Новини

President Donald Trump said the United States is considering establishing a permanent military base in Poland. At a joint news conference with President Andrzej Duda at the White House Tuesday, the Polish leader said his country would not only help pay for the military facility, it would also name it “Fort Trump.” White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more.
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The United States says it is close to defeating Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but officials have no plans to withdraw U.S. troops in either country in the near future. A military spokesman said Tuesday the U.S. mission is to maintain peace in some of the areas that have been ravaged by terrorism and conflict. The announcement comes after Russia and Turkey agreed to create a buffer zone between the government forces and rebels in Syria’s Idlib province. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Macedonia will take a big step to joining the European Union if the country supports a name change to “North Macedonia,” the official in charge of the bloc’s enlargement negotiations said Tuesday.

Following talks with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in the capital Skopje, Johannes Hahn said the September 30 vote is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for Macedonians to improve their daily lives.

A vote to authorize the name change would be an important step towards resolving a long-standing dispute with neighbor Greece, which has raised objections to Macedonia’s EU accession as well as blocking its NATO membership.

Greece has long sought a name change because it says the current one implies claims on its own northern province of Macedonia, and on its ancient heritage.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also voiced hope that the country will be able to start EU accession talks next June.

But he also called on the Macedonian leadership to continue with reforms that the EU has been requesting for years to bring the country in line with `EU criteria.

“More reforms are needed on all topics — rule of law, fighting organized crime and corruption,” Maas said after talks with his Macedonian counterpart, Nikola Dimitrov in Skopje.

Dozens of western officials including German chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, have visited Skopje in recent weeks to encourage turnout in the vote — which will only be valid if just over fifty percent of registered voters participate.

Commissioner Hahn said the deal is “appreciated” by the international community, because it would solve a long-running dispute.

“It is a proof for everybody that so-called frozen conflicts can be resolved if [leaders] have a determination to solve the issue,” Hahn said.

“This agreement has an impact [that] goes far beyond the EU.”

If Macedonians vote for the deal in the referendum, the country’s parliament must then amend the constitution to adopt the new name. For the deal to come into effect, Greece’s parliament would then have to ratify it.
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Pope Francis decreed on Tuesday that ordinary Catholics should be consulted about issues facing the Catholic Church and that bishops gathering for periodic meetings can make binding decisions on church teaching.

Francis issued new rules reforming the Synod of Bishops, the consultative body established 50 years ago to give popes an organized way of bringing bishops together to debate problems facing the church.

In the past, synods have been talkfests by churchmen who made nonbinding proposals to the pope to consider in a future document. The new rules say the bishops’ final document becomes part of his official church teaching, or magisterium — but only if the pope approves it.

The pope can help guarantee the outcome another way, by appointing members of the synod secretariat, drafting committee as well as the synod itself, whose members are only required to come to a “moral unanimity” in voting for their final document, but no numerical threshold.

Francis has sought to encourage greater debate at synods, and his 2014 and 2015 editions on family issues became controversial over the issue of whether divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive Communion.

Many conservatives accused Francis of going beyond even what the synod participants had agreed to in his subsequent document opening the door to letting these Catholics receive the sacraments.

In the reform, Francis also codified a process of consulting the faithful before a synod, as he did informally for the family meeting and the upcoming synod on youth.

Not only were questionnaires sent out asking ordinary faithful to chime in on a host of issues, including sexuality and homosexuality, the Vatican organized a pre-synod conference for young people in Rome so the Vatican could have in-person input before the October 3-28 meeting.

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, who heads the synod office, said the changes were consistent with Francis’ efforts to make the church more “synodal” and in decentralized unity with bishops around the world. At the same time, the changes reflect the fundamental role of the “people of God” in the church, he said.

However, Vatican officials confirmed that while women can attend synods as nominated experts and take the floor to speak, they can’t vote. And the “people of God” can’t watch the proceedings, which are held behind closed doors.
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European Union regulators have opened an in-depth investigation into whether automakers BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen colluded to limit the development and roll-out of car emission control systems.

The EU Commission said Tuesday that it had received information that BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, and VW units Audi and Porsche held meetings to discuss clean technologies aimed at limiting car exhaust emissions.

The probe focuses on whether the automakers agreed not to compete against each other in developing and introducing technology to restrict pollution from gasoline and diesel passenger cars.

“If proven, this collusion may have denied consumers the opportunity to buy less polluting cars, despite the technology being available to the manufacturers,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The Commission said its probe was focused on diesel emission control systems involving the injection of urea solution into exhaust to remove harmful nitrogen oxides. The probe follows a report in Der Spiegel magazine last year that the automakers had agreed to limit the size of the tanks holding the urea solution.

The case is another source of diesel trouble for German automakers in the wake of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal.

The Commission said, however, there was no evidence the companies had colluded to develop so-called defeat devices _ computer software that illegally turns off emissions controls. Volkswagen in 2015 admitted using such devices and has set aside 27.4 billion euros ($32 billion) for fines, settlements, recalls and buybacks. Former CEO Martin Winterkorn was criminally charged by U.S. authorities but cannot be extradited; Audi division head Rupert Stadler has been jailed while prosecutors investigate possible wrongdoing.

The automakers said they were not able to comment on details of the case but pointed out in statements that opening a probe does not necessarily mean a violation will be found. Daimler and Volkswagen said they were cooperating with the probe; BMW said that it “has supported the EU commission in its work and will continue to do so.”

Daimler noted that the probe only applied to Europe and did not involve allegations of price-fixing. BMW said it supported the Commission in its work from the start of the investigation and would continue to do so. “The presumption of innocence continues to apply until the investigations have been fully completed,” Volkswagen said in a statement.

After the Volkswagen scandal broke, renewed scrutiny of diesel emissions showed that cars from other automakers also showed higher diesel emissions in everyday driving than during testing, thanks in part to regulatory loopholes that let automakers turn down the emissions controls to avoid engine damage under certain conditions. The EU subsequently tightened its testing procedures to reflect real-world driving conditions for cars being approved for sale now. Environmental groups are pushing in court actions to ban older diesel cars in German cities with high pollution levels.

The Commission probe also is looking at possible collusion over particulate filters for cars with gasoline engines.

The Commission said that it did not see a need to look into other areas of cooperation among the so-called “Circle of Five” automakers such as quality and safety testing, the speed at which convertible roofs could open and at which cruise control would work. It said anti-trust rules leave room for technical cooperation aimed at improving product quality.

Anti-trust fines can be steep. In 2016 and 2017 the Commission imposed a fine of 3.8 billion euros after it found that six truck makers had colluded on pricing, the timing of introduction of emissions technologies and the passing on of costs for emissions compliance to customers. Truck maker MAN, part of Volkswagen, was not fined because it blew the whistle on the cartel. The others were Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, DAF and Scania, also owned by Volkswagen.
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Greece should urgently move children and other vulnerable migrants and refugees from its most overcrowded island camp to the mainland or to other EU countries for the sake of their mental and physical health, the MSF aid agency said on Monday.

The appeal from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) came days after the governor of the region where the Moria camp is based said it should be closed next month unless authorities clean up “uncontrollable amounts of waste.”

MSF said it had witnessed an unprecedented health crisis in the camp, Greece’s biggest and home to some 9,000 migrants, a third of whom are children. It said many teenagers had attempted to commit suicide or were harming themselves on a weekly basis.

Other children suffer from elective mutism, panic attacks and anxiety, it said in a statement.

“This is the third year that MSF has been calling on the Greek authorities and the EU to take responsibility for their collective failures,” the agency said. “It is time to immediately evacuate the most vulnerable to safe accommodation in other European countries.”

The migrants in the camp, which is on the island of Lesbos, are housed in shipping containers and flimsy tents in conditions widely criticised as falling short of basic standards.

Greece is a gateway into the European Union for hundreds of thousands of refugees who have arrived since 2015 from Syria and other war-ravaged countries in the Middle East and from Africa.

Athens, which exited the biggest bailout in economic history in August, is struggling to handle the thousands of refugees who are stranded on its islands.

It has criticised Europe’s handling of the refugee crisis and some EU member states for being reluctant to share their burden.

Last week, 19 non-governmental organizations urged Greece to take action to alleviate the plight of refugees in all its island camps, not just Moria, to render them more fit for human habitation. 

The total number of migrants and refugees holed up in the island camps exceeds 17,000.
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Slovak authorities have identified a possible witness in the murder of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak, whose killing last February led mass protests that forced the government to resign, a state prosecutor said on Monday.

It was the first development in the case in the six months since the murder.

“This person may have been present at or close to the crime scene around the time the crime was committed and may have information about the crime,” the prosecutor overseeing the case told a news conference.

He declined to answer questions on whether that person was a suspect or just a witness.

Kuciak, who had written about political corruption in Slovakia, was found shot dead along with his fiancee Martina Kusnirova at their home outside Bratislava in February. They were both 27.

The murder – which police have called a profesional hit – raised fears over media freedom in ex-communist Eastern Europe, and led to mass protests across the nation that forced the departure of previous police chief Tibor Gaspar as well as Prime Minister Robert Fico and interior minister Robert Kalinak.

The cabinet was reshuffled with Fico’s deputy Peter Pellegrini taking over as prime minister but the three-party center-left coalition stayed in power.

The prosecutor, who declined to give his name, said authorities had also whittled down possible motives to two.

He held up a sketch of the possible witness depicting a white man with a beard and dark hair who appeared to be in his late 20s to early 30s. He provided no other details.

“Despite initial mistakes in investigation, we have narrowed down possible motives from 30 to two,” the prosecutor said. “I believe we will be successful in the end.”

The update on Monday came after more than 300 Slovak journalists and publishers last month criticized police for the lack of progress in the murder investigation and alleged corruption described by Kuciak.

“As no fundamental changes to the police or to the prosecutorial bodies have taken place, we have doubts about the independence of the investigation,” they said in a statement.

Kuciak had covered Slovak businessmen mentioned in the Panama Papers and also probed fraud cases involving businessmen with Slovak political ties. He had also been looking into suspected mafia links of Italians with businesses in Slovakia.
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Most Western Europeans favor at least some restrictions on the religious clothing that Muslim women can wear in public, according to research released Monday by the Pew Research Center.

A median 50 percent of non-Muslim adults in the 15 countries surveyed said Muslim women should be allowed to wear religious clothing unless it covers their face. A median of 23 percent said that Muslim women should not be allowed to wear any religious clothing at all. Only 25 percent said they supported no such restrictions.

Portugal stood out as the only country where a majority of respondents said Muslim women should face no restrictions, at 52 percent.

Sixty six percent of respondents said they would accept a Muslim as a family member. But even in this group, a majority of 55 percent supported banning facial coverings.

“This is not a small group of people,” survey conductor Scott Gardner told VOA News. “Even though the majority have open and positive feelings towards Muslims, even those who say they would accept a Muslim as a family member favor at least some restrictions.”

Portugal was again unique in this category, with 60 percent of those who would accept a Muslim family member saying they supported having no restrictions on clothing.

The survey reflects government policy across the region. Last August, Denmark made it illegal for Muslim to wear facial coverings such as niqabs and burqas in public. Similar policies have been in enacted in Austria, Belgium, and France in recent years as Muslim immigrants have flocked to Europe in large numbers, escaping violence in Syria and other majority-Muslim nations.

The influx of Muslims into European countries has led to the rise of populist anti-immigration political movements in many of the countries surveyed, led by figures like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen in France. 
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An anti-Kremlin activist is being treated in a Berlin hospital for what members of the Pussy Riot band have called poisoning.

The publisher of a Russian online news outlet that criticizes the government, Pyotr Verzilov, reportedly lost his vision, hearing, and ability to walk Tuesday, following a court hearing

Verzilov was treated in a Moscow hospital last week, but was flown to Germany late Saturday on a flight chartered by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, which has long supported his and punk band Pussy Riot’s anti-Kremlin activism.

Verzilov’s wife, band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, told the German newspaper Bild she believed he was poisoned. Another member of the band, Veronika Nikulshina, told a Russian website it was “definitely poisoning”.

His collapse Tuesday followed a 15-day sentence he served with Nikulshina and two other members of the band for storming the soccer field during the World Cup final in July to highlight Russian police abuses.
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Chair umpire Carlos Ramos has issued a code violation to Croatia after Marin Cilic slammed his racket to the clay and mangled the frame during a tense Davis Cup match against Sam Querrey of the United States.

Since it was the first violation of the match, it was only a warning. No points were deducted and Cilic did not exchange any words with Ramos.

Ramos was also the umpire who gave Serena Williams three code violations in her straight-set loss to Naomi Osaka during last weekend’s U.S. Open final. The American great argued she wasn’t being treated the same as some male players.

The normally collected Cilic lost his cool after committing a series of uncharacteristic errors late in the third set against Querrey.

After winning the opening set, Cilic wasted a 6-1 lead in the second-set tiebreak.

Querrey, who played in place of Steve Johnson, won the third set to take a two sets to one lead.

Croatia leads the best-of-five semifinal 2-1.

Croatia’s Borna Coric is due to face Frances Tiafoe in a potentially decisive fifth rubber.
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London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for another referendum on Britain’s European Union membership, saying the prime minister’s handling of Brexit negotiations had become “mired in confusion and deadlock” and was leading the country down a damaging path.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29. But with Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plans still not accepted, some lawmakers, as well as union and business leaders are increasingly arguing for people to have a final say on any deal struck with Brussels.

May has repeatedly ruled out holding a second referendum following the vote two years ago to leave the EU. She says members of parliament will get to vote on whether to accept any final deal.

But with time running out for London and Brussels to thrash out a Brexit deal, the British government is preparing plans for a no-deal Brexit.

Finance Minister Philip Hammond told senior ministers last week that Brexit could have to be delayed beyond March 29 in order to pass new laws, The Sun newspaper said on Saturday.

The idea was immediately rejected by May, the report said. Khan, a senior member of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, said Britain was now facing either a bad deal or a no-deal Brexit, both of which were “incredibly risky” for Britain.

Writing in Sunday’s Observer newspaper, Khan blamed the government’s handling of the negotiations and said the threat to living standards, the economy and jobs was too great for voters not to have a say.

“The government’s abject failure.” and the huge risk we face of a bad deal or a no-deal Brexit.” means that giving people a fresh say is now the right — and only.” approach left for our country,” he said.

Khan’s support for a second referendum, which supporters call a “people’s vote”, will put more pressure on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to change his opposition to the idea.

Labour is due to start its four-day annual party conference in a week’s time.
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Swedish officials have officially confirmed the ruling Social Democratic Party won the most votes in the Sept. 9 general election despite a record low result and the far-right Sweden Democrats getting a big boost amid growing anti-immigration sentiment.

Election officials presented the final tally Sunday that showed Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s Social Democrats getting 28.3 percent, the center-right Moderate Party 19.8 percent and the Sweden Democrats 17.5 percent.

Neither the left-leaning bloc led by the Social Democrats nor the Moderates-led opposition, center-right bloc managed to secure a governing majority in the 349-seat parliament.

The result means Sweden will face weeks of political uncertainty amid expected government formation talks.

Both blocs have refused to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, a potential kingmaker in Cabinet formation talks. Voter turnout was 87.2 percent.
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“I lack words to describe this day,” Eliud Kipshoge said Sunday in Berlin after setting a new marathon world record of 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds.

Kipshoge, who won the marathon gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, took to the streets of Berlin where he dazzled thousands of supporters lining the streets cheering him on.

On a sunny autumn day with no wind, it was clear early in the race that Kipshoge would be the winner.

When he sprinted through the Brandenburg Gate, he cemented his reputation as one of the greatest runners of all time. He had taken more than a minute off the previous world record.

Fellow Kenyan Gladys Cherono was just a few minutes behind, wining the women’s race with a course record and best time of the year of  2 hours, 18 minutes and 10 seconds.

 
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For the anxious Palestinian residents of Khan al-Ahmar, there’s little left to do but wait.

After the West Bank hamlet lost its last legal protection against demolition late last week, Israeli forces could swoop any day now to tear down the desert community’s few dozen shacks and an Italian-funded schoolhouse made from recycled tires.

Some hold out hope that Israel might be deterred by an inevitable international outcry over razing the community. Major European countries have warned that flattening Khan al-Ahmar poses a grave threat to the already fading prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

International attention

The seemingly outsized international attention being paid to the tiny community is linked to its strategic location in the center of the West Bank. It’s an area deemed essential for setting up a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in 1967.

Israel has portrayed the battle over Khan al-Ahmar as a mere zoning dispute. Critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies say the village has become a symbol for what they describe as an ongoing displacement of Palestinians to make room for Israeli settlements.

With demolition now looming, dozens of activists, including foreigners, have been spending nights in Khan al-Ahmar to show support. They sleep on mattresses spread out under a green tarp covering the front yard of the Italian-funded school.

“We cannot prevent demolition,” said activist Mohammed Abu Hilweh, 30, from Jerusalem, as he stretched out on a mattress on a recent evening, settling in for the night.

“But we can resist, delay and when it happens, we can rebuild,” he said.

Khan al-Ahmar is a few dozen meters from a four-lane highway that runs east-west, effectively slicing the West Bank in half at a narrow waist and linking Jerusalem with the Jordan Valley.

Strategic location

The highway is also flanked by several Israeli settlements, including Maaleh Adumim, the West Bank’s third largest. A new settlement across the highway from Maaleh Adumim, called E1 by Israeli planners, would effectively block the remaining land link between West Bank Palestinians and east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital. Khan al-Ahmar sits just outside the area mapped for E1, which until now had largely been frozen under U.S. pressure.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, called the planned demolition a “blatant attempt” by Israel to separate the Palestinians from Jerusalem. 

“It is absolutely imperative that the international community intervene,” she said.

Two-state solution fades

For the past 25 years, the international community has favored the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as the best hope for peace. But those hopes are quickly fading.

In a departure from predecessors, President Donald Trump, who has promised a new peace plan, has refused to endorse the two-state solution while recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, over Palestinian opposition.

The U.S. State Department has said little about the looming demolition, referring reporters to the Israeli government for details.

​Europe speaks up

By contrast, European governments have been outspoken.

“The demolition of this small Palestinian village would not only affect a local community,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini recently told the European Parliament. “It would also be a blow against the viability of the state of Palestine and against the very possibility of a two-state solution.”

Separately, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom warned in a rare joint statement that demolition would have “very serious” consequences.

For now, Israel appears to be moving ahead. After a decade-long legal battle, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a final appeal earlier this month. Late last week, a moratorium on demolition expired.

Israel has not announced a date for the demolition, but earlier this week dismantled five corrugated metal shacks near Khan al-Ahmar that had been set up by villagers a few days earlier in a show of defiance. On Friday, troops returned with heavy equipment, removing earthen mounds set up to slow demolition. Two Palestinians and an American-French law professor were detained.

​Bedouin tribe members

The 180 residents of Khan al-Ahmar are members of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe that has lived in the area since being expelled from the southern Negev Desert after Israel’s establishment in 1948. The United Nations granted them refugee status.

Shani Sasson, a spokeswoman for COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Israel has offered to relocate the villagers.

She said the tribe squats on land that is not safe for living, and that the Israeli government has prepared an alternative site a few kilometers (miles) away with sewage treatment and access to water and electricity. She said Israel has invested more than $2 million in the relocation project.

“We are doing them a service,” she said. “This is not against them, this is for them.”

Residents acknowledge that life in their village is tough. But they say there is no place they would rather live. They say Israel is trying to move them to a site that will be too crowded for their livestock and that sits near a sewage facility and a garbage dump.

“We Bedouin people like the desert life,” said Yousef Abu Dahouq, a Khan al-Ahmar resident, sitting on a wooden bench near the school, sipping tea and smoking a waterpipe. “We live next to each other, support each other.”

Deeper Israeli agenda?

The Palestinians and Europeans see a deeper Israeli agenda.

Khan al-Ahmar is in the 60 percent of the West Bank that is known as Area C and remains under full Israeli control, according to interim peace deals from the 1990s that are seemingly locked in place because of diplomatic paralysis. The remainder of the territory is administered by a Palestinian autonomy government.

Area C is home to about 400,000 Israeli settlers and an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Palestinians. Israel places severe restrictions on Palestinian development while supporting and promoting dozens of settlements in the area.

The EU has attempted to build numerous structures for Palestinians in Area C, only to see them demolished or rejected because of a lack of hard-to-get permits. Khan al-Ahmar’s Italian-funded school was built from car tires because a construction permit could not be obtained.

“This is the situation on the ground: New settlements for Israelis are built, while Palestinian homes in the same area are demolished,” Mogherini said. “This will only further entrench a one-state reality, with unequal rights for the two peoples, perpetual occupation and conflict.”

The village chief, Eid Khamis, promised to put up a fight.

“They want to kick us out and build settlements and we will not let that happen,” he said. “It’s our land.”
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