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Greek and Turkish leaders dug in their heels Wednesday even after their foreign ministers proposed talks to settle rival claims to energy-rich sections of the Mediterranean.   Greece announced plans Wednesday to extend its territorial waters along its western coastline and held a second day of military exercises in waters where Turkey challenges Greek claims of jurisdiction.  Turkey carried out military exercises nearby.  Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Athens has the right to extend its territorial waters along its western coastline across from Italy from 11 to 22 kilometers.  This section of the Ionian Sea is not part of the dispute with Turkey, but Mitsotakis said Greece was giving up years of what it calls a “passive” foreign policy. Turkey would regard a similar extension in the Aegean, which is between Greece and Turkey, as blatant hostility.  “Everyone must see that Turkey is not a country whose patience can be tried, whose determination, capabilities and courage can be tested. If we say we’ll do something we’ll do it and pay the price,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. “If anyone wants to stand before us and face the consequences, they are welcome to. If not, stay out of our way and we will continue with our work.” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a televised address following a weekly Cabinet meeting, in Ankara, Turkey, Aug. 24, 2020.The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Mitsotakis by telephone Wednesday and expressed concern over the tensions between Greece and Turkey.  “President Trump reaffirmed that Greece and Turkey must commit to dialogue, which is the only path to resolving their differences,” a White House statement said.  Greece and Turkey are locked in a dispute over boundaries in the Mediterranean and the rights to drill for offshore gas and oil deposits.  Greece claims a Turkish research ship is in its waters, in which it has exclusive rights to whatever is under the sea floor.   Turkey insists the exclusive economic zones of Greek islands in the Agean near the Turkish coast should be greatly reduced.  Turkey accuses Athens of trying to grab an unfair share of the eastern Mediterranean’s resources while Greece is also angered by Turkish energy exploration in waters where Cyrus claims exclusive economic rights. Cyprus is split between an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and the Turkish-Cypriot north that only Turkey recognizes.  
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After more than two weeks of massive street protests in Belarus, police arrested at least 50 protesters on Wednesday, and prosecutors opened criminal inquiries against opposition activists who set up a Coordination Council. The U.S. has called for all detained protesters to be released and for the people of Belarus to be allowed to decide their own future. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.
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A small number of U.S. troops were injured during an incident with Russian forces in Syria, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday. While such interactions between American and Russian forces are not rare, the incident highlights the risks of troops from both countries operating in close proximity in northern Syria and the potential for an escalation in tensions. One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the injuries were a result of a collision and not any exchange of fire. The other official said the incident took place earlier this week in northeastern Syria and the injuries were mild. FILE – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 4, 2020.The Pentagon and the U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the region, declined to comment. The U.S. military said the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley spoke with his Russian counterpart Wednesday, but provided no details on what was discussed. The U.S. military does not generally comment on injuries. However, last month a paratrooper was killed during a vehicle rollover accident in eastern Syria. Previous encountersVideos on social media showed Russian military vehicles, backed by a pair of helicopters, driving dangerously close to U.S. armored vehicles. The origin of the videos was unclear.  Earlier this year, another video showed a close interaction between troops on a Syrian road. About 500 U.S forces remain in northern Syria after a sharp reduction in troops that were initially there to drive out Islamic State militants from all of their strongholds in the country.Some of the areas also have oil resources, something President Donald Trump has cited as a justification for keeping U.S. troops partnered with Kurdish allies in the region. The injuries were first reported by Politico.  
 
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As Belarusians continue protesting against longtime ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who was reelected to a fourth term in a vote widely viewed as rigged, Chicago’s Belarusian community is also taking to the streets to back the protests. Kulsoom Khan spoke with some of the Chicago protesters and filed this report, narrated by Anna Rice.Producer: Barry Unger. Videographer: Kulsoom Khan.
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The 2021 Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) summit of business leaders and politicians has been called off for January due to the coronavirus pandemic, with organizers planning to reschedule the event to sometime early next summer.
“The advice from experts is that we cannot (host the event) safely in January,” WEF said on Wednesday in a statement.
The confab in the Swiss Alps that has hosted rival heads of state including U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in recent years has been held in the Swiss ski resort of Davos since 1971.
WEF, which takes over the ski resort of Davos for about a week each year, has branded itself as the world’s top venue for the business and political elite to meet and discuss the challenges of globalization.
The group said the decision to delay this year’s edition “was not taken easily, since the need for global leaders to come together to design a common recovery path and shape the ‘Great Reset’ in the post-COVID-19 era is so urgent.”
In lieu of the meeting, it would host virtual ‘high-level’ discussions the week of January 25, WEF said, adding it would share dates and location of the rescheduled meeting once it was assured of health and safety conditions.
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U.N. prosecutors urged United Nations judges Wednesday to uphold former Bosnian Serb Army chief Ratko Mladic’s life sentence for crimes, including genocide, which they say Mladic personally oversaw.His lawyers, meanwhile, called for an acquittal or retrial.Mladic, 78, was commander of the Main Staff of the Bosnian Serb army during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. A U.N. tribunal convicted him in November 2017 of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.More than 8,000 ethnic Bosniak men and boys were killed, and up to 35,000 Bosniak women, children and elderly people were forcibly displaced from two villages.“Srebrenica was Mladic’s operation, and the trial chamber was right to conclude that he was criminally responsible for these crimes,” prosecutor Laurel Baig said Wednesday, the second and final day of appeal hearings.A man walks past a graffiti that reads ‘Ratko Mladic Hero’ in Belgrade, Serbia, Aug. 25, 2020.Lawyers for Mladic claim he was not involved in genocide, asserting the “charge of genocide was made out of thin air.”“Any illegal killings in Srebrenica that were outside of combat are reprehensible, but they are not tied to Mr. Mladic,” defense lawyer Dragan Ivetic said Tuesday.The appeals were held by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, created by the U.N. in 2010 to phase out tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.Mladic was arrested in 2011 in Serbia and extradited to The Hague after evading arrest for 16 years. His original trial took more than five years under the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.Mladic also was convicted for his involvement in crimes in a monthslong siege of Sarajevo, and what prosecutors have called ethnic cleansing campaigns to push Bosniaks and Croats out of Bosnian Serb-claimed territory. Mladic was acquitted on a genocide charge related to the campaigns, which prosecutors want overturned in the appeals proceedings.Mladic’s appeals hearing, originally scheduled for March, was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and Mladic’s own reported health issues.No date has been set for the decision, which is likely to come in 2021, Reuters reported.Bosnians marked 25 years since the massacre July 11. A total 100,000 people were killed, and 2.2. million were displaced during the war itself.
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