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France on Wednesday announced it would invite architects from around the world to submit designs for replacing the spire of Notre-Dame cathedral after a devastating blaze, as the government braced for a mammoth restoration challenge.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the contest would decide whether the monument should have a new spire at all and if so, whether it should be identical to the fallen 19th-century model or be a wholly new design.

The world looked on in horror Monday as flames engulfed the 850-year-old gothic masterpiece seen as encapsulating the soul of Paris and the spire came crashing down.

Explaining that having no new spire at all was an option, Philippe noted that Notre-Dame had been without a steeple for part of its history.

“The international contest will settle the question of whether we should build a new spire, whether we should rebuild the spire that was designed and built by [Eugene] Viollet-Le-Duc, in identical fashion, or whether we should… endow Notre-Dame cathedral with a new spire adapted to the techniques and the challenges of our era.”

Philippe described the task of rebuilding it as “a huge challenge and historic responsibility,” a day after President Emmanuel Macron said the entire restoration should be completed in just five years.

The bells of French cathedrals were to ring out at 1650 GMT on Wednesday to mark the exact moment when the fire started on Monday.

Macron had vowed to rebuild the iconic monument, the real star of Victor Hugo’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” by 2024 when France hosts the summer Olympics.

“We can do it,” he said Tuesday, calling France “a nation of builders.”

On Wednesday afternoon, he was set to chair a meeting of senior government, church, conservation and Paris city officials to launch the reconstruction process.

Rebate debate

No sooner had firefighters extinguished the flames than pledges of donations towards restoring France’s best-loved monument, which attracted 12 million visitors in 2018, began to pour in.

Within 24 hours, the pledges had reached more than 800 million euros ($900 million), with French business magnates and corporations jostling to outshine each other with displays of generosity.

But the slew of announcements raised eyebrows in France, with some leftist politicians arguing that the ultra-rich could best help protect the country’s cultural heritage by fully paying their taxes — or helping the “human cathedral” of people in need.

The huge tax breaks available on the donations also caused some unease, prompting Francois-Henri Pinault, the billionaire CEO of the Kering luxury goods empire, to announce he would forfeit his rebate.

“The donation for Notre-Dame of Paris will not be the object of any tax deduction. Indeed, the Pinault family considers that it is out of the question to make French taxpayers shoulder the burden,” Pinault said in a statement.

Pinault had led the pledges of donations starting Monday night with a promise of 100 million euros.

Billionaire Bernard Arnault and his LVMH luxury conglomerate, Total oil company and cosmetics giant L’Oreal also each pledged 100 million euros or more, while US tech giant Apple said it would give an unspecified amount.

French corporations are eligible for a 60-percent tax rebate on cultural donations.

The government said Wednesday that figure would remain unchanged, but increased the rebate to 75 percent on individual donations for Notre-Dame of up to 1,000 euros.

Bigger private donations will continue to qualify for the standard 66 percent rebate.

Rebuilding for 2024 Olympics

On Tuesday evening, Macron set out an ambitious timeline for restoring the landmark that took nearly two centuries to build and which has played a role in many of the defining moments of French history.

“We will rebuild the cathedral even more beautifully and I want it to be finished within five years,” Macron said in an address to the nation, in which he hailed how the fire had shown the capacity of France to mobilize and unite.

In a sign of the monument’s resilience, the copper rooster that topped its spire was found Tuesday in the rubble of the roof, “battered but apparently restorable” according to a spokesperson for the culture ministry.

The walls, bell towers and the most famous circular stained-glass windows also remain intact.

But the floor of the nave was left strewn with blackened roof beams and chunks of the collapsed upper vaulting.

Experts have warned that full restoration could take longer than five years, with one of the biggest tasks involving replacing the precious oak “forest” that propped up the roof.

“I’d say decades,” Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1,000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral, told AFP.

‘Long, complex’ investigation

Investigators trying to determine the cause of the blaze are questioning workers who were renovating the steeple, an operation suspected of accidentally triggering the blaze.

The police have already spoken to around 30 people from five different construction companies.

Public prosecutor Remy Heitz has said the investigation threatened to be “long and complex”.

Meanwhile, work to secure the cathedral continues.

Junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said Tuesday that although “some weaknesses” had been identified, overall the building was “holding up OK”.
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“Is your boss working for Moscow?”

It isn’t a question any Western counter-intelligence officer wants to be asked by counterparts in agencies from allied NATO countries, but for Ferenc Katrein it wasn’t such an infrequent query during his decade-and-a-half at Hungary’s Constitution Protection Office.

Worst of all, there were grounds for suspicions about Hungary’s civilian intelligence services, doubts Katrein himself harbored.

Five-and-half years ago Katrein left Hungary’s counter-espionage agency, where he’d risen to become executive head of operations and later chief adviser to the director. “There comes a point when you have to say no,” he told me as we sipped coffee in a cafe near a railway station.

“It was both a matter of being asked to do things I didn’t think right and blocked from doing things we needed to do,” he adds. The final straw for Ferenc was being obstructed from mounting operations to counter Russian intelligence activity in Hungary by, among other things, targeting Russian officers in a bid to recruit them as double agents.

‘Russian’ bank relocation

Katrein, who now lives outside Hungary, agreed to be interviewed by VOA amid a political storm in Budapest over a controversial decision by the government of Viktor Orban to agree to the relocation to the Hungarian capital of a Russian-controlled development bank steeped in Cold War history.

Known now as the International Investment Bank, formerly as Comecon, the obscure Russian-controlled financial institution is headed by Nikolai Kosov, whose parents had storied careers in the Soviet spy agency KGB.

Opposition politicians in Hungary, as well as Western security officials, have expressed fear the bank will be used as cover for Russian espionage activities in Europe.

Katrein shares the worries, hence his agreement to the interview and his readiness to discuss the politicization of the Hungarian intelligence services and the Russian threat to Europe.

“The Russians will use the bank, as they use other state-owned companies and organizations that set up shop overseas, for intelligence purposes,” he says. “This hurts me as a former counter-intelligence officer to see this bank being allowed to re-base in Budapest,” he adds.

The bank has denied it or its director is in any way linked to Russian intelligence.

But Katrein says his old agency won’t have the resources or manpower to be able to monitor what the bank is up to or the activities of its employees. The Orban government has extended diplomatic immunity to the bank, further shielding it. He believes Orban is anxious to play Russia and the West against each other.

“All the Russian [intelligence] services — the GRU, FSB and SVR — are highly active in Hungary and they have free rein, that was my problem. There was no effort to curtail or control them. We are a member of NATO and we have a responsibility to our allies. The question some of us started asking was, ‘Who is our partner, NATO or the Russians? The question was being asked inside the building. We didn’t understand what was going on,” he says.

The original sin in Hungary after the fall of communism was not to effect a root-and-branch clearing of the country’s intelligence agencies. “We didn’t do what the Czechs did or what happened to the intelligence services in the Baltic countries. They all rebuilt their agencies from scratch, with the help of the British,” he says.

One of the first triggers for Hungarian agents to question operations in their agencies was in 2007, a decade after Hungary had joined NATO. During the socialist administration of Ferenc Gyurcsany, the then-chief intelligence director Lajos Galambos invited Russian operatives to help him find the source of political leaks to Orban’s party, Fidesz.

Sixteen Hungarian intelligence officers were polygraphed by two Russian operatives, who pretended to be Bulgarian psychologists, according to documents declassified and released by Hungary’s general prosecutor last week.

Katrein says the focus was on up-and-coming younger officers, many of whom are now in leadership positions in the agency. “The polygraphs were very deep and probing and they have a lot of information on those people. If I had that information on the leaders of Russian counterintelligence, I’d consider that a big coup,” he says.

Counterintelligence in crisis

The politicization, as well as demoralization, of the counterintelligence agency continued under Orban, who was re-elected in 2010 replacing Gyurcsany, says Katrein. Around 100 experienced intelligence specialists have left the agency in the past eight years, frustrated by having their hands tied when it comes to combating Russian espionage activity.

“Hungary is being used as a logistical base to launch operations in other European Union countries,” Katrein explains. “They can organize operations and missions in Hungary without many worries,” he adds.

Asked how he would characterize the Russian espionage and active measures threat to Europe, he doesn’t hesitate in replying, “It is grave.” Katrein adds, “I have no problems with Russians; I like the culture. But the Russian government is very aggressive against the European Union. You shouldn’t underestimate these guys.”

 
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Ukrainian authorities say they have arrested seven people they claim were sent by Russian security services to carry out political killings and other “terrorist” acts, including the slaying of Ukrainian intelligence agents.

Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) chief Vasyl Hrytsak made the announcement April 17, four days ahead of Ukraine’s presidential runoff vote.

At a news conference, Hrytsak said the SBU thwarted “a sabotage and reconnaissance terrorist group of the Russian special services” that consisted of seven people, all of whom have been arrested.

One person who assisted the group was arrested April 17, he said, but it was not clear if that was in addition to the other seven.

Russia seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and has given crucial backing to militants who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in a war that has killed some 13,000 people since April 2014.

Hrytsak alleged that since early 2017, the Russian security services had sent several “autonomously operating” sabotage groups into parts of Ukraine including the separatist-held section of the Donetsk region.

He said these groups were responsible for attacks including a car bombing that killed Ukrainian military intelligence officer Maksim Shapoval in June 2017 and one that missed its apparent target, also a military intelligence officer, in Kyiv earlier this month.

Prosecutors said at the time that the man suspected of planting that bomb, on April 4, was killed by the blast. However, Hrytsak said that the suspect, a Russian man, was alive and had given information to the Ukrainian authorities.

Hrytsak alleged that “the true organizer” of operations that included the killing of Shapoval was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Dmitry Minayev.

SBU officials identified one of the seven suspects whose arrests were announced on April 17 as Timur Dzortov, who they said was deputy chief of staff to the leader of Russia’s Ingushetia region, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, in 2015-17.

There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.
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Just a couple of days ago, Severine Vilbert strolled by Notre Dame with her eldest daughter on a chilly but brilliantly sunny day. The blossoms were out and the cathedral glistened in the light. 

“We were looking at Notre Dame and saying, ‘Wow, it’s such a beautiful monument, how proud we were to be Parisian and live in this beautiful city,'” Vilbert recalled, not bothering to fight back tears. “And then, it was like a nightmare for us.”

On Tuesday, Vilbert retraced her footsteps in a transformed Paris. A few drops of rain fell from a slate grey sky, as she joined thousands of Parisians and tourists paying a vigil of sorts to a smoking-but-still-cherished icon. 

The inferno that raced through the more than 850-year-old cathedral Monday night destroyed most of the roof. Its 90-meter (295-foot) spire collapsed in the blaze, causing selfie-snapping onlookers to gasp.

Investigators are scouring for clues from the fire that they consider likely, for the moment, accidental. 

“I’m a Christian. I’m a Catholic. I think it’s really terrible about what’s happened,” George Castro, a French-Colombian, said of the blaze that occurred just a week before Easter. “It’s really, really sad.” 

But amazingly, no lives have been lost and priceless treasures were saved, along with Notre Dame’s stunning rose window. Reports quoted experts assessing the building as structurally sound. 

The fire is the latest assault on one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Over the past few years, Paris has weathered two massive terrorist attacks that bookended 2015, and most recently the yellow vest crisis that defaced some of its most prestigious landmarks and deeply divided French citizens. 

Some Parisians, like Nicolas Chouin, believe the blaze can help to reconcile a fractured France. 

“It’s something beyond us, beyond our little problems of everyday life,” he said, gazing at the skeleton of the cathedral’s roof. “Of course, it doesn’t solve all the political issues — let’s see if it’s just a parenthesis.”

President Emmanuel Macron canceled a major address to the nation Monday night, in which he was expected to outline measures to assuage the yellow vest anger, to race to the scene of the fire. 

“We will rebuild the cathedral even more beautiful,” he vowed on Tuesday, promising to restore the edifice within five years.

Companies and business tycoons have lost no time to turn his promises into reality, donating hundreds of millions of dollars within hours of the blaze. The French government and Paris city hall have promised to donate hundreds of millions more. 

“We’re French, we’re proud of being French, and we’re going to rebuild it,” Vilbert said. “It’s going to take many years, but it’s going to be great.” 

Tourists and foreign residents, who flock to the French capital yearly by the millions, are just as devastated. 

“There’s beauty, there’s history, there’s culture — it represents Paris,” said Briton Rhia Patel, who studies French literature at the Sorbonne University. “It’s what people travel long and far to come and find.” 

Staring at the charred remains, retired Paris firefighter Philippe Facquet offered an expert assessment of the challenges that faced his former colleagues. 

“Attacking this kind of fire is very difficult,” he said, “because there are narrow spiral staircases, so carrying hoses and other heavy material is very difficult. And the adjacent roads are very narrow — so a lot of complications.” 

Then Facquet offered his personal assessment — that he felt “very bad.”

“It’s our mother, it’s our patrimony, it’s the symbol of Paris,” he said. “Our heart is bleeding.” 
…

Notre Dame in Paris is not the first great cathedral to suffer a devastating fire, and it probably won’t be the last.

In a sense, that is good news. A global army of experts and craftspeople can be called on for the long, complex process of restoring the gutted landmark.

The work will face substantial challenges — starting immediately, with the urgent need to protect the inside of the 850-year-old cathedral from the elements, after its timber-beamed roof was consumed by flames.

The first priority is to put up a temporary metal or plastic roof to stop rain from getting in. Then, engineers and architects will begin to assess the damage.

Fortunately, Notre Dame is a thoroughly documented building. Over the years, historians and archeologists have made exhaustive plans and images, including minutely detailed, 3-D laser-scanned re-creations of the interior.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of the conservation organization Historic England, said Tuesday that the cathedral will need to be made secure without disturbing the debris scattered inside, which may provide valuable information — and material — for restorers.

“The second challenge is actually salvaging the material,” he said. “Some of that material may be reusable, and that’s a painstaking exercise. It’s like an archaeological excavation.”

Despite fears at the height of the inferno that the whole cathedral would be lost, the structure appears intact. Its two rectangular towers still jut into the Paris skyline, and the great stone vault stands atop heavy walls supported by massive flying buttresses. An edifice built to last an eternity withstood its greatest test.

Tom Nickson, a senior lecturer in medieval art and architecture at London’s Courtauld Institute, said the stone vault “acted as a kind of fire door between the highly flammable roof and the highly flammable interior” — just as the cathedral’s medieval builders intended.

Now, careful checks will be needed to determine whether the stones of the vaulted ceiling have been weakened and cracked by the heat. If so, the whole vault may need to be torn down and re-erected.

The cathedral’s exquisite stained-glass rose windows appear intact but are probably suffering “thermal shock” from intense heat followed by cold water, said Jenny Alexander, an expert on medieval art and architecture at the University of Warwick. That means the glass, set in lead, could have sagged or been weakened and will need minute examination.

Once the building has been stabilized and the damage assessed, restoration work can begin. It’s likely to be an international effort.

“Structural engineers, stained-glass experts, stone experts are all going to be packing their bags and heading for Paris in the next few weeks,” Alexander said.

One big decision will be whether to preserve the cathedral just as it was before the fire, or to take a more creative approach.

It’s not always a straightforward choice. Notre Dame’s spire, destroyed in Monday’s blaze, was added to the Gothic cathedral during 19th-century renovations. Should it be rebuilt as it was, or replaced with a new design for the 21st century?

Financial and political considerations, as well as aesthetic ones, are likely to play a part in the decision.

Getting materials may also be a challenge. The cathedral roof was made from oak beams cut from centuries-old trees. Even in the 13th century, they were hard to come by. Nickson said there is probably no country in Europe with big enough trees today.

Alternatives could include a different type of structure made from smaller beams, or even a metal roof — though that would be unpopular with purists.

The restored building will have to reflect modern-day health and safety standards. But Eric Salmon, a former site manager at the Paris cathedral, said it is impossible to eliminate all risk.

“It is like a street accident. It can happen anywhere, anytime,” said Salmon, who now serves as technical director at the Notre Dame cathedral in Strasbourg, France.

The roof of Strasbourg’s Notre Dame was set ablaze during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. It took up to five years to restore the wooden structure. Nowadays the roof is split into three fire-resistant sections to make sure one blaze can’t destroy it all. Smoke detectors are at regular intervals.

Still, Salmon said that what worked in Strasbourg may not be suitable for Paris. Each cathedral is unique.

“We are not going to modify an historic monument to respect the rules. The rules have to be adapted to the building,” he said.

Experts agree the project will take years, if not decades. Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural organization, said restoring Notre Dame “will last a long time and cost a lot of money.” A government appeal for funds has already raised hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) from French businesses.

But few doubt that Notre Dame will rise again.

“Cathedrals are stone phoenixes — reminders that out of adversity we may be reborn,” said Emma Wells, a buildings archaeologist at the University of York.

“The silver lining, if we can call it that, is this allows for historians and archaeologists to come in and uncover more of its history than we ever knew before. It is a palimpsest of layers of history, and we can come in and understand the craft of our medieval forebears.”
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Spain’s election board blocked on Tuesday the far-right Vox party from participating in the only confirmed debate between leading contenders for the April 28 election.

The ruling shows the complexity of Spain’s shift from decades of two-party rule to a fragmented political landscape where no one party looks set to win a majority and Vox has gone from relative obscurity to major force in less than a year.

Vox has never won more than 5 percent of votes in national elections, but achieved a surprise victory in regional elections last year and is predicted by polls to win around 10 percent in this month’s parliamentary vote.

That was why Spain’s Atresmedia network chose it to join the four major national parties for a scheduled April 23 debate over other movements like Catalan and Basque nationalists.

But the electoral commission said that was a violation of electoral law. Several smaller parties had demanded inclusion in the debate, based on previous electoral performance.

Atresmedia said it would comply – though it did not agree.

“Atresmedia maintains that a debate between five candidates is of the greatest journalistic value and most relevance for voters,” the network said in a statement after the ruling.

Vox reacted defiantly, tweeting that separatist parties had swayed the decision. “It’s clear who calls the shots still in Spain: the separatists. Until April 28. Because a great victory for #LongLiveSpain will see those parties who wish to destroy our co-existence, constitution and homeland banned.”

The vote looks set to be one of Spain’s most bitterly-fought in decades. It will probably be split between five parties for the first time since a return to democracy 40 years ago, polls show, making coalition negotiations or even repeat elections a possibility.
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Is there anything firefighters could have done to control the blaze that tore through Paris’ historic Notre Dame Cathedral sooner?

Experts say the combination of a structure that’s more than 850 years old, built with heavy timber construction and soaring open spaces, and lacking sophisticated fire-protection systems left firefighters with devastatingly few options Monday once the flames got out of control.

“Very often when you’re confronted with something like this, there’s not much you can do,” said Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire science at John Jay College.

Fire hoses looked overmatched — more like gardening equipment than firefighting apparatus — as flames raged across the cathedral’s wooden roof and burned bright orange for hours. The fire toppled a 300-foot (91-meter) spire and launched baseball-sized embers into the air.

While the cause remains under investigation, authorities said that the cathedral’s structure — including its landmark rectangular towers — has been saved.

Some of the factors that made Notre Dame a must-see for visitors to Paris — its age, sweeping size and French Gothic design featuring masonry walls and tree trunk-sized wooden beams — also made it a tinderbox and a difficult place to fight a fire, said U.S. Fire Administrator G. Keith Bryant.

With a building like that, it’s nearly impossible for firefighters to attack a fire from within. Instead, they have to be more defensive “and try to control the fire from the exterior,” said Bryant, a former fire chief in Oklahoma and past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

“When a fire gets that well-involved it’s very difficult to put enough water on it to cool it to bring it under control,” Bryant said.

And while there’s a lot of water right next door at the Seine River, getting it to the right place is the problem, he said: “There are just not enough resources in terms of fire apparatus, hoses to get that much water on a fire that’s that large.”

Because of narrower streets, which make it difficult to maneuver large ladder fire trucks, European fire departments don’t tend to have as large of ladders as they do in the United States, Bryant said.

And what about President Donald Trump’s armchair-firefighter suggestion that tanker jets be used to dump water from above on Notre Dame?

French authorities tweeted that doing so would’ve done more harm than good. The crush of water on the fire-ravaged landmark could’ve caused the entire structure to collapse, according to the tweet.

Other landmark houses of worship have taken steps in recent years to reduce the risk of a fire.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, built in 1878, installed a sprinkler-like system during recent renovations and coated its wooden roof with fire retardant. The cathedral also goes through at least four fire inspections a year.

Washington National Cathedral, built in 1912 with steel, brick and limestone construction that put it at less risk of a fast-moving fire, is installing sprinklers as part of a renovation spurred by damage from a 2011 earthquake.

That cathedral faces fire inspections every two years, but D.C. firefighters stop by more often to learn about the church’s unique architecture and lingo — so they’ll know where to go if there’s a fire in the nave, or main area of the church — for instance.

“It’s really important for us to make sure that those local firefighters are aware of our building and our kooky medieval names that we use for all the different spaces and that they know where to go,” said Jim Shepherd, the cathedral’s director of preservation and facilities.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the New York Archbishop who often visited the Notre Dame Cathedral while studying in Europe, saw significance in the fact that the fire broke out at the beginning of Holy Week, when Christians there and around the world prepare to celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“Just as the cross didn’t have the last word, neither — for people of faith in France — will this fire have the last word,” Dolan said.
…

VOA’s Lisa Bryant in Paris contributed to this report.

The world reacted with shock, tears and prayers as it watched images of the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral burning in Paris on Monday. 

French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation just before midnight. “I tell you solemnly tonight: We will rebuild this cathedral,” he vowed. 

He said he would seek international help, including from the “greatest talents” in the world for the task. 

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain was ready to help. He called the fire a “catastrophe for France, for Spain and for Europe.” 

On the streets of Paris, hundreds gathered, some wept, as they watched the flames engulf the cathedral’s spire.

Paris resident Lisa Sussman, originally from Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia, said, “It’s horrible. It really is the center of Paris. I was at the apartment with my friends. It really hurts everyone’s heart — they really feel that connected to it. I feel it, too. It was really tragic to watch the spire fall.”

Nearby, another Parisian resident, George Castro, said he was in shock.

“I’m a Christian, a Catholic. I think it’s really, really sad to see this happening right now. Right now, we don’t have many symbols, and this is a huge symbol for the West. It’s very, very sad,” he said.

Pope Francis issued a statement late Monday expressing the Vatican’s “shock and sadness” at “the news of the terrible fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a symbol of Christianity in France and in the world.” 

Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan prayed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan for intercession. “God preserve this splendid house of prayer, and protect those battling the blaze,” Dolan said in a statement.

The Russian Orthodox Church’s secretary for inter-Christian relations Hieromonk Stefan called the fire “a tragedy for the entire Christian world and for all who appreciate the cultural significance of this temple,” the state news agency RIA-Novosti reported: 

U.S. President Donald Trump called it a “terrible, terrible fire” that devastated “one of the great treasures of the world.” He also had advice for the French on how to fight the fire. “Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!,” Trump said on Twitter. 

France’s Civil Security agency said that wasn’t possible. “Hundreds of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral,” the agency tweeted in English. 

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, in a tweet, called Notre Dame “one of the world’s great treasures, and we’re thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. It’s in our nature to mourn when we see history lost – but it’s also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can.” He also posted an old photo of himself, his wife Michelle and their two daughters lighting candles in the cathedral. 

Celebrities also poured their grief and dismay in tweets. American actress Laura Dern said she was moved to tears. “I’m weeping. Our gift of light,” she wrote. “Notre Dame on fire. My heart is breaking. My grandmother’s and mother’s heart home.” 

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote, “Standing here next to you, heartsick for Notre Dame. …”
…

Some kneeled, some folded their hands to make silent entreaties. Others sang with their eyes focused on the sky that had gone from blue to yellow and orange, and filled with acrid smoke.

In an impromptu act of togetherness and hope, Parisians and people just visiting France’s charismatic capital came together to pray for Notre Dame as a fire quickly advanced through the cathedral. 

The blaze that engulfed Notre Dame brought memories and sorrow to people around the world who had seen or dreamed of seeing the church known for its sculpted gargoyle guards and place in literary history. But emotions might have run highest in the crowd outside another Gothic church, not far from where Notre Dame burned. 

In front of the Saint-Julien-des-Pauvres church, a couple hundred people knelt in prayer in the middle of a larger group. More voices joined an unceasing communal hymn sung mostly a cappella, though accompanied at one point by two violins.

“The cathedral is more than walls. It’s a symbol of Catholic France,” said Paris resident Gaetane Schlienger, 18, who tried to climb a tree near the vigil. “But I have a lot of friends who are not Catholic, and for them it also has a huge impact.”

Schlienger said she comes to Notre Dame nearly every week because gazing at it “you feel in security, in peace. It’s magnificent.”

The cathedral also called to Quentin Salardaine, 25, a doctor from Paris, as flames devoured it and colored the sky.

“I think this building just symbolizes Paris, no matter if you’re Catholic or not. I’m not,” Salardaine said. “I’m just here because I couldn’t stay at my place just knowing that this thing is happening and there are people gathering, singing this religious anthem.”

Elsewhere in Paris, hundreds, and then thousands of people lined the banks of the Seine River around the small island on which Notre Dame stands, watching in disbelief and horror.

The flames spread along the roof at the back of the structure. The spire burned and fell. 

​The fire chief in Paris reported crews were struggled to contain the fire, which progressed into the cathedral’s wooden interior and one of the architecturally distinctive towers. Streams of water from fire hoses whipped across the exterior. 

Even after firefighters started getting a handle on the blaze, bits of flame could be seen from the Left Bank still licking above exposed walls where the roof used to be. Lights moving past the huge stained-glass windows at the front of Notre Dame appeared to be guiding investigators doing inspections.

Later, an Associated Press reporter got a glimpse inside the cathedral. The only illumination inside the darkened structure came from a glowing red hole in the soaring ceiling. Hours earlier, the spire had risen from that spot into the Paris skyline. Streams of sparks instead spilled onto the floor where the church choir usually stands. 

Outside Saint-Julien-des-Pauvres, people kept approaching the spontaneous chorus. Blandine Bouret, 68, said she knew the neighborhood well. Her grandfather had a small store on a street in the shadow of Notre Dame. Her father had an engraving boutique nearby.

“It’s terrible, it’s catastrophic. This is the soul of Paris,” Bouret said.

Americans Lucy Soule and her father Win, of Freeport, Maine, felt lucky to have visited Notre Dame an hour before flames engulfed it. Lucy Soule, 22, said it also felt “weird.” 

“Now you can smell it burning,” she said of the monument she’d stood in so recently.

Her father said, “I feel sorry for the people tomorrow. They won’t be able to see it.”
…

French weapons are being used by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, according to a classified military note revealed on Monday which contradicts public statements from France’s government.

The note from the French military intelligence service, published by new investigative media outlet Disclose, concluded that the UAE and Saudi Arabia had deployed French weaponry from artillery to ships in their war against Huthi rebels.

Under pressure for years by rights groups over the sales, the Paris government has always insisted that the arms are only used in defensive circumstances to deter attacks by the Huthis.

France, the third-biggest arms exporter in the world, counts Saudi Arabia and the UAE as loyal clients in the Middle East and has resisted pressure to stop the arms trade — unlike Germany, which has suspended sales.

Rights groups have regularly accused Paris of being complicit in alleged war crimes committed in Yemen where around 10,000 have died and millions have been forced to the brink of starvation.

“The government can no longer deny the risk of complicity in war crimes,” the head of Human Rights Watch in France, Benedicte Jeannerod, wrote on Twitter in response to the revelations on Monday.

Artillery, tanks, ships, helicopters

The UAE and Saudi Arabia, which own billions of dollars’ worth of weapons bought from the United States, France and Britain, intervened in 2015 to support the Yemeni government against Huthi rebels, which are backed by rival Iran.

The UN calls the situation in the war-torn country the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Experts have concluded that all the warring parties have violated international humanitarian law.

The classified French intelligence note – provided to the government in October 2018, according to Disclose – said that 48 CAESAR artillery guns manufactured by the Nexter group were being used along the Saudi-Yemen border.

Leclerc tanks, sold in the 1990s to the UAE, have also been used, as have Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, while French missile-guiding technology called DAMOCLES might have been deployed, according to the assessment.

Cougar transport helicopters and the A330 MRTT refuelling plane have also seen action, and two French ships are serving in the blockade of Yemeni ports which has led to food and medical shortages, the DRM military intelligence agency concluded.

The revelations risk causing embarrassment for French Armed Forces Minister Francoise Parly.

She said during an interview on the France Inter radio station in January this year: “I’m not aware that any (French) arms are being used in this conflict.”

Asked for comment by AFP on Monday, the French government said that “to our knowledge, the French weapons owned by members of the coalition are for the most part in defensive positions, outside of Yemen or in military bases, not on the frontline.”

Disclose is a new investigative website working in partnership with established media companies including public broadcaster France Info, online brand Mediapart and Franco-German television channel Arte.
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This story originated in VOA’s Russian Service.

WASHINGTON – At this year’s International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russian leaders made the most peaceable statements to date about Moscow’s long-term plans for the a rapidly melting Arctic.

Answering questions during the forum’s international plenary session, President Vladimir Putin extolled Moscow and Washington’s common interests in the region, explaining that he doesn’t sense any “special military tension” in the region.

Not only does Russia forego military exercises in the Arctic, it’s focused on helping neighbors dramatically increase cargo shipments across Arctic sea routes, he explained.

“Our aviation activity in the Baltic Sea zone, the Arctic, is an order of magnitude lower than the activity of the NATO countries,” he announced to those in attendance, which included the leaders of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

“This is a realistic, well-calculated and concrete task. We need to make the Northern sea route safe and commercially feasible,” Putin added.

Some activities omitted

But Putin’s account of an ambitious commercial program to secure an Arctic foothold, which includes the planned construction of ports, infrastructure and even an expanded fleet of icebreakers, omitted the following activities.

May 2017: At Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade, Russia unveils new weapons system with missiles outfitted for use in the Arctic.

October 2017: Arctic detachment of Russian Navy Northern Fleet combat ships practice live-fire missile drills.

February 2018: Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, commander of the Northern Fleet, declares the strengthening of Russia’s Arctic military presence with the placement of tactical unit outposts. “This is an Arctic-motorized rifle brigade, a tactical group of coastal troops, air defense units that maintain a watch on the islands of the Arctic Ocean, in the archipelagoes of Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands.”

March 2018: “Putin,” a newly released campaign-trail film, shows the president boasting of Arctic-based, state-of-the-art missile-launch detection and tracking systems. “The Arctic region is extremely important for Russia,” Putin is recorded saying, and that U.S. submarines “keep constant watch in the Norwegian Sea off the coast of Norway.”

April 2018: Rosgvardia, Russia’s National Guard, conducts transport and assault exercises on the militarily inhabited Franz Josef Land.

September 2018: Colonel General Oleg Salyukov, commander of the Russia’s ground forces, announces a new generation “Tor-M2” air-defense missile system for use in the Arctic, and he says that the Bastion-P mobile anti-ship and surface-to-surface missile defense systems have already been placed on Kotelny Island.

February 2019: Pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reports on Russian plans for MiG-31 fighter jet patrols of the Arctic, with two squadrons based at the Murmansk region aerodrome and plans for a permanently stationed regiment.

US voices: Arctic strategy needs update

Some U.S. military officials and legislators have expressed concern that Washington isn’t paying enough attention to Russia’s military entrenchment in the region.

They say the Department of Defense Arctic Strategy, last updated in 2017, largely got overlooked in the more all-encompassing National Defense Strategy, the main U.S. military strategy document signed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In August 2018, Congress passed a National Defense Authorization Act that approved unprecedented funds for the construction of six new polar class icebreakers by 2029. The U.S. Coast Guard has only two — one of which is 10 years beyond its intended use — compared to Russia’s 46.

The bill also calls for an updated Arctic strategy, including regularly updated summaries of regional foreign threats posed by Russia and China, along with specific roles and missions for each branch of the U.S. military.

According to one expert, the asymmetry of U.S. and Russian assets in the Arctic may have to do with how Russia sees itself and the resources it needs for long-term planning.

“The Arctic is extremely important for Russia, because it’s really part of their national identity,” said Robert Orttung of the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. “In contrast to the United States, Russia really is an Arctic country. Much of the territory is in the Arctic, whereas in the U.S., it’s simply Alaska, so we don’t really think of ourselves as an Arctic country.

“I think the most important question for Russia is the energy there, because they depend heavily on the resources,” he added. “And going forward, that’s going to be the main source of oil and gas for the country. Second, of course, is defense, and they see that as the main way to build up their Arctic resources and to protect themselves against what they see as a potential threat coming from the north.”

Orttung also says the melting ice has drained the region of its historically romantic mystique, and that easier access to natural resources may open up more possibilities for international trade and cooperation.

“In the past, the Arctic was an area that people were extremely interested in, and there were these heroic explorers who really stirred the imagination in Russia and in the West,” he said. “Of course, that’s kind of changed now. Now the Arctic is seen more as a place of climate change and dramatic changes — and possibilities — in terms of trade and energy development.”

Military dominant situation

But the ultimate Russian goal is to have a militarily dominant situation in the Arctic, “especially at a time when the U.S. is perceived as an adversary,” he added.

“And the U.S. has been spending less money on the Arctic, but I think we have to look at the difference between the rhetoric coming from the Kremlin and President Putin, and the actual development on the ground,” he said. “I think [Putin] talks a better game than actually exists, and it’s more about presenting the face of developing this military capacity, when in fact there aren’t the funds in Russia to actually do that.”

Orttung also says he sees the Arctic as one of the last areas for prospective cooperation.

“The Arctic for Russia and the U.S. in particular is one of the last areas of actual cooperation, where we can work together as a citizen, as scientists, as observers,” he said. “So far, it hasn’t been infected by the difficulty of Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine, for example. That’s sort of been kept as a separate issue. So all this increased talk about militarization — and of course, the U.S. is putting more airplanes and fighter planes in Alaska — and it’s just making it more and more difficult to see how the traditional cooperation that we’ve had in the Arctic can be preserved in the future.”

Retired Admiral Gary Roughead, former chief of U.S. Naval Operations, told VOA’s Russian Service that Russia, like any country, has a primary interest in protecting and defending its coastal borders, and that it has a geopolitical interest in influencing how sea routes are developed and used.

“To see the transpolar routes become more accessible and used … I think that it adds stature to Russia, and particularly to Putin, to begin to identify as being the premier, most powerful Arctic nation by virtue of what it’s doing from a military perspective,” he said.

While he’s no longer directly engaged in U.S. military strategic investments, Roughead said U.S. and European allies should enhance communications and transnational infrastructure for cooperative naval and aerial patrols with conventional and unmanned vessels.

“Something that we looked at was the ability to use unmanned aircraft to be able to patrol in the Arctic, because of their long endurance,” he said. “And that’s something that not only the United States should look at, but Canada and the some of the European Arctic nations to begin to put in place, some cooperatives, activities, perhaps cooperative investments, cooperative operations that allow us to operate up in the high north, routinely, reliably and safely.

“For example, unmanned airplanes being able to take off in one country, conduct the patrol and then land in another country,” he said. “Just having the infrastructure in place to do that — that’s something Arctic nations should strive toward.”

Twenty percent of Russia’s gross domestic product is drawn from the Arctic via mining and shipping, whereas less than 1% of U.S. GDP is taken from the region.

In 2013, the U.S. and Russian signed the Arctic Council’s “Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic,” which aims to improve U.S.-Russia collaboration on research in the environmental sciences, biology, ecology and shipping in the region.
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The manufacturer of the iconic Italian scooter, Vespa, makes another line of noisy but affordable three-wheeled transportation vehicles. The name literally means “bee” in Italian, and fans of the motorized tricycle hummed across the Tuscan countryside to celebrate more than seventy years of its production. Arash Arabasadi has the buzz.
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Finland’s leftist Social Democrats won first place in advance voting ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary election, with 18.9 percent of the votes, after 35.5 percent of ballots had been counted, justice ministry data showed.

The center-right National Coalition of outgoing Finance Minister Petteri Orpo came in second, with 17.2 percent of the advance ballots. The Center Party of outgoing Prime Minister Juha Sipila scored third, with 15.4 percent.

The nationalist True Finns party came in fourth, with 15.1 percent of the vote.

About 36 percent of voting-age Finns cast their votes in a seven-day advance voting period that ended on Tuesday.

The results from these votes are often skewed due to differences in voter behavior in different regions.

Public broadcaster Yle is expected to publish its forecast of the final election result at 1830 GMT.

With the top contenders running close, the final results could still show another group winning and getting the first shot at forming government.

The Finns’ strong showing further complicates coalition talks, with most party leaders ruling out any cooperation with them.

At the stake in the election is the future shape of Finland’s welfare system, a corner of its social model, which the leftist want to preserve through tax hikes and the center-right wants to see streamlined because of rising costs.

The Finns call for limits on the country’s environmental policies, arguing the nation has gone too far in addressing issues such as climate change at its own expense, as well as a revamp of its immigration stance.

With the European Parliament election less than two months away, the Finnish ballot is also being watched in Brussels.

A strong result for the Finns Party could bolster a nationalist bloc threatening to shake up EU policy-making.
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Tens of thousdands gathered at St. Peter’s Square as Pope Francis celebrated Palm Sunday Mass. Palm Sunday marks the start of the holiest and one of the busiest times on the Pope’s calendar. On the day the Church also celebrated the day of the youth, the pope urged young people not to be ashamed to show their enthusiasm for Jesus.

As is tradition, Sunday Mass in Saint Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday began with Pope Francis sprinkling holy water and blessing palm fronds and olive branches for the service in front of the towering obelisk in the center of the square. The Vatican said over 40,000 people were present for the occasion.

The pope wore bright red vestments and held a braided palm as he and many cardinals and bishops took part in a long procession before he held mass at an open-air altar in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Palm Sunday marks the day Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Pope Francis began his homily by saying, “Joyful acclamations at Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, followed by his humiliation. Festive cries followed by brutal torture. This two-fold mystery accompanies our entrance into Holy Week each year.”

The pope said that it was important to resist the temptations of triumphalism and remain humble. He added, “One subtle form of triumphalism is spiritual worldliness, which represents the greatest danger, the most treacherous temptation facing the Church”. The pope said that “Jesus destroyed his triumphalism by his Passion”.

On Palm Sunday, the church also marks World Youth Day. The pope called on young people not to be ashamed to show their enthusiasm for Jesus but at the same time not to fear following “him on the way to the cross.” The Vatican has announced that the next World Youth Day will be held in Portugal in 2021.

Pope Francis asked those gathered at the end of the mass to pray for peace in the Holy Land and all of the Middle East.

Like every year the pope has a busy schedule this week. On Holy Thursday he will visit the prison of Velletri, south of Rome, where he will wash the feet of 12 prisoners. On Good Friday he will lead the Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s ancient Colosseum. And, on Easter Sunday the pope will give his traditional blessing to the city and to the world.

 
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A lawyer representing jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the Ecuadorian government has been spreading lies about his behavior inside its embassy in London.

Jennifer Robinson told Sky News on Sunday that Ecuador is making “pretty outrageous allegations” to justify allowing British police into its embassy Thursday in order to take Assange into custody.

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno withdrew Assange’s political asylum this week, opening the way for his seizure by British police.

Robinson says Assange has had “a very difficult time” since Moreno came to power in 2017.

Assange is jailed in Britain for jumping bail and faces an extradition request from the United States for conspiracy. Sweden also is considering reviving a rape investigation of him.

His next court appearance is May 2 via video link.

 
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Police in London opened fire outside the Ukrainian embassy on Saturday after a man rammed his vehicle into the ambassador’s empty parked car at least twice before being arrested, officials said.

No one was hurt in the incident, which happened early on Saturday outside the embassy building in the affluent Holland Park area of west London, and it was not being treated as terrorism, police said in a statement.

The embassy said in a statement that the ambassador’s empty official vehicle had been deliberately rammed as it sat parked in front of the building.

“The police were called immediately, and the suspect’s vehicle was blocked up,” it added.

“Nevertheless, despite the police actions, the attacker hit the ambassador’s car again. In response, the police were forced to open fire on the perpetrator’s vehicle.”

TV footage later showed a silver car slewed across the cordoned-off road with its driver’s door open and window shattered.

Police said they had been called at around 9.50 am on Saturday to reports of a car having hit several vehicles in the road.

“On arrival at the scene, a vehicle was driven at police officers,” they added in a statement. “Police firearms and Taser were discharged, the vehicle was stopped and a man, aged in his 40s, was arrested.”

The man was taken to hospital as a precaution but was not injured, they added.

 
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Malta’s prime minister announced on Twitter Saturday that four European Union countries have finally come forward to take in the 64 migrants who were rescued off the coast of Libya by a German vessel ten days ago.

Joseph Muscat wrote that all 64 migrants onboard vessel Alan Kurdi will be disembarked and redistributed between Germany, France, Portugal and Luxembourg thanks to effective coordination by the EU Commission and Malta. He added that “None will remain in Malta, which cannot shoulder this burden alone.”

Officials for the German humanitarian group Sea Eye said it responded to a call made to Alarm Phone, the telephone service migrants can call if they are in distress in the Mediterranean. Sea Eye said the migrants were rescued from an overcrowded dinghy.  

Sea Eye, using a German vessel named the Alan Kurdi, said it was in the area searching for another dinghy with some 50 people on board, which issued a distress call and then disappeared.

The rescued included ten women, five children and a newborn baby.  One young woman was evacuated earlier this week after complaining of dizziness and faintness.

Jan Ribbeck, operations manager of the Alan Kurdi and who is also a doctor, said earlier this week the migrants for the most part had to sleep on deck and were not protected from the weather or the sea water.  

He said the migrants were cold, wet and did not have dry clothes to change into. He added that due to the bad weather, they had to be taken below deck. Since Sunday evening, 81 people were huddled together in a room designed for 20 people.  

Many of the migrants are suffering with seasickness, Ribbeck said.

“It leaves me speechless that Europe is not in a position to spare 81 people such ordeals,” he said as the migrants lingered on the boat waiting to find a safe port.

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the Alan Kurdi is flying a German flag and is run by a German non-governmental organization and with a German captain and therefore it should head to Germany.

Maltese authorities were informed Tuesday morning about the shortage of water and food and a need for some clothing. Malta allowed a transport to replenish supplies on Wednesday.

Sea Eye spokesman Dominik Reisinger said the “political question about the distribution of the rescued overshadows the human rights” of those onboard.

 
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With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirming his commitment to buy Russian missiles in the face of renewed warnings from NATO ally the United States about sanctions, Ankara and Washington remain on a collision course. Analysts warn that with a July date looming for Ankara to take delivery of the missiles, time is running out to avert a rupture in bilateral ties.

“Turkey must choose — does it want to remain a critical partner in the most successful military alliance in history?” said David Satterfield, the U.S. nominee to be the ambassador to Turkey, speaking at a confirmation hearing Thursday before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Or does it want to risk the security of that partnership by making such reckless decisions that undermine our alliance?” 

“We tell them [journalists], ‘This is a job done, all is ready,’ ” said Erdogan. He confirmed the purchase of the S-400 missiles as he spoke to Turkish reporters Monday, while returning from Moscow after his third meeting this year with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“It’s like a slow-motion car crash. It’s even difficult now to call Turkey and the U.S. allies, so I am not very optimistic about the relationship,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington.

Washington claims the S-400 missiles will compromise U.S.-made military defense systems used by Turkey, in particular the F-35 fighter jet. The Pentagon has warned that delivery of the F-35 planes to Turkey, which is a co-producer of the aircraft, is in jeopardy with any deployment of the Russian missiles.

The U.S. Congress is also warning that Ankara’s procurement of Russian weapons would open the door to financial sanctions, under CAATSA — the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Under the 2017 legislation, Turkish institutions and individuals can be targeted by hefty fines.

Any U.S. fine could rock Turkey’s economy, which is in recession after last year’s collapse of the lira, triggered by the Trump administration’s decision to impose sanctions on Turkey over the detention in Turkey of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who has since been released.

“I don’t think market participants have a very good handle on how high the stakes are,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners, “in the bad-case scenario of Turkey-U.S. brinkmanship in the S-400 drama.”

On Friday, the lira fell sharply amid growing investor concerns about U.S.-Turkish tensions and reports of a steep fall in Turkey’s foreign currency reserves. “I fear Erdogan has not been told by his advisers how little foreign reserves Turkey has left,” said an analyst for a foreign bank, speaking anonymously. “Turkey has very little room and time to maneuver now.”

Some analysts suggest Turkey is too important for the U.S. to crack down on. “I was speaking to American diplomats. I told them, ‘It’s America’s choice — do they want to hit Turkey with sanctions that will make an unstable Turkey, that will destabilize the rest of the region?’ ” asked international relations professor Huseyin Bagci, of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.

Bagci says a lack of clarity by Washington about its intentions exacerbates the current tensions.

“The Americans are confused. What we hear from the American Pentagon, the State Department, is it [the S-400 sale] will create troubles and reduce trust and cause sanctions. But the American president has said nothing,” said Bagci.

“If [U.S. President Donald] Trump says don’t buy [the S-400 missiles],” he added, “it will carry much more political weight. However, as long as there is no statement from the American president, there will probably be no return from this deal.”

The Turkish president’s advisers routinely maintain that the only voice that counts in Washington is that of Trump. They allege dark forces are operating around the U.S. president, seeking to sour ties with Ankara.

Analysts warn that any strategy by Ankara of relying on Erdogan’s relationship with Trump is risky. “There is a danger for Ankara in miscalculating U.S. intentions,” said Selcen. “But the [U.S.] intentions are there, clearly stated, it is also true, Trump did not come out publicly on these issues.”

Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s economy czar and Erdogan’s son-in-law, is due in Washington in the coming days for a series of meetings and conferences. According to Turkish media reports, Albayrak is expected to meet high-level U.S. officials including Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. The two men reportedly have developed a close working relationship.

“It remains to be seen whether those parties at the Pentagon [and] White House will use this visit by Mr. Albayrak as a last measure to convey once again America’s message on these issues concerning Turkey’s national security,” said Selcen. “But time is ticking, and we’re in the middle of April, and the S-400 is due to be delivered to Turkey in July. So there is not much time.” 

Some analysts warn that Washington has already run out of time. “The S-400s will be delivered; the question is not delivery,” said Bagci. “But the question is: Is it going to be used? It could be deployed to Turkish Cyprus, so it’s not in Turkey. In Turkey, every home has a guest room. So the S-400 could be like a vase in the guest room, not unused.”
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As the Czech Republic moves to boost its arms spending under a proposed defense accord with Washington, its ambassador in Washington says his government hopes U.S. defense contractors will bid aggressively for his country’s business. 

“Obviously, our American friends are [submitting] some tenders for what we intend to buy in the next year. I wish them success,” Hynek Kmoníček told VOA in an interview this week. 

“Nobody says how the tender will end up, but we definitely have the intention to bring as many American military partners to our tenders as possible, because the more competitors you have, the better price you get at the end,” he said. 

Kmoníček said the defense agreement under negotiation is likely to resemble a pact signed several days ago between the United States and Hungary. The U.S. State Department said the Hungary deal “will facilitate greater partnerships to address shared threats and global challenges.” 

The Czech Republic, Kmoníček said, is a nation of just 10 million people, strategically located “on the way from Western Europe to Russia and back.” 

“If you look at our history, it’s not an easy history; everybody liked us, everybody occupied us,” he said in explaining his country’s reasons for pursuing the bilateral defense agreement. 

WATCH: Czech Ambassador: Our Main Defense Partner Is US

“We need friends who understand why we are who we are” and who are willing to form an alliance, he said, adding that the majority of his fellow citizens see NATO as a “seal” of their defense. 

Kmoníček said the Czech Republic has committed to doubling its current defense expenditures in order to reach the NATO benchmark of 2% of GDP by 2024 — a significant increase but one that enjoys popular support in his country. 

“If you look at the opinion of the man in the street, he knows that times have changed, that we’re not living in a world as safe as it was 20 or 25 years ago,” he said.  

WATCH: Czech Ambassador: ‘These Are Our Sons’ 

Ultimately, “what we want to know is whatever we buy for our army” provides the best protection available. “These are our sons,” and ensuring their safety is the government’s obligation, Kmoníček said.   

A second component of the proposed defense accord calls for the Czech Republic to work toward “full compatibility with all the other NATO equipment because you need to synchronize with your partners,” Kmoníček said. 

“The main defense partner for the Czech Republic is the United States, so anything new which will come in that respect is more than welcome.”  

The ambassador said a defense dialogue takes place between the United States and the Czech Republic once a year. He said the new bilateral agreement could be in sight by the time the next round takes place a year from now. 
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Spanish police on Friday arrested Hugo Carvajal, a former general and close ally of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, on drug trafficking charges on an arrest warrant issued by the United States, a police spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman would not provide further details about the charges against Carvajal. In 2008, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Carvajal for “materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities” of Colombia’s FARC rebel group.

A court spokesman said Carvajal would appear before Spain’s High Court on Saturday. The court needs to decide within 24 hours of his arrest whether he will be jailed pending a decision on his extradition or if he will be set free.

The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carvajal, head of military intelligence from 2004 to 2008,denounced Chavez’ successor Nicolas Maduro in February and gave his support to Juan Guaido, who in January invoked the constitution to become Venezuela’s interim president. Guaido was later recognized by the United States and dozens of governments, but Maduro remains in office with support of the military and has denounced Guaido as a U.S. puppet.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in its 2008 statement, said Carvajal’s assistance to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia included protecting drug shipments from seizure by Venezuelan anti-narcotics authorities and providing them with weapons.

Carvajal also provided FARC with official Venezuelan government identification documents that allowed its members to travel to and from Venezuela, OFAC said.

In 2014, Carvajal was arrested on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba on a U.S. drug trafficking warrant, but the Dutch government accepted Venezuela’s argument that he had diplomatic immunity because he had been nominated consul to Aruba.

In an interview with the New York Times published in February, Carvajal said any dealings he had with drug traffickers resulted from his role investigating them as intelligence chief.

Carvajal said he had met with FARC members in 2001 to engage them as a government negotiator in the kidnapping of a Venezuelan businessman, a trip that had been approved by presidents in both Venezuela and Colombia.
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