Turkish authorities arrested a U.S. diplomat in Turkey last month for allegedly selling a bogus passport to a Syrian national, according to Istanbul police.

Authorities identified the diplomat Wednesday by his initials, D.J.K. Officials also said they had video of the envoy handing the passport to a person they described as suspicious at Istanbul airport

The police said the diplomat, who works at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, remains in detention after they arrested him on November 11 with $10,000 in his possession. He was later charged with suspicion of selling the document, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency.

The news agency reported the Syrian was detained and questioned after trying to fly to Germany with the use of the passport that was in D.J.K.’s name. The news outlet said the Syrian was released pending possible proceedings for falsifying documents.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately comment on the matter.

U.S.-Turkey relations have been strained in recent years, in part by Ankara’s detention of U.S. diplomatic staff members accused of being associated with a network Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016.

Some information in this report also came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

Greece’s coast guard says one migrant has died and dozens are feared missing after a boat sank off the coast of the island of Folegandros. 

The body of the unidentified man was recovered during an ongoing search and rescue operation launched early Wednesday after the boat sank some 180 kilometers (112 miles) southeast of Athens. The coast guard said 12 people, all believed to be from Iraq, had been rescued and transported to the nearby island of Santorini. 

Most survivors said there were originally 32 people on the boat, but one told authorities there were about 50. 

The coast guard said four coast guard vessels, two helicopters from the navy and air force, a military transport plane, five passing ships and three private vessels were participating in the search and rescue operation. 

“The survivors made it onto a dinghy that was tethered to the boat. Only two of them were wearing life jackets,” Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Kokkalas told state-run ERT television. 

“We always presume the worst-case scenario, in this case that 50 people were on the boat.” 

The coast guard said the operation began Tuesday night after it received information that a vessel carrying migrants had suffered engine failure and later began taking on water south of Folegandros. 

Greece is one of the most popular routes into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Most attempt to cross in dinghies from the Turkish shore to the nearby eastern Aegean Greek islands. 

But with increased patrols and allegations of summary deportations back to Turkey for those who arrive, many have been attempting lengthier routes on larger vessels. Folegandros, one of the southern islands in the Cyclades, is not along a usual route for migrant smugglers. 

Other vessels have bypassed the Greek islands and headed directly from the Turkish coast to Italy. 
…

Germany’s justice minister says he will present legislation next month to remove from the country’s criminal code a ban on doctors “advertising” abortions, one of several more liberal social policies that the new government plans. 

The three parties that form Chancellor Olaf Scholz ’s government have long opposed the current rules, but they were defended by the center-right Union bloc of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, which is now in opposition. 

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in comments to the Funke newspaper group published Wednesday that there is a “huge reform backlog” on social policy. He said the first step will be to scrap a paragraph in Germany’s criminal code that bans “advertising” abortions, and which carries a fine or a prison sentence of up to two years. 

Under a compromise in 2019, Merkel’s government left the ban formally in place but allowed doctors and hospitals for the first time to say on their websites that they perform abortions. They were not, however, allowed to give more detailed information. 

Buschmann said the so-called paragraph 219a constitutes a “penal risk” for doctors performing legal abortions who give factual information on the internet, and that is “absurd.” 

“Many women who wrestle with themselves on the question of an abortion look for advice on the internet,” he said. “It cannot be that, of all people, the doctors who are professionally best qualified to inform them aren’t allowed to provide information there.” 

Other changes to social policy planned by the new governing coalition of Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats, the Greens and Buschmann’s Free Democrats include scrapping a 40-year-old law that requires transsexual people to get a psychological assessment and a court decision before officially changing gender, a process that often involves intimate questions. 

The coalition has pledged to replace that with a new “self-determination law.” 
…

Poland and Lithuania have backed Ukraine in urging Western powers to immediately impose sanctions on Russia over its military buildup along the Ukrainian border.

As fears mount of a Russian invasion, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday “called upon the international community to step up sanctions on the Russian Federation over its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.”

In a statement issued after the leaders met in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, they “once again urged the Kremlin to de-escalate the situation by withdrawing its troops from the Ukrainian borders.”

Despite U.S. President Joe Biden warning Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month that Russia would pay a “terrible price” in the event it invades Ukraine, the forward-deployment of hundreds of tanks, howitzers, self-propelled artillery and tens of thousands of troops has not been reversed, say Western security sources.

U.S. and Western officials fear Putin is contemplating a replay of 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea and used armed proxies to seize a large part of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The White House believes it has only a “four-week window” to stave off a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, dismissed reports Monday of the West having a “four-week window” to stop an invasion. “There was nothing to defend [Ukraine] from,” he said.

But Russian officials have said relations with NATO were reaching a “moment of truth” and have called on the West to respond to their demands that the Western alliance bar former Soviet states such as Ukraine from joining the bloc.

Zelenskiy’s repeated calls for “powerful preventative actions, powerful serious sanctions to exclude any thought about escalation” so far have been ignored by the U.S. and NATO’s Western European members. But they have continued their drumbeat of warnings of severe economic penalties if Russia invades Ukraine.

Speaking Tuesday to reporters on a conference call, Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried, who for the past week has been holding talks in Moscow, Kyiv and Brussels, said: “The United States has been working very closely with our European counterparts on specific packages of severe consequences for Russia. Should it move forward with military escalation in Ukraine, together with our allies, we have been clear that we would respond with strong economic measures that we have not considered in the past and that would inflict significant costs on the Russian economy and financial system.”

Asked if Western powers are ready to act if there is further Russian aggression against Ukraine today, tomorrow or next week, Donfried said: “There’s clarity about what we will do.”

But current and former diplomats say while there’s broad agreement among Western powers about sanctioning Russia in the event of an incursion, there’s as yet no final accord on the details. Some European governments have less appetite than others, they say. “There is still discussion,” said a British diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It is not all signed and sealed.”

Russia is the European Union’s fifth largest trading partner, and European assets in Russia are valued at about $350 billion.  

Much speculation on what Western powers might do has focused on whether they would cut Russia off from the SWIFT global money-transfer system, which is used by more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions to make and receive cross-border payments. Some commentators have suggested this would be a nuclear option, but others disagree, saying Russia would adapt and could use email, telex and phone calls to arrange money transfers.

“One of the things that I imagine is being considered is more restrictions on the Russian financial infrastructure, which might include SWIFT,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Center for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, Britain’s leading defense think tank.

“I’m not convinced it is necessarily the nuclear option,” he told VOA. “You can perfectly well do cross-border payments without using the system. I’m not saying that there wouldn’t be an impact. There would be, because it would throw a ton of grit into Russia’s ability to trade internationally. But I’m not convinced it is the sort of threat that’s going to make Vladimir Putin quake in his boots.”

When disconnecting Russia from SWIFT was first broached in 2014, the impact would have been greater, Keatinge explained. But since then, Russia has clearly given much thought to what workarounds it would use. And, like China, it has been developing its own financial transfer system, known as SPFS, which 400 institutions—mostly banks—are already using.

“The Russian Central Bank has for a long time been developing a playbook,” Keatinge added. Some other analysts fear unplugging Russia from SWIFT would encourage Russia and China to develop a more ubiquitous global payment system of their own.

Keatinge and others suspect potential sanctions would focus on blacklisting more Russian banks and financial institutions and making it harder for Russia to raise capital overseas. But Western countries have different pain thresholds and “the Europeans have significantly more [economically] at stake,” says Adam Smith, a former senior sanctions adviser at the U.S. Treasury Department who later served on the National Security Council during the Obama administration.

He cites the risk the Kremlin would retaliate by cutting off natural gas exports to Europe, which sources 35% of its gas supplies from Russia.

“Going after Russia, like going after China, is not the same as going after Iran,” he told VOA. “Collateral consequences would be meaningful. The question is: What degree of self-harm is the West willing to tolerate in order to give Putin a bloody nose?”
…

The United States believes bilateral talks with Russia over its massive troop buildup along the Ukrainian border could start in January, said the State Department’s top diplomats, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the U.S. and its allies for tensions in the region. 

“We’re prepared to engage diplomatically through multiple channels,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press conference Tuesday. 

“I think you’ll see relatively early in the new year engagements in all of those areas, to see if we can advance the differences diplomatically,” added Blinken, referring to the existing U.S.-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue and through the NATO-Russia Council, as well as through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 

The top diplomat also warned of “massive consequences” if Russia “engages in further acts of aggression against Ukraine.” 

Meanwhile, Karen Donfried, assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs, told reporters that the U.S. and Russia would agree on a specific date to begin talks on Moscow’s demands that NATO give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.  

But she warned, “We have made clear that any dialogue must be based on reciprocity, address our concerns about Russia’s actions, and take place in full coordination with our European allies and partners.”

“Let me be clear, there will be no talks on European security without Europe,” Donfried said.

Russia has deployed 100,000 troops along its border with eastern Ukraine, according to Western estimates, after unilaterally annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The U.S. has expressed concern that Russia could invade Ukraine early next year but does not believe Putin has decided whether to launch an attack.

U.S. President Joe Biden warned Putin two weeks ago during a virtual summit that the U.S. and its allies would impose devastating economic sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine.

 

Biden has ruled out a ground deployment of U.S. troops in the event of a Russian attack on Ukraine, but Washington has been sending small arms and ammunition to the Kyiv government, along with Javelin missiles the U.S. says Ukraine should use only for defensive purposes.

Putin, speaking to a meeting of Russia’s top military leaders, blamed the West for “tensions that are building up in Europe.”

As part of the upcoming bilateral talks with the U.S., Putin is demanding that NATO, the post-World War II Western military alliance, deny possible membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet satellite countries, while curbing its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

Putin said the Kremlin wants “long-term, legally binding guarantees” from the West, as opposed to “verbal assurances, words and promises” that it says it can’t trust.

The Russian leader contended that if the U.S. and NATO place missile systems in Ukraine, it will take only minutes for them to reach Moscow.

“For us, it is the most serious challenge — a challenge to our security,” he said,

“What is happening now, tensions that are building up in Europe, is [the U.S. and NATO’s] fault every step of the way,” the Russian leader said, ignoring Moscow’s takeover of Crimea.

“Russia has been forced to respond at every step,” Putin contended. “The situation kept worsening and worsening, deteriorating and deteriorating. And here we are today, in a situation when we’re forced to resolve it somehow.”

Putin said Moscow hopes for “constructive, meaningful talks with a visible end result — and within a certain time frame — that would ensure equal security for all.”

“Armed conflicts, bloodshed is not our choice, and we don’t want such developments,” Putin said. “We want to resolve issues by political and diplomatic means.”

Tuesday, Blinken said there are “no plans” for now, when asked about another in-person meeting between Biden and Putin after both leaders met in person in Geneva in June, and then followed it with a video conference in December.

“We have to see if in the first instance there’s any progress diplomatically. We also want to see Russia de-escalate, to move forces back from the border with Ukraine to take down the tension,” Blinken told reporters. 

Some material in this report came from Reuters and the Associated Press.
…

A Belarusian blogger has been sentenced to three years in prison on charge of “insulting” Alexander Lukashenko by writing in a post that the country’s authoritarian ruler was “illegitimate” amid a wave of protests against the results of a presidential election last year that opposition figures say was rigged.

A court in the western town of Shchuchyn pronounced its ruling against Vadzim Ermashuk, also known in his posts on social media as Vadimati, on December 21.

The 36-year-old blogger, who was also charged with desecrating the flag for a post in which he called it a “rag,” rejected the charges and refused to testify in the courtroom or answer questions from the judge.

Ermashuk was initially detained in August of this year and sentenced to several days in jail on hooliganism charges for protesting. He was not released after serving his sentence as prosecutors brought new charges against him for his posts.

Ermashuk is one of dozens in Belarus who have faced trials in recent months as authorities brutally suppress dissent in any form since the disputed presidential election in August 2020.

Rights activists and opposition politicians say the poll was rigged to extend Lukashenko’s 26-year rule. Thousands have been detained during countrywide protests and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people have died during the crackdown.

Many of Belarus’s opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, while Lukashenko has refused to negotiate with the opposition.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenko as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown.
…

The U.N. human rights office is calling on Belarus and Poland to end what it calls appalling treatment of refugees and migrants stranded along their common border and to live up to their obligations under international human rights and refugee laws.

A U.N. human rights team visited the region between November 29 and December 3 to get a firsthand view of the situation. While Polish officials met with the team, Belarusian authorities did not.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell says team members were not granted access to the restricted border area. However, she says they interviewed government officials, civil society representatives and dozens of refugees and migrants who had arrived in Poland through Belarus.

Those interviewed, she says, described the dire conditions on both sides of the border.

“The majority said that, while in Belarus, they had been beaten or threatened by security forces and also alleged that the Belarusian security forces forced them to cross the border…Several interviewees said Belarusian security forces had demanded extortionate sums for food and water…They spoke about their fear, their fear about being alone in the forest, even fear of dying because of the difficult conditions there. One of the migrants said it is absolute hell for everyone,” Throssell said.

The International Organization for Migration says 21 migrants have died along the Belarus-EU border, many from hypothermia because of freezing temperatures.

The European Commission accuses Belarus of creating a crisis by luring migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other countries to the capital, Minsk, with the false promise of gaining easy entry to the European Union.

Throssell says neither Belarus nor Poland wants the refugees and migrants and push them across borders. She says Poland also systematically detains those whom it has not returned to Belarus.

“Many of those interviewed said they had not been given proper physical and mental health care in detention, and had limited contact with the outside world, including with independent lawyers, human rights monitors and civil society organizations,” Throssell said. “We remind Poland that detention should be an exceptional measure of last resort, and only be used for a limited period of time, if at all.”

The U.N. human rights office is urging authorities of both countries to give human rights and humanitarian actors, as well as journalists, lawyers, and civil society representatives, access to the border areas. It is calling on them and on the EU to respect and protect the human rights of migrants in line with international law.
…

A Russian businessman has been extradited from Switzerland to the United States to face charges of insider trading, the Swiss justice ministry said. 

 

Vladislav Klyushin, who reportedly owns a media and cybersecurity business called M13 that is linked to the Kremlin, is accused of “involvement in a global scheme to trade on non-public information stolen from U.S. computer networks … between at least in or about January 2018 and September 2020,” according to a press release from the U.S. Justice Department. 

 

According to the company’s website, its products were used by “the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, federal ministries and departments, regional state executive bodies, commercial companies and public organizations.” 

 

One of the stocks Klyushin traded using insider information was Tesla, the Justice Department said. 

 

Russia said the move was another example of Washington going after Russians on the world stage. 

 

“We are forced to state that we are dealing with another episode in Washington’s ongoing hunt for Russian citizens in third countries,” said Vladimir Khokhlov, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Switzerland, TASS reported. 

 

Four other Russians are charged in the alleged scheme. 

 

“The integrity of our nation’s capital markets and of its computer networks are priorities for my office,” acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell said. “Today’s charges show that we, the FBI, and our other law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those who hack, steal and attempt to profit from inside information, wherever they may hide.” 

 

Some information in this report came from Reuters. 
…

Russia expelled two German diplomats on Monday in response to Germany’s expulsion of two Russian diplomats last week. 

The dispute between the two nations started when a German court said last week that Russia had ordered the assassination of a former Chechen militant Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019. 

A German court convicted Russian Vadim Krasikov of murder and sentenced him to life in prison, calling the slaying a “grave breach of German law and the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany.”

After the conviction, Russia called the notion of Russian involvement “absurd.” 

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador to announce the expulsions. 

Russian officials said the move was reciprocal, the German Foreign Ministry said. 

“This move comes as no surprise, but it is completely unwarranted from the federal government’s perspective,” it said in a statement. “Today’s decision by Russia’s foreign ministry puts renewed strain on the relationship.” 

“It was noted that the Russian side categorically rejects unfounded and detached-from-reality accusations that Russian public structures are accessory to this crime,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press. 

 
…

The White House said Monday the United States is ready to start diplomatic talks with Russia through multiple channels, but it made clear that Moscow must address Western concerns about its military buildup along the Ukrainian border.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with his counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the White House saying the U.S. was willing to talk directly with the Kremlin, as well as through the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The White House said Sullivan told Ushakov that “any dialogue must be based on reciprocity and address our concerns about Russia’s actions.”

In a virtual summit two weeks ago, U.S. President Joe Biden warned Putin that the U.S. would impose tough economic sanctions against Russia if it invaded Ukraine. Moscow has amassed tens of thousands of troops along Ukraine’s eastern border, although Washington has indicated that it does not believe Putin has decided to launch an attack on Ukraine.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the Sullivan-Ushakov call.

Last week, Moscow listed security proposals it wanted to negotiate, including a pledge that NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine. Biden has ruled out deploying U.S. ground troops if Russia invades Ukraine, but the U.S. has been shipping arms to Kyiv.

The Pentagon said that the security package includes small arms and ammunition and Javelin missiles, which the U.S. says can be used anywhere in Ukraine but only for self-defense purposes.
…

Pope Francis has denounced domestic violence against woman as “nearly satanic” and said parents should never slap their children. 

Francis made the comments in a televised encounter with an abused woman who recently fled her home with her four children. Their meeting was broadcast late Sunday on the private Mediaset network’s TG5 program and also included footage of Francis interacting with a homeless woman, a prisoner and a student. 

The abused woman told the pope her story and asked him how she can find her dignity after she and her children suffered so much violence. 

Francis, who has previously spoken out about “femicides,” responded by acknowledging the problem of domestic violence, which regularly makes headlines in Italy.

“For me the problem is nearly satanic, because it’s about profiting off the weakness of those who can’t defend themselves, who can only try to stop the blows,” he said. “It’s humiliating, very humiliating.” 

He then added that it was also “humiliating” for a parent to slap a child. “I always say it: Never slap a child in his or her face. Why? Because your face is your dignity.” 

Responding directly to the abused woman’s question, Francis told her that she hasn’t lost her dignity at all.

“I can sense your dignity. If you had lost your dignity, you wouldn’t be here,” he said, urging her to be inspired by the image of the “Pieta,” the statue of Mary cradling the crucified Jesus. 

“Look at the Madonna, and remember that image of courage,” he said. 

 
…

Authorities in Russia evacuated 128 coal miners Sunday from a mine in Siberia amid reports of a fire in one of its sections. The news comes weeks after a devastating blast in another Siberian coal mine killed 51 people.

Emergency officials told Russia’s Interfax news agency that a fire occurred in an abandoned mine gallery in the Anatoly Ruban coal mine in the Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia and about 140 miners were being evacuated. A total of 128 miners have been evacuated from the mine, Interfax reported, citing mine operators as saying that 140 miners were supposed to be on shift Sunday, but only 128 miners were working at the time.

None of them needed medical assistance, the report said. 

According to the Siberian Coal Energy Company, which runs the mine, the evacuation was prompted by the “heating of a coal bed” rather than a fire, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported. 

The conflicting reports could not be immediately reconciled. 

The evacuations come just several weeks after an explosion in another mine in Kemerovo — the Listvyazhnaya mine —killed 46 miners and five rescuers and became the deadliest coal mine disaster in Russia since 2010. 

A probe has revealed multiple violations of safety norms at the Listvyazhnaya mine, including tinkering with methane level indicators in an apparent attempt to maintain production despite the dangers of an explosion. Several managers at the mine and local officials have been arrested and jailed. 

In the wake of the tragedy at Listvyazhnaya, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned officials to strictly observe industrial safety regulations. 

Russia has seen several major mine disasters since Soviet times. In 2007, a methane explosion at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the Kemerovo region killed 110 miners. Three years later, two methane blasts and a fire killed 91 people at the Raspadskaya mine in the same Kemerovo region.

In 2016, 36 miners were killed in a series of methane explosions in a coal mine in Russia’s far north.
…

Azerbaijan said Sunday it had freed 10 more Armenian soldiers captured last month during fighting between the Caucasus arch foes.

“Azerbaijan, with mediation of the European Union, handed over 10 soldiers of Armenian origin” who had been captured on November 16, the Azeri committee in charge of prisoners of war said in a statement. 

Baku said that the move was a result of a meeting between Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and European Council chief Charles Michel in Brussels on September 14. 

“Warmly welcome Baku’s release of 10 Armenian detainees in follow up to discussions with @azpresident and @NikolPashinyan,” Michel wrote in a tweet on Sunday. “An important humanitarian gesture demonstrating the mutual will to strengthen confidence as discussed in Brussels. EU facilitated transfer to Yerevan.”

Azerbaijan had already handed over 10 prisoners to Yerevan on December 4, following Russia-mediated talks, in the first concrete sign of a decrease in tensions since last month’s fighting, which killed 13 people.

Those were the worst clashes along the shared border since a six-week war last year over Nagorno-Karabakh that claimed more than 6,500 lives.

At the end of that war, Armenia was forced to sign a Russian-brokered accord with Azerbaijan that saw it cede three districts around Karabakh that it had captured in the 1990s.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and around 30,000 people died in the ensuing conflict.
…

The political crisis engulfing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has deepened with the resignation of a close ally, Brexit minister David Frost, who cited pandemic restrictions and the government’s “direction of travel.”

Frost has been handling Britain’s post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union. Frost voiced his dissatisfaction with the government’s policies in a speech last month, saying he was worried Britain wasn’t taking advantage of its exit from the EU to chart a new course of limited government, lower taxes and reduced regulation.

In his resignation letter Saturday, Frost returned to the same theme, saying, “You know my concerns about the current direction of travel. I hope we will move as fast as possible to where we need to get to: a lightly regulated, low-tax, entrepreneurial economy, at the cutting edge of modern science and economic change.”

He added his frustrations with renewed pandemic curbs, saying, “We also need to learn to live with Covid and I know that is your instinct too. You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again. Sadly, it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and believe you did too. I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”

Frost’s departure bookends seven days of enormous setbacks for Johnson. Last week, Johnson faced one of the most significant parliamentary rebellions in modern British history. More than 100 of his Conservative lawmakers voted against the reimposition of tough pandemic restrictions and the introduction of new ones, including vaccine passports to enter nightclubs and venues hosting large events.

The embattled prime minister was further rocked by a humiliating parliamentary by-election defeat in a seat in the English Midlands that the Conservatives had held continuously since 1832.

The resignation of Frost, a former diplomat who was ennobled last year by Johnson so he could join the Cabinet, will likely embolden the sizable libertarian wing of the party already furious over the British leader’s handling of the pandemic.

Conservative rebels are determined to dissuade Johnson from tightening pandemic restrictions even more. On Sunday it emerged Johnson was coming under mounting pressure from the government’s scientific and medical advisers to follow the Netherlands and order a national lockdown ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Advisers have called for an “immediate” curtailment of indoor mixing of households to combat the quickening pace of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Officials say Johnson has no choice but to consider a range of further measures, ranging from new social distancing rules to a full lockdown, which, if ordered, would be third since the pandemic struck.

Earlier this month, Frost had informed Johnson he was leaving but was persuaded to delay his announcement until January. But Frost’s plan was leaked, forcing him to quit with immediate effect. 

Frost’s departure adds to the disarray in Conservative ranks. Rebellious Conservative lawmakers voiced their worries Sunday about Frost’s resignation. Theresa Villiers, a former Northern Ireland secretary, said it was “very worrying.” Lawmaker Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said it was a “further hammer blow to the PM.”

Conservative insiders say a bid to oust Johnson as party leader, and consequently as prime minister, will unlikely be mounted in the immediate weeks, but some believe he has been “fatally wounded” and Frost’s resignation adds to that perception. It will also complicate in the near term the politics in the Cabinet about what the government should do about rapidly rising coronavirus infections.

The Cabinet is split with some key ministers opposing the reimposition of any more pandemic rules. The opponents include two key ministers, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the foreign secretary, Liz Truss. Both are reported to harbor leadership ambitions.

Even Johnson’s supporters acknowledge he’s now battling the biggest crisis of his tumultuous premiership. But they say Johnson has time to correct his position as the party factions baying for his head are divided about whom they should back to replace him. Johnson loyalists also say that if omicron turns out to be milder than previous variants, he may still weather the storm of the last few weeks.

But many of Johnson’s problems are due to unforced errors that are enraging voters, say his critics. And they see no end in sight while he remains in office to the toxic mix of scandal, government chaos and abrupt policy reversals that are upsetting the electorate.

Vengeful allies of his predecessor in Downing Street, Theresa May, whom he helped to oust, are circling and are keen to topple him. They — as well as the libertarian wing of the party — have seized on last week’s by-election defeat in North Shropshire, which saw a 34 percent swing away from the Conservatives, one of the biggest since the Second World War.

Many voters in North Shropshire said in the days leading up to the ballot that they had been infuriated by recent revelations about lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street last December, at a time the rest of the country was banned from participating in social gatherings and thousands of Britons were prohibited from visiting elderly relatives or family members dying in hospital wards from the COVID-19 disease.

Johnson’s showmanship, once widely seen as an attribute, has also been misfiring as the public mood sours. Last month, a rambling speech at a conference of the country’s top business leaders led to widespread criticism. Johnson lost his notes, had to apologize for losing his way and extensively praised an amusement park, known as Peppa Pig World. He also compared himself to Moses and imitated the noise of an accelerating sports car.
…

Spain’s Catholic Church is to open an investigation into alleged sex abuse of hundreds of children by members of the clergy dating back 80 years that the newspaper El Pais has uncovered, the daily said on Sunday.

The investigation will look into allegations of abuse against 251 priests and some lay people from religious institutions that the paper has uncovered, El Pais said.

The paper has not published in full its findings from a three-year investigation it conducted into the issue, but said its correspondent gave a 385-page dossier to Pope Francis on Dec. 2 while the papal entourage and journalists were flying from Rome to Cyprus.

The number of victims is at least 1,237 but could rise into the thousands, the paper said. The allegations concern 31 religious orders and 31 of the country’s some 70 dioceses. The oldest case dates back to 1942 and the most recent to 2018.

The investigation will be carried out by the Spanish bishops conference, which is headed by Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, the archbishop of Barcelona, according to El Pais.

Officials from the bishops conference were not available for comment on Sunday.

A Vatican spokesman was not immediately available, but the Vatican does not usually comment on the work of national bishops conferences.

In November, Pope Francis thanked journalists for helping to uncover clerical sexual abuse scandals that the Catholic Church originally tried to cover up.
…

“The Netherlands is shutting down again,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday in a televised address. The new measures, beginning Sunday, Rutte said, are because of a “fifth wave” of COVID-19, due to the highly contagious omicron variant.

Under the new rules, all non-essential shops will be closed to at least mid-January. Only two guests will be permitted to visit a household at one time. Four guests, however, will be allowed during the upcoming holidays from Dec. 24-26 and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Schools will be immediately closed until at least Jan. 9.

While the Netherland boasts an 85% inoculation rate of its population, only 9% have received booster shots.

Jaap van Dissel, the chief of the Dutch outbreak management team, said the shutdown will give people time to get their booster jabs and gives hospitals time to prepare for the possible surge in COVID cases.

Other European countries are also moving to reimpose restrictions to contain the variant’s spread.

The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges.

Scientists are warning the British government needs to go further to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed amid the surge. The warning comes after the government reimposed an indoor mask requirement and ordered people to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test when entering night clubs or large venues.

Britain’s Health Security Agency said Friday that 65 patients were hospitalized in England with omicron.

In France, the government said it would start inoculating children ages 5-11 beginning Wednesday. As he declared Friday the omicron variant was spreading like “lightning,” Prime Minister Jean Castex proposed requiring proof of vaccination for those entering public establishments.

The measure, which requires parliamentary approval, has triggered plans for protests Saturday in Paris, where the New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been canceled.

Anti-lockdown protests also are planned for Saturday in Turin, Italy.

 

Egypt has detected its first three cases of the new variant, according to the country’s health ministry. The ministry said Friday the three infected people were among 26 travelers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport.

The ministry did not say where the three came from, but the Masrawy news outlet reported they were among travelers from South Africa, which announced the discovery of the variant on Nov. 25.

In China, Beijing will maintain its relatively strict containment measures, while the rest of the country will remain flexible. “There is no one-fit-for-all policy” for local governments, a Chinese government said Saturday at a news conference.

China has identified two cases of the omicron variant and has mostly contained the spread of COVID-19 since it was first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

A recent study has found the risk of reinfection with omicron is more than five times higher compared to the delta variant, and it has shown no sign of causing milder symptoms.

“We find no evidence of omicron having different severity from delta,” said the study by Imperial College London. The study noted, however, that data on hospitalizations is still limited.

The study, conducted in England between Nov. 29 and Dec. 11, was based on 333,000 cases of infections involving different variants of the coronavirus.

More than 5.3 million people have died of COVID-19 globally since the coronavirus emerged two years ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Administering vaccines

The center reported more than 8.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide as of midday Saturday, a massive logistical campaign complicated by omicron’s surge.

Several countries are racing to accelerate vaccination campaigns as mounting evidence supports the need for booster doses to combat the omicron variant.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country would send 15 million doses of vaccines to Africa, where infections are surging and vaccination rates are low. Erdogan made the announcement at a summit of African leaders in Istanbul.

“It is disgraceful for humanity that only 6% of Africa’s population has been vaccinated,” Erdogan said.

A vaccine developed in India, Covovax, was granted emergency approval Friday by the World Health Organization. WHO vaccines chief Mariangela Simao said the approval “aims to increase access particularly to lower-income countries.”

In Europe, European Union governments agreed to order more than 180 million doses of a BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine adapted for omicron, the head of the European Commission said Friday.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday the government plans to accelerate booster shots to around 31 million vulnerable people. He also said he spoke Friday with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about oral treatments.

South Africa, which first identified the omicron variant, said Friday it would donate about 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to other African countries next year via a medical supplies platform established by the African Union.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters. 

 

 
…

A senior member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet resigned Saturday night, adding to a sense of disarray within a government that has faced rebellion from his own lawmakers and voters this week.

Brexit Minister David Frost said in a letter to Johnson that he was stepping down immediately after a newspaper reported that he had planned to leave the post next month.

Frost said the process of leaving the EU would be a long-term job. “That is why we agreed earlier this month that I would move on in January and hand over the baton to others to manage our future relationship with the EU,” he said in his resignation letter.

However, the Mail on Sunday said earlier that he resigned because of growing disillusionment with Johnson’s policies. The newspaper said Frost’s decision was triggered by last week’s introduction of new pandemic restrictions, including a requirement that people show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to enter nightclubs and other crowded venues.

And in his resignation letter, Frost said the U.K. needed to “learn to live with COVID. … You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again. Sadly, it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and believe you did too. I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”

The news follows a stunning defeat for Johnson’s Conservative Party in a by-election Thursday in North Shropshire, a longtime party stronghold. Earlier this week, 99 Conservative lawmakers voted against so-called vaccine passports in the House of Commons, the biggest rebellion in Johnson’s 2 1/2 years as prime minister.

Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, said Johnson isn’t up to the job as the omicron variant drives a spike in coronavirus infections.

“A government in total chaos right when the country faces an uncertain few weeks” Rayner tweeted. “We deserve better than this buffoonery.”

Even some of Johnson’s own party members piled on.

“The prime minister is running out of time and out of friends to deliver on the promises and discipline of a true Conservative government,” tweeted Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen. “Lord Frost has made it clear, 100 Conservative lawmakers have made it clear, but most importantly, so did the people of North Shropshire.”

Frost led talks with the European Union as Johnson’s government sought to re-negotiate terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc.

His resignation comes after the UK recently softened its stance in the talks with the EU over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland. The change of tone from Britain came as a surprise to many because it seemed at odds with the hardline position of the Brexit minister, who was nicknamed “Frosty the No Man.”

Johnson’s government is also under fire over reports that officials held Christmas parties last year when pandemic rules barred such gatherings.

Adding to his problems with the so-called partygate scandal, Johnson’s choice to investigate the claims had to step aside after he also was tied to such parties.

Simon Case, the head of the civil service, stepped aside from the investigation after the Guido Fawkes website reported Friday that his department held two parties in December 2020.

The scandal erupted when a video surfaced showing a mock news conference at which some of Johnson’s staff appeared to make light of a party that violated the pandemic rules. Until that time, the prime minister had steadfastly denied government officials had broken any lockdown rules.

The Times of London newspaper reported Saturday that one of the events held by Case’s department, the Cabinet Office, was listed in digital calendars as “Christmas party!” and was organized by a member of Case’s team.

The Cabinet Office said Friday that the event was a virtual quiz in which a small number of people who had been working together in the same office took part from their desks.

“The Cabinet Secretary played no part in the event but walked through the team’s office on the way to his own office,” the office said in a statement. “No outside guests or other staff were invited or present. This lasted for an hour and drinks and snacks were bought by those attending. He also spoke briefly to staff in the office before leaving.” 
…

Pope Francis doubled down Saturday on his efforts to quash the old Latin Mass, forbidding the celebration of some sacraments according to the ancient rite in his latest salvo against conservatives and traditionalists.

The Vatican’s liturgy office issued a document that clarified some questions that arose after Francis in July reimposed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass that Pope Benedict XVI had relaxed in 2007.

Francis said then that he was reversing his predecessor because Benedict’s reform had become a source of division in the church and been exploited by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized the church and its liturgy.

The Vatican repeated that rationale Saturday, saying the clarifications and new restrictions were necessary to preserve the unity of the church and its sacraments.

“As pastors we must not lend ourselves to sterile polemics, capable only of creating division, in which the ritual itself is often exploited by ideological viewpoints,” said the prefect of the Vatican’s liturgy office, Archbishop Arthur Roche, in an introductory note to the world’s bishops.

Francis’ crackdown on the old Mass has outraged his conservative critics, many of whom have gone so far to accuse him of heresy and watering down Catholic doctrine with his focus on the environment, social justice and migrants. Francis says he preaches the Gospel and what Jesus taught and has defended the restrictions by saying they actually reflect Benedict’s original goal while curbing the way his 2007 concession had been exploited for ideological ends.

His July law required individual bishops to approve celebrations of the old Mass, also called the Tridentine Mass, and required newly ordained priests to receive explicit permission to celebrate it from their bishops, in consultation with the Vatican. Saturday’s decree makes clear the Vatican must explicitly authorize new priests to celebrate the rite.

In addition, the new document Saturday imposes restrictions targeting the sacramental life of the church.

It forbids using the ancient ritual for the sacraments of Confirmation and ordaining new priests and will make it exceedingly difficult for traditionalists to access the sacraments of Baptism, Marriage and Anointing of the Sick according to the old rite.

This de facto prohibition arises because these sacraments can only be celebrated in so-called personal parishes that were already in existence and dedicated to traditionalist communities. There are exceedingly few of these parishes around the world, and Francis barred the creation of new ones.

Some traditionalists unhappy

“Roche Christmas Massacre,” tweeted Rorate Caeli, a traditionalist blog that has been critical of Francis and his crackdown on the Tridentine rite.

“Benedict XVI had brought peace to the church. An end to the liturgical wars,” the group said in a follow-up message to The Associated Press. “The current pope has chosen to reignite them. There is no logical reason for that. Just an underlying desire for division and violence.”

Francis agreed to the publication of the document, which was signed by Roche, who is prefect of the Vatican’s liturgy office.

It was written in the form of questions and answers, including some that get into minute details that make clear the Vatican’s effort to minimize the spread of the old Mass: Parishes may not, for example, publicize the celebration of the old liturgy in parish bulletins or allow them to be celebrated at the same time as the so-called New Order Mass.

In a clear bid to dissuade seminarians from even learning the old rite, the new instruction urges seminary teachers to lead their charges “to an understanding and experience of the richness of the liturgical reform called for by the Second Vatican Council.”

If a priest who is authorized to celebrate the old rite gets sick at the last minute, he can’t be substituted with one who doesn’t have prior approval. In addition, priests may not celebrate an old rite Mass and the New Order one on the same day.

Joseph Shaw, head of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, said the restrictions mean celebration of the old Latin Mass “will become extremely difficult” and the sacraments even more so.

“This would drastically reduce the number of celebrations, and cause great pastoral harm,” he said in an email. 
…

Deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said Saturday that security proposals Russia has presented to the United States are an attempt to turn a potential military scenario into a political process.

 

Russia, which has built up troops near the border with Ukraine, said Friday it wanted a legally binding guarantee that NATO would give up any military activity in eastern Europe and Ukraine.

 

Grushko was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Moscow was ready for talks “to turn a military or a military-technical scenario of confrontation into a political process which will really strengthen military security.”

 
…

The Dutch government is holding an emergency meeting Saturday with health advisers about the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus before an expected announcement of more lockdown measures to stem its spread.

The government proposed new measures Friday to curb the alarming spread of the new variant, as other European countries are moving to reimpose restrictions to contain the variant’s spread. 

The health experts have recommended the government order a “strict” lockdown, according to Dutch media reports, just days after a partial lockdown closing non-essential businesses was extended through January 14. Primary schools also were closed early for the winter holidays because of high infection rates among children.

The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges.

Scientists are warning the British government needs to go further to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed amid the surge. The warning comes after the government previously reimposed an indoor mask requirement and ordered people to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test when entering night clubs or large venues.

Britain’s Health Security Agency said Friday that 65 patients were hospitalized in England with omicron. 

In France, the government said it would start inoculating children between ages 5 and 11 beginning Wednesday. As he declared Friday the Omicron variant was spreading like “lightning,” Prime Minister Jean Castex proposed requiring proof of vaccination for those entering public establishments. 

The measure, which requires parliamentary approval, has triggered plans for protests Saturday in Paris, where the New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been canceled.

 

Anti-lockdown protests also are planned for Saturday in Turin, Italy.

Egypt has detected its first three cases of the new variant, according to the country’s health ministry. The ministry said Friday the three infected people were among 26 travelers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport. 

The ministry did not say where the three came from, but the Masrawy news outlet reported they were among travelers from South Africa, which announced the discovery of the variant on November 25.

In China, Beijing will maintain its relatively strict containment measures, while the rest of the country will remain flexible. “There is no one-fit-for-all policy” for local governments, a Chinese government said Saturday at a news conference.

China has identified two cases of the omicron variant and has mostly contained the spread of COVID-19 since it was first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

A recent study has found the risk of reinfection with omicron is more than five times higher compared to the delta variant, and it has shown no sign of causing milder ill effects.

“We find no evidence of omicron having different severity from delta,” said the study by Imperial College London. The study noted, however, that data on hospitalizations is still limited.

The study, conducted in England between November 29 and December 11, was based on 333,000 cases of infections involving different variants of the coronavirus.

More than 5.3 million people have died of COVID-19 globally since the coronavirus emerged two years ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Administering vaccines

The center reported more than 8.6 billion doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide as of mid-day Saturday, a massive logistical campaign complicated by omicron’s surge.

Several countries are racing to accelerate vaccination campaigns as mounting evidence supports the need for booster doses to combat the omicron variant.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country would send 15 million doses of vaccines to Africa, where infections are surging and vaccination rates are low. Erdogan made the announcement at a summit of African heads in Istanbul.

“It is disgraceful for humanity that only 6% of Africa’s population has been vaccinated,” Erdogan said.

A vaccine developed in India, Covovax, was granted emergency approval Friday by the World Health Organization. WHO vaccines chief Mariangela Simao said the approval “aims to increase access particularly to lower-income countries.”

In Europe, European Union governments agreed to order more than 180 million doses of a BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine adapted for omicron, the head of the European Commission said Friday.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday the government plans to accelerate booster shots to around 31 million vulnerable people. He also said he spoke Friday with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about oral treatments.

South Africa, which first identified the omicron variant, said Friday it would donate about 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to other African countries next year via a medical supplies platform established by the African Union.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and Reuters.
…