rferl--2020-02-06--Canada Presses Iran to Send Black Boxes From Airliner To France

Canada has again urged Tehran to send the black boxes from the airliner Iranian forces shot down to France , where the data can be analyzed .
Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on February 5 said he called for a `` thorough , credible , and transparent investigation '' in a call with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif .
After initially denying it had anything to do with the January 8 crash of the airliner , Iran finally admitted responsibility for mistakenly shooting down the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 , killing all 176 people on board .
Canada has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Canadian citizens and 29 were permanent residents returning to the country .
On February 4 , Iran 's Civil Aviation Organization said it would continue to work with other countries investigating the downing of the passenger plane , but it has not released the black boxes .
Champagne said the preferred option for analyzing the black-box data was `` for Iran to make use of the facilities offered by France with the technical capacity to do this work . ''
The Canadian prime minister , Justin Trudeau , has said the black boxes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the few countries able to analyze the data .
Champagne said he also raised the matter of compensation for families of the 57 Canadians who were killed in the tragedy .
Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa

A polytechnic school in Russia’s Tatarstan, a region some 900 kilometers east of Moscow, is using manufacturing facilities that are part of a nearby special economic zone to assemble Iranian attack drones and are increasingly turning to underage students as laborers, many of whom often work in exploitative conditions.
The revelations at Alabuga Polytechnic University raise troubling implications about the lengths that Russian authorities are going to in order to boost the war effort and how the advanced Iranian weaponry -- which is increasingly used to bombard Ukrainian cities and has only recently begun to be manufactured inside Russia -- could contribute to escalating tensions and rising civilian casualties.
The use of underage students as drone factory workers and the details of the manufacturing facilities were first reported by Russian independent media outlets Protokol and Razvorot, which published a series of investigations in July.
Since then, RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities has spoken with students who describe grueling working conditions and interviewed dozens of parents whose children have been enrolled at Alabuga Polytechnic University -- some as young at 15 -- who say that their children were forced to work exceedingly long hours, often without proper breaks or meals, and under hostile conditions that have deeply affected their mental health.
“My son enrolled and 2 1/2 months later he called for me to take him away,” Zhanna, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect against reprisals for speaking about the operation, told RFE/RL. “He said to me on the phone, ‘Come and get me or I’ll die,’ so I picked him up immediately.”
Zhanna, who asked that her underage son’s name also not be used, says that she sent him from Nizhny Novgorod to study at Alabuga Polytechnic University in 2022 because of its reputation as a leading technical institution inside Russia.
The school offered students -- often between the ages of 15-18 -- an opportunity to get vocational training as part of a dual program that combines a classroom education with practical work experience. Students were also promised an opportunity to work and earn a locally competitive salary of up to 70,000 rubles ($700) a month as part of the work experience program that could further their career growth.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
But, instead, those enrolled were encouraged and in some cases pressured into working at the drone facility, where the salaries of the mostly underage laborers are contingent on meeting tough production quotas.
“This is a textbook definition of what constitutes exploitation,” Sergei Podsytnik, an investigative journalist at Protokol who worked on the series of reports, told RFE/RL. “[Students] assemble drones, with the work taking priority over their studies.”
The pressure to fulfill these quotas has allegedly led to strenuous back-to-back days -- with some shifts lasting up to 15 hours -- with little time for sleep or adequate sustenance. Overtime work is often unpaid, further highlighting potential labor violations. Exhausted students also reported not always meeting their quotas, which led to them not earning the salary initially promised by the school. Many students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and relied on their earnings to cover costs for tuition, room, and board and would send the remainder home.
Other parents, such as Marina, said she decided to take her daughter out of the program when she discovered that she was working in apparent unsafe conditions and that staff from the school had instructed students not to tell their parents about the drone assembly work.
“This was the last straw for me,” Marina, who also asked for her identity to be concealed, told RFE/RL. “This is a dangerous production process that involves dangerous chemicals. They also forbid the kids from telling everything to their parents.”
RFE/RL sent multiple requests for comment to various staff and administrators at Alabuga Polytechnic University but received no replies.
Making Iranian Drones In Russia
The complicated and concerning dynamic at Alabuga Polytechnic University stems from growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia that has accelerated since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Iran has said it provided drones to Russia before the start of the war, but not since. However, U.S. intelligence officials have warned for months of continued deliveries and deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, saying the two sides were exploring how to set up a manufacturing plant for Iranian drones inside Russia.
According to The Wall Street Journal, an Iranian delegation visited Yelabuga in Tatarstan on January 5, touring a potential site for such a factory at the Alabuga special economic zone close to Alabuga Polytechnic University. U.S. officials released satellite images in April of the plant being built.
Russia already possesses an array of unarmed aerial vehicles, or UAVs, which are used mainly for surveillance and artillery spotting, but has turned increasingly to Tehran for attack drones.
After being forced to abandon Ukrainian territory that its troops captured in the early stretches of the war, Moscow shifted to a strategy of relentless air assaults on Ukrainian cities. These attacks often rely on a combination of cruise missiles and self-detonating drones packed with explosives to knock out electricity and running water for the civilian population in Ukraine.
So far, Iran has provided Russia mostly with so-called "suicide" drones, known as the Shahed-136, that contain a modest amount of explosives that can detonate when the drones crash into targets, military experts say.
In acquiring its own domestic assembly line, Russia could dramatically increase its stockpile of the relatively inexpensive but highly destructive weapons systems.
WATCH: Russia has resorted to using Shahed-136 drones from Iran in its war on Ukraine. Ukraine says it's already downed many of the drones, which work by slamming into their intended target, laden with explosives. Ordinary Ukrainians say they can already recognize the sound of the drones, which use two-stroke engines like lawnmowers or motorbikes. Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia.
The arrangement also offers substantial economic and political benefits for Iran, which has sought to portray itself as neutral in the Ukraine war. The appearance of Iranian-made drones over Ukrainian cities, however, has triggered threats of new economic sanctions from the West. The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have also all issued rules in recent months designed to cut off the flow of drone components to Russia and Iran.
The Washington Post reported in November 2022, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, that the agreement to deliver Iranian drone schematics and materials for manufacture in Russia resulted from Iranian leaders believing that the arrangement would allow Tehran to avert new sanctions.
Foreign Recruitment And Patriotic Education
Alabuga Polytechnic University is formally not a college. All of its students are officially enrolled at nearby Yelabuga Polytechnic College, with the Alabuga institution existing on paper as a specialized program for students looking to break into high-tech industries.
Currently, about 1,000 students are studying at Alabuga Polytechnic University, with several hundred of them -- most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 17 -- involved in assembling the Iranian drones.
In addition to the work on the drones, there are other signs that point to blurred lines in Russia between the education system and the country’s military amid the war in Ukraine.
According to current and former Alabuga Polytechnic University students, team-building and organized extracurricular activities through the school often take on a “patriotic” character that may be designed to expose students to official government narratives of international events or echo talking points from state television.
Organized paintball games have become a mainstay for students, especially first-year arrivals, in which they are encouraged to compete against one another and then play together against more experienced outside players. Teachers and administration officials regularly refer to paintball as being part of a “patriotic” education needed to complement the technical aspect of their studies.
In one instance, a group of new students competed in paintball as Soviet soldiers against outside players who were dressed as troops from Nazi Germany in a capture-the-flag competition meant to simulate the World War II battle of Stalingrad. According to one student, the Nazi flag contained the compass symbol used by the NATO military alliance instead of the swastika used by Nazi Germany.
Other instances of political teachings from staff are more direct. In a recording obtained by RFE/RL from June 16, a senior administrator can be heard telling the teenagers that NATO launched a hybrid war against Russia back in 2011 and that it has slowly become more overt. The man then goes on to tell students that their hard work and exceeding long days at the drone factory are part of a nationwide struggle against the West and that their patriotism will be rewarded.
Several students and parents identified the man in the recording as Timur Shagivaleev, the director-general of the special economic zone where Alabuga Polytechnic University and the drone factory operate.
Shagivaleev did not respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment.
The man in the recording then goes on to tell students not to take holidays and to continue working “even if it's mom's birthday,” before ending his speech with, “Long live our great country.”
WATCH: Amid a new wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, analysts in Kyiv are gaining useful intelligence from a collection of downed Russian aerial weapons. They have been studying the remains of Iranian Shahed drones and Russian Kinzhal missiles, among others.
Multiple current and former students told RFE/RL that students who work in the drone factory are often praised by staff, while those who have refused or asked to be reassigned due to the high workload are often publicly shamed. In some instances -- according to recordings heard by RFE/RL -- staff even encourage students to bully others who are not deemed “patriotic” enough.
According to Protokol and Razvorot’s investigations, Alabuga Polytechnic University has also turned toward recruiting foreign students to enroll. The majority of them come from African countries, but also from Central Asia and Azerbaijan, where they are promised “world class” salaries as part of the dual-track world experience program.
However, these foreign students are then given low-skill and menial tasks around the campus and the special economic zone, such as janitorial work, and are also paid lower salaries than initially promised.
Written by Reid Standish based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities


rferl--2020-02-06--FBI Chief Says Russia's 'Information Warfare' Against U.S. Has Not Eased

The chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) says Russia is conducting an `` information warfare '' operation against the United States ahead of the 2020 presidential election , although he says he has not seen signs that Russian actors have attempted to breach election infrastructure .
FBI Director Christopher Wray on February 5 told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that Moscow was using a covert social-media campaign to divide U.S. public opinion and exploit differences to create discord .
The remarks are in line with conclusions by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia conducted similar operations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an assertion Moscow continues to deny despite overwhelming evidence that it did so .
Wray said the current effort includes the use of fictional identities , computer bots , postings on social media , and disinformation .
He said the effort may intensify during an election year , but the threat is there at all times , making it more difficult to combat than a specific hacking attack .
`` Unlike a cyberattack on an election infrastructure , that kind of effort -- disinformation -- in a world where we have a First @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expression , the FBI is not going to be in the business of being the truth police and monitoring disinformation online , '' Wray said .
In 2016 , Russians hacked e-mails of the Democratic presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and probed local election systems for potential vulnerabilities .
`` It is that kind of effort that is still very much ongoing , '' Wray said .
`` It 's not just an election cycle , of course we 're now in an election year , it 's an effort to influence our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the lawmakers , however , that `` I do n't think we 've seen any ongoing efforts to target election infrastructure like we did in 2016 . ''
Still , Wray said , Russian efforts to interfere in the election through disinformation and `` fake news '' had not eased since 2016 .
`` They identify an issue that they know that the American people feel passionately about on both sides and then they take both sides and spin them up so they pit us against each other , '' Wray said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with an effort to weaken our confidence in our elections and our democratic institutions which has been a pernicious and asymmetric way of engaging in affect information warfare . ''
The director also raised concerns that other countries may have seen Russia 's apparent successes in 2016 and are looking to carry out similar operations in the upcoming election .
`` We know other adversaries are looking very closely at what the Russians have done and taking note of it and giving active consideration to whether that ’ s a playbook they should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporting by AP and ABC News

The chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says Russia is conducting an "information warfare" operation against the United States ahead of the 2020 presidential election, although he says he has not seen signs that Russian actors have attempted to breach election infrastructure.
FBI Director Christopher Wray on February 5 told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that Moscow was using a covert social-media campaign to divide U.S. public opinion and exploit differences to create discord.
The remarks are in line with conclusions by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia conducted similar operations during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, an assertion Moscow continues to deny despite overwhelming evidence that it did so.
Wray said the current effort includes the use of fictional identities, computer bots, postings on social media, and disinformation.
He said the effort may intensify during an election year, but the threat is there at all times, making it more difficult to combat than a specific hacking attack.
"Unlike a cyberattack on an election infrastructure, that kind of effort -- disinformation -- in a world where we have a First Amendment and believe strongly in freedom of expression, the FBI is not going to be in the business of being the truth police and monitoring disinformation online," Wray said.
In 2016, Russians hacked e-mails of the Democratic presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and probed local election systems for potential vulnerabilities.
"It is that kind of effort that is still very much ongoing," Wray said. "It's not just an election cycle, of course we're now in an election year, it's an effort to influence our republic in that regard."
Wray told the lawmakers, however, that "I don't think we've seen any ongoing efforts to target election infrastructure like we did in 2016."
Still, Wray said, Russian efforts to interfere in the election through disinformation and "fake news" had not eased since 2016.
"They identify an issue that they know that the American people feel passionately about on both sides and then they take both sides and spin them up so they pit us against each other," Wray said.
"And then they combine that with an effort to weaken our confidence in our elections and our democratic institutions which has been a pernicious and asymmetric way of engaging in affect information warfare."
The director also raised concerns that other countries may have seen Russia's apparent successes in 2016 and are looking to carry out similar operations in the upcoming election.
"We know other adversaries are looking very closely at what the Russians have done and taking note of it and giving active consideration to whether that’s a playbook they should adopt," he said.
With reporting by AP and ABC News


rferl--2020-02-06--Iraqi Protesters Clash With Sadr Backers In Deadly Najaf Standoff

At least eight Iraqi protesters have been killed in clashes after supporters of influential Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed an anti-government protest camp in the southern city of Najaf , medial officials and activists say .
Medical officials said at least 52 others were injured in the unrest on February 5 .
The fighting marked the deadliest clash yet in the escalating tensions between Sadr , a radical cleric-turned-politician , and the largely leaderless rallies that have demanded the resignation of what they term government `` elites . ''
The populist Sadr initially backed the demonstrations but split with them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi , who has been designated the country 's prime minister .
Iraqi President Barham Salih on February 1 appointed Allawi in hopes of ending more than two months of political deadlock .
Allawi will run the country until early elections are held .
He has a month to form a new government .
In November , Adil Abdul-Mahdi resigned as prime minister amid the protests over corruption , falling living standards , and foreign influence in the country , particularly by Iran but also the United States .
Nearly 500 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crackdown by security forces .
In the latest clash between the rival groups , security sources told AFP that supporters of Sadr -- known as `` Blue Hats '' for the caps they often wear -- had attempted to clear the area of anti-government protesters when fighting broke out .
Sadr later appeared to attempt to calm his supporters , saying , `` The 'Blue Hats ' have a duty to peacefully secure schools and service centers , not to defend me or suppress the voices that chant against me . ''
Allawi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ posting called on the country 's caretaker cabinet to `` protect protesters . ''
Sadr has said he opposes all foreign interference in Iraq , but he has aligned himself more closely with parties backed by Tehran in recent months .
He has backed Allawi 's candidacy in an agreement with Iranian-backed parties that dominate Iraq 's government and state institutions .
With reporting by Reuters , AP , AFP , and dpa

At least eight Iraqi protesters have been killed in clashes after supporters of influential Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed an anti-government protest camp in the southern city of Najaf, medial officials and activists say.
Medical officials said at least 52 others were injured in the unrest on February 5.
The fighting marked the deadliest clash yet in the escalating tensions between Sadr, a radical cleric-turned-politician, and the largely leaderless rallies that have demanded the resignation of what they term government "elites."
The populist Sadr initially backed the demonstrations but split with them over the past few days, endorsing Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, who has been designated the country's prime minister.
Iraqi President Barham Salih on February 1 appointed Allawi in hopes of ending more than two months of political deadlock.
Allawi will run the country until early elections are held. He has a month to form a new government.
In November, Adil Abdul-Mahdi resigned as prime minister amid the protests over corruption, falling living standards, and foreign influence in the country, particularly by Iran but also the United States. Nearly 500 protesters have been killed in a deadly crackdown by security forces.
In the latest clash between the rival groups, security sources told AFP that supporters of Sadr -- known as "Blue Hats" for the caps they often wear -- had attempted to clear the area of anti-government protesters when fighting broke out.
Sadr later appeared to attempt to calm his supporters, saying, "The 'Blue Hats' have a duty to peacefully secure schools and service centers, not to defend me or suppress the voices that chant against me."
Allawi condemned the violence and in a Twitter posting called on the country's caretaker cabinet to "protect protesters."
Sadr has said he opposes all foreign interference in Iraq, but he has aligned himself more closely with parties backed by Tehran in recent months.
He has backed Allawi's candidacy in an agreement with Iranian-backed parties that dominate Iraq's government and state institutions.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa


rferl--2020-02-05--People On Board Quarantined Cruise Ship Test Positive For Coronavirus

An additional 10 people on board a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama have tested positive for China 's coronavirus , doubling the number previously reported , with test results on more than 170 still pending .
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said on February 5 that all of the 3,700 people onboard the Diamond Princess will be quarantined on the vessel for up to 14 days .
Those infected with the virus were moved to medical facilities .
Japan 's Foreign Ministry has informed Russia 's Embassy in Tokyo that 24 Russian nationals were on board .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ been detected with the virus , adding on its Facebook page that it `` continues its work to help the Russian citizens who are on board the cruise ship . ''
A man on the Diamond Princess cruise ship told RFE/RL that there were also at least 20 Ukrainian passengers .
The number of infected on the ship could rise as checks are ongoing .
Some 3,600 people on a second cruise ship docked in Hong Kong are also being tested for the coronavirus , as Chinese health authorities are stepping up efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has killed 563 people in mainland China , with more than 28,000 confirmed cases .
On February 6 , Chinese authorities in the epicenter city of Wuhan warned they face a severe shortage of hospital beds and equipment needed to treat the growing number of patients , despite the emergency construction of a new hospital and the converting of public buildings to handle thousands of extra patients .
Hu Lishan , an official in the quarantined city , said there was also a shortage of `` equipment and materials '' and that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and schools into treatment facilities .
Millions of Chinese have been ordered to not leave their homes and much of Hubei Province , home to more than 50 million people , is subject to quarantine measures .
More than two dozen large trade fairs and industry conferences in Asia have been postponed because of the spread of the coronavirus , canceling events where billions of dollars worth of deals have been signed in the past .
The venue of China 's oldest and biggest trade fair , the Canton Fair , has suspended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fair was due to hold its spring exhibition in April .
Last year , almost $ 30 billion worth of deals were signed at the event .
Kazpost , the postal operator of neighboring Kazakhstan , has stopped moving mail to and from China amid the outbreak there , Kazpost said on February 6 .
Kazakhstan has also banned the export of protective masks to China .
Some two dozen countries have reported more than 175 confirmed cases of the pathogen and there are cases of human transmission between people who have not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prompted several governments , including Russia and the United States , to institute travel restrictions and airlines to suspend flights to and from China .
On February 5 , Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said the government was banning transit flights from China to keep foreigners from landing in Russia .
Moscow had already restricted direct flights to China and has said it may deport foreigners who test positive for coronavirus .
The Russian Embassy in Beijing on February 5 reported that 128 Russian nationals had been evacuated from Hubei .
Uzbekistan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repatriated 84 Uzbek nationals from Wuhan .
The Uzbek Health Ministry said in a statement on February 5 that the majority of those repatriated were students studying in China , and that `` none of them is suspected of having the new coronavirus . ''
The epidemic , which has been designated a global health emergency by the World Health Organization ( WHO ) , is believed to have emerged in December at a wildlife market in Wuhan , the Hubei provincial capital .
`` While 99 percent of cases are in China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we only have 176 cases , '' WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on February 4 .
`` That does n't mean that it wo n't get worse .
But for sure we have a window of opportunity to act . ''
China ’ s leadership on February 3 admitted `` shortcomings '' in the country ’ s response to the virus outbreak .
The elite Politburo Standing Committee called for market supervision to be strengthened and said a `` crackdown '' on illegal wildlife markets was necessary .
With reporting by AFP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Interfax , and RFE/RL ’ s Ukrainian Service

An additional 10 people on board a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama have tested positive for China's coronavirus, doubling the number previously reported, with test results on more than 170 still pending.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said on February 5 that all of the 3,700 people onboard the Diamond Princess will be quarantined on the vessel for up to 14 days. Those infected with the virus were moved to medical facilities.
Japan's Foreign Ministry has informed Russia's Embassy in Tokyo that 24 Russian nationals were on board.
The embassy said no Russian passengers had been detected with the virus, adding on its Facebook page that it "continues its work to help the Russian citizens who are on board the cruise ship."
A man on the Diamond Princess cruise ship told RFE/RL that there were also at least 20 Ukrainian passengers.
The number of infected on the ship could rise as checks are ongoing.
Some 3,600 people on a second cruise ship docked in Hong Kong are also being tested for the coronavirus, as Chinese health authorities are stepping up efforts to control the outbreak.
The virus has killed 563 people in mainland China, with more than 28,000 confirmed cases.
On February 6, Chinese authorities in the epicenter city of Wuhan warned they face a severe shortage of hospital beds and equipment needed to treat the growing number of patients, despite the emergency construction of a new hospital and the converting of public buildings to handle thousands of extra patients.
Hu Lishan, an official in the quarantined city, said there was also a shortage of "equipment and materials" and that the authorities are looking to convert other hotels and schools into treatment facilities.
Millions of Chinese have been ordered to not leave their homes and much of Hubei Province, home to more than 50 million people, is subject to quarantine measures.
More than two dozen large trade fairs and industry conferences in Asia have been postponed because of the spread of the coronavirus, canceling events where billions of dollars worth of deals have been signed in the past.
The venue of China's oldest and biggest trade fair, the Canton Fair, has suspended exhibitions until further notice. The Canton Fair was due to hold its spring exhibition in April. Last year, almost $30 billion worth of deals were signed at the event.
Kazpost, the postal operator of neighboring Kazakhstan, has stopped moving mail to and from China amid the outbreak there, Kazpost said on February 6. Kazakhstan has also banned the export of protective masks to China.
Some two dozen countries have reported more than 175 confirmed cases of the pathogen and there are cases of human transmission between people who have not visited China recently.
The outbreak has prompted several governments, including Russia and the United States, to institute travel restrictions and airlines to suspend flights to and from China.
On February 5, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said the government was banning transit flights from China to keep foreigners from landing in Russia.
Moscow had already restricted direct flights to China and has said it may deport foreigners who test positive for coronavirus.
The Russian Embassy in Beijing on February 5 reported that 128 Russian nationals had been evacuated from Hubei.
Uzbekistan's Health Ministry said that it had repatriated 84 Uzbek nationals from Wuhan.
The Uzbek Health Ministry said in a statement on February 5 that the majority of those repatriated were students studying in China, and that "none of them is suspected of having the new coronavirus."
The epidemic, which has been designated a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), is believed to have emerged in December at a wildlife market in Wuhan, the Hubei provincial capital.
"While 99 percent of cases are in China, in the rest of the world we only have 176 cases," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on February 4. "That doesn't mean that it won't get worse. But for sure we have a window of opportunity to act."
China’s leadership on February 3 admitted "shortcomings" in the country’s response to the virus outbreak.
The elite Politburo Standing Committee called for market supervision to be strengthened and said a "crackdown" on illegal wildlife markets was necessary.
With reporting by AFP, dpa, TASS, Reuters, Interfax, and RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service


rferl--2020-02-05--White House Declares 'Vindication' As Trump Plans Impeachment Statement

The White House has claimed `` full vindication and exoneration '' in the `` sham '' impeachment process against President Donald Trump following his expected acquittal in the Senate trial , and the president has said he will speak on the matter on February 6 .
`` Today , the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump , '' a White House statement said on February 5 after senators voted nearly along party lines on two articles of impeachment .
`` As we have said all along , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reject the baseless articles of impeachment , and only the President ’ s political opponents -- all Democrats , and one failed Republican presidential candidate -- voted for the manufactured impeachment articles , '' the statement said .
Senators voted 52-48 to clear the Republican president of the first article of impeachment -- abuse of power , with only Utah Senator Mitt Romney defying Trump to vote guilty .
The 53-47 vote on the second article -- obstruction of Congress -- brought the proceedings to an end and left Trump in office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given that a two-thirds majority was needed to convict .
The Republicans hold 53 of the 100 seats in the chamber .
In his first remarks following the votes , Trump wrote on Twitter that he will be making a public statement on February 6 at noon `` to discuss our Country 's VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax ! ''
Trump 's campaign manager for the 2020 election , Brad Parscale , also declared that `` President Trump has been totally vindicated , and it 's now time to get back to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However , Chuck Schumer , the top Senate Democrat , called the acquittal meaningless and the result of an unfair trial in which Republicans voted against allowing Democrats to call witnesses or subpoena documents .
`` No doubt , the president will boast he received total exoneration .
But we know better .
We know this was n't a trial by any stretch of the definition , '' Schumer said .
The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump in December for his alleged corruption in only the third such hearing against a president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ charges focused on whether the country 's 45th president withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine to force the Eastern European country to announce an investigation into his political rival , Democrat Joe Biden , one of the front-runners in the nomination race to face Trump in an election in November .
Democrats also accused him of withholding a desired White House visit by Ukraine 's newly elected leader , Volodymyr Zelenskiy , until the Ukrainian government made a public announcement of a probe .
Trump has denied any wronging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set the stage for a Senate trial , where the two sides clashed almost nonstop over the investigation and whether to allow new witnesses and evidence to be entered into the proceedings .
Romney , the 2012 Republican presidential candidate , was the only Republican senator to vote for conviction on the abuse of power charge .
He voted to acquit on the second article .
Following the vote , Trump accused Romney of being a `` secret asset '' of the Democratic Party and of only `` posing '' to be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reuters

The White House has claimed "full vindication and exoneration" in the "sham" impeachment process against President Donald Trump following his expected acquittal in the Senate trial, and the president has said he will speak on the matter on February 6.
"Today, the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump," a White House statement said on February 5 after senators voted nearly along party lines on two articles of impeachment.
"As we have said all along, he is not guilty. The Senate voted to reject the baseless articles of impeachment, and only the President’s political opponents -- all Democrats, and one failed Republican presidential candidate -- voted for the manufactured impeachment articles," the statement said.
Senators voted 52-48 to clear the Republican president of the first article of impeachment -- abuse of power, with only Utah Senator Mitt Romney defying Trump to vote guilty.
The 53-47 vote on the second article -- obstruction of Congress -- brought the proceedings to an end and left Trump in office.
Acquittal was all along expected, given that a two-thirds majority was needed to convict. The Republicans hold 53 of the 100 seats in the chamber.
In his first remarks following the votes, Trump wrote on Twitter that he will be making a public statement on February 6 at noon "to discuss our Country's VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!"
Trump's campaign manager for the 2020 election, Brad Parscale, also declared that "President Trump has been totally vindicated, and it's now time to get back to the business of the American people."
However, Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, called the acquittal meaningless and the result of an unfair trial in which Republicans voted against allowing Democrats to call witnesses or subpoena documents.
"No doubt, the president will boast he received total exoneration. But we know better. We know this wasn't a trial by any stretch of the definition," Schumer said.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump in December for his alleged corruption in only the third such hearing against a president in the country's history.
The charges focused on whether the country's 45th president withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine to force the Eastern European country to announce an investigation into his political rival, Democrat Joe Biden, one of the front-runners in the nomination race to face Trump in an election in November.
Democrats also accused him of withholding a desired White House visit by Ukraine's newly elected leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, until the Ukrainian government made a public announcement of a probe.
Trump has denied any wronging in his dealings with Ukraine.
That set the stage for a Senate trial, where the two sides clashed almost nonstop over the investigation and whether to allow new witnesses and evidence to be entered into the proceedings.
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, was the only Republican senator to vote for conviction on the abuse of power charge. He voted to acquit on the second article.
Following the vote, Trump accused Romney of being a "secret asset" of the Democratic Party and of only "posing" to be a Republican.
With reporting by AP and Reuters


rferl--2020-02-06--Reporters Without Borders: Iranian Journalists Are Victims Of Jet Crash Lies

Reporters Without Borders ( RSF ) says dozens of Iranian journalists have been interrogated , threatened , searched , and forced to close social-media accounts since a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed in Tehran last month , killing all 176 people aboard .
At least 21 journalists across Iran have been summoned and questioned by intelligence officials working for the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ( IRGC ) or the Intelligence Ministry , RSF said in a statement on February 6 .
The Paris-based media freedom watchdog said the journalists had dared to express anger after reporting a “ state lie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the truth .
Iranian journalists are “ the twofold victims of a state lie , ” said Reza Moini , the head of RSF ’ s Iran desk .
“ The entire world is discovering how the suppression of media freedom has helped to institutionalize lies and serious , repeated human rights violations ” in Iran , he added .
The Ukraine International Airlines ( UIA ) Boeing 737-800 crashed after taking off from Tehran ’ s primary international airport , with the Iranian authorities initially denying any responsibility for the accident @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the IRGC admitted the plane had been shot down `` unintentionally . ''
Iran ’ s January 11 admission led to days of protests in Iranian cities , with demonstrators chanting slogans against Iran ’ s clerical leadership .
Meanwhile , 80 Iranian journalists issued a joint statement expressing regret that they had helped to spread a “ state lie.
” “ All newspapers , in coordination with the state radio and TV , and in the absence of any independent investigation , repeated this great lie , and have then been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to light , ” they said .
Intelligence officials have since searched the homes and offices of many journalists , seizing computers , mobile phones , books , documents , and manuscripts , ” according to RSF .
None of the journalists have been arrested but some have been warned by their employers of the need to be careful with what they say on social media , RSF said , adding that some have had to close their Instagram , Twitter , or Facebook accounts , or to stop posting on them .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ disperse protests triggered by Iran ’ s admission it had downed the Ukrainian plane , the authorities “ stepped up their pressure on the media , banning the publication of anything that did not toe the government line , ” RSF said .


rferl--2020-02-06--Lukashenka Complains About Halt On Russian Oil Supplies Ahead Of Putin Talks

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has arrived in Russia ’ s Black Sea resort of Sochi , state news agency BelTA reported , for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that are expected to focus on disagreements over tariffs for Russian oil .
The talks , set for February 7 , come at a crucial time in relations between the two neighbors .
Lukashenka has accused Moscow of pressuring his country to merge with Russia , something the Belarusian leader has vowed to not let happen while Washington is seeking closer ties with Minsk .
Ahead of his meeting with Putin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supplied only a quarter of the oil it promised Belarus .
“ We were given firm assurances , '' Lukashenka said at a cabinet meeting on February 6 .
“ This year , Russia promised on the government level to ship 24 million tons of oil to Belarus -- 2 million tons a month .
In January , 500,000 tons were supplied.
” Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Rumas said the country had lost $ 300 million in 2019 after Russia cut energy subsidies and raised prices .
Lukashenka instructed the cabinet to create @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Russia 's dominance over Belarus , which is heavily reliant on Moscow for cheap oil and billions in annual subsidies to prop up its Soviet-era economy , has exacerbated tensions between the two and sparked protests on the streets of Minsk .
The two countries signed an agreement in 1999 to form a unified state , but little progress has since been made .
Meetings between Lukashenka and Putin last year failed to bring the two sides together as the Belarusian president noted he was merely seeking `` equal '' terms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demonstrations in December , with protesters expressing anger over the perceived secrecy of the talks and objecting to closer ties to Russia .
The Kremlin , in defending higher energy prices and lower subsidies for Belarus , argues that Minsk should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving energy resources at Russian domestic prices .
During a visit to Minsk on February 1 , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said U.S. `` energy producers stand ready to deliver 100 percent of the oil you need at competitive prices . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Soviet Union 's collapse in 1991 .
With reporting by BelTA , AP , and RFE/RL ’ s Belarus Service

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has arrived in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, state news agency BelTA reported, for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that are expected to focus on disagreements over tariffs for Russian oil.
The talks, set for February 7, come at a crucial time in relations between the two neighbors. Lukashenka has accused Moscow of pressuring his country to merge with Russia, something the Belarusian leader has vowed to not let happen while Washington is seeking closer ties with Minsk.
Ahead of his meeting with Putin, Lukashenka complained that Russia last month supplied only a quarter of the oil it promised Belarus.
“We were given firm assurances," Lukashenka said at a cabinet meeting on February 6. “This year, Russia promised on the government level to ship 24 million tons of oil to Belarus -- 2 million tons a month. In January, 500,000 tons were supplied.”
Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Rumas said the country had lost $300 million in 2019 after Russia cut energy subsidies and raised prices.
Lukashenka instructed the cabinet to create “mechanisms to compensate for the losses."
Russia's dominance over Belarus, which is heavily reliant on Moscow for cheap oil and billions in annual subsidies to prop up its Soviet-era economy, has exacerbated tensions between the two and sparked protests on the streets of Minsk.
The two countries signed an agreement in 1999 to form a unified state, but little progress has since been made.
Meetings between Lukashenka and Putin last year failed to bring the two sides together as the Belarusian president noted he was merely seeking "equal" terms.
Belarus was hit by rare public demonstrations in December, with protesters expressing anger over the perceived secrecy of the talks and objecting to closer ties to Russia.
The Kremlin, in defending higher energy prices and lower subsidies for Belarus, argues that Minsk should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving energy resources at Russian domestic prices.
During a visit to Minsk on February 1, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said U.S. "energy producers stand ready to deliver 100 percent of the oil you need at competitive prices."
Belarus was a Soviet republic until the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
With reporting by BelTA, AP, and RFE/RL’s Belarus Service


rferl--2020-02-06--Romania's Orban Renominated As Prime Minister

BUCHAREST -- The Romanian president has asked outgoing Prime Minister Ludovic Orban to form a new government , moving a @ @ @ @ @ elections .
President Klaus Iohannis made the announcement on February 6 , a day after @ @ @ @ @ was dismissed after losing a no-confidence vote brought by the leftist opposition .
Both Orban @ @ @ @ @ want early elections , but the president can only dissolve parliament if two attempts to @ @ @ @ @ 60 days fail .
On February 6 , lawmakers toppled Orban 's Liberal minority government @ @ @ @ @ put forward by the opposition Social Democrats ( PSD ) and the ethnic Hungarian UDMR @ @ @ @ @ took power on an anti-corruption ticket in November after the Social Democrats were ousted from @ @ @ @ @ PSD and UDMR had criticized Orban for pushing to alter electoral laws without public debate @ @ @ @ @ scheduled in late spring .
With reporting by AFP and Reuters

BUCHAREST -- The Romanian president has asked outgoing Prime Minister Ludovic Orban to form a new government, moving a step closer to snap general elections.
President Klaus Iohannis made the announcement on February 6, a day after Orban's center-right minority government was dismissed after losing a no-confidence vote brought by the leftist opposition.
Both Orban and Iohannis have said they want early elections, but the president can only dissolve parliament if two attempts to install a new executive within 60 days fail.
On February 6, lawmakers toppled Orban's Liberal minority government in a vote of no-confidence put forward by the opposition Social Democrats (PSD) and the ethnic Hungarian UDMR party.
Orban's cabinet took power on an anti-corruption ticket in November after the Social Democrats were ousted from government in October.
The PSD and UDMR had criticized Orban for pushing to alter electoral laws without public debate ahead of a mayoral ballot scheduled in late spring.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters


rferl--2020-02-06--Serbia's Vucic Backs Changes To EU Accession Process

BELGRADE -- Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has expressed support for a new proposed methodology aimed at making the EU membership process more credible , predictable , and politically inclusive .
`` My sympathies are with the new methodology , '' Vucic said on February 6 after talks with EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi in Belgrade .
He said Serbia could benefit from the proposed plan , which would give member states a stronger role in accession talks and calls for more incentives for well-performing aspirant states .
However , backsliding or delays on required reforms could lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accession process , or even force EU hopefuls to restart entry talks in some policy areas .
If approved by EU member states , the new methodology would automatically apply to Albania , Bosnia-Herzegovina , Kosovo , and North Macedonia .
Serbia and Montenegro , which have already started accession talks with Brussels , would be able to choose between the current approach and the new one .
Serbia would review the proposed reforms carefully before making a final decision , Vucic told a joint news conference with Varhelyi .
The commissioner , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that EU enlargement in the Balkans was its `` greatest priority . ''
`` At the end of my term , I would like at least one country from the region ready for accession , '' the Hungarian diplomat said .
On February 7 , he is scheduled to visit Montenegro for talks with Prime Minister Dusko Markovic .
With reporting by dpa and AFP

BELGRADE -- Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has expressed support for a new proposed methodology aimed at making the EU membership process more credible, predictable, and politically inclusive.
"My sympathies are with the new methodology," Vucic said on February 6 after talks with EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi in Belgrade.
He said Serbia could benefit from the proposed plan, which would give member states a stronger role in accession talks and calls for more incentives for well-performing aspirant states.
However, backsliding or delays on required reforms could lead to a pause or reversal of the accession process, or even force EU hopefuls to restart entry talks in some policy areas.
If approved by EU member states, the new methodology would automatically apply to Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia.
Serbia and Montenegro, which have already started accession talks with Brussels, would be able to choose between the current approach and the new one.
Serbia would review the proposed reforms carefully before making a final decision, Vucic told a joint news conference with Varhelyi.
The commissioner, who took office in December, said that EU enlargement in the Balkans was its "greatest priority."
"At the end of my term, I would like at least one country from the region ready for accession," the Hungarian diplomat said.
On February 7, he is scheduled to visit Montenegro for talks with Prime Minister Dusko Markovic.
With reporting by dpa and AFP


rferl--2020-02-06--Tajik Private Broadcasters Instructed To Flag Content To Authorities

DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan ’ s communications watchdog has instructed private radio and television companies to report about their weekly broadcast plans each Monday .
Editors of several private broadcasters in Dushanbe told RFE/RL on February 5 that they were notified about the new requirement by two letters received over the past week .
The letters , dated February 4 and January 31 , were signed by the head of the State Inspectorate for Radio and Television , Tojiddin Karimzoda .
The inspectorate is part of the State Committee for Radio and Television Broadcasting ( KTRT ) .
In the letters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were warned that `` measures would be taken '' against them if they do not provide their weekly broadcast plans by 8.00 a.m. each Monday .
The private radio and television companies were also urged to broadcast more programs “ promoting patriotism [ and ] stressing the importance of Tajikistan 's independence , its traditions , and history . ''
The head of the National Association of Independent Media in Tajikistan , Nuriddin Qarshiboev , called the demands illegal , saying `` nobody has a right to interfere in media outlets ' editorial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ direct control over and restriction of the editorial policies ” of private broadcasters , according to Qarshiboev .
Tajikistan ranks 161st out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders ’ World Press Freedom Index .

DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan’s communications watchdog has instructed private radio and television companies to report about their weekly broadcast plans each Monday.
Editors of several private broadcasters in Dushanbe told RFE/RL on February 5 that they were notified about the new requirement by two letters received over the past week.
The letters, dated February 4 and January 31, were signed by the head of the State Inspectorate for Radio and Television, Tojiddin Karimzoda. The inspectorate is part of the State Committee for Radio and Television Broadcasting (KTRT).
In the letters, seen by RFE/RL, the broadcasters were warned that "measures would be taken" against them if they do not provide their weekly broadcast plans by 8.00 a.m. each Monday.
The private radio and television companies were also urged to broadcast more programs “promoting patriotism [and] stressing the importance of Tajikistan's independence, its traditions, and history."
The head of the National Association of Independent Media in Tajikistan, Nuriddin Qarshiboev, called the demands illegal, saying "nobody has a right to interfere in media outlets' editorial policies."
The letters “mean direct control over and restriction of the editorial policies” of private broadcasters, according to Qarshiboev.
Tajikistan ranks 161st out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index.


rferl--2020-02-06--Russian Police Detain Man Suspected In 2009 Killing Of Notorious Crime Boss

Russian police have detained a person suspected of being involved in the 2009 high-profile killing of Russia 's most notorious crime boss , Vyacheslav Ivankov , also known as Yaponchik ( The Little Japanese ) .
Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said on February 6 that Murtaz Shadania has been charged with murder and the possession of an illegal weapon .
Petrenko said Shadania is suspected of tracking Ivankov 's movements and providing a specialized weapon to a gunman who on July 28 , 2009 , wounded Ivankov as he left a Moscow restaurant .
The 69-year-old crime boss died @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he suffered in the attack .
Georgia-born Ivankov was a professional criminal and a crowned `` thief in law , '' a title traditionally given among criminal groups in former Soviet republics to kingpins .
Shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 , he was unexpectedly released from a prison in Russia where he had been serving a 14-year prison term for illegal firearm possession , forgery , and drug trafficking .
In March 1992 , Ivankov moved to the United States where he was arrested in 1995 and sentenced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , fraud , and illegally entering the country .
He was extradited to Russia after spending almost 10 years in the U.S. prison system and tried and acquitted on murder charges in Moscow .
Ivankov was buried on October 13 , 2009 , at Moscow 's Vagankovo cemetery , the resting place of many notable Soviet and Russian luminaries .
The funeral was widely covered by media as hundreds of kingpins representing criminal syndicates from all over the former Soviet Union attended .
Ivankov 's assassination is thought to have been part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ close associate , Moscow 's notorious crime boss Aslan Usoyan , also known as Ded Khasan ( Grandfather Khasan ) , and Georgian crime boss Tariel Oniani .
Usoyan , a Georgia-born 75-year-old organized-crime figure , was similarly shot dead by a sniper while leaving a Moscow restaurant in January 2013 .
With reporting by Interfax and TASS

Russian police have detained a person suspected of being involved in the 2009 high-profile killing of Russia's most notorious crime boss, Vyacheslav Ivankov, also known as Yaponchik (The Little Japanese).
Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said on February 6 that Murtaz Shadania has been charged with murder and the possession of an illegal weapon.
Petrenko said Shadania is suspected of tracking Ivankov's movements and providing a specialized weapon to a gunman who on July 28, 2009, wounded Ivankov as he left a Moscow restaurant.
The 69-year-old crime boss died about three months later from the wounds he suffered in the attack.
Georgia-born Ivankov was a professional criminal and a crowned "thief in law," a title traditionally given among criminal groups in former Soviet republics to kingpins.
Shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he was unexpectedly released from a prison in Russia where he had been serving a 14-year prison term for illegal firearm possession, forgery, and drug trafficking.
In March 1992, Ivankov moved to the United States where he was arrested in 1995 and sentenced to 10 years on charges of extortion, fraud, and illegally entering the country.
He was extradited to Russia after spending almost 10 years in the U.S. prison system and tried and acquitted on murder charges in Moscow.
Ivankov was buried on October 13, 2009, at Moscow's Vagankovo cemetery, the resting place of many notable Soviet and Russian luminaries. The funeral was widely covered by media as hundreds of kingpins representing criminal syndicates from all over the former Soviet Union attended.
Ivankov's assassination is thought to have been part of an ongoing gang war between Ivankov's close associate, Moscow's notorious crime boss Aslan Usoyan, also known as Ded Khasan (Grandfather Khasan), and Georgian crime boss Tariel Oniani.
Usoyan, a Georgia-born 75-year-old organized-crime figure, was similarly shot dead by a sniper while leaving a Moscow restaurant in January 2013.
With reporting by Interfax and TASS


rferl--2020-02-06--Bad Weather Claims Victims, Wreaks Havoc In Central, Eastern Europe

A spate of bad weather has claimed at least three lives and has wreaked havoc in parts of Central and Eastern Europe .
Blizzards and strong winds left villages and roads blocked in the Balkans , where an elderly Serbian man died in his snow-trapped car .
In southern Serbia , police said February 6 they found the man 's body while rescuing around 20 people , including five children , from their blocked cars on a road .
In the southern Serbian municipality of Crna Trava , an emergency was declared after the snow left around 800 people cut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left without electricity while water supplies were cut in the town of Sokolac .
Strong winds on February 5 caused the death of a child who was hit by a falling traffic sign in Slovakia , while in the Czech Republic , a tree fell on a car , killing a man .
In Croatia , gusting winds overturned trucks on the roads , felled trees , and blocked sea traffic along the Adriatic Coast .
In Romania , strong winds and blizzards closed an eastbound highway on February 6 , at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ villages were left without electricity .
Many local and regional roads remain closed .
Hundreds of trees fell along Romania 's busiest national highway that links the capital , Bucharest , and the central city of Brasov .
Heavy snow further hampered the morning traffic in Bucharest , one of Europe 's most congested cities .
A bus with 40 Romanian tourists was left stranded on a mountain road in central Bulgaria early on February 6 .
Bulgaria 's main mountain passes that connect the southern and northern parts of the country were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bulgaria 's Black Sea port of Varna was closed and the city airport had to cancel several flights .
Based on reporting by AP and digi24.ro

A former top FBI counterintelligence agent pleaded guilty to charges related to his work for notorious Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, changing his plea after federal prosecutors filed new, reduced charges of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Russia by working for the billionaire industrialist.
The move by Charles McGonigal, made on August 15 before a federal judge in New York City, ends a prosecution that had stunned the FBI, where McGonigal had investigated Russian influence operations for years while climbing the bureau’s ranks.
The 55-year-old also still faces a separate set of foreign agent charges in Washington, D.C., related to work he did for Albanian officials.
McGonigal, who retired as head counterintelligence in the FBI's New York bureau in 2018, was originally indicted in January by a grand jury on more serious charges of money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions.
Prosecutors alleged that McGonigal and a former Russian diplomat with whom he was associated, were paid more than $200,000 to do work for Deripaska, a wealthy Russian metals tycoon who has long been seen as a Kremlin insider. Deripaska was hit with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018.
U.S. authorities said McGonigal was hired to dig up negative information on Vladimir Potanin, a rival oligarch to Deripaska. McGonigal and the former diplomat, Sergei Shestakov, also worked to try and get Deripaska removed from U.S. sanctions lists.
Shestakov has pleaded not guilty to the more serious charges than had been originally filed against McGonigal.
They "attempted to conceal Deripaska's involvement by, among other means, not directly naming Deripaska in electronic communications, using shell companies as counterparties in the contract that outlined the services to be performed, using a forged signature on that contract, and using the same shell companies to send and receive payment from Deripaska," the Justice Department said in a press release after McGonigal entered his plea.
McGonigal could receive up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in December.
The separate case filed in Washington, D.C., by federal prosecutors centers on work McGonigal allegedly did on behalf of a former Albanian intelligence officer, for which he was paid $225,000.
McGonigal also allegedly lied to the FBI about his contacts with foreign nationals and foreign travel while he was still employed by the bureau.
Deripaska also faces charges of violating U.S. sanctions through real estate deals and a complicated scheme under which he allegedly arranged for his girlfriend to travel to the United States to give birth to two of their children.


rferl--2020-02-06--Ukraine Detains Man Suspected Of Torching RFE/RL Correspondent's Car In Lviv

KYIV -- Ukrainian police have detained a man on suspicion of setting the car of RFE/RL correspondent Halyna Tereshchuk on fire in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv last month .
According to Schemes , a television program produced by RFE/RL 's Ukrainian Service and Ukrainian Public Television , the detainee is a citizen of Ukraine registered in the western Ukrainian city of Kamianets-Podilskyi .
Earlier , Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Twitter that the detainee is a Moldovan citizen .
`` We are working on finding out who prompted him do that .
The safety of a journalist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Twitter .
Tereshchuk 's car was set on fire and completely destroyed on the night of January 29 .
The journalist , who has worked for RFE/RL since 2000 , said at the time that she suspected the attack was linked to her professional activities .
Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko told RFE/RL at the time of the attack that it might have been ordered by a third party .
The Ukrainian unit of rights group Freedom House condemned the torching of Tereshchuk 's car , as well as that of Andriy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose car was also set ablaze on January 29 .
The group stated that `` arson or other methods of destruction of vehicles and property are becoming increasingly used as a means to pressure active people in Ukraine . ''
It noted there were 11 cases last year of property belonging to activists being destroyed and `` in almost all cases , the perpetrators were not found and punished . ''

KYIV -- Ukrainian police have detained a man on suspicion of setting the car of RFE/RL correspondent Halyna Tereshchuk on fire in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv last month.
According to Schemes, a television program produced by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Ukrainian Public Television, the detainee is a citizen of Ukraine registered in the western Ukrainian city of Kamianets-Podilskyi. Earlier, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Twitter that the detainee is a Moldovan citizen.
"We are working on finding out who prompted him do that. The safety of a journalist is a priority," Avakov wrote on Twitter.
Tereshchuk's car was set on fire and completely destroyed on the night of January 29.
The journalist, who has worked for RFE/RL since 2000, said at the time that she suspected the attack was linked to her professional activities.
Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko told RFE/RL at the time of the attack that it might have been ordered by a third party.
The Ukrainian unit of rights group Freedom House condemned the torching of Tereshchuk's car, as well as that of Andriy Lukin, an activist in Zaporizhzhya, whose car was also set ablaze on January 29.
The group stated that "arson or other methods of destruction of vehicles and property are becoming increasingly used as a means to pressure active people in Ukraine."
It noted there were 11 cases last year of property belonging to activists being destroyed and "in almost all cases, the perpetrators were not found and punished."


rferl--2020-02-07--Memorial Human Rights Center Says Four Men Kidnapped In Chechnya

The Moscow-based Memorial human rights center says unknown individuals have abducted four young men in Russia 's volatile North Caucasus @ @ @ @ @ to Memorial , residents of the village of Gekhi in Chechnya 's central-western Urus-Martan district @ @ @ @ @ 6 that Movsar Vakhayev , Abdulla Zairayev , Zelimkhan Kulayev , and Akhmed Satayev were @ @ @ @ @ at around 10 p.m. local time by unknown individuals in two vehicles .
The witnesses @ @ @ @ @ to film the abduction of two of the men on their mobile phones .
Relatives @ @ @ @ @ they have filed a complaint with local police .
The kidnapped men 's current whereabouts @ @ @ @ @ torture , and extrajudicial killings have been reported in Chechnya for years and human rights @ @ @ @ @ of Chechnya , Ramzan Kadyrov .
Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Kadyrov to lead the @ @ @ @ @ has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two destructive wars , allowing him to @ @ @ @ @ personal fiefdom .

The Moscow-based Memorial human rights center says unknown individuals have abducted four young men in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Chechnya.
According to Memorial, residents of the village of Gekhi in Chechnya's central-western Urus-Martan district told the center on February 6 that Movsar Vakhayev, Abdulla Zairayev, Zelimkhan Kulayev, and Akhmed Satayev were taken away the day before at around 10 p.m. local time by unknown individuals in two vehicles.
The witnesses of the apparent kidnapping managed to film the abduction of two of the men on their mobile phones.
Relatives of the abducted men say they have filed a complaint with local police. The kidnapped men's current whereabouts remain unknown.
Kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial killings have been reported in Chechnya for years and human rights activists blame the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Kadyrov to lead the rebellious region in 2007 and has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two destructive wars, allowing him to rule the region like a personal fiefdom.


rferl--2020-02-07--Noted Russian Investigative Journalist, Rights Lawyer Attacked In Grozny

A well-known Russian investigative journalist , Yelena Milashina , and human rights lawyer Marina Dubrovina have been attacked in Russia 's volatile North Caucasus region of Chechnya .
The Moscow-based newspaper Novaya gazeta says its reporter and the lawyer were in the Chechen capital , Grozny , to attend the trial of a well-known blogger , when they were attacked by a group of unknown assailants late in the evening on February 6 .
Milashina posted on Facebook a copy of her complaint to police over the incident .
The group of attackers , which included women , assaulted Milashina @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continued to punch and kick them as they moved inside the hotel lobby .
The incident was filmed by unknown individuals , the newspaper added .
The two women arrived in Grozny to attend the trial of a local blogger Islam Nukhanov , who filmed and posted on the Internet an exclusive neighborhood in Grozny where relatives and families linked to Chechnya 's Kremlin-backed leader , Ramzan Kadyrov , allegedly reside .
Milashina , widely known for her investigative reports about the dire human rights situation in Chechnya , told Moscow-based Ekho Moskvy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the attack was orchestrated by local authorities .
`` Of course , this is an organized attack , this is the next in a chain of attacks on human rights defenders and journalists , and lawyers who work in Chechnya , '' she said .
`` I believe that , of course , they [ Chechen leaders ] are behind this attack .
When such a situation occurs , it is always authorized by the authorities , '' she added .
Chechen Information Minister Dzhambulat Umarov told Ekho Moskvy that the women might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' who are upset with their activities in Chechnya .
Umarov also said that the women `` might have staged the attack to discredit local authorities . ''
The Union of Russian Journalists issued a statement condemning the attack and expressing `` outrage '' over the situation .
The union `` expects that in the nearest future , law enforcement units will bring those involved into this blatant attack to justice in accordance with the law , '' the statement said .
Novaya gazeta 's editor in chief , Dmitry Muratov , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Chechnya and expressed hope that police in Grozny will do their job `` properly '' and find the attackers .
Activists say Kadyrov , who has ruled the volatile region since 2007 , uses repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces in the region .
They claim Kadyrov is ultimately responsible for the violence and intimidation of political opponents by Chechen authorities , including kidnappings , forced disappearances , torture , and extrajudicial killings .
Kremlin critics say Putin has turned a blind eye to the alleged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Kadyrov because he relies on the former rebel commander to control separatist sentiment and violence in Chechnya , the site of two devastating post-Soviet wars and an Islamist insurgency that spread to other mostly Muslim regions in the North Caucasus .
With reporting by Novaya gazeta and Ekho Moskvy

A well-known Russian investigative journalist, Yelena Milashina, and human rights lawyer Marina Dubrovina have been attacked in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Chechnya.
The Moscow-based newspaper Novaya gazeta says its reporter and the lawyer were in the Chechen capital, Grozny, to attend the trial of a well-known blogger, when they were attacked by a group of unknown assailants late in the evening on February 6.
Milashina posted on Facebook a copy of her complaint to police over the incident.
The group of attackers, which included women, assaulted Milashina and Dubrovina at a hotel entrance and continued to punch and kick them as they moved inside the hotel lobby.
The incident was filmed by unknown individuals, the newspaper added.
Milashina, widely known for her investigative reports about the dire human rights situation in Chechnya, and Amnesty International called the assault the latest in a string of attacks on journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and vocal critics in the North Caucasus region.
The Russian Union of Journalists said it expects the authorities to bring those involved in "this blatant attack" to justice.
The representative on Freedom of the Media for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Harlem Desir, urged the authorities to investigate what he called the "very worrying incident" thoroughly.
"It is paramount that journalists are able to work in a safe environment, without fear of reprisals,” Desir said in a statement.
Milashina told Moscow-based Ekho Moskvy radio that she believed the attack was orchestrated by local authorities.
"This is the next in a chain of attacks on human rights defenders and journalists, and lawyers who work in Chechnya," she said.
"I believe that, of course, [Chechen leaders] are behind this attack. When such a situation occurs, it is always authorized by the authorities," she added.
Chechen Information Minister Dzhambulat Umarov told Ekho Moskvy that the women might have been attacked by "ordinary people" who are upset with their activities in Chechnya.
Umarov also said that the women "might have staged the attack to discredit local authorities."
Novaya Gazeta's editor in chief, Dmitry Muratov, said the publication will continue to send reporters to Chechnya and expressed hope that police in Grozny will do their job "properly" and find the attackers.
Activists say Kadyrov, who has ruled the volatile region since 2007, uses repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces in the region. They claim Kadyrov is ultimately responsible for the violence and intimidation of political opponents by Chechen authorities, including kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
"Last year Kremlin-appointed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov openly warned he would bar human rights defenders from Chechnya and threatened them with violence. Now, such violence is taking place," Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia deputy director, said in a statement on February 7.
Kremlin critics say Putin has turned a blind eye to the alleged abuses and violations of the Russian Constitution by Kadyrov because he relies on the former rebel commander to control separatist sentiment and violence in Chechnya, the site of two devastating post-Soviet wars and an Islamist insurgency that spread to other mostly Muslim regions in the North Caucasus.
With reporting by Novaya Gazeta and Ekho Moskvy


rferl--2020-02-07--Russia Says Syrian Air Defenses Nearly Hit Airliner Near Damascus

An Airbus A320 airliner with 172 passengers on board has made an emergency landing in the Russian-controlled Khmeimim air base @ @ @ @ @ hit it , Russian news agencies have quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying .
@ @ @ @ @ trying to repulse an Israeli attack near Damascus , Igor Konashenkov was quoted as saying @ @ @ @ @ to Konashenkov , after 2 a.m. , four Israeli F-16 fighter jets fired at targets @ @ @ @ @ without entering Syrian airspace .
During the attack , a passenger plane with 172 passengers @ @ @ @ @ Tehran to Damascus was preparing to land , Konashenkov said .
The passenger plane narrowly @ @ @ @ @ of artillery fire , '' he added .
The plane was escorted out of the @ @ @ @ @ landing at the Khmeimim air base , Konashenkov said .
No further details were immediately @ @ @ @ @ by Reuters and TASS

An Airbus A320 airliner with 172 passengers on board has made an emergency landing in the Russian-controlled Khmeimim air base after Syrian air defenses nearly hit it, Russian news agencies have quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying.
The Syrian air defenses were trying to repulse an Israeli attack near Damascus, Igor Konashenkov was quoted as saying on February 7.
According to Konashenkov, after 2 a.m., four Israeli F-16 fighter jets fired at targets in the suburbs of Damascus without entering Syrian airspace.
During the attack, a passenger plane with 172 passengers on board en route from Tehran to Damascus was preparing to land, Konashenkov said. The passenger plane narrowly escaped "the lethal zone of artillery fire," he added.
The plane was escorted out of the danger zone and assisted in landing at the Khmeimim air base, Konashenkov said.
No further details were immediately available.
Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS


rferl--2020-02-07--EU Enlargement Commissioner Visits Montenegro To Discuss Accession Process

EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi is visiting Montenegro for talks with Prime Minister Dusko Markovic .
On February 6 , Varhelyi held talks in Belgrade with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic , who voiced support for a new proposed methodology aimed at making the EU membership process more credible , predictable , and politically inclusive .
If approved by EU member states , the new methodology would automatically apply to Albania , Bosnia-Herzegovina , Kosovo , and North Macedonia .
Serbia and Montenegro , which have already started accession talks with Brussels , would be able to choose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one .
`` My sympathies are with the new methodology , '' Vucic said on February 6 after talks with Varhelyi .
He said Serbia could benefit from the proposed plan , which would give member states a stronger role in accession talks and calls for more incentives for well-performing aspirant states .
However , backsliding or delays on required reforms could lead to a pause or reversal of the accession process , or even force EU hopefuls to restart entry talks in some policy areas .
Serbia would review the proposed reforms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vucic told a joint news conference with Varhelyi .
Varhelyi , who took office in December , said that EU enlargement in the Balkans was his `` greatest priority . ''
`` At the end of my term , I would like at least one country from the region ready for accession , '' the Hungarian diplomat said .
With reporting by dpa and AFP

EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi has told Montenegro's leadership that the country needs to speed up the pace of reforms, especially in the area of rule of law and media freedom.
Varhelyi met in Podgorica with President Milo Djukanovic and Prime Minister Dusko Markovic on February 7 to discuss a new proposed methodology aimed at making the EU membership process more credible, predictable, and politically inclusive.
"The work needs to accelerate, the reforms have to accelerate, especially in the area of rule of law and media freedom where we have outstanding issues to address," he said.
Varhelyi's visit has come amid a political crisis sparked by the adoption in December of a new law on the freedom of religion.
The passage of the law last month has led to frequent protests organized by Montenegro's Serbian Orthodox Church across the country as well as in neighboring Kosovo and Serbia.
It also triggered the cancellation of a planned visit to Montenegro by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Montenegro's Serbian Orthodox Church, its supporters, and pro-Serbian opposition parties fear the law will enable the Montenegrin government to impound church property, though officials deny they intend to.
Varhelyi called on all sides to resort to dialogue in order to find a solution acceptable for everybody in Montenegro.
"We are interested in dialogue," he said. "If we could be of any help with that -- I don’t think we can -- we would be happy to help."
The EU official arrived in Montenegro from Serbia, where he held talks on February 6 in Belgrade with Vucic, who voiced support for the new methodology.
If approved by EU member states, the new methodology would automatically apply to Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia.
Serbia and Montenegro, which have already started accession talks with Brussels, would be able to choose between the current approach and the new one.
"My sympathies are with the new methodology," Vucic said on February 6 after talks with Varhelyi.
He said Serbia could benefit from the proposed plan, which would give member states a stronger role in accession talks and calls for more incentives for well-performing aspirant states.
However, backsliding or delays on required reforms could lead to a pause or reversal of the accession process, or even force EU hopefuls to restart entry talks in some policy areas.
Serbia would review the proposed reforms carefully before making a final decision, Vucic told a joint news conference with Varhelyi.
Varhelyi, who took office in December, said that EU enlargement in the Balkans was his "greatest priority."
"At the end of my term, I would like at least one country from the region ready for accession," the Hungarian diplomat said.
With reporting by dpa and AFP


rferl--2020-02-07--U.S. 'Outraged' By Violence Against Protesters In Iraqi City Of Najaf

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said Washington was `` outraged '' by violence against protesters in the Iraqi city of Najaf and he urged Baghdad to `` immediately address legitimate grievances . ''
Pompeo 's statement on February 6 comes day after at least eight Iraqi protesters were killed when supporters of influential Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed an anti-government protest camp in the southern city , attempting to clear the camp of demonstrators .
The populist Sadr initially backed the demonstrations but split with them over the past few days , endorsing Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minister .
Sadr , who previously said he opposed all foreign interference in Iraq , has aligned himself more closely with parties backed by Tehran in recent months .
Iran has great influence among much of Iraq 's Shi'ite population and supports powerful militia groups in the country .
Baghdad has attempted to balance its relations with Tehran and Washington , which also provides crucial economic and military aid .
The clashes in Najaf are just the latest in a series of deadly confrontations in Iraq .
For months , anti-government protesters have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country and for what they described as `` elitists '' to resign from power .
The actions led to a brutal crackdown by security forces , with hundreds of protesters being killed .
`` Since October of last year , peaceful demonstrators have taken to the streets to urge government reform .
They have been met with threats , brutal violence , and live-fire attacks , '' Pompeo said in his statement .
`` It is unconscionable that the perpetrators continue to act with impunity .
Political figures who incite this violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ steps to protect rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly must be held to account . ''
Pompeo in his statement put the casualty tolls at `` more than 600 protesters '' killed and `` thousands injured . ''
`` We urge the government of Iraq to take immediate steps to hold accountable the militias , thugs , and vigilante groups in Najaf and other cities for their attacks against Iraqis exercising their right to peaceful protest , '' he said .
`` To the courageous Iraqi people seeking reform and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we offer America 's continued friendship and support .
We reaffirm the United States ' enduring commitment to the Iraqi people and a strong , sovereign , and prosperous Iraq . ''
The message comes amid strained relations between Baghdad and Washington following the January 3 killing of a senior Iranian commander , Major General Qasem Soleimani , in a U.S. air strike in Baghdad , sparking calls for the pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq .

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said Washington was "outraged" by violence against protesters in the Iraqi city of Najaf and he urged Baghdad to "immediately address legitimate grievances."
Pompeo's statement on February 6 comes day after at least eight Iraqi protesters were killed when supporters of influential Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed an anti-government protest camp in the southern city, attempting to clear the camp of demonstrators.
The populist Sadr initially backed the demonstrations but split with them over the past few days, endorsing Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, who has been designated the country's prime minister.
Sadr, who previously said he opposed all foreign interference in Iraq, has aligned himself more closely with parties backed by Tehran in recent months. Iran has great influence among much of Iraq's Shi'ite population and supports powerful militia groups in the country.
Baghdad has attempted to balance its relations with Tehran and Washington, which also provides crucial economic and military aid.
The clashes in Najaf are just the latest in a series of deadly confrontations in Iraq.
For months, anti-government protesters have demanded an end to foreign influence in the country and for what they described as "elitists" to resign from power. The actions led to a brutal crackdown by security forces, with hundreds of protesters being killed.
"Since October of last year, peaceful demonstrators have taken to the streets to urge government reform. They have been met with threats, brutal violence, and live-fire attacks," Pompeo said in his statement.
"It is unconscionable that the perpetrators continue to act with impunity. Political figures who incite this violence and government leaders who fail to take steps to protect rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly must be held to account."
Pompeo in his statement put the casualty tolls at "more than 600 protesters" killed and "thousands injured."
"We urge the government of Iraq to take immediate steps to hold accountable the militias, thugs, and vigilante groups in Najaf and other cities for their attacks against Iraqis exercising their right to peaceful protest," he said.
"To the courageous Iraqi people seeking reform and a government free of corruption and Iranian meddling, we offer America's continued friendship and support. We reaffirm the United States' enduring commitment to the Iraqi people and a strong, sovereign, and prosperous Iraq."
The message comes amid strained relations between Baghdad and Washington following the January 3 killing of a senior Iranian commander, Major General Qasem Soleimani, in a U.S. air strike in Baghdad, sparking calls for the pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq.


rferl--2020-02-07--U.S. Citizen Believed Kidnapped In Eastern Afghanistan

U.S. officials say an American appears to have been kidnapped in Afghanistan by a group linked to Taliban militants .
The officials on February 6 said they believe that 57-year-old Mark Frerichs of Illinois was kidnapped by the Haqqani network , which is based in Khost .
It was not immediately clear why Frerichs was in Afghanistan or where exactly he might have been kidnapped .
Newsweek , which first reported the kidnapping , said he was seized a week ago in the eastern province of Khost while working as a contractor in conflict zones .
The FBI-led Hostage Recovery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is handling the investigation into the matter , officials said .
Art Frerichs , who identified himself as Frerichs ' father , told AP that he believed the Newsweek report was true .
`` I do n't want to say any more now for security reasons , '' he said .
`` I have the utmost faith in President [ Donald ] Trump and the FBI . ''
The Taliban said it had no information on Frerichs or his possible kidnapping .
In November , Anas Haqqani , the younger brother of Sirajuddin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ network , was freed in exchange for the release of an American and an Australian , both professors at the American University in Afghanistan who were kidnapped in 2016 in the Afghan capital , Kabul .
Based on reporting by AP , Newsweek , and Reuters

The education of girls and women is universally accepted in more than 200 countries and territories, including nearly 50 Muslim-majority nations.
But Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamist Taliban rulers have banned teenage girls from attending school after the sixth grade since they returned to power two years ago. The ban was extended in December to women in universities.
Countless protests by Afghans inside the country, pressure from the international community, and lobbying by Muslim scholars and clerics have failed to convince the fundamentalist Taliban leaders to reopen schools.
Experts are divided over whether the ban is rooted in how the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam is shaped by conservative Pashtun tribal customs and cultural practices or if it is prompted by how senior Taliban ideologues interpret Islamic teachings.
Most Taliban leaders are ethnic Pashtun, Sunni Muslim clerics. Many were educated in Deobandi madrasahs in neighboring Pakistan. Deobandism emerged as a puritanical Islamic revivalist movement in 19-century British Colonial India. Based on the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, it is a prominent strain among Islamists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tribal Influences
Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator, argues that the Taliban restrictions against women are linked to social customs and cultural practices in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Most Taliban leaders come from various Pashtun rural tribal communities in these regions bordering Pakistan.
"They believe that a woman's place is either inside a house or in a grave," Yousafzai said of the basic Taliban belief influenced by the status of women in the families of clerics and religious leaders in these Pashtun regions.
“Women living in the households of the current Taliban policymakers were never educated and never left their homes,” said Yousafzai, who has tracked the Islamist group since it emerged as a ragtag militia in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in late 1994. “These women never performed any government or nongovernmental jobs.”
Yousafzai says the Taliban backs policies shaped by this worldview by leaning on Islamic teachings supporting such ideas. He says Taliban leaders rely on sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that discourage women from leaving their homes.
“Their primary belief is that pubescent girls should not leave home under any circumstance,” he said. “This is why they view women leaving home for education or work as engaging in moral corruption.”
In Afghanistan, a Muslim nation of some 40 million people, activists and rights advocates accuse the Taliban of implementing "gender apartheid" by denying women education, work, freedom of movement, and deciding how they can appear in public.
Most Muslims agree that Islam allows women to get an education. Yet the Taliban publicly says that it will allow girls access to education only after ensuring complete gender segregation and other unspecified conditions.
Almost all Afghan secondary schools were gender segregated and universities imposed a strict separation between men and women after the Taliban takeover.
Yousafzai says in conservative and traditional Muslim societies around the world, some clerics also favor restrictions on women's education, work, and their role in public life. But the governments in those countries usually oppose or limit such ideas.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia -- one of the most conservative Sunni Muslim nations -- has allowed women to drive and granted them freedom of movement without a male guardian. These steps are part of a reform and modernity drive by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
The Taliban ban on education has invited universal condemnation from Muslims globally.
“The Taliban's ban on women's education is not rooted in [the Islamic] Shari’a law but rather reflects cultural biases that contradict the teachings of Islam,” said Salam al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the United States.
He said that contrary to Taliban practices, “Islam emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge and encourages all individuals, regardless of gender, to acquire an education.”
Historical Conflict
But Islamic scholars and those who have attempted to convince the Taliban about reopening girls schools offer a different explanation.
John Mohammad Butt, an Islamic scholar and former BBC broadcaster who is the only Westerner to graduate from India’s Darul Uloom Deoband, argues that the Taliban's policy on girls' education is not tribal but shaped by the century-old conflict over modern education.
“The problem is that girls' education in Afghanistan -- indeed, contemporary education in general -- has generally been introduced in Afghanistan in line with a secular agenda,” he said.
In the 1920s, a coalition of conservative clerics and tribal and community leaders deposed reformist King Amanullah Khan. He wanted to modernize Afghanistan along Turkish leader Kamal Ataturk's secular lines and championed modern education and rights for women.
This opposition to modernity and secularism continued, and conservative clerics opposed women's education and work. It became a key part of the Islamist opposition to the pro-Soviet Afghan communist governments after the April 1978 military coup that ended the Afghan monarchy. The mujahedin accused the communists of spreading immorality by promoting women’s education and empowerment.
“This has led to particular wariness on the part of conservative circles in Afghanistan with regard to girls' education,” Butt said.
'Deep Ideological Conviction'
Obaidullah Baheer, a political science lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, became part of an effort to rescind the ban by talking to the Taliban last year.
But he says the effort failed because “the ban is a matter of deep ideological conviction” for the current supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Baheer says that the most prominent Taliban leaders have studied in Pakistani madrasahs and were thus disconnected from village and tribal life.
“They have been indoctrinated by the Deobandi school of thought so that they now enforce the strictest version of Islam on the Afghan population,” he said.
He argues that the ban on girls’ schools is a deliberate policy championed by Akhundzada, who he says has endorsed Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani's Arabic language book The Islamic Emirate And Its System. In this book, Haqqani supports a fringe Islamic opinion of preferring the choice of one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives, Sawdah Bint Zam'ah, who chose to stay at home until her death.
Baheer says Haqqani ignores his other wives and other female companions that played an active role in many sectors of society and how they served as students and teachers for men.
“This fringe opinion is not held by all Taliban leaders but is one that the current absolute sovereign, the Taliban emir, seems to be convinced of,” he said.
Butt says that even Haqqani has acknowledged the principle that if there is something that women need to act upon, then that is also something that women need to learn about.
“I hope the Taliban authorities will come to realize in the not-too-distant future that education for women will make Afghan women into better Muslims,” he says. “It will enable them to make a stronger contribution to the well-being of their country.”
Two years after grappling with the issue, Western diplomats appear to be encouraging Afghan conservative and clerical circles to find ways to end the ban.
Tom West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, recently tweeted that Afghan women must be educated and contribute to the economy to help their country stand on its own two feet.
“If change to policies is made, it will be because Afghans have asked for it, not a result of foreign requests,” he wrote.


rferl--2020-02-07--Hungary Reopens Serbian Border Crossing After Migrants Demand Entry

Hungarian police have reopened a border crossing with Serbia , after hundreds of migrants ended a protest demanding entry into Hungary .
`` The Tompa road border-crossing has been reopened , '' a statement on the police website said on February 7 .
The crossing had been temporarily closed after some 200 migrants , including children , gathered at the site and demanded to be let into the country .
Wrapped in blankets , the migrants stood in freezing weather and whipping winds late on February 6 at the Kelebija border crossing , holding their possessions as they blocked traffic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' while some migrants held signs reading , `` We are refugees , not criminals , '' `` We are running from war , not hunger , '' and , simply , `` Let us cross . ''
One man told the HVG.hu news site : `` We are peacefully protesting .
We want to be allowed to continue our journey toward Western Europe . ''
They were later taken by bus to reception centers in Serbia , said Svetlana Palic , spokeswoman for the Serbian commissariat for refugees .
Their claims will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those of other asylum seekers , Palic said .
Several thousand migrants fleeing war and poverty in their home countries are stranded in the Balkans as they seek entry into the more prosperous countries of Western Europe .
During the 2015 migrant crisis , far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban 's government erected a razor-wire-topped fence on the 175-kilometer-long frontier -- one of the EU 's external borders .
Hungary said more than 3,400 attempts to cross the border were made last month alone , compared with several hundred a month in 2019 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the war-torn countries of Syria , Iraq , Afghanistan , and Yemen .
Hundreds of thousands were able to pass through the Balkans in 2015-16 , when about 1 million people entered Europe .
A week ago , about 70 people attempted to get into Hungary at another Serbian border crossing in the night darkness but were driven back after security personnel fired warning shots in the air .
Serbia 's RTS reported that Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin was traveling to the border to assess the situation With reporting by AFP @ @

Hungarian police have reopened a border crossing with Serbia, after hundreds of migrants ended a protest demanding entry into Hungary.
"The Tompa road border-crossing has been reopened," a statement on the police website said on February 7.
The crossing had been temporarily closed after some 200 migrants, including children, gathered at the site and demanded to be let into the country.
Wrapped in blankets, the migrants stood in freezing weather and whipping winds late on February 6 at the Kelebija border crossing, holding their possessions as they blocked traffic.
Children shouted "Open borders!" while some migrants held signs reading, "We are refugees, not criminals," "We are running from war, not hunger," and, simply, "Let us cross."
One man told the HVG.hu news site: "We are peacefully protesting. We want to be allowed to continue our journey toward Western Europe."
They were later taken by bus to reception centers in Serbia, said Svetlana Palic, spokeswoman for the Serbian commissariat for refugees.
Their claims will be processed in the same way as those of other asylum seekers, Palic said.
Several thousand migrants fleeing war and poverty in their home countries are stranded in the Balkans as they seek entry into the more prosperous countries of Western Europe.
During the 2015 migrant crisis, far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government erected a razor-wire-topped fence on the 175-kilometer-long frontier -- one of the EU's external borders.
Hungary said more than 3,400 attempts to cross the border were made last month alone, compared with several hundred a month in 2019.
Officials say most of the migrants come from the war-torn countries of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
Hundreds of thousands were able to pass through the Balkans in 2015-16, when about 1 million people entered Europe.
A week ago, about 70 people attempted to get into Hungary at another Serbian border crossing in the night darkness but were driven back after security personnel fired warning shots in the air.
Serbia's RTS reported that Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin was traveling to the border to assess the situation
With reporting by AFP and AP