Assailant in the Netherlands Stabs Three in Street Attack

An assailant in the Netherlands has stabbed three people on a busy shopping street in The Hague.Police launched a manhunt to search for the suspect after the attack Friday evening.National broadcaster NOS, citing unnamed sources, said, “At this moment, there is no indication of a terrorist motive.”Police said the victims are receiving treatment at a local hospital.They said the stabbing happened in an area near the city’s historic center that was busy with holiday shoppers.The attack comes just hours after an assailant wearing a fake explosive device stabbed several people in London, before police officers fatally shot him.

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France Summons Turkish Envoy Over Erdogan jab at Macron

The French government summoned the Turkish ambassador Friday to seek explanations after his president described French President Emmanuel Macron as “brain dead.”Ahead of a NATO summit next week that both men will attend, tensions have mounted around Turkey’s military operation in Syria, and its role within the trans-Atlantic defense alliance, which is also a member of the fight against so-called Islamic State.Macron, complaining of a U.S. leadership vacuum, recently lamented the “brain death” of NATO and says the allies need “a wake-up call.” And on Thursday, he reiterated criticism of Turkey’s operation in northeast Syria against Kurdish fighters who were crucial in the international fight against IS extremists.“I respect the security interests of our Turkish ally … but one can’t say that we are allies and demand solidarity, and on the other hand, present allies with a fait accompli by a military intervention which jeopardizes the action of the coalition against IS,” Macron said at a meeting with the NATO chief, Jens Stoltenberg.The comments angered Turkey’s leadership and prompted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to shoot back Friday: “You should get checked whether you’re brain dead.”“Kicking Turkey out of NATO or not, how is that up to you? Do you have the authority to make such a decision?” Erdogan asked, characterizing Macron as “inexperienced.”Turkey also criticized Macron for agreeing to talks with a Syrian Kurd politician whom Ankara considers an extremist.The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Ambassador Ismail Hakki Musa was summoned Friday to explain “unacceptable statements … that have no place in Turkish-French relations and cannot substitute for the necessary dialogue between the two countries.”An official in Macron’s office said that NATO allies are expecting “clear answers” from Turkey about its intentions in Syria.The Macron-Erdogan spat comes amid other problems within NATO that are expected to come to the fore at next week’s summit in London, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s complaints that other members don’t spend enough on defense and differences over the alliance’s post-Cold War mission.

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Black Friday Comes to Venezuela as Socialist Government Loosens Controls

Venezuelans flocked to shopping centers in Caracas, the country’s largest city, on Friday to take advantage of the first “Black Friday” discounts in recent memory, as socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s government loosens controls in the face of an economic crisis.For the first six holiday seasons of his presidency, Maduro attempted to keep consumer goods prices low despite galloping inflation with strict enforcement of price controls. This year, with the OPEC nation facing crippling U.S. sanctions on its oil industry, the government has left retailers more or less alone.“My sister saw it on social media and said, ‘Look, there are 70% discounts at the Sambil,’ and we came running,” said Elizabeth Diaz, a 42-year-old bank worker from the city of Los Teques some 35 km (22 miles) from Caracas’ Sambil mall, where she was waiting in line outside a toy store to buy gifts for her three grandchildren.“Discounts are the only way, because with prices through the roof one can’t afford anything,” she said.Malls and small retailers across the country advertised discounts of up to 80% on goods from shoes to electronics, hoping an influx of Christmas shoppers could compensate for weak sales so far in Venezuela’s sixth straight year of economic contraction.In January, the government said it would make price controls more “flexible” and loosen a complex, longstanding system of currency controls. That has led to a wider circulation of foreign currency, as Venezuelans turn to the dollar to protect their earnings against a fast-devaluing local bolivar.The reforms, however, have not revived the economy. Inflation in the nine months through September was 4,680% while commercial activity fell 39.2% in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, according to the most recent central bank data. A migration wave that has seen more than 4 million Venezuelans flee the country has continued unabated.But the contours of Venezuela’s economic crisis have shifted. While price controls once led to bare supermarket shelves and long lines, stores are now better stocked but with goods whose prices are far beyond the reach of those who earn the minimum wage of less than $10 per month.“Sales are down 50% so far this year, so we decided to do Black Friday to get people excited and boost sales,” said Rosmary Mogollon, 42, who works at a shoe store in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, which has been hard-hit by blackouts and gasoline shortages this year.Stores in the western city of San Cristobal joined the rest of the country in offering discounts, but thousands of its residents streamed across the Colombian border to go shopping in the nearby city of Cucuta, where Black Friday has long been a mainstay.But in the rest of the country, Reuters witnesses and retailers said attendance was above average for normally moribund shops – though a far cry from the frenzy often associated with the event elsewhere in the world.“It’s a way for people to forget about the gasoline lines and the whole crisis,” said Maria Sakhr, who works at a toy store in the western city of Barquisimeto that was offering 20% discounts.

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Mexico Bristles at US Cartel Terror Designation Plan

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday that he would not permit an armed foreign intervention a century after Mexico was last invaded, reflecting fears of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to designate the country’s drug cartels as terrorist groups. Designating groups as foreign terrorist organizations is aimed at disrupting their finances by imposing U.S. sanctions. While it does not directly give authority for overseas military operations, many Mexicans are nervous it could lead to unilateral U.S. action against gangs. “Since 1914 there hasn’t been a foreign intervention in Mexico, and we cannot permit that,” Lopez Obrador said at a news conference, referring to the U.S. occupation of the port of Veracruz 105 years ago. U.S. troops also entered Mexico in 1916, chasing revolutionary Pancho Villa after he killed U.S. citizens. Trump has repeatedly offered military assistance to help combat the cartels, but Mexico has consistently declined the offer, even after the gangland massacre of a U.S.-Mexican family this month. “Armed foreigners cannot intervene in our territory,” Lopez Obrador said, instead offering more cooperation with the United States on fighting drug gangs, which have shown their power in a series of battles with security forces and civilians in recent months. U.S. Attorney General William Barr will visit Mexico next week to discuss security cooperation, Mexico’s foreign minister said earlier.The U.S. Embassy in Mexico did not respond to a request for comment. Tariff threatThe growing pressure on criminal gangs comes after Trump this year forced Mexico’s hand on immigration by threatening to impose tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States. Lopez Obrador conceded to a U.S. initiative launched in January called the Migrant Protection Protocols that has forced nearly 59,000 migrants to wait in Mexico for their U.S. immigration court hearings. He also sent the newly formed National Guard, created to tackle Mexico’s spiraling gang-fueled violence, to Mexico’s borders to help stop migrants from reaching U.S. soil. While the two countries already work together extensively  on combating cartels, some U.S. security officials have said they find it harder to work with Lopez Obrador’s government, which took office a year ago. Gladys McCormick, a security analyst at Syracuse University in New York, said she expected Lopez Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard to “put up more of a fight on this issue.” “Ebrard is waiting to hear from Barr on what precisely such a designation will entail for Mexico, given the lack of details and precedent such designation carries,” she said. 

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Dutch Police: 3 People Wounded in Hague Stabbing

Three people were wounded in a stabbing in The Hague’s main shopping district Friday night, and police were searching for at least one suspect, authorities said.Police spokeswoman Marije Kuiper told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that it was still too early to say where a terror motive was to blame for the attack. The area was busy at the time as shoppers looked for Black Friday holiday deals.Kuiper said it was unclear whether any of the injuries were life-threatening.The Hague police said in a statement that they were looking for a man, about 45 to 50 years old, in a grey jogging suit.The stabbing happened in the heart of The Hague shopping district where supermarket chains and luxury shops were all lit up with early Christmas decorations. Adding to the festive spirit was the lure of Black Friday, when retailers offer consumers special discounts at a time when many are seeking family presents.Police sealed off a wide perimeter behind which onlookers were kept at bay. There was no hint of panic among the public soon after the stabbing.The Netherlands had already been shocked by a similar stabbing in Amsterdam a year ago when two Americans were injured in a knife attack that prosecutors say had a “terrorist motive.”Earlier Friday in London, a man wearing a fake explosive vest stabbed several people, killing two, before he was tackled by members of the public and then fatally shot by officers on London Bridge, authorities said.
 

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Namibia President Takes Lead in Partial Election Results

Namibia’s President Hage Geingob on Friday looked set to secure a second term with partial results from this week’s general election showing him leading with 56 percent of the vote.The southwestern African country held its sixth presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday amid economic woes and growing frustration against the regime.Geingob’s South West Africa People’s (SWAPO) party has been in power since Namibia’s independence from South Africa in 1990, and is widely hailed for its role in the liberation struggle.But the president – who was elected with a sweeping 87 percent majority in 2014 – is predicted to lose a share of votes to a breakaway SWAPO member running as an independent candidate, former dentist Panduleni Itula.The breakaway candidate is particularly popular among youth frustrated by the lack of jobs and too young to remember the SWAPO-led war for independence.Partial results published by the Electoral Commission of Namibia after around 65 percent of the votes were counted showed Geingob leading with 56.08 percent, followed by Itula with 28.49 percent.PDM candidate and second-time runner McHenry Venaani was third with 5.71 percent.SWAPO was also ahead in parliament with 65.34 percent of the vote.The party’s long-standing opponent, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), was a distant second at 15.67 percent.Corruption scandalSWAPO looks likely to retain the two-thirds majority in the 76-member parliament it has enjoyed since 1994.But Geingob’s popularity has slipped. His first term was overshadowed by a recession, and his credibility took a hit over a giant fishing scnadal that erupted just before the election.A series of leaked documents alleged that senior government officials awarded horse mackerel quotas to Samherji, one of Iceland’s biggest fishing firms, in exchange for bribes.Fishing is one of Namibia’s key economic sectors, second only to mineral mining.Two ministers resigned but have denied any wrongdoing. They appeared in court Thursday over alleged bribes of $10 million.The saga took another twist on Friday when two South African lawyers representing the former ministers were detained for operating without work permits.Namibia’s chief immigration officer Nehemia Nghishekwa told AFP the lawyers would be brought to court and were likely to spend the night in custody.’Generally peaceful’Around 1.4 million of Namibia’s 2.4 million population were registered to vote. Half were under 37 and around a third born after 1990.The election was “generally peaceful, well organised and conducted in a professional manner,” the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional bloc said Friday.Commonwealth observers echoed that assessment and said the polls were “carried out in a largely peaceful and orderly manner”.Namibia was the first country in Africa to introduce electronic voting machines in 2014.      The machines – opposed by opposition parties fearing the lack of paper could facilitate fraud – were meant to accelerate the voting and counting process.But the voting process was painfully sluggish and had people queueing for hours.”We observed that the processing of voters remains slow, thereby resulting in an arduous polling experience for many voters,” said the head of the Commonwealth Observer Group.SADC recommended better training and “voter education” around the use of these machines. 

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The American Holiday Africa Has Adopted: Black Friday

Forget Thanksgiving. In Africa, consumers are forgoing the turkey dinner and family drama. Instead, they are, in huge numbers, celebrating the bonanza that comes the day after: Marketing website Black Friday Global estimates that Black Friday sales are 1,331 percent higher than average-day sales in Nigeria and 1,952 percent higher in South Africa, the continent’s two largest economies. In Nigeria, the average Black Friday shopper spends about $60 U.S.; in South Africa, it’s just over twice that amount per shopper. 
 
South African economist Mike Schussler, who estimates that the adopted holiday has been observed in South Africa for about a decade, said he thought Black Friday “has become a little bit of a worldwide phenomenon — particularly, I think, in countries where consumers are very much needed by the retailers, where retailers have had to entice consumers from their tight spending into the shops. And in South Africa and a few other places, the end of November is normally the time period when people get what we call their Christmas bonus or their annual bonus.” On the rise
 
And the phenomenon is growing. First National Bank, one of South Africa’s largest financial institutions, reported this week that its cardholders made purchases worth more than 2.5 billion rand — that’s a cool $169 million U.S. — last Black Friday, and it expected to see a 16 percent increase this year. 
 
In the world of electronic commerce, Black Friday has been a game-changer, said Abdesslam Benzitouni, a spokesperson for Jumia, a Nigeria-based shopping site that operates in more than 10 African countries. Black Friday, which Jumia started promoting in 2014, is now so big that it has eclipsed a single day, he said. He declined to give sales figures. “Just last year, we had more than 120 million visits on our website,” he told VOA from Nairobi. “And this year we’re expecting to have more than 150 million visiting our website. It was one day — Black Friday was on Friday. Then we went to one week. And now it’s one month for us.” Good for African enterprises
 
So what are African consumers buying? More or less the same stuff shoppers are buying everywhere else, he said: electronics, phones, televisions, clothes. But although many of those items are not made in Africa, this consumption binge is, Benzitouni argued, a good thing for the continent. Many of Jumia’s vendors, he said, are small, local African enterprises. 
 
“Imagine tomorrow, if we have this African free trade market between African countries, we can have, like, a seller from Nairobi who can sell directly to Nigeria or Ghana.  … Black Friday is just an opportunity to promote this e-commerce. So we are creating an infrastructure and visibility for a new digital economy,” he said. Or maybe it’s just a good day to get a sweet deal. Whatever the reason, in Africa, it’s open season for Black Friday. 

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Poland’s Leaders Want New Top Auditor to Go Amid Scandal

Poland’s government is calling for the resignation of the head of the audit office amid a swelling scandal over his contacts and dealings.Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Friday he has read a classified report on the dealings and financial status of Marian Banas and expects him to resign. The right-wing ruling party also said its powerful leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, wants Banas to go.Banas insisted the allegations were “lies” and continues in his job. Under the constitution, he cannot be fired.Government critics say the stalemate exposes the chaos that the ruling Law and Justice party has brought to the state, with policies of ignoring the constitution and undermining judicial independence and the democratic system of checks and balances.Banas, a former finance minister and tax administration head, was nominated and praised as “crystal clean” by the ruling party and approved by parliament as head of the Supreme Audit Office in August.But recent media reports said a house that he owned in the southern city of Krakow was rented at the time to an apparent sex business; the reports he was required to make as a state official of his financial status were incomplete; and his former subordinates at the finance ministry claimed sales tax that was not due.The state Anti-Corruption Office on Friday notified prosecutors of irregularities in Banas’ financial reports, alleging he has failed to list all of his property and real estate.Banas denies allegationsBanas said he “categorically” denied the allegations and declared he was ready to give all needed explanations.Morawiecki said if Banas won’t resign, the government has a Plan B, which he did not disclose.Opposition parties warned they would not help Law and Justice, which won power in 2015, end the impasse it had built.They claimed the ruling party had failed to properly vet Banas for the sensitive job, while being quick to punish and discredit various judges who had criticized the party’s policies and defended judicial independence.
 

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Chinese Ambassador Visits Huawei Exec Under House Arrest in Canada

China’s ambassador to Canada on Friday called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to “correct its mistake” of detaining Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou last year on a US extradition warrant.Ambassador Cong Peiwu issued the statement after visiting Meng at her mansion in Vancouver, where she is under house arrest pending an extradition trial scheduled to start in January.Cong said that he stressed to Meng that Beijing is “determined to protect the just and legitimate rights and interests of its citizens and enterprises, and will continue to urge the Canadian side to correct its mistake and take measures to solve the issue as soon as possible.””We expect (Meng) to go back to China safe and sound at an early date,” he said.Meng’s arrest last December during a layover at Vancouver’s international airport triggered an escalating diplomatic row between Canada and China.Within days, China detained two Canadians — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — in apparent retaliation, and subsequently blocked billions of dollars worth of Canadian canola and meat shipments, before restoring imports of the country’s beef and pork earlier this month.Canada, meanwhile, enlisted the support of allies such as Britain, France, Germany, the United States and NATO to press for the release of its two citizens.When he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a G20 meeting in Japan last weekend, Canada’s new foreign minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, called their release an “absolute priority.”But Cong, who was posted to Ottawa in September, told Canadian media that Meng’s release was a “precondition” for improved relations.Canada has previously declared the arrests of Spavor and Kovrig “arbitrary.” Others have gone further, tarring it as “hostage diplomacy.”The pair, held in isolation until June when they were formally charged with allegedly stealing Chinese state secrets and moved to a detention center, have been permitted only one 30-minute consular visit per-month.Describing their harsh detention conditions, The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing unnamed sources, reported that Kovrig’s jailers at one point seized his reading glasses.Since being granted bail soon after her arrest, Meng has been required to wear an electronic monitoring anklet and abide by a curfew, but she is free to roam within Vancouver city limits under the gaze of a security escort.Her father, Huawei founder Ren Zengfei, told CNN that she’s “like a small ant caught between the collision of two giant powers.”He described her spending time in Vancouver enjoying painting and studying, adding that her mother and husband routinely travel to Canada to care for her.

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Somali Refugee Leads US Pediatric Clinic that Gave Her a Healthy Outlook

Anisa Ibrahim was six years old when she came to the United States as a Somali refugee in 1993. The family settled in Seattle, in the northwestern state of Washington, where the girl and her four siblings got health care at the Harborview Medical Center Pediatric Clinic.Now a pediatrician herself, Ibrahim is medical director of the clinic, overseeing a dozen other doctors whose patients, like hers, include many immigrants.When she got the promotion in September, “it felt like everything that I had been working for had come to fruition and my story had really, really come full circle,” Ibrahim, 32, told VOA’s Somali Service in a phone interview. “I really thought back [on] everyone and everything that made this moment possible for me.”Among those Ibrahim credits is the doctor who treated her in childhood, after her family had moved from a Kenyan refugee camp where they’d sought relief from Somalia’s civil war in 1992.She had told her pediatrician, Elinor Graham, that she wanted to follow in that profession. Graham’s response “really stuck with me,” said Ibrahim, repeating the words she’d heard long ago: ” ‘You know, Anisa, I want you to become a pediatrician as well. And when you do, I want you to work here so I can retire.’ “Ibrahim studied at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, graduating in 2013. She did a residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital and joined Harborview as a general pediatrician in 2016.Along the way, she married and had two daughters. She also encountered doubters.”Going to medical school, going to residencies, there are always people who discourage you … simply because of how you look, simply because of your race, your religion, your nationality,” Ibrahim said. “But, you know, most recently I’ve just been overwhelmed with the amount of support I’ve gotten from everyone.”Communication and trustOne of her backers is Brian Johnston, Harborview’s chief of pediatrics.Along with providing medical skills, Ibrahim — part of a diverse staff — is able to telegraph acceptance to immigrant families that might identify with her, Johnston said.  And that can lead to better care.”When there is concordance between a health care provider and a patient in terms of their race, ethnicity or culture, the communication can be improved, the trust is improved and the patient’s adherence to the plan that is formulated is improved,” Johnston said. “So having a diverse workforce among our positions improves our ability to deliver good health care to a diverse population.”At Harborview, Ibrahim, who also serves as president of the Somali Health Board, works closely with immigrants and refugees. In her official bio, she describes herself as “committed to caring for low-income, socially vulnerable populations” with limited English skills.”I can say I know life is tough in a refugee camp,” the doctor told K5 News (KING-TV Seattle) last month. “I know life is tough settling into a new country and not speaking English and not knowing where the grocery store is and being isolated from the rest of your family.”‘Powerful’ role modelNot only does Ibrahim work to improve the health and conditions of children who are in the same position she was, but she also hopes to combat any negative perceptions about newcomers.”We are in a very polarizing time where there is negative rhetoric about immigrants. That’s really being used to dehumanize human beings, to demonize people for wanting what other people would want: safety, an education, a good life for their children,” she said.  “It’s really, really important for people to go back to … a humanistic approach and not a political approach because this is not a political issue. It is about giving people opportunities,” said Ibrahim, a U.S. citizen. “So I think [through] my story, I want people to know that every single individual, every single human being, is capable of achieving great things.”Johnston said Ibrahim is, indeed, a source of inspiration.”We are a pediatric clinic that serves a large immigrant population, and for those kids, it’s really powerful to have a role model in a leadership position who looks like them: a woman, a woman of color, a woman who shares their experience in terms of forced migration, being a refugee in a new country,” Johnston said. “I think it sends a message to those kids that this career, even leadership in this career, is open to people of their experience and their background.”Last week in a Twitter post, Ibrahim suggested she’s making a positive impact, as her own pediatrician once did.”Today my 11-year-old patient told me that she wanted to be a doctor and a scientist [to] do research. She then said, ‘You can’t do both, I need to pick.’ Her eyes lit up when I said, ‘No you don’t, you can do both!’ Made my day.”
 

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Family of Slain Journalist Presses Malta’s PM to Resign

The family of a journalist who was killed by a car bomb in Malta is urging Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to resign, after his former chief aide was released from jail in a probe aimed at finding the mastermind of the 2017 murder.
                   
Muscat said Friday that police found no grounds to hold Keith Schembri, his former chief of staff in custody. The family of the slain journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, said in a tweet that “we share Malta’s shock and anger” that the ex-aide was released from jail a day earlier.
                   
“This travesty of justice is shaming our country, ripping our society apart, and it is degrading us,” one of Daphne’s sons, Paul Caruana Galizia, said in a tweet. “It cannot continue any longer.”
                   
“We urge the prime minister to step aside and let an unconflicted deputy take over. If the prime minister has the interests of justice and Malta at heart, then he should do so immediately.”
                   
Maltese media were reporting that Muscat’s resignation could be imminent.
                   
Thousands of Maltese on the Mediterranean island nation of some 400,000 people have been turning out nightly outside Muscat’s office calling on the prime minister to step down.
                   
Schembri, who resigned his post when questioned earlier in the week, has denied any wrongdoing related to the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed as the car she was driving near her home blew up.
                   
She had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in the EU nation.
                   
Three men have been arrested for carrying out the bombing. No trial date has been set.
                   
Last week, police took into custody a Maltese hotelier as he tried to flee Malta on his yacht. The jailed businessman, Yorgen Fenech, provided information about Schembri, reportedly in a bid to win immunity.
                   
But Muscat told reporters early Friday that the police commissioner and the attorney general recommended that “there is not sufficient reason to grant a presidential pardon.”
                   
Muscat did not give details about why police came to that conclusion.
                   
“The police commissioner and the attorney general’s detailed recommendation is that there is not sufficient reason to grant a presidential pardon to Yorgen Fenech,” Muscat said. He added that his Cabinet unanimously agreed with that recommendation.
                   
The lack of information frustrated the slain reporter’s family.
                   
Fenech “does not need a presidential pardon for the police to charge Schembri, the family said in the tweet.”
                   
In an unrelated case which added to Muscat’s woes, a Maltese court on Friday ruled that Finance Minister Edward Scicluna be investigated for a deal in which the government privatized three public hospitals.
                   
The court also ruled investigations were in order in the hospital transfer deal of two politicians who resigned ministry posts earlier this week. Chris Cardona and Konrad Mizzi had resigned from their Cabinet positions, in connection with the car bomb probe. New reports have linked the two men to the murder investigation. Cardona and Mizzi have denied wrongdoing in connection with the bombing.

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India, Sri Lanka Reset Relationship As Sri Lankan Leader Visits New Delhi

India has offered to lend $400 million to Colombo for infrastructure development as it reaches out to build ties with Sri Lanka’s newly elected president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is visiting New Delhi.
 
Rajapaksa’s meetings Friday with Indian leaders, less than two weeks after he took power, signal an effort by both countries to reset a relationship strained during a previous term when he and his brother dominated Sri Lankan politics and took the country closer to China.
 
India and China have been competing for influence in the tiny island country located off India’s southern tip that has seen an influx of Chinese investment in the last decade. New Delhi was particularly perturbed when Chinese nuclear submarines docked at Colombo harbor in 2014 when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was defense secretary and his brother was the president.
 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, walks with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa before their delegation level talks in New Delhi, India, Nov. 29, 2019.Following talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Sri Lankan leader appeared to assuage those concerns telling reporters that “we will continue to work closely with India to ensure that the Indian Ocean remains a zone of peace.”
 
“I want to take ties with India to a very high level,” Rajapaksa said following a welcome at the presidential palace in New Delhi.
 
In the aftermath of deadly suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people in Sri Lanka this April and raised concerns that Islamic militant groups were spreading their influence in South Asia, both leaders also stressed that they will step up cooperation to tackle terrorism.  
 
“We have had to rethink our national security strategies, and assistance from India in this regard will be most appreciated,” the Sri Lankan leader said Friday.
 
Announcing a $50 million credit line to improve security in Sri Lanka, Modi said that India is already providing counterinsurgency training to Sri Lankan police officers.
 
Analysts point out that it remains to be seen how the new president will balance ties between India and China.
 
Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Sri Lanka in a string of infrastructure projects, from oil refineries and highways to a strategic port that it now operates. It sees the tiny island country, which lies close to key shipping lanes, as a key link in its Belt and Road initiative.
 
Analysts point out that India cannot match Chinese investment that has helped Beijing spread its influence in New Delhi’s neighborhood, but will have to rely on boosting trade links and strengthening cultural ties with Sri Lanka to build goodwill.
 
That is the message Modi sought to give Rajapaksa saying that “India is fully committed to the development of Sri Lanka.”
 
Since becoming prime minister in 2014, Modi has stressed a “neighborhood first” policy, hoping to offset China’s growing influence by holding out the promise that its small neighbors will benefit from its much bigger economy.
 

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Several Stabbed Near London Bridge; Man Detained

British police cleared the area around London Bridge in the center of the British capital on Friday following a stabbing and shooting incident that left several people wounded.Police said one man had been detained, and witnesses reported seeing a man shot by armed officers.The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called just before 2 p.m. Friday “to a stabbing at premises near to London Bridge.”They said a man was detained and “a number of people have been injured.” London Ambulance Service said it had crews on the scene.At this stage, the circumstances relating to the incident at #LondonBridge remain unclear. However, as a precaution, we are currently responding to this incident as though it is terror-related.One man has been shot by police. We will provide further information when possible.— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 29, 2019Witnesses reported seeing what appeared to be fighting on the bridge and hearing several gunshots. Sky News reported that police had shot the apparent attacker.Amanda Hunter said she was on a bus crossing the bridge when she heard shots.”(The bus) all of a sudden stopped and there was commotion and I looked out the window and I just saw these three police officers going over to a man,” she told the BBC.”It seemed like there was something in his hand, I’m not 100% sure, but then one of the police officers shot him.”BBC reporter John McManus was in the area and said he saw figures grappling on the bridge. He said: “I thought it was initially a fight,” but then shots rang out.London BridgeOne video posted on social media showed two men struggling on the bridge before police pulled a man in civilian clothes off a black-clad man on the ground.Other images showed police, guns drawn pointing at a figure on the ground in the distance.Scores of police descended on the area and ushered people away from the bridge, which links the city’s business district with the south bank of the River Thames.Cars and buses on the busy bride were at a standstill, with a white truck stopped diagonally across the lanes. Video footage showed police pointing guns at the truck before moving to check its container.British Transport Police said London Bridge station, one of the city’s busiest rail hubs, was closed and trains were not stopping there.City of London Police, the force responsible for the business district, urged people to stay away from the area.London Bridge was the scene of a June 2017 attack when Islamic State-inspired attackers ran down people on the bridge, killing two, before stabbing several people to death in nearby Borough Market.In March 2017, an attacker fatally struck four people with a car on nearby Westminster Bridge then fatally stabbed a police officer before security forces shot and killed him in a courtyard outside Parliament.

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Students in Pakistan Demand Right to Form Unions

Thousands of Pakistani students marched in demonstrations spanning the country Friday demanding the right to once again form student unions, which was taken away in 1984 by military dictator Zia ul-Haq.The march in dozens of cities, backed by parents of students and civil society activists, received messages of support from several political leaders.
 
“The spirit of activism and yearning for peaceful democratic process from a new generation of students is truly inspiring,” tweeted Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the current leader of the Pakistan People’s Party.
 
He added that his mother’s efforts to lift the ban were thwarted in order to “depoliticize society.” In 1989, Bhutto reversed the ban, but her decision was challenged in court.
 
Lawyer and human rights activist Jibran Nasir said the Supreme Court in 1993 ruled that the ban on political activities on campus should be subject to periodic review, which never happened.
 
A senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek e-Insaaf party, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, also tweeted in favor of the march.
 
“I fully support Restoration of students unions, ban on students unions is anti democratic,” he said.
 
Students in Islamabad said they welcomed his tweet but wished his government would follow it up with legislation to help them.
 Students shout slogans during a demonstration demanding for reinstatement of student unions, education fee cuts and batter education facilities, in Islamabad on Nov. 29, 2019.Students who want admission in Pakistani colleges and universities have to sign an affidavit, along with their parents that says the student cannot participate in any mobilization or political activity on campus.
 
Writing on the history and impact of the ban in the English language newspaper Dawn, political activist Ammar Lashari said it suffocated debate.
 
“Gradually, from the charged campus debates that had once taken place about the education system, economics, politics and governance, the sterile campus discourse that remained became limited to questions of morality and culture, fueled by narratives of civilizational clash in the age of the War on Terror and curricula filled with militarism and religious nationalism,” he wrote.  
 
Authorities, he argued, achieved what they intended — docile student bodies and depoliticized campuses.
 
Former student leader turned politician Pervez Rasheed, who belongs to the opposition party Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, agreed with Lashari’s analysis.
 
“Most of the political leaders who have opposed Marshall Law or dictatorships got their training from student politics,” he said.
 
Remembering how vibrant campuses were during his time as a student in late 60s and early 70s, he described how students received first-hand training in democracy when competing candidates for a union post had to argue their case in front of potential student voters who would then elect the person they deemed best.
 
While unions are banned in Pakistan, student wings of political parties are still allowed. Describing the difference between the two, student activist Comrade Minhaj said it was the same as the difference between a political party and a parliament.
 
“In a union, people belonging to different political parties, different ideologies, whether from the right or left, get elected and work together,” he said.
 
Friday’s march was organized by the Student Action Committee, a newfound umbrella group of left wing, progressive student groups. Students belonging to a right wing student group seemed to stay away in some cities, like the capital, Islamabad, but showed up in others, like Lahore.
 
A senior leader of Islami Jamiat e-Taliba, the student wing of the Islamist political party Jamaat e-Islami, said his organization was never invited. However, he expressed hope that in the future the groups could work together.
 
“We have ideological differences, but we can stand together for common student issues, like restoration of student unions, reduction in fees, and correcting mismanagement of universities,” Muhammad Aamir said.

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NATO Seeks to Head Off Budget Row Saying Spending is Rising

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that European allies and Canada are spending even more than previously thought on defense, just days before U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to demand once more that other leaders boost their military budgets.Trump meets with his NATO counterparts in London on Dec. 3-4. The previous two NATO summits were dominated by his allegations that other allies are not pulling their weight. While they do not owe the United States any money, Washington does spend more on defense than all its allies combined.In what appears to be a pre-emptive political strike, Stoltenberg said that European allies and Canada are now projected to increase spending on their national military budgets by around $130 billion between 2016 and 2020. Previously, the figure was forecast to be “more than $100 billion.””The trend is up. Year by year we are increasing, and year by year we are adding billions to our defense spending,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, where the 29-member trans-Atlantic military alliance has a new billion-dollar headquarters.NATO countries agreed in 2014 to halt the defense spending cuts they introduced after the Cold War and boost their budgets in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to unilaterally annex the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine.The aim was for each ally to be spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense by 2024. Stoltenberg said that Bulgaria has now joined a list of nine member countries that respect that target.It’s the third day in a row that NATO has announced some new budget or defense measure likely to please Trump. On Wednesday, Stoltenberg unveiled a new contract for an upgrade of the alliance’s aging fleet of U.S.-made surveillance planes worth $1 billion.Then on Thursday, he said that Washington will in future pay less into NATO’s common budget for running its headquarters and other operations. That budget is worth about $2 billion. Germany and Washington will from next year each pay 16% — a 6% bonus for the U.S.Germany, often a target of Trump’s ire, is forecast to reach just 1.5% of GDP by 2024 but does intend to move to 2% by around 2031. Indeed, Berlin’s hike in contributions to its national defense budget accounts for around 20% of the $130 billion increase trumpeted by Stoltenberg.French President Emmanuel Macron has said he hopes NATO leaders can move beyond the seemingly endless spending debate next week and focus on important strategic interests, like who the alliance’s adversaries are, how to cope with an unpredictable member like Turkey and improve ties with Russia.

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Thousands of Bones Being Cleaned During Restoration of Czech Ossuary

For medieval history buffs, the Czech town of Kutna Hora has two great attractions: St. Barbara’s Church, often called a cathedral because of its grandeur, and the Sedlec Ossuary, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints outside the town. St. Barbara’s is one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in central Europe and is a UNESCO world heritage site. But visitors are more attracted to the ossuary, a chapel containing bones of more than 40,000 people, arranged in decorative patterns. Those decorations are now being dismantled so that the centuries-old bones can be cleaned while the church undergoes a renovation. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports how it is done.
 

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