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Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif says other countries in the region may be able to sway the Taliban into peace talks better than Islamabad, including Russia.

“At least for our influence on Taliban today, there is a mistrust … perhaps they have more influence from other countries in that region than in our Pakistan,” Asif said Thursday when asked by VOA’s Urdu service whether he was referring to Russia.

Asif was speaking to reporters in Washington a day after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to discuss issues of mutual concern, such as Afghanistan.

The Pakistani foreign minister said an upcoming four-way round of talks on Afghanistan was slated for Oman’s capital, Muscat, on October 16.

“The quadrilateral arrangement will again be in operation. So, that is something we still hope will … still work,” Asif said.

He gave no further details on the talks or who would be attending.

Quadrilateral group restored

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani agreed in June to revive the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, made up of Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States. The group last met in May 2016 and fell into disarray with the Taliban’s refusal to take part, a change in U.S. leadership, and bickering between Islamabad and Kabul.

Asif urged the United States to act as a facilitator between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“We need the bilateral contacts, which were resumed three or four days back with Kabul and Islamabad. The Americans will support us in this process,” Asif said.

Pakistan has rejected U.S. accusations that it is not doing enough to fight terrorism on its own soil.

Asif told VOA Urdu that Pakistan is going beyond offering Kabul joint-border monitoring and is asking for Afghan military commanders to help identify hideouts of Taliban inside Pakistan.

“We offered them — don’t give us information, board the helicopter with us, tell us the coordinates — we’ll straight go over there,” he said. “You want us to sniff them out? We’ll do that. You want us to take action against them? Whatever action you propose, we’ll do that. But,  … these hollow allegations are not acceptable.”

Russia in Afghanistan

Russia’s influence has slowly been returning to Afghanistan since the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion ended in defeat at the hands of the U.S.-backed mujahedeen.

Since launching a 2001 war against the Taliban for harboring al-Qaida terrorists, U.S. forces have gradually drawn down from the protracted conflict, providing room for Russia to assert itself.

Since December, Moscow has hosted three rounds of expanding international talks on Afghanistan, which the Taliban also has refused to support. For the second round in February, Russia invited Afghan representatives for the first time after Kabul and Washington raised concerns about their exclusion.

For the last round in April, Moscow invited former Soviet Central Asian states to join Afghanistan, China, India, Iran and Pakistan for a total of 11 countries. The United States also was invited, but Washington declined, saying it was not informed of the agenda beforehand and was unclear of the meeting’s motives.

The Taliban so far has refused direct talks with Kabul, calling it a “U.S. puppet,” and has declined to support the Moscow-led talks.

Russia acknowledged in 2016 it has been in direct contact with the Taliban leaders, but insists it is part of efforts to promote peace, and it has denied allegations of supplying or arming the Taliban.

Just days ahead of the February talks, however, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Russia was legitimizing and supporting the Taliban.

Pakistan has said Russia is “positively” using its influence with the Taliban and wants the U.S. to participate in the talks initiated by Moscow.

VOA’s Urdu service contributed to this report.
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U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass is criticizing the arrest of a local U.S. Consulate employee in Istanbul, saying it was motivated by “revenge rather than justice” on the part of elements within the Turkish government.

Bass made his comments Friday in the case of Metin Topuz, who was taken into custody Wednesday on terrorism charges.

“There is a big difference between pursuing justice and pursuing vengeance in terms of the rule of law and the democratic norms that this country, and my country, have committed themselves to, both through the Helsinki Charter and their own constitutions,” Bass said at a meeting of Turkish reporters.

Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu news agency, citing security sources, reports that Topuz was in regular communication with alleged leading members of a terrorist network blamed for last year’s failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to the government, the Fethullah Terrorist Organization, created by U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, was involved in the attempted coup in which more than 250 people were killed. Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, denies any involvement.

Takes issue with media

The same media report says Topuz also faces charges of espionage and attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.

Ambassador Bass took aim at the use of the media in Topuz’s detention.

“I am deeply disturbed that some people in the Turkish government prefer to try this case through media outlets rather than properly pursuing the case in a court of law before a judge. That does not strike me as pursuing justice; it seems to me more a pursuit of vengeance,” he said.

The U.S. ambassador, who is due to leave his post in Ankara for a new assignment in Afghanistan, also pushed back against the Turkish Foreign Ministry, saying Topuz was a staff member.

On Tuesday, the ministry issued a statement saying, “He [Topuz] is neither a staffer of the U.S. Consulate nor does he have any diplomatic or consular immunity.”

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag on Friday, in appearing to contradict the Foreign Ministry, criticized the U.S. diplomatic representation for its employment of Topuz.

“The important thing to be highlighted here is the presence and employment of a terror-linked person at the U.S. embassy without the knowledge of Turkish authorities,” Bozdag said.

U.S.-Turkish tensions have been on the rise over Washington’s support of the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG in its fight against Islamic State. Ankara deems the YPG as terrorists.

“This crisis of the confidence has been there for quite a while,” noted Semih Idiz, a political columnist with Al Monitor website.

But those tensions continue to be exacerbated over the ongoing fallout concerning last year’s coup attempt.

In the days after the botched military takeover, several Turkish ministers and the pro-government media accused Washington of being involved, a charge the U.S. strongly denied; however, the U.S. refusal to extradite cleric Gulen continues to fuel suspicions of Washington’s alleged collusion with him.

Political rhetoric

Turkish President Erdogan is increasingly using in his rhetoric accusations of foreign conspiracies against his government and country.

“It’s affecting the public opinion because when these conspirators are regularly referred to, the Turkish public is simply looking to its [Turkey’s] Western allies as conspirators and as enemies,” said former Turkish Ambassador Unal Cevikoz, who now heads the Ankara Policy Forum.

“If this belief and this perception become more and more structural, then I am afraid it will carry Turkey away from its Western location and it will be very difficult to find a remedy to that illness in the future because it will be a part of the structural Turkish public opinion thinking.”

Erdogan warned recently of what he said was the danger of Turkish students studying overseas and returning as spies. The fear of foreign spies, especially from Turkey’s Western allies, is part of the national psyche. “Under every stone can be found an English spy,” is a Turkish adage.

Analysts point out Erdogan will be aware that stirring xenophobic fears and standing up to Washington will play well with nationalist voters, a key constituent for him in the 2019 presidential elections.
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Protesters in Catalonia have demonstrated for and against independence. Thursday, both sides gathered outside Barcelona over the deployment of national troops in the region. Spanish authorities have sent thousands of police and Civil Guard to Catalonia to block moves for independence. Spain’s Constitutional Court has ordered a suspension of Catalonia’s parliamentary session next week, in which regional leaders plan to vote for a unilateral declaration of independence. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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European countries are forcibly returning tens of thousands of Afghan asylum seekers, knowing they are at serious risk of torture, kidnapping, death and other human rights abuses, according to Amnesty International. The human rights group says the deportations are a brazen violation of international law. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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European countries are forcibly returning thousands of failed Afghan asylum seekers, knowing they are at serious risk of torture, kidnapping, death and other human rights abuses, according to Amnesty International.

The human rights group says the deportations are a ‘brazen violation’ of international law.

Between 2015 and 2016, European Union figures show the number of Afghans returned by European countries almost tripled, from just more than 3,000 to 9,500.

WATCH: Amnesty: Afghan Asylum-seekers Deported From Europe Face Death, Torture, Persecution

Amnesty International’s Audrey Gaughran told VOA the migrants are being sent back to a country still in the grip of war.

“2016 was the deadliest year on record in Afghanistan since monitoring began.  And in 2016 there were 11,000 casualties.  Thus far in 2017 the United Nations has recorded more than 16,000 security incidents.  So people are being sent back in greater numbers as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorates.”

Discrimination

Many Afghan asylum seekers feel unfairly treated, compared to other nationalities. 

Mohammed Jamshidi was deported to Kabul from Germany last month.

“In every corner of Europe, the priority is given to the people of Syria.  They need only three months to get registered, but Afghans are deported after years of staying in Germany,” Jamshidi said at Kabul airport.

Amnesty highlighted cases of returned Afghans who were killed or injured in bomb attacks, and others left in fear of persecution for their religion or sexual orientation.Several were sent back to parts of Afghanistan they had never known.  European governments justified these returns by claiming there were safe areas of the country.

“That’s just not true.  You are not safe in Afghanistan in any province.  But in addition to that, people are being returned to Afghanistan to places they’ve never seen before, that they don’t know anything about,” says Amnesty’s Gaughran.

Germany paused the return of Afghans in May, following a bomb attack in Kabul that killed 150 people and damaged the German embassy.  Deportations resumed last month.

A spokesperson for the German Interior Ministry told VOA that each returnee is assessed on a case-by-case basis, adding the government disputes Amnesty’s assertion that there are no safe areas in Afghanistan.

A spokesperson for the European Union said deportation decisions are made by member state governments, not by Brussels.
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British author Kazou Ishiguro has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The prize committee in Sweden says Ishiguro, through his novels, has “uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

The committee said the 62-year-old author was born in Nagasaki, Japan.  He moved to Britain when he was five-years-old.

Ishiguro has written numerous novels, but the committee said on Twitter his most celebrated work was The Remains of the Day, a story about a butler at an English country estate.  

The novel was turned into a movie featuring Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

Swedish academy secretary Sara Danius said Ishiguro is “a writer of great dignity” who has “developed an aesthetic universe all his own.”

“He is a little bit like a mix of Jane Austen, comedy of manners and Franz Kafka.  If you mix this a little, not too much, you get Ishiguro in a nutshell,” Danius said.

As the recipient of the $1.1 million prize, the world’s most prestigious literary award, Ishiguro joins the ranks of Doris Lessing and Ernest Hemingway.

The recipient last year was poet/songwriter Bob Dylan, an influential contributor to popular music and culture for the past half century.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 110 times between 1901 and 2017, according to NobelPrize.Org.

 
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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday urged Kurdish peshmerga forces to continue working with Iraqi security forces in the fight against Islamic State, while also reiterating his rejection of Kurdish independence.

Speaking during a visit to Paris, Abadi said his government does not want armed confrontation with the Kurds, but that “federal authority must prevail.”

Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted in favor of a non-binding independence referendum last month. Leaders said they hoped that would serve as the beginning of negotiations, but the government in Baghdad strongly rejected the vote.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday his government is prepared to help mediate the situation.

The Kurds and the Iraqi government have long-running disputes over oil revenues and who controls several key cities in the northern part of the country.
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The United States says it is “deeply concerned” about authorities in Turkey arresting a local employee of the U.S. consulate in Istanbul.

Turkish media reports say the employee, identified by the initials M.T., is accused of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and Turkey’s government,” and alleged to have ties to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The U.S. Mission to Turkey said in a statement Thursday it believes the allegations to be “wholly without merit.” It further objected to the way the case was being handled, expressing concern at what it said were Turkish government sources leaking information and leaving the employee to be tried in the media instead of a court.

Turkey accuses Gulen, who lives in the United States, of masterminding a failed coup attempt in 2016.

Turkish authorities have since jailed 50,000 people in a crackdown that has also included firing tens of thousands of people from government jobs and shutting down more than 100 media outlets.

Gulen has denied the accusations from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

 
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Anti-corruption activists hoping to shine a light on the hundreds of millions of dollars funneled through London every year are organizing tours of properties allegedly bought with dishonest money.

The “Kleptocracy Tour” is billed as a journey to the dark side of globalization. This is the first such tour which focuses on Nigeria.

“The international community, specifically the United Kingdom, the United States, other financial centers, are playing a huge role in facilitating elite corruption in Nigeria, through offshore corporate tax havens, lax banking and property laws,” said tour guide Matthew Page, a former U.S. State Department Nigeria analyst, now with Transparency International.

The tour’s first stop is the capital’s wealthy Belgravia district. Tax papers leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca suggest two multi-million dollar properties are linked to Nigerian Senate President Bukola Saraki. He has denied the allegations.

Also among the several tour stops are lavish properties that have been subjected to asset forfeiture proceedings by a court in Houston, Texas. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations they were received as bribes by Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former Nigerian Oil Minister and OPEC Secretary.

Nigeria analyst Clementine Wallop says Nigeria’s president is following through, though slowly, on pledges to crack down on corruption.

“It contributes to poverty. It contributes to poor education. It contributes to terrorism,” Wallop said of corruption. “You have communities where the young men are compelled to or driven into the arms of organizations like Boko Haram as a result of the depravation which results from corruption.”

Nigeria’s Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, told VOA the West must do more to help repatriate corrupt money.

“The government will not relent in pursuing these people,” Mohammed said. “But we also need the cooperation of many foreign countries, because sometimes we are hampered by the foreign jurisdictions.”

An estimated $100 billion of corrupt money passes through London each year. Activists say fears over the economy in a post-Brexit world are stalling government efforts to clamp down on global corruption, an industry with the British capital at its core.
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U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said Wednesday the committee continues to investigate whether President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election to help propel him to victory, adding that “a clear picture of what happened” is still developing.

“What I will confirm is the Russian intelligence service is determined, clever, and I recommend that every campaign and every election official take this very seriously as we move into this November’s election, and as we move into preparation for the 2018 elections,” Burr said.

Burr’s remarks came as he released an interim report on the panel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

Ranking Democrat Mark Warner said the federal government should take a “more aggressive whole government approach” toward Russia’s meddling, noting that electoral systems in 21 U.S. states were targeted by the Russians in the 2016 elections and some were penetrated.

Although Burr emphasized the investigation has not produced any conclusions, he believed the panel could not wait until the probe is completed before emphasizing to the public that Russia likely will interfere again.

The majority of Trump’s national security team agrees with the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia had, indeed, meddled in last year’s election in favor of Trump. The president, however, has not said he believes them.

During the course of the investigation, committee members and staff investigators have conducted mostly behind-the-doors interviews with several members of Trump’s inner circle and the intelligence community.

Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was interviewed, as was senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, who also is Trump’s son-in-law. Others questioned were senior executives of social media companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, which displayed many of the Russian-supported advertisements that were intended to exacerbate divisions among voters on hot-button issues before the election.

The committee has scheduled a handful of public hearings, during which intelligence officials and the committee leaders have underscored that last year’s elections probably have encouraged Russia to interfere in future U.S. elections. The White House is not up for grabs in the 2018 elections, but the midterm contests could have an impact on control of Congress.

 
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The leader of the Catalan regional government in northeast Spain has said he will declare independence within days. This follows a referendum Sunday in which 90% of Catalans voted in favor of breaking away from Spain – although less than half of those registered turned out to vote. Madrid has declared the vote illegal, and Spain’s King has also strongly criticized the Catalan government – raising the stakes yet further in a crisis that has caught Europe by surprise. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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The Russian Foreign Ministry, saying U.S. officials had broken into residences at Russia’s consulate in San Francisco, has threatened retaliation over what it called an illegal act.

Russian staff left the consulate last month, after Washington ordered Moscow to vacate some of its diplomatic properties. The moves were part of a series of tit-for-tat actions during a thorny phase in bilateral relations.

Since then, U.S. officials had occupied administrative parts of the compound, but on Monday they entered residential areas that the departing staff had locked, the ministry said in a statement late Monday.

“Despite our warnings, the U.S. authorities did not listen to reason and did not give up their illegal intentions,” it said. “We reserve the right to respond. The principle of reciprocity has always been and remains the cornerstone of diplomacy.”

Footage aired repeatedly on Russian state television showed what the broadcaster said were U.S. officials breaking locks that had sealed off parts of the compound and entering the buildings.

The “intruders” had taken over the whole premises, including the consul general’s residence, the ministry said.

“Therefore, we understand that Americans, breaking into our diplomatic buildings, have de facto agreed that their missions in Russia may be treated likewise.”

A State Department spokeswoman denied Tuesday that U.S. officials had broken into the residences, saying diplomatic security and representatives of the department’s Foreign Missions Office had walked through the spaces to ensure they had been vacated by an October 1 deadline.

Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States had “graciously” given the Russian government more time to leave the buildings after discovering they had families and individuals “living in this sort of office-type space.”

“Once we learned that, we then offered them extra time there to pack up their items and leave,” Nauert said. “So we permitted them living in the apartments until October 1. And their time was up.

“We did not break locks. No FBI [was] involved,” she added.

“This is diplomatic security along with the Foreign Missions Office. What they do is they just walk through, look around. The purpose of that is to make sure that people are no longer living there. And they conducted and they completed it.”

Expulsions began dispute

In San Francisco, a Department of State Diplomatic Security guard answered the door at the Russian consulate, a six-story brick building surrounded by a modest security fence and manicured hedges in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood.

The guard declined to comment and left the building in a black SUV.

A sign on the front door said the consulate was closed and gave a new mailing address. The State Department guard left the consulate front door open, behind a closed gate, and sounds of activity could be heard inside, but no one responded to repeated calls by a reporter.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month accused Washington of “boorish” treatment of Russia’s diplomatic premises on U.S. soil, ordering the Foreign Ministry to take legal action over alleged violations of Russia’s property rights.

The dispute began late last year when former U.S. President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats on accusations of Russian meddling in the election that took Donald Trump to the White House.

Trump took office in January, saying he wanted to improve ties with Russia, while Putin also spoke favorably of Trump.

But the allegations of interference in the vote, which Moscow has denied, have persisted as an investigation by U.S. authorities has widened.

In July, Moscow ordered the United States to cut the number of its diplomatic and technical staff working in Russia by around 60 percent, to 455.
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Spain’s King Felipe VI has condemned the Catalan authorities, saying they placed themselves “outside the law” by holding an independence vote Sunday.

In a television address to the nation Tuesday, the king called for unity even as thousands took to the streets across Spain’s northeastern province to protest a Spanish police crackdown during the referendum.

Separatist Catalan leaders have vowed to declare independence even though Madrid has declared the vote illegal and invalid. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont told the BBC such a declaration could come within days.

Catalan labor unions called for a general strike to voice anger about the treatment by Spanish police of people trying to vote in the region’s independence referendum.

The strike affected affected bus and subway services, schools, shops and other businesses. Spain’s famous Barcelona soccer team said it would join in the strike, and it suspended operations at its club headquarters for the day.

Officials in Catalonia said nearly 900 people were injured when police tried to keep residents from voting in the referendum, which was deemed unconstitutional by Spanish courts.

Video from Sunday showed police dragging people from polling stations and beating and kicking would-be voters and demonstrators.

Amnesty International said its observers witnessed “excessive use of force” by Spanish police.

The top Spanish official in the Catalan region, Enric Millo, said Tuesday that he regretted the violence that left so many people injured, but he blamed Catalan officials for “exposing citizens to danger.”

He added, “Nothing of this would have happened if the government wouldn’t have declared itself in rebellion, breaking the orders of the courts and lying and tricking people.”

He said Spanish police broke into schools being used as polling stations only after local police failed to carry out a judge’s order to stop the vote.

European Union chief Donald Tusk appealed to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday to “avoid further escalation and use of force” in the standoff.

Officials in Catalonia said 90 percent of those who voted in the referendum chose independence from Spain, and they called for international mediation to solve the political deadlock.

Spain will do “everything within the law” to prevent Catalonia from declaring independence, Justice Minister Rafael Catala said Monday in an interview with Spanish public television.
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The prime ministers of Bulgaria, Greece and Romania gave their support to their Balkan neighbor Serbia’s bid to join the European Union on Tuesday, saying the integration of the western Balkans would guarantee regional peace and stability.

Serbia, which in the 1990s was seen as pariah of Western Balkans for its central role in wars that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia, expects to complete negotiations on EU membership by 2019.

“All of us know that the natural place of Serbia is in the European Union,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said after a four-party summit in the Black Sea city of Varna with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose and Serbian President Alexander Vucic.

Borissov said that the three EU members would work to speed up the process to the advantage of peace and stability in the Balkans and Europe generally.

Bulgaria takes over the rotating six-month EU presidency in January while Romania will take over in 2019.

Many Serbs, however, remain skeptical about joining the bloc and view Western European countries as outspoken advocates of the 1999 NATO bombing to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians in the former province of Kosovo, in which thousands of civilians had been killed.

Double standards

Vucic accused the European Union of using double standards by refusing to accept the Catalan independence referendum while largely welcoming a separate Kosovo.

“We support Spain, it is our friendly country,” said Vucic.

“But the European Commission responded in a different way [over Kosovo] and it was against my people and my state.

Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 was accepted by Washington and most EU states, but rejected by Belgrade and its allies.

“Kosovo gained independence without even holding a referendum but Catalonia … cannot get anything like that,” Vucic said. “Sometimes, we, the Serbs, are asking ourselves why we should have been the victim of double standards?”

Serbia’s position on Kosovo has been one of the main stumbling blocks in its own bid to join the European Union.

Brussels has said it needs to improve relations with the authorities in Pristina and stop trying to block their efforts to join international bodies.
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Police in Las Vegas, Nevada say a man opened fire on a country music concert late Sunday, killing 59 people and wounding 527 others, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

An edited list of mass shootings that have taken place in other parts of the world:

Paris, France

November, 2015

Terrorists claiming allegiance to Islamic State carried out several coordinated attacks in the city, including shootings of pedestrians on the street and a mass shootings at the Bataclan theatre. One hundred and thirty people were killed in the combined attacks.

Paris, France

January, 2015

Islamist gunmen stormed the office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly magazine, and killed 12 people, including the paper’s top editors and cartoonists, in anger over its satirical cartoons of Islamic terrorists and the Prophet Muhammad.

Nairobi, Kenya

September, 2013

Al-Shabab Islamist militants, who are based in Somalia, attacked the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi, killing nearly 70 people and wounding about 175. The siege latest for three days before government troops could end the attack.

Utoya, Norway

July, 2011

A gunman disguised as a policeman opened fire at a youth camp for political activists on the small island of Utoya, northwest of Oslo. The gunman, who had been linked to an anti-Islamic group, killed 68 campers. Separately, the gunman set off a bomb in Oslo that killed 8 people.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

April, 2011

A 23-year-old former student returned to his public school in Rio de Janeiro and opened fire on the students, killing 12 children and seriously wounding more than a dozen others, before shooting himself in the head.

Baku, Azerbaijan

April, 2009

A Georgian citizen of Azerbaijani descent killed 12 students and staff at the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy. Several others were wounded.

Winnenden, Germany

March, 2009

A 17-year-old boy shot and killed 15 people at his school, Albertville Technical High School, in southwestern Germany.

Mumbai, India

November, 2008

Islamist terrorists carried out a series of shooting and bombing attacks across the city over the span of several days, including mass shootings at two hotels, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and the Oberoi Trident. The attacks left 164 people dead and a further 308 people were wounded.

Moscow, Russia

October, 2002

A group of armed Chechen militants seized the crowded Dubrovka theater and took 850 people hostage. At least 170 people died in the terrorist attack.

Erfurt, Germany

April, 2002            

A 19-year-old student opened fire at his secondary school, killing 16 people, including 13 teachers, two students, and one policeman, before killing himself.

Port Arthur, Australia

April, 1996

A 28-year old man opened fire at a cafe on a historic penal colony site in Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23. It was the worst mass-murderer in modern Australian history.

Dunblane, Scotland

March, 1996 

A gunman killed 16 children and one teacher at Dunblane Primary School before killing himself.

Montreal, Canada

December, 1989

A 25-year-old gunman shot 28 people at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, killing 14 women, before committing suicide.

 
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Hundreds of people took to the streets in Barcelona to protest a police crackdown in Catalonia to stop an independence referendum in the region.

Protestors, many of them students, waved the Catalan independence flag Monday and held up signs demanding more democracy outside the headquarters of the Spanish police in Barcelona. Demonstrations also took place in several other Catalan cities, including Girona and Lleida.

The violence followed a police crackdown during Sunday’s independence referendum. Officials in Catalonia said nearly 900 people were injured when police tried to keep residents from voting in the referendum, deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish courts.

Video from Sunday showed police dragging people from polling stations and beating and kicking would-be voters and demonstrators.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 430 National Police and Civil Guard agents suffered injuries from the clashes.

Amnesty International says its observers witnessed “excessive use of force” by Spanish police.

European leaders on Monday urged dialogue between Spain’s government and authorities in Catalonia. A spokesman for the European Commission said the referendum was “not legal” but said that “violence can never be an instrument in politics.”

The commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, said in a Twitter message that “these are times for unity and stability, not divisiveness and fragmentation.”

EU chief Donald Tusk appealed to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajov on Monday to “avoid further escalation and use of force” in the standoff.

 
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Turkey’s armed forces chief, General Hulusi Akar, is in Tehran for talks with Iran’s political and military leadership, including President Hassan Rouhani. His visit precedes President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit, scheduled for Wednesday, and comes as analysts suggest the use and threat of and military force are increasingly becoming part of Turkish foreign policy.

Analysts point out preliminary talks before a presidential visit are traditionally carried out by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, but note Akar’s agenda in Tehran had a strong military flavor.

Tehran and Ankara have issued thinly-veiled military threats to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, following its independence referendum last month. It passed with 92 percent of the vote.

News agencies on Monday reported the Iranian military had moved up heavy artillery to the Iraqi Kurdish border. The deployment matches that of the Turkish armed forces already massed on Turkey’s Iraqi Kurdish frontier, ostensibly for military drills.

“Turkey is now looking at a change in its foreign policy,” noted former Turkish ambassador to Iraq Unal Cevikoz. “Turkey is considering the threat of the use of force and the use of force as a viable option for realizing its foreign policy objectives, and that is dangerous.”

Cevikoz noted a possible increase in the Turkish military’s influence over foreign policy. Possible evidence of a growing military role in diplomatic affairs included an August visit by Russian and Iranian armed forces chiefs to the Turkish capital, Ankara. The visits reportedly focused on the ongoing civil war in Syria, where all of these countries have their military forces deployed.

Historic military role

Such a scenario is not new to Turkey. Throughout the 1990s, the peak of fighting by the Kurdish insurgent group the PKK, the military held sway over much of Turkish foreign policy.

In the 2000s, as part of his policy to demilitarize Turkish society, then-Prime Minister Erdogan ended the military role in foreign policy.

“Turkey believed that if Turkey wants to have a peaceful and stable environment in the Middle East, this could be achieved not through security policies or use of military power, but through enhancing economic cooperation,” noted Cevikoz, who now heads the Ankara Policy Center.

The 2015 collapse in Ankara’s peace process with the PKK, and the Syrian civil war, are seen as the impetus for a recalibration in Turkish foreign policy.

“When Syria became a very important area where international terrorism is now finding a fertile ground and when the civil war expanded in Syria, I think that saw Turkey is shifting back to its security policies,” Cevikoz said.

Some analysts see a more robust foreign policy backed up by force as a necessity.

“In such a turbulent and difficult region with a variety of security threats, Turkey needs hard power as part of a portfolio of instruments to influence regional developments,” said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar with the Carnegie Institute in Brussels. “In that sense, hard power in this region is necessary even if it’s to advance a diplomatic objective.”

Domestic policies

Domestic politics could also be a factor driving Ankara’s more robust foreign policy approach, analysts note. In 2019, Turkey faces presidential and general elections; both are predicted to be close.

“President Erdogan increasingly has presidential elections in sight,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who is now a regional analyst.

Ankara has strained relations with several of its Western allies. And analysts warn there are questions over its future commitment to NATO as Erdogan’s rapprochement with Moscow deepens. The Turkish President has described his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “a valuable friend.”

Erdogan is also looking to improve ties as he heads to Tehran.

Cevikoz said if Turkey is “serious about the secularization of its foreign policy,” then it will “have to coordinate with countries like Iran and Russia,” which are not allies.

But that will not be a permanent alliance, he said, which “in a way will leave Turkey as a kind of lone wolf in the region.”
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The European Commission says Sunday’s independence referendum in Catalonia was “not legal” but also called on the Spanish government to open dialogue.

A spokesman for the commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, said Monday that “violence can never be an instrument in politics.”

The commission said in a Twitter message that “these are times for unity and stability, not divisiveness and fragmentation.”

The director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir also called on the Spanish authorities to ensure respect for fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression,” in order to facilitate communication and employ “de-escalation measures to reduce tensions.”

“The Spanish authorities must ensure that police use force only when necessary and in strict adherence to the principle of proportionality,” she said.

Nearly 900 injured

Officials in Catalonia said nearly 900 people were injured when police tried to keep residents from voting. Spain’s Constitutional Court had suspended a law passed by the region’s parliament calling for the vote, but the referendum was held anyway.

In a televised address after polls closed, Catalonia regional President Carles Puigdemont said Catalonia had “won the right to become an independent state” and urged the European Union to stop looking “the other way.”

WATCH: Catalonia President

The government of Spain, however, forcefully disagreed.

Spain will do “everything within the law” to prevent Catalonia from declaring independence, Justice Minister Rafael Catala said Monday in an interview with Spanish public television.

“If anyone plans to declare the independence of part of the territory of Spain, as he can’t since he does not have the power to do so, we would have to do everything within the law to impede this,” Catala said.

Catalonia’s government said early Monday that preliminary results showed that 90 percent of voters in Sunday’s referendum want the region to declare its independence from Spain.

Regional government spokesman Jordi Turull said 2.02 million of the 2.26 million votes cast were for independence. He said nearly 8 percent of voters rejected independence and the rest of the ballots were blank or void.

Voter turnout was about 42 percent in Catalonia which has an electorate of 5.3 million voters.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who spoke from Madrid Sunday slammed the vote — calling it illegal and an attack on the rule of law.

“At this hour, I can tell you in the strongest terms what you already know and what we have seen throughout this day. There has not been a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia today,” Rajoy said.

Puigdemont replied, saying Rajoy was bringing shame on his country.

“The exterior image of the Spanish state keeps getting worse and today they have reached embarrassing levels that will always be always remembered,” Puigdemont said.

Police officers from Spain’s national police forces raided polling places in an effort to close them down and halt voting. Video showed police dragging people from polling stations and beating and kicking would-be voters and demonstrators.

Puigdemont said he would appeal to the European Union to look into alleged human rights violations in connection with the violent efforts to halt the vote.

IN PICTURES: Catalonia Independence

In a statement issued late Sunday, the State Department said the United States supports a strong and united Spain. The U.S. also supports the right to free assembly, the statement said, and urged those involved to act in a way consistent with Spanish law.

Several labor unions and other organizations called for a strike Tuesday to protest the police crackdown.
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Catalonia’s government said early Monday that preliminary results show that 90 percent of voters in Sunday’s referendum want the region to declare its independence from Spain.

Regional government spokesman Jordi Turull said 2.02 million of the 2.26 million votes cast were for independence. He said nearly 8 percent of voters rejected independence and the rest of the ballots were blank or void.

Voter turnout was about 42 percent in Catalonia which has an electorate of 5.3 million voters.

Catalonia regional President Carles Puigdemont said he would keep his pledge to declare independence unilaterally if the “Yes” side won Sunday’s disputed referendum on secession from Spain.

Watch: Catalonia President

In a televised address after polls closed, Puigdemont said Catalonia had “won the right to become an independent state” and urged the European Union to stop looking “the other way”.

The government of Spain, however, forcefully disagreed. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who spoke from Madrid Sunday slammed the vote – calling it illegal and an attack on the rule of law.

“At this hour, I can tell you in the strongest terms what you already know and what we have seen throughout this day. There has not been a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia today,” Rajoy said.

Puigdemont replied, saying Rajoy was bringing shame on his country.

“The exterior image of the Spanish state keeps getting worse and today they have reached embarrassing levels that will always be always remembered,” Puigdemont said.

Officials in Catalonia said more than 800 people were injured when police tried to keep residents from voting. Spain’s Constitutional Court had suspended a law passed by the region’s parliament calling for the vote, but the referendum was held anyway.

Police officers from Spain’s national police forces raided polling places in an effort to close them down and halt voting. Video showed police dragging people from polling stations and beating and kicking would-be voters and demonstrators.

Puigdemont said he would appeal to the European Union to look into alleged human rights violations in connection with the violent efforts to halt the vote.

In Pictures: Catalonia Independence

In a statement issued late Sunday, the State Department said the United States supports a strong and united Spain. The U.S. also supports the right to free assembly, the statement said, and urged those involved to act in a way consistent with Spanish law.

Several labor unions and other organizations called for a strike Tuesday to protest the police crackdown.
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Animals that make the water their home are uniquely sensitive to changes in their liquid world. Oysters are very good at filtering dirty water, and crayfish are very sensitive to changes in water quality. Now scientists in the Czech Republic are using these sensitive bottom dwellers to monitor water quality in a business where clean water matters. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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They emerged early Sunday with helmets, masks and flak jackets from temporary overnight accommodation, cheap boarding houses and chartered cruise ships painted with huge Warner Bros. cartoon figures, Tweetie Pie and Daffy Duck, docked at Barcelona’s port.

But as the day unfolded, Barcelona was far from being Disney World.

Soon after polling stations opened, police, many drafted from outside Catalonia, moved in under orders from the national government in Madrid to block an independence referendum they and the country’s constitutional court said is illegal under the 1978 constitution that declares Spain indivisible.

For Catalan separatists, Spain’s current constitution isn’t free of the stamp of the former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, who ruled the country for 40 years. They say underlining the constitution is a shameful, purposeful amnesia, one that ignores the suffering of Catalonia during the brutal 1930s civil war and the suppression of the Catalan language during Franco’s 40-year-long dictatorship.

The ghost of Franco was never far from Sunday’s illegal referendum.

Some of the extra police drafted into Spain’s restive north-east region had been cheered as they traveled to Catalonia by rightwing Spanish nationalists waving the national flag and chanting provocatively, “Viva Franco.”

Sunday was a far cry from the unity and comradeship Spain presented to the world in August when Spaniards and Catalans mourned together the 13 killed and 100 injured when jihadists struck Barcelona.

IN PICTURES: Catalonia Independence Referendum

As a gray, wet Sunday unfolded and the police mounted a speedy show of force in the Catalan capital, firing rubber bullets and wielding batons at people lining up to cast their ballots, besieging polling stations, seizing ballot boxes and removing officials overseeing the illegal vote, Catalan separatists accused them of acting like Franco.

Some analysts feared Mariano Rajoy’s center-right national government was being maneuvered cleverly by the separatists into overreacting. They argued before the vote that Madrid should just ignore a referendum that has no legal standing. They will point to Sunday’s events as confirming what they feared might happen.

WATCH: Clashes Between Police, Protesters 

Spanish officials maintained it was never a serious option to ignore the vote; to do so would be to allow lawlessness and to permit a minority to kidnap the democratic process. The midweek announcement by the Catalan regional government that it would declare independence in the event of a “yes” vote, gave Madrid no choice but to act, officials argue.

Overnight thousands of pro-secessionists, both nervous and thrilled, occupied Catalonia’s schools, presenting a festive appearance as parents with their children danced and put on concerts and events. It was a tactical move to try to preempt the police from shuttering schools to prevent them serving as polling stations, something they had been warned would happen by Madrid.

Speaking to reporters in the Spanish capital on the eve of the vote, the country’s foreign minister said, “The law guarantees democracy, what they’re pushing is not democracy, it is a mockery of democracy, a travesty of democracy.”

Many Catalans, opinion polls show 49 percent oppose secession compared to 41 percent for it, no doubt agreed with those sentiments. Catalans opposed to the vote have been less vocal than secessionists with some saying they were getting harassed by separatists when they spoke out and labeled fascists.

As dawn broke Sunday more people gathered at designated polling stations. “Votarem, votarem!” – (“We will vote!”) they chanted. “It is pretty exciting,” said pro-separatist activist Jordi Gali outside a voting center in downtown Barcelona. “So many people are united with one idea in common,” he added.

Within two hours of the polls opening, Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull announced that 73 percent of polling stations were functioning, but added, “there are constant attacks on the computer system.” The Spanish government disputed the claim, saying most designated polling stations had been shuttered.

Pro-independence leaders were quick to denounce police intervention. Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, tweeted her anger, saying, “A cowardly president has filled our city with police. Barcelona, city of peace, is not afraid.”

Catalan regional president Carles Piedgement, a main proponent of the controversial referendum, said the “unjustifiable violence” created a terrible image of Spain.

They received some backing from overseas. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, took the rare step of commenting on another European country’s internal affairs, tweeting, “Some of the scenes in #Catalonia this morning are quite shocking and surely unnecessary. Just let people vote.”

But Spain’s Guardia Civil said its officers were being harassed and provoked and reported by early afternoon nine policemen and two Guardia Civil officers had been injured while trying to stop the referendum. Posted video showed hooded figures throwing objects at police in central Barcelona.

But in the PR war over perceptions the separatists declared a moral win Sunday even before the polls closed. “Today, the Spanish state has lost… while Catalonia has won,” said Catalonia’s president Puigdemont.

 
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Spanish government efforts to block a regional referendum on Catalonia’s secession, have degenerated into violence as police shut down polling stations and confiscate ballot boxes, despite resistance by voters throughout the region.

According to Catalan officials more than 460 people are being treated for injuries in clashes that are intensifying as voter frustration grows at police patrols moving through Barcelona and other Catalan cities.    

Spain’s Vice Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Sunday in Madrid, “There has been no referendum or appearance of any.”

She said police dismantling of internet connections to the regional census bureau  has neutralized any ability to formulate voting results.  But spokesmen for the Catalan regional government that called for the vote, say at 73 percent of voting stations are open and their own technicians are trying to fix downed internet lines.  

A Catalan official connected with the regional election commission that resigned last week under government threats of massive fines said voting results will be announced after midnight or sometime Monday.

The source, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, says votes will be counted manually and results announced by a special election board being formed by “experts and academics”. Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido says that attempts to legitimize today’s vote are a  “parody.”  

Violence erupted early in the day when police prevented the president of the Catalan regional government, Carles Puigdemont, from casting a ballot in his home district of Gerona.

WATCH: Clashes Between Police and Protesters

Police in riot gear charged a crowd that tried to surround them at the polling station, hitting one protestor in the eye with a rubber bullet. Puigdemont was later filmed voting at another polling station.

Catalan authorities urged voters to cast ballots at any open polling station they could find. In some cases people have been casting votes in ballot boxes set up on the streets. “The Spanish state has prevented Catalans from exercising their rights, giving a terrible image of  Spain” Puigdemont told journalists.

Spanish police officials say that they were let down by the Catalan regional police force who had assured them that they would not allow polling stations to open.

IN PICTURES: Catalonia Independence Referendum

Hastily organized interventions by Spain’s national police and the civil guard gendarmerie raiding poling stations once voting was already underway, led to embarrassing scenes of hooded policemen forcefully removing ballot boxes and abusing voters.

By midafternoon balloting seemed to be proceeding normalcy at some main voting stations. The mainstream social democratic opposition party, PSOE which at first supported the conservative government’s hard line policy towards Catalan secession, called on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Puigdemont to resign and call new elections.

As an  apparent protest against the central government efforts to abort the referendum, Barcelona’s star soccer team canceled a match with another Spanish team that announced it would play with Spain’s colors sewed on its jerseys.

Under the threat of sanctions  from Spain’s football association, the Barcelona team finally agreed to play a closed door match with the team from the Canary Islands, where support for the central government is strong. 
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Turkey no longer needs to join the European Union but will not unilaterally abandon the stalled EU accession talks, President Tayyip Erdogan told parliament on Sunday.

“We will not be the side which gives up. To tell the truth, we don’t need EU membership any more,” Erdogan said.

Turkey’s 12-year-long accession talks have ground to a halt, with the EU especially critical of Ankara’s crackdown following a failed coup last year. Tens of thousands of people including teachers and journalists have been detained.

Erdogan’s government says EU states failed to appreciate the gravity of the threat which Turkey faced, and did not respond to requests to extradite coup suspects.

“The EU failed us in a fight against terrorism,” Erdogan said on Sunday, though he also suggested the bloc still needed Turkey.

“If the EU is going to leap forward, there is only one way to do so. And it is to grant Turkey membership and start an action of cultural and economic growth,” Erdogan said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an election debate last month it was clear Turkey should not join the EU and entry talks should end, despite it being a crucial NATO ally.
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Turkey’s largest foreign military base in the world opened Saturday in Mogadishu, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Somali leaders, top Turkish military officials and diplomats.

Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire and the head of the Turkish military, General Hulusi Akar have jointly inaugurated the 4 square kilometer (1.54 square mile) facility, which holds three military residential complexes, training venues, and sports courts. It had been under construction for the last two years.

General Akar said the base is the biggest sign of how Turkey wants to help Somalia.

“We are committed to help [the] Somali government, and this base will cover the need for building strong Somali National Army. And it is biggest sign showing our relationship.”

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Khaire highlighted the significance of the training base for his country.

“Today our country goes to the right direction toward development and the re-establishment of Somali Army, capable and ready for the defense of their nations,” said Khaire “This base is part of that on ongoing effort.”

More than 200 Turkish military personnel will train some 1,500 Somali troops at a time, according to Somalia’s defense Ministry. The Somali prime minister said it will manufacture an inclusive united Somali Army.

“This training base has a unique significance for us because it is a concrete step taken toward building an inclusive and integrated Somali National Army,” said Khaire. “My government and our Somali people will not forget this huge help by our Turkish brothers. This academy will help us train more troops.”

The inauguration ceremony was held amid tight security around the base located in the Jaziira coastal area in southern tip of the capital.

Hulusi Akar, the Turkish Army chief said, “the Turkish government would continue to support our Somali brothers until their country becomes militarily stronger.”

Other diplomats who attended the event said the training is part of an international effort to strengthen the Somali National Army to a point where it can take over security responsibilities from African Union troops currently fighting al-Shabab militants. The African Union has said it wants to begin withdrawing troops from Somalia next year.

Prime Minister Khaire said the base also will help to defeat the extremism and the ideology that drives young Somali men into violence and terrorism.

“To defeat terrorism and fight against the poverty, we have keep in mind that building our national security and eliminating corruption is the key,” he said.

Somalia has a significant number of military personal, but they are ill-trained and poorly equipped. Last week, the government repeated its plea for world leaders to lift an international arms embargo.

The U.S. already had deployed dozens of American soldiers to Mogadishu, and their presence marked the first American military forces in Somalia, except for a small unit of counterterrorism advisers, since March 1994.

The United Arab Emirates also has a military facility where they train the Somali Army, which many politicians condemn for taking orders directly from UAE commanders.

“The good news is not only the opening of this training base but also …that when Turkey trains our troops it will also equip them,” said Somali Military Chief, Ahmed Mohamed Jimale.

Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab is attempting to overthrow the Somali government and install a strict form of Islamic law throughout the country. On Friday, 30 people were killed when al-Shabab militants stormed a Somali military army base in the town of Barire, 47 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu.

 
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Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Barcelona to oppose Sunday’s referendum on Catalonian independence from Spain.

Waving Spanish flags, the protesters filled the square in front of Barcelona’s regional government buildings Saturday.

Madrid has declared the vote illegal, and authorities in Spain began sealing off polling stations and confiscating ballots. While the Spanish national government said there would be no Catalonian independence vote, Catalonia’s regional government continued preparations for it.

Hundreds of people supporting the referendum camped out in schools in an attempt to keep them open for Sunday’s vote.

Enric Millo, the highest-ranking Spanish security official in the northeastern region, said Saturday that police had already blockaded half of the more than 2,300 polling stations designated for the referendum vote.

He said Spanish authorities also had dismantled the technology Catalan officials planned on using for voting and counting ballots, which he said would make the referendum “absolutely impossible.”

The president of the Catalan National Assembly appealed directly to the “conscience” of police officers deployed to the polling stations while speaking to reporters Saturday.

“I am aware they have a job to do, that they have their orders and have to carry them out. We are aware of that. But we also know that they have feelings, conscience,” he said.

“So tomorrow, when they carry out their orders they will undoubtedly receive, I hope they keep in mind — during the situations they find themselves in — that these could be their children, their mothers or their nephews, members of their family who just want to be able to  express themselves in freedom.”

Spanish Culture Minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo said Friday that the independence vote would violate Spanish law and that the government would not accept the results.

“We are open to dialogue within the framework of the law. As you would understand, nobody can ask us … to engage in dialogue outside the framework of the law. It’s impossible,” he said. “No European political leader can even consider dealing with an issue that is not in [Spanish] government hands.”

Catalan authorities said they would declare independence from Spain within 48 hours of the vote if residents there chose to secede.

On Friday, Catalan farmers rode tractors through the streets of Barcelona, driving slowly and waving pro-independence flags and banners. The tractors eventually stopped, converging on the regional government building.

At the same time, European Union officials said they would not mediate the dispute between Spain and Catalonia, calling it a matter of Spanish law.

“[It is] a Spanish problem in which we can do little. It’s a problem of respecting Spanish laws that Spaniards have to resolve,” said European Parliament President Antonio Tajani.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans called on Europeans to respect the constitution and rule of law in their countries. He said people in the EU need to organize themselves “in accordance with the constitution of that member state.”

“That is the rule of law — you abide by the law and the constitution even if you don’t like it,” he said.

Catalan authorities previously had appealed to the EU for help, saying the Spanish government undermined their democratic values.
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Officials in far east Russia say a soldier who opened fire at other servicemen during drills has been tracked down and killed.

The military says the soldier, who killed three and wounded two other soldiers, offered resistance to arrest and was shot dead early Saturday following a massive manhunt.

During Friday’s incident, the soldier fired his Kalashnikov rifle at his comrades waiting to have target practice at a base outside the town of Belogorsk near the border with China and then fled.

The city administration in Belogorsk says the soldier came from the province of Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has sent a commission to investigate the shooting.
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Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaci, says U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has pledged that the United States will be directly involved in reaching a final agreement to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia. 

Thaci told VOA’s Albanian service after meeting with Pence on Friday at the White House that “Pence will be focused and maximally involved” in reaching a deal between the two countries. 

“I believe that this willingness of the U.S. administration and personally of Vice President Pence is a guarantee for the success of this process,” Thaci said. 

He said he is confident the process will “lead Kosovo into a final agreement of normalization and reconciliation of Kosovo-Serbia relations and would open prospects for Kosovo’s integration into the United Nations.”

A White House statement Friday said Pence “expressed appreciation for Thaci’s leadership, along with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, to advance the EU-facilitated dialog to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia.”

The White House said Pence and Thaci “agreed on the importance of advancing reforms to strengthen the rule of law, fight corruption and boost economic growth” and said Pence reaffirmed the “United States’ support for a sovereign, democratic and prosperous Kosovo.”

The White House also encouraged Kosovo to ratify the border demarcation agreement with neighboring Montenegro “to resolve this long-standing issue.”

Thaci told VOA that Pence called on Kosovo to solve the issues as soon as possible. He said Kosovo has “good neighborly relations with Montenegro” and stressed the importance of such ties.

“No one can support you if you build bad relationships with your neighbors. We have a lot of problems with Serbia. We cannot open other problems with our neighbors that could cost us the integration processes” with the European Union, he said.

Thaci said the issue is in the hands of Kosovo’s parliament.

The border agreement was signed in 2015 but has not had sufficient support in Kosovo’s parliament for ratification.

The European Union insists Kosovo must approve the border demarcation deal before its citizens enjoy visa-free travel within Europe.

Montenegro has recognized Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, but Serbia vehemently opposes it.

VOA’s Albanian service contributed to this report.
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Russian police released opposition leader and would-be presidential candidate Alexei Navalny on Friday after several hours in detention.

Police charged Navalny with repeatedly organizing unauthorized rallies, an administrative offense punishable with a fine of up to a 300,000 rubles ($5,200) and compulsory work for up to 200 hours.

“We were finally presented with a charge and released, and the trial will be on October 2 at the Simonovsky Court of Moscow at 15:00 Moscow time,” Navalny’s lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, told Interfax.

Police had stopped Navalny early Friday as he was headed to a campaign rally in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, where at least one other rally leader was also detained — Navalny’s campaign chief, Leonid Volkov. 

“I’m in a police station now and they’re going to accuse me of repeated violation of the procedure for holding a mass event,” Navalny told VOA’s Russian service reporter Danila Galperovich earlier Friday. “It means almost for sure they will arrest me after the court will hear my case. I don’t know when.”

Police in Nizhny Novgorod, about 260 miles (417 kilometers) east of Moscow, had cordoned off the campaign rally site hours before the event was to begin and removed a Navalny campaign tent.

Despite the police actions, hundreds of Navalny’s supporters rallied Friday in the provincial city in protest. Images from social media showed protesters walking on a central street while loud music from an officially sanctioned concert blared nearby. 

Call for reform

Navalny’s detention came as the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights issued a memorandum saying Russian authorities should revise the country’s freedom of assembly law, which, he says, has become more restrictive in recent years.

“As a result, the authorities have rejected a high number of requests to hold public assemblies,” said Commissioner Nils Muiznieks in the published memorandum. “Over the past year, there have been many arrests of people participating in protests, even if they did not behave unlawfully, as well as a growing intolerance toward ‘unauthorized’ events involving small numbers of participants and even of single-person demonstrations. 

“This runs counter to Russia’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and it weakens the guarantees contained in its own Constitution concerning the right to freedom of assembly,” Muiznieks said.

Russia is one of 47 member countries in the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights organization, but routinely dismisses its criticism.

‘Trend toward deterioration’

Navalny and his anti-corruption campaign team have been harassed and attacked numerous times by police and Kremlin supporters. In April, a man threw a chemical sanitizer in the Russian opposition leader’s face, causing a chemical burn that required eye surgery and left him partially blind.

Navalny supporter Nikolai Lyaskin was reportedly attacked in Moscow this month with an iron pipe.

In an exclusive interview with VOA reporter Galperovich on September 26, Navalny expressed dismay at the repressive trend.  

“We currently see a trend toward deterioration: At first it was fines, then administrative arrests, and now it is fabrication of criminal charges [and] house arrest,” he said.

Navalny said the trend is reminiscent of how Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s Great Purge began in 1937.

“The capabilities of propaganda are mostly exhausted: You turn on the TV, which from morning until night is talking about beautiful North Korea, awful Ukraine, ‘gay’ Europe, et cetera. It is already impossible there [on TV] to fan the flames higher. Therefore, they are using repression to take people off the streets, to intimidate them,” Navalny said.

Challenging Putin

Navalny plans to challenge Vladimir Putin in Russia’s March presidential election, though Putin has made no official announcement to run in a bid to continue his 17 years as leader.

The Russian opposition leader has been campaigning in cities across the country despite the central election commission declaring him ineligible because of a suspended prison sentence. Navalny’s supporters and numerous independent analysts back up his view that the sentence was politically motivated.

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on September 21 demanded that Navalny be allowed to take part in the elections and that the fraud case against him and opposition politician Pyotr Ofitserov be re-examined.

In the interview Tuesday with Galperovich, Navalny expressed doubt that Russian authorities would act on the European ministers’ demand.

“I do not think that international structures can affect that much; at least, we have not in recent years seen international structures somehow straightforwardly affecting the internal political situation in Russia,” Navalny said.

But he said the resolution was satisfying nonetheless. “It is probably the best of all possible rulings we could hope for,” he said. “It quite clearly and distinctly shows that, first of all, the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights was not implemented and, secondly, that there is a demand there for my admission to the elections.”

The European Court of Human Rights had demanded Navalny’s 2013 fraud case be retried because it violated the defendant’s right to a fair trial. Russia’s Supreme Court ordered a retrial in July that resulted in the same verdict and a suspended sentence.
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