U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday he will force a vote soon on a resolution to disapprove the Trump administration’s decision to relax sanctions on three Russian companies connected to oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

“I have concluded that the Treasury Department’s proposal is flawed and fails to sufficiently limit Oleg Deripaska’s control and influence of these companies and the Senate should move to block this misguided effort by the Trump administration and keep these sanctions in place,” Schumer said in a news release.

The U.S. Treasury announced Dec. 20 that it would lift sanctions imposed in April on the core businesses of Deripaska, including aluminum giant Rusal its parent En+ and power firm EuroSibEnergo, watering down the toughest penalties imposed since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

After lobbying by European governments that followed the imposition of sanctions, Washington postponed enforcement of the sanctions and started talks with Deripaska’s team on removing Rusal and En+ from the blacklist if he ceded control of Rusal.

The businessman, who has close ties to the Kremlin, also had ties with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, documents have showed.

An FBI agent said in an affidavit attached to a 2017 search warrant unsealed earlier this year that he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Manafort and his wife that showed a $10 million loan from a Russian lender identified as Deripaska.

On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted that the Trump administration would keep tight control on companies linked to Deripaska, despite the decision to ease restrictions.

Mnuchin said the firms would face consequences including the reimposition of sanctions if they failed to comply with the terms.

Schumer said given Deripaska’s potential involvement with Manafort, and because of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s ties with Russia has not yet concluded, “It’s all the more reason these sanctions must remain in place.”

Passage of the resolution of disapproval of Treasury’s decision would require the approval of both the Democratic-majority house and the Senate, led by Trump’s fellow Republicans who are unlikely to break with his policy.
…

Paris police fired water cannon and tear gas to push back yellow vest demonstrators from around the Arc de Triomphe monument Saturday, in the ninth straight weekend of protests against French President Emmanuel 

Macron’s economic reforms.

Thousands of protesters in Paris marched noisily but mostly peacefully through the Grands Boulevards shopping area in northern Paris, close to where a massive gas explosion in a bakery killed two firefighters and a Spanish tourist and injured nearly 50 people earlier in the day.

But small groups of demonstrators broke away from the designated route and threw bottles and other projectiles at the police. 

Around the 19th-century Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs-Elysees, riot police fired water cannon and tear gas at militant protesters after being pelted with stones and paint, witnesses said.

Groups of protesters also gathered on and around the Champs-lysees, the scene of disturbances in recent weeks, many of them calling loudly for Macron to resign. 

“Macron, we are going to tear down your place!” one banner read. 

84,000 across France

The Interior Ministry estimated that there were a maximum of about 84,000 demonstrators nationwide on Saturday — more than the 50,000 counted last week but well below the record 282,000 estimated on Nov. 17, the first day of the protests. 

In Paris, the ministry counted 8,000 demonstrators, more than in the past two weekends, when authorities tallied just 3,500 people on Jan. 5 and only 800 on Dec. 29. 

Much of central Paris was in lockdown on the first week of post-Christmas sales, with bridges across the Seine River closed and official buildings such as parliament and the Elysee presidential palace protected by police barriers.

In Paris, 156 “gilets jaunes” (yellow vest) protesters were arrested, some for carrying objects that could be used as weapons, police said. As of 2000 GMT, 108 remained in custody. Nationwide, 244 people had been arrested, of which 201 remained in custody. 

By nightfall, there had been no looting or burning of cars as seen in previous weeks and traffic circulation had resumed around the Arc de Triomple area. 

National debate

There were also thousands of marchers in the cities of Bordeaux and Toulon in southern France as well as Strasbourg in the east and the central city of Bourges. 

Bourges authorities said nearly 5,000 yellow vests stuck to the designated demonstration area. The historical city center was off-limits for demonstrators, but 500 protesters made their way to the center, where they scuffled with police and set garbage bins on fire. 

Many businesses in Bourges had boarded themselves up to avoid damage, and authorities had removed street furniture and building site materials that could be used for barricades. 

In Strasbourg, up to 2,000 demonstrators gathered in front of the European Parliament building and later marched to the center of the city on the Rhine River border with Germany. No serious violence or looting was reported there. 

More than 80,000 police were on duty for the protests nationwide, including 5,000 in Paris. 

Frustration over economy

The yellow vests take their name from the high-visibility jackets they wear. Their rage stems from a squeeze on household incomes and a belief that Macron, a former investment banker seen as close to big business, is indifferent to their hardships. 

Macron, often criticized for a monarchical manner, is to launch a national debate on Jan. 15 to try to mollify the yellow vest protest, which has shaken his administration. 

The debate, to be held on the internet and in town halls, will focus on four themes: taxes, green energy, institutional reform and citizenship. But aides to Macron have said changing the course of Macron’s reforms aimed at liberalizing the economy will be off-limits. 
…

Several thousand people turned out Saturday in Belgrade for the sixth week of street protests against populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his government. 

 

Demonstrations first started after thugs beat up an opposition politician in November, prompting calls for more democracy and an end to political violence in Serbia.  

  

Critics say Vucic has fostered an atmosphere of fear and hate speech against opponents in the Balkan nation while seeking to tighten his rule. He has denied the allegations. 

 

Whistle-blowing crowds marched through central Belgrade despite freezing temperatures and icy streets. Some carried banners reading “Rise Serbia” or “It’s started.” 

 

Smaller protests have been held in other towns in Serbia. Local media say Vucic plans to get his supporters out during next week’s visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
…

A powerful explosion and fire apparently caused by a gas leak at a Paris bakery Saturday injured several people, blew out windows and overturned cars, police said.

Firefighters pulled injured victims out of windows and evacuated residents as smoke billowed out over Rue de Trevise in the 9th arrondissement of north-central Paris. 

Witnesses described the overwhelmingly sound of the blast and people trapped inside nearby buildings. Charred debris and broken glass covered the pavement around the apartment building housing the bakery, which resembled a blackened carcass. 

Injuries but no deaths

A Paris police spokeswoman several injuries have been reported to police but no deaths. The spokeswoman, who wasn’t authorized to be publicly named, said the explosion is believed to have been prompted by a gas leak. She provided no further details.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said “the situation is under control” but warned the explosion had caused a “heavy toll.” After visiting the scene, he described his “shock” at seeing the damage, and said around 200 firefighters and police were involved in the operation.

An investigation was opened, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, which wouldn’t comment on what possible causes were being investigated.

Firefighters arrived before blast

The police spokeswoman said firefighters were called to the scene to investigate a gas leak at the bakery, but the blast didn’t happen until after they arrived and warned residents to stay inside.

Pedro Goncalves, an employee at the Hotel Mercure opposite the bakery, said he saw firefighters enter the bakery in the morning but he and his co-workers “thought maybe it’s a joke, a false alarm” and they went back to work. About an hour later, he said a blast rocked the surrounding streets.

“In the middle of nothing, I heard one big explosion and then a lot of pressure came (at) me (and) a lot of black smoke and glass,” he said. “And I had just enough time to get down and cover myself and protect my head.”

Goncalves said he “felt a lot of things fall on me” and that he was struck by shattered glass. He had a few cuts on his head.

“Thank god I’m OK,” he said, saying that the blast was so powerful that he heard whistling in his ears in the aftermath. Goncalves said that he ran for the exit and then went to check on the hotel’s clients, adding that some of them had head injuries and were bleeding. He said that the hotel was “destroyed” in the blast.

Terror attack feared

Another witness told The Associated Press that she was awakened by the blast, and feared it was another terrorist attack.

The bakery is around the corner from the Folies-Bergere theater and not far from the shopping district that includes the famed headquarters of Galeries Lafayette.

The explosion came as the French capital is on edge and under heavy security for yellow vest protests expected later Saturday around the country.
…

The central French city of Bourges is shuttering shops to brace for possible violence between police and yellow vest protesters, as the nationwide movement seeks a new stage for its weekly demonstrations.

Paris, too, is hunkering down for a ninth weekend of anti-government protests Saturday. France’s government has deployed 80,000 security forces for the day, and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner threatened tough retaliation against violence.

Online groups mounted calls through the week for mass protests in Bourges, but Paris police said they wouldn’t let down their guard, notably around government buildings and the Champs-Elysees, scene of repeated rioting in past protests.

The protest movement waned over the holidays but appears to be resurging, despite concessions by President Emmanuel Macron. Protesters want deeper changes to France’s economy and politics.
…

The United States on Friday signaled it would not bow to the European Union’s request to keep agriculture out of planned U.S.-EU trade talks, publishing negotiating objectives that seek comprehensive EU access for American farm products.

The objectives, required by Congress under the “fast-track” trade negotiating authority law, seek to reduce or eliminate EU tariffs on U.S. farm products and break down non-tariff barriers, including on products developed through biotechnology, the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office said.

Agricultural issues were among the major sticking points in past negotiations for a major U.S.-EU trade deal, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), before talks were shelved after Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.

EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington on Wednesday that the 28-country bloc could not negotiate on agriculture in a new, more limited set of negotiations expected to start this year.

“We have made very clear agriculture will not be included,” Malmstrom told reporters after meeting Lighthizer, adding that the two sides had not yet agreed on the scope of the talks.

Trump and EU president Jean-Claude Juncker agreed last July to re-launch negotiations to cut tariffs on industrial goods, including autos, and also discuss ways for Europe to buy more U.S. soybeans.

Trump told Juncker that he would refrain from levying threatened 25-percent tariffs on EU-produced cars and auto parts, which he is considering imposing worldwide on national security grounds.

Trump has long complained about Europe’s 10-percent import tariff on autos. The U.S. passenger car tariff is only 2.5 percent, although U.S. tariffs on pickup trucks and other commercial trucks are 25 percent.

The U.S. negotiating wish list does not specifically mention autos, but pledges to seek duty-free market access for U.S. industrial goods that eliminate non-tariff barriers such as “unnecessary differences in regulation.”

USTR’s decision to push for a full-fledged trade negotiation on agricultural goods follows a hearing in December at which U.S. farm, food and beverage groups argued for their products to be included.

Influential lawmakers such as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa farmer, have warned they might not support an EU deal that did not include agriculture. Now that the U.S. objectives have been published, the USTR may be ready to formally launch negotiations in as little as 30 days.

But the EU’s own negotiating mandates on industrial goods and regulatory cooperation need to be cleared by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, and approved by member states, and it is unclear how long that process will take.

The United States had a $151 billion goods deficit with the EU in 2017, despite two-way annual trade of about $1.1 billion. USTR also said it will seek commitments by Europe not to impose duties on any digital downloads of U.S. software, movies, music and other products nor any rules that restrict cross-border data flows or require data localization, USTR said.

In an objective aimed at Europe’s efforts to tax products and services from U.S.-based internet giants, including Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook and Amazon.com, USTR said it would seek a “guarantee that these products will  not face government-sanctioned discrimination based on the nationality or territory in which the product is produced.”
…

Pope Francis has gone on a road trip to an ancient monastery in central Italy that houses a community of cloistered nuns.

The Poor Clares monastery in the Umbria region town of Spello dates from the 14th century. Its nuns belong to an order founded by St. Clare, a follower of the pope’s namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.

The Vatican said a car took Francis on the two-hour drive to and from the monastery Friday so he could encourage the nuns in their contemplative life. It said Francis celebrated Mass for the nuns and had lunch with them.

Francis frequently slips out of the Vatican on Fridays to meet poor or sick people, a tradition he began during his Jubilee of Mercy. However, he usually stays closer to home in Rome.

 
…

A Gallup poll has found that fewer than a third of U.S. Catholics rate the honesty and ethical standards of clergy as “very high” or “high,” the latest evidence of the hierarchy’s diminished credibility as a result of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

The record-low 31 percent honesty rating marked an 18-percentage-point drop from 2017, a precipitous fall after years of steady decline.

Catholics aren’t alone in the crisis, however. The Gallup survey released Friday also found that while the Protestants’ 48 percent positive rating for clergy is higher than Catholics’, 2018 marked the first time that fewer than half of surveyed Protestants had high marks for clerical honesty.

The poll of 1,025 adults was conducted Dec. 3-12 and had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed suggestions that an American arrested in Moscow on suspicion of spying could be used in a prisoner swap for a Russian held in the United States.

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested in Moscow last month on suspicion of spying. Whelan’s arrest raised speculation that he could be swapped for one of the Russians held in the U.S. such as gun rights activist Maria Butina, who has pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent in the U.S.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters Friday that “there is no talk” about the swap and dismissed the reports as “fake.”

Zakharova also said that Russia would allow diplomats from Britain, Ireland and Canada to visit Whelan, who holds four citizenships.

 
…