are more than 200 today, compared to under two dozen in the 17th century. Unlike traditional bookstores, the riverside sellers don’t pay overhead. They ply their wares rain or shine, summer or winter.

“We’ve never sold new books, but we’ve never sold really old books,” said Leleu, who comes from a family of booksellers. “We’ve always sold cartoons, to make Parisians laugh. Stamps, coins, paper … this and that.”

A few bookstands away, Philadelphia native Meghan Patton wrapped up the purchase of a colorful print.

“You get the feel of Paris,” she said of the bouquiniste stalls. “They’re part of what makes the city so special.

Other tourists are underwhelmed.

Colorado author Mike McPhee, who has visited Paris for years, said he was shocked at how touristy the stands had become. Even when it came to traditional wares, “I wouldn’t trust the authenticity,” he said. “I would buy from a reputable dealer.”

Competition and politics

The bouquinistes first need to make France’s intangible heritage list before any upgrades to UNESCO status. Even this step is challenging.

“If they manage to get their application finished this year, it would be really fast,” said Isabelle Chave, who oversees the French Culture Ministry’s intangible heritage division. “Most candidates take three or four years, if not longer.”

And of the 400 so-called elements that have made the French list, only 15 have been accepted by UNESCO — including French cuisine and a type of Corsican polyphonic music. France’s culture ministry can only support one candidacy every two years for the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage bid; bouquinistes may end up competing against zinc rooftops and Parisian cafes, among other rivals.

Ahead of 2020 municipal elections in Paris, the bouquinistes’ campaign is also taking on a partisan edge. Some bouquinistes, including Nosek, say the city’s leftist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has not done enough to spearhead their drive — a sentiment shared by the 5th arrondissement mayor Berthout, a member of the center-right.

“The day she sees their dossier is likely to win, she’ll be only too happy to support it,” Berthout said of Mayor Hidalgo. “But it’s today that we need to fight.”

In an email, Paris City Hall noted it had voted to back the bouquinistes’ bid for UNESCO status, and petitioned Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen to do the same.

“The city of Paris has supported the profession for a long time,” the city’s communications office wrote. “It does not charge them any fee for occupying public space.”

Divided over souvenirs

For his part, Nosek is going a step beyond the UNESCO drive. Last year, he launched an online petition against selling kitch that he claims is distorting the trade. So far, it’s gathered more than 21,000 signatures.

“You hardly find any books anymore, only trinkets made in China,” he said. “It’s sad when the trade and the clients aren’t respected.”

Still, not all bouquinistes agree — or back the UNESCO bid. Tacky Eiffel Towers rule at Francis Robert’s stand across the river. So do keychains, plates and backpacks with Paris logos. Squeezed in between are the old comic books Robert has been selling for 40 years.

“There are days when I can’t sell a single comic book, even with an old and loyal clientele,” Robert said. “Today, it’s souvenirs that help us live — and allow us to continue selling books.”

Intangible cultural heritage status may look good on paper, he added, “But if we’re not careful, we’ll become so intangible, we’ll disappear altogether.”
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Anti-corruption activists in Ukraine welcomed the conviction of Paul Manafort on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud, saying they hope his trial will give fresh impetus to Ukrainian probes into politicians and oligarchs in Kyiv who paid millions of dollars to U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager.

Ukrainian prosecutors should ask for the evidence used by U.S. prosecutors in the trial in the state of Virginia for their stalled probes into political corruption in Ukraine, they say.

Most of the 18 fraud charges Manafort faced — he was found guilty on eight of them — stemmed from his work as a political consultant for ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions. Manafort masterminded the political comeback in Kyiv of Yanukovych in 2010, six years after Ukraine’s pro-democracy Orange Revolution blocked him from taking office after a disputed election.

“Manafort’s case is [an] important message for Ukrainian society to continue to fight for fair politics,” tweeted Serhiy Leshchenko, a lawmaker and former journalist, who helped expose secret cash payments channeled to Manafort from the Party of Regions between 2007 and 2012. According to U.S. prosecutors, Manafort received from his Ukrainian paymasters more than $60 million — money Leshchenko and anti-corruption campaigners say was stolen from public funds. The payments were recorded in handwriting in a so-called “black ledger” maintained by the Party of Regions.

Like other anti-corruption activists, though, Leshchenko’s satisfaction with Tuesday’s verdict is mixed with frustration — he laments that no high-ranking official from the Yanukovych era has yet been prosecuted in Ukraine for graft. Manafort’s conviction is a victory of sorts for Ukraine, they argue, but will be more complete when officials and oligarchs linked to Yanukovych face jail time.

“We still have no result of prosecution of high rank corrupted individuals,” Leshchenko tweeted.

Some hope is being drawn from an announcement made Tuesday by Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, who told reporters in Kyiv that he is opening a criminal investigation into former Yanukovych officials and ministers incriminated in the Manafort trial. Lutsenko said that in February he sent an official request to U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller offering his readiness to provide any assistance needed in the prosecution of Manafort. He said his office had cooperated with the FBI before Mueller’s appointment and that important information had been exchanged.

Lutsenko told reporters that Manafort broke no tax evasion laws in Ukraine and is not under investigation but that former state officials who paid him may be guilty of various offenses. He cited the hundreds of documents presented by U.S. prosecutors in the Manafort trial, as well as the testimony of Manafort’s former deputy, Rick Gates, as the reason for the opening of the new investigation.

“There has been testimony that Manafort received funds for his consulting services for disgraced ex-president Yanukovych and the Party of Regions from specific politicians of Ukraine,” Lutsenko said, according to local news reports.  

The prosecutor general didn’t name the politicians, but in court testimony Manafort’s former business partner, Rick Gates, named politicians Serhiy Lyovochkin, Serhiy Tihipko, Andriy Klyuyev, Borys Kolesnikov and oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. He said they had funneled money into accounts in Cyprus, which was then laundered through offshore companies, and used the money to buy real estate and luxury cars and to support Manafort’s extravagant lifestyle.

But activists fear that for all the talk of new probes, words won’t translate into action and that political obstacles will be thrown up to block investigations, something they say has happened frequently with probes into high-level corruption.  

Part of the problem lies with inter-agency rivalry.  

After the ouster of Yanukovych in the 2013/2014 Maidan uprising, three anti-corruption agencies were established with the encouragement of Western powers — the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, which monitors the process of asset declaration by civil servants, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), which investigates high-level corruption, and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), which oversees NABU investigations and mounts state prosecutions in court. All three have been at each others’ throats and NABU officials say they have been purposely impeded, for political reasons, in their probes.

The NABU’s head, Artem Sytnyk, has claimed there have been illegal dismissals of criminal cases against officials, and has accused the SAPO of corruption. Lutsenko has also clashed with the NABU and last year sought to persuade Ukraine’s parliament to dismiss the heads of the anti-corruption agencies. Western powers, including U.S. officials, lobbied against the move.

Some analysts worry the Ukrainian government of President Petro Poroshenko is unlikely to want to prosecute Manafort’s political allies for fear of angering the Trump administration, whose support it needs to counter Russia.

Lutsenko insisted Tuesday no political obstacles will be thrown in the way of the Manafort-related probes, saying no one had tried to give him an order to stop. He said if it is confirmed that anyone paid money illegally to Manafort, “then he will be held liable in accordance with current Ukrainian legislation.”

 
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French President Emmanuel Macron will make the tough political choices needed to meet his deficit commitments, his government spokesman said, as he looked to put a bodyguard scandal behind him at his first Cabinet meeting after the summer break.

Macron and his ministers in all likelihood need to find savings in next year’s budget, to be presented to parliament next month, if they are to prevent the deficit from ballooning once again.

The president faced his first crisis in the summer when video surfaced of bodyguard Alexandre Benalla beating a protester. Macron’s own aloof response fanned public discontent.

Now the 40-year-old leader returns to work facing difficult political choices as he embarks on a new wave of reforms to reform the pensions system, overhaul public healthcare and shake-up the highly unionized public sector — tasks complicated by forecasts that economic growth is slower than expected.

“A budget is not only figures, but a strategy, and strong political choices,” Griveaux said, without giving details on the budget negotiations. “There will be [spending] increases and then we will require efforts from other sectors.”

The French economy eked out less growth than expected in the second quarter as strikes and higher taxes hit consumer spending, official data showed in July.

Macron has linked fiscal discipline to restoring France’s credibility in Europe, and while the budget deficit — forecast at 2.3 percent of GDP this year and next — should not surpass the EU-mandated 3 percent limit, it is still expected to be one of the highest in the euro zone.

“The budget equation is becoming more complicated,” Denis Ferrand, economist at COE-Rexecode told Reuters.

The Bank of France has revised 2018 growth down to 1.8 percent from 1.9 percent. Budget rapporteur Joel Giraud in July said that a revision down to 1.7 percent could see the public deficit slip by 0.2 percentage points.

Beyond raising eyebrows in Brussels and Berlin, it would also complicate Macron’s efforts to make transfers towards social policies that might help him dispel the impression among leftist critics that he is a “president of the rich.”

“It would be more difficult to find resources for social spending,” Ferrand said.

Elysee officials acknowledge growth was lower than expected in the first half, and say the housing and subsidized jobs portfolios will see sharp cuts to help finance Macron’s priorities in education, security and the environment.

Some 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) is expected to be saved by changing rules for widely-enjoyed housing benefits, junior minister Julien Denormandie told BFM TV earlier on Wednesday.

Last year, a cut of five euros ($6) per month to the same allowance contributed to a sharp slump in the president’s popularity, which opinion polls show plumbing lows.
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Russian telecom operators have proposed legislation that would require foreign Internet companies to share the financial burden of a new law on storing data in the country, a draft bill seen by Reuters shows.

If adopted, the legislation would allow Russian telecom companies to claim compensation from foreign Internet companies, including social media and messenger services such as Google and Facebook, for compliance with the data storage rules that come into effect from October.

If foreign Internet companies refuse to comply, Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor could be allowed to reduce the speed of access to their websites for Russian users.

Google declined to comment and Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The bill will be sent to the government as soon as all operators reach a harmonized position,” a senior manager at one of Russia’s telecom companies told Reuters.

A representative of Rostelecom, a leading Russian telecom operator, said the company supported the notion of spreading the data storage costs with foreign Internet companies.

Russian telecom operators MTS, VimpelCom and Tele2 declined to comment.

Megafon, which would not comment on the draft legislation, told Reuters that all interested parties – not only telecom operators – should take part in the development of Internet resources.

The cost for Russia’s three largest telecom operators – MTS, Megafon and VimpelCom – of creating and sustaining a system to store data to comply with the law will reach 145 billion rubles ($2.17 billion) over the next five years, the companies have said.

Russian telecom operators still do not have the necessary infrastructure in place to store users’ data, industry sources have said.

They will also have to use foreign technology to comply with the data storage law, even though President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to ensure that local companies produce the equipment.

 
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The U.S.-backed Afghan government announced Wednesday it does not plan to attend next month’s multi-nation conference in Russia on the future of Afghanistan, while the Taliban insurgency confirmed to VOA it has accepted the invitation and will send a delegation to event.

Moscow has invited, beside Kabul and the Taliban, 11 key regional countries, including China, Pakistan and Iran, to take part in the September 4 meeting in the Russian capital.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Sibghatullah Ahmadi, confirmed to VOA on Wednesday the government has decided against sending its delegation to the talks in Russia, but he did not cite any reasons.

Afghan officials reportedly are upset because Moscow did not consult them before extending an invitation to the Taliban.

Ahmadi stopped short of confirming those reports, saying the “Islamic government of Afghanistan should be a focal point of any developments that are happening around the world about Afghanistan.”

He insisted Kabul has “very good cordial” relations with Moscow and both the countries always consult each other on all issues, “particularly those related to the Afghan government-led peace ad reconciliation process.”

Spokesman Ahmadi asserted that “any discussions that are organized outside the government-led peace process will not yield results.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday an invitation has been extended to the Taliban and the insurgent group plans to attend.

“Representatives of the Afghan leadership and the Taliban were invited to the meeting. Their first reaction was positive and they plan to participate. I hope it will be a productive meeting,” said the top Russian diplomat.

The Taliban confirmed Wednesday insurgent political negotiators will travel to Moscow to participate in the daylong conference.

“The Islamic Emirate [Taliban] has accepted the invitation and it will send delegation led by the head of our Political Office, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai and will present the Islamic Emirate’s stance regarding the Afghanistan problem and its solution,” said Taliban Zabihullah Mujahid.

It will be the first time in several years the Taliban would officially participate in such an event and will be a major breakthrough for Russian diplomacy.

Russia defends its contacts with the Taliban, saying it is trying to encourage the insurgents to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government to bring an end to an increasingly deadly war in the country.

“We maintain these contacts primarily for the sake of the security of Russian nationals in Afghanistan, Russian agencies there, and also to convince the Taliban to renounce armed conflict and join the national dialogue with the government,” Lavrov said.

But he rejected Afghan assertions that Moscow’s ties with the Taliban are meant to use the insurgency to fight Islamist State militants who are trying to expand their influence in Afghan areas beyond the control of the Kabul government.

“I cannot imagine how Russia even hypothetically could use the Taliban against ISIS,” he said. “We are fighting ISIS with every tool we have. We support Syria in this fight and provide assistance in equipping the Iraqi army for the same purpose. Of course, we want the Afghan people to get rid of ISIS.”

 
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U.S. lawmakers pushed for more aggressive steps to counteract the Russian “menace” on Tuesday, despite Trump administration officials insisting current sanctions were having an effect and vowing to impose more economic pain if Moscow does not change its behavior.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would like better ties with Moscow, but although he met Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, relations between the two countries have been further strained.

Members of Congress, where both chambers are controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans, have called for more action, including introducing new sanctions legislation “from hell,” to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea, involvement in Syria’s civil war and cyberattacks seeking to influence U.S. elections.

They held three hearings related to Russia on Tuesday, in the Banking and Foreign Relations committees and a Judiciary counterterrorism subcommittee. Lawmakers chastised administration officials for doing too little to change Russian behavior.

Both Republicans and Democrats have criticized Trump, particularly after his Helsinki summit with Putin last month, for failing to stand up to Moscow and not fully enacting a sweeping sanctions law passed nearly unanimously a year ago.

“It’s not often that Congress acts together in such a strong manner,” said Republican Senator Mike Crapo, chairman of the Banking Committee, which oversees sanctions policy. “… But then, Russia is a menace on so many different levels, today, that Congress can be compelled to act with a single voice.”

Senator Bob Menendez noted that the administration has not designated any new oligarchs for sanctions since April and has eased some sanctions.

“We’re told to judge the administration by its actions and not the president’s words, but these actions seem to be more aligned with the president’s accommodating and disturbing rhetoric than a tougher approach to the Kremlin,” Menendez said at the banking hearing.

Menendez vowed that Congress will act, with or without the administration.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters later Tuesday there was strong interest in legislation to punish Moscow, although he said chances were “probably pretty slim” such a measure would come up for a vote before the Nov. 6 congressional elections.

New cyberattacks

Microsoft said late Monday that hackers linked to the Kremlin sought to launch cyberattacks on the Senate and conservative American think tanks, warning of broader attacks ahead of the November vote.

The Kremlin rejected the Microsoft allegations.

Moscow has repeatedly denied attempting to influence U.S. elections, including the 2016 presidential vote that brought Trump into office.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in 2016, seeking to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor, and, backed by lawmakers, warned that more would come in upcoming elections.

“America is under cyberattack. We’re beginning to act, but not quick enough and not forcefully enough,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said at the Judiciary subcommittee hearing.

‘Economic pain’

Administration officials insisted existing sanctions were hitting Russia.

“Though Russia’s malign activities continue, we believe its adventurism undoubtedly has been checked by the knowledge that we can bring much more economic pain to bear using our powerful range of authorities — and that we will not hesitate to do so if its conduct does not demonstrably and significantly change,” senior Treasury official Sigal Mandelker told the banking panel.

The Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on two Russians, one Russian company and one Slovakian firm over actions it said helped another Russian company avoid penalties over cyber-related activities.

The United States also announced sanctions on Russian shipping over violations of U.N. restrictions on North Korea.

Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told Foreign Relations that concern about sanctions has cost Russia $8 to $10 billion in arms deals. Mitchell also said foreign direct investment in Russia has fallen by 80 percent since 2013, “which is a pretty stunning number.”

“I think this administration has been clear that we are prepared to take additional steps,” Mitchell said. “There is an escalatory ladder to sanctions. We are aware of what additional steps would be needed to make an even bigger point.”

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Trump said he would only consider lifting sanctions against Russia if it were to do something positive for the United States, for instance in Syria or in Ukraine.
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Serbia might reintroduce compulsory military service, nine years after abolishing it, to help improve the combat readiness of its army in the Balkans, where tensions occasionally flare, President Aleksandar Vucic said Tuesday.

The armed forces of Serbia, which emerged as an independent state after the bloody collapse of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, were fully professionalized in 2011, but remain poorly paid and equipped.

Serbia, which is a candidate for European Union membership, has retained voluntary service and reserve units.

Vucic said Belgrade was considering reintroducing compulsory military service of between three and six months after 2020.

“We are still thinking about that. … It depends on the finances,” he told reporters at the air force base of Batajnica, just outside Belgrade.

Young people who served would have an advantage when seeking jobs in the public sector, Vucic added, without elaborating.

Serbian politicians have repeatedly floated the idea of reintroducing conscription. But many military experts say it would be too costly and that such a short period of service would contribute little to the country’s defense capabilities.

Under its 2018 budget, Serbia allocated $703 million, or 1.39 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for its 40,000-strong military, up from $693.8 million in 2017.

In recent years Serbia has sought to improve its defense capabilities through a donation of six MiG-29 fighters by Russia, with which it has strong historic and cultural ties, and through the purchase of 10 helicopters manufactured by Airbus.

Vucic and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin have frequently spoken of procuring surplus tanks, attack helicopters and armored personnel carriers from Russia and more jet fighters from Belarus, but such deals have yet to materialize.

Serbia, which maintains military neutrality, joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 2006 and in 2015 it signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan — the highest level of cooperation for countries not aspiring to join the alliance.

Although it strives for a balance between Moscow and the West, Serbia in 2017 took part in more than 100 joint activities with NATO or its member states, including 13 training drills, seven bilateral activities with the United States and only two with Russia.
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Britain’s foreign secretary is calling for traditional Western allies to join in a united front against Russia’s “aggressive and malign behavior,” expressing confidence that the United States under President Donald Trump will lead the way. 

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told an audience in Washington it is essential for the U.S., Britain and the European Union to stand firm against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly dangerous attacks on long-standing international norms. 

“Those who don’t share our values, need to know that there will always be a serious price to pay if red lines are crossed by the territorial incursions, the use of banned weapons, or increasingly cyberattacks,” Hunt said Tuesday prior to talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

“He [Putin] is testing us,” Hunt added. “He is just wanting to see just how robust and how united the West is.” 

Actions against Russia

Hunt said there are several reasons for optimism, praising the United States for its strong stance on Russia following the March poisoning of a former Russian agent and his daughter in the British town of Salisbury. 

The U.S. expelled 60 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions, pointing to the use of a Soviet-era nerve toxin known as Novichok. 

U.S. and British officials have also accused Russia of seeking to interfere with their elections. 

At the same time, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on assertions that Russia sought to meddle in the U.S. election, taking to social media to dismiss an investigation into Russia’s actions as a “rigged witch hunt.” 

And in an interview Monday with the Reuters news agency, Trump said he would consider lifting sanctions against Russia in exchange for cooperation in Syria or Ukraine. 

Hunt downplayed such concerns. 

“President Trump is the most active president on social media that there’s ever been,” the British foreign secretary said. “It’s a different style of politics, but I think it’s important to look at what he does as well as what he says.” 

“What you see is an approach to foreign policy that is different to his predecessors but is absolutely focused on upholding the international order,” Hunt said. “If you look at his actions he is also prepared to be very tough — tougher actually than a number of his predecessors to make sure people get the message about vital red lines.” 

As if to back up Hunt’s assertions, top administration officials told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday they are prepared to impose additional sanctions on Russia if its behavior does not change. 

Strategy against Russia

The administration’s strategy is to “continue raising the costs until Russian aggression ceases, while keeping the door open to dialogue,” Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

Already, existing sanctions are believed to have cost Russia up to $10 billion in arms sales alone, while slashing foreign investment by 80 percent. 

“Though Russia’s malign activities continue, we believe its adventurism undoubtedly has been checked by the knowledge that we can bring much more economic pain to bear,” Acting Deputy Treasury Secretary Sigal Mandelker told the Senate Banking Committee. “We will not hesitate to do so if its conduct does not demonstrably and significantly change.” 

Separately Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against two Russian companies and a Russian individual for helping Moscow try to avoid existing sanctions due to Russia’s cyber activities.

It also slapped Russian shipping companies with new sanctions for violating United Nations restrictions transferring refined petroleum products to North Korea.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov responded Tuesday in a statement on the ministry’s website, saying the new U.S. sanctions were groundless, promising a response from Moscow.

Still, some lawmakers and other officials are concerned Russia’s behavior is not changing quickly enough. 

Microsoft said late Monday it had detected and disrupted efforts by the Kremlin-linked group known as Fancy Bear or APT28, to hack into or attack conservative U.S. think tanks as well as several U.S. senators. 

Moscow has rejected Microsoft’s allegations, saying there is no evidence to support them. 

Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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The outgoing United Nations’ human rights chief says the power held by the five permanent members of the Security Council could cause the U.N. to “collapse.”

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein spoke to reporters Monday in Geneva as he prepares to step down from office at the end of the month.

He said the five Council members with veto power — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — are “running too much of the business” and have created a “logjam.”

“When they cooperate, things can move. When they don’t, everything becomes stuck and the organization in general becomes so marginal,” Zeid said, referring to vetoed resolutions on Syria and Israeli polices toward the Palestinians.

Zeid also alluded to rising nationalism across the globe, warning that humanity may be forgetting the lessons of World War II.

“My sense is the further away we get from those historical and dreadful experiences, the more we tend to play fast and loose with the institutions created to prevent repetition,” he said.

Zeid, a Jordanian, declined to seek another four-year term as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is replacing him. 
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Islamic militants launched a series of attacks Monday in Russia’s southern province of Chechnya, leaving five young militants dead and several police officers wounded, officials said.

The violence indicated the Islamist insurgency remains active in the mostly Muslim province despite authorities’ claims that it has been eradicated. It follows an attack on a Russian Orthodox church in May that left four attackers, two policemen and a churchgoer dead.

Chechnya’s regional leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, sought to downplay the attacks, saying they were quickly fended off by police. He insisted the young attackers were brainwashed by Islamic militants and don’t have any public support in Chechnya.

Dzhambulat Umarov, the information minister in the regional government, told the Tass news agency the attackers were between 11 and 16 years old. He said the Islamic State has increasingly focused on teenagers in its efforts to recruit supporters in the region.

The regional police said in a statement that two knife-wielding attackers broke into a police station in the southern town of Shali and stabbed two officers. Police shot and killed them.

In another clash in Shali, two attackers tried to blow up a truck loaded with gas canisters in a suicide attack, but the vehicle failed to explode, Kadyrov spokesman Alvi Karimov said on Kommersant FM radio. He said the two were shot dead by police.

Russian news agencies also reported an attack in the village of Mesker-Yurt, outside Shali, in which an attacker blew himself up near a police checkpoint. Police were unhurt and Kadyrov said the suicide bomber survived and was hospitalized.

And in yet another attack in the regional capital of Grozny, an attacker driving a car hit two traffic police officers, injuring them, officials said. Police later shot and killed the driver.

The Kremlin has relied on the strongman Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars in the 1990s, and has provided generous subsidies to help rebuild the region.

International human rights groups, however, have accused Kadyrov of rampant rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings by his feared security forces.

Radical Islamic militants, some of whom have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, have conducted sporadic raids in Chechnya, defying Kadyrov’s assurances that the region is stable.
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The World Health Organization says the number of measles cases in Europe jumped sharply during the first six months of 2018 and at least 37 people have died.

The U.N. agency’s European office said Monday more than 41,000 measles cases were reported in the region during the first half of the year — more than in all 12-month periods so far this decade.

The previous highest annual total was 23,927 cases in 2017. A year earlier, only 5,273 cases were reported.

The agency said half — some 23,000 cases — this year occurred in Ukraine, where an insurgency backed by Russia has been fighting the government for four years in the east in a conflict that has killed over 10,000 people.

France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Russia and Serbia also had more than 1,000 measles infections each so far this year.

Measles, among the world’s most contagious diseases, is a virus that’s spread in the air through coughing or sneezing. It can be prevented with a vaccine that’s been in use since the 1960s, but health officials say vaccination rates of at least 95 percent are needed to prevent epidemics.

Vaccine skepticism remains high in many parts of Europe after past immunization problems.

Measles typically begins with a high fever and also causes a rash on the face and neck. While most people who get it recover, measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children, according to the WHO.

Italy has introduced a new law requiring parents to vaccinate their children against measles and nine other childhood diseases. Romania also passed a similar bill, including hefty fines for parents who didn’t vaccinate their children.

The U.N. agency on Monday called for better surveillance of the disease and increased immunization rates to prevent measles from becoming endemic.
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Iran’s oil minister says France’s oil giant Total SA has pulled out of Iran after cancelling its $5 billion, 20-year agreement to develop the country’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field over renewed U.S. sanctions.

The parliament’s website ICANA.ir quoted Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying on Monday that since Total first announced its decision a while ago, Iran has been in the process of “looking for an alternative” to Total. He didn’t elaborate.

There was no immediate comment from TotaI.

Earlier this month, Iran said China’s state-owned petroleum corporation took a majority 80 percent share of the project. CNPC originally had some 30 percent of shares in the project.

The renewed U.S. sanctions took effect in August, after America’s pullout from the nuclear deal in May.

 
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