Month: January 2019

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday suffered the biggest parliamentary reversal ever handed a sitting government, with lawmakers — including more than 100 rebels from her own ruling Conservative party — refusing to endorse a highly contentious Brexit deal.

The government’s defeat plunges into greater disarray Britain’s scheduled March 29 divorce from the European Union.

The much anticipated historic vote by the House of Commons of a draft deal, which took two years of ill-tempered haggling with European leaders to conclude, now throws up in the air the whole Brexit project, with major questions remaining unanswered about when Britain will exit the EU, how it will do so and even whether it still will. ​Just 202 lawmakers backed May’s deal with 432 voting against her deal. The defeat dwarfed the previous 1924 record when then-Labor Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald lost a vote by 166, triggering the collapse of his government and a general election, which he lost.

​After the vote, May complained “the vote tells us nothing” about what the Commons would agree to when it comes to Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, immediately announced he had tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which if May loses, would trigger a general election. Most analysts say they expect May will win a confidence motion, which will be debated Wednesday.

Vote delayed in December

The defeat of May’s Brexit plan will give further momentum to a burgeoning campaign in the House of Commons, and among Remainers in the country for a second referendum, according to analysts. Remainers hope a replayed referendum would reverse the Brexit plebiscite of 2016, which Leavers narrowly won.

The vote on the deal, which was due in December but was delayed by the government when it became clear there was insufficient backing for it to pass, also leaves hanging in the balance May’s own future as prime minister. Her aides insisted at the end of a day of high political drama that she won’t resign. 

“She is the person who has to deliver Brexit,” said British business minister Claire Perry, who said May doesn’t need to resign.

“There will be other attempts at this. There will be strenuous efforts to improve on the deal,” Perry said.

Earlier on Tuesday, May discussed post-defeat options and indicated she would plow on. Her officials say she will try to buy more time and return to Brussels to try to cajole EU leaders into a renegotiation.

But the sheer scale of the defeat throws into doubt whether even a reshaped Brexit Withdrawal Agreement would secure parliamentary approval in the future — that is, if the EU is prepared to reopen negotiations.

“Her Plan B, more of the same, is hopelessly optimistic,” said commentator Isabel Oakeshott.

EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker canceled an event planned in Strasbourg, France, Wednesday so he can remain in Brussels for possible emergency talks with May. May’s RAF jet was put on standby, readied for her to travel to the Belgian capital.

Juncker tweeted when news of the historic vote broke: “I take note with regret of the outcome of the vote in the House of Commons this evening. I urge the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up.”

EU president Donald Tusk reflected the frustration of many in Brussels, tweeting: “If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?”

As the vote neared, May’s aides made several last-ditch efforts to minimize the scale of the crushing defeat by offering amendments to the main motion on the deal that they hoped would peel away some of the Conservative rebels. But to their fury, Commons Speaker John Bercow, blocked their moves.

Labor’s Tulip Siddiq, who is pregnant, was pushed through the voting lobbies in a wheelchair after postponing a planned Caesarean section so she could vote against the Brexit deal.

Noisy crowd awaits word

While the drama played out in the House of Commons, outside the parliament, noisy, placard-waving crowds of Brexiters and Remainers mounted protests urging the draft plan be approved or cast aside. There was a hush among the protesters in the minutes before the result was announced. 

The minority Northern Ireland party May relies on to keep her minority government in office has said it would back the government if Corbyn tries to oust it. 

May has until next Monday to offer a new proposal to the House of Commons, but it isn’t clear what she will propose. EU leaders have flatly rejected the possibility of renegotiations several times since the deal was concluded in November. But with Tuesday’s defeat, which followed five days of intense debate, British officials hope Brussels now may offer enough concessions to secure parliamentary backing on a replayed vote on an amended deal. 

In the run-up to the vote, which the government was bracing itself to lose, May offered a series of carrots and sticks, pleas and warnings, to try to persuade unenthusiastic lawmakers to back her deal. To Brexiters, she warned it could result in Britain never exiting the EU. To Remainers, she cautioned it might lead to Britain leaving without a deal. 

Final plea from May

Minutes before the vote, May told a packed and feisty House of Commons that they should “honor the democratic decision of the British people.” She said a vote against her deal would be a vote for “uncertainty, division and the very real risk of no deal.”

Corbyn countered that the “government’s own economic assessment clearly tells us it is a bad deal.” To accompanying jeers and cheers, he added, “This deal is the product of two years of botched negotiations in which the government spent more time arguing with itself than it did negotiating with the EU.

“We need to keep in mind that the vast majority of people in our country don’t think of themselves as Remainers or Leavers,” Corbyn said. “Whether they voted leave or remain two and a half years ago, they are concerned about their future. So, Mr. Speaker, I hope tonight that this House votes down this deal, and then we move to a general election.”

With the draft deal, May tried to square the circle between Britons who want to remain in the EU, or closely tied to it, and Brexiters. The withdrawal agreement would have seen Britain locked in a customs union with the EU for several years, while a more permanent, but vaguely defined, free trade settlement could be negotiated with its largest trading partner. 

In the temporary customs union, Britain would have been unable to influence EU laws, regulations and product standards it would have to observe. And it would not have been able to implement free trade deals with non-EU countries. 

Customs checks

The transition deal was agreed to avoid customs checks on the border separating Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. But British lawmakers who voted against the deal feared Britain would be shackled indefinitely to the bloc, even if a final free trade deal couldn’t be agreed upon.

Both Brexiters and Remainers claimed the Brexit agreement May negotiated would turn Britain into a vassal state, a rule-taker and not a rule-maker. Brexiters maintained the deal would keep Britain too closely aligned with the EU.

A huge range of possible Brexit outcomes has been opened up by Tuesday’s defeat. These include leaving the EU with no deal; a more managed no-deal exit — a pivot to Britain adopting a Norway-style relationship with the EU that would see Britain being half-in and half-out of the bloc; a second referendum; or a second vote after a renegotiation with Europe. 

But with British politics in an uproar, with normally disciplined political parties fractured, it is hard to forecast what will happen next. While there are majorities in the House of Commons against leaving the EU without any deal, there are no clear majorities for any alternatives. 

Constitutional clash

The defeat also opens the way for parliament itself to take more control of any future negotiations with the EU, setting the stage for an unprecedented constitutional clash between the House of Commons and No. 10 Downing Street. 

A cross-party group of senior lawmakers headed by former Conservative ministers is conspiring now to sideline the embattled May by reducing the power of the government to control legislative business in parliament and giving the responsibility of future negotiations with Brussels to a parliamentary committee. 

The group also wants to force May to ask the EU to delay the scheduled departure date of March 29 to avoid Britain crashing out of the bloc without any kind of deal. Another group of powerful lawmakers is drafting legislation for a second referendum. 
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The British parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan for Britain’s departure from the European Union, leaving in doubt how it would depart the continent’s 28-member bloc of nations by the planned March 29 date.

The House of Commons, on a 432- 202 vote, rejected May’s call to approve what she said was the “democratic decision” of voters in a referendum 2-1/2 years ago to leave the EU.

Opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbin called the vote a “catastrophic defeat” for May’s Conservative Party rule and demanded a vote of no confidence on Wednesday in what he said was the “sheer incompetence of this government.”

The vote against May was widely expected, but it is not clear what comes next for Brexit.

Before the vote, May warned parliamentarians that the EU would not offer an “alternative deal.”

“The responsibility on each and every one of us at this moment is profound, for this is a historic decision that will set the future of our country for generations,” May said.

One of the key provisions in her plan sought to avoid a hard border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland, in order to prevent the return of border checks if Britain and the EU failed to reach a free trade agreement after a 21-month transition period.

May’s deal would have preserved the rights of more than three million EU citizens living in Britain and the one million British living in the EU. Britain would have paid $51 billion to settle its financial responsibilities with the EU.

Now, it is not clear whether Britain will move toward a “no-deal” break with the EU, push it toward altered terms of departure or even trigger a new referendum on whether to leave.

May canceled a previous vote in December when it was clear she did not have enough votes for the deal to pass, and since then little seemed to have changed.

The May plan drew opposition from both sides of the debate over Brexit, with those favoring a split saying her deal would still leave Britain tied indefinitely to EU rules, while opponents favor even closer economic links to the rest of Europe.

In the streets outside the House of Commons, rival bands of pro-EU and pro-Brexit protesters kept up a steady cacophony of chants, drums and music. One group waved blue-and-yellow EU flags, the other carrying “Leave Means Leave” placards.

Negotiators from Britain and the EU agreed to the terms of the Brexit deal in November after difficult talks, and with the British parliament voting against the agreement there is great uncertainty about what will happen next.

May has until next Monday to put forth a new proposal.
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More than 3,200 government, business, academics and civil society leaders will address issues of globalization, climate change and other matters of world importance next week at the annual World Economic Forum in the plush Swiss Alpine village of Davos.

The list of participants reads like the Who’s Who of the most powerful, successful and inventive movers and shakers in the world. They will be rubbing shoulders during hundreds of formal sessions and workshops, as well as in private bilaterals on the sidelines of the meeting. They will discuss and seek solutions to some of humanity’s most vexing problems.

The theme of this year’s gathering is Globalization “4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” That refers to the emerging technology breakthroughs in such fields as artificial intelligence and robotics.

Founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab says this fourth wave of globalization needs to be human-centered. He says globalization in its present form is not sustainable. He says globalization must be made more inclusive.

“Globalization produced winners and losers, and so there were many more winners in the last 24, 25, 30 years. But now we have to look after the losers — after those who have been left behind…what we need is a moralization, or re-moralization, of globalization,” he said.

The program is very wide-ranging. For example, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will discuss the state of the world. He will broach issues like climate change, fighting poverty and sustainable development. There will be special sessions by others about ways to make economic growth more inclusive, on rethinking world trade, as well as many scientific, artistic and cultural meetings.

Leaders from all regions of the world will attend. The Middle East will be represented by the presidents of Libya and Iraq. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be there. So will Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Six or seven presidents from Africa will be in attendance. And organizers of the forum say there is great interest in an appearance by the new Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who has established peace with Eritrea during his first six months in office.

The forum president, Borge Brende, says a strong United States delegation will attend next week’s event, although President Donald Trump canceled his participation.

“We fully understand that, of course, President Trump will have to stay in D.C. as long as the government is facing this shutdown. We are very pleased, though, that the U.S. will be participating with key secretaries,” he said.

Brende confirms that among those coming will be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, fresh from his travels in the Middle East, Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
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Greek officials predict Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will survive a no-confidence vote in parliament later this week.

Tsipras called for the vote Monday after defense minister Panos Kammenos resigned and pulled his nationalist ANEL party from the ruling coalition. 

Kammenos quit to protest the deal with neighboring Macedonia over the use of the name Macedonia.

ANEL leaving the coalition leaves Tsipras’ ruling leftist Syriza Party without a majority of seats in parliament, opening the door to possible early elections.

But a government spokesman says the party is confident of winning the no-confidence vote, set for Wednesday, and completing its four-year term in October.

The U.N.-brokered deal with Macedonia ends a nearly 30 year-long dispute over who gets to use the name.

If approved by the Greek parliament, the former Yugoslav republic would be officially called the Republic of North Macedonia.

But many Greeks, especially nationalists, are still upset, saying the name should exclusively belong the ancient region of northern Greece, made famous by Alexander the Great. 

They say letting the country of Macedonia use it implies territorial claims on the region.

The dispute has held up Macedonia’s desires to join NATO and the European Union because of Greek objections.
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Britain appears set for a full-blown constitutional crisis, with a cross-party group of senior lawmakers conspiring to sideline embattled Prime Minister Theresa May by seizing control of Brexit negotiations.

They want to reduce the power of the government to control legislative business in parliament, boosting the chances of lawmakers being able to table a series of motions to stop Britain from leaving the European Union without a deal, or even offering legislation for a second referendum on British membership in the EU that could lead to the country not leaving at all.

Ahead of Tuesday’s crucial vote in the House of Commons on her highly contentious Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, the result of two years of ill-tempered haggling with Brussels, May warned that if her draft deal with the EU is voted down, the most likely outcome would be Britain remaining an EU member.

Speaking to factory workers in Wales on Monday, May said if she loses the vote, “it is now my judgment that the more likely outcome is a paralysis in parliament that risks there being no Brexit.” She added, “There are some in Westminster who would wish to delay or even stop Brexit and who will use every device available to them to do so.”

Most observers — even ministers in her own divided cabinet — expect her to lose the vote on the withdrawal agreement, despite EU officials offering assurances Monday designed to diminish parliament’s opposition to the 585-page deal.

The big question is over the scale of the defeat, with some commentators predicting it could be the biggest rebuff a government has endured since 1924, when then-Labor Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald lost a vote by 166, triggering the collapse of his government and a general election he lost.

Transition deal

With the deal, May has tried to square the circle between Britons who want to remain in the EU, or closely tied to it, and Brexiters.

The withdrawal agreement would see Britain locked in a customs union with the EU for several years while it negotiates a more permanent, but vaguely defined, free-trade settlement with its largest trading partner. In the temporary customs union, Britain would be unable to influence EU laws, regulations and product standards it would have to observe. It would not be able to implement free-trade deals with non-EU countries.

The transition was agreed to avoid customs checks on the border separating Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, but British lawmakers fear Britain could be shackled indefinitely to the bloc, even if a final free-trade deal isn’t negotiated. Brexiters claim the Brexit agreement May negotiated turns Britain into a “vassal state, a rule-taker and not a rule-maker.”

On Monday, EU leaders sought to assuage lawmakers’ fears by saying it wouldn’t lock Britain in an indefinite transition. But opponents — both Brexiters and Remainers— appear unconvinced, calling assurances “meaningless,” as they don’t have the force of law, while the agreement, if passed by the British parliament, would.

Government vs. parliament

In readiness for May losing a key vote on the highly contentious Brexit Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons Tuesday, veteran lawmakers, including former ministers from her cabinet, are laying the groundwork to upend the centuries-old relationship between Britain’s government and parliament.

That relationship is built on No. 10 Downing Street being able to control the legislative agenda, with government business taking precedence over that of individual lawmakers or the opposition parties. The shift would set the stage for a constitutional showdown that could have significant consequences for how Britain is governed, as Brexit itself would, said analysts.

“We may now be witnessing one of the most fundamental shifts in (the) relationship between the government and parliament since William Lenthall, the speaker, defied King Charles I in 1642,” according to Philip Cowley, a political scientist at London’s Queen Mary University.

That defiance came on the eve of the English Civil War, when the king entered the Commons to arrest five rebellious lawmakers. Charles demanded to know where the lawmakers were, and Lenthall replied, “May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here.”

Role of John Bercow

While the current behind-the-scenes parliamentary maneuvering is unlikely to trigger a clash of arms, it has thrust the spotlight on current Speaker John Bercow, who when he was elected to the post in 2009, made no secret of his determination to strengthen the powers of parliament and lessen the dominance of the government.

Last week Bercow, a moderate Conservative but ardent Remainer, outraged No. 10 Downing Street and Brexiters by allowing an amendment to the government’s business motion for the vote on May’s Brexit deal.

The amendment was in breach of standard practice. Under standard parliamentary rules, government motions can’t be amended. But Bercow accepted it, announcing that if precedence was always followed, nothing would ever change.

Two groups of Brexit opponents are planning to use Bercow’s ruling last week to try to pull away from government control of the parliamentary timetable. One group wants to suspend the Brexit schedule, allowing them to postpone Britain’s earmarked EU departure date of March 29, and for more efforts to be made to shape a national consensus.

Other lawmakers are looking at ways to force a second referendum. On Sunday, one of May’s predecessors, former Conservative Prime Minister John Major, called for Britain’s exit from the EU to be delayed and control of future negotiations with the EU be controlled by parliament. He also called for another referendum.

“In the midst of chaos, it is always sensible to pause and think,” he said.

According to recent polls, a majority of Britons now want a second plebiscite. May has adamantly ruled out that option to break the parliamentary deadlock.

With this week shaping up to be one of the most tumultuous in the modern history of the House of Commons, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, has said that if May loses the vote on Tuesday, he will table a motion of no-confidence in the government.
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The Russian republic of Chechnya has launched a new crackdown on gays in which at least two people have died and about 40 people have been detained, LGBT activists in Russia charged Monday.

The new allegations come after reports in 2017 of more than 100 gay men arrested and subjected to torture, and some of them killed, in the predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia.

The Associated Press and other media outlets have interviewed some of the victims, who spoke about torture at the hands of Chechen law enforcement officers. Chechen authorities have denied those accusations, and federal authorities conducted a probe into the earlier reports but said they found nothing to support the charges.

Alvi Karimov, a spokesman for Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, told the Interfax news agency on Monday that the latest reports are “complete lies and don’t have an ounce of truth in them.” Karimov insisted that no one has been detained in Chechnya on suspicion of being gay.

But the Russian LGBT Network, which has been monitoring the situation in Chechnya and helping victims, said in a statement Monday that about 40 men and women have been detained on suspicion of being gay since December and that at least two of them have died of torture in detention. The detainees are believed held at the same facility that was named in the 2017 reports.

“Widespread detentions, torture and killings of gay people have resumed in Chechnya,” Igor Kochetkov, program director at the Russian LGBT Network said. “Persecution of men and women suspected of being gay never stopped. It’s only that its scale has been changing.”

Kochetkov said the new wave of anti-gay persecution started at the end of the year, when Chechen authorities detained the administrator of a social media group popular with LGBT people in the North Caucasus. Kochetkov said the mass detentions began after the authorities got hold of the contacts on his phone.

Russia denies accusations

LGBT activists in 2017 helped to evacuate around 150 gay men from Chechnya to help them restart their lives elsewhere in Russia. Many of them have sought asylum and resettled abroad.

“News that the authorities have resumed the crackdown is spine-chilling,” said Marie Struthers, director of Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe section. “With lives in jeopardy, there is an urgent need for an international response to protect gay and lesbian people in Chechnya.”

Russian authorities have strenuously denied that killings and torture took place in the predominantly Muslim region where homosexuality is taboo, even after one man came forward to talk about the time he spent in detention in Chechnya.

One man’s account

Maxim Lapunov said he was detained by unidentified people on a street in the Chechen capital, Grozny, in 2017 and kept in custody for two weeks, where he was repeatedly beaten. He was let go after he signed a statement acknowledging that he was gay and was told he would be killed if he talked about his time in detention.

Lapunov, who is from Siberia, was the first to file a complaint with Russian authorities over the wave of arrests of gay people.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe last month called on Russia to investigate the reports and cited Lapunov’s case specifically.

Kadyrov and his government in Chechnya have been accused of widespread human rights abuses against many dissidents, not just gay men.
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President Donald Trump is warning Turkey it would face economic devastation if it strikes at the Kurds when U.S. forces pull out of Syria.

“Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey,” Trump said in a tweet late Sunday. Without giving any further details, he wrote “Create 20 mile (32 kilometers) safe zone.”

“Russia, Iran, and Syria have been the biggest beneficiaries of the long-term U.S. policy of destroying ISIS in Syria — natural enemies,” he tweeted.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (YPG) were among the United States’ closest allies in the fight against Islamic State militants inside Syria.

Turkey says the YPG is tied to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has been fighting a long guerrilla war for more Kurdish autonomy inside Turkey.

Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist group and there are fears Turkey will attack Kurdish fighters inside Syria when the Americans leave.

Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responded to Trump Monday, comparing the YPG to Islamic State militants.

“Mr @realDonaldTrump Terrorists can’t be your partners & allies,” he wrote on Twitter. “Turkey expects the US to honor our strategic partnership and doesn’t want it to be shadowed by terrorist propaganda. There is no difference between DAESH, PKK, PYD and YPG. We will continue to fight against them all.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday he is “optimistic” the Syrian Kurds will not be abandoned and confident the U.S. and Turkey can work out a deal to assure the Kurds will be safe.

The Kurds are looking for protection against a possible Turkish attack and Syria’s Assistant Foreign Minister Ayman Sousan told reporters Sunday his government would like an intensified dialogue with the Kurds.

“Many of the Kurdish statements were positive regarding their concern for the unity of Syria,” he said.

Kurdish officials have said they would like Russian mediation in any talks with the Syrian government.

Trump tweeted Sunday that what he calls the “long overdue” U.S. pull-out from Syria has started “while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard and from many directions.”

But a U.S. defense official has denied that it was withdrawing any troops from Syria, telling VOA the initial stages of the pull-out involve “equipment, not troops.”

Trump unexpectedly announced last month that U.S. forces would be leaving Syria, causing confusion and concern among U.S. allies. The White House hinted that a pull-out could be complete within 30 days.

National Security Advisor John Bolton has since said there is no time-frame for a withdrawal.

 
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A man with a knife rushed on to the stage during the finale of a charity event and stabbed a Polish mayor in the abdomen Sunday, leaving the politician in very serious condition in an attack that Polish media said had a political element.

Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz grabbed his belly and collapsed on stage during the “Lights to Heaven” fundraiser organized by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, Poland’s most important charity.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said he was informed that “doctors succeeded in reanimating the heart of the seriously injured Mayor Pawel Adamowicz and there is hope, but his condition is very difficult.” He called for people to pray for the mayor.

Polish broadcaster TVN said the assailant shouted from the stage that he had been wrongly imprisoned under a previous national government led by Civic Platform, a party to which the mayor formerly belonged. The suspected attacker was arrested.

TVN broadcast footage of the perpetrator, just after the attack yelling that his name was Stefan and that “I was jailed but innocent. … Civic Platform tortured me.”

Police said the suspect was a 27-year-old with a criminal record and had carried out bank robberies. A police spokesman, Mariusz Ciarka, said the attacker gained access to the area with a media badge.

Radio Gdansk said Adamowicz was stabbed in the area of his heart, but did not cite its source, while Rzeczpospolita described the mayor’s condition as “critical,” citing unidentified sources. A spokesman for the hospital called his condition “very serious.”

TVN footage showed Adamowicz on stage just before the attack with a sparkler in hand telling the audience that it had been a “wonderful day” and then the attacker coming toward him. Adamowicz had been on the streets of his city Sunday collecting money for the charity, along with volunteers around the country.

European Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who co-founded Civil Platform and is from Gdansk, wrote on Twitter: “Let’s all pray for Mayor Adamowicz. Pawel, we are with you.”

The head of the charity, Jerzy Owsiak, is a liberal critic of Poland’s current right-wing government. He blamed what he described as an atmosphere of hate under the ruling Law and Justice party for the attack on the mayor.

Owsiak referred to being personally depicted in a defamatory manner in an animation that ran on state TV last week and that also had anti-Semitic overtones.

The animation showed Owsiak as a clay figure being manipulated by a leading Civic Platform official who seized piles of cash that he collected. A Star of David was on one of the banknotes. The broadcaster apologized after the animation triggered an outcry.

Adamowicz, 53, has been mayor of Gdansk, a Baltic port city, since 1998. He was part of the democratic opposition born in that city under the leadership of Lech Walesa during the 1980s. After leaving Civic Platform, he was re-elected to a sixth term as an independent candidate in the fall.

As mayor, he has been a progressive voice, supporting LGBT rights and tolerance for minorities. He marched in last year’s gay pride parade, a rare action for a mayor in Poland.

He also showed solidarity with the Jewish community when the city’s synagogue had its windows broken last year, strongly denouncing the vandalism.

“Horrified by the brutal attack on Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz,” said Frans Timmermans, a Dutch politician and leading European Union official. “Hope and pray he will recover. A great leader of his city and a true humanitarian.”

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity raises money to buy state-of-the-art medical equipment for Poland’s cash-strapped hospitals, mostly for children.

The last attack on a politician in Poland was in 2010 in Lodz. A man shouting that he wanted to kill Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski fatally shot an aide to one of the party’s lawmakers to the European Parliament. A second man was stabbed and injured.

At the time Law and Justice was in the opposition and Kaczynski blamed the attack at an “atmosphere of hate” under the rival party, Civic Platform.

 
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French President Emmanuel Macron has released what he calls a “letter to the French,” encouraging a national debate on issues that have led to two months of anti-government protests.

“This is how I intend to turn anger into solutions,” Macron said Sunday. “Your proposals will help build a new contract for the nation, organizing the actions of the government and parliament, but also France’s positions at the European and international levels.”

Macron plans to hold a number of town hall meetings across the country over the next eight weeks.

Among the questions he is opening for debate are which taxes should be cut, what public spending should be a priority, are there too many bureaucratic layers, and questions surrounding the environment and immigration.

While Macron said no topic will be off the table, the right of people to seek asylum in France will not be up for debate.

“We won’t agree on everything, which is normal in a democracy. But at least we’ll show we’re a people which is not afraid of talking, exchanging [ideas], debating.”

So-called “yellow vest” marches erupted in France in November against a now-scrapped fuel tax. But they have since expanded into a general anti-government protest, especially in rural France, where many see Macron as someone more interested in the wealthy than their problems.

Some of the marches have turned violent, leading to government proposals to ban anyone wearing face masks from joining in or starting their own march.

The free speech group Reporters Without Borders has called on protest organizers to condemn violence against journalists covering the marches.

The group says reporters have been beaten, kicked, and threatened with rape.

 
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Four people have been confirmed dead Sunday in a suspected gas explosion in Paris a day earlier.

Authorities found the body of a woman reported missing the day before underneath the rubble at a bakery, the site of the explosion, in the French capital. Two firefighters and a Spanish tourist were also killed and dozens injured in Saturday’s blast, which left nearby buildings severely damaged.

Around 50 people have been provided temporary accommodation as authorities continue to search the rubble for bodies and assess the safety of damaged buildings.

Firefighters were responding to calls about a gas leak Saturday when the explosion occurred.

French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted his condolences to the firefighters and their families Saturday.

“Their mission: saving lives. To accomplish this they gave their own,” Macron tweeted, adding that his thoughts were with all the victims.

The blast is believed to have been accidental, but authorities have not yet ruled out other causes in a city which has fallen victim to numerous terrorist attacks in recent years.

 
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The U.S. ambassador to Germany has warned companies involved in the construction of the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that they could face sanctions if they stick to the project, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Germany of being a “captive” of Moscow due to its reliance on Russian energy and urged it to halt work on the $11 billion gas pipeline.

The pipeline, which would carry gas straight to Germany under the Baltic Sea, is also seen critical by other European countries as it would deprive Ukraine of lucrative gas transit fees which could make Kiev more vulnerable in the future.

U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell addressed the issue in a letter sent to several companies, the U.S. Embassy said.

“The letter reminds that any company operating in the Russian energy export pipeline sector is in danger under CAATSA of U.S. sanctions,” the embassy spokesman said, adding that other European states also opposed the planned pipeline.

Germany and other European allies accuse Washington of using its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) to meddle in their foreign and energy policies due to its extraterritorial effect.

Russian gas giant Gazprom is implementing the project jointly with its Western partners – Uniper, Wintershall, Engie, Austria’s OMV and Anglo-Dutch group Shell.

The letter raised eyebrows within the German government. A German diplomat said the ambassador’s approach did not correspond to common diplomatic practice and that Berlin would address the issue in direct talks with officials in Washington. An Uniper spokesman declined to comment while no immediate reaction was available from Wintershall.

Germany and Russia have been at odds since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. But they have a common interest in the Nord Stream 2 project, which is expected to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream 1 route.

German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, which was first to report on the letter, said that Grenell was trying to blackmail German companies with the letter.

The U.S. Embassy denied this.

“The only thing that could be considered blackmail in this situation would be the Kremlin having leverage over future gas supplies,” the embassy spokesman said.

The letter was coordinated in Washington by several U.S. government agencies and “is not meant to be a threat but a clear message of U.S. policy”, the spokesman added.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Thursday that any U.S. sanctions against Nord Stream 2 would be the wrong way to solve the dispute and that questions of European energy policy had to be decided in Europe, not in the United States.
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U.S. President Donald Trump is dismissing news reports suggesting he is beholden to Russia and President Vladimir Putin or hiding accounts of his private talks with the Russian leader the five times they have met, including at their July summit in Helsinki.

Asked directly late Saturday by Fox News talk show host Jeanine Pirro whether he is now or has ever worked for Russia, Trump said, “I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked.”

The U.S. leader said, “If you ask the folks in Russia, I’ve been tougher on Russia than anybody else, any other — probably any other president period, but certainly the last three or four presidents, modern day presidents. Nobody’s been as tough as I have from any standpoint.”

Trump was reacting to a report in The New York Times that Federal Bureau of Investigation officials started investigating whether he “was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence” because they were so alarmed by Trump’s behavior after he fired former FBI chief James Comey in May 2017 when he was leading the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“It’s a very horrible thing they said…,” Trump said. “They really are a disaster of a newspaper.”

Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee that has been investigating Trump campaign links with Russia, told CNN on Sunday that at times Trump has “almost parroted” Putin’s policies.

“It’s a very real consideration” whether Trump is a willing agent of Russia, Warner said, especially considering information that surfaced last week that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort shared Trump campaign polling data in 2016 with a former business associate of his that U.S. investigators believe had ties to Russian intelligence.

Another key Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, told ABC News there are “serious questions” about why Trump is “so chummy” with Putin.

Earlier, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement that in the coming weeks his panel “will take steps to better understand both the president’s actions and the FBI’s response to that behavior. There is no reason to doubt the seriousness or professionalism of the FBI, as the president did in reaction to this story.”

Trump also assailed The Washington Post’s new account that he has gone to extraordinary lengths to hide details of his conversations with Putin over the last two years. On one occasion, the newspaper said Trump took possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructed the linguist to not discuss what had transpired with other Trump administration officials.

The newspaper said that incident occurred after Trump and Putin met in Hamburg in 2017, a meeting also attended by then-U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Trump’s most high-profile meeting with Putin occurred in Helsinki, where the two leaders met for two hours behind closed doors with only their interpreters listening in. No official accounts of their talks have been released, but Trump told Pirro there was nothing to hide about their discussions and could release a transcript.

“Well Jeanine I would, I don’t care,” Trump said. “I had a conversation like every president does. You sit with the president of various countries, I do it with all countries. We had a great conversation. We were talking about Israel and securing Israel and lots of other things. And it was a great conversation. I’m not keeping anything under wraps, I couldn’t care less. I mean, it’s so ridiculous.”

He added, “Anybody could have listened to that meeting, that meeting is up for grabs.”

Trump’s first two years in office have been consumed by the now 20-month investigation whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to help him win and whether, as president, Trump obstructed justice by trying to thwart the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the investigation after Trump ousted Comey.

Shortly after Trump dismissed Comey, he told NBC news anchor Lester Holt that he was thinking of “this Russia thing” when he decided to fire the FBI chief, saying that he felt the investigation was created by Democrats dismayed that Trump had upset former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to win the White House.

Mueller is believed to be nearing the end of his investigation and is expected to write a report on his findings.

Trump has often assailed the Mueller probe, telling Pirro, “You know, the whole Russia thing, it’s a hoax. It’s a terrible hoax.” Trump has denied that his campaign colluded with Russia or that he has obstructed justice.

But Mueller and other federal prosecutors have won convictions or secured guilty pleas from key figures in Trump’s orbit, including Manafort, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign aide Rick Gates, foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and his one-time personal attorney, Michael Cohen, among others.
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