Congressional Democratic Party lawmakers abruptly left a White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday concerning the crisis along the Turkish-Syrian border. 
 
The president called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California a “third-grade politician,” according to those who attended. 
 
“We were offended, deeply. Never have I seen a president treat so disrespectfully a co-equal branch of the government,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, alongside Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York outside the White House West Wing. 

‘A meltdown’
 
The House speaker told reporters Trump had “a meltdown” in the Cabinet Room because of the number of Republicans who had joined Democrats on Capitol Hill in approving a resolution condemning his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from northeastern Syria. 
 
“And that’s why we couldn’t continue in the meeting — because he was just not relating to the reality of it,” Pelosi said. 

The speaker added that Trump appeared upset, saying he had not invited the Democratic leadership to attend the bipartisan meeting. 

“We didn’t invite ourselves,” Hoyer told reporters. 

Schumer described the meeting as a diatribe, rather than a dialogue. 

Pelosi, later back on Capitol Hill, remarked, “I think now we have to pray for his health.” 

Democrats who were at the meeting said that when Schumer pointed to concerns raised by James Mattis as defense secretary that the Islamic State group would resurge if the United States withdrew its troops from Syria, Trump reacted by insulting the retired general, calling him overrated and saying he “wasn’t tough enough,” especially when it came to handling IS. 
 
Schumer told reporters that he inquired about whether there was “any intelligence evidence that the Turks and Syrians will have the same interest that the Kurds or we did in guarding ISIS [Islamic State]. And the secretary of defense — thank God he was honest — said, ‘We don’t have that evidence.’ So, I said: ‘How can we think this is a plan?’ ” 
 
Republicans who were in attendance said that it was Pelosi who was insulting toward the president and that her conduct was unbecoming of a congressional leader. 

Later talks
 
Some other Democrats remained for the discussion after their leadership left, with Republicans and the White House describing the meeting as productive from that point forward. 
 
“The president was measured, factual and decisive, while Speaker Pelosi’s decision to walk out was baffling, but not surprising. She had no intention of listening or contributing to an important meeting on national security issues,” said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. “While Democratic leadership chose to storm out and get in front of the cameras to whine, everyone else in the meeting chose to stay in the room and work on behalf of this country.”  

Representative Mike McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters the most significant outcome of the meeting was that Trump, in contrast to his earliest comments, stated that a residual U.S. force would be left in the region. 

McCaul also noted that the president had sent a stern letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning him of debilitating sanctions if he did not reverse course on Syria. 

Unusual style
 
That letter, which began circulating during the lawmakers’ meetings with the president, drew considerable attention for its unconventional style. 
 
The letter, dated October 9, begins, “Let’s work out a great deal!” Trump says the Turkish leader doesn’t have to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and he threatens, as the U.S. president, that he does not want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy by imposing sanctions. 
 
The letter goes on to warn Erdogan: “Don’t be a tough guy” and “don’t be a fool.” 

…

The fourth Democratic presidential candidate debates took place Tuesday in Ohio. The candidates answered questions on a range of issues, including the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, the developments in the Syrian conflict, and the U.S. economy.

Here are some comments from each candidate:

Former Vice President Joe Biden, during a discussion of Trump’s outreach to Ukraine to investigate Biden’s son, Hunter, said, “My son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong.  I carried out the policy of the United States government in rooting out corruption in Ukraine, and that’s what we should be focusing on.”

Senator Cory Booker, talking about the need to put in check Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power on the world stage, said, “We cannot allow the Russians to continue to grow in influence by abandoning the world stage. We cannot allow Russia to not only interfere in the democracies of Ukraine and Latvia and Lithuania, but even not calling them out for their efforts to interfere in this democracy are unacceptable.”

Mayor Pete Buttigieg, while promoting the need to depoliticize the U.S. Supreme Court, said, “We can’t go on like this where every single time there is a vacancy we have this apocalyptic ideological firefight over what to do next. Now one way to fix this is to have a 15-member court where five of the members can only be appointed by unanimous agreement by the other 10.”

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How (Historically) Presidential Are the Democratic Candidates?

Here’s how the candidates’ experiences stack up against each other as well as U.S. presidents throughout history.

Former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, discussing the need for the country to be reliable in foreign relations, said, “If you’re Kim Jong Un, for example, why in the world would you believe anything that this president says to contain your nuclear weapons program when he tore up an Iran nuclear agreement we just signed four years ago, which was the strongest agreement to contain Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and now he’s abandoned the very people we’ve given our word to.”

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, when asked about her desire to pull U.S. troops from Syria, said, “The slaughter of the Kurds being done by Turkey is yet another negative consequence of the regime change war that we’ve been waging in Syria.  Donald Trump has the blood of the Kurds on his hand.  But so do many of the politicians in our country from both parties who have supported this ongoing regime change war in Syria that started in 2011, along with many in the mainstream media who have been championing and cheerleading this regime change war.”

Senator Kamala Harris, talking about the impeachment probe against Trump, said, “He has consistently, since he won, been selling out the American people, he’s been selling out working people, he’s been selling out our values, he’s been selling out national security, and on this issue with Ukraine he has been selling out our democracy.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar, on the issue of what Democrats must do to defeat Trump, brought up campaigning in key swing states from the last election, saying, “I do it not by going just where it’s comfortable, but by going where it’s uncomfortable.  And that’s why I have been in Pennsylvania, and in Michigan, and in Wisconsin, and all over Ohio and in Iowa.  Because I believe we need to build a blue Democratic wall around those states and make Donald Trump pay for it.”

Immigration

Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, talking about gun control and plans for buybacks and seizures of high-powered weapons, said, “If the logic begins with those weapons being too dangerous to sell, then it must continue by acknowledging with 16 million AR-15s and AK-47s out there they are also too dangerous to own.  Every single one of them is a potential instrument of terror.”

Senator Bernie Sanders, addressing his recent heart attack and questions about running for president at age 78, said, “We are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country.  That is how I think I can reassure the American people.  But let me take this moment if I might to thank so many people from all over this country including many of my colleagues up here for their love, for their prayers, for their well-wishes.”

Climate Change

Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, connecting U.S. cooperative foreign policy with addressing climate change, said, “Any problem that we’re going to do, but specifically climate, we’re going to have to lead the world morally, we’re going to have to lead it technologically, financially and commercially.  This is the proof that this kind of America first, go it alone, trust nobody and be untrustworthy, is the worst idea that I’ve ever heard and I would change it on day one in every single way.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren, on the topic of her health care plan amid challenges she has not made its costs clear, said, “I have made clear what my principles are here, and that is costs will go up for the wealthy and for big corporations, and for hard-working middle class families costs will go down.”

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, discussing big tech companies and whether they have become too powerful, said, “There are absolutely excesses in technology and in some cases having them divest parts of their business is the right move.  But we also have to be realistic that competition doesn’t solve all the problems.  It’s not like any of us wants to use the 4th best navigation app.  That would be like cruel and unusual punishment.

…

Protesters and police clashed late on Tuesday in Barcelona during rallies against the jailing of nine Catalan separatist leaders, with the unusually tense confrontations turning into a major challenge for Spanish and regional authorities.

Protesters threw cans, stones and flares at riot police, and set garbage containers and cardboard on fire in the middle of several streets in Barcelona, including a thoroughfare housing designer stores and the stock exchange.

Fences were on fire next to La Pedrera, one of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi’s most famous buildings and one of the city’s main tourist attractions.

Police charged several times through the crowd with batons and fired foam projectiles at the protesters. A spokesman for the regional Mossos police said they were trying to make space around the local headquarters of the Spanish government. Four people were detained, the spokesman said.

A Reuters cameraman was hit by police in the leg while filming them charge at protesters. The cameraman, clearly identified as a journalist by a press armband, was hit from behind by a police baton.

This was the second day of protests after the Supreme Court sentenced nine separatist leaders to nine to 13 years in jail over their role in a failed bid to break away from Spain in 2017.

The clashes are a challenge for the regional, pro-independence authorities and the central government in Madrid, both of which are facing a fragmented political landscape and an economic slowdown.

Catalan separatism has long prided itself on being a peaceful movement and its leaders say that has not changed. But there were concerns in Madrid already before Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that heavy jail sentences for the separatist leaders could unleash pent-up frustration among a radicalized fringe, a senior parliamentary source told Reuters.

A spokeswoman for the pro-independence Catalan regional government was quick to say that separatists had proven they were peaceful and that an isolated group behaved violently, sullying their reputation.

“The regional government condemns all violent actions as we always have done,” spokeswoman Meritxell Budo told Spanish national broadcaster TVE.

Spain’s acting government warned in a statement it would step in if needed to guarantee security in the region, without elaborating.

“A minority is trying to impose violence in the streets of Catalan cities,” the statement said. “It is obvious that this is not a peaceful movement,” the government said, while praising coordination between regional and national police Catalonia’s independence drive triggered Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades in 2017 and still dominates much of the country’s fractured political debate. It was a major theme in a parliamentary election in April and will likely be as well for the new, snap election set for Nov. 10.

Security

The leader of Spain’s centre-right People’s Party, Pablo Casado, on Twitter called for acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to activate a national security law and take control of Catalonia’s security forces to “guarantee security and public order.”

Spain’s main parties have consistently refused to hold an independence referendum in Catalonia, although the Socialists say they are open to dialogue on other issues.

Police also charged protesters in the cities of Girona and Tarragona, TV footage showed. Catalan police warned people on Twitter not to approach the epicenter of protests in Barcelona and Girona for safety reasons.

Reuters reporters saw Spanish national police firing blanks in the air from rubber bullet guns in Barcelona. Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Earlier in the evening, thousands of peaceful demonstrators ad taken to the streets of the regional capital. Some lit candles and chanted “Freedom for political prisoners.”

Pro-independence leaders have vowed to keep pushing for a new referendum on secession, saying Monday’s prison sentences strengthened the movement.

Oriol Junqueras, who was given the longest sentence of 13 years for his role in organizing the 2017 referendum which was ruled illegal, told Reuters in his first interview after the sentence that it would only galvanize the independence movement.

“We’re not going to stop thinking what we think, ideals can’t be derailed by (jail) sentences,” he said, adding that a new plebiscite was “inevitable”.

Demonstrators had blocked railways on Monday and thousands descended on Barcelona’s international airport, where some clashed with police. An airport spokesman said 110 flights were cancelled on Monday and 45 more were cancelled on Tuesday.

Diana Riba, wife of convicted leader Raul Romeva, told Reuters the independence drive would prevail over time.

“This is a very long process, but we will see results as we did with the feminist movement, how they grew until becoming massive and achieving the rights that they were seeking,” she said, calling for “everyone to take to the streets.”

…

Rescue workers in Japan searched for the missing on Wednesday as the death toll from one of the worst typhoons to hit the country rose to 74, public broadcaster NHK said, many drowned by flooding after scores of rivers burst their banks.

Public broadcaster NHK said 12 were missing and more than 220 injured after Typhoon Hagibis lashed through the Japanese archipelago at the weekend. Throughout the eastern half of the main island of Honshu, 52 rivers had flooded over.

Click to see an interactive graphic plotting the path of Typhoon Hagibis) Residents in Fukushima prefecture, which has seen the highest number of casualties, were busy dumping water-damaged furniture and rubbish onto the streets. Many elderly remained in evacuation centers, unable to clean up their homes.

In Date city, not far from the site of the nuclear disaster in 2011, farmer Masao Hirayama piled damp books in the street in front of his house, adding to a mound of rubbish from the neighborhood.

He said the water had reached about 2 meters (6.6 feet) deep in his house, when he and his son were rescued by boat and taken to an evacuation centre. His wife and grandchildren had stayed with relatives through the storm.

“I feel down,” Hirayama, 70, said, adding that the flood had swept away all his green houses and farming equipment. “All that is left is the land.”

Hirayama said he had rebuilt his house in 1989, raising the ground level following a flood in 1986. His family plan to live on the second floor until he can make repairs, which he reckons could take three months.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government would spend 710 million yen ($6.5 million) to facilitate disaster relief.

…

China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Beijing resolutely opposed new measures passed by the U.S. House of Representatives related to the Hong Kong protests and urged lawmakers to stop interfering.

China’s relationship with the United States will be damaged should the legislation become law, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement.

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, one of the measures passed by the House, would require the U.S. secretary of state to certify each year that Hong Kong retained its autonomy in order to receive special treatment as a major financial center.

…

European Union officials hoped to sketch out a Brexit deal with Britain within hours, but negotiations stretched into early Wednesday in the latest effort at producing an agreement in more than three years of false starts and sudden reversals.
 
The bloc said it might be possible to strike a divorce deal by Thursday’s EU leaders’ summit, which comes just two weeks before the U.K’s scheduled departure date of Oct. 31. One major proviso: The British government must make more compromises to seal an agreement in the coming hours.
 
Britain and the EU have been here before – within sight of a deal only to see it dashed – but a surge in the British pound Tuesday indicated hope that this time could be different. The currency rose against the dollar to its highest level in months.
 
Even though many questions remain, diplomats made it clear that both sides were within touching distance of a deal for the first time since a U.K. withdrawal plan fell apart in the British House of Commons in March.
 
Still, talks that first lingered into Tuesday night turned into negotiating past midnight as no deal materialized between experts from both sides holed up at EU headquarters in a darkened Brussels.
 
Late Tuesday, Martin Schirdewan, a German member of the European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group, said an agreement was “now within our grasp” following a breakthrough in negotiations.

This week’s EU leaders’ meeting – the last scheduled summit before the Brexit deadline – was long considered the last opportunity to approve a divorce agreement. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists his country will leave at the end of the month with or without an agreement, although U.K. lawmakers are determined to push for another delay rather than risk a chaotic no-deal Brexit.
 
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said at a meeting of the bloc’s ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday that the main challenge now is to turn the new British proposals on the complex Irish border issue into something legally binding. EU member Ireland has a land border with the U.K.’s Northern Ireland, and both want to keep goods and people flowing freely across the currently invisible frontier.
 
A frictionless border underpins both the local economy and the 1998 peace accord that ended decades of Catholic-Protestant violence in Northern Ireland. But once Britain exits, that border will turn into an external EU frontier that the bloc wants to keep secure.
 
Barnier wants a clear answer by Wednesday morning, so EU capitals can prepare for the bloc’s two-day summit that begins Thursday. “It is still possible this week,” said Barnier. As so often, intricate details kept hopes from turning into immediate reality.

 
The big question is how far Johnson’s government is prepared to budge on its insistence that the U.K., including Northern Ireland, must leave the European Union’s customs union – something that would require checks on goods passing between the U.K. and the EU, including on the island of Ireland.
 
The British government has given away little detail of the proposals it has made on the issue; even government ministers have not been told specifics. In broad terms, the U.K. is proposing that Northern Ireland – but not the rest of the U.K. – continue to follow EU customs rules and tariffs after Brexit in order to remove the need for border checks.
 
But that sounds like a customs union in all but name – and would mean new checks or tariffs on some goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.
 
An EU official said Barnier told a teleconference of some lawmakers that the Irish Sea would largely become the customs border between the EU and the U.K. That would avoid having a visible land border on the island of Ireland between the two. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were ongoing.
 
But Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, the party that props up Johnson’s minority government, strongly opposes any measures that could loosen the bonds between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.
 
After DUP leaders met with Johnson late Tuesday at the prime minister’s office, the party said negotiations continued but “it would be fair to indicate gaps remain and further work is required.”
 
Brexit supporters are also wary that maintaining any kind of customs union with the EU will tie the U.K. to the bloc’s regulations and limit its ability to strike new trade deals around the world – undermining what were supposed to be some of the key benefits of a withdrawal.
 
The customs proposals on the table also appear similar to those put forward by former Prime Minister Theresa May. Opposition from pro-Brexit lawmakers, including Johnson, led to those being rejected by Parliament three times.
 
In public, Johnson has not changed his tune. But the British leader was working hard behind the scenes to secure a deal that would allow him to fulfil his vow to take the U.K. out of the bloc. And some of the staunchest Brexit-backers appeared willing to give him a chance.
 
“I am optimistic that it is possible for us to reach a tolerable deal that I will be able to vote for,” said pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Steve Baker.
 
On Tuesday, Johnson called French President Emmanuel Macron – one of the EU leaders most skeptical about Britain’s intentions – to discuss where elements of a compromise could be found. Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack, called the conversation “constructive.”
 
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, who had a long, intense talk with Barnier early Tuesday, said the EU believes a deal “is difficult, but it is doable.” He said Barnier addressed EU ministers and “did point to progress in the last number of days where the gaps have been narrowed.”
 
Still, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the British proposals to keep the Irish border protected from smuggling and fraud once it leaves the bloc were insufficient.
 
EU ministers insisted it was Johnson’s turn to make the next move – and he seemed to be listening. In addition to the call with Macron, Johnson shifted Britain’s weekly Cabinet meeting from Tuesday to Wednesday to give his ministers a better idea of Brexit progress.
 
If talks fail or stumble ahead of the EU summit, there could always be an extraordinary meeting just before the Brexit deadline – or it could be extended again. It has already been postponed twice.
 
“There will be progress tomorrow, the question is how big this progress will be,” said a senior German official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in line with department rules. “Is this progress so great that work is still needed, but this work can be done in the next few days? Or is the progress such that two more months’ work is needed?”

…

Calls for calm and warnings against voter intimidation marked a closely watched election day in Mozambique on Tuesday that is crucial in consolidating a wary peace in the southern African nation of nearly 30 million people.

Parties’ acceptance of the presidential, parliamentary and provincial vote results is a key test of the ceasefire signed in August between the government and opposition Renamo rebels after years of skirmishes following a 15-year civil war that killed an estimated 1 million people.

The ruling Frelimo party, which has governed since Mozambique’s independence from Portugal in 1975, is expected to be returned to power. President Filipe Nyusi is expected to win a second term in a vote where insecurity and political tensions might keep some people from the polls.

Nyusi after voting urged Mozambicans to avoid violence and maintain “total serenity, total calm” — a week after police acknowledged that several suspects in the murder of prominent local election observer Anastacio Matavel were police officers, leading to condemnation from some international vote observer groups.

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Mozambique Elections Key to Country’s Peace and Stability

Elections are almost certain to be won by the ruling party, Frelimo, and President Filipe Nyusi — but it is unclear if the results will establish badly-needed stability and economic growth

Local feelings on Nyusi are mixed. The president can claim credit for the $25 billion Mozambique Liquid Natural Gas project, part of efforts to tap substantial deposits of natural gas, but his first term has been overshadowed by an economic crisis caused by a $2 billion corruption scandal in which companies set up by the secret services and defense ministry secretly borrowed money to set up projects that never materialized.

The opposition Renamo’s candidate and new leader Ossufo Momade is expected to benefit from the party’s popularity in the countryside.

A beaming Momade held up the inked proof of his vote and called on supporters to participate “massively” in the election. In comments carried by national broadcaster TVM, he called on “my brother” Nyusi and security forces to respect the popular vote, and he cited the recently signed peace deal.

Momade also held up what appeared to be tampered-with ballots, saying, “It can’t continue like this … We want democracy. We want peace.” He said his party would not accept any vote manipulation.

There were no immediate reports of election day violence. The local Center for Public Integrity noted a few incidents of pre-marked ballots or late-opening voting centers but said in general polls opened normally across the country.

Some voters showed up at dawn at wait. “I got here early, I voted early,” said Nalia Joaquim Lourenco, a teacher in Gaza province.

Also seeking the presidency is opposition MDM candidate Daviz Simango, the mayor of Beira city, which suffered badly in the devastating Cyclone Idai earlier this year.

The country on the Indian Ocean was hit by Idai and, weeks later, Cyclone Kenneth, raising fears about what climate change would bring to the sprawling coastline in the decades to come. Hundreds of thousands of people are still recovering from the storms and hunger is a growing concern as months remain before the next substantial harvest.

Insecurity also poses a growing threat. At least 10 polling centers were not opening in northernmost Cabo Delgado province as Mozambique’s election authority said it could not guarantee safety from attacks by shadowy Islamic extremists, who have killed more than 400 people in the past two years. That means some 5,400 people are not able to vote.

Some 13 million Mozambicans are registered to vote. Vote counting starts after polls close at 6 p.m. local time and preliminary results are expected Wednesday, with full provisional results before the end of the week.

A runoff will be held if no presidential candidate wins a majority of the vote.

For the first time Mozambicans are also electing provincial governors, a key concession to Renamo. Previously all governors were appointed by the ruling party.

In 10 of the country’s 11 provinces, the governor will be the lead candidate of the party or list which wins the most votes in the provincial assembly election. Maputo, the 11th province and the capital, is both a city and a province and it was decided not to add a governor to the elected mayor.

However, Frelimo has established a new management layer, a provincial secretary of state, which will be appointed by the president and take on many of the powers that governors have had up to now.

…

Hunter Biden denied any wrongdoing in his business dealings in Ukraine and China but acknowledged he exercised poor judgment and cashed in on the fame of his last name.

In an interview to be aired Tuesday on ABC News, Biden said he had failed to anticipate how those activities would be become fodder for critics of his father, former vice president Joe Biden, as he runs for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Did I make a mistake? Maybe in the grand scheme of things,” Biden said in the interview, excerpts of which were released ahead of its airing Tuesday evening before another Democratic presidential debate.

“But did I make a mistake based on some ethical lapse? Absolutely not,” Biden, 49, insisted.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden,” Biden said.

Biden held a lucrative position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, while his father was vice president under Barack Obama and helped engineer the ouster of that country’s prosecutor general on grounds he was weak on corruption.

A lawyer for Biden Jr. said Sunday that Biden is leaving his position on the board of a Chinese private equity company.

Hunter Biden has kept out of public view since the impeachment scandal surrounding President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine erupted last month.

Trump has disparaged Biden Jr. and taunted him with tweets like this one last week: “WHERE’S HUNTER?”

Trump has made repeatedly made unsubstantiated charges that Biden Sr. intervened in Ukraine to protect his son. And news that Trump’s request in a July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine that he probe the Bidens has triggered the fast moving impeachment investigation that is now consuming the Trump administration.

Biden Jr. said in the interview  that the administration has spread a “ridiculous conspiracy theory” about his work in Ukraine.

“I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father,” Biden said.

“That’s where I made the mistake. So I take full responsibility for that. Did I do anything improper? No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever,” he added.

…

A Brexit divorce deal is still possible ahead of Thursday’s European Union summit but the British government needs to move ahead with more compromises to seal an agreement in the next few hours, the bloc said Tuesday.
 
Even though many open questions remain, diplomats made it clear that both sides were for the first time within touching distance since an earlier EU-U.K. Brexit withdrawal plan fell apart in the British House of Commons in March.  
 
EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said at a meeting of EU ministers that the main challenge now is to turn the new British proposals on the complex Irish border issue into something binding. EU member Ireland has a land border with the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and both want to keep that border invisible, for economic and peace treaty reasons. But once Britain leaves the bloc, that Irish border turns into an external EU border that the bloc wants to keep secure.

Barnier said it’s “high time to turn good intentions into a legal text.” He wants a clear answer by Wednesday morning to tell EU capitals what should be decided once the bloc’s two-day summit kicks off Thursday.

“Even if an agreement will be difficult — more and more difficult, we think — it is still possible this week,” Barnier said.

To further boost the momentum, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss where more movement could be found.

‘Difficult, but doable’
 
Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on Oct. 31, and the EU summit this week was long considered one of the last possible chances to approve a divorce agreement to accommodate that deadline. Johnson insists his country will leave at the end of the month with or without a divorce deal, but British lawmakers have been adamant on avoiding a no-deal Brexit.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, who had a long, intense talk with Barnier early Tuesday, said the EU believes “this is difficult, but it is doable.” He said Barnier addressed EU ministers and “did point to progress in the last number of days where the gaps have been narrowed.”

A senior German official wouldn’t rule out a Brexit agreement in principle by Wednesday afternoon, but stressed the importance of time-consuming specifications.
 
“The basis for our decisions are legal texts in which the details are settled,” the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in line with department rules, said in Berlin. “But there has been progress, and as always in these negotiations the biggest progress happens over the final meters.”

Late Monday, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the British proposals to keep the Irish border protected from smuggling and fraud once it leaves the bloc were insufficient.
 
“The U.K. proposal contained some steps forward but not enough to guarantee that the internal market will be protected,” Blok said.
 
One EU diplomat said for things to work, technical negotiators would need to finish their text and make it available by 10 a.m. Wednesday so European governments have time to assess them.

Johnson’s move
 

EU ministers insisted it was time for Johnson to make the next move — and he seemed to be listening. Besides the call with Macron, Johnson shifted Britain’s weekly Cabinet meeting from Tuesday to Wednesday so he could give his ministers a better idea of Brexit progress.

If talks fail or stumble ahead of the EU summit, there could always be an extraordinary meeting just ahead of the Oct. 31 Brexit departure — or the Brexit deadline could be extended again.
 
“There will be progress tomorrow, the question is how big this progress will be,” the German official said. “Is this progress so great that work is still needed, but this work can be done in the next few days? Or is the progress such that two more months’ work is needed?”

Brexit negotiators, politicians and ordinary Europeans were all waiting for the answers to those questions.

…

Germany’s security services said Tuesday they’re seeking greater powers to fight the kind of far-right extremism behind last week’s synagogue attack, including requiring internet companies to report illegal hate speech to police.

A 27-year-old German man previously unknown to police confessed to carrying out the attack in the eastern city of Halle in which two people were killed Wednesday.

The suspected gunman, identified by prosecutors only as Stephan B. due to privacy rules, allegedly built the firearms he used with the help of online instructions, posted an anti-Semitic screed before the attack and later broadcast the shooting live on a popular gaming site.

In response to the attack and previous incidents, German officials have called for more officers to be devoted to tackling far-right extremism and a greater focus on online platforms they say are increasingly being used as a means of spreading far-right radicalism and linking up with like-minded people in a way already seen with Islamist extremism.

Thomas Haldenwang, who heads the BfV domestic intelligence agency, said the attack in Halle and similar shootings in Texas, New Zealand and Norway showed the need for security services to get better tools to tackle online extremism. In particular, he called for authorities to be given permission to install monitoring software on suspect’s devices so as to read their encrypted communication.

Holger Muench, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, said online threats and acts of violence are creating a “climate of fear” in Germany that is deterring people from volunteering for public office.

“Right-wing crimes threaten our democracy,” Muench said. “The situation is serious.”

The country is still reeling from the killing of Walter Luebcke, a regional politician from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, who was shot dead at his home in June. Luebcke had vocally supported Merkel’s welcoming stance toward refugees in 2015 and the suspect in his killing is a far-right extremist with a string of convictions for violent anti-migrant crimes.

Muench said his agency has identified 43 far-right extremists they consider a serious threat, an increase of about a third since the start of the year. Overall, authorities say there are some 12,700 far-right extremists in Germany “prepared to use violence.”

He called for a bundle of measures including greater scrutiny of online hate postings, extending the period of time that security services can store data on possible extremists and prosecutions of those who create and distribute lists of political enemies.

He also proposed that an existing law requiring platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to swiftly remove illegal hate speech should be expanded to force them to report such content to police.

Muench suggested his office could become a central point of contact dealing with online hate crimes in the same way it already does for child pornography.

Further proposals include creating a special unit to investigate possible extremists in the police and other government departments, and a crackdown on known far-right groups.

Opposition lawmaker Martina Renner called for the BfV to stop using neo-Nazis as paid informants , a practice that has in the past resulted in funds flowing to the far-right scene.

Renner, a member of the Left party, instead backed calls for better cooperation among European countries in fighting far-right extremism.

Security officials are particularly concerned that the `new right’ — groups that include factions within the Alternative for Germany party which entered the federal parliament two years ago — are providing the intellectual fodder for extremists. Roland Ulbrich, a regional lawmaker for the party, prompted outrage after the Halle attack for posting on Facebook: “What’s worse, a damaged synagogue door or two dead Germans?”

The suspect had failed to force his way into the synagogue as scores of people inside were observing Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur. He then shot and killed a 40-year-old woman in the street outside and a 20-year-old man at a nearby kebab shop before fleeing. He was later arrested in Zeitz, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Halle.

Authorities are still investigating whether he had ties to any known groups or individuals. At least five people watched the attack live as it happened, suggesting they may have known it was going to take place.

The suspect has admitted during questioning that he carried out the shooting and had anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist motives.

A memorial service for the younger victim of the shooting, an avid fan of Halle’s third-tier soccer club Hallescher FC, is planned Friday.

“An inconceivable act of horror took away my son, our grandson, uncle, nephew and friend,” the man’s family wrote in an obituary notice published in regional daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.

“Our hearts are broken.”

…

Thousands of Hongkongers rallied this week to show support for the U.S. Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, up for a vote in Congress as early as this week. The Act, if passed, would require the U.S. to annually review Hong Kong’s special economic status and impose sanctions on officials who undermine its autonomy — a move that could further complicate the U.S.’ trade war with China, and overall relations between the world’s two largest economies. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Hong Kong.

…

Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign says she would not seek to revoke the tax-exempt status of churches or other religious entities that decline to perform same-sex marriages.

The Massachusetts Democrat’s campaign spokeswoman addressed the issue after former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke said religious institutions should lose their tax exemption for opposing same-sex marriage – drawing criticism from conservatives.

“Religious institutions in America have long been free to determine their own beliefs and practices, and (Warren) does not think we should require them to conduct same-sex marriages in order to maintain their tax-exempt status,” campaign spokeswoman Saloni Sharma said when asked about O’Rourke’s remarks.

Warren is the latest Democratic presidential hopeful to create distance from O’Rourke’s suggestion. Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., criticized the idea to CNN on Sunday.

…

Spanish riot police have clashed with protesters outside Barcelona’s airport Monday after the Supreme Court sentenced nine former Catalan separatist leaders to lengthy prison terms for their attempt to declare independence from Spain in 2017.

Witnesses say police with batons charged at the protesters who were blocking the entrance to El Prat airport.

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Spain Hands Catalans Lengthy Prison Terms Over Secession Bid

The landmark ruling, after a four-month trial, inflamed independence supporters in the northeastern region bordering France where Catalan identity is a passionate issue

Spain’s airport operator says that at least 20 flights were canceled.

Protesters in the Catalan region also stopped some train service in the region by placing wood on the tracks and blocking roads.

The protesters converged on the transportation hubs Monday after Spain’s high court sentenced Catalan separatist leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison for their role in pushing for the region’s independence.

The former regional vice president, Oriol Junqueras, received the longest prison term of 13 years behind bars for sedition and misuse of public funds.

The court found three other defendants guilty only of disobedience and did not sentence them to prison.

The court, however, acquitted all defendants of the most severe charge, rebellion.

The former head of Catalonia’s regional government called the Monday ruling an “atrocity.”

Carles Puigdemont wrote on Twitter: “100 years in prison in total. An atrocity. Now more than ever … It is time to react like never before. For the future of our sons and daughters. For democracy. For Europe. For Catalonia.”

Puigdemont was not a defendant in the landmark ruling over the banned referendum and short-lived independence declaration because he fled to Belgium, where he now lives in self-imposed exile.

After its ruling, the Supreme Court issued a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont.

Catalan’s current regional leader, Quim Torra, called the court’s ruling an insult to democracy.

Spain’s caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said in a statement broadcast on live television that the sentences of the Catalan separatists must be carried out.

He also said he hoped that the sentences will help to “turn the page” in relations between Catalonia and greater Spain.

…

Sudan’s new transitional government met with rebel leaders on Monday, kicking off peace talks aimed at ending the country’s yearslong civil wars.

The peace initiative was built into a power-sharing deal between Sudan’s army and its pro-democracy movement. That deal was reached after the overthrow of longtime autocrat President Omar al-Bashir in April. The transitional authorities have six months to make peace with the rebels, according to the agreement.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir is hosting the talks in its capital, Juba, where some rebel groups signed a draft agreement last month that detailed a roadmap for the talks, trust-building measures and an extension of a cease-fire already in place.
 
South Sudan gained independence from the north in 2011 after decades of civil war. But in the 2000s, Sudan was most known for al-Bashir’s brutal repression of an uprising in the western Darfur region.

Achieving peace is crucial to the transitional government in Sudan. It has counted on ending the wars with rebels in order to revive the country’s battered economy through slashing the military spending, which takes up much of the national budget.

Sudanese authorities have introduced good-will signals. They dismissed death sentences against eight rebel leaders and released more than a dozen prisoners of war. They have also delayed the formation of the parliament and the appointment of provincial governors to allow time for the rebels to come on board.

The government delegation, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamadan Dagalo, a member of the Sudan’s sovereign council, arrived in Juba late Sunday. Rebel leaders arrived earlier this month.

Rebel leader Malik Agar of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of Darfur rebel groups, told The Associated Press that they would start “the official opening” of the talks Monday in Juba.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of Sudan’s sovereign council, also arrived in Juba to attend the opening session, along with other African leaders including Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, according to the official SUNA news agency.

Ahmed said the start of the negotiations was a “demonstration of the will for peace and reconciliation.” He encouraged “all stakeholders to reach a consensus and redirect their focus to building an inclusive and prosperous Sudan,” his office said.

Ethiopia and the African Union mediated the power-sharing agreement in August which ended months of violence and faltering talks between Sudan’s generals and protesters following the uprising against al-Bashir.

On Sunday, Sudan’s newly appointed top judicial officials were sworn in before Burhan.

Neamat Kheir, a veteran female judge, took the oath as chief of the judiciary. She’s the first woman to rise to Sudan’s highest judicial post. Taj al-Ser al-Hebr, a lawyer, was sworn in as the country’s public prosecutor.

Last month, thousands of Sudanese took to the streets demanding the two original appointees be sacked. Those two had been chosen by the military council that ruled Sudan after ousting al-Bashir.

Protesters insisted that independent judges be appointed before prosecuting members of the old regime, as well as those responsible for a deadly crackdown on protesters in June.

Unlike many judges, Kheir was not known to compromise her integrity to serve the interests of al-Bashir’s government. However, she was widely criticized for not having supported the Sudanese uprising since its inception.

…

Gibbs Dube of VOA’s Zimbabwe Service and James Butty of VOA’s English to Africa Service contributed to this report from Washington.

Government-employed doctors on Monday ignored a labor court ultimatum to return to work, saying they remain incapacitated by poor wages and inadequate health facilities.

Justices Lawrence Murasi and Rodgers Manyangadze ordered doctors last Friday to report for duty within 48 hours. They declared the strike illegal and referred the dispute between the doctors and the government to arbitration within 14 days.

Junior doctors have not reported for duty since Sept. 3, saying they no longer can support themselves on salaries of less than $200 a month as Zimbabwe’s economic crisis drags on. Senior doctors joined the strike last Thursday, with both groups also complaining that health facilities lack the equipment and medical supplies needed to treat patients.

Dr. Tawanda Zvakada — acting secretary general of Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, which initiated the strike — told VOA’s Zimbabwe Service that the group’s lawyers were preparing to challenge the ruling. It could be appealed to Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court.

Masimba Dean Ndoro, the association’s acting vice president, says physicians still lack resources to report for work.

“Doctors simply do not have the means to attend to their duties,” Ndoro said.

The strike has crippled the health sector, exacerbating suffering for the sick and injured in the southern African country of 14 million people. While private doctors have not joined the strike, their higher fees put them out of reach for most people.

The government’s health minister, Obadiah Moyo, was not available for comment. Dr. Paulinus Sikosana, who chairs the Health Services Board, has threatened to withhold pay from striking doctors.

In early October, doctors rejected the government’s offer of a 60% increase. It would have been paid in the country’s devalued currency, not the U.S. dollars that the doctors claim their contracts require.

Negotiation urged

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda, an independent labor expert based in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, called for the government and doctors to resolve the case amicably without involving the courts.

“With labor disputes, it doesn’t matter who wins it,” said Sibanda, citing his 28 years of legal experience. He noted that in the most recent court decision, “the employer has won, but it still doesn’t have the doctors in the hospital — which is a clear sign that this is a problem not capable of being resolved through litigation.”

Instead, Sibanda urged the parties to systematically address each grievance — such as wages and the cost of living, and shortcomings in medical supplies — and set a timetable for resolving them.

If the case went to the Supreme Court, it could drag on, Sibanda warned, and “what it means is people are continuing to die in hospitals.”

Magombeyi ‘recovering well’

Meanwhile, Zvakada told VOA that one of the strike’s early leaders is “recovering well” in South Africa.

Dr. Peter Magombeyi allegedly had been abducted from his home Sept. 14 and was found outside of Harare several days later. Zimbabwe police later temporarily blocked Magombeyi’s departure from a private clinic in the capital, where he was being treated for undisclosed ailments, but relented after a high court’s order. Magombeyi was transferred to a clinic in South Africa and now is at a safe house, Zvakada said.

Some civil society groups have alleged that Magombeyi was abducted by state security agents, but Zimbabwe’s government has denied any involvement.

…

President Donald Trump is trying to influence votes on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” 

Trump on Monday tweeted that viewers should vote for former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. The president called Spicer a “good guy” and wrote “he has always been there for us!”
 
Spicer tweeted his thanks with instructions on how viewers can cast votes.
 
Spicer has been paired with professional dancer Lindsay Arnold as they compete for the mirror ball trophy.
 
He says he’s doing it “to have fun and make it a really good experience.”
 
Trump supporters have embraced Spicer, but opponents have criticized the program for inviting him.
 
Spicer told USA Today there’s no question a “huge” amount of his votes come from Trump supporters.
 
Dancing with the Stars airs Monday night.

…

American Simone Biles became the most decorated gymnast in world championship history on Sunday when she won the beam and floor finals to take her career tally to 25 medals.

Soon after securing a convincing victory on the beam in Stuttgart to overtake Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo’s record tally of 23 world medals, the 22-year-old Biles successfully defended her floor title to win medal number 25.

The four-time Olympic champion is now the owner of 19 gold medals across four championships against 12 for Scherbo, who competed in five world events between 1991 and 1996.

Making her final appearance of the week in front of a raucous crowd, Biles wasted no time as she landed a superb triple-twisting double back flip — known as the Biles II – on her first pass.

Biles’s double layout with a half turn — another skill named after her — put her out of bounds for a 0.1 penalty but she did enough to post a winning score of 15.133.

“Honestly, I just couldn’t move. I was so tired,” Biles said of her final pose on the stage.

“This is really the best worlds performance I have ever put out.”

The Americans took a one-two finish as Sunisa Lee finished with 14.133 for the silver medal, while Russian Angelina Melnikova came third.

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Olympic Champ Simone Biles Says She was Abused by Doctor

Simone Biles watched as her friends and former Olympic teammates came forward to detail abuse at the hands of a now-imprisoned former USA Gymnastics team doctor.Drawing in part from their strength, the four-time gold medalist acknowledged Monday she is among the athletes who were sexually abused by Larry Nassar.Biles, who won five medals overall at the 2016 Olympics, released a statement via Twitter outlining that abuse.

BEAM BRILLIANCE

Earlier, Biles delivered a polished routine on the beam before a full twisting double tuck dismount for an impressive 15.066.

Although Biles had twice before won the world beam title, in 2014 and 2015, it has not always been plain sailing for her on the apparatus.

Her slip on the landing of a front tucked somersault at the 2016 Rio Olympics meant she had to settle for a bronze in the event. Last year again, she dropped off the beam during the women’s all-around final at the world championships.

But she has regained her swagger this week, under the watchful eyes of balance beam coach Cecile Landi, and posted top scores in all four attempts — qualifying, the team and all-around finals and Sunday’s apparatus final.

“It meant a lot because Cecile has really been working on bringing my confidence back up to where it used to be on the beam,” Biles said.

“To go out there and nail the routine, just like I do in practice, it felt really good and I knew she was really proud.”

As another title-winning score was announced in the arena, Biles punched the air in jubilation before joining celebrations with the U.S. team.

“I was really excited,” she added. “I thought it was going to be at least 14.8, 14.9, but to see 15, I was like well that’s pretty crazy, so I was very proud.”

Last year’s winner Liu Tingting of China took silver with 14.433, while team mate Li Shijia won the bronze.

Biles finished her campaign in Stuttgart with five gold medals from six events to mark ideal preparations for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Her barnstorming run included a record fifth all-around gold, an individual vault title, as well as helping the U.S. to a fifth straight world team title.

…

Parents of the British teen killed when his motorcycle collided with car allegedly driven by an American diplomat’s wife are on their way to the U.S. hoping to seek justice.

Harry Dunn, 19, died in August in near the Croughton Royal Air Force base in Northhamptonshire, which is used by the U.S. Air Force as a communications center.

Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, told the BBC the family hopes to meet with the suspected driver, identified by British police and Prime Minister Boris Johnson as Anne Sacoolas, wife of an American intelligence officer based at Croughton.

Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to the United States while the case was still being investigated. She has since written a letter of apology to Dunn’s family.

But Charles said Sunday, “It’s nearly seven weeks now since we lost our boy, sorry just doesn’t cut it.

“That’s not really quite enough,” she told Sky News. “But I’m still really open to meeting her, as are the rest of us. I can’t promise what I would or wouldn’t say, but I certainly wouldn’t be aggressive.”

Charles also said the family was thankful to receive a letter Saturday from the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab that said since Sacoolas had left Britain, “immunity is no longer pertinent”.

The family is hoping Sacoolas will return to Britain.  They have even called on U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene on their behalf.

But Trump told a news conference Wednesday that Sacoolas would not return. Harry Dunn’s death was a “terrible accident,” the president said but he noted that driving on the worn side of the road “happens”.

…

California has become the first U.S. state to ban all production and sale of animal fur products.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill that will make it illegal to make, sell and even donate any new item made using animal fur starting in 2023.

The bill excludes used items, taxidemy products, fur taken with a hunting license and fur used by Native American tribes for religious purposes.

Violators of the ban will face fines of up to $500, or even $1,000 for repeat offenses.

“The signing of AB44 underscores the point that today’s consumers simply don’t want wild animals to suffer extreme pain and fear for the sake of fashion,” Kitty Block, the head of the Humane Society of the United States said in a statement.

But the Fur Information Council of America condemned the ban as being part of a “radical vegan agenda” and has threatened a court challenge.

Along with the fur ban, Newsom also approved a ban on the use of most animals in circuses. Exceptions will be made for dogs and horses.

“California is a leader when it comes to animal welfare, and today that leadership includes banning the sale of fur,” Newsom said in a statement. “But we are doing more than that. We are making a statement to the world that beautiful wild animals like bears and tigers have no place on trapeze wires or jumping through flames.”

…

Poland’s conservative governing Law and Justice party won the most votes in Sunday’s election in the deeply divided nation and appeared, according to an exit poll, to have secured a comfortable majority in parliament to govern for four more years.

The exit poll, conducted by the research firm Ipsos, projected that Law and Justice won 43.6% of the votes. That would translate into 239 seats, a majority in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.

The poll said a centrist pro-European Union umbrella group, Civic Coalition, would come in second with 27.4%. The biggest party in the coalition is Civic Platform, which governed Poland in 2007-2015.

Coalition leaders cheered and welcomed the result as a spur toward uniting society around common goals.

Other parties projected to surpass the 5% threshold to get into parliament were a left-wing alliance with 11.9%, the conservative agrarian Polish People’s Party with 9.6% and a new far-right alliance called Confederation with 6.4%.

The exit poll had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Final vote results, which are expected by Tuesday, could shift, as they have in past elections.

A prominent journalist, Konrad Piasecki, said that “at the moment it looks like the largest triumph in the history of parliamentary elections” in Poland. But he also cautioned that results varying even slightly from the exit poll could mean big changes to the distribution of seats in parliament.

Law and Justice has governed Poland since 2015 and is popular for its social conservatism and generous social spending. It ran a campaign that highlighted its social programs and vowed to defend traditional Roman Catholic values.

It has been accused of weakening the rule of law in the young democracy with an overhaul of the judicial system that has given the party more power over the courts and has drawn criticism as well for using state media as a propaganda outlet and for anti-gay rhetoric.

Pawel Zerka, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said the high level of support for Law and Justice, known in Poland by its acronym PIS, “should not be interpreted as a sign that Poles have become nationalist or xenophobic. Rather, it reveals an effective party machine – and an ability of PIS to mobilize voters with policies based on direct social transfers.”

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is considered the real power behind Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, cautioned that the exit polls weren’t the final results but nonetheless declared victory.

“We received a lot but we deserve more,” Kaczynski told party supporters as he held high a bouquet of roses.

Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna said the fight wasn’t fair, an apparent reference to the way Law and Justice harnessed state media to pump out positive coverage of itself while casting a poor light on political rivals.

“This was not an even struggle; there were no rules in this struggle,” Schetyna said.

The left-wing party leaders celebrated their expected return to parliament after failing to get any seats in 2015.

Critics fear that four more years for Law and Justice will reverse the democratic achievements of this Central European nation, citing the changes to the judiciary and the way the party has marginalized minorities, for instance with its recent campaign depicting the LGBT rights movement as a threat.

Law and Justice’s apparent success stems from tapping into the values of the largely conservative society while also evening out extreme economic inequalities.

It is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous governments, whose free-market policies transformed Poland into one of Europe’s most dynamic economies.

However, many Poles were left out in that transformation and inequalities grew, creating grievances. Law and Justice skillfully addressed those concerns with popular programs, including one that gives families a monthly stipend of 500 zlotys ($125) for each child, taking the edge off poverty for some and giving others more disposable income. It says it has been able to pay for its programs thanks to a tighter tax collection system.

It has also clearly benefited from the sacrifices forced by earlier governments and the growth of Europe’s economy.

In his victory speech, Kaczynski referred to his party’s improvement of public finances and said it would continue on that path.

“We are finishing a certain stage; we are starting a new one,” he said. “It is not easier, maybe more difficult. But I hope that it will be finished with even greater success.”

…

Syrian government forces will deploy along the Turkish border to help repel the Turkish military incursion against Syrian Kurds, Kurdish officials announced Sunday.

The extraordinary deal between the Kurds, Syria, and Russia — Syria’s main ally —  comes four days after Turkish forces moved against the Kurds in northern Syria after nearly all U.S. forces pulled out.

Turkey regards the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces as terrorists aligned with separatists inside Turkey.

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Trump Pulls out Remaining Troops from N. Syria; Warns of ‘Powerful Sanctions’ on Turkey

US leader says he is working with Congress to impose economic sanctions against Ankara

Observers say in just the last four days, as many as 60 civilians have been killed with thousands of others fleeing.

“In order to prevent and block this assault, agreement has been reached with the Syrian government whose duty is to protect the borders and Syrian sovereignty, for the Syrian army to enter and deploy along the length of the Syrian-Turkish border,” a Kurdish statement said.

Kurds say Syrian forces will start spreading out along the border Sunday and should be totally deployed within two days.

The Kurdish statement came shortly after the official Syrian news agency reported that the army was sending in troops to “confront Turkish aggression.”

Syrian Kurds say they feel totally forsaken by the United States after fighting side-by-side with U.S. forces against Islamic State extremists in Syria. They also believe much of the Arab world and the U.N. Security Council are ignoring them.

“We had to find a solution…now you see what has happened to us and they don’t want to support us,” the defense minister of the Kurdish city of Kobani, Ismat Sheikh Hassan, said Sunday. “Again, we should not trust anybody. We should rely on ourselves. Every Kurd should carry a gun and prepare himself.”

Hassan called on young Kurds to stay in their homes while the elderly and children can leave if they wish to go.

Earlier Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. is withdrawing all remaining troops from northern Syria.

The president said it is “very smart…for a change” not to be involved in fighting in Syria.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper says there will be a “deliberate withdrawal” of the last 1,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria, he said on Fox television Sunday. “We are doing everything we can to get Turkey to stop this egregious behavior.”

“We pushed back on Turkey to not do this operation,” Esper said. But he said Turkey was “fully committed to do this no matter what we did.”

“This is part of the terrible situation that Turkey has put us in,” Esper said, adding that the U.S. “didn’t sign up to fight Turkey, a long-time ally, on behalf of the Kurds.”

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Syria Kurds Urge US to Assume ‘Moral Obligations’ as Turkey Attacks

‘Our allies had guaranteed us protection … but suddenly and without warning they abandoned us,’ says statement issued by SDF

Trump said he was working with congressional leaders, including opposition Democrats, to impose “powerful” economic sanctions against Turkey for its cross-border attacks.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a joint news conference that Turkey is risking an “unbearable humanitarian situation.”

Even Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci spoke out against the operation Turkey calls “Peace Spring.”

“It is blood that is spilling, not water,” he wrote on Facebook.

Trump is defending his decision to pull out of Syria, saying those who want American forces to stay support “endless wars.”

“Those that mistakenly got us into the Middle East Wars are still pushing to fight,” Trump tweeted. “They have no idea what a bad decision they have made. Why are they not asking for a Declaration of War?”

Along with the civilian casualties, Kurdish prison guards are needed to confront the Turks, leaving captured IS fighters unguarded.

Syrian Kurdish officials say hundreds have already escaped, along with their families who were housed in a displacement camp.

…

Japan sent tens of thousands of troops and rescue workers Sunday to save stranded residents and fight floods caused by one of the worst typhoons to hit the country in recent history, which killed 19 people and briefly paralyzed Tokyo.

There were also more than a dozen people missing, public broadcaster NHK said, as Typhoon Hagibis left vast swaths of low-lying land in central and eastern Japan inundated and cut power to almost half a million homes.

Landing restrictions at Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports were lifted, but more than 800 flights were canceled for the day, NHK said, as were some Shinkansen bullet train services to the worst-hit areas.

Authorities lifted rain warnings for the Kanto region around a becalmed Tokyo, where stores reopened and many train lines resumed operations, but they warned there was still the risk of rivers in eastern Japan overflowing and inflicting fresh damage.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened an emergency meeting of relevant ministers and sent the minister in charge of disaster management to the affected areas. He offered condolences to the families of those who were killed and said the government was working to save people’s lives and property.

“The government will do everything in its power to cooperate with relevant agencies and operators working to restore services as soon as possible,” Abe said. The government had also set up a task force to deal with the damage, NHK reported.

About 27,000 members of Japan’s self-defense forces as well as firefighters, police and coast guard members were sent to rescue stranded people in central Japan’s Nagano prefecture and elsewhere, the government said.

NHK said the full extent of the widespread damage was only beginning to emerge because many areas remained under water.

Some 425,000 homes were without power, the government said, reviving fears of a repeat of the weekslong power outages suffered after another typhoon hit east of Tokyo last month.

In Fukushima, north of the capital, Tokyo Electric Power Co reported irregular readings from sensors monitoring water in its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant overnight. The plant was crippled by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Floods and landslides

Hagibis, which means “speed” in the Philippine language Tagalog, made landfall on Japan’s main island of Honshu Saturday evening and headed out to sea early Sunday, leaving behind cloudless skies and high temperatures across the country.

NHK showed fields and vast residential areas in parts of central and eastern Japan covered in brown water, with some of the worst damage caused by Chikuma River in Nagano prefecture.

Military helicopters airlifted stranded people from homes near the river, some cradling their children, after they were trapped by water reaching the roofs of their houses.

The first floor of a large care home for the elderly in Nagano city was shown under water.

Rescuers took residents from another flooded care facility by inflatable boats and carried them on their backs to safety. They also searched for survivors in homes destroyed in landslides near Tokyo’s suburbs and in Fukushima prefecture, NHK showed.

Evacuation orders

Authorities at one point issued evacuation advisories and orders for more than 6 million people across Japan as the storm unleashed the heaviest rain and winds in years. Close to 150 injuries have been reported so far, NHK said.

The storm, which the government said could be the strongest to hit Tokyo since 1958, brought record-breaking rainfall in many areas, including the popular resort town of Hakone, which received 939.5 mm (37 inches) of rain in 24 hours.

The Japan Meteorological Agency had issued the highest alert level for 12 prefectures, warning of the potential for once-in-decades rain totals, but lifted them early Sunday.

Just last month, another strong storm, Typhoon Faxai, destroyed or damaged 30,000 houses in Chiba, east of Tokyo, and caused extensive power outages.

The Rugby World Cup match between Namibia and Canada in Kamaishi on Sunday was canceled, although the crucial Japan-Scotland match was set to go ahead. Two matches were canceled Saturday.

…