Russian authorities will investigate whether opposition leader Alexei Navalny is breaking the law with his campaign for boycotting next year’s presidential election, the Kremlin said Thursday.

President Vladimir Putin, whose approval ratings have topped 80 percent, is set to win a fourth term in the March 18 election. A victory would put Putin, 65, on track to become Russia’s longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin.

Navalny, 41, has campaigned for the presidency all year despite an implicit ban on his candidacy from a fraud conviction seen by many as political retribution. He was formally barred from the ballot earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Navalny announced that a slew of rallies would be held across Russia on Jan. 28 to promote an “electoral strike” to protest the Central Election Commission’s decision to bar him from the race.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Thursday he had “no doubts” that authorities would review Navalny’s appeals to determine if they are illegal.

While Russian law doesn’t explicitly prohibit calls for election boycotts, Russian authorities have used anti-extremism legislation to cut access to websites carrying such calls.

A YouTube video in which Navalny encourages the Jan. 28 electoral strike protests was not available in Russia for several hours Thursday, but reappeared.

Navalny has appealed the election commission’s decision to keep him off the presidential ballot. Russia’s highest court is set to consider the issue Saturday.
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Egypt’s pro-government media on Thursday vilified neighboring Sudan over its expanding ties with Turkey and Qatar, saying the three are conspiring against Egypt.

While the government has publicly remained silent, Egyptian media seized on a visit to Sudan earlier this week by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a meeting in Khartoum between the chiefs of staff of Sudan, Turkey and Qatar, and renewed efforts by Khartoum to revive a longtime border dispute with Egypt.

Most views expressed in Egypt’s media reflect the thinking of the government or at least one of its key institutions. The criticism of Sudan and its longtime ruler Omar Bashir included personal insults and questioning the country’s statehood.

Tensions between Egypt and Sudan, which are bound by the Nile River and historic ties, often play out in the media, with the two governments keeping their distance.

The latest row could deepen a rift between Egypt and Sudan over a massive dam being built by Ethiopia that Cairo views as a threat to its share of the Nile, which provides nearly all of Egypt’s water. Negotiations over the dam are at an impasse, with Sudan appearing to tilt toward Ethiopia in the dispute.

The spat could also add to regional tensions. Egypt joined Saudi Arabia in its blockade of Qatar earlier this year, and has long been at odds with both Turkey and Qatar over their support for the Muslim Brotherhood, a regional Islamist movement that is now outlawed in Egypt.

“Sudanese President Omar Bashir is playing with fire in exchange for dollars,” wrote columnist Emad Adeeb in the Cairo daily Al-Watan, alluding to what he said was Bashir’s attempt to gain from regional rivalries.

“Sudan is violating the rules of history and geography and is conspiring against Egypt under the shadow of Turkish madness, Iranian conspiracy, an Ethiopian scheme to starve Egypt of water and Qatar’s financing of efforts to undermine Egypt,” wrote Adeeb, whose column was headlined: “Omar Bashir’s political suicide.”

Of particular concern to Egypt, according to commentaries and news reports, is Sudan’s burgeoning military ties with Turkey, including a joint naval facility on the Red Sea to repair civilian and military vessels that was announced by Bashir and the Turkish leader this week in Khartoum.

Sudan, which is in the grips of an economic crisis, complained this month to the United Nations that a maritime demarcation agreement reached in 2016 by Egypt and Saudi Arabia infringed on what it claimed to be Sudanese waters off an Egyptian-held border region it claims as its own. Egypt denies the Sudanese claim.

Egyptian media, meanwhile, insist that Bashir has ceded to Turkey sovereignty over Suakin, a small but strategic island off Sudan’s Red Sea coast. Erdogan has denied his country is constructing a naval base there, saying Turkey only plans to restore Ottoman-era ruins in the area.

Emad Hussein, editor of Cairo’s Al-Shorouk daily, wrote Thursday that Erdogan’s visit to Sudan, the first by a Turkish head of state, “cannot be viewed … except as harassment of Egypt and an attempt to annoy it by any means possible.”
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The United States announced Thursday that full visa services for Turkish citizens wishing to travel to the U.S. will resume and said it received assurances Ankara would inform Washington before moving to detain or arrest any embassy employees.

Turkey welcomed the decision on visas, but said that it had not provided the U.S. any such assurances.

The U.S. suspended all non-immigrant visa services in Turkey earlier this year, in response to the arrest of Metin Topuz, a consulate employee in Istanbul, on terrorism charges. Turkey shut down visa services in the U.S. in retaliation.

In a statement released Thursday, the State Department said that since October, Turkey had adhered to promises that no local employees of the embassy were being investigated, that no employees would be detained for “performing their official duties”, and that the government of Turkey would consult with the U.S. before detaining or arresting local staff in the future.

“Based on adherence to these assurances, the Department of State is confident that the security posture has improved sufficiently to allow for the full resumption of visa services in Turkey,” the statement read.

Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S. Serdar Kilic said his country plans to do the same for U.S. citizens seeking visas to Turkey.  The Turkish statement, however, denied that Ankara gave any assurances to the U.S. regarding potential detentions and arrests of embassy employees.

“In terms of assurances mentioned in U.S. statement, we would like to reiterate that there is rule of law in Turkey and our government did not give any assurances related to ongoing cases, and no local mission employee is under legal investigation regarding to their official duties,” his statement read. “Even though we have drawn attention to the matter, we do not approve United States informing Turkish and American public falsely by alleging that Turkey have given them assurances”

The two nations resumed limited visa services in early November, around the time of a visit to Washington by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, but the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced last week that the earliest appointments for applications are in January 2019, more than a year from now.

Nike Ching contributed to this report from the State Department, and VOA Turkish.

 
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Moscow is having a “Journey to Christmas” festival from December 22 to January 14 with decorations, including over 1,000 New Year’s trees, and holiday festivities throughout the Russian capital.  VOA Moscow attended the opening of the festival in central Moscow and spoke to locals about their holiday hopes and wishes for 2018.
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Russia’s latest space launch failures have prompted authorities to take a closer look into the nation’s struggling space industry, the Kremlin said Thursday.

A Russian weather satellite and nearly 20 micro-satellites from other nations were lost following a failed launch from Russia’s new cosmodrome in the Far East on November 28. And in another blow to the Russian space industry, communications with a Russian-built communications satellite for Angola, the African nation’s first space vehicle, were lost following its launch on Tuesday.

Asked about the failures, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Thursday that authorities warrant a thorough analysis of the situation in the space industry.

Amid the failures, Russian officials have engaged in a round of finger-pointing.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees Russia’s military industrial complex and space industries, said in a television interview Wednesday that the November 28 launch from the new Vostochny launch pad in Russia’s Far East failed because the rocket had been programmed to blastoff from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan instead of Vostochny. He accused the Russian space agency Roscosmos of “systemic management mistakes.”

Roscosmos fired back Thursday, dismissing Rogozin’s claim of the flawed programming. It did acknowledge some shortcomings that led to the launch failure and said a number of officials were reprimanded.

Rogozin quickly riposted on Facebook, charging that Roscosmos was “trying to prove that failures occur not because of mistakes in management but just due to some `circumstances.”‘

The cause of the failure of the Angolan satellite hasn’t been determined yet. Communications with the satellite, which was built by the Russian RKK Energia company, a leading spacecraft manufacturer, were lost after it entered a designated orbit.

Russia has continued to rely on Soviet-designed booster rockets to launching commercial satellites, as well as crews and cargo to the International Space Station. A trio of astronauts from Russia, Japan and the United States arrived at the space outpost last week following their launch from Baikonur.

While Russian rockets have established a stellar reputation for their reliability, a string of failed launches in recent years has called into question Russia’s ability to maintain the same high standards for manufacturing space equipment.

Glitches found in Russia’s Proton and Soyuz rockets in 2016 were traced to manufacturing flaws at the plant in Voronezh.Roscosmos sent more than 70 rocket engines back to production lines to replace faulty components, a move that resulted in a yearlong break in Proton launches.

The suspension badly dented the nation’s niche in the global market for commercial satellite launches. Last year, Russia for the first time fell behind both the U.S. and China in the number of launches.

While Russia plans to continue to use Baikonur for most of its space launches, it has poured billions of dollars in to build the new Vostochny launch pad. A launch pad for Soyuz finally opened in 2016, but another one for the heavier Angara rockets is only set to be completed in late 2021 and its future remains unclear, drawing questions about the feasibility of the expensive project.

Work at Vostochny also has been dogged by scandals involving protests by unpaid workers and the arrests of construction officials accused of embezzlement.

Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.
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Russia is planning to begin shipments of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Turkey in March 2020, a senior official says of a deal that has raised eyebrows because Turkey is a NATO member.

Sergei Chemezov, head of the Russian state conglomerate Rostec, told the newspaper Kommersant in an interview published on Wednesday that the $2.5 billion deal will consist of four batteries of S-400 missiles.

“They are paying 45 percent of the total contract amount as an advance. Fifty-five percent is Russian credit,” Chemezov told Kommersant.

Turkey’s move to acquire the S-400s has been regarded in some Western capitals as a snub to the NATO alliance amid tensions with Russia over its role in the wars in Syria and eastern Ukraine.

The S-400 deal, first announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September, has also caused concern because the Russian-made weapons cannot be integrated into the alliance’s defenses.

Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said Wednesday that the deal for the missiles had been finalized.

Russia and Turkey support opposing sides in the Syrian war, but Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin patched up their relationship after it was badly damaged when Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November 2015.

The missiles have a maximum range of 400 kilometers and are capable of reaching targets at a maximum altitude of 30 kilometers.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow also expected to sign a deal with India soon on the delivery of S-400s.

Russian officials have also said that Russia and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia are close to signing a deal on supplying the S-400 systems to Riyadh.

This article contains some material from Kommersant, Reuters, dpa, TASS and Yenisafak.
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A bus carrying Chinese tourists has skidded off the road in Iceland, killing one and injuring 12 others.

Iceland police said the crash occurred after the bus rear-ended a car near the Eldhraun lava field, about 250 kilometers east of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital. The driver and a passenger in the car were not hurt.

Many of the injured were transported to a Reykjavik hospital by helicopters and a relief station was set up for the other passengers in nearby Kirkjubaejarklaustur village.

The owner of the tour company, Fjalar Ulfarsson, said the group was on the fourth day of a weeklong visit to Iceland when the accident happened.

“The road there is narrow and had some icing, from what I gather,” Ulfarsson told The Associated Press.

Iceland is a popular tourist destination that attracted a record number of 1.8 million visitors in 2016.
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Airbus is drawing up contingency plans to phase out production of the world’s largest jetliner, the A380 superjumbo, if it fails to win a key order from Dubai’s Emirates, three people familiar with the matter said.

The moment of truth for the slow-selling airliner looms after just 10 years in service and leaves one of Europe’s most visible international symbols hanging by a thread, despite a major airline investment in new cabins unveiled this month.

“If there is no Emirates deal, Airbus will start the process of ending A380 production,” a person briefed on the plans said.

A supplier added such a move was logical due to weak demand. Airbus and Emirates declined to comment. Airbus also declined to say how many people work on the project.

Gradual shutdown?

Any shutdown is expected to be gradual, allowing Airbus to produce orders it has in hand, mainly from Emirates. It has enough orders to last until early next decade at current production rates, according to a Reuters analysis.

The A380 was developed at a cost of 11 billion euros to carry some 500 people and challenge the reign of the Boeing 747. But demand for these four-engined goliaths has fallen as airlines choose smaller twin-engined models, which are easier to fill and cheaper to maintain.

Emirates, however, has been a strong believer in the A380 and is easily the largest customer with total orders of 142 aircraft, of which it has taken just over 100.

Talks between Airbus and Emirates over a new order for 36 superjumbos worth $16 billion broke down at the Dubai Airshow last month. Negotiations are said to have resumed, but there are no visible signs that a deal is imminent.

British Airways interested

Although airlines such as British Airways have expressed interest in the A380, Airbus is reluctant to keep factories open without the certainty that a bulk Emirates order would provide.

Emirates, for its part, wants a guarantee that Airbus will keep production going for a decade to protect its investment.

A decision to cancel would mark a rupture between Airbus and one of its largest customers and tie Emirates’ future growth to recent Boeing orders.

European sources say that reflects growing American influence in the Gulf under President Donald Trump, but U.S. and UAE industry sources deny politics are involved. There are also potential hurdles to a deal over engine choices and after-sales support.

Safety net

Yet if talks succeed, European sources say there is a glimmer of hope for the double-deck jet, which Airbus says will become more popular with airlines due to congestion.

Singapore Airlines, which first introduced the A380 to passengers in 2007, showcased an $850 million cabin re-design this month and expressed confidence in the model’s future.

Airbus hopes to use an Emirates order to stabilize output and establish a safety net from which to attract A380 sales to other carriers, but has ruled out trying to do this the other way round, industry sources said.

As of the end of November, Airbus had won orders for 317 A380s and delivered 221, leaving 96 unfilled orders. But based on airlines’ intentions or finances, 47 of those are unlikely to be delivered, according to industry sources, which halves the number of jets in play.

30 orders needed

Airbus needs to sell at least another 30 to keep lines open for 10 years and possibly more to justify the price concessions likely to be demanded by any new buyers.

To bridge the gap, Airbus plans to cut output to six a year beyond 2019, from 12 in 2018 and 8 in 2019, even if it means producing at a loss, Reuters recently reported.

Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier confirmed this month Airbus was looking at cutting output to 6-7 a year.

If Airbus does decide to wind down production, some believe Emirates will ask Airbus to deliver the remaining 41 it has on order and then keep most A380s in service as long as possible. Even so, some A380s are likely to be heading for scrap.
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Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Wednesday that the failed launch of a 2.6 billion-ruble ($44.95 million) satellite last month was due to an embarrassing programming error.

Russian space agency Roscosmos said last month that it had lost contact with the newly launched weather satellite — the Meteor-M — after it blasted off from Russia’s new Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far East.

Eighteen smaller satellites belonging to scientific, research and commercial companies from Russia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Japan, Canada and Germany were on board the same rocket.

Speaking to Rossiya 24 state TV channel, Rogozin said the failure had been caused by human error. 

The rocket carrying the satellites had been programmed with the wrong coordinates, he said, saying it had been given bearings for takeoff from a different cosmodrome — Baikonur — which Moscow leases from Kazakhstan.

“The rocket was really programmed as if it was taking off from Baikonur,” said Rogozin. “They didn’t get the coordinates right.”

The Vostochny spaceport, laid out in the thick taiga forest of the Amur region, is the first civilian rocket launch site in Russia.

In April last year, after delays and massive costs overruns, Russia launched its first rocket from Vostochny, a day after a technical glitch forced an embarrassing postponement of the event in the presence of President Vladimir Putin.
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Ten people were injured and sent to hospitals when a homemade bomb detonated in a supermarket in St. Petersburg, Russia, officials said Wednesday.

“According to preliminary information, an explosion of an unidentified object occurred in a store,” Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement.

The blast was caused by a “homemade explosive device with the power equivalent to 200 grams of TNT filled with lethal fragments,” she said.

Investigators said they have opened a criminal case on the grounds of attempted murder.

Health officials said none of the 10 victims suffered life-threatening injuries.

The motive for the attack was not immediately known.

 
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After lurching from one crisis to the next over the past 10 years, the European Union has survived a series of seemingly existential threats – and its leaders claim the bloc is ascendant.

Economic growth in the Eurozone is forecast to be higher than in the United States and Britain, while the migrant influx appears to be easing. But analysts warn that the underlying problems haven’t been solved – and the EU can’t afford to get complacent.

From the 2008 euro debt crisis that nearly bankrupted several European states, to the chaotic arrival of millions of migrants fleeing war and poverty, plus the 2016 Britain’s vote the leave the EU, the European Union has survived a decade of crises.

But in 2017, its leaders claimed Europe is back in business. In his September State of the Union speech, the EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker captured the mood.

“The wind is back in Europe’s sails. We have now a window of opportunity but it will not stay open forever,” Juncker said.

As Emmanuel Macron stepped out to give a victory speech in front of Paris’ Louvre gallery in May, he was seen by many as Europe’s savior. Macron won the presidency on an explicitly pro-European ticket, defeating the anti-EU National Front under Marine Le Pen.

Supporters credit Macron with halting the seemingly unstoppable right-wing, populist surge in Europe. But analyst Leopold Traugott of policy group Open Europe says those forces cannot be written off.

“Yes, Macron was elected a pro-European candidate, but in the end mostly because for many voters, he was the lesser evil compared to Marine Le Pen in the second round.”

President Macron even voiced hope in a September speech on Europe’s future that Britain might be lured back into a reformed EU.

Macron said that “In a union refocused on its unwavering values and an efficient market, in a few years, if it wants, the United Kingdom could find its place.”

But Europe should not get complacent, argued analyst Traugott.

“On the one hand the migration crisis is continuing, people are still coming in, and there is no system in place yet that can solve the issue in a sustainable manner, because member states are simply unwilling to agree to it. And on the Eurozone, it currently doesn’t have the necessary stable framework that is needed to keep the union working,” Traugott said. 

Europe will enter 2018 in a far more confident mood than a year ago – with the Eurozone growing, migrant numbers falling and pro-EU leaders in charge.

But from Germany’s struggles to form a new government, to the threat of a so-called hard Brexit, and Catalonia’s bid for independence from Spain – there is no shortage of potential challenges ahead.
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