Charlie Hebdo’s editor hasn’t gone out by himself since Jan. 7, 2015. The widow of one of the satirical newspaper’s cartoonists can’t bear to pull down a note her husband stuck to the door that morning: “Have a good day, darling. See you in a bit.”France on Tuesday commemorated the fifth anniversary of the extremist attack on Charlie Hebdo that killed nine of its editorial staff, a guard, a visitor to the building and a patrol officer in the street outside. The killers were a pair of French brothers, supporters of al-Qaida who claimed the attack was revenge for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Two days later, an accomplice who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group seized hostages inside a kosher supermarket. In all, 17 people died before near-simultaneous police raids killed the three gunmen. The trial of a network of people accused in the plot begins this May.
Riss, the editor, who goes by his pen name, was wounded in the attack and lives to this day under constant police protection.
“I’m here. We’re here. Charlie Hebdo is still here. Still standing and just as determined,” he told France Info radio on Tuesday ahead of a somber memorial service at the site of the first attack. “We never stopped laughing because that’s part of life.”
Maryse Wolinski, whose husband Georges stuck a note to the door before he left for the editorial meeting that morning, keeps it up along with dozens of his drawings. She is still in mourning.
“It’s not because five years have passed that I’m not going to be angry anymore. I want to express that during the trial. Talk to these people, why they did that. I think it’ll be better after the trial. I hope so,” she told RMC television.Charlie Hebdo’s latest issue is dedicated to freedom of expression, five years after the death of most of its editorial staff.   
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The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened on Tuesday to “set ablaze” places supported by the United States over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike last week, sparking cries from the crowd of supporters of “Death to Israel!’’Hossein Salami made the pledge before a crowd of thousands gathered in a central square in Kerman, the hometown of the slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani. His vow mirrored the demands of top Iranian officials – from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to others – as well as supporters across the Islamic Republic, demanding retaliation against America for a slaying that’s drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.Mourners in Kerman dressed in black carried posters bearing the image of Soleimani, a man whose slaying prompted Iran’s supreme leader to weep over his casket on Monday as a crowd said by police to be in the millions filled Tehran streets. Although there was no independent estimate, aerial footage and Associated Press journalists suggested a turnout of at least 1 million, and the throngs were visible on satellite images of Tehran taken Monday.Authorities later brought Soleimani’s remains and those of the others killed in the airstrike to Iran’s holy city of Qom, where another massive crowd turned out.Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an air strike at Baghdad airport, during a funeral procession in Tehran, Iran January 6, 2020.The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honor for a man viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force. The U.S. blames him for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks just before his death Friday in a drone strike near Baghdad’s airport. Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad in a long war, and he also served as the point man for Iranian proxies in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.His slaying already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge. In Baghdad, the parliament has called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil, something analysts fear could allow Islamic State militants to mount a comeback.Soleimani’s remains and those of the others killed in the airstrike were brought to a central square in Kerman, a desert city surrounded by mountains that dates back to the days of the Silk Road where he will be buried later on Tuesday.Salami praised Soleimani’s exploits and said as a martyr, he represented an even greater threat to Iran’s enemies.”We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,” Salami said, drawing the cries of “Death to Israel!’’Israel is a longtime regional foe of Iran.Iran’s parliament, meanwhile, passed an urgent bill declaring the U.S. military’s command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf “terrorists,” subject to Iranian sanctions. The measure appears to mirror a decision by President Donald Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a “terrorist organization.’’The U.S. Defense Department used the Guard’s designation as a terror organization in the U.S. to support the strike that killed Soleimani. The decision by Iran’s parliament, done by a special procedure to speed the bill to law, comes as officials across the country threaten to retaliate for Soleimani’s killing.
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The U.S. is standing firmly with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, as both he and a rival lawmaker, Luis Parra, claim to be the country’s parliamentary speaker after two separate votes.  The constitutional crisis in Venezuela has deepened after security forces loyal to socialist leader Nicolas Maduro blocked Guaido from entering the National Assembly chamber on Sunday ahead of a leadership vote. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
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LONDON — The United States’ European allies have urged de-escalation on all sides following Iran’s pledge to retaliate for the killing in Iraq of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, who died in a U.S. drone strike close to Baghdad’s airport last Friday. U.S. allies were not given warning of the attack.  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his country “would not lament” Soleimani’s death. The United States was not the only target of operations directed by the Iranian general, says Karen von Hippel, director-general of Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.”Qassem Soleimani has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops and other Western troops, including British troops,” von Hippel said. “And he’s been the mastermind, really, of every nasty plan Iran has had in the region for decades.”Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement Monday calling on all parties to “exercise utmost restraint and responsibility.” The European Union has invited Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to Brussels in a bid to defuse tensions.Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an airstrike at Baghdad airport, during a funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 6, 2020.”There is a mutual understanding that engagement should continue, but it is on the Iranian side to let us know how they want to proceed,” European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano said Monday.The EU hopes that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, can be saved — despite Tehran’s announcement that it will now disregard the restrictions on its nuclear enrichment activities envisaged by the agreement. The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.  Atlantic Council Fellow Holly Dagres said the window for a diplomatic solution is closing fast.”In my view, I don’t think the (2015 nuclear) deal is dead until there is an escalation that leads to war,” Dagres said.Iran has pledged military retaliation, and U.S. allies fear they could also be targeted. NATO has suspended its training mission in Iraq, numbering several hundred troops — which is part of the Western coalition to defeat the Islamic State terror group.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg briefs media after a meeting of the Alliance’s ambassadors over the security situation in the Middle East, in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 6, 2020.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday refused to be drawn into whether the organization’s allies would support the United States in any conflict with Iran.”We have recently seen an escalation by Iran including the strike on a Saudi energy facility and the shoot down of an American drone. At our meeting today, allies called for restraint and de-escalation. A new conflict would be in no one’s interest,” Stoltenberg told a news conference at alliance headquarters in Brussels, following an urgent meeting of NATO foreign ministers.Russia and China condemned the killing of Soleimani. Anti-U.S. protests have spread from Iran and Iraq to Turkey, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Pakistan.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the U.S. action Sunday, saying, “President (Donald) Trump is worthy of all appreciation for acting decisively, with strength and swiftly.”All eyes are now on Iran and whether it will heed global calls for restraint — or fulfill its pledge to exact revenge. The U.S. president has threatened to target 52 Iranian sites, some of them cultural, if Tehran retaliates against U.S. interests.
 
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A pioneering U.S. company that began before the Civil War has filed for bankruptcy after 164 years in business.Borden Dairy said Monday it is seeking Chapter 11 protection, saying it is deeply in debt and struggling to keep up its pension payments. It blames the drop of U.S. milk consumption and dairy farmers giving up the profession for deeply hurting its business.Borden will keep operating, making milk and cheese, while it tries to restructure. However, its future is uncertain.Borden began in 1856 when its founder, Gail Borden, became the first to successfully can condensed milk. U.S. Civil War soldiers carried cans of Borden Eagle Brand milk in their kits.Borden’s famed mascot Elsie the Cow — a smiling bovine wearing a necklace of daisies — is one of the world’s most recognizable trademarks. Elsie’s “husband” Elmer can still be seen on bottles of white glue.Borden is the second major U.S. milk producer to file for bankruptcy since November when Dean Foods, the country’s largest dairy, also sought protection from its creditors.
 
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Threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to destroy Iranian cultural sites are generating widespread international condemnation and accusations it would be a war crime.It is also seen as a reversal of an American code of conduct dating back to the Civil War administration of Abraham Lincoln.”The history of the American military of protecting cultural sites when possible, goes back over 150 years. The military and the United States, more broadly, is rightly proud of that,” according to Depaul University Law Professor Patty Gerstenblith, director of the school’s Center for Art, Museum and Cultural Heritage Law.”Both at the U.S. national level and internationally, the thought of using an attack on cultural heritage as a form of retaliation and reprisal — which is what this would be — is really abhorrent,” Gerstenblith, a former chair of the President’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee in the Obama administration, told VOA. Some of the criticism of Trump’s threats is coming from among America’s closest allies.”We’ve been very clear that cultural sites are protected under international law and we would expect that to be respected,” said British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab.Mourners attend a funeral ceremony for Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades, who were killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike on Friday, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 6, 2020.Speaking to reporters Sunday evening on Air Force One, Trump doubled down on an earlier tweeted threat to attack sites of cultural importance if Tehran retaliates for last week’s lethal strike by a U.S. military drone on Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was blamed for numerous terrorist attacks internationally.   “They’re allowed to kill our people,” said the president during the flight to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland from Florida. “They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people and we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way.”Opposition to threatA former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said he believes such attacks by the United States would violate international law.”We would incur the wrath of the international community if we did so and potentially put such targets in the United States at risk from attack by sleeper cells,” Clapper told VOA. “I’m sure his list of targets is news to the Pentagon, whom I’m sure has done no serious planning for such targets.”FILE – Then-Director of National Security James Clapper testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 2, 2012.Before becoming DNI under former President Barack Obama, Clapper served as under-secretary of defense for intelligence in two different administrations.Clapper said attacking cultural targets “would only serve to heighten the emotions of the Iranians, and, ironically, galvanize them to support the regime — the exact antithesis of what we’ve allegedly been pursuing with our ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, which has shown itself to be an abject failure.”A former senior director of the White House situation room agreed.”This can only increase the threat to Americans. When the U.S. President makes it open season on cultural sites, he offers false justification to adversaries to do the same,” Larry Pfeiffer, also a former chief of staff to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told VOA.”These threats sound like something that would be issued by an autocratic regime like North Korea,” added Pfeiffer, director of the Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy and International Security at George Mason University. “This is not how America should behave and likely would violate international conventions and norms. This is what the Taliban did to universal condemnation. And this targeting makes it difficult for our western allies to support U.S. goals.”The Taliban, while in power in Afghanistan in 2001, dynamited giant Buddha statues that dated back to the 6th century.”Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo said yesterday that we will be within the law, and I think that Iran has many military, strategic military sites, that you may cite are also cultural sites,” Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, told White House reporters on Monday.Asked if she was accusing the Iranians of camouflaging military equipment within cultural sites, Conway replied: “No, I wouldn’t say that,” before adding, “I mean, maybe. Who knows?”‘War crime’The Hague Convention recognizes situations where an attack on cultural property may be lawful, such as when the site has been turned into a military objective and an attack would be required by “imperative military necessity,” according to international law experts.The law, however, prohibits the destruction of cultural property as a means of intimidating people under occupation or as a reprisal, as is implied by Trump’s statements, according to scholars.Iran foreign minister, Javad Zarif, tweeted on Sunday “targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME.”-Having committed grave breaches of int’l law in Friday’s cowardly assassinations, @realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches of JUS COGENS;-Targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME;-Whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun.— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 5, 2020During a Monday meeting between the director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Audrey Azoulay, and Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Jalali, the U.N. agency head noted both the United States and Iran had ratified two legal instruments protecting world cultural sites in armed conflict.Azoulay also pointed out that U.N. members in 2017 unanimously approved a resolution condemning acts of destruction of cultural heritage.Trump’s administration withdrew the United States from UNESCO in 2018.An al-Qaida-linked extremist was convicted of war crimes in 2016 by the International Criminal Court for destroying historic and religious artifacts in Mali.The United States, however, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court based in The Hague.WWII targetsIn the closing days of the Second World War, the U.S. military placed Japan’s former capital of Kyoto at the top of its list to be the target for the first atomic bombing.Secretary of War Henry Stimson persuaded President Harry Truman to spare the city dotted with thousands of sites of religious and cultural importance.Stimson, in his diary, recalled telling Truman in July of 1945 he “did not want to have the United States get the reputation of outdoing [Nazi party leader Adolf] Hitler in atrocities.”The Allies, months earlier, conducted a heavy bombardment of Dresden, a German cultural landmark. Military officers defended the raids, noting the city’s major rail hub, communications centers and 100-plus factories in support of the Axis war effort.A special U.S. Army unit during the war in Europe sought to redirect Allied bombing raids away from German cathedrals and recovered thousands of valuable items of art looted by the Nazis.Their mission was dramatized in a 2014 movie “The Monuments Men,” starring George Clooney.Gerstenblith, author of “Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law,” said she hopes Trump will take inspiration from the tradition of “The Monuments Men” and that his threats to destroy artifacts of history will turn out to be “just bluster.”Asked on Monday by a reporter at the Pentagon whether the United States would strike cultural sites in Iran, Defense Secretary Mark Esper replied, “We will follow the laws of armed conflict.”Jeff Seldin, Patsy Widakuswara and Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and his new rival, lawmaker Luis Parra, called for competing legislative sessions Tuesday after both claimed to be the country’s parliamentary speaker.On Sunday, Venezuelan security forces with riot shields blocked Guaido from entering the National Assembly chamber where he was expected to be re-elected head of the opposition-dominated legislature. Instead, Parra, who is backed by socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, proclaimed himself speaker after claiming to have been elected with 81 votes in the 167-member chamber. Guaido has the support of much of the international community.Opposition lawmakers later re-elected Guaido in a hastily arranged session at the headquarters of El Nacional newspaper, the last remaining newspaper in Caracas critical of Maduro and his ruling Socialist Party. A tally showed that 100 of Parliament’s 167 legislators voted for Guaido.Elliott Abrams, U.S. envoy for Venezuela, said Monday the U.S. is considering additional sanctions on Venezuela after what he called a “brutal and corrupt campaign” by Venezuela’s government to deny lawmakers access to the National Assembly.”Obviously if the regime had the votes, it would not have ordered soldiers to keep elected deputies out of the National Assembly,” he told reporters at the State Department.He said Guaido won the election with a proper quorum, and said the United States is looking at new ways to support him.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Sunday that Venezuelan officials supporting Maduro are trying to “destroy the last democratic institution in Venezuela, the National Assembly.” He described the session in which Parra claimed himself speaker as a “farcical vote,'” and said no quorum was present.Lawmaker Luis Parra gives a press conference at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 6, 2020. Guaido has led the opposition to Maduro since the National Assembly elected him speaker. In that role, he declared himself acting president on Jan. 23, 2019, after Parliament called Maduro a “usurper.””We defeated the dictatorship again. We overwhelmingly defeated the dictatorship, the ambitions of the dictatorship,” Guaido said Sunday after his supporters re-elected him.The European Union said Sunday it would continue to recognize Guaido, while the Lima Group regional bloc said Monday it backed Guaido’s re-election.His re-election “represents a rejection of the reckless actions by Nicolas Maduro’s regime that sought to prevent his appointment,” said a statement by the group signed by Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia.Argentina’s new center-left government also criticized blocking Guaido from the National Assembly.”To impede by force the functioning of the legislative assembly is to condemn oneself to international isolation,” Argentina’s Foreign Minister Felipe Sola said on Twitter.Russia argued that the vote to elect Parr was a democratic action.”We consider the election of the new leadership of Parliament to be the result of a legitimate democratic procedure,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.Parra is one of several lawmakers who recently broke away from Guaido. He has since been expelled from his party for alleged involvement in a corruption scandal involving Maduro.Guaido is recognized by the United States and nearly 60 other countries as the legitimate president of Venezuela.Guaido’s international backing rests on the fact that as assembly president, he is Venezuela’s highest-ranking official to have been democratically elected.  Opposition lawmakers hold 112 seats in Venezuela’s National Assembly.  
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Former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said Monday he would testify at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial if the Senate subpoenas him, potentially giving Democrats key behind-the-scenes testimony about Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to launch investigations to benefit himself politically.Bolton, a tough advocate for U.S. power across the globe, served for 17 months as Trump’s third top security aide until the president ousted him last September amid increasing rancorous disagreements over how the U.S. should handle its contentious relations with Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.In the run-up to the House of Representatives vote last month to impeach Trump, investigators decided to not subpoena Bolton, fearful of a long legal battle in U.S. courts over whether he would have to testify or could adhere to Trump’s directive banning testimony by key aides, some of whom honored the president’s edict while others did not.A tandem case with the same issues involving the potential testimony of a Bolton aide, Charles Kupperman, was left unresolved as Democratic lawmakers advanced their case against Trump, approving two articles of impeachment.But as Trump’s impeachment trial looms in the Senate, even though no date has been set in a congressional stalemate over the trial’s parameters, Bolton said in a statement he had to “resolve the serious competing issues as best I could, based on careful consideration and study.”He said, “I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify.”FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks in Kyiv, Dec. 4, 2019.Bolton was at the center of significant White House foreign policy debates, including Trump’s efforts to press Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open investigations of one of Trump’s top 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine attempted to undermine Trump’s 2016 election campaign.At one point during the House impeachment investigation, Bolton’s lawyer said that his client had “personal knowledge” of relevant Ukraine-related meetings and conversations “that have not yet been discussed in testimonies thus far.”Bolton is one of four Trump White House aides that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says should be called to testify at the impeachment trial. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is coordinating trial strategy with Trump’s White House lawyers, has balked at calling any witnesses in hope that after the Senate hears the House arguments against Trump and the president’s defense, it would then vote quickly to acquit him. U.S. lawmakers have returned to Washington after their holiday recess, but they are no closer to deciding when and how Trump’s impeachment trial would be staged.Key lawmakers remain stalemated over impeachment, now complicated by congressional debate over the merits of Trump’s approval of the drone attack that killed a key Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, last week outside the Baghdad airport.FILE – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., smiles as she holds the gavel as the House votes on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump by the House of Representatives at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 18, 2019.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrat-controlled House, is refusing to send two articles of impeachment to the Senate until she believes it would conduct a fair trial. One article accuses Trump of abusing the power of his presidency to pressure Ukraine to launch an investigation into the Bidens, while the other alleges he obstructed congressional efforts to investigate his Ukraine-related actions.As Trump and aides pressed Ukraine for the Biden investigations, Trump was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid Ukraine wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Trump eventually released the military assistance to Ukraine last September without Zelenskiy opening the Biden investigations. Republicans say that is proof Trump did not engage in a reciprocal quid pro quo deal with Ukraine.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 3, 2020.McConnell says the Senate cannot hold an impeachment trial without receiving the impeachment allegations from the House, although some Republican senators looking to acquit Trump as quickly as possible now say the Senate should start the trial anyway.Schumer has sparred with McConnell to try to win assurances that key Trump White House aides will be allowed to testify at the impeachment trial, which would be only the third such impeachment proceeding in U.S. history.But McConnell, advocating Trump’s quick acquittal, has refused so far to guarantee that acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Bolton and others would testify.Schumer said Sunday he remains “hopeful” that four Republican senators will vote against McConnell and join with the minority bloc of 47 Democrats to vote to hear testimony from the Trump aides.Meanwhile, Trump again ridiculed the impeachment effort on Monday, which was approved with near unanimous Democratic support in the House.”To be spending time on this political Hoax at this moment in our history, when I am so busy, is sad!” he said on Twitter. “The reason they are not sending the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate is that they are so weak and so pathetic.” @LindseyGrahamSC@MariaBartiromo The great Scam continues. To be spending time on this political Hoax at this moment in our history, when I am so busy, is sad!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2020He added, “The Impeachment Hoax, just a continuation of the Witch Hunt which started even before I won the Election, must end quickly. Read the Transcripts, see the Ukrainian President’s strong statement, NO PRESSURE – get this done. It is a con game by the Dems to help with the Election!”The Impeachment Hoax, just a continuation of the Witch Hunt which started even before I won the Election, must end quickly. Read the Transcripts, see the Ukrainian President’s strong statement, NO PRESSURE – get this done. It is a con game by the Dems to help with the Election!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2020″Congress & the President should not be wasting their time and energy on a continuation of the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax when we have so many important matters pending. 196 to ZERO was the Republican House vote, & we got 3 Dems. This was not what the Founders had in mind!”  Congress & the President should not be wasting their time and energy on a continuation of the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax when we have so many important matters pending. 196 to ZERO was the Republican House vote, & we got 3 Dems. This was not what the Founders had in mind!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2020When a trial finally occurs, the Senate will almost certainly acquit Trump.A two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate would be required to convict Trump to remove him from office, meaning at least 20 Republicans would have to turn against the president if all 47 Democrats also vote to convict him.Some Republican lawmakers have voiced objections to Trump’s request to Zelenskiy for the investigation of former Vice President Biden, who leads national polls to oppose Trump in the November presidential election. But no Republican lawmakers have called for Trump’s conviction and removal from office.     
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The wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was granted bail by Zimbabwe’s High Court on Monday after spending three weeks in detention for allegedly trying to kill her husband.Prosecutors say Marry Mubaiwa, who denies all charges, tried to unplug Chiwenga’s life support tubes in a South African hospital in June. She was initially arrested on Dec. 14 on separate charges including fraud and money laundering.A High Court judgment seen by Reuters showed Judge Pisirai Kwenda has granted Mubaiwa bail for 50,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($3,000), and ordered her to surrender her diplomatic passport and report to a local police station once every two weeks.Mubaiwa is also required to hand over the title deeds of her parents’ house with the court, the document showed.Her lawyer, Taona Nyamakura, said Mubaiwa could be released from prison on Monday or Tuesday.Her arrest has sparked accusations against Chiwenga and the anti-corruption agency that initially arrested her.Opposition politicians say the vice president is using his position to influence a divorce settlement with Mubaiwa, while the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), which says she illegally transferred $900 million to South Africa, is conflicted.The ZACC denies this. Chiwenga, who returned to China last week for a medical review, could not be reached for comment. 
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The global benchmark for crude oil rose above $70 a barrel on Monday for the first time in over three months, with jitters rising over the escalating military tensions between Iran and the United States.The Brent contract for oil touched a high of $70.74 a barrel, the highest since mid-September, when it briefly spiked over an attack on Saudi crude processing facilities. Stock markets were down as well amid fears of how Iran would fulfill a vow of “harsh retaliation.”
“The market is concerned about the potential for retaliation, and specifically on energy and oil infrastructure in the region,” said Antoine Halff, a Columbia University researcher and former chief oil analyst for the International Energy Agency. “If Iran chose to incapacitate a major facility in the region, it has the technical capacity to do so.”
The U.S. killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on Friday. Early Sunday, as Iran threatened to retaliate, President Donald Trump tweeted the U.S. was prepared to strike 52 sites in the Islamic Republic if any Americans are harmed.
Fears that Iran could strike back at oil and gas facilities important to the U.S. and its Persian Gulf allies stem from earlier attacks widely attributed to Iran.
The U.S. has blamed Iran for a wave of provocative attacks in the region, including the sabotage of oil tankers and an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure in September that temporarily halved its production. Iran has denied involvement in those attacks.
“Targeting oil infrastructure could raise prices and bring worldwide economic pain and put Iran on the front burner,” which might be exactly the kind of message its leaders are looking to send, said Jim Krane, an energy and geopolitics researcher at Rice University.
Compared to other methods of attack, targeting energy sites also “doesn’t kill a lot of people,” Krane said. “It’s capital-intensive, it’s not people-intensive. It’s a safer option in terms of the virulence of reprisal.”
It would still wreak havoc on the global economy, he said, because of the way that oil markets affect other energy-intensive industries such as airlines, shipping and petro-chemicals.
Global stock markets have been sliding since Friday. European indexes were down over 1% on Monday after Asia closed lower. Wall Street was expected to slide again on the open, with futures down 0.6%.
Brent crude was up $1.07 at $69.67 a barrel, putting it up almost 6% since before the Iranian general’s killing.
At the same time, some experts say the effect of a Middle Eastern geopolitical crisis on oil prices may not be as great as it once was. The U.S. energy industry, for instance, can ramp up shale oil production in places such as Texas.
“We’re in this new territory where the world oil markets are more dynamic and can tolerate this disruption more than they used to,” said Michael Webber, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have steadily intensified since Trump’s decision to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear deal and restore crippling sanctions.
But after the attack on Saudi Arabia’s crucial Abqaiq oil processing facility in September, Halff said the “market was able to dismiss it pretty quickly, partly because there was a perception that shale oil was pretty abundant.”
After that incident, the price of oil surged over 14% in a day, but lost those gains over the next two weeks.
Halff said the killing of Iran’s top general is different.
“This is not something that can be repaired,” he said. “You can repair a facility. You can’t bring somebody back to life. There’s no turning back.”         
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Вартість золота досягла найвищих значень із 2013 року, пише агентство Bloobmerg.

Ціна золота наближається до 1 600 доларів за унцію після заяви Ірану, що він більше не буде дотримуватися лімітів на збагачення Ірану після вбивства американськими військовими іранського генерала Касема Солеймані в ніч на 3 січня в столиці Іраку Багдаді.

Тегеран пообіцяв помститися, але президент США Дональд Трамп вже висловив готовність вдарити по Ірану «у непропорційній манері» у випадку нападу на будь-які американські об’єкти.

Після цього ціна нафти марки Brent вперше з квітня 2019 року перевищила 70 доларів за барель.
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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over prayers Monday for Qassem Soleimani as hundreds of thousands of people assembled in Tehran to mourn the top Iranian general.In this image taken from video, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, at the Tehran University campus, Jan. 6, 2020.Days after a U.S. airstrike killed Soleimani while he was traveling in a convoy in neighboring Iraq, the supreme leader was joined by President Hassan Rouhani and other top Iranian officials as they paid homage in the ceremony broadcast on state television.Monday’s huge procession followed a similar one Sunday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz where black-clad marcher chanted and beat their chests in homage to Soleimani.Iran is observing three days of mourning before Soleimani’s burial in his hometown of Kerman on Tuesday.FILE – In this Sept. 18, 2016 photo released by the office of Iran’s supreme leader, Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center, attends a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.As head of the Quds Force, the 62-year-old Soleimani helped orchestrate Tehran’s overseas clandestine and military operations.The Quds Force, the foreign arm of Iran’s hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.He was killed in a U.S. airstrike, most likely by a drone, as he traveled in a convoy of Iran-backed militia members after leaving the Baghdad airport in the early morning hours of January 3 — a strike that substantially raised tensions between Washington and Tehran.Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a deputy commander of the Iran-backed Hashd Shaabi militia in Iraq, was also killed in the attack.Mourners marched earlier in Baghdad for Soleimani and others killed in the raid, while many anti-Iranian protesters celebrated the deaths at other sites in Iraq.U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered the strike on Soleimani, saying the Iranian commander had organized attacks on U.S. and Iraqi targets and that he was planning further terror actions.Iran has promised “harsh revenge” for the U.S. attack on Soleimani, one of the most powerful military men in Iran.
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A requirement that U.S. citizens get visas for travel in the Philippines would hobble the Southeast Asian country’s tourism industry to ease a pair of high-level political spats, analysts say.U.S. citizens can enter the beach-studded archipelago now on a visa-free landing stamp, saving time and any application fees before travel.”If we look at the situation of the Philippines in relation with the U.S., of course the Philippines will lose more with that kind of option (a visa rule) than Americans,” said Maria Ela Atienza, political science professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman “Americans will have other options.”Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said last month via his office’s website that Americans would be required to apply for tourist visas if the United States bars entry by officials from Manila who are linked to the imprisonment of Leila de Lima, a Philippine senator who’s at odds with Duterte.The visa requirement would dim resentment among Filipinos who believe today’s rules are unfair. Filipinos need $160 visas for the United States but do not always qualify.Philippine security personnel patrol near U.S Visa applicants after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was found near the US Embassy in Manila, Philippines November 28, 2016.Tourism impactThe tit-for-tat would bite into a tourism industry that generated $4.78 billion in the first half of 2019, analysts say, because the United States is the third largest source of arrivals after South Korea and China.Americans asked to spend time and money on a visa could go instead to half a dozen other Southeast Asian countries either visa free or with with a visa payable upon landing.International tourist arrivals to the Philippines rose by 7.7% to 7.1 million visitors in 2018 over 2017, Philippine Department of Trade and Industry figures show. Of those visitors, 1,587,959 came from South Korea, 1,255,258 from China and 1,034,396 from the United States.Americans often travel to the Philippines for beach holidays and tours of old Spanish architecture.Filipino-Americans who still hold Philippine passports could still get back into their old homeland without visas. “It will probably be the tourists (who are affected), American tourists who are not from here,” said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Metro Manila-based advocacy group Institute for Political and Electoral Reform.Senator vs. DuterteA visa requirement would answer the Philippine government’s opposition to a U.S. budget proposal to ban entry to the United States by certain officials linked to the De Lima case.De Lima, a harsh critic of Duterte, was charged in 2017 with orchestrating a drug-trafficking ring while justice secretary before 2015. Some believe her arrest was politically motivated.The 2020 U.S. budget contains a provision authorizing the Secretary of State to ban Philippine officials from entry if the U.S. side finds “credible information” that they “have been involved in the wrongful imprisonment” of De Lima.”An armed police escort of opposition Senator Leila de Lima disembarks from their vehicle as she arrives to vote in the country’s midterm elections Monday, May 13, 2019 in suburban Paranaque, southeast of Manila, Philippines.”We have explained repeatedly that the subject provision is ineffective given that the Filipino Senator is not wrongfully detained,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said via his office’s website. If the U.S. goes ahead, he said, “This government will require all Americans intending to come to the Philippines to apply and secure a visa before they can enter Philippine territory.”The U.S. Embassy in Manila did not answer a request last week for comment.Reciprocity issueA visa rule for Americans might also set a stage for negotiations on visa rules from both sides, Casiple said. Filipinos must apply for visas to enter the United States and not everyone gets approval.”I think it will be within the context of renegotiation, not a policy immediately,” he said. “Particularly, it will raise the question of reciprocity.”Filipinos have historically seen the wealthier United States as a place to find high-paid work and remit money to family back home. Tourist visa applicants pay a $160 fee and must pass a consular interview to be approved. U.S. Department of Homeland Security data show that 5,276 Filipinos overstayed non-immigrant “pleasure” visas in 2018.Duterte might not act on his threat, some caution.”I don’t take Duterte’s visa threats too seriously, as he has a history of just spouting off,” said Sean King, vice president of the Park Strategies political consultancy in New York. “Our countries’ relationship will long outlast Duterte’s reign. We can’t overreact to every little thing he does.”If the United States hits back, King said, it should avoid hurting an overall U.S.-friendly Filipino public and instead “personally needle Duterte.”
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The 77th Golden Globes were meant to be a coronation for Netflix. Instead, a pair of big-screen epics took top honors Sunday, as Sam Mendes’ technically dazzling World War I tale “1917” won best picture, drama, and Quentin Tarantino’s radiant Los Angeles fable “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” won best film, comedy or musical.The wins for “1917” were a surprise, besting such favorites as Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” (the leading nominee with six nods) and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.” Both are acclaimed Netflix releases but they collectively took home just one award, for Laura Dern’s supporting performance as a divorce attorney in “Marriage Story.” “The Irishman” was entirely shut out.”1917” also won best director for Mendes. The film was made in sinuous long takes, giving the impression that the movie unfolds in one lengthy shot.”I hope this means that people will turn up and see this on the big screen, the way it was intended,” said Mendes, whose film expands nationwide Friday.Though set around the 1969 Manson murders “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” was classified a comedy and thus had an easier path to victory than the more competitive drama category. Brad Pitt won for best supporting actor, his first acting Globe since winning in 1996 for “12 Monkeys,” padding his front-runner status for the Oscars. Tarantino also won best screenplay.”I wanted to bring my mom, but I couldn’t because any woman I stand next to they say I am dating so it’d just be awkward,” Pitt said.Throughout the night, those who took the stage used the moment to speak about current events including the wildfires raging in Australia, rising tensions with Iran, women’s rights, the importance of LGBT trailblazers, even the importance of being on time.Patricia Arquette, a winner for her performance in Hulu’s “The Act,” referenced the United States’ targeted killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, saying history wouldn’t remember the day for the Globes but will see “a country on the brink of war.” She urged all to vote in November’s presidential election.Ricky Gervais, hosting the NBC-telecast ceremony for the fifth time, opened the show by stating that Netflix had taken over Hollywood, a fair appraisal given the streaming service’s commanding 34 nominations coming into the Globes. “This show should just be me coming out going: `Well done, Netflix. You win everything tonight,” he said.Ricky Gervais, left, and Jane Fallon arrive at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif.As it turned out, he was wrong. Netflix won only two awards: Dern’s win plus one for Olivia Colman’s performance in “The Crown.” It was a definite hiccup for the streaming service, which is aiming for its first best-picture win at the Academy Awards next month.Instead, the awards were widely spread out among traditional Hollywood studios, indie labels like A24, cable heavyweights like HBO and relative newcomers like Hulu.Renee Zelleweger (“Judy”) took home best actress in a drama, as expected, notching her fourth Globe. But, as always at the Globes, there were surprises. Taron Egerton, a regular presence on the awards circuit this year, won best actor in a comedy or musical for his Elton John in “Rocketman” – an honor many had pegged for Eddie Murphy (“Dolemite Is My Name”).Awkwafina, the star of the hit indie family drama The Farewell,'' became the first woman of Asian descent to win best actress in a comedy or musical.If anything, if I fall upon hard times, I can sell this,” said Awkwafina, holding the award.The winners were otherwise largely white, something the Globes have been criticized for before – including even in Gervais’ opening monologue, in which he called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association “racist.’’No other category has been more competitive this year than that for best actor. Joaquin Phoenix won for his loose-limbed performance in the divisive but hugely popular “Joker” in a category that included Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”) and Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”). Phoenix gave a rambling speech that began with crediting the HFPA with the vegan meal served at the ceremony.Michelle Williams, who won best actress in a limited series for “Fosse/Verdon,” stood up for women’s rights in her acceptance speech.”When it’s time to vote, please do so in your self interest,” Williams said. “It’s what men have been doing for years, which is why the world looks so much like them.’’Dern’s best supporting actress award for her performance as a divorce attorney in “Marriage Story,” was her fifth Globe. Her win denied Jennifer Lopez, the “Hustlers” star, her first major acting award.The first award of the night went to a streaming service series. Ramy Youssef won best actor in a TV series comedy or musical for his Hulu show “Ramy.” Best actor in a limited series went to Russell Crowe for the Showtime series “The Loudest Voice.” He wasn’t in attendance because of raging wildfires in his native Australia.”Make no mistake, the tragedy unfolding in Australia is climate-changed based,” Crowe said in a statement read by presenters Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.Phoebe Waller-Bridge followed up her Emmy haul by winning best comedy series and best actress in a comedy series. She thanked former President Barack Obama for putting “Fleabag” on his best-of-2019 list. With a grin, she added: “As some of you may know, he’s always been on mine.”Waller-Bridge’s co-star Andrew Scott (of “hot priest” fame) missed out on the category’s supporting actor award, which Stellan Skarsgard took for HBO’s “Chernobyl.”Stellan Skarsgard, left, and Jared Harris, from the cast of “Chernobyl,” winners of the award for best television limited series or motion picture made for television, pose in the press room at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards.HBO was also triumphant in best TV drama, where the second season of “Succession” bested Netflix’s “The Crown” and Apple TV Plus’ first Globe nominee, “The Morning Show.” Brian Cox, the Rupert Murdoch-like patriarch of “Succession,” also won best actor in a drama series. “The Crown” took some hardware home, too, with Olivia Colman winning best actress in a drama series, a year after winning for her performance in “The Favourite.’’Best foreign language film went to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” the Cannes Palme d’Or winning sensation from South Korea. Despite being an organization of foreign journalists, the HFPA doesn’t include foreign films in its top categories, thus ruling out “Parasite,” a likely best picture nominee at next month’s Oscars.”Once you overcome the inch-tall-barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films,” Bong said, speaking through a translator.Tom Hanks, also a nominee for his supporting turn as Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. The Carol Burnett Award, a similar honorary award given for television accomplishment, was given to Ellen DeGeneres. She was movingly introduced by Kate McKinnon who said DeGeneres’ example guided her in her own coming out.”The only thing that made it less scary was seeing Ellen on TV,” said McKinnon.Hanks’ speech had its own emotional moment when he caught sight of his wife and four children at a table near the stage and choked up.”A man is blessed with the family’s sitting down front like that,” Hanks said.Elton John and Bernie Taupin won the evening’s most heavyweight battle, besting Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Their “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” won best song. “It’s the first time I’ve ever won an award with him,” Elton said of his song-writing partner. “Ever.’’The Golden Globes, Hollywood’s most freewheeling televised award show, could be unusually influential this year. The roughly 90 voting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have traditionally had little in common with the nearly 9,000 industry professionals that make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The HFPA is known for calculatingly packing its show with as much star power as possible, occasionally rewarding even the likes of “The Tourist” and “Burlesque.’’Sunday’s show may have added to that history with an unexpected award for “Missing Link” for best animated feature film over films like “Toy Story 4” and “Frozen 2.” No one was more surprised than its director, Chris Butler. “I’m flabbergasted,” he said.But the condensed time frame of this year’s award season (the Oscars are Feb. 9) brings the Globes and the Academy Awards closer. Balloting for Oscar nominations began Thursday. Voters were sure to be watching.
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